David the 'go by.' He certainly is perhaps more can't accord with your insulated ideas of decorum attached to me than even I am in return. During and other silly expressions not inserted in our the whole of my residence at Cambridge we met vocabulary. every day, summer and winter, without passing one "Oh! Southwell, Southwell, how I rejoice to tiresome moment, and separated each time with have left thee, and how I curse the heavy hours 1 increasing reluctance. I hope you will one day see dragged along, for so many months, among the us together he is the only being I esteem, though Mohawks who inhabit your kraals!-However, one I like many.* thing I do not regret, which is having pared off a "The Marquis of Tavistock was down the other sufficient quantity of flesh to enable me to slip into day; I supped with him at his tutor's-entirely aan eel skin,' and vie with the slim beaux of modern whig party. The opposition muster strong here times; though, I am sorry to say, it seems to be now, and Lord Huntingdon, the Duke of Leinster, the mode among gentlemen to grow fat, and I am &c., &c., are to join us in October, so every thing told I am at least fourteen pounds below the will be splendid. The music is all over at present. fashion. However, I decrease instead of enlarging, Met with another accidency'-upset a butter-boat which is extraordinary, as violent exercise in Lon in the lap of a lady-look'd very blue-spectators don is impracticable; but I attribute the phenom grinned curse 'em!' Apropos, sorry to say, been enon to our evening squeezes at public and private drunk every day, and not quite sober yet-however, parties. I heard from Ridge this morning, (the touch no meat, nothing but fish, soup, and vegeta- 14th, my letter was begun yesterday:) he says the bles, consequently it does me no harm-sad dogs Poems go on as well as can be wished, the seventyall the Cantabs. Mem.-we mean to reform next five sent to town are circulated, and a demand for January. This place is a monotony of endless variety fifty more complied with, the day he dated his -like it-hate Southwell. Has Ridge sold well? epistle, though the advertisements are not yet half or do the ancients demur? What ladies have published. Adieu. bought? "P. S. Lord Carlisle, on receiving my poems, * * * * 豪 "Saw a girl at St. Mary's the image of Anne **, sent, before he opened the book, a tolerably handthought it was her-all in the wrong-the lady some letter:-I have not heard from him since, stared, so did I-I blushed, so did not the lady-sad His opinions I neither know nor care about; if he thing-wish women had more modesty. Talking is the least insolent, I shall enroll him with Butler of women, puts me in mind of my terrier Fanny-and the other worthies. He is in Yorkshire, poor how is she? Got a headache, must go to bed, up man! and very ill! He said he had not time to early in the morning to travel. My protege break- read the contents, but thought it necessary to fasts with me; parting spoils my appetite-except- acknowledge the receipt of the volume immediately. ing from Southwell. Mem.-I hate Southwell. Perhaps the earl bears no brother near the throne,' -if so, I will make his sceptre totter in his hands.— Adieu!" "Yours, &c." LETTER XVIII. TO MISS PIGOT. LETTER XIX. TO MISS PIGOT. "Gordon's Hotel, July 13, 1807. “August 2, 1507. "You write most excellent epistles-a fig for is empty-consequently I can scribble at leisure, as "London begins to disgorge its contents-town other correspondents with their nonsensical apolo- occupations are less numerous. gies for knowing nought about it,'-you send me a shall depart to fulfil a country engagement; but In a fortnight I delightful budget. I am here in a perpetual vortex of dissipation, (very pleasant for all that,) and, expect two epistles from you previous to that period. strange to tell, I get thinner, being now below Ridge does not proceed rapidly in Nottseleven stone considerably. Stay in town a month, ing aspect, and a man whose works are praised by very possible. In town things wear a more promis perhaps six weeks, trip into Essex, and then, as a reviewers, admired by duchesses, and sold by every favor, irradiate Southwell for three days with the bookseller in the metropolis, does not dedicate light of my countenance; but nothing shall ever much consideration to rustic readers. I have now a make me reside there again. I positively return to review before me, entitled Literary Recreations,' Cambridge in October; we are to be uncommonly where my bardship is applauded far