"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 obligeyou, though I may offend a hundred scribblers and the discerning public. Ever yours."Keepmy nameasecret; or I shall be beset by all the rejected, and, perhaps, damned by a party."
"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 obligeyou, though I may offend a hundred scribblers and the discerning public. Ever yours.
"Keepmy nameasecret; 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 withdoublereadings—choose between them—cut—add—reject—ordestroy—do with them as you will—I leave it to you and the Committee—you cannot say so called 'anon committendo.' What willtheydo (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 gooddeliverer. I think Elliston should be the man, or Pope;notRaymond, I implore you, by the love of Rhythmus!"The passages marked thus ==, above and below, are for you to choose between epithets, andsuch 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 theseversicleswon'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?"
"Cheltenham, September 23. 1812.
"Ecco!—I have marked some passages withdoublereadings—choose between them—cut—add—reject—ordestroy—do with them as you will—I leave it to you and the Committee—you cannot say so called 'anon committendo.' What willtheydo (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 gooddeliverer. I think Elliston should be the man, or Pope;notRaymond, I implore you, by the love of Rhythmus!
"The passages marked thus ==, above and below, are for you to choose between epithets, andsuch 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 theseversicleswon'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,Receiveour welcome too, whose every toneSprings 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 thegenteelestof us. Ever," &c.
"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,Receiveour welcome too, whose every toneSprings from our hearts, and fain would win your own.The curtain rises, &c. &c.
"This greeting o'er, the ancient rule obey'd,The drama's homage by her Herald paid,Receiveour welcome too, whose every toneSprings 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 thegenteelestof 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) andyou,' 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 toliveis 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 wishI 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, inthatcase, 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."
"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;
"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) andyou,' 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.
"When Garrick died, and Brinsley ceased to write.
Ceasing toliveis 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 wishI 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, inthatcase, 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."
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 shoneThe 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 offquickerwithout 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 abrickof 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."
"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 shoneThe skies with lightnings awful as their own.
"As glared each rising flash[52], and ghastly shoneThe 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 offquickerwithout 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 abrickof 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."
LETTER 103. TO LORD HOLLAND.
"September 29. 1812."Shakspeare certainly ceased to reign inoneof 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 havecut away, you will see, and altered, but make it what you please; only I do implore, for myowngratification, 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 letthatstand, and cut out elsewhere. I shall choke, if we must overlook their d——d menagerie."
"September 29. 1812.
"Shakspeare certainly ceased to reign inoneof 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 havecut away, you will see, and altered, but make it what you please; only I do implore, for myowngratification, 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 letthatstand, and cut out elsewhere. I shall choke, if we must overlook their d——d menagerie."
LETTER 105. TO LORD HOLLAND.
"Far be from him that hour which asks in vainTears 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 thelines 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 Addresswhatever—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 thatIwas 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, anoldauthor, like an old bull, grows cooler (or ought) at every baiting."The only thing would be to avoid a party onthe 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 calledmy 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.
"Far be from him that hour which asks in vainTears such as flow for Garrick in his strain;
"Far be from him that hour which asks in vainTears 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.
"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 thelines 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 Addresswhatever—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 thatIwas 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, anoldauthor, like an old bull, grows cooler (or ought) at every baiting.
"The only thing would be to avoid a party onthe 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 calledmy 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.
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, 'withbays 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 givemeorminefor a poem of six cantos, (when complete—norhyme,norecompense,) 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."
"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, 'withbays 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 givemeorminefor a poem of six cantos, (when complete—norhyme,norecompense,) 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 aconvertiblekind. 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 fromMr. 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 askyoufor a letter of introduction, as 'the gods have made him poetical.' From whom could it come with a better grace than fromhispublisher 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 myold 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 wouldhave choked myself, like Otway, with a quartern loaf; so, remember I had, and have, nothing to do with it, uponmy honour."
