"P. S.-Pray report my best acknowledgments to Mr. Gifford in any words that may best express how truly his kindness obliges me. I won't bore him with lip thanks or "Take your choice; - no one, save he and Mr. Dallas, has seen either, and D. is quite on my side, and for the first. If I can but testify to you and the world how truly I admire and esteem you, I shall be quite satis-notes." fied. As to prose, I don't know Addison's from Johnson's; but I will try to mend my cacology. Pray perpend, pronounce, and don't be offended with either. "My last epistle would probably put you in a fidget. But the devil, who ought to be civil on such occasions, proved so, and took my letter to the right place. "Is it not odd?· the very fate I said she had escaped from **, she has now undergone from the worthy * *. Like Mr. Fitz gerald, shall I not lay claim to the character "I had written to you a long letter of dedication, which I suppress, because, though it contained something relating to you which every one had been glad to hear, yet there was too much about politics, and poesy, and all things whatsoever, ending with that topic on which most men are fluent, and none very amusing-one's self. It might have been re-written-but to what purpose? My praise could add nothing to your well-earned and firmlyestablished fame; and with my most hearty admiration of your talents, and delight in your conversation, you are already acquainted. In availing myself of your friendly 66 I have but a moment to write, but all is as it should be. I have said really far short of my opinion, but if you think enough, I am content. Will you return the proof by the post, as I leave town on Sunday, and have no other corrected copy? I put 'servant,' as being less familiar before the public; because I don't like presuming upon our friendship to infringe upon forms. As to the other word, you may be sure it is one I cannot hear or repeat too often. "I write in an agony of haste and confusion. - Perdonate." LETTER 157. TO MR. MURRAY. "January 15 1814. "Before any proof goes to Mr. Gifford, it may be as well to revise this, where there are words omitted, faults committed, and the devil knows what. As to the dedication, I cut out the parenthesis of Mr.3, but not another word shall move unless for a better. Mr. Moore has seen, and decidedly preferred the part your Tory bile sickens at. If every syllable were a rattle-snake, or every letter a pestilence, they should not be expunged. Let those who cannot swallow chew the expressions on Ireland; or though Mr. Croker should array himself in all his terrors against them, I care for none of you, except Gifford; and he won't abuse me, except I deserve it- which will at least reconcile me to his justice. As to the poems in Hobhouse's volume, the translation from the Romaic is well enough; but the best of the other volume (of mine, I mean) have been already printed. But do as you please only as I shall be absent when you come permission to inscribe this poem to you, I can only wish the offering were as worthy your acceptance as your regard is dear to, "Yours, most affectionately and faithfully, "BYRON." 2 [William-Thomas Fitzgerald, facetiously termed by Cobbett the" Small Beer Poet." For more than thirty years this harmless poetaster was an attendant at the anniversary dinners of the Literary Fund, and constantly honoured the occasion with an Ode, which he himself recited with most comical dignity of emphasis. He died in 1820. See the opening lines of "English Bards," &c.] 3 He had at first, after the words "Scott alone," inserted, in a parenthesis," He will excuse the Mr.'we do not say Mr. Cæsar.'" LETTER 158. TO MR. MURRAY. "Newstead Abbey, January 22. 1814. "You will be glad to hear of my safe arrival here. The time of my return will depend upon the weather, which is so impracticable, that this letter has to advance through more snows than ever opposed the Emperor's retreat. The roads are impassable, and return impossible for the present; which I do not regret, as I am much at my ease, and six-and-twenty complete this day -a very pretty age, if it would always last. Our coals are excellent, our fire-places large, my cellar full, and my head empty; and I have not yet recovered my joy at leaving London. If any unexpected turn occurred with my purchaser, I believe I should hardly quit the place at all; but shut my door, and let my beard grow. I forgot to mention (and I hope it is unnecessary) that the lines beginning-Remember him, &c. must not appear with The Corsair. You may slip them in with the smaller pieces newly annexed to Childe Harold; but on no account permit them to be appended to The Corsair. Have the goodness to recollect this particularly. "The books I have brought with me are a great consolation for the confinement, and I bought more as we came along. In short, I never consult the thermometer, and shall not put up prayers for a thaw, unless I 1 The amusing rages into which he was thrown by the printer were vented not only in these notes, but frequently on the proof-sheets themselves. Thus, a passage in the dedication having been printed "the first of her bands in estimation," he writes in the margin, "bards, not bands was there ever such a stupid misprint?" and in correcting a line that had been curtailed of its due number of syllables, he says, " Do not omit words - it is quite enough to alter or mis-spell them." "P. S. If you hear any news of battle or retreat on the part of the Allies (as they call them), pray send it. He has my best wishes to manure the fields of France with an invading army. I hate invaders of all countries, and have no patience with the cowardly cry of exultation over him, at whose name you all turned whiter than the snow to which you (under Providence and that special favourite of Heaven, Prince Regent) are indebted for your triumphs. 