Lord Byron - Delphi Poets Series

by Lord Byron

  What I have read of this work seems admirably done. My praise, however, is not much worth the Author’s having; but you may thank him in my name for his. The idea is new — we have excellent imitations of the Satires, etc. by Pope; but I remember but one imitative Ode in his works, and none any where else. I can hardly suppose that they have lost any fame by the fate of the Farce; but even should this be the case, the present publication will again place them on their pinnacle.

  Yours truly,

  B.

  “All who behold my mutilated pile

  Shall brand its ravager with classic rage,

  And soon a titled bard from Britain’s Isle,

  Thy country’s praise and suffrage shall engage,

  And fire with Athens’ wrongs an angry age!”

  “Such as mild Justice might herself dispense,

  To Inexperience and a First Offence.”

  278 — to Robert Rushton

  4, Bennet Street, St. James’s, Feb. 24th, 1813.

  I feel rather surprised to have heard nothing from you or your father in answer to Fletcher’s last letter. I wish to know whether you intend taking a share in a farm with your brother, or prefer to wait for some other situation in Lancashire; — the first will be the best, because, at your time of life, it is highly improper to remain idle. If this marriage which is spoken of for you is at all advantageous, I can have no objection; but I should suppose, after being in my service from your infancy, you will at least let me know the name of your intended, and her expectations. If at all respectable, nothing can be better for your settlement in life, and a proper provision will be made for you; at all events let me hear something on the subject, for, as I have some intention of leaving England in the Summer, I wish to make my arrangements with regard to yourself before that period. As you and Mr. Murray have not received any money for some time, if you will draw on me for fifty pounds (payable at Messrs. Hoare’s, Bankers, Fleet Street), and tell Mr. J[oseph] Murray to draw for the same sum on his own account, both will be paid by me.

  Etc., etc.,

  B.

  279 — to John Hanson

  F’y. 27th, 1813.

  Dear Sir, — I have called several times, and you may suppose am very anxious to hear something from or of Mr. Claughton.

  It is my determination, on account of a malady to which I am subject, and for other weighty reasons, to go abroad again almost immediately. To this you will object; but, as my intention cannot be altered, I have only to request that you will assist me as far as in your power to make the necessary arrangements.

  I have every confidence in you, and will leave the fullest powers to act in my absence. If this man still hesitates, I must sell my part of Rochdale for what it will bring, even at a loss, and fight him out about Newstead; without this, I have no funds to go on with, and I do not wish to incur further debts if possible.

  Pray favour me with a short reply to this, and say when I can see you. Excuse me to Mrs. H. for my non-appearance last night; I was detained in the H. of L. till too late to dress for her party. Compliments to all.

  Ever yours,

  B.

  280 — to John Hanson

  March 1st, 1813.

  Dear Sir, — I am sorry that I could not call today but will tomorrow. Your objections I anticipated and can only repeat that I cannot act otherwise; so pray hasten some arrangement — for with, or without, I must go.

  A person told me yesterday there was one who would give within £10,000 of C.’s price and take the title as it was. C. is a fool or is shuffling.

  Think of what I said about Rochdale, for I will sell it for what I can get, and will not stay three months longer in this country. I again repeat I will leave all with full powers to you. I commend your objection which is a proof of an honourable mind — which however I did not need to convince me of your character. If you have any news send a few lines.

  Ever yours,

  BN.

  281 — to — — Corbet

  Mh. 5th, 1813.

