Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-11-26
MISCEHLlANX.
COMMUNICATED FOR THE GAZETTE.
LORD BYRON.

ron, has said, " We are not writing iord
Byron's private history" the connexion
he has traced between the poetry and the
character and feelings Of his lordshlp IS
sufficiently discernabie to render it as In
teresting, and probably more so, than an
exact biographical account could be made
by any address Of the writer Tits, as
we have already said, history OF his
muse and himself, in which the whole
man is not expanded to broad day light,
but the workings of his heart are coca
,sicnally unfolded, if we may SO call IT,
through various loopholes in the Review
while the prodisious genius and unparal-
leIed endowments ct his lordship's alt
luminous mind are continually presented
to Us in the full blaze Of unfemisted
splendor. 1t were pity that such de-
licious repast for the intelligent AMI taste
full should be exclusively bearded up IN
the pases of a review, the perusal OF
which can fall to the share of but very
small eortisG Of the public; and, there
fore, we have undertaken, and will con-
t;nue till the whole shall be laid before
our readers, 10 copy it into our columns.
"The poet thus gifted, thu. honored,
thus admired. no longer entitled to re-
gard himself as one defrauded Of MS just
lame, but crowned with all which the
puolic could bestow, was now in a situa
lion apparently as enviable as could be
attained throug n mere literary celebrity.
The sequel may be given in the words in
which the author, adopting here more dis
tinctly the character Of Childe Harold,
has resumed his pilgrims staff, when it
was hoped he had set down for life a
denizen Of his native country. The
length Of the quotation will be pardoned
by those who eau teel at once the moral
interest and poetical beauty with which
it abounds.
Something too much Of this 4: but now its
past,
And the spell clu,es with its silent seal.
Long absent Harold rc-appears a, last;
He Of the breast which fsin no more would
feel, but nee" heal.
wrung with the wounds hich kin not,
Yet time, who changes all. had alter'd him
In soul and aspect as in ages years steal
Fire from the mind as vigor from the
limb; [near the brim.
And LIES enchanted cup but sparkles
TX.
His bad been quaff'd too quickly, aud
he fouud again,
The tlregs we-e wormw0od; but be fill'd
And from purer fount, on holier ground,
And deem'd its spring perpetual; but in
vain!
Still rousd him chung invisibly clian,
Which galI'd forever, lettering though
unseen, with pain,
And heavy, though It ciahk'd no, worn
Which piaed, although it spoke not, and
grew keen. many scene
Entering, with every step he took, IL .ough
Y.
Secure in guarded GOODNESS, he had mix'd
Again in fancied safety with his kind,
And deem'd his spirit now so firmly fx'd
And shcath'd with an insuluerable mind,
That, if no joy, no sorrow lurk'd behind
And he, as one, might midst the many
stand Ito fiad
unhee6ed, searching through the crswd
Fit speculation! such as in strange land
He found in wonler-wolks OF God and
natures hand.
NJ.
But who can view the ripen'd rose, nor
seek
To wear iii Who can obviously behold
The smoothness.S' the sheen Of beauty's
cheek, [rold'5
Nor feel, the heart can never all grow
Who can contemplate fame through
clouds unfold Eclimb
The star which rises Ger her steep, nor
Harold once more within the vortex roll'd
On with the giddy circle. chasing time,
Yet with nobler aim than. in, his youths
toDd prime.
XII.
But soon he knew himself the most unit
OF men to herd with man; with whom he
bald
Little in common !; untausht to submit
His thsushts to others, though his soul
was quell'd compell'd
In youth by his own thoughts; still un-
He wculd not yield dominion OF his mind
ry,o sr;r;,s st u,kom his own rebeli'd: