the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

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David Humphreys : verses

Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 24 February - 2 March 1796 'Timothy Dwight an American publishd an heroic poem on the Conquest of Canaan in 1785. I had heard of it & long wishd to read it in vain — but now the American minister — (a good humourd man whose poetry is worse than any thing except his criticisms) has lent me the book. there certainly is some merit in the poem — but when Colonel Humphreys speaks of it he will not allow me to put in a word in defence of John Milton. if I had written upon this subject I should have been terribly tempted to take part with the Canaanites, for whom I cannot help feeling a kind of brotherly compassion.'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey      Manuscript: Sheet

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