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

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"I crossed the Hellespont in one hour and ten minutes only. I am
now ten years older in time, and twenty in constitution, than I was
when I passed the Dardanelles, and yet two years ago I was capable
of swimming four hours and twenty minutes; and I am sure that I
could have continued two hours longer, though I had on a pair of
trowsers, an accoutrement which by no means assists the
performance. My two companions were also _four_ hours in the water.
Mengaldo might be about thirty years of age; Scott about
six-and-twenty.

"With this experience in swimming at different periods of life, not
only upon the SPOT, but elsewhere, of various persons, what is
there to make me doubt that Leander's exploit was perfectly
practicable? If three individuals did more than the passage of the
Hellespont, why should he have done less? But Mr. Turner failed,
and, naturally seeking a plausible reason for his failure, lays the
blame on the _Asiatic_ side of the strait. He tried to swim
directly across, instead of going higher up to take the vantage: he
might as well have tried to _fly_ over Mount Athos.

"That a young Greek of the heroic times, in love, and with his
limbs in full vigour, might have succeeded in such an attempt is
neither wonderful nor doubtful. Whether he _attempted_ it or _not_
is another question, because he might have had a small _boat_ to
save him the trouble.

"I am yours very truly,

"BYRON.

"P.S. Mr. Turner says that the swimming from Europe to Asia was
'the _easiest_ part of the task.' I doubt whether Leander found it
so, as it was the return; however, he had several hours between the
intervals. The argument of Mr. Turner, 'that higher up or lower
down, the strait widens so considerably that he would save little
labour by his starting,' is only good for indifferent swimmers; a
man of any practice or skill will always consider the distance less
than the strength of the stream. If Ekenhead and myself had thought
of crossing at the narrowest point, instead of going up to the Cape
above it, we should have been swept down to Tenedos. The strait,
however, is not so extremely wide, even where it broadens above and
below the forts. As the frigate was stationed some time in the
Dardanelles waiting for the firman, I bathed often in the strait
subsequently to our traject, and generally on the Asiatic side,
without perceiving the greater strength of the opposite stream by
which the diplomatic traveller palliates his own failure. Our
amusement in the small bay which opens immediately below the
Asiatic fort was to _dive_ for the LAND tortoises, which we flung
in on purpose, as they amphibiously crawled along the bottom.
_This_ does not argue any greater violence of current than on the
European shore. With regard to the _modest_ insinuation that we
chose the European side as 'easier,' I appeal to Mr. Hobhouse and
Captain Bathurst if it be true or no (poor Ekenhead being since
dead). Had we been aware of any such difference of current as is
asserted, we would at least have proved it, and were not likely to
have given it up in the twenty-five minutes of Mr. Turner's own
experiment. The secret of all this is, that Mr. Turner failed, and
that we succeeded; and he is consequently disappointed, and seems
not unwilling to overshadow whatever little merit there might be in
our success. Why did he not try the European side? If he had
succeeded there, after failing on the Asiatic, his plea would have
been more graceful and gracious. Mr. Turner may find what fault he
pleases with my poetry, or my politics; but I recommend him to
leave aquatic reflections till he is able to swim 'five-and-twenty
minutes' without being '_exhausted_,' though I believe he is the
first modern Tory who ever swam '_against_ the stream for half the
time."[32]

[Footnote 32: To the above letter, which was published at the time, Mr.
Turner wrote a reply, but, for reasons stated by himself, did not print
it. At his request, I give insertion to his paper in the Appendix.]

* * * * *

LETTER 414. TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, February 22. 1821.

"As I wish the soul of the late Antoine Galignani to rest in peace,
(you will have read his death, published by himself, in his own
newspaper,) you are requested particularly to inform his children
and heirs, that of their 'Literary Gazette,' to which I subscribed
more than _two_ months ago, I have only received one _number_,
notwithstanding I have written to them repeatedly. If they have no
regard for me, a subscriber, they ought to have some for their
deceased parent, who is undoubtedly no better off in his present
residence for this total want of attention. If not, let me have my
francs. They were paid by Missiaglia, the _W_enetian bookseller. You
may also hint to them that when a gentleman writes a letter, it is
usual to send an answer. If not, I shall make them 'a speech,'
which will comprise an eulogy on the deceased.

