The Works of Lord Byron Volume VII Part 13

6.

And Heaven forbid I should conclude, Without "the Board of Longitude,"[102]

Although this narrow paper would, My Murray.

Venice, _April 11_, 1818.

[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 171.]

FOOTNOTES:

[99] [William Strahan (1715-1785) published Johnson's _Dictionary_, Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, Cook's _Voyages, etc_. He was great-grandfather of the mathematician William Spottiswoode (1825-1883).

Jacob Tonson (1656?-1736) published for Otway, Dryden, Addison, etc. He was secretary of the Kit-Cat Club, 1700. He was the publisher (1712, etc.) of the _Spectator_.

Barnaby Bernard Lintot (1675-1736) was at one time (1718) in partnership with Tonson. He published Pope's _Iliad_ in 1715, and the _Odyssey_, 1725-26.]

[100] [See note 2, p. 51.]

[101] [Mrs. Rundell's _Domestic Cookery_, published in 1806, was one of Murray's most successful books. In 1822 he purchased the copyright from Mrs. Rundell for 2000 (see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 375; and _Memoir of John Murray_, 1891, ii. 124).]

[102] [The sixth edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ (1813) was "printed by T. Davison, Whitefriars, for John Murray, Bookseller to the Admiralty, and the Board of Longitude." Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 259) attributes to Byron a statement that Murray had to choose between continuing to be his publisher and printing the "Navy Lists,"

and "that there was no hesitation which way he should decide: the Admiralty carried the day." In his "Notes" to the _Conversations_ (November 2, 1824) Murray characterized "the pa.s.sage about the Admiralty" as "unfounded in fact, and no otherwise deserving of notice than to mark its absurdity."]

BALLAD. TO THE TUNE OF "SALLEY IN OUR ALLEY."

1.

OF all the twice ten thousand bards That ever penned a canto, Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards For lining a portmanteau; Of all the poets ever known, From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,[103]

The Muse may boast--the World must own There's none like pretty Gally![104]

2.

He writes as well as any Miss, Has published many a poem; The shame is yours, the gain is his, In case you should not know 'em: He has ten thousand pounds a year-- I do not mean to vally-- His songs at sixpence would be dear, So give them gratis, Gaily!

3.

And if this statement should seem queer, Or set down in a hurry, Go, ask (if he will be sincere) His bookseller--John Murray.

Come, say, how many have been sold, And don't stand shilly-shally, Of bound and lettered, red and gold, Well printed works of Gally.

4.

For Astley's circus Upton[105] writes, And also for the Surry; (_sic_) Fitzgerald weekly still recites, Though grinning Critics worry: Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul, In fame exactly tally; From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall They go--and so does Gally.

5.

He rode upon a Camel's hump[106]

Through Araby the sandy, Which surely must have hurt the rump Of this poetic dandy.

His rhymes are of the costive kind, And barren as each valley In deserts which he left behind Has been the Muse of Gally.

6.

He has a Seat in Parliament, Is fat and pa.s.sing wealthy; And surely he should be content With these and being healthy: But Great Ambition will misrule Men at all risks to sally,-- Now makes a poet--now a fool, And _we_ know _which_--of Gally.

7.

Some in the playhouse like to row, Some with the Watch to battle, Exchanging many a midnight blow To Music of the Rattle.

Some folks like rowing on the Thames, Some rowing in an Alley, But all the Row my fancy claims Is _rowing_--of my _Gally_.

_April_ 11, 1818.[107]

FOOTNOTES:

[103] [For Fop's Alley, see _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 410, _note_ 2.]

[104] [H. Gally Knight (1786-1846) was at Cambridge with Byron.]

[105] [William Upton was the author of _Poems on Several Occasions_, 1788, and of the _Words of the most Favourite Songs, Duets, etc._, sung at the Royal Amphitheatre, Westminster Bridge, etc. In the dedication to Mrs. Astley he speaks of himself as the author of the _Black Cattle_, _Fair Rosamond_, etc. He has also been credited with the words of James Hook's famous song, _A La.s.s of Richmond Hill_, but this has been disputed. (See _Notes and Queries_, 1878, Series V. vol. ix. p. 495.)]

[106] [Compare--

"Th' unloaded camel, pacing slow.

Crops the rough herbage or the tamarisk spray."

_Alashtar_ (by H.G. Knight), 1817, Canto I, stanza viii, lines 5, 6.]

[107] [From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for the first time printed. For stanzas 3, 4, 6, see _Letters_, 1900, iv.

219, 220. For stanzas 1, 2, 3 of "Another Simple Ballat. To the tune of Tally i.o. the Grinder" (probably a variant of Dibdin's song, "The Grinders, or more Grist to the Mill"), _vide ibid._, pp. 220, 221.]

ANOTHER SIMPLE BALLAT.

1.

MRS. WILMOT sate scribbling a play, Mr. Sotheby sate sweating behind her; But what are all these to the Lay Of Gally i.o. the Grinder?

Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

2.

I bought me some books tother day, And sent them down stairs to the binder; But the Pastry Cook carried away My Gally i.o. the Grinder.

Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

3.

I wanted to kindle my taper, And called to the Maid to remind her; And what should she bring me for paper But Gally i.o. the Grinder.

Gally i.o. i.o., etc.