wards the victims of this nefarious and organized system of party-proscription, carried on under the mask of literary criticism and fair discussion, insulting the misfortunes of some, and trampling on the early grave of others— "Who would not grieve if such a man there be? Who would not weep if Atticus were he?” But we believe there is no other age or country of the world (but ours), in which such genius could have been so degraded ! LORD BYRON. LORD BYRON and Sir Walter Scott are among writers now living* the two, who would carry away a majority of suffrages as the greatest geniuses of the age. The former would, perhaps, obtain the preference with the fine gentlemen and ladies (squeamishness apart)—the latter with the critics and the vulgar. We shall treat of them in the same connection, partly on account of their distinguished pre-eminence, and partly because they afford a complete contrast to each other. In their poetry, in their prose, in their politics, and in their tempers, no two men can be more unlike. If Sir Walter Scott may be thought by some to have been "Born universal heir to all humanity," it is plain Lord Byron can set up no such pre This Essay was written just before Lord Byron's death. |