beyond my gay, or in truth I should cut the University. An deserts. I know nothing of the critic, but think extraordinary circumstance occurred to me at Cam-him a very discerning gentleman, and myself a bridge, a girl so very like made her appear- devilish clever fellow. ance, that nothing but the most minute inspection particularly because it is of great length, and a His critique pleases me proper quantum of censure is administered, just to "What the devil would Ridge have? is not fifty I hate insipid, unqualified, common-place compli give an agreeable relish to the praise. You know in a fortnight, before the advertisements, a sufficient ment. sale? I hear many of the London booksellers thirteenth number of Literary Recreations' for If you would wish to see it, order the have them, and Crosby has sent copies to the the last month. I assure you I have not the most principal watering-places. Are they liked or not in distant idea of the writer of the article-it is printed Southwell? * I wish Boatswain had in a periodical publication-and though i have swallowed Damon! How is Bran? by the immortal written a paper, (a review of Wordsworth,†) which gods, Bran ought to be a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. The intelligence of London cannot be interesting The first attempt of Lord Byron at reviewing, (for he, once or twice to you, who have rusticated all your life-the annals afterward, tried his hand at this least poetical of employments,) is remarke of routs, riots, balls and boxing-matches, cards and only as showing how plausibly he could assume the established tone and crim. cons., parliamentary discussions, political phraseology of these minor judgment-seats of criticism. For instanc details, masquerades, mechanics, Argyle street" The volumes before us are by the Author of Lyrical Ballads, a comention Institution and aquatie races, love and lotteries, which has not undeservedly met with a considerable share of public applause. Brooks's and Bonaparte, opera-singers and orato- The characteristics of Mr. Wordsworth's muse are simple and flowing, rios, wine, women, waxworks, and weathercocks, appeals to the feelings, with unexceptionable sentiments. Though the though occasionally inharmonious, verse,-strong, and sometimes irresistible present work may not equal his former efforts, many of the poems powe native elegance," &c. &c.-Moore. could have undeceived me. I wish I had asked if she had ever been at H * • Edleston See Letter 101. Dr. Butler. See Letter XI. appears in the same work, I am ignorant of every, "Last week I swam in the Thames from Lamother person concerned in it-even the editor, beth through the two bridges, Westminster and whose name I have not heard. My cousin, Lord Blackfriars, a distance, including the different Alexander Gordon, who resided in the same hotel, turns and tacks made on the way, of three miles! told me his mother, her Grace of Gordon, requested You see I am in excellent training in case of a he would introduce my poetical Lordship to her squall at sea. I mean to collect all the Erse tradiHighness, as she had bought my volume, admired it tions, poems, &c., and translate, or expand the subexceedingly in common with the rest of the fashion- ject to fill a volume, which may appear next spring able world, and wished to claim her relationship under the denomination of The Highland Harp, with the author. I was unluckily engaged on an or some title equally picturesque. Of Bosworth excursion for some days afterward, and as the Field, one book is finished, another just begun. It duchess was on the eve of departing for Scotland, will be a work of three or four years, and most probI have postponed my introduction till the winter, ably never conclude. What would you say to some when I shall favor the lady, whose taste I shall not stanzas on Mount Hecla? they would be written at dispute, with my most sublime and edifying con- least with fire. How is the immortal Bran? and versation. She is now in the Highlands, and the Phoenix of canine quadrupeds, Boatswain? I Alexander took his departure a few days ago, for have lately purchased a thorough-bred bull-dog, the same blessed seat of 'dark rolling winds.' worthy to be the coadjutor of the aforesaid celestials his name is Smut!