114 Lord Byron's Pottical Character examined. [Sept. T, 



partiality to them. In all tlicir siicces- thinks is not outdone by the highest 



sive publications little novelty or variety exertions of any epic or tragic poet 



appears. The last which I have seen is 

 a poem, by Lord Byron, entitled, the 

 Siege of Corinth, which, in its essential 

 characters, seems a copy of all its pre- 

 <lecessors. We perceive t!ic same senti- 

 ments and images perpetually recurring 

 in a very narrow range ; and that alTect- 

 ed kind of gloomy sublimity, which is 

 conspicuous in all this author's otiier 

 productions, also predominates in this. 

 The principal personage in this poem 

 exactly resembles those in the preceding 

 ones : dark, resolute, and highly subli- 

 mated with passion ; but, as no (raits of 



whatever. That excellent critic parti- 

 cularly admires the circumstance of the 

 stars being beheld "dim twinkling 

 through his form," as wonderfully pictu- 

 resque, and conveying the most lively 

 impression of his thin and shadowy sub- 

 stance. Our poet, ambitious of equal 

 fame, attempts the same idea; but he 

 degrades it, and produces a ludicrous 

 figure. At the same time, he forgets 

 that bodies do not acquire their trans- 

 parency from their external line. 

 " Once she raised her hand on high, 

 It was so wan and transparent of hue, 



humanity are discernible, it is impossible You might have seen the moon shine 



to form any rational conception of them. 

 They arc all alike infuriated with a ter- 

 rific vengeful kind of love, in which there 

 IS abundance of heroism and pretended 

 sublimity, but no tincture of nature. It 

 is described as a lunatic sort of passion, 

 ■which rages, not, as is usual, in the 

 licart, but in the brain : the turban of 

 the lover is said to be pressed on his hot 

 brow, and his head grows fevered. It 



throngh." 



This noble author possesses so little of 

 the conscious pride of genius, as to arro- 

 gate to himself one of the most striking 

 and well-known sentiments of late times. 

 Every one knows that the eloquent INlr. 

 Burke contemplated with peculiar in- 

 d ignation the outrages committed against 

 the late queen of France, and observed, 

 that in an age of chivalry ten thousand 



is to be lamented that poets, instead of swords would have leaped from their 

 continually straining their imagination scabbards to avenge her wrongs. To 

 after what they suppose to be sublime the meanness of borrowing, the poet has 

 description, did not rather search for added the folly of supposing that a gene- 

 truth, by consulting the feelings of their rous sympatliy could exist for a secluded 

 own breast : love, suiely, never exhibit- female in an eastern court, where such 



ed such i)henomena, imless, perhaps, in 

 cases of actual madness. The heroines 

 also of Lord Byron, like his heroes, are 

 mot less remarkable for their absurdity 

 than tlieir uniformity. They are ail sup- 

 posed to be, in general, beautifisl, but 

 say or do nothing to mark their charac- 

 ter. Far from being distinguished by 

 sentimental graces, we are not cj^n pre- 

 sented with any definite idea of their 

 personal accomplishments, f shall not 



chivalrous notions are not only wholly 

 unknown, but would be esteemed highly 

 criminal. 

 " Had her eye in sorrow wept, 

 A thousand warriors forth had leapt, 

 A tliousand swords had sheatliless shone." 



Criticism, it is allowed, does not insist 

 on a rigid exclusion of foreign ideas from 

 ail author's compositions. As the con- 

 stitution of the human mind, and the 

 Appearances and operations of nature. 



occupy the room of yonr mbre useful/*''*^ ^H""**'" o'^" knowledge, 

 matter by any minute display of thisl'^«™ '" •=^<^*y.fS'' «"<^ ^"""♦'^3''' 

 titions. If in his "^ ^ often occur ii 



arc uni- 

 , the same 

 poet's constant repetitions. If in his ' '"'*'^"0"^.'*^'" «™" o^'^"' ""fonsci- 

 capital figures he has not taken thc^ J?"!.L*?„. £!T!!^ ?!l^!!fi. !"„„'?!„ 

 trouble " ' * ""*" * " "" " 



lievc, 



tha _ , ..„,..., . . , , 



bas been still more regardless. / ^^ evident that they are capable ot pro- 



It must be allowed, however, th4 !^"^'"^ *''"''*' ^'"^■'' "''^ ^V^^^^y good; 

 Lord Byron is not alwavs engaged ".fl? ^"*' '^ ^'''^y ^^opt as their own such 

 sfrinE:ing and ic-stringinghis own poeti- co"spic»ous and resplendent passages, 

 cal pearls : he is sometimes at the pi.ins ^'"^-V ^^'" unavoidably incur ridicule and 



to turn aside and piller a few from otliers' 

 st<ires. Of this kind I observe t\^'o very 

 briUiaiitones In the passages bci'ore me; 

 aUhough, undoubtedly, their lustre is 

 much tarnished by bis handling of 

 them. One is from Ossian's d€s<ription 



contempt. He, it may also be observed, 

 who communicates to trite ideas all the 

 freshness and graces of originality, by 

 reducing them to their elements, and 

 viewing them, like the first inventor, as 

 they existed in nature, cannot be thought 



of Ci;iJ£ars Gltost^ which Dr. Blair ^ Pl^'Siaiist. Much less do such poets 



as Pope or Gray deserve this reproa«;hfaI 

 1 DAUie, 



