The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals Volume II Part 15

Well--I will dream that we may meet again, And woo the vision to my vacant breast; If aught of young Remembrance then remain, Be as it may Whate'er beside Futurity's behest;

or,--

Howe'er may be For me 'twere bliss enough to see thy spirit blest!

I think it proper to state to you, that this stanza alludes to an event which has taken place since my arrival here, and not to the death of any _male_ friend.

Yours,

B.

200.--To R. C. Dallas.

Newstead Abbey, Oct. 16, 1811.

I am on the wing for Cambridge. Thence, after a short stay, to London.

Will you be good enough to keep an account of all the MSS. you receive, for fear of omission? Have you adopted the three altered stanzas of the latest proof? I can do nothing more with them. I am glad you like the new ones. Of the last, and of the _two_, I sent for a new edition, to-day a _fresh note_. The lines of the second sheet I fear must stand; I will give you reasons when we meet.

Believe me, yours ever,

BYRON.

201.--To R. C. Dallas.

Cambridge, Oct. 25, 1811.

DEAR SIR,--I send you a conclusion to the _whole_. In a stanza towards the end of Canto I. in the line,

Oh, known the earliest and _beloved_ the most,

I shall alter the epithet to "_esteemed_ the most." The present stanzas are for the end of Canto II. For the beginning of the week I shall be at No. 8, my old lodgings, in St. James' Street, where I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you.

Yours ever,

B.

202.--To Thomas Moore. [1]

Cambridge, October 27, 1811.

SIR,--Your letter followed me from Notts, to this place, which will account for the delay of my reply.

Your former letter I never had the honour to receive;--be a.s.sured in whatever part of the world it had found me, I should have deemed it my duty to return and answer it in person.

The advertis.e.m.e.nt you mention, I know nothing of.--At the time of your meeting with Mr. Jeffrey, I had recently entered College, and remember to have heard and read a number of squibs on the occasion; and from the recollection of these I derived all my knowledge on the subject, without the slightest idea of "giving the lie" to an address which I never beheld. When I put my name to the production, which has occasioned this correspondence, I became responsible to all whom it might concern,--to explain where it requires explanation, and, where insufficiently or too sufficiently explicit, at all events to satisfy. My situation leaves me no choice; it rests with the injured and the angry to obtain reparation in their own way.

With regard to the pa.s.sage in question, _you_ were certainly _not_ the person towards whom I felt personally hostile. On the contrary, my whole thoughts were engrossed by one, whom I had reason to consider as my worst literary enemy, nor could I foresee that his former antagonist was about to become his champion. You do not specify what you would wish to have done: I can neither retract nor apologise for a charge of falsehood which I never advanced.

In the beginning of the week, I shall be at No. 8, St. James's Street.--Neither the letter nor the friend to whom you stated your intention ever made their appearance.

Your friend, Mr. Rogers, [2] or any other gentleman delegated by you, will find me most ready to adopt any conciliatory proposition which shall not compromise my own honour,--or, failing in that, to make the atonement you deem it necessary to require.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient, humble servant,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: Thomas Moore (1779-1852), by his literary and social gifts, had made his name several years before 1811, when he first became personally acquainted with Byron. His precocity was as remarkable as his versatility. The son of a Dublin grocer, for whom his political interest secured the post of barrack-master, he went, like Sheridan, to Samuel Whyte's school, and was afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin. Before he was fifteen he had written verses, including lines to Whyte, himself a poet, the publication of which, in the 'Anthologia Hibernica' (October, 1793; February, March, and June, 1794), gained him a local reputation.

Coming to London in 1799, he read law at the Middle Temple. His 'Odes'