131 



Accept this gratulation : may it cheer 



Thy sinking soul; or these corporeal ills 



Ought daunt thee, nor appal. Know, in high heav'n 



Fame blooms eternal on that spirit divine, 



Who builds immortal verse."* 



Sir E. Brydges, in his " Letters on the Genius of Lord 

 Byron," thus characterizes the grace and sweetness of his 

 pathetic powers, in his Eloisa: "When either his passions 

 or imaginations were roused, they were deep, strong, and 

 splendid. Notwithstanding Eloisa was an historical subject, 

 his invention of circumstances of detail, his imagery, the 

 changes and turns of passion, the brilliancy of hues thrown 

 upon the whole, the eloquence, the tenderness, the fire, the 

 inimitable grace and felicity of language, were all the fruits 

 of creative genius. This poem stands alone in its kind; 

 never anticipated, and never likely to be approached here- 

 after." 



Young uttered this sublime apostrophe when the death of 

 Pope was first announced to him: 



Thou, who covldst make immortal*, art thou dead? 



Of his Essay on Man, the Nouveau Diet. Hist. Portatif 

 thus speaks:-*" Une metaphysique lumineuse, ornee des 

 charmes de la poesie, une morale touchante, dont les lemons 

 penetrent le coeur et convainquent 1'esprit, des peintures 

 vives, ou 1'homme apprend a se connoitre, pour apprendre a 

 deviner meilleur; tels sont les principaux caracteres qui dis- 



* Perhaps one motive (no doubt there were numberless others) that might 

 have induced Mr. Mason thus to honour the memory of Pope, 



letting cold tears bedew his silver urn, 



might have been from the recollection of his attachment to what equally 

 charmed Mr. Mason the love of gardens. 



