Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-02-03

this romantic mystlhCatiOn upon me. from wnat
have known, however, ofhis experiments upon
more impossible listeners, have little doubt
that, to produce effect at the moment. there Is
hardly any crime so dark or desperate of which.
in the excitement of thus acting upon the in'agin-
atoms of others, he would not have limited that lie
had been guilty; and it has sometimes occurred
to me that the occult cause Of his lady's separa-
ton from him. round which herself and her legal
adviser have thrown such formidable mystery,
may have been nothing more, after all. than some
lmposture of this kind, some dimly-hInted con-
fession of underlined horrors, which, though In
tended by the relater but to mstify and surpriZe,
the nearer so little understood linn as to take In
sober seriousness.
And such, from the almost indelicate frank
ness with which Byron invited inquiry into this
matter we are inclined to believe is the proper
solution of the mystery. 10 the opinion that ne
could not Justify his behavior IN that affair. he
says in letter to Mr.. Murray
acquiesce, because no man can Justify HIM
self until he knows of what he is accused; anu
have never had-and, God knows, my whole
desire has ever been to obtain N-any specihc
charge, IN a tangible shape, submitted to me by
the adversary. nor by others, unless the atroci-
ties of public rumor and the mysterious silence
of the lady's legal advisers may be deemed such.
But is not the writer content with what has been
already SAID and dones Has not 'the general
voice of his countrymen' long ago pronounced up
on the subiect-sentence without trial, and con-
demnation without charge? Have ] not been
exied by ostracsm, except that the shells which
prescribed me were anonymous! Is the writer 'S-
norant Of the public opinion and the public con
duct upon the OCCASION! III hels' am NOT; tie
public will forget both long before | shall cease
to remember either.
We remarked in our former notice, that there
is hardly an instance in biography of character
subjected to the scrutiny to which ByrOn's life
has been exposed. OF the facilities mis- dsposi-
ton afforded for such criticism. and the effect OF
it upon his reputation, Moore thus Observes
independently, however, of any such efforts
towards blaLkeBing his own name, and even after
he had learned from bitter experience the rash
folly of such system, there was still, IN the
openness and oyer-frankness of his nature, and
that indulgence ofimpulse with which he gave
utterance to, if not acted upon, every chance i'm
preston of fancy or passion. more than sufficient
to bring his character, in all its least favorable
lights, before the world. Who is there, indeed.
that could bear to be Judged by even the best of
those unnumbered thoughts that course each 9th
err, like waves of the sea, thorugh our minds, pas
sing away uttered and, for the most part. even
unowned by ourseives.-Yet to such a test was
Byron's character throug hout his whole life ex-
posed. As we'll from the precipitance with which
he gave way to every impulse as from the passion
he had for recording his own Impressions, all
those heterogeneous thoughts, fantasies, and de-
sires that, in other mems minds, "cOme like
shadows. SO DEPART" where by him fixed and
emto led as they presented themselves, and, at
once, ,aking shape cognizable by public opin-
ION. either an his actions or his words, either in
tse-hasty letter Of the moment. or the poem for
all time, laid open such a range OF vulnera
BILE points before his judges as no one individual
perhaps ever before Of himself. presented
The most interesting pages OF this volume are
decidedly those which treat of the part which By
ron took in the revolutionary movement in Italy,
and the more celebrated and fortunate struggle
in Greece. The style of the biographer too. i'm
proves as the more masculine characteristics Of
his subject are developed. He here lays aside
the foppery of expression with which he elsewhere
tries to lend grace to extravaganza, and the So
phistry with which he would gloss over licentious
ness. Not to speak Of the heroism of launching
in so desperate a cause, the energy, conduct and
humanity of Byron, shone conspicuously in the
troubles at Ravenna. He appears to have done
all that man could do with such materials, to
DflnS tne conspiracy W Il ioIiuuute iosuej anu
when it was quashed. to have served its luckless
projectors with his fortune and influence at the
risk of his life. His embarking in the cause of
Greece is now first shown in its true light BY
Moore 1t was not, as it has been generally con-
sidered. the enthusiastic act of man flushed
with success in one career of fame, nv rrying off
to achieve new triumphs in another. Nor was
il. as some represent. the last resource of wound
ed vanity to retrieve waning reputation. and
build up fresh character in the opinions of men.
On the contrary. every thing that has come be-
fore the public upon the subject tends to prove,
that at least this act of Byron's life was acqu-
escence in whathe considered the inperous call
of duty.-a melancholy, an affecting sacrifice of
himself in what he believed hopeless cause
Such Moore concluSveIy shows it to have been.
With presentiment of an early death, founded
upon no weak superstition. but arising from duly
estimating the powers of his broken constitution,
and his knowledge of the trials to which the eli
mate of Missolonghi would subject 1.-THE lcnthis
presence to the contest under circumstances
which would have withheld almost any other
man from taking part in it. He did this. not with
the blind fervor of martyr. (which indeed he
was, and that in the nobest causes,) but he
brought To the cause he esDoused the shreWdness