"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 aconvertiblekind. 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 fromMr. 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 askyoufor a letter of introduction, as 'the gods have made him poetical.' From whom could it come with a better grace than fromhispublisher 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 myold 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 wouldhave choked myself, like Otway, with a quartern loaf; so, remember I had, and have, nothing to do with it, uponmy 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 notwittingly, till you give me some better reason than my silence, which merely proceeded from a notion founded on your own declaration ofold, that you hated writing and receiving letters. Besides, how was I to find out a man of many residences? If I had addressed younow, 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 sum140,000l.; 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—tobe 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 Ihadto 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 youought, and it will be expected. I see Portman means to stand again. Good night."Ever yours most affectionately,"Μπαἱρων."[56]
"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 notwittingly, till you give me some better reason than my silence, which merely proceeded from a notion founded on your own declaration ofold, that you hated writing and receiving letters. Besides, how was I to find out a man of many residences? If I had addressed younow, 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 sum140,000l.; 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—tobe 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 Ihadto 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 youought, and it will be expected. I see Portman means to stand again. Good night.
"Ever yours most affectionately,
"Μπαἱρων."[56]
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 isconfidential), none have been deemed worth acceptance; and in consequence of theirsubsequentapplication tome, I have written a prologue, whichhasbeen 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 offbefore, that the newspaper copies may be correctafterthedelivery."
"Cheltenham, September 27. 1812.
"I sent in no Address whatever to the Committee; but out of nearly one hundred (this isconfidential), none have been deemed worth acceptance; and in consequence of theirsubsequentapplication tome, I have written a prologue, whichhasbeen 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 offbefore, that the newspaper copies may be correctafterthedelivery."
LETTER 111. TO MR. MURRAY.
"Cheltenham, Oct. 12. 1812."I have a verystrongobjection to the engraving of the portrait[57], and request that it may, on no account, be prefixed; but letallthe proofs be burnt, and the plate broken. I will be at the expense which has been incurred; it is but fair thatIshould, 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 statewhen 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 anold author. I leave it to your own judgment to add it, or not, to your next edition when required. Pray complystrictlywith 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 theSatiristhas 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."
"Cheltenham, Oct. 12. 1812.
"I have a verystrongobjection to the engraving of the portrait[57], and request that it may, on no account, be prefixed; but letallthe proofs be burnt, and the plate broken. I will be at the expense which has been incurred; it is but fair thatIshould, 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 statewhen 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 anold author. I leave it to your own judgment to add it, or not, to your next edition when required. Pray complystrictlywith 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 theSatiristhas 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."
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 pushmyself before so many elder and better anonymous, to whom the twenty guineas (which I take to be about two thousand poundsBankcurrency) 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."
"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 pushmyself before so many elder and better anonymous, to whom the twenty guineas (which I take to be about two thousand poundsBankcurrency) 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 areBusby'sentire) inserted in several of the papers (correctly—and copiedcorrectly;my handis difficult)—particularly the Morning Chronicle? Tell Mr. Perry I forgive him all he has said, and may say againstmy address, but he will allow me to deal with the Doctor—(audi alteram partem)—and notbetrayme. 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 foryou, of which I makeyoua 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 theSatirebegins, there you will stop, and the opening is the best part."
"Cheltenham, Oct. 18. 1812.
"Will you have the goodness to get this Parody of a peculiar kind[58](for all the first lines areBusby'sentire) inserted in several of the papers (correctly—and copiedcorrectly;my handis difficult)—particularly the Morning Chronicle? Tell Mr. Perry I forgive him all he has said, and may say againstmy address, but he will allow me to deal with the Doctor—(audi alteram partem)—and notbetrayme. 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 foryou, of which I makeyoua 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.
"Mortal ('twas thus she spake), &c.
Of course, the moment theSatirebegins, there you will stop, and the opening is the best part."
LETTER 114. TO MR. MURRAY.
"Oct. 19. 1812."Many thanks, but Imustpay thedamage, 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 wishyouhad 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. TheSatiristhas taken a new tone, as you will see: we have now, I think, finished with Childe Harold's critics. I have inhandaSatireonWaltzing,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 theSatiristought to be thanked for his revocation; it is done handsomely, after five years' warfare."
"Oct. 19. 1812.
