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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16570-8.txt b/16570-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..588bf4d --- /dev/null +++ b/16570-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10369 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II, by Thomas Moore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II + With His Letters and Journals + +Author: Thomas Moore + +Release Date: August 19, 2005 [EBook #16570] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LORD BYRON, VOL. II *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +LIFE + +OF + +LORD BYRON: + +WITH HIS LETTERS AND JOURNALS. + +BY THOMAS MOORE, ESQ. + +IN SIX VOLUMES.--VOL. II. + +NEW EDITION. + + +LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1854. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. II. + + +LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF LORD BYRON, WITH NOTICES OF HIS LIFE, from the +Period of his Return from the Continent, July, 1811, to January, 1814. + + + + +NOTICES + +OF THE + +LIFE OF LORD BYRON. + + + + +Having landed the young pilgrim once more in England, it may be worth +while, before we accompany him into the scenes that awaited him at home, +to consider how far the general character of his mind and disposition +may have been affected by the course of travel and adventure, in which +he had been, for the last two years, engaged. A life less savouring of +poetry and romance than that which he had pursued previously to his +departure on his travels, it would be difficult to imagine. In his +childhood, it is true, he had been a dweller and wanderer among scenes +well calculated, according to the ordinary notion, to implant the first +rudiments of poetic feeling. But, though the poet may afterwards feed on +the recollection of such scenes, it is more than questionable, as has +been already observed, whether he ever has been formed by them. If a +childhood, indeed, passed among mountainous scenery were so favourable +to the awakening of the imaginative power, both the Welsh, among +ourselves, and the Swiss, abroad, ought to rank much higher on the +scale of poetic excellence than they do at present. But, even allowing +the picturesqueness of his early haunts to have had some share in giving +a direction to the fancy of Byron, the actual operation of this +influence, whatever it may have been, ceased with his childhood; and the +life which he led afterwards during his school-days at Harrow, was,--as +naturally the life of so idle and daring a schoolboy must be,--the very +reverse of poetical. For a soldier or an adventurer, the course of +training through which he then passed would have been perfect;--his +athletic sports, his battles, his love of dangerous enterprise, gave +every promise of a spirit fit for the most stormy career. But to the +meditative pursuits of poesy, these dispositions seemed, of all others, +the least friendly; and, however they might promise to render him, at +some future time, a subject for bards, gave, assuredly, but little hope +of his shining first among bards himself. + +The habits of his life at the university were even still less +intellectual and literary. While a schoolboy, he had read abundantly and +eagerly, though desultorily; but even this discipline of his mind, +irregular and undirected as it was, he had, in a great measure, given +up, after leaving Harrow; and among the pursuits that occupied his +academic hours, those of playing at hazard, sparring, and keeping a bear +and bull-dogs, were, if not the most favourite, at least, perhaps, the +most innocent. His time in London passed equally unmarked either by +mental cultivation or refined amusement. Having no resources in private +society, from his total want of friends and connections, he was left to +live loosely about town among the loungers in coffee-houses; and to +those who remember what his two favourite haunts, Limmer's and +Stevens's, were at that period, it is needless to say that, whatever +else may have been the merits of these establishments, they were +anything but fit schools for the formation of poetic character. + +But however incompatible such a life must have been with those habits of +contemplation, by which, and which only, the faculties he had already +displayed could be ripened, or those that were still latent could be +unfolded, yet, in another point of view, the time now apparently +squandered by him, was, in after-days, turned most invaluably to +account. By thus initiating him into a knowledge of the varieties of +human character,--by giving him an insight into the details of society, +in their least artificial form,--in short, by mixing him up, thus early, +with the world, its business and its pleasures, his London life but +contributed its share in forming that wonderful combination which his +mind afterwards exhibited, of the imaginative and the practical--the +heroic and the humorous--of the keenest and most dissecting views of +real life, with the grandest and most spiritualised conceptions of ideal +grandeur. + +To the same period, perhaps, another predominant characteristic of his +maturer mind and writings may be traced. In this anticipated experience +of the world which his early mixture with its crowd gave him, it is but +little probable that many of the more favourable specimens of human +kind should have fallen under his notice. On the contrary, it is but too +likely that some of the lightest and least estimable of both sexes may +have been among the models, on which, at an age when impressions sink +deepest, his earliest judgments of human nature were formed. Hence, +probably, those contemptuous and debasing views of humanity with which +he was so often led to alloy his noblest tributes to the loveliness and +majesty of general nature. Hence the contrast that appeared between the +fruits of his imagination and of his experience,--between those dreams, +full of beauty and kindliness, with which the one teemed at his bidding, +and the dark, desolating bitterness that overflowed when he drew from +the other. + +Unpromising, however, as was his youth of the high destiny that awaited +him, there was one unfailing characteristic of the imaginative order of +minds--his love of solitude--which very early gave signs of those habits +of self-study and introspection by which alone the "diamond quarries" of +genius are worked and brought to light. When but a boy, at Harrow, he +had shown this disposition strongly,--being often known, as I have +already mentioned, to withdraw himself from his playmates, and sitting +alone upon a tomb in the churchyard, give himself up, for hours, to +thought. As his mind began to disclose its resources, this feeling grew +upon him; and, had his foreign travel done no more than, by detaching +him from the distractions of society, to enable him, solitarily and +freely, to commune with his own spirit, it would have been an +all-important step gained towards the full expansion of his faculties. +It was only then, indeed, that he began to feel himself capable of the +abstraction which self-study requires, or to enjoy that freedom from the +intrusion of others' thoughts, which alone leaves the contemplative mind +master of its own. In the solitude of his nights at sea, in his lone +wanderings through Greece, he had sufficient leisure and seclusion to +look within himself, and there catch the first "glimpses of his glorious +mind." One of his chief delights, as he mentioned in his "Memoranda," +was, when bathing in some retired spot, to seat himself on a high rock +above the sea, and there remain for hours, gazing upon the sky and the +waters[1], and lost in that sort of vague reverie, which, however +formless and indistinct at the moment, settled afterwards on his pages, +into those clear, bright pictures which will endure for ever. + +Were it not for the doubt and diffidence that hang round the first steps +of genius, this growing consciousness of his own power, these openings +into a new domain of intellect, where he was to reign supreme, must have +made the solitary hours of the young traveller one dream of happiness. +But it will be seen that, even yet, he distrusted his own strength, nor +was at all aware of the height to which the spirit he was now calling up +would grow. So enamoured, nevertheless, had he become of these lonely +musings, that even the society of his fellow-traveller, though with +pursuits so congenial to his own, grew at last to be a chain and a +burden on him; and it was not till he stood, companionless, on the shore +of the little island in the Aegean, that he found his spirit breathe +freely. If any stronger proof were wanting of his deep passion for +solitude, we shall find it, not many years after, in his own written +avowal, that, even when in the company of the woman he most loved, he +not unfrequently found himself sighing to be alone. + +It was not only, however, by affording him the concentration necessary +for this silent drawing out of his feelings and powers, that travel +conduced so essentially to the formation of his poetical character. To +the East he had looked, with the eyes of romance, from his very +childhood. Before he was ten years of age, the perusal of Rycaut's +History of the Turks had taken a strong hold of his imagination, and he +read eagerly, in consequence, every book concerning the East he could +find.[2] In visiting, therefore, those countries, he was but realising +the dreams of his childhood; and this return of his thoughts to that +innocent time, gave a freshness and purity to their current which they +had long wanted. Under the spell of such recollections, the attraction +of novelty was among the least that the scenes, through which he +wandered, presented. Fond traces of the past--and few have ever retained +them so vividly--mingled themselves with the impressions of the objects +before him; and as, among the Highlands, he had often traversed, in +fancy, the land of the Moslem, so memory, from the wild hills of +Albania, now "carried him back to Morven." + +While such sources of poetic feeling were stirred at every step, there +was also in his quick change of place and scene--in the diversity of men +and manners surveyed by him--in the perpetual hope of adventure and +thirst of enterprise, such a succession and variety of ever fresh +excitement as not only brought into play, but invigorated, all the +energies of his character: as he, himself, describes his mode of living, +it was "To-day in a palace, to-morrow in a cow-house--this day with the +Pacha, the next with a shepherd." Thus were his powers of observation +quickened, and the impressions on his imagination multiplied. Thus +schooled, too, in some of the roughnesses and privations of life, and, +so far, made acquainted with the flavour of adversity, he learned to +enlarge, more than is common in his high station, the circle of his +sympathies, and became inured to that manly and vigorous cast of thought +which is so impressed on all his writings. Nor must we forget, among +these strengthening and animating effects of travel, the ennobling +excitement of danger, which he more than once experienced,--having been +placed in situations, both on land and sea, well calculated to call +forth that pleasurable sense of energy, which perils, calmly confronted, +never fail to inspire. + +The strong interest which--in spite of his assumed philosophy on this +subject in Childe Harold--he took in every thing connected with a life +of warfare, found frequent opportunities of gratification, not only on +board the English ships of war in which he sailed, but in his occasional +intercourse with the soldiers of the country. At Salora, a solitary +place on the Gulf of Arta, he once passed two or three days, lodged in a +small miserable barrack. Here, he lived the whole time, familiarly, +among the soldiers; and a picture of the singular scene which their +evenings presented--of those wild, half-bandit warriors, seated round +the young poet, and examining with savage admiration his fine Manton +gun[3] and English sword--might be contrasted, but too touchingly, with +another and a later picture of the same poet, dying, as a chieftain, on +the same land, with Suliotes for his guards, and all Greece for his +mourners. + +It is true, amidst all this stimulating variety of objects, the +melancholy which he had brought from home still lingered around his +mind. To Mr. Adair and Mr. Bruce, as I have before mentioned, he gave +the idea of a person labouring under deep dejection; and Colonel Leake, +who was, at that time, resident at Ioannina, conceived very much the +same impression of the state of his mind.[4] But, assuredly, even this +melancholy, habitually as it still clung to him, must, under the +stirring and healthful influences of his roving life, have become a far +more elevated and abstract feeling than it ever could have expanded to +within reach of those annoyances, whose tendency was to keep it wholly +concentrated round self. Had he remained idly at home, he would have +sunk, perhaps, into a querulous satirist. But, as his views opened on a +freer and wider horizon, every feeling of his nature kept pace with +their enlargement; and this inborn sadness, mingling itself with the +effusions of his genius, became one of the chief constituent charms not +only of their pathos, but their grandeur. For, when did ever a sublime +thought spring up in the soul, that melancholy was not to be found, +however latent, in its neighbourhood? + +We have seen, from the letters written by him on his passage homeward, +how far from cheerful or happy was the state of mind in which he +returned. In truth, even for a disposition of the most sanguine cast, +there was quite enough in the discomforts that now awaited him in +England, to sadden its hopes, and check its buoyancy. "To be happy at +home," says Johnson, "is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to +which every enterprise and labour tends." But Lord Byron had no +home,--at least none that deserved this endearing name. A fond family +circle, to accompany him with its prayers, while away, and draw round +him, with listening eagerness, on his return, was what, unluckily, he +never knew, though with a heart, as we have seen, by nature formed for +it. In the absence, too, of all that might cheer and sustain, he had +every thing to encounter that could distress and humiliate. To the +dreariness of a home without affection, was added the burden of an +establishment without means; and he had thus all the embarrassments of +domestic life, without its charms. His affairs had, during his absence, +been suffered to fall into confusion, even greater than their inherent +tendency to such a state warranted. There had been, the preceding year, +an execution on Newstead, for a debt of 1500_l._ owing to the Messrs. +Brothers, upholsterers; and a circumstance told of the veteran, Joe +Murray, on this occasion, well deserves to be mentioned. To this +faithful old servant, jealous of the ancient honour of the Byrons, the +sight of the notice of sale, pasted up on the abbey-door, could not be +otherwise than an unsightly and intolerable nuisance. Having enough, +however, of the fear of the law before his eyes, not to tear the writing +down, he was at last forced, as his only consolatory expedient, to paste +a large piece of brown paper over it. + +Notwithstanding the resolution, so recently expressed by Lord Byron, to +abandon for ever the vocation of authorship, and leave "the whole +Castalian state" to others, he was hardly landed in England when we find +him busily engaged in preparations for the publication of some of the +poems which he had produced abroad. So eager was he, indeed, to print, +that he had already, in a letter written at sea, announced himself to +Mr. Dallas, as ready for the press. Of this letter, which, from its +date, ought to have preceded some of the others that have been given, I +shall here lay before the reader the most material parts. + +[Footnote 1: To this he alludes in those beautiful stanzas, + + "To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell," &c. + +Alfieri, before his dramatic genius had yet unfolded itself, used to +pass hours, as he tells us, in this sort of dreaming state, gazing upon +the ocean:--"Après le spectacle un de mes amusemens, à Marseille, était +de me baigner presque tous les soirs dans la mer. J'avais trouvé un +petit endroit fort agréable, sur une langue de terre placée à droite +hors du port, où, en m'asseyant sur le sable, le dos appuyé contre un +petit rocher qui empêchait qu'on ne pût me voir du côté de la terre, je +n'avais plus devant moi que le ciel et la mer. Entre ces deux immensités +qu'embellissaient les rayons d'un soleil couchant, je passai en rêvant +des heures délicieuses; et là, je serais devenu poëte, si j'avais su +écrire dans une langue quelconque."] + +[Footnote 2: But a few months before he died, in a conversation with +Maurocordato at Missolonghi, Lord Byron said--"The Turkish History was +one of the first books that gave me pleasure when a child; and I believe +it had much influence on my subsequent wishes to visit the Levant, and +gave perhaps the oriental colouring which is observed in my +poetry."--COUNT GAMBA's _Narrative_. + +In the last edition of Mr. D'Israeli's work on "the Literary Character," +that gentleman has given some curious marginal notes, which he found +written by Lord Byron in a copy of this work that belonged to him. Among +them is the following enumeration of the writers that, besides Rycaut, +had drawn his attention so early to the East:-- + +"Knolles, Cantemir, De Tott, Lady M.W. Montague, Hawkins's Translation +from Mignot's History of the Turks, the Arabian Nights, all travels, or +histories, or books upon the East I could meet with, I had read, as well +as Rycaut, before I was _ten years old_. I think the Arabian Nights +first. After these, I preferred the history of naval actions, Don +Quixote, and Smollett's novels, particularly Roderick Random, and I was +passionate for the Roman History. When a boy, I could never bear to read +any Poetry whatever without disgust and reluctance."] + +[Footnote 3: "It rained hard the next day, and we spent another evening +with our soldiers. The captain, Elmas, tried a fine Manton gun belonging +to my Friend, and hitting his mark every time was highly +delighted."--HOBHOUSE'_s_ _Journey_, &c.] + +[Footnote 4: It must be recollected that by two of these gentlemen he +was seen chiefly under the restraints of presentation and etiquette, +when whatever gloom there was on his spirits would, in a shy nature like +his, most show itself. The account which his fellow-traveller gives of +him is altogether different. In introducing the narration of a short +tour to Negroponte, in which his noble friend was unable to accompany +him, Mr. Hobhouse expresses strongly the deficiency of which he is +sensible, from the absence, on this occasion, of "a companion, who, to +quickness of observation and ingenuity of remark, united that gay +good-humour which keeps alive the attention under the pressure of +fatigue, and softens the aspect of every difficulty and danger." In some +lines, too, of the "Hints from Horace," addressed evidently to Mr. +Hobhouse, Lord Byron not only renders the same justice to his own social +cheerfulness, but gives a somewhat more distinct idea of the frame of +mind out of which it rose;-- + + "Moschus! with whom I hope once more to sit, + And smile at folly, if we can't at wit; + Yes, friend, for thee I'll quit my Cynic cell, + And bear Swift's motto, "Vive la bagatelle!" + Which charm'd our days in each Ægean clime, + And oft at home with revelry and rhyme." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 54. TO MR. DALLAS. + + _"Volage Frigate, at sea, June 28. 1811_. + + "After two years' absence, (to a day, on the 2d of July, before + which we shall not arrive at Portsmouth,) I am retracing my way to + England. + + "I am coming back with little prospect of pleasure at home, and + with a body a little shaken by one or two smart fevers, but a + spirit I hope yet unbroken. My affairs, it seems, are considerably + involved, and much business must be done with lawyers, colliers, + farmers, and creditors. Now this, to a man who hates bustle as he + hates a bishop, is a serious concern. But enough of my home + department. + + "My Satire, it seems, is in a fourth edition, a success rather + above the middling run, but not much for a production which, from + its topics, must be temporary, and of course be successful at + first, or not at all. At this period, when I can think and act more + coolly, I regret that I have written it, though I shall probably + find it forgotten by all except those whom it has offended. + + "Yours and Pratt's _protégé_, Blackett, the cobbler, is dead, in + spite of his rhymes, and is probably one of the instances where + death has saved a man from damnation. You were the ruin of that + poor fellow amongst you: had it not been for his patrons, he might + now have been in very good plight, shoe-(not verse-) making: but + you have made him immortal with a vengeance. I write this, + supposing poetry, patronage, and strong waters, to have been the + death of him. If you are in town in or about the beginning of July, + you will find me at Dorant's, in Albemarle Street, glad to see you. + I have an imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry ready for Cawthorn, + but don't let that deter you, for I sha'n't inflict it upon you. + You know I never read my rhymes to visitors. I shall quit town in a + few days for Notts., and thence to Rochdale. + + "Yours, &c." + + * * * * * + +Immediately, on Lord Byron's arrival in London, Mr. Dallas called upon +him. "On the 15th of July," says this gentleman, "I had the pleasure of +shaking hands with him at Reddish's Hotel in St. James's Street. I +thought his looks belied the report he had given me of his bodily +health, and his countenance did not betoken melancholy, or displeasure +at his return. He was very animated in the account of his travels, but +assured me he had never had the least idea of writing them. He said he +believed satire to be his _forte_, and to that he had adhered, having +written, during his stay at different places abroad, a Paraphrase of +Horace's Art of Poetry, which would be a good finish to English Bards +and Scotch Reviewers. He seemed to promise himself additional fame from +it, and I undertook to superintend its publication, as I had done that +of the Satire. I had chosen the time ill for my visit, and we had hardly +any time to converse uninterruptedly, he therefore engaged me to +breakfast with him next morning." + +In the interval Mr. Dallas looked over this Paraphrase, which he had +been permitted by Lord Byron to take home with him for the purpose, and +his disappointment was, as he himself describes it, "grievous," on +finding, that a pilgrimage of two years to the inspiring lands of the +East had been attended with no richer poetical result. On their meeting +again next morning, though unwilling to speak disparagingly of the work, +he could not refrain, as he informs us, from expressing some surprise +that his noble friend should have produced nothing else during his +absence.--"Upon this," he continues, "Lord Byron told me that he had +occasionally written short poems, besides a great many stanzas in +Spenser's measure, relative to the countries he had visited. 'They are +not worth troubling you with, but you shall have them all with you if +you like.' So came I by Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. He took it from a +small trunk, with a number of verses. He said they had been read but by +one person, who had found very little to commend and much to condemn: +that he himself was of that opinion, and he was sure I should be so too. +Such as it was, however, it was at my service; but he was urgent that +'The Hints from Horace' should be immediately put in train, which I +promised to have done." + +The value of the treasure thus presented to him, Mr. Dallas was not slow +in discovering. That very evening he despatched a letter to his noble +friend, saying--"You have written one of the most delightful poems I +ever read. If I wrote this in flattery, I should deserve your contempt +rather than your friendship. I have been so fascinated with Childe +Harold that I have not been able to lay it down. I would almost pledge +my life on its advancing the reputation of your poetical powers, and on +its gaining you great honour and regard, if you will do me the credit +and favour of attending to my suggestions respecting," &c.&c.&c. + +Notwithstanding this just praise, and the secret echo it must have found +in a heart so awake to the slightest whisper of fame, it was some time +before Lord Byron's obstinate repugnance to the idea of publishing +Childe Harold could be removed. + +"Attentive," says Mr. Dallas, "as he had hitherto been to my opinions +and suggestions, and natural as it was that he should be swayed by such +decided praise, I was surprised to find that I could not at first obtain +credit with him for my judgment on Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 'It was +any thing but poetry--it had been condemned by a good critic--had I not +myself seen the sentences on the margins of the manuscripts?' He dwelt +upon the Paraphrase of the Art of Poetry with pleasure, and the +manuscript of that was given to Cawthorn, the publisher of the Satire, +to be brought forth without delay. I did not, however, leave him so: +before I quitted him I returned to the charge, and told him that I was +so convinced of the merit of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, that, as he had +given it to me, I should certainly publish it, if he would have the +kindness to attend to some corrections and alterations." + +Among the many instances, recorded in literary history, of the false +judgments of authors respecting their own productions, the preference +given by Lord Byron to a work so little worthy of his genius, over a +poem of such rare and original beauty as the first Cantos of Childe +Harold, may be accounted, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary and +inexplicable.[5] + +"It is in men as in soils," says Swift, "where sometimes there is a vein +of gold which the owner knows not of." But Lord Byron had made the +discovery of the vein, without, as it would seem, being aware of its +value. I have already had occasion to observe that, even while occupied +with the composition of Childe Harold, it is questionable whether he +himself was yet fully conscious of the new powers, both of thought and +feeling, that had been awakened in him; and the strange estimate we now +find him forming of his own production appears to warrant the remark. It +would seem, indeed, as if, while the imaginative powers of his mind had +received such an impulse forward, the faculty of judgment, slower in its +developement, was still immature, and that of _self_-judgment, the most +difficult of all, still unattained. + +On the other hand, from the deference which, particularly at this period +of his life, he was inclined to pay to the opinions of those with whom +he associated, it would be fairer, perhaps, to conclude that this +erroneous valuation arose rather from a diffidence in his own judgment +than from any deficiency of it. To his college companions, almost all of +whom were his superiors in scholarship, and some of them even, at this +time, his competitors in poetry, he looked up with a degree of fond and +admiring deference, for which his ignorance of his own intellectual +strength alone could account; and the example, as well as tastes, of +these young writers being mostly on the side of established models, +their authority, as long as it influenced him, would, to a certain +degree, interfere with his striking confidently into any new or original +path. That some remains of this bias, with a little leaning, perhaps, +towards school recollections[6], may have had a share in prompting his +preference of the Horatian Paraphrase, is by no means improbable;--at +least, that it was enough to lead him, untried as he had yet been in the +new path, to content himself, for the present, with following up his +success in the old. We have seen, indeed, that the manuscript of the two +Cantos of Childe Harold had, previously to its being placed in the hands +of Mr. Dallas, been submitted by the noble author to the perusal of some +friend--the first and only one, it appears, who at that time had seen +them. Who this fastidious critic was, Mr. Dallas has not mentioned; but +the sweeping tone of censure in which he conveyed his remarks was such +as, at any period of his career, would have disconcerted the judgment +of one, who, years after, in all the plenitude of his fame, confessed, +that "the depreciation of the lowest of mankind was more painful to him +than the applause of the highest was pleasing."[7] + +Though on every thing that, after his arrival at the age of manhood, he +produced, some mark or other of the master-hand may be traced; yet, to +print the whole of his Paraphrase of Horace, which extends to nearly 800 +lines, would be, at the best, but a questionable compliment to his +memory. That the reader, however, may be enabled to form some opinion of +a performance, which--by an error or caprice of judgment, unexampled, +perhaps, in the annals of literature--its author, for a time, preferred +to the sublime musings of Childe Harold, I shall here select a few such +passages from the Paraphrase as may seem calculated to give an idea as +well of its merits as its defects. + +The opening of the poem is, with reference to the original, ingenious:-- + + "Who would not laugh, if Lawrence, hired to grace + His costly canvass with each flatter'd face, + Abused his art, till Nature, with a blush, + Saw cits grow centaurs underneath his brush? + Or should some limner join, for show or sale, + A maid of honour to a mermaid's tail? + Or low Dubost (as once the world has seen) + Degrade God's creatures in his graphic spleen? + Not all that forced politeness, which defends + Fools in their faults, could gag his grinning friends. + Believe me, Moschus, like that picture seems + The book, which, sillier than a sick man's dreams, + Displays a crowd of figures incomplete, + Poetic nightmares, without head or feet." + +The following is pointed, and felicitously expressed:-- + + "Then glide down Grub Street, fasting and forgot, + Laugh'd into Lethe by some quaint Review, + Whose wit is never troublesome till--true." + +Of the graver parts, the annexed is a favourable specimen:-- + + "New words find credit in these latter days, + If neatly grafted on a Gallic phrase: + What Chaucer, Spenser, did, we scarce refuse + To Dryden's or to Pope's maturer muse. + If you can add a little, say why not, + As well as William Pitt and Walter Scott, + Since they, by force of rhyme, and force of lungs, + Enrich'd our island's ill-united tongues? + 'Tis then, and shall be, lawful to present + Reforms in writing as in parliament. + + "As forests shed their foliage by degrees, + So fade expressions which in season please; + And we and ours, alas! are due to fate, + And works and words but dwindle to a date. + Though, as a monarch nods and commerce calls, + Impetuous rivers stagnate in canals; + Though swamps subdued, and marshes drain'd sustain + The heavy ploughshare and the yellow grain; + And rising ports along the busy shore + Protect the vessel from old Ocean's roar-- + All, all must perish. But, surviving last, + The love of letters half preserves the past: + True,--some decay, yet not a few survive, + Though those shall sink which now appear to thrive, + As custom arbitrates, whose shifting sway + Our life and language must alike obey." + +I quote what follows chiefly for the sake of the note attached to it:-- + + "Satiric rhyme first sprang from selfish spleen. + You doubt?--See Dryden, Pope, St. Patrick's Dean.[8] + + "Blank verse is now with one consent allied + To Tragedy, and rarely quits her side; + Though mad Almanzor rhymed in Dryden's days, + No sing-song hero rants in modern plays;-- + While modest Comedy her verse foregoes + For jest and pun in very middling prose. + Not that our Bens or Beaumonts show the worse, + Or lose one point because they wrote in verse; + But so Thalia pleases to appear,-- + Poor virgin!--damn'd some twenty times a year!" + +There is more of poetry in the following verses upon Milton than in any +other passage throughout the Paraphrase:-- + + "'Awake a louder and a loftier strain,' + And, pray, what follows from his boiling brain? + He sinks to S * *'s level in a trice, + Whose epic mountains never fail in mice! + Not so of yore awoke your mighty sire + The tempered warblings of his master lyre; + Soft as the gentler breathing of the lute, + 'Of man's first disobedience and the fruit' + He speaks; but, as his subject swells along, + Earth, Heaven, and Hades, echo with the song." + +The annexed sketch contains some lively touches:-- + + "Behold him, Freshman!--forced no more to groan + O'er Virgil's devilish verses[9], and--his own; + Prayers are too tedious, lectures too abstruse, + He flies from T----ll's frown to 'Fordham's Mews;' + (Unlucky T----ll, doom'd to daily cares + By pugilistic pupils and by bears!) + Fines, tutors, tasks, conventions, threat in vain, + Before hounds, hunters, and Newmarket plain: + Rough with his elders; with his equals rash; + Civil to sharpers; prodigal of cash. + Fool'd, pillaged, dunn'd, he wastes his terms away; + And, unexpell'd perhaps, retires M.A.:-- + Master of Arts!--as Hells and Clubs[10] proclaim, + Where scarce a black-leg bears a brighter name. + + "Launch'd into life, extinct his early fire, + He apes the selfish prudence of his sire; + Marries for money; chooses friends for rank; + Buys land, and shrewdly trusts not to the Bank; + Sits in the senate; gets a son and heir; + Sends him to Harrow--for himself was there; + Mute though he votes, unless when call'd to cheer, + His son's so sharp--he'll see the dog a peer! + + "Manhood declines; age palsies every limb; + He quits the scene, or else the scene quits him; + Scrapes wealth, o'er each departing penny grieves, + And Avarice seizes all Ambition leaves; + Counts cent. per cent., and smiles, or vainly frets + O'er hoards diminish'd by young Hopeful's debts; + Weighs well and wisely what to sell or buy, + Complete in all life's lessons--but to die; + Peevish and spiteful, doting, hard to please, + Commending every time save times like these; + Crazed, querulous, forsaken, half forgot, + Expires unwept, is buried--let him rot!" + +In speaking of the opera, he says:-- + + "Hence the pert shopkeeper, whose throbbing ear + Aches with orchestras which he pays to hear, + Whom shame, not sympathy, forbids to snore, + His anguish doubled by his own 'encore!' + Squeezed in 'Fop's Alley,' jostled by the beaux, + Teased with his hat, and trembling for his toes, + Scarce wrestles through the night, nor tastes of ease + Till the dropp'd curtain gives a glad release: + Why this and more he suffers, can ye guess?-- + Because it costs him dear, and makes him dress!" + +The concluding couplet of the following lines is amusingly +characteristic of that mixture of fun and bitterness with which their +author sometimes spoke in conversation;--so much so, that those who knew +him might almost fancy they hear him utter the words:-- + + "But every thing has faults, nor is't unknown + That harps and fiddles often lose their tone, + And wayward voices at their owner's call, + With all his best endeavours, only squall; + Dogs blink their covey, flints withhold the spark, + And double barrels (damn them) miss their mark!"[11] + +One more passage, with the humorous note appended to it, will complete +the whole amount of my favourable specimens:-- + + "And that's enough--then write and print so fast,-- + If Satan take the hindmost, who'd be last? + They storm the types, they publish one and all, + They leap the counter, and they leave the stall:-- + Provincial maidens, men of high command, + Yea, baronets, have ink'd the bloody hand! + Cash cannot quell them--Pollio play'd this prank: + (Then Phoebus first found credit in a bank;) + Not all the living only, but the dead + Fool on, as fluent as an Orpheus' head! + Damn'd all their days, they posthumously thrive, + Dug up from dust, though buried when alive! + Reviews record this epidemic crime, + Those books of martyrs to the rage for rhyme + Alas! woe worth the scribbler, often seen + In Morning Post or Monthly Magazine! + There lurk his earlier lays, but soon, hot-press'd, + Behold a quarto!--tarts must tell the rest! + Then leave, ye wise, the lyre's precarious chords + To muse-mad baronets or madder lords, + Or country Crispins, now grown somewhat stale, + Twin Doric minstrels, drunk with Doric ale! + Hark to those notes, narcotically soft, + The cobbler-laureates sing to Capel Lofft!"[12] + +From these select specimens, which comprise, altogether, little more +than an eighth of the whole poem, the reader may be enabled to form some +notion of the remainder, which is, for the most part, of a very inferior +quality, and, in some parts, descending to the depths of doggerel. Who, +for instance, could trace the hand of Byron in such "prose, fringed with +rhyme," as the following?-- + + "Peace to Swift's faults! his wit hath made them pass + Unmatch'd by all, save matchless Hudibras, + Whose author is perhaps the first we meet + Who from our couplet lopp'd two final feet; + Nor less in merit than the longer line + This measure moves, a favourite of the Nine. + + "Though at first view, eight feet may seem in vain + Form'd, save in odes, to bear a serious strain, + Yet Scott has shown our wondering isle of late + This measure shrinks not from a theme of weight, + And, varied skilfully, surpasses far + Heroic rhyme, but most in love or war, + Whose fluctuations, tender or sublime, + Are curb'd too much by long recurring rhyme. + + "In sooth, I do not know, or greatly care + To learn who our first English strollers were, + Or if--till roofs received the vagrant art-- + Our Muse--like that of Thespis--kept a cart. + But this is certain, since our Shakspeare's days, + There's pomp enough, if little else, in plays; + Nor will Melpomene ascend her throne + Without high heels, white plume, and Bristol stone. + + "Where is that living language which could claim + Poetic more, as philosophic fame, + If all our bards, more patient of delay, + Would stop like Pope to polish by the way?" + +In tracing the fortunes of men, it is not a little curious to observe, +how often the course of a whole life has depended on one single step. +Had Lord Byron now persisted in his original purpose of giving this poem +to the press, instead of Childe Harold, it is more than probable that he +would have been lost, as a great poet, to the world.[13] Inferior as the +Paraphrase is, in every respect, to his former Satire, and, in some +places, even descending below the level of under-graduate versifiers, +its failure, there can be little doubt, would have been certain and +signal;--his former assailants would have resumed their advantage over +him, and either, in the bitterness of his mortification, he would have +flung Childe Harold into the fire; or, had he summoned up sufficient +confidence to publish that poem, its reception, even if sufficient to +retrieve him in the eyes of the public and his own, could never have, at +all, resembled that explosion of success,--that instantaneous and +universal acclaim of admiration into which, coming, as it were, fresh +from the land of song, he now surprised the world, and in the midst of +which he was borne, buoyant and self-assured, along, through a +succession of new triumphs, each more splendid than the last. + +Happily, the better judgment of his friends averted such a risk; and he +at length consented to the immediate publication of Childe +Harold,--still, however, to the last, expressing his doubts of its +merits, and his alarm at the sort of reception it might meet with in the +world. + +"I did all I could," says his adviser, "to raise his opinion of this +composition, and I succeeded; but he varied much in his feelings about +it, nor was he, as will appear, at his ease until the world decided on +its merit. He said again and again that I was going to get him into a +scrape with his old enemies, and that none of them would rejoice more +than the Edinburgh Reviewers at an opportunity to humble him. He said I +must not put his name to it. I entreated him to leave it to me, and +that I would answer for this poem silencing all his enemies." + +The publication being now determined upon, there arose some doubts and +difficulty as to a publisher. Though Lord Byron had intrusted Cawthorn +with what he considered to be his surer card, the "Hints from Horace," +he did not, it seems, think him of sufficient station in the trade to +give a sanction or fashion to his more hazardous experiment. The former +refusal of the Messrs. Longman[14] to publish his "English Bards and +Scotch Reviewers" was not forgotten; and he expressly stipulated with +Mr. Dallas that the manuscript should not be offered to that house. An +application was, at first, made to Mr. Miller, of Albemarle Street; but, +in consequence of the severity with which Lord Elgin was treated in the +poem, Mr. Miller (already the publisher and bookseller of this latter +nobleman) declined the work. Even this circumstance,--so apprehensive +was the poet for his fame,--began to re-awaken all the qualms and +terrors he had, at first, felt; and, had any further difficulties or +objections arisen, it is more than probable he might have relapsed into +his original intention. It was not long, however, before a person was +found willing and proud to undertake the publication. Mr. Murray, who, +at this period, resided in Fleet Street, having, some time before, +expressed a desire to be allowed to publish some work of Lord Byron, it +was in his hands that Mr. Dallas now placed the manuscript of Childe +Harold;--and thus was laid the first foundation of that connection +between this gentleman and the noble poet, which continued, with but a +temporary interruption, throughout the lifetime of the one, and has +proved an abundant source of honour, as well as emolument, to the other. + +While thus busily engaged in his literary projects, and having, besides, +some law affairs to transact with his agent, he was called suddenly away +to Newstead by the intelligence of an event which seems to have affected +his mind far more deeply than, considering all the circumstances of the +case, could have been expected. Mrs. Byron, whose excessive corpulence +rendered her, at all times, rather a perilous subject for illness, had +been of late indisposed, but not to any alarming degree; nor does it +appear that, when the following note was written, there existed any +grounds for apprehension as to her state. + +[Footnote 5: It is, however, less wonderful that authors should thus +misjudge their productions, when whole generations have sometimes fallen +into the same sort of error. The Sonnets of Petrarch were, by the +learned of his day, considered only worthy of the ballad-singers by whom +they were chanted about the streets; while his Epic Poem, "Africa," of +which few now even know the existence, was sought for on all sides, and +the smallest fragment of it begged from the author, for the libraries of +the learned.] + +[Footnote 6: Gray, under the influence of a similar predilection, +preferred, for a long time, his Latin poems to those by which he has +gained such a station in English literature. "Shall we attribute this," +says Mason, "to his having been educated at Eton, or to what other +cause? Certain it is, that when I first knew him, he seemed to set a +greater value on his Latin poetry than on that which he had composed in +his native language."] + +[Footnote 7: One of the manuscript notes of Lord Byron on Mr. +D'Israeli's work, already referred to.--Vol. i. p. 144.] + +[Footnote 8: "Mac Flecknoe, the Dunciad, and all Swift's lampooning +ballads.--Whatever their other works may be, these originated in +personal feelings and angry retort on unworthy rivals; and though the +ability of these satires elevates the poetical, their poignancy detracts +from the personal, character of the writers."] + +[Footnote 9: "Harvey, the _circulator_ of the _circulation_ of the +blood, used to fling away Virgil in his ecstasy of admiration, and say +'the book had a devil.' Now, such a character as I am copying would +probably fling it away also, but rather wish that the devil had the +book; not from a dislike to the poet, but a well-founded horror of +hexameters. Indeed, the public-school penance of 'Long and Short' is +enough to beget an antipathy to poetry for the residue of a man's life, +and perhaps so far may be an advantage."] + +[Footnote 10: "'Hell,' a gaming-house so called, where you risk little, +and are cheated a good deal: 'Club,' a pleasant purgatory, where you +lose more, and are not supposed to be cheated at all."] + +[Footnote 11: "As Mr. Pope took the liberty of damning Homer, to whom he +was under great obligations--'And Homer (damn him) calls'--it may be +presumed that any body or any thing may be damned in verse by poetical +license; and in case of accident, I beg leave to plead so illustrious a +precedent."] + +[Footnote 12: "This well-meaning gentleman has spoilt some excellent +shoemakers, and been accessary to the poetical undoing of many of the +industrious poor. Nathaniel Bloomfield and his brother Bobby have set +all Somersetshire singing. Nor has the malady confined itself to one +county. Pratt, too (who once was wiser), has caught the contagion of +patronage, and decoyed a poor fellow, named Blackett, into poetry; but +he died during the operation, leaving one child and two volumes of +'Remains' utterly destitute. The girl, if she don't take a poetical +twist, and come forth as a shoemaking Sappho, may do well, but the +'Tragedies' are as rickety as if they had been the offspring of an Earl +or a Seatonian prize-poet. The patrons of this poor lad are certainly +answerable for his end, and it ought to be an indictable offence. But +this is the least they have done; for, by a refinement of barbarity, +they have made the (late) man posthumously ridiculous, by printing what +he would have had sense enough never to print himself. Certes, these +rakers of 'Remains' come under the statute against resurrection-men. +What does it signify whether a poor dear dead dunce is to be stuck up in +Surgeons' or in Stationers' Hall? is it so bad to unearth his bones as +his blunders? is it not better to gibbet his body on a heath than his +soul in an octavo? 'We know what we are, but we know not what we may +be,' and it is to be hoped we never shall know, if a man who has passed +through life with a sort of éclat is to find himself a mountebank on the +other side of Styx, and made, like poor Joe Blackett, the laughing-stock +of purgatory. The plea of publication is to provide for the child. Now, +might not some of this 'sutor ultra crepidam's' friends and seducers +have done a decent action without inveigling Pratt into biography? And +then, his inscriptions split into so many modicums! 'To the Duchess of +So Much, the Right Honble. So-and-so, and Mrs. and Miss Somebody, these +volumes are,' &c. &c. Why, this is doling out the 'soft milk of +dedication' in gills; there is but a quart, and he divides it among a +dozen. Why, Pratt! hadst thou not a puff left? dost thou think six +families of distinction can share this in quiet? There is a child, a +book, and a dedication: send the girl to her grace, the volumes to the +grocer, and the dedication to the d-v-l."] + +[Footnote 13: That he himself attributed every thing to fortune, appears +from the following passage in one of his journals: "Like Sylla, I have +always believed that all things depend upon fortune, and nothing upon +ourselves. I am not aware of any one thought or action worthy of being +called good to myself or others, which is not to be attributed to the +good goddess, FORTUNE!"] + +[Footnote 14: The grounds on which the Messrs. Longman refused to +publish his Lordship's Satire, were the severe attacks it contained upon +Mr. Southey and others of their literary friends.] + + * * * * * + + "Reddish's Hotel, St. James's Street, London, July 23. 1811. + + "My dear Madam, + + "I am only detained by Mr. H * * to sign some copyhold papers, and + will give you timely notice of my approach. It is with great + reluctance I remain in town. I shall pay a short visit as we go on + to Lancashire on Rochdale business. I shall attend to your + directions, of course, and am, + + "With great respect, yours ever," + + "BYRON. + + "P.S.--You will consider Newstead as your house, not mine; and me + only as a visitor." + + * * * * * + +On his going abroad, she had conceived a sort of superstitious fancy +that she should never see him again; and when he returned, safe and +well, and wrote to inform her that he should soon see her at Newstead, +she said to her waiting-woman, "If I should be dead before Byron comes +down, what a strange thing it would be!"--and so, in fact, it happened. +At the end of July, her illness took a new and fatal turn; and, so sadly +characteristic was the close of the poor lady's life, that a fit of +rage, brought on, it is said, by reading over the upholsterer's bills, +was the ultimate cause of her death. Lord Byron had, of course, prompt +intelligence of the attack. But, though he started instantly from town, +he was too late,--she had breathed her last. + +The following letter, it will be perceived, was written on his way to +Newstead. + +LETTER 55. TO DR. PIGOT. + + "Newport Pagnell, August 2. 1811. + + "My dear Doctor, + + "My poor mother died yesterday! and I am on my way from town to + attend her to the family vault. I heard _one_ day of her illness, + the _next_ of her death. Thank God her last moments were most + tranquil. I am told she was in little pain, and not aware of her + situation. I now feel the truth of Mr. Gray's observation, 'That we + can only have _one_ mother.' Peace be with her! I have to thank you + for your expressions of regard; and as in six weeks I shall be in + Lancashire on business, I may extend to Liverpool and Chester,--at + least I shall endeavour. + + "If it will be any satisfaction, I have to inform you that in + November next the Editor of the Scourge will be tried for two + different libels on the late Mrs. B. and myself (the decease of + Mrs. B. makes no difference in the proceedings); and as he is + guilty, by his very foolish and unfounded assertion, of a breach of + privilege, he will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour. + + "I inform you of this as you seem interested in the affair, which + is now in the hands of the Attorney-general. + + "I shall remain at Newstead the greater part of this month, where I + shall be happy to hear from you, after my two years' absence in the + East. + + "I am, dear Pigot, yours very truly, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It can hardly have escaped the observation of the reader, that the +general tone of the noble poet's correspondence with his mother is that +of a son, performing, strictly and conscientiously, what he deems to be +his duty, without the intermixture of any sentiment of cordiality to +sweeten the task. The very title of "Madam," by which he addresses +her,--and which he but seldom exchanges for the endearing name of +"mother[15],"--is, of itself, a sufficient proof of the sentiments he +entertained for her. That such should have been his dispositions towards +such a parent, can be matter neither of surprise or blame,--but that, +notwithstanding this alienation, which her own unfortunate temper +produced, he should have continued to consult her wishes, and minister +to her comforts, with such unfailing thoughtfulness as is evinced not +only in the frequency of his letters, but in the almost exclusive +appropriation of Newstead to her use, redounds, assuredly, in no +ordinary degree, to his honour; and was even the more strikingly +meritorious from the absence of that affection which renders kindnesses +to a beloved object little more than an indulgence of self. + +But, however estranged from her his feelings must be allowed to have +been while she lived, her death seems to have restored them into their +natural channel. Whether from a return of early fondness and the +all-atoning power of the grave, or from the prospect of that void in +his future life which this loss of his only link with the past would +leave, it is certain that he felt the death of his mother acutely, if +not deeply. On the night after his arrival at Newstead, the +waiting-woman of Mrs. Byron, in passing the door of the room where the +deceased lady lay, heard a sound as of some one sighing heavily from +within; and, on entering the chamber, found, to her surprise, Lord +Byron, sitting in the dark, beside the bed. On her representing to him +the weakness of thus giving way to grief, he burst into tears, and +exclaimed, "Oh, Mrs. By, I had but one friend in the world, and she is +gone!" + +While his real thoughts were thus confided to silence and darkness, +there was, in other parts of his conduct more open to observation, a +degree of eccentricity and indecorum which, with superficial observers, +might well bring the sensibility of his nature into question. On the +morning of the funeral, having declined following the remains himself, +he stood looking, from the abbey door, at the procession, till the whole +had moved off;--then, turning to young Rushton, who was the only person +left besides himself, he desired him to fetch the sparring-gloves, and +proceeded to his usual exercise with the boy. He was silent and +abstracted all the time, and, as if from an effort to get the better of +his feelings, threw more violence, Rushton thought, into his blows than +was his habit; but, at last,--the struggle seeming too much for him,--he +flung away the gloves, and retired to his room. + +Of Mrs. Byron, sufficient, perhaps, has been related in these pages to +enable the reader to form fully his own opinion, as well with respect to +the character of this lady herself, as to the degree of influence her +temper and conduct may have exercised on those of her son. It was said +by one of the most extraordinary of men[16],--who was himself, as he +avowed, principally indebted to maternal culture for the unexampled +elevation to which he subsequently rose,--that "the future good or bad +conduct of a child depends entirely on the mother." How far the leaven +that sometimes mixed itself with the better nature of Byron,--his +uncertain and wayward impulses,--his defiance of restraint,--the +occasional bitterness of his hate, and the precipitance of his +resentments,--may have had their origin in his early collisions with +maternal caprice and violence, is an enquiry for which sufficient +materials have been, perhaps, furnished in these pages, but which every +one will decide upon, according to the more or less weight he may +attribute to the influence of such causes on the formation of character. + +That, notwithstanding her injudicious and coarse treatment of him, Mrs. +Byron loved her son, with that sort of fitful fondness of which alone +such a nature is capable, there can be little doubt,--and still less, +that she was ambitiously proud of him. Her anxiety for the success of +his first literary essays may be collected from the pains which he so +considerately took to tranquillise her on the appearance of the hostile +article in the Review. As his fame began to brighten, that notion of his +future greatness and glory, which, by a singular forecast of +superstition, she had entertained from his very childhood, became +proportionably confirmed. Every mention of him in print was watched by +her with eagerness; and she had got bound together in a volume, which a +friend of mine once saw, a collection of all the literary notices, that +had then appeared, of his early Poems and Satire,--written over on the +margin, with observations of her own, which to my informant appeared +indicative of much more sense and ability than, from her general +character, we should be inclined to attribute to her. + +Among those lesser traits of his conduct through which an observer can +trace a filial wish to uphold, and throw respect around, the station of +his mother, may be mentioned his insisting, while a boy, on being called +"George Byron Gordon"--giving thereby precedence to the maternal +name,--and his continuing, to the last, to address her as "the +Honourable Mrs. Byron,"--a mark of rank to which, he must have been +aware, she had no claim whatever. Neither does it appear that, in his +habitual manner towards her, there was any thing denoting a want of +either affection or deference,--with the exception, perhaps, +occasionally, of a somewhat greater degree of familiarity than comports +with the ordinary notions of filial respect. Thus, the usual name he +called her by, when they were on good-humoured terms together, was +"Kitty Gordon;" and I have heard an eye-witness of the scene describe +the look of arch, dramatic humour, with which, one day, at Southwell, +when they were in the height of their theatrical rage, he threw open the +door of the drawing-room, to admit his mother, saying, at the same time, +"Enter the Honourable Kitty." + +The pride of birth was a feeling common alike to mother and son, and, at +times, even became a point of rivalry between them, from their +respective claims, English and Scotch, to high lineage. In a letter +written by him from Italy, referring to some anecdote which his mother +had told him, he says,--"My mother, who was as haughty as Lucifer with +her descent from the Stuarts, and her right line from the _old +Gordons_,--_not_ the _Seyton Gordons_, as she disdainfully termed the +ducal branch,--told me the story, always reminding me how superior _her_ +Gordons were to the southern Byrons, notwithstanding our Norman, and +always masculine, descent, which has never lapsed into a female, as my +mother's Gordons had done in her own person." + +If, to be able to depict powerfully the painful emotions, it is +necessary first to have experienced them, or, in other words, if, for +the poet to be great, the man must suffer, Lord Byron, it must be owned, +paid early this dear price of mastery. Few as were the ties by which his +affections held, whether within or without the circle of relationship, +he was now doomed, within a short space, to see the most of them swept +away by death.[17] Besides the loss of his mother, he had to mourn over, +in quick succession, the untimely fatalities that carried off, within a +few weeks of each other, two or three of his most loved and valued +friends. "In the short space of one month," he says, in a note on Childe +Harold, "I have lost _her_ who gave me being, and most of those who made +that being tolerable."[18] Of these young Wingfield, whom we have seen +high on the list of his Harrow favourites, died of a fever at Coimbra; +and Matthews, the idol of his admiration at college, was drowned while +bathing in the waters of the Cam. + +The following letter, written immediately after the latter event, bears +the impress of strong and even agonised feeling, to such a degree as +renders it almost painful to read it:-- + +LETTER 56. TO MR. SCROPE DAVIES. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 7. 1811. + + "My dearest Davies, + + "Some curse hangs over me and mine. My mother lies a corpse in this + house; one of my best friends is drowned in a ditch. What can I + say, or think, or do? I received a letter from him the day before + yesterday. My dear Scrope, if you can spare a moment, do come down + to me--I want a friend. Matthews's last letter was written on + _Friday_,--on Saturday he was not. In ability, who was like + Matthews? How did we all shrink before him? You do me but justice + in saying, I would have risked my paltry existence to have + preserved his. This very evening did I mean to write, inviting him, + as I invite you, my very dear friend, to visit me. God forgive * * + * for his apathy! What will our poor Hobhouse feel? His letters + breathe but or Matthews. Come to me, Scrope, I am almost + desolate--left almost alone in the world--I had but you, and H., + and M., and let me enjoy the survivors whilst I can. Poor M., in + his letter of Friday, speaks of his intended contest for + Cambridge[19], and a speedy journey to London. Write or come, but + come if you can, or one or both. + + "Yours ever." + +[Footnote 15: In many instances the mothers of illustrious poets have +had reason to be proud no less of the affection than of the glory of +their sons; and Tasso, Pope, Gray, and Cowper, are among these memorable +examples of filial tenderness. In the lesser poems of Tasso, there are +few things so beautiful as his description, in the Canzone to the +Metauro, of his first parting with his mother:-- + + "Me dal sen della madre empia fortuna + Pargoletto divelse," &c. +] + +[Footnote 16: Napoleon.] + +[Footnote 17: In a letter, written between two and three months after +his mother's death, he states no less a number than six persons, all +friends or relatives, who had been snatched away from him by death +between May and the end of August.] + +[Footnote 18: In continuation of the note quoted in the text, he says of +Matthews--"His powers of mind, shown in the attainment of greater +honours, against the _ablest candidates_, than those of any graduate on +record at Cambridge, have sufficiently established his fame on the spot +where it was acquired." One of the candidates, thus described, was Mr. +Thomas Barnes, a gentleman whose career since has kept fully the promise +of his youth, though, from the nature of the channels through which his +literary labours have been directed, his great talents are far more +extensively known than his name.] + +[Footnote 19: It had been the intention of Mr. Matthews to offer +himself, at the ensuing election, for the university. In reference to +this purpose, a manuscript Memoir of him, now lying before me, says--"If +acknowledged and successful talents--if principles of the strictest +honour--if the devotion of many friends could have secured the success +of an 'independent pauper' (as he jocularly called himself in a letter +on the subject), the vision would have been realised."] + + * * * * * + +Of this remarkable young man, Charles Skinner Matthews[20], I have +already had occasion to speak; but the high station which he held in +Lord Byron's affection and admiration may justify a somewhat ampler +tribute to his memory. + +There have seldom, perhaps, started together in life so many youths of +high promise and hope as were to be found among the society of which +Lord Byron formed a part at Cambridge. Of some of these, the names have +since eminently distinguished themselves in the world, as the mere +mention of Mr. Hobhouse and Mr. William Bankes is sufficient to testify; +while in the instance of another of this lively circle, Mr. Scrope +Davies[21], the only regret of his friends is, that the social wit of +which he is such a master should in the memories of his hearers alone be +like to leave any record of its brilliancy. Among all these young men of +learning and talent, (including Byron himself, whose genius was, +however, as yet, "an undiscovered world,") the superiority, in almost +every department of intellect, seems to have been, by the ready consent +of all, awarded to Matthews;--a concurrence of homage which, considering +the persons from whom it came, gives such a high notion of the powers of +his mind at that period, as renders the thought of what he might have +been, if spared, a matter of interesting, though vain and mournful, +speculation. To mere mental pre-eminence, unaccompanied by the kindlier +qualities of the heart, such a tribute, however deserved, might not, +perhaps, have been so uncontestedly paid. But young Matthews +appears,--in spite of some little asperities of temper and manner, which +he was already beginning to soften down when snatched away,--to have +been one of those rare individuals who, while they command deference, +can, at the same time, win regard, and who, as it were, relieve the +intense feeling of admiration which they excite by blending it with +love. + +To his religious opinions, and their unfortunate coincidence with those +of Lord Byron, I have before adverted. Like his noble friend, ardent in +the pursuit of Truth, he, like him too, unluckily lost his way in +seeking her,--"the light that led astray" being by both friends mistaken +for hers. That in his scepticism he proceeded any farther than Lord +Byron, or ever suffered his doubting, but still ingenuous, mind to +persuade itself into the "incredible creed" of atheism, is, I find +(notwithstanding an assertion in a letter of the noble poet to this +effect), disproved by the testimony of those among his relations and +friends, who are the most ready to admit and, of course, lament his +other heresies;--nor should I have felt that I had any right to allude +thus to the religious opinions of one who had never, by promulgating his +heterodoxy, brought himself within the jurisdiction of the public, had +not the wrong impression, as it appears, given of those opinions, on the +authority of Lord Byron, rendered it an act of justice to both friends +to remove the imputation. + +In the letters to Mrs. Byron, written previously to the departure of her +son on his travels, there occurs, it will be recollected, some mention +of a Will, which it was his intention to leave behind him in the hands +of his trustees. Whatever may have been the contents of this former +instrument, we find that, in about a fortnight after his mother's death, +he thought it right to have a new form of will drawn up; and the +following letter, enclosing his instructions for that purpose, was +addressed to the late Mr. Bolton, a solicitor of Nottingham. Of the +existence, in any serious or formal shape, of the strange directions +here given, respecting his own interment, I was, for some time, I +confess, much inclined to doubt; but the curious documents here annexed +put this remarkable instance of his eccentricity beyond all question. + +[Footnote 20: He was the third son of the late John Matthews, Esq. of +Belmont, Herefordshire, representative of that county in the parliament +of 1802-6. The author of "The Diary of an Invalid," also untimely +snatched away, was another son of the same gentleman, as is likewise the +present Prebendary of Hereford, the Reverend Arthur Matthews, who, by +his ability and attainments, sustains worthily the reputation of the +name. + +The father of this accomplished family was himself a man of considerable +talent, and the author of several unavowed poetical pieces; one of +which, a Parody of Pope's Eloisa, written in early youth, has been +erroneously ascribed to the late Professor Porson, who was in the habit +of reciting it, and even printed an edition of the verses.] + +[Footnote 21: "One of the cleverest men I ever knew, in conversation, +was Scrope Berdmore Davies. Hobhouse is also very good in that line, +though it is of less consequence to a man who has other ways of showing +his talents than in company. Scrope was always ready and often +witty--Hobhouse as witty, but not always so ready, being more +diffident."--_MS. Journal of Lord Byron._] + + * * * * * + +TO ---- BOLTON, ESQ. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 12. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "I enclose a rough draught of my intended will, which I beg to have + drawn up as soon as possible, in the firmest manner. The + alterations are principally made in consequence of the death of + Mrs. Byron. I have only to request that it may be got ready in a + short time, and have the honour, to be, + + "Your most obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + + "Newstead Abbey, August 12. 1811. + + "DIRECTIONS FOR, THE CONTENTS OF A WILL TO BE DRAWN UP IMMEDIATELY. + + "The estate of Newstead to be entailed (subject to certain + deductions) on George Anson Byron, heir-at-law, or whoever may be + the heir-at-law on the death of Lord B. The Rochdale property to be + sold in part or the whole, according to the debts and legacies of + the present Lord B. + + "To Nicolo Giraud of Athens, subject of France, but born in Greece, + the sum of seven thousand pounds sterling, to be paid from the + sale of such parts of Rochdale, Newstead, or elsewhere, as may + enable the said Nicolo Giraud (resident at Athens and Malta in the + year 1810) to receive the above sum on his attaining the age of + twenty-one years. + + "To William Fletcher, Joseph Murray, and Demetrius Zograffo[22] + (native of Greece), servants, the sum of fifty pounds pr. ann. + each, for their natural lives. To Wm. Fletcher, the Mill at + Newstead, on condition that he payeth rent, but not subject to the + caprice of the landlord. To Rt. Rushton the sum of fifty pounds + per ann. for life, and a further sum of one thousand pounds on + attaining the age of twenty-five years. + + "To Jn. Hanson, Esq. the sum of two thousand pounds sterling. + + "The claims of S.B. Davies, Esq. to be satisfied on proving the + amount of the same. + + "The body of Lord B. to be buried in the vault of the garden of + Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, or any + inscription, save his name and age. His dog not to be removed from + the said vault. + + "My library and furniture of every description to my friends Jn. + Cam Hobhouse, Esq., and S.B. Davies, Esq. my executors. In case of + their decease, the Rev. J. Becher, of Southwell, Notts., and R.C. + Dallas, Esq., of Mortlake, Surrey, to be executors. + + "The produce of the sale of Wymondham in Norfolk, and the late Mrs. + B.'s Scotch property[23], to be appropriated in aid of the payment + of debts and legacies." + +[Footnote 22: "If the papers lie not (which they generally do), +Demetrius Zograffo of Athens is at the head of the Athenian part of the +Greek insurrection. He was my servant in 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, at +different intervals of those years (for I left him in Greece when I went +to Constantinople), and accompanied me to England in 1811: he returned +to Greece, spring, 1812. He was a clever, but not _apparently_ an +enterprising man; but circumstances make men. His two sons (_then_ +infants) were named Miltiades and Alcibiades: may the omen be happy!" +--_MS. Journal._] + +[Footnote 23: On the death of his mother, a considerable sum of money, +the remains of the price of the estate of Gight, was paid into his hands +by her trustee, Baron Clerk.] + + * * * * * + +In sending a copy of the Will, framed on these instructions, to Lord +Byron, the solicitor accompanied some of the clauses with marginal +queries, calling the attention of his noble client to points which he +considered inexpedient or questionable; and as the short pithy answers +to these suggestions are strongly characteristic of their writer, I +shall here give one or two of the clauses in full, with the respective +queries and answers annexed. + +"This is the last will and testament of me, the Rt. Honble George +Gordon Lord Byron, Baron Byron of Rochdale, in the county of +Lancaster.--I desire that my body may be buried in the vault of the +garden of Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, +and that no inscription, save my name and age, be written on the tomb or +tablet; and it is my will that my faithful dog may not be removed from +the said vault. To the performance of this my particular desire, I rely +on the attention of my executors hereinafter named." + +_"It is submitted to Lord Byron whether this clause relative to the +funeral had not better be omitted. The substance of it can be given in a +letter from his Lordship to the executors, and accompany the will; and +the will may state that the funeral shall be performed in such manner as +his Lordship may by letter direct, and, in default of any such letter, +then at the discretion of his executors."_ + + "It must stand. B." + +"I do hereby specifically order and direct that all the claims of the +said S.B. Davies upon me shall be fully paid and satisfied as soon as +conveniently may be after my decease, on his proving [by vouchers, or +otherwise, to the satisfaction of my executors hereinafter named][24] +the amount thereof, and the correctness of the same." + +_"If Mr. Davies has any unsettled claims upon Lord Byron, that +circumstance is a reason for his not being appointed executor; each +executor having an opportunity of paying himself his own debt without +consulting his co-executors."_ + + "So much the better--if possible, let him be an executor. B." + +[Footnote 24: Over the words which I have here placed between brackets, +Lord Byron drew his pen.] + + * * * * * + +The two following letters contain further instructions on the same +subject:-- + +LETTER 57. TO MR. BOLTON. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 16. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "I have answered the queries on the margin.[25] I wish Mr. Davies's + claims to be most fully allowed, and, further, that he be one of my + executors. I wish the will to be made in a manner to prevent all + discussion, if possible, after my decease; and this I leave to you + as a professional gentleman. + + "With regard to the few and simple directions for the disposal of + my _carcass_, I must have them implicitly fulfilled, as they will, + at least, prevent trouble and expense;--and (what would be of + little consequence to me, but may quiet the conscience of the + survivors) the garden is _consecrated_ ground. These directions are + copied verbatim from my former will; the alterations in other parts + have arisen from the death of Mrs. B. I have the honour to be + + "Your most obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + +[Footnote 25: In the clause enumerating the names and places of abode of +the executors, the solicitor had left blanks for the Christian names of +these gentlemen, and Lord Byron, having filled up all but that of +Dallas, writes in the margin--"I forget the Christian name of +Dallas--cut him out."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 58 TO MR. BOLTON. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 20. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "The witnesses shall be provided from amongst my tenants, and I + shall be happy to see you on any day most convenient to yourself. I + forgot to mention, that it must be specified by codicil, or + otherwise, that my body is on no account to be removed from the + vault where I have directed it to be placed; and in case any of my + successors within the entail (from bigotry, or otherwise) might + think proper to remove the carcass, such proceeding shall be + attended by forfeiture of the estate, which in such case shall go + to my sister, the Honble Augusta Leigh and her heirs on similar + conditions. I have the honour to be, sir, + + "Your very obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +In consequence of this last letter, a proviso and declaration, in +conformity with its instructions, were inserted in the will. He also +executed, on the 28th of this month, a codicil, by which he revoked the +bequest of his "household goods and furniture, library, pictures, +sabres, watches, plate, linen, trinkets, and other personal estate +(except money and securities) situate within the walls of the +mansion-house and premises at his decease--and bequeathed the same +(except his wine and spirituous liquors) to his friends, the said J.C. +Hobhouse, S.B. Davies, and Francis Hodgson, their executors, &c., to be +equally divided between them for their own use;--and he bequeathed his +wine and spirituous liquors, which should be in the cellars and premises +at Newstead, unto his friend, the said J. Becher, for his own use, and +requested the said J.C. Hobhouse, S.B. Davies, F. Hodgson, and J. +Becher, respectively, to accept the bequest therein contained, to them +respectively, as a token of his friendship." + +The following letters, written while his late losses were fresh in his +mind, will be read with painful interest:-- + +LETTER 59. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 12. 1811. + + "Peace be with the dead! Regret cannot wake them. With a sigh to + the departed, let us resume the dull business of life, in the + certainty that we also shall have our repose. Besides her who gave + me being, I have lost more than one who made that being + tolerable--The best friend of my friend Hobhouse, Matthews, a man + of the first talents, and also not the worst of my narrow circle, + has perished miserably in the muddy waves of the Cam, always fatal + to genius:--my poor school-fellow, Wingfield, at Coimbra--within a + month; and whilst I had heard from _all three_, but not seen _one_. + Matthews wrote to me the very day before his death; and though I + feel for his fate, I am still more anxious for Hobhouse, who, I + very much fear, will hardly retain his senses: his letters to me + since the event have been most incoherent. But let this pass; we + shall all one day pass along with the rest--the world is too full + of such things, and our very sorrow is selfish. + + "I received a letter from you, which my late occupations prevented + me from duly noticing.--I hope your friends and family will long + hold together. I shall be glad to hear from you, on business, on + common-place, or any thing, or nothing--but death--I am already too + familiar with the dead. It is strange that I look on the skulls + which stand beside me (I have always had _four_ in my study) + without emotion, but I cannot strip the features of those I have + known of their fleshy covering, even in idea, without a hideous + sensation; but the worms are less ceremonious.--Surely, the Romans + did well when they burned the dead.--I shall be happy to hear from + you, and am yours," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 60. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 22. 1811. + + "You may have heard of the sudden death of my mother, and poor + Matthews, which, with that of Wingfield, (of which I was not fully + aware till just before I left town, and indeed hardly believed it,) + has made a sad chasm in my connections. Indeed the blows followed + each other so rapidly that I am yet stupid from the shock; and + though I do eat, and drink, and talk, and even laugh, at times, yet + I can hardly persuade myself that I am awake, did not every + morning convince me mournfully to the contrary.--I shall now wave + the subject,--the dead are at rest, and none but the dead can be + so. + + "You will feel for poor Hobhouse,--Matthews was the 'god of his + idolatry;' and if intellect could exalt a man above his fellows, no + one could refuse him pre-eminence. I knew him most intimately, and + valued him proportionably; but I am recurring--so let us talk of + life and the living. + + "If you should feel a disposition to come here, you will find 'beef + and a sea-coal fire,' and not ungenerous wine. Whether Otway's two + other requisites for an Englishman or not, I cannot tell, but + probably one of them.--Let me know when I may expect you, that I + may tell you when I go and when return. I have not yet been to + Lanes. Davies has been here, and has invited me to Cambridge for a + week in October, so that, peradventure, we may encounter glass to + glass. His gaiety (death cannot mar it) has done me service; but, + after all, ours was a hollow laughter. + + "You will write to me? I am solitary, and I never felt solitude + irksome before. Your anxiety about the critique on * *'s book is + amusing; as it was anonymous, certes it was of little consequence: + I wish it had produced a little more confusion, being a lover of + literary malice. Are you doing nothing? writing nothing? printing + nothing? why not your Satire on Methodism? the subject (supposing + the public to be blind to merit) would do wonders. Besides, it + would be as well for a destined deacon to prove his orthodoxy.--It + really would give me pleasure to see you properly appreciated. I + say _really_, as, being an author, my humanity might be suspected. + Believe me, dear H., yours always." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 61. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead, August 21. 1811. + + "Your letter gives me credit for more acute feelings than I + possess; for though I feel tolerably miserable, yet I am at the + same time subject to a kind of hysterical merriment, or rather + laughter without merriment, which I can neither account for nor + conquer, and yet I do not feel relieved by it; but an indifferent + person would think me in excellent spirits. 'We must forget these + things,' and have recourse to our old selfish comforts, or rather + comfortable selfishness. I do not think I shall return to London + immediately, and shall therefore accept freely what is offered + courteously--your mediation between me and Murray. I don't think my + name will answer the purpose, and you must be aware that my plaguy + Satire will bring the north and south Grub Streets down upon the + 'Pilgrimage;'--but, nevertheless, if Murray makes a point of it, + and you coincide with him, I will do it daringly; so let it be + entitled 'By the Author of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.' My + remarks on the Romaic, &c., once intended to accompany the 'Hints + from Horace,' shall go along with the other, as being indeed more + appropriate; also the smaller poems now in my possession, with a + few selected from those published in * *'s Miscellany. I have + found amongst my poor mother's papers all my letters from the East, + and one in particular of some length from Albania. From this, if + necessary, I can work up a note or two on that subject. As I kept + no journal, the letters written on the spot are the best. But of + this anon, when we have definitively arranged. + + "Has Murray shown the work to any one? He may--but I will have no + traps for applause. Of course there are little things I would wish + to alter, and perhaps the two stanzas of a buffooning cast on + London's Sunday are as well left out. I much wish to avoid + identifying Childe Harold's character with mine, and that, in + sooth, is my second objection to my name appearing in the + title-page. When you have made arrangements as to time, size, type, + &c. favour me with a reply. I am giving you an universe of trouble, + which thanks cannot atone for. I made a kind of prose apology for + my scepticism at the head of the MS., which, on recollection, is so + much more like an attack than a defence, that, haply, it might + better be omitted:--perpend, pronounce. After all, I fear Murray + will be in a scrape with the orthodox; but I cannot help it, though + I wish him well through it. As for me, 'I have supped full of + criticism,' and I don't think that the 'most dismal treatise' will + stir and rouse my fell of hair' till 'Birnam wood do come to + Dunsinane.' + + "I shall continue to write at intervals, and hope you will pay me + in kind. How does Pratt get on, or rather get off, Joe Blackett's + posthumous stock? You killed that poor man amongst you, in spite + of your Ionian friend and myself, who would have saved him from + Pratt, poetry, present poverty, and posthumous oblivion. Cruel + patronage! to ruin a man at his calling; but then he is a divine + subject for subscription and biography; and Pratt, who makes the + most of his dedications, has inscribed the volume to no less than + five families of distinction. + + "I am sorry you don't like Harry White: with a great deal of cant, + which in him was sincere (indeed it killed him as you killed Joe + Blackett), certes there is poesy and genius. I don't say this on + account of my simile and rhymes; but surely he was beyond all the + Bloomfields and Blacketts, and their collateral cobblers, whom + Lofft and Pratt have or may kidnap from their calling into the + service of the trade. You must excuse my flippancy, for I am + writing I know not what, to escape from myself. Hobhouse is gone to + Ireland. Mr. Davies has been here on his way to Harrowgate. + + "You did not know M.: he was a man of the most astonishing powers, + as he sufficiently proved at Cambridge, by carrying off more prizes + and fellow-ships, against the ablest candidates, than any other + graduate on record; but a most decided atheist, indeed noxiously + so, for he proclaimed his principles in all societies. I knew him + well, and feel a loss not easily to be supplied to myself--to + Hobhouse never. Let me hear from you, and believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + +The progress towards publication of his two forthcoming works will be +best traced in his letters to Mr. Murray and Mr. Dallas. + +LETTER 62. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 23. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "A domestic calamity in the death of a near relation has hitherto + prevented my addressing you on the subject of this letter.--My + friend, Mr. Dallas, has placed in your hands a manuscript poem + written by me in Greece, which he tells me you do not object to + publishing. But he also informed me in London that you wished to + send the MS. to Mr. Gifford. Now, though no one would feel more + gratified by the chance of obtaining his observations on a work + than myself, there is in such a proceeding a kind of petition for + praise, that neither my pride--or whatever you please to call + it--will admit. Mr. G. is not only the first satirist of the day, + but editor of one of the principal reviews. As such, he is the last + man whose censure (however eager to avoid it) I would deprecate by + clandestine means. You will therefore retain the manuscript in your + own care, or, if it must needs be shown, send it to another. Though + not very patient of censure, I would fain obtain fairly any little + praise my rhymes might deserve, at all events not by extortion, and + the humble solicitations of a bandied about MS. I am sure a little + consideration will convince you it would be wrong. + + "If you determine on publication, I have some smaller poems (never + published), a few notes, and a short dissertation on the literature + of the modern Greeks (written at Athens), which will come in at + the end of the volume.--And, if the present poem should succeed, it + is my intention, at some subsequent period, to publish some + selections from my first work,--my Satire,--another nearly the same + length, and a few other things, with the MS. now in your hands, in + two volumes.--But of these hereafter. You will apprize me of your + determination. I am, Sir, your very obedient," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 63. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 25. 1811. + + "Being fortunately enabled to frank, I do not spare scribbling, + having sent you packets within the last ten days. I am passing + solitary, and do not expect my agent to accompany me to Rochdale + before the second week in September; a delay which perplexes me, as + I wish the business over, and should at present welcome employment. + I sent you exordiums, annotations, &c. for the forthcoming quarto, + if quarto it is to be: and I also have written to Mr. Murray my + objection to sending the MS. to Juvenal, but allowing him to show + it to any others of the calling. Hobhouse is amongst the types + already: so, between his prose and my verse, the world will be + decently drawn upon for its paper-money and patience. Besides all + this, my 'Imitation of Horace' is gasping for the press at + Cawthorn's, but I am hesitating as to the _how_ and the _when_, the + single or the double, the present or the future. You must excuse + all this, for I have nothing to say in this lone mansion but of + myself, and yet I would willingly talk or think of aught else. + + "What are you about to do? Do you think of perching in Cumberland, + as you opined when I was in the metropolis? If you mean to retire, + why not occupy Miss * * *'s 'Cottage of Friendship,' late the seat + of Cobbler Joe, for whose death you and others are answerable? His + 'Orphan Daughter' (pathetic Pratt!) will, certes, turn out a + shoemaking Sappho. Have you no remorse? I think that elegant + address to Miss Dallas should be inscribed on the cenotaph which + Miss * * * means to stitch to his memory. + + "The newspapers seem much disappointed at his Majesty's not dying, + or doing something better. I presume it is almost over. If + parliament meets in October, I shall be in town to attend. I am + also invited to Cambridge for the beginning of that month, but am + first to jaunt to Rochdale. Now Matthews is gone, and Hobhouse in + Ireland, I have hardly one left there to bid me welcome, except my + inviter. At three-and-twenty I am left alone, and what more can we + be at seventy? It is true I am young enough to begin again, but + with whom can I retrace the laughing part of life? It is odd how + few of my friends have died a quiet death,--I mean, in their beds. + But a quiet life is of more consequence. Yet one loves squabbling + and jostling better than yawning. This _last word_ admonishes me to + relieve you from yours very truly," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 64. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 27. 1811. + + "I was so sincere in my note on the late Charles Matthews, and do + feel myself so totally unable to do justice to his talents, that + the passage must stand for the very reason you bring against it. To + him all the men I ever knew were pigmies. He was an intellectual + giant. It is true I loved W. better; he was the earliest and the + dearest, and one of the few one could never repent of having loved: + but in ability--ah! you did not know Matthews! + + "'Childe Harold' may wait and welcome--books are never the worse + for delay in the publication. So you have got our heir, George + Anson Byron, and his sister, with you. + + "You may say what you please, but you are one of the _murderers_ of + Blackett, and yet you won't allow Harry White's genius. Setting + aside his bigotry, he surely ranks next Chatterton. It is + astonishing how little he was known; and at Cambridge no one + thought or heard of such a man till his death rendered all notice + useless. For my own part, I should have been most proud of such an + acquaintance: his very prejudices were respectable. There is a + sucking epic poet at Granta, a Mr. Townsend, _protégé_ of the late + Cumberland. Did you ever hear of him and his 'Armageddon?' I think + his plan (the man I don't know) borders on the sublime: though, + perhaps, the anticipation of the 'Last Day' (according to you + Nazarenes) is a little too daring: at least, it looks like telling + the Lord what he is to do, and might remind an ill-natured person + of the line, + + 'And fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' + + But I don't mean to cavil, only other folks will, and he may bring + all the lambs of Jacob Behmen about his ears. However, I hope he + will bring it to a conclusion, though Milton is in his way. + + "Write to me--I dote on gossip--and make a bow to Ju--, and shake + George by the hand for me; but, take care, for he has a sad sea + paw. + + "P.S. I would ask George here, but I don't know how to amuse + him--all my horses were sold when I left England, and I have not + had time to replace them. Nevertheless, if he will come down and + shoot in September, he will be very welcome: but he must bring a + gun, for I gave away all mine to Ali Pacha, and other Turks. Dogs, + a keeper, and plenty of game, with a very large manor, I have--a + lake, a boat, house-room, and _neat wines_." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 65. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 5. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "The time seems to be past when (as Dr. Johnson said) a man was + certain to 'hear the truth from his bookseller,' for you have paid + me so many compliments, that, if I was not the veriest scribbler on + earth, I should feel affronted. As I accept your compliments, it + is but fair I should give equal or greater credit to your + objections, the more so, as I believe them to be well founded. With + regard to the political and metaphysical parts, I am afraid I can + alter nothing; but I have high authority for my errors in that + point, for even the _Æneid_ was a _political_ poem, and written for + a _political_ purpose; and as to my unlucky opinions on subjects of + more importance, I am too sincere in them for recantation. On + Spanish affairs I have said what I saw, and every day confirms me + in that notion of the result formed on the spot; and I rather think + honest John Bull is beginning to come round again to that sobriety + which Massena's retreat had begun to reel from its centre--the + usual consequence of _un_usual success. So you perceive I cannot + alter the sentiments; but if there are any alterations in the + structure of the versification you would wish to be made, I will + tag rhymes and turn stanzas as much as you please. As for the + '_orthodox_,' let us hope they will buy, on purpose to abuse--you + will forgive the one, if they will do the other. You are aware that + any thing from my pen must expect no quarter, on many accounts; and + as the present publication is of a nature very different from the + former, we must not be sanguine. + + "You have given me no answer to my question--tell me fairly, did + you show the MS. to some of your corps?--I sent an introductory + stanza to Mr. Dallas, to be forwarded to you; the poem else will + open too abruptly. The stanzas had better be numbered in Roman + characters. There is a disquisition on the literature of the + modern Greeks and some smaller poems to come in at the close. These + are now at Newstead, but will be sent in time. If Mr. D. has lost + the stanza and note annexed to it, write, and I will send it + myself.--You tell me to add two Cantos, but I am about to visit my + _collieries_ in Lancashire on the 15th instant, which is so + unpoetical an employment that I need say no more. I am, sir, your + most obedient," &c. + + The manuscripts of both his poems having been shown, much against + his own will, to Mr. Gifford, the opinion of that gentleman was + thus reported to him by Mr. Dallas:--"Of your Satire he spoke + highly; but this poem (Childe Harold) he pronounced not only the + best you have written, but equal to any of the present age." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 66. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, September 7. 1811. + + "As Gifford has been ever my 'Magnus Apollo.' any approbation, such + as you mention, would, of course, be more welcome than 'all + Bokara's vaunted gold, than all the gems of Samarkand.' But I am + sorry the MS. was shown to him in such a manner, and I had written + to Murray to say as much, before I was aware that it was too late. + + "Your objection to the expression 'central line' I can only meet by + saying that, before Childe Harold left England, it was his full + intention to traverse Persia, and return by India, which he could + not have done without passing the equinoctial. + + "The other errors you mention, I must correct in the progress + through the press. I feel honoured by the wish of such men that the + poem should be continued, but to do that, I must return to Greece + and Asia; I must have a warm sun and a blue sky; I cannot describe + scenes so dear to me by a sea-coal fire. I had projected an + additional Canto when I was in the Troad and Constantinople, and if + I saw them again, it would go on; but under existing circumstances + and _sensations_, I have neither harp, 'heart, nor voice' to + proceed. I feel that _you are all right_ as to the metaphysical + part; but I also feel that I am sincere, and that if I am only to + write '_ad captandum vulgus_,' I might as well edit a magazine at + once, or spin canzonettas for Vauxhall. * * * + + "My work must make its way as well as it can; I know I have every + thing against me, angry poets and prejudices; but if the poem is a + _poem_, it will surmount these obstacles, and if _not_, it deserves + its fate. Your friend's Ode I have read--it is no great compliment + to pronounce it far superior to S * *'s on the same subject, or to + the merits of the new Chancellor. It is evidently the production of + a man of taste, and a poet, though I should not be willing to say + it was fully equal to what might be expected from the author of + '_Horæ Ionicæ_.' I thank you for it, and that is more than I would + do for any other Ode of the present day. + + "I am very sensible of your good wishes, and, indeed, I have need + of them. My whole life has been at variance with propriety, not to + say decency; my circumstances are become involved; my friends are + dead or estranged, and my existence a dreary void. In Matthews I + have lost my 'guide, philosopher, and friend;' in Wingfield a + friend only, but one whom I could have wished to have preceded in + his long journey. + + "Matthews was indeed an extraordinary man; it has not entered into + the heart of a stranger to conceive such a man: there was the stamp + of immortality in all he said or did;--and now what is he? When we + see such men pass away and be no more--men, who seem created to + display what the Creator _could make_ his creatures, gathered into + corruption, before the maturity of minds that might have been the + pride of posterity, what are we to conclude? For my own part, I am + bewildered. To me he was much, to Hobhouse every thing.--My poor + Hobhouse doted on Matthews. For me, I did not love quite so much as + I honoured him; I was indeed so sensible of his infinite + superiority, that though I did not envy, I stood in awe of it. He, + Hobhouse, Davies, and myself, formed a coterie of our own at + Cambridge and elsewhere. Davies is a wit and man of the world, and + feels as much as such a character can do; but not as Hobhouse has + been affected. Davies, who is not a scribbler, has always beaten us + all in the war of words, and by his colloquial powers at once + delighted and kept us in order. H. and myself always had the worst + of it with the other two; and even M. yielded to the dashing + vivacity of S.D. But I am talking to you of men, or boys, as if you + cared about such beings. + + "I expect mine agent down on the 14th to proceed to Lancashire, + where I hear from all quarters that I have a very valuable property + in coals, &c. I then intend to accept an invitation to Cambridge in + October, and shall, perhaps, run up to town. I have four + invitations--to Wales, Dorset, Cambridge, and Chester; but I must + be a man of business. I am quite alone, as these long letters sadly + testify. I perceive, by referring to your letter, that the Ode is + from the author; make my thanks acceptable to him. His muse is + worthy a nobler theme. You will write as usual, I hope. I wish you + good evening, and am," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 67. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 14. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "Since your former letter, Mr. Dallas informs me that the MS. has + been submitted to the perusal of Mr. Gifford, most contrary to my + wishes, as Mr. D. could have explained, and as my own letter to you + did, in fact, explain, with my motives for objecting to such a + proceeding. Some late domestic events, of which you are probably + aware, prevented my letter from being sent before; indeed, I hardly + conceived you would so hastily thrust my productions into the hands + of a stranger, who could be as little pleased by receiving them, as + their author is at their being offered, in such a manner, and to + such a man. + + "My address, when I leave Newstead, will be to 'Rochdale, + Lancashire;' but I have not yet fixed the day of departure, and I + will apprise you when ready to set off. + + "You have placed me in a very ridiculous situation, but it is past, + and nothing more is to be said on the subject. You hinted to me + that you wished some alterations to be made; if they have nothing + to do with politics or religion, I will make them with great + readiness. I am, Sir," &c.&c. + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 16. 1811.[26] + + "I return the proof, which I should wish to be shown to Mr. Dallas, + who understands typographical arrangements much better than I can + pretend to do. The printer may place the notes in his _own way_, + or any _way_ so that they are out of _my way_; I care nothing + about types or margins. + + "If you have any communication to make, I shall be here at least a + week or ten days longer. + + "I am, Sir," &c. &c. + +[Footnote 26: On a leaf of one of his paper-books I find an Epigram +written at this time, which, though not perhaps particularly good, I +consider myself bound to insert:-- + +"ON MOORE'S LAST OPERATIC FARCE, OR FARCICAL OPERA. + + "Good plays are scarce, + So Moore writes farce: + The poet's fame grows brittle-- + We knew before + That _Little's_ Moore, + But now 'tis _Moore_ that's _little_. + Sept. 14. 1811." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 68. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 17. 1811. + + "I can easily excuse your not writing, as you have, I hope, + something better to do, and you must pardon my frequent invasions + on your attention, because I have at this moment nothing to + interpose between you and my epistles. + + "I cannot settle to any thing, and my days pass, with the exception + of bodily exercise to some extent, with uniform indolence, and idle + insipidity. I have been expecting, and still expect, my agent, when + I shall have enough to occupy my reflections in business of no very + pleasant aspect. Before my journey to Rochdale, you shall have due + notice where to address me--I believe at the post-office of that + township. From Murray I received a second proof of the same pages, + which I requested him to show you, that any thing which may have + escaped my observation may be detected before the printer lays the + corner-stone of an _errata_ column. + + "I am now not quite alone, having an old acquaintance and + school-fellow with me, so _old_, indeed, that we have nothing _new_ + to say on any subject, and yawn at each other in a sort of _quiet + inquietude_. I hear nothing from Cawthorn, or Captain Hobhouse; + and _their quarto_--Lord have mercy on mankind! We come on like + Cerberus with our triple publications. As for _myself_, by + _myself_, I must be satisfied with a comparison to _Janus_. + + "I am not at all pleased with Murray for showing the MS.; and I am + certain Gifford must see it in the same light that I do. His praise + is nothing to the purpose: what could he say? He could not spit in + the face of one who had praised him in every possible way. I must + own that I wish to have the impression removed from his mind, that + I had any concern in such a paltry transaction. The more I think, + the more it disquiets me; so I will say no more about it. It is bad + enough to be a scribbler, without having recourse to such shifts to + extort praise, or deprecate censure. It is anticipating, it is + begging, kneeling, adulating,--the devil! the devil! the devil! and + all without my wish, and contrary to my express desire. I wish + Murray had been tied to _Payne_'s neck when he jumped into the + Paddington Canal[27], and so tell him,--_that_ is the proper + receptacle for publishers. You have thoughts of settling in the + country, why not try Notts.? I think there are places which would + suit you in all points, and then you are nearer the metropolis. But + of this anon. I am, yours," &c. + +[Footnote 27: In a note on his "Hints from Horace," he thus humorously +applies this incident:-- + +"A literary friend of mine walking out one lovely evening last summer on +the eleventh bridge of the Paddington Canal, was alarmed by the cry of +'One in jeopardy!' He rushed along, collected a body of Irish haymakers +(supping on buttermilk in an adjoining paddock), procured three rakes, +one eel spear, and a landing-net, and at last (_horresco referens_) +pulled out--his own publisher. The unfortunate man was gone for ever, +and so was a large quarto wherewith he had taken the leap, which proved, +on enquiry, to have been Mr. S----'s last work. Its 'alacrity of +sinking' was so great, that it has never since been heard of, though +some maintain that it is at this moment concealed at Alderman Birch's +pastry-premises, Cornhill. Be this as it may, the coroner's inquest +brought in a verdict of 'Felo de Bibliopolâ' against a 'quarto unknown,' +and circumstantial evidence being since strong against the 'Curse of +Kehama' (of which the above words are an exact description), it will be +tried by its peers next session in Grub Street. Arthur, Alfred, +Davideis, Richard Coeur de Lion, Exodus, Exodiad, Epigoniad, Calvary, +Fall of Cambria, Siege of Acre, Don Roderick, and Tom Thumb the Great, +are the names of the twelve jurors. The judges are Pye, * * *, and the +bellman of St. Sepulchre's."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 69. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 21. 1811. + + "I have shown my respect for your suggestions by adopting them; but + I have made many alterations in the first proof, over and above; + as, for example: + + "Oh Thou, in _Hellas_ deem'd of heavenly birth, + &c. &c. + + "Since _shamed full oft_ by _later lyres_ on earth, + Mine, &c. + + "Yet there _I've wander'd_ by the vaunted rill; + + and so on. So I have got rid of Dr. Lowth and 'drunk' to boot, and + very glad I am to say so. I have also sullenised the line as + heretofore, and in short have been quite conformable. + + "Pray write; you shall hear when I remove to Lancs. I have brought + you and my friend Juvenal Hodgson upon my back, on the score of + revelation. You are fervent, but he is quite _glowing_; and if he + take half the pains to save his own soul, which he volunteers to + redeem mine, great will be his reward hereafter. I honour and thank + you both, but am convinced by neither. Now for notes. Besides those + I have sent, I shall send the observations on the Edinburgh + Reviewer's remarks on the modern Greek, an Albanian song in the + Albanian (_not Greek_) language, specimens of modern Greek from + their New Testament, a comedy of Goldoni's translated, _one scene_, + a prospectus of a friend's book, and perhaps a song or two, _all_ + in Romaic, besides their Pater Noster; so there will be enough, if + not too much, with what I have already sent. Have you received the + 'Noetes Atticæ?' I sent also an annotation on Portugal. Hobhouse is + also forthcoming." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 70. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 23. 1811. + + "_Lisboa_ is the Portuguese word, consequently the very best. + Ulissipont is pedantic; and as I have _Hellas_ and _Eros_ not long + before, there would be something like an affectation of Greek + terms, which I wish to avoid, since I shall have a perilous + quantity of _modern_ Greek in my notes, as specimens of the tongue; + therefore Lisboa may keep its place. You are right about the + 'Hints;' they must not precede the 'Romaunt;' but Cawthorn will be + savage if they don't; however, keep _them_ back, and _him_ in _good + humour_, if we can, but do not let him publish. + + "I have adopted, I believe, most of your suggestions, but 'Lisboa' + will be an exception to prove the rule. I have sent a quantity of + notes, and shall continue; but pray let them be copied; no devil + can read my hand. By the by, I do not mean to exchange the ninth + verse of the 'Good Night.' I have no reason to suppose my dog + better than his brother brutes, mankind; and _Argus_ we know to be + a fable. The 'Cosmopolite' was an acquisition abroad. I do not + believe it is to be found in England. It is an amusing little + volume, and full of French flippancy. I read, though I do not speak + the language. + + "I _will_ be angry with Murray. It was a book-selling, back shop, + Paternoster-row, paltry proceeding, and if the experiment had + turned out as it deserved, I would have raised all Fleet Street, + and borrowed the giant's staff from St. Dunstan's church, to + immolate the betrayer of trust. I have written to him as he never + was written to before by an author, I'll be sworn, and I hope you + will amplify my wrath, till it has an effect upon him. You tell me + always you have much to write about. Write it, but let us drop + metaphysics;--on that point we shall never agree. I am dull and + drowsy, as usual. I do nothing, and even that nothing fatigues me. + Adieu." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 71. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Oct. 11. 1811. + + "I have returned from Lancs., and ascertained that my property + there may be made very valuable, but various circumstances very + much circumscribe my exertions at present. I shall be in town on + business in the beginning of November, and perhaps at Cambridge + before the end of this month; but of my movements you shall be + regularly apprised. Your objections I have in part done away by + alterations, which I hope will suffice; and I have sent two or + three additional stanzas for both '_Fyttas_' I have been again + shocked with a death, and have lost one very dear to me in happier + times; but 'I have almost forgot the taste of grief,' and 'supped + full of horrors' till I have become callous, nor have I a tear left + for an event which, five years ago, would have bowed down my head + to the earth. It seems as though I were to experience in my youth + the greatest misery of age. My friends fall around me, and I shall + be left a lonely tree before I am withered. Other men can always + take refuge in their families; I have no resource but my own + reflections, and they present no prospect here or hereafter, except + the selfish satisfaction of surviving my betters. I am indeed very + wretched, and you will excuse my saying so, as you know I am not + apt to cant of sensibility. + + "Instead of tiring yourself with _my_ concerns, I should be glad to + hear _your_ plans of retirement. I suppose you would not like to be + wholly shut out of society? Now I know a large village, or small + town, about twelve miles off, where your family would have the + advantage of very genteel society, without the hazard of being + annoyed by mercantile affluence; where _you_ would meet with men of + information and independence; and where I have friends to whom I + should be proud to introduce you. There are, besides, a + coffee-room, assemblies, &c. &c., which bring people together. My + mother had a house there some years, and I am well acquainted with + the economy of Southwell, the name of this little commonwealth. + Lastly, you will not be very remote from me; and though I am the + very worst companion for young people in the world, this objection + would not apply to _you_, whom I could see frequently. Your + expenses, too, would be such as best suit your inclinations, more + or less, as you thought proper; but very little would be requisite + to enable you to enter into all the gaieties of a country life. You + could be as quiet or bustling as you liked, and certainly as well + situated as on the lakes of Cumberland, unless you have a + particular wish to be _picturesque_. + + "Pray, is your Ionian friend in town? You have promised me an + introduction.--You mention having consulted some friend on the + MSS.--Is not this contrary to our usual way? Instruct Mr. Murray + not to allow his shopman to call the work 'Child of Harrow's + Pilgrimage!!!!!' as he has done to some of my astonished friends, + who wrote to enquire after my sanity on the occasion, as well they + might. I have heard nothing of Murray, whom I scolded heartily. + Must I write more notes?--Are there not enough?--Cawthorn must be + kept back with the 'Hints.'--I hope he is getting on with + Hobhouse's quarto. Good evening. Yours ever," &c. + + * * * * * + +Of the same date with this melancholy letter are the following verses, +never before printed, which he wrote in answer to some lines received +from a friend, exhorting him to be cheerful, and to "banish care." They +will show with what gloomy fidelity, even while under the pressure of +recent sorrow, he reverted to the disappointment of his early affection, +as the chief source of all his sufferings and errors, present and to +come. + + "Newstead Abbey, October 11. 1811. + + "'Oh! banish care'--such ever be + The motto of _thy_ revelry! + Perchance of _mine_, when wassail nights + Renew those riotous delights, + Wherewith the children of Despair + Lull the lone heart, and 'banish care.' + But not in morn's reflecting hour, + When present, past, and future lower, + When all I loved is changed or gone, + Mock with such taunts the woes of one, + Whose every thought--but let them pass-- + Thou know'st I am not what I was. + But, above all, if thou wouldst hold + Place in a heart that ne'er was cold, + By all the powers that men revere, + By all unto thy bosom dear, + Thy joys below, thy hopes above, + Speak--speak of any thing but love. + + "'Twere long to tell, and vain to hear + The tale of one who scorns a tear; + And there is little in that tale + Which better bosoms would bewail. + But mine has suffer'd more than well + 'Twould suit Philosophy to tell. + I've seen my bride another's bride,-- + Have seen her seated by his side,-- + Have seen the infant which she bore, + Wear the sweet smile the mother wore, + When she and I in youth have smiled + As fond and faultless as her child;-- + Have seen her eyes, in cold disdain, + Ask if I felt no secret pain. + And I have acted well my part, + And made my cheek belie my heart, + Return'd the freezing glance she gave, + Yet felt the while _that_ woman's slave;-- + Have kiss'd, as if without design, + The babe which ought to have been mine, + And show'd, alas! in each caress + Time had not made me love the less. + + "But let this pass--I'll whine no more. + Nor seek again an eastern shore; + The world befits a busy brain,-- + I'll hie me to its haunts again. + But if, in some succeeding year, + When Britain's 'May is in the sere,' + Thou hear'st of one, whose deepening crimes + Suit with the sablest of the times, + Of one, whom Love nor Pity sways, + Nor hope of fame, nor good men's praise, + One, who in stern Ambition's pride, + Perchance not Blood shall turn aside, + One rank'd in some recording page + With the worst anarchs of the age, + Him wilt thou _know_--and, _knowing_, pause, + Nor with the _effect_ forget the cause." + + + * * * * * + +The anticipations of his own future career in these concluding lines are +of a nature, it must be owned, to awaken more of horror than of +interest, were we not prepared, by so many instances of his exaggeration +in this respect, not to be startled at any lengths to which the spirit +of self-libelling would carry him. It seemed as if, with the power of +painting fierce and gloomy personages, he had also the ambition to be, +himself, the dark "sublime he drew," and that, in his fondness for the +delineation of heroic crime, he endeavoured to fancy, where he could not +find, in his own character, fit subjects for his pencil. + +It was about the time when he was thus bitterly feeling and expressing +the blight which his heart had suffered from a _real_ object of +affection, that his poems on the death of an _imaginary_ one, "Thyrza," +were written;--nor is it any wonder, when we consider the peculiar +circumstances under which these beautiful effusions flowed from his +fancy, that of all his strains of pathos, they should be the most +touching and most pure. They were, indeed, the essence, the abstract +spirit, as it were, of many griefs;--a confluence of sad thoughts from +many sources of sorrow, refined and warmed in their passage through his +fancy, and forming thus one deep reservoir of mournful feeling. In +retracing the happy hours he had known with the friends now lost, all +the ardent tenderness of his youth came back upon him. His school-sports +with the favourites of his boyhood, Wingfield and Tattersall,--his +summer days with Long[28], and those evenings of music and romance which +he had dreamed away in the society of his adopted brother, +Eddlestone,--all these recollections of the young and dead now came to +mingle themselves in his mind with the image of her who, though living, +was, for him, as much lost as they, and diffused that general feeling of +sadness and fondness through his soul, which found a vent in these +poems. No friendship, however warm, could have inspired sorrow so +passionate; as no love, however pure, could have kept passion so +chastened. It was the blending of the two affections, in his memory and +imagination, that thus gave birth to an ideal object combining the best +features of both, and drew from him these saddest and tenderest of +love-poems, in which we find all the depth and intensity of real feeling +touched over with such a light as no reality ever wore. + +The following letter gives some further account of the course of his +thoughts and pursuits at this period:-- + +LETTER 72. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "Newstead Abbey, Oct. 13. 1811. + + "You will begin to deem me a most liberal correspondent; but as my + letters are free, you will overlook their frequency. I have sent + you answers in prose and verse[29] to all your late communications, + and though I am invading your ease again, I don't know why, or what + to put down that you are not acquainted with already. I am growing + nervous (how you will laugh!)--but it is true,--really, wretchedly, + ridiculously, fine-ladically _nervous_. Your climate kills me; I + can neither read, write, nor amuse myself, or any one else. My days + are listless, and my nights restless; I have very seldom any + society, and when I have, I run out of it. At 'this present + writing,' there are in the next room three ladies, and I have + stolen away to write this grumbling letter.--I don't know that I + sha'n't end with insanity, for I find a want of method in arranging + my thoughts that perplexes me strangely; but this looks more like + silliness than madness, as Scrope Davies would facetiously remark + in his consoling manner. I must try the hartshorn of your company; + and a session of Parliament would suit me well,--any thing to cure + me of conjugating the accursed verb '_ennuyer_.' + + "When shall you be at Cambridge? You have hinted, I think, that + your friend Bland is returned from Holland. I have always had a + great respect for his talents, and for all that I have heard of + his character; but of me, I believe he knows nothing, except that + he heard my sixth form repetitions ten months together, at the + average of two lines a morning, and those never perfect. I + remembered him and his 'Slaves' as I passed between Capes Matapan, + St. Angelo, and his Isle of Ceriga, and I always bewailed the + absence of the Anthology. I suppose he will now translate Vondel, + the Dutch Shakspeare, and 'Gysbert van Amstel' will easily be + accommodated to our stage in its present state; and I presume he + saw the Dutch poem, where the love of Pyramus and Thisbe is + compared to the _passion_ of _Christ_; also the love of _Lucifer_ + for Eve, and other varieties of Low Country literature. No doubt + you will think me crazed to talk of such things, but they are all + in black and white and good repute on the banks of every canal from + Amsterdam to Alkmaar. + + "Yours ever, B." + +[Footnote 28: See the extract from one of his journals, vol. i. p. 94.] + +[Footnote 29: The verses in vol. ii. p. 73.] + + * * * * * + + "My poesy is in the hands of its various publishers; but the 'Hints + from Horace,' (to which I have subjoined some savage lines on + Methodism, and ferocious notes on the vanity of the triple Editory + of the Edin. Annual Register,) my '_Hints_,' I say, stand still, + and why?--I have not a friend in the world (but you and Drury) who + can construe Horace's Latin or my English well enough to adjust + them for the press, or to correct the proofs in a grammatical way. + So that, unless you have bowels when you return to town (I am too + far off to do it for myself), this ineffable work will be lost to + the world for--I don't know how many _weeks._ + + "'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' must wait till _Murray's_ is + finished. He is making a tour in Middlesex, and is to return soon, + when high matter may be expected. He wants to have it in quarto, + which is a cursed unsaleable size; but it is pestilent long, and + one must obey one's bookseller. I trust Murray will pass the + Paddington Canal without being seduced by Payne and Mackinlay's + example,--I say Payne and Mackinlay, supposing that the partnership + held good. Drury, the villain, has not written to me; 'I am never + (as Mrs. Lumpkin says to Tony) to be gratified with the monster's + dear wild notes.' + + "So you are going (going indeed!) into orders. You must make your + peace with the Eclectic Reviewers--they accuse you of impiety, I + fear, with injustice. Demetrius, the 'Sieger of Cities,' is here, + with 'Gilpin Homer.' The painter[30] is not necessary, as the + portraits he already painted are (by anticipation) very like the + new animals.--Write, and send me your 'Love Song'--but I want + 'paulo majora' from you. Make a dash before you are a deacon, and + try a _dry_ publisher. + + "Yours always, B." + +[Footnote 30: Barber, whom he had brought down to Newstead to paint his +wolf and his bear.] + + * * * * * + +It was at this period that I first had the happiness of seeing and +becoming acquainted with Lord Byron. The correspondence in which our +acquaintance originated is, in a high degree, illustrative of the frank +manliness of his character; and as it was begun on my side, some egotism +must be tolerated in the detail which I have to give of the +circumstances that led to it. So far back as the year 1806, on the +occasion of a meeting which took place at Chalk Farm between Mr. Jeffrey +and myself, a good deal of ridicule and raillery, founded on a false +representation of what occurred before the magistrates at Bow Street, +appeared in almost all the public prints. In consequence of this, I was +induced to address a letter to the Editor of one of the Journals, +contradicting the falsehood that had been circulated, and stating +briefly the real circumstances of the case. For some time my letter +seemed to produce the intended effect,--but, unluckily, the original +story was too tempting a theme for humour and sarcasm to be so easily +superseded by mere matter of fact. Accordingly, after a little time, +whenever the subject was publicly alluded to,--more especially by those +who were at all "willing to wound,"--the old falsehood was, for the sake +of its ready sting, revived. + +In the year 1809, on the first appearance of "English Bards and Scotch +Reviewers," I found the author, who was then generally understood to be +Lord Byron, not only jesting on the subject--and with sufficiently +provoking pleasantry and cleverness--in his verse, but giving also, in +the more responsible form of a note, an outline of the transaction in +accordance with the original misreport, and, therefore, in direct +contradiction to my published statement. Still, as the Satire was +anonymous and unacknowledged, I did not feel that I was, in any way, +called upon to notice it, and therefore dismissed the matter entirely +from my mind. In the summer of the same year appeared the Second Edition +of the work, with Lord Byron's name prefixed to it. I was, at the time, +in Ireland, and but little in the way of literary society; and it so +happened that some months passed away before the appearance of this new +edition was known to me. Immediately on being apprised of it,--the +offence now assuming a different form,--I addressed the following letter +to Lord Byron, and, transmitting it to a friend in London, requested +that he would have it delivered into his Lordship's hands.[31] + + "Dublin, January 1. 1810. + + "My Lord, + + "Having just seen the name of 'Lord Byron' prefixed to a work + entitled 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' in which, as it + appears to me, _the lie is given_ to a public statement of mine, + respecting an affair with Mr. Jeffrey some years since, I beg you + will have the goodness to inform me whether I may consider your + Lordship as the author of this publication. + + "I shall not, I fear, be able to return to London for a week or + two; but, in the mean time, I trust your Lordship will not deny me + the satisfaction of knowing whether you avow the insult contained + in the passages alluded to. + + "It is needless to suggest to your Lordship the propriety of + keeping our correspondence secret. + + "I have the honour to be + + "Your Lordship's very humble servant, + + "THOMAS MOORE. + + "22. Molesworth Street." + +[Footnote 31: This is the only entire letter of my own that, in the +course of this work, I mean to obtrude upon my readers. Being short, and +in terms more explanatory of the feeling on which I acted than any +others that could be substituted, it might be suffered, I thought, to +form the single exception to my general rule. In all other cases, I +shall merely give such extracts from my own letters as may be necessary +to elucidate those of my correspondent.] + + * * * * * + +In the course of a week, the friend to whom I intrusted this letter +wrote to inform me that Lord Byron had, as he learned on enquiring of +his publisher, gone abroad immediately on the publication of his Second +Edition; but that my letter had been placed in the hands of a gentleman, +named Hodgson, who had undertaken to forward it carefully to his +Lordship. Though the latter step was not exactly what I could have +wished, I thought it as well, on the whole, to let my letter take its +chance, and again postponed all consideration of the matter. + +During the interval of a year and a half which elapsed before Lord +Byron's return, I had taken upon myself obligations, both as husband and +father, which make most men,--and especially those who have nothing to +bequeath,--less willing to expose themselves unnecessarily to danger. +On hearing, therefore, of the arrival of the noble traveller from +Greece, though still thinking it due to myself to follow up my first +request of an explanation, I resolved, in prosecuting that object, to +adopt such a tone of conciliation as should not only prove my sincere +desire of a pacific result, but show the entire freedom from any angry +or resentful feeling with which I took the step. The death of Mrs. +Byron, for some time, delayed my purpose. But as soon after that event +as was consistent with decorum, I addressed a letter to Lord Byron, in +which, referring to my former communication, and expressing some doubts +as to its having ever reached him, I re-stated, in pretty nearly the +same words, the nature of the insult, which, as it appeared to me, the +passage in his note was calculated to convey. "It is now useless," I +continued, "to speak of the steps with which it was my intention to +follow up that letter. The time which has elapsed since then, though it +has done away neither the injury nor the feeling of it, has, in many +respects, materially altered my situation; and the only object which I +have now in writing to your Lordship is to preserve some consistency +with that former letter, and to prove to you that the injured feeling +still exists, however circumstances may compel me to be deaf to its +dictates, at present. When I say 'injured feeling,' let me assure your +Lordship, that there is not a single vindictive sentiment in my mind +towards you. I mean but to express that uneasiness, under (what I +consider to be) a charge of falsehood, which must haunt a man of any +feeling to his grave, unless the insult be retracted or atoned for; and +which, if I did _not_ feel, I should, indeed, deserve far worse than +your Lordship's satire could inflict upon me." In conclusion I added, +that so far from being influenced by any angry or resentful feeling +towards him, it would give me sincere pleasure if, by any satisfactory +explanation, he would enable me to seek the honour of being henceforward +ranked among his acquaintance.[32] + +To this letter, Lord Byron returned the following answer:-- + +LETTER 73. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Cambridge, October 27. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "Your letter followed me from Notts, to this place, which will + account for the delay of my reply. Your former letter I never had + the honour to receive;--be assured, in whatever part of the world + it had found me, I should have deemed it my duty to return and + answer it in person. + + "The advertisement you mention, I know nothing of.--At the time of + your meeting with Mr. Jeffrey, I had recently entered College, and + remember to have heard and read a number of squibs on the occasion; + and from the recollection of these I derived all my knowledge on + the subject, without the slightest idea of 'giving the lie' to an + address which I never beheld. When I put my name to the production, + which has occasioned this correspondence, I became responsible to + all whom it might concern,--to explain where it requires + explanation, and, where insufficiently, or too sufficiently + explicit, at all events to satisfy. My situation leaves me no + choice; it rests with the injured and the angry to obtain + reparation in their own way. + + "With regard to the passage in question, _you_ were certainly _not_ + the person towards whom I felt personally hostile. On the contrary, + my whole thoughts were engrossed by one, whom I had reason to + consider as my worst literary enemy, nor could I foresee that his + former antagonist was about to become his champion. You do not + specify what you would wish to have done: I can neither retract nor + apologise for a charge of falsehood which I never advanced. + + "In the beginning of the week, I shall be at No. 8. St. James's + Street.--Neither the letter nor the friend to whom you stated your + intention ever made their appearance. + + "Your friend, Mr. Rogers, or any other gentleman delegated by you, + will find me most ready to adopt any conciliatory proposition which + shall not compromise my own honour,--or, failing in that, to make + the atonement you deem it necessary to require. + + "I have the honour to be, Sir, + + "Your most obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + +[Footnote 32: Finding two different draughts of this letter among my +papers, I cannot be quite certain as to some of the terms employed; but +have little doubt that they are here given correctly.] + + * * * * * + +In my reply to this, I commenced by saying that his Lordship's letter +was, upon the whole, as satisfactory as I could expect. It contained all +that, in the strict _diplomatique_ of explanation, could be required, +namely,--that he had never seen the statement which I supposed him +wilfully to have contradicted,--that he had no intention of bringing +against me any charge of falsehood, and that the objectionable passage +of his work was not levelled personally at _me_. This, I added, was all +the explanation I had a right to expect, and I was, of course, satisfied +with it. + +I then entered into some detail relative to the transmission of my first +letter from Dublin,--giving, as my reason for descending to these minute +particulars, that I did not, I must confess, feel quite easy under the +manner in which his Lordship had noticed the miscarriage of that first +application to him. + +My reply concluded thus:--"As your Lordship does not show any wish to +proceed beyond the rigid formulary of explanation, it is not for me to +make any further advances. We Irishmen, in businesses of this kind, +seldom know any medium between decided hostility and decided +friendship;--but, as any approaches towards the latter alternative must +now depend entirely on your Lordship, I have only to repeat that I am +satisfied with your letter, and that I have the honour to be," &c. &c. + +On the following day I received the annexed rejoinder from Lord Byron:-- + +LETTER 74. TO MR. MOORE. + + "8. St. James's Street, October 29. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "Soon after my return to England, my friend, Mr. Hodgson, apprised + me that a letter for me was in his possession; but a domestic event + hurrying me from London, immediately after, the letter (which may + most probably be your own) is still _unopened in his keeping_. If, + on examination of the address, the similarity of the handwriting + should lead to such a conclusion, it shall be opened in your + presence, for the satisfaction of all parties. Mr. H. is at present + out of town;--on Friday I shall see him, and request him to forward + it to my address. + + "With regard to the latter part of both your letters, until the + principal point was discussed between us, I felt myself at a loss + in what manner to reply. Was I to anticipate friendship from one, + who conceived me to have charged him with falsehood? Were not + _advances_, under such circumstances, to be misconstrued,--not, + perhaps, by the person to whom they were addressed, but by others? + In _my_ case, such a step was impracticable. If you, who conceived + yourself to be the offended person, are satisfied that you had no + cause for offence, it will not be difficult to convince me of it. + My situation, as I have before stated, leaves me no choice. I + should have felt proud of your acquaintance, had it commenced under + other circumstances; but it must rest with you to determine how far + it may proceed after so _auspicious_ a beginning. I have the honour + to be," &c. + + * * * * * + +Somewhat piqued, I own, at the manner in which my efforts towards a more +friendly understanding,--ill-timed as I confess them to have been,--were +received, I hastened to close our correspondence by a short note, +saying, that his Lordship had made me feel the imprudence I was guilty +of, in wandering from the point immediately in discussion between us; +and I should now, therefore, only add, that if, in my last letter, I had +correctly stated the substance of his explanation, our correspondence +might, from this moment, cease for ever, as with that explanation I +declared myself satisfied. + +This brief note drew immediately from Lord Byron the following frank and +open-hearted reply:-- + +LETTER 75. TO MR. MOORE. + + "8. St. James's Street, October 30. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "You must excuse my troubling you once more upon this very + unpleasant subject. It would be a satisfaction to me, and I should + think, to yourself, that the unopened letter in Mr. Hodgson's + possession (supposing it to prove your own) should be returned 'in + statu quo' to the writer; particularly as you expressed yourself + 'not quite easy under the manner in which I had dwelt on its + miscarriage.' + + "A few words more, and I shall not trouble you further. I felt, and + still feel, very much flattered by those parts of your + correspondence, which held out the prospect of our becoming + acquainted. If I did not meet them in the first instance as perhaps + I ought, let the situation I was placed in be my defence. You have + _now_ declared yourself _satisfied_, and on that point we are no + longer at issue. If, therefore, you still retain any wish to do me + the honour you hinted at, I shall be most happy to meet you, when, + where, and how you please, and I presume you will not attribute my + saying thus much to any unworthy motive. I have the honour to + remain," &c. + + * * * * * + +On receiving this letter, I went instantly to my friend, Mr. Rogers, who +was, at that time, on a visit at Holland House, and, for the first time, +informed him of the correspondence in which I had been engaged. With his +usual readiness to oblige and serve, he proposed that the meeting +between Lord Byron and myself should take place at his table, and +requested of me to convey to the noble Lord his wish, that he would do +him the honour of naming some day for that purpose. The following is +Lord Byron's answer to the note which I then wrote:-- + +LETTER 76. TO MR. MOORE. + + "8. St. James's Street, November 1, 1811. + + "Sir, + + "As I should be very sorry to interrupt your Sunday's engagement, + if Monday, or any other day of the ensuing week, would be equally + convenient to yourself and friend, I will then have the honour of + accepting his invitation. Of the professions of esteem with which + Mr. Rogers has honoured me, I cannot but feel proud, though + undeserving. I should be wanting to myself, if insensible to the + praise of such a man; and, should my approaching interview with him + and his friend lead to any degree of intimacy with both or either, + I shall regard our past correspondence as one of the happiest + events of my life. I have the honour to be, + + "Your very sincere and obedient servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It can hardly, I think, be necessary to call the reader's attention to +the good sense, self-possession, and frankness, of these letters of Lord +Byron. I had placed him,--by the somewhat national confusion which I had +made of the boundaries of peace and war, of hostility and +friendship,--in a position which, ignorant as he was of the character of +the person who addressed him, it required all the watchfulness of his +sense of honour to guard from surprise or snare. Hence, the judicious +reserve with which he abstained from noticing my advances towards +acquaintance, till he should have ascertained exactly whether the +explanation which he was willing to give would be such as his +correspondent would be satisfied to receive. The moment he was set at +rest on this point, the frankness of his nature displayed itself; and +the disregard of all further mediation or etiquette with which he at +once professed himself ready to meet me, "when, where, and how" I +pleased, showed that he could be as pliant and confiding _after_ such an +understanding, as he had been judiciously reserved and punctilious +_before_ it. + +Such did I find Lord Byron, on my first experience of him; and such,--so +open and manly-minded,--did I find him to the last. + +It was, at first, intended by Mr. Rogers that his company at dinner +should not extend beyond Lord Byron and myself; but Mr. Thomas Campbell, +having called upon our host that morning, was invited to join the party, +and consented. Such a meeting could not be otherwise than interesting to +us all. It was the first time that Lord Byron was ever seen by any of +his three companions; while he, on his side, for the first time, found +himself in the society of persons, whose names had been associated with +his first literary dreams, and to _two_[33] of whom he looked up with +that tributary admiration which youthful genius is ever ready to pay +its precursors. + +Among the impressions which this meeting left upon me, what I chiefly +remember to have remarked was the nobleness of his air, his beauty, the +gentleness of his voice and manners, and--what was, naturally, not the +least attraction--his marked kindness to myself. Being in mourning for +his mother, the colour, as well of his dress, as of his glossy, curling, +and picturesque hair, gave more effect to the pure, spiritual paleness +of his features, in the expression of which, when he spoke, there was a +perpetual play of lively thought, though melancholy was their habitual +character when in repose. + +As we had none of us been apprised of his peculiarities with respect to +food, the embarrassment of our host was not a little, on discovering +that there was nothing upon the table which his noble guest could eat or +drink. Neither meat, fish, nor wine, would Lord Byron touch; and of +biscuits and soda-water, which he asked for, there had been, unluckily, +no provision. He professed, however, to be equally well pleased with +potatoes and vinegar; and of these meagre materials contrived to make +rather a hearty dinner. + +I shall now resume the series of his correspondence with other friends. + +[Footnote 33: In speaking thus, I beg to disclaim all affected modesty, +Lord Byron had already made the same distinction himself in the opinions +which he expressed of the living poets; and I cannot but be aware that, +for the praises which he afterwards bestowed on my writings, I was, in a +great degree, indebted to his partiality to myself.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 77. TO MR. HARNESS. + + "8. St. James's Street, Dec. 6. 1811. + + "My dear Harness, + + "I write again, but don't suppose I mean to lay such a tax on your + pen and patience as to expect regular replies. When you are + inclined, write; when silent, I shall have the consolation of + knowing that you are much better employed. Yesterday, Bland and I + called on Mr. Miller, who, being then out, will call on Bland[34] + to-day or to-morrow. I shall certainly endeavour to bring them + together.--You are censorious, child; when you are a little older, + you will learn to dislike every body, but abuse nobody. + + "With regard to the person of whom you speak, your own good sense + must direct you. I never pretend to advise, being an implicit + believer in the old proverb. This present frost is detestable. It + is the first I have felt for these three years, though I longed for + one in the oriental summer, when no such thing is to be had, unless + I had gone to the top of Hymettus for it. + + "I thank you most truly for the concluding part of your letter. I + have been of late not much accustomed to kindness from any quarter, + and am not the less pleased to meet with it again from one where I + had known it earliest. I have not changed in all my + ramblings,--Harrow, and, of course, yourself never left me, and the + + "'Dulces reminiscitur Argos' + + attended me to the very spot to which that sentence alludes in the + mind of the fallen Argive--Our intimacy began before we began to + date at all, and it rests with you to continue it till the hour + which must number it and me with the things that _were_. + + "Do read mathematics.--I should think _X plus Y_ at least as + amusing as the Curse of Kehama, and much more intelligible. Master + S.'s poems _are_, in fact, what parallel lines might be--viz. + prolonged _ad infinitum_ without meeting any thing half so absurd + as themselves. + + "What news, what news? Queen Oreaca, + What news of scribblers five? + S----, W----, C----e, L----d, and L----e?-- + All damn'd, though yet alive. + + C----e is lecturing. 'Many an old fool,' said Hannibal to some such + lecturer, 'but such as this, never.' + + "Ever yours, &c." + +[Footnote 34: The Rev. Robert Bland, one of the authors of "Collections +from the Greek Anthology." Lord Byron was, at this time, endeavouring to +secure for Mr. Bland the task of translating Lucien Buonaparte's poem.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 78. TO MR. HARNESS. + + "St. James's Street, Dec. 8. 1811. + + "Behold a most formidable sheet, without gilt or black edging, and + consequently very vulgar and indecorous, particularly to one of + your precision; but this being Sunday, I can procure no better, + and will atone for its length by not filling it. Bland I have not + seen since my last letter; but on Tuesday he dines with me, and + will meet M * * e, the epitome of all that is exquisite in poetical or + personal accomplishments. How Bland has settled with Miller, I know + not. I have very little interest with either, and they must arrange + their concerns according to their own gusto. I have done my + endeavours, _at your request_, to bring them together, and hope + they may agree to their mutual advantage. + + "Coleridge has been lecturing against Campbell. Rogers was present, + and from him I derive the information. We are going to make a party + to hear this Manichean of poesy. Pole is to marry Miss Long, and + will be a very miserable dog for all that. The present ministers + are to continue, and his Majesty _does_ continue in the same state; + so there's folly and madness for you, both in a breath. + + "I never heard but of one man truly fortunate, and he was + Beaumarchais, the author of Figaro, who buried two wives and gained + three law-suits before he was thirty. + + "And now, child, what art thou doing? _Reading, I trust._ I want to + see you take a degree. Remember, this is the most important period + of your life; and don't disappoint your papa and your aunt, and all + your kin--besides myself. Don't you know that all male children are + begotten for the express purpose of being graduates? and that even + I am an A.M., though how I became so, the Public Orator only can + resolve. Besides, you are to be a priest: and to confute Sir + William Drummond's late book about the Bible, (printed, but not + published,) and all other infidels whatever. Now leave Master H.'s + gig, and Master S.'s Sapphics, and become as immortal as Cambridge + can make you. + + "You see, Mio Carissimo, what a pestilent correspondent I am likely + to become; but then you shall be as quiet at Newstead as you + please, and I won't disturb your studies as I do now. When do you + fix the day, that I may take you up according to contract? Hodgson + talks of making a third in our journey; but we can't stow him, + inside at least. Positively you shall go with me as was agreed, and + don't let me have any of your _politesse_ to H. on the occasion. I + shall manage to arrange for both with a little contrivance. I wish + H. was not quite so fat, and we should pack better. You will want + to know what I am doing--chewing tobacco. + + "You see nothing of my allies, Scrope Davies and Matthews[35]--they + don't suit you; and how does it happen that I--who am a pipkin of + the same pottery--continue in your good graces? Good night,--I will + go on in the morning. + + "Dec. 9th. In a morning, I'm always sullen, and to-day is as sombre + as myself. Rain and mist are worse than a sirocco, particularly in + a beef-eating and beer-drinking country. My bookseller, Cawthorne, + has just left me, and tells me, with a most important face, that he + is in treaty for a novel of Madame D'Arblay's, for which 1000 + guineas are asked! He wants me to read the MS. (if he obtains it), + which I shall do with pleasure; but I should be very cautious in + venturing an opinion on her whose Cecilia Dr. Johnson + superintended.[36] If he lends it to me, I shall put it into the + hands of Rogers and M * * e, who are truly men of taste. I have filled + the sheet, and beg your pardon; I will not do it again. I shall, + perhaps, write again, but if not, believe, silent or scribbling, + that I am, my dearest William, ever," &c. + +[Footnote 35: The brother of his late friend, Charles Skinner Matthews.] + +[Footnote 36: Lord Byron is here mistaken. Dr. Johnson never saw Cecilia +till it was in print. A day or two before publication, the young +authoress, as I understand, sent three copies to the three persons who +had the best claim to them,--her father, Mrs. Thrale, and Dr. +Johnson.--_Second edition_.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 79. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "London, Dec. 8. 1811. + + "I sent you a sad Tale of Three Friars the other day, and now take + a dose in another style. I wrote it a day or two ago, on hearing a + song of former days. + + "Away, away, ye notes of woe[37], &c. &c. + + "I have gotten a book by Sir W. Drummond, (printed, but not + published,) entitled Oedipus Judaicus, in which he attempts to + prove the greater part of the Old Testament an allegory, + particularly Genesis and Joshua. He professes himself a theist in + the preface, and handles the literal interpretation very roughly. I + wish you could see it. Mr. W * * has lent it me, and I confess, to + me it is worth fifty Watsons. + + "You and Harness must fix on the time for your visit to Newstead; I + can command mine at your wish, unless any thing particular occurs + in the interim. Bland dines with me on Tuesday to meet Moore. + Coleridge has attacked the 'Pleasures of Hope,' and all other + pleasures whatsoever. Mr. Rogers was present, and heard himself + indirectly _rowed_ by the lecturer. We are going in a party to hear + the new Art of Poetry by this reformed schismatic; and were I one + of these poetical luminaries, or of sufficient consequence to be + noticed by the man of lectures, I should not hear him without an + answer. For you know, 'an' a man will be beaten with brains, he + shall never keep a clean doublet.' C * * will be desperately + annoyed. I never saw a man (and of him I have seen very little) so + sensitive;--what a happy temperament! I am sorry for it; what can + _he_ fear from criticism? I don't know if Bland has seen Miller, + who was to call on him yesterday. + + "To-day is the Sabbath,--a day I never pass pleasantly, but at + Cambridge; and, even there, the organ is a sad remembrancer. Things + are stagnant enough in town,--as long as they don't retrograde, + 'tis all very well. H * * writes and writes and writes, and is an + author. I do nothing but eschew tobacco. I wish parliament were + assembled, that I may hear, and perhaps some day be heard;--but on + this point I am not very sanguine. I have many plans;--sometimes I + think of the East again, and dearly beloved Greece. I am well, but + weakly.--Yesterday Kinnaird told me I looked very ill, and sent me + home happy. + + * * * * * "Is Scrope still interesting and invalid? And how does + Hinde with his cursed chemistry? To Harness I have written, and he + has written, and we have all written, and have nothing now to do + but write again, till death splits up the pen and the scribbler. + + "The Alfred has three hundred and fifty-four candidates for six + vacancies. The cook has run away and left us liable, which makes + our committee very plaintive. Master Brook, our head serving-man, + has the gout, and our new cook is none of the best. I speak from + report,--for what is cookery to a leguminous-eating ascetic? So now + you know as much of the matter as I do. Books and quiet are still + there, and they may dress their dishes in their own way for me. Let + me know your determination as to Newstead, and believe me, + + "Yours ever, [Greek: Mpairôn]." + +[Footnote 37: This poem is now printed in Lord Byron's Works.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 80. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "8. St. James's Street, Dec. 12. 1811. + + "Why, Hodgson! I fear you have left off wine and me at the same + time,--I have written and written and written, and no answer! My + dear Sir Edgar, water disagrees with you,--drink sack and write. + Bland did not come to his appointment, being unwell, but M * * e + supplied all other vacancies most delectably. I have hopes of his + joining us at Newstead. I am sure you would like him more and more + as he developes,--at least I do. + + "How Miller and Bland go on, I don't know. Cawthorne talks of being + in treaty for a novel of Me. D'Arblay's, and if he obtains it (at + 1500 gs.!!) wishes me to see the MS. This I should read with + pleasure,--not that I should ever dare to venture a criticism on + her whose writings Dr. Johnson once revised, but for the pleasure + of the thing. If my worthy publisher wanted a sound opinion, I + should send the MS. to Rogers and M * * e, as men most alive to true + taste. I have had frequent letters from Wm. Harness, and _you_ are + silent; certes, you are not a schoolboy. However, I have the + consolation of knowing that you are better employed, viz. + reviewing. You don't deserve that I should add another syllable, + and I won't. Yours, &c. + + "P.S.--I only wait for your answer to fix our meeting." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 81. TO MR. HARNESS. + + "8. St. James's Street, Dec. 15. 1811. + + "I wrote you an answer to your last, which, on reflection, pleases + me as little as it probably has pleased yourself. I will not wait + for your rejoinder; but proceed to tell you, that I had just then + been greeted with an epistle of * *'s, full of his petty + grievances, and this at the moment when (from circumstances it is + not necessary to enter upon) I was bearing up against recollections + to which _his_ imaginary sufferings are as a scratch to a cancer. + These things combined, put me out of humour with him and all + mankind. The latter part of my life has been a perpetual struggle + against affections which embittered the earliest portion; and + though I flatter myself I have in a great measure conquered them, + yet there are moments (and this was one) when I am as foolish as + formerly. I never said so much before, nor had I said this now, if + I did not suspect myself of having been rather savage in my letter, + and wish to inform you thus much of the cause. You know I am not + one of your dolorous gentlemen: so now let us laugh again. + + "Yesterday I went with Moore to Sydenham to visit Campbell.[38] He + was not visible, so we jogged homeward, merrily enough. To-morrow I + dine with Rogers, and am to hear Coleridge, who is a kind of rage + at present. Last night I saw Kemble in Coriolanus;--he _was + glorious_, and exerted himself wonderfully. By good luck I got an + excellent place in the best part of the house, which was more than + overflowing. Clare and Delawarre, who were there on the same + speculation, were less fortunate. I saw them by accident,--we were + not together. I wished for you, to gratify your love of Shakspeare + and of fine acting to its fullest extent. Last week I saw an + exhibition of a different kind in a Mr. Coates, at the Haymarket, + who performed Lothario in a _damned_ and damnable manner. + + "I told you the fate of B. and H. in my last. So much for these + sentimentalists, who console themselves in their stews for the + loss--the never to be recovered loss--the despair of the refined + attachment of a couple of drabs! You censure _my_ life, + Harness,--when I compare myself with these men, my elders and my + betters, I really begin to conceive myself a monument of + prudence--a walking statue--without feeling or failing; and yet the + world in general hath given me a proud pre-eminence over them in + profligacy. Yet I like the men, and, God knows, ought not to + condemn their aberrations. But I own I feel provoked when they + dignify all this by the name of _love_--romantic attachments for + things marketable for a dollar! + + "Dec. 16th.--I have just received your letter;--I feel your + kindness very deeply. The foregoing part of my letter, written + yesterday, will, I hope, account for the tone of the former, though + it cannot excuse it. I do _like_ to hear from you--more than + _like_. Next to seeing you, I have no greater satisfaction. But you + have other duties, and greater pleasures, and I should regret to + take a moment from either. H * * was to call to-day, but I have not + seen him. The circumstances you mention at the close of your letter + is another proof in favour of my opinion of mankind. Such you will + always find them--selfish and distrustful. I except none. The + cause of this is the state of society. In the world, every one is + to stir for himself--it is useless, perhaps selfish, to expect any + thing from his neighbour. But I do not think we are born of this + disposition; for you find _friendship_ as a schoolboy, and _love_ + enough before twenty. + + "I went to see * *; he keeps me in town, where I don't wish to be + at present. He is a good man, but totally without conduct. And now, + my dearest William, I must wish you good morrow, and remain ever, + most sincerely and affectionately yours," &c. + +[Footnote 38: On this occasion, another of the noble poet's +peculiarities was, somewhat startlingly, introduced to my notice. When +we were on the point of setting out from his lodgings in St. James's +Street, it being then about mid-day, he said to the servant, who was +shutting the door of the vis-à-vis, "Have you put in the pistols?" and +was answered in the affirmative. It was difficult,--more especially, +taking into account the circumstances under which we had just become +acquainted,--to keep from smiling at this singular noon-day precaution.] + + * * * * * + +From the time of our first meeting, there seldom elapsed a day that Lord +Byron and I did not see each other; and our acquaintance ripened into +intimacy and friendship with a rapidity of which I have seldom known an +example. I was, indeed, lucky in all the circumstances that attended my +first introduction to him. In a generous nature like his, the pleasure +of repairing an injustice would naturally give a zest to any partiality +I might have inspired in his mind; while the manner in which I had +sought this reparation, free as it was from resentment or defiance, left +nothing painful to remember in the transaction between us,--no +compromise or concession that could wound self-love, or take away from +the grace of that frank friendship to which he at once, so cordially and +so unhesitatingly, admitted me. I was also not a little fortunate in +forming my acquaintance with him, before his success had yet reached its +meridian burst,--before the triumphs that were in store for him had +brought the world all in homage at his feet, and, among the splendid +crowds that courted his society, even claims less humble than mine had +but a feeble chance of fixing his regard. As it was, the new scene of +life that opened upon him with his success, instead of detaching us from +each other, only multiplied our opportunities of meeting, and increased +our intimacy. In that society where his birth entitled him to move, +circumstances had already placed me, notwithstanding mine; and when, +after the appearance of "Childe Harold," he began to mingle with the +world, the same persons, who had long been _my_ intimates and friends, +became his; our visits were mostly to the same places, and, in the gay +and giddy round of a London spring, we were generally (as in one of his +own letters he expresses it) "embarked in the same Ship of Fools +together." + +But, at the time when we first met, his position in the world was most +solitary. Even those coffee-house companions who, before his departure +from England, had served him as a sort of substitute for more worthy +society, were either relinquished or had dispersed; and, with the +exception of three or four associates of his college days (to whom he +appeared strongly attached), Mr. Dallas and his solicitor seemed to be +the only persons whom, even in their very questionable degree, he could +boast of as friends. Though too proud to complain of this loneliness, it +was evident that he felt it; and that the state of cheerless isolation, +"unguided and unfriended," to which, on entering into manhood, he had +found himself abandoned, was one of the chief sources of that resentful +disdain of mankind, which even their subsequent worship of him came too +late to remove. The effect, indeed, which his subsequent commerce with +society had, for the short period it lasted, in softening and +exhilarating his temper, showed how fit a soil his heart would have been +for the growth of all the kindlier feelings, had but a portion of this +sunshine of the world's smiles shone on him earlier. + +At the same time, in all such speculations and conjectures as to what +_might_ have been, under more favourable circumstances, his character, +it is invariably to be borne in mind, that his very defects were among +the elements of his greatness, and that it was out of the struggle +between the good and evil principles of his nature that his mighty +genius drew its strength. A more genial and fostering introduction into +life, while it would doubtless have softened and disciplined his mind, +might have impaired its vigour; and the same influences that would have +diffused smoothness and happiness over his life might have been fatal to +its glory. In a short poem of his[39], which appears to have been +produced at Athens, (as I find it written on a leaf of the original MS. +of Childe Harold, and dated "Athens, 1811,") there are two lines which, +though hardly intelligible as connected with the rest of the poem, may, +taken separately, be interpreted as implying a sort of prophetic +consciousness that it was out of the wreck and ruin of all his hopes the +immortality of his name was to arise. + + "Dear object of defeated care, + Though now of love and thee bereft, + To reconcile me with despair, + Thine image and my tears are left. + 'Tis said with sorrow Time can cope, + But this, I feel, can ne'er be true; + For, _by the death-blow of my hope, + My Memory immortal grew!_" + +We frequently, during the first months of our acquaintance, dined +together alone; and as we had no club, in common, to resort to,--the +Alfred being the only one to which he, at that period, belonged, and I +being then a member of none but Watier's,--our dinners used to be either +at the St. Alban's, or at his old haunt, Stevens's. Though at times he +would drink freely enough of claret, he still adhered to his system of +abstinence in food. He appeared, indeed, to have conceived a notion that +animal food has some peculiar influence on the character; and I +remember, one day, as I sat opposite to him, employed, I suppose, rather +earnestly over a beef-steak, after watching me for a few seconds, he +said, in a grave tone of enquiry,--"Moore, don't you find eating +beef-steak makes you ferocious?" + +Understanding me to have expressed a wish to become a member of the +Alfred, he very good-naturedly lost no time in proposing me as a +candidate; but as the resolution which I had then nearly formed of +betaking myself to a country life rendered an additional club in London +superfluous, I wrote to beg that he would, for the present, at least, +withdraw my name: and his answer, though containing little, being the +first familiar note he ever honoured me with, I may be excused for +feeling a peculiar pleasure in inserting it. + +[Footnote 39: "Written beneath the picture of ----"] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 82. TO MR. MOORE. + + "December 11. 1811. + + "My dear Moore, + + "If you please, we will drop our former monosyllables, and adhere + to the appellations sanctioned by our godfathers and godmothers. If + you make it a point, I will withdraw your name; at the same time + there is no occasion, as I have this day postponed your election + 'sine die,' till it shall suit your wishes to be amongst us. I do + not say this from any awkwardness the erasure of your proposal + would occasion to _me_, but simply such is the state of the case; + and, indeed, the longer your name is up, the stronger will become + the probability of success, and your voters more numerous. Of + course you will decide--your wish shall be my law. If my zeal has + already outrun discretion, pardon me, and attribute my + officiousness to an excusable motive. + + "I wish you would go down with me to Newstead. Hodgson will be + there, and a young friend, named Harness, the earliest and dearest + I ever had from the third form at Harrow to this hour. I can + promise you good wine, and, if you like shooting, a manor of 4000 + acres, fires, books, your own free will, and my own very + indifferent company. 'Balnea, vina * *.' + + "Hodgson will plague you, I fear, with verse;--for my own part I + will conclude, with Martial, 'nil recitabo tibi;' and surely the + last inducement is not the least. Ponder on my proposition, and + believe me, my dear Moore, yours ever, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +Among those acts of generosity and friendship by which every year of +Lord Byron's life was signalised, there is none, perhaps, that, for its +own peculiar seasonableness and delicacy, as well as for the perfect +worthiness of the person who was the object of it, deserves more +honourable mention than that which I am now about to record, and which +took place nearly at the period of which I am speaking. The friend, +whose good fortune it was to inspire the feeling thus testified, was Mr. +Hodgson, the gentleman to whom so many of the preceding letters are +addressed; and as it would be unjust to rob him of the grace and honour +of being, himself, the testimony of obligations so signal, I shall here +lay before my readers an extract from the letter with which, in +reference to a passage in one of his noble friend's Journals, he has +favoured me. + +"I feel it incumbent upon me to explain the circumstances to which this +passage alludes, however private their nature. They are, indeed, +calculated to do honour to the memory of my lamented friend. Having +become involved, unfortunately, in difficulties and embarrassments, I +received from Lord Byron (besides former pecuniary obligations) +assistance, at the time in question, to the amount of a thousand pounds. +Aid of such magnitude was equally unsolicited and unexpected on my part; +but it was a long-cherished, though secret, purpose of my friend to +afford that aid; and he only waited for the period when he thought it +would be of most service. His own words were, on the occasion of +conferring this overwhelming favour, '_I always intended to do it_.'" + +During all this time, and through the months of January and February, +his poem of "Childe Harold" was in its progress through the press; and +to the changes and additions which he made in the course of printing, +some of the most beautiful passages of the work owe their existence. On +comparing, indeed, his rough draft of the two Cantos with the finished +form in which they exist at present, we are made sensible of the power +which the man of genius possesses, not only of surpassing others, but of +improving on himself. Originally, the "little Page" and "Yeoman" of the +Childe were introduced to the reader's notice in the following tame +stanzas, by expanding the substance of which into their present light, +lyric shape, it is almost needless to remark how much the poet has +gained in variety and dramatic effect:-- + + "And of his train there was a henchman page, + A peasant boy, who serv'd his master well; + And often would his pranksome prate engage + Childe Burun's[40] ear, when his proud heart did swell + With sullen thoughts that he disdain'd to tell. + Then would he smile on him, and Alwin[41] smiled, + When aught that from his young lips archly fell, + The gloomy film from Harold's eye beguiled.... + + "Him and one yeoman only did he take + To travel eastward to a far countrie; + And, though the boy was grieved to leave the lake, + On whose fair banks he grew from infancy, + Eftsoons his little heart beat merrily, + With hope of foreign nations to behold, + And many things right marvellous to see, + Of which our vaunting travellers oft have told, + From Mandeville....[42]" + +In place of that mournful song "To Ines," in the first Canto, which +contains some of the dreariest touches of sadness that even his pen ever +let fall, he had, in the original construction of the poem, been so +little fastidious as to content himself with such ordinary sing-song as +the following:-- + + "Oh never tell again to me + Of Northern climes and British ladies, + It has not been your lot to see, + Like me, the lovely girl of Cadiz, + Although her eye be not of blue, + Nor fair her locks, like English lasses," &c. &c. + + +There were also, originally, several stanzas full of direct personality, +and some that degenerated into a style still more familiar and ludicrous +than that of the description of a London Sunday, which still disfigures +the poem. In thus mixing up the light with the solemn, it was the +intention of the poet to imitate Ariosto. But it is far easier to rise, +with grace, from the level of a strain generally familiar, into an +occasional short burst of pathos or splendour, than to interrupt thus a +prolonged tone of solemnity by any descent into the ludicrous or +burlesque.[43] In the former case, the transition may have the effect of +softening or elevating, while, in the latter, it almost invariably +shocks;--for the same reason, perhaps, that a trait of pathos or high +feeling, in comedy, has a peculiar charm; while the intrusion of comic +scenes into tragedy, however sanctioned among us by habit and authority, +rarely fails to offend. The noble poet was, himself, convinced of the +failure of the experiment, and in none of the succeeding Cantos of +Childe Harold repeated it. + +Of the satiric parts, some verses on the well-known traveller, Sir John +Carr, may supply us with, at least, a harmless specimen:-- + + "Ye, who would more of Spain and Spaniards know, + Sights, saints, antiques, arts, anecdotes, and war, + Go, hie ye hence to Paternoster Row,-- + Are they not written in the boke of Carr? + Green Erin's Knight, and Europe's wandering star. + Then listen, readers, to the Man of Ink, + Hear what he did, and sought, and wrote afar: + All these are coop'd within one Quarto's brink, + This borrow, steal (don't buy), and tell us what you think." + +Among those passages which, in the course of revisal, he introduced, +like pieces of "rich inlay," into the poem, was that fine stanza-- + + "Yet if, as holiest men have deem'd, there be + A land of souls beyond that sable shore," &c. + +through which lines, though, it must be confessed, a tone of scepticism +breathes, (as well as in those tender verses-- + + "Yes,--I will dream that we may meet again,") + +it is a scepticism whose sadness calls far more for pity than blame; +there being discoverable, even through its very doubts, an innate warmth +of piety, which they had been able to obscure, but not to chill. To use +the words of the poet himself, in a note which it was once his intention +to affix to these stanzas, "Let it be remembered that the spirit they +breathe is desponding, not sneering, scepticism,"--a distinction never +to be lost sight of; as, however hopeless may be the conversion of the +scoffing infidel, he who feels pain in doubting has still alive within +him the seeds of belief. + +At the same time with Childe Harold, he had three other works in the +press,--his "Hints from Horace," "The Curse of Minerva," and a fifth +edition of "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." The note upon the +latter poem, which had been the lucky origin of our acquaintance, was +withdrawn in this edition, and a few words of explanation, which he had +the kindness to submit to my perusal, substituted in its place. + +In the month of January, the whole of the two Cantos being printed off, +some of the poet's friends, and, among others, Mr. Rogers and myself, +were so far favoured as to be indulged with a perusal of the sheets. In +adverting to this period in his "Memoranda," Lord Byron, I remember, +mentioned,--as one of the ill omens which preceded the publication of +the poem,--that some of the literary friends to whom it was shown +expressed doubts of its success, and that one among them had told him +"it was too good for the age." Whoever may have pronounced this +opinion,--and I have some suspicion that I am myself the guilty +person,--the age has, it must be owned, most triumphantly refuted the +calumny upon its taste which the remark implied. + +It was in the hands of Mr. Rogers I first saw the sheets of the poem, +and glanced hastily over a few of the stanzas which he pointed out to me +as beautiful. Having occasion, the same morning, to write a note to Lord +Byron, I expressed strongly the admiration which this foretaste of his +work had excited in me; and the following is--as far as relates to +literary matters--the answer I received from him. + +[Footnote 40: If there could be any doubt as to his intention of +delineating himself in his hero, this adoption of the old Norman name of +his family, which he seems to have at first contemplated, would be +sufficient to remove it.] + +[Footnote 41: In the MS. the names "Robin" and "Rupert" had been +successively inserted here and scratched out again.] + +[Footnote 42: Here the manuscript is illegible.] + +[Footnote 43: Among the acknowledged blemishes of Milton's great poem, +is his abrupt transition, in this manner, into an imitation of Ariosto's +style, in the "Paradise of Fools."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 83. TO MR. MOORE. + + "January 29. 1812. + + "My dear Moore, + + "I wish very much I could have seen you; I am in a state of + ludicrous tribulation. * * * + + "Why do you say that I dislike your poesy? I have expressed no such + opinion, either in _print_ or elsewhere. In scribbling myself, it + was necessary for me to find fault, and I fixed upon the trite + charge of immorality, because I could discover no other, and was so + perfectly qualified in the innocence of my heart, to 'pluck that + mote from my neighbour's eye.' + + "I feel very, very much obliged by your approbation; but, at _this + moment_, praise, even _your_ praise, passes by me like 'the idle + wind.' I meant and mean to send you a copy the moment of + publication; but now I can think of nothing but damned, + deceitful,--delightful woman, as Mr. Liston says in the Knight of + Snowdon. Believe me, my dear Moore, + + "Ever yours, most affectionately, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +The passages here omitted contain rather _too_ amusing an account of a +disturbance that had just occurred in the establishment at Newstead, in +consequence of the detected misconduct of one of the maid-servants, who +had been supposed to stand rather too high in the favour of her master, +and, by the airs of authority which she thereupon assumed, had disposed +all the rest of the household to regard her with no very charitable +eyes. The chief actors in the strife were this sultana and young +Rushton; and the first point in dispute that came to Lord Byron's +knowledge (though circumstances, far from creditable to the damsel, +afterwards transpired) was, whether Rushton was bound to carry letters +to "the Hut" at the bidding of this female. To an episode of such a +nature I should not have thought of alluding, were it not for the two +rather curious letters that follow, which show how gravely and coolly +the young lord could arbitrate on such an occasion, and with what +considerate leaning towards the servant whose fidelity he had proved, in +preference to any new liking or fancy by which it might be suspected he +was actuated towards the other. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 84. TO ROBERT RUSHTON. + + "8. St. James's Street, Jan. 21. 1812. + + "Though I have no objection to your refusal to carry _letters_ to + Mealey's, you will take care that the letters are taken by _Spero_ + at the proper time. I have also to observe, that Susan is to be + treated with civility, and not _insulted_ by any person over whom + I have the smallest control, or, indeed, by any one whatever, while + I have the power to protect her. I am truly sorry to have any + subject of complaint against _you_; I have too good an opinion of + you to think I shall have occasion to repeat it, after the care I + have taken of you, and my favourable intentions in your behalf. I + see no occasion for any communication whatever between _you_ and + the _women_, and wish you to occupy yourself in preparing for the + situation in which you will be placed. If a common sense of decency + cannot prevent you from conducting yourself towards them with + rudeness, I should at least hope that your _own interest_, and + regard for a master who has _never_ treated you with unkindness, + will have some weight. Yours, &c. + + "BYRON. + + "P.S.--I wish you to attend to your arithmetic, to occupy yourself + in surveying, measuring, and making yourself acquainted with every + particular relative to the _land_ of Newstead, and you will _write_ + to me _one letter every week_, that I may know how you go on." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 85. TO ROBERT RUSHTON. + + "8. St. James's Street, January 25. 1812. + + "Your refusal to carry the letter was not a subject of + remonstrance; it was not a part of your business; but the language + you used to the girl was (as _she_ stated it) highly improper. + + "You say that you also have something to complain of; then state it + to me immediately; it would be very unfair, and very contrary to my + disposition, not to hear both sides of the question. + + "If any thing has passed between you _before_ or since my last + visit to Newstead, do not be afraid to mention it. I am sure _you_ + would not deceive me, though _she_ would. Whatever it is, _you_ + shall be forgiven. I have not been without some suspicions on the + subject, and am certain that, at your time of life, the blame could + not attach to you. You will not _consult_ any one as to your + answer, but write to me immediately. I shall be more ready to hear + what you have to advance, as I do not remember ever to have heard a + word from you before _against_ any human being, which convinces me + you would not maliciously assert an untruth. There is not any one + who can do the least injury to you while you conduct yourself + properly. I shall expect your answer immediately. Yours, &c. + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It was after writing these letters that he came to the knowledge of some +improper levities on the part of the girl, in consequence of which he +dismissed her and another female servant from Newstead; and how strongly +he allowed this discovery to affect his mind, will be seen in a +subsequent letter to Mr. Hodgson. + +LETTER 86. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "8. St. James's Street, February 16. 1812. + + "Dear Hodgson, + + "I send you a proof. Last week I was very ill and confined to bed + with stone in the kidney, but I am now quite recovered. If the + stone had got into my heart instead of my kidneys, it would have + been all the better. The women are gone to their relatives, after + many attempts to explain what was already too clear. However, I + have quite recovered _that_ also, and only wonder at my folly in + excepting my own strumpets from the general corruption,--albeit a + two months' weakness is better than ten years. I have one request + to make, which is, never mention a woman again in any letter to me, + or even allude to the existence of the sex. I won't even read a + word of the feminine gender;--it must all be 'propria quæ maribus.' + + "In the spring of 1813 I shall leave England for ever. Every thing + in my affairs tends to this, and my inclinations and health do not + discourage it. Neither my habits nor constitution are improved by + your customs or your climate. I shall find employment in making + myself a good Oriental scholar. I shall retain a mansion in one of + the fairest islands, and retrace, at intervals, the most + interesting portions of the East. In the mean time, I am adjusting + my concerns, which will (when arranged) leave me with wealth + sufficient even for home, but enough for a principality in Turkey. + At present they are involved, but I hope, by taking some necessary + but unpleasant steps, to clear every thing. Hobhouse is expected + daily in London; we shall be very glad to see him; and, perhaps, + you will come up and 'drink deep ere he depart,' if not, 'Mahomet + must go to the mountain;'--but Cambridge will bring sad + recollections to him, and worse to me, though for very different + reasons. I believe the only human being that ever loved me in truth + and entirely was of, or belonging to, Cambridge, and, in that, no + change can now take place. There is one consolation in death--where + he sets his seal, the impression can neither be melted nor broken, + but endureth for ever. + + "Yours always, B." + + * * * * * + +Among those lesser memorials of his good nature and mindfulness, which, +while they are precious to those who possess them, are not unworthy of +admiration from others, may be reckoned such letters as the following, +to a youth at Eton, recommending another, who was about to be entered at +that school, to his care. + +LETTER 87. TO MASTER JOHN COWELL. + + "8. St. James's Street, February 12. 1812. + + "My dear John, + + "You have probably long ago forgotten the writer of these lines, + who would, perhaps, be unable to recognise _yourself_, from the + difference which must naturally have taken place in your stature + and appearance since he saw you last. I have been rambling through + Portugal, Spain, Greece, &c. &c. for some years, and have found so + many changes on my return, that it would be very unfair not to + expect that you should have had your share of alteration and + improvement with the rest. I write to request a favour of you: a + little boy of eleven years, the son of Mr. * *, my particular + friend, is about to become an Etonian, and I should esteem any act + of protection or kindness to him as an obligation to myself; let me + beg of you then to take some little notice of him at first, till he + is able to shift for himself. + + "I was happy to hear a very favourable account of you from a + schoolfellow a few weeks ago, and should be glad to learn that your + family are as well as I wish them to be. I presume you are in the + upper school;--as an _Etonian_, you will look down upon a _Harrow_ + man; but I never, even in my boyish days, disputed your + superiority, which I once experienced in a cricket match, where I + had the honour of making one of eleven, who were beaten to their + hearts' content by your college in _one innings_. + + "Believe me to be, with great truth," &c. &c. + + * * * * * + +On the 27th of February, a day or two before the appearance of Childe +Harold, he made the first trial of his eloquence in the House of Lords; +and it was on this occasion he had the good fortune to become acquainted +with Lord Holland,--an acquaintance no less honourable than gratifying +to both, as having originated in feelings the most generous, perhaps, +of our nature, a ready forgiveness of injuries, on the one side, and a +frank and unqualified atonement for them, on the other. The subject of +debate was the Nottingham Frame-breaking Bill, and, Lord Byron having +mentioned to Mr. Rogers his intention to take a part in the discussion, +a communication was, by the intervention of that gentleman, opened +between the noble poet and Lord Holland, who, with his usual courtesy, +professed himself ready to afford all the information and advice in his +power. The following letters, however, will best explain their first +advances towards acquaintance. + +LETTER 88. TO MR. ROGERS. + + "February 4. 1812. + + "My dear Sir, + + "With my best acknowledgments to Lord Holland, I have to offer my + perfect concurrence in the propriety of the question previously to + be put to ministers. If their answer is in the negative, I shall, + with his Lordship's approbation, give notice of a motion for a + Committee of Enquiry. I would also gladly avail myself of his most + able advice, and any information or documents with which he might + be pleased to intrust me, to bear me out in the statement of facts + it may be necessary to submit to the House. + + "From all that fell under my own observation during my Christmas + visit to Newstead, I feel convinced that, if _conciliatory_ + measures are not very soon adopted, the most unhappy consequences + may be apprehended. Nightly outrage and daily depredation are + already at their height, and not only the masters of frames, who + are obnoxious on account of their occupation, but persons in no + degree connected with the malecontents or their oppressors, are + liable to insult and pillage. + + "I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken on my + account, and beg you to believe me ever your obliged and sincere," + &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 89. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "8. St. James's Street, February 25. 1812. + + "My Lord, + + "With my best thanks, I have the honour to return the Notts, letter + to your Lordship. I have read it with attention, but do not think I + shall venture to avail myself of its contents, as my view of the + question differs in some measure from Mr. Coldham's. I hope I do + not wrong him, but _his_ objections to the bill appear to me to be + founded on certain apprehensions that he and his coadjutors might + be mistaken for the '_original advisers_' (to quote him) of the + measure. For my own part, I consider the manufacturers as a much + injured body of men, sacrificed to the views of certain individuals + who have enriched themselves by those practices which have deprived + the frame-workers of employment. For instance;--by the adoption of + a certain kind of frame, one man performs the work of seven--six + are thus thrown out of business. But it is to be observed that the + work thus done is far inferior in quality, hardly marketable at + home, and hurried over with a view to exportation. Surely, my Lord, + however we may rejoice in any improvement in the arts which may be + beneficial to mankind, we must not allow mankind to be sacrificed + to improvements in mechanism. The maintenance and well-doing of the + industrious poor is an object of greater consequence to the + community than the enrichment of a few monopolists by any + improvement in the implements of trade, which deprives the workman + of his bread, and renders the, labourer "unworthy of his hire." My + own motive for opposing the bill is founded on its palpable + injustice, and its certain inefficacy. I have seen the state of + these miserable men, and it is a disgrace to a civilised country. + Their excesses may be condemned, but cannot be subject of wonder. + The effect of the present bill would be to drive them into actual + rebellion. The few words I shall venture to offer on Thursday will + be founded upon these opinions formed from my own observations on + the spot. By previous enquiry, I am convinced these men would have + been restored to employment, and the county to tranquillity. It is, + perhaps, not yet too late, and is surely worth the trial. It can + never be too late to employ force in such circumstances. I believe + your Lordship does not coincide with me entirely on this subject, + and most cheerfully and sincerely shall I submit to your superior + judgment and experience, and take some other line of argument + against the bill, or be silent altogether, should you deem it more + advisable. Condemning, as every one must condemn, the conduct of + these wretches, I believe in the existence of grievances which call + rather for pity than punishment. I have the honour to be, with + great respect, my Lord, your Lordship's + + "Most obedient and obliged servant, + + "BYRON. + + "P.S. I am a little apprehensive that your Lordship will think me + too lenient towards these men, and half a _framebreaker myself_." + + * * * * * + +It would have been, no doubt, the ambition of Lord Byron to acquire +distinction as well in oratory as in poesy; but Nature seems to set +herself against pluralities in fame. He had prepared himself for this +debate,--as most of the best orators have done, in their first +essays,--not only by composing, but writing down, the whole of his +speech beforehand. The reception he met with was flattering; some of the +noble speakers on his own side complimented him very warmly; and that he +was himself highly pleased with his success, appears from the annexed +account of Mr. Dallas, which gives a lively notion of his boyish elation +on the occasion. + +"When he left the great chamber, I went and met him in the passage; he +was glowing with success, and much agitated. I had an umbrella in my +right hand, not expecting that he would put out his hand to me;--in my +haste to take it when offered, I had advanced my left hand--'What!' said +he, 'give your friend your left hand upon such an occasion?' I showed +the cause, and immediately changing the umbrella to the other hand, I +gave him my right hand, which he shook and pressed warmly. He was +greatly elated, and repeated some of the compliments which had been paid +him, and mentioned one or two of the peers who had desired to be +introduced to him. He concluded with saying, that he had, by his speech, +given me the best advertisement for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." + +The speech itself, as given by Mr. Dallas from the noble speaker's own +manuscript, is pointed and vigorous; and the same sort of interest that +is felt in reading the poetry of a Burke, may be gratified, perhaps, by +a few specimens of the oratory of a Byron. In the very opening of his +speech, he thus introduces himself by the melancholy avowal, that in +that assembly of his brother nobles he stood almost a stranger. + +"As a person in some degree connected with the suffering county, though +a stranger not only to this House in general, but to almost every +individual whose attention I presume to solicit, I must claim some +portion of your Lordships' indulgence." + +The following extracts comprise, I think, the passages of most spirit:-- + +"When we are told that these men are leagued together, not only for the +destruction of their own comfort, but of their very means of +subsistence, can we forget that it is the bitter policy, the destructive +warfare, of the last eighteen years which has destroyed their comfort, +your comfort, all men's comfort;--that policy which, originating with +'great statesmen now no more,' has survived the dead to become a curse +on the living, unto the third and fourth generation! These men never +destroyed their looms till they were become useless,--worse than +useless; till they were become actual impediments to their exertions in +obtaining their daily bread. Can you then wonder that, in times like +these, when bankruptcy, convicted fraud, and imputed felony, are found +in a station not far beneath that of your Lordships, the lowest, though +once most useful, portion of the people should forget their duty in +their distresses, and become only less guilty than one of their +representatives? But while the exalted offender can find means to baffle +the law, new capital punishments must be devised, new snares of death +must be spread for the wretched mechanic who is famished into guilt. +These men were willing to dig, but the spade was in other hands: they +were not ashamed to beg, but there was none to relieve them. Their own +means of subsistence were cut off; all other employments pre-occupied; +and their excesses, however to be deplored or condemned, can hardly be +the subject of surprise. + +"I have traversed the seat of war in the Peninsula I have been in some +of the most oppressed provinces of Turkey; but never, under the most +despotic of infidel governments, did I behold such squalid wretchedness +as I have seen since my return, in the very heart of a Christian +country. And what are your remedies? After months of inaction, and +months of action worse than inactivity, at length comes forth the grand +specific, the never-failing nostrum of all state physicians from the +days of Draco to the present time. After feeling the pulse, and shaking +the head over the patient, prescribing the usual course of warm water +and bleeding--the warm water of your mawkish police, and the lancets of +your military--these convulsions must terminate in death, the sure +consummation of the prescriptions of all political Sangrados. Setting +aside the palpable injustice and the certain inefficiency of the bill, +are there not capital punishments sufficient on your statutes? Is there +not blood enough upon your penal code, that more must be poured forth to +ascend to heaven and testify against you? How will you carry this bill +into effect? Can you commit a whole county to their own prisons? Will +you erect a gibbet in every field, and hang up men like scare-crows? or +will you proceed (as you must, to bring this measure into effect,) by +decimation; place the country under martial law; depopulate and lay +waste all around you, and restore Sherwood Forest as an acceptable gift +to the crown in its former condition of a royal chase, and an asylum for +outlaws? Are these the remedies for a starving and desperate populace? +Will the famished wretch who has braved your bayonets be appalled by +your gibbets? When death is a relief, and the only relief it appears +that you will afford him, will he be dragooned into tranquillity? Will +that which could not be effected by your grenadiers, be accomplished by +your executioners? If you proceed by the forms of law, where is your +evidence? Those who refused to impeach their accomplices, when +transportation only was the punishment, will hardly be tempted to +witness against them when death is the penalty. With all due deference +to the noble lords opposite, I think a little investigation, some +previous enquiry, would induce even them to change their purpose. That +most favourite state measure, so marvellously efficacious in many and +recent instances, _temporising_, would not be without its advantage in +this. When a proposal is made to emancipate or relieve, you hesitate, +you deliberate for years, you temporise and tamper with the minds of +men; but a death-bill must be passed off hand, without a thought of the +consequences." + +In reference to his own parliamentary displays, and to this maiden +speech in particular, I find the following remarks in one of his +Journals:-- + +"Sheridan's liking for me (whether he was not mystifying me, I do not +know, but Lady Caroline Lamb and others told me that he said the same +both before and after he knew me,) was founded upon 'English Bards and +Scotch Reviewers.' He told me that he did not care about poetry, (or +about mine--at least, any but that poem of mine,) but he was sure, from +that and other symptoms, I should make an orator, if I would but take to +speaking, and grow a parliament man. He never ceased harping upon this +to me to the last; and I remember my old tutor, Dr. Drury, had the same +notion when I was a _boy_; but it never was my turn of inclination to +try. I spoke once or twice, as all young peers do, as a kind of +introduction into public life; but dissipation, shyness, haughty and +reserved opinions, together with the short time I lived in England +after my majority (only about five years in all), prevented me from +resuming the experiment. As far as it went, it was not discouraging, +particularly my _first_ speech (I spoke three or four times in all); but +just after it, my poem of Childe Harold was published, and nobody ever +thought about my _prose_ afterwards, nor indeed did I; it became to me a +secondary and neglected object, though I sometimes wonder to myself if I +should have succeeded." + + * * * * * + +His immediate impressions with respect to the success of his first +speech may be collected from a letter addressed soon after to Mr. +Hodgson. + +LETTER 90. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "8. St. James's Street, March 5. 1812. + + "My dear Hodgson, + + "_We_ are not answerable for reports of speeches in the papers; + they are always given incorrectly, and on this occasion more so + than usual, from the debate in the Commons on the same night. The + Morning Post should have said _eighteen years_. However, you will + find the speech, as spoken, in the Parliamentary Register, when it + comes out. Lords Holland and Grenville, particularly the latter, + paid me some high compliments in the course of their speeches, as + you may have seen in the papers, and Lords Eldon and Harrowby + answered me. I have had many marvellous eulogies repeated to me + since, in person and by proxy, from divers persons + _ministerial_--yea, _ministerial!_--as well as oppositionists; of + them I shall only mention Sir F. Burdett. _He_ says it is the best + speech by a _lord_ since the '_Lord_ knows when,' probably from a + fellow-feeling in the sentiments. Lord H. tells me I shall beat + them all if I persevere; and Lord G. remarked that the construction + of some of my periods are very like _Burke's_! And so much for + vanity. I spoke very violent sentences with a sort of modest + impudence, abused every thing and every body, and put the Lord + Chancellor very much out of humour; and if I may believe what I + hear, have not lost any character by the experiment. As to my + delivery, loud and fluent enough, perhaps a little theatrical. I + could not recognise myself or any one else in the newspapers. + + "My poesy comes out on Saturday. Hobhouse is here; I shall tell him + to write. My stone is gone for the present, but I fear is part of + my habit. We _all_ talk of a visit to Cambridge. + + "Yours ever, B." + + * * * * * + +Of the same date as the above is the following letter to Lord Holland, +accompanying a copy of his new publication, and written in a tone that +cannot fail to give a high idea of his good feeling and candour. + +LETTER 91. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "St. James's Street, March 5. 