  Dear Sir, — Lady F[alkland?] has returned by Mr. Hanson the only two letters I ever wrote her, both some time ago, and neither containing the least allusion which could make any person suppose that I had any intention further than regards the children of her husband. My servant returned the packet and letter of yesterday at the moment of receiving them; by her letter to Mr. H. it should seem they have not been redelivered. I am sorry for this, but it is not my fault, and they ought never to have been sent. After her Ladyship’s mistakes, so often repeated, you will not blame me for declining all further interference in her affairs, and I rely much upon your word in contradicting her foolish assertions, and most absurd imaginations. She now says that “I need not leave the country on her account.” How the devil she knew that I was about to leave it I cannot guess; but, however, for the first time she has dreamed right. But her being the cause is still more ludicrous than the rest. First, she would have it that I returned here for love of a woman I never saw, and now that I am going, for the same whom I have never seen, and certainly never wished, nor wish, to see! The maddest consistency I ever heard of. I trust that she has regained her senses, as she tells Mr. H. she will not scribble any more, which will also save you from the troublesome correspondence of

  Your obliged and obedient servant,

  Byron.

  282 — to John Hanson

  March 6th, 1813.

  Dear Sir, — I must be ready in April at whatever risk, — at whatever loss. You will therefore advertize Rochdale; if you decline this, I will sell it for what it will bring, even though but a few thousand pounds.

  With regard to Claughton, I shall only say that, if he knew the ruin, — the misery, he occasions by his delay, he would be sorry for his conduct, and I only hope that he and I may not meet, or I shall say something he will not like to hear. I have called often. I shall call today at three or between three and four; again and again, I can only beg of you to forward my plans, for here no power on earth shall make me remain six weeks longer.

  Ever yours,

  B.

  283 — to Charles Hanson

  Mh. 24th, 1813.

  My Dear Charles, — This is very evasive and dissatisfactory. What is to be done I cannot tell, but your father had better see his letter and this of mine. A long litigation neither suits my inclination nor circumstances; it were better to take back the estate, and raise it to what it will bear, which must be at least double, to dismantle the house and sell the materials, and sell Rochdale. Something I must determine on and that quickly. I want to go abroad immediately; it is utterly impossible for me to remain here; every thing I have done to extricate myself has been useless. Your father said “sell;” I have sold, and see what has become of it! If I go to Law with this fellow, after five years litigation at the present depreciation of money, the price will not be worth the property; besides how much of it will be spent in the contest! and how am I to live in the interim? Every day land rises and money falls. I shall tell Mr. Cn. he is a scoundrel, and have done with him, and I only hope he will have spirit enough to resent the appellation, and defend his own rascally conduct. In the interim of his delay in his journey, I shall leave town; on Sunday I shall set out for Herefordshire, from whence, when wanted, I will return.

  Pray tell your father to get the money on Rochdale, or I must sell it directly. I must be ready by the last week in May, and am consequently pressed for time.

  I go first to Cagliari in Sardinia, and on to the Levant.

  Believe me, dear Charles,

  Yours truly,

  B.

  284 — to Samuel Rogers

  March 25, 1813.

  I enclose you a draft for the usurious interest due to Lord B[oringdon]’s protégé; — I also could wish you would state thus much for me to his Lordship. Though the transaction speaks plainly in itself for the borrower’s folly and the lender’s usury, it never was my intention to quash the demand, as I l
egally might, nor to withhold payment of principal, or, perhaps, even unlawful interest. You know what my situation has been, and what it is. I have parted with an estate (which has been in my family for nearly three hundred years, and was never disgraced by being in possession of a lawyer, a churchman, or a woman, during that period,) to liquidate this and similar demands; and the payment of the purchase is still withheld, and may be, perhaps, for years. If, therefore, I am under the necessity of making those persons wait for their money, (which, considering the terms, they can afford to suffer,) it is my misfortune.

  When I arrived at majority in 1809,1 offered my own security on legal interest, and it was refused. Now, I will not accede to this. This man I may have seen, but I have no recollection of the names of any parties but the agents and the securities. The moment I can, it is assuredly my intention to pay my debts. This person’s case may be a hard one; but, under all circumstances, what is mine? I could not foresee that the purchaser of my estate was to demur in paying for it.

  I am glad it happens to be in my power so far to accommodate my Israelite, and only wish I could do as much for the rest of the Twelve Tribes.

