Chapter II · — Cambridge and Juvenile Poems (continued 2)

Mirror

(1779-80) and the

Lounger

(1785-86). As a political writer, he supported Pitt, and was rewarded by the comptrollership of taxes. An original member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, many of his papers appear in its

Transactions

. In Edinburgh society he was "the life of the company," a connecting link on the literary side between David Hume, Walter Scott, and Lord Cockburn, and in all matters of sport a fund of anecdotes and reminiscences.

return

List of Letters

68 — To William Bankes¹

For my own part, I have suffered severely in the decease of my two greatest friends, the only beings I ever loved (females excepted); I am therefore a solitary animal, miserable enough, and so perfectly a citizen of the world, that whether I pass my days in Great Britain or Kamschatka, is to me a matter of perfect indifference. I cannot evince greater respect for your alteration than by immediately adopting it — this shall be done in the next edition. I am sorry your remarks are not more frequent, as I am certain they would be equally beneficial.

Since

my last, I have received two critical opinions from Edinburgh, both too flattering for me to detail. One is from Lord Woodhouselee

²

, at the head of the Scotch literati, and a most

voluminous

writer (his last work is a

Life

of Lord Kaimes); the other from Mackenzie, who sent his decision a second time, more at length. I am not personally acquainted with either of these gentlemen, nor ever requested their sentiments on the subject: their praise is voluntary, and transmitted through the medium of a friend, at whose house they read the productions.

Contrary to my former intention, I am now preparing a volume for the public at large: my amatory pieces will be exchanged, and others substituted in their place. The whole will be considerably enlarged, and appear the latter end of May. This is a hazardous experiment; but want of better employment, the encouragement I have met with, and my own vanity, induce me to stand the test, though not without

sundry palpitations

. The book will circulate fast enough in this country from mere curiosity; what I prin — — ...

[letter incomplete]

Footnote 1:

This fragment refers, like the previous letter, to Byron's volume of verse,

Poems on Various Occasions

.

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Footnote 2:

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, one of the Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland, and a friend of Robert Burns. Besides the

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Hon. Henry Home of Kames

(1807), he published

Elements of General History

(1801),

Essay on the Principles of Translation

, etc. He died in 1813. His

Universal History

, in six vols., appeared in 1834.

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List of Letters

69 — To — — Falkner¹

Sir, — The volume of little pieces which accompanies this, would have been presented before, had I not been apprehensive that Miss Falkner's indisposition might render some trifles unwelcome. There are some errors of the printer which I have not had time to correct in the collection: you have it thus, with "all its imperfections on its head," a heavy weight, when joined with the faults of its author. Such

Juvenilia

, as they can claim no great degree of approbation, I may venture to hope, will also escape the severity of uncalled for, though perhaps

not

undeserved, criticism.

They were written on many and various occasions, and are now published merely for the perusal of a friendly circle. Believe me, sir, if they afford the slightest amusement to yourself and the rest of my

social

readers, I shall have gathered all the

bays

I ever wish to adorn the head of yours very truly,

Byron

.

Footnote 1:

Mrs. Byron's landlord at Burgage Manor.

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List of Letters

70 — To John Hanson

[Farleigh House, Basingstoke, Hants.]

Southwell, April 2nd, 1807.

Dear Sir, — Before I proceed in Reply to the other parts of your Epistle, allow me to congratulate you on the

Accession

of

Dignity

and

profit

, which will doubtless accrue, from your official appointment.

You

was fortunate in obtaining Possession at so critical a period; your Patrons "exeunt omnes."

¹

I trust they will soon supersede the Cyphers, their successors. The Reestablishment of your Health is another happy event, and, though

secondary

in my

Statement

, is by no means so in my

Wishes

. As to our Feuds, they are purely

official

, the natural consequence of our relative Situations, but as little connected with

personal animosity

, as the

Florid Declamations

of

parliamentary

Demagogues. I return you my thanks for your favorable opinion of my muse; I have lately been honoured with many very flattering literary critiques, from men of high Reputation in the Sciences, particularly Lord Woodhouselee and Henry Mackenzie, both

Scots

and of great Eminence as Authors themselves. I have received also some most favorable Testimonies from

Cambridge

. This you will

marvel

at, as indeed I did myself. Encouraged by these and several other Encomiums, I am about to publish a Volume at large; this will be very different from the present; the amatory effusions, not to be wondered at from the

dissipated

Life I have led, will be cut out, and others substituted. I coincide with you in opinion that the

Poet

yields to the

orator

; but as nothing can be done in the latter capacity till the Expiration of my

Minority

, the former occupies my present attention, and both

ancients

and

moderns

have declared that the two pursuits are so nearly similar as to require in a great measure the same Talents, and he who excels in the one, would on application succeed in the other. Lyttleton, Glover, and Young (who was a celebrated Preacher and a Bard) are instances of the kind.

Sheridan & Fox

also;

these

are

great Names

. I may imitate, I can never equal them.

You speak of the

Charms

of Southwell; the

Place

I

abhor

. The Fact is I remain here because I can appear no where else, being

completely done

up.

Wine

and

Women

have

dished

your

humble Servant

, not a

Sou

to be

had

; all

over

; condemned to exist (I cannot say live) at this

Crater

of Dullness till my

Lease

of

Infancy

expires. To appear at Cambridge is impossible; no money even to pay my College expences. You will be surprized to hear I am grown

very thin

; however it is the

Fact

, so much so, that the people here think I am

going

. I have lost 18 LB in my weight, that is one Stone & 4 pounds since January, this was ascertained last Wednesday, on account of a

Bet

with an acquaintance. However don't be alarmed; I have taken every means to accomplish the end, by violent exercise and Fasting, as I found myself too plump. I shall continue my Exertions, having no other amusement; I wear

seven

Waistcoats and a great Coat, run, and play at cricket in this Dress, till quite exhausted by excessive perspiration, use the Hip Bath daily; eat only a quarter of a pound of Butcher's Meat in 24 hours, no Suppers or Breakfast, only one Meal a Day; drink no malt liquor, but a little Wine, and take Physic occasionally. By these means my

Ribs

display Skin of no great Thickness, & my Clothes have been taken in nearly

half a yard

. Do you believe me now?

Adieu. Remembrance to Spouse and the Acorns.

Yours ever,

Byron

.

Footnote 1:

In March, 1807, George III demanded from the Coalition Ministry a written pledge that they would propose no further concessions to the Roman Catholics. They refused to give it, and the Tories, with the Duke of Portland as their nominal head, were recalled to the Government.

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List of Letters

71 — To John M. B. Pigot

Southwell, April, 1807.

My Dear Pigot, — Allow me to congratulate you on the success of your first examination — "

Courage

, mon ami." The title of Doctor will do wonders with the damsels. I shall most probably be in Essex or London when you arrive at this damned place, where I am detained by the publication of my

rhymes

.

Adieu. — Believe me,

Yours very truly,

Byron

.

P.S

. — Since we met, I have reduced myself by violent exercise,

much

physic, and

hot

bathing, from 14 stone 6 lb. to 12 stone 7 lb. In all I have lost 27 pounds

¹

. Bravo! — what say you?

Footnote 1:

The following extract is taken from a ledger in the possession of Messrs. Merry, of St. James's Street, S.W.:—

1806 January 4 Lord Byron (boots, no hat) 13 st. 12 lbs.

1807 July 8 Lord Byron (shoes) 10 st. 13 lbs.

1807 July 23 Lord Byron (shoes) 11 st. 0 lbs.

1807 August 13 Lord Byron (shoes) 10 st. 11 1/2 lbs.

1808 May 27 Lord Byron (shoes) 11 st. 1 lb.

1809 June 10 Lord Byron (shoes) 11 st. 5 3/4 lbs.

1811 July 15 Lord Byron (shoes) 9 st. 11 1/2 lbs.

return to footnote mark

cross-reference: return to Footnote 3 of Letter 144

List of Letters

72 — To John Hanson

[6, Chancery Lane, Temple Bar, London.]

Southwell, 19 April, 1807.

Sir, — My last was an Epistle "

entre nous

;"

this

is a

Letter

of

Business

, Of course the

formalities

of

official communication

must be attended to. From lying under pecuniary difficulties, I shall draw for the Quarter due the 25th June, in a short Time. You will recollect I was to receive £100 for the Expence of Furniture, etc., at Cambridge. I placed in your possession accounts to amount and then I have received £70, for which I believe you have my Receipt. This extra £25 or £30 (though the Bills are long ago discharged from my own purse) I should not have troubled you for, had not my present Situation rendered even that Trifle of some Consequence. I have therefore to request that my Draft for £150, instead of £125 the simple Quarter, may be honoured, but think it necessary to apprize you previous to its appearance, and indeed to request an early Answer, as I had one Draft returned by Mistake from your

House

, some Months past. I have no Inclination to be placed in a similar Dilemma.

I

lent Mrs. B.

£60

last year; of this I have never received a Sou and in all probability never shall. I do not mention the circumstance as any Reproach on that worthy and lamblike Dame

¹

, but merely to show you how affairs stand. 'Tis true myself and two Servants lodge in the House, but my Horses, etc., and their expences are defrayed by your humble Sert. I quit Cambridge in July, and shall have considerable payments to make at that period; for this purpose I must sell my

Steeds

. I paid Jones in January £150, £38 to my Stable Keeper, £21 to my wine Merchant, £20 to a

Lawyer

for the prosecution of a Scoundrel, a late Servant. In short I have done all I can, but am now completely

done

up.

Your answer will oblige

Yours, etc., etc.,

Byron

.

Footnote 1:

Mrs. Byron, on the other hand, tells a different story.

