MAZEPPA. They bound me to his foaming flank: At length I play'd them one as frank;— And if we do but watch the hour, 325 The imagery of the poem is of the richest and most appropriate character; but the same praise cannot be justly given to the construction of the verse, which in numerous instances is incorrect and feeble, obsolete and affected. The rhymes also are frequently harsh and defective, as thus: "And many a time ye there might pass, With the story of Mazeppa, the noble author published an "Ode to Venice," written in a strain of lamentation for the loss of its liberty by despots, as the combined states are denominated, though Lord Byron must have known that the independence of that republic had been completely destroyed by Buonaparte, long antecedent to the annihilation of his own colossal power. CHAPTER XVI. Observation on Italy by Ascham.-Its application to Lord Byron.-Degradation of his Poetic Genius-Instanced in "Don Juan."-That character a counterpart of Childe Harold.-Family Sketches.Outline of the Story.-Its gross immoralities and profanity. THE learned Roger Ascham, who was Queen Elizabeth's tutor, says, that "though he was only nine days at Venice, he saw in that little time more liberty to sin, than ever he heard tell of in the city of London in nine years." This made him inveigh sharply against the practice of sending young gentlemen to complete their education in Italy, from whence, observes he, " they return common contemners of marriage; not because they love virginity, nor yet because they hate pretty young virgins, but having been there free to go whithersoever lust will carry them, they do not like that law and honesty should be such a bar to their liberty at home in England." What other changes the lapse of above two centuries may have produced in that country of blue lakes and perpetual sun-shine, it would be tedious to examine; but there is some reason to fear that they who go thither for the benefit of the climate, or the contemplation of its scenery, neither bring away a substantial addition to their stock of knowledge, nor any valuable improvement in their morals. That a long residence in that land of soft enchantment has an injurious effect upon the mental faculties, seems remarkably exemplified in the case of Lord Byron; whose poetic genius if it has not been altogether enfeebled by Italianized manners, has neither acquired new vigour, nor gained an access of lustre in what honest Ascham calls "Circe's Court." Though posssesed of that high and commanding faculty which is capable of "building the lofty rhyme," the noble lord appears to have lost the ambition of achieving an object worthy of his name and calculated to ensure immortality. Instead of raising his thoughts to some great argument, and endeavouring to secure that honourable place in the temple of fame, the attainment of which few of his contemporaries could with equal reason at one period have anticipated, he seems to have formed the resolution of taking a downward course, and of obtaining distinction by the degradation of his intellectual powers. In the apology which he published for sketching the character of Childe Harold, he stated that it was his original intention to have exhibited, under that denomination, a poetic portraiture resembling the Zeluco of the novelist. This idea, however, was abandoned, when it was found that the public were so incorrigibly obstinate as to identify the poet and the pilgrim, in spite of all remonstrance and explanation. Yet a favourite conception is with difficulty dismissed from the mind; and though Childe Harold was suffered to quit the scene without performing any of those adventures and committing any of those excesses which he was originally destined to enact, the poet could not lose the impressions that his fancy had once formed in the labyrinth of his brain. Having given in his former pieces |