(Lord Byron) George Gordon Byron - Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5 (of 6)

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"If you want to have a notion of what I am trying, take up a
_translation_ of any of the _Greek_ tragedians. If I said the
original, it would be an impudent presumption of mine; but the
translations are so inferior to the originals, that I think I may
risk it Then judge of the 'simplicity of plot,' &c. and do not
judge me by your old mad dramatists, which is like drinking
usquebaugh and then proving a fountain. Yet after all, I suppose
that you do not mean that spirits is a nobler element than a clear
spring bubbling in the sun? and this I take to be the difference
between the Greeks and those turbid mountebanks--always excepting
Ben Jonson, who was a scholar and a classic. Or, take up a
translation of Alfieri, and try the interest, &c. of these my new
attempts in the old line, by _him_ in _English_; and then tell me
fairly your opinion. But don't measure me by YOUR OWN _old_ or
_new_ tailors' yards. Nothing so easy as intricate confusion of
plot and rant. Mrs. Centlivre, in comedy, has _ten times the bustle
of Congreve_; but are they to be compared? and yet she drove
Congreve from the theatre."

* * * * *

LETTER 406. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, January 19. 1821.

"Yours of the 29th ultimo hath arrived. I must, really and
seriously request that you will beg of Messrs. Harris or Elliston
to let the Doge alone: it is _not_ an acting play; it will not
serve _their_ purpose; it will destroy _yours_ (the sale); and it
will distress me. It is not courteous, it is hardly even
gentlemanly, to persist in this appropriation of a man's writings
to their mountebanks.

"I have already sent you by last post a short protest[28] to the
public (against this proceeding); in case that _they_ persist,
which I trust that they will not, you must then publish it in the
newspapers. I shall not let them off with that only, if they go on;
but make a longer appeal on that subject, and state what I think
the injustice of their mode of behaviour. It is hard that I should
have all the buffoons in Britain to deal with--_pirates_ who _will_
publish, and _players_ who _will_ act--when there are thousands of
worthy men who can get neither bookseller nor manager for love nor
money.

"You never answered me a word about _Galignani_. If you mean to use
the two _documents, do_; if not, _burn_ them. I do not choose to
leave them in any one's possession: suppose some one found them
without the letters, what would they _think_? why, that _I_ had
been doing the _opposite_ of what I _have_ _done_, to wit, referred
the whole thing to you--an act of civility at least, which required
saying, 'I have received your letter.' I thought that you might
have some hold upon those publications by this means; to _me_ it
can be no interest one way or the other.[29]

"The _third_ canto of Don Juan is 'dull,' but you must really put
up with it: if the two first and the two following are tolerable,
what do you expect? particularly as I neither dispute with you on
it as a matter of criticism, nor as a matter of business.

"Besides, what am I to understand? you and Douglas Kinnaird, and
others, write to me, that the two first published cantos are among
the best that I ever wrote, and are reckoned so; Augusta writes
that they are thought '_execrable_' (bitter word _that_ for an
author--eh, Murray?) as a _composition_ even, and that she had
heard so much against them that she would _never read them_, and
never has. Be that as it may, I can't alter; that is not my forte.
If you publish the three new ones without ostentation, they may
perhaps succeed.

"Pray publish the Dante and the _Pulci_ (the _Prophecy of Dante_, I
mean). I look upon the Pulci as my grand performance.[30] The
remainder of the 'Hints,' where be they? Now, bring them all out
about the same time, otherwise 'the _variety_' you wot of will be
less obvious.

"I am in bad humour: some obstructions in business with those
plaguy trustees, who object to an advantageous loan which I was to
furnish to a nobleman on mortgage, because his property is in
_Ireland_, have shown me how a man is treated in his absence. Oh,
if I _do_ come back, I will make some of those who little dream of
it _spin_--or they or I shall go down."

[Footnote 28: To the letter which enclosed this protest, and which has
been omitted to avoid repetitions, he had subjoined a passage from
Spence's Anecdotes (p. 197. of Singer's edition), where Pope says,
speaking of himself, "I had taken such strong resolutions against any
thing of that kind, from seeing how much every body that _did_ write for
the stage was obliged to subject themselves to the players and the
town."--_Spence's Anecdotes_, p. 22.

