He was
suspicious of large principles, somewhat callous to enthusiasm or
sentiment, intolerant of whatever was incapable of precise expression.
His intellectual strength lay not in the possession of one great gift,
but in the simultaneous exercise of several well-adjusted talents. His
literary taste was correct; but it consisted rather in recognizing
compliance with accepted rules of proved utility than in the readiness
to appreciate novelties of thought and treatment. Hence his criticism,
though useful for his time, has not endured beyond his day. It may be
doubted whether more could be expected from a man who was eminently
successful in addressing a jury. "He might not know his subject, but he
knew his readers" (Bagehot's 'Literary Studies', vol. i. p. 30).
Byron, believing him to have been the author of the famous article on
'Hours of Idleness', attacked him bitterly in 'English Bards, and Scotch
Reviewers'; (lines 460-528). He afterwards recognized his error. 'Don
Juan' (Canto X. stanza xvi.) expresses his mature opinion of a critic
who, whatever may have been his faults, was as absolutely honest as
political prejudice would permit:
"And all our little feuds, at least all 'mine',
Dear Jeffrey, once my most redoubted foe
(As far as rhyme and criticism combine
To make such puppets of us things below),
Are over; Here's a health to 'Auld Lang Syne!'
I do not know you, and may never know
Your face--but you have acted, on the whole,
Most nobly; and I own it from my soul.
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