The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

LORD BYRON and his COTEMPORARIES. By
Luau HUNT. LONDON, 1828.

Mr. Hunt, as is by this time tolerably well known,
was invited some six or seven years since to Italy,
for the purpose of starting a periodical, in conjunc-
tion with Lord Byron and Mr. Shelley. To enable
• him the better to do so, his Lordship transmitted
him two hundred pounds, in addition to which, on
Mr. Hunt's arrival at Pisa, he fitted him up a con-
venient suite of apartments in `his own house—a
series of benefactions that have been characteristi-
cally repaid by the volume before us. With respect
to the periodical, which was to have been a joint con-
cern, Lord Byron, from a very early period of its
publication, declined all share in the profits, contri-
buting, nevertheless, some of his noblest poems—
Heaven and Earth for instance—to its pages, for the
sole purpose, as it should seem, of benefiting his
friend, Mr. Hunt. At the expiration of a few
months, however, it was ascertained that the " Li-
beral" was a dead failure, and the purpose which'
had seduced the author of " Rimini" to Italy being
thus defeated, a separation took place. between that
gentleman and Lordßyron • the one setting out shortly
afterwards for Greece, and the other. for England.
It is the history of this connexion with the Noble Bard
that Mr. Hunt has here related; he has given a minute
highly seasoned account of his manners, his mode.of
life, his style of conversation, mixed up with much me-
taphysical speculation on the subject of his good and
evil qualities. The latter, of course, predominate.
Mr. Hunt was under considerable obligations to his-
Lordship, and it was necessary—in order that the
consistency of a modern philosopher might be duly.
preserved—that his gratitude to the illustrious dead
should be thus evinced. Many authors, in discussing
she character of their deceased friends and patrons,
might have been weak enough to respect the grave;
they might have been apt to consider it ae a sort of-
Mausoleum of Charity in which every hostile feeling
should be entombed; but Mr. Hunt, nobly disdain
ful of such effeminate prejudices has set an example'
of malignant originality ; he has trampled on the'
sanctuary of death, iuvaded its awful silence, and di-
rected the finger of public scorn tows 'Js the poor
handful of dust and ashes that once composed his
asfetsd. This revenge is glorious ; it is literally,
almost unprecedented, and derives a ditional recom-
mendatioes from the circiunstanceet its object being
no longer able to defend himself. 7 hat Mr. Hunt
might have differed from Lord Byron on many—in-
deed on most points—we can readily believe,but was
lie therefore justified in impugning every good qua-
lity he possessed ? Because ais Lordship—we have
hinted these interrogatories before—disliked Mr.
aului Keats, was he to be set down as a bad, or at
least an imitative poet ? Because he carelessly as-
sured Mr. Hunt that he rode well, was his mode of
saying so to be attributed to vexation? Because he
was no Cockney, and thought that Mr. Hunt's man-
ners—however closely they might approximate to
;it—were not altogether perfection, was he to be
censured as deficient in address ? Because, like a
considerate citiren of the world, he took a note of
hand. for his advance (it was a donation) to the
;author of Rimini, was he to be reputed mean,
mercantile, and avaricious ? Because, in alluding
to the names of some visitors in Italy, he accidentally
emitted I\[r. Shelley, was he to be written down a
liar ? Because, he could not, like Sir John Falstaff,
" babble about green fields," was he to be denied
conversational powers ?" In the name of all that
is lofty and redeeming in human nature, we protest
against such studied, such insidious, such malignant
misconception of character. We protest against that
worse than Jesuitical treachery, which, arrogating to
itself a more than ordinary respect for truth, perverts,
s-ithout absolutely destroying, the simplest facts—
'which glides imperceptibly, but adroitly, into the
confidence of its victim—hunts out his failings, exag-
gerates his lightest errors, and then despite the claims
of friendship and the sanctities of the domestic
hearth, sends them forth to the world anatomized and
laid bare, for its delight, astonishment, or. detestation.
Mr. Hunt is .a gentleman who is perpetually
