"The Romantici have been talked about for some time, and it is well known that Byron and Kinnaird belong to the Society, for the former has written, and continues to write, poetry of this new school, and has composed certain rules, entitled, "Statutes of the Joyous Company." The latter left behind him, some time ago at Faenza, a manuscript, and it would be possible to discover its contents from Gennati, but I have never asked him, not being on intimate terms with him. Byron is staying in the country with a lady, the young wife of that Guiccioli who is now in Bologna, but he does not make his permanent abode with any one. I must tell you that some time ago the Cardinal of Ravenna gave a most brilliant conversazione in honour of the noble Lord, at which, however, the Cardinal himself did not appear, lest he should act, said he, as a decoy to the assembled ladies. "The spy who sent the foregoing report sent also the following, dated 19th September : 666 Notices concerning Lord Byron. This gentleman is at present in Bologna, in company with the wife of Count Guiccioli. He has with him a young secretary very expert in different languages, who corresponds in English, French, Italian, and German with equal facility. He never leaves the house, but is always writing. By most careful supervision it has been discovered that his time is chiefly occupied in writing in various cyphers. But it is not known in what way these writings are despatched, for they are certainly not sent to the post. There is reason to believe that English travellers, many of whom have introductions to my Lord, are charged with these despatches. Very few letters pass through the post, and these contain only matters of private interest. "From Forli I hear that the said Lord is anxious to form a Society among persons of position in each city. At Bologna he has the Ercolani; at Ferrara, the Graziadei; at Faenza, the Gennati; at Forli, the Orselli; at Cesena, Roverella. Such names as these certainly do not suggest that the character of the Society is merely literary. After much consideration and piecing together of facts, I have come to the conclusion that many works, pamphlets, and dangerous writings which are in circulation have issued from the workshop of Lord Byron. Even within the last few days the enclosed has appeared in a profusion of copies, each in a different and unknown handwriting a multiplication of copies which is attributed to the dexterity of the secretary of the noble Lord. I send a copy. The character of the work, which is not unknown either to me or to you, shows its source, and confirms me in the views I have expressed.' "The same spy, or fiduciario, wrote from Florence, 29th September "I find an undoubted confirmation of the matter of my previous 1. "Count Guiccioli of Ravenna, the richest proprietor in the Romagna, a crafty, intriguing man, very proud and of high birth, is believed to be guilty of the assassination of Manzoni." (Note by the spy.) VI.] A CHAMPION OF THE ROMANTICI. 463 report on the Società Romantica in letters which reached me yesterday. One of my correspondents in Bologna, charged by me to discover the branches of the said Society, sought information from one of the heads of the Italian Masonic Lodge in Milan. I transcribe literally the reply that I have obtained. """I know the Romantici. They form a band that aims at the destruction of our literature, our politics, our country. Lord Byron is certainly its champion, and you deceive yourself if you believe that he is occupied only in wronging (a fare le corna a Guiccioli) Guiccioli. He is libidinous and immoral to excess; but he soon tires of the object of his worship, and offers it as a sacrifice on the altar of his contemptuous pride. But, at the same time, in politics he is not so inconstant. Here he is an Englishman in the fullest meaning of the term. He is like a madman in his desire to ruin everything that does not belong to him, to paralyze every tendency that our Societies display towards national independence, (sic!), to involve us in ruin and bloodshed (sic! sic!), in order that at last the deserted and still-smouldering States may be divided amongst his greedy and demoralized conspirators." ("Oh, what absurdities!') 666 "My correspondent, in sending me this scrap of a letter, reminds me of two verses inserted by Michele Leoni of Parma, in his translation from the English of Lord Byron's work on Italy. The lines run thus "And with you the teaching that is hidden "He specially invites me to read and reflect upon Canto IV. of this work, entitled Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.' "We have the following information from the same agent :"Bologna, 4th October, 1819. The constant watch kept by the police upon Lord Byron has led to two discoveries. The first is that his Lordship wears at his watch-chain a triangular (or rather pyramidal) seal, on the faces of which are engraved three small stars; on the seal are cut the letters F. S. Y. This is the new sign which was adopted some months ago by the Guelph Society when they gave up the use of a ring with four faces. There can be no doubt that Lord Byron has by means of intrigues obtained admission into Societies whose objects seem foreign to his own purposes.' "The other is derived from a letter in the handwriting of his secretary, which has been stopped at the post. It is directed to Alexis Gartner, at Milan. It appears from this letter that news has reached Bologna of the approaching establishment of the Jesuits in that city, and the secretary sends Gartner, in order to satisfy his 1. The remarks in brackets are inserted by the editor of Misteri di Polizia. 2. "E con voi la dottrina che s'asconde Sotto il velame dei novelli carme." friend's curiosity, a copy of an extract from a curious and very rare work of Captain George Smith, on Jesuitical Masonry.' "From Bologna, 11th October. Lord Byron left unexpectedly with Madame Guiccioli, who is therefore said either to have been carried off by him, or sold to him (sic!), by her husband. But it has since been discovered that she has gone by herself to Venice, while Lord Byron has set out for Northern Italy. . . .' 