The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-22 00:00:00

GOETHE'S OPINIONof LORD BYRON.

We extract the following from the Foreign Quar-
terly Review. It is a shrewd and-masterly delineation
of the character of Lord Byron, by Goethe, contained
in an article upon Ecls.,:rmann's Conversations with the
Great German.

" I know no man,' said Gothe, who posseses
what is called invention in a higher degree than Lord
Byron. He unravels the dramatic knot in a manner
that surpasses all expectation." I feel exactly the
same thing with Shakspeare,' replied I, ' and particu-
larly with his Falstaff; when this hero has told one of
his gigantic lies, I rack me brain to conceive how he
will work himself out of his own mesh,—but Shak-
speare brings him out of the scrape in ,a style of his
own, which no cogitation can anticipate. If you are
right in saying the same of Lord Byron, I cavnot con-
ceive that you could in any way pay a greater compli-
ment to his genius.'
" Gothe nodded assent, and then laughed at the
new whim of his Lordship, who in life had never
learned to controul himself in the least trifle, and yet
most strangely had allowed himself in his recent
plays to be tied down by the stupid law (das dumme
Gesetz) of the three unities. It is plain,' said he,
'that his Lordship knew as little of the true principle
of this rule as the rest of the world. The three uni-
ties are only useful in so far as they enable the spec-
tator more easily to comprehend the piece, and to con-
nect the several parts of it together into one complete
whole. When they do not contribute to this end
they are useless, and it shows an utter want of under-
standing to employ them in such a case. The Greeks
themselves, who were the fathers of the rule, did not
always follow it; in the Phaethon of Euripides, and
in other pieces, the place changes ; and from this we
see plainly that the great Greek masters were more con-
cerned about how they might give their piece the best
scenic effect, than about a rule that in itself has no
meaning, and for which they are supposed to have had
a blind reverence. Shakspeare's plays, as everybody,
knows, jump over the unities of space and, time with-
out the least restraint; and yet there are no.pieces that
are more complete in themselves, and more readily com-
prehended as a whole bye the spectator. The French,
with all their strict adherence to the rule of the unities,
have not been able to attain to this effect ; they intro-
duce narration where we expect action, and thus disturb
our mind in forming an easy conception of the whole.
" This whim of aciLering to the unities, however,
was not without its service to Byron. It was a sort of
rein to keep within reasonable
boundaries a spirit which
was always striving after the infinite. Would to God
that he had been able to find some such rules for re-
gulating his moral nature i We may say with the
greatest certainty, that the want of such a regulating
power was his ruin, and that he went to wreck on no-
thing but the unbridled rebelliousness of his paseions.
" He was far too much in the dark about his own
condition. He lived from hand to mouth, and knew
and considered not what he was doing. He allowed
himself every license, and other people none ; and thus
he not only ruined himself, but raised up the whole
world against him. With his. " English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers," lie made a bad commencement,
and put himself into a false position with,regard to the
principal poets and literary characters of the day. In
his subsequent works the spirit of opposition and dis-
content seemed to grow with him. Church and State
were not safe from his sarcasms. This reckless war-
fare drove him out of England ; and, had he lived,
would in a short time have driven him out of Europe.
Go where he might, be had never room enough, and,
with the most unbounded personal liberty, he was un-
der an habitual feeling of constraint—,the world was a
prison to him. His expedition to Greece was any-
thing but a voluntary determination. His uncomfort- ,
able relation to his fellow-men drove him to take some
such step as this.
" The violence with which, he tore his mind away
from every thing traditional. and patriotic not only
ruined him altogether as man, but his revolutionary
feelings, and the continual agitation of his mind, pre-
vented his poetical talents from receiving their due
development. No one, moreover, can doubt that the
eternal spirit of opposition, with which he was pos-
sessed, has done an irremediable injury to the effect of
those wonderful works which he left completed. For
it is not only that the dissatisfaction of the writer com-
municates itself to the reader, but generally, all activity,
that proceeds merely from a principle of opposition,
can have nothing but a negative result, and, that which
is negative is nothing. When I say that bad is bad,
what do I gain by it ? but if I should chance, in my
negativing mania, to say that good is bad (as too often
happens), then Ido a great deal of harm. He who
wishes to be actively useful must never fall a-rating of
his neighbours, but, leaving the absurdities of the ab-
surd to shift for themselves, be concerned only to do
that which is good. For the end of all our endeavours
is not to pull down, but to build up something that
mankind may look upon and rejoice in.
" Lord Byron,' continued Gothe, 'is to be consi-
dered as a man, as an Englishman, and as a great
genius. His good qualities belong chiefly to him as a
inan ; his bad qualities belong to him as an Englishman
and a peer, and his genius is incommensurable:
" < All Englishmen, as such, are, properly speak-
ing, destitute of what we call reflection. Their con-
tinual distraction, and the spirit of political partisan-
ship, prevent their reflective powers from ever arriving
at a calm development. But, as practical men, they
arc truly great.
" Lord Byron is, in respect of reflection, no better
than his countrymen. He is great only when he writes
poetry—as soon as he begins to reflect, he is a child.*
" But, notwithstanding this national defect, he is
a man who succeeds in everything lie undertakes ; and
one may truly say, that with him inspiration takes the
place of reflection. He had no outlet but to poetize
continually ; and anything that came from him as a
man, especially if it was a feeling of the heart, was
sure to be good. His beautiful Foetus came to him as
beautiful children come to women—they know not
how, and think not why.
" He is a born genius of a high order ; and I
have nowhere found the vis puclica, properly so called,
in a inure perfect state than in him. He seizes the
leading external character, and sees through the past
with a truth not inferior to Shakspeare. But Shak-
speare was a more complete and perfect man. Byron
knew this well ; and, for this reason, has been careful
to say very little about Shakspeare, though he knows
whole passages of him by heart. He would have
been glad to disown him altogether, had that been
possible : for lie did not understand Shakspeare's
cheerfulness, and it stood not a little in his way.
again, he had no occasion to disown, for from
him h., h. bzl nothing to fear. Accordingly, we find him
mentioning Poe on all occasions with the highest
i?re-
spect, for he knew very well that Pope is a mere wall
compared to him.
" I have often thought that BYron's high rank as
an English Peer was very much against him ; for the
external world isi a thorn in the slue of every man of
high talent, and much more so when the man is placed
in a situation of high rank and influence,. A certain
middle condition is most favourable for the re,evelop-
ment of talent ; and it is for this reason that we find
by far the greatest number of artists and poets among
the middle classes of society. Byron's native propen-
sity to lose himself in the infinite would, in a lower
rank of life and with moderate means, haie been much
less prejudicial to him. As it was, however, lie was
placed in a situation where he might hope to realize
every fancy, however wild, and this entangled him in a
thousand mazes. Being himself a member of the
highest rank of society, there was none who could, in
opposition to him, assume an attitude that 'disk com-
mand his reverence or check his excesses. He spoke
out freely whatever indignant feelings were fermenting
his proud mind, and thus brought himself into irrnon-
cileable conflict with the world.'

0 " We have transplanted this last passage from another part
of the Conversations. This for the sake of those Who might
compare our translation -with the original, and imaging tint
we had palmed something on Goethe."

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