The Sun.
London, England, 1824-05-31 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

of . . . . . ,
On Me DESTRUCTIONLord BYR,ON'SMEMOIRS
.-ware TEN BY nriii.liai-.
Mit. EIIITOII.----1 can hardly trust my pen to
give expression to my feelings on a subject like the present,
where the interests of genius and morality, of the individual
and the public, are equally concerned; however the cold, cal-
culating hypocritical ones of that public may console them:
selves with the high example.just now given them of shrowd,.
ing their hearts' corrruptions.from the eye of their fellows.--
The most valuable knowledge that man can possess is a know-
kage of himself. Self-written biography, particularly of high
genius and extraordinary apparent aberrations, afield* some of
the most important rudiments of that knowledge.
The pretended.iritnalifir of our social system is, external pre-
tence and mutual gratulati6n to conceal an internal rottenness.
Amongst the means of supporting this system, is the constant
and legitimate practice of putting forward the weak and guilt-
less as scape-goats, to bear the sins of the strong, and the know-
, ing and guilty ones, distracting and delading the public opie
nion. Front all share that could interest and exalt them in the
grand drama of human life, women are, by this partial male;
created system, unjustly excluded ; except, when to forward
some vile plot against the interest of individuals or society at
large, they are put forward to exercise a mischievous activity,
or to partake of an inglorious notoriety.
The destruction of the self-written Mentors of Lord Byron
fully evinces the truth of this remark. Amongst the co-opc-
raters in this most sad, and, to my mind, most shameful deed,
we find ladies dragged in to figure in the commission of an act,
the character of which, whether we view it as a violation of the
sacred rights of confiding and generous friendship, or as .a,
breach of public trust, I cannot contemplate without shudder-
ing; this done too under the mask of affected delicacy and re-
spect for feminine feelings, in a country proverbial every wkere.
out of its own bounds for its neglect, nay, for its contempt of.
the sex, where, with scarcely rights, privileges, or consideration
of any kind, they are degraded, at the arbitrary caprice of those
whom male have made their masters, into the niere servants
and slaves to the appetites of men ! Had the transaction been
one of virtue and heroism, instead of being what no epithetS
are wanting to paint it, no woman would have been permitted
to figure amongst the males ; where disgrace de pain are to be
shared, the obedient creatures are summoned to .the lionoui of.
participation.
It was wise, it was necessary, in a transaetion like this, to
form a large party for the purpose of softening down, by di-
viding and diffusing, and of relieving each other by turns from
the odium due to the violation of private confidence, and to the
well-grounded hopes of instruction and consequent offended.
feelings of the public, to whom, and not to any individual, the
mighty genius passed away, bequeathed the secrets of his in-.
most soul. The philosophic poet, commemotating the fidelity
of his Dog, says of man,
4, Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
" Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit."
Yes, until men undergo a thorough purifying front the col•
rupt principles of a vicious system of education, they will be
unworthy of all trust and confidence..
The memoirs of such a man as Lord Byron, written by him-
self, become indeed a reversionary right of the public, though
the author had written them simply for his own amusement
and given no directions on the subject. But where he confided !
—why this breathless and indecent haste ?—before we-fead time ;
to hear that the last expression of life had withered from his
fading features—was itto interpose a barrier to shame and re-
morse lest public reclamation or private duty should arrest the.
deed ? Alas ! the poet, the friend can reproach rid more. •One
individual at least of the public, on the part of the public, and
as sharing those feelings which the dead would have felt,. de. •
demands, why this irreparable destruction ? Such memoirs
would throw a new light on the long neglected, practical or ex-
perimental patt, ()fate science of mind, coming from a sublime
genius, whose delight was to guide and analyse the whirlwind
of the human passions, familiar with the nunnl deep.- No lurk-,
ing vanity, the fault of minds less courageous. would have led
him to spare his own errors the chastisement be was wont to
suffered
ockth': 111 le..
downl w
t onhtahtoasenoofhoittobrerhsa.veAw Vehlaotstal beacon has been pulled
No more let the friend of Lord Byron boast his enlightened
•
patriotism, his desire kr the improvement of- his fellow-crea- •
Cures. Ile, o'n WhoM the public and his. friend relied for the
preservation
fia.chrsptuom
the superior
impressiveness anti utility of self-written biography, from the.fr
ex-
tinguishernis oir feigned
tooffa
ltlh
toe
bupone sacredwi
tri it deposited
eNenSpr olibseiyrt Wherefore rflea flame,
himself eer;e
known impossibility.of concealing the real mind when it is dis-
sected by itself.. 1 et. til friend, the (shall. I say ?) kindred ••
po haset,.considerations-in such high matters interesting to the'
permitted the violation ! To talk of individual pe-
cuniarywhole of the human race, can but degrade the narrator, while
its wretched aim is to distract. the public attention from its
mighty loss. In the true spirit of'that all-pervading, all-en-
grossing passion of men, vanity, joined to the devouring love
of gain, we shall see little candles lighted up every where—
twoopia
tnl
hypie,radltleicn;aoc undertake"delicacy
onos f
otfo
afais furnish
e urnlorawiltihtya,
they already appear—by way of memoirs, to console us for the .
last unhorrowed rays of the luminary now .set for ever. r
Female gossips and male respectore of outward decencies and
inward corruption; will lose nothing by this profane conflagra-
and this disgusitainagivliidottit•alii-,
al
eli
ns 1
pgtettiercoou:.l riet,soalnud-
dish seasoned to their
drawing-room taste,
bneaaumse;:. anuTecdod
:otieortnte.hitNi4nothcdoheottfrboet:nethlity.
will be spiced, ,to perfection with flat malignity,- stale and •
as hateful as the orb of day was to Milton's Satan ; and in core- .
.. (_,) truth, how we hate thy
tiori to.be in death as in life;
lle‘lyrorn
they
we say,
he nefici a 1 to ( his stnipoeegncritae
psiv,hhlyil
ci.
oshf
foe fl'ia,
eeprrty-
Lag himself ittl aa a subject for the Tara anatomist, have all ,
. iattit-isao the corrupt and artificial mind-'
been defeated by
to promote some little , bie
mischief,to.many,
toman
y, or.to the whole •
irreP4r,i''rt, I had rather- I
Species. For my ? ;
"IttiPeing thefrigned .theatioteb. best effusions
of the friend's p
- "I:7ne destruction of a 1 c'''
Which propagates
.cotijr:teuptisa,P;b:dgYeovtohlectvodansiconsms:e
favoured
does endless and
Rock, than hear
d otind, ought to c • onsider as publi •
well-constitute n. , t., property, and,
t interest
with which no priva e. , no vague point of .honour, no
affected tenacity for the fame -of
ultra and a the friend; the poet,
should have interfered..
he philosopher,
and t,Lord-Byron has
~„ if woven the imperishable. wreath '
.fi". 'l--r o'li-ice to entwine the cypress. _ r ..with which it' is
our sal . 148. and the .willow The •
. fee-
?tins of Greece Kehl ready to place upon his polished brow,
the
hero's laurel with the civic crown ; and . once mere, as in the
plenitude of her fOrmer.glory, she would have said to the bare
who echoed back her deeds In soup,
'° Now die, foi you
xannot be inade.a.God.".. • Such a man wanted no: pretended consideration fb•
or isfame.' s:
I have the hono
• tir to be,
Sit, your Well-wisher, and one of the Publk,
ANNA;