Lord Byron - Delphi Poets Series

by Lord Byron

  [Signature cut out.]

  P.S. — I apologize for the numerous errors probably enveloped in this cover; the temper of my mind at present, and the hurry I have written in, must plead for pardon. Adieu.

  46. — To the Hon. Augusta Byron.

  [Castle Howard, near Malton, Yorkshire.]

  16, Piccadilly, [Tuesday], January 7th, 1805.

  [In another hand] — 6.

  My dearest Augusta, — Your efforts to reanimate my sinking spirits will, I am afraid, fail in their effect, for my melancholy proceeds from a very different cause to that which you assign, as, my nerves were always of the strongest texture. — I will not however pretend to say I possess that Gaieté de Coeur which formerly distinguished me, but as the diminution of it arises from what you could not alleviate, and might possibly be painful, you will excuse the Disclosure. Suffice it to know, that it cannot spring from Indisposition, as my Health was never more firmly established than now, nor from the subject on which I lately wrote, as that is in a promising Train, and even were it otherwise, the Failure would not lead to Despair. You know me too well to think it is Love; & I have had no quarrel or dissention with Friend or enemy, you may therefore be easy, since no unpleasant consequence will be produced from the present Sombre cast of my Temper. I fear the Business will not be concluded before your arrival in Town, when we will settle it together, as by the 20th these sordid Bloodsuckers who have agreed to furnish the Sum, will have drawn up the Bond. Believe me, my dearest Sister, it never entered in to my head, that you either could or would propose to antic[ipate] my application to others, by a P[resent from?] yourself; I and I only will be [injured] by my own extravagance, nor would I have wished you to take the least concern, had any other means been open for extrication. As it is, I hope you will excuse my Impertinence, or if you feel an inclination to retreat, do not let affection for me counterbalance prudence.

  [Signature cut out.]

  [Footnote 1: Words in square brackets accidentally torn off the edge of the paper, and conjecturally supplied.]

  47. — To his Mother.

  16, Piccadilly, Febry. 26, 1806.

  Dear Mother, — Notwithstanding your sage and economical advice I have paid my Harrow Debts, as I can better afford to wait for the Money than the poor Devils who were my creditors. I have also discharged my college Bills amounting to £231, — £75 of which I shall trouble Hanson to repay, being for Furniture, and as my allowance is £500 per annum, I do not chuse to lose the overplus as it makes only £125 per Quarter. I happen to have a few hundreds in ready Cash by me, so I have paid the accounts; but I find it inconvenient to remain at College, not for the expence, as I could live on my allowance (only I am naturally extravagant); however the mode of going on does not suit my constitution. Improvement at an English University to a Man of Rank is, you know, impossible, and the very Idea ridiculous. Now I sincerely desire to finish my Education and, having been sometime at Cambridge, the Credit of the University is as much attached to my Name, as if I had pursued my Studies there for a Century; but, believe me, it is nothing more than a Name, which is already acquired. I can now leave it with Honour, as I have paid everything, & wish to pass a couple of years abroad, where I am certain of employing my time to far more advantage and at much less expence, than at our English Seminaries. ‘Tis true I cannot enter France; but Germany and the Courts of Berlin, Vienna & Petersburg are still open, I shall lay the Plan before Hanson & Lord C. I presume you will all agree, and if you do not, I will, if possible, get away without your Consent, though I should admire it more in the regular manner & with a Tutor of your furnishing. This is my project, at present I wish you to be silent to Hanson about it. Let me have your Answer. I intend remaining in Town a Month longer, when perhaps I shall bring my Horses and myself down to your residence in that execrable Kennel. I hope you have engaged a Man Servant, else it will be impossible for me to visit you, since my Servant must attend chiefly to his horses; at the same Time you must cut an indifferent Figure with only maids in your habitation.

  I remain, your’s,

  BYRON.

  [Footnote 1:

  “The Bills,” writes Mrs. Byron to Hanson (January 11, 1806), “are coming in thick upon me to double the amount I expected; he went and ordered just what he pleased here, at Nottingham, and in London. However, it is of no use to say anything about it, and I beg you will take no notice. I am determined to have everything clear within the year, if possible.”

  Again she writes (March 1, 1806):

  “I beg you will not mention to my son, having heard from me, but try to get out of him his reason for wishing to leave England, and where he got the money. I much fear he has fallen into bad hands, not only in regard to Money Matters, but in other respects. My idea is that he has inveigled himself with some woman that he wishes to get rid of and finds it difficult. But whatever it is, he must be got out of it.”

  Again (March 4, 1806):

  “That Boy will be the death of me, and drive me mad! I never will consent to his going Abroad. Where can he get Hundreds? Has he got into the hands of Moneylenders? He has no feeling, no Heart. This I have long known; he has behaved as ill as possible to me for years back. This bitter Truth I can no longer conceal: it is wrung from me by heart-rending agony. I am well rewarded. I came to Nottinghamshire to please him, and now he hates it. He knows that I am doing everything in my power to pay his Debts, and he writes to me about hiring servants!”

