in _Critical Rev._,
XXIII, n.s., p. 266; for _Lyrical Ballads_, see under Wordsworth; for
the successful play _Remorse_ (1813), see _Monthly Rev._, LXXI, n.s., p.
82, and _Quarterly Rev._, XI, p. 177.

ROBERT SOUTHEY

_Madoc_, a ponderous quarto of over five hundred pages and issued at two
guineas, was published by Southey in 1805 as the second of that
long-forgotten series of interminable epics including _Thalaba_, _The
Curse of Kehama_, and _Roderick, Last of the Goths_. These huge unformed
productions were not poems, but metrical tales, written in a kind of
verse that could have flowed indefinitely from the author's pen. In
short, Southey was not a poet, and the whole bulk of his efforts in
verse, with but one or two exceptions, seems destined to oblivion. As
poet-laureate for thirty years and the associate of Wordsworth and
Coleridge in the "Lake School," Southey will, however, remain a figure
of some importance in the history of English poetry.

The review of _Madoc_ reprinted from the _Monthly Rev._, XLVIII
(113-122) for October, 1805, was written in the old style then fast
giving way to the sprightlier methods of the _Edinburgh_. Here we find a
style abounding in literary allusions and classical quotations, and
evincing a generally patronizing attitude toward the author under
discussion. Most readers will agree with the sentiments expressed by the
reviewer, who succeeded in making his article interesting without
descending to the depths of buffoonery. No apology is necessary for the
excision of the reviewer's unreasonably long extracts from the poem.
_Madoc_ was also reviewed at great length in the _Edinburgh Review_ by
Francis Jeffrey.

61. _Ille ego, qui quondam, etc._ The lines usually prefixed to the
_AEneid_.

61. _Prorumpere in medias res_. Cf. Horace, _Ars Poetica_, l. 148.

61. _Macklin's Tragedy_. _Henry VII_ (1746), his only tragedy, and a
failure.

61. _Toto carere possum_. Cf. Martial, _Epig._ XI, 56.

61. _Camoens_. The author of the Portuguese _Lusiad_ (1572) which
narrates the adventures of Vasco da Gama.

62. _Milton_. Quoted from Sonnet XI.--_On the Detraction which followed
upon my writing certain Treatises_.

63. _Snatching a grace, etc._ Pope's _Essay on Criticism_, l. 153.

CHARLES LAMB

Most of Lamb's earlier poetical productions appeared in conjunction with
the work of other poets. Four of his sonnets were printed with
Coleridge's _Poems on Various Subjects_ (1796), and