New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-10

pp. xviii 4c2 Imported by Charles Scrihner's
Sons)
This book is consequence of the Murray edi-
ton of Byron edited by Mt Coleridge and Mr.
Prothero- It is a compilation made from the
volumes OF prose in that edition. and because
of its source IL has q certain authority. MI Bet
tany however is scarcely an ideal editor. His
very first quotation, a long passage in which the
poet speaks of the various writer's with whom
he has been compared upon one occasion or an
other, Is sown thick with brackets fnclosnS ref
erences by the editor which so superfuous
as 20 be absurd But it is in his introduction
that MI Bethany does most to astonish the
reader He shows the strangest insensitveneSs
10 the proprieties of the occasion by dragging
in such names as those of Mr.. Watts-Dunton
end Nj Chesterton. and he is SO anxious to
draw up a parallel between Byron and Johnson
that he actually finds the younger man reseTn-
bling the elder in having enjoyed the honor
of discussing literature with his sovereign
This is surely faulty raised 10 the nth power.
We might forgive Mr.. Bethany his incongruity
and his whnsicaIities, out OF sympathy for
poar human nature. The writer OF an intro
ducton to a classic must, we suppose. say some
thing. On the other hand. what cannot for-
give is his talking about the faint Of histrionic
spirit in Byron; his preposterous assertion that
the poet rarely manages TO utter dehnitive
opinion of men and of matters" and. III short
the complete failure TO understand Byron, which
he finally discoses in the following lines:
The truth is. Of course. that man may have
the best intentions in the 0T9 and yet asysT soS
avoid form % & he falls into another and the
from common prejudice the more likely he IS TO
w. With Hv-a- His abhorrence OF affectation of
feeling is claimed little too loudly, rather TOO
English public opinion strikes too shrin and too
indignant note to sound quite true
There is something positively fantastic about
the fate which put the compilation Of this book
IN the hands Of 4 writer capable OF the foregoing
fragment Fortunately the book itself supplies
the best antidote 10 such misleading comment
We were going to say that the compilation was
hardly to be approved. since the reader who
cares anything at all about Byron ought to go
through the prose and the poetry from begin
ming TO end Nevertheless. there is undoubtedly
a place for = publication Of the kind After AL
even a few pages Of Byron are enough to excite
the imagination and we Like to believe that
every reader Of MI Bettany's selections VIII
soon prove q reader the more for Byron in the
best sense Of the phrase II it were only for the
sake of the entertainment in It who would not
BE- sent poste haste TO the correspondence by
coming IN Mr.. Bettany's volume, upon letter
like this?
ready for the stage before ! lef. England; and
sSke! ne for q prologue. which I promised, but
sailed n such hurry I never penned a couplet-
I afraid to ask after his drama for rear II
should De darnned-LIord forgive for using such
word but the pit. Sir, you know the pit-they
will do these things IN spite Of merritt l remember
from a curious circumSt ance- When
Ir4ry Lane was burnt TO the ground. by which
accident Sheridan his lost the few remain
stiIlings worth. what doth my friend
Dallas do? Why. before the fire was out ne
writes note TO Sheridan, the manager OF this
corrbustible concern, TO inquire whether this farce
WIS not converted into fuel with about two thou
sind other unartabIe manuscripts, which OF course
were great peril, If not actual consumed NOW.
this haracterStic2-the ruling passions or
Po-e are nothing 70 it Whilst the poor distracted
rnarager was REVEALING the loss Of building only
mounds of rags and tinsel in the firing rooms,
F3ilebeard's elephants and all that-ln comes, a
note from searching author, requiring al nls
hands TWO acts and odd scenes of a farceI
Byron brirns over with light and airy reading
like this and he is as sincere in one mood as IN
another; we feel invariably the influence OF a
strong character, whether he is pokInS fun al
some friend, castigating enemy, or giving as
free play as was possible for man Of his proud
disposition TO the gravest emotion We wonder
how Mr. Bethany could word like his
trionic~ when he had been privileged to read
such letter as that which Byron wrote TO
ecrope Davies. in ISL It runs in this wise:
cor,e cr,-sa hares over me and mine. Ny mother
10 cor,se in this house; Of best fr1ends
~ think or DO? I received letter from MIN
~ Idav before yesterday. Ny dear ScroPer II you
- r,5re a moment DO come down 10 me want
C~24 $3.50 Ma+rhews's last letter written on