OF all the twice ten
thousand
bards
That ever penned a canto,
Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards
For lining a portmanteau;
Of all the poets ever known,
From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,[103]
The Muse may boast--the World must own
There's none like pretty Gally!
That ever penned a canto,
Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards
For lining a portmanteau;
Of all the poets ever known,
From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,[103]
The Muse may boast--the World must own
There's none like pretty Gally!
Byron
Do me the kindness to send by
return of post a _delicate_ declension of it, which I engage faithfully
to copy. "
"I never," said Byron, "was much more disgusted with any human
production than with the eternal nonsense, and _tracasseries_, and
emptiness, and ill-humour, and vanity of this young person; but he has
some talent, and is a man of honour, and has dispositions of amendment.
Therefore use your interest for him, for he is improved and improvable;"
and, in a letter to Murray, Aug. 21, 1817, "You want a 'civil and
delicate declension' for the medical tragedy? Take it. "--For J. W.
Polidori (1795-1821), see _Letters_, 1899, iii, 284 _note_ I. ]
[76] [Maturin's second tragedy, _Manuel_, produced at Drury Lane, March
8, 1817, with Kean as "Manuel Count Valdis, failed, and after five
nights was withdrawn. " It was published in 1817. "It is," says Byron
(letter to Murray, June 14, 1817), "the absurd work of a clever
man. "--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 134, and _note_ I. ]
[77] [Sotheby published, in 1814, _Five Tragedies_, viz. "The Confession,"
"Orestes," "Ivan," "The Death of Darnley," and "Zamorin and Zama. "]
[78] [_Ina, A Tragedy_, by Mrs. Wilmot [Barberina Ogle (1768-1854),
daughter of Sir Chaloner Ogle], afterwards Lady Dacre, was produced at
Drury Lane, April 22, 1815. Her "tragedy," writes Byron to Moore, April
23, 1815, "was last night damned. " See _Letters_, 1898, ii. 332, _note_
3, etc. ; _ibid. _, 1899, iii. 195, _note_ I. ]
[79] [George Hammond (1763-1853) was a distinguished diplomatist, who
twice (1795-1806 and 1807-1809) held the office of Under-secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs. He is associated with the foundation of the
_Anti-Jacobin_ and the _Quarterly Review_. In the drawing-room of
Albemarle Street, he was Murray's "chief 4-o'clock man," until his
official duties compelled him to settle at Paris. --_Letters_, 1900, iv.
160, _note_ 1.
John Dent, M. P. , a banker, was nicknamed "Dog Dent" because he was
concerned in the introduction of the Dog-tax Bill in 1796. In 1802 he
introduced a Bill to abolish bull-baiting. --_Ibid_]
[80] [Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), soldier, administrator, and
diplomatist, published (January, 1815) his _History of
Persia. --Letters_, 1899, iii. 113, _note_ 1. ]
[81] [For "Dark Hamilton," W. R. Hamilton (1777-1859), see _Childe
Harold_, Canto II. stanza xiii. _var_. I, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii.
108, _note_ 1. Lines 61, 62 were added October 12, 1817. ]
[82] [Madame de Stael's _Considerations sur la Revolution Francaise_ was
offered to Murray in June, 1816 (_Memoir, etc. , 1891_, i. 316), and the
sum of ? 4000 asked for the work. During the negotiations, Madame de
Stael died (July 14, 1817), and the book was eventually published by
Messrs. Baldwin and Cradock. --_Letters_, 1900, iv. 94, _note_. ]
[83] [Byron and the elder Schlegel met at Copet, in 1816, but they did
not take to each other. Byron "would not flatter him," perhaps because
he did not appreciate or flatter Byron. ]
EPISTLE TO MR. MURRAY.
1.
MY dear Mr. Murray,
You're in a damned hurry
To set up this ultimate Canto;[84]
But (if they don't rob us)
You'll see Mr. Hobhouse
Will bring it safe in his portmanteau.
2.
For the Journal you hint of,[85]
As ready to print off,
No doubt you do right to commend it;
But as yet I have writ off
The devil a bit of
Our "Beppo:"--when copied, I'll send it.
3.
In the mean time you've "Galley"[86]
Whose verses all tally,
Perhaps you may say he's a Ninny,
But if you abashed are
Because of _Alashtar_,
He'll piddle another _Phrosine_. [87]
4.
Then you've Sotheby's Tour,--[88]
No great things, to be sure,--
You could hardly begin with a less work;
For the pompous rascallion,
Who don't speak Italian
Nor French, must have scribbled by guess-work.
5.
No doubt he's a rare man
Without knowing German
Translating his way up Parnassus,
And now still absurder
He meditates Murder
As you'll see in the trash he calls _Tasso's_.
6.
But you've others his betters
The real men of letters
Your Orators--Critics--and Wits--
And I'll bet that your Journal
(Pray is it diurnal? )
Will pay with your luckiest hits.
7.
You can make any loss up
With "Spence"[89] and his gossip,
A work which must surely succeed;
Then Queen Mary's Epistle-craft,[90]
With the new "Fytte" of "Whistlecraft,"
Must make people purchase and read.
8.
Then you've General Gordon,[91]
Who girded his sword on,
To serve with a Muscovite Master,
And help him to polish
A nation so owlish,
They thought shaving their beards a disaster.
9.
For the man, "_poor and shrewd_,"[92]
With whom you'd conclude
A compact without more delay,
Perhaps some such pen is
Still extant in Venice;
But please, Sir, to mention _your pay_.
10.
