Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-01-10


it not been sustained by real and gigantic pow
err While The harps Of other poets could only
gain audience as men paused awhile IN the
midst Of their business and care, he sounded
trumpet with which all Europe rang.-peopie,
principali,ies, and powers stood still to iislen'
the moralist was enchanted into silence before
him. and the well deserved reproof OF virtue
died away in praise. We think we tive his
moral history, and at the same time explain
why he did so little 10 exalt his art, when we
say that he wanted character; he was always
the Gre allure Of Circumstance, impulse, and pas
sion. A youth like this, wilc and Maynard,
with TO restraint bu, that Of psrents who DE-
served no respect, and appeared 10 be remark
aaIy unfaithful TO their trus', the one being
dissolute man OF the world, the other heads
strong and violent man, was not likely to give
him rig hit direc,i lion for life. We might say
tina, he Nigh, have resisted these clrcums'dn'
ce,. ost we must make fair allowance Tor the
flee, of being thus exposed to misleading ex'
amples. We do not sec how he could have
been otherwise Than naughty, eaPrielous, and
rrsen,ful; prey 10 the designing, who would
l.,ter his passions, and an enemy to all would
h I'VE laugh, him To restrain them suong
effor, of principle nigh! have altered his char
acler as he grew o'Ger; but throughout his lie,
he seems 10 have been wholly destitute oil liked
principles, and even habits ot acton. he was
sl,o disc to melancholy, which unit led HIN
for any such exrrion Cheerful IL society no
dou b, he was; and cheerful il appearance, when
like the suff rers in his Vision # Darkness,
he fired his dwelling as tbs shadow detpenfd,
TO afford a nom n,arv warmth and light. But
i, is against nature 10 suppose thai an iiibalance-
ed mind like his could br happy. OF tina dis
sipa,ion should have failed to produce us usu'
al fleets of making The world wilderness a.
round him. We have no doubt ,ha' he t''t oil
the careless desolstion he so powerfully .des-
,ibes, even in his youth; and no one VIII qurs
ton ,ha, he lei, it, fer he had madly cut down
the bridge by which he might have returned
| TO his home, friends, and coanlry. CERTAINLY
his Inconsistency is far from proving that he did
no, feel Wecan conceive nothing more ia
:ural. than tina SUCH man should begin 10 la
me n, his wife he moment after ht had cast her
away: or tha, he should have again been IN.
ceased al times, wien ne thought OF his Una
| pinary wrongs. even while he knew that he
himself was guilty Such things are but to"
natural; and in such qniok rrvulsions oil ieeiIng,
HE colours would naturally BIT heightened by
his poetcal imagination
| Such man requires TO be excited by cirrum
stan, es; and we accordingly find that he did not
pu forth his strength. till a rude attack IRON a
Reviewer had made him furious. The poem
| in which he expressed his resentment was
fierce and powerful; but he forgot that the s..
! ,rist must secure the sympathy ot his readers.
Their sympathy never goes very heartily nor
Is s. IS FISTS s-a s1ws sns%
him. when in Greece, Inspired by her maj ic
drsola,ion, and accordingly h. pour, out his
! soul in voice Ike that OF past aees.--But when
he leave her scenes and ruins, the climate OF
the Eas, spreads its luxurious influence over
him, s though before, in The true spiri, Of intel
lect Al glory,ts.h d amp'ed on polsnhous iau-
reIs tina, grow in thr field Of blood, we find him
now pervrrselv employed in exal'ing robbers
and pirates irto heroes and martyrs tie rises
AGAIN among the re collec,ious Of Rome, which
suggested perhaps the bes, Of his poems
| though one would think that he had conceived
the idea If writing it. Ike Gihbpn, among he
ruins at night He seems like guide walking
mvstcrinusIy through the cily,-and WHEN he
comes to some striking fragment OF antiquity,
/ uruine upon j, he s,rong light OF his dark
lantern. Blu, Italy, with her fatal gilt OF b' au-
ty,' serms TO have enerva'ed all his faculties,
and unfortunately his associates were not OF a
character likely 10 redeem him. Shelley say S
in letter, Lord Byron is now reformed, and
lives with a very beautiful and sentimental ltsl-
ian lady Mr. Hum, too, declares himself We
nv mtrciiul TO such arrangements; and with our
impre ssions Of Byron, it seems very na'u al that
unoe such influences, he should have written
canlo afer canto Of work which made many
who were unused 10 blush, reddfn Wits shame
for him. Again when weary of this debase-
ment, he breaks the chain and goes 10 aid the
Greeks, ais energy is called out, and acts with
a generosity, good sense, and decision that a.
mazpd even his admirers. Lik, Burns, he had
a strang and manly undersl andine, which a2
peared where circums, ances were favourable
to its action. But he had nothing Of tina, reso-
luton, which gives those who possess il such
mastery over themselves and over weaker men.
This shows why he appeared at different times
SO strong, so feeble, SO lofty and SO low; why,
with powers like an angels TO tower above
his fellows, he so often sunk beneath them, s.
left the hearts OF his admirers, memory made
up of strangely blended recollections of glory
and Of shame.
We cannot think that the greater portion Of
Lord Byron's poetry is likely to endure, TOO
| ranch &c IL ia oh,core prosair and nnnatnral I.