ODE ON HEBER. "From public ills and thoughts that else That I can gain some intervals For healthful, hopeful mirth."" 161 It only remains for me to show that that spirit of mirth was healthful,-a help to his moral strength, and consistent with a profound spirit of meditation. Let us turn, therefore, to the sublime closing strains of the most spiritual of his lyrical poems,-the noble ode on the portrait of Bishop Heber. They had been friends; and, when India's saintly bishop was no longer upon the earth, Southey's heart was strongly stirred as he gazed upon his portrait: And Change, must needs have made In sure and certain hope, Hath chilled his faculties Or sorrow reached him in his heart of hearts! Most happy if he leave in his good name "Yes, to the Christian, to the heathen world, Heber, thou art not dead,-thou canst not die Nor can I think of thee as lost. A little portion of this little isle At first divided us; then half the globe: The rending of a veil ! Oh, when that leaf shall fall, That shell be burst, that veil be rent, may then My spirit be with thine!" LECTURE XIV. Byron. A catholic taste in literature-Difficulties of a course of critical lectures-Southey and Byron-The spirit of criticism, the spirit of charity-Roger's plea for Byron's memory-Popularity of his poetry -"English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"-" Childe Harold"-His love of external nature - Formation of his literary characterAdmiration for Pope-Success of "Childe Harold"-His Oriental tales-Literature of the last century-Story of Byron's marriageNoctes Ambrosianæ-Contrast between the "Corsair" and the "Prisoner of Chillon"-" The Dream"-Materialism in his poetry— Manfred-Venice - The Dying Gladiator-Strains for liberty—Beauty of womanly humanity-" Sardanapalus"-Byron's selfishness-His Infidelity. In one of the introductory lectures of this course I took occasion to advert to the importance of cultivating a catholic taste in literature, and, in so doing, gave at least an implied pledge that it should be one of my chief efforts to carry the same spirit into what I might wish to say to you on the many and multiform productions of English poetry. A rash or a mock originality lies not within my ambition; and I have striven so to govern my voice that it should not convey to your ears old errors or old truisms disguised as startling paradoxes, that you should not turn from my opinions as prejudices or feel a wound given to your own prepossessions. Indeed, I have desired to introduce into these lectures no more of my own opinions than the very nature of my position made necessary, and, avoiding the spirit of the judge or the advocate, simply to set before your minds the poets as they have risen in succession on the glorious registry we have been examining, to open and illustrate the hidden nature of their genius, and then to leave you to know and to feel the character and spirit of their poetry. Believing that every profession has its peculiar temptation and peril, and that the professional teacher has most need to be on his guard against the insidious habit of dogmatizing, I have arrogated no authority for my opinions. But when I have felt assured that they had a root of truth, and branching aspirations after truth, I have given them utterance, trusting that the sounds awakened by the breath of poetic inspiration would prove sounds of truth. I have refrained from adverting at any time to the difficulties which may attend the prosecution of a course of lectures such as we have been engaged in, for the simple reason that it belongs to the lecturer alone to measure and meet them, and it is a matter of small moment whether they are appreciated or not by his hearers. One difficulty may be made in some measure an exception to the rule of silence, for partially it is shared by both parties. I mean the difficulty, consequent on a rapid succession of criticisms, of making the requisite transfer of the mind from one subject to another. No one, whether for the purpose of forming a critical opinion or of reading without any thought of criticism, can gain a real knowledge of an author, and, most of all authors, of a poet, without entering into the spirit of his writings, be DIFFICULTIES OF CRITICAL LECTURING. 165 that spirit a right spirit or a wrong spirit. It is almost essential to stand upon his place of vision, and then, when it becomes necessary, to change that for the position of another poet,—to pass quickly from sympathy with one to sympathy with another, the elements of sympathy being often in all respects different. Let me say, without, I hope, subjecting myself to the imputation of seeking indirectly to magnify the labours of my course, the task is no easy one. It brings perplexity of mind with it. The tran sitions must often be sudden and violent: one set of feelings must be laid down and another taken up with a promptness and dexterity which, to employ a familiar illustration, may be likened to the attempt to accommodate our raiment to the changes of a fickle climate with its hasty revolutions of heat and cold. Each poet of original genius dwells in an atmosphere of his own, and he who seeks to know him must learn to breathe it, whether it be pure or noxious: he must needs live in it for a brief space. But I can fancy that some of you are beginning to ask, Why this unwonted preface? Unwonted, because, whatever sins of tediousness may rest upon me, there has been no introductory loitering; for the first sentence of my lecture has, I believe, for the most part, taken you straightway into the very subject of it. If a different style of introduction is given to the present lecture, it is because in no instance has the transition been so toilsome to my mind. Between the requisite sympathy with the genius of the poet I last parted with, and that with him I am approaching, lies a wide and dreary gulf What is it that I am passing from? and what is it I am coming to? It was but a few days ago that I was |