666 "Forli, 25th October. It is understood that Lord Byron is at present at the Borromean Islands, in a pleasant rural retreat, enjoy. ing the country house of his august friend, the Princess of Wales.' Leghorn, 8th December. During my journey from Florence to Pisa, being in the company of an English traveller, I tried to obtain information from him as to the views of Lord Byron and of his fellow-workers, who are not few in number in Italy. He told me that Lord Byron made a regular practice of changing his residence immediately after he had finished any work, so that the Italian Governments might not suspect his intention of publishing any new production. During his stay at the Borromean Islands, for instance, he circulated a number of copies of one of his detestable works, entitled Don Juan—a work which attacks religion, morals, and the Governments-and, as soon as he had distributed these copies, he retired to Venice. The Englishman who spoke to me was familiar with all the details of the Italian institutions of the Carbonari and of the Guelphs, and his thorough acquaintance with these bodies made me reflect that these foreign travellers seem to be very busy with the affairs of Italy.'" VII.] A CHARGE OF CORRUPTION. 465 APPENDIX VII. LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF "MY GRANDMOTHER'S REVIEW." THE circumstances which called forth the following letter to William Roberts, editor of the British Review, are stated in note 1, p. 346. The letter was published for the first time in the Liberal, No. I. Byron seems to have believed that Roberts was a clergyman, and a previous editor has corrected the error throughout. The letter is now printed as written : "To the Editor of the British Review. "MY DEAR ROBERTS,-As a believer in the Church of England -to say nothing of the State-I have been an occasional reader and great admirer of, though not a subscriber to, your Review, which is rather expensive. But I do not know that any part of its contents ever gave me much surprise till the eleventh article of your twentyseventh number made its appearance. You have there most manfully refuted a calumnious accusation of bribery and corruption, the credence of which in the public mind might not only have damaged your reputation as a Clergyman and an editor, but, what would have been still worse, have injured the circulation of your journal; which, I regret to hear, is not so extensive as the 'purity (as you well observe) of its,' etc., etc., and the present taste for propriety, would induce us to expect. The charge itself is of a solemn nature, and, although in verse, is couched in terms of such circumstantial gravity, as to induce a belief little short of that generally accorded to the thirty-nine articles, to which you so generally subscribed on taking your degrees. It is a charge the most revolting to the heart of man, from its frequent occurrence; to the mind of a Statesman, from its occasional truth; and to the soul of an editor, from its moral impossibility. You are charged then in the last line of one octave stanza, and the whole eight lines of the next, viz. 209th and 210th of the first canto of that 'pestilent poem,' Don Juan, with receiving, and still more foolishly acknowledging the VOL. IV. 2 H receipt of, certain monies, to eulogize the unknown author, who by this account must be known to you, if to nobody else. An impeachment of this nature, so seriously made, there is but one way of refuting; and it is my firm persuasion, that whether you did or did not (and I believe that you did not) receive the said monies, of which I wish that he had specified the sum, you are quite right in denying all knowledge of the transaction. If charges of this nefarious description are to go forth, sanctioned by all the solemnity of circumstance, and guaranteed by the veracity of verse (as Counsellor Phillips would say), what is to become of readers hitherto implicitly confident in the not less veracious prose of our critical journals? what is to become of the reviews? And if the reviews fail, what is to become of the editors? It is common cause, and you have done well to sound the alarm. I myself, in my humble sphere, will be one of your echoes. In the words of the tragedian Liston, 'I love a row,' and you seem justly determined to make one. "It is barely possible, certainly improbable, that the writer might have been in jest; but this only aggravates his crime. A joke, the proverb says, 'breaks no bones;' but it may break a bookseller, or it may be the cause of bones being broken. The jest is but a bad one at the best for the author, and might have been a still worse one for you, if your copious contradiction did not certify to all whom it may concern your own indignant innocence, and the immaculate purity of the British Review. I do not doubt your word, my dear Roberts, yet I cannot help wishing that in a case of such vital importance, it had assumed the more substantial shape of an affidavit sworn before the Lord Mayor, Atkins, who readily receives any deposition, and doubtless would have brought it in some way as evidence of the designs of the reformers to set fire to London, at the same time that he himself meditates the same good office towards the river Thames. "I am sure, my dear fellow, that you will take these observations of mine in good part; they are written in a spirit of friendship not less pure than your own editorial integrity. I have always admired you; and not knowing any shape which friendship and admiration can assume more agreeable and useful than that of good advice, I shall continue my lucubrations, mixed with here and there a monitory hint as to what I conceive to be the line you should pursue, in case you should ever again be assailed with bribes, or accused of taking them. By the way, you don't say much about the poem, except that it is 'flagitious.' This is a pity-you should have cut it up; because, to say the truth, in not doing so, you somewhat assist any notions which the malignant might entertain on the score of the anonymous asseveration which has made you so angry. "You say, no bookseller 'was willing to take upon himself the publication, though most of them disgrace themselves by selling it.' Now, my dear friend, though we all know that those fellows will do any thing for money, methinks the disgrace is more with the purchasers; and some such, doubtless, there are, for there can be no very extensive selling (as you will perceive by that of the British |