There is no occasion to say any more on the subject of T. W.'s doubts
(Vol. iv., p. 223.) as to the construction of certain lines in the 182nd
stanza: but his remarks on the substitution of the word _gush'd_ for
_rush'd_, in the 141st stanza, induce me to offer a suggestion, or
rather ask a Query, with respect to a word in another stanza (180th) of
the same canto, which I shall quote entire.
"His steps are not upon thy paths--thy fields
Are not a spoil for him,--thou dost arise
And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields
For earth's destruction thou dost all despise,
Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies;
And send'st him, shivering in thy playful spray
And howling, to his Gods, where haply lies
His petty hope in some near port or bay,
And dashest him again to earth:--there let him lay."
The blot which disfigures the last line of this fine stanza, in the use
of the word _lay_ for _lie_, has, I believe, been often observed; but
the question I wish to throw out for the consideration of your readers
is, whether it is quite certain that Lord Byron really wrote, or
intended to write, the word _lay_. The following reasons appear to me to
render it improbable that he did. 1. His lordship is admittedly, I
believe, a great master of the English language, and would therefore be
very unlikely to commit the somewhat vulgar blunder of writing _lay_ for
_lie_, whatever might be the requirements of the rhyme. 2. This
improbability is rendered much stronger by his having used the word
_lies_ in the line next but one preceding; and therefore his attention
could hardly have been averted from the distinction between the two
words. 3. Though not professing to be a critic, it does appear to me
that the sense itself of the line (taking the word _lay_ in the sense of
_lie_) is weak and unmeaning, or at least far from worthy of the former
part of the stanza.
I am not perhaps bound to offer any emendation of the line, but in
default of anything better I will venture to suggest that his lordship
may have written, or intended to write, the word _pray_ as the
concluding word of the stanza. The sense, with _pray_ instead of _lay_,
would not, in my judgment, be inferior to that of the line in its
present form; nor would it be in itself inappropriate, as allusion has
just been made to man being sent "howling to his gods;" and, at all
events, by the adoption of _pray_, an almost unpardonable grammatical
error is avoided.