I am afraid, however, that the English poets, both those of former times and those of the present day, have been, in great measure, superseded, among you young Oxonians, by Lord Byron. In almost every under-graduate's room that I happen to enter, _he_ seems to have taken possession. Lord Byron, as a poet, has certainly many transcendant merits,--merits which are peculiarly fascinating to young men. The interest which I,--which _every one_,--naturally must feel in the moral and intellectual habits and pursuits of such an important portion of the community, makes me deeply lament the noble poet's excessive popularity among you. I am perfectly aware, that by the following remarks I shall expose myself to the indignation of some men, and, possibly, to the contempt of others: but I feel that my opinion on this subject is not taken up on slight grounds; and I _must say my say_. The publication of Lord Byron's life and correspondence has contributed, a good deal, to divest him of that mystery, which hung about him, and in which he himself so much delighted; and has brought him down rather more to the level of ordinary mortals. They show him to us as a man possessed of splendid talents, of extensive and various attainments, and of the _seeds_ of many noble and generous qualities; but as a man actuated by ungovernable passions, and by an overweening opinion of his own superiority to all other mortals. _Self_, whether intellectual or sensual, seems to have been the idol that he worshipped. _His own_ antient family, _his own_ talents, _his own_ attainments, _his own_ whims, _his own_ passions, _his own_ excesses, seem all to have furnished food for his vanity, because they were _his own_. I acknowledge that, in all the circumstances of his _bringing up_, he was singularly unfortunate. His early destitution, the character and habits of his mother, the neglect of his noble relations, the venal praises of his parasites and dependents, all acted upon his character with pernicious influence. "Untaught in youth his heart to tame, His springs of life were poison'd."