Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-03-04
LAMPOONING DAYS.
NAVE HAD THEIR RUN AND PASSED
OUT or ENGLISH LITERATURE.

The Age of English Bards and scotch
Reviewers" When Dyr.n Wrote His hit
ter satires-The Way They Manage Such
Matters In France.
1t is said that "lanthe' and 1.-The Maid
of Athens" are the only two surviving
persons whom Byron had described or re-
ferred 10 In his poems. Whether this be nc
curately true or not the generations against
which that brilliant literary Ishmael
waged such nronstant and such futile
war has almost entirely passed away, and
with II has passed the fashion of lampoon-
ing ones rivals--and even of extolling
ones friends--in verse Time WAS when "a
spice of personality was IN Indispensable
attraction In a book meant 10 catch the
public eur, and IL young or inexperienced
author neglected this important point the
publisher would be sure 10 urge the neces-
sity Of catering for the general taste and
would perhaps himself suggest worthy
subject for an epigram We are not refer
ring TO the Curtis Of u century and "a half
ago, but 60 the very honorable and gener-
Gus publishers with whom our GRANDPA
theirs had To do. The literary controversies
which were SO rife in the age of English
Bards and Scotch Reviewers, but which
are nowadays comparatively rare, were
gloated over 10y ane eager public, and IL Is
not To be wondered at il the publishers, who
had their fingers continuously upon their
customers pulse, preferred such books as
were calculated to stimulate the fever of
curiosity These personal references were,
of course, very various in their character.
No lady could complain Of being immor-
talized as Ianthe, but we can imagine that
a considerable number of Byrons victims
would have given round sum TO be ex
cluded from his bitter satires 1t must
have been a bad quarter of an hour" for
the Scotch reviewers when they read the
retaliation which one of their company has
brought upon them, almost as uncomfort
able as the five minutes in which the poor,
i'll treated governess read the description
of herself, commencing with the words,
Born in IA garrett in kitchen bred -
Few of Byron's friends or acquaintance
escaped without single splutter from his
pen of gall, and some, as Is we'll known,
felt the injury very keenly. But at the
same time he knew how To speak favorably
both of the living and the dead. IL is
strange instance of the vast power welded
for good or evil by the maker of simple
verses that one lady is at the present mo-
ment enjoying comfortable annuity to
which she had no other claim whatever
than that Of having been extolled by Byron
in few complimentary stanzas. To do
Byron justice. he rarely Showed up his
contemporaries unless they had previously
turned their pens against him, whereas
there were poets in those times who hated
in verse for no better reason than that
i. e
tics from their own. Shelley's outburst
against Castlereagh, and many of Peter
Pindar's unmeasured diatribes, exceed in
their bitterness anything which we should
consider justifable today. When we
say that the fashion of personal illusions
among poets has passed away, we do not
mean that the circumstance Is unknown
in the present generation. The laureate's
escapade in Punch, in which he applied
the lash 10 the shoulders of brother poet,
is not likely 10 be forgotten, and he has
taken several other occasions of belaboring
his critic, and the race of irresponsible
reviewers i'm general Ii is but a short
time ago that two of our most popular
poets took up the cudgels to one another In
the public prints, and overloaded their
genius by IA mist of hard words and re
examinations perhaps quite as virulent as
anything that Byron wrote of "a rival
There can be no doubt that personal allu-
sions of the kind which we have instanced
are in every sense Objectionable, and that
the decay OF the fashion Is matter for
much congratulation. Two reasons in par
ticular might be given which would amply
suffice 10 condemn the practice. In the
first place, 10 IL 40 very easy to lash oneself
into rage by the whip cracking of our
own rhymes and meters, just as certain
animals are said to do by the application
of their tails.
1t is quite possible To work oneself into
"a literary fury against literary rival,
while at the club or in the street we should
take him by the hand and exchange the
idle gossip of the day. Again, IL is beyond
all question that literary wrangles have IA
tendency To debase literature itself There
is no such thing as sublime personality
The only lofty satire is that which Is thor.
oughly general in its application A better
poet who is either prejudiced or angry nee
essarily descends from the back of Pega
sus and holos on, If at all. by the tail In
other words, his verses limp, his ideas
grow commonplace, and the SAVIOR Of his
poetry Is destroyed English poets in par
ticular do well To let this species of satire
alone, for, though as rule an EngliShnan
is an admirable fighter he is decidedly lin
tied In his mastery of weapons Poetry Is
II foil that should always have the buttons
on, but we have too straightforward way
OF taking the buttons off In France they
manage these things differently There
they can cross foils without hurting each
other 1t is a national characteristic Mo.
lere used occasionally to hit living persons
very hard but we read Of one instance in
which he completely disarmed the resent.
ment Of the object Of his satire by reading
his play To him privately before IL was put
upon the stage. He had satirized his man
in such polite style that the latter was
easily persuaded 10 take so much individ
ual attention as compliment The thing
would have been impossible in England
For us, at all events the day of personalt.
ties In literature Is past and we imagine
that no sensible Englishman regrets IL.
Even fiattery is in questionable taste But
that a man should be lampooned by his
fellow on account OF a mere difference of
opinion Is no longer to be tolerated Sat.
urday Review.
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A Theological Point.
A Sunday school superintendent ut the