  Ever yours, dear R.,

  BN.

  “Friday Morning.

  “My Dearest Byron, — I have just received your note, but I will not execute your Commission; and, moreover, I will tell Lord Boringdon that I refused to do it. I know your situation; and I should never sleep again, if by any interference of mine, for by so harsh a word I must call it, you should be led by your generosity, your pride, or any other noble motive, to do more than you are called upon to do.

  “I mentioned the thing to Lord Holland last night, and he entirely agreed with me, that you are not called upon to do it. The Principal and the legal interest are all that these extortioners are entitled to; and, you must forgive me, but I will not do as you require. I shall keep the draft till I see you.

  “Yours ever and ever,

  “Saml. Rogers.”

  285 — to the Hon. Augusta Leigh.

  4, Bennet Street, St. James’s, March 26th, 1813.

  My Dearest Augusta, — I did not answer your letter, because I could not answer as I wished, but expected that every week would bring me some tidings that might enable me to reply better than by apologies. But Claughton has not, will not, and, I think, cannot pay his money, and though, luckily, it was stipulated that he should never have possession till the whole was paid, the estate is still on my hands, and your brother consequently not less embarrassed than ever. This is the truth, and is all the excuse I can offer for inability, but not unwillingness, to serve you.

  I am going abroad again in June, but should wish to see you before my departure. You have perhaps heard that I have been fooling away my time with different “regnantes;” but what better can be expected from me? I have but one relative, and her I never see. I have no connections to domesticate with, and for marriage I have neither the talent nor the inclination. I cannot fortune-hunt, nor afford to marry without a fortune. My parliamentary schemes are not much to my taste — I spoke twice last Session, and was told it was well enough; but I hate the thing altogether, and have no intention to “strut another hour” on that stage. I am thus wasting the best part of life, daily repenting and never amending.

  On Sunday, I set off for a fortnight for Eywood, near Presteign, in Herefordshire — with the Oxfords. I see you put on a demure look at the name, which is very becoming and matronly in you; but you won’t be sorry to hear that I am quite out of a more serious scrape with another singular personage which threatened me last year, and trouble enough I had to steer clear of it I assure you. I hope all my nieces are well, and increasing in growth and number; but I wish you were not always buried in that bleak common near Newmarket.

  I am very well in health, but not happy, nor even comfortable; but I will not bore you with complaints. I am a fool, and deserve all the ills I have met, or may meet with, but nevertheless very sensibly, dearest Augusta,

  Your most affectionate brother

  Byron.

  The following impressions of his short parliamentary career are recorded by Byron himself:

  “I have never heard any one who fulfilled my ideal of an orator. Grattan would have been near it, but for his harlequin delivery. Pitt I never heard. Fox but once, and then he struck me as a debater, which to me seems as different from an orator as an improvisatore, or a versifier, from a poet. Grey is great, but it is not oratory. Canning is sometimes very like one. Windham I did not admire, though all the world did; it seemed sad sophistry. Whitbread was the Demosthenes of bad taste and vulgar vehemence, but strong, and English. Holland is impressive from sense and sincerity. Lord Lansdowne good, but still a debater only. Grenville I like vastly, if he would prune his speeches down to an hour’s delivery. Burdett is sweet and silvery as Belial himself, and I think the greatest favourite in Pandemonium; at least I always heard the country gentlemen and the ministerial devilry praise his speeches up stairs, and run down from Bellamy’s when he was upon his legs. I heard Bob Milnes make his second speech; it made no impression. I like Ward — studied, but keen, and sometimes eloquent. Peel, my school and form fellow (we sat within two of each other), strange to say, I have never heard, though I often wished to do so; but, from what I remember of him at Harrow, he is, or should be, among the best of them. Now I do not admire Mr. Wilberforce’s speaking; it is nothing but a flow of words — ’words, words, alone.’

