64 REVIEW.-Moore's Life of Byron. conclude. Mr. Nicolas, in such his statement, has availed himself of a sophism which may be, and is employed against public functionaries of every description, high and low. The opponent scrapes up in a heap all the money, of which the disbursement has been spread over a long series of years, during which the service has been performed. The Public Functionary,' on his part, cannot, from the very nature of things, exhibit in a tangible mass all that he has performed during the period; and then the gross amount of the remuneration, which he has fairly earned, by the wear and tear of the machinery of human life, is insidiously displayed, as the reason for refusing to afford him a remunerating price for the machinery, when it begins to decay. Such a mode of reasoning would be reprobated as dishonourable and wicked in private life, and it is not the less so in public affairs."pp. 40-42. We shall now close this painful article. We have only indulged in pleasantry, because we think that Mr. Nicolas has formed an ambition, too impracticable to be regarded with seriousness. He has openly avowed a determination to drive all before him. Now we know a person, whose profession is driving, viz. a crafty stagecoachman, who bears ill usage patiently, because he says "Honey catches more flies than vinegar." Mr. Nicolas drives many a well-built carriage; and only hoping that he will be civil to those who use the same road, willingly cry" All's right." That he did not mount the box of the Antiquarian Society's coach we think a lucky escape; for his leaders might have broken down, and we believe that he could not have got the members into harness, and that they would have kicked most violently. The booksellers are the horses best suited to his purpose; and we wish him, as he deserves, every success with them. we Letters and Journals of Lord Byron; with Notices of his Life. By Thomas Moore. In 2 vols. Vol. 11. pp. 826. Murray. A SECOND Volume of this ponderous work is before us, carrying on the notice of Lord Byron's life to its melancholy close, including many pages of his journal, and a large mass of his foreign correspondence; and surely we may ask ourselves, for what useful purpose all this is done, and marvel at the lamentable want of taste and judgment on the part of his friend ་་ [Jan. and biographer. There is a mawkish and sentimental demand for charity in speaking of Lord Byron, as though he were a chartered libertine, whose profligate conduct and demoralizing writings were to be covered by the splendour of his talents; and that he who, both by the evil example of his life, and the sinful tendency of his publications, recklessly pursued his wicked course, careless of the mischief he effected, the wrongs he did, and the wounds he inflicted; that he, who never spared an enemy in his resentment, nor a friend in his pleasant jocularities, safe in the immunities of genius, and hedged in" by the divinity of his poetical reputation, shall be secured from the voice of indignant reprobation. It seems to be expected, that we should smile and simper over his enormnities, as a drawing-room miss corrects the profuse allusions of a lover with a fan. In short, we are expected to go on in sin and laughter, like the Indian philosopher singing on the funeral pile; or like Nero, fiddling amidst the flames of the capitol. The restraint which morals and religion have imposed on the licentious excesses of the passions, are, in the particular case of the Noble Poet, to be removed; the barriers erected against selfish indulgences, at the expense of public decency and private feelings, are to be broken down; the flood-gates which have been established, to prevent the outbreaks of the waters of strife, are to be removed; and we are called upon, in charity to the memory of the Desolator, to look on, shake our heads, and say nothing. The question, we contend, in opposition to Mr. Moore, is not, whether we, under the same circumstances of excitement, might not have been worse than Lord Byron? it is, simply, whether the high advantages of birth, and rank, and talents, are not great and important privileges, given by God as the means of greater usefulness to his creatures, and as the incentives of thankfulness to Himself. To employ these advantages against Him who bestowed them, is to imitate the Titans, and hurl defiance against heaven, through the instrumentality of its loftiest gifts. The private life of Lord Byron has been thrust upon the world with an elaborate protrusion of its most immoral features; and we should ill perform the duty we owe to our readers, 1831.] REVIEW.-Moore's Life of Byron. or to the cause of good morals, which our situation as independent Journalists calls upon us to defend, if we did not enter an indignant protest against such a publication. If the work had borne the title of a "History of the Intrigues of a Man of Fashion," the antidote would have been conveyed with the poison, and we should have been forewarned of the character of the volume. If we blush to see a nobleman want manners, if we lament that absence of all moral taste and gentlemanly feeling, which could make his adulteries the perpetual theme of his private correspondence, what shall we say of him, to whom the office of biographer was entrusted, obtruding the degrading register into print, and giving a permanent record to letters which should have been committed to the flames. Where was charity and delicacy, when this offence to his memory was perpetrated? And where was the least respect for the feelings of the living, when the envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, directed against his contemporaries, have been given to the world. In a letter to Mr. Murray, Lord Byron, speaking of the publication of his letters, to be collected