Chapter III: Appendix: To Bibliography 314 (2)

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Charles to his people, Henry to his wife,
--In him the double tyrant starts to life:
Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain,
Each royal Vampire wakes to life again.
Ah, what can tombs avail!--since these disgorge
The blood and dust of both--to mould a George.[53]

[First published, _Poetical Works_, Paris, 1819, vi. 125.]

[ANOTHER VERSION.]

ON A ROYAL VISIT TO THE VAULTS.[54]

[OR CAESAR'S DISCOVERY OF C.I. AND H. 8. IN YE SAME VAULT.]

FAMED for their civil and domestic quarrels
See heartless Henry lies by headless Charles;
Between them stands another sceptred thing,
It lives, it reigns--"aye, every inch a king."
Charles to his people, Henry to his wife,
In him the double tyrant starts to life:
Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain.
The royal Vampires join and rise again.
What now can tombs avail, since these disgorge
The blood and dirt[55] of both to mould a George!

FOOTNOTES:

[53] ["I cannot conceive how the _Vault_ has got about; but so it is. It is too _farouche_; but truth to say, my satires are not very playful."--Letter to Moore, March 12, 1814, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 57-58. Moore had written to him, "Your lines about the bodies of Charles and Henry are, I find, circulated with wonderful avidity; even some clods in this neighbourhood have had a copy sent to them by some 'young ladies in town.'"--_Ibid_., p. 57, _note_ 3.

The discovery "that King Charles I. was buried in the vault of King Henry VIII.," was made on completing the mausoleum which George III. caused to be built in the tomb-house. The Prince Regent was informed of the circumstance, and on April 1, 1813, the day after the funeral of his mother-in-law, the Duchess of Brunswick, he superintended in person the opening of the leaden coffin, which bore the inscription, "King Charles, 1648" (_sic_). See _An Account of what appeared on Opening the Coffin of King Charles the First_, by Sir H. Halford, Bart., 1813, pp. 6, 7. Cornelia Knight, in her _Autobiography_ (1861, i. 227), notes that the frolic prince, the "Adonis of fifty," who was in a good humour, and "had given to Princess Charlotte the centre sapphire of Charles's crown," acted "the manner of decapitation on my shoulders." He had "forgotten" Cromwell, who, as Lord Auchinleck reminded Dr. Johnson, had "gart kings ken that they had a _lith_ in their neck!"]

[54] [From an autograph MS. in the possession of the Hon. Mrs. Norbury.

The first wrapper has written upon it, "The original Impromptu within is in the handwriting of the noble author Lord Byron, given to Mr. Norbury [private secretary to Lord Granville] by Mr. Dallas, his Lordship's valued relative."

Second wrapper, "Autograph of Lord Byron--tres précieux."

Third (outside) wrapper, "Autographe célèbre de Lord Byron."]

[55][

[Greek: Pêlòn ai(/mati pephyramhenon]
"Clay kneaded with blood."

Suetonius, in _Tiberium_, cap. 57.]

ICH DIEN.

FROM this emblem what variance your motto evinces,
For the _Man_ is his country's--the Arms are the Prince's!

?1814.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of
Mr. A.H. Hallam Murray, now for the first time printed.]

CONDOLATORY ADDRESS

TO SARAH COUNTESS OF JERSEY, ON THE PRINCE REGENT'S
RETURNING HER PICTURE TO MRS. MEE.[56]

WHEN the vain triumph of the imperial lord,
Whom servile Rome obeyed, and yet abhorred,
Gave to the vulgar gaze each glorious bust,
That left a likeness of the brave, or just;
What most admired each scrutinising eye
Of all that decked that passing pageantry?
What spread from face to face that wondering air?
The thought of Brutus[57]--for his was not there!
That absence proved his worth,--that absence fixed
His memory on the longing mind, unmixed; 10
And more decreed his glory to endure,
Than all a gold Colossus could secure.

If thus, fair Jersey, our desiring gaze
Search for thy form, in vain and mute amaze,
Amidst those pictured charms, whose loveliness,
Bright though they be, thine own had rendered less:
If he, that VAIN OLD MAN, whom truth admits
Heir of his father's crown, and of his wits,
If his corrupted eye, and withered heart,
Could with thy gentle image bear to part; 20
That tasteless shame be _his_, and ours the grief,
To gaze on Beauty's band without its chief:
Yet Comfort still one selfish thought imparts,
We lose the portrait, but preserve our hearts.

What can his vaulted gallery now disclose?
A _garden_ with all flowers--except the rose;--
A _fount_ that only wants its living stream;
A _night_, with every star, save Dian's beam.
Lost to our eyes the present forms shall be,
That turn from tracing them to dream of thee; 30
And more on that recalled resemblance pause,
Than all he _shall_ not force on our applause.