"Lord Byron," she writes to Hanson (March 19, 1807), "has now been with me seven months, with two Men Servants, for which I have never received one farthing, as he requires the five hundred a year for himself. Therefore it is impossible I can keep him and them out of my small income of four hundred a year, — two in Scotland [Mrs. Gordon of Gight (see Chapter I p. 4) was dead], and the pension is now reduced to two hundred a year. But if the "Court allows the additional two hundred, I shall be perfectly satisfied. "I do not know what to say about Byron's returning to Cambridge. When he was there, I believe he did nothing but drink, gamble, and spend money."

A month later (April 29, 1807), she consults Hanson about raising £1000 by a loan from Mrs. Parkyns on her security.

"Byron from their last letter gave up all hopes of getting the money, and behaved very well on the occasion, and proposed selling his Horses and plans of Œconomy that I much fear will be laid aside if the Money is procured. My only motive for wishing it was to keep him clear of the Jews; but at present he does not seem at all disposed to have anything to do with them, even if he is disappointed in this resource. I wish to act for the best: but God knows what is for the best."

Eventually money was provided on Mrs. Byron's security (see Letters of

March 6

and

April 26

, 1809), and he resided at Trinity for a few days at the end of the May term, 1807.

return to footnote mark

cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 38

List of Letters

73 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot

June 11, 1807.

Dear Queen Bess, —

Savage

ought to be

immortal

: — though not a

thorough-bred bull-dog

, he is the finest puppy I ever

saw

, and will answer much better; in his great and manifold kindness he has already bitten my fingers, and disturbed the

gravity

of old Boatswain, who is

grievously discomposed

. I wish to be informed what he

costs

, his

expenses

, etc., etc., that I may indemnify Mr. G — — .

My

thanks are

all

I can give for the trouble he has taken, make a

long speech

, and conclude it with 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

¹

. I am out of practice, so

deputize

you as a legate, —

ambassador

would not do in a matter concerning the

Pope

, which I presume this must, as the

whole

turns upon a

Bull

.

Yours,

Byron

.

P.S. — I write in bed.

Footnote 1:

He here alludes to an odd fancy or trick of his own; — whenever he was at a loss for something to say, he used always to gabble over "1 2 3 4 5 6 7" (Moore).

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List of Letters

74 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot

Cambridge, June 30, 1807.

"

Better

late than never, Pal,"

¹

is a saying of which you know the origin, and as it is applicable on the present occasion, you will excuse its conspicuous place in the front of my epistle. I am almost superannuated here. My old friends (with the exception of a very few) all departed, and I am preparing to follow them, but remain till Monday to be present at three

Oratorios

, two

Concerts

, a

Fair

, and a Ball. I find I am not only

thinner

but

taller

by an inch since my last visit. I was obliged to tell every body my

name

, nobody having the least recollection of my

visage

, or person.

Even

the hero of

my Cornelian

²

(who is now sitting

vis-à-vis

reading a volume of my

Poetics

) passed me in Trinity walks without recognising me in the least, and was thunderstruck at the alteration which had taken place in my countenance, etc., etc. Some say I look

better

, others

worse

, but all agree I am

thinner

, — more I do not require.

I

have lost two pounds in my weight since I left your

cursed

,

detestable

, and

abhorred

abode of

scandal

, where, excepting yourself and John Becher

³

, I care not if the whole race were consigned to the

Pit of Acheron

, which I would visit in person rather than contaminate my

sandals

with the polluted dust of Southwell.

Seriously

, unless obliged by the

emptiness

of my purse to revisit Mrs. B., you will see me no more.

On Monday I depart for London. I quit Cambridge with little regret, because our

set

are

vanished

, and my

musical protégé

before mentioned has left the choir, and is stationed in a mercantile house of considerable eminence in the metropolis. You may have heard me observe he is exactly to an hour two years younger than myself. I found him grown considerably, and as you will suppose, very glad to see his former

Patron

. He is nearly my height, very

thin

, very fair complexion, dark eyes, and light locks. My opinion of his mind you already know; — I hope I shall never have occasion to change it. Every body here conceives me to be an

invalid

. The University at present is very gay from the fètes of divers kinds. I supped out last night, but eat (or ate) nothing, sipped a bottle of claret, went to bed at two, and rose at eight. I have commenced early rising, and find it agrees with me.

The

Masters and the Fellows all very

polite

, but look a little

askance

— don't much admire

lampoons

⁴

— truth always disagreeable.

Write, and tell me how the inhabitants of your

Menagerie

go

on

, and if my publication goes

off

well: do the quadrupeds

growl

? Apropos, my bull-dog is deceased — "Flesh both of cur and man is grass." Address your answer to Cambridge. If I am gone, it will be forwarded.

Sad

news just arrived — Russians beat

⁵

— a bad set, eat nothing but

oil

, consequently must melt before a

hard fire

. I get awkward in my academic habiliments for want of practice. Got up in a window to hear the oratorio at St. Mary's, popped down in the middle of the

Messiah

, tore a

woeful

rent in the back of my best black silk gown, and damaged an egregious pair of breeches. Mem. — never tumble from a church window during service. Adieu, dear — — ! do not remember me to any body:— to

forget

and be forgotten by the people of Southwell is all I aspire to.

Footnote 1:

The allusion is to the farce

Better Late than Never

(attributed to Miles Peter Andrews, but really, according to Reynolds (

Life

, vol. ii. pp. 79, 80), by himself, Topham, and Andrews), in which Pallet, an artist, is a prominent character. It was played at Drury Lane for the first time October 17, 1790, with Kemble as "Saville" and Mrs. Jordan as "Augusta."

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Footnote 2:

"The hero of

my Cornelian

" was a Cambridge chorister named Edleston, whose life, as Harness has recorded in a MS. note, Byron saved from drowning. This began their acquaintance. (See Byron's lines on "The Cornelian,"

Poems

, vol. i. 66-67.) Edleston died of consumption in May, 1811. Byron, writing to Mrs. Pigot, gives the following account of his death:—

"Cambridge, Oct. 28, 1811. Dear Madam, — I am about to write to you on a silly subject, and yet I cannot well do otherwise. You may remember a cornelian, which some years ago I consigned to Miss Pigot, indeed gave to her, and now I am going to make the most selfish and rude of requests. The person who gave it to me, when I was very young, is dead, and though a long time has elapsed since we met, as it was the only memorial I possessed of that person (in whom I was very much interested), it has acquired a value by this event I could have wished it never to have borne in my eyes. If, therefore, Miss Pigot should have preserved it, I must, under these circumstances, beg her to excuse my requesting it to be transmitted to me at No. 8, St. James's Street, London, and I will replace it by something she may remember me by equally well. As she was always so kind as to feel interested in the fate of him that formed the subject of our conversation, you may tell her that the giver of that cornelian died in May last of a consumption, at the age of twenty-one, making the sixth, within four months, of friends and relatives that I have lost between May and the end of August. "Believe me, dear Madam, yours very sincerely, "Byron. "P.S. — I go to London to-morrow."

The cornelian heart was, of course, returned, and Lord Byron, at the same time, reminded that he had left it with Miss Pigot as a deposit,

not

a gift (Moore).

return

cross-reference: return to Footnote 2 of Letter 161

Footnote 3:

See page 182,

note

1.

return

Footnote 4:

See "Thoughts suggested by a College Examination" (

Poems

, vol. i. pp. 28-31), also "Granta: a Medley" (

Poems

, vol. i. pp. 56-62).

return

Footnote 5:

The Battle of Friedland, June 15, 1807. This is almost the first allusion that Byron makes to the war.

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List of Letters

75 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot

Trin. Coll. Camb. July 5, 1807.

Since my last letter I have determined to reside

another year

at Granta, as my rooms, etc., etc., are finished in great style, several old friends come up again, and many new acquaintances made; consequently my inclination leads me forward, and I shall return to college in October if still

alive

. My life here has been one continued routine of dissipation — out at different places every day, engaged to more dinners, etc., etc., than my

stay

would permit me to fulfil. At this moment I write with a bottle of claret in my

head

and

tears

in my

eyes

; for I have just parted with my "

Cornelian

" who spent the evening with me. As it was our last interview, I postponed my engagement to devote the hours of the

Sabbath

to friendship:— Edleston and I have separated for the present, and my mind is a chaos of hope and sorrow. To-morrow I set out for London: you will address your answer to "Gordon's Hotel, Albemarle Street," where I

sojourn

during my visit to the metropolis.

I rejoice to hear you are interested in my

protégé

; he has been my

almost constant

associate since October, 1805, when I entered Trinity College. His

voice

first attracted my attention, his

countenance

fixed it, and his

manners

attached me to him for ever. He departs for a

mercantile house

in

town

in October, and we shall probably not meet till the expiration of my minority, when I shall leave to his decision either entering as a

partner

through my interest, or residing with me altogether. Of course he would in his present frame of mind prefer the

latter

, but he may alter his opinion previous to that period; — however, he shall have his choice. I certainly love him more than any human being, and neither time nor distance have had the least effect on my (in general) changeable disposition.

In

short, we shall, put

Lady E. Butler

and

Miss Ponsonby

¹

to the blush,

Pylades

and

Orestes

out of countenance, and want nothing but a catastrophe like

Nisus

and

Euryalus

, to give

Jonathan

and

David

the "go by." He certainly is perhaps more attached to

me

than even I am in return. During the whole of my residence at Cambridge we met every day, summer and winter, without passing

one

tiresome moment, and separated each time with increasing reluctance. I hope you will one day see us together. He is the only being I esteem, though I

like

many.

