New-York tribune., 1910-11-30
TIE Life and Work Of Byron
Ambassador Res Address Inaugratng the Byron Char OF
EnoIsh Literature at Nottingham University College.
--r.. =. N,..;,,bar, EnaIand, November 2eth 1901

ture Accordingly there has been Qoes-
tjon as TO selecting some great literary
light of England under whose name lilis
chair might auspiciously begin its work
But why should there be any queS-
sto72 How can there be any selectionE
For an institution grown UP almost In
TIE shadow Of Newstead Aooey' Is ho'
the selection already and automatically
made? Your own son. born OF Fanny
identified with the county for genera
lions. himself perhaps the greatest poet
OF the nineteenth century, certainly lts
most celebrated Englishman-how can
Won go afeld in your search while at
x,oi,r very. door rise the name and world
wide fame of Byron?
There are reservations to be made, no
6orbt They may seem TO strike jar
ring note on this occasion, and before
an audience which possibly includes oe-
scendants Of those very people OF NOT
bingham on whose behalf your great poet
made his first chivalric appeal N the
House of Lords to the British sense Of
47,sf;ce and mercy. IF so. may I plead in
apology that only on the assurance that
such reservations would not be found
Objectionable could ] overcome my own
hesitation 10 undertake this honorable
duty. I must begin then. even here. with
the reluctant admission that no good in
structor Of youth will put before them
the character of Lord Byron TO be emu
hated, or the general tendency Of much
OF his poetry TO be admired On the
other hand. no competent instructor OF
youth can put before them any estimate
of the English literature Of the nine
1eerth century in which Byron does not
bulk large figure. If not the largest
Nor are the fluctuations OF the public
estimate and Of the public taste to be
forgotten. There was q time when no
English poet was SO popular and so uni
sersalIv read. either in England or on
she Continent To borrow his own
graphic phrase. he awoke one morning
END found himself famous. Then there
came time when no English poet was
so odious- The disapproval aroused by
bis acts, his utterances, and what the
world thought it knew of his character,
extended to his work Men still read it,
but often only TO dwell on the baleful
5rilliancy OF the light that had gone
Rstray The burst Of amused contempt
81 which Jeffrey (or Brougham for him)
had torn TO pieces the caIlow poet-peer
end his Hours of idleness," seemed but
L summer zephyr compared with the
storm which later beat uron this sud
Gen favorite. after Ire had triumphed in
"'Childe Harold" only TO sink to the
s11iasnls or Don Juan" THE Waltz"
ar5 tAfir like. Other and nobler work
appeared which compelled the world
again to readjust its estimate. At last,
Too soon. too sadly, in exile. came Mis-
solonghi, and the end. Once more the
pendulum OF public approval swung to
and fro. When it finally settled-not
very far from Just medium-the CEN
fury had passed its meridian, new tastes
had developed. new men arisen, and
Byron was already relegated TO the shelf
ef authors who had been favorites-to
the shelf where we now range Scott and
Wordsworth and Coleridge. with their
elders. Pope. Goldsmith Addison and
yet greater names-men to be still read
OF occasion, but no longer an intimate
essential part Of the literary life OF the
\ time.
J We need not shut our eyes to the fact
that these changes We're partly due TO
q frequent instinct Of the public to
weigh the worth Of Lord Byron's verse
by the worthlessness OF his life This
last he himself persisted in forcing upon
the attention Of the public. and he
seemed 10 take an impish, If not insane
delight n making the worst of it. His
A~l-
wickedness- We may as well admit that
mis- conduct was full Of faults, and that
<>sre was no very long period in his life
t,Aen any decent society could have re-
Esrded him as a desirable member. But
he was never as bad as he painted him
self; there were always people of refine
uent who chung 10 him: and against his
admitted delinquencies il is only charita-
bic TO remember his IamentabIe hered-
fly physical misfortune. tortured nerves
precocious and phenomenally vehement
affections, uncomfortable passions. exag-
gerated pride. as well as his loneliness
and his utter lack Of early guidance
with these admissions, and these offsets,
we may as well close that chapter The
food Of raphical speculation as to
just how bad he really was is not profit
able: and We may utterly ignore the
gross stories retailed by women. who
knew enough TO be in better business
which first soiled the light a third OF q
century ago ia an American magazine
that was then thought an expression of
the country's culture. II puts a pleas
anter taste in the mouth TO be reminded,
as you may be by Professor Granger, Of
your college. that he is affectienately re-
rne1nbered here in his own county among
the descendants Of his boyish love. Mary
Chaworth. even to the third and fourth
generation; and TO recall for yourselves
that he had the early recognition and
held 10 the end the kindly regard of that
sweetest and bravest soul in British lit
erature, Sir Walter Scott, as well as the
affection Of Thomas Moore and Percy
Bysshe Shelley, and the lofty eulogium
CT Goethe himself
An American, too may be permitted a
tenderer feeling toward the dethroned
literary monarch than is quite custom
ary now ia the land Of his birth We do
not forget his sympathy with our strug-
gle for the rights OF Englishmen, or his