AND EXPLANATION.

405

things have I done; none of the foul work by which literature is perverted to the injury of mankind. My hands are clean; there is no damned spot' upon them-no taint, which 'all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten.' Of the work which I have done, it becomes me not here to speak, save only as relates to the Satanic School and its Coryphæus, the author of 'Don Juan.' I have held up that school to public detestation, as enemies to the religion, the institutions, and the domestic morals of their country. I have sent a stone from my sling which has smitten their Goliath in the forehead; I have fastened his name upon the gibbet, for reproach and ignominy, as long as it shall endure. Take it down who can."

Here the contest ended, but not the enmity, which continued to burn with an increase of fury, especially in the bosom of the noble lord, who carried his resentment so far as to write a parody of the Laureate's Apotheosis; but of a description so outrageously indecorous as to render the publication too hazardous for any printer to undertake with the least regard to his safety or reputation.

406

LORD BYRON'S PARODY.

The hexameter verse adopted in the "Vision of Judgment," made both imitation and ridicule extremely easy; but the noble lord would have acted a wiser part in preserving a dignified silence; for if ever the burlesque poem gets abroad into the world, it will be at once considered as a full justification of the strong epithet that has been applied to some of the author's other works.

CHAPTER XXI.

Anecdote of Dryden. His conduct contrasted with that of Lord Byron.-Projected Literary Institution at Pisa.-Anecdote of Voltaire.The associates of Lord Byron.-The Writings of Shelley recommended by him.-English Journal at Pisa.-Lord Byron's Liberality.-Increase of his Fortune.-Law suit.-Impropriety of his conduct.-Review of his personal and literary character.-Conclusion.

IT redounds to the honour of Dryden, that when accused by Jeremy Collier, of having stained his dramatic pieces with impure scenes and profane speeches, instead of bullying the critic and justifying himself, he made a frank confession of his error, and said: "it becomes me not to draw my pen in the defence of a bad cause, when I have so often drawn it for a good one."

Happy will it be, if the future biographer of Lord Byron shall have to record a similar act of true magnanimity on his part; but as yet there appears no indication of any such salutary change. On the contrary the circumstance, too well accredited to be called in question, of his lordship's having established a literary circle at Pisa, where he now resides, after having quitted Ravenna, has a most portentous aspect. Thus the charge of his having formed a poetical school of immorality and profaneness, will, there is room to fear, be realized in the literal sense and to the fullest extent. This college of infidelity, founded, supported, and directed by the noble lord, under his own roof, will no doubt make a considerable noise in the world; though it is not very probable that mankind, after having so recently witnessed the practical effects resulting from a combination of talents, employed in overturning religion, will contentedly suffer a repetition of the experiment. There was, during a great portion of the century that is past, a legion of this description, but somewhat of a higher order of intellect, who distinguished themselves in the same course which Lord Byron and his associates are ambitious of pursuing. The patriarch of that frater

nity began his project early in life, and he continued to labour at it through a long period, till he had very nearly tasted some of the precious fruits of the tree which he had planted. His followers, however, had that enjoyment, and they found to their cost, that what was so fair to the eye, mocked their hopes, and, like the apples of Sodom, "not the touch but taste deceived."

When Voltaire first began the work of enlightening the minds of men, at the age of little more than thirty; a worthy magistrate of France said to him: "You have undertaken that, which is too hard for you. Religion is not to be shaken by your efforts." The answer of this sceptic was, nous verrons,

we

shall see;" and within two generations Atheism was so triumphant in France, that the whole land was deluged with human blood.

Our noble countryman affects to laugh at this, and says, "that religion has too strong a hold upon the mass of mankind to be removed;" why then does he exert himself to bring it into such contempt as