Chapter V · —Childe Harold, Cantos I, II (continued 3)
Reading edition
I wish you would go down with me to Newstead. Hodgson will be there, and a young friend, named Harness, the earliest and dearest I ever had from the third form at Harrow to this hour. I can promise you good wine, and, if you like shooting, a manor of 4000 acres, fires, books, your own free will, and my own very indifferent company.
Balnea, vina, Venus
1
.
Hodgson will plague you, I fear, with verse;—for
my
own part I will conclude, with Martial,
nil recitabo tibi
2
; and surely the last inducement, is not the least. Ponder on my proposition, and believe me, my dear Moore,
Yours ever,
Byron
.
Footnote 1:
"Balnea, vina, Venus corrumpunt corpora nostra."
The words are thus given in Grüter (
Corpus Inscriptionum
(1603), p. DCCCCXII. 10.
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Footnote 2:
Martial (xi. lii. 16),
Ad Julium Cerealem
:
"Plus ego polliceor: nil recitabo tibi."
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215—to Francis Hodgson
8, St. James's Street, Dec. 12, 1811.
Why, Hodgson! I fear you have left off wine and me at the same time,—I have written and written and written, and no answer!
My
dear Sir Edgar
1
, water disagrees with you—drink sack and write. Bland did not come to his appointment, being unwell, but Moore supplied all other vacancies most delectably. I have hopes of his joining us at Newstead. I am sure you would like him more and more as he developes,—at least I do.
How Miller and Bland go on, I don't know. Cawthorne talks of being in treaty for a novel of Madame D'Arblay's, and if he obtains it (at 1500 guineas!!) wishes me to see the MS. This I should read with pleasure,— not that I should ever dare to venture a criticism on her whose writings Dr. Johnson once revised, but for the pleasure of the thing. If my worthy publisher wanted a sound opinion, I should send the MS. to Rogers and Moore, as men most alive to true taste. I have had frequent letters from Wm. Harness, and
you
are silent; certes, you are not a schoolboy. However, I have the consolation of knowing that you are better employed, viz. reviewing. You don't deserve that I should add another syllable, and I won't.
Yours, etc.
P.S.—I only wait for your answer to fix our meeting.
Footnote 1:
Hodgson published, in 1810,
Sir Edgar, a Tale
.
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216—to R. C. Dallas
[
Undated
, Dec.? 1811]
1
Dear Sir
,—I have only this scrubby paper to write on—excuse it. I am certain that I sent some more notes on Spain and Portugal, particularly one on the latter. Pray rummage, and don't mind my
politics
. I believe I leave town next week. Are you better? I hope so.
Yours ever,
B.
Footnote 1:
Dallas's answer is dated December 14, 1811
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217—to William Harness
8, St. James's Street, Dec. 15, 1811.
I wrote you an answer to your last, which, on reflection, pleases me as little as it probably has pleased yourself. I will not wait for your rejoinder; but proceed to tell you, that I had just then been greeted with an epistle of ——'s, full of his petty grievances, and this at the moment when (from circumstances it is not necessary to enter upon) I was bearing up against recollections to which
his
imaginary sufferings are as a scratch to a cancer. These things combined, put me out of humour with him and all mankind. The latter part of my life has been a perpetual struggle against affections which embittered the earliest portion; and though I flatter myself I have in a great measure conquered them, yet there are moments (and this was one) when I am as foolish as formerly. I never said so much before, nor had I said this now, if I did not suspect myself of having been rather savage in my letter, and wish to inform you this much of the cause. You know I am not one of your dolorous gentlemen: so now let us laugh again.
Yesterday
I went with Moore to Sydenham to visit Campbell
1
. He was not visible, so we jogged homeward merrily enough. To-morrow I dine with Rogers, and am to hear Coleridge, who is a kind of rage at present.
Last
night I saw Kemble in
Coriolanus
2
; —he
was glorious
, and exerted himself wonderfully. By good luck I got an excellent place in the best part of the house, which was more than overflowing. Clare
3
and
Delawarr
4
, who were there on the same speculation, were less fortunate. I saw them by accident,—we were not together. I wished for you, to gratify your love of Shakspeare and of fine acting to its fullest extent. Last week I saw an exhibition of a different kind in a
Mr
. Coates
5
, at the Haymarket, who performed Lothario in a
damned
and damnable manner.
