Even at its very best criticism is no more than a handmaid to the Muses. The few really great practitioners may produce brief works of literature, but in relation to the works which inspired them, no results can be more than the hors-d' a:uvre or the dessert to the main mealhowever great a relish is added to the banquet by the best additions of even Lamb or Hazlitt, F .. R. Leavis or C. S. Lewis.