Southey  and  Wordsworth  have  caught  up  the  echo  from  a  distance,  and
repeated  the  cadence  in  a  feebler  voice.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  judge
fairly  of  Shakespeare's  satellites.  I  have  not  read,  and  never  shall  read,  a
tithe  of  their  dramas,  such  is  my  abhorrence  of  dirty  cut-throats  and  courtly
drabs.  Ben  Jonson  I  have  studied,  principally  for  the  purity  of  his  English.
Had  it  not  been  for  him  and  Shakespeare,  our  language  would  have  fallen
into  ruin.  Hooker  too  lent  his  surpliced  shoulder  to  its  support,  and  Bacon
brought  some  well-squared  massy  stones  towards  the  edifice  those  masters
were  building.     Southey  also  has  contributed  much  to  the  glorious  work.".
Of  Southey  and  Cowper.
