Thomas Moore - Life of Lord Byron, Vol. III

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"I open my letter to thank you for yours just received. The 'Lines
to a Lady Weeping' must go with The Corsair. I care nothing for
consequence, on this point. My politics are to me like a young
mistress to an old man--the worse they grow, the fonder I become of
them. As Mr. Gilford likes the 'Portuguese Translation[11],' pray
insert it as an addition to The Corsair.

"In all points of difference between Mr. Gifford and Mr. Dallas,
let the first keep his place; and in all points of difference
between Mr. Gifford and Mr. Anybody-else, I shall abide by the
former; if I am wrong, I can't help it. But I would rather not be
right with any other person. So there is an end of that matter.
After all the trouble he has taken about me and mine, I should be
very ungrateful to feel or act otherwise. Besides, in point of
judgment, he is not to be lowered by a comparison. In _politics_,
he may be right too; but that with me is a _feeling_, and I can't
_torify_ my nature."

[Footnote 11: His translation of the pretty Portuguese song, "Tu mi
chamas." He was tempted to try another version of this ingenious
thought, which is, perhaps, still more happy, and has never, I believe,
appeared in print.

"You call me still your _life_--ah! change the word--
Life is as transient as th' inconstant's sigh;
Say rather I'm your _soul_, more just that name,
For, like the soul, my love can never die."
]

* * * * *

LETTER 159. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Newstead Abbey, February 4. 1814.

"I need not say that your obliging letter was very welcome, and not
the less so for being unexpected.

"It doubtless gratifies me much that our _finale_ has pleased, and
that the curtain drops gracefully.[12] _You_ deserve it should, for
your promptitude and good nature in arranging immediately with Mr.
Dallas; and I can assure you that I esteem your entering so warmly
into the subject, and writing to me so soon upon it, as a personal
obligation. We shall now part, I hope, satisfied with each other. I
_was_ and am quite in earnest in my prefatory promise not to
intrude any more; and this not from any affectation, but a thorough
conviction that it is the best policy, and is at least respectful
to my readers, as it shows that I would not willingly run the risk
of forfeiting their favour in future. Besides, I have other views
and objects, and think that I shall keep this resolution; for,
since I left London, though shut up, _snow_-bound, _thaw_-bound,
and tempted with all kinds of paper, the dirtiest of ink, and the
bluntest of pens, I have not even been haunted by a wish to put
them to their combined uses, except in letters of business. My
rhyming propensity is quite gone, and I feel much as I did at
Patras on recovering from my fever--weak, but in health, and only
afraid of a relapse. I do most fervently hope I never shall.

"I see by the Morning Chronicle there hath been discussion in the
_Courier_; and I read in the Morning Post a wrathful letter about
Mr. Moore, in which some Protestant Reader has made a sad confusion
about _India_ and Ireland.

"You are to do as you please about the smaller poems; but I think
removing them _now_ from The Corsair looks like _fear_; and if so,
you must allow me not to be pleased. I should also suppose that,
after the _fuss_ of these newspaper esquires, they would materially
assist the circulation of The Corsair; an object I should imagine
at _present_ of more importance to _yourself_ than Childe Harold's
seventh appearance. Do as you like; but don't allow the withdrawing
that _poem_ to draw any imputation of _dismay_ upon me.

"Pray make my respects to Mr. Ward, whose praise I value most
highly, as you well know; it is in the approbation of such men that
fame becomes worth having. To Mr. Gifford I am always grateful,
and surely not less so now than ever. And so good night to my
authorship.

"I have been sauntering and dozing here very quietly, and not
unhappily. You will be happy to hear that I have completely
established my title-deeds as marketable, and that the purchaser
has succumbed to the terms, and fulfils them, or is to fulfil them
forthwith. He is now here, and we go on very amicably
together,--one in each _wing_ of the Abbey. We set off on Sunday--I
for town, he for Cheshire.

"Mrs. Leigh is with me--much pleased with the place, and less so
with me for parting with it, to which not even the price can
reconcile her. Your parcel has not yet arrived--at least the
_Mags_. &c.; but I have received Childe Harold and The Corsair.

"I believe both are very correctly printed, which is a great
satisfaction.

"I thank you for wishing me in town; but I think one's success is
most felt at a distance, and I enjoy my solitary self-importance in
an agreeable sulky way of my own, upon the strength of your
letter--for which I once more thank you, and am, very truly, &c.

"P.S. Don't you think Buonaparte's next _publication_ will be
rather expensive to the Allies? Perry's Paris letter of yesterday
looks very reviving. What a Hydra and Briareus it is! I wish they
would pacify: there is no end to this campaigning."

[Footnote 12: It will be recollected that he had announced The Corsair
as "the last production with which he should trespass on public patience
for some years."]

* * * * *

LETTER 160. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Newstead Abbey, February 5. 1814.

"I quite forgot, in my answer of yesterday, to mention that I have
no means of ascertaining whether the Newark _Pirate_ has been doing
what you say.[13] If so, he is a rascal, and a _shabby_ rascal too;
and if his offence is punishable by law or pugilism, he shall be
fined or buffeted. Do you try and discover, and I will make some
enquiry here. Perhaps some _other_ in town may have gone on
printing, and used the same deception.

"The _fac-simile_ is omitted in Childe Harold, which is very
awkward, as there is a _note_ expressly on the subject. Pray
_replace_ it as _usual_.

"On second and third thoughts, the withdrawing the small poems from
The Corsair (even to add to Childe Harold) looks like shrinking and
shuffling after the fuss made upon one of them by the Tories. Pray
replace them in The Corsair's appendix. I am sorry that Childe
Harold requires some and such abetments to make him move off; but,
if you remember, I told you his popularity would not be permanent.
It is very lucky for the author that he had made up his mind to a
temporary reputation in time. The truth is, I do not think that any
of the present day (and least of all, one who has not consulted the
flattering side of human nature,) have much to hope from posterity;
and you may think it affectation very probably, but, to me, my
present and past success has appeared very singular, since it was
in the teeth of so many prejudices. I almost think people like to
be contradicted. If Childe Harold flags, it will hardly be worth
while to go on with the engravings: but do as you please; I have
done with the whole concern; and the enclosed lines, written years
ago, and copied from my skull-cap, are among the last with which
you will be troubled. If you like, add them to Childe Harold, if
only for the sake of another outcry. You received so long an answer
yesterday, that I will not intrude on you further than to repeat
myself,

"Yours, &c.

"P.S. Of course, in reprinting (if you have occasion), you will
take great care to be correct. The present editions seem very much
so, except in the last note of Childe Harold, where the word
_responsible_ occurs twice nearly together; correct the second into
_answerable_."

[Footnote 13: Reprinting the "Hours of Idleness."]

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"Newark, February 6. 1814.

"I am thus far on my way to town. Master Ridge[14] I have seen, and
he owns to having _reprinted_ some _sheets_, to make up a few
complete remaining copies! I have now given him fair warning, and
if he plays such tricks again, I must either get an injunction, or
call for an account of profits (as I never have parted with the
copyright), or, in short, any thing vexatious, to repay him in his
own way. If the weather does not relapse, I hope to be in town in a
day or two. Yours," &c.

[Footnote 14: The printer at Newark.]

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"February 7. 1814.

"I see all the papers in a sad commotion with those eight lines;
and the Morning Post, in particular, has found out that I am a sort
of Richard III.--deformed in mind and _body_. The _last_ piece of
information is not very new to a man who passed five years at a
public school.

"I am very sorry you cut out those lines for Childe Harold. Pray
re-insert them in their old place in 'The Corsair.'"

* * * * *

LETTER 161. TO MR. HODGSON.

"February 28. 1814.

"There is a youngster, and a clever one, named Reynolds, who has
just published a poem called 'Safie,' published by Cawthorne. He is
in the most natural and fearful apprehension of the Reviewers; and
as you and I both know by experience the effect of such things upon
a _young_ mind, I wish you would take his production into
dissection, and do it _gently_. _I_ cannot, because it is inscribed
to me; but I assure you this is not my motive for wishing him to be
tenderly entreated, but because I know the misery at his time of
life, of untoward remarks upon first appearance.

