the 'wild roses growing in the Holstein summer.' Why then did the Cimbri and Teutones emigrate?

<«< What a strange thing is life and man! Were I to present myself at the door of the house where my daughter now is, the door would be shut in my face -unless (as is not impossible) I knocked down the porter; and if I had gone in that year (and perhaps now) to Drontheim (the furthest town in Norway), or into Holstein, I should have been received with open arms into the mansion of strangers and foreigners, attached to me by no tie but by that of mind and rumour.

« As far as fame goes, I have had my share: it has indeed been leavened by other human contingencies, and this in a greater degree than has occurred to most literary men of a decent rank in life; but, on the whole, I take it that such equipoise is the condition of humanity."

Of the visit, too, of the American gentleman, he thus speaks in the same Journal.

« A young American, named Coolidge, called on me not many months ago. He was intelligent, very handsome, and not more than twenty years old according to appearances; a little romantic, but that sits well upon youth, and mighty fond of poesy, as may be suspected from his approaching me in my cavern. He brought me a message from an old servant of my family (Joe Murray), and told me that he (Mr Coolidge) had obtain

ed a copy of my bust from Thorwaldsen at Rome, to

send to America. I confess I was more flattered by this young enthusiasm of a solitary Trans-Atlantic traveller, than if they had decreed me a statue in the Paris Pantheon (I have seen emperors and demagogues cast down from their pedestals even in my own time, and Grattan's name razed from the street, called after him in Dublin);

I

say that I was more flattered by it, because it was single, unpolitical, and was without motive or ostentation,-the pure and warm feeling of a boy for the poet he admired. It must have been expensive, though;—I would not pay the price of a Thorwaldsen bust for any human head and shoulders, except Napoleon's or my children's, or some 'absurd womankind's,' as Monkbarns calls them, or my sister's. If asked why, then, I sate for my own?-Answer, that it was at the particular request of J. C. Hobhouse, Esq., and for no one else. A picture is a different matter;-every body sits for their picture;-but a bust looks like putting up pretensions to permanency, and smacks something of a hankering for public fame rather than private remembrance.

« Whenever an American requests to see me (which is not unfrequently) I comply, firstly, because I respect a people who acquired their freedom by their firmness. without excess; and, secondly, because these TransAtlantic visits, few and far between,' make me feel as if talking with posterity from the other side of the Styx. In a century or two, the new English and Spanish Atlantides will be masters of the old countries, in all probability, as Greece and Europe overcame their mother Asia in the older or earlier ages, as they are called.»

LETTER CCCCXXXVII.

TO MR MURRAY.

"

Ravenna, July 6th, 1821.

« In agreement with a wish expressed by Mr Hobhouse, it is my determination to omit the stanza upon the horse of Semiramis in the Fifth Canto of Don Juan.

VOL. IV.

7

I mention this, in case you are, or intend to be, the publisher of the remaining Cantos.

« At the particular request of the Contessa G., I have You will therepromised not to continue Don Juan. fore look upon these three Cantos as the last of the poem. She had read the two first in the French translation, and never ceased beseeching me to write no more of it. The reason of this is not at first obvious to a superficial observer of FOREIGN manners; but it arises from the wish of all women to exalt the sentiment of the passions, and to keep up the illusion which is their empire. Now Don Juan strips off this illusion, and laughs at that and most other things. I never knew a woman who did not protect Rousseau, nor one who did not dislike De Grammont, Gil Blas, and all the comedy of the passions, when brought out naturally. But 'king's blood must keep word,' as Serjeant Bothwell says."

LETTER CCCCXXXVIII.

TO MR MURRAY.

<< I trust that Sardanapalus will not be mistaken for a political play, which was so far from my intention, that I thought of nothing but Asiatic history. The Venetian play, too, is rigidly historical. My object has been to dramatise, like the Greeks (a modest phrase), striking passages of history, as they did of history and mythology. You will find all this very unlike Shakspeare; and so much the better in one sense, for I look upon him to be the worst of models,' though the most

' In venturing this judgment upon Shakspeare, Lord Byron but followed in the footsteps of his great idol Pope. It was mighty simple in

extraordinary of writers. It has been my object to be as simple and severe as Alfieri, and I have broken down the poetry as nearly as I could to common language. The hardship is, that in these times one can neither speak of kings or queens without suspicion of politics or personalities. I intended neither.

" I am not very well, and I write in the midst of unpleasant scenes here: they have, without trial or process, banished several of the first inhabitants of the cities-here and all around the Roman states-amongst them many of my personal friends, so that every thing is in confusion and grief: it is a kind of thing which cannot be described without an equal pain as in beholding it.

«You are very niggardly in your letters.

« Yours truly,

« B."

LETTER CCCCXXXIX.

TO MR MURRAY.

"

Ravenna, July 22d, 1821.

« The printer has done wonders;-he has read what I cannot-my own handwriting.

<< I oppose the delay till winter:' I am particularly anxious to print while the winter theatres are closed, to

Rowe, says this poet, « to write a play now professedly in Shakspeare's style, that is, professedly in the style of a bad age.»-Spence, sect. 4, 1734-36. Of Milton, too, Pope seems to have held pretty nearly the same opinion as that professed by Lord Byron in some of these letters. See, in Spence, sect. 5, 1737-39, a passage on which his editor remarks Perhaps Pope did not relish Shakspeare more than he seems to have done Milton. »>

gain time, in case they try their former piece of politeness. Any loss shall be considered in our contract, whether occasioned by the season or other causes; but print away, and publish.

૯

one.

<< I think they must own that I have more styles than 'Sardanapalus' is, however, almost a comic character: but, for that matter, so is Richard the Third. Mind the unities, which are my great object of research. I am glad that Gifford likes it as for the million,' you see I have carefully consulted any thing but the taste of the day for extravagant' coups de théâtre.' Any probable loss, as I said before, will be allowed for in our accompts. The reviews (except one or two, Blackwood's, for instance) are cold enough; but never mind those fellows: I shall send them to the right about, if I take it into my head. I always found the English baser in some things than any other nation. You stare, but it's true as to gratitude,--perhaps, because they are prouder, and proud people hate obligations.

« The tyranny of the Government here is breaking out. They have exiled about a thousand people of the best families all over the Roman states. As many

of

my friends are amongst them, I think of moving too, but not till I have had your answers. Continue your address to me here, as usual, and quickly. What you will not be sorry to hear is, that the poor of the place, hearing that I meant to go, got together a petition to the Cardinal to request that he would request me to remain. I only heard of it a day or two ago, and it is no dishonour to them nor to me; but it will have displeased the higher powers, who look upon me as a Chief of the Coalheavers. They arrested a servant of mine for a street quarrel with an officer (they drew upon one another knives and pistols), but as the officer was out of