olence of the Deity. The great key to the mystery is,
perhaps, the imperfection of our own faculties, which see and feel
strongly the partial evils which press upon us, but know too little of
the general system of the universe, to be aware how the existence of
these is to be reconciled with the benevolence of the great Creator.

"To drop these speculations, you have much occasion for some mighty
spirit, like Lord Byron, to come down and trouble the waters; for,
excepting 'The John Bull,'[**] you seem stagnating strangely in London.

"Yours, my dear Sir,

"Very truly,

"WALTER SCOTT.

"To John Murray, Esq."-_Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott_, by J.
G. Lockhart, Esq., 1838, iii. 92, 93.

[[*] "However, the praise often given to Byron has been so exaggerated
as to provoke, perhaps, a reaction in which he is unduly disparaged. 'As
various in composition as Shakespeare himself, Lord Byron has embraced,'
says Sir Walter Scott, 'every topic of human life, and sounded every
string on the divine harp, from its slightest to its most powerful and
heart-astounding tones.... In the very grand and tremendous drama of
Cain,' etc.... 'And Lord Byron has done all this,' Scott adds, 'while
managing his pen with the careless and negligent ease of a man of
quality.'"--_Poetry of Byron, chosen and arranged by Matthew Arnold_,
1881, p. xiii.

Scott does not add anything of the kind. The comparison with Shakespeare
was written after Byron's death in May, 1824; the appreciation of Cain
in December, 1821 (_vide supra_); while the allusion to "a man of
quality" is to be found in an article contributed to the _Quarterly
Review_ in 1816!]

[[**] The first number of _John Bull_, "For God, the King, and the
People," was published Sunday, December 17, 1820. Theodore Hook was the
editor, and it is supposed that he owed his appointment to the
intervention of Sir Walter Scott. The _raison d'etre_ of _John Bull_ was
to write up George IV., and to write down Queen Caroline. "The national
movement (in favour of the Queen) was arrested; and George IV. had
mainly _John Bull_ to thank for that result."--_A Sketch_, [by J. G.
Lockhart], 1852, p. 45.]]

[87] {207}["Mysteries," or Mystery Plays, were prior to and distinct
from "Moralities." Byron seems to have had some acquaintance with the
archaeology of the drama, but it is not easy to divine the source or
extent of his knowledge. He may have received and read the Roxburghe
reprint of the _C