{Inthebookthereisagapinnumberingthenotesbetween12and29。
29。Suchportionsof“Politian“asareknowntothepublicfirstsawthelightofpublicityinthe“SouthernLiteraryMessenger“forDecember，1835，andJanuary，1836，beingstyled“ScenesfromPolitian：anunpublisheddrama。”Thesesceneswereincluded，unaltered，inthe1845
collectionofPoems，byPoe。Thelargerportionoftheoriginaldraftsubsequentlybecamethepropertyofthepresenteditor，butitisnotconsideredjusttothepoet’smemorytopublishit。Theworkisahastyandunrevisedproductionofitsauthor’searlierdaysofliterarylabor；
and，beyondthescenesalreadyknown，scarcelycalculatedtoenhancehisreputation。Asaspecimen，however，ofthepartsunpublished，thefollowingfragmentfromthefirstsceneofActII。maybeoffered。TheDuke，itshouldbepremised，isuncletoAlessandra，andfatherofCastiglioneherbetrothed。
_Duke。_Whydoyoulaugh？
_Castiglione。_IndeedIhardlyknowmyself。Stay！WasitnotOnyesterdaywewerespeakingoftheEarl？
OftheEarlPolitian？Yes！itwasyesterday。
Alessandra，youand1，youmustremember！
Wewerewalkinginthegarden。
_Duke，_Perfectly。
Idorememberit-whatofit-whatthen？
_Cas。0_nothing-nothingatall。
_Duke。_Nothingatall！
Itismostsingularthatyoushouldlaugh’Atnothingatall！
_Cas。_Mostsingular-singular！
_Duke。Lookyou，_Castiglione，besokindAstellme，sir，atoncewhat’tisyoumean。
Whatareyoutalkingof？
_Cas。_Wasitnotso？
Wedifferedinopiniontouchinghim。
_Duke。_Him！Whom？
_Cas。_Why，sir，theEarlPolitian。
_Duke。_TheEarlofLeicester！Yes！isitheyoumean？
Wediffered，indeed。IfInowrecollectThewordsyouusedwerethattheEarlyouknewWasneitherlearnednormirthful。
_Cas。_Ha！ha！nowdidI？
_Duke。_Thatdidyou，sir，andwellIknewatthetimeYouwerewrong，itbeingnotthecharacterOftheEarl-whomalltheworldallowstobeAmosthilariousman。Benot，myson，Toopositiveagain。
_Cas。’Tis_singular！
Mostsingular！IcouldnotthinkitpossibleSolittletimecouldsomuchalterone！
Tosaythetruthaboutanhourago，AsIwaswalkingwiththeCountSanOzzo，Allarminarm，wemetthisverymanTheEarl-he，withhisfriendBaldazzar，HavingjustarrivedinRome。Halha！heisaltered！
Suchanaccounthegavemeofhisjourney！
’Twouldhavemadeyoudiewithlaughter-suchtaleshetoldOfhiscapricesandhismerryfreaksAlongtheroad-suchoddity-suchhumor
Suchwit-suchwhim-suchflashesofwildmerrimentSetofftooinsuchfullreliefbythegraveDemeanorofhisfriend-who，tospeakthetruth，Wasgravityitself
_Duke。_DidInottellyou？
_Cas。You_did-andyet’tisstrange！buttrueasstrange，HowmuchIwasmistaken！IalwaysthoughtTheEarlagloomyman。
_Duke。_So，so，_you_see！Benottoopositive。Whomhavewehere？
ItcannotbetheEarl？
_Cas。_TheEarl！Oh，no！’TisnottheEarl-butyetitis-andleaningUponhisfriendBaldazzar。AMwelcome，sir！
_EnterPolitianandBaldazzar。_
Mylord，asecondwelcomeletmegiveyouToRome-hisGracetheDukeofBroglio。
Father！thisistheEarlPolitian，EarlOfLeicesterinGreatBritain。_[Politianbowshaughtily_。]
That，hisfriendBaldazzar，DukeofSurrey。TheEarlhasletters，Sopleaseyou，forYourGrace。
_Duke。_Halha！MostwelcomeToRomeandtoourpalace，EarlPolitian！
Andyou，mostnobleDuke！Iamgladtoseeyou！
Iknewyourfatherwell，myLordPolitian。
Castiglione！callyourcousinhither，AndletmemakethenobleEarlacquaintedWithyourbetrothed。Youcome，sir，atatimeMostseasonable。Thewedding
_Politian。_Touchingthoseletters，sir，Yoursonmadementionofyourson，ishenot？
Touchingthoseletters，sir，Iwotnotofthem。
Ifsuchtherebe，myfriendBaldazzarhere
Baldazzar！ah！myfriendBaldazzarhereWillhandthemtoYourGrace。Iwouldretire。
