CRITIQUE ON LORD BYRON. "Claudite jam rivos, pueri, sat prata biberunt."-VIRG. So the Public at length is beginning to tire on Some guess'd this would happen :-the presage proved true. Of all, or at least of each principal topic, Which serves as a theme for his muse misanthropic. Yet blithely, though sharply, the young minstrel caroll'd, Roams through the wide world without object or pleasure; The fragments, which bear the strange name of the Giaour? Yet firm, from her purpose no danger could bend her. By what happy means could these lovers contrive, Of the Harem's strict bondage to lengthen the tether, Of Eastern serais, though not versed in the fashions, We've heard, in those climates, where boil all the passions, To surprise Seyd Pashà, with his three tails of horse-hair. * The Edinburgh reviewer, who vainly attempted to crush Lord Byron at the commencement of his poetical career, thus began his animadversions: "The poetry of this young Lord belongs to the class which neither men nor gods are said to permit. His effusions are spread over a dead flat, and can no more get above or below the level, than if they were so much stagnant water." Having made this estimate of the noble poet's powers, which, however justified by some of the Minor's Hours of Idleness, must preclude the Northern Seer from all pretension to the gift of second sight, he adds the following wholesome advice :- "Whatever success may have attended the peer's subsequent compositions, it might have been followed without any serious detriment to the public. We counsel him that he do forthwith abandon poetry, and turn his talents and opportunities to better account. But the destinies order-unlucky mishap! That Conrad, not Seyd, should be caught in the trap. When he knew her warm heart, of his terrible fate full, But who is this Lara, that starts into view? Gloomy chief, thou'rt less qualmish with friends, and with foes! * How was Ezzelin so snugly put out of the way? For Memory here brings us nothing but pain. Can the laud be much relish'd by Gifford and Crabbe, Which is shared by the crazy-brain'd muse of Queen Mab? Would Dryden or Otway, or Congreve, or Pope, Sweet Burns, or the Bard who delights us with Hope, * The Poet in describing the faithful attendant on Count Lara, did not perhaps exactly recollect his former account of Gulnare's person That form of eye so dark, and cheek so fair, And auburn waves of gemm'd and braided hair. Dealers in fiction, both in verse and prose, require good memories. Whether this solution, or the suggestion in the text, best meets the difficulty, the sagacious reader will determine according to his fancy. Be flatter'd to find they were join'd in this melée, And placed cheek by jole with dame Morgan and Shelley?** 'Tis a drama repulsive, but still it has force.— Are the pictures from fancy ?-fictitious or real? Yet 'tis strange that each image that glides through his lanthorn Who views with delight tears of damsels deluded,-‡ To the wretch who hates all things, himself too included,— As in Hamlet, or Rolla, we still saw John Kemble. But amongst these sarcastic and amorous sallies, Who marks not that effort of impotent malice, Aim'd at worth placed on high-nay, the most lofty station, The noble Baron, in his appendix to the Two Foscari, is pleased to call Lady Morgan's Italy" a fearless and excellent work." The world in general will be more ready to subscribe to the first than the last half of the panegyric. In the same place he tells us that he "highly admires Mr Shelley's poetry, in common with all those who are not blinded by baseness and bigotry." It might be wrong to advise readers to have recourse to Mr Shelley's works and judge for themselves. Those who desire to see specimens, and to compare Lord B.'s opinion with that of other critics, will do well to consult the Quarterly Review, in which work may also be seen some useful remarks on the fearless Lady Morgan's literary labours. A few of the poets of former and the present times are here noticed as having the good fortune to receive honourable mention from Lord B.; a glory they enjoy in common with the Hibernian Lady-errant, and the poetico-metaphysical maniac. David long ago designated the atheist as a fool; it is more charitable to consider him as a madman. Mr Southey has conferred the appellation of "the Satanic School" on a certain class of poets. The idea is as obvious as that of calling Venice the "Rome of the Ocean" Let the worthy Laureat, however, have undisputed claim to the original invention. Mrs Joanna Baillie has illustrated different passions by a tragedy and a comedy on each subject. Lord Byron has also thus drawn a double representation of human depravity. In these, Don Juan performs the part of first Buffo, whilst Manfred leads those who are invested with the serious