The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1

L >> Lord Byron, Edited by Rowland E. Prothero >> The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1

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"Mr. Ridge,--In Childish Recollections omit the whole character of
'Euryalus', and insert instead the lines to 'Florio' as a part of the
poem, and send me a proof in due course.

"Etc. etc.,

"BYRON.

"P.S.--The first line of the passage to be omitted begins 'Shall fair
Euryalus,' etc., and ends at 'Toil for more;' omit the _whole_."]

CHAPTER III.

1808-1809.

'ENGLISH BARDS, AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS.'

94.--To the Rev. John Becher. [1]

Dorant's Hotel, Feb. 26, 1808.

MY DEAR BECHER,--Now for Apollo. I am happy that you still retain your
predilection, and that the public allow me some share of praise. I am
of so much importance that a most violent attack is preparing for me
in the next number of the 'Edinburgh Review'. [2] This I had from the
authority of a friend who has seen the proof and manuscript of the
critique. You know the system of the Edinburgh gentlemen is universal
attack. They praise none; and neither the public nor the author
expects praise from them. It is, however, something to be noticed, as
they profess to pass judgment only on works requiring the public
attention. You will see this when it comes out;--it is, I understand,
of the most unmerciful description; but I am aware of it, and hope
'you' will not be hurt by its severity.

Tell Mrs. Byron not to be out of humour with them, and to prepare her
mind for the greatest hostility on their part. It will do no injury
whatever, and I trust her mind will not be ruffled. They defeat their
object by indiscriminate abuse, and they never praise except the
partisans of Lord Holland and Co. [3] It is nothing to be abused when
Southey, Moore, Lauderdale, Strangford, and Payne Knight, share the
same fate. [4]

I am sorry--but "Childish Recollections" must be suppressed during
this edition. I have altered, at your suggestion, the _obnoxious
allusions_ in the sixth stanza of my last ode.

And now, my dear Becher, I must return my best acknowledgments for the
interest you have taken in me and my poetical bantlings, and I shall
ever be proud to show how much I esteem the _advice_ and the
_adviser._

Believe me, most truly, etc.

[Footnote 1: The Rev. John Thomas Becher (1770-1848), educated at
Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, was appointed Vicar of Rumpton,
Notts., and Midsomer Norton, 1801; Prebendary of Southwell in 1818; and
chairman of Newark Quarter Sessions in 1816. In all matters relating to
the condition of the poor he made himself an acknowledged authority. He
was the originator of a house of correction, a Friendly Society, and a
workhouse at Southwell. He was one of the "supervisors" appointed to
organize the Milbank Penitentiary, which was opened in June, 1816. On
Friendly Societies he published three works (1824, 1825, and 1826), in
which, 'inter alia', he sought to prove that labourers, paying sixpence
a week from the time they were twenty, could secure not only sick-pay,
but an annuity of five shillings a week at the age of sixty-five. His
'Anti-Pauper System' (1828) pointed to indoor relief as the true cure to
pauperism. It was by Becher's advice that Byron destroyed his 'Fugitive
Pieces'. No one who has read the silly verses which Becher condemned,
can doubt that the counsel was wise (see Byron's Lines to Becher,
'Poems', vol. i. pp. 112-114, 114-116, 247-251). The following are the
lines in which Becher expostulated with Byron on the mischievous
tendency of his verses:--

"Say, Byron! why compel me to deplore
Talents designed for choice poetic lore,
Deigning to varnish scenes, that shun the day,
With guilty lustre, and with amorous lay?
Forbear to taint the Virgin's spotless mind,
In Power though mighty, be in Mercy kind,
Bid the chaste Muse diffuse her hallowed light,
So shall thy Page enkindle pure delight,
Enhance thy native worth, and proudly twine,
With Britain's Honors, those that are divine."

[Footnote 2: See, for the Review itself, Appendix II.

