Note 16 — CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EDINBURGH REVIEW (continued 7)

‘Calculating the prices of provisions, and the increase of taxes, the poet-laureate, in the time of Elizabeth, had about four times as much as at present: so that Cecil spoke reasonably, Elizabeth royally.’—Note by the Author.

We were unwilling to suppress this hint for the increase of the laureate’s salary, considering how worthily the situation is filled at present; and Mr. Landor’s recommendation must be peremptory at court. We observe that our author’s spelling of the word ‘laureate’ is the same as Mr. Southey’s. Is the latter indebted to the same source for the learned Orientalism of Tâtar for Tartar? What a significant age we live in! How many extravagant conclusions and false assumptions lurk under that one orthoepy! He who innovates in things where custom alone is concerned, must be proof against its suggestions in all other cases; and when reason and fancy come into play, must indeed be a law to himself.