But as he never had occasion to write essays upon their poetry, it is perhaps hardly fair to expect anything more than the general remarks that we actually do find, and as far as they go they are satisfactory.
Like most of his distinguished contemporaries, Scott held the work of Southey in surprisingly high estimation.[274] Southey, more than anyone else except Wordsworth, and more than Wordsworth in some ways, was the "real poet" of the period, devoting his whole heart to literature and his whole time to literary pursuits.

Scott commented on the fact, saying, "Southey's ideas are all poetical," and, "In this respect, as well as in many others, he is a most striking and interesting character."[275] Nevertheless Scott found it easy to criticise Southey's poems adversely, as we may see from his correspondence.

Writing to Miss Seward he pointed out flaws in the story and the characterization of _Madoc_,[276] yet after repeated readings he saw enough to convince him that _Madoc_ would in the future "assume his real place at the feet of Milton."[277] _Thalaba_ was one of the poems he liked to have read aloud on Sunday evenings.[278] A review of _The Curse of Kehama_, in which he seemed to express the opinion that this surpassed the poet's previous work, illustrates his professed creed as to criticism.

He wrote to Ellis concerning his article: "What I could I did, which was to throw as much weight as possible upon the beautiful passages, of which there are many, and to slur over the absurdities, of which there are not a few....

This said _Kehama_ affords cruel openings for the quizzers, and I suppose will get it roundly in the _Edinburgh Review_.