Life of Lord Byron Volume IV Part 25

The writer adds, "it is evident he has not the heart to go;" and the result proved that she had not judged him wrongly. The very next day's tidings from Ravenna decided his fate, and he himself, in a letter to the Contessa, thus announces the triumph which she had achieved. "F * *

* will already have told you, _with her accustomed sublimity_, that Love has gained the victory. I could not summon up resolution enough to leave the country where you are, without, at least, once more seeing you. On _yourself_, perhaps, it will depend, whether I ever again shall leave you. Of the rest we shall speak when we meet. You ought, by this time, to know which is most conducive to your welfare, my presence or my absence. For myself, I am a citizen of the world--all countries are alike to me. You have ever been, since our first acquaintance, _the sole object of my thoughts_. My opinion was, that the best course I could adopt, both for your peace and that of all your family, would have been to depart and go far, _far_ away from you;--since to have been near and not approach you would have been, for me, impossible. You have however decided that I am to return to Ravenna. I shall accordingly return--and shall _do_--and _be_ all that you wish. I cannot say more.[64]

On quitting Venice he took leave of Mr. Hoppner in a short but cordial letter, which I cannot better introduce than by prefixing to it the few words of comment with which this excellent friend of the n.o.ble poet has himself accompanied it:--"I need not say with what painful feeling I witnessed the departure of a person who, from the first day of our acquaintance, had treated me with unvaried kindness, reposing a confidence in me which it was beyond the power of my utmost efforts to deserve; admitting me to an intimacy which I had no right to claim, and listening with patience, and the greatest good temper, to the remonstrances I ventured to make upon his conduct."

[Footnote 61: "Tu sei, e sarai sempre mio primo pensier. Ma in questo momento sono in un' stato orribile non sapendo cosa decidere;--temendo, da una parte, comprometterti in eterno col mio ritorno a Ravenna, e colle sue consequenze; e, dal' altra perderti, e me stesso, e tutto quel che ho conosciuto o gustato di felicita, nel non vederti piu. Ti prego, ti supplico calmarti, e credere che non posso cessare ad amarti che colla vita."]

[Footnote 62: "Io parto, per _salvarti_, e lascio un paese divenuto insopportabile senza di te. Le tue lettere alla F * *, ed anche a me stesso fanno torto ai miei motivi; ma col tempo vedrai la tua ingiustizia. Tu parli del dolor--io lo sento, ma mi mancano le parole.

Non basta lasciarti per dei motivi dei quali tu eri persuasa (non molto tempo fa)--non basta partire dall' Italia col cuore lacerato, dopo aver pa.s.sato tutti i giorni dopo la tua partenza nella solitudine, ammalato di corpo e di anima--ma ho anche a sopportare i tuoi rimproveri, senza replicarti, e senza meritarli. Addio--in quella parola e compresa la morte _di_ mia felicita."

The close of this last sentence exhibits one of the very few instances of incorrectness that Lord Byron falls into in these letters;--the proper construction being "_della_ mia felicita."]

[Footnote 63: "Egli era tutto vest.i.to di viaggio coi guanti fra le mani, col s...o...b..nnet, e persino colla piccola sua canna; non altro aspettavasi che egli scendesse le scale, tutti i bauli erano in barca. Milord fa la pretesta che se suona un ora dopo il mezzodi e che non sia ogni cosa all' ordine (poiche le armi sole non erano in p.r.o.nto) egli non partirebbe piu per quel giorno. L'ora suona ed egli resta."]

[Footnote 64: "La F * * ti avra detta, _colla sua solita sublimita_, che l'Amor ha vinto. Io non ho potuto trovare forza di anima per lasciare il paese dove tu sei, senza vederti almeno un' altra volta:--forse dipendera da _te_ se mai ti lascio piu. Per il resto parleremo. Tu dovresti adesso sapere cosa sara piu convenevole al tuo ben essere la mia presenza o la mia lontananza. Io sono cittadino del mondo--tutti i paesi sono eguali per me. Tu sei stata sempre (dopo che ci siamo conosciuti) _l'unico oggetto di miei_ pensieri. Credeva che il miglior part.i.to per la pace tua e la pace di tua famiglia fosse il mio partire, e andare ben _lontano_; poiche stare vicino e non avvicinarti sarebbe per me impossible. Ma tu hai deciso che io debbo ritornare a Ravenna--tornaro--e far--e sar ci die tu vuoi. Non posso dirti di piu."]

LETTER 349. TO MR. HOPPNER.

"My dear Hoppner,

"Partings are but bitter work at best, so that I shall not venture on a second with you. Pray make my respects to Mrs. Hoppner, and a.s.sure her of my unalterable reverence for the singular goodness of her disposition, which is not without its reward even in this world--for those who are no great believers in human virtues would discover enough in her to give them a better opinion of their fellow-creatures and--what is still more difficult--of themselves, as being of the same species, however inferior in approaching its n.o.bler models. Make, too, what excuses you can for my omission of the ceremony of leave-taking. If we all meet again, I will make my humblest apology; if not, recollect that I wished you all well; and, if you can, forget that I have given you a great deal of trouble.

"Yours," &c. &c.

LETTER 350. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Venice, December 10. 1819.

"Since I last wrote, I have changed my mind, and shall not come to England. The more I contemplate, the more I dislike the place and the prospect. You may, therefore, address to me as usual _here_, though I mean to go to another city. I have finished the third Canto of Don Juan, but the things I have read and heard discourage all further publication--at least for the present. You may try the copy question, but you'll lose it: the cry is up, and cant is up. I should have no objection to return the price of the copyright, and have written to Mr. Kinnaird by this post on the subject. Talk with him.