Long may thy yet meridian lustre shine,
With all that Virtue asks of Homage thine:
The symmetry of youth--the grace of mien--
The eye that gladdens--and the brow serene;
The glossy darkness of that clustering hair,[58]
Which shades, yet shows that forehead more than fair!
Each glance that wins us, and the life that throws
A spell which will not let our looks repose, 40
But turn to gaze again, and find anew
Some charm that well rewards another view.
These are not lessened, these are still as bright,
Albeit too dazzling _for a dotard's sight_;
And those must wait till ev'ry charm is gone,
To please the paltry heart that pleases none;--
That dull cold sensualist, whose sickly eye
In envious dimness passed thy portrait by;
Who racked his little spirit to combine
Its hate of _Freedom's_ loveliness, and _thine_. 50

_May_ 29, 1814.
[First published in _The Champion_, July 31, 1814.]

FOOTNOTES:

[56] ["The gentlemen of the _Champion_, and Perry, have got hold (I know not how) of the condolatory Address to Lady Jersey on the picture-abduction by our Regent, and have published them--with my name, too, smack--without even asking leave, or inquiring whether or no! Damn their impudence, and damn every thing. It has put me out of patience, and so, I shall say no more about it."--Letter to Moore, August 3, 1814, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 118. For Byron's letter to Lady Jersey, of May 29, 1814, and a note from her with reference to a lost(?) copy of the verses, _vide ibid_., p. 85. Mrs. Anne Mee (1775?-1851) was a miniature-painter, who was employed by the Prince Regent to take the portraits of fashionable beauties.]

[57] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza lix. line 3, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 374, _note_ 2.]

[58] [See _Conversations ... with the Countess of Blessington_, 1834, p. 50.]

FRAGMENT OF AN EPISTLE TO THOMAS MOORE.

"WHAT say _I_?"--not a syllable further in prose;
I'm your man "of all measures," dear Tom,--so here goes!
Here goes, for a swim on the stream of old Time,
On those buoyant supporters, the bladders of rhyme.
If our weight breaks them down, and we sink in the flood,
We are smothered, at least, in respectable mud,
Where the divers of Bathos lie drowned in a heap,
And Southey's last Pæan has pillowed his sleep;
That _Felo de se_ who, half drunk with his Malmsey,
Walked out of his depth and was lost in a calm sea, 10
Singing "Glory to God" in a spick and span stanza,
The like (since Tom Sternhold was choked) never man saw.[59]

The papers have told you, no doubt, of the fusses,
The fêtes, and the gapings to get at these Russes,[60]--
Of his Majesty's suite, up from coachman to Hetman,--
And what dignity decks the flat face of the great man.
I saw him, last week, at two balls and a party,--
For a Prince, his demeanour was rather too hearty.
You know, _we_ are used to quite different graces,

* * * * *

The Czar's look, I own, was much brighter and brisker, 20
But then he is sadly deficient in whisker;
And wore but a starless blue coat, and in kersey-
mere breeches whisked round, in a waltz with the Jersey,[61]
Who, lovely as ever, seemed just as delighted
With Majesty's presence as those she invited.

* * * * *

_June_, 1814.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, i. 561, 562 (note).]

FOOTNOTES:

[59] [The two first stanzas of Southey's "_Carmen Triumphale_, for the Commencement of the Year 1814," end with the line--

"Glory to God--Deliverance for Mankind!"]

[60] ["The newspapers will tell you all that is to be told of emperors, etc. They have dined, and supped, and shown their flat faces in all thoroughfares and several saloons."--Letter to Moore, June 14, 1814, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 93, 94.

From June 6 to June 27, 1814, the Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia were in England. Huge crowds watched all day and night outside the Pulteney Hotel (105, Piccadilly), where the Emperor of Russia stayed. Among the foreigners in London were Nesselrode, Metternich, Blücher, and Platoff, Hetman of the Cossacks. The two latter were the heroes of the mob. _Ibid_., p. 93, _note_ 1.]

[61] ["The Emperor," says Lady Vernon (_Journal of Mary Frampton_, pp. 225, 226), "is fond of dancing.... He waltzed with Lady Jersey, whom he admires, to the great discomposure of the Regent, who has quarrelled with her."]

ANSWER TO----'S PROFESSIONS OF AFFECTION.

IN hearts like thine ne'er may I hold a place
Till I renounce all sense, all shame, all grace--
That seat,--like seats, the bane of Freedom's realm,
But dear to those presiding at the helm--
Is basely purchased, not with gold alone;
Add Conscience, too, this bargain is your own--
'T is thine to offer with corrupting art
The _rotten borough_[62] of the human heart.

?1814.
[From an autograph MS., now for the first time printed.]

FOOTNOTES:

[62] [The phrase, "rotten borough," was used by Sir F. Burdett, _Examiner_, October 12, 1812.]

