Chapter I: Preface

Two great collections of Byron's letters have been already printed. In Moore's 'Life', which appeared in 1830, 561 were given. These, in FitzGreene Halleck's American edition of Byron's 'Works', published in 1847, were increased to 635. The first volume of a third collection, edited by Mr. W. E. Henley, appeared early in 1897. A comparison of the number of letters contained in these three collections down to August 22, 1811, shows that Moore prints 61, Halleck 78, and Mr. Henley 88. In other words, the edition of 1897, which was the most complete so far as it goes, added 27 letters to that of 1830, and 10 to that of 1847. But it should be remembered that by far the greater part of the material added by Halleck and Mr. Henley was seen and rejected by Moore.

The present edition, down to August 22, 1811, prints 168 letters, or an addition of 107 to Moore, 90 to Halleck, and 80 to Mr. Henley. Of this additional matter considerably more than two-thirds was inaccessible to Moore in 1830.

In preparing this volume for the press, use has been also made of a mass of material, bearing more or less directly on Byron's life, which was accumulated by the grandfather and father of Mr. Murray. The notes thus contain, it is believed, many details of biographical interest, which are now for the first time published.

It is necessary to make these comparisons, in order to define the position which this edition claims to hold with regard to its predecessors. On the other hand, no one can regret more sincerely than myself--no one has more cause to regret--the circumstances which placed this wealth of new material in my hands rather than in those of the true poet and brilliant critic, who, to enthusiasm for Byron, and wide acquaintance with the literature and social life of the day, adds the rarer gift of giving life and significance to bygone events or trivial details by unconsciously interesting his readers in his own living personality.

Byron's letters appeal on three special grounds to all lovers of English literature. They offer the most suggestive commentary on his poetry; they give the truest portrait of the man; they possess, at their best, in their ease, freshness, and racy vigour, a very high literary value.

The present volume, which covers the period from 1798 to August, 1811, includes the letters written Lord Byron from his eleventh to his twenty-third year. They therefore illustrate the composition of his youthful poetry, of 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers', and of the first two cantos of 'Childe Harold'. They carry his history down to the eve of that morning in March, 1812, when he awoke and found himself famous--in a degree and to an extent which to the present generation seem almost incomprehensible.

If the letters were selected for their literary value alone, it is probable that very few of those contained in the present volume would find a place in a collection formed on this principle. But biographical interest also demands consideration, and, in the case of Byron, this claim is peculiarly strong. He has for years suffered much from the suppression of the material on which a just estimate of his life may be formed. It is difficult not to regret the destruction of the 'Memoirs', in which he himself intended his history to be told. Their loss cannot be replaced; but their best substitute is found in his letters. Through them a truer conception of Byron can be formed than any impression which is derived from Dallas, Leigh Hunt, Medwin, or even Moore. It therefore seems only fair to Byron, that they should be allowed, as far as possible, to interpret his career. For other reasons also it appears to me too late, or too soon, to publish only those letters which possess a high literary value. The real motive of such a selection would probably be misread, and thus further misconceptions of Byron's character would be encouraged.

With one exception, therefore, the whole of the available material has been published. The exception consists of some of the business letters written by Byron to his solicitor. Enough of these have been printed to indicate the pecuniary difficulties which undoubtedly influenced his life and character; but it was not considered necessary to publish the whole series. Men of genius ask money from their lawyers in the same language, and with the same arguments, as the most ordinary persons.

The picture which the letters give of Byron, is, it is believed, unique in its completeness, while the portrait has the additional value of being painted by his own hand. Byron's career lends itself only too easily to that method of treatment, which dashes off a likeness by vigorous strokes with a full brush, seizing with false emphasis on some salient feature, and revelling in striking contrasts of light and shade. But the style here adopted by the unconscious artist is rather that in which Richardson the novelist painted his pathetic picture of Clarissa Harlowe. With slow, laborious touches, with delicate gradations of colour, sometimes with almost tedious minuteness and iteration, the gradual growth of a strangely composite character is presented, surrounded by the influences which controlled or moulded its development, and traced through all the varieties of its rapidly changing moods. Written, as Byron wrote, with habitual exaggeration, and on the impulse of the moment, his letters correct one another, and, from this point of view, every letter contained in the volume adds something to the truth and completeness of the portrait.