  Once more (April 24, 1806):

  “Lord Byron has given £31 10s. to Pitt’s statue. He has also bought a Carriage, which he says was intended for me, which I refused to accept of, being in hopes it would stop his having one.”]

  48. — To John Hanson.

  16, Piccadilly, March 3, 1806.

  Sir, — I called at your House in Chancery Lane yesterday Evening, as I expected you would have been in Town, but was disappointed. If convenient, I should be glad to see you on Wednesday Morning about one o’Clock, as I wish for your advice on some Business. On Saturday one of my Horses threw me; I was stunned for a short time, but soon recovered and suffered no material Injury; the accident happened on the Harrow Road. I have paid Jones’s Bill amounting to £231.4.5 of which I expect to be reimbursed £75 for Furniture. I have got his Bankers’ receipt and the account ready for your Inspection. I now owe nothing at Cambridge; but shall not return this Term, as I have been extremely unwell, and at the same time can stay where I am at much less Expence and equal Improvement. I wish to consult you on several Subjects and expect you will pay me a visit on Wednesday; in the mean time,

  I remain, yours, etc., BYRON.

  [Footnote 1: Lectures began on February 5, 1806, as is stated on the

  College bills, sent in by Mr. Jones, the Senior Tutor of Trinity. But

  Byron preferred to remain in London. Augusta Byron writes to Hanson

  (March 7, 1806) — —

  “I trouble you again in consequence of some conversation I had last night with Lord Carlisle about my Brother. He expressed himself to me as kindly on that subject as on all others, and though he says it may not be productive of any good, and that he may be only able to join his lamentations with yours, he should like to talk to you and try if anything can be done. I was much surprized and vexed to see my Brother a week ago at the Play, as I think he ought to be employing his time more profitably at Cambridge.”]

  49. — To John Hanson.

  16, Piccadilly, near Park Lane, 10th March, 1806.

  SIR, — As in all probability you will not make your appearance tomorrow I must disclose by Letter the Business I intended to have discussed at our interview. — We know each other sufficiently to render Apology unnecessary. I shall therefore without further Prelude proceed to the Subject in Question. You are not ignorant, that I have lately lived at considerable Expence, to support which my allotted Income by the ‘sapient’ Court of Chancery is inadequate. — I confess I have borrowed a trifling sum and now wish to raise �
�500 to discharge some Debts I have contracted; my approaching Quarter will bring me £200 due from my Allowance, and if you can procure me the other £300 at a moderate Interest, it will save 100 per cent I must pay my Israelite for the same purpose. — You see by this I have an excellent Idea of Oeconomy even in my Extravagance by being willing to pay as little Money as possible, for the Cash must be disbursed somewhere or somehow, and if you decline (as in prudence I tell you fairly you ought), the Tribe of Levi will be my dernier resort. However I thought proper to make this Experiment with very slender hopes of success indeed, since Recourse to the Law is at best a desperate effort. I have now laid open my affairs to you without Disguise and Stated the Facts as they appear, declining all Comments, or the use of any Sophistry to palliate my application, or urge my request. All I desire is a speedy Answer, whether successful or not.

  Believe me, yours truly, BYRON.

  50. — To John Hanson.

  16, Piccadilly, 25th March, 1806.

  SIR, — Your last Letter, as I expected, contained much advice, but no Money. I could have excused the former unaccompanied by the latter, since any one thinks himself capable of giving that, but very few chuse to own themselves competent to the other. I do not now write to urge a 2nd Request, one Denial is sufficient. I only require what is my right. This is Lady Day. £125 is due for my last Quarter, and £75 for my expenditure in Furniture at Cambridge and I will thank you to remit.

  The Court of Chancery may perhaps put in Force your Threat. I have always understood it formed a Sanction for legal plunderers to protract the Decision of Justice from year to year, till weary of spoil it at length condescended to give Sentence, but I never yet understood even its unhallowed Hands preyed upon the Orphan it was bound to protect. Be it so, only let me have your answer.

  I remain, etc., etc., BYRON.

  51. — To Henry Angelo. Trinity College, Cambridge, May 16, 1806.

  SIR, — You cannot be more indignant, at the insolent and unmerited conduct of Mr. Mortlock, than those who authorised you to request his permission. However we do not yet despair of gaining our point, and every effort shall be made to remove the obstacles, which at present prevent the execution of our project. I yesterday waited on the Master of this College, who, having a personal dispute with the Mayor, declined interfering, but recommended an application to the Vice Chancellor, whose authority is paramount in the University. I shall communicate this to Lord Altamount, and we will endeavour to bend the obstinacy of the upstart magistrate, who seems to be equally deficient in justice and common civility. On my arrival in town, which will take place in a few days, you will see me at Albany Buildings, when we will discuss the subject further. Present my remembrance to the Messrs. Angelo, junior, and believe me, we will yet humble this impertinent bourgeois.

  I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

  BYRON.

