she
stated it) highly improper.
You say, that you also have something to complain of; then state it to
me immediately: it would be very unfair, and very contrary to my
disposition, not to hear both sides of the question.
If any thing has passed between you
before
or since my last visit
to Newstead, do not be afraid to mention it. I am sure
you
would
not deceive me, though
she
would. Whatever it is,
you
,
shall be forgiven. I have not been without some suspicions on the
subject, and am certain that, at your time of life, the blame could not
attach to you. You will not
consult
, any one as to your answer,
but write to me immediately. I shall be more ready to hear what you have
to advance, as I do not remember ever to have heard a word from you
before
against
, any human being, which convinces me you would not
maliciously assert an untruth. There is not any one who can do the least
injury to you, while you conduct yourself properly. I shall expect your
answer immediately. Yours, etc.,
Byron
.
List of Letters
Contents
January 29, 1812.
My Dear Moore,—I wish very much I could have seen you; I am in a state
of ludicrous tribulation. ——
Why
you say that I dislike your poesy
? I have expressed no such
opinion, either in
print
or elsewhere. In scribbling myself, it
was necessary for me to find fault, and I fixed upon the trite charge of
immorality, because I could discover no other, and was so perfectly
qualified in the innocence of my heart, to "pluck that mote from my
neighbour's eye."
I feel very, very much obliged by your approbation; but, at
this
moment
, praise, even
your
praise, passes by me like "the idle
wind." I meant and mean to send you a copy the moment of publication;
but now I can
of nothing but damned, deceitful,—delightful woman,
as Mr. Liston says in the
Knight of Snowdon
?
Believe me, my
dear Moore,
Ever yours, most affectionately,
Byron
.
Of Moore's early poems Byron was an admirer. The influence
of "Little" and "Anacreon" is strongly marked throughout
Hours of
Idleness
. For the "trite charge of immorality," see
English
Bards, etc.
, lines 283-294; and
Letters
, vol. i. p. 113.
Byron's opinion of Moore's later poetry was thus stated by him to Lady
Blessington (
Conversations
, pp. 354, 355):
"Having compared Rogers's poems to a flower-garden, to what shall I
compare Moore's?—to the Valley of Diamonds, where all is brilliant
and attractive, but where one is so dazzled by the sparkling on every
side that one knows not where to fix, each gem beautiful in itself,
but overpowering to the eye from their quantity."
The Knight of Snowdoun
, a musical drama, written by Thomas
Morton (1764-1838), and founded on
The Lady of the Lake
, was
produced at Covent Garden, Feb. 5, 1811, and published the same
year. John Liston (1776-1846), the most famous comedian of the
century, played the part of "Macloon," his wife that of "Isabel."
In act iii. sc. 3 Macloon says,
"Oh, woman! woman! deceitful, damnable, (changing into a
half-smile) delightful woman! do all one can, there's nothing else
worth thinking of."
List of Letters
Contents
8, St. James's Street, Feb. 1, 1812.
My Dear Hodgson
,—I am rather unwell with a vile cold, caught in the
House of Lords last night. Lord Sligo and myself, being tired,
paired
off
, being of opposite sides, so that nothing was gained or lost by
our
votes. I did not speak: but I might as well, for nothing
could have been inferior to the Duke of Devonshire, Marquis of
Downshire, and the Earl of Fitzwilliam. The Catholic Question comes on
this month, and perhaps I may then commence. I must "screw my courage to
the sticking-place," and we'll
not
fail.
Yours ever, B.
List of Letters
Contents
February 4, 1812.
My Dear Sir
,—
my best acknowledgments to Lord Holland
, I have
to offer my perfect concurrence in the propriety of the question
previously to be put to ministers. If their answer is in the negative, I
shall, with his Lordship's approbation, give notice of a motion for a
Committee of Inquiry. I would also gladly avail myself of his most able
advice, and any information or documents with which he might be pleased
to intrust me, to bear me out in the statement of facts it may be
necessary to submit to the House.
all that fell under my own observation during my Christmas visit to
Newstead, I feel convinced that, if
conciliatory
measures are not
very soon adopted, the most unhappy consequences may be apprehended
.