"We are here full of war, and within two days of the seat of it,
expecting intelligence momently. We shall now see if our Italian
friends are good for any thing but 'shooting round a corner,' like
the Irishman's gun. Excuse haste,--I write with my spurs putting
on. My horses are at the door, and an Italian Count waiting to
accompany me in my ride.

"Yours, &c.

"P.S. Pray, amongst my letters, did you get one detailing the death
of the commandant here? He was killed near my door, and died in my
house.

"BOWLES AND CAMPBELL.

"To the air of '_How now, Madame Flirt_,' in the Beggars' Opera.

BOWLES. "Why, how now, saucy Tom,
If you thus must ramble,
I will publish some
Remarks on Mr. Campbell.

CAMPBELL. "Why, how now, Billy Bowles,
&c. &c. &c."

* * * * *

LETTER 415. TO MR. MURRAY.

"March 2. 1821.

"This was the beginning of a letter which I meant for Perry, but
stopped short, hoping you would be able to prevent the theatres. Of
course you need not send it; but it explains to you my feelings on
the subject. You say that 'there is nothing to fear, let them do
what they please;' that is to say, that you would see me damned
with great tranquillity. You are a fine fellow."

* * * * *

TO MR. PERRY.

"Ravenna, January 22. 1821.

"Dear Sir,

"I have received a strange piece of news, which cannot be more
disagreeable to your public than it is to me. Letters and the
gazettes do me the honour to say that it is the intention of some
of the London managers to bring forward on their stage the poem of
'Marino Faliero,' &c. which was never intended for such an
exhibition, and I trust will never undergo it. It is certainly
unfit for it. I have never written but for the solitary _reader_,
and require no experiments for applause beyond his silent
approbation. Since such an attempt to drag me forth as a gladiator
in the theatrical arena is a violation of all the courtesies of
literature, I trust that the impartial part of the press will step
between me and this pollution. I say pollution, because every
violation of a _right_ is such, and I claim my right as an author
to prevent what I have written from being turned into a stage-play.
I have too much respect for the public to permit this of my own
free will. Had I sought their favour, it would have been by a
pantomime.

"I have said that I write only for the reader. Beyond this I cannot
consent to any publication, or to the abuse of any publication of
mine to the purposes of histrionism. The applauses of an audience
would give me no pleasure; their disapprobation might, however,
give me pain. The wager is therefore not equal. You may, perhaps,
say, 'How can this be? if their disapprobation gives pain, their
praise might afford pleasure?' By no means: the kick of an ass or
the sting of a wasp may be painful to those who would find nothing
agreeable in the braying of the one or the buzzing of the other.

"This may not seem a courteous comparison, but I have no other
ready; and it occurs naturally."

* * * * *

LETTER 416. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, Marzo, 1821.

"Dear Moray,

"In my packet of the 12th instant, in the last sheet (_not_ the
_half_ sheet), last page, _omit_ the sentence which (defining, or
attempting to define, what and who are gentlemen) begins, 'I should
say at least in life that most military men have it, and few naval;
that several men of rank have it, and few lawyers,' &c. &c. I say,
omit the whole of that sentence, because, like the 'cosmogony, or
creation of the world,' in the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' it is not much
to the purpose.

"In the sentence above, too, almost at the top of the same page,
after the words 'that there ever was, or can be, an aristocracy of
poets,' add and insert these words--'I do not mean that they should
write in the style of the song by a person of quality, or _parle
euphuism_; but there is a _nobility_ of thought and expression to
be found no less in Shakspeare, Pope, and Burns, than in Dante,
Alfieri,' &c. &c. and so on. Or, if you please, perhaps you had
better omit the whole of the latter digression on the _vulgar_
poets, and insert only as far as the end of the sentence on Pope's
Homer, where I prefer it to Cowper's, and quote Dr. Clarke in
favour of its accuracy.

"Upon all these points, take an opinion; take the sense (or
nonsense) of your learned visitants, and act thereby. I am very
tractable--in PROSE.

