78 EDINBURGH REVIEW. Renouncing every pleasing page Preferring to the letter'd sage, The square of the hypothenuse. That hurt none but the hapless student, Which bring together the imprudent." "We are sorry to hear so bad an account of the College Psalmody, as is contained in the following Attic stanzas: "Our choir would scarcely be excused, Even as a band of raw beginners; All mercy now must be refused To such a set of croaking sinners. "If David, when his toils were ended, Had heard these blockheads sing before him, To us his psalms had ne'er descended, In furious mood he would have tore 'em." Greek poetry, and which Lord Byron ought to have studied, and made himself master of before he tried his wit upon it. EDINBURGH REVIEW. 79 "But, whatever judgment may be passed on the poems of this noble minor, it seems we must take them as we find them, and be content; for they are the last we shall ever have from him. He is at best, he says, but an intruder into the groves of Parnassus; he never lived in a garret, like thorough-bred poets ; and though he once roved a careless mountaineer in the Highlands of Scotland,' he has not of late enjoyed this advantage. Moreover, he expects no profit from his publication; and whether it succeeds or not, it is highly improbable, from his situation and pursuits hereafter,' that he should again condescend to become an author, Therefore, let us take what we get, and be thankful. What right have we poor devils to be nice? We are well off to have got so much from a man of this Lord's station, who does not live in a garret, but has the sway' of Newstead Abbey. Again, we say, let us be thankful; and, with honest Sancho, bid God bless the giver, nor look the gift horse in the mouth." 80 RETORT ON THE CRITICS. Such was the merciless judgment fulminated with more than inquisitorial vengeance, against a volume of poems which, if the reviewer really believed what he predicted, stood no chance of being known; and therefore, all the pains of the learned Theban were spent in the idle labour of breaking a fly upon his critical wheel. It is very evident, however, that this Aristarchus of the New School of Criticism had a much higher opinion of the genius displayed in the "Hours of Idleness," than he feigned to have, and that his contemptuous denunciation of all the poems, without exception, arose from personal enmity to the author. Be this as it may the sweeping censure delivered from the chair of literary despotism, with insufferable dogmatism, recoiled upon the critic with tenfold vengeance; and it was not long before he had the mortification of proclaiming his own disgrace, so far at least as to be obliged to echo the voice of the public, in acknowledging the poetical merits of the very person whom he had doomed to oblivion. Roused by this unprovoked attack upon his book, and stung by the sarcasms thrown out against his talents, the noble author turned upon his assailant, RETORT ON THE CRITICS. 81 the conductor of the Journal, in a poem which, for spirited description, and strength of colouring, may vie with the most pointed of Dryden's satires. It is, however, to be regretted, that with so much real cause for applying the lash, where no one could say it was undeserved, the noble lord should in the effervescence of his rage, run a-muck, like the intoxicated Indian, against persons from whom he had received no offence. Had he contented himself in his vigorous imitation of the first satire of Juvenal, with exposing the malevolence of the "Scotch Reviewers," he would have acted wisely; nor, indeed, could any thing be said against the administration of a little wholesome correction to those English Bards," who had contributed in various ways to the corruption of the public taste. The Edinburgh Reviewers, chief and subalterns, were proper game, for they were become feræ naturæ, and of course had put themselves out of the privilege of legal protection as writers. They had in fact, made war upon the literary world, and consequently were, brigands and pirates, who by their outrages, justified G 82 SUPPRESSION OF THE REPLY. every honest trader, in hanging them up to public odium, as robbers and outlaws. Lord Byron merited therefore, the thanks of the commonwealth of letters, for laying open the practices and holding up the names of the persons of these marauders; who were known to hold their meetings for the selection of victims under the roof of a British Peer. The able and unreserved manner in which the exposure was made, did infinite credit to the spirit and genius of the noble author; but then, on the other hand, he tarnished the fame acquired by this gallant act of chivalry, when, instead of directing his prowess solely against his recreant adversaries, he rambled aside to disturb the peaceful travellers on the king's high-way. By doing this, he unfortunately made himself enemies, and weakened the good effect that would otherwise have resulted from his poignant satire. But this was not all; for after sharpening the edge of his weapon in a third edition, he as suddenly recalled the next impression, and thus a poem, calculated to produce a salutary revolution in literary criticism, could not be procured. To what cause this capricious resolution is to be ascribed, must be left to con |