The Works of Lord Byron Volume I Part 131

I,

"Country-dances! jigs and reels! ... A minuet I could have forgiven ... Zounds! had she made one in a cotillon--I believe I could have forgiven even that--but to be monkey-led for a night! to run the gauntlet through a string of amorous palming puppies ... Oh, Jack, there never can be but one man in the world whom a truly modest and delicate woman ought to pair with in a country-dance; and even then, the rest of the couples should be her great-uncles and aunts!"]

[Footnote 17: An anachronism--Waltz and the battle of Austerlitz are before said to have opened the ball together; the bard means (if he means anything), Waltz was not so much in vogue till the Regent attained the acme of his popularity. Waltz, the comet, whiskers, and the new government, illuminated heaven and earth, in all their glory, much about the same time: of these the comet only has disappeared; the other three continue to astonish us still.--'Printers Devil'.

[As the 'Printer's Devil' intimates, the various novelties of the age of "Waltz" are somewhat loosely enumerated. The Comet, which signalized 1811, the year of the restricted Regency, had disappeared before the Prince and his satellites burst into full blaze in 1812. It was (see 'Historical Record of the Life Guards', 1835, p.177) in 1812 that the Prince Regent commanded the following alterations to be made in the equipments of the regiment of Life Guards: "c.o.c.ked hats with feathers to be discontinued, and bra.s.s helmets with black horsehair crests subst.i.tuted. Long coats, trimmed with gold lace across the front. s.h.i.+rts and cuffs to be replaced by short coatees," etc., etc. In the same branch of the service, whiskers were already in vogue. The "new laws"

were those embodied in the "Frame-work Bill," which Byron denounced in his speech in the House of Lords, Feb. 27, 1812. Formerly the breaking of frames had been treated "as a minor felony, punishable by transportation for fourteen years," and the object of the bill was to make such offences capital. The bill pa.s.sed into law on March 5, and as a result we read ('Annual Register', 1812, pp. 38, 39) that on May 24 a special commission for the rioters of Ches.h.i.+re was opened by Judge Dallas at Chester. "His lords.h.i.+p pa.s.sed the awful sentence of death upon sixteen, and in a most impressioned address, held out not the smallest hope of mercy." Of these five 'only' were hanged.

Owing to the scarcity of silver coinage, the Bank of England was empowered to issue bank-tokens for various sums (Mr. Hornem bought his motto for 'The Waltz' with a three-s.h.i.+lling bank-token; see 'note' to Preface) which came into circulation on July 9, 1811. The "new ninepences" which were said to be forthcoming never pa.s.sed into circulation at all. A single "pattern" coin (on the obverse, 'Bank Token, Ninepence, 1812') is preserved in the British Museum (see privately printed 'Catalogue', by W. Boyne (1866), p.11). The "new victories" were the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo (Jan. 17), the capture of Badajoz (April 7), and the Battle of Salamanca (July 12, 1812). By way of "new wars," the President of the United States declared war with Great Britain on June 18, and Great Britain with the United States, Oct.

13, 1812. As to "new mistresses," for a reference to "'Our' Sultan's"

"she-promotions" of "those only plump and sage, Who've reached the regulation age," see 'Intercepted Letters, or the Twopenny Post-bag', by Thomas Brown the Younger, 1813, and for "gold sticks," etc., see "Promotions" in the 'Annual Register' for March, 1812, in which a long list of Household appointments is duly recorded.]]

[Footnote 18: Amongst others a new ninepence--a creditable coin now forthcoming, worth a pound, in paper, at the fairest calculation.]

[Footnote 19: Robert Banks Jenkinson, second Earl of Liverpool, was Secretary at War and for the Colonies from 1809 to 1812, in Spencer Perceval's administration, and, on the a.s.sa.s.sination of the premier, undertook the government. Both as Secretary at War and as Prime Minister his chief efforts were devoted to the support of Wellington in the Peninsula.]

[Footnote 20: "Oh that 'right' should thus overcome 'might!'" Who does not remember the "delicate investigation" in the 'Merry Wives of Windsor'?--

'Ford'. Pray you, come near; if I suspect without cause, why then make sport at me; then let me be your jest; I deserve it. How now? whither bear you this?

'Mrs. Ford'. What have you to do whither they bear it?--You were best meddle with buck-was.h.i.+ng."

[Act iii. sc. 3.]

[Footnote 21: The gentle, or ferocious, reader may fill up the blank as he pleases--there are several dissyllabic names at 'his' service (being already in the Regent's): it would not be fair to back any peculiar initial against the alphabet, as every month will add to the list now entered for the sweep-stakes;--a distinguished consonant is said to be the favourite, much against the wishes of the 'knowing ones'.--['Revise']

[In the Revise the line, which is not in the MS., ran, "So saith the Muse; my M----what say you?" The name intended to be supplied is "Moira."