Now tell me some news
Of your friends and the Muse,
Of the Bar, or the Gown, or the House,
From Canning, the tall wit,
To Wilmot,[93] the small wit,
Ward's creeping Companion and _Louse_,
11.
Who's so damnably bit
With fashion and Wit,
That he crawls on the surface like Vermin,
But an Insect in both,--
By his Intellect's growth,
Of what size you may quickly determine. [94]
Venice, _January_ 8, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 156, 157;
stanzas 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, first published, _Letters_, 1900,
iv. 191-193. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[84] [The Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_. ]
[85] [Murray bought a half-share in _Blackwood's Edinburgh Monthly
Magazine_ in August, 1818, and remained its joint proprietor till
December, 1819, when it became the property of William Blackwood. But
perhaps the reference is to Byron's Swiss Journal of September, 1816. ]
[86] [Henry Gaily Knight (1786-1846), who was a contemporary of Byron at
Trinity College, Cambridge, was a poetaster, and, afterwards, a writer
of works on architecture. His Oriental verses supplied Byron with a
subject for more than one indifferent _jeu d'esprit_. ]
[87] [_Phrosyne_, a Grecian tale, and _Alashtar_, an Arabian tale, were
published in 1817. In a letter to Murray, September 4, 1817, Byron
writes, "I have received safely, though tardily, the magnesia and
tooth-powder, _Phrosine_ and _Alashtar_. I shall clean my teeth with
one, and wipe my shoes with the other. "--_Letters_, 1901, iv. ]
[88] [Sotheby's _Farewell to Italy_ and _Occasional Poems_ were
published in 1818, as the record of a tour which he had taken in 1816-17
with his family, Professor Elmsley, and Dr. Playfair. For Byron's
unfinished skit on Sotheby's Tour, see _Letters_, 1900, iv. Appendix V.
pp. 452, 453. ]
[89] [_Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters of Books and Men_, by the
Rev. Joseph Spence, arranged, with notes, by the late Edmund Malone,
Esq. , 1 vol. 8vo, 1820. ]
[90] [_The Life of Mary Queen of Scots_, by George Chalmers, 2 vols.
4to, 1819. ]
[91] [Thomas Gordon (1788-1841) entered the Scots Greys in 1808. Two
years later he visited Ali Pasha (see _Letters_, 1898, i. 246, _note_ 1)
in Albania, and travelled in Persia and Turkey in the East. From 1813 to
1815 he served in the Russian Army. He wrote a _History of the Greek
Revolution_, 1832, 2 vols. , but it does not appear that he was
negotiating with Murray for the publication of any work at this period. ]
[92] _Vide_ your letter.
[93] [Probably Sir Robert John Wilmot (1784-1841) (afterwards Wilmot
Horton), Byron's first cousin, who took a prominent part in the
destruction of the "Memoirs," May 17, 1824. (For Lady Wilmot Horton, the
original of "She walks in beauty," see _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 381,
_note_ I. )]
[94] [Stanzas 12, 13, 14 cannot be published. ]
ON THE BIRTH OF JOHN WILLIAM RIZZO HOPPNER. [95]
HIS father's sense, his mother's grace,
In him, I hope, will always fit so;
With--still to keep him in good case--
The health and appetite of Rizzo.
_February_ 20, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 134. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[95] [Richard Belgrave Hoppner (1786-1872), second son of John Hoppner,
R. A. , was appointed English Consul at Venice, October, 1814. (See
_Letters_, 1900, iv. 83, _note_ I. ) The quatrain was translated (see the
following poem) into eleven different languages--Greek, Latin, Italian
(also the Venetian dialect), German, French, Spanish, Illyrian, Hebrew,
Armenian, and Samaritan, and printed "in a small neat volume in the
seminary of Padua. " For nine of these translations see _Works_, 1832,
xi. pp. 324-326, and 1891, p. 571. Rizzo was a Venetian surname. See W.
Stewart Rose's verses to Byron, "Grinanis, Mocenijas, Baltis, Rizzi,
Compassionate our cruel case," etc. , _Letters_, iv. 212. ]
[E NIHILO NIHIL;
OR
AN EPIGRAM BEWITCHED. ]
OF rhymes I printed seven volumes--[96]
The list concludes John Murray's columns:
Of these there have been few translations[97]
For Gallic or Italian nations;
And one or two perhaps in German--
But in this last I can't determine.
But then I only sung of passions
That do not suit with modern fashions;
Of Incest and such like diversions
Permitted only to the Persians,
Or Greeks to bring upon their stages--
But that was in the earlier ages
Besides my style is the romantic,
Which some call fine, and some call frantic;
While others are or would seem _as_ sick
Of repetitions nicknamed Classic.
For my part all men must allow
Whatever I was, I'm classic now.
I saw and left my fault in time,
And chose a topic all sublime--
Wondrous as antient war or hero--
Then played and sung away like Nero,
Who sang of Rome, and I of Rizzo:
The subject has improved my wit so,
The first four lines the poet sees
Start forth in fourteen languages!
Though of seven volumes none before
Could ever reach the fame of four,
Henceforth I sacrifice all Glory
To the Rinaldo of my Story:
I've sung his health and appetite
(The last word's not translated right--
He's turned it, God knows how, to vigour)[98]
I'll sing them in a book that's bigger.
Oh! Muse prepare for thy Ascension!
And generous Rizzo! thou my pension.
