The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-07-28

roved to write Of Byron--But again.
how all these powers. assembled IN q
single beng make hIm great. into what
mediocirty and pIatitude SINKS the Faust
OF Goethe, compared 10 Manfred
After writing thus lar, / took down
from one OF my cases the first volume OF
Macaul4y, one OF the most fascinating OF
all volumes IN the hteratures OF the world
Turning TO the elaborate and very strlS-
inE essay on "Noore's Life OF Lord BY
ron. which l read last IN 1892. / was
arrested al almost every page with the
Incompatible style, It's freshness. IT. >plTlt
and it, Interpretations OF the Byroolc life.
character, moods. spirit, originality, power
ana splendor. 1t j, not BY any means 4
hattering or exaggerated view OF the great
poet and erratic Eaglishman. II was first
published IN 1880. and fills th.rty-iour
octave pages. The fault i, if there be
any. that it Is too short. II IL analytical
somewhat. and IN the main presents no
doubt a fairly accurate view Of Byron,
who had been dead hardly SIX years II
i much more Just, appreciatIve, and IN
teresting than HazLtt's fierce assault.
Macaulay with pTescIe1ce foretold that Tie
estimate OF Byron then prevailing Wsuld
bll4CI So d IlI4 4 hAA NV $500
that he had but little doubt that after
the closest scrutiny, there Will still re
main much that can only perish with the
English language" There e. be no doubt
OF this. After eliminating absolutely all
that severe, even carplng, snapplNh crltI-
ci>In has rejected and damned, there Il
still left a stout volume OF lofty, eloquent,
splendI1ly imaginative poetry equalhng
that Of any modern poet save only the
four or five Of the acknowledged highest
order. MarloWe. a great genius. wrote
much that is extensively bad. vicious and
inferior, but a very choice body o. poetry
could be carefully garnered from the
whole, as Matthew Arnold has 50 admir-
ably done for Wordsworth. The body or
volume of genuine poetry ct a hlg grade
that can be obtained ~ faithful. judi
cious selection from Byron. would be OF
an elevated and splendid type rlyalllng
any poet since Milton Inless Tennyson be
excepted. That the interest IN Byron has
very greatly diminished ! have stated III
the first part OF this di-cuoslon-in Num-
Der Che. That 1t has been mainly brought
about by indiscrImlnate, wholesale depre-
citation and personal attack upon the noble
poet IS certain, as | 0plne He excited
more interest in the first years OF his poetic
GNaltatl0n than ever attended Tic career
Of any other English poet as has been
mentioned. This IS freely admitted even
by his unjust, unfair detractors. His
gifts were easily marked. He had great
descriptive power He had intense dis
likes and d~isgusts. He had a manner that
was full of dash, spirit, defiance. clarity,
force, saucy Independence. Macaulay says
that he excclled also in 'meditation'-that
his manner IS indeed peculiar, and Is al
most unequallcd-rapid, skctchy, full Of
vigor; the selection happy; the strokes
few and bold He was MAYER accused Of
prollXity whcn IN his mental prime.
Nor had any writer SO vast a command
Of the whole ~cloquence of scorn, mis-
anthropy and despair Writing Of him
several years ago, l dwelt particularly
upon the marvellous eloquence Of the
man. and insisted that of all poets he ex-
celcd IN this great gift. | still hold him
to rave been thc most truly eloquent poet
from Chauccr to SWinburnc. He did not