1812. + + "My Lord, + + "May I request your Lordship to accept a copy of the thing which + accompanies this note? You have already so fully proved the truth + of the first line of Pope's couplet, + + "'_Forgiveness to the injured doth belong,_' + + that I long for an opportunity to give the lie to the verse that + follows. If I were not perfectly convinced that any thing I may + have formerly uttered in the boyish rashness of my misplaced + resentment had made as little impression as it deserved to make, I + should hardly have the confidence--perhaps your Lordship may give + it a stronger and more appropriate appellation--to send you a + quarto of the same scribbler. But your Lordship, I am sorry to + observe to-day, is troubled with the gout; if my book can produce a + _laugh_ against itself or the author, it will be of some service. + If it can set you to _sleep_, the benefit will be yet greater; and + as some facetious personage observed half a century ago, that + 'poetry is a mere drug,' I offer you mine as a humble assistant to + the 'eau médicinale.' I trust you will forgive this and all my + other buffooneries, and believe me to be, with great respect, + + "Your Lordship's obliged and + + "Sincere servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It was within two days after his speech in the House of Lords that +Childe Harold appeared[44];--and the impression which it produced upon +the public was as instantaneous as it has proved deep and lasting. The +permanence of such success genius alone could secure, but to its instant +and enthusiastic burst, other causes, besides the merit of the work, +concurred. + +There are those who trace in the peculiar character of Lord Byron's +genius strong features of relationship to the times in which he lived; +who think that the great events which marked the close of the last +century, by giving a new impulse to men's minds, by habituating them to +the daring and the free, and allowing full vent to "the flash and +outbreak of fiery spirits," had led naturally to the production of such +a poet as Byron; and that he was, in short, as much the child and +representative of the Revolution, in poesy, as another great man of the +age, Napoleon, was in statesmanship and warfare. Without going the full +length of this notion, it will, at least, be conceded, that the free +loose which had been given to all the passions and energies of the human +mind, in the great struggle of that period, together with the constant +spectacle of such astounding vicissitudes as were passing, almost daily, +on the theatre of the world, had created, in all minds, and in every +walk of intellect, a taste for strong excitement, which the stimulants +supplied from ordinary sources were insufficient to gratify;--that a +tame deference to established authorities had fallen into disrepute, no +less in literature than in politics, and that the poet who should +breathe into his songs the fierce and passionate spirit of the age, and +assert, untrammelled and unawed, the high dominion of genius, would be +the most sure of an audience toned in sympathy with his strains. + +It is true that, to the licence on religious subjects, which revelled +through the first acts of that tremendous drama, a disposition of an +opposite tendency had, for some time, succeeded. Against the wit of the +scoffer, not only piety, but a better taste, revolted; and had Lord +Byron, in touching on such themes in Childe Harold, adopted a tone of +levity or derision, (such as, unluckily, he sometimes afterwards +descended to,) not all the originality and beauty of his work would have +secured for it a prompt or uncontested triumph. As it was, however, the +few dashes of scepticism with which he darkened his strain, far from +checking his popularity, were among those attractions which, as I have +said, independent of all the charms of the poetry, accelerated and +heightened its success. The religious feeling that has sprung up through +Europe since the French revolution--like the political principles that +have emerged out of the same event--in rejecting all the licentiousness +of that period, have preserved much of its spirit of freedom and +enquiry; and, among the best fruits of this enlarged and enlightened +piety is the liberty which it disposes men to accord to the opinions, +and even heresies, of others. To persons thus sincerely, and, at the +same time, tolerantly, devout, the spectacle of a great mind, like that +of Byron, labouring in the eclipse of scepticism, could not be otherwise +than an object of deep and solemn interest. If they had already known +what it was to doubt, themselves, they would enter into his fate with +mournful sympathy; while, if safe in the tranquil haven of faith, they +would look with pity on one who was still a wanderer. Besides, erring +and dark as might be his views at that moment, there were circumstances +in his character and fate that gave a hope of better thoughts yet +dawning upon him. From his temperament and youth, there could be little +fear that he was yet hardened in his heresies, and as, for a heart +wounded like his, there was, they knew, but one true source of +consolation, so it was hoped that the love of truth, so apparent in all +he wrote, would, one day, enable him to find it. + +Another, and not the least of those causes which concurred with the +intrinsic claims of his genius to give an impulse to the tide of success +that now flowed upon him, was, unquestionably, the peculiarity of his +personal history and character. There had been, in his very first +introduction of himself to the public, a sufficient portion of +singularity to excite strong attention and interest. While all other +youths of talent, in his high station, are heralded into life by the +applauses and anticipations of a host of friends, young Byron stood +forth alone, unannounced by either praise or promise,--the +representative of an ancient house, whose name, long lost in the gloomy +solitudes of Newstead, seemed to have just awakened from the sleep of +half a century in his person. The circumstances that, in succession, +followed,--the prompt vigour of his reprisals upon the assailants of his +fame,--his disappearance, after this achievement, from the scene of his +triumph, without deigning even to wait for the laurels which he had +earned, and his departure on a far pilgrimage, whose limits he left to +chance and fancy,--all these successive incidents had thrown an air of +adventure round the character of the young poet, which prepared his +readers to meet half-way the impressions of his genius. Instead of +finding him, on a nearer view, fall short of their imaginations, the new +features of his disposition now disclosed to them far outwent, in +peculiarity and interest, whatever they might have preconceived; while +the curiosity and sympathy, awakened by what he suffered to transpire of +his history, were still more heightened by the mystery of his allusions +to much that yet remained untold. The late losses by death which he had +sustained, and which, it was manifest, he most deeply mourned, gave a +reality to the notion formed of him by his admirers which seemed to +authorise them in imagining still more; and what has been said of the +poet Young, that he found out the art of "making the public a party to +his private sorrows," may be, with infinitely more force and truth, +applied to Lord Byron. + +On that circle of society with whom he came immediately in contact, +these personal influences acted with increased force, from being +assisted by others, which, to female imaginations especially, would +have presented a sufficiency of attraction, even without the great +qualities joined with them. His youth,--the noble beauty of his +countenance, and its constant play of lights and shadows,--the +gentleness of his voice and manner to women, and his occasional +haughtiness to men,--the alleged singularities of his mode of life, +which kept curiosity alive and inquisitive,--all these lesser traits and +habitudes concurred towards the quick spread of his fame; nor can it be +denied that, among many purer sources of interest in his poem, the +allusions which he makes to instances of "_successful_ passion" in his +career[45] were not without their influence on the fancies of that sex, +whose weakness it is to be most easily won by those who come recommended +by the greatest number of triumphs over others. + +That his rank was also to be numbered among these extrinsic advantages +appears to have been--partly, perhaps, from a feeling of modesty at the +time--his own persuasion. "I may place a great deal of it," said he to +Mr. Dallas, "to my being a lord." It might be supposed that it is only +on a rank inferior to his own such a charm could operate; but this very +speech is, in itself, a proof, that in no class whatever is the +advantage of being noble more felt and appreciated than among nobles +themselves. It was, also, natural that, in that circle, the admiration +of the new poet should be, at least, quickened by the consideration that +he had sprung up among themselves, and that their order had, at length, +produced a man of genius, by whom the arrears of contribution, long due +from them to the treasury of English literature, would be at once fully +and splendidly discharged. + +Altogether, taking into consideration the various points I have here +enumerated, it may be asserted, that never did there exist before, and +it is most probable never will exist again, a combination of such vast +mental power and surpassing genius, with so many other of those +advantages and attractions, by which the world is, in general, dazzled +and captivated. The effect was, accordingly, electric;--his fame had not +to wait for any of the ordinary gradations, but seemed to spring up, +like the palace of a fairy tale, in a night. As he himself briefly +described it in his memoranda,--"I awoke one morning and found myself +famous." The first edition of his work was disposed of instantly; and, +as the echoes of its reputation multiplied on all sides, "Childe Harold" +and "Lord Byron" became the theme of every tongue. At his door, most of +the leading names of the day presented themselves,--some of them persons +whom he had much wronged in his Satire, but who now forgot their +resentment in generous admiration. From morning till night the most +flattering testimonies of his success crowded his table,--from the grave +tributes of the statesman and the philosopher down to (what flattered +him still more) the romantic billet of some _incognita,_ or the pressing +note of invitation from some fair leader of fashion; and, in place of +the desert which London had been to him but a few weeks before, he now +not only saw the whole splendid interior of High Life thrown open to +receive him, but found himself, among its illustrious crowds, the most +distinguished object. + +The copyright of the poem, which was purchased by Mr. Murray for +600_l._, he presented, in the most delicate and unostentatious manner, +to Mr. Dallas[46], saying, at the same time, that he "never would +receive money for his writings;"--a resolution, the mixed result of +generosity and pride, which he afterwards wisely abandoned, though borne +out by the example of Swift[47] and Voltaire, the latter of whom gave +away most of his copyrights to Prault and other booksellers, and +received books, not money, for those he disposed of otherwise. To his +young friend, Mr. Harness, it had been his intention, at first, to +dedicate the work, but, on further consideration, he relinquished his +design; and in a letter to that gentleman (which, with some others, is +unfortunately lost) alleged, as his reason for this change, the +prejudice which, he foresaw, some parts of the poem would raise against +himself, and his fear lest, by any possibility, a share of the odium +might so far extend itself to his friend, as to injure him in the +profession to which he was about to devote himself. + +Not long after the publication of Childe Harold, the noble author paid +me a visit, one morning, and, putting a letter into my hands, which he +had just received, requested that I would undertake to manage for him +whatever proceedings it might render necessary. This letter, I found, +had been delivered to him by Mr. Leckie (a gentleman well known by a +work on Sicilian affairs), and came from a once active and popular +member of the fashionable world, Colonel Greville,--its purport being to +require of his Lordship, as author of "English Bards," &c., such +reparation as it was in his power to make for the injury which, as +Colonel Greville conceived, certain passages in that satire, reflecting +upon his conduct as manager of the Argyle Institution, were calculated +to inflict upon his character. In the appeal of the gallant Colonel, +there were some expressions of rather an angry cast, which Lord Byron, +though fully conscious of the length to which he himself had gone, was +but little inclined to brook, and, on my returning the letter into his +hands, he said, "To such a letter as that there can be but one sort of +answer." He agreed, however, to trust the matter entirely to my +discretion, and I had, shortly after, an interview with the friend of +Colonel Greville. By this gentleman, who was then an utter stranger to +me, I was received with much courtesy, and with every disposition to +bring the affair intrusted to us to an amicable issue. On my premising +that the tone of his friend's letter stood in the way of negotiation, +and that some obnoxious expressions which it contained must be removed +before I could proceed a single step towards explanation, he most +readily consented to remove this obstacle. At his request I drew a pen +across the parts I considered objectionable, and he undertook to send me +the letter re-written, next morning. In the mean time I received from +Lord Byron the following paper for my guidance:-- + + "With regard to the passage on Mr. Way's loss, no unfair play was + hinted at, as may be seen by referring to the book; and it is + expressly added that the _managers were ignorant_ of that + transaction. As to the prevalence of play at the Argyle, it cannot + be denied that there were _billiards_ and _dice_;--Lord B. has been + a witness to the use of both at the Argyle Rooms. These, it is + presumed, come under the denomination of play. If play be allowed, + the President of the Institution can hardly complain of being + termed the 'Arbiter of Play,'--or what becomes of his authority? + + "Lord B. has no personal animosity to Colonel Greville. A public + institution, to which he himself was a subscriber, he considered + himself to have a right to notice _publicly_. Of that institution + Colonel Greville was the avowed director;--it is too late to enter + into the discussion of its merits or demerits. + + "Lord B. must leave the discussion of the reparation, for the real + or supposed injury, to Colonel G.'s friend, and Mr. Moore, the + friend of Lord B.--begging them to recollect that, while they + consider Colonel G.'s honour, Lord B. must also maintain his own. + If the business can be settled amicably, Lord B. will do as much as + can and ought to be done by a man of honour towards + conciliation;--if not, he must satisfy Colonel G. in the manner + most conducive to his further wishes." + +[Footnote 44: To his sister, Mrs. Leigh, one of the first presentation +copies was sent, with the following inscription in it:-- + + "To Augusta, my dearest sister, and my best friend, who has ever + loved me much better than I deserved, this volume is presented by + her father's son, and most affectionate brother, + + "B." +] + +[Footnote 45: + + "Little knew she, that seeming marble heart, + Now mask'd in silence, or withheld by pride, + Was not unskilful in the spoiler's art, + And spread its snares licentious far and wide." + _CHILDE HAROLD, CANTO II._ + +We have here another instance of his propensity to +self-misrepresentation. However great might have been the irregularities +of his college life, such phrases as the "art of the spoiler" and +"spreading snares" were in nowise applicable to them.] + +[Footnote 46: "After speaking to him of the sale, and settling the new +edition, I said, 'How can I possibly think of this rapid sale, and the +profits likely to ensue, without recollecting--'--'What?'--'Think what +sum your work may produce.'--'I shall be rejoiced, and wish it doubled +and trebled; but do not talk to me of money. I never will receive money +for my writings.'"--DALLAS'S _Recollections_.] + +[Footnote 47: In a letter to Pulteney, 12th May, 1735, Swift says, "I +never got a farthing for any thing I writ, except once."] + + * * * * * + +In the morning I received the letter, in its new form, from Mr. Leckie, +with the annexed note. + + "My dear Sir, + + "I found my friend very ill in bed; he has, however, managed to + copy the enclosed, with the alterations proposed. Perhaps you may + wish to see me in the morning; I shall therefore be glad to see you + any time till twelve o'clock. If you rather wish me to call on you, + tell me, and I shall obey your summons. Yours, very truly, + + "G.T. LECKIE." + +With such facilities towards pacification, it is almost needless to add +that there was but little delay in settling the matter amicably. + +While upon this subject, I shall avail myself of the opportunity which +it affords of extracting an amusing account given by Lord Byron himself +of some affairs of this description, in which he was, at different +times, employed as mediator. + +"I have been called in as mediator, or second, at least twenty times, in +violent quarrels, and have always contrived to settle the business +without compromising the honour of the parties, or leading them to +mortal consequences, and this, too, sometimes in very difficult and +delicate circumstances, and having to deal with very hot and haughty +spirits,--Irishmen, gamesters, guardsmen, captains, and cornets of +horse, and the like. This was, of course, in my youth, when I lived in +hot-headed company. I have had to carry challenges from gentlemen to +noblemen, from captains to captains, from lawyers to counsellors, and +once from a clergyman to an officer in the Life Guards; but I found the +latter by far the most difficult,-- + + "'to compose + The bloody duel without blows,'-- + +the business being about a woman: I must add, too, that I never saw a +_woman_ behave so ill, like a cold-blooded, heartless b---- as she +was,--but very handsome for all that. A certain Susan C * * was she +called. I never saw her but once; and that was to induce her but to say +two words (which in no degree compromised herself), and which would have +had the effect of saving a priest or a lieutenant of cavalry. She would +not say them, and neither N * * nor myself (the son of Sir E. N * *, and +a friend to one of the parties,) could prevail upon her to say them, +though both of us used to deal in some sort with womankind. At last I +managed to quiet the combatants without her talisman, and, I believe, to +her great disappointment: she was the damnedest b---- that I ever saw, +and I have seen a great many. Though my clergyman was sure to lose +either his life or his living, he was as warlike as the Bishop of +Beauvais, and would hardly be pacified; but then he was in love, and +that is a martial passion." + +However disagreeable it was to find the consequences of his Satire thus +rising up against him in a hostile shape, he was far more embarrassed in +those cases where the retribution took a friendly form. Being now daily +in the habit of meeting and receiving kindnesses from persons who, +either in themselves, or through their relatives, had been wounded by +his pen, he felt every fresh instance of courtesy from such quarters to +be, (as he sometimes, in the strong language of Scripture, expressed +it,) like "heaping coals of fire upon his head." He was, indeed, in a +remarkable degree, sensitive to the kindness or displeasure of those he +lived with; and had he passed a life subject to the immediate influence +of society, it may be doubted whether he ever would have ventured upon +those unbridled bursts of energy in which he at once demonstrated and +abused his power. At the period when he ran riot in his Satire, society +had not yet caught him within its pale; and in the time of his Cains and +Don Juans, he had again broken loose from it. Hence, his instinct +towards a life of solitude and independence, as the true element of his +strength. In his own domain of imagination he could defy the whole +world; while, in real life, a frown or smile could rule him. The +facility with which he sacrificed his first volume, at the mere +suggestion of his friend, Mr. Becher, is a strong proof of this +pliableness; and in the instance of Childe Harold, such influence had +the opinions of Mr. Gifford and Mr. Dallas on his mind, that he not only +shrunk from his original design of identifying himself with his hero, +but surrendered to them one of his most favourite stanzas, whose +heterodoxy they had objected to; nor is it too much, perhaps, to +conclude, that had a more extended force of such influence then acted +upon him, he would have consented to omit the sceptical parts of his +poem altogether. Certain it is that, during the remainder of his stay in +England, no such doctrines were ever again obtruded on his readers; and +in all those beautiful creations of his fancy, with which he brightened +that whole period, keeping the public eye in one prolonged gaze of +admiration, both the bitterness and the licence of his impetuous spirit +were kept effectually under control. The world, indeed, had yet to +witness what he was capable of, when emancipated from this restraint. +For, graceful and powerful as were his flights while society had still a +hold of him, it was not till let loose from the leash that he rose into +the true region of his strength; and though almost in proportion to that +strength was, too frequently, his abuse of it, yet so magnificent are +the very excesses of such energy, that it is impossible, even while we +condemn, not to admire. + +The occasion by which I have been led into these remarks,--namely, his +sensitiveness on the subject of his Satire,--is one of those instances +that show how easily his gigantic spirit could be, if not held down, at +least entangled, by the small ties of society. The aggression of which +he had been guilty was not only past, but, by many of those most +injured, forgiven; and yet,--highly, it must be allowed, to the credit +of his social feelings,--the idea of living familiarly and friendlily +with persons, respecting whose character or talents there were such +opinions of his on record, became, at length, insupportable to him; and, +though far advanced in a fifth edition of "English Bards," &c., he came +to the resolution of suppressing the Satire altogether; and orders were +sent to Cawthorn, the publisher, to commit the whole impression to the +flames. At the same time, and from similar motives,--aided, I rather +think, by a friendly remonstrance from Lord Elgin, or some of his +connections,--the "Curse of Minerva," a poem levelled against that +nobleman, and already in progress towards publication, was also +sacrificed; while the "Hints from Horace," though containing far less +personal satire than either of the others, shared their fate. + +To exemplify what I have said of his extreme sensibility, to the passing +sunshine or clouds of the society in which he lived, I need but cite the +following notes, addressed by him to his friend Mr. William Bankes, +under the apprehension that this gentleman was, for some reason or +other, displeased with him. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 92. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "April 20. 1812. + + "My dear Bankes, + + "I feel rather hurt (not savagely) at the speech you made to me + last night, and my hope is, that it was only one of your _profane_ + jests. I should be very sorry that any part of my behaviour should + give you cause to suppose that I think higher of myself, or + otherwise of you than I have always done. I can assure you that I + am as much the humblest of your servants as at Trin. Coll.; and if + I have not been at home when you favoured me with a call, the loss + was more mine than yours. In the bustle of buzzing parties, there + is, there can be, no rational conversation; but when I can enjoy + it, there is nobody's I can prefer to your own. Believe me ever + faithfully and most affectionately yours, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 93. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "My dear Bankes, + + "My eagerness to come to an explanation has, I trust, convinced you + that whatever my unlucky manner might inadvertently be, the change + was as unintentional as (if intended) it would have been + ungrateful. I really was not aware that, while we were together, I + had evinced such caprices; that we were not so much in each other's + company as I could have wished, I well know, but I think so _acute_ + an _observer_ as yourself must have perceived enough to _explain + this_, without supposing any slight to one in whose society I have + pride and pleasure. Recollect that I do not allude here to + 'extended' or 'extending' acquaintances, but to circumstances you + will understand, I think, on a little reflection. + + "And now, my dear Bankes, do not distress me by supposing that I + can think of you, or you of me, otherwise than I trust we have long + thought. You told me not long ago that my temper was improved, and + I should be sorry that opinion should be revoked. Believe me, your + friendship is of more account to me than all those absurd vanities + in which, I fear, you conceive me to take too much interest. I have + never disputed your superiority, or doubted (seriously) your good + will, and no one shall ever 'make mischief between us' without the + sincere regret on the part of your ever affectionate, &c. + + "P.S. I shall see you, I hope, at Lady Jersey's. Hobhouse goes + also." + + * * * * * + +In the month of April he was again tempted to try his success in the +House of Lords; and, on the motion of Lord Donoughmore for taking into +consideration the claims of the Irish catholics, delivered his +sentiments strongly in favour of the proposition. His display, on this +occasion, seems to have been less promising than in his first essay. His +delivery was thought mouthing and theatrical, being infected, I take for +granted (having never heard him speak in Parliament), with the same +chanting tone that disfigured his recitation of poetry,--a tone +contracted at most of the public schools, but more particularly, +perhaps, at Harrow, and encroaching just enough on the boundaries of +song to offend those ears most by which song is best enjoyed and +understood. + +On the subject of the negotiations for a change of ministry which took +place during this session, I find the following anecdotes recorded in +his notebook:-- + +"At the opposition meeting of the peers in 1812, at Lord Grenville's, +when Lord Grey and he read to us the correspondence upon Moira's +negotiation, I sate next to the present Duke of Grafton, and said, 'What +is to be done next?'--'Wake the Duke of Norfolk' (who was snoring away +near us), replied he: 'I don't think the negotiators have left any thing +else for us to do this turn.' + +"In the debate, or rather discussion, afterwards in the House of Lords +upon that very question, I sate immediately behind Lord Moira, who was +extremely annoyed at Grey's speech upon the subject; and, while Grey was +speaking, turned round to me repeatedly, and asked me whether I agreed +with him. It was an awkward question to me who had not heard both sides. +Moira kept repeating to me, 'It was _not so_, it was so and so,' &c. I +did not know very well what to think, but I sympathised with the +acuteness of his feelings upon the subject." + +The subject of the Catholic claims was, it is well known, brought +forward a second time this session by Lord Wellesley, whose motion for a +future consideration of the question was carried by a majority of one. +In reference to this division, another rather amusing anecdote is thus +related. + +"Lord * * affects an imitation of two very different Chancellors, +Thurlow and Loughborough, and can indulge in an oath now and then. On +one of the debates on the Catholic question, when we were either equal +or within one (I forget which), I had been sent for in great haste to a +ball, which I quitted, I confess, somewhat reluctantly, to emancipate +five millions of people. I came in late, and did not go immediately into +the body of the House, but stood just behind the woolsack. * * turned +round, and, catching my eye, immediately said to a peer, (who had come +to him for a few minutes on the woolsack, as is the custom of his +friends,) 'Damn them! they'll have it now,--by G----d! the vote that is +just come in will give it them.'" + +During all this time, the impression which he had produced in society, +both as a poet and a man, went on daily increasing; and the facility +with which he gave himself up to the current of fashionable life, and +mingled in all the gay scenes through which it led, showed that the +novelty, at least, of this mode of existence had charms for him, however +he might estimate its pleasures. That sort of vanity which is almost +inseparable from genius, and which consists in an extreme sensitiveness +on the subject of self, Lord Byron, I need not say, possessed in no +ordinary degree; and never was there a career in which this sensibility +to the opinions of others was exposed to more constant and various +excitement than that on which he was now entered. I find in a note of my +own to him, written at this period, some jesting allusions to the +"circle of star-gazers" whom I had left around him at some party on the +preceding night;--and such, in fact, was the flattering ordeal he had to +undergo wherever he went. On these occasions,--particularly before the +range of his acquaintance had become sufficiently extended to set him +wholly at his ease,--his air and port were those of one whose better +thoughts were elsewhere, and who looked with melancholy abstraction on +the gay crowd around him. This deportment, so rare in such scenes, and +so accordant with the romantic notions entertained of him, was the +result partly of shyness, and partly, perhaps, of that love of effect +and impression to which the poetical character of his mind naturally +led. Nothing, indeed, could be more amusing and delightful than the +contrast which his manners afterwards, when we were alone, presented to +his proud reserve in the brilliant circle we had just left. It was like +the bursting gaiety of a boy let loose from school, and seemed as if +there was no extent of fun or tricks of which he was not capable. +Finding him invariably thus lively when we were together, I often +rallied him on the gloomy tone of his poetry, as assumed; but his +constant answer was (and I soon ceased to doubt of its truth), that, +though thus merry and full of laughter with those he liked, he was, at +heart, one of the most melancholy wretches in existence. + +Among the numerous notes which I received from him at this time,--some +of them relating to our joint engagements in society, and others to +matters now better forgotten,--I shall select a few that (as showing his +haunts and habits) may not, perhaps, be uninteresting. + + "March 25. 1812. + + "Know all men by these presents, that you, Thomas Moore, stand + indicted--no--invited, by special and particular solicitation, to + Lady C. L * *'s to-morrow evening, at half-past nine o'clock, where + you will meet with a civil reception and decent entertainment. + Pray, come--I was so examined after you this morning, that I + entreat you to answer in person. + + "Believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + + "Friday noon. + + "I should have answered your note yesterday, but I hoped to have + seen you this morning. I must consult with you about the day we + dine with Sir Francis. I suppose we shall meet at Lady Spencer's + to-night. I did not know that you were at Miss Berry's the other + night, or I should have certainly gone there. + + "As usual, I am in all sorts of scrapes, though none, at present, + of a martial description. + + "Believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + + "May 8. 1812. + + "I am too proud of being your friend to care with whom I am linked + in your estimation, and, God knows, I want friends more at this + time than at any other. I am 'taking care of myself' to no great + purpose. If you knew my situation in every point of view you would + excuse apparent and unintentional neglect. I shall leave town, I + think; but do not you leave it without seeing me. I wish you, from + my soul, every happiness you can wish yourself; and I think you + have taken the road to secure it. Peace be with you! I fear she has + abandoned me. + + "Ever," &c. + + * * * * * + + "May 20. 1812. + + "On Monday, after sitting up all night, I saw Bellingham launched + into eternity[48], and at three the same day I saw * * * launched + into the country. + + "I believe, in the beginning of June, I shall be down for a few + days in Notts. If so, I shall beat you up 'en passant' with + Hobhouse, who is endeavouring, like you and every body else, to + keep me out of scrapes. + + "I meant to have written you a long letter, but I find I cannot. If + any thing remarkable occurs, you will hear it from me--if good; if + _bad_, there are plenty to tell it. In the mean time, do you be + happy. + + "Ever yours, &c. + + "P.S.--My best wishes and respects to Mrs. * *;--she is beautiful. + I may say so even to you, for I never was more struck with a + countenance." + +[Footnote 48: He had taken a window opposite for the purpose, and was +accompanied on the occasion by his old schoolfellows, Mr. Bailey and Mr. +John Madocks. They went together from some assembly, and, on their +arriving at the spot, about three o'clock in the morning, not finding +the house that was to receive them open, Mr. Madocks undertook to rouse +the inmates, while Lord Byron and Mr. Bailey sauntered, arm in arm, up +the street. During this interval, rather a painful scene occurred. +Seeing an unfortunate woman lying on the steps of a door, Lord Byron, +with some expression of compassion, offered her a few shillings: but, +instead of accepting them, she violently pushed away his hand, and, +starting up with a yell of laughter, began to mimic the lameness of his +gait. He did not utter a word; but "I could feel," said Mr. Bailey, "his +arm trembling within mine, as we left her." + +I may take this opportunity of mentioning another anecdote connected +with his lameness. In coming out, one night, from a ball, with Mr. +Rogers, as they were on their way to their carriage, one of the +link-boys ran on before Lord Byron, crying, "This way, my Lord."--"He +seems to know you," said Mr. Rogers.--"Know me!" answered Lord Byron, +with some degree of bitterness in his tone--"every one knows me,--I am +deformed."] + + * * * * * + +Among the tributes to his fame, this spring, it should have been +mentioned that, at some evening party, he had the honour of being +presented, at that royal personage's own desire, to the Prince Regent. +"The Regent," says Mr. Dallas, "expressed his admiration of Childe +Harold's Pilgrimage, and continued a conversation, which so fascinated +the poet, that had it not been for an accidental deferring of the next +levee, he bade fair to become a visiter at Carlton House, if not a +complete courtier." + +After this wise prognostic, the writer adds,--"I called on him on the +morning for which the levee had been appointed, and found him in a full +dress court suit of clothes, with his fine black hair in powder, which +by no means suited his countenance. I was surprised, as he had not told +me that he should go to court; and it seemed to me as if he thought it +necessary to apologise for his intention, by his observing that he could +not in decency but do it, as the Regent had done him the honour to say +that he hoped to see him soon at Carlton House." + +In the two letters that follow we find his own account of the +introduction. + +LETTER 94. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "June 25. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "I must appear very ungrateful, and have, indeed, been very + negligent, but till last night I was not apprised of Lady Holland's + restoration, and I shall call to-morrow to have the satisfaction, I + trust, of hearing that she is well--I hope that neither politics + nor gout have assailed your Lordship since I last saw you, and that + you also are 'as well as could be expected.' + + "The other night, at a ball, I was presented by order to our + gracious Regent, who honoured me with some conversation, and + professed a predilection for poetry.--I confess it was a most + unexpected honour, and I thought of poor B-----s's adventure, with + some apprehension of a similar blunder, I have now great hope, in + the event of Mr. Pye's decease, of 'warbling truth at court,' like + Mr. Mallet of indifferent memory.--Consider, one hundred marks a + year! besides the wine and the disgrace; but then remorse would + make me drown myself in my own butt before the year's end, or the + finishing of my first dithyrambic.--So that, after all, I shall not + meditate our laureate's death by pen or poison. + + "Will you present my best respects to Lady Holland? and believe me + hers and yours very sincerely." + + * * * * * + +The second letter, entering much more fully into the particulars of this +interview with Royalty, was in answer, it will be perceived, to some +enquiries which Sir Walter Scott (then Mr. Scott) had addressed to him +on the subject; and the whole account reflects even still more honour on +the Sovereign himself than on the two poets. + +LETTER 95. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. + + "St. James's Street, July 6. 1812. + + "Sir, + + "I have just been honoured with your letter.--I feel sorry that you + should have thought it worth while to notice the 'evil works of my + nonage,' as the thing is suppressed voluntarily, and your + explanation is too kind not to give me pain. The Satire was written + when I was very young and very angry, and fully bent on displaying + my wrath and my wit, and now I am haunted by the ghosts of my + wholesale assertions. I cannot sufficiently thank you for your + praise; and now, waving myself, let me talk to you of the Prince + Regent. He ordered me to be presented to him at a ball; and after + some sayings peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my own + attempts, he talked to me of you and your immortalities: he + preferred you to every bard past and present, and asked which of + your works pleased me most. It was a difficult question. I + answered, I thought the "Lay." He said his own opinion was nearly + similar. In speaking of the others, I told him that I thought you + more particularly the poet of _Princes_, as _they_ never appeared + more fascinating than in 'Marmion' and the 'Lady of the Lake.' He + was pleased to coincide, and to dwell on the description of your + Jameses as no less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of + Homer and yourself, and seemed well acquainted with both; so that + (with the exception of the Turks and your humble servant) you were + in very good company. I defy Murray to have exaggerated his Royal + Highness's opinion of your powers, nor can I pretend to enumerate + all he said on the subject; but it may give you pleasure to hear + that it was conveyed in language which would only suffer by my + attempting to transcribe it, and with a tone and taste which gave + me a very high idea of his abilities and accomplishments, which I + had hitherto considered as confined to _manners_, certainly + superior to those of any living _gentleman_. + + "This interview was accidental. I never went to the levee; for + having seen the courts of Mussulman and Catholic sovereigns, my + curiosity was sufficiently allayed; and my politics being as + perverse as my rhymes, I had, in fact, 'no business there.' To be + thus praised by your Sovereign must be gratifying to you; and if + that gratification is not alloyed by the communication being made + through me, the bearer of it will consider himself very fortunately + and sincerely, + + "Your obliged and obedient servant, + + "BYRON. + + "P.S.--Excuse this scrawl, scratched in a great hurry, and just + after a journey." + + * * * * * + +During the summer of this year, he paid visits to some of his noble +friends, and, among others, to the Earl of Jersey and the Marquis of +Lansdowne. "In 1812," he says, "at Middleton (Lord Jersey's), amongst a +goodly company of lords, ladies, and wits, &c., there was (* * *.) [49] + +"Erskine, too! Erskine was there; good, but intolerable. He jested, he +talked, he did every thing admirably, but then he would be applauded for +the same thing twice over. He would read his own verses, his own +paragraph, and tell his own story again and again; and then the 'Trial +by Jury!!!' I almost wished it abolished, for I sat next him at dinner. +As I had read his published speeches, there was no occasion to repeat +them to me. + +"C * * (the fox-hunter), nicknamed '_Cheek_ C * *,' and I, sweated the +claret, being the only two who did so. C * *, who loves his bottle, and +had no notion of meeting with a 'bon-vivant' in a scribbler[50], in +making my eulogy to somebody one evening, summed it up in--'By G----d he +drinks like a man.' + +"Nobody drank, however, but C * * and I. To be sure, there was little +occasion, for we swept off what was on the table (a most splendid board, +as may be supposed, at Jersey's) very sufficiently. However, we carried +our liquor discreetly, like the Baron of Bradwardine." + +[Footnote 49: A review, somewhat too critical, of some of the guests is +here omitted.] + +[Footnote 50: For the first day or two, at Middleton, he did not join +his noble host's party till after dinner, but took his scanty repast of +biscuits and soda water in his own room. Being told by somebody that the +gentleman above mentioned had pronounced such habits to be "effeminate," +he resolved to show the "fox-hunter" that he could be, on occasion, as +good a _bon-vivant_ as himself, and, by his prowess at the claret next +day, after dinner, drew forth from Mr. C * * the eulogium here +recorded.] + + * * * * * + +In the month of August this year, on the completion of the new Theatre +Royal, Drury Lane, the Committee of Management, desirous of procuring an +Address for the opening of the theatre, took the rather novel mode of +inviting, by an advertisement in the newspapers, the competition of all +the poets of the day towards this object. Though the contributions that +ensued were sufficiently numerous, it did not appear to the Committee +that there was any one among the number worthy of selection. In this +difficulty it occurred to Lord Holland that they could not do better +than have recourse to Lord Byron, whose popularity would give additional +vogue to the solemnity of their opening, and to whose transcendant +claims, as a poet, it was taken for granted, (though without sufficient +allowance, as it proved, for the irritability of the brotherhood,) even +the rejected candidates themselves would bow without a murmur. The first +result of this application to the noble poet will be learned from what +follows. + +LETTER 96. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Cheltenham, September 10. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "The lines which I sketched off on your hint are still, or rather + _were_, in an unfinished state, for I have just committed them to a + flame more decisive than that of Drury. Under all the + circumstances, I should hardly wish a contest with + Philo-drama--Philo-Drury--Asbestos, H * *, and all the anonymes and + synonymes of Committee candidates. Seriously, I think you have a + chance of something much better; for prologuising is not my forte, + and, at all events, either my pride or my modesty won't let me + incur the hazard of having my rhymes buried in next month's + Magazine, under 'Essays on the Murder of Mr. Perceval,' and 'Cures + for the Bite of a Mad Dog,' as poor Goldsmith complained of the + fate of far superior performances. + + "I am still sufficiently interested to wish to know the successful + candidate; and, amongst so many, I have no doubt some will be + excellent, particularly in an age when writing verse is the easiest + of all attainments. + + "I cannot answer your intelligence with the 'like comfort,' unless, + as you are deeply theatrical, you may wish to hear of Mr. * *, + whose acting is, I fear, utterly inadequate to the London + engagement into which the managers of Covent Garden have lately + entered. His figure is fat, his features flat, his voice + unmanageable, his action ungraceful, and, as Diggory says, 'I defy + him to _ex_tort that d----d muffin face of his into madness.' I was + very sorry to see him in the character of the 'Elephant on the + slack rope;' for, when I last saw him, I was in raptures with his + performance. But then I was sixteen--an age to which all London + condescended to subside. After all, much better judges have + admired, and may again; but I venture to 'prognosticate a prophecy' + (see the Courier) that he will not succeed. + + "So, poor dear Rogers has stuck fast on 'the brow of the mighty + Helvellyn'--I hope not for ever. My best respects to Lady H.:--her + departure, with that of my other friends, was a sad event for me, + now reduced to a state of the most cynical solitude. 'By the waters + of Cheltenham I sat down and _drank_, when I remembered thee, oh + Georgiana Cottage! As for our _harps_, we hanged them up upon the + willows that grew thereby. Then they said, Sing us a song of Drury + Lane,' &c.;--but I am dumb and dreary as the Israelites. The waters + have disordered me to my heart's content--you _were_ right, as you + always are. Believe me ever your obliged and affectionate servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +The request of the Committee for his aid having been, still more +urgently, repeated, he, at length, notwithstanding the difficulty and +invidiousness of the task, from his strong wish to oblige Lord Holland, +consented to undertake it; and the quick succeeding notes and letters, +which he addressed, during the completion of the Address, to his noble +friend, afford a proof (in conjunction with others of still more +interest, yet to be cited) of the pains he, at this time, took in +improving and polishing his first conceptions, and the importance he +wisely attached to a judicious choice of epithets as a means of +enriching both the music and the meaning of his verse. They also +show,--what, as an illustration of his character, is even still more +valuable,--the exceeding pliancy and good humour with which he could +yield to friendly suggestions and criticisms; nor can it be questioned, +I think, but that the docility thus invariably exhibited by him, on +points where most poets are found to be tenacious and irritable, was a +quality natural to his disposition, and such as might have been turned +to account in far more important matters, had he been fortunate enough +to meet with persons capable of understanding and guiding him. + +The following are a few of those hasty notes, on the subject of the +Address, which I allude to:-- + +TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 22. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "In a day or two I will send you something which you will still + have the liberty to reject if you dislike it. I should like to have + had more time, but will do my best,--but too happy if I can oblige + _you_, though I may offend a hundred scribblers and the discerning + public. Ever yours. + + "Keep _my name_ a _secret_; or I shall be beset by all the + rejected, and, perhaps, damned by a party." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 97. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Cheltenham, September 23. 1812. + + "Ecco!--I have marked some passages with _double_ readings--choose + between them--_cut_--_add_--_reject_--or _destroy_--do with them + as you will--I leave it to you and the Committee--you cannot say so + called 'a _non committendo_.' What will _they_ do (and I do) with + the hundred and one rejected Troubadours? 'With trumpets, yea, and + with shawms,' will you be assailed in the most diabolical doggerel. + I wish my name not to transpire till the day is decided. I shall + not be in town, so it won't much matter; but let us have a good + _deliverer_. I think Elliston should be the man, or Pope; _not_ + Raymond, I implore you, by the love of Rhythmus! + + "The passages marked thus ==, above and below, are for you to + choose between epithets, and such like poetical furniture. Pray + write me a line, and believe me ever, &c. + + "My best remembrances to Lady H. Will you be good enough to decide + between the various readings marked, and erase the other; or our + deliverer may be as puzzled as a commentator, and belike repeat + both. If these _versicles_ won't do, I will hammer out some more + endecasyllables. + + "P.S.--Tell Lady H. I have had sad work to keep out the Phoenix--I + mean the Fire Office of that name. It has insured the theatre, and + why not the Address?" + + * * * * * + +TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 24. + + "I send a recast of the four first lines of the concluding + paragraph. + + "This greeting o'er, the ancient rule obey'd, + The drama's homage by her Herald paid, + Receive _our welcome too_, whose every tone + Springs from our hearts, and fain would win your own. + The curtain rises, &c. &c. + + And do forgive all this trouble. See what it is to have to do even + with the _genteelest_ of us. Ever," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 99. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 26. 1812. + + "You will think there is no end to my villanous emendations. The + fifth and sixth lines I think to alter thus:-- + + "Ye who beheld--oh sight admired and mourn'd, + Whose radiance mock'd the ruin it adorn'd; + + because 'night' is repeated the next line but one; and, as it now + stands, the conclusion of the paragraph, 'worthy him (Shakspeare) + and _you_,' appears to apply the '_you_' to those only who were out + of bed and in Covent Garden Market on the night of conflagration, + instead of the audience or the discerning public at large, all of + whom are intended to be comprised in that comprehensive and, I + hope, comprehensible pronoun. + + "By the by, one of my corrections in the fair copy sent yesterday + has dived into the bathos some sixty fathom-- + + "When Garrick died, and Brinsley ceased to write. + + Ceasing to _live_ is a much more serious concern, and ought not to + be first; therefore I will let the old couplet stand, with its half + rhymes 'sought' and 'wrote.'[51] Second thoughts in every thing are + best, but, in rhyme, third and fourth don't come amiss. I am very + anxious on this business, and I do hope that the very trouble I + occasion you will plead its own excuse, and that it will tend to + show my endeavour to make the most of the time allotted. I wish I + had known it months ago, for in that case I had not left one line + standing on another. I always scrawl in this way, and smooth as + much as I can, but never sufficiently; and, latterly, I can weave a + nine-line stanza faster than a couplet, for which measure I have + not the cunning. When I began 'Childe Harold,' I had never tried + Spenser's measure, and now I cannot scribble in any other. + + "After all, my dear Lord, if you can get a decent Address + elsewhere, don't hesitate to put this aside. Why did you not trust + your own Muse? I am very sure she would have been triumphant, and + saved the Committee their trouble--''tis a joyful one' to me, but I + fear I shall not satisfy even myself. After the account you sent + me, 'tis no compliment to say you would have beaten your + candidates; but I mean that, in _that_ case, there would have been + no occasion for their being beaten at all. + + "There are but two decent prologues in our tongue--Pope's to + Cato--Johnson's to Drury Lane. These, with the epilogue to the + 'Distrest Mother,' and, I think, one of Goldsmith's, and a prologue + of old Colman's to Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, are the best + things of the kind we have. + + "P.S.--I am diluted to the throat with medicine for the stone; and + Boisragon wants me to try a warm climate for the winter--but I + won't." + +[Footnote 51: + + "Such are the names that here your plaudits sought, + When Garrick acted, and when Brinsley wrote." + +At present the couplet stands thus:-- + + "Dear are the days that made our annals bright, + Ere Garrick fled, or Brinsley ceased to write." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 100. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 27. 1812. + + "I have just received your very kind letter, and hope you have met + with a second copy corrected and addressed to Holland House, with + some omissions and this new couplet, + + "As glared each rising flash[52], and ghastly shone + The skies with lightnings awful as their own. + + As to remarks, I can only say I will alter and acquiesce in any + thing. With regard to the part which Whitbread wishes to omit, I + believe the Address will go off _quicker_ without it, though, like + the agility of the Hottentot, at the expense of its vigour. I leave + to your choice entirely the different specimens of stucco-work; and + a _brick_ of your own will also much improve my Babylonish turret. + I should like Elliston to have it, with your leave. 'Adorn' and + 'mourn' are lawful rhymes in Pope's Death of the unfortunate + Lady.--Gray has 'forlorn' and 'mourn;'--and 'torn' and 'mourn' are + in Smollet's famous Tears of Scotland. + + "As there will probably be an outcry amongst the rejected, I hope + the committee will testify (if it be needful) that I sent in + nothing to the congress whatever, with or without a name, as your + Lordship well knows. All I have to do with it is with and through + you; and though I, of course, wish to satisfy the audience, I do + assure you my first object is to comply with your request, and in + so doing to show the sense I have of the many obligations you have + conferred upon me. Yours ever, B." + +[Footnote 52: At present, "As glared the volumed blaze."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 103. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 29. 1812. + + "Shakspeare certainly ceased to reign in _one_ of his kingdoms, as + George III. did in America, and George IV. may in Ireland.[53] Now, + we have nothing to do out of our own realms, and when the monarchy + was gone, his majesty had but a barren sceptre. I have _cut away_, + you will see, and altered, but make it what you please; only I do + implore, for my _own_ gratification, one lash on those accursed + quadrupeds--'a long shot, Sir Lucius, if you love me.' I have + altered 'wave,' &c., and the 'fire,' and so forth for the timid. + + "Let me hear from you when convenient, and believe me, &c. + + "P.S.--Do let _that_ stand, and cut out elsewhere. I shall choke, + if we must overlook their d----d menagerie." + +[Footnote 53: Some objection, it appears from this, had been made to the +passage, "and Shakspeare _ceased to reign_."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 105. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Far be from him that hour which asks in vain + Tears such as flow for Garrick in his strain; + + _or_, + + "Far be that hour that vainly asks in turn + {_crown'd his_} + Such verse for him as { wept o'er } Garrick's urn. + + "September 30. 1812. + + "Will you choose between these added to the lines on Sheridan?[54] + I think they will wind up the panegyric, and agree with the train + of thought preceding them. + + "Now, one word as to the Committee--how could they resolve on a + rough copy of an Address never sent in, unless you had been good + enough to retain in memory, or on paper, the thing they have been + good enough to adopt? By the by, the circumstances of the case + should make the Committee less 'avidus glorias,' for all praise of + them would look plaguy suspicious. If necessary to be stated at + all, the simple facts bear them out. They surely had a right to act + as they pleased. My sole object is one which, I trust, my whole + conduct has shown; viz. that I did nothing insidious--sent in no + Address _whatever_--but, when applied to, did my best for them and + myself; but, above all, that there was no undue partiality, which + will be what the rejected will endeavour to make out. + Fortunately--most fortunately--I sent in no lines on the occasion. + For I am sure that had they, in that case, been preferred, it would + have been asserted that _I_ was known, and owed the preference to + private friendship. This is what we shall probably have to + encounter; but, if once spoken and approved, we sha'n't be much + embarrassed by their brilliant conjectures; and, as to criticism, + an _old_ author, like an old bull, grows cooler (or ought) at every + baiting. + + "The only thing would be to avoid a party on the night of + delivery--afterwards, the more the better, and the whole + transaction inevitably tends to a good deal of discussion. Murray + tells me there are myriads of ironical Addresses ready--_some_, in + imitation of what is called _my style_. If they are as good as the + Probationary Odes, or Hawkins's Pipe of Tobacco, it will not be bad + fun for the imitated. + + "Ever," &c. + +[Footnote 54: These added lines, as may be seen by reference to the +printed Address, were not retained.] + + * * * * * + +The time comprised in the series of letters to Lord Holland, of which +the above are specimens, Lord Byron passed, for the most part, at +Cheltenham; and during the same period, the following letters to other +correspondents were written. + +LETTER 107. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "High Street, Cheltenham, Sept. 5. 1812. + + "Pray have the goodness to send those despatches, and a No. of the + Edinburgh Review with the rest. I hope you have written to Mr. + Thompson, thanked him in my name for his present, and told him that + I shall be truly happy to comply with his request.--How do you go + on? and when is the graven image, 'with _bays and wicked rhyme + upon 't,'_ to grace, or disgrace, some of our tardy editions? + + "Send me '_Rokeby_.' Who the devil is he?--no matter, he has good + connections, and will be well introduced. I thank you for your + enquiries: I am so so, but my thermometer is sadly below the + poetical point. What will you give _me_ or _mine_ for a poem of six + cantos, (_when complete_--_no_ rhyme, _no_ recompense,) as like + the last two as I can make them? I have some ideas that one day may + be embodied, and till winter I shall have much leisure. + + "P.S.--My last question is in the true style of Grub Street; but, + like Jeremy Diddler, I only 'ask for information.'--Send me Adair + on Diet and Regimen, just republished by Ridgway." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 108. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, Sept. 14. 1812. + + "The parcels contained some letters and verses, all but one + anonymous and complimentary, and very anxious for my conversion + from certain infidelities into which my good-natured correspondents + conceive me to have fallen. The books were presents of a + _convertible_ kind. Also, 'Christian Knowledge' and the 'Bioscope,' + a religious Dial of Life explained;--and to the author of the + former (Cadell, publisher,) I beg you will forward my best thanks + for his letter, his present, and, above all, his good intentions. + The 'Bioscope' contained a MS. copy of very excellent verses, from + whom I know not, but evidently the composition of some one in the + habit of writing, and of writing well. I do not know if he be the + author of the 'Bioscope' which accompanied them; but whoever he is, + if you can discover him, thank him from me most heartily. The other + letters were from ladies, who are welcome to convert me when they + please; and if I can discover them, and they be young, as they say + they are, I could convince them perhaps of my devotion. I had also + a letter from Mr. Walpole on matters of this world, which I have + answered. + + "So you are Lucien's publisher? I am promised an interview with + him, and think I shall ask _you_ for a letter of introduction, as + 'the gods have made him poetical.' From whom could it come with a + better grace than from _his_ publisher and mine? Is it not somewhat + treasonable in you to have to do with a relative of the 'direful + foe,' as the Morning Post calls his brother? + + "But my book on 'Diet and Regimen,' where is it? I thirst for + Scott's Rokeby; let me have your first-begotten copy. The + Anti-jacobin Review is all very well, and not a bit worse than the + Quarterly, and at least less harmless. By the by, have you secured + my books? I want all the Reviews, at least the critiques, + quarterly, monthly, &c., Portuguese and English, extracted, and + bound up in one volume for my _old age_; and pray, sort my Romaic + books, and get the volumes lent to Mr. Hobhouse--he has had them + now a long time. If any thing occurs, you will favour me with a + line, and in winter we shall be nearer neighbours. + + "P.S.--I was applied to, to write the Address for Drury Lane, but + the moment I heard of the contest, I gave up the idea of contending + against all Grub Street, and threw a few thoughts on the subject + into the fire. I did this out of respect to you, being sure you + would have turned off any of your authors who had entered the lists + with such scurvy competitors. To triumph would have been no glory; + and to have been defeated--'sdeath!--I would have choked myself, + like Otway, with a quartern loaf; so, remember I had, and have, + nothing to do with it, upon _my honour_." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 109. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "Cheltenham, September 28. 1812. + + "My dear Bankes, + + "When you point out to one how people can be intimate at the + distance of some seventy leagues, I will plead guilty to your + charge, and accept your farewell, but not _wittingly_, till you + give me some better reason than my silence, which merely proceeded + from a notion founded on your own declaration of _old_, that you + hated writing and receiving letters. Besides, how was I to find out + a man of many residences? If I had addressed you _now_, it had been + to your borough, where I must have conjectured you were amongst + your constituents. So now, in despite of Mr. N. and Lady W., you + shall be as 'much better' as the Hexham post-office will allow me + to make you. I do assure you I am much indebted to you for thinking + of me at all, and can't spare you even from amongst the + superabundance of friends with whom you suppose me surrounded. + + "You heard that Newstead[55] is sold--the sum 140,000_l._; sixty + to remain in mortgage on the estate for three years, paying + interest, of course. Rochdale is also likely to do well--so my + worldly matters are mending. I have been here some time drinking + the waters, simply because there are waters to drink, and they are + very medicinal, and sufficiently disgusting. In a few days I set + out for Lord Jersey's, but return here, where I am quite alone, go + out very little, and enjoy in its fullest extent the 'dolce far + niente.' What you are about, I cannot guess, even from your + date;--not dauncing to the sound of the gitourney in the Halls of + the Lowthers? one of whom is here, ill, poor thing, with a + phthisic. I heard that you passed through here (at the sordid inn + where I first alighted) the very day before I arrived in these + parts. We had a very pleasant set here; at first the Jerseys, + Melbournes, Cowpers, and Hollands, but all gone; and the only + persons I know are the Rawdons and Oxfords, with some later + acquaintances of less brilliant descent. + + "But I do not trouble them much; and as for your rooms and your + assemblies, 'they are not dreamed of in our philosophy!!'--Did you + read of a sad accident in the Wye t' other day? a dozen drowned, and + Mr. Rossoe, a corpulent gentleman, preserved by a boat-hook or an + eel-spear, begged, when he heard his wife was + saved--no--_lost_--to be thrown in again!!--as if he could not + have thrown himself in, had he wished it; but this passes for a + trait of sensibility. What strange beings men are, in and out of + the Wye! + + "I have to ask you a thousand pardons for not fulfilling some + orders before I left town; but if you knew all the cursed + entanglements I _had_ to wade through, it would be unnecessary to + beg your forgiveness.--When will Parliament (the new one) + meet?--in sixty days, on account of Ireland, I presume: the Irish + election will demand a longer period for completion than the + constitutional allotment. Yours, of course, is safe, and all your + side of the question. Salamanca is the ministerial watchword, and + all will go well with you. I hope you will speak more frequently, I + am sure at least you _ought_, and it will be expected. I see + Portman means to stand again. Good night. + + "Ever yours most affectionately, + + "[Greek: Mpahirôn]."[56] + +[Footnote 55: "Early in the autumn of 1812," says Mr. Dallas, "he told +me that he was urged by his man of business, and that Newstead _must_ be +sold." It was accordingly brought to the hammer at Garraway's, but not, +at that time, sold, only 90,000_l._ being offered for it. The private +sale to which he alludes in this letter took place soon after,--Mr. +Claughton, the agent for Mr. Leigh, being the purchaser. It was never, +however, for reasons which we shall see, completed.] + +[Footnote 56: A mode of signature he frequently adopted at this time.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 110. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, September 27. 1812. + + "I sent in no Address whatever to the Committee; but out of nearly + one hundred (this is _confidential_), none have been deemed worth + acceptance; and in consequence of their _subsequent_ application to + _me_, I have written a prologue, which _has_ been received, and + will be spoken. The MS. is now in the hands of Lord Holland. + + "I write this merely to say, that (however it is received by the + audience) you will publish it in the next edition of Childe Harold; + and I only beg you at present to keep my name secret till you hear + further from me, and as soon as possible I wish you to have a + correct copy, to do with as you think proper. + + "P.S.--I should wish a few copies printed off _before_, that the + newspaper copies may be correct _after_ the _delivery_." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 111. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, Oct. 12. 1812. + + "I have a very _strong_ objection to the engraving of the + portrait[57], and request that it may, on no account, be prefixed; + but let _all_ the proofs be burnt, and the plate broken. I will be + at the expense which has been incurred; it is but fair that _I_ + should, since I cannot permit the publication. I beg, as a + particular favour, that you will lose no time in having this done, + for which I have reasons that I will state when I see you. Forgive + all the trouble I have occasioned you. + + "I have received no account of the reception of the Address, but + see it is vituperated in the papers, which does not much embarrass + an _old author_. I leave it to your own judgment to add it, or not, + to your next edition when required. Pray comply _strictly_ with my + wishes as to the engraving, and believe me, &c. + + "P.S.--Favour me with an answer, as I shall not be easy till I hear + that the proofs, &c. are destroyed. I hear that the _Satirist_ has + reviewed Childe Harold, in what manner I need not ask; but I wish + to know if the old personalities are revived? I have a better + reason for asking this than any that merely concerns myself; but in + publications of that kind, others, particularly female names, are + sometimes introduced." + +[Footnote 57: A miniature by Sanders. Besides this miniature, Sanders +had also painted a full length of his Lordship, from which the portrait +prefixed to this work is engraved. In reference to the latter picture, +Lord Byron says, in a note to Mr. Rogers, "If you think the picture you +saw at Murray's worth your acceptance, it is yours; and you may put a +_glove_ or mask on it, if you like."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 112. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Cheltenham, Oct. 14. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "I perceive that the papers, yea, even Perry's, are somewhat + ruffled at the injudicious preference of the Committee. My friend + Perry has, indeed, 'et tu Brute'-d me rather scurvily, for which I + will send him, for the M.C., the next epigram I scribble, as a + token of my full forgiveness. + + "Do the Committee mean to enter into no explanation of their + proceedings? You must see there is a leaning towards a charge of + partiality. You will, at least, acquit me of any great anxiety to + push myself before so many elder and better anonymous, to whom the + twenty guineas (which I take to be about two thousand pounds _Bank_ + currency) and the honour would have been equally welcome. 'Honour,' + I see, 'hath no skill in paragraph-writing.' + + "I wish to know how it went off at the second reading, and whether + any one has had the grace to give it a glance of approbation. I + have seen no paper but Perry's and two Sunday ones. Perry is + severe, and the others silent. If, however, you and your Committee + are not now dissatisfied with your own judgments, I shall not much + embarrass myself about the brilliant remarks of the journals. My + own opinion upon it is what it always was, perhaps pretty near that + of the public. + + "Believe me, my dear Lord, &c. &c. + + "P.S.--My best respects to Lady H., whose smiles will be very + consolatory, even at this distance." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 113. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, Oct. 18. 1812. + + "Will you have the goodness to get this Parody of a peculiar + kind[58] (for all the first lines are _Busby_'s entire) inserted + in several of the papers (_correctly_--and copied _correctly_; _my + hand_ is difficult)--particularly the Morning Chronicle? Tell Mr. + Perry I forgive him all he has said, and may say against _my + address_, but he will allow me to deal with the Doctor--(_audi + alteram partem_)--and not _betray_ me. I cannot think what has + befallen Mr. Perry, for of yore we were very good friends;--but no + matter, only get this inserted. + + "I have a poem on Waltzing for _you_, of which I make _you_ a + present; but it must be anonymous. It is in the old style of + English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. + + "P.S.--With the next edition of Childe Harold you may print the + first fifty or a hundred opening lines of the 'Curse of Minerva' + down to the couplet beginning + + "Mortal ('twas thus she spake), &c. + + Of course, the moment the _Satire_ begins, there you will stop, and + the opening is the best part." + +[Footnote 58: Among the Addresses sent in to the Drury Lane Committee +was one by Dr. Busby, entitled a Monologue, of which the Parody was +enclosed in this letter. A short specimen of this trifle will be +sufficient. The four first lines of the Doctor's Address are as +follows:-- + + "When energising objects men pursue, + What are the prodigies they cannot do? + A magic Edifice you here survey, + Shot from the ruins of the other day!" + +Which verses are thus ridiculed, unnecessarily, in the Parody:-- + + "'When energising objects men pursue,' + The Lord knows what is writ by Lord knows who. + 'A modest Monologue you here survey,' + Hiss'd from the theatre the 'other day.'" +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 114. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Oct. 19. 1812. + + "Many thanks, but I _must_ pay the _damage_, and will thank you to + tell me the amount for the engraving. I think the 'Rejected + Addresses' by far the best thing of the kind since the Rolliad, and + wish _you_ had published them. Tell the author 'I forgive him, were + he twenty times over a satirist;' and think his imitations not at + all inferior to the famous ones of Hawkins Browne. He must be a man + of very lively wit, and less scurrilous than wits often are: + altogether, I very much admire the performance, and wish it all + success. The _Satirist_ has taken a new tone, as you will see: we + have now, I think, finished with Childe Harold's critics. I have in + _hand_ a _Satire_ on _Waltzing,_ which you must publish + anonymously: it is not long, not quite two hundred lines, but will + make a very small boarded pamphlet. In a few days you shall have + it. + + "P.S.--The editor of the _Satirist_ ought to be thanked for his + revocation; it is done handsomely, after five years' warfare." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 115. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Oct. 23. 1812. + + "Thanks, as usual. You go on boldly; but have a care of _glutting_ + the public, who have by this time had enough of Childe Harold. + 'Waltzing' shall be prepared. It is rather above two hundred + lines, with an introductory Letter to the Publisher. I think of + publishing, with Childe Harold, the opening lines of the 'Curse of + Minerva,' as far as the first speech of Pallas,--because some of + the readers like that part better than any I have ever written, and + as it contains nothing to affect the subject of the subsequent + portion, it will find a place as a _Descriptive Fragment_. + + "The _plate_ is _broken_? between ourselves, it was unlike the + picture; and besides, upon the whole, the frontispiece of an + author's visage is but a paltry exhibition. At all events, _this_ + would have been no recommendation to the book. I am sure Sanders + would not have _survived_ the engraving. By the by, the _picture_ + may remain with _you_ or _him_ (which you please), till my return. + The _one_ of two remaining copies is at your service till I can + give you a _better_; the other must be _burned peremptorily_. + Again, do not forget that I have an account with you, and _that_ + this is _included_. I give you too much trouble to allow you to + incur _expense_ also. + + "You best know how far this 'Address Riot' will affect the future + sale of Childe Harold. I like the volume of 'Rejected Addresses' + better and better. The other parody which Perry has received is + mine also (I believe). It is Dr. Busby's speech versified. You are + removing to Albemarle Street, I find, and I rejoice that we shall + be nearer neighbours. I am going to Lord Oxford's, but letters here + will be forwarded. When at leisure, all communications from you + will be willingly received by the humblest of your scribes. Did Mr. + Ward write the review of Horne Tooke's Life in the Quarterly? it is + excellent." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 116. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, November 22. 1812. + + "On my return here from Lord Oxford's, I found your obliging note, + and will thank you to retain the letters, and any other subsequent + ones to the same address, till I arrive in town to claim them, + which will probably be in a few days. I have in charge a curious + and very long MS. poem, written by Lord Brooke (the _friend_ of Sir + _Philip Sidney_), which I wish to submit to the inspection of Mr. + Gifford, with the following queries:--first, whether it has ever + been published, and, secondly (if not), whether it is worth + publication? It is from Lord Oxford's library, and must have + escaped or been overlooked amongst the MSS. of the Harleian + Miscellany. The writing is Lord Brooke's, except a different hand + towards the close. It is very long, and in the six-line stanza. It + is not for me to hazard an opinion upon its merits; but I would + take the liberty, if not too troublesome, to submit it to Mr. + Gifford's judgment, which, from his excellent edition of Massinger, + I should conceive to be as decisive on the writings of that age as + on those of our own. + + "Now for a less agreeable and important topic.--How came Mr. + _Mac-Somebody_, without consulting you or me, to prefix the Address + to his volume[59] of '_Dejected_ Addresses?' Is not this somewhat + larcenous? I think the ceremony of leave might have been asked, + though I have no objection to the thing itself; and leave the + 'hundred and eleven' to tire themselves with 'base comparisons.' I + should think the ingenuous public tolerably sick of the subject, + and, except the Parodies, I have not interfered, nor shall; indeed + I did not know that Dr. Busby had published his Apologetical Letter + and Postscript, or I should have recalled them. But, I confess, I + looked upon his conduct in a different light before its appearance. + I see some mountebank has taken Alderman Birch's name to vituperate + Dr. Busby; he had much better have pilfered his pastry, which I + should imagine the more valuable ingredient--at least for a + puff.--Pray secure me a copy of Woodfall's new Junius, and believe + me," &c. + +[Footnote 59: "The Genuine Rejected Addresses, presented to the +Committee of Management for Drury Lane Theatre: preceded by that written +by Lord Byron and adopted by the Committee:"--published by B. M'Millan.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 117. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "December 26. + + "The multitude of your recommendations has already superseded my + humble endeavours to be of use to you; and, indeed, most of my + principal friends are returned. Leake from Joannina, Canning and + Adair from the city of the Faithful, and at Smyrna no letter is + necessary, as the consuls are always willing to do every thing for + personages of respectability. I have sent you _three_, one to + Gibraltar, which, though of no great necessity, will, perhaps, put + you on a more intimate footing with a very pleasant family there. + You will very soon find out that a man of any consequence has very + little occasion for any letters but to ministers and bankers, and + of them we have already plenty, I will be sworn. + + "It is by no means improbable that I shall go in the spring, and if + you will fix any place of rendezvous about August, I will _write_ + or _join_ you.--When in Albania, I wish you would enquire after + Dervise Tahiri and Vascillie (or Bazil), and make my respects to + the viziers, both there and in the Morea. If you mention my name to + Suleyman of Thebes, I think it will not hurt you; if I had my + dragoman, or wrote Turkish, I could have given you letters of _real + service_; but to the English they are hardly requisite, and the + Greeks themselves can be of little advantage. Liston you know + already, and I do not, as he was not then minister. Mind you visit + Ephesus and the Troad, and let me hear from you when you please. I + believe G. Forresti is now at Yanina, but if not, whoever is there + will be too happy to assist you. Be particular about _firmauns_; + never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in + Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take some + _knicknackeries_ for _presents_--_watches_, _pistols_, &c. &c. to + the Beys and Pachas. If you find one Demetrius, at Athens or + elsewhere, I can recommend him as a good dragoman. I hope to join + you, however; but you will find swarms of English now in the + Levant. + + "Believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "February 20. 1813. + + "In 'Horace in London' I perceive some stanzas on Lord Elgin in + which (waving the kind compliment to myself[60]) I heartily concur. + I wish I had the pleasure of Mr. Smith's acquaintance, as I could + communicate the curious anecdote you read in Mr. T.'s letter. If he + would like it, he can have the _substance_ for his second edition; + if not, I shall add it to our next, though I think we already have + enough of Lord Elgin. + + "What I have read of this work seems admirably done. My praise, + however, is not much worth the author's having; but you may thank + him in my name for _his_. The idea is new--we have excellent + imitations of the Satires, &c. by Pope; but I remember but one + imitative Ode in his works, and _none_ any where else. I can hardly + suppose that _they_ have lost any fame by the fate of the _farce_; + but even should this be the case, the present publication will + again place them on their pinnacle. + + "Yours," &c. + +[Footnote 60: In the Ode entitled "The Parthenon," Minerva thus +speaks:-- + + "All who behold my mutilated pile + Shall brand its ravager with classic rage; + And soon a titled bard from Britain's isle + Thy country's praise and suffrage shall engage, + And fire with Athens' wrongs an angry age!" + HORACE IN LONDON. +] + + * * * * * + +It has already been stated that the pecuniary supplies, which he found +it necessary to raise on arriving at majority, were procured for him on +ruinously usurious terms.[61] To some transactions connected with this +subject, the following characteristic letter refers. + +TO MR. ROGERS. + + "March 25, 1813. + + "I enclose you a draft for the usurious interest due to Lord * *'s + _protégé_;--I also could wish you would state thus much for me to + his Lordship. Though the transaction speaks plainly in itself for + the borrower's folly and the lender's usury, it never was my + intention to _quash_ the demand, as I _legally_ might, nor to + withhold payment of principal, or, perhaps, even _unlawful_ + interest. You know what my situation has been, and what it is. I + have parted with an estate (which has been in my family for nearly + three hundred years, and was never disgraced by being in possession + of a _lawyer_, a _churchman_, or a _woman_, during that period,) to + liquidate this and similar demands; and the payment of the + purchase is still withheld, and may be, perhaps, for years. If, + therefore, I am under the necessity of making those persons _wait_ + for their money, (which, considering the terms, they can afford to + suffer,) it is my misfortune. + + "When I arrived at majority in 1809, I offered my own security on + _legal_ interest, and it was refused. _Now_, I will not accede to + this. This man I may have seen, but I have no recollection of the + names of any parties but the _agents_ and the securities. The + moment I can it is assuredly my intention to pay my debts. This + person's case may be a hard one; but, under all circumstances, what + is mine? I could not foresee that the purchaser of my estate was to + demur in paying for it. + + "I am glad it happens to be in my power so far to accommodate my + Israelite, and only wish I could do as much for the rest of the + Twelve Tribes. + + "Ever yours, dear R., BN." + +[Footnote 61: + + "Tis said that persons living on annuities + Are longer lived than others,--God knows why, + Unless to plague the grantors,--yet so true it is, + That some, I really think, _do_ never die. + Of any creditors, the worst a Jew it is; + And _that_'s their mode of furnishing supply: + In my young days they lent me cash that way, + Which I found very troublesome to pay." + DON JUAN, Canto II +] + + * * * * * + +At the beginning of this year, Mr. Murray having it in contemplation to +publish an edition of the two Cantos of Childe Harold with engravings, +the noble author entered with much zeal into his plan; and, in a note on +the subject to Mr. Murray, says,--"Westall has, I believe, agreed to +illustrate your book, and I fancy one of the engravings will be from the +pretty little girl you saw the other day[62], though without her name, +and merely as a model for some sketch connected with the subject. I +would also have the portrait (which you saw to-day) of the friend who is +mentioned in the text at the close of Canto 1st, and in the +notes,--which are subjects sufficient to authorise that addition." + +Early in the spring he brought out, anonymously, his poem on Waltzing, +which, though full of very lively satire, fell so far short of what was +now expected from him by the public, that the disavowal of it, which, as +we see by the following letter, he thought right to put forth, found +ready credence:-- + +LETTER 120. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "April 21. 1813. + + "I shall be in town by Sunday next, and will call and have some + conversation on the subject of Westall's designs. I am to sit to + him for a picture at the request of a friend of mine, and as + Sanders's is not a good one, you will probably prefer the other. I + wish you to have Sanders's taken down and sent to my lodgings + immediately--before my arrival. I hear that a certain malicious + publication on Waltzing is attributed to me. This report, I + suppose, you will take care to contradict, as the author, I am + sure, will not like that I should wear his cap and bells. Mr. + Hobhouse's quarto will be out immediately; pray send to the author + for an early copy, which I wish to take abroad with me. + + "P.S.--I see the Examiner threatens some observations upon you next + week. What can you have done to share the wrath which has + heretofore been principally expended upon the Prince? I presume all + your Scribleri will be drawn up in battle array in defence of the + modern Tonson--Mr. Bucke, for instance. + + "Send in my account to Bennet Street, as I wish to settle it before + sailing." + +[Footnote 62: Lady Charlotte Harley, to whom, under the name of Ianthe, +the introductory lines to Childe Harold were afterwards addressed.] + + * * * * * + +In the month of May appeared his wild and beautiful "Fragment," _The +Giaour_;--and though, in its first flight from his hands, some of the +fairest feathers of its wing were yet wanting, the public hailed this +new offspring of his genius with wonder and delight. The idea of writing +a poem in fragments had been suggested to him by the _Columbus_ of Mr. +Rogers; and, whatever objections may lie against such a plan in general, +it must be allowed to have been well suited to the impatient temperament +of Byron, as enabling him to overleap those mechanical difficulties, +which, in a regular narrative, embarrass, if not chill, the +poet,--leaving it to the imagination of his readers to fill up the +intervals between those abrupt bursts of passion in which his chief +power lay. The story, too, of the poem possessed that stimulating charm +for him, almost indispensable to his fancy, of being in some degree +connected with himself,--an event in which he had been personally +concerned, while on his travels, having supplied the groundwork on which +the fiction was founded. After the appearance of The Giaour, some +incorrect statement of this romantic incident having got into +circulation, the noble author requested of his friend, the Marquis of +Sligo, who had visited Athens soon after it happened, to furnish him +with his recollections on the subject; and the following is the answer +which Lord Sligo returned:-- + + "Albany, Monday, August 31. 1813. + + "My dear Byron, + + "You have requested me to tell you all that I heard at Athens about + the affair of that girl who was so near being put an end to while + you were there; you have asked me to mention every circumstance, in + the remotest degree relating to it, which I heard. In compliance + with your wishes, I write to you all I heard, and I cannot imagine + it to be very far from the fact, as the circumstance happened only + a day or two before I arrived at Athens, and, consequently, was a + matter of common conversation at the time. + + "The new governor, unaccustomed to have the same intercourse with + the Christians as his predecessor, had of course the barbarous + Turkish ideas with regard to women. In consequence, and in + compliance with the strict letter of the Mahommedan law, he ordered + this girl to be sewed up in a sack, and thrown into the sea,--as + is, indeed, quite customary at Constantinople. As you were + returning from bathing in the Piraeus, you met the procession going + down to execute the sentence of the Waywode on this unfortunate + girl. Report continues to say, that on finding out what the object + of their journey was, and who was the miserable sufferer, you + immediately interfered; and on some delay in obeying your orders, + you were obliged to inform the leader of the escort, that force + should make him comply;--that, on farther hesitation, you drew a + pistol, and told him, that if he did not immediately obey your + orders, and come back with you to the Aga's house, you would shoot + him dead. On this, the man turned about and went with you to the + governor's house; here you succeeded, partly by personal threats, + and partly by bribery and entreaty, to procure her pardon on + condition of her leaving Athens. I was told that you then conveyed + her in safety to the convent, and despatched her off at night to + Thebes, where she found a safe asylum. Such is the story I heard, + as nearly as I can recollect it at present. Should you wish to ask + me any further questions about it, I shall be very ready and + willing to answer them. I remain, my dear Byron, + + "Yours, very sincerely, + + "SLIGO. + + "I am afraid you will hardly be able to read this scrawl; but I am + so hurried with the preparations for my journey, that you must + excuse it." + + * * * * * + +Of the prodigal flow of his fancy, when its sources were once opened on +any subject, The Giaour affords one of the most remarkable +instances,--this poem having accumulated under his hand, both in +printing and through successive editions, till from four hundred lines, +of which it consisted in his first copy, it at present amounts to nearly +fourteen hundred. The plan, indeed, which he had adopted, of a series of +fragments,--a set of "orient pearls at random strung,"--left him free to +introduce, without reference to more than the general complexion of his +story, whatever sentiments or images his fancy, in its excursions, could +collect; and how little fettered he was by any regard to connection in +these additions, appears from a note which accompanied his own copy of +the paragraph commencing "Fair clime, where every season smiles,"--in +which he says, "I have not yet fixed the place of insertion for the +following lines, but will, when I see you--as I have no copy." + +Even into this new passage, rich as it was at first, his fancy +afterwards poured a fresh infusion,--the whole of its most picturesque +portion, from the line "For there, the Rose o'er crag or vale," down to +"And turn to groans his roundelay," having been suggested to him during +revision. In order to show, however, that though so rapid in the first +heat of composition, he formed no exception to that law which imposes +labour as the price of perfection, I shall here extract a few verses +from his original draft of this paragraph, by comparing which with the +form they wear at present[63] we may learn to appreciate the value of +these after-touches of the master. + + "Fair clime! where _ceaseless summer_ smiles + Benignant o'er those blessed isles, + Which, seen from far Colonna's height, + Make glad the heart that hails the sight, + And _give_ to loneliness delight. + There _shine the bright abodes ye seek, + Like dimples upon Ocean's cheek,-- + So smiling round the waters lave_ + These Edens of the eastern wave. + Or if, at times, the transient breeze + Break the _smooth_ crystal of the seas, + Or _brush_ one blossom from the trees, + How _grateful_ is the gentle air + That wakes and wafts the _fragrance_ there." + +Among the other passages added to this edition (which was either the +third or fourth, and between which and the first there intervened but +about six weeks) was that most beautiful and melancholy illustration of +the lifeless aspect of Greece, beginning "He who hath bent him o'er the +dead,"--of which the most gifted critic of our day[64] has justly +pronounced, that "it contains an image more true, more mournful, and +more exquisitely finished, than any we can recollect in the whole +compass of poetry."[65] To the same edition also were added, among other +accessions of wealth[66], those lines, "The cygnet proudly walks the +water," and the impassioned verses, "My memory now is but the tomb." + +On my rejoining him in town this spring, I found the enthusiasm about +his writings and himself, which I left so prevalent, both in the world +of literature and in society, grown, if any thing, still more general +and intense. In the immediate circle, perhaps, around him, familiarity +of intercourse might have begun to produce its usual disenchanting +effects. His own liveliness and unreserve, on a more intimate +acquaintance, would not be long in dispelling that charm of poetic +sadness, which to the eyes of distant observers hung about him; while +the romantic notions, connected by some of his fair readers with those +past and nameless loves alluded to in his poems, ran some risk of +abatement from too near an acquaintance with the supposed objects of +his fancy and fondness at present. A poet's mistress should remain, if +possible, as imaginary a being to others, as, in most of the attributes +he clothes her with, she has been to himself;--the reality, however +fair, being always sure to fall short of the picture which a too lavish +fancy has drawn of it. Could we call up in array before us all the +beauties whom the love of poets has immortalised, from the high-born +dame to the plebeian damsel,--from the Lauras and Sacharissas down to +the Cloes and Jeannies,--we should, it is to be feared, sadly unpeople +our imaginations of many a bright tenant that poesy has lodged there, +and find, in more than one instance, our admiration of the faith and +fancy of the worshipper increased by our discovery of the worthlessness +of the idol. + +But, whatever of its first romantic impression the personal character of +the poet may, from such causes, have lost in the circle he most +frequented, this disappointment of the imagination was far more than +compensated by the frank, social, and engaging qualities, both of +disposition and manner, which, on a nearer intercourse, he disclosed, as +well as by that entire absence of any literary assumption or pedantry, +which entitled him fully to the praise bestowed by Sprat upon Cowley, +that few could "ever discover he was a great poet by his discourse." +While thus, by his intimates, and those who had got, as it were, behind +the scenes of his fame, he was seen in his true colours, as well of +weakness as of amiableness, on strangers and such as were out of this +immediate circle, the spell of his poetical character still continued +to operate; and the fierce gloom and sternness of his imaginary +personages were, by the greater number of them, supposed to belong, not +only as regarded mind, but manners, to himself. So prevalent and +persevering has been this notion, that, in some disquisitions on his +character published since his death, and containing otherwise many just +and striking views, we find, in the professed portrait drawn of him, +such features as the following:--"Lord Byron had a stern, direct, severe +mind: a sarcastic, disdainful, gloomy temper. He had no light sympathy +with heartless cheerfulness;--upon the surface was sourness, discontent, +displeasure, ill will. Beneath all this weight of clouds and +darkness[67]," &c. &c. + +Of the sort of double aspect which he thus presented, as viewed by the +world and by his friends, he was himself fully aware; and it not only +amused him, but, as a proof of the versatility of his powers, flattered +his pride. He was, indeed, as I have already remarked, by no means +insensible or inattentive to the effect he produced personally on +society; and though the brilliant station he had attained, since the +commencement of my acquaintance with him, made not the slightest +alteration in the unaffectedness of his private intercourse, I could +perceive, I thought, with reference to the external world, some slight +changes in his conduct, which seemed indicative of the effects of his +celebrity upon him. Among other circumstances, I observed that, whether +from shyness of the general gaze, or from a notion, like Livy's, that +men of eminence should not too much familiarise the public to their +persons[68], he avoided showing himself in the mornings, and in crowded +places, much more than was his custom when we first became acquainted. +The preceding year, before his name had grown "so rife and celebrated," +we had gone together to the exhibition at Somerset House, and other such +places[69]; and the true reason, no doubt, of his present reserve, in +abstaining from all such miscellaneous haunts, was the sensitiveness, so +often referred to, on the subject of his lameness,--a feeling which the +curiosity of the public eye, now attracted to this infirmity by his +fame, could not fail, he knew, to put rather painfully to the proof. + +Among the many gay hours we passed together this spring, I remember +particularly the wild flow of his spirits one evening, when we had +accompanied Mr. Rogers home from some early assembly, and when Lord +Byron, who, according to his frequent custom, had not dined for the last +two days, found his hunger no longer governable, and called aloud for +"something to eat." Our repast,--of his own choosing,--was simple bread +and cheese; and seldom have I partaken of so joyous a supper. It +happened that our host had just received a presentation copy of a volume +of poems, written professedly in imitation of the old English writers, +and containing, like many of these models, a good deal that was striking +and beautiful, mixed up with much that was trifling, fantastic, and +absurd. In our mood, at the moment, it was only with these latter +qualities that either Lord Byron or I felt disposed to indulge +ourselves; and, in turning over the pages, we found, it must be owned, +abundant matter for mirth. In vain did Mr. Rogers, in justice to the +author, endeavour to direct our attention to some of the beauties of the +work:--it suited better our purpose (as is too often the case with more +deliberate critics) to pounce only on such passages as ministered to the +laughing humour that possessed us. In this sort of hunt through the +volume, we at length lighted on the discovery that our host, in addition +to his sincere approbation of some of its contents, had also the motive +of gratitude for standing by its author, as one of the poems was a warm +and, I need not add, well-deserved panegyric on himself. We were, +however, too far gone in nonsense for even this eulogy, in which we both +so heartily agreed, to stop us. The opening line of the poem was, as +well as I can recollect, "When Rogers o'er this labour bent;" and Lord +Byron undertook to read it aloud;--but he found it impossible to get +beyond the first two words. Our laughter had now increased to such a +pitch that nothing could restrain it. Two or three times he began; but +no sooner had the words "When Rogers" passed his lips, than our fit +burst forth afresh,--till even Mr. Rogers himself, with all his feeling +of our injustice, found it impossible not to join us; and we were, at +last, all three, in such a state of inextinguishable laughter, that, had +the author himself been of the party, I question much whether he could +have resisted the infection. + +A day or two after, Lord Byron sent me the following:-- + + "My dear Moore, + + "'When Rogers' must not see the enclosed, which I send for your + perusal. I am ready to fix any day you like for our visit. Was not + Sheridan good upon the whole? The 'Poulterer' was the first and + best.[70] + + "Ever yours," &c. + + + 1. + + "When T * * this damn'd nonsense sent, + (I hope I am not violent), + Nor men nor gods knew what he meant. + + 2. + + "And since not ev'n our Rogers' praise + To common sense his thoughts could raise-- + Why _would_ they let him print his lays? + + 3. + + * * * * + + 4. + + * * * * + + 5. + + "To me, divine Apollo, grant--O! + Hermilda's first and second canto, + I'm fitting up a new portmanteau; + + 6. + + "And thus to furnish decent lining, + My own and others' bays I'm twining-- + So gentle T * *, throw me thine in." + +[Footnote 63: The following are the lines in their present shape, and it +will be seen that there is not a single alteration in which the music of +the verse has not been improved as well as the thought:-- + + "Fair clime! where every season smiles + Benignant o'er those blessed isles, + Which, seen from far Colonna's height, + Make glad the heart that hails the sight, + And lend to loneliness delight. + There, mildly dimpling, Ocean's cheek + Reflects the tints of many a peak + Caught by the laughing tides that lave + These Edens of the eastern wave: + And if at times a transient breeze + Break the blue crystal of the seas, + Or sweep one blossom from the trees, + How welcome is each gentle air + That wakes and wafts the odours there!" +] + +[Footnote 64: Mr. Jeffrey.] + +[Footnote 65: In Dallaway's Constantinople, a book which Lord Byron is +not unlikely to have consulted, I find a passage quoted from Gillies's +History of Greece, which contains, perhaps, the first seed of the +thought thus expanded into full perfection by genius:--"The present +state of Greece compared to the ancient is the silent obscurity of the +grave contrasted with the vivid lustre of active life."] + +[Footnote 66: Among the recorded instances of such happy after-thoughts +in poetry may be mentioned, as one of the most memorable, Denham's four +lines, "Oh could I flow like thee," &c., which were added in the second +edition of his poem.] + +[Footnote 67: Letters on the Character and Poetical Genius of Lord +Byron, by Sir Egerton Brydges, Bart.] + +[Footnote 68: "Continuus aspectus minus verendos magnos homines facit."] + +[Footnote 69: The only peculiarity that struck me on those occasions was +the uneasy restlessness which he seemed to feel in wearing a hat,--an +article of dress which, from his constant use of a carriage while in +England, he was almost wholly unaccustomed to, and which, after that +year, I do not remember to have ever seen upon him again. Abroad, he +always wore a kind of foraging cap.] + +[Footnote 70: He here alludes to a dinner at Mr. Rogers's, of which I +have elsewhere given the following account:-- + +"The company consisted but of Mr. Rogers himself, Lord Byron, Mr. +Sheridan, and the writer of this Memoir. Sheridan knew the admiration +his audience felt for him; the presence of the young poet, in +particular, seemed to bring back his own youth and wit; and the details +he gave of his early life were not less interesting and animating to +himself than delightful to us. It was in the course of this evening +that, describing to us the poem which Mr. Whitbread had written, and +sent in, among the other addresses for the opening of Drury Lane +theatre, and which, like the rest, turned chiefly on allusions to the +Phoenix, he said--'But Whitbread made more of this bird than any of +them:--he entered into particulars, and described its wings, beak, tail, +&c.;--in short, it was a _poulterer_'s description of a Phoenix."--_Life +of Sheridan_.] + + * * * * * + +On the same day I received from him the following additional scraps. The +lines in italics are from the eulogy that provoked his waggish +comments. + +"TO ---- + + 1. + + "'_I lay my branch of laurel down._' + + "Thou 'lay thy branch of laurel down!" + Why, what thou'st stole is not enow; + And, were it lawfully thine own, + Does Rogers want it most, or thou? + Keep to thyself thy wither'd bough, + Or send it back to Dr. Donne-- + Were justice done to both, I trow, + He'd have but little, and thou--none. + + 2. + + "'_Then thus to form Apollo's crown_. + + "A crown! why, twist it how you will, + Thy chaplet must be foolscap still. + When next you visit Delphi's town, + Enquire amongst your fellow-lodgers, + They'll tell you Phoebus gave his crown, + Some years before your birth, to Rogers. + + 3. + + "'_Let every other bring his own_.' + + "When coals to Newcastle are carried, + And owls sent to Athens as wonders, + From his spouse when the * *'s unmarried, + Or Liverpool weeps o'er his blunders; + When Tories and Whigs cease to quarrel, + When C * *'s wife has an heir, + Then Rogers shall ask us for laurel, + And thou shalt have plenty to spare." + +The mention which he makes of Sheridan in the note just cited affords a +fit opportunity of producing, from one of his Journals, some particulars +which he has noted down respecting this extraordinary man, for whose +talents he entertained the most unbounded admiration,--rating him, in +natural powers, far above all his great political contemporaries. + +"In society I have met Sheridan frequently: he was superb! He had a sort +of liking for me, and never attacked me, at least to my face, and he did +every body else--high names, and wits, and orators, some of them poets +also. I have seen him cut up Whitbread, quiz Madame de Staël, annihilate +Colman, and do little less by some others (whose names, as friends, I +set not down) of good fame and ability. + +"The last time I met him was, I think, at Sir Gilbert Heathcote's, where +he was as quick as ever--no, it was not the last time; the last time was +at Douglas Kinnaird's. + +"I have met him in all places and parties,--at Whitehall with the +Melbournes, at the Marquis of Tavistock's, at Robins's the auctioneer's, +at Sir Humphrey Davy's, at Sam Rogers's,--in short, in most kinds of +company, and always found him very convivial and delightful. + +"I have seen Sheridan weep two or three times. It may be that he was +maudlin; but this only renders it more impressive, for who would see + + "From Marlborough's eyes the tears of dotage flow, + And Swift expire a driveller and a show? + +Once I saw him cry at Robins's the auctioneer's, after a splendid +dinner, full of great names and high spirits. I had the honour of +sitting next to Sheridan. The occasion of his tears was some observation +or other upon the subject of the sturdiness of the Whigs in resisting +office and keeping to their principles: Sheridan turned round:--'Sir, it +is easy for my Lord G. or Earl G. or Marquis B. or Lord H. with +thousands upon thousands a year, some of it either _presently_ derived, +or _inherited_ in sinecure or acquisitions from the public money, to +boast of their patriotism and keep aloof from temptation; but they do +not know from what temptation those have kept aloof who had equal pride, +at least equal talents, and not unequal passions, and nevertheless knew +not in the course of their lives what it was to have a shilling of their +own.' And in saying this he wept. + +"I have more than once heard him say, 'that he never had a shilling of +his own.' To be sure, he contrived to extract a good many of other +people's. + +"In 1815, I had occasion to visit my lawyer in Chancery Lane, he was +with Sheridan. After mutual greetings, &c., Sheridan retired first. +Before recurring to my own business, I could not help enquiring _that_ +of Sheridan. 'Oh,' replied the attorney, 'the usual thing! to stave off +an action from his wine-merchant, my client.'--'Well,' said I, 'and what +do you mean to do?'--'Nothing at all for the present,' said he: 'would +you have us proceed against old Sherry? what would be the use of it?' +and here he began laughing, and going over Sheridan's good gifts of +conversation. + +"Now, from personal experience, I can vouch that my attorney is by no +means the tenderest of men, or particularly accessible to any kind of +impression out of the statute or record; and yet Sheridan, in half an +hour, had found the way to soften and seduce him in such a manner, that +I almost think he would have thrown his client (an honest man, with all +the laws, and some justice, on his side) out of the window, had he come +in at the moment. + +"Such was Sheridan! he could soften an attorney! There has been nothing +like it since the days of Orpheus. + +"One day I saw him take up his own 'Monody on Garrick.' He lighted upon +the Dedication to the Dowager Lady * *. On seeing it, he flew into a +rage, and exclaimed, 'that it must be a forgery, that he had never +dedicated any thing of his to such a d----d canting,' &c. &c. &c--and so +went on for half an hour abusing his own dedication, or at least the +object of it. If all writers were equally sincere, it would be +ludicrous. + +"He told me that, on the night of the grand success of his School for +Scandal, he was knocked down and put into the watch-house for making a +row in the street, and being found intoxicated by the watchmen. + +"When dying, he was requested to undergo 'an operation.' He replied, +that he had already submitted to two, which were enough for one man's +lifetime. Being asked what they were, he answered, 'having his hair cut, +and sitting for his picture.' + +"I have met George Colman occasionally, and thought him extremely +pleasant and convivial. Sheridan's humour, or rather wit, was always +saturnine, and sometimes savage; he never laughed, (at least that _I_ +saw, and I watched him,) but Colman did. If I had to _choose_, and could +not have both at a time, I should say, 'Let me begin the evening with +Sheridan, and finish it with Colman.' Sheridan for dinner, Colman for +supper; Sheridan for claret or port, but Colman for every thing, from +the madeira and champagne at dinner, the claret with a _layer_ of _port_ +between the glasses, up to the punch of the night, and down to the grog, +or gin and water, of daybreak;--all these I have threaded with both the +same. Sheridan was a grenadier company of life-guards, but Colman a +whole regiment--of _light infantry_, to be sure, but still a regiment." + +It was at this time that Lord Byron became acquainted (and, I regret to +have to add, partly through my means) with Mr. Leigh Hunt, the editor of +a well-known weekly journal, the Examiner. This gentleman I had myself +formed an acquaintance with in the year 1811, and, in common with a +large portion of the public, entertained a sincere admiration of his +talents and courage as a journalist. The interest I took in him +personally had been recently much increased by the manly spirit, which +he had displayed throughout a prosecution instituted against himself and +his brother, for a libel that had appeared in their paper on the Prince +Regent, and in consequence of which they were both sentenced to +imprisonment for two years. It will be recollected that there existed +among the Whig party, at this period, a strong feeling of indignation at +the late defection from themselves and their principles of the +illustrious personage who had been so long looked up to as the friend +and patron of both. Being myself, at the time, warmly--perhaps +intemperately--under the influence of this feeling, I regarded the fate +of Mr. Hunt with more than common interest, and, immediately on my +arrival in town, paid him a visit in his prison. On mentioning the +circumstance, soon after, to Lord Byron, and describing my surprise at +the sort of luxurious comforts with which I had found the "wit in the +dungeon" surrounded,--his trellised flower-garden without, and his +books, busts, pictures, and piano-forte within,--the noble poet, whose +political view of the case coincided entirely with my own, expressed a +strong wish to pay a similar tribute of respect to Mr. Hunt, and +accordingly, a day or two after, we proceeded for that purpose to the +prison. The introduction which then took place was soon followed by a +request from Mr. Hunt that we would dine with him; and the noble poet +having good-naturedly accepted the invitation, Horsemonger Lane gaol +had, in the month of June, 1813, the honour of receiving Lord Byron, as +a guest, within its walls. + +On the morning of our first visit to the journalist, I received from +Lord Byron the following lines written, it will be perceived, the night +before:-- + + "May 19. 1813. + + "Oh you, who in all names can tickle the town, + Anacreon, Tom Little, Tom Moore, or Tom Brown,-- + For hang me if I know of which you may most brag, + Your Quarto two-pounds, or your Twopenny Post Bag; + * * * * + But now to my letter--to yours 'tis an answer-- + To-morrow be with me, as soon as you can, sir, + All ready and dress'd for proceeding to spunge on + (According to compact) the wit in the dungeon-- + Pray Phoebus at length our political malice + May not get us lodgings within the same palace! + I suppose that to-night you're engaged with some codgers, + And for Sotheby's Blues have deserted Sam Rogers; + And I, though with cold I have nearly my death got, + Must put on my breeches, and wait on the Heathcote. + But to-morrow at four, we will both play the Scurra, + And you'll be Catullus, the R----t Mamurra. + + "Dear M.--having got thus far, I am interrupted by * * * *. 10 + o'clock. + + "Half-past 11. * * * * is gone. I must dress for Lady + Heathcote's.--Addio." + + * * * * * + +Our day in the prison was, if not agreeable, at least novel and odd. I +had, for Lord Byron's sake, stipulated with our host beforehand, that +the party should be, as much as possible, confined to ourselves; and, as +far as regarded dinner, my wishes had been attended to;--there being +present, besides a member or two of Mr. Hunt's own family, no other +stranger, that I can recollect, but Mr. Mitchell, the ingenious +translator of Aristophanes. Soon after dinner, however, there dropped in +some of our host's literary friends, who, being utter strangers to Lord +Byron and myself, rather disturbed the ease into which we were all +settling. Among these, I remember, was Mr. John Scott,--the writer, +afterwards, of some severe attacks on Lord Byron; and it is painful to +think that, among the persons then assembled round the poet, there +should have been _one_ so soon to step forth the assailant of his living +fame, while _another_, less manful, was to reserve the cool venom for +his grave. + +On the 2d of June, in presenting a petition to the House of Lords, he +made his third and last appearance as an orator, in that assembly. In +his way home from the House that day, he called, I remember, at my +lodgings, and found me dressing in a very great hurry for dinner. He +was, I recollect, in a state of most humorous exaltation after his +display, and, while I hastily went on with my task in the dressing-room, +continued to walk up and down the adjoining chamber, spouting forth for +me, in a sort of mock heroic voice, detached sentences of the speech he +had just been delivering. "I told them," he said, "that it was a most +flagrant violation of the Constitution--that, if such things were +permitted, there was an end of English freedom, and that ----"--"But +what was this dreadful grievance?" I asked, interrupting him in his +eloquence.--"The grievance?" he repeated, pausing as if to +consider--"Oh, that I forget."[71] It is impossible, of course, to +convey an idea of the dramatic humour with which he gave effect to +these words; but his look and manner on such occasions were +irresistibly comic; and it was, indeed, rather in such turns of fun and +oddity, than in any more elaborate exhibition of wit, that the +pleasantry of his conversation consisted. + +Though it is evident that, after the brilliant success of Childe Harold, +he had ceased to think of Parliament as an arena of ambition, yet, as a +field for observation, we may take for granted it was not unstudied by +him. To a mind of such quick and various views, every place and pursuit +presented some aspect of interest; and whether in the ball-room, the +boxing-school, or the senate, all must have been, by genius like his, +turned to profit. The following are a few of the recollections and +impressions which I find recorded by himself of his short parliamentary +career:-- + +"I have never heard any one who fulfilled my ideal of an orator. Grattan +would have been near it, but for his harlequin delivery. Pitt I never +heard. Fox but once, and then he struck me as a debater, which to me +seems as different from an orator as an improvisatore, or a versifier, +from a poet. Grey is great, but it is not oratory. Canning is sometimes +very like one. Windham I did not admire, though all the world did; it +seemed sad sophistry. Whitbread was the Demosthenes of bad taste and +vulgar vehemence, but strong, and English. Holland is impressive from +sense and sincerity. Lord Lansdowne good, but still a debater only. +Grenville I like vastly, if he would prune his speeches down to an +hour's delivery. Burdett is sweet and silvery as Belial himself, and I +think the greatest favourite in Pandemonium; at least I always heard the +country gentlemen and the ministerial devilry praise his speeches _up_ +stairs, and run down from Bellamy's when he was upon his legs. I heard +Bob Milnes make his _second_ speech; it made no impression. I like +Ward--studied, but keen, and sometimes eloquent. Peel, my school and +form fellow (we sat within two of each other), strange to say, I have +never heard, though I often wished to do so; but from what I remember of +him at Harrow, he _is_, or _should_ be, among the best of them. Now I do +_not_ admire Mr. Wilberforce's speaking; it is nothing but a flow of +words--'words, words, alone.' + +"I doubt greatly if the English have any eloquence, properly so called; +and am inclined to think that the Irish _had_ a great deal, and that the +French _will_ have, and have had in Mirabeau. Lord Chatham and Burke are +the nearest approaches to orators in England. I don't know what Erskine +may have been at the bar, but in the House I wish him at the bar once +more. Lauderdale is shrill, and Scotch, and acute. + +"But amongst all these, good, bad, and indifferent, I never heard the +speech which was not too long for the auditors, and not very +intelligible, except here and there. The whole thing is a grand +deception, and as tedious and tiresome as may be to those who must be +often present. I heard Sheridan only once, and that briefly, but I liked +his voice, his manner, and his wit: and he is the only one of them I +ever wished to hear at greater length. + +"The impression of Parliament upon me was, that its members are not +formidable as _speakers_, but very much so as an _audience_; because in +so numerous a body there may be little eloquence, (after all, there were +but _two_ thorough orators in all antiquity, and I suspect still _fewer_ +in modern times,) but there must be a leaven of thought and good sense +sufficient to make them _know_ what is right, though they can't express +it nobly. + +"Horne Tooke and Roscoe both are said to have declared that they left +Parliament with a higher opinion of its aggregate integrity and +abilities than that with which they entered it. The general amount of +both in most Parliaments is probably about the same, as also the number +of _speakers_ and their talent. I except _orators_, of course, because +they are things of ages, and not of septennial or triennial re-unions. +Neither House ever struck me with more awe or respect than the same +number of Turks in a divan, or of Methodists in a barn, would have done. +Whatever diffidence or nervousness I felt (and I felt both, in a great +degree) arose from the number rather than the quality of the assemblage, +and the thought rather of the _public without_ than the persons +within,--knowing (as all know) that Cicero himself, and probably the +Messiah, could never have altered the vote of a single lord of the +bedchamber, or bishop. I thought _our_ House dull, but the other +animating enough upon great days. + +"I have heard that when Grattan made his first speech in the English +Commons, it was for some minutes doubtful whether to laugh at or cheer +him. The _débût_ of his predecessor, Flood, had been a complete failure, +under nearly similar circumstances. But when the ministerial part of our +senators had watched Pitt (their thermometer) for the cue, and saw him +nod repeatedly his stately nod of approbation, they took the hint from +their huntsman, and broke out into the most rapturous cheers. Grattan's +speech, indeed, deserved them; it was a _chef-d'oeuvre_. I did not hear +_that_ speech of his (being then at Harrow), but heard most of his +others on the same question--also that on the war of 1815. I differed +from his opinions on the latter question, but coincided in the general +admiration of his eloquence. + +"When I met old Courtenay, the orator, at Rogers's, the poet's, in +1811-12, I was much taken with the portly remains of his fine figure, +and the still acute quickness of his conversation. It was _he_ who +silenced Flood in the English House by a crushing reply to a hasty +_débût_ of the rival of Grattan in Ireland. I asked Courtenay (for I +like to trace motives) if he had not some personal provocation; for the +acrimony of his answer seemed to me, as I had read it, to involve it. +Courtenay said 'he had; that, when in Ireland (being an Irishman), at +the bar of the Irish House of Commons, Flood had made a personal and +unfair attack upon _himself_, who, not being a member of that House, +could not defend himself, and that some years afterwards the opportunity +of retort offering in the English Parliament, he could not resist it.' +He certainly repaid Flood with interest, for Flood never made any +figure, and only a speech or two afterwards, in the English House of +Commons. I must except, however, his speech on Reform in 1790, which Fox +called 'the best he ever heard upon that subject.'" + +For some time he had entertained thoughts of going again abroad; and it +appeared, indeed, to be a sort of relief to him, whenever he felt +melancholy or harassed, to turn to the freedom and solitude of a life of +travel as his resource. During the depression of spirits which he +laboured under, while printing Childe Harold, "he would frequently," +says Mr. Dallas, "talk of selling Newstead, and of going to reside at +Naxos, in the Grecian Archipelago,--to adopt the eastern costume and +customs, and to pass his time in studying the Oriental languages and +literature." The excitement of the triumph that soon after ensued, and +the success which, in other pursuits besides those of literature, +attended him, again diverted his thoughts from these migratory projects. +But the roving fit soon returned; and we have seen, from one of his +letters to Mr. William Bankes, that he looked forward to finding +himself, in the course of this spring, among the mountains of his +beloved Greece once more. For a time, this plan was exchanged for the +more social project of accompanying his friends, the family of Lord +Oxford, to Sicily; and it was while engaged in his preparatives for this +expedition that the annexed letters were written. + +[Footnote 71: His speech was on presenting a petition from Major +Cartwright.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 121. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Maidenhead, June 13. 1813. + + "* * * I have read the 'Strictures,' which are just enough, and not + grossly abusive, in very fair couplets. There is a note against + Massinger near the end, and one cannot quarrel with one's company, + at any rate. The author detects some incongruous figures in a + passage of English Bards, page 23., but which edition I do not + know. In the _sole_ copy in your possession--I mean the _fifth_ + edition--you may make these alterations, that I may profit (though + a little too late) by his remarks:--For '_hellish_ instinct,' + substitute '_brutal_ instinct;' '_harpies_' alter to '_felons_;' + and for 'blood-hounds' write 'hell-hounds.'[72] These be 'very + bitter words, by my troth,' and the alterations not much sweeter; + but as I shall not publish the thing, they can do no harm, but are + a satisfaction to me in the way of amendment. The passage is only + twelve lines. + + "You do not answer me about H.'s book; I want to write to him, and + not to say any thing unpleasing. If you direct to Post Office, + Portsmouth, till _called_ for, I will send and receive your letter. + You never told me of the forthcoming critique on Columbus, which is + not _too_ fair; and I do not think justice quite done to the + 'Pleasures,' which surely entitle the author to a higher rank than + that assigned him in the Quarterly. But I must not cavil at the + decisions of the _invisible infallibles_; and the article is very + well written. The general horror of '_fragments_' makes me + tremulous for 'The Giaour;' but you would publish it--I presume, by + this time, to your repentance. But as I consented, whatever be its + fate, I won't now quarrel with you, even though I detect it in my + pastry; but I shall not open a pie without apprehension for some + weeks. + + "The books which may be marked G.O. I will carry out. Do you know + Clarke's Naufragia? I am told that he asserts the _first_ volume of + Robinson Crusoe was written by the first Lord Oxford, when in the + Tower, and given by him to Defoe; if true, it is a curious + anecdote. Have you got back Lord Brooke's MS.? and what does Heber + say of it? Write to me at Portsmouth. Ever yours, &c. + + "N." + +[Footnote 72: In an article on this Satire (written for Cumberland's +Review, but never printed) by that most amiable man and excellent poet, +the late Rev. William Crowe, the incongruity of these metaphors is thus +noticed:--"Within the space of three or four couplets, he transforms a +man into as many different animals. Allow him but the compass of three +lines, and he will metamorphose him from a wolf into a harpy, and in +three more he will make him a blood-hound." + +There are also in this MS. critique some curious instances of oversight +or ignorance adduced from the Satire; such as "_Fish_ from +_Helicon_"--"_Attic_ flowers _Aonian_ odours breathe," &c. &c.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "June 18. 1813. + + "Dear Sir, + + "Will you forward the enclosed answer to the kindest letter I ever + received in my life, my sense of which I can neither express to Mr. + Gifford himself nor to any one else? Ever yours, + + "N." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 122. TO W. GIFFORD, ESQ. + + "June 18. 1813. + + "My dear Sir, + + "I feel greatly at a loss how to write to you at all--still more to + thank you as I ought. If you knew the veneration with which I have + ever regarded you, long before I had the most distant prospect of + becoming your acquaintance, literary or personal, my embarrassment + would not surprise you. + + "Any suggestion of yours, even were it conveyed in the less tender + shape of the text of the Baviad, or a Monk Mason note in Massinger, + would have been obeyed; I should have endeavoured to improve myself + by your censure: judge then if I should be less willing to profit + by your kindness. It is not for me to bandy compliments with my + elders and my betters: I receive your approbation with gratitude, + and will not return my brass for your gold by expressing more fully + those sentiments of admiration, which, however sincere, would, I + know, be unwelcome. + + "To your advice on religious topics, I shall equally attend. + Perhaps the best way will be by avoiding them altogether. The + already published objectionable passages have been much commented + upon, but certainly have been rather strongly interpreted. I am no + bigot to infidelity, and did not expect that, because I doubted the + immortality of man, I should be charged with denying the existence + of a God. It was the comparative insignificance of ourselves and + _our world_, when placed in comparison with the mighty whole, of + which it is an atom, that first led me to imagine that our + pretensions to eternity might be over-rated. + + "This, and being early disgusted with a Calvinistic Scotch school, + where I was cudgelled to church for the first ten years of my life, + afflicted me with this malady; for, after all, it is, I believe, a + disease of the mind as much as other kinds of hypochondria."[73] + +[Footnote 73: The remainder of this letter, it appears, has been lost.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 123. TO MR. MOORE. + + "June 22. 1813. + + "Yesterday I dined in company with '* *, the Epicene,' whose + politics are sadly changed. She is for the Lord of Israel and the + Lord of Liverpool--a vile antithesis of a Methodist and a + Tory--talks of nothing but devotion and the ministry, and, I + presume, expects that God and the government will help her to a + pension. + + "Murray, the [Greek: anax] of publishers, the Anac of stationers, + has a design upon you in the paper line. He wants you to become the + staple and stipendiary editor of a periodical work. What say you? + Will you be bound, like 'Kit Smart, to write for ninety-nine years + in the Universal Visiter?' Seriously he talks of hundreds a year, + and--though I hate prating of the beggarly elements--his proposal + may be to your honour and profit, and, I am very sure, will be to + our pleasure. + + "I don't know what to say about 'friendship.' I never was in + friendship but once, in my nineteenth year, and then it gave me as + much trouble as love. I am afraid, as Whitbread's sire said to the + king, when he wanted to knight him, that I am 'too old:' but, + nevertheless, no one wishes you more friends, fame, and felicity, + than Yours," &c. + + * * * * * + +Having relinquished his design of accompanying the Oxfords to Sicily, he +again thought of the East, as will be seen by the following letters, and +proceeded so far in his preparations for the voyage as to purchase of +Love, the jeweller, of Old Bond Street, about a dozen snuff-boxes, as +presents for some of his old Turkish acquaintances. + +LETTER 124. TO MR. MOORE. + + "4. Benedictine Street, St. James's, July 8. 1813. + + "I presume by your silence that I have blundered into something + noxious in my reply to your letter, for the which I beg leave to + send beforehand a sweeping apology, which you may apply to any, or + all, parts of that unfortunate epistle. If I err in my conjecture, + I expect the like from you, in putting our correspondence so long + in quarantine. God he knows what I have said; but he also knows (if + he is not as indifferent to mortals as the _nonchalant_ deities of + Lucretius), that you are the last person I want to offend. So, if I + have,--why the devil don't you say it at once, and expectorate your + spleen? + + "Rogers is out of town with Madame de Staël, who hath published an + Essay against Suicide, which, I presume, will make somebody shoot + himself;--as a sermon by Blinkensop, in _proof_ of Christianity, + sent a hitherto most orthodox acquaintance of mine out of a chapel + of ease a perfect atheist. Have you found or founded a residence + yet? and have you begun or finished a poem? If you won't tell me + what _I_ have done, pray say what you have done, or left undone, + yourself. I am still in equipment for voyaging, and anxious to hear + from, or of, you _before_ I go, which anxiety you should remove + more readily, as you think I sha'n't cogitate about you afterwards. + I shall give the lie to that calumny by fifty foreign letters, + particularly from any place where the plague is rife,--without a + drop of vinegar or a whiff of sulphur to save you from infection. + + "The Oxfords have sailed almost a fortnight, and my sister is in + town, which is a great comfort--for, never having been much + together, we are naturally more attached to each other. I presume + the illuminations have conflagrated to Derby (or wherever you are) + by this time. We are just recovering from tumult and train oil, and + transparent fripperies, and all the noise and nonsense of victory. + Drury Lane had a large _M.W._, which some thought was Marshal + Wellington; others, that it might be translated into Manager + Whitbread; while the ladies of the vicinity of the saloon conceived + the last letter to be complimentary to themselves. I leave this to + the commentators to illustrate. If you don't answer this, I sha'n't + say what _you_ deserve, but I think _I_ deserve a reply. Do you + conceive there is no Post-Bag but the Twopenny? Sunburn me, if you + are not too bad." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 125. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 13. 1813. + + "Your letter set me at ease; for I really thought (as I hear of + your susceptibility) that I had said--I know not what--but + something I should have been very sorry for, had it, or I, offended + you;--though I don't see how a man with a beautiful wife--_his own_ + children,--quiet--fame--competency and friends, (I will vouch for a + thousand, which is more than I will for a unit in my own behalf,) + can be offended with any thing. + + "Do you know, Moore, I am amazingly inclined--remember I say but + _inclined_--to be seriously enamoured with Lady A.F.--but this * * + has ruined all my prospects. However, you know her; is she + _clever_, or sensible, or good-tempered? either _would_ do--I + scratch out the _will_. I don't ask as to her beauty--that I see; + but my circumstances are mending, and were not my other prospects + blackening, I would take a wife, and that should be the woman, had + I a chance. I do not yet know her much, but better than I did. + + "I want to get away, but find difficulty in compassing a passage in + a ship of war. They had better let me go; if I cannot, patriotism + is the word--'nay, an' they'll mouth, I'll rant as well as they.' + Now, what are you doing?--writing, we all hope, for our own sakes. + Remember you must edite my posthumous works, with a Life of the + Author, for which I will send you Confessions, dated, 'Lazaretto,' + Smyrna, Malta, or Palermo--one can die any where. + + "There is to be a thing on Tuesday ycleped a national fête. The + Regent and * * * are to be there, and every body else, who has + shillings enough for what was once a guinea. Vauxhall is the + scene--there are six tickets issued for the modest women, and it is + supposed there will be three to spare. The passports for the lax + are beyond my arithmetic. + + "P.S.--The Staël last night attacked me most furiously--said that I + had 'no right to make love--that I had used * * barbarously--that I + had no feeling, and was totally insensible to _la belle passion_, + and _had_ been all my life.' I am very glad to hear it, but did not + know it before. Let me hear from you anon." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 126. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 25. 1813. + + "I am not well versed enough in the ways of single woman to make + much matrimonial progress. + + "I have been dining like the dragon of Wantley for this last week. + My head aches with the vintage of various cellars, and my brains + are muddled as their dregs. I met your friends the D * * s:--she + sung one of your best songs so well, that, but for the appearance + of affectation, I could have cried; he reminds me of Hunt, but + handsomer, and more musical in soul, perhaps. I wish to God he may + conquer his horrible anomalous complaint. The upper part of her + face is beautiful, and she seems much attached to her husband. He + is right, nevertheless, in leaving this nauseous town. The first + winter would infallibly destroy her complexion,--and the second, + very probably, every thing else. + + "I must tell you a story. M * * (of indifferent memory) was dining + out the other day, and complaining of the P----e's coldness to his + old wassailers. D * * (a learned Jew) bored him with questions--why + this? and why that? 'Why did the P----e act thus?'--'Why, sir, on + account of Lord * *, who ought to be ashamed of himself.'--'And why + ought Lord * * to be ashamed of himself?'--'Because the P----e, + sir, * * * * * * * *.'--'And why, sir, did the P----e cut + _you_?'--' Because, G----d d----mme, sir, I stuck to my + principles.'--'And _why_ did you stick to your principles?' + + "Is not this last question the best that was ever put, when you + consider to whom? It nearly killed M * *. Perhaps you may think it + stupid, but, as Goldsmith said about the peas, it was a very good + joke when I heard it--as I did from an ear-witness--and is only + spoilt in my narration. + + "The season has closed with a dandy ball;--but I have dinners with + the Harrowbys, Rogers, and Frere and Mackintosh, where I shall + drink your health in a silent bumper, and regret your absence till + 'too much canaries' wash away my memory, or render it superfluous + by a vision of you at the opposite side of the table. Canning has + disbanded his party by a speech from his * * * *--the true throne + of a Tory. Conceive his turning them off in a formal harangue, and + bidding them think for themselves. 'I have led my ragamuffins where + they are well peppered. There are but three of the 150 left alive, + and they are for the _Towns-end_ (_query_, might not Falstaff mean + the Bow Street officer? I dare say Malone's posthumous edition will + have it so) for life.' + + "Since I wrote last, I have been into the country. I journeyed by + night--no incident, or accident, but an alarm on the part of my + valet on the outside, who, in crossing Epping Forest, actually, I + believe, flung down his purse before a mile-stone, with a glow-worm + in the second figure of number XIX--mistaking it for a footpad and + dark lantern. I can only attribute his fears to a pair of new + pistols wherewith I had armed him; and he thought it necessary to + display his vigilance by calling out to me whenever we passed any + thing--no matter whether moving or stationary. Conceive ten miles, + with a tremor every furlong. I have scribbled you a fearfully long + letter. This sheet must be blank, and is merely a wrapper, to + preclude the tabellarians of the post from peeping. You once + complained of my _not_ writing;--I will 'heap coals of fire upon + your head' by _not_ complaining of your _not_ reading. Ever, my + dear Moore, your'n (isn't that the Staffordshire termination?) + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 127. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 27. 1813. + + "When you next imitate the style of 'Tacitus,' pray add, 'de + moribus Germanorum;'--this last was a piece of barbarous silence, + and could only be taken from the _Woods_, and, as such, I attribute + it entirely to your sylvan sequestration at Mayfield Cottage. You + will find, on casting up accounts, that you are my debtor by + several sheets and one epistle. I shall bring my action;--if you + don't discharge, expect to hear from my attorney. I have forwarded + your letter to Ruggiero; but don't make a postman of me again, for + fear I should be tempted to violate your sanctity of wax or wafer. + + "Believe me ever yours _indignantly_, + + "BN." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 128. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 28. 1813. + + "Can't you be satisfied with the pangs of my jealousy of Rogers, + without actually making me the pander of your epistolary intrigue? + This is the second letter you have enclosed to my address, + notwithstanding a miraculous long answer, and a subsequent short + one or two of your own. If you do so again, I can't tell to what + pitch my fury may soar. I shall send you verse or arsenic, as + likely as any thing,--four thousand couplets on sheets beyond the + privilege of franking; that privilege, sir, of which you take an + undue advantage over a too susceptible senator, by forwarding your + lucubrations to every one but himself. I won't frank _from_ you, or + _for_ you, or _to_ you--may I be curst if I do, unless you mend + your manners. I disown you--I disclaim you--and by all the powers + of Eulogy, I will write a panegyric upon you--or dedicate a + quarto--if you don't make me ample amends. + + "P.S.--I am in training to dine with Sheridan and Rogers this + evening. I have a little spite against R., and will shed his 'Clary + wines pottle-deep.' This is nearly my ultimate or penultimate + letter; for I am quite equipped, and only wait a passage. Perhaps I + may wait a few weeks for Sligo, but not if I can help it." + + * * * * * + +He had, with the intention of going to Greece, applied to Mr. Croker, +the Secretary of the Admiralty, to procure him a passage on board a +king's ship to the Mediterranean; and, at the request of this gentleman, +Captain Carlton, of the Boyne, who was just then ordered to reinforce +Sir Edward Pellew, consented to receive Lord Byron into his cabin for +the voyage. To the letter announcing this offer, the following is the +reply. + +LETTER 129. TO MR. CROKER. + + "Bt. Str., August 2. 1813. + + "Dear Sir, + + "I was honoured with your unexpected[74] and very obliging letter, + when on the point of leaving London, which prevented me from + acknowledging my obligation as quickly as I felt it sincerely. I am + endeavouring all in my power to be ready before Saturday--and even + if I should not succeed, I can only blame my own tardiness, which + will not the less enhance the benefit I have lost. I have only to + add my hope of forgiveness for all my trespasses on your time and + patience, and with my best wishes for your public and private + welfare, I have the honour to be, most truly, your obliged and most + obedient servant, + + "BYRON." + +[Footnote 74: He calls the letter of Mr. Croker "unexpected," because, +in their previous correspondence and interviews on the subject, that +gentleman had not been able to hold out so early a prospect of a +passage, nor one which was likely to be so agreeable in point of +society.] + + * * * * * + +So early as the autumn of this year, a fifth edition of The Giaour was +required; and again his fancy teemed with fresh materials for its pages. +The verses commencing "The browsing camels' bells are tinkling," and the +four pages that follow the line, "Yes, love indeed is light from +heaven," were all added at this time. Nor had the overflowings of his +mind even yet ceased, as I find in the poem, as it exists at present, +still further additions,--and, among them, those four brilliant lines,-- + + "She was a form of life and light, + That, seen, became a part of sight, + And rose, where'er I turn'd mine eye, + The Morning-star of memory!" + +The following notes and letters to Mr. Murray, during these outpourings, +will show how irresistible was the impulse under which he vented his +thoughts. + + "If you send more proofs, I shall never finish this infernal + story--'Ecce signum'--thirty-three more lines enclosed! to the + utter discomfiture of the printer, and, I fear, not to your + advantage. + + "B." + + * * * * * + + "Half-past two in the morning, Aug. 10. 1813. + + "Dear Sir, + + "Pray suspend the _proofs_, for I am _bitten_ again, and have + _quantities_ for other parts of the bravura. + + "Yours ever, B. + + "P.S.--You shall have them in the course of the day." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 130. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "August 26. 1813. + + "I have looked over and corrected one proof, but not so carefully + (God knows if you can read it through, but I can't) as to preclude + your eye from discovering some _o_mission of mine or _com_mission + of your printer. If you have patience, look it over. Do you know + any body who can stop--I mean _point_--commas, and so forth? for I + am, I hear, a sad hand at your punctuation. I have, but with some + difficulty, _not_ added any more to this snake of a poem, which has + been lengthening its rattles every month. It is now fearfully long, + being more than a Canto and a half of Childe Harold, which contains + but 882 lines per book, with all late additions inclusive. + + "The last lines Hodgson likes. It is not often he does, and when he + don't he tells me with great energy, and I fret and alter. I have + thrown them in to soften the ferocity of our Infidel, and, for a + dying man, have given him a good deal to say for himself. + + "I was quite sorry to hear you say you stayed in town on my + account, and I hope sincerely you did not mean so superfluous a + piece of politeness. + + "Our _six_ critiques!--they would have made half a Quarterly by + themselves; but this is the age of criticism." + + * * * * * + +The following refer apparently to a still later edition. + +LETTER 131. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Stilton, Oct. 3. 1813. + + "I have just recollected an alteration you may make in the proof to + be sent to Aston.--Among the lines on Hassan's Serai, not far from + the beginning, is this-- + + "Unmeet for Solitude to share. + + Now to share implies more than _one_, and Solitude is a single + gentleman; it must be thus-- + + "For many a gilded chamber's there, + Which Solitude might well forbear; + + and so on.--My address is Aston Hall, Rotherham. + + "Will you adopt this correction? and pray accept a Stilton cheese + from me for your trouble. Ever yours, B. + + "If[75] the old line stands let the other run thus-- + + "Nor there will weary traveller halt, + To bless the sacred bread and salt. + + "_Note_.--To partake of food--to break bread and taste salt with + your host, ensures the safety of the guest; even though an enemy, + his person from that moment becomes sacred. + + "There is another additional note sent yesterday--on the Priest in + the Confessional. + + "P.S.--I leave this to your discretion; if any body thinks the old + line a good one or the cheese a bad one, don't accept either. But, + in that case, the word _share_ is repeated soon after in the line-- + + "To share the master's bread and salt; + + and must be altered to-- + + "To break the master's bread and salt. + + This is not so well, though--confound it!" + +[Footnote 75: This is written on a separate slip of paper enclosed.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 132. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Oct. 12. 1813. + + "You must look The Giaour again over carefully; there are a few + lapses, particularly in the last page.--'I _know_ 'twas false; she + could not die;' it was, and ought to be--'I _knew_.' Pray observe + this and similar mistakes. + + "I have received and read the British Review. I really think the + writer in most points very right. The only mortifying thing is the + accusation of imitation. _Crabbe_'s passage I never saw[76]; and + Scott I no further meant to follow than in his _lyric_ measure, + which is Gray's, Milton's, and any one's who likes it. The Giaour + is certainly a bad character, but not dangerous; and I think his + fate and his feelings will meet with few proselytes. I shall be + very glad to hear from or of you, when you please; but don't put + yourself out of your way on my account." + +[Footnote 76: The passage referred to by the Reviewers is in the poem +entitled "Resentment;" and the following is, I take for granted, the +part which Lord Byron is accused by them of having imitated:-- + + "Those are like wax--apply them to the fire, + Melting, they take th' impressions you desire; + Easy to mould, and fashion as you please, + And again moulded with an equal ease: + Like smelted iron these the forms retain; + But, once impress'd, will never melt again." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 133. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Bennet Street, August 22. 1813. + + "As our late--I might say, deceased--correspondence had too much of + the town-life leaven in it, we will now, 'paulo majora,' prattle a + little of literature in all its branches; and first of the + first--criticism. The Prince is at Brighton, and Jackson, the + boxer, gone to Margate, having, I believe, decoyed Yarmouth to see + a milling in that polite neighbourhood. Made. de Staël Holstein has + lost one of her young barons, who has been carbonadoed by a vile + Teutonic adjutant,--kilt and killed in a coffee-house at + Scrawsenhawsen. Corinne is, of course, what all mothers must + be,--but will, I venture to prophesy, do what few mothers + could--write an Essay upon it. She cannot exist without a + grievance--and somebody to see, or read, how much grief becomes + her. I have not seen her since the event; but merely judge (not + very charitably) from prior observation. + + "In a 'mail-coach copy' of the Edinburgh, I perceive The Giaour is + second article. The numbers are still in the Leith smack--_pray, + which way is the wind?_ The said article is so very mild and + sentimental, that it must be written by Jeffrey _in love_;--you + know he is gone to America to marry some fair one, of whom he has + been, for several _quarters, éperdument amoureux_. Seriously--as + Winifred Jenkins says of Lismahago--Mr. Jeffrey (or his deputy) + 'has done the handsome thing by me,' and I say _nothing_. But this + I will say, if you and I had knocked one another on the head in + this quarrel, how he would have laughed, and what a mighty bad + figure we should have cut in our posthumous works. By the by, I was + called _in_ the other day to mediate between two gentlemen bent + upon carnage, and,--after a long struggle between the natural + desire of destroying one's fellow-creatures, and the dislike of + seeing men play the fool for nothing,--I got one to make an + apology, and the other to take it, and left them to live happy ever + after. One was a peer, the other a friend untitled, and both fond + of high play;--and one, I can swear for, though very mild, 'not + fearful,' and so dead a shot, that, though the other is the + thinnest of men, he would have split him like a cane. They both + conducted themselves very well, and I put them out of _pain_ as + soon as I could. + + "There is an American Life of G.F. Cooke, _Scurra_ deceased, lately + published. Such a book!--I believe, since Drunken Barnaby's + Journal, nothing like it has drenched the press. All green-room and + tap-room--drams and the drama--brandy, whisky-punch, and, + _latterly_, toddy, overflow every page. Two things are rather + marvellous,--first, that a man should live so long drunk, and, + next, that he should have found a sober biographer. There are some + very laughable things in it, nevertheless;--but the pints he + swallowed, and the parts he performed, are too regularly + registered. + + "All this time you wonder I am not gone; so do I; but the accounts + of the plague are very perplexing--not so much for the thing itself + as the quarantine established in all ports, and from all places, + even from England. It is true, the forty or sixty days would, in + all probability, be as foolishly spent on shore as in the ship; but + one like's to have one's choice, nevertheless. Town is awfully + empty; but not the worse for that. I am really puzzled with my + perfect ignorance of what I mean to do;--not stay, if I can help + it, but where to go?[77] Sligo is for the North;--a pleasant place, + Petersburgh, in September, with one's ears and nose in a muff, or + else tumbling into one's neckcloth or pocket-handkerchief! If the + winter treated Buonaparte with so little ceremony, what would it + inflict upon your solitary traveller?--Give me a _sun_, I care not + how hot, and sherbet, I care not how cool, and my Heaven is as + easily made as your Persian's.[78] The Giaour is now a thousand and + odd lines. 'Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day,' eh, + Moore?--thou wilt needs be a wag, but I forgive it. Yours ever, + + "BN. + + "P.S. I perceive I have written a flippant and rather cold-hearted + letter! let it go, however. I have said nothing, either, of the + brilliant sex; but the fact is, I am at this moment in a far more + serious, and entirely new, scrape than any of the last twelve + months,--and that is saying a good deal. It is unlucky we can + neither live with nor without these women. + + "I am now thinking of regretting that, just as I have left + Newstead, you reside near it. Did you ever see it? _do_--but don't + tell me that you like it. If I had known of such intellectual + neighbourhood, I don't think I should have quitted it. You could + have come over so often, as a bachelor,--for it was a thorough + bachelor's mansion--plenty of wine and such sordid + sensualities--with books enough, room enough, and an air of + antiquity about all (except the lasses) that would have suited + you, when pensive, and served you to laugh at when in glee. I had + built myself a bath and a _vault_--and now I sha'n't even be buried + in it. It is odd that we can't even be certain of a _grave_, at + least a particular one. I remember, when about fifteen, reading + your poems there, which I can repeat almost now,--and asking all + kinds of questions about the author, when I heard that he was not + dead according to the preface; wondering if I should ever see + him--and though, at that time, without the smallest poetical + propensity myself, very much taken, as you may imagine, with that + volume. Adieu--I commit you to the care of the gods--Hindoo, + Scandinavian, and Hellenic! + + "P.S. 2d. There is an excellent review of Grimm's Correspondence + and Made. de Staël in this No. of the E.R. Jeffrey, himself, was my + critic last year; but this is, I believe, by another hand. I hope + you are going on with your _grand coup_--pray do--or that damned + Lucien Buonaparte will beat us all. I have seen much of his poem in + MS., and he really surpasses every thing beneath Tasso. Hodgson is + translating him _against_ another bard. You and (I believe, + Rogers,) Scott, Gifford, and myself, are to be referred to as + judges between the twain,--that is, if you accept the office. + Conceive our different opinions! I think we, most of us (I am + talking very impudently, you will think--_us_, indeed!) have a way + of our own,--at least, you and Scott certainly have." + +[Footnote 77: One of his travelling projects appears to have been a +visit to Abyssinia:--at least, I have found, among his papers, a letter +founded on that supposition, in which the writer entreats of him to +procure information concerning "a kingdom of Jews mentioned by Bruce as +residing on the mountain of Samen in that country. I have had the +honour," he adds, "of some correspondence with the Rev. Dr. Buchanan and +the reverend and learned G.S. Faber, on the subject of the existence of +this kingdom of Jews, which, if it prove to be a fact, will more clearly +elucidate many of the Scripture prophecies; ... and, if Providence +favours your Lordship's mission to Abyssinia, an intercourse might be +established between England and that country, and the English ships, +according to the Rev. Mr. Faber, might be the principal means of +transporting the kingdom of Jews, now in Abyssinia, to Egypt, in the way +to their own country, Palestine."] + +[Footnote 78: + + "A Persian's Heav'n is easily made-- + 'Tis but black eyes and lemonade." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 134. TO MR. MOORE. + + "August 28. 1813. + + "Ay, my dear Moore, 'there _was_ a time'--I have heard of your + tricks, when 'you was campaigning at the King of Bohemy.' I am much + mistaken if, some fine London spring, about the year 1815, that + time does not come again. After all, we must end in marriage; and I + can conceive nothing more delightful than such a state in the + country, reading the county newspaper, &c., and kissing one's + wife's maid. Seriously, I would incorporate with any woman of + decent demeanour to-morrow--that is, I would a month ago, but, at + present, * * * + + "Why don't you 'parody that Ode?'[79]--Do you think I should be + _tetchy?_ or have you done it, and won't tell me?--You are quite + right about Giamschid, and I have reduced it to a dissyllable + within this half hour.[80] I am glad to hear you talk of + Richardson, because it tells me what you won't--that you are going + to beat Lucien. At least tell me how far you have proceeded. Do you + think me less interested about your works, or less sincere than our + friend Ruggiero? I am not--and never was. In that thing of mine, + the 'English Bards,' at the time when I was angry with all the + world, I never 'disparaged your parts,' although I did not know you + personally;--and have always regretted that you don't give us an + _entire_ work, and not sprinkle yourself in detached + pieces--beautiful, I allow, and quite _alone_ in our language[81], + but still giving us a right to expect a _Shah Nameh_ (is that the + name?) as well as gazels. Stick to the East;--the oracle, Staël, + told me it was the only poetical policy. The North, South, and + West, have all been exhausted; but from the East, we have nothing + but S * *'s unsaleables,--and these he has contrived to spoil, by + adopting only their most outrageous fictions. His personages don't + interest us, and yours will. You will have no competitor; and, if + you had, you ought to be glad of it. The little I have done in that + way is merely a 'voice in the wilderness' for you; and if it has + had any success, that also will prove that the public are + orientalising, and pave the path for you. + + "I have been thinking of a story, grafted on the amours of a Peri + and a mortal--something like, only more _philanthropical_ than, + Cazotte's Diable Amoureux. It would require a good deal of poesy, + and tenderness is not my forte. For that, and other reasons, I have + given up the idea, and merely suggest it to you, because, in + intervals of your greater work, I think it a subject you might make + much of.[82] If you want any more books, there is 'Castellan's + Moeurs des Ottomans,' the best compendium of the kind I ever met + with, in six small tomes. I am really taking a liberty by talking + in this style to my 'elders and my betters;'--pardon it, and don't + _Rochefoucault_ my motives." + +[Footnote 79: The Ode of Horace, + + "Natis in usum lætitiæ," &c.; + +some passages of which I told him might be parodied, in allusion to some +of his late adventures: + + "Quanta laboras in Charybdi! + Digne puer meliore flammâ!" +] + +[Footnote 80: In his first edition of The Giaour he had used this word +as a trisyllable,--"Bright as the gem of Giamschid,"--but on my +remarking to him, upon the authority of Richardson's Persian Dictionary, +that this was incorrect, he altered it to "Bright as the ruby of +Giamschid." On seeing this, however, I wrote to him, "that, as the +comparison of his heroine's eye to a 'ruby' might unluckily call up the +idea of its being blood-shot, he had better change the line to "Bright +as the jewel of Giamschid;"--which he accordingly did in the following +edition.] + +[Footnote 81: Having already endeavoured to obviate the charge of +vanity, to which I am aware I expose myself by being thus accessory to +the publication of eulogies, so warm and so little merited, on myself, I +shall here only add, that it will abundantly console me under such a +charge, if, in whatever degree the judgment of my noble friend may be +called in question for these praises, he shall, in the same proportion, +receive credit for the good-nature and warm-heartedness by which they +were dictated.] + +[Footnote 82: I had already, singularly enough, anticipated this +suggestion, by making the daughter of a Peri the heroine of one of my +stories, and detailing the love adventures of her aërial parent in an +episode. In acquainting Lord Byron with this circumstance, in my answer +to the above letter, I added, "All I ask of your friendship is--not that +you will abstain from Peris on my account, for that is too much to ask +of human (or, at least, author's) nature--but that, whenever you mean to +pay your addresses to any of these aërial ladies, you will, at once, +tell me so, frankly and instantly, and let me, at least, have my choice +whether I shall be desperate enough to go on, with such a rival, or at +once surrender the whole race into your hands, and take, for the future, +to Antediluvians with Mr. Montgomery."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 135. TO MR. MOORE. + + "August--September, I mean--1. 1813. + + "I send you, begging your acceptance, Castellan, and three vols. on + Turkish Literature, not yet looked into. The _last_ I will thank + you to read, extract what you want, and return in a week, as they + are lent to me by that brightest of Northern constellations, + Mackintosh,--amongst many other kind things into which India has + warmed him, for I am sure your _home_ Scotsman is of a less genial + description. + + "Your Peri, my dear M., is sacred and inviolable; I have no idea of + touching the hem of her petticoat. Your affectation of a dislike to + encounter me is so flattering, that I begin to think myself a very + fine fellow. But you are laughing at me--'Stap my vitals, Tarn! + thou art a very impudent person;' and, if you are not laughing at + me, you deserve to be laughed at. Seriously, what on earth can you, + or have you, to dread from any poetical flesh breathing? It really + puts me out of humour to hear you talk thus. + + "'The Giaour' I have added to a good deal; but still in foolish + fragments. It contains about 1200 lines, or rather more--now + printing. You will allow me to send you a copy. You delight me + much by telling me that I am in your good graces, and more + particularly as to temper; for, unluckily, I have the reputation of + a very bad one. But they say the devil is amusing when pleased, and + I must have been more venomous than the old serpent, to have hissed + or stung in your company. It may be, and would appear to a third + person, an incredible thing, but I know you will believe me when I + say, that I am as anxious for your success as one human being can + be for another's,--as much as if I had never scribbled a line. + Surely the field of fame is wide enough for all; and if it were + not, I would not willingly rob my neighbour of a rood of it. Now + you have a pretty property of some thousand acres there, and when + you have passed your present Inclosure Bill, your income will be + doubled, (there's a metaphor, worthy of a Templar, namely, pert and + low,) while my wild common is too remote to incommode you, and + quite incapable of such fertility. I send you (which return per + post, as the printer would say) a curious letter from a friend of + mine[83], which will let you into the origin of 'The Giaour.' Write + soon. Ever, dear Moore, yours most entirely, &c. + + "P.S.--This letter was written to me on account of a _different + story_ circulated by some gentlewomen of our acquaintance, a little + too close to the text. The part erased contained merely some + Turkish names, and circumstantial evidence of the girl's detection, + not very important or decorous." + +[Footnote 83: The letter of Lord Sligo, already given.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 136. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Sept. 5. 1813. + + "You need not tie yourself down to a day with Toderini, but send + him at your leisure, having anatomised him into such annotations as + you want; I do not believe that he has ever undergone that process + before, which is the best reason for not sparing him now. + + "* * has returned to town, but not yet recovered of the Quarterly. + What fellows these reviewers are! 'these bugs do fear us all.' They + made you fight, and me (the milkiest of men) a satirist, and will + end by making * * madder than Ajax. I have been reading Memory + again, the other day, and Hope together, and retain all my + preference of the former. His elegance is really wonderful--there + is no such thing as a vulgar line in his book. + + "What say you to Buonaparte? Remember, I back him against the + field, barring Catalepsy and the Elements. Nay, I almost wish him + success against all countries but this,--were it only to choke the + Morning Post, and his undutiful father-in-law, with that rebellious + bastard of Scandinavian adoption, Bernadotte. Rogers wants me to go + with him on a crusade to the Lakes, and to besiege you on our way. + This last is a great temptation, but I fear it will not be in my + power, unless you would go on with one of us somewhere--no matter + where. It is too late for Matlock, but we might hit upon some + scheme, high life or low,--the last would be much the best for + amusement. I am so sick of the other, that I quite sigh for a + cider-cellar, or a cruise in a smuggler's sloop. + + "You cannot wish more than I do that the Fates were a little more + accommodating to our parallel lines, which prolong ad infinitum + without coming a jot nearer. I almost wish I were married, + too--which is saying much. All my friends, seniors and juniors, are + in for it, and ask me to be godfather,--the only species of + parentage which, I believe, will ever come to my share in a lawful + way; and, in an unlawful one, by the blessing of Lucina, we can + never be certain,--though the parish may. I suppose I shall hear + from you to-morrow. If not, this goes as it is; but I leave room + for a P.S., in case any thing requires an answer. Ever, &c. + + "No letter--_n'importe_. R. thinks the Quarterly will be at _me_ + this time: if so, it shall be a war of extermination--no _quarter_. + From the youngest devil down to the oldest woman of that review, + all shall perish by one fatal lampoon. The ties of nature shall be + torn asunder, for I will not even spare my bookseller; nay, if one + were to include readers also, all the better." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 137. TO MR. MOORE. + + "September 8. 1813. + + "I am sorry to see Tod. again so soon, for fear your scrupulous + conscience should have prevented you from fully availing yourself + of his spoils. By this coach I send you a copy of that awful + pamphlet 'The Giaour,' which has never procured me half so high a + compliment as your modest alarm. You will (if inclined in an + evening) perceive that I have added much in quantity,--a + circumstance which may truly diminish your modesty upon the + subject. + + "You stand certainly in great need of a 'lift' with Mackintosh. My + dear Moore, you strangely under-rate yourself. I should conceive it + an affectation in any other; but I think I know you well enough to + believe that you don't know your own value. However, 'tis a fault + that generally mends; and, in your case, it really ought. I have + heard him speak of you as highly as your wife could wish; and + enough to give all your friends the jaundice. + + "Yesterday I had a letter from _Ali Pacha!_ brought by Dr. Holland, + who is just returned from Albania. It is in Latin, and begins + 'Excellentissime _nec non_ Carissime,' and ends about a gun he + wants made for him;--it is signed 'Ali Vizir.' What do you think he + has been about? H. tells me that, last spring, he took a hostile + town, where, forty-two years ago, his mother and sisters were + treated as Miss Cunigunde was by the Bulgarian cavalry. He takes + the town, selects all the survivors of this exploit--children, + grandchildren, &c. to the tune of six hundred, and has them shot + before his face. Recollect, he spared the rest of the city, and + confined himself to the Tarquin pedigree,--which is more than I + would. So much for 'dearest friend.'" + + * * * * * + +LETTER 138. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Sept. 9. 1813. + + "I write to you from Mr. Murray's, and I may say, from Murray, who, + if you are not predisposed in favour of any other publisher, would + be happy to treat with you, at a fitting time, for your work. I can + safely recommend him as fair, liberal, and attentive, and + certainly, in point of reputation, he stands among the first of + 'the trade.' I am sure he would do you justice. I have written to + you so much lately, that you will be glad to see so little now. + + "Ever," &c. &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 139. TO MR. MOORE. + + "September 27. 1813. + + "Thomas Moore, + + "(Thou wilt never be called '_true_ Thomas,' like he of + Ercildoune,) why don't you write to me?--as you won't, I must. I + was near you at Aston the other day, and hope I soon shall be + again. If so, you must and shall meet me, and go to Matlock and + elsewhere, and take what, in _flash_ dialect, is poetically termed + 'a lark,' with Rogers and me for accomplices. Yesterday, at Holland + House, I was introduced to Southey--the best looking bard I have + seen for some time. To have that poet's head and shoulders, I would + almost have written his Sapphics. He is certainly a prepossessing + person to look on, and a man of talent, and all that, and--_there_ + is his eulogy. + + "* * read me part of a letter from you. By the foot of Pharaoh, I + believe there was abuse, for he stopped short, so he did, after a + fine saying about our correspondence, and _looked_--I wish I could + revenge myself by attacking you, or by telling you that I have + _had_ to defend you--an agreeable way which one's friends have of + recommending themselves by saying--'Ay, ay, _I_ gave it Mr. + Such-a-one for what he said about your being a plagiary, and a + rake, and so on.' But do you know that you are one of the very few + whom I never have the satisfaction of hearing abused, but the + reverse;--and do you suppose I will forgive _that_? + + "I have been in the country, and ran away from the Doncaster races. + It is odd,--I was a visiter in the same house which came to my sire + as a residence with Lady Carmarthen, (with whom he adulterated + before his majority--by the by, remember, _she_ was not my + mamma,)--and they thrust me into an old room, with a nauseous + picture over the chimney, which I should suppose my papa regarded + with due respect, and which, inheriting the family taste, I looked + upon with great satisfaction. I stayed a week with the family, and + behaved very well--though the lady of the house is young, and + religious, and pretty, and the master is my particular friend. I + felt no wish for any thing but a poodle dog, which they kindly gave + me. Now, for a man of my courses not even to have _coveted_, is a + sign of great amendment. Pray pardon all this nonsense, and don't + 'snub me when I'm in spirits.' + + "Ever, yours, BN. + + "Here's an impromptu for you by a 'person of quality,' written last + week, on being reproached for low spirits. + + "When from the heart where Sorrow sits[84], + Her dusky shadow mounts too high, + And o'er the changing aspect flits, + And clouds the brow, or fills the eye: + Heed not that gloom, which soon shall sink; + My Thoughts their dungeon know too well-- + Back to my breast the wanderers shrink, + And bleed within their silent cell." + +[Footnote 84: Now printed in his Works.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 140. TO MR. MOORE. + + "October 2. 1813. + + "You have not answered some six letters of mine. This, therefore, + is my penultimate. I will write to you once more, but, after + that--I swear by all the saints--I am silent and supercilious. I + have met Curran at Holland House--he beats every body;--his + imagination is beyond human, and his humour (it is difficult to + define what is wit) perfect. Then he has fifty faces, and twice as + many voices, when he mimics--I never met his equal. Now, were I a + woman, and eke a virgin, that is the man I should make my + Scamander. He is quite fascinating. Remember, I have met him but + once; and you, who have known him long, may probably deduct from + my panegyric. I almost fear to meet him again, lest the impression + should be lowered. He talked a great deal about you--a theme never + tiresome to me, nor any body else that I know. What a variety of + expression he conjures into that naturally not very fine + countenance of his! He absolutely changes it entirely. I have + done--for I can't describe him, and you know him. On Sunday I + return to * *, where I shall not be far from you. Perhaps I shall + hear from you in the mean time. Good night. + + "Saturday morn--Your letter has cancelled all my anxieties. I did + _not suspect_ you in _earnest_. Modest again! Because I don't do a + very shabby thing, it seems, I 'don't fear your competition.' If it + were reduced to an alternative of preference, I _should_ dread you, + as much as Satan does Michael. But is there not room enough in our + respective regions? Go on--it will soon be my turn to forgive. + To-day I dine with Mackintosh and Mrs. _Stale_--as John Bull may be + pleased to denominate Corinne--whom I saw last night, at Covent + Garden, yawning over the humour of Falstaff. + + "The reputation of 'gloom,' if one's friends are not included in + the _reputants_, is of great service; as it saves one from a legion + of impertinents, in the shape of common-place acquaintance. But + thou know'st I can be a right merry and conceited fellow, and + rarely 'larmoyant.' Murray shall reinstate your line forthwith.[85] + I believe the blunder in the motto was mine:--and yet I have, in + general, a memory for _you_, and am sure it was rightly printed at + first. + + "I do 'blush' very often, if I may believe Ladies H. and M.;--but + luckily, at present, no one sees me. Adieu." + +[Footnote 85: The motto to The Giaour, which is taken from one of the +Irish Melodies, had been quoted by him incorrectly in the first editions +of the poem. He made afterwards a similar mistake in the lines from +Burns prefixed to the Bride of Abydos.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 141. TO MR. MOORE. + + "November 30. 1813. + + "Since I last wrote to you, much has occurred, good, bad, and + indifferent,--not to make me forget you, but to prevent me from + reminding you of one who, nevertheless, has often thought of you, + and to whom _your_ thoughts, in many a measure, have frequently + been a consolation. We were once very near neighbours this autumn; + and a good and bad neighbourhood it has proved to me. Suffice it to + say, that your French quotation was confoundedly to the + purpose,--though very _unexpectedly_ pertinent, as you may imagine + by what I _said_ before, and my silence since. However, 'Richard's + himself again,' and except all night and some part of the morning, + I don't think very much about the matter. + + "All convulsions end with me in rhyme; and to solace my midnights, + I have scribbled another Turkish story[86]--not a Fragment--which + you will receive soon after this. It does not trench upon your + kingdom in the least, and if it did, you would soon reduce me to my + proper boundaries. You will think, and justly, that I run some risk + of losing the little I have gained in fame, by this further + experiment on public patience; but I have really ceased to care on + that head. I have written this, and published it, for the sake of + the _employment_,--to wring my thoughts from reality, and take + refuge in 'imaginings,' however 'horrible;' and, as to success! + those who succeed will console me for a failure--excepting yourself + and one or two more, whom luckily I love too well to wish one leaf + of their laurels a tint yellower. This is the work of a week, and + will be the reading of an hour to you, or even less,--and so, let + it go * * * *. + + "P.S. Ward and I _talk_ of going to Holland. I want to see how a + Dutch canal looks after the Bosphorus. Pray respond." + +[Footnote 86: The Bride of Abydos.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 142. TO MR. MOORE. + + "December 8. 1813. + + "Your letter, like all the best, and even kindest things in this + world, is both painful and pleasing. But, first, to what sits + nearest. Do you know I was actually about to dedicate to you,--not + in a formal inscription, as to one's _elders_,--but through a + short prefatory letter, in which I boasted myself your intimate, + and held forth the prospect of _your_ poem; when, lo! the + recollection of your strict injunctions of secrecy as to the said + poem, more than _once_ repeated by word and letter, flashed upon + me, and marred my intents. I could have no motive for repressing my + own desire of alluding to you (and not a day passes that I do not + think and talk of you), but an idea that you might, yourself, + dislike it. You cannot doubt my sincere admiration, waving personal + friendship for the present, which, by the by, is not less sincere + and deep rooted. I have you by rote and by heart; of which 'ecce + signum!' When I was at * *, on my first visit, I have a habit, in + passing my time a good deal alone, of--I won't call it singing, for + that I never attempt except to myself--but of uttering, to what I + think tunes, your 'Oh breathe not,' 'When the last glimpse,' and + 'When he who adores thee,' with others of the same minstrel;--they + are my matins and vespers. I assuredly did not intend them to be + overheard, but, one morning, in comes, not La Donna, but Il Marito, + with a very grave face, saying, 'Byron, I must request you won't + sing any more, at least of _those_ songs.' I stared, and said, + 'Certainly, but why?'--'To tell you the truth,' quoth he, 'they + make my wife _cry_, and so melancholy, that I wish her to hear no + more of them.' + + "Now, my dear M., the effect must have been from your words, and + certainly not my music. I merely mention this foolish story to show + you how much I am indebted to you for even your pastimes. A man + may praise and praise, but no one recollects but that which + pleases--at least, in composition. Though I think no one equal to + you in that department, or in satire,--and surely no one was ever + so popular in both,--I certainly am of opinion that you have not + yet done all _you_ can do, though more than enough for any one + else. I want, and the world expects, a longer work from you; and I + see in you what I never saw in poet before, a strange diffidence of + your own powers, which I cannot account for, and which must be + unaccountable, when a _Cossac_ like me can appal a _cuirassier_. + Your story I did not, could not, know,--I thought only of a Peri. I + wish you had confided in me, not for your sake, but mine, and to + prevent the world from losing a much better poem than my own, but + which, I yet hope, this _clashing_ will not even now deprive them + of.[87] Mine is the work of a week, written, _why_ I have partly + told you, and partly I cannot tell you by letter--some day I will. + + "Go on--I shall really be very unhappy if I at all interfere with + you. The success of mine is yet problematical; though the public + will probably purchase a certain quantity, on the presumption of + their own propensity for 'The Giaour' and such 'horrid mysteries.' + The only advantage I have is being on the spot; and that merely + amounts to saving me the trouble of turning over books which I had + better read again. If _your chamber_ was furnished in the same way, + you have no need to _go there_ to describe--I mean only as to + _accuracy_--because I drew it from recollection. + + "This last thing of mine _may_ have the same fate, and I assure you + I have great doubts about it. But, even if not, its little day will + be over before you are ready and willing. Come out--'screw your + courage to the sticking-place.' Except the Post Bag (and surely you + cannot complain of a want of success there), you have not been + _regularly_ out for some years. No man stands higher,--whatever you + may think on a rainy day, in your provincial retreat. 'Aucun homme, + dans aucune langue, n'a été, peut-être, plus completèment le poëte + du coeur et le poëte des femmes. Les critiques lui reprochent de + n'avoir représenté le monde ni tel qu'il est, ni tel qu'il doit + être; _mais les femmes répondent qu'il l'a représenté tel qu'elles + le désirent_.'--I should have thought Sismondi had written this for + you instead of Metastasio. + + "Write to me, and tell me of _yourself_. Do you remember what + Rousseau said to some one--'Have we quarrelled? you have talked to + me often, and never once mentioned yourself.' + + "P.S.--The last sentence is an indirect apology for my own + egotism,--but I believe in letters it is allowed. I wish it was + _mutual_. I have met with an odd reflection in Grimm; it shall + not--at least the bad part--be applied to you or me, though _one_ + of us has certainly an indifferent name--but this it is:--'Many + people have the reputation of being wicked, with whom we should be + too happy to pass our lives.' I need not add it is a woman's + saying--a Mademoiselle de Sommery's." + +[Footnote 87: Among the stories intended to be introduced into Lalla +Rookh, which I had begun, but, from various causes, never finished, +there was one which I had made some progress in, at the time of the +appearance of "The Bride," and which, on reading that poem, I found to +contain such singular coincidences with it, not only in locality and +costume, but in plot and characters, that I immediately gave up my story +altogether, and began another on an entirely new subject, the +Fire-worshippers. To this circumstance, which I immediately communicated +to him, Lord Byron alludes in this letter. In my hero (to whom I had +even given the name of "Zelim," and who was a descendant of Ali, +outlawed, with all his followers, by the reigning Caliph) it was my +intention to shadow out, as I did afterwards in another form, the +national cause of Ireland. To quote the words of my letter to Lord Byron +on the subject:--"I chose this story because one writes best about what +one feels most, and I thought the parallel with Ireland would enable me +to infuse some vigour into my hero's character. But to aim at vigour and +strong feeling after _you_ is hopeless;--that region 'was made for +Cæsar.'"] + + * * * * * + +At this time Lord Byron commenced a Journal, or Diary, from the pages of +which I have already selected a few extracts, and of which I shall now +lay as much more as is producible before the reader. Employed +chiefly,--as such a record, from its nature, must be,--about persons +still living, and occurrences still recent, it would be impossible, of +course, to submit it to the public eye, without the omission of some +portion of its contents, and unluckily, too, of that very portion which, +from its reference to the secret pursuits and feelings of the writer, +would the most livelily pique and gratify the curiosity of the reader. +Enough, however, will, I trust, still remain, even after all this +necessary winnowing, to enlarge still further the view we have here +opened into the interior of the poet's life and habits, and to indulge +harmlessly that taste, as general as it is natural, which leads us to +contemplate with pleasure a great mind in its undress, and to rejoice in +the discovery, so consoling to human pride, that even the mightiest, in +their moments of ease and weakness, resemble ourselves.[88] + +[Footnote 88: "C'est surtout aux hommes qui sont hors de toute +comparaison par le génie qu'on aime à ressembler au moins par les +foiblesses."--GINGUENE.] + + +"JOURNAL, BEGUN NOVEMBER 14. 1813. + +"If this had been begun ten years ago, and faithfully kept!!!--heigho! +there are too many things I wish never to have remembered, as it is. +Well,--have had my share of what are called the pleasures of this life, +and have seen more of the European and Asiatic world than I have made a +good use of. They say 'Virtue is its own reward,'--it certainly should +be paid well for its trouble. At five-and-twenty, when the better part +of life is over, one should be _something_;--and what am I? nothing but +five-and-twenty--and the odd months. What have I seen? the same man all +over the world,--ay, and woman too. Give _me_ a Mussulman who never asks +questions, and a she of the same race who saves one the trouble of +putting them. But for this same plague--yellow fever--and Newstead +delay, I should have been by this time a second time close to the +Euxine. If I can overcome the last, I don't so much mind your +pestilence; and, at any rate, the spring shall see me there,--provided I +neither marry myself, nor unmarry any one else in the interval. I wish +one was--I don't know what I wish. It is odd I never set myself +seriously to wishing without attaining it--and repenting. I begin to +believe with the good old Magi, that one should only pray for the +nation, and not for the individual;--but, on my principle, this would +not be very patriotic. + +"No more reflections--Let me see--last night I finished 'Zuleika,' my +second Turkish Tale. I believe the composition of it kept me alive--for +it was written to drive my thoughts from the recollection of-- + + 'Dear sacred name, rest ever unreveal'd.' + +At least, even here, my hand would tremble to write it. This afternoon I +have burnt the scenes of my commenced comedy. I have some idea of +expectorating a romance, or rather a tale in prose;--but what romance +could equal the events-- + + 'quæque ipse ...vidi, + Et quorum pars magna fui.' + +"To-day Henry Byron called on me with my little cousin Eliza. She will +grow up a beauty and a plague; but, in the mean time, it is the +prettiest child! dark eyes and eyelashes, black and long as the wing of +a raven. I think she is prettier even than my niece, Georgina,--yet I +don't like to think so neither; and though older, she is not so clever. + +"Dallas called before I was up, so we did not meet. Lewis, too,--who +seems out of humour with every thing. What can be the matter? he is not +married--has he lost his own mistress, or any other person's wife? +Hodgson, too, came. He is going to be married, and he is the kind of man +who will be the happier. He has talent, cheerfulness, every thing that +can make him a pleasing companion; and his intended is handsome and +young, and all that. But I never see any one much improved by matrimony. +All my coupled contemporaries are bald and discontented. W. and S. have +both lost their hair and good humour; and the last of the two had a good +deal to lose. But it don't much signify what falls _off_ a man's temples +in that state. + +"Mem. I must get a toy to-morrow, for Eliza, and send the device for the +seals of myself and * * * * * Mem. too, to call on the Staël and Lady +Holland to-morrow, and on * *, who has advised me (without seeing it, by +the by) not to publish 'Zuleika;' I believe he is right, but experience +might have taught him that not to print is _physically_ impossible. No +one has seen it but Hodgson and Mr. Gifford. I never in my life _read_ a +composition, save to Hodgson, as he pays me in kind. It is a horrible +thing to do too frequently;--better print, and they who like may read, +and if they don't like, you have the satisfaction of knowing that they +have, at least, _purchased_ the right of saying so. + +"I have declined presenting the Debtors' Petition, being sick of +parliamentary mummeries. I have spoken thrice; but I doubt my ever +becoming an orator. My first was liked; the second and third--I don't +know whether they succeeded or not. I have never yet set to it _con +amore_;--one must have some excuse to one's self for laziness, or +inability, or both, and this is mine. 'Company, villanous company, hath +been the spoil of me;'--and then, I have 'drunk medicines,' not to make +me love others, but certainly enough to hate myself. + +"Two nights ago I saw the tigers sup at Exeter 'Change. Except Veli +Pacha's lion in the Morea,--who followed the Arab keeper like a +dog,--the fondness of the hyæna for her keeper amused me most. Such a +conversazione!--There was a 'hippopotamus,' like Lord L----l in the +face; and the 'Ursine Sloth' hath the very voice and manner of my +valet--but the tiger talked too much. The elephant took and gave me my +money again--took off my hat--opened a door--_trunked_ a whip--and +behaved so well, that I wish he was my butler. The handsomest animal on +earth is one of the panthers; but the poor antelopes were dead. I should +hate to see one _here_:--the sight of the _camel_ made me pine again for +Asia Minor. 'Oh quando te aspiciam?' + + +"November 16. + +"Went last night with Lewis to see the first of Antony and Cleopatra. It +was admirably got up, and well acted--a salad of Shakspeare and Dryden, +Cleopatra strikes me as the epitome of her sex--fond, lively, sad, +tender, teasing, humble, haughty, beautiful, the devil!--coquettish to +the last, as well with the 'asp' as with Antony. After doing all she can +to persuade him that--but why do they abuse him for cutting off that +poltroon Cicero's head? Did not Tully tell Brutus it was a pity to have +spared Antony? and did he not speak the Philippics? and are not '_words +things_?' and such '_words_' very pestilent '_things_' too? If he had +had a hundred heads, they deserved (from Antony) a rostrum (his was +stuck up there) apiece--though, after all, he might as well have +pardoned him, for the credit of the thing. But to resume--Cleopatra, +after securing him, says, 'yet go--it is your interest,' &c.--how like +the sex! and the questions about Octavia--it is woman all over. + +"To-day received Lord Jersey's invitation to Middleton--to travel sixty +miles to meet Madame * *! I once travelled three thousand to get among +silent people; and this same lady writes octavos, and _talks_ folios. I +have read her books--like most of them, and delight in the last; so I +won't hear it, as well as read. + +"Read Burns to-day. What would he have been, if a patrician? We should +have had more polish--less force--just as much verse, but no +immortality--a divorce and a duel or two, the which had he survived, as +his potations must have been less spirituous, he might have lived as +long as Sheridan, and outlived as much as poor Brinsley. What a wreck is +that man! and all from bad pilotage; for no one had ever better gales, +though now and then a little too squally. Poor dear Sherry! I shall +never forget the day he and Rogers and Moore and I passed together; when +_he_ talked, and _we_ listened, without one yawn, from six till one in +the morning. + +"Got my seals * * * * * * Have again forgot a plaything for _ma petite +cousine_ Eliza; but I must send for it to-morrow. I hope Harry will +bring her to me. I sent Lord Holland the proofs of the last 'Giaour,' +and 'The Bride of Abydos.' He won't like the latter, and I don't think +that I shall long. It was written in four nights to distract my dreams +from * *. Were it not thus, it had never been composed; and had I not +done something at that time, I must have gone mad, by eating my own +heart,--bitter diet!--Hodgson likes it better than 'The Giaour,' but +nobody else will,--and he never liked the Fragment. I am sure, had it +not been for Murray, _that_ would never have been published, though the +circumstances which are the groundwork make it * * * heigh-ho! + +"To-night I saw both the sisters of * *; my God! the youngest so like! I +thought I should have sprung across the house, and am so glad no one was +with me in Lady H.'s box. I hate those likenesses--the mock-bird, but +not the nightingale--so like as to remind, so different as to be +painful.[89] One quarrels equally with the points of resemblance and of +distinction. + +[Footnote 89: + + "Earth holds no other like to thee, + Or, if it doth, in vain for me: + For worlds I dare not view the dame + Resembling thee, yet not the same." + THE GIAOUR. +] + + +"Nov. 17. + +"No letter from * *; but I must not complain. The respectable Job says, +'Why should a _living man_ complain?' I really don't know, except it be +that a _dead man_ can't; and he, the said patriarch, _did_ complain, +nevertheless, till his friends were tired and his wife recommended that +pious prologue, 'Curse--and die;' the only time, I suppose, when but +little relief is to be found in swearing. I have had a most kind letter +from Lord Holland on 'The Bride of Abydos,' which he likes, and so does +Lady H. This is very good-natured in both, from whom I don't deserve any +quarter. Yet I _did_ think, at the time, that my cause of enmity +proceeded from Holland House, and am glad I was wrong, and wish I had +not been in such a hurry with that confounded satire, of which I would +suppress even the memory;--but people, now they can't get it, make a +fuss, I verily believe, out of contradiction. + +"George Ellis and Murray have been talking something about Scott and me, +George pro Scoto,--and very right too. If they want to depose him, I +only wish they would not set me up as a competitor. Even if I had my +choice, I would rather be the Earl of Warwick than all the _kings_ he +ever made! Jeffrey and Gifford I take to be the monarch-makers in poetry +and prose. The British Critic, in their Rokeby Review, have presupposed +a comparison, which I am sure my friends never thought of, and W. +Scott's subjects are injudicious in descending to. I like the man--and +admire his works to what Mr. Braham calls _Entusymusy_. All such stuff +can only vex him, and do me no good. Many hate his politics--(I hate all +politics); and, here, a man's politics are like the Greek _soul_--an +[Greek: eidôlon], besides God knows what _other soul_; but their +estimate of the two generally go together. + +"Harry has not brought _ma petite cousine_. I want us to go to the play +together;--she has been but once. Another short note from Jersey, +inviting Rogers and me on the 23d. I must see my agent to-night. I +wonder when that Newstead business will be finished. It cost me more +than words to part with it--and to _have_ parted with it! What matters +it what I do? or what becomes of me?--but let me remember Job's saying, +and console myself with being 'a living man.' + +"I wish I could settle to reading again,--my life is monotonous, and yet +desultory. I take up books, and fling them down again. I began a comedy, +and burnt it because the scene ran into _reality_;--a novel, for the +same reason. In rhyme, I can keep more away from facts; but the thought +always runs through, through ... yes, yes, through. I have had a letter +from Lady Melbourne--the best friend I ever had in my life, and the +cleverest of women. + +"Not a word from * *. Have they set out from * *? or has my last +precious epistle fallen into the lion's jaws? If so--and this silence +looks suspicious, I must clap on my 'musty morion' and 'hold out my +iron.' I am out of practice--but I won't begin again at Manton's now. +Besides, I would not return his shot. I was once a famous +wafer-splitter; but then the bullies of society made it necessary. Ever +since I began to feel that I had a bad cause to support, I have left off +the exercise. + +"What strange tidings from that Anakim of anarchy--Buonaparte! Ever +since I defended my bust of him at Harrow against the rascally +time-servers, when the war broke out in 1803, he has been a 'Héros de +Roman' of mine--on the Continent; I don't want him here. But I don't +like those same flights--leaving of armies, &c. &c. I am sure when I +fought for his bust at school, I did not think he would run away from +himself. But I should not wonder if he banged them yet. To be beat by +men would be something; but by three stupid, legitimate-old-dynasty +boobies of regular-bred sovereigns--O-hone-a-rie!--O-hone-a-rie! It must +be, as Cobbett says, his marriage with the thick-lipped and thick-headed +_Autrichienne_ brood. He had better have kept to her who was kept by +Barras. I never knew any good come of your young wife, and legal +espousals, to any but your 'sober-blooded boy' who 'eats fish' and +drinketh 'no sack.' Had he not the whole opera? all Paris? all France? +But a mistress is just as perplexing--that is, _one_--two or more are +manageable by division. + +"I have begun, or had begun, a song, and flung it into the fire. It was +in remembrance of Mary Duff, my first of flames, before most people +begin to burn. I wonder what the devil is the matter with me! I can do +nothing, and--fortunately there is nothing to do. It has lately been in +my power to make two persons (and their connections) comfortable, _pro +tempore_, and one happy, _ex tempore_,--I rejoice in the last +particularly, as it is an excellent man[90]. I wish there had been more +inconvenience and less gratification to my self-love in it, for then +there had been more merit. We are all selfish--and I believe, ye gods of +Epicurus! I believe in Rochefoucault about _men_, and in Lucretius (not +Busby's translation) about yourselves. Your bard has made you very +_nonchalant_ and blest; but as he has excused _us_ from damnation, I +don't envy you your blessedness _much_--a little, to be sure. I +remember, last year, * * said to me, at * *, 'Have we not passed our +last month like the gods of Lucretius?' And so we had. She is an adept +in the text of the original (which I like too); and when that booby Bus. +sent his translating prospectus, she subscribed. But, the devil +prompting him to add a specimen, she transmitted him a subsequent +answer, saying, that 'after perusing it, her conscience would not permit +her to allow her name to remain on the list of subscribblers.' Last +night, at Lord H.'s--Mackintosh, the Ossulstones, Puységur, &c. there--I +was trying to recollect a quotation (as _I_ think) of Staël's, from some +Teutonic sophist about architecture. 'Architecture,' says this +Macoronico Tedescho, 'reminds me of frozen music.' It is somewhere--but +where?--the demon of perplexity must know and won't tell. I asked M., +and he said it was not in her: but P----r said it must be _hers_, it was +so _like_. H. laughed, as he does at all 'De l'Allemagne,'--in which, +however, I think he goes a little too far. B., I hear, condemns it too. +But there are fine passages;--and, after all, what is a work--any--or +every work--but a desert with fountains, and, perhaps, a grove or two, +every day's journey? To be sure, in Madame, what we often mistake, and +'pant for,' as the 'cooling stream,' turns out to be the '_mirage_' +(criticè _verbiage_); but we do, at last, get to something like the +temple of Jove Ammon, and then the waste we have passed is only +remembered to gladden the contrast. + +"Called on C * *, to explain * * *. She is very beautiful, to my taste, +at least; for on coming home from abroad, I recollect being unable to +look at any woman but her--they were so fair, and unmeaning, and +_blonde_. The darkness and regularity of her features reminded me of my +'Jannat al Aden.' But this impression wore off; and now I can look at a +fair woman, without longing for a Houri. She was very good-tempered, and +every thing was explained. + +"To-day, great news--'the Dutch have taken Holland,'--which, I suppose, +will be succeeded by the actual explosion of the Thames. Five provinces +have declared for young Stadt, and there will be inundation, +conflagration, constupration, consternation, and every sort of nation +and nations, fighting away, up to their knees, in the damnable quags of +this will-o'-the-wisp abode of Boors. It is said Bernadotte is amongst +them, too; and, as Orange will be there soon, they will have (Crown) +Prince Stork and King Log in their Loggery at the same time. Two to one +on the new dynasty! + +"Mr. Murray has offered me one thousand guineas for 'The Giaour' and +'The Bride of Abydos.' I won't--it is too much, though I am strongly +tempted, merely for the _say_ of it. No bad price for a fortnight's (a +week each) what?--the gods know--it was intended to be called poetry. + +"I have dined regularly to-day, for the first time since Sunday +last--this being Sabbath, too. All the rest, tea and dry biscuits--six +_per diem_, I wish to God I had not dined now!--It kills me with +heaviness, stupor, and horrible dreams;--and yet it was but a pint of +bucellas, and fish.[91] Meat I never touch,--nor much vegetable diet. I +wish I were in the country, to take exercise,--instead of being obliged +to cool by abstinence, in lieu of it. I should not so much mind a little +accession of flesh,--my bones can well bear it. But the worst is, the +devil always came with it,--till I starved him out,--and I will _not_ be +the slave of _any_ appetite. If I do err, it shall be my heart, at +least, that heralds the way. Oh, my head--how it aches?--the horrors of +digestion! I wonder how Buonaparte's dinner agrees with him? + +"Mem. I must write to-morrow to 'Master Shallow, who owes me a thousand +pounds,' and seems, in his letter, afraid I should ask him for +it[92];--as if I would!--I don't want it (just now, at least,) to begin +with; and though I have often wanted that sum, I never asked for the +repayment of 10_l._ in my life--from a friend. His bond is not due this +year, and I told him when it was, I should not enforce it. How often +must he make me say the same thing? + +"I am wrong--I did once ask * * * [93] to repay me. But it was under +circumstances that excused me _to him_, and would to any one. I took no +interest, nor required security. He paid me soon,--at least, his +_padre_. My head! I believe it was given me to ache with. Good even. + +[Footnote 90: Evidently, Mr. Hodgson.] + +[Footnote 91: He had this year so far departed from his strict plan of +diet as to eat fish occasionally.] + +[Footnote 92: We have here another instance, in addition to the +munificent aid afforded to Mr. Hodgson, of the generous readiness of the +poet, notwithstanding his own limited means, to make the resources he +possessed available for the assistance of his friends.] + +[Footnote 93: Left blank thus in the original.] + + +"Nov. 22. 1813. + +"'Orange Boven!' So the bees have expelled the bear that broke open +their hive. Well,--if we are to have new De Witts and De Ruyters, God +speed the little republic! I should like to see the Hague and the +village of Brock, where they have such primitive habits. Yet, I don't +know,--their canals would cut a poor figure by the memory of the +Bosphorus; and the Zuyder Zee look awkwardly after 'Ak-Denizi.' No +matter,--the bluff burghers, puffing freedom out of their short +tobacco-pipes, might be worth seeing; though I prefer a cigar or a +hooka, with the rose-leaf mixed with the milder herb of the Levant. I +don't know what liberty means,--never having seen it,--but wealth is +power all over the world; and as a shilling performs the duty of a pound +(besides sun and sky and beauty for nothing) in the East,--_that_ is the +country. How I envy Herodes Atticus!--more than Pomponius. And yet a +little _tumult_, now and then, is an agreeable quickener of sensation; +such as a revolution, a battle, or an _aventure_ of any lively +description. I think I rather would have been Bonneval, Ripperda, +Alberoni, Hayreddin, or Horuc Barbarossa, or even Wortley Montague, than +Mahomet himself. + +"Rogers will be in town soon?--the 23d is fixed for our Middleton visit. +Shall I go? umph!--In this island, where one can't ride out without +overtaking the sea, it don't much matter where one goes. + +"I remember the effect of the _first_ Edinburgh Review on me. I heard of +it six weeks before,--read it the day of its denunciation,--dined and +drank three bottles of claret, (with S.B. Davies, I think,) neither ate +nor slept the less, but, nevertheless, was not easy till I had vented my +wrath and my rhyme, in the same pages, against every thing and every +body. Like George, in the Vicar of Wakefield, 'the fate of my paradoxes' +would allow me to perceive no merit in another. I remembered only the +maxim of my boxing-master, which, in my youth, was found useful in all +general riots,--'Whoever is not for you is against you--_mill_ away +right and left,' and so I did;--like Ishmael, my hand was against all +men, and all men's anent me. I did wonder, to be sure, at my own +success-- + + "'And marvels so much wit is all his own,' + +as Hobhouse sarcastically says of somebody (not unlikely myself, as we +are old friends);--but were it to come over again, I would _not_. I have +since redde[94] the cause of my couplets, and it is not adequate to the +effect. C * * told me that it was believed I alluded to poor Lord +Carlisle's nervous disorder in one of the lines. I thank Heaven I did +not know it--and would not, could not, if I had. I must naturally be the +last person to be pointed on defects or maladies. + +"Rogers is silent,--and, it is said, severe. When he does talk, he talks +well; and, on all subjects of taste, his delicacy of expression is pure +as his poetry. If you enter his house--his drawing-room--his +library--you of yourself say, this is not the dwelling of a common mind. +There is not a gem, a coin, a book thrown aside on his chimney-piece, +his sofa, his table, that does not bespeak an almost fastidious elegance +in the possessor. But this very delicacy must be the misery of his +existence. Oh the jarrings his disposition must have encountered through +life! + +"Southey, I have not seen much of. His appearance is _Epic_; and he is +the only existing entire man of letters. All the others have some +pursuit annexed to their authorship. His manners are mild, but not +those of a man of the world, and his talents of the first order. His +prose is perfect. Of his poetry there are various opinions: there is, +perhaps, too much of it for the present generation;--posterity will +probably select. He has passages equal to any thing. At present, he has +a party, but no public--except for his prose writings. The life of +Nelson is beautiful. + +"* * is a _Littérateur_, the Oracle of the Coteries, of the * * s, L * W +* (Sydney Smith's 'Tory Virgin'), Mrs. Wilmot, (she, at least, is a +swan, and might frequent a purer stream,) Lady B * *, and all the Blues, +with Lady C * * at their head--but I say nothing of _her_--'look in her +face and you forget them all,' and every thing else. Oh that face!