Round the central figure of Byron are grouped his relations and friends, and two of the most interesting features in the volume are the strength of his family affections, and the width, if not the depth, of his capacity for friendship. His father died when the child was only three years old. But a bundle of his letters, written from Valenciennes to his sister, Mrs. Leigh, in 1790-91, still exists, to attest, with startling plainness of speech, the strength of the tendencies which John Byron transmitted to his son. The following extract contains the father's only allusion to the boy:--

"Valenciennes, Feb. 16, 1791.

Have you never received any letters from me by way of Bologne? I have
sent two. For God's sake send me some, as I have a great deal to pay.
With regard to Mrs. Byron, I am glad she writes to you. She is very
amiable at a distance; but I defy you and all the Apostles to live
with her two months, for, if any body could live with her, it was me.
'Mais jeu de Mains, jeu de Vilains'. For my son, I am happy to hear he
is well; but for his walking, 'tis impossible, as he is club-footed."

Between his mother and himself, in spite of frequent and violent collisions, there existed a real affection, while the warmth of his love for his half-sister Augusta, who had much of her brother's power of winning affection, lost nothing in its permanence from the rarity of their personal intercourse. Outside the family circle, the volume introduces the only two men among his contemporaries who remained his lifelong friends. In his affection for Lord Clare, whom he very rarely saw after leaving school, there was a tinge of romance, and in him Byron seems to have personified the best memories of an idealized Harrow. In Hobhouse he found at once the truest and the most intimate of his friends, a man whom he both liked and respected, and to whose opinion and judgment he repeatedly deferred. On Hobhouse's side, the sentiment which induced him, eminently sensible and practical as he was, to treasure the nosegay which Byron had given him, long after it was withered, shows how attractive must have been the personality of the donor.

Without the 'Dictionary of National Biography', the labour of preparing the letters for the press would be trebled. Both in the facts which it supplies, and in the sources of information which it suggests, it is an invaluable aid.

In conclusion, I desire to express my special obligations to Lord Lovelace and Mr. Richard Edgcumbe, who have read the greater part of the proofs, and to both of whom I am indebted for several useful suggestions.

R. E. PROTHERO.

March, 1898.

List of Letters

1798

1. Nov. 8. To Mrs. Parker

1799.

2. March 13. To his Mother 3. Undated. To John Hanson

1803.

4. May 1. To his Mother 5. June 23, To his Mother 6. Sept. To his Mother

1804.

7. March 22. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 8. March 26. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 9. April 2. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 10. April 9. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 11 Aug. 18. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 12. Aug. 29. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot 13. Oct. 25. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 14. Nov. 2. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 15. Nov. 11. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 16. Nov. 17. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 17. Nov. 21. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 18. Dec. 1. To John Hanson

1805.

19. Jan. 30. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 20. April 4. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 21. April 15. To Hargreaves Hanson 22. April 20. To Hargreaves Hanson 23. April 23. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 24. April 25. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 25. May 11. To John Hanson 26. June 5. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 27. June 27. To John Hanson 28. July 2. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 29. July 8. To John Hanson 30. Aug. 4. To Charles O. Gordon 31. Aug. 6. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 32. Aug. 10. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 33. Aug. 14. To Charles O. Gordon. 34. Aug. 19. To Hargreaves Hanson 35. Undated. To Hargreaves Hanson 36. Oct. 25. To Hargreaves Hanson 37. Oct. 26. To John Hanson 38. Nov. 6. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 39. Nov. 12. To Hargreaves Hanson 40. Nov. 23. To John Hanson 41. Nov. 30. To John Hanson 42. Dec. 4. To John Hanson 43. Dec. 13. To John Hanson 44. Dec. 26. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 45. Dec. 27. To the Hon. Augusta Byron

1806

46. Jan. 7. To the Hon. Augusta Byron 47. Feb. 26. To his Mother 48. March 3. To John Hanson 49. March 10. To John Hanson 50. March 25. To John Hanson 51. May 16. To Henry Angelo 52. Aug. 9. To John M.B. Pigot 53. Aug. 10. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot 54. Aug. 10. To John M.B. Pigot 55. Aug. 16. To John M.B. Pigot 56. Aug. 18. To John M.B. Pigot 57. Aug. 26. To John M. B. Pigot 58. Undated. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot 59. Dec. 7. To John Hanson

1807.

