ABSTRACT
God forbid, your Sister should ever cease to use her own Eyes and heart, and only her own, in order to know how a Poem ought to affect mankind; but we must learn to see with the Eyes of others in order to guess luckily how it will affect them – Neither do I wish her to learn this; but then I would have her learn to entertain neither warm Hopes or confident Expectations concerning Events dependent on minds & hearts below the distinct Ken of her Sympathies. Let her only reflect that (even excluding the effect of, Routs & continued personal gossip, &c &c, yet) the great majority of the modern Buyers of new Poems read at least 20 whole Novels of 2, 3, 4, 5 Volumes each, for one poem – You have slightly mentioned this in the Preface to the L. B. – but it deserves to be dwelt on at length –.
