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ON PASSAGES IN COLERIDGE'S CHRISTADEL AND BYRON'S LARA. TABLET TO
NAPOLEON.
I am one of those who look upon the creations of our great poets as
deserving illustration almost as much as actual history; and I am
always distressed when I meet with passages representing events with
respect to which I cannot make up my mind as to what the author meant,
or intended his readers to believe. Two of these occur to me at this
moment, and I shall be much obliged by any of your correspondents
giving, in your pages, brief replies to my queries, or referring me
to any published works where I may find their solution.
1. What did Coleridge mean to represent or imply in his tale of
_Christabel_? Who or what was Geraldine? What did Christabel see in
her, at times, so unutterably horrible? What is meant by "the ladye
strange" making Christabel _carry_ her over the sill of the portal?
&c., &c. {263}
2. What does Byron mean us to infer that Lara _saw_ in his hall that
midnight, when he so alarmed his household with
"A sound, a voice, a shriek, a fearful call,
A long loud shriek--and silence."?
The poet, it is true, seems to refuse, purposely, to let his readers
into the truth, telling them:--
"Whate'er his frenzy dream'd or eye beheld,
If yet remember'd, ne'er to be reaveal'd,
Rests at his heart."
But still, I conceive there can be no doubt that _he knew the truth_
(I speak as of realities), --knew what he intended to represent by so
full and elaborate a delineation of a scene. And it is the author's
meaning and intention that I wish to come at.
I will ask one more question relative to this magnificent poem
(which I don't think has had justice done it by the critics), but
one respecting which I hardly think there can be any doubt as to the
author's secret meaning:--Is not the _Kaled_ of _Lara_ the _Gulnare_
of the _Giaour_?
Before concluding, I will add a query on a very different subject.
3. Many of your readers have, doubtless, seen the large marble tablet
erected by the Vallaisians in honour of Napoleon, in the Convent of
the Great St. Bernard. A recent traveller in Switzerland (Dr. Forbes)
has, I find, noticed the inscription, and questioned, as I had
done, both its meaning and Latinity. I extract this author's note as
expressing exactly the point on which I desiderate information:--
"Having doubts both as to the precise meaning and lingual
purity of the compound epithet _Bis Italicus_, here applied
to Napoleon, I subjoin the passage in which it occurs, for the
judgement of the learned:--
'NAPOLEONI ... ÆGYPTIACO BIS ITALICO SEMPER INVICTO ... GRATA
RESPUBLICA.'"--_A Physician's Holiday_, p. 468.