On Perceval's death (May 11 1812), Lord Liverpool became Prime Minister, but was unable to carry on the government. Accordingly the Prince Regent desired the Marquis Wellesley and Canning to approach Lords Grey and Grenville with regard to the formation of a coalition ministry. They were unsuccessful, and as a next step Lord Moira (Francis Rawdon, first Marquis of Hastings, 1754-1826) was empowered to make overtures in the same quarter. The Whig Lords stipulated that the regulation of the Household should rest with ministers, and to this Moira would not consent, possibly because the Prince's favourite, Lord Yarmouth, was Vice-Chamberlain. Negotiations were again broken off, and on June 9 Liverpool began his long term of office as Prime Minister.

"I sate," writes Byron, "in the debate or rather discussion in the House of Lords on that question (the second negotiation) immediately behind Moira, who, while Grey 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 is 'not' so; it is so and so,'" etc.

(Letter to W. Bankes (undated), 'Life', p. 162). Hence the question, "My Moira, what say you?"]

[Footnote 22:

"We have changed all that," says the Mock Doctor--'tis all gone--Asmodeus knows where. After all, it is of no great importance how women's hearts are disposed of; they have nature's privilege to distribute them as absurdly as possible. But there are also some men with hearts so thoroughly bad, as to remind us of those phenomena often mentioned in natural history; viz. a ma.s.s of solid stone--only to be opened by force--and when divided, you discover a _toad_ in the centre, lively, and with the reputation of being venomous."

[In the MS. the last sentence stood: "In this country there is _one man_ with a heart so thoroughly bad that it reminds us of those unaccountable petrifactions often mentioned in natural history," etc. The couplet--

"Such things we know are neither rich nor rare, But wonder how the Devil they got there,"

which was affixed to the note, was subsequently erased.]]

[Footnote 23: Compare Sheridan's lines on waltzing, which Moore heard him "repeat in a drawing-room"--

"With tranquil step, and timid downcast glance, Behold the well-pair'd couple now advance.

In such sweet posture our first parents moved, While, hand in hand, through Eden's bower they roved.

Ere yet the devil, with promise fine and false, Turned their poor heads, and taught them how to waltz.

One hand grasps hers, the other holds her hip.

For so the law's laid down by Baron Trip."]

[Footnote 24: Lines 204-207 are not in the MS., but were added in a revise.]

[Footnote 25: In Turkey a pertinent--here an impertinent and superfluous question--literally put, as in the text, by a Persian to Morier, on seeing a Waltz in Pera. [See 'A Journey through Persia', etc. By James Morier, London (1812), p. 365.]

[Footnote 26: Richard Fitzpatrick (1747-1813), second son of John, first Earl of Ossory, served in the first American War at the battles of Brandywine and Germanstown. He sat as M.P. for Tavistock for thirty-three years. The chosen friend and companion of Fox, he was a prominent member of the opposition during the close of the eighteenth century. In the ministry of "All the Talents" he was Secretary at War.

He dabbled in literature, was one of the authors of the 'Rolliad', and in 1775 published 'Dorinda: A Town Eclogue'. He was noted for his social gifts, and in recognition, it is said, of his "fine manners and polite address," inherited a handsome annuity from the Duke of Queensberry.

Byron a.s.sociates him with Sheridan as 'un homme galant' and leader of 'ton' of the past generation.]

[Footnote 27: William Douglas, third Earl of March and fourth Duke of Queensberry (1724-1810), otherwise "old Q.," was conspicuous as a "blood" and evil liver from youth to extreme old age. He was a patron of the turf, a connoisseur of Italian Opera, and 'surtout' an inveterate libertine. As a Whig, he held office in the Household during North's Coalition Ministry, but throughout George the Third's first illness in 1788, displayed such indecent partisans.h.i.+p with the Prince of Wales, that, when the king recovered, he lost his post. His dukedom died with him, and his immense fortune was divided between the heirs to his other t.i.tles and his friends. Lord Yarmouth, whose wife, Maria f.a.gniani, he believed to be his natural daughter, was one of the princ.i.p.al legatees.]

[Footnote i:

'Henceforth with due unblus.h.i.+ng brightness s.h.i.+ne'.

['MS. M'.] ]

[Footnote ii:

'And weave a couplet worthy them and you.'

['Proof'.] ]

[Footnote iii:

'To make Heligoland the mart for lies'.

['MS. M'.]