Life of Lord Byron Volume II Part 17

Of course, the moment the _Satire_ begins, there you will stop, and the opening is the best part."

[Footnote 58: Among the Addresses sent in to the Drury Lane Committee was one by Dr. Busby, ent.i.tled a Monologue, of which the Parody was enclosed in this letter. A short specimen of this trifle will be sufficient. The four first lines of the Doctor's Address are as follows:--

"When energising objects men pursue, What are the prodigies they cannot do?

A magic Edifice you here survey, Shot from the ruins of the other day!"

Which verses are thus ridiculed, unnecessarily, in the Parody:--

"'When energising objects men pursue,'

The Lord knows what is writ by Lord knows who.

'A modest Monologue you here survey,'

Hiss'd from the theatre the 'other day.'"

LETTER 114. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Oct. 19. 1812.

"Many thanks, but I _must_ pay the _damage_, and will thank you to tell me the amount for the engraving. I think the 'Rejected Addresses' by far the best thing of the kind since the Rolliad, and wish _you_ had published them. Tell the author 'I forgive him, were he twenty times over a satirist;' and think his imitations not at all inferior to the famous ones of Hawkins Browne. He must be a man of very lively wit, and less scurrilous than wits often are: altogether, I very much admire the performance, and wish it all success. The _Satirist_ has taken a new tone, as you will see: we have now, I think, finished with Childe Harold's critics. I have in _hand_ a _Satire_ on _Waltzing,_ which you must publish anonymously: it is not long, not quite two hundred lines, but will make a very small boarded pamphlet. In a few days you shall have it.

"P.S.--The editor of the _Satirist_ ought to be thanked for his revocation; it is done handsomely, after five years' warfare."

LETTER 115. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Oct. 23. 1812.

"Thanks, as usual. You go on boldly; but have a care of _glutting_ the public, who have by this time had enough of Childe Harold.

'Waltzing' shall be prepared. It is rather above two hundred lines, with an introductory Letter to the Publisher. I think of publishing, with Childe Harold, the opening lines of the 'Curse of Minerva,' as far as the first speech of Pallas,--because some of the readers like that part better than any I have ever written, and as it contains nothing to affect the subject of the subsequent portion, it will find a place as a _Descriptive Fragment_.

"The _plate_ is _broken_? between ourselves, it was unlike the picture; and besides, upon the whole, the frontispiece of an author's visage is but a paltry exhibition. At all events, _this_ would have been no recommendation to the book. I am sure Sanders would not have _survived_ the engraving. By the by, the _picture_ may remain with _you_ or _him_ (which you please), till my return.

The _one_ of two remaining copies is at your service till I can give you a _better_; the other must be _burned peremptorily_.

Again, do not forget that I have an account with you, and _that_ this is _included_. I give you too much trouble to allow you to incur _expense_ also.

"You best know how far this 'Address Riot' will affect the future sale of Childe Harold. I like the volume of 'Rejected Addresses'

better and better. The other parody which Perry has received is mine also (I believe). It is Dr. Busby's speech versified. You are removing to Albemarle Street, I find, and I rejoice that we shall be nearer neighbours. I am going to Lord Oxford's, but letters here will be forwarded. When at leisure, all communications from you will be willingly received by the humblest of your scribes. Did Mr.

Ward write the review of Horne Tooke's Life in the Quarterly? it is excellent."

LETTER 116. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Cheltenham, November 22. 1812.

"On my return here from Lord Oxford's, I found your obliging note, and will thank you to retain the letters, and any other subsequent ones to the same address, till I arrive in town to claim them, which will probably be in a few days. I have in charge a curious and very long MS. poem, written by Lord Brooke (the _friend_ of Sir _Philip Sidney_), which I wish to submit to the inspection of Mr.

Gifford, with the following queries:--first, whether it has ever been published, and, secondly (if not), whether it is worth publication? It is from Lord Oxford's library, and must have escaped or been overlooked amongst the MSS. of the Harleian Miscellany. The writing is Lord Brooke's, except a different hand towards the close. It is very long, and in the six-line stanza. It is not for me to hazard an opinion upon its merits; but I would take the liberty, if not too troublesome, to submit it to Mr.