"I have not the patience, nor do I feel interest enough in the question, to contend with the fellows in their own slang; but I perceive Mr. Blackwood's Magazine and one or two others of your missives have been hyperbolical in their praise, and diabolical in their abuse. I like and admire W * *n, and _he_ should not have indulged himself in such outrageous licence.[65] It is overdone and defeats itself. What would he say to the grossness without pa.s.sion and the misanthropy without feeling of Gulliver's Travels?--When he talks of Lady's Byron's business, he talks of what he knows nothing about; and you may tell him that no one can more desire a public investigation of that affair than I do.

"I sent home by Moore (_for_ Moore only, who has my Journal also) my Memoir written up to 1816, and I gave him leave to show it to whom he pleased, but _not to publish_, on any account. You may read it, and you may let W * *n read it, if he likes--not for his _public_ opinion, but his private; for I like the man, and care very little about his Magazine. And I could wish Lady B. herself to read it, that she may have it in her power to mark any thing mistaken or mis-stated; as it may probably appear after my extinction, and it would be but fair she should see it,--that is to say, herself willing.

"Perhaps I may take a journey to you in the spring; but I _have_ been ill and _am_ indolent and indecisive, because few things interest me. These fellows first abused me for being gloomy, and now they are wroth that I am, or attempted to be, facetious. I have got such a cold and headach that I can hardly see what I scrawl:--the winters here are as sharp as needles. Some time ago, I wrote to you rather fully about my Italian affairs; at present I can say no more except that you shall hear further by and by.

"Your Blackwood accuses me of treating women harshly: it may be so, but I have been their martyr; my whole life has been sacrificed _to_ them and _by_ them. I mean to leave Venice in a few days, but you will address your letters _here_ as usual. When I fix elsewhere, you shall know."

[Footnote 65: This is one of the many mistakes into which his distance from the scene of literary operations led him. The gentleman, to whom the hostile article in the Magazine is here attributed, has never, either then or since, written upon the subject of the n.o.ble poet's character or genius, without giving vent to a feeling of admiration as enthusiastic as it is always eloquently and powerfully expressed.]

Soon after this letter to Mr. Murray he set out for Ravenna, from which place we shall find his correspondence for the next year and a half dated. For a short time after his arrival, he took up his residence at an inn; but the Count Guiccioli having allowed him to hire a suite of apartments in the Palazzo Guiccioli itself, he was once more lodged under the same roof with the Countess Guiccioli.

LETTER 351. TO MR. HOPPNER.

"Ravenna, Dec. 31. 1819.

"I have been here this week, and was obliged to put on my armour and go the night after my arrival to the Marquis Cavalli's, where there were between two and three hundred of the best company I have seen in Italy,--more beauty, more youth, and more diamonds among the women than have been seen these fifty years in the Sea-Sodom.[66] I never saw such a difference between two places of the same lat.i.tude, (or plat.i.tude, it is all one,)--music, dancing, and play, all in the same _salle_. The G.'s object appeared to be to parade her foreign friend as much as possible, and, faith, if she seemed to glory in so doing, it was not for me to be ashamed of it. n.o.body seemed surprised;--all the women, on the contrary, were, as it were, delighted with the excellent example. The vice-legate, and all the other vices, were as polite as could be;--and I, who had acted on the reserve, was fairly obliged to take the lady under my arm, and look as much like a cicisbeo as I could on so short a notice,--to say nothing of the embarra.s.sment of a c.o.c.ked hat and sword, much more formidable to me than ever it will be to the enemy.

"I write in great haste--do you answer as hastily. I can understand nothing of all this; but it seems as if the G. had been presumed to be _planted_, and was determined to show that she was not,--_plantation_, in this hemisphere, being the greatest moral misfortune. But this is mere conjecture, for I know nothing about it--except that every body are very kind to her, and not discourteous to me. Fathers, and all relations, quite agreeable.

"Yours ever,

"B.

"P.S. Best respects to Mrs. H.

"I would send the _compliments_ of the season; but the season itself is so complimentary with snow and rain that I wait for sunshine."

[Footnote 66:

"Gehenna of the waters! thou Sea-Sodom!"

MARINO FALIERO.

LETTER 352. TO MR. MOORE.

"January 2. 1320.

"My dear Moore,

"'To-day it is my wedding day; And all the folks would stare, If wife should dine at Edmonton, And I should dine at Ware.'

Or _thus_:

"Here's a happy new year! but with reason, I beg you'll permit me to say-- Wish me many returns of the _season_, But as _few_ as you please of the _day_.

"My this present writing is to direct you that, if _she chooses_, she may see the MS. Memoir in your possession. I wish her to have fair play, in all cases, even though it will not be published till after my decease. For this purpose, it were but just that Lady B.

should know what is there said of her and hers, that she may have full power to remark on or respond to any part or parts, as may seem fitting to herself. This is fair dealing, I presume, in all events.

"To change the subject, are you in England? I send you an epitaph for Castlereagh. * * * * * Another for Pitt:--

"With death doom'd to grapple Beneath this cold slab, he Who lied in the Chapel Now lies in the Abbey.

"The G.o.ds seem to have made me poetical this day:--

"In digging up your bones, Tom Paine, Will. Cobbett has done well: You visit him on earth again, He'll visit you in h.e.l.l.

Or,

"You come to him on earth again, He'll go with you to h.e.l.l.