I have given in one of the preceding chapters a little set of verses of his own, called _The Willow Tree_, and his own parody on his own work.

There the reader may see how effective a parody may be in destroying the sentiment of the piece parodied.

But in dealing with other authors he has been grotesque without being severely critical, and has been very like, without making ugly or distasteful that which he has imitated.

No one who has admired _Coningsby_ will admire it the less because of _Codlingsby_.

Nor will the undoubted romance of _Eugene Aram_ be lessened in the estimation of any reader of novels by the well-told career of _George de Barnwell_.