Such defects as these are not
incompatible with a general benevolence and a certain quality of
errant and purely ideal chivalry, which distinguishes the paladin from
the knight. Canalis has not devotion enough for a Don Quixote, but he
has too much elevation of thought not to put himself on the nobler
side of questions and things. His poetry, which takes the town by
storm on all profitable occasions, really injures the man as a poet;
for he is not without mind, but his talent prevents him from
developing it; he is overweighted by his reputation, and is always
aiming to make himself appear greater than he has the credit of being.
Thus, as often happens, the man is entirely out of keeping with the
products of his thought. The author of these naive, caressing, tender
little lyrics, these calm idylls pure and cold as the surface of a
lake, these verses so essentially feminine, is an ambitious little
creature in a tightly buttoned frock-coat, with the air of a diplomat
seeking political influence, smelling of the musk of aristocracy, full
of pretension, thirsting for money, already spoiled by success in two
directions, and wearing the double wreath of myrtle and of laurel.
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