"Many thanks, but Imustpay thedamage, 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 wishyouhad 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. TheSatiristhas taken a new tone, as you will see: we have now, I think, finished with Childe Harold's critics. I have inhandaSatireonWaltzing,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 theSatiristought 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 ofgluttingthe public, who have by this time had enough of Childe Harold. 'Waltzing' shall be prepared. It is rather above two hundredlines, 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 aDescriptive Fragment."Theplateisbroken? 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,thiswould have been no recommendation to the book. I am sure Sanders would not havesurvivedthe engraving. By the by, thepicturemay remain withyouorhim(which you please), till my return. Theoneof two remaining copies is at your service till I can give you abetter; the other must beburned peremptorily. Again, do not forget that I have an account with you, andthatthis isincluded. I give you too much trouble to allow you to incurexpensealso."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 ofHorne Tooke's Life in the Quarterly? it is excellent."
"Oct. 23. 1812.
"Thanks, as usual. You go on boldly; but have a care ofgluttingthe public, who have by this time had enough of Childe Harold. 'Waltzing' shall be prepared. It is rather above two hundredlines, 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 aDescriptive Fragment.
"Theplateisbroken? 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,thiswould have been no recommendation to the book. I am sure Sanders would not havesurvivedthe engraving. By the by, thepicturemay remain withyouorhim(which you please), till my return. Theoneof two remaining copies is at your service till I can give you abetter; the other must beburned peremptorily. Again, do not forget that I have an account with you, andthatthis isincluded. I give you too much trouble to allow you to incurexpensealso.
"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 ofHorne 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 (thefriendof SirPhilip 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'DejectedAddresses?' 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.
"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 (thefriendof SirPhilip 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'DejectedAddresses?' 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.
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 youthree, 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 willwriteorjoinyou.—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 ofreal 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 aboutfirmauns; never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take someknicknackeriesforpresents—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.
"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 youthree, 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 willwriteorjoinyou.—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 ofreal 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 aboutfirmauns; never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take someknicknackeriesforpresents—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 thesubstancefor 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 forhis. The idea is new—we have excellent imitations of the Satires, &c. by Pope; but I remember but one imitative Ode in his works, andnoneany where else. I can hardly suppose thattheyhave lost any fame by the fate of thefarce; but even should this be the case, the present publication will again place them on their pinnacle."Yours," &c.
"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 thesubstancefor 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 forhis. The idea is new—we have excellent imitations of the Satires, &c. by Pope; but I remember but one imitative Ode in his works, andnoneany where else. I can hardly suppose thattheyhave lost any fame by the fate of thefarce; but even should this be the case, the present publication will again place them on their pinnacle.
"Yours," &c.
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 * *'sprotégé;—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 toquashthe demand, as Ilegallymight, nor to withhold payment of principal, or, perhaps, evenunlawfulinterest. 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 alawyer, achurchman, or awoman, during that period,) to liquidate this andsimilar 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 personswaitfor 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 onlegalinterest, 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 theagentsand 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."
"March 25, 1813.
"I enclose you a draft for the usurious interest due to Lord * *'sprotégé;—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 toquashthe demand, as Ilegallymight, nor to withhold payment of principal, or, perhaps, evenunlawfulinterest. 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 alawyer, achurchman, or awoman, during that period,) to liquidate this andsimilar 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 personswaitfor 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 onlegalinterest, 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 theagentsand 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."
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], thoughwithout 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 havedone 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."
"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 havedone 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."
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 theColumbusof 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 theleader 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."
"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 theleader 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 toappreciate the value of these after-touches of the master.
"Fair clime! whereceaseless summersmilesBenignant o'er those blessed isles,Which, seen from far Colonna's height,Make glad the heart that hails the sight,Andgiveto loneliness delight.Thereshine the bright abodes ye seek,Like dimples upon Ocean's cheek,—So smiling round the waters laveThese Edens of the eastern wave.Or if, at times, the transient breezeBreak thesmoothcrystal of the seas,Orbrushone blossom from the trees,Howgratefulis the gentle airThat wakes and wafts thefragrancethere."
"Fair clime! whereceaseless summersmilesBenignant o'er those blessed isles,Which, seen from far Colonna's height,Make glad the heart that hails the sight,Andgiveto loneliness delight.Thereshine the bright abodes ye seek,Like dimples upon Ocean's cheek,—So smiling round the waters laveThese Edens of the eastern wave.Or if, at times, the transient breezeBreak thesmoothcrystal of the seas,Orbrushone blossom from the trees,Howgratefulis the gentle airThat wakes and wafts thefragrancethere."
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 poeticalcharacter 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 uponhim. 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, foundhis 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 nowincreased 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:—