Pictures from English literature . how, no tongue to sayWhat was : no dirge, except the hollow seas,Mourns oer the beauty of the Cyclades. But many a Greek maid in a loving song Sighs oer her name ; and many an islander With her sires story makes the night less was his, and beauty dwelt with her : If she loved rashly, her life paid for heavy price must all pay who thus err. Let us, as we pass from this most pathetic tale, take to our hearts the senti-ment with which it closes. How just are the reflections on this love-story ofone who did not withhold strong censure upon Byr
Pictures from English literature . how, no tongue to sayWhat was : no dirge, except the hollow seas,Mourns oer the beauty of the Cyclades. But many a Greek maid in a loving song Sighs oer her name ; and many an islander With her sires story makes the night less was his, and beauty dwelt with her : If she loved rashly, her life paid for heavy price must all pay who thus err. Let us, as we pass from this most pathetic tale, take to our hearts the senti-ment with which it closes. How just are the reflections on this love-story ofone who did not withhold strong censure upon Byron in his graver offencesagainst propriety. If the loves of Juan and Haidee, says Campbell, arenot pure and innocent, and dictated with sufficient delicacy and propriety,the tender passion may as well be struck at once out of the list of the poetsthemes. We must shut our eyes and harden our hearts against the master-passion of our existence ; and, becoming mere creatures of hypocrisy andform, charge even Milton himself with POMPEII-NYDIA. More than thirty years ago Mr. Bulwer, now Lord Lytton, gave to theworld his Last Days of Pompeii. It was then acknowledged to be, as itstill is, the finest classical romance in the English language. He came to his task fresh from the contemplation of that wonderfullyawful City of the Dead—not then as extensively exhumed as now—andhis mind, already largely imbued with the classic lore of Italy and Greece,was now steeped in the witching influence of climate, scenery, and locality,till, as he walked through the silent city, he re-peopled its deserted and narrowstreets with the throng of busy feet and the voice of glad-hearted revellers,he re-decked its roofless and untenanted mansions with the fresco and themosaic, adorned its ash-strewn gardens with bright-hued flowers, and filled itschoked fountains with the gushing waters. The characters and scenes in thestory are, as might be naturally imagined, suggested in a great measure bythe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondon, booksubject
