The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-21
LAMP0ONING DAYS.
HAVE HAo THEIR RUN AND PASSED
oUr or EEeLicH LITERATURE.

The Age Of 'Frsissh Bards and scotch
Reviewers" when Byron Wrote His III.
ter sstires-The Way They Manage such
Matters In France.
IL Is said that "Ianthe" and "The Maid
OF Athens are the only two surviving
persons whom Byron had described or re
ferred 10 i'm his poems. Whether this be ac-
curately true or not, the generations against
which that brilliant literary lshmael
waged such a constant and such futile
war has almost entirely passed away, and
with it has passed the fashion of lampoon-
ing ones riyals-and even of extolliDg
ones friends-in verse. Time was when a
spice Of personality was an indispensable
attraction in a book meant 10 catch the
public ear, and If 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 a worthy
subject for an epigram We are not refer
ring TO the Curlls of a century and a half
ago, but 10 the very honorable and gener-
Gus publishers with whom our GRANDPA
theirs had 10 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 by an eager public, and IL is
not 10 be wondered at If the publishers, who
had their fingers continuously upon their
customers pulse, preferred such books as
were calculated 10 stimulate the fever of
curiosity. These personal references were,
of course, very various in their character.
No lady could complain of being immor-
talizcd as Iauthc, bUtwe can imagine that
a considerable number Of Byrons victims
woulds have given "a round sum 10 hc exc
Cludcd from his bitter satircs 1t must
have been q" bad quarter of an hour for
tho Scotch reviewers when they read the
retaliation which one OF their company has
brought upon them, almost as uncomfOrt-
able us the five minutes in which the poor,
i'll treated goyeruess read the description
If herself, commencing with the words,
"Bom i'm garrett In "a kitchen bred "
Few of Byr0n's friends or acquaintance
escaped without single spluttcr from his
pen Of gall, and some, as is well known
felt the injury very kceuly. But at the
same time hc know how 10 speak fayoraby
both of the living and the dead It is a
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-
mcnt enjoying comfortable annuity to
which she had no other claim whatever !
than that of having been cxtolled by Byron !
in few complimentary stanzas TO 90 |
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 4
their victims took "A different view of poll /
tics from their own. Shelley's outburst /
against Castlereagh and many of Peter /
Pindar's unmeasurcd diaribes, exceed in /
their bitterness anything which we should I.
consider justifablo today. When we I
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 laurcate's
cscapade in Punch, i'm which he applied
the lash 70 the shoulders of a 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 in general Ii is but a short ,
time ago that two of our most popular
poets took up the cudgcls to one another IN
the public prints and overlooked their
genius by mist Of hard words and re-
ordinations perhaps quite a. yirulent a.
anything that Byron wrote OF a rival J
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 TO condemn the practice. In the
first place it is 50 very easy 10 lash oneself
into rage by the whip cracking Of our
own rhymes and meters, just as certain
animals are said 10 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, it is beyond
all question that literary wrangles have
tendency TO debase literature itself. There J
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 prcjudiccd or angry nee
essarily descends from the back of Pega-
sus and holds 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 a rule an Englishman
IS an admirable fighter, he is decidedly lin
ted in his mastery of weapons Poetry is
1 foil that should always have the buttons
IN, but we have "A too straightforward way
of taking the buttons off. In France they ,
manage these things differently. There
hey can cross foils without hurting each
1ther 1t is national characteristic. Mo- .
iere used occasionally to hit living persons
very hard, but we read of one instance in
which he completely disarmed the resent.
nent of the object Of his satire by reading {
his play to him privately before it was put
upon the stage. He had satirized his man
N such polite style that the latter was
'asily persuaded TO take so much individ.
lal attention as n compliment The thing
would have been impossible in England. |
For us, at all events, the day of PERSONAL
les in literature is past and we imagine
hat no sensible Englishman regrets il.
Even f1attery is in questionable taste. But
hat man should be lampooned by his
elbow on account of mere difference of
opinion is no longer to be tolerated. Sat
lrday Review.