-bear it, ye breezes, on your balmy wings.' "Crosby, my London publisher, has disposed of his second importation, and has sent to Ridge for a third-at least so he says. In every bookseller's "Write to me before I set off, I conjure you by window I see my own name and say nothing, but the fifth rib of your grandfather. Ridge goes on enjoy my fame in secret. My last reviewer kindly well with the books-I thought that worthy had requests me to alter my determination of writing not done much in the country. In town they have no more, and a Friend to the Cause of Literature been very successful; Carpenter (Moore's publisher) begs I will gratify the public with some new work told me a few days ago they sold all theirs immediat no very distant period.' Who would not be a ately, and had several inquiries made since, which, bard-that is to say, if all critics would be so from the books being gone, they could not supply.. polite. However, the others will pay me off, I The Duke of York, the Marchioness of Headfort, doubt not, for this gentle encouragement. If so, the Duchess of Gordon, &c., &c., were among the have at 'em! By-the-by, I have written at my purchasers, and Crosby says the circulation will be intervals of leisure, after two in the morning, three still more extensive in the winter; the summer seahundred and eighty lines in blank verse, of Bosworth son being very bad for a sale, as most people are Field. I have luckily got Hutton's account. I absent from London. However, they have gone off shall extend the Poem to eight or ten books, and extremely well altogether. I shall pass very near you shall have finished it in a year. Whether it will be on my journey through Newark, but cannot appublished or not must depend on circumstances. proach. Don't tell this to Mrs. B., who supposes So much for egotism! My laurels have turned my travel a different road. If you have a letter, order brain, but the cooling acids of forthcoming criticisms it to be left at Ridge's shop, where I shall call, or will probably restore me to modesty. the post-office, Newark, about six or eight in the "BYRON." "Southwell is a damned place-I have done with evening. If your brother would ride over, I should it at least in all probability: excepting yourself, I be devilish glad to see him-he can return the same esteem no one within its precincts. You were my night, or sup with us and go home the next mornonly rational companion; and in plain truth, I had ing-the Kingston Arms is my inn. Adieu. Yours more respect for you than the whole bevy, with ever, whose foibles I amused myself in compliance with their prevailing propensities. You gave yourself more trouble with me and my manuscripts than a thousand dolls would have done. Believe me, I have not forgotten your good-nature in this circle of sin, and one day I trust I shall be able to evince my gratitude. Adieu, yours, &c. "P. S. Remember me to Dr. P." LETTER XX. TO MISS PIGOT. London, August 11, 1807. "MY DEAR LETTER XXI. TO MISS PIGOT. "Fatigued with sitting up till four in the morning for the last two days at hazard, I take up my pen to inquire how your highness and the rest of my female acquaintance at the scat of archiepiscopal grandeur go on. I know I deserve a scolding for my negligence in not writing more frequently: but racing up and down the country for these last three months, how was it possible to fulfil the duties of a correspondent? Fixed at last for six weeks, I write, "On Sunday next I set off for the Highlands. as thin as ever, (not having gained an ounce since A friend of mine accompanies me in my carriage to my reduction,) and rather in better humor;-but, Edinburgh. There we shall leave it, and proceed in after, all, Southwell was a detestable residence. a tandem, (a species of open carriage,) through the Thank St. Dominica, I have done with it: I have western passes to Inverary, where we shall purchase been twice within eight miles of it, but could shelties, to enable us to view places inaccessible to not prevail on myself to suffocate in its heavy vehicular conveyances. On the coast we shall hire atmosphere. This place is wretched enough-a a vessel and visit the most remarkable of the He- villanous chaos of din and drunkenness, nothing brides, and, if we have time and favorable weather, but hazard and Burgundy, hunting mathematics mean to sail as far as Iceland, only three hundred and Newmarket, riot and racing. Yet it is a paramiles from the northern extremity of Caledonia, to dise compared with the eternal dulness of Southpeep at Hecla. This last intention you will keep a well. Oh! the misery of doing nothing but make secret, as my nice mamma would imagine I was on love, enemies, and verses. a Voyage of Discovery, and raise the accustomed maternal war-whoop. "Next January (but this is entre nous only, and pray let it be so, or my maternal persecutor will be throwing her tomahawk at any of my curious proj • This plan (which he never put in practice) had been talked of by him ects) I am going to sea, for four or five months, before he left Southwell.