"As an author," writes Byron to Hobhouse, February 27, 1808, "I am cut
to atoms by the E-----'Review;' it is just out, and has completely
demolished my little fabric of fame. This is rather scurvy treatment
for a Whig Review; but politics and poetry are different things, and I
am no adept in either. I therefore submit in silence."

Among the less sentimental effects of this Review upon Byron's mind, he
used to mention that, on the day he read it, he drank three bottles of
claret to his own share after dinner; that nothing, however, relieved
him till he had given vent to his indignation in rhyme, and that "after
the first twenty lines, he felt himself considerably better" (Moore,
'Life', p. 69).

"I was sitting with Charles Lamb," H. Crabb Robinson told De Morgan,
"when Wordsworth came in, with fume in his countenance and the
'Edinburgh Review' in his hand.

'I have no patience with these Reviewers,' he said; 'here is a young
man, a lord, and a minor, it appears, who publishes a little volume
of poetry; and these fellows attack him, as if no one may write
poetry unless he lives in a garret. The young man will do something,
if he goes on.'

When I became acquainted with Lady Byron, I told her this story, and
she said,

'Ah! if Byron had known that, he would never have attacked
Wordsworth. He once went out to dinner where Wordsworth was to be;
when he came home, I said,

"Well, how did the young poet get on with the old one?"

"To tell you the truth," said he, "I had but one feeling from the
beginning of the visit to the end--'reverence!'"'"

('Diary,' iii. 488.)]

[Footnote 3: That is to say, the 'Edinburgh Review' praised only Whigs.
Henry Richard Vassall Fox, third Lord Holland (1773-1840), the "nephew
of Fox, and friend of Grey," married, in 1797, Elizabeth Vassall, the
divorced wife of Sir Godfrey Webster. He held the office of Lord Privy
Seal in the Ministry of All the Talents (October, 1806, to March, 1807).
During the long exclusion of the Whigs from office (1807-32), when there
seemed as little chance of a Whig Administration as of "a thaw in Nova
Zembla," Holland, in the House of Lords, supported Catholic
Emancipation, advocated the emancipation of slaves, opposed the
detention of Napoleon as a prisoner of war, and moved the abolition of
capital punishment for minor offences. From November, 1830, to his
death, with brief intervals, he was Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster, in the administrations of Lord Grey and of Lord Melbourne.
Outside the House he kept the party together by his great social gifts.
An admirable talker, 'raconteur', and mimic, with a wit's relish for
wit, the charm of his good temper was irresistible.

"In my whole experience of our race," said Lord Brougham, "I never saw
such a temper, nor anything that at all resembled it"

('Statesmen of the Time of George III.', ed. 1843, 3rd series, p. 341).
Greville speaks of

"his imperturbable temper, unflagging vivacity and spirit, his
inexhaustible fund of anecdote, extensive information, sprightly wit"

('Memoirs', iii. 446). Leslie, in his 'Autobiographical Recollections'
(vol. i. p. 100), adds the tribute that

"he was, without any exception, the very best-tempered man I have ever
known."

Lord John Russell (preface to vol. vi. of the 'Life of Thomas Moore')
says that

"he won without seeming to court, instructed without seeming to teach,
and he amused without labouring to be witty."

George Ticknor ('Life', vol. i. p. 264)

"never met a man who so disarms opposition in discussion, as I have
often seen him, without yielding an iota, merely by the unpretending
simplicity and sincerity of his manner."

Sydney Smith ('Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith', chap. x. p. 187)
considered that his

"career was one great, incessant, and unrewarded effort to resist
oppression, promote justice, and restrain the abuse of power. He had
an invincible hatred of tyranny and oppression, and the most ardent
love of public happiness and attachment to public rights."

