SOURCE: "The Life of Matthew Prior," in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior, pp. v-xx. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1858.

In the following excerpt from an introduction to a nineteenth-century edition of Prior's poetry, Gilfillan offers his opinion regarding Prior's most popular and accomplished works.

His writings have been accurately and comprehensively divided by Dr Johnson into his "Tales," his "Occasional Poems," "Alma," and "Solomon." His "Tales" are, so far as the incidents are concerned, in general, borrowed, but the handling is Prior's own. They are sprightly and amusing, and have been compared to the productions of that "fable tree," Fontaine. He that touches pitch must run his chance of being defiled, but Prior carries away less of it from his rather ticklish themes than might have been expected. Should anyone insist that two or three of these stories are blots, he must, at the same time, admit that they...