66 I open my letter to thank you for yours just received. The Lines to a Lady Weeping' must go with The Corsair. I care nothing for consequences, on this point. My politics are to me like a young mistress to an old man-the worse they grow, the fonder I become of them. As Mr. Gifford likes the Portuguese Translation 2,' pray insert it as an addition to The Corsair. [Lady Westmoreland thought it so bad, that after making me translate it, she gave her own version which is, for aught I know, the best of the two. But I cannot give up my weeping lines, and I do think them good, and don't mind what it looks like.'] "In all points of difference between Mr. Gifford and Mr. Dallas, let the first keep his place; and in all points of difference between Mr. Gifford and Mr. Anybody-else, I shall abide by the former; if I am wrong, I can't help it. But I would rather not be right with any other person. So there is an end of that matter. After all the trouble he has taken about me and mine, I should be very ungrateful to feel or act otherwise. Besides, in point of judgment, he is not to be lowered by a comparison. In politics, he may be right too; but that with me is a feeling, and I can't torify my nature.” LETTER 159. TO MR. MURRAY. "Newstead Abbey, February 4. 1814. "I need not say that your obliging letter was very welcome, and not the less so for being unexpected. At the same time I received a very kind one from Mr. D' Israeli, which I shall acknowledge and thank him for to-morrow. "It doubtless gratifies me much that our finale has pleased, and that the curtain drops gracefully. You deserve it should, for your promptitude and good nature in arranging immediately with Mr. Dallas; and I can assure you that I esteem your entering so warmly into the subject, and writing to me so soon upon it, as a personal obligation. We shall now part, I hope, satisfied with each other. I was and am quite in earnest in my prefatory promise not to intrude any more; and this not from any affectation, but a thorough conviction that it is the best policy, and is at least respectful to my readers, as it shows that I would not willingly run the risk of forfeiting their favour in future. Besides, I have other views and objects, and think that I shall keep this resolution; for, since I left London, though shut up, snow-bound, thaw-bound, and tempted with all kinds of paper, the dirtiest of ink, and the bluntest of pens, I have not even been haunted by a wish to put them to their combined uses, except in letters of business. My rhyming propensity is quite gone, and I feel much as I did at Patras on recovering from my fever - weak, but in health, and only afraid of a relapse. I do most fervently hope I never shall. "I see by the Morning Chronicle there hath been discussion in the Courier; and I read in the Morning Post a wrathful letter about Mr. Moore, in which some Protestant Reader has made a sad confusion about India and Ireland. "You are to do as you please about the smaller poems; but I think removing them now from The Corsair looks like fear; and | if so, you must allow me not to be pleased. I should also suppose that, after the fuss of these newspaper esquires, they would materially assist the circulation of The Corsair ; an object I should imagine at present of more importance to yourself than Childe Harold's seventh appearance. Do as you like; but don't allow the withdrawing that poem to draw any imputation of dismay upon me. I care about as much for the Courier 1 It will be recollected that he had announced The Corsair as "the last production with which he should trespass on public patience for some years." as I do for the Prince, or all princes whatsoever, except Korlorsky.] Pray make my respects to Mr. Ward, whose praise I value most highly, as you well know; it is in the approbation of such men that fame becomes worth having. To Mr. Gifford I am always grateful, and surely not less so now than ever. And so good night to my authorship. "I have been sauntering and dozing here very quietly, and not unhappily. You will be happy to hear that I have completely established my title-deeds as marketable, and that the purchaser has succumbed to the terms, and fulfils them, or is to fulfil them forthwith. He is now here, and we go on very amicably together,- -one in each wing of the Abbey. We set off on Sunday - I for town, he for Cheshire. "Mrs. Leigh is with me- much pleased with the place, and less so with me for parting with it, to which not even the price can reconcile her. Your parcel has not yet arrived — at least the Mags. &c. ; but I have received Childe Harold and The Corsair. "I believe both are very correctly printed, which is a great satisfaction. "I thank you for wishing me in town; but I think one's success is most felt at a distance, and I enjoy my solitary self-importance in an agreeable sulky way of my own, upon the strength of your letter -for which I once more thank you, and am, very truly, &c. "P.S.-Don't you think Buonaparte's the Allies? Perry's Paris letter of yesternext publication will be rather expensive to day looks very reviving. What a Hydra and Briareus it is! I wish they would pacify: there is no end to this campaigning." LETTER 160. TO MR. MURRAY. "Newstead Abbey, February 5. 