  “I doubt greatly if the English have any eloquence, properly so called; and am inclined to think that the Irish had a great deal, and that the French will have, and have had in Mirabeau. Lord Chatham and Burke are the nearest approaches to orators in England. I don’t know what Erskine may have been at the bar, but in the House, I wish him at the bar once more. Lauderdale is shrill, and Scotch, and acute. Of Brougham I shall say nothing, as I have a personal feeling of dislike to the man.

  “But amongst all these, good, bad, and indifferent, I never heard the speech which was not too long for the auditors, and not very intelligible, except here and there. The whole thing is a grand deception, and as tedious and tiresome as maybe to those who must be often present. I heard Sheridan only once, and that briefly, but I liked his voice, his manner, and his wit: and he is the only one of them I ever wished to hear at greater length.

  “The impression of Parliament upon me was, that its members are not formidable as speakers, but very much so as an audience; because in so numerous a body there may be little eloquence, (after all, there were but two thorough orators in all antiquity, and I suspect still fewer in modern times,) but there must be a leaven of thought and good sense sufficient to make them know what is right, though they can’t express it nobly.

  “Horne Tooke and Roscoe both are said to have declared that they left Parliament with a higher opinion of its aggregate integrity and abilities than that with which they entered it. The general amount of both in most Parliaments is probably about the same, as also the number of speakers and their talent. I except orators, of course, because they are things of ages, and not of septennial or triennial reunions. Neither House ever struck me with more awe or respect than the same number of Turks in a divan, or of Methodists in a barn, would have done. Whatever diffidence or nervousness I felt (and I felt both, in a great degree) arose from the number rather than the quality of the assemblage, and the thought rather of the public without than the persons within, — knowing (as all know) that Cicero himself, and probably the Messiah, could never have altered the vote of a single lord of the bedchamber, or bishop. I thought our House dull, but the other animating enough upon great days.

  “I have heard that when Grattan made his first speech in the English Commons, it was for some minutes doubtful whether to laugh at or cheer him. The débût of his predecessor, Flood, had been a complete failure, under nearly similar circumstances. But when the ministerial part of our senators had watched Pitt (their thermometer) for the cue, and saw him nod repeatedly hi
s stately nod of approbation, they took the hint from their huntsman, and broke out into the most rapturous cheers. Grattan’s speech, indeed, deserved them; it was a chef-d’oeuvre. I did not hear that speech of his (being then at Harrow), but heard most of his others on the same question — also that on the war of 1815. I differed from his opinions on the latter question, but coincided in the general admiration of his eloquence.

  “When I met old Courtenay, the orator, at Rogers’s the poet’s, in 1811-12, I was much taken with the portly remains of his fine figure, and the still acute quickness of his conversation. It was he who silenced Flood in the English House by a crushing reply to a hasty débût of the rival of Grattan in Ireland. I asked Courtenay (for I like to trace motives) if he had not some personal provocation; for the acrimony of his answer seemed to me, as I read it, to involve it. Courtenay said ‘he had; that, when in Ireland (being an Irishman), at the bar of the Irish House of Commons, Flood had made a personal and unfair attack upon himself, who, not being a member of that House, could not defend himself, and that some years afterwards, the opportunity of retort offering in the English Parliament, he could not resist it.’ He certainly repaid Flood with interest, for Flood never made any figure, and only a speech or two afterwards, in the English House of Commons. I must except, however, his speech on Reform in 1790, which Fox called ‘the best he ever heard upon that subject.’“

  286 — to John Murray

  March 29th, 1813.

  Dear Sir, — Westall has, I believe, agreed to illustrate your book, and I fancy one of the engravings will be from the pretty little girl you saw the other day, though without her name, and merely as a model for some sketch connected with the subject. I would also have the portrait (which you saw to-day) of the friend who is mentioned in the text at the close of Canto 1st, and in the notes, — which are subjects sufficient to authorise that addition.