The Works of Lord Byron Volume VII Part 19

[126] [Napoleon bequeathed to Lady Holland a snuff-box which had been given to him by the Pope for his clemency in sparing Rome. Lord Carlisle wrote eight (not seven) stanzas, urging her, as Byron told Medwin, to decline the gift, "for fear that horror and murder should jump out of the lid every time it is opened."--_Conversations_, 1824, p. 362. The first stanza of Lord Carlyle's verses, which _teste_ Medwin, Byron parodied, runs thus--

"Lady, reject the gift! 'tis tinged with gore!

Those crimson spots a dreadful tale relate; It has been grasp'd by an infernal Power; And by that hand which seal'd young Enghien's fate."

The snuff-box is now in the jewel-room in the British Museum.]

THE NEW VICAR OF BRAY.

1.

DO you know Doctor Nott?[127]

With "a crook in his lot,"

Who seven years since tried to dish up A neat Codi_cil_ To the Princess's Will,[128]

Which made Dr. Nott _not_ a bishop.

2.

So the Doctor being found A little unsound In his doctrine, at least as a teacher, And kicked from one stool As a knave or a fool, He mounted another as preacher.

3.

In that Gown (like the Skin With no Lion within) He still for the Bench would be driving; And roareth away, A new Vicar of _Bray_, Except that _his bray_ lost his living.

4.

"Gainst Freethinkers," he roars, "You should all block your doors Or be named in the Devil's indentures:"

And here I agree, For who e'er would be A Guest where old Simony enters?

5.

Let the Priest, who beguiled His own Sovereign's child To his own dirty views of promotion, Wear his Sheep's cloathing still Among flocks to his will, And dishonour the Cause of devotion.

6.

The Altar and Throne Are in danger alone From such as himself, who would render The Altar itself But a step up to Pelf, And pray G.o.d to pay his defender.

7.

But, Doctor, one word Which perhaps you have heard "He should never throw stones who has windows Of Gla.s.s to be broken, And by this same token As a sinner, you can't care what Sin does.

8.

But perhaps you do well: Your own windows, they tell, Have long ago suffered censure; Not a fragment remains Of your character's panes, Since the Regent refused you a glazier.

9.

Though your visions of lawn Have all been withdrawn, And you missed your bold stroke for a mitre; In a very snug way You may still preach and pray, And from bishop sink into backbiter!"

[First published, _Works_ (Galignani), 1831, p. 116.]

FOOTNOTES:

[127] [George Frederick Nott (1767-1841), critic and divine, was Rector of Harrietsham and Woodchurch, a Prebendary of Winchester and of Salisbury. He was Bampton Lecturer in 1802, and, soon afterwards, was appointed sub-preceptor to the Princess Charlotte of Wales. He was a connoisseur of architecture and painting, and pa.s.sed much of his time in Italy and at Rome. When he was at Pisa he preached in a private room in the bas.e.m.e.nt story of the house in Pisa where Sh.e.l.ley was living, and fell under Byron's displeasure for attacking the Satanic school, and denouncing _Cain_ as a blasphemous production. "The parsons," he told Moore (letter, February 20, 1820), "preached at it [_Cain_] from Kentish Town to Pisa." Hence the apostrophe to Dr. Nott. (See _Records of Sh.e.l.ley, Byron, and the Author_, by E.T. Trelawny, 1887, pp. 302, 303.)]

[128] [According to Lady Anne Hamilton (_Secret History of the Court of England_, 1832, i. 198-207), the Princess Charlotte incurred the suspicion and displeasure of her uncles and her grandmother, the Queen, by displaying an ardent and undue interest in her sub-preceptor. On being reproved by the Queen for "condescending to favour persons in low life with confidence or particular respect, persons likely to take advantage of your simplicity and innocence," and having learnt that "persons" meant Mr. Nott, she replied by threatening to sign a will in favour of her sub-preceptor, and by actually making over to him by a deed her library, jewels, and all other private property. Lady Anne Hamilton is not an accurate or trustworthy authority, but her extremely circ.u.mstantial narrative was, no doubt, an expansion of the contemporary scandal to which Byron's lampoon gave currency.]

LUCIETTA. A FRAGMENT.

LUCIETTA, my deary, That fairest of faces!

Is made up of kisses; But, in love, oft the case is Even stranger than this is-- There's another, that's slyer, Who touches me nigher,-- A Witch, an intriguer, Whose manner and figure Now piques me, excites me, Torments and delights me-- _Caetera desunt_.

[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for the first time printed.]

EPIGRAMS.

OH, Castlereagh! thou art a patriot now; Cato died for his country, so did'st thou: He perished rather than see Rome enslaved, Thou cut'st thy throat that Britain may be saved!

So Castlereagh has cut his throat!--The worst Of this is,--that his own was not the first.

So _He_ has cut his throat at last!--He! Who?

The man who cut his country's long ago.

_?August, 1822._ [First published, _The Liberal_, No. I. October 18, 1822, p. 164.]

THE CONQUEST.[129]

THE Son of Love and Lord of War I sing; Him who bade England bow to Normandy, And left the name of Conqueror more than King To his unconquerable dynasty.

Not fanned alone by Victory's fleeting wing, He reared his bold and brilliant throne on high; The b.a.s.t.a.r.d kept, like lions, his prey fast, And Britain's bravest Victor was the last.

_March 8-9, 1823._ [First published, _Lord Byron's Works_, 1833, xvii. 246.]

FOOTNOTES:

[129] [This fragment was found amongst Lord Byron's papers, after his departure from Genoa for Greece.]