--by +'te, Diva potens Cypri,' I would, to be beloved by that woman, build and +burn another Troy. + +"M * * e has a peculiarity of talent, or rather talents,--poetry, music, +voice, all his own; and an expression in each, which never was, nor will +be, possessed by another. But he is capable of still higher flights in +poetry. By the by, what humour, what--every thing, in the 'Post-Bag!' +There is nothing M * * e may not do, if he will but seriously set about +it. In society, he is gentlemanly, gentle, and, altogether, more +pleasing than any individual with whom I am acquainted. For his honour, +principle, and independence, his conduct to * * * * speaks +'trumpet-tongued.' He has but one fault--and that one I daily regret--he +is not _here_. + +[Footnote 94: It was thus that he, in general, spelled this word.] + + +"Nov. 23. + +"Ward--I like Ward.[95] By Mahomet! I begin to think I like every +body;--a disposition not to be encouraged;--a sort of social gluttony +that swallows every thing set before it. But I like Ward. He is +_piquant_; and, in my opinion, will stand _very_ high in the House, and +every where else, if he applies regularly. By the by, I dine with him +to-morrow, which may have some influence on my opinion. It is as well +not to trust one's gratitude _after_ dinner. I have heard many a host +libelled by his guests, with his burgundy yet reeking on their rascally +lips. + +"I have taken Lord Salisbury's box at Covent Garden for the season; and +now I must go and prepare to join Lady Holland and party, in theirs, at +Drury Lane, _questa sera_. + +"Holland doesn't think the man _is Junius_; but that the yet unpublished +journal throws great light on the obscurities of that part of George the +Second's reign--What is this to George the Third's? I don't know what to +think. Why should Junius be yet dead? If suddenly apoplexed, would he +rest in his grave without sending his [Greek: eidôlon] to shout in the +ears of posterity, 'Junius was X.Y.Z., Esq., buried in the parish of * * +*. Repair his monument, ye churchwardens! Print a new edition of his +Letters, ye booksellers!' Impossible,--the man must be alive, and will +never die without the disclosure. I like him;--he was a good hater. + +"Came home unwell and went to bed,--not so sleepy as might be desirable. + +[Footnote 95: The present Lord Dudley.] + + +"Tuesday morning. + +"I awoke from a dream!--well! and have not others dreamed?--Such a +dream!--but she did not overtake me. I wish the dead would rest, +however. Ugh! how my blood chilled--and I could not wake +--and--and--heigho! + + "'Shadows to-night + Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, + Than could the substance of ten thousand * * s, + Arm'd all in proof, and led by shallow * *.' + +I do not like this dream,--I hate its 'foregone conclusion.' And am I to +be shaken by shadows? Ay, when they remind us of--no matter--but, if I +dream thus again, I will try whether _all_ sleep has the like visions. +Since I rose, I've been in considerable bodily pain also; but it is +gone, and now, like Lord Ogleby, I am wound up for the day. + +"A note from Mountnorris--I dine with Ward;--Canning is to be there, +Frere and Sharpe,--perhaps Gifford. I am to be one of 'the five' (or +rather six), as Lady * * said a little sneeringly yesterday. They are +all good to meet, particularly Canning, and--Ward, when he likes. I wish +I may be well enough to listen to these intellectuals. + +"No letters to-day;--so much the better,--there are no answers. I must +not dream again;--it spoils even reality. I will go out of doors, and +see what the fog will do for me. Jackson has been here: the boxing +world much as usual;--but the club increases. I shall dine at Crib's +to-morrow. I like energy--even animal energy--of all kinds; and I have +need of both mental and corporeal. I have not dined out, nor, indeed, +_at all_, lately; have heard no music--have seen nobody. Now for a +_plunge_--high life and low life. 'Amant _alterna_ Camoenæ!' + +"I have burnt my _Roman_--as I did the first scenes and sketch of my +comedy--and, for aught I see, the pleasure of burning is quite as great +as that of printing. These two last would not have done. I ran into +realities more than ever; and some would have been recognised and others +guessed at. + +"Redde the Ruminator--a collection of Essays, by a strange, but able, +old man (Sir E.B.), and a half-wild young one, author of a poem on the +Highlands, called 'Childe Alarique.' The word 'sensibility' (always my +aversion) occurs a thousand times in these Essays; and, it seems, is to +be an excuse for all kinds of discontent. This young man can know +nothing of life; and, if he cherishes the disposition which runs through +his papers, will become useless, and, perhaps, not even a poet, after +all, which he seems determined to be. God help him! no one should be a +rhymer who could be any thing better. And this is what annoys one, to +see Scott and Moore, and Campbell and Rogers, who might have all been +agents and leaders, now mere spectators. For, though they may have other +ostensible avocations, these last are reduced to a secondary +consideration. * *, too, frittering away his time among dowagers and +unmarried girls. If it advanced any _serious_ affair, it were some +excuse; but, with the unmarried, that is a hazardous speculation, and +tiresome enough, too; and, with the veterans, it is not much worth +trying, unless, perhaps, one in a thousand. + +"If I had any views in this country, they would probably be +parliamentary. But I have no ambition; at least, if any, it would be +'aut Cæsar aut nihil.' My hopes are limited to the arrangement of my +affairs, and settling either in Italy or the East (rather the last), and +drinking deep of the languages and literature of both. Past events have +unnerved me; and all I can now do is to make life an amusement, and look +on while others play. After all, even the highest game of crowns and +sceptres, what is it? _Vide_ Napoleon's last twelve-month. It has +completely upset my system of fatalism. I thought, if crushed, he would +have fallen, when 'fractus illabitur orbis,' and not have been pared +away to gradual insignificance; that all this was not a mere _jeu_ of +the gods, but a prelude to greater changes and mightier events. But men +never advance beyond a certain point; and here we are, retrograding to +the dull, stupid old system,--balance of Europe--poising straws upon +kings' noses, instead of wringing them off! Give me a republic, or a +despotism of one, rather than the mixed government of one, two, three. A +republic!--look in the history of the Earth--Rome, Greece, Venice, +France, Holland, America, our short (eheu!) Commonwealth, and compare +it with what they did under masters. The Asiatics are not qualified to +be republicans, but they have the liberty of demolishing despots, which +is the next thing to it. To be the first man--not the Dictator--not the +Sylla, but the Washington or the Aristides--the leader in talent and +truth--is next to the Divinity! Franklin, Penn, and, next to these, +either Brutus or Cassius--even Mirabeau--or St. Just. I shall never be +any thing, or rather always be nothing. The most I can hope is, that +some will say, 'He might, perhaps, if he would.' + + +"12, midnight. + +"Here are two confounded proofs from the printer. I have looked at the +one, but for the soul of me, I can't look over that 'Giaour' again,--at +least, just now, and at this hour--and yet there is no moon. + +"Ward talks of going to Holland, and we have partly discussed an +ensemble expedition. It must be in ten days, if at all, if we wish to be +in at the Revolution. And why not? * * is distant, and will be at * *, +still more distant, till spring. No one else, except Augusta, cares for +me; no ties--no trammels--_andiamo dunque--se torniamo, bene--se non, +ch' importa_? Old William of Orange talked of dying in 'the last ditch' +of his dingy country. It is lucky I can swim, or I suppose I should not +well weather the first. But let us see. I have heard hyænas and jackalls +in the ruins of Asia; and bull-frogs in the marshes; besides wolves and +angry Mussulmans. Now, I should like to listen to the shout of a free +Dutchman. + +"Alla! Viva! For ever! Hourra! Huzza!--which is the most rational or +musical of these cries? 'Orange Boven,' according to the Morning Post. + + +"Wednesday, 24. + +"No dreams last night of the dead nor the living, so--I am 'firm as the +marble, founded as the rock,' till the next earthquake. + +"Ward's dinner went off well. There was not a disagreeable person +there--unless _I_ offended any body, which I am sure I could not by +contradiction, for I said little, and opposed nothing. Sharpe (a man of +elegant mind, and who has lived much with the best--Fox, Horne Tooke, +Windham, Fitzpatrick, and all the agitators of other times and tongues,) +told us the particulars of his last interview with Windham, a few days +before the fatal operation which sent 'that gallant spirit to aspire the +skies.' Windham,--the first in one department of oratory and talent, +whose only fault was his refinement beyond the intellect of half his +hearers,--Windham, half his life an active participator in the events of +the earth, and one of those who governed nations,--_he_ regretted, and +dwelt much on that regret, that 'he had not entirely devoted himself to +literature and science!!!' His mind certainly would have carried him to +eminence there, as elsewhere;--but I cannot comprehend what debility of +that mind could suggest such a wish. I, who have heard him, cannot +regret any thing but that I shall never hear him again. What! would he +have been a plodder? a metaphysician?--perhaps a rhymer? a scribbler? +Such an exchange must have been suggested by illness. But he is gone, +and Time 'shall not look upon his like again.' + +"I am tremendously in arrear with my letters,--except to * *, and to her +my thoughts overpower me:--my words never compass them. To Lady +Melbourne I write with most pleasure--and her answers, so sensible, so +_tactique_--I never met with half her talent. If she had been a few +years younger, what a fool she would have made of me, had she thought it +worth her while,--and I should have lost a valuable and most agreeable +friend. Mem. a mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, +you are lovers; and, when it is over, any thing but friends. + +"I have not answered W. Scott's last letter,--but I will. I regret to +hear from others that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary +involvements. He is undoubtedly the Monarch of Parnassus, and the most +_English_ of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list (I +value him more as the last of the best school)--Moore and Campbell both +_third_--Southey and Wordsworth and Coleridge--the rest, [Greek: hoi +polloi]--thus:-- + + W. SCOTT + /\ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / ROGERS.\ + /----------\ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / MOORE.--CAMPBELL.\ + /--------------------\ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / SOUTHEY.--WORDSWORTH.--COLERIDGE.\ + /------------------------------------\ + / \ + / THE MANY. \ + / \ +/--------------------------------------------\ + +There is a triangular 'Gradus ad Parnassum!'--the names are too numerous +for the base of the triangle. Poor Thurlow has gone wild about the +poetry of Queen Bess's reign--_c'est dommage_. I have ranked the names +upon my triangle more upon what I believe popular opinion, than any +decided opinion of my own. For, to me, some of M * * e's last _Erin_ +sparks--'As a beam o'er the face of the waters'--'When he who adores +thee'--'Oh blame not'--and 'Oh breathe not his name'--are worth all the +Epics that ever were composed. + +"* * thinks the Quarterly will attack me next. Let them. I have been +'peppered so highly' in my time, both ways, that it must be cayenne or +aloes to make me taste. I can sincerely say that I am not very much +alive _now_ to criticism. But--in tracing this--I rather believe, that +it proceeds from my not attaching that importance to authorship which +many do, and which, when young, I did also. 'One gets tired of every +thing, my angel,' says Valmont. The 'angels' are the only things of +which I am not a little sick--but I do think the preference of _writers_ +to _agents_--the mighty stir made about scribbling and scribes, by +themselves and others--a sign of effeminacy, degeneracy, and +weakness. Who would write, who had any thing better to do? +'Action--action--action'--said Demosthenes: 'Actions--actions,' I say, +and not writing,--least of all, rhyme. Look at the querulous and +monotonous lives of the 'genus;'--except Cervantes, Tasso, Dante, +Ariosto, Kleist (who were brave and active citizens), Aeschylus, +Sophocles, and some other of the antiques also--what a worthless, idle +brood it is! + + +"12, Mezza notte. + +"Just returned from dinner with Jackson (the Emperor of Pugilism) and +another of the select, at Crib's the champion's. I drank more than I +like, and have brought away some three bottles of very fair claret--for +I have no headach. We had Tom * * up after dinner;--very facetious, +though somewhat prolix. He don't like his situation--wants to fight +again--pray Pollux (or Castor, if he was the _miller_) he may! Tom has +been a sailor--a coal heaver--and some other genteel profession, before +he took to the cestus. Tom has been in action at sea, and is now only +three-and-thirty. A great man! has a wife and a mistress, and +conversations well--bating some sad omissions and misapplications of +the aspirate. Tom is an old friend of mine; I have seen some of his best +battles in my nonage. He is now a publican, and, I fear, a sinner;--for +Mrs. * * is on alimony, and * *'s daughter lives with the champion. +_This_ * * told me,--Tom, having an opinion of my morals, passed her off +as a legal spouse. Talking of her, he said, 'she was the truest of +women'--from which I immediately inferred she could not be his wife, and +so it turned out. + +"These panegyrics don't belong to matrimony;--for, if 'true,' a man +don't think it necessary to say so; and if not, the less he says the +better. * * * * is the only man, except * * * *, I ever heard harangue +upon his wife's virtue; and I listened to both with great credence and +patience, and stuffed my handkerchief into my mouth, when I found +yawning irresistible.--By the by, I am yawning now--so, good night to +thee.--[Greek: Nôhairôn]. + + +"Thursday, November 26. + +"Awoke a little feverish, but no headach--no dreams neither, thanks to +stupor! Two letters; one from * * * *'s, the other from Lady +Melbourne--both excellent in their respective styles. * * * *'s +contained also a very pretty lyric on 'concealed griefs;' if not her +own, yet very like her. Why did she not say that the stanzas were, or +were not, of her composition? I do not know whether to wish them hers or +not. I have no great esteem for poetical persons, particularly women; +they have so much of the 'ideal' in _practics_, as well as _ethics_. + +"I have been thinking lately a good deal of Mary Duff, &c. &c. &c. +&c.[96] + +"Lord Holland invited me to dinner to-day; but three days' dining would +destroy me. So, without eating at all since yesterday, I went to my box +at Covent Garden. + +"Saw * * * * looking very pretty, though quite a different style of +beauty from the other two. She has the finest eyes in the world, out of +which she pretends _not_ to see, and the longest eyelashes I ever saw, +since Leila's and Phannio's Moslem curtains of the light. She has much +beauty,--just enough,--but is, I think, _méchante_. + +"I have been pondering on the miseries of separation, that--oh how +seldom we see those we love! yet we live ages in moments, _when met_. +The only thing that consoles me during absence is the reflection that no +mental or personal estrangement, from ennui or disagreement, can take +place; and when people meet hereafter, even though many changes may have +taken place in the mean time, still, unless they are _tired_ of each +other, they are ready to reunite, and do not blame each other for the +circumstances that severed them. + +[Footnote 96: This passage has been already extracted.] + + +"Saturday 27. (I believe--or rather am in _doubt_, which is the ne plus +ultra of mortal faith.) + +"I have missed a day; and, as the Irishman said, or Joe Miller says for +him, 'have gained a loss,' or _by_ the loss. Every thing is settled for +Holland, and nothing but a cough, or a caprice of my fellow-traveller's, +can stop us. Carriage ordered, funds prepared, and, probably, a gale of +wind into the bargain. _N'importe_--I believe, with Clym o' the Clow, or +Robin Hood, 'By our Mary, (dear name!) that art both Mother and May, I +think it never was a man's lot to die before this day.' Heigh for +Helvoetsluys, and so forth! + +"To-night I went with young Henry Fox to see 'Nourjahad,' a drama, which +the Morning Post hath laid to my charge, but of which I cannot even +guess the author. I wonder what they will next inflict upon me. They +cannot well sink below a melodrama; but that is better than a Satire, +(at least, a personal one,) with which I stand truly arraigned, and in +atonement of which I am resolved to bear silently all criticisms, +abuses, and even praises, for bad pantomimes never composed by me, +without even a contradictory aspect. I suppose the root of this report +is my loan to the manager of my Turkish drawings for his dresses, to +which he was more welcome than to my name. I suppose the real author +will soon own it, as it has succeeded; if not, Job be my model, and +Lethe my beverage! + +"* * * * has received the portrait safe; and, in answer, the only remark +she makes upon it is, 'indeed it is like'--and again, 'indeed it is +like.' With her the likeness 'covered a multitude of sins;' for I happen +to know that this portrait was not a flatterer, but dark and +stern,--even black as the mood in which my mind was scorching last July, +when I sat for it. All the others of me, like most portraits +whatsoever, are, of course, more agreeable than nature. + +"Redde the Ed. Review of Rogers. He is ranked highly; but where he +should be. There is a summary view of us all--_Moore_ and _me_ among the +rest; and both (the _first_ justly) praised--though, by implication +(justly again) placed beneath our memorable friend. Mackintosh is the +writer, and also of the critique on the Staël. His grand essay on Burke, +I hear, is for the next number. But I know nothing of the Edinburgh, or +of any other Review, but from rumour; and I have long ceased--indeed, I +could not, in justice, complain of any, even though I were to rate +poetry, in general, and my rhymes in particular, more highly than I +really do. To withdraw _myself_ from _myself_ (oh that cursed +selfishness!) has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in +scribbling at all; and publishing is also the continuance of the same +object, by the action it affords to the mind, which else recoils upon +itself. If I valued fame, I should flatter received opinions, which have +gathered strength by time, and will yet wear longer than any living +works to the contrary. But, for the soul of me, I cannot and will not +give the lie to my own thoughts and doubts, come what may. If I am a +fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty +of his self-approved wisdom. + +"All are inclined to believe what they covet, from a lottery-ticket up +to a passport to Paradise,--in which, from the description, I see +nothing very tempting. My restlessness tells me I have something within +that 'passeth show.' It is for Him, who made it, to prolong that spark +of celestial fire which illuminates, yet burns, this frail tenement; but +I see no such horror in a 'dreamless sleep,' and I have no conception of +any existence which duration would not render tiresome. How else 'fell +the angels,' even according to your creed? They were immortal, heavenly, +and happy as their _apostate_ _Abdiel_ is now by his treachery. Time +must decide; and eternity won't be the less agreeable or more horrible +because one did not expect it. In the mean time, I am grateful for some +good, and tolerably patient under certain evils--grace à Dieu et mon bon +tempérament. + + +"Sunday, 28th. + +---- + +"Monday, 29th. + +---- + +"Tuesday, 30th. + +"Two days missed in my log-book;--hiatus _haud_ deflendus. They were as +little worth recollection as the rest; and, luckily, laziness or society +prevented me from _notching_ them. + +"Sunday, I dined with the Lord Holland in St. James's Square. Large +party--among them Sir S. Romilly and Lady Ry.--General Sir Somebody +Bentham, a man of science and talent, I am told--Horner--_the_ Horner, +an Edinburgh Reviewer, an excellent speaker in the 'Honourable House,' +very pleasing, too, and gentlemanly in company, as far as I have +seen--Sharpe--Phillips of Lancashire--Lord John Russell, and others, +'good men and true.' Holland's society is very good; you always see some +one or other in it worth knowing. Stuffed myself with sturgeon, and +exceeded in champagne and wine in general, but not to confusion of head. +When I _do_ dine, I gorge like an Arab or a Boa snake, on fish and +vegetables, but no meat. I am always better, however, on my tea and +biscuit than any other regimen, and even _that_ sparingly. + +"Why does Lady H. always have that damned screen between the whole room +and the fire? I, who bear cold no better than an antelope, and never yet +found a sun quite _done_ to my taste, was absolutely petrified, and +could not even shiver. All the rest, too, looked as if they were just +unpacked, like salmon from an ice-basket, and set down to table for that +day only. When she retired, I watched their looks as I dismissed the +screen, and every cheek thawed, and every nose reddened with the +anticipated glow. + +"Saturday, I went with Harry Fox to Nourjahad; and, I believe, convinced +him, by incessant yawning, that it was not mine. I wish the precious +author would own it, and release me from his fame. The dresses are +pretty, but not in costume;--Mrs. Horn's, all but the turban, and the +want of a small dagger (if she is a sultana), _perfect_. I never saw a +Turkish woman with a turban in my life--nor did any one else. The +sultanas have a small poniard at the waist. The dialogue is drowsy--the +action heavy--the scenery fine--the actors tolerable. I can't say much +for their seraglio--Teresa, Phannio, or * * * *, were worth them all. + +"Sunday, a very handsome note from Mackintosh, who is a rare instance of +the union of very transcendent talent and great good nature. To-day +(Tuesday) a very pretty billet from M. la Baronne de Staël Holstein. She +is pleased to be much pleased with my mention of her and her last work +in my notes. I spoke as I thought. Her works are my delight, and so is +she herself, for--half an hour. I don't like her politics--at least, her +_having changed_ them; had she been _qualis ab incepto_, it were +nothing. But she is a woman by herself, and has done more than all the +rest of them together, intellectually;--she ought to have been a man. +She _flatters_ me very prettily in her note;--but I _know_ it. The +reason that adulation is not displeasing is, that, though untrue, it +shows one to be of consequence enough, in one way or other, to induce +people to lie, to make us their friend:--that is their concern. + +"* * is, I hear, thriving on the repute of a pun which was mine (at +Mackintosh's dinner some time back), on Ward, who was asking 'how much +it would take to _re-whig_ him?' I answered that, probably, 'he must +first, before he was _re-whigged_, be re-_warded_.' This foolish +quibble, before the Staël and Mackintosh, and a number of +conversationers, has been mouthed about, and at last settled on the head +of * *, where long may it remain! + +"George[97] is returned from afloat to get a new ship. He looks thin, +but better than I expected. I like George much more than most people +like their heirs. He is a fine fellow, and every inch a sailor. I would +do any thing, _but apostatise_, to get him on in his profession. + +"Lewis called. It is a good and good-humoured man, but pestilently +prolix and paradoxical and _personal_. If he would but talk half, and +reduce his visits to an hour, he would add to his popularity. As an +author he is very good, and his vanity is _ouverte_, like Erskine's, and +yet not offending. + +"Yesterday, a very pretty letter from Annabella[98], which I answered. +What an odd situation and friendship is ours!--without one spark of love +on either side, and produced by circumstances which in general lead to +coldness on one side, and aversion on the other. She is a very superior +woman, and very little spoiled, which is strange in an heiress--girl of +twenty--a peeress that is to be, in her own right--an only child, and a +_savante_, who has always had her own way. She is a poetess--a +mathematician--a metaphysician, and yet, withal, very kind, generous, +and gentle, with very little pretension. Any other head would be turned +with half her acquisitions, and a tenth of her advantages. + +[Footnote 97: His cousin, the present Lord Byron.] + +[Footnote 98: Miss Milbanke, afterwards Lady Byron.] + + +"Wednesday, December 1. 1813. + +"To-day responded to La Baronne de Staël Holstein, and sent to Leigh +Hunt (an acquisition to my acquaintance--through Moore--of last summer) +a copy of the two Turkish tales. Hunt is an extraordinary character, and +not exactly of the present age. He reminds me more of the Pym and +Hampden times--much talent, great independence of spirit, and an +austere, yet not repulsive, aspect. If he goes on _qualis ab incepto_, I +know few men who will deserve more praise or obtain it. I must go and +see him again;--the rapid succession of adventure, since last summer, +added to some serious uneasiness and business, have interrupted our +acquaintance; but he is a man worth knowing; and though, for his own +sake, I wish him out of prison, I like to study character in such +situations. He has been unshaken, and will continue so. I don't think +him deeply versed in life;--he is the bigot of virtue (not religion), +and enamoured of the beauty of that 'empty name,' as the last breath of +Brutus pronounced, and every day proves it. He is, perhaps, a little +opiniated, as all men who are the _centre_ of _circles_, wide or +narrow--the Sir Oracles, in whose name two or three are gathered +together--must be, and as even Johnson was; but, withal, a valuable man, +and less vain than success and even the consciousness of preferring 'the +right to the expedient' might excuse. + +"To-morrow there is a party of _purple_ at the 'blue' Miss * * *'s. +Shall I go? um!--I don't much affect your blue-bottles;--but one ought +to be civil. There will be, 'I guess now' (as the Americans say), the +Staëls and Mackintoshes--good--the * * * s and * * * s--not so good--the +* * * s, &c. &c.--good for nothing. Perhaps that blue-winged Kashmirian +butterfly of book-learning, Lady * * * *, will be there. I hope so; it +is a pleasure to look upon that most beautiful of faces. + +"Wrote to H.:--he has been telling that I ----[99]. I am sure, at +least, _I_ did not mention it, and I wish he had not. He is a good +fellow, and I obliged myself ten times more by being of use than I did +him,--and there's an end on 't. + +"Baldwin is boring me to present their King's Bench petition. I +presented Cartwright's last year; and Stanhope and I stood against the +whole House, and mouthed it valiantly--and had some fun and a little +abuse for our opposition. But 'I am not i' th' vein' for this business. +Now, had * * been here, she would have _made_ me do it. _There_ is a +woman, who, amid all her fascination, always urged a man to usefulness +or glory. Had she remained, she had been my tutelar genius. + +"Baldwin is very importunate--but, poor fellow, 'I can't get out, I +can't get out--said the starling.' Ah, I am as bad as that dog Sterne, +who preferred whining over 'a dead ass to relieving a living +mother'--villain--hypocrite--slave--sycophant! but _I_ am no better. +Here I cannot stimulate myself to a speech for the sake of these +unfortunates, and three words and half a smile of * * had she been here +to urge it, (and urge it she infallibly would--at least she always +pressed me on senatorial duties, and particularly in the cause of +weakness,) would have made me an advocate, if not an orator. Curse on +Rochefoucault for being always right! In him a lie were virtue,--or, at +least, a comfort to his readers. + +"George Byron has not called to-day; I hope he will be an admiral, and, +perhaps, Lord Byron into the bargain. If he would but marry, I would +engage never to marry myself, or cut him out of the heirship. He would +be happier, and I should like nephews better than sons. + +"I shall soon be six-and-twenty (January 22d, 1814). Is there any thing +in the future that can possibly console us for not being always +_twenty-five_? + + "Oh Gioventu! + Oh Primavera! gioventu dell' anno. + Oh Gioventu! primavera della vita. + +[Footnote 99: Two or three words are here scratched out in the +manuscript, but the import of the sentence evidently is that Mr. Hodgson +(to whom the passage refers) had been revealing to some friends the +secret of Lord Byron's kindness to him.] + + +"Sunday, December 5. + +"Dallas's nephew (son to the American Attorney-general) is arrived in +this country, and tells Dallas that my rhymes are very popular in the +United States. These are the first tidings that have ever sounded like +_Fame_ to my ears--to be redde on the banks of the Ohio! The greatest +pleasure I ever derived, of this kind, was from an extract, in Cooke the +actor's life, from his Journal, stating that in the reading-room at +Albany, near Washington, he perused English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. +To be popular in a rising and far country has a kind of _posthumous +feel_, very different from the ephemeral _éclat_ and fête-ing, buzzing +and party-ing compliments of the well-dressed multitude. I can safely +say that, during my _reign_ in the spring of 1812, I regretted nothing +but its duration of six weeks instead of a fortnight, and was heartily +glad to resign. + +"Last night I supped with Lewis;--and, as usual, though I neither +exceeded in solids nor fluids, have been half dead ever since. My +stomach is entirely destroyed by long abstinence, and the rest will +probably follow. Let it--I only wish the _pain_ over. The 'leap in the +dark' is the least to be dreaded. + +"The Duke of * * called. I have told them forty times that, except to +half-a-dozen old and specified acquaintances, I am invisible. His Grace +is a good, noble, ducal person; but I am content to think so at a +distance, and so--I was not at home. + +"Galt called.--Mem.--to ask some one to speak to Raymond in favour of +his play. We are old fellow-travellers, and, with all his +eccentricities, he has much strong sense, experience of the world, and +is, as far as I have seen, a good-natured philosophical fellow. I showed +him Sligo's letter on the reports of the Turkish girl's _aventure_ at +Athens soon after it happened. He and Lord Holland, Lewis, and Moore, +and Rogers, and Lady Melbourne have seen it. Murray has a copy. I +thought it had been _unknown_, and wish it were; but Sligo arrived only +some days after, and the _rumours_ are the subject of his letter. That I +shall preserve,--_it is as well_. Lewis and Galt were both _horrified_; +and L. wondered I did not introduce the situation into 'The Giaour.' He +_may_ wonder;--he might wonder more at that production's being written +at all. But to describe the _feelings of that situation_ were +impossible--it is _icy_ even to recollect them. + +"The Bride of Abydos was published on Thursday the second of December; +but how it is liked or disliked, I know not. Whether it succeeds or not +is no fault of the public, against whom I can have no complaint. But I +am much more indebted to the tale than I can ever be to the most partial +reader; as it wrung my thoughts from reality to imagination--from +selfish regrets to vivid recollections--and recalled me to a country +replete with the _brightest_ and _darkest_, but always most _lively_ +colours of my memory. Sharpe called, but was not let in--which I regret. + +"Saw * * yesterday. I have not kept my appointment at Middleton, which +has not pleased him, perhaps; and my projected voyage with * * will, +perhaps, please him less. But I wish to keep well with both. They are +instruments that don't do, in concert; but, surely, their separate tones +are very musical, and I won't give up either. + +"It is well if I don't jar between these great discords. At present I +stand tolerably well with all, but I cannot adopt their _dislikes_;--so +many _sets_. Holland's is the first;--every thing _distingué_ is welcome +there, and certainly the _ton_ of his society is the best. Then there is +Mde. de Staël's--there I never go, though I might, had I courted it. It +is composed of the * *'s and the * * family, with a strange +sprinkling,--orators, dandies, and all kinds of _Blue_, from the regular +Grub Street uniform, down to the azure jacket of the _Littérateur_. To +see * * and * * sitting together, at dinner, always reminds me of the +grave, where all distinctions of friend and foe are levelled; and +they--the Reviewer and Reviewée--the Rhinoceros and Elephant--the +Mammoth and Megalonyx--all will lie quietly together. They now _sit_ +together, as silent, but not so quiet, as if they were already immured. + +"I did not go to the Berrys' the other night. The elder is a woman of +much talent, and both are handsome, and must have been beautiful. +To-night asked to Lord H.'s--shall I go? um!--perhaps. + + +"Morning, two o'clock. + +"Went to Lord H.'s--party numerous--_mi_lady in perfect good humour, and +consequently _perfect_. No one more agreeable, or perhaps so much so, +when she will. Asked for Wednesday to dine and meet the Staël--asked +particularly, I believe, out of mischief, to see the first interview +after the _note_, with which Corinne professes herself to be so much +taken. I don't much like it; she always talks of _my_self or _her_self, +and I am not (except in soliloquy, as now,) much enamoured of either +subject--especially one's works. What the devil shall I say about 'De +l'Allemagne?' I like it prodigiously; but unless I can twist my +admiration into some fantastical expression, she won't believe me; and I +know, by experience, I shall be overwhelmed with fine things about +rhyme, &c. &c. The lover, Mr. * *, was there to-night, and C * * said +'it was the only proof _he_ had seen of her good taste.' Monsieur +L'Amant is remarkably handsome; but _I_ don't think more so than her +book. + +"C * * looks well,--seems pleased, and dressed to _sprucery_. A blue +coat becomes him,--so does his new wig. He really looked as if Apollo +had sent him a birthday suit, or a wedding-garment, and was witty and +lively. He abused Corinne's book, which I regret; because, firstly, he +understands German, and is consequently a fair judge; and, secondly, he +is _first-rate_, and, consequently, the best of judges. I reverence and +admire him; but I won't give up my opinion--why should I? I read _her_ +again and again, and there can be no affectation in this. I cannot be +mistaken (except in taste) in a book I read and lay down, and take up +again; and no book can be totally bad which finds _one_, even _one_ +reader, who can say as much sincerely. + +"C. talks of lecturing next spring; his last lectures were eminently +successful. Moore thought of it, but gave it up,--I don't know why. * * +had been prating _dignity_ to him, and such stuff; as if a man disgraced +himself by instructing and pleasing at the same time. + +"Introduced to Marquis Buckingham--saw Lord Gower--he is going to +Holland; Sir J. and Lady Mackintosh and Homer, G. Lamb, with I know not +how many (R. Wellesley, one--a clever man) grouped about the room. +Little Henry Fox, a very fine boy, and very promising in mind and +manner,--he went away to bed, before I had time to talk to him. I am +sure I had rather hear him than all the _savans_. + + +"Monday, Dec. 6. + +"Murray tells me that C----r asked him why the thing was called the +_Bride_ of Abydos? It is a cursed awkward question, being unanswerable. +_She_ is not a _bride_, only about to be one; but for, &c. &c. &c. + +"I don't wonder at his finding out the _Bull_; but the detection * * * +is too late to do any good. I was a great fool to make it, and am +ashamed of not being an Irishman. + +"C----l last night seemed a little nettled at something or other--I know +not what. We were standing in the ante-saloon, when Lord H. brought out +of the other room a vessel of some composition similar to that which is +used in Catholic churches, and, seeing us, he exclaimed, 'Here is some +_incense_ for you.' C----l answered--'Carry it to Lord Byron, _he is +used to it_.' + +"Now, this comes of 'bearing no brother near the throne.' I, who have no +throne, nor wish to have one _now_, whatever I may have done, am at +perfect peace with all the poetical fraternity: or, at least, if I +dislike any, it is not _poetically_, but _personally_. Surely the field +of thought is infinite; what does it signify who is before or behind in +a race where there is no _goal_? The temple of fame is like that of the +Persians, the universe; our altar, the tops of mountains. I should be +equally content with Mount Caucasus, or Mount Anything; and those who +like it, may have Mount Blanc or Chimborazo, without my envy of their +elevation. + +"I think I may _now_ speak thus; for I have just published a poem, and +am quite ignorant whether it is _likely_ to be _liked_ or not. I have +hitherto heard little in its commendation, and no one can _downright_ +abuse it to one's face, except in print. It can't be good, or I should +not have stumbled over the threshold, and blundered in my very title. +But I began it with my heart full of * * *, and my head of +oriental_ities_ (I can't call them _isms_), and wrote on rapidly. + +"This journal is a relief. When I am tired--as I generally am--out comes +this, and down goes every thing. But I can't read it over; and God knows +what contradictions it may contain. If I am sincere with myself (but I +fear one lies more to one's self than to any one else), every page +should confute, refute, and utterly abjure its _predecessor_. + +"Another scribble from Martin Baldwin the petitioner; I have neither +head nor nerves to present it. That confounded supper at Lewis's has +spoiled my digestion and my philanthropy. I have no more charity than a +cruet of vinegar. Would I were an ostrich, and dieted on fire-irons,--or +any thing that my gizzard could get the better of. + +"To-day saw W. His uncle is dying, and W. don't much affect our Dutch +determinations. I dine with him on Thursday, provided _l'oncle_ is not +dined upon, or peremptorily bespoke by the posthumous epicures before +that day. I wish he may recover--not for _our_ dinner's sake, but to +disappoint the undertaker, and the rascally reptiles that may well +wait, since they _will_ dine at last. + +"Gell called--he of Troy--after I was out. Mem.--to return his visit. +But my Mems. are the very land-marks of forgetfulness;--something like a +light-house, with a ship wrecked under the nose of its lantern. I never +look at a Mem. without seeing that I have remembered to forget. Mem.--I +have forgotten to pay Pitt's taxes, and suppose I shall be surcharged. +'An I do not turn rebel when thou art king'--oons! I believe my very +biscuit is leavened with that impostor's imposts. + +"Ly. Me. returns from Jersey's to-morrow;--I must call. A Mr. Thomson +has sent a song, which I must applaud. I hate annoying them with censure +or silence;--and yet I hate _lettering_. + +"Saw Lord Glenbervie and his Prospectus, at Murray's, of a new Treatise +on Timber. Now here is a man more useful than all the historians and +rhymers ever planted. For, by preserving our woods and forests, he +furnishes materials for all the history of Britain worth reading, and +all the odes worth nothing. + +"Redde a good deal, but desultorily. My head is crammed with the most +useless lumber. It is odd that when I do read, I can only bear the +chicken broth of--_any thing_ but Novels. It is many a year since I +looked into one, (though they are sometimes ordered, by way of +experiment, but never taken,) till I looked yesterday at the worst parts +of the Monk. These descriptions ought to have been written by Tiberius +at Caprea--they are forced--the _philtred_ ideas of a jaded voluptuary. +It is to me inconceivable how they could have been composed by a man of +only twenty--his age when he wrote them. They have no nature--all the +sour cream of cantharides. I should have suspected Buffon of writing +them on the death-bed of his detestable dotage. I had never redde this +edition, and merely looked at them from curiosity and recollection of +the noise they made, and the name they have left to Lewis. But they +could do no harm, except * * * *. + +"Called this evening on my agent--my business as usual. Our strange +adventures are the only inheritances of our family that have not +diminished. + +"I shall now smoke two cigars, and get me to bed. The cigars don't keep +well here. They get as old as a _donna di quaranti anni_ in the sun of +Africa. The Havannah are the best;--but neither are so pleasant as a +hooka or chibouque. The Turkish tobacco is mild, and their horses +entire--two things as they should be. I am so far obliged to this +Journal, that it preserves me from verse,--at least from keeping it. I +have just thrown a poem into the fire (which it has relighted to my +great comfort), and have smoked out of my head the plan of another. I +wish I could as easily get rid of thinking, or, at least, the confusion +of thought. + + +"Tuesday, December 7. + +"Went to bed, and slept dreamlessly, but not refreshingly. Awoke, and up +an hour before being called; but dawdled three hours in dressing. When +one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation),--sleep, eating, +and swilling--buttoning and unbuttoning--how much remains of downright +existence? The summer of a dormouse. + +"Redde the papers and _tea_-ed and soda-watered, and found out that the +fire was badly lighted. Ld. Glenbervie wants me to go to Brighton--um! + +"This morning, a very pretty billet from the Staël about meeting her at +Ld. H.'s to-morrow. She has written, I dare say, twenty such this +morning to different people, all equally flattering to each. So much the +better for her and those who believe all she wishes them, or they wish +to believe. She has been pleased to be pleased with my slight eulogy in +the note annexed to 'The Bride.' This is to be accounted for in several +ways,--firstly, all women like all, or any, praise; secondly, this was +unexpected, because I have never courted her; and, thirdly, as Scrub +says, those who have been all their lives regularly praised, by regular +critics, like a little variety, and are glad when any one goes out of +his way to say a civil thing; and, fourthly, she is a very good-natured +creature, which is the best reason, after all, and, perhaps, the only +one. + +"A knock--knocks single and double. Bland called. He says Dutch society +(he has been in Holland) is second-hand French; but the women are like +women every where else. This is a bore; I should like to see them a +little unlike; but that can't be expected. + +"Went out--came home--this, that, and the other--and 'all is vanity, +saith the preacher,' and so say I, as part of his congregation. Talking +of vanity, whose praise do I prefer? Why, Mrs. Inchbald's, and that of +the Americans. The first, because her 'Simple Story' and 'Nature and +Art' are, to me, _true_ to their _titles;_ and, consequently, her short +note to Rogers about 'The Giaour' delighted me more than any thing, +except the Edinburgh Review. I like the Americans, because _I_ happened +to be in _Asia_, while the English Bards and Scotch Reviewers were redde +in _America_. If I could have had a speech against the _Slave Trade, in +Africa_, and an epitaph on a dog in _Europe_ (i.e. in the Morning Post), +my _vertex sublimis_ would certainly have displaced stars enough to +overthrow the Newtonian system. + + +"Friday, December 10. 1813. + +"I am _ennuyè_ beyond my usual tense of that yawning verb, which I am +always conjugating; and I don't find that society much mends the matter. +I am too lazy to shoot myself--and it would annoy Augusta, and perhaps * +*; but it would be a good thing for George, on the other side, and no +bad one for me; but I won't be tempted. + +"I have had the kindest letter from M * * e. I _do_ think that man is +the best-hearted, the only _hearted_ being I ever encountered; and, +then, his talents are equal to his feelings. + +"Dined on Wednesday at Lord H.'s--the Staffords, Staëls, Cowpers, +Ossulstones, Melbournes, Mackintoshes, &c. &c.--and was introduced to +the Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford,--an unexpected event. My +quarrel with Lord Carlisle (their or his brother-in-law) having rendered +it improper, I suppose, brought it about. But, if it was to happen at +all, I wonder it did not occur before. She is handsome, and must have +been beautiful--and her manners are _princessly_. + +"The Staël was at the other end of the table, and less loquacious than +heretofore. We are now very good friends; though she asked Lady +Melbourne whether I had really any _bonhommie_. She might as well have +asked that question before she told C.L. 'c'est un démon." True enough, +but rather premature, for _she_ could not have found it out, and so--she +wants me to dine there next Sunday. + +"Murray prospers, as far as circulation. For my part, I adhere (in +liking) to my Fragment. It is no wonder that I wrote one--my mind is a +fragment. + +"Saw Lord Gower, Tierney, &c. in the square. Took leave of Lord Gr. who +is going to Holland and Germany. He tells me that he carries with him a +parcel of 'Harolds' and 'Giaours,' &c. for the readers of Berlin, who, +it seems, read English, and have taken a caprice for mine. Um!--have I +been _German_ all this time, when I thought myself _Oriental_? + +"Lent Tierney my box for to-morrow; and received a new comedy sent by +Lady C.A.--but _not hers_. I must read it, and endeavour not to +displease the author. I hate annoying them with cavil; but a comedy I +take to be the most difficult of compositions, more so than tragedy. + +"G----t says there is a coincidence between the first part of 'The +Bride' and some story of his--whether published or not, I know not, +never having seen it. He is almost the last person on whom any one would +commit literary larceny, and I am not conscious of any witting thefts on +any of the genus. As to originality, all pretensions are +ludicrous,--'there is nothing new under the sun.' + +"Went last night to the play. Invited out to a party, but did not +go;--right. Refused to go to Lady * *'s on Monday;--right again. If I +must fritter away my life, I would rather do it alone. I was much +tempted;--C * * looked so Turkish with her red Turban, and her regular, +dark, and clear features. Not that _she_ and _I_ ever were, or could be, +any thing; but I love any aspect that reminds me of the 'children of the +sun.' + +"To dine to-day with Rogers and Sharpe, for which I have some appetite, +not having tasted food for the preceding forty-eight hours. I wish I +could leave off eating altogether. + + +"Saturday, December 11. +"Sunday, December 12. + +"By G----t's answer, I find it is some story in _real life_, and not any +work with which my late composition coincides. It is still more +singular, for mine is drawn from _existence_ also. + +"I have sent an excuse to M. de Staël. I do not feel sociable enough for +dinner to-day;--and I will not go to Sheridan's on Wednesday. Not that +I do not admire and prefer his unequalled conversation; but--that +'_but_' must only be intelligible to thoughts I cannot write. Sheridan +was in good talk at Rogers's the other night, but I only stayed till +_nine_. All the world are to be at the Staël's to-night, and I am not +sorry to escape any part of it. I only go out to get me a fresh appetite +for being alone. Went out--did not go to the Staël's but to Ld. +Holland's. Party numerous--conversation general. Stayed late--made a +blunder--got over it--came home and went to bed, not having eaten. +Rather empty, but _fresco_, which is the great point with me. + + +"Monday, December 13. 1813. + +"Called at three places--read, and got ready to leave town to-morrow. +Murray has had a letter from his brother bibliopole of Edinburgh, who +says, 'he is lucky in having such a _poet_'--something as if one was a +pack-horse, or 'ass, or any thing that is his:' or, like Mrs. Packwood, +who replied to some enquiry after the Odes on Razors,--'Laws, sir, we +keeps a poet.' The same illustrious Edinburgh bookseller once sent an +order for books, poesy, and cookery, with this agreeable +postscript--'The _Harold_ and _Cookery_ are much wanted.' Such is fame, +and, after all, quite as good as any other 'life in other's breath.' +'Tis much the same to divide purchasers with Hannah Glasse or Hannah +More. + +"Some editor of some magazine has _announced_ to Murray his intention +of abusing the thing '_without reading it_.' So much the better; if he +redde it first, he would abuse it more. + +"Allen (Lord Holland's Allen--the best informed and one of the ablest +men I know--a perfect Magliabecchi--a devourer, a Helluo of books, and +an observer of men,) has lent me a quantity of Burns's unpublished, and +never-to-be published, Letters. They are full of oaths and obscene +songs. What an antithetical mind!--tenderness, roughness--delicacy, +coarseness--sentiment, sensuality--soaring and grovelling, dirt and +deity--all mixed up in that one compound of inspired clay! + +"It seems strange; a true voluptuary will never abandon his mind to the +grossness of reality. It is by exalting the earthly, the material, the +_physique_ of our pleasures, by veiling these ideas, by forgetting them +altogether, or, at least, never naming them hardly to one's self, that +we alone can prevent them from disgusting. + + +"December 14, 15, 16. + +"Much done, but nothing to record. It is quite enough to set down my +thoughts,--my actions will rarely bear retrospection. + + +"December 17, 18. + +"Lord Holland told me a curious piece of sentimentality in +Sheridan.[100] The other night we were all delivering our respective +and various opinions on him and other _hommes marquans_, and mine was +this:--'Whatever Sheridan has done or chosen to do has been, _par +excellence_, always the _best_ of its kind. He has written the _best_ +comedy (School for Scandal), the _best_ drama, (in my mind, far before +that St. Giles's lampoon, the Beggar's Opera,) the best farce (the +Critic--it is only too good for a farce), and the best Address +(Monologue on Garrick), and, to crown all, delivered the very best +Oration (the famous Begum Speech) ever conceived or heard in this +country.' Somebody told S. this the next day, and on hearing it, he +burst into tears! + +"Poor Brinsley! if they were tears of pleasure, I would rather have said +these few, but most sincere, words than have written the Iliad or made +his own celebrated Philippic. Nay, his own comedy never gratified me +more than to hear that he had derived a moment's gratification from any +praise of mine, humble as it must appear to 'my elders and my betters.' + +"Went to my box at Covent Garden to night; and my delicacy felt a little +shocked at seeing S * * *'s mistress (who, to my certain knowledge, was +actually educated, from her birth, for her profession) sitting with her +mother, 'a three-piled b----d, b----d-Major to the army,' in a private +box opposite. I felt rather indignant; but, casting my eyes round the +house, in the next box to me, and the next, and the next, were the most +distinguished old and young Babylonians of quality;--so I burst out a +laughing. It was really odd; Lady * * _divorced_--Lady * * and her +daughter, Lady * *, both _divorceable_--Mrs. * *[101], in the next, the +_like_, and still nearer * * * * * *! What an assemblage to _me_, who +know all their histories. It was as if the house had been divided +between your public and your _understood_ courtesans;--but the +intriguantes much outnumbered the regular mercenaries. On the other side +were only Pauline and _her_ mother, and, next box to her, three of +inferior note. Now, where lay the difference between _her_ and _mamma_, +and Lady * * and daughter? except that the two last may enter Carleton +and any _other house_, and the two first are limited to the opera and +b----house. How I do delight in observing life as it really is!--and +myself, after all, the worst of any. But no matter--I must avoid +egotism, which, just now, would be no vanity. + +"I have lately written a wild, rambling, unfinished rhapsody, called +'The Devil's Drive[102],' the notion of which I took from Porson's +'Devil's Walk.' + +"Redde some Italian, and wrote two Sonnets on * * *. I never wrote but +one sonnet before, and that was not in earnest, and many years ago, as +an exercise--and I will never write another. They are the most puling, +petrifying, stupidly platonic compositions. I detest the Petrarch so +much[104], that I would not be the man even to have obtained his Laura, +which the metaphysical, whining dotard never could. + +[Footnote 100: This passage of the Journal has already appeared in my +Life of Sheridan.] + +[Footnote 101: These names are all left blank in the original.] + +[Footnote 102: Of this strange, wild poem, which extends to about two +hundred and fifty lines, the only copy that Lord Byron, I believe, ever +wrote, he presented to Lord Holland. Though with a good deal of vigour +and imagination, it is, for the most part, rather clumsily executed, +wanting the point and condensation of those clever verses of Mr. +Coleridge[103], which Lord Byron, adopting a notion long prevalent, has +attributed to Professor Person. There are, however, some of the stanzas +of "The Devil's Drive" well worth preserving. + + 1. + + "The Devil return'd to hell by two, + And he stay'd at home till five; + When he dined on some homicides done in _ragoût_, + And a rebel or so in an _Irish_ stew, + And sausages made of a self-slain Jew, + And bethought himself what next to do, + 'And,' quoth he, 'I'll take a drive. + I walk'd in the morning, I'll ride to-night; + In darkness my children take most delight, + And I'll see how my favourites thrive.' + + 2. + + "'And what shall I ride in?' quoth Lucifer, then-- + 'If I follow'd my taste, indeed, + I should mount in a wagon of wounded men, + And smile to see them bleed. + But these will be furnish'd again and again, + And at present my purpose is speed; + To see my manor as much as I may, + And watch that no souls shall be poach'd away. + + 3. + + "'I have a state coach at Carleton House, + A chariot in Seymour Place; + But they're lent to two friends, who make me amends + By driving my favourite pace: + And they handle their reins with such a grace, + I have something for both at the end of the race. + + 4. + + "'So now for the earth to take my chance.' + Then up to the earth sprung he; + And making a jump from Moscow to France, + He stepped across the sea, + And rested his hoof on a turnpike road, + No very great way from a bishop's abode. + + 5. + + "But first as he flew, I forgot to say, + That he hover'd a moment upon his way + To look upon Leipsic plain; + And so sweet to his eye was its sulphury glare, + And so soft to his ear was the cry of despair, + That he perch'd on a mountain of slain; + And he gazed with delight from its growing height; + Not often on earth had he seen such a sight, + Nor his work done half as well: + For the field ran so red with the blood of the dead, + That it blush'd like the waves of hell! + Then loudly, and wildly, and long laugh'd he-- + 'Methinks they have here little need of me!' * * * + + 8. + + "But the softest note that sooth'd his ear + Was the sound of a widow sighing, + And the sweetest sight was the icy tear, + Which Horror froze in the blue eye clear + Of a maid by her lover lying-- + As round her fell her long fair hair; + And she look'd to Heaven with that frenzied air + Which seem'd to ask if a God were there! + And, stretch'd by the wall of a ruin'd hut, + With its hollow cheek, and eyes half shut, + A child of famine dying: + And the carnage begun, when resistance is done, + And the fall of the vainly flying! + + 10. + + "But the Devil has reach'd our cliffs so white, + And what did he there, I pray? + If his eyes were good, he but saw by night + What we see every day; + But he made a tour, and kept a journal + Of all the wondrous sights nocturnal, + And he sold it in shares to the _Men_ of the _Row_, + Who bid pretty well--but they _cheated_ him, though! + + 11. + + "The Devil first saw, as he thought, the _Mail_, + Its coachman and his coat; + So instead of a pistol, he cock'd his tail, + And seized him by the throat: + 'Aha,' quoth he, 'what have we here? + 'Tis a new barouche, and an ancient peer!' + + 12. + + "So he sat him on his box again, + And bade him have no fear, + But be true to his club, and stanch to his rein, + His brothel, and his beer; + 'Next to seeing a lord at the council board. + I would rather see him here.' + + 17. + + "The Devil gat next to Westminster, + And he turn'd to 'the room' of the Commons; + But he heard, as he purposed to enter in there, + That 'the Lords' had received a summons; + And he thought, as a '_quondam_ aristocrat,' + He might peep at the peers, though to _hear_ them were flat: + And he walk'd up the house, so like one of our own, + That they say that he stood pretty near the throne. + + 18. + + "He saw the Lord L----l seemingly wise, + The Lord W----d certainly silly, + And Johnny of Norfolk--a man of some size-- + And Chatham, so like his friend Billy; + And he saw the tears in Lord E----n's eyes, + Because the Catholics would _not_ rise, + In spite of his prayers and his prophecies; + And he heard--which set Satan himself a staring-- + A certain Chief Justice say something like _swearing_. + And the Devil was shock'd--and quoth he, 'I must go, + For I find we have much better manners below. + If thus he harangues when he passes my border, + I shall hint to friend Moloch to call him to order.'" +] + +[Footnote 103: Or Mr. Southey,--for the right of authorship in them +seems still undecided.] + +[Footnote 104: He learned to think more reverently of "the Petrarch" +afterwards.] + + +"January 16. 1814. + +"To-morrow I leave town for a few days. I saw Lewis to-day, who is just +returned from Oatlands, where he has been squabbling with Mad. de Staël +about himself, Clarissa Harlowe, Mackintosh, and me. My homage has never +been paid in that quarter, or we would have agreed still worse. I don't +talk--I can't flatter, and won't listen, except to a pretty or a foolish +woman. She bored Lewis with praises of himself till he sickened--found +out that Clarissa was perfection, and Mackintosh the first man in +England. There I agree, at least _one_ of the first--but Lewis did not. +As to Clarissa, I leave to those who can read it to judge and dispute. I +could not do the one, and am, consequently, not qualified for the other. +She told Lewis wisely, he being my friend, that I was affected, in the +first place; and that, in the next place, I committed the heinous +offence of sitting at dinner with my _eyes_ shut, or half shut. I wonder +if I really have this trick. I must cure myself of it, if true. One +insensibly acquires awkward habits, which should be broken in time. If +this is one, I wish I had been told of it before. It would not so much +signify if one was always to be checkmated by a plain woman, but one may +as well see some of one's neighbours, as well as the plate upon the +table. + +"I should like, of all things, to have heard the Amabæan eclogue between +her and Lewis--both obstinate, clever, odd, garrulous, and shrill. In +fact, one could have heard nothing else. But they fell out, alas!--and +now they will never quarrel again. Could not one reconcile them for the +'nonce?' Poor Corinne--she will find that some of her fine sayings +won't suit our fine ladies and gentlemen. + +"I am getting rather into admiration of * *, the youngest sister of * *. +A wife would be my salvation. I am sure the wives of my acquaintances +have hitherto done me little good. * * is beautiful, but very young, +and, I think, a fool. But I have not seen enough to judge; besides, I +hate an _esprit_ in petticoats. That she won't love me is very probable, +nor shall I love her. But, on my system, and the modern system in +general, that don't signify. The business (if it came to business) would +probably be arranged between papa and me. She would have her own way; I +am good-humoured to women, and docile; and, if I did not fall in love +with her, which I should try to prevent, we should be a very comfortable +couple. As to conduct, _that_ she must look to. But _if_ I love, I shall +be jealous;--and for that reason I will not be in love. Though, after +all, I doubt my temper, and fear I should not be so patient as becomes +the _bienséance_ of a married man in my station. Divorce ruins the poor +_femme_, and damages are a paltry compensation. I do fear my temper +would lead me into some of our oriental tricks of vengeance, or, at any +rate, into a summary appeal to the court of twelve paces. So 'I'll none +on 't,' but e'en remain single and solitary;--though I should like to +have somebody now and then to yawn with one. + +"W. and, after him, * *, has stolen one of my buffooneries about Mde. de +Staël's Metaphysics and the Fog, and passed it, by speech and letter, +as their own. As Gibbet says, 'they are the most of a gentleman of any +on the road.' W. is in sad enmity with the Whigs about this Review of +Fox (if he _did_ review him);--all the epigrammatists and essayists are +at him. I hate _odds_, and wish he may beat them. As for me, by the +blessing of indifference, I have simplified my politics into an utter +detestation of all existing governments; and, as it is the shortest and +most agreeable and summary feeling imaginable, the first moment of an +universal republic would convert me into an advocate for single and +uncontradicted despotism. The fact is, riches are power, and poverty is +slavery all over the earth, and one sort of establishment is no better +nor worse for a _people_ than another. I shall adhere to my party, +because it would not be honourable to act otherwise; but, as to +_opinions_, I don't think politics _worth_ an _opinion_. _Conduct_ is +another thing:--if you begin with a party, go on with them. I have no +consistency, except in politics; and _that_ probably arises from my +indifference on the subject altogether." + + * * * * * + +I must here be permitted to interrupt, for a while, the progress of this +Journal,--which extends through some months of the succeeding year,--for +the purpose of noticing, without infringement of chronological order, +such parts of the poet's literary history and correspondence as belong +properly to the date of the year 1813. + +At the beginning, as we have seen, of the month of December, The Bride +of Abydos was published,--having been struck off, like its predecessor, +The Giaour, in one of those paroxysms of passion and imagination, which +adventures such as the poet was now engaged in were, in a temperament +like his, calculated to excite. As the mathematician of old required but +a spot to stand upon, to be able, as he boasted, to move the world, so a +certain degree of foundation in _fact_ seemed necessary to Byron, before +that lever which he knew how to apply to the world of the passions could +be wielded by him. So small, however, was, in many instances, the +connection with reality which satisfied him, that to aim at tracing +through his stories these links with his own fate and fortunes, which +were, after all, perhaps, visible but to his own fancy, would be a task +as uncertain as unsafe;--and this remark applies not only to The Bride +of Abydos, but to The Corsair, Lara, and all the other beautiful +fictions that followed, in which, though the emotions expressed by the +poet may be, in general, regarded as vivid recollections of what had at +different times agitated his own bosom, there are but little +grounds,--however he might himself, occasionally, encourage such a +supposition,--for connecting him personally with the groundwork or +incidents of the stories. + +While yet uncertain about the fate of his own new poem, the following +observations on the work of an ingenious follower in the same track were +written. + +LETTER 143. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Dec. 4. 1813. + + "I have redde through your Persian Tales[105], and have taken the + liberty of making some remarks on the _blank_ pages. There are many + beautiful passages, and an interesting story; and I cannot give you + a stronger proof that such is my opinion, than by the _date_ of the + _hour_--_two o'clock_, till which it has kept me awake _without a + yawn_. The conclusion is not quite correct in _costume_; there is + no _Mussulman suicide_ on record--at least for _love_. But this + matters not. The tale must have been written by some one who has + been on the spot, and I wish him, and he deserves, success. Will + you apologise to the author for the liberties I have taken with his + MS.? Had I been less awake to, and interested in, his theme, I had + been less obtrusive; but you know _I_ always take this in good + part, and I hope he will. It is difficult to say what _will_ + succeed, and still more to pronounce what _will not_. _I_ am at + this moment in _that uncertainty_ (on our _own_ score); and it is + no small proof of the author's powers to be able to _charm_ and + _fix_ a _mind_'s attention on similar subjects and climates in such + a predicament. That he may have the same effect upon all his + readers is very sincerely the wish, and hardly the _doubt_, of + yours truly, B." + +[Footnote 105: Poems by Mr. Gally Knight, of which Mr. Murray had +transmitted the MS. to Lord Byron, without, however, communicating the +name of the author.] + + * * * * * + +To The Bride of Abydos he made additions, in the course of printing, +amounting, altogether, to near two hundred lines; and, as usual, among +the passages thus added, were some of the happiest and most brilliant in +the whole poem. The opening lines,--"Know ye the land,' &c.--supposed to +have been suggested to him by a song of Goëthe's[106]--were among the +number of these new insertions, as were also those fine verses,--"Who +hath not proved how feebly words essay," &c. Of one of the most popular +lines in this latter passage, it is not only curious, but instructive, +to trace the progress to its present state of finish. Having at first +written-- + + "Mind on her lip and music in her face," + +he afterwards altered it to-- + + "The mind of music breathing in her face." + +But, this not satisfying him, the next step of correction brought the +line to what it is at present-- + + "The mind, the music breathing from her face."[107] + +But the longest, as well as most splendid, of those passages, with which +the perusal of his own strains, during revision, inspired him, was that +rich flow of eloquent feeling which follows the couplet,--"Thou, my +Zuleika, share and bless my bark," &c.--a strain of poetry, which, for +energy and tenderness of thought, for music of versification, and +selectness of diction, has, throughout the greater portion of it, but +few rivals in either ancient or modern song. All this passage was sent, +in successive scraps, to the printer,--correction following correction, +and thought reinforced by thought. We have here, too, another example of +that retouching process by which some of his most exquisite effects were +attained. Every reader remembers the four beautiful lines-- + + "Or, since that hope denied in worlds of strife, + Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life! + The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, + And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray!" + +In the first copy of this passage sent to the publisher, the last line +was written thus-- + + {_an airy_} + "And tints to-morrow with a { fancied } ray"-- + +the following note being annexed:--"Mr. Murray,--Choose which of the two +epithets, 'fancied,' or 'airy,' may be the best; or, if neither will do, +tell me, and I will dream another." The poet's dream was, it must be +owned, lucky,--"prophetic" being the word, of all others, for his +purpose.[108] + +I shall select but one more example, from the additions to this poem, as +a proof that his eagerness and facility in producing, was sometimes +almost equalled by his anxious care in correcting. In the long passage +just referred to, the six lines beginning "Blest as the Muezzin's +strain," &c., having been despatched to the printer too late for +insertion, were, by his desire, added in an errata page; the first +couplet, in its original form, being as follows:-- + + "Soft as the Mecca-Muezzin's strains invite + Him who hath journey'd far to join the rite." + +In a few hours after, another scrap was sent off, containing the lines +thus-- + + "Blest as the Muezzin's strain from Mecca's dome, + Which welcomes Faith to view her Prophet's tomb"-- + +with the following note to Mr. Murray:-- + + "December 3. 1813. + + "Look out in the Encyclopedia, article _Mecca_, whether it is there + or at _Medina_ the Prophet is entombed. If at Medina, the first + lines of my alterration must run-- + + "Blest as the call which from Medina's dome + Invites Devotion to her Prophet's tomb," &c. + + If at Mecca, the lines may stand as before. Page 45. canto 2d, + Bride of Abydos. Yours, B. + + "You will find this out either by article _Mecca_, _Medina_, or + _Mohammed_. I have no book of reference by me." + +[Footnote 106: "Kennst du das Land wo die Citronen blühn," &c.] + +[Footnote 107: Among the imputed plagiarisms so industriously hunted out +in his writings, this line has been, with somewhat more plausibility +than is frequent in such charges, included,--the lyric poet Lovelace +having, it seems, written, + + "The melody and music of her face." + +Sir Thomas Brown, too, in his Religio Medici, says--"There is music even +in beauty," &c. The coincidence, no doubt, is worth observing, and the +task of "tracking" thus a favourite writer "in the snow (as Dryden +expresses it) of others" is sometimes not unamusing; but to those who +found upon such resemblances a general charge of plagiarism, we may +apply what Sir Walter Scott says, in that most agreeable work, his Lives +of the Novelists:--"It is a favourite theme of laborious dulness to +trace such coincidences, because they appear to reduce genius of the +higher order to the usual standard of humanity, and of course to bring +the author nearer to a level with his critics."] + +[Footnote 108: It will be seen, however, from a subsequent letter to Mr. +Murray, that he himself was at first unaware of the peculiar felicity of +this epithet; and it is therefore, probable, that, after all, the merit +of the choice may have belonged to Mr. Gifford.] + + * * * * * + +Immediately after succeeded another note:-- + + "Did you look out? Is it _Medina_ or _Mecca_ that contains the + _Holy_ Sepulchre? Don't make me blaspheme by your negligence. I + have no book of reference, or I would save you the trouble. I + _blush_, as a good Mussulman, to have confused the point. + + "Yours, B." + + * * * * * + +Notwithstanding all these various changes, the couplet in question +stands at present thus:-- + + "Blest as the Muezzin's strain from Mecca's wall + To pilgrims pure and prostrate at his call." + +In addition to his own watchfulness over the birth of his new poem, he +also, as will be seen from the following letter, invoked the veteran +taste of Mr. Gifford on the occasion:-- + +LETTER 144. TO MR. GIFFORD. + + "November 12. 1813. + + "My dear Sir, + + "I hope you will consider, when I venture on any request, that it + is the reverse of a certain Dedication, and is addressed, _not_ to + 'The Editor of the Quarterly Review,' but to Mr. Gifford. You will + understand this, and on that point I need trouble you no farther. + + "You have been good enough to look at a thing of mine in MS.--a + Turkish story, and I should feel gratified if you would do it the + same favour in its probationary state of printing. It was written, + I cannot say for amusement, nor 'obliged by hunger and request of + friends,' but in a state of mind from circumstances which + occasionally occur to 'us youth,' that rendered it necessary for me + to apply my mind to something, any thing but reality; and under + this not very brilliant inspiration it was composed. Being done, + and having at least diverted me from myself, I thought you would + not perhaps be offended if Mr. Murray forwarded it to you. He has + done so, and to apologise for his doing so a second time is the + object of my present letter. + + "I beg you will _not_ send me any answer. I assure you very + sincerely I know your time to be occupied, and it is enough, more + than enough, if you read; you are not to be bored with the fatigue + of answers. + + "A word to Mr. Murray will be sufficient, and send it either to the + flames or + + "A hundred hawkers' load, + On wings of wind to fly or fall abroad. + + It deserves no better than the first, as the work of a week, and + scribbled 'stans pede in uno' (by the by, the only foot I have to + stand on); and I promise never to trouble you again under forty + Cantos, and a voyage between each. Believe me ever + + "Your obliged and affectionate servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +The following letters and notes, addressed to Mr. Murray at this time, +cannot fail, I think, to gratify all those to whom the history of the +labours of genius is interesting:-- + +LETTER 145. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 12. 1813. + + "Two friends of mine (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Sharpe) have advised me + not to risk at present any single publication separately, for + various reasons. As they have not seen the one in question, they + can have no bias for or against the merits (if it has any) or the + faults of the present subject of our conversation. You say all the + last of 'The Giaour' are gone--at least out of your hands. Now, if + you think of publishing any new edition with the last additions + which have not yet been before the reader (I mean distinct from the + two-volume publication), we can add 'The Bride of Abydos,' which + will thus steal quietly into the world: if liked, we can then throw + off some copies for the purchasers of former 'Giaours;' and, if + not, I can omit it in any future publication. What think you? I + really am no judge of those things, and with all my natural + partiality for one's own productions, I would rather follow any + one's judgment than my own. + + "P.S. Pray let me have the proofs I sent _all_ to-night. I have + some alterations that I have thought of that I wish to make + speedily. I hope the proof will be on separate pages, and not all + huddled together on a mile-long ballad-singing sheet, as those of + The Giaour sometimes are; for then I can't read them distinctly." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 13. 1813. + + "Will you forward the letter to Mr. Gilford with the proof? There + is an alteration I may make in Zuleika's speech, in second Canto + (the only one of hers in that Canto). It is now thus: + + "And curse, if I could curse, the day. + + It must be-- + + "And mourn--I dare not curse--the day + That saw my solitary birth, &c. &c. + + "Ever yours, B. + + "In the last MS. lines sent, instead of 'living heart,' convert to + 'quivering heart.' It is in line ninth of the MS. passage. + + "Ever yours again, B." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Alteration of a line in Canto second. + + "Instead of-- + + "And tints to-morrow with a _fancied_ ray, + + Print-- + + "And tints to-morrow with _prophetic_ ray. + + "The evening beam that smiles the clouds away + And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray; + + Or, + + {_gilds_} + "And { tints } the hope of morning with its ray; + + Or, + + "And gilds to-morrow's hope with heavenly ray. + + "I wish you would ask Mr. Gifford which of them is best, or rather + _not worst_. Ever, &c. + + "You can send the request contained in this at the same time with + the _revise_, _after_ I have seen the _said revise_." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 13. 1813. + + "Certainly. Do you suppose that no one but the Galileans are + acquainted with _Adam_, and _Eve_, and _Cain_[109], and + _Noah_?--Surely, I might have had Solomon, and Abraham, and David, + and even Moses. When you know that _Zuleika_ is the _Persian + poetical_ name for _Potiphar_'s wife, on whom and Joseph there is a + long poem, in the Persian, this will not surprise you. If you want + authority, look at Jones, D'Herbelot, Vathek, or the notes to the + Arabian Nights; and, if you think it necessary, model this into a + note. + + "Alter, in the inscription, 'the most affectionate respect,' to + 'with every sentiment of regard and respect.'" + +[Footnote 109: Some doubt had been expressed by Mr. Murray as to the +propriety of his putting the name of Cain into the mouth of a +Mussulman.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 14. 1813. + + "I send you a note for the _ignorant_, but I really wonder at + finding _you_ among them. I don't care one lump of sugar for my + _poetry_; but for my _costume_ and my _correctness_ on those points + (of which I think the _funeral_ was a proof), I will combat + lustily. + + "Yours," &c. + + * * * * * + + "Nov. 14. 1813. + + "Let the revise which I sent just now (and _not_ the proof in Mr. + Gifford's possession) be returned to the printer, as there are + several additional corrections, and two new lines in it. Yours," + &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 146. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 15. 1813. + + "Mr. Hodgson has looked over and _stopped_, or rather _pointed_, + this revise, which must be the one to print from. He has also made + some suggestions, with most of which I have complied, as he has + always, for these ten years, been a very sincere, and by no means + (at times) flattering intimate of mine. _He_ likes it (you will + think _fatteringly_, in this instance) better than The Giaour, but + doubts (and so do I) its being so popular; but, contrary to some + others, advises a separate publication. On this we can easily + decide. I confess I like the _double_ form better. Hodgson says, it + is _better versified_ than any of the others; which is odd, if + true, as it has cost me less time (though more hours at a time) + than any attempt I ever made. + + "P.S. Do attend to the punctuation: I can't, for I don't know a + comma--at least where to place one. + + "That Tory of a printer has omitted two lines of the opening, and + _perhaps more_, which were in the MS. Will you, pray, give him a + hint of accuracy? I have reinserted the _two_, but they were in the + manuscript, I can swear." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 147. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 17. 1813. + + "That you and I may distinctly understand each other on a subject, + which, like 'the dreadful reckoning when men smile no more,' makes + conversation not very pleasant, I think it as well to _write_ a few + lines on the topic.--Before I left town for Yorkshire, you said + that you were ready and willing to give five hundred guineas for + the copyright of 'The Giaour;' and my answer was--from which I do + not mean to recede--that we would discuss the point at Christmas. + The new story may or may not succeed; the probability, under + present circumstances, seems to be, that it may at least pay its + expenses--but even that remains to be proved, and till it is proved + one way or another, we will say nothing about it. Thus then be it: + I will postpone all arrangement about it, and The Giaour also, till + Easter, 1814; and you shall then, according to your own notions of + fairness, make your own offer for the two. At the same time, I do + not rate the last in my own estimation at half The Giaour; and + according to your own notions of its worth and its success within + the time mentioned, be the addition or deduction to or from + whatever sum may be your proposal for the first, which has already + had its success. + + "The pictures of Phillips I consider as _mine_, all three; and the + one (not the Arnaout) of the two best is much at _your service_, if + you will accept it as a present. + + "P.S. The expense of engraving from the miniature send me in my + account, as it was destroyed by my desire; and have the goodness to + burn that detestable print from it immediately. + + "To make you some amends for eternally pestering you with + alterations, I send you Cobbett to confirm your orthodoxy. + + "One more alteration of _a_ into _the_ in the MS.; it must be--'The + _heart whose softness_,' &c. + + "Remember--and in the inscription, 'To the Right Honourable Lord + Holland,' _without_ the previous names, Henry," &c. + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 20. 1813. + + "More work for the _Row_. I am doing my best to beat 'The + Giaour'--_no_ difficult task for any one but the author." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 22. 1813. + + "I have no time to _cross_-investigate, but I believe and hope all + is right. I care less than you will believe about its success, but + I can't survive a single _misprint_: it _chokes_ me to see words + misused by the printers. Pray look over, in case of some eyesore + escaping me. + + "P.S. Send the earliest copies to Mr. Frere, Mr. Canning, Mr. Heber, + Mr. Gifford, Lord Holland, Lord Melbourne (Whitehall), Lady + Caroline Lamb, (Brocket), Mr. Hodgson (Cambridge), Mr. Merivale, + Mr. Ward, from the author." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 23. 1813. + + "You wanted some reflections, and I send you _per Selim_ (see his + speech in Canto 2d, page 46.), eighteen lines in decent couplets, + of a pensive, if not an _ethical_ tendency. One more + revise--positively the last, if decently done--at any rate the + _pen_ultimate. Mr. Canning's approbation (_if_ he did approve) I + need not say makes me proud.[110] As to printing, print as you will + and how you will--by itself, if you like; but let me have a few + copies in _sheets_. + + "November 24. 1813. + + "You must pardon me once more, as it is all for your good: it must + be thus-- + + "He makes a solitude, and calls it peace. + + '_Makes_' is closer to the passage of Tacitus, from which the line + is taken, and is, besides, a stronger word than '_leaves_' + + "Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease-- + He makes a solitude, and calls it--peace." + +[Footnote 110: Mr. Canning's note was as follows:--"I received the +books, and, among them, The Bride of Abydos. It is very, very beautiful. +Lord Byron (when I met him, one day, at dinner at Mr. Ward's) was so +kind as to promise to give me a copy of it. I mention this, not to save +my purchase, but because I should be really flattered by the present."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 148. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 27. 1813. + + "If you look over this carefully by the _last proof_ with my + corrections, it is probably right; this _you_ can do as well or + better;--I have not now time. The copies I mentioned to be sent to + different friends last night, I should wish to be made up with the + new Giaours, if it also is ready. If not, send The Giaour + afterwards. + + "The Morning Post says _I_ am the author of Nourjahad!! This comes + of lending the drawings for their dresses; but it is not worth a + _formal contradiction_. Besides, the criticisms on the + _supposition_ will, some of them, be quite amusing and furious. The + _Orientalism_--which I hear is very splendid--of the melodrame + (whosever it is, and I am sure I don't know) is as good as an + advertisement for your Eastern Stories, by filling their heads with + glitter. + + "P.S. You will of course _say_ the truth, that I am _not_ the + melodramist--if any one charges me in your presence with the + performance." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 149. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 28. 1813. + + "Send another copy (if not too much of a request) to Lady Holland + of the _Journal_[111], in my name, when you receive this; it is for + _Earl Grey_--and I will relinquish my _own_. Also to Mr. Sharpe, + and Lady Holland, and Lady Caroline Lamb, copies of 'The Bride' as + soon as convenient. + + "P.S. Mr. Ward and myself still continue our purpose; but I shall + not trouble you on any arrangement on the score of The Giaour and + The Bride till our return,--or, at any rate, before _May_, + 1814,--that is, six months from hence: and before that time you + will be able to ascertain how far your offer may be a losing one; + if so, you can deduct proportionably; and if not, I shall not at + any rate allow you to go higher than your present proposal, which + is very handsome, and more than fair.[112] + + "I have had--but this must be _entre nous_--a very kind note, on + the subject of 'The Bride,' from Sir James Mackintosh, and an + invitation to go there this evening, which it is now too late to + accept." + +[Footnote 111: Penrose's Journal, a book published by Mr. Murray at this +time.] + +[Footnote 112: Mr. Murray had offered him a thousand guineas for the two +poems.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 29. 1813. Sunday--Monday morning--three o'clock--in my + doublet and hose,--_swearing_. + + "I send you in time an errata page, containing an omission of mine, + which must be thus added, as it is too late for insertion in the + text. The passage is an imitation altogether from Medea in Ovid, + and is incomplete without these two lines. Pray let this be done, + and directly; it is necessary, will add one page to your book + (_making_), and can do no harm, and is yet in time for the + _public_. Answer me, thou oracle, in the affirmative. You can send + the loose pages to those who have copies already, if they like; but + certainly to all the _critical_ copyholders. + + "P.S. I have got out of my bed, (in which, however, I could not + sleep, whether I had amended this or not,) and so good morning. I + am trying whether De l'Allemagne will act as an opiate, but I doubt + it." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 29. 1813. + + "_You have looked at it!_' to much purpose, to allow so stupid a + blunder to stand; it is _not_ '_courage_' but '_carnage_;' and if + you don't want me to cut my own throat, see it altered. + + "I am very sorry to hear of the fall of Dresden." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 150. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 29. 1813. Monday. + + "You will act as you please upon that point; but whether I go or + stay, I shall not say another word on the subject till May--nor + then, unless quite convenient to yourself. I have many things I + wish to leave to your care, principally papers. The _vases_ need + not be now sent, as Mr. Ward is gone to Scotland. You are right + about the errata page; place it at the beginning. Mr. Perry is a + little premature in his compliments: these may do harm by exciting + expectation, and I think we ought to be above it--though I see the + next paragraph is on the _Journal_[113], which makes me suspect + _you_ as the author of both. + + "Would it not have been as well to have said 'in two Cantos' in the + advertisement? they will else think of _fragments_, a species of + composition very well for _once_, like _one ruin_ in a _view_; but + one would not build a town of them. The Bride, such as it is, is my + first _entire_ composition of any length (except the Satire, and be + d----d to it), for The Giaour is but a string of passages, and + Childe Harold is, and I rather think always will be, unconcluded. I + return Mr. Hay's note, with thanks to him and you. + + "There have been some epigrams on Mr. Ward: one I see to-day. The + first I did not see, but heard yesterday. The second seems very + bad. I only hope that Mr. Ward does not believe that I had any + connection with either. I like and value him too well to allow my + politics to contract into spleen, or to admire any thing intended + to annoy him or his. You need not take the trouble to answer this, + as I shall see you in the course of the afternoon. + + "P.S. I have said this much about the epigrams, because I lived so + much in the _opposite camp_, and, from my post as an engineer, + might be suspected as the flinger of these hand-grenadoes; but with + a worthy foe, I am all for open war, and not this bushfighting, and + have not had, nor will have, any thing to do with it. I do not know + the author." + +[Footnote 113: Penrose's Journal.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 30. 1813. + + "Print this at the end of _all that is of 'The Bride of Abydos_,' + as an errata page. BN. + + "Omitted, Canto 2d, page 47., after line 449., + + "So that those arms cling closer round my neck. + + Read, + + "Then if my lip once murmur, it must be + No sigh for safety, but a prayer for thee." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Tuesday evening, Nov. 30. 1813. + + "For the sake of correctness, particularly in an errata page, the + alteration of the couplet I have just sent (half an hour ago) must + take place, in spite of delay or cancel; let me see the _proof_ + early to-morrow. I found out _murmur_ to be a neuter _verb_, and + have been obliged to alter the line so as to make it a substantive, + thus-- + + "The deepest murmur of this lip shall be + No sigh for safety, but a prayer for thee! + + Don't send the copies to the _country_ till this is all right." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Dec. 2. 1813. + + "When you can, let the couplet enclosed be inserted either in the + page, or in the errata page. I trust it is in time for some of the + copies. This alteration is in the same part--the page _but one_ + before the last correction sent. + + "P.S. I am afraid, from all I hear, that people are rather + inordinate in their expectations, which is very unlucky, but cannot + now be helped. This comes of Mr. Perry and one's wise friends; but + do not _you_ wind _your_ hopes of success to the same pitch, for + fear of accidents, and I can assure you that my philosophy will + stand the test very fairly; and I have done every thing to ensure + you, at all events, from positive loss, which will be some + satisfaction to both." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Dec. 3. 1813. + + "I send you a _scratch_ or _two_, the which _heal_. The Christian + Observer is very savage, but certainly well written--and quite + uncomfortable at the naughtiness of book and author. I rather + suspect you won't much like the _present_ to be more moral, if it + is to share also the usual fate of your virtuous volumes. + + "Let me see a proof of the six before incorporation." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Monday evening, Dec. 6. 1813. + + "It is all very well, except that the lines are not numbered + properly, and a diabolical mistake, page 67., which _must_ be + corrected with the _pen_, if no other way remains; it is the + omission of '_not_' before '_disagreeable_,' in the _note_ on the + _amber_ rosary. This is really horrible, and nearly as bad as the + stumble of mine at the threshold--I mean the _misnomer_ of Bride. + Pray do not let a copy go without the '_not_;' it is nonsense, and + worse than nonsense as it now stands. I wish the printer was + saddled with a vampire. + + "P.S. It is still _hath_ instead of _have_ in page 20.; never was + any one so _misused_ as I am by your devils of printers. + + "P.S. I hope and trust the '_not_' was inserted in the first + edition. We must have something--any thing--to set it right. It is + enough to answer for one's own bulls, without other people's." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 151. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "December 27. 1813. + + "Lord Holland is laid up with the gout, and would feel very much + obliged if you could obtain, and send as soon as possible, Madame + d'Arblay's (or even Miss Edgeworth's) new work. I know they are not + out; but it is perhaps possible for your _Majesty_ to command what + we cannot with much suing purchase, as yet. I need not say that + when you are able or willing to confer the same favour on me, I + shall be obliged. I would almost fall sick myself to get at Madame + d'Arblay's writings. + + "P.S. You were talking to-day of the American edition of a certain + unquenchable memorial of my younger days. As it can't be helped + now, I own I have some curiosity to see a copy of trans-Atlantic + typography. This you will perhaps obtain, and one for yourself; but + I must beg that you will not _import more_, because, _seriously_, I + _do wish_ to have that thing forgotten as much as it has been + forgiven. + + "If you send to the Globe editor, say that I want neither excuse + nor contradiction, but merely a discontinuance of a most + ill-grounded charge. I never was consistent in any thing but my + politics; and as my redemption depends on that solitary virtue, it + is murder to carry away my last anchor." + + * * * * * + +Of these hasty and characteristic missives with which he despatched off +his "still-breeding thoughts," there yet remain a few more that might be +presented to the reader; but enough has here been given to show the +fastidiousness of his self-criticism, as well as the restless and +unsatisfied ardour with which he pressed on in pursuit of +perfection,--still seeing, according to the usual doom of genius, much +farther than he could reach. + +An appeal was, about this time, made to his generosity, which the +reputation of the person from whom it proceeded would, in the minds of +most people, have justified him in treating with disregard, but which a +more enlarged feeling of humanity led him to view in a very different +light; for, when expostulated with by Mr. Murray on his generous +intentions towards one "whom nobody else would give a single farthing +to," he answered, "it is for that very reason _I_ give it, because +nobody else will." The person in question was Mr. Thomas Ashe, author of +a certain notorious publication called "The Book," which, from the +delicate mysteries discussed in its pages, attracted far more notice +than its talent, or even mischief, deserved. In a fit, it is to be +hoped, of sincere penitence, this man wrote to Lord Byron, alleging +poverty as his excuse for the vile uses to which he had hitherto +prostituted his pen, and soliciting his Lordship's aid towards enabling +him to exist, in future, more reputably. To this application the +following answer, marked, in the highest degree, by good sense, +humanity, and honourable sentiment, was returned by Lord Byron:-- + +LETTER 152. TO MR. ASHE. + + "4. Bennet Street, St. James's, Dec. 14. 1813. + + "Sir, + + "I leave town for a few days to-morrow; on my return, I will answer + your letter more at length. Whatever may be your situation, I + cannot but commend your resolution to abjure and abandon the + publication and composition of works such as those to which you + have alluded. Depend upon it they amuse _few_, disgrace both + _reader_ and _writer_, and benefit _none_. It will be my wish to + assist you, as far as my limited means will admit, to break such a + bondage. In your answer, inform me what sum you think would enable + you to extricate yourself from the hands of your employers, and to + regain, at least, temporary independence, and I shall be glad to + contribute my mite towards it. At present, I must conclude. Your + name is not unknown to me, and I regret, for your own sake, that + you have ever lent it to the works you mention. In saying this, I + merely repeat your _own words_ in your letter to me, and have no + wish whatever to say a single syllable that may appear to insult + your misfortunes. If I have, excuse me; it is unintentional. Yours, + &c. + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +In answer to this letter, Ashe mentioned, as the sum necessary to +extricate him from his difficulties, 150_l_.--to be advanced at the rate +of ten pounds per month; and, some short delay having occurred in the +reply to this demand, the modest applicant, in renewing his suit, +complained, it appears, of neglect: on which Lord Byron, with a good +temper which few, in a similar case, could imitate, answered him as +follows:-- + +LETTER 153. TO MR. ASHE. + + "January 5. 1814. + + "Sir, + + "When you accuse a stranger of neglect, you forget that it is + possible business or absence from London may have interfered to + delay his answer, as has actually occurred in the present instance. + But to the point. I am willing to do what I can to extricate you + from your situation. Your first scheme[114] I was considering; but + your own impatience appears to have rendered it abortive, if not + irretrievable. I will deposit in Mr. Murray's hands (with his + consent) the sum you mentioned, to be advanced for the time at ten + pounds per month. + + "P.S.--I write in the greatest hurry, which may make my letter a + little abrupt; but, as I said before, I have no wish to distress + your feelings." + +[Footnote 114: His first intention had been to go out, as a settler, to +Botany Bay.] + + * * * * * + +The service thus humanely proffered was no less punctually performed; +and the following is one of the many acknowledgments of payment which I +find in Ashe's letters to Mr. Murray:--"I have the honour to enclose you +another memorandum for the sum of ten pounds, in compliance with the +munificent instructions of Lord Byron."[115] + +His friend, Mr. Merivale, one of the translators of those Selections +from the Anthology which we have seen he regretted so much not having +taken with him on his travels, published a poem about this time, which +he thus honours with his praise. + +LETTER 154. TO MR. MERIVALE. + + "January, 1814. + + "My dear Merivale, + + "I have redde Roncesvaux with very great pleasure, and (if I were + so disposed) see very little room for criticism. There is a choice + of two lines in one of the last Cantos,--I think 'Live and protect' + better, because 'Oh who?' implies a doubt of Roland's power or + inclination. I would allow the--but that point you yourself must + determine on--I mean the doubt as to where to place a part of the + Poem, whether between the actions or no. Only if you wish to have + all the success you deserve, _never listen to friends_, and--as I + am not the least troublesome of the number, least of all to me. + + "I hope you will be out soon. _March_, sir, _March_ is the month + for the _trade_, and they must be considered. You have written a + very noble Poem, and nothing but the detestable taste of the day + can do you harm,--but I think you will beat it. Your measure is + uncommonly well chosen and wielded."[116] + +[Footnote 115: When these monthly disbursements had amounted to 70_l._, +Ashe wrote to beg that the whole remaining sum of 80_l_. might be +advanced to him at one payment, in order to enable him, as he said, to +avail himself of a passage to New South Wales, which had been again +offered to him. The sum was accordingly, by Lord Byron's orders, paid +into his hands.] + +[Footnote 116: This letter is but a fragment,--the remainder being +lost.] + + * * * * * + +In the extracts from his Journal, just given, there is a passage that +cannot fail to have been remarked, where, in speaking of his admiration +of some lady, whose name he has himself left blank, the noble writer +says--"a wife would be the salvation of me." It was under this +conviction, which not only himself but some of his friends entertained, +of the prudence of his taking timely refuge in matrimony from those +perplexities which form the sequel of all less regular ties, that he had +been induced, about a year before, to turn his thoughts seriously to +marriage,--at least, as seriously as his thoughts were ever capable of +being so turned,--and chiefly, I believe, by the advice and intervention +of his friend Lady Melbourne, to become a suitor for the hand of a +relative of that lady, Miss Milbanke. Though his proposal was not then +accepted, every assurance of friendship and regard accompanied the +refusal; a wish was even expressed that they should continue to write to +each other, and a correspondence, in consequence,--somewhat singular +between two young persons of different sexes, inasmuch as love was not +the subject of it,--ensued between them. We have seen how highly Lord +Byron estimated as well the virtues as the accomplishments of the young +lady; but it is evident that on neither side, at this period, was love +either felt or professed.[117] + +In the mean time, new entanglements, in which his heart was the willing +dupe of his fancy and vanity, came to engross the young poet: and still, +as the usual penalties of such pursuits followed, he again found himself +sighing for the sober yoke of wedlock, as some security against their +recurrence. There were, indeed, in the interval between Miss Milbanke's +refusal and acceptance of him, two or three other young women of rank +who, at different times, formed the subject of his matrimonial dreams. +In the society of one of these, whose family had long honoured me with +their friendship, he and I passed much of our time, during this and the +preceding spring; and it will be found that, in a subsequent part of his +correspondence, he represents me as having entertained an anxious wish +that he should so far cultivate my fair friend's favour as to give a +chance, at least, of matrimony being the result. + +That I, more than once, expressed some such feeling is undoubtedly true. +Fully concurring with the opinion, not only of himself, but of others of +his friends, that in marriage lay his only chance of salvation from the +sort of perplexing attachments into which he was now constantly tempted, +I saw in none of those whom he admired with more legitimate views so +many requisites for the difficult task of winning him into fidelity and +happiness as in the lady in question. Combining beauty of the highest +order with a mind intelligent and ingenuous,--having just learning +enough to give refinement to her taste, and far too much taste to make +pretensions to learning,--with a patrician spirit proud as his own, but +showing it only in a delicate generosity of spirit, a feminine +high-mindedness, which would have led her to tolerate his defects in +consideration of his noble qualities and his glory, and even to +sacrifice silently some of her own happiness rather than violate the +responsibility in which she stood pledged to the world for his;--such +was, from long experience, my impression of the character of this lady; +and perceiving Lord Byron to be attracted by her more obvious claims to +admiration, I felt a pleasure no less in rendering justice to the still +rarer qualities which she possessed, than in endeavouring to raise my +noble friend's mind to the contemplation of a higher model of female +character than he had, unluckily for himself, been much in the habit of +studying. + +To this extent do I confess myself to have been influenced by the sort +of feeling which he attributes to me. But in taking for granted (as it +will appear he did from one of his letters) that I entertained any very +decided or definite wishes on the subject, he gave me more credit for +seriousness in my suggestions than I deserved. If even the lady herself, +the unconscious object of these speculations, by whom he was regarded in +no other light than that of a distinguished acquaintance, could have +consented to undertake the perilous,--but still possible and +glorious,--achievement of attaching Byron to virtue, I own that, +sanguinely as, in theory, I might have looked to the result, I should +have seen, not without trembling, the happiness of one whom I had known +and valued from her childhood risked in the experiment. + +I shall now proceed to resume the thread of the Journal, which I had +broken off, and of which, it will be perceived, the noble author himself +had, for some weeks, at this time, interrupted the progress. + +[Footnote 117: The reader has already seen what Lord Byron himself says, +in his Journal, on this subject:--"What an odd situation and friendship +is ours!--without one spark of love on either side," &c. &c.] + + +END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II, by Thomas Moore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LORD BYRON, VOL. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II + With His Letters and Journals + +Author: Thomas Moore + +Release Date: August 19, 2005 [EBook #16570] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LORD BYRON, VOL. II *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>LIFE</h1> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>LORD BYRON:</h1> + +<h3>WITH HIS LETTERS AND JOURNALS.</h3> + +<h2>BY THOMAS MOORE, ESQ.</h2> + +<h4>IN SIX VOLUMES.—VOL. II.</h4> + +<h4>NEW EDITION.</h4> + +<h5>LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1854.</h5> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>CONTENTS OF VOL. II.</h3> + + + +<p><span style="margin-left: 10em;">LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF LORD BYRON, WITH NOTICES OF HIS LIFE, from the</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Period of his Return from the Continent, July, 1811, to January, 1814.</span></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page1" name="page1"></a>Pg 1</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>NOTICES</h3> + +<h3>OF THE</h3> + +<h3>LIFE OF LORD BYRON.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p>Having landed the young pilgrim once more in England, it may be worth +while, before we accompany him into the scenes that awaited him at home, +to consider how far the general character of his mind and disposition +may have been affected by the course of travel and adventure, in which +he had been, for the last two years, engaged. A life less savouring of +poetry and romance than that which he had pursued previously to his +departure on his travels, it would be difficult to imagine. In his +childhood, it is true, he had been a dweller and wanderer among scenes +well calculated, according to the ordinary notion, to implant the first +rudiments of poetic feeling. But, though the poet may afterwards feed on +the recollection of such scenes, it is more than questionable, as has +been already observed, whether he ever has been formed by them. If a +childhood, indeed, passed among mountainous scenery were so favourable +to the awakening of the imaginative power, both the Welsh, among +ourselves,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page2" name="page2"></a>Pg 2</span> and the Swiss, abroad, ought to rank much higher on the +scale of poetic excellence than they do at present. But, even allowing +the picturesqueness of his early haunts to have had some share in giving +a direction to the fancy of Byron, the actual operation of this +influence, whatever it may have been, ceased with his childhood; and the +life which he led afterwards during his school-days at Harrow, was,—as +naturally the life of so idle and daring a schoolboy must be,—the very +reverse of poetical. For a soldier or an adventurer, the course of +training through which he then passed would have been perfect;—his +athletic sports, his battles, his love of dangerous enterprise, gave +every promise of a spirit fit for the most stormy career. But to the +meditative pursuits of poesy, these dispositions seemed, of all others, +the least friendly; and, however they might promise to render him, at +some future time, a subject for bards, gave, assuredly, but little hope +of his shining first among bards himself.</p> + +<p>The habits of his life at the university were even still less +intellectual and literary. While a schoolboy, he had read abundantly and +eagerly, though desultorily; but even this discipline of his mind, +irregular and undirected as it was, he had, in a great measure, given +up, after leaving Harrow; and among the pursuits that occupied his +academic hours, those of playing at hazard, sparring, and keeping a bear +and bull-dogs, were, if not the most favourite, at least, perhaps, the +most innocent. His time in London passed equally unmarked either by +mental cultivation or refined amusement. Having<span class="pagenum"><a id="page3" name="page3"></a>Pg 3</span> no resources in private +society, from his total want of friends and connections, he was left to +live loosely about town among the loungers in coffee-houses; and to +those who remember what his two favourite haunts, Limmer's and +Stevens's, were at that period, it is needless to say that, whatever +else may have been the merits of these establishments, they were +anything but fit schools for the formation of poetic character.</p> + +<p>But however incompatible such a life must have been with those habits of +contemplation, by which, and which only, the faculties he had already +displayed could be ripened, or those that were still latent could be +unfolded, yet, in another point of view, the time now apparently +squandered by him, was, in after-days, turned most invaluably to +account. By thus initiating him into a knowledge of the varieties of +human character,—by giving him an insight into the details of society, +in their least artificial form,—in short, by mixing him up, thus early, +with the world, its business and its pleasures, his London life but +contributed its share in forming that wonderful combination which his +mind afterwards exhibited, of the imaginative and the practical—the +heroic and the humorous—of the keenest and most dissecting views of +real life, with the grandest and most spiritualised conceptions of ideal +grandeur.</p> + +<p>To the same period, perhaps, another predominant characteristic of his +maturer mind and writings may be traced. In this anticipated experience +of the world which his early mixture with its crowd gave him, it is but +little probable that many of the more<span class="pagenum"><a id="page4" name="page4"></a>Pg 4</span> favourable specimens of human +kind should have fallen under his notice. On the contrary, it is but too +likely that some of the lightest and least estimable of both sexes may +have been among the models, on which, at an age when impressions sink +deepest, his earliest judgments of human nature were formed. Hence, +probably, those contemptuous and debasing views of humanity with which +he was so often led to alloy his noblest tributes to the loveliness and +majesty of general nature. Hence the contrast that appeared between the +fruits of his imagination and of his experience,—between those dreams, +full of beauty and kindliness, with which the one teemed at his bidding, +and the dark, desolating bitterness that overflowed when he drew from +the other.</p> + +<p>Unpromising, however, as was his youth of the high destiny that awaited +him, there was one unfailing characteristic of the imaginative order of +minds—his love of solitude—which very early gave signs of those habits +of self-study and introspection by which alone the "diamond quarries" of +genius are worked and brought to light. When but a boy, at Harrow, he +had shown this disposition strongly,—being often known, as I have +already mentioned, to withdraw himself from his playmates, and sitting +alone upon a tomb in the churchyard, give himself up, for hours, to +thought. As his mind began to disclose its resources, this feeling grew +upon him; and, had his foreign travel done no more than, by detaching +him from the distractions of society, to enable him, solitarily and +freely, to commune with his own spirit, it would have been<span class="pagenum"><a id="page5" name="page5"></a>Pg 5</span> an +all-important step gained towards the full expansion of his faculties. +It was only then, indeed, that he began to feel himself capable of the +abstraction which self-study requires, or to enjoy that freedom from the +intrusion of others' thoughts, which alone leaves the contemplative mind +master of its own. In the solitude of his nights at sea, in his lone +wanderings through Greece, he had sufficient leisure and seclusion to +look within himself, and there catch the first "glimpses of his glorious +mind." One of his chief delights, as he mentioned in his "Memoranda," +was, when bathing in some retired spot, to seat himself on a high rock +above the sea, and there remain for hours, gazing upon the sky and the +waters<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>, and lost in that sort of vague reverie, which, however +formless and indistinct at the moment, settled afterwards on his pages, +into<span class="pagenum"><a id="page6" name="page6"></a>Pg 6</span> those clear, bright pictures which will endure for ever.</p> + +<p>Were it not for the doubt and diffidence that hang round the first steps +of genius, this growing consciousness of his own power, these openings +into a new domain of intellect, where he was to reign supreme, must have +made the solitary hours of the young traveller one dream of happiness. +But it will be seen that, even yet, he distrusted his own strength, nor +was at all aware of the height to which the spirit he was now calling up +would grow. So enamoured, nevertheless, had he become of these lonely +musings, that even the society of his fellow-traveller, though with +pursuits so congenial to his own, grew at last to be a chain and a +burden on him; and it was not till he stood, companionless, on the shore +of the little island in the Aegean, that he found his spirit breathe +freely. If any stronger proof were wanting of his deep passion for +solitude, we shall find it, not many years after, in his own written +avowal, that, even when in the company of the woman he most loved, he +not unfrequently found himself sighing to be alone.</p> + +<p>It was not only, however, by affording him the concentration necessary +for this silent drawing out of his feelings and powers, that travel +conduced so essentially to the formation of his poetical character. To +the East he had looked, with the eyes of romance, from his very +childhood. Before he was ten years of age, the perusal of Rycaut's +History of the Turks had taken a strong hold of his imagination, and he +read eagerly, in consequence,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page7" name="page7"></a>Pg 7</span> every book concerning the East he could +find.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> In visiting, therefore, those countries, he was but realising +the dreams of his childhood; and this return of his thoughts to that +innocent time, gave a freshness and purity to their current which they +had long wanted. Under the spell of such recollections, the attraction +of novelty was among the least that the scenes, through which he +wandered, presented. Fond traces of the past—and few have ever retained +them so vividly—mingled themselves with the impressions of the objects +before him; and as, among the Highlands, he had often<span class="pagenum"><a id="page8" name="page8"></a>Pg 8</span> traversed, in +fancy, the land of the Moslem, so memory, from the wild hills of +Albania, now "carried him back to Morven."</p> + +<p>While such sources of poetic feeling were stirred at every step, there +was also in his quick change of place and scene—in the diversity of men +and manners surveyed by him—in the perpetual hope of adventure and +thirst of enterprise, such a succession and variety of ever fresh +excitement as not only brought into play, but invigorated, all the +energies of his character: as he, himself, describes his mode of living, +it was "To-day in a palace, to-morrow in a cow-house—this day with the +Pacha, the next with a shepherd." Thus were his powers of observation +quickened, and the impressions on his imagination multiplied. Thus +schooled, too, in some of the roughnesses and privations of life, and, +so far, made acquainted with the flavour of adversity, he learned to +enlarge, more than is common in his high station, the circle of his +sympathies, and became inured to that manly and vigorous cast of thought +which is so impressed on all his writings. Nor must we forget, among +these strengthening and animating effects of travel, the ennobling +excitement of danger, which he more than once experienced,—having been +placed in situations, both on land and sea, well calculated to call +forth that pleasurable sense of energy, which perils, calmly confronted, +never fail to inspire.</p> + +<p>The strong interest which—in spite of his assumed philosophy on this +subject in Childe Harold—he took in every thing connected with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page9" name="page9"></a>Pg 9</span> life +of warfare, found frequent opportunities of gratification, not only on +board the English ships of war in which he sailed, but in his occasional +intercourse with the soldiers of the country. At Salora, a solitary +place on the Gulf of Arta, he once passed two or three days, lodged in a +small miserable barrack. Here, he lived the whole time, familiarly, +among the soldiers; and a picture of the singular scene which their +evenings presented—of those wild, half-bandit warriors, seated round +the young poet, and examining with savage admiration his fine Manton +gun<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and English sword—might be contrasted, but too touchingly, with +another and a later picture of the same poet, dying, as a chieftain, on +the same land, with Suliotes for his guards, and all Greece for his +mourners.</p> + +<p>It is true, amidst all this stimulating variety of objects, the +melancholy which he had brought from home still lingered around his +mind. To Mr. Adair and Mr. Bruce, as I have before mentioned, he gave +the idea of a person labouring under deep dejection; and Colonel Leake, +who was, at that time, resident at Ioannina, conceived very much the +same impression of the state of his mind.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="page10" name="page10"></a>Pg 10</span> But, assuredly, even this +melancholy, habitually as it still clung to him, must, under the +stirring and healthful influences of his roving life, have become a far +more elevated and abstract feeling than it ever could have expanded to +within reach of those annoyances, whose tendency was to keep it wholly +concentrated round self. Had he remained idly at home, he would have +sunk, perhaps, into a querulous satirist. But, as his views opened on a +freer and wider horizon, every feeling of his nature kept pace with +their enlargement; and this inborn sadness, mingling itself with the +effusions of his genius, became one of the chief constituent charms not +only of their pathos, but their grandeur. For, when did ever a sublime +thought spring up in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page11" name="page11"></a>Pg 11</span> soul, that melancholy was not to be found, +however latent, in its neighbourhood?</p> + +<p>We have seen, from the letters written by him on his passage homeward, +how far from cheerful or happy was the state of mind in which he +returned. In truth, even for a disposition of the most sanguine cast, +there was quite enough in the discomforts that now awaited him in +England, to sadden its hopes, and check its buoyancy. "To be happy at +home," says Johnson, "is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to +which every enterprise and labour tends." But Lord Byron had no +home,—at least none that deserved this endearing name. A fond family +circle, to accompany him with its prayers, while away, and draw round +him, with listening eagerness, on his return, was what, unluckily, he +never knew, though with a heart, as we have seen, by nature formed for +it. In the absence, too, of all that might cheer and sustain, he had +every thing to encounter that could distress and humiliate. To the +dreariness of a home without affection, was added the burden of an +establishment without means; and he had thus all the embarrassments of +domestic life, without its charms. His affairs had, during his absence, +been suffered to fall into confusion, even greater than their inherent +tendency to such a state warranted. There had been, the preceding year, +an execution on Newstead, for a debt of 1500<i>l.</i> owing to the Messrs. +Brothers, upholsterers; and a circumstance told of the veteran, Joe +Murray, on this occasion, well deserves to be mentioned. To this +faithful old servant,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page12" name="page12"></a>Pg 12</span> jealous of the ancient honour of the Byrons, the +sight of the notice of sale, pasted up on the abbey-door, could not be +otherwise than an unsightly and intolerable nuisance. Having enough, +however, of the fear of the law before his eyes, not to tear the writing +down, he was at last forced, as his only consolatory expedient, to paste +a large piece of brown paper over it.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the resolution, so recently expressed by Lord Byron, to +abandon for ever the vocation of authorship, and leave "the whole +Castalian state" to others, he was hardly landed in England when we find +him busily engaged in preparations for the publication of some of the +poems which he had produced abroad. So eager was he, indeed, to print, +that he had already, in a letter written at sea, announced himself to +Mr. Dallas, as ready for the press. Of this letter, which, from its +date, ought to have preceded some of the others that have been given, I +shall here lay before the reader the most material parts.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 54. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>"Volage Frigate, at sea, June 28. 1811</i>.</p> + +<p>"After two years' absence, (to a day, on the 2d of July, before +which we shall not arrive at Portsmouth,) I am retracing my way to +England.</p> + +<p>"I am coming back with little prospect of pleasure at home, and +with a body a little shaken by one or two smart fevers, but a +spirit I hope yet unbroken. My affairs, it seems, are considerably +in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page13" name="page13"></a>Pg 13</span>volved, and much business must be done with lawyers, colliers, +farmers, and creditors. Now this, to a man who hates bustle as he +hates a bishop, is a serious concern. But enough of my home +department.</p> + +<p>"My Satire, it seems, is in a fourth edition, a success rather +above the middling run, but not much for a production which, from +its topics, must be temporary, and of course be successful at +first, or not at all. At this period, when I can think and act more +coolly, I regret that I have written it, though I shall probably +find it forgotten by all except those whom it has offended.</p> + +<p>"Yours and Pratt's <i>protégé</i>, Blackett, the cobbler, is dead, in +spite of his rhymes, and is probably one of the instances where +death has saved a man from damnation. You were the ruin of that +poor fellow amongst you: had it not been for his patrons, he might +now have been in very good plight, shoe-(not verse-) making: but +you have made him immortal with a vengeance. I write this, +supposing poetry, patronage, and strong waters, to have been the +death of him. If you are in town in or about the beginning of July, +you will find me at Dorant's, in Albemarle Street, glad to see you. +I have an imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry ready for Cawthorn, +but don't let that deter you, for I sha'n't inflict it upon you. +You know I never read my rhymes to visitors. I shall quit town in a +few days for Notts., and thence to Rochdale.</p> + +<p>"Yours, &c."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Immediately, on Lord Byron's arrival in London,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page14" name="page14"></a>Pg 14</span> Mr. Dallas called upon +him. "On the 15th of July," says this gentleman, "I had the pleasure of +shaking hands with him at Reddish's Hotel in St. James's Street. I +thought his looks belied the report he had given me of his bodily +health, and his countenance did not betoken melancholy, or displeasure +at his return. He was very animated in the account of his travels, but +assured me he had never had the least idea of writing them. He said he +believed satire to be his <i>forte</i>, and to that he had adhered, having +written, during his stay at different places abroad, a Paraphrase of +Horace's Art of Poetry, which would be a good finish to English Bards +and Scotch Reviewers. He seemed to promise himself additional fame from +it, and I undertook to superintend its publication, as I had done that +of the Satire. I had chosen the time ill for my visit, and we had hardly +any time to converse uninterruptedly, he therefore engaged me to +breakfast with him next morning."</p> + +<p>In the interval Mr. Dallas looked over this Paraphrase, which he had +been permitted by Lord Byron to take home with him for the purpose, and +his disappointment was, as he himself describes it, "grievous," on +finding, that a pilgrimage of two years to the inspiring lands of the +East had been attended with no richer poetical result. On their meeting +again next morning, though unwilling to speak disparagingly of the work, +he could not refrain, as he informs us, from expressing some surprise +that his noble friend should have produced nothing else during his +absence.—"Upon this," he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page15" name="page15"></a>Pg 15</span> continues, "Lord Byron told me that he had +occasionally written short poems, besides a great many stanzas in +Spenser's measure, relative to the countries he had visited. 'They are +not worth troubling you with, but you shall have them all with you if +you like.' So came I by Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. He took it from a +small trunk, with a number of verses. He said they had been read but by +one person, who had found very little to commend and much to condemn: +that he himself was of that opinion, and he was sure I should be so too. +Such as it was, however, it was at my service; but he was urgent that +'The Hints from Horace' should be immediately put in train, which I +promised to have done."</p> + +<p>The value of the treasure thus presented to him, Mr. Dallas was not slow +in discovering. That very evening he despatched a letter to his noble +friend, saying—"You have written one of the most delightful poems I +ever read. If I wrote this in flattery, I should deserve your contempt +rather than your friendship. I have been so fascinated with Childe +Harold that I have not been able to lay it down. I would almost pledge +my life on its advancing the reputation of your poetical powers, and on +its gaining you great honour and regard, if you will do me the credit +and favour of attending to my suggestions respecting," &c.&c.&c.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this just praise, and the secret echo it must have found +in a heart so awake to the slightest whisper of fame, it was some time +before<span class="pagenum"><a id="page16" name="page16"></a>Pg 16</span> Lord Byron's obstinate repugnance to the idea of publishing +Childe Harold could be removed.</p> + +<p>"Attentive," says Mr. Dallas, "as he had hitherto been to my opinions +and suggestions, and natural as it was that he should be swayed by such +decided praise, I was surprised to find that I could not at first obtain +credit with him for my judgment on Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 'It was +any thing but poetry—it had been condemned by a good critic—had I not +myself seen the sentences on the margins of the manuscripts?' He dwelt +upon the Paraphrase of the Art of Poetry with pleasure, and the +manuscript of that was given to Cawthorn, the publisher of the Satire, +to be brought forth without delay. I did not, however, leave him so: +before I quitted him I returned to the charge, and told him that I was +so convinced of the merit of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, that, as he had +given it to me, I should certainly publish it, if he would have the +kindness to attend to some corrections and alterations."</p> + +<p>Among the many instances, recorded in literary history, of the false +judgments of authors respecting their own productions, the preference +given by Lord Byron to a work so little worthy of his genius, over a +poem of such rare and original beauty as the first Cantos of Childe +Harold, may be accounted, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary and +inexplicable.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page17" name="page17"></a>Pg 17</span></p> + +<p>"It is in men as in soils," says Swift, "where sometimes there is a vein +of gold which the owner knows not of." But Lord Byron had made the +discovery of the vein, without, as it would seem, being aware of its +value. I have already had occasion to observe that, even while occupied +with the composition of Childe Harold, it is questionable whether he +himself was yet fully conscious of the new powers, both of thought and +feeling, that had been awakened in him; and the strange estimate we now +find him forming of his own production appears to warrant the remark. It +would seem, indeed, as if, while the imaginative powers of his mind had +received such an impulse forward, the faculty of judgment, slower in its +developement, was still immature, and that of <i>self</i>-judgment, the most +difficult of all, still unattained.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, from the deference which, particularly at this period +of his life, he was inclined to pay to the opinions of those with whom +he associated, it would be fairer, perhaps, to conclude that this +erroneous valuation arose rather from a diffidence in his own judgment +than from any deficiency of it. To his college companions, almost all of +whom were his superiors in scholarship, and some of them even, at this +time, his competitors in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page18" name="page18"></a>Pg 18</span> poetry, he looked up with a degree of fond and +admiring deference, for which his ignorance of his own intellectual +strength alone could account; and the example, as well as tastes, of +these young writers being mostly on the side of established models, +their authority, as long as it influenced him, would, to a certain +degree, interfere with his striking confidently into any new or original +path. That some remains of this bias, with a little leaning, perhaps, +towards school recollections<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>, may have had a share in prompting his +preference of the Horatian Paraphrase, is by no means improbable;—at +least, that it was enough to lead him, untried as he had yet been in the +new path, to content himself, for the present, with following up his +success in the old. We have seen, indeed, that the manuscript of the two +Cantos of Childe Harold had, previously to its being placed in the hands +of Mr. Dallas, been submitted by the noble author to the perusal of some +friend—the first and only one, it appears, who at that time had seen +them. Who this fastidious critic was, Mr. Dallas has not mentioned; but +the sweeping tone of censure in which he conveyed his remarks was such +as, at any period of his career,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page19" name="page19"></a>Pg 19</span> would have disconcerted the judgment +of one, who, years after, in all the plenitude of his fame, confessed, +that "the depreciation of the lowest of mankind was more painful to him +than the applause of the highest was pleasing."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Though on every thing that, after his arrival at the age of manhood, he +produced, some mark or other of the master-hand may be traced; yet, to +print the whole of his Paraphrase of Horace, which extends to nearly 800 +lines, would be, at the best, but a questionable compliment to his +memory. That the reader, however, may be enabled to form some opinion of +a performance, which—by an error or caprice of judgment, unexampled, +perhaps, in the annals of literature—its author, for a time, preferred +to the sublime musings of Childe Harold, I shall here select a few such +passages from the Paraphrase as may seem calculated to give an idea as +well of its merits as its defects.</p> + +<p>The opening of the poem is, with reference to the original, ingenious:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Who would not laugh, if Lawrence, hired to grace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His costly canvass with each flatter'd face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Abused his art, till Nature, with a blush,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Saw cits grow centaurs underneath his brush?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or should some limner join, for show or sale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A maid of honour to a mermaid's tail?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or low Dubost (as once the world has seen)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Degrade God's creatures in his graphic spleen?<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page20" name="page20"></a>Pg 20</span></p> +<span class="i0">Not all that forced politeness, which defends<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fools in their faults, could gag his grinning friends.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Believe me, Moschus, like that picture seems<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The book, which, sillier than a sick man's dreams,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Displays a crowd of figures incomplete,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poetic nightmares, without head or feet."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The following is pointed, and felicitously expressed:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Then glide down Grub Street, fasting and forgot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laugh'd into Lethe by some quaint Review,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose wit is never troublesome till—true."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Of the graver parts, the annexed is a favourable specimen:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"New words find credit in these latter days,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If neatly grafted on a Gallic phrase:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What Chaucer, Spenser, did, we scarce refuse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Dryden's or to Pope's maturer muse.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If you can add a little, say why not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As well as William Pitt and Walter Scott,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since they, by force of rhyme, and force of lungs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enrich'd our island's ill-united tongues?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis then, and shall be, lawful to present<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Reforms in writing as in parliament.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"As forests shed their foliage by degrees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So fade expressions which in season please;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And we and ours, alas! are due to fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And works and words but dwindle to a date.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though, as a monarch nods and commerce calls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impetuous rivers stagnate in canals;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though swamps subdued, and marshes drain'd sustain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heavy ploughshare and the yellow grain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rising ports along the busy shore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Protect the vessel from old Ocean's roar—<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page21" name="page21"></a>Pg 21</span></p> +<span class="i0">All, all must perish. But, surviving last,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The love of letters half preserves the past:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">True,—some decay, yet not a few survive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though those shall sink which now appear to thrive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As custom arbitrates, whose shifting sway<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our life and language must alike obey."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I quote what follows chiefly for the sake of the note attached to it:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Satiric rhyme first sprang from selfish spleen.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You doubt?—See Dryden, Pope, St. Patrick's Dean.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Blank verse is now with one consent allied<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Tragedy, and rarely quits her side;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though mad Almanzor rhymed in Dryden's days,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No sing-song hero rants in modern plays;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While modest Comedy her verse foregoes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For jest and pun in very middling prose.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not that our Bens or Beaumonts show the worse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or lose one point because they wrote in verse;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But so Thalia pleases to appear,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poor virgin!—damn'd some twenty times a year!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There is more of poetry in the following verses upon Milton than in any +other passage throughout the Paraphrase:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Awake a louder and a loftier strain,'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, pray, what follows from his boiling brain?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He sinks to S * *'s level in a trice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose epic mountains never fail in mice!<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page22" name="page22"></a>Pg 22</span></p> +<span class="i0">Not so of yore awoke your mighty sire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tempered warblings of his master lyre;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soft as the gentler breathing of the lute,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Of man's first disobedience and the fruit'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He speaks; but, as his subject swells along,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth, Heaven, and Hades, echo with the song."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The annexed sketch contains some lively touches:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Behold him, Freshman!—forced no more to groan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er Virgil's devilish verses<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>, and—his own;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prayers are too tedious, lectures too abstruse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He flies from T——ll's frown to 'Fordham's Mews;'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(Unlucky T——ll, doom'd to daily cares<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By pugilistic pupils and by bears!)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fines, tutors, tasks, conventions, threat in vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before hounds, hunters, and Newmarket plain:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rough with his elders; with his equals rash;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Civil to sharpers; prodigal of cash.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fool'd, pillaged, dunn'd, he wastes his terms away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, unexpell'd perhaps, retires M.A.:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Master of Arts!—as Hells and Clubs<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> proclaim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where scarce a black-leg bears a brighter name.<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page23" name="page23"></a>Pg 23</span></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Launch'd into life, extinct his early fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He apes the selfish prudence of his sire;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Marries for money; chooses friends for rank;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Buys land, and shrewdly trusts not to the Bank;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sits in the senate; gets a son and heir;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sends him to Harrow—for himself was there;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mute though he votes, unless when call'd to cheer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His son's so sharp—he'll see the dog a peer!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Manhood declines; age palsies every limb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He quits the scene, or else the scene quits him;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scrapes wealth, o'er each departing penny grieves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Avarice seizes all Ambition leaves;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Counts cent. per cent., and smiles, or vainly frets<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er hoards diminish'd by young Hopeful's debts;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Weighs well and wisely what to sell or buy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Complete in all life's lessons—but to die;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Peevish and spiteful, doting, hard to please,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Commending every time save times like these;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crazed, querulous, forsaken, half forgot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Expires unwept, is buried—let him rot!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In speaking of the opera, he says:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Hence the pert shopkeeper, whose throbbing ear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aches with orchestras which he pays to hear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whom shame, not sympathy, forbids to snore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His anguish doubled by his own 'encore!'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Squeezed in 'Fop's Alley,' jostled by the beaux,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Teased with his hat, and trembling for his toes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scarce wrestles through the night, nor tastes of ease<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till the dropp'd curtain gives a glad release:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why this and more he suffers, can ye guess?—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Because it costs him dear, and makes him dress!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The concluding couplet of the following lines is amusingly +characteristic of that mixture of fun and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page24" name="page24"></a>Pg 24</span> bitterness with which their +author sometimes spoke in conversation;—so much so, that those who knew +him might almost fancy they hear him utter the words:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But every thing has faults, nor is't unknown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That harps and fiddles often lose their tone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wayward voices at their owner's call,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With all his best endeavours, only squall;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dogs blink their covey, flints withhold the spark,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And double barrels (damn them) miss their mark!"<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>One more passage, with the humorous note appended to it, will complete +the whole amount of my favourable specimens:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And that's enough—then write and print so fast,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If Satan take the hindmost, who'd be last?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They storm the types, they publish one and all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They leap the counter, and they leave the stall:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Provincial maidens, men of high command,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, baronets, have ink'd the bloody hand!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cash cannot quell them—Pollio play'd this prank:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(Then Phoebus first found credit in a bank;)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not all the living only, but the dead<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fool on, as fluent as an Orpheus' head!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Damn'd all their days, they posthumously thrive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dug up from dust, though buried when alive!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Reviews record this epidemic crime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those books of martyrs to the rage for rhyme<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page25" name="page25"></a>Pg 25</span></p> +<span class="i0">Alas! woe worth the scribbler, often seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Morning Post or Monthly Magazine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There lurk his earlier lays, but soon, hot-press'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold a quarto!—tarts must tell the rest!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then leave, ye wise, the lyre's precarious chords<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To muse-mad baronets or madder lords,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or country Crispins, now grown somewhat stale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Twin Doric minstrels, drunk with Doric ale!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hark to those notes, narcotically soft,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cobbler-laureates sing to Capel Lofft!"<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a><br /></span> +</div></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page26" name="page26"></a>Pg 26</span></p> + +<p>From these select specimens, which comprise, altogether, little more +than an eighth of the whole poem, the reader may be enabled to form some +notion of the remainder, which is, for the most part, of a very inferior +quality, and, in some parts, descending to the depths of doggerel. Who, +for instance, could trace the hand of Byron in such "prose, fringed with +rhyme," as the following?—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Peace to Swift's faults! his wit hath made them pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unmatch'd by all, save matchless Hudibras,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose author is perhaps the first we meet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who from our couplet lopp'd two final feet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor less in merit than the longer line<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This measure moves, a favourite of the Nine.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Though at first view, eight feet may seem in vain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Form'd, save in odes, to bear a serious strain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet Scott has shown our wondering isle of late<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This measure shrinks not from a theme of weight,<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page27" name="page27"></a>Pg 27</span></p> +<span class="i0">And, varied skilfully, surpasses far<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heroic rhyme, but most in love or war,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose fluctuations, tender or sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are curb'd too much by long recurring rhyme.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In sooth, I do not know, or greatly care<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To learn who our first English strollers were,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or if—till roofs received the vagrant art—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our Muse—like that of Thespis—kept a cart.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But this is certain, since our Shakspeare's days,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's pomp enough, if little else, in plays;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor will Melpomene ascend her throne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without high heels, white plume, and Bristol stone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Where is that living language which could claim<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poetic more, as philosophic fame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If all our bards, more patient of delay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would stop like Pope to polish by the way?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In tracing the fortunes of men, it is not a little curious to observe, +how often the course of a whole life has depended on one single step. +Had Lord Byron now persisted in his original purpose of giving this poem +to the press, instead of Childe Harold, it is more than probable that he +would have been lost, as a great poet, to the world.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Inferior as the +Paraphrase is, in every respect, to his former Satire, and, in some +places, even descending below the level of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page28" name="page28"></a>Pg 28</span> under-graduate versifiers, +its failure, there can be little doubt, would have been certain and +signal;—his former assailants would have resumed their advantage over +him, and either, in the bitterness of his mortification, he would have +flung Childe Harold into the fire; or, had he summoned up sufficient +confidence to publish that poem, its reception, even if sufficient to +retrieve him in the eyes of the public and his own, could never have, at +all, resembled that explosion of success,—that instantaneous and +universal acclaim of admiration into which, coming, as it were, fresh +from the land of song, he now surprised the world, and in the midst of +which he was borne, buoyant and self-assured, along, through a +succession of new triumphs, each more splendid than the last.</p> + +<p>Happily, the better judgment of his friends averted such a risk; and he +at length consented to the immediate publication of Childe +Harold,—still, however, to the last, expressing his doubts of its +merits, and his alarm at the sort of reception it might meet with in the +world.</p> + +<p>"I did all I could," says his adviser, "to raise his opinion of this +composition, and I succeeded; but he varied much in his feelings about +it, nor was he, as will appear, at his ease until the world decided on +its merit. He said again and again that I was going to get him into a +scrape with his old enemies, and that none of them would rejoice more +than the Edinburgh Reviewers at an opportunity to humble him. He said I +must not put his name<span class="pagenum"><a id="page29" name="page29"></a>Pg 29</span> to it. I entreated him to leave it to me, and +that I would answer for this poem silencing all his enemies."</p> + +<p>The publication being now determined upon, there arose some doubts and +difficulty as to a publisher. Though Lord Byron had intrusted Cawthorn +with what he considered to be his surer card, the "Hints from Horace," +he did not, it seems, think him of sufficient station in the trade to +give a sanction or fashion to his more hazardous experiment. The former +refusal of the Messrs. Longman<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> to publish his "English Bards and +Scotch Reviewers" was not forgotten; and he expressly stipulated with +Mr. Dallas that the manuscript should not be offered to that house. An +application was, at first, made to Mr. Miller, of Albemarle Street; but, +in consequence of the severity with which Lord Elgin was treated in the +poem, Mr. Miller (already the publisher and bookseller of this latter +nobleman) declined the work. Even this circumstance,—so apprehensive +was the poet for his fame,—began to re-awaken all the qualms and +terrors he had, at first, felt; and, had any further difficulties or +objections arisen, it is more than probable he might have relapsed into +his original intention. It was not long, however, before a person was +found willing and proud to undertake the publication.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page30" name="page30"></a>Pg 30</span> Mr. Murray, who, +at this period, resided in Fleet Street, having, some time before, +expressed a desire to be allowed to publish some work of Lord Byron, it +was in his hands that Mr. Dallas now placed the manuscript of Childe +Harold;—and thus was laid the first foundation of that connection +between this gentleman and the noble poet, which continued, with but a +temporary interruption, throughout the lifetime of the one, and has +proved an abundant source of honour, as well as emolument, to the other.</p> + +<p>While thus busily engaged in his literary projects, and having, besides, +some law affairs to transact with his agent, he was called suddenly away +to Newstead by the intelligence of an event which seems to have affected +his mind far more deeply than, considering all the circumstances of the +case, could have been expected. Mrs. Byron, whose excessive corpulence +rendered her, at all times, rather a perilous subject for illness, had +been of late indisposed, but not to any alarming degree; nor does it +appear that, when the following note was written, there existed any +grounds for apprehension as to her state.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Reddish's Hotel, St. James's Street, London, July 23. 1811.</p> + +<p>"My dear Madam,</p> + +<p>"I am only detained by Mr. H * * to sign some copyhold papers, and +will give you timely notice of my approach. It is with great +reluctance I remain in town. I shall pay a short visit as we go on +to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page31" name="page31"></a>Pg 31</span> Lancashire on Rochdale business. I shall attend to your +directions, of course, and am,</p> + +<p>"With great respect, yours ever,"</p> + +<p>"BYRON.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—You will consider Newstead as your house, not mine; and me +only as a visitor."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On his going abroad, she had conceived a sort of superstitious fancy +that she should never see him again; and when he returned, safe and +well, and wrote to inform her that he should soon see her at Newstead, +she said to her waiting-woman, "If I should be dead before Byron comes +down, what a strange thing it would be!"—and so, in fact, it happened. +At the end of July, her illness took a new and fatal turn; and, so sadly +characteristic was the close of the poor lady's life, that a fit of +rage, brought on, it is said, by reading over the upholsterer's bills, +was the ultimate cause of her death. Lord Byron had, of course, prompt +intelligence of the attack. But, though he started instantly from town, +he was too late,—she had breathed her last.</p> + +<p>The following letter, it will be perceived, was written on his way to +Newstead.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 55. TO DR. PIGOT.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newport Pagnell, August 2. 1811.</p> + +<p>"My dear Doctor,</p> + +<p>"My poor mother died yesterday! and I am on my way from town to +attend her to the family vault. I heard <i>one</i> day of her illness, +the <i>next</i> of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page32" name="page32"></a>Pg 32</span> her death. Thank God her last moments were most +tranquil. I am told she was in little pain, and not aware of her +situation. I now feel the truth of Mr. Gray's observation, 'That we +can only have <i>one</i> mother.' Peace be with her! I have to thank you +for your expressions of regard; and as in six weeks I shall be in +Lancashire on business, I may extend to Liverpool and Chester,—at +least I shall endeavour.</p> + +<p>"If it will be any satisfaction, I have to inform you that in +November next the Editor of the Scourge will be tried for two +different libels on the late Mrs. B. and myself (the decease of +Mrs. B. makes no difference in the proceedings); and as he is +guilty, by his very foolish and unfounded assertion, of a breach of +privilege, he will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour.</p> + +<p>"I inform you of this as you seem interested in the affair, which +is now in the hands of the Attorney-general.</p> + +<p>"I shall remain at Newstead the greater part of this month, where I +shall be happy to hear from you, after my two years' absence in the +East.</p> + +<p>"I am, dear Pigot, yours very truly,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It can hardly have escaped the observation of the reader, that the +general tone of the noble poet's correspondence with his mother is that +of a son, performing, strictly and conscientiously, what he deems to be +his duty, without the intermixture of any sentiment of cordiality to +sweeten the task.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page33" name="page33"></a>Pg 33</span> The very title of "Madam," by which he addresses +her,—and which he but seldom exchanges for the endearing name of +"mother<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>,"—is, of itself, a sufficient proof of the sentiments he +entertained for her. That such should have been his dispositions towards +such a parent, can be matter neither of surprise or blame,—but that, +notwithstanding this alienation, which her own unfortunate temper +produced, he should have continued to consult her wishes, and minister +to her comforts, with such unfailing thoughtfulness as is evinced not +only in the frequency of his letters, but in the almost exclusive +appropriation of Newstead to her use, redounds, assuredly, in no +ordinary degree, to his honour; and was even the more strikingly +meritorious from the absence of that affection which renders kindnesses +to a beloved object little more than an indulgence of self.</p> + +<p>But, however estranged from her his feelings must be allowed to have +been while she lived, her death seems to have restored them into their +natural channel. Whether from a return of early fondness and the +all-atoning power of the grave, or<span class="pagenum"><a id="page34" name="page34"></a>Pg 34</span> from the prospect of that void in +his future life which this loss of his only link with the past would +leave, it is certain that he felt the death of his mother acutely, if +not deeply. On the night after his arrival at Newstead, the +waiting-woman of Mrs. Byron, in passing the door of the room where the +deceased lady lay, heard a sound as of some one sighing heavily from +within; and, on entering the chamber, found, to her surprise, Lord +Byron, sitting in the dark, beside the bed. On her representing to him +the weakness of thus giving way to grief, he burst into tears, and +exclaimed, "Oh, Mrs. By, I had but one friend in the world, and she is +gone!"</p> + +<p>While his real thoughts were thus confided to silence and darkness, +there was, in other parts of his conduct more open to observation, a +degree of eccentricity and indecorum which, with superficial observers, +might well bring the sensibility of his nature into question. On the +morning of the funeral, having declined following the remains himself, +he stood looking, from the abbey door, at the procession, till the whole +had moved off;—then, turning to young Rushton, who was the only person +left besides himself, he desired him to fetch the sparring-gloves, and +proceeded to his usual exercise with the boy. He was silent and +abstracted all the time, and, as if from an effort to get the better of +his feelings, threw more violence, Rushton thought, into his blows than +was his habit; but, at last,—the struggle seeming too much for him,—he +flung away the gloves, and retired to his room.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page35" name="page35"></a>Pg 35</span></p> + +<p>Of Mrs. Byron, sufficient, perhaps, has been related in these pages to +enable the reader to form fully his own opinion, as well with respect to +the character of this lady herself, as to the degree of influence her +temper and conduct may have exercised on those of her son. It was said +by one of the most extraordinary of men<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>,—who was himself, as he +avowed, principally indebted to maternal culture for the unexampled +elevation to which he subsequently rose,—that "the future good or bad +conduct of a child depends entirely on the mother." How far the leaven +that sometimes mixed itself with the better nature of Byron,—his +uncertain and wayward impulses,—his defiance of restraint,—the +occasional bitterness of his hate, and the precipitance of his +resentments,—may have had their origin in his early collisions with +maternal caprice and violence, is an enquiry for which sufficient +materials have been, perhaps, furnished in these pages, but which every +one will decide upon, according to the more or less weight he may +attribute to the influence of such causes on the formation of character.</p> + +<p>That, notwithstanding her injudicious and coarse treatment of him, Mrs. +Byron loved her son, with that sort of fitful fondness of which alone +such a nature is capable, there can be little doubt,—and still less, +that she was ambitiously proud of him. Her anxiety for the success of +his first literary essays may be collected from the pains which he so<span class="pagenum"><a id="page36" name="page36"></a>Pg 36</span> +considerately took to tranquillise her on the appearance of the hostile +article in the Review. As his fame began to brighten, that notion of his +future greatness and glory, which, by a singular forecast of +superstition, she had entertained from his very childhood, became +proportionably confirmed. Every mention of him in print was watched by +her with eagerness; and she had got bound together in a volume, which a +friend of mine once saw, a collection of all the literary notices, that +had then appeared, of his early Poems and Satire,—written over on the +margin, with observations of her own, which to my informant appeared +indicative of much more sense and ability than, from her general +character, we should be inclined to attribute to her.</p> + +<p>Among those lesser traits of his conduct through which an observer can +trace a filial wish to uphold, and throw respect around, the station of +his mother, may be mentioned his insisting, while a boy, on being called +"George Byron Gordon"—giving thereby precedence to the maternal +name,—and his continuing, to the last, to address her as "the +Honourable Mrs. Byron,"—a mark of rank to which, he must have been +aware, she had no claim whatever. Neither does it appear that, in his +habitual manner towards her, there was any thing denoting a want of +either affection or deference,—with the exception, perhaps, +occasionally, of a somewhat greater degree of familiarity than comports +with the ordinary notions of filial respect. Thus, the usual name he +called her by, when they were on good-humoured terms together, was +"Kitty Gordon;"<span class="pagenum"><a id="page37" name="page37"></a>Pg 37</span> and I have heard an eye-witness of the scene describe +the look of arch, dramatic humour, with which, one day, at Southwell, +when they were in the height of their theatrical rage, he threw open the +door of the drawing-room, to admit his mother, saying, at the same time, +"Enter the Honourable Kitty."</p> + +<p>The pride of birth was a feeling common alike to mother and son, and, at +times, even became a point of rivalry between them, from their +respective claims, English and Scotch, to high lineage. In a letter +written by him from Italy, referring to some anecdote which his mother +had told him, he says,—"My mother, who was as haughty as Lucifer with +her descent from the Stuarts, and her right line from the <i>old +Gordons</i>,—<i>not</i> the <i>Seyton Gordons</i>, as she disdainfully termed the +ducal branch,—told me the story, always reminding me how superior <i>her</i> +Gordons were to the southern Byrons, notwithstanding our Norman, and +always masculine, descent, which has never lapsed into a female, as my +mother's Gordons had done in her own person."</p> + +<p>If, to be able to depict powerfully the painful emotions, it is +necessary first to have experienced them, or, in other words, if, for +the poet to be great, the man must suffer, Lord Byron, it must be owned, +paid early this dear price of mastery. Few as were the ties by which his +affections held, whether within or without the circle of relationship, +he was now doomed, within a short space, to see the most of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page38" name="page38"></a>Pg 38</span> them swept +away by death.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Besides the loss of his mother, he had to mourn over, +in quick succession, the untimely fatalities that carried off, within a +few weeks of each other, two or three of his most loved and valued +friends. "In the short space of one month," he says, in a note on Childe +Harold, "I have lost <i>her</i> who gave me being, and most of those who made +that being tolerable."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Of these young Wingfield, whom we have seen +high on the list of his Harrow favourites, died of a fever at Coimbra; +and Matthews, the idol of his admiration at college, was drowned while +bathing in the waters of the Cam.</p> + +<p>The following letter, written immediately after the latter event, bears +the impress of strong and even agonised feeling, to such a degree as +renders it almost painful to read it:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page39" name="page39"></a>Pg 39</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 56. TO MR. SCROPE DAVIES.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 7. 1811.</p> + +<p>"My dearest Davies,</p> + +<p>"Some curse hangs over me and mine. My mother lies a corpse in this +house; one of my best friends is drowned in a ditch. What can I +say, or think, or do? I received a letter from him the day before +yesterday. My dear Scrope, if you can spare a moment, do come down +to me—I want a friend. Matthews's last letter was written on +<i>Friday</i>,—on Saturday he was not. In ability, who was like +Matthews? How did we all shrink before him? You do me but justice +in saying, I would have risked my paltry existence to have +preserved his. This very evening did I mean to write, inviting him, +as I invite you, my very dear friend, to visit me. God forgive * * +* for his apathy! What will our poor Hobhouse feel? His letters +breathe but or Matthews. Come to me, Scrope, I am almost +desolate—left almost alone in the world—I had but you, and H., +and M., and let me enjoy the survivors whilst I can. Poor M., in +his letter of Friday, speaks of his intended contest for +Cambridge<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page40" name="page40"></a>Pg 40</span> a speedy journey to London. Write or come, but +come if you can, or one or both.</p> + +<p>"Yours ever."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of this remarkable young man, Charles Skinner Matthews<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>, I have +already had occasion to speak; but the high station which he held in +Lord Byron's affection and admiration may justify a somewhat ampler +tribute to his memory.</p> + +<p>There have seldom, perhaps, started together in life so many youths of +high promise and hope as were to be found among the society of which +Lord Byron formed a part at Cambridge. Of some of these, the names have +since eminently distinguished themselves in the world, as the mere +mention of Mr. Hobhouse and Mr. William Bankes is sufficient to testify; +while in the instance of another of this lively circle, Mr. Scrope +Davies<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a>, the only regret<span class="pagenum"><a id="page41" name="page41"></a>Pg 41</span> of his friends is, that the social wit of +which he is such a master should in the memories of his hearers alone be +like to leave any record of its brilliancy. Among all these young men of +learning and talent, (including Byron himself, whose genius was, +however, as yet, "an undiscovered world,") the superiority, in almost +every department of intellect, seems to have been, by the ready consent +of all, awarded to Matthews;—a concurrence of homage which, considering +the persons from whom it came, gives such a high notion of the powers of +his mind at that period, as renders the thought of what he might have +been, if spared, a matter of interesting, though vain and mournful, +speculation. To mere mental pre-eminence, unaccompanied by the kindlier +qualities of the heart, such a tribute, however deserved, might not, +perhaps, have been so uncontestedly paid. But young Matthews +appears,—in spite of some little asperities of temper and manner, which +he was already beginning to soften down when snatched away,—to have +been one of those rare individuals who, while they command deference, +can, at the same time, win regard, and who, as it were, relieve the +intense feeling of admiration which they excite by blending it with +love.</p> + +<p>To his religious opinions, and their unfortunate<span class="pagenum"><a id="page42" name="page42"></a>Pg 42</span> coincidence with those +of Lord Byron, I have before adverted. Like his noble friend, ardent in +the pursuit of Truth, he, like him too, unluckily lost his way in +seeking her,—"the light that led astray" being by both friends mistaken +for hers. That in his scepticism he proceeded any farther than Lord +Byron, or ever suffered his doubting, but still ingenuous, mind to +persuade itself into the "incredible creed" of atheism, is, I find +(notwithstanding an assertion in a letter of the noble poet to this +effect), disproved by the testimony of those among his relations and +friends, who are the most ready to admit and, of course, lament his +other heresies;—nor should I have felt that I had any right to allude +thus to the religious opinions of one who had never, by promulgating his +heterodoxy, brought himself within the jurisdiction of the public, had +not the wrong impression, as it appears, given of those opinions, on the +authority of Lord Byron, rendered it an act of justice to both friends +to remove the imputation.</p> + +<p>In the letters to Mrs. Byron, written previously to the departure of her +son on his travels, there occurs, it will be recollected, some mention +of a Will, which it was his intention to leave behind him in the hands +of his trustees. Whatever may have been the contents of this former +instrument, we find that, in about a fortnight after his mother's death, +he thought it right to have a new form of will drawn up; and the +following letter, enclosing his instructions for that purpose, was +addressed to the late Mr. Bolton, a solicitor of Nottingham. Of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page43" name="page43"></a>Pg 43</span> the +existence, in any serious or formal shape, of the strange directions +here given, respecting his own interment, I was, for some time, I +confess, much inclined to doubt; but the curious documents here annexed +put this remarkable instance of his eccentricity beyond all question.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO —— BOLTON, ESQ.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 12. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"I enclose a rough draught of my intended will, which I beg to have +drawn up as soon as possible, in the firmest manner. The +alterations are principally made in consequence of the death of +Mrs. Byron. I have only to request that it may be got ready in a +short time, and have the honour, to be,</p> + +<p>"Your most obedient, humble servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 12. 1811.</p> + +<p>"DIRECTIONS FOR, THE CONTENTS OF A WILL TO BE DRAWN UP IMMEDIATELY.</p> + +<p>"The estate of Newstead to be entailed (subject to certain +deductions) on George Anson Byron, heir-at-law, or whoever may be +the heir-at-law on the death of Lord B. The Rochdale property to be +sold in part or the whole, according to the debts and legacies of +the present Lord B.</p> + +<p>"To Nicolo Giraud of Athens, subject of France, but born in Greece, +the sum of seven thousand<span class="pagenum"><a id="page44" name="page44"></a>Pg 44</span> pounds sterling, to be paid from the +sale of such parts of Rochdale, Newstead, or elsewhere, as may +enable the said Nicolo Giraud (resident at Athens and Malta in the +year 1810) to receive the above sum on his attaining the age of +twenty-one years.</p> + +<p>"To William Fletcher, Joseph Murray, and Demetrius Zograffo<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +(native of Greece), servants, the sum of fifty pounds p<sup>r</sup>. ann. +each, for their natural lives. To W<sup>m</sup>. Fletcher, the Mill at +Newstead, on condition that he payeth rent, but not subject to the +caprice of the landlord. To R<sup>t</sup>. Rushton the sum of fifty pounds +per ann. for life, and a further sum of one thousand pounds on +attaining the age of twenty-five years.</p> + +<p>"To J<sup>n</sup>. Hanson, Esq. the sum of two thousand pounds sterling.</p> + +<p>"The claims of S.B. Davies, Esq. to be satisfied on proving the +amount of the same.</p> + +<p>"The body of Lord B. to be buried in the vault of the garden of +Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, or any +inscription, save<span class="pagenum"><a id="page45" name="page45"></a>Pg 45</span> his name and age. His dog not to be removed from +the said vault.</p> + +<p>"My library and furniture of every description to my friends J<sup>n</sup>. +Cam Hobhouse, Esq., and S.B. Davies, Esq. my executors. In case of +their decease, the Rev. J. Becher, of Southwell, Notts., and R.C. +Dallas, Esq., of Mortlake, Surrey, to be executors.</p> + +<p>"The produce of the sale of Wymondham in Norfolk, and the late Mrs. +B.'s Scotch property<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>, to be appropriated in aid of the payment +of debts and legacies."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In sending a copy of the Will, framed on these instructions, to Lord +Byron, the solicitor accompanied some of the clauses with marginal +queries, calling the attention of his noble client to points which he +considered inexpedient or questionable; and as the short pithy answers +to these suggestions are strongly characteristic of their writer, I +shall here give one or two of the clauses in full, with the respective +queries and answers annexed.</p> + +<p>"This is the last will and testament of me, the Rt. Hon<sup>ble</sup> George +Gordon Lord Byron, Baron Byron of Rochdale, in the county of +Lancaster.—I desire that my body may be buried in the vault of the +garden of Newstead, without any ceremony<span class="pagenum"><a id="page46" name="page46"></a>Pg 46</span> or burial-service whatever, +and that no inscription, save my name and age, be written on the tomb or +tablet; and it is my will that my faithful dog may not be removed from +the said vault. To the performance of this my particular desire, I rely +on the attention of my executors hereinafter named."</p> + +<p><i>"It is submitted to Lord Byron whether this clause relative to the +funeral had not better be omitted. The substance of it can be given in a +letter from his Lordship to the executors, and accompany the will; and +the will may state that the funeral shall be performed in such manner as +his Lordship may by letter direct, and, in default of any such letter, +then at the discretion of his executors."</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It must stand. B."</p></div> + +<p>"I do hereby specifically order and direct that all the claims of the +said S.B. Davies upon me shall be fully paid and satisfied as soon as +conveniently may be after my decease, on his proving [by vouchers, or +otherwise, to the satisfaction of my executors hereinafter named]<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +the amount thereof, and the correctness of the same."</p> + +<p><i>"If Mr. Davies has any unsettled claims upon Lord Byron, that +circumstance is a reason for his not being appointed executor; each +executor having an opportunity of paying himself his own debt without +consulting his co-executors."</i></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page47" name="page47"></a>Pg 47</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"So much the better—if possible, let him be an executor. B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The two following letters contain further instructions on the same +subject:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 57. TO MR. BOLTON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 16. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"I have answered the queries on the margin.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> I wish Mr. Davies's +claims to be most fully allowed, and, further, that he be one of my +executors. I wish the will to be made in a manner to prevent all +discussion, if possible, after my decease; and this I leave to you +as a professional gentleman.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the few and simple directions for the disposal of +my <i>carcass</i>, I must have them implicitly fulfilled, as they will, +at least, prevent trouble and expense;—and (what would be of +little consequence to me, but may quiet the conscience of the +survivors) the garden is <i>consecrated</i> ground. These directions are +copied verbatim from my former will; the alterations in other parts +have arisen from the death of Mrs. B. I have the honour to be</p> + +<p>"Your most obedient, humble servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page48" name="page48"></a>Pg 48</span></p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 58 TO MR. BOLTON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 20. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"The witnesses shall be provided from amongst my tenants, and I +shall be happy to see you on any day most convenient to yourself. I +forgot to mention, that it must be specified by codicil, or +otherwise, that my body is on no account to be removed from the +vault where I have directed it to be placed; and in case any of my +successors within the entail (from bigotry, or otherwise) might +think proper to remove the carcass, such proceeding shall be +attended by forfeiture of the estate, which in such case shall go +to my sister, the Honble Augusta Leigh and her heirs on similar +conditions. I have the honour to be, sir,</p> + +<p>"Your very obedient, humble servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In consequence of this last letter, a proviso and declaration, in +conformity with its instructions, were inserted in the will. He also +executed, on the 28th of this month, a codicil, by which he revoked the +bequest of his "household goods and furniture, library, pictures, +sabres, watches, plate, linen, trinkets, and other personal estate +(except money and securities) situate within the walls of the +mansion-house and premises at his decease—and bequeathed the same +(except his wine and spirituous liquors) to his friends, the said J.C. +Hobhouse,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page49" name="page49"></a>Pg 49</span> S.B. Davies, and Francis Hodgson, their executors, &c., to be +equally divided between them for their own use;—and he bequeathed his +wine and spirituous liquors, which should be in the cellars and premises +at Newstead, unto his friend, the said J. Becher, for his own use, and +requested the said J.C. Hobhouse, S.B. Davies, F. Hodgson, and J. +Becher, respectively, to accept the bequest therein contained, to them +respectively, as a token of his friendship."</p> + +<p>The following letters, written while his late losses were fresh in his +mind, will be read with painful interest:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 59. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 12. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Peace be with the dead! Regret cannot wake them. With a sigh to +the departed, let us resume the dull business of life, in the +certainty that we also shall have our repose. Besides her who gave +me being, I have lost more than one who made that being +tolerable—The best friend of my friend Hobhouse, Matthews, a man +of the first talents, and also not the worst of my narrow circle, +has perished miserably in the muddy waves of the Cam, always fatal +to genius:—my poor school-fellow, Wingfield, at Coimbra—within a +month; and whilst I had heard from <i>all three</i>, but not seen <i>one</i>. +Matthews wrote to me the very day before his death; and though I +feel for his fate, I am still more anxious for Hobhouse, who, I +very much fear, will hardly retain<span class="pagenum"><a id="page50" name="page50"></a>Pg 50</span> his senses: his letters to me +since the event have been most incoherent. But let this pass; we +shall all one day pass along with the rest—the world is too full +of such things, and our very sorrow is selfish.</p> + +<p>"I received a letter from you, which my late occupations prevented +me from duly noticing.—I hope your friends and family will long +hold together. I shall be glad to hear from you, on business, on +common-place, or any thing, or nothing—but death—I am already too +familiar with the dead. It is strange that I look on the skulls +which stand beside me (I have always had <i>four</i> in my study) +without emotion, but I cannot strip the features of those I have +known of their fleshy covering, even in idea, without a hideous +sensation; but the worms are less ceremonious.—Surely, the Romans +did well when they burned the dead.—I shall be happy to hear from +you, and am yours," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 60. TO MR. HODGSON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 22. 1811.</p> + +<p>"You may have heard of the sudden death of my mother, and poor +Matthews, which, with that of Wingfield, (of which I was not fully +aware till just before I left town, and indeed hardly believed it,) +has made a sad chasm in my connections. Indeed the blows followed +each other so rapidly that I am yet stupid from the shock; and +though I do eat, and drink, and talk, and even laugh, at times, yet +I can hardly persuade myself that I am awake, did not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page51" name="page51"></a>Pg 51</span> every +morning convince me mournfully to the contrary.—I shall now wave +the subject,—the dead are at rest, and none but the dead can be +so.</p> + +<p>"You will feel for poor Hobhouse,—Matthews was the 'god of his +idolatry;' and if intellect could exalt a man above his fellows, no +one could refuse him pre-eminence. I knew him most intimately, and +valued him proportionably; but I am recurring—so let us talk of +life and the living.</p> + +<p>"If you should feel a disposition to come here, you will find 'beef +and a sea-coal fire,' and not ungenerous wine. Whether Otway's two +other requisites for an Englishman or not, I cannot tell, but +probably one of them.—Let me know when I may expect you, that I +may tell you when I go and when return. I have not yet been to +Lanes. Davies has been here, and has invited me to Cambridge for a +week in October, so that, peradventure, we may encounter glass to +glass. His gaiety (death cannot mar it) has done me service; but, +after all, ours was a hollow laughter.</p> + +<p>"You will write to me? I am solitary, and I never felt solitude +irksome before. Your anxiety about the critique on * *'s book is +amusing; as it was anonymous, certes it was of little consequence: +I wish it had produced a little more confusion, being a lover of +literary malice. Are you doing nothing? writing nothing? printing +nothing? why not your Satire on Methodism? the subject (supposing +the public to be blind to merit) would do wonders. Besides, it +would be as well for a destined deacon to prove his orthodoxy.—It +really would give me<span class="pagenum"><a id="page52" name="page52"></a>Pg 52</span> pleasure to see you properly appreciated. I +say <i>really</i>, as, being an author, my humanity might be suspected. +Believe me, dear H., yours always."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 61. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead, August 21. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Your letter gives me credit for more acute feelings than I +possess; for though I feel tolerably miserable, yet I am at the +same time subject to a kind of hysterical merriment, or rather +laughter without merriment, which I can neither account for nor +conquer, and yet I do not feel relieved by it; but an indifferent +person would think me in excellent spirits. 'We must forget these +things,' and have recourse to our old selfish comforts, or rather +comfortable selfishness. I do not think I shall return to London +immediately, and shall therefore accept freely what is offered +courteously—your mediation between me and Murray. I don't think my +name will answer the purpose, and you must be aware that my plaguy +Satire will bring the north and south Grub Streets down upon the +'Pilgrimage;'—but, nevertheless, if Murray makes a point of it, +and you coincide with him, I will do it daringly; so let it be +entitled 'By the Author of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.' My +remarks on the Romaic, &c., once intended to accompany the 'Hints +from Horace,' shall go along with the other, as being indeed more +appropriate; also the smaller poems now in my possession, with a +few selected from those published in * *'s Miscellany. I have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page53" name="page53"></a>Pg 53</span> +found amongst my poor mother's papers all my letters from the East, +and one in particular of some length from Albania. From this, if +necessary, I can work up a note or two on that subject. As I kept +no journal, the letters written on the spot are the best. But of +this anon, when we have definitively arranged.</p> + +<p>"Has Murray shown the work to any one? He may—but I will have no +traps for applause. Of course there are little things I would wish +to alter, and perhaps the two stanzas of a buffooning cast on +London's Sunday are as well left out. I much wish to avoid +identifying Childe Harold's character with mine, and that, in +sooth, is my second objection to my name appearing in the +title-page. When you have made arrangements as to time, size, type, +&c. favour me with a reply. I am giving you an universe of trouble, +which thanks cannot atone for. I made a kind of prose apology for +my scepticism at the head of the MS., which, on recollection, is so +much more like an attack than a defence, that, haply, it might +better be omitted:—perpend, pronounce. After all, I fear Murray +will be in a scrape with the orthodox; but I cannot help it, though +I wish him well through it. As for me, 'I have supped full of +criticism,' and I don't think that the 'most dismal treatise' will +stir and rouse my fell of hair' till 'Birnam wood do come to +Dunsinane.'</p> + +<p>"I shall continue to write at intervals, and hope you will pay me +in kind. How does Pratt get on, or rather get off, Joe Blackett's +posthumous stock? You killed that poor man amongst you, in spite +of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page54" name="page54"></a>Pg 54</span> your Ionian friend and myself, who would have saved him from +Pratt, poetry, present poverty, and posthumous oblivion. Cruel +patronage! to ruin a man at his calling; but then he is a divine +subject for subscription and biography; and Pratt, who makes the +most of his dedications, has inscribed the volume to no less than +five families of distinction.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry you don't like Harry White: with a great deal of cant, +which in him was sincere (indeed it killed him as you killed Joe +Blackett), certes there is poesy and genius. I don't say this on +account of my simile and rhymes; but surely he was beyond all the +Bloomfields and Blacketts, and their collateral cobblers, whom +Lofft and Pratt have or may kidnap from their calling into the +service of the trade. You must excuse my flippancy, for I am +writing I know not what, to escape from myself. Hobhouse is gone to +Ireland. Mr. Davies has been here on his way to Harrowgate.</p> + +<p>"You did not know M.: he was a man of the most astonishing powers, +as he sufficiently proved at Cambridge, by carrying off more prizes +and fellow-ships, against the ablest candidates, than any other +graduate on record; but a most decided atheist, indeed noxiously +so, for he proclaimed his principles in all societies. I knew him +well, and feel a loss not easily to be supplied to myself—to +Hobhouse never. Let me hear from you, and believe me," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The progress towards publication of his two forthcoming works will be +best traced in his letters to Mr. Murray and Mr. Dallas.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page55" name="page55"></a>Pg 55</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 62. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 23. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"A domestic calamity in the death of a near relation has hitherto +prevented my addressing you on the subject of this letter.—My +friend, Mr. Dallas, has placed in your hands a manuscript poem +written by me in Greece, which he tells me you do not object to +publishing. But he also informed me in London that you wished to +send the MS. to Mr. Gifford. Now, though no one would feel more +gratified by the chance of obtaining his observations on a work +than myself, there is in such a proceeding a kind of petition for +praise, that neither my pride—or whatever you please to call +it—will admit. Mr. G. is not only the first satirist of the day, +but editor of one of the principal reviews. As such, he is the last +man whose censure (however eager to avoid it) I would deprecate by +clandestine means. You will therefore retain the manuscript in your +own care, or, if it must needs be shown, send it to another. Though +not very patient of censure, I would fain obtain fairly any little +praise my rhymes might deserve, at all events not by extortion, and +the humble solicitations of a bandied about MS. I am sure a little +consideration will convince you it would be wrong.</p> + +<p>"If you determine on publication, I have some smaller poems (never +published), a few notes, and a short dissertation on the literature +of the modern<span class="pagenum"><a id="page56" name="page56"></a>Pg 56</span> Greeks (written at Athens), which will come in at +the end of the volume.—And, if the present poem should succeed, it +is my intention, at some subsequent period, to publish some +selections from my first work,—my Satire,—another nearly the same +length, and a few other things, with the MS. now in your hands, in +two volumes.—But of these hereafter. You will apprize me of your +determination. I am, Sir, your very obedient," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 63. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 25. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Being fortunately enabled to frank, I do not spare scribbling, +having sent you packets within the last ten days. I am passing +solitary, and do not expect my agent to accompany me to Rochdale +before the second week in September; a delay which perplexes me, as +I wish the business over, and should at present welcome employment. +I sent you exordiums, annotations, &c. for the forthcoming quarto, +if quarto it is to be: and I also have written to Mr. Murray my +objection to sending the MS. to Juvenal, but allowing him to show +it to any others of the calling. Hobhouse is amongst the types +already: so, between his prose and my verse, the world will be +decently drawn upon for its paper-money and patience. Besides all +this, my 'Imitation of Horace' is gasping for the press at +Cawthorn's, but I am hesitating as to the <i>how</i> and the <i>when</i>, the +single or the double, the present or the future. You must excuse +all this,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page57" name="page57"></a>Pg 57</span> for I have nothing to say in this lone mansion but of +myself, and yet I would willingly talk or think of aught else.</p> + +<p>"What are you about to do? Do you think of perching in Cumberland, +as you opined when I was in the metropolis? If you mean to retire, +why not occupy Miss * * *'s 'Cottage of Friendship,' late the seat +of Cobbler Joe, for whose death you and others are answerable? His +'Orphan Daughter' (pathetic Pratt!) will, certes, turn out a +shoemaking Sappho. Have you no remorse? I think that elegant +address to Miss Dallas should be inscribed on the cenotaph which +Miss * * * means to stitch to his memory.</p> + +<p>"The newspapers seem much disappointed at his Majesty's not dying, +or doing something better. I presume it is almost over. If +parliament meets in October, I shall be in town to attend. I am +also invited to Cambridge for the beginning of that month, but am +first to jaunt to Rochdale. Now Matthews is gone, and Hobhouse in +Ireland, I have hardly one left there to bid me welcome, except my +inviter. At three-and-twenty I am left alone, and what more can we +be at seventy? It is true I am young enough to begin again, but +with whom can I retrace the laughing part of life? It is odd how +few of my friends have died a quiet death,—I mean, in their beds. +But a quiet life is of more consequence. Yet one loves squabbling +and jostling better than yawning. This <i>last word</i> admonishes me to +relieve you from yours very truly," &c.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page58" name="page58"></a>Pg 58</span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 64. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, August 27. 1811.</p> + +<p>"I was so sincere in my note on the late Charles Matthews, and do +feel myself so totally unable to do justice to his talents, that +the passage must stand for the very reason you bring against it. To +him all the men I ever knew were pigmies. He was an intellectual +giant. It is true I loved W. better; he was the earliest and the +dearest, and one of the few one could never repent of having loved: +but in ability—ah! you did not know Matthews!</p> + +<p>"'Childe Harold' may wait and welcome—books are never the worse +for delay in the publication. So you have got our heir, George +Anson Byron, and his sister, with you.</p> + +<p>"You may say what you please, but you are one of the <i>murderers</i> of +Blackett, and yet you won't allow Harry White's genius. Setting +aside his bigotry, he surely ranks next Chatterton. It is +astonishing how little he was known; and at Cambridge no one +thought or heard of such a man till his death rendered all notice +useless. For my own part, I should have been most proud of such an +acquaintance: his very prejudices were respectable. There is a +sucking epic poet at Granta, a Mr. Townsend, <i>protégé</i> of the late +Cumberland. Did you ever hear of him and his 'Armageddon?' I think +his plan (the man I don't know) borders on the sublime: though, +perhaps, the anticipation of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page59" name="page59"></a>Pg 59</span> the 'Last Day' (according to you +Nazarenes) is a little too daring: at least, it looks like telling +the Lord what he is to do, and might remind an ill-natured person +of the line,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">'And fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But I don't mean to cavil, only other folks will, and he may bring +all the lambs of Jacob Behmen about his ears. However, I hope he +will bring it to a conclusion, though Milton is in his way.</p> + +<p>"Write to me—I dote on gossip—and make a bow to Ju—, and shake +George by the hand for me; but, take care, for he has a sad sea +paw.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I would ask George here, but I don't know how to amuse +him—all my horses were sold when I left England, and I have not +had time to replace them. Nevertheless, if he will come down and +shoot in September, he will be very welcome: but he must bring a +gun, for I gave away all mine to Ali Pacha, and other Turks. Dogs, +a keeper, and plenty of game, with a very large manor, I have—a +lake, a boat, house-room, and <i>neat wines</i>."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 65. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 5. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"The time seems to be past when (as Dr. Johnson said) a man was +certain to 'hear the truth from his bookseller,' for you have paid +me so many compliments, that, if I was not the veriest scribbler on +earth, I should feel affronted. As I accept your<span class="pagenum"><a id="page60" name="page60"></a>Pg 60</span> compliments, it +is but fair I should give equal or greater credit to your +objections, the more so, as I believe them to be well founded. With +regard to the political and metaphysical parts, I am afraid I can +alter nothing; but I have high authority for my errors in that +point, for even the <i>Æneid</i> was a <i>political</i> poem, and written for +a <i>political</i> purpose; and as to my unlucky opinions on subjects of +more importance, I am too sincere in them for recantation. On +Spanish affairs I have said what I saw, and every day confirms me +in that notion of the result formed on the spot; and I rather think +honest John Bull is beginning to come round again to that sobriety +which Massena's retreat had begun to reel from its centre—the +usual consequence of <i>un</i>usual success. So you perceive I cannot +alter the sentiments; but if there are any alterations in the +structure of the versification you would wish to be made, I will +tag rhymes and turn stanzas as much as you please. As for the +'<i>orthodox</i>,' let us hope they will buy, on purpose to abuse—you +will forgive the one, if they will do the other. You are aware that +any thing from my pen must expect no quarter, on many accounts; and +as the present publication is of a nature very different from the +former, we must not be sanguine.</p> + +<p>"You have given me no answer to my question—tell me fairly, did +you show the MS. to some of your corps?—I sent an introductory +stanza to Mr. Dallas, to be forwarded to you; the poem else will +open too abruptly. The stanzas had better be numbered in Roman +characters. There is a disquisition<span class="pagenum"><a id="page61" name="page61"></a>Pg 61</span> on the literature of the +modern Greeks and some smaller poems to come in at the close. These +are now at Newstead, but will be sent in time. If Mr. D. has lost +the stanza and note annexed to it, write, and I will send it +myself.—You tell me to add two Cantos, but I am about to visit my +<i>collieries</i> in Lancashire on the 15th instant, which is so +unpoetical an employment that I need say no more. I am, sir, your +most obedient," &c.</p> + +<p>The manuscripts of both his poems having been shown, much against +his own will, to Mr. Gifford, the opinion of that gentleman was +thus reported to him by Mr. Dallas:—"Of your Satire he spoke +highly; but this poem (Childe Harold) he pronounced not only the +best you have written, but equal to any of the present age."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 66. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, September 7. 1811.</p> + +<p>"As Gifford has been ever my 'Magnus Apollo.' any approbation, such +as you mention, would, of course, be more welcome than 'all +Bokara's vaunted gold, than all the gems of Samarkand.' But I am +sorry the MS. was shown to him in such a manner, and I had written +to Murray to say as much, before I was aware that it was too late.</p> + +<p>"Your objection to the expression 'central line' I can only meet by +saying that, before Childe Harold left England, it was his full +intention to traverse<span class="pagenum"><a id="page62" name="page62"></a>Pg 62</span> Persia, and return by India, which he could +not have done without passing the equinoctial.</p> + +<p>"The other errors you mention, I must correct in the progress +through the press. I feel honoured by the wish of such men that the +poem should be continued, but to do that, I must return to Greece +and Asia; I must have a warm sun and a blue sky; I cannot describe +scenes so dear to me by a sea-coal fire. I had projected an +additional Canto when I was in the Troad and Constantinople, and if +I saw them again, it would go on; but under existing circumstances +and <i>sensations</i>, I have neither harp, 'heart, nor voice' to +proceed. I feel that <i>you are all right</i> as to the metaphysical +part; but I also feel that I am sincere, and that if I am only to +write '<i>ad captandum vulgus</i>,' I might as well edit a magazine at +once, or spin canzonettas for Vauxhall. * * *</p> + +<p>"My work must make its way as well as it can; I know I have every +thing against me, angry poets and prejudices; but if the poem is a +<i>poem</i>, it will surmount these obstacles, and if <i>not</i>, it deserves +its fate. Your friend's Ode I have read—it is no great compliment +to pronounce it far superior to S * *'s on the same subject, or to +the merits of the new Chancellor. It is evidently the production of +a man of taste, and a poet, though I should not be willing to say +it was fully equal to what might be expected from the author of +'<i>Horæ Ionicæ</i>.' I thank you for it, and that is more than I would +do for any other Ode of the present day.</p> + +<p>"I am very sensible of your good wishes, and,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page63" name="page63"></a>Pg 63</span> indeed, I have need +of them. My whole life has been at variance with propriety, not to +say decency; my circumstances are become involved; my friends are +dead or estranged, and my existence a dreary void. In Matthews I +have lost my 'guide, philosopher, and friend;' in Wingfield a +friend only, but one whom I could have wished to have preceded in +his long journey.</p> + +<p>"Matthews was indeed an extraordinary man; it has not entered into +the heart of a stranger to conceive such a man: there was the stamp +of immortality in all he said or did;—and now what is he? When we +see such men pass away and be no more—men, who seem created to +display what the Creator <i>could make</i> his creatures, gathered into +corruption, before the maturity of minds that might have been the +pride of posterity, what are we to conclude? For my own part, I am +bewildered. To me he was much, to Hobhouse every thing.—My poor +Hobhouse doted on Matthews. For me, I did not love quite so much as +I honoured him; I was indeed so sensible of his infinite +superiority, that though I did not envy, I stood in awe of it. He, +Hobhouse, Davies, and myself, formed a coterie of our own at +Cambridge and elsewhere. Davies is a wit and man of the world, and +feels as much as such a character can do; but not as Hobhouse has +been affected. Davies, who is not a scribbler, has always beaten us +all in the war of words, and by his colloquial powers at once +delighted and kept us in order. H. and myself always had the worst +of it with the other two; and even M. yielded to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page64" name="page64"></a>Pg 64</span> dashing +vivacity of S.D. But I am talking to you of men, or boys, as if you +cared about such beings.</p> + +<p>"I expect mine agent down on the 14th to proceed to Lancashire, +where I hear from all quarters that I have a very valuable property +in coals, &c. I then intend to accept an invitation to Cambridge in +October, and shall, perhaps, run up to town. I have four +invitations—to Wales, Dorset, Cambridge, and Chester; but I must +be a man of business. I am quite alone, as these long letters sadly +testify. I perceive, by referring to your letter, that the Ode is +from the author; make my thanks acceptable to him. His muse is +worthy a nobler theme. You will write as usual, I hope. I wish you +good evening, and am," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 67. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 14. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"Since your former letter, Mr. Dallas informs me that the MS. has +been submitted to the perusal of Mr. Gifford, most contrary to my +wishes, as Mr. D. could have explained, and as my own letter to you +did, in fact, explain, with my motives for objecting to such a +proceeding. Some late domestic events, of which you are probably +aware, prevented my letter from being sent before; indeed, I hardly +conceived you would so hastily thrust my productions into the hands +of a stranger, who could be as little pleased by receiving them, as +their author is at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>Pg 65</span> their being offered, in such a manner, and to +such a man.</p> + +<p>"My address, when I leave Newstead, will be to 'Rochdale, +Lancashire;' but I have not yet fixed the day of departure, and I +will apprise you when ready to set off.</p> + +<p>"You have placed me in a very ridiculous situation, but it is past, +and nothing more is to be said on the subject. You hinted to me +that you wished some alterations to be made; if they have nothing +to do with politics or religion, I will make them with great +readiness. I am, Sir," &c.&c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Sept. 16. 1811.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>"I return the proof, which I should wish to be shown to Mr. Dallas, +who understands typographical arrangements much better than I can +pretend to do. The printer may place the notes in his <i>own way</i>, +or<span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>Pg 66</span> any <i>way</i> so that they are out of <i>my way</i>; I care nothing +about types or margins.</p> + +<p>"If you have any communication to make, I shall be here at least a +week or ten days longer.</p> + +<p>"I am, Sir," &c. &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 68. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Sept. 17. 1811.</p> + +<p>"I can easily excuse your not writing, as you have, I hope, +something better to do, and you must pardon my frequent invasions +on your attention, because I have at this moment nothing to +interpose between you and my epistles.</p> + +<p>"I cannot settle to any thing, and my days pass, with the exception +of bodily exercise to some extent, with uniform indolence, and idle +insipidity. I have been expecting, and still expect, my agent, when +I shall have enough to occupy my reflections in business of no very +pleasant aspect. Before my journey to Rochdale, you shall have due +notice where to address me—I believe at the post-office of that +township. From Murray I received a second proof of the same pages, +which I requested him to show you, that any thing which may have +escaped my observation may be detected before the printer lays the +corner-stone of an <i>errata</i> column.</p> + +<p>"I am now not quite alone, having an old acquaintance and +school-fellow with me, so <i>old</i>, indeed, that we have nothing <i>new</i> +to say on any subject, and yawn at each other in a sort of <i>quiet +inquietude</i>. I hear nothing from Cawthorn, or Captain Hob<span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>Pg 67</span>house; +and <i>their quarto</i>—Lord have mercy on mankind! We come on like +Cerberus with our triple publications. As for <i>myself</i>, by +<i>myself</i>, I must be satisfied with a comparison to <i>Janus</i>.</p> + +<p>"I am not at all pleased with Murray for showing the MS.; and I am +certain Gifford must see it in the same light that I do. His praise +is nothing to the purpose: what could he say? He could not spit in +the face of one who had praised him in every possible way. I must +own that I wish to have the impression removed from his mind, that +I had any concern in such a paltry transaction. The more I think, +the more it disquiets me; so I will say no more about it. It is bad +enough to be a scribbler, without having recourse to such shifts to +extort praise, or deprecate censure. It is anticipating, it is +begging, kneeling, adulating,—the devil! the devil! the devil! and +all without my wish, and contrary to my express desire. I wish +Murray had been tied to <i>Payne</i>'s neck when he jumped into the +Paddington Canal<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>, and so tell him,—<i>that</i> is the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>Pg 68</span> proper +receptacle for publishers. You have thoughts of settling in the +country, why not try Notts.? I think there are places which would +suit you in all points, and then you are nearer the metropolis. But +of this anon. I am, yours," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 69. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Sept. 21. 1811.</p> + +<p>"I have shown my respect for your suggestions by adopting them; but +I have made many alterations in the first proof, over and above; +as, for example:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Oh Thou, in <i>Hellas</i> deem'd of heavenly birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">&c. &c.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Since <i>shamed full oft</i> by <i>later lyres</i> on earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Mine, &c.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Yet there <i>I've wander'd</i> by the vaunted rill;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and so on. So I have got rid of Dr. Lowth and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page69" name="page69"></a>Pg 69</span> 'drunk' to boot, and +very glad I am to say so. I have also sullenised the line as +heretofore, and in short have been quite conformable.</p> + +<p>"Pray write; you shall hear when I remove to Lancs. I have brought +you and my friend Juvenal Hodgson upon my back, on the score of +revelation. You are fervent, but he is quite <i>glowing</i>; and if he +take half the pains to save his own soul, which he volunteers to +redeem mine, great will be his reward hereafter. I honour and thank +you both, but am convinced by neither. Now for notes. Besides those +I have sent, I shall send the observations on the Edinburgh +Reviewer's remarks on the modern Greek, an Albanian song in the +Albanian (<i>not Greek</i>) language, specimens of modern Greek from +their New Testament, a comedy of Goldoni's translated, <i>one scene</i>, +a prospectus of a friend's book, and perhaps a song or two, <i>all</i> +in Romaic, besides their Pater Noster; so there will be enough, if +not too much, with what I have already sent. Have you received the +'Noetes Atticæ?' I sent also an annotation on Portugal. Hobhouse is +also forthcoming."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 70. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Sept. 23. 1811.</p> + +<p>"<i>Lisboa</i> is the Portuguese word, consequently the very best. +Ulissipont is pedantic; and as I have <i>Hellas</i> and <i>Eros</i> not long +before, there would be something like an affectation of Greek +terms, which I wish to avoid, since I shall have a perilous<span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>Pg 70</span> +quantity of <i>modern</i> Greek in my notes, as specimens of the tongue; +therefore Lisboa may keep its place. You are right about the +'Hints;' they must not precede the 'Romaunt;' but Cawthorn will be +savage if they don't; however, keep <i>them</i> back, and <i>him</i> in <i>good +humour</i>, if we can, but do not let him publish.</p> + +<p>"I have adopted, I believe, most of your suggestions, but 'Lisboa' +will be an exception to prove the rule. I have sent a quantity of +notes, and shall continue; but pray let them be copied; no devil +can read my hand. By the by, I do not mean to exchange the ninth +verse of the 'Good Night.' I have no reason to suppose my dog +better than his brother brutes, mankind; and <i>Argus</i> we know to be +a fable. The 'Cosmopolite' was an acquisition abroad. I do not +believe it is to be found in England. It is an amusing little +volume, and full of French flippancy. I read, though I do not speak +the language.</p> + +<p>"I <i>will</i> be angry with Murray. It was a book-selling, back shop, +Paternoster-row, paltry proceeding, and if the experiment had +turned out as it deserved, I would have raised all Fleet Street, +and borrowed the giant's staff from St. Dunstan's church, to +immolate the betrayer of trust. I have written to him as he never +was written to before by an author, I'll be sworn, and I hope you +will amplify my wrath, till it has an effect upon him. You tell me +always you have much to write about. Write it, but let us drop +metaphysics;—on that point we shall never agree. I am dull and +drowsy, as usual.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page71" name="page71"></a>Pg 71</span> I do nothing, and even that nothing fatigues me. +Adieu."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 71. TO MR. DALLAS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Oct. 11. 1811.</p> + +<p>"I have returned from Lancs., and ascertained that my property +there may be made very valuable, but various circumstances very +much circumscribe my exertions at present. I shall be in town on +business in the beginning of November, and perhaps at Cambridge +before the end of this month; but of my movements you shall be +regularly apprised. Your objections I have in part done away by +alterations, which I hope will suffice; and I have sent two or +three additional stanzas for both '<i>Fyttas</i>' I have been again +shocked with a death, and have lost one very dear to me in happier +times; but 'I have almost forgot the taste of grief,' and 'supped +full of horrors' till I have become callous, nor have I a tear left +for an event which, five years ago, would have bowed down my head +to the earth. It seems as though I were to experience in my youth +the greatest misery of age. My friends fall around me, and I shall +be left a lonely tree before I am withered. Other men can always +take refuge in their families; I have no resource but my own +reflections, and they present no prospect here or hereafter, except +the selfish satisfaction of surviving my betters. I am indeed very +wretched, and you will excuse my saying so, as you know I am not +apt to cant of sensibility.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>Pg 72</span></p> + +<p>"Instead of tiring yourself with <i>my</i> concerns, I should be glad to +hear <i>your</i> plans of retirement. I suppose you would not like to be +wholly shut out of society? Now I know a large village, or small +town, about twelve miles off, where your family would have the +advantage of very genteel society, without the hazard of being +annoyed by mercantile affluence; where <i>you</i> would meet with men of +information and independence; and where I have friends to whom I +should be proud to introduce you. There are, besides, a +coffee-room, assemblies, &c. &c., which bring people together. My +mother had a house there some years, and I am well acquainted with +the economy of Southwell, the name of this little commonwealth. +Lastly, you will not be very remote from me; and though I am the +very worst companion for young people in the world, this objection +would not apply to <i>you</i>, whom I could see frequently. Your +expenses, too, would be such as best suit your inclinations, more +or less, as you thought proper; but very little would be requisite +to enable you to enter into all the gaieties of a country life. You +could be as quiet or bustling as you liked, and certainly as well +situated as on the lakes of Cumberland, unless you have a +particular wish to be <i>picturesque</i>.</p> + +<p>"Pray, is your Ionian friend in town? You have promised me an +introduction.—You mention having consulted some friend on the +MSS.—Is not this contrary to our usual way? Instruct Mr. Murray +not to allow his shopman to call the work 'Child of Harrow's +Pilgrimage!!!!!' as he has done to some<span class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>Pg 73</span> of my astonished friends, +who wrote to enquire after my sanity on the occasion, as well they +might. I have heard nothing of Murray, whom I scolded heartily. +Must I write more notes?—Are there not enough?—Cawthorn must be +kept back with the 'Hints.'—I hope he is getting on with +Hobhouse's quarto. Good evening. Yours ever," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of the same date with this melancholy letter are the following verses, +never before printed, which he wrote in answer to some lines received +from a friend, exhorting him to be cheerful, and to "banish care." They +will show with what gloomy fidelity, even while under the pressure of +recent sorrow, he reverted to the disappointment of his early affection, +as the chief source of all his sufferings and errors, present and to +come.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, October 11. 1811.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"'Oh! banish care'—such ever be<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The motto of <i>thy</i> revelry!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Perchance of <i>mine</i>, when wassail nights<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Renew those riotous delights,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Wherewith the children of Despair<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Lull the lone heart, and 'banish care.'<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But not in morn's reflecting hour,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When present, past, and future lower,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When all I loved is changed or gone,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Mock with such taunts the woes of one,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Whose every thought—but let them pass—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Thou know'st I am not what I was.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But, above all, if thou wouldst hold<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Place in a heart that ne'er was cold,<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>Pg 74</span> +<span class="i4">By all the powers that men revere,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">By all unto thy bosom dear,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Thy joys below, thy hopes above,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Speak—speak of any thing but love.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"'Twere long to tell, and vain to hear<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The tale of one who scorns a tear;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And there is little in that tale<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Which better bosoms would bewail.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But mine has suffer'd more than well<br /></span> +<span class="i4">'Twould suit Philosophy to tell.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I've seen my bride another's bride,—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Have seen her seated by his side,—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Have seen the infant which she bore,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Wear the sweet smile the mother wore,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When she and I in youth have smiled<br /></span> +<span class="i4">As fond and faultless as her child;—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Have seen her eyes, in cold disdain,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Ask if I felt no secret pain.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And I have acted well my part,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And made my cheek belie my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Return'd the freezing glance she gave,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Yet felt the while <i>that</i> woman's slave;—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Have kiss'd, as if without design,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The babe which ought to have been mine,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And show'd, alas! in each caress<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Time had not made me love the less.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"But let this pass—I'll whine no more.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Nor seek again an eastern shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The world befits a busy brain,—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I'll hie me to its haunts again.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But if, in some succeeding year,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When Britain's 'May is in the sere,'<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Thou hear'st of one, whose deepening crimes<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Suit with the sablest of the times,<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a id="page75" name="page75"></a>Pg 75</span> +<span class="i4">Of one, whom Love nor Pity sways,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Nor hope of fame, nor good men's praise,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">One, who in stern Ambition's pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Perchance not Blood shall turn aside,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">One rank'd in some recording page<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With the worst anarchs of the age,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Him wilt thou <i>know</i>—and, <i>knowing</i>, pause,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Nor with the <i>effect</i> forget the cause."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The anticipations of his own future career in these concluding lines are +of a nature, it must be owned, to awaken more of horror than of +interest, were we not prepared, by so many instances of his exaggeration +in this respect, not to be startled at any lengths to which the spirit +of self-libelling would carry him. It seemed as if, with the power of +painting fierce and gloomy personages, he had also the ambition to be, +himself, the dark "sublime he drew," and that, in his fondness for the +delineation of heroic crime, he endeavoured to fancy, where he could not +find, in his own character, fit subjects for his pencil.</p> + +<p>It was about the time when he was thus bitterly feeling and expressing +the blight which his heart had suffered from a <i>real</i> object of +affection, that his poems on the death of an <i>imaginary</i> one, "Thyrza," +were written;—nor is it any wonder, when we consider the peculiar +circumstances under which these beautiful effusions flowed from his +fancy, that of all his strains of pathos, they should be the most +touching and most pure. They were, indeed, the essence, the abstract +spirit, as it were, of many griefs;—a confluence of sad thoughts from +many<span class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>Pg 76</span> sources of sorrow, refined and warmed in their passage through his +fancy, and forming thus one deep reservoir of mournful feeling. In +retracing the happy hours he had known with the friends now lost, all +the ardent tenderness of his youth came back upon him. His school-sports +with the favourites of his boyhood, Wingfield and Tattersall,—his +summer days with Long<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>, and those evenings of music and romance which +he had dreamed away in the society of his adopted brother, +Eddlestone,—all these recollections of the young and dead now came to +mingle themselves in his mind with the image of her who, though living, +was, for him, as much lost as they, and diffused that general feeling of +sadness and fondness through his soul, which found a vent in these +poems. No friendship, however warm, could have inspired sorrow so +passionate; as no love, however pure, could have kept passion so +chastened. It was the blending of the two affections, in his memory and +imagination, that thus gave birth to an ideal object combining the best +features of both, and drew from him these saddest and tenderest of +love-poems, in which we find all the depth and intensity of real feeling +touched over with such a light as no reality ever wore.</p> + +<p>The following letter gives some further account of the course of his +thoughts and pursuits at this period:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page77" name="page77"></a>Pg 77</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 72. TO MR. HODGSON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Newstead Abbey, Oct. 13. 1811.</p> + +<p>"You will begin to deem me a most liberal correspondent; but as my +letters are free, you will overlook their frequency. I have sent +you answers in prose and verse<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> to all your late communications, +and though I am invading your ease again, I don't know why, or what +to put down that you are not acquainted with already. I am growing +nervous (how you will laugh!)—but it is true,—really, wretchedly, +ridiculously, fine-ladically <i>nervous</i>. Your climate kills me; I +can neither read, write, nor amuse myself, or any one else. My days +are listless, and my nights restless; I have very seldom any +society, and when I have, I run out of it. At 'this present +writing,' there are in the next room three ladies, and I have +stolen away to write this grumbling letter.—I don't know that I +sha'n't end with insanity, for I find a want of method in arranging +my thoughts that perplexes me strangely; but this looks more like +silliness than madness, as Scrope Davies would facetiously remark +in his consoling manner. I must try the hartshorn of your company; +and a session of Parliament would suit me well,—any thing to cure +me of conjugating the accursed verb '<i>ennuyer</i>.'</p> + +<p>"When shall you be at Cambridge? You have hinted, I think, that +your friend Bland is returned from Holland. I have always had a +great respect<span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>Pg 78</span> for his talents, and for all that I have heard of +his character; but of me, I believe he knows nothing, except that +he heard my sixth form repetitions ten months together, at the +average of two lines a morning, and those never perfect. I +remembered him and his 'Slaves' as I passed between Capes Matapan, +St. Angelo, and his Isle of Ceriga, and I always bewailed the +absence of the Anthology. I suppose he will now translate Vondel, +the Dutch Shakspeare, and 'Gysbert van Amstel' will easily be +accommodated to our stage in its present state; and I presume he +saw the Dutch poem, where the love of Pyramus and Thisbe is +compared to the <i>passion</i> of <i>Christ</i>; also the love of <i>Lucifer</i> +for Eve, and other varieties of Low Country literature. No doubt +you will think me crazed to talk of such things, but they are all +in black and white and good repute on the banks of every canal from +Amsterdam to Alkmaar.</p> + +<p>"Yours ever, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My poesy is in the hands of its various publishers; but the 'Hints +from Horace,' (to which I have subjoined some savage lines on +Methodism, and ferocious notes on the vanity of the triple Editory +of the Edin. Annual Register,) my '<i>Hints</i>,' I say, stand still, +and why?—I have not a friend in the world (but you and Drury) who +can construe Horace's Latin or my English well enough to adjust +them for the press, or to correct the proofs in a grammatical way. +So that, unless you have bowels when you return to town (I am too +far off to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page79" name="page79"></a>Pg 79</span> do it for myself), this ineffable work will be lost to +the world for—I don't know how many <i>weeks.</i></p> + +<p>"'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' must wait till <i>Murray's</i> is +finished. He is making a tour in Middlesex, and is to return soon, +when high matter may be expected. He wants to have it in quarto, +which is a cursed unsaleable size; but it is pestilent long, and +one must obey one's bookseller. I trust Murray will pass the +Paddington Canal without being seduced by Payne and Mackinlay's +example,—I say Payne and Mackinlay, supposing that the partnership +held good. Drury, the villain, has not written to me; 'I am never +(as Mrs. Lumpkin says to Tony) to be gratified with the monster's +dear wild notes.'</p> + +<p>"So you are going (going indeed!) into orders. You must make your +peace with the Eclectic Reviewers—they accuse you of impiety, I +fear, with injustice. Demetrius, the 'Sieger of Cities,' is here, +with 'Gilpin Homer.' The painter<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> is not necessary, as the +portraits he already painted are (by anticipation) very like the +new animals.—Write, and send me your 'Love Song'—but I want +'paulo majora' from you. Make a dash before you are a deacon, and +try a <i>dry</i> publisher.</p> + +<p>"Yours always, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was at this period that I first had the happiness of seeing and +becoming acquainted with Lord Byron.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>Pg 80</span> The correspondence in which our +acquaintance originated is, in a high degree, illustrative of the frank +manliness of his character; and as it was begun on my side, some egotism +must be tolerated in the detail which I have to give of the +circumstances that led to it. So far back as the year 1806, on the +occasion of a meeting which took place at Chalk Farm between Mr. Jeffrey +and myself, a good deal of ridicule and raillery, founded on a false +representation of what occurred before the magistrates at Bow Street, +appeared in almost all the public prints. In consequence of this, I was +induced to address a letter to the Editor of one of the Journals, +contradicting the falsehood that had been circulated, and stating +briefly the real circumstances of the case. For some time my letter +seemed to produce the intended effect,—but, unluckily, the original +story was too tempting a theme for humour and sarcasm to be so easily +superseded by mere matter of fact. Accordingly, after a little time, +whenever the subject was publicly alluded to,—more especially by those +who were at all "willing to wound,"—the old falsehood was, for the sake +of its ready sting, revived.</p> + +<p>In the year 1809, on the first appearance of "English Bards and Scotch +Reviewers," I found the author, who was then generally understood to be +Lord Byron, not only jesting on the subject—and with sufficiently +provoking pleasantry and cleverness—in his verse, but giving also, in +the more responsible form of a note, an outline of the transaction in +accordance with the original misreport, and,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page81" name="page81"></a>Pg 81</span> therefore, in direct +contradiction to my published statement. Still, as the Satire was +anonymous and unacknowledged, I did not feel that I was, in any way, +called upon to notice it, and therefore dismissed the matter entirely +from my mind. In the summer of the same year appeared the Second Edition +of the work, with Lord Byron's name prefixed to it. I was, at the time, +in Ireland, and but little in the way of literary society; and it so +happened that some months passed away before the appearance of this new +edition was known to me. Immediately on being apprised of it,—the +offence now assuming a different form,—I addressed the following letter +to Lord Byron, and, transmitting it to a friend in London, requested +that he would have it delivered into his Lordship's hands.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dublin, January 1. 1810.</p> + +<p>"My Lord,</p> + +<p>"Having just seen the name of 'Lord Byron' prefixed to a work +entitled 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' in which, as it +appears to me, <i>the lie is given</i> to a public statement of mine, +respecting an affair with Mr. Jeffrey some years since,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page82" name="page82"></a>Pg 82</span> I beg you +will have the goodness to inform me whether I may consider your +Lordship as the author of this publication.</p> + +<p>"I shall not, I fear, be able to return to London for a week or +two; but, in the mean time, I trust your Lordship will not deny me +the satisfaction of knowing whether you avow the insult contained +in the passages alluded to.</p> + +<p>"It is needless to suggest to your Lordship the propriety of +keeping our correspondence secret.</p> + +<p>"I have the honour to be</p> + +<p>"Your Lordship's very humble servant,</p> + +<p>"THOMAS MOORE.</p> + +<p>"22. Molesworth Street."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the course of a week, the friend to whom I intrusted this letter +wrote to inform me that Lord Byron had, as he learned on enquiring of +his publisher, gone abroad immediately on the publication of his Second +Edition; but that my letter had been placed in the hands of a gentleman, +named Hodgson, who had undertaken to forward it carefully to his +Lordship. Though the latter step was not exactly what I could have +wished, I thought it as well, on the whole, to let my letter take its +chance, and again postponed all consideration of the matter.</p> + +<p>During the interval of a year and a half which elapsed before Lord +Byron's return, I had taken upon myself obligations, both as husband and +father, which make most men,—and especially those who have nothing to +bequeath,—less willing<span class="pagenum"><a id="page83" name="page83"></a>Pg 83</span> to expose themselves unnecessarily to danger. +On hearing, therefore, of the arrival of the noble traveller from +Greece, though still thinking it due to myself to follow up my first +request of an explanation, I resolved, in prosecuting that object, to +adopt such a tone of conciliation as should not only prove my sincere +desire of a pacific result, but show the entire freedom from any angry +or resentful feeling with which I took the step. The death of Mrs. +Byron, for some time, delayed my purpose. But as soon after that event +as was consistent with decorum, I addressed a letter to Lord Byron, in +which, referring to my former communication, and expressing some doubts +as to its having ever reached him, I re-stated, in pretty nearly the +same words, the nature of the insult, which, as it appeared to me, the +passage in his note was calculated to convey. "It is now useless," I +continued, "to speak of the steps with which it was my intention to +follow up that letter. The time which has elapsed since then, though it +has done away neither the injury nor the feeling of it, has, in many +respects, materially altered my situation; and the only object which I +have now in writing to your Lordship is to preserve some consistency +with that former letter, and to prove to you that the injured feeling +still exists, however circumstances may compel me to be deaf to its +dictates, at present. When I say 'injured feeling,' let me assure your +Lordship, that there is not a single vindictive sentiment in my mind +towards you. I mean but to express that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page84" name="page84"></a>Pg 84</span> uneasiness, under (what I +consider to be) a charge of falsehood, which must haunt a man of any +feeling to his grave, unless the insult be retracted or atoned for; and +which, if I did <i>not</i> feel, I should, indeed, deserve far worse than +your Lordship's satire could inflict upon me." In conclusion I added, +that so far from being influenced by any angry or resentful feeling +towards him, it would give me sincere pleasure if, by any satisfactory +explanation, he would enable me to seek the honour of being henceforward +ranked among his acquaintance.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>To this letter, Lord Byron returned the following answer:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 73. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cambridge, October 27. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"Your letter followed me from Notts, to this place, which will +account for the delay of my reply. Your former letter I never had +the honour to receive;—be assured, in whatever part of the world +it had found me, I should have deemed it my duty to return and +answer it in person.</p> + +<p>"The advertisement you mention, I know nothing of.—At the time of +your meeting with Mr. Jeffrey,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page85" name="page85"></a>Pg 85</span> I had recently entered College, and +remember to have heard and read a number of squibs on the occasion; +and from the recollection of these I derived all my knowledge on +the subject, without the slightest idea of 'giving the lie' to an +address which I never beheld. When I put my name to the production, +which has occasioned this correspondence, I became responsible to +all whom it might concern,—to explain where it requires +explanation, and, where insufficiently, or too sufficiently +explicit, at all events to satisfy. My situation leaves me no +choice; it rests with the injured and the angry to obtain +reparation in their own way.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the passage in question, <i>you</i> were certainly <i>not</i> +the person towards whom I felt personally hostile. On the contrary, +my whole thoughts were engrossed by one, whom I had reason to +consider as my worst literary enemy, nor could I foresee that his +former antagonist was about to become his champion. You do not +specify what you would wish to have done: I can neither retract nor +apologise for a charge of falsehood which I never advanced.</p> + +<p>"In the beginning of the week, I shall be at No. 8. St. James's +Street.—Neither the letter nor the friend to whom you stated your +intention ever made their appearance.</p> + +<p>"Your friend, Mr. Rogers, or any other gentleman delegated by you, +will find me most ready to adopt any conciliatory proposition which +shall not compromise my own honour,—or, failing in that, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page86" name="page86"></a>Pg 86</span> make +the atonement you deem it necessary to require.</p> + +<p>"I have the honour to be, Sir,</p> + +<p>"Your most obedient, humble servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In my reply to this, I commenced by saying that his Lordship's letter +was, upon the whole, as satisfactory as I could expect. It contained all +that, in the strict <i>diplomatique</i> of explanation, could be required, +namely,—that he had never seen the statement which I supposed him +wilfully to have contradicted,—that he had no intention of bringing +against me any charge of falsehood, and that the objectionable passage +of his work was not levelled personally at <i>me</i>. This, I added, was all +the explanation I had a right to expect, and I was, of course, satisfied +with it.</p> + +<p>I then entered into some detail relative to the transmission of my first +letter from Dublin,—giving, as my reason for descending to these minute +particulars, that I did not, I must confess, feel quite easy under the +manner in which his Lordship had noticed the miscarriage of that first +application to him.</p> + +<p>My reply concluded thus:—"As your Lordship does not show any wish to +proceed beyond the rigid formulary of explanation, it is not for me to +make any further advances. We Irishmen, in businesses of this kind, +seldom know any medium between decided hostility and decided +friendship;—but, as any approaches towards the latter alter<span class="pagenum"><a id="page87" name="page87"></a>Pg 87</span>native must +now depend entirely on your Lordship, I have only to repeat that I am +satisfied with your letter, and that I have the honour to be," &c. &c.</p> + +<p>On the following day I received the annexed rejoinder from Lord Byron:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 74. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, October 29. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"Soon after my return to England, my friend, Mr. Hodgson, apprised +me that a letter for me was in his possession; but a domestic event +hurrying me from London, immediately after, the letter (which may +most probably be your own) is still <i>unopened in his keeping</i>. If, +on examination of the address, the similarity of the handwriting +should lead to such a conclusion, it shall be opened in your +presence, for the satisfaction of all parties. Mr. H. is at present +out of town;—on Friday I shall see him, and request him to forward +it to my address.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the latter part of both your letters, until the +principal point was discussed between us, I felt myself at a loss +in what manner to reply. Was I to anticipate friendship from one, +who conceived me to have charged him with falsehood? Were not +<i>advances</i>, under such circumstances, to be misconstrued,—not, +perhaps, by the person to whom they were addressed, but by others? +In <i>my</i> case, such a step was impracticable. If you, who conceived +yourself to be the offended person,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page88" name="page88"></a>Pg 88</span> are satisfied that you had no +cause for offence, it will not be difficult to convince me of it. +My situation, as I have before stated, leaves me no choice. I +should have felt proud of your acquaintance, had it commenced under +other circumstances; but it must rest with you to determine how far +it may proceed after so <i>auspicious</i> a beginning. I have the honour +to be," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Somewhat piqued, I own, at the manner in which my efforts towards a more +friendly understanding,—ill-timed as I confess them to have been,—were +received, I hastened to close our correspondence by a short note, +saying, that his Lordship had made me feel the imprudence I was guilty +of, in wandering from the point immediately in discussion between us; +and I should now, therefore, only add, that if, in my last letter, I had +correctly stated the substance of his explanation, our correspondence +might, from this moment, cease for ever, as with that explanation I +declared myself satisfied.</p> + +<p>This brief note drew immediately from Lord Byron the following frank and +open-hearted reply:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 75. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, October 30. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"You must excuse my troubling you once more upon this very +unpleasant subject. It would be a satisfaction to me, and I should +think, to your<span class="pagenum"><a id="page89" name="page89"></a>Pg 89</span>self, that the unopened letter in Mr. Hodgson's +possession (supposing it to prove your own) should be returned 'in +statu quo' to the writer; particularly as you expressed yourself +'not quite easy under the manner in which I had dwelt on its +miscarriage.'</p> + +<p>"A few words more, and I shall not trouble you further. I felt, and +still feel, very much flattered by those parts of your +correspondence, which held out the prospect of our becoming +acquainted. If I did not meet them in the first instance as perhaps +I ought, let the situation I was placed in be my defence. You have +<i>now</i> declared yourself <i>satisfied</i>, and on that point we are no +longer at issue. If, therefore, you still retain any wish to do me +the honour you hinted at, I shall be most happy to meet you, when, +where, and how you please, and I presume you will not attribute my +saying thus much to any unworthy motive. I have the honour to +remain," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On receiving this letter, I went instantly to my friend, Mr. Rogers, who +was, at that time, on a visit at Holland House, and, for the first time, +informed him of the correspondence in which I had been engaged. With his +usual readiness to oblige and serve, he proposed that the meeting +between Lord Byron and myself should take place at his table, and +requested of me to convey to the noble Lord his wish, that he would do +him the honour of naming some day for that purpose. The following is +Lord Byron's answer to the note which I then wrote:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page90" name="page90"></a>Pg 90</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 76. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, November 1, 1811.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"As I should be very sorry to interrupt your Sunday's engagement, +if Monday, or any other day of the ensuing week, would be equally +convenient to yourself and friend, I will then have the honour of +accepting his invitation. Of the professions of esteem with which +Mr. Rogers has honoured me, I cannot but feel proud, though +undeserving. I should be wanting to myself, if insensible to the +praise of such a man; and, should my approaching interview with him +and his friend lead to any degree of intimacy with both or either, +I shall regard our past correspondence as one of the happiest +events of my life. I have the honour to be,</p> + +<p>"Your very sincere and obedient servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It can hardly, I think, be necessary to call the reader's attention to +the good sense, self-possession, and frankness, of these letters of Lord +Byron. I had placed him,—by the somewhat national confusion which I had +made of the boundaries of peace and war, of hostility and +friendship,—in a position which, ignorant as he was of the character of +the person who addressed him, it required all the watchfulness of his +sense of honour to guard from surprise or snare. Hence, the judicious +reserve with which he abstained from noticing my advances towards +acquaintance, till he should have ascertained exactly<span class="pagenum"><a id="page91" name="page91"></a>Pg 91</span> whether the +explanation which he was willing to give would be such as his +correspondent would be satisfied to receive. The moment he was set at +rest on this point, the frankness of his nature displayed itself; and +the disregard of all further mediation or etiquette with which he at +once professed himself ready to meet me, "when, where, and how" I +pleased, showed that he could be as pliant and confiding <i>after</i> such an +understanding, as he had been judiciously reserved and punctilious +<i>before</i> it.</p> + +<p>Such did I find Lord Byron, on my first experience of him; and such,—so +open and manly-minded,—did I find him to the last.</p> + +<p>It was, at first, intended by Mr. Rogers that his company at dinner +should not extend beyond Lord Byron and myself; but Mr. Thomas Campbell, +having called upon our host that morning, was invited to join the party, +and consented. Such a meeting could not be otherwise than interesting to +us all. It was the first time that Lord Byron was ever seen by any of +his three companions; while he, on his side, for the first time, found +himself in the society of persons, whose names had been associated with +his first literary dreams, and to <i>two</i><a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> of whom he looked up with +that tributary admiration<span class="pagenum"><a id="page92" name="page92"></a>Pg 92</span> which youthful genius is ever ready to pay +its precursors.</p> + +<p>Among the impressions which this meeting left upon me, what I chiefly +remember to have remarked was the nobleness of his air, his beauty, the +gentleness of his voice and manners, and—what was, naturally, not the +least attraction—his marked kindness to myself. Being in mourning for +his mother, the colour, as well of his dress, as of his glossy, curling, +and picturesque hair, gave more effect to the pure, spiritual paleness +of his features, in the expression of which, when he spoke, there was a +perpetual play of lively thought, though melancholy was their habitual +character when in repose.</p> + +<p>As we had none of us been apprised of his peculiarities with respect to +food, the embarrassment of our host was not a little, on discovering +that there was nothing upon the table which his noble guest could eat or +drink. Neither meat, fish, nor wine, would Lord Byron touch; and of +biscuits and soda-water, which he asked for, there had been, unluckily, +no provision. He professed, however, to be equally well pleased with +potatoes and vinegar; and of these meagre materials contrived to make +rather a hearty dinner.</p> + +<p>I shall now resume the series of his correspondence with other friends.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page93" name="page93"></a>Pg 93</span></p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 77. TO MR. HARNESS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, Dec. 6. 1811.</p> + +<p>"My dear Harness,</p> + +<p>"I write again, but don't suppose I mean to lay such a tax on your +pen and patience as to expect regular replies. When you are +inclined, write; when silent, I shall have the consolation of +knowing that you are much better employed. Yesterday, Bland and I +called on Mr. Miller, who, being then out, will call on Bland<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> +to-day or to-morrow. I shall certainly endeavour to bring them +together.—You are censorious, child; when you are a little older, +you will learn to dislike every body, but abuse nobody.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the person of whom you speak, your own good sense +must direct you. I never pretend to advise, being an implicit +believer in the old proverb. This present frost is detestable. It +is the first I have felt for these three years, though I longed for +one in the oriental summer, when no such thing is to be had, unless +I had gone to the top of Hymettus for it.</p> + +<p>"I thank you most truly for the concluding part of your letter. I +have been of late not much accustomed to kindness from any quarter, +and am not the less pleased to meet with it again from one where I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page94" name="page94"></a>Pg 94</span> +had known it earliest. I have not changed in all my +ramblings,—Harrow, and, of course, yourself never left me, and the</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"'Dulces reminiscitur Argos'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>attended me to the very spot to which that sentence alludes in the +mind of the fallen Argive—Our intimacy began before we began to +date at all, and it rests with you to continue it till the hour +which must number it and me with the things that <i>were</i>.</p> + +<p>"Do read mathematics.—I should think <i>X plus Y</i> at least as +amusing as the Curse of Kehama, and much more intelligible. Master +S.'s poems <i>are</i>, in fact, what parallel lines might be—viz. +prolonged <i>ad infinitum</i> without meeting any thing half so absurd +as themselves.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"What news, what news? Queen Oreaca,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">What news of scribblers five?<br /></span> +<span class="i4">S——, W——, C——e, L——d, and L——e?—<br /></span> +<span class="i6">All damn'd, though yet alive.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>C——e is lecturing. 'Many an old fool,' said Hannibal to some such +lecturer, 'but such as this, never.'</p> + +<p>"Ever yours, &c."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 78. TO MR. HARNESS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"St. James's Street, Dec. 8. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Behold a most formidable sheet, without gilt or black edging, and +consequently very vulgar and indecorous, particularly to one of +your precision; but this being Sunday, I can procure no better, +and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page95" name="page95"></a>Pg 95</span> will atone for its length by not filling it. Bland I have not +seen since my last letter; but on Tuesday he dines with me, and +will meet M * * e, the epitome of all that is exquisite in poetical or +personal accomplishments. How Bland has settled with Miller, I know +not. I have very little interest with either, and they must arrange +their concerns according to their own gusto. I have done my +endeavours, <i>at your request</i>, to bring them together, and hope +they may agree to their mutual advantage.</p> + +<p>"Coleridge has been lecturing against Campbell. Rogers was present, +and from him I derive the information. We are going to make a party +to hear this Manichean of poesy. Pole is to marry Miss Long, and +will be a very miserable dog for all that. The present ministers +are to continue, and his Majesty <i>does</i> continue in the same state; +so there's folly and madness for you, both in a breath.</p> + +<p>"I never heard but of one man truly fortunate, and he was +Beaumarchais, the author of Figaro, who buried two wives and gained +three law-suits before he was thirty.</p> + +<p>"And now, child, what art thou doing? <i>Reading, I trust.</i> I want to +see you take a degree. Remember, this is the most important period +of your life; and don't disappoint your papa and your aunt, and all +your kin—besides myself. Don't you know that all male children are +begotten for the express purpose of being graduates? and that even +I am an A.M., though how I became so, the Public Orator only can +resolve. Besides, you are to be a priest: and to confute Sir +William Drummond's late book<span class="pagenum"><a id="page96" name="page96"></a>Pg 96</span> about the Bible, (printed, but not +published,) and all other infidels whatever. Now leave Master H.'s +gig, and Master S.'s Sapphics, and become as immortal as Cambridge +can make you.</p> + +<p>"You see, Mio Carissimo, what a pestilent correspondent I am likely +to become; but then you shall be as quiet at Newstead as you +please, and I won't disturb your studies as I do now. When do you +fix the day, that I may take you up according to contract? Hodgson +talks of making a third in our journey; but we can't stow him, +inside at least. Positively you shall go with me as was agreed, and +don't let me have any of your <i>politesse</i> to H. on the occasion. I +shall manage to arrange for both with a little contrivance. I wish +H. was not quite so fat, and we should pack better. You will want +to know what I am doing—chewing tobacco.</p> + +<p>"You see nothing of my allies, Scrope Davies and Matthews<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>—they +don't suit you; and how does it happen that I—who am a pipkin of +the same pottery—continue in your good graces? Good night,—I will +go on in the morning.</p> + +<p>"Dec. 9th. In a morning, I'm always sullen, and to-day is as sombre +as myself. Rain and mist are worse than a sirocco, particularly in +a beef-eating and beer-drinking country. My bookseller, Cawthorne, +has just left me, and tells me, with a most important face, that he +is in treaty for a novel of Madame D'Arblay's, for which 1000 +guineas are asked! He wants me to read the MS. (if he obtains<span class="pagenum"><a id="page97" name="page97"></a>Pg 97</span> it), +which I shall do with pleasure; but I should be very cautious in +venturing an opinion on her whose Cecilia Dr. Johnson +superintended.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> If he lends it to me, I shall put it into the +hands of Rogers and M * * e, who are truly men of taste. I have filled +the sheet, and beg your pardon; I will not do it again. I shall, +perhaps, write again, but if not, believe, silent or scribbling, +that I am, my dearest William, ever," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 79. TO MR. HODGSON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"London, Dec. 8. 1811.</p> + +<p>"I sent you a sad Tale of Three Friars the other day, and now take +a dose in another style. I wrote it a day or two ago, on hearing a +song of former days.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Away, away, ye notes of woe<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a>, &c. &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I have gotten a book by Sir W. Drummond, (printed, but not +published,) entitled Oedipus Judaicus, in which he attempts to +prove the greater part of the Old Testament an allegory, +particularly Genesis and Joshua. He professes himself a theist in +the preface, and handles the literal interpretation very roughly. I +wish you could see it. Mr. W * *<span class="pagenum"><a id="page98" name="page98"></a>Pg 98</span> has lent it me, and I confess, to +me it is worth fifty Watsons.</p> + +<p>"You and Harness must fix on the time for your visit to Newstead; I +can command mine at your wish, unless any thing particular occurs +in the interim. Bland dines with me on Tuesday to meet Moore. +Coleridge has attacked the 'Pleasures of Hope,' and all other +pleasures whatsoever. Mr. Rogers was present, and heard himself +indirectly <i>rowed</i> by the lecturer. We are going in a party to hear +the new Art of Poetry by this reformed schismatic; and were I one +of these poetical luminaries, or of sufficient consequence to be +noticed by the man of lectures, I should not hear him without an +answer. For you know, 'an' a man will be beaten with brains, he +shall never keep a clean doublet.' C * * will be desperately +annoyed. I never saw a man (and of him I have seen very little) so +sensitive;—what a happy temperament! I am sorry for it; what can +<i>he</i> fear from criticism? I don't know if Bland has seen Miller, +who was to call on him yesterday.</p> + +<p>"To-day is the Sabbath,—a day I never pass pleasantly, but at +Cambridge; and, even there, the organ is a sad remembrancer. Things +are stagnant enough in town,—as long as they don't retrograde, +'tis all very well. H * * writes and writes and writes, and is an +author. I do nothing but eschew tobacco. I wish parliament were +assembled, that I may hear, and perhaps some day be heard;—but on +this point I am not very sanguine. I have many plans;—sometimes I +think of the East again, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page99" name="page99"></a>Pg 99</span> dearly beloved Greece. I am well, but +weakly.—Yesterday Kinnaird told me I looked very ill, and sent me +home happy.</p> + +<p>* * * * * "Is Scrope still interesting and invalid? And how does +Hinde with his cursed chemistry? To Harness I have written, and he +has written, and we have all written, and have nothing now to do +but write again, till death splits up the pen and the scribbler.</p> + +<p>"The Alfred has three hundred and fifty-four candidates for six +vacancies. The cook has run away and left us liable, which makes +our committee very plaintive. Master Brook, our head serving-man, +has the gout, and our new cook is none of the best. I speak from +report,—for what is cookery to a leguminous-eating ascetic? So now +you know as much of the matter as I do. Books and quiet are still +there, and they may dress their dishes in their own way for me. Let +me know your determination as to Newstead, and believe me,</p> + +<p>"Yours ever, Μπαιρῶν."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 80. TO MR. HODGSON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, Dec. 12. 1811.</p> + +<p>"Why, Hodgson! I fear you have left off wine and me at the same +time,—I have written and written and written, and no answer! My +dear Sir Edgar, water disagrees with you,—drink sack and write. +Bland did not come to his appointment, being unwell, but M * * e +supplied all other vacancies most delectably. I have hopes of his +joining us at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>Pg 100</span> Newstead. I am sure you would like him more and more +as he developes,—at least I do.</p> + +<p>"How Miller and Bland go on, I don't know. Cawthorne talks of being +in treaty for a novel of M<sup>e</sup>. D'Arblay's, and if he obtains it (at +1500 gs.!!) wishes me to see the MS. This I should read with +pleasure,—not that I should ever dare to venture a criticism on +her whose writings Dr. Johnson once revised, but for the pleasure +of the thing. If my worthy publisher wanted a sound opinion, I +should send the MS. to Rogers and M * * e, as men most alive to true +taste. I have had frequent letters from Wm. Harness, and <i>you</i> are +silent; certes, you are not a schoolboy. However, I have the +consolation of knowing that you are better employed, viz. +reviewing. You don't deserve that I should add another syllable, +and I won't. Yours, &c.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I only wait for your answer to fix our meeting."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 81. TO MR. HARNESS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, Dec. 15. 1811.</p> + +<p>"I wrote you an answer to your last, which, on reflection, pleases +me as little as it probably has pleased yourself. I will not wait +for your rejoinder; but proceed to tell you, that I had just then +been greeted with an epistle of * *'s, full of his petty +grievances, and this at the moment when (from circumstances it is +not necessary to enter upon) I was bearing up against recollections +to which <i>his</i> imaginary sufferings are as a scratch to a cancer. +These<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>Pg 101</span> things combined, put me out of humour with him and all +mankind. The latter part of my life has been a perpetual struggle +against affections which embittered the earliest portion; and +though I flatter myself I have in a great measure conquered them, +yet there are moments (and this was one) when I am as foolish as +formerly. I never said so much before, nor had I said this now, if +I did not suspect myself of having been rather savage in my letter, +and wish to inform you thus much of the cause. You know I am not +one of your dolorous gentlemen: so now let us laugh again.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday I went with Moore to Sydenham to visit Campbell.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> He +was not visible, so we jogged homeward, merrily enough. To-morrow I +dine with Rogers, and am to hear Coleridge, who is a kind of rage +at present. Last night I saw Kemble in Coriolanus;—he <i>was +glorious</i>, and exerted himself wonderfully. By good luck I got an +excellent place in the best part of the house, which was more than +overflowing. Clare and Delawarre, who were there on the same +speculation, were less fortunate. I saw them by accident,—we were +not together. I wished<span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>Pg 102</span> for you, to gratify your love of Shakspeare +and of fine acting to its fullest extent. Last week I saw an +exhibition of a different kind in a Mr. Coates, at the Haymarket, +who performed Lothario in a <i>damned</i> and damnable manner.</p> + +<p>"I told you the fate of B. and H. in my last. So much for these +sentimentalists, who console themselves in their stews for the +loss—the never to be recovered loss—the despair of the refined +attachment of a couple of drabs! You censure <i>my</i> life, +Harness,—when I compare myself with these men, my elders and my +betters, I really begin to conceive myself a monument of +prudence—a walking statue—without feeling or failing; and yet the +world in general hath given me a proud pre-eminence over them in +profligacy. Yet I like the men, and, God knows, ought not to +condemn their aberrations. But I own I feel provoked when they +dignify all this by the name of <i>love</i>—romantic attachments for +things marketable for a dollar!</p> + +<p>"Dec. 16th.—I have just received your letter;—I feel your +kindness very deeply. The foregoing part of my letter, written +yesterday, will, I hope, account for the tone of the former, though +it cannot excuse it. I do <i>like</i> to hear from you—more than +<i>like</i>. Next to seeing you, I have no greater satisfaction. But you +have other duties, and greater pleasures, and I should regret to +take a moment from either. H * * was to call to-day, but I have not +seen him. The circumstances you mention at the close of your letter +is another proof in favour of my opinion of mankind. Such you will +always find<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>Pg 103</span> them—selfish and distrustful. I except none. The +cause of this is the state of society. In the world, every one is +to stir for himself—it is useless, perhaps selfish, to expect any +thing from his neighbour. But I do not think we are born of this +disposition; for you find <i>friendship</i> as a schoolboy, and <i>love</i> +enough before twenty.</p> + +<p>"I went to see * *; he keeps me in town, where I don't wish to be +at present. He is a good man, but totally without conduct. And now, +my dearest William, I must wish you good morrow, and remain ever, +most sincerely and affectionately yours," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>From the time of our first meeting, there seldom elapsed a day that Lord +Byron and I did not see each other; and our acquaintance ripened into +intimacy and friendship with a rapidity of which I have seldom known an +example. I was, indeed, lucky in all the circumstances that attended my +first introduction to him. In a generous nature like his, the pleasure +of repairing an injustice would naturally give a zest to any partiality +I might have inspired in his mind; while the manner in which I had +sought this reparation, free as it was from resentment or defiance, left +nothing painful to remember in the transaction between us,—no +compromise or concession that could wound self-love, or take away from +the grace of that frank friendship to which he at once, so cordially and +so unhesitatingly, admitted me. I was also not a little fortunate in +forming my acquaintance with him, before his success had yet reached its +meridian burst,—before<span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>Pg 104</span> the triumphs that were in store for him had +brought the world all in homage at his feet, and, among the splendid +crowds that courted his society, even claims less humble than mine had +but a feeble chance of fixing his regard. As it was, the new scene of +life that opened upon him with his success, instead of detaching us from +each other, only multiplied our opportunities of meeting, and increased +our intimacy. In that society where his birth entitled him to move, +circumstances had already placed me, notwithstanding mine; and when, +after the appearance of "Childe Harold," he began to mingle with the +world, the same persons, who had long been <i>my</i> intimates and friends, +became his; our visits were mostly to the same places, and, in the gay +and giddy round of a London spring, we were generally (as in one of his +own letters he expresses it) "embarked in the same Ship of Fools +together."</p> + +<p>But, at the time when we first met, his position in the world was most +solitary. Even those coffee-house companions who, before his departure +from England, had served him as a sort of substitute for more worthy +society, were either relinquished or had dispersed; and, with the +exception of three or four associates of his college days (to whom he +appeared strongly attached), Mr. Dallas and his solicitor seemed to be +the only persons whom, even in their very questionable degree, he could +boast of as friends. Though too proud to complain of this loneliness, it +was evident that he felt it; and that the state of cheerless isolation, +"unguided and unfriended," to which, on entering into manhood, he had +found himself abandoned, was one of the chief<span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>Pg 105</span> sources of that resentful +disdain of mankind, which even their subsequent worship of him came too +late to remove. The effect, indeed, which his subsequent commerce with +society had, for the short period it lasted, in softening and +exhilarating his temper, showed how fit a soil his heart would have been +for the growth of all the kindlier feelings, had but a portion of this +sunshine of the world's smiles shone on him earlier.</p> + +<p>At the same time, in all such speculations and conjectures as to what +<i>might</i> have been, under more favourable circumstances, his character, +it is invariably to be borne in mind, that his very defects were among +the elements of his greatness, and that it was out of the struggle +between the good and evil principles of his nature that his mighty +genius drew its strength. A more genial and fostering introduction into +life, while it would doubtless have softened and disciplined his mind, +might have impaired its vigour; and the same influences that would have +diffused smoothness and happiness over his life might have been fatal to +its glory. In a short poem of his<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>, which appears to have been +produced at Athens, (as I find it written on a leaf of the original MS. +of Childe Harold, and dated "Athens, 1811,") there are two lines which, +though hardly intelligible as connected with the rest of the poem, may, +taken separately, be interpreted as implying a sort of prophetic +consciousness that it was out of the wreck and ruin of all his hopes the +immortality of his name was to arise.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>Pg 106</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Dear object of defeated care,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Though now of love and thee bereft,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To reconcile me with despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thine image and my tears are left.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis said with sorrow Time can cope,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But this, I feel, can ne'er be true;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For, <i>by the death-blow of my hope,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>My Memory immortal grew!</i>"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We frequently, during the first months of our acquaintance, dined +together alone; and as we had no club, in common, to resort to,—the +Alfred being the only one to which he, at that period, belonged, and I +being then a member of none but Watier's,—our dinners used to be either +at the St. Alban's, or at his old haunt, Stevens's. Though at times he +would drink freely enough of claret, he still adhered to his system of +abstinence in food. He appeared, indeed, to have conceived a notion that +animal food has some peculiar influence on the character; and I +remember, one day, as I sat opposite to him, employed, I suppose, rather +earnestly over a beef-steak, after watching me for a few seconds, he +said, in a grave tone of enquiry,—"Moore, don't you find eating +beef-steak makes you ferocious?"</p> + +<p>Understanding me to have expressed a wish to become a member of the +Alfred, he very good-naturedly lost no time in proposing me as a +candidate; but as the resolution which I had then nearly formed of +betaking myself to a country life rendered an additional club in London +superfluous, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>Pg 107</span> wrote to beg that he would, for the present, at least, +withdraw my name: and his answer, though containing little, being the +first familiar note he ever honoured me with, I may be excused for +feeling a peculiar pleasure in inserting it.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 82. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"December 11. 1811.</p> + +<p>"My dear Moore,</p> + +<p>"If you please, we will drop our former monosyllables, and adhere +to the appellations sanctioned by our godfathers and godmothers. If +you make it a point, I will withdraw your name; at the same time +there is no occasion, as I have this day postponed your election +'sine die,' till it shall suit your wishes to be amongst us. I do +not say this from any awkwardness the erasure of your proposal +would occasion to <i>me</i>, but simply such is the state of the case; +and, indeed, the longer your name is up, the stronger will become +the probability of success, and your voters more numerous. Of +course you will decide—your wish shall be my law. If my zeal has +already outrun discretion, pardon me, and attribute my +officiousness to an excusable motive.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would go down with me to Newstead. Hodgson will be +there, and a young friend, named Harness, the earliest and dearest +I ever had from the third form at Harrow to this hour. I can +promise you good wine, and, if you like shooting, a manor of 4000 +acres, fires, books, your own free<span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>Pg 108</span> will, and my own very +indifferent company. 'Balnea, vina * *.'</p> + +<p>"Hodgson will plague you, I fear, with verse;—for my own part I +will conclude, with Martial, 'nil recitabo tibi;' and surely the +last inducement is not the least. Ponder on my proposition, and +believe me, my dear Moore, yours ever,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Among those acts of generosity and friendship by which every year of +Lord Byron's life was signalised, there is none, perhaps, that, for its +own peculiar seasonableness and delicacy, as well as for the perfect +worthiness of the person who was the object of it, deserves more +honourable mention than that which I am now about to record, and which +took place nearly at the period of which I am speaking. The friend, +whose good fortune it was to inspire the feeling thus testified, was Mr. +Hodgson, the gentleman to whom so many of the preceding letters are +addressed; and as it would be unjust to rob him of the grace and honour +of being, himself, the testimony of obligations so signal, I shall here +lay before my readers an extract from the letter with which, in +reference to a passage in one of his noble friend's Journals, he has +favoured me.</p> + +<p>"I feel it incumbent upon me to explain the circumstances to which this +passage alludes, however private their nature. They are, indeed, +calculated to do honour to the memory of my lamented friend.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>Pg 109</span> Having +become involved, unfortunately, in difficulties and embarrassments, I +received from Lord Byron (besides former pecuniary obligations) +assistance, at the time in question, to the amount of a thousand pounds. +Aid of such magnitude was equally unsolicited and unexpected on my part; +but it was a long-cherished, though secret, purpose of my friend to +afford that aid; and he only waited for the period when he thought it +would be of most service. His own words were, on the occasion of +conferring this overwhelming favour, '<i>I always intended to do it</i>.'"</p> + +<p>During all this time, and through the months of January and February, +his poem of "Childe Harold" was in its progress through the press; and +to the changes and additions which he made in the course of printing, +some of the most beautiful passages of the work owe their existence. On +comparing, indeed, his rough draft of the two Cantos with the finished +form in which they exist at present, we are made sensible of the power +which the man of genius possesses, not only of surpassing others, but of +improving on himself. Originally, the "little Page" and "Yeoman" of the +Childe were introduced to the reader's notice in the following tame +stanzas, by expanding the substance of which into their present light, +lyric shape, it is almost needless to remark how much the poet has +gained in variety and dramatic effect:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"And of his train there was a henchman page,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A peasant boy, who serv'd his master well;<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>Pg 110</span></p> +<span class="i2">And often would his pranksome prate engage<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Childe Burun's<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> ear, when his proud heart did swell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With sullen thoughts that he disdain'd to tell.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then would he smile on him, and Alwin<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> smiled,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When aught that from his young lips archly fell,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The gloomy film from Harold's eye beguiled....<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Him and one yeoman only did he take<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To travel eastward to a far countrie;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And, though the boy was grieved to leave the lake,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On whose fair banks he grew from infancy,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Eftsoons his little heart beat merrily,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With hope of foreign nations to behold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And many things right marvellous to see,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of which our vaunting travellers oft have told,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Mandeville....<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In place of that mournful song "To Ines," in the first Canto, which +contains some of the dreariest touches of sadness that even his pen ever +let fall, he had, in the original construction of the poem, been so +little fastidious as to content himself with such ordinary sing-song as +the following:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh never tell again to me<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of Northern climes and British ladies,<br /></span><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>Pg 111</span></p> +<span class="i0">It has not been your lot to see,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like me, the lovely girl of Cadiz,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Although her eye be not of blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor fair her locks, like English lasses," &c. &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>There were also, originally, several stanzas full of direct personality, +and some that degenerated into a style still more familiar and ludicrous +than that of the description of a London Sunday, which still disfigures +the poem. In thus mixing up the light with the solemn, it was the +intention of the poet to imitate Ariosto. But it is far easier to rise, +with grace, from the level of a strain generally familiar, into an +occasional short burst of pathos or splendour, than to interrupt thus a +prolonged tone of solemnity by any descent into the ludicrous or +burlesque.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> In the former case, the transition may have the effect of +softening or elevating, while, in the latter, it almost invariably +shocks;—for the same reason, perhaps, that a trait of pathos or high +feeling, in comedy, has a peculiar charm; while the intrusion of comic +scenes into tragedy, however sanctioned among us by habit and authority, +rarely fails to offend. The noble poet was, himself, convinced of the +failure of the experiment, and in none of the succeeding Cantos of +Childe Harold repeated it.</p> + +<p>Of the satiric parts, some verses on the well-<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>Pg 112</span>known traveller, Sir John +Carr, may supply us with, at least, a harmless specimen:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Ye, who would more of Spain and Spaniards know,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sights, saints, antiques, arts, anecdotes, and war,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Go, hie ye hence to Paternoster Row,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are they not written in the boke of Carr?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Green Erin's Knight, and Europe's wandering star.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then listen, readers, to the Man of Ink,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hear what he did, and sought, and wrote afar:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All these are coop'd within one Quarto's brink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This borrow, steal (don't buy), and tell us what you think."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Among those passages which, in the course of revisal, he introduced, +like pieces of "rich inlay," into the poem, was that fine stanza—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yet if, as holiest men have deem'd, there be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A land of souls beyond that sable shore," &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>through which lines, though, it must be confessed, a tone of scepticism +breathes, (as well as in those tender verses—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yes,—I will dream that we may meet again,")<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>it is a scepticism whose sadness calls far more for pity than blame; +there being discoverable, even through its very doubts, an innate warmth +of piety, which they had been able to obscure, but not to chill. To use +the words of the poet himself, in a note which it was once his intention +to affix to these stanzas, "Let it be remembered that the spirit they +breathe is desponding, not sneering, scepticism,"—a distinction never +to be lost sight of; as, however hopeless may be the conversion of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>Pg 113</span> the +scoffing infidel, he who feels pain in doubting has still alive within +him the seeds of belief.</p> + +<p>At the same time with Childe Harold, he had three other works in the +press,—his "Hints from Horace," "The Curse of Minerva," and a fifth +edition of "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." The note upon the +latter poem, which had been the lucky origin of our acquaintance, was +withdrawn in this edition, and a few words of explanation, which he had +the kindness to submit to my perusal, substituted in its place.</p> + +<p>In the month of January, the whole of the two Cantos being printed off, +some of the poet's friends, and, among others, Mr. Rogers and myself, +were so far favoured as to be indulged with a perusal of the sheets. In +adverting to this period in his "Memoranda," Lord Byron, I remember, +mentioned,—as one of the ill omens which preceded the publication of +the poem,—that some of the literary friends to whom it was shown +expressed doubts of its success, and that one among them had told him +"it was too good for the age." Whoever may have pronounced this +opinion,—and I have some suspicion that I am myself the guilty +person,—the age has, it must be owned, most triumphantly refuted the +calumny upon its taste which the remark implied.</p> + +<p>It was in the hands of Mr. Rogers I first saw the sheets of the poem, +and glanced hastily over a few of the stanzas which he pointed out to me +as beautiful. Having occasion, the same morning, to write a note to Lord +Byron, I expressed strongly<span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>Pg 114</span> the admiration which this foretaste of his +work had excited in me; and the following is—as far as relates to +literary matters—the answer I received from him.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 83. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"January 29. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Moore,</p> + +<p>"I wish very much I could have seen you; I am in a state of +ludicrous tribulation. * * *</p> + +<p>"Why do you say that I dislike your poesy? I have expressed no such +opinion, either in <i>print</i> or elsewhere. In scribbling myself, it +was necessary for me to find fault, and I fixed upon the trite +charge of immorality, because I could discover no other, and was so +perfectly qualified in the innocence of my heart, to 'pluck that +mote from my neighbour's eye.'</p> + +<p>"I feel very, very much obliged by your approbation; but, at <i>this +moment</i>, praise, even <i>your</i> praise, passes by me like 'the idle +wind.' I meant and mean to send you a copy the moment of +publication; but now I can think of nothing but damned, +deceitful,—delightful woman, as Mr. Liston says in the Knight of +Snowdon. Believe me, my dear Moore,</p> + +<p>"Ever yours, most affectionately,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The passages here omitted contain rather <i>too</i> amusing an account of a +disturbance that had just<span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>Pg 115</span> occurred in the establishment at Newstead, in +consequence of the detected misconduct of one of the maid-servants, who +had been supposed to stand rather too high in the favour of her master, +and, by the airs of authority which she thereupon assumed, had disposed +all the rest of the household to regard her with no very charitable +eyes. The chief actors in the strife were this sultana and young +Rushton; and the first point in dispute that came to Lord Byron's +knowledge (though circumstances, far from creditable to the damsel, +afterwards transpired) was, whether Rushton was bound to carry letters +to "the Hut" at the bidding of this female. To an episode of such a +nature I should not have thought of alluding, were it not for the two +rather curious letters that follow, which show how gravely and coolly +the young lord could arbitrate on such an occasion, and with what +considerate leaning towards the servant whose fidelity he had proved, in +preference to any new liking or fancy by which it might be suspected he +was actuated towards the other.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 84. TO ROBERT RUSHTON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, Jan. 21. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Though I have no objection to your refusal to carry <i>letters</i> to +Mealey's, you will take care that the letters are taken by <i>Spero</i> +at the proper time. I have also to observe, that Susan is to be +treated with civility, and not <i>insulted</i> by any person over<span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>Pg 116</span> whom +I have the smallest control, or, indeed, by any one whatever, while +I have the power to protect her. I am truly sorry to have any +subject of complaint against <i>you</i>; I have too good an opinion of +you to think I shall have occasion to repeat it, after the care I +have taken of you, and my favourable intentions in your behalf. I +see no occasion for any communication whatever between <i>you</i> and +the <i>women</i>, and wish you to occupy yourself in preparing for the +situation in which you will be placed. If a common sense of decency +cannot prevent you from conducting yourself towards them with +rudeness, I should at least hope that your <i>own interest</i>, and +regard for a master who has <i>never</i> treated you with unkindness, +will have some weight. Yours, &c.</p> + +<p>"BYRON.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I wish you to attend to your arithmetic, to occupy yourself +in surveying, measuring, and making yourself acquainted with every +particular relative to the <i>land</i> of Newstead, and you will <i>write</i> +to me <i>one letter every week</i>, that I may know how you go on."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 85. TO ROBERT RUSHTON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, January 25. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Your refusal to carry the letter was not a subject of +remonstrance; it was not a part of your business; but the language +you used to the girl was (as <i>she</i> stated it) highly improper.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>Pg 117</span></p> + +<p>"You say that you also have something to complain of; then state it +to me immediately; it would be very unfair, and very contrary to my +disposition, not to hear both sides of the question.</p> + +<p>"If any thing has passed between you <i>before</i> or since my last +visit to Newstead, do not be afraid to mention it. I am sure <i>you</i> +would not deceive me, though <i>she</i> would. Whatever it is, <i>you</i> +shall be forgiven. I have not been without some suspicions on the +subject, and am certain that, at your time of life, the blame could +not attach to you. You will not <i>consult</i> any one as to your +answer, but write to me immediately. I shall be more ready to hear +what you have to advance, as I do not remember ever to have heard a +word from you before <i>against</i> any human being, which convinces me +you would not maliciously assert an untruth. There is not any one +who can do the least injury to you while you conduct yourself +properly. I shall expect your answer immediately. Yours, &c.</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was after writing these letters that he came to the knowledge of some +improper levities on the part of the girl, in consequence of which he +dismissed her and another female servant from Newstead; and how strongly +he allowed this discovery to affect his mind, will be seen in a +subsequent letter to Mr. Hodgson.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>Pg 118</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 86. TO MR. HODGSON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, February 16. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Dear Hodgson,</p> + +<p>"I send you a proof. Last week I was very ill and confined to bed +with stone in the kidney, but I am now quite recovered. If the +stone had got into my heart instead of my kidneys, it would have +been all the better. The women are gone to their relatives, after +many attempts to explain what was already too clear. However, I +have quite recovered <i>that</i> also, and only wonder at my folly in +excepting my own strumpets from the general corruption,—albeit a +two months' weakness is better than ten years. I have one request +to make, which is, never mention a woman again in any letter to me, +or even allude to the existence of the sex. I won't even read a +word of the feminine gender;—it must all be 'propria quæ maribus.'</p> + +<p>"In the spring of 1813 I shall leave England for ever. Every thing +in my affairs tends to this, and my inclinations and health do not +discourage it. Neither my habits nor constitution are improved by +your customs or your climate. I shall find employment in making +myself a good Oriental scholar. I shall retain a mansion in one of +the fairest islands, and retrace, at intervals, the most +interesting portions of the East. In the mean time, I am adjusting +my concerns, which will (when arranged) leave me with wealth +sufficient even for home, but enough for a principality in Turkey. +At present they are in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>Pg 119</span>volved, but I hope, by taking some necessary +but unpleasant steps, to clear every thing. Hobhouse is expected +daily in London; we shall be very glad to see him; and, perhaps, +you will come up and 'drink deep ere he depart,' if not, 'Mahomet +must go to the mountain;'—but Cambridge will bring sad +recollections to him, and worse to me, though for very different +reasons. I believe the only human being that ever loved me in truth +and entirely was of, or belonging to, Cambridge, and, in that, no +change can now take place. There is one consolation in death—where +he sets his seal, the impression can neither be melted nor broken, +but endureth for ever.</p> + +<p>"Yours always, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Among those lesser memorials of his good nature and mindfulness, which, +while they are precious to those who possess them, are not unworthy of +admiration from others, may be reckoned such letters as the following, +to a youth at Eton, recommending another, who was about to be entered at +that school, to his care.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 87. TO MASTER JOHN COWELL.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, February 12. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear John,</p> + +<p>"You have probably long ago forgotten the writer of these lines, +who would, perhaps, be unable to recognise <i>yourself</i>, from the +difference which must naturally have taken place in your stature +and appearance since he saw you last. I have been<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>Pg 120</span> rambling through +Portugal, Spain, Greece, &c. &c. for some years, and have found so +many changes on my return, that it would be very unfair not to +expect that you should have had your share of alteration and +improvement with the rest. I write to request a favour of you: a +little boy of eleven years, the son of Mr. * *, my particular +friend, is about to become an Etonian, and I should esteem any act +of protection or kindness to him as an obligation to myself; let me +beg of you then to take some little notice of him at first, till he +is able to shift for himself.</p> + +<p>"I was happy to hear a very favourable account of you from a +schoolfellow a few weeks ago, and should be glad to learn that your +family are as well as I wish them to be. I presume you are in the +upper school;—as an <i>Etonian</i>, you will look down upon a <i>Harrow</i> +man; but I never, even in my boyish days, disputed your +superiority, which I once experienced in a cricket match, where I +had the honour of making one of eleven, who were beaten to their +hearts' content by your college in <i>one innings</i>.</p> + +<p>"Believe me to be, with great truth," &c. &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On the 27th of February, a day or two before the appearance of Childe +Harold, he made the first trial of his eloquence in the House of Lords; +and it was on this occasion he had the good fortune to become acquainted +with Lord Holland,—an acquaintance no less honourable than gratifying +to both, as having originated in feelings the most generous,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>Pg 121</span> perhaps, +of our nature, a ready forgiveness of injuries, on the one side, and a +frank and unqualified atonement for them, on the other. The subject of +debate was the Nottingham Frame-breaking Bill, and, Lord Byron having +mentioned to Mr. Rogers his intention to take a part in the discussion, +a communication was, by the intervention of that gentleman, opened +between the noble poet and Lord Holland, who, with his usual courtesy, +professed himself ready to afford all the information and advice in his +power. The following letters, however, will best explain their first +advances towards acquaintance.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 88. TO MR. ROGERS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"February 4. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Sir,</p> + +<p>"With my best acknowledgments to Lord Holland, I have to offer my +perfect concurrence in the propriety of the question previously to +be put to ministers. If their answer is in the negative, I shall, +with his Lordship's approbation, give notice of a motion for a +Committee of Enquiry. I would also gladly avail myself of his most +able advice, and any information or documents with which he might +be pleased to intrust me, to bear me out in the statement of facts +it may be necessary to submit to the House.</p> + +<p>"From all that fell under my own observation during my Christmas +visit to Newstead, I feel convinced that, if <i>conciliatory</i> +measures are not very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>Pg 122</span> soon adopted, the most unhappy consequences +may be apprehended. Nightly outrage and daily depredation are +already at their height, and not only the masters of frames, who +are obnoxious on account of their occupation, but persons in no +degree connected with the malecontents or their oppressors, are +liable to insult and pillage.</p> + +<p>"I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken on my +account, and beg you to believe me ever your obliged and sincere," +&c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 89. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, February 25. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My Lord,</p> + +<p>"With my best thanks, I have the honour to return the Notts, letter +to your Lordship. I have read it with attention, but do not think I +shall venture to avail myself of its contents, as my view of the +question differs in some measure from Mr. Coldham's. I hope I do +not wrong him, but <i>his</i> objections to the bill appear to me to be +founded on certain apprehensions that he and his coadjutors might +be mistaken for the '<i>original advisers</i>' (to quote him) of the +measure. For my own part, I consider the manufacturers as a much +injured body of men, sacrificed to the views of certain individuals +who have enriched themselves by those practices which have deprived +the frame-workers of employment. For instance;—by the adoption of +a certain kind of frame, one man performs the work of seven—six +are thus thrown out of business. But it is to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>Pg 123</span> be observed that the +work thus done is far inferior in quality, hardly marketable at +home, and hurried over with a view to exportation. Surely, my Lord, +however we may rejoice in any improvement in the arts which may be +beneficial to mankind, we must not allow mankind to be sacrificed +to improvements in mechanism. The maintenance and well-doing of the +industrious poor is an object of greater consequence to the +community than the enrichment of a few monopolists by any +improvement in the implements of trade, which deprives the workman +of his bread, and renders the, labourer "unworthy of his hire." My +own motive for opposing the bill is founded on its palpable +injustice, and its certain inefficacy. I have seen the state of +these miserable men, and it is a disgrace to a civilised country. +Their excesses may be condemned, but cannot be subject of wonder. +The effect of the present bill would be to drive them into actual +rebellion. The few words I shall venture to offer on Thursday will +be founded upon these opinions formed from my own observations on +the spot. By previous enquiry, I am convinced these men would have +been restored to employment, and the county to tranquillity. It is, +perhaps, not yet too late, and is surely worth the trial. It can +never be too late to employ force in such circumstances. I believe +your Lordship does not coincide with me entirely on this subject, +and most cheerfully and sincerely shall I submit to your superior +judgment and experience, and take some other line of argument +against the bill, or be silent altogether, should you deem it more +advisable.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>Pg 124</span> Condemning, as every one must condemn, the conduct of +these wretches, I believe in the existence of grievances which call +rather for pity than punishment. I have the honour to be, with +great respect, my Lord, your Lordship's</p> + +<p>"Most obedient and obliged servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I am a little apprehensive that your Lordship will think me +too lenient towards these men, and half a <i>framebreaker myself</i>."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It would have been, no doubt, the ambition of Lord Byron to acquire +distinction as well in oratory as in poesy; but Nature seems to set +herself against pluralities in fame. He had prepared himself for this +debate,—as most of the best orators have done, in their first +essays,—not only by composing, but writing down, the whole of his +speech beforehand. The reception he met with was flattering; some of the +noble speakers on his own side complimented him very warmly; and that he +was himself highly pleased with his success, appears from the annexed +account of Mr. Dallas, which gives a lively notion of his boyish elation +on the occasion.</p> + +<p>"When he left the great chamber, I went and met him in the passage; he +was glowing with success, and much agitated. I had an umbrella in my +right hand, not expecting that he would put out his hand to me;—in my +haste to take it when offered, I had advanced my left hand—'What!' said +he, 'give your friend your left hand upon such an occasion?' I showed +the cause, and immediately<span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>Pg 125</span> changing the umbrella to the other hand, I +gave him my right hand, which he shook and pressed warmly. He was +greatly elated, and repeated some of the compliments which had been paid +him, and mentioned one or two of the peers who had desired to be +introduced to him. He concluded with saying, that he had, by his speech, +given me the best advertisement for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage."</p> + +<p>The speech itself, as given by Mr. Dallas from the noble speaker's own +manuscript, is pointed and vigorous; and the same sort of interest that +is felt in reading the poetry of a Burke, may be gratified, perhaps, by +a few specimens of the oratory of a Byron. In the very opening of his +speech, he thus introduces himself by the melancholy avowal, that in +that assembly of his brother nobles he stood almost a stranger.</p> + +<p>"As a person in some degree connected with the suffering county, though +a stranger not only to this House in general, but to almost every +individual whose attention I presume to solicit, I must claim some +portion of your Lordships' indulgence."</p> + +<p>The following extracts comprise, I think, the passages of most spirit:—</p> + +<p>"When we are told that these men are leagued together, not only for the +destruction of their own comfort, but of their very means of +subsistence, can we forget that it is the bitter policy, the destructive +warfare, of the last eighteen years which has destroyed their comfort, +your comfort, all men's comfort;—that policy which, originating with +'great statesmen now no more,' has survived the dead to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>Pg 126</span> become a curse +on the living, unto the third and fourth generation! These men never +destroyed their looms till they were become useless,—worse than +useless; till they were become actual impediments to their exertions in +obtaining their daily bread. Can you then wonder that, in times like +these, when bankruptcy, convicted fraud, and imputed felony, are found +in a station not far beneath that of your Lordships, the lowest, though +once most useful, portion of the people should forget their duty in +their distresses, and become only less guilty than one of their +representatives? But while the exalted offender can find means to baffle +the law, new capital punishments must be devised, new snares of death +must be spread for the wretched mechanic who is famished into guilt. +These men were willing to dig, but the spade was in other hands: they +were not ashamed to beg, but there was none to relieve them. Their own +means of subsistence were cut off; all other employments pre-occupied; +and their excesses, however to be deplored or condemned, can hardly be +the subject of surprise.</p> + +<p>"I have traversed the seat of war in the Peninsula I have been in some +of the most oppressed provinces of Turkey; but never, under the most +despotic of infidel governments, did I behold such squalid wretchedness +as I have seen since my return, in the very heart of a Christian +country. And what are your remedies? After months of inaction, and +months of action worse than inactivity, at length comes forth the grand +specific, the never-failing nostrum of all state physicians from the +days<span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>Pg 127</span> of Draco to the present time. After feeling the pulse, and shaking +the head over the patient, prescribing the usual course of warm water +and bleeding—the warm water of your mawkish police, and the lancets of +your military—these convulsions must terminate in death, the sure +consummation of the prescriptions of all political Sangrados. Setting +aside the palpable injustice and the certain inefficiency of the bill, +are there not capital punishments sufficient on your statutes? Is there +not blood enough upon your penal code, that more must be poured forth to +ascend to heaven and testify against you? How will you carry this bill +into effect? Can you commit a whole county to their own prisons? Will +you erect a gibbet in every field, and hang up men like scare-crows? or +will you proceed (as you must, to bring this measure into effect,) by +decimation; place the country under martial law; depopulate and lay +waste all around you, and restore Sherwood Forest as an acceptable gift +to the crown in its former condition of a royal chase, and an asylum for +outlaws? Are these the remedies for a starving and desperate populace? +Will the famished wretch who has braved your bayonets be appalled by +your gibbets? When death is a relief, and the only relief it appears +that you will afford him, will he be dragooned into tranquillity? Will +that which could not be effected by your grenadiers, be accomplished by +your executioners? If you proceed by the forms of law, where is your +evidence? Those who refused to impeach their accomplices, when +transportation only<span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>Pg 128</span> was the punishment, will hardly be tempted to +witness against them when death is the penalty. With all due deference +to the noble lords opposite, I think a little investigation, some +previous enquiry, would induce even them to change their purpose. That +most favourite state measure, so marvellously efficacious in many and +recent instances, <i>temporising</i>, would not be without its advantage in +this. When a proposal is made to emancipate or relieve, you hesitate, +you deliberate for years, you temporise and tamper with the minds of +men; but a death-bill must be passed off hand, without a thought of the +consequences."</p> + +<p>In reference to his own parliamentary displays, and to this maiden +speech in particular, I find the following remarks in one of his +Journals:—</p> + +<p>"Sheridan's liking for me (whether he was not mystifying me, I do not +know, but Lady Caroline Lamb and others told me that he said the same +both before and after he knew me,) was founded upon 'English Bards and +Scotch Reviewers.' He told me that he did not care about poetry, (or +about mine—at least, any but that poem of mine,) but he was sure, from +that and other symptoms, I should make an orator, if I would but take to +speaking, and grow a parliament man. He never ceased harping upon this +to me to the last; and I remember my old tutor, Dr. Drury, had the same +notion when I was a <i>boy</i>; but it never was my turn of inclination to +try. I spoke once or twice, as all young peers do, as a kind of +introduction into public life; but dissipation, shyness, haughty and +reserved opinions, together with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>Pg 129</span> the short time I lived in England +after my majority (only about five years in all), prevented me from +resuming the experiment. As far as it went, it was not discouraging, +particularly my <i>first</i> speech (I spoke three or four times in all); but +just after it, my poem of Childe Harold was published, and nobody ever +thought about my <i>prose</i> afterwards, nor indeed did I; it became to me a +secondary and neglected object, though I sometimes wonder to myself if I +should have succeeded."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>His immediate impressions with respect to the success of his first +speech may be collected from a letter addressed soon after to Mr. +Hodgson.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 90. TO MR. HODGSON.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"8. St. James's Street, March 5. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Hodgson,</p> + +<p>"<i>We</i> are not answerable for reports of speeches in the papers; +they are always given incorrectly, and on this occasion more so +than usual, from the debate in the Commons on the same night. The +Morning Post should have said <i>eighteen years</i>. However, you will +find the speech, as spoken, in the Parliamentary Register, when it +comes out. Lords Holland and Grenville, particularly the latter, +paid me some high compliments in the course of their speeches, as +you may have seen in the papers, and Lords Eldon and Harrowby +answered me. I have had many marvellous eulogies repeated to me +since, in person and by proxy, from divers persons +<i>ministerial</i>—yea, <i>minis<span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>Pg 130</span>terial!</i>—as well as oppositionists; of +them I shall only mention Sir F. Burdett. <i>He</i> says it is the best +speech by a <i>lord</i> since the '<i>Lord</i> knows when,' probably from a +fellow-feeling in the sentiments. Lord H. tells me I shall beat +them all if I persevere; and Lord G. remarked that the construction +of some of my periods are very like <i>Burke's</i>! And so much for +vanity. I spoke very violent sentences with a sort of modest +impudence, abused every thing and every body, and put the Lord +Chancellor very much out of humour; and if I may believe what I +hear, have not lost any character by the experiment. As to my +delivery, loud and fluent enough, perhaps a little theatrical. I +could not recognise myself or any one else in the newspapers.</p> + +<p>"My poesy comes out on Saturday. Hobhouse is here; I shall tell him +to write. My stone is gone for the present, but I fear is part of +my habit. We <i>all</i> talk of a visit to Cambridge.</p> + +<p>"Yours ever, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of the same date as the above is the following letter to Lord Holland, +accompanying a copy of his new publication, and written in a tone that +cannot fail to give a high idea of his good feeling and candour.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 91. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"St. James's Street, March 5. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My Lord,</p> + +<p>"May I request your Lordship to accept a copy of the thing which +accompanies this note? You<span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>Pg 131</span> have already so fully proved the truth +of the first line of Pope's couplet,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"'<i>Forgiveness to the injured doth belong,</i>'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>that I long for an opportunity to give the lie to the verse that +follows. If I were not perfectly convinced that any thing I may +have formerly uttered in the boyish rashness of my misplaced +resentment had made as little impression as it deserved to make, I +should hardly have the confidence—perhaps your Lordship may give +it a stronger and more appropriate appellation—to send you a +quarto of the same scribbler. But your Lordship, I am sorry to +observe to-day, is troubled with the gout; if my book can produce a +<i>laugh</i> against itself or the author, it will be of some service. +If it can set you to <i>sleep</i>, the benefit will be yet greater; and +as some facetious personage observed half a century ago, that +'poetry is a mere drug,' I offer you mine as a humble assistant to +the 'eau médicinale.' I trust you will forgive this and all my +other buffooneries, and believe me to be, with great respect,</p> + +<p>"Your Lordship's obliged and</p> + +<p>"Sincere servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was within two days after his speech in the House of Lords that +Childe Harold appeared<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>;—<span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>Pg 132</span>and the impression which it produced upon +the public was as instantaneous as it has proved deep and lasting. The +permanence of such success genius alone could secure, but to its instant +and enthusiastic burst, other causes, besides the merit of the work, +concurred.</p> + +<p>There are those who trace in the peculiar character of Lord Byron's +genius strong features of relationship to the times in which he lived; +who think that the great events which marked the close of the last +century, by giving a new impulse to men's minds, by habituating them to +the daring and the free, and allowing full vent to "the flash and +outbreak of fiery spirits," had led naturally to the production of such +a poet as Byron; and that he was, in short, as much the child and +representative of the Revolution, in poesy, as another great man of the +age, Napoleon, was in statesmanship and warfare. Without going the full +length of this notion, it will, at least, be conceded, that the free +loose which had been given to all the passions and energies of the human +mind, in the great struggle of that period, together with the constant +spectacle of such astounding vicissitudes as were passing, almost daily, +on the theatre of the world, had created, in all minds, and in every +walk of intellect, a taste for strong excitement, which the stimulants +supplied from ordinary sources were insufficient to gratify;—<span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>Pg 133</span>that a +tame deference to established authorities had fallen into disrepute, no +less in literature than in politics, and that the poet who should +breathe into his songs the fierce and passionate spirit of the age, and +assert, untrammelled and unawed, the high dominion of genius, would be +the most sure of an audience toned in sympathy with his strains.</p> + +<p>It is true that, to the licence on religious subjects, which revelled +through the first acts of that tremendous drama, a disposition of an +opposite tendency had, for some time, succeeded. Against the wit of the +scoffer, not only piety, but a better taste, revolted; and had Lord +Byron, in touching on such themes in Childe Harold, adopted a tone of +levity or derision, (such as, unluckily, he sometimes afterwards +descended to,) not all the originality and beauty of his work would have +secured for it a prompt or uncontested triumph. As it was, however, the +few dashes of scepticism with which he darkened his strain, far from +checking his popularity, were among those attractions which, as I have +said, independent of all the charms of the poetry, accelerated and +heightened its success. The religious feeling that has sprung up through +Europe since the French revolution—like the political principles that +have emerged out of the same event—in rejecting all the licentiousness +of that period, have preserved much of its spirit of freedom and +enquiry; and, among the best fruits of this enlarged and enlightened +piety is the liberty which it disposes men to accord to the opinions, +and even heresies, of others. To persons thus sincerely, and, at the +same time, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>Pg 134</span>lerantly, devout, the spectacle of a great mind, like that +of Byron, labouring in the eclipse of scepticism, could not be otherwise +than an object of deep and solemn interest. If they had already known +what it was to doubt, themselves, they would enter into his fate with +mournful sympathy; while, if safe in the tranquil haven of faith, they +would look with pity on one who was still a wanderer. Besides, erring +and dark as might be his views at that moment, there were circumstances +in his character and fate that gave a hope of better thoughts yet +dawning upon him. From his temperament and youth, there could be little +fear that he was yet hardened in his heresies, and as, for a heart +wounded like his, there was, they knew, but one true source of +consolation, so it was hoped that the love of truth, so apparent in all +he wrote, would, one day, enable him to find it.</p> + +<p>Another, and not the least of those causes which concurred with the +intrinsic claims of his genius to give an impulse to the tide of success +that now flowed upon him, was, unquestionably, the peculiarity of his +personal history and character. There had been, in his very first +introduction of himself to the public, a sufficient portion of +singularity to excite strong attention and interest. While all other +youths of talent, in his high station, are heralded into life by the +applauses and anticipations of a host of friends, young Byron stood +forth alone, unannounced by either praise or promise,—the +representative of an ancient house, whose name, long lost in the gloomy +solitudes of Newstead, seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>Pg 135</span> have just awakened from the sleep of +half a century in his person. The circumstances that, in succession, +followed,—the prompt vigour of his reprisals upon the assailants of his +fame,—his disappearance, after this achievement, from the scene of his +triumph, without deigning even to wait for the laurels which he had +earned, and his departure on a far pilgrimage, whose limits he left to +chance and fancy,—all these successive incidents had thrown an air of +adventure round the character of the young poet, which prepared his +readers to meet half-way the impressions of his genius. Instead of +finding him, on a nearer view, fall short of their imaginations, the new +features of his disposition now disclosed to them far outwent, in +peculiarity and interest, whatever they might have preconceived; while +the curiosity and sympathy, awakened by what he suffered to transpire of +his history, were still more heightened by the mystery of his allusions +to much that yet remained untold. The late losses by death which he had +sustained, and which, it was manifest, he most deeply mourned, gave a +reality to the notion formed of him by his admirers which seemed to +authorise them in imagining still more; and what has been said of the +poet Young, that he found out the art of "making the public a party to +his private sorrows," may be, with infinitely more force and truth, +applied to Lord Byron.</p> + +<p>On that circle of society with whom he came immediately in contact, +these personal influences acted with increased force, from being +assisted by others, which, to female imaginations especially, would +have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>Pg 136</span> presented a sufficiency of attraction, even without the great +qualities joined with them. His youth,—the noble beauty of his +countenance, and its constant play of lights and shadows,—the +gentleness of his voice and manner to women, and his occasional +haughtiness to men,—the alleged singularities of his mode of life, +which kept curiosity alive and inquisitive,—all these lesser traits and +habitudes concurred towards the quick spread of his fame; nor can it be +denied that, among many purer sources of interest in his poem, the +allusions which he makes to instances of "<i>successful</i> passion" in his +career<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> were not without their influence on the fancies of that sex, +whose weakness it is to be most easily won by those who come recommended +by the greatest number of triumphs over others.</p> + +<p>That his rank was also to be numbered among these extrinsic advantages +appears to have been—partly, perhaps, from a feeling of modesty at the +time—his own persuasion. "I may place a great deal of it," said he to +Mr. Dallas, "to my being a lord." It might be supposed that it is only +on a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>Pg 137</span> rank inferior to his own such a charm could operate; but this very +speech is, in itself, a proof, that in no class whatever is the +advantage of being noble more felt and appreciated than among nobles +themselves. It was, also, natural that, in that circle, the admiration +of the new poet should be, at least, quickened by the consideration that +he had sprung up among themselves, and that their order had, at length, +produced a man of genius, by whom the arrears of contribution, long due +from them to the treasury of English literature, would be at once fully +and splendidly discharged.</p> + +<p>Altogether, taking into consideration the various points I have here +enumerated, it may be asserted, that never did there exist before, and +it is most probable never will exist again, a combination of such vast +mental power and surpassing genius, with so many other of those +advantages and attractions, by which the world is, in general, dazzled +and captivated. The effect was, accordingly, electric;—his fame had not +to wait for any of the ordinary gradations, but seemed to spring up, +like the palace of a fairy tale, in a night. As he himself briefly +described it in his memoranda,—"I awoke one morning and found myself +famous." The first edition of his work was disposed of instantly; and, +as the echoes of its reputation multiplied on all sides, "Childe Harold" +and "Lord Byron" became the theme of every tongue. At his door, most of +the leading names of the day presented themselves,—some of them persons +whom he had much wronged in his Satire, but who now forgot their +resentment in generous<span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>Pg 138</span> admiration. From morning till night the most +flattering testimonies of his success crowded his table,—from the grave +tributes of the statesman and the philosopher down to (what flattered +him still more) the romantic billet of some <i>incognita,</i> or the pressing +note of invitation from some fair leader of fashion; and, in place of +the desert which London had been to him but a few weeks before, he now +not only saw the whole splendid interior of High Life thrown open to +receive him, but found himself, among its illustrious crowds, the most +distinguished object.</p> + +<p>The copyright of the poem, which was purchased by Mr. Murray for +600<i>l.</i>, he presented, in the most delicate and unostentatious manner, +to Mr. Dallas<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>, saying, at the same time, that he "never would +receive money for his writings;"—a resolution, the mixed result of +generosity and pride, which he afterwards wisely abandoned, though borne +out by the example of Swift<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> and Voltaire, the latter of whom gave +away most of his copyrights to Prault and other booksellers, and +received books, not money, for those he disposed of otherwise. To his +young friend, Mr. Harness, it had been his intention, at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>Pg 139</span> first, to +dedicate the work, but, on further consideration, he relinquished his +design; and in a letter to that gentleman (which, with some others, is +unfortunately lost) alleged, as his reason for this change, the +prejudice which, he foresaw, some parts of the poem would raise against +himself, and his fear lest, by any possibility, a share of the odium +might so far extend itself to his friend, as to injure him in the +profession to which he was about to devote himself.</p> + +<p>Not long after the publication of Childe Harold, the noble author paid +me a visit, one morning, and, putting a letter into my hands, which he +had just received, requested that I would undertake to manage for him +whatever proceedings it might render necessary. This letter, I found, +had been delivered to him by Mr. Leckie (a gentleman well known by a +work on Sicilian affairs), and came from a once active and popular +member of the fashionable world, Colonel Greville,—its purport being to +require of his Lordship, as author of "English Bards," &c., such +reparation as it was in his power to make for the injury which, as +Colonel Greville conceived, certain passages in that satire, reflecting +upon his conduct as manager of the Argyle Institution, were calculated +to inflict upon his character. In the appeal of the gallant Colonel, +there were some expressions of rather an angry cast, which Lord Byron, +though fully conscious of the length to which he himself had gone, was +but little inclined to brook, and, on my returning the letter into his +hands, he said, "To such a letter as that there can be but one sort of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>Pg 140</span> +answer." He agreed, however, to trust the matter entirely to my +discretion, and I had, shortly after, an interview with the friend of +Colonel Greville. By this gentleman, who was then an utter stranger to +me, I was received with much courtesy, and with every disposition to +bring the affair intrusted to us to an amicable issue. On my premising +that the tone of his friend's letter stood in the way of negotiation, +and that some obnoxious expressions which it contained must be removed +before I could proceed a single step towards explanation, he most +readily consented to remove this obstacle. At his request I drew a pen +across the parts I considered objectionable, and he undertook to send me +the letter re-written, next morning. In the mean time I received from +Lord Byron the following paper for my guidance:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"With regard to the passage on Mr. Way's loss, no unfair play was +hinted at, as may be seen by referring to the book; and it is +expressly added that the <i>managers were ignorant</i> of that +transaction. As to the prevalence of play at the Argyle, it cannot +be denied that there were <i>billiards</i> and <i>dice</i>;—Lord B. has been +a witness to the use of both at the Argyle Rooms. These, it is +presumed, come under the denomination of play. If play be allowed, +the President of the Institution can hardly complain of being +termed the 'Arbiter of Play,'—or what becomes of his authority?</p> + +<p>"Lord B. has no personal animosity to Colonel Greville. A public +institution, to which he himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>Pg 141</span> was a subscriber, he considered +himself to have a right to notice <i>publicly</i>. Of that institution +Colonel Greville was the avowed director;—it is too late to enter +into the discussion of its merits or demerits.</p> + +<p>"Lord B. must leave the discussion of the reparation, for the real +or supposed injury, to Colonel G.'s friend, and Mr. Moore, the +friend of Lord B.—begging them to recollect that, while they +consider Colonel G.'s honour, Lord B. must also maintain his own. +If the business can be settled amicably, Lord B. will do as much as +can and ought to be done by a man of honour towards +conciliation;—if not, he must satisfy Colonel G. in the manner +most conducive to his further wishes."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the morning I received the letter, in its new form, from Mr. Leckie, +with the annexed note.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My dear Sir,</p> + +<p>"I found my friend very ill in bed; he has, however, managed to +copy the enclosed, with the alterations proposed. Perhaps you may +wish to see me in the morning; I shall therefore be glad to see you +any time till twelve o'clock. If you rather wish me to call on you, +tell me, and I shall obey your summons. Yours, very truly,</p> + +<p>"G.T. LECKIE."</p></div> + +<p>With such facilities towards pacification, it is almost needless to add +that there was but little delay in settling the matter amicably.</p> + +<p>While upon this subject, I shall avail myself of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>Pg 142</span> opportunity which +it affords of extracting an amusing account given by Lord Byron himself +of some affairs of this description, in which he was, at different +times, employed as mediator.</p> + +<p>"I have been called in as mediator, or second, at least twenty times, in +violent quarrels, and have always contrived to settle the business +without compromising the honour of the parties, or leading them to +mortal consequences, and this, too, sometimes in very difficult and +delicate circumstances, and having to deal with very hot and haughty +spirits,—Irishmen, gamesters, guardsmen, captains, and cornets of +horse, and the like. This was, of course, in my youth, when I lived in +hot-headed company. I have had to carry challenges from gentlemen to +noblemen, from captains to captains, from lawyers to counsellors, and +once from a clergyman to an officer in the Life Guards; but I found the +latter by far the most difficult,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"'to compose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bloody duel without blows,'—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the business being about a woman: I must add, too, that I never saw a +<i>woman</i> behave so ill, like a cold-blooded, heartless b—— as she +was,—but very handsome for all that. A certain Susan C * * was she +called. I never saw her but once; and that was to induce her but to say +two words (which in no degree compromised herself), and which would have +had the effect of saving a priest or a lieutenant of cavalry. She would +not say them, and neither N * * nor myself (the son of Sir E. N * *, and +a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>Pg 143</span> friend to one of the parties,) could prevail upon her to say them, +though both of us used to deal in some sort with womankind. At last I +managed to quiet the combatants without her talisman, and, I believe, to +her great disappointment: she was the damnedest b—— that I ever saw, +and I have seen a great many. Though my clergyman was sure to lose +either his life or his living, he was as warlike as the Bishop of +Beauvais, and would hardly be pacified; but then he was in love, and +that is a martial passion."</p> + +<p>However disagreeable it was to find the consequences of his Satire thus +rising up against him in a hostile shape, he was far more embarrassed in +those cases where the retribution took a friendly form. Being now daily +in the habit of meeting and receiving kindnesses from persons who, +either in themselves, or through their relatives, had been wounded by +his pen, he felt every fresh instance of courtesy from such quarters to +be, (as he sometimes, in the strong language of Scripture, expressed +it,) like "heaping coals of fire upon his head." He was, indeed, in a +remarkable degree, sensitive to the kindness or displeasure of those he +lived with; and had he passed a life subject to the immediate influence +of society, it may be doubted whether he ever would have ventured upon +those unbridled bursts of energy in which he at once demonstrated and +abused his power. At the period when he ran riot in his Satire, society +had not yet caught him within its pale; and in the time of his Cains and +Don Juans, he had again broken loose<span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>Pg 144</span> from it. Hence, his instinct +towards a life of solitude and independence, as the true element of his +strength. In his own domain of imagination he could defy the whole +world; while, in real life, a frown or smile could rule him. The +facility with which he sacrificed his first volume, at the mere +suggestion of his friend, Mr. Becher, is a strong proof of this +pliableness; and in the instance of Childe Harold, such influence had +the opinions of Mr. Gifford and Mr. Dallas on his mind, that he not only +shrunk from his original design of identifying himself with his hero, +but surrendered to them one of his most favourite stanzas, whose +heterodoxy they had objected to; nor is it too much, perhaps, to +conclude, that had a more extended force of such influence then acted +upon him, he would have consented to omit the sceptical parts of his +poem altogether. Certain it is that, during the remainder of his stay in +England, no such doctrines were ever again obtruded on his readers; and +in all those beautiful creations of his fancy, with which he brightened +that whole period, keeping the public eye in one prolonged gaze of +admiration, both the bitterness and the licence of his impetuous spirit +were kept effectually under control. The world, indeed, had yet to +witness what he was capable of, when emancipated from this restraint. +For, graceful and powerful as were his flights while society had still a +hold of him, it was not till let loose from the leash that he rose into +the true region of his strength; and though almost in proportion to that +strength was, too frequently, his abuse<span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>Pg 145</span> of it, yet so magnificent are +the very excesses of such energy, that it is impossible, even while we +condemn, not to admire.</p> + +<p>The occasion by which I have been led into these remarks,—namely, his +sensitiveness on the subject of his Satire,—is one of those instances +that show how easily his gigantic spirit could be, if not held down, at +least entangled, by the small ties of society. The aggression of which +he had been guilty was not only past, but, by many of those most +injured, forgiven; and yet,—highly, it must be allowed, to the credit +of his social feelings,—the idea of living familiarly and friendlily +with persons, respecting whose character or talents there were such +opinions of his on record, became, at length, insupportable to him; and, +though far advanced in a fifth edition of "English Bards," &c., he came +to the resolution of suppressing the Satire altogether; and orders were +sent to Cawthorn, the publisher, to commit the whole impression to the +flames. At the same time, and from similar motives,—aided, I rather +think, by a friendly remonstrance from Lord Elgin, or some of his +connections,—the "Curse of Minerva," a poem levelled against that +nobleman, and already in progress towards publication, was also +sacrificed; while the "Hints from Horace," though containing far less +personal satire than either of the others, shared their fate.</p> + +<p>To exemplify what I have said of his extreme sensibility, to the passing +sunshine or clouds of the society in which he lived, I need but cite the +following notes, addressed by him to his friend Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>Pg 146</span> William Bankes, +under the apprehension that this gentleman was, for some reason or +other, displeased with him.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 92. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"April 20. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Bankes,</p> + +<p>"I feel rather hurt (not savagely) at the speech you made to me +last night, and my hope is, that it was only one of your <i>profane</i> +jests. I should be very sorry that any part of my behaviour should +give you cause to suppose that I think higher of myself, or +otherwise of you than I have always done. I can assure you that I +am as much the humblest of your servants as at Trin. Coll.; and if +I have not been at home when you favoured me with a call, the loss +was more mine than yours. In the bustle of buzzing parties, there +is, there can be, no rational conversation; but when I can enjoy +it, there is nobody's I can prefer to your own. Believe me ever +faithfully and most affectionately yours,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 93. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My dear Bankes,</p> + +<p>"My eagerness to come to an explanation has, I trust, convinced you +that whatever my unlucky manner might inadvertently be, the change +was as unintentional as (if intended) it would have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>Pg 147</span> been +ungrateful. I really was not aware that, while we were together, I +had evinced such caprices; that we were not so much in each other's +company as I could have wished, I well know, but I think so <i>acute</i> +an <i>observer</i> as yourself must have perceived enough to <i>explain +this</i>, without supposing any slight to one in whose society I have +pride and pleasure. Recollect that I do not allude here to +'extended' or 'extending' acquaintances, but to circumstances you +will understand, I think, on a little reflection.</p> + +<p>"And now, my dear Bankes, do not distress me by supposing that I +can think of you, or you of me, otherwise than I trust we have long +thought. You told me not long ago that my temper was improved, and +I should be sorry that opinion should be revoked. Believe me, your +friendship is of more account to me than all those absurd vanities +in which, I fear, you conceive me to take too much interest. I have +never disputed your superiority, or doubted (seriously) your good +will, and no one shall ever 'make mischief between us' without the +sincere regret on the part of your ever affectionate, &c.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I shall see you, I hope, at Lady Jersey's. Hobhouse goes +also."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the month of April he was again tempted to try his success in the +House of Lords; and, on the motion of Lord Donoughmore for taking into +consideration the claims of the Irish catholics, delivered his +sentiments strongly in favour of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>Pg 148</span> proposition. His display, on this +occasion, seems to have been less promising than in his first essay. His +delivery was thought mouthing and theatrical, being infected, I take for +granted (having never heard him speak in Parliament), with the same +chanting tone that disfigured his recitation of poetry,—a tone +contracted at most of the public schools, but more particularly, +perhaps, at Harrow, and encroaching just enough on the boundaries of +song to offend those ears most by which song is best enjoyed and +understood.</p> + +<p>On the subject of the negotiations for a change of ministry which took +place during this session, I find the following anecdotes recorded in +his notebook:—</p> + +<p>"At the opposition meeting of the peers in 1812, at Lord Grenville's, +when Lord Grey and he read to us the correspondence upon Moira's +negotiation, I sate next to the present Duke of Grafton, and said, 'What +is to be done next?'—'Wake the Duke of Norfolk' (who was snoring away +near us), replied he: 'I don't think the negotiators have left any thing +else for us to do this turn.'</p> + +<p>"In the debate, or rather discussion, afterwards in the House of Lords +upon that very question, I sate immediately behind Lord Moira, who was +extremely annoyed at Grey's speech upon the subject; and, while Grey was +speaking, turned round to me repeatedly, and asked me whether I agreed +with him. It was an awkward question to me who had not heard both sides. +Moira kept repeating to me, 'It was <i>not so</i>, it was so and so,' &c. I +did not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>Pg 149</span> know very well what to think, but I sympathised with the +acuteness of his feelings upon the subject."</p> + +<p>The subject of the Catholic claims was, it is well known, brought +forward a second time this session by Lord Wellesley, whose motion for a +future consideration of the question was carried by a majority of one. +In reference to this division, another rather amusing anecdote is thus +related.</p> + +<p>"Lord * * affects an imitation of two very different Chancellors, +Thurlow and Loughborough, and can indulge in an oath now and then. On +one of the debates on the Catholic question, when we were either equal +or within one (I forget which), I had been sent for in great haste to a +ball, which I quitted, I confess, somewhat reluctantly, to emancipate +five millions of people. I came in late, and did not go immediately into +the body of the House, but stood just behind the woolsack. * * turned +round, and, catching my eye, immediately said to a peer, (who had come +to him for a few minutes on the woolsack, as is the custom of his +friends,) 'Damn them! they'll have it now,—by G——d! the vote that is +just come in will give it them.'"</p> + +<p>During all this time, the impression which he had produced in society, +both as a poet and a man, went on daily increasing; and the facility +with which he gave himself up to the current of fashionable life, and +mingled in all the gay scenes through which it led, showed that the +novelty, at least, of this mode of existence had charms for him, however +he might estimate its pleasures. That sort of vanity which is almost +inseparable from genius, and which consists<span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>Pg 150</span> in an extreme sensitiveness +on the subject of self, Lord Byron, I need not say, possessed in no +ordinary degree; and never was there a career in which this sensibility +to the opinions of others was exposed to more constant and various +excitement than that on which he was now entered. I find in a note of my +own to him, written at this period, some jesting allusions to the +"circle of star-gazers" whom I had left around him at some party on the +preceding night;—and such, in fact, was the flattering ordeal he had to +undergo wherever he went. On these occasions,—particularly before the +range of his acquaintance had become sufficiently extended to set him +wholly at his ease,—his air and port were those of one whose better +thoughts were elsewhere, and who looked with melancholy abstraction on +the gay crowd around him. This deportment, so rare in such scenes, and +so accordant with the romantic notions entertained of him, was the +result partly of shyness, and partly, perhaps, of that love of effect +and impression to which the poetical character of his mind naturally +led. Nothing, indeed, could be more amusing and delightful than the +contrast which his manners afterwards, when we were alone, presented to +his proud reserve in the brilliant circle we had just left. It was like +the bursting gaiety of a boy let loose from school, and seemed as if +there was no extent of fun or tricks of which he was not capable. +Finding him invariably thus lively when we were together, I often +rallied him on the gloomy tone of his poetry, as assumed; but his +constant answer was (and I soon ceased to doubt of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>Pg 151</span> its truth), that, +though thus merry and full of laughter with those he liked, he was, at +heart, one of the most melancholy wretches in existence.</p> + +<p>Among the numerous notes which I received from him at this time,—some +of them relating to our joint engagements in society, and others to +matters now better forgotten,—I shall select a few that (as showing his +haunts and habits) may not, perhaps, be uninteresting.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"March 25. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Know all men by these presents, that you, Thomas Moore, stand +indicted—no—invited, by special and particular solicitation, to +Lady C. L * *'s to-morrow evening, at half-past nine o'clock, where +you will meet with a civil reception and decent entertainment. +Pray, come—I was so examined after you this morning, that I +entreat you to answer in person.</p> + +<p>"Believe me," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Friday noon.</p> + +<p>"I should have answered your note yesterday, but I hoped to have +seen you this morning. I must consult with you about the day we +dine with Sir Francis. I suppose we shall meet at Lady Spencer's +to-night. I did not know that you were at Miss Berry's the other +night, or I should have certainly gone there.</p> + +<p>"As usual, I am in all sorts of scrapes, though none, at present, +of a martial description.</p> + +<p>"Believe me," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>Pg 152</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"May 8. 1812.</p> + +<p>"I am too proud of being your friend to care with whom I am linked +in your estimation, and, God knows, I want friends more at this +time than at any other. I am 'taking care of myself' to no great +purpose. If you knew my situation in every point of view you would +excuse apparent and unintentional neglect. I shall leave town, I +think; but do not you leave it without seeing me. I wish you, from +my soul, every happiness you can wish yourself; and I think you +have taken the road to secure it. Peace be with you! I fear she has +abandoned me.</p> + +<p>"Ever," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"May 20. 1812.</p> + +<p>"On Monday, after sitting up all night, I saw Bellingham launched +into eternity<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>, and at three the same day I saw * * * launched +into the country.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>Pg 153</span></p> + +<p>"I believe, in the beginning of June, I shall be down for a few +days in Notts. If so, I shall beat you up 'en passant' with +Hobhouse, who is endeavouring, like you and every body else, to +keep me out of scrapes.</p> + +<p>"I meant to have written you a long letter, but I find I cannot. If +any thing remarkable occurs, you will hear it from me—if good; if +<i>bad</i>, there are plenty to tell it. In the mean time, do you be +happy.</p> + +<p>"Ever yours, &c.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—My best wishes and respects to Mrs. * *;—she is beautiful. +I may say so even to you, for I never was more struck with a +countenance."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Among the tributes to his fame, this spring, it should have been +mentioned that, at some evening party, he had the honour of being +presented, at that royal personage's own desire, to the Prince Regent. +"The Regent," says Mr. Dallas, "expressed his admiration of Childe +Harold's Pilgrimage, and continued a conversation, which so fascinated +the poet, that had it not been for an accidental deferring of the next +levee, he bade fair to become a visiter at Carlton House, if not a +complete courtier."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>Pg 154</span></p> + +<p>After this wise prognostic, the writer adds,—"I called on him on the +morning for which the levee had been appointed, and found him in a full +dress court suit of clothes, with his fine black hair in powder, which +by no means suited his countenance. I was surprised, as he had not told +me that he should go to court; and it seemed to me as if he thought it +necessary to apologise for his intention, by his observing that he could +not in decency but do it, as the Regent had done him the honour to say +that he hoped to see him soon at Carlton House."</p> + +<p>In the two letters that follow we find his own account of the +introduction.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 94. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"June 25. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Lord,</p> + +<p>"I must appear very ungrateful, and have, indeed, been very +negligent, but till last night I was not apprised of Lady Holland's +restoration, and I shall call to-morrow to have the satisfaction, I +trust, of hearing that she is well—I hope that neither politics +nor gout have assailed your Lordship since I last saw you, and that +you also are 'as well as could be expected.'</p> + +<p>"The other night, at a ball, I was presented by order to our +gracious Regent, who honoured me with some conversation, and +professed a predilection for poetry.—I confess it was a most +unexpected honour, and I thought of poor B——-s's adventure, with +some apprehension of a similar blunder, I have now<span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155"></a>Pg 155</span> great hope, in +the event of Mr. Pye's decease, of 'warbling truth at court,' like +Mr. Mallet of indifferent memory.—Consider, one hundred marks a +year! besides the wine and the disgrace; but then remorse would +make me drown myself in my own butt before the year's end, or the +finishing of my first dithyrambic.—So that, after all, I shall not +meditate our laureate's death by pen or poison.</p> + +<p>"Will you present my best respects to Lady Holland? and believe me +hers and yours very sincerely."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The second letter, entering much more fully into the particulars of this +interview with Royalty, was in answer, it will be perceived, to some +enquiries which Sir Walter Scott (then Mr. Scott) had addressed to him +on the subject; and the whole account reflects even still more honour on +the Sovereign himself than on the two poets.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 95. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"St. James's Street, July 6. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"I have just been honoured with your letter.—I feel sorry that you +should have thought it worth while to notice the 'evil works of my +nonage,' as the thing is suppressed voluntarily, and your +explanation is too kind not to give me pain. The Satire was written +when I was very young and very angry, and fully bent on displaying +my wrath and my wit, and now I am haunted by the ghosts of my<span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>Pg 156</span> +wholesale assertions. I cannot sufficiently thank you for your +praise; and now, waving myself, let me talk to you of the Prince +Regent. He ordered me to be presented to him at a ball; and after +some sayings peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my own +attempts, he talked to me of you and your immortalities: he +preferred you to every bard past and present, and asked which of +your works pleased me most. It was a difficult question. I +answered, I thought the "Lay." He said his own opinion was nearly +similar. In speaking of the others, I told him that I thought you +more particularly the poet of <i>Princes</i>, as <i>they</i> never appeared +more fascinating than in 'Marmion' and the 'Lady of the Lake.' He +was pleased to coincide, and to dwell on the description of your +Jameses as no less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of +Homer and yourself, and seemed well acquainted with both; so that +(with the exception of the Turks and your humble servant) you were +in very good company. I defy Murray to have exaggerated his Royal +Highness's opinion of your powers, nor can I pretend to enumerate +all he said on the subject; but it may give you pleasure to hear +that it was conveyed in language which would only suffer by my +attempting to transcribe it, and with a tone and taste which gave +me a very high idea of his abilities and accomplishments, which I +had hitherto considered as confined to <i>manners</i>, certainly +superior to those of any living <i>gentleman</i>.</p> + +<p>"This interview was accidental. I never went to the levee; for +having seen the courts of Mussulman<span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>Pg 157</span> and Catholic sovereigns, my +curiosity was sufficiently allayed; and my politics being as +perverse as my rhymes, I had, in fact, 'no business there.' To be +thus praised by your Sovereign must be gratifying to you; and if +that gratification is not alloyed by the communication being made +through me, the bearer of it will consider himself very fortunately +and sincerely,</p> + +<p>"Your obliged and obedient servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—Excuse this scrawl, scratched in a great hurry, and just +after a journey."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>During the summer of this year, he paid visits to some of his noble +friends, and, among others, to the Earl of Jersey and the Marquis of +Lansdowne. "In 1812," he says, "at Middleton (Lord Jersey's), amongst a +goodly company of lords, ladies, and wits, &c., there was (* * *.)<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>"Erskine, too! Erskine was there; good, but intolerable. He jested, he +talked, he did every thing admirably, but then he would be applauded for +the same thing twice over. He would read his own verses, his own +paragraph, and tell his own story again and again; and then the 'Trial +by Jury!!!' I almost wished it abolished, for I sat next him at dinner. +As I had read his published speeches, there was no occasion to repeat +them to me.</p> + +<p>"C * * (the fox-hunter), nicknamed '<i>Cheek</i> C * *,'<span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158"></a>Pg 158</span> and I, sweated the +claret, being the only two who did so. C * *, who loves his bottle, and +had no notion of meeting with a 'bon-vivant' in a scribbler<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>, in +making my eulogy to somebody one evening, summed it up in—'By G——d he +drinks like a man.'</p> + +<p>"Nobody drank, however, but C * * and I. To be sure, there was little +occasion, for we swept off what was on the table (a most splendid board, +as may be supposed, at Jersey's) very sufficiently. However, we carried +our liquor discreetly, like the Baron of Bradwardine."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the month of August this year, on the completion of the new Theatre +Royal, Drury Lane, the Committee of Management, desirous of procuring an +Address for the opening of the theatre, took the rather novel mode of +inviting, by an advertisement in the newspapers, the competition of all +the poets of the day towards this object. Though the contributions that +ensued were sufficiently numerous, it did not appear to the Committee +that there was any one among the number worthy of selection. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="page159" name="page159"></a>Pg 159</span> this +difficulty it occurred to Lord Holland that they could not do better +than have recourse to Lord Byron, whose popularity would give additional +vogue to the solemnity of their opening, and to whose transcendant +claims, as a poet, it was taken for granted, (though without sufficient +allowance, as it proved, for the irritability of the brotherhood,) even +the rejected candidates themselves would bow without a murmur. The first +result of this application to the noble poet will be learned from what +follows.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 96. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, September 10. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Lord,</p> + +<p>"The lines which I sketched off on your hint are still, or rather +<i>were</i>, in an unfinished state, for I have just committed them to a +flame more decisive than that of Drury. Under all the +circumstances, I should hardly wish a contest with +Philo-drama—Philo-Drury—Asbestos, H * *, and all the anonymes and +synonymes of Committee candidates. Seriously, I think you have a +chance of something much better; for prologuising is not my forte, +and, at all events, either my pride or my modesty won't let me +incur the hazard of having my rhymes buried in next month's +Magazine, under 'Essays on the Murder of Mr. Perceval,' and 'Cures +for the Bite of a Mad Dog,' as poor Goldsmith complained of the +fate of far superior performances.</p> + +<p>"I am still sufficiently interested to wish to know the successful +candidate; and, amongst so many, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name="page160"></a>Pg 160</span> have no doubt some will be +excellent, particularly in an age when writing verse is the easiest +of all attainments.</p> + +<p>"I cannot answer your intelligence with the 'like comfort,' unless, +as you are deeply theatrical, you may wish to hear of Mr. * *, +whose acting is, I fear, utterly inadequate to the London +engagement into which the managers of Covent Garden have lately +entered. His figure is fat, his features flat, his voice +unmanageable, his action ungraceful, and, as Diggory says, 'I defy +him to <i>ex</i>tort that d——d muffin face of his into madness.' I was +very sorry to see him in the character of the 'Elephant on the +slack rope;' for, when I last saw him, I was in raptures with his +performance. But then I was sixteen—an age to which all London +condescended to subside. After all, much better judges have +admired, and may again; but I venture to 'prognosticate a prophecy' +(see the Courier) that he will not succeed.</p> + +<p>"So, poor dear Rogers has stuck fast on 'the brow of the mighty +Helvellyn'—I hope not for ever. My best respects to Lady H.:—her +departure, with that of my other friends, was a sad event for me, +now reduced to a state of the most cynical solitude. 'By the waters +of Cheltenham I sat down and <i>drank</i>, when I remembered thee, oh +Georgiana Cottage! As for our <i>harps</i>, we hanged them up upon the +willows that grew thereby. Then they said, Sing us a song of Drury +Lane,' &c.;—but I am dumb and dreary as the Israelites. The waters +have disordered me to my heart's content—you <i>were</i> right, as you<span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>Pg 161</span> +always are. Believe me ever your obliged and affectionate servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The request of the Committee for his aid having been, still more +urgently, repeated, he, at length, notwithstanding the difficulty and +invidiousness of the task, from his strong wish to oblige Lord Holland, +consented to undertake it; and the quick succeeding notes and letters, +which he addressed, during the completion of the Address, to his noble +friend, afford a proof (in conjunction with others of still more +interest, yet to be cited) of the pains he, at this time, took in +improving and polishing his first conceptions, and the importance he +wisely attached to a judicious choice of epithets as a means of +enriching both the music and the meaning of his verse. They also +show,—what, as an illustration of his character, is even still more +valuable,—the exceeding pliancy and good humour with which he could +yield to friendly suggestions and criticisms; nor can it be questioned, +I think, but that the docility thus invariably exhibited by him, on +points where most poets are found to be tenacious and irritable, was a +quality natural to his disposition, and such as might have been turned +to account in far more important matters, had he been fortunate enough +to meet with persons capable of understanding and guiding him.</p> + +<p>The following are a few of those hasty notes, on the subject of the +Address, which I allude to:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>Pg 162</span></p> + +<p><b>TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"September 22. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Lord,</p> + +<p>"In a day or two I will send you something which you will still +have the liberty to reject if you dislike it. I should like to have +had more time, but will do my best,—but too happy if I can oblige +<i>you</i>, though I may offend a hundred scribblers and the discerning +public. Ever yours.</p> + +<p>"Keep <i>my name</i> a <i>secret</i>; or I shall be beset by all the +rejected, and, perhaps, damned by a party."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 97. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, September 23. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Ecco!—I have marked some passages with <i>double</i> readings—choose +between them—<i>cut</i>—<i>add</i>—<i>reject</i>—or <i>destroy</i>—do with them +as you will—I leave it to you and the Committee—you cannot say so +called 'a <i>non committendo</i>.' What will <i>they</i> do (and I do) with +the hundred and one rejected Troubadours? 'With trumpets, yea, and +with shawms,' will you be assailed in the most diabolical doggerel. +I wish my name not to transpire till the day is decided. I shall +not be in town, so it won't much matter; but let us have a good +<i>deliverer</i>. I think Elliston should be the man, or Pope; <i>not</i> +Raymond, I implore you, by the love of Rhythmus!</p> + +<p>"The passages marked thus ==, above and below, are for you to +choose between epithets, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>Pg 163</span> such like poetical furniture. Pray +write me a line, and believe me ever, &c.</p> + +<p>"My best remembrances to Lady H. Will you be good enough to decide +between the various readings marked, and erase the other; or our +deliverer may be as puzzled as a commentator, and belike repeat +both. If these <i>versicles</i> won't do, I will hammer out some more +endecasyllables.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—Tell Lady H. I have had sad work to keep out the Phoenix—I +mean the Fire Office of that name. It has insured the theatre, and +why not the Address?"</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"September 24.</p> + +<p>"I send a recast of the four first lines of the concluding +paragraph.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"This greeting o'er, the ancient rule obey'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">The drama's homage by her Herald paid,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Receive <i>our welcome too</i>, whose every tone<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Springs from our hearts, and fain would win your own.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">The curtain rises, &c. &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And do forgive all this trouble. See what it is to have to do even +with the <i>genteelest</i> of us. Ever," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 99. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"September 26. 1812.</p> + +<p>"You will think there is no end to my villanous emendations. The +fifth and sixth lines I think to alter thus:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>Pg 164</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Ye who beheld—oh sight admired and mourn'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Whose radiance mock'd the ruin it adorn'd;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>because 'night' is repeated the next line but one; and, as it now +stands, the conclusion of the paragraph, 'worthy him (Shakspeare) +and <i>you</i>,' appears to apply the '<i>you</i>' to those only who were out +of bed and in Covent Garden Market on the night of conflagration, +instead of the audience or the discerning public at large, all of +whom are intended to be comprised in that comprehensive and, I +hope, comprehensible pronoun.</p> + +<p>"By the by, one of my corrections in the fair copy sent yesterday +has dived into the bathos some sixty fathom—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"When Garrick died, and Brinsley ceased to write.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Ceasing to <i>live</i> is a much more serious concern, and ought not to +be first; therefore I will let the old couplet stand, with its half +rhymes 'sought' and 'wrote.'<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Second thoughts in every thing are +best, but, in rhyme, third and fourth don't come amiss. I am very +anxious on this business, and I do hope that the very trouble I +occasion you will plead its own excuse, and that it will tend to +show my endeavour to make the most of the time allotted. I wish<span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>Pg 165</span> I +had known it months ago, for in that case I had not left one line +standing on another. I always scrawl in this way, and smooth as +much as I can, but never sufficiently; and, latterly, I can weave a +nine-line stanza faster than a couplet, for which measure I have +not the cunning. When I began 'Childe Harold,' I had never tried +Spenser's measure, and now I cannot scribble in any other.</p> + +<p>"After all, my dear Lord, if you can get a decent Address +elsewhere, don't hesitate to put this aside. Why did you not trust +your own Muse? I am very sure she would have been triumphant, and +saved the Committee their trouble—''tis a joyful one' to me, but I +fear I shall not satisfy even myself. After the account you sent +me, 'tis no compliment to say you would have beaten your +candidates; but I mean that, in <i>that</i> case, there would have been +no occasion for their being beaten at all.</p> + +<p>"There are but two decent prologues in our tongue—Pope's to +Cato—Johnson's to Drury Lane. These, with the epilogue to the +'Distrest Mother,' and, I think, one of Goldsmith's, and a prologue +of old Colman's to Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, are the best +things of the kind we have.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I am diluted to the throat with medicine for the stone; and +Boisragon wants me to try a warm climate for the winter—but I +won't."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 100. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"September 27. 1812.</p> + +<p>"I have just received your very kind letter, and hope you have met +with a second copy cor<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>Pg 166</span>rected and addressed to Holland House, with +some omissions and this new couplet,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"As glared each rising flash<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a>, and ghastly shone<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The skies with lightnings awful as their own.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As to remarks, I can only say I will alter and acquiesce in any +thing. With regard to the part which Whitbread wishes to omit, I +believe the Address will go off <i>quicker</i> without it, though, like +the agility of the Hottentot, at the expense of its vigour. I leave +to your choice entirely the different specimens of stucco-work; and +a <i>brick</i> of your own will also much improve my Babylonish turret. +I should like Elliston to have it, with your leave. 'Adorn' and +'mourn' are lawful rhymes in Pope's Death of the unfortunate +Lady.—Gray has 'forlorn' and 'mourn;'—and 'torn' and 'mourn' are +in Smollet's famous Tears of Scotland.</p> + +<p>"As there will probably be an outcry amongst the rejected, I hope +the committee will testify (if it be needful) that I sent in +nothing to the congress whatever, with or without a name, as your +Lordship well knows. All I have to do with it is with and through +you; and though I, of course, wish to satisfy the audience, I do +assure you my first object is to comply with your request, and in +so doing to show the sense I have of the many obligations you have +conferred upon me. Yours ever, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>Pg 167</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 103. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"September 29. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Shakspeare certainly ceased to reign in <i>one</i> of his kingdoms, as +George III. did in America, and George IV. may in Ireland.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> Now, +we have nothing to do out of our own realms, and when the monarchy +was gone, his majesty had but a barren sceptre. I have <i>cut away</i>, +you will see, and altered, but make it what you please; only I do +implore, for my <i>own</i> gratification, one lash on those accursed +quadrupeds—'a long shot, Sir Lucius, if you love me.' I have +altered 'wave,' &c., and the 'fire,' and so forth for the timid.</p> + +<p>"Let me hear from you when convenient, and believe me, &c.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—Do let <i>that</i> stand, and cut out elsewhere. I shall choke, +if we must overlook their d——d menagerie."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 105. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Far be from him that hour which asks in vain<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Tears such as flow for Garrick in his strain;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>or</i>,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Far be that hour that vainly asks in turn<br /></span> +<span class="i12">{<i>crown'd his</i>}<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Such verse for him as {wept o'er} Garrick's urn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"September 30. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Will you choose between these added to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>Pg 168</span> lines on Sheridan?<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +I think they will wind up the panegyric, and agree with the train +of thought preceding them.</p> + +<p>"Now, one word as to the Committee—how could they resolve on a +rough copy of an Address never sent in, unless you had been good +enough to retain in memory, or on paper, the thing they have been +good enough to adopt? By the by, the circumstances of the case +should make the Committee less 'avidus glorias,' for all praise of +them would look plaguy suspicious. If necessary to be stated at +all, the simple facts bear them out. They surely had a right to act +as they pleased. My sole object is one which, I trust, my whole +conduct has shown; viz. that I did nothing insidious—sent in no +Address <i>whatever</i>—but, when applied to, did my best for them and +myself; but, above all, that there was no undue partiality, which +will be what the rejected will endeavour to make out. +Fortunately—most fortunately—I sent in no lines on the occasion. +For I am sure that had they, in that case, been preferred, it would +have been asserted that <i>I</i> was known, and owed the preference to +private friendship. This is what we shall probably have to +encounter; but, if once spoken and approved, we sha'n't be much +embarrassed by their brilliant conjectures; and, as to criticism, +an <i>old</i> author, like an old bull, grows cooler (or ought) at every +baiting.</p> + +<p>"The only thing would be to avoid a party on<span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>Pg 169</span> the night of +delivery—afterwards, the more the better, and the whole +transaction inevitably tends to a good deal of discussion. Murray +tells me there are myriads of ironical Addresses ready—<i>some</i>, in +imitation of what is called <i>my style</i>. If they are as good as the +Probationary Odes, or Hawkins's Pipe of Tobacco, it will not be bad +fun for the imitated.</p> + +<p>"Ever," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The time comprised in the series of letters to Lord Holland, of which +the above are specimens, Lord Byron passed, for the most part, at +Cheltenham; and during the same period, the following letters to other +correspondents were written.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 107. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"High Street, Cheltenham, Sept. 5. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Pray have the goodness to send those despatches, and a No. of the +Edinburgh Review with the rest. I hope you have written to Mr. +Thompson, thanked him in my name for his present, and told him that +I shall be truly happy to comply with his request.—How do you go +on? and when is the graven image, 'with <i>bays and wicked rhyme +upon 't,'</i> to grace, or disgrace, some of our tardy editions?</p> + +<p>"Send me '<i>Rokeby</i>.' Who the devil is he?—no matter, he has good +connections, and will be well introduced. I thank you for your +enquiries: I am so so, but my thermometer is sadly below the +poetical point. What will you give <i>me</i> or <i>mine</i> for a poem of six +cantos, (<i>when complete</i>—<i>no</i> rhyme,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>Pg 170</span> <i>no</i> recompense,) as like +the last two as I can make them? I have some ideas that one day may +be embodied, and till winter I shall have much leisure.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—My last question is in the true style of Grub Street; but, +like Jeremy Diddler, I only 'ask for information.'—Send me Adair +on Diet and Regimen, just republished by Ridgway."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 108. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, Sept. 14. 1812.</p> + +<p>"The parcels contained some letters and verses, all but one +anonymous and complimentary, and very anxious for my conversion +from certain infidelities into which my good-natured correspondents +conceive me to have fallen. The books were presents of a +<i>convertible</i> kind. Also, 'Christian Knowledge' and the 'Bioscope,' +a religious Dial of Life explained;—and to the author of the +former (Cadell, publisher,) I beg you will forward my best thanks +for his letter, his present, and, above all, his good intentions. +The 'Bioscope' contained a MS. copy of very excellent verses, from +whom I know not, but evidently the composition of some one in the +habit of writing, and of writing well. I do not know if he be the +author of the 'Bioscope' which accompanied them; but whoever he is, +if you can discover him, thank him from me most heartily. The other +letters were from ladies, who are welcome to convert me when they +please; and if I can discover them, and they be young, as they say +they are, I could convince them perhaps of my devotion. I had also +a letter from<span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>Pg 171</span> Mr. Walpole on matters of this world, which I have +answered.</p> + +<p>"So you are Lucien's publisher? I am promised an interview with +him, and think I shall ask <i>you</i> for a letter of introduction, as +'the gods have made him poetical.' From whom could it come with a +better grace than from <i>his</i> publisher and mine? Is it not somewhat +treasonable in you to have to do with a relative of the 'direful +foe,' as the Morning Post calls his brother?</p> + +<p>"But my book on 'Diet and Regimen,' where is it? I thirst for +Scott's Rokeby; let me have your first-begotten copy. The +Anti-jacobin Review is all very well, and not a bit worse than the +Quarterly, and at least less harmless. By the by, have you secured +my books? I want all the Reviews, at least the critiques, +quarterly, monthly, &c., Portuguese and English, extracted, and +bound up in one volume for my <i>old age</i>; and pray, sort my Romaic +books, and get the volumes lent to Mr. Hobhouse—he has had them +now a long time. If any thing occurs, you will favour me with a +line, and in winter we shall be nearer neighbours.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I was applied to, to write the Address for Drury Lane, but +the moment I heard of the contest, I gave up the idea of contending +against all Grub Street, and threw a few thoughts on the subject +into the fire. I did this out of respect to you, being sure you +would have turned off any of your authors who had entered the lists +with such scurvy competitors. To triumph would have been no glory; +and to have been defeated—'sdeath!—I would<span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>Pg 172</span> have choked myself, +like Otway, with a quartern loaf; so, remember I had, and have, +nothing to do with it, upon <i>my honour</i>."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 109. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, September 28. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Bankes,</p> + +<p>"When you point out to one how people can be intimate at the +distance of some seventy leagues, I will plead guilty to your +charge, and accept your farewell, but not <i>wittingly</i>, till you +give me some better reason than my silence, which merely proceeded +from a notion founded on your own declaration of <i>old</i>, that you +hated writing and receiving letters. Besides, how was I to find out +a man of many residences? If I had addressed you <i>now</i>, it had been +to your borough, where I must have conjectured you were amongst +your constituents. So now, in despite of Mr. N. and Lady W., you +shall be as 'much better' as the Hexham post-office will allow me +to make you. I do assure you I am much indebted to you for thinking +of me at all, and can't spare you even from amongst the +superabundance of friends with whom you suppose me surrounded.</p> + +<p>"You heard that Newstead<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> is sold—the sum<span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>Pg 173</span> 140,000<i>l.</i>; sixty +to remain in mortgage on the estate for three years, paying +interest, of course. Rochdale is also likely to do well—so my +worldly matters are mending. I have been here some time drinking +the waters, simply because there are waters to drink, and they are +very medicinal, and sufficiently disgusting. In a few days I set +out for Lord Jersey's, but return here, where I am quite alone, go +out very little, and enjoy in its fullest extent the 'dolce far +niente.' What you are about, I cannot guess, even from your +date;—not dauncing to the sound of the gitourney in the Halls of +the Lowthers? one of whom is here, ill, poor thing, with a +phthisic. I heard that you passed through here (at the sordid inn +where I first alighted) the very day before I arrived in these +parts. We had a very pleasant set here; at first the Jerseys, +Melbournes, Cowpers, and Hollands, but all gone; and the only +persons I know are the Rawdons and Oxfords, with some later +acquaintances of less brilliant descent.</p> + +<p>"But I do not trouble them much; and as for your rooms and your +assemblies, 'they are not dreamed of in our philosophy!!'—Did you +read of a sad accident in the Wye t' other day? a dozen drowned, and +Mr. Rossoe, a corpulent gentleman, preserved by a boat-hook or an +eel-spear, begged, when he heard his wife was +saved—no—<i>lost</i>—to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>Pg 174</span> be thrown in again!!—as if he could not +have thrown himself in, had he wished it; but this passes for a +trait of sensibility. What strange beings men are, in and out of +the Wye!</p> + +<p>"I have to ask you a thousand pardons for not fulfilling some +orders before I left town; but if you knew all the cursed +entanglements I <i>had</i> to wade through, it would be unnecessary to +beg your forgiveness.—When will Parliament (the new one) +meet?—in sixty days, on account of Ireland, I presume: the Irish +election will demand a longer period for completion than the +constitutional allotment. Yours, of course, is safe, and all your +side of the question. Salamanca is the ministerial watchword, and +all will go well with you. I hope you will speak more frequently, I +am sure at least you <i>ought</i>, and it will be expected. I see +Portman means to stand again. Good night.</p> + +<p>"Ever yours most affectionately,</p> + +<p>"Μπαἱρων."<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 110. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, September 27. 1812.</p> + +<p>"I sent in no Address whatever to the Committee; but out of nearly +one hundred (this is <i>confidential</i>), none have been deemed worth +acceptance; and in consequence of their <i>subsequent</i> application to +<i>me</i>, I have written a prologue, which <i>has</i> been re<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>Pg 175</span>ceived, and +will be spoken. The MS. is now in the hands of Lord Holland.</p> + +<p>"I write this merely to say, that (however it is received by the +audience) you will publish it in the next edition of Childe Harold; +and I only beg you at present to keep my name secret till you hear +further from me, and as soon as possible I wish you to have a +correct copy, to do with as you think proper.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I should wish a few copies printed off <i>before</i>, that the +newspaper copies may be correct <i>after</i> the <i>delivery</i>."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 111. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, Oct. 12. 1812.</p> + +<p>"I have a very <i>strong</i> objection to the engraving of the +portrait<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a>, and request that it may, on no account, be prefixed; +but let <i>all</i> the proofs be burnt, and the plate broken. I will be +at the expense which has been incurred; it is but fair that <i>I</i> +should, since I cannot permit the publication. I beg, as a +particular favour, that you will lose no time in having this done, +for which I have reasons that I will state<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>Pg 176</span> when I see you. Forgive +all the trouble I have occasioned you.</p> + +<p>"I have received no account of the reception of the Address, but +see it is vituperated in the papers, which does not much embarrass +an <i>old author</i>. I leave it to your own judgment to add it, or not, +to your next edition when required. Pray comply <i>strictly</i> with my +wishes as to the engraving, and believe me, &c.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—Favour me with an answer, as I shall not be easy till I hear +that the proofs, &c. are destroyed. I hear that the <i>Satirist</i> has +reviewed Childe Harold, in what manner I need not ask; but I wish +to know if the old personalities are revived? I have a better +reason for asking this than any that merely concerns myself; but in +publications of that kind, others, particularly female names, are +sometimes introduced."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 112. TO LORD HOLLAND.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, Oct. 14. 1812.</p> + +<p>"My dear Lord,</p> + +<p>"I perceive that the papers, yea, even Perry's, are somewhat +ruffled at the injudicious preference of the Committee. My friend +Perry has, indeed, 'et tu Brute'-d me rather scurvily, for which I +will send him, for the M.C., the next epigram I scribble, as a +token of my full forgiveness.</p> + +<p>"Do the Committee mean to enter into no explanation of their +proceedings? You must see there is a leaning towards a charge of +partiality. You will, at least, acquit me of any great anxiety to +push<span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177"></a>Pg 177</span> myself before so many elder and better anonymous, to whom the +twenty guineas (which I take to be about two thousand pounds <i>Bank</i> +currency) and the honour would have been equally welcome. 'Honour,' +I see, 'hath no skill in paragraph-writing.'</p> + +<p>"I wish to know how it went off at the second reading, and whether +any one has had the grace to give it a glance of approbation. I +have seen no paper but Perry's and two Sunday ones. Perry is +severe, and the others silent. If, however, you and your Committee +are not now dissatisfied with your own judgments, I shall not much +embarrass myself about the brilliant remarks of the journals. My +own opinion upon it is what it always was, perhaps pretty near that +of the public.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, my dear Lord, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—My best respects to Lady H., whose smiles will be very +consolatory, even at this distance."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 113. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, Oct. 18. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Will you have the goodness to get this Parody of a peculiar +kind<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> (for all the first lines are <i>Busby</i>'s<span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178"></a>Pg 178</span> entire) inserted +in several of the papers (<i>correctly</i>—and copied <i>correctly</i>; <i>my +hand</i> is difficult)—particularly the Morning Chronicle? Tell Mr. +Perry I forgive him all he has said, and may say against <i>my +address</i>, but he will allow me to deal with the Doctor—(<i>audi +alteram partem</i>)—and not <i>betray</i> me. I cannot think what has +befallen Mr. Perry, for of yore we were very good friends;—but no +matter, only get this inserted.</p> + +<p>"I have a poem on Waltzing for <i>you</i>, of which I make <i>you</i> a +present; but it must be anonymous. It is in the old style of +English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—With the next edition of Childe Harold you may print the +first fifty or a hundred opening lines of the 'Curse of Minerva' +down to the couplet beginning</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Mortal ('twas thus she spake), &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Of course, the moment the <i>Satire</i> begins, there you will stop, and +the opening is the best part."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page179" name="page179"></a>Pg 179</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 114. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Oct. 19. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Many thanks, but I <i>must</i> pay the <i>damage</i>, and will thank you to +tell me the amount for the engraving. I think the 'Rejected +Addresses' by far the best thing of the kind since the Rolliad, and +wish <i>you</i> had published them. Tell the author 'I forgive him, were +he twenty times over a satirist;' and think his imitations not at +all inferior to the famous ones of Hawkins Browne. He must be a man +of very lively wit, and less scurrilous than wits often are: +altogether, I very much admire the performance, and wish it all +success. The <i>Satirist</i> has taken a new tone, as you will see: we +have now, I think, finished with Childe Harold's critics. I have in +<i>hand</i> a <i>Satire</i> on <i>Waltzing,</i> which you must publish +anonymously: it is not long, not quite two hundred lines, but will +make a very small boarded pamphlet. In a few days you shall have +it.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—The editor of the <i>Satirist</i> ought to be thanked for his +revocation; it is done handsomely, after five years' warfare."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 115. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Oct. 23. 1812.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, as usual. You go on boldly; but have a care of <i>glutting</i> +the public, who have by this time had enough of Childe Harold. +'Waltzing' shall be prepared. It is rather above two hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="page180" name="page180"></a>Pg 180</span> +lines, with an introductory Letter to the Publisher. I think of +publishing, with Childe Harold, the opening lines of the 'Curse of +Minerva,' as far as the first speech of Pallas,—because some of +the readers like that part better than any I have ever written, and +as it contains nothing to affect the subject of the subsequent +portion, it will find a place as a <i>Descriptive Fragment</i>.</p> + +<p>"The <i>plate</i> is <i>broken</i>? between ourselves, it was unlike the +picture; and besides, upon the whole, the frontispiece of an +author's visage is but a paltry exhibition. At all events, <i>this</i> +would have been no recommendation to the book. I am sure Sanders +would not have <i>survived</i> the engraving. By the by, the <i>picture</i> +may remain with <i>you</i> or <i>him</i> (which you please), till my return. +The <i>one</i> of two remaining copies is at your service till I can +give you a <i>better</i>; the other must be <i>burned peremptorily</i>. +Again, do not forget that I have an account with you, and <i>that</i> +this is <i>included</i>. I give you too much trouble to allow you to +incur <i>expense</i> also.</p> + +<p>"You best know how far this 'Address Riot' will affect the future +sale of Childe Harold. I like the volume of 'Rejected Addresses' +better and better. The other parody which Perry has received is +mine also (I believe). It is Dr. Busby's speech versified. You are +removing to Albemarle Street, I find, and I rejoice that we shall +be nearer neighbours. I am going to Lord Oxford's, but letters here +will be forwarded. When at leisure, all communications from you +will be willingly received by the humblest of your scribes. Did Mr. +Ward write the review of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181"></a>Pg 181</span> Horne Tooke's Life in the Quarterly? it is +excellent."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 116. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cheltenham, November 22. 1812.</p> + +<p>"On my return here from Lord Oxford's, I found your obliging note, +and will thank you to retain the letters, and any other subsequent +ones to the same address, till I arrive in town to claim them, +which will probably be in a few days. I have in charge a curious +and very long MS. poem, written by Lord Brooke (the <i>friend</i> of Sir +<i>Philip Sidney</i>), which I wish to submit to the inspection of Mr. +Gifford, with the following queries:—first, whether it has ever +been published, and, secondly (if not), whether it is worth +publication? It is from Lord Oxford's library, and must have +escaped or been overlooked amongst the MSS. of the Harleian +Miscellany. The writing is Lord Brooke's, except a different hand +towards the close. It is very long, and in the six-line stanza. It +is not for me to hazard an opinion upon its merits; but I would +take the liberty, if not too troublesome, to submit it to Mr. +Gifford's judgment, which, from his excellent edition of Massinger, +I should conceive to be as decisive on the writings of that age as +on those of our own.</p> + +<p>"Now for a less agreeable and important topic.—How came Mr. +<i>Mac-Somebody</i>, without consulting you or me, to prefix the Address +to his volume<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182"></a>Pg 182</span> '<i>Dejected</i> Addresses?' Is not this somewhat +larcenous? I think the ceremony of leave might have been asked, +though I have no objection to the thing itself; and leave the +'hundred and eleven' to tire themselves with 'base comparisons.' I +should think the ingenuous public tolerably sick of the subject, +and, except the Parodies, I have not interfered, nor shall; indeed +I did not know that Dr. Busby had published his Apologetical Letter +and Postscript, or I should have recalled them. But, I confess, I +looked upon his conduct in a different light before its appearance. +I see some mountebank has taken Alderman Birch's name to vituperate +Dr. Busby; he had much better have pilfered his pastry, which I +should imagine the more valuable ingredient—at least for a +puff.—Pray secure me a copy of Woodfall's new Junius, and believe +me," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 117. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"December 26.</p> + +<p>"The multitude of your recommendations has already superseded my +humble endeavours to be of use to you; and, indeed, most of my +principal friends are returned. Leake from Joannina, Canning and +Adair from the city of the Faithful, and at Smyrna no letter is +necessary, as the consuls are always willing to do every thing for +personages of respectability. I have sent you <i>three</i>, one to +Gib<span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183"></a>Pg 183</span>raltar, which, though of no great necessity, will, perhaps, put +you on a more intimate footing with a very pleasant family there. +You will very soon find out that a man of any consequence has very +little occasion for any letters but to ministers and bankers, and +of them we have already plenty, I will be sworn.</p> + +<p>"It is by no means improbable that I shall go in the spring, and if +you will fix any place of rendezvous about August, I will <i>write</i> +or <i>join</i> you.—When in Albania, I wish you would enquire after +Dervise Tahiri and Vascillie (or Bazil), and make my respects to +the viziers, both there and in the Morea. If you mention my name to +Suleyman of Thebes, I think it will not hurt you; if I had my +dragoman, or wrote Turkish, I could have given you letters of <i>real +service</i>; but to the English they are hardly requisite, and the +Greeks themselves can be of little advantage. Liston you know +already, and I do not, as he was not then minister. Mind you visit +Ephesus and the Troad, and let me hear from you when you please. I +believe G. Forresti is now at Yanina, but if not, whoever is there +will be too happy to assist you. Be particular about <i>firmauns</i>; +never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in +Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take some +<i>knicknackeries</i> for <i>presents</i>—<i>watches</i>, <i>pistols</i>, &c. &c. to +the Beys and Pachas. If you find one Demetrius, at Athens or +elsewhere, I can recommend him as a good dragoman. I hope to join +you, however; but you will find swarms of English now in the +Levant.</p> + +<p>"Believe me," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184"></a>Pg 184</span></p> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"February 20. 1813.</p> + +<p>"In 'Horace in London' I perceive some stanzas on Lord Elgin in +which (waving the kind compliment to myself<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>) I heartily concur. +I wish I had the pleasure of Mr. Smith's acquaintance, as I could +communicate the curious anecdote you read in Mr. T.'s letter. If he +would like it, he can have the <i>substance</i> for his second edition; +if not, I shall add it to our next, though I think we already have +enough of Lord Elgin.</p> + +<p>"What I have read of this work seems admirably done. My praise, +however, is not much worth the author's having; but you may thank +him in my name for <i>his</i>. The idea is new—we have excellent +imitations of the Satires, &c. by Pope; but I remember but one +imitative Ode in his works, and <i>none</i> any where else. I can hardly +suppose that <i>they</i> have lost any fame by the fate of the <i>farce</i>; +but even should this be the case, the present publication will +again place them on their pinnacle.</p> + +<p>"Yours," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185"></a>Pg 185</span></p> + +<p>It has already been stated that the pecuniary supplies, which he found +it necessary to raise on arriving at majority, were procured for him on +ruinously usurious terms.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> To some transactions connected with this +subject, the following characteristic letter refers.</p> + +<p><b>TO MR. ROGERS.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"March 25, 1813.</p> + +<p>"I enclose you a draft for the usurious interest due to Lord * *'s +<i>protégé</i>;—I also could wish you would state thus much for me to +his Lordship. Though the transaction speaks plainly in itself for +the borrower's folly and the lender's usury, it never was my +intention to <i>quash</i> the demand, as I <i>legally</i> might, nor to +withhold payment of principal, or, perhaps, even <i>unlawful</i> +interest. You know what my situation has been, and what it is. I +have parted with an estate (which has been in my family for nearly +three hundred years, and was never disgraced by being in possession +of a <i>lawyer</i>, a <i>churchman</i>, or a <i>woman</i>, during that period,) to +liquidate this and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186"></a>Pg 186</span> similar demands; and the payment of the +purchase is still withheld, and may be, perhaps, for years. If, +therefore, I am under the necessity of making those persons <i>wait</i> +for their money, (which, considering the terms, they can afford to +suffer,) it is my misfortune.</p> + +<p>"When I arrived at majority in 1809, I offered my own security on +<i>legal</i> interest, and it was refused. <i>Now</i>, I will not accede to +this. This man I may have seen, but I have no recollection of the +names of any parties but the <i>agents</i> and the securities. The +moment I can it is assuredly my intention to pay my debts. This +person's case may be a hard one; but, under all circumstances, what +is mine? I could not foresee that the purchaser of my estate was to +demur in paying for it.</p> + +<p>"I am glad it happens to be in my power so far to accommodate my +Israelite, and only wish I could do as much for the rest of the +Twelve Tribes.</p> + +<p>"Ever yours, dear R., BN."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At the beginning of this year, Mr. Murray having it in contemplation to +publish an edition of the two Cantos of Childe Harold with engravings, +the noble author entered with much zeal into his plan; and, in a note on +the subject to Mr. Murray, says,—"Westall has, I believe, agreed to +illustrate your book, and I fancy one of the engravings will be from the +pretty little girl you saw the other day<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a>, though<span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187"></a>Pg 187</span> without her name, +and merely as a model for some sketch connected with the subject. I +would also have the portrait (which you saw to-day) of the friend who is +mentioned in the text at the close of Canto 1st, and in the +notes,—which are subjects sufficient to authorise that addition."