-the pen of the historian won't rate it worth a ducat. "Psha! something too much of this.' But I won't give him up even now; though all his admirers have, like the thanes, fallen from him.' 1 "April 10. "I do not know that I am happiest when alone; but this I am sure of, that I never am long in the society even of her I love, (God knows too well, and the devil probably too,) without a yearning for the company of my lamp and my utterly confused and tumbled-over library. Even in the day, I send away my carriage oftener than I use or abuse it. Per esempio, - I have not stirred out of these rooms for these four days past : but I have sparred for exercise (windows open) with Jackson an hour daily, to attenuate and keep up the ethereal part of me. The more violent the fatigue, the better my spirits for the rest of the day; and then, my evenings have that calm nothingness of languor, which I most delight in. To-day I have boxed one hour-written an ode to Napoleon Buonaparte-copied it - eaten six biscuits drunk four bottles of soda water- - redde away the rest of my timebesides giving poor ** a world of advice about this mistress of his, who is plaguing him into a phthisic and intolerable tediousness. I am a pretty fellow truly to lecture about the sect.' No matter, my counsels are all thrown away. "April 19. 1814. "There is ice at both poles, north and southall extremes are the same - misery belongs to the highest and the lowest only, - to the emperor and the beggar, when unsixpenced and unthroned. There is, to be sure, a damned insipid medium—an equinoctial line -no one knows where, except upon maps and measurement. "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools I will keep no further journal of that same hesternal torch-light; and, to prevent me : "As much company," says Pope, " as I have kept, and as much as I love it, I love reading better, and would rather be employed in reading than in the most agreeable conversation." 2 He had made a present of the copyright of "The Corsair" to Mr. Dallas, who thus describes the manner in which the gift was bestowed: -"On the 28th of December, I called in the morning on Lord Byron, whom I found composing The Corsair.' He had been working upon it but a few days, and he read me the portion he had written. After some observations he said, I have a great mind- I will.' He then added, that he should "Sunday, Jan. 2. 1814. "Excuse this dirty paper-it is the penultimate half-sheet of a quire. Thanks for your books and the Ln. Chron., which I Lord Holland's; but I wish Mr. Gifford to return. The Corsair is copied, and now at have it to-night. "Mr. Dallas is very perverse; so that I have offended both him and you, when I really meaned to do good, at least to one, and certainly not to annoy either. 2 But I shall finish it soon, and asked me to accept of the copyright. I was much surprised. He had, before he was aware of the value of his works, declared that he never would take money for them, and that I should have the whole advantage of all he wrote. This declaration became morally void when the question was about thousands, instead of a few hundreds; and I perfectly agree with the admired and admirable author of Waverley, that the wise and good accept not gifts which are made in heat of blood, and which may be after repented of.' - I felt this on the sale of Childe Harold,' and observed it to him. The copyright of The Giaour' and The manage him, I hope. I am pretty confident of the Tale itself; but one cannot be sure. If I get it from Lord Holland, it shall be sent. "Yours, &c." TO MR. MURRAY. [" Jan. 1814.] "I will answer your letter this evening; in the mean time, it may be sufficient to say, that there was no intention on my part to annoy you, but merely to serve Dallas, and also to rescue myself from a possible imputation that I had other objects than fame in writing so frequently. Whenever I avail myself of any profit arising from my pen, depend upon it, it is not for my own convenience; at least it never has been so, and I hope never will. "P. S. I shall answer this evening, and will set all right about Dallas. I thank you for your expressions of personal regard, which I can assure you I do not lightly value. LETTER 155. TO MR. MOORE. #6 January 6. 