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REPLY OF MR. BOWLES.

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style of agentleman. There is not, however, so much critical acumen in them as might have been expected; neither has the author retorted upon his adversary those glaring proofs of inconsistency which were in his power. Lord Byron having, to make use of his own curious term, obtruded himself into the dispute, "like an Irishman in a row, any body's customer," could have no claim to respect, after setting himself up as a judge to determine a dispute of opinions by the

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argumentum baculinum" of his own peremptory decision. Mr. Bowles should have met his adversary with the resolution of defeating and disarming him, instead of standing on the defensive and contenting himself with mere explanations. It required no great prowess or skill in argument, to have buried his lordship under his own authorities, and to have made him ridiculous by his own confessions. The main point which Mr. Bowles took, (and there he was invulnerable,) is this-that the essence of poetry being derived from nature, which is universal, has in that source all the elements of composition, to which the works of art, sublime and beautiful as they may be, only bear a relation, and consequently are not poetical in the abstract. It is not meant to say that artificial objects

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are unpoetical-far from it; but the aassailants of Mr. Bowles argued against him as though that had been his original proposition. This gross misrepresentation he repelled, very satisfactorily; and he might have gained a decided victory, if he had gone farther, and shown, as it was very easy to have done, that there is not a single object in the whole range of human art that is not indebted, for whatever of a poetical character it actually does possess or is capable of, to its association with nature. Lord Byron, on this occasion, acted a very zealous part as the defender of Pope; but in so doing he condemned himself, for not having more closely imitated that harmonist, as well in the structure of his verse as in the moral spirit of his poems. The praise of Pope, however, ought not to have been joined with a reflection upon the Calvinism of Cowper; whose insanity and attempt at suicide should have commanded pity, instead of being made the subject of ridicule. There is in this egotistical letter a curious anecdote of Sheridan and Whitbread, with which the consideration of the poetical controversy shall here close. "Soon after the 'Rejected Address' scene, in 1812, I met Sheridan. In the course of dinner he said, 'Lord Byron, did you

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know that, amongst the writers of addresses, was Whitbread himself?' I answered by an inquiry of what

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sort of an address he had made. Of that,' replied Sheridan, I remember little, except that there was a Phoenix in it.' 'A Phoenix!! well, how did he describe it?' Like a Poulterer,' answered Sheridan ; 'it was green, and yellow, and red, and blue: he did not let us off for a single feather."

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Here, however, an impartial by-stander might very properly have observed that a phoenix, though fabulous, was a far more appropriate figure to represent the resuscitation of a theatre from its ashes, than the pillar of fire which Lord Byron himself selected on that occasion.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Dramatic incidents in the History of Venice.Publication of the Tragedy of " Marino Faliero." -Performed without success.-Injunction obtained against the representation." Prophecy of Dante."-Tragedies of "Sardanapalus" and "the Two Foscari."

OF all the cities in Italy, there is not one so familiar to Englishmen as Venice, owing chiefly, perhaps, to the two popular dramas of Shakspeare and Otway. The residence of Lord Byron in that state seems to have inspired him with the ambition of rivalling those great writers, and of trying his strength in the same species of composition in which they excelled. "Every thing about Venice," says the noble lord, “is, or was extraordinary—her aspect is like a dream, and her history is like a romance." How an existing city can have

TRAGEDY OF FALERIO.

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the appearance of a dream, we are not told; but that the history of this republic abounds in romantic incidents well suited to histrionic representation, we can easily believe. One of these is the conspiracy formed in the year 1355, by the Doge Marino Faliero, to render himself absolute in the government, on account of an affront cast upon his lady by a libeller, and inadequately punished by the senate, because the offender happened to be one of their body. This circumstance, Lord Byron adopted for the construction of a tragedy; but, though the piece is regularly divided into five acts, and supported by a train of characters, we are informed in the preface that the noble lord had no view to the stage; for which he assigns this reason, that the English theatre is in a state of declension. Notwithstanding this declaration, the managing lessee of Drury-Lane ventured to bring out the tragedy, relying evidently upon the popularity of the poet, who, on the other hand, by his publisher sought and obtained an injunction from the Court of Chancery against the representation. There was, however, little or no occasion for such a legal prohibition; as the audience, without the chan

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