Gifford's judgment, which, from his excellent edition of Ma.s.singer, I should conceive to be as decisive on the writings of that age as on those of our own.

"Now for a less agreeable and important topic.--How came Mr.

_Mac-Somebody_, without consulting you or me, to prefix the Address to his volume[59] of '_Dejected_ Addresses?' Is not this somewhat larcenous? I think the ceremony of leave might have been asked, though I have no objection to the thing itself; and leave the 'hundred and eleven' to tire themselves with 'base comparisons.' I should think the ingenuous public tolerably sick of the subject, and, except the Parodies, I have not interfered, nor shall; indeed I did not know that Dr. Busby had published his Apologetical Letter and Postscript, or I should have recalled them. But, I confess, I looked upon his conduct in a different light before its appearance.

I see some mountebank has taken Alderman Birch's name to vituperate Dr. Busby; he had much better have pilfered his pastry, which I should imagine the more valuable ingredient--at least for a puff.--Pray secure me a copy of Woodfall's new Junius, and believe me," &c.

[Footnote 59: "The Genuine Rejected Addresses, presented to the Committee of Management for Drury Lane Theatre: preceded by that written by Lord Byron and adopted by the Committee:"--published by B. M'Millan.]

LETTER 117. TO MR. WILLIAM BANKES.

"December 26.

"The mult.i.tude of your recommendations has already superseded my humble endeavours to be of use to you; and, indeed, most of my princ.i.p.al friends are returned. Leake from Joannina, Canning and Adair from the city of the Faithful, and at Smyrna no letter is necessary, as the consuls are always willing to do every thing for personages of respectability. I have sent you _three_, one to Gibraltar, which, though of no great necessity, will, perhaps, put you on a more intimate footing with a very pleasant family there.

You will very soon find out that a man of any consequence has very little occasion for any letters but to ministers and bankers, and of them we have already plenty, I will be sworn.

"It is by no means improbable that I shall go in the spring, and if you will fix any place of rendezvous about August, I will _write_ or _join_ you.--When in Albania, I wish you would enquire after Dervise Tahiri and Vascillie (or Bazil), and make my respects to the viziers, both there and in the Morea. If you mention my name to Suleyman of Thebes, I think it will not hurt you; if I had my dragoman, or wrote Turkish, I could have given you letters of _real service_; but to the English they are hardly requisite, and the Greeks themselves can be of little advantage. Liston you know already, and I do not, as he was not then minister. Mind you visit Ephesus and the Troad, and let me hear from you when you please. I believe G. Forresti is now at Yanina, but if not, whoever is there will be too happy to a.s.sist you. Be particular about _firmauns_; never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take some _knicknackeries_ for _presents_--_watches_, _pistols_, &c. &c. to the Beys and Pachas. If you find one Demetrius, at Athens or elsewhere, I can recommend him as a good dragoman. I hope to join you, however; but you will find swarms of English now in the Levant.

"Believe me," &c.

TO MR. MURRAY.

"February 20. 1813.

"In 'Horace in London' I perceive some stanzas on Lord Elgin in which (waving the kind compliment to myself[60]) I heartily concur.

I wish I had the pleasure of Mr. Smith's acquaintance, as I could communicate the curious anecdote you read in Mr. T.'s letter. If he would like it, he can have the _substance_ for his second edition; if not, I shall add it to our next, though I think we already have enough of Lord Elgin.

"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, &c. 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," &c.

[Footnote 60: In the Ode ent.i.tled "The Parthenon," Minerva thus speaks:--

"All who behold my mutilated pile Shall brand its ravager with cla.s.sic rage; And soon a t.i.tled bard from Britain's isle Thy country's praise and suffrage shall engage, And fire with Athens' wrongs an angry age!"

HORACE IN LONDON.

It has already been stated that the pecuniary supplies, which he found it necessary to raise on arriving at majority, were procured for him on ruinously usurious terms.[61] To some transactions connected with this subject, the following characteristic letter refers.

TO MR. ROGERS.

"March 25, 1813.

"I enclose you a draft for the usurious interest due to Lord * *'s _protege_;--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 _legally_ might, nor to withhold payment of princ.i.p.al, 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.