In the same paragraph, Pope is made to say, "After I had got acquainted
with the town, I resolved never to write any thing for the stage, though
solicited by many of my friends to do so, and particularly Betterton."]

[Footnote 29: No further step was ever taken in this affair; and the
documents, which were of no use whatever, are, I believe, still in Mr.
Murray's possession.]

[Footnote 30: The self-will of Lord Byron was in no point more
conspicuous than in the determination with which he thus persisted in
giving the preference to one or two works of his own which, in the eyes
of all other persons, were most decided failures. Of this class was the
translation from Pulci, so frequently mentioned by him, which appeared
afterwards in the Liberal, and which, though thus rescued from the fate
of remaining unpublished, roust for ever, I fear, submit to the doom of
being unread.]

* * * * *

LETTER 407. TO MR. MURRAY.

"January 20. 1821.

"I did not think to have troubled you with the plague and postage
of a _double letter_ this time, but I have just read in an _Italian
paper_, 'That Lord Byron has a tragedy coming out,' &c. &c. &c. and
that the Courier and Morning Chronicle, &c. &c. are pulling one
another to pieces about it and him, &c.

"Now I do reiterate and desire, that every thing may be done to
prevent it from coming out on _any theatre_, for which it never was
designed, and on which (in the present state of the stage of
London) it could never succeed. I have sent you my appeal by last
post, which you _must publish in case of need_; and I require you
even in _your own name_ (if my honour is dear to you) to declare
that such representation would be contrary to my _wish and to my
judgment_. If you do not wish to drive me mad altogether, you will
hit upon some way to prevent this.

"Yours, &c.

"P.S. I cannot conceive how Harris or Elliston should be so insane
as to think of acting Marino Faliero; they might as well act the
Prometheus of Aeschylus. I speak of course humbly, and with the
greatest sense of the distance of time and merit between the two
performances; but merely to show the absurdity of the attempt.

"The Italian paper speaks of a 'party against it;' to be sure there
would be a party. Can you imagine, that after having never
flattered man, nor beast, nor opinion, nor politics, there would
_not_ be a party against a man, who is also a _popular_ writer--at
least a successful? Why, all parties would be a party against."

* * * * *

LETTER 408. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, January 20. 1821.

"If Harris or Elliston persist, after the remonstrance which I
desired you and Mr. Kinnaird to make on my behalf, and which I
hope will be sufficient--but _if_, I say, they _do persist_, then I
pray you to _present in person_ the enclosed letter to the Lord
Chamberlain: I have said _in person_, because otherwise I shall
have neither answer nor knowledge that it has reached its address,
owing to 'the insolence of office.'

"I wish you would speak to Lord Holland, and to all my friends and
yours, to interest themselves in preventing this cursed attempt at
representation.

"God help me! at this distance, I am treated like a corpse or a
fool by the few people that I thought I could rely upon; and I
_was_ a fool to think any better of them than of the rest of
mankind.

"Pray write. Yours, &c.

"P.S. I have nothing more at heart (that is, in literature) than to
prevent this drama from going upon the stage: in short, rather than
permit it, it must be _suppressed altogether_, and only _forty
copies struck off privately_ for presents to my friends. What curst
fools those speculating buffoons must be _not_ to see that it is
unfit for their fair--or their booth!"

* * * * *

LETTER 409. TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, January 22. 1821.

"Pray get well. I do not like your complaint. So, let me have a
line to say you are up and doing again. To-day I am thirty-three
years of age.

"Through life's road, &c. &c.[31]

"Have you heard that the 'Braziers' Company have, or mean to
present an address at Brandenburgh House, 'in armour,' and with all
possible variety and splendour of brazen apparel?

"The Braziers, it seems, are preparing to pass
An address, and present it themselves all in brass--
A superfluous pageant--for, by the Lord Harry,
They'll find where they're going much more than they carry.

There's an Ode for you, is it not?--worthy

"Of * * * *, the grand metaquizzical poet,
A man of vast merit, though few people know it;
The perusal of whom (as I told _you_ at Mestri)
I owe, in great part, to my passion for pastry.

"Mestri and Fusina are the 'trajects, or common ferries,' to
Venice; but it was from Fusina that you and I embarked, though 'the
wicked necessity of rhyming' has made me press Mestri into the
voyage.