I told you the fate of B[land] and H[odgson] in my last. So much for these sentimentalists, who console themselves in their stews for the loss—the never to be recovered loss—the despair of the refined attachment of a couple of drabs! You censure
my
life, Harness,—when I compare myself with these men, my elders and my betters, I really begin to conceive myself a monument of prudence —a walking statue—without feeling or failing; and yet the world in general hath given me a proud pre-eminence over them in profligacy. Yet I like the men, and, God knows, ought not to condemn their aberrations. But I own I feel provoked when they dignify all this by the name of
love
—romantic attachments for things marketable for a dollar!
Dec. 16th.—I have just received your letter;—I feel your kindness very deeply. The foregoing part of my letter, written yesterday, will, I hope, account for the tone of the former, though it cannot excuse it. I do
like
to hear from you—more than
like
. Next to seeing you, I have no greater satisfaction. But you have other duties, and greater pleasures, and I should regret to take a moment from either. H——was to call to-day, but I have not seen him. The circumstances you mention at the close of your letter is another proof in favour of my opinion of mankind. Such you will always find them— selfish and distrustful. I except none. The cause of this is the state of society. In the world, every one is to stir for himself—it is useless, perhaps selfish, to expect any thing from his neighbour. But I do not think we are born of this disposition; for you find
friendship
as a schoolboy, and
love
enough before twenty.
I went to see ——; he keeps me in town, where I don't wish to be at present. He is a good man, but totally without conduct. And now, my dearest William, I must wish you good morrow, and remain ever,
Most sincerely and affectionately yours, etc.
Footnote 1:
Campbell lived at Sydenham from 1804 to 1820. Moore (
Life
, p. 148) adds the following note:
"On this occasion, another of the noble poet's peculiarities was, somewhat startlingly, introduced to my notice. When we were on the point of setting out from his lodgings in St. James's Street, it being then about midday, he said to the servant, who was shutting the door of the vis-a-vis, 'Have you put in the pistols?' and was answered in the affirmative. It was difficult,—more especially taking into account the circumstances under which we had just become acquainted,— to keep from smiling at this singular noonday precaution."
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Footnote 2:
On December 14, 1811, at Covent Garden, Kemble acted "Coriolanus" with Mrs. Siddons as "Volumnia." It was Kemble's great part, and in it he made his last appearance on the stage (June 23, 1817).
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Footnote 3:
For Lord Clare, see
Letters
, vol. i. p. 116,
note
1. [Footnote 1 of Letter 65]
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Footnote 4:
For Lord Delawarr, see
Letters
, vol. i. p. 41, note 1 [Footnote 5 of Letter 13].
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Footnote 5:
Robert Coates, "the Amateur of Fashion," known as "Romeo" Coates, sometimes as "Diamond" Coates, sometimes as "Cock-a-doodle-doo" Coates (1772-1848), was the only surviving son of a wealthy West Indian planter. He made his first appearance on the stage at Bath (February 9, 1810), as "Romeo." In the play-bill he was announced as "a Gentleman, 1st Appearance on any stage." Genest (
English Stage
, vol. viii. p. 207) says,
"Many gentlemen have been weak enough to fancy themselves actors, but no one ever persevered in obtruding himself for so long a time on the notice of the public in spite of laughter, hissing, etc."
On December 9, 1811, he appeared at the Haymarket as "Lothario" in Rowe's
Fair Penitent
. Mathews, at Covent Garden, imitated his performance, in Bate Dudley's
At Home
, as "Mr. Romeo Rantall," appearing in the
"pink silk vest and cloak, white satin breeches and stockings, Spanish hat, with a rich high plume of ostrich feathers,"
in which Coates had played "Lothario".
Memoirs of Charles Mathews
, vol. ii. pp. 238, 239).
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218—to Robert Rushton1
8, St. James's Street, Jan. 21, 1812.
Though I have no objection to your refusal to carry
letters
to Mealey's, you will take care that the letters are taken by
Spero
at the proper time. I have also to observe, that Susan is to be treated with civility, and not
insulted
by any person over whom I have the smallest controul, or, indeed, by any one whatever, while I have the power to protect her. I am truly sorry to have any subject of complaint against
you
; I have too good an opinion of you to think I shall have occasion to repeat it, after the care I have taken of you, and my favourable intentions in your behalf. I see no occasion for any communication whatever between
you
and the
women
, and wish you to occupy yourself in preparing for the situation in which you will be placed. If a common sense of decency cannot prevent you from conducting yourself towards them with rudeness, I should at least hope that your
own interest
, and regard for a master who has
never
treated you with unkindness, will have some weight.