ON NAPOLEON'S ESCAPE FROM ELBA.[63]

ONCE fairly set out on his party of pleasure,
Taking towns at his liking, and crowns at his leisure,
From Elba to Lyons and Paris he goes,
Making _balls for_ the ladies, and _bows to_ his foes.

_March 27, 1815._
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, i. 611.]

FOOTNOTES:

[63] [It may be taken for granted that the "source" of this epigram was a paragraph in the _Morning Chronicle_ of March 27, 1815: "In the _Moniteur_ of Thursday we find the Emperor's own account of his _jaunt_ from the Island of Elba to the palace of the Thuilleries. It seems certainly more like a jaunt of pleasure than the progress of an invader through a country to be gained."]

ENDORSEMENT TO THE DEED OF SEPARATION,
IN THE APRIL OF 1816.

A YEAR ago you swore, fond she!
"To love, to honour," and so forth:
Such was the vow you pledged to me,
And here's exactly what 't is worth.

[First published, _Poetical Works_, 1831, vi. 454.]

[TO GEORGE ANSON BYRON(?)[64]]

AND, dost thou ask the reason of my sadness?
Well, I will tell it thee, unfeeling boy!
'Twas ill report that urged my brain to madness,
'Twas thy tongue's venom poisoned all my joy.

The sadness which thou seest is not sorrow;
My wounds are far too deep for simple grief;
The heart thus withered, seeks in vain to borrow
From calm reflection, comfort or relief.

The arrow's flown, and dearly shalt thou rue it;
No mortal hand can rid me of my pain:
My heart is pierced, but thou canst not subdue it--
Revenge is left, and is not left in vain.

?1816.
[First published, _Nicnac_, March 25, 1823.]

FOOTNOTES:

[64] ["A short time before Lord Byron quitted England, in 1816, he addressed these lines to an individual by whom he deemed himself injured; they are but little known."--_Nicnac_, March 25, 1823.]

SONG FOR THE LUDDITES.[65]

AS the Liberty lads o'er the sea
Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,
So we, boys, we
Will _die_ fighting, or _live_ free,
And down with all kings but King Ludd!

When the web that we weave is complete,
And the shuttle exchanged for the sword,
We will fling the winding sheet
O'er the despot at our feet,
And dye it deep in the gore he has poured.

Though black as his heart its hue,
Since his veins are corrupted to mud,
Yet this is the dew
Which the tree shall renew
Of Liberty, planted by Ludd!

December 24, 1816.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 58.]

FOOTNOTES:

[65] [The term "Luddites" dates from 1811, and was applied first to frame-breakers, and then to the disaffected in general. It was derived from a half-witted lad named Ned Lud, who entered a house in a fit of passion, and destroyed a couple of stocking-frames. The song was an impromptu, enclosed in a letter to Moore of December 24, 1816. "I have written it principally," he says, "to shock your neighbour [Hodgson?] who is all clergy and loyalty--mirth and innocence--milk and water." See _Letters_, 1900, iv. 30; and for General Lud and "Luddites," see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 97, note 1.]

TO THOMAS MOORE.

What are you doing now,
Oh Thomas Moore?
What are you doing now,
Oh Thomas Moore?
Sighing or suing now,
Rhyming or wooing now,
Billing or cooing now,
Which, Thomas Moore?

But the Carnival's coming,
Oh Thomas Moore!
The Carnival's coming,
Oh Thomas Moore!
Masking and humming,
Fifing and drumming,
Guitarring and strumming,
Oh Thomas Moore!

December 24, 1816.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 58, 59.]

TO MR. MURRAY.

TO hook the Reader, you, John Murray,
Have published "Anjou's Margaret,"[66]
Which won't be sold off in a hurry
(At least, it has not been as yet);
And then, still further to bewilder him,
Without remorse, you set up "Ilderim;"[67]
So mind you don't get into debt,--
Because--as how--if you should fail,
These books would be but baddish bail.
And mind you do _not_ let escape
These rhymes to _Morning Post_ or Perry,
Which would be _very_ treacherous--_very_,
And get me into such a scrape!
For, firstly, I should have to sally,
All in my little boat, against a _Galley_;
And, should I chance to slay the Assyrian wight,
Have next to combat with the female Knight:
And pricked to death expire upon her needle,
A sort of end which I should take indeed ill!

March 25, 1817.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 91.]

FOOTNOTES:

[66] [_Margaret of Anjou_, by Margaret Holford, 1816.]

[67] [_Ilderim, a Syrian Tale_, by H. Gaily Knight, 1816.]

VERSICLES.

I READ the "Christabel;"[68]
Very well:
I read the "Missionary;"[69]
Pretty--very:
I tried at "Ilderim;"
Ahem!
I read a sheet of "Marg'ret of _Anjou_;"
_Can you_?
I turned a page of Webster's "Waterloo;"[70]
Pooh! pooh!
I looked at Wordsworth's milk-white "Rylstone Doe;"[71]
Hillo!
I read "Glenarvon," too, by Caro Lamb;[72]
God damn!

