Yours very truly, B.
P. S.—I have said this much about the epigrams, because I live so much
in the
opposite camp
, and, from my post as an Engineer, might be
suspected as the flinger of these hand Grenadoes; but with a worthy foe
I am all for open war, and not this bush-fighting, and have [not] had,
nor will have, any thing to do with it. I do not know the author.
In the
Morning Chronicle
, November 29, 1813,
appeared the following paragraph:
"Lord Byron's muse is extremely fruitful. He has another poem coming
out, entitled The Bride of Abydos, which is spoken of in terms
of the highest encomium."
Journal of Llewellin Penrose, a Seaman.
"Ward has no heart, they say; but I deny it;—
He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it."
List of Letters
Contents
363—to John Murray
Tuesday evening, Nov. 30, 1813.
Dear Sir,—For the sake of correctness, particularly in an Errata page,
the alteration of the couplet I have just sent (half an hour ago) must
take place, in spite of delay or cancel; let me see the
proof
early to-morrow. I found out
murmur
to be a neuter
verb
,
and have been obliged to alter the line so as to make it a substantive,
thus:
The deepest murmur of this life shall be
No sigh for Safety, but a prayer for thee!
Don't send the copies to the
country
till this is all right.
Yours,
B.
List of Letters
Contents
364—to Thomas Moore.
November 30, 1813.
Since I last wrote to you, much has occurred, good, bad, and
indifferent,—not to make me forget you, but to prevent me from
reminding you of one who, nevertheless, has often thought of you, and to
whom
your
thoughts, in many a measure, have frequently been a
consolation. We were once very near neighbours this autumn; and a good
and bad neighbourhood it has proved to me.
it to say, that your
French quotation
was confoundedly to the purpose,—though very
unexpectedly
pertinent, as you may imagine by what I
said
before, and my silence since.
, "Richard's himself again,"
and except all night and some part of the morning, I don't think very
much about the matter.
All
end with me in rhyme; and to solace my midnights, I have
scribbled another Turkish story
—not a Fragment—which you will
receive soon after this. It does not trench upon your kingdom in the
least, and if it did, you would soon reduce me to my proper boundaries.
You will think, and justly, that I run some risk of losing the little I
have gained in fame, by this further experiment on public patience; but
I have really ceased to care on that head. I
written this, and
published it, for the sake of the
employment
,—to wring my
thoughts from reality, and take refuge in "imaginings," however
"horrible;"
and, as to success! those who succeed will console me
for a failure—excepting yourself and one or two more, whom luckily I
love too well to wish one leaf of their laurels a tint yellower. This is
the work of a week, and will be the reading of an hour to you, or even
less,—and so, let it go ——.
P.S.—Ward and I
talk
of going to Holland. I want to see how a
Dutch canal looks after the Bosphorus. Pray respond.
Moore wrote to Byron in 1813 an undated letter, in which
the following passage occurs:
"I am sorry I must wait till 'we are veterans' before you will open to
me 'the story of your wandering life, wherein you find more hours
due to repentance ... than time hath told you yet.' Is it so
with you, or are you, like me, reprobate enough to look back with
complacency on what you have done? I suppose repentance must bring
up the rear with us all; but at present I should say with old
Fontenelle, Si je recommençais ma carrière, je ferais tout
ce que j'ai fait."
Colley Cibber's
Richard III
, act v. sc. 3:
"Conscience, avaunt! Richard's himself again."
The Bride of Abydos
was published December, 1813.
"Horrible imaginings."
Macbeth
, act i. sc. 3.
List of Letters
Contents
365—to Francis Hodgson
Nov'r—Dec'r 1st, 1813.
I
just heard that
Knapp
is acquainted with what I was but
too happy in being enabled to do for you
.
Now, my dear Hn., you, or Drury, must have told this, for, upon my own
honour, not even to Scrope, nor to one soul, (Drury knew it before) have
I said one syllable of the matter. So don't be out of humour with me
about it, but you can't be more so than I am. I am, however, glad of one
thing; if you ever conceived it to be in the least an obligation, this
disclosure most fairly and fully releases you from it:
"To John I owe some obligation,
But John unluckily thinks fit
To publish it to all the nation,
So John and I are more than quit."