Yours, etc.,
Byron
.
P.S.—I wish you to attend to your arithmetic, to occupy yourself in surveying, measuring, and making yourself acquainted with every particular relative to the
land
of Newstead, and you will
write
to me
one letter every week
, that I may know how you go on.
Footnote 1:
The two following letters, and a suppressed passage in the letter to Moore of January 29, 1812, refer to a quarrel among his dependents, in which Rushton, the "little page" of Childe Harold (see
Letters
, vol. i. pp. 224, 242), played a part. The story is told at considerable length in a letter to Hodgson, dated January 28, 1812. To the same affair probably belong the following scrap and Byron's note:
"Pray don't forget me, as I shall never cease thinking of you, my Dearest and only Friend, (signed) S. H. V."
To this Byron has added this note:
"This was written on the 11th of January, 1812; on the 28th I received ample proof that the Girl had forgotten me and herself too. Heigho! B."
The letters show, writes Moore (
Life
, p. 152),
"how gravely and coolly the young lord could arbitrate on such an occasion, and with what considerate leaning towards the servant whose fidelity he had proved, in preference to any new liking or fancy by which it might be suspected he was actuated toward the other."
In a MS. book written by Mrs. Heath of Newstead (
née
Rebekah Beardall), it is stated that the elder Rushton had as his farm-servant Fletcher, afterwards Byron's valet. Byron watched Fletcher and young Robert Rushton ploughing, took a fancy to both, and engaged them as his servants. Rushton accompanied Byron to Geneva, but afterwards entered the service of James Wedderburn Webster (see p. 2,
note
1). In 1827 he married a woman of the name of Bagnall, and with her help kept a school at Arnold, near Nottingham. Subsequently he took a farm on the Newstead estate, named Hazelford, and shortly afterwards died, leaving a widow and three children.
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219—to Robert Rushton
8, St. James's Street, January 25, 1812.
Your refusal to carry the letter was not a subject of remonstrance: it was not a part of your business; but the language you used to the girl was (as
she
stated it) highly improper.
You say, that you also have something to complain of; then state it to me immediately: it would be very unfair, and very contrary to my disposition, not to hear both sides of the question.
If any thing has passed between you
before
or since my last visit to Newstead, do not be afraid to mention it. I am sure
you
would not deceive me, though
she
would. Whatever it is,
you
, shall be forgiven. I have not been without some suspicions on the subject, and am certain that, at your time of life, the blame could not attach to you. You will not
consult
, any one as to your answer, but write to me immediately. I shall be more ready to hear what you have to advance, as I do not remember ever to have heard a word from you before
against
, any human being, which convinces me you would not maliciously assert an untruth. There is not any one who can do the least injury to you, while you conduct yourself properly. I shall expect your answer immediately. Yours, etc.,
Byron
.
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Contents
220—to Thomas Moore
January 29, 1812.
My Dear Moore,—I wish very much I could have seen you; I am in a state of ludicrous tribulation. ——
Why
do
you say that I dislike your poesy
1
? I have expressed no such opinion, either in
or elsewhere. In scribbling myself, it was necessary for me to find fault, and I fixed upon the trite charge of immorality, because I could discover no other, and was so perfectly qualified in the innocence of my heart, to "pluck that mote from my neighbour's eye."
I feel very, very much obliged by your approbation; but, at
this moment
, praise, even
your
praise, passes by me like "the idle wind." I meant and mean to send you a copy the moment of publication; but now I can
think
of nothing but damned, deceitful,—delightful woman, as Mr. Liston says in the
Knight of Snowdon
2
?
Believe me, my dear Moore,
Ever yours, most affectionately,
Byron
.
Footnote 1:
Of Moore's early poems Byron was an admirer. The influence of "Little" and "Anacreon" is strongly marked throughout
Hours of Idleness
. For the "trite charge of immorality," see
English Bards, etc.
, lines 283-294; and
Letters
, vol. i. p. 113. Byron's opinion of Moore's later poetry was thus stated by him to Lady Blessington (
Conversations
, pp. 354, 355):
"Having compared Rogers's poems to a flower-garden, to what shall I compare Moore's?—to the Valley of Diamonds, where all is brilliant and attractive, but where one is so dazzled by the sparkling on every side that one knows not where to fix, each gem beautiful in itself, but overpowering to the eye from their quantity."
