he assumed a countenance that did not belong to him, as though he were thinking of a frontispiece for Chlde Harold.”  Thorwaldsen’s bust, the first cast of which was sent to Hobhouse, and pronounced by Mrs. Leigh to be the best of the numerous likenesses of her brother, was often repeated.  Professor Brandes, of Copenhagen, introduces his striking sketch of the poet by a reference to the model, that has its natural place in the museum named from the great sculptor whose genius had flung into the clay the features of a character so unlike his own.  The bust, says the Danish critic, at first sight impresses one with an undefinable classic grace; on closer examination the restlessness of a life is reflected in a brow over which clouds seem to hover, but clouds from which we look for lightnings.  The dominant impression of the whole is that of some irresistible power (Unwiderstehlichkeit).  Thorwaldsen, at a much later date (1829-1833) executed the marble statue, first intended for the Abbey, which is now to be seen in the library of Trinity College, in evidence that Cambridge is still proud of her most brilliant son.

Towards the close of the month—­after almost fainting at the execution by guillotine of three bandits—­he professes impatience to get back to Mariana, and early in the next we find him established with her near Venice, at the villa of La Mira, where for some time he continued to reside.  His letters of June refer to the sale of Newstead, the mistake of Mrs. Leigh and others in attributing to him the Tales of a Landlord, the appearance of Lalla Rookh, preparations for Marino Faliero, and the progress of Childe Harold iv.  This poem, completed in September, and published early in 1818 (with a dedication to Hobhouse, who had supplied most of the illustrative notes), first made manifest the range of the poet’s power.  Only another slope of ascent lay between him and the pinnacle, over which shines the red star of Cain.  Had Lord Byron’s public career closed when he left England, he would have been remembered for a generation as the author of some musical minor verses, a clever satire, a journal in verse exhibiting flashes of genius, and a series of fascinating romances—­also giving promise of higher power—­which had enjoyed a marvellous popularity.  The third and fourth cantos of Childe Harold placed him on another platform, that of the Dii Majores of English verse.  These cantos are separated from their predecessors, not by a stage, but by a gulf.  Previous to their publication he had only shown how far the force of rhapsody could go; now he struck with his right hand, and from the shoulder.  Knowledge of life and study of Nature were the mainsprings of a growth which the indirect influence of Wordsworth, and the happy companionship of Shelley, played their part in fostering.  Faultlessness is seldom a characteristic of impetuous verse, never of Byron’s; and even in the later parts of the