The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals Volume II Part 92

12, midnight.

Here are two confounded proofs from the printer. I have looked at the one, but for the soul of me, I can't look over that _Giaour_ again,--at least, just now, and at this hour--and yet there is no moon.

Ward talks of going to Holland, and we have partly discussed an _ensemble_ expedition. It must be in ten days, if at all, if we wish to be in at the Revolution. And why not?----is distant, and will be at ----, still more distant, till spring. No one else, except Augusta, cares for me; no ties--no trammels--_andiamo dunque--se torniamo, bene--se non, ch' importa?_ Old William of Orange talked of dying in "the last ditch" of his dingy country. It is lucky I can swim, or I suppose I should not well weather the first. But let us see. I have heard hyeenas and jackalls in the ruins of Asia; and bull-frogs in the marshes; besides wolves and angry Mussulmans. Now, I should like to listen to the shout of a free Dutchman.

Alla! Viva! For ever! Hourra! Huzza!--which is the most rational or musical of these cries? "Orange Boven," according to the 'Morning Post'.

[Footnote 1:

"By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers, Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond."

'Richard III'., act v. sc. 3.]

[Footnote 2: "Lord Ogleby" is a character in 'The Clandestine Marriage'

(by Colman and Garrick, first acted at Drury Lane, February 20, 1766).

"Brush," his valet, says (act ii.) of his master,

"What with qualms, age, rheumatism, and a few surfeits in his youth, he must have a great deal of brus.h.i.+ng, oyling, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g, and winding up, to set him a-going for the day."]

[Footnote 3: Viscount Valentia, created in 1793 Earl of Mountnorris, was the father of Byron's friend, Viscount Valentia (afterwards second and last Earl of Mountnorris, died in 1844); of Lady Frances Wedderburn Webster; of Lady Catherine Annesley, who married Lord John Somerset, and died in 1865; and of Lady Juliana Annesley, who married Robert Bayly, of Ballyduff.]

[Footnote 4: John Hookham Frere (1769-1846), educated at Eton, and Caius College, Cambridge (Fellow, 1792), M.P. for West Loe (1796-1802), was a clerk in the Foreign Office. A school-friend of Canning, he joined with him in the 'Anti-Jacobin' (November 20, 1797--July 9, 1798). Among the pieces which he contributed, in whole or part, are "The Loves of the Triangles," "The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-grinder," "The Rovers, or the Double Arrangement," "_La Sainte Guillotine_" "New Morality," and the "Meeting of the Friends of Freedom." He was British Envoy at Lisbon (1800-1804) and to the Spanish Junta (October, 1808-April, 1809). From this post he was recalled, owing to the fatal effects of his advice to Sir John Moore, and he never again held any public appointment. From 1818 to 1846 he lived at Malta, where he died.

His translations of "The Frogs" of Aristophanes (1839), and of "The Acharnians, the Knights, and the Birds" (1840), are masterpieces of spirit and fidelity. His 'Prospectus and Specimen of an intended National Work, by William and Robert Whistlecraft' (cantos i., ii., 1817; cantos iii., iv., 1818), inspired Byron with 'Beppo'.

Ticknor describes him in 1819 ('Life', vol. i. p. 267):

"Frere is a slovenly fellow. His remarks on Homer, in the 'Cla.s.sical Journal', prove how fine a Greek scholar he is; his 'Quarterly Reviews', how well he writes; his 'Rovers, or the Double Arrangement,'

what humour he possesses; and the reputation he has left in Spain and Portugal, how much better he understood their literatures than they do themselves; while, at the same time, his books left in France, in Gallicia, at Lisbon, and two or three places in England; his ma.n.u.scripts, neglected and lost to himself; his manners, lazy and careless; and his conversation, equally rich and negligent, show how little he cares about all that distinguishes him in the eyes of the world. He studies as a luxury, he writes as an amus.e.m.e.nt, and conversation is a kind of sensual enjoyment to him. If he had been born in Asia, he would have been the laziest man that ever lived."]

[Footnote 5: For "Conversation" Sharp, see p. 341, 'note' 2 [Footnote 2 of Journal entry for 24 November, 1813.]]

[Footnote 6: Thomas Cribb (1781-1848), born at Bitton, near Bristol, began life as a bell-hanger, became first a coal-porter, then a sailor, and finally found his vocation as a pugilist. In his profession he was known, from one of his previous callings, as the "Black Diamond." His first big fight was against George Maddox (January 7, 1805), whom he defeated after seventy-six rounds. He twice beat the ex-champion, the one-eyed Jem Belcher (April 8, 1807, and February 1, 1809), and with his victory over Bob Gregson (October 25, 1808; see 'Letters', vol. i. p.

207, 'note' 1 [Footnote 2 of Letter 108]) became champion of England.

His two defeats of Molineaux, the black pugilist (December 18, 1810, and September 28, 1811), established his t.i.tle, which was never again seriously challenged, and in 1821 it was conferred upon him for life.

Cribb was one of the prize-fighters, who, dressed as pages, kept order at the Coronation of George IV. In 1813 he was landlord of the King's Arms, Duke Street, St. James's, and universally respected as the honest head of the pugilistic profession. He died in 1848 at Woolwich; three years later a monument was erected to his memory by public subscription in Woolwich Churchyard. It represents "a British lion grieving over the ashes of a British hero," and on the plinth is the inscription, "Respect the ashes of the brave."]