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Footnote 2:
The Knight of Snowdoun
, a musical drama, written by Thomas Morton (1764-1838), and founded on
The Lady of the Lake
, was produced at Covent Garden, Feb. 5, 1811, and published the same year. John Liston (1776-1846), the most famous comedian of the century, played the part of "Macloon," his wife that of "Isabel." In act iii. sc. 3 Macloon says,
"Oh, woman! woman! deceitful, damnable, (changing into a half-smile) delightful woman! do all one can, there's nothing else worth thinking of."
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221—to Francis Hodgson
8, St. James's Street, Feb. 1, 1812.
My Dear Hodgson
,—I am rather unwell with a vile cold, caught in the House of Lords last night. Lord Sligo and myself, being tired,
paired off
, being of opposite sides, so that nothing was gained or lost by
our
votes. I did not speak: but I might as well, for nothing could have been inferior to the Duke of Devonshire, Marquis of Downshire, and the Earl of Fitzwilliam. The Catholic Question comes on this month, and perhaps I may then commence. I must "screw my courage to the sticking-place," and we'll
not
fail.
Yours ever, B.
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222—to Samuel Rogers
February 4, 1812.
My Dear Sir
,—
With
my best acknowledgments to Lord Holland
1
, I have to offer my perfect concurrence in the propriety of the question previously to be put to ministers. If their answer is in the negative, I shall, with his Lordship's approbation, give notice of a motion for a Committee of Inquiry. I would also gladly avail myself of his most able advice, and any information or documents with which he might be pleased to intrust me, to bear me out in the statement of facts it may be necessary to submit to the House.
From
all that fell under my own observation during my Christmas visit to Newstead, I feel convinced that, if
conciliatory
measures are not very soon adopted, the most unhappy consequences may be apprehended
2
.
Nightly outrage and daily depredation are already at their height; and not only the masters of frames, who are obnoxious on account of their occupation, but persons in no degree connected with the malecontents or their oppressors, are liable to insult and pillage.
I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken on my account, and beg you to believe me,
Ever your obliged and sincere, etc.
Footnote 1:
For Lord Holland, see
Letters
, vol. i. p. 184,
note
I. He was Recorder of Nottingham; hence his special interest in the proposed legislation against frame-breaking.
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Footnote 2:
Owing to the state of trade, numbers of stocking-weavers had lost work. The discontent thus produced was increased by the introduction of a wide frame for the manufacture of gaiters and stockings, which, it was supposed, would further diminish the demand for manual labour. In November, 1811, organized bands of men began to break into houses and destroy machinery. For several days no serious effort was made to check the riots, which extended to a considerable distance round Nottingham. But on November 14 the soldiers were called out. Between that date and December 9, 900 cavalry and 1000 infantry were sent to Nottingham; and, on January 8, 1812, these forces were increased by two additional regiments. The rioters assumed the name of Luddites, and their leader was known as General Lud. The name is said to have originated in 1779, in a Leicestershire village, where a half-witted lad, named Ned Lud, broke a stocking-frame in a fit of passion; hence the common saying, when machinery was broken, that "Ned Lud" did it. A Bill was introduced in the House of Commons (February 14) increasing the severity of punishments for frame-breaking. On the second reading (February 17) Sir Samuel Romilly strongly opposed the measure, which passed its third reading (February 20) without a division. The Bill, as introduced into the Upper House by Lord Liverpool,
rendered the offence of frame-breaking punishable by death; and
compelled persons in whose houses the frames were broken to give information to the magistrates
. On the second reading of the Bill (February 27, 1812), Byron spoke against it in his first speech in the House of Lords (see
Appendix II. (1)
). The Bill passed its third reading on March 5, and became law as 52 Geo. III. c. 16. Byron did not confine his opposition to a speech in the House of Lords. He also addressed "An Ode to the Framers of the Frame Bill," which appeared in the
Morning Chronicle
on Monday, March 2, 1812. The following letter to Perry, the editor, is published by permission of Messrs. Ellis and Elvey, in whose possession is the original:
"Sir,—I take the liberty of sending an alteration of the two last lines of Stanza 2'd which I wish to run as follows, 'Gibbets on Sherwood will heighten the Scenery Shewing how Commerce, how Liberty thrives!' I wish you could insert it tomorrow for a particular reason; but I feel much obliged by your inserting it at all. Of course, do not put my name to the thing. Believe me, Your obliged and very obed't Serv't, Byron. 8, St. James Street, Sunday, March 1st, 1812."