The

Marquis of Tavistock

²

was down the other day; I supped with him at his tutor's — entirely a Whig party. The opposition muster strong here now, and Lord Hartington, the Duke of Leinster, etc., etc., are to join us in October, so every thing will be

splendid

. The

music

is all over at present. Met with another "

accidency

" — upset a butter-boat in the lap of a lady — look'd very

blue

—

spectators

grinned — "curse 'em!" Apropos, sorry to say, been

drunk

every day, and not quite

sober

yet — however, touch no meat, nothing but fish, soup, and vegetables, consequently it does me no harm — sad dogs all the

Cantabs

. Mem. —

we mean

to reform next January. This place is a

monotony of endless variety

— like it — hate Southwell. Has Ridge sold well? or do the ancients demur? What ladies have bought?

Saw

a girl at St. Mary's the image of Anne — —

³

, thought it was her — all in the wrong — the lady stared, so did I — I

blushed

, so did

not

the lady, — sad thing — wish women had

more modesty

. Talking of women, puts me in mind of my terrier Fanny — how is she? Got a headache, must go to bed, up early in the morning to travel. My

protégé

breakfasts with me; parting spoils my appetite — excepting from Southwell. Mem.

I hate Southwell

.

Yours, etc.

Footnote 1:

Lady Eleanor Butler (c. 1745-1829), sister of the seventeenth Earl of Ormonde, and Sarah Ponsonby (circ. 1755-1831), cousin of the Earl of Bessborough, were the two "Ladies of the Vale," or "Ladies of Llangollen." About the year 1779 they settled in a cottage at Plasnewydd, in the Vale of Llangollen, where they lived, with their maidservant, Mary Caryll, for upwards of half a century. They are buried, with their servant, in the churchyard of Plasnewydd, under a triangular pyramid. Though they had withdrawn from the world, they watched its proceedings with the keenest interest.

"If," writes Mrs. Piozzi, from Brynbella, July 9, 1796, "Mr. Bunbury's Little Gray Man is printed, do send it hither; the ladies at Llangollen are dying for it. They like those old Scandinavian tales and the imitations of them exceedingly; and tell me about the prince and princess of this loyal country, one province of which alone had disgraced itself"

(

Life and Writings of Mrs. Piozzi

, vol. ii. p. 234). Nor did they despise the theatre. Charles Mathews (

Memoirs

, vol. iii. pp. 150, 151), writing from Oswestry, September 4, 1820, says,

"The dear inseparable inimitables, Lady Butler and Miss Ponsonby, were in the boxes here on Friday. They came twelve miles from Llangollen, and returned, as they never sleep from home. Oh, such curiosities! I was nearly convulsed.... As they are seated, there is not one point to distinguish them from men; the dressing and powdering of the hair; their well-starched neckcloths; the upper part of their habits, which they always wear, even at a dinner-party, made precisely like men's coats; and regular black beaver men's hats. They looked exactly like two respectable superannuated old clergymen.... I was highly flattered, as they never were in the theatre before."

Among the many people who visited them in their retreat, and have left descriptions of them, are Madame de Genlis, De Quincey, Prince Pückler-Muskau. Their friendships were sung by Sotheby and Anne Seward, and their cottage was depicted by Pennant.

"It is very singular," writes John Murray, August 24, 1829, to his son (Memoir of John Murray, vol. ii. p. 304), "that the ladies, intending to retire from the world, absolutely brought all the world to visit them, for after a few years of seclusion their strange story was the universal subject of conversation, and there has been no person of rank, talent, and importance in any way who did not procure introductions to them."

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

Lord Tavistock's experience at Cambridge resembled that of Byron. He had received only a "pretended education," and the Duke of Bedford had come to the conclusion that "nothing was learned at English Universities." "Tavistock left Cambridge in May," Lord J. Russell notes in his Diary for 1808, "having been there in supposition two years" (Walpole's

Life of Lord John Russell

, vol. i. pp. 44 and 35).

return

Footnote 3:

Probably Miss Anne Houson, daughter of the Rev. Henry Houson of Southwell. She married the Rev. Luke Jackson, died December 25, 1821, and is buried at Hucknall Torkard. (For verses addressed to her, see

Poems

, vol. i. pp. 70-2, 244-45, 246-47, 251-52, 253.)

return

List of Letters

76 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot

Gordon's Hotel, July 13, 1807.

You write most excellent epistles — a fig for other correspondents, with their nonsensical apologies for "

knowing nought about it

" — you send me a delightful budget. I am here in a perpetual vortex of dissipation (very pleasant for all that), and, strange to tell, I get thinner, being now below eleven stone considerably. Stay in town a

month

, perhaps six weeks, trip into Essex, and then, as a favour,

irradiate

Southwell for three days with the light of my countenance; but nothing shall ever make me

reside

there again. I positively return to Cambridge in October; we are to be uncommonly gay, or in truth I should

cut

the University. An extraordinary circumstance occurred to me at Cambridge; a girl so very like — — made her appearance, that nothing but the most

minute inspection

could have undeceived me. I wish I had asked if

she

had ever been at H — —

What

the devil would Ridge have? is not fifty in a fortnight, before the advertisements, a sufficient sale

¹

? I hear many of the London booksellers have them, and Crosby

²

has sent copies to the principal watering places. Are they liked or not in Southwell?

...

I wish Boatswain had

swallowed

Damon! How is Bran? by the immortal gods, Bran ought to be a

Count

of the

Holy Roman Empire

.

The intelligence of London cannot be interesting to you, who have rusticated all your life — the annals of routs riots, balls and boxing-matches, cards and crim. cons., parliamentary discussion, political details, masquerades, mechanics, Argyle Street Institution and aquatic races, love and lotteries, Brookes's and Buonaparte, opera-singers and oratorios, wine, women, wax-work, and weathercocks, can't accord with your

insulated

ideas of decorum and other

silly expressions

not inserted in

our vocabulary

.

Oh! Southwell, Southwell, how I rejoice to have left thee, and how I curse the heavy hours I dragged along, for so many months, among the Mohawks who inhabit your kraals! — However, one thing I do not regret, which is having

pared off

a sufficient quantity of flesh to enable me to slip into "an eel-skin," and vie with the

slim

beaux of modern times; though I am sorry to say, it seems to be the mode amongst

gentlemen

to grow

fat

, and I am told I am at least fourteen pound below the fashion. However, I

decrease

instead of enlarging, which is extraordinary, as

violent

exercise in London is impracticable; but I attribute the

phenomenon

to our

evening squeezes

at public and private parties. I heard from Ridge this morning (the 14th, my letter was begun yesterday): he says the poems go on as well as can be wished; the seventy-five sent to town are circulated, and a demand for fifty more complied with, the day he dated his epistle, though the advertisements are not yet half published. Adieu.

P.S

. — Lord Carlisle, on receiving my poems, sent, before he opened the book, a tolerably handsome letter

³

:— I have not heard from him since. His opinions I neither know nor care about: if he is the least insolent, I shall enrol him with

Butler

and the other worthies. He is in Yorkshire, poor man! and very ill! He said he had not had time to read the contents, but thought it necessary to acknowledge the receipt of the volume immediately. Perhaps the Earl "

bears no brother near the throne" — if so

, I will make his

sceptre

totter

in his hands

. — Adieu!

Footnote 1:

: This is probably the third collection of early verse,

Hours of Idleness

, the first collection published with Byron's name (see page 104,

note

1).

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

B. Crosby & Co., of Stationers' Court, were the London agents of Ridge, the Newark bookseller. Crosby was also the publisher of a magazine called

Monthly Literary Recreations

, in which (July, 1807) appeared a highly laudatory notice of

Hours of Idleness

, and Byron's review of Wordsworth's

Poems

(2 vols. 1807. See

Appendix I

), and his "Stanzas to Jessy" (see

Poems

, vol. i. pp. 234-236). These lines were enclosed with the following letter, addressed to "Mr. Crosby, Stationers' Court:" —

"July 21, 1807. Sir, — I have sent according to my promise some Stanzas for Literary Recreations. The insertion I leave to the option of the Editors. They have never appeared before. I should wish to know whether they are admitted or not, and when the work will appear, as I am desirous of a copy. Etc., etc., Byron. P.S. — Send your answer when convenient."

return

cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 78

Footnote 3:

"My Dear Lord, — Your letter of yesterday found me an invalid, and unable to do justice to your poems by a dilligent [sic] perusal of them. In the meantime I take the first occasion to thank you for sending them to me, and to express a sincere satisfaction in finding you employ your leisure in such occupations. Be not disconcerted if the reception of your works should not be that you may have a right to look for from the public. Persevere, whatever that reception may be, and tho' the Public maybe found very fastidious, ... you will stand better with the world than others who only pursue their studies in Bond St. or at Tatershall's. Believe me to be, yours most sincerely, Carlisle. July 8th, 1807."

return

List of Letters

77 — To John Hanson

July 20th, 1807.

Sir, — Your proposal to make Mrs. Byron my

Treasurer

is very kind, but does not meet with my approbation. Mrs. Byron has already made more

free

with my

funds

than suits my convenience & I do not chuse to expose her to the Danger of Temptation.

Things will therefore stand as they are; the remedy would be worse than the Disease.

I

wish you would order your Drafts payable to me and not Mrs. B. This is worse than Hannibal Higgins

¹

; who the Devil could suppose that any Body would have mistaken him for a

real personage?

& what earthly consequence could it be whether the Blank in the Draft was filled up with

Wilkins, Tomkyns, Simkins, Wiggins, Spriggins, Jiggins

, or

Higgins?

If I had put in

James Johnson

you would not have demurred, & why object to Hannibal Higgins? particularly after his

respectable Endorsements

. As to Business, I make no pretensions to a Knowledge of any thing but a Greek Grammer or a Racing Calendar; but if the

Quintessence

of information on that head consists in unnecessary & unpleasant delays, explanations, rebuffs, retorts, repartees, & recriminations, the House of H. & B. stands pre-eminent in the profession, as from the Bottom of his Soul testifies

Yours, etc., etc.,

Byron

.

