instead of progression, of thought. . .

"Fifth and last; thoughts and images too great for the subject. This
is an approximation to what might be called mental bombast, as
distinguished from verbal: for, as in the latter there is a
disproportion of the expressions to the thoughts, so in this there is a
disproportion of thought to the circumstance and occasion. . .

"To these defects, which . . . are only occasional, I may oppose . . .
the following (for the most part correspondent) excellencies:

"First; an austere purity of language both grammatically and logically;
in short a perfect appropriateness of the words to the meaning. . .

"The second characteristic excellence of Mr. Wordsworth's works is--a
correspondent weight and sanity of the thoughts and sentiments, won not
from books, but from the poet's own meditative observations. They are
fresh and have the dew upon them. . .

"Third; . . . the sinewy strength and originality of single lines and
paragraphs; the frequent _curiosa felicitas_ of his diction. . .

"Fourth; the perfect truth of nature in his images and descriptions as
taken immediately from nature, and proving a long and genial intimacy
with the very spirit which gives the physiognomic expressions to all
the works of nature. Like a green field reflected in a calm and
perfectly transparent lake, the image is distinguished from the reality
only by its greater softness and lustre. Like the moisture or the
polish on a pebble, genius neither distorts nor false-colors its
objects; but on the contrary, brings out many a vein and many a tint,