_February_, 1818.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[96] [Byron must have added the Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_ to the
complete edition of the _Poetical Works_ in six volumes. See Murray's
list, dated "Albemarle Street, London, January, 1818. " The seventh
volume of the Collected Works was not issued till 1819. ]
[97] [A French translation of the _Bride of Abydos_ appeared in 1816, an
Italian translation of the _Lament of Tasso_ in 1817. Goethe (see
_Letters_, 1901, v. 503-521) translated fragments of _Manfred_ in 1817,
1818, but the earliest German translation of the entire text of
_Manfred_ was issued in 1819. ]
[98] [See the last line of the Italian translation of the quatrain. ]
TO MR. MURRAY.
1.
Strahan, Tonson, Lintot of the times,[99]
Patron and publisher of rhymes,
For thee the bard up Pindus climbs,
My Murray.
2.
To thee, with hope and terror dumb,
The unfledged MS. authors come;
Thou printest all--and sellest some--
My Murray.
3.
Upon thy table's baize so green
The last new Quarterly is seen,--
But where is thy new Magazine,[100]
My Murray?
4.
Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine
The works thou deemest most divine--
The Art of Cookery,[101] and mine,
My Murray.
5.
Tours, Travels, Essays, too, I wist,
And Sermons, to thy mill bring grist;
And then thou hast the _Navy List_,
My Murray.
6.
And Heaven forbid I should conclude,
Without "the Board of Longitude,"[102]
Although this narrow paper would,
My Murray.
Venice, _April 11_, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 171. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[99] [William Strahan (1715-1785) published Johnson's _Dictionary_,
Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, Cook's _Voyages, etc_. He was
great-grandfather of the mathematician William Spottiswoode (1825-1883).
Jacob Tonson (1656? -1736) published for Otway, Dryden, Addison, etc. He
was secretary of the Kit-Cat Club, 1700. He was the publisher (1712,
etc. ) of the _Spectator_.
Barnaby Bernard Lintot (1675-1736) was at one time (1718) in partnership
with Tonson. He published Pope's _Iliad_ in 1715, and the _Odyssey_,
1725-26. ]
[100] [See note 2, p. 51. ]
[101] [Mrs. Rundell's _Domestic Cookery_, published in 1806, was one of
Murray's most successful books. In 1822 he purchased the copyright from
Mrs. Rundell for ? 2000 (see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 375; and _Memoir of
John Murray_, 1891, ii. 124). ]
[102] [The sixth edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ (1813) was
"printed by T. Davison, Whitefriars, for John Murray, Bookseller to the
Admiralty, and the Board of Longitude. " Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824,
p. 259) attributes to Byron a statement that Murray had to choose
between continuing to be his publisher and printing the "Navy Lists,"
and "that there was no hesitation which way he should decide: the
Admiralty carried the day. " In his "Notes" to the _Conversations_
(November 2, 1824) Murray characterized "the passage about the
Admiralty" as "unfounded in fact, and no otherwise deserving of notice
than to mark its absurdity. "]
BALLAD. TO THE TUNE OF "SALLEY IN OUR ALLEY. "
1.
OF all the twice ten thousand bards
That ever penned a canto,
Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards
For lining a portmanteau;
Of all the poets ever known,
From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,[103]
The Muse may boast--the World must own
There's none like pretty Gally! [104]
2.
He writes as well as any Miss,
Has published many a poem;
The shame is yours, the gain is his,
In case you should not know 'em:
He has ten thousand pounds a year--
I do not mean to vally--
His songs at sixpence would be dear,
So give them gratis, Gaily!
3.
And if this statement should seem queer,
Or set down in a hurry,
Go, ask (if he will be sincere)
His bookseller--John Murray.
Come, say, how many have been sold,
And don't stand shilly-shally,
Of bound and lettered, red and gold,
Well printed works of Gally.
4.
For Astley's circus Upton[105] writes,
And also for the Surry; (_sic_)
Fitzgerald weekly still recites,
Though grinning Critics worry:
Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul,
In fame exactly tally;
From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall
They go--and so does Gally.
5.
He rode upon a Camel's hump[106]
Through Araby the sandy,
Which surely must have hurt the rump
Of this poetic dandy.
His rhymes are of the costive kind,
And barren as each valley
In deserts which he left behind
Has been the Muse of Gally.
6.
He has a Seat in Parliament,
Is fat and passing wealthy;
And surely he should be content
With these and being healthy:
But Great Ambition will misrule
Men at all risks to sally,--
Now makes a poet--now a fool,
And _we_ know _which_--of Gally.
7.
Some in the playhouse like to row,
Some with the Watch to battle,
Exchanging many a midnight blow
To Music of the Rattle.
Some folks like rowing on the Thames,
Some rowing in an Alley,
But all the Row my fancy claims
Is _rowing_--of my _Gally_.
_April_ 11, 1818. [107]
FOOTNOTES:
[103] [For Fop's Alley, see _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 410, _note_ 2. ]
[104] [H. Gally Knight (1786-1846) was at Cambridge with Byron. ]
[105] [William Upton was the author of _Poems on Several Occasions_,
1788, and of the _Words of the most Favourite Songs, Duets, etc. _, sung
at the Royal Amphitheatre, Westminster Bridge, etc. In the dedication to
Mrs. Astley he speaks of himself as the author of the _Black Cattle_,
_Fair Rosamond_, etc. He has also been credited with the words of James
Hook's famous song, _A Lass of Richmond Hill_, but this has been
disputed. (See _Notes and Queries_, 1878, Series V. vol. ix. p. 495. )]
[106] [Compare--
"Th' unloaded camel, pacing slow.