P.S — Will you dine with me on Sunday Tête a Tête at six o'clock? I should be happy to see you before, but my Engagements will not permit me, as on Wednesday I go to the House. I shall have Hargreaves & his Brother on some day after you; I don't like to annoy Children with the

formal

Faces of

legal

papas.

Footnote 1:

The point of the allusion is that Byron had endorsed one of Hanson's drafts with the name of "Hannibal Higgins," and had been solemnly warned of the consequences of so tampering with the dignity of the law.

return to footnote mark

List of Letters

78 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot.

August 2, 1807.

London begins to disgorge its contents — town is empty — consequently I can scribble at leisure, as occupations are less numerous. In a fortnight I shall depart to fulfil a country engagement; but expect two epistles from you previous to that period. Ridge does not proceed rapidly in Notts — very possible. In town things wear a more promising aspect, and a man whose works are praised by

reviewers

, admired by

duchesses

, and sold by every bookseller of the metropolis, does not dedicate much consideration to

rustic readers

.

I

have now a review before me, entitled

Literary Recreations

¹

where my

hardship

is applauded far beyond my deserts. I know nothing of the critic, but think

him

a very discerning gentleman, and

myself

a devilish

clever

fellow. His critique pleases me particularly, because it is of great length, and a proper quantum of censure is administered, just to give an agreeable

relish

to the praise. You know I hate insipid, unqualified, common-place compliment. If you would wish to see it, order the 13th Number of

Literary Recreations

for the last month. I assure you I have not the most distant idea of the writer of the article — it is printed in a periodical publication — and though I have written a paper (a review of Wordsworth), which appears in the same work, I am ignorant of every other person concerned in it — even the editor, whose name I have not heard.

My

cousin, Lord Alexander Gordon, who resided in the same hotel, told me his mother, her Grace of Gordon

²

, requested he would introduce my

Poetical

Lordship to her

Highness

, as she had bought my volume, admired it exceedingly, in common with the rest of the fashionable world, and wished to claim her relationship with the author. I was unluckily engaged on an excursion for some days afterwards; and, as the Duchess was on the eve of departing for Scotland, I have postponed my introduction till the winter, when I shall favour the lady,

whose taste I shall not dispute

, with my most sublime and edifying conversation. She is now in the Highlands, and Alexander took his departure, a few days ago, for the same

blessed

seat of "

dark rolling winds

."

Crosby, my London publisher, has disposed of his second importation, and has sent to Ridge for a

third

— at least so he says. In every bookseller's window I see my

own name

, and

say nothing

, but enjoy my fame in secret. My last reviewer kindly requests me to alter my determination of writing no more: and "A Friend to the Cause of Literature" begs I will

gratify

the

public

with some new work "at no very distant period." Who would not be a bard? — that is to say, if all critics would be so polite. However, the others will pay me off, I doubt not, for this

gentle

encouragement. If so, have at 'em?

By

the by, I have written at my intervals of leisure, after two in the morning, 380 lines in blank verse, of Bosworth Field. I have luckily got Hutton's account

³

. I shall extend the poem to eight or ten books, and shall have finished it in a year. Whether it will be published or not must depend on circumstances. So much for

egotism!

My

laurels

have turned my brain, but the

cooling acids

of forthcoming criticism will probably restore me to

modesty

.

Southwell is a damned place — I have done with it — at least in all probability; excepting yourself, I esteem no one within its precincts. You were my only

rational

companion; and in plain truth, I had more respect for you than the whole

bevy

, with whose foibles I amused myself in compliance with their prevailing propensities. You gave yourself more trouble with me and my manuscripts than a thousand

dolls

would have done.

Believe me, I have not forgotten your good nature in

this circle

of

sin

, and one day I trust I shall be able to evince my gratitude. Adieu.

Yours, etc.

P.S. — Remember me to Dr. P.

Footnote 1:

See page 137,

note

2.

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

The Duchess of Gordon (1748-1812),

née

Jean Maxwell of Monreith, daughter of Sir W. Maxwell, Bart., married in 1767 the Duke of Gordon. The most successful matchmaker of the age, she married three of her daughters to three dukes — Manchester, Richmond, and Bedford. A fourth daughter was Lady Mandalina Sinclair, afterwards, by a second marriage, Lady Mandalina Palmer. A fifth was married to Lord Cornwallis (see the extraordinary story told in the

Recollections of Samuel Rogers

, pp. 145-146). According to Wraxall (

Posthumous Memoirs

, vol. ii. p. 319), she schemed to secure Pitt for her daughter Lady Charlotte, and Eugène Beauharnais for Lady Georgiana, afterwards Duchess of Bedford. Cyrus Redding (

Memoirs of William Beckford

, vol. ii. pp. 337-339) describes her attack upon the owner of Fonthill, where she stayed upwards of a week, magnificently entertained, without once seeing the wary master of the house.

She was also the social leader of the Tories, and her house in Pall Mall, rented from the Duke of Buckingham, was the meeting-place of the party. Malcontents accused her of using her power tyrannically:—

"Not Gordon's broad and brawny Grace, The last new Woman in the Place With more contempt could blast." Pandolfo Attonito.

(1800).

Lord Alexander Gordon died in 1808.

return

Footnote 3:

William Hutton (1723-1815), a Birmingham bookseller, who took to literature and became a voluminous writer of poems, and of topographical works which still have their value. In his

Trip to Redcar and Coatham

(Preface, p. vi.) he says,

"I took up my pen at the advanced age of fifty-six ... I drove the quill thirty years, during which time I wrote and published thirty books."

The Battle of Bosworth Field

was published in 1788. A new edition, with additions by John Nichols, appeared in 1813. Byron's poem was never published.

return

List of Letters

79 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot

London, August 11, 1807.

On

Sunday next I set off for the Highlands

¹

. A friend of mine accompanies me in my carriage to Edinburgh. There we shall leave it, and proceed in a

tandem

(a species of open carriage) though the western passes to Inverary, where we shall purchase

shelties

, to enable us to view places inaccessible to

vehicular conveyances

. On the coast we shall hire a vessel, and visit the most remarkable of the Hebrides; and, if we have time and favourable weather, mean to sail as far as Iceland, only 300 miles from the northern extremity of Caledonia, to peep at

Hecla

. This last intention you will keep a secret, as my nice

mamma

would imagine I was on a Voyage of

Discovery

, and raised the accustomed

maternal warwhoop

.

Last

week I swam in the Thames from Lambeth through the two bridges, Westminster and Blackfriars, a distance, including the different turns and tracks made on the way, of three miles

²

! You see I am in excellent training in case of a

squall

at sea. I mean to collect all the Erse traditions, poems, etc., etc., and translate, or expand the subject to fill a volume, which may appear next spring under the denomination of

"The Highland Harp"

or some title equally

picturesque

. Of Bosworth Field, one book is finished, another just began. It will be a work of three or four years, and most probably never

conclude

. What would you say to some stanzas on Mount Hecla? they would be written at least with

fire

. How is the immortal Bran? and the Phoenix of canine quadrupeds, Boatswain? I have lately purchased a thorough-bred bull-dog, worthy to be the coadjutor of the aforesaid celestials — his name is

Smut!

"Bear it, ye breezes, on your balmy wings."

Write to me before I set off, I conjure you, by the fifth rib of your grandfather. Ridge goes on well with the books — I thought that worthy had not done much in the country. In town they have been very successful; Carpenter (Moore's publisher) told me a few days ago they sold all their's immediately, and had several enquiries made since, which, from the books being gone, they could not supply. The Duke of York, the Marchioness of Headfort, the Duchess of Gordon, etc., etc., were among the purchasers; and Crosby says the circulation will be still more extensive in the winter, the summer season being very bad for a sale, as most people are absent from London. However, they have gone off extremely well altogether. I shall pass very near you on my journey through Newark, but cannot approach. Don't tell this to Mrs. B, who supposes I travel a different road. If you have a letter, order it to be left at Ridge's shop, where I shall call, or the post-office, Newark, about six or eight in the evening. If your brother would ride over, I should be devilish glad to see him — he can return the same night, or sup with us and go home the next morning — the Kingston Arms is my inn. Adieu.

Yours ever,

Byron

.

Footnote 1:

This projected trip to the Highlands, mentioned in his letter to Augusta Byron of August 30, 1805, seems to have become a joke among Byron's friends. Moore quotes (

Life

, p. 56) a letter written by Miss Pigot to her brother:

"How can you ask if Lord B. is going to visit the Highlands in the summer? Why, don't you know that he never knows his own mind for ten minutes together? I tell him he is as fickle as the winds, and as uncertain as the waves."

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

"The first time I saw Lord Byron," says Leigh Hunt (Lord Byron and his Contemporaries, p. 1), "he was rehearsing the part of Leander, under the auspices of Mr. Jackson the prize-fighter. It was in the river Thames, before he went to Greece. I had been bathing, and was standing on the floating machine adjusting my clothes, when I noticed a respectable-looking manly person who was eyeing something at a distance. This was Mr. Jackson waiting for his pupil. The latter was swimming with somebody for a wager."

On this occasion, however, Hunt only saw "his Lordship's head bob up and down in the water, like a "buoy."

return

List of Letters

80 — To John Hanson

Dorant's Hotel, October 19th, 1807.

Dear Hanson, — I will thank you to disburse the quarter due as soon as possible, for I am at this moment contemplating with woeful visage, one

solitary Guinea, two bad sixpences

and a shilling, being

all

the

cash

at present in possession of

Yours very truly,

Byron

.

