becoming poetry. It is written in the heroic couplet, written with a
fatal fluency; not good enough and not bad enough to be interesting.
It is like the student's theme, which was returned to him without
corrections, yet with a low mark; and in reply to the student's
resentful question, "Why did you not correct my faults, if you thought
meanly of my work?" the teacher replied wearily, "Your theme has no
faults; it is distinguished by a lack of merit."

In _The Prince's Quest_ Mr. Watson exhibited a rather remarkable
command of a barren technique. He had neither thoughts that breathe,
nor words that burn. He had one or two unusual words--his only
indication of immaturity in style--like "wox" and "himseemed." (Why is
it that when "herseemed" as used by Rossetti, is so beautiful,
"himseemed" should be so irritating!) But aside from a few specimens,
the poem is as free from affectations as it is from passion. When we
remember the faults and the splendours of _Pauline,_ it seems
incredible that a young poet could write so many pages without
stumbling and without soaring; that he could produce a finished work
of mediocrity. I suppose that those who read the poem in 1880 felt
quite sure that its author would never scale the heights; and they
were wrong; because William Watson really has the divine gift, and is
one of the most deservedly eminent among living poets.

It is only fair to add, that in the edition of his works in 1898,
_The Prince's Quest_ did not appear; he was persuaded, however,
to include it in the two-volume edition of 1905, where it enjoys
considerable revision, "wox" becoming normal, and "himseemed" becoming
dissyllabic. For my part, I am glad that it has now been definitely
retained. It is important in the study of a poet's development. It
would seem that the William Watson of the last twenty-five years, a