New-York tribune., 1911-01-21
trate his poetic powers at their best
| and II Is a moderate best:

trate his poetic powers at their best
and il is a moderate best:
There is a glorious City in the Sea,
The Sea is in the broad. the narrow
streets.
Ebbing and flowing and the salt sea-
CIings to the marble of her palaces.
No track Of men. no footsteps to and fro,
Lead to her gates. The path lies DER the
Irvisibie: and from the land We went.
As TO a floating Citv-steering in
And gliding UP her streets as In dream
So smoothly, silently-by many a dome,
Mosoue-like. and many stately portico
This very faint semblance of poetry
drops Immediately into the prosaic and
becomes not "eminently readable but
erievously dull Put aside the book and
read the stanzas on Venice from "Childe
Harolds Pilgrimage" and watch Venice
rise from the wave "as from the stroke
of the enchanter's wand" There may be
seen the difference between the man Of
genius and the man Of cultivated taste.
the poet by intention. In his lines on
Rome Rogers tells us that he wanders
tevond the city gate to pour out my
pied sixteen years in composing. 1t is
remembered that the banker spent what
was then vast sum in producing the
book with Turner's illustrations.
OF Rogers the hospitable host in a
house full Of beautiful and artistic OBJ
iects. the "reminiscences OF the last CEN
tury are rich in anecdote His taste in
art was not impeccable, but It was in
advance OF his time in England; and, his
gift for cruel stings aside, his taste in
conversation was excellent. He had
known we'll such statesmen As Fox,
Burke. Talleyrand and such authors as
Lamb. Scott, Wordsworth. Byron. Cole
ridge. Sheridan. He had talked with
Boswell. with Garrick and with Mrs. Sid
dons: as boy he had knocked at DR..
JOhnson's door and, overcome with shy
ness had run away when he heard the
shuffiing footsteps of the great man COM
ing along the entry. His recollections
were fascinating, his breakfasts delight
full from the intellectual point Of view
as we'll as in tasteful luxury. 1t was in
literary and personal anecdote that he
was most entertaining; he was called
witty, but his wit was often merely
malicious sharpness. Mrs. Kembe said
that he had the kindest heart and the
unkindest tongue Of any one she ever
knew. We need not credit the bitter
lines Of Byron, written when he was
outraged by reports that his friend had
whispered scandalous tales about HIM
You're his foe-for that he fears you
And in absence blasts and sears you;
You're his friend-for that he hates YOU,
First obliges and then bats you,
Darting on the opportunity
When TO do IL with impunity.
1t is possible that Rogers aired his cen
seriousness at Byron's expense; his rec
elections Of the greater man. as we
know them, are rather i'll natured but
at his worst he could not have been more
traitorous than smiling little Tommy
Moore, as Hobhouse portrays him. Il
have a very weak voice" said Rogers
once TO Sir Henry Taylor. IF did no,
say Ill natured things no one would hear
what 7 said" His quiet. unceasing gen
erosity TO poor authors, poor artists and
all distressed was, as Mrs. Kemble de-
clares, unbounded; let that be balanced
against the woundins speech of the
man.
We have more graphic descriptions OF
the old Rogers than Of the young one.
CARLYLE, In 1898. mentioned "Old Rogers.
with his pale head, white. bare and cold
as snow those large blue eyes,
cruel, sorrowful, and that sardonic shelf
chin" James T. Fields-whom Mr.. Rob
erts does not quote-visited the poet
recorded his failure to understand the
atirical sayings about his hosts per
sonal appearance. Rogers's head. he
thought. was very fine-"his dome of
brain was one Of the amplest and most
perfectly shaped | ever saw. and his
countenance was very far from unpleas-
ant" The American sat enraptured hy
the ancient hard's" talk of the Celehri-
ties Of past generations; II was as un-
real as a dream. he felt, 10 listen To
those 1FCNllSfll0IS ~ Nlld' ll' llbD i'f'
reading about all his life. One thing
shocked Fields-he could not understand
the feeble manner in which the poets
best stories were received by the lit
erary Englishmen seated around the
table. Old Barry Cornwall gave him
the explanation afterward-they had all
heard the same anecdotes every week,
perhaps, for half a century" Ameri-
cans, by the way. may justly give
kind thought to the shade Of Rogers.
He was an enthusiastic admirer of
Washington and Franklin; and he had
inherited. indeed, feelings for America
rare in his time. For Thomas Rogers, |
his father, had told his little boys that
the colonies had good reason for re-
bellion, that England was in the wrong /
and that they must not wish the Ameri- /
cans to fail in the struggle. When It'd /
ings OF the slaughter Of the minute men |
at Lexington arrived in London stout old |
Thomas Rogers put on mourning. be
cause he had lost several friends in New
England"