from a lady whose name is not given, says, sinking, of course, the names, and all such circumstances as might hurt living feelings, or those of survivors!" It is only justice to Lord Byron to give this extract; a caution which, if it have been in any degree observed by Mr. Moore, would. lead to an inference, respecting the matter which has been suppressed, most horrible to think of. On those who have exposed their "noble friend" to the scorn of the high-minded, and the ridicule of the profane, be the shame; on those who have made a public spectacle of his irregularities be the dishonour; on those who emblazon vice, and cry out "charity," be the blame that now falls upon his memory; and on those who have raked among the ashes of the dead, and tainted the moral atmosphere with the exhalation, be the sin of the desecration. The volume, as we have before observed, takes up the life of Lord Byron soon after his last departure from England to his death; and there is much in his correspondence during this period (about eight years), of a very interesting character, sufficient GENT. MAG. January, 1831. 65 indeed to have made a selection, that would have placed him in a very high rank of our epistolary literature. As it is, his letters are disfigured by the sins of bad taste and worse morality; of enmities that never sleep; and a selfishness that cannot emerge from its own eternal wailings. If we lose ourselves for a moment in the admiration of his fine talents, or of some generous impulse that flits across his habitual maltemperament, he speedily recalls us to the conviction, that if the distinctions of right and wrong were not confounded in his mind, they were in his practice; and that the homage he occasionally paid to virtue, was not the result of any principle on which it could be said to depend. He would have erected a false standard of judg ment in morals, and have the action rated by the man, and not the man by the action; and he has missed the most glorious opportunity which was ever placed by God within the human grasp of uniting the nobility of birth, and the splendour of talents, with a love of virtue and the practice of holiness; of combining, in one and the same person, the highest natural advantages, and the most splendid of intellectual gifts; of realizing the angel's beauty and the seraph's song. But it is passed, and we must deal with the melancholy record before us as we can; and if we appear to be insensible to the many fine thoughts and feelings with which this volume abounds, it is, that however beautiful in themselves, they are too often in direct opposition to man's true happiness, and his immortal hopes; at variance with that wisdom, without which the poet, in his highest flights, is but in the regions of clouds and darkness, denser than the world from which he has escaped. It was during Byron's residence at Geneva that his third canto of Childe Harold was written, and it bears the deep impressions which that wild and romantic country had traced on his mind and memory. It was in Italy, however, that Lord Byron gave a looser rein to his passions; and we leave Mr. Moore to be his own apologist, for the publication of letters in which his friend's gallantries are recorded by his own hand. "It must have been observed, in my account of Lord Byron's life previous to his marriage, that, without leaving altogether 66 REVIEW.-Moore's Life of Byron. unnoticed (what, indeed, was too notorious to be so evaded) certain affairs of gallantry in which he had the reputation of being engaged, I have thought it right, besides refraining from such details in my narrative, to suppress also whatever passages in his journals and letters might be supposed to bear too personally or particularly on the same delicate topics. Incomplete as the strange history of his mind and heart must, in one of its most interesting chapters, be left by these omissions, still a deference to that peculiar sense of decorum in this country, which marks the mention of such frailties as hardly a less crime than the commission of them, and, still more, the regard due to the feelings of the living, who ought not rashly to be made to suffer for the errors of the dead, have combined to render the sacrifice, however much it may be regretted, necessary. “We have now, however, shifted the scene to a region where less caution is requisite; where, from the different standard applied to female morals in these respects, if the wrong itself be not lessened by this diminution of the consciousness of it, less scruple may be, at least, felt towards persons so circumstanced; and whatever delicacy we may think right to exercise in speaking of their frailties, must be with reference rather to our views and usages than theirs." We will give one specimen of Mr. Moore's regard to the feelings of the living. In a letter to Mr. Murray, dated Jan. 2, 1817, Lord Byron says, "On this day two years I married: Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."" And again, speaking of his excitement during the writing of Childe Harold, "I should many a good day have blown my brains out, but for the recollection that it would have given pleasure to my mother-in-law; and even then, if I could have been certain to haunt her." The following passage of a letter to Mr. Murray was said, by Mr. Gifford, to contain more good sense, feeling, and judgment, than any other he ever read, or Lord Byron wrote: "With regard to poetry in general, I am convinced, the more I think of it, that he and all of us-Scott, Southey, Wordsworth, Moore, Campbell, I,—are all in the wrong, one as much as another; that we are upon a wrong revolutionary poetical system, or systems, not worth a damu in itself, and from which none but Rogers and Crabbe are free; and that the present and next generations will finally be