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223—To Master John Cowell1
8, St. James's Street, February 12, 1812.
My Dear John
,—You have probably long ago forgotten the writer of these lines, who would, perhaps, be unable to recognize
yourself
, from the difference which must naturally have taken place in your stature and appearance since he saw you last. I have been rambling through Portugal, Spain, Greece, etc., etc., for some years, and have found so many changes on my return, that it would be very unfair not to expect that you should have had your share of alteration and improvement with the rest. I write to request a favour of you: a little boy of eleven years, the son of Mr. ——, my particular friend, is about to become an Etonian, and I should esteem any act of protection or kindness to him as an obligation to myself: let me beg of you then to take some little notice of him at first, till he is able to shift for himself.
I was happy to hear a very favourable account of you from a schoolfellow a few weeks ago, and should be glad to learn that your family are as well as I wish them to be. I presume you are in the upper school;—as an
Etonian
, you will look down upon a
Harrow
man; but I never, even in my boyish days, disputed your superiority,
which
I once experienced in a cricket match, where I had the honour of making one of eleven, who were beaten to their hearts' content by your college in
one innings
2
.
Believe me to be, with great truth, etc., etc.,
B.
Footnote 1:
"Breakfasted with Mr. Cowell," writes Moore, in his Diary, June 11, 1828, "having made his acquaintance for the purpose of gaining information about Lord Byron. Knew Byron for the first time when he himself was a little boy, from being in the habit of playing with B.'s dogs. Byron wrote to him to school to bid him mind his prosody. Gave me two or three of his letters to him. Saw a good deal of B. at Hastings; mentioned the anecdote about the ink-bottle striking one of the lead Muses. These Muses had been brought from Holland; and there were, I think, only eight of them arrived safe. Fletcher had brought B. a large jar of ink, and, not thinking it was full, B. had thrust his pen down to the very bottom; his anger at finding it come out all besmeared with ink made him chuck the jar out of the window, when it knocked down one of the Muses in the garden, and deluged her with ink. In 1813, when B. was at Salt Hill, he had Cowell over from Eton, and pouched him no less than ten pounds. Cowell has ever since kept one of the notes. Told me a curious anecdote of Byron's mentioning to him, as if it had made a great impression on him, their seeing Shelley (as they thought) walking into a little wood at Lerici, when it was discovered afterwards that Shelley was at that time in quite another direction. 'This,' said Byron, in a sort of awe-struck voice, 'was about ten days before his death.' Cowell's imitation of his look and manner very striking. Thinks that in Byron's speech to Fletcher, when he was dying, threatening to appear to him, there was a touch of that humour and fun which he was accustomed to mix up with everything".
(
Memoirs, Journals, etc
., vol. v. pp. 302, 303).
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Footnote 2:
See
Letters
, vol. i. p. 70, and
note
1 [Footnote 2 of Letter 30].
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224—to Francis Hodgson
8, St. James's Street, February 16, 1812.
Dear Hodgson,—I send you a proof. Last week I was very ill and confined to bed with stone in the kidney, but I am now quite recovered. The women are gone to their relatives, after many attempts to explain what was already too clear. If the stone had got into my heart instead of my kidneys, it would have been all the better. However, I have quite recovered
that
also, and only wonder at my folly in excepting my own strumpets from the general corruption,—albeit a two months' weakness is better than ten years. I have one request to make, which is, never mention a woman again in any letter to me, or even allude to the existence of the sex. I won't even read a word of the feminine gender;—it must all be
propria quæ maribus
.
In the spring of 1813 I shall leave England for ever. Every thing in my affairs tends to this, and my inclinations and health do not discourage it. Neither my habits nor constitution are improved by your customs or your climate. I shall find employment in making myself a good Oriental scholar. I shall retain a mansion in one of the fairest islands, and retrace, at intervals, the most interesting portions of the East. In the mean time, I am adjusting my concerns, which will (when arranged) leave me with wealth sufficient even for home, but enough for a principality in Turkey. At present they are involved, but I hope, by taking some necessary but unpleasant steps, to clear every thing. Hobhouse is expected daily in London: we shall be very glad to see him; and, perhaps, you will come up and "drink deep ere he depart,"
if
not, "Mahomet must go to the mountain;"
1
—but Cambridge will bring sad recollections to him, and worse to me, though for very different reasons. I believe the only human being, that ever loved me in truth and entirely, was of, or belonging to, Cambridge, and, in that, no change can now take place. There is one consolation in death—where he sets his seal, the impression can neither be melted nor broken, but endureth for ever.
