Smyrna times., 1857-04-08

licentiousness had undermined his fAe consti
tuition, in an article addressed to Mary Cha
worth, his first and, perchance, his only love,
he said:
Yet ell this giddy waste of yeLrs,
This tiresome round of pilling pleasures,
These varied loves, these matron's fears,
These thoughtless strains to passion'd mea'
sures.
If thou vert mine, had all been hushed -
This cheek, now pale from early riot,
With passions hectic ne'er had flushed,
But bloomed in calm, domestic quiet !"
have long held the opinion that Miss Cha
worth and her friends, were justly responsible
for the ultimate profigacy and ruin of Byron
Though it is possible. had his marriage with
Miss Milbanke ultimated happily, that it would
have considerably changed, or at least modified
that peculiar irratibility of temper and way
wardness of disposition, which proved the bane
of his life, and ultimately the wreck of his
hopes and happiness.
| am well aware that it is argued by some,
that Byron inherited those peculiar and lamen.
table traits which were, finally, 50 fully devel-
Oped in his character. And, after carefully
perusing the biography of his ancestors, very
readily concede that such an opinion is not en-.
tirey groundless one.
But let any unbiased reader carefully and
intelligently peruse his I" Hours of Idleness," +"
the first efforts of his astute and gifted mind
and | think that they will clearly perceive
that there runs through the whole of it golden
vein Of genial, gentle and enthusiastic atfec-
tion, with clear perception aud candid &C.
acknowledgement and appreciation of virtue and
chastity.
And after you have read the above mentioned
work, take up those productions Of his mind in
bis ripper years, when
Few earthly things found favor in his sight,
Save concubines and canal companIe,
And Haunting wassailers of high and low de-
gree"
and you can plainly see the lamentable change
in the bent OF his genius from the +" Hours o.
IdleneSs to Don Juan" And though none
knew better than he that sorrow is know
.edge,"
"And those who know the most, must mourn
the deepest
Ger the fatal truth, the tree of knowledge
Is not that of Life"
yet he obstinately shut his eyes to this luminous
truth, and to the great light lrradiating his own
soul, and sadly uttered
ITO think would drive my soul to madness,
In thoughtless joys aud empty noise,
! conquer half my bosom's sadness!'
And the same Unsuitable thirst for reciprocated
affection (though not the same deficiency in
moral character) characterizes the genius
stamped pages of Mrs. Henans, Miss Landon,
and Mrs. Norton. The conjugal felicity of
each of whom was as unsatistylng to the heart
as was that of the unfortunate Byron's.
But we will cite you to their own testimony
in these matters. Mrs. Hemans says:
Fear them-fear the loved -
And again:
"Thou think'st il much
To mourn the early dead but there are tears
Heavy with deeper anguish We endow
Those whom we love, in our fond passionate
blindness,
With power upon our souls. too absolute
To be mortal's trust! Within their hands
We lay the flaming sword, whose stroke alone
Can reach OUR heart; aud they are mercitul,
AS they are strong, who WELD 1t not TO pierce
u.s."
But, ali too deeply was her own loving heart
pierced by this {" flaming sword" until the an
guish of her soul clouded even her gifted and
brilliant mind and the mournfal melancholy
of her life dffused itself through the whole Of
her literary productions.
And Miss Landon, the gifted, the brilliant
and the beautiful,-the NEST popular of Eng
lands lyrical writer's what is the story of her
life, from maideuhood to its sad ultimation
at Cape Colony, but one of suffering and of
bitter anguish And yet how deeply and truly
did she love! Hear her, in her Z" Warning'':
"Maiden, by the thousand tears.
Lava foods in my first years;
BY the nights, when burning pain
Fed upon my heart and brain
BY the wretched days now past,
BY the weary days to last;
Be thou warned, for still the same.
Is Love, beneath whatever name."
al am young, but ages snow
Hides not colder depths below"
Hewey, in touching tribute 10 her memory,
says: -as
% There was one whom she loved, though she
breathed it to none,
For the love Of her soul was part,
And he said that he loved her, bat he left her
| alone, ..v #tl
| With the worm of despair in her hearth
She never complained, but she loved TO the last
And the tear in her beautiful eye 80. suo.
Often told that her thoughts were gone back tC
Il the past, ..... .eL.
i And the youth who had left her to die"