_Duke。_Retire！Sosoon？
CameWhatho！Benito！Rupert！
Hislordship’schambers-showhislordshiptothem！
Hislordshipisunwell。_EnterBenito。_
_Ben。_Thisway，mylord！_Exit，followedbyPolitian_。
_Duke。_Retire！Unwell！
_Bal_。Sopleaseyou，sir。Ifearme’Tisasyousayhislordshipisunwell。
Thedampairoftheevening-thefatigueOfalongjourneytheindeedIhadbetterFollowhislordship。Hemustbeunwell。
Iwillreturnanon。
_Duke。_Returnanon！
Nowthisisverystrange！Castiglione！
Thisway，myson，Iwishtospeakwiththee。
YousurelyweremistakeninwhatyousaidOftheEarl，mirthful，indeed！whichofussaidPolitianwasamelancholyman？_Exeunt。_
“DEARBBelievingonlyaportionofmyformervolumetobeworthyasecondedition-thatsmallportionIthoughtitaswelltoincludeinthepresentbookastorepublishbyitself。Ihavethereforehereincombined’AlAaraaf’and’Tamerlane’withotherpoemshithertounprinted。NorhaveIhesitatedtoinsertfromthe’MinorPoems，’nowomitted，wholelines，andevenpassages，totheendthatbeingplacedinafairerlight，andthetrashshakenfromtheminwhichtheywereimbedded，theymayhavesomechanceofbeingseenbyposterity。
“Ithasbeensaidthatagoodcritiqueonapoemmaybewrittenbyonewhoisnopoethimself。This，accordingtoyourideaand_mine_ofpoetry，I
feeltobefalse-thelesspoeticalthecritic，thelessjustthecritique，andtheconverse。Onthisaccount，andbecausetherearebutfewB-’sintheworld，Iwouldbeasmuchashamedoftheworld’sgoodopinionasproudofyourown。Anotherthanyourselfmighthereobserve，’Shakespeareisinpossessionoftheworld’sgoodopinion，andyetShakespeareisthegreatestofpoets。Itappearsthenthattheworldjudgecorrectly，whyshouldyoubeashamedoftheirfavorablejudgment？’Thedifficultyliesintheinterpretationoftheword’judgment’or’opinion。’Theopinionistheworld’s，truly，butitmaybecalledtheirsasamanwouldcallabookhis，havingboughtit；hedidnotwritethebook，butitishis；theydidnotoriginatetheopinion，butitistheirs。Afool，forexample，thinksShakespeareagreatpoet-yetthefoolhasneverreadShakespeare。Butthefool’sneighbor，whoisastephigherontheAndesofthemind，whoseheadthatistosay，hismoreexaltedthoughtistoofarabovethefooltobeseenorunderstood，butwhosefeetbywhichImeanhiseverydayactions
aresufficientlyneartobediscerned，andbymeansofwhichthatsuperiorityisascertained，whichbutforthemwouldneverhavebeendiscovered-thisneighborassertsthatShakespeareisagreatpoetthefoolbelieveshim，anditishenceforwardhis_opinion。_Thisneighbor’sownopinionhas，inlikemanner，beenadoptedfromoneabovehim，andso，ascendingly，toafewgiftedindividualswhokneelaroundthesummit，beholding，facetoface，themasterspiritwhostandsuponthepinnacle。
“YouareawareofthegreatbarrierinthepathofanAmericanwriter。Heisread，ifatall，inpreferencetothecombinedandestablishedwitoftheworld。Isayestablished；foritiswithliteratureaswithlaworempire-anestablishednameisanestateintenure，orathroneinpossession。Besides，onemightsupposethatbooks，liketheirauthors，improvebytravel-theirhavingcrossedtheseais，withus，sogreatadistinction。Ourantiquariesabandontimefordistance；ourveryfopsglancefromthebindingtothebottomofthetitle-page，wherethemysticcharacterswhichspellLondon，Paris，orGenoa，arepreciselysomanylettersofrecommendation。
“Imentionedjustnowavulgarerrorasregardscriticism。Ithinkthenotionthatnopoetcanformacorrectestimateofhisownwritingsisanother。Iremarkedbeforethatinproportiontothepoeticaltalentwouldbethejusticeofacritiqueuponpoetry。Thereforeabadpoetwould，I