</p> + +<p>Early in the spring he brought out, anonymously, his poem on Waltzing, +which, though full of very lively satire, fell so far short of what was +now expected from him by the public, that the disavowal of it, which, as +we see by the following letter, he thought right to put forth, found +ready credence:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 120. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"April 21. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I shall be in town by Sunday next, and will call and have some +conversation on the subject of Westall's designs. I am to sit to +him for a picture at the request of a friend of mine, and as +Sanders's is not a good one, you will probably prefer the other. I +wish you to have Sanders's taken down and sent to my lodgings +immediately—before my arrival. I hear that a certain malicious +publication on Waltzing is attributed to me. This report, I +suppose, you will take care to contradict, as the author, I am +sure, will not like that I should wear his cap and bells. Mr. +Hobhouse's quarto will be out immediately; pray send to the author +for an early copy, which I wish to take abroad with me.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I see the Examiner threatens some observations upon you next +week. What can you have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188"></a>Pg 188</span> done to share the wrath which has +heretofore been principally expended upon the Prince? I presume all +your Scribleri will be drawn up in battle array in defence of the +modern Tonson—Mr. Bucke, for instance.</p> + +<p>"Send in my account to Bennet Street, as I wish to settle it before +sailing."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the month of May appeared his wild and beautiful "Fragment," <i>The +Giaour</i>;—and though, in its first flight from his hands, some of the +fairest feathers of its wing were yet wanting, the public hailed this +new offspring of his genius with wonder and delight. The idea of writing +a poem in fragments had been suggested to him by the <i>Columbus</i> of Mr. +Rogers; and, whatever objections may lie against such a plan in general, +it must be allowed to have been well suited to the impatient temperament +of Byron, as enabling him to overleap those mechanical difficulties, +which, in a regular narrative, embarrass, if not chill, the +poet,—leaving it to the imagination of his readers to fill up the +intervals between those abrupt bursts of passion in which his chief +power lay. The story, too, of the poem possessed that stimulating charm +for him, almost indispensable to his fancy, of being in some degree +connected with himself,—an event in which he had been personally +concerned, while on his travels, having supplied the groundwork on which +the fiction was founded. After the appearance of The Giaour, some +incorrect statement of this romantic incident having got into +circulation, the noble author requested of his friend,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189"></a>Pg 189</span> the Marquis of +Sligo, who had visited Athens soon after it happened, to furnish him +with his recollections on the subject; and the following is the answer +which Lord Sligo returned:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Albany, Monday, August 31. 1813.</p> + +<p>"My dear Byron,</p> + +<p>"You have requested me to tell you all that I heard at Athens about +the affair of that girl who was so near being put an end to while +you were there; you have asked me to mention every circumstance, in +the remotest degree relating to it, which I heard. In compliance +with your wishes, I write to you all I heard, and I cannot imagine +it to be very far from the fact, as the circumstance happened only +a day or two before I arrived at Athens, and, consequently, was a +matter of common conversation at the time.</p> + +<p>"The new governor, unaccustomed to have the same intercourse with +the Christians as his predecessor, had of course the barbarous +Turkish ideas with regard to women. In consequence, and in +compliance with the strict letter of the Mahommedan law, he ordered +this girl to be sewed up in a sack, and thrown into the sea,—as +is, indeed, quite customary at Constantinople. As you were +returning from bathing in the Piraeus, you met the procession going +down to execute the sentence of the Waywode on this unfortunate +girl. Report continues to say, that on finding out what the object +of their journey was, and who was the miserable sufferer, you +immediately interfered; and on some delay in obeying your orders, +you were obliged to inform the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190"></a>Pg 190</span> leader of the escort, that force +should make him comply;—that, on farther hesitation, you drew a +pistol, and told him, that if he did not immediately obey your +orders, and come back with you to the Aga's house, you would shoot +him dead. On this, the man turned about and went with you to the +governor's house; here you succeeded, partly by personal threats, +and partly by bribery and entreaty, to procure her pardon on +condition of her leaving Athens. I was told that you then conveyed +her in safety to the convent, and despatched her off at night to +Thebes, where she found a safe asylum. Such is the story I heard, +as nearly as I can recollect it at present. Should you wish to ask +me any further questions about it, I shall be very ready and +willing to answer them. I remain, my dear Byron,</p> + +<p>"Yours, very sincerely,</p> + +<p>"SLIGO.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you will hardly be able to read this scrawl; but I am +so hurried with the preparations for my journey, that you must +excuse it."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of the prodigal flow of his fancy, when its sources were once opened on +any subject, The Giaour affords one of the most remarkable +instances,—this poem having accumulated under his hand, both in +printing and through successive editions, till from four hundred lines, +of which it consisted in his first copy, it at present amounts to nearly +fourteen hundred. The plan, indeed, which he had adopted, of a series of +fragments,—a set of "orient pearls at random strung,"—left him free to +introduce,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page191" name="page191"></a>Pg 191</span> without reference to more than the general complexion of his +story, whatever sentiments or images his fancy, in its excursions, could +collect; and how little fettered he was by any regard to connection in +these additions, appears from a note which accompanied his own copy of +the paragraph commencing "Fair clime, where every season smiles,"—in +which he says, "I have not yet fixed the place of insertion for the +following lines, but will, when I see you—as I have no copy."</p> + +<p>Even into this new passage, rich as it was at first, his fancy +afterwards poured a fresh infusion,—the whole of its most picturesque +portion, from the line "For there, the Rose o'er crag or vale," down to +"And turn to groans his roundelay," having been suggested to him during +revision. In order to show, however, that though so rapid in the first +heat of composition, he formed no exception to that law which imposes +labour as the price of perfection, I shall here extract a few verses +from his original draft of this paragraph, by comparing which with the +form they wear at present<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> we may learn to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page192" name="page192"></a>Pg 192</span> appreciate the value of +these after-touches of the master.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fair clime! where <i>ceaseless summer</i> smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Benignant o'er those blessed isles,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, seen from far Colonna's height,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make glad the heart that hails the sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And <i>give</i> to loneliness delight.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There <i>shine the bright abodes ye seek,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Like dimples upon Ocean's cheek,—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>So smiling round the waters lave</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>These Edens of the eastern wave.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Or if, at times, the transient breeze</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Break the <i>smooth</i> crystal of the seas,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or <i>brush</i> one blossom from the trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How <i>grateful</i> is the gentle air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wakes and wafts the <i>fragrance</i> there."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Among the other passages added to this edition (which was either the +third or fourth, and between which and the first there intervened but +about six weeks) was that most beautiful and melancholy illustration of +the lifeless aspect of Greece, beginning "He who hath bent him o'er the +dead,"—of which the most gifted critic of our day<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> has justly +pro<span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193"></a>Pg 193</span>nounced, that "it contains an image more true, more mournful, and +more exquisitely finished, than any we can recollect in the whole +compass of poetry."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> To the same edition also were added, among other +accessions of wealth<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>, those lines, "The cygnet proudly walks the +water," and the impassioned verses, "My memory now is but the tomb."</p> + +<p>On my rejoining him in town this spring, I found the enthusiasm about +his writings and himself, which I left so prevalent, both in the world +of literature and in society, grown, if any thing, still more general +and intense. In the immediate circle, perhaps, around him, familiarity +of intercourse might have begun to produce its usual disenchanting +effects. His own liveliness and unreserve, on a more intimate +acquaintance, would not be long in dispelling that charm of poetic +sadness, which to the eyes of distant observers hung about him; while +the romantic notions, connected by some of his fair readers with those +past and nameless loves alluded to in his poems, ran some risk of +abatement from too near an ac<span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194"></a>Pg 194</span>quaintance with the supposed objects of +his fancy and fondness at present. A poet's mistress should remain, if +possible, as imaginary a being to others, as, in most of the attributes +he clothes her with, she has been to himself;—the reality, however +fair, being always sure to fall short of the picture which a too lavish +fancy has drawn of it. Could we call up in array before us all the +beauties whom the love of poets has immortalised, from the high-born +dame to the plebeian damsel,—from the Lauras and Sacharissas down to +the Cloes and Jeannies,—we should, it is to be feared, sadly unpeople +our imaginations of many a bright tenant that poesy has lodged there, +and find, in more than one instance, our admiration of the faith and +fancy of the worshipper increased by our discovery of the worthlessness +of the idol.</p> + +<p>But, whatever of its first romantic impression the personal character of +the poet may, from such causes, have lost in the circle he most +frequented, this disappointment of the imagination was far more than +compensated by the frank, social, and engaging qualities, both of +disposition and manner, which, on a nearer intercourse, he disclosed, as +well as by that entire absence of any literary assumption or pedantry, +which entitled him fully to the praise bestowed by Sprat upon Cowley, +that few could "ever discover he was a great poet by his discourse." +While thus, by his intimates, and those who had got, as it were, behind +the scenes of his fame, he was seen in his true colours, as well of +weakness as of amiableness, on strangers and such as were out of this +immediate circle, the spell of his poetical<span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195"></a>Pg 195</span> character still continued +to operate; and the fierce gloom and sternness of his imaginary +personages were, by the greater number of them, supposed to belong, not +only as regarded mind, but manners, to himself. So prevalent and +persevering has been this notion, that, in some disquisitions on his +character published since his death, and containing otherwise many just +and striking views, we find, in the professed portrait drawn of him, +such features as the following:—"Lord Byron had a stern, direct, severe +mind: a sarcastic, disdainful, gloomy temper. He had no light sympathy +with heartless cheerfulness;—upon the surface was sourness, discontent, +displeasure, ill will. Beneath all this weight of clouds and +darkness<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a>," &c. &c.</p> + +<p>Of the sort of double aspect which he thus presented, as viewed by the +world and by his friends, he was himself fully aware; and it not only +amused him, but, as a proof of the versatility of his powers, flattered +his pride. He was, indeed, as I have already remarked, by no means +insensible or inattentive to the effect he produced personally on +society; and though the brilliant station he had attained, since the +commencement of my acquaintance with him, made not the slightest +alteration in the unaffectedness of his private intercourse, I could +perceive, I thought, with reference to the external world, some slight +changes in his conduct, which seemed indicative of the effects of his +celebrity upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196"></a>Pg 196</span> him. Among other circumstances, I observed that, whether +from shyness of the general gaze, or from a notion, like Livy's, that +men of eminence should not too much familiarise the public to their +persons<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a>, he avoided showing himself in the mornings, and in crowded +places, much more than was his custom when we first became acquainted. +The preceding year, before his name had grown "so rife and celebrated," +we had gone together to the exhibition at Somerset House, and other such +places<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>; and the true reason, no doubt, of his present reserve, in +abstaining from all such miscellaneous haunts, was the sensitiveness, so +often referred to, on the subject of his lameness,—a feeling which the +curiosity of the public eye, now attracted to this infirmity by his +fame, could not fail, he knew, to put rather painfully to the proof.</p> + +<p>Among the many gay hours we passed together this spring, I remember +particularly the wild flow of his spirits one evening, when we had +accompanied Mr. Rogers home from some early assembly, and when Lord +Byron, who, according to his frequent custom, had not dined for the last +two days, found<span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197"></a>Pg 197</span> his hunger no longer governable, and called aloud for +"something to eat." Our repast,—of his own choosing,—was simple bread +and cheese; and seldom have I partaken of so joyous a supper. It +happened that our host had just received a presentation copy of a volume +of poems, written professedly in imitation of the old English writers, +and containing, like many of these models, a good deal that was striking +and beautiful, mixed up with much that was trifling, fantastic, and +absurd. In our mood, at the moment, it was only with these latter +qualities that either Lord Byron or I felt disposed to indulge +ourselves; and, in turning over the pages, we found, it must be owned, +abundant matter for mirth. In vain did Mr. Rogers, in justice to the +author, endeavour to direct our attention to some of the beauties of the +work:—it suited better our purpose (as is too often the case with more +deliberate critics) to pounce only on such passages as ministered to the +laughing humour that possessed us. In this sort of hunt through the +volume, we at length lighted on the discovery that our host, in addition +to his sincere approbation of some of its contents, had also the motive +of gratitude for standing by its author, as one of the poems was a warm +and, I need not add, well-deserved panegyric on himself. We were, +however, too far gone in nonsense for even this eulogy, in which we both +so heartily agreed, to stop us. The opening line of the poem was, as +well as I can recollect, "When Rogers o'er this labour bent;" and Lord +Byron undertook to read it aloud;—but he found it impossible to get +beyond the first two words. Our laughter had now<span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198"></a>Pg 198</span> increased to such a +pitch that nothing could restrain it. Two or three times he began; but +no sooner had the words "When Rogers" passed his lips, than our fit +burst forth afresh,—till even Mr. Rogers himself, with all his feeling +of our injustice, found it impossible not to join us; and we were, at +last, all three, in such a state of inextinguishable laughter, that, had +the author himself been of the party, I question much whether he could +have resisted the infection.</p> + +<p>A day or two after, Lord Byron sent me the following:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My dear Moore,</p> + +<p>"'When Rogers' must not see the enclosed, which I send for your +perusal. I am ready to fix any day you like for our visit. Was not +Sheridan good upon the whole? The 'Poulterer' was the first and +best.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<p>"Ever yours," &c. +</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199"></a>Pg 199</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">1.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When T * * this damn'd nonsense sent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(I hope I am not violent),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor men nor gods knew what he meant.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">2.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And since not ev'n our Rogers' praise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To common sense his thoughts could raise—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why <i>would</i> they let him print his lays?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">3.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">* * * *<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">4.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">* * * *<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">5.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"To me, divine Apollo, grant—O!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hermilda's first and second canto,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'm fitting up a new portmanteau;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">6.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And thus to furnish decent lining,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My own and others' bays I'm twining—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So gentle T * *, throw me thine in."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On the same day I received from him the following additional scraps. The +lines in italics are from the eulogy that provoked his waggish +comments.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200"></a>Pg 200</span></p> + +<p>"<b>TO ——</b></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">1.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'<i>I lay my branch of laurel down.</i>'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Thou 'lay thy branch of laurel down!"<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Why, what thou'st stole is not enow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, were it lawfully thine own,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Does Rogers want it most, or thou?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keep to thyself thy wither'd bough,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or send it back to Dr. Donne—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were justice done to both, I trow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He'd have but little, and thou—none.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">2.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'<i>Then thus to form Apollo's crown</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A crown! why, twist it how you will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy chaplet must be foolscap still.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When next you visit Delphi's town,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Enquire amongst your fellow-lodgers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They'll tell you Phoebus gave his crown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some years before your birth, to Rogers.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">3.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'<i>Let every other bring his own</i>.'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When coals to Newcastle are carried,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And owls sent to Athens as wonders,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From his spouse when the * *'s unmarried,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or Liverpool weeps o'er his blunders;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When Tories and Whigs cease to quarrel,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When C * *'s wife has an heir,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then Rogers shall ask us for laurel,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And thou shalt have plenty to spare."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The mention which he makes of Sheridan in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201"></a>Pg 201</span> note just cited affords a +fit opportunity of producing, from one of his Journals, some particulars +which he has noted down respecting this extraordinary man, for whose +talents he entertained the most unbounded admiration,—rating him, in +natural powers, far above all his great political contemporaries.</p> + +<p>"In society I have met Sheridan frequently: he was superb! He had a sort +of liking for me, and never attacked me, at least to my face, and he did +every body else—high names, and wits, and orators, some of them poets +also. I have seen him cut up Whitbread, quiz Madame de Staël, annihilate +Colman, and do little less by some others (whose names, as friends, I +set not down) of good fame and ability.</p> + +<p>"The last time I met him was, I think, at Sir Gilbert Heathcote's, where +he was as quick as ever—no, it was not the last time; the last time was +at Douglas Kinnaird's.</p> + +<p>"I have met him in all places and parties,—at Whitehall with the +Melbournes, at the Marquis of Tavistock's, at Robins's the auctioneer's, +at Sir Humphrey Davy's, at Sam Rogers's,—in short, in most kinds of +company, and always found him very convivial and delightful.</p> + +<p>"I have seen Sheridan weep two or three times. It may be that he was +maudlin; but this only renders it more impressive, for who would see</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"From Marlborough's eyes the tears of dotage flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Swift expire a driveller and a show?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Once I saw him cry at Robins's the auctioneer's,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202"></a>Pg 202</span> after a splendid +dinner, full of great names and high spirits. I had the honour of +sitting next to Sheridan. The occasion of his tears was some observation +or other upon the subject of the sturdiness of the Whigs in resisting +office and keeping to their principles: Sheridan turned round:—'Sir, it +is easy for my Lord G. or Earl G. or Marquis B. or Lord H. with +thousands upon thousands a year, some of it either <i>presently</i> derived, +or <i>inherited</i> in sinecure or acquisitions from the public money, to +boast of their patriotism and keep aloof from temptation; but they do +not know from what temptation those have kept aloof who had equal pride, +at least equal talents, and not unequal passions, and nevertheless knew +not in the course of their lives what it was to have a shilling of their +own.' And in saying this he wept.</p> + +<p>"I have more than once heard him say, 'that he never had a shilling of +his own.' To be sure, he contrived to extract a good many of other +people's.</p> + +<p>"In 1815, I had occasion to visit my lawyer in Chancery Lane, he was +with Sheridan. After mutual greetings, &c., Sheridan retired first. +Before recurring to my own business, I could not help enquiring <i>that</i> +of Sheridan. 'Oh,' replied the attorney, 'the usual thing! to stave off +an action from his wine-merchant, my client.'—'Well,' said I, 'and what +do you mean to do?'—'Nothing at all for the present,' said he: 'would +you have us proceed against old Sherry? what would be the use of it?' +and here he began laughing, and going over Sheridan's good gifts of +conversation.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203"></a>Pg 203</span></p> + +<p>"Now, from personal experience, I can vouch that my attorney is by no +means the tenderest of men, or particularly accessible to any kind of +impression out of the statute or record; and yet Sheridan, in half an +hour, had found the way to soften and seduce him in such a manner, that +I almost think he would have thrown his client (an honest man, with all +the laws, and some justice, on his side) out of the window, had he come +in at the moment.</p> + +<p>"Such was Sheridan! he could soften an attorney! There has been nothing +like it since the days of Orpheus.</p> + +<p>"One day I saw him take up his own 'Monody on Garrick.' He lighted upon +the Dedication to the Dowager Lady * *. On seeing it, he flew into a +rage, and exclaimed, 'that it must be a forgery, that he had never +dedicated any thing of his to such a d——d canting,' &c. &c. &c—and so +went on for half an hour abusing his own dedication, or at least the +object of it. If all writers were equally sincere, it would be +ludicrous.</p> + +<p>"He told me that, on the night of the grand success of his School for +Scandal, he was knocked down and put into the watch-house for making a +row in the street, and being found intoxicated by the watchmen.</p> + +<p>"When dying, he was requested to undergo 'an operation.' He replied, +that he had already submitted to two, which were enough for one man's +lifetime. Being asked what they were, he answered, 'having his hair cut, +and sitting for his picture.'</p> + +<p>"I have met George Colman occasionally, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204"></a>Pg 204</span> thought him extremely +pleasant and convivial. Sheridan's humour, or rather wit, was always +saturnine, and sometimes savage; he never laughed, (at least that <i>I</i> +saw, and I watched him,) but Colman did. If I had to <i>choose</i>, and could +not have both at a time, I should say, 'Let me begin the evening with +Sheridan, and finish it with Colman.' Sheridan for dinner, Colman for +supper; Sheridan for claret or port, but Colman for every thing, from +the madeira and champagne at dinner, the claret with a <i>layer</i> of <i>port</i> +between the glasses, up to the punch of the night, and down to the grog, +or gin and water, of daybreak;—all these I have threaded with both the +same. Sheridan was a grenadier company of life-guards, but Colman a +whole regiment—of <i>light infantry</i>, to be sure, but still a regiment."</p> + +<p>It was at this time that Lord Byron became acquainted (and, I regret to +have to add, partly through my means) with Mr. Leigh Hunt, the editor of +a well-known weekly journal, the Examiner. This gentleman I had myself +formed an acquaintance with in the year 1811, and, in common with a +large portion of the public, entertained a sincere admiration of his +talents and courage as a journalist. The interest I took in him +personally had been recently much increased by the manly spirit, which +he had displayed throughout a prosecution instituted against himself and +his brother, for a libel that had appeared in their paper on the Prince +Regent, and in consequence of which they were both sentenced to +imprisonment for two years.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205"></a>Pg 205</span> It will be recollected that there existed +among the Whig party, at this period, a strong feeling of indignation at +the late defection from themselves and their principles of the +illustrious personage who had been so long looked up to as the friend +and patron of both. Being myself, at the time, warmly—perhaps +intemperately—under the influence of this feeling, I regarded the fate +of Mr. Hunt with more than common interest, and, immediately on my +arrival in town, paid him a visit in his prison. On mentioning the +circumstance, soon after, to Lord Byron, and describing my surprise at +the sort of luxurious comforts with which I had found the "wit in the +dungeon" surrounded,—his trellised flower-garden without, and his +books, busts, pictures, and piano-forte within,—the noble poet, whose +political view of the case coincided entirely with my own, expressed a +strong wish to pay a similar tribute of respect to Mr. Hunt, and +accordingly, a day or two after, we proceeded for that purpose to the +prison. The introduction which then took place was soon followed by a +request from Mr. Hunt that we would dine with him; and the noble poet +having good-naturedly accepted the invitation, Horsemonger Lane gaol +had, in the month of June, 1813, the honour of receiving Lord Byron, as +a guest, within its walls.</p> + +<p>On the morning of our first visit to the journalist, I received from +Lord Byron the following lines written, it will be perceived, the night +before:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206"></a>Pg 206</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"May 19. 1813.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Oh you, who in all names can tickle the town,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Anacreon, Tom Little, Tom Moore, or Tom Brown,—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">For hang me if I know of which you may most brag,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Your Quarto two-pounds, or your Twopenny Post Bag;<br /></span> +<span class="i9">* * * *<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But now to my letter—to yours 'tis an answer—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To-morrow be with me, as soon as you can, sir,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">All ready and dress'd for proceeding to spunge on<br /></span> +<span class="i4">(According to compact) the wit in the dungeon—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Pray Phoebus at length our political malice<br /></span> +<span class="i4">May not get us lodgings within the same palace!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I suppose that to-night you're engaged with some codgers,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And for Sotheby's Blues have deserted Sam Rogers;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And I, though with cold I have nearly my death got,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Must put on my breeches, and wait on the Heathcote.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But to-morrow at four, we will both play the Scurra,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And you'll be Catullus, the R——t Mamurra.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Dear M.—having got thus far, I am interrupted by * * * *. 10 +o'clock.</p> + +<p>"Half-past 11. * * * * is gone. I must dress for Lady +Heathcote's.—Addio."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Our day in the prison was, if not agreeable, at least novel and odd. I +had, for Lord Byron's sake, stipulated with our host beforehand, that +the party should be, as much as possible, confined to ourselves; and, as +far as regarded dinner, my wishes had been attended to;—there being +present, besides a member or two of Mr. Hunt's own family, no other +stranger, that I can recollect, but Mr. Mitchell, the ingenious +translator of Aristophanes. Soon after dinner, however, there dropped in +some of our host's literary friends, who, being utter<span class="pagenum"><a id="page207" name="page207"></a>Pg 207</span> strangers to Lord +Byron and myself, rather disturbed the ease into which we were all +settling. Among these, I remember, was Mr. John Scott,—the writer, +afterwards, of some severe attacks on Lord Byron; and it is painful to +think that, among the persons then assembled round the poet, there +should have been <i>one</i> so soon to step forth the assailant of his living +fame, while <i>another</i>, less manful, was to reserve the cool venom for +his grave.</p> + +<p>On the 2d of June, in presenting a petition to the House of Lords, he +made his third and last appearance as an orator, in that assembly. In +his way home from the House that day, he called, I remember, at my +lodgings, and found me dressing in a very great hurry for dinner. He +was, I recollect, in a state of most humorous exaltation after his +display, and, while I hastily went on with my task in the dressing-room, +continued to walk up and down the adjoining chamber, spouting forth for +me, in a sort of mock heroic voice, detached sentences of the speech he +had just been delivering. "I told them," he said, "that it was a most +flagrant violation of the Constitution—that, if such things were +permitted, there was an end of English freedom, and that ——"—"But +what was this dreadful grievance?" I asked, interrupting him in his +eloquence.—"The grievance?" he repeated, pausing as if to +consider—"Oh, that I forget."<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> It is impossible, of course, to +convey an idea of the dramatic humour with which he gave effect to +these<span class="pagenum"><a id="page208" name="page208"></a>Pg 208</span> words; but his look and manner on such occasions were +irresistibly comic; and it was, indeed, rather in such turns of fun and +oddity, than in any more elaborate exhibition of wit, that the +pleasantry of his conversation consisted.</p> + +<p>Though it is evident that, after the brilliant success of Childe Harold, +he had ceased to think of Parliament as an arena of ambition, yet, as a +field for observation, we may take for granted it was not unstudied by +him. To a mind of such quick and various views, every place and pursuit +presented some aspect of interest; and whether in the ball-room, the +boxing-school, or the senate, all must have been, by genius like his, +turned to profit. The following are a few of the recollections and +impressions which I find recorded by himself of his short parliamentary +career:—</p> + +<p>"I have never heard any one who fulfilled my ideal of an orator. Grattan +would have been near it, but for his harlequin delivery. Pitt I never +heard. Fox but once, and then he struck me as a debater, which to me +seems as different from an orator as an improvisatore, or a versifier, +from a poet. Grey is great, but it is not oratory. Canning is sometimes +very like one. Windham I did not admire, though all the world did; it +seemed sad sophistry. Whitbread was the Demosthenes of bad taste and +vulgar vehemence, but strong, and English. Holland is impressive from +sense and sincerity. Lord Lansdowne good, but still a debater only. +Grenville I like vastly, if he would prune his speeches down to an +hour's de<span class="pagenum"><a id="page209" name="page209"></a>Pg 209</span>livery. Burdett is sweet and silvery as Belial himself, and I +think the greatest favourite in Pandemonium; at least I always heard the +country gentlemen and the ministerial devilry praise his speeches <i>up</i> +stairs, and run down from Bellamy's when he was upon his legs. I heard +Bob Milnes make his <i>second</i> speech; it made no impression. I like +Ward—studied, but keen, and sometimes eloquent. Peel, my school and +form fellow (we sat within two of each other), strange to say, I have +never heard, though I often wished to do so; but from what I remember of +him at Harrow, he <i>is</i>, or <i>should</i> be, among the best of them. Now I do +<i>not</i> admire Mr. Wilberforce's speaking; it is nothing but a flow of +words—'words, words, alone.'</p> + +<p>"I doubt greatly if the English have any eloquence, properly so called; +and am inclined to think that the Irish <i>had</i> a great deal, and that the +French <i>will</i> have, and have had in Mirabeau. Lord Chatham and Burke are +the nearest approaches to orators in England. I don't know what Erskine +may have been at the bar, but in the House I wish him at the bar once +more. Lauderdale is shrill, and Scotch, and acute.</p> + +<p>"But amongst all these, good, bad, and indifferent, I never heard the +speech which was not too long for the auditors, and not very +intelligible, except here and there. The whole thing is a grand +deception, and as tedious and tiresome as may be to those who must be +often present. I heard Sheridan only once, and that briefly, but I liked +his voice, his manner, and his wit: and he is the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page210" name="page210"></a>Pg 210</span> only one of them I +ever wished to hear at greater length.</p> + +<p>"The impression of Parliament upon me was, that its members are not +formidable as <i>speakers</i>, but very much so as an <i>audience</i>; because in +so numerous a body there may be little eloquence, (after all, there were +but <i>two</i> thorough orators in all antiquity, and I suspect still <i>fewer</i> +in modern times,) but there must be a leaven of thought and good sense +sufficient to make them <i>know</i> what is right, though they can't express +it nobly.</p> + +<p>"Horne Tooke and Roscoe both are said to have declared that they left +Parliament with a higher opinion of its aggregate integrity and +abilities than that with which they entered it. The general amount of +both in most Parliaments is probably about the same, as also the number +of <i>speakers</i> and their talent. I except <i>orators</i>, of course, because +they are things of ages, and not of septennial or triennial re-unions. +Neither House ever struck me with more awe or respect than the same +number of Turks in a divan, or of Methodists in a barn, would have done. +Whatever diffidence or nervousness I felt (and I felt both, in a great +degree) arose from the number rather than the quality of the assemblage, +and the thought rather of the <i>public without</i> than the persons +within,—knowing (as all know) that Cicero himself, and probably the +Messiah, could never have altered the vote of a single lord of the +bedchamber, or bishop. I thought <i>our</i> House dull, but the other +animating enough upon great days.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page211" name="page211"></a>Pg 211</span></p> + +<p>"I have heard that when Grattan made his first speech in the English +Commons, it was for some minutes doubtful whether to laugh at or cheer +him. The <i>débût</i> of his predecessor, Flood, had been a complete failure, +under nearly similar circumstances. But when the ministerial part of our +senators had watched Pitt (their thermometer) for the cue, and saw him +nod repeatedly his stately nod of approbation, they took the hint from +their huntsman, and broke out into the most rapturous cheers. Grattan's +speech, indeed, deserved them; it was a <i>chef-d'oeuvre</i>. I did not hear +<i>that</i> speech of his (being then at Harrow), but heard most of his +others on the same question—also that on the war of 1815. I differed +from his opinions on the latter question, but coincided in the general +admiration of his eloquence.</p> + +<p>"When I met old Courtenay, the orator, at Rogers's, the poet's, in +1811-12, I was much taken with the portly remains of his fine figure, +and the still acute quickness of his conversation. It was <i>he</i> who +silenced Flood in the English House by a crushing reply to a hasty +<i>débût</i> of the rival of Grattan in Ireland. I asked Courtenay (for I +like to trace motives) if he had not some personal provocation; for the +acrimony of his answer seemed to me, as I had read it, to involve it. +Courtenay said 'he had; that, when in Ireland (being an Irishman), at +the bar of the Irish House of Commons, Flood had made a personal and +unfair attack upon <i>himself</i>, who, not being a member of that House,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page212" name="page212"></a>Pg 212</span> +could not defend himself, and that some years afterwards the opportunity +of retort offering in the English Parliament, he could not resist it.' +He certainly repaid Flood with interest, for Flood never made any +figure, and only a speech or two afterwards, in the English House of +Commons. I must except, however, his speech on Reform in 1790, which Fox +called 'the best he ever heard upon that subject.'"</p> + +<p>For some time he had entertained thoughts of going again abroad; and it +appeared, indeed, to be a sort of relief to him, whenever he felt +melancholy or harassed, to turn to the freedom and solitude of a life of +travel as his resource. During the depression of spirits which he +laboured under, while printing Childe Harold, "he would frequently," +says Mr. Dallas, "talk of selling Newstead, and of going to reside at +Naxos, in the Grecian Archipelago,—to adopt the eastern costume and +customs, and to pass his time in studying the Oriental languages and +literature." The excitement of the triumph that soon after ensued, and +the success which, in other pursuits besides those of literature, +attended him, again diverted his thoughts from these migratory projects. +But the roving fit soon returned; and we have seen, from one of his +letters to Mr. William Bankes, that he looked forward to finding +himself, in the course of this spring, among the mountains of his +beloved Greece once more. For a time, this plan was exchanged for the +more social project of accompanying his friends, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page213" name="page213"></a>Pg 213</span> family of Lord +Oxford, to Sicily; and it was while engaged in his preparatives for this +expedition that the annexed letters were written.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 121. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Maidenhead, June 13. 1813.</p> + +<p>"* * * I have read the 'Strictures,' which are just enough, and not +grossly abusive, in very fair couplets. There is a note against +Massinger near the end, and one cannot quarrel with one's company, +at any rate. The author detects some incongruous figures in a +passage of English Bards, page 23., but which edition I do not +know. In the <i>sole</i> copy in your possession—I mean the <i>fifth</i> +edition—you may make these alterations, that I may profit (though +a little too late) by his remarks:—For '<i>hellish</i> instinct,' +substitute '<i>brutal</i> instinct;' '<i>harpies</i>' alter to '<i>felons</i>;' +and for 'blood-hounds' write 'hell-hounds.'<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> These be 'very +bitter words,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page214" name="page214"></a>Pg 214</span> by my troth,' and the alterations not much sweeter; +but as I shall not publish the thing, they can do no harm, but are +a satisfaction to me in the way of amendment. The passage is only +twelve lines.</p> + +<p>"You do not answer me about H.'s book; I want to write to him, and +not to say any thing unpleasing. If you direct to Post Office, +Portsmouth, till <i>called</i> for, I will send and receive your letter. +You never told me of the forthcoming critique on Columbus, which is +not <i>too</i> fair; and I do not think justice quite done to the +'Pleasures,' which surely entitle the author to a higher rank than +that assigned him in the Quarterly. But I must not cavil at the +decisions of the <i>invisible infallibles</i>; and the article is very +well written. The general horror of '<i>fragments</i>' makes me +tremulous for 'The Giaour;' but you would publish it—I presume, by +this time, to your repentance. But as I consented, whatever be its +fate, I won't now quarrel with you, even though I detect it in my +pastry; but I shall not open a pie without apprehension for some +weeks.</p> + +<p>"The books which may be marked G.O. I will carry out. Do you know +Clarke's Naufragia? I am told that he asserts the <i>first</i> volume of +Robinson Crusoe was written by the first Lord Oxford, when in the +Tower, and given by him to Defoe; if true, it is a curious +anecdote. Have you got back Lord Brooke's MS.? and what does Heber +say of it? Write to me at Portsmouth. Ever yours, &c.</p> + +<p>"N."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page215" name="page215"></a>Pg 215</span></p> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"June 18. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Dear Sir,</p> + +<p>"Will you forward the enclosed answer to the kindest letter I ever +received in my life, my sense of which I can neither express to Mr. +Gifford himself nor to any one else? Ever yours,</p> + +<p>"N."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 122. TO W. GIFFORD, ESQ.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"June 18. 1813.</p> + +<p>"My dear Sir,</p> + +<p>"I feel greatly at a loss how to write to you at all—still more to +thank you as I ought. If you knew the veneration with which I have +ever regarded you, long before I had the most distant prospect of +becoming your acquaintance, literary or personal, my embarrassment +would not surprise you.</p> + +<p>"Any suggestion of yours, even were it conveyed in the less tender +shape of the text of the Baviad, or a Monk Mason note in Massinger, +would have been obeyed; I should have endeavoured to improve myself +by your censure: judge then if I should be less willing to profit +by your kindness. It is not for me to bandy compliments with my +elders and my betters: I receive your approbation with gratitude, +and will not return my brass for your gold by expressing more fully +those sentiments<span class="pagenum"><a id="page216" name="page216"></a>Pg 216</span> of admiration, which, however sincere, would, I +know, be unwelcome.</p> + +<p>"To your advice on religious topics, I shall equally attend. +Perhaps the best way will be by avoiding them altogether. The +already published objectionable passages have been much commented +upon, but certainly have been rather strongly interpreted. I am no +bigot to infidelity, and did not expect that, because I doubted the +immortality of man, I should be charged with denying the existence +of a God. It was the comparative insignificance of ourselves and +<i>our world</i>, when placed in comparison with the mighty whole, of +which it is an atom, that first led me to imagine that our +pretensions to eternity might be over-rated.</p> + +<p>"This, and being early disgusted with a Calvinistic Scotch school, +where I was cudgelled to church for the first ten years of my life, +afflicted me with this malady; for, after all, it is, I believe, a +disease of the mind as much as other kinds of hypochondria."<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 123. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"June 22. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday I dined in company with '* *, the Epicene,' whose +politics are sadly changed. She is for the Lord of Israel and the +Lord of Liverpool—a vile antithesis of a Methodist and a +Tory—talks of nothing but devotion and the ministry, and, I +pre<span class="pagenum"><a id="page217" name="page217"></a>Pg 217</span>sume, expects that God and the government will help her to a +pension.</p> + +<p>"Murray, the αναξ of publishers, the Anac of stationers, +has a design upon you in the paper line. He wants you to become the +staple and stipendiary editor of a periodical work. What say you? +Will you be bound, like 'Kit Smart, to write for ninety-nine years +in the Universal Visiter?' Seriously he talks of hundreds a year, +and—though I hate prating of the beggarly elements—his proposal +may be to your honour and profit, and, I am very sure, will be to +our pleasure.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to say about 'friendship.' I never was in +friendship but once, in my nineteenth year, and then it gave me as +much trouble as love. I am afraid, as Whitbread's sire said to the +king, when he wanted to knight him, that I am 'too old:' but, +nevertheless, no one wishes you more friends, fame, and felicity, +than Yours," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Having relinquished his design of accompanying the Oxfords to Sicily, he +again thought of the East, as will be seen by the following letters, and +proceeded so far in his preparations for the voyage as to purchase of +Love, the jeweller, of Old Bond Street, about a dozen snuff-boxes, as +presents for some of his old Turkish acquaintances.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 124. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"4. Benedictine Street, St. James's, July 8. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I presume by your silence that I have blundered<span class="pagenum"><a id="page218" name="page218"></a>Pg 218</span> into something +noxious in my reply to your letter, for the which I beg leave to +send beforehand a sweeping apology, which you may apply to any, or +all, parts of that unfortunate epistle. If I err in my conjecture, +I expect the like from you, in putting our correspondence so long +in quarantine. God he knows what I have said; but he also knows (if +he is not as indifferent to mortals as the <i>nonchalant</i> deities of +Lucretius), that you are the last person I want to offend. So, if I +have,—why the devil don't you say it at once, and expectorate your +spleen?</p> + +<p>"Rogers is out of town with Madame de Staël, who hath published an +Essay against Suicide, which, I presume, will make somebody shoot +himself;—as a sermon by Blinkensop, in <i>proof</i> of Christianity, +sent a hitherto most orthodox acquaintance of mine out of a chapel +of ease a perfect atheist. Have you found or founded a residence +yet? and have you begun or finished a poem? If you won't tell me +what <i>I</i> have done, pray say what you have done, or left undone, +yourself. I am still in equipment for voyaging, and anxious to hear +from, or of, you <i>before</i> I go, which anxiety you should remove +more readily, as you think I sha'n't cogitate about you afterwards. +I shall give the lie to that calumny by fifty foreign letters, +particularly from any place where the plague is rife,—without a +drop of vinegar or a whiff of sulphur to save you from infection.</p> + +<p>"The Oxfords have sailed almost a fortnight, and my sister is in +town, which is a great comfort—for, never having been much +together, we are naturally more attached to each other. I presume +the illu<span class="pagenum"><a id="page219" name="page219"></a>Pg 219</span>minations have conflagrated to Derby (or wherever you are) +by this time. We are just recovering from tumult and train oil, and +transparent fripperies, and all the noise and nonsense of victory. +Drury Lane had a large <i>M.W.</i>, which some thought was Marshal +Wellington; others, that it might be translated into Manager +Whitbread; while the ladies of the vicinity of the saloon conceived +the last letter to be complimentary to themselves. I leave this to +the commentators to illustrate. If you don't answer this, I sha'n't +say what <i>you</i> deserve, but I think <i>I</i> deserve a reply. Do you +conceive there is no Post-Bag but the Twopenny? Sunburn me, if you +are not too bad."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 125. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"July 13. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Your letter set me at ease; for I really thought (as I hear of +your susceptibility) that I had said—I know not what—but +something I should have been very sorry for, had it, or I, offended +you;—though I don't see how a man with a beautiful wife—<i>his own</i> +children,—quiet—fame—competency and friends, (I will vouch for a +thousand, which is more than I will for a unit in my own behalf,) +can be offended with any thing.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Moore, I am amazingly inclined—remember I say but +<i>inclined</i>—to be seriously enamoured with Lady A.F.—but this * * +has ruined all my prospects. However, you know her; is she +<i>clever</i>, or sensible, or good-tempered? either <i>would</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="page220" name="page220"></a>Pg 220</span> do—I +scratch out the <i>will</i>. I don't ask as to her beauty—that I see; +but my circumstances are mending, and were not my other prospects +blackening, I would take a wife, and that should be the woman, had +I a chance. I do not yet know her much, but better than I did.</p> + +<p>"I want to get away, but find difficulty in compassing a passage in +a ship of war. They had better let me go; if I cannot, patriotism +is the word—'nay, an' they'll mouth, I'll rant as well as they.' +Now, what are you doing?—writing, we all hope, for our own sakes. +Remember you must edite my posthumous works, with a Life of the +Author, for which I will send you Confessions, dated, 'Lazaretto,' +Smyrna, Malta, or Palermo—one can die any where.</p> + +<p>"There is to be a thing on Tuesday ycleped a national fête. The +Regent and * * * are to be there, and every body else, who has +shillings enough for what was once a guinea. Vauxhall is the +scene—there are six tickets issued for the modest women, and it is +supposed there will be three to spare. The passports for the lax +are beyond my arithmetic.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—The Staël last night attacked me most furiously—said that I +had 'no right to make love—that I had used * * barbarously—that I +had no feeling, and was totally insensible to <i>la belle passion</i>, +and <i>had</i> been all my life.' I am very glad to hear it, but did not +know it before. Let me hear from you anon."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page221" name="page221"></a>Pg 221</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 126. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"July 25. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I am not well versed enough in the ways of single woman to make +much matrimonial progress.</p> + +<p>"I have been dining like the dragon of Wantley for this last week. +My head aches with the vintage of various cellars, and my brains +are muddled as their dregs. I met your friends the D * * s:—she +sung one of your best songs so well, that, but for the appearance +of affectation, I could have cried; he reminds me of Hunt, but +handsomer, and more musical in soul, perhaps. I wish to God he may +conquer his horrible anomalous complaint. The upper part of her +face is beautiful, and she seems much attached to her husband. He +is right, nevertheless, in leaving this nauseous town. The first +winter would infallibly destroy her complexion,—and the second, +very probably, every thing else.</p> + +<p>"I must tell you a story. M * * (of indifferent memory) was dining +out the other day, and complaining of the P——e's coldness to his +old wassailers. D * * (a learned Jew) bored him with questions—why +this? and why that? 'Why did the P——e act thus?'—'Why, sir, on +account of Lord * *, who ought to be ashamed of himself.'—'And why +ought Lord * * to be ashamed of himself?'—'Because the P——e, +sir, * * * * * * * *.'—'And why, sir, did the P——e cut +<i>you</i>?'—' Because, G——d d——mme, sir, I stuck to my +principles.'—'And <i>why</i> did you stick to your principles?'</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page222" name="page222"></a>Pg 222</span></p> + +<p>"Is not this last question the best that was ever put, when you +consider to whom? It nearly killed M * *. Perhaps you may think it +stupid, but, as Goldsmith said about the peas, it was a very good +joke when I heard it—as I did from an ear-witness—and is only +spoilt in my narration.</p> + +<p>"The season has closed with a dandy ball;—but I have dinners with +the Harrowbys, Rogers, and Frere and Mackintosh, where I shall +drink your health in a silent bumper, and regret your absence till +'too much canaries' wash away my memory, or render it superfluous +by a vision of you at the opposite side of the table. Canning has +disbanded his party by a speech from his * * * *—the true throne +of a Tory. Conceive his turning them off in a formal harangue, and +bidding them think for themselves. 'I have led my ragamuffins where +they are well peppered. There are but three of the 150 left alive, +and they are for the <i>Towns-end</i> (<i>query</i>, might not Falstaff mean +the Bow Street officer? I dare say Malone's posthumous edition will +have it so) for life.'</p> + +<p>"Since I wrote last, I have been into the country. I journeyed by +night—no incident, or accident, but an alarm on the part of my +valet on the outside, who, in crossing Epping Forest, actually, I +believe, flung down his purse before a mile-stone, with a glow-worm +in the second figure of number XIX—mistaking it for a footpad and +dark lantern. I can only attribute his fears to a pair of new +pistols wherewith I had armed him; and he thought it necessary to +display his vigilance by calling out to me when<span class="pagenum"><a id="page223" name="page223"></a>Pg 223</span>ever we passed any +thing—no matter whether moving or stationary. Conceive ten miles, +with a tremor every furlong. I have scribbled you a fearfully long +letter. This sheet must be blank, and is merely a wrapper, to +preclude the tabellarians of the post from peeping. You once +complained of my <i>not</i> writing;—I will 'heap coals of fire upon +your head' by <i>not</i> complaining of your <i>not</i> reading. Ever, my +dear Moore, your'n (isn't that the Staffordshire termination?)</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 127. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"July 27. 1813.</p> + +<p>"When you next imitate the style of 'Tacitus,' pray add, 'de +moribus Germanorum;'—this last was a piece of barbarous silence, +and could only be taken from the <i>Woods</i>, and, as such, I attribute +it entirely to your sylvan sequestration at Mayfield Cottage. You +will find, on casting up accounts, that you are my debtor by +several sheets and one epistle. I shall bring my action;—if you +don't discharge, expect to hear from my attorney. I have forwarded +your letter to Ruggiero; but don't make a postman of me again, for +fear I should be tempted to violate your sanctity of wax or wafer.</p> + +<p>"Believe me ever yours <i>indignantly</i>,</p> + +<p>"BN."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page224" name="page224"></a>Pg 224</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 128. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"July 28. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Can't you be satisfied with the pangs of my jealousy of Rogers, +without actually making me the pander of your epistolary intrigue? +This is the second letter you have enclosed to my address, +notwithstanding a miraculous long answer, and a subsequent short +one or two of your own. If you do so again, I can't tell to what +pitch my fury may soar. I shall send you verse or arsenic, as +likely as any thing,—four thousand couplets on sheets beyond the +privilege of franking; that privilege, sir, of which you take an +undue advantage over a too susceptible senator, by forwarding your +lucubrations to every one but himself. I won't frank <i>from</i> you, or +<i>for</i> you, or <i>to</i> you—may I be curst if I do, unless you mend +your manners. I disown you—I disclaim you—and by all the powers +of Eulogy, I will write a panegyric upon you—or dedicate a +quarto—if you don't make me ample amends.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I am in training to dine with Sheridan and Rogers this +evening. I have a little spite against R., and will shed his 'Clary +wines pottle-deep.' This is nearly my ultimate or penultimate +letter; for I am quite equipped, and only wait a passage. Perhaps I +may wait a few weeks for Sligo, but not if I can help it."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He had, with the intention of going to Greece, applied to Mr. Croker, +the Secretary of the Ad<span class="pagenum"><a id="page225" name="page225"></a>Pg 225</span>miralty, to procure him a passage on board a +king's ship to the Mediterranean; and, at the request of this gentleman, +Captain Carlton, of the Boyne, who was just then ordered to reinforce +Sir Edward Pellew, consented to receive Lord Byron into his cabin for +the voyage. To the letter announcing this offer, the following is the +reply.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 129. TO MR. CROKER.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Bt. Str., August 2. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Dear Sir,</p> + +<p>"I was honoured with your unexpected<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> and very obliging letter, +when on the point of leaving London, which prevented me from +acknowledging my obligation as quickly as I felt it sincerely. I am +endeavouring all in my power to be ready before Saturday—and even +if I should not succeed, I can only blame my own tardiness, which +will not the less enhance the benefit I have lost. I have only to +add my hope of forgiveness for all my trespasses on your time and +patience, and with my best wishes for your public and private +welfare, I have the honour to be, most truly, your obliged and most +obedient servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page226" name="page226"></a>Pg 226</span></p> + +<p>So early as the autumn of this year, a fifth edition of The Giaour was +required; and again his fancy teemed with fresh materials for its pages. +The verses commencing "The browsing camels' bells are tinkling," and the +four pages that follow the line, "Yes, love indeed is light from +heaven," were all added at this time. Nor had the overflowings of his +mind even yet ceased, as I find in the poem, as it exists at present, +still further additions,—and, among them, those four brilliant lines,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"She was a form of life and light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That, seen, became a part of sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rose, where'er I turn'd mine eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Morning-star of memory!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The following notes and letters to Mr. Murray, during these outpourings, +will show how irresistible was the impulse under which he vented his +thoughts.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"If you send more proofs, I shall never finish this infernal +story—'Ecce signum'—thirty-three more lines enclosed! to the +utter discomfiture of the printer, and, I fear, not to your +advantage.</p> + +<p>"B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Half-past two in the morning, Aug. 10. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Dear Sir,</p> + +<p>"Pray suspend the <i>proofs</i>, for I am <i>bitten</i> again, and have +<i>quantities</i> for other parts of the bravura.</p> + +<p>"Yours ever, B.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—You shall have them in the course of the day."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page227" name="page227"></a>Pg 227</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 130. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"August 26. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I have looked over and corrected one proof, but not so carefully +(God knows if you can read it through, but I can't) as to preclude +your eye from discovering some <i>o</i>mission of mine or <i>com</i>mission +of your printer. If you have patience, look it over. Do you know +any body who can stop—I mean <i>point</i>—commas, and so forth? for I +am, I hear, a sad hand at your punctuation. I have, but with some +difficulty, <i>not</i> added any more to this snake of a poem, which has +been lengthening its rattles every month. It is now fearfully long, +being more than a Canto and a half of Childe Harold, which contains +but 882 lines per book, with all late additions inclusive.</p> + +<p>"The last lines Hodgson likes. It is not often he does, and when he +don't he tells me with great energy, and I fret and alter. I have +thrown them in to soften the ferocity of our Infidel, and, for a +dying man, have given him a good deal to say for himself.</p> + +<p>"I was quite sorry to hear you say you stayed in town on my +account, and I hope sincerely you did not mean so superfluous a +piece of politeness.</p> + +<p>"Our <i>six</i> critiques!—they would have made half a Quarterly by +themselves; but this is the age of criticism."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page228" name="page228"></a>Pg 228</span></p> + +<p>The following refer apparently to a still later edition.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 131. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Stilton, Oct. 3. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I have just recollected an alteration you may make in the proof to +be sent to Aston.—Among the lines on Hassan's Serai, not far from +the beginning, is this—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Unmeet for Solitude to share.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Now to share implies more than <i>one</i>, and Solitude is a single +gentleman; it must be thus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"For many a gilded chamber's there,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Which Solitude might well forbear;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and so on.—My address is Aston Hall, Rotherham.</p> + +<p>"Will you adopt this correction? and pray accept a Stilton cheese +from me for your trouble. Ever yours, B.</p> + +<p>"If<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> the old line stands let the other run thus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Nor there will weary traveller halt,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To bless the sacred bread and salt.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"<i>Note</i>.—To partake of food—to break bread and taste salt with +your host, ensures the safety of the guest; even though an enemy, +his person from that moment becomes sacred.</p> + +<p>"There is another additional note sent yesterday—on the Priest in +the Confessional.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page229" name="page229"></a>Pg 229</span></p> + +<p>"P.S.—I leave this to your discretion; if any body thinks the old +line a good one or the cheese a bad one, don't accept either. But, +in that case, the word <i>share</i> is repeated soon after in the line—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"To share the master's bread and salt;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and must be altered to—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"To break the master's bread and salt.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is not so well, though—confound it!"</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 132. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Oct. 12. 1813.</p> + +<p>"You must look The Giaour again over carefully; there are a few +lapses, particularly in the last page.—'I <i>know</i> 'twas false; she +could not die;' it was, and ought to be—'I <i>knew</i>.' Pray observe +this and similar mistakes.</p> + +<p>"I have received and read the British Review. I really think the +writer in most points very right. The only mortifying thing is the +accusation of imitation. <i>Crabbe</i>'s passage I never saw<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>; and +Scott I no<span class="pagenum"><a id="page230" name="page230"></a>Pg 230</span> further meant to follow than in his <i>lyric</i> measure, +which is Gray's, Milton's, and any one's who likes it. The Giaour +is certainly a bad character, but not dangerous; and I think his +fate and his feelings will meet with few proselytes. I shall be +very glad to hear from or of you, when you please; but don't put +yourself out of your way on my account."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 133. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Bennet Street, August 22. 1813.</p> + +<p>"As our late—I might say, deceased—correspondence had too much of +the town-life leaven in it, we will now, 'paulo majora,' prattle a +little of literature in all its branches; and first of the +first—criticism. The Prince is at Brighton, and Jackson, the +boxer, gone to Margate, having, I believe, decoyed Yarmouth to see +a milling in that polite neighbourhood. Made. de Staël Holstein has +lost one of her young barons, who has been carbonadoed by a vile +Teutonic adjutant,—kilt and killed in a coffee-house at +Scrawsenhawsen. Corinne is, of course, what all mothers must +be,—but will, I venture to prophesy, do what few mothers +could—write an Essay upon it. She cannot exist without a +grievance—and somebody to see, or read, how much grief becomes +her. I have not seen her since the event; but merely judge (not +very charitably) from prior observation.</p> + +<p>"In a 'mail-coach copy' of the Edinburgh, I perceive The Giaour is +second article. The numbers are still in the Leith smack—<i>pray, +which way is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page231" name="page231"></a>Pg 231</span> the wind?</i> The said article is so very mild and +sentimental, that it must be written by Jeffrey <i>in love</i>;—you +know he is gone to America to marry some fair one, of whom he has +been, for several <i>quarters, éperdument amoureux</i>. Seriously—as +Winifred Jenkins says of Lismahago—Mr. Jeffrey (or his deputy) +'has done the handsome thing by me,' and I say <i>nothing</i>. But this +I will say, if you and I had knocked one another on the head in +this quarrel, how he would have laughed, and what a mighty bad +figure we should have cut in our posthumous works. By the by, I was +called <i>in</i> the other day to mediate between two gentlemen bent +upon carnage, and,—after a long struggle between the natural +desire of destroying one's fellow-creatures, and the dislike of +seeing men play the fool for nothing,—I got one to make an +apology, and the other to take it, and left them to live happy ever +after. One was a peer, the other a friend untitled, and both fond +of high play;—and one, I can swear for, though very mild, 'not +fearful,' and so dead a shot, that, though the other is the +thinnest of men, he would have split him like a cane. They both +conducted themselves very well, and I put them out of <i>pain</i> as +soon as I could.</p> + +<p>"There is an American Life of G.F. Cooke, <i>Scurra</i> deceased, lately +published. Such a book!—I believe, since Drunken Barnaby's +Journal, nothing like it has drenched the press. All green-room and +tap-room—drams and the drama—brandy, whisky-punch, and, +<i>latterly</i>, toddy, overflow every page. Two things are rather +marvellous,—<span class="pagenum"><a id="page232" name="page232"></a>Pg 232</span>first, that a man should live so long drunk, and, +next, that he should have found a sober biographer. There are some +very laughable things in it, nevertheless;—but the pints he +swallowed, and the parts he performed, are too regularly +registered.</p> + +<p>"All this time you wonder I am not gone; so do I; but the accounts +of the plague are very perplexing—not so much for the thing itself +as the quarantine established in all ports, and from all places, +even from England. It is true, the forty or sixty days would, in +all probability, be as foolishly spent on shore as in the ship; but +one like's to have one's choice, nevertheless. Town is awfully +empty; but not the worse for that. I am really puzzled with my +perfect ignorance of what I mean to do;—not stay, if I can help +it, but where to go?<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Sligo is for the North;—a pleasant place, +Petersburgh, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page233" name="page233"></a>Pg 233</span> September, with one's ears and nose in a muff, or +else tumbling into one's neckcloth or pocket-handkerchief! If the +winter treated Buonaparte with so little ceremony, what would it +inflict upon your solitary traveller?—Give me a <i>sun</i>, I care not +how hot, and sherbet, I care not how cool, and my Heaven is as +easily made as your Persian's.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> The Giaour is now a thousand and +odd lines. 'Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day,' eh, +Moore?—thou wilt needs be a wag, but I forgive it. Yours ever,</p> + +<p>"BN.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I perceive I have written a flippant and rather cold-hearted +letter! let it go, however. I have said nothing, either, of the +brilliant sex; but the fact is, I am at this moment in a far more +serious, and entirely new, scrape than any of the last twelve +months,—and that is saying a good deal. It is unlucky we can +neither live with nor without these women.</p> + +<p>"I am now thinking of regretting that, just as I have left +Newstead, you reside near it. Did you ever see it? <i>do</i>—but don't +tell me that you like it. If I had known of such intellectual +neighbourhood, I don't think I should have quitted it. You could +have come over so often, as a bachelor,—for it was a thorough +bachelor's mansion—plenty of wine and such sordid +sensualities—with books enough, room enough, and an air of +antiquity about all (except the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page234" name="page234"></a>Pg 234</span> lasses) that would have suited +you, when pensive, and served you to laugh at when in glee. I had +built myself a bath and a <i>vault</i>—and now I sha'n't even be buried +in it. It is odd that we can't even be certain of a <i>grave</i>, at +least a particular one. I remember, when about fifteen, reading +your poems there, which I can repeat almost now,—and asking all +kinds of questions about the author, when I heard that he was not +dead according to the preface; wondering if I should ever see +him—and though, at that time, without the smallest poetical +propensity myself, very much taken, as you may imagine, with that +volume. Adieu—I commit you to the care of the gods—Hindoo, +Scandinavian, and Hellenic!</p> + +<p>"P.S. 2d. There is an excellent review of Grimm's Correspondence +and Made. de Staël in this No. of the E.R. Jeffrey, himself, was my +critic last year; but this is, I believe, by another hand. I hope +you are going on with your <i>grand coup</i>—pray do—or that damned +Lucien Buonaparte will beat us all. I have seen much of his poem in +MS., and he really surpasses every thing beneath Tasso. Hodgson is +translating him <i>against</i> another bard. You and (I believe, +Rogers,) Scott, Gifford, and myself, are to be referred to as +judges between the twain,—that is, if you accept the office. +Conceive our different opinions! I think we, most of us (I am +talking very impudently, you will think—<i>us</i>, indeed!) have a way +of our own,—at least, you and Scott certainly have."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page235" name="page235"></a>Pg 235</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 134. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"August 28. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Ay, my dear Moore, 'there <i>was</i> a time'—I have heard of your +tricks, when 'you was campaigning at the King of Bohemy.' I am much +mistaken if, some fine London spring, about the year 1815, that +time does not come again. After all, we must end in marriage; and I +can conceive nothing more delightful than such a state in the +country, reading the county newspaper, &c., and kissing one's +wife's maid. Seriously, I would incorporate with any woman of +decent demeanour to-morrow—that is, I would a month ago, but, at +present, * * *</p> + +<p>"Why don't you 'parody that Ode?'<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a>—Do you think I should be +<i>tetchy?</i> or have you done it, and won't tell me?—You are quite +right about Giamschid, and I have reduced it to a dissyllable +within this half hour.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> I am glad to hear you talk of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page236" name="page236"></a>Pg 236</span> +Richardson, because it tells me what you won't—that you are going +to beat Lucien. At least tell me how far you have proceeded. Do you +think me less interested about your works, or less sincere than our +friend Ruggiero? I am not—and never was. In that thing of mine, +the 'English Bards,' at the time when I was angry with all the +world, I never 'disparaged your parts,' although I did not know you +personally;—and have always regretted that you don't give us an +<i>entire</i> work, and not sprinkle yourself in detached +pieces—beautiful, I allow, and quite <i>alone</i> in our language<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a>, +but still giving us a right to expect a <i>Shah Nameh</i> (is that the +name?) as well as gazels. Stick to the East;—the oracle, Staël, +told me it was the only poetical policy. The North, South, and +West, have all been exhausted; but from the East, we have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page237" name="page237"></a>Pg 237</span> nothing +but S * *'s unsaleables,—and these he has contrived to spoil, by +adopting only their most outrageous fictions. His personages don't +interest us, and yours will. You will have no competitor; and, if +you had, you ought to be glad of it. The little I have done in that +way is merely a 'voice in the wilderness' for you; and if it has +had any success, that also will prove that the public are +orientalising, and pave the path for you.</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking of a story, grafted on the amours of a Peri +and a mortal—something like, only more <i>philanthropical</i> than, +Cazotte's Diable Amoureux. It would require a good deal of poesy, +and tenderness is not my forte. For that, and other reasons, I have +given up the idea, and merely suggest it to you, because, in +intervals of your greater work, I think it a subject you might make +much of.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> If you want any more books, there is 'Castellan's +Moeurs des Ottomans,' the best com<span class="pagenum"><a id="page238" name="page238"></a>Pg 238</span>pendium of the kind I ever met +with, in six small tomes. I am really taking a liberty by talking +in this style to my 'elders and my betters;'—pardon it, and don't +<i>Rochefoucault</i> my motives."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 135. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"August—September, I mean—1. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I send you, begging your acceptance, Castellan, and three vols. on +Turkish Literature, not yet looked into. The <i>last</i> I will thank +you to read, extract what you want, and return in a week, as they +are lent to me by that brightest of Northern constellations, +Mackintosh,—amongst many other kind things into which India has +warmed him, for I am sure your <i>home</i> Scotsman is of a less genial +description.</p> + +<p>"Your Peri, my dear M., is sacred and inviolable; I have no idea of +touching the hem of her petticoat. Your affectation of a dislike to +encounter me is so flattering, that I begin to think myself a very +fine fellow. But you are laughing at me—'Stap my vitals, Tarn! +thou art a very impudent person;' and, if you are not laughing at +me, you deserve to be laughed at. Seriously, what on earth can you, +or have you, to dread from any poetical flesh breathing? It really +puts me out of humour to hear you talk thus.</p> + +<p>"'The Giaour' I have added to a good deal; but still in foolish +fragments. It contains about 1200 lines, or rather more—now +printing. You will allow me to send you a copy. You delight me<span class="pagenum"><a id="page239" name="page239"></a>Pg 239</span> +much by telling me that I am in your good graces, and more +particularly as to temper; for, unluckily, I have the reputation of +a very bad one. But they say the devil is amusing when pleased, and +I must have been more venomous than the old serpent, to have hissed +or stung in your company. It may be, and would appear to a third +person, an incredible thing, but I know you will believe me when I +say, that I am as anxious for your success as one human being can +be for another's,—as much as if I had never scribbled a line. +Surely the field of fame is wide enough for all; and if it were +not, I would not willingly rob my neighbour of a rood of it. Now +you have a pretty property of some thousand acres there, and when +you have passed your present Inclosure Bill, your income will be +doubled, (there's a metaphor, worthy of a Templar, namely, pert and +low,) while my wild common is too remote to incommode you, and +quite incapable of such fertility. I send you (which return per +post, as the printer would say) a curious letter from a friend of +mine<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a>, which will let you into the origin of 'The Giaour.' Write +soon. Ever, dear Moore, yours most entirely, &c.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—This letter was written to me on account of a <i>different +story</i> circulated by some gentlewomen of our acquaintance, a little +too close to the text. The part erased contained merely some +Turkish names, and circumstantial evidence of the girl's detection, +not very important or decorous."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page240" name="page240"></a>Pg 240</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 136. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Sept. 5. 1813.</p> + +<p>"You need not tie yourself down to a day with Toderini, but send +him at your leisure, having anatomised him into such annotations as +you want; I do not believe that he has ever undergone that process +before, which is the best reason for not sparing him now.</p> + +<p>"* * has returned to town, but not yet recovered of the Quarterly. +What fellows these reviewers are! 'these bugs do fear us all.' They +made you fight, and me (the milkiest of men) a satirist, and will +end by making * * madder than Ajax. I have been reading Memory +again, the other day, and Hope together, and retain all my +preference of the former. His elegance is really wonderful—there +is no such thing as a vulgar line in his book.</p> + +<p>"What say you to Buonaparte? Remember, I back him against the +field, barring Catalepsy and the Elements. Nay, I almost wish him +success against all countries but this,—were it only to choke the +Morning Post, and his undutiful father-in-law, with that rebellious +bastard of Scandinavian adoption, Bernadotte. Rogers wants me to go +with him on a crusade to the Lakes, and to besiege you on our way. +This last is a great temptation, but I fear it will not be in my +power, unless you would go on with one of us somewhere—no matter +where. It is too late for Matlock, but we might hit upon some +scheme, high life or low,—the last<span class="pagenum"><a id="page241" name="page241"></a>Pg 241</span> would be much the best for +amusement. I am so sick of the other, that I quite sigh for a +cider-cellar, or a cruise in a smuggler's sloop.</p> + +<p>"You cannot wish more than I do that the Fates were a little more +accommodating to our parallel lines, which prolong ad infinitum +without coming a jot nearer. I almost wish I were married, +too—which is saying much. All my friends, seniors and juniors, are +in for it, and ask me to be godfather,—the only species of +parentage which, I believe, will ever come to my share in a lawful +way; and, in an unlawful one, by the blessing of Lucina, we can +never be certain,—though the parish may. I suppose I shall hear +from you to-morrow. If not, this goes as it is; but I leave room +for a P.S., in case any thing requires an answer. Ever, &c.</p> + +<p>"No letter—<i>n'importe</i>. R. thinks the Quarterly will be at <i>me</i> +this time: if so, it shall be a war of extermination—no <i>quarter</i>. +From the youngest devil down to the oldest woman of that review, +all shall perish by one fatal lampoon. The ties of nature shall be +torn asunder, for I will not even spare my bookseller; nay, if one +were to include readers also, all the better."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 137. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"September 8. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to see Tod. again so soon, for fear your scrupulous +conscience should have prevented you from fully availing yourself +of his spoils. By this coach I send you a copy of that awful +pam<span class="pagenum"><a id="page242" name="page242"></a>Pg 242</span>phlet 'The Giaour,' which has never procured me half so high a +compliment as your modest alarm. You will (if inclined in an +evening) perceive that I have added much in quantity,—a +circumstance which may truly diminish your modesty upon the +subject.</p> + +<p>"You stand certainly in great need of a 'lift' with Mackintosh. My +dear Moore, you strangely under-rate yourself. I should conceive it +an affectation in any other; but I think I know you well enough to +believe that you don't know your own value. However, 'tis a fault +that generally mends; and, in your case, it really ought. I have +heard him speak of you as highly as your wife could wish; and +enough to give all your friends the jaundice.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday I had a letter from <i>Ali Pacha!</i> brought by Dr. Holland, +who is just returned from Albania. It is in Latin, and begins +'Excellentissime <i>nec non</i> Carissime,' and ends about a gun he +wants made for him;—it is signed 'Ali Vizir.' What do you think he +has been about? H. tells me that, last spring, he took a hostile +town, where, forty-two years ago, his mother and sisters were +treated as Miss Cunigunde was by the Bulgarian cavalry. He takes +the town, selects all the survivors of this exploit—children, +grandchildren, &c. to the tune of six hundred, and has them shot +before his face. Recollect, he spared the rest of the city, and +confined himself to the Tarquin pedigree,—which is more than I +would. So much for 'dearest friend.'"</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page243" name="page243"></a>Pg 243</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 138. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Sept. 9. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I write to you from Mr. Murray's, and I may say, from Murray, who, +if you are not predisposed in favour of any other publisher, would +be happy to treat with you, at a fitting time, for your work. I can +safely recommend him as fair, liberal, and attentive, and +certainly, in point of reputation, he stands among the first of +'the trade.' I am sure he would do you justice. I have written to +you so much lately, that you will be glad to see so little now.</p> + +<p>"Ever," &c. &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 139. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"September 27. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Thomas Moore,</p> + +<p>"(Thou wilt never be called '<i>true</i> Thomas,' like he of +Ercildoune,) why don't you write to me?—as you won't, I must. I +was near you at Aston the other day, and hope I soon shall be +again. If so, you must and shall meet me, and go to Matlock and +elsewhere, and take what, in <i>flash</i> dialect, is poetically termed +'a lark,' with Rogers and me for accomplices. Yesterday, at Holland +House, I was introduced to Southey—the best looking bard I have +seen for some time. To have that poet's head and shoulders, I would +almost have written his Sapphics. He is certainly a prepossess<span class="pagenum"><a id="page244" name="page244"></a>Pg 244</span>ing +person to look on, and a man of talent, and all that, and—<i>there</i> +is his eulogy.</p> + +<p>"* * read me part of a letter from you. By the foot of Pharaoh, I +believe there was abuse, for he stopped short, so he did, after a +fine saying about our correspondence, and <i>looked</i>—I wish I could +revenge myself by attacking you, or by telling you that I have +<i>had</i> to defend you—an agreeable way which one's friends have of +recommending themselves by saying—'Ay, ay, <i>I</i> gave it Mr. +Such-a-one for what he said about your being a plagiary, and a +rake, and so on.' But do you know that you are one of the very few +whom I never have the satisfaction of hearing abused, but the +reverse;—and do you suppose I will forgive <i>that</i>?</p> + +<p>"I have been in the country, and ran away from the Doncaster races. +It is odd,—I was a visiter in the same house which came to my sire +as a residence with Lady Carmarthen, (with whom he adulterated +before his majority—by the by, remember, <i>she</i> was not my +mamma,)—and they thrust me into an old room, with a nauseous +picture over the chimney, which I should suppose my papa regarded +with due respect, and which, inheriting the family taste, I looked +upon with great satisfaction. I stayed a week with the family, and +behaved very well—though the lady of the house is young, and +religious, and pretty, and the master is my particular friend. I +felt no wish for any thing but a poodle dog, which they kindly gave +me. Now, for a man of my courses not even to have <i>coveted</i>, is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page245" name="page245"></a>Pg 245</span> a +sign of great amendment. Pray pardon all this nonsense, and don't +'snub me when I'm in spirits.'</p> + +<p>"Ever, yours, BN.</p> + +<p>"Here's an impromptu for you by a 'person of quality,' written last +week, on being reproached for low spirits.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"When from the heart where Sorrow sits<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Her dusky shadow mounts too high,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And o'er the changing aspect flits,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">And clouds the brow, or fills the eye:<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Heed not that gloom, which soon shall sink;<br /></span> +<span class="i6">My Thoughts their dungeon know too well—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Back to my breast the wanderers shrink,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">And bleed within their silent cell."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 140. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"October 2. 1813.</p> + +<p>"You have not answered some six letters of mine. This, therefore, +is my penultimate. I will write to you once more, but, after +that—I swear by all the saints—I am silent and supercilious. I +have met Curran at Holland House—he beats every body;—his +imagination is beyond human, and his humour (it is difficult to +define what is wit) perfect. Then he has fifty faces, and twice as +many voices, when he mimics—I never met his equal. Now, were I a +woman, and eke a virgin, that is the man I should make my +Scamander. He is quite fascinating. Remember, I have met him but +once; and you, who have known him long, may<span class="pagenum"><a id="page246" name="page246"></a>Pg 246</span> probably deduct from +my panegyric. I almost fear to meet him again, lest the impression +should be lowered. He talked a great deal about you—a theme never +tiresome to me, nor any body else that I know. What a variety of +expression he conjures into that naturally not very fine +countenance of his! He absolutely changes it entirely. I have +done—for I can't describe him, and you know him. On Sunday I +return to * *, where I shall not be far from you. Perhaps I shall +hear from you in the mean time. Good night.</p> + +<p>"Saturday morn—Your letter has cancelled all my anxieties. I did +<i>not suspect</i> you in <i>earnest</i>. Modest again! Because I don't do a +very shabby thing, it seems, I 'don't fear your competition.' If it +were reduced to an alternative of preference, I <i>should</i> dread you, +as much as Satan does Michael. But is there not room enough in our +respective regions? Go on—it will soon be my turn to forgive. +To-day I dine with Mackintosh and Mrs. <i>Stale</i>—as John Bull may be +pleased to denominate Corinne—whom I saw last night, at Covent +Garden, yawning over the humour of Falstaff.</p> + +<p>"The reputation of 'gloom,' if one's friends are not included in +the <i>reputants</i>, is of great service; as it saves one from a legion +of impertinents, in the shape of common-place acquaintance. But +thou know'st I can be a right merry and conceited fellow, and +rarely 'larmoyant.' Murray shall reinstate your line forthwith.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> +I believe the blunder in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page247" name="page247"></a>Pg 247</span> motto was mine:—and yet I have, in +general, a memory for <i>you</i>, and am sure it was rightly printed at +first.</p> + +<p>"I do 'blush' very often, if I may believe Ladies H. and M.;—but +luckily, at present, no one sees me. Adieu."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 141. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 30. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Since I last wrote to you, much has occurred, good, bad, and +indifferent,—not to make me forget you, but to prevent me from +reminding you of one who, nevertheless, has often thought of you, +and to whom <i>your</i> thoughts, in many a measure, have frequently +been a consolation. We were once very near neighbours this autumn; +and a good and bad neighbourhood it has proved to me. Suffice it to +say, that your French quotation was confoundedly to the +purpose,—though very <i>unexpectedly</i> pertinent, as you may imagine +by what I <i>said</i> before, and my silence since. However, 'Richard's +himself again,' and except all night and some part of the morning, +I don't think very much about the matter.</p> + +<p>"All convulsions end with me in rhyme; and to solace my midnights, +I have scribbled another<span class="pagenum"><a id="page248" name="page248"></a>Pg 248</span> Turkish story<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>—not a Fragment—which +you will receive soon after this. It does not trench upon your +kingdom in the least, and if it did, you would soon reduce me to my +proper boundaries. You will think, and justly, that I run some risk +of losing the little I have gained in fame, by this further +experiment on public patience; but I have really ceased to care on +that head. I have written this, and published it, for the sake of +the <i>employment</i>,—to wring my thoughts from reality, and take +refuge in 'imaginings,' however 'horrible;' and, as to success! +those who succeed will console me for a failure—excepting yourself +and one or two more, whom luckily I love too well to wish one leaf +of their laurels a tint yellower. This is the work of a week, and +will be the reading of an hour to you, or even less,—and so, let +it go * * * *.</p> + +<p>"P.S. Ward and I <i>talk</i> of going to Holland. I want to see how a +Dutch canal looks after the Bosphorus. Pray respond."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 142. TO MR. MOORE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"December 8. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Your letter, like all the best, and even kindest things in this +world, is both painful and pleasing. But, first, to what sits +nearest. Do you know I was actually about to dedicate to you,—not +in a formal inscription, as to one's <i>elders</i>,—but through a +short<span class="pagenum"><a id="page249" name="page249"></a>Pg 249</span> prefatory letter, in which I boasted myself your intimate, +and held forth the prospect of <i>your</i> poem; when, lo! the +recollection of your strict injunctions of secrecy as to the said +poem, more than <i>once</i> repeated by word and letter, flashed upon +me, and marred my intents. I could have no motive for repressing my +own desire of alluding to you (and not a day passes that I do not +think and talk of you), but an idea that you might, yourself, +dislike it. You cannot doubt my sincere admiration, waving personal +friendship for the present, which, by the by, is not less sincere +and deep rooted. I have you by rote and by heart; of which 'ecce +signum!' When I was at * *, on my first visit, I have a habit, in +passing my time a good deal alone, of—I won't call it singing, for +that I never attempt except to myself—but of uttering, to what I +think tunes, your 'Oh breathe not,' 'When the last glimpse,' and +'When he who adores thee,' with others of the same minstrel;—they +are my matins and vespers. I assuredly did not intend them to be +overheard, but, one morning, in comes, not La Donna, but Il Marito, +with a very grave face, saying, 'Byron, I must request you won't +sing any more, at least of <i>those</i> songs.' I stared, and said, +'Certainly, but why?'—'To tell you the truth,' quoth he, 'they +make my wife <i>cry</i>, and so melancholy, that I wish her to hear no +more of them.'</p> + +<p>"Now, my dear M., the effect must have been from your words, and +certainly not my music. I merely mention this foolish story to show +you how much I am indebted to you for even your pas<span class="pagenum"><a id="page250" name="page250"></a>Pg 250</span>times. A man +may praise and praise, but no one recollects but that which +pleases—at least, in composition. Though I think no one equal to +you in that department, or in satire,—and surely no one was ever +so popular in both,—I certainly am of opinion that you have not +yet done all <i>you</i> can do, though more than enough for any one +else. I want, and the world expects, a longer work from you; and I +see in you what I never saw in poet before, a strange diffidence of +your own powers, which I cannot account for, and which must be +unaccountable, when a <i>Cossac</i> like me can appal a <i>cuirassier</i>. +Your story I did not, could not, know,—I thought only of a Peri. I +wish you had confided in me, not for your sake, but mine, and to +prevent the world from losing a much better poem than my own, but +which, I yet hope, this <i>clashing</i> will not even now deprive them +of.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Mine is the work<span class="pagenum"><a id="page251" name="page251"></a>Pg 251</span> of a week, written, <i>why</i> I have partly +told you, and partly I cannot tell you by letter—some day I will.</p> + +<p>"Go on—I shall really be very unhappy if I at all interfere with +you. The success of mine is yet problematical; though the public +will probably purchase a certain quantity, on the presumption of +their own propensity for 'The Giaour' and such 'horrid mysteries.' +The only advantage I have is being on the spot; and that merely +amounts to saving me the trouble of turning over books which I had +better read again. If <i>your chamber</i> was furnished in the same way, +you have no need to <i>go there</i> to describe—I mean only as to +<i>accuracy</i>—because I drew it from recollection.</p> + +<p>"This last thing of mine <i>may</i> have the same fate, and I assure you +I have great doubts about it. But, even if not, its little day will +be over before you are ready and willing. Come out—'screw your +courage to the sticking-place.' Except the Post Bag (and surely you +cannot complain of a want of success there), you have not been +<i>regularly</i> out for some years. No man stands higher,—whatever you +may think on a rainy day, in your provincial retreat. 'Aucun homme, +dans aucune langue, n'a été, peut-être, plus completèment le poëte +du coeur et le poëte des femmes. Les critiques lui reprochent de +n'avoir<span class="pagenum"><a id="page252" name="page252"></a>Pg 252</span> représenté le monde ni tel qu'il est, ni tel qu'il doit +être; <i>mais les femmes répondent qu'il l'a représenté tel qu'elles +le désirent</i>.'—I should have thought Sismondi had written this for +you instead of Metastasio.</p> + +<p>"Write to me, and tell me of <i>yourself</i>. Do you remember what +Rousseau said to some one—'Have we quarrelled? you have talked to +me often, and never once mentioned yourself.'</p> + +<p>"P.S.—The last sentence is an indirect apology for my own +egotism,—but I believe in letters it is allowed. I wish it was +<i>mutual</i>. I have met with an odd reflection in Grimm; it shall +not—at least the bad part—be applied to you or me, though <i>one</i> +of us has certainly an indifferent name—but this it is:—'Many +people have the reputation of being wicked, with whom we should be +too happy to pass our lives.' I need not add it is a woman's +saying—a Mademoiselle de Sommery's."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At this time Lord Byron commenced a Journal, or Diary, from the pages of +which I have already selected a few extracts, and of which I shall now +lay as much more as is producible before the reader. Employed +chiefly,—as such a record, from its nature, must be,—about persons +still living, and occurrences still recent, it would be impossible, of +course, to submit it to the public eye, without the omission of some +portion of its contents, and unluckily, too, of that very portion which, +from its reference to the secret pursuits and feelings of the writer, +would the most livelily pique and gratify the curiosity of the reader. +Enough, however, will, I trust, still remain,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page253" name="page253"></a>Pg 253</span> even after all this +necessary winnowing, to enlarge still further the view we have here +opened into the interior of the poet's life and habits, and to indulge +harmlessly that taste, as general as it is natural, which leads us to +contemplate with pleasure a great mind in its undress, and to rejoice in +the discovery, so consoling to human pride, that even the mightiest, in +their moments of ease and weakness, resemble ourselves.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + + +<p>"<b>JOURNAL, BEGUN NOVEMBER 14. 1813.</b></p> + +<p>"If this had been begun ten years ago, and faithfully kept!!!—heigho! +there are too many things I wish never to have remembered, as it is. +Well,—have had my share of what are called the pleasures of this life, +and have seen more of the European and Asiatic world than I have made a +good use of. They say 'Virtue is its own reward,'—it certainly should +be paid well for its trouble. At five-and-twenty, when the better part +of life is over, one should be <i>something</i>;—and what am I? nothing but +five-and-twenty—and the odd months. What have I seen? the same man all +over the world,—ay, and woman too. Give <i>me</i> a Mussulman who never asks +questions, and a she of the same race who saves one the trouble of +putting them. But for this same plague—yellow fever—and Newstead +delay, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page254" name="page254"></a>Pg 254</span> should have been by this time a second time close to the +Euxine. If I can overcome the last, I don't so much mind your +pestilence; and, at any rate, the spring shall see me there,—provided I +neither marry myself, nor unmarry any one else in the interval. I wish +one was—I don't know what I wish. It is odd I never set myself +seriously to wishing without attaining it—and repenting. I begin to +believe with the good old Magi, that one should only pray for the +nation, and not for the individual;—but, on my principle, this would +not be very patriotic.</p> + +<p>"No more reflections—Let me see—last night I finished 'Zuleika,' my +second Turkish Tale. I believe the composition of it kept me alive—for +it was written to drive my thoughts from the recollection of—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Dear sacred name, rest ever unreveal'd.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At least, even here, my hand would tremble to write it. This afternoon I +have burnt the scenes of my commenced comedy. I have some idea of +expectorating a romance, or rather a tale in prose;—but what romance +could equal the events—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">'quæque ipse ...vidi,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et quorum pars magna fui.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"To-day Henry Byron called on me with my little cousin Eliza. She will +grow up a beauty and a plague; but, in the mean time, it is the +prettiest child! dark eyes and eyelashes, black and long as the wing of +a raven. I think she is prettier even<span class="pagenum"><a id="page255" name="page255"></a>Pg 255</span> than my niece, Georgina,—yet I +don't like to think so neither; and though older, she is not so clever.</p> + +<p>"Dallas called before I was up, so we did not meet. Lewis, too,—who +seems out of humour with every thing. What can be the matter? he is not +married—has he lost his own mistress, or any other person's wife? +Hodgson, too, came. He is going to be married, and he is the kind of man +who will be the happier. He has talent, cheerfulness, every thing that +can make him a pleasing companion; and his intended is handsome and +young, and all that. But I never see any one much improved by matrimony. +All my coupled contemporaries are bald and discontented. W. and S. have +both lost their hair and good humour; and the last of the two had a good +deal to lose. But it don't much signify what falls <i>off</i> a man's temples +in that state.</p> + +<p>"Mem. I must get a toy to-morrow, for Eliza, and send the device for the +seals of myself and * * * * * Mem. too, to call on the Staël and Lady +Holland to-morrow, and on * *, who has advised me (without seeing it, by +the by) not to publish 'Zuleika;' I believe he is right, but experience +might have taught him that not to print is <i>physically</i> impossible. No +one has seen it but Hodgson and Mr. Gifford. I never in my life <i>read</i> a +composition, save to Hodgson, as he pays me in kind. It is a horrible +thing to do too frequently;—better print, and they who like may read, +and if they don't like, you have the satisfaction of knowing that they +have, at least, <i>purchased</i> the right of saying so.</p> + +<p>"I have declined presenting the Debtors' Petition,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page256" name="page256"></a>Pg 256</span> being sick of +parliamentary mummeries. I have spoken thrice; but I doubt my ever +becoming an orator. My first was liked; the second and third—I don't +know whether they succeeded or not. I have never yet set to it <i>con +amore</i>;—one must have some excuse to one's self for laziness, or +inability, or both, and this is mine. 'Company, villanous company, hath +been the spoil of me;'—and then, I have 'drunk medicines,' not to make +me love others, but certainly enough to hate myself.</p> + +<p>"Two nights ago I saw the tigers sup at Exeter 'Change. Except Veli +Pacha's lion in the Morea,—who followed the Arab keeper like a +dog,—the fondness of the hyæna for her keeper amused me most. Such a +conversazione!—There was a 'hippopotamus,' like Lord L——l in the +face; and the 'Ursine Sloth' hath the very voice and manner of my +valet—but the tiger talked too much. The elephant took and gave me my +money again—took off my hat—opened a door—<i>trunked</i> a whip—and +behaved so well, that I wish he was my butler. The handsomest animal on +earth is one of the panthers; but the poor antelopes were dead. I should +hate to see one <i>here</i>:—the sight of the <i>camel</i> made me pine again for +Asia Minor. 'Oh quando te aspiciam?'</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"November 16.</p> + +<p>"Went last night with Lewis to see the first of Antony and Cleopatra. It +was admirably got up, and well acted—a salad of Shakspeare and Dryden, +Cleopatra strikes me as the epitome of her sex—<span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257"></a>Pg 257</span>fond, lively, sad, +tender, teasing, humble, haughty, beautiful, the devil!—coquettish to +the last, as well with the 'asp' as with Antony. After doing all she can +to persuade him that—but why do they abuse him for cutting off that +poltroon Cicero's head? Did not Tully tell Brutus it was a pity to have +spared Antony? and did he not speak the Philippics? and are not '<i>words +things</i>?' and such '<i>words</i>' very pestilent '<i>things</i>' too? If he had +had a hundred heads, they deserved (from Antony) a rostrum (his was +stuck up there) apiece—though, after all, he might as well have +pardoned him, for the credit of the thing. But to resume—Cleopatra, +after securing him, says, 'yet go—it is your interest,' &c.—how like +the sex! and the questions about Octavia—it is woman all over.</p> + +<p>"To-day received Lord Jersey's invitation to Middleton—to travel sixty +miles to meet Madame * *! I once travelled three thousand to get among +silent people; and this same lady writes octavos, and <i>talks</i> folios. I +have read her books—like most of them, and delight in the last; so I +won't hear it, as well as read.</p> + +<p>"Read Burns to-day. What would he have been, if a patrician? We should +have had more polish—less force—just as much verse, but no +immortality—a divorce and a duel or two, the which had he survived, as +his potations must have been less spirituous, he might have lived as +long as Sheridan, and outlived as much as poor Brinsley. What a wreck is +that man! and all from bad pilotage; for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258"></a>Pg 258</span> no one had ever better gales, +though now and then a little too squally. Poor dear Sherry! I shall +never forget the day he and Rogers and Moore and I passed together; when +<i>he</i> talked, and <i>we</i> listened, without one yawn, from six till one in +the morning.</p> + +<p>"Got my seals * * * * * * Have again forgot a plaything for <i>ma petite +cousine</i> Eliza; but I must send for it to-morrow. I hope Harry will +bring her to me. I sent Lord Holland the proofs of the last 'Giaour,' +and 'The Bride of Abydos.' He won't like the latter, and I don't think +that I shall long. It was written in four nights to distract my dreams +from * *. Were it not thus, it had never been composed; and had I not +done something at that time, I must have gone mad, by eating my own +heart,—bitter diet!—Hodgson likes it better than 'The Giaour,' but +nobody else will,—and he never liked the Fragment. I am sure, had it +not been for Murray, <i>that</i> would never have been published, though the +circumstances which are the groundwork make it * * * heigh-ho!</p> + +<p>"To-night I saw both the sisters of * *; my God! the youngest so like! I +thought I should have sprung across the house, and am so glad no one was +with me in Lady H.'s box. I hate those likenesses—the mock-bird, but +not the nightingale—so like as to remind, so different as to be +painful.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> One quarrels<span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259"></a>Pg 259</span> equally with the points of resemblance and of +distinction.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Nov. 17.</p> + +<p>"No letter from * *; but I must not complain. The respectable Job says, +'Why should a <i>living man</i> complain?' I really don't know, except it be +that a <i>dead man</i> can't; and he, the said patriarch, <i>did</i> complain, +nevertheless, till his friends were tired and his wife recommended that +pious prologue, 'Curse—and die;' the only time, I suppose, when but +little relief is to be found in swearing. I have had a most kind letter +from Lord Holland on 'The Bride of Abydos,' which he likes, and so does +Lady H. This is very good-natured in both, from whom I don't deserve any +quarter. Yet I <i>did</i> think, at the time, that my cause of enmity +proceeded from Holland House, and am glad I was wrong, and wish I had +not been in such a hurry with that confounded satire, of which I would +suppress even the memory;—but people, now they can't get it, make a +fuss, I verily believe, out of contradiction.</p> + +<p>"George Ellis and Murray have been talking something about Scott and me, +George pro Scoto,—and very right too. If they want to depose him, I +only wish they would not set me up as a competitor. Even if I had my +choice, I would rather be the Earl of Warwick than all the <i>kings</i> he +ever made! Jeffrey and Gifford I take to be the monarch-makers in poetry +and prose. The British Critic, in their Rokeby Review, have presupposed +a comparison, which I am sure my friends never<span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260"></a>Pg 260</span> thought of, and W. +Scott's subjects are injudicious in descending to. I like the man—and +admire his works to what Mr. Braham calls <i>Entusymusy</i>. All such stuff +can only vex him, and do me no good. Many hate his politics—(I hate all +politics); and, here, a man's politics are like the Greek <i>soul</i>—an +ειδωλον, besides God knows what <i>other soul</i>; but their +estimate of the two generally go together.</p> + +<p>"Harry has not brought <i>ma petite cousine</i>. I want us to go to the play +together;—she has been but once. Another short note from Jersey, +inviting Rogers and me on the 23d. I must see my agent to-night. I +wonder when that Newstead business will be finished. It cost me more +than words to part with it—and to <i>have</i> parted with it! What matters +it what I do? or what becomes of me?—but let me remember Job's saying, +and console myself with being 'a living man.'</p> + +<p>"I wish I could settle to reading again,—my life is monotonous, and yet +desultory. I take up books, and fling them down again. I began a comedy, +and burnt it because the scene ran into <i>reality</i>;—a novel, for the +same reason. In rhyme, I can keep more away from facts; but the thought +always runs through, through ... yes, yes, through. I have had a letter +from Lady Melbourne—the best friend I ever had in my life, and the +cleverest of women.</p> + +<p>"Not a word from * *. Have they set out from * *? or has my last +precious epistle fallen into the lion's jaws? If so—and this silence +looks suspicious, I must clap on my 'musty morion' and 'hold<span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261"></a>Pg 261</span> out my +iron.' I am out of practice—but I won't begin again at Manton's now. +Besides, I would not return his shot. I was once a famous +wafer-splitter; but then the bullies of society made it necessary. Ever +since I began to feel that I had a bad cause to support, I have left off +the exercise.</p> + +<p>"What strange tidings from that Anakim of anarchy—Buonaparte! Ever +since I defended my bust of him at Harrow against the rascally +time-servers, when the war broke out in 1803, he has been a 'Héros de +Roman' of mine—on the Continent; I don't want him here. But I don't +like those same flights—leaving of armies, &c. &c. I am sure when I +fought for his bust at school, I did not think he would run away from +himself. But I should not wonder if he banged them yet. To be beat by +men would be something; but by three stupid, legitimate-old-dynasty +boobies of regular-bred sovereigns—O-hone-a-rie!—O-hone-a-rie! It must +be, as Cobbett says, his marriage with the thick-lipped and thick-headed +<i>Autrichienne</i> brood. He had better have kept to her who was kept by +Barras. I never knew any good come of your young wife, and legal +espousals, to any but your 'sober-blooded boy' who 'eats fish' and +drinketh 'no sack.' Had he not the whole opera? all Paris? all France? +But a mistress is just as perplexing—that is, <i>one</i>—two or more are +manageable by division.</p> + +<p>"I have begun, or had begun, a song, and flung it into the fire. It was +in remembrance of Mary Duff, my first of flames, before most people +begin to burn. I wonder what the devil is the matter with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262"></a>Pg 262</span> me! I can do +nothing, and—fortunately there is nothing to do. It has lately been in +my power to make two persons (and their connections) comfortable, <i>pro +tempore</i>, and one happy, <i>ex tempore</i>,—I rejoice in the last +particularly, as it is an excellent man<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a>. I wish there had been more +inconvenience and less gratification to my self-love in it, for then +there had been more merit. We are all selfish—and I believe, ye gods of +Epicurus! I believe in Rochefoucault about <i>men</i>, and in Lucretius (not +Busby's translation) about yourselves. Your bard has made you very +<i>nonchalant</i> and blest; but as he has excused <i>us</i> from damnation, I +don't envy you your blessedness <i>much</i>—a little, to be sure. I +remember, last year, * * said to me, at * *, 'Have we not passed our +last month like the gods of Lucretius?' And so we had. She is an adept +in the text of the original (which I like too); and when that booby Bus. +sent his translating prospectus, she subscribed. But, the devil +prompting him to add a specimen, she transmitted him a subsequent +answer, saying, that 'after perusing it, her conscience would not permit +her to allow her name to remain on the list of subscribblers.' Last +night, at Lord H.'s—Mackintosh, the Ossulstones, Puységur, &c. there—I +was trying to recollect a quotation (as <i>I</i> think) of Staël's, from some +Teutonic sophist about architecture. 'Architecture,' says this +Macoronico Tedescho, 'reminds me of frozen music.' It is somewhere—but +where?—the demon of perplexity<span class="pagenum"><a id="page263" name="page263"></a>Pg 263</span> must know and won't tell. I asked M., +and he said it was not in her: but P——r said it must be <i>hers</i>, it was +so <i>like</i>. H. laughed, as he does at all 'De l'Allemagne,'—in which, +however, I think he goes a little too far. B., I hear, condemns it too. +But there are fine passages;—and, after all, what is a work—any—or +every work—but a desert with fountains, and, perhaps, a grove or two, +every day's journey? To be sure, in Madame, what we often mistake, and +'pant for,' as the 'cooling stream,' turns out to be the '<i>mirage</i>' +(criticè <i>verbiage</i>); but we do, at last, get to something like the +temple of Jove Ammon, and then the waste we have passed is only +remembered to gladden the contrast.</p> + +<p>"Called on C * *, to explain * * *. She is very beautiful, to my taste, +at least; for on coming home from abroad, I recollect being unable to +look at any woman but her—they were so fair, and unmeaning, and +<i>blonde</i>. The darkness and regularity of her features reminded me of my +'Jannat al Aden.' But this impression wore off; and now I can look at a +fair woman, without longing for a Houri. She was very good-tempered, and +every thing was explained.</p> + +<p>"To-day, great news—'the Dutch have taken Holland,'—which, I suppose, +will be succeeded by the actual explosion of the Thames. Five provinces +have declared for young Stadt, and there will be inundation, +conflagration, constupration, consternation, and every sort of nation +and nations, fighting away, up to their knees, in the damnable quags of +this will-o'-the-wisp abode of Boors. It is said Bernadotte is amongst +them, too; and, as Orange will be<span class="pagenum"><a id="page264" name="page264"></a>Pg 264</span> there soon, they will have (Crown) +Prince Stork and King Log in their Loggery at the same time. Two to one +on the new dynasty!</p> + +<p>"Mr. Murray has offered me one thousand guineas for 'The Giaour' and +'The Bride of Abydos.' I won't—it is too much, though I am strongly +tempted, merely for the <i>say</i> of it. No bad price for a fortnight's (a +week each) what?—the gods know—it was intended to be called poetry.</p> + +<p>"I have dined regularly to-day, for the first time since Sunday +last—this being Sabbath, too. All the rest, tea and dry biscuits—six +<i>per diem</i>, I wish to God I had not dined now!—It kills me with +heaviness, stupor, and horrible dreams;—and yet it was but a pint of +bucellas, and fish.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Meat I never touch,—nor much vegetable diet. I +wish I were in the country, to take exercise,—instead of being obliged +to cool by abstinence, in lieu of it. I should not so much mind a little +accession of flesh,—my bones can well bear it. But the worst is, the +devil always came with it,—till I starved him out,—and I will <i>not</i> be +the slave of <i>any</i> appetite. If I do err, it shall be my heart, at +least, that heralds the way. Oh, my head—how it aches?—the horrors of +digestion! I wonder how Buonaparte's dinner agrees with him?</p> + +<p>"Mem. I must write to-morrow to 'Master Shallow, who owes me a thousand +pounds,' and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265"></a>Pg 265</span> seems, in his letter, afraid I should ask him for +it<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a>;—as if I would!—I don't want it (just now, at least,) to begin +with; and though I have often wanted that sum, I never asked for the +repayment of 10<i>l.</i> in my life—from a friend. His bond is not due this +year, and I told him when it was, I should not enforce it. How often +must he make me say the same thing?</p> + +<p>"I am wrong—I did once ask * * *<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> to repay me. But it was under +circumstances that excused me <i>to him</i>, and would to any one. I took no +interest, nor required security. He paid me soon,—at least, his +<i>padre</i>. My head! I believe it was given me to ache with. Good even.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Nov. 22. 1813.</p> + +<p>"'Orange Boven!' So the bees have expelled the bear that broke open +their hive. Well,—if we are to have new De Witts and De Ruyters, God +speed the little republic! I should like to see the Hague and the +village of Brock, where they have such primitive habits. Yet, I don't +know,—their canals would cut a poor figure by the memory of the +Bosphorus; and the Zuyder Zee look awkwardly after 'Ak-Denizi.' No +matter,—the bluff burghers, puffing freedom out of their short +tobacco-pipes,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266"></a>Pg 266</span> might be worth seeing; though I prefer a cigar or a +hooka, with the rose-leaf mixed with the milder herb of the Levant. I +don't know what liberty means,—never having seen it,—but wealth is +power all over the world; and as a shilling performs the duty of a pound +(besides sun and sky and beauty for nothing) in the East,—<i>that</i> is the +country. How I envy Herodes Atticus!—more than Pomponius. And yet a +little <i>tumult</i>, now and then, is an agreeable quickener of sensation; +such as a revolution, a battle, or an <i>aventure</i> of any lively +description. I think I rather would have been Bonneval, Ripperda, +Alberoni, Hayreddin, or Horuc Barbarossa, or even Wortley Montague, than +Mahomet himself.</p> + +<p>"Rogers will be in town soon?—the 23d is fixed for our Middleton visit. +Shall I go? umph!—In this island, where one can't ride out without +overtaking the sea, it don't much matter where one goes.</p> + +<p>"I remember the effect of the <i>first</i> Edinburgh Review on me. I heard of +it six weeks before,—read it the day of its denunciation,—dined and +drank three bottles of claret, (with S.B. Davies, I think,) neither ate +nor slept the less, but, nevertheless, was not easy till I had vented my +wrath and my rhyme, in the same pages, against every thing and every +body. Like George, in the Vicar of Wakefield, 'the fate of my paradoxes' +would allow me to perceive no merit in another. I remembered only the +maxim of my boxing-master, which, in my youth, was found useful in all +general riots,—'Whoever is not for you is against you—<i>mill</i> away<span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267"></a>Pg 267</span> +right and left,' and so I did;—like Ishmael, my hand was against all +men, and all men's anent me. I did wonder, to be sure, at my own +success—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'And marvels so much wit is all his own,'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>as Hobhouse sarcastically says of somebody (not unlikely myself, as we +are old friends);—but were it to come over again, I would <i>not</i>. I have +since redde<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> the cause of my couplets, and it is not adequate to the +effect. C * * told me that it was believed I alluded to poor Lord +Carlisle's nervous disorder in one of the lines. I thank Heaven I did +not know it—and would not, could not, if I had. I must naturally be the +last person to be pointed on defects or maladies.</p> + +<p>"Rogers is silent,—and, it is said, severe. When he does talk, he talks +well; and, on all subjects of taste, his delicacy of expression is pure +as his poetry. If you enter his house—his drawing-room—his +library—you of yourself say, this is not the dwelling of a common mind. +There is not a gem, a coin, a book thrown aside on his chimney-piece, +his sofa, his table, that does not bespeak an almost fastidious elegance +in the possessor. But this very delicacy must be the misery of his +existence. Oh the jarrings his disposition must have encountered through +life!</p> + +<p>"Southey, I have not seen much of. His appearance is <i>Epic</i>; and he is +the only existing entire man of letters. All the others have some +pursuit annexed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268"></a>Pg 268</span> to their authorship. His manners are mild, but not +those of a man of the world, and his talents of the first order. His +prose is perfect. Of his poetry there are various opinions: there is, +perhaps, too much of it for the present generation;—posterity will +probably select. He has passages equal to any thing. At present, he has +a party, but no public—except for his prose writings. The life of +Nelson is beautiful.</p> + +<p>"* * is a <i>Littérateur</i>, the Oracle of the Coteries, of the * * s, L * W +* (Sydney Smith's 'Tory Virgin'), Mrs. Wilmot, (she, at least, is a +swan, and might frequent a purer stream,) Lady B * *, and all the Blues, +with Lady C * * at their head—but I say nothing of <i>her</i>—'look in her +face and you forget them all,' and every thing else. Oh that face!—by +'te, Diva potens Cypri,' I would, to be beloved by that woman, build and +burn another Troy.</p> + +<p>"M * * e has a peculiarity of talent, or rather talents,—poetry, music, +voice, all his own; and an expression in each, which never was, nor will +be, possessed by another. But he is capable of still higher flights in +poetry. By the by, what humour, what—every thing, in the 'Post-Bag!' +There is nothing M * * e may not do, if he will but seriously set about +it. In society, he is gentlemanly, gentle, and, altogether, more +pleasing than any individual with whom I am acquainted. For his honour, +principle, and independence, his conduct to * * * * speaks +'trumpet-tongued.' He has but one fault—and that one I daily regret—he +is not <i>here</i>.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269"></a>Pg 269</span></p> + +<p>"Nov. 23.</p> + +<p>"Ward—I like Ward.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> By Mahomet! I begin to think I like every +body;—a disposition not to be encouraged;—a sort of social gluttony +that swallows every thing set before it. But I like Ward. He is +<i>piquant</i>; and, in my opinion, will stand <i>very</i> high in the House, and +every where else, if he applies regularly. By the by, I dine with him +to-morrow, which may have some influence on my opinion. It is as well +not to trust one's gratitude <i>after</i> dinner. I have heard many a host +libelled by his guests, with his burgundy yet reeking on their rascally +lips.</p> + +<p>"I have taken Lord Salisbury's box at Covent Garden for the season; and +now I must go and prepare to join Lady Holland and party, in theirs, at +Drury Lane, <i>questa sera</i>.</p> + +<p>"Holland doesn't think the man <i>is Junius</i>; but that the yet unpublished +journal throws great light on the obscurities of that part of George the +Second's reign—What is this to George the Third's? I don't know what to +think. Why should Junius be yet dead? If suddenly apoplexed, would he +rest in his grave without sending his ειδωλον to shout in the +ears of posterity, 'Junius was X.Y.Z., Esq., buried in the parish of * * +*. Repair his monument, ye churchwardens! Print a new edition of his +Letters, ye booksellers!' Impossible,—the man must be alive, and will +never die without the disclosure. I like him;—he was a good hater.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270"></a>Pg 270</span></p> + +<p>"Came home unwell and went to bed,—not so sleepy as might be desirable.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Tuesday morning.</p> + +<p>"I awoke from a dream!—well! and have not others dreamed?—Such a +dream!—but she did not overtake me. I wish the dead would rest, +however. Ugh! how my blood chilled—and I could not wake +—and—and—heigho!</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i9">"'Shadows to-night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than could the substance of ten thousand * * s,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arm'd all in proof, and led by shallow * *.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I do not like this dream,—I hate its 'foregone conclusion.' And am I to +be shaken by shadows? Ay, when they remind us of—no matter—but, if I +dream thus again, I will try whether <i>all</i> sleep has the like visions. +Since I rose, I've been in considerable bodily pain also; but it is +gone, and now, like Lord Ogleby, I am wound up for the day.</p> + +<p>"A note from Mountnorris—I dine with Ward;—Canning is to be there, +Frere and Sharpe,—perhaps Gifford. I am to be one of 'the five' (or +rather six), as Lady * * said a little sneeringly yesterday. They are +all good to meet, particularly Canning, and—Ward, when he likes. I wish +I may be well enough to listen to these intellectuals.</p> + +<p>"No letters to-day;—so much the better,—there are no answers. I must +not dream again;—it spoils even reality. I will go out of doors, and +see what the fog will do for me. Jackson has been<span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271"></a>Pg 271</span> here: the boxing +world much as usual;—but the club increases. I shall dine at Crib's +to-morrow. I like energy—even animal energy—of all kinds; and I have +need of both mental and corporeal. I have not dined out, nor, indeed, +<i>at all</i>, lately; have heard no music—have seen nobody. Now for a +<i>plunge</i>—high life and low life. 'Amant <i>alterna</i> Camoenæ!'</p> + +<p>"I have burnt my <i>Roman</i>—as I did the first scenes and sketch of my +comedy—and, for aught I see, the pleasure of burning is quite as great +as that of printing. These two last would not have done. I ran into +realities more than ever; and some would have been recognised and others +guessed at.</p> + +<p>"Redde the Ruminator—a collection of Essays, by a strange, but able, +old man (Sir E.B.), and a half-wild young one, author of a poem on the +Highlands, called 'Childe Alarique.' The word 'sensibility' (always my +aversion) occurs a thousand times in these Essays; and, it seems, is to +be an excuse for all kinds of discontent. This young man can know +nothing of life; and, if he cherishes the disposition which runs through +his papers, will become useless, and, perhaps, not even a poet, after +all, which he seems determined to be. God help him! no one should be a +rhymer who could be any thing better. And this is what annoys one, to +see Scott and Moore, and Campbell and Rogers, who might have all been +agents and leaders, now mere spectators. For, though they may have other +ostensible avocations, these last are reduced to a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272"></a>Pg 272</span> secondary +consideration. * *, too, frittering away his time among dowagers and +unmarried girls. If it advanced any <i>serious</i> affair, it were some +excuse; but, with the unmarried, that is a hazardous speculation, and +tiresome enough, too; and, with the veterans, it is not much worth +trying, unless, perhaps, one in a thousand.</p> + +<p>"If I had any views in this country, they would probably be +parliamentary. But I have no ambition; at least, if any, it would be +'aut Cæsar aut nihil.' My hopes are limited to the arrangement of my +affairs, and settling either in Italy or the East (rather the last), and +drinking deep of the languages and literature of both. Past events have +unnerved me; and all I can now do is to make life an amusement, and look +on while others play. After all, even the highest game of crowns and +sceptres, what is it? <i>Vide</i> Napoleon's last twelve-month. It has +completely upset my system of fatalism. I thought, if crushed, he would +have fallen, when 'fractus illabitur orbis,' and not have been pared +away to gradual insignificance; that all this was not a mere <i>jeu</i> of +the gods, but a prelude to greater changes and mightier events. But men +never advance beyond a certain point; and here we are, retrograding to +the dull, stupid old system,—balance of Europe—poising straws upon +kings' noses, instead of wringing them off! Give me a republic, or a +despotism of one, rather than the mixed government of one, two, three. A +republic!—look in the history of the Earth—Rome, Greece, Venice, +France, Holland, America, our short (eheu!)<span class="pagenum"><a id="page273" name="page273"></a>Pg 273</span> Commonwealth, and compare +it with what they did under masters. The Asiatics are not qualified to +be republicans, but they have the liberty of demolishing despots, which +is the next thing to it. To be the first man—not the Dictator—not the +Sylla, but the Washington or the Aristides—the leader in talent and +truth—is next to the Divinity! Franklin, Penn, and, next to these, +either Brutus or Cassius—even Mirabeau—or St. Just. I shall never be +any thing, or rather always be nothing. The most I can hope is, that +some will say, 'He might, perhaps, if he would.'</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"12, midnight.</p> + +<p>"Here are two confounded proofs from the printer. I have looked at the +one, but for the soul of me, I can't look over that 'Giaour' again,—at +least, just now, and at this hour—and yet there is no moon.</p> + +<p>"Ward talks of going to Holland, and we have partly discussed an +ensemble expedition. It must be in ten days, if at all, if we wish to be +in at the Revolution. And why not? * * is distant, and will be at * *, +still more distant, till spring. No one else, except Augusta, cares for +me; no ties—no trammels—<i>andiamo dunque—se torniamo, bene—se non, +ch' importa</i>? Old William of Orange talked of dying in 'the last ditch' +of his dingy country. It is lucky I can swim, or I suppose I should not +well weather the first. But let us see. I have heard hyænas and jackalls +in the ruins of Asia; and bull-frogs in the marshes; besides wolves<span class="pagenum"><a id="page274" name="page274"></a>Pg 274</span> and +angry Mussulmans. Now, I should like to listen to the shout of a free +Dutchman.</p> + +<p>"Alla! Viva! For ever! Hourra! Huzza!—which is the most rational or +musical of these cries? 'Orange Boven,' according to the Morning Post.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Wednesday, 24.</p> + +<p>"No dreams last night of the dead nor the living, so—I am 'firm as the +marble, founded as the rock,' till the next earthquake.</p> + +<p>"Ward's dinner went off well. There was not a disagreeable person +there—unless <i>I</i> offended any body, which I am sure I could not by +contradiction, for I said little, and opposed nothing. Sharpe (a man of +elegant mind, and who has lived much with the best—Fox, Horne Tooke, +Windham, Fitzpatrick, and all the agitators of other times and tongues,) +told us the particulars of his last interview with Windham, a few days +before the fatal operation which sent 'that gallant spirit to aspire the +skies.' Windham,—the first in one department of oratory and talent, +whose only fault was his refinement beyond the intellect of half his +hearers,—Windham, half his life an active participator in the events of +the earth, and one of those who governed nations,—<i>he</i> regretted, and +dwelt much on that regret, that 'he had not entirely devoted himself to +literature and science!!!' His mind certainly would have carried him to +eminence there, as elsewhere;—but I cannot comprehend what debility of +that mind could suggest such a wish. I, who have heard him, cannot +regret any thing but that I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page275" name="page275"></a>Pg 275</span> shall never hear him again. What! would he +have been a plodder? a metaphysician?—perhaps a rhymer? a scribbler? +Such an exchange must have been suggested by illness. But he is gone, +and Time 'shall not look upon his like again.'</p> + +<p>"I am tremendously in arrear with my letters,—except to * *, and to her +my thoughts overpower me:—my words never compass them. To Lady +Melbourne I write with most pleasure—and her answers, so sensible, so +<i>tactique</i>—I never met with half her talent. If she had been a few +years younger, what a fool she would have made of me, had she thought it +worth her while,—and I should have lost a valuable and most agreeable +friend. Mem. a mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, +you are lovers; and, when it is over, any thing but friends.</p> + +<p>"I have not answered W. Scott's last letter,—but I will. I regret to +hear from others that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary +involvements. He is undoubtedly the Monarch of Parnassus, and the most +<i>English</i> of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list (I +value him more as the last of the best school)—Moore and Campbell both +<i>third</i>—Southey and Wordsworth and Coleridge—the +rest, ὁι πολλοι—thus:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page276" name="page276"></a>Pg 276</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/01.jpg" + alt="Pyramid" + title="Pyramid" /> +</div> + +<p>There is a triangular 'Gradus ad Parnassum!'—the names are too numerous +for the base of the triangle. Poor Thurlow has gone wild about the +poetry of Queen Bess's reign—<i>c'est dommage</i>. I have ranked the names +upon my triangle more upon what I believe popular opinion, than any +decided opinion of my own. For, to me, some of M * * e's last <i>Erin</i> +sparks—'As a beam o'er the face of the waters'—'When he who adores +thee'—'Oh blame not'—and 'Oh breathe not his name'—are worth all the +Epics that ever were composed.</p> + +<p>"* * thinks the Quarterly will attack me next. Let them. I have been +'peppered so highly' in my time, both ways, that it must be cayenne or +aloes to make me taste. I can sincerely say that I am not very much +alive <i>now</i> to criticism. But—in tracing this—I rather believe, that +it proceeds from my not attaching that importance to author<span class="pagenum"><a id="page277" name="page277"></a>Pg 277</span>ship which +many do, and which, when young, I did also. 'One gets tired of every +thing, my angel,' says Valmont. The 'angels' are the only things of +which I am not a little sick—but I do think the preference of <i>writers</i> +to <i>agents</i>—the mighty stir made about scribbling and scribes, by +themselves and others—a sign of effeminacy, degeneracy, and weakness. +Who would write, who had any thing better to do? +'Action—action—action'—said Demosthenes: 'Actions—actions,' I say, +and not writing,—least of all, rhyme. Look at the querulous and +monotonous lives of the 'genus;'—except Cervantes, Tasso, Dante, +Ariosto, Kleist (who were brave and active citizens), Aeschylus, +Sophocles, and some other of the antiques also—what a worthless, idle +brood it is!</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"12, Mezza notte.</p> + +<p>"Just returned from dinner with Jackson (the Emperor of Pugilism) and +another of the select, at Crib's the champion's. I drank more than I +like, and have brought away some three bottles of very fair claret—for +I have no headach. We had Tom * * up after dinner;—very facetious, +though somewhat prolix. He don't like his situation—wants to fight +again—pray Pollux (or Castor, if he was the <i>miller</i>) he may! Tom has +been a sailor—a coal heaver—and some other genteel profession, before +he took to the cestus. Tom has been in action at sea, and is now only +three-and-thirty. A great man! has a wife and a mistress, and +conversations<span class="pagenum"><a id="page278" name="page278"></a>Pg 278</span> well—bating some sad omissions and misapplications of +the aspirate. Tom is an old friend of mine; I have seen some of his best +battles in my nonage. He is now a publican, and, I fear, a sinner;—for +Mrs. * * is on alimony, and * *'s daughter lives with the champion. +<i>This</i> * * told me,—Tom, having an opinion of my morals, passed her off +as a legal spouse. Talking of her, he said, 'she was the truest of +women'—from which I immediately inferred she could not be his wife, and +so it turned out.</p> + +<p>"These panegyrics don't belong to matrimony;—for, if 'true,' a man +don't think it necessary to say so; and if not, the less he says the +better. * * * * is the only man, except * * * *, I ever heard harangue +upon his wife's virtue; and I listened to both with great credence and +patience, and stuffed my handkerchief into my mouth, when I found +yawning irresistible.—By the by, I am yawning now—so, good night to +thee.—Νωἁιρων.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Thursday, November 26.</p> + +<p>"Awoke a little feverish, but no headach—no dreams neither, thanks to +stupor! Two letters; one from * * * *'s, the other from Lady +Melbourne—both excellent in their respective styles. * * * *'s +contained also a very pretty lyric on 'concealed griefs;' if not her +own, yet very like her. Why did she not say that the stanzas were, or +were not, of her composition? I do not know whether to wish them hers or +not. I have no great esteem for poetical persons, particularly women; +they have so much of the 'ideal' in <i>practics</i>, as well as <i>ethics</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page279" name="page279"></a>Pg 279</span></p> + +<p>"I have been thinking lately a good deal of Mary Duff, &c. &c. &c. +&c.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>"Lord Holland invited me to dinner to-day; but three days' dining would +destroy me. So, without eating at all since yesterday, I went to my box +at Covent Garden.</p> + +<p>"Saw * * * * looking very pretty, though quite a different style of +beauty from the other two. She has the finest eyes in the world, out of +which she pretends <i>not</i> to see, and the longest eyelashes I ever saw, +since Leila's and Phannio's Moslem curtains of the light. She has much +beauty,—just enough,—but is, I think, <i>méchante</i>.</p> + +<p>"I have been pondering on the miseries of separation, that—oh how +seldom we see those we love! yet we live ages in moments, <i>when met</i>. +The only thing that consoles me during absence is the reflection that no +mental or personal estrangement, from ennui or disagreement, can take +place; and when people meet hereafter, even though many changes may have +taken place in the mean time, still, unless they are <i>tired</i> of each +other, they are ready to reunite, and do not blame each other for the +circumstances that severed them.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Saturday 27. (I believe—or rather am in <i>doubt</i>, which is the ne plus +ultra of mortal faith.)</p> + +<p>"I have missed a day; and, as the Irishman said, or Joe Miller says for +him, 'have gained a loss,' or <i>by</i> the loss. Every thing is settled for +Holland,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page280" name="page280"></a>Pg 280</span> and nothing but a cough, or a caprice of my +fellow-traveller's, can stop us. Carriage ordered, funds prepared, and, +probably, a gale of wind into the bargain. <i>N'importe</i>—I believe, with +Clym o' the Clow, or Robin Hood, 'By our Mary, (dear name!) that art +both Mother and May, I think it never was a man's lot to die before this +day.' Heigh for Helvoetsluys, and so forth!</p> + +<p>"To-night I went with young Henry Fox to see 'Nourjahad,' a drama, which +the Morning Post hath laid to my charge, but of which I cannot even +guess the author. I wonder what they will next inflict upon me. They +cannot well sink below a melodrama; but that is better than a Satire, +(at least, a personal one,) with which I stand truly arraigned, and in +atonement of which I am resolved to bear silently all criticisms, +abuses, and even praises, for bad pantomimes never composed by me, +without even a contradictory aspect. I suppose the root of this report +is my loan to the manager of my Turkish drawings for his dresses, to +which he was more welcome than to my name. I suppose the real author +will soon own it, as it has succeeded; if not, Job be my model, and +Lethe my beverage!</p> + +<p>"* * * * has received the portrait safe; and, in answer, the only remark +she makes upon it is, 'indeed it is like'—and again, 'indeed it is +like.' With her the likeness 'covered a multitude of sins;' for I happen +to know that this portrait was not a flatterer, but dark and +stern,—even black as the mood in which my mind was scorching last July, +when I sat for it. All the others of me, like most portraits<span class="pagenum"><a id="page281" name="page281"></a>Pg 281</span> +whatsoever, are, of course, more agreeable than nature.</p> + +<p>"Redde the Ed. Review of Rogers. He is ranked highly; but where he +should be. There is a summary view of us all—<i>Moore</i> and <i>me</i> among the +rest; and both (the <i>first</i> justly) praised—though, by implication +(justly again) placed beneath our memorable friend. Mackintosh is the +writer, and also of the critique on the Staël. His grand essay on Burke, +I hear, is for the next number. But I know nothing of the Edinburgh, or +of any other Review, but from rumour; and I have long ceased—indeed, I +could not, in justice, complain of any, even though I were to rate +poetry, in general, and my rhymes in particular, more highly than I +really do. To withdraw <i>myself</i> from <i>myself</i> (oh that cursed +selfishness!) has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in +scribbling at all; and publishing is also the continuance of the same +object, by the action it affords to the mind, which else recoils upon +itself. If I valued fame, I should flatter received opinions, which have +gathered strength by time, and will yet wear longer than any living +works to the contrary. But, for the soul of me, I cannot and will not +give the lie to my own thoughts and doubts, come what may. If I am a +fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty +of his self-approved wisdom.</p> + +<p>"All are inclined to believe what they covet, from a lottery-ticket up +to a passport to Paradise,—in which, from the description, I see +nothing very tempting. My restlessness tells me I have some<span class="pagenum"><a id="page282" name="page282"></a>Pg 282</span>thing within +that 'passeth show.' It is for Him, who made it, to prolong that spark +of celestial fire which illuminates, yet burns, this frail tenement; but +I see no such horror in a 'dreamless sleep,' and I have no conception of +any existence which duration would not render tiresome. How else 'fell +the angels,' even according to your creed? They were immortal, heavenly, +and happy as their <i>apostate</i> <i>Abdiel</i> is now by his treachery. Time +must decide; and eternity won't be the less agreeable or more horrible +because one did not expect it. In the mean time, I am grateful for some +good, and tolerably patient under certain evils—grace à Dieu et mon bon +tempérament.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Sunday, 28th.</p> + +<p>----</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>"Monday, 29th.</p> + +<p>----</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Tuesday, 30th.</p> + +<p>"Two days missed in my log-book;—hiatus <i>haud</i> deflendus. They were as +little worth recollection as the rest; and, luckily, laziness or society +prevented me from <i>notching</i> them.</p> + +<p>"Sunday, I dined with the Lord Holland in St. James's Square. Large +party—among them Sir S. Romilly and Lady R<sup>y</sup>.—General Sir Somebody +Bentham, a man of science and talent, I am told—Horner—<i>the</i> Horner, +an Edinburgh Reviewer, an excellent speaker in the 'Honourable House,' +very pleasing, too, and gentlemanly in company, as far as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page283" name="page283"></a>Pg 283</span> I have +seen—Sharpe—Phillips of Lancashire—Lord John Russell, and others, +'good men and true.' Holland's society is very good; you always see some +one or other in it worth knowing. Stuffed myself with sturgeon, and +exceeded in champagne and wine in general, but not to confusion of head. +When I <i>do</i> dine, I gorge like an Arab or a Boa snake, on fish and +vegetables, but no meat. I am always better, however, on my tea and +biscuit than any other regimen, and even <i>that</i> sparingly.</p> + +<p>"Why does Lady H. always have that damned screen between the whole room +and the fire? I, who bear cold no better than an antelope, and never yet +found a sun quite <i>done</i> to my taste, was absolutely petrified, and +could not even shiver. All the rest, too, looked as if they were just +unpacked, like salmon from an ice-basket, and set down to table for that +day only. When she retired, I watched their looks as I dismissed the +screen, and every cheek thawed, and every nose reddened with the +anticipated glow.</p> + +<p>"Saturday, I went with Harry Fox to Nourjahad; and, I believe, convinced +him, by incessant yawning, that it was not mine. I wish the precious +author would own it, and release me from his fame. The dresses are +pretty, but not in costume;—Mrs. Horn's, all but the turban, and the +want of a small dagger (if she is a sultana), <i>perfect</i>. I never saw a +Turkish woman with a turban in my life—nor did any one else. The +sultanas have a small poniard at the waist. The dialogue is drowsy—the +action<span class="pagenum"><a id="page284" name="page284"></a>Pg 284</span> heavy—the scenery fine—the actors tolerable. I can't say much +for their seraglio—Teresa, Phannio, or * * * *, were worth them all.</p> + +<p>"Sunday, a very handsome note from Mackintosh, who is a rare instance of +the union of very transcendent talent and great good nature. To-day +(Tuesday) a very pretty billet from M. la Baronne de Staël Holstein. She +is pleased to be much pleased with my mention of her and her last work +in my notes. I spoke as I thought. Her works are my delight, and so is +she herself, for—half an hour. I don't like her politics—at least, her +<i>having changed</i> them; had she been <i>qualis ab incepto</i>, it were +nothing. But she is a woman by herself, and has done more than all the +rest of them together, intellectually;—she ought to have been a man. +She <i>flatters</i> me very prettily in her note;—but I <i>know</i> it. The +reason that adulation is not displeasing is, that, though untrue, it +shows one to be of consequence enough, in one way or other, to induce +people to lie, to make us their friend:—that is their concern.</p> + +<p>"* * is, I hear, thriving on the repute of a pun which was mine (at +Mackintosh's dinner some time back), on Ward, who was asking 'how much +it would take to <i>re-whig</i> him?' I answered that, probably, 'he must +first, before he was <i>re-whigged</i>, be re-<i>warded</i>.' This foolish +quibble, before the Staël and Mackintosh, and a number of +conversationers, has been mouthed about, and at last settled on the head +of * *, where long may it remain!</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page285" name="page285"></a>Pg 285</span></p> + +<p>"George<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> is returned from afloat to get a new ship. He looks thin, +but better than I expected. I like George much more than most people +like their heirs. He is a fine fellow, and every inch a sailor. I would +do any thing, <i>but apostatise</i>, to get him on in his profession.</p> + +<p>"Lewis called. It is a good and good-humoured man, but pestilently +prolix and paradoxical and <i>personal</i>. If he would but talk half, and +reduce his visits to an hour, he would add to his popularity. As an +author he is very good, and his vanity is <i>ouverte</i>, like Erskine's, and +yet not offending.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday, a very pretty letter from Annabella<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a>, which I answered. +What an odd situation and friendship is ours!—without one spark of love +on either side, and produced by circumstances which in general lead to +coldness on one side, and aversion on the other. She is a very superior +woman, and very little spoiled, which is strange in an heiress—girl of +twenty—a peeress that is to be, in her own right—an only child, and a +<i>savante</i>, who has always had her own way. She is a poetess—a +mathematician—a metaphysician, and yet, withal, very kind, generous, +and gentle, with very little pretension. Any other head would be turned +with half her acquisitions, and a tenth of her advantages.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Wednesday, December 1. 1813.</p> + +<p>"To-day responded to La Baronne de Staël Holstein, and sent to Leigh +Hunt (an acquisition to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page286" name="page286"></a>Pg 286</span> my acquaintance—through Moore—of last summer) +a copy of the two Turkish tales. Hunt is an extraordinary character, and +not exactly of the present age. He reminds me more of the Pym and +Hampden times—much talent, great independence of spirit, and an +austere, yet not repulsive, aspect. If he goes on <i>qualis ab incepto</i>, I +know few men who will deserve more praise or obtain it. I must go and +see him again;—the rapid succession of adventure, since last summer, +added to some serious uneasiness and business, have interrupted our +acquaintance; but he is a man worth knowing; and though, for his own +sake, I wish him out of prison, I like to study character in such +situations. He has been unshaken, and will continue so. I don't think +him deeply versed in life;—he is the bigot of virtue (not religion), +and enamoured of the beauty of that 'empty name,' as the last breath of +Brutus pronounced, and every day proves it. He is, perhaps, a little +opiniated, as all men who are the <i>centre</i> of <i>circles</i>, wide or +narrow—the Sir Oracles, in whose name two or three are gathered +together—must be, and as even Johnson was; but, withal, a valuable man, +and less vain than success and even the consciousness of preferring 'the +right to the expedient' might excuse.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow there is a party of <i>purple</i> at the 'blue' Miss * * *'s. +Shall I go? um!—I don't much affect your blue-bottles;—but one ought +to be civil. There will be, 'I guess now' (as the Americans say), the +Staëls and Mackintoshes—good—the * * * s and * * * s—not so good—the +* * * s,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page287" name="page287"></a>Pg 287</span> &c. &c.—good for nothing. Perhaps that blue-winged Kashmirian +butterfly of book-learning, Lady * * * *, will be there. I hope so; it +is a pleasure to look upon that most beautiful of faces.</p> + +<p>"Wrote to H.:—he has been telling that I ——<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a>. I am sure, at +least, <i>I</i> did not mention it, and I wish he had not. He is a good +fellow, and I obliged myself ten times more by being of use than I did +him,—and there's an end on 't.</p> + +<p>"Baldwin is boring me to present their King's Bench petition. I +presented Cartwright's last year; and Stanhope and I stood against the +whole House, and mouthed it valiantly—and had some fun and a little +abuse for our opposition. But 'I am not i' th' vein' for this business. +Now, had * * been here, she would have <i>made</i> me do it. <i>There</i> is a +woman, who, amid all her fascination, always urged a man to usefulness +or glory. Had she remained, she had been my tutelar genius.</p> + +<p>"Baldwin is very importunate—but, poor fellow, 'I can't get out, I +can't get out—said the starling.' Ah, I am as bad as that dog Sterne, +who preferred whining over 'a dead ass to relieving a living +mother'—villain—hypocrite—slave—sycophant! but <i>I</i> am no better. +Here I cannot stimulate myself to a speech for the sake of these +unfortunates, and three words and half a smile of * * had she been here +to urge it, (and urge it she infallibly would—<span class="pagenum"><a id="page288" name="page288"></a>Pg 288</span>at least she always +pressed me on senatorial duties, and particularly in the cause of +weakness,) would have made me an advocate, if not an orator. Curse on +Rochefoucault for being always right! In him a lie were virtue,—or, at +least, a comfort to his readers.</p> + +<p>"George Byron has not called to-day; I hope he will be an admiral, and, +perhaps, Lord Byron into the bargain. If he would but marry, I would +engage never to marry myself, or cut him out of the heirship. He would +be happier, and I should like nephews better than sons.</p> + +<p>"I shall soon be six-and-twenty (January 22d, 1814). Is there any thing +in the future that can possibly console us for not being always +<i>twenty-five</i>?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"Oh Gioventu!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh Primavera! gioventu dell' anno.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh Gioventu! primavera della vita.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Sunday, December 5.</p> + +<p>"Dallas's nephew (son to the American Attorney-general) is arrived in +this country, and tells Dallas that my rhymes are very popular in the +United States. These are the first tidings that have ever sounded like +<i>Fame</i> to my ears—to be redde on the banks of the Ohio! The greatest +pleasure I ever derived, of this kind, was from an extract, in Cooke the +actor's life, from his Journal, stating that in the reading-room at +Albany, near Washington, he perused English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. +To be popular in a rising and far country has a kind of <i>posthumous +feel</i>, very different from the ephemeral<span class="pagenum"><a id="page289" name="page289"></a>Pg 289</span> <i>éclat</i> and fête-ing, buzzing +and party-ing compliments of the well-dressed multitude. I can safely +say that, during my <i>reign</i> in the spring of 1812, I regretted nothing +but its duration of six weeks instead of a fortnight, and was heartily +glad to resign.</p> + +<p>"Last night I supped with Lewis;—and, as usual, though I neither +exceeded in solids nor fluids, have been half dead ever since. My +stomach is entirely destroyed by long abstinence, and the rest will +probably follow. Let it—I only wish the <i>pain</i> over. The 'leap in the +dark' is the least to be dreaded.</p> + +<p>"The Duke of * * called. I have told them forty times that, except to +half-a-dozen old and specified acquaintances, I am invisible. His Grace +is a good, noble, ducal person; but I am content to think so at a +distance, and so—I was not at home.</p> + +<p>"Galt called.—Mem.—to ask some one to speak to Raymond in favour of +his play. We are old fellow-travellers, and, with all his +eccentricities, he has much strong sense, experience of the world, and +is, as far as I have seen, a good-natured philosophical fellow. I showed +him Sligo's letter on the reports of the Turkish girl's <i>aventure</i> at +Athens soon after it happened. He and Lord Holland, Lewis, and Moore, +and Rogers, and Lady Melbourne have seen it. Murray has a copy. I +thought it had been <i>unknown</i>, and wish it were; but Sligo arrived only +some days after, and the <i>rumours</i> are the subject of his letter. That I +shall preserve,—<i>it is as well</i>. Lewis and Galt were both <i>horrified</i>;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page290" name="page290"></a>Pg 290</span> +and L. wondered I did not introduce the situation into 'The Giaour.' He +<i>may</i> wonder;—he might wonder more at that production's being written +at all. But to describe the <i>feelings of that situation</i> were +impossible—it is <i>icy</i> even to recollect them.</p> + +<p>"The Bride of Abydos was published on Thursday the second of December; +but how it is liked or disliked, I know not. Whether it succeeds or not +is no fault of the public, against whom I can have no complaint. But I +am much more indebted to the tale than I can ever be to the most partial +reader; as it wrung my thoughts from reality to imagination—from +selfish regrets to vivid recollections—and recalled me to a country +replete with the <i>brightest</i> and <i>darkest</i>, but always most <i>lively</i> +colours of my memory. Sharpe called, but was not let in—which I regret.</p> + +<p>"Saw * * yesterday. I have not kept my appointment at Middleton, which +has not pleased him, perhaps; and my projected voyage with * * will, +perhaps, please him less. But I wish to keep well with both. They are +instruments that don't do, in concert; but, surely, their separate tones +are very musical, and I won't give up either.</p> + +<p>"It is well if I don't jar between these great discords. At present I +stand tolerably well with all, but I cannot adopt their <i>dislikes</i>;—so +many <i>sets</i>. Holland's is the first;—every thing <i>distingué</i> is welcome +there, and certainly the <i>ton</i> of his society is the best. Then there is +M<sup>de</sup>. de Staël's—there I never go, though I might, had I courted it. It +is composed of the * *'s and the * * family, with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page291" name="page291"></a>Pg 291</span> strange +sprinkling,—orators, dandies, and all kinds of <i>Blue</i>, from the regular +Grub Street uniform, down to the azure jacket of the <i>Littérateur</i>. To +see * * and * * sitting together, at dinner, always reminds me of the +grave, where all distinctions of friend and foe are levelled; and +they—the Reviewer and Reviewée—the Rhinoceros and Elephant—the +Mammoth and Megalonyx—all will lie quietly together. They now <i>sit</i> +together, as silent, but not so quiet, as if they were already immured.</p> + +<p>"I did not go to the Berrys' the other night. The elder is a woman of +much talent, and both are handsome, and must have been beautiful. +To-night asked to Lord H.'s—shall I go? um!—perhaps.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Morning, two o'clock.</p> + +<p>"Went to Lord H.'s—party numerous—<i>mi</i>lady in perfect good humour, and +consequently <i>perfect</i>. No one more agreeable, or perhaps so much so, +when she will. Asked for Wednesday to dine and meet the Staël—asked +particularly, I believe, out of mischief, to see the first interview +after the <i>note</i>, with which Corinne professes herself to be so much +taken. I don't much like it; she always talks of <i>my</i>self or <i>her</i>self, +and I am not (except in soliloquy, as now,) much enamoured of either +subject—especially one's works. What the devil shall I say about 'De +l'Allemagne?' I like it prodigiously; but unless I can twist my +admiration into some fantastical expression, she won't believe me; and I +know, by experience, I shall be overwhelmed with fine things about +rhyme, &c. &c. The lover, Mr. * *, was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page292" name="page292"></a>Pg 292</span> there to-night, and C * * said +'it was the only proof <i>he</i> had seen of her good taste.' Monsieur +L'Amant is remarkably handsome; but <i>I</i> don't think more so than her +book.</p> + +<p>"C * * looks well,—seems pleased, and dressed to <i>sprucery</i>. A blue +coat becomes him,—so does his new wig. He really looked as if Apollo +had sent him a birthday suit, or a wedding-garment, and was witty and +lively. He abused Corinne's book, which I regret; because, firstly, he +understands German, and is consequently a fair judge; and, secondly, he +is <i>first-rate</i>, and, consequently, the best of judges. I reverence and +admire him; but I won't give up my opinion—why should I? I read <i>her</i> +again and again, and there can be no affectation in this. I cannot be +mistaken (except in taste) in a book I read and lay down, and take up +again; and no book can be totally bad which finds <i>one</i>, even <i>one</i> +reader, who can say as much sincerely.</p> + +<p>"C. talks of lecturing next spring; his last lectures were eminently +successful. Moore thought of it, but gave it up,—I don't know why. * * +had been prating <i>dignity</i> to him, and such stuff; as if a man disgraced +himself by instructing and pleasing at the same time.</p> + +<p>"Introduced to Marquis Buckingham—saw Lord Gower—he is going to +Holland; Sir J. and Lady Mackintosh and Homer, G. Lamb, with I know not +how many (R. Wellesley, one—a clever man) grouped about the room. +Little Henry Fox, a very fine boy, and very promising in mind and +manner,—he went away to bed, before I had time to talk<span class="pagenum"><a id="page293" name="page293"></a>Pg 293</span> to him. I am +sure I had rather hear him than all the <i>savans</i>.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Monday, Dec. 6.</p> + +<p>"Murray tells me that C——r asked him why the thing was called the +<i>Bride</i> of Abydos? It is a cursed awkward question, being unanswerable. +<i>She</i> is not a <i>bride</i>, only about to be one; but for, &c. &c. &c.</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder at his finding out the <i>Bull</i>; but the detection * * * +is too late to do any good. I was a great fool to make it, and am +ashamed of not being an Irishman.</p> + +<p>"C——l last night seemed a little nettled at something or other—I know +not what. We were standing in the ante-saloon, when Lord H. brought out +of the other room a vessel of some composition similar to that which is +used in Catholic churches, and, seeing us, he exclaimed, 'Here is some +<i>incense</i> for you.' C——l answered—'Carry it to Lord Byron, <i>he is +used to it</i>.'</p> + +<p>"Now, this comes of 'bearing no brother near the throne.' I, who have no +throne, nor wish to have one <i>now</i>, whatever I may have done, am at +perfect peace with all the poetical fraternity: or, at least, if I +dislike any, it is not <i>poetically</i>, but <i>personally</i>. Surely the field +of thought is infinite; what does it signify who is before or behind in +a race where there is no <i>goal</i>? The temple of fame is like that of the +Persians, the universe; our altar, the tops of mountains. I should be +equally content with Mount Caucasus, or Mount Anything; and those who +like<span class="pagenum"><a id="page294" name="page294"></a>Pg 294</span> it, may have Mount Blanc or Chimborazo, without my envy of their +elevation.</p> + +<p>"I think I may <i>now</i> speak thus; for I have just published a poem, and +am quite ignorant whether it is <i>likely</i> to be <i>liked</i> or not. I have +hitherto heard little in its commendation, and no one can <i>downright</i> +abuse it to one's face, except in print. It can't be good, or I should +not have stumbled over the threshold, and blundered in my very title. +But I began it with my heart full of * * *, and my head of +oriental<i>ities</i> (I can't call them <i>isms</i>), and wrote on rapidly.</p> + +<p>"This journal is a relief. When I am tired—as I generally am—out comes +this, and down goes every thing. But I can't read it over; and God knows +what contradictions it may contain. If I am sincere with myself (but I +fear one lies more to one's self than to any one else), every page +should confute, refute, and utterly abjure its <i>predecessor</i>.</p> + +<p>"Another scribble from Martin Baldwin the petitioner; I have neither +head nor nerves to present it. That confounded supper at Lewis's has +spoiled my digestion and my philanthropy. I have no more charity than a +cruet of vinegar. Would I were an ostrich, and dieted on fire-irons,—or +any thing that my gizzard could get the better of.</p> + +<p>"To-day saw W. His uncle is dying, and W. don't much affect our Dutch +determinations. I dine with him on Thursday, provided <i>l'oncle</i> is not +dined upon, or peremptorily bespoke by the posthumous epicures before +that day. I wish he may recover—not for <i>our</i> dinner's sake, but to +disappoint the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page295" name="page295"></a>Pg 295</span> undertaker, and the rascally reptiles that may well +wait, since they <i>will</i> dine at last.</p> + +<p>"Gell called—he of Troy—after I was out. Mem.—to return his visit. +But my Mems. are the very land-marks of forgetfulness;—something like a +light-house, with a ship wrecked under the nose of its lantern. I never +look at a Mem. without seeing that I have remembered to forget. Mem.—I +have forgotten to pay Pitt's taxes, and suppose I shall be surcharged. +'An I do not turn rebel when thou art king'—oons! I believe my very +biscuit is leavened with that impostor's imposts.</p> + +<p>"L<sup>y</sup>. M<sup>e</sup>. returns from Jersey's to-morrow;—I must call. A Mr. Thomson +has sent a song, which I must applaud. I hate annoying them with censure +or silence;—and yet I hate <i>lettering</i>.</p> + +<p>"Saw Lord Glenbervie and his Prospectus, at Murray's, of a new Treatise +on Timber. Now here is a man more useful than all the historians and +rhymers ever planted. For, by preserving our woods and forests, he +furnishes materials for all the history of Britain worth reading, and +all the odes worth nothing.</p> + +<p>"Redde a good deal, but desultorily. My head is crammed with the most +useless lumber. It is odd that when I do read, I can only bear the +chicken broth of—<i>any thing</i> but Novels. It is many a year since I +looked into one, (though they are sometimes ordered, by way of +experiment, but never taken,) till I looked yesterday at the worst parts +of the Monk. These descriptions ought to have been written by Tiberius +at Caprea—they are forced—<span class="pagenum"><a id="page296" name="page296"></a>Pg 296</span>the <i>philtred</i> ideas of a jaded voluptuary. +It is to me inconceivable how they could have been composed by a man of +only twenty—his age when he wrote them. They have no nature—all the +sour cream of cantharides. I should have suspected Buffon of writing +them on the death-bed of his detestable dotage. I had never redde this +edition, and merely looked at them from curiosity and recollection of +the noise they made, and the name they have left to Lewis. But they +could do no harm, except * * * *.</p> + +<p>"Called this evening on my agent—my business as usual. Our strange +adventures are the only inheritances of our family that have not +diminished.</p> + +<p>"I shall now smoke two cigars, and get me to bed. The cigars don't keep +well here. They get as old as a <i>donna di quaranti anni</i> in the sun of +Africa. The Havannah are the best;—but neither are so pleasant as a +hooka or chibouque. The Turkish tobacco is mild, and their horses +entire—two things as they should be. I am so far obliged to this +Journal, that it preserves me from verse,—at least from keeping it. I +have just thrown a poem into the fire (which it has relighted to my +great comfort), and have smoked out of my head the plan of another. I +wish I could as easily get rid of thinking, or, at least, the confusion +of thought.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Tuesday, December 7.</p> + +<p>"Went to bed, and slept dreamlessly, but not refreshingly. Awoke, and up +an hour before being called; but dawdled three hours in dressing. When<span class="pagenum"><a id="page297" name="page297"></a>Pg 297</span> +one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation),—sleep, eating, +and swilling—buttoning and unbuttoning—how much remains of downright +existence? The summer of a dormouse.</p> + +<p>"Redde the papers and <i>tea</i>-ed and soda-watered, and found out that the +fire was badly lighted. Ld. Glenbervie wants me to go to Brighton—um!</p> + +<p>"This morning, a very pretty billet from the Staël about meeting her at +Ld. H.'s to-morrow. She has written, I dare say, twenty such this +morning to different people, all equally flattering to each. So much the +better for her and those who believe all she wishes them, or they wish +to believe. She has been pleased to be pleased with my slight eulogy in +the note annexed to 'The Bride.' This is to be accounted for in several +ways,—firstly, all women like all, or any, praise; secondly, this was +unexpected, because I have never courted her; and, thirdly, as Scrub +says, those who have been all their lives regularly praised, by regular +critics, like a little variety, and are glad when any one goes out of +his way to say a civil thing; and, fourthly, she is a very good-natured +creature, which is the best reason, after all, and, perhaps, the only +one.</p> + +<p>"A knock—knocks single and double. Bland called. He says Dutch society +(he has been in Holland) is second-hand French; but the women are like +women every where else. This is a bore; I should like to see them a +little unlike; but that can't be expected.</p> + +<p>"Went out—came home—this, that, and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page298" name="page298"></a>Pg 298</span> other—and 'all is vanity, +saith the preacher,' and so say I, as part of his congregation. Talking +of vanity, whose praise do I prefer? Why, Mrs. Inchbald's, and that of +the Americans. The first, because her 'Simple Story' and 'Nature and +Art' are, to me, <i>true</i> to their <i>titles;</i> and, consequently, her short +note to Rogers about 'The Giaour' delighted me more than any thing, +except the Edinburgh Review. I like the Americans, because <i>I</i> happened +to be in <i>Asia</i>, while the English Bards and Scotch Reviewers were redde +in <i>America</i>. If I could have had a speech against the <i>Slave Trade, in +Africa</i>, and an epitaph on a dog in <i>Europe</i> (i.e. in the Morning Post), +my <i>vertex sublimis</i> would certainly have displaced stars enough to +overthrow the Newtonian system.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Friday, December 10. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I am <i>ennuyè</i> beyond my usual tense of that yawning verb, which I am +always conjugating; and I don't find that society much mends the matter. +I am too lazy to shoot myself—and it would annoy Augusta, and perhaps * +*; but it would be a good thing for George, on the other side, and no +bad one for me; but I won't be tempted.</p> + +<p>"I have had the kindest letter from M * * e. I <i>do</i> think that man is +the best-hearted, the only <i>hearted</i> being I ever encountered; and, +then, his talents are equal to his feelings.</p> + +<p>"Dined on Wednesday at Lord H.'s—the Staffords, Staëls, Cowpers, +Ossulstones, Melbournes, Mackintoshes, &c. &c.—and was introduced to +the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page299" name="page299"></a>Pg 299</span> Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford,—an unexpected event. My +quarrel with Lord Carlisle (their or his brother-in-law) having rendered +it improper, I suppose, brought it about. But, if it was to happen at +all, I wonder it did not occur before. She is handsome, and must have +been beautiful—and her manners are <i>princessly</i>.</p> + +<p>"The Staël was at the other end of the table, and less loquacious than +heretofore. We are now very good friends; though she asked Lady +Melbourne whether I had really any <i>bonhommie</i>. She might as well have +asked that question before she told C.L. 'c'est un démon." True enough, +but rather premature, for <i>she</i> could not have found it out, and so—she +wants me to dine there next Sunday.</p> + +<p>"Murray prospers, as far as circulation. For my part, I adhere (in +liking) to my Fragment. It is no wonder that I wrote one—my mind is a +fragment.</p> + +<p>"Saw Lord Gower, Tierney, &c. in the square. Took leave of Lord Gr. who +is going to Holland and Germany. He tells me that he carries with him a +parcel of 'Harolds' and 'Giaours,' &c. for the readers of Berlin, who, +it seems, read English, and have taken a caprice for mine. Um!—have I +been <i>German</i> all this time, when I thought myself <i>Oriental</i>?</p> + +<p>"Lent Tierney my box for to-morrow; and received a new comedy sent by +Lady C.A.—but <i>not hers</i>. I must read it, and endeavour not to +displease the author. I hate annoying them with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page300" name="page300"></a>Pg 300</span> cavil; but a comedy I +take to be the most difficult of compositions, more so than tragedy.</p> + +<p>"G——t says there is a coincidence between the first part of 'The +Bride' and some story of his—whether published or not, I know not, +never having seen it. He is almost the last person on whom any one would +commit literary larceny, and I am not conscious of any witting thefts on +any of the genus. As to originality, all pretensions are +ludicrous,—'there is nothing new under the sun.'</p> + +<p>"Went last night to the play. Invited out to a party, but did not +go;—right. Refused to go to Lady * *'s on Monday;—right again. If I +must fritter away my life, I would rather do it alone. I was much +tempted;—C * * looked so Turkish with her red Turban, and her regular, +dark, and clear features. Not that <i>she</i> and <i>I</i> ever were, or could be, +any thing; but I love any aspect that reminds me of the 'children of the +sun.'</p> + +<p>"To dine to-day with Rogers and Sharpe, for which I have some appetite, +not having tasted food for the preceding forty-eight hours. I wish I +could leave off eating altogether.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Saturday, December 11.<br /> +"Sunday, December 12.</p> + +<p>"By G——t's answer, I find it is some story in <i>real life</i>, and not any +work with which my late composition coincides. It is still more +singular, for mine is drawn from <i>existence</i> also.</p> + +<p>"I have sent an excuse to M. de Staël. I do not feel sociable enough for +dinner to-day;—and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page301" name="page301"></a>Pg 301</span> I will not go to Sheridan's on Wednesday. Not that +I do not admire and prefer his unequalled conversation; but—that +'<i>but</i>' must only be intelligible to thoughts I cannot write. Sheridan +was in good talk at Rogers's the other night, but I only stayed till +<i>nine</i>. All the world are to be at the Staël's to-night, and I am not +sorry to escape any part of it. I only go out to get me a fresh appetite +for being alone. Went out—did not go to the Staël's but to Ld. +Holland's. Party numerous—conversation general. Stayed late—made a +blunder—got over it—came home and went to bed, not having eaten. +Rather empty, but <i>fresco</i>, which is the great point with me.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Monday, December 13. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Called at three places—read, and got ready to leave town to-morrow. +Murray has had a letter from his brother bibliopole of Edinburgh, who +says, 'he is lucky in having such a <i>poet</i>'—something as if one was a +pack-horse, or 'ass, or any thing that is his:' or, like Mrs. Packwood, +who replied to some enquiry after the Odes on Razors,—'Laws, sir, we +keeps a poet.' The same illustrious Edinburgh bookseller once sent an +order for books, poesy, and cookery, with this agreeable +postscript—'The <i>Harold</i> and <i>Cookery</i> are much wanted.' Such is fame, +and, after all, quite as good as any other 'life in other's breath.' +'Tis much the same to divide purchasers with Hannah Glasse or Hannah +More.</p> + +<p>"Some editor of some magazine has <i>announced</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="page302" name="page302"></a>Pg 302</span> to Murray his intention +of abusing the thing '<i>without reading it</i>.' So much the better; if he +redde it first, he would abuse it more.</p> + +<p>"Allen (Lord Holland's Allen—the best informed and one of the ablest +men I know—a perfect Magliabecchi—a devourer, a Helluo of books, and +an observer of men,) has lent me a quantity of Burns's unpublished, and +never-to-be published, Letters. They are full of oaths and obscene +songs. What an antithetical mind!—tenderness, roughness—delicacy, +coarseness—sentiment, sensuality—soaring and grovelling, dirt and +deity—all mixed up in that one compound of inspired clay!</p> + +<p>"It seems strange; a true voluptuary will never abandon his mind to the +grossness of reality. It is by exalting the earthly, the material, the +<i>physique</i> of our pleasures, by veiling these ideas, by forgetting them +altogether, or, at least, never naming them hardly to one's self, that +we alone can prevent them from disgusting.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"December 14, 15, 16.</p> + +<p>"Much done, but nothing to record. It is quite enough to set down my +thoughts,—my actions will rarely bear retrospection.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"December 17, 18.</p> + +<p>"Lord Holland told me a curious piece of sentimentality in +Sheridan.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> The other night we were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page303" name="page303"></a>Pg 303</span> all delivering our respective +and various opinions on him and other <i>hommes marquans</i>, and mine was +this:—'Whatever Sheridan has done or chosen to do has been, <i>par +excellence</i>, always the <i>best</i> of its kind. He has written the <i>best</i> +comedy (School for Scandal), the <i>best</i> drama, (in my mind, far before +that St. Giles's lampoon, the Beggar's Opera,) the best farce (the +Critic—it is only too good for a farce), and the best Address +(Monologue on Garrick), and, to crown all, delivered the very best +Oration (the famous Begum Speech) ever conceived or heard in this +country.' Somebody told S. this the next day, and on hearing it, he +burst into tears!</p> + +<p>"Poor Brinsley! if they were tears of pleasure, I would rather have said +these few, but most sincere, words than have written the Iliad or made +his own celebrated Philippic. Nay, his own comedy never gratified me +more than to hear that he had derived a moment's gratification from any +praise of mine, humble as it must appear to 'my elders and my betters.'</p> + +<p>"Went to my box at Covent Garden to night; and my delicacy felt a little +shocked at seeing S * * *'s mistress (who, to my certain knowledge, was +actually educated, from her birth, for her profession) sitting with her +mother, 'a three-piled b——d, b——d-Major to the army,' in a private +box opposite. I felt rather indignant; but, casting my eyes round the +house, in the next box to me, and the next, and the next, were the most +distinguished old and young Babylonians of quality;—so I burst<span class="pagenum"><a id="page304" name="page304"></a>Pg 304</span> out a +laughing. It was really odd; Lady * * <i>divorced</i>—Lady * * and her +daughter, Lady * *, both <i>divorceable</i>—Mrs. * *<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a>, in the next, the +<i>like</i>, and still nearer * * * * * *! What an assemblage to <i>me</i>, who +know all their histories. It was as if the house had been divided +between your public and your <i>understood</i> courtesans;—but the +intriguantes much outnumbered the regular mercenaries. On the other side +were only Pauline and <i>her</i> mother, and, next box to her, three of +inferior note. Now, where lay the difference between <i>her</i> and <i>mamma</i>, +and Lady * * and daughter? except that the two last may enter Carleton +and any <i>other house</i>, and the two first are limited to the opera and +b——house. How I do delight in observing life as it really is!—and +myself, after all, the worst of any. But no matter—I must avoid +egotism, which, just now, would be no vanity.</p> + +<p>"I have lately written a wild, rambling, unfinished rhapsody, called +'The Devil's Drive<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a>,' the notion of which I took from Porson's +'Devil's Walk.'</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page305" name="page305"></a>Pg 305</span></p> + +<p>"Redde some Italian, and wrote two Sonnets on * * *. I never wrote but +one sonnet before, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page306" name="page306"></a>Pg 306</span> that was not in earnest, and many years ago, as +an exercise—and I will never write another.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page307" name="page307"></a>Pg 307</span> They are the most puling, +petrifying, stupidly platonic compositions. I detest the Petrarch so<span class="pagenum"><a id="page308" name="page308"></a>Pg 308</span> +much<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a>, that I would not be the man even to have obtained his Laura, +which the metaphysical, whining dotard never could.</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"January 16. 1814.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow I leave town for a few days. I saw<span class="pagenum"><a id="page309" name="page309"></a>Pg 309</span> Lewis to-day, who is just +returned from Oatlands, where he has been squabbling with Mad. de Staël +about himself, Clarissa Harlowe, Mackintosh, and me. My homage has never +been paid in that quarter, or we would have agreed still worse. I don't +talk—I can't flatter, and won't listen, except to a pretty or a foolish +woman. She bored Lewis with praises of himself till he sickened—found +out that Clarissa was perfection, and Mackintosh the first man in +England. There I agree, at least <i>one</i> of the first—but Lewis did not. +As to Clarissa, I leave to those who can read it to judge and dispute. I +could not do the one, and am, consequently, not qualified for the other. +She told Lewis wisely, he being my friend, that I was affected, in the +first place; and that, in the next place, I committed the heinous +offence of sitting at dinner with my <i>eyes</i> shut, or half shut. I wonder +if I really have this trick. I must cure myself of it, if true. One +insensibly acquires awkward habits, which should be broken in time. If +this is one, I wish I had been told of it before. It would not so much +signify if one was always to be checkmated by a plain woman, but one may +as well see some of one's neighbours, as well as the plate upon the +table.</p> + +<p>"I should like, of all things, to have heard the Amabæan eclogue between +her and Lewis—both obstinate, clever, odd, garrulous, and shrill. In +fact, one could have heard nothing else. But they fell out, alas!—and +now they will never quarrel again. Could not one reconcile them for the +'nonce?'<span class="pagenum"><a id="page310" name="page310"></a>Pg 310</span> Poor Corinne—she will find that some of her fine sayings +won't suit our fine ladies and gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"I am getting rather into admiration of * *, the youngest sister of * *. +A wife would be my salvation. I am sure the wives of my acquaintances +have hitherto done me little good. * * is beautiful, but very young, +and, I think, a fool. But I have not seen enough to judge; besides, I +hate an <i>esprit</i> in petticoats. That she won't love me is very probable, +nor shall I love her. But, on my system, and the modern system in +general, that don't signify. The business (if it came to business) would +probably be arranged between papa and me. She would have her own way; I +am good-humoured to women, and docile; and, if I did not fall in love +with her, which I should try to prevent, we should be a very comfortable +couple. As to conduct, <i>that</i> she must look to. But <i>if</i> I love, I shall +be jealous;—and for that reason I will not be in love. Though, after +all, I doubt my temper, and fear I should not be so patient as becomes +the <i>bienséance</i> of a married man in my station. Divorce ruins the poor +<i>femme</i>, and damages are a paltry compensation. I do fear my temper +would lead me into some of our oriental tricks of vengeance, or, at any +rate, into a summary appeal to the court of twelve paces. So 'I'll none +on 't,' but e'en remain single and solitary;—though I should like to +have somebody now and then to yawn with one.</p> + +<p>"W. and, after him, * *, has stolen one of my buffooneries about Mde. de +Staël's Metaphysics and the Fog, and passed it, by speech and letter, +as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page311" name="page311"></a>Pg 311</span> their own. As Gibbet says, 'they are the most of a gentleman of any +on the road.' W. is in sad enmity with the Whigs about this Review of +Fox (if he <i>did</i> review him);—all the epigrammatists and essayists are +at him. I hate <i>odds</i>, and wish he may beat them. As for me, by the +blessing of indifference, I have simplified my politics into an utter +detestation of all existing governments; and, as it is the shortest and +most agreeable and summary feeling imaginable, the first moment of an +universal republic would convert me into an advocate for single and +uncontradicted despotism. The fact is, riches are power, and poverty is +slavery all over the earth, and one sort of establishment is no better +nor worse for a <i>people</i> than another. I shall adhere to my party, +because it would not be honourable to act otherwise; but, as to +<i>opinions</i>, I don't think politics <i>worth</i> an <i>opinion</i>. <i>Conduct</i> is +another thing:—if you begin with a party, go on with them. I have no +consistency, except in politics; and <i>that</i> probably arises from my +indifference on the subject altogether."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I must here be permitted to interrupt, for a while, the progress of this +Journal,—which extends through some months of the succeeding year,—for +the purpose of noticing, without infringement of chronological order, +such parts of the poet's literary history and correspondence as belong +properly to the date of the year 1813.</p> + +<p>At the beginning, as we have seen, of the month<span class="pagenum"><a id="page312" name="page312"></a>Pg 312</span> of December, The Bride +of Abydos was published,—having been struck off, like its predecessor, +The Giaour, in one of those paroxysms of passion and imagination, which +adventures such as the poet was now engaged in were, in a temperament +like his, calculated to excite. As the mathematician of old required but +a spot to stand upon, to be able, as he boasted, to move the world, so a +certain degree of foundation in <i>fact</i> seemed necessary to Byron, before +that lever which he knew how to apply to the world of the passions could +be wielded by him. So small, however, was, in many instances, the +connection with reality which satisfied him, that to aim at tracing +through his stories these links with his own fate and fortunes, which +were, after all, perhaps, visible but to his own fancy, would be a task +as uncertain as unsafe;—and this remark applies not only to The Bride +of Abydos, but to The Corsair, Lara, and all the other beautiful +fictions that followed, in which, though the emotions expressed by the +poet may be, in general, regarded as vivid recollections of what had at +different times agitated his own bosom, there are but little +grounds,—however he might himself, occasionally, encourage such a +supposition,—for connecting him personally with the groundwork or +incidents of the stories.</p> + +<p>While yet uncertain about the fate of his own new poem, the following +observations on the work of an ingenious follower in the same track were +written.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page313" name="page313"></a>Pg 313</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 143. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dec. 4. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I have redde through your Persian Tales<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a>, and have taken the +liberty of making some remarks on the <i>blank</i> pages. There are many +beautiful passages, and an interesting story; and I cannot give you +a stronger proof that such is my opinion, than by the <i>date</i> of the +<i>hour</i>—<i>two o'clock</i>, till which it has kept me awake <i>without a +yawn</i>. The conclusion is not quite correct in <i>costume</i>; there is +no <i>Mussulman suicide</i> on record—at least for <i>love</i>. But this +matters not. The tale must have been written by some one who has +been on the spot, and I wish him, and he deserves, success. Will +you apologise to the author for the liberties I have taken with his +MS.? Had I been less awake to, and interested in, his theme, I had +been less obtrusive; but you know <i>I</i> always take this in good +part, and I hope he will. It is difficult to say what <i>will</i> +succeed, and still more to pronounce what <i>will not</i>. <i>I</i> am at +this moment in <i>that uncertainty</i> (on our <i>own</i> score); and it is +no small proof of the author's powers to be able to <i>charm</i> and +<i>fix</i> a <i>mind</i>'s attention on similar subjects and climates in such +a predicament. That he may have the same effect<span class="pagenum"><a id="page314" name="page314"></a>Pg 314</span> upon all his +readers is very sincerely the wish, and hardly the <i>doubt</i>, of +yours truly, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>To The Bride of Abydos he made additions, in the course of printing, +amounting, altogether, to near two hundred lines; and, as usual, among +the passages thus added, were some of the happiest and most brilliant in +the whole poem. The opening lines,—"Know ye the land,' &c.—supposed to +have been suggested to him by a song of Goëthe's<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a>—were among the +number of these new insertions, as were also those fine verses,—"Who +hath not proved how feebly words essay," &c. Of one of the most popular +lines in this latter passage, it is not only curious, but instructive, +to trace the progress to its present state of finish. Having at first +written—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Mind on her lip and music in her face,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>he afterwards altered it to—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The mind of music breathing in her face."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But, this not satisfying him, the next step of correction brought the +line to what it is at present—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The mind, the music breathing from her face."<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a><br /></span> +</div></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page315" name="page315"></a>Pg 315</span></p> + +<p>But the longest, as well as most splendid, of those passages, with which +the perusal of his own strains, during revision, inspired him, was that +rich flow of eloquent feeling which follows the couplet,—"Thou, my +Zuleika, share and bless my bark," &c.—a strain of poetry, which, for +energy and tenderness of thought, for music of versification, and +selectness of diction, has, throughout the greater portion of it, but +few rivals in either ancient or modern song. All this passage was sent, +in successive scraps, to the printer,—correction following correction, +and thought reinforced by thought. We have here, too, another example of +that retouching process by which some of his most exquisite effects were +attained. Every reader remembers the four beautiful lines—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page316" name="page316"></a>Pg 316</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Or, since that hope denied in worlds of strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the first copy of this passage sent to the publisher, the last line +was written thus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">{<i>an airy</i>}<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"And tints to-morrow with a {fancied} ray"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the following note being annexed:—"Mr. Murray,—Choose which of the two +epithets, 'fancied,' or 'airy,' may be the best; or, if neither will do, +tell me, and I will dream another." The poet's dream was, it must be +owned, lucky,—"prophetic" being the word, of all others, for his +purpose.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + +<p>I shall select but one more example, from the additions to this poem, as +a proof that his eagerness and facility in producing, was sometimes +almost equalled by his anxious care in correcting. In the long passage +just referred to, the six lines beginning "Blest as the Muezzin's +strain," &c., having been despatched to the printer too late for +insertion, were, by his desire, added in an errata page; the first +couplet, in its original form, being as follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Soft as the Mecca-Muezzin's strains invite<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him who hath journey'd far to join the rite."<br /></span> +</div></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page317" name="page317"></a>Pg 317</span></p> + +<p>In a few hours after, another scrap was sent off, containing the lines +thus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Blest as the Muezzin's strain from Mecca's dome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which welcomes Faith to view her Prophet's tomb"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>with the following note to Mr. Murray:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"December 3. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Look out in the Encyclopedia, article <i>Mecca</i>, whether it is there +or at <i>Medina</i> the Prophet is entombed. If at Medina, the first +lines of my alterration must run—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Blest as the call which from Medina's dome<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Invites Devotion to her Prophet's tomb," &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If at Mecca, the lines may stand as before. Page 45. canto 2d, +Bride of Abydos. Yours, B.</p> + +<p>"You will find this out either by article <i>Mecca</i>, <i>Medina</i>, or +<i>Mohammed</i>. I have no book of reference by me."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Immediately after succeeded another note:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Did you look out? Is it <i>Medina</i> or <i>Mecca</i> that contains the +<i>Holy</i> Sepulchre? Don't make me blaspheme by your negligence. I +have no book of reference, or I would save you the trouble. I +<i>blush</i>, as a good Mussulman, to have confused the point.