The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-08-04

Cid ptco " tIC CboS'' - =
form, and replete with splendor and in
terest, but there are no characters, and
there is no dialogue" 1t is a production
OF distinguished power, and to me, who
but have read ii in three trau,lations.
there is more Of real beauty and majesty
of mind III Manfred" than IN the greatly
praised dramatic poem OF the eminent
German. Some magnificent passages oc-
cur IN Byron's poem, far excelnng any
thing l found in Faust Manfred Is
indeed "a naughty and regal spirit" and
he Is "humanised by his deep and un-
failing love for nature" Read three or
four soliloquies of real grandeur and pow
er, and make the poetic dreamer probably
immortal. I would not say that it is SO
great a production az Faust" The
critical world Is agreed as to Its supre-
macy and originality. But 1t does not
impress me in translation as 1t lnpresses
the critics who read it in the original.
However great it may be, it Is no rival
in absolute perfection and greatness of
description, in rarest beauties OF language
and sublimity of thought and passion of
the s%oliloquies spoken on the summit of
VIZ dQ, liz Cfo1dIIOll Vi LIN
of the Alps, and that grand and lofty
passage in which the mind of the lofty
victim, now Gained by the hope of APP
preaching death, recalls the majestic sad
ness Of ruined Rome prof. Shawl
l canno enumerate all the varied and
numerous productions or consider their
separate merits. The Lament OF Tasso,"
"Beppo," Cain" Heaven and Earth"
The Deformed Transformed Marine
Faliero,' "Sardanapalus." Werner The
Two Foscari," all have merit, and some
no little. Cain has much of boldness,
beauty and majesty of speech. l must
limit further remarks to his greatest
poem, and to the most tremendous satire
In English. His Hebrew Melodies have
always possessed an undeniable charm for
me. Let me quote an opinion OF Cam"
from Gilfillan. He writes, w regard it
rot only as Byron's noblest production, but
as one of the finest poems In this or any
other language. 1t IS such a work as
Milton, had he been miserable. would have
written. There is nothing in Paradise
Lost superior to ain flight with Luci-
fer through the stars, and nothing in
Shakespeare superior to his conversations
with his wife Adah. We speak simply Of
its merits as a work of art-its object is
worthy OF all OndemnatlOn.
1t Will be remembered that Byron was
greatly satirized, criticised and con-
demned among Engllshmen. The then
pCet-laureate, amlable, accomplished, high
ly respectable, Robert Southey, compared
him to Moloch and Belial-most of all TO
Satan. He wanted the British Govern
ment to deal with him. Byron had his
revenge and most complete. He publish
ad 'Thn Vision of J11dpmpOt - aimed at
Southey, George w, and official pomp. 1t
is the most terrible, castigating satirical
poem in any modern language. 1t was de-
nounced and damned all around Britain.
1t was a great shock and most corrosive.
1t Is Of It's kind a great success and
force. Mr.. Gilfllan regards 1T as "un-
questionably the best abused and it us
also one Of the best, and by no means the
most p~rofane of his productions" / read
it some few years ago, and was profound
~ impressed with its bitterness, its con-
tempt, its bravery, It's tremendous
strokes of ribaldry,' its uncommon vigor
and intensity. 1t is the most savage,
virulent of satires and gets in its work
most effectively. Says our Scotch critic:
"All other hatred-that of Johnson-that
of Burke-that of Juvenal-that OF all,
save Junius-is tame and maudlln compar-
co 10 the WraJn OIL byron expressed III lnlS
Ioem." Here the ground burns frore,
and cold performs Is molten; his tears
vigor. 1t abounds in spendid and graceful
of laughter, as well as of misery, fall in
burning showers If you would become
acquainted with the perfection of hatred,
mixed with the strokes of ribaldry,'
read this marvellous poem. You will find
exceedingly fine poetry, approaching
grandeur even, and powerful description.
Take this as a sample or so of the view
given of George III, the meanest possible
KlDg-(See Thackeray's Lectures on the
-Four Georges.D
when the gorgeous coffin vas laid low,
1t seemed the mockery of hell 20 fold
The r~ottenness OF eighty years in gold"
" Passion! replied the phantom dim;
I loved my country and I hated him"
The greatest of all of Dyron's works is
Don Juan" 1t is also his longest. It is
a poem of low morals, of lebaseG views,
hut Of wonderful ease, felicity, pathos, and
vigor. 1t abounds in splendid and graceful
transitions, and is written with the
choicest art and the most
mastery of form. You can shudder, you
can laugh, you can weep, you can sympa-
thlze or burn with Indignation and
wrath. 1t Is a poem Of laughter, and yet
IleldnclOl appears, reaches OUT, per1Qe-
ates the mass. 1t is full of sunlight and
shadow. Its verse Is the attava rima, as
"Childe Harold" is written in the Spen-
serian stanza-the stanza of the immortal
"Fairie Queen" The rytlm, the feeling,
the conversation, the style are simply
most admirable. 1t has no humor, but
it IS throughout sparkling with an ex-
haustless current OF Wlt'-with full of
phrensy, elasticity, sulphur. Prof. Shaw
says: Modern society has acquired Il
smooth varnlsh of civilized propriety, and
the satire of Byron like u concentrated
acid. burned off and ate away this super
fetal polish, showing the weak and
cracked places concealed beneath This
able writer thinks the poem 81 complete
expression of Byron's life and genius; ca
PRECIOUS, varied, ranging from cynic mock
cry to the deepest tenderness and adds.
that "it is also a perfect type of the
age which produced it"-(after 1S2O).-'an
age at once sceptical and believing, bold
and effeminate. shameless and hypocritical,
coldly calculating and mildly imaginative"
Byron WAS not q great artist parbopC 90