rticular. It is improbable that Scott
had ever read _Limbo_ (first published in _Sibylline Leaves_, 1817), an
attempt to depict the "mere horror of blank nought-at-all;" but it is
possible that he had in his mind the following lines (384-390) from
_Religious Musings_, in which "the final destruction is impersonated"
(see Coleridge's note) in the "red-eyed Fiend:"--

"For who of woman born may paint the hour,
When seized in his mid course, the Sun shall wane,
Making the noon ghastly! Who of woman born
May image in the workings of his thought,
How the black-visaged, red-eyed Fiend outstretched
Beneath the unsteady feet of Nature groans
In feverous slumbers?"

_Poetical Works_, 1893, p. 60.

Another and a less easily detected source of inspiration has been traced
(see an article on Campbell's _Last Man_, in the _London Magazine and
Review_, 1825, New Series, i. 588, seq.) to a forgotten but once popular
novel entitled _The Last Man, or Omegarus and Syderia, a Romance in
Futurity_ (two vols. 1806). Koelbing (_Prisoner of Chillon_, etc., pp.
136-140) adduces numerous quotations in support of this contention. The
following may serve as samples: "As soon as the earth had lost with the
moon her guardian star, her decay became more rapid.... Some, in their
madness, destroyed the instruments of husbandry, others in deep despair
summoned death to their relief. Men began to look on each other with
eyes of enmity" (i. 105). "The sun exhibited signs of decay, its surface
turned pale, and its beams were frigid. The northern nations dreaded
perishing by intense cold ... and fled to the torrid zone to court the
sun's beneficial rays" (i. 120). "The reign of Time was over, ages of
Eternity were going to begin; but at the same moment Hell shrieked with
rage, and the sun and stars were extinguished. The gloomy night of chaos
enveloped the world, plaintive sounds issued from mountains, rocks, and
caverns,--Nature wept, and a doleful voice was heard exclaiming in the
air, 'The human race is no more!'"(ii. 197).

It is difficult to believe that Byron had not read, and more or less
consciously turned to account, the imagery of this novel; but it is
needless to add that any charge of plagiarism falls to the ground.
Thanks to a sensitive and appreciative ear and a retentive memory,
Byron's verse is interfused with manifold strains, but, so far as
_Darkness_ is concerned