In making this declaration of their principles, however, the Proprietors are anxious not to be misunderstood as intending to narrow their publication within the circle of a party, whether political or theological. They have a higher sense of duty than those, who, affecting an extraordinary zeal for liberality of sentiment, are incessantly filling their pages with the vilest insinuations against the integrity of public men, merely on account of a difference of opinion. Though, therefore, the New Monthly Magazine is founded on the basis of Loyaltyand Religion, it is open to the utmost latitude of discussion consistent with those rules of decorum which should govern all literary intercourse. Personal politics and polemics, indeed, are inadmissible, on account of their direct and unavoidable tendency to generate contention for which at a publication designed to promote miscellaneous knowledge cannot furnish an adequate arena, even were such topics less objectionable than they are for a Magazine devoted to general Literature.

The period in which we live is one pregnant with extraordinary events and discoveries. Never was the restless activity of the human intellect more successfully exercised than at this moment; in consequence of which, even a Monthly Register can scarcely afford room for recording the novelties that occur in the field of science.

Desirous then as we are to keep pace with the spirit of inquiry, and solicitous of information on all practical subjects, it is incumbent on us to state that those articles of correspondence will always be most acceptable which avoid obscure brevity on the one hand, and tedious prolixity on the other. The esteemed friends to whom our thanks are due for past favours, will readily excuse a hint, the object of which is to prevent unnecessary labour and apparent neglect.

In conclusion, we have the pleasure to add, that, with a view to combine strength and increased utility, a junction has been recently formed with a publication originally established on the same public principles with our own, and carried on for a series of years with high reputation, so that henceforward, the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE and the LITERARY PANORAMA will be one; by which arrangement we shall not only possess additional sources of information, but, by a trifling extension, be enabled to present to our readers various important political and commercial papers, which will render our pages still more worthy of that patronage with which they have been hitherto honoured.

OBSERVATIONS ON LORD BYRON'S JU- lic has resulted from circumstances alto

VENILE POEMS, WITH SPECIMENS.

THERE never was a poet who made such rapid and successful advances in his literary career as Lord Byron. In the short period of ten years, he has acquired more popularity than any author upon record, in a similar space of time. That he may be indebted to the capricious dominion of Fashion for some share of the extraordinary attention with which his productions have been honored is a point upon which it is scarcely worth while to contend: But, even admitting this to be the case, we see no reason to think meanly of his talents, because he happens to have conciliated the applause of the frivolous, as well as the more sensible orders of society. On the contrary, we conceive it to afford the strongest presumption, if not the most positive proof, of the wonderful versatility of his genius; since, with the power of securing to himself the admiration of all classes of readers, he must needs possess qualifications of no ordinary description: and though it is a notorious fact, that writers of very trifling merit do, occasionally," through the idle buzz of the beau monde, the venal puff, and the soothing flattery of favor or friendship," rise to a reputation as sudden as undeserved, yet, we must not therefore infer, that every writer who may chance to attract the immediate notice of those would be thought wise in common with those who are so-is alike ephemeral and insignificant. We are not to suppose, that, because "the wild slogans of border feuds," with which Mr. Scott has administered to the romancing appetite of the public for so many years, have fallen into disrepute; the manly, dignified, and nervous poetry of Lord Byron will also fall into oblivion; or that the sterling currency of the one will cease to be admitted, because the counterfeits of the other have undergone their ordeal, and been detected. It will perhaps be argued, that the popularity of these two poets has arisen from similar causes, and that, consequently, they are both decreed to fall by the fiat which lifted them to light. This we deny. The estimation in which Lord Byron's poetry is held by the pubNEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 61.

gether distinct from those which have procured for Mr. Scott the temporary homage he has enjoyed. In fact the one is the complete antithesis of the other; Lord Byron being all strength, conden sation, and grandeur, whilst Mr. Scott possesses little energy, and few, if any, of those recondite excellencies so peculiar to the writings of his noble cotemporary. He is, however, remarkable for a facility of composition- a certain terseness of expression, adapted to the meanest comprehensions, and an easy, if not an elegant manner, of relating his fable, which renders him acceptable to a great proportion of his readers, who like him better, inasmuch as he is sooner understood, than many others, with whom, as a POET, he cannot be put in competition. His descriptions, also, are of a superior order, when they are not ruined by excessive amplification. Poetry, to be really good, should leave some thing to the imagination; for, like a well dressed woman, it is always more admirable when its beauties are only partially revealed. But Mr. Scott, if he lights upon an ingenious thought, will not let it go, till it has lost the greater part of its effect by being dilated through half a dozen quarto pages. He seems fearful of ever meeting with another, and determined not to quit that which floats in his pericranium, so long as a line more can be spun from it. In the picturesque part of his art, he is minute even to trifling, and may be said scarcely to leave a blade of grass unnoticed; whilst the living objects of his drama are, not unfrequently, sketched in a coarse and imperfect manner; and seem to interest their beholders more by their bodily exertions than any feelings or passions with which they may be supposed to be inspired. The truth is, that Mr. Scott knows nothing of the anatomy of the soul; and, therefore, whatever may be his powers for engaging the curiosity of his readers, he seldom makes any very deep impression on their hearts. Yet, with all these deficiencies, he has been honored with a more than common share of the public approbation. His style is, as we have before hinted, sufficiently clear and obvious to suit the