</p> + +<p>"Yours, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Notwithstanding all these various changes, the couplet in question +stands at present thus:—</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page318" name="page318"></a>Pg 318</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Blest as the Muezzin's strain from Mecca's wall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To pilgrims pure and prostrate at his call."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In addition to his own watchfulness over the birth of his new poem, he +also, as will be seen from the following letter, invoked the veteran +taste of Mr. Gifford on the occasion:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 144. TO MR. GIFFORD.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 12. 1813.</p> + +<p>"My dear Sir,</p> + +<p>"I hope you will consider, when I venture on any request, that it +is the reverse of a certain Dedication, and is addressed, <i>not</i> to +'The Editor of the Quarterly Review,' but to Mr. Gifford. You will +understand this, and on that point I need trouble you no farther.</p> + +<p>"You have been good enough to look at a thing of mine in MS.—a +Turkish story, and I should feel gratified if you would do it the +same favour in its probationary state of printing. It was written, +I cannot say for amusement, nor 'obliged by hunger and request of +friends,' but in a state of mind from circumstances which +occasionally occur to 'us youth,' that rendered it necessary for me +to apply my mind to something, any thing but reality; and under +this not very brilliant inspiration it was composed. Being done, +and having at least diverted me from myself, I thought you would +not perhaps be offended if Mr. Murray forwarded it to you. He has +done so, and to apologise for his doing so a second time is the +object of my present letter.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page319" name="page319"></a>Pg 319</span></p> + +<p>"I beg you will <i>not</i> send me any answer. I assure you very +sincerely I know your time to be occupied, and it is enough, more +than enough, if you read; you are not to be bored with the fatigue +of answers.</p> + +<p>"A word to Mr. Murray will be sufficient, and send it either to the +flames or</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"A hundred hawkers' load,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">On wings of wind to fly or fall abroad.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It deserves no better than the first, as the work of a week, and +scribbled 'stans pede in uno' (by the by, the only foot I have to +stand on); and I promise never to trouble you again under forty +Cantos, and a voyage between each. Believe me ever</p> + +<p>"Your obliged and affectionate servant,</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The following letters and notes, addressed to Mr. Murray at this time, +cannot fail, I think, to gratify all those to whom the history of the +labours of genius is interesting:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 145. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nov. 12. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Two friends of mine (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Sharpe) have advised me +not to risk at present any single publication separately, for +various reasons. As they have not seen the one in question, they +can have no bias for or against the merits (if it has any) or the +faults of the present subject of our conversation. You say all the +last of 'The Giaour' are<span class="pagenum"><a id="page320" name="page320"></a>Pg 320</span> gone—at least out of your hands. Now, if +you think of publishing any new edition with the last additions +which have not yet been before the reader (I mean distinct from the +two-volume publication), we can add 'The Bride of Abydos,' which +will thus steal quietly into the world: if liked, we can then throw +off some copies for the purchasers of former 'Giaours;' and, if +not, I can omit it in any future publication. What think you? I +really am no judge of those things, and with all my natural +partiality for one's own productions, I would rather follow any +one's judgment than my own.</p> + +<p>"P.S. Pray let me have the proofs I sent <i>all</i> to-night. I have +some alterations that I have thought of that I wish to make +speedily. I hope the proof will be on separate pages, and not all +huddled together on a mile-long ballad-singing sheet, as those of +The Giaour sometimes are; for then I can't read them distinctly."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nov. 13. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Will you forward the letter to Mr. Gilford with the proof? There +is an alteration I may make in Zuleika's speech, in second Canto +(the only one of hers in that Canto). It is now thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"And curse, if I could curse, the day.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It must be—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"And mourn—I dare not curse—the day<br /></span> +<span class="i4">That saw my solitary birth, &c. &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Ever yours, B.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page321" name="page321"></a>Pg 321</span></p> + +<p>"In the last MS. lines sent, instead of 'living heart,' convert to +'quivering heart.' It is in line ninth of the MS. passage.</p> + +<p>"Ever yours again, B."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Alteration of a line in Canto second.</p> + +<p>"Instead of—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"And tints to-morrow with a <i>fancied</i> ray,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Print—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"And tints to-morrow with <i>prophetic</i> ray.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"The evening beam that smiles the clouds away<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Or,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">{<i>gilds</i>}<br /></span> +<span class="i4">"And {tints} the hope of morning with its ray;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Or,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"And gilds to-morrow's hope with heavenly ray.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I wish you would ask Mr. Gifford which of them is best, or rather +<i>not worst</i>. Ever, &c.</p> + +<p>"You can send the request contained in this at the same time with +the <i>revise</i>, <i>after</i> I have seen the <i>said revise</i>."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nov. 13. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Do you suppose that no one but the Galileans are +acquainted with <i>Adam</i>, and <i>Eve</i>, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page322" name="page322"></a>Pg 322</span> <i>Cain</i><a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a>, and +<i>Noah</i>?—Surely, I might have had Solomon, and Abraham, and David, +and even Moses. When you know that <i>Zuleika</i> is the <i>Persian +poetical</i> name for <i>Potiphar</i>'s wife, on whom and Joseph there is a +long poem, in the Persian, this will not surprise you. If you want +authority, look at Jones, D'Herbelot, Vathek, or the notes to the +Arabian Nights; and, if you think it necessary, model this into a +note.</p> + +<p>"Alter, in the inscription, 'the most affectionate respect,' to +'with every sentiment of regard and respect.'"</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nov. 14. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I send you a note for the <i>ignorant</i>, but I really wonder at +finding <i>you</i> among them. I don't care one lump of sugar for my +<i>poetry</i>; but for my <i>costume</i> and my <i>correctness</i> on those points +(of which I think the <i>funeral</i> was a proof), I will combat +lustily.</p> + +<p>"Yours," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nov. 14. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Let the revise which I sent just now (and <i>not</i> the proof in Mr. +Gifford's possession) be returned to the printer, as there are +several additional corrections, and two new lines in it. Yours," +&c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page323" name="page323"></a>Pg 323</span></p> + +<p><b>LETTER 146. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 15. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hodgson has looked over and <i>stopped</i>, or rather <i>pointed</i>, +this revise, which must be the one to print from. He has also made +some suggestions, with most of which I have complied, as he has +always, for these ten years, been a very sincere, and by no means +(at times) flattering intimate of mine. <i>He</i> likes it (you will +think <i>fatteringly</i>, in this instance) better than The Giaour, but +doubts (and so do I) its being so popular; but, contrary to some +others, advises a separate publication. On this we can easily +decide. I confess I like the <i>double</i> form better. Hodgson says, it +is <i>better versified</i> than any of the others; which is odd, if +true, as it has cost me less time (though more hours at a time) +than any attempt I ever made.</p> + +<p>"P.S. Do attend to the punctuation: I can't, for I don't know a +comma—at least where to place one.</p> + +<p>"That Tory of a printer has omitted two lines of the opening, and +<i>perhaps more</i>, which were in the MS. Will you, pray, give him a +hint of accuracy? I have reinserted the <i>two</i>, but they were in the +manuscript, I can swear."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 147. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 17. 1813.</p> + +<p>"That you and I may distinctly understand each other on a subject, +which, like 'the dreadful reckon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page324" name="page324"></a>Pg 324</span>ing when men smile no more,' makes +conversation not very pleasant, I think it as well to <i>write</i> a few +lines on the topic.—Before I left town for Yorkshire, you said +that you were ready and willing to give five hundred guineas for +the copyright of 'The Giaour;' and my answer was—from which I do +not mean to recede—that we would discuss the point at Christmas. +The new story may or may not succeed; the probability, under +present circumstances, seems to be, that it may at least pay its +expenses—but even that remains to be proved, and till it is proved +one way or another, we will say nothing about it. Thus then be it: +I will postpone all arrangement about it, and The Giaour also, till +Easter, 1814; and you shall then, according to your own notions of +fairness, make your own offer for the two. At the same time, I do +not rate the last in my own estimation at half The Giaour; and +according to your own notions of its worth and its success within +the time mentioned, be the addition or deduction to or from +whatever sum may be your proposal for the first, which has already +had its success.</p> + +<p>"The pictures of Phillips I consider as <i>mine</i>, all three; and the +one (not the Arnaout) of the two best is much at <i>your service</i>, if +you will accept it as a present.</p> + +<p>"P.S. The expense of engraving from the miniature send me in my +account, as it was destroyed by my desire; and have the goodness to +burn that detestable print from it immediately.</p> + +<p>"To make you some amends for eternally pester<span class="pagenum"><a id="page325" name="page325"></a>Pg 325</span>ing you with +alterations, I send you Cobbett to confirm your orthodoxy.</p> + +<p>"One more alteration of <i>a</i> into <i>the</i> in the MS.; it must be—'The +<i>heart whose softness</i>,' &c.</p> + +<p>"Remember—and in the inscription, 'To the Right Honourable Lord +Holland,' <i>without</i> the previous names, Henry," &c.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 20. 1813.</p> + +<p>"More work for the <i>Row</i>. I am doing my best to beat 'The +Giaour'—<i>no</i> difficult task for any one but the author."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 22. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I have no time to <i>cross</i>-investigate, but I believe and hope all +is right. I care less than you will believe about its success, but +I can't survive a single <i>misprint</i>: it <i>chokes</i> me to see words +misused by the printers. Pray look over, in case of some eyesore +escaping me.</p> + +<p>"P.S. Send the earliest copies to Mr. Frere, Mr. Canning, Mr. Heber, +Mr. Gifford, Lord Holland, Lord Melbourne (Whitehall), Lady +Caroline Lamb, (Brocket), Mr. Hodgson (Cambridge), Mr. Merivale, +Mr. Ward, from the author."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 23. 1813.</p> + +<p>"You wanted some reflections, and I send you<span class="pagenum"><a id="page326" name="page326"></a>Pg 326</span> <i>per Selim</i> (see his +speech in Canto 2d, page 46.), eighteen lines in decent couplets, +of a pensive, if not an <i>ethical</i> tendency. One more +revise—positively the last, if decently done—at any rate the +<i>pen</i>ultimate. Mr. Canning's approbation (<i>if</i> he did approve) I +need not say makes me proud.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> As to printing, print as you will +and how you will—by itself, if you like; but let me have a few +copies in <i>sheets</i>.</p> + +<p>"November 24. 1813.</p> + +<p>"You must pardon me once more, as it is all for your good: it must +be thus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"He makes a solitude, and calls it peace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>'<i>Makes</i>' is closer to the passage of Tacitus, from which the line +is taken, and is, besides, a stronger word than '<i>leaves</i>'</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">He makes a solitude, and calls it—peace."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 148. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 27. 1813.</p> + +<p>"If you look over this carefully by the <i>last proof</i> with my +corrections, it is probably right; this <i>you</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="page327" name="page327"></a>Pg 327</span> can do as well or +better;—I have not now time. The copies I mentioned to be sent to +different friends last night, I should wish to be made up with the +new Giaours, if it also is ready. If not, send The Giaour +afterwards.</p> + +<p>"The Morning Post says <i>I</i> am the author of Nourjahad!! This comes +of lending the drawings for their dresses; but it is not worth a +<i>formal contradiction</i>. Besides, the criticisms on the +<i>supposition</i> will, some of them, be quite amusing and furious. The +<i>Orientalism</i>—which I hear is very splendid—of the melodrame +(whosever it is, and I am sure I don't know) is as good as an +advertisement for your Eastern Stories, by filling their heads with +glitter.</p> + +<p>"P.S. You will of course <i>say</i> the truth, that I am <i>not</i> the +melodramist—if any one charges me in your presence with the +performance."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 149. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 28. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Send another copy (if not too much of a request) to Lady Holland +of the <i>Journal</i><a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a>, in my name, when you receive this; it is for +<i>Earl Grey</i>—and I will relinquish my <i>own</i>. Also to Mr. Sharpe, +and Lady Holland, and Lady Caroline Lamb, copies of 'The Bride' as +soon as convenient.</p> + +<p>"P.S. Mr. Ward and myself still continue our purpose; but I shall +not trouble you on any arrangement on the score of The Giaour and +The Bride till<span class="pagenum"><a id="page328" name="page328"></a>Pg 328</span> our return,—or, at any rate, before <i>May</i>, +1814,—that is, six months from hence: and before that time you +will be able to ascertain how far your offer may be a losing one; +if so, you can deduct proportionably; and if not, I shall not at +any rate allow you to go higher than your present proposal, which +is very handsome, and more than fair.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<p>"I have had—but this must be <i>entre nous</i>—a very kind note, on +the subject of 'The Bride,' from Sir James Mackintosh, and an +invitation to go there this evening, which it is now too late to +accept."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 29. 1813. Sunday—Monday morning—three o'clock—in my +doublet and hose,—<i>swearing</i>.</p> + +<p>"I send you in time an errata page, containing an omission of mine, +which must be thus added, as it is too late for insertion in the +text. The passage is an imitation altogether from Medea in Ovid, +and is incomplete without these two lines. Pray let this be done, +and directly; it is necessary, will add one page to your book +(<i>making</i>), and can do no harm, and is yet in time for the +<i>public</i>. Answer me, thou oracle, in the affirmative. You can send +the loose pages to those who have copies already, if they like; but +certainly to all the <i>critical</i> copyholders.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I have got out of my bed, (in which, however, I could not +sleep, whether I had amended<span class="pagenum"><a id="page329" name="page329"></a>Pg 329</span> this or not,) and so good morning. I +am trying whether De l'Allemagne will act as an opiate, but I doubt +it."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"November 29. 1813.</p> + +<p>"<i>You have looked at it!</i>' to much purpose, to allow so stupid a +blunder to stand; it is <i>not</i> '<i>courage</i>' but '<i>carnage</i>;' and if +you don't want me to cut my own throat, see it altered.</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry to hear of the fall of Dresden."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 150. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nov. 29. 1813. Monday.</p> + +<p>"You will act as you please upon that point; but whether I go or +stay, I shall not say another word on the subject till May—nor +then, unless quite convenient to yourself. I have many things I +wish to leave to your care, principally papers. The <i>vases</i> need +not be now sent, as Mr. Ward is gone to Scotland. You are right +about the errata page; place it at the beginning. Mr. Perry is a +little premature in his compliments: these may do harm by exciting +expectation, and I think we ought to be above it—though I see the +next paragraph is on the <i>Journal</i><a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a>, which makes me suspect +<i>you</i> as the author of both.</p> + +<p>"Would it not have been as well to have said 'in two Cantos' in the +advertisement? they will else think of <i>fragments</i>, a species of +composition very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page330" name="page330"></a>Pg 330</span> well for <i>once</i>, like <i>one ruin</i> in a <i>view</i>; but +one would not build a town of them. The Bride, such as it is, is my +first <i>entire</i> composition of any length (except the Satire, and be +d——d to it), for The Giaour is but a string of passages, and +Childe Harold is, and I rather think always will be, unconcluded. I +return Mr. Hay's note, with thanks to him and you.</p> + +<p>"There have been some epigrams on Mr. Ward: one I see to-day. The +first I did not see, but heard yesterday. The second seems very +bad. I only hope that Mr. Ward does not believe that I had any +connection with either. I like and value him too well to allow my +politics to contract into spleen, or to admire any thing intended +to annoy him or his. You need not take the trouble to answer this, +as I shall see you in the course of the afternoon.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I have said this much about the epigrams, because I lived so +much in the <i>opposite camp</i>, and, from my post as an engineer, +might be suspected as the flinger of these hand-grenadoes; but with +a worthy foe, I am all for open war, and not this bushfighting, and +have not had, nor will have, any thing to do with it. I do not know +the author."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nov. 30. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Print this at the end of <i>all that is of 'The Bride of Abydos</i>,' +as an errata page. BN.</p> + +<p>"Omitted, Canto 2d, page 47., after line 449.,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"So that those arms cling closer round my neck.<br /></span> +</div></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page331" name="page331"></a>Pg 331</span></p> + +<p>Read,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Then if my lip once murmur, it must be<br /></span> +<span class="i4">No sigh for safety, but a prayer for thee."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Tuesday evening, Nov. 30. 1813.</p> + +<p>"For the sake of correctness, particularly in an errata page, the +alteration of the couplet I have just sent (half an hour ago) must +take place, in spite of delay or cancel; let me see the <i>proof</i> +early to-morrow. I found out <i>murmur</i> to be a neuter <i>verb</i>, and +have been obliged to alter the line so as to make it a substantive, +thus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"The deepest murmur of this lip shall be<br /></span> +<span class="i4">No sigh for safety, but a prayer for thee!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Don't send the copies to the <i>country</i> till this is all right."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dec. 2. 1813.</p> + +<p>"When you can, let the couplet enclosed be inserted either in the +page, or in the errata page. I trust it is in time for some of the +copies. This alteration is in the same part—the page <i>but one</i> +before the last correction sent.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I am afraid, from all I hear, that people are rather +inordinate in their expectations, which is very unlucky, but cannot +now be helped. This comes of Mr. Perry and one's wise friends; but +do not <i>you</i> wind <i>your</i> hopes of success to the same pitch, for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page332" name="page332"></a>Pg 332</span> +fear of accidents, and I can assure you that my philosophy will +stand the test very fairly; and I have done every thing to ensure +you, at all events, from positive loss, which will be some +satisfaction to both."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dec. 3. 1813.</p> + +<p>"I send you a <i>scratch</i> or <i>two</i>, the which <i>heal</i>. The Christian +Observer is very savage, but certainly well written—and quite +uncomfortable at the naughtiness of book and author. I rather +suspect you won't much like the <i>present</i> to be more moral, if it +is to share also the usual fate of your virtuous volumes.</p> + +<p>"Let me see a proof of the six before incorporation."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Monday evening, Dec. 6. 1813.</p> + +<p>"It is all very well, except that the lines are not numbered +properly, and a diabolical mistake, page 67., which <i>must</i> be +corrected with the <i>pen</i>, if no other way remains; it is the +omission of '<i>not</i>' before '<i>disagreeable</i>,' in the <i>note</i> on the +<i>amber</i> rosary. This is really horrible, and nearly as bad as the +stumble of mine at the threshold—I mean the <i>misnomer</i> of Bride. +Pray do not let a copy go without the '<i>not</i>;' it is nonsense, and +worse than nonsense as it now stands. I wish the printer was +saddled with a vampire.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page333" name="page333"></a>Pg 333</span></p> + +<p>"P.S. It is still <i>hath</i> instead of <i>have</i> in page 20.; never was +any one so <i>misused</i> as I am by your devils of printers.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I hope and trust the '<i>not</i>' was inserted in the first +edition. We must have something—any thing—to set it right. It is +enough to answer for one's own bulls, without other people's."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>LETTER 151. TO MR. MURRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"December 27. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Lord Holland is laid up with the gout, and would feel very much +obliged if you could obtain, and send as soon as possible, Madame +d'Arblay's (or even Miss Edgeworth's) new work. I know they are not +out; but it is perhaps possible for your <i>Majesty</i> to command what +we cannot with much suing purchase, as yet. I need not say that +when you are able or willing to confer the same favour on me, I +shall be obliged. I would almost fall sick myself to get at Madame +d'Arblay's writings.</p> + +<p>"P.S. You were talking to-day of the American edition of a certain +unquenchable memorial of my younger days. As it can't be helped +now, I own I have some curiosity to see a copy of trans-Atlantic +typography. This you will perhaps obtain, and one for yourself; but +I must beg that you will not <i>import more</i>, because, <i>seriously</i>, I +<i>do wish</i> to have that thing forgotten as much as it has been +forgiven.</p> + +<p>"If you send to the Globe editor, say that I want neither excuse +nor contradiction, but merely a discontinuance of a most +ill-grounded charge. I never<span class="pagenum"><a id="page334" name="page334"></a>Pg 334</span> was consistent in any thing but my +politics; and as my redemption depends on that solitary virtue, it +is murder to carry away my last anchor."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of these hasty and characteristic missives with which he despatched off +his "still-breeding thoughts," there yet remain a few more that might be +presented to the reader; but enough has here been given to show the +fastidiousness of his self-criticism, as well as the restless and +unsatisfied ardour with which he pressed on in pursuit of +perfection,—still seeing, according to the usual doom of genius, much +farther than he could reach.</p> + +<p>An appeal was, about this time, made to his generosity, which the +reputation of the person from whom it proceeded would, in the minds of +most people, have justified him in treating with disregard, but which a +more enlarged feeling of humanity led him to view in a very different +light; for, when expostulated with by Mr. Murray on his generous +intentions towards one "whom nobody else would give a single farthing +to," he answered, "it is for that very reason <i>I</i> give it, because +nobody else will." The person in question was Mr. Thomas Ashe, author of +a certain notorious publication called "The Book," which, from the +delicate mysteries discussed in its pages, attracted far more notice +than its talent, or even mischief, deserved. In a fit, it is to be +hoped, of sincere penitence, this man wrote to Lord Byron, alleging +poverty as his excuse for the vile uses to which he had hitherto +prostituted his pen, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page335" name="page335"></a>Pg 335</span> soliciting his Lordship's aid towards enabling +him to exist, in future, more reputably. To this application the +following answer, marked, in the highest degree, by good sense, +humanity, and honourable sentiment, was returned by Lord Byron:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 152. TO MR. ASHE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"4. Bennet Street, St. James's, Dec. 14. 1813.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"I leave town for a few days to-morrow; on my return, I will answer +your letter more at length. Whatever may be your situation, I +cannot but commend your resolution to abjure and abandon the +publication and composition of works such as those to which you +have alluded. Depend upon it they amuse <i>few</i>, disgrace both +<i>reader</i> and <i>writer</i>, and benefit <i>none</i>. It will be my wish to +assist you, as far as my limited means will admit, to break such a +bondage. In your answer, inform me what sum you think would enable +you to extricate yourself from the hands of your employers, and to +regain, at least, temporary independence, and I shall be glad to +contribute my mite towards it. At present, I must conclude. Your +name is not unknown to me, and I regret, for your own sake, that +you have ever lent it to the works you mention. In saying this, I +merely repeat your <i>own words</i> in your letter to me, and have no +wish whatever to say a single syllable that may appear to insult +your misfortunes. If I have, excuse me; it is unintentional. Yours, +&c.</p> + +<p>"BYRON."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page336" name="page336"></a>Pg 336</span></p> + +<p>In answer to this letter, Ashe mentioned, as the sum necessary to +extricate him from his difficulties, 150<i>l</i>.—to be advanced at the rate +of ten pounds per month; and, some short delay having occurred in the +reply to this demand, the modest applicant, in renewing his suit, +complained, it appears, of neglect: on which Lord Byron, with a good +temper which few, in a similar case, could imitate, answered him as +follows:—</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 153. TO MR. ASHE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"January 5. 1814.</p> + +<p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"When you accuse a stranger of neglect, you forget that it is +possible business or absence from London may have interfered to +delay his answer, as has actually occurred in the present instance. +But to the point. I am willing to do what I can to extricate you +from your situation. Your first scheme<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> I was considering; but +your own impatience appears to have rendered it abortive, if not +irretrievable. I will deposit in Mr. Murray's hands (with his +consent) the sum you mentioned, to be advanced for the time at ten +pounds per month.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I write in the greatest hurry, which may make my letter a +little abrupt; but, as I said before, I have no wish to distress +your feelings."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page337" name="page337"></a>Pg 337</span></p> + +<p>The service thus humanely proffered was no less punctually performed; +and the following is one of the many acknowledgments of payment which I +find in Ashe's letters to Mr. Murray:—"I have the honour to enclose you +another memorandum for the sum of ten pounds, in compliance with the +munificent instructions of Lord Byron."<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>His friend, Mr. Merivale, one of the translators of those Selections +from the Anthology which we have seen he regretted so much not having +taken with him on his travels, published a poem about this time, which +he thus honours with his praise.</p> + +<p><b>LETTER 154. TO MR. MERIVALE.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"January, 1814.</p> + +<p>"My dear Merivale,</p> + +<p>"I have redde Roncesvaux with very great pleasure, and (if I were +so disposed) see very little room for criticism. There is a choice +of two lines in one of the last Cantos,—I think 'Live and protect' +better, because 'Oh who?' implies a doubt of Roland's power or +inclination. I would allow the—but that point you yourself must +determine on—I mean the doubt as to where to place a part of the +Poem, whether between the actions or no. Only if you wish to have +all the success you de<span class="pagenum"><a id="page338" name="page338"></a>Pg 338</span>serve, <i>never listen to friends</i>, and—as I +am not the least troublesome of the number, least of all to me.</p> + +<p>"I hope you will be out soon. <i>March</i>, sir, <i>March</i> is the month +for the <i>trade</i>, and they must be considered. You have written a +very noble Poem, and nothing but the detestable taste of the day +can do you harm,—but I think you will beat it. Your measure is +uncommonly well chosen and wielded."<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the extracts from his Journal, just given, there is a passage that +cannot fail to have been remarked, where, in speaking of his admiration +of some lady, whose name he has himself left blank, the noble writer +says—"a wife would be the salvation of me." It was under this +conviction, which not only himself but some of his friends entertained, +of the prudence of his taking timely refuge in matrimony from those +perplexities which form the sequel of all less regular ties, that he had +been induced, about a year before, to turn his thoughts seriously to +marriage,—at least, as seriously as his thoughts were ever capable of +being so turned,—and chiefly, I believe, by the advice and intervention +of his friend Lady Melbourne, to become a suitor for the hand of a +relative of that lady, Miss Milbanke. Though his proposal was not then +accepted, every assurance of friendship and regard accompanied the +refusal; a wish was even expressed that they should continue to write to +each other, and a correspondence, in consequence,—somewhat sin<span class="pagenum"><a id="page339" name="page339"></a>Pg 339</span>gular +between two young persons of different sexes, inasmuch as love was not +the subject of it,—ensued between them. We have seen how highly Lord +Byron estimated as well the virtues as the accomplishments of the young +lady; but it is evident that on neither side, at this period, was love +either felt or professed.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>In the mean time, new entanglements, in which his heart was the willing +dupe of his fancy and vanity, came to engross the young poet: and still, +as the usual penalties of such pursuits followed, he again found himself +sighing for the sober yoke of wedlock, as some security against their +recurrence. There were, indeed, in the interval between Miss Milbanke's +refusal and acceptance of him, two or three other young women of rank +who, at different times, formed the subject of his matrimonial dreams. +In the society of one of these, whose family had long honoured me with +their friendship, he and I passed much of our time, during this and the +preceding spring; and it will be found that, in a subsequent part of his +correspondence, he represents me as having entertained an anxious wish +that he should so far cultivate my fair friend's favour as to give a +chance, at least, of matrimony being the result.</p> + +<p>That I, more than once, expressed some such feeling is undoubtedly true. +Fully concurring with the opinion, not only of himself, but of others of +his<span class="pagenum"><a id="page340" name="page340"></a>Pg 340</span> friends, that in marriage lay his only chance of salvation from the +sort of perplexing attachments into which he was now constantly tempted, +I saw in none of those whom he admired with more legitimate views so +many requisites for the difficult task of winning him into fidelity and +happiness as in the lady in question. Combining beauty of the highest +order with a mind intelligent and ingenuous,—having just learning +enough to give refinement to her taste, and far too much taste to make +pretensions to learning,—with a patrician spirit proud as his own, but +showing it only in a delicate generosity of spirit, a feminine +high-mindedness, which would have led her to tolerate his defects in +consideration of his noble qualities and his glory, and even to +sacrifice silently some of her own happiness rather than violate the +responsibility in which she stood pledged to the world for his;—such +was, from long experience, my impression of the character of this lady; +and perceiving Lord Byron to be attracted by her more obvious claims to +admiration, I felt a pleasure no less in rendering justice to the still +rarer qualities which she possessed, than in endeavouring to raise my +noble friend's mind to the contemplation of a higher model of female +character than he had, unluckily for himself, been much in the habit of +studying.</p> + +<p>To this extent do I confess myself to have been influenced by the sort +of feeling which he attributes to me. But in taking for granted (as it +will appear he did from one of his letters) that I entertained any very +decided or definite wishes on the subject,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page341" name="page341"></a>Pg 341</span> he gave me more credit for +seriousness in my suggestions than I deserved. If even the lady herself, +the unconscious object of these speculations, by whom he was regarded in +no other light than that of a distinguished acquaintance, could have +consented to undertake the perilous,—but still possible and +glorious,—achievement of attaching Byron to virtue, I own that, +sanguinely as, in theory, I might have looked to the result, I should +have seen, not without trembling, the happiness of one whom I had known +and valued from her childhood risked in the experiment.</p> + +<p>I shall now proceed to resume the thread of the Journal, which I had +broken off, and of which, it will be perceived, the noble author himself +had, for some weeks, at this time, interrupted the progress.</p> + + +<h5>END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h5> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> To this he alludes in those beautiful stanzas, +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell," &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +Alfieri, before his dramatic genius had yet unfolded itself, used to +pass hours, as he tells us, in this sort of dreaming state, gazing upon +the ocean:—"Après le spectacle un de mes amusemens, à Marseille, était +de me baigner presque tous les soirs dans la mer. J'avais trouvé un +petit endroit fort agréable, sur une langue de terre placée à droite +hors du port, où, en m'asseyant sur le sable, le dos appuyé contre un +petit rocher qui empêchait qu'on ne pût me voir du côté de la terre, je +n'avais plus devant moi que le ciel et la mer. Entre ces deux immensités +qu'embellissaient les rayons d'un soleil couchant, je passai en rêvant +des heures délicieuses; et là, je serais devenu poëte, si j'avais su +écrire dans une langue quelconque."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> But a few months before he died, in a conversation with +Maurocordato at Missolonghi, Lord Byron said—"The Turkish History was +one of the first books that gave me pleasure when a child; and I believe +it had much influence on my subsequent wishes to visit the Levant, and +gave perhaps the oriental colouring which is observed in my +poetry."—COUNT GAMBA's <i>Narrative</i>. +</p><p> +In the last edition of Mr. D'Israeli's work on "the Literary Character," +that gentleman has given some curious marginal notes, which he found +written by Lord Byron in a copy of this work that belonged to him. Among +them is the following enumeration of the writers that, besides Rycaut, +had drawn his attention so early to the East:— +</p><p> +"Knolles, Cantemir, De Tott, Lady M.W. Montague, Hawkins's Translation +from Mignot's History of the Turks, the Arabian Nights, all travels, or +histories, or books upon the East I could meet with, I had read, as well +as Rycaut, before I was <i>ten years old</i>. I think the Arabian Nights +first. After these, I preferred the history of naval actions, Don +Quixote, and Smollett's novels, particularly Roderick Random, and I was +passionate for the Roman History. When a boy, I could never bear to read +any Poetry whatever without disgust and reluctance."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "It rained hard the next day, and we spent another evening +with our soldiers. The captain, Elmas, tried a fine Manton gun belonging +to my Friend, and hitting his mark every time was highly +delighted."—HOBHOUSE'<i>s</i> <i>Journey</i>, &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> It must be recollected that by two of these gentlemen he +was seen chiefly under the restraints of presentation and etiquette, +when whatever gloom there was on his spirits would, in a shy nature like +his, most show itself. The account which his fellow-traveller gives of +him is altogether different. In introducing the narration of a short +tour to Negroponte, in which his noble friend was unable to accompany +him, Mr. Hobhouse expresses strongly the deficiency of which he is +sensible, from the absence, on this occasion, of "a companion, who, to +quickness of observation and ingenuity of remark, united that gay +good-humour which keeps alive the attention under the pressure of +fatigue, and softens the aspect of every difficulty and danger." In some +lines, too, of the "Hints from Horace," addressed evidently to Mr. +Hobhouse, Lord Byron not only renders the same justice to his own social +cheerfulness, but gives a somewhat more distinct idea of the frame of +mind out of which it rose;— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Moschus! with whom I hope once more to sit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And smile at folly, if we can't at wit;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yes, friend, for thee I'll quit my Cynic cell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bear Swift's motto, "Vive la bagatelle!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which charm'd our days in each Ægean clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And oft at home with revelry and rhyme."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> It is, however, less wonderful that authors should thus +misjudge their productions, when whole generations have sometimes fallen +into the same sort of error. The Sonnets of Petrarch were, by the +learned of his day, considered only worthy of the ballad-singers by whom +they were chanted about the streets; while his Epic Poem, "Africa," of +which few now even know the existence, was sought for on all sides, and +the smallest fragment of it begged from the author, for the libraries of +the learned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Gray, under the influence of a similar predilection, +preferred, for a long time, his Latin poems to those by which he has +gained such a station in English literature. "Shall we attribute this," +says Mason, "to his having been educated at Eton, or to what other +cause? Certain it is, that when I first knew him, he seemed to set a +greater value on his Latin poetry than on that which he had composed in +his native language."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> One of the manuscript notes of Lord Byron on Mr. +D'Israeli's work, already referred to.—Vol. i. p. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> "Mac Flecknoe, the Dunciad, and all Swift's lampooning +ballads.—Whatever their other works may be, these originated in +personal feelings and angry retort on unworthy rivals; and though the +ability of these satires elevates the poetical, their poignancy detracts +from the personal, character of the writers."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "Harvey, the <i>circulator</i> of the <i>circulation</i> of the +blood, used to fling away Virgil in his ecstasy of admiration, and say +'the book had a devil.' Now, such a character as I am copying would +probably fling it away also, but rather wish that the devil had the +book; not from a dislike to the poet, but a well-founded horror of +hexameters. Indeed, the public-school penance of 'Long and Short' is +enough to beget an antipathy to poetry for the residue of a man's life, +and perhaps so far may be an advantage."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> "'Hell,' a gaming-house so called, where you risk little, +and are cheated a good deal: 'Club,' a pleasant purgatory, where you +lose more, and are not supposed to be cheated at all."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "As Mr. Pope took the liberty of damning Homer, to whom he +was under great obligations—'And Homer (damn him) calls'—it may be +presumed that any body or any thing may be damned in verse by poetical +license; and in case of accident, I beg leave to plead so illustrious a +precedent."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "This well-meaning gentleman has spoilt some excellent +shoemakers, and been accessary to the poetical undoing of many of the +industrious poor. Nathaniel Bloomfield and his brother Bobby have set +all Somersetshire singing. Nor has the malady confined itself to one +county. Pratt, too (who once was wiser), has caught the contagion of +patronage, and decoyed a poor fellow, named Blackett, into poetry; but +he died during the operation, leaving one child and two volumes of +'Remains' utterly destitute. The girl, if she don't take a poetical +twist, and come forth as a shoemaking Sappho, may do well, but the +'Tragedies' are as rickety as if they had been the offspring of an Earl +or a Seatonian prize-poet. The patrons of this poor lad are certainly +answerable for his end, and it ought to be an indictable offence. But +this is the least they have done; for, by a refinement of barbarity, +they have made the (late) man posthumously ridiculous, by printing what +he would have had sense enough never to print himself. Certes, these +rakers of 'Remains' come under the statute against resurrection-men. +What does it signify whether a poor dear dead dunce is to be stuck up in +Surgeons' or in Stationers' Hall? is it so bad to unearth his bones as +his blunders? is it not better to gibbet his body on a heath than his +soul in an octavo? 'We know what we are, but we know not what we may +be,' and it is to be hoped we never shall know, if a man who has passed +through life with a sort of éclat is to find himself a mountebank on the +other side of Styx, and made, like poor Joe Blackett, the laughing-stock +of purgatory. The plea of publication is to provide for the child. Now, +might not some of this 'sutor ultra crepidam's' friends and seducers +have done a decent action without inveigling Pratt into biography? And +then, his inscriptions split into so many modicums! 'To the Duchess of +So Much, the Right Honble. So-and-so, and Mrs. and Miss Somebody, these +volumes are,' &c. &c. Why, this is doling out the 'soft milk of +dedication' in gills; there is but a quart, and he divides it among a +dozen. Why, Pratt! hadst thou not a puff left? dost thou think six +families of distinction can share this in quiet? There is a child, a +book, and a dedication: send the girl to her grace, the volumes to the +grocer, and the dedication to the d-v-l."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> That he himself attributed every thing to fortune, appears +from the following passage in one of his journals: "Like Sylla, I have +always believed that all things depend upon fortune, and nothing upon +ourselves. I am not aware of any one thought or action worthy of being +called good to myself or others, which is not to be attributed to the +good goddess, FORTUNE!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The grounds on which the Messrs. Longman refused to +publish his Lordship's Satire, were the severe attacks it contained upon +Mr. Southey and others of their literary friends.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> In many instances the mothers of illustrious poets have +had reason to be proud no less of the affection than of the glory of +their sons; and Tasso, Pope, Gray, and Cowper, are among these memorable +examples of filial tenderness. In the lesser poems of Tasso, there are +few things so beautiful as his description, in the Canzone to the +Metauro, of his first parting with his mother:— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Me dal sen della madre empia fortuna<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pargoletto divelse," &c.<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Napoleon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> In a letter, written between two and three months after +his mother's death, he states no less a number than six persons, all +friends or relatives, who had been snatched away from him by death +between May and the end of August.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> In continuation of the note quoted in the text, he says of +Matthews—"His powers of mind, shown in the attainment of greater +honours, against the <i>ablest candidates</i>, than those of any graduate on +record at Cambridge, have sufficiently established his fame on the spot +where it was acquired." One of the candidates, thus described, was Mr. +Thomas Barnes, a gentleman whose career since has kept fully the promise +of his youth, though, from the nature of the channels through which his +literary labours have been directed, his great talents are far more +extensively known than his name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> It had been the intention of Mr. Matthews to offer +himself, at the ensuing election, for the university. In reference to +this purpose, a manuscript Memoir of him, now lying before me, says—"If +acknowledged and successful talents—if principles of the strictest +honour—if the devotion of many friends could have secured the success +of an 'independent pauper' (as he jocularly called himself in a letter +on the subject), the vision would have been realised."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> He was the third son of the late John Matthews, Esq. of +Belmont, Herefordshire, representative of that county in the parliament +of 1802-6. The author of "The Diary of an Invalid," also untimely +snatched away, was another son of the same gentleman, as is likewise the +present Prebendary of Hereford, the Reverend Arthur Matthews, who, by +his ability and attainments, sustains worthily the reputation of the +name. +</p><p> +The father of this accomplished family was himself a man of considerable +talent, and the author of several unavowed poetical pieces; one of +which, a Parody of Pope's Eloisa, written in early youth, has been +erroneously ascribed to the late Professor Porson, who was in the habit +of reciting it, and even printed an edition of the verses.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "One of the cleverest men I ever knew, in conversation, +was Scrope Berdmore Davies. Hobhouse is also very good in that line, +though it is of less consequence to a man who has other ways of showing +his talents than in company. Scrope was always ready and often +witty—Hobhouse as witty, but not always so ready, being more +diffident."—<i>MS. Journal of Lord Byron.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> "If the papers lie not (which they generally do), +Demetrius Zograffo of Athens is at the head of the Athenian part of the +Greek insurrection. He was my servant in 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, at +different intervals of those years (for I left him in Greece when I went +to Constantinople), and accompanied me to England in 1811: he returned +to Greece, spring, 1812. He was a clever, but not <i>apparently</i> an +enterprising man; but circumstances make men. His two sons (<i>then</i> +infants) were named Miltiades and Alcibiades: may the omen be happy!" +—<i>MS. Journal.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> On the death of his mother, a considerable sum of money, +the remains of the price of the estate of Gight, was paid into his hands +by her trustee, Baron Clerk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Over the words which I have here placed between brackets, +Lord Byron drew his pen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> In the clause enumerating the names and places of abode of +the executors, the solicitor had left blanks for the Christian names of +these gentlemen, and Lord Byron, having filled up all but that of +Dallas, writes in the margin—"I forget the Christian name of +Dallas—cut him out."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> On a leaf of one of his paper-books I find an Epigram +written at this time, which, though not perhaps particularly good, I +consider myself bound to insert:— +</p><p> +"ON MOORE'S LAST OPERATIC FARCE, OR FARCICAL OPERA. +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Good plays are scarce,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So Moore writes farce:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The poet's fame grows brittle—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We knew before<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That <i>Little's</i> Moore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now 'tis <i>Moore</i> that's <i>little</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i16">Sept. 14. 1811."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> In a note on his "Hints from Horace," he thus humorously +applies this incident:— +</p><p> +"A literary friend of mine walking out one lovely evening last summer on +the eleventh bridge of the Paddington Canal, was alarmed by the cry of +'One in jeopardy!' He rushed along, collected a body of Irish haymakers +(supping on buttermilk in an adjoining paddock), procured three rakes, +one eel spear, and a landing-net, and at last (<i>horresco referens</i>) +pulled out—his own publisher. The unfortunate man was gone for ever, +and so was a large quarto wherewith he had taken the leap, which proved, +on enquiry, to have been Mr. S——'s last work. Its 'alacrity of +sinking' was so great, that it has never since been heard of, though +some maintain that it is at this moment concealed at Alderman Birch's +pastry-premises, Cornhill. Be this as it may, the coroner's inquest +brought in a verdict of 'Felo de Bibliopolâ' against a 'quarto unknown,' +and circumstantial evidence being since strong against the 'Curse of +Kehama' (of which the above words are an exact description), it will be +tried by its peers next session in Grub Street. Arthur, Alfred, +Davideis, Richard Coeur de Lion, Exodus, Exodiad, Epigoniad, Calvary, +Fall of Cambria, Siege of Acre, Don Roderick, and Tom Thumb the Great, +are the names of the twelve jurors. The judges are Pye, * * *, and the +bellman of St. Sepulchre's."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> See the extract from one of his journals, vol. i. p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> The verses in vol. ii. p. 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Barber, whom he had brought down to Newstead to paint his +wolf and his bear.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> This is the only entire letter of my own that, in the +course of this work, I mean to obtrude upon my readers. Being short, and +in terms more explanatory of the feeling on which I acted than any +others that could be substituted, it might be suffered, I thought, to +form the single exception to my general rule. In all other cases, I +shall merely give such extracts from my own letters as may be necessary +to elucidate those of my correspondent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Finding two different draughts of this letter among my +papers, I cannot be quite certain as to some of the terms employed; but +have little doubt that they are here given correctly.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> In speaking thus, I beg to disclaim all affected modesty, +Lord Byron had already made the same distinction himself in the opinions +which he expressed of the living poets; and I cannot but be aware that, +for the praises which he afterwards bestowed on my writings, I was, in a +great degree, indebted to his partiality to myself.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The Rev. Robert Bland, one of the authors of "Collections +from the Greek Anthology." Lord Byron was, at this time, endeavouring to +secure for Mr. Bland the task of translating Lucien Buonaparte's poem.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> The brother of his late friend, Charles Skinner Matthews.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Lord Byron is here mistaken. Dr. Johnson never saw Cecilia +till it was in print. A day or two before publication, the young +authoress, as I understand, sent three copies to the three persons who +had the best claim to them,—her father, Mrs. Thrale, and Dr. +Johnson.—<i>Second edition</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> This poem is now printed in Lord Byron's Works.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> On this occasion, another of the noble poet's +peculiarities was, somewhat startlingly, introduced to my notice. When +we were on the point of setting out from his lodgings in St. James's +Street, it being then about mid-day, he said to the servant, who was +shutting the door of the vis-à-vis, "Have you put in the pistols?" and +was answered in the affirmative. It was difficult,—more especially, +taking into account the circumstances under which we had just become +acquainted,—to keep from smiling at this singular noon-day precaution.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> "Written beneath the picture of ——"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> If there could be any doubt as to his intention of +delineating himself in his hero, this adoption of the old Norman name of +his family, which he seems to have at first contemplated, would be +sufficient to remove it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> In the MS. the names "Robin" and "Rupert" had been +successively inserted here and scratched out again.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Here the manuscript is illegible.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Among the acknowledged blemishes of Milton's great poem, +is his abrupt transition, in this manner, into an imitation of Ariosto's +style, in the "Paradise of Fools."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> To his sister, Mrs. Leigh, one of the first presentation +copies was sent, with the following inscription in it:— +</p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>"To Augusta, my dearest sister, and my best friend, who has ever +loved me much better than I deserved, this volume is presented by +her father's son, and most affectionate brother, +</p><p> +"B."</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Little knew she, that seeming marble heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now mask'd in silence, or withheld by pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was not unskilful in the spoiler's art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And spread its snares licentious far and wide."<br /></span> +<span class="i6"><i>CHILDE HAROLD, CANTO II.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +We have here another instance of his propensity to +self-misrepresentation. However great might have been the irregularities +of his college life, such phrases as the "art of the spoiler" and +"spreading snares" were in nowise applicable to them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> "After speaking to him of the sale, and settling the new +edition, I said, 'How can I possibly think of this rapid sale, and the +profits likely to ensue, without recollecting—'—'What?'—'Think what +sum your work may produce.'—'I shall be rejoiced, and wish it doubled +and trebled; but do not talk to me of money. I never will receive money +for my writings.'" —DALLAS'S <i>Recollections</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> In a letter to Pulteney, 12th May, 1735, Swift says, "I +never got a farthing for any thing I writ, except once."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> He had taken a window opposite for the purpose, and was +accompanied on the occasion by his old schoolfellows, Mr. Bailey and Mr. +John Madocks. They went together from some assembly, and, on their +arriving at the spot, about three o'clock in the morning, not finding +the house that was to receive them open, Mr. Madocks undertook to rouse +the inmates, while Lord Byron and Mr. Bailey sauntered, arm in arm, up +the street. During this interval, rather a painful scene occurred. +Seeing an unfortunate woman lying on the steps of a door, Lord Byron, +with some expression of compassion, offered her a few shillings: but, +instead of accepting them, she violently pushed away his hand, and, +starting up with a yell of laughter, began to mimic the lameness of his +gait. He did not utter a word; but "I could feel," said Mr. Bailey, "his +arm trembling within mine, as we left her." +</p><p> +I may take this opportunity of mentioning another anecdote connected +with his lameness. In coming out, one night, from a ball, with Mr. +Rogers, as they were on their way to their carriage, one of the +link-boys ran on before Lord Byron, crying, "This way, my Lord."—"He +seems to know you," said Mr. Rogers.—"Know me!" answered Lord Byron, +with some degree of bitterness in his tone—"every one knows me,—I am +deformed."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> A review, somewhat too critical, of some of the guests is +here omitted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> For the first day or two, at Middleton, he did not join +his noble host's party till after dinner, but took his scanty repast of +biscuits and soda water in his own room. Being told by somebody that the +gentleman above mentioned had pronounced such habits to be "effeminate," +he resolved to show the "fox-hunter" that he could be, on occasion, as +good a <i>bon-vivant</i> as himself, and, by his prowess at the claret next +day, after dinner, drew forth from Mr. C * * the eulogium here +recorded.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Such are the names that here your plaudits sought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When Garrick acted, and when Brinsley wrote."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +At present the couplet stands thus:— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Dear are the days that made our annals bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere Garrick fled, or Brinsley ceased to write."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> At present, "As glared the volumed blaze."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Some objection, it appears from this, had been made to the +passage, "and Shakspeare <i>ceased to reign</i>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> These added lines, as may be seen by reference to the +printed Address, were not retained.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "Early in the autumn of 1812," says Mr. Dallas, "he told +me that he was urged by his man of business, and that Newstead <i>must</i> be +sold." It was accordingly brought to the hammer at Garraway's, but not, +at that time, sold, only 90,000<i>l.</i> being offered for it. The private +sale to which he alludes in this letter took place soon after,—Mr. +Claughton, the agent for Mr. Leigh, being the purchaser. It was never, +however, for reasons which we shall see, completed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> A mode of signature he frequently adopted at this time.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> A miniature by Sanders. Besides this miniature, Sanders +had also painted a full length of his Lordship, from which the portrait +prefixed to this work is engraved. In reference to the latter picture, +Lord Byron says, in a note to Mr. Rogers, "If you think the picture you +saw at Murray's worth your acceptance, it is yours; and you may put a +<i>glove</i> or mask on it, if you like."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Among the Addresses sent in to the Drury Lane Committee +was one by Dr. Busby, entitled a Monologue, of which the Parody was +enclosed in this letter. A short specimen of this trifle will be +sufficient. The four first lines of the Doctor's Address are as +follows:— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When energising objects men pursue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What are the prodigies they cannot do?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A magic Edifice you here survey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shot from the ruins of the other day!"<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +Which verses are thus ridiculed, unnecessarily, in the Parody:— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'When energising objects men pursue,'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Lord knows what is writ by Lord knows who.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'A modest Monologue you here survey,'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hiss'd from the theatre the 'other day.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "The Genuine Rejected Addresses, presented to the +Committee of Management for Drury Lane Theatre: preceded by that written +by Lord Byron and adopted by the Committee:"—published by B. M'Millan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> In the Ode entitled "The Parthenon," Minerva thus +speaks:— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"All who behold my mutilated pile<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall brand its ravager with classic rage;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And soon a titled bard from Britain's isle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy country's praise and suffrage shall engage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fire with Athens' wrongs an angry age!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">HORACE IN LONDON.<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Tis said that persons living on annuities<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are longer lived than others,—God knows why,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unless to plague the grantors,—yet so true it is,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That some, I really think, <i>do</i> never die.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of any creditors, the worst a Jew it is;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And <i>that</i>'s their mode of furnishing supply:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In my young days they lent me cash that way,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which I found very troublesome to pay."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">DON JUAN, Canto II<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Lady Charlotte Harley, to whom, under the name of Ianthe, +the introductory lines to Childe Harold were afterwards addressed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> The following are the lines in their present shape, and it +will be seen that there is not a single alteration in which the music of +the verse has not been improved as well as the thought:— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Fair clime! where every season smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Benignant o'er those blessed isles,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, seen from far Colonna's height,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make glad the heart that hails the sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lend to loneliness delight.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There, mildly dimpling, Ocean's cheek<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Reflects the tints of many a peak<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Caught by the laughing tides that lave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These Edens of the eastern wave:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if at times a transient breeze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Break the blue crystal of the seas,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or sweep one blossom from the trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How welcome is each gentle air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wakes and wafts the odours there!"<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Mr. Jeffrey.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> In Dallaway's Constantinople, a book which Lord Byron is +not unlikely to have consulted, I find a passage quoted from Gillies's +History of Greece, which contains, perhaps, the first seed of the +thought thus expanded into full perfection by genius:—"The present +state of Greece compared to the ancient is the silent obscurity of the +grave contrasted with the vivid lustre of active life."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Among the recorded instances of such happy after-thoughts +in poetry may be mentioned, as one of the most memorable, Denham's four +lines, "Oh could I flow like thee," &c., which were added in the second +edition of his poem.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Letters on the Character and Poetical Genius of Lord +Byron, by Sir Egerton Brydges, Bart.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> "Continuus aspectus minus verendos magnos homines facit."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> The only peculiarity that struck me on those occasions was +the uneasy restlessness which he seemed to feel in wearing a hat,—an +article of dress which, from his constant use of a carriage while in +England, he was almost wholly unaccustomed to, and which, after that +year, I do not remember to have ever seen upon him again. Abroad, he +always wore a kind of foraging cap.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> He here alludes to a dinner at Mr. Rogers's, of which I +have elsewhere given the following account:— +</p><p> +"The company consisted but of Mr. Rogers himself, Lord Byron, Mr. +Sheridan, and the writer of this Memoir. Sheridan knew the admiration +his audience felt for him; the presence of the young poet, in +particular, seemed to bring back his own youth and wit; and the details +he gave of his early life were not less interesting and animating to +himself than delightful to us. It was in the course of this evening +that, describing to us the poem which Mr. Whitbread had written, and +sent in, among the other addresses for the opening of Drury Lane +theatre, and which, like the rest, turned chiefly on allusions to the +Phoenix, he said—'But Whitbread made more of this bird than any of +them:—he entered into particulars, and described its wings, beak, tail, +&c.;—in short, it was a <i>poulterer</i>'s description of a Phoenix."—<i>Life +of Sheridan</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> His speech was on presenting a petition from Major +Cartwright.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> In an article on this Satire (written for Cumberland's +Review, but never printed) by that most amiable man and excellent poet, +the late Rev. William Crowe, the incongruity of these metaphors is thus +noticed:—"Within the space of three or four couplets, he transforms a +man into as many different animals. Allow him but the compass of three +lines, and he will metamorphose him from a wolf into a harpy, and in +three more he will make him a blood-hound." +</p><p> +There are also in this MS. critique some curious instances of oversight +or ignorance adduced from the Satire; such as "<i>Fish</i> from +<i>Helicon</i>"—"<i>Attic</i> flowers <i>Aonian</i> odours breathe," &c. &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> The remainder of this letter, it appears, has been lost.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> He calls the letter of Mr. Croker "unexpected," because, +in their previous correspondence and interviews on the subject, that +gentleman had not been able to hold out so early a prospect of a +passage, nor one which was likely to be so agreeable in point of +society.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> This is written on a separate slip of paper enclosed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> The passage referred to by the Reviewers is in the poem +entitled "Resentment;" and the following is, I take for granted, the +part which Lord Byron is accused by them of having imitated:— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Those are like wax—apply them to the fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Melting, they take th' impressions you desire;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Easy to mould, and fashion as you please,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And again moulded with an equal ease:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like smelted iron these the forms retain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, once impress'd, will never melt again."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> One of his travelling projects appears to have been a +visit to Abyssinia:—at least, I have found, among his papers, a letter +founded on that supposition, in which the writer entreats of him to +procure information concerning "a kingdom of Jews mentioned by Bruce as +residing on the mountain of Samen in that country. I have had the +honour," he adds, "of some correspondence with the Rev. Dr. Buchanan and +the reverend and learned G.S. Faber, on the subject of the existence of +this kingdom of Jews, which, if it prove to be a fact, will more clearly +elucidate many of the Scripture prophecies; ... and, if Providence +favours your Lordship's mission to Abyssinia, an intercourse might be +established between England and that country, and the English ships, +according to the Rev. Mr. Faber, might be the principal means of +transporting the kingdom of Jews, now in Abyssinia, to Egypt, in the way +to their own country, Palestine."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A Persian's Heav'n is easily made—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis but black eyes and lemonade."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> The Ode of Horace, +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Natis in usum lætitiæ," &c.;<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +some passages of which I told him might be parodied, in allusion to some +of his late adventures: +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Quanta laboras in Charybdi!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Digne puer meliore flammâ!"<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> In his first edition of The Giaour he had used this word +as a trisyllable,—"Bright as the gem of Giamschid,"—but on my +remarking to him, upon the authority of Richardson's Persian Dictionary, +that this was incorrect, he altered it to "Bright as the ruby of +Giamschid." On seeing this, however, I wrote to him, "that, as the +comparison of his heroine's eye to a 'ruby' might unluckily call up the +idea of its being blood-shot, he had better change the line to "Bright +as the jewel of Giamschid;"—which he accordingly did in the following +edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Having already endeavoured to obviate the charge of +vanity, to which I am aware I expose myself by being thus accessory to +the publication of eulogies, so warm and so little merited, on myself, I +shall here only add, that it will abundantly console me under such a +charge, if, in whatever degree the judgment of my noble friend may be +called in question for these praises, he shall, in the same proportion, +receive credit for the good-nature and warm-heartedness by which they +were dictated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> I had already, singularly enough, anticipated this +suggestion, by making the daughter of a Peri the heroine of one of my +stories, and detailing the love adventures of her aërial parent in an +episode. In acquainting Lord Byron with this circumstance, in my answer +to the above letter, I added, "All I ask of your friendship is—not that +you will abstain from Peris on my account, for that is too much to ask +of human (or, at least, author's) nature—but that, whenever you mean to +pay your addresses to any of these aërial ladies, you will, at once, +tell me so, frankly and instantly, and let me, at least, have my choice +whether I shall be desperate enough to go on, with such a rival, or at +once surrender the whole race into your hands, and take, for the future, +to Antediluvians with Mr. Montgomery."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> The letter of Lord Sligo, already given.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Now printed in his Works.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> The motto to The Giaour, which is taken from one of the +Irish Melodies, had been quoted by him incorrectly in the first editions +of the poem. He made afterwards a similar mistake in the lines from +Burns prefixed to the Bride of Abydos.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> The Bride of Abydos.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Among the stories intended to be introduced into Lalla +Rookh, which I had begun, but, from various causes, never finished, +there was one which I had made some progress in, at the time of the +appearance of "The Bride," and which, on reading that poem, I found to +contain such singular coincidences with it, not only in locality and +costume, but in plot and characters, that I immediately gave up my story +altogether, and began another on an entirely new subject, the +Fire-worshippers. To this circumstance, which I immediately communicated +to him, Lord Byron alludes in this letter. In my hero (to whom I had +even given the name of "Zelim," and who was a descendant of Ali, +outlawed, with all his followers, by the reigning Caliph) it was my +intention to shadow out, as I did afterwards in another form, the +national cause of Ireland. To quote the words of my letter to Lord Byron +on the subject:—"I chose this story because one writes best about what +one feels most, and I thought the parallel with Ireland would enable me +to infuse some vigour into my hero's character. But to aim at vigour and +strong feeling after <i>you</i> is hopeless;—that region 'was made for +Cæsar.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "C'est surtout aux hommes qui sont hors de toute +comparaison par le génie qu'on aime à ressembler au moins par les +foiblesses."—GINGUENE.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Earth holds no other like to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, if it doth, in vain for me:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For worlds I dare not view the dame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Resembling thee, yet not the same."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE GIAOUR.<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Evidently, Mr. Hodgson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> He had this year so far departed from his strict plan of +diet as to eat fish occasionally.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> We have here another instance, in addition to the +munificent aid afforded to Mr. Hodgson, of the generous readiness of the +poet, notwithstanding his own limited means, to make the resources he +possessed available for the assistance of his friends.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Left blank thus in the original.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> It was thus that he, in general, spelled this word.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> The present Lord Dudley.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> This passage has been already extracted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> His cousin, the present Lord Byron.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Miss Milbanke, afterwards Lady Byron.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Two or three words are here scratched out in the +manuscript, but the import of the sentence evidently is that Mr. Hodgson +(to whom the passage refers) had been revealing to some friends the +secret of Lord Byron's kindness to him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> This passage of the Journal has already appeared in my +Life of Sheridan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> These names are all left blank in the original.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Of this strange, wild poem, which extends to about two +hundred and fifty lines, the only copy that Lord Byron, I believe, ever +wrote, he presented to Lord Holland. Though with a good deal of vigour +and imagination, it is, for the most part, rather clumsily executed, +wanting the point and condensation of those clever verses of Mr. +Coleridge<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a>, which Lord Byron, adopting a notion long prevalent, has +attributed to Professor Person. There are, however, some of the stanzas +of "The Devil's Drive" well worth preserving. +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">1.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"The Devil return'd to hell by two,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And he stay'd at home till five;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When he dined on some homicides done in <i>ragoût</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And a rebel or so in an <i>Irish</i> stew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sausages made of a self-slain Jew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bethought himself what next to do,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'And,' quoth he, 'I'll take a drive.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I walk'd in the morning, I'll ride to-night;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In darkness my children take most delight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And I'll see how my favourites thrive.'<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">2.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"'And what shall I ride in?' quoth Lucifer, then—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'If I follow'd my taste, indeed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I should mount in a wagon of wounded men,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And smile to see them bleed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But these will be furnish'd again and again,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And at present my purpose is speed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To see my manor as much as I may,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And watch that no souls shall be poach'd away.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">3.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"'I have a state coach at Carleton House,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A chariot in Seymour Place;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But they're lent to two friends, who make me amends<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By driving my favourite pace:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And they handle their reins with such a grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have something for both at the end of the race.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">4.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"'So now for the earth to take my chance.'<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then up to the earth sprung he;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And making a jump from Moscow to France,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He stepped across the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rested his hoof on a turnpike road,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No very great way from a bishop's abode.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">5.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"But first as he flew, I forgot to say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That he hover'd a moment upon his way<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To look upon Leipsic plain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And so sweet to his eye was its sulphury glare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And so soft to his ear was the cry of despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That he perch'd on a mountain of slain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he gazed with delight from its growing height;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not often on earth had he seen such a sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor his work done half as well:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the field ran so red with the blood of the dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That it blush'd like the waves of hell!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then loudly, and wildly, and long laugh'd he—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Methinks they have here little need of me!' * * *<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">8.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"But the softest note that sooth'd his ear<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was the sound of a widow sighing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the sweetest sight was the icy tear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which Horror froze in the blue eye clear<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of a maid by her lover lying—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As round her fell her long fair hair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And she look'd to Heaven with that frenzied air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which seem'd to ask if a God were there!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, stretch'd by the wall of a ruin'd hut,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With its hollow cheek, and eyes half shut,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A child of famine dying:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the carnage begun, when resistance is done,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the fall of the vainly flying!<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">10.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"But the Devil has reach'd our cliffs so white,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And what did he there, I pray?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If his eyes were good, he but saw by night<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What we see every day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But he made a tour, and kept a journal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all the wondrous sights nocturnal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he sold it in shares to the <i>Men</i> of the <i>Row</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who bid pretty well—but they <i>cheated</i> him, though!<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">11.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"The Devil first saw, as he thought, the <i>Mail</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Its coachman and his coat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So instead of a pistol, he cock'd his tail,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And seized him by the throat:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Aha,' quoth he, 'what have we here?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis a new barouche, and an ancient peer!'<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">12.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"So he sat him on his box again,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And bade him have no fear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But be true to his club, and stanch to his rein,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His brothel, and his beer;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Next to seeing a lord at the council board.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I would rather see him here.'<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">17.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"The Devil gat next to Westminster,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he turn'd to 'the room' of the Commons;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But he heard, as he purposed to enter in there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That 'the Lords' had received a summons;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he thought, as a '<i>quondam</i> aristocrat,'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He might peep at the peers, though to <i>hear</i> them were flat:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he walk'd up the house, so like one of our own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That they say that he stood pretty near the throne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i6">18.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> <br /></span> +<span class="i0">"He saw the Lord L——l seemingly wise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Lord W——d certainly silly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Johnny of Norfolk—a man of some size—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Chatham, so like his friend Billy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he saw the tears in Lord E——n's eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Because the Catholics would <i>not</i> rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In spite of his prayers and his prophecies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he heard—which set Satan himself a staring—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A certain Chief Justice say something like <i>swearing</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the Devil was shock'd—and quoth he, 'I must go,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For I find we have much better manners below.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If thus he harangues when he passes my border,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I shall hint to friend Moloch to call him to order.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Or Mr. Southey,—for the right of authorship in them +seems still undecided.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> He learned to think more reverently of "the Petrarch" +afterwards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Poems by Mr. Gally Knight, of which Mr. Murray had +transmitted the MS. to Lord Byron, without, however, communicating the +name of the author.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> "Kennst du das Land wo die Citronen blühn," &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Among the imputed plagiarisms so industriously hunted out +in his writings, this line has been, with somewhat more plausibility +than is frequent in such charges, included,—the lyric poet Lovelace +having, it seems, written, +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The melody and music of her face."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +Sir Thomas Brown, too, in his Religio Medici, says—"There is music even +in beauty," &c. The coincidence, no doubt, is worth observing, and the +task of "tracking" thus a favourite writer "in the snow (as Dryden +expresses it) of others" is sometimes not unamusing; but to those who +found upon such resemblances a general charge of plagiarism, we may +apply what Sir Walter Scott says, in that most agreeable work, his Lives +of the Novelists:—"It is a favourite theme of laborious dulness to +trace such coincidences, because they appear to reduce genius of the +higher order to the usual standard of humanity, and of course to bring +the author nearer to a level with his critics."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> It will be seen, however, from a subsequent letter to Mr. +Murray, that he himself was at first unaware of the peculiar felicity of +this epithet; and it is therefore, probable, that, after all, the merit +of the choice may have belonged to Mr. Gifford.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Some doubt had been expressed by Mr. Murray as to the +propriety of his putting the name of Cain into the mouth of a +Mussulman.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Mr. Canning's note was as follows:—"I received the +books, and, among them, The Bride of Abydos. It is very, very beautiful. +Lord Byron (when I met him, one day, at dinner at Mr. Ward's) was so +kind as to promise to give me a copy of it. I mention this, not to save +my purchase, but because I should be really flattered by the present."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Penrose's Journal, a book published by Mr. Murray at this +time.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Mr. Murray had offered him a thousand guineas for the two +poems.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Penrose's Journal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> His first intention had been to go out, as a settler, to +Botany Bay.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> When these monthly disbursements had amounted to 70<i>l.</i>, +Ashe wrote to beg that the whole remaining sum of 80<i>l</i>. might be +advanced to him at one payment, in order to enable him, as he said, to +avail himself of a passage to New South Wales, which had been again +offered to him. The sum was accordingly, by Lord Byron's orders, paid +into his hands.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> This letter is but a fragment,—the remainder being +lost.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> The reader has already seen what Lord Byron himself says, +in his Journal, on this subject:—"What an odd situation and friendship +is ours!—without one spark of love on either side," &c. &c.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II, by Thomas Moore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LORD BYRON, VOL. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/16570-h/images/01.jpg b/16570-h/images/01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26a08a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/16570-h/images/01.jpg diff --git a/16570.txt b/16570.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5806c7b --- /dev/null +++ b/16570.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10369 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II, by Thomas Moore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II + With His Letters and Journals + +Author: Thomas Moore + +Release Date: August 19, 2005 [EBook #16570] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LORD BYRON, VOL. II *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +LIFE + +OF + +LORD BYRON: + +WITH HIS LETTERS AND JOURNALS. + +BY THOMAS MOORE, ESQ. + +IN SIX VOLUMES.--VOL. II. + +NEW EDITION. + + +LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1854. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. II. + + +LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF LORD BYRON, WITH NOTICES OF HIS LIFE, from the +Period of his Return from the Continent, July, 1811, to January, 1814. + + + + +NOTICES + +OF THE + +LIFE OF LORD BYRON. + + + + +Having landed the young pilgrim once more in England, it may be worth +while, before we accompany him into the scenes that awaited him at home, +to consider how far the general character of his mind and disposition +may have been affected by the course of travel and adventure, in which +he had been, for the last two years, engaged. A life less savouring of +poetry and romance than that which he had pursued previously to his +departure on his travels, it would be difficult to imagine. In his +childhood, it is true, he had been a dweller and wanderer among scenes +well calculated, according to the ordinary notion, to implant the first +rudiments of poetic feeling. But, though the poet may afterwards feed on +the recollection of such scenes, it is more than questionable, as has +been already observed, whether he ever has been formed by them. If a +childhood, indeed, passed among mountainous scenery were so favourable +to the awakening of the imaginative power, both the Welsh, among +ourselves, and the Swiss, abroad, ought to rank much higher on the +scale of poetic excellence than they do at present. But, even allowing +the picturesqueness of his early haunts to have had some share in giving +a direction to the fancy of Byron, the actual operation of this +influence, whatever it may have been, ceased with his childhood; and the +life which he led afterwards during his school-days at Harrow, was,--as +naturally the life of so idle and daring a schoolboy must be,--the very +reverse of poetical. For a soldier or an adventurer, the course of +training through which he then passed would have been perfect;--his +athletic sports, his battles, his love of dangerous enterprise, gave +every promise of a spirit fit for the most stormy career. But to the +meditative pursuits of poesy, these dispositions seemed, of all others, +the least friendly; and, however they might promise to render him, at +some future time, a subject for bards, gave, assuredly, but little hope +of his shining first among bards himself. + +The habits of his life at the university were even still less +intellectual and literary. While a schoolboy, he had read abundantly and +eagerly, though desultorily; but even this discipline of his mind, +irregular and undirected as it was, he had, in a great measure, given +up, after leaving Harrow; and among the pursuits that occupied his +academic hours, those of playing at hazard, sparring, and keeping a bear +and bull-dogs, were, if not the most favourite, at least, perhaps, the +most innocent. His time in London passed equally unmarked either by +mental cultivation or refined amusement. Having no resources in private +society, from his total want of friends and connections, he was left to +live loosely about town among the loungers in coffee-houses; and to +those who remember what his two favourite haunts, Limmer's and +Stevens's, were at that period, it is needless to say that, whatever +else may have been the merits of these establishments, they were +anything but fit schools for the formation of poetic character. + +But however incompatible such a life must have been with those habits of +contemplation, by which, and which only, the faculties he had already +displayed could be ripened, or those that were still latent could be +unfolded, yet, in another point of view, the time now apparently +squandered by him, was, in after-days, turned most invaluably to +account. By thus initiating him into a knowledge of the varieties of +human character,--by giving him an insight into the details of society, +in their least artificial form,--in short, by mixing him up, thus early, +with the world, its business and its pleasures, his London life but +contributed its share in forming that wonderful combination which his +mind afterwards exhibited, of the imaginative and the practical--the +heroic and the humorous--of the keenest and most dissecting views of +real life, with the grandest and most spiritualised conceptions of ideal +grandeur. + +To the same period, perhaps, another predominant characteristic of his +maturer mind and writings may be traced. In this anticipated experience +of the world which his early mixture with its crowd gave him, it is but +little probable that many of the more favourable specimens of human +kind should have fallen under his notice. On the contrary, it is but too +likely that some of the lightest and least estimable of both sexes may +have been among the models, on which, at an age when impressions sink +deepest, his earliest judgments of human nature were formed. Hence, +probably, those contemptuous and debasing views of humanity with which +he was so often led to alloy his noblest tributes to the loveliness and +majesty of general nature. Hence the contrast that appeared between the +fruits of his imagination and of his experience,--between those dreams, +full of beauty and kindliness, with which the one teemed at his bidding, +and the dark, desolating bitterness that overflowed when he drew from +the other. + +Unpromising, however, as was his youth of the high destiny that awaited +him, there was one unfailing characteristic of the imaginative order of +minds--his love of solitude--which very early gave signs of those habits +of self-study and introspection by which alone the "diamond quarries" of +genius are worked and brought to light. When but a boy, at Harrow, he +had shown this disposition strongly,--being often known, as I have +already mentioned, to withdraw himself from his playmates, and sitting +alone upon a tomb in the churchyard, give himself up, for hours, to +thought. As his mind began to disclose its resources, this feeling grew +upon him; and, had his foreign travel done no more than, by detaching +him from the distractions of society, to enable him, solitarily and +freely, to commune with his own spirit, it would have been an +all-important step gained towards the full expansion of his faculties. +It was only then, indeed, that he began to feel himself capable of the +abstraction which self-study requires, or to enjoy that freedom from the +intrusion of others' thoughts, which alone leaves the contemplative mind +master of its own. In the solitude of his nights at sea, in his lone +wanderings through Greece, he had sufficient leisure and seclusion to +look within himself, and there catch the first "glimpses of his glorious +mind." One of his chief delights, as he mentioned in his "Memoranda," +was, when bathing in some retired spot, to seat himself on a high rock +above the sea, and there remain for hours, gazing upon the sky and the +waters[1], and lost in that sort of vague reverie, which, however +formless and indistinct at the moment, settled afterwards on his pages, +into those clear, bright pictures which will endure for ever. + +Were it not for the doubt and diffidence that hang round the first steps +of genius, this growing consciousness of his own power, these openings +into a new domain of intellect, where he was to reign supreme, must have +made the solitary hours of the young traveller one dream of happiness. +But it will be seen that, even yet, he distrusted his own strength, nor +was at all aware of the height to which the spirit he was now calling up +would grow. So enamoured, nevertheless, had he become of these lonely +musings, that even the society of his fellow-traveller, though with +pursuits so congenial to his own, grew at last to be a chain and a +burden on him; and it was not till he stood, companionless, on the shore +of the little island in the Aegean, that he found his spirit breathe +freely. If any stronger proof were wanting of his deep passion for +solitude, we shall find it, not many years after, in his own written +avowal, that, even when in the company of the woman he most loved, he +not unfrequently found himself sighing to be alone. + +It was not only, however, by affording him the concentration necessary +for this silent drawing out of his feelings and powers, that travel +conduced so essentially to the formation of his poetical character. To +the East he had looked, with the eyes of romance, from his very +childhood. Before he was ten years of age, the perusal of Rycaut's +History of the Turks had taken a strong hold of his imagination, and he +read eagerly, in consequence, every book concerning the East he could +find.[2] In visiting, therefore, those countries, he was but realising +the dreams of his childhood; and this return of his thoughts to that +innocent time, gave a freshness and purity to their current which they +had long wanted. Under the spell of such recollections, the attraction +of novelty was among the least that the scenes, through which he +wandered, presented. Fond traces of the past--and few have ever retained +them so vividly--mingled themselves with the impressions of the objects +before him; and as, among the Highlands, he had often traversed, in +fancy, the land of the Moslem, so memory, from the wild hills of +Albania, now "carried him back to Morven." + +While such sources of poetic feeling were stirred at every step, there +was also in his quick change of place and scene--in the diversity of men +and manners surveyed by him--in the perpetual hope of adventure and +thirst of enterprise, such a succession and variety of ever fresh +excitement as not only brought into play, but invigorated, all the +energies of his character: as he, himself, describes his mode of living, +it was "To-day in a palace, to-morrow in a cow-house--this day with the +Pacha, the next with a shepherd." Thus were his powers of observation +quickened, and the impressions on his imagination multiplied. Thus +schooled, too, in some of the roughnesses and privations of life, and, +so far, made acquainted with the flavour of adversity, he learned to +enlarge, more than is common in his high station, the circle of his +sympathies, and became inured to that manly and vigorous cast of thought +which is so impressed on all his writings. Nor must we forget, among +these strengthening and animating effects of travel, the ennobling +excitement of danger, which he more than once experienced,--having been +placed in situations, both on land and sea, well calculated to call +forth that pleasurable sense of energy, which perils, calmly confronted, +never fail to inspire. + +The strong interest which--in spite of his assumed philosophy on this +subject in Childe Harold--he took in every thing connected with a life +of warfare, found frequent opportunities of gratification, not only on +board the English ships of war in which he sailed, but in his occasional +intercourse with the soldiers of the country. At Salora, a solitary +place on the Gulf of Arta, he once passed two or three days, lodged in a +small miserable barrack. Here, he lived the whole time, familiarly, +among the soldiers; and a picture of the singular scene which their +evenings presented--of those wild, half-bandit warriors, seated round +the young poet, and examining with savage admiration his fine Manton +gun[3] and English sword--might be contrasted, but too touchingly, with +another and a later picture of the same poet, dying, as a chieftain, on +the same land, with Suliotes for his guards, and all Greece for his +mourners. + +It is true, amidst all this stimulating variety of objects, the +melancholy which he had brought from home still lingered around his +mind. To Mr. Adair and Mr. Bruce, as I have before mentioned, he gave +the idea of a person labouring under deep dejection; and Colonel Leake, +who was, at that time, resident at Ioannina, conceived very much the +same impression of the state of his mind.[4] But, assuredly, even this +melancholy, habitually as it still clung to him, must, under the +stirring and healthful influences of his roving life, have become a far +more elevated and abstract feeling than it ever could have expanded to +within reach of those annoyances, whose tendency was to keep it wholly +concentrated round self. Had he remained idly at home, he would have +sunk, perhaps, into a querulous satirist. But, as his views opened on a +freer and wider horizon, every feeling of his nature kept pace with +their enlargement; and this inborn sadness, mingling itself with the +effusions of his genius, became one of the chief constituent charms not +only of their pathos, but their grandeur. For, when did ever a sublime +thought spring up in the soul, that melancholy was not to be found, +however latent, in its neighbourhood? + +We have seen, from the letters written by him on his passage homeward, +how far from cheerful or happy was the state of mind in which he +returned. In truth, even for a disposition of the most sanguine cast, +there was quite enough in the discomforts that now awaited him in +England, to sadden its hopes, and check its buoyancy. "To be happy at +home," says Johnson, "is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to +which every enterprise and labour tends." But Lord Byron had no +home,--at least none that deserved this endearing name. A fond family +circle, to accompany him with its prayers, while away, and draw round +him, with listening eagerness, on his return, was what, unluckily, he +never knew, though with a heart, as we have seen, by nature formed for +it. In the absence, too, of all that might cheer and sustain, he had +every thing to encounter that could distress and humiliate. To the +dreariness of a home without affection, was added the burden of an +establishment without means; and he had thus all the embarrassments of +domestic life, without its charms. His affairs had, during his absence, +been suffered to fall into confusion, even greater than their inherent +tendency to such a state warranted. There had been, the preceding year, +an execution on Newstead, for a debt of 1500_l._ owing to the Messrs. +Brothers, upholsterers; and a circumstance told of the veteran, Joe +Murray, on this occasion, well deserves to be mentioned. To this +faithful old servant, jealous of the ancient honour of the Byrons, the +sight of the notice of sale, pasted up on the abbey-door, could not be +otherwise than an unsightly and intolerable nuisance. Having enough, +however, of the fear of the law before his eyes, not to tear the writing +down, he was at last forced, as his only consolatory expedient, to paste +a large piece of brown paper over it. + +Notwithstanding the resolution, so recently expressed by Lord Byron, to +abandon for ever the vocation of authorship, and leave "the whole +Castalian state" to others, he was hardly landed in England when we find +him busily engaged in preparations for the publication of some of the +poems which he had produced abroad. So eager was he, indeed, to print, +that he had already, in a letter written at sea, announced himself to +Mr. Dallas, as ready for the press. Of this letter, which, from its +date, ought to have preceded some of the others that have been given, I +shall here lay before the reader the most material parts. + +[Footnote 1: To this he alludes in those beautiful stanzas, + + "To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell," &c. + +Alfieri, before his dramatic genius had yet unfolded itself, used to +pass hours, as he tells us, in this sort of dreaming state, gazing upon +the ocean:--"Apres le spectacle un de mes amusemens, a Marseille, etait +de me baigner presque tous les soirs dans la mer. J'avais trouve un +petit endroit fort agreable, sur une langue de terre placee a droite +hors du port, ou, en m'asseyant sur le sable, le dos appuye contre un +petit rocher qui empechait qu'on ne put me voir du cote de la terre, je +n'avais plus devant moi que le ciel et la mer. Entre ces deux immensites +qu'embellissaient les rayons d'un soleil couchant, je passai en revant +des heures delicieuses; et la, je serais devenu poete, si j'avais su +ecrire dans une langue quelconque."] + +[Footnote 2: But a few months before he died, in a conversation with +Maurocordato at Missolonghi, Lord Byron said--"The Turkish History was +one of the first books that gave me pleasure when a child; and I believe +it had much influence on my subsequent wishes to visit the Levant, and +gave perhaps the oriental colouring which is observed in my +poetry."--COUNT GAMBA's _Narrative_. + +In the last edition of Mr. D'Israeli's work on "the Literary Character," +that gentleman has given some curious marginal notes, which he found +written by Lord Byron in a copy of this work that belonged to him. Among +them is the following enumeration of the writers that, besides Rycaut, +had drawn his attention so early to the East:-- + +"Knolles, Cantemir, De Tott, Lady M.W. Montague, Hawkins's Translation +from Mignot's History of the Turks, the Arabian Nights, all travels, or +histories, or books upon the East I could meet with, I had read, as well +as Rycaut, before I was _ten years old_. I think the Arabian Nights +first. After these, I preferred the history of naval actions, Don +Quixote, and Smollett's novels, particularly Roderick Random, and I was +passionate for the Roman History. When a boy, I could never bear to read +any Poetry whatever without disgust and reluctance."] + +[Footnote 3: "It rained hard the next day, and we spent another evening +with our soldiers. The captain, Elmas, tried a fine Manton gun belonging +to my Friend, and hitting his mark every time was highly +delighted."--HOBHOUSE'_s_ _Journey_, &c.] + +[Footnote 4: It must be recollected that by two of these gentlemen he +was seen chiefly under the restraints of presentation and etiquette, +when whatever gloom there was on his spirits would, in a shy nature like +his, most show itself. The account which his fellow-traveller gives of +him is altogether different. In introducing the narration of a short +tour to Negroponte, in which his noble friend was unable to accompany +him, Mr. Hobhouse expresses strongly the deficiency of which he is +sensible, from the absence, on this occasion, of "a companion, who, to +quickness of observation and ingenuity of remark, united that gay +good-humour which keeps alive the attention under the pressure of +fatigue, and softens the aspect of every difficulty and danger." In some +lines, too, of the "Hints from Horace," addressed evidently to Mr. +Hobhouse, Lord Byron not only renders the same justice to his own social +cheerfulness, but gives a somewhat more distinct idea of the frame of +mind out of which it rose;-- + + "Moschus! with whom I hope once more to sit, + And smile at folly, if we can't at wit; + Yes, friend, for thee I'll quit my Cynic cell, + And bear Swift's motto, "Vive la bagatelle!" + Which charm'd our days in each AEgean clime, + And oft at home with revelry and rhyme." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 54. TO MR. DALLAS. + + _"Volage Frigate, at sea, June 28. 1811_. + + "After two years' absence, (to a day, on the 2d of July, before + which we shall not arrive at Portsmouth,) I am retracing my way to + England. + + "I am coming back with little prospect of pleasure at home, and + with a body a little shaken by one or two smart fevers, but a + spirit I hope yet unbroken. My affairs, it seems, are considerably + involved, and much business must be done with lawyers, colliers, + farmers, and creditors. Now this, to a man who hates bustle as he + hates a bishop, is a serious concern. But enough of my home + department. + + "My Satire, it seems, is in a fourth edition, a success rather + above the middling run, but not much for a production which, from + its topics, must be temporary, and of course be successful at + first, or not at all. At this period, when I can think and act more + coolly, I regret that I have written it, though I shall probably + find it forgotten by all except those whom it has offended. + + "Yours and Pratt's _protege_, Blackett, the cobbler, is dead, in + spite of his rhymes, and is probably one of the instances where + death has saved a man from damnation. You were the ruin of that + poor fellow amongst you: had it not been for his patrons, he might + now have been in very good plight, shoe-(not verse-) making: but + you have made him immortal with a vengeance. I write this, + supposing poetry, patronage, and strong waters, to have been the + death of him. If you are in town in or about the beginning of July, + you will find me at Dorant's, in Albemarle Street, glad to see you. + I have an imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry ready for Cawthorn, + but don't let that deter you, for I sha'n't inflict it upon you. + You know I never read my rhymes to visitors. I shall quit town in a + few days for Notts., and thence to Rochdale. + + "Yours, &c." + + * * * * * + +Immediately, on Lord Byron's arrival in London, Mr. Dallas called upon +him. "On the 15th of July," says this gentleman, "I had the pleasure of +shaking hands with him at Reddish's Hotel in St. James's Street. I +thought his looks belied the report he had given me of his bodily +health, and his countenance did not betoken melancholy, or displeasure +at his return. He was very animated in the account of his travels, but +assured me he had never had the least idea of writing them. He said he +believed satire to be his _forte_, and to that he had adhered, having +written, during his stay at different places abroad, a Paraphrase of +Horace's Art of Poetry, which would be a good finish to English Bards +and Scotch Reviewers. He seemed to promise himself additional fame from +it, and I undertook to superintend its publication, as I had done that +of the Satire. I had chosen the time ill for my visit, and we had hardly +any time to converse uninterruptedly, he therefore engaged me to +breakfast with him next morning." + +In the interval Mr. Dallas looked over this Paraphrase, which he had +been permitted by Lord Byron to take home with him for the purpose, and +his disappointment was, as he himself describes it, "grievous," on +finding, that a pilgrimage of two years to the inspiring lands of the +East had been attended with no richer poetical result. On their meeting +again next morning, though unwilling to speak disparagingly of the work, +he could not refrain, as he informs us, from expressing some surprise +that his noble friend should have produced nothing else during his +absence.--"Upon this," he continues, "Lord Byron told me that he had +occasionally written short poems, besides a great many stanzas in +Spenser's measure, relative to the countries he had visited. 'They are +not worth troubling you with, but you shall have them all with you if +you like.' So came I by Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. He took it from a +small trunk, with a number of verses. He said they had been read but by +one person, who had found very little to commend and much to condemn: +that he himself was of that opinion, and he was sure I should be so too. +Such as it was, however, it was at my service; but he was urgent that +'The Hints from Horace' should be immediately put in train, which I +promised to have done." + +The value of the treasure thus presented to him, Mr. Dallas was not slow +in discovering. That very evening he despatched a letter to his noble +friend, saying--"You have written one of the most delightful poems I +ever read. If I wrote this in flattery, I should deserve your contempt +rather than your friendship. I have been so fascinated with Childe +Harold that I have not been able to lay it down. I would almost pledge +my life on its advancing the reputation of your poetical powers, and on +its gaining you great honour and regard, if you will do me the credit +and favour of attending to my suggestions respecting," &c.&c.&c. + +Notwithstanding this just praise, and the secret echo it must have found +in a heart so awake to the slightest whisper of fame, it was some time +before Lord Byron's obstinate repugnance to the idea of publishing +Childe Harold could be removed. + +"Attentive," says Mr. Dallas, "as he had hitherto been to my opinions +and suggestions, and natural as it was that he should be swayed by such +decided praise, I was surprised to find that I could not at first obtain +credit with him for my judgment on Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 'It was +any thing but poetry--it had been condemned by a good critic--had I not +myself seen the sentences on the margins of the manuscripts?' He dwelt +upon the Paraphrase of the Art of Poetry with pleasure, and the +manuscript of that was given to Cawthorn, the publisher of the Satire, +to be brought forth without delay. I did not, however, leave him so: +before I quitted him I returned to the charge, and told him that I was +so convinced of the merit of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, that, as he had +given it to me, I should certainly publish it, if he would have the +kindness to attend to some corrections and alterations." + +Among the many instances, recorded in literary history, of the false +judgments of authors respecting their own productions, the preference +given by Lord Byron to a work so little worthy of his genius, over a +poem of such rare and original beauty as the first Cantos of Childe +Harold, may be accounted, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary and +inexplicable.[5] + +"It is in men as in soils," says Swift, "where sometimes there is a vein +of gold which the owner knows not of." But Lord Byron had made the +discovery of the vein, without, as it would seem, being aware of its +value. I have already had occasion to observe that, even while occupied +with the composition of Childe Harold, it is questionable whether he +himself was yet fully conscious of the new powers, both of thought and +feeling, that had been awakened in him; and the strange estimate we now +find him forming of his own production appears to warrant the remark. It +would seem, indeed, as if, while the imaginative powers of his mind had +received such an impulse forward, the faculty of judgment, slower in its +developement, was still immature, and that of _self_-judgment, the most +difficult of all, still unattained. + +On the other hand, from the deference which, particularly at this period +of his life, he was inclined to pay to the opinions of those with whom +he associated, it would be fairer, perhaps, to conclude that this +erroneous valuation arose rather from a diffidence in his own judgment +than from any deficiency of it. To his college companions, almost all of +whom were his superiors in scholarship, and some of them even, at this +time, his competitors in poetry, he looked up with a degree of fond and +admiring deference, for which his ignorance of his own intellectual +strength alone could account; and the example, as well as tastes, of +these young writers being mostly on the side of established models, +their authority, as long as it influenced him, would, to a certain +degree, interfere with his striking confidently into any new or original +path. That some remains of this bias, with a little leaning, perhaps, +towards school recollections[6], may have had a share in prompting his +preference of the Horatian Paraphrase, is by no means improbable;--at +least, that it was enough to lead him, untried as he had yet been in the +new path, to content himself, for the present, with following up his +success in the old. We have seen, indeed, that the manuscript of the two +Cantos of Childe Harold had, previously to its being placed in the hands +of Mr. Dallas, been submitted by the noble author to the perusal of some +friend--the first and only one, it appears, who at that time had seen +them. Who this fastidious critic was, Mr. Dallas has not mentioned; but +the sweeping tone of censure in which he conveyed his remarks was such +as, at any period of his career, would have disconcerted the judgment +of one, who, years after, in all the plenitude of his fame, confessed, +that "the depreciation of the lowest of mankind was more painful to him +than the applause of the highest was pleasing."[7] + +Though on every thing that, after his arrival at the age of manhood, he +produced, some mark or other of the master-hand may be traced; yet, to +print the whole of his Paraphrase of Horace, which extends to nearly 800 +lines, would be, at the best, but a questionable compliment to his +memory. That the reader, however, may be enabled to form some opinion of +a performance, which--by an error or caprice of judgment, unexampled, +perhaps, in the annals of literature--its author, for a time, preferred +to the sublime musings of Childe Harold, I shall here select a few such +passages from the Paraphrase as may seem calculated to give an idea as +well of its merits as its defects. + +The opening of the poem is, with reference to the original, ingenious:-- + + "Who would not laugh, if Lawrence, hired to grace + His costly canvass with each flatter'd face, + Abused his art, till Nature, with a blush, + Saw cits grow centaurs underneath his brush? + Or should some limner join, for show or sale, + A maid of honour to a mermaid's tail? + Or low Dubost (as once the world has seen) + Degrade God's creatures in his graphic spleen? + Not all that forced politeness, which defends + Fools in their faults, could gag his grinning friends. + Believe me, Moschus, like that picture seems + The book, which, sillier than a sick man's dreams, + Displays a crowd of figures incomplete, + Poetic nightmares, without head or feet." + +The following is pointed, and felicitously expressed:-- + + "Then glide down Grub Street, fasting and forgot, + Laugh'd into Lethe by some quaint Review, + Whose wit is never troublesome till--true." + +Of the graver parts, the annexed is a favourable specimen:-- + + "New words find credit in these latter days, + If neatly grafted on a Gallic phrase: + What Chaucer, Spenser, did, we scarce refuse + To Dryden's or to Pope's maturer muse. + If you can add a little, say why not, + As well as William Pitt and Walter Scott, + Since they, by force of rhyme, and force of lungs, + Enrich'd our island's ill-united tongues? + 'Tis then, and shall be, lawful to present + Reforms in writing as in parliament. + + "As forests shed their foliage by degrees, + So fade expressions which in season please; + And we and ours, alas! are due to fate, + And works and words but dwindle to a date. + Though, as a monarch nods and commerce calls, + Impetuous rivers stagnate in canals; + Though swamps subdued, and marshes drain'd sustain + The heavy ploughshare and the yellow grain; + And rising ports along the busy shore + Protect the vessel from old Ocean's roar-- + All, all must perish. But, surviving last, + The love of letters half preserves the past: + True,--some decay, yet not a few survive, + Though those shall sink which now appear to thrive, + As custom arbitrates, whose shifting sway + Our life and language must alike obey." + +I quote what follows chiefly for the sake of the note attached to it:-- + + "Satiric rhyme first sprang from selfish spleen. + You doubt?--See Dryden, Pope, St. Patrick's Dean.[8] + + "Blank verse is now with one consent allied + To Tragedy, and rarely quits her side; + Though mad Almanzor rhymed in Dryden's days, + No sing-song hero rants in modern plays;-- + While modest Comedy her verse foregoes + For jest and pun in very middling prose. + Not that our Bens or Beaumonts show the worse, + Or lose one point because they wrote in verse; + But so Thalia pleases to appear,-- + Poor virgin!--damn'd some twenty times a year!" + +There is more of poetry in the following verses upon Milton than in any +other passage throughout the Paraphrase:-- + + "'Awake a louder and a loftier strain,' + And, pray, what follows from his boiling brain? + He sinks to S * *'s level in a trice, + Whose epic mountains never fail in mice! + Not so of yore awoke your mighty sire + The tempered warblings of his master lyre; + Soft as the gentler breathing of the lute, + 'Of man's first disobedience and the fruit' + He speaks; but, as his subject swells along, + Earth, Heaven, and Hades, echo with the song." + +The annexed sketch contains some lively touches:-- + + "Behold him, Freshman!--forced no more to groan + O'er Virgil's devilish verses[9], and--his own; + Prayers are too tedious, lectures too abstruse, + He flies from T----ll's frown to 'Fordham's Mews;' + (Unlucky T----ll, doom'd to daily cares + By pugilistic pupils and by bears!) + Fines, tutors, tasks, conventions, threat in vain, + Before hounds, hunters, and Newmarket plain: + Rough with his elders; with his equals rash; + Civil to sharpers; prodigal of cash. + Fool'd, pillaged, dunn'd, he wastes his terms away; + And, unexpell'd perhaps, retires M.A.:-- + Master of Arts!--as Hells and Clubs[10] proclaim, + Where scarce a black-leg bears a brighter name. + + "Launch'd into life, extinct his early fire, + He apes the selfish prudence of his sire; + Marries for money; chooses friends for rank; + Buys land, and shrewdly trusts not to the Bank; + Sits in the senate; gets a son and heir; + Sends him to Harrow--for himself was there; + Mute though he votes, unless when call'd to cheer, + His son's so sharp--he'll see the dog a peer! + + "Manhood declines; age palsies every limb; + He quits the scene, or else the scene quits him; + Scrapes wealth, o'er each departing penny grieves, + And Avarice seizes all Ambition leaves; + Counts cent. per cent., and smiles, or vainly frets + O'er hoards diminish'd by young Hopeful's debts; + Weighs well and wisely what to sell or buy, + Complete in all life's lessons--but to die; + Peevish and spiteful, doting, hard to please, + Commending every time save times like these; + Crazed, querulous, forsaken, half forgot, + Expires unwept, is buried--let him rot!" + +In speaking of the opera, he says:-- + + "Hence the pert shopkeeper, whose throbbing ear + Aches with orchestras which he pays to hear, + Whom shame, not sympathy, forbids to snore, + His anguish doubled by his own 'encore!' + Squeezed in 'Fop's Alley,' jostled by the beaux, + Teased with his hat, and trembling for his toes, + Scarce wrestles through the night, nor tastes of ease + Till the dropp'd curtain gives a glad release: + Why this and more he suffers, can ye guess?-- + Because it costs him dear, and makes him dress!" + +The concluding couplet of the following lines is amusingly +characteristic of that mixture of fun and bitterness with which their +author sometimes spoke in conversation;--so much so, that those who knew +him might almost fancy they hear him utter the words:-- + + "But every thing has faults, nor is't unknown + That harps and fiddles often lose their tone, + And wayward voices at their owner's call, + With all his best endeavours, only squall; + Dogs blink their covey, flints withhold the spark, + And double barrels (damn them) miss their mark!"[11] + +One more passage, with the humorous note appended to it, will complete +the whole amount of my favourable specimens:-- + + "And that's enough--then write and print so fast,-- + If Satan take the hindmost, who'd be last? + They storm the types, they publish one and all, + They leap the counter, and they leave the stall:-- + Provincial maidens, men of high command, + Yea, baronets, have ink'd the bloody hand! + Cash cannot quell them--Pollio play'd this prank: + (Then Phoebus first found credit in a bank;) + Not all the living only, but the dead + Fool on, as fluent as an Orpheus' head! + Damn'd all their days, they posthumously thrive, + Dug up from dust, though buried when alive! + Reviews record this epidemic crime, + Those books of martyrs to the rage for rhyme + Alas! woe worth the scribbler, often seen + In Morning Post or Monthly Magazine! + There lurk his earlier lays, but soon, hot-press'd, + Behold a quarto!--tarts must tell the rest! + Then leave, ye wise, the lyre's precarious chords + To muse-mad baronets or madder lords, + Or country Crispins, now grown somewhat stale, + Twin Doric minstrels, drunk with Doric ale! + Hark to those notes, narcotically soft, + The cobbler-laureates sing to Capel Lofft!"[12] + +From these select specimens, which comprise, altogether, little more +than an eighth of the whole poem, the reader may be enabled to form some +notion of the remainder, which is, for the most part, of a very inferior +quality, and, in some parts, descending to the depths of doggerel. Who, +for instance, could trace the hand of Byron in such "prose, fringed with +rhyme," as the following?-- + + "Peace to Swift's faults! his wit hath made them pass + Unmatch'd by all, save matchless Hudibras, + Whose author is perhaps the first we meet + Who from our couplet lopp'd two final feet; + Nor less in merit than the longer line + This measure moves, a favourite of the Nine. + + "Though at first view, eight feet may seem in vain + Form'd, save in odes, to bear a serious strain, + Yet Scott has shown our wondering isle of late + This measure shrinks not from a theme of weight, + And, varied skilfully, surpasses far + Heroic rhyme, but most in love or war, + Whose fluctuations, tender or sublime, + Are curb'd too much by long recurring rhyme. + + "In sooth, I do not know, or greatly care + To learn who our first English strollers were, + Or if--till roofs received the vagrant art-- + Our Muse--like that of Thespis--kept a cart. + But this is certain, since our Shakspeare's days, + There's pomp enough, if little else, in plays; + Nor will Melpomene ascend her throne + Without high heels, white plume, and Bristol stone. + + "Where is that living language which could claim + Poetic more, as philosophic fame, + If all our bards, more patient of delay, + Would stop like Pope to polish by the way?" + +In tracing the fortunes of men, it is not a little curious to observe, +how often the course of a whole life has depended on one single step. +Had Lord Byron now persisted in his original purpose of giving this poem +to the press, instead of Childe Harold, it is more than probable that he +would have been lost, as a great poet, to the world.[13] Inferior as the +Paraphrase is, in every respect, to his former Satire, and, in some +places, even descending below the level of under-graduate versifiers, +its failure, there can be little doubt, would have been certain and +signal;--his former assailants would have resumed their advantage over +him, and either, in the bitterness of his mortification, he would have +flung Childe Harold into the fire; or, had he summoned up sufficient +confidence to publish that poem, its reception, even if sufficient to +retrieve him in the eyes of the public and his own, could never have, at +all, resembled that explosion of success,--that instantaneous and +universal acclaim of admiration into which, coming, as it were, fresh +from the land of song, he now surprised the world, and in the midst of +which he was borne, buoyant and self-assured, along, through a +succession of new triumphs, each more splendid than the last. + +Happily, the better judgment of his friends averted such a risk; and he +at length consented to the immediate publication of Childe +Harold,--still, however, to the last, expressing his doubts of its +merits, and his alarm at the sort of reception it might meet with in the +world. + +"I did all I could," says his adviser, "to raise his opinion of this +composition, and I succeeded; but he varied much in his feelings about +it, nor was he, as will appear, at his ease until the world decided on +its merit. He said again and again that I was going to get him into a +scrape with his old enemies, and that none of them would rejoice more +than the Edinburgh Reviewers at an opportunity to humble him. He said I +must not put his name to it. I entreated him to leave it to me, and +that I would answer for this poem silencing all his enemies." + +The publication being now determined upon, there arose some doubts and +difficulty as to a publisher. Though Lord Byron had intrusted Cawthorn +with what he considered to be his surer card, the "Hints from Horace," +he did not, it seems, think him of sufficient station in the trade to +give a sanction or fashion to his more hazardous experiment. The former +refusal of the Messrs. Longman[14] to publish his "English Bards and +Scotch Reviewers" was not forgotten; and he expressly stipulated with +Mr. Dallas that the manuscript should not be offered to that house. An +application was, at first, made to Mr. Miller, of Albemarle Street; but, +in consequence of the severity with which Lord Elgin was treated in the +poem, Mr. Miller (already the publisher and bookseller of this latter +nobleman) declined the work. Even this circumstance,--so apprehensive +was the poet for his fame,--began to re-awaken all the qualms and +terrors he had, at first, felt; and, had any further difficulties or +objections arisen, it is more than probable he might have relapsed into +his original intention. It was not long, however, before a person was +found willing and proud to undertake the publication. Mr. Murray, who, +at this period, resided in Fleet Street, having, some time before, +expressed a desire to be allowed to publish some work of Lord Byron, it +was in his hands that Mr. Dallas now placed the manuscript of Childe +Harold;--and thus was laid the first foundation of that connection +between this gentleman and the noble poet, which continued, with but a +temporary interruption, throughout the lifetime of the one, and has +proved an abundant source of honour, as well as emolument, to the other. + +While thus busily engaged in his literary projects, and having, besides, +some law affairs to transact with his agent, he was called suddenly away +to Newstead by the intelligence of an event which seems to have affected +his mind far more deeply than, considering all the circumstances of the +case, could have been expected. Mrs. Byron, whose excessive corpulence +rendered her, at all times, rather a perilous subject for illness, had +been of late indisposed, but not to any alarming degree; nor does it +appear that, when the following note was written, there existed any +grounds for apprehension as to her state. + +[Footnote 5: It is, however, less wonderful that authors should thus +misjudge their productions, when whole generations have sometimes fallen +into the same sort of error. The Sonnets of Petrarch were, by the +learned of his day, considered only worthy of the ballad-singers by whom +they were chanted about the streets; while his Epic Poem, "Africa," of +which few now even know the existence, was sought for on all sides, and +the smallest fragment of it begged from the author, for the libraries of +the learned.] + +[Footnote 6: Gray, under the influence of a similar predilection, +preferred, for a long time, his Latin poems to those by which he has +gained such a station in English literature. "Shall we attribute this," +says Mason, "to his having been educated at Eton, or to what other +cause? Certain it is, that when I first knew him, he seemed to set a +greater value on his Latin poetry than on that which he had composed in +his native language."] + +[Footnote 7: One of the manuscript notes of Lord Byron on Mr. +D'Israeli's work, already referred to.--Vol. i. p. 144.] + +[Footnote 8: "Mac Flecknoe, the Dunciad, and all Swift's lampooning +ballads.--Whatever their other works may be, these originated in +personal feelings and angry retort on unworthy rivals; and though the +ability of these satires elevates the poetical, their poignancy detracts +from the personal, character of the writers."] + +[Footnote 9: "Harvey, the _circulator_ of the _circulation_ of the +blood, used to fling away Virgil in his ecstasy of admiration, and say +'the book had a devil.' Now, such a character as I am copying would +probably fling it away also, but rather wish that the devil had the +book; not from a dislike to the poet, but a well-founded horror of +hexameters. Indeed, the public-school penance of 'Long and Short' is +enough to beget an antipathy to poetry for the residue of a man's life, +and perhaps so far may be an advantage."] + +[Footnote 10: "'Hell,' a gaming-house so called, where you risk little, +and are cheated a good deal: 'Club,' a pleasant purgatory, where you +lose more, and are not supposed to be cheated at all."] + +[Footnote 11: "As Mr. Pope took the liberty of damning Homer, to whom he +was under great obligations--'And Homer (damn him) calls'--it may be +presumed that any body or any thing may be damned in verse by poetical +license; and in case of accident, I beg leave to plead so illustrious a +precedent."] + +[Footnote 12: "This well-meaning gentleman has spoilt some excellent +shoemakers, and been accessary to the poetical undoing of many of the +industrious poor. Nathaniel Bloomfield and his brother Bobby have set +all Somersetshire singing. Nor has the malady confined itself to one +county. Pratt, too (who once was wiser), has caught the contagion of +patronage, and decoyed a poor fellow, named Blackett, into poetry; but +he died during the operation, leaving one child and two volumes of +'Remains' utterly destitute. The girl, if she don't take a poetical +twist, and come forth as a shoemaking Sappho, may do well, but the +'Tragedies' are as rickety as if they had been the offspring of an Earl +or a Seatonian prize-poet. The patrons of this poor lad are certainly +answerable for his end, and it ought to be an indictable offence. But +this is the least they have done; for, by a refinement of barbarity, +they have made the (late) man posthumously ridiculous, by printing what +he would have had sense enough never to print himself. Certes, these +rakers of 'Remains' come under the statute against resurrection-men. +What does it signify whether a poor dear dead dunce is to be stuck up in +Surgeons' or in Stationers' Hall? is it so bad to unearth his bones as +his blunders? is it not better to gibbet his body on a heath than his +soul in an octavo? 'We know what we are, but we know not what we may +be,' and it is to be hoped we never shall know, if a man who has passed +through life with a sort of eclat is to find himself a mountebank on the +other side of Styx, and made, like poor Joe Blackett, the laughing-stock +of purgatory. The plea of publication is to provide for the child. Now, +might not some of this 'sutor ultra crepidam's' friends and seducers +have done a decent action without inveigling Pratt into biography? And +then, his inscriptions split into so many modicums! 'To the Duchess of +So Much, the Right Honble. So-and-so, and Mrs. and Miss Somebody, these +volumes are,' &c. &c. Why, this is doling out the 'soft milk of +dedication' in gills; there is but a quart, and he divides it among a +dozen. Why, Pratt! hadst thou not a puff left? dost thou think six +families of distinction can share this in quiet? There is a child, a +book, and a dedication: send the girl to her grace, the volumes to the +grocer, and the dedication to the d-v-l."] + +[Footnote 13: That he himself attributed every thing to fortune, appears +from the following passage in one of his journals: "Like Sylla, I have +always believed that all things depend upon fortune, and nothing upon +ourselves. I am not aware of any one thought or action worthy of being +called good to myself or others, which is not to be attributed to the +good goddess, FORTUNE!"] + +[Footnote 14: The grounds on which the Messrs. Longman refused to +publish his Lordship's Satire, were the severe attacks it contained upon +Mr. Southey and others of their literary friends.] + + * * * * * + + "Reddish's Hotel, St. James's Street, London, July 23. 1811. + + "My dear Madam, + + "I am only detained by Mr. H * * to sign some copyhold papers, and + will give you timely notice of my approach. It is with great + reluctance I remain in town. I shall pay a short visit as we go on + to Lancashire on Rochdale business. I shall attend to your + directions, of course, and am, + + "With great respect, yours ever," + + "BYRON. + + "P.S.--You will consider Newstead as your house, not mine; and me + only as a visitor." + + * * * * * + +On his going abroad, she had conceived a sort of superstitious fancy +that she should never see him again; and when he returned, safe and +well, and wrote to inform her that he should soon see her at Newstead, +she said to her waiting-woman, "If I should be dead before Byron comes +down, what a strange thing it would be!"--and so, in fact, it happened. +At the end of July, her illness took a new and fatal turn; and, so sadly +characteristic was the close of the poor lady's life, that a fit of +rage, brought on, it is said, by reading over the upholsterer's bills, +was the ultimate cause of her death. Lord Byron had, of course, prompt +intelligence of the attack. But, though he started instantly from town, +he was too late,--she had breathed her last. + +The following letter, it will be perceived, was written on his way to +Newstead. + +LETTER 55. TO DR. PIGOT. + + "Newport Pagnell, August 2. 1811. + + "My dear Doctor, + + "My poor mother died yesterday! and I am on my way from town to + attend her to the family vault. I heard _one_ day of her illness, + the _next_ of her death. Thank God her last moments were most + tranquil. I am told she was in little pain, and not aware of her + situation. I now feel the truth of Mr. Gray's observation, 'That we + can only have _one_ mother.' Peace be with her! I have to thank you + for your expressions of regard; and as in six weeks I shall be in + Lancashire on business, I may extend to Liverpool and Chester,--at + least I shall endeavour. + + "If it will be any satisfaction, I have to inform you that in + November next the Editor of the Scourge will be tried for two + different libels on the late Mrs. B. and myself (the decease of + Mrs. B. makes no difference in the proceedings); and as he is + guilty, by his very foolish and unfounded assertion, of a breach of + privilege, he will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour. + + "I inform you of this as you seem interested in the affair, which + is now in the hands of the Attorney-general. + + "I shall remain at Newstead the greater part of this month, where I + shall be happy to hear from you, after my two years' absence in the + East. + + "I am, dear Pigot, yours very truly, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It can hardly have escaped the observation of the reader, that the +general tone of the noble poet's correspondence with his mother is that +of a son, performing, strictly and conscientiously, what he deems to be +his duty, without the intermixture of any sentiment of cordiality to +sweeten the task. The very title of "Madam," by which he addresses +her,--and which he but seldom exchanges for the endearing name of +"mother[15],"--is, of itself, a sufficient proof of the sentiments he +entertained for her. That such should have been his dispositions towards +such a parent, can be matter neither of surprise or blame,--but that, +notwithstanding this alienation, which her own unfortunate temper +produced, he should have continued to consult her wishes, and minister +to her comforts, with such unfailing thoughtfulness as is evinced not +only in the frequency of his letters, but in the almost exclusive +appropriation of Newstead to her use, redounds, assuredly, in no +ordinary degree, to his honour; and was even the more strikingly +meritorious from the absence of that affection which renders kindnesses +to a beloved object little more than an indulgence of self. + +But, however estranged from her his feelings must be allowed to have +been while she lived, her death seems to have restored them into their +natural channel. Whether from a return of early fondness and the +all-atoning power of the grave, or from the prospect of that void in +his future life which this loss of his only link with the past would +leave, it is certain that he felt the death of his mother acutely, if +not deeply. On the night after his arrival at Newstead, the +waiting-woman of Mrs. Byron, in passing the door of the room where the +deceased lady lay, heard a sound as of some one sighing heavily from +within; and, on entering the chamber, found, to her surprise, Lord +Byron, sitting in the dark, beside the bed. On her representing to him +the weakness of thus giving way to grief, he burst into tears, and +exclaimed, "Oh, Mrs. By, I had but one friend in the world, and she is +gone!" + +While his real thoughts were thus confided to silence and darkness, +there was, in other parts of his conduct more open to observation, a +degree of eccentricity and indecorum which, with superficial observers, +might well bring the sensibility of his nature into question. On the +morning of the funeral, having declined following the remains himself, +he stood looking, from the abbey door, at the procession, till the whole +had moved off;--then, turning to young Rushton, who was the only person +left besides himself, he desired him to fetch the sparring-gloves, and +proceeded to his usual exercise with the boy. He was silent and +abstracted all the time, and, as if from an effort to get the better of +his feelings, threw more violence, Rushton thought, into his blows than +was his habit; but, at last,--the struggle seeming too much for him,--he +flung away the gloves, and retired to his room. + +Of Mrs. Byron, sufficient, perhaps, has been related in these pages to +enable the reader to form fully his own opinion, as well with respect to +the character of this lady herself, as to the degree of influence her +temper and conduct may have exercised on those of her son. It was said +by one of the most extraordinary of men[16],--who was himself, as he +avowed, principally indebted to maternal culture for the unexampled +elevation to which he subsequently rose,--that "the future good or bad +conduct of a child depends entirely on the mother." How far the leaven +that sometimes mixed itself with the better nature of Byron,--his +uncertain and wayward impulses,--his defiance of restraint,--the +occasional bitterness of his hate, and the precipitance of his +resentments,--may have had their origin in his early collisions with +maternal caprice and violence, is an enquiry for which sufficient +materials have been, perhaps, furnished in these pages, but which every +one will decide upon, according to the more or less weight he may +attribute to the influence of such causes on the formation of character. + +That, notwithstanding her injudicious and coarse treatment of him, Mrs. +Byron loved her son, with that sort of fitful fondness of which alone +such a nature is capable, there can be little doubt,--and still less, +that she was ambitiously proud of him. Her anxiety for the success of +his first literary essays may be collected from the pains which he so +considerately took to tranquillise her on the appearance of the hostile +article in the Review. As his fame began to brighten, that notion of his +future greatness and glory, which, by a singular forecast of +superstition, she had entertained from his very childhood, became +proportionably confirmed. Every mention of him in print was watched by +her with eagerness; and she had got bound together in a volume, which a +friend of mine once saw, a collection of all the literary notices, that +had then appeared, of his early Poems and Satire,--written over on the +margin, with observations of her own, which to my informant appeared +indicative of much more sense and ability than, from her general +character, we should be inclined to attribute to her. + +Among those lesser traits of his conduct through which an observer can +trace a filial wish to uphold, and throw respect around, the station of +his mother, may be mentioned his insisting, while a boy, on being called +"George Byron Gordon"--giving thereby precedence to the maternal +name,--and his continuing, to the last, to address her as "the +Honourable Mrs. Byron,"--a mark of rank to which, he must have been +aware, she had no claim whatever. Neither does it appear that, in his +habitual manner towards her, there was any thing denoting a want of +either affection or deference,--with the exception, perhaps, +occasionally, of a somewhat greater degree of familiarity than comports +with the ordinary notions of filial respect. Thus, the usual name he +called her by, when they were on good-humoured terms together, was +"Kitty Gordon;" and I have heard an eye-witness of the scene describe +the look of arch, dramatic humour, with which, one day, at Southwell, +when they were in the height of their theatrical rage, he threw open the +door of the drawing-room, to admit his mother, saying, at the same time, +"Enter the Honourable Kitty." + +The pride of birth was a feeling common alike to mother and son, and, at +times, even became a point of rivalry between them, from their +respective claims, English and Scotch, to high lineage. In a letter +written by him from Italy, referring to some anecdote which his mother +had told him, he says,--"My mother, who was as haughty as Lucifer with +her descent from the Stuarts, and her right line from the _old +Gordons_,--_not_ the _Seyton Gordons_, as she disdainfully termed the +ducal branch,--told me the story, always reminding me how superior _her_ +Gordons were to the southern Byrons, notwithstanding our Norman, and +always masculine, descent, which has never lapsed into a female, as my +mother's Gordons had done in her own person." + +If, to be able to depict powerfully the painful emotions, it is +necessary first to have experienced them, or, in other words, if, for +the poet to be great, the man must suffer, Lord Byron, it must be owned, +paid early this dear price of mastery. Few as were the ties by which his +affections held, whether within or without the circle of relationship, +he was now doomed, within a short space, to see the most of them swept +away by death.[17] Besides the loss of his mother, he had to mourn over, +in quick succession, the untimely fatalities that carried off, within a +few weeks of each other, two or three of his most loved and valued +friends. "In the short space of one month," he says, in a note on Childe +Harold, "I have lost _her_ who gave me being, and most of those who made +that being tolerable."[18] Of these young Wingfield, whom we have seen +high on the list of his Harrow favourites, died of a fever at Coimbra; +and Matthews, the idol of his admiration at college, was drowned while +bathing in the waters of the Cam. + +The following letter, written immediately after the latter event, bears +the impress of strong and even agonised feeling, to such a degree as +renders it almost painful to read it:-- + +LETTER 56. TO MR. SCROPE DAVIES. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 7. 1811. + + "My dearest Davies, + + "Some curse hangs over me and mine. My mother lies a corpse in this + house; one of my best friends is drowned in a ditch. What can I + say, or think, or do? I received a letter from him the day before + yesterday. My dear Scrope, if you can spare a moment, do come down + to me--I want a friend. Matthews's last letter was written on + _Friday_,--on Saturday he was not. In ability, who was like + Matthews? How did we all shrink before him? You do me but justice + in saying, I would have risked my paltry existence to have + preserved his. This very evening did I mean to write, inviting him, + as I invite you, my very dear friend, to visit me. God forgive * * + * for his apathy! What will our poor Hobhouse feel? His letters + breathe but or Matthews. Come to me, Scrope, I am almost + desolate--left almost alone in the world--I had but you, and H., + and M., and let me enjoy the survivors whilst I can. Poor M., in + his letter of Friday, speaks of his intended contest for + Cambridge[19], and a speedy journey to London. Write or come, but + come if you can, or one or both. + + "Yours ever." + +[Footnote 15: In many instances the mothers of illustrious poets have +had reason to be proud no less of the affection than of the glory of +their sons; and Tasso, Pope, Gray, and Cowper, are among these memorable +examples of filial tenderness. In the lesser poems of Tasso, there are +few things so beautiful as his description, in the Canzone to the +Metauro, of his first parting with his mother:-- + + "Me dal sen della madre empia fortuna + Pargoletto divelse," &c. +] + +[Footnote 16: Napoleon.] + +[Footnote 17: In a letter, written between two and three months after +his mother's death, he states no less a number than six persons, all +friends or relatives, who had been snatched away from him by death +between May and the end of August.] + +[Footnote 18: In continuation of the note quoted in the text, he says of +Matthews--"His powers of mind, shown in the attainment of greater +honours, against the _ablest candidates_, than those of any graduate on +record at Cambridge, have sufficiently established his fame on the spot +where it was acquired." One of the candidates, thus described, was Mr. +Thomas Barnes, a gentleman whose career since has kept fully the promise +of his youth, though, from the nature of the channels through which his +literary labours have been directed, his great talents are far more +extensively known than his name.] + +[Footnote 19: It had been the intention of Mr. Matthews to offer +himself, at the ensuing election, for the university. In reference to +this purpose, a manuscript Memoir of him, now lying before me, says--"If +acknowledged and successful talents--if principles of the strictest +honour--if the devotion of many friends could have secured the success +of an 'independent pauper' (as he jocularly called himself in a letter +on the subject), the vision would have been realised."] + + * * * * * + +Of this remarkable young man, Charles Skinner Matthews[20], I have +already had occasion to speak; but the high station which he held in +Lord Byron's affection and admiration may justify a somewhat ampler +tribute to his memory. + +There have seldom, perhaps, started together in life so many youths of +high promise and hope as were to be found among the society of which +Lord Byron formed a part at Cambridge. Of some of these, the names have +since eminently distinguished themselves in the world, as the mere +mention of Mr. Hobhouse and Mr. William Bankes is sufficient to testify; +while in the instance of another of this lively circle, Mr. Scrope +Davies[21], the only regret of his friends is, that the social wit of +which he is such a master should in the memories of his hearers alone be +like to leave any record of its brilliancy. Among all these young men of +learning and talent, (including Byron himself, whose genius was, +however, as yet, "an undiscovered world,") the superiority, in almost +every department of intellect, seems to have been, by the ready consent +of all, awarded to Matthews;--a concurrence of homage which, considering +the persons from whom it came, gives such a high notion of the powers of +his mind at that period, as renders the thought of what he might have +been, if spared, a matter of interesting, though vain and mournful, +speculation. To mere mental pre-eminence, unaccompanied by the kindlier +qualities of the heart, such a tribute, however deserved, might not, +perhaps, have been so uncontestedly paid. But young Matthews +appears,--in spite of some little asperities of temper and manner, which +he was already beginning to soften down when snatched away,--to have +been one of those rare individuals who, while they command deference, +can, at the same time, win regard, and who, as it were, relieve the +intense feeling of admiration which they excite by blending it with +love. + +To his religious opinions, and their unfortunate coincidence with those +of Lord Byron, I have before adverted. Like his noble friend, ardent in +the pursuit of Truth, he, like him too, unluckily lost his way in +seeking her,--"the light that led astray" being by both friends mistaken +for hers. That in his scepticism he proceeded any farther than Lord +Byron, or ever suffered his doubting, but still ingenuous, mind to +persuade itself into the "incredible creed" of atheism, is, I find +(notwithstanding an assertion in a letter of the noble poet to this +effect), disproved by the testimony of those among his relations and +friends, who are the most ready to admit and, of course, lament his +other heresies;--nor should I have felt that I had any right to allude +thus to the religious opinions of one who had never, by promulgating his +heterodoxy, brought himself within the jurisdiction of the public, had +not the wrong impression, as it appears, given of those opinions, on the +authority of Lord Byron, rendered it an act of justice to both friends +to remove the imputation. + +In the letters to Mrs. Byron, written previously to the departure of her +son on his travels, there occurs, it will be recollected, some mention +of a Will, which it was his intention to leave behind him in the hands +of his trustees. Whatever may have been the contents of this former +instrument, we find that, in about a fortnight after his mother's death, +he thought it right to have a new form of will drawn up; and the +following letter, enclosing his instructions for that purpose, was +addressed to the late Mr. Bolton, a solicitor of Nottingham. Of the +existence, in any serious or formal shape, of the strange directions +here given, respecting his own interment, I was, for some time, I +confess, much inclined to doubt; but the curious documents here annexed +put this remarkable instance of his eccentricity beyond all question. + +[Footnote 20: He was the third son of the late John Matthews, Esq. of +Belmont, Herefordshire, representative of that county in the parliament +of 1802-6. The author of "The Diary of an Invalid," also untimely +snatched away, was another son of the same gentleman, as is likewise the +present Prebendary of Hereford, the Reverend Arthur Matthews, who, by +his ability and attainments, sustains worthily the reputation of the +name. + +The father of this accomplished family was himself a man of considerable +talent, and the author of several unavowed poetical pieces; one of +which, a Parody of Pope's Eloisa, written in early youth, has been +erroneously ascribed to the late Professor Porson, who was in the habit +of reciting it, and even printed an edition of the verses.] + +[Footnote 21: "One of the cleverest men I ever knew, in conversation, +was Scrope Berdmore Davies. Hobhouse is also very good in that line, +though it is of less consequence to a man who has other ways of showing +his talents than in company. Scrope was always ready and often +witty--Hobhouse as witty, but not always so ready, being more +diffident."--_MS. Journal of Lord Byron._] + + * * * * * + +TO ---- BOLTON, ESQ. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 12. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "I enclose a rough draught of my intended will, which I beg to have + drawn up as soon as possible, in the firmest manner. The + alterations are principally made in consequence of the death of + Mrs. Byron. I have only to request that it may be got ready in a + short time, and have the honour, to be, + + "Your most obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + + "Newstead Abbey, August 12. 1811. + + "DIRECTIONS FOR, THE CONTENTS OF A WILL TO BE DRAWN UP IMMEDIATELY. + + "The estate of Newstead to be entailed (subject to certain + deductions) on George Anson Byron, heir-at-law, or whoever may be + the heir-at-law on the death of Lord B. The Rochdale property to be + sold in part or the whole, according to the debts and legacies of + the present Lord B. + + "To Nicolo Giraud of Athens, subject of France, but born in Greece, + the sum of seven thousand pounds sterling, to be paid from the + sale of such parts of Rochdale, Newstead, or elsewhere, as may + enable the said Nicolo Giraud (resident at Athens and Malta in the + year 1810) to receive the above sum on his attaining the age of + twenty-one years. + + "To William Fletcher, Joseph Murray, and Demetrius Zograffo[22] + (native of Greece), servants, the sum of fifty pounds pr. ann. + each, for their natural lives. To Wm. Fletcher, the Mill at + Newstead, on condition that he payeth rent, but not subject to the + caprice of the landlord. To Rt. Rushton the sum of fifty pounds + per ann. for life, and a further sum of one thousand pounds on + attaining the age of twenty-five years. + + "To Jn. Hanson, Esq. the sum of two thousand pounds sterling. + + "The claims of S.B. Davies, Esq. to be satisfied on proving the + amount of the same. + + "The body of Lord B. to be buried in the vault of the garden of + Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, or any + inscription, save his name and age. His dog not to be removed from + the said vault. + + "My library and furniture of every description to my friends Jn. + Cam Hobhouse, Esq., and S.B. Davies, Esq. my executors. In case of + their decease, the Rev. J. Becher, of Southwell, Notts., and R.C. + Dallas, Esq., of Mortlake, Surrey, to be executors. + + "The produce of the sale of Wymondham in Norfolk, and the late Mrs. + B.'s Scotch property[23], to be appropriated in aid of the payment + of debts and legacies." + +[Footnote 22: "If the papers lie not (which they generally do), +Demetrius Zograffo of Athens is at the head of the Athenian part of the +Greek insurrection. He was my servant in 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, at +different intervals of those years (for I left him in Greece when I went +to Constantinople), and accompanied me to England in 1811: he returned +to Greece, spring, 1812. He was a clever, but not _apparently_ an +enterprising man; but circumstances make men. His two sons (_then_ +infants) were named Miltiades and Alcibiades: may the omen be happy!" +--_MS. Journal._] + +[Footnote 23: On the death of his mother, a considerable sum of money, +the remains of the price of the estate of Gight, was paid into his hands +by her trustee, Baron Clerk.] + + * * * * * + +In sending a copy of the Will, framed on these instructions, to Lord +Byron, the solicitor accompanied some of the clauses with marginal +queries, calling the attention of his noble client to points which he +considered inexpedient or questionable; and as the short pithy answers +to these suggestions are strongly characteristic of their writer, I +shall here give one or two of the clauses in full, with the respective +queries and answers annexed. + +"This is the last will and testament of me, the Rt. Honble George +Gordon Lord Byron, Baron Byron of Rochdale, in the county of +Lancaster.--I desire that my body may be buried in the vault of the +garden of Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, +and that no inscription, save my name and age, be written on the tomb or +tablet; and it is my will that my faithful dog may not be removed from +the said vault. To the performance of this my particular desire, I rely +on the attention of my executors hereinafter named." + +_"It is submitted to Lord Byron whether this clause relative to the +funeral had not better be omitted. The substance of it can be given in a +letter from his Lordship to the executors, and accompany the will; and +the will may state that the funeral shall be performed in such manner as +his Lordship may by letter direct, and, in default of any such letter, +then at the discretion of his executors."_ + + "It must stand. B." + +"I do hereby specifically order and direct that all the claims of the +said S.B. Davies upon me shall be fully paid and satisfied as soon as +conveniently may be after my decease, on his proving [by vouchers, or +otherwise, to the satisfaction of my executors hereinafter named][24] +the amount thereof, and the correctness of the same." + +_"If Mr. Davies has any unsettled claims upon Lord Byron, that +circumstance is a reason for his not being appointed executor; each +executor having an opportunity of paying himself his own debt without +consulting his co-executors."_ + + "So much the better--if possible, let him be an executor. B." + +[Footnote 24: Over the words which I have here placed between brackets, +Lord Byron drew his pen.] + + * * * * * + +The two following letters contain further instructions on the same +subject:-- + +LETTER 57. TO MR. BOLTON. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 16. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "I have answered the queries on the margin.[25] I wish Mr. Davies's + claims to be most fully allowed, and, further, that he be one of my + executors. I wish the will to be made in a manner to prevent all + discussion, if possible, after my decease; and this I leave to you + as a professional gentleman. + + "With regard to the few and simple directions for the disposal of + my _carcass_, I must have them implicitly fulfilled, as they will, + at least, prevent trouble and expense;--and (what would be of + little consequence to me, but may quiet the conscience of the + survivors) the garden is _consecrated_ ground. These directions are + copied verbatim from my former will; the alterations in other parts + have arisen from the death of Mrs. B. I have the honour to be + + "Your most obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + +[Footnote 25: In the clause enumerating the names and places of abode of +the executors, the solicitor had left blanks for the Christian names of +these gentlemen, and Lord Byron, having filled up all but that of +Dallas, writes in the margin--"I forget the Christian name of +Dallas--cut him out."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 58 TO MR. BOLTON. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 20. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "The witnesses shall be provided from amongst my tenants, and I + shall be happy to see you on any day most convenient to yourself. I + forgot to mention, that it must be specified by codicil, or + otherwise, that my body is on no account to be removed from the + vault where I have directed it to be placed; and in case any of my + successors within the entail (from bigotry, or otherwise) might + think proper to remove the carcass, such proceeding shall be + attended by forfeiture of the estate, which in such case shall go + to my sister, the Honble Augusta Leigh and her heirs on similar + conditions. I have the honour to be, sir, + + "Your very obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +In consequence of this last letter, a proviso and declaration, in +conformity with its instructions, were inserted in the will. He also +executed, on the 28th of this month, a codicil, by which he revoked the +bequest of his "household goods and furniture, library, pictures, +sabres, watches, plate, linen, trinkets, and other personal estate +(except money and securities) situate within the walls of the +mansion-house and premises at his decease--and bequeathed the same +(except his wine and spirituous liquors) to his friends, the said J.C. +Hobhouse, S.B. Davies, and Francis Hodgson, their executors, &c., to be +equally divided between them for their own use;--and he bequeathed his +wine and spirituous liquors, which should be in the cellars and premises +at Newstead, unto his friend, the said J. Becher, for his own use, and +requested the said J.C. Hobhouse, S.B. Davies, F. Hodgson, and J. +Becher, respectively, to accept the bequest therein contained, to them +respectively, as a token of his friendship." + +The following letters, written while his late losses were fresh in his +mind, will be read with painful interest:-- + +LETTER 59. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 12. 1811. + + "Peace be with the dead! Regret cannot wake them. With a sigh to + the departed, let us resume the dull business of life, in the + certainty that we also shall have our repose. Besides her who gave + me being, I have lost more than one who made that being + tolerable--The best friend of my friend Hobhouse, Matthews, a man + of the first talents, and also not the worst of my narrow circle, + has perished miserably in the muddy waves of the Cam, always fatal + to genius:--my poor school-fellow, Wingfield, at Coimbra--within a + month; and whilst I had heard from _all three_, but not seen _one_. + Matthews wrote to me the very day before his death; and though I + feel for his fate, I am still more anxious for Hobhouse, who, I + very much fear, will hardly retain his senses: his letters to me + since the event have been most incoherent. But let this pass; we + shall all one day pass along with the rest--the world is too full + of such things, and our very sorrow is selfish. + + "I received a letter from you, which my late occupations prevented + me from duly noticing.--I hope your friends and family will long + hold together. I shall be glad to hear from you, on business, on + common-place, or any thing, or nothing--but death--I am already too + familiar with the dead. It is strange that I look on the skulls + which stand beside me (I have always had _four_ in my study) + without emotion, but I cannot strip the features of those I have + known of their fleshy covering, even in idea, without a hideous + sensation; but the worms are less ceremonious.--Surely, the Romans + did well when they burned the dead.--I shall be happy to hear from + you, and am yours," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 60. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 22. 1811. + + "You may have heard of the sudden death of my mother, and poor + Matthews, which, with that of Wingfield, (of which I was not fully + aware till just before I left town, and indeed hardly believed it,) + has made a sad chasm in my connections. Indeed the blows followed + each other so rapidly that I am yet stupid from the shock; and + though I do eat, and drink, and talk, and even laugh, at times, yet + I can hardly persuade myself that I am awake, did not every + morning convince me mournfully to the contrary.--I shall now wave + the subject,--the dead are at rest, and none but the dead can be + so. + + "You will feel for poor Hobhouse,--Matthews was the 'god of his + idolatry;' and if intellect could exalt a man above his fellows, no + one could refuse him pre-eminence. I knew him most intimately, and + valued him proportionably; but I am recurring--so let us talk of + life and the living. + + "If you should feel a disposition to come here, you will find 'beef + and a sea-coal fire,' and not ungenerous wine. Whether Otway's two + other requisites for an Englishman or not, I cannot tell, but + probably one of them.--Let me know when I may expect you, that I + may tell you when I go and when return. I have not yet been to + Lanes. Davies has been here, and has invited me to Cambridge for a + week in October, so that, peradventure, we may encounter glass to + glass. His gaiety (death cannot mar it) has done me service; but, + after all, ours was a hollow laughter. + + "You will write to me? I am solitary, and I never felt solitude + irksome before. Your anxiety about the critique on * *'s book is + amusing; as it was anonymous, certes it was of little consequence: + I wish it had produced a little more confusion, being a lover of + literary malice. Are you doing nothing? writing nothing? printing + nothing? why not your Satire on Methodism? the subject (supposing + the public to be blind to merit) would do wonders. Besides, it + would be as well for a destined deacon to prove his orthodoxy.--It + really would give me pleasure to see you properly appreciated. I + say _really_, as, being an author, my humanity might be suspected. + Believe me, dear H., yours always." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 61. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead, August 21. 1811. + + "Your letter gives me credit for more acute feelings than I + possess; for though I feel tolerably miserable, yet I am at the + same time subject to a kind of hysterical merriment, or rather + laughter without merriment, which I can neither account for nor + conquer, and yet I do not feel relieved by it; but an indifferent + person would think me in excellent spirits. 'We must forget these + things,' and have recourse to our old selfish comforts, or rather + comfortable selfishness. I do not think I shall return to London + immediately, and shall therefore accept freely what is offered + courteously--your mediation between me and Murray. I don't think my + name will answer the purpose, and you must be aware that my plaguy + Satire will bring the north and south Grub Streets down upon the + 'Pilgrimage;'--but, nevertheless, if Murray makes a point of it, + and you coincide with him, I will do it daringly; so let it be + entitled 'By the Author of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.' My + remarks on the Romaic, &c., once intended to accompany the 'Hints + from Horace,' shall go along with the other, as being indeed more + appropriate; also the smaller poems now in my possession, with a + few selected from those published in * *'s Miscellany. I have + found amongst my poor mother's papers all my letters from the East, + and one in particular of some length from Albania. From this, if + necessary, I can work up a note or two on that subject. As I kept + no journal, the letters written on the spot are the best. But of + this anon, when we have definitively arranged. + + "Has Murray shown the work to any one? He may--but I will have no + traps for applause. Of course there are little things I would wish + to alter, and perhaps the two stanzas of a buffooning cast on + London's Sunday are as well left out. I much wish to avoid + identifying Childe Harold's character with mine, and that, in + sooth, is my second objection to my name appearing in the + title-page. When you have made arrangements as to time, size, type, + &c. favour me with a reply. I am giving you an universe of trouble, + which thanks cannot atone for. I made a kind of prose apology for + my scepticism at the head of the MS., which, on recollection, is so + much more like an attack than a defence, that, haply, it might + better be omitted:--perpend, pronounce. After all, I fear Murray + will be in a scrape with the orthodox; but I cannot help it, though + I wish him well through it. As for me, 'I have supped full of + criticism,' and I don't think that the 'most dismal treatise' will + stir and rouse my fell of hair' till 'Birnam wood do come to + Dunsinane.' + + "I shall continue to write at intervals, and hope you will pay me + in kind. How does Pratt get on, or rather get off, Joe Blackett's + posthumous stock? You killed that poor man amongst you, in spite + of your Ionian friend and myself, who would have saved him from + Pratt, poetry, present poverty, and posthumous oblivion. Cruel + patronage! to ruin a man at his calling; but then he is a divine + subject for subscription and biography; and Pratt, who makes the + most of his dedications, has inscribed the volume to no less than + five families of distinction. + + "I am sorry you don't like Harry White: with a great deal of cant, + which in him was sincere (indeed it killed him as you killed Joe + Blackett), certes there is poesy and genius. I don't say this on + account of my simile and rhymes; but surely he was beyond all the + Bloomfields and Blacketts, and their collateral cobblers, whom + Lofft and Pratt have or may kidnap from their calling into the + service of the trade. You must excuse my flippancy, for I am + writing I know not what, to escape from myself. Hobhouse is gone to + Ireland. Mr. Davies has been here on his way to Harrowgate. + + "You did not know M.: he was a man of the most astonishing powers, + as he sufficiently proved at Cambridge, by carrying off more prizes + and fellow-ships, against the ablest candidates, than any other + graduate on record; but a most decided atheist, indeed noxiously + so, for he proclaimed his principles in all societies. I knew him + well, and feel a loss not easily to be supplied to myself--to + Hobhouse never. Let me hear from you, and believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + +The progress towards publication of his two forthcoming works will be +best traced in his letters to Mr. Murray and Mr. Dallas. + +LETTER 62. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 23. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "A domestic calamity in the death of a near relation has hitherto + prevented my addressing you on the subject of this letter.--My + friend, Mr. Dallas, has placed in your hands a manuscript poem + written by me in Greece, which he tells me you do not object to + publishing. But he also informed me in London that you wished to + send the MS. to Mr. Gifford. Now, though no one would feel more + gratified by the chance of obtaining his observations on a work + than myself, there is in such a proceeding a kind of petition for + praise, that neither my pride--or whatever you please to call + it--will admit. Mr. G. is not only the first satirist of the day, + but editor of one of the principal reviews. As such, he is the last + man whose censure (however eager to avoid it) I would deprecate by + clandestine means. You will therefore retain the manuscript in your + own care, or, if it must needs be shown, send it to another. Though + not very patient of censure, I would fain obtain fairly any little + praise my rhymes might deserve, at all events not by extortion, and + the humble solicitations of a bandied about MS. I am sure a little + consideration will convince you it would be wrong. + + "If you determine on publication, I have some smaller poems (never + published), a few notes, and a short dissertation on the literature + of the modern Greeks (written at Athens), which will come in at + the end of the volume.--And, if the present poem should succeed, it + is my intention, at some subsequent period, to publish some + selections from my first work,--my Satire,--another nearly the same + length, and a few other things, with the MS. now in your hands, in + two volumes.--But of these hereafter. You will apprize me of your + determination. I am, Sir, your very obedient," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 63. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 25. 1811. + + "Being fortunately enabled to frank, I do not spare scribbling, + having sent you packets within the last ten days. I am passing + solitary, and do not expect my agent to accompany me to Rochdale + before the second week in September; a delay which perplexes me, as + I wish the business over, and should at present welcome employment. + I sent you exordiums, annotations, &c. for the forthcoming quarto, + if quarto it is to be: and I also have written to Mr. Murray my + objection to sending the MS. to Juvenal, but allowing him to show + it to any others of the calling. Hobhouse is amongst the types + already: so, between his prose and my verse, the world will be + decently drawn upon for its paper-money and patience. Besides all + this, my 'Imitation of Horace' is gasping for the press at + Cawthorn's, but I am hesitating as to the _how_ and the _when_, the + single or the double, the present or the future. You must excuse + all this, for I have nothing to say in this lone mansion but of + myself, and yet I would willingly talk or think of aught else. + + "What are you about to do? Do you think of perching in Cumberland, + as you opined when I was in the metropolis? If you mean to retire, + why not occupy Miss * * *'s 'Cottage of Friendship,' late the seat + of Cobbler Joe, for whose death you and others are answerable? His + 'Orphan Daughter' (pathetic Pratt!) will, certes, turn out a + shoemaking Sappho. Have you no remorse? I think that elegant + address to Miss Dallas should be inscribed on the cenotaph which + Miss * * * means to stitch to his memory. + + "The newspapers seem much disappointed at his Majesty's not dying, + or doing something better. I presume it is almost over. If + parliament meets in October, I shall be in town to attend. I am + also invited to Cambridge for the beginning of that month, but am + first to jaunt to Rochdale. Now Matthews is gone, and Hobhouse in + Ireland, I have hardly one left there to bid me welcome, except my + inviter. At three-and-twenty I am left alone, and what more can we + be at seventy? It is true I am young enough to begin again, but + with whom can I retrace the laughing part of life? It is odd how + few of my friends have died a quiet death,--I mean, in their beds. + But a quiet life is of more consequence. Yet one loves squabbling + and jostling better than yawning. This _last word_ admonishes me to + relieve you from yours very truly," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 64. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, August 27. 1811. + + "I was so sincere in my note on the late Charles Matthews, and do + feel myself so totally unable to do justice to his talents, that + the passage must stand for the very reason you bring against it. To + him all the men I ever knew were pigmies. He was an intellectual + giant. It is true I loved W. better; he was the earliest and the + dearest, and one of the few one could never repent of having loved: + but in ability--ah! you did not know Matthews! + + "'Childe Harold' may wait and welcome--books are never the worse + for delay in the publication. So you have got our heir, George + Anson Byron, and his sister, with you. + + "You may say what you please, but you are one of the _murderers_ of + Blackett, and yet you won't allow Harry White's genius. Setting + aside his bigotry, he surely ranks next Chatterton. It is + astonishing how little he was known; and at Cambridge no one + thought or heard of such a man till his death rendered all notice + useless. For my own part, I should have been most proud of such an + acquaintance: his very prejudices were respectable. There is a + sucking epic poet at Granta, a Mr. Townsend, _protege_ of the late + Cumberland. Did you ever hear of him and his 'Armageddon?' I think + his plan (the man I don't know) borders on the sublime: though, + perhaps, the anticipation of the 'Last Day' (according to you + Nazarenes) is a little too daring: at least, it looks like telling + the Lord what he is to do, and might remind an ill-natured person + of the line, + + 'And fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' + + But I don't mean to cavil, only other folks will, and he may bring + all the lambs of Jacob Behmen about his ears. However, I hope he + will bring it to a conclusion, though Milton is in his way. + + "Write to me--I dote on gossip--and make a bow to Ju--, and shake + George by the hand for me; but, take care, for he has a sad sea + paw. + + "P.S. I would ask George here, but I don't know how to amuse + him--all my horses were sold when I left England, and I have not + had time to replace them. Nevertheless, if he will come down and + shoot in September, he will be very welcome: but he must bring a + gun, for I gave away all mine to Ali Pacha, and other Turks. Dogs, + a keeper, and plenty of game, with a very large manor, I have--a + lake, a boat, house-room, and _neat wines_." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 65. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 5. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "The time seems to be past when (as Dr. Johnson said) a man was + certain to 'hear the truth from his bookseller,' for you have paid + me so many compliments, that, if I was not the veriest scribbler on + earth, I should feel affronted. As I accept your compliments, it + is but fair I should give equal or greater credit to your + objections, the more so, as I believe them to be well founded. With + regard to the political and metaphysical parts, I am afraid I can + alter nothing; but I have high authority for my errors in that + point, for even the _AEneid_ was a _political_ poem, and written for + a _political_ purpose; and as to my unlucky opinions on subjects of + more importance, I am too sincere in them for recantation. On + Spanish affairs I have said what I saw, and every day confirms me + in that notion of the result formed on the spot; and I rather think + honest John Bull is beginning to come round again to that sobriety + which Massena's retreat had begun to reel from its centre--the + usual consequence of _un_usual success. So you perceive I cannot + alter the sentiments; but if there are any alterations in the + structure of the versification you would wish to be made, I will + tag rhymes and turn stanzas as much as you please. As for the + '_orthodox_,' let us hope they will buy, on purpose to abuse--you + will forgive the one, if they will do the other. You are aware that + any thing from my pen must expect no quarter, on many accounts; and + as the present publication is of a nature very different from the + former, we must not be sanguine. + + "You have given me no answer to my question--tell me fairly, did + you show the MS. to some of your corps?--I sent an introductory + stanza to Mr. Dallas, to be forwarded to you; the poem else will + open too abruptly. The stanzas had better be numbered in Roman + characters. There is a disquisition on the literature of the + modern Greeks and some smaller poems to come in at the close. These + are now at Newstead, but will be sent in time. If Mr. D. has lost + the stanza and note annexed to it, write, and I will send it + myself.--You tell me to add two Cantos, but I am about to visit my + _collieries_ in Lancashire on the 15th instant, which is so + unpoetical an employment that I need say no more. I am, sir, your + most obedient," &c. + + The manuscripts of both his poems having been shown, much against + his own will, to Mr. Gifford, the opinion of that gentleman was + thus reported to him by Mr. Dallas:--"Of your Satire he spoke + highly; but this poem (Childe Harold) he pronounced not only the + best you have written, but equal to any of the present age." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 66. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, September 7. 1811. + + "As Gifford has been ever my 'Magnus Apollo.' any approbation, such + as you mention, would, of course, be more welcome than 'all + Bokara's vaunted gold, than all the gems of Samarkand.' But I am + sorry the MS. was shown to him in such a manner, and I had written + to Murray to say as much, before I was aware that it was too late. + + "Your objection to the expression 'central line' I can only meet by + saying that, before Childe Harold left England, it was his full + intention to traverse Persia, and return by India, which he could + not have done without passing the equinoctial. + + "The other errors you mention, I must correct in the progress + through the press. I feel honoured by the wish of such men that the + poem should be continued, but to do that, I must return to Greece + and Asia; I must have a warm sun and a blue sky; I cannot describe + scenes so dear to me by a sea-coal fire. I had projected an + additional Canto when I was in the Troad and Constantinople, and if + I saw them again, it would go on; but under existing circumstances + and _sensations_, I have neither harp, 'heart, nor voice' to + proceed. I feel that _you are all right_ as to the metaphysical + part; but I also feel that I am sincere, and that if I am only to + write '_ad captandum vulgus_,' I might as well edit a magazine at + once, or spin canzonettas for Vauxhall. * * * + + "My work must make its way as well as it can; I know I have every + thing against me, angry poets and prejudices; but if the poem is a + _poem_, it will surmount these obstacles, and if _not_, it deserves + its fate. Your friend's Ode I have read--it is no great compliment + to pronounce it far superior to S * *'s on the same subject, or to + the merits of the new Chancellor. It is evidently the production of + a man of taste, and a poet, though I should not be willing to say + it was fully equal to what might be expected from the author of + '_Horae Ionicae_.' I thank you for it, and that is more than I would + do for any other Ode of the present day. + + "I am very sensible of your good wishes, and, indeed, I have need + of them. My whole life has been at variance with propriety, not to + say decency; my circumstances are become involved; my friends are + dead or estranged, and my existence a dreary void. In Matthews I + have lost my 'guide, philosopher, and friend;' in Wingfield a + friend only, but one whom I could have wished to have preceded in + his long journey. + + "Matthews was indeed an extraordinary man; it has not entered into + the heart of a stranger to conceive such a man: there was the stamp + of immortality in all he said or did;--and now what is he? When we + see such men pass away and be no more--men, who seem created to + display what the Creator _could make_ his creatures, gathered into + corruption, before the maturity of minds that might have been the + pride of posterity, what are we to conclude? For my own part, I am + bewildered. To me he was much, to Hobhouse every thing.--My poor + Hobhouse doted on Matthews. For me, I did not love quite so much as + I honoured him; I was indeed so sensible of his infinite + superiority, that though I did not envy, I stood in awe of it. He, + Hobhouse, Davies, and myself, formed a coterie of our own at + Cambridge and elsewhere. Davies is a wit and man of the world, and + feels as much as such a character can do; but not as Hobhouse has + been affected. Davies, who is not a scribbler, has always beaten us + all in the war of words, and by his colloquial powers at once + delighted and kept us in order. H. and myself always had the worst + of it with the other two; and even M. yielded to the dashing + vivacity of S.D. But I am talking to you of men, or boys, as if you + cared about such beings. + + "I expect mine agent down on the 14th to proceed to Lancashire, + where I hear from all quarters that I have a very valuable property + in coals, &c. I then intend to accept an invitation to Cambridge in + October, and shall, perhaps, run up to town. I have four + invitations--to Wales, Dorset, Cambridge, and Chester; but I must + be a man of business. I am quite alone, as these long letters sadly + testify. I perceive, by referring to your letter, that the Ode is + from the author; make my thanks acceptable to him. His muse is + worthy a nobler theme. You will write as usual, I hope. I wish you + good evening, and am," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 67. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 14. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "Since your former letter, Mr. Dallas informs me that the MS. has + been submitted to the perusal of Mr. Gifford, most contrary to my + wishes, as Mr. D. could have explained, and as my own letter to you + did, in fact, explain, with my motives for objecting to such a + proceeding. Some late domestic events, of which you are probably + aware, prevented my letter from being sent before; indeed, I hardly + conceived you would so hastily thrust my productions into the hands + of a stranger, who could be as little pleased by receiving them, as + their author is at their being offered, in such a manner, and to + such a man. + + "My address, when I leave Newstead, will be to 'Rochdale, + Lancashire;' but I have not yet fixed the day of departure, and I + will apprise you when ready to set off. + + "You have placed me in a very ridiculous situation, but it is past, + and nothing more is to be said on the subject. You hinted to me + that you wished some alterations to be made; if they have nothing + to do with politics or religion, I will make them with great + readiness. I am, Sir," &c.&c. + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 16. 1811.[26] + + "I return the proof, which I should wish to be shown to Mr. Dallas, + who understands typographical arrangements much better than I can + pretend to do. The printer may place the notes in his _own way_, + or any _way_ so that they are out of _my way_; I care nothing + about types or margins. + + "If you have any communication to make, I shall be here at least a + week or ten days longer. + + "I am, Sir," &c. &c. + +[Footnote 26: On a leaf of one of his paper-books I find an Epigram +written at this time, which, though not perhaps particularly good, I +consider myself bound to insert:-- + +"ON MOORE'S LAST OPERATIC FARCE, OR FARCICAL OPERA. + + "Good plays are scarce, + So Moore writes farce: + The poet's fame grows brittle-- + We knew before + That _Little's_ Moore, + But now 'tis _Moore_ that's _little_. + Sept. 14. 1811." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 68. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 17. 1811. + + "I can easily excuse your not writing, as you have, I hope, + something better to do, and you must pardon my frequent invasions + on your attention, because I have at this moment nothing to + interpose between you and my epistles. + + "I cannot settle to any thing, and my days pass, with the exception + of bodily exercise to some extent, with uniform indolence, and idle + insipidity. I have been expecting, and still expect, my agent, when + I shall have enough to occupy my reflections in business of no very + pleasant aspect. Before my journey to Rochdale, you shall have due + notice where to address me--I believe at the post-office of that + township. From Murray I received a second proof of the same pages, + which I requested him to show you, that any thing which may have + escaped my observation may be detected before the printer lays the + corner-stone of an _errata_ column. + + "I am now not quite alone, having an old acquaintance and + school-fellow with me, so _old_, indeed, that we have nothing _new_ + to say on any subject, and yawn at each other in a sort of _quiet + inquietude_. I hear nothing from Cawthorn, or Captain Hobhouse; + and _their quarto_--Lord have mercy on mankind! We come on like + Cerberus with our triple publications. As for _myself_, by + _myself_, I must be satisfied with a comparison to _Janus_. + + "I am not at all pleased with Murray for showing the MS.; and I am + certain Gifford must see it in the same light that I do. His praise + is nothing to the purpose: what could he say? He could not spit in + the face of one who had praised him in every possible way. I must + own that I wish to have the impression removed from his mind, that + I had any concern in such a paltry transaction. The more I think, + the more it disquiets me; so I will say no more about it. It is bad + enough to be a scribbler, without having recourse to such shifts to + extort praise, or deprecate censure. It is anticipating, it is + begging, kneeling, adulating,--the devil! the devil! the devil! and + all without my wish, and contrary to my express desire. I wish + Murray had been tied to _Payne_'s neck when he jumped into the + Paddington Canal[27], and so tell him,--_that_ is the proper + receptacle for publishers. You have thoughts of settling in the + country, why not try Notts.? I think there are places which would + suit you in all points, and then you are nearer the metropolis. But + of this anon. I am, yours," &c. + +[Footnote 27: In a note on his "Hints from Horace," he thus humorously +applies this incident:-- + +"A literary friend of mine walking out one lovely evening last summer on +the eleventh bridge of the Paddington Canal, was alarmed by the cry of +'One in jeopardy!' He rushed along, collected a body of Irish haymakers +(supping on buttermilk in an adjoining paddock), procured three rakes, +one eel spear, and a landing-net, and at last (_horresco referens_) +pulled out--his own publisher. The unfortunate man was gone for ever, +and so was a large quarto wherewith he had taken the leap, which proved, +on enquiry, to have been Mr. S----'s last work. Its 'alacrity of +sinking' was so great, that it has never since been heard of, though +some maintain that it is at this moment concealed at Alderman Birch's +pastry-premises, Cornhill. Be this as it may, the coroner's inquest +brought in a verdict of 'Felo de Bibliopola' against a 'quarto unknown,' +and circumstantial evidence being since strong against the 'Curse of +Kehama' (of which the above words are an exact description), it will be +tried by its peers next session in Grub Street. Arthur, Alfred, +Davideis, Richard Coeur de Lion, Exodus, Exodiad, Epigoniad, Calvary, +Fall of Cambria, Siege of Acre, Don Roderick, and Tom Thumb the Great, +are the names of the twelve jurors. The judges are Pye, * * *, and the +bellman of St. Sepulchre's."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 69. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 21. 1811. + + "I have shown my respect for your suggestions by adopting them; but + I have made many alterations in the first proof, over and above; + as, for example: + + "Oh Thou, in _Hellas_ deem'd of heavenly birth, + &c. &c. + + "Since _shamed full oft_ by _later lyres_ on earth, + Mine, &c. + + "Yet there _I've wander'd_ by the vaunted rill; + + and so on. So I have got rid of Dr. Lowth and 'drunk' to boot, and + very glad I am to say so. I have also sullenised the line as + heretofore, and in short have been quite conformable. + + "Pray write; you shall hear when I remove to Lancs. I have brought + you and my friend Juvenal Hodgson upon my back, on the score of + revelation. You are fervent, but he is quite _glowing_; and if he + take half the pains to save his own soul, which he volunteers to + redeem mine, great will be his reward hereafter. I honour and thank + you both, but am convinced by neither. Now for notes. Besides those + I have sent, I shall send the observations on the Edinburgh + Reviewer's remarks on the modern Greek, an Albanian song in the + Albanian (_not Greek_) language, specimens of modern Greek from + their New Testament, a comedy of Goldoni's translated, _one scene_, + a prospectus of a friend's book, and perhaps a song or two, _all_ + in Romaic, besides their Pater Noster; so there will be enough, if + not too much, with what I have already sent. Have you received the + 'Noetes Atticae?' I sent also an annotation on Portugal. Hobhouse is + also forthcoming." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 70. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Sept. 23. 1811. + + "_Lisboa_ is the Portuguese word, consequently the very best. + Ulissipont is pedantic; and as I have _Hellas_ and _Eros_ not long + before, there would be something like an affectation of Greek + terms, which I wish to avoid, since I shall have a perilous + quantity of _modern_ Greek in my notes, as specimens of the tongue; + therefore Lisboa may keep its place. You are right about the + 'Hints;' they must not precede the 'Romaunt;' but Cawthorn will be + savage if they don't; however, keep _them_ back, and _him_ in _good + humour_, if we can, but do not let him publish. + + "I have adopted, I believe, most of your suggestions, but 'Lisboa' + will be an exception to prove the rule. I have sent a quantity of + notes, and shall continue; but pray let them be copied; no devil + can read my hand. By the by, I do not mean to exchange the ninth + verse of the 'Good Night.' I have no reason to suppose my dog + better than his brother brutes, mankind; and _Argus_ we know to be + a fable. The 'Cosmopolite' was an acquisition abroad. I do not + believe it is to be found in England. It is an amusing little + volume, and full of French flippancy. I read, though I do not speak + the language. + + "I _will_ be angry with Murray. It was a book-selling, back shop, + Paternoster-row, paltry proceeding, and if the experiment had + turned out as it deserved, I would have raised all Fleet Street, + and borrowed the giant's staff from St. Dunstan's church, to + immolate the betrayer of trust. I have written to him as he never + was written to before by an author, I'll be sworn, and I hope you + will amplify my wrath, till it has an effect upon him. You tell me + always you have much to write about. Write it, but let us drop + metaphysics;--on that point we shall never agree. I am dull and + drowsy, as usual. I do nothing, and even that nothing fatigues me. + Adieu." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 71. TO MR. DALLAS. + + "Newstead Abbey, Oct. 11. 1811. + + "I have returned from Lancs., and ascertained that my property + there may be made very valuable, but various circumstances very + much circumscribe my exertions at present. I shall be in town on + business in the beginning of November, and perhaps at Cambridge + before the end of this month; but of my movements you shall be + regularly apprised. Your objections I have in part done away by + alterations, which I hope will suffice; and I have sent two or + three additional stanzas for both '_Fyttas_' I have been again + shocked with a death, and have lost one very dear to me in happier + times; but 'I have almost forgot the taste of grief,' and 'supped + full of horrors' till I have become callous, nor have I a tear left + for an event which, five years ago, would have bowed down my head + to the earth. It seems as though I were to experience in my youth + the greatest misery of age. My friends fall around me, and I shall + be left a lonely tree before I am withered. Other men can always + take refuge in their families; I have no resource but my own + reflections, and they present no prospect here or hereafter, except + the selfish satisfaction of surviving my betters. I am indeed very + wretched, and you will excuse my saying so, as you know I am not + apt to cant of sensibility. + + "Instead of tiring yourself with _my_ concerns, I should be glad to + hear _your_ plans of retirement. I suppose you would not like to be + wholly shut out of society? Now I know a large village, or small + town, about twelve miles off, where your family would have the + advantage of very genteel society, without the hazard of being + annoyed by mercantile affluence; where _you_ would meet with men of + information and independence; and where I have friends to whom I + should be proud to introduce you. There are, besides, a + coffee-room, assemblies, &c. &c., which bring people together. My + mother had a house there some years, and I am well acquainted with + the economy of Southwell, the name of this little commonwealth. + Lastly, you will not be very remote from me; and though I am the + very worst companion for young people in the world, this objection + would not apply to _you_, whom I could see frequently. Your + expenses, too, would be such as best suit your inclinations, more + or less, as you thought proper; but very little would be requisite + to enable you to enter into all the gaieties of a country life. You + could be as quiet or bustling as you liked, and certainly as well + situated as on the lakes of Cumberland, unless you have a + particular wish to be _picturesque_. + + "Pray, is your Ionian friend in town? You have promised me an + introduction.--You mention having consulted some friend on the + MSS.--Is not this contrary to our usual way? Instruct Mr. Murray + not to allow his shopman to call the work 'Child of Harrow's + Pilgrimage!!!!!' as he has done to some of my astonished friends, + who wrote to enquire after my sanity on the occasion, as well they + might. I have heard nothing of Murray, whom I scolded heartily. + Must I write more notes?--Are there not enough?--Cawthorn must be + kept back with the 'Hints.'--I hope he is getting on with + Hobhouse's quarto. Good evening. Yours ever," &c. + + * * * * * + +Of the same date with this melancholy letter are the following verses, +never before printed, which he wrote in answer to some lines received +from a friend, exhorting him to be cheerful, and to "banish care." They +will show with what gloomy fidelity, even while under the pressure of +recent sorrow, he reverted to the disappointment of his early affection, +as the chief source of all his sufferings and errors, present and to +come. + + "Newstead Abbey, October 11. 1811. + + "'Oh! banish care'--such ever be + The motto of _thy_ revelry! + Perchance of _mine_, when wassail nights + Renew those riotous delights, + Wherewith the children of Despair + Lull the lone heart, and 'banish care.' + But not in morn's reflecting hour, + When present, past, and future lower, + When all I loved is changed or gone, + Mock with such taunts the woes of one, + Whose every thought--but let them pass-- + Thou know'st I am not what I was. + But, above all, if thou wouldst hold + Place in a heart that ne'er was cold, + By all the powers that men revere, + By all unto thy bosom dear, + Thy joys below, thy hopes above, + Speak--speak of any thing but love. + + "'Twere long to tell, and vain to hear + The tale of one who scorns a tear; + And there is little in that tale + Which better bosoms would bewail. + But mine has suffer'd more than well + 'Twould suit Philosophy to tell. + I've seen my bride another's bride,-- + Have seen her seated by his side,-- + Have seen the infant which she bore, + Wear the sweet smile the mother wore, + When she and I in youth have smiled + As fond and faultless as her child;-- + Have seen her eyes, in cold disdain, + Ask if I felt no secret pain. + And I have acted well my part, + And made my cheek belie my heart, + Return'd the freezing glance she gave, + Yet felt the while _that_ woman's slave;-- + Have kiss'd, as if without design, + The babe which ought to have been mine, + And show'd, alas! in each caress + Time had not made me love the less. + + "But let this pass--I'll whine no more. + Nor seek again an eastern shore; + The world befits a busy brain,-- + I'll hie me to its haunts again. + But if, in some succeeding year, + When Britain's 'May is in the sere,' + Thou hear'st of one, whose deepening crimes + Suit with the sablest of the times, + Of one, whom Love nor Pity sways, + Nor hope of fame, nor good men's praise, + One, who in stern Ambition's pride, + Perchance not Blood shall turn aside, + One rank'd in some recording page + With the worst anarchs of the age, + Him wilt thou _know_--and, _knowing_, pause, + Nor with the _effect_ forget the cause." + + + * * * * * + +The anticipations of his own future career in these concluding lines are +of a nature, it must be owned, to awaken more of horror than of +interest, were we not prepared, by so many instances of his exaggeration +in this respect, not to be startled at any lengths to which the spirit +of self-libelling would carry him. It seemed as if, with the power of +painting fierce and gloomy personages, he had also the ambition to be, +himself, the dark "sublime he drew," and that, in his fondness for the +delineation of heroic crime, he endeavoured to fancy, where he could not +find, in his own character, fit subjects for his pencil. + +It was about the time when he was thus bitterly feeling and expressing +the blight which his heart had suffered from a _real_ object of +affection, that his poems on the death of an _imaginary_ one, "Thyrza," +were written;--nor is it any wonder, when we consider the peculiar +circumstances under which these beautiful effusions flowed from his +fancy, that of all his strains of pathos, they should be the most +touching and most pure. They were, indeed, the essence, the abstract +spirit, as it were, of many griefs;--a confluence of sad thoughts from +many sources of sorrow, refined and warmed in their passage through his +fancy, and forming thus one deep reservoir of mournful feeling. In +retracing the happy hours he had known with the friends now lost, all +the ardent tenderness of his youth came back upon him. His school-sports +with the favourites of his boyhood, Wingfield and Tattersall,--his +summer days with Long[28], and those evenings of music and romance which +he had dreamed away in the society of his adopted brother, +Eddlestone,--all these recollections of the young and dead now came to +mingle themselves in his mind with the image of her who, though living, +was, for him, as much lost as they, and diffused that general feeling of +sadness and fondness through his soul, which found a vent in these +poems. No friendship, however warm, could have inspired sorrow so +passionate; as no love, however pure, could have kept passion so +chastened. It was the blending of the two affections, in his memory and +imagination, that thus gave birth to an ideal object combining the best +features of both, and drew from him these saddest and tenderest of +love-poems, in which we find all the depth and intensity of real feeling +touched over with such a light as no reality ever wore. + +The following letter gives some further account of the course of his +thoughts and pursuits at this period:-- + +LETTER 72. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "Newstead Abbey, Oct. 13. 1811. + + "You will begin to deem me a most liberal correspondent; but as my + letters are free, you will overlook their frequency. I have sent + you answers in prose and verse[29] to all your late communications, + and though I am invading your ease again, I don't know why, or what + to put down that you are not acquainted with already. I am growing + nervous (how you will laugh!)--but it is true,--really, wretchedly, + ridiculously, fine-ladically _nervous_. Your climate kills me; I + can neither read, write, nor amuse myself, or any one else. My days + are listless, and my nights restless; I have very seldom any + society, and when I have, I run out of it. At 'this present + writing,' there are in the next room three ladies, and I have + stolen away to write this grumbling letter.--I don't know that I + sha'n't end with insanity, for I find a want of method in arranging + my thoughts that perplexes me strangely; but this looks more like + silliness than madness, as Scrope Davies would facetiously remark + in his consoling manner. I must try the hartshorn of your company; + and a session of Parliament would suit me well,--any thing to cure + me of conjugating the accursed verb '_ennuyer_.' + + "When shall you be at Cambridge? You have hinted, I think, that + your friend Bland is returned from Holland. I have always had a + great respect for his talents, and for all that I have heard of + his character; but of me, I believe he knows nothing, except that + he heard my sixth form repetitions ten months together, at the + average of two lines a morning, and those never perfect. I + remembered him and his 'Slaves' as I passed between Capes Matapan, + St. Angelo, and his Isle of Ceriga, and I always bewailed the + absence of the Anthology. I suppose he will now translate Vondel, + the Dutch Shakspeare, and 'Gysbert van Amstel' will easily be + accommodated to our stage in its present state; and I presume he + saw the Dutch poem, where the love of Pyramus and Thisbe is + compared to the _passion_ of _Christ_; also the love of _Lucifer_ + for Eve, and other varieties of Low Country literature. No doubt + you will think me crazed to talk of such things, but they are all + in black and white and good repute on the banks of every canal from + Amsterdam to Alkmaar. + + "Yours ever, B." + +[Footnote 28: See the extract from one of his journals, vol. i. p. 94.] + +[Footnote 29: The verses in vol. ii. p. 73.] + + * * * * * + + "My poesy is in the hands of its various publishers; but the 'Hints + from Horace,' (to which I have subjoined some savage lines on + Methodism, and ferocious notes on the vanity of the triple Editory + of the Edin. Annual Register,) my '_Hints_,' I say, stand still, + and why?--I have not a friend in the world (but you and Drury) who + can construe Horace's Latin or my English well enough to adjust + them for the press, or to correct the proofs in a grammatical way. + So that, unless you have bowels when you return to town (I am too + far off to do it for myself), this ineffable work will be lost to + the world for--I don't know how many _weeks._ + + "'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' must wait till _Murray's_ is + finished. He is making a tour in Middlesex, and is to return soon, + when high matter may be expected. He wants to have it in quarto, + which is a cursed unsaleable size; but it is pestilent long, and + one must obey one's bookseller. I trust Murray will pass the + Paddington Canal without being seduced by Payne and Mackinlay's + example,--I say Payne and Mackinlay, supposing that the partnership + held good. Drury, the villain, has not written to me; 'I am never + (as Mrs. Lumpkin says to Tony) to be gratified with the monster's + dear wild notes.' + + "So you are going (going indeed!) into orders. You must make your + peace with the Eclectic Reviewers--they accuse you of impiety, I + fear, with injustice. Demetrius, the 'Sieger of Cities,' is here, + with 'Gilpin Homer.' The painter[30] is not necessary, as the + portraits he already painted are (by anticipation) very like the + new animals.--Write, and send me your 'Love Song'--but I want + 'paulo majora' from you. Make a dash before you are a deacon, and + try a _dry_ publisher. + + "Yours always, B." + +[Footnote 30: Barber, whom he had brought down to Newstead to paint his +wolf and his bear.] + + * * * * * + +It was at this period that I first had the happiness of seeing and +becoming acquainted with Lord Byron. The correspondence in which our +acquaintance originated is, in a high degree, illustrative of the frank +manliness of his character; and as it was begun on my side, some egotism +must be tolerated in the detail which I have to give of the +circumstances that led to it. So far back as the year 1806, on the +occasion of a meeting which took place at Chalk Farm between Mr. Jeffrey +and myself, a good deal of ridicule and raillery, founded on a false +representation of what occurred before the magistrates at Bow Street, +appeared in almost all the public prints. In consequence of this, I was +induced to address a letter to the Editor of one of the Journals, +contradicting the falsehood that had been circulated, and stating +briefly the real circumstances of the case. For some time my letter +seemed to produce the intended effect,--but, unluckily, the original +story was too tempting a theme for humour and sarcasm to be so easily +superseded by mere matter of fact. Accordingly, after a little time, +whenever the subject was publicly alluded to,--more especially by those +who were at all "willing to wound,"--the old falsehood was, for the sake +of its ready sting, revived. + +In the year 1809, on the first appearance of "English Bards and Scotch +Reviewers," I found the author, who was then generally understood to be +Lord Byron, not only jesting on the subject--and with sufficiently +provoking pleasantry and cleverness--in his verse, but giving also, in +the more responsible form of a note, an outline of the transaction in +accordance with the original misreport, and, therefore, in direct +contradiction to my published statement. Still, as the Satire was +anonymous and unacknowledged, I did not feel that I was, in any way, +called upon to notice it, and therefore dismissed the matter entirely +from my mind. In the summer of the same year appeared the Second Edition +of the work, with Lord Byron's name prefixed to it. I was, at the time, +in Ireland, and but little in the way of literary society; and it so +happened that some months passed away before the appearance of this new +edition was known to me. Immediately on being apprised of it,--the +offence now assuming a different form,--I addressed the following letter +to Lord Byron, and, transmitting it to a friend in London, requested +that he would have it delivered into his Lordship's hands.[31] + + "Dublin, January 1. 1810. + + "My Lord, + + "Having just seen the name of 'Lord Byron' prefixed to a work + entitled 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' in which, as it + appears to me, _the lie is given_ to a public statement of mine, + respecting an affair with Mr. Jeffrey some years since, I beg you + will have the goodness to inform me whether I may consider your + Lordship as the author of this publication. + + "I shall not, I fear, be able to return to London for a week or + two; but, in the mean time, I trust your Lordship will not deny me + the satisfaction of knowing whether you avow the insult contained + in the passages alluded to. + + "It is needless to suggest to your Lordship the propriety of + keeping our correspondence secret. + + "I have the honour to be + + "Your Lordship's very humble servant, + + "THOMAS MOORE. + + "22. Molesworth Street." + +[Footnote 31: This is the only entire letter of my own that, in the +course of this work, I mean to obtrude upon my readers. Being short, and +in terms more explanatory of the feeling on which I acted than any +others that could be substituted, it might be suffered, I thought, to +form the single exception to my general rule. In all other cases, I +shall merely give such extracts from my own letters as may be necessary +to elucidate those of my correspondent.] + + * * * * * + +In the course of a week, the friend to whom I intrusted this letter +wrote to inform me that Lord Byron had, as he learned on enquiring of +his publisher, gone abroad immediately on the publication of his Second +Edition; but that my letter had been placed in the hands of a gentleman, +named Hodgson, who had undertaken to forward it carefully to his +Lordship. Though the latter step was not exactly what I could have +wished, I thought it as well, on the whole, to let my letter take its +chance, and again postponed all consideration of the matter. + +During the interval of a year and a half which elapsed before Lord +Byron's return, I had taken upon myself obligations, both as husband and +father, which make most men,--and especially those who have nothing to +bequeath,--less willing to expose themselves unnecessarily to danger. +On hearing, therefore, of the arrival of the noble traveller from +Greece, though still thinking it due to myself to follow up my first +request of an explanation, I resolved, in prosecuting that object, to +adopt such a tone of conciliation as should not only prove my sincere +desire of a pacific result, but show the entire freedom from any angry +or resentful feeling with which I took the step. The death of Mrs. +Byron, for some time, delayed my purpose. But as soon after that event +as was consistent with decorum, I addressed a letter to Lord Byron, in +which, referring to my former communication, and expressing some doubts +as to its having ever reached him, I re-stated, in pretty nearly the +same words, the nature of the insult, which, as it appeared to me, the +passage in his note was calculated to convey. "It is now useless," I +continued, "to speak of the steps with which it was my intention to +follow up that letter. The time which has elapsed since then, though it +has done away neither the injury nor the feeling of it, has, in many +respects, materially altered my situation; and the only object which I +have now in writing to your Lordship is to preserve some consistency +with that former letter, and to prove to you that the injured feeling +still exists, however circumstances may compel me to be deaf to its +dictates, at present. When I say 'injured feeling,' let me assure your +Lordship, that there is not a single vindictive sentiment in my mind +towards you. I mean but to express that uneasiness, under (what I +consider to be) a charge of falsehood, which must haunt a man of any +feeling to his grave, unless the insult be retracted or atoned for; and +which, if I did _not_ feel, I should, indeed, deserve far worse than +your Lordship's satire could inflict upon me." In conclusion I added, +that so far from being influenced by any angry or resentful feeling +towards him, it would give me sincere pleasure if, by any satisfactory +explanation, he would enable me to seek the honour of being henceforward +ranked among his acquaintance.[32] + +To this letter, Lord Byron returned the following answer:-- + +LETTER 73. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Cambridge, October 27. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "Your letter followed me from Notts, to this place, which will + account for the delay of my reply. Your former letter I never had + the honour to receive;--be assured, in whatever part of the world + it had found me, I should have deemed it my duty to return and + answer it in person. + + "The advertisement you mention, I know nothing of.--At the time of + your meeting with Mr. Jeffrey, I had recently entered College, and + remember to have heard and read a number of squibs on the occasion; + and from the recollection of these I derived all my knowledge on + the subject, without the slightest idea of 'giving the lie' to an + address which I never beheld. When I put my name to the production, + which has occasioned this correspondence, I became responsible to + all whom it might concern,--to explain where it requires + explanation, and, where insufficiently, or too sufficiently + explicit, at all events to satisfy. My situation leaves me no + choice; it rests with the injured and the angry to obtain + reparation in their own way. + + "With regard to the passage in question, _you_ were certainly _not_ + the person towards whom I felt personally hostile. On the contrary, + my whole thoughts were engrossed by one, whom I had reason to + consider as my worst literary enemy, nor could I foresee that his + former antagonist was about to become his champion. You do not + specify what you would wish to have done: I can neither retract nor + apologise for a charge of falsehood which I never advanced. + + "In the beginning of the week, I shall be at No. 8. St. James's + Street.--Neither the letter nor the friend to whom you stated your + intention ever made their appearance. + + "Your friend, Mr. Rogers, or any other gentleman delegated by you, + will find me most ready to adopt any conciliatory proposition which + shall not compromise my own honour,--or, failing in that, to make + the atonement you deem it necessary to require. + + "I have the honour to be, Sir, + + "Your most obedient, humble servant, + + "BYRON." + +[Footnote 32: Finding two different draughts of this letter among my +papers, I cannot be quite certain as to some of the terms employed; but +have little doubt that they are here given correctly.] + + * * * * * + +In my reply to this, I commenced by saying that his Lordship's letter +was, upon the whole, as satisfactory as I could expect. It contained all +that, in the strict _diplomatique_ of explanation, could be required, +namely,--that he had never seen the statement which I supposed him +wilfully to have contradicted,--that he had no intention of bringing +against me any charge of falsehood, and that the objectionable passage +of his work was not levelled personally at _me_. This, I added, was all +the explanation I had a right to expect, and I was, of course, satisfied +with it. + +I then entered into some detail relative to the transmission of my first +letter from Dublin,--giving, as my reason for descending to these minute +particulars, that I did not, I must confess, feel quite easy under the +manner in which his Lordship had noticed the miscarriage of that first +application to him. + +My reply concluded thus:--"As your Lordship does not show any wish to +proceed beyond the rigid formulary of explanation, it is not for me to +make any further advances. We Irishmen, in businesses of this kind, +seldom know any medium between decided hostility and decided +friendship;--but, as any approaches towards the latter alternative must +now depend entirely on your Lordship, I have only to repeat that I am +satisfied with your letter, and that I have the honour to be," &c. &c. + +On the following day I received the annexed rejoinder from Lord Byron:-- + +LETTER 74. TO MR. MOORE. + + "8. St. James's Street, October 29. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "Soon after my return to England, my friend, Mr. Hodgson, apprised + me that a letter for me was in his possession; but a domestic event + hurrying me from London, immediately after, the letter (which may + most probably be your own) is still _unopened in his keeping_. If, + on examination of the address, the similarity of the handwriting + should lead to such a conclusion, it shall be opened in your + presence, for the satisfaction of all parties. Mr. H. is at present + out of town;--on Friday I shall see him, and request him to forward + it to my address. + + "With regard to the latter part of both your letters, until the + principal point was discussed between us, I felt myself at a loss + in what manner to reply. Was I to anticipate friendship from one, + who conceived me to have charged him with falsehood? Were not + _advances_, under such circumstances, to be misconstrued,--not, + perhaps, by the person to whom they were addressed, but by others? + In _my_ case, such a step was impracticable. If you, who conceived + yourself to be the offended person, are satisfied that you had no + cause for offence, it will not be difficult to convince me of it. + My situation, as I have before stated, leaves me no choice. I + should have felt proud of your acquaintance, had it commenced under + other circumstances; but it must rest with you to determine how far + it may proceed after so _auspicious_ a beginning. I have the honour + to be," &c. + + * * * * * + +Somewhat piqued, I own, at the manner in which my efforts towards a more +friendly understanding,--ill-timed as I confess them to have been,--were +received, I hastened to close our correspondence by a short note, +saying, that his Lordship had made me feel the imprudence I was guilty +of, in wandering from the point immediately in discussion between us; +and I should now, therefore, only add, that if, in my last letter, I had +correctly stated the substance of his explanation, our correspondence +might, from this moment, cease for ever, as with that explanation I +declared myself satisfied. + +This brief note drew immediately from Lord Byron the following frank and +open-hearted reply:-- + +LETTER 75. TO MR. MOORE. + + "8. St. James's Street, October 30. 1811. + + "Sir, + + "You must excuse my troubling you once more upon this very + unpleasant subject. It would be a satisfaction to me, and I should + think, to yourself, that the unopened letter in Mr. Hodgson's + possession (supposing it to prove your own) should be returned 'in + statu quo' to the writer; particularly as you expressed yourself + 'not quite easy under the manner in which I had dwelt on its + miscarriage.' + + "A few words more, and I shall not trouble you further. I felt, and + still feel, very much flattered by those parts of your + correspondence, which held out the prospect of our becoming + acquainted. If I did not meet them in the first instance as perhaps + I ought, let the situation I was placed in be my defence. You have + _now_ declared yourself _satisfied_, and on that point we are no + longer at issue. If, therefore, you still retain any wish to do me + the honour you hinted at, I shall be most happy to meet you, when, + where, and how you please, and I presume you will not attribute my + saying thus much to any unworthy motive. I have the honour to + remain," &c. + + * * * * * + +On receiving this letter, I went instantly to my friend, Mr. Rogers, who +was, at that time, on a visit at Holland House, and, for the first time, +informed him of the correspondence in which I had been engaged. With his +usual readiness to oblige and serve, he proposed that the meeting +between Lord Byron and myself should take place at his table, and +requested of me to convey to the noble Lord his wish, that he would do +him the honour of naming some day for that purpose. The following is +Lord Byron's answer to the note which I then wrote:-- + +LETTER 76. TO MR. MOORE. + + "8. St. James's Street, November 1, 1811. + + "Sir, + + "As I should be very sorry to interrupt your Sunday's engagement, + if Monday, or any other day of the ensuing week, would be equally + convenient to yourself and friend, I will then have the honour of + accepting his invitation. Of the professions of esteem with which + Mr. Rogers has honoured me, I cannot but feel proud, though + undeserving. I should be wanting to myself, if insensible to the + praise of such a man; and, should my approaching interview with him + and his friend lead to any degree of intimacy with both or either, + I shall regard our past correspondence as one of the happiest + events of my life. I have the honour to be, + + "Your very sincere and obedient servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It can hardly, I think, be necessary to call the reader's attention to +the good sense, self-possession, and frankness, of these letters of Lord +Byron. I had placed him,--by the somewhat national confusion which I had +made of the boundaries of peace and war, of hostility and +friendship,--in a position which, ignorant as he was of the character of +the person who addressed him, it required all the watchfulness of his +sense of honour to guard from surprise or snare. Hence, the judicious +reserve with which he abstained from noticing my advances towards +acquaintance, till he should have ascertained exactly whether the +explanation which he was willing to give would be such as his +correspondent would be satisfied to receive. The moment he was set at +rest on this point, the frankness of his nature displayed itself; and +the disregard of all further mediation or etiquette with which he at +once professed himself ready to meet me, "when, where, and how" I +pleased, showed that he could be as pliant and confiding _after_ such an +understanding, as he had been judiciously reserved and punctilious +_before_ it. + +Such did I find Lord Byron, on my first experience of him; and such,--so +open and manly-minded,--did I find him to the last. + +It was, at first, intended by Mr. Rogers that his company at dinner +should not extend beyond Lord Byron and myself; but Mr. Thomas Campbell, +having called upon our host that morning, was invited to join the party, +and consented. Such a meeting could not be otherwise than interesting to +us all. It was the first time that Lord Byron was ever seen by any of +his three companions; while he, on his side, for the first time, found +himself in the society of persons, whose names had been associated with +his first literary dreams, and to _two_[33] of whom he looked up with +that tributary admiration which youthful genius is ever ready to pay +its precursors. + +Among the impressions which this meeting left upon me, what I chiefly +remember to have remarked was the nobleness of his air, his beauty, the +gentleness of his voice and manners, and--what was, naturally, not the +least attraction--his marked kindness to myself. Being in mourning for +his mother, the colour, as well of his dress, as of his glossy, curling, +and picturesque hair, gave more effect to the pure, spiritual paleness +of his features, in the expression of which, when he spoke, there was a +perpetual play of lively thought, though melancholy was their habitual +character when in repose. + +As we had none of us been apprised of his peculiarities with respect to +food, the embarrassment of our host was not a little, on discovering +that there was nothing upon the table which his noble guest could eat or +drink. Neither meat, fish, nor wine, would Lord Byron touch; and of +biscuits and soda-water, which he asked for, there had been, unluckily, +no provision. He professed, however, to be equally well pleased with +potatoes and vinegar; and of these meagre materials contrived to make +rather a hearty dinner. + +I shall now resume the series of his correspondence with other friends. + +[Footnote 33: In speaking thus, I beg to disclaim all affected modesty, +Lord Byron had already made the same distinction himself in the opinions +which he expressed of the living poets; and I cannot but be aware that, +for the praises which he afterwards bestowed on my writings, I was, in a +great degree, indebted to his partiality to myself.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 77. TO MR. HARNESS. + + "8. St. James's Street, Dec. 6. 1811. + + "My dear Harness, + + "I write again, but don't suppose I mean to lay such a tax on your + pen and patience as to expect regular replies. When you are + inclined, write; when silent, I shall have the consolation of + knowing that you are much better employed. Yesterday, Bland and I + called on Mr. Miller, who, being then out, will call on Bland[34] + to-day or to-morrow. I shall certainly endeavour to bring them + together.--You are censorious, child; when you are a little older, + you will learn to dislike every body, but abuse nobody. + + "With regard to the person of whom you speak, your own good sense + must direct you. I never pretend to advise, being an implicit + believer in the old proverb. This present frost is detestable. It + is the first I have felt for these three years, though I longed for + one in the oriental summer, when no such thing is to be had, unless + I had gone to the top of Hymettus for it. + + "I thank you most truly for the concluding part of your letter. I + have been of late not much accustomed to kindness from any quarter, + and am not the less pleased to meet with it again from one where I + had known it earliest. I have not changed in all my + ramblings,--Harrow, and, of course, yourself never left me, and the + + "'Dulces reminiscitur Argos' + + attended me to the very spot to which that sentence alludes in the + mind of the fallen Argive--Our intimacy began before we began to + date at all, and it rests with you to continue it till the hour + which must number it and me with the things that _were_. + + "Do read mathematics.--I should think _X plus Y_ at least as + amusing as the Curse of Kehama, and much more intelligible. Master + S.'s poems _are_, in fact, what parallel lines might be--viz. + prolonged _ad infinitum_ without meeting any thing half so absurd + as themselves. + + "What news, what news? Queen Oreaca, + What news of scribblers five? + S----, W----, C----e, L----d, and L----e?-- + All damn'd, though yet alive. + + C----e is lecturing. 'Many an old fool,' said Hannibal to some such + lecturer, 'but such as this, never.' + + "Ever yours, &c." + +[Footnote 34: The Rev. Robert Bland, one of the authors of "Collections +from the Greek Anthology." Lord Byron was, at this time, endeavouring to +secure for Mr. Bland the task of translating Lucien Buonaparte's poem.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 78. TO MR. HARNESS. + + "St. James's Street, Dec. 8. 1811. + + "Behold a most formidable sheet, without gilt or black edging, and + consequently very vulgar and indecorous, particularly to one of + your precision; but this being Sunday, I can procure no better, + and will atone for its length by not filling it. Bland I have not + seen since my last letter; but on Tuesday he dines with me, and + will meet M * * e, the epitome of all that is exquisite in poetical or + personal accomplishments. How Bland has settled with Miller, I know + not. I have very little interest with either, and they must arrange + their concerns according to their own gusto. I have done my + endeavours, _at your request_, to bring them together, and hope + they may agree to their mutual advantage. + + "Coleridge has been lecturing against Campbell. Rogers was present, + and from him I derive the information. We are going to make a party + to hear this Manichean of poesy. Pole is to marry Miss Long, and + will be a very miserable dog for all that. The present ministers + are to continue, and his Majesty _does_ continue in the same state; + so there's folly and madness for you, both in a breath. + + "I never heard but of one man truly fortunate, and he was + Beaumarchais, the author of Figaro, who buried two wives and gained + three law-suits before he was thirty. + + "And now, child, what art thou doing? _Reading, I trust._ I want to + see you take a degree. Remember, this is the most important period + of your life; and don't disappoint your papa and your aunt, and all + your kin--besides myself. Don't you know that all male children are + begotten for the express purpose of being graduates? and that even + I am an A.M., though how I became so, the Public Orator only can + resolve. Besides, you are to be a priest: and to confute Sir + William Drummond's late book about the Bible, (printed, but not + published,) and all other infidels whatever. Now leave Master H.'s + gig, and Master S.'s Sapphics, and become as immortal as Cambridge + can make you. + + "You see, Mio Carissimo, what a pestilent correspondent I am likely + to become; but then you shall be as quiet at Newstead as you + please, and I won't disturb your studies as I do now. When do you + fix the day, that I may take you up according to contract? Hodgson + talks of making a third in our journey; but we can't stow him, + inside at least. Positively you shall go with me as was agreed, and + don't let me have any of your _politesse_ to H. on the occasion. I + shall manage to arrange for both with a little contrivance. I wish + H. was not quite so fat, and we should pack better. You will want + to know what I am doing--chewing tobacco. + + "You see nothing of my allies, Scrope Davies and Matthews[35]--they + don't suit you; and how does it happen that I--who am a pipkin of + the same pottery--continue in your good graces? Good night,--I will + go on in the morning. + + "Dec. 9th. In a morning, I'm always sullen, and to-day is as sombre + as myself. Rain and mist are worse than a sirocco, particularly in + a beef-eating and beer-drinking country. My bookseller, Cawthorne, + has just left me, and tells me, with a most important face, that he + is in treaty for a novel of Madame D'Arblay's, for which 1000 + guineas are asked! He wants me to read the MS. (if he obtains it), + which I shall do with pleasure; but I should be very cautious in + venturing an opinion on her whose Cecilia Dr. Johnson + superintended.[36] If he lends it to me, I shall put it into the + hands of Rogers and M * * e, who are truly men of taste. I have filled + the sheet, and beg your pardon; I will not do it again. I shall, + perhaps, write again, but if not, believe, silent or scribbling, + that I am, my dearest William, ever," &c. + +[Footnote 35: The brother of his late friend, Charles Skinner Matthews.] + +[Footnote 36: Lord Byron is here mistaken. Dr. Johnson never saw Cecilia +till it was in print. A day or two before publication, the young +authoress, as I understand, sent three copies to the three persons who +had the best claim to them,--her father, Mrs. Thrale, and Dr. +Johnson.--_Second edition_.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 79. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "London, Dec. 8. 1811. + + "I sent you a sad Tale of Three Friars the other day, and now take + a dose in another style. I wrote it a day or two ago, on hearing a + song of former days. + + "Away, away, ye notes of woe[37], &c. &c. + + "I have gotten a book by Sir W. Drummond, (printed, but not + published,) entitled Oedipus Judaicus, in which he attempts to + prove the greater part of the Old Testament an allegory, + particularly Genesis and Joshua. He professes himself a theist in + the preface, and handles the literal interpretation very roughly. I + wish you could see it. Mr. W * * has lent it me, and I confess, to + me it is worth fifty Watsons. + + "You and Harness must fix on the time for your visit to Newstead; I + can command mine at your wish, unless any thing particular occurs + in the interim. Bland dines with me on Tuesday to meet Moore. + Coleridge has attacked the 'Pleasures of Hope,' and all other + pleasures whatsoever. Mr. Rogers was present, and heard himself + indirectly _rowed_ by the lecturer. We are going in a party to hear + the new Art of Poetry by this reformed schismatic; and were I one + of these poetical luminaries, or of sufficient consequence to be + noticed by the man of lectures, I should not hear him without an + answer. For you know, 'an' a man will be beaten with brains, he + shall never keep a clean doublet.' C * * will be desperately + annoyed. I never saw a man (and of him I have seen very little) so + sensitive;--what a happy temperament! I am sorry for it; what can + _he_ fear from criticism? I don't know if Bland has seen Miller, + who was to call on him yesterday. + + "To-day is the Sabbath,--a day I never pass pleasantly, but at + Cambridge; and, even there, the organ is a sad remembrancer. Things + are stagnant enough in town,--as long as they don't retrograde, + 'tis all very well. H * * writes and writes and writes, and is an + author. I do nothing but eschew tobacco. I wish parliament were + assembled, that I may hear, and perhaps some day be heard;--but on + this point I am not very sanguine. I have many plans;--sometimes I + think of the East again, and dearly beloved Greece. I am well, but + weakly.--Yesterday Kinnaird told me I looked very ill, and sent me + home happy. + + * * * * * "Is Scrope still interesting and invalid? And how does + Hinde with his cursed chemistry? To Harness I have written, and he + has written, and we have all written, and have nothing now to do + but write again, till death splits up the pen and the scribbler. + + "The Alfred has three hundred and fifty-four candidates for six + vacancies. The cook has run away and left us liable, which makes + our committee very plaintive. Master Brook, our head serving-man, + has the gout, and our new cook is none of the best. I speak from + report,--for what is cookery to a leguminous-eating ascetic? So now + you know as much of the matter as I do. Books and quiet are still + there, and they may dress their dishes in their own way for me. Let + me know your determination as to Newstead, and believe me, + + "Yours ever, [Greek: Mpairon]." + +[Footnote 37: This poem is now printed in Lord Byron's Works.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 80. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "8. St. James's Street, Dec. 12. 1811. + + "Why, Hodgson! I fear you have left off wine and me at the same + time,--I have written and written and written, and no answer! My + dear Sir Edgar, water disagrees with you,--drink sack and write. + Bland did not come to his appointment, being unwell, but M * * e + supplied all other vacancies most delectably. I have hopes of his + joining us at Newstead. I am sure you would like him more and more + as he developes,--at least I do. + + "How Miller and Bland go on, I don't know. Cawthorne talks of being + in treaty for a novel of Me. D'Arblay's, and if he obtains it (at + 1500 gs.!!) wishes me to see the MS. This I should read with + pleasure,--not that I should ever dare to venture a criticism on + her whose writings Dr. Johnson once revised, but for the pleasure + of the thing. If my worthy publisher wanted a sound opinion, I + should send the MS. to Rogers and M * * e, as men most alive to true + taste. I have had frequent letters from Wm. Harness, and _you_ are + silent; certes, you are not a schoolboy. However, I have the + consolation of knowing that you are better employed, viz. + reviewing. You don't deserve that I should add another syllable, + and I won't. Yours, &c. + + "P.S.--I only wait for your answer to fix our meeting." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 81. TO MR. HARNESS. + + "8. St. James's Street, Dec. 15. 1811. + + "I wrote you an answer to your last, which, on reflection, pleases + me as little as it probably has pleased yourself. I will not wait + for your rejoinder; but proceed to tell you, that I had just then + been greeted with an epistle of * *'s, full of his petty + grievances, and this at the moment when (from circumstances it is + not necessary to enter upon) I was bearing up against recollections + to which _his_ imaginary sufferings are as a scratch to a cancer. + These things combined, put me out of humour with him and all + mankind. The latter part of my life has been a perpetual struggle + against affections which embittered the earliest portion; and + though I flatter myself I have in a great measure conquered them, + yet there are moments (and this was one) when I am as foolish as + formerly. I never said so much before, nor had I said this now, if + I did not suspect myself of having been rather savage in my letter, + and wish to inform you thus much of the cause. You know I am not + one of your dolorous gentlemen: so now let us laugh again. + + "Yesterday I went with Moore to Sydenham to visit Campbell.[38] He + was not visible, so we jogged homeward, merrily enough. To-morrow I + dine with Rogers, and am to hear Coleridge, who is a kind of rage + at present. Last night I saw Kemble in Coriolanus;--he _was + glorious_, and exerted himself wonderfully. By good luck I got an + excellent place in the best part of the house, which was more than + overflowing. Clare and Delawarre, who were there on the same + speculation, were less fortunate. I saw them by accident,--we were + not together. I wished for you, to gratify your love of Shakspeare + and of fine acting to its fullest extent. Last week I saw an + exhibition of a different kind in a Mr. Coates, at the Haymarket, + who performed Lothario in a _damned_ and damnable manner. + + "I told you the fate of B. and H. in my last. So much for these + sentimentalists, who console themselves in their stews for the + loss--the never to be recovered loss--the despair of the refined + attachment of a couple of drabs! You censure _my_ life, + Harness,--when I compare myself with these men, my elders and my + betters, I really begin to conceive myself a monument of + prudence--a walking statue--without feeling or failing; and yet the + world in general hath given me a proud pre-eminence over them in + profligacy. Yet I like the men, and, God knows, ought not to + condemn their aberrations. But I own I feel provoked when they + dignify all this by the name of _love_--romantic attachments for + things marketable for a dollar! + + "Dec. 16th.--I have just received your letter;--I feel your + kindness very deeply. The foregoing part of my letter, written + yesterday, will, I hope, account for the tone of the former, though + it cannot excuse it. I do _like_ to hear from you--more than + _like_. Next to seeing you, I have no greater satisfaction. But you + have other duties, and greater pleasures, and I should regret to + take a moment from either. H * * was to call to-day, but I have not + seen him. The circumstances you mention at the close of your letter + is another proof in favour of my opinion of mankind. Such you will + always find them--selfish and distrustful. I except none. The + cause of this is the state of society. In the world, every one is + to stir for himself--it is useless, perhaps selfish, to expect any + thing from his neighbour. But I do not think we are born of this + disposition; for you find _friendship_ as a schoolboy, and _love_ + enough before twenty. + + "I went to see * *; he keeps me in town, where I don't wish to be + at present. He is a good man, but totally without conduct. And now, + my dearest William, I must wish you good morrow, and remain ever, + most sincerely and affectionately yours," &c. + +[Footnote 38: On this occasion, another of the noble poet's +peculiarities was, somewhat startlingly, introduced to my notice. When +we were on the point of setting out from his lodgings in St. James's +Street, it being then about mid-day, he said to the servant, who was +shutting the door of the vis-a-vis, "Have you put in the pistols?" and +was answered in the affirmative. It was difficult,--more especially, +taking into account the circumstances under which we had just become +acquainted,--to keep from smiling at this singular noon-day precaution.] + + * * * * * + +From the time of our first meeting, there seldom elapsed a day that Lord +Byron and I did not see each other; and our acquaintance ripened into +intimacy and friendship with a rapidity of which I have seldom known an +example. I was, indeed, lucky in all the circumstances that attended my +first introduction to him. In a generous nature like his, the pleasure +of repairing an injustice would naturally give a zest to any partiality +I might have inspired in his mind; while the manner in which I had +sought this reparation, free as it was from resentment or defiance, left +nothing painful to remember in the transaction between us,--no +compromise or concession that could wound self-love, or take away from +the grace of that frank friendship to which he at once, so cordially and +so unhesitatingly, admitted me. I was also not a little fortunate in +forming my acquaintance with him, before his success had yet reached its +meridian burst,--before the triumphs that were in store for him had +brought the world all in homage at his feet, and, among the splendid +crowds that courted his society, even claims less humble than mine had +but a feeble chance of fixing his regard. As it was, the new scene of +life that opened upon him with his success, instead of detaching us from +each other, only multiplied our opportunities of meeting, and increased +our intimacy. In that society where his birth entitled him to move, +circumstances had already placed me, notwithstanding mine; and when, +after the appearance of "Childe Harold," he began to mingle with the +world, the same persons, who had long been _my_ intimates and friends, +became his; our visits were mostly to the same places, and, in the gay +and giddy round of a London spring, we were generally (as in one of his +own letters he expresses it) "embarked in the same Ship of Fools +together." + +But, at the time when we first met, his position in the world was most +solitary. Even those coffee-house companions who, before his departure +from England, had served him as a sort of substitute for more worthy +society, were either relinquished or had dispersed; and, with the +exception of three or four associates of his college days (to whom he +appeared strongly attached), Mr. Dallas and his solicitor seemed to be +the only persons whom, even in their very questionable degree, he could +boast of as friends. Though too proud to complain of this loneliness, it +was evident that he felt it; and that the state of cheerless isolation, +"unguided and unfriended," to which, on entering into manhood, he had +found himself abandoned, was one of the chief sources of that resentful +disdain of mankind, which even their subsequent worship of him came too +late to remove. The effect, indeed, which his subsequent commerce with +society had, for the short period it lasted, in softening and +exhilarating his temper, showed how fit a soil his heart would have been +for the growth of all the kindlier feelings, had but a portion of this +sunshine of the world's smiles shone on him earlier. + +At the same time, in all such speculations and conjectures as to what +_might_ have been, under more favourable circumstances, his character, +it is invariably to be borne in mind, that his very defects were among +the elements of his greatness, and that it was out of the struggle +between the good and evil principles of his nature that his mighty +genius drew its strength. A more genial and fostering introduction into +life, while it would doubtless have softened and disciplined his mind, +might have impaired its vigour; and the same influences that would have +diffused smoothness and happiness over his life might have been fatal to +its glory. In a short poem of his[39], which appears to have been +produced at Athens, (as I find it written on a leaf of the original MS. +of Childe Harold, and dated "Athens, 1811,") there are two lines which, +though hardly intelligible as connected with the rest of the poem, may, +taken separately, be interpreted as implying a sort of prophetic +consciousness that it was out of the wreck and ruin of all his hopes the +immortality of his name was to arise. + + "Dear object of defeated care, + Though now of love and thee bereft, + To reconcile me with despair, + Thine image and my tears are left. + 'Tis said with sorrow Time can cope, + But this, I feel, can ne'er be true; + For, _by the death-blow of my hope, + My Memory immortal grew!_" + +We frequently, during the first months of our acquaintance, dined +together alone; and as we had no club, in common, to resort to,--the +Alfred being the only one to which he, at that period, belonged, and I +being then a member of none but Watier's,--our dinners used to be either +at the St. Alban's, or at his old haunt, Stevens's. Though at times he +would drink freely enough of claret, he still adhered to his system of +abstinence in food. He appeared, indeed, to have conceived a notion that +animal food has some peculiar influence on the character; and I +remember, one day, as I sat opposite to him, employed, I suppose, rather +earnestly over a beef-steak, after watching me for a few seconds, he +said, in a grave tone of enquiry,--"Moore, don't you find eating +beef-steak makes you ferocious?" + +Understanding me to have expressed a wish to become a member of the +Alfred, he very good-naturedly lost no time in proposing me as a +candidate; but as the resolution which I had then nearly formed of +betaking myself to a country life rendered an additional club in London +superfluous, I wrote to beg that he would, for the present, at least, +withdraw my name: and his answer, though containing little, being the +first familiar note he ever honoured me with, I may be excused for +feeling a peculiar pleasure in inserting it. + +[Footnote 39: "Written beneath the picture of ----"] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 82. TO MR. MOORE. + + "December 11. 1811. + + "My dear Moore, + + "If you please, we will drop our former monosyllables, and adhere + to the appellations sanctioned by our godfathers and godmothers. If + you make it a point, I will withdraw your name; at the same time + there is no occasion, as I have this day postponed your election + 'sine die,' till it shall suit your wishes to be amongst us. I do + not say this from any awkwardness the erasure of your proposal + would occasion to _me_, but simply such is the state of the case; + and, indeed, the longer your name is up, the stronger will become + the probability of success, and your voters more numerous. Of + course you will decide--your wish shall be my law. If my zeal has + already outrun discretion, pardon me, and attribute my + officiousness to an excusable motive. + + "I wish you would go down with me to Newstead. Hodgson will be + there, and a young friend, named Harness, the earliest and dearest + I ever had from the third form at Harrow to this hour. I can + promise you good wine, and, if you like shooting, a manor of 4000 + acres, fires, books, your own free will, and my own very + indifferent company. 'Balnea, vina * *.' + + "Hodgson will plague you, I fear, with verse;--for my own part I + will conclude, with Martial, 'nil recitabo tibi;' and surely the + last inducement is not the least. Ponder on my proposition, and + believe me, my dear Moore, yours ever, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +Among those acts of generosity and friendship by which every year of +Lord Byron's life was signalised, there is none, perhaps, that, for its +own peculiar seasonableness and delicacy, as well as for the perfect +worthiness of the person who was the object of it, deserves more +honourable mention than that which I am now about to record, and which +took place nearly at the period of which I am speaking. The friend, +whose good fortune it was to inspire the feeling thus testified, was Mr. +Hodgson, the gentleman to whom so many of the preceding letters are +addressed; and as it would be unjust to rob him of the grace and honour +of being, himself, the testimony of obligations so signal, I shall here +lay before my readers an extract from the letter with which, in +reference to a passage in one of his noble friend's Journals, he has +favoured me. + +"I feel it incumbent upon me to explain the circumstances to which this +passage alludes, however private their nature. They are, indeed, +calculated to do honour to the memory of my lamented friend. Having +become involved, unfortunately, in difficulties and embarrassments, I +received from Lord Byron (besides former pecuniary obligations) +assistance, at the time in question, to the amount of a thousand pounds. +Aid of such magnitude was equally unsolicited and unexpected on my part; +but it was a long-cherished, though secret, purpose of my friend to +afford that aid; and he only waited for the period when he thought it +would be of most service. His own words were, on the occasion of +conferring this overwhelming favour, '_I always intended to do it_.'" + +During all this time, and through the months of January and February, +his poem of "Childe Harold" was in its progress through the press; and +to the changes and additions which he made in the course of printing, +some of the most beautiful passages of the work owe their existence. On +comparing, indeed, his rough draft of the two Cantos with the finished +form in which they exist at present, we are made sensible of the power +which the man of genius possesses, not only of surpassing others, but of +improving on himself. Originally, the "little Page" and "Yeoman" of the +Childe were introduced to the reader's notice in the following tame +stanzas, by expanding the substance of which into their present light, +lyric shape, it is almost needless to remark how much the poet has +gained in variety and dramatic effect:-- + + "And of his train there was a henchman page, + A peasant boy, who serv'd his master well; + And often would his pranksome prate engage + Childe Burun's[40] ear, when his proud heart did swell + With sullen thoughts that he disdain'd to tell. + Then would he smile on him, and Alwin[41] smiled, + When aught that from his young lips archly fell, + The gloomy film from Harold's eye beguiled.... + + "Him and one yeoman only did he take + To travel eastward to a far countrie; + And, though the boy was grieved to leave the lake, + On whose fair banks he grew from infancy, + Eftsoons his little heart beat merrily, + With hope of foreign nations to behold, + And many things right marvellous to see, + Of which our vaunting travellers oft have told, + From Mandeville....[42]" + +In place of that mournful song "To Ines," in the first Canto, which +contains some of the dreariest touches of sadness that even his pen ever +let fall, he had, in the original construction of the poem, been so +little fastidious as to content himself with such ordinary sing-song as +the following:-- + + "Oh never tell again to me + Of Northern climes and British ladies, + It has not been your lot to see, + Like me, the lovely girl of Cadiz, + Although her eye be not of blue, + Nor fair her locks, like English lasses," &c. &c. + + +There were also, originally, several stanzas full of direct personality, +and some that degenerated into a style still more familiar and ludicrous +than that of the description of a London Sunday, which still disfigures +the poem. In thus mixing up the light with the solemn, it was the +intention of the poet to imitate Ariosto. But it is far easier to rise, +with grace, from the level of a strain generally familiar, into an +occasional short burst of pathos or splendour, than to interrupt thus a +prolonged tone of solemnity by any descent into the ludicrous or +burlesque.[43] In the former case, the transition may have the effect of +softening or elevating, while, in the latter, it almost invariably +shocks;--for the same reason, perhaps, that a trait of pathos or high +feeling, in comedy, has a peculiar charm; while the intrusion of comic +scenes into tragedy, however sanctioned among us by habit and authority, +rarely fails to offend. The noble poet was, himself, convinced of the +failure of the experiment, and in none of the succeeding Cantos of +Childe Harold repeated it. + +Of the satiric parts, some verses on the well-known traveller, Sir John +Carr, may supply us with, at least, a harmless specimen:-- + + "Ye, who would more of Spain and Spaniards know, + Sights, saints, antiques, arts, anecdotes, and war, + Go, hie ye hence to Paternoster Row,-- + Are they not written in the boke of Carr? + Green Erin's Knight, and Europe's wandering star. + Then listen, readers, to the Man of Ink, + Hear what he did, and sought, and wrote afar: + All these are coop'd within one Quarto's brink, + This borrow, steal (don't buy), and tell us what you think." + +Among those passages which, in the course of revisal, he introduced, +like pieces of "rich inlay," into the poem, was that fine stanza-- + + "Yet if, as holiest men have deem'd, there be + A land of souls beyond that sable shore," &c. + +through which lines, though, it must be confessed, a tone of scepticism +breathes, (as well as in those tender verses-- + + "Yes,--I will dream that we may meet again,") + +it is a scepticism whose sadness calls far more for pity than blame; +there being discoverable, even through its very doubts, an innate warmth +of piety, which they had been able to obscure, but not to chill. To use +the words of the poet himself, in a note which it was once his intention +to affix to these stanzas, "Let it be remembered that the spirit they +breathe is desponding, not sneering, scepticism,"--a distinction never +to be lost sight of; as, however hopeless may be the conversion of the +scoffing infidel, he who feels pain in doubting has still alive within +him the seeds of belief. + +At the same time with Childe Harold, he had three other works in the +press,--his "Hints from Horace," "The Curse of Minerva," and a fifth +edition of "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." The note upon the +latter poem, which had been the lucky origin of our acquaintance, was +withdrawn in this edition, and a few words of explanation, which he had +the kindness to submit to my perusal, substituted in its place. + +In the month of January, the whole of the two Cantos being printed off, +some of the poet's friends, and, among others, Mr. Rogers and myself, +were so far favoured as to be indulged with a perusal of the sheets. In +adverting to this period in his "Memoranda," Lord Byron, I remember, +mentioned,--as one of the ill omens which preceded the publication of +the poem,--that some of the literary friends to whom it was shown +expressed doubts of its success, and that one among them had told him +"it was too good for the age." Whoever may have pronounced this +opinion,--and I have some suspicion that I am myself the guilty +person,--the age has, it must be owned, most triumphantly refuted the +calumny upon its taste which the remark implied. + +It was in the hands of Mr. Rogers I first saw the sheets of the poem, +and glanced hastily over a few of the stanzas which he pointed out to me +as beautiful. Having occasion, the same morning, to write a note to Lord +Byron, I expressed strongly the admiration which this foretaste of his +work had excited in me; and the following is--as far as relates to +literary matters--the answer I received from him. + +[Footnote 40: If there could be any doubt as to his intention of +delineating himself in his hero, this adoption of the old Norman name of +his family, which he seems to have at first contemplated, would be +sufficient to remove it.] + +[Footnote 41: In the MS. the names "Robin" and "Rupert" had been +successively inserted here and scratched out again.] + +[Footnote 42: Here the manuscript is illegible.] + +[Footnote 43: Among the acknowledged blemishes of Milton's great poem, +is his abrupt transition, in this manner, into an imitation of Ariosto's +style, in the "Paradise of Fools."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 83. TO MR. MOORE. + + "January 29. 1812. + + "My dear Moore, + + "I wish very much I could have seen you; I am in a state of + ludicrous tribulation. * * * + + "Why do you say that I dislike your poesy? I have expressed no such + opinion, either in _print_ or elsewhere. In scribbling myself, it + was necessary for me to find fault, and I fixed upon the trite + charge of immorality, because I could discover no other, and was so + perfectly qualified in the innocence of my heart, to 'pluck that + mote from my neighbour's eye.' + + "I feel very, very much obliged by your approbation; but, at _this + moment_, praise, even _your_ praise, passes by me like 'the idle + wind.' I meant and mean to send you a copy the moment of + publication; but now I can think of nothing but damned, + deceitful,--delightful woman, as Mr. Liston says in the Knight of + Snowdon. Believe me, my dear Moore, + + "Ever yours, most affectionately, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +The passages here omitted contain rather _too_ amusing an account of a +disturbance that had just occurred in the establishment at Newstead, in +consequence of the detected misconduct of one of the maid-servants, who +had been supposed to stand rather too high in the favour of her master, +and, by the airs of authority which she thereupon assumed, had disposed +all the rest of the household to regard her with no very charitable +eyes. The chief actors in the strife were this sultana and young +Rushton; and the first point in dispute that came to Lord Byron's +knowledge (though circumstances, far from creditable to the damsel, +afterwards transpired) was, whether Rushton was bound to carry letters +to "the Hut" at the bidding of this female. To an episode of such a +nature I should not have thought of alluding, were it not for the two +rather curious letters that follow, which show how gravely and coolly +the young lord could arbitrate on such an occasion, and with what +considerate leaning towards the servant whose fidelity he had proved, in +preference to any new liking or fancy by which it might be suspected he +was actuated towards the other. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 84. TO ROBERT RUSHTON. + + "8. St. James's Street, Jan. 21. 1812. + + "Though I have no objection to your refusal to carry _letters_ to + Mealey's, you will take care that the letters are taken by _Spero_ + at the proper time. I have also to observe, that Susan is to be + treated with civility, and not _insulted_ by any person over whom + I have the smallest control, or, indeed, by any one whatever, while + I have the power to protect her. I am truly sorry to have any + subject of complaint against _you_; I have too good an opinion of + you to think I shall have occasion to repeat it, after the care I + have taken of you, and my favourable intentions in your behalf. I + see no occasion for any communication whatever between _you_ and + the _women_, and wish you to occupy yourself in preparing for the + situation in which you will be placed. If a common sense of decency + cannot prevent you from conducting yourself towards them with + rudeness, I should at least hope that your _own interest_, and + regard for a master who has _never_ treated you with unkindness, + will have some weight. Yours, &c. + + "BYRON. + + "P.S.--I wish you to attend to your arithmetic, to occupy yourself + in surveying, measuring, and making yourself acquainted with every + particular relative to the _land_ of Newstead, and you will _write_ + to me _one letter every week_, that I may know how you go on." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 85. TO ROBERT RUSHTON. + + "8. St. James's Street, January 25. 1812. + + "Your refusal to carry the letter was not a subject of + remonstrance; it was not a part of your business; but the language + you used to the girl was (as _she_ stated it) highly improper. + + "You say that you also have something to complain of; then state it + to me immediately; it would be very unfair, and very contrary to my + disposition, not to hear both sides of the question. + + "If any thing has passed between you _before_ or since my last + visit to Newstead, do not be afraid to mention it. I am sure _you_ + would not deceive me, though _she_ would. Whatever it is, _you_ + shall be forgiven. I have not been without some suspicions on the + subject, and am certain that, at your time of life, the blame could + not attach to you. You will not _consult_ any one as to your + answer, but write to me immediately. I shall be more ready to hear + what you have to advance, as I do not remember ever to have heard a + word from you before _against_ any human being, which convinces me + you would not maliciously assert an untruth. There is not any one + who can do the least injury to you while you conduct yourself + properly. I shall expect your answer immediately. Yours, &c. + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It was after writing these letters that he came to the knowledge of some +improper levities on the part of the girl, in consequence of which he +dismissed her and another female servant from Newstead; and how strongly +he allowed this discovery to affect his mind, will be seen in a +subsequent letter to Mr. Hodgson. + +LETTER 86. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "8. St. James's Street, February 16. 1812. + + "Dear Hodgson, + + "I send you a proof. Last week I was very ill and confined to bed + with stone in the kidney, but I am now quite recovered. If the + stone had got into my heart instead of my kidneys, it would have + been all the better. The women are gone to their relatives, after + many attempts to explain what was already too clear. However, I + have quite recovered _that_ also, and only wonder at my folly in + excepting my own strumpets from the general corruption,--albeit a + two months' weakness is better than ten years. I have one request + to make, which is, never mention a woman again in any letter to me, + or even allude to the existence of the sex. I won't even read a + word of the feminine gender;--it must all be 'propria quae maribus.' + + "In the spring of 1813 I shall leave England for ever. Every thing + in my affairs tends to this, and my inclinations and health do not + discourage it. Neither my habits nor constitution are improved by + your customs or your climate. I shall find employment in making + myself a good Oriental scholar. I shall retain a mansion in one of + the fairest islands, and retrace, at intervals, the most + interesting portions of the East. In the mean time, I am adjusting + my concerns, which will (when arranged) leave me with wealth + sufficient even for home, but enough for a principality in Turkey. + At present they are involved, but I hope, by taking some necessary + but unpleasant steps, to clear every thing. Hobhouse is expected + daily in London; we shall be very glad to see him; and, perhaps, + you will come up and 'drink deep ere he depart,' if not, 'Mahomet + must go to the mountain;'--but Cambridge will bring sad + recollections to him, and worse to me, though for very different + reasons. I believe the only human being that ever loved me in truth + and entirely was of, or belonging to, Cambridge, and, in that, no + change can now take place. There is one consolation in death--where + he sets his seal, the impression can neither be melted nor broken, + but endureth for ever. + + "Yours always, B." + + * * * * * + +Among those lesser memorials of his good nature and mindfulness, which, +while they are precious to those who possess them, are not unworthy of +admiration from others, may be reckoned such letters as the following, +to a youth at Eton, recommending another, who was about to be entered at +that school, to his care. + +LETTER 87. TO MASTER JOHN COWELL. + + "8. St. James's Street, February 12. 1812. + + "My dear John, + + "You have probably long ago forgotten the writer of these lines, + who would, perhaps, be unable to recognise _yourself_, from the + difference which must naturally have taken place in your stature + and appearance since he saw you last. I have been rambling through + Portugal, Spain, Greece, &c. &c. for some years, and have found so + many changes on my return, that it would be very unfair not to + expect that you should have had your share of alteration and + improvement with the rest. I write to request a favour of you: a + little boy of eleven years, the son of Mr. * *, my particular + friend, is about to become an Etonian, and I should esteem any act + of protection or kindness to him as an obligation to myself; let me + beg of you then to take some little notice of him at first, till he + is able to shift for himself. + + "I was happy to hear a very favourable account of you from a + schoolfellow a few weeks ago, and should be glad to learn that your + family are as well as I wish them to be. I presume you are in the + upper school;--as an _Etonian_, you will look down upon a _Harrow_ + man; but I never, even in my boyish days, disputed your + superiority, which I once experienced in a cricket match, where I + had the honour of making one of eleven, who were beaten to their + hearts' content by your college in _one innings_. + + "Believe me to be, with great truth," &c. &c. + + * * * * * + +On the 27th of February, a day or two before the appearance of Childe +Harold, he made the first trial of his eloquence in the House of Lords; +and it was on this occasion he had the good fortune to become acquainted +with Lord Holland,--an acquaintance no less honourable than gratifying +to both, as having originated in feelings the most generous, perhaps, +of our nature, a ready forgiveness of injuries, on the one side, and a +frank and unqualified atonement for them, on the other. The subject of +debate was the Nottingham Frame-breaking Bill, and, Lord Byron having +mentioned to Mr. Rogers his intention to take a part in the discussion, +a communication was, by the intervention of that gentleman, opened +between the noble poet and Lord Holland, who, with his usual courtesy, +professed himself ready to afford all the information and advice in his +power. The following letters, however, will best explain their first +advances towards acquaintance. + +LETTER 88. TO MR. ROGERS. + + "February 4. 1812. + + "My dear Sir, + + "With my best acknowledgments to Lord Holland, I have to offer my + perfect concurrence in the propriety of the question previously to + be put to ministers. If their answer is in the negative, I shall, + with his Lordship's approbation, give notice of a motion for a + Committee of Enquiry. I would also gladly avail myself of his most + able advice, and any information or documents with which he might + be pleased to intrust me, to bear me out in the statement of facts + it may be necessary to submit to the House. + + "From all that fell under my own observation during my Christmas + visit to Newstead, I feel convinced that, if _conciliatory_ + measures are not very soon adopted, the most unhappy consequences + may be apprehended. Nightly outrage and daily depredation are + already at their height, and not only the masters of frames, who + are obnoxious on account of their occupation, but persons in no + degree connected with the malecontents or their oppressors, are + liable to insult and pillage. + + "I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken on my + account, and beg you to believe me ever your obliged and sincere," + &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 89. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "8. St. James's Street, February 25. 1812. + + "My Lord, + + "With my best thanks, I have the honour to return the Notts, letter + to your Lordship. I have read it with attention, but do not think I + shall venture to avail myself of its contents, as my view of the + question differs in some measure from Mr. Coldham's. I hope I do + not wrong him, but _his_ objections to the bill appear to me to be + founded on certain apprehensions that he and his coadjutors might + be mistaken for the '_original advisers_' (to quote him) of the + measure. For my own part, I consider the manufacturers as a much + injured body of men, sacrificed to the views of certain individuals + who have enriched themselves by those practices which have deprived + the frame-workers of employment. For instance;--by the adoption of + a certain kind of frame, one man performs the work of seven--six + are thus thrown out of business. But it is to be observed that the + work thus done is far inferior in quality, hardly marketable at + home, and hurried over with a view to exportation. Surely, my Lord, + however we may rejoice in any improvement in the arts which may be + beneficial to mankind, we must not allow mankind to be sacrificed + to improvements in mechanism. The maintenance and well-doing of the + industrious poor is an object of greater consequence to the + community than the enrichment of a few monopolists by any + improvement in the implements of trade, which deprives the workman + of his bread, and renders the, labourer "unworthy of his hire." My + own motive for opposing the bill is founded on its palpable + injustice, and its certain inefficacy. I have seen the state of + these miserable men, and it is a disgrace to a civilised country. + Their excesses may be condemned, but cannot be subject of wonder. + The effect of the present bill would be to drive them into actual + rebellion. The few words I shall venture to offer on Thursday will + be founded upon these opinions formed from my own observations on + the spot. By previous enquiry, I am convinced these men would have + been restored to employment, and the county to tranquillity. It is, + perhaps, not yet too late, and is surely worth the trial. It can + never be too late to employ force in such circumstances. I believe + your Lordship does not coincide with me entirely on this subject, + and most cheerfully and sincerely shall I submit to your superior + judgment and experience, and take some other line of argument + against the bill, or be silent altogether, should you deem it more + advisable. Condemning, as every one must condemn, the conduct of + these wretches, I believe in the existence of grievances which call + rather for pity than punishment. I have the honour to be, with + great respect, my Lord, your Lordship's + + "Most obedient and obliged servant, + + "BYRON. + + "P.S. I am a little apprehensive that your Lordship will think me + too lenient towards these men, and half a _framebreaker myself_." + + * * * * * + +It would have been, no doubt, the ambition of Lord Byron to acquire +distinction as well in oratory as in poesy; but Nature seems to set +herself against pluralities in fame. He had prepared himself for this +debate,--as most of the best orators have done, in their first +essays,--not only by composing, but writing down, the whole of his +speech beforehand. The reception he met with was flattering; some of the +noble speakers on his own side complimented him very warmly; and that he +was himself highly pleased with his success, appears from the annexed +account of Mr. Dallas, which gives a lively notion of his boyish elation +on the occasion. + +"When he left the great chamber, I went and met him in the passage; he +was glowing with success, and much agitated. I had an umbrella in my +right hand, not expecting that he would put out his hand to me;--in my +haste to take it when offered, I had advanced my left hand--'What!' said +he, 'give your friend your left hand upon such an occasion?' I showed +the cause, and immediately changing the umbrella to the other hand, I +gave him my right hand, which he shook and pressed warmly. He was +greatly elated, and repeated some of the compliments which had been paid +him, and mentioned one or two of the peers who had desired to be +introduced to him. He concluded with saying, that he had, by his speech, +given me the best advertisement for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." + +The speech itself, as given by Mr. Dallas from the noble speaker's own +manuscript, is pointed and vigorous; and the same sort of interest that +is felt in reading the poetry of a Burke, may be gratified, perhaps, by +a few specimens of the oratory of a Byron. In the very opening of his +speech, he thus introduces himself by the melancholy avowal, that in +that assembly of his brother nobles he stood almost a stranger. + +"As a person in some degree connected with the suffering county, though +a stranger not only to this House in general, but to almost every +individual whose attention I presume to solicit, I must claim some +portion of your Lordships' indulgence." + +The following extracts comprise, I think, the passages of most spirit:-- + +"When we are told that these men are leagued together, not only for the +destruction of their own comfort, but of their very means of +subsistence, can we forget that it is the bitter policy, the destructive +warfare, of the last eighteen years which has destroyed their comfort, +your comfort, all men's comfort;--that policy which, originating with +'great statesmen now no more,' has survived the dead to become a curse +on the living, unto the third and fourth generation! These men never +destroyed their looms till they were become useless,--worse than +useless; till they were become actual impediments to their exertions in +obtaining their daily bread. Can you then wonder that, in times like +these, when bankruptcy, convicted fraud, and imputed felony, are found +in a station not far beneath that of your Lordships, the lowest, though +once most useful, portion of the people should forget their duty in +their distresses, and become only less guilty than one of their +representatives? But while the exalted offender can find means to baffle +the law, new capital punishments must be devised, new snares of death +must be spread for the wretched mechanic who is famished into guilt. +These men were willing to dig, but the spade was in other hands: they +were not ashamed to beg, but there was none to relieve them. Their own +means of subsistence were cut off; all other employments pre-occupied; +and their excesses, however to be deplored or condemned, can hardly be +the subject of surprise. + +"I have traversed the seat of war in the Peninsula I have been in some +of the most oppressed provinces of Turkey; but never, under the most +despotic of infidel governments, did I behold such squalid wretchedness +as I have seen since my return, in the very heart of a Christian +country. And what are your remedies? After months of inaction, and +months of action worse than inactivity, at length comes forth the grand +specific, the never-failing nostrum of all state physicians from the +days of Draco to the present time. After feeling the pulse, and shaking +the head over the patient, prescribing the usual course of warm water +and bleeding--the warm water of your mawkish police, and the lancets of +your military--these convulsions must terminate in death, the sure +consummation of the prescriptions of all political Sangrados. Setting +aside the palpable injustice and the certain inefficiency of the bill, +are there not capital punishments sufficient on your statutes? Is there +not blood enough upon your penal code, that more must be poured forth to +ascend to heaven and testify against you? How will you carry this bill +into effect? Can you commit a whole county to their own prisons? Will +you erect a gibbet in every field, and hang up men like scare-crows? or +will you proceed (as you must, to bring this measure into effect,) by +decimation; place the country under martial law; depopulate and lay +waste all around you, and restore Sherwood Forest as an acceptable gift +to the crown in its former condition of a royal chase, and an asylum for +outlaws? Are these the remedies for a starving and desperate populace? +Will the famished wretch who has braved your bayonets be appalled by +your gibbets? When death is a relief, and the only relief it appears +that you will afford him, will he be dragooned into tranquillity? Will +that which could not be effected by your grenadiers, be accomplished by +your executioners? If you proceed by the forms of law, where is your +evidence? Those who refused to impeach their accomplices, when +transportation only was the punishment, will hardly be tempted to +witness against them when death is the penalty. With all due deference +to the noble lords opposite, I think a little investigation, some +previous enquiry, would induce even them to change their purpose. That +most favourite state measure, so marvellously efficacious in many and +recent instances, _temporising_, would not be without its advantage in +this. When a proposal is made to emancipate or relieve, you hesitate, +you deliberate for years, you temporise and tamper with the minds of +men; but a death-bill must be passed off hand, without a thought of the +consequences." + +In reference to his own parliamentary displays, and to this maiden +speech in particular, I find the following remarks in one of his +Journals:-- + +"Sheridan's liking for me (whether he was not mystifying me, I do not +know, but Lady Caroline Lamb and others told me that he said the same +both before and after he knew me,) was founded upon 'English Bards and +Scotch Reviewers.' He told me that he did not care about poetry, (or +about mine--at least, any but that poem of mine,) but he was sure, from +that and other symptoms, I should make an orator, if I would but take to +speaking, and grow a parliament man. He never ceased harping upon this +to me to the last; and I remember my old tutor, Dr. Drury, had the same +notion when I was a _boy_; but it never was my turn of inclination to +try. I spoke once or twice, as all young peers do, as a kind of +introduction into public life; but dissipation, shyness, haughty and +reserved opinions, together with the short time I lived in England +after my majority (only about five years in all), prevented me from +resuming the experiment. As far as it went, it was not discouraging, +particularly my _first_ speech (I spoke three or four times in all); but +just after it, my poem of Childe Harold was published, and nobody ever +thought about my _prose_ afterwards, nor indeed did I; it became to me a +secondary and neglected object, though I sometimes wonder to myself if I +should have succeeded." + + * * * * * + +His immediate impressions with respect to the success of his first +speech may be collected from a letter addressed soon after to Mr. +Hodgson. + +LETTER 90. TO MR. HODGSON. + + "8. St. James's Street, March 5. 1812. + + "My dear Hodgson, + + "_We_ are not answerable for reports of speeches in the papers; + they are always given incorrectly, and on this occasion more so + than usual, from the debate in the Commons on the same night. The + Morning Post should have said _eighteen years_. However, you will + find the speech, as spoken, in the Parliamentary Register, when it + comes out. Lords Holland and Grenville, particularly the latter, + paid me some high compliments in the course of their speeches, as + you may have seen in the papers, and Lords Eldon and Harrowby + answered me. I have had many marvellous eulogies repeated to me + since, in person and by proxy, from divers persons + _ministerial_--yea, _ministerial!_--as well as oppositionists; of + them I shall only mention Sir F. Burdett. _He_ says it is the best + speech by a _lord_ since the '_Lord_ knows when,' probably from a + fellow-feeling in the sentiments. Lord H. tells me I shall beat + them all if I persevere; and Lord G. remarked that the construction + of some of my periods are very like _Burke's_! And so much for + vanity. I spoke very violent sentences with a sort of modest + impudence, abused every thing and every body, and put the Lord + Chancellor very much out of humour; and if I may believe what I + hear, have not lost any character by the experiment. As to my + delivery, loud and fluent enough, perhaps a little theatrical. I + could not recognise myself or any one else in the newspapers. + + "My poesy comes out on Saturday. Hobhouse is here; I shall tell him + to write. My stone is gone for the present, but I fear is part of + my habit. We _all_ talk of a visit to Cambridge. + + "Yours ever, B." + + * * * * * + +Of the same date as the above is the following letter to Lord Holland, +accompanying a copy of his new publication, and written in a tone that +cannot fail to give a high idea of his good feeling and candour. + +LETTER 91. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "St. James's Street, March 5. 1812. + + "My Lord, + + "May I request your Lordship to accept a copy of the thing which + accompanies this note? You have already so fully proved the truth + of the first line of Pope's couplet, + + "'_Forgiveness to the injured doth belong,_' + + that I long for an opportunity to give the lie to the verse that + follows. If I were not perfectly convinced that any thing I may + have formerly uttered in the boyish rashness of my misplaced + resentment had made as little impression as it deserved to make, I + should hardly have the confidence--perhaps your Lordship may give + it a stronger and more appropriate appellation--to send you a + quarto of the same scribbler. But your Lordship, I am sorry to + observe to-day, is troubled with the gout; if my book can produce a + _laugh_ against itself or the author, it will be of some service. + If it can set you to _sleep_, the benefit will be yet greater; and + as some facetious personage observed half a century ago, that + 'poetry is a mere drug,' I offer you mine as a humble assistant to + the 'eau medicinale.' I trust you will forgive this and all my + other buffooneries, and believe me to be, with great respect, + + "Your Lordship's obliged and + + "Sincere servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +It was within two days after his speech in the House of Lords that +Childe Harold appeared[44];--and the impression which it produced upon +the public was as instantaneous as it has proved deep and lasting. The +permanence of such success genius alone could secure, but to its instant +and enthusiastic burst, other causes, besides the merit of the work, +concurred. + +There are those who trace in the peculiar character of Lord Byron's +genius strong features of relationship to the times in which he lived; +who think that the great events which marked the close of the last +century, by giving a new impulse to men's minds, by habituating them to +the daring and the free, and allowing full vent to "the flash and +outbreak of fiery spirits," had led naturally to the production of such +a poet as Byron; and that he was, in short, as much the child and +representative of the Revolution, in poesy, as another great man of the +age, Napoleon, was in statesmanship and warfare. Without going the full +length of this notion, it will, at least, be conceded, that the free +loose which had been given to all the passions and energies of the human +mind, in the great struggle of that period, together with the constant +spectacle of such astounding vicissitudes as were passing, almost daily, +on the theatre of the world, had created, in all minds, and in every +walk of intellect, a taste for strong excitement, which the stimulants +supplied from ordinary sources were insufficient to gratify;--that a +tame deference to established authorities had fallen into disrepute, no +less in literature than in politics, and that the poet who should +breathe into his songs the fierce and passionate spirit of the age, and +assert, untrammelled and unawed, the high dominion of genius, would be +the most sure of an audience toned in sympathy with his strains. + +It is true that, to the licence on religious subjects, which revelled +through the first acts of that tremendous drama, a disposition of an +opposite tendency had, for some time, succeeded. Against the wit of the +scoffer, not only piety, but a better taste, revolted; and had Lord +Byron, in touching on such themes in Childe Harold, adopted a tone of +levity or derision, (such as, unluckily, he sometimes afterwards +descended to,) not all the originality and beauty of his work would have +secured for it a prompt or uncontested triumph. As it was, however, the +few dashes of scepticism with which he darkened his strain, far from +checking his popularity, were among those attractions which, as I have +said, independent of all the charms of the poetry, accelerated and +heightened its success. The religious feeling that has sprung up through +Europe since the French revolution--like the political principles that +have emerged out of the same event--in rejecting all the licentiousness +of that period, have preserved much of its spirit of freedom and +enquiry; and, among the best fruits of this enlarged and enlightened +piety is the liberty which it disposes men to accord to the opinions, +and even heresies, of others. To persons thus sincerely, and, at the +same time, tolerantly, devout, the spectacle of a great mind, like that +of Byron, labouring in the eclipse of scepticism, could not be otherwise +than an object of deep and solemn interest. If they had already known +what it was to doubt, themselves, they would enter into his fate with +mournful sympathy; while, if safe in the tranquil haven of faith, they +would look with pity on one who was still a wanderer. Besides, erring +and dark as might be his views at that moment, there were circumstances +in his character and fate that gave a hope of better thoughts yet +dawning upon him. From his temperament and youth, there could be little +fear that he was yet hardened in his heresies, and as, for a heart +wounded like his, there was, they knew, but one true source of +consolation, so it was hoped that the love of truth, so apparent in all +he wrote, would, one day, enable him to find it. + +Another, and not the least of those causes which concurred with the +intrinsic claims of his genius to give an impulse to the tide of success +that now flowed upon him, was, unquestionably, the peculiarity of his +personal history and character. There had been, in his very first +introduction of himself to the public, a sufficient portion of +singularity to excite strong attention and interest. While all other +youths of talent, in his high station, are heralded into life by the +applauses and anticipations of a host of friends, young Byron stood +forth alone, unannounced by either praise or promise,--the +representative of an ancient house, whose name, long lost in the gloomy +solitudes of Newstead, seemed to have just awakened from the sleep of +half a century in his person. The circumstances that, in succession, +followed,--the prompt vigour of his reprisals upon the assailants of his +fame,--his disappearance, after this achievement, from the scene of his +triumph, without deigning even to wait for the laurels which he had +earned, and his departure on a far pilgrimage, whose limits he left to +chance and fancy,--all these successive incidents had thrown an air of +adventure round the character of the young poet, which prepared his +readers to meet half-way the impressions of his genius. Instead of +finding him, on a nearer view, fall short of their imaginations, the new +features of his disposition now disclosed to them far outwent, in +peculiarity and interest, whatever they might have preconceived; while +the curiosity and sympathy, awakened by what he suffered to transpire of +his history, were still more heightened by the mystery of his allusions +to much that yet remained untold. The late losses by death which he had +sustained, and which, it was manifest, he most deeply mourned, gave a +reality to the notion formed of him by his admirers which seemed to +authorise them in imagining still more; and what has been said of the +poet Young, that he found out the art of "making the public a party to +his private sorrows," may be, with infinitely more force and truth, +applied to Lord Byron. + +On that circle of society with whom he came immediately in contact, +these personal influences acted with increased force, from being +assisted by others, which, to female imaginations especially, would +have presented a sufficiency of attraction, even without the great +qualities joined with them. His youth,--the noble beauty of his +countenance, and its constant play of lights and shadows,--the +gentleness of his voice and manner to women, and his occasional +haughtiness to men,--the alleged singularities of his mode of life, +which kept curiosity alive and inquisitive,--all these lesser traits and +habitudes concurred towards the quick spread of his fame; nor can it be +denied that, among many purer sources of interest in his poem, the +allusions which he makes to instances of "_successful_ passion" in his +career[45] were not without their influence on the fancies of that sex, +whose weakness it is to be most easily won by those who come recommended +by the greatest number of triumphs over others. + +That his rank was also to be numbered among these extrinsic advantages +appears to have been--partly, perhaps, from a feeling of modesty at the +time--his own persuasion. "I may place a great deal of it," said he to +Mr. Dallas, "to my being a lord." It might be supposed that it is only +on a rank inferior to his own such a charm could operate; but this very +speech is, in itself, a proof, that in no class whatever is the +advantage of being noble more felt and appreciated than among nobles +themselves. It was, also, natural that, in that circle, the admiration +of the new poet should be, at least, quickened by the consideration that +he had sprung up among themselves, and that their order had, at length, +produced a man of genius, by whom the arrears of contribution, long due +from them to the treasury of English literature, would be at once fully +and splendidly discharged. + +Altogether, taking into consideration the various points I have here +enumerated, it may be asserted, that never did there exist before, and +it is most probable never will exist again, a combination of such vast +mental power and surpassing genius, with so many other of those +advantages and attractions, by which the world is, in general, dazzled +and captivated. The effect was, accordingly, electric;--his fame had not +to wait for any of the ordinary gradations, but seemed to spring up, +like the palace of a fairy tale, in a night. As he himself briefly +described it in his memoranda,--"I awoke one morning and found myself +famous." The first edition of his work was disposed of instantly; and, +as the echoes of its reputation multiplied on all sides, "Childe Harold" +and "Lord Byron" became the theme of every tongue. At his door, most of +the leading names of the day presented themselves,--some of them persons +whom he had much wronged in his Satire, but who now forgot their +resentment in generous admiration. From morning till night the most +flattering testimonies of his success crowded his table,--from the grave +tributes of the statesman and the philosopher down to (what flattered +him still more) the romantic billet of some _incognita,_ or the pressing +note of invitation from some fair leader of fashion; and, in place of +the desert which London had been to him but a few weeks before, he now +not only saw the whole splendid interior of High Life thrown open to +receive him, but found himself, among its illustrious crowds, the most +distinguished object. + +The copyright of the poem, which was purchased by Mr. Murray for +600_l._, he presented, in the most delicate and unostentatious manner, +to Mr. Dallas[46], saying, at the same time, that he "never would +receive money for his writings;"--a resolution, the mixed result of +generosity and pride, which he afterwards wisely abandoned, though borne +out by the example of Swift[47] and Voltaire, the latter of whom gave +away most of his copyrights to Prault and other booksellers, and +received books, not money, for those he disposed of otherwise. To his +young friend, Mr. Harness, it had been his intention, at first, to +dedicate the work, but, on further consideration, he relinquished his +design; and in a letter to that gentleman (which, with some others, is +unfortunately lost) alleged, as his reason for this change, the +prejudice which, he foresaw, some parts of the poem would raise against +himself, and his fear lest, by any possibility, a share of the odium +might so far extend itself to his friend, as to injure him in the +profession to which he was about to devote himself. + +Not long after the publication of Childe Harold, the noble author paid +me a visit, one morning, and, putting a letter into my hands, which he +had just received, requested that I would undertake to manage for him +whatever proceedings it might render necessary. This letter, I found, +had been delivered to him by Mr. Leckie (a gentleman well known by a +work on Sicilian affairs), and came from a once active and popular +member of the fashionable world, Colonel Greville,--its purport being to +require of his Lordship, as author of "English Bards," &c., such +reparation as it was in his power to make for the injury which, as +Colonel Greville conceived, certain passages in that satire, reflecting +upon his conduct as manager of the Argyle Institution, were calculated +to inflict upon his character. In the appeal of the gallant Colonel, +there were some expressions of rather an angry cast, which Lord Byron, +though fully conscious of the length to which he himself had gone, was +but little inclined to brook, and, on my returning the letter into his +hands, he said, "To such a letter as that there can be but one sort of +answer." He agreed, however, to trust the matter entirely to my +discretion, and I had, shortly after, an interview with the friend of +Colonel Greville. By this gentleman, who was then an utter stranger to +me, I was received with much courtesy, and with every disposition to +bring the affair intrusted to us to an amicable issue. On my premising +that the tone of his friend's letter stood in the way of negotiation, +and that some obnoxious expressions which it contained must be removed +before I could proceed a single step towards explanation, he most +readily consented to remove this obstacle. At his request I drew a pen +across the parts I considered objectionable, and he undertook to send me +the letter re-written, next morning. In the mean time I received from +Lord Byron the following paper for my guidance:-- + + "With regard to the passage on Mr. Way's loss, no unfair play was + hinted at, as may be seen by referring to the book; and it is + expressly added that the _managers were ignorant_ of that + transaction. As to the prevalence of play at the Argyle, it cannot + be denied that there were _billiards_ and _dice_;--Lord B. has been + a witness to the use of both at the Argyle Rooms. These, it is + presumed, come under the denomination of play. If play be allowed, + the President of the Institution can hardly complain of being + termed the 'Arbiter of Play,'--or what becomes of his authority? + + "Lord B. has no personal animosity to Colonel Greville. A public + institution, to which he himself was a subscriber, he considered + himself to have a right to notice _publicly_. Of that institution + Colonel Greville was the avowed director;--it is too late to enter + into the discussion of its merits or demerits. + + "Lord B. must leave the discussion of the reparation, for the real + or supposed injury, to Colonel G.'s friend, and Mr. Moore, the + friend of Lord B.--begging them to recollect that, while they + consider Colonel G.'s honour, Lord B. must also maintain his own. + If the business can be settled amicably, Lord B. will do as much as + can and ought to be done by a man of honour towards + conciliation;--if not, he must satisfy Colonel G. in the manner + most conducive to his further wishes." + +[Footnote 44: To his sister, Mrs. Leigh, one of the first presentation +copies was sent, with the following inscription in it:-- + + "To Augusta, my dearest sister, and my best friend, who has ever + loved me much better than I deserved, this volume is presented by + her father's son, and most affectionate brother, + + "B." +] + +[Footnote 45: + + "Little knew she, that seeming marble heart, + Now mask'd in silence, or withheld by pride, + Was not unskilful in the spoiler's art, + And spread its snares licentious far and wide." + _CHILDE HAROLD, CANTO II._ + +We have here another instance of his propensity to +self-misrepresentation. However great might have been the irregularities +of his college life, such phrases as the "art of the spoiler" and +"spreading snares" were in nowise applicable to them.] + +[Footnote 46: "After speaking to him of the sale, and settling the new +edition, I said, 'How can I possibly think of this rapid sale, and the +profits likely to ensue, without recollecting--'--'What?'--'Think what +sum your work may produce.'--'I shall be rejoiced, and wish it doubled +and trebled; but do not talk to me of money. I never will receive money +for my writings.'"--DALLAS'S _Recollections_.] + +[Footnote 47: In a letter to Pulteney, 12th May, 1735, Swift says, "I +never got a farthing for any thing I writ, except once."] + + * * * * * + +In the morning I received the letter, in its new form, from Mr. Leckie, +with the annexed note. + + "My dear Sir, + + "I found my friend very ill in bed; he has, however, managed to + copy the enclosed, with the alterations proposed. Perhaps you may + wish to see me in the morning; I shall therefore be glad to see you + any time till twelve o'clock. If you rather wish me to call on you, + tell me, and I shall obey your summons. Yours, very truly, + + "G.T. LECKIE." + +With such facilities towards pacification, it is almost needless to add +that there was but little delay in settling the matter amicably. + +While upon this subject, I shall avail myself of the opportunity which +it affords of extracting an amusing account given by Lord Byron himself +of some affairs of this description, in which he was, at different +times, employed as mediator. + +"I have been called in as mediator, or second, at least twenty times, in +violent quarrels, and have always contrived to settle the business +without compromising the honour of the parties, or leading them to +mortal consequences, and this, too, sometimes in very difficult and +delicate circumstances, and having to deal with very hot and haughty +spirits,--Irishmen, gamesters, guardsmen, captains, and cornets of +horse, and the like. This was, of course, in my youth, when I lived in +hot-headed company. I have had to carry challenges from gentlemen to +noblemen, from captains to captains, from lawyers to counsellors, and +once from a clergyman to an officer in the Life Guards; but I found the +latter by far the most difficult,-- + + "'to compose + The bloody duel without blows,'-- + +the business being about a woman: I must add, too, that I never saw a +_woman_ behave so ill, like a cold-blooded, heartless b---- as she +was,--but very handsome for all that. A certain Susan C * * was she +called. I never saw her but once; and that was to induce her but to say +two words (which in no degree compromised herself), and which would have +had the effect of saving a priest or a lieutenant of cavalry. She would +not say them, and neither N * * nor myself (the son of Sir E. N * *, and +a friend to one of the parties,) could prevail upon her to say them, +though both of us used to deal in some sort with womankind. At last I +managed to quiet the combatants without her talisman, and, I believe, to +her great disappointment: she was the damnedest b---- that I ever saw, +and I have seen a great many. Though my clergyman was sure to lose +either his life or his living, he was as warlike as the Bishop of +Beauvais, and would hardly be pacified; but then he was in love, and +that is a martial passion." + +However disagreeable it was to find the consequences of his Satire thus +rising up against him in a hostile shape, he was far more embarrassed in +those cases where the retribution took a friendly form. Being now daily +in the habit of meeting and receiving kindnesses from persons who, +either in themselves, or through their relatives, had been wounded by +his pen, he felt every fresh instance of courtesy from such quarters to +be, (as he sometimes, in the strong language of Scripture, expressed +it,) like "heaping coals of fire upon his head." He was, indeed, in a +remarkable degree, sensitive to the kindness or displeasure of those he +lived with; and had he passed a life subject to the immediate influence +of society, it may be doubted whether he ever would have ventured upon +those unbridled bursts of energy in which he at once demonstrated and +abused his power. At the period when he ran riot in his Satire, society +had not yet caught him within its pale; and in the time of his Cains and +Don Juans, he had again broken loose from it. Hence, his instinct +towards a life of solitude and independence, as the true element of his +strength. In his own domain of imagination he could defy the whole +world; while, in real life, a frown or smile could rule him. The +facility with which he sacrificed his first volume, at the mere +suggestion of his friend, Mr. Becher, is a strong proof of this +pliableness; and in the instance of Childe Harold, such influence had +the opinions of Mr. Gifford and Mr. Dallas on his mind, that he not only +shrunk from his original design of identifying himself with his hero, +but surrendered to them one of his most favourite stanzas, whose +heterodoxy they had objected to; nor is it too much, perhaps, to +conclude, that had a more extended force of such influence then acted +upon him, he would have consented to omit the sceptical parts of his +poem altogether. Certain it is that, during the remainder of his stay in +England, no such doctrines were ever again obtruded on his readers; and +in all those beautiful creations of his fancy, with which he brightened +that whole period, keeping the public eye in one prolonged gaze of +admiration, both the bitterness and the licence of his impetuous spirit +were kept effectually under control. The world, indeed, had yet to +witness what he was capable of, when emancipated from this restraint. +For, graceful and powerful as were his flights while society had still a +hold of him, it was not till let loose from the leash that he rose into +the true region of his strength; and though almost in proportion to that +strength was, too frequently, his abuse of it, yet so magnificent are +the very excesses of such energy, that it is impossible, even while we +condemn, not to admire. + +The occasion by which I have been led into these remarks,--namely, his +sensitiveness on the subject of his Satire,--is one of those instances +that show how easily his gigantic spirit could be, if not held down, at +least entangled, by the small ties of society. The aggression of which +he had been guilty was not only past, but, by many of those most +injured, forgiven; and yet,--highly, it must be allowed, to the credit +of his social feelings,--the idea of living familiarly and friendlily +with persons, respecting whose character or talents there were such +opinions of his on record, became, at length, insupportable to him; and, +though far advanced in a fifth edition of "English Bards," &c., he came +to the resolution of suppressing the Satire altogether; and orders were +sent to Cawthorn, the publisher, to commit the whole impression to the +flames. At the same time, and from similar motives,--aided, I rather +think, by a friendly remonstrance from Lord Elgin, or some of his +connections,--the "Curse of Minerva," a poem levelled against that +nobleman, and already in progress towards publication, was also +sacrificed; while the "Hints from Horace," though containing far less +personal satire than either of the others, shared their fate. + +To exemplify what I have said of his extreme sensibility, to the passing +sunshine or clouds of the society in which he lived, I need but cite the +following notes, addressed by him to his friend Mr. William Bankes, +under the apprehension that this gentleman was, for some reason or +other, displeased with him. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 92. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "April 20. 1812. + + "My dear Bankes, + + "I feel rather hurt (not savagely) at the speech you made to me + last night, and my hope is, that it was only one of your _profane_ + jests. I should be very sorry that any part of my behaviour should + give you cause to suppose that I think higher of myself, or + otherwise of you than I have always done. I can assure you that I + am as much the humblest of your servants as at Trin. Coll.; and if + I have not been at home when you favoured me with a call, the loss + was more mine than yours. In the bustle of buzzing parties, there + is, there can be, no rational conversation; but when I can enjoy + it, there is nobody's I can prefer to your own. Believe me ever + faithfully and most affectionately yours, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 93. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "My dear Bankes, + + "My eagerness to come to an explanation has, I trust, convinced you + that whatever my unlucky manner might inadvertently be, the change + was as unintentional as (if intended) it would have been + ungrateful. I really was not aware that, while we were together, I + had evinced such caprices; that we were not so much in each other's + company as I could have wished, I well know, but I think so _acute_ + an _observer_ as yourself must have perceived enough to _explain + this_, without supposing any slight to one in whose society I have + pride and pleasure. Recollect that I do not allude here to + 'extended' or 'extending' acquaintances, but to circumstances you + will understand, I think, on a little reflection. + + "And now, my dear Bankes, do not distress me by supposing that I + can think of you, or you of me, otherwise than I trust we have long + thought. You told me not long ago that my temper was improved, and + I should be sorry that opinion should be revoked. Believe me, your + friendship is of more account to me than all those absurd vanities + in which, I fear, you conceive me to take too much interest. I have + never disputed your superiority, or doubted (seriously) your good + will, and no one shall ever 'make mischief between us' without the + sincere regret on the part of your ever affectionate, &c. + + "P.S. I shall see you, I hope, at Lady Jersey's. Hobhouse goes + also." + + * * * * * + +In the month of April he was again tempted to try his success in the +House of Lords; and, on the motion of Lord Donoughmore for taking into +consideration the claims of the Irish catholics, delivered his +sentiments strongly in favour of the proposition. His display, on this +occasion, seems to have been less promising than in his first essay. His +delivery was thought mouthing and theatrical, being infected, I take for +granted (having never heard him speak in Parliament), with the same +chanting tone that disfigured his recitation of poetry,--a tone +contracted at most of the public schools, but more particularly, +perhaps, at Harrow, and encroaching just enough on the boundaries of +song to offend those ears most by which song is best enjoyed and +understood. + +On the subject of the negotiations for a change of ministry which took +place during this session, I find the following anecdotes recorded in +his notebook:-- + +"At the opposition meeting of the peers in 1812, at Lord Grenville's, +when Lord Grey and he read to us the correspondence upon Moira's +negotiation, I sate next to the present Duke of Grafton, and said, 'What +is to be done next?'--'Wake the Duke of Norfolk' (who was snoring away +near us), replied he: 'I don't think the negotiators have left any thing +else for us to do this turn.' + +"In the debate, or rather discussion, afterwards in the House of Lords +upon that very question, I sate immediately behind Lord Moira, who was +extremely annoyed at Grey's speech upon the subject; and, while Grey was +speaking, turned round to me repeatedly, and asked me whether I agreed +with him. It was an awkward question to me who had not heard both sides. +Moira kept repeating to me, 'It was _not so_, it was so and so,' &c. I +did not know very well what to think, but I sympathised with the +acuteness of his feelings upon the subject." + +The subject of the Catholic claims was, it is well known, brought +forward a second time this session by Lord Wellesley, whose motion for a +future consideration of the question was carried by a majority of one. +In reference to this division, another rather amusing anecdote is thus +related. + +"Lord * * affects an imitation of two very different Chancellors, +Thurlow and Loughborough, and can indulge in an oath now and then. On +one of the debates on the Catholic question, when we were either equal +or within one (I forget which), I had been sent for in great haste to a +ball, which I quitted, I confess, somewhat reluctantly, to emancipate +five millions of people. I came in late, and did not go immediately into +the body of the House, but stood just behind the woolsack. * * turned +round, and, catching my eye, immediately said to a peer, (who had come +to him for a few minutes on the woolsack, as is the custom of his +friends,) 'Damn them! they'll have it now,--by G----d! the vote that is +just come in will give it them.'" + +During all this time, the impression which he had produced in society, +both as a poet and a man, went on daily increasing; and the facility +with which he gave himself up to the current of fashionable life, and +mingled in all the gay scenes through which it led, showed that the +novelty, at least, of this mode of existence had charms for him, however +he might estimate its pleasures. That sort of vanity which is almost +inseparable from genius, and which consists in an extreme sensitiveness +on the subject of self, Lord Byron, I need not say, possessed in no +ordinary degree; and never was there a career in which this sensibility +to the opinions of others was exposed to more constant and various +excitement than that on which he was now entered. I find in a note of my +own to him, written at this period, some jesting allusions to the +"circle of star-gazers" whom I had left around him at some party on the +preceding night;--and such, in fact, was the flattering ordeal he had to +undergo wherever he went. On these occasions,--particularly before the +range of his acquaintance had become sufficiently extended to set him +wholly at his ease,--his air and port were those of one whose better +thoughts were elsewhere, and who looked with melancholy abstraction on +the gay crowd around him. This deportment, so rare in such scenes, and +so accordant with the romantic notions entertained of him, was the +result partly of shyness, and partly, perhaps, of that love of effect +and impression to which the poetical character of his mind naturally +led. Nothing, indeed, could be more amusing and delightful than the +contrast which his manners afterwards, when we were alone, presented to +his proud reserve in the brilliant circle we had just left. It was like +the bursting gaiety of a boy let loose from school, and seemed as if +there was no extent of fun or tricks of which he was not capable. +Finding him invariably thus lively when we were together, I often +rallied him on the gloomy tone of his poetry, as assumed; but his +constant answer was (and I soon ceased to doubt of its truth), that, +though thus merry and full of laughter with those he liked, he was, at +heart, one of the most melancholy wretches in existence. + +Among the numerous notes which I received from him at this time,--some +of them relating to our joint engagements in society, and others to +matters now better forgotten,--I shall select a few that (as showing his +haunts and habits) may not, perhaps, be uninteresting. + + "March 25. 1812. + + "Know all men by these presents, that you, Thomas Moore, stand + indicted--no--invited, by special and particular solicitation, to + Lady C. L * *'s to-morrow evening, at half-past nine o'clock, where + you will meet with a civil reception and decent entertainment. + Pray, come--I was so examined after you this morning, that I + entreat you to answer in person. + + "Believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + + "Friday noon. + + "I should have answered your note yesterday, but I hoped to have + seen you this morning. I must consult with you about the day we + dine with Sir Francis. I suppose we shall meet at Lady Spencer's + to-night. I did not know that you were at Miss Berry's the other + night, or I should have certainly gone there. + + "As usual, I am in all sorts of scrapes, though none, at present, + of a martial description. + + "Believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + + "May 8. 1812. + + "I am too proud of being your friend to care with whom I am linked + in your estimation, and, God knows, I want friends more at this + time than at any other. I am 'taking care of myself' to no great + purpose. If you knew my situation in every point of view you would + excuse apparent and unintentional neglect. I shall leave town, I + think; but do not you leave it without seeing me. I wish you, from + my soul, every happiness you can wish yourself; and I think you + have taken the road to secure it. Peace be with you! I fear she has + abandoned me. + + "Ever," &c. + + * * * * * + + "May 20. 1812. + + "On Monday, after sitting up all night, I saw Bellingham launched + into eternity[48], and at three the same day I saw * * * launched + into the country. + + "I believe, in the beginning of June, I shall be down for a few + days in Notts. If so, I shall beat you up 'en passant' with + Hobhouse, who is endeavouring, like you and every body else, to + keep me out of scrapes. + + "I meant to have written you a long letter, but I find I cannot. If + any thing remarkable occurs, you will hear it from me--if good; if + _bad_, there are plenty to tell it. In the mean time, do you be + happy. + + "Ever yours, &c. + + "P.S.--My best wishes and respects to Mrs. * *;--she is beautiful. + I may say so even to you, for I never was more struck with a + countenance." + +[Footnote 48: He had taken a window opposite for the purpose, and was +accompanied on the occasion by his old schoolfellows, Mr. Bailey and Mr. +John Madocks. They went together from some assembly, and, on their +arriving at the spot, about three o'clock in the morning, not finding +the house that was to receive them open, Mr. Madocks undertook to rouse +the inmates, while Lord Byron and Mr. Bailey sauntered, arm in arm, up +the street. During this interval, rather a painful scene occurred. +Seeing an unfortunate woman lying on the steps of a door, Lord Byron, +with some expression of compassion, offered her a few shillings: but, +instead of accepting them, she violently pushed away his hand, and, +starting up with a yell of laughter, began to mimic the lameness of his +gait. He did not utter a word; but "I could feel," said Mr. Bailey, "his +arm trembling within mine, as we left her." + +I may take this opportunity of mentioning another anecdote connected +with his lameness. In coming out, one night, from a ball, with Mr. +Rogers, as they were on their way to their carriage, one of the +link-boys ran on before Lord Byron, crying, "This way, my Lord."--"He +seems to know you," said Mr. Rogers.--"Know me!" answered Lord Byron, +with some degree of bitterness in his tone--"every one knows me,--I am +deformed."] + + * * * * * + +Among the tributes to his fame, this spring, it should have been +mentioned that, at some evening party, he had the honour of being +presented, at that royal personage's own desire, to the Prince Regent. +"The Regent," says Mr. Dallas, "expressed his admiration of Childe +Harold's Pilgrimage, and continued a conversation, which so fascinated +the poet, that had it not been for an accidental deferring of the next +levee, he bade fair to become a visiter at Carlton House, if not a +complete courtier." + +After this wise prognostic, the writer adds,--"I called on him on the +morning for which the levee had been appointed, and found him in a full +dress court suit of clothes, with his fine black hair in powder, which +by no means suited his countenance. I was surprised, as he had not told +me that he should go to court; and it seemed to me as if he thought it +necessary to apologise for his intention, by his observing that he could +not in decency but do it, as the Regent had done him the honour to say +that he hoped to see him soon at Carlton House." + +In the two letters that follow we find his own account of the +introduction. + +LETTER 94. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "June 25. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "I must appear very ungrateful, and have, indeed, been very + negligent, but till last night I was not apprised of Lady Holland's + restoration, and I shall call to-morrow to have the satisfaction, I + trust, of hearing that she is well--I hope that neither politics + nor gout have assailed your Lordship since I last saw you, and that + you also are 'as well as could be expected.' + + "The other night, at a ball, I was presented by order to our + gracious Regent, who honoured me with some conversation, and + professed a predilection for poetry.--I confess it was a most + unexpected honour, and I thought of poor B-----s's adventure, with + some apprehension of a similar blunder, I have now great hope, in + the event of Mr. Pye's decease, of 'warbling truth at court,' like + Mr. Mallet of indifferent memory.--Consider, one hundred marks a + year! besides the wine and the disgrace; but then remorse would + make me drown myself in my own butt before the year's end, or the + finishing of my first dithyrambic.--So that, after all, I shall not + meditate our laureate's death by pen or poison. + + "Will you present my best respects to Lady Holland? and believe me + hers and yours very sincerely." + + * * * * * + +The second letter, entering much more fully into the particulars of this +interview with Royalty, was in answer, it will be perceived, to some +enquiries which Sir Walter Scott (then Mr. Scott) had addressed to him +on the subject; and the whole account reflects even still more honour on +the Sovereign himself than on the two poets. + +LETTER 95. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. + + "St. James's Street, July 6. 1812. + + "Sir, + + "I have just been honoured with your letter.--I feel sorry that you + should have thought it worth while to notice the 'evil works of my + nonage,' as the thing is suppressed voluntarily, and your + explanation is too kind not to give me pain. The Satire was written + when I was very young and very angry, and fully bent on displaying + my wrath and my wit, and now I am haunted by the ghosts of my + wholesale assertions. I cannot sufficiently thank you for your + praise; and now, waving myself, let me talk to you of the Prince + Regent. He ordered me to be presented to him at a ball; and after + some sayings peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my own + attempts, he talked to me of you and your immortalities: he + preferred you to every bard past and present, and asked which of + your works pleased me most. It was a difficult question. I + answered, I thought the "Lay." He said his own opinion was nearly + similar. In speaking of the others, I told him that I thought you + more particularly the poet of _Princes_, as _they_ never appeared + more fascinating than in 'Marmion' and the 'Lady of the Lake.' He + was pleased to coincide, and to dwell on the description of your + Jameses as no less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of + Homer and yourself, and seemed well acquainted with both; so that + (with the exception of the Turks and your humble servant) you were + in very good company. I defy Murray to have exaggerated his Royal + Highness's opinion of your powers, nor can I pretend to enumerate + all he said on the subject; but it may give you pleasure to hear + that it was conveyed in language which would only suffer by my + attempting to transcribe it, and with a tone and taste which gave + me a very high idea of his abilities and accomplishments, which I + had hitherto considered as confined to _manners_, certainly + superior to those of any living _gentleman_. + + "This interview was accidental. I never went to the levee; for + having seen the courts of Mussulman and Catholic sovereigns, my + curiosity was sufficiently allayed; and my politics being as + perverse as my rhymes, I had, in fact, 'no business there.' To be + thus praised by your Sovereign must be gratifying to you; and if + that gratification is not alloyed by the communication being made + through me, the bearer of it will consider himself very fortunately + and sincerely, + + "Your obliged and obedient servant, + + "BYRON. + + "P.S.--Excuse this scrawl, scratched in a great hurry, and just + after a journey." + + * * * * * + +During the summer of this year, he paid visits to some of his noble +friends, and, among others, to the Earl of Jersey and the Marquis of +Lansdowne. "In 1812," he says, "at Middleton (Lord Jersey's), amongst a +goodly company of lords, ladies, and wits, &c., there was (* * *.) [49] + +"Erskine, too! Erskine was there; good, but intolerable. He jested, he +talked, he did every thing admirably, but then he would be applauded for +the same thing twice over. He would read his own verses, his own +paragraph, and tell his own story again and again; and then the 'Trial +by Jury!!!' I almost wished it abolished, for I sat next him at dinner. +As I had read his published speeches, there was no occasion to repeat +them to me. + +"C * * (the fox-hunter), nicknamed '_Cheek_ C * *,' and I, sweated the +claret, being the only two who did so. C * *, who loves his bottle, and +had no notion of meeting with a 'bon-vivant' in a scribbler[50], in +making my eulogy to somebody one evening, summed it up in--'By G----d he +drinks like a man.' + +"Nobody drank, however, but C * * and I. To be sure, there was little +occasion, for we swept off what was on the table (a most splendid board, +as may be supposed, at Jersey's) very sufficiently. However, we carried +our liquor discreetly, like the Baron of Bradwardine." + +[Footnote 49: A review, somewhat too critical, of some of the guests is +here omitted.] + +[Footnote 50: For the first day or two, at Middleton, he did not join +his noble host's party till after dinner, but took his scanty repast of +biscuits and soda water in his own room. Being told by somebody that the +gentleman above mentioned had pronounced such habits to be "effeminate," +he resolved to show the "fox-hunter" that he could be, on occasion, as +good a _bon-vivant_ as himself, and, by his prowess at the claret next +day, after dinner, drew forth from Mr. C * * the eulogium here +recorded.] + + * * * * * + +In the month of August this year, on the completion of the new Theatre +Royal, Drury Lane, the Committee of Management, desirous of procuring an +Address for the opening of the theatre, took the rather novel mode of +inviting, by an advertisement in the newspapers, the competition of all +the poets of the day towards this object. Though the contributions that +ensued were sufficiently numerous, it did not appear to the Committee +that there was any one among the number worthy of selection. In this +difficulty it occurred to Lord Holland that they could not do better +than have recourse to Lord Byron, whose popularity would give additional +vogue to the solemnity of their opening, and to whose transcendant +claims, as a poet, it was taken for granted, (though without sufficient +allowance, as it proved, for the irritability of the brotherhood,) even +the rejected candidates themselves would bow without a murmur. The first +result of this application to the noble poet will be learned from what +follows. + +LETTER 96. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Cheltenham, September 10. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "The lines which I sketched off on your hint are still, or rather + _were_, in an unfinished state, for I have just committed them to a + flame more decisive than that of Drury. Under all the + circumstances, I should hardly wish a contest with + Philo-drama--Philo-Drury--Asbestos, H * *, and all the anonymes and + synonymes of Committee candidates. Seriously, I think you have a + chance of something much better; for prologuising is not my forte, + and, at all events, either my pride or my modesty won't let me + incur the hazard of having my rhymes buried in next month's + Magazine, under 'Essays on the Murder of Mr. Perceval,' and 'Cures + for the Bite of a Mad Dog,' as poor Goldsmith complained of the + fate of far superior performances. + + "I am still sufficiently interested to wish to know the successful + candidate; and, amongst so many, I have no doubt some will be + excellent, particularly in an age when writing verse is the easiest + of all attainments. + + "I cannot answer your intelligence with the 'like comfort,' unless, + as you are deeply theatrical, you may wish to hear of Mr. * *, + whose acting is, I fear, utterly inadequate to the London + engagement into which the managers of Covent Garden have lately + entered. His figure is fat, his features flat, his voice + unmanageable, his action ungraceful, and, as Diggory says, 'I defy + him to _ex_tort that d----d muffin face of his into madness.' I was + very sorry to see him in the character of the 'Elephant on the + slack rope;' for, when I last saw him, I was in raptures with his + performance. But then I was sixteen--an age to which all London + condescended to subside. After all, much better judges have + admired, and may again; but I venture to 'prognosticate a prophecy' + (see the Courier) that he will not succeed. + + "So, poor dear Rogers has stuck fast on 'the brow of the mighty + Helvellyn'--I hope not for ever. My best respects to Lady H.:--her + departure, with that of my other friends, was a sad event for me, + now reduced to a state of the most cynical solitude. 'By the waters + of Cheltenham I sat down and _drank_, when I remembered thee, oh + Georgiana Cottage! As for our _harps_, we hanged them up upon the + willows that grew thereby. Then they said, Sing us a song of Drury + Lane,' &c.;--but I am dumb and dreary as the Israelites. The waters + have disordered me to my heart's content--you _were_ right, as you + always are. Believe me ever your obliged and affectionate servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +The request of the Committee for his aid having been, still more +urgently, repeated, he, at length, notwithstanding the difficulty and +invidiousness of the task, from his strong wish to oblige Lord Holland, +consented to undertake it; and the quick succeeding notes and letters, +which he addressed, during the completion of the Address, to his noble +friend, afford a proof (in conjunction with others of still more +interest, yet to be cited) of the pains he, at this time, took in +improving and polishing his first conceptions, and the importance he +wisely attached to a judicious choice of epithets as a means of +enriching both the music and the meaning of his verse. They also +show,--what, as an illustration of his character, is even still more +valuable,--the exceeding pliancy and good humour with which he could +yield to friendly suggestions and criticisms; nor can it be questioned, +I think, but that the docility thus invariably exhibited by him, on +points where most poets are found to be tenacious and irritable, was a +quality natural to his disposition, and such as might have been turned +to account in far more important matters, had he been fortunate enough +to meet with persons capable of understanding and guiding him. + +The following are a few of those hasty notes, on the subject of the +Address, which I allude to:-- + +TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 22. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "In a day or two I will send you something which you will still + have the liberty to reject if you dislike it. I should like to have + had more time, but will do my best,--but too happy if I can oblige + _you_, though I may offend a hundred scribblers and the discerning + public. Ever yours. + + "Keep _my name_ a _secret_; or I shall be beset by all the + rejected, and, perhaps, damned by a party." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 97. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Cheltenham, September 23. 1812. + + "Ecco!--I have marked some passages with _double_ readings--choose + between them--_cut_--_add_--_reject_--or _destroy_--do with them + as you will--I leave it to you and the Committee--you cannot say so + called 'a _non committendo_.' What will _they_ do (and I do) with + the hundred and one rejected Troubadours? 'With trumpets, yea, and + with shawms,' will you be assailed in the most diabolical doggerel. + I wish my name not to transpire till the day is decided. I shall + not be in town, so it won't much matter; but let us have a good + _deliverer_. I think Elliston should be the man, or Pope; _not_ + Raymond, I implore you, by the love of Rhythmus! + + "The passages marked thus ==, above and below, are for you to + choose between epithets, and such like poetical furniture. Pray + write me a line, and believe me ever, &c. + + "My best remembrances to Lady H. Will you be good enough to decide + between the various readings marked, and erase the other; or our + deliverer may be as puzzled as a commentator, and belike repeat + both. If these _versicles_ won't do, I will hammer out some more + endecasyllables. + + "P.S.--Tell Lady H. I have had sad work to keep out the Phoenix--I + mean the Fire Office of that name. It has insured the theatre, and + why not the Address?" + + * * * * * + +TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 24. + + "I send a recast of the four first lines of the concluding + paragraph. + + "This greeting o'er, the ancient rule obey'd, + The drama's homage by her Herald paid, + Receive _our welcome too_, whose every tone + Springs from our hearts, and fain would win your own. + The curtain rises, &c. &c. + + And do forgive all this trouble. See what it is to have to do even + with the _genteelest_ of us. Ever," &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 99. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 26. 1812. + + "You will think there is no end to my villanous emendations. The + fifth and sixth lines I think to alter thus:-- + + "Ye who beheld--oh sight admired and mourn'd, + Whose radiance mock'd the ruin it adorn'd; + + because 'night' is repeated the next line but one; and, as it now + stands, the conclusion of the paragraph, 'worthy him (Shakspeare) + and _you_,' appears to apply the '_you_' to those only who were out + of bed and in Covent Garden Market on the night of conflagration, + instead of the audience or the discerning public at large, all of + whom are intended to be comprised in that comprehensive and, I + hope, comprehensible pronoun. + + "By the by, one of my corrections in the fair copy sent yesterday + has dived into the bathos some sixty fathom-- + + "When Garrick died, and Brinsley ceased to write. + + Ceasing to _live_ is a much more serious concern, and ought not to + be first; therefore I will let the old couplet stand, with its half + rhymes 'sought' and 'wrote.'[51] Second thoughts in every thing are + best, but, in rhyme, third and fourth don't come amiss. I am very + anxious on this business, and I do hope that the very trouble I + occasion you will plead its own excuse, and that it will tend to + show my endeavour to make the most of the time allotted. I wish I + had known it months ago, for in that case I had not left one line + standing on another. I always scrawl in this way, and smooth as + much as I can, but never sufficiently; and, latterly, I can weave a + nine-line stanza faster than a couplet, for which measure I have + not the cunning. When I began 'Childe Harold,' I had never tried + Spenser's measure, and now I cannot scribble in any other. + + "After all, my dear Lord, if you can get a decent Address + elsewhere, don't hesitate to put this aside. Why did you not trust + your own Muse? I am very sure she would have been triumphant, and + saved the Committee their trouble--''tis a joyful one' to me, but I + fear I shall not satisfy even myself. After the account you sent + me, 'tis no compliment to say you would have beaten your + candidates; but I mean that, in _that_ case, there would have been + no occasion for their being beaten at all. + + "There are but two decent prologues in our tongue--Pope's to + Cato--Johnson's to Drury Lane. These, with the epilogue to the + 'Distrest Mother,' and, I think, one of Goldsmith's, and a prologue + of old Colman's to Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, are the best + things of the kind we have. + + "P.S.--I am diluted to the throat with medicine for the stone; and + Boisragon wants me to try a warm climate for the winter--but I + won't." + +[Footnote 51: + + "Such are the names that here your plaudits sought, + When Garrick acted, and when Brinsley wrote." + +At present the couplet stands thus:-- + + "Dear are the days that made our annals bright, + Ere Garrick fled, or Brinsley ceased to write." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 100. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 27. 1812. + + "I have just received your very kind letter, and hope you have met + with a second copy corrected and addressed to Holland House, with + some omissions and this new couplet, + + "As glared each rising flash[52], and ghastly shone + The skies with lightnings awful as their own. + + As to remarks, I can only say I will alter and acquiesce in any + thing. With regard to the part which Whitbread wishes to omit, I + believe the Address will go off _quicker_ without it, though, like + the agility of the Hottentot, at the expense of its vigour. I leave + to your choice entirely the different specimens of stucco-work; and + a _brick_ of your own will also much improve my Babylonish turret. + I should like Elliston to have it, with your leave. 'Adorn' and + 'mourn' are lawful rhymes in Pope's Death of the unfortunate + Lady.--Gray has 'forlorn' and 'mourn;'--and 'torn' and 'mourn' are + in Smollet's famous Tears of Scotland. + + "As there will probably be an outcry amongst the rejected, I hope + the committee will testify (if it be needful) that I sent in + nothing to the congress whatever, with or without a name, as your + Lordship well knows. All I have to do with it is with and through + you; and though I, of course, wish to satisfy the audience, I do + assure you my first object is to comply with your request, and in + so doing to show the sense I have of the many obligations you have + conferred upon me. Yours ever, B." + +[Footnote 52: At present, "As glared the volumed blaze."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 103. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "September 29. 1812. + + "Shakspeare certainly ceased to reign in _one_ of his kingdoms, as + George III. did in America, and George IV. may in Ireland.[53] Now, + we have nothing to do out of our own realms, and when the monarchy + was gone, his majesty had but a barren sceptre. I have _cut away_, + you will see, and altered, but make it what you please; only I do + implore, for my _own_ gratification, one lash on those accursed + quadrupeds--'a long shot, Sir Lucius, if you love me.' I have + altered 'wave,' &c., and the 'fire,' and so forth for the timid. + + "Let me hear from you when convenient, and believe me, &c. + + "P.S.--Do let _that_ stand, and cut out elsewhere. I shall choke, + if we must overlook their d----d menagerie." + +[Footnote 53: Some objection, it appears from this, had been made to the +passage, "and Shakspeare _ceased to reign_."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 105. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Far be from him that hour which asks in vain + Tears such as flow for Garrick in his strain; + + _or_, + + "Far be that hour that vainly asks in turn + {_crown'd his_} + Such verse for him as { wept o'er } Garrick's urn. + + "September 30. 1812. + + "Will you choose between these added to the lines on Sheridan?[54] + I think they will wind up the panegyric, and agree with the train + of thought preceding them. + + "Now, one word as to the Committee--how could they resolve on a + rough copy of an Address never sent in, unless you had been good + enough to retain in memory, or on paper, the thing they have been + good enough to adopt? By the by, the circumstances of the case + should make the Committee less 'avidus glorias,' for all praise of + them would look plaguy suspicious. If necessary to be stated at + all, the simple facts bear them out. They surely had a right to act + as they pleased. My sole object is one which, I trust, my whole + conduct has shown; viz. that I did nothing insidious--sent in no + Address _whatever_--but, when applied to, did my best for them and + myself; but, above all, that there was no undue partiality, which + will be what the rejected will endeavour to make out. + Fortunately--most fortunately--I sent in no lines on the occasion. + For I am sure that had they, in that case, been preferred, it would + have been asserted that _I_ was known, and owed the preference to + private friendship. This is what we shall probably have to + encounter; but, if once spoken and approved, we sha'n't be much + embarrassed by their brilliant conjectures; and, as to criticism, + an _old_ author, like an old bull, grows cooler (or ought) at every + baiting. + + "The only thing would be to avoid a party on the night of + delivery--afterwards, the more the better, and the whole + transaction inevitably tends to a good deal of discussion. Murray + tells me there are myriads of ironical Addresses ready--_some_, in + imitation of what is called _my style_. If they are as good as the + Probationary Odes, or Hawkins's Pipe of Tobacco, it will not be bad + fun for the imitated. + + "Ever," &c. + +[Footnote 54: These added lines, as may be seen by reference to the +printed Address, were not retained.] + + * * * * * + +The time comprised in the series of letters to Lord Holland, of which +the above are specimens, Lord Byron passed, for the most part, at +Cheltenham; and during the same period, the following letters to other +correspondents were written. + +LETTER 107. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "High Street, Cheltenham, Sept. 5. 1812. + + "Pray have the goodness to send those despatches, and a No. of the + Edinburgh Review with the rest. I hope you have written to Mr. + Thompson, thanked him in my name for his present, and told him that + I shall be truly happy to comply with his request.--How do you go + on? and when is the graven image, 'with _bays and wicked rhyme + upon 't,'_ to grace, or disgrace, some of our tardy editions? + + "Send me '_Rokeby_.' Who the devil is he?--no matter, he has good + connections, and will be well introduced. I thank you for your + enquiries: I am so so, but my thermometer is sadly below the + poetical point. What will you give _me_ or _mine_ for a poem of six + cantos, (_when complete_--_no_ rhyme, _no_ recompense,) as like + the last two as I can make them? I have some ideas that one day may + be embodied, and till winter I shall have much leisure. + + "P.S.--My last question is in the true style of Grub Street; but, + like Jeremy Diddler, I only 'ask for information.'--Send me Adair + on Diet and Regimen, just republished by Ridgway." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 108. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, Sept. 14. 1812. + + "The parcels contained some letters and verses, all but one + anonymous and complimentary, and very anxious for my conversion + from certain infidelities into which my good-natured correspondents + conceive me to have fallen. The books were presents of a + _convertible_ kind. Also, 'Christian Knowledge' and the 'Bioscope,' + a religious Dial of Life explained;--and to the author of the + former (Cadell, publisher,) I beg you will forward my best thanks + for his letter, his present, and, above all, his good intentions. + The 'Bioscope' contained a MS. copy of very excellent verses, from + whom I know not, but evidently the composition of some one in the + habit of writing, and of writing well. I do not know if he be the + author of the 'Bioscope' which accompanied them; but whoever he is, + if you can discover him, thank him from me most heartily. The other + letters were from ladies, who are welcome to convert me when they + please; and if I can discover them, and they be young, as they say + they are, I could convince them perhaps of my devotion. I had also + a letter from Mr. Walpole on matters of this world, which I have + answered. + + "So you are Lucien's publisher? I am promised an interview with + him, and think I shall ask _you_ for a letter of introduction, as + 'the gods have made him poetical.' From whom could it come with a + better grace than from _his_ publisher and mine? Is it not somewhat + treasonable in you to have to do with a relative of the 'direful + foe,' as the Morning Post calls his brother? + + "But my book on 'Diet and Regimen,' where is it? I thirst for + Scott's Rokeby; let me have your first-begotten copy. The + Anti-jacobin Review is all very well, and not a bit worse than the + Quarterly, and at least less harmless. By the by, have you secured + my books? I want all the Reviews, at least the critiques, + quarterly, monthly, &c., Portuguese and English, extracted, and + bound up in one volume for my _old age_; and pray, sort my Romaic + books, and get the volumes lent to Mr. Hobhouse--he has had them + now a long time. If any thing occurs, you will favour me with a + line, and in winter we shall be nearer neighbours. + + "P.S.--I was applied to, to write the Address for Drury Lane, but + the moment I heard of the contest, I gave up the idea of contending + against all Grub Street, and threw a few thoughts on the subject + into the fire. I did this out of respect to you, being sure you + would have turned off any of your authors who had entered the lists + with such scurvy competitors. To triumph would have been no glory; + and to have been defeated--'sdeath!--I would have choked myself, + like Otway, with a quartern loaf; so, remember I had, and have, + nothing to do with it, upon _my honour_." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 109. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "Cheltenham, September 28. 1812. + + "My dear Bankes, + + "When you point out to one how people can be intimate at the + distance of some seventy leagues, I will plead guilty to your + charge, and accept your farewell, but not _wittingly_, till you + give me some better reason than my silence, which merely proceeded + from a notion founded on your own declaration of _old_, that you + hated writing and receiving letters. Besides, how was I to find out + a man of many residences? If I had addressed you _now_, it had been + to your borough, where I must have conjectured you were amongst + your constituents. So now, in despite of Mr. N. and Lady W., you + shall be as 'much better' as the Hexham post-office will allow me + to make you. I do assure you I am much indebted to you for thinking + of me at all, and can't spare you even from amongst the + superabundance of friends with whom you suppose me surrounded. + + "You heard that Newstead[55] is sold--the sum 140,000_l._; sixty + to remain in mortgage on the estate for three years, paying + interest, of course. Rochdale is also likely to do well--so my + worldly matters are mending. I have been here some time drinking + the waters, simply because there are waters to drink, and they are + very medicinal, and sufficiently disgusting. In a few days I set + out for Lord Jersey's, but return here, where I am quite alone, go + out very little, and enjoy in its fullest extent the 'dolce far + niente.' What you are about, I cannot guess, even from your + date;--not dauncing to the sound of the gitourney in the Halls of + the Lowthers? one of whom is here, ill, poor thing, with a + phthisic. I heard that you passed through here (at the sordid inn + where I first alighted) the very day before I arrived in these + parts. We had a very pleasant set here; at first the Jerseys, + Melbournes, Cowpers, and Hollands, but all gone; and the only + persons I know are the Rawdons and Oxfords, with some later + acquaintances of less brilliant descent. + + "But I do not trouble them much; and as for your rooms and your + assemblies, 'they are not dreamed of in our philosophy!!'--Did you + read of a sad accident in the Wye t' other day? a dozen drowned, and + Mr. Rossoe, a corpulent gentleman, preserved by a boat-hook or an + eel-spear, begged, when he heard his wife was + saved--no--_lost_--to be thrown in again!!--as if he could not + have thrown himself in, had he wished it; but this passes for a + trait of sensibility. What strange beings men are, in and out of + the Wye! + + "I have to ask you a thousand pardons for not fulfilling some + orders before I left town; but if you knew all the cursed + entanglements I _had_ to wade through, it would be unnecessary to + beg your forgiveness.--When will Parliament (the new one) + meet?--in sixty days, on account of Ireland, I presume: the Irish + election will demand a longer period for completion than the + constitutional allotment. Yours, of course, is safe, and all your + side of the question. Salamanca is the ministerial watchword, and + all will go well with you. I hope you will speak more frequently, I + am sure at least you _ought_, and it will be expected. I see + Portman means to stand again. Good night. + + "Ever yours most affectionately, + + "[Greek: Mpahiron]."[56] + +[Footnote 55: "Early in the autumn of 1812," says Mr. Dallas, "he told +me that he was urged by his man of business, and that Newstead _must_ be +sold." It was accordingly brought to the hammer at Garraway's, but not, +at that time, sold, only 90,000_l._ being offered for it. The private +sale to which he alludes in this letter took place soon after,--Mr. +Claughton, the agent for Mr. Leigh, being the purchaser. It was never, +however, for reasons which we shall see, completed.] + +[Footnote 56: A mode of signature he frequently adopted at this time.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 110. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, September 27. 1812. + + "I sent in no Address whatever to the Committee; but out of nearly + one hundred (this is _confidential_), none have been deemed worth + acceptance; and in consequence of their _subsequent_ application to + _me_, I have written a prologue, which _has_ been received, and + will be spoken. The MS. is now in the hands of Lord Holland. + + "I write this merely to say, that (however it is received by the + audience) you will publish it in the next edition of Childe Harold; + and I only beg you at present to keep my name secret till you hear + further from me, and as soon as possible I wish you to have a + correct copy, to do with as you think proper. + + "P.S.--I should wish a few copies printed off _before_, that the + newspaper copies may be correct _after_ the _delivery_." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 111. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, Oct. 12. 1812. + + "I have a very _strong_ objection to the engraving of the + portrait[57], and request that it may, on no account, be prefixed; + but let _all_ the proofs be burnt, and the plate broken. I will be + at the expense which has been incurred; it is but fair that _I_ + should, since I cannot permit the publication. I beg, as a + particular favour, that you will lose no time in having this done, + for which I have reasons that I will state when I see you. Forgive + all the trouble I have occasioned you. + + "I have received no account of the reception of the Address, but + see it is vituperated in the papers, which does not much embarrass + an _old author_. I leave it to your own judgment to add it, or not, + to your next edition when required. Pray comply _strictly_ with my + wishes as to the engraving, and believe me, &c. + + "P.S.--Favour me with an answer, as I shall not be easy till I hear + that the proofs, &c. are destroyed. I hear that the _Satirist_ has + reviewed Childe Harold, in what manner I need not ask; but I wish + to know if the old personalities are revived? I have a better + reason for asking this than any that merely concerns myself; but in + publications of that kind, others, particularly female names, are + sometimes introduced." + +[Footnote 57: A miniature by Sanders. Besides this miniature, Sanders +had also painted a full length of his Lordship, from which the portrait +prefixed to this work is engraved. In reference to the latter picture, +Lord Byron says, in a note to Mr. Rogers, "If you think the picture you +saw at Murray's worth your acceptance, it is yours; and you may put a +_glove_ or mask on it, if you like."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 112. TO LORD HOLLAND. + + "Cheltenham, Oct. 14. 1812. + + "My dear Lord, + + "I perceive that the papers, yea, even Perry's, are somewhat + ruffled at the injudicious preference of the Committee. My friend + Perry has, indeed, 'et tu Brute'-d me rather scurvily, for which I + will send him, for the M.C., the next epigram I scribble, as a + token of my full forgiveness. + + "Do the Committee mean to enter into no explanation of their + proceedings? You must see there is a leaning towards a charge of + partiality. You will, at least, acquit me of any great anxiety to + push myself before so many elder and better anonymous, to whom the + twenty guineas (which I take to be about two thousand pounds _Bank_ + currency) and the honour would have been equally welcome. 'Honour,' + I see, 'hath no skill in paragraph-writing.' + + "I wish to know how it went off at the second reading, and whether + any one has had the grace to give it a glance of approbation. I + have seen no paper but Perry's and two Sunday ones. Perry is + severe, and the others silent. If, however, you and your Committee + are not now dissatisfied with your own judgments, I shall not much + embarrass myself about the brilliant remarks of the journals. My + own opinion upon it is what it always was, perhaps pretty near that + of the public. + + "Believe me, my dear Lord, &c. &c. + + "P.S.--My best respects to Lady H., whose smiles will be very + consolatory, even at this distance." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 113. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, Oct. 18. 1812. + + "Will you have the goodness to get this Parody of a peculiar + kind[58] (for all the first lines are _Busby_'s entire) inserted + in several of the papers (_correctly_--and copied _correctly_; _my + hand_ is difficult)--particularly the Morning Chronicle? Tell Mr. + Perry I forgive him all he has said, and may say against _my + address_, but he will allow me to deal with the Doctor--(_audi + alteram partem_)--and not _betray_ me. I cannot think what has + befallen Mr. Perry, for of yore we were very good friends;--but no + matter, only get this inserted. + + "I have a poem on Waltzing for _you_, of which I make _you_ a + present; but it must be anonymous. It is in the old style of + English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. + + "P.S.--With the next edition of Childe Harold you may print the + first fifty or a hundred opening lines of the 'Curse of Minerva' + down to the couplet beginning + + "Mortal ('twas thus she spake), &c. + + Of course, the moment the _Satire_ begins, there you will stop, and + the opening is the best part." + +[Footnote 58: Among the Addresses sent in to the Drury Lane Committee +was one by Dr. Busby, entitled a Monologue, of which the Parody was +enclosed in this letter. A short specimen of this trifle will be +sufficient. The four first lines of the Doctor's Address are as +follows:-- + + "When energising objects men pursue, + What are the prodigies they cannot do? + A magic Edifice you here survey, + Shot from the ruins of the other day!" + +Which verses are thus ridiculed, unnecessarily, in the Parody:-- + + "'When energising objects men pursue,' + The Lord knows what is writ by Lord knows who. + 'A modest Monologue you here survey,' + Hiss'd from the theatre the 'other day.'" +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 114. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Oct. 19. 1812. + + "Many thanks, but I _must_ pay the _damage_, and will thank you to + tell me the amount for the engraving. I think the 'Rejected + Addresses' by far the best thing of the kind since the Rolliad, and + wish _you_ had published them. Tell the author 'I forgive him, were + he twenty times over a satirist;' and think his imitations not at + all inferior to the famous ones of Hawkins Browne. He must be a man + of very lively wit, and less scurrilous than wits often are: + altogether, I very much admire the performance, and wish it all + success. The _Satirist_ has taken a new tone, as you will see: we + have now, I think, finished with Childe Harold's critics. I have in + _hand_ a _Satire_ on _Waltzing,_ which you must publish + anonymously: it is not long, not quite two hundred lines, but will + make a very small boarded pamphlet. In a few days you shall have + it. + + "P.S.--The editor of the _Satirist_ ought to be thanked for his + revocation; it is done handsomely, after five years' warfare." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 115. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Oct. 23. 1812. + + "Thanks, as usual. You go on boldly; but have a care of _glutting_ + the public, who have by this time had enough of Childe Harold. + 'Waltzing' shall be prepared. It is rather above two hundred + lines, with an introductory Letter to the Publisher. I think of + publishing, with Childe Harold, the opening lines of the 'Curse of + Minerva,' as far as the first speech of Pallas,--because some of + the readers like that part better than any I have ever written, and + as it contains nothing to affect the subject of the subsequent + portion, it will find a place as a _Descriptive Fragment_. + + "The _plate_ is _broken_? between ourselves, it was unlike the + picture; and besides, upon the whole, the frontispiece of an + author's visage is but a paltry exhibition. At all events, _this_ + would have been no recommendation to the book. I am sure Sanders + would not have _survived_ the engraving. By the by, the _picture_ + may remain with _you_ or _him_ (which you please), till my return. + The _one_ of two remaining copies is at your service till I can + give you a _better_; the other must be _burned peremptorily_. + Again, do not forget that I have an account with you, and _that_ + this is _included_. I give you too much trouble to allow you to + incur _expense_ also. + + "You best know how far this 'Address Riot' will affect the future + sale of Childe Harold. I like the volume of 'Rejected Addresses' + better and better. The other parody which Perry has received is + mine also (I believe). It is Dr. Busby's speech versified. You are + removing to Albemarle Street, I find, and I rejoice that we shall + be nearer neighbours. I am going to Lord Oxford's, but letters here + will be forwarded. When at leisure, all communications from you + will be willingly received by the humblest of your scribes. Did Mr. + Ward write the review of Horne Tooke's Life in the Quarterly? it is + excellent." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 116. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Cheltenham, November 22. 1812. + + "On my return here from Lord Oxford's, I found your obliging note, + and will thank you to retain the letters, and any other subsequent + ones to the same address, till I arrive in town to claim them, + which will probably be in a few days. I have in charge a curious + and very long MS. poem, written by Lord Brooke (the _friend_ of Sir + _Philip Sidney_), which I wish to submit to the inspection of Mr. + Gifford, with the following queries:--first, whether it has ever + been published, and, secondly (if not), whether it is worth + publication? It is from Lord Oxford's library, and must have + escaped or been overlooked amongst the MSS. of the Harleian + Miscellany. The writing is Lord Brooke's, except a different hand + towards the close. It is very long, and in the six-line stanza. It + is not for me to hazard an opinion upon its merits; but I would + take the liberty, if not too troublesome, to submit it to Mr. + Gifford's judgment, which, from his excellent edition of Massinger, + I should conceive to be as decisive on the writings of that age as + on those of our own. + + "Now for a less agreeable and important topic.--How came Mr. + _Mac-Somebody_, without consulting you or me, to prefix the Address + to his volume[59] of '_Dejected_ Addresses?' Is not this somewhat + larcenous? I think the ceremony of leave might have been asked, + though I have no objection to the thing itself; and leave the + 'hundred and eleven' to tire themselves with 'base comparisons.' I + should think the ingenuous public tolerably sick of the subject, + and, except the Parodies, I have not interfered, nor shall; indeed + I did not know that Dr. Busby had published his Apologetical Letter + and Postscript, or I should have recalled them. But, I confess, I + looked upon his conduct in a different light before its appearance. + I see some mountebank has taken Alderman Birch's name to vituperate + Dr. Busby; he had much better have pilfered his pastry, which I + should imagine the more valuable ingredient--at least for a + puff.--Pray secure me a copy of Woodfall's new Junius, and believe + me," &c. + +[Footnote 59: "The Genuine Rejected Addresses, presented to the +Committee of Management for Drury Lane Theatre: preceded by that written +by Lord Byron and adopted by the Committee:"--published by B. M'Millan.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 117. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES. + + "December 26. + + "The multitude of your recommendations has already superseded my + humble endeavours to be of use to you; and, indeed, most of my + principal friends are returned. Leake from Joannina, Canning and + Adair from the city of the Faithful, and at Smyrna no letter is + necessary, as the consuls are always willing to do every thing for + personages of respectability. I have sent you _three_, one to + Gibraltar, which, though of no great necessity, will, perhaps, put + you on a more intimate footing with a very pleasant family there. + You will very soon find out that a man of any consequence has very + little occasion for any letters but to ministers and bankers, and + of them we have already plenty, I will be sworn. + + "It is by no means improbable that I shall go in the spring, and if + you will fix any place of rendezvous about August, I will _write_ + or _join_ you.--When in Albania, I wish you would enquire after + Dervise Tahiri and Vascillie (or Bazil), and make my respects to + the viziers, both there and in the Morea. If you mention my name to + Suleyman of Thebes, I think it will not hurt you; if I had my + dragoman, or wrote Turkish, I could have given you letters of _real + service_; but to the English they are hardly requisite, and the + Greeks themselves can be of little advantage. Liston you know + already, and I do not, as he was not then minister. Mind you visit + Ephesus and the Troad, and let me hear from you when you please. I + believe G. Forresti is now at Yanina, but if not, whoever is there + will be too happy to assist you. Be particular about _firmauns_; + never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in + Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take some + _knicknackeries_ for _presents_--_watches_, _pistols_, &c. &c. to + the Beys and Pachas. If you find one Demetrius, at Athens or + elsewhere, I can recommend him as a good dragoman. I hope to join + you, however; but you will find swarms of English now in the + Levant. + + "Believe me," &c. + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "February 20. 1813. + + "In 'Horace in London' I perceive some stanzas on Lord Elgin in + which (waving the kind compliment to myself[60]) I heartily concur. + I wish I had the pleasure of Mr. Smith's acquaintance, as I could + communicate the curious anecdote you read in Mr. T.'s letter. If he + would like it, he can have the _substance_ for his second edition; + if not, I shall add it to our next, though I think we already have + enough of Lord Elgin. + + "What I have read of this work seems admirably done. My praise, + however, is not much worth the author's having; but you may thank + him in my name for _his_. The idea is new--we have excellent + imitations of the Satires, &c. by Pope; but I remember but one + imitative Ode in his works, and _none_ any where else. I can hardly + suppose that _they_ have lost any fame by the fate of the _farce_; + but even should this be the case, the present publication will + again place them on their pinnacle. + + "Yours," &c. + +[Footnote 60: In the Ode entitled "The Parthenon," Minerva thus +speaks:-- + + "All who behold my mutilated pile + Shall brand its ravager with classic rage; + And soon a titled bard from Britain's isle + Thy country's praise and suffrage shall engage, + And fire with Athens' wrongs an angry age!" + HORACE IN LONDON. +] + + * * * * * + +It has already been stated that the pecuniary supplies, which he found +it necessary to raise on arriving at majority, were procured for him on +ruinously usurious terms.[61] To some transactions connected with this +subject, the following characteristic letter refers. + +TO MR. ROGERS. + + "March 25, 1813. + + "I enclose you a draft for the usurious interest due to Lord * *'s + _protege_;--I also could wish you would state thus much for me to + his Lordship. Though the transaction speaks plainly in itself for + the borrower's folly and the lender's usury, it never was my + intention to _quash_ the demand, as I _legally_ might, nor to + withhold payment of principal, or, perhaps, even _unlawful_ + interest. You know what my situation has been, and what it is. I + have parted with an estate (which has been in my family for nearly + three hundred years, and was never disgraced by being in possession + of a _lawyer_, a _churchman_, or a _woman_, during that period,) to + liquidate this and similar demands; and the payment of the + purchase is still withheld, and may be, perhaps, for years. If, + therefore, I am under the necessity of making those persons _wait_ + for their money, (which, considering the terms, they can afford to + suffer,) it is my misfortune. + + "When I arrived at majority in 1809, I offered my own security on + _legal_ interest, and it was refused. _Now_, I will not accede to + this. This man I may have seen, but I have no recollection of the + names of any parties but the _agents_ and the securities. The + moment I can it is assuredly my intention to pay my debts. This + person's case may be a hard one; but, under all circumstances, what + is mine? I could not foresee that the purchaser of my estate was to + demur in paying for it. + + "I am glad it happens to be in my power so far to accommodate my + Israelite, and only wish I could do as much for the rest of the + Twelve Tribes. + + "Ever yours, dear R., BN." + +[Footnote 61: + + "Tis said that persons living on annuities + Are longer lived than others,--God knows why, + Unless to plague the grantors,--yet so true it is, + That some, I really think, _do_ never die. + Of any creditors, the worst a Jew it is; + And _that_'s their mode of furnishing supply: + In my young days they lent me cash that way, + Which I found very troublesome to pay." + DON JUAN, Canto II +] + + * * * * * + +At the beginning of this year, Mr. Murray having it in contemplation to +publish an edition of the two Cantos of Childe Harold with engravings, +the noble author entered with much zeal into his plan; and, in a note on +the subject to Mr. Murray, says,--"Westall has, I believe, agreed to +illustrate your book, and I fancy one of the engravings will be from the +pretty little girl you saw the other day[62], though without her name, +and merely as a model for some sketch connected with the subject. I +would also have the portrait (which you saw to-day) of the friend who is +mentioned in the text at the close of Canto 1st, and in the +notes,--which are subjects sufficient to authorise that addition." + +Early in the spring he brought out, anonymously, his poem on Waltzing, +which, though full of very lively satire, fell so far short of what was +now expected from him by the public, that the disavowal of it, which, as +we see by the following letter, he thought right to put forth, found +ready credence:-- + +LETTER 120. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "April 21. 1813. + + "I shall be in town by Sunday next, and will call and have some + conversation on the subject of Westall's designs. I am to sit to + him for a picture at the request of a friend of mine, and as + Sanders's is not a good one, you will probably prefer the other. I + wish you to have Sanders's taken down and sent to my lodgings + immediately--before my arrival. I hear that a certain malicious + publication on Waltzing is attributed to me. This report, I + suppose, you will take care to contradict, as the author, I am + sure, will not like that I should wear his cap and bells. Mr. + Hobhouse's quarto will be out immediately; pray send to the author + for an early copy, which I wish to take abroad with me. + + "P.S.--I see the Examiner threatens some observations upon you next + week. What can you have done to share the wrath which has + heretofore been principally expended upon the Prince? I presume all + your Scribleri will be drawn up in battle array in defence of the + modern Tonson--Mr. Bucke, for instance. + + "Send in my account to Bennet Street, as I wish to settle it before + sailing." + +[Footnote 62: Lady Charlotte Harley, to whom, under the name of Ianthe, +the introductory lines to Childe Harold were afterwards addressed.] + + * * * * * + +In the month of May appeared his wild and beautiful "Fragment," _The +Giaour_;--and though, in its first flight from his hands, some of the +fairest feathers of its wing were yet wanting, the public hailed this +new offspring of his genius with wonder and delight. The idea of writing +a poem in fragments had been suggested to him by the _Columbus_ of Mr. +Rogers; and, whatever objections may lie against such a plan in general, +it must be allowed to have been well suited to the impatient temperament +of Byron, as enabling him to overleap those mechanical difficulties, +which, in a regular narrative, embarrass, if not chill, the +poet,--leaving it to the imagination of his readers to fill up the +intervals between those abrupt bursts of passion in which his chief +power lay. The story, too, of the poem possessed that stimulating charm +for him, almost indispensable to his fancy, of being in some degree +connected with himself,--an event in which he had been personally +concerned, while on his travels, having supplied the groundwork on which +the fiction was founded. After the appearance of The Giaour, some +incorrect statement of this romantic incident having got into +circulation, the noble author requested of his friend, the Marquis of +Sligo, who had visited Athens soon after it happened, to furnish him +with his recollections on the subject; and the following is the answer +which Lord Sligo returned:-- + + "Albany, Monday, August 31. 1813. + + "My dear Byron, + + "You have requested me to tell you all that I heard at Athens about + the affair of that girl who was so near being put an end to while + you were there; you have asked me to mention every circumstance, in + the remotest degree relating to it, which I heard. In compliance + with your wishes, I write to you all I heard, and I cannot imagine + it to be very far from the fact, as the circumstance happened only + a day or two before I arrived at Athens, and, consequently, was a + matter of common conversation at the time. + + "The new governor, unaccustomed to have the same intercourse with + the Christians as his predecessor, had of course the barbarous + Turkish ideas with regard to women. In consequence, and in + compliance with the strict letter of the Mahommedan law, he ordered + this girl to be sewed up in a sack, and thrown into the sea,--as + is, indeed, quite customary at Constantinople. As you were + returning from bathing in the Piraeus, you met the procession going + down to execute the sentence of the Waywode on this unfortunate + girl. Report continues to say, that on finding out what the object + of their journey was, and who was the miserable sufferer, you + immediately interfered; and on some delay in obeying your orders, + you were obliged to inform the leader of the escort, that force + should make him comply;--that, on farther hesitation, you drew a + pistol, and told him, that if he did not immediately obey your + orders, and come back with you to the Aga's house, you would shoot + him dead. On this, the man turned about and went with you to the + governor's house; here you succeeded, partly by personal threats, + and partly by bribery and entreaty, to procure her pardon on + condition of her leaving Athens. I was told that you then conveyed + her in safety to the convent, and despatched her off at night to + Thebes, where she found a safe asylum. Such is the story I heard, + as nearly as I can recollect it at present. Should you wish to ask + me any further questions about it, I shall be very ready and + willing to answer them. I remain, my dear Byron, + + "Yours, very sincerely, + + "SLIGO. + + "I am afraid you will hardly be able to read this scrawl; but I am + so hurried with the preparations for my journey, that you must + excuse it." + + * * * * * + +Of the prodigal flow of his fancy, when its sources were once opened on +any subject, The Giaour affords one of the most remarkable +instances,--this poem having accumulated under his hand, both in +printing and through successive editions, till from four hundred lines, +of which it consisted in his first copy, it at present amounts to nearly +fourteen hundred. The plan, indeed, which he had adopted, of a series of +fragments,--a set of "orient pearls at random strung,"--left him free to +introduce, without reference to more than the general complexion of his +story, whatever sentiments or images his fancy, in its excursions, could +collect; and how little fettered he was by any regard to connection in +these additions, appears from a note which accompanied his own copy of +the paragraph commencing "Fair clime, where every season smiles,"--in +which he says, "I have not yet fixed the place of insertion for the +following lines, but will, when I see you--as I have no copy." + +Even into this new passage, rich as it was at first, his fancy +afterwards poured a fresh infusion,--the whole of its most picturesque +portion, from the line "For there, the Rose o'er crag or vale," down to +"And turn to groans his roundelay," having been suggested to him during +revision. In order to show, however, that though so rapid in the first +heat of composition, he formed no exception to that law which imposes +labour as the price of perfection, I shall here extract a few verses +from his original draft of this paragraph, by comparing which with the +form they wear at present[63] we may learn to appreciate the value of +these after-touches of the master. + + "Fair clime! where _ceaseless summer_ smiles + Benignant o'er those blessed isles, + Which, seen from far Colonna's height, + Make glad the heart that hails the sight, + And _give_ to loneliness delight. + There _shine the bright abodes ye seek, + Like dimples upon Ocean's cheek,-- + So smiling round the waters lave_ + These Edens of the eastern wave. + Or if, at times, the transient breeze + Break the _smooth_ crystal of the seas, + Or _brush_ one blossom from the trees, + How _grateful_ is the gentle air + That wakes and wafts the _fragrance_ there." + +Among the other passages added to this edition (which was either the +third or fourth, and between which and the first there intervened but +about six weeks) was that most beautiful and melancholy illustration of +the lifeless aspect of Greece, beginning "He who hath bent him o'er the +dead,"--of which the most gifted critic of our day[64] has justly +pronounced, that "it contains an image more true, more mournful, and +more exquisitely finished, than any we can recollect in the whole +compass of poetry."[65] To the same edition also were added, among other +accessions of wealth[66], those lines, "The cygnet proudly walks the +water," and the impassioned verses, "My memory now is but the tomb." + +On my rejoining him in town this spring, I found the enthusiasm about +his writings and himself, which I left so prevalent, both in the world +of literature and in society, grown, if any thing, still more general +and intense. In the immediate circle, perhaps, around him, familiarity +of intercourse might have begun to produce its usual disenchanting +effects. His own liveliness and unreserve, on a more intimate +acquaintance, would not be long in dispelling that charm of poetic +sadness, which to the eyes of distant observers hung about him; while +the romantic notions, connected by some of his fair readers with those +past and nameless loves alluded to in his poems, ran some risk of +abatement from too near an acquaintance with the supposed objects of +his fancy and fondness at present. A poet's mistress should remain, if +possible, as imaginary a being to others, as, in most of the attributes +he clothes her with, she has been to himself;--the reality, however +fair, being always sure to fall short of the picture which a too lavish +fancy has drawn of it. Could we call up in array before us all the +beauties whom the love of poets has immortalised, from the high-born +dame to the plebeian damsel,--from the Lauras and Sacharissas down to +the Cloes and Jeannies,--we should, it is to be feared, sadly unpeople +our imaginations of many a bright tenant that poesy has lodged there, +and find, in more than one instance, our admiration of the faith and +fancy of the worshipper increased by our discovery of the worthlessness +of the idol. + +But, whatever of its first romantic impression the personal character of +the poet may, from such causes, have lost in the circle he most +frequented, this disappointment of the imagination was far more than +compensated by the frank, social, and engaging qualities, both of +disposition and manner, which, on a nearer intercourse, he disclosed, as +well as by that entire absence of any literary assumption or pedantry, +which entitled him fully to the praise bestowed by Sprat upon Cowley, +that few could "ever discover he was a great poet by his discourse." +While thus, by his intimates, and those who had got, as it were, behind +the scenes of his fame, he was seen in his true colours, as well of +weakness as of amiableness, on strangers and such as were out of this +immediate circle, the spell of his poetical character still continued +to operate; and the fierce gloom and sternness of his imaginary +personages were, by the greater number of them, supposed to belong, not +only as regarded mind, but manners, to himself. So prevalent and +persevering has been this notion, that, in some disquisitions on his +character published since his death, and containing otherwise many just +and striking views, we find, in the professed portrait drawn of him, +such features as the following:--"Lord Byron had a stern, direct, severe +mind: a sarcastic, disdainful, gloomy temper. He had no light sympathy +with heartless cheerfulness;--upon the surface was sourness, discontent, +displeasure, ill will. Beneath all this weight of clouds and +darkness[67]," &c. &c. + +Of the sort of double aspect which he thus presented, as viewed by the +world and by his friends, he was himself fully aware; and it not only +amused him, but, as a proof of the versatility of his powers, flattered +his pride. He was, indeed, as I have already remarked, by no means +insensible or inattentive to the effect he produced personally on +society; and though the brilliant station he had attained, since the +commencement of my acquaintance with him, made not the slightest +alteration in the unaffectedness of his private intercourse, I could +perceive, I thought, with reference to the external world, some slight +changes in his conduct, which seemed indicative of the effects of his +celebrity upon him. Among other circumstances, I observed that, whether +from shyness of the general gaze, or from a notion, like Livy's, that +men of eminence should not too much familiarise the public to their +persons[68], he avoided showing himself in the mornings, and in crowded +places, much more than was his custom when we first became acquainted. +The preceding year, before his name had grown "so rife and celebrated," +we had gone together to the exhibition at Somerset House, and other such +places[69]; and the true reason, no doubt, of his present reserve, in +abstaining from all such miscellaneous haunts, was the sensitiveness, so +often referred to, on the subject of his lameness,--a feeling which the +curiosity of the public eye, now attracted to this infirmity by his +fame, could not fail, he knew, to put rather painfully to the proof. + +Among the many gay hours we passed together this spring, I remember +particularly the wild flow of his spirits one evening, when we had +accompanied Mr. Rogers home from some early assembly, and when Lord +Byron, who, according to his frequent custom, had not dined for the last +two days, found his hunger no longer governable, and called aloud for +"something to eat." Our repast,--of his own choosing,--was simple bread +and cheese; and seldom have I partaken of so joyous a supper. It +happened that our host had just received a presentation copy of a volume +of poems, written professedly in imitation of the old English writers, +and containing, like many of these models, a good deal that was striking +and beautiful, mixed up with much that was trifling, fantastic, and +absurd. In our mood, at the moment, it was only with these latter +qualities that either Lord Byron or I felt disposed to indulge +ourselves; and, in turning over the pages, we found, it must be owned, +abundant matter for mirth. In vain did Mr. Rogers, in justice to the +author, endeavour to direct our attention to some of the beauties of the +work:--it suited better our purpose (as is too often the case with more +deliberate critics) to pounce only on such passages as ministered to the +laughing humour that possessed us. In this sort of hunt through the +volume, we at length lighted on the discovery that our host, in addition +to his sincere approbation of some of its contents, had also the motive +of gratitude for standing by its author, as one of the poems was a warm +and, I need not add, well-deserved panegyric on himself. We were, +however, too far gone in nonsense for even this eulogy, in which we both +so heartily agreed, to stop us. The opening line of the poem was, as +well as I can recollect, "When Rogers o'er this labour bent;" and Lord +Byron undertook to read it aloud;--but he found it impossible to get +beyond the first two words. Our laughter had now increased to such a +pitch that nothing could restrain it. Two or three times he began; but +no sooner had the words "When Rogers" passed his lips, than our fit +burst forth afresh,--till even Mr. Rogers himself, with all his feeling +of our injustice, found it impossible not to join us; and we were, at +last, all three, in such a state of inextinguishable laughter, that, had +the author himself been of the party, I question much whether he could +have resisted the infection. + +A day or two after, Lord Byron sent me the following:-- + + "My dear Moore, + + "'When Rogers' must not see the enclosed, which I send for your + perusal. I am ready to fix any day you like for our visit. Was not + Sheridan good upon the whole? The 'Poulterer' was the first and + best.[70] + + "Ever yours," &c. + + + 1. + + "When T * * this damn'd nonsense sent, + (I hope I am not violent), + Nor men nor gods knew what he meant. + + 2. + + "And since not ev'n our Rogers' praise + To common sense his thoughts could raise-- + Why _would_ they let him print his lays? + + 3. + + * * * * + + 4. + + * * * * + + 5. + + "To me, divine Apollo, grant--O! + Hermilda's first and second canto, + I'm fitting up a new portmanteau; + + 6. + + "And thus to furnish decent lining, + My own and others' bays I'm twining-- + So gentle T * *, throw me thine in." + +[Footnote 63: The following are the lines in their present shape, and it +will be seen that there is not a single alteration in which the music of +the verse has not been improved as well as the thought:-- + + "Fair clime! where every season smiles + Benignant o'er those blessed isles, + Which, seen from far Colonna's height, + Make glad the heart that hails the sight, + And lend to loneliness delight. + There, mildly dimpling, Ocean's cheek + Reflects the tints of many a peak + Caught by the laughing tides that lave + These Edens of the eastern wave: + And if at times a transient breeze + Break the blue crystal of the seas, + Or sweep one blossom from the trees, + How welcome is each gentle air + That wakes and wafts the odours there!" +] + +[Footnote 64: Mr. Jeffrey.] + +[Footnote 65: In Dallaway's Constantinople, a book which Lord Byron is +not unlikely to have consulted, I find a passage quoted from Gillies's +History of Greece, which contains, perhaps, the first seed of the +thought thus expanded into full perfection by genius:--"The present +state of Greece compared to the ancient is the silent obscurity of the +grave contrasted with the vivid lustre of active life."] + +[Footnote 66: Among the recorded instances of such happy after-thoughts +in poetry may be mentioned, as one of the most memorable, Denham's four +lines, "Oh could I flow like thee," &c., which were added in the second +edition of his poem.] + +[Footnote 67: Letters on the Character and Poetical Genius of Lord +Byron, by Sir Egerton Brydges, Bart.] + +[Footnote 68: "Continuus aspectus minus verendos magnos homines facit."] + +[Footnote 69: The only peculiarity that struck me on those occasions was +the uneasy restlessness which he seemed to feel in wearing a hat,--an +article of dress which, from his constant use of a carriage while in +England, he was almost wholly unaccustomed to, and which, after that +year, I do not remember to have ever seen upon him again. Abroad, he +always wore a kind of foraging cap.] + +[Footnote 70: He here alludes to a dinner at Mr. Rogers's, of which I +have elsewhere given the following account:-- + +"The company consisted but of Mr. Rogers himself, Lord Byron, Mr. +Sheridan, and the writer of this Memoir. Sheridan knew the admiration +his audience felt for him; the presence of the young poet, in +particular, seemed to bring back his own youth and wit; and the details +he gave of his early life were not less interesting and animating to +himself than delightful to us. It was in the course of this evening +that, describing to us the poem which Mr. Whitbread had written, and +sent in, among the other addresses for the opening of Drury Lane +theatre, and which, like the rest, turned chiefly on allusions to the +Phoenix, he said--'But Whitbread made more of this bird than any of +them:--he entered into particulars, and described its wings, beak, tail, +&c.;--in short, it was a _poulterer_'s description of a Phoenix."--_Life +of Sheridan_.] + + * * * * * + +On the same day I received from him the following additional scraps. The +lines in italics are from the eulogy that provoked his waggish +comments. + +"TO ---- + + 1. + + "'_I lay my branch of laurel down._' + + "Thou 'lay thy branch of laurel down!" + Why, what thou'st stole is not enow; + And, were it lawfully thine own, + Does Rogers want it most, or thou? + Keep to thyself thy wither'd bough, + Or send it back to Dr. Donne-- + Were justice done to both, I trow, + He'd have but little, and thou--none. + + 2. + + "'_Then thus to form Apollo's crown_. + + "A crown! why, twist it how you will, + Thy chaplet must be foolscap still. + When next you visit Delphi's town, + Enquire amongst your fellow-lodgers, + They'll tell you Phoebus gave his crown, + Some years before your birth, to Rogers. + + 3. + + "'_Let every other bring his own_.' + + "When coals to Newcastle are carried, + And owls sent to Athens as wonders, + From his spouse when the * *'s unmarried, + Or Liverpool weeps o'er his blunders; + When Tories and Whigs cease to quarrel, + When C * *'s wife has an heir, + Then Rogers shall ask us for laurel, + And thou shalt have plenty to spare." + +The mention which he makes of Sheridan in the note just cited affords a +fit opportunity of producing, from one of his Journals, some particulars +which he has noted down respecting this extraordinary man, for whose +talents he entertained the most unbounded admiration,--rating him, in +natural powers, far above all his great political contemporaries. + +"In society I have met Sheridan frequently: he was superb! He had a sort +of liking for me, and never attacked me, at least to my face, and he did +every body else--high names, and wits, and orators, some of them poets +also. I have seen him cut up Whitbread, quiz Madame de Stael, annihilate +Colman, and do little less by some others (whose names, as friends, I +set not down) of good fame and ability. + +"The last time I met him was, I think, at Sir Gilbert Heathcote's, where +he was as quick as ever--no, it was not the last time; the last time was +at Douglas Kinnaird's. + +"I have met him in all places and parties,--at Whitehall with the +Melbournes, at the Marquis of Tavistock's, at Robins's the auctioneer's, +at Sir Humphrey Davy's, at Sam Rogers's,--in short, in most kinds of +company, and always found him very convivial and delightful. + +"I have seen Sheridan weep two or three times. It may be that he was +maudlin; but this only renders it more impressive, for who would see + + "From Marlborough's eyes the tears of dotage flow, + And Swift expire a driveller and a show? + +Once I saw him cry at Robins's the auctioneer's, after a splendid +dinner, full of great names and high spirits. I had the honour of +sitting next to Sheridan. The occasion of his tears was some observation +or other upon the subject of the sturdiness of the Whigs in resisting +office and keeping to their principles: Sheridan turned round:--'Sir, it +is easy for my Lord G. or Earl G. or Marquis B. or Lord H. with +thousands upon thousands a year, some of it either _presently_ derived, +or _inherited_ in sinecure or acquisitions from the public money, to +boast of their patriotism and keep aloof from temptation; but they do +not know from what temptation those have kept aloof who had equal pride, +at least equal talents, and not unequal passions, and nevertheless knew +not in the course of their lives what it was to have a shilling of their +own.' And in saying this he wept. + +"I have more than once heard him say, 'that he never had a shilling of +his own.' To be sure, he contrived to extract a good many of other +people's. + +"In 1815, I had occasion to visit my lawyer in Chancery Lane, he was +with Sheridan. After mutual greetings, &c., Sheridan retired first. +Before recurring to my own business, I could not help enquiring _that_ +of Sheridan. 'Oh,' replied the attorney, 'the usual thing! to stave off +an action from his wine-merchant, my client.'--'Well,' said I, 'and what +do you mean to do?'