"Now for _self_. Pray thank your _cousin_--it is just as it should
be, to my liking, and probably _more_ than will suit any one
else's. I hope and trust that you are well and well doing. Peace be
with you. Ever yours, my dear friend."

* * * * *

LETTER 162. TO MR. MOORE.

"February 10. 1814.

"I arrived in town late yesterday evening, having been absent three
weeks, which I passed in Notts. quietly and pleasantly. You can
have no conception of the uproar the eight lines on the little
Royalty's weeping in 1812 (now republished) have occasioned. The R
* *, who had always thought them _yours_, chose--God knows why--on
discovering them to be mine, to be _affected_ 'in sorrow rather
than anger.' The Morning Post, Sun, Herald, Courier, have all been
in hysterics ever since. M. is in a fright, and wanted to shuffle;
and the abuse against me in all directions is vehement, unceasing,
loud--some of it good, and all of it hearty. I feel a little
compunctious as to the R * *'s _regret_;--'would he had been only
angry! but I fear him not.'

"Some of these same assailments you have probably seen. My person
(which is excellent for 'the nonce') has been denounced in verses,
the more like the subject, inasmuch as they halt exceedingly. Then,
in another, I am an _atheist_, a _rebel_, and, at last, the _devil_
(_boiteux_, I presume). My demonism seems to be a female's
conjecture; if so, perhaps, I could convince her that I am but a
mere mortal,--if a queen of the Amazons may be believed, who says
[Greek: ariston cholos oiphei]. I quote from memory, so my Greek is
probably deficient; but the passage is _meant_ to mean * *.

"Seriously, I am in, what the learned call, a dilemma, and the
vulgar, a scrape; and my friends desire me not to be in a passion;
and, like Sir Fretful, I assure them that I am 'quite calm,'--but
I am nevertheless in a fury.

"Since I wrote thus far, a friend has come in, and we have been
talking and buffooning till I have quite lost the thread of my
thoughts; and, as I won't send them unstrung to you, good morning,
and

"Believe me ever, &c.

"P.S. Murray, during my absence, _omitted_ the Tears in several of
the copies. I have made him replace them, and am very wroth with
his qualms,--'as the wine is poured out, let it be drunk to the
dregs.'"

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"February 10. 1814.

"I am much better, and indeed quite well, this morning. I have
received _two_, but I presume there are more of the _Ana_,
subsequently, and also something previous, to which the Morning
Chronicle replied. You also mentioned a parody on the _Skull_. I
wish to see them all, because there may be things that require
notice either by pen or person.

"Yours, &c.

"You need not trouble yourself to answer this; but send me the
things when you get them."

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"February 12. 1814.

"If you have copies of the 'Intercepted Letters,' Lady Holland
would be glad of a volume; and when you have served others, have
the goodness to think of your humble servant.

"You have played the devil by that injudicious _suppression_, which
you did totally without my consent. Some of the papers have exactly
said what might be expected. Now I _do_ not, and _will_ not be
supposed to shrink, although myself and every thing belonging to me
were to perish with my memory. Yours, &c. BN.

"P.S. Pray attend to what I stated yesterday on _technical_
topics."

* * * * *

LETTER 163. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Monday, February 14. 1814.

"Before I left town yesterday, I wrote you a note, which I presume
you received. I have heard so many different accounts of _your_
proceedings, or rather of those of others towards _you_, in
consequence of the publication of these everlasting lines, that I
am anxious to hear from yourself the real state of the case.
Whatever responsibility, obloquy, or effect is to arise from the
publication, should surely _not_ fall upon you in any degree; and I
can have no objection to your stating, as distinctly and publicly
as you please, _your_ unwillingness to publish them, and my own
obstinacy upon the subject. Take any course you please to vindicate
_yourself_, but leave me to fight my own way; and, as I before
said, do not _compromise_ me by any thing which may look like
_shrinking_ on my part; as for your own, make the best of it.
Yours, BN."

* * * * *

LETTER 164. TO MR. ROGERS.

"February 16. 1814.