Nightly outrage and daily depredation are already at their height; and
not only the masters of frames, who are obnoxious on account of their
occupation, but persons in no degree connected with the malecontents or
their oppressors, are liable to insult and pillage.
I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken on my
account, and beg you to believe me,
Ever your obliged and sincere, etc.
For Lord Holland, see
Letters
, vol. i. p. 184,
note
I. He was Recorder of Nottingham; hence his special interest
in the proposed legislation against frame-breaking.
Owing to the state of trade, numbers of stocking-weavers
had lost work. The discontent thus produced was increased by the
introduction of a wide frame for the manufacture of gaiters and
stockings, which, it was supposed, would further diminish the demand for
manual labour. In November, 1811, organized bands of men began to break
into houses and destroy machinery. For several days no serious effort
was made to check the riots, which extended to a considerable distance
round Nottingham. But on November 14 the soldiers were called out.
Between that date and December 9, 900 cavalry and 1000 infantry were
sent to Nottingham; and, on January 8, 1812, these forces were increased
by two additional regiments. The rioters assumed the name of Luddites,
and their leader was known as General Lud. The name is said to have
originated in 1779, in a Leicestershire village, where a half-witted
lad, named Ned Lud, broke a stocking-frame in a fit of passion; hence
the common saying, when machinery was broken, that "Ned Lud" did it. A
Bill was introduced in the House of Commons (February 14) increasing the
severity of punishments for frame-breaking. On the second reading
(February 17) Sir Samuel Romilly strongly opposed the measure, which
passed its third reading (February 20) without a division. The Bill, as
introduced into the Upper House by Lord Liverpool,
- rendered the
offence of frame-breaking punishable by death; and
- compelled persons
in whose houses the frames were broken to give information to the
magistrates
.
On the second reading of the Bill (February 27, 1812),
Byron spoke against it in his first speech in the House of Lords (see
). The Bill passed its third reading on March 5, and
became law as 52 Geo. III. c. 16. Byron did not confine his opposition
to a speech in the House of Lords. He also addressed "An Ode to the
Framers of the Frame Bill," which appeared in the
Morning
Chronicle
on Monday, March 2, 1812. The following letter to Perry,
the editor, is published by permission of Messrs. Ellis and Elvey, in
whose possession is the original:
"Sir,—I take the liberty of sending an alteration of the two last
lines of Stanza 2'd which I wish to run as follows,
'Gibbets on Sherwood will heighten the Scenery
Shewing how Commerce, how Liberty thrives!'
I wish you could insert it tomorrow for a particular reason; but I
feel much obliged by your inserting it at all. Of course, do not put
my name to the thing.
Believe me, Your obliged and very obed't Serv't,
Byron.
8, St. James Street, Sunday,
March 1st, 1812."
List of Letters
Contents
223—To Master John Cowell1
8, St. James's Street, February 12, 1812.
My Dear John
,—You have probably long ago forgotten the writer of these
lines, who would, perhaps, be unable to recognize
yourself
, from
the difference which must naturally have taken place in your stature and
appearance since he saw you last. I have been rambling through Portugal,
Spain, Greece, etc., etc., for some years, and have found so many
changes on my return, that it would be very unfair not to expect that
you should have had your share of alteration and improvement with the
rest. I write to request a favour of you: a little boy of eleven years,
the son of Mr. ——, my particular friend, is about to become an Etonian,
and I should esteem any act of protection or kindness to him as an
obligation to myself: let me beg of you then to take some little notice
of him at first, till he is able to shift for himself.
