26 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
Byron’s political career was brief and unprofitable; his in-
terest in politics soon waned and was thenceforward ad-
mittedly small; but these addresses do show that he remained
true to the promise he made to John Hanson in 1809, i.e.,
that he would maintain his independence and speak his
mind. They also exhibit a seriousness of thought and purpose,
which Trueblood maintains came to the poet shortly before
the composition of the last cantos of Don Juan.
But Byron was first of all a poet; so it will be well for us
to turn our attention from his brief and stormy political career
in order to examine his Uterary productions. We look first at
Childe Harold, because it is, I think, a key poem. In the first
place, it covers a large part of Byron’s creative period. He
began work on it early in his career and did not finish it until
1818, six years before his death; and his mind was occupied
with it during much of that time. In the second place, it con-
tains many ideas on the subject of liberty, which he devel-
oped more fully in other poems and dramas. It is, therefore,
a kind of catch-all and carry-all of Byron’s thoughts on social
doctrine.
It is a significant fact, I think, that Byron returns again and
again to the love of freedom in his description of each of the
places Childe Harold visits. This fact is true, not only of the
first two cantos, published in 1812, but also of cantos three
and four, published in 1816 and 1818 respectively. In Lisbon,
for example, he notes with horror the poverty and slavery
which abound there. In Spain he sees that Seville is free but
must soon fall to the tyrant. The history of Spain indicates
that the fight for freedom has been a long one, and he regrets
that the tree of liberty is not yet planted in Spanish soil. The
sons of Spain, who never knew freedom, fight on for their
country, even though at this time ( 1812) they have no king