buskin. Much abuse has been lavished on Lord Elgin for having sent to this country the spoils of the Parthenon. If this celebrated temple could have remained in security, the removal of its ornaments might have have been called a sort of sacrilege. But it is well known that a Turk, who wants to white-wash his house, makes no scruple of destroying the finest remains of ancient art for that ignoble purpose. Was it not, therefore, better to place these precious relies under the protection of Britain, where they will be admired and appreciated, than to let them remain in the power of barbarians, who might speedily reduce them to dust in a lime-kiln ? Far wide from its mark flew the shaft from the string, On the banks of Euphrates you better regale us, Though he laughs at her creed about Pluto and Styx. His love she returns when his virtues she conn'd over, And was true, e'en to death, when she found him so fond of her. Bravely fights, and then dies in a blaze like a hero! You can next (for stage magic you're ne'er at a loss) carry Your friends back to Venice, and show them the Foscari. To these luckless isles we're transported again! Lo! a youth harshly judged by the Council of Ten, Most wilfully rushes on horrible tortures, Lest in some foreign clime he should take up his quarters! His hatred invincible tow'rds all the men is, But he doats with strange love on the mere mud of Venice. His phlegm patriotic out-brutuses Brutus. In his chair, whilst the rack's wrenching torments are done, His nerves such a spectacle tolerate well; Yet he dies by the shock, when the sound of a bell, The ending of the first line of this and the following couplet is designed as an humble imitation of the manner in which Lord B. sometimes closes his lines in serious, as well as ludicrous poetry, in blank verse, as well as in rhyme. In compositions of humour it may be allowable to disjoin words at pleasure, and finish a verse with a most feeble termination; but the licence granted to Beppo or Don Juan would be thought unreasonable in works of a graver character. Whoever takes the trouble of examining Sardanapalus, the Foscari, and the Mystery of Cain, will find the the lines are very differently constructed from the practice of the best preceding writers. The Italian poets may have adopted some such mode in their stanzas; but the following this example will not improve the majestic inceding step of the English Muse, as exemplified by Shakespeare and Milton. On a sudden, to Venice announces the doom, And lays down his maxims there free from objectors. A lash light as mine, grave offences can trounce ill- Like Amboyna's swollen victims when drench'd by the Dutch.‡ To close up your flood-gates of blank verse and rhyme. PALEMON. The demon's insinuations, tending directly to an object the reverse of that which Pope aims at in his Essay on Man, the present being evidently designed to make man doubt the benevolence and goodness of his Maker, might justify harsher terms than are here employed. Instead of vile metaphysics, they might have been termed horrible blasphemies. Let not the noble author shelter himself under the example of Milton. The author of Paradise Lost displays want of taste in making the Almighty argue like "a school divine," as the artists of the Roman Catholic Church have done in representing him under the form of an old man with a long beard; but neither the poet nor the painter intended to commit an irreverend insult. Milton's devils talk and act sufficiently in character, but they are kept within decent bounds. Belial himself, however qualified" to make the worse appear the better reason," is not suffered by the poet to practise his arts on the readers of his divine epic. + This alludes to a rumour in the newspapers of an intended triple alliance between these three personages, for the amusement and edification of mankind. The Island of Amboyna, one of the Moluccas, was formerly occupied jointly by the English and Dutch. In the year 1622, the Hollanders feeling the superiority of their numbers, which was about three to two in their favour, conceived the design of making themselves masters of the whole island. For this purpose they pretended to have discovered a plot contrived by the English for their expulsion. Many of the English settlers were accordingly arrested and exposed to torture, in order to enforce a confession. Amongst the methods employed, was the extraordinary one here alluded to. The accused was fastened to a seat, in an upright posture, with a piece of canvass fixed round his neck, extended above the head in the form of a cup. Water being repeatedly poured into this receptacle, it was necessary to swallow the liquid to avoid suffocation. Under this infliction, the bodies of the sufferers were said to be distended to double their ordinary size. |