March 25, 1817.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 87.]

FOOTNOTES:

[68] [_Christabel, etc._, by S.T. Coleridge, 1816.]

[69] [_The Missionary of the Andes, a Poem_, by W.L. Bowles, 1815.]

[70] [_Waterloo and other Poems_, by J. Wedderburn Webster, 1816.]

[71] [_The White Doe of Rylstone, or the Fate of the Nortons, a Poem_, by W. Wordsworth, 1815.]

[72] [_Glenarvon, a Novel_ [by Lady Caroline Lamb], 1816.]

QUEM DEUS VULT PERDERE PRIUS DEMENTAT.[73]

God maddens him whom't is his will to lose,
And gives the choice of death or phrenzy--choose.

[First published, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 93.]

FOOTNOTES:

[73] [_À propos_ of Maturin's tragedy, _Manuel_ (_vide post_, p. 48, _note_ 1), Byron "does into English" the Latin proverb by way of contrast to the text, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth; blessed be the Name of the Lord" (Letter to Murray, April 2, 1817).]

TO THOMAS MOORE.

My boat is on the shore,
And my bark is on the sea;
But, before I go, Tom Moore,
Here's a double health to thee!

Here's a sigh to those who love me,
And a smile to those who hate;
And, whatever sky's above me,
Here's a heart for every fate.

Though the Ocean roar around me,
Yet it still shall bear me on;
Though a desert shall surround me,
It hath springs that may be won.

Were't the last drop in the well,
As I gasped upon the brink,
Ere my fainting spirit fell,
'T is to thee that I would drink.

With that water, as this wine,
The libation I would pour
Should be--peace with thine and mine,
And a health to thee, Tom Moore.[74]

July, 1817.
[First published, _Waltz_, London, W. Benbow, 1821, p. 29.]

FOOTNOTES:

[74] ["This should have been written fifteen months ago; the first stanza was."--Letter to Moore, July 10, 1817.]

EPISTLE FROM MR. MURRAY TO DR. POLIDORI.[75]

DEAR Doctor, I have read your play,
Which is a good one in its way,--
Purges the eyes, and moves the bowels,
And drenches handkerchiefs like towels
With tears, that, in a flux of grief,
Afford hysterical relief
To shattered nerves and quickened pulses,
Which your catastrophe convulses.

I like your moral and machinery;
Your plot, too, has such scope for Scenery! 10
Your dialogue is apt and smart;
The play's concoction full of art;
Your hero raves, your heroine cries,
All stab, and every body dies.
In short, your tragedy would be
The very thing to hear and see:
And for a piece of publication,
If I decline on this occasion,
It is not that I am not sensible
To merits in themselves ostensible, 20
But--and I grieve to speak it--plays
Are drugs--mere drugs, Sir--now-a-days.
I had a heavy loss by _Manuel_--[76]
Too lucky if it prove not annual,--
And Sotheby, with his _Orestes_,[77]
(Which, by the way, the old Bore's best is),
Has lain so very long on hand,
That I despair of all demand;
I've advertised, but see my books,
Or only watch my Shopman's looks;-- 30
Still _Ivan_, _Ina_,[78] and such lumber,
My back-shop glut, my shelves encumber.

There's Byron too, who once did better,
Has sent me, folded in a letter,
A sort of--it's no more a drama
Than _Darnley_, _Ivan_, or _Kehama_;
So altered since last year his pen is,
I think he's lost his wits at Venice.

* * * * *

In short, Sir, what with one and t' other,
I dare not venture on another. 40
I write in haste; excuse each blunder;
The Coaches through the street so thunder!
My room's so full--we've Gifford here
Reading MS., with Hookham Frere,
Pronouncing on the nouns and particles,
Of some of our forthcoming Articles.

The _Quarterly_--Ah, Sir, if you
Had but the Genius to review!--
A smart Critique upon St. Helena,
Or if you only would but tell in a 50
Short compass what--but to resume;
As I was saying, Sir, the Room--
The Room's so full of wits and bards,
Crabbes, Campbells, Crokers, Freres, and Wards
And others, neither bards nor wits:
My humble tenement admits
All persons in the dress of Gent.,
From Mr. Hammond to Dog Dent.[79]

A party dines with me to-day,
All clever men, who make their way: 60
Crabbe, Malcolm,[80] Hamilton,[81] and Chantrey,
Are all partakers of my pantry.
They're at this moment in discussion
On poor De Staël's late dissolution.
Her book,[82] they say, was in advance--
Pray Heaven, she tell the truth of France!
'T is said she certainly was married
To Rocca, and had twice miscarried,
No--not miscarried, I opine,--
But brought to bed at forty-nine. 70
Some say she died a Papist; some
Are of opinion that's a Hum;
I don't know that--the fellows Schlegel,[83]
Are very likely to inveigle
A dying person in compunction
To try th' extremity of Unction.
But peace be with her! for a woman
Her talents surely were uncommon,
Her Publisher (and Public too)
The hour of her demise may rue-- 80
For never more within his shop he--
Pray--was not she interred at Coppet?
Thus run our time and tongues away;--
But, to return, Sir, to your play:
Sorry, Sir, but I cannot deal,
Unless 't were acted by O'Neill.
My hands are full--my head so busy,
I'm almost dead--and always dizzy;
And so, with endless truth and hurry,
Dear Doctor, I am yours, 90
JOHN MURRAY.

