Life of Lord Byron Volume IV Part 11

"Venice, February 28. 1818.

"My dear Sir,

"Our friend, il Conte M., threw me into a cold sweat last night, by telling me of a menaced version of Manfred (in Venetian, I hope, to complete the thing) by some Italian, who had sent it to you for correction, which is the reason why I take the liberty of troubling you on the subject. If you have any means of communication with the man, would you permit me to convey to him the offer of any price he may obtain or think to obtain for his project, provided he will throw his translation into the fire[16], and promise not to undertake any other of that or any other of _my_ things: I will send his money immediately on this condition.

"As I did not write _to_ the Italians, nor _for_ the Italians, nor _of_ the Italians, (except in a poem not yet published, where I have said all the good I know or do not know of them, and none of the harm,) I confess I wish that they would let me alone, and not drag me into their arena as one of the gladiators, in a silly contest which I neither understand nor have ever interfered with, having kept clear of all their literary parties, both here and at Milan, and elsewhere.--I came into Italy to feel the climate and be quiet, if possible. Mossi's translation I would have prevented, if I had known it, or could have done so; and I trust that I shall yet be in time to stop this new gentleman, of whom I heard yesterday for the first time. He will only hurt himself, and do no good to his party, for in _party_ the whole thing originates. Our modes of thinking and writing are so unutterably different, that I can conceive no greater absurdity than attempting to make any approach between the English and Italian poetry of the present day. I like the people very much, and their literature very much, but I am not the least ambitious of being the subject of their discussions literary and personal (which appear to be pretty much the same thing, as is the case in most countries); and if you can aid me in impeding this publication, you will add to much kindness already received from you by yours Ever and truly,

"BYRON.

"P.S. How is _the_ son, and mamma? Well, I dare say."

[Footnote 16: Having ascertained that the utmost this translator could expect to make by his ma.n.u.script was two hundred francs, Lord Byron offered him that sum, if he would desist from publis.h.i.+ng. The Italian, however, held out for more; nor could he be brought to terms, till it was intimated to him pretty plainly from Lord Byron that, should the publication be persisted in, he would horsewhip him the very first time they met. Being but little inclined to suffer martyrdom in the cause, the translator accepted the two hundred francs, and delivered up his ma.n.u.script, entering at the same time into a written engagement never to translate any other of the n.o.ble poet's works.

Of the qualifications of this person as a translator of English poetry, some idea may be formed from the difficulty he found himself under respecting the meaning of a line in the Incantation in Manfred,--"And the wisp on the mora.s.s,"--which he requested of Mr. Hoppner to expound to him, not having been able to find in the dictionaries to which he had access any other signification of the word "wisp" than "a bundle of straw."]

LETTER 310. TO MR. ROGERS.

"Venice, March 3. 1828.

"I have not, as you say, 'taken to wife the Adriatic.' I heard of Moore's loss from himself in a letter which was delayed upon the road three months. I was sincerely sorry for it, but in such cases what are words?

"The villa you speak of is one at Este, which Mr. Hoppner (Consul-general here) has transferred to me. I have taken it for two years as a place of Villeggiatura. The situation is very beautiful, indeed, among the Euganean hills, and the house very fair. The vines are luxuriant to a great degree, and all the fruits of the earth abundant. It is close to the old castle of the Estes, or Guelphs, and within a few miles of Arqua, which I have visited twice, and hope to visit often.

"Last summer (except an excursion to Rome) I pa.s.sed upon the Brenta. In Venice I winter, transporting my horses to the Lido, bordering the Adriatic (where the fort is), so that I get a gallop of some miles daily along the strip of beach which reaches to Malamocco, when in health; but within these few weeks I have been unwell. At present I am getting better. The Carnival was short, but a good one. I don't go out much, except during the time of masques; but there are one or two conversazioni, where I go regularly, just to keep up the system; as I had letters to their givers; and they are particular on such points; and now and then, though very rarely, to the Governor's.

"It is a very good place for women. I like the dialect and their manner very much. There is a _navete_ about them which is very winning, and the romance of the place is a mighty adjunct; the _bel sangue_ is not, however, now amongst the _dame_ or higher orders; but all under _i fazzioli_, or kerchiefs (a white kind of veil which the lower orders wear upon their heads);--the _vesta zendale_, or old national female costume, is no more. The city, however, is decaying daily, and does not gain in population.

However, I prefer it to any other in Italy; and here have I pitched my staff, and here do I purpose to reside for the remainder of my life, unless events, connected with business not to be transacted out of England, compel me to return for that purpose; otherwise I have few regrets, and no desires to visit it again for its own sake. I shall probably be obliged to do so, to sign papers for my affairs, and a proxy for the Whigs, and to see Mr. Waite, for I can't find a good dentist here, and every two or three years one ought to consult one. About seeing my children I must take my chance. One I shall have sent here; and I shall be very happy to see the legitimate one, when G.o.d pleases, which he perhaps will some day or other. As for my mathematical * * *, I am as well without her.

"Your account of your visit to Fonthill is very striking: could you beg of _him_ for _me_ a copy in MS. of the remaining _Tales_?[17] I think I deserve them, as a strenuous and public admirer of the first one. I will return it when read, and make no ill use of the copy, if granted. Murray would send me out any thing safely. If ever I return to England, I should like very much to see the author, with his permission. In the mean time, you could not oblige me more than by obtaining me the perusal I request, in French or English,--all's one for that, though I prefer Italian to either. I have a French copy of Vathek which I bought at Lausanne. I can read French with great pleasure and facility, though I neither speak nor write it. Now Italian I _can_ speak with some fluency, and write sufficiently for my purposes, but I don't like their _modern_ prose at all; it is very heavy, and so different from Machiavelli.