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most common capacity; and his Poems have generally enough of incident to render them entertaining; to this combined with the inordinate puffing of the Edinburgh Reviewers-can we alone ascribe the unmerited success which he has met with. We will now turn to Lord Byron; and endeavour to shew from what his popularity has arisen, and why it is likely to be durable. The character of his poetry has been so frequently laid before the public, that a repetition of it here could not but be considered as superfluous; we shall, therefore, only offer such general observations as we consider necessary to illustrate our meaning, in the comparison we have thought proper to institute.

and children of the sun;" and whilst their aberrations are those of an expanded and lofty intellect, their better qualities gain such a hold upon our attention, that we almost forget to regard the darker shades of their characters with that abhorrence, with which, perhaps, they ought, sometimes, to be contemplated. But this is the fault, not of the Poet but of his genius. He sought to fix upon some theme that would afford ample scope for the display of his powers, and he has succeeded to a miracle; for it may be affirmed, with truth, that there are no heroes, in the whole compass of poetry, so exclusively attractive as his. To tread with safety such slippery ground affords the strongest evidence of the surprising extent of his powers; and that he who appeared to write only for posterity should acquire the immediate and tumultuous approbation of the world, is a fact as honorable to himself as confirmatory of his excellence; more particularly when we recollect the despicable attacks which certain critical drudges of the press-fron mere envy of his talents

fame. Notwithstanding the revilings of Scotch Reviewers-the atrocious calumnies of English Newspapers-and the low whispers of the as paltry few," he still continues to enjoy undiminished reputation as an author.

It is singular enough, that the Critics, by whom Mr. Scott has been so deified, were the very individuals who strove to blast with their pestilential breath Lord Byron's first fruits of promise; and it is perhaps partly from this circumstance, that we have been induced to make mention of Mr. Scott at all.

Lord Byron is the reverse of Mr. Scott in all his excellencies and defects. In the first place, he is, without doubt, the most original poet of the day; and the most condensed and forcible writer of any age. He does not, like the Border Minstrel, wire-draw his beauties, because there is no necessity for it; he has abundance of them at his disposal, and can, consequently, well afford to be profuse. His conceptions present them--have, at various times, made upon his selves before us, warm from the mint of his imagination, and if one or two chance sometimes to be stamped awry, we should take into consideration the number of the impression, and the expedition with which they have been produced; and not quarrel with him for not stopping to re-mould such as happen to be misshapen. That the Bard of Harold is occasionally less perspicuous than he might be, we are free to allow possessed of the most exquisite perceptive faculties himself, he judges of other people's discernment by his own; and seems to consider a gem not the less valuable for its want of polish: but he should also remember, that it is only a lapidary who can estimate the value of the unwrought diamond. There are, however, many excuses to be offered for the sort of negligence to which we allude. Lord Byron's attention appears to be principally engaged in producing great effects; and provided he accomplish the end he has in view, he seems to care little or nothing about the minor embellishments of art. His dramatis personæ are few, and those of the very first consequence; and they excite our sympathies, not by the singularity of their situations, but by the intensity of their feelings and passions. They have none of the namby pamby negative good qualities of Mr. Scott's "gentle Knights." They are, on the other hand, "souls made of fire,

In the year 1898, Lord Byron published a Volume of Juvenile Poems, of the merits of which the subjoined extracts will bear sufficient testimony. That they contain errors will readily be supposed. The productions of a youth, from the age of fourteen to eighteen, could not be expected to exhibit an equal portion of talent with those of his more mature years. That they presented the most positive indications of what might be expected from him is a point we have only once seen disputed; and then, by a tribunal of whose critical acumen we had never a very exalted opinion:-we mean the Edinburgh Review. feelings and genius of the author were trifies these greybeards never thought it worth their while to attend to. It was enough for them that he was a Lord, and the very slight impulse they had to

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