August 21, 1817.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 139-141.
Lines 67-82 first published, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 161.]

FOOTNOTES:

[75] ["By the way," writes Murray, Aug. 5, 1817 (_Memoir, etc._, i. 386), "Polidori has sent me his tragedy! Do me the kindness to send by return of post a _delicate_ declension of it, which I engage faithfully to copy."

"I never," said Byron, "was much more disgusted with any human production than with the eternal nonsense, and _tracasseries_, and emptiness, and ill-humour, and vanity of this young person; but he has some talent, and is a man of honour, and has dispositions of amendment. Therefore use your interest for him, for he is improved and improvable;" and, in a letter to Murray, Aug. 21, 1817, "You want a 'civil and delicate declension' for the medical tragedy? Take it."--For J.W. Polidori (1795-1821), see _Letters_, 1899, iii, 284 _note_ I.]

[76] [Maturin's second tragedy, _Manuel_, produced at Drury Lane, March 8, 1817, with Kean as "Manuel Count Valdis, failed, and after five nights was withdrawn." It was published in 1817. "It is," says Byron (letter to Murray, June 14, 1817), "the absurd work of a clever man."--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 134, and _note_ I.]

[77] [Sotheby published, in 1814, _Five Tragedies_, viz. "The Confession," "Orestes," "Ivan," "The Death of Darnley," and "Zamorin and Zama."]

[78] [_Ina, A Tragedy_, by Mrs. Wilmot [Barberina Ogle (1768-1854), daughter of Sir Chaloner Ogle], afterwards Lady Dacre, was produced at Drury Lane, April 22, 1815. Her "tragedy," writes Byron to Moore, April 23, 1815, "was last night damned." See _Letters_, 1898, ii. 332, _note_ 3, etc.; _ibid._, 1899, iii. 195, _note_ I.]

[79] [George Hammond (1763-1853) was a distinguished diplomatist, who twice (1795-1806 and 1807-1809) held the office of Under-secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He is associated with the foundation of the _Anti-Jacobin_ and the _Quarterly Review_. In the drawing-room of Albemarle Street, he was Murray's "chief 4-o'clock man," until his official duties compelled him to settle at Paris.--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 160, _note_ 1.

John Dent, M.P., a banker, was nicknamed "Dog Dent" because he was concerned in the introduction of the Dog-tax Bill in 1796. In 1802 he introduced a Bill to abolish bull-baiting.--_Ibid_]

[80] [Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), soldier, administrator, and diplomatist, published (January, 1815) his _History of Persia.--Letters_, 1899, iii. 113, _note_ 1.]

[81] [For "Dark Hamilton," W.R. Hamilton (1777-1859), see _Childe Harold_, Canto II. stanza xiii. _var_. I, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 108, _note_ 1. Lines 61, 62 were added October 12, 1817.]

[82] [Madame de Staël's _Considérations sur la Révolution Française_ was offered to Murray in June, 1816 (_Memoir, etc., 1891_, i. 316), and the sum of £4000 asked for the work. During the negotiations, Madame de Staël died (July 14, 1817), and the book was eventually published by Messrs. Baldwin and Cradock.--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 94, _note_.]

[83] [Byron and the elder Schlegel met at Copet, in 1816, but they did not take to each other. Byron "would not flatter him," perhaps because he did not appreciate or flatter Byron.]

EPISTLE TO MR. MURRAY.

MY dear Mr. Murray,
You're in a damned hurry
To set up this ultimate Canto;[84]
But (if they don't rob us)
You'll see Mr. Hobhouse
Will bring it safe in his portmanteau.

For the Journal you hint of,[85]
As ready to print off,
No doubt you do right to commend it;
But as yet I have writ off
The devil a bit of
Our "Beppo:"--when copied, I'll send it.

In the mean time you've "Galley"[86]
Whose verses all tally,
Perhaps you may say he's a Ninny,
But if you abashed are
Because of _Alashtar_,
He'll piddle another _Phrosine_.[87]

Then you've Sotheby's Tour,--[88]
No great things, to be sure,--
You could hardly begin with a less work;
For the pompous rascallion,
Who don't speak Italian
Nor French, must have scribbled by guess-work.

