Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-01-19

Emilio CASTELAR,, the we'll known Span
ish republican l%itterateur and politician,
has written a life of Byron, for whom
his admiration is Of a semi.tropical
grade of intensity.
Que might well be curious to know
how a Spanish devotee of Byron could
away with his wretched libels upon the
character of Spanish women Senior
Castelar's defense of his countrywomen
is chivalrous and eloquent enough,
though his remonstrance against the
defamation of their titled and tuneful
traducer is singularly mild aud milky.
walered by comparison. We quote from
a translation recently published by Har-
per Il Brothers:
Cadiz inspired him with some exuuis-
lite verses. But why did not Lord Byron
who showed himself so keenly sensible
Of the valor Of Spaniards-why did he
not also appreciate the virtue of Spanish
women2 The virtues Of men are easily
discovered, for they shine in the field or
in the senate. Along the walls Of Cadiz
you may still see the broken bombs of
Napoleon. But the virtues Of women
are hidden in the home, in the sanctuary
Of the family one must seek them, as
pearls in their shells, in the depths of
the ocean. A traveller passes some days
in a foreign town-he sees all things su-
p%erfcially, finds vice and vicious pleas
ures easy of attainment, and generalizes
his emotions. Thus / explain the in.
justice Of Byron, and the hard words in
which he so lightly mentions the women
Of Cadiz. But, doubtless, had he entered
into those homes, and beAeld the treas
ures Of tenderness. the devotion of pas.
%sionste affection, Joined to the strictest
fidelity, his ideas would have been alto
gether different. Nowhere else are
families so loving and so united in spirit;
nowhere else is a whole life so faithfully
consecrated to D only attachment. /
have seen many attractive women, born
to enchant society, languish in retire
ment, devoting their years to the memory
Of the absent mes gone to die UPON in
h%ospitable shores. | have beheld them,
widows Of a first unhappy love, remain
faithful to that only love, to that
virgin affection, until death, and die
hoping to find their beloved in happier
regions. l have seen them from their
earliest growth keep up their friendships
for ten or fifteen years with the chosen
of their heart, and in all these fifteen
years not one kiss has soiled the purity
Of their lips, not one unchaste thought
the modesty of their souls. | have be.
held young and beautiful mothers die to
the world the day they became widows,
converting their houses into cloisters,
and holding no other relations with
society than those necessary for the edu.
cation Of their children. Passion takes
among as the infinite intensity of the
ardent climate, but, like all else that il
infinite, it goes beyond the limited re.
gions Of matter, too frail and too narrow
to contain il, and plunges into the
bouudless regions Of thought, where il
is clothed with an almost divine purity
and acquires an almost celestial exist
ence. Byron should not have been con
tented to behold the fire stolen from
heaven by the black eyes Of our Anda
lusian ladies, the passion which hashel
from under their silken lashes, the Ions
tresses Of rich hair which twine owe,
their shoulders like serpents--among q,
much beauty he should have discovered
the delicacy and the loneliness Of thu
soul.