Microsoft Word Byron and Scott 1809-1824

133: Sheridan. 
134: Byron, Monody on Sheridan, ll.65-74. 
135: Quotation (if it is) unidentified. 

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IV. 
‘But unto us she hath a spell beyond 
Her name in story, and her long array 
Of mighty shadows, whose dim forms despond 
Above the Dogeless city’s vanished sway; 
Ours is a trophy which will not decay 
With the Rialto; Shylock and the Moor, 
And Pierre, cannot be swept or worn away— 
The keystones of the arch! though all were o’er, 
For us repeopled were the solitary shore. [p.222] 
V. 
‘The beings of the mind are not of clay; 
Essentially immortal, they create 
And multiply in us a brighter ray 
And more beloved existence: that which Fate 
Prohibits to dull life, in this our state 
Of mortal bondage, by these spirits supplied, 
First exiles, then replaces what we hate; 
Watering the heart whose early flowers have died, 
And with a fresher growth replenishing the void.’ 
That this is true in philosophy as well as beautiful in poetry; that fiction as well as reality can 
impress local associations of the most fascinating kind, that not alone the birth-place or tomb of the 
man of genius, but the scenes which he has chosen for the action of his story remain dear ‘to our 
memories,’ and have to our ears and eyes a fascinating charm, was repeatedly experienced during the 
Peninsular war. Spain, separated by the ocean and the Pyrenees from the rest of Europe, and seldom in 
collision with Britain, save when we have encountered her fleets upon the seas, lying also beyond the 
ordinary course of travellers and tourists, has little familiar to us as readers or as members of British 
society. But the authors of fiction had given associations to this country of the most interesting kind, to 
supply the deficiencies of the slender list afforded by history or conversation. The British officers 
rushed with the eagerness of enthusiasm to find in the tower of Segovia the apartments from which Gil 
Blas, in his captivity, looked over the wanderings of the Ebro:
136
—even the French dealt mildly with 
the city of Toboso, because it had given name to the celebrated Dulcinea; and amid the romantic 
deserts of the Sierra Morena the weary step was rendered lighter to the readers of Cervantes, who at 
every turn of their march among the landscapes which he has described with such exquisite and 
felicity, expected to see the doughty knight-errant and his trusty squire, or the beautiful vision of 
Dorothea, when she was surprized in boy’s attire washing her feet in the rivulet.
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Such is the 
prerogative of genius! and well may it be celebrated by one who has himself impressed associations 
upon so much scenery, which will never, while Britons speak their present language, be seen without 
recollecting the pilgrim and his musings. 
The contrast of the former and present state of Venice calls forth naturally a train of moral 
reflections suitable to the occasion; but the noble pilgrim, standing on the Bridge of Sighs, and having 
beneath his feet the dungeons of the most jealous aristocracy that ever existed; in the vicinity also of 
the palace of the Council of Ten, and of those ‘lion mouths’ by means of which the most treacherous 
and base of anonymous informers possessed full power over the life [p.223] and fortune of the noblest 
citizens, might have spared his regret for the loss of that freedom which Venice never possessed. The 
distinction, in this and many other cases, betwixt a free and an independent nation, is not sufficiently 
observed. The Venetians were never a free people, though the state of Venice was not only 
independent, but wealthy and powerful, during the middle ages, by the extent of her commerce and the 
policy of her wise rulers. But commerce found a more convenient channel round the Cape of Good 
Hope for that trade which Venice had hitherto carried on. Her rulers over-rated her strength and 
engaged in a war against the confederated force of Italy, from the consequences of which, though 
gloriously sustained, the state never recovered. The proud republic, whose bride was the Adriatic, 
shared the fate of Tyre and Sidon—of all nations whose wealth and grandeur were founded exclusively 
on ships, colonies, and commerce. The ‘crowning city, whose merchants were princes, and whose