-Moore. with my cousin, Capt. Bettesworth, who commands the Tartar, the finest frigate in the navy. I have, mention the two Lords Lyttleton in a manner they seen most scenes, and wish to look at a naval life. respectively deserve, and will be surprised to hear We are going probably to the Mediterranean, or to the person who is now addressing you has been the West Indies, or to the d-1; and if there is a frequently compared to the latter. I know I am inpossibility of taking me to the latter Bettesworth juring myself in your esteem by this avowal, but will do it; for he has received four-and-twenty the circumstance was so remarkable from your ob wounds in different places, and at this moment pos-servation, that I cannot help relating the fact. The sesses a letter from the late Lord Nelson, stating events of my short life have been of so singular a Bettesworth as the only officer in the navy who had nature, that though the pride commonly called more wounds than himself.* honor has, and I trust ever will, prevent me from me what "I have got a new friend, the finest in the world, disgracing my name by a mean or cowardly action, a tame bear. When I brought him here, they asked I have been already held up as the votary of licen meant to do with him, and my reply was, tiousness, and the disciple of infidelity. How fr he should sit for a fellowship. Sherard will ex- justice may have dictated this accusation I cannot plain the meaning of the sentence, if it is ambigu- pretend to say, but like the gentleman to whom my ous. This answer delighted them not. We have religious friends, in the warmth of their charity, have several parties here, and this evening a large as- already devoted me, I am made worse than I realy sortment of jockeys, gamblers, boxers, authors, am. However, to quit myself, (the worst theme] parsons, and poets, sup with me,-a precious mix- could pitch upon,) and return to my Poems, I can ture, but they go on well together: and for me, I not sufficiently express my thanks, and I hopel am a spice of every thing except a jockey; by-the-shall some day have an opportunity of rendering by, I was dismounted again the other day. them in person. A second edition is now in the "Thank your brother in my name for his treatise. press, with some additions and considerable ons I have written 214 pages of a novel,-one poem of sions; you will allow me to present you with a copy. 380 lines,† to be published (without my name) in a The Critical, Monthly, and Anti-Jacobin Reviews few weeks, with notes,-560 lines of Bosworth have been very indulgent; but the Eclectic has pro Field, and 250 lines of another poem in rhyme, be-nounced a furious Philippic, not against the bot . sides half a dozen smaller pieces. The poem to be but the author, where you will find all I have menpublished is a Satire. Apropos, I have been praised tioned asserted by a reverend divine who wrote the to the skies in the Critical Review, and abused critique. greatly in another publication. So much the better, "Your name and connexion with our family have they tell me, for the sale of the book; it keeps up been long known to me, and I hope your person controversy, and prevents it being forgotten. Be- will be not less so; you will find me an excellent sides, the first men of all ages have had their share, compound of a Brainless' and a 'Stanhope.* I nor do the humblest escape;-so I bear it like a am afraid you will hardly be able to read this, for philosopher. It is odd two opposite critiques came my hand is almost as bad as my character, but you out on the same day, and out of five pages of abuse will find me, as legibly as possible, my censor only quotes two lines from different poems, in support of his opinion. Now the proper way to cut up, is to quote long passages, and make them appear absurd, because simple allegation is no proof. On the other hand, there are seven pages of praise, and more than my modesty will allow said on the subject. Adieu. "P S. Write, write, write!!!" Your obliged and obedient servant, "BYRON." LETTER XXIII. TO MR. DALLAS. my answer. "Whenever leisure and inclination permit me the pleasure of a visit, I shall feel truly gratified in a personal acquaintance with one whose mind has been long known to me in his writings. "You are so far correct in your