38 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
both money and services to their cause. This address is sup-
posed to have fallen into the hands of the Pontifical Gov-
ernment, thereby causing Byron trouble with the authorities.
In short, the fact that the Carbonari attempted no general
uprising at this time probably saved him from being arrested
as a leader in the liberation movement.
The satires of the later period are much more powerful
than the verses of the earlier and middle years; but they con-
tinue the theme which the poet adopted in 1812, in his
speeches in Parliament and in Childe Harold. The difference
in his attitude seems to lie in the fact that he has lost pa-
tience, not with the people, but with their willingness to con-
tinue in servility. Note, for example, the poem entitled The
Irish Avatar, which was written on the occasion of the
triumphal entry of George IV into Dublin, ten days after tire
death of Queen Caroline. He was greeted with an outburst
of enthusiastic loyalty, which Byron abhorred because of the
oppression of the Irish people. This poem is a satire on the
king, it is true; but it is also a bitter denunciation of the
courtesy extended him who was the cause of then- oppres-
sion.
Consider also The Vision of Judgment, 1821, which was
occasioned by Southey’s poor eulogy of George III, in the
preface to which Southey bittery attacked Byron and his
works. Byron retaliated with this the best of travesties, which
alone is responsible for tire fact that Southey’s poem is re-
membered. Byron goes far beyond attacking Southey in the
satire; he takes occasion to denounce the policies of the king.
He holds George III responsible for the oppression of count-
less millions, and while he grants that the king is an excellent
example of virtue in private matters, he cannot forgive the
fact that George constantly warred with freedom and the
free. His virtue was adequate for him, but not for the mil-