60. Jan. 12. To J. Ridge 61. Jan. 13. To John M. B. Pigot 62. Jan. 31. To Captain John Leacroft 63. Feb. 4. " " " 64. Feb. 4. " " " 65. Feb. 6. To the Earl of Clare 66. Feb. 8. To Mrs. Hanson 67. March 6. To William Bankes 68. Undated. " " 69. Undated. To----Falkner 70. April 2. To John Hanson 71. April. To John M. B. Pigot 72. April 19. To John Hanson 73. June 11. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot 74. June 30. " " " 75. July 5. " " " 76. July 13. " " " 77. July 20. To John Hanson 78. Aug. 2. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot 79. Aug. 11. " " " 80. Oct. 19. To John Hanson 81. Oct. 26. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot 82. Nov. 20. To J. Ridge 83. Dec. 2. To John Hanson 84. Nov. 9 (1820) To John Murray

1808.

85. Jan. 13. To Henry Drury 86. Jan. 16. To John Cam Hobhouse 87. Jan. 20. To Robert Charles Dallas 88. Jan. 21. " " " 89. Jan. 25. To John Hanson 90. Jan. 25. " " 91. Feb. 2. To James De Bathe 92. Feb. 11. To William Harness 93. Feb. 21. To J. Ridge 94. Feb. 26. To the Rev. John Becher 95. March 28. " " " 96. April 26. To the Hon. Augusta Leigh 97. Sept. 14. To the Rev. John Becher 98. Sept. 18. To John Jackson 99. Oct. 4. " " 100. Oct. 7. To his Mother 101. Nov. 2. " " 102. Nov. 3. To Francis Hodgson 103. Nov. 18. To John Hanson 104. Nov. 27. To Francis Hodgson 105. Nov. 30. To the Hon. Augusta Leigh 106. Dec. 14. " " " 107. Dec. 17. To John Hanson 108. Dec. 17. To Francis Hodgson

1809.

109. Jan. 15. To John Hanson 110. Jan. 25. To R. C. Dallas 111. Feb. 7. " " " 112. Feb. 11. " " " 113. Feb. 12. " " " 114. Feb. 16. " " " 115. Feb. 19. " " " 116. Feb. 22. " " " 117. March 6. To his Mother 118. March 18. To William Harness 119. Undated. To William Bankes 120. April 25. To R. C. Dallas 121. April 26. To John Hanson 122. May 15. To the Rev. R. Lowe 123. June 22. To his Mother 124. June 28. To the Rev. Henry Drury 125. June 25-30. To Francis Hodgson 126. July 16. " " " 127. Aug. 6. " " " 128. Aug. 11. To his Mother 129. Aug. 15. To Mr. Rushton 130. Sept. 15. To his Mother 131. Nov. 12. " " "

1810.

132. March 19. To his Mother 133. April 9. To his Mother 134. April I0. To his Mother 135. April 17. To his Mother 136. May 3. To Henry Drury 137. May 5. To Francis Hodgson 138. May 18. To his Mother 139. May 24. To his Mother 140. June 17. To Henry Drury 141. June 28. To his Mother 142. July 1. To his Mother 143. July 4. To Francis Hodgson 144. July 25. To his Mother 145. July 27. To his Mother 146. July 30. To his Mother 147. Oct. 2. To his Mother 148. Oct. 3. To Francis Hodgson 149. Oct. 4. To John Cam Hobhouse 150. Nov. 14. To Francis Hodgson

1811.

151. Jan. 14. To his Mother I52. Feb. 28. To his Mother 153. June 25. To his Mother 154. June 28. To R. C. Dallas 155. June 29. To Francis Hodgson 156. July 17. To Henry Drury 157. July 23. To his Mother 158. July 30. To William Miller 159. Aug. 2. To John M. B. Pigot 160. Aug. 4. To John Hanson 161. Aug. 7. To Scrope Berdmore Davies 162. Aug. 12. To R. C. Dallas 163. Aug. 12. To----Bolton 164. Aug. 16. To----Bolton 165. Aug. 20. To----Bolton 166. Aug. 21. To the Hon. Augusta Leigh 167. Aug. 21. To R. C. Dallas 168. Aug. 22. To Francis Hodgson

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL II. CAMBRIDGE AND JUVENILE POEMS III. ENGLISH BARDS, AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS IV. TRAVELS IN ALBANIA, GREECE, ETC.--DEATH OF MRS. BYRON

APPENDIX I. REVIEW OF WORDSWORTH'S POEMS APPENDIX II. ARTICLE FROM THE 'EDINBURGH REVIEW', FOR JANUARY, 1808 APPENDIX III. REVIEW OF GELL'S 'GEOGRAPHY OF ITHACA', AND 'ITINERARY OF GREECE'

THE LETTERS OF LORD BYRON.