conjecture, that I am a member of the University of Cambridge, where I shall take my degree of A. M. this terra: but were reasoning, eloquence, or virtue the objects of my search, Granta is not their metropolis, nor is the place of her situation an El Dorado,' far ass a Utopia. The intellects of her children are as stagnant as her Cam,† and their pursuits limited to the church-not of Christ, but of the nearest benefice. "If the little volume you mention has given pleasure to the author of Percival and Aubrey, I am sufficiently repaid by his praise. Though our "As to my reading, I believe I may aver, without periodical censors have been uncommonly lenient, I hiperbole, it has been tolerably extensive in the his confess a tribute from a man of acknowledged genius torical; so that few nations exist, or have existed is still more flattering. But I am afraid I should with whose records I am not in some degree ac forfeit all claim to candor, if I did not decline such quainted, from Herodotus down to Gibbon. Of the praise as I do not deserve; and this is, I am sorry classics, I know about as much as most school boys to say, the case in the present instance. after a discipline of thirteen years; of the law of 66 My compositions speak for themselves, and the land as much as enables me to keep within the must stand or fall by their own worth or demerit: statute'-to use the poacher's vocabulary. Idd thus far I feel highly gratified by your favorable study the Spirit of Laws' and the Law of of Na opinion. But my pretences to virtue are unluckily tions; but when I saw the latter violated every so few, that though I should be happy to merit, I month, I gave up my attempts at so useless an ascannot accept your applause in that respect. One complishment;-of geography, have seen more passage in your letter struck me forcibly: you land on maps than I should wish to traverse on foot;-of mathematics, enough to give me the • See postscript to the English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, Hours of Idleness. • Characters in the novel called Percival ↑ See E. B. and S. R. page 465. headache without clearing the part affected :-of "I meant to have been down in July; but thinkphilosophy, astronomy, and metaphysics, more ing my appearance, immediately after the publicathan I can comprehend, and of common sense so tion, would be construed into an insult, I directed little, that I mean to leave a Byronian prize at each my steps elsewhere. Besides, I heard that some of our Alma Matres' for the first discovery,- of the boys had got hold of my Libellus, contrary though Irather fear that of the Longitude will pre- to my wishes certainly, for I never transmitted a cede it. single copy till October, when I gave one to a boy, I once thought myself a philosopher, and since gone, after repeated importunities. You will, talked nonsense with great decorum: I defied pain, I trust, pardon this egotism. As you had touched and preached up equanimity. For some time this on the subject, I thought some explanation necesdid very well, for no one was in pain for me but my sary. Defence I shall not attempt, Hic murus friends, and none lost their patience but my hear- aheneus esto, nil conscire sibi'-and 'so on' (as ers. At last, a fall from my horse convinced me Lord Baltimore said, on his trial for a rape)-I have bodily suffering was an evil; and the worst of an been so long at Trinity as to forget the conclusion argument overset my maxims and my temper at the of the line; but, though I cannot finish my quota saine moment, so I quitted Zeno for Aristippus, and tion, I will my letter, and entreat you to believe conceive that pleasure constitutes the room. In me, gratefully and affectionately, &c. morality, I prefer Confucius to the Ten Command- "P. S. I will not lay a tax on your time by ments, and Socrates to St. Paul, though the latter requiring an answer, lest you say, as Butler said to two agree in their opinion of marriage. In religion, Tatersall, (when I had written his reverence an I favor the Catholic emancipation, but do not ac- impudent epistle on the expression before menknowledge the Pope; and I have refused to take tioned,) viz., that I wanted to draw him into a the Sacrament, because I do not think eating bread correspondence.'' or drinking wine from the hand of an earthly vicar LETTER XXIV. TO MR. HENRY DRURY.