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We have shewn the “depraving dissipation,” to use his own words, in
which Byron
Childe Harold. They were
published in 1812. Many circumstances conspired to give them a rapid and extraordinary
celebrity. The plan of the poem was perfectly novel; the objects described were singular and
highly interesting; the author had chosen a stanza-metre well adapted to his subject; he wrote
with a careless freedom of language which gave originality to his style; he had an eye for the
picturesque, which rendered his descriptions lively and striking: the sentiments naturally
suggested by the sigh of Spain struggling for freedom, and Greece sunk in slavery, could not
but come home to every English bosom. There was but one great deduction to he made from the
value of the work—the immorality of some of the incidental reflections. But this
objection was very artfully evaded by throwing all the odium on the character of
But this was not to be. Many partial attacks have at times been made on his
Lordship’s works; but a full, detailed, and impartial criticism on them, as a whole,
never appeared until the beginning of the present year, when a Pamphlet intitled Cato to Lord Byron, on the immorality
of his WritingsByron’s
The publication of the two first volumes of Childe HaroldByron’sMedwin’s Conversations; but its favorable reception
opened to his Lordship a mine of wealth as well as of popularity. Henceforward he had the means
of retrieving the losses occasioned by his former extravagance.
“For the Third Canto of(p. 169.) Accordingly, with the exception of one poem which he gave to, Childe Harold, and the Manfred,” says he, “I got 2400 Prisoner of Chillonl. I see no reason why a man should not profit by the sweat of his brow.”
It is quite awful to reflect that the author of these lines is now himself a corse!
The Bride of
Abydos Giaour, but equally extravagant. The
“one virtue and a thousand crimes”is a moral absurdity. These poems, however, coming from a popular writer, and recommended by an easy flow of verse and lively powers of description, were eagerly read. The literary vanity of his Lordship was gratified; but no proof was afforded of his improvement either in taste or morals. Speaking of his conduct at this period, he says,
“The impersonation of myself, which in spite of all I could say the world would discover in that poem ((p. 211.)), made every one curious to know me, and to discover the identity. I received every where a marked attention, was courted in all societies) made much of by Childe HaroldLady , had theJerseyentréat Devonshire House, was in favour with—and that was alone enough to make a man of fashion at that time—in tact, I was a lion, a ball-room bard, a Brummelhot-presseddarling! The Corsair put my reputation” (p. 210.) He adds, “About this period I became what the French call uau comble .and was engaged in an homme à bonnes fortunes ,liaison;and I might add, a serious one.”
We now come to his marriage. The headstrong boy and profligate youth had now
become a patriot! an Opposition Peer—a member of the literary Whig
coteries, winch possess so notable a faculty of feeding each other’s vanity with
exuberant praise. In this situation he attracted the notice of Milbanke“You ask me if
(pp. 45, 46.) The first time he saw her he was
accompanied by Byron“On entering the room says he, I observed a young lady more simply
dressed than the rest of the assembly, sitting alone upon a sofa. I took her for a humble
companion, and asked if I was right in my conjecture? She is a great heiress, said he
(
(p. 36) MooreByronMilbanke“All I have ever received, or am likely to receive,” says he,
“and that has been twice paid back too, was 10,000
(pp. 39, 40) We shall not dwell upon the occurrences of this
unfortunate union, further than as they throw light on his Lordship’s character as a
Poet. 1. My own
income at this period was small, and somewhat bespoke. Newstead was a very unprofitable
estate, and brought me in a bare 1500l. a year; the Lancashire
property was hampered with a lawsuit, which has cost me 14,0001. and
is not finished.”“Our honeymoon,” says he, “was not all sunshine (p. 39.) “We
had a house in to gave dinner parties, had separate carriages, and launched into every sort
of extravagance. This could not last long. My wife’s 10,000
(p. 40.) The separation
soon took place. l.
soon melted away. I was beset by duns, and at length execution was levied, and the bailiffs
put in possession of the very beds we had to sleep on.”ByronByron“All my former friends,” says he, “even my cousin
(p. 47.)
It is very remarkable, and not a little instructive, that the only modest woman
with whom ByronMedwin“notwithstanding the tone of raillery with which he sometimes speaks in
(p. 108.) To his legitimate daughter Don JuanByronAdaConversations Beppo. This poem too was one that had novelty to recommend it. The loose
slipshod verse, the almost Hudibrastic licence in tagging, odd and ridiculous rhyme, and the
easy facetious air which the writer assumed in relating his story, formed altogether an new
species of composition well enough devised for popularity, and indeed well deserving it if the
tale and the sentiments conveyed in it had merited any thing but reprobation. The moral of the
story, however, is neither more nor less than to recommend the genteel vice of adultery. The
soul of the Debauchee guides the pen of the Poet.
Byron“a good lesson to young
men,” in shewing them “the fatal consequences of
dissipation”—he says, “there are
(p. 35.) and he says, moreover, that they have been
read—and transcribed too by very few
licentious adventures of my own, or scandalous anecdotes that will affect others in the
book.”—“There are few parts that may not and none that will not be
read by women:”Burghersh
, says the Poet. How is this inconsistency, this sinning
against the light of knowledge, to be accounted for? We know not, unless it be from the
overpowering force of habit. MedwinByrondouble adultery with a married Italian woman;
and to make the picture still more revolting, her father and her brother were the panders
to her lust!—If this be not the plain meaning of Medwin’sGuiccioliGamba
We must own, that part of a note in page 234 puzzles us
extremely—“I have heard
Is it here meant that reproach is due to at married
man for ceasing to live in adultery? Is it meant that ByronMedwinGuiccioli.Count GambaMedwin