New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-22
BYRON.

CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH
On a certain night in 1855, when Mrs. Siddons
was acting at Edinburgh the play being The Fa-
tai Marriage" and the character Isabella. young
lady of Aberdeenshire, Miss Catherine Gordon of
eight, amongst the audience. There is point
in that tragedy at which Isabella recognizes her
first husband, whom she had supposed to be dead
and in whose absence she had been married to
another. and her CONSERVATION grief and rapture
are sudden and excessive Mrs. Siddons, at that
point, always made a great effect The
words are, "Oh, my Blron. my Biron i" On this
night. Mt the moment when the wonderful
actress sent forth her waling and heart piercing
cry as she uttered those words. Miss Gordon. of
eight gave frantic scream. fell into violent hys
terics and was borne out of the theatre.-still
peating Oh my Bron, nv Bironl" At the time
OF this incident 1t does not appear that she had ever
met the man by whom she afterward welded
the Hon. John Byron. whose wife she became
about "a year later. Their frst-born and only child
was George Gordon. afterwari Lord Byron, the
poet and among he many aspects of his life which
impress the thought full reader of hat strange and
melancholy story none is more striking than the
dramatic aspect-so strangely prefgure in this
event.
CelSure OF Byron whether as a man or rs writer
may be considered 10 have spent rs force. lt is
hundred years since he was born and sixty-four
years since he ed. Everybody who wished to
say n word against him has had ample opportunity
for saving IT. and there is evidence that this Op2or-
tunitv has not been neglected The record was
long ago made up The story was long ago told.
Everybody knows that Bvrons conduct
times deformed with frenzy and stained with vice.
Ever BODY knows that Byrons writings
occasionally IN FRED with profanity and
Righteousness aud tlat they contain
a considerable quantity of trash If he
had never been married, or If. being married, bis
domestic life had not ended in disaster and scandal,
his personal reputation would stand higher Than
IT does ut present IN the esteem of society. IL
about one-thrd of what he wrote had never been
published his reputation man of letters would
stand hi cher than 1t now doe IN the esteem of the
best judges of literary art. After an exhaustive
discussion of the subject in every possible aspect
of it, after every variety of hostile assault and
after raise sounded in every key of enthuSlasm
and in every language of the world
these truths remain. 1t is pity
that Byron was not virtuous man and
a good husband. 1t is a pity that he was not bet
ter literary artist that he wrote so much. and that
he published almost everything that he wrote.
Bnr when all this has been said. 1t remains SOLD
and iunnovable fact that Byron great poet,
and that he continues II b. a great power III the
literature and in the life of the world. Nobody
"Chlde Harold"
To touch this complex and delicate subject in
only a superficial manner 1t may not be amss to
say that the world is under obligation TO Byron, If
for Dnthng else. for the spectacle of most roman
tic impressive and instructive life His agency IN
that spec tace, doubt, was involuntary, but all
the same he presented it. He was a true poet;
man Of genus; his faculty OF expression was CO.
lossai an his conduct was absolutely genuine.
No man in literature ever lived who lived himself
more fully. Even his assumptions of disguise
only made him more obvious and transparent.
He kept nothing back. HIS heart laid
absolutely bare. We know even more about
HIM than we know about Dr. Johnson-whO never
could have dropped an without having it picked
up b. his biogra pner-and still his personality en-
dureS the test of knowledge and remains unique.
romantic, fascinating, prolific of moral admoniton
and infinitely pathetic. Byron in poetry, like Ed
mund Kean in acting, is a figure that completely
fills the IMAGINATION, profoundly stirs the heard.
and never ceases to impress and charm. even while
it afllcts. the sensitive mind. This consideration
aloIe. viewed apart from the obligation that the
world owes to the better part OF his Writings is
vastly significant of the great personal force that is
Inherent n the name aud memory of Byron.
II has been considered necessary to account for
the sadness and gloom of Byron's poetry by repre-
sening HIM 10 have been a criminal afflicted with
renorse for his many and hldeous crimes. Ills
widow evidently monomaniac. af er long brooding
over the remembrance of a calamltous married lie
brief. but unhappy and terminated IN separation
WHISPERED against him, and against his halt
sister an atroclous charge; and this TO the shame
and disgrace of American literature, was brought
forward a few years ago by distinguished female
writer of America much noted for her works of
fiction. ard especially memorable for tins
one The explain ltIon of the mental distress ex-
hiLiied IN the poets writings was thought to be ef-
fectualy provided IN that disclosure But, as TINS
d'sgracefu. revO.tIug and inhu nan story-deSe-
Grating graves insul ing great and noble genus
and cas- ing Infamy upon the name OF sweet al
fectionate, faithful aud vIrtuo1s woman -1eh 10
pieces the moment it was examined, the student of
BvrOn's grei-srricken nature remained no wiser
THAI before this iynent of diseased Imagination
had been dvulged. surely. however. 1t ought not
10 be considered mysterious taat Byrons poetry is
often sad The nest poetry of all the poets is touched
with sadness. d" Hamlet" has never been mista L en-
for "A merry prediction. Macbeth" and King
Lear DO not commonly produce laughter. Shelley
and Keats sing near 10 heavens gate as any
body, and both of them are essentially sad. Scott
was a. brave and manly and CHEEKY poet
fhar lived ScOtts poetry Is AT IT'S best In
his urges. The Elegy" and The Ancient
Mariner" certainly are great poems. but neither Of
them is festive Byron often wrote sadly because
he WAS. naturally "a man OF q melancholy tempera-
ment. and because he deeply felt the pathos OF
u,rtai life the awful mystery WITH which it is
surrounded the pain with which 1t is usually at
tended the tragedy with which 1T commonly
sceompanied the fraI tenure with which its
loves and hopes are held and the memorable
death with which It continually environed and at