"Whether I have made out the case for Pope, I know not; but I am
very sure that I have been zealous in the attempt. If it comes to
the proofs we shall beat the blackguards. I will show more
_imagery_ in twenty lines of Pope than in any equal length of
quotation in English poesy, and that in places where they least
expect it. For instance, in his lines on _Sporus_,--now, do just
_read_ them over--the subject is of no consequence (whether it be
_satire_ or epic)--we are talking of _poetry_ and _imagery_ from
_nature_ and _art_. Now, mark the images separately and
arithmetically:--

"'1. The thing of _silk_.
2. _Curd_ of _ass_'s milk.
3. The _butterfly_.
4. The _wheel_.
5. Bug with gilded wings.
6. _Painted_ child of dirt.
7. Whose _buzz_.
8. Well-bred _spaniels_.
9. _Shallow streams run dimpling._
10. Florid impotence.
11. _Prompter. Puppet squeaks._
12. _The ear of Eve._
13. _Familiar toad._
14. _Half froth, half venom, splits_ himself abroad.
15. _Fop_ at the _toilet_.
16. _Flatterer_ at the _board_.
17. _Amphibious thing_.
18. Now _trips a lady_.
19. Now _struts a lord_.
20. A _cherub's face_.
21. A _reptile_ all the rest.
22. The _Rabbins_.
23. Pride that _licks the dust_.

"'Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will trust.
Wit that can creep, and _pride_ that _licks the dust_.'

"Now, is there a line of all the passage without the most
_forcible_ imagery (for his purpose)? Look at the _variety_--at the
_poetry_ of the passage--at the _imagination_: there is hardly a
line from which a painting might not be made, and _is_. But this is
nothing in comparison with his higher passages in the Essay on Man,
and many of his other poems, serious and comic. There never was
such an unjust outcry in this world as that which these fellows are
trying against Pope.

"Ask Mr. Gifford if, in the fifth act of 'The Doge,' you could not
contrive (where the sentence of the _Veil_ is passed) to insert the
following lines in Marino Faliero's answer?

"But let it be so. It will be in vain:
The veil which blackens o'er this blighted name,
And hides, or seems to hide, these lineaments,
Shall draw more gazers than the thousand portraits
Which glitter round it in their painted trappings,
Your delegated slaves--the people's tyrants.[33]

"Yours, truly, &c.

"P.S. Upon _public_ matters here I say little: you will all hear
soon enough of a general row throughout Italy. There never was a
more foolish step than the expedition to Naples by these fellows.

"I wish to propose to _Holmes_, the miniature painter, to come out
to me this spring. I will pay his expenses, and any sum in reason.
I wish him to take my daughter's picture (who is in a convent) and
the Countess G.'s, and the head of a peasant girl, which latter
would make a study for Raphael. It is a complete _peasant_ face,
but an _Italian_ peasant's, and quite in the Raphael Fornarina
style. Her figure is tall, but rather large, and not at all
comparable to her face, which is really superb. She is not
seventeen, and I am anxious to have her face while it lasts. Madame
G. is also very handsome, but it is quite in a different
style--completely blonde and fair--very uncommon in Italy; yet not
an _English_ fairness, but more like a Swede or a Norwegian. Her
figure, too, particularly the bust, is uncommonly good. It must be
_Holmes_; I like him because he takes such inveterate likenesses.
There is a war here; but a solitary traveller, with little baggage,
and nothing to do with politics, has nothing to fear. Pack him up
in the Diligence. Don't forget."

[Footnote 33: These lines--perhaps from some difficulty in introducing
them--were never inserted in the Tragedy.]

* * * * *

LETTER 417. TO MR. HOPPNER.

"Ravenna, April 3. 1821;

"Thanks for the translation. I have sent you some books, which I do
not know whether you have read or no--you need not return them, in
any case. I enclose you also a letter from Pisa. I have neither
spared trouble nor expense in the care of the child; and as she was
now four years old complete, and quite above the control of the
servants--and as a _man_ living without any woman at the head of
his house cannot much attend to a nursery--I had no resource but to
place her for a time (at a high pension too) in the convent of
Bagna-Cavalli (twelve miles off), where the air is good, and where
she will, at least, have her learning advanced, and her morals and
religion inculcated.[34] I had also another reason;--things were
and are in such a state here, that I had no reason to look upon my
own personal safety as particularly insurable; and I thought the
infant best out of harm's way, for the present.

