Butthesecircumstances，whiletheyfostergenius，areunfavourabletothescienceofcriticism。Menjudgebycomparison。Theyareunabletoestimatethegrandeurofanobjectwhenthereisnostandardbywhichtheycanmeasureit。
OneoftheFrenchphilosophers（IbegGerard’spardon），whoaccompaniedNapoleontoEgypt，tellsusthat，whenhefirstvisitedthegreatPyramid，hewassurprisedtoseeitsodiminutive。Itstoodaloneinaboundlessplain。Therewasnothingnearitfromwhichhecouldcalculateitsmagnitude。Butwhenthecampwaspitchedbesideit，andthetentsappearedlikediminutivespecksarounditsbase，hethenperceivedtheimmensityofthismightiestworkofman。Inthesamemanner，itisnottillacrowdofpettywritershassprungupthatthemeritofthegreatmasterspiritsofliteratureisunderstood。
WehaveindeedampleproofthatDantewashighlyadmiredinhisownandthefollowingage。Iwishthatwehadequalproofthathewasadmiredforhisexcellencies。Butitisaremarkablecorroborationofwhathasbeensaid，thatthisgreatmanseemstohavebeenutterlyunabletoappreciatehimself。Inhistreatise\"DeVulgariEloquentia\"hetalkswithsatisfactionofwhathehasdoneforItalianliterature，ofthepurityandcorrectnessofhisstyle。\"Cependant，\"saysafavouritewriterofmine，（Sismondi，LiteratureduMididel’Europe。）\"iln’estnipur，nicorrect，maisilestcreateur。\"ConsideringthedifficultieswithwhichDantehadtostruggle，wemayperhapsbemoreinclinedthantheFrenchcritictoallowhimthispraise。Stillitisbynomeanshishighestormostpeculiartitletoapplause。Itisscarcelynecessarytosaythatthosequalitieswhichescapedthenoticeofthepoethimselfwerenotlikelytoattracttheattentionofthecommentators。Thefactis，that，whilethepublichomagewaspaidtosomeabsurditieswithwhichhisworksmaybejustlycharged，andtomanymorewhichwerefalselyimputedtothem，——
whilelecturerswerepaidtoexpoundandeulogisehisphysics，hismetaphysics，histheology，allbadoftheirkind——whileannotatorslabouredtodetectallegoricalmeaningsofwhichtheauthorneverdreamed，thegreatpowersofhisimagination，andtheincomparableforceofhisstyle，wereneitheradmirednorimitated。Arimaneshadprevailed。TheDivineComedywastothatagewhatSt。Paul’sCathedralwastoOmai。ThepoorOtaheiteanstaredlistlesslyforamomentatthehugecupola，andranintoatoyshoptoplaywithbeads。Italy，too，wascharmedwithliterarytrinkets，andplayedwiththemforfourcenturies。
FromthetimeofPetrarchtotheappearanceofAlfieri’stragedies，wemaytraceinalmosteverypageofItalianliteraturetheinfluenceofthosecelebratedsonnetswhich，fromthenaturebothoftheirbeautiesandtheirfaults，werepeculiarlyunfittobemodelsforgeneralimitation。Almostallthepoetsofthatperiod，howeverdifferentinthedegreeandqualityoftheirtalents，arecharacterisedbygreatexaggeration，andasanecessaryconsequence，greatcoldnessofsentiment;byapassionforfrivolousandtawdryornament;and，aboveall，byanextremefeeblenessanddiffusenessofstyle。