--'Nothing at all for the present,' said he: 'would +you have us proceed against old Sherry? what would be the use of it?' +and here he began laughing, and going over Sheridan's good gifts of +conversation. + +"Now, from personal experience, I can vouch that my attorney is by no +means the tenderest of men, or particularly accessible to any kind of +impression out of the statute or record; and yet Sheridan, in half an +hour, had found the way to soften and seduce him in such a manner, that +I almost think he would have thrown his client (an honest man, with all +the laws, and some justice, on his side) out of the window, had he come +in at the moment. + +"Such was Sheridan! he could soften an attorney! There has been nothing +like it since the days of Orpheus. + +"One day I saw him take up his own 'Monody on Garrick.' He lighted upon +the Dedication to the Dowager Lady * *. On seeing it, he flew into a +rage, and exclaimed, 'that it must be a forgery, that he had never +dedicated any thing of his to such a d----d canting,' &c. &c. &c--and so +went on for half an hour abusing his own dedication, or at least the +object of it. If all writers were equally sincere, it would be +ludicrous. + +"He told me that, on the night of the grand success of his School for +Scandal, he was knocked down and put into the watch-house for making a +row in the street, and being found intoxicated by the watchmen. + +"When dying, he was requested to undergo 'an operation.' He replied, +that he had already submitted to two, which were enough for one man's +lifetime. Being asked what they were, he answered, 'having his hair cut, +and sitting for his picture.' + +"I have met George Colman occasionally, and thought him extremely +pleasant and convivial. Sheridan's humour, or rather wit, was always +saturnine, and sometimes savage; he never laughed, (at least that _I_ +saw, and I watched him,) but Colman did. If I had to _choose_, and could +not have both at a time, I should say, 'Let me begin the evening with +Sheridan, and finish it with Colman.' Sheridan for dinner, Colman for +supper; Sheridan for claret or port, but Colman for every thing, from +the madeira and champagne at dinner, the claret with a _layer_ of _port_ +between the glasses, up to the punch of the night, and down to the grog, +or gin and water, of daybreak;--all these I have threaded with both the +same. Sheridan was a grenadier company of life-guards, but Colman a +whole regiment--of _light infantry_, to be sure, but still a regiment." + +It was at this time that Lord Byron became acquainted (and, I regret to +have to add, partly through my means) with Mr. Leigh Hunt, the editor of +a well-known weekly journal, the Examiner. This gentleman I had myself +formed an acquaintance with in the year 1811, and, in common with a +large portion of the public, entertained a sincere admiration of his +talents and courage as a journalist. The interest I took in him +personally had been recently much increased by the manly spirit, which +he had displayed throughout a prosecution instituted against himself and +his brother, for a libel that had appeared in their paper on the Prince +Regent, and in consequence of which they were both sentenced to +imprisonment for two years. It will be recollected that there existed +among the Whig party, at this period, a strong feeling of indignation at +the late defection from themselves and their principles of the +illustrious personage who had been so long looked up to as the friend +and patron of both. Being myself, at the time, warmly--perhaps +intemperately--under the influence of this feeling, I regarded the fate +of Mr. Hunt with more than common interest, and, immediately on my +arrival in town, paid him a visit in his prison. On mentioning the +circumstance, soon after, to Lord Byron, and describing my surprise at +the sort of luxurious comforts with which I had found the "wit in the +dungeon" surrounded,--his trellised flower-garden without, and his +books, busts, pictures, and piano-forte within,--the noble poet, whose +political view of the case coincided entirely with my own, expressed a +strong wish to pay a similar tribute of respect to Mr. Hunt, and +accordingly, a day or two after, we proceeded for that purpose to the +prison. The introduction which then took place was soon followed by a +request from Mr. Hunt that we would dine with him; and the noble poet +having good-naturedly accepted the invitation, Horsemonger Lane gaol +had, in the month of June, 1813, the honour of receiving Lord Byron, as +a guest, within its walls. + +On the morning of our first visit to the journalist, I received from +Lord Byron the following lines written, it will be perceived, the night +before:-- + + "May 19. 1813. + + "Oh you, who in all names can tickle the town, + Anacreon, Tom Little, Tom Moore, or Tom Brown,-- + For hang me if I know of which you may most brag, + Your Quarto two-pounds, or your Twopenny Post Bag; + * * * * + But now to my letter--to yours 'tis an answer-- + To-morrow be with me, as soon as you can, sir, + All ready and dress'd for proceeding to spunge on + (According to compact) the wit in the dungeon-- + Pray Phoebus at length our political malice + May not get us lodgings within the same palace! + I suppose that to-night you're engaged with some codgers, + And for Sotheby's Blues have deserted Sam Rogers; + And I, though with cold I have nearly my death got, + Must put on my breeches, and wait on the Heathcote. + But to-morrow at four, we will both play the Scurra, + And you'll be Catullus, the R----t Mamurra. + + "Dear M.--having got thus far, I am interrupted by * * * *. 10 + o'clock. + + "Half-past 11. * * * * is gone. I must dress for Lady + Heathcote's.--Addio." + + * * * * * + +Our day in the prison was, if not agreeable, at least novel and odd. I +had, for Lord Byron's sake, stipulated with our host beforehand, that +the party should be, as much as possible, confined to ourselves; and, as +far as regarded dinner, my wishes had been attended to;--there being +present, besides a member or two of Mr. Hunt's own family, no other +stranger, that I can recollect, but Mr. Mitchell, the ingenious +translator of Aristophanes. Soon after dinner, however, there dropped in +some of our host's literary friends, who, being utter strangers to Lord +Byron and myself, rather disturbed the ease into which we were all +settling. Among these, I remember, was Mr. John Scott,--the writer, +afterwards, of some severe attacks on Lord Byron; and it is painful to +think that, among the persons then assembled round the poet, there +should have been _one_ so soon to step forth the assailant of his living +fame, while _another_, less manful, was to reserve the cool venom for +his grave. + +On the 2d of June, in presenting a petition to the House of Lords, he +made his third and last appearance as an orator, in that assembly. In +his way home from the House that day, he called, I remember, at my +lodgings, and found me dressing in a very great hurry for dinner. He +was, I recollect, in a state of most humorous exaltation after his +display, and, while I hastily went on with my task in the dressing-room, +continued to walk up and down the adjoining chamber, spouting forth for +me, in a sort of mock heroic voice, detached sentences of the speech he +had just been delivering. "I told them," he said, "that it was a most +flagrant violation of the Constitution--that, if such things were +permitted, there was an end of English freedom, and that ----"--"But +what was this dreadful grievance?" I asked, interrupting him in his +eloquence.--"The grievance?" he repeated, pausing as if to +consider--"Oh, that I forget."[71] It is impossible, of course, to +convey an idea of the dramatic humour with which he gave effect to +these words; but his look and manner on such occasions were +irresistibly comic; and it was, indeed, rather in such turns of fun and +oddity, than in any more elaborate exhibition of wit, that the +pleasantry of his conversation consisted. + +Though it is evident that, after the brilliant success of Childe Harold, +he had ceased to think of Parliament as an arena of ambition, yet, as a +field for observation, we may take for granted it was not unstudied by +him. To a mind of such quick and various views, every place and pursuit +presented some aspect of interest; and whether in the ball-room, the +boxing-school, or the senate, all must have been, by genius like his, +turned to profit. The following are a few of the recollections and +impressions which I find recorded by himself of his short parliamentary +career:-- + +"I have never heard any one who fulfilled my ideal of an orator. Grattan +would have been near it, but for his harlequin delivery. Pitt I never +heard. Fox but once, and then he struck me as a debater, which to me +seems as different from an orator as an improvisatore, or a versifier, +from a poet. Grey is great, but it is not oratory. Canning is sometimes +very like one. Windham I did not admire, though all the world did; it +seemed sad sophistry. Whitbread was the Demosthenes of bad taste and +vulgar vehemence, but strong, and English. Holland is impressive from +sense and sincerity. Lord Lansdowne good, but still a debater only. +Grenville I like vastly, if he would prune his speeches down to an +hour's delivery. Burdett is sweet and silvery as Belial himself, and I +think the greatest favourite in Pandemonium; at least I always heard the +country gentlemen and the ministerial devilry praise his speeches _up_ +stairs, and run down from Bellamy's when he was upon his legs. I heard +Bob Milnes make his _second_ speech; it made no impression. I like +Ward--studied, but keen, and sometimes eloquent. Peel, my school and +form fellow (we sat within two of each other), strange to say, I have +never heard, though I often wished to do so; but from what I remember of +him at Harrow, he _is_, or _should_ be, among the best of them. Now I do +_not_ admire Mr. Wilberforce's speaking; it is nothing but a flow of +words--'words, words, alone.' + +"I doubt greatly if the English have any eloquence, properly so called; +and am inclined to think that the Irish _had_ a great deal, and that the +French _will_ have, and have had in Mirabeau. Lord Chatham and Burke are +the nearest approaches to orators in England. I don't know what Erskine +may have been at the bar, but in the House I wish him at the bar once +more. Lauderdale is shrill, and Scotch, and acute. + +"But amongst all these, good, bad, and indifferent, I never heard the +speech which was not too long for the auditors, and not very +intelligible, except here and there. The whole thing is a grand +deception, and as tedious and tiresome as may be to those who must be +often present. I heard Sheridan only once, and that briefly, but I liked +his voice, his manner, and his wit: and he is the only one of them I +ever wished to hear at greater length. + +"The impression of Parliament upon me was, that its members are not +formidable as _speakers_, but very much so as an _audience_; because in +so numerous a body there may be little eloquence, (after all, there were +but _two_ thorough orators in all antiquity, and I suspect still _fewer_ +in modern times,) but there must be a leaven of thought and good sense +sufficient to make them _know_ what is right, though they can't express +it nobly. + +"Horne Tooke and Roscoe both are said to have declared that they left +Parliament with a higher opinion of its aggregate integrity and +abilities than that with which they entered it. The general amount of +both in most Parliaments is probably about the same, as also the number +of _speakers_ and their talent. I except _orators_, of course, because +they are things of ages, and not of septennial or triennial re-unions. +Neither House ever struck me with more awe or respect than the same +number of Turks in a divan, or of Methodists in a barn, would have done. +Whatever diffidence or nervousness I felt (and I felt both, in a great +degree) arose from the number rather than the quality of the assemblage, +and the thought rather of the _public without_ than the persons +within,--knowing (as all know) that Cicero himself, and probably the +Messiah, could never have altered the vote of a single lord of the +bedchamber, or bishop. I thought _our_ House dull, but the other +animating enough upon great days. + +"I have heard that when Grattan made his first speech in the English +Commons, it was for some minutes doubtful whether to laugh at or cheer +him. The _debut_ of his predecessor, Flood, had been a complete failure, +under nearly similar circumstances. But when the ministerial part of our +senators had watched Pitt (their thermometer) for the cue, and saw him +nod repeatedly his stately nod of approbation, they took the hint from +their huntsman, and broke out into the most rapturous cheers. Grattan's +speech, indeed, deserved them; it was a _chef-d'oeuvre_. I did not hear +_that_ speech of his (being then at Harrow), but heard most of his +others on the same question--also that on the war of 1815. I differed +from his opinions on the latter question, but coincided in the general +admiration of his eloquence. + +"When I met old Courtenay, the orator, at Rogers's, the poet's, in +1811-12, I was much taken with the portly remains of his fine figure, +and the still acute quickness of his conversation. It was _he_ who +silenced Flood in the English House by a crushing reply to a hasty +_debut_ of the rival of Grattan in Ireland. I asked Courtenay (for I +like to trace motives) if he had not some personal provocation; for the +acrimony of his answer seemed to me, as I had read it, to involve it. +Courtenay said 'he had; that, when in Ireland (being an Irishman), at +the bar of the Irish House of Commons, Flood had made a personal and +unfair attack upon _himself_, who, not being a member of that House, +could not defend himself, and that some years afterwards the opportunity +of retort offering in the English Parliament, he could not resist it.' +He certainly repaid Flood with interest, for Flood never made any +figure, and only a speech or two afterwards, in the English House of +Commons. I must except, however, his speech on Reform in 1790, which Fox +called 'the best he ever heard upon that subject.'" + +For some time he had entertained thoughts of going again abroad; and it +appeared, indeed, to be a sort of relief to him, whenever he felt +melancholy or harassed, to turn to the freedom and solitude of a life of +travel as his resource. During the depression of spirits which he +laboured under, while printing Childe Harold, "he would frequently," +says Mr. Dallas, "talk of selling Newstead, and of going to reside at +Naxos, in the Grecian Archipelago,--to adopt the eastern costume and +customs, and to pass his time in studying the Oriental languages and +literature." The excitement of the triumph that soon after ensued, and +the success which, in other pursuits besides those of literature, +attended him, again diverted his thoughts from these migratory projects. +But the roving fit soon returned; and we have seen, from one of his +letters to Mr. William Bankes, that he looked forward to finding +himself, in the course of this spring, among the mountains of his +beloved Greece once more. For a time, this plan was exchanged for the +more social project of accompanying his friends, the family of Lord +Oxford, to Sicily; and it was while engaged in his preparatives for this +expedition that the annexed letters were written. + +[Footnote 71: His speech was on presenting a petition from Major +Cartwright.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 121. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Maidenhead, June 13. 1813. + + "* * * I have read the 'Strictures,' which are just enough, and not + grossly abusive, in very fair couplets. There is a note against + Massinger near the end, and one cannot quarrel with one's company, + at any rate. The author detects some incongruous figures in a + passage of English Bards, page 23., but which edition I do not + know. In the _sole_ copy in your possession--I mean the _fifth_ + edition--you may make these alterations, that I may profit (though + a little too late) by his remarks:--For '_hellish_ instinct,' + substitute '_brutal_ instinct;' '_harpies_' alter to '_felons_;' + and for 'blood-hounds' write 'hell-hounds.'[72] These be 'very + bitter words, by my troth,' and the alterations not much sweeter; + but as I shall not publish the thing, they can do no harm, but are + a satisfaction to me in the way of amendment. The passage is only + twelve lines. + + "You do not answer me about H.'s book; I want to write to him, and + not to say any thing unpleasing. If you direct to Post Office, + Portsmouth, till _called_ for, I will send and receive your letter. + You never told me of the forthcoming critique on Columbus, which is + not _too_ fair; and I do not think justice quite done to the + 'Pleasures,' which surely entitle the author to a higher rank than + that assigned him in the Quarterly. But I must not cavil at the + decisions of the _invisible infallibles_; and the article is very + well written. The general horror of '_fragments_' makes me + tremulous for 'The Giaour;' but you would publish it--I presume, by + this time, to your repentance. But as I consented, whatever be its + fate, I won't now quarrel with you, even though I detect it in my + pastry; but I shall not open a pie without apprehension for some + weeks. + + "The books which may be marked G.O. I will carry out. Do you know + Clarke's Naufragia? I am told that he asserts the _first_ volume of + Robinson Crusoe was written by the first Lord Oxford, when in the + Tower, and given by him to Defoe; if true, it is a curious + anecdote. Have you got back Lord Brooke's MS.? and what does Heber + say of it? Write to me at Portsmouth. Ever yours, &c. + + "N." + +[Footnote 72: In an article on this Satire (written for Cumberland's +Review, but never printed) by that most amiable man and excellent poet, +the late Rev. William Crowe, the incongruity of these metaphors is thus +noticed:--"Within the space of three or four couplets, he transforms a +man into as many different animals. Allow him but the compass of three +lines, and he will metamorphose him from a wolf into a harpy, and in +three more he will make him a blood-hound." + +There are also in this MS. critique some curious instances of oversight +or ignorance adduced from the Satire; such as "_Fish_ from +_Helicon_"--"_Attic_ flowers _Aonian_ odours breathe," &c. &c.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "June 18. 1813. + + "Dear Sir, + + "Will you forward the enclosed answer to the kindest letter I ever + received in my life, my sense of which I can neither express to Mr. + Gifford himself nor to any one else? Ever yours, + + "N." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 122. TO W. GIFFORD, ESQ. + + "June 18. 1813. + + "My dear Sir, + + "I feel greatly at a loss how to write to you at all--still more to + thank you as I ought. If you knew the veneration with which I have + ever regarded you, long before I had the most distant prospect of + becoming your acquaintance, literary or personal, my embarrassment + would not surprise you. + + "Any suggestion of yours, even were it conveyed in the less tender + shape of the text of the Baviad, or a Monk Mason note in Massinger, + would have been obeyed; I should have endeavoured to improve myself + by your censure: judge then if I should be less willing to profit + by your kindness. It is not for me to bandy compliments with my + elders and my betters: I receive your approbation with gratitude, + and will not return my brass for your gold by expressing more fully + those sentiments of admiration, which, however sincere, would, I + know, be unwelcome. + + "To your advice on religious topics, I shall equally attend. + Perhaps the best way will be by avoiding them altogether. The + already published objectionable passages have been much commented + upon, but certainly have been rather strongly interpreted. I am no + bigot to infidelity, and did not expect that, because I doubted the + immortality of man, I should be charged with denying the existence + of a God. It was the comparative insignificance of ourselves and + _our world_, when placed in comparison with the mighty whole, of + which it is an atom, that first led me to imagine that our + pretensions to eternity might be over-rated. + + "This, and being early disgusted with a Calvinistic Scotch school, + where I was cudgelled to church for the first ten years of my life, + afflicted me with this malady; for, after all, it is, I believe, a + disease of the mind as much as other kinds of hypochondria."[73] + +[Footnote 73: The remainder of this letter, it appears, has been lost.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 123. TO MR. MOORE. + + "June 22. 1813. + + "Yesterday I dined in company with '* *, the Epicene,' whose + politics are sadly changed. She is for the Lord of Israel and the + Lord of Liverpool--a vile antithesis of a Methodist and a + Tory--talks of nothing but devotion and the ministry, and, I + presume, expects that God and the government will help her to a + pension. + + "Murray, the [Greek: anax] of publishers, the Anac of stationers, + has a design upon you in the paper line. He wants you to become the + staple and stipendiary editor of a periodical work. What say you? + Will you be bound, like 'Kit Smart, to write for ninety-nine years + in the Universal Visiter?' Seriously he talks of hundreds a year, + and--though I hate prating of the beggarly elements--his proposal + may be to your honour and profit, and, I am very sure, will be to + our pleasure. + + "I don't know what to say about 'friendship.' I never was in + friendship but once, in my nineteenth year, and then it gave me as + much trouble as love. I am afraid, as Whitbread's sire said to the + king, when he wanted to knight him, that I am 'too old:' but, + nevertheless, no one wishes you more friends, fame, and felicity, + than Yours," &c. + + * * * * * + +Having relinquished his design of accompanying the Oxfords to Sicily, he +again thought of the East, as will be seen by the following letters, and +proceeded so far in his preparations for the voyage as to purchase of +Love, the jeweller, of Old Bond Street, about a dozen snuff-boxes, as +presents for some of his old Turkish acquaintances. + +LETTER 124. TO MR. MOORE. + + "4. Benedictine Street, St. James's, July 8. 1813. + + "I presume by your silence that I have blundered into something + noxious in my reply to your letter, for the which I beg leave to + send beforehand a sweeping apology, which you may apply to any, or + all, parts of that unfortunate epistle. If I err in my conjecture, + I expect the like from you, in putting our correspondence so long + in quarantine. God he knows what I have said; but he also knows (if + he is not as indifferent to mortals as the _nonchalant_ deities of + Lucretius), that you are the last person I want to offend. So, if I + have,--why the devil don't you say it at once, and expectorate your + spleen? + + "Rogers is out of town with Madame de Stael, who hath published an + Essay against Suicide, which, I presume, will make somebody shoot + himself;--as a sermon by Blinkensop, in _proof_ of Christianity, + sent a hitherto most orthodox acquaintance of mine out of a chapel + of ease a perfect atheist. Have you found or founded a residence + yet? and have you begun or finished a poem? If you won't tell me + what _I_ have done, pray say what you have done, or left undone, + yourself. I am still in equipment for voyaging, and anxious to hear + from, or of, you _before_ I go, which anxiety you should remove + more readily, as you think I sha'n't cogitate about you afterwards. + I shall give the lie to that calumny by fifty foreign letters, + particularly from any place where the plague is rife,--without a + drop of vinegar or a whiff of sulphur to save you from infection. + + "The Oxfords have sailed almost a fortnight, and my sister is in + town, which is a great comfort--for, never having been much + together, we are naturally more attached to each other. I presume + the illuminations have conflagrated to Derby (or wherever you are) + by this time. We are just recovering from tumult and train oil, and + transparent fripperies, and all the noise and nonsense of victory. + Drury Lane had a large _M.W._, which some thought was Marshal + Wellington; others, that it might be translated into Manager + Whitbread; while the ladies of the vicinity of the saloon conceived + the last letter to be complimentary to themselves. I leave this to + the commentators to illustrate. If you don't answer this, I sha'n't + say what _you_ deserve, but I think _I_ deserve a reply. Do you + conceive there is no Post-Bag but the Twopenny? Sunburn me, if you + are not too bad." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 125. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 13. 1813. + + "Your letter set me at ease; for I really thought (as I hear of + your susceptibility) that I had said--I know not what--but + something I should have been very sorry for, had it, or I, offended + you;--though I don't see how a man with a beautiful wife--_his own_ + children,--quiet--fame--competency and friends, (I will vouch for a + thousand, which is more than I will for a unit in my own behalf,) + can be offended with any thing. + + "Do you know, Moore, I am amazingly inclined--remember I say but + _inclined_--to be seriously enamoured with Lady A.F.--but this * * + has ruined all my prospects. However, you know her; is she + _clever_, or sensible, or good-tempered? either _would_ do--I + scratch out the _will_. I don't ask as to her beauty--that I see; + but my circumstances are mending, and were not my other prospects + blackening, I would take a wife, and that should be the woman, had + I a chance. I do not yet know her much, but better than I did. + + "I want to get away, but find difficulty in compassing a passage in + a ship of war. They had better let me go; if I cannot, patriotism + is the word--'nay, an' they'll mouth, I'll rant as well as they.' + Now, what are you doing?--writing, we all hope, for our own sakes. + Remember you must edite my posthumous works, with a Life of the + Author, for which I will send you Confessions, dated, 'Lazaretto,' + Smyrna, Malta, or Palermo--one can die any where. + + "There is to be a thing on Tuesday ycleped a national fete. The + Regent and * * * are to be there, and every body else, who has + shillings enough for what was once a guinea. Vauxhall is the + scene--there are six tickets issued for the modest women, and it is + supposed there will be three to spare. The passports for the lax + are beyond my arithmetic. + + "P.S.--The Stael last night attacked me most furiously--said that I + had 'no right to make love--that I had used * * barbarously--that I + had no feeling, and was totally insensible to _la belle passion_, + and _had_ been all my life.' I am very glad to hear it, but did not + know it before. Let me hear from you anon." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 126. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 25. 1813. + + "I am not well versed enough in the ways of single woman to make + much matrimonial progress. + + "I have been dining like the dragon of Wantley for this last week. + My head aches with the vintage of various cellars, and my brains + are muddled as their dregs. I met your friends the D * * s:--she + sung one of your best songs so well, that, but for the appearance + of affectation, I could have cried; he reminds me of Hunt, but + handsomer, and more musical in soul, perhaps. I wish to God he may + conquer his horrible anomalous complaint. The upper part of her + face is beautiful, and she seems much attached to her husband. He + is right, nevertheless, in leaving this nauseous town. The first + winter would infallibly destroy her complexion,--and the second, + very probably, every thing else. + + "I must tell you a story. M * * (of indifferent memory) was dining + out the other day, and complaining of the P----e's coldness to his + old wassailers. D * * (a learned Jew) bored him with questions--why + this? and why that? 'Why did the P----e act thus?'--'Why, sir, on + account of Lord * *, who ought to be ashamed of himself.'--'And why + ought Lord * * to be ashamed of himself?'--'Because the P----e, + sir, * * * * * * * *.'--'And why, sir, did the P----e cut + _you_?'--' Because, G----d d----mme, sir, I stuck to my + principles.'--'And _why_ did you stick to your principles?' + + "Is not this last question the best that was ever put, when you + consider to whom? It nearly killed M * *. Perhaps you may think it + stupid, but, as Goldsmith said about the peas, it was a very good + joke when I heard it--as I did from an ear-witness--and is only + spoilt in my narration. + + "The season has closed with a dandy ball;--but I have dinners with + the Harrowbys, Rogers, and Frere and Mackintosh, where I shall + drink your health in a silent bumper, and regret your absence till + 'too much canaries' wash away my memory, or render it superfluous + by a vision of you at the opposite side of the table. Canning has + disbanded his party by a speech from his * * * *--the true throne + of a Tory. Conceive his turning them off in a formal harangue, and + bidding them think for themselves. 'I have led my ragamuffins where + they are well peppered. There are but three of the 150 left alive, + and they are for the _Towns-end_ (_query_, might not Falstaff mean + the Bow Street officer? I dare say Malone's posthumous edition will + have it so) for life.' + + "Since I wrote last, I have been into the country. I journeyed by + night--no incident, or accident, but an alarm on the part of my + valet on the outside, who, in crossing Epping Forest, actually, I + believe, flung down his purse before a mile-stone, with a glow-worm + in the second figure of number XIX--mistaking it for a footpad and + dark lantern. I can only attribute his fears to a pair of new + pistols wherewith I had armed him; and he thought it necessary to + display his vigilance by calling out to me whenever we passed any + thing--no matter whether moving or stationary. Conceive ten miles, + with a tremor every furlong. I have scribbled you a fearfully long + letter. This sheet must be blank, and is merely a wrapper, to + preclude the tabellarians of the post from peeping. You once + complained of my _not_ writing;--I will 'heap coals of fire upon + your head' by _not_ complaining of your _not_ reading. Ever, my + dear Moore, your'n (isn't that the Staffordshire termination?) + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 127. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 27. 1813. + + "When you next imitate the style of 'Tacitus,' pray add, 'de + moribus Germanorum;'--this last was a piece of barbarous silence, + and could only be taken from the _Woods_, and, as such, I attribute + it entirely to your sylvan sequestration at Mayfield Cottage. You + will find, on casting up accounts, that you are my debtor by + several sheets and one epistle. I shall bring my action;--if you + don't discharge, expect to hear from my attorney. I have forwarded + your letter to Ruggiero; but don't make a postman of me again, for + fear I should be tempted to violate your sanctity of wax or wafer. + + "Believe me ever yours _indignantly_, + + "BN." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 128. TO MR. MOORE. + + "July 28. 1813. + + "Can't you be satisfied with the pangs of my jealousy of Rogers, + without actually making me the pander of your epistolary intrigue? + This is the second letter you have enclosed to my address, + notwithstanding a miraculous long answer, and a subsequent short + one or two of your own. If you do so again, I can't tell to what + pitch my fury may soar. I shall send you verse or arsenic, as + likely as any thing,--four thousand couplets on sheets beyond the + privilege of franking; that privilege, sir, of which you take an + undue advantage over a too susceptible senator, by forwarding your + lucubrations to every one but himself. I won't frank _from_ you, or + _for_ you, or _to_ you--may I be curst if I do, unless you mend + your manners. I disown you--I disclaim you--and by all the powers + of Eulogy, I will write a panegyric upon you--or dedicate a + quarto--if you don't make me ample amends. + + "P.S.--I am in training to dine with Sheridan and Rogers this + evening. I have a little spite against R., and will shed his 'Clary + wines pottle-deep.' This is nearly my ultimate or penultimate + letter; for I am quite equipped, and only wait a passage. Perhaps I + may wait a few weeks for Sligo, but not if I can help it." + + * * * * * + +He had, with the intention of going to Greece, applied to Mr. Croker, +the Secretary of the Admiralty, to procure him a passage on board a +king's ship to the Mediterranean; and, at the request of this gentleman, +Captain Carlton, of the Boyne, who was just then ordered to reinforce +Sir Edward Pellew, consented to receive Lord Byron into his cabin for +the voyage. To the letter announcing this offer, the following is the +reply. + +LETTER 129. TO MR. CROKER. + + "Bt. Str., August 2. 1813. + + "Dear Sir, + + "I was honoured with your unexpected[74] and very obliging letter, + when on the point of leaving London, which prevented me from + acknowledging my obligation as quickly as I felt it sincerely. I am + endeavouring all in my power to be ready before Saturday--and even + if I should not succeed, I can only blame my own tardiness, which + will not the less enhance the benefit I have lost. I have only to + add my hope of forgiveness for all my trespasses on your time and + patience, and with my best wishes for your public and private + welfare, I have the honour to be, most truly, your obliged and most + obedient servant, + + "BYRON." + +[Footnote 74: He calls the letter of Mr. Croker "unexpected," because, +in their previous correspondence and interviews on the subject, that +gentleman had not been able to hold out so early a prospect of a +passage, nor one which was likely to be so agreeable in point of +society.] + + * * * * * + +So early as the autumn of this year, a fifth edition of The Giaour was +required; and again his fancy teemed with fresh materials for its pages. +The verses commencing "The browsing camels' bells are tinkling," and the +four pages that follow the line, "Yes, love indeed is light from +heaven," were all added at this time. Nor had the overflowings of his +mind even yet ceased, as I find in the poem, as it exists at present, +still further additions,--and, among them, those four brilliant lines,-- + + "She was a form of life and light, + That, seen, became a part of sight, + And rose, where'er I turn'd mine eye, + The Morning-star of memory!" + +The following notes and letters to Mr. Murray, during these outpourings, +will show how irresistible was the impulse under which he vented his +thoughts. + + "If you send more proofs, I shall never finish this infernal + story--'Ecce signum'--thirty-three more lines enclosed! to the + utter discomfiture of the printer, and, I fear, not to your + advantage. + + "B." + + * * * * * + + "Half-past two in the morning, Aug. 10. 1813. + + "Dear Sir, + + "Pray suspend the _proofs_, for I am _bitten_ again, and have + _quantities_ for other parts of the bravura. + + "Yours ever, B. + + "P.S.--You shall have them in the course of the day." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 130. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "August 26. 1813. + + "I have looked over and corrected one proof, but not so carefully + (God knows if you can read it through, but I can't) as to preclude + your eye from discovering some _o_mission of mine or _com_mission + of your printer. If you have patience, look it over. Do you know + any body who can stop--I mean _point_--commas, and so forth? for I + am, I hear, a sad hand at your punctuation. I have, but with some + difficulty, _not_ added any more to this snake of a poem, which has + been lengthening its rattles every month. It is now fearfully long, + being more than a Canto and a half of Childe Harold, which contains + but 882 lines per book, with all late additions inclusive. + + "The last lines Hodgson likes. It is not often he does, and when he + don't he tells me with great energy, and I fret and alter. I have + thrown them in to soften the ferocity of our Infidel, and, for a + dying man, have given him a good deal to say for himself. + + "I was quite sorry to hear you say you stayed in town on my + account, and I hope sincerely you did not mean so superfluous a + piece of politeness. + + "Our _six_ critiques!--they would have made half a Quarterly by + themselves; but this is the age of criticism." + + * * * * * + +The following refer apparently to a still later edition. + +LETTER 131. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Stilton, Oct. 3. 1813. + + "I have just recollected an alteration you may make in the proof to + be sent to Aston.--Among the lines on Hassan's Serai, not far from + the beginning, is this-- + + "Unmeet for Solitude to share. + + Now to share implies more than _one_, and Solitude is a single + gentleman; it must be thus-- + + "For many a gilded chamber's there, + Which Solitude might well forbear; + + and so on.--My address is Aston Hall, Rotherham. + + "Will you adopt this correction? and pray accept a Stilton cheese + from me for your trouble. Ever yours, B. + + "If[75] the old line stands let the other run thus-- + + "Nor there will weary traveller halt, + To bless the sacred bread and salt. + + "_Note_.--To partake of food--to break bread and taste salt with + your host, ensures the safety of the guest; even though an enemy, + his person from that moment becomes sacred. + + "There is another additional note sent yesterday--on the Priest in + the Confessional. + + "P.S.--I leave this to your discretion; if any body thinks the old + line a good one or the cheese a bad one, don't accept either. But, + in that case, the word _share_ is repeated soon after in the line-- + + "To share the master's bread and salt; + + and must be altered to-- + + "To break the master's bread and salt. + + This is not so well, though--confound it!" + +[Footnote 75: This is written on a separate slip of paper enclosed.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 132. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Oct. 12. 1813. + + "You must look The Giaour again over carefully; there are a few + lapses, particularly in the last page.--'I _know_ 'twas false; she + could not die;' it was, and ought to be--'I _knew_.' Pray observe + this and similar mistakes. + + "I have received and read the British Review. I really think the + writer in most points very right. The only mortifying thing is the + accusation of imitation. _Crabbe_'s passage I never saw[76]; and + Scott I no further meant to follow than in his _lyric_ measure, + which is Gray's, Milton's, and any one's who likes it. The Giaour + is certainly a bad character, but not dangerous; and I think his + fate and his feelings will meet with few proselytes. I shall be + very glad to hear from or of you, when you please; but don't put + yourself out of your way on my account." + +[Footnote 76: The passage referred to by the Reviewers is in the poem +entitled "Resentment;" and the following is, I take for granted, the +part which Lord Byron is accused by them of having imitated:-- + + "Those are like wax--apply them to the fire, + Melting, they take th' impressions you desire; + Easy to mould, and fashion as you please, + And again moulded with an equal ease: + Like smelted iron these the forms retain; + But, once impress'd, will never melt again." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 133. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Bennet Street, August 22. 1813. + + "As our late--I might say, deceased--correspondence had too much of + the town-life leaven in it, we will now, 'paulo majora,' prattle a + little of literature in all its branches; and first of the + first--criticism. The Prince is at Brighton, and Jackson, the + boxer, gone to Margate, having, I believe, decoyed Yarmouth to see + a milling in that polite neighbourhood. Made. de Stael Holstein has + lost one of her young barons, who has been carbonadoed by a vile + Teutonic adjutant,--kilt and killed in a coffee-house at + Scrawsenhawsen. Corinne is, of course, what all mothers must + be,--but will, I venture to prophesy, do what few mothers + could--write an Essay upon it. She cannot exist without a + grievance--and somebody to see, or read, how much grief becomes + her. I have not seen her since the event; but merely judge (not + very charitably) from prior observation. + + "In a 'mail-coach copy' of the Edinburgh, I perceive The Giaour is + second article. The numbers are still in the Leith smack--_pray, + which way is the wind?_ The said article is so very mild and + sentimental, that it must be written by Jeffrey _in love_;--you + know he is gone to America to marry some fair one, of whom he has + been, for several _quarters, eperdument amoureux_. Seriously--as + Winifred Jenkins says of Lismahago--Mr. Jeffrey (or his deputy) + 'has done the handsome thing by me,' and I say _nothing_. But this + I will say, if you and I had knocked one another on the head in + this quarrel, how he would have laughed, and what a mighty bad + figure we should have cut in our posthumous works. By the by, I was + called _in_ the other day to mediate between two gentlemen bent + upon carnage, and,--after a long struggle between the natural + desire of destroying one's fellow-creatures, and the dislike of + seeing men play the fool for nothing,--I got one to make an + apology, and the other to take it, and left them to live happy ever + after. One was a peer, the other a friend untitled, and both fond + of high play;--and one, I can swear for, though very mild, 'not + fearful,' and so dead a shot, that, though the other is the + thinnest of men, he would have split him like a cane. They both + conducted themselves very well, and I put them out of _pain_ as + soon as I could. + + "There is an American Life of G.F. Cooke, _Scurra_ deceased, lately + published. Such a book!--I believe, since Drunken Barnaby's + Journal, nothing like it has drenched the press. All green-room and + tap-room--drams and the drama--brandy, whisky-punch, and, + _latterly_, toddy, overflow every page. Two things are rather + marvellous,--first, that a man should live so long drunk, and, + next, that he should have found a sober biographer. There are some + very laughable things in it, nevertheless;--but the pints he + swallowed, and the parts he performed, are too regularly + registered. + + "All this time you wonder I am not gone; so do I; but the accounts + of the plague are very perplexing--not so much for the thing itself + as the quarantine established in all ports, and from all places, + even from England. It is true, the forty or sixty days would, in + all probability, be as foolishly spent on shore as in the ship; but + one like's to have one's choice, nevertheless. Town is awfully + empty; but not the worse for that. I am really puzzled with my + perfect ignorance of what I mean to do;--not stay, if I can help + it, but where to go?[77] Sligo is for the North;--a pleasant place, + Petersburgh, in September, with one's ears and nose in a muff, or + else tumbling into one's neckcloth or pocket-handkerchief! If the + winter treated Buonaparte with so little ceremony, what would it + inflict upon your solitary traveller?--Give me a _sun_, I care not + how hot, and sherbet, I care not how cool, and my Heaven is as + easily made as your Persian's.[78] The Giaour is now a thousand and + odd lines. 'Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day,' eh, + Moore?--thou wilt needs be a wag, but I forgive it. Yours ever, + + "BN. + + "P.S. I perceive I have written a flippant and rather cold-hearted + letter! let it go, however. I have said nothing, either, of the + brilliant sex; but the fact is, I am at this moment in a far more + serious, and entirely new, scrape than any of the last twelve + months,--and that is saying a good deal. It is unlucky we can + neither live with nor without these women. + + "I am now thinking of regretting that, just as I have left + Newstead, you reside near it. Did you ever see it? _do_--but don't + tell me that you like it. If I had known of such intellectual + neighbourhood, I don't think I should have quitted it. You could + have come over so often, as a bachelor,--for it was a thorough + bachelor's mansion--plenty of wine and such sordid + sensualities--with books enough, room enough, and an air of + antiquity about all (except the lasses) that would have suited + you, when pensive, and served you to laugh at when in glee. I had + built myself a bath and a _vault_--and now I sha'n't even be buried + in it. It is odd that we can't even be certain of a _grave_, at + least a particular one. I remember, when about fifteen, reading + your poems there, which I can repeat almost now,--and asking all + kinds of questions about the author, when I heard that he was not + dead according to the preface; wondering if I should ever see + him--and though, at that time, without the smallest poetical + propensity myself, very much taken, as you may imagine, with that + volume. Adieu--I commit you to the care of the gods--Hindoo, + Scandinavian, and Hellenic! + + "P.S. 2d. There is an excellent review of Grimm's Correspondence + and Made. de Stael in this No. of the E.R. Jeffrey, himself, was my + critic last year; but this is, I believe, by another hand. I hope + you are going on with your _grand coup_--pray do--or that damned + Lucien Buonaparte will beat us all. I have seen much of his poem in + MS., and he really surpasses every thing beneath Tasso. Hodgson is + translating him _against_ another bard. You and (I believe, + Rogers,) Scott, Gifford, and myself, are to be referred to as + judges between the twain,--that is, if you accept the office. + Conceive our different opinions! I think we, most of us (I am + talking very impudently, you will think--_us_, indeed!) have a way + of our own,--at least, you and Scott certainly have." + +[Footnote 77: One of his travelling projects appears to have been a +visit to Abyssinia:--at least, I have found, among his papers, a letter +founded on that supposition, in which the writer entreats of him to +procure information concerning "a kingdom of Jews mentioned by Bruce as +residing on the mountain of Samen in that country. I have had the +honour," he adds, "of some correspondence with the Rev. Dr. Buchanan and +the reverend and learned G.S. Faber, on the subject of the existence of +this kingdom of Jews, which, if it prove to be a fact, will more clearly +elucidate many of the Scripture prophecies; ... and, if Providence +favours your Lordship's mission to Abyssinia, an intercourse might be +established between England and that country, and the English ships, +according to the Rev. Mr. Faber, might be the principal means of +transporting the kingdom of Jews, now in Abyssinia, to Egypt, in the way +to their own country, Palestine."] + +[Footnote 78: + + "A Persian's Heav'n is easily made-- + 'Tis but black eyes and lemonade." +] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 134. TO MR. MOORE. + + "August 28. 1813. + + "Ay, my dear Moore, 'there _was_ a time'--I have heard of your + tricks, when 'you was campaigning at the King of Bohemy.' I am much + mistaken if, some fine London spring, about the year 1815, that + time does not come again. After all, we must end in marriage; and I + can conceive nothing more delightful than such a state in the + country, reading the county newspaper, &c., and kissing one's + wife's maid. Seriously, I would incorporate with any woman of + decent demeanour to-morrow--that is, I would a month ago, but, at + present, * * * + + "Why don't you 'parody that Ode?'[79]--Do you think I should be + _tetchy?_ or have you done it, and won't tell me?--You are quite + right about Giamschid, and I have reduced it to a dissyllable + within this half hour.[80] I am glad to hear you talk of + Richardson, because it tells me what you won't--that you are going + to beat Lucien. At least tell me how far you have proceeded. Do you + think me less interested about your works, or less sincere than our + friend Ruggiero? I am not--and never was. In that thing of mine, + the 'English Bards,' at the time when I was angry with all the + world, I never 'disparaged your parts,' although I did not know you + personally;--and have always regretted that you don't give us an + _entire_ work, and not sprinkle yourself in detached + pieces--beautiful, I allow, and quite _alone_ in our language[81], + but still giving us a right to expect a _Shah Nameh_ (is that the + name?) as well as gazels. Stick to the East;--the oracle, Stael, + told me it was the only poetical policy. The North, South, and + West, have all been exhausted; but from the East, we have nothing + but S * *'s unsaleables,--and these he has contrived to spoil, by + adopting only their most outrageous fictions. His personages don't + interest us, and yours will. You will have no competitor; and, if + you had, you ought to be glad of it. The little I have done in that + way is merely a 'voice in the wilderness' for you; and if it has + had any success, that also will prove that the public are + orientalising, and pave the path for you. + + "I have been thinking of a story, grafted on the amours of a Peri + and a mortal--something like, only more _philanthropical_ than, + Cazotte's Diable Amoureux. It would require a good deal of poesy, + and tenderness is not my forte. For that, and other reasons, I have + given up the idea, and merely suggest it to you, because, in + intervals of your greater work, I think it a subject you might make + much of.[82] If you want any more books, there is 'Castellan's + Moeurs des Ottomans,' the best compendium of the kind I ever met + with, in six small tomes. I am really taking a liberty by talking + in this style to my 'elders and my betters;'--pardon it, and don't + _Rochefoucault_ my motives." + +[Footnote 79: The Ode of Horace, + + "Natis in usum laetitiae," &c.; + +some passages of which I told him might be parodied, in allusion to some +of his late adventures: + + "Quanta laboras in Charybdi! + Digne puer meliore flamma!" +] + +[Footnote 80: In his first edition of The Giaour he had used this word +as a trisyllable,--"Bright as the gem of Giamschid,"--but on my +remarking to him, upon the authority of Richardson's Persian Dictionary, +that this was incorrect, he altered it to "Bright as the ruby of +Giamschid." On seeing this, however, I wrote to him, "that, as the +comparison of his heroine's eye to a 'ruby' might unluckily call up the +idea of its being blood-shot, he had better change the line to "Bright +as the jewel of Giamschid;"--which he accordingly did in the following +edition.] + +[Footnote 81: Having already endeavoured to obviate the charge of +vanity, to which I am aware I expose myself by being thus accessory to +the publication of eulogies, so warm and so little merited, on myself, I +shall here only add, that it will abundantly console me under such a +charge, if, in whatever degree the judgment of my noble friend may be +called in question for these praises, he shall, in the same proportion, +receive credit for the good-nature and warm-heartedness by which they +were dictated.] + +[Footnote 82: I had already, singularly enough, anticipated this +suggestion, by making the daughter of a Peri the heroine of one of my +stories, and detailing the love adventures of her aerial parent in an +episode. In acquainting Lord Byron with this circumstance, in my answer +to the above letter, I added, "All I ask of your friendship is--not that +you will abstain from Peris on my account, for that is too much to ask +of human (or, at least, author's) nature--but that, whenever you mean to +pay your addresses to any of these aerial ladies, you will, at once, +tell me so, frankly and instantly, and let me, at least, have my choice +whether I shall be desperate enough to go on, with such a rival, or at +once surrender the whole race into your hands, and take, for the future, +to Antediluvians with Mr. Montgomery."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 135. TO MR. MOORE. + + "August--September, I mean--1. 1813. + + "I send you, begging your acceptance, Castellan, and three vols. on + Turkish Literature, not yet looked into. The _last_ I will thank + you to read, extract what you want, and return in a week, as they + are lent to me by that brightest of Northern constellations, + Mackintosh,--amongst many other kind things into which India has + warmed him, for I am sure your _home_ Scotsman is of a less genial + description. + + "Your Peri, my dear M., is sacred and inviolable; I have no idea of + touching the hem of her petticoat. Your affectation of a dislike to + encounter me is so flattering, that I begin to think myself a very + fine fellow. But you are laughing at me--'Stap my vitals, Tarn! + thou art a very impudent person;' and, if you are not laughing at + me, you deserve to be laughed at. Seriously, what on earth can you, + or have you, to dread from any poetical flesh breathing? It really + puts me out of humour to hear you talk thus. + + "'The Giaour' I have added to a good deal; but still in foolish + fragments. It contains about 1200 lines, or rather more--now + printing. You will allow me to send you a copy. You delight me + much by telling me that I am in your good graces, and more + particularly as to temper; for, unluckily, I have the reputation of + a very bad one. But they say the devil is amusing when pleased, and + I must have been more venomous than the old serpent, to have hissed + or stung in your company. It may be, and would appear to a third + person, an incredible thing, but I know you will believe me when I + say, that I am as anxious for your success as one human being can + be for another's,--as much as if I had never scribbled a line. + Surely the field of fame is wide enough for all; and if it were + not, I would not willingly rob my neighbour of a rood of it. Now + you have a pretty property of some thousand acres there, and when + you have passed your present Inclosure Bill, your income will be + doubled, (there's a metaphor, worthy of a Templar, namely, pert and + low,) while my wild common is too remote to incommode you, and + quite incapable of such fertility. I send you (which return per + post, as the printer would say) a curious letter from a friend of + mine[83], which will let you into the origin of 'The Giaour.' Write + soon. Ever, dear Moore, yours most entirely, &c. + + "P.S.--This letter was written to me on account of a _different + story_ circulated by some gentlewomen of our acquaintance, a little + too close to the text. The part erased contained merely some + Turkish names, and circumstantial evidence of the girl's detection, + not very important or decorous." + +[Footnote 83: The letter of Lord Sligo, already given.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 136. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Sept. 5. 1813. + + "You need not tie yourself down to a day with Toderini, but send + him at your leisure, having anatomised him into such annotations as + you want; I do not believe that he has ever undergone that process + before, which is the best reason for not sparing him now. + + "* * has returned to town, but not yet recovered of the Quarterly. + What fellows these reviewers are! 'these bugs do fear us all.' They + made you fight, and me (the milkiest of men) a satirist, and will + end by making * * madder than Ajax. I have been reading Memory + again, the other day, and Hope together, and retain all my + preference of the former. His elegance is really wonderful--there + is no such thing as a vulgar line in his book. + + "What say you to Buonaparte? Remember, I back him against the + field, barring Catalepsy and the Elements. Nay, I almost wish him + success against all countries but this,--were it only to choke the + Morning Post, and his undutiful father-in-law, with that rebellious + bastard of Scandinavian adoption, Bernadotte. Rogers wants me to go + with him on a crusade to the Lakes, and to besiege you on our way. + This last is a great temptation, but I fear it will not be in my + power, unless you would go on with one of us somewhere--no matter + where. It is too late for Matlock, but we might hit upon some + scheme, high life or low,--the last would be much the best for + amusement. I am so sick of the other, that I quite sigh for a + cider-cellar, or a cruise in a smuggler's sloop. + + "You cannot wish more than I do that the Fates were a little more + accommodating to our parallel lines, which prolong ad infinitum + without coming a jot nearer. I almost wish I were married, + too--which is saying much. All my friends, seniors and juniors, are + in for it, and ask me to be godfather,--the only species of + parentage which, I believe, will ever come to my share in a lawful + way; and, in an unlawful one, by the blessing of Lucina, we can + never be certain,--though the parish may. I suppose I shall hear + from you to-morrow. If not, this goes as it is; but I leave room + for a P.S., in case any thing requires an answer. Ever, &c. + + "No letter--_n'importe_. R. thinks the Quarterly will be at _me_ + this time: if so, it shall be a war of extermination--no _quarter_. + From the youngest devil down to the oldest woman of that review, + all shall perish by one fatal lampoon. The ties of nature shall be + torn asunder, for I will not even spare my bookseller; nay, if one + were to include readers also, all the better." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 137. TO MR. MOORE. + + "September 8. 1813. + + "I am sorry to see Tod. again so soon, for fear your scrupulous + conscience should have prevented you from fully availing yourself + of his spoils. By this coach I send you a copy of that awful + pamphlet 'The Giaour,' which has never procured me half so high a + compliment as your modest alarm. You will (if inclined in an + evening) perceive that I have added much in quantity,--a + circumstance which may truly diminish your modesty upon the + subject. + + "You stand certainly in great need of a 'lift' with Mackintosh. My + dear Moore, you strangely under-rate yourself. I should conceive it + an affectation in any other; but I think I know you well enough to + believe that you don't know your own value. However, 'tis a fault + that generally mends; and, in your case, it really ought. I have + heard him speak of you as highly as your wife could wish; and + enough to give all your friends the jaundice. + + "Yesterday I had a letter from _Ali Pacha!_ brought by Dr. Holland, + who is just returned from Albania. It is in Latin, and begins + 'Excellentissime _nec non_ Carissime,' and ends about a gun he + wants made for him;--it is signed 'Ali Vizir.' What do you think he + has been about? H. tells me that, last spring, he took a hostile + town, where, forty-two years ago, his mother and sisters were + treated as Miss Cunigunde was by the Bulgarian cavalry. He takes + the town, selects all the survivors of this exploit--children, + grandchildren, &c. to the tune of six hundred, and has them shot + before his face. Recollect, he spared the rest of the city, and + confined himself to the Tarquin pedigree,--which is more than I + would. So much for 'dearest friend.'" + + * * * * * + +LETTER 138. TO MR. MOORE. + + "Sept. 9. 1813. + + "I write to you from Mr. Murray's, and I may say, from Murray, who, + if you are not predisposed in favour of any other publisher, would + be happy to treat with you, at a fitting time, for your work. I can + safely recommend him as fair, liberal, and attentive, and + certainly, in point of reputation, he stands among the first of + 'the trade.' I am sure he would do you justice. I have written to + you so much lately, that you will be glad to see so little now. + + "Ever," &c. &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 139. TO MR. MOORE. + + "September 27. 1813. + + "Thomas Moore, + + "(Thou wilt never be called '_true_ Thomas,' like he of + Ercildoune,) why don't you write to me?--as you won't, I must. I + was near you at Aston the other day, and hope I soon shall be + again. If so, you must and shall meet me, and go to Matlock and + elsewhere, and take what, in _flash_ dialect, is poetically termed + 'a lark,' with Rogers and me for accomplices. Yesterday, at Holland + House, I was introduced to Southey--the best looking bard I have + seen for some time. To have that poet's head and shoulders, I would + almost have written his Sapphics. He is certainly a prepossessing + person to look on, and a man of talent, and all that, and--_there_ + is his eulogy. + + "* * read me part of a letter from you. By the foot of Pharaoh, I + believe there was abuse, for he stopped short, so he did, after a + fine saying about our correspondence, and _looked_--I wish I could + revenge myself by attacking you, or by telling you that I have + _had_ to defend you--an agreeable way which one's friends have of + recommending themselves by saying--'Ay, ay, _I_ gave it Mr. + Such-a-one for what he said about your being a plagiary, and a + rake, and so on.' But do you know that you are one of the very few + whom I never have the satisfaction of hearing abused, but the + reverse;--and do you suppose I will forgive _that_? + + "I have been in the country, and ran away from the Doncaster races. + It is odd,--I was a visiter in the same house which came to my sire + as a residence with Lady Carmarthen, (with whom he adulterated + before his majority--by the by, remember, _she_ was not my + mamma,)--and they thrust me into an old room, with a nauseous + picture over the chimney, which I should suppose my papa regarded + with due respect, and which, inheriting the family taste, I looked + upon with great satisfaction. I stayed a week with the family, and + behaved very well--though the lady of the house is young, and + religious, and pretty, and the master is my particular friend. I + felt no wish for any thing but a poodle dog, which they kindly gave + me. Now, for a man of my courses not even to have _coveted_, is a + sign of great amendment. Pray pardon all this nonsense, and don't + 'snub me when I'm in spirits.' + + "Ever, yours, BN. + + "Here's an impromptu for you by a 'person of quality,' written last + week, on being reproached for low spirits. + + "When from the heart where Sorrow sits[84], + Her dusky shadow mounts too high, + And o'er the changing aspect flits, + And clouds the brow, or fills the eye: + Heed not that gloom, which soon shall sink; + My Thoughts their dungeon know too well-- + Back to my breast the wanderers shrink, + And bleed within their silent cell." + +[Footnote 84: Now printed in his Works.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 140. TO MR. MOORE. + + "October 2. 1813. + + "You have not answered some six letters of mine. This, therefore, + is my penultimate. I will write to you once more, but, after + that--I swear by all the saints--I am silent and supercilious. I + have met Curran at Holland House--he beats every body;--his + imagination is beyond human, and his humour (it is difficult to + define what is wit) perfect. Then he has fifty faces, and twice as + many voices, when he mimics--I never met his equal. Now, were I a + woman, and eke a virgin, that is the man I should make my + Scamander. He is quite fascinating. Remember, I have met him but + once; and you, who have known him long, may probably deduct from + my panegyric. I almost fear to meet him again, lest the impression + should be lowered. He talked a great deal about you--a theme never + tiresome to me, nor any body else that I know. What a variety of + expression he conjures into that naturally not very fine + countenance of his! He absolutely changes it entirely. I have + done--for I can't describe him, and you know him. On Sunday I + return to * *, where I shall not be far from you. Perhaps I shall + hear from you in the mean time. Good night. + + "Saturday morn--Your letter has cancelled all my anxieties. I did + _not suspect_ you in _earnest_. Modest again! Because I don't do a + very shabby thing, it seems, I 'don't fear your competition.' If it + were reduced to an alternative of preference, I _should_ dread you, + as much as Satan does Michael. But is there not room enough in our + respective regions? Go on--it will soon be my turn to forgive. + To-day I dine with Mackintosh and Mrs. _Stale_--as John Bull may be + pleased to denominate Corinne--whom I saw last night, at Covent + Garden, yawning over the humour of Falstaff. + + "The reputation of 'gloom,' if one's friends are not included in + the _reputants_, is of great service; as it saves one from a legion + of impertinents, in the shape of common-place acquaintance. But + thou know'st I can be a right merry and conceited fellow, and + rarely 'larmoyant.' Murray shall reinstate your line forthwith.[85] + I believe the blunder in the motto was mine:--and yet I have, in + general, a memory for _you_, and am sure it was rightly printed at + first. + + "I do 'blush' very often, if I may believe Ladies H. and M.;--but + luckily, at present, no one sees me. Adieu." + +[Footnote 85: The motto to The Giaour, which is taken from one of the +Irish Melodies, had been quoted by him incorrectly in the first editions +of the poem. He made afterwards a similar mistake in the lines from +Burns prefixed to the Bride of Abydos.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 141. TO MR. MOORE. + + "November 30. 1813. + + "Since I last wrote to you, much has occurred, good, bad, and + indifferent,--not to make me forget you, but to prevent me from + reminding you of one who, nevertheless, has often thought of you, + and to whom _your_ thoughts, in many a measure, have frequently + been a consolation. We were once very near neighbours this autumn; + and a good and bad neighbourhood it has proved to me. Suffice it to + say, that your French quotation was confoundedly to the + purpose,--though very _unexpectedly_ pertinent, as you may imagine + by what I _said_ before, and my silence since. However, 'Richard's + himself again,' and except all night and some part of the morning, + I don't think very much about the matter. + + "All convulsions end with me in rhyme; and to solace my midnights, + I have scribbled another Turkish story[86]--not a Fragment--which + you will receive soon after this. It does not trench upon your + kingdom in the least, and if it did, you would soon reduce me to my + proper boundaries. You will think, and justly, that I run some risk + of losing the little I have gained in fame, by this further + experiment on public patience; but I have really ceased to care on + that head. I have written this, and published it, for the sake of + the _employment_,--to wring my thoughts from reality, and take + refuge in 'imaginings,' however 'horrible;' and, as to success! + those who succeed will console me for a failure--excepting yourself + and one or two more, whom luckily I love too well to wish one leaf + of their laurels a tint yellower. This is the work of a week, and + will be the reading of an hour to you, or even less,--and so, let + it go * * * *. + + "P.S. Ward and I _talk_ of going to Holland. I want to see how a + Dutch canal looks after the Bosphorus. Pray respond." + +[Footnote 86: The Bride of Abydos.] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 142. TO MR. MOORE. + + "December 8. 1813. + + "Your letter, like all the best, and even kindest things in this + world, is both painful and pleasing. But, first, to what sits + nearest. Do you know I was actually about to dedicate to you,--not + in a formal inscription, as to one's _elders_,--but through a + short prefatory letter, in which I boasted myself your intimate, + and held forth the prospect of _your_ poem; when, lo! the + recollection of your strict injunctions of secrecy as to the said + poem, more than _once_ repeated by word and letter, flashed upon + me, and marred my intents. I could have no motive for repressing my + own desire of alluding to you (and not a day passes that I do not + think and talk of you), but an idea that you might, yourself, + dislike it. You cannot doubt my sincere admiration, waving personal + friendship for the present, which, by the by, is not less sincere + and deep rooted. I have you by rote and by heart; of which 'ecce + signum!' When I was at * *, on my first visit, I have a habit, in + passing my time a good deal alone, of--I won't call it singing, for + that I never attempt except to myself--but of uttering, to what I + think tunes, your 'Oh breathe not,' 'When the last glimpse,' and + 'When he who adores thee,' with others of the same minstrel;--they + are my matins and vespers. I assuredly did not intend them to be + overheard, but, one morning, in comes, not La Donna, but Il Marito, + with a very grave face, saying, 'Byron, I must request you won't + sing any more, at least of _those_ songs.' I stared, and said, + 'Certainly, but why?'--'To tell you the truth,' quoth he, 'they + make my wife _cry_, and so melancholy, that I wish her to hear no + more of them.' + + "Now, my dear M., the effect must have been from your words, and + certainly not my music. I merely mention this foolish story to show + you how much I am indebted to you for even your pastimes. A man + may praise and praise, but no one recollects but that which + pleases--at least, in composition. Though I think no one equal to + you in that department, or in satire,--and surely no one was ever + so popular in both,--I certainly am of opinion that you have not + yet done all _you_ can do, though more than enough for any one + else. I want, and the world expects, a longer work from you; and I + see in you what I never saw in poet before, a strange diffidence of + your own powers, which I cannot account for, and which must be + unaccountable, when a _Cossac_ like me can appal a _cuirassier_. + Your story I did not, could not, know,--I thought only of a Peri. I + wish you had confided in me, not for your sake, but mine, and to + prevent the world from losing a much better poem than my own, but + which, I yet hope, this _clashing_ will not even now deprive them + of.[87] Mine is the work of a week, written, _why_ I have partly + told you, and partly I cannot tell you by letter--some day I will. + + "Go on--I shall really be very unhappy if I at all interfere with + you. The success of mine is yet problematical; though the public + will probably purchase a certain quantity, on the presumption of + their own propensity for 'The Giaour' and such 'horrid mysteries.' + The only advantage I have is being on the spot; and that merely + amounts to saving me the trouble of turning over books which I had + better read again. If _your chamber_ was furnished in the same way, + you have no need to _go there_ to describe--I mean only as to + _accuracy_--because I drew it from recollection. + + "This last thing of mine _may_ have the same fate, and I assure you + I have great doubts about it. But, even if not, its little day will + be over before you are ready and willing. Come out--'screw your + courage to the sticking-place.' Except the Post Bag (and surely you + cannot complain of a want of success there), you have not been + _regularly_ out for some years. No man stands higher,--whatever you + may think on a rainy day, in your provincial retreat. 'Aucun homme, + dans aucune langue, n'a ete, peut-etre, plus completement le poete + du coeur et le poete des femmes. Les critiques lui reprochent de + n'avoir represente le monde ni tel qu'il est, ni tel qu'il doit + etre; _mais les femmes repondent qu'il l'a represente tel qu'elles + le desirent_.'--I should have thought Sismondi had written this for + you instead of Metastasio. + + "Write to me, and tell me of _yourself_. Do you remember what + Rousseau said to some one--'Have we quarrelled? you have talked to + me often, and never once mentioned yourself.' + + "P.S.--The last sentence is an indirect apology for my own + egotism,--but I believe in letters it is allowed. I wish it was + _mutual_. I have met with an odd reflection in Grimm; it shall + not--at least the bad part--be applied to you or me, though _one_ + of us has certainly an indifferent name--but this it is:--'Many + people have the reputation of being wicked, with whom we should be + too happy to pass our lives.' I need not add it is a woman's + saying--a Mademoiselle de Sommery's." + +[Footnote 87: Among the stories intended to be introduced into Lalla +Rookh, which I had begun, but, from various causes, never finished, +there was one which I had made some progress in, at the time of the +appearance of "The Bride," and which, on reading that poem, I found to +contain such singular coincidences with it, not only in locality and +costume, but in plot and characters, that I immediately gave up my story +altogether, and began another on an entirely new subject, the +Fire-worshippers. To this circumstance, which I immediately communicated +to him, Lord Byron alludes in this letter. In my hero (to whom I had +even given the name of "Zelim," and who was a descendant of Ali, +outlawed, with all his followers, by the reigning Caliph) it was my +intention to shadow out, as I did afterwards in another form, the +national cause of Ireland. To quote the words of my letter to Lord Byron +on the subject:--"I chose this story because one writes best about what +one feels most, and I thought the parallel with Ireland would enable me +to infuse some vigour into my hero's character. But to aim at vigour and +strong feeling after _you_ is hopeless;--that region 'was made for +Caesar.'"] + + * * * * * + +At this time Lord Byron commenced a Journal, or Diary, from the pages of +which I have already selected a few extracts, and of which I shall now +lay as much more as is producible before the reader. Employed +chiefly,--as such a record, from its nature, must be,--about persons +still living, and occurrences still recent, it would be impossible, of +course, to submit it to the public eye, without the omission of some +portion of its contents, and unluckily, too, of that very portion which, +from its reference to the secret pursuits and feelings of the writer, +would the most livelily pique and gratify the curiosity of the reader. +Enough, however, will, I trust, still remain, even after all this +necessary winnowing, to enlarge still further the view we have here +opened into the interior of the poet's life and habits, and to indulge +harmlessly that taste, as general as it is natural, which leads us to +contemplate with pleasure a great mind in its undress, and to rejoice in +the discovery, so consoling to human pride, that even the mightiest, in +their moments of ease and weakness, resemble ourselves.[88] + +[Footnote 88: "C'est surtout aux hommes qui sont hors de toute +comparaison par le genie qu'on aime a ressembler au moins par les +foiblesses."--GINGUENE.] + + +"JOURNAL, BEGUN NOVEMBER 14. 1813. + +"If this had been begun ten years ago, and faithfully kept!!!--heigho! +there are too many things I wish never to have remembered, as it is. +Well,--have had my share of what are called the pleasures of this life, +and have seen more of the European and Asiatic world than I have made a +good use of. They say 'Virtue is its own reward,'--it certainly should +be paid well for its trouble. At five-and-twenty, when the better part +of life is over, one should be _something_;--and what am I? nothing but +five-and-twenty--and the odd months. What have I seen? the same man all +over the world,--ay, and woman too. Give _me_ a Mussulman who never asks +questions, and a she of the same race who saves one the trouble of +putting them. But for this same plague--yellow fever--and Newstead +delay, I should have been by this time a second time close to the +Euxine. If I can overcome the last, I don't so much mind your +pestilence; and, at any rate, the spring shall see me there,--provided I +neither marry myself, nor unmarry any one else in the interval. I wish +one was--I don't know what I wish. It is odd I never set myself +seriously to wishing without attaining it--and repenting. I begin to +believe with the good old Magi, that one should only pray for the +nation, and not for the individual;--but, on my principle, this would +not be very patriotic. + +"No more reflections--Let me see--last night I finished 'Zuleika,' my +second Turkish Tale. I believe the composition of it kept me alive--for +it was written to drive my thoughts from the recollection of-- + + 'Dear sacred name, rest ever unreveal'd.' + +At least, even here, my hand would tremble to write it. This afternoon I +have burnt the scenes of my commenced comedy. I have some idea of +expectorating a romance, or rather a tale in prose;--but what romance +could equal the events-- + + 'quaeque ipse ...vidi, + Et quorum pars magna fui.' + +"To-day Henry Byron called on me with my little cousin Eliza. She will +grow up a beauty and a plague; but, in the mean time, it is the +prettiest child! dark eyes and eyelashes, black and long as the wing of +a raven. I think she is prettier even than my niece, Georgina,--yet I +don't like to think so neither; and though older, she is not so clever. + +"Dallas called before I was up, so we did not meet. Lewis, too,--who +seems out of humour with every thing. What can be the matter? he is not +married--has he lost his own mistress, or any other person's wife? +Hodgson, too, came. He is going to be married, and he is the kind of man +who will be the happier. He has talent, cheerfulness, every thing that +can make him a pleasing companion; and his intended is handsome and +young, and all that. But I never see any one much improved by matrimony. +All my coupled contemporaries are bald and discontented. W. and S. have +both lost their hair and good humour; and the last of the two had a good +deal to lose. But it don't much signify what falls _off_ a man's temples +in that state. + +"Mem. I must get a toy to-morrow, for Eliza, and send the device for the +seals of myself and * * * * * Mem. too, to call on the Stael and Lady +Holland to-morrow, and on * *, who has advised me (without seeing it, by +the by) not to publish 'Zuleika;' I believe he is right, but experience +might have taught him that not to print is _physically_ impossible. No +one has seen it but Hodgson and Mr. Gifford. I never in my life _read_ a +composition, save to Hodgson, as he pays me in kind. It is a horrible +thing to do too frequently;--better print, and they who like may read, +and if they don't like, you have the satisfaction of knowing that they +have, at least, _purchased_ the right of saying so. + +"I have declined presenting the Debtors' Petition, being sick of +parliamentary mummeries. I have spoken thrice; but I doubt my ever +becoming an orator. My first was liked; the second and third--I don't +know whether they succeeded or not. I have never yet set to it _con +amore_;--one must have some excuse to one's self for laziness, or +inability, or both, and this is mine. 'Company, villanous company, hath +been the spoil of me;'--and then, I have 'drunk medicines,' not to make +me love others, but certainly enough to hate myself. + +"Two nights ago I saw the tigers sup at Exeter 'Change. Except Veli +Pacha's lion in the Morea,--who followed the Arab keeper like a +dog,--the fondness of the hyaena for her keeper amused me most. Such a +conversazione!--There was a 'hippopotamus,' like Lord L----l in the +face; and the 'Ursine Sloth' hath the very voice and manner of my +valet--but the tiger talked too much. The elephant took and gave me my +money again--took off my hat--opened a door--_trunked_ a whip--and +behaved so well, that I wish he was my butler. The handsomest animal on +earth is one of the panthers; but the poor antelopes were dead. I should +hate to see one _here_:--the sight of the _camel_ made me pine again for +Asia Minor. 'Oh quando te aspiciam?' + + +"November 16. + +"Went last night with Lewis to see the first of Antony and Cleopatra. It +was admirably got up, and well acted--a salad of Shakspeare and Dryden, +Cleopatra strikes me as the epitome of her sex--fond, lively, sad, +tender, teasing, humble, haughty, beautiful, the devil!--coquettish to +the last, as well with the 'asp' as with Antony. After doing all she can +to persuade him that--but why do they abuse him for cutting off that +poltroon Cicero's head? Did not Tully tell Brutus it was a pity to have +spared Antony? and did he not speak the Philippics? and are not '_words +things_?' and such '_words_' very pestilent '_things_' too? If he had +had a hundred heads, they deserved (from Antony) a rostrum (his was +stuck up there) apiece--though, after all, he might as well have +pardoned him, for the credit of the thing. But to resume--Cleopatra, +after securing him, says, 'yet go--it is your interest,' &c.--how like +the sex! and the questions about Octavia--it is woman all over. + +"To-day received Lord Jersey's invitation to Middleton--to travel sixty +miles to meet Madame * *! I once travelled three thousand to get among +silent people; and this same lady writes octavos, and _talks_ folios. I +have read her books--like most of them, and delight in the last; so I +won't hear it, as well as read. + +"Read Burns to-day. What would he have been, if a patrician? We should +have had more polish--less force--just as much verse, but no +immortality--a divorce and a duel or two, the which had he survived, as +his potations must have been less spirituous, he might have lived as +long as Sheridan, and outlived as much as poor Brinsley. What a wreck is +that man! and all from bad pilotage; for no one had ever better gales, +though now and then a little too squally. Poor dear Sherry! I shall +never forget the day he and Rogers and Moore and I passed together; when +_he_ talked, and _we_ listened, without one yawn, from six till one in +the morning. + +"Got my seals * * * * * * Have again forgot a plaything for _ma petite +cousine_ Eliza; but I must send for it to-morrow. I hope Harry will +bring her to me. I sent Lord Holland the proofs of the last 'Giaour,' +and 'The Bride of Abydos.' He won't like the latter, and I don't think +that I shall long. It was written in four nights to distract my dreams +from * *. Were it not thus, it had never been composed; and had I not +done something at that time, I must have gone mad, by eating my own +heart,--bitter diet!--Hodgson likes it better than 'The Giaour,' but +nobody else will,--and he never liked the Fragment. I am sure, had it +not been for Murray, _that_ would never have been published, though the +circumstances which are the groundwork make it * * * heigh-ho! + +"To-night I saw both the sisters of * *; my God! the youngest so like! I +thought I should have sprung across the house, and am so glad no one was +with me in Lady H.'s box. I hate those likenesses--the mock-bird, but +not the nightingale--so like as to remind, so different as to be +painful.[89] One quarrels equally with the points of resemblance and of +distinction. + +[Footnote 89: + + "Earth holds no other like to thee, + Or, if it doth, in vain for me: + For worlds I dare not view the dame + Resembling thee, yet not the same." + THE GIAOUR. +] + + +"Nov. 17. + +"No letter from * *; but I must not complain. The respectable Job says, +'Why should a _living man_ complain?' I really don't know, except it be +that a _dead man_ can't; and he, the said patriarch, _did_ complain, +nevertheless, till his friends were tired and his wife recommended that +pious prologue, 'Curse--and die;' the only time, I suppose, when but +little relief is to be found in swearing. I have had a most kind letter +from Lord Holland on 'The Bride of Abydos,' which he likes, and so does +Lady H. This is very good-natured in both, from whom I don't deserve any +quarter. Yet I _did_ think, at the time, that my cause of enmity +proceeded from Holland House, and am glad I was wrong, and wish I had +not been in such a hurry with that confounded satire, of which I would +suppress even the memory;--but people, now they can't get it, make a +fuss, I verily believe, out of contradiction. + +"George Ellis and Murray have been talking something about Scott and me, +George pro Scoto,--and very right too. If they want to depose him, I +only wish they would not set me up as a competitor. Even if I had my +choice, I would rather be the Earl of Warwick than all the _kings_ he +ever made! Jeffrey and Gifford I take to be the monarch-makers in poetry +and prose. The British Critic, in their Rokeby Review, have presupposed +a comparison, which I am sure my friends never thought of, and W. +Scott's subjects are injudicious in descending to. I like the man--and +admire his works to what Mr. Braham calls _Entusymusy_. All such stuff +can only vex him, and do me no good. Many hate his politics--(I hate all +politics); and, here, a man's politics are like the Greek _soul_--an +[Greek: eidolon], besides God knows what _other soul_; but their +estimate of the two generally go together. + +"Harry has not brought _ma petite cousine_. I want us to go to the play +together;--she has been but once. Another short note from Jersey, +inviting Rogers and me on the 23d. I must see my agent to-night. I +wonder when that Newstead business will be finished. It cost me more +than words to part with it--and to _have_ parted with it! What matters +it what I do? or what becomes of me?--but let me remember Job's saying, +and console myself with being 'a living man.' + +"I wish I could settle to reading again,--my life is monotonous, and yet +desultory. I take up books, and fling them down again. I began a comedy, +and burnt it because the scene ran into _reality_;--a novel, for the +same reason. In rhyme, I can keep more away from facts; but the thought +always runs through, through ... yes, yes, through. I have had a letter +from Lady Melbourne--the best friend I ever had in my life, and the +cleverest of women. + +"Not a word from * *. Have they set out from * *? or has my last +precious epistle fallen into the lion's jaws? If so--and this silence +looks suspicious, I must clap on my 'musty morion' and 'hold out my +iron.' I am out of practice--but I won't begin again at Manton's now. +Besides, I would not return his shot. I was once a famous +wafer-splitter; but then the bullies of society made it necessary. Ever +since I began to feel that I had a bad cause to support, I have left off +the exercise. + +"What strange tidings from that Anakim of anarchy--Buonaparte! Ever +since I defended my bust of him at Harrow against the rascally +time-servers, when the war broke out in 1803, he has been a 'Heros de +Roman' of mine--on the Continent; I don't want him here. But I don't +like those same flights--leaving of armies, &c. &c. I am sure when I +fought for his bust at school, I did not think he would run away from +himself. But I should not wonder if he banged them yet. To be beat by +men would be something; but by three stupid, legitimate-old-dynasty +boobies of regular-bred sovereigns--O-hone-a-rie!--O-hone-a-rie! It must +be, as Cobbett says, his marriage with the thick-lipped and thick-headed +_Autrichienne_ brood. He had better have kept to her who was kept by +Barras. I never knew any good come of your young wife, and legal +espousals, to any but your 'sober-blooded boy' who 'eats fish' and +drinketh 'no sack.' Had he not the whole opera? all Paris? all France? +But a mistress is just as perplexing--that is, _one_--two or more are +manageable by division. + +"I have begun, or had begun, a song, and flung it into the fire. It was +in remembrance of Mary Duff, my first of flames, before most people +begin to burn. I wonder what the devil is the matter with me! I can do +nothing, and--fortunately there is nothing to do. It has lately been in +my power to make two persons (and their connections) comfortable, _pro +tempore_, and one happy, _ex tempore_,--I rejoice in the last +particularly, as it is an excellent man[90]. I wish there had been more +inconvenience and less gratification to my self-love in it, for then +there had been more merit. We are all selfish--and I believe, ye gods of +Epicurus! I believe in Rochefoucault about _men_, and in Lucretius (not +Busby's translation) about yourselves. Your bard has made you very +_nonchalant_ and blest; but as he has excused _us_ from damnation, I +don't envy you your blessedness _much_--a little, to be sure. I +remember, last year, * * said to me, at * *, 'Have we not passed our +last month like the gods of Lucretius?' And so we had. She is an adept +in the text of the original (which I like too); and when that booby Bus. +sent his translating prospectus, she subscribed. But, the devil +prompting him to add a specimen, she transmitted him a subsequent +answer, saying, that 'after perusing it, her conscience would not permit +her to allow her name to remain on the list of subscribblers.' Last +night, at Lord H.'s--Mackintosh, the Ossulstones, Puysegur, &c. there--I +was trying to recollect a quotation (as _I_ think) of Stael's, from some +Teutonic sophist about architecture. 'Architecture,' says this +Macoronico Tedescho, 'reminds me of frozen music.' It is somewhere--but +where?--the demon of perplexity must know and won't tell. I asked M., +and he said it was not in her: but P----r said it must be _hers_, it was +so _like_. H. laughed, as he does at all 'De l'Allemagne,'--in which, +however, I think he goes a little too far. B., I hear, condemns it too. +But there are fine passages;--and, after all, what is a work--any--or +every work--but a desert with fountains, and, perhaps, a grove or two, +every day's journey? To be sure, in Madame, what we often mistake, and +'pant for,' as the 'cooling stream,' turns out to be the '_mirage_' +(critice _verbiage_); but we do, at last, get to something like the +temple of Jove Ammon, and then the waste we have passed is only +remembered to gladden the contrast. + +"Called on C * *, to explain * * *. She is very beautiful, to my taste, +at least; for on coming home from abroad, I recollect being unable to +look at any woman but her--they were so fair, and unmeaning, and +_blonde_. The darkness and regularity of her features reminded me of my +'Jannat al Aden.' But this impression wore off; and now I can look at a +fair woman, without longing for a Houri. She was very good-tempered, and +every thing was explained. + +"To-day, great news--'the Dutch have taken Holland,'--which, I suppose, +will be succeeded by the actual explosion of the Thames. Five provinces +have declared for young Stadt, and there will be inundation, +conflagration, constupration, consternation, and every sort of nation +and nations, fighting away, up to their knees, in the damnable quags of +this will-o'-the-wisp abode of Boors. It is said Bernadotte is amongst +them, too; and, as Orange will be there soon, they will have (Crown) +Prince Stork and King Log in their Loggery at the same time. Two to one +on the new dynasty! + +"Mr. Murray has offered me one thousand guineas for 'The Giaour' and +'The Bride of Abydos.' I won't--it is too much, though I am strongly +tempted, merely for the _say_ of it. No bad price for a fortnight's (a +week each) what?--the gods know--it was intended to be called poetry. + +"I have dined regularly to-day, for the first time since Sunday +last--this being Sabbath, too. All the rest, tea and dry biscuits--six +_per diem_, I wish to God I had not dined now!--It kills me with +heaviness, stupor, and horrible dreams;--and yet it was but a pint of +bucellas, and fish.[91] Meat I never touch,--nor much vegetable diet. I +wish I were in the country, to take exercise,--instead of being obliged +to cool by abstinence, in lieu of it. I should not so much mind a little +accession of flesh,--my bones can well bear it. But the worst is, the +devil always came with it,--till I starved him out,--and I will _not_ be +the slave of _any_ appetite. If I do err, it shall be my heart, at +least, that heralds the way. Oh, my head--how it aches?--the horrors of +digestion! I wonder how Buonaparte's dinner agrees with him? + +"Mem. I must write to-morrow to 'Master Shallow, who owes me a thousand +pounds,' and seems, in his letter, afraid I should ask him for +it[92];--as if I would!--I don't want it (just now, at least,) to begin +with; and though I have often wanted that sum, I never asked for the +repayment of 10_l._ in my life--from a friend. His bond is not due this +year, and I told him when it was, I should not enforce it. How often +must he make me say the same thing? + +"I am wrong--I did once ask * * * [93] to repay me. But it was under +circumstances that excused me _to him_, and would to any one. I took no +interest, nor required security. He paid me soon,--at least, his +_padre_. My head! I believe it was given me to ache with. Good even. + +[Footnote 90: Evidently, Mr. Hodgson.] + +[Footnote 91: He had this year so far departed from his strict plan of +diet as to eat fish occasionally.] + +[Footnote 92: We have here another instance, in addition to the +munificent aid afforded to Mr. Hodgson, of the generous readiness of the +poet, notwithstanding his own limited means, to make the resources he +possessed available for the assistance of his friends.] + +[Footnote 93: Left blank thus in the original.] + + +"Nov. 22. 1813. + +"'Orange Boven!' So the bees have expelled the bear that broke open +their hive. Well,--if we are to have new De Witts and De Ruyters, God +speed the little republic! I should like to see the Hague and the +village of Brock, where they have such primitive habits. Yet, I don't +know,--their canals would cut a poor figure by the memory of the +Bosphorus; and the Zuyder Zee look awkwardly after 'Ak-Denizi.' No +matter,--the bluff burghers, puffing freedom out of their short +tobacco-pipes, might be worth seeing; though I prefer a cigar or a +hooka, with the rose-leaf mixed with the milder herb of the Levant. I +don't know what liberty means,--never having seen it,--but wealth is +power all over the world; and as a shilling performs the duty of a pound +(besides sun and sky and beauty for nothing) in the East,--_that_ is the +country. How I envy Herodes Atticus!--more than Pomponius. And yet a +little _tumult_, now and then, is an agreeable quickener of sensation; +such as a revolution, a battle, or an _aventure_ of any lively +description. I think I rather would have been Bonneval, Ripperda, +Alberoni, Hayreddin, or Horuc Barbarossa, or even Wortley Montague, than +Mahomet himself. + +"Rogers will be in town soon?--the 23d is fixed for our Middleton visit. +Shall I go? umph!--In this island, where one can't ride out without +overtaking the sea, it don't much matter where one goes. + +"I remember the effect of the _first_ Edinburgh Review on me. I heard of +it six weeks before,--read it the day of its denunciation,--dined and +drank three bottles of claret, (with S.B. Davies, I think,) neither ate +nor slept the less, but, nevertheless, was not easy till I had vented my +wrath and my rhyme, in the same pages, against every thing and every +body. Like George, in the Vicar of Wakefield, 'the fate of my paradoxes' +would allow me to perceive no merit in another. I remembered only the +maxim of my boxing-master, which, in my youth, was found useful in all +general riots,--'Whoever is not for you is against you--_mill_ away +right and left,' and so I did;--like Ishmael, my hand was against all +men, and all men's anent me. I did wonder, to be sure, at my own +success-- + + "'And marvels so much wit is all his own,' + +as Hobhouse sarcastically says of somebody (not unlikely myself, as we +are old friends);--but were it to come over again, I would _not_. I have +since redde[94] the cause of my couplets, and it is not adequate to the +effect. C * * told me that it was believed I alluded to poor Lord +Carlisle's nervous disorder in one of the lines. I thank Heaven I did +not know it--and would not, could not, if I had. I must naturally be the +last person to be pointed on defects or maladies. + +"Rogers is silent,--and, it is said, severe. When he does talk, he talks +well; and, on all subjects of taste, his delicacy of expression is pure +as his poetry. If you enter his house--his drawing-room--his +library--you of yourself say, this is not the dwelling of a common mind. +There is not a gem, a coin, a book thrown aside on his chimney-piece, +his sofa, his table, that does not bespeak an almost fastidious elegance +in the possessor. But this very delicacy must be the misery of his +existence. Oh the jarrings his disposition must have encountered through +life! + +"Southey, I have not seen much of. His appearance is _Epic_; and he is +the only existing entire man of letters. All the others have some +pursuit annexed to their authorship. His manners are mild, but not +those of a man of the world, and his talents of the first order. His +prose is perfect. Of his poetry there are various opinions: there is, +perhaps, too much of it for the present generation;--posterity will +probably select. He has passages equal to any thing. At present, he has +a party, but no public--except for his prose writings. The life of +Nelson is beautiful. + +"* * is a _Litterateur_, the Oracle of the Coteries, of the * * s, L * W +* (Sydney Smith's 'Tory Virgin'), Mrs. Wilmot, (she, at least, is a +swan, and might frequent a purer stream,) Lady B * *, and all the Blues, +with Lady C * * at their head--but I say nothing of _her_--'look in her +face and you forget them all,' and every thing else. Oh that face!--by +'te, Diva potens Cypri,' I would, to be beloved by that woman, build and +burn another Troy. + +"M * * e has a peculiarity of talent, or rather talents,--poetry, music, +voice, all his own; and an expression in each, which never was, nor will +be, possessed by another. But he is capable of still higher flights in +poetry. By the by, what humour, what--every thing, in the 'Post-Bag!' +There is nothing M * * e may not do, if he will but seriously set about +it. In society, he is gentlemanly, gentle, and, altogether, more +pleasing than any individual with whom I am acquainted. For his honour, +principle, and independence, his conduct to * * * * speaks +'trumpet-tongued.' He has but one fault--and that one I daily regret--he +is not _here_. + +[Footnote 94: It was thus that he, in general, spelled this word.] + + +"Nov. 23. + +"Ward--I like Ward.[95] By Mahomet! I begin to think I like every +body;--a disposition not to be encouraged;--a sort of social gluttony +that swallows every thing set before it. But I like Ward. He is +_piquant_; and, in my opinion, will stand _very_ high in the House, and +every where else, if he applies regularly. By the by, I dine with him +to-morrow, which may have some influence on my opinion. It is as well +not to trust one's gratitude _after_ dinner. I have heard many a host +libelled by his guests, with his burgundy yet reeking on their rascally +lips. + +"I have taken Lord Salisbury's box at Covent Garden for the season; and +now I must go and prepare to join Lady Holland and party, in theirs, at +Drury Lane, _questa sera_. + +"Holland doesn't think the man _is Junius_; but that the yet unpublished +journal throws great light on the obscurities of that part of George the +Second's reign--What is this to George the Third's? I don't know what to +think. Why should Junius be yet dead? If suddenly apoplexed, would he +rest in his grave without sending his [Greek: eidolon] to shout in the +ears of posterity, 'Junius was X.Y.Z., Esq., buried in the parish of * * +*. Repair his monument, ye churchwardens! Print a new edition of his +Letters, ye booksellers!' Impossible,--the man must be alive, and will +never die without the disclosure. I like him;--he was a good hater. + +"Came home unwell and went to bed,--not so sleepy as might be desirable. + +[Footnote 95: The present Lord Dudley.] + + +"Tuesday morning. + +"I awoke from a dream!--well! and have not others dreamed?--Such a +dream!--but she did not overtake me. I wish the dead would rest, +however. Ugh! how my blood chilled--and I could not wake +--and--and--heigho! + + "'Shadows to-night + Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, + Than could the substance of ten thousand * * s, + Arm'd all in proof, and led by shallow * *.' + +I do not like this dream,--I hate its 'foregone conclusion.' And am I to +be shaken by shadows? Ay, when they remind us of--no matter--but, if I +dream thus again, I will try whether _all_ sleep has the like visions. +Since I rose, I've been in considerable bodily pain also; but it is +gone, and now, like Lord Ogleby, I am wound up for the day. + +"A note from Mountnorris--I dine with Ward;--Canning is to be there, +Frere and Sharpe,--perhaps Gifford. I am to be one of 'the five' (or +rather six), as Lady * * said a little sneeringly yesterday. They are +all good to meet, particularly Canning, and--Ward, when he likes. I wish +I may be well enough to listen to these intellectuals. + +"No letters to-day;--so much the better,--there are no answers. I must +not dream again;--it spoils even reality. I will go out of doors, and +see what the fog will do for me. Jackson has been here: the boxing +world much as usual;--but the club increases. I shall dine at Crib's +to-morrow. I like energy--even animal energy--of all kinds; and I have +need of both mental and corporeal. I have not dined out, nor, indeed, +_at all_, lately; have heard no music--have seen nobody. Now for a +_plunge_--high life and low life. 'Amant _alterna_ Camoenae!' + +"I have burnt my _Roman_--as I did the first scenes and sketch of my +comedy--and, for aught I see, the pleasure of burning is quite as great +as that of printing. These two last would not have done. I ran into +realities more than ever; and some would have been recognised and others +guessed at. + +"Redde the Ruminator--a collection of Essays, by a strange, but able, +old man (Sir E.B.), and a half-wild young one, author of a poem on the +Highlands, called 'Childe Alarique.' The word 'sensibility' (always my +aversion) occurs a thousand times in these Essays; and, it seems, is to +be an excuse for all kinds of discontent. This young man can know +nothing of life; and, if he cherishes the disposition which runs through +his papers, will become useless, and, perhaps, not even a poet, after +all, which he seems determined to be. God help him! no one should be a +rhymer who could be any thing better. And this is what annoys one, to +see Scott and Moore, and Campbell and Rogers, who might have all been +agents and leaders, now mere spectators. For, though they may have other +ostensible avocations, these last are reduced to a secondary +consideration. * *, too, frittering away his time among dowagers and +unmarried girls. If it advanced any _serious_ affair, it were some +excuse; but, with the unmarried, that is a hazardous speculation, and +tiresome enough, too; and, with the veterans, it is not much worth +trying, unless, perhaps, one in a thousand. + +"If I had any views in this country, they would probably be +parliamentary. But I have no ambition; at least, if any, it would be +'aut Caesar aut nihil.' My hopes are limited to the arrangement of my +affairs, and settling either in Italy or the East (rather the last), and +drinking deep of the languages and literature of both. Past events have +unnerved me; and all I can now do is to make life an amusement, and look +on while others play. After all, even the highest game of crowns and +sceptres, what is it? _Vide_ Napoleon's last twelve-month. It has +completely upset my system of fatalism. I thought, if crushed, he would +have fallen, when 'fractus illabitur orbis,' and not have been pared +away to gradual insignificance; that all this was not a mere _jeu_ of +the gods, but a prelude to greater changes and mightier events. But men +never advance beyond a certain point; and here we are, retrograding to +the dull, stupid old system,--balance of Europe--poising straws upon +kings' noses, instead of wringing them off! Give me a republic, or a +despotism of one, rather than the mixed government of one, two, three. A +republic!--look in the history of the Earth--Rome, Greece, Venice, +France, Holland, America, our short (eheu!) Commonwealth, and compare +it with what they did under masters. The Asiatics are not qualified to +be republicans, but they have the liberty of demolishing despots, which +is the next thing to it. To be the first man--not the Dictator--not the +Sylla, but the Washington or the Aristides--the leader in talent and +truth--is next to the Divinity! Franklin, Penn, and, next to these, +either Brutus or Cassius--even Mirabeau--or St. Just. I shall never be +any thing, or rather always be nothing. The most I can hope is, that +some will say, 'He might, perhaps, if he would.' + + +"12, midnight. + +"Here are two confounded proofs from the printer. I have looked at the +one, but for the soul of me, I can't look over that 'Giaour' again,--at +least, just now, and at this hour--and yet there is no moon. + +"Ward talks of going to Holland, and we have partly discussed an +ensemble expedition. It must be in ten days, if at all, if we wish to be +in at the Revolution. And why not? * * is distant, and will be at * *, +still more distant, till spring. No one else, except Augusta, cares for +me; no ties--no trammels--_andiamo dunque--se torniamo, bene--se non, +ch' importa_? Old William of Orange talked of dying in 'the last ditch' +of his dingy country. It is lucky I can swim, or I suppose I should not +well weather the first. But let us see. I have heard hyaenas and jackalls +in the ruins of Asia; and bull-frogs in the marshes; besides wolves and +angry Mussulmans. Now, I should like to listen to the shout of a free +Dutchman. + +"Alla! Viva! For ever! Hourra! Huzza!--which is the most rational or +musical of these cries? 'Orange Boven,' according to the Morning Post. + + +"Wednesday, 24. + +"No dreams last night of the dead nor the living, so--I am 'firm as the +marble, founded as the rock,' till the next earthquake. + +"Ward's dinner went off well. There was not a disagreeable person +there--unless _I_ offended any body, which I am sure I could not by +contradiction, for I said little, and opposed nothing. Sharpe (a man of +elegant mind, and who has lived much with the best--Fox, Horne Tooke, +Windham, Fitzpatrick, and all the agitators of other times and tongues,) +told us the particulars of his last interview with Windham, a few days +before the fatal operation which sent 'that gallant spirit to aspire the +skies.' Windham,--the first in one department of oratory and talent, +whose only fault was his refinement beyond the intellect of half his +hearers,--Windham, half his life an active participator in the events of +the earth, and one of those who governed nations,--_he_ regretted, and +dwelt much on that regret, that 'he had not entirely devoted himself to +literature and science!!!' His mind certainly would have carried him to +eminence there, as elsewhere;--but I cannot comprehend what debility of +that mind could suggest such a wish. I, who have heard him, cannot +regret any thing but that I shall never hear him again. What! would he +have been a plodder? a metaphysician?--perhaps a rhymer? a scribbler? +Such an exchange must have been suggested by illness. But he is gone, +and Time 'shall not look upon his like again.' + +"I am tremendously in arrear with my letters,--except to * *, and to her +my thoughts overpower me:--my words never compass them. To Lady +Melbourne I write with most pleasure--and her answers, so sensible, so +_tactique_--I never met with half her talent. If she had been a few +years younger, what a fool she would have made of me, had she thought it +worth her while,--and I should have lost a valuable and most agreeable +friend. Mem. a mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, +you are lovers; and, when it is over, any thing but friends. + +"I have not answered W. Scott's last letter,--but I will. I regret to +hear from others that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary +involvements. He is undoubtedly the Monarch of Parnassus, and the most +_English_ of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list (I +value him more as the last of the best school)--Moore and Campbell both +_third_--Southey and Wordsworth and Coleridge--the rest, [Greek: hoi +polloi]--thus:-- + + W. SCOTT + /\ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / ROGERS.\ + /----------\ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / MOORE.--CAMPBELL.\ + /--------------------\ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / \ + / SOUTHEY.--WORDSWORTH.--COLERIDGE.\ + /------------------------------------\ + / \ + / THE MANY. \ + / \ +/--------------------------------------------\ + +There is a triangular 'Gradus ad Parnassum!'--the names are too numerous +for the base of the triangle. Poor Thurlow has gone wild about the +poetry of Queen Bess's reign--_c'est dommage_. I have ranked the names +upon my triangle more upon what I believe popular opinion, than any +decided opinion of my own. For, to me, some of M * * e's last _Erin_ +sparks--'As a beam o'er the face of the waters'--'When he who adores +thee'--'Oh blame not'--and 'Oh breathe not his name'--are worth all the +Epics that ever were composed. + +"* * thinks the Quarterly will attack me next. Let them. I have been +'peppered so highly' in my time, both ways, that it must be cayenne or +aloes to make me taste. I can sincerely say that I am not very much +alive _now_ to criticism. But--in tracing this--I rather believe, that +it proceeds from my not attaching that importance to authorship which +many do, and which, when young, I did also. 'One gets tired of every +thing, my angel,' says Valmont. The 'angels' are the only things of +which I am not a little sick--but I do think the preference of _writers_ +to _agents_--the mighty stir made about scribbling and scribes, by +themselves and others--a sign of effeminacy, degeneracy, and +weakness. Who would write, who had any thing better to do? +'Action--action--action'--said Demosthenes: 'Actions--actions,' I say, +and not writing,--least of all, rhyme. Look at the querulous and +monotonous lives of the 'genus;'--except Cervantes, Tasso, Dante, +Ariosto, Kleist (who were brave and active citizens), Aeschylus, +Sophocles, and some other of the antiques also--what a worthless, idle +brood it is! + + +"12, Mezza notte. + +"Just returned from dinner with Jackson (the Emperor of Pugilism) and +another of the select, at Crib's the champion's. I drank more than I +like, and have brought away some three bottles of very fair claret--for +I have no headach. We had Tom * * up after dinner;--very facetious, +though somewhat prolix. He don't like his situation--wants to fight +again--pray Pollux (or Castor, if he was the _miller_) he may! Tom has +been a sailor--a coal heaver--and some other genteel profession, before +he took to the cestus. Tom has been in action at sea, and is now only +three-and-thirty. A great man! has a wife and a mistress, and +conversations well--bating some sad omissions and misapplications of +the aspirate. Tom is an old friend of mine; I have seen some of his best +battles in my nonage. He is now a publican, and, I fear, a sinner;--for +Mrs. * * is on alimony, and * *'s daughter lives with the champion. +_This_ * * told me,--Tom, having an opinion of my morals, passed her off +as a legal spouse. Talking of her, he said, 'she was the truest of +women'--from which I immediately inferred she could not be his wife, and +so it turned out. + +"These panegyrics don't belong to matrimony;--for, if 'true,' a man +don't think it necessary to say so; and if not, the less he says the +better. * * * * is the only man, except * * * *, I ever heard harangue +upon his wife's virtue; and I listened to both with great credence and +patience, and stuffed my handkerchief into my mouth, when I found +yawning irresistible.--By the by, I am yawning now--so, good night to +thee.--[Greek: Nohairon]. + + +"Thursday, November 26. + +"Awoke a little feverish, but no headach--no dreams neither, thanks to +stupor! Two letters; one from * * * *'s, the other from Lady +Melbourne--both excellent in their respective styles. * * * *'s +contained also a very pretty lyric on 'concealed griefs;' if not her +own, yet very like her. Why did she not say that the stanzas were, or +were not, of her composition? I do not know whether to wish them hers or +not. I have no great esteem for poetical persons, particularly women; +they have so much of the 'ideal' in _practics_, as well as _ethics_. + +"I have been thinking lately a good deal of Mary Duff, &c. &c. &c. +&c.[96] + +"Lord Holland invited me to dinner to-day; but three days' dining would +destroy me. So, without eating at all since yesterday, I went to my box +at Covent Garden. + +"Saw * * * * looking very pretty, though quite a different style of +beauty from the other two. She has the finest eyes in the world, out of +which she pretends _not_ to see, and the longest eyelashes I ever saw, +since Leila's and Phannio's Moslem curtains of the light. She has much +beauty,--just enough,--but is, I think, _mechante_. + +"I have been pondering on the miseries of separation, that--oh how +seldom we see those we love! yet we live ages in moments, _when met_. +The only thing that consoles me during absence is the reflection that no +mental or personal estrangement, from ennui or disagreement, can take +place; and when people meet hereafter, even though many changes may have +taken place in the mean time, still, unless they are _tired_ of each +other, they are ready to reunite, and do not blame each other for the +circumstances that severed them. + +[Footnote 96: This passage has been already extracted.] + + +"Saturday 27. (I believe--or rather am in _doubt_, which is the ne plus +ultra of mortal faith.) + +"I have missed a day; and, as the Irishman said, or Joe Miller says for +him, 'have gained a loss,' or _by_ the loss. Every thing is settled for +Holland, and nothing but a cough, or a caprice of my fellow-traveller's, +can stop us. Carriage ordered, funds prepared, and, probably, a gale of +wind into the bargain. _N'importe_--I believe, with Clym o' the Clow, or +Robin Hood, 'By our Mary, (dear name!) that art both Mother and May, I +think it never was a man's lot to die before this day.' Heigh for +Helvoetsluys, and so forth! + +"To-night I went with young Henry Fox to see 'Nourjahad,' a drama, which +the Morning Post hath laid to my charge, but of which I cannot even +guess the author. I wonder what they will next inflict upon me. They +cannot well sink below a melodrama; but that is better than a Satire, +(at least, a personal one,) with which I stand truly arraigned, and in +atonement of which I am resolved to bear silently all criticisms, +abuses, and even praises, for bad pantomimes never composed by me, +without even a contradictory aspect. I suppose the root of this report +is my loan to the manager of my Turkish drawings for his dresses, to +which he was more welcome than to my name. I suppose the real author +will soon own it, as it has succeeded; if not, Job be my model, and +Lethe my beverage! + +"* * * * has received the portrait safe; and, in answer, the only remark +she makes upon it is, 'indeed it is like'--and again, 'indeed it is +like.' With her the likeness 'covered a multitude of sins;' for I happen +to know that this portrait was not a flatterer, but dark and +stern,--even black as the mood in which my mind was scorching last July, +when I sat for it. All the others of me, like most portraits +whatsoever, are, of course, more agreeable than nature. + +"Redde the Ed. Review of Rogers. He is ranked highly; but where he +should be. There is a summary view of us all--_Moore_ and _me_ among the +rest; and both (the _first_ justly) praised--though, by implication +(justly again) placed beneath our memorable friend. Mackintosh is the +writer, and also of the critique on the Stael. His grand essay on Burke, +I hear, is for the next number. But I know nothing of the Edinburgh, or +of any other Review, but from rumour; and I have long ceased--indeed, I +could not, in justice, complain of any, even though I were to rate +poetry, in general, and my rhymes in particular, more highly than I +really do. To withdraw _myself_ from _myself_ (oh that cursed +selfishness!) has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in +scribbling at all; and publishing is also the continuance of the same +object, by the action it affords to the mind, which else recoils upon +itself. If I valued fame, I should flatter received opinions, which have +gathered strength by time, and will yet wear longer than any living +works to the contrary. But, for the soul of me, I cannot and will not +give the lie to my own thoughts and doubts, come what may. If I am a +fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty +of his self-approved wisdom. + +"All are inclined to believe what they covet, from a lottery-ticket up +to a passport to Paradise,--in which, from the description, I see +nothing very tempting. My restlessness tells me I have something within +that 'passeth show.' It is for Him, who made it, to prolong that spark +of celestial fire which illuminates, yet burns, this frail tenement; but +I see no such horror in a 'dreamless sleep,' and I have no conception of +any existence which duration would not render tiresome. How else 'fell +the angels,' even according to your creed? They were immortal, heavenly, +and happy as their _apostate_ _Abdiel_ is now by his treachery. Time +must decide; and eternity won't be the less agreeable or more horrible +because one did not expect it. In the mean time, I am grateful for some +good, and tolerably patient under certain evils--grace a Dieu et mon bon +temperament. + + +"Sunday, 28th. + +---- + +"Monday, 29th. + +---- + +"Tuesday, 30th. + +"Two days missed in my log-book;--hiatus _haud_ deflendus. They were as +little worth recollection as the rest; and, luckily, laziness or society +prevented me from _notching_ them. + +"Sunday, I dined with the Lord Holland in St. James's Square. Large +party--among them Sir S. Romilly and Lady Ry.--General Sir Somebody +Bentham, a man of science and talent, I am told--Horner--_the_ Horner, +an Edinburgh Reviewer, an excellent speaker in the 'Honourable House,' +very pleasing, too, and gentlemanly in company, as far as I have +seen--Sharpe--Phillips of Lancashire--Lord John Russell, and others, +'good men and true.' Holland's society is very good; you always see some +one or other in it worth knowing. Stuffed myself with sturgeon, and +exceeded in champagne and wine in general, but not to confusion of head. +When I _do_ dine, I gorge like an Arab or a Boa snake, on fish and +vegetables, but no meat. I am always better, however, on my tea and +biscuit than any other regimen, and even _that_ sparingly. + +"Why does Lady H. always have that damned screen between the whole room +and the fire? I, who bear cold no better than an antelope, and never yet +found a sun quite _done_ to my taste, was absolutely petrified, and +could not even shiver. All the rest, too, looked as if they were just +unpacked, like salmon from an ice-basket, and set down to table for that +day only. When she retired, I watched their looks as I dismissed the +screen, and every cheek thawed, and every nose reddened with the +anticipated glow. + +"Saturday, I went with Harry Fox to Nourjahad; and, I believe, convinced +him, by incessant yawning, that it was not mine. I wish the precious +author would own it, and release me from his fame. The dresses are +pretty, but not in costume;--Mrs. Horn's, all but the turban, and the +want of a small dagger (if she is a sultana), _perfect_. I never saw a +Turkish woman with a turban in my life--nor did any one else. The +sultanas have a small poniard at the waist. The dialogue is drowsy--the +action heavy--the scenery fine--the actors tolerable. I can't say much +for their seraglio--Teresa, Phannio, or * * * *, were worth them all. + +"Sunday, a very handsome note from Mackintosh, who is a rare instance of +the union of very transcendent talent and great good nature. To-day +(Tuesday) a very pretty billet from M. la Baronne de Stael Holstein. She +is pleased to be much pleased with my mention of her and her last work +in my notes. I spoke as I thought. Her works are my delight, and so is +she herself, for--half an hour. I don't like her politics--at least, her +_having changed_ them; had she been _qualis ab incepto_, it were +nothing. But she is a woman by herself, and has done more than all the +rest of them together, intellectually;--she ought to have been a man. +She _flatters_ me very prettily in her note;--but I _know_ it. The +reason that adulation is not displeasing is, that, though untrue, it +shows one to be of consequence enough, in one way or other, to induce +people to lie, to make us their friend:--that is their concern. + +"* * is, I hear, thriving on the repute of a pun which was mine (at +Mackintosh's dinner some time back), on Ward, who was asking 'how much +it would take to _re-whig_ him?' I answered that, probably, 'he must +first, before he was _re-whigged_, be re-_warded_.' This foolish +quibble, before the Stael and Mackintosh, and a number of +conversationers, has been mouthed about, and at last settled on the head +of * *, where long may it remain! + +"George[97] is returned from afloat to get a new ship. He looks thin, +but better than I expected. I like George much more than most people +like their heirs. He is a fine fellow, and every inch a sailor. I would +do any thing, _but apostatise_, to get him on in his profession. + +"Lewis called. It is a good and good-humoured man, but pestilently +prolix and paradoxical and _personal_. If he would but talk half, and +reduce his visits to an hour, he would add to his popularity. As an +author he is very good, and his vanity is _ouverte_, like Erskine's, and +yet not offending. + +"Yesterday, a very pretty letter from Annabella[98], which I answered. +What an odd situation and friendship is ours!--without one spark of love +on either side, and produced by circumstances which in general lead to +coldness on one side, and aversion on the other. She is a very superior +woman, and very little spoiled, which is strange in an heiress--girl of +twenty--a peeress that is to be, in her own right--an only child, and a +_savante_, who has always had her own way. She is a poetess--a +mathematician--a metaphysician, and yet, withal, very kind, generous, +and gentle, with very little pretension. Any other head would be turned +with half her acquisitions, and a tenth of her advantages. + +[Footnote 97: His cousin, the present Lord Byron.] + +[Footnote 98: Miss Milbanke, afterwards Lady Byron.] + + +"Wednesday, December 1. 1813. + +"To-day responded to La Baronne de Stael Holstein, and sent to Leigh +Hunt (an acquisition to my acquaintance--through Moore--of last summer) +a copy of the two Turkish tales. Hunt is an extraordinary character, and +not exactly of the present age. He reminds me more of the Pym and +Hampden times--much talent, great independence of spirit, and an +austere, yet not repulsive, aspect. If he goes on _qualis ab incepto_, I +know few men who will deserve more praise or obtain it. I must go and +see him again;--the rapid succession of adventure, since last summer, +added to some serious uneasiness and business, have interrupted our +acquaintance; but he is a man worth knowing; and though, for his own +sake, I wish him out of prison, I like to study character in such +situations. He has been unshaken, and will continue so. I don't think +him deeply versed in life;--he is the bigot of virtue (not religion), +and enamoured of the beauty of that 'empty name,' as the last breath of +Brutus pronounced, and every day proves it. He is, perhaps, a little +opiniated, as all men who are the _centre_ of _circles_, wide or +narrow--the Sir Oracles, in whose name two or three are gathered +together--must be, and as even Johnson was; but, withal, a valuable man, +and less vain than success and even the consciousness of preferring 'the +right to the expedient' might excuse. + +"To-morrow there is a party of _purple_ at the 'blue' Miss * * *'s. +Shall I go? um!--I don't much affect your blue-bottles;--but one ought +to be civil. There will be, 'I guess now' (as the Americans say), the +Staels and Mackintoshes--good--the * * * s and * * * s--not so good--the +* * * s, &c. &c.--good for nothing. Perhaps that blue-winged Kashmirian +butterfly of book-learning, Lady * * * *, will be there. I hope so; it +is a pleasure to look upon that most beautiful of faces. + +"Wrote to H.:--he has been telling that I ----[99]. I am sure, at +least, _I_ did not mention it, and I wish he had not. He is a good +fellow, and I obliged myself ten times more by being of use than I did +him,--and there's an end on 't. + +"Baldwin is boring me to present their King's Bench petition. I +presented Cartwright's last year; and Stanhope and I stood against the +whole House, and mouthed it valiantly--and had some fun and a little +abuse for our opposition. But 'I am not i' th' vein' for this business. +Now, had * * been here, she would have _made_ me do it. _There_ is a +woman, who, amid all her fascination, always urged a man to usefulness +or glory. Had she remained, she had been my tutelar genius. + +"Baldwin is very importunate--but, poor fellow, 'I can't get out, I +can't get out--said the starling.' Ah, I am as bad as that dog Sterne, +who preferred whining over 'a dead ass to relieving a living +mother'--villain--hypocrite--slave--sycophant! but _I_ am no better. +Here I cannot stimulate myself to a speech for the sake of these +unfortunates, and three words and half a smile of * * had she been here +to urge it, (and urge it she infallibly would--at least she always +pressed me on senatorial duties, and particularly in the cause of +weakness,) would have made me an advocate, if not an orator. Curse on +Rochefoucault for being always right! In him a lie were virtue,--or, at +least, a comfort to his readers. + +"George Byron has not called to-day; I hope he will be an admiral, and, +perhaps, Lord Byron into the bargain. If he would but marry, I would +engage never to marry myself, or cut him out of the heirship. He would +be happier, and I should like nephews better than sons. + +"I shall soon be six-and-twenty (January 22d, 1814). Is there any thing +in the future that can possibly console us for not being always +_twenty-five_? + + "Oh Gioventu! + Oh Primavera! gioventu dell' anno. + Oh Gioventu! primavera della vita. + +[Footnote 99: Two or three words are here scratched out in the +manuscript, but the import of the sentence evidently is that Mr. Hodgson +(to whom the passage refers) had been revealing to some friends the +secret of Lord Byron's kindness to him.] + + +"Sunday, December 5. + +"Dallas's nephew (son to the American Attorney-general) is arrived in +this country, and tells Dallas that my rhymes are very popular in the +United States. These are the first tidings that have ever sounded like +_Fame_ to my ears--to be redde on the banks of the Ohio! The greatest +pleasure I ever derived, of this kind, was from an extract, in Cooke the +actor's life, from his Journal, stating that in the reading-room at +Albany, near Washington, he perused English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. +To be popular in a rising and far country has a kind of _posthumous +feel_, very different from the ephemeral _eclat_ and fete-ing, buzzing +and party-ing compliments of the well-dressed multitude. I can safely +say that, during my _reign_ in the spring of 1812, I regretted nothing +but its duration of six weeks instead of a fortnight, and was heartily +glad to resign. + +"Last night I supped with Lewis;--and, as usual, though I neither +exceeded in solids nor fluids, have been half dead ever since. My +stomach is entirely destroyed by long abstinence, and the rest will +probably follow. Let it--I only wish the _pain_ over. The 'leap in the +dark' is the least to be dreaded. + +"The Duke of * * called. I have told them forty times that, except to +half-a-dozen old and specified acquaintances, I am invisible. His Grace +is a good, noble, ducal person; but I am content to think so at a +distance, and so--I was not at home. + +"Galt called.--Mem.--to ask some one to speak to Raymond in favour of +his play. We are old fellow-travellers, and, with all his +eccentricities, he has much strong sense, experience of the world, and +is, as far as I have seen, a good-natured philosophical fellow. I showed +him Sligo's letter on the reports of the Turkish girl's _aventure_ at +Athens soon after it happened. He and Lord Holland, Lewis, and Moore, +and Rogers, and Lady Melbourne have seen it. Murray has a copy. I +thought it had been _unknown_, and wish it were; but Sligo arrived only +some days after, and the _rumours_ are the subject of his letter. That I +shall preserve,--_it is as well_. Lewis and Galt were both _horrified_; +and L. wondered I did not introduce the situation into 'The Giaour.' He +_may_ wonder;--he might wonder more at that production's being written +at all. But to describe the _feelings of that situation_ were +impossible--it is _icy_ even to recollect them. + +"The Bride of Abydos was published on Thursday the second of December; +but how it is liked or disliked, I know not. Whether it succeeds or not +is no fault of the public, against whom I can have no complaint. But I +am much more indebted to the tale than I can ever be to the most partial +reader; as it wrung my thoughts from reality to imagination--from +selfish regrets to vivid recollections--and recalled me to a country +replete with the _brightest_ and _darkest_, but always most _lively_ +colours of my memory. Sharpe called, but was not let in--which I regret. + +"Saw * * yesterday. I have not kept my appointment at Middleton, which +has not pleased him, perhaps; and my projected voyage with * * will, +perhaps, please him less. But I wish to keep well with both. They are +instruments that don't do, in concert; but, surely, their separate tones +are very musical, and I won't give up either. + +"It is well if I don't jar between these great discords. At present I +stand tolerably well with all, but I cannot adopt their _dislikes_;--so +many _sets_. Holland's is the first;--every thing _distingue_ is welcome +there, and certainly the _ton_ of his society is the best. Then there is +Mde. de Stael's--there I never go, though I might, had I courted it. It +is composed of the * *'s and the * * family, with a strange +sprinkling,--orators, dandies, and all kinds of _Blue_, from the regular +Grub Street uniform, down to the azure jacket of the _Litterateur_. To +see * * and * * sitting together, at dinner, always reminds me of the +grave, where all distinctions of friend and foe are levelled; and +they--the Reviewer and Reviewee--the Rhinoceros and Elephant--the +Mammoth and Megalonyx--all will lie quietly together. They now _sit_ +together, as silent, but not so quiet, as if they were already immured. + +"I did not go to the Berrys' the other night. The elder is a woman of +much talent, and both are handsome, and must have been beautiful. +To-night asked to Lord H.'s--shall I go? um!--perhaps. + + +"Morning, two o'clock. + +"Went to Lord H.'s--party numerous--_mi_lady in perfect good humour, and +consequently _perfect_. No one more agreeable, or perhaps so much so, +when she will. Asked for Wednesday to dine and meet the Stael--asked +particularly, I believe, out of mischief, to see the first interview +after the _note_, with which Corinne professes herself to be so much +taken. I don't much like it; she always talks of _my_self or _her_self, +and I am not (except in soliloquy, as now,) much enamoured of either +subject--especially one's works. What the devil shall I say about 'De +l'Allemagne?' I like it prodigiously; but unless I can twist my +admiration into some fantastical expression, she won't believe me; and I +know, by experience, I shall be overwhelmed with fine things about +rhyme, &c. &c. The lover, Mr. * *, was there to-night, and C * * said +'it was the only proof _he_ had seen of her good taste.' Monsieur +L'Amant is remarkably handsome; but _I_ don't think more so than her +book. + +"C * * looks well,--seems pleased, and dressed to _sprucery_. A blue +coat becomes him,--so does his new wig. He really looked as if Apollo +had sent him a birthday suit, or a wedding-garment, and was witty and +lively. He abused Corinne's book, which I regret; because, firstly, he +understands German, and is consequently a fair judge; and, secondly, he +is _first-rate_, and, consequently, the best of judges. I reverence and +admire him; but I won't give up my opinion--why should I? I read _her_ +again and again, and there can be no affectation in this. I cannot be +mistaken (except in taste) in a book I read and lay down, and take up +again; and no book can be totally bad which finds _one_, even _one_ +reader, who can say as much sincerely. + +"C. talks of lecturing next spring; his last lectures were eminently +successful. Moore thought of it, but gave it up,--I don't know why. * * +had been prating _dignity_ to him, and such stuff; as if a man disgraced +himself by instructing and pleasing at the same time. + +"Introduced to Marquis Buckingham--saw Lord Gower--he is going to +Holland; Sir J. and Lady Mackintosh and Homer, G. Lamb, with I know not +how many (R. Wellesley, one--a clever man) grouped about the room. +Little Henry Fox, a very fine boy, and very promising in mind and +manner,--he went away to bed, before I had time to talk to him. I am +sure I had rather hear him than all the _savans_. + + +"Monday, Dec. 6. + +"Murray tells me that C----r asked him why the thing was called the +_Bride_ of Abydos? It is a cursed awkward question, being unanswerable. +_She_ is not a _bride_, only about to be one; but for, &c. &c. &c. + +"I don't wonder at his finding out the _Bull_; but the detection * * * +is too late to do any good. I was a great fool to make it, and am +ashamed of not being an Irishman. + +"C----l last night seemed a little nettled at something or other--I know +not what. We were standing in the ante-saloon, when Lord H. brought out +of the other room a vessel of some composition similar to that which is +used in Catholic churches, and, seeing us, he exclaimed, 'Here is some +_incense_ for you.' C----l answered--'Carry it to Lord Byron, _he is +used to it_.' + +"Now, this comes of 'bearing no brother near the throne.' I, who have no +throne, nor wish to have one _now_, whatever I may have done, am at +perfect peace with all the poetical fraternity: or, at least, if I +dislike any, it is not _poetically_, but _personally_. Surely the field +of thought is infinite; what does it signify who is before or behind in +a race where there is no _goal_? The temple of fame is like that of the +Persians, the universe; our altar, the tops of mountains. I should be +equally content with Mount Caucasus, or Mount Anything; and those who +like it, may have Mount Blanc or Chimborazo, without my envy of their +elevation. + +"I think I may _now_ speak thus; for I have just published a poem, and +am quite ignorant whether it is _likely_ to be _liked_ or not. I have +hitherto heard little in its commendation, and no one can _downright_ +abuse it to one's face, except in print. It can't be good, or I should +not have stumbled over the threshold, and blundered in my very title. +But I began it with my heart full of * * *, and my head of +oriental_ities_ (I can't call them _isms_), and wrote on rapidly. + +"This journal is a relief. When I am tired--as I generally am--out comes +this, and down goes every thing. But I can't read it over; and God knows +what contradictions it may contain. If I am sincere with myself (but I +fear one lies more to one's self than to any one else), every page +should confute, refute, and utterly abjure its _predecessor_. + +"Another scribble from Martin Baldwin the petitioner; I have neither +head nor nerves to present it. That confounded supper at Lewis's has +spoiled my digestion and my philanthropy. I have no more charity than a +cruet of vinegar. Would I were an ostrich, and dieted on fire-irons,--or +any thing that my gizzard could get the better of. + +"To-day saw W. His uncle is dying, and W. don't much affect our Dutch +determinations. I dine with him on Thursday, provided _l'oncle_ is not +dined upon, or peremptorily bespoke by the posthumous epicures before +that day. I wish he may recover--not for _our_ dinner's sake, but to +disappoint the undertaker, and the rascally reptiles that may well +wait, since they _will_ dine at last. + +"Gell called--he of Troy--after I was out. Mem.--to return his visit. +But my Mems. are the very land-marks of forgetfulness;--something like a +light-house, with a ship wrecked under the nose of its lantern. I never +look at a Mem. without seeing that I have remembered to forget. Mem.--I +have forgotten to pay Pitt's taxes, and suppose I shall be surcharged. +'An I do not turn rebel when thou art king'--oons! I believe my very +biscuit is leavened with that impostor's imposts. + +"Ly. Me. returns from Jersey's to-morrow;--I must call. A Mr. Thomson +has sent a song, which I must applaud. I hate annoying them with censure +or silence;--and yet I hate _lettering_. + +"Saw Lord Glenbervie and his Prospectus, at Murray's, of a new Treatise +on Timber. Now here is a man more useful than all the historians and +rhymers ever planted. For, by preserving our woods and forests, he +furnishes materials for all the history of Britain worth reading, and +all the odes worth nothing. + +"Redde a good deal, but desultorily. My head is crammed with the most +useless lumber. It is odd that when I do read, I can only bear the +chicken broth of--_any thing_ but Novels. It is many a year since I +looked into one, (though they are sometimes ordered, by way of +experiment, but never taken,) till I looked yesterday at the worst parts +of the Monk. These descriptions ought to have been written by Tiberius +at Caprea--they are forced--the _philtred_ ideas of a jaded voluptuary. +It is to me inconceivable how they could have been composed by a man of +only twenty--his age when he wrote them. They have no nature--all the +sour cream of cantharides. I should have suspected Buffon of writing +them on the death-bed of his detestable dotage. I had never redde this +edition, and merely looked at them from curiosity and recollection of +the noise they made, and the name they have left to Lewis. But they +could do no harm, except * * * *. + +"Called this evening on my agent--my business as usual. Our strange +adventures are the only inheritances of our family that have not +diminished. + +"I shall now smoke two cigars, and get me to bed. The cigars don't keep +well here. They get as old as a _donna di quaranti anni_ in the sun of +Africa. The Havannah are the best;--but neither are so pleasant as a +hooka or chibouque. The Turkish tobacco is mild, and their horses +entire--two things as they should be. I am so far obliged to this +Journal, that it preserves me from verse,--at least from keeping it. I +have just thrown a poem into the fire (which it has relighted to my +great comfort), and have smoked out of my head the plan of another. I +wish I could as easily get rid of thinking, or, at least, the confusion +of thought. + + +"Tuesday, December 7. + +"Went to bed, and slept dreamlessly, but not refreshingly. Awoke, and up +an hour before being called; but dawdled three hours in dressing. When +one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation),--sleep, eating, +and swilling--buttoning and unbuttoning--how much remains of downright +existence? The summer of a dormouse. + +"Redde the papers and _tea_-ed and soda-watered, and found out that the +fire was badly lighted. Ld. Glenbervie wants me to go to Brighton--um! + +"This morning, a very pretty billet from the Stael about meeting her at +Ld. H.'s to-morrow. She has written, I dare say, twenty such this +morning to different people, all equally flattering to each. So much the +better for her and those who believe all she wishes them, or they wish +to believe. She has been pleased to be pleased with my slight eulogy in +the note annexed to 'The Bride.' This is to be accounted for in several +ways,--firstly, all women like all, or any, praise; secondly, this was +unexpected, because I have never courted her; and, thirdly, as Scrub +says, those who have been all their lives regularly praised, by regular +critics, like a little variety, and are glad when any one goes out of +his way to say a civil thing; and, fourthly, she is a very good-natured +creature, which is the best reason, after all, and, perhaps, the only +one. + +"A knock--knocks single and double. Bland called. He says Dutch society +(he has been in Holland) is second-hand French; but the women are like +women every where else. This is a bore; I should like to see them a +little unlike; but that can't be expected. + +"Went out--came home--this, that, and the other--and 'all is vanity, +saith the preacher,' and so say I, as part of his congregation. Talking +of vanity, whose praise do I prefer? Why, Mrs. Inchbald's, and that of +the Americans. The first, because her 'Simple Story' and 'Nature and +Art' are, to me, _true_ to their _titles;_ and, consequently, her short +note to Rogers about 'The Giaour' delighted me more than any thing, +except the Edinburgh Review. I like the Americans, because _I_ happened +to be in _Asia_, while the English Bards and Scotch Reviewers were redde +in _America_. If I could have had a speech against the _Slave Trade, in +Africa_, and an epitaph on a dog in _Europe_ (i.e. in the Morning Post), +my _vertex sublimis_ would certainly have displaced stars enough to +overthrow the Newtonian system. + + +"Friday, December 10. 1813. + +"I am _ennuye_ beyond my usual tense of that yawning verb, which I am +always conjugating; and I don't find that society much mends the matter. +I am too lazy to shoot myself--and it would annoy Augusta, and perhaps * +*; but it would be a good thing for George, on the other side, and no +bad one for me; but I won't be tempted. + +"I have had the kindest letter from M * * e. I _do_ think that man is +the best-hearted, the only _hearted_ being I ever encountered; and, +then, his talents are equal to his feelings. + +"Dined on Wednesday at Lord H.'s--the Staffords, Staels, Cowpers, +Ossulstones, Melbournes, Mackintoshes, &c. &c.--and was introduced to +the Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford,--an unexpected event. My +quarrel with Lord Carlisle (their or his brother-in-law) having rendered +it improper, I suppose, brought it about. But, if it was to happen at +all, I wonder it did not occur before. She is handsome, and must have +been beautiful--and her manners are _princessly_. + +"The Stael was at the other end of the table, and less loquacious than +heretofore. We are now very good friends; though she asked Lady +Melbourne whether I had really any _bonhommie_. She might as well have +asked that question before she told C.L. 'c'est un demon." True enough, +but rather premature, for _she_ could not have found it out, and so--she +wants me to dine there next Sunday. + +"Murray prospers, as far as circulation. For my part, I adhere (in +liking) to my Fragment. It is no wonder that I wrote one--my mind is a +fragment. + +"Saw Lord Gower, Tierney, &c. in the square. Took leave of Lord Gr. who +is going to Holland and Germany. He tells me that he carries with him a +parcel of 'Harolds' and 'Giaours,' &c. for the readers of Berlin, who, +it seems, read English, and have taken a caprice for mine. Um!--have I +been _German_ all this time, when I thought myself _Oriental_? + +"Lent Tierney my box for to-morrow; and received a new comedy sent by +Lady C.A.--but _not hers_. I must read it, and endeavour not to +displease the author. I hate annoying them with cavil; but a comedy I +take to be the most difficult of compositions, more so than tragedy. + +"G----t says there is a coincidence between the first part of 'The +Bride' and some story of his--whether published or not, I know not, +never having seen it. He is almost the last person on whom any one would +commit literary larceny, and I am not conscious of any witting thefts on +any of the genus. As to originality, all pretensions are +ludicrous,--'there is nothing new under the sun.' + +"Went last night to the play. Invited out to a party, but did not +go;--right. Refused to go to Lady * *'s on Monday;--right again. If I +must fritter away my life, I would rather do it alone. I was much +tempted;--C * * looked so Turkish with her red Turban, and her regular, +dark, and clear features. Not that _she_ and _I_ ever were, or could be, +any thing; but I love any aspect that reminds me of the 'children of the +sun.' + +"To dine to-day with Rogers and Sharpe, for which I have some appetite, +not having tasted food for the preceding forty-eight hours. I wish I +could leave off eating altogether. + + +"Saturday, December 11. +"Sunday, December 12. + +"By G----t's answer, I find it is some story in _real life_, and not any +work with which my late composition coincides. It is still more +singular, for mine is drawn from _existence_ also. + +"I have sent an excuse to M. de Stael. I do not feel sociable enough for +dinner to-day;--and I will not go to Sheridan's on Wednesday. Not that +I do not admire and prefer his unequalled conversation; but--that +'_but_' must only be intelligible to thoughts I cannot write. Sheridan +was in good talk at Rogers's the other night, but I only stayed till +_nine_. All the world are to be at the Stael's to-night, and I am not +sorry to escape any part of it. I only go out to get me a fresh appetite +for being alone. Went out--did not go to the Stael's but to Ld. +Holland's. Party numerous--conversation general. Stayed late--made a +blunder--got over it--came home and went to bed, not having eaten. +Rather empty, but _fresco_, which is the great point with me. + + +"Monday, December 13. 1813. + +"Called at three places--read, and got ready to leave town to-morrow. +Murray has had a letter from his brother bibliopole of Edinburgh, who +says, 'he is lucky in having such a _poet_'--something as if one was a +pack-horse, or 'ass, or any thing that is his:' or, like Mrs. Packwood, +who replied to some enquiry after the Odes on Razors,--'Laws, sir, we +keeps a poet.' The same illustrious Edinburgh bookseller once sent an +order for books, poesy, and cookery, with this agreeable +postscript--'The _Harold_ and _Cookery_ are much wanted.' Such is fame, +and, after all, quite as good as any other 'life in other's breath.' +'Tis much the same to divide purchasers with Hannah Glasse or Hannah +More. + +"Some editor of some magazine has _announced_ to Murray his intention +of abusing the thing '_without reading it_.' So much the better; if he +redde it first, he would abuse it more. + +"Allen (Lord Holland's Allen--the best informed and one of the ablest +men I know--a perfect Magliabecchi--a devourer, a Helluo of books, and +an observer of men,) has lent me a quantity of Burns's unpublished, and +never-to-be published, Letters. They are full of oaths and obscene +songs. What an antithetical mind!--tenderness, roughness--delicacy, +coarseness--sentiment, sensuality--soaring and grovelling, dirt and +deity--all mixed up in that one compound of inspired clay! + +"It seems strange; a true voluptuary will never abandon his mind to the +grossness of reality. It is by exalting the earthly, the material, the +_physique_ of our pleasures, by veiling these ideas, by forgetting them +altogether, or, at least, never naming them hardly to one's self, that +we alone can prevent them from disgusting. + + +"December 14, 15, 16. + +"Much done, but nothing to record. It is quite enough to set down my +thoughts,--my actions will rarely bear retrospection. + + +"December 17, 18. + +"Lord Holland told me a curious piece of sentimentality in +Sheridan.[100] The other night we were all delivering our respective +and various opinions on him and other _hommes marquans_, and mine was +this:--'Whatever Sheridan has done or chosen to do has been, _par +excellence_, always the _best_ of its kind. He has written the _best_ +comedy (School for Scandal), the _best_ drama, (in my mind, far before +that St. Giles's lampoon, the Beggar's Opera,) the best farce (the +Critic--it is only too good for a farce), and the best Address +(Monologue on Garrick), and, to crown all, delivered the very best +Oration (the famous Begum Speech) ever conceived or heard in this +country.' Somebody told S. this the next day, and on hearing it, he +burst into tears! + +"Poor Brinsley! if they were tears of pleasure, I would rather have said +these few, but most sincere, words than have written the Iliad or made +his own celebrated Philippic. Nay, his own comedy never gratified me +more than to hear that he had derived a moment's gratification from any +praise of mine, humble as it must appear to 'my elders and my betters.' + +"Went to my box at Covent Garden to night; and my delicacy felt a little +shocked at seeing S * * *'s mistress (who, to my certain knowledge, was +actually educated, from her birth, for her profession) sitting with her +mother, 'a three-piled b----d, b----d-Major to the army,' in a private +box opposite. I felt rather indignant; but, casting my eyes round the +house, in the next box to me, and the next, and the next, were the most +distinguished old and young Babylonians of quality;--so I burst out a +laughing. It was really odd; Lady * * _divorced_--Lady * * and her +daughter, Lady * *, both _divorceable_--Mrs. * *[101], in the next, the +_like_, and still nearer * * * * * *! What an assemblage to _me_, who +know all their histories. It was as if the house had been divided +between your public and your _understood_ courtesans;--but the +intriguantes much outnumbered the regular mercenaries. On the other side +were only Pauline and _her_ mother, and, next box to her, three of +inferior note. Now, where lay the difference between _her_ and _mamma_, +and Lady * * and daughter? except that the two last may enter Carleton +and any _other house_, and the two first are limited to the opera and +b----house. How I do delight in observing life as it really is!--and +myself, after all, the worst of any. But no matter--I must avoid +egotism, which, just now, would be no vanity. + +"I have lately written a wild, rambling, unfinished rhapsody, called +'The Devil's Drive[102],' the notion of which I took from Porson's +'Devil's Walk.' + +"Redde some Italian, and wrote two Sonnets on * * *. I never wrote but +one sonnet before, and that was not in earnest, and many years ago, as +an exercise--and I will never write another. They are the most puling, +petrifying, stupidly platonic compositions. I detest the Petrarch so +much[104], that I would not be the man even to have obtained his Laura, +which the metaphysical, whining dotard never could. + +[Footnote 100: This passage of the Journal has already appeared in my +Life of Sheridan.] + +[Footnote 101: These names are all left blank in the original.] + +[Footnote 102: Of this strange, wild poem, which extends to about two +hundred and fifty lines, the only copy that Lord Byron, I believe, ever +wrote, he presented to Lord Holland. Though with a good deal of vigour +and imagination, it is, for the most part, rather clumsily executed, +wanting the point and condensation of those clever verses of Mr. +Coleridge[103], which Lord Byron, adopting a notion long prevalent, has +attributed to Professor Person. There are, however, some of the stanzas +of "The Devil's Drive" well worth preserving. + + 1. + + "The Devil return'd to hell by two, + And he stay'd at home till five; + When he dined on some homicides done in _ragout_, + And a rebel or so in an _Irish_ stew, + And sausages made of a self-slain Jew, + And bethought himself what next to do, + 'And,' quoth he, 'I'll take a drive. + I walk'd in the morning, I'll ride to-night; + In darkness my children take most delight, + And I'll see how my favourites thrive.' + + 2. + + "'And what shall I ride in?' quoth Lucifer, then-- + 'If I follow'd my taste, indeed, + I should mount in a wagon of wounded men, + And smile to see them bleed. + But these will be furnish'd again and again, + And at present my purpose is speed; + To see my manor as much as I may, + And watch that no souls shall be poach'd away. + + 3. + + "'I have a state coach at Carleton House, + A chariot in Seymour Place; + But they're lent to two friends, who make me amends + By driving my favourite pace: + And they handle their reins with such a grace, + I have something for both at the end of the race. + + 4. + + "'So now for the earth to take my chance.' + Then up to the earth sprung he; + And making a jump from Moscow to France, + He stepped across the sea, + And rested his hoof on a turnpike road, + No very great way from a bishop's abode. + + 5. + + "But first as he flew, I forgot to say, + That he hover'd a moment upon his way + To look upon Leipsic plain; + And so sweet to his eye was its sulphury glare, + And so soft to his ear was the cry of despair, + That he perch'd on a mountain of slain; + And he gazed with delight from its growing height; + Not often on earth had he seen such a sight, + Nor his work done half as well: + For the field ran so red with the blood of the dead, + That it blush'd like the waves of hell! + Then loudly, and wildly, and long laugh'd he-- + 'Methinks they have here little need of me!' * * * + + 8. + + "But the softest note that sooth'd his ear + Was the sound of a widow sighing, + And the sweetest sight was the icy tear, + Which Horror froze in the blue eye clear + Of a maid by her lover lying-- + As round her fell her long fair hair; + And she look'd to Heaven with that frenzied air + Which seem'd to ask if a God were there! + And, stretch'd by the wall of a ruin'd hut, + With its hollow cheek, and eyes half shut, + A child of famine dying: + And the carnage begun, when resistance is done, + And the fall of the vainly flying! + + 10. + + "But the Devil has reach'd our cliffs so white, + And what did he there, I pray? + If his eyes were good, he but saw by night + What we see every day; + But he made a tour, and kept a journal + Of all the wondrous sights nocturnal, + And he sold it in shares to the _Men_ of the _Row_, + Who bid pretty well--but they _cheated_ him, though! + + 11. + + "The Devil first saw, as he thought, the _Mail_, + Its coachman and his coat; + So instead of a pistol, he cock'd his tail, + And seized him by the throat: + 'Aha,' quoth he, 'what have we here? + 'Tis a new barouche, and an ancient peer!' + + 12. + + "So he sat him on his box again, + And bade him have no fear, + But be true to his club, and stanch to his rein, + His brothel, and his beer; + 'Next to seeing a lord at the council board. + I would rather see him here.' + + 17. + + "The Devil gat next to Westminster, + And he turn'd to 'the room' of the Commons; + But he heard, as he purposed to enter in there, + That 'the Lords' had received a summons; + And he thought, as a '_quondam_ aristocrat,' + He might peep at the peers, though to _hear_ them were flat: + And he walk'd up the house, so like one of our own, + That they say that he stood pretty near the throne. + + 18. + + "He saw the Lord L----l seemingly wise, + The Lord W----d certainly silly, + And Johnny of Norfolk--a man of some size-- + And Chatham, so like his friend Billy; + And he saw the tears in Lord E----n's eyes, + Because the Catholics would _not_ rise, + In spite of his prayers and his prophecies; + And he heard--which set Satan himself a staring-- + A certain Chief Justice say something like _swearing_. + And the Devil was shock'd--and quoth he, 'I must go, + For I find we have much better manners below. + If thus he harangues when he passes my border, + I shall hint to friend Moloch to call him to order.'" +] + +[Footnote 103: Or Mr. Southey,--for the right of authorship in them +seems still undecided.] + +[Footnote 104: He learned to think more reverently of "the Petrarch" +afterwards.] + + +"January 16. 1814. + +"To-morrow I leave town for a few days. I saw Lewis to-day, who is just +returned from Oatlands, where he has been squabbling with Mad. de Stael +about himself, Clarissa Harlowe, Mackintosh, and me. My homage has never +been paid in that quarter, or we would have agreed still worse. I don't +talk--I can't flatter, and won't listen, except to a pretty or a foolish +woman. She bored Lewis with praises of himself till he sickened--found +out that Clarissa was perfection, and Mackintosh the first man in +England. There I agree, at least _one_ of the first--but Lewis did not. +As to Clarissa, I leave to those who can read it to judge and dispute. I +could not do the one, and am, consequently, not qualified for the other. +She told Lewis wisely, he being my friend, that I was affected, in the +first place; and that, in the next place, I committed the heinous +offence of sitting at dinner with my _eyes_ shut, or half shut. I wonder +if I really have this trick. I must cure myself of it, if true. One +insensibly acquires awkward habits, which should be broken in time. If +this is one, I wish I had been told of it before. It would not so much +signify if one was always to be checkmated by a plain woman, but one may +as well see some of one's neighbours, as well as the plate upon the +table. + +"I should like, of all things, to have heard the Amabaean eclogue between +her and Lewis--both obstinate, clever, odd, garrulous, and shrill. In +fact, one could have heard nothing else. But they fell out, alas!--and +now they will never quarrel again. Could not one reconcile them for the +'nonce?' Poor Corinne--she will find that some of her fine sayings +won't suit our fine ladies and gentlemen. + +"I am getting rather into admiration of * *, the youngest sister of * *. +A wife would be my salvation. I am sure the wives of my acquaintances +have hitherto done me little good. * * is beautiful, but very young, +and, I think, a fool. But I have not seen enough to judge; besides, I +hate an _esprit_ in petticoats. That she won't love me is very probable, +nor shall I love her. But, on my system, and the modern system in +general, that don't signify. The business (if it came to business) would +probably be arranged between papa and me. She would have her own way; I +am good-humoured to women, and docile; and, if I did not fall in love +with her, which I should try to prevent, we should be a very comfortable +couple. As to conduct, _that_ she must look to. But _if_ I love, I shall +be jealous;--and for that reason I will not be in love. Though, after +all, I doubt my temper, and fear I should not be so patient as becomes +the _bienseance_ of a married man in my station. Divorce ruins the poor +_femme_, and damages are a paltry compensation. I do fear my temper +would lead me into some of our oriental tricks of vengeance, or, at any +rate, into a summary appeal to the court of twelve paces. So 'I'll none +on 't,' but e'en remain single and solitary;--though I should like to +have somebody now and then to yawn with one. + +"W. and, after him, * *, has stolen one of my buffooneries about Mde. de +Stael's Metaphysics and the Fog, and passed it, by speech and letter, +as their own. As Gibbet says, 'they are the most of a gentleman of any +on the road.' W. is in sad enmity with the Whigs about this Review of +Fox (if he _did_ review him);--all the epigrammatists and essayists are +at him. I hate _odds_, and wish he may beat them. As for me, by the +blessing of indifference, I have simplified my politics into an utter +detestation of all existing governments; and, as it is the shortest and +most agreeable and summary feeling imaginable, the first moment of an +universal republic would convert me into an advocate for single and +uncontradicted despotism. The fact is, riches are power, and poverty is +slavery all over the earth, and one sort of establishment is no better +nor worse for a _people_ than another. I shall adhere to my party, +because it would not be honourable to act otherwise; but, as to +_opinions_, I don't think politics _worth_ an _opinion_. _Conduct_ is +another thing:--if you begin with a party, go on with them. I have no +consistency, except in politics; and _that_ probably arises from my +indifference on the subject altogether." + + * * * * * + +I must here be permitted to interrupt, for a while, the progress of this +Journal,--which extends through some months of the succeeding year,--for +the purpose of noticing, without infringement of chronological order, +such parts of the poet's literary history and correspondence as belong +properly to the date of the year 1813. + +At the beginning, as we have seen, of the month of December, The Bride +of Abydos was published,--having been struck off, like its predecessor, +The Giaour, in one of those paroxysms of passion and imagination, which +adventures such as the poet was now engaged in were, in a temperament +like his, calculated to excite. As the mathematician of old required but +a spot to stand upon, to be able, as he boasted, to move the world, so a +certain degree of foundation in _fact_ seemed necessary to Byron, before +that lever which he knew how to apply to the world of the passions could +be wielded by him. So small, however, was, in many instances, the +connection with reality which satisfied him, that to aim at tracing +through his stories these links with his own fate and fortunes, which +were, after all, perhaps, visible but to his own fancy, would be a task +as uncertain as unsafe;--and this remark applies not only to The Bride +of Abydos, but to The Corsair, Lara, and all the other beautiful +fictions that followed, in which, though the emotions expressed by the +poet may be, in general, regarded as vivid recollections of what had at +different times agitated his own bosom, there are but little +grounds,--however he might himself, occasionally, encourage such a +supposition,--for connecting him personally with the groundwork or +incidents of the stories. + +While yet uncertain about the fate of his own new poem, the following +observations on the work of an ingenious follower in the same track were +written. + +LETTER 143. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Dec. 4. 1813. + + "I have redde through your Persian Tales[105], and have taken the + liberty of making some remarks on the _blank_ pages. There are many + beautiful passages, and an interesting story; and I cannot give you + a stronger proof that such is my opinion, than by the _date_ of the + _hour_--_two o'clock_, till which it has kept me awake _without a + yawn_. The conclusion is not quite correct in _costume_; there is + no _Mussulman suicide_ on record--at least for _love_. But this + matters not. The tale must have been written by some one who has + been on the spot, and I wish him, and he deserves, success. Will + you apologise to the author for the liberties I have taken with his + MS.? Had I been less awake to, and interested in, his theme, I had + been less obtrusive; but you know _I_ always take this in good + part, and I hope he will. It is difficult to say what _will_ + succeed, and still more to pronounce what _will not_. _I_ am at + this moment in _that uncertainty_ (on our _own_ score); and it is + no small proof of the author's powers to be able to _charm_ and + _fix_ a _mind_'s attention on similar subjects and climates in such + a predicament. That he may have the same effect upon all his + readers is very sincerely the wish, and hardly the _doubt_, of + yours truly, B." + +[Footnote 105: Poems by Mr. Gally Knight, of which Mr. Murray had +transmitted the MS. to Lord Byron, without, however, communicating the +name of the author.] + + * * * * * + +To The Bride of Abydos he made additions, in the course of printing, +amounting, altogether, to near two hundred lines; and, as usual, among +the passages thus added, were some of the happiest and most brilliant in +the whole poem. The opening lines,--"Know ye the land,' &c.--supposed to +have been suggested to him by a song of Goethe's[106]--were among the +number of these new insertions, as were also those fine verses,--"Who +hath not proved how feebly words essay," &c. Of one of the most popular +lines in this latter passage, it is not only curious, but instructive, +to trace the progress to its present state of finish. Having at first +written-- + + "Mind on her lip and music in her face," + +he afterwards altered it to-- + + "The mind of music breathing in her face." + +But, this not satisfying him, the next step of correction brought the +line to what it is at present-- + + "The mind, the music breathing from her face."[107] + +But the longest, as well as most splendid, of those passages, with which +the perusal of his own strains, during revision, inspired him, was that +rich flow of eloquent feeling which follows the couplet,--"Thou, my +Zuleika, share and bless my bark," &c.--a strain of poetry, which, for +energy and tenderness of thought, for music of versification, and +selectness of diction, has, throughout the greater portion of it, but +few rivals in either ancient or modern song. All this passage was sent, +in successive scraps, to the printer,--correction following correction, +and thought reinforced by thought. We have here, too, another example of +that retouching process by which some of his most exquisite effects were +attained. Every reader remembers the four beautiful lines-- + + "Or, since that hope denied in worlds of strife, + Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life! + The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, + And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray!" + +In the first copy of this passage sent to the publisher, the last line +was written thus-- + + {_an airy_} + "And tints to-morrow with a { fancied } ray"-- + +the following note being annexed:--"Mr. Murray,--Choose which of the two +epithets, 'fancied,' or 'airy,' may be the best; or, if neither will do, +tell me, and I will dream another." The poet's dream was, it must be +owned, lucky,--"prophetic" being the word, of all others, for his +purpose.[108] + +I shall select but one more example, from the additions to this poem, as +a proof that his eagerness and facility in producing, was sometimes +almost equalled by his anxious care in correcting. In the long passage +just referred to, the six lines beginning "Blest as the Muezzin's +strain," &c., having been despatched to the printer too late for +insertion, were, by his desire, added in an errata page; the first +couplet, in its original form, being as follows:-- + + "Soft as the Mecca-Muezzin's strains invite + Him who hath journey'd far to join the rite." + +In a few hours after, another scrap was sent off, containing the lines +thus-- + + "Blest as the Muezzin's strain from Mecca's dome, + Which welcomes Faith to view her Prophet's tomb"-- + +with the following note to Mr. Murray:-- + + "December 3. 1813. + + "Look out in the Encyclopedia, article _Mecca_, whether it is there + or at _Medina_ the Prophet is entombed. If at Medina, the first + lines of my alterration must run-- + + "Blest as the call which from Medina's dome + Invites Devotion to her Prophet's tomb," &c. + + If at Mecca, the lines may stand as before. Page 45. canto 2d, + Bride of Abydos. Yours, B. + + "You will find this out either by article _Mecca_, _Medina_, or + _Mohammed_. I have no book of reference by me." + +[Footnote 106: "Kennst du das Land wo die Citronen bluehn," &c.] + +[Footnote 107: Among the imputed plagiarisms so industriously hunted out +in his writings, this line has been, with somewhat more plausibility +than is frequent in such charges, included,--the lyric poet Lovelace +having, it seems, written, + + "The melody and music of her face." + +Sir Thomas Brown, too, in his Religio Medici, says--"There is music even +in beauty," &c. The coincidence, no doubt, is worth observing, and the +task of "tracking" thus a favourite writer "in the snow (as Dryden +expresses it) of others" is sometimes not unamusing; but to those who +found upon such resemblances a general charge of plagiarism, we may +apply what Sir Walter Scott says, in that most agreeable work, his Lives +of the Novelists:--"It is a favourite theme of laborious dulness to +trace such coincidences, because they appear to reduce genius of the +higher order to the usual standard of humanity, and of course to bring +the author nearer to a level with his critics."] + +[Footnote 108: It will be seen, however, from a subsequent letter to Mr. +Murray, that he himself was at first unaware of the peculiar felicity of +this epithet; and it is therefore, probable, that, after all, the merit +of the choice may have belonged to Mr. Gifford.] + + * * * * * + +Immediately after succeeded another note:-- + + "Did you look out? Is it _Medina_ or _Mecca_ that contains the + _Holy_ Sepulchre? Don't make me blaspheme by your negligence. I + have no book of reference, or I would save you the trouble. I + _blush_, as a good Mussulman, to have confused the point. + + "Yours, B." + + * * * * * + +Notwithstanding all these various changes, the couplet in question +stands at present thus:-- + + "Blest as the Muezzin's strain from Mecca's wall + To pilgrims pure and prostrate at his call." + +In addition to his own watchfulness over the birth of his new poem, he +also, as will be seen from the following letter, invoked the veteran +taste of Mr. Gifford on the occasion:-- + +LETTER 144. TO MR. GIFFORD. + + "November 12. 1813. + + "My dear Sir, + + "I hope you will consider, when I venture on any request, that it + is the reverse of a certain Dedication, and is addressed, _not_ to + 'The Editor of the Quarterly Review,' but to Mr. Gifford. You will + understand this, and on that point I need trouble you no farther. + + "You have been good enough to look at a thing of mine in MS.--a + Turkish story, and I should feel gratified if you would do it the + same favour in its probationary state of printing. It was written, + I cannot say for amusement, nor 'obliged by hunger and request of + friends,' but in a state of mind from circumstances which + occasionally occur to 'us youth,' that rendered it necessary for me + to apply my mind to something, any thing but reality; and under + this not very brilliant inspiration it was composed. Being done, + and having at least diverted me from myself, I thought you would + not perhaps be offended if Mr. Murray forwarded it to you. He has + done so, and to apologise for his doing so a second time is the + object of my present letter. + + "I beg you will _not_ send me any answer. I assure you very + sincerely I know your time to be occupied, and it is enough, more + than enough, if you read; you are not to be bored with the fatigue + of answers. + + "A word to Mr. Murray will be sufficient, and send it either to the + flames or + + "A hundred hawkers' load, + On wings of wind to fly or fall abroad. + + It deserves no better than the first, as the work of a week, and + scribbled 'stans pede in uno' (by the by, the only foot I have to + stand on); and I promise never to trouble you again under forty + Cantos, and a voyage between each. Believe me ever + + "Your obliged and affectionate servant, + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +The following letters and notes, addressed to Mr. Murray at this time, +cannot fail, I think, to gratify all those to whom the history of the +labours of genius is interesting:-- + +LETTER 145. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 12. 1813. + + "Two friends of mine (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Sharpe) have advised me + not to risk at present any single publication separately, for + various reasons. As they have not seen the one in question, they + can have no bias for or against the merits (if it has any) or the + faults of the present subject of our conversation. You say all the + last of 'The Giaour' are gone--at least out of your hands. Now, if + you think of publishing any new edition with the last additions + which have not yet been before the reader (I mean distinct from the + two-volume publication), we can add 'The Bride of Abydos,' which + will thus steal quietly into the world: if liked, we can then throw + off some copies for the purchasers of former 'Giaours;' and, if + not, I can omit it in any future publication. What think you? I + really am no judge of those things, and with all my natural + partiality for one's own productions, I would rather follow any + one's judgment than my own. + + "P.S. Pray let me have the proofs I sent _all_ to-night. I have + some alterations that I have thought of that I wish to make + speedily. I hope the proof will be on separate pages, and not all + huddled together on a mile-long ballad-singing sheet, as those of + The Giaour sometimes are; for then I can't read them distinctly." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 13. 1813. + + "Will you forward the letter to Mr. Gilford with the proof? There + is an alteration I may make in Zuleika's speech, in second Canto + (the only one of hers in that Canto). It is now thus: + + "And curse, if I could curse, the day. + + It must be-- + + "And mourn--I dare not curse--the day + That saw my solitary birth, &c. &c. + + "Ever yours, B. + + "In the last MS. lines sent, instead of 'living heart,' convert to + 'quivering heart.' It is in line ninth of the MS. passage. + + "Ever yours again, B." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Alteration of a line in Canto second. + + "Instead of-- + + "And tints to-morrow with a _fancied_ ray, + + Print-- + + "And tints to-morrow with _prophetic_ ray. + + "The evening beam that smiles the clouds away + And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray; + + Or, + + {_gilds_} + "And { tints } the hope of morning with its ray; + + Or, + + "And gilds to-morrow's hope with heavenly ray. + + "I wish you would ask Mr. Gifford which of them is best, or rather + _not worst_. Ever, &c. + + "You can send the request contained in this at the same time with + the _revise_, _after_ I have seen the _said revise_." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 13. 1813. + + "Certainly. Do you suppose that no one but the Galileans are + acquainted with _Adam_, and _Eve_, and _Cain_[109], and + _Noah_?--Surely, I might have had Solomon, and Abraham, and David, + and even Moses. When you know that _Zuleika_ is the _Persian + poetical_ name for _Potiphar_'s wife, on whom and Joseph there is a + long poem, in the Persian, this will not surprise you. If you want + authority, look at Jones, D'Herbelot, Vathek, or the notes to the + Arabian Nights; and, if you think it necessary, model this into a + note. + + "Alter, in the inscription, 'the most affectionate respect,' to + 'with every sentiment of regard and respect.'" + +[Footnote 109: Some doubt had been expressed by Mr. Murray as to the +propriety of his putting the name of Cain into the mouth of a +Mussulman.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 14. 1813. + + "I send you a note for the _ignorant_, but I really wonder at + finding _you_ among them. I don't care one lump of sugar for my + _poetry_; but for my _costume_ and my _correctness_ on those points + (of which I think the _funeral_ was a proof), I will combat + lustily. + + "Yours," &c. + + * * * * * + + "Nov. 14. 1813. + + "Let the revise which I sent just now (and _not_ the proof in Mr. + Gifford's possession) be returned to the printer, as there are + several additional corrections, and two new lines in it. Yours," + &c. + + * * * * * + +LETTER 146. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 15. 1813. + + "Mr. Hodgson has looked over and _stopped_, or rather _pointed_, + this revise, which must be the one to print from. He has also made + some suggestions, with most of which I have complied, as he has + always, for these ten years, been a very sincere, and by no means + (at times) flattering intimate of mine. _He_ likes it (you will + think _fatteringly_, in this instance) better than The Giaour, but + doubts (and so do I) its being so popular; but, contrary to some + others, advises a separate publication. On this we can easily + decide. I confess I like the _double_ form better. Hodgson says, it + is _better versified_ than any of the others; which is odd, if + true, as it has cost me less time (though more hours at a time) + than any attempt I ever made. + + "P.S. Do attend to the punctuation: I can't, for I don't know a + comma--at least where to place one. + + "That Tory of a printer has omitted two lines of the opening, and + _perhaps more_, which were in the MS. Will you, pray, give him a + hint of accuracy? I have reinserted the _two_, but they were in the + manuscript, I can swear." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 147. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 17. 1813. + + "That you and I may distinctly understand each other on a subject, + which, like 'the dreadful reckoning when men smile no more,' makes + conversation not very pleasant, I think it as well to _write_ a few + lines on the topic.--Before I left town for Yorkshire, you said + that you were ready and willing to give five hundred guineas for + the copyright of 'The Giaour;' and my answer was--from which I do + not mean to recede--that we would discuss the point at Christmas. + The new story may or may not succeed; the probability, under + present circumstances, seems to be, that it may at least pay its + expenses--but even that remains to be proved, and till it is proved + one way or another, we will say nothing about it. Thus then be it: + I will postpone all arrangement about it, and The Giaour also, till + Easter, 1814; and you shall then, according to your own notions of + fairness, make your own offer for the two. At the same time, I do + not rate the last in my own estimation at half The Giaour; and + according to your own notions of its worth and its success within + the time mentioned, be the addition or deduction to or from + whatever sum may be your proposal for the first, which has already + had its success. + + "The pictures of Phillips I consider as _mine_, all three; and the + one (not the Arnaout) of the two best is much at _your service_, if + you will accept it as a present. + + "P.S. The expense of engraving from the miniature send me in my + account, as it was destroyed by my desire; and have the goodness to + burn that detestable print from it immediately. + + "To make you some amends for eternally pestering you with + alterations, I send you Cobbett to confirm your orthodoxy. + + "One more alteration of _a_ into _the_ in the MS.; it must be--'The + _heart whose softness_,' &c. + + "Remember--and in the inscription, 'To the Right Honourable Lord + Holland,' _without_ the previous names, Henry," &c. + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 20. 1813. + + "More work for the _Row_. I am doing my best to beat 'The + Giaour'--_no_ difficult task for any one but the author." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 22. 1813. + + "I have no time to _cross_-investigate, but I believe and hope all + is right. I care less than you will believe about its success, but + I can't survive a single _misprint_: it _chokes_ me to see words + misused by the printers. Pray look over, in case of some eyesore + escaping me. + + "P.S. Send the earliest copies to Mr. Frere, Mr. Canning, Mr. Heber, + Mr. Gifford, Lord Holland, Lord Melbourne (Whitehall), Lady + Caroline Lamb, (Brocket), Mr. Hodgson (Cambridge), Mr. Merivale, + Mr. Ward, from the author." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 23. 1813. + + "You wanted some reflections, and I send you _per Selim_ (see his + speech in Canto 2d, page 46.), eighteen lines in decent couplets, + of a pensive, if not an _ethical_ tendency. One more + revise--positively the last, if decently done--at any rate the + _pen_ultimate. Mr. Canning's approbation (_if_ he did approve) I + need not say makes me proud.[110] As to printing, print as you will + and how you will--by itself, if you like; but let me have a few + copies in _sheets_. + + "November 24. 1813. + + "You must pardon me once more, as it is all for your good: it must + be thus-- + + "He makes a solitude, and calls it peace. + + '_Makes_' is closer to the passage of Tacitus, from which the line + is taken, and is, besides, a stronger word than '_leaves_' + + "Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease-- + He makes a solitude, and calls it--peace." + +[Footnote 110: Mr. Canning's note was as follows:--"I received the +books, and, among them, The Bride of Abydos. It is very, very beautiful. +Lord Byron (when I met him, one day, at dinner at Mr. Ward's) was so +kind as to promise to give me a copy of it. I mention this, not to save +my purchase, but because I should be really flattered by the present."] + + * * * * * + +LETTER 148. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 27. 1813. + + "If you look over this carefully by the _last proof_ with my + corrections, it is probably right; this _you_ can do as well or + better;--I have not now time. The copies I mentioned to be sent to + different friends last night, I should wish to be made up with the + new Giaours, if it also is ready. If not, send The Giaour + afterwards. + + "The Morning Post says _I_ am the author of Nourjahad!! This comes + of lending the drawings for their dresses; but it is not worth a + _formal contradiction_. Besides, the criticisms on the + _supposition_ will, some of them, be quite amusing and furious. The + _Orientalism_--which I hear is very splendid--of the melodrame + (whosever it is, and I am sure I don't know) is as good as an + advertisement for your Eastern Stories, by filling their heads with + glitter. + + "P.S. You will of course _say_ the truth, that I am _not_ the + melodramist--if any one charges me in your presence with the + performance." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 149. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 28. 1813. + + "Send another copy (if not too much of a request) to Lady Holland + of the _Journal_[111], in my name, when you receive this; it is for + _Earl Grey_--and I will relinquish my _own_. Also to Mr. Sharpe, + and Lady Holland, and Lady Caroline Lamb, copies of 'The Bride' as + soon as convenient. + + "P.S. Mr. Ward and myself still continue our purpose; but I shall + not trouble you on any arrangement on the score of The Giaour and + The Bride till our return,--or, at any rate, before _May_, + 1814,--that is, six months from hence: and before that time you + will be able to ascertain how far your offer may be a losing one; + if so, you can deduct proportionably; and if not, I shall not at + any rate allow you to go higher than your present proposal, which + is very handsome, and more than fair.[112] + + "I have had--but this must be _entre nous_--a very kind note, on + the subject of 'The Bride,' from Sir James Mackintosh, and an + invitation to go there this evening, which it is now too late to + accept." + +[Footnote 111: Penrose's Journal, a book published by Mr. Murray at this +time.] + +[Footnote 112: Mr. Murray had offered him a thousand guineas for the two +poems.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 29. 1813. Sunday--Monday morning--three o'clock--in my + doublet and hose,--_swearing_. + + "I send you in time an errata page, containing an omission of mine, + which must be thus added, as it is too late for insertion in the + text. The passage is an imitation altogether from Medea in Ovid, + and is incomplete without these two lines. Pray let this be done, + and directly; it is necessary, will add one page to your book + (_making_), and can do no harm, and is yet in time for the + _public_. Answer me, thou oracle, in the affirmative. You can send + the loose pages to those who have copies already, if they like; but + certainly to all the _critical_ copyholders. + + "P.S. I have got out of my bed, (in which, however, I could not + sleep, whether I had amended this or not,) and so good morning. I + am trying whether De l'Allemagne will act as an opiate, but I doubt + it." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "November 29. 1813. + + "_You have looked at it!_' to much purpose, to allow so stupid a + blunder to stand; it is _not_ '_courage_' but '_carnage_;' and if + you don't want me to cut my own throat, see it altered. + + "I am very sorry to hear of the fall of Dresden." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 150. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 29. 1813. Monday. + + "You will act as you please upon that point; but whether I go or + stay, I shall not say another word on the subject till May--nor + then, unless quite convenient to yourself. I have many things I + wish to leave to your care, principally papers. The _vases_ need + not be now sent, as Mr. Ward is gone to Scotland. You are right + about the errata page; place it at the beginning. Mr. Perry is a + little premature in his compliments: these may do harm by exciting + expectation, and I think we ought to be above it--though I see the + next paragraph is on the _Journal_[113], which makes me suspect + _you_ as the author of both. + + "Would it not have been as well to have said 'in two Cantos' in the + advertisement? they will else think of _fragments_, a species of + composition very well for _once_, like _one ruin_ in a _view_; but + one would not build a town of them. The Bride, such as it is, is my + first _entire_ composition of any length (except the Satire, and be + d----d to it), for The Giaour is but a string of passages, and + Childe Harold is, and I rather think always will be, unconcluded. I + return Mr. Hay's note, with thanks to him and you. + + "There have been some epigrams on Mr. Ward: one I see to-day. The + first I did not see, but heard yesterday. The second seems very + bad. I only hope that Mr. Ward does not believe that I had any + connection with either. I like and value him too well to allow my + politics to contract into spleen, or to admire any thing intended + to annoy him or his. You need not take the trouble to answer this, + as I shall see you in the course of the afternoon. + + "P.S. I have said this much about the epigrams, because I lived so + much in the _opposite camp_, and, from my post as an engineer, + might be suspected as the flinger of these hand-grenadoes; but with + a worthy foe, I am all for open war, and not this bushfighting, and + have not had, nor will have, any thing to do with it. I do not know + the author." + +[Footnote 113: Penrose's Journal.] + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Nov. 30. 1813. + + "Print this at the end of _all that is of 'The Bride of Abydos_,' + as an errata page. BN. + + "Omitted, Canto 2d, page 47., after line 449., + + "So that those arms cling closer round my neck. + + Read, + + "Then if my lip once murmur, it must be + No sigh for safety, but a prayer for thee." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Tuesday evening, Nov. 30. 1813. + + "For the sake of correctness, particularly in an errata page, the + alteration of the couplet I have just sent (half an hour ago) must + take place, in spite of delay or cancel; let me see the _proof_ + early to-morrow. I found out _murmur_ to be a neuter _verb_, and + have been obliged to alter the line so as to make it a substantive, + thus-- + + "The deepest murmur of this lip shall be + No sigh for safety, but a prayer for thee! + + Don't send the copies to the _country_ till this is all right." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Dec. 2. 1813. + + "When you can, let the couplet enclosed be inserted either in the + page, or in the errata page. I trust it is in time for some of the + copies. This alteration is in the same part--the page _but one_ + before the last correction sent. + + "P.S. I am afraid, from all I hear, that people are rather + inordinate in their expectations, which is very unlucky, but cannot + now be helped. This comes of Mr. Perry and one's wise friends; but + do not _you_ wind _your_ hopes of success to the same pitch, for + fear of accidents, and I can assure you that my philosophy will + stand the test very fairly; and I have done every thing to ensure + you, at all events, from positive loss, which will be some + satisfaction to both." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Dec. 3. 1813. + + "I send you a _scratch_ or _two_, the which _heal_. The Christian + Observer is very savage, but certainly well written--and quite + uncomfortable at the naughtiness of book and author. I rather + suspect you won't much like the _present_ to be more moral, if it + is to share also the usual fate of your virtuous volumes. + + "Let me see a proof of the six before incorporation." + + * * * * * + +TO MR. MURRAY. + + "Monday evening, Dec. 6. 1813. + + "It is all very well, except that the lines are not numbered + properly, and a diabolical mistake, page 67., which _must_ be + corrected with the _pen_, if no other way remains; it is the + omission of '_not_' before '_disagreeable_,' in the _note_ on the + _amber_ rosary. This is really horrible, and nearly as bad as the + stumble of mine at the threshold--I mean the _misnomer_ of Bride. + Pray do not let a copy go without the '_not_;' it is nonsense, and + worse than nonsense as it now stands. I wish the printer was + saddled with a vampire. + + "P.S. It is still _hath_ instead of _have_ in page 20.; never was + any one so _misused_ as I am by your devils of printers. + + "P.S. I hope and trust the '_not_' was inserted in the first + edition. We must have something--any thing--to set it right. It is + enough to answer for one's own bulls, without other people's." + + * * * * * + +LETTER 151. TO MR. MURRAY. + + "December 27. 1813. + + "Lord Holland is laid up with the gout, and would feel very much + obliged if you could obtain, and send as soon as possible, Madame + d'Arblay's (or even Miss Edgeworth's) new work. I know they are not + out; but it is perhaps possible for your _Majesty_ to command what + we cannot with much suing purchase, as yet. I need not say that + when you are able or willing to confer the same favour on me, I + shall be obliged. I would almost fall sick myself to get at Madame + d'Arblay's writings. + + "P.S. You were talking to-day of the American edition of a certain + unquenchable memorial of my younger days. As it can't be helped + now, I own I have some curiosity to see a copy of trans-Atlantic + typography. This you will perhaps obtain, and one for yourself; but + I must beg that you will not _import more_, because, _seriously_, I + _do wish_ to have that thing forgotten as much as it has been + forgiven. + + "If you send to the Globe editor, say that I want neither excuse + nor contradiction, but merely a discontinuance of a most + ill-grounded charge. I never was consistent in any thing but my + politics; and as my redemption depends on that solitary virtue, it + is murder to carry away my last anchor." + + * * * * * + +Of these hasty and characteristic missives with which he despatched off +his "still-breeding thoughts," there yet remain a few more that might be +presented to the reader; but enough has here been given to show the +fastidiousness of his self-criticism, as well as the restless and +unsatisfied ardour with which he pressed on in pursuit of +perfection,--still seeing, according to the usual doom of genius, much +farther than he could reach. + +An appeal was, about this time, made to his generosity, which the +reputation of the person from whom it proceeded would, in the minds of +most people, have justified him in treating with disregard, but which a +more enlarged feeling of humanity led him to view in a very different +light; for, when expostulated with by Mr. Murray on his generous +intentions towards one "whom nobody else would give a single farthing +to," he answered, "it is for that very reason _I_ give it, because +nobody else will." The person in question was Mr. Thomas Ashe, author of +a certain notorious publication called "The Book," which, from the +delicate mysteries discussed in its pages, attracted far more notice +than its talent, or even mischief, deserved. In a fit, it is to be +hoped, of sincere penitence, this man wrote to Lord Byron, alleging +poverty as his excuse for the vile uses to which he had hitherto +prostituted his pen, and soliciting his Lordship's aid towards enabling +him to exist, in future, more reputably. To this application the +following answer, marked, in the highest degree, by good sense, +humanity, and honourable sentiment, was returned by Lord Byron:-- + +LETTER 152. TO MR. ASHE. + + "4. Bennet Street, St. James's, Dec. 14. 1813. + + "Sir, + + "I leave town for a few days to-morrow; on my return, I will answer + your letter more at length. Whatever may be your situation, I + cannot but commend your resolution to abjure and abandon the + publication and composition of works such as those to which you + have alluded. Depend upon it they amuse _few_, disgrace both + _reader_ and _writer_, and benefit _none_. It will be my wish to + assist you, as far as my limited means will admit, to break such a + bondage. In your answer, inform me what sum you think would enable + you to extricate yourself from the hands of your employers, and to + regain, at least, temporary independence, and I shall be glad to + contribute my mite towards it. At present, I must conclude. Your + name is not unknown to me, and I regret, for your own sake, that + you have ever lent it to the works you mention. In saying this, I + merely repeat your _own words_ in your letter to me, and have no + wish whatever to say a single syllable that may appear to insult + your misfortunes. If I have, excuse me; it is unintentional. Yours, + &c. + + "BYRON." + + * * * * * + +In answer to this letter, Ashe mentioned, as the sum necessary to +extricate him from his difficulties, 150_l_.--to be advanced at the rate +of ten pounds per month; and, some short delay having occurred in the +reply to this demand, the modest applicant, in renewing his suit, +complained, it appears, of neglect: on which Lord Byron, with a good +temper which few, in a similar case, could imitate, answered him as +follows:-- + +LETTER 153. TO MR. ASHE. + + "January 5. 1814. + + "Sir, + + "When you accuse a stranger of neglect, you forget that it is + possible business or absence from London may have interfered to + delay his answer, as has actually occurred in the present instance. + But to the point. I am willing to do what I can to extricate you + from your situation. Your first scheme[114] I was considering; but + your own impatience appears to have rendered it abortive, if not + irretrievable. I will deposit in Mr. Murray's hands (with his + consent) the sum you mentioned, to be advanced for the time at ten + pounds per month. + + "P.S.--I write in the greatest hurry, which may make my letter a + little abrupt; but, as I said before, I have no wish to distress + your feelings." + +[Footnote 114: His first intention had been to go out, as a settler, to +Botany Bay.] + + * * * * * + +The service thus humanely proffered was no less punctually performed; +and the following is one of the many acknowledgments of payment which I +find in Ashe's letters to Mr. Murray:--"I have the honour to enclose you +another memorandum for the sum of ten pounds, in compliance with the +munificent instructions of Lord Byron."[115] + +His friend, Mr. Merivale, one of the translators of those Selections +from the Anthology which we have seen he regretted so much not having +taken with him on his travels, published a poem about this time, which +he thus honours with his praise. + +LETTER 154. TO MR. MERIVALE. + + "January, 1814. + + "My dear Merivale, + + "I have redde Roncesvaux with very great pleasure, and (if I were + so disposed) see very little room for criticism. There is a choice + of two lines in one of the last Cantos,--I think 'Live and protect' + better, because 'Oh who?' implies a doubt of Roland's power or + inclination. I would allow the--but that point you yourself must + determine on--I mean the doubt as to where to place a part of the + Poem, whether between the actions or no. Only if you wish to have + all the success you deserve, _never listen to friends_, and--as I + am not the least troublesome of the number, least of all to me. + + "I hope you will be out soon. _March_, sir, _March_ is the month + for the _trade_, and they must be considered. You have written a + very noble Poem, and nothing but the detestable taste of the day + can do you harm,--but I think you will beat it. Your measure is + uncommonly well chosen and wielded."[116] + +[Footnote 115: When these monthly disbursements had amounted to 70_l._, +Ashe wrote to beg that the whole remaining sum of 80_l_. might be +advanced to him at one payment, in order to enable him, as he said, to +avail himself of a passage to New South Wales, which had been again +offered to him. The sum was accordingly, by Lord Byron's orders, paid +into his hands.] + +[Footnote 116: This letter is but a fragment,--the remainder being +lost.] + + * * * * * + +In the extracts from his Journal, just given, there is a passage that +cannot fail to have been remarked, where, in speaking of his admiration +of some lady, whose name he has himself left blank, the noble writer +says--"a wife would be the salvation of me." It was under this +conviction, which not only himself but some of his friends entertained, +of the prudence of his taking timely refuge in matrimony from those +perplexities which form the sequel of all less regular ties, that he had +been induced, about a year before, to turn his thoughts seriously to +marriage,--at least, as seriously as his thoughts were ever capable of +being so turned,--and chiefly, I believe, by the advice and intervention +of his friend Lady Melbourne, to become a suitor for the hand of a +relative of that lady, Miss Milbanke. Though his proposal was not then +accepted, every assurance of friendship and regard accompanied the +refusal; a wish was even expressed that they should continue to write to +each other, and a correspondence, in consequence,--somewhat singular +between two young persons of different sexes, inasmuch as love was not +the subject of it,--ensued between them. We have seen how highly Lord +Byron estimated as well the virtues as the accomplishments of the young +lady; but it is evident that on neither side, at this period, was love +either felt or professed.[117] + +In the mean time, new entanglements, in which his heart was the willing +dupe of his fancy and vanity, came to engross the young poet: and still, +as the usual penalties of such pursuits followed, he again found himself +sighing for the sober yoke of wedlock, as some security against their +recurrence. There were, indeed, in the interval between Miss Milbanke's +refusal and acceptance of him, two or three other young women of rank +who, at different times, formed the subject of his matrimonial dreams. +In the society of one of these, whose family had long honoured me with +their friendship, he and I passed much of our time, during this and the +preceding spring; and it will be found that, in a subsequent part of his +correspondence, he represents me as having entertained an anxious wish +that he should so far cultivate my fair friend's favour as to give a +chance, at least, of matrimony being the result. + +That I, more than once, expressed some such feeling is undoubtedly true. +Fully concurring with the opinion, not only of himself, but of others of +his friends, that in marriage lay his only chance of salvation from the +sort of perplexing attachments into which he was now constantly tempted, +I saw in none of those whom he admired with more legitimate views so +many requisites for the difficult task of winning him into fidelity and +happiness as in the lady in question. Combining beauty of the highest +order with a mind intelligent and ingenuous,--having just learning +enough to give refinement to her taste, and far too much taste to make +pretensions to learning,--with a patrician spirit proud as his own, but +showing it only in a delicate generosity of spirit, a feminine +high-mindedness, which would have led her to tolerate his defects in +consideration of his noble qualities and his glory, and even to +sacrifice silently some of her own happiness rather than violate the +responsibility in which she stood pledged to the world for his;--such +was, from long experience, my impression of the character of this lady; +and perceiving Lord Byron to be attracted by her more obvious claims to +admiration, I felt a pleasure no less in rendering justice to the still +rarer qualities which she possessed, than in endeavouring to raise my +noble friend's mind to the contemplation of a higher model of female +character than he had, unluckily for himself, been much in the habit of +studying. + +To this extent do I confess myself to have been influenced by the sort +of feeling which he attributes to me. But in taking for granted (as it +will appear he did from one of his letters) that I entertained any very +decided or definite wishes on the subject, he gave me more credit for +seriousness in my suggestions than I deserved. If even the lady herself, +the unconscious object of these speculations, by whom he was regarded in +no other light than that of a distinguished acquaintance, could have +consented to undertake the perilous,--but still possible and +glorious,--achievement of attaching Byron to virtue, I own that, +sanguinely as, in theory, I might have looked to the result, I should +have seen, not without trembling, the happiness of one whom I had known +and valued from her childhood risked in the experiment. + +I shall now proceed to resume the thread of the Journal, which I had +broken off, and of which, it will be perceived, the noble author himself +had, for some weeks, at this time, interrupted the progress. + +[Footnote 117: The reader has already seen what Lord Byron himself says, +in his Journal, on this subject:--"What an odd situation and friendship +is ours!--without one spark of love on either side," &c. &c.] + + +END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II, by Thomas Moore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LORD BYRON, VOL. 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