"My dear Rogers,

"I wrote to Lord Holland briefly, but I hope distinctly, on the
subject which has lately occupied much of my conversation with him
and you.[15] As things now stand, upon that topic my determination
must be unalterable.

"I declare to you most sincerely that there is no human being on
whose regard and esteem I set a higher value than on Lord
Holland's; and, as far as concerns himself, I would concede even to
humiliation, without any view to the future, and solely from my
sense of his conduct as to the past. For the rest, I conceive that
I have already done all in my power by the suppression.[16] If that
is not enough, they must act as they please; but I will not 'teach
my tongue a most inherent baseness,' come what may. You will
probably be at the Marquis Lansdowne's to-night. I am asked, but I
am not sure that I shall be able to go. Hobhouse will be there. I
think, if you knew him well, you would like him.

"Believe me always yours very affectionately,

"B."

[Footnote 15: Relative to a proposed reconciliation between Lord
Carlisle and himself.]

[Footnote 16: Of the Satire.]

* * * * *

LETTER 165. TO MR. ROGERS.

"February 16. 1814.

"If Lord Holland is satisfied, as far as regards himself and Lady
Hd., and as this letter expresses him to be, it is enough.

"As for any impression the public may receive from the revival of
the lines on Lord Carlisle, let them keep it,--the more favourable
for him, and the worse for me,--better for all.

"All the sayings and doings in the world shall not make me utter
another word of conciliation to any thing that breathes. I shall
bear what I can, and what I cannot I shall resist. The worst they
could do would be to exclude me from society. I have never courted
it, nor, I may add, in the general sense of the word, enjoyed
it--and 'there is a world elsewhere!'

"Any thing remarkably injurious, I have the same means of repaying
as other men, with such interest as circumstances may annex to it.

"Nothing but the necessity of adhering to regimen prevents me from
dining with you to-morrow.

"I am yours most truly,

"BN."

* * * * *

LETTER 166. TO MR. MOORE.

"February 16. 1814.

"You may be assured that the only prickles that sting from the
Royal hedgehog are those which possess a torpedo property, and may
benumb some of my friends. _I_ am quite silent, and 'hush'd in grim
repose.' The frequency of the assaults has weakened their
effects,--if ever they had any;--and, if they had had much, I
should hardly have held my tongue, or withheld my fingers. It is
something quite new to attack a man for abandoning his resentments.
I have heard that previous praise and subsequent vituperation were
rather ungrateful, but I did not know that it was wrong to
endeavour to do justice to those who did not wait till I had made
some amends for former and boyish prejudices, but received me into
their friendship, when I might still have been their enemy.

"You perceive justly that I must _intentionally_ have made my
fortune like Sir Francis Wronghead. It were better if there were
more merit in my independence, but it really is something nowadays
to be independent at all, and the _less_ temptation to be
otherwise, the more uncommon the case, in these times of
paradoxical servility. I believe that most of our hates and likings
have been hitherto nearly the same; but from henceforth they must,
of necessity, be one and indivisible,--and now for it! I am for any
weapon,--the pen, till one can find something sharper, will do for
a beginning.

"You can have no conception of the ludicrous solemnity with which
these two stanzas have been treated. The Morning Post gave notice
of an intended motion in the House of my brethren on the subject,
and God he knows what proceedings besides;--and all this, as
Bedreddin in the 'Nights' says, 'for making a cream tart without
pepper.' This last piece of intelligence is, I presume, too
laughable to be true; and the destruction of the Custom-house
appears to have, in some degree, interfered with mine; added to
which, the last battle of Buonaparte has usurped the column
hitherto devoted to my bulletin.

"I send you from this day's Morning Post the best which have
hitherto appeared on this 'impudent doggerel,' as the Courier calls
it. There was another about my _diet_, when a boy--not at all
bad--some time ago; but the rest are but indifferent.

"I shall think about your _oratorical_ hint[17];--but I have never
set much upon 'that cast,' and am grown as tired as Solomon of
every thing, and of myself more than any thing. This is being what
the learned call philosophical, and the vulgar lack-a-daisical. I
am, however, always glad of a blessing[18]; pray, repeat yours
soon,--at least your letter, and I shall think the benediction
included.

"Ever," &c.