* "Dorant's Hotel, Jan. 13, 1803. LETTER XXV TO MR. HARNESS. "Dorant's Hotel, Albemarle street, Feb. 11 1808 "MY DEAR HARNESS, "As I had no opportunity of returning my verbal thanks, I trust you will accept my written acknowledgments for the compliment you were pleased to pay some production of my unlucky muse last November-I am induced to do this not less from the pleasure I feel in the praise of an old schoolfellow, than from justice to you, for I had heard the story with some slight variations. Indeed, when we met this morning, Wingfield had not undeceived "MY DEAR SIR, me, but he will tell you that I displayed no resent"Though the stupidity of my servants, or the ment in mentioning what I had heard, though I porter of the house, in not showing you up stairs, was not sorry to discover the truth. Perhaps you (where I should have joined you directly,) pre- hardly recollect some years ago a short, though, for vented me the pleasure of seeing you yesterday, I the time, a warm friendship between us! Why it hoped to meet you at some public place in the eve- was not of longer duration, I know not. I have ning. However, my stars decreed otherwise, as still a gift of yours in my possession, that must they generally do, when I have any favor to re- always prevent me from forgetting it. I also quest of them. I think you would have been sur- remember being favored with the perusal of many prised at my figure, for, since our last meeting, I am of your compositions and several other circumreduced four stone in weight. I then weighed four-stances very pleasant in their day, which I will not teen stone seven pound, and now only ten stone and force upon your memory, but entreat you to believe a half. I have disposed of my superfluities by me, with much regret at their short continuance, means of hard exercise and abstinence. and a hope they are not irrevocable, yours very "Should your Harrow engagements allow you to sincerely, &c. visit town between this and Febuary, I shall be most happy to see you in Albemarle street. If I am not so fortunate, I shall endeavor to join you for an afternoon at Harrow, though, I fear, your cellar will by no means contribute to my cure. for my worthy preceptor, Dr. B., our encounter would by no means prevent the mutual endearments he and I were wont to lavish on each other. Wel have only spoken once since my departure from Harrow in 1895, and then he politely told Tatersall I was not a proper associate for his pupils. This "We both seem perfectly to recollect, with a was long before my strictures were in verse: but, in mixture of pleasure and regret, the hours we once plain prose, had I been some years older, I should passed together, and I assure you most sincerely have held my tongue on his perfections. But being they are numbered among the happiest of my brief laid on my pack, when that schoolboy thing was chronicle of enjoyment. I am now getting into written or rather dictated-expecting to rise no years, that is to say, I was twenty a month ago, and more, my physician having taken his sixteenth fee, another year will send me into the world to run my and I his prescription, I could not quit this earth without leaving a memento of my constant attachment to Butler in gratitude for his manifold good offices. As LETTER XXVI. "BYRON." TO MR. HARNESS.- -[FRAGMENT.] "March, 1808. career of folly with the rest. I was then just fourteen,-you were almost the first of my Harrow friends, certainly the first in my esteem, if not in date; but an absence from Harrow for some time, shortly after, and new connexions on your side, and • Son of Doctor Drury, Lord Byron's former Master at Harrow School. the difference in our conduct (an advantage decidedly LETTER XXVIII. TO MR. BECHER. "Dorant's, March 28, 1805. in your favor) from that turbulent and riotous; disposition of mine, which impelled me into every species of mischief,-all these circumstances combined to destroy an intimacy, which Affection urged me to continue, and Memory compels me to regret. But there is not a circumstance attending that "I have lately received a copy of the new edition period, hardly a sentence we exchanged, which is from Ridge, and it is high time for me to return my not impressed on my mind at this moment. I need best thanks to you for the trouble you have taken not say more, this assurance alone must convince in the superintendence. This I de most sincerely, you, had I considered them as trivial, they would and only regret that Ridge has not seconded you is have been less indelible. How well I recollect the I could wish,-at least, in the bindings, paper, &c., perusal of your 'first flights!' There is another of the copy he sent to me. Perhaps those for the circumstance you