"It is also fit that I should add that I by no means intended, nor
intend, to give a _natural_ child an _English_ education, because
with the disadvantages of her birth, her after settlement would be
doubly difficult. Abroad, with a fair foreign education and a
portion of five or six thousand pounds, she might and may marry
very respectably. In England such a dowry would be a pittance,
while elsewhere it is a fortune. It is, besides, my wish that she
should be a Roman Catholic, which I look upon as the best religion,
as it is assuredly the oldest of the various branches of
Christianity. I have now explained my notions as to the _place_
where she now is--it is the best I could find for the present; but
I have no prejudices in its favour.

"I do not speak of politics, because it seems a hopeless subject,
as long as those scoundrels are to be permitted to bully states
out of their independence. Believe me,

"Yours ever and truly.

"P.S. There is a report here of a change in France; but with what
truth is not yet known.

"P.S. My respects to Mrs. H. I _have_ the 'best opinion' of her
countrywomen; and at my time of life, (three and thirty, 22d
January, 1821,) that is to say, after the life I have led, a _good_
opinion is the only rational one which a man should entertain of
the whole sex--up to _thirty_, the worst possible opinion a man can
have of them in _general_, the better for himself. Afterwards, it
is a matter of no importance to them, nor to him either, what
opinion he entertains--his day is over, or, at least, should be.

"You see how sober I am become."

[Footnote 34: With such anxiety did he look to this essential part of
his daughter's education, that notwithstanding the many advantages she
was sure to derive from the kind and feminine superintendence of Mrs.
Shelley, his apprehensions, lest her feeling upon religious subjects
might be disturbed by the conversation of Shelley himself, prevented him
from allowing her to remain under his friend's roof.]

* * * * *

LETTER 418. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, April 21. 1821.

"I enclose you another letter on Bowles. But I premise that it is
not like the former, and that I am not at all sure how _much_, if
_any_, of it should be published. Upon this point you can consult
with Mr. Gifford, and think twice before you publish it at all.

Yours truly,

B.

"P.S. You may make my subscription for Mr. Scott's widow, &c.
_thirty_ instead of the proposed _ten_ pounds; but do not put down
_my name_; put down N.N. only. The reason is, that, as I have
mentioned him in the enclosed pamphlet, it would look indelicate. I
would give more, but my disappointments last year about Rochdale
and the transfer from the funds render me more economical for the
present."

* * * * *

LETTER 419. TO MR. SHELLEY.

"Ravenna, April 26. 1821.

"The child continues doing well, and the accounts are regular and
favourable. It is gratifying to me that you and Mrs. Shelley do not
disapprove of the step which I have taken, which is merely
temporary.

"I am very sorry to hear what you say of Keats--is it actually
true? I did not think criticism had been so killing. Though I
differ from you essentially in your estimate of his performances, I
so much abhor all unnecessary pain, that I would rather he had been
seated on the highest peak of Parnassus than have perished in such
a manner. Poor fellow! though with such inordinate self-love he
would probably have not been very happy. I read the review of
'Endymion' in the Quarterly. It was severe,--but surely not so
severe as many reviews in that and other journals upon others.

"I recollect the effect on me of the Edinburgh on my first poem; it
was rage, and resistance, and redress--but not despondency nor
despair. I grant that those are not amiable feelings; but, in this
world of bustle and broil, and especially in the career of writing,
a man should calculate upon his powers of _resistance_ before he
goes into the arena.

"'Expect not life from pain nor danger free,
Nor deem the doom of man reversed for thee.'