No doubt he's a rare man
Without knowing German
Translating his way up Parnassus,
And now still absurder
He meditates Murder
As you'll see in the trash he calls _Tasso's_.

But you've others his betters
The real men of letters
Your Orators--Critics--and Wits--
And I'll bet that your Journal
(Pray is it diurnal?)
Will pay with your luckiest hits.

You can make any loss up
With "Spence"[89] and his gossip,
A work which must surely succeed;
Then Queen Mary's Epistle-craft,[90]
With the new "Fytte" of "Whistlecraft,"
Must make people purchase and read.

Then you've General Gordon,[91]
Who girded his sword on,
To serve with a Muscovite Master,
And help him to polish
A nation so owlish,
They thought shaving their beards a disaster.

For the man, "_poor and shrewd_,"[92]
With whom you'd conclude
A compact without more delay,
Perhaps some such pen is
Still extant in Venice;
But please, Sir, to mention _your pay_.

10.

Now tell me some news
Of your friends and the Muse,
Of the Bar, or the Gown, or the House,
From Canning, the tall wit,
To Wilmot,[93] the small wit,
Ward's creeping Companion and _Louse_,

11.

Who's so damnably bit
With fashion and Wit,
That he crawls on the surface like Vermin,
But an Insect in both,--
By his Intellect's growth,
Of what size you may quickly determine.[94]

Venice, _January_ 8, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 156, 157;
stanzas 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, first published, _Letters_, 1900,
iv. 191-193.]

FOOTNOTES:

[84] [The Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_.]

[85] [Murray bought a half-share in _Blackwood's Edinburgh Monthly Magazine_ in August, 1818, and remained its joint proprietor till December, 1819, when it became the property of William Blackwood. But perhaps the reference is to Byron's Swiss Journal of September, 1816.]

[86] [Henry Gaily Knight (1786-1846), who was a contemporary of Byron at Trinity College, Cambridge, was a poetaster, and, afterwards, a writer of works on architecture. His Oriental verses supplied Byron with a subject for more than one indifferent _jeu d'esprit_.]

[87] [_Phrosyne_, a Grecian tale, and _Alashtar_, an Arabian tale, were published in 1817. In a letter to Murray, September 4, 1817, Byron writes, "I have received safely, though tardily, the magnesia and tooth-powder, _Phrosine_ and _Alashtar_. I shall clean my teeth with one, and wipe my shoes with the other."--_Letters_, 1901, iv.]

[88] [Sotheby's _Farewell to Italy_ and _Occasional Poems_ were published in 1818, as the record of a tour which he had taken in 1816-17 with his family, Professor Elmsley, and Dr. Playfair. For Byron's unfinished skit on Sotheby's Tour, see _Letters_, 1900, iv. Appendix V. pp. 452, 453.]

[89] [_Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters of Books and Men_, by the Rev. Joseph Spence, arranged, with notes, by the late Edmund Malone, Esq., 1 vol. 8vo, 1820.]

[90] [_The Life of Mary Queen of Scots_, by George Chalmers, 2 vols. 4to, 1819.]

[91] [Thomas Gordon (1788-1841) entered the Scots Greys in 1808. Two years later he visited Ali Pasha (see _Letters_, 1898, i. 246, _note_ 1) in Albania, and travelled in Persia and Turkey in the East. From 1813 to 1815 he served in the Russian Army. He wrote a _History of the Greek Revolution_, 1832, 2 vols., but it does not appear that he was negotiating with Murray for the publication of any work at this period.]

[92] _Vide_ your letter.

[93] [Probably Sir Robert John Wilmot (1784-1841) (afterwards Wilmot Horton), Byron's first cousin, who took a prominent part in the destruction of the "Memoirs," May 17, 1824. (For Lady Wilmot Horton, the original of "She walks in beauty," see _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 381, _note_ I.)]

[94] [Stanzas 12, 13, 14 cannot be published.]

ON THE BIRTH OF JOHN WILLIAM RIZZO HOPPNER.[95]

HIS father's sense, his mother's grace,
In him, I hope, will always fit so;
With--still to keep him in good case--
The health and appetite of Rizzo.

_February_ 20, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 134.]

FOOTNOTES:

[95] [Richard Belgrave Hoppner (1786-1872), second son of John Hoppner, R.A., was appointed English Consul at Venice, October, 1814. (See _Letters_, 1900, iv. 83, _note_ I.) The quatrain was translated (see the following poem) into eleven different languages--Greek, Latin, Italian (also the Venetian dialect), German, French, Spanish, Illyrian, Hebrew, Armenian, and Samaritan, and printed "in a small neat volume in the seminary of Padua." For nine of these translations see _Works_, 1832, xi. pp. 324-326, and 1891, p. 571. Rizzo was a Venetian surname. See W. Stewart Rose's verses to Byron, "Grinanis, Mocenijas, Baltis, Rizzi, Compassionate our cruel case," etc., _Letters_, iv. 212.]

