Having explored the Troad, with Homer in his hand, and satisfied himself, by personal observation, of the truth of the scenes represented in the Iliad, Lord Byron visited Constantinople; and, after making some excursions in Romania, returned again to Athens, where he and Mr. Hobhouse parted; the latter bending his course homewards, and his noble friend resolving to spend a few months longer in Greece.

During this last residence in Attica, his lordship wrote several of his lighter pieces, and some part of his more important works; for the enriching of which he was much indebted to the local knowledge he hereby acquired. But the whole story of his voyages in a ship of his own, of his residences in several islands, and particularly Mitylene (where he never was at all,) of his manner of study, his amours, and acts of eccentric benevolence,-though the narrative was alledged to be written by a person who had his information in the Archipelago and at Athens-was the fabrication of a needy adventurer in London, who wished to avail himself of the public curiosity, and to get a little money by a subject of popularity. Such is the tax which splendid genius is compelled to pay

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for celebrity; and therefore he who is fortunate enough to gain a name among his contemporaries, must not be surprised at seeing things ascribed to him of which he is ashamed, or of having his acquaintance claimed by men whose company he would disdain. Horace was troubled with one of these impertinents, who stuck to him as closely as his shadow; " Prosequar hinc, quo nunc iter est tibi;" and our Pope was still more unlucky, in having his secret correspondence exposed by Curll. Lord Byron, therefore, may console himself with the reflection, that while the forgeries and falsehoods passed off in his name did him no injury, they furnished the impostor with a dinner.

After an absence of near three years, our noble poet re-visited his native shores; but without feeling that delight which usually exhilarates the mind on returning home; for some of his nearest friends were dead, and one beloved object, to whom he was attached in his earliest youth, was separated from him by an insurmountable bar.

CHAPTER VII.

Advantages of Travelling, to Poets;-Exhibited in Childe Harold.-Observations on that Poem.Lines on the Princess Charlotte of Wales.-Address on opening Drury Lane Theatre.-Sale of Newstead Abbey; and failure of the Contract.

FEW poets have been travellers; and yet the advantages arising from the observation of nature and society, in all the varieties of situation and life, are inestimably great to him who would give animation to his characters and beauty to his descriptions. But as he cannot pourtray accurately what he has not seen personally, he will be desirous of magnifying his sphere of knowledge. In the language of a great writer, "the poet who transfers his attention to nature and life,

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ranges mountains and deserts for images and resemblances, and pictures upon his mind every tree of the forest and flower of the valley. He observes with equal care the crags of the rock and the pinnacles of the palace. Sometimes he wanders along the mazes of the rivulet, and sometimes watches the changes of the summer clouds. To a poet nothing can be useless. Whatever is beautiful, and whatever is dreadful, must be familiar to his imagination: he must be conversant with all that is awfully vast or elegantly little; the plants of the garden, the animals of the wood, the minerals of the earth, and meteors of the sky, must all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety; for every idea is useful for the enforcement or decoration of moral or religious truth: and he who knows most, will have the most power of diversifying his scenes, and of gratifying his reader with remote allusions and unexpected instruction.

"All the appearances of nature, therefore, the inquirer will be careful to study, and every country which he surveys will contribute something to his poetical powers. "His business, however, is to examine not the individual, but the species; to remark

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general properties and large appearances; he does not number the streaks of the tulip, or describe the different shades in the verdure of the forest. He exhibits in his portraits of nature such prominent and striking features, as recall the original to every mind; and he omits the minuter circumstances which one may have remarked, and another have neglected, for those characteristics which are alike obvious to vigilance and carelessness."

Whether this sound poetical canon operated on the mind of Lord Byron, when, like Imlac, in Johnson's beautiful romance, he resolved to eternize his name by immortal verse, is not easy to ascertain; but certain it is, that no modern writer has more effectually exemplified its value, as far as regards the power of composition, than the author of Childe Harold. It is to be regretted, however, that the noble writer did not pay proper attention to the remainder of the rule, and consider that "the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; who must be acquainted likewise with all the modes of life. His character requires that he estimates the happiness and misery of every condition, observe the power of all the passions, in