A lover of art, a scholar, a linguist, he wrote memoirs, satires, and
verses, collected materials for a life of his uncle, Charles James Fox,
and translated both from the Spanish and Italian. His 'Account of the
Life and Writings of Lope Felix de Vega Carpio' (1806) was reviewed
favourably by the 'Edinburgh Review' for October, 1806. Byron attacked
him in 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers' (lines 540-559, and
'notes'), on the supposition that Lord Holland had instigated the
article in the 'Edinburgh Review' on 'Hours of Idleness' (January,
1808). In 1812, learning his mistake, and hearing from Rogers that Lord
and Lady Holland desired the satire to be withdrawn, he gave orders that
the whole impression should be burned (see 'Introduction to English
Sards, and Scotch Reviewers, Poems,' vol. i. p. 294). In his 'Journal'
(November 17, 1813) he writes,

"I have had a most kind letter from Lord Holland on 'The Bride of
Abydos,' which he likes, and so does Lady H. This is very good-natured
in both, from whom I do not deserve any quarter. Yet I 'did' think at
the time, that my cause of enmity proceeded from Holland House, and am
glad I was wrong, and wish I had not been in such a hurry with that
confounded Satire, of which I would suppress even the memory; but
people, now they can't get it, make a fuss, I verily believe out of
contradiction."]

[Footnote 4: In the early numbers of the 'Edinburgh Review' reviews were
published of Southey's 'Thalaba' and 'Madoc;' of Moore's 'Odes of
Anacreon' and 'Poems;' of Lord Lauderdale's 'Inquiry into the Nature and
Origin of Public Wealth;' of Lord Strangford's 'Translations from
Camoens;' of Payne Knight's 'Principles of Taste.']

95.--To the Rev. John Becher.

Dorant's, March 28, 1808.

I have lately received a copy of the new edition from Ridge, and it is
high time for me to return my best thanks to you for the trouble you
have taken in the superintendence. This I do most sincerely, and only
regret that Ridge has not seconded you as I could wish,--at least, in
the bindings, paper, etc., of the copy he sent to me. Perhaps those
for the public may be more respectable in such articles.

You have seen the 'Edinburgh Review', of course. I regret that Mrs.
Byron is so much annoyed. For my own part, these "paper bullets of the
brain" have only taught me to stand fire; and, as I have been lucky
enough upon the whole, my repose and appetite are not discomposed.
Pratt, [1] the gleaner, author, poet, etc., etc., addressed a long
rhyming epistle to me on the subject, by way of consolation; but it
was not well done, so I do not send it, though the name of the man
might make it go down. The E. Rs. have not performed their task well;
at least the literati tell me this; and I think _I_ could write a more
sarcastic critique on _myself_ than any yet published. For instance,
instead of the remark,--ill-natured enough, but not keen,--about
Macpherson, I (quoad reviewers) could have said, "Alas, this imitation
only proves the assertion of Dr. Johnson, that many men, women, and
_children_, could write such poetry as Ossian's." [2]

I am _thin_ and in exercise. During the spring or summer I trust we
shall meet. I hear Lord Ruthyn leaves Newstead in April. As soon as he
quits it for ever, I wish much you would take a ride over, survey the
mansion, and give me your candid opinion on the most advisable mode of
proceeding with regard to the _house_. _Entre nous_, I am cursedly
dipped; my debts, _every_ thing inclusive, will be nine or ten
thousand before I am twenty-one. But I have reason to think my
property will turn out better than general expectation may conceive.
Of Newstead I have little hope or care; but Hanson, my agent,
intimated my Lancashire property was worth three Newsteads. I believe
we have it hollow; though the defendants are protracting the
surrender, if possible, till after my majority, for the purpose of
forming some arrangement with me, thinking I shall probably prefer a
sum in hand to a reversion. Newstead I may _sell_;--perhaps I will
not,--though of that more anon. I will come down in May or June.

Yours most truly, etc.

