Pray send the bond and judgement to Aston as directed.
Ever, dear Sir,
B.
P. S.—Many, many thanks for your kind invitation; but it was too late. I
was in this county before it arrived. My best remembrances to Mrs. H.
and all the family.
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342—to the Hon. Augusta Leigh
[Sunday], October 10th, 1813.
My dearest Augusta,—I have only time to say that I am not in the least
angry, and that my silence has merely arisen from several circumstances
which I cannot now detail. I trust you are better, and will continue
best
. Ever, my dearest,
Yours,
B.
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343—to John Murray
Oct. 12, 1813.
Dear Sir,—You must look
The Giaour
again over carefully; there
are a few lapses, particularly in the last page,—"I
know
'twas
false; she could not die;" it was, and ought to be—"
knew
." Pray
observe this and similar mistakes.
I
received and read the
British Review
.
I really think the writer in most parts very right. The only mortifying
thing is the accusation of imitation.
Crabbe's passage
I never saw; and Scott I no further meant to
follow than in his
lyric
measure, which is Gray's, Milton's, and
any one's who likes it.
The Giaour
is certainly a bad character,
but not dangerous: and I think his fate and his feelings will meet with
few proselytes. I shall be very glad to hear from or of you, when you
please; but don't put yourself out of your way on my account.
Yours ever,
B.
The British Review
(No. ix.) criticized
The
Giaour
severely (pp. 132-145). "Lord Byron," it says, "has had the
bad taste to imitate Mr. Walter Scott" (p. 135). Further on (p. 139) it
charges him with borrowing a simile from Crabbe's
Resentment
. The
passage to which the reviewer alludes will be found in lines 11-16 of
that poem:
"Those are like wax—apply them to the fire,
Melting, they take th' impressions you desire:
Easy to mould, and fashion as you please,
And again moulded with an equal ease:
Like smelted iron these the forms retain;
But, once impress'd, will never melt again."
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344—to the Hon. Augusta Leigh
(Monday), Nov'r. 8th, 1813.
My Dearest Augusta,—I have only time to say that I shall write
tomorrow, and that my present and long silence has been occasioned by a
thousand things (with which
you
are not concerned). It is not L'y
C. nor O.; but perhaps you may
guess
, and, if you do, do not
tell.
You do not know what mischief your being with me might have prevented. You shall hear from me tomorrow; in the mean time don't be alarmed. I am
in
no immediate
peril.
Believe me, ever yours,
B.
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345—to John Murray
(Nov. 12, 1813. With first proof of
Bride of Abydos
correct.)
Dear Sir,—I have looked over—corrected—and added—
all
of which
you may do too—at least
certainly
the
two
first. There is
more MS.
within
. Let me know tomorrow at your leisure
how
and
when
we shall proceed! It looks better than I thought at
first.
Look over
again. I suspect some omissions on my part and
on the printers'.
Yours ever,
B.
Always print "een" "even." I utterly abhor "een"—if it must be
contracted, be it "ev'n."
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346—to William Gifford
November 12, 1813.
My Dear Sir,—I hope you will consider, when I venture on any request,
that it is the reverse of a certain Dedication, and is addressed,
not
to "The Editor of the
Quarterly Review
" but to Mr.
Gifford. You will understand this, and on that point I need trouble you
no farther.
You have been good enough to look at a thing of mine in MS.—a Turkish
story, and I should feel gratified if you would do it the same favour in
its probationary state of printing. It was
, I cannot say for
amusement, nor "obliged by hunger and request of friends,"
but in a
state of mind, from circumstances which occasionally occur to "us
youth," that rendered it necessary for me to apply my mind to something,
any thing but reality; and under this not very brilliant inspiration it
was composed. Being done, and having at least diverted me from myself, I
thought you would not perhaps be offended if Mr. Murray forwarded it to
you. He has done so, and to apologise for his doing so a second time is
the object of my present letter.
I beg you will
not
send me any answer. I assure you very
sincerely I know your time to be occupied, and it is enough, more than
enough, if you read; you are not to be bored with the fatigue of
answers.
A word to Mr. Murray will be sufficient, and send it either to the
flames or
"A hundred hawkers' load,
On wings of wind to fly or fall abroad."
It
no better than the first, as the work of a week, and
scribbled
stans pede in uno
, (by the by, the only foot I have
to stand on); and I promise never to trouble you again under forty
cantos, and a voyage between each. Believe me ever,
Your obliged and affectionate servant,
Byron
.
Pope,
Epistle to Arbuthnot
, l. 44.
Horace,
Sat
. 1. iv. 10.
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347—to John Murray
Nov. 12, 1813.
Two friends of mine (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Sharpe) have advised me not to
risk at present any single publication separately, for various reasons.
As they have not seen the one in question, they can have no bias for or
against the merits (if it has any) or the faults of the present subject
of our conversation. You
all the last of
The Giaour
are
gone—at least out of your hands.
, if you think of publishing any
new edition with the last additions which have not yet been before the
reader (I mean distinct from the two-volume publication), we can add
"
The Bride of Abydos
," which will thus steal quietly into the
world
: if liked, we can then throw off some copies for the
purchasers of former "Giaours;" and, if not, I can omit it in any future
publication. What think you? I really am no judge of those things; and,
with all my natural partiality for one's own productions, I would rather
follow any one's judgment than my own.
