composition. Vulgarity is far worse than downright blackguardism ; for the latter comprehends wit, humour, and strong sense at times; while the former is a sad abortive attempt at all things, 'signifying nothing.' It does not depend upon low themes, or even low language, for Fielding revels in both;-but is he ever vulgar No. You see the man of education, the gentleman, and the scholar, sporting with his subject,-its master, not its slave. Your vulgar writer is always most vulgar the higher his subject, as the man who showed the menagerie at Pidcock's was wont to say,-'This, gentlemen, is the eagle of the sun, from Archangel, in Russia; the otterer it is the igherer he flies.' But to the proof. It is a thing to be felt more than explained. Let any man take up a volume of Mr. Hunt's subordinate writers, read (if possible) a couple of pages, and pronounce for himself, if they contain not the kind of writing which may be likened to 'shabby-genteel' in actual life. When he has done this, let him take up Pope; and when he has laid him down, take up the cockneys again—if he can."

[v.]

A DEFENCE OF CAIN

593

APPENDIX IV.

THOMAS MULOCK'S LINES TO BYRON.

(See p. 131, note 3.)

"LORD BYRON.

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST.

'SIR,—Whenever, to use an official phrase, 'a vacancy shall occur' in your crowded columns, I will thank you to give a place to the lines which I send you. It will be gathered from them, that I, who hold up Christianity somewhat higher than most of my cotemporaries, do not join in the clamour now raging against Lord BYRON, and the alleged impiety of his acknowledged works. I do not perceive a single blasphemy, in Cain for example, the ascription of which to the talking transgressors introduced in the so styled Mystery, is not perfectly justified by the authority of Holy Writ. "I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Lord BYRON has given expression to the exceeding sinfulness of sin; and where he errs, the error consists in his attributing a softened sentiment of half-repentance to the first remorseless murderer.Gen. iv. 9.

"T. M.

"LINES TO LORD BYRON

INTO HIS UNRIVALLED POETRY.

"BY THOMAS MULOCK.

ON NOTICING NUMEROUS PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE WROUGHT

"Bard of the broken heart! whose sovereign skill
Hath swept the chords that waken inmost woe!
Thou tuneful tracer of the streams that flow
In fitful tides from Nature's fount of ill,
Making life leprous-thence such plagues distil!
Thou who hast known, what all would madly know,
Pleasure's fierce throb, and Fame's exulting glow-
The cheating joys which through our being thrill,
Till HE who tames the tempest, saith 'Be still.'
VOL. V.

2 Q

Thou annalist of agonies that find
Their haunt, and their historian in the mind
Recording its own wretchedness-which seeks
A respite from the restlessness that wreaks
Such vengeance on the sinner-for within
Thought's desecrated temple, all is sin!
Come, eloquent expounder of the pangs
Which, in their wild succession, fix their fangs
In thy bared breast, and ever-burning brain-
Disclose thyself, dark mourner, in a strain
Not all despairing.-Say, if light divine
Dawn on thy soul, and lighten to thy view
That holy page where endlessly shall shine
The Godhead's glory? If a ray of true
Intelligence, shall win thee to the mine
Of Gospel treasure-all that man e'er knew
Of bliss and wisdom, BYRON, will be thine!"

A DRAFT of the following Address, in Byron's own handwriting, was found among his papers. He is supposed to have entrusted it to a professed agent of the Constitutional Government of Naples, who had waited upon him secretly at Ravenna, and, under the pretence of having been waylaid and robbed, induced him to supply money for his return. The man turned out afterwards to have been a spy; and the Address, if confided to him, fell most probably into the hands of the Pontifical Government.

"Un Inglese amico della libertà avendo sentito che i Napolitani permettono anche agli stranieri di contribuire alla buona causa, bramerebbe l'onore di vedere accettata la sua offerta di mille luigi, la quale egli azzarda di fare. Già testimonio oculare non molto fa della tirannia dei Barbari negli stati da loro occupati nell' Italia, egli vede con tutto l'entusiasmo di un uomo ben nato la generosa determinazione dei Napolitani per confermare la loro bene acquistata indipendenza. Membro della Camera dei Pari della nazione Înglese egli sarebbe un traditore ai principii che hanno posto sul trono la famiglia regnante d'Inghilterra se non riconoscesse la bella lezione di bel nuovo data ai popoli ed ai Re. L'offerta che egli brama di presentare è poca in se stessa, come bisogna che sia sempre quella di un individuo ad una nazione, ma egli spera che non sarà l'ultima dalla parte dei suoi compatriotti. La sua lontananza dalle frontiere, e il sentimento della sua poca capacità personale di contribuire efficacimente a servire la nazione gl' impedisce di proporsi come degno della più piccola commissione che domanda dell' esperienza e del talento. Ma, se come semplice volontario la sua presenza non fosse un incomodo a quello che l'accetasse egli riparebbe a qualunque luogo indicato dal Governo Napolitano, per ubbidire agli ordini e participare ai pericoli del suo superiore, senza avere altri motivi che quello di dividere il destino di una brava nazione

resistendo alla se dicente Santa Allianza la quale aggiunge l'ippocrisia al despotismo."

The following is Moore's translation (Life, p. 468) :—

"An Englishman, a friend to liberty, having understood that the Neapolitans permit even foreigners to contribute to the good cause, is desirous that they should do him the honour of accepting a thousand louis, which he takes the liberty of offering. Having already, not long since, been an ocular witness of the despotism of the Barbarians in the States occupied by them in Italy, he sees, with the enthusiasm natural to a cultivated man, the generous determination of the Neapolitans to assert their well-won independence. As a member of the English House of Peers, he would be a traitor to the principles which placed the reigning family of England on the throne, if he were not grateful for the noble lesson so lately given both to people and to kings. The offer which he desires to make is small in itself, as must always be that presented from an individual to a nation; but he trusts that it will not be the last they will receive from his countrymen. His distance from the frontier, and the feeling of his personal incapacity to contribute efficaciously to the service of the nation, prevents him from proposing himself as worthy of the lowest commission, for which experience and talent might be requisite. But if, as a mere volunteer, his presence were not a burden to whomsoever he might serve under, he would repair to whatever place the Neapolitan Government might point out, there to obey the orders and participate in the dangers of his commanding officer, without any other motive than that of sharing the destiny of a brave nation, defending itself against the self-called Holy Alliance, which but combines the vice of hypocrisy with despotism."