Page:The Poetical Works of William Motherwell, 1849.djvu/80

 critical world, was, in Motherwell's circumstances, the strongest proof he could give of the vigour and elasticity of his powers. Such men as Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge could afford some abatement from that full harvest of renown which they had accumulated; but to a person in Motherwell's position the case was widely different, and the punishment of failure would have been proportioned in its severity to the alleged presumption of the attempt. He did not fail, however, nor—as the result showed—was his confidence in himself over-rated; and his metrical imitations of the Sagas are not only distinguished by an exact fidelity of tone and sentiment, but are considered by competent judges to be fine heroic ballads, which display energetic powers of description united to a high dramatic faculty. Had Gray followed out his original intention, and given to the world that 'History of Poetry,' of which he had at one time meditated the composition, his successor would have had to encounter a much more formidable competition than that which actually awaited him; but he, as is well known, abandoned the design, and, except 'The Fatal Sisters' and the 'Descent of Odin,' I cannot call to mind any other purely English poems constructed upon a northern basis. It may argue an undue partiality, but I prefer 'The Battle Flag of Sigurd' to either of Gray's odes.