  [Footnote 1: Henry Angelo, the famous fencing-master, was at the head of his profession for nearly forty years. His position was recognized at least as early as 1787, when he published The School of Fencing, and fenced, with the Chevalier de St. George and other celebrities, before the Prince of Wales at Carlton House. In 1806 he was travelling down every other week to Cambridge, as he states in his Pic Nic (1837), to visit his pupils. He had made Byron’s acquaintance at Harrow by teaching him to fence, and in later years had many bouts with him with the foils, single-sticks, and Highland broadsword. His Reminiscences (1830), together with his Pic Nic, contain numerous anecdotes of Byron, to whom he seems to have been sincerely attached. In 1806 he had several rooms in London for the use of his pupils. One of these was at 13, Bond Street, which he shared with Gentleman Jackson, the pugilist and ex-champion. In Cruikshank’s picture of the room (Pierce Egan’s Life in London, p. 254), two fencers have unmasked and stopped their bout to see Jackson spar with Corinthian Tom. Angelo contributed an article on fencing to Sir John Sinclair’s Code of Health and Longevity, vol. ii. p. 163.

  Angelo, who retired from London in 1821, and lived near Bath, was in 1806 at the height of his reputation. An old Etonian (1767), he knew every one in London; had dined at the same table with the Prince of Wales, acted with Lord Barrymore, sung comic songs with Dibdin, punned with Bannister and Colman, fished at Benham on the invitation of the Margravine of Anspach, played the flute to Lady Melfort’s accompaniment on the piano, and claimed his share of the table-talk at the Keep Line Club. Nearly every celebrity of the day, from Lord Sidmouth and Lord Liverpool to Kean and Macready, was his pupil.]

  [Footnote 2: Mr. Mortlock, the Mayor of Cambridge, is thus mentioned in a letter from S. T. Coleridge to Southey, dated September 26, 1794: “All last night I was obliged to listen to the damned chatter of “Mortlock, our mayor, a fellow that would certainly be a pantisocrat “were his head and heart as highly illuminated as his face. In the tropical latitude of this fellow’s nose was I obliged to fry” (Letters of S. T. Coleridge (1895), vol. i. p. 87).]

  [Footnote 3: William Lort Mansel, Master of Trinity, and Bishop of

  Bristol. (See page 84 [Letter 40], [Foot]note 1.)]

  [Footnote 4: Howe Peter Browne, Lord Altamont (1788-1845), of Jesus College, succeeded his father in 1809 as second Marquis of Sligo. Byron spent some time with him at Athens in 1810. Lord Sligo’s letter on the origin of the ‘Giaour’ is quoted by Moore (‘Life’, p. 178). (See also page 289 [Letter 144], [Foot]note 1 .)]

  52. — To John M. B. Pigot.

  16, Piccadilly, August 9, 1806.

  MY DEAR PIGOT, — Many thanks for your amusing narrative of the last proceedings of my amiable Alecto, who now begins to feel the effects of her folly. I have just received a penitential epistle, to which, apprehensive of pursuit, I have despatched a moderate answer, with a kind of promise to return in a fortnight; — this, however (entre nous), I never mean to fulfil. Her soft warblings must have delighted her auditors, her higher notes being particularly musical, and on a calm moonlight evening would be heard to great advantage. Had I been present as a spectator, nothing would have pleased me more; but to have come forward as one of the dramatis personae — St. Dominic defend me from such a scene! Seriously, your mother has laid me under great obligations, and you, with the rest of your family, merit my warmest thanks for your kind connivance at my escape from “Mrs. Byron furiosa.”

  Oh! for the pen of Ariosto to rehearse, in epic, the scolding of that momentous eve, — or rather, let me invoke the shade of Dante to inspire me, for none but the author of the Inferno could properly preside over such an attempt. But, perhaps, where the pen might fail, the pencil would succeed. What a group! — Mrs. B. the principal figure; you cramming your ears with cotton, as the only antidote to total deafness; Mrs. — — in vain endeavouring to mitigate the wrath of the lioness robbed of her whelp; and last, though not least, Elizabeth and Wousky, — wonderful to relate! — both deprived of their parts of speech, and bringing up the rear in mute astonishment. How did S. B. receive the intelligence? How many puns did he utter on so facetious an event? In your next inform me on this point, and what excuse you made to A. You are probably, by this time, tired of deciphering this hieroglyphical letter; — like Tony Lumpkin, you will pronounce mine to be “a damned up and down hand.” All Southwell, without doubt, is involved in amazement. Apropos, how does my blue-eyed nun, the fair — — ? Is she “robed in sable garb of woe?”

  Here I remain at least a week or ten days; previous to my departure you shall receive my address, but what it will be I have not determined. My lodgings must be kept secret from Mrs. B. You may present my compliments to her, and say any attempt to pursue me will fail, as I have taken measures to retreat immediately to Portsmouth, on the first intimation of her removal from Southwell. You may add, I have proceeded to a friend’s house in the country, there to remain a fortnight.

  I have now blotted (I must not say written) a complete double letter, and in return shall expect a monstrous budget. Without doubt, the dames of Southwell reprobate the pernicious example
I have shown, and tremble lest their babes should disobey their mandates, and quit, in dudgeon, their mammas on any grievance. Adieu. When you begin your next, drop the “lordship,” and put “Byron” in its place.