[Footnote 7: Virgil, 'Eclogues', iii. 59.]

[Footnote 8: Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges (1762-1837), poet, novelist, genealogist, and bibliographer, published, in 1813, 'The Ruminator: containing a series of moral, critical, and sentimental Essays'. Of the 104 Essays, 72 appeared in the 'Censura Literaria' between January, 1807, and June, 1809. The remainder were by Gillies, except two by the Rev. Francis Wrangham and two by the Rev. Montagu Pennington. No. 50 is a review of some original poems by Capell Lofft, including a Greek ode on Eton College.

Gillies, in his 'Memoirs of a Literary Veteran' (vol. ii. p. 4), says that in 1809 he addressed an anonymous letter to Brydges, containing some thoughts on the advantages of retirement (the subject of 'Childe Alarique'). The letter, printed in 'The Ruminator', began his literary career and introduced him to Brydges. 'The Ruminator', 2 vols. (1813), and 'Childe Alarique' (1813), are among the books included in the sale catalogue of Byron's books, April 5, 1816.]

[Footnote 9: Robert Pea.r.s.e Gillies (1788-1858) wrote 'Wallace, a Fragment' (1813); 'Childe Alarique, a Poet's Reverie, with other Poems'

(1813); 'Confessions of Sir Henry Longueville, a Novel' (1814); and numerous other works and translations. His 'Memoirs of a Literary Veteran' was published in 1851. He was the founder and first editor of the 'Foreign Quarterly Review' (1827).]

[Footnote 10: The following additional notes on Byron's Parliamentary career are taken from his 'Detached Thoughts':--

"At the Opposition meeting of the peers, in 1812, at Lord Grenville's, when Lord Grey and he read to us the correspondence upon Moira's negociation, I sate next to the present Duke of Grafton. When it was over, I turned to him and said, 'What is to be done next?' 'Wake the Duke of Norfolk' (who was snoring away near us), replied he. 'I don't think the Negociators have left anything else for us to do this turn.'"

"In the debate, or rather discussion, afterwards, in the House of Lords, upon that very question, I sate immediately behind Lord Moira, who was extremely annoyed at G.'s speech upon the subject, and while G. was speaking, turned round to me repeatedly and asked me whether I agreed with him? It was an awkward question to me, who had not heard both sides. Moira kept repeating to me, 'It was 'not so', it was so and so,' etc. I did not know very well what to think, but I sympathized with the acuteness of his feelings upon the subject."

"Lord Eldon affects an Imitation of two very different Chancellors--Thurlow and Loughborough--and can indulge in an oath now and then. On one of the debates on the Catholic question, when we were either equal or within one (I forget which), I had been sent for in great haste from a Ball, which I quitted, I confess somewhat reluctantly, to emanc.i.p.ate five Millions of people. I came in late, and did not go immediately into the body of the house, but stood just behind the Woolsack. Eldon turned round, and, catching my eye, immediately said to a peer (who had come to him for a few minutes on the Woolsack, as is the custom of his friends), 'd.a.m.n them! they'll have it now, by G.o.d!--the vote that is just come in will give it them.'"]

[Footnote 11: Horace, 'Odes', III. iii. 7.]

Wednesday, 24.

No dreams last night of the dead, nor the living; so--I am "firm as the marble, founded as the rock," [1] till the next earthquake.

Ward's dinner went off well. There was not a disagreeable person there--unless _I_ offended any body, which I am sure I could not by contradiction, for I said little, and opposed nothing. Sharpe [2] (a man of elegant mind, and who has lived much with the best--Fox, Horne Tooke, Windham, Fitzpatrick, and all the agitators of other times and tongues,) told us the particulars of his last interview with Windham, [3] a few days before the fatal operation which sent "that gallant spirit to aspire the skies." [4] Windham,--the first in one department of oratory and talent, whose only fault was his refinement beyond the intellect of half his hearers,--Windham, half his life an active partic.i.p.ator in the events of the earth, and one of those who governed nations,--_he_ regretted,--and dwelt much on that regret, that "he had not entirely devoted himself to literature and science!!!" His mind certainly would have carried him to eminence there, as elsewhere;--but I cannot comprehend what debility of that mind could suggest such a wish. I, who have heard him, cannot regret any thing but that I shall never hear him again. What! would he have been a plodder? a metaphysician?--perhaps a rhymer? a scribbler? Such an exchange must have been suggested by illness. But he is gone, and Time "shall not look upon his like again."

[5]

I am tremendously in arrear with my letters,--except to----, and to her my thoughts overpower me:--my words never compa.s.s them. To Lady Melbourne I write with most pleasure--and her answers, so sensible, so _tactique_--I never met with half her talent. If she had been a few years younger, what a fool she would have made of me, had she thought it worth her while,--and I should have lost a valuable and most agreeable _friend_. Mem. a mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, you are lovers; and, when it is over, any thing but friends.

I have not answered W. Scott's last letter,--but I will. I regret to hear from others, that he has lately been unfortunate in pecuniary involvements. He is undoubtedly the Monarch of Parna.s.sus, and the most _English_ of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list (I value him more as the last of the best school)--Moore and Campbell both _third_--Southey and Wordsworth and Coleridge--the rest, [Greek: hoi polloi]--thus:

W. SCOTT.

ROGERS.

MOORE.--CAMPBELL.