to reconsider
the new volume on its own merits, the new canto of _Childe Harold_,
followed almost immediately by the _Prisoner of Chillon_ and its
brilliant and noticeable companion poems, usurped the attention of
friend and foe. Contemporary critics (with the exception of the
_Monthly_ and _Critical_ Reviews) fell foul of the subject-matter of the
poem--the guilty passion of a bastard son for his father's wife. "It
was too disgusting to be rendered pleasing by any display of genius"
(_European Magazine_); "The story of _Parisina_ includes adultery not to
be named" (_Literary Panorama_); while the _Eclectic_, on grounds of
taste rather than of morals, gave judgment that "the subject of the tale
was purely unpleasing"--"the impression left simply painful."

Byron, no doubt, for better or worse, was in advance of his age, in the
pursuit of art for art's sake, and in his indifference, not to
morality--the _denouement_ of the story is severely moral--but to the
moral edification of his readers. The tale was chosen because it is a
tale of love and guilt and woe, and the poet, unconcerned with any other
issue, sets the tale to an enchanting melody. It does not occur to him
to condone or to reprobate the loves of Hugo and Parisina, and in
detailing the issue leaves the actors to their fate. It was this
aloofness from ethical considerations which perturbed and irritated the
"canters," as Byron called them--the children and champions of the
anti-revolution. The modern reader, without being attracted or repelled
by the _motif_ of the story, will take pleasure in the sustained energy
and sure beauty of the poetic strain. Byron may have gone to the
"nakedness of history" for his facts, but he clothed them in singing
robes of a delicate and shining texture.

to

SCROPE BERDMORE DAVIES, ESQ.

the following poem

Is Inscribed,

by one who has long admired his talents

and valued his friendship.

_January_ 22, 1816.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The following poem is grounded on a circumstance mentioned in Gibbon's
"Antiquities of the House of Brunswick." I am aware, that in modern
times, the delicacy or fastidiousness of the reader may deem such
subjects unfit for the purposes of poetry. The Greek dramatists, and
some of the best of our