Crops the rough herbage or the tamarisk spray. "
_Alashtar_ (by H. G. Knight), 1817, Canto I, stanza viii, lines 5, 6. ]
[107] [From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for
the first time printed. For stanzas 3, 4, 6, see _Letters_, 1900, iv.
219, 220. For stanzas 1, 2, 3 of "Another Simple Ballat. To the tune of
Tally i. o. the Grinder" (probably a variant of Dibdin's song, "The
Grinders, or more Grist to the Mill"), _vide ibid. _, pp. 220, 221. ]
ANOTHER SIMPLE BALLAT.
1.
MRS. WILMOT sate scribbling a play,
Mr. Sotheby sate sweating behind her;
But what are all these to the Lay
Of Gally i. o. the Grinder?
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
2.
I bought me some books tother day,
And sent them down stairs to the binder;
But the Pastry Cook carried away
My Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
3.
I wanted to kindle my taper,
And called to the Maid to remind her;
And what should she bring me for paper
But Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
4.
Among my researches for EASE
I went where one's certain to find her:
The first thing by her throne that one sees
Is Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
5.
Away with old Homer the blind--
I'll show you a poet that's blinder:
You may see him whene'er you've a mind
In Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
6.
Blindfold he runs groping for fame,
And hardly knows where he will find her:
She don't seem to take to the name
Of Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
7.
Yet the Critics have been very kind,
And Mamma and his friends have been kinder;
But the greatest of Glory's behind
For Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
_April_ 11, 1818.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed. ]
EPIGRAM.
FROM THE FRENCH OF RULHIERES. [108]
IF for silver, or for gold,
You could melt ten thousand pimples
Into half a dozen dimples,
Then your face we might behold,
Looking, doubtless, much more snugly,
Yet even _then_ 'twould be damned ugly.
_August_ 12, 1819.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 235. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[108] ["Would you like an epigram--a translation? It was written on some
Frenchwoman, by Rulhieres, I believe. "--Letter to Murray, August 12,
1819, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 346.
Claude Carloman de Rulhiere (1718-1791), historian, poet, and
epigrammatist, was the author of _Anecdotes sur la revolution de Russie
en l'annee_ 1762, _Histoire de l'anarchie de Pologne_ (1807), etc. His
epigrams are included in "Poesies Diverses," which are appended to _Les
jeux de Mains_, a poem in three cantos, published in 1808, and were
collected in his _Oeuvres Posthumes_, 1819; but there is no trace of the
original of Byron's translation. Perhaps it is _after_ de Rulhiere, who
more than once epigrammatizes "Une Vieille Femme. "]
EPILOGUE. [109]
1.
THERE'S something in a stupid ass,
And something in a heavy dunce;
But never since I went to school
I heard or saw so damned a fool
As William Wordsworth is for once.
2.
And now I've seen so great a fool
As William Wordsworth is for once;
I really wish that Peter Bell
And he who wrote it were in hell,
For writing nonsense for the nonce.
3.
It saw the "light in ninety-eight,"
Sweet babe of one and twenty years! [110]
And then he gives it to the nation
And deems himself of Shakespeare's peers!
4.
He gives the perfect work to light!
Will Wordsworth, if I might advise,
Content you with the praise you get
From Sir George Beaumont, Baronet,
And with your place in the Excise!
1819.
[First published, _Philadelphia Record_, December 28, 1891. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[109] [The MS. of the "Epilogue" is inscribed on the margin of a copy of
Wordsworth's _Peter Bell_, inserted in a set of Byron's _Works_
presented by George W. Childs to the Drexel Institute. (From information
kindly supplied by Mr. John H. Bewley, of Buffalo, New York. )
The first edition of _Peter Bell_ appeared early in 1819, and a second
edition followed in May, 1819. In Byron's Dedication of _Marino
Faliero_, "To Baron Goethe," dated October 20, 1820 (_Poetical Works_,
1891, iv. 341), the same allusions to Sir George Beaumont, to
Wordsworth's "place in the Excise," and to his admission that _Peter
Bell_ had been withheld "for one and twenty years," occur in an omitted
paragraph first published, _Letters_, 1891, v. 101. So close a
correspondence of an unpublished fragment with a genuine document leaves
little doubt as to the composition of the "Epilogue. "]
[110] [The missing line may be, "To _permanently_ fill a station," see
Preface to _Peter Bell_. ]
ON MY WEDDING-DAY.
HERE'S a happy New Year! but with reason
I beg you'll permit me to say--
Wish me _many_ returns of the _Season_,
But as _few_ as you please of the _Day_. [111]
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 294. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[111] [Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 156) prints an alternative--
"You may wish me returns of the season,
Let us, prithee, have none of the day! "]
EPITAPH FOR WILLIAM PITT.
WITH Death doomed to grapple,
Beneath this cold slab, he
Who lied in the Chapel
Now lies in the Abbey.
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 295. ]
EPIGRAM.
IN digging up your bones, Tom Paine,
Will. Cobbett[112] has done well:
You visit him on Earth again,
He'll visit you in Hell.
or--
You come to him on Earth again
He'll go with you to Hell!
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 295. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[112] [Cobbett, by way of atonement for youthful vituperation (he called
him "a ragamuffin deist") of Tom Paine, exhumed his bones from their
first resting-place at New Rochelle, and brought them to Liverpool on
his return to England in 1819. They were preserved by Cobbett at
Normanby, Farnham, till his death in 1835, but were sold in consequence
of his son's bankruptcy in 1836, and passed into the keeping of a Mr.
