he sudden vision
of the past fulfilled with Love the "indestructible"!

In stanza vii. he records and analyzes the "sickness of the soul," the
so-called "phrenzy" which had overtaken and changed the "Lady of his
Love;" and, finally (stanza viii.), he lays bare the desolation of his
heart, depicting himself as at enmity with mankind, but submissive to
Nature, the "Spirit of the Universe," if, haply, there may be "reserved
a blessing" even for him, the rejected and the outlaw.

Moore says (_Life_, p. 321) that _The Dream_ cost its author "many a
tear in writing"--being, indeed, the most mournful as well as
picturesque "story of a wandering life" that ever came from the pen and
heart of man. In his _Real Lord Byron_ (i. 284) Mr. Cordy Jeaffreson
maintains that _The Dream_ "has no autobiographical value.... A dream it
was, as false as dreams usually are." The character of the poet, as well
as the poem itself, suggests another criticism. Byron suffered or
enjoyed vivid dreams, and, as poets will, shaped his dreams, consciously
and of set purpose, to the furtherance of his art, but nothing
concerning himself interested him or awoke the slumbering chord which
was not based on actual fact. If the meeting on the "cape crowned with a
peculiar diadem," and the final interview in the "antique oratory" had
never happened or happened otherwise; if he had not "quivered" during
the wedding service at Seaham; if a vision of Annesley and Mary Chaworth
had not flashed into his soul,--he would have taken no pleasure in
devising these incidents and details, and weaving them into a fictitious
narrative. He took himself too seriously to invent and dwell lovingly on
the acts and sufferings of an imaginary Byron. The Dream is
"picturesque" because the accidents of the scenes are dealt with not
historically, but artistically, are omitted or supplied according to
poetical licence; but the record is neither false, nor imaginary, nor
unusual. On the other hand, the composition and publication of the poem
must be set down, if not to malice and revenge, at least to the
preoccupancy of chagrin and remorse, which compelled him to take the
world into his confidence, cost what it might to his own self-respect,
or the peace of mind and happiness of others.

For an elaborate description of Annesley Hall and Park, written with a
view to illustrate _The Dream_, see "A Byronian Ramble," Part II., the
_Athenaeum_, August 30, 1834. See, too, an interesting qu