do not know;-the first lines I public may be more respectable in such articles. ever attempted at Harrow were addressed to you. "You have seen the Edinburgh Review, of You were to have seen them; but Sinclair had the course. I regret that Mrs. Byron is so much copy in his possession when we went home; and, on annoyed. For my own part, these paper bullets our return, we were strangers. They were destroyed, of the brain' have only taught me to stand fire; and certainly no great loss; but you will perceive and, as I have been lucky enough upon the whole, from this circumstance my opinions at an age when my repose and appetite are not discomposed. Pratt, we cannot be hypocrites. the gleaner, author, poet, &c., &c., addressed a "I have dwelt longer on this theme than I long rhyming epistle to me on the subject, by way intended, and I shall now conclude with what I of consolation; but it was not well done, so I do ought to have begun. We were once friends,-nay, not send it, though the name of the man might we have always been so, for our separation was the make it go down. The E. R's. have not perforced effect of chance, not of dissension. I do not know their task well; at least the literati tell me this, how far our destinations in life may throw us and I think I could write a more sarcastic critique together, but if opportunity and inclination allow on myself than any yet published. For instance, you to waste a thought on such a harebrained being instead of the remark,-ill-natured enough, but not as myself, you will find me at least sincere, and not keen,-about Mac Pherson, I (quoad reviewers! so bigoted to my faults as to involve others in the could have said, 'Alas, this imitation only proves consequences. Will you sometimes write to me? the assertion of Doctor Johnson, that many men, I do not ask it often, and, if we meet, let us be women, and children could write such poetry as what we should be and what we were." Ossian's.' LETTER XXVII. TO MR. BECHER. "MY DEAR BECHER, "Dorant's Hotel, Feb. 26, 1808. "I am thin and in exercise. During the spring or summer trust we shall meet. I hear Lord Ruthyn leaves Newstead in April. *** As 2001 as he quits it for ever, I wish 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, Now for Apollo. I am my agent, intimated my Lancashire property was happy that you still retain your predilection, and worth three Newsteads. I believe we have it that the public allow me some share of praise. I hollow; though the defendants are protracting the am of so much importance that a most violent surrender, if possible, till after my majority, for the attack is preparing for me in the next number of purpose of forming some arrangement with me, the Edinburgh Review. This I had from the thinking I shail probably prefer a sum in hand to a authority of a friend who has seen the proof and reversion. Newstead I may sell-perhaps I will manuscript of the critique. You know the system not,-though of that more anon. I will come of the Edinburgh gentlemen is universal attack. down in May or June. They praise none; and neither the public nor the author expect 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 humor 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 "DEAR JACK, defeat their object by indiscriminate abuse, and they never praise, except the partizans of Lord Holland! and Co. "Yours most truly, &e.” LETTER XXIX. TO MR. JACKSON.* N. A. Notts, Sept. 18, 1903. "I wish you would inform me what has been It is nothing to be abused when Southey, done by Jekyll, at No. 40 Sloane Square, concern Moore, Lauderdale, Strangford, and Payne Knight ing the pony I returned as unsound. share the same fate. "I have also to request you will call on Lourt "I am sorry-but Childish Recollections' must at Brompton, and inquire what the devil he meant be suppressed during this edition I have altered, by sending such an insolent letter to me at Brightat your suggestion, the obnoxious auusions in the on; and at the same time tell him I by no means sixth stanza of my last ode. can comply with the charge he has made for things "And now, my dear Becher, I must return my pretended to be damaged. best acknowledgments for the interest you have "Ambrose behaved most scandalously about the taken in me and my poetical bantlings, and I shall pony. You may tell Jekyll if he does not refund ever be proud to show how much I esteem the the money, I shall put the affair into my lawyer'i advice and the adviser. "Believe me most truly, &c." The Pugilist. See note to Don Juan, Canto XI. |