Page:The Second Armada - Hayward - 1871.pdf/25

 [sic]

"But, above all, I then first became acquainted with Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. . . . . I remember well the spot where I read these volumes for the first time. It was beneath a huge plantanus [sic] tree, in the ruins of what had been intended for an old-fashioned arbor, in the garden I have mentioned. The summer day sped around so fast, that notwithstanding the sharp appetite of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought for with anxiety and was still found entranced in my intellectual banquet. To read and to remember was in this instance the same thing, and henceforth I overwhelmed my schoolfellows, and all who would hearken to me, with tragical recitations from the ballads of Bishop Percy. The first time I could scrape a few shillings together, which were not common occurrences with me, I bought unto myself a copy of these two beloved volumes, nor do I believe I ever read a book half so frequently, or with half the enthusiasm."—

"If the finest poetry be that which leaves the deepest impression on the minds of its readers,—and this is not the worst test of its excellence,—Lord Byron, we think, must be allowed to take precedence of all his distinguished contemporaries. 'Words that breathe, and thoughts that burn,' are not merely ornaments, but the common staple of his poetry; and he is not inspired or impressive only in some happy passages, but through the whole body and tissue of his composition."—