1814. "I quite forgot, in my answer of yesterday, to mention that I have no means of ascertaining whether the Newark Pirate has been doing what you say.' If so, he is a rascal, and a shabby rascal too; and if his offence is punishable by law or pugilism, he shall be fined or buffeted. Do you try and discover, and I will make some inquiry here. Perhaps some other in town may have gone on printing, and used the same deception. "The fac-simile is omitted in Childe Harold, which is very awkward, as there is a 2 Reprinting the " Hours of Idleness." note expressly on the subject. Pray replace it as usual. “On second and third thoughts, the withdrawing the small poems from The Corsair (even to add to Childe Harold) looks like shrinking and shuffling after the fuss made upon one of them by the Tories. Pray replace them in The Corsair's appendix. I am sorry that Childe Harold requires some and such abetments to make him move off; but, if you remember, I told you his popularity would not be permanent. It is very lucky for the author that he had made up his mind to a temporary reputation in time. The truth is, I do not think that any of the present day (and least of all, one who has not consulted the flattering side of human nature) have much to hope from posterity; and you may think it affectation very probably, but, to me, my present and past success has appeared very singular, since it was in the teeth of so many prejudices. I almost think people like to be contradicted. If Childe Harold flags, it will hardly be worth while to go on with the engravings: but do as you please; I have done with the whole concern; and the enclosed lines, written years ago, and copied from my skull-cap, are among the last with which you will be troubled. If you like, add them to Childe Harold, if only for the sake of another outcry. You received so long an answer yesterday, that I will not intrude on you further than to repeat myself, Mas "I am thus far on my way to town. ter Ridge I have seen, and he owns to haying reprinted some sheets, to make up a few complete remaining copies! I have now given him fair warning, and if he plays such tricks again, I must either get an injunction, or call for an account of profits (as I never have parted with the copyright), or, in short, any thing vexatious, to repay him in his own way. If the weather does not relapse, I hope to be in town in a day or two. 66 Yours, &c." 1 The printer at Newark. "February 28. 1814. "There is a youngster, and a clever one, named Reynolds, who has just published a poem called Safie,' published by Cawthorne. He is in the most natural and fearful apprehension of the Reviewers; and as you and I both know by experience the effect of such things upon a young mind, I wish you would take his production into dissection, and do it gently. I cannot, because it is inscribed to me; but I assure you this is not my motive for wishing him to be tenderly entreated, but because I know the misery, at his time of life, of untoward remarks upon first ap pearance. your cousin "Now for self. Pray thank it is just as it should be, to my liking, and propably more than will suit any one else's. I hope and trust that you are well and well doing. Peace be with you. Ever yours, my dear friend.” LETTER 162. TO MR. MOORE. "February 10. 1814. "I arrived in town late yesterday evening, having been absent three weeks, which I passed in Notts. quietly and pleasantly. You can have no conception of the uproar the eight lines on the little Royalty's weeping in 1812 (now republished) have occasioned. The R**, who had always thought them yours, chose-God knows why- -on discovering them to be mine, to be affected 'in sorrow rather than anger.' The Morning Post, Sun, Herald, M. is in a fright, and wanted to shuffle ; Courier, have all been in hysterics ever since. and the abuse against me in all directions is vehement, unceasing, loud- some of it good, and all of it hearty. I feel a little compunctious as to the R**'s regret; 'would he had been only angry! but I fear him not.' - "Some of these same assailments you have probably seen. My person (which is excellent for the nonce') has been denounced in verses, the more like the subject, inasmuch as they halt exceedingly. Then, in another, I am an atheist, a rebel, and, at last, the devil (boiteux, I presume). My demonism seems to be a female's conjecture; if so, perhaps, I could convince her that I am but a mere mortal, if a queen of the Amazons may be believed, who says apiarov Xwλog otoεt. I quote from memory, so my Greek is probably deficient; but the passage is meant to mean 66 Seriously, I am in, what the learned call, a dilemma, and the vulgar, a scrape; and my friends desire me not to be in a passion; and, like Sir Fretful, I assure them that I am quite calm,'- but I am nevertheless in a fury. "Since I wrote thus far, a friend has come in, and we have been talking and buffooning till I have quite lost the thread of my thoughts; and as I won't send them unstrung to you, good morning, and judicious suppression, which you did totally LETTER 163. TO MR. MURRAY. "Monday, February 14. 1814. "Before I left town yesterday, I wrote "Believe me ever, &c. "P. S.-Murray, during my absence, omitted the Tears in several of the copies. I have made him replace them, and am very wroth with his qualms ;-as the wine is poured out, let it be drunk to the dregs.'" TO MR. MURRAY. 66 I am much better, and indeed quite well, this morning. I have received two, but I presume there are more of the Ana, subsequently, and also something previous, to which the Morning Chronicle replied. You also mentioned a parody on the Skull. II wish to see them all, because there may be things that require notice either by pen or 'My dear Rogers, "BN." "February 16. 1814. "I wrote to Lord Holland briefly, but there is no human being on whose regard 4 North of Germany;" published by Mr. Murray in 3 Relative to a proposed reconciliation between Lord 4 Of the Satire. 1 R |