New-York tribune., 1901-08-11

ment is to be found no doubt in the fact that
the poet studied diligently" that he seriously
pre- pared himself for his task; but it exists also
in the circumstance that Byron Tired every hour
of his life. Without ascribins autobiograph-
icaI significance to the details of his poems we
may apprehend in them the SAVIOR that comes
only from a passionate absorption of the writer's
soul and whole physical being. too, in the great
mundane spectacle. The moment Byron
fleets he is a child" ii has been said Perhaps.
But when he is in the full tide of his most char
acteristic furiG-as in most of the things of the
present vOlume-he is. before all else, a man.
Books meant much to him, but life meant i'm
measurably more. II suspect 1 know thing
two of italy," he wrote TO Moore. in a letter
which have quoted before. but do not hesitate
! to quote again. pat does il come TO Mr.
/ COleridge's latest volume. What do English
men know of Italians beyond their museums and
saloons? Now. have lived in the heart
of their houses. in parts of Italy freshest and
least influenced by strangers-have seen and De
come : a portion of their hopes and fears
and passions. and am almost inoculated into a
| family This is 10 see men and things they
| are So keen is he this point thas in
| 'Beppo' he cannot fOrbear finsing out against
/ the sapless Hterat of this world and expressing
with relish the faith that is in him.
One hates an author that's all author-feIIows
! liz fooscap uniforms turned up with ink,
/
! One don't know what 10 say TO them. OF think
Unless to puff them with a pair of bellows
OF COxcOnnbry's worst co1<combs en- the pinA
Are preferable to these shreds of paper.
| These unIuenened snuftnss of the michiShs
taper.
OF these same several. and of others,
/ Men of the world, who know the world like
Scott. Rogers. Moore and all the better brothers.
Who think of something else besides the pen:
But for the children OF the "Nl$hty Mother s.
! The wculd-be wits and canJ-be gentlemen,
/ leave them 20 their daily tea is ready,
! SNUG cOteTie, and literary lady
J 'Bcppc" is. of course, in nothing more inter-
estine than in it's ratification throughout of the
! point og view Illustrated by these lines But
/ even il the portrait of Frere. which Mr.. Cole
ridge mas feiic;tously prelixed to the poem, were
not Herewith ample editorial comment-to
/ recall certain peculiar aspect of the work. ore
would be tempted 20 neglect. for the r1or';en1'
\ the fraii, lovely Laura, her Beppo' anu Aer
Count Technically "BeDpo' has the innHe'lse
| Importance Cf prehguTInE Don Juan AZ vas
Byrons first canter ii. the wv h1stecraft metre
which Hookham F'rere employed in hls Pros
pectus and Specimen Of Intended Na'ioiiaI
Work. and as such it is one of the saiieE'-
| documents in the literary history OF the poet
! Freye himself had caught the trick rom VIE
..,Iorrapte Macgiore" but the evidence 2p-
pears to be in favor of Byron's having hgia'ed
upon it as precisely the instrument fer MS 2ar-
noses when he fell in with the production oy
his cCuntryman aforesaid. It was purely an
instrument in his hands. Mr.. COleTidge spe3as
of the exploitation of the metr1caI lGea IN
/ "Beppo" as "a case of plagiarism Ut eFtttSiS'
and the poem breatnes indeed. almost the very
I au;ntessence of Byron's genius In Don JHan
he was to handle the new manner WIN even
greater power and brilliancy; but 'Bep2o
trivial though it's general furnishings, so 70 say.
maybe is powerful enough and brilliant enough
in all conscience. Byron was in fact az his
most ebullient and nimbest stage during those
years. He was full of vitality, quick and sure
in attack. as facile and authoritative in man
ner as he alive in matter.
/ The swift diabolical wit and the cOnSummate
movement of his masterpiece ed
also in The Vision of Judgment written
four years after 'Beppo." and luckily included
| in this volume. When Goethe declared Byron
| to be 'inimitabe.' it would appear, from Crabb
Robinson's Diary cited by Mr.. Coleridge that
it was with the Vision in his mind The
editors valuable account of the genesis of this
| superb satire embraces too much to be traversed
| here; but we must borrow one line, reproduced
| from the letter in which Southey thought alas!
| that he had put Byron where he wanted him
in their famous quarrel When he attacks me
| again" observed the laureate let it be in
u ~ D.xlx-