No More Learning

Partim jam primum Partim iterum atque tertio edit Savagius Landor.
Accedit Quaestiuncula cur Poetae Latini Recentiores minus leguntur, Pisis,
1820, 410). In his Preface to the _Vision of Judgement_, Southey
illustrates his denunciation of "Men of diseased hearts," etc. (_vide
ante_, p. 476), by a quotation from the Latin essay: "Summi poetae in
omni poetarum saeculo viri fuerunt probi: in nostris id vidimus et
videmus; neque alius est error a veritate longius quam magna ingenia
magnis necessario corrumpi vitiis," etc. (_Idyllia_, p. 197). It was a
cardinal maxim of the Lake School "that there can be no great poet who
is not a good man. . . . His heart must be pure" (see Table Talk, by S. T.
Coleridge, August 20, 1833); and Landor's testimony was welcome and
consolatory. "Of its author," he adds, "I will only say in this place,
that, to have obtained his approbation as a poet, and possessed his
friendship as a man, will be remembered among the honours of my life.
"
Now, apart from the essay and its evident application, Byron had
probably observed that among the _Phaleucia_, or Hendecasyllables, were
included some exquisite lines _Ad Sutheium_ (on the death of Herbert
Southey), followed by some extremely unpleasant ones on _Taunto_ and his
tongue, and would naturally conclude that "Savagius" was ready to do
battle for the Laureate if occasion arose. Hence the side issue. With
regard to the "Ithyphallics," there are portions of the Latin poems
(afterwards expunged, see _Poemata et Inscriptiones_, Moxon, 1847)
included in the Pisa volume which might warrant the description; but
from a note to _The Island_ (Canto II. stanza xvii. line 10) it may be
inferred that some earlier collection of Latin verses had come under
Byron's notice. For Landor's various estimates of Byron's works and
genius, see _Works_, 1876, iv. 44-46, 88, 89, etc. ]

[499] {485}[The words enclosed in brackets were expunged in later
editions. ]

[500] {487}[Ra[venna] May 7^th^, 1821. ]

[fz] {487}_Or break a runaway_--[MS. , alternative reading. ]

[ga] _Finding their patients past all care and cure. _--[MS. erased. ]

[gb] {488}

_To turn him here and there for some resource_
{_And found no better counsel from his peers_,
{_And claimed the help of his celestial peers_. --[MS.