Memoirs of the life and writings of the Right Honourable Lord Byron; with anecdotes of some of his contemporaries - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1822 edition. Excerpt: ...Mortality, are just To all that pass away!" CHAPTER X. Marriage of Lord Byron.--Character of the Hebrew Melodies.--Observations on Devotional Poetry.--Publication of the Siege of Corinth and Pariaina.--Criticisms on those Poems. % WHEN Lord Byron professed his intention of hanging up his harp for some years, he perhaps thought that marriage afforded as legitimate an excuse for withdrawing from the service of the Muses, as it formerly did from that of the tented field. Let this be as it may, the union which he contemplated, when he made that declaration, took place on the 2nd of January, 1815, at Seham, in Durham, with the only daughter of Sir Ralph Milbank Noel, baronet, of that place. But the vows of poets are like those of lovers; and our noble author, could not resist the importunity of friends, or the solicitation of genius, to favour the 216 HEBREW MELODIES. world with more of his performances. Shortly after this change of his condition, he produced what he called " Hebrew Melodies:" being a series of songs adapted to some of the most favourite airs that are still sung in the religious worship of the Jews; the music of which has been preserved by memory and tradition alone, without the assistance of written characters, probably ever since the dispersion of the tribes. But though the age and original of these airs must be left to conjecture; modern skill has grafted upon them a wildness and pathos that have rendered the choral service of the synagogue enchanting to the lovers of harmony. Impressed with a natural partiality for what may properly be called their national minstrelsy, two eminent performers, Mr. Braham and Mr. Nathan, the one a singer of the first rank and the other a composer of eminence, applied to Lord Byron, through...