On the 18th of June next, the first volume of the STRANGER will be completed. With the 27th Number will be issued an Index and Title Page. The subscriber takes this opportunity of presenting his sincere thanks for the liberal support that he has met with from the citizens of Albany, and the state generally. The continuance of "The Stranger" will depend on the patronage with which it may be honoured. In order to ascertain this, it is respectfully requested of such of the subscribers as may be desirous of discontinuing their subscription, that they will inform the subscriber of their intention in writing on or before the 31st of May next. JOHN COOK. PRINTED FOR JOHN COOK, BY E. AND E. HOSFORD, ALBANY. Observations. No. 27. THE STRANGER. “Therefore as a STRANGER, bid it welcome.” SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1814. HAMLET. VOL. 1. LORD BYRON. [CONCLUDED.] Ir must appear evident to the most superficial observer, that this poet particularly delights in the representation of strong passion, without regard to its connection with vice or crime. This is not peculiar to one poem, but pervades the whole. We look in vain among his heroes, for a single spark of those kindred feelings which unite man to man-proud, distrustful, gloomy, revengeful, daring-they exhibit the naked deformity of the corrupted heart, and except in their attachment for respective females, resemble rather outcasts from the possibility of happiness, than beings formed like ourselves. We make these observations, not so much in reference to the poetry of Lord Byron, the interest of which is undoubtedly heightened from these very circumstan ces, but as it respects his moral taste and the powerful influence that a genius like his is enabled to exert to render crime popular, and even an object of admiration. Not a ray of repentance beams across the dying moments of the Giaour; Selim has no thought but Zuleika and revenge, and the Corsair but the author has pourtrayed him in a few lines. VOL. I. His features' deepening lines and varying hue, @ 2 He had the skill, when Cunning's gaze would seek And on himself roll back his scrutiny, Lest he to Conrad rather should betray Some secret thought-than drag that chief's to day. That raised emotions both of rage and fear; And when his frown of hatred darkly fell Hope withering fled-and Mercy sighed farewell! After the fervour of admiration is subsided, it is difficult to reperuse his Eastern Tales, without feeling that their morality is pestilentia! and the heart involuntarily sighs for those delightful sketches of hope, of pleasure and of happiness, which Goldsmith, Rogers and Campbell, have exhibited with "airy tints." "Childe Harold" is an exception of these remarks. This recreant libertine has no traits worthy of admiration, and his complaints and reflections are calculated alternately to excite pity and abhorrence. Originality of expression, and the novelty with which he invests hackneyed ideas, is another powerful cause of the popularity of Lord Byron. There is an intensity of thought, and a consequent conciseness of words-an abruptness of utterance which denotes sudden mental revolutions, and above all, a wonderful command of appropriate language. The country from whence these tales are drawn, and in whose bosom the scene is laid, adds to the enchantment To represent the adventures of Eastern Lovers with correctness, eastern softness must be imagined, the feelings must be expressed with a fervour unknown to colder climes, and that "oriental eloquence must find a place" to use the striking expression of Madame De Stael, "which presses into its service "all the imagery of nature to describe what passes in the "heart" The author has not neglected these imposing beauties. His metaphors are borrowed with scrupulous care, from objects, with which an inhabitant of those regions may be supposed to be familiar, and the Frank is never discovered either in language or action. So far from censuring him for using eastern names in preference to English ones, such as Phingari, Gul, &c. we feel rather disposed to applaud the studied determination to maintain throughout, the vraisemblance of his tale. The love and jealousy of his heroes are truly eastern. The address of Selim to Zuleika, commencing "Borne by my steed, or wafted by my "sail," is unrivalled in its expressions of devoted attachment, chequered by the hope and anxiety of a doating lover. “Thou, my Zuleika, share and bless my bark- "Not blind to fate--I see where'er I rove "Should all be changed, to find thee faithful still." No passage more opposite to this can be found than the Giaour's description of the countenace of his rival Hassan, when dead→→ Both however are executed with a master's hand. "I search'd but vainly search'd to find, “The workings of a wounded mind ; "Each feature of that sullen corse Betrayed his rage, but no remorse. "Oh, what had Vengeance given to trace "Despair upon his dying face! "The late repentance of that hour, "When Penitence hath lost her power "And will not soothe, and cannot save!" Misanthropy, or rather a misanthropick view of men and things is another peculiar trait in the poetry of the author. This feeling is not one of yesterday, but is to be found even in his juvenile pieces. In the lines to Romance may be seen the germ of that sneering bitterness at human folly, that intolerance for the weakness of man, that despicable opinion of human nature, which blazes forth in his Satire, and corruscates, like midnight lightning, over the pages of Childe Harold. To aid the force of this he occasionally selects the most affecting scenes, and stamps upon them his dark and powerful conception. In the closing scene of life he exclaims, "No band of friends or heirs be there, To weep, or wish the coming blow; To feel, or feign, decorous woe. These ideas are the language apparently of feelings tortured by sorrow, and of a wounded heart, that has experienced the deceitfulness of friendship and love. We refer to those passages which narrate his griefs and his deep rooted ennui of life, as models of pathetick writing, "I lov'd-but those I lov'd are gone, Had friends-my early friends are fled; How cheerless feels the heart alone, Though pleasure stirs the maddening soul We close our analysis by observing that with two clases of readers, Lord Byron has peculiar pretensions to be popular. To the classical scholar, the delineations of Greece revive the happiest recollections. The immortality which attaches to every thing belonging to that country, has been more strongly stamped, if possible, in the pages of the poet. On this theme he dwells with rapture, and mourns with deep sorrow the degradation of the land which was once "the bright clime of battle and of song." He recurs at every opportunity to her monumental glories and her natural beauties. To the fair, in spite of a few oblique hints at inconstancy, want of feeling, &c. Lord Byron has in general done ample justice. He is completely original on a subject which has engaged the pens of writers for ages. In his heroines, and particularly in Zuleika, every power of the mind appears exerted to delineate loveiiness in its most attracting form, and whatever of tenderness, of devoted attachment, and of high wrought |