"So, you have had a book dedicated to you? I am glad of it, and
shall be very happy to see the volume.

"I am in a peck of troubles about a tragedy of mine, which is fit
only for the (* * * * *) closet, and which it seems that the
managers, assuming a _right_ over published poetry, are determined
to enact, whether I will or no, with their own alterations by Mr.
Dibdin, I presume. I have written to Murray, to the Lord
Chamberlain, and to others, to interfere and preserve me from such
an exhibition. I want neither the impertinence of their hisses, nor
the insolence of their applause. I write only for the _reader_, and
care for nothing but the _silent_ approbation of those who close
one's book with good humour and quiet contentment.

"Now, if you would also write to our friend Perry, to beg of him to
mediate with Harris and Elliston to _forbear_ this intent, you will
greatly oblige me. The play is quite unfit for the stage, as a
single glance will show them, and, I hope, _has_ shown them; and,
if it were ever so fit, I will never have any thing to do willingly
with the theatres.

"Yours ever, in haste," &c.

[Footnote 31: Already given in his Journal.]

* * * * *

LETTER 410. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, January 27. 1821.

"I differ from you about the _Dante_, which I think should be
published with the tragedy. But do as you please: you must be the
best judge of your own craft. I agree with you about the _title_.
The play may be good or bad, but I flatter myself that it is
original as a picture of _that_ kind of passion, which to my mind
is so natural, that I am convinced that I should have done
precisely what the Doge did on those provocations.

"I am glad of Foscolo's approbation.

"Excuse haste. I believe I mentioned to you that--I forget what it
was; but no matter.

"Thanks for your compliments of the year. I hope that it will be
pleasanter than the last. I speak with reference to _England_ only,
as far as regards myself, _where_ I had every kind of
disappointment--lost an important law-suit--and the trustees of
Lady Byron refusing to allow of an advantageous loan to be made
from my property to Lord Blessington, &c. &c. by way of closing the
four seasons. These, and a hundred other such things, made a year
of bitter business for me in England. Luckily, things were a little
pleasanter for me _here_, else I should have taken the liberty of
Hannibal's ring.

"Pray thank Gifford for all his goodnesses. The winter is as cold
here as Parry's polarities. I must now take a canter in the forest;
my horses are waiting.

"Yours ever and truly."

* * * * *

LETTER 411. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, February 2. 1821.

"Your letter of excuses has arrived. I receive the letter, but do
not admit the excuses, except in courtesy; as when a man treads on
your toes and begs your pardon, the pardon is granted, but the
joint aches, especially if there be a corn upon it. However, I
shall scold you presently.

"In the last speech of the Doge, there occurs (I think, from
memory) the phrase

"'And Thou who makest and unmakest suns:'

change this to

"'And Thou who kindlest and who quenchest suns;

that is to say, if the verse runs equally well, and Mr. Gifford
thinks the expression improved. Pray have the bounty to attend to
this. You are grown quite a minister of state. Mind if some of
these days you are not thrown out. * * will not be always a Tory,
though Johnson says the first Whig was the devil.

"You have learnt one secret from Mr. Galignani's (somewhat tardily
acknowledged) correspondence: this is, that an _English_ author may
dispose of his exclusive copyright in _France_--a fact of some
consequence (in _time of peace_), in the case of a popular writer.
Now I will tell you what _you_ shall do, and take no advantage of
you, though you were scurvy enough never to acknowledge my letter
for three months. Offer Galignani the refusal of the copyright in
France; if he refuses, appoint any bookseller in France you please,
and I will sign any assignment you please, and it shall never cost
you a _sou_ on _my_ account.

"Recollect that I will have nothing to do with it, except as far as
it may secure the copyright to yourself. I will have no bargain but
with the English booksellers, and I desire no interest out of that
country.

"Now, that's fair and open, and a little handsomer than your
_dodging_ silence, to see what would come of it. You are an
excellent fellow, mio caro Moray, but there is still a little
leaven of Fleet Street about you now and then--a crum of the old
loaf. You have no right to act suspiciously with me, for I have
given you no reason. I shall always be frank with you; as, for
instance, whenever you talk with the votaries of Apollo
arithmetically, it should be in guineas, not pounds--to poets, as
well as physicians, and bidders at auctions.

