Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
Into these and other such branches from the main course of his
character, it might have been a task of some interest to
investigate,--certain as we should be that, even in the remotest and
narrowest of these windings, some of the brightness and strength of
the original current would be perceptible. Enough however has been,
perhaps, said to set other minds upon supplying what remains:--if the
track of analysis here opened be the true one, to follow it in its
further bearings will not be difficult. Already, indeed, I may be
thought by some readers to have occupied too large a portion of these
pages, not only in tracing out such "nice dependencies" and
gradations of my friend's character, but still more uselessly, as may
be conceived, in recording all the various habitudes and whims by
which the course of his every-day life was distinguished from that of
other people. That the critics of the day should think it due to
their own importance to object to trifles is naturally to be
expected; but that, in other times, such minute records of a Byron
will be read with interest, even such critics cannot doubt. To know
that Catiline walked with an agitated and uncertain gait is, by no
mean judge of human nature, deemed important as an indication of
character. But far less significant details will satisfy the
idolaters of genius. To be told that Tasso loved malmsey and thought
it favourable to poetic inspiration is a piece of intelligence, even
at the end of three centuries, not unwelcome; while a still more
amusing proof of the disposition of the world to remember little
things of the great is, that the poet Petrarch's excessive fondness
for turnips is one of the few traditions still preserved of him at
Arqua.
The personal appearance of Lord Byron has been so frequently
described, both by pen and pencil, that were it not the bounden duty
of the biographer to attempt some such sketch, the task would seem
superfluous. Of his face, the beauty may be pronounced to have been
of the highest order, as combining at once regularity of features
with the most varied and interesting expression. The same facility,
indeed, of change observable in the movements of his mind was seen
also in the free play of his features, as the passing thoughts within
darkened or shone through them.
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