The wondering Ali gazed around; No narrow pit was here: A dismal lake afar was arch'd; Its waves were cold and drear. And widely round a darksome shore By jagged rocks was barr'd; But creatures strange amid the deep, As through the wave the hero dash'd, The sword of Ali, brandish'd high, A far and darksome bay to reach, The lonely champion strove ; Where round the shore no voice was heard, No watcher seen to rove. But ere his foot had touch'd the land, And one dread voice was louder heard, "He comes with fierce Mahummud's power, Our high and haughty foe; The Prophet's hand has bless'd his sword, To work you endless woe. "Guard, Genii, guard your Peri KingSurround his sceptre high: With him your reign of power shall liveWith him your power must die!" In echoes long that fearful voice Amid the dim and ghastly shore Amid the cavern's wilds remote, Was seen a flitting beam; And seen at times by wandering fires, The whirling smoke and mingled flame The glimmering cave and boundless lake And loud and drear a voice was heard, LORD BYRON AND MR LANDOR. To the Editor of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine: SIR,-In a poem, lately published by Lord Byron, named Christian, or the Island, occurs a note severely reflecting on Mr Landor. "If the reader will apply to his ear the sea-shell on his chimney-piece, he will be aware of what is alluded to. If the text should appear obscure, he will find in "Geber" the same idea better expressed in two lines. The poem I never read, but have heard the lines quoted by a more recondite reader-who seems to be of a dif ferent opinion from the Editor of the Quarterly Review, who qualified it, in his answer to the Critical Reviewer of his Juvenal, as trash of the worst and most insane description. It is to Mr Landor, the author of Geber, so qualified, and of some Latin poems, which vie with Martial or Catullus in obscenity, that the immaculate Mr Southey addresses his declamation against impurity." To defend Mr Landor from the charge of indecency, brought by such a person as the author of Don Juan, and other works which dare not see the light, being more obscene than Don Juan, would be mere waste of words. I shall therefore only indicate the reason why Lord B. has attacked Mr Landor. It was not his verse, but his prose, which excited the hostility of the peer-though his lordship slurs that circumstance, altogether. In Mr Landor's elegant Quæstiuncula, the following passage occurs : "Summi poetæ in omni poetarum sæculo viri fuerunt probi: in nostris id vidimus et videmus; neque alius est error a veritate longius quam magna ingenia magnis necessario corrumpi vitiis. Secundo plerique posthabent primum, hi malignitate, illi ignorantia, et quum aliquem inveniunt styli morumque vitiis notatum, nec inficetum tamen nec in libris edendis parcum, eum stipant, prædicant, occupant, amplectuntur. Si mores aliquantulum vellet corrigere, si stylum curare paululum, si fervido ingenio temperare, si moræ tantillum interponere, tum ingens nescio quid et vere epicum, quadraginta annos natus, procuderet. Ignorant vero febriculis non indicari vires, impatientiam ab imbecillitate non differre ; ignorant a levi homine et inconstante multa fortasse scribi posse plusquam mediocria, nihil compositum, arduum, æternum." VOL. XIV. The application is plain, and hence the anger of Lord B. Mr L. might have written worse than Petronius, without stirring the indignation of the great moralist of Don Juan; but the aliquis styli morumque vitiis notatus," the "levis homo et inconstans," and the low appreciation of Lord Byron's admirers, were not to be forgiven. Libelled, of course, Mr Landor must be, and, of course, the first opportunity was taken for the purpose. The lines about the shell in Christian were obviously written to bring him in by the head and shoulders. Will you permit me to quote the following passage, as a specimen of sound Latinity, and as a just castigation of the Reviewers of Mr Wordsworth-his Lordship's quondam butts, though now his most honourable friends and allies? "Habebant antiqui Ruvidos, Casios, Aquinos, Suffenos, ut habemus in Britannia nostra Brogamos, Jefrisios, et centum alios librariorum vernas, cum venenis et fuligine prostantes, bonis omnibus et scriptoribus et viris ipsa rerum natura infensos. At quibus ego te vocibus compellem, vir, civis, philosophe, poeta, præstantissime, qui sæculum nostrum ut nullo priore minus gloriosum sit effeceris; quem nec domicilium longinquum, nec vita sanctissima, neque optimorum voluntas, charitas, propensio, neque hominum fere universocujus sepulchrum, si mortuus esses antearum reverentia, inviolatum conservavit ; quam nascerentur, ut voti rei inviserent, et laudi sibi magnæ ducerent vel aspici vel credi ibidem ingemiscere. In eorum ingeniis observandum est quod Narniensi agro evenisse meminit Cicero, siccitate lutum fieri. Floces et fraces, ut veteres dicerent, literarum, discant illud utinam quod exemplo docent, nihil afferre opis vesanientem animum ingenii malacia. Commode se haberent res mortalium si unum quisque corrigeret: de facto universi consentiunt, de homine plerique dissident." Leaving this to the consideration of librariorum vernæ," I have the hothe Brogami, Jefrisii, and the other nour to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, London, July 4, 1823. N |