The Life of Lord Byron

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was written. Now, the law upon the point of minority we hold to be perfectly clear. It is a plea available only to the defendant; no plaintiff can offer it as a supplementary ground of action. Thus, if any suit could be brought against Lord Byron, for the purpose of compelling him to put into court a certain quantity of poetry, and if judgment were given against him, it is highly probable that an exception would be taken, were he to deliver for poetry the contents of this volume. To this he might plead minority; but as he now makes voluntary tender of the article, he hath no right to sue on that ground for the price in good current praise, should the goods be unmarketable. This is our view of the law on the point; and we dare to say,

e score of rank, he takes care to remind us of Dr Johnson's saying, that when a nobleman appears as an author, his merit should be handsomely acknowledged. In truth, it is this consideration only that induces us to give

s not the whole art of poetry. We would entreat him to believe that a certain portion of liveliness, somewhat of fancy, is necessary to constitute a poem; and that a poem in the present day, to be read, must contain at least one thought, even in a little degree different from the ideas of forme

farewell! your des

f his ancestors

me, your rememb

e'll think upo

m his eye at thi

t fear, that ex

goes with the

s fathers he n

at memory still

ne'er will disgr

live, or like y

he mingle his du

is nothing better than these stanzas in th

isons (as he must have had occasion to see at his writing-master's) are odious. Gray's Ode to Eton College

joys to trace

friendship or m

e your ne'er-fad

he bosom, though

ar, might have warned the noble author of these premises,

harity

mortal

ul from barb

sion w

e virtue

is diffuse

doom'd

blast of

lows Atlant

nds o'er

soon be

arkles brigh

de for translating, during his nonage, Adrian's Address to his Soul, when Pope succeeded indif

fleeting, wa

associate o

nknown re

w wing thy d

th wonted

cheerless,

rses. As to his Ossian poesy, we are not very good judges; being, in truth, so moderately skilled in that species of composition, that we should, in all probability, be criticising some bit of genuine Macpherson itself, were we to express our opinion of Lord Byron's rhapsodies. If, then, the following beginning of a Song of Bards is by his Lordship, we venture to object to it, as far as we can comprehend it; 'What form rises on the roar of clouds, whose dark ghost gleams on the red stream of tempests? His

d 'use it as not abusing it'; and particularly one who piques himself

Helicon I bo

th an apology, 'he certainly had no intention of inserting it,' but really 'the particular request of some friends,' etc. etc. It concludes with five stanzas on himself, 'the last and youngest of the noble line.' Ther

e his employments at school and college, we cannot possibly dismiss it w

, called Granta, we have the f

artments sma

ate for co

by the mid

o bed, yet

lse quantiti

o'er the de

many a who

Latin doome

every ple

ors of hi

to the le

e of the

ss are these

e but the hap

ith other

together t

nt of the college-psalmody, as is con

uld scarcely

band of ra

now must

et of croak

en his toils

e blockheads s

alms had ne'

od he would h

ed a careless mountaineer in the Highlands of Scotland, he has not of late enjoyed this advantage. Moreover, he expects no profit from his publication; and whether it succeeds or not, it is highly improbable, from his situation and pursuits, that he should again condescend to become an author. Therefore, let us take what we

al point with which it has been drawn up. Had the poetry been as insignificant as the critic affected to consider it, it would have argued little for the judgment of Mr Jeffrey, to take so much pains on a work which he considered worthless. But the world has

the other dormant. The voice of all the age acknowledges Byron to have been the greatest poetical genius of his time. Mr Jeffrey, though still enjoying the

her. He was seeking notoriety; and his attempts to obtain it gave more method to his pranks and follies than belonged to the results of natural impulse and passion. He evinced occasional instances of the generous spirit of youth; but there was in them more of ostentation than of that discrimination which dignifies kindness, and makes prodigality munificence. Nor were his attachments towards those with whom he preferred to associate, characterised by any nobler sentiment than self-indulgence; he was attached, more from the pleasure he himself received in their society, than from any reciproc

eccentricity, and the means which he scrupled not

victim of the morose race. It was converted into a goblet, and used at Odin-like orgies. Though the affair was but a whim of youth, more odious than poetical, it caused some talk,

nor deem my

old the o

unlike a l

flows is

ov'd, I quaf

earth my b

u canst not

h fouler lip

old the spa

e earth-worm'

in the go

gods than r

wit perchanc

others let

as, our brai

substitute

thou canst-a

d thine like

hee from ear

nd revel wi

e through lif

uch sad eff

m worms and

is theirs,