THE VISION OP JUDGMENT. 243
hi«r e !i ^ 6m n l ore tolerantly. The way in which that poor insane creature, the Laureate, deals about^Judgments in the next world, is like his own judgment in this. If it was not completely ludicrous, itUl d be something worse. I don’t think that there is much more to say at present.
QUEVEDO EEDIVIVUS.
S—-It is possible that some readers may object, in these objectionable times, to the freedom withDoin sa hits. angels, and spiritual persons discourse in this “ Vision.” But, for precedents upon suchI must refer them to Fielding s •* Journey from this World to the next,” and of the Visions of(fw 6 - the said Quevedo, in Spanish or translated. The reader is also requested to observe, that nofcurl na ^ *’ enets are insisted upon or discussed; that the person of the Deity is carefully withheld from.(S ! U tvkieh 13 more than can be said for the Laureate, who hath thought proper to make Him talk, notOf h* 3 a divine,but like the unscholarlike Mi\ Southey. The whole action passes on the outside
the aven ’ ant I Ghaucer’s “ Wife of Bath,” Pulci ’s “ Morgante Maggiore,” Swift’s “ Tale of a Tub,” and2 ^, 0 t h 6 r works above referred to, are cases in point of the freedom with which saints, &c., may be per-ked to converse in works not intended to be serious.
t 0 V*. Mr. Southey, being, as he says, a good Christian and vindictive, threatens, I understand, a reply•ittJ 19 0ur answer - It is to be hoped that his visionary faculties will in the meantime havo acquired aartn®. more judgment, properly so called r otherwise he will get himself into new dilemmas. These^Q-^tate Jacobins furnish rich rejoinders. Let him take a specimen. Mr. Southey laudeth grievouslythe ^ r ‘ Candor,” who cultivates much private renown in the shape of Latin verses; and not long ago,call ^j Qet Laureate dedicated to him, it appeareth, one of his fugitive lyrics upon the strength of a poemgrim Who could suppose, that in this same Oebir the aforesaid Savage Landor (for such is his
boi tv. C °? nomen ) P ufcte th into the infernal regions no less a person than the hero of his friend Mr.hath ey ’ 8 heave 1 ^—yea, even George the Third! See also how personal Savage hecometh, when heQ a mind. The following is his portrait of our late gracious sovereign:—
<>* Gebir having descended into the infernal regions, the shades of his royal ancestors ore, at hisf cquest, called up to his view; and he exclaims to his ghostly guide)—
“ Aroar, what wretch that nearest us ? what wretchIs that with eyebrows white and slanting brow?
Listen! him yonder, who, hound down supine,
Shrinks yelling from that sword there, engine-hung,
He too amongst my ancestors ? I hateThe despot, but the dastard I despise.
Was he our countryman?”
"Alas, O king!
Iberia bore him, but the breed accurstInclement winds blew blighting from north-east.”
4 ‘ He was a warrior then, nor fear’d the gods ?”
“ Gebir, he fear'd the demons, not the gods,
Though them indeed his daily face adored;
And was no warrior, yet the thousand livesSquander'd, as stones to exercise a sling,
And the tame cruelty and cold caprice—
Oh madness of mankind! address’d, adored!”— Gebir, p. 28.
his 0Ji1 ^ noticing some edifying Ithyphallics of Savagius, wishing to keep the proper veil over them,lcajj> rave but somewhat indiscreet worshipper will suffer it; but certainly these teachers of “great moral80Q ^” are apt to be found in strange company.