amount; the Duke of Portland will not pay his debt, and with the Rochdale property nothing is done.-My debts are daily increasing, and it is with difficulty I can command a shilling. As soon as possible I shall get quit of this country, but I wish to do justice to my creditors (though I do not like their importunity), and particularly to my securities, for their annuities must be paid off soon, or the interest will swallow up everything. Come what may, in every shape and in any shape, I can meet ruin, but I will never sell Newstead; the Abbey and I shall stand or fall together, and, were my head as grey and defenceless as the Arch of the Priory, I would abide by this resolution. The whole of my wishes are summed up in this; procure me, either of my own or borrowed of others, three thousand pounds, and place two in Hammersley's hands for letters of credit at Constantinople; if possible sell Rochdale in my absence, pay off these annuities and my debts, and with the little that remains do as you will, but allow me to depart from this cursed country, and I promise to turn Mussulman, rather than return to it. Believe me to be, P.S.-Is my will finished? it while I have anything to leave. Yours truly, I should like to sign 122.-To the Rev. R. Lowe.1 8, St. James Street, May 15, 1809. MY DEAR SIR,-I have just been informed that a report is circulating in Notts of an intention on my part 1. The Rev. Robert Lowe was some years older than Byron, and had known him intimately at Southwell in his early youth. Miss 1809.] NO SALE OF NEWSTEAD. 223 to sell Newstead, which is rather unfortunate, as I have just tied the property up in such a manner as to prevent the practicability, even if my inclination led me to dispose of it. But as such a report may render my tenants uncomfortable, I will feel very much obliged if you will be good enough to contradict the rumour, should it come to your ears, on my authority. I rather conjecture it has arisen from the sale of some copyholds of mine in Norfolk.1 I sail for Gibraltar in June, and thence to Malta when, of course, you shall have the promised detail. I saw your friend Thornhill last night, who spoke of you as a friend ought to do. Excuse this trouble, and believe me to be, with great sincerity, Yours affectionately, BYRON. Pigot was a cousin of Mr. Lowe, as was also the Rev. J. T. Becher of Southwell. Mrs. Chaworth Musters, who contributed this letter to The Life and Letters of Viscount Sherbrooke (vol. i. p. 46), adds that her grandfather was, naturally, excessively annoyed at having been made the mouthpiece of an untruth, and that the coolness which arose in consequence lasted up to the end of Byron's life. There can, however, be no doubt that Byron made the statement in all sincerity. 1. At Wymondham. CHAPTER IV. TRAVELS IN ALBANIA, GREECE, ETC.-DEATH OF MRS. BYRON. 1809-1811. 123. To his Mother. Falmouth, June 22, 1809. DEAR MOTHER,-I am about to sail in a few days; probably before this reaches you. Fletcher begged so hard, that I have continued him in my service. If he does not behave well abroad, I will send him back in a transport. I have a German servant (who has been with Mr. Wilbraham in Persia before, and was strongly recommended to me by Dr. Butler, of Harrow), Robert and William ;1 they constitute my whole suite. I have letters in plenty :-you shall hear from me at the different ports I touch upon; but you must not be alarmed if my letters miscarry. The Continent is in a fine state-an insurrection has broken out at Paris, and the Austrians are beating Buonaparte-the Tyrolese have risen. 1 There is a picture of me in oil, to be sent down to Newstead soon.2-I wish the Miss Pigots had something 1. Robert Rushton and William Fletcher, the "little page" and "staunch yeoman " of Childe Harold's "Good Night," Canto I. stanza xiii. 1809.] WAITING AT FALMOUTH. 225 better to do than carry my miniatures to Nottingham to copy. Now they have done it, you may ask them to copy the others, which are greater favourites than my own. As to money matters, I am ruined-at least till Rochdale is sold; and if that does not turn out well, I shall enter into the Austrian or Russian service-perhaps the Turkish, if I like their manners. The world is all before me, and I leave England without regret, and without a wish to revisit any thing it contains, except yourself, and your present residence. Believe me, yours ever sincerely. P.S.-Pray tell Mr. Rushton his son is well, and doing well; so is Murray,1 indeed better than I ever saw him; he will be back in about a month. I ought to add the leaving Murray to my few regrets, as his age perhaps will prevent my seeing him again. Robert I take with me; I like him, because, like myself, he seems a friendless animal. 124. To the Rev. Henry Drury. Falmouth, June 28, 1809. MY DEAR DRURY,-We sail to-morrow in the Lisbon packet, having been detained till now by the lack of wind, and other necessaries. These being at last procured, by this time tomorrow evening we shall be embarked on the vide vorld of vaters, vor all the vorld like Robinson Crusoe. The Malta vessel not sailing for some weeks, we have determined to go by way of Lisbon, and, as my servants term it, to see "that there Portingale"-thence to Cadiz and Gibraltar, and so on 66 1. "Joe" Murray was sent back from Gibraltar, and with him returned the homesick Robert Rushton. VOL. I. Q our old route to Malta and Constantinople, if so be that Captain Kidd, our gallant, or rather gallows, commander, understands plain sailing and Mercator, and takes us on a voyage all according to the chart. Will you tell Dr. Butler that I have taken the treasure of a servant, Friese, the native of Prussia Proper, into my service from his recommendation? He has been all among the Worshippers of Fire in Persia, and has seen Persepolis and all that. Hobhouse has made woundy preparations for a book on his return; 100 pens, two gallons of Japan Ink, and several volumes of best blank, is no bad provision for a discerning public. I have laid down my pen, but have promised to contribute a chapter on the state of morals, and a further treatise on the same to be intituled " Simplified, ... or Proved to be Praiseworthy from "Ancient Authors and Modern Practice." Hobhouse further hopes to indemnify himself in Turkey for a life of exemplary chastity at home. Pray buy his Missellingany, as the Printer's Devil calls it. I suppose it is in print by this time. Providence has interposed in our favour with a fair wind to carry us out of its reach, or he would have hired a Faqui to translate it into the Turcoman lingo. "The cock is crowing, I must be going, And can no more." Ghost of Gaffer Thumb.1 Adieu.-Believe me, etc., etc. 1. In Fielding's burlesque tragedy, The Tragedy of Tragedies; or the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great (1730), occur the lines "Arthur, beware; I must this moment hence, The burlesque was altered by Kane O'Hara, and published as |