"You know my opinion of that _second-hand_ school of poetry. You
also know my high opinion of your own poetry,--because it is of
_no_ school. I read Cenci--but, besides that I think the _subject_
essentially _un_dramatic, I am not an admirer of our old
dramatists, _as models_. I deny that the English have hitherto had
a drama at all. Your Cenci, however, was a work of power, and
poetry. As to _my_ drama, pray revenge yourself upon it, by being
as free as I have been with yours.

"I have not yet got your Prometheus, which I long to see. I have
heard nothing of mine, and do not know that it is yet published. I
have published a pamphlet on the Pope controversy, which you will
not like. Had I known that Keats was dead--or that he was alive and
so sensitive--I should have omitted some remarks upon his poetry,
to which I was provoked by his _attack_ upon _Pope_, and my
disapprobation of _his own_ style of writing.

"You want me to undertake a great poem--I have not the inclination
nor the power. As I grow older, the indifference--_not_ to life,
for we love it by instinct--but to the stimuli of life, increases.
Besides, this late failure of the Italians has latterly
disappointed me for many reasons,--some public, some personal. My
respects to Mrs. S.

"Yours ever.

"P.S. Could not you and I contrive to meet this summer? Could not
you take a run here _alone_?"

* * * * *

LETTER 420. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, April 26. 1821.

"I sent you by last _postis_ a large packet, which will _not_ do
for publication (I suspect), being, as the apprentices say, 'damned
low.' I put off also for a week or two sending the Italian scrawl
which will form a note to it. The reason is that, letters being
opened, I wish to 'bide a wee.'

"Well, have you published the Tragedy? and does the Letter take?

"Is it true, what Shelley writes me, that poor John Keats died at
Rome of the Quarterly Review? I am very sorry for it, though I
think he took the wrong line as a poet, and was spoilt by
Cockneyfying, and suburbing, and versifying Tooke's Pantheon and
Lempriere's Dictionary. I know, by experience, that a savage review
is hemlock to a sucking author; and the one on me (which produced
the English Bards, &c.) knocked me down--but I got up again.
Instead of bursting a blood-vessel, I drank three bottles of
claret, and began an answer, finding that there was nothing in the
article for which I could lawfully knock Jeffrey on the head, in an
honourable way. However, I would not be the person who wrote the
homicidal article for all the honour and glory in the world, though
I by no means approve of that school of scribbling which it treats
upon.

"You see the Italians have made a sad business of it,--all owing to
treachery and disunion amongst themselves. It has given me great
vexation. The execrations heaped upon the Neapolitans by the other
Italians are quite in unison with those of the rest of Europe.

"Yours, &c.

"P.S. Your latest packet of books is on its way here, but not
arrived. Kenilworth excellent. Thanks for the pocket-books, of
which I have made presents to those ladies who like cuts, and
landscapes, and all that. I have got an Italian book or two which I
should like to send you if I had an opportunity.

"I am not at present in the very highest health,--spring probably;
so I have lowered my diet and taken to Epsom salts.

"As you say my _prose_ is good, why don't you treat with _Moore_
for the reversion of the Memoirs?--_conditionally, recollect_; not
to be published before decease. _He_ has the permission to dispose
of them, and I advised him to do so."

* * * * *

LETTER 421. TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, April 28. 1821.

"You cannot have been more disappointed than myself, nor so much
deceived. I have been so at some personal risk also, which is not
yet done away with. However, no time nor circumstances shall alter
my tone nor my feelings of indignation against tyranny triumphant.
The present business has been as much a work of treachery as of
cowardice,--though both may have done their part. If ever you and I
meet again, I will have a talk with you upon the subject. At
present, for obvious reasons, I ran write but little, as all
letters are opened. In _mine_ they shall always find _my_
sentiments, but nothing that can lead to the oppression of others.

"You will please to recollect that the Neapolitans are nowhere now
more execrated than in Italy, and not blame a whole people for the
vices of a province. That would be like condemning Great Britain
because they plunder wrecks in Cornwall.

"And now let us be literary;--a sad falling off, but it is always a
consolation. If 'Othello's occupation be gone,' let us take to the
next best; and, if we cannot contribute to make mankind more free
and wise, we may amuse ourselves and those who like it. What are
you writing? I have been scribbling at intervals, and Murray will
be publishing about now.

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