I was happy to hear a very favourable account of you from a schoolfellow
a few weeks ago, and should be glad to learn that your family are as
well as I wish them to be. I presume you are in the upper school;—as an
Etonian
, you will look down upon a
Harrow
man; but I
never, even in my boyish days, disputed your superiority,
I once
experienced in a cricket match, where I had the honour of making one of
eleven, who were beaten to their hearts' content by your college in
one innings
.
Believe me to be, with great truth, etc., etc.,
B.
"Breakfasted with Mr. Cowell," writes Moore, in his Diary, June 11,
1828, "having made his acquaintance for the purpose of gaining
information about Lord Byron. Knew Byron for the first time when he
himself was a little boy, from being in the habit of playing with B.'s
dogs. Byron wrote to him to school to bid him mind his prosody. Gave
me two or three of his letters to him. Saw a good deal of B. at
Hastings; mentioned the anecdote about the ink-bottle striking one of
the lead Muses. These Muses had been brought from Holland; and there
were, I think, only eight of them arrived safe. Fletcher had brought
B. a large jar of ink, and, not thinking it was full, B. had thrust
his pen down to the very bottom; his anger at finding it come out all
besmeared with ink made him chuck the jar out of the window, when it
knocked down one of the Muses in the garden, and deluged her with ink.
In 1813, when B. was at Salt Hill, he had Cowell over from Eton, and
pouched him no less than ten pounds. Cowell has ever since kept
one of the notes. Told me a curious anecdote of Byron's mentioning to
him, as if it had made a great impression on him, their seeing Shelley
(as they thought) walking into a little wood at Lerici, when it was
discovered afterwards that Shelley was at that time in quite another
direction. 'This,' said Byron, in a sort of awe-struck voice, 'was
about ten days before his death.' Cowell's imitation of his look and
manner very striking. Thinks that in Byron's speech to Fletcher, when
he was dying, threatening to appear to him, there was a touch of that
humour and fun which he was accustomed to mix up with everything".
(
Memoirs, Journals, etc
., vol. v. pp. 302, 303).
See
Letters
, vol. i. p. 70, and
note
1 [Footnote 2 of Letter 30].
List of Letters
Contents
8, St. James's Street, February 16, 1812.
Dear Hodgson,—I send you a proof. Last week I was very ill and confined
to bed with stone in the kidney, but I am now quite recovered. The women
are gone to their relatives, after many attempts to explain what was
already too clear. If the stone had got into my heart instead of my
kidneys, it would have been all the better. However, I have quite
recovered
that
also, and only wonder at my folly in excepting my
own strumpets from the general corruption,—albeit a two months'
weakness is better than ten years. I have one request to make, which is,
never mention a woman again in any letter to me, or even allude to the
existence of the sex. I won't even read a word of the feminine
gender;—it must all be
propria quæ maribus
.
In the spring of 1813 I shall leave England for ever. Every thing in my
affairs tends to this, and my inclinations and health do not discourage
it. Neither my habits nor constitution are improved by your customs or
your climate. I shall find employment in making myself a good Oriental
scholar. I shall retain a mansion in one of the fairest islands, and
retrace, at intervals, the most interesting portions of the East. In the
mean time, I am adjusting my concerns, which will (when arranged) leave
me with wealth sufficient even for home, but enough for a principality
in Turkey. At present they are involved, but I hope, by taking some
necessary but unpleasant steps, to clear every thing. Hobhouse is
expected daily in London: we shall be very glad to see him; and,
perhaps, you will come up and "drink deep ere he depart,"
not,
"Mahomet must go to the mountain;"
—but Cambridge will bring sad
recollections to him, and worse to me, though for very different
reasons. I believe the only human being, that ever loved me in truth and
entirely, was of, or belonging to, Cambridge, and, in that, no change
can now take place. There is one consolation in death—where he sets his
seal, the impression can neither be melted nor broken, but endureth for
ever.
Yours always,
B.
P.S.—I almost rejoice when one I love dies young, for I could never
bear to see them old or altered.