"I shall say no more at this present, save that I am,

"Yours, &c.

"P.S. If you venture, as you say, to Ravenna this year, I will
exercise the rites of hospitality while you live, and bury you
handsomely (though not in holy ground), if you get 'shot or slashed
in a creagh or splore,' which are rather frequent here of late
among the native parties. But perhaps your visit may be
anticipated; I may probably come to your country; in which case
write to her Ladyship the duplicate of the epistle the King of
France wrote to Prince John."

* * * * *

LETTER 412. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, February 16, 1821.

"In the month of March will arrive from Barcelona _Signor Curioni_,
engaged for the Opera. He is an acquaintance of mine, and a
gentlemanly young man, high in his profession. I must request your
personal kindness and patronage in his favour. Pray introduce him
to such of the theatrical people, editors of papers, and others, as
may be useful to him in his profession, publicly and privately.

"The fifth is so far from being the last of Don Juan, that it is
hardly the beginning. I meant to take him the tour of Europe, with
a proper mixture of siege, battle, and adventure, and to make him
finish as _Anacharsis Cloots_, in the French Revolution. To how
many cantos this may extend, I know not, nor whether (even if I
live) I shall complete it: but this was my notion. I meant to have
made him a cavalier servente in Italy, and a cause for a divorce in
England, and a sentimental 'Werter-faced man' in Germany, so as to
show the different ridicules of the society in each of those
countries, and to have displayed him gradually _gate_ and _blase_
as he grew older, as is natural. But I had not quite fixed whether
to make him end in hell, or in an unhappy marriage, not knowing
which would be the severest: the Spanish tradition says hell: but
it is probably only an allegory of the other state. You are now in
possession of my notions on the subject.

"You say the Doge will not be popular: did I ever write for
_popularity_? I defy you to show a work of mine (except a tale or
two) of a popular style or complexion. It appears to me that there
is room for a different style of the drama; neither a servile
following of the old drama, which is a grossly erroneous one, nor
yet _too French_, like those who succeded the older writers. It
appears to me, that good English, and a severer approach to the
rules, might combine something not dishonourable to our literature.
I have also attempted to make a play without love; and there are
neither rings, nor mistakes, nor starts, nor outrageous ranting
villains, nor melodrame in it. All this will prevent its
popularity, but does not persuade me that it is _therefore_ faulty.
Whatever faults it has will arise from deficiency in the conduct,
rather than in the conception, which is simple and severe.

"So _you epigrammatise_ upon _my epigram_? I will _pay_ you for
_that_, mind if I don't, some day. I never let any one off in the
long run (_who first begins_). Remember * * *, and see if I don't
do you as good a turn. You unnatural publisher! what! quiz your own
authors? you are a paper cannibal!

"In the Letter on Bowles (which I sent by Tuesday's post) after the
words '_attempts had been made_' (alluding to the republication of
'English Bards'), add the words, '_in Ireland_;' for I believe that
English pirates did not begin their attempts till after I had left
England the second time. Pray attend to this. Let me know what you
and your synod think on Bowles.

"I did not think the second _seal_ so bad; surely it is far better
than the Saracen's head with which you have sealed your _last
letter_; the larger, in _profile_, was surely much better than
that.

"So Foscolo says he will get you a _seal cut_ better in Italy? he
means a _throat_--that is the only thing they do dexterously. The
Arts--all but Canova's, and Morghen's, and _Ovid_'s (I don't _mean
poetry_),--are as low as need be: look at the seal which I gave to
William Bankes, and own it. How came George Bankes to quote
'English Bards' in the House of Commons? All the world keep
flinging that poem in my face.

"Belzoni _is_ a grand traveller, and his English is very prettily
broken.

"As for news, the Barbarians are marching on Naples, and if they
lose a single battle, all Italy will be up. It will be like the
Spanish row, if they have any bottom.

"'Letters opened?--to be sure they are, and that's the reason why I
always put in my opinion of the German Austrian scoundrels. There
is not an Italian who loathes them more than I do; and whatever I
could do to scour Italy and the earth of their infamous oppression
would be done _con amore_.

"Yours," &c.

* * * * *

LETTER 413. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, February 21. 1821.

