PUBLISHED ON THE 10th OF EACH MONTH BY THE SENIOR CLASS OF LAFAYETTE COLLEGE. THE LAFAYETTE MONTHLY. Editors for February.-J. V. A. CRAIGHEAD, A. M. McCoмB, A. J. SULLIVAN, VOL. V. FEBRUARY, 1875. NUMBER 6. SIR WALTER SCOTT AND LORD BYRON. The epoch which succeeded the triumph of the allies on the battle-field of Waterloo, and secured the downfall of Napoleon, was distinguished for the rapid strides made in Great Britain in literature, science, and the arts. It was during the next forty years that science made some of its chief discoveries, the arts their greatest triumphs, and literature plumed its wings for its loftiest flight. That this result should have followed so closely upon years of carnage, in which the slain were counted by the hundreds of thousands, and the treasure expended numbered its countless millions, will appear strange to some. Now it is true that the actors in war are often selfish and hard-hearted, and the passions engendered by strife and bloodshed most vindictive and cruel. But the danger and necessities of war also tend to develop talent, and bring to the front men whose force of will and strength of mind are equal to the greatest emergencies. It gives also a new direction to the thoughts and passions of the multitude, diverting them from the contracted circle of self, and selfish interests and pursuits, and compelling them to consider and care for national objects, and the public welfare. Instead of living in luxury and ease, and revolving around their own hearth-stone, the sense of danger leads them to consider the events taking place beyond them, and to sympathize with those who are suffering even in distant lands. War, it is seen, may thus give rise to the most generous emotions. Among the most active participant, even will be found the patience which endures suffering, the heroism which braves the greatest peril, and the patriotism which willingly sacrifices life for love of country. Recent events in our own land, and yet fresh in the memory of every reader, give emphasis to these facts from past history. It was the operation of such causes as these, and the cultivation of these noble emotions that produced those great men which render that period of English history, immediately following the overthrow of Napoleon, so illustrious,-when thought, energy and talent developed during the commotions of war, were directed in the times of peace to pacific pursuits, and genius in the walks of literature produced those works which are destined to immortal endurance. It is not our purpose to survey, however cursorily, this great field. We will refer to only two of the great names that shed lustre upon this period of letters-Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Byron—and to these more especially for the purpose of showing to what they owed their great popularity. As is well known, Sir Walter Scott passed the most of his childhood upon the banks of the Tweed, where his early fancy was kindled by the tales of border life; and subsequently on his highland pony, he familiarized himself with the scenery of the mountains of Scotland, and the character of its inhabitants. In this way the bold features of the country were ineffaceably impressed on his memory; while by the hearth of the cottager, and am d the ruins of old castles, he stored his mind with anecdotes, and listened with an attentive ear to the exploits of those who lived in the days of chivalry. With a vivid imagination and a brilliant fancy, he was able to clothe all the various creations of nature with a most bewitching garb. Having studied the feelings of the peasantry, and become conversant with their habits and mode of life, he could also delineate the passions of the heart with the same fidelity to truth, as he described the beauties of nature. A richly furnished mind, a re. tentive memory, a clear insight into the motives of human conduct, close observation, and a splendid imagination, enabled him to write for the people and so as to be appreciated by all classes in society. The romantic found in his works the needed stimulus to their imagination; the antiquarian, vivid pictures of the scenes of olden times; the practical and every-day man, characters drawn so true to life that he could recognize them all around him. In these respects, Scott stands out pre-eminent. To this he owes largely his wonderful success, and his world-wide and lasting reputation. Scarcely less was he as a poet, than as a writer of imagination. The author of Waverley, was the author of the heart-stirring verses of Marmion, and the charming beauties of the Lady of the Lake. If his prose romances are more widely known and read than his verses, his fame as a poet will ever be kept green by his admiring countrymen. To the praise of Walter Scott be it said, he never prostituted his genius to the portraying of the vile and licentious in character. His was a mind free from all such contamination. It sought out the noble and pure, both in high and low life. Whether describing the manners of feudal chieftains, or the feelings of the laboring peasant, "the dignity of man was ever uppermost in his mind The degrading, the vulgar, the licentious may be popular for a brief period, but is soon forgotten. Only works of a pure and elevated character have a passport to immortality. Lord Byron in his day was second only to Sir Walter Scott in reputation. Yet these men had scarcely anything in common, either in character or the style of their writings. The one was born of poor but respectable parents; the other of a noble English family, the heir of ease and luxury. The former was a close and devout observer of nature, a student of the past, and a graphic delineator of charactor; the latter cared but little for nature, animate or inanimate, less for the history of past times, and. knew almost nothing of man in the humbler walks of life. The one addressed himself to the common heart of humanity and had the world for his audience; the other essayed to be the poet of high life, and had a privileged class to admire his talents and sing his praises. By birth entitled to the position, Lord Byron was courted and flattered by the fashionable world of London at a very early age. His talents, however, were such as to cause him soon to weary and become disgusted with the frivolities and dissipations of fashionable society. To escape from the profligate life he was leading in England, he went to the Continent and to the isles of Greece, where he gave to the world his greatest production, Childe Harold. And it is on this, more than on any other thing he wrote, that his fame will finally rest. His romances were greatly admired for a time, but are now comparatively forgotten. Filled with the language of strong passion, their novelty at first attracted attention and excited admiration in the fashionable world, but not being founded on nature, and the characters being untrue to nature, they have not in them the elements of a permanent reputation. To a certain class of readers his dramas have a peculiar fascination. While they show great genius, and great beauties of versification, they are too extravagant, and must look for proper appreciation to a very small class in any age or country, and these with like vehement emotions as his own. Applause from those in the humbler ranks in life they could not receive, because they do not come home to their hearts and homes. Don Juan is different, and has in it many more of the elements of popularity. Unhappily it appeals to and arouses the lower and sensual parts of our natures, and so far is degrading and debasing in its tendencies. Temporary sensation, but not enduring fame, belongs to all such productions, however great the genius displayed in their construction. And the chief reason for this we find happily expressed by another. "Though works of fiction, in which genius is mingled with licentiousness, often, at first, acquire a very great celebrity, at least with one sex, they labor under an insurmountable objection, they cannot be the subject of conversation with the other. When they are of such a description that both sexes cannot communicate their feelings each to the other, the great object of composition is lost, and lasting celebrity to the author is impossible. Time ever vindicates the immortal destiny of man; nothing can permanently float down its stream but what is buoyant from its elevating tendency." |