Tilly, who was known to be their fortunate possessor as late as 1844.
(See _Notes and Queries_, 1868, Series IV. vol. i. pp. 201-203. )]
EPITAPH.
POSTERITY will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this;
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop traveller, * *
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Lord Byron's Works_, 1833, xvii. 246. ]
EPIGRAM.
The world is a bundle of hay,
Mankind are the asses who pull;
Each tugs it a different way,--
And the greatest of all is John Bull!
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 494. ]
MY BOY HOBBIE O. [113]
New Song to the tune of
"_Whare hae ye been a' day,
My boy Tammy O. !
Courting o' a young thing
Just come frae her Mammie O. _"
1.
HOW came you in Hob's pound to cool,
My boy Hobbie O?
Because I bade the people pull
The House into the Lobby O.
2.
What did the House upon this call,
My boy Hobbie O?
They voted me to Newgate all,
Which is an awkward Jobby O.
return of post a _delicate_ declension of it, which I engage faithfully
to copy. "
"I never," said Byron, "was much more disgusted with any human
production than with the eternal nonsense, and _tracasseries_, and
emptiness, and ill-humour, and vanity of this young person; but he has
some talent, and is a man of honour, and has dispositions of amendment.
Therefore use your interest for him, for he is improved and improvable;"
and, in a letter to Murray, Aug. 21, 1817, "You want a 'civil and
delicate declension' for the medical tragedy? Take it. "--For J. W.
Polidori (1795-1821), see _Letters_, 1899, iii, 284 _note_ I. ]
[76] [Maturin's second tragedy, _Manuel_, produced at Drury Lane, March
8, 1817, with Kean as "Manuel Count Valdis, failed, and after five
nights was withdrawn. " It was published in 1817. "It is," says Byron
(letter to Murray, June 14, 1817), "the absurd work of a clever
man. "--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 134, and _note_ I. ]
[77] [Sotheby published, in 1814, _Five Tragedies_, viz. "The Confession,"
"Orestes," "Ivan," "The Death of Darnley," and "Zamorin and Zama. "]
[78] [_Ina, A Tragedy_, by Mrs. Wilmot [Barberina Ogle (1768-1854),
daughter of Sir Chaloner Ogle], afterwards Lady Dacre, was produced at
Drury Lane, April 22, 1815. Her "tragedy," writes Byron to Moore, April
23, 1815, "was last night damned. " See _Letters_, 1898, ii. 332, _note_
3, etc. ; _ibid. _, 1899, iii. 195, _note_ I. ]
[79] [George Hammond (1763-1853) was a distinguished diplomatist, who
twice (1795-1806 and 1807-1809) held the office of Under-secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs. He is associated with the foundation of the
_Anti-Jacobin_ and the _Quarterly Review_. In the drawing-room of
Albemarle Street, he was Murray's "chief 4-o'clock man," until his
official duties compelled him to settle at Paris. --_Letters_, 1900, iv.
160, _note_ 1.
John Dent, M. P. , a banker, was nicknamed "Dog Dent" because he was
concerned in the introduction of the Dog-tax Bill in 1796. In 1802 he
introduced a Bill to abolish bull-baiting. --_Ibid_]
[80] [Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), soldier, administrator, and
diplomatist, published (January, 1815) his _History of
Persia. --Letters_, 1899, iii. 113, _note_ 1. ]
[81] [For "Dark Hamilton," W. R. Hamilton (1777-1859), see _Childe
Harold_, Canto II. stanza xiii. _var_. I, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii.
108, _note_ 1. Lines 61, 62 were added October 12, 1817. ]
[82] [Madame de Stael's _Considerations sur la Revolution Francaise_ was
offered to Murray in June, 1816 (_Memoir, etc. , 1891_, i. 316), and the
sum of ? 4000 asked for the work. During the negotiations, Madame de
Stael died (July 14, 1817), and the book was eventually published by
Messrs. Baldwin and Cradock. --_Letters_, 1900, iv. 94, _note_. ]
[83] [Byron and the elder Schlegel met at Copet, in 1816, but they did
not take to each other. Byron "would not flatter him," perhaps because
he did not appreciate or flatter Byron. ]
EPISTLE TO MR. MURRAY.
1.
MY dear Mr. Murray,
You're in a damned hurry
To set up this ultimate Canto;[84]
But (if they don't rob us)
You'll see Mr. Hobhouse
Will bring it safe in his portmanteau.
2.
For the Journal you hint of,[85]
As ready to print off,
No doubt you do right to commend it;
But as yet I have writ off
The devil a bit of
Our "Beppo:"--when copied, I'll send it.
3.
In the mean time you've "Galley"[86]
Whose verses all tally,
Perhaps you may say he's a Ninny,
But if you abashed are
Because of _Alashtar_,
He'll piddle another _Phrosine_. [87]
4.
Then you've Sotheby's Tour,--[88]
No great things, to be sure,--
You could hardly begin with a less work;
For the pompous rascallion,
Who don't speak Italian
Nor French, must have scribbled by guess-work.
5.
No doubt he's a rare man
Without knowing German
Translating his way up Parnassus,
And now still absurder
He meditates Murder
As you'll see in the trash he calls _Tasso's_.
6.
But you've others his betters
The real men of letters
Your Orators--Critics--and Wits--
And I'll bet that your Journal
(Pray is it diurnal? )
Will pay with your luckiest hits.
7.