List of Letters

81 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot

Trinity College, Cambridge, October 26, 1807.

My Dear Elizabeth, — Fatigued with sitting up till four in the morning for the last two days at hazard, I take up my pen to inquire how your highness and the rest of my female acquaintance at the seat of archiepiscopal grandeur go on. I know I deserve a scolding for my negligence in not writing more frequently; but racing up and down the country for these last three months, how was it possible to fulfil the duties of a correspondent? Fixed at last for six weeks, I write, as

thin

as ever (not having gained an ounce since my reduction), and rather in better humour; — but, after all, Southwell was a detestable residence. Thank St. Dominica, I have done with it: I have been twice within eight miles of it, but could not prevail on myself to

suffocate

in its heavy atmosphere. This place is wretched enough — a villainous chaos of din and drunkenness, nothing but hazard and burgundy, hunting, mathematics, and Newmarket, riot and racing. Yet it is a paradise compared with the eternal dulness of Southwell. Oh! the misery of doing nothing but make

love, enemies

, and

verses

.

Next

January (but this is

entre nous only

, and pray let it be so, or my maternal persecutor will be throwing her tomahawk at any of my curious projects,) I am going to

sea

for four or five months, with my cousin Captain Bettesworth

¹

, who commands the

Tartar

, the finest frigate in the navy. I have seen most scenes, and wish to look at a naval life. We are going probably to the Mediterranean, or to the West Indies, or — to the devil; and if there is a possibility of taking me to the latter, Bettesworth will do it; for he has received four and twenty wounds in different places, and at this moment possesses a letter from the late Lord Nelson, stating Bettesworth as the only officer in the navy who had more wounds than himself.

I

have got a new friend, the finest in the world, a

tame bear

²

. When I brought him here, they asked me what I meant to do with him, and my reply was, "he should

sit for a fellowship.

" Sherard will explain the meaning of the sentence, if it is ambiguous. This answer delighted them not. We have several parties here, and this evening a large assortment of jockeys, gamblers, boxers, authors, parsons, and poets, sup with me, — a precious mixture, but they go on well together; and for me, I am a

spice

of every thing except a jockey; by the bye, I was dismounted again the other day.

Thank your brother in my name for his treatise.

I

have written 214 pages of a novel — one poem of 380 lines

³

, to be published (without my name) in a few weeks, with notes, — 560 lines of Bosworth Field, and 250 lines of another poem in rhyme, besides half a dozen smaller pieces. The poem to be published is a Satire.

Apropos

, I have been praised to the skies in the

Critical Review

⁴

, and abused greatly in another publication

⁵

. So much the better, they tell me, for the sale of the book: it keeps up controversy, and prevents it being forgotten. Besides, the first men of all ages have had their share, nor do the humblest escape; — so I bear it like a philosopher. It is odd two opposite critiques came out on the same day, and out of five pages of abuse, my censor only quotes

two lines

from different poems, in support of his opinion. Now, the proper way to

cut up

, is to quote long passages, and make them appear absurd, because simple allegation is no proof. On the other hand, there are seven pages of praise, and more than

my modesty

will allow said on the subject. Adieu.

P.S. — Write, write, write!!!

Footnote 1:

George Edmund Byron Bettesworth (1780-1808), as lieutenant of the

Centaur

, was wounded (1804) in the capture of the

Curieux

. In command of the latter vessel he captured the

Dame Ernouf

(1805), and was again wounded. He was made a post-captain in the latter year, when he brought home despatches from Nelson at Antigua, announcing Villeneuve's return to Europe. He was killed off Bergen in 1808, while in command of the

Tartar

. Captain Bettesworth, whose father assumed the name of Bettesworth in addition to that of Trevanion, married, in 1807, Lady Alethea Grey, daughter of Earl Grey. Through his grandmother, Sophia Trevanion, Byron was Captain Bettesworth's cousin.

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

See

Poems

, vol. i. p. 406.

return

Footnote 3:

This poem, printed in book form, but not published, under the title of

British Bards

, is the foundation of

English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers

. The MS. is in the possession of Mr. Murray.

return

Footnote 4:

For September, 1807. In noticing the Elegy on Newstead Abbey, the writer says, "We could not but hail, with something of prophetic rapture, the hope conveyed in the closing stanza:—

"'Haply thy sun, emerging, yet may shine, Thee to irradiate with meridian ray.'"

return

Footnote 5:

The first number of

The Satirist: A Monthly Meteor

(October, 1807).

return

List of Letters

82 — To J. Ridge

Trinity College, Cambridge, November 20, 1807.

Sir, — I am happy to hear every thing goes on so well, and I presume you will soon commence, though I am still of opinion the first Edition had better be entirely sold, before you risk the printing of a second.

As

Curly recommends fine wove Foolscap, let it be used, and I will order a design in London for a plate, my own portrait would perhaps be best, but as that would take up so long a time in completing we will substitute probably a view of Harrow

¹

, or Newstead in its stead.

You will omit the poems mentioned below:

Stanzas on a view of Harrow. To a Quaker. The First Kiss of Love. College Examinations. Lines to the Rev. J. T. Becher.

To be inserted, not exactly in the place, but in different parts of the volume, I will send you five poems never yet published. Two of tolerable length, at least much longer than any of the above, which are ordered to be omitted.

Mention in your answer when you would like to receive the manuscripts that they may be sent. By the bye, I must have the proofs of the Manuscripts sent to Cambridge as they occur; the proofs from the printed copy you can manage with care, if Mr. Becher will assist you. Attend to the list of

Errata

, that we may not have a

Second Edition

of them also.

The Preface we have done with, perhaps I may send an Advertisement, a dedication shall be forthcoming in due Season.

You will send a proof of the first Sheet for Inspection, and soon too, for I am about to set out for London next week. If I remain there any time, I shall apprize you where to send the Manuscript Proofs.

Do you think the others will be sold before the next are ready, what says Curly? remember I have advised you not to risk it a second time, and it is not too late to retract. However, you must abide by your own discretion:

Etc., etc.,

Byron

.

P.S. — You will print from the Copy I sent you with the alterations, pray attend to these, and be careful of mistakes. In my last I gave you directions concerning the Title page and Mottoes.

Footnote 1:

A view of Harrow was given.

return to footnote mark

List of Letters

83 — To John Hanson

Trin. Coll., Cambridge, Dec. 2nd, 1807.

My Dear Sir, — I hope to take my New Years Day dinner with you

en famille

. Tell Hargreaves I will bring his Blackstones, and shall have no objection to see my Daniel's

Field Sports

, if they have not escaped his recollection. — I certainly wish the expiration of my minority as much as you do, though for a reason more nearly affecting my magisterial person at this moment, namely, the want of twenty pounds, for no spendthrift peer, or unlucky poet, was ever less indebted to

Cash

than George Gordon is at present, or is more likely to continue in the same predicament. — My present quarter due on the 25th was drawn long ago, and I must be obliged to you for the loan of twenty on my next, to be deducted when the whole becomes tangible, that is, probably, some months after it is exhausted.

Reserve

Murray's quarter

¹

, of course, and I shall have just £100 to receive at Easter, but if the risk of my demand is too great, inform me, that I may if possible convert my Title into cash, though I am afraid twenty pounds will be too much to ask as Times go, if I were an Earl ... but a Barony must fetch ten, perhaps fifteen, and that is something when we have not as many pence. Your answer will oblige

Yours very truly,

Byron

.

P.S. — Remember me to Mrs. H. in particular, and the family in general.

Footnote 1:

Joe Murray. (See page 21,

note

3.)

return to footnote mark

cross-reference: return to Footnote 4 of Letter 7

List of Letters

84 — To John Murray¹

Ravenna, 9bre 19, 1820.

W

hat you said of the late Charles Skinner Matthews

²

has set me to my recollections; but I have not been able to turn up any thing which would do for the purposed Memoir of his brother, — even if he had previously done enough during his life to sanction the introduction of anecdotes so merely personal. He was, however, a very extraordinary man, and would have been a great one. No one ever succeeded in a more surpassing degree than he did as far as he went. He was indolent, too; but whenever he stripped, he overthrew all antagonists. His conquests will be found registered at Cambridge, particularly his

Downing

one, which was hotly and highly contested, and yet easily

won

. Hobhouse was his most intimate friend, and can tell you more of him than any man.

William

Bankes

³

also a great deal. I myself recollect more of his oddities than of his academical qualities, for we lived most together at a very idle period of

my

life. When I went up to Trinity, in 1805, at the age of seventeen and a half, I was miserable and untoward to a degree. I was wretched at leaving Harrow, to which I had become attached during the two last years of my stay there; wretched at going to Cambridge instead of Oxford (there were no rooms vacant at Christchurch); wretched from some private domestic circumstances of different kinds, and consequently about as unsocial as a wolf taken from the troop.

So

that, although I knew Matthews, and met him often

then

at Bankes's, (who was my collegiate pastor, and master, and patron,) and at Rhode's, Milnes's, Price's, Dick's, Macnamara's, Farrell's, Gally Knight's, and others of that

set

of contemporaries, yet I was neither intimate with him nor with any one else, except my old schoolfellow Edward Long

⁴

(with whom I used to pass the day in riding and swimming), and William Bankes, who was good-naturedly tolerant of my ferocities.