taking credit with the public for the lofty temper of
his ethics. He is an apt descendant (slightly modi-
fied by the changed character of the times) of those
revolutionary philosophers who turned sceptics from
excessive devotion, and could talk of nothing but " ad-
vancing the great cause of humanity" and so forth.
Sta Ange that so unprejudiced a philosopher, and one
who haa the good of his fellow-citizens so much at,
heart, sho3ld;be the author of as ungenerous a publi-
cation as was ever yet penned ! Strange, that the
high-souled man of ;dependence, should accept ob-
ligations from him Lipton whose grave he trampled !
Stranger still, that the inculcator of a pure system of
morality should permit the mother of his eight children
to live under the same roof with an avoss'ed adultness !
Jaut the real cause of all this long series of hlunderi
—to pse the mildest term—on the part ef Mr. Hunt,
may be found in his egregious coxcombry. At the
:Examnee Office, or in the charming groves of
Hampstead, he was doubtless a man of intellectual
wealth, a sort of literary Rothschild—at Pisa,and
in company with the author of one of the noblest
conversational poems in this, or any language, his
abilities, like Doctor Phillpotts' charity, were at a
discount. Disappointed vanity took a satanic
turn ; hence the volume before us. Compare the
two men, and see whether the one, from the nature
of liisT intellect, be competent to give an impartial
memole of the other. Lord Byron is (we use the
present teisse, for though dead he is with us still,
and will be through eternity,) a poet of the very
loftiest order ; Sall-. Hunt of the very lowest. The
one, with kindred majesty of spirit, apostrophises the
Ocean ; communes with the stars " the poetry of
heaven ;" invokes a classical vengeance on his foes
in the deserted shrines of Nemesis ; identifies him. ,
self in a grand and s.velling egotistical • spirit with
the ruins of Rome; and is sublime—impassioned—
tender—philosophical—sarcastic, as circumstances
require finch display. Mr. Hunt is a smart dapper
versifier, who prefers the hills of" Hampstead
to the Alps or Appennines--aavhe pro-
fesses a distaste of the sea—who writes pretty
little mythological poems on the " Naiads;'
the scenery of which be lays at Highgate; who-,
prefers the clinking of his coal fire to the majestic
mountain landscapes of Italy ; and is altogether a
confirmed Cockney. Again, that silent but COM-
mandi ng influence which, imperceptibly almost to
',.tself, a great mind never fails to exert over a little
one, was not without its effect on Mr. Hunt; and
added to his extreme difference of character and opis
slims, increased tenfold his rancour towards Lord
,Byron. But all attempts to depreciate ghat illus.
trious poet are vain, and worse th
I t. ai
Hunt
are
,the very burlesque of malignity. , ieyt as
tote, has thrown a stone into the stream of his
isoldship's popularity, which may for a time ruffle
its, waters; but the excitement must soon abate,
and the current flow on stainless, majestic, and. un-
interrupted as before. Besides, all great men have
had their wading critics—Homer had his Zoilus,
and why shoule! Byron be without his Hunt

K INC'S THEATIC,4:.—The anrmal concert for
the benefit of the New Musical Fund was giyea pn Thurs-
day last, at this theatre, and, we are happy to say., was
very numerously and respectably .attended. To mention.
Madame PASTA, 'Airs. FERON, Mr. RuitA.3t, and others
equally worthy of note, would be saying that nothing was
wanting to give the highest attraction to the performances.
A very young lady, Miss Essax, made
her debut, as an in-
strumental player, in the execution of ismue variations on
the pianoforte. Mr. F. CRAMER led with his usual ability,
and the orchestra, which was raised on the stage, counted
upwards of two hundred performers.
•
BURY SclrooL.—Among the-
numerous
Candidates for the Head Mastership of this Establishment,
appears the name of the Rev. F. VALeT, M.A. Trinity
College, Cambridge. This gentleman is a son of that fine.
scholar the Master of Reading School, and by- -bis own
classical acquirements does honour even to his father's
?nigh name. His knowledge of Greek, in particular, is said
to be profound and discriminating ; and his acquaintance
with the principles of Latin composition, worthy of his
uncle, the author of the " Elegantim Latina ," and Head
Master of Norwich School.