"In the forty-fourth page, volume first, of Turner's Travels (which
you lately sent me), it is stated that 'Lord Byron, when he
expressed such confidence of its practicability, seems to have
forgotten that Leander swam both ways, with and against the tide;
whereas _he_ (Lord Byron) only performed the easiest part of the
task by swimming with it from Europe to Asia.' I certainly could
not have forgotten, what is known to every schoolboy, that Leander
crossed in the night and returned towards the morning. My object
was, to ascertain that the Hellespont could be crossed _at all_ by
swimming, and in this Mr. Ekenhead and myself both succeeded, the
one in an hour and ten minutes, and the other in one hour and five
minutes. The _tide_ was _not_ in our favour; on the contrary, the
great difficulty was to bear up against the current, which, so far
from helping us into the Asiatic side, set us down right towards
the Archipelago. Neither Mr. Ekenhead, myself, nor, I will venture
to add, any person on board the frigate, from Captain Bathurst
downwards, had any notion of a difference of the current on the
Asiatic side, of which Mr. Turner speaks. I never heard of it till
this moment, or I would have taken the other course. Lieutenant
Ekenhead's sole motive, and mine also, for setting out from the
European side was, that the little cape above Sestos was a more
prominent starting place, and the frigate, which lay below, close
under the Asiatic castle, formed a better point of view for us to
swim towards; and, in fact, we landed immediately below it.

"Mr. Turner says, 'Whatever is thrown into the stream on this part
of the European bank must arrive at the Asiatic shore.' This is so
far from being the case, that it _must_ arrive in the Archipelago,
if left to the current, although a strong wind in the Asiatic
direction might have such an effect occasionally.

"Mr. Turner attempted the passage from the Asiatic side, and
failed: 'After five-and-twenty minutes, in which he did not advance
a hundred yards, he gave it up from complete exhaustion.' This is
very possible, and might have occurred to him just as readily on
the European side. He should have set out a couple of miles higher,
and could then have come out below the European castle. I
particularly stated, and Mr. Hobhouse has done so also, that we
were obliged to make the real passage of one mile extend to between
_three_ and _four_, owing to the force of the stream. I can assure
Mr. Turner, that his success would have given me great pleasure, as
it would have added one more instance to the proofs of the
probability. It is not quite fair in him to infer, that because
_he_ failed, Leander could not succeed. There are still four
instances on record: a Neapolitan, a young Jew, Mr. Ekenhead, and
myself; the two last done in the presence of hundreds of _English_
witnesses.

"With regard to the difference of the _current,_ I perceived none;
it is favourable to the swimmer on neither side, but may be stemmed
by plunging into the sea, a considerable way above the opposite
point of the coast which the swimmer wishes to make, but still
bearing up against it; it is strong, but if you calculate well, you
may reach land. My own experience and that of others bids me
pronounce the passage of Leander perfectly practicable. Any young
man, in good and tolerable skill in swimming, might succeed in it
from _either_ side. I was three hours in swimming across the Tagus,
which is much more hazardous, being two hours longer than the
Hellespont. Of what may be done in swimming, I will mention one
more instance. In 1818, the Chevalier Mengaldo (a gentleman of
Bassano), a good swimmer, wished to swim with my friend Mr.
Alexander Scott and myself. As he seemed particularly anxious on
the subject, we indulged him. We all three started from the island
of the Lido and swam to Venice. At the entrance of the Grand Canal,
Scott and I were a good way ahead, and we saw no more of our
foreign friend, which, however, was of no consequence, as there was
a gondola to hold his clothes and pick him up. Scott swam on till
past the Rialto, where he got out, less from fatigue than from
_chill,_ having been four hours in the water, without rest or stay,
except what is to be obtained by floating on one's back--this being
the _condition_ of our performance. I continued my course on to
Santa Chiara, comprising the whole of the Grand Canal (besides the
distance from the Lido), and got out where the Laguna once more
opens to Fusina. I had been in the water, by my watch, without help
or rest, and never touching ground or boat, _four hours_ and
_twenty minutes_. To this match, and during the greater part of its
performance, Mr. Hoppner, the Consul-general, was witness, and it
is well known to many others. Mr. Turner can easily verify the
fact, if he thinks it worth while, by referring to Mr. Hoppner. The
distance we could not _accurately_ ascertain; it was of course
considerable.

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