[Footnote 1: Samuel Jackson Pratt (1749-1814), actor, itinerant
lecturer, poet of the Cruscan school, tragedian, and novelist, published
a large number of volumes. His 'Gleanings' in England, Holland, Wales,
and Westphalia attained some reputation. His 'Sympathy, a Poem' (1788)
passed through several editions. His stage-name, as well as his 'nom de
plume', was Courtney Melmoth. He was the discoverer and patron of the
cobbler-poet, Blacket (see also 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers',
line 319, note 2).]

[Footnote 2: "Dr. Johnson's reply to the friend who asked him if any man
'living' could have written such a book, is well known: 'Yes, sir; many
men, many women, and many children.' I inquired of him myself if this
story was authentic, and he said it was" (Mrs. Piozzi, 'Johnsoniana', p.
84).--[Moore.]]

96.--To the Hon. Augusta Leigh.

[Six Mile Bottom, Newmarket, Cambridge.]

Dorant's, [Tuesday], April 26th, 1808.

My dear Augusta,--I regret being compelled to trouble you again, but
it is necessary I should request you will inform Col. Leigh, if the
P's consent is not obtained in a few days, it will be of little
service to Mr. Wallace, who is ordered to join the 17th in ten days,
the Regiment is stationed in the East Indies, and, as he has already
served there nine years, he is unwilling to return. I shall feel
particularly obliged by Col. Leigh's interference, as I think from his
influence the Prince's consent might be obtained. I am not much in the
habit of asking favours, or pressing exertion, but, on this occasion,
my wish to save Wallace must plead my excuse.

I have been introduced to Julia Byron [1] by Trevannion at the Opera;
she is pretty, but I do not admire her; there is too much Byron in her
countenance, I hear she is clever, a very great defect in a woman, who
becomes conceited in course; altogether I have not much inclination to
improve the acquaintance.

I have seen my old friend George, [1] who will prove the best of the
family, and will one day be Lord B. I do not much care how soon.

Pray name my nephew after his uncle; it must be a nephew, (I _won't_
have a _niece,_) I will make him my _heir,_ for I shall never marry,
unless I am ruined, and then his _inheritance_ would not be great.

George will have the title and his _laurels;_ my property, (if any is
left in five years time,) I can leave to whom I please, and your son
shall be the legatee. Adieu.

Yours ever,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: George Anson Byron, R.N. (1758-1793), second son of Admiral
the Hon. John Byron, by his wife Sophia Trevanion, and brother of
Byron's father, married Henrietta Charlotte Dallas, by whom he had a
son, George, who was at this time in the Royal Navy, and in 1824
succeeded as seventh Lord Byron; and a daughter, Julia Byron, who
married, in 1817, the Rev. Robert Heath. Of his cousin George, Byron
writes in his 'Journal' for November 30, 1813 ('Life,' p. 209):

"I like George much more than most people like their heirs. He is a
fine fellow, and every inch a sailor."

Again on December 1, 1813, he says,

"I hope he will be an admiral, and, perhaps, Lord Byron into the
bargain. If he would but marry, I would engage never to marry myself,
or cut him out of the heirship."

George Anson Byron and his wife both died in 1793.]

97.--To the Rev. John Becher.

Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 14, 1808.

My dear Becher,--I am much obliged to you for your inquiries, and
shall profit by them accordingly. I am going to get up a play here;
the hall will constitute a most admirable theatre. I have settled the
'dram. pers.,' and can do without ladies, as I have some young friends
who will make tolerable substitutes for females, and we only want
three male characters, beside Mr. Hobhouse and myself, for the play we
have fixed on, which will be the 'Revenge.' [1] Pray direct Nicholson
the carpenter to come over to me immediately, and inform me what day
you will dine and pass the night here.

Believe me, etc.

[Footnote 1: Young's tragedy (1721), from which one of Byron's Harrow
speeches in the character of "Zanga" was taken (see page 27 [Letter 10],
[Foot]note 1).]

