1825.] 
tevt, than a personal attack upon the 
memory and writings of Lord Byron 
must be admitted to have done from 
that of Genesis (c. iv. v. 9.)—“ Am I 
my brother’s keeper ?” yet even these 
Reviewers, either from compunctions 
of conscience, as ‘their years matured, 
or from the severe retaliations which 
their personalities occasionally; —pro- 
voked, deemed it decent, or prudent, to 
reform, in some degree, the error of 
their ways. Have they only abandoned 
this trade of digressive personality, that 
it may be transferred fromthe pamphlet 
shop.to the pulpit ? 
If it were possible, indeed, «for an in- 
stant to suspect, that the object of a 
Christian preacher could be merely, or 
principally, to excite an attention which 
should lead to: profit—that the rent of 
pews, and the fees of pew-openers, were 
the end proposed, »the course, would 
then be right: but-it would be still more 
right toadvertise, regularly, what charac- 
ter is to be: attacked—to place. money- 
" takers and check-receivers:at'the doors, 
and have a» box-book: for: securing 
places : for no-one can, at this time, be 
ignorant, that among the motives which 
induce some people to go: to. churches 
and chapels (especially to» evening. ser~ 
vice) the amusementto be derived from 
an-eloquent discourse (ata time when, 
.to the decorous:part:of the community, 
almost every) other»species- of :amuse- 
ment is precluded)>is: one’; and there 
-can be little:doubt that, if the funeral 
-anathema: of a; Napoleon,» or a: Byron, 
or any other distinguished: «character 
recently demised, were duly announced, 
every part of the house would be filled 
at an early hour. 
Your readers, however, ‘Mr.)Editor, 
-will be happy: to: learn, from such good 
authority:as that of the Rev. Dr.himself, 
in the very passage to which «they, are 
-pointed by the partial quotation in your 
Magazine for March (p. 140), that he 
is actuated by very different motives— 
motives of the most pure and) heroic 
patriotism—of more. than: patriotism— 
.of universal philanthropy and. zeal for 
the welfare of the whole human species. 
Permit me,’ Sir, toiquote the conclu- 
sion of ‘that paragraph -of -which’ you 
have, so fastidiously, only presented 
the commencement. It is. with .réluc- 
‘tance I relinquish the middle of so har- 
‘monizing a whole. 
“ Society may* flourish without genius, 
* It would be superfluous to enter into controversy 
upon all the ieresies, moral and intellectual, of this 
excursive declaimer—else it would not be difficult to 
shew, that whether it may, or not, society never did 
Remarks on Dr. Styles. 
- would have associated his 
323. 
and may be refined without peetry, but it 
cannot exist without virtue; and when ge- 
nius arms itself against the body politic, and 
wages war with the whole human family,— 
1 am determined, for one, to make common 
cause with my country—with my species.”’ 
It should be observed, however, that 
the Rev. Champion took care that his 
antagonist should be hors de combat be- 
fore he armed himself for the good fight. 
The adventurous and heroic divine, 
indeed, seems to be rather fond of hunt» 
ing dead lions; his equally charitable 
philippic against Napoleon having been 
delivered under similar circumstances. 
I am sorry, however, that you did 
not, in justice to the Rev. Doctor, quote 
one beautiful passage more from the 
sermon more immediately in contem- 
plation, as a specimen, at once, of the 
candid benignity of the preacher’s feel- 
ings, and the beauty and critical acumen 
of his style. _ 
“0, how, I wish that the style of this 
address could be less accusatory and severe! 
how I regret, that this sun went down 
while it yet was day—while it shone only 
with consuming brightness! Its descent 
in the evening might haye been as salutary 
as beautiful. The past might have been 
redeemed. Having lived to disenthral an 
enslaved people, he might haye been struck 
with the. majesty of moral greatness, and 
haye given something to posterity that 
name with 
Wordsworth and Milton, and other intel- 
lectual luminaries, which are the glory and 
the pride of their native land.” ~ 
To be sure it may be rather difficult 
to conceive how it can continue to be 
“yet day” when the sun is down, and 
its descending in the eyening would be 
a little more in the course of nature; 
but why should ‘not Dr. Styles’ sun set 
at noon, if “the metaphor will’ have it 
so,” as’ well as*Wordsworth be taught 
to take precedency of Milton, and which 
be converted into a personal pronoun, 
when his ear happens to discover that it 
is a more euphonous syllable than who ? 
There are those, however, who, on 
comparing this passage with one upon 
the same subject, in the translation you 
presented to us. from Madame Belloc’s 
vindication of our lamented bard (M.M. 
Feb. p. 178) may prefer the lady’s logic to 
the pathos of the divine.’ ‘But the sub- 
ject, though not exhausted, is growing, 
» perhaps, a little stale ; I therefore con- 
clude.—Yours, &c. No Cant=Ean. 
flourish without genius, nor ever was refined without 
poetry. The first emanations of genius, in every 
country, most assuredly, have been poetical; and in 
the inspirations of genius, most unquestionably, have 
originated all those energies out of which the flourish- 
ing condition of societies has arisen. 
27T2 
