* * * * *
Minor Notes.
_Byron's "Siege of Corinth."_--In the late Dr. Moir's _Lectures on the
Poetical Literature of the last Half Century_, in commenting on Byron's
_Siege of Corinth_ he mentions "the glorious moonlight scene in which
Francesca and Alp part for the last time, _the one to die of a broken
heart_, the other to perish in his apostasy." From this he evidently
considers that in this celebrated scene it is the still living form of
Francesca that visits her lover; but though Lord Byron has, according to
his frequent practice, left this unexplained, the whole passage seems to me
to show that his intention was, that the visit should be considered as a
supernatural one. Space will not allow of my bringing forward the proofs of
this, but it can be easily verified by any one who reads the passage in
question attentively. A singular mistake occurs in p. 8. of the work above
quoted. Could any one have supposed that a poet, and a writer on poetical
literature, should be ignorant of the best known poetical name of the last
century? Yet Mr. Moir talks of "_William_" Pope. He might as well have
talked of "_Alexander_" Shakspeare.