98.--To John Jackson. [1]

N. A., Notts., September 18, 1808.

Dear Jack,--I wish you would inform me what has been done by Jekyll,
at No. 40, Sloane Square, concerning the pony I returned as unsound.

I have also to request you will call on Louch at Brompton, and inquire
what the devil he meant by sending such an insolent letter to me at
Brighton; and at the same time tell him I by no means can comply with
the charge he has made for things pretended to be damaged.

Ambrose behaved most scandalously about the pony. You may tell Jekyll
if he does not refund the money, I shall put the affair into my
lawyer's hands. Five and twenty guineas is a sound price for a pony,
and by God, if it costs me five hundred pounds, I will make an example
of Mr. Jekyll, and that immediately, unless the cash is returned.

Believe me, dear Jack, etc.

[Footnote 1: John Jackson (1769-1845), better known as "Gentleman"
Jackson, was champion of England from 1795 to 1803. His three fights
were against Fewterel (1788), George Ingleston (1789), and Mendoza
(1795). In his fight at Ingatestone with "George the Brewer," he slipped
on the wet stage, and, falling, dislocated his ankle and broke his leg.
His fight with Mendoza at Hornchurch, Essex, was decided in nine rounds.
At the end of the third round "the odds rose two to one on Mendoza." In
the fifth, Jackson "seized hold of his opponent by the hair, and served
him out in that defenceless state till he fell to the ground." The fight
was practically over, and the odds at once turned in favour of Jackson,
who thenceforward had matters all his own way. Even if Mendoza had worn
a wig, he probably would have succumbed to Jackson, who was a more
powerful man with a longer reach, and as scientific, though not so
ornamental, a boxer. In 1803 Jackson retired from the ring.

"I can see him now" ('Pugilistica,' vol. i. 98), "as I saw him in '84,
walking down Holborn Hill towards Smithfield. He had on a scarlet coat
worked in gold at the button-holes, ruffles, and frill of fine lace, a
small white stock, no collar (they were not then invented), a looped
hat with a broad black band, buff knee-breeches, and long silk
strings, striped white silk stockings, pumps, and paste buckles; his
waistcoat was pale blue satin, sprigged with white. It was impossible
to look on his fine ample chest, his noble shoulders, his waist, (if
anything too small,) his large, but not too large hips, ... his limbs,
his balustrade calf and beautifully turned, but not over delicate
ankle, his firm foot, and peculiarly small hand, without thinking that
nature had sent him on earth as a model. On he went at a good five
miles and a half an hour, the envy of all men, and the admiration of
all women."

His rooms at 13, Bond Street, became the head-quarters of the Pugilistic
Club, with whose initials, P.C., the ropes and stakes at prize-rings
were marked (see page 99 [Letter 51], [Foot]note 1; and Pierce Egan's
'Life in London,' pp. 252-254). From 1803 to 1824, when he retired from
the profession, he was, as Pierce Egan says of him (p. 254), unrivalled
as "a teacher of the Art of 'self-defence.'" His character stood high.
"From the highest to the lowest person in the Sporting World, his
'decision' is law."

"This gentleman," says Moore, in a note to 'Tom Crib's Memorial to
Congress' (p. 13), "as he well deserves to be called, from the
correctness of his conduct and the peculiar urbanity of his manners,
forms that useful link between the amateurs and the professors of
pugilism, which, when broken, it will be difficult, if not wholly
impossible, to replace."

He was Byron's guest at Cambridge, Newstead, and Brighton; received from
him many letters; and is described by him, in a note to 'Don Juan'
(Canto XI. stanza xix.), as "my old friend and corporeal pastor and
master." Jackson's monument in Brompton Cemetery, a couchant lion and a
mourning athlete, was subscribed for "by several noblemen and gentlemen,
to record their admiration of one whose excellence of heart and
incorruptible worth endeared him to all who knew him."]

99.--To John Jackson.