P. S.—Pray let me have the proofs. I sent
all
to-night. I have
some alterations that I have thought of that I wish to make speedily. I
hope the proof will be on separate pages, and not all huddled together
on a mile-long, ballad-singing sheet, as those of
The Giaour
sometimes are: for then I can't read them distinctly.
In
Accepted Addresses; or, Premium Poetarum
, pp.
50-52 (1813),
Address
xvii. is from "Lord B——n to J. M——y,
Book- seller." The address itself runs as follows:
"A Turkish tale I shall unfold,
A sweeter tale was never told;
But then the facts, I must allow,
Are in the east not common now;
Tho' in the 'olden time,' the scene
My Goaour (sic) describes had often been.
What is the cause! Perhaps the fair
Are now more cautious than they were;
Perhaps the Christians not so bold,
So enterprising as of old.
No matter what the cause may be,
It is a subject fit for me.
"Take my disjointed fragments then,
The offspring of a willing pen.
And give them to the public, pray,
On or before the month of May.
Yes, my disjointed fragments take,
But do not ask how much they'll make.
Perhaps not fifty pages—well,
I in a little space can tell
Th' adventures of an infidel;
Of quantity I never boast,
For quality's, approved of most.
"It is a handsome sum to touch,
Induces authors to write much;
But in this much, alas! my friend,
How little is there to commend.
So, Mr. M——y, I disdain,
To sacrifice my muse for gain.
I wish it to be understood,
The little which I write is good.
"I do not like the quarto size,
Th' octavo, therefore, I advise.
Then do not, Mr. M——y, fail,
To publish this, my Turkish Tale;
For tho' the volume may be thin,
A thousand readers it will win;
And when my pages they explore,
They'll gladly read them o'er and o'er;
And all the ladies, I engage,
With tears will moisten every page."
John Murray writes, in an undated letter to Byron,
"Mr. Canning returned the poem to-day with very warm expressions of
delight. I told him your delicacy as to separate publication, of which
he said you should remove every apprehension."
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348—to John Murray
Nov. 13, 1813.
Will you forward the letter to Mr. Gifford with the proof? There is an
alteration I may make in Zuleika's speech, in second canto (the only one
of
hers
in that canto). It is now thus:
And curse—if I could curse—the day.
It must be:
And mourn—I dare not curse—the day,
That saw my solitary birth, etc., etc.
Ever yours,
B.
In the last MS. lines sent, instead of "living heart," correct to
"quivering heart." It is in line 9th of the MS. passage.
Ever yours
again,
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349—to John Murray
Alteration of a line in Canto 2nd.
Instead of:
And tints to-morrow with a fancied ray
Print:
And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray.
The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,
And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray;
Or,
And {gilds/tints} the hope of Morning with its ray;
Or,
And gilds to-morrow's hope with heavenly ray.
Dear Sir,—I wish you would ask Mr. G. which of them is best, or rather
not worst
.
Ever yours, B.
You can send the request contained in this at the same time with the
revise, after
I have seen the
said revise
.
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350—to John Murray
Nov. 13, 1813.
Certainly. Do you
that no one but the Galileans are acquainted
with
Adam
, and
Eve
, and
Cain,
and
Noah
?—Surely, I might have had Solomon, and Abraham, and David,
and even Moses, or the other. When you know that
Zuleika
is the
Persian poetical
name for
Potiphar's
wife, on whom and
Joseph there is a long poem in the Persian, this will not surprise you.
If you want authority look at Jones, D'Herbelot,
Vathek
, or the
notes to the
Arabian Nights
; and, if you think it necessary,
model this into a
note
.
Alter, in the inscription, "the most affectionate respect," to "with
every sentiment of regard and respect,"
"Some doubt had been expressed by Murray as to the propriety of his
putting the name of Cain into the mouth of a Mussulman."
(Moore).
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351—to John Murray
Nov. 14, 1813.
I send you a note for the
ignorant
, but I really wonder at
finding
you
among them. I don't care one lump of Sugar for my
poetry
; but for my
costume
, and my
correctness
on
those points (of which I think the
funeral
was a proof), I will
combat lustily.
Yours ever,
B.
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352—to John Murray
November 15, 1813.
Dear Sir
,—Mr. Hodgson has looked over and
stopped
, or rather
pointed
, this revise, which must be the one to print from. He has
also made some suggestions, with most of which I have complied, as he
has always, for these ten years, been a very sincere, and by no means
(at times) flattering critic of mine.
He
likes it (you will think
flatteringly
, in this instance) better than
The Giaour
,
but doubts (and so do I) its being so popular; but, contrary to some
others, advises a separate publication. On this we can easily decide. I
confess I like the
double
form better. Hodgson says, it is
better versified
than any of the others; which is odd, if true,
as it has cost me less time (though more
hours
at a time) than
any attempt I ever made.
Yours ever, B.
P. S.—Do attend to the punctuation: I can't, for I don't know a
comma—at least where to place one.
That Tory of a printer has omitted two lines of the opening, and
perhaps more
, which were in the MS. Will you, pray, give him a
hint of accuracy? I have reinserted the 2, but they were in the
manuscript, I can swear.
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