Note 97 — LORD BYRON: (continued 4)
Reading edition
Of the abuse lavished upon him, the following extract from a poem, published at this time, will give some idea:—
"From native England, that endured too long The ceaseless burden of his impious song; His mad career of crimes and follies run, And grey in vice, when life was scarce begun; He goes, in foreign lands prepared to find A life more suited to his guilty mind; Where other climes new pleasures may supply For that pall'd taste, and that unhallow'd eye;— Wisely he seeks some yet untrodden shore, For those who know him less may prize him more."
In a rhyming pamphlet, too, entitled "A Poetical Epistle from Delia, addressed to Lord Byron," the writer thus charitably expresses herself:—
"Hopeless of peace below, and, shuddering thought! Far from that Heav'n, denied, if never sought, Thy light a beacon—a reproach thy name— Thy memory "damn'd to everlasting fame," Shunn'd by the wise, admired by fools alone— The good shall mourn thee—and the Muse disown."