grant，makeafalsecritique，andhisself-lovewouldinfalliblybiashislittlejudgmentinhisfavor；butapoet，whoisindeedapoet，couldnot，Ithink，failofmaking-ajustcritique；whatevershouldbedeductedonthescoreofself-lovemightbereplacedonaccountofhisintimateacquaintancewiththesubject；inshort，wehavemoreinstancesoffalsecriticismthanofjustwhereone’sownwritingsarethetest，simplybecausewehavemorebadpoetsthangood。Thereare，ofcourse，manyobjectionstowhatIsay：Miltonisagreatexampleofthecontrary；buthisopinionwithrespecttothe’ParadiseRegained’isbynomeansfairlyascertained。Bywhattrivialcircumstancesmenareoftenledtoassertwhattheydonotreallybelieve！Perhapsaninadvertentwordhasdescendedtoposterity。But，infact，the’ParadiseRegained’islittle，ifatall，inferiortothe’ParadiseLost，’andisonlysupposedsotobebecausemendonotlikeepics，whatevertheymaysaytothecontrary，and，readingthoseofMiltonintheirnaturalorder，aretoomuchweariedwiththefirsttoderiveanypleasurefromthesecond。
“IdaresayMiltonpreferred’Comus’toeither。ifso-justly。
“AsIamspeakingofpoetry，itwillnotbeamisstotouchslightlyuponthemostsingularheresyinitsmodernhistory-theheresyofwhatiscalled，veryfoolishly，theLakeSchool。SomeyearsagoImighthavebeeninduced，byanoccasionlikethepresent，toattemptaformalrefutationoftheirdoctrine；atpresentitwouldbeaworkofsupererogation。ThewisemustbowtothewisdomofsuchmenasColeridgeandSouthey，but，beingwise，havelaughedatpoeticaltheoriessoprosaicallyexemplifled。
“Aristotle，withsingularassurance，hasdeclaredpoetrythemostphilosophicalofallwritings*-butitrequiredaWordsworthtopronounceitthemostmetaphysical。Heseemstothinkthattheendofpoetryis，orshouldbe，instruction；yetitisatruismthattheendofourexistenceishappiness；ifso，theendofeveryseparatepartofourexistence，everythingconnectedwithourexistence，shouldbestillhappiness。
Thereforetheendofinstructionshouldbehappiness；andhappinessisanothernameforpleasure；-thereforetheendofinstructionshouldbepleasure：yetweseetheabove-mentionedopinionimpliespreciselythereverse。
“Toproceed：_ceterisparibus，_bewhopleasesisofmoreimportancetohisfellow-menthanhewhoinstructs，sinceutilityishappiness，andpleasureistheendalreadyobtainedwhichinstructionismerelythemeansofobtaining。
“Iseenoreason，then，whyourmetaphysicalpoetsshouldplumethemselvessomuchontheutilityoftheirworks，unlessindeedtheyrefertoinstructionwitheternityinview；inwhichcase，sincererespectfortheirpietywouldnotallowmetoexpressmycontemptfortheirjudgment；
contemptwhichitwouldbedifficulttoconceal，sincetheirwritingsareprofessedlytobeunderstoodbythefew，anditisthemanywhostandinneedofsalvation。InsuchcaseIshouldnodoubtbetemptedtothinkofthedevilin’Melmoth。’wholaborsindefatigably，throughthreeoctavovolumes，toaccomplishthedestructionofoneortwosouls，whileanycommondevilwouldhavedemolishedoneortwothousand。
“Againstthesubtletieswhichwouldmakepoetryastudy-notapassion-itbecomesthemetaphysiciantoreason-butthepoettoprotest。YetWordsworthandColeridgearemeninyears；theoneimbuedincontemplationfromhischildhood；theotheragiantinintellectandlearning。Thediffidence，then，withwhichIventuretodisputetheirauthoritywouldbeoverwhelmingdidInotfeel，fromthebottomofmyheart，thatlearninghaslittletodowiththeimagination-intellectwiththepassions-oragewithpoetry。
“’Trifles，likestraws，uponthesurfaceflow；
Hewhowouldsearchforpearlsmustdivebelow，’