Dreadful some of them are; and I doubt if there is one from which we would not wish stanzas, lines, and words absent.

But some are very fine.

The man who could write such verses as these ought not to have written as he has written:-- Had I a glance of thee, my God, Kingdoms and men would vanish soon; Vanish as though I saw them not, As a dim candle dies at noon.
Then they might fight and rage and rave: I should perceive the noise no more Than we can hear a shaking leaf While rattling thunders round us roar.
Some of his hymns will be sung, I fancy, so long as men praise God together; for most heartily do I grant that of all hymns I know he has produced the best for public use; but these bear a very small proportion indeed to the mass of his labour.

We cannot help wishing that he had written about the twentieth part.

We could not have too much of his best, such as this: Be earth with all her scenes withdrawn; Let noise and vanity begone: In secret silence of the mind My heaven, and there my God, I find; but there is no occasion for the best to be so plentiful: a little of it will go a great way.