And so there's an end of the matter.
Ward
wavers
a little about the Dutch, till matters are more
sedative, and the French more sedentary.
The
Bride
will blush upon you in a day or two; there is
much
, at least a
little
addition. I am happy to say that
Frere and Heber, and some other "good men and true," have been kind
enough to adopt the same opinion that you did.
Pray write when you like, and believe me,
Ever yours,
Byron
.
P.S.—Murray has
offered
me a thousand guineas for the
two
(
Giaour
and
Bride
), and told M'e. de Stael that he had
paid
them to me!! I should be glad to be able to tell her so too.
But the truth is, he would; but I thought the fair way was to decline it
till May, and, at the end of 6 months, he can safely say whether he can
afford it or not—without running any risk by Speculation. If he paid
them now and lost by it, it would be hard. If he gains, it will be time
enough when he has already funded his profits. But he needed not have
told "
la Baronne
" such a devil of an uncalled for piece
of—premature
truth
, perhaps—but, nevertheless, a
lie
in
the mean time.
Hodgson, now engaged to Miss Tayler, was anxious to clear
off his father's liabilities. Byron gave him from first to last the sum
of £1500 for the purpose. Hodgson, in a letter to his uncle, thus
describes the gift (
Memoir of Rev. F. Hodgson
, vol. i. pp. 268,
269):
"My noble-hearted friend, Lord Byron, after many offers of a similar
kind, which I felt bound to refuse, has irresistibly in my present
circumstances ... volunteered to pay all my debts, and within a few
pounds it is done! Oh, if you knew (but you do know) the
exultation of heart, aye, and of head too, I feel at being free from
these depressing embarrassments, you would, as I do, bless my dearest
friend and brother Byron."
List of Letters
Contents
cross-reference: return to Footnote 3 of Journal entry for December 1st, 1813
366—to John Murray
Dec. 2, 1813.
Dear Sir,—When you can, let the couplet enclosed be inserted either in
the page, or in the Errata page. I trust it is in time for some of the
copies. This alteration is in the same part—the page
but one
before the last correction sent.
Yours, etc.,
B.
P. S.—I am afraid, from all I hear, that people are rather inordinate in
their expectations, which is very unlucky, but cannot now be helped.
This comes of Mr. Perry and one's wise friends; but do not
you
wind
your
hopes of success to the same pitch, for fear of
accidents, and I can assure you that my philosophy will stand the test
very fairly; and I have done every thing to ensure you, at all events,
from positive loss, which will be some satisfaction to both.
List of Letters
Contents
367—to Leigh Hunt
4, Bennet St., Dec. 2, 1813.
My dear Sir,—Few things could be more welcome than your note, and on
Saturday morning I will avail myself of your permission to thank you for
it in person. My time has not been passed, since we met, either
profitably or agreeably. A very short period after my last visit, an
incident occurred with which, I fear, you are not unacquainted, as
report, in many mouths and more than one paper, was busy with the topic.
That, naturally, gave me much uneasiness. Then I nearly incurred a
lawsuit on the sale of an estate; but that is now arranged: next—but
why should I go on with a series of selfish and silly details? I merely
wish to assure you that it was not the frivolous forgetfulness of a
mind, occupied by what is called pleasure (
not
in the true sense
of Epicurus), that kept me away; but a perception of my, then, unfitness
to share the society of those whom I value and wish not to displease. I
hate being
larmoyant
, and making a serious face among those who
are cheerful.
It is my wish that our acquaintance, or, if you please to accept it,
friendship, may be permanent. I have been lucky enough to preserve some
friends from a very early period, and I hope, as I do not (at least now)
select them lightly, I shall not lose them capriciously. I
a
thorough esteem for that independence of spirit
which you have
maintained with sterling talent, and at the expense of some suffering.