N. A., Notts., October 4, 1808.

You will make as good a bargain as possible with this Master Jekyll,
if he is not a gentleman. If he is a _gentleman_, inform me, for I
shall take very different steps. If he is not, you must get what you
can of the money, for I have too much business on hand at present to
commence an action. Besides, Ambrose is the man who ought to
refund,--but I have done with him. You can settle with L. out of the
balance, and dispose of the bidets, etc., as you best can.

I should be very glad to see you here; but the house is filled with
workmen, and undergoing a thorough repair. I hope, however, to be more
fortunate before many months have elapsed.

If you see Bold Webster, [1] remember me to him, and tell him I have
to regret Sydney, who has perished, I fear, in my rabbit warren, for
we have seen nothing of him for the last fortnight. Adieu. [2]

Believe me, etc.

[Footnote 1: Sir Godfrey Vassal Webster (1788-1836).]

[Footnote 2: A third letter to Jackson, written from Newstead, December
12, 1808, runs as follows:--

"My Dear Jack,--You will get the greyhound from the owner at any
price, and as many more of the same breed (male or female) as you can
collect.

"Tell D'Egville his dress shall be returned--I am obliged to him for
the pattern. I am sorry you should have so much trouble, but I was not
aware of the difficulty of procuring the animals in question. I
shall have finished part of my mansion in a few weeks, and, if you can
pay me a visit at Christmas, I shall be very glad to see you.

Believe me, etc."

In a bill, for 1808, sent in to Byron by Messrs. Finn and Johnson,
tailors, of Nottingham, appears the following item: "Masquerade Jackett
with belt and rich Turban, L11:9:6." This is probably the dress made
from d'Egville's pattern.

James d'Egville learned dancing from Gaetano Vestris, well known at the
Court of Frederick the Great, and from Gardel, the Court teacher of
Marie Antoinette. He, his brother Louis, and his sister Madame Michau,
were the most famous teachers of the day in England. The real name of
the family was Hervey; that of d'Egville was assumed for professional
purposes. James d'Egville enjoyed a great reputation, both as an actor
and a dancer, in Paris and London. He was Acting-Manager and Director of
the King's Theatre (October, 1807, to January, 1808), but was dismissed,
owing to a disagreement between the managers, in the course of which he
was accused of French proclivities and republican principles (see
Waters's 'Opera-Glass', pp. 133-145). A man of taste and cultivation, he
produced some musical extravaganzas and ballets; 'e.g. Don Quichotte ou
les Noces de Gamache, L'Elevement d'Adonis, The Rape of Dejanira', etc.

A coloured print, in the possession of his great-nephew, Mr. Louis
d'Egville, represents him, with Deshayes, in one of his most successful
appearances, the ballet-pantomime of 'Achille et Deidamie'. He was an
enthusiastic sportsman.]

100.--To his Mother.

Newstead Abbey, Notts, October 7, 1808.

Dear Madam,--I have no beds for the Hansons or any body else at
present. The Hansons sleep at Mansfield. I do not know that I resemble
Jean Jacques Rousseau. [1] I have no ambition to be like so
illustrious a madman--but this I know, that I shall live in my own
manner, and as much alone as possible. When my rooms are ready I shall
be glad to see you: at present it would be improper, and uncomfortable
to both parties. You can hardly object to my rendering my mansion
habitable, notwithstanding my departure for Persia in March (or May at
farthest), since _you_ will be _tenant_ till my return; and in case of
any accident (for I have already arranged my will to be drawn up the
moment I am twenty-one), I have taken care you shall have the house
and manor for _life_, besides a sufficient income. So you see my
improvements are not entirely selfish. As I have a friend here, we
will go to the Infirmary Ball on the 12th; we will drink tea with Mrs.
Byron [2] at eight o'clock, and expect to see you at the ball. If that
lady will allow us a couple of rooms to dress in, we shall be highly
obliged:--if we are at the ball by ten or eleven, it will be time
enough, and we shall return to Newstead about three or four. Adieu.

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