[Footnote 17: I had endeavoured to persuade him to take a part in
parliamentary affairs, and to exercise his talent for oratory more
frequently.]

[Footnote 18: In concluding my letter, having said "God bless you!" I
added--"that is, if you have no objection."]

* * * * *

LETTER 167. TO MR. DALLAS.

"February 17. 1814.

"The Courier of this evening accuses me of having 'received and
pocketed' large sums for my works. I have never yet received, nor
wish to receive, a farthing for any. Mr. Murray offered a thousand
for The Giaour and Bride of Abydos, which I said was too much, and
that if he could afford it at the end of six months, I would then
direct how it might be disposed of; but neither then, nor at any
other period, have I ever availed myself of the profits on my own
account. For the republication of the Satire I refused four
hundred guineas; and for the previous editions I never asked nor
received a _sous_, nor for any writing whatever. I do not wish you
to do any thing disagreeable to yourself; there never was nor shall
be any conditions nor stipulations with regard to any accommodation
that I could afford you; and, on your part, I can see nothing
derogatory in receiving the copyright. It was only assistance
afforded to a worthy man, by one not quite so worthy.

"Mr. Murray is going to contradict this [19]; but your name will
not be mentioned: for your own part, you are a free agent, and are
to do as you please. I only hope that now, as always, you will
think that I wish to take no unfair advantage of the accidental
opportunity which circumstances permitted me of being of use to
you. Ever," &c.

[Footnote 19: The statement of the Courier, &c.]

* * * * *

In consequence of this letter, Mr. Dallas addressed an explanation to
one of the newspapers, of which the following is a part;--the remainder
being occupied with a rather clumsily managed defence of his noble
benefactor on the subject of the Stanzas.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST.

"Sir,

"I have seen the paragraph in an evening paper, in which Lord Byron
is _accused_ of 'receiving and pocketing' large sums for his works.
I believe no one who knows him has the slightest suspicion of this
kind; but the assertion being public, I think it a justice I owe
to Lord Byron to contradict it publicly. I address this letter to
you for that purpose, and I am happy that it gives me an
opportunity at this moment to make some observations which I have
for several days been anxious to do publicly, but from which I have
been restrained by an apprehension that I should be suspected of
being prompted by his Lordship.

"I take upon me to affirm, that Lord Byron never received a
shilling for any of his works. To my certain knowledge, the profits
of the Satire were left entirely to the publisher of it. The gift
of the copyright of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage I have already
publicly acknowledged in the dedication of the new edition of my
novels; and I now add my acknowledgment for that of The Corsair,
not only for the profitable part of it, but for the delicate and
delightful manner of bestowing it while yet unpublished. With
respect to his two other poems, The Giaour and The Bride of Abydos,
Mr. Murray, the publisher of them, can truly attest that no part of
the sale of them has ever touched his hands, or been disposed of
for his use. Having said thus much as to facts, I cannot but
express my surprise that it should ever be deemed a matter of
reproach that he should appropriate the pecuniary returns of his
works. Neither rank nor fortune seems to me to place any man above
this; for what difference does it make in honour and noble
feelings, whether a copyright be bestowed, or its value employed,
in beneficent purposes? I differ with my Lord Byron on this subject
as well as some others; and he has constantly, both by word and
action, shown his aversion to receiving money for his productions."

* * * * *

LETTER. 163. TO MR. MOORE.

"February 26. 1814.

"Dallas had, perhaps, have better kept silence;--but that was _his_
concern, and, as his facts are correct, and his motive not
dishonourable to himself, I wished him well through it. As for his
interpretations of the lines, he and any one else may interpret
them as they please. I have and shall adhere to my taciturnity,
unless something very particular occurs to render this impossible.
Do _not you_ say a word. If any one is to speak, it is the person
principally concerned. The most amusing thing is, that every one
(to me) attributes the abuse to the _man they personally most
dislike!_--some say C * * r, some C * * e, others F * * d, &c. &c.
&c. I do not know, and have no clue but conjecture. If discovered,
and he turns out a hireling, he must be left to his wages; if a
cavalier, he must 'wink, and hold out his iron.'

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