Yours always,
B.
P.S.—I almost rejoice when one I love dies young, for I could never bear to see them old or altered.
Footnote 1:
See Bacon's
Essays
("Of Boldness"):
"Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, 'If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.'"
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225—to Francis Hodgson
London, February 21, 1812.
My Dear Hodgson,—
There
is a book entituled
Galt, his Travels in ye Archipelago
1
, daintily printed by Cadell and Davies, ye which I could desiderate might be criticised by you, inasmuch as ye author is a well-respected esquire of mine acquaintance, but I fear will meet with little mercy as a writer, unless a friend passeth judgment. Truth to say, ye boke is ye boke of a cock-brained man, and is full of devises crude and conceitede, but peradventure for my sake this grace may be vouchsafed unto him. Review him myself I can not, will not, and if you are likewize hard of heart, woe unto ye boke! ye which is a comely quarto.
Now
then! I have no objection to review, if it pleases Griffiths
2
to send books, or rather
you
, for you know the sort of things I like to [play] with. You will find what I say very serious as to my intentions. I have every reason to induce me to return to Ionia.
Believe me, yours always,
B.
Footnote 1:
John Galt (1779-1839) published in 1812 his
Voyages and Travels in the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811
. For his meeting with Byron at Gibraltar in 1809, see
Letters
, vol. i. p. 243,
note
1 [Footnote 1 of Letter 130]; see also
ibid.
, p. 304,
note
2 [Footnote 2 of Letter 131]. Galt's novels were, in later years, liked by Byron, who
"praised the Annals of the Parish very highly, as also The Entail,... some scenes of which, he said, had affected him very much. 'The characters in Mr. Galt's novels have an identity,' added Byron, 'that reminds me of Wilkie's pictures'"
(Lady Blessington's
Conversations with Lord Byron
, p. 74).
"When I knew Galt, years ago," said Byron to Lady Blessington, I was not in a frame of mind to form an impartial opinion of him: his mildness and equanimity struck me even then; but, to say the truth, his manner had not deference enough for my then aristocratical taste, and finding I could not awe him into a respect sufficiently profound for my sublime self, either as a peer or an author, I felt a little grudge towards him that has now completely worn off," etc., etc.
(
ibid.
, p. 249).
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cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 374
Footnote 2:
George Edward Griffiths (circ. 1769-1829), son of Ralph Griffiths, who founded, owned, and published the
Monthly Review
, and boarded and lodged Oliver Goldsmith as a contributor, succeeded to the management of the
Review
on the death of his father in 1803. He edited it till 1825, when he sold the property. He lived at Linden House, Turnham Green. Francis Hodgson wrote for the
Monthly Review
, and, March 2, 1814, he writes to Byron,
"I have already read a review of Safie in the British Critic, and will undertake it in the Monthly if Griffiths, with whom I am in very bad odour from my late shameful idleness, will allow me. Oh that you would write a good smart critique of something to get both yourself and me in high repute at Turnham Green!!!!"
In Byron's
Detached Thoughts
occurs the following passage:
"I have been a reviewer. In the Monthly Review I wrote some articles which were inserted. This was in the latter part of 1811. In 1807, in a Magazine called Monthly Literary Recreations, I reviewed Wordsworth's trash of that time. Excepting these, I cannot accuse myself of anonymous Criticism (that I recollect), though I have been offered more than one review in our principal Journals."
In the Bodleian Library is a copy of the
Monthly Review
, in which Griffiths has entered the initials of the authors of each article. Two articles from the
Review
, attributed to Byron on this authority, are given in
Appendix I
.
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Contents
226—to Lord Holland
8, St. James's Street, February 25, 1812.