[E NIHILO NIHIL;
OR
AN EPIGRAM BEWITCHED.]

OF rhymes I printed seven volumes--[96]
The list concludes John Murray's columns:
Of these there have been few translations[97]
For Gallic or Italian nations;
And one or two perhaps in German--
But in this last I can't determine.
But then I only sung of passions
That do not suit with modern fashions;
Of Incest and such like diversions
Permitted only to the Persians,
Or Greeks to bring upon their stages--
But that was in the earlier ages
Besides my style is the romantic,
Which some call fine, and some call frantic;
While others are or would seem _as_ sick
Of repetitions nicknamed Classic.
For my part all men must allow
Whatever I was, I'm classic now.
I saw and left my fault in time,
And chose a topic all sublime--
Wondrous as antient war or hero--
Then played and sung away like Nero,
Who sang of Rome, and I of Rizzo:
The subject has improved my wit so,
The first four lines the poet sees
Start forth in fourteen languages!
Though of seven volumes none before
Could ever reach the fame of four,
Henceforth I sacrifice all Glory
To the Rinaldo of my Story:
I've sung his health and appetite
(The last word's not translated right--
He's turned it, God knows how, to vigour)[98]
I'll sing them in a book that's bigger.
Oh! Muse prepare for thy Ascension!
And generous Rizzo! thou my pension.

_February_, 1818.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed.]

FOOTNOTES:

[96] [Byron must have added the Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_ to the complete edition of the _Poetical Works_ in six volumes. See Murray's list, dated "Albemarle Street, London, January, 1818." The seventh volume of the Collected Works was not issued till 1819.]

[97] [A French translation of the _Bride of Abydos_ appeared in 1816, an Italian translation of the _Lament of Tasso_ in 1817. Goethe (see _Letters_, 1901, v. 503-521) translated fragments of _Manfred_ in 1817, 1818, but the earliest German translation of the entire text of _Manfred_ was issued in 1819.]

[98] [See the last line of the Italian translation of the quatrain.]

TO MR. MURRAY.

Strahan, Tonson, Lintot of the times,[99]
Patron and publisher of rhymes,
For thee the bard up Pindus climbs,
My Murray.

To thee, with hope and terror dumb,
The unfledged MS. authors come;
Thou printest all--and sellest some--
My Murray.

Upon thy table's baize so green
The last new Quarterly is seen,--
But where is thy new Magazine,[100]
My Murray?

Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine
The works thou deemest most divine--
The Art of Cookery,[101] and mine,
My Murray.

Tours, Travels, Essays, too, I wist,
And Sermons, to thy mill bring grist;
And then thou hast the _Navy List_,
My Murray.

And Heaven forbid I should conclude,
Without "the Board of Longitude,"[102]
Although this narrow paper would,
My Murray.

Venice, _April 11_, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 171.]

FOOTNOTES:

[99] [William Strahan (1715-1785) published Johnson's _Dictionary_, Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, Cook's _Voyages, etc_. He was great-grandfather of the mathematician William Spottiswoode (1825-1883).

Jacob Tonson (1656?-1736) published for Otway, Dryden, Addison, etc. He was secretary of the Kit-Cat Club, 1700. He was the publisher (1712, etc.) of the _Spectator_.

Barnaby Bernard Lintot (1675-1736) was at one time (1718) in partnership with Tonson. He published Pope's _Iliad_ in 1715, and the _Odyssey_, 1725-26.]

[100] [See note 2, p. 51.]

[101] [Mrs. Rundell's _Domestic Cookery_, published in 1806, was one of Murray's most successful books. In 1822 he purchased the copyright from Mrs. Rundell for £2000 (see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 375; and _Memoir of John Murray_, 1891, ii. 124).]

[102] [The sixth edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ (1813) was "printed by T. Davison, Whitefriars, for John Murray, Bookseller to the Admiralty, and the Board of Longitude." Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 259) attributes to Byron a statement that Murray had to choose between continuing to be his publisher and printing the "Navy Lists," and "that there was no hesitation which way he should decide: the Admiralty carried the day." In his "Notes" to the _Conversations_ (November 2, 1824) Murray characterized "the passage about the Admiralty" as "unfounded in fact, and no otherwise deserving of notice than to mark its absurdity."]

BALLAD. TO THE TUNE OF "SALLEY IN OUR ALLEY."

OF all the twice ten thousand bards
That ever penned a canto,
Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards
For lining a portmanteau;
Of all the poets ever known,
From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,[103]
The Muse may boast--the World must own
There's none like pretty Gally![104]

He writes as well as any Miss,
Has published many a poem;
The shame is yours, the gain is his,
In case you should not know 'em:
He has ten thousand pounds a year--
I do not mean to vally--
His songs at sixpence would be dear,
So give them gratis, Gaily!