1814. "I have got a devil of a long story in the press, entitled The Corsair,' in the regular heroic measure. It is a pirate's isle, peopled with my own creatures, and you may easily suppose they do a world of mischief through the three cantos. Now for dedication your - if it. This is positively will accept my last experiment on public literary opinion, till I turn my thirtieth year, if so be I flourish until that downhill period. I have a confidence for you -a perplexing one to me, and, just at present, in a state of abeyance in itself. you However, we shall see. In the mean time, you may amuse yourself with my suspense, and put all the justices of peace in requisition, in case I come into your county with hackbut bent.' "Seriously, whether I am to hear from her or him, it is a pause, which I shall fill up with as few thoughts of my own as I can borrow from other people. Any thing is better than stagnation; and now, in the interregnum of my autumn and a strange summer adventure, which I don't like to think Bride of Abydos' remained undisposed of, though the poems were selling rapidly, nor had I the slightest notion that he would ever again give me a copyright. But as he continued in the resolution of not appropriating the sale of his works to his own use, I did not scruple to accept that of The Corsair,' and I thanked him. He asked me to call and hear the portions read as he wrote them. I went every morning, and was astonished at the rapidity of his composition. He gave me the poem 'Pray write to me. copy of the letter of dedication. When do you come out? I am sure we don't clash this time, for I am all at sea, and in action, - and a wife, and a mistress, &c. Thomas, thou art a happy fellow; but if you wish us to be so, you must come up to town, as you did last year and we shall have a world to say, and to see, and to hear. Let me hear from you. "P.S.-Of course you will keep my secret, and don't even talk in your sleep of it. Happen what may, your dedication is ensured, being already written; and I shall copy it out fair to-night, in case business or amuseAmant alterna Camænæ." ment - January 8. 1814. "As it would not be fair to press you into a dedication, without previous notice, I send you two, and I will tell you why two. The first, Mr. M., who sometimes takes upon him the critic (and I bear it from astonishment), says, may do you harm-God forbid ! - this alone makes me listen to him. The fact is, he is a damned Tory, and has, I dare swear, something of self, which I cannot divine, at the bottom of his objection, as it is the allusion to Ireland to which he objects. But he be d-d-though a good fellow enough (your sinner would not be worth a d―n). complete on New-year's day, 1814, saying, that my acceptance of it gave him great pleasure, and that I was fully at liberty to publish it with any bookseller I pleased, independent of the profit." Out of this last-mentioned permission arose the momentary embarrassment between the noble poet and his publisher, to which the above notes allude. It had been at first Genevra, -not Francesca, as Mr. Dallas asserts. "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. Fitzgerald, shall I not lay claim to the character of Vates?' as he did in the Morning Herald for prophesying the fall of Buonaparte,-who, by the by, I don't think is yet fallen. I wish he would rally and rout your legitimate sovereigns, having a mortal hate to all royal entails. But I am scrawling a treatise. Good night. Ever, &c.” TO MR. MURRAY. "January 11. 1814. "Correct this proof by Mr. Gifford's (and from the MSS.), particularly as to the pointing. I have added a section for Gulnare, to fill up the parting, and dismiss her more ceremoniously. If Mr. Gifford or you dislike, 'tis but a sponge and another midnight better employed than in yawning over Miss** [Edgeworth]; who, by the by, may soon return the compliment. “Wednesday or Thursday. "P. S.-I have redde ** ["Patronage"]. It is full of praises of Lord Ellenborough!!! (from which I infer near and dear relations at the bar). "I do not love Madame de Stael; but, depend upon it, she beats all your natives hollow as an authoress, in my opinion; and I would not say this if I could help it. TO MR. MOORE. "January 13. 1814. "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 Let those who cannot swallow chew the a pestilence, they should not be expunged. 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 --- 1 The first was, of course, the one that I preferred. permission to inscribe this poem to you, I can only wish The other ran as follows:the offering were as worthy your acceptance as your regard is dear to, "My dear Moore, "January 7. 1814. "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 "Yours, most affectionately and faithfully, 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." thought it would sweep away the rascally invaders of France. Was ever such a thing as Blucher's proclamation? "Just before I left town, Kemble paid me the compliment of desiring me to write a tragedy; I wish I could, but I find my scribbling mood subsiding-not before it was time; but it is lucky to check it at all. If I lengthen my letter, you will think it is coming on again; so good-by. "Yours alway, "B. "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. 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, 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 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.] 66 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 — Î 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 cify: there is no end to this campaigning." LETTER 160. TO MR. MURRAY. pa "Newstead Abbey, February 5. 1814. 2 "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." |