And there was little beyond this in Crabbe's moralisings on the respective functions of theology, history, poetry, and the rest, as represented on the shelves of a library, and on the blessings of literature to the heart when wearied with business and the cares of life.

Crabbe's verses on such topics are by no means ineffective.

He had caught perfectly the trick of the school so soon to pass away.

He is as fluent and copious--as skilful in spreading a truism over a dozen well-sounding lines--as any of his predecessors.

There is little new in the way of ideas.