You can make any loss up
With "Spence"[89] and his gossip,
A work which must surely succeed;
Then Queen Mary's Epistle-craft,[90]
With the new "Fytte" of "Whistlecraft,"
Must make people purchase and read.
8.
Then you've General Gordon,[91]
Who girded his sword on,
To serve with a Muscovite Master,
And help him to polish
A nation so owlish,
They thought shaving their beards a disaster.
9.
For the man, "_poor and shrewd_,"[92]
With whom you'd conclude
A compact without more delay,
Perhaps some such pen is
Still extant in Venice;
But please, Sir, to mention _your pay_.
10.
Now tell me some news
Of your friends and the Muse,
Of the Bar, or the Gown, or the House,
From Canning, the tall wit,
To Wilmot,[93] the small wit,
Ward's creeping Companion and _Louse_,
11.
Who's so damnably bit
With fashion and Wit,
That he crawls on the surface like Vermin,
But an Insect in both,--
By his Intellect's growth,
Of what size you may quickly determine. [94]
Venice, _January_ 8, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 156, 157;
stanzas 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, first published, _Letters_, 1900,
iv. 191-193. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[84] [The Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_. ]
[85] [Murray bought a half-share in _Blackwood's Edinburgh Monthly
Magazine_ in August, 1818, and remained its joint proprietor till
December, 1819, when it became the property of William Blackwood. But
perhaps the reference is to Byron's Swiss Journal of September, 1816. ]
[86] [Henry Gaily Knight (1786-1846), who was a contemporary of Byron at
Trinity College, Cambridge, was a poetaster, and, afterwards, a writer
of works on architecture. His Oriental verses supplied Byron with a
subject for more than one indifferent _jeu d'esprit_. ]
[87] [_Phrosyne_, a Grecian tale, and _Alashtar_, an Arabian tale, were
published in 1817. In a letter to Murray, September 4, 1817, Byron
writes, "I have received safely, though tardily, the magnesia and
tooth-powder, _Phrosine_ and _Alashtar_. I shall clean my teeth with
one, and wipe my shoes with the other. "--_Letters_, 1901, iv. ]
[88] [Sotheby's _Farewell to Italy_ and _Occasional Poems_ were
published in 1818, as the record of a tour which he had taken in 1816-17
with his family, Professor Elmsley, and Dr. Playfair. For Byron's
unfinished skit on Sotheby's Tour, see _Letters_, 1900, iv. Appendix V.
pp. 452, 453. ]
[89] [_Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters of Books and Men_, by the
Rev. Joseph Spence, arranged, with notes, by the late Edmund Malone,
Esq. , 1 vol. 8vo, 1820. ]
[90] [_The Life of Mary Queen of Scots_, by George Chalmers, 2 vols.
4to, 1819. ]
[91] [Thomas Gordon (1788-1841) entered the Scots Greys in 1808. Two
years later he visited Ali Pasha (see _Letters_, 1898, i. 246, _note_ 1)
in Albania, and travelled in Persia and Turkey in the East. From 1813 to
1815 he served in the Russian Army. He wrote a _History of the Greek
Revolution_, 1832, 2 vols. , but it does not appear that he was
negotiating with Murray for the publication of any work at this period. ]
[92] _Vide_ your letter.
[93] [Probably Sir Robert John Wilmot (1784-1841) (afterwards Wilmot
Horton), Byron's first cousin, who took a prominent part in the
destruction of the "Memoirs," May 17, 1824. (For Lady Wilmot Horton, the
original of "She walks in beauty," see _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 381,
_note_ I. )]
[94] [Stanzas 12, 13, 14 cannot be published. ]
ON THE BIRTH OF JOHN WILLIAM RIZZO HOPPNER. [95]
HIS father's sense, his mother's grace,
In him, I hope, will always fit so;
With--still to keep him in good case--
The health and appetite of Rizzo.
_February_ 20, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 134. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[95] [Richard Belgrave Hoppner (1786-1872), second son of John Hoppner,
R. A. , was appointed English Consul at Venice, October, 1814. (See
_Letters_, 1900, iv. 83, _note_ I. ) The quatrain was translated (see the
following poem) into eleven different languages--Greek, Latin, Italian
(also the Venetian dialect), German, French, Spanish, Illyrian, Hebrew,
Armenian, and Samaritan, and printed "in a small neat volume in the
seminary of Padua. " For nine of these translations see _Works_, 1832,
xi. pp. 324-326, and 1891, p. 571. Rizzo was a Venetian surname. See W.
Stewart Rose's verses to Byron, "Grinanis, Mocenijas, Baltis, Rizzi,
Compassionate our cruel case," etc. , _Letters_, iv. 212. ]
[E NIHILO NIHIL;
OR
AN EPIGRAM BEWITCHED. ]
OF rhymes I printed seven volumes--[96]
The list concludes John Murray's columns:
Of these there have been few translations[97]
For Gallic or Italian nations;
And one or two perhaps in German--
But in this last I can't determine.
But then I only sung of passions
That do not suit with modern fashions;
Of Incest and such like diversions
Permitted only to the Persians,
Or Greeks to bring upon their stages--
But that was in the earlier ages
Besides my style is the romantic,
Which some call fine, and some call frantic;
While others are or would seem _as_ sick
Of repetitions nicknamed Classic.
For my part all men must allow
Whatever I was, I'm classic now.
I saw and left my fault in time,
And chose a topic all sublime--
Wondrous as antient war or hero--
Then played and sung away like Nero,
Who sang of Rome, and I of Rizzo:
The subject has improved my wit so,
The first four lines the poet sees
Start forth in fourteen languages!