My Lord
,—With my best thanks, I have the honour to return the Notts. letter to your Lordship. I have read it with attention, but do not think I shall venture to avail myself of its contents, as my view of the question differs in some measure from Mr. Coldham's. I hope I do not wrong him, but
his
objections to the bill appear to me to be founded on certain apprehensions that he and his coadjutors might be mistaken for the "
original advisers
" (to quote him) of the measure. For my own part, I consider the manufacturers as a much injured body of men, sacrificed to the views of certain individuals who have enriched themselves by those practices which have deprived the frame-workers of employment. For instance;—by the adoption of a certain kind of frame, one man performs the work of seven—six are thus thrown out of business. But it is to be observed that the work thus done is far inferior in quality, hardly marketable at home, and hurried over with a view to exportation. Surely, my Lord, however we may rejoice in any improvement in the arts which may be beneficial to mankind, we must not allow mankind to be sacrificed to improvements in mechanism. The maintenance and well-doing of the industrious poor is an object of greater consequence to the community than the enrichment of a few monopolists by any improvement in the implements of trade, which deprives the workman of his bread, and renders the labourer "unworthy of his hire."
My own motive for opposing the bill is founded on its palpable injustice, and its certain inefficacy. I have seen the state of these miserable men, and it is a disgrace to a civilized country. Their excesses may be condemned, but cannot be subject of wonder. The effect of the present bill would be to drive them into actual rebellion. The few words I shall venture to offer on Thursday will be founded upon these opinions formed from my own observations on the spot. By previous inquiry, I am convinced these men would have been restored to employment, and the county to tranquillity. It is, perhaps, not yet too late, and is surely worth the trial. It can never be too late to employ force in such circumstances. I believe your Lordship does not coincide with me entirely on this subject, and most cheerfully and sincerely shall I submit to your superior judgment and experience, and take some other line of argument against the bill, or be silent altogether, should you deem it more advisable. Condemning, as every one must condemn, the conduct of these wretches, I believe in the existence of grievances which call rather for pity than punishment. I have the honour to be, with great respect, my Lord, your Lordship's
Most obedient and obliged servant,
Byron
.
P.S.—I am a little apprehensive that your Lordship will think me too lenient towards these men, and half a
frame-breaker myself
.
List of Letters
Contents
227—to Francis Hodgson
8, St. James's Street, March 5, 1812.
My Dear Hodgson
,—
We
are not answerable for reports of speeches in the papers; they are always given incorrectly, and on this occasion more so than usual, from the debate in the Commons on the same night. The
Morning Post
should have said
eighteen years
. However, you will find the speech, as spoken, in the Parliamentary Register, when it comes out. Lords Holland and Grenville, particularly the latter, paid me some high compliments in the course of their speeches, as you may have seen in the papers, and Lords Eldon and Harrowby answered me. I
have
had many marvellous eulogies
1
repeated to me since, in person and by proxy, from divers persons
ministerial
—yea,
ministerial!
—as well as oppositionists; of them I shall only mention Sir F. Burdett.
He
says it is the best speech by a
lord
since the "
Lord
knows when," probably from a fellow-feeling in the sentiments. Lord H. tells me I shall beat them all if I persevere; and Lord G. remarked that the construction of some of my periods are very like
Burke's!!
And so much for vanity. I spoke very violent sentences with a sort of modest impudence, abused every thing and every body, and put the Lord Chancellor very much out of humour: and if I may believe what I hear, have not lost any character by the experiment. As to my delivery, loud and fluent enough, perhaps a little theatrical. I
could
not recognize myself or any one else in the newspapers
2
.
I
hire
myself unto Griffiths, and my poesy
3
comes out on Saturday. Hobhouse is here; I shall tell him to write. My stone is gone for the present, but I fear is part of my habit. We
all
talk of a visit to Cambridge.
Yours ever,
B.
Footnote 1:
For Byron's speech, February 27, 1812, see
Appendix II. (1)
.] Grenville said,
"There never was a maxim of greater wisdom than that uttered by the noble lord [Byron] who had so ably addressed their lordships that night for the first time"
(
Hansard
, vol. xxi. p. 977). Moore quotes a passage from Byron's
Detached Thoughts
:
"Sheridan's liking for me (whether he was not mystifying me I do not know, but Lady Caroline Lamb and others told me that he said the same both before and after he knew me) was founded upon English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers. He told me that he did not care about poetry (or about mine—at least, any but that poem of mine), but he was sure, from that and other symptoms, I should make an orator, if I would but take to speaking, and grow a parliament man. He never ceased harping upon this to me to the last; and I remember my old tutor, Dr. Drury, had the same notion when I was a boy; but it never was my turn of inclination to try. I spoke once or twice, as all young peers do, as a kind of introduction into public life; but dissipation, shyness, haughty and reserved opinions, together with the short time I lived in England after my majority (only about five years in all), prevented me from resuming the experiment. As far as it went, it was not discouraging, particularly my first speech (I spoke three or four times in all); but just after it, my poem of Childe Harold was published, and nobody ever thought about my prose afterwards, nor indeed did I; it became to me a secondary and neglected object, though I sometimes wonder to myself if I should have succeeded."
