Star.
London, England, 1824-05-29 00:00:00

SINGULAR WAGER.

'Yesterday, a young man undertook, for a wager of 10 guineas,
to row under acid walk along six bridges, via. Loudon, Southwark,
Illackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster, anal Vauxhall, in one hour
and twenty minutes, which excited considerable interest, and ciany
bets were pending nn the subject. At twelve o'clock, the app,int rd
time for starting, he entered his boat at the First side of I.9ndon
Bridge, and proceeded on his task, until he arrived at Vauxhall
Bridge, when he got out of the boat, and walked along the bridge,
having as individual to row it to the oppos::e side, vii•o.re he again
entered, and returned walking along each bridge, in a similar mtn-
ner, until he returned to the destined spot, in live mirtites less than
the given period, and the money was delivered to him.

prommo..`P'k .
THE SKYLARK.

When day's bright banner, first unfurl'd,
From darkness frees the shrouded world,
The Skylark, singing as he soars,
01 the fresh air his carol pours.
But though to Heav'n he wings his flight,
As if he lov'd those realms of light,
He still returns with weary wing
On earth to end his wandering !
Aspiring bird ! in thee I find
An emblem of the youthful mind,
Whose earliest voice, like thine, is giv'n
To notes of joy that mount to Heav'n ;
But, fetter'd by toe toils of life,
It's sordid cares, it's bitter strife—
It feels it's noble efforts vain,
And sadly sinks to earth again !

CHARACTER OF LORD BYRON.
BY SIR WALTER SCOTT.

The following warm-hearted tribute to the memory
of Lord Bvnoe, by an individual who ranked next to
him as a Poet, is a proof how much liberality is allied
to true genius:
Amidst the general calmness of' the political atmo-
sphere, we have been stunned, from another quarter, by
one of those death-notes which are pealed at intervals,
as from an Archangel's trumpet, to awaken the soul of
a whole peryle at once. Lord Byron, who has so long
and so amply filled the highest place in the public eye,
has shared the lot of humanity. Ills Lordship died at
Alissoionelni on the 19th of April. That mighty genius,
which walked amongst men as something superior tO
'ordinary ilea taiity, and whose powers were bale.ld with
wonder, and something approaching to terser, a. if we
know not whether they were of good or of evil, is laid
as soundly to rest as the poor peasant whose ideasnever
went beyond his daily task. The voice of just blame
and of malignant censure are at once silenced; and we
feel almost as if the great luminary of Heaven bad sud-
denly disappeared fronts the sky, at the moment when
every t'lo'.cope was levelled for the examination of the
spots which dimmed its brightness. It is not now the ques-
Con what were Byron's faults, what his mistakes; but.
how is the blank which he has left in British literature
to he filled np ? Not, we fear, in one generation, which,
among many highiy gifted persons, has produced none
who apptoacil Ilytoh in °more/al-1m the fist attribute
of genius. Only thirty-seven ) ears old a—so much al-
ready done for immortality—so much time remaining,
as it seems to us short-sighted mortals, to maintain and
to extend his tame, and to atone for errors in conduct
and levities in composition : who will not grieve that
such a race has been shortened, though nut always
keeping the straight path; such a light extinguished,
though sometimes flaming to dazzle and to bewilder?
One wind on this ungrateful subject ei e we grit it for ever.
Tne errors of Lord Byron arose neither front depra-
vity of heart—ter nature bad not committed the ano-
maly of uniting to such extraordinary talents an imper-
fect moral sense—nor from feelings dead to the admira-
tion of virtue. No man had ever a kinder heart fur
sympathy, or a more open hand for the relief of dis-
tress ; and no mind was ever more formed for the en-
thusiastic admiration of noble actions, providing he was
convinced that the actotsbad proceeded on disinterested
principles. Lot d Byron was totally free from the curse
a id degradation of literature—its jealousies we means,
and its envy. But Ini• wonderful genius was of a nature
which disertined res.raint, even when restraint was must
wholesome. When at school, the tasks in which he
.excelled were those only which he undertook volun-
tarily ; enia his situation as a young man of rank, with
stirring passions, and in the uncontrouled enjoyment of a
cr&si'dei able fortune, added to that impatience of strice
tares or coercion taich was natural to him. As an
aut!.or, he refu-ed to plead at the bar of criticism ; as a
rrm,• Ire wo:dd not submit to be morally amenable to
tiv, tribunal of public i.pini3n. Ittmartrances from a
frie!,d, of intentions areal kindne.; he ..vas secure,
oftcr great wei!,t with l.im ; btft thane were few
s Lo could venture r:: a task so difEr,dt. Reproof hot en-
ewe.; witi; irapai:erce, and rept oasis fart :;:wed Lim in
c:t a. —to that he -offered te,vmh:e:l the .;.tdarit vvar-
red, rushes forward en tic steel butt wounds
him. la the most pltirful crisis of his private life, he
esiacel this ittitability and impatience of censure in
degree, as almost to resemble the noble victim
of bull fight, which is more maddened by the,
tS, and petty annoyances of the unworthy'
cleoed3 beyond the lists than by the lance of his nobler,
art(! so lO i•pc.ll;, hip mote legitimate aeragor,ist. In a
worst, witch of that in which he erred was in bravado
and scorn of his censors, and was done with the motive
of l)ryden's despot, "to sinew his al bitrary power." It
is needless to say that his was a 'false and prejuiiced
view of such a contest; and if the Noble Bard gained
a sort of triumph, by compelling the world to read
poetry, though mixed with baser matter, because it was
his, he gave, in return, an unworthy triumph to the un•
worthy, besides deep sorrow to those whose applause, in
his cooler moments, he most valued.
It was the same with his politics, which, on several
occasions assumed a tone menacing and contemptuous
to the Constitution of his country ; while, in fact, Lord
Bs top was in his own heart sufficiently sensible, not
only of his privileges as a Briton, but of the distinction
attending his high birth and rank, and was peculiarly
sensitive of those shades which constitute what is teamed
the manners of a Gentleman. Indeed, notwithstanding
Isis having employed epigrams, and all the petty war
of wit, when such would have been much better ab-
stained from,he would have been found, had a collision
taken place between the aristocratic parties in the State,
exerting all his energies in defence of that to which he
naturally belonged. His own feeling on these subjects
be has explained ins the very last canto of Don Juan;
and they are in entire harmony with the opinions which
we have seen expressed in his correspondence, at a mo-
ment when matters appeared to approach a serious
struggle in his native country:
He was as inticpendent—q, much more,
Than those who were not paid for ind,Tendence;
As common soldiers, or a cmilnion—Siß:re,
Have in their several acts or pro as:rndance
O'er the irregulars in !UST or gore,
Who do not give profs ssional attenlance.
Thus on the mob all statesimil are as ;a iger
To prove their pride, as footmen
!ti a b:•ggar..
We are not, however, By tons apoicv,tqs, for POW
alas! he needs none. His excellencies will now be uni-
versally acknowledged, and his faults (let us hope and
believe) not remembered in his epitaph. It will be re-
collected what a part be has sustained in British liter a••
tore since the first appearance of Childe Herold, a
spare of nearly siefeen years. There has been no re-
posing under the shade of his laurels, no living upon
the resource of past reputation; uoue of that coddling