Though of seven volumes none before
Could ever reach the fame of four,
Henceforth I sacrifice all Glory
To the Rinaldo of my Story:
I've sung his health and appetite
(The last word's not translated right--
He's turned it, God knows how, to vigour)[98]
I'll sing them in a book that's bigger.
Oh! Muse prepare for thy Ascension!
And generous Rizzo! thou my pension.
_February_, 1818.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[96] [Byron must have added the Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_ to the
complete edition of the _Poetical Works_ in six volumes. See Murray's
list, dated "Albemarle Street, London, January, 1818. " The seventh
volume of the Collected Works was not issued till 1819. ]
[97] [A French translation of the _Bride of Abydos_ appeared in 1816, an
Italian translation of the _Lament of Tasso_ in 1817. Goethe (see
_Letters_, 1901, v. 503-521) translated fragments of _Manfred_ in 1817,
1818, but the earliest German translation of the entire text of
_Manfred_ was issued in 1819. ]
[98] [See the last line of the Italian translation of the quatrain. ]
TO MR. MURRAY.
1.
Strahan, Tonson, Lintot of the times,[99]
Patron and publisher of rhymes,
For thee the bard up Pindus climbs,
My Murray.
2.
To thee, with hope and terror dumb,
The unfledged MS. authors come;
Thou printest all--and sellest some--
My Murray.
3.
Upon thy table's baize so green
The last new Quarterly is seen,--
But where is thy new Magazine,[100]
My Murray?
4.
Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine
The works thou deemest most divine--
The Art of Cookery,[101] and mine,
My Murray.
5.
Tours, Travels, Essays, too, I wist,
And Sermons, to thy mill bring grist;
And then thou hast the _Navy List_,
My Murray.
6.
And Heaven forbid I should conclude,
Without "the Board of Longitude,"[102]
Although this narrow paper would,
My Murray.
Venice, _April 11_, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 171. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[99] [William Strahan (1715-1785) published Johnson's _Dictionary_,
Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, Cook's _Voyages, etc_. He was
great-grandfather of the mathematician William Spottiswoode (1825-1883).
Jacob Tonson (1656? -1736) published for Otway, Dryden, Addison, etc. He
was secretary of the Kit-Cat Club, 1700. He was the publisher (1712,
etc. ) of the _Spectator_.
Barnaby Bernard Lintot (1675-1736) was at one time (1718) in partnership
with Tonson. He published Pope's _Iliad_ in 1715, and the _Odyssey_,
1725-26. ]
[100] [See note 2, p. 51. ]
[101] [Mrs. Rundell's _Domestic Cookery_, published in 1806, was one of
Murray's most successful books. In 1822 he purchased the copyright from
Mrs. Rundell for ? 2000 (see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 375; and _Memoir of
John Murray_, 1891, ii. 124). ]
[102] [The sixth edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ (1813) was
"printed by T. Davison, Whitefriars, for John Murray, Bookseller to the
Admiralty, and the Board of Longitude. " Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824,
p. 259) attributes to Byron a statement that Murray had to choose
between continuing to be his publisher and printing the "Navy Lists,"
and "that there was no hesitation which way he should decide: the
Admiralty carried the day. " In his "Notes" to the _Conversations_
(November 2, 1824) Murray characterized "the passage about the
Admiralty" as "unfounded in fact, and no otherwise deserving of notice
than to mark its absurdity. "]
BALLAD. TO THE TUNE OF "SALLEY IN OUR ALLEY. "
1.
OF all the twice ten thousand bards
That ever penned a canto,
Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards
For lining a portmanteau;
Of all the poets ever known,
From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,[103]
The Muse may boast--the World must own
There's none like pretty Gally! [104]
2.
He writes as well as any Miss,
Has published many a poem;
The shame is yours, the gain is his,
In case you should not know 'em:
He has ten thousand pounds a year--
I do not mean to vally--
His songs at sixpence would be dear,
So give them gratis, Gaily!
3.
And if this statement should seem queer,
Or set down in a hurry,
Go, ask (if he will be sincere)
His bookseller--John Murray.
Come, say, how many have been sold,
And don't stand shilly-shally,
Of bound and lettered, red and gold,
Well printed works of Gally.
4.
For Astley's circus Upton[105] writes,
And also for the Surry; (_sic_)
Fitzgerald weekly still recites,
Though grinning Critics worry:
Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul,
In fame exactly tally;
From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall
They go--and so does Gally.
5.
He rode upon a Camel's hump[106]
Through Araby the sandy,
Which surely must have hurt the rump
Of this poetic dandy.
His rhymes are of the costive kind,
And barren as each valley
In deserts which he left behind
Has been the Muse of Gally.
6.
He has a Seat in Parliament,
Is fat and passing wealthy;
And surely he should be content
With these and being healthy:
But Great Ambition will misrule
Men at all risks to sally,--
Now makes a poet--now a fool,
And _we_ know _which_--of Gally.
7.
Some in the playhouse like to row,
Some with the Watch to battle,
Exchanging many a midnight blow
To Music of the Rattle.
Some folks like rowing on the Thames,
Some rowing in an Alley,
But all the Row my fancy claims
Is _rowing_--of my _Gally_.
