New-York tribune., 1900-08-12

I rest and Clifford did, " hat i knew
him do befOre-he repeated several stanzas from
memory, particularly the closing stanza-
His death yet dubious, deeds too widely known
have the highest encoUiurns in letters from
Croker and Mr. Ray; but I rest most upon the
warm feeling it has created in GiffOrds critic
heart. You have no notion OF the sen
satiOn which the publication has occasioned;
and my only regret is that you were not present
| to witness it.
| Mr. Coleridge is stTlI restless under the idea
that nowadays nobody reads Byron OF the
works that raised such i storm Of applause he
says that few know them thoroughly today.
and very few admire or love them Perhaps he
is right. though we believe that Byron has never
been without q considerable public and is at the
! present time renewing his spell. Taking as
/ granted, however, q certain diminution OF In
| terest and enthusiasm, especially where the
| Tales are concerned. Mr.. Coieridge seeks an
| explanation for It. May we attribute 1t, ne
| asks "to the caprice OF fashion. to an insist
/ ence on more fauItIess technique to a nicer
taste in ethical sentiment. to a preference for
/ suDtIer treatment OF Ioftier theTnes?" The
| first hypothesis indicated here may have some
1 thing IN it; the others are Of doubtful utlAry
Nor is Mr.. C0Ierldge tTeading On safer ground
when he talks about "the blUrring OF outline
and the bIotting out Of detail due % a lapse %
time and the shifting of the Intellectual stand
/ point" All these speculati0ns are futile and
| even dangerous, inasmUch as they lead the
| critic into the elaboration OF fancies ike the
following: Unless we are ourselves saturated
with his [Byron'sI thought and style, IN
| less We learn 20 breathe his atmosphere
| by reading the books which be read. pct
| urine to ourselves the scenes which he saw
unless we aspire to his Ideals and suffer his
limitations. we are in no way entitled to Judge
his poems, whether they be good or bad This
/ is asking too much of even the idoater Of Byron
If such reader has not permitted his ldoiatFy
| to carry him too far he VIII admit that the IN
| trinsic merit of a poem is Appreciated when
! one has taste in far less roundabout manner
We will be more daring, but. We trust less
whimsical than NJ Coleridge, and suggest thae
| the only point at issue is a very simple one
II the Tales are read with less enthusiasts
now than at the time of their first appearance
it is because good as they are. they are not
great The interesting thing about this volume
is that it should be, despite all reservations SO
very much alive.
| That is the central and transcendent fact
which makes return TO Byron. TO matter at
what page his works be opened, stimulating and
| a source of joy. He was uneven, but ne was
never dull He could not. like Wordsworth. de-
vlate into sheer inert prose In nearly every one
of his lines you feel the urging Of his passionate
spirit The first Of the Hebrew Melodies" the
celebrated and hackneyed piece beginning She
/ walks in beauty like the night reminds Us
that his sentiments were not always stormy.
/ Neither we may be sure, were they always pro
found. But we may be equally certain that, for
/ all his eternal pose Byron was apt to mean
what he said and as between our generation and
his if there is any difference IN appreciation It
/ is partly one involving the power TO perceive
| poets sincerity. Giford's critic heart was
/ touched. We surmise, by the sense OF personal
stress. OF emotional fermentation, beneaEA the
| lines he perused; he did find the fires OF the
| Ioftiest inspiration in The Corsair.' but he
must have been aware Of an electric spark which
meant honest human feeling, if not heaven
| born poetic impulse. It is that spark, We vent
/ ure TO say. which still kindles these metrical
romances. How it is TO be recOnciled with ele-
ments savoring of WardOur Street and Fsadcliff-
ian nlelodrama we do not pretend to say. Byron
was poet. He moves necessarily under the
shadow Of that mystery which falls on every
writer deserving the epithet. ByrOn's persona;
history. much as anything in his published
work. has caused his genius. like his sincerity.
to be questioned by a scientifically critical as=.
But the reader who will eschew the problems so
troublesome to Mr.. Coleridge, and viii submit
| himself in all good faith 20 the force Of wha,
lies before him on the printed page. viii recover
something. if not ali, Of Gifford's emotion We
bring too often the reading OF poetry the teas
ing preOccGpatiOns which are not Incompatible
with the enjoyment cf prose Byron, like every