Star.
London, England, 1824-01-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

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; 44.•

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~_~-~s~r((s~R`~~ .

Cato to Lord Byron on the Innora!ity of his Writings.
Bvo. pp. 128.
We frankly confess ourselves to be of the number al
those who have a full conviction, that the beauties to be
found in some of Lord Byron's compositions, can never
compensate for the injuries inflicted on good manners
anal gond taste--to say nothing of morality and reli-
gion—by the gross grovelling sensuality that pervades
his writings.—Writing under similar feelings, the au-
thor. or Cato states his " intention not to examine mi-
nntely, the grounds upon which the poetry of Lord
Byron claims, and has been considered as deserving of
its high reputation." His " views in the task imposed
uriontimself are of another kind. It is the immorality
of his Lordship's- writings that constitute the chief theme
- of investigation—the deformity that attaches to him
• its,a Christian and as a man."

In conformity with his plan he proceeds to spew,
!vim a brief review yf the greater part of Lord Byron's
productions, that his Lordship's " present lost state of
mind has not come suddenly upon him, but that, from
t!:e very cradle of his genius (his earlier poems, on
which`much of his best fame is founded) he bas forced
his Muse into the service of immorality." Of the works
adverted to by the author, he observes also " that (ex-
cepting The Bride of Abydos, 'L lee Prophecy of Dante,
and lite Prisoner of C;hillon) a great defect, and poeti-
cally: considered an inexpiable one, intiependent of
more serious objection, runs through the entire body of
these poems. It must be evident, (says he) on the
• slightest inspection, that a gross say,feness pervades the.
libidinous mass. Your impieties and ribaldties ; your

sneers, And je.ts, and gibes, are scions of a common
stmt..... Out of one quiver you shoot every arrow, and

every arrow dipped in the same poison. Indeed, there
is such an identity in these ' thick coming' composi-
tions, that having read one of your poetical incentives
to immorality. %se have read all. One soul shines out in
Greece, in Spain, in Italy, in whatever beautiful clime
yoar heines blast by their presence. Amid a great va-
riety of personages and incidents, the main wurk is yet
4oilig on every where alike. There is a certain quan-
tity of loose prophaneness,.the staple commodity;
floating mass of offeasive matter which is taken up, in
crude and hasty portions, by every character as it
passes. When Harold drops off, we find his evil genius
revived in the Oiaour ; and when the Giaour expires,
it springs from his ashes, and, gathering fresh life, per-
ft.rms its transmigrations through the Corsair, the Re-
negade, and the whole crew of worthies issuing from the
same prolific You neither surprise us with new
portraitures of the human mind, .nor with any varia-
tions of the old. You neither bring to your poems the
aid of such a variety of characters as is to be found in
the world ; nor do you attempt to diversify the usual
produce of human nature by the invention fill such as
ate not. On the contrary, any sentiment infered by one
hero will come as appropriately from mouth 'cl
another. All of them may change speeches with little
or no violation of their mental costume. Their distin-
guishing qualities may be promiscuously cast into a bag,
and it matters not which of them make•the first choice:
he is sure to be fitted, whether he fish out his own par,
ticular enormities or not."

Our limits do not permit us to offer a long extract,
het the following may serve as a specimen of Cato's
observations:

" The next ground you take is a very imprudent
one, and far too holy to be defiled by so unholy a Muse.
The I!dietu Melodies is an attempt to clothe sacred
octry in a more beautiful garb. than its own. We
cannot do it. Vida, in his Christiad,' has afforded.no
encouragement to such vain hopes. He has made it
ueitl)es sublime nor pious, neither a help to the study
of Christianity, nos an incitement. It is a poem dull,
and heavy, and feeble tkrovshoist. with nothing to
e.ompel applause, and hardly anything to insure pa-
tience. Nor has his more modern follower fared much
better. The' Calvary' of Cumberland will be read, as
everything coming from such a pen must be ; but no
friend to his fame will ever wish it to be brought to the
crdeal of severe criticism. Heber's Palestine is si-

hotly passing away. The truth is, Holy Scripture, to
• the mere English reader, speaks so Well in no language
as its own.- What we add to it diminishes its value.

What we rake from it has the same effect. What we
change 404 we are almost certain to change for the
WOW., its •ernacular elegance is not to be surpassed,
. nor from its native bed can we transplant its sublime
cemeeptions. We might as well dream of latmizing
Horner and preserving his spirit. Even Addison, with
ail his giOrarrekluisites for the undertaking, so far as he