And if this statement should seem queer,
Or set down in a hurry,
Go, ask (if he will be sincere)
His bookseller--John Murray.
Come, say, how many have been sold,
And don't stand shilly-shally,
Of bound and lettered, red and gold,
Well printed works of Gally.

For Astley's circus Upton[105] writes,
And also for the Surry; (_sic_)
Fitzgerald weekly still recites,
Though grinning Critics worry:
Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul,
In fame exactly tally;
From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall
They go--and so does Gally.

He rode upon a Camel's hump[106]
Through Araby the sandy,
Which surely must have hurt the rump
Of this poetic dandy.
His rhymes are of the costive kind,
And barren as each valley
In deserts which he left behind
Has been the Muse of Gally.

He has a Seat in Parliament,
Is fat and passing wealthy;
And surely he should be content
With these and being healthy:
But Great Ambition will misrule
Men at all risks to sally,--
Now makes a poet--now a fool,
And _we_ know _which_--of Gally.

Some in the playhouse like to row,
Some with the Watch to battle,
Exchanging many a midnight blow
To Music of the Rattle.
Some folks like rowing on the Thames,
Some rowing in an Alley,
But all the Row my fancy claims
Is _rowing_--of my _Gally_.

_April_ 11, 1818.[107]

FOOTNOTES:

[103] [For Fop's Alley, see _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 410, _note_ 2.]

[104] [H. Gally Knight (1786-1846) was at Cambridge with Byron.]

[105] [William Upton was the author of _Poems on Several Occasions_, 1788, and of the _Words of the most Favourite Songs, Duets, etc._, sung at the Royal Amphitheatre, Westminster Bridge, etc. In the dedication to Mrs. Astley he speaks of himself as the author of the _Black Cattle_, _Fair Rosamond_, etc. He has also been credited with the words of James Hook's famous song, _A Lass of Richmond Hill_, but this has been disputed. (See _Notes and Queries_, 1878, Series V. vol. ix. p. 495.)]

[106] [Compare--

"Th' unloaded camel, pacing slow.
Crops the rough herbage or the tamarisk spray."

_Alashtar_ (by H.G. Knight), 1817, Canto I, stanza viii, lines 5, 6.]

[107] [From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for the first time printed. For stanzas 3, 4, 6, see _Letters_, 1900, iv. 219, 220. For stanzas 1, 2, 3 of "Another Simple Ballat. To the tune of Tally i.o. the Grinder" (probably a variant of Dibdin's song, "The Grinders, or more Grist to the Mill"), _vide ibid._, pp. 220, 221.]

ANOTHER SIMPLE BALLAT.

MRS. WILMOT sate scribbling a play,
Mr. Sotheby sate sweating behind her;
But what are all these to the Lay
Of Gally i.o. the Grinder?
Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

I bought me some books tother day,
And sent them down stairs to the binder;
But the Pastry Cook carried away
My Gally i.o. the Grinder.
Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

I wanted to kindle my taper,
And called to the Maid to remind her;
And what should she bring me for paper
But Gally i.o. the Grinder.
Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

Among my researches for EASE
I went where one's certain to find her:
The first thing by her throne that one sees
Is Gally i.o. the Grinder.
Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

Away with old Homer the blind--
I'll show you a poet that's blinder:
You may see him whene'er you've a mind
In Gally i.o. the Grinder.
Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

Blindfold he runs groping for fame,
And hardly knows where he will find her:
She don't seem to take to the name
Of Gally i.o. the Grinder.
Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

Yet the Critics have been very kind,
And Mamma and his friends have been kinder;
But the greatest of Glory's behind
For Gally i.o. the Grinder.
Gally i.o. i.o., etc.

_April_ 11, 1818.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed.]

EPIGRAM.

FROM THE FRENCH OF RULHIÈRES.[108]

IF for silver, or for gold,
You could melt ten thousand pimples
Into half a dozen dimples,
Then your face we might behold,
Looking, doubtless, much more snugly,
Yet even _then_ 'twould be damned ugly.

_August_ 12, 1819.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 235.]

FOOTNOTES:

[108] ["Would you like an epigram--a translation? It was written on some Frenchwoman, by Rulhières, I believe."--Letter to Murray, August 12, 1819, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 346.

Claude Carloman de Rulhière (1718-1791), historian, poet, and epigrammatist, was the author of _Anecdotes sur la revolution de Russie en l'anneé_ 1762, _Histoire de l'anarchie de Pologne_ (1807), etc. His epigrams are included in "Poésies Diverses," which are appended to _Les jeux de Mains_, a poem in three cantos, published in 1808, and were collected in his _Oeuvres Posthumes_, 1819; but there is no trace of the original of Byron's translation. Perhaps it is _after_ de Rulhière, who more than once epigrammatizes "Une Vieille Femme."]

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