XXXVI.

Thou, Byron, still thy deathless course shalt run.

"This man of genius," says the elder D'Israeli, “ was a "moral phenomenon, which vanished at the moment when, "by its indications, a change was silently operating on the "most ductile and versatile of human minds. I consider "that, had he lived, the complete developement of his power"ful capacity, the elevation of his generous temper, in a "word, the perfect formation of his character, would have "been the necessary consequence of his nature.

“The man who, independent of a constant struggle after "intellectual truth, perceptible in all his writings, had the

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power twice completely to revolutionise his principles of "taste, and his style of composition, and, at each great "change, attained greater excellence, this man can only "be classed among the very highest and most capable intel"lects. The culture of Lord Byron was imperfect, but it "could only have been perfected by his own solitary exer❝tions, and that this perfection would have been consum"mated, is, to me, not a matter of doubt.

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"If the mind of Lord Byron were disorganised and unsettled, so also was it searching and inquisitive. His opinions, indeed, were already greatly changed-his self"knowledge much increased-his knowledge of Nature "much more just—his knowledge of mankind much more "profound. Already had he discovered that misanthropy is

* "Now, if I know myself, I should say, I have no character at all.”— MOORE'S LIFE.

impossible, and that sublime selfism, which would exist "without the sympathies of life, only gratifies our vanity "without satisfying our feelings. Another step, and he "would have discovered that Virtue is a reality, and happi

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ness a positive existence. He would have found that the "hum of cities' is not torture: that society is not a peopled desert; and that this world is only a place of strife "and agony to those who are hostile and, therefore, ago"nised.

"In the pride of his eloquence the poet has proved the "strength of human intellect, even when he has cursed, " rather than deplored, its weakness. We must show that "there is no strength where there is no order; and that "existence, the objects of which were to him a source of " doubt or dissatisfaction, is neither doubtful nor unsatisfac

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Itory, when, in the study of our nature, we become acquainted with its wants and its capacity.

"It was, indeed, not without truth, said of him by Goëthe, "that he was inspired by the Genius of Pain; for, from the "first to the last of his agitated career, every fresh excite"ment of his faculties was imbibed from that bitter source. "It is strange," says Lord Byron, "but agitation or contest of any kind gives a rebound to my spirits, and winds me up "for the time."

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Time has already begun to render him justice. The world saw the dishonesty of the endeavour to identify the Poet with the characters he has drawn, and his opinions by the language they utter, without admitting that it would be

as just to pronounce Milton his own Satan. In fine, whatever may have been the noble Poet's errors, hypocrisy was not one of them. Had he possessed but a tithe of that average proportion among men of that most common and convenient vice, his errors would have appeared venial, or remained unknown, or uncommented upon: but "all the "cants of this canting world" have been poured out upon him by the unprincipled and by the prejudiced.

In despite of his domestic misfortunes, which gave him an additional interest in the eyes of the world, and to which the world gave him credit in not attaching much importance, -for no man who really loved, or even respected a woman, or considered only what was due to her feelings, or to society, could write public verses to her on private annoyances where the heart was much concerned ;—and, still less, hold her up to ridicule afterwards; for, love becoming "blighted," &c. is inanest poetry: love is the great master-passion; and he who has once loved, cannot eradicate the feeling; it may cool-decay-but, in every honourable bosom, the ashes of its memory should lie sacred and undisturbed!

In despite, then, I say, of domestic grievances, I consider Lord Byron as the most fortunate of men; he stood, acknowledged, the literary Achilles of his day; while living, he,

How chivalrously, and characteristically, has Scott awarded his right to him! [the passage is quoted from memory :] "He had none of that "petty anxiety common to lesser authors in what is called taking care "of their fame.' Lord Byron let his fame take care of itself. His foot

too, had his tried friend, ever ready to counsel or defend him; and when he died before his time, how more than fortunate was he in that friend, coming forward as he did; and while recording, in his own graceful style, his life and actions, entwining his own fame inseparably with that of his friend.

The Life of Lord Byron by Moore, as that of Sir Walter Scott by Lockhart, are surely the most graceful and finished pieces of biography in the English language.

XLIV.

Thou, who restor❜dst Rome's Empire for an hour.

At the commencement of the fifth century, Ravenna was made the capital of the western empire by the weak Honorius. Afterwards the noble Ostrogoth Theodoric held his court there, and embellished the city, throwing a kind of lustre over it from his own deeds. It was still considered the capital, until the eighth century. Dante finally took up his abode, and died here in 1321; his third and most magnificent monument was constructed in 1786, at the expense of the most noble the Cardinal Gonzaga.

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was always in the arena: his shield hung always in the lists; and "though his own gigantic renown increased the difficulty of the contest, "he came off always with honour almost always with complete "triumph."

Such are the testimonies which only one great mind can bear to another!

XLV.

Behold the Pass of Furlo

The Pass of Furlo is a defile in the mountains south of Urbino, the road being cleft through the rock; its ancient name was Petra pertusa. The branch of the Flaminian road commences at Fano, and follows the Metaurus to Fossombrone-the Forum Sempronii. This great battle was fought along the left bank: the Monte Asdrubale, pointed out by the guide, marks part of the spot; but a vast extent of ground must have been occupied by the retreating, rallying, and fighting of one hundred thousand men.

La Martine--that elegant French Poet's remarks on Hannibal are too amusing to be omitted: "Je n'ai jamais pu

prendre le moindre interêt de cœur à Carthage, malgré ses "malheurs et sa gloire. Annibal ne m'a jamais paru qu'un ge"neral de la Compagnie des Indes! faisant une campagne "industrielle, une brillante et héroique opération de com"merce dans les plaines de Trasimene !" Nobody will imitate him the last idea could only have occured to a Frenchman; Hannibal a commercial man !-not only the greatest, but the most thoroughly disinterested and Spartan soldier that ever existed ;-the only precious metal ever known to him, being the iron harness in which he may be said to have been born.