See Bacon's
Essays
("Of Boldness"):
"Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and
from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law.
The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again
and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed,
but said, 'If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to
the hill.'"
List of Letters
Contents
225—to Francis Hodgson
London, February 21, 1812.
My Dear Hodgson,—
is a book entituled
Galt, his Travels in ye
Archipelago
, daintily printed by Cadell and Davies, ye which I
could desiderate might be criticised by you, inasmuch as ye author is a
well-respected esquire of mine acquaintance, but I fear will meet with
little mercy as a writer, unless a friend passeth judgment. Truth to
say, ye boke is ye boke of a cock-brained man, and is full of devises
crude and conceitede, but peradventure for my sake this grace may be
vouchsafed unto him. Review him myself I can not, will not, and if you
are likewize hard of heart, woe unto ye boke! ye which is a comely
quarto.
then! I have no objection to review, if it pleases Griffiths
to
send books, or rather
you
, for you know the sort of things I like
to [play] with. You will find what I say very serious as to my
intentions. I have every reason to induce me to return to Ionia.
Believe me, yours always,
B.
John Galt (1779-1839) published in 1812 his
Voyages and
Travels in the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811
. For his meeting with
Byron at Gibraltar in 1809, see
Letters
, vol. i. p. 243,
note
1 [Footnote 1 of Letter 130]; see also
ibid.
, p. 304,
note
2 [Footnote 2 of Letter 131]. Galt's
novels were, in later years, liked by Byron, who
"praised the
Annals of the Parish very highly, as also
The
Entail,... some scenes of which, he said, had affected him very
much.
'The characters in Mr. Galt's novels have an identity,' added
Byron, 'that reminds me of Wilkie's pictures'"
(Lady Blessington's
Conversations with Lord Byron
, p. 74).
"When I knew Galt, years ago," said Byron to Lady Blessington, I was
not in a frame of mind to form an impartial opinion of him: his
mildness and equanimity struck me even then; but, to say the truth,
his manner had not deference enough for my then aristocratical taste,
and finding I could not awe him into a respect sufficiently profound
for my sublime self, either as a peer or an author, I felt a little
grudge towards him that has now completely worn off," etc., etc.
(
ibid.
, p. 249).
George Edward Griffiths (circ. 1769-1829), son of Ralph
Griffiths, who founded, owned, and published the
Monthly Review
,
and boarded and lodged Oliver Goldsmith as a contributor, succeeded to
the management of the
Review
on the death of his father in 1803.
He edited it till 1825, when he sold the property. He lived at Linden
House, Turnham Green. Francis Hodgson wrote for the
Monthly
Review
, and, March 2, 1814, he writes to Byron,
"I have already read a review of Safie in the British Critic,
and will undertake it in the Monthly if Griffiths, with whom I
am in very bad odour from my late shameful idleness, will allow me. Oh
that you would write a good smart critique of something to get both
yourself and me in high repute at Turnham Green!!!!"
In Byron's
Detached Thoughts
occurs the following passage:
"I have been a reviewer. In the Monthly Review I wrote some
articles which were inserted. This was in the latter part of 1811. In
1807, in a Magazine called Monthly Literary Recreations, I
reviewed Wordsworth's trash of that time.
Excepting these, I cannot accuse myself of anonymous Criticism (that I
recollect), though I have been offered more than one review in
our principal Journals."
In the Bodleian Library is a copy of the
Monthly Review
, in which
Griffiths has entered the initials of the authors of each article. Two
articles from the
Review
, attributed to Byron on this authority,
are given in
.
List of Letters
Contents
226—to Lord Holland
8, St. James's Street, February 25, 1812.
My Lord
,—With my best thanks, I have the honour to return the Notts.
letter to your Lordship. I have read it with attention, but do not think
I shall venture to avail myself of its contents, as my view of the
question differs in some measure from Mr. Coldham's. I hope I do not
wrong him, but