Essays

There is a sentence in Dr. Johnson's Gray which might well be written up
in all those rooms, too humble to be called libraries, yet full of books,
where the pursuit of reading is carried on by private people. " . . . I
rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of
readers, uncorrupted by literary prejudices, after all the refinements of
subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim
to poetical honours." It defines their qualities; it dignifies th...