You have not, I trust, abandoned the poem you were composing, when Moore
and I partook of your hospitality in the summer. I hope a time will come
when he and I may be able to repay you in kind for the
latter
—for the rhyme, at least in
quantity
, you are in
arrear to both.
Believe me, very truly and affectionately yours,
Byron.
The following is Leigh Hunt's answer:
"My dear Lord,—I need not tell you how much your second letter has
gratified me, for I am apt to speak as sincerely as I think (you must
suffer me to talk in this way after what you have been kind enough to
say of my independence), and it always rejoices me to find that those
whom I wish to regard will take me at my word. But I shall grow
egotistical upon the strength of your Lordship's good opinion. I shall
be heartily glad to see you on Saturday morning, and perhaps shall
prevail upon you to take a luncheon with us at our dinner-time (3). The
nature of your letter would have brought upon you a long answer,
filled perhaps with an enthusiasm that might have made you smile; but
I am keeping your servant in the cold, and so, among other good
offices, you see what he has done for you. However, I would not make a
light thing of so good a matter as I mean my enthusiasm to be, and
intend, before I have done, that you shall have as sound a regard for
it, as I have for the feelings on your Lordship's part that have
called it forth.
Yours, my dear Lord, most sincerely and cordially,
Leigh Hunt.
Surrey Jail, 2'd Dec'r., 1813."
List of Letters
Contents
368—to John Murray
Dec. 3, 1813.
I send you a
scratch
or
two
, the which
heal
.
Christian Observer
is very savage, but certainly uncommonly
well written—and quite uncomfortable at the naughtiness of book and
author. I rather suspect you won't much like the
present
to be
more moral, if it is to share also the usual fate of your virtuous
volumes.
Let me see a proof of the
six
before
incorporation
.
The
Christian Observer
for November, 1813 (pp.
731-737) felt compelled to review
The Giaour
, because of its
extraordinary popularity; but it found that some of the passages
savoured "too much of Newgate and Bedlam for our expurgated pages." It
acknowledged one obligation to Byron.
"He never attempts to deceive the world by representing the profligate
as happy.... And his testimony is of the more value, as his situation
in life must have permitted him to see the experiment tried under the
most favourable circumstances. He has probably seen more than one
example of young men of high birth, talents, and expectancies, ...
sink under the burden of unsubdued tempers, licentious alliances, and
ennervating indulgence.... He has seen all this; nay,
perhaps—But we check our pen," etc., etc.
List of Letters
Contents
369—to John Murray
Dec. 3, 1813.
My dear Sir,—Look out the Encyclopedia article
Mecca
whether it
is there or at
Medina
the Prophet is entombed, if at Medina the
first lines of my alteration must run:
Blest as the call which from Medina's dome
Invites Devotion to her Prophet's tomb, etc.
If at "Mecca" the lines may stand as before. Page 45, C°. 2nd,
Bride
of Abydos
. Yours, B.
You will find this out either by Article
Mecca, Medina
or
Mahommed
. I have no book of reference by me.
List of Letters
Contents
370—to John Murray
[No date.]
Did you look out? is it
Medina
or
Mecca
that contains the
holy
Sepulchre? don't make me blaspheme by your negligence. I
have no books of reference or I would save you the trouble. I
blush
as a good Mussulman to have confused the point. Yours, B.
List of Letters
Contents
371—to John Murray
Dec. 4, 1813.
Dear Sir,—I
redde through your Persian Tales
, and have taken
the liberty of making some remarks on the
blank
pages. There are
many beautiful passages, and an interesting story; and I cannot give you
a stronger proof that such is my opinion, than by the
date
of the
hour—two o'clock
,—till which it has kept me awake
without a
yawn
.
The conclusion is not quite correct in
costume
: there is no
Mussulman suicide
on record—at least for
love
. But this
matters not. The tale must have been written by some one who has been on
the spot, and I wish him, and he deserves, success. Will you apologise
to the author for the liberties I have taken with his MS.? Had I been
less awake to, and interested in, his theme, I had been less obtrusive;
but you know
I
always take this in good part, and I hope he will.
It is difficult to say what
will
succeed, and still more to
pronounce what
will not