foucault
turn around human nature. It only showed him one side,--the most barren
and most unhealthy, and that alone did he describe. Still, his
description is made with such art and nicety, and has so much charm
about it, that it appears correct at first sight, and, indeed, so it is
relatively; but, nevertheless, by dint of omission and generalization,
it is false, since it would fain impose a part upon us for the whole. In
his voyage of exploration through the windings of the human heart the
author of the "Maxims" stops midway, and comes back over the same
ground. It would appear as if his mind lacked strength to go through
more than half the circle of truth. But Lord Byron, through the vigor
and elasticity of his faculties, after having penetrated into the dark
regions where only evil is perceived, and gone through the whole circle,
raised himself up into that pure, serene atmosphere where goodness and
virtue inhabit, and he also could say, with Dante, coming out of the
last infernal circle,--

"Alfin tornammo a riveder le stelle."

La Rochefoucault always rails against mankind, without ever finding out
any good. Lord Byron, on the contrary, sees both good and evil. He
points out the latter, often sadly, and sometimes with light jests; but
he is always happy to acknowledge seriously the existence of good, and
to proclaim that, despite all hinderances, beautiful souls do exist,
practicing all kinds of virtue; thus proving that, however rare, virtue
to him is still a reality, and no illusion. If, in his burlesque,
satirical poems, wishing especially to stigmatize vice in high quarters,
he has painted wicked women and queens (Catherine and Elizabeth), did he
not likewise refresh our souls with the enchanting portraits of
Angiolina (the wife of Faliero), and of Josephine (the wife of Werner).
If he made merry at the expense of coquettish, weak, hypocritical women
(like Adeline, for instance), has he not consoled us by painting, in far
greater number, angels of loving devotedness, like Myrrha, Adah, Medora,
Haidee, and in general all his delightful female creations? Are not all
his heroes even, more or less, constant, devoted, ready to sacrifice
every thing to the sincerity of their feelings--devoted love, continued
even in the heart of Cain toward his Adah? In "Heaven and Earth" the
angels gave up celestial happiness, and exposed themselves to every
evil, in order not to abandon those who loved them. Don Juan himself