522 
It is true that in the number before us, 
there is much less of .discursive dis- 
quisition than it has been, of late, the 
fashion, to, indulge in; and ja, larger 
portion: of, the respective. articles is 
made,up of, quotations, and an approx- 
imation, towards critical analysis... But 
the opinions, of the reviewers are not, 
therefore, always, less imperative,—nor 
their judgments less decisive. A strong 
bias,upon. certain subjects, is every- 
where conspicuous: a spirit that per- 
vades the whole. . But whether this, be 
the genuine spirit, of the philosophy of 
criticism, or the anti-philosophical spirit 
of .a, certain party, ow: readers shall 
have an.opportunity of “ drawing their 
own conclusions.” 
The “ Universal” gentlemen have not 
yet done with Lord Byron. Captain 
Medwin’s “ Conversations,’ and Mr. 
Dallas’s “ Recollections,” give them an 
opportunity of putting in their claim for 
a second course.of Mr. Dibdin’s palata- 
ble commendation. 
With their judgment, on the publica- 
tions. in question, we have no quarrel. 
They differ not much in the main from 
those delivered in our last Proémium ; 
and we are, as has been seen, no unqua- 
lified panegyrists of Lord Byron,—no 
apologists for the occasional perversions 
of his very extraordinary powers, and 
that disregard of the moral’ decencies 
and social sympathies of life, too fre- 
quently apparent in ad/ his works. But 
let us see how he is spoken of by this 
analyzing reviewer. 
* For the last half-dozen years, the world 
had grown siek of Lord Byron, | His end- 
less, careless, and monotonous distresses ; 
his reckless: resignation. to the torrent of 
calamity. that. was perpetually drenching 
him; his heart regularly broken afresh for 
the publishing season,—had fatigued even 
the young sympathies of the boarding- 
schools, and general sempstresship* of the 
land. “With the more mattire class of cog- 
noscenti, all mention of his Lordship had 
long dropped away;—he was. an exhausted 
subject. Several years liad elapsed since 
he had. rung the. last endurable changes 
upon metaphysics and blasphemy. The 
polite ear was tired of ‘ Goddess Nature,’ 
andthe loveliness of Atheism; the agonies 
of the noble writer himself, and the injured 
virtues of the devil.’—‘* The public mind 
of England might have laughed at his sor- 
rows, and despised his unbelief,—the one 
the length and teeth-crashing cacophony of 
the name, we suppose, of German discip- 
line and extraction. i 
Philosophy of Contemporary. Criticism.—No. XL. 
.yulgar absurdity; but, its wore 
Feed, 
incurable 
disdain was foynded on the bitterness, 
meanness, and duplicity of the. individual ; 
the low malevolence with which he made it 
the business.of his life to insult the woman 
whom he was bound to protect and honour, 
and on whose. property, he .was actually 
living; the heartless and_ silly acrimony 
with which he Jibelled his country,; and the 
demoralized and contemptible exteet ‘of his 
domestic life. The varnish and charlatanry 
with which no) man was more 'stitdiotis of 
investing his character, should\ bey stripped 
off, and: this clever and contemptible peer 
should be seen no longer. in-his,oyn ;thea- 
trical costume.” His 34 
Is this, we should ask, the’ manner in 
which an analytical critic should have 
spoken, even of Lord Byron?—who, 
whatever else he was, and however he 
occasionally misused his talent, was un- 
questionably one of the first geniuses, if 
not the first, of his age. Is. this an 
analysis of the publications of Captain 
Medwin and Mr, Dallas?) In short, is 
it the language of criticism ? or the lan- 
guage of Billingsgate? ey 
But this is not the only instance. in 
which a spirit very different from what 
we should designate as the spirit of ana- 
lytical criticism appears to be manifested, 
We pass the bitter and inhuman railings 
against the miserable peasantry of Ireland 
(dragged, without provocation or neces- 
sity [p. 261], into a review of Geoffrey 
Crayon’s Tales of a Traveller), with a 
mere admonition to the party, for whom 
this railing reviewer obviously writes, 
that whatever that poor, famished and 
degraded peasantry are, it is misgovern- 
ment that has made them, and’ that 
keeps them such. Nor will we stop to 
analyze the consistency which, (in the 
article on Venice under the Yoke of 
France and Austria, by a Lady of Rank), 
at once admits (p. 331), that the crimes 
of Italy result from its being “an Aus- 
trian helot at this hour,” and “ every- 
where present the most revolting evi- 
dence of the lamentable efficacy of 
ignorance and despotism in degrading 
the human character,” and yet (in ten- 
derness, we suppose, to the cause!) de- 
nies its sympathies to the dolours of the 
enslaved. We must pass on, at on¢e, to 
the evidences of that theological spirit 
which the prophetic eye of Mr. Dibdin 
foresaw was to peryade this Review ; 
and which he undoubtedly regarded as 
the very essence of “ pertinent remark 
and fair critical analysis.” - See Art. 
XVIL., Hodgson’s Letters from North 
America, p. 400. 
Mr. 