of this opinion. am the more confirmed in this, by having lately gone over some of our classics, particularly Pope, whom I tried in this way :-I I [Jan. took Moore's poems, and my own and some others, and went over them side by side with Pope's, and I was really astonished (I ought not to have been so) and mortified at the ineffable distance, in point of sense, learning, effect, and even imagination, passion, and invention, between the little Queen Anne's mau and us of the Lower Empire. Depend upon it, it is all Horace then, and Claudian now, among us; and if I had to begin again, I would mould myself accordingly. Crabbe's the man, but he has got a is retired upon half pay, and has done coarse and impracticable subject; and *** enough, unless he were to do as he did formerly." In speaking of Don Juan, Mr. Moore uses the following language, and it is, upon the whole, a faithful description of that monument of misapplied talent. The phrase “in many respects" occurs twice, and serves to soften down the darker shadowing which truth would have laid on the picture. "It was at this time, as we shall see by the letters I am about to produce, and as the features indeed of the progeny itself would but too plainly indicate, that he conceived, and wrote some part of his poem of "Don Juan ;" and never did pages more faithfully, and, in many respects, lamentably reflect every variety of feeling, and whim, and passion, that, like the rack of autumn, swept across the author's mind in writing then. Nothing less, indeed, than that singular combination of attributes, which existed and were in full activity in his mind at this moment, could have suggested, or been capable of the execution of such a work. The cool shrewdness of age, with the vivacity and glowing temperament of youth-the wit of a Voltaire, with the sensibility of a Rousseau-the minute, practical knowledge, of the man of society, with the abstract and self-contemplative spirit of the poet—a susaffecting in human virtue, with a deep wiceptibility of all that is grandest and most thering experience of all that is most fatal to it the two extremes, in short, of man's mixed and inconsistent nature-now raukly smelling of earth, now breathing of heaven, -such was the strange assemblage of contrary elements, all meeting together in the same mind, and all brought to bear, in turn, upon the same task, from which alone could have sprung this extraordinary poem-the most powerful, and, in many respects, painful display of the versatility of genius, that has ever been left for succeeding ages to wonder at and deplore." The account of the visit paid to Lord Byron by Mr. Moore, is not the least entertaining portion of the volume. 1831.] REVIEW-A Clergyman's Address to his Parishioners, &c. 67 Would that there were more of such matter. Lord Byron's intercourse with Mr. Shelley, Mr. Hunt, &c. has been amply detailed in the volume which the latter gentleman gave to the world soon after Lord Byron's death; an injury which has been amply revenged by the publication of Lord Byron's letters. "Amicitia nisi inter bonos esse non potest," says Cicero, and we see no reason to doubt the truth of this assertion in any of the friendships of this nobleman—there was connection, but no union. It is consolatory to reflect, that the brightest epoch of Lord Byron's life was the last. It is impossible to peruse the memoir of his disinterested services in the cause of Greece without the liveliest sympathy. Something perhaps of that love of excitement by which his life was governed, may have had a share in his efforts in that quarter; but there was a consistency in his conduct, which leaves no doubt of his sincerity, and to this cause he devoted the best energies of his heart, his fortune, and his life. It is in reading this record of his services, that we feel the deepest regret for the narrative that precedes it. It is now, we find, what great and good things he might have effected for himself, his country, and the world, had he been restrained by the early guidance of moral discipline, and been persuaded of the high purposes for which his stupendous talents were bestowed. But we must not be betrayed, by our admiration of the heroic qualities displayed by him on this new theatre of action, into an amnesty with unrepented sin. We admire his undaunted courage, his generous devotion, his disinterested ambition. We cannot read of his personal sacrifices for the cause of liberty, without the respect that is due to all he did and all he suffered; but there is a hand-writing against him, which the moralist cannot blot out-it is, unhappily, stamped on the pages of his immortal works; and it would be revived, if even it could have been forgotten in the pages through which we have toiled, with the mingled feelings of admiration, and pity, and disgust. But we must conclude. The more we read of this extraordinary man, whether in the history of his habits, his recorded conversations, his opinions and connexions, or in the ponderous collection of his letters now before us, the stronger is our conviction, that he was wholly destitute of any settled principle of virtuous feeling, or of love for his fellow-creatures. Like Sterne, he had sentiment at his fingers' ends, but he had nothing of the reality in his heart. He was the Timon of his country, and his day; but he outdid the Grecian misanthrope, by adding a legacy of posthumous venom to the poison he had circulated in his life. Though dead, he is made by his Biographer the agent of deeper mischief, and an unholy gain is attempted to be made of a correspondence which ought never to have seen the light. It is to the honour of Mr. Hobhouse that he has withheld the letters addressed to him. He has shewn himself worthy of the eulogy bestowed on his friendship by Lord Byron, in the dedication