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
Byron, writing to John Hanson, February 28, 1812, says:
"Dear Sir,—In the report of my speech (which by the bye is given very incorrectly) in the M[orning] Herald, Day, and B[ritish] Press, they state that I mentioned Bristol, a place I never saw in my life and knew nothing of whatever, nor mentioned at all last night. Will you be good enough to send to these papers immediately, and have the mistake corrected, or I shall get into a scrape with the Bristol people? "I am, yours very truly, "B."
return
Footnote 3:
Childe Harold
, Cantos I., II.
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Contents
228—to Lord Holland
St. James's Street, March 5, 1812.
My Lord
,—
May
I request your Lordship to accept a copy of the thing which accompanies this note
1
?
You
have already so fully proved the truth of the first line of Pope's couplet
2
,
"Forgiveness to the injured doth belong,"
that I long for an opportunity to give the lie to the verse that follows. If I were not perfectly convinced that any thing I may have formerly uttered in the boyish rashness of my misplaced resentment had made as little impression as it deserved to make, I should hardly have the confidence—perhaps your Lordship may give it a stronger and more appropriate appellation—to send you a quarto of the same scribbler. But your Lordship, I am sorry to observe to-day, is troubled with the gout; if my book can produce a
laugh
against itself or the author, it will be of some service. If it can set you to
sleep
, the benefit will be yet greater;
and
as some facetious personage observed half a century ago, that "poetry is a mere drug,"
3
I offer you mine as a humble assistant to the
eau medicinale
. I trust you will forgive this and all my other buffooneries, and believe me to be, with great respect,
Your Lordship's obliged and sincere servant,
Byron
.
Footnote 1:
Childe Harold
was published March 1, 1812. Another copy of
Childe Harold
was sent to Mrs. Leigh, with the following inscription:
"To Augusta, my dearest sister, and my best friend, who has ever loved me much better than I deserved, this volume is presented by her father's son, and most affectionate brother, B."
The effect which the poem instantly produced is best expressed in Byron's own memorandum:
"I awoke one morning and found myself famous."
He was only just twenty-three years old.
"The subject," says Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire (Two Duchesses, pp. 375, 376), "of conversation, of curiosity, of enthusiasm almost, one might say, of the moment is not Spain or Portugal, Warriors or Patriots, but Lord Byron!" "He returned," she continues, "sorry for the severity of some of his lines (in the English Bards), and with a new poem, Childe Harold, which he published. This poem is on every table, and himself courted, visited, flattered, and praised whenever he appears. He has a pale, sickly, but handsome countenance, a bad figure, and, in short, he is really the only topic almost of every conversation—the men jealous of him, the women of each other." "Lord Byron," writes Lady Harriet Leveson Gower to the Duke of Devonshire, May 10, 1812 (Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville, vol. i. p. 34), "is still upon a pedestal, and Caroline William doing homage. I have made acquaintance with him. He is agreeable, but I feel no wish for any further intimacy. His countenance is fine when it is in repose; but the moment it is in play, suspicious, malignant, and consequently repulsive. His manner is either remarkably gracious and conciliatory, with a tinge of affectation, or irritable and impetuous, and then, I am afraid, perfectly natural."
Rogers (
Recollections of the Table-Talk of Samuel Rogers
, pp. 232, 233) says,
"After Byron had become the rage, I was frequently amused at the manoeuvres of certain noble ladies to get acquainted with him by means of me; for instance, I would receive a note from Lady ——, requesting the pleasure of my company on a particular evening, with a postscript, 'Pray, could you not contrive to bring Lord Byron with you?' Once, at a great party given by Lady Jersey, Mrs. Sheridan ran up to me and said, 'Do, as a favour, try if you can place Lord Byron beside me at supper!'"
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
"Forgiveness to the injured does belong, But they ne'er pardon, who have done the wrong."
Dryden's
Conquest of Grenada
, part ii. act i. sc. 2.
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Footnote 3:
Murphy, in sc. 1 of
The Way to Keep Him
(1760), uses the word in the same sense;
"A wife's a drug now; mere tar-water, with every virtue under heaven, but nobody takes it."
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