Life of Lord Byron Volume V Part 22

Out of this somewhat forced simile, by a judicious transposition of the comparison, and by the subst.i.tution of the more definite word "waves"

for "seas" the clear, n.o.ble thought in one of the Cantos of Childe Harold has been produced:--

"Once more upon the waters! yet once more!

And the waves bound beneath me, as a steed That knows his rider."]

[Footnote 47: "No man ever rose (says Pope) to any degree of perfection in writing but through obstinacy and an inveterate resolution against the stream of mankind."]

LETTER 446. TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, August 24. 1821.

"Yours of the 5th only yesterday, while I had letters of the 8th from London. Doth the post dabble into our letters? Whatever agreement you make with Murray, if satisfactory to _you_, must be so to me. There need be no scruple, because, though I used sometimes to buffoon to myself, loving a quibble as well as the barbarian himself (Shakspeare, to wit)--'that, like a Spartan, I would sell my _life_ as _dearly_ as possible'--it never was my intention to turn it to personal, pecuniary account, but to bequeath it to a friend--yourself--in the event of survivors.h.i.+p. I antic.i.p.ated that period, because we happened to meet, and I urged you to make what was possible _now_ by it, for reasons which are obvious. It has been no possible _privation_ to me, and therefore does not require the acknowledgments you mention. So, for G.o.d's sake, don't consider it like * * *

"By the way, when you write to Lady Morgan, will you thank her for her handsome speeches in her book about _my_ books? I do not know her address. Her work is fearless and excellent on the subject of Italy--pray tell her so--and I know the country. I wish she had fallen in with _me_, I could have told her a thing or two that would have confirmed her positions.

"I am glad you are satisfied with Murray, who seems to value dead lords more than live ones. I have just sent him the following answer to a proposition of his,

"For Orford and for Waldegrave, &c.

"The argument of the above is, that he wanted to 'stint me of my sizings,' as Lear says,--that is to say, _not_ to propose an extravagant price for an extravagant poem, as is becoming. Pray take his guineas, by all means--_I_ taught him that. He made me a filthy offer of _pounds_ once, but I told him that, like physicians, poets must be dealt with in guineas, as being the only advantage poets could have in the a.s.sociation with _them_, as votaries of Apollo. I write to you in hurry and bustle, which I will expound in my next.

"Yours ever, &c.

"P.S. You mention something of an attorney on his way to me on legal business. I have had no warning of such an apparition. What can the fellow want? I have some lawsuits and business, but have not heard of any thing to put me to the expense of a _travelling_ lawyer. They do enough, in that way, at home.

"Ah, poor Queen I but perhaps it is for the best, if Herodotus's anecdote is to be believed.

"Remember me to any friendly Angles of our mutual acquaintance.

What are you doing? Here I have had my hands full with tyrants and their victims. There never _was_ such oppression, even in Ireland, scarcely!"

LETTER 447. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, August 31. 1821.

"I have received the Juans, which are printed so _carelessly_, especially the fifth Canto, as to be disgraceful to me, and not creditable to you. It really must be _gone over again_ with the _ma.n.u.script_, the errors are so gross;--words added--changed--so as to make cacophony and nonsense. You have been careless of this poem because some of your squad don't approve of it; but I tell you that it will be long before you see any thing half so good as poetry or writing. Upon what principle have you omitted the note on Bacon and Voltaire? and one of the concluding stanzas sent as an addition?

because it ended, I suppose, with--

"And do not link two virtuous souls for life Into that _moral centaur_ man and wife?

"Now, I must say, once for all, that I will not permit any human being to take such liberties with my writings because I am absent.

I desire the omissions to be replaced (except the stanza on Semiramis)--particularly the stanza upon the Turkish marriages; and I request that the whole be carefully gone over with the MS.

"I never saw such stuff as is printed:--Gu_ll_eyaz instead of Gu_lb_eyaz, &c. Are you aware that Gulbeyaz is a real name, and the other nonsense? I copied the _Cantos_ out carefully, so that there is _no_ excuse, as the printer read, or at least _prints_, the MS.

of the plays without error.

"If you have no feeling for your own reputation, pray have some little for mine. I have read over the poem carefully, and I tell you, _it is poetry_. Your little envious knot of parson-poets may say what they please: time will show that I am not in this instance mistaken.

"Desire my friend Hobhouse to correct the press, especially of the last Canto, from the ma.n.u.script as it is. It is enough to drive one out of one's reason to see the infernal torture of words from the original. For instance the line--

"And _pair_ their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves--

is printed

"And _praise_ their rhymes, &c.

Also '_precarious_' for '_precocious_;' and this line, stanza 133.

"_And this strong extreme effect to tire no longer._

Now do turn to the ma.n.u.script and see if I ever wrote such a _line_: it is _not verse_.

"No wonder the poem should fail (which, however, it won't, you will see) with such things allowed to creep about it. Replace what is omitted, and correct what is so shamefully misprinted, and let the poem have fair play; and I fear nothing.

"I see in the last two numbers of the Quarterly a strong itching to a.s.sail me (see the review of 'The Etonian'); let it, and see if they sha'n't have enough of it. I do not allude to Gifford, who has always been my friend, and whom I do not consider as responsible for the articles written by others.

"You will publish the plays when ready. I am in such a humour about this printing of Don Juan so inaccurately, that I must close this.

"Yours.

"P.S. I presume that you have _not_ lost the _stanza_ to which I allude? It was sent afterwards: look over my letters and find it."

LETTER 448.[48] TO MR. MURRAY.

"The enclosed letter is written in bad humour, but not without provocation. However, let it (that is, the bad humour) go for little; but I must request your serious attention to the abuses of the printer, which ought never to have been permitted. You forget that all the fools in London (the chief purchasers of your publications) will condemn in me the stupidity of your printer. For instance, in the notes to Canto fifth, 'the _Adriatic_ sh.o.r.e of the Bosphorus' instead of the _Asiatic!!_ All this may seem little to you, so fine a gentleman with your ministerial connections, but it is serious to me, who am thousands of miles off, and have no opportunity of not proving myself the fool your printer makes me, except your pleasure and leisure, forsooth.

"The G.o.ds prosper you, and forgive you, for I can't."

[Footnote 48: Written in the envelope of the preceding Letter.]

LETTER 449. TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, September 3. 1821.

"By Mr. Mawman (a paymaster in the corps, in which you and I are privates) I yesterday expedited to your address, under cover one, two paper books, containing the _Giaour_-nal, and a thing or two.

It won't _all_ do--even for the posthumous public--but extracts from it may. It is a brief and faithful chronicle of a month or so--parts of it not very discreet, but sufficiently sincere. Mr.

Mawman saith that he will, in person or per friend, have it delivered to you in your Elysian fields.

"If you have got the new Juans, recollect that there are some very gross printer's blunders, particularly in the fifth Canto,--such as 'praise' for 'pair'--'precarious' for 'precocious'--'Adriatic' for 'Asiatic'--'case' for 'chase'--besides gifts of additional words and syllables, which make but a cacophonous rhythmus. Put the pen through the said, as I would mine through * *'s ears, if I were alongside him. As it is, I have sent him a rattling letter, as abusive as possible. Though he is publisher to the 'Board of _Longitude_,' he is in no danger of discovering it.

"I am packing for Pisa--but direct your letters _here_, till further notice. Yours ever," &c.