of his finest poem; and he has increased his title to the respect of the good, by the suppression of every thing that could add to the obloquy which this and similar publications have heaped upon the tomb of his friend. In this delinquency he has had no share. We will not apply to the editor of this volume the strong language of Johnson on the conduct of Mallet, in the publication of the works of Bolingbroke. We are quite sure that it is a production on which Mr. Moore will never look with pleasure, and which we suspect its publisher does not now view with much compla cency. An useful volume might be written on literary ethics, for the guidance and direction of authors, editors, and publishers. There is a cold and calculating spirit, tainting the literature of the present day, and debasing all that is noble in the exertions of intellect. A vile huckstering feeling is abroad, overlaying much that is generous and highminded; the puniest appetite is more consulted than the cultivation of the understanding; and the Temple of Learning, like the Temple of the Jews, is profaned by the seat of the mean and the mercenary, who, dead to glory, only burn for gold. A Friendly Address to his Parishioners, and the honest English Labourer, in this Christian Country, by a Clergyman and Magistrate of the County of Wilts, on Landlords and Clergy, and scandalous False hoods respecting them in the present day. Half sheet 8vo. A Voice of the People. By One of Your selves. A Word of Caution and of Comfort to the Middle and Lower Classes of Society: being a Pastor's Advice to his Flock in a Time of Trouble. THESE, and several other circulars, addressed to the labouring poor, have been written by well-intentioned Clergymen, with the Christian purpose of allaying the passions, and undeceiving the understandings, of a misled population. The first is a calm and eloquent appeal from the pen of the Rev. Wm. Lisle Bowles. We trust that such addresses, when simple in their diction, and unincumbered with a perplexity of argument, may in some degree answer the benevolent purpose of the writers. But there is great cause to apprehend that upon the populace, as a body, little impression can be made, except by alarms respecting their interests. We shall therefore state the political measures taken by two Clergymen, to impede the progress of mischief and dissent, which measures have proved most efficient. Itinerant preachers had FINE 1. Designs for Farm Buildings. By P. F. Robinson, Architect, F.S.A. 56 plates, 4to. 2. Village Architecture. By the Same. 40 plates, 4to. Carpenter and Son. The first six numbers of this work were noticed in vol. xcvi. p. ii. 253. As the latter part of the work relates more particularly to "Village Architecture," Mr. Robinson has designated it by that name, and it may be purchased separately; but the plates of both parts being numbered continuously 1 to 96, the work ought not to be separated into two portions. Indeed, it is altogether so useful and elegant, that we trust it will easily meet with purchasers in its complete form. Our former notice applied to the "Farm Buildings." The second part of the work is more interesting. The designs consist of the Village Inn, School-house, Almshouses, Market-house and Shambles, the Pump, Butcher's Shop, Work-house, Parsonage, Swiss Dairy-room, Town-hall and Market-house, Entrance to Church-yard, Village Church, and Village Street. The last plate combines in one group several of the designs which compose the present work, and forms a Village Street of ancient architecture, of the most picturesque description. [Jan. held field meetings. "Well, well,” said one parson A. “it may make you more sober." It was immediately circulated through the parish, that the parson would cause their masters to dock their allowance of beer, and that they must hereafter drink water. No more was heard of the field-preaching. -A second Clergyman, B. had a large common in his parish. Some officious Evangelicals proposed the erection of a house upon it, for prayer-meetings. Two or three days afterwards it was circulated all over the parish, “ that if a piece of the common was taken off for that purpose, others would follow the precedent, and the common be ultimately lost." The innovation fell to the ground. The same Clergyman (A.) is now circulating among his parishioners, that if they engage in the present riots they will, if unsuccessful, be either hanged or transported; or, if excited to a civil war, be obliged to go for soldiers. It is not that motives of higher moral elevation might not be suggested, but people who have not the innocence of the dove, must be counteracted by the wisdom of the serpent, ARTS. The Village Church is designed in the Norman style, and is well suited for effect and convenience. The "Village Architecture" is designed to be "illustrative of the Observations contained in the Essay on the Picturesque, by Sir Uvedale Price; and as a Supplement to Mr. Robinson's previous Work on Rural Architecture." Speaking of Sir U. Price's work, Mr. Robinson justly observes, "It is written with the truest feeling for the subject upon which he treats, as compared with the sublime and beautiful, and with an earnest recommendation to those who are about to improve real landscapes, to study the paintings of the old Masters." Mr. Robinson's work is well calculated to embody, as it were, the excellent observations on Village Architecture to be found in Sir U. Price's work, on which so much depends the beauty of our country, and indeed, it may be added, the comfort and happiness of our labourers; for every thing that attaches the poor to their dwellings, and causes them to take a laudable pride in them, must have a beneficial effect, in a national point of view. By attending to Mr. Robinson's suggestions, instead of de |