"They say Francis is Junius;--I think it looks like it. I remember meeting him at Earl Grey's at dinner. Has not he lately married a young woman; and was not he Madame Talleyrand's _cavaliere servente_ in India years ago?

"I read my death in the papers, which was not true. I see they are marrying the remaining singleness of the royal family. They have brought out Fazio with great and deserved success at Covent Garden: that's a good sign. I tried, during the directory, to have it done at Drury Lane, but was overruled. If you think of coming into this country, you will let me know perhaps beforehand. I suppose Moore won't move. Rose is here. I saw him the other night at Madame Albrizzi's; he talks of returning in May. My love to the Hollands.

"Ever, &c.

"P.S. They have been crucifying Oth.e.l.lo into an opera (_Otello_, by Rossini): the music good, but lugubrious; but as for the words, all the real scenes with Iago cut out, and the greatest nonsense instead; the handkerchief turned into a _billet-doux_, and the first singer would not _black_ his face, for some exquisite reasons a.s.signed in the preface. Singing, dresses, and music, very good."

[Footnote 17: A continuation of Vathek, by the author of that very striking and powerful production. The "Tales" of which this unpublished sequel consists are, I understand, those supposed to have been related by the Princes in the Hall of Eblis.]

LETTER 311. TO MR. MOORE.

"Venice, March 16. 1818.

"My dear Tom,

"Since my last, which I hope that you have received, I have had a letter from our friend Samuel. He talks of Italy this summer--won't you come with him? I don't know whether you would like our Italian way of life or not.

"They are an odd people. The other day I was telling a girl, 'You must not come to-morrow, because Margueritta is coming at such a time,'--(they are both about five feet ten inches high, with great black eyes and fine figures--fit to breed gladiators from--and I had some difficulty to prevent a battle upon a rencontre once before,)--'unless you promise to be friends, and'--the answer was an interruption, by a declaration of war against the other, which she said would be a 'Guerra di Candia.' Is it not odd, that the lower order of Venetians should still allude proverbially to that famous contest, so glorious and so fatal to the Republic?

"They have singular expressions, like all the Italians. For example, 'Viscere'--as we would say, 'My love,' or 'My heart,' as an expression of tenderness. Also, 'I would go for you into the midst of a hundred _knives_.'--'_Mazza ben_,' excessive attachment,--literally, 'I wish you well even to killing.' Then they say (instead of our way, 'Do you think I would do you so much harm?') 'Do you think I would _a.s.sa.s.sinate_ you in such a manner?'--'Tempo _perfido_,' bad weather; 'Strade _perfide_,' bad roads,--with a thousand other allusions and metaphors, taken from the state of society and habits in the middle ages.

"I am not so sure about _mazza_, whether it don't mean _ma.s.sa_, _i.e._ a great deal, a _ma.s.s_, instead of the interpretation I have given it. But of the other phrases I am sure.

"Three o' th' clock--I must 'to bed, to bed, to bed,' as mother S *

* (that tragical friend of the mathematical * * *) says.

"Have you ever seen--I forget what or whom--no matter. They tell me Lady Melbourne is very unwell. I shall be so sorry. She was my greatest _friend_, of the feminine gender:--when I say 'friend,' I mean _not_ mistress, for that's the antipode. Tell me all about you and every body--how Sam is--how you like your neighbours, the Marquis and Marchesa, &c. &c.

"Ever," &c.

LETTER 312. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Venice, March 25. 1818.

"I have your letter, with the account of 'Beppo,' for which I sent you four new stanzas a fortnight ago, in case you print, or reprint.

"Croker's is a good guess; but the style is not English, it is Italian;--Berni is the original of _all_. Whistlecraft was _my_ immediate _model_! Rose's 'Animali' I never saw till a few days ago,--they are excellent. But (as I said above) Berni is the father of that kind of writing, which, I think, suits our language, too, very well;--we shall see by the experiment. If it does, I shall send you a volume in a year or two, for I know the Italian way of life well, and in time may know it yet better; and as for the verse and the pa.s.sions, I have them still in tolerable vigour.

"If you think that it will do you and the work, or works, any good, you may put my name to it; _but first consult the knowing ones_. It will, at any rate, show them that I can write cheerfully, and repel the charge of monotony and mannerism.

"Yours," &c.

LETTER 313. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Venice, April 11. 1818.

"Will you send me by letter, packet, or parcel, half a dozen of the coloured prints from Holmes's miniature (the latter done shortly before I left your country, and the prints about a year ago); I shall be obliged to you, as some people here have asked me for the like. It is a picture of my upright self done for Scrope B. Davies, Esq.[18]

"Why have you not sent me an answer, and list of subscribers to the translation of the Armenian _Eusebius_? of which I sent you printed copies of the prospectus (in French) two moons ago. Have you had the letter?--I shall send you another:--you must not neglect my Armenians. Tooth-powder, magnesia, tincture of myrrh, tooth-brushes, diachylon plaster, Peruvian bark, are my personal demands.

"Strahan, Tonson, Lintot of the times, 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, My Murray?

"Along thy sprucest bookshelves s.h.i.+ne The works thou deemest most divine-- The 'Art of Cookery,' and mine, My Murray.

"Tours, Travels, Essays, too, I wist, And Sermons to thy mill bring grist!