lS23.y 



The Age of Bronze. 



323 



Yes, where is he, the champion am] tlie chihl 



Of all that's great or lillle, wise or wild ? 



Whose ffame was empires, and whose stukes were 



thrones, — 

 AVhose table, earth, — whoso dice were humaa 



bones ? 



Iq an ironical allusion fo tlio falla- 

 cious assertions made by the perse- 

 cutors of the imperial captive, respect- 

 ing the pretended salubrity of his 

 nuhcaltliy prison, a handsome and 

 justly-merited compliment is paid to 

 the integrity of Mr. O'Mcara ; which, 

 proceeding frotn such a quarter, may, 

 wc think, almost console that gentle- 

 man for the abuse of the Quarterly 

 reviewer : — 



Vain was his sickness, — never was a clime 

 So free from homicide, — to donbt's a crime; 

 And the stiff surijeon, who niaintain'd his cause, 

 Hulh lost his place, and guiii'd the world's applause. 



The author, in his retrospect of 

 Bonaparte's conquests, has introduced 

 the following magnifieent description 

 of the conflagration of Moscow : — ■ 



Moscow! thou limit of his long career. 



For which rude Charles hid wept his frozen tear 



To see in vain, — he saw thee, — how ? with spire 



And palace, fuel to one common fire. 



To this the soldier lent his kindling match. 



To this the peasant nave his cottage-thatch. 



To this the merchant flung his hoarded store. 



The prince his hall, — and Moscow was no more! 



'Subliniest of volcanoes! Etna's flame 



Pales before ihine, and quenchless Hecla's tame; 



Thou staud'st alone uiinvali'd, till the fire 



To come, in which ;;I1 empires shall expire! 



To the subject of Napoleon succeeds 

 a rapid and spirited glance at the 

 gratifying progress of freedom, mani- 

 fested in the vigorous and successful 

 struggle against despotism in so many 

 parts of the globe ; and this topic na- 

 turally leads to the Holy Alliance, on 

 which odious league of vice and folly 

 Lord Byron has poured down the 

 phials of his poetic wrath in a strain 

 of bitter irony. 



Who now assemble at the holy call ? 



The blest Alliance, which says, three are all ! 



An earthly Trinity, which wears the shape 



Of heaven's, as man is mimick'd by the ape. 



A pious unity! in purpose one, — 



To melt three fools to a Napoleon. 



The master mover of this Satanic 

 conlt-'dcracy against the happiness and 

 freedom of nations, has, at all events, 

 no rea.son to complain that the writer 

 of the " Age of Bronze" has neglected 

 to pay hiui a tribute commensurate 

 with his merits. We believe most of 

 our readers will concur with us in 

 thinking, that the following sketch of 

 the J']iuperor Alexander is executed 

 with e(|ual sjiirit and lidclity : — 



He»plendent siiflit I behold the eoxconib Czar, 

 The autocrat of walt/es and of war! 

 As fM^'er for a phiu'llt a« a niilni. 

 And Just UK fit for flirliiifr us the helm ; 

 A Calinuck beauty wild a Consack wil, 

 AuJ geu'rous uplrit, k7ii?/i 'tit mt frust-liit. 



Now half-dissohing lo a liberal thaw. 

 But liurdeii d bad whene'er the muriiing'i raw ; 

 With no objection to true liberty. 

 Except that it would mate the nations free. 

 How well the imperial dandti prates of peace. 

 How fain, if Greeks would be his slaves, free 

 Greece ! 



The French Chambers next come in 

 for their due share of the poet's ani- 

 jnadversions; and we are presented 

 with a ludicrous and lively picture of 

 their indecent and undignified de- 

 batesj their premeditated harangues, 

 and their tumultuous loquacity. la. 

 his allusion to the French monarch, 

 Louis le Desiri, Lord Byron breathes 

 forth sentiments of com|)assion, whicU 

 we entertain with no Jess cordiality, 

 in adverting to the wayward destiny 

 which has removed that, in some re- 

 spects ainiable, man, from the enjoy- 

 ments of an epicurean board, and pure 

 Latinity, in the grove of HartwcU, to 

 a regal station, where he is surrounded 

 by no advisers but those whose advice 

 it is pernicious to follow, and can 

 conciliate no attachments but such as 

 are degrading and destructive to the 

 ostensible object of them. The bard 

 then glances at the actual situation of 

 his own country ; and, after touching 

 sliglitly upon various circumstances 

 connected with it, ho devotes a 

 lengthened strain of satirical severity, 

 almost bordering on invective, to the 

 clamorous distresses of our country, 

 or, as his lordship terms them, our 

 "now 2oicoj«(<r)/ gentlemen," who after 

 having, in a long career of unredeemed 

 selfishness, sanctioned and supported 

 all those pernicious measures of mis- 

 government, which, from their tempo- 

 rary advancement of the landed in- 

 terest, their short-sighted and narrow 

 policy led them to regard as conducive 

 to their permanent advantage ; now, 

 in a late and ungracious repentance, 

 perceiving their error, woidd seek that 

 sympathy in their misfortunes, to 

 which their previous conduct can 

 afiord them no just claim, and, with a, 

 consistent love of self, would be in- 

 demnified for the consequences of 

 their past folly and avarice, at the 

 expense of other branches of the 

 comnmnity. 



.See these inglorious Cincinnati swarm, 

 I-'iirmers of war, dictators of the farm ! 

 Their ploughshare was the sword in hireling 



hands, 

 Their fields manui'd by gore of other lands. 

 Safe in their barns, these Sabine tillers sent 

 'i'licir brethren out to battle, — why .' for rent '. 

 Year after year llicv voted cent, percent, 

 Hloorl, sweat, and tear-wrung millions,— why? for 



rent ! 

 They roar'd, they din'd, they drank,— they swore 



they meant 

 To die for England i why then live ? for rent ! 



Th« 