It

was not till 1807, after I had been upwards of a year away from Cambridge, to which I had returned again to

reside

for my degree, that I became one of Matthews's familiars, by means of Hobhouse

⁵

, who, after hating me for two years, because I wore a

white hat

, and a

grey

coat, and rode a

grey

horse (as he says himself), took me into his good graces because I had written some poetry. I had always lived a good deal, and got drunk occasionally, in their company — but now we became really friends in a morning. Matthews, however, was not at this period resident in College. I met

him

chiefly in London, and at uncertain periods at Cambridge. Hobhouse, in the mean time, did great things: he founded the Cambridge "Whig Club" (which he seems to have forgotten), and the "Amicable Society," which was dissolved in consequence of the members constantly quarrelling, and made himself very popular with "us youth," and no less formidable to all tutors, professors, and heads of Colleges. William Bankes was gone; while he stayed, he ruled the roast — or rather the

roasting

— and was father of all mischiefs.

Matthews and I, meeting in London, and elsewhere, became great cronies. He was not good tempered — nor am I — but with a little tact his temper was manageable, and I thought him so superior a man, that I was willing to sacrifice something to his humours, which were often, at the same time, amusing and provoking. What became of his

papers

(and he certainly had many), at the time of his death, was never known. I mention this by the way, fearing to skip it over, and

as

he

wrote

remarkably well, both in Latin and English.

We

went down to Newstead together

⁶

, where I had got a famous cellar, and

Monks'

dresses from a masquerade warehouse.

We

were a company of some seven or eight, with an occasional neighbour or so for visiters, and used to sit up late in our friars' dresses, drinking burgundy, claret, champagne, and what not, out of the

skull-cup

, and all sorts of glasses, and buffooning all round the house, in our conventual garments

⁷

. Matthews always denominated me "the Abbot," and never called me by any other name in his good humours, to the day of his death. The harmony of these our symposia was somewhat interrupted, a few days after our assembling, by Matthews's threatening to throw Hobhouse out of a

window

, in consequence of I know not what commerce of jokes ending in this epigram. Hobhouse came to me and said, that "his respect and regard for me as host would not permit him to call out any of my guests, and that he should go to town next morning." He did. It was in vain that I represented to him that the window was not high, and that the turf under it was particularly soft. Away he went.

Matthews and myself had travelled down from London together, talking all the way incessantly upon one single topic. When we got to Loughborough, I know not what chasm had made us diverge for a moment to some other subject, at which he was indignant. "Come," said he, "don't let us break through — let us go on as we began, to our journey's end;" and so he continued, and was as entertaining as ever to the very end.

He

had previously occupied, during my year's absence from Cambridge, my rooms in Trinity, with the furniture; and Jones

⁸

, the tutor, in his odd way, had said, on putting him in,

"Mr. Matthews, I recommend to your attention not to damage any of the moveables, for Lord Byron, Sir, is a young man of tumultuous passions."

Matthews was delighted with this; and whenever anybody came to visit him, begged them to handle the very door with caution; and used to repeat Jones's admonition in his tone and manner. There was a large mirror in the room, on which he remarked, "that he thought his friends were grown uncommonly assiduous in coming to

see him

, but he soon discovered that they only came to

see themselves

." Jones's phrase of "

tumultuous passions

" and the whole scene, had put him into such good humour, that I verily believe that I owed to it a portion of his good graces.

When at Newstead, somebody by accident rubbed against one of his white silk stockings, one day before dinner; of course the gentleman apologised.

"Sir," answered Matthews, "it may be all very well for you, who have a great many silk stockings, to dirty other people's; but to me, who have only this one pair, which I have put on in honour of the Abbot here, no apology can compensate for such carelessness; besides, the expense of washing."

He had the same sort of droll sardonic way about every thing. A wild Irishman, named Farrell, one evening began to say something at a large supper at Cambridge, Matthews roared out "Silence!" and then, pointing to Farrell, cried out, in the words of the oracle, "Orson is endowed with reason." You may easily suppose that Orson lost what reason he had acquired, on hearing this compliment. When Hobhouse published his volume of poems, the

Miscellany

(which Matthews would call the "

Miss-sell-any

"), all that could be drawn from him was, that the preface was "extremely like

Walsh

."

Hobhouse

thought this at first a compliment; but we never could make out what it was

⁹

, for all we know of

Walsh

is his Ode to King William

¹⁰

, and Pope's epithet of "

knowing Walsh

."

¹¹

When the Newstead party broke up for London, Hobhouse and Matthews, who were the greatest friends possible, agreed, for a whim, to

walk together

to town. They quarrelled by the way, and actually walked the latter half of the journey, occasionally passing and repassing, without speaking. When Matthews had got to Highgate, he had spent all his money but three-pence halfpenny, and determined to spend that also in a pint of beer, which I believe he was drinking before a public-house, as Hobhouse passed him (still without speaking) for the last time on their route. They were reconciled in London again.

One of Matthews's passions was "the fancy;" and he sparred uncommonly well. But he always got beaten in rows, or combats with the bare fist. I

n swimming, too, he swam well; but with

effort

and

labour

, and

too high

out of the water; so that Scrope Davies

¹²

and myself, of whom he was therein somewhat emulous, always told him that he would be drowned if ever he came to a difficult pass in the water. He was so; but surely Scrope and myself would have been most heartily glad that

"the Dean had lived, And our prediction proved a lie."

His head was uncommonly handsome, very like what

Pope's

was in his youth.

His voice, and laugh, and features, are strongly resembled by his brother Henry's, if Henry be

he

of

King's College

.

His

passion for boxing was so great, that he actually wanted me to match him with Dogherty

¹³

(whom I had backed and made the match for against Tom Belcher

¹⁴

), and I saw them spar together at my own lodgings with the gloves on. As he was bent upon it, I would have backed Dogherty to please him, but the match went off. It was of course to have been a private fight, in a private room.

On one occasion, being too late to go home and dress, he was equipped by a friend (Mr. Baillie, I believe,) in a magnificently fashionable and somewhat exaggerated shirt and neckcloth. He proceeded to the Opera, and took his station in Fop's Alley. During the interval between the opera and the ballet, an acquaintance took his station by him and saluted him:

"Come round," said Matthews, "come round." "Why should I come round?" said the other; "you have only to turn your head — I am close by you." "That is exactly what I cannot do," said Matthews; "don't you see the state I am in?"

pointing to his buckram shirt collar and inflexible cravat, — and there he stood with his head always in the same perpendicular position during the whole spectacle.

One evening, after dining together, as we were going to the Opera, I happened to have a spare Opera ticket (as subscriber to a box), and presented it to Matthews.

"Now, sir," said he to Hobhouse afterwards, "this I call courteous in the Abbot — another man would never have thought that I might do better with half a guinea than throw it to a door-keeper; — but here is a man not only asks me to dinner, but gives me a ticket for the theatre."

These were only his oddities, for no man was more liberal, or more honourable in all his doings and dealings, than Matthews. He gave Hobhouse and me, before we set out for Constantinople, a most splendid entertainment, to which we did ample justice. One of his fancies was dining at all sorts of out-of-the-way places. Somebody popped upon him in I know not what coffee-house in the Strand — and what do you think was the attraction? Why, that he paid a shilling (I think) to

dine with his hat on

. This he called his "

hat

house," and used to boast of the comfort of being covered at meal times.

When

Sir Henry Smith

¹⁵

was expelled from Cambridge for a row with a tradesman named "Hiron," Matthews solaced himself with shouting under Hiron's windows every evening,

"Ah me! what perils do environ The man who meddles with hot Hiron."

He was also of that band of profane scoffers who, under the auspices of — — , used to rouse Lort Mansel (late Bishop of Bristol) from his slumbers in the lodge of Trinity; and when he appeared at the window foaming with wrath, and crying out, "I know you, gentlemen, I know you!" were wont to reply, "We beseech thee to hear us, good Lort!" — "Good Lort deliver us!" (Lort was his Christian name.) As he was very free in his speculations upon all kinds of subjects, although by no means either dissolute or intemperate in his conduct, and as I was no less independent, our conversation and correspondence used to alarm our friend Hobhouse to a considerable degree.

You must be almost tired of my packets, which will have cost a mint of postage.

Salute Gifford and all my friends.

Yours, etc.

Footnote 1:

This letter, though written twelve years later, belongs to the Cambridge period of Byron's life. It is therefore introduced here. (For John Murray, see

note

to

letter

to R. C. Dallas of August 21, 1811.)

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

Charles Skinner Matthews was known at Eton as Matthews

major

, his

minor

being his brother Henry, the author of

The Diary of an Invalid

, afterwards a Judge in the Supreme Court of Ceylon, who died in 1828. They were the sons of John Matthews of Belmont, Herefordshire, M.P. for that county (1802-6). C. S. Matthews became a Scholar of Trinity, Cambridge; Ninth Wrangler in 1805; First Members' Prizeman in 1807; Fellow of Downing in 1808. He was drowned in the Cam in August, 1811. He at the time contemplated standing as Member for the University of Cambridge. For a description of the accident, see letter from Henry Drury to Francis Hodgson (

Life of the Rev. Francis Hodgson

, vol. i. pp. 182-185). In the note to

Childe Harold

, Canto I. stanza xci., Byron speaks of Matthews:

"I should have ventured a verse to the memory of the late Charles Skinner Matthews, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, were he not too much above all praise of mine. His powers of mind, shown in the attainment of greater honours, against the ablest candidates, than those of any graduate on record at Cambridge, have sufficiently established his fame on the spot where it was acquired; while his softer qualities live in the recollection of friends who loved him too well to envy his superiority."

return

cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 161

Footnote 3:

See page 120,

note

1.

return

Footnote 4:

See page 73,

note

2.

return

Footnote 5:

See page 163,

note

1.

return

Footnote 6:

Of this visit to Newstead, Matthews wrote the following account to his sister:—

"London, May 22, 1809. My Dear — — , — I must begin with giving you a few particulars of the singular place which I have lately quitted. Newstead Abbey is situate 136 miles from London, — four on this side Mansfield. It is so fine a piece of antiquity, that I should think there must be a description, and, perhaps, a picture of it in Grose. The ancestors of its present owner came into possession of it at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, — but the building itself is of a much earlier date. Though sadly fallen to decay, it is still completely an abbey, and most part of it is still standing in the same state as when it was first built. There are two tiers of cloisters, with a variety of cells and rooms about them, which, though not inhabited, nor in an inhabitable state, might easily be made so; and many of the original rooms, amongst which is a fine stone hall, are still in use. Of the abbey church only one end remains; and the old kitchen, with a long range of apartments, is reduced to a heap of rubbish. Leading from the abbey to the modern part of the habitation is a noble room, seventy feet in length, and twenty-three in breadth; but every part of the house displays neglect and decay, save those which the present Lord has lately fitted up. The house and gardens are entirely surrounded by a wall with battlements. In front is a large lake, bordered here and there with castellated buildings, the chief of which stands on an eminence at the further extremity of it. Fancy all this surrounded with bleak and barren hills, with scarce a tree to be seen for miles, except a solitary clump or two, and you will have some idea of Newstead. For the late Lord, being at enmity with his son, to whom the estate was secured by entail, resolved, out of spite to the same, that the estate should descend to him in as miserable a plight as he could possibly reduce it to; for which cause, he took no care of the mansion, and fell to lopping of every tree he could lay his hands on, so furiously, that he reduced immense tracts of woodland country to the desolate state I have just described. However, his son died before him, so that all his rage was thrown away. So much for the place, concerning which I have thrown together these few particulars, meaning my account to be, like the place itself, without any order or connection. But if the place itself appear rather strange to you, the ways of the inhabitants will not appear much less so. Ascend, then, with me the hall steps, that I may introduce you to my Lord and his visitants. But have a care how you proceed; be mindful to go there in broad daylight, and with your eyes about you. For, should you make any blunder, — should you go to the right of the hall steps, you are laid hold of by a bear; and should you go to the left, your case is still worse, for you run full against a wolf! — Nor, when you have attained the door, is your danger over; for the hall being decayed, and therefore standing in need of repair, a bevy of inmates are very probably banging at one end of it with their pistols; so that if you enter without giving loud notice of your approach, you have only escaped the wolf and the bear to expire by the pistol-shots of the merry monks of Newstead. Our party consisted of Lord Byron and four others, and was, now and then, increased by the presence of a neighbouring parson. As for our way of living, the order of the day was generally this:— for breakfast we had no set hour, but each suited his own convenience, — everything remaining on the table till the whole party had done; though had one wished to breakfast at the early hour of ten, one would have been rather lucky to find any of the servants up. Our average hour of rising was one. I, who generally got up between eleven and twelve, was always, — even when an invalid, — the first of the party, and was esteemed a prodigy of early rising. It was frequently past two before the breakfast party broke up. Then, for the amusements of the morning, there was reading, fencing, single-stick, or shuttle-cock, in the great room; practising with pistols in the hall; walking — riding — cricket — sailing on the lake, playing with the bear, or teasing the wolf. Between seven and eight we dined; and our evening lasted from that time till one, two, or three in the morning. The evening diversions may be easily conceived. I must not omit the custom of handing round, after dinner, on the removal of the cloth, a human skull filled with burgundy. After revelling on choice viands, and the finest wines of France, we adjourned to tea, where we amused ourselves with reading, or improving conversation, — each, according to his fancy, — and, after sandwiches, etc., retired to rest. A set of monkish dresses, which had been provided, with all the proper apparatus of crosses, beads, tonsures, etc., often gave a variety to our appearance, and to our pursuits. "You may easily imagine how chagrined I was at being ill nearly the first half of the time I was there. But I was led into a very different reflection from that of Dr. Swift, who left Pope's house without ceremony, and afterwards informed him, by letter, that it was impossible for two sick friends to live together; for I found my shivering and invalid frame so perpetually annoyed by the thoughtless and tumultuous health of every one about me, that I heartily wished every soul in the house to be as ill as myself. "The journey back I performed on foot, together with another of the guests. We walked about twenty-five miles a day; but were a week on the road, from being detained by the rain. So here I close my account of an expedition which has somewhat extended my knowledge of this country. And where do you think I am going next? To Constantinople! — at least, such an excursion has been proposed to me. Lord B. and another friend of mine are going thither next month, and have asked me to join the party; but it seems to be but a wild scheme, and requires twice thinking upon. "Addio, my dear I., yours very affectionately, C. S. MATTHEWS."

return

Footnote 7:

A joke, related by Hobhouse, reminds us of the youth of the party. In the Long Gallery at Newstead was placed a stone coffin, from which, as he passed down the Gallery at night, he heard a groan proceeding. On going nearer, a cowled figure rose from the coffin and blew out the candle. It was Matthews.

return

Footnote 8:

The Rev. Thomas Jones. (See page 79,

note

1.)

return

Footnote 9:

The only thing remarkable about Walsh's preface is that Dr. Johnson praises it as "very judicious," but is, at the same time, silent respecting the poems to which it is prefixed (Moore).

return

Footnote 10:

No "Ode" under this title is to be found in Walsh's

Poems

. Byron had, no doubt, in mind

The Golden Age Restored

— a composition in which, says Dr. Johnson, "there was something of humour, while the facts were recent; but it now strikes no longer."

return

Footnote 11:

" — — Granville the polite, And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write." "About fifteen," says Pope, "I got acquainted with Mr. Walsh. He used to encourage me much, and tell me, that there was one way left of excelling: for though we had several great poets, we never had any one great poet that was correct; and he desired me to make that my study and aim"

(Spence's

Anecdotes

, edit. 1820, p. 280).

return

Footnote 12:

See page 165,

note

2.

return

Footnote 13:

Dan Dogherty, Irish champion (1806-11), came into notice as a pugilist in 1806. He was beaten by Belcher in April, 1808, near the Rubbing House on Epsom Downs, and again on the Curragh of Kildare, in 1813, in thirty-five minutes, after twenty-six rounds.

return

Footnote 14:

Tom Belcher (1783-1854), younger brother of Jem Belcher the champion, fought and won his first fight in London, in 1804, against Warr. The fight took place in Tothill Fields, Westminster. Twice beaten by Dutch Sam (Elias Samuel), in 1806 and 1807, he never held the championship, which a man of his height (5 ft. 9 ins.) and weight (10 st. 12 lbs.) could scarcely hope to win. But he repeatedly established the superiority of art over strength, and was one of the most popular and respectable pugilists of the day. Under his management the Castle Tavern at Holborn, in which he succeeded Gregson (page 207,

note

l), was the head-quarters of pugilism.

return

Footnote 15:

Sir Henry Smyth, Baronet, of Trinity Hall, A.M. 1805, was found between eleven and twelve at night, on May 11, 1805, "inciting to a disturbance" at the shop of a Mrs. Thrower on Market Hill. Other members of the University seem to have been equally guilty. The sentence of the Vice-Chancellor and Heads was "that he be suspended from his degree and banished from the University." The others were admonished only; so it was clearly considered that Smyth was the ring-leader.

return

cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 86

List of Letters

85 — To Henry Drury¹

Dorant's Hotel, Jan. 13, 1808.

My Dear Sir, — Though the stupidity of my servants, or the porter of the house, in not showing you up stairs (where I should have joined you directly), prevented me the pleasure of seeing you yesterday, I hoped to meet you at some public place in the evening. However, my stars decreed otherwise, as they generally do, when I have any favour to request of them. I think you would have been surprised at my figure, for, since our last meeting, I am reduced four stone in weight. I then weighed fourteen stone seven pound, and now only

ten stone and a half

. I have disposed of my

superfluities

by means of hard exercise and abstinence.

Should your Harrow engagements allow you to visit town between this and February, I shall be most happy to see you in Albemarle Street. If I am not so fortunate, I shall endeavour to join you for an afternoon at Harrow, though, I fear, your cellar will by no means contribute to my cure.

As

for my worthy preceptor, Dr. B.

²

, our encounter would by no means prevent the

mutual endearments

he and I were wont to lavish on each other.

We

have only spoken once since my departure from Harrow in 1805, and then he politely told Tatersall

³

I was not a proper associate for his pupils. This was long before my strictures in verse; but, in plain

prose

, had I been some years older, I should have held my tongue on his perfections. But, being laid on my back, when that schoolboy thing was written — or rather dictated — expecting to rise no more, my physician having taken his sixteenth fee, and I his prescription, I could not quit this earth without leaving a memento of my constant attachment to Butler in gratitude for his manifold good offices.

I meant to have been down in July; but thinking my appearance, immediately after the publication, would be construed into an insult, I directed my steps elsewhere. Besides, I heard that some of the boys had got hold of my

Libellus

, contrary to my wishes certainly, for I never transmitted a single copy till October, when I gave one to a boy, since gone, after repeated importunities. You will, I trust, pardon this egotism. As you had touched on the subject I thought some explanation necessary.

Defence

I shall not attempt,

Hic murus aheneus esto, nil conscire sibi

— and "so on" (as Lord Baltimore

⁴

said on his trial for a rape) — I have been so long at Trinity as to forget the conclusion of the line; but though I cannot finish my quotation, I will my letter, and entreat you to believe me, gratefully and affectionately, etc.

P.S. — I will not lay a tax on your time by requiring an answer, lest you say, as Butler said to Tatersall (when I had written his reverence an impudent epistle on the expression before mentioned), viz. "that I wanted to draw him into a correspondence."

Footnote 1:

See page 12,

note

1 ; and page 41,

note

2.

