Excerpt from Prince Lucifer Were it not unbecoming, I think I could show how this controversial spirit, this polemical temper of our time, has affected, for good or ill, the writings and reputa tion of some of my contemporaries who are eminent by their compositions in verse. But since I am precluded from adopting that course, I shall, perhaps, be pardoned if I fall back upon the only alternative method of illustration open to me, and indicate, with as much brevity and reserve as the case will permit, how the prevailing anxiety to establish some definite conclusion, theological or ethical, and the tacit as sumption that everybody is burning with the same desire, has caused even the most competent critics. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.