i
BLACKWOOD'S
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
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PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.505
BLACKWOOD'S
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
THE DRAMAS OF HENRY TAYLOR.
There is no living writer whoserank in literature appears to be moreaccurately determined, or more permanentlysecured to him, than theauthor of Philip Van Artevelde.1 Notgifted with the ardent temperament,the very vivid imagination, or thewarmth of passion which are supposednecessary to carry a poet to the highesteminences of his art, he has,nevertheless, that intense reflection,that large insight into human life,that severe taste, binding him alwaysto a most select, accurate, and admirablestyle, which must secure hima lofty and impregnable positionamongst the class of writers whocome next in order to the veryhighest.
There have been greater poems,but in modern times we do not thinkthere has appeared any dramaticcomposition which can be pronouncedsuperior to the masterpiece of HenryTaylor. Neither of t