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

Dr. Butler, Head-master of Harrow (see page 58,

note

1).

return

Footnote 3:

See page 59,

note

1.

return

Footnote 4:

Francis Calvert, seventh Lord Baltimore (1731-1771), was charged with decoying a young milliner, named Sarah Woodcock, to his house, and with rape. On February 12, 1768, he was committed for trial at the Spring assizes, was tried at Kingston, March 26, 1768, and acquitted. The story is the subject of a romance,

Injured Innocence; or the Rape of Sarah Woodcock;

A Tale, by S. J., Esq., of Magdalen College, Oxford. New York (no date).

"I thank God," Lord Baltimore is reported to have said, "that I have had firmness and resolution to meet my accusers face to face, and provoke an enquiry into my conduct, Hic murus aheneus esto, nil conscire sibi"

(

Ann. Register

for 1768, p. 234). His body lay in state at Exeter Change, previous to its interment at Epsom (Leigh Hunt's

The Town

, edit. 1893, p. 191).

return

List of Letters

86 — To John Cam Hobhouse¹

Newstead Abbey, Notts, January 16, 1808.

My Dear Hobhouse, —

I

do not know how the

dens

-descended Davies

²

came to mention his having received a copy of my epistle to you, but I addressed him and you on the same evening, and being much incensed at the account I had received from Wallace, I communicated the contents to the Birdmore, though without any of that malice wherewith you charge me. I shall leave my card at Batts, and hope to see you in your progress to the North.

I have lately discovered Scrope's genealogy to be ennobled by a collateral tie with the Beardmore, Chirurgeon and Dentist to Royalty, and that the town of Southwell contains cousins of Scrope's, who disowned them (I grieve to speak it) on visiting that city in my society.

How I found this out I will disclose, the first time "we three meet again." But why did he conceal his lineage? "Ah, my dear H., it was

cruel

, it was

insulting

, it was

unnecessary

."

I have (notwithstanding your kind invitation to Wallace) been alone since the 8th of December; nothing of moment has occurred since our anniversary row. I shall be in London on the 19th; there are to be oxen roasted and sheep boiled on the 22nd, with ale and uproar for the mobility; a feast is also providing for the tenantry. For my own part, I shall know as little of the matter as a corpse of the funeral solemnized in its honour.

A letter addressed to Reddish's will find me.

I

still intend publishing the

Bards

, but I have altered a good deal of the "Body of the Book," added and interpolated, with some excisions; your lines still stand

³

, and in all there will appear 624 lines.

I should like much to see your Essay upon Entrails: is there any honorary token of silver gilt? any cups, or pounds sterling attached to the prize, besides glory? I expect to see you with a medal suspended from your button-hole, like a Croix de St. Louis.

Fletcher's father is deceased, and has left his son tway cottages, value ten pounds per annum. I know not how it is, but Fletch., though only the third brother, conceives himself entitled to all the estates of the defunct, and I have recommended him to a lawyer, who, I fear, will triumph in the spoils of this ancient family. A Birthday Ode has been addressed to me by a country schoolmaster, in which I am likened to the Sun, or Sol, as he classically saith; the people of Newstead are compared to Laplanders. I am said to be a Baron, and a Byron, the truth of which is indisputable. Feronia is again to reign (she must have some woods to govern first), but it is altogether a very pleasant performance, and the author is as superior to Pye, as George Gordon to George Guelph. To be sure some of the lines are too short, but then, to make amends, the Alexandrines have from fifteen to seventeen syllables, so we may call them Alexandrines the great.

I shall be glad to hear from you, and beg you to believe me,

Yours very truly,

Byron

.

Footnote 1:

John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869), created in 1851 Baron Broughton de Gyfford, was the eldest son of Mr. Benjamin Hobhouse, created a baronet in 1812, and M.P. (from 1797 to 1818) successively for Bletchingley, Grampound, and Hindon. From a school at Bristol, John Cam Hobhouse was sent to Westminster, and thence to Trinity, Cambridge, where he won (1808) the Hulsean Prize for an essay on "Sacrifices," and made acquaintance with Byron, as related in

Letter 84

. In 1809 he published a poetical miscellany, consisting of sixty-five pieces, under the title of

Imitations and Translations from the Ancient and Modern Classics, together with original Poems never before published

(London, 1809, 8vo). (For Byron's nine contributions, see

Poems

, vol. i., Bibliographical Note.) In 1809-10 he was Byron's travelling companion abroad (see

A Journey through Albania, etc.

London, 1813, 4to).

In 1813 he travelled with Douglas Kinnaird in Sweden, Germany, Austria, and Italy; in 1814 he was at Paris with the allied armies; and in April, 1815, was there again till the second Napoleonic war broke out, returning to witness the second restoration of the Bourbons (see his

Letters — written by an Englishman resident in Paris, etc.

Anon., London, 1816, 2 vols., 8vo). During 1814 he was much with Byron in London. He notes going with him to Drury Lane, and being introduced with him to Kean (May 19); dining with him at Lord Tavistock's (June 4); dining with him at Douglas Kinnaird's, to meet Kean (December 14). He was Byron's best man at his marriage at Seaham (January 2, 1815), and it was to him that the bride said, "If I am not happy, it will be my own fault." He was the last person who shook hands with Byron on Dover pier, when the latter left England in 1816. Later in the same year he was with him at the Villa Diodati, on the Lake of Geneva, and travelled with him to Venice. To him Byron dedicated

The Siege of Corinth

, In the next year he was again with Byron in the Villa La Mira on the banks of the Brenta, and at Venice, where he prepared the commentary on the fourth canto of

Childe Harold

, which Byron dedicated to him. Part of the notes were published separately (

Historical Illustrations, etc.

London, 1818, 8vo). In 1818 Hobhouse stood for Westminster, but was defeated by George Lamb, the representative of the official Whigs. He was an original member of "The Rota Club," afterwards known as "Harrington's," to which Michael Bruce, Douglas Kinnaird, Scrope Davies, and others belonged, and which Byron, writing from Italy, expressed a wish to join. He had now embarked on political life. His pamphlet,

A Defence of the People

(1819), was followed in the same year by

A Trifling Mistake

, which was declared by the House of Commons to be a breach of privilege. In consequence, he was committed to Newgate. The death of George III., and the dissolution of Parliament, set him free. He contested Westminster, won the seat with Sir Francis Burdett as his colleague, and represented it for thirteen years. He took the part of Queen Caroline against the Government. At the Queen's funeral (August 7, 1821) he attended the procession which escorted her body (August 13) from Brandenburg House to Harwich, and saw the coffin placed upon the vessel.

His political career was long, independent, useful, and distinguished, and he specially associated himself with such questions as the shortening of the hours for infant labour, the opening up of metropolitan vestries, and the subject of parliamentary reform. In 1832 he was made a Privy Councillor, and became Secretary at War in Lord Grey's Ministry. This post, finding himself unable to effect essential reforms at the War Office, he exchanged for that of Secretary for Ireland (1833); but he resigned both his office and his seat a few weeks later, being opposed to the Government on a question of taxation. In 1834 he joined Lord Melbourne's Government as First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, with a seat in the Cabinet. In Lord Melbourne's second administration, and again in Lord J. Russell's Government of 1846, he was President of the Board of Control. On his retirement from public life, in 1852, he received high recognition of his official services from the Queen, who conferred on him the Grand Cross of the Bath and a peerage. Hobhouse was present at Her Majesty's first Council, and is said to have originated the phrase, "Her Majesty's Opposition."

In 1822 he travelled in Italy (see

Italy: Remarks made in Several Visits from the Year 1816 to 1834

, London, 1859, 2 vols., 8vo). There, on September 20, at Pisa, he for the last time saw Byron, whose parting words were, "Hobhouse, you should never have come, or you should never go." In July, 1824, when Byron's body was brought home, he boarded the

Florida

in Sandgate Creek, and took charge of the funeral ceremonies from Westminster Stairs to the interment at Hucknall Torkard. He prepared an article for the

Quarterly Review

, exposing the absurdities of Medwin's

Conversations

and of Dallas's

Recollections

; but, owing to difficulties with Southey, it was not published. It was the substance of this article which afterwards appeared in the

Westminster Review

in 1825. In 1830 he wrote, but, by Lord Holland's advice, withheld, a refutation of the charges made against the dead poet as to his separation from Lady Byron. He has, however, left on record that it was not fear which induced Byron to agree to the separation, but that, on the contrary, he was ready to "go into court."

The staunchest of Byron's friends, Hobhouse was also the most sensible and candid. As such Byron valued him. Talking to Lady Blessington at Genoa, in 1823, he said (

Conversations

, p. 93) that Hobhouse was

"the most impartial, or perhaps," added he, "unpartial, of my friends; he always told me my faults, but I must do him the justice to add, that he told them to me, and not to others."

On another occasion he said (p. 172),

"If friendship, as most people imagine, consists in telling one truth — unvarnished, unadorned truth — he is indeed a friend: yet, hang it, I must be candid, and say I have had many other, and more agreeable, proofs of Hobhouse's friendship than the truths he always told me; but the fact is, I wanted him to sugar them over a little with flattery, as nurses do the physic given to children; and he never would, and therefore I have never felt quite content with him, though, au fond, I respect him the more for his candour, while I respect myself very much less for my weakness in disliking it."

return to footnote mark

cross-reference: return to Footnote 5 of Letter 84

cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 120

Footnote 2:

Scrope Berdmore Davies (1783-1852), born at Horsley, in Gloucestershire, was educated at Eton, and King's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted a Scholar in July, 1802, and a Fellow in July, 1805. In 1803 he was awarded by the Provost of Eton the Belham Scholarship, given to those Scholars of King's who had behaved well at Eton, and held it till 1816. A witty companion, with "a dry caustic manner, and an irresistible stammer" (