The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 474, Supplementary Number

LORD BYRON.

LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF LORD BYRON, WITH NOTICES OF HIS LIFE, BY THOMAS MOORE, Vol. ii.

[To attempt anything like an analysis of a "great big book," of 823 pages, like the present, and that within a sheet of 16 pages, would be an effort of condensation indeed. Besides, the very nature of the volume before us will not admit of such a task being performed with much regard to accuracy or unique character. The "Letters," of which, the work is, in great part, composed, are especially ill adapted for such a purpose; since, many of them become interesting only from manner rather than importance of matter. Horace Walpole's Correspondence would make but a dull book cut in "little stars" in the letter style; and Lord Byron, as a letter writer, resembles Walpole more closely than any other writer of his time. His gay, anecdotical style is delightful--his epithets and single words are always well chosen, and often convey more than one side of the letter of a common-place mind.

Our sheet of Extracts is from such portions of Mr. Moore's volume as appear to illustrate the main points of the Noble Poet's character and habits, as the superscriptions will best explain--_currente calamo_ from pages 22 to 769--within a few leaves of the Appendix.]

HIS SENSIBILITY.

With the following melancholy passage one of his journals concludes:--

"In the weather for this tour (of thirteen days) I have been very fortunate--fortunate in a companion (Mr. H.)--fortunate in all our prospects, and exempt from even the little petty accidents and delays which often render journeys in a less wild country disappointing. I was disposed to be pleased. I am a lover of nature, and an admirer of beauty; I can bear fatigue and welcome privation, and have seen some of the noblest views in the world. But in all this--the recollection of bitterness, and more especially of recent and more home desolation, which must accompany me through life, have preyed upon me here; and neither the music of the shepherd, the crashing of the avalanche, nor the torrent, the mountain, the glacier, the forest, nor the cloud, have for one moment lightened the weight upon my heart, nor enabled me to lose my own wretched identity in the majesty, and the power, and the glory, around, above, and beneath me----."

On his return from an excursion to Diodati, an occasion was afforded for the gratification of his jesting propensities by the avowal of the young physician (Polidori) that--he had fallen in love. On the evening of this tender confession they both appeared at Shelley's cottage--Lord Byron, in the highest and most boyish spirits, rubbing his hands as he walked about the room, and in that utter incapacity of retention which was one of his foibles, making jesting allusions to the secret he had just heard. The brow of the doctor darkened as this pleasantry went on, and, at last, he angrily accused Lord Byron of hardness of heart. "I never," said he, "met with a person so unfeeling." This sally, though the poet had evidently brought it upon himself, annoyed him most deeply. "Call me cold-hearted--_me_ insensible!" he exclaimed, with manifest emotion--"as well might you say that glass is not brittle, which has been cast down a precipice, and lies dashed to pieces at the foot!"

TO AUGUSTA.

I.

My sister! my sweet sister! if a name Dearer and purer were, it should be thine, Mountains and seas divide us, but I claim No tears, but tenderness to answer mine. Go where I will, to me thou art the same-- A loved regret which I would not resign. There yet are two things in my destiny-- A world to roam through, and a home with thee.

II.

The first were nothing--had I still the last, It were the haven of my happiness; But other claims and other ties thou hast, And mine is not the wish to make them less. A strange doom is thy father's son's, and part Recalling, as it lies beyond redress; Reversed for him our grandsire's fate of yore-- He had no rest at sea, nor I on shore.

III.

If my inheritance of storms hath been In other elements, and on the rocks Of perils overlook'd or unforeseen, I have sustain'd my share of worldly shocks, The fault was mine; nor do I seek to screen My errors with defensive paradox; I have been cunning in mine overthrow, The careful pilot of my proper woe.

IV.

Mine were my faults, and mine be their reward. My whole life was a contest, since the day That gave me being, gave me that which marr'd The gift--a fate, or will, that walk'd astray; And I at times have found the struggle hard, And thought of shaking off my bonds of clay: But now I fain would for a time survive, If but to see what next can well arrive.

V.

Kingdoms and empires in my little day I have outlived, and yet I am not old; And when I look on this, the petty spray Of my own years of trouble, which have roll'd Like a wild bay of breakers, melts away: Something--I know not what--does still uphold A spirit of slight patience--not in vain, Even for its own sake, do we purchase pain.

VI.

Perhaps the workings of defiance stir Within me--or perhaps a cold despair, Brought on when ills habitually recur-- Perhaps a kinder clime, or purer air, (For even to this may change of soul refer, And with light armour we may learn to bear,) Have taught me a strange quiet, which was not The chief companion of a calmer lot.

VII.

I feel almost at times as I have felt In happy childhood; trees, and flowers, and brooks, Which do remember me of where I dwelt Ere my young mind was sacrificed to books, Come as of yore upon me, and can melt My heart with recognition of their looks: And even at moments I could think I see Some living thing to love--but none like thee.

VIII.

Here are the Alpine landscapes which create A fund for contemplation.--to admire Is a brief feeling of a trivial date; But something worthier do such scenes inspire: Here to be lonely is not desolate. For much I view which I could most desire, And, above all, a lake I can behold Lovelier, not dearer, than our own of old.

IX.

Oh that thou wert but with me!--but I grow The fool of my own wishes, and forget The solitude which I have vaunted so Has lost its praise in this but one regret; There may be others which I less may show;-- I am not of the plaintive mood, and yet I feel an ebb in my philosophy And the tide rising in my alter'd eye.

X.

I did remind thee of our own dear lake, By the old hall which may be mine no more, Leman's is fair; but think not I forsake The sweet remembrance of a dearer shore: Sad havoc Time must with my memory make Ere that or thou can fade these eyes before; Though, like all things which I have loved, they are Resign'd for ever, or divided far.

XI.

The world is all before me; I but ask Of nature that with which she will comply-- It is but in her summer sun to bask, To mingle with the quiet of her sky, To see her gentle fare without a mask, And never gaze on it with apathy. She was my early friend, and now shall be My sister--till I look again on thee.

XII.

I can reduce all feelings but this one: And that I would not;--for at length I see Such scenes as those wherein my life begun. The earliest--even the only paths for me-- Had I but sooner learnt the crowd to shun, I had been better than I now can be: The passions which have torn me would have slept: I had not suffered, and thou hadst not wept.

XIII.

With false ambition what had I to do? Little with love, and least of all with fame; And yet they came unsought, and with me grew, And made me all which they can make--a name. Yet this was not the end I did pursue; Surely I once beheld a nobler aim. But all is over--I am one the more To baffled millions which have gone before.

XIV.

And for the future, this world's future may From me demand but little of my care; I have outlived myself by many a day; Having survived so many things that were; My years have been no slumber, but the prey Of ceaseless vigils; for I had the share Of life that might have filled a century, Before its fourth in time had passed me by.

XV.

And for the remnant which may be to come I am content; and for the past I feel Not thankless--for within the crowded sum Of struggles, happiness at times would steal, And for the present I would not benumb My feelings farther.--Nor shall I conceal, That with all this I still can look around, And worship Nature with a thought profound.

XVI.