_April_ 11, 1818. [107]
FOOTNOTES:
[103] [For Fop's Alley, see _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 410, _note_ 2. ]
[104] [H. Gally Knight (1786-1846) was at Cambridge with Byron. ]
[105] [William Upton was the author of _Poems on Several Occasions_,
1788, and of the _Words of the most Favourite Songs, Duets, etc. _, sung
at the Royal Amphitheatre, Westminster Bridge, etc. In the dedication to
Mrs. Astley he speaks of himself as the author of the _Black Cattle_,
_Fair Rosamond_, etc. He has also been credited with the words of James
Hook's famous song, _A Lass of Richmond Hill_, but this has been
disputed. (See _Notes and Queries_, 1878, Series V. vol. ix. p. 495. )]
[106] [Compare--
"Th' unloaded camel, pacing slow.
Crops the rough herbage or the tamarisk spray. "
_Alashtar_ (by H. G. Knight), 1817, Canto I, stanza viii, lines 5, 6. ]
[107] [From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for
the first time printed. For stanzas 3, 4, 6, see _Letters_, 1900, iv.
219, 220. For stanzas 1, 2, 3 of "Another Simple Ballat. To the tune of
Tally i. o. the Grinder" (probably a variant of Dibdin's song, "The
Grinders, or more Grist to the Mill"), _vide ibid. _, pp. 220, 221. ]
ANOTHER SIMPLE BALLAT.
1.
MRS. WILMOT sate scribbling a play,
Mr. Sotheby sate sweating behind her;
But what are all these to the Lay
Of Gally i. o. the Grinder?
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
2.
I bought me some books tother day,
And sent them down stairs to the binder;
But the Pastry Cook carried away
My Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
3.
I wanted to kindle my taper,
And called to the Maid to remind her;
And what should she bring me for paper
But Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
4.
Among my researches for EASE
I went where one's certain to find her:
The first thing by her throne that one sees
Is Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
5.
Away with old Homer the blind--
I'll show you a poet that's blinder:
You may see him whene'er you've a mind
In Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
6.
Blindfold he runs groping for fame,
And hardly knows where he will find her:
She don't seem to take to the name
Of Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
7.
Yet the Critics have been very kind,
And Mamma and his friends have been kinder;
But the greatest of Glory's behind
For Gally i. o. the Grinder.
Gally i. o. i. o. , etc.
_April_ 11, 1818.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed. ]
EPIGRAM.
FROM THE FRENCH OF RULHIERES. [108]
IF for silver, or for gold,
You could melt ten thousand pimples
Into half a dozen dimples,
Then your face we might behold,
Looking, doubtless, much more snugly,
Yet even _then_ 'twould be damned ugly.
_August_ 12, 1819.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 235. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[108] ["Would you like an epigram--a translation? It was written on some
Frenchwoman, by Rulhieres, I believe. "--Letter to Murray, August 12,
1819, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 346.
Claude Carloman de Rulhiere (1718-1791), historian, poet, and
epigrammatist, was the author of _Anecdotes sur la revolution de Russie
en l'annee_ 1762, _Histoire de l'anarchie de Pologne_ (1807), etc. His
epigrams are included in "Poesies Diverses," which are appended to _Les
jeux de Mains_, a poem in three cantos, published in 1808, and were
collected in his _Oeuvres Posthumes_, 1819; but there is no trace of the
original of Byron's translation. Perhaps it is _after_ de Rulhiere, who
more than once epigrammatizes "Une Vieille Femme. "]
EPILOGUE. [109]
1.
THERE'S something in a stupid ass,
And something in a heavy dunce;
But never since I went to school
I heard or saw so damned a fool
As William Wordsworth is for once.
2.
And now I've seen so great a fool
As William Wordsworth is for once;
I really wish that Peter Bell
And he who wrote it were in hell,
For writing nonsense for the nonce.
3.
It saw the "light in ninety-eight,"
Sweet babe of one and twenty years! [110]
And then he gives it to the nation
And deems himself of Shakespeare's peers!
4.
He gives the perfect work to light!
Will Wordsworth, if I might advise,
Content you with the praise you get
From Sir George Beaumont, Baronet,
And with your place in the Excise!
1819.
[First published, _Philadelphia Record_, December 28, 1891. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[109] [The MS. of the "Epilogue" is inscribed on the margin of a copy of
Wordsworth's _Peter Bell_, inserted in a set of Byron's _Works_
presented by George W. Childs to the Drexel Institute. (From information
kindly supplied by Mr. John H. Bewley, of Buffalo, New York. )
The first edition of _Peter Bell_ appeared early in 1819, and a second
edition followed in May, 1819. In Byron's Dedication of _Marino
Faliero_, "To Baron Goethe," dated October 20, 1820 (_Poetical Works_,
1891, iv. 341), the same allusions to Sir George Beaumont, to
Wordsworth's "place in the Excise," and to his admission that _Peter
Bell_ had been withheld "for one and twenty years," occur in an omitted
paragraph first published, _Letters_, 1891, v. 101. So close a
correspondence of an unpublished fragment with a genuine document leaves
little doubt as to the composition of the "Epilogue. "]
[110] [The missing line may be, "To _permanently_ fill a station," see
Preface to _Peter Bell_. ]
ON MY WEDDING-DAY.
HERE'S a happy New Year! but with reason
I beg you'll permit me to say--
Wish me _many_ returns of the _Season_,
But as _few_ as you please of the _Day_. [111]
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 294. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[111] [Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 156) prints an alternative--
"You may wish me returns of the season,
Let us, prithee, have none of the day! "]
EPITAPH FOR WILLIAM PITT.
WITH Death doomed to grapple,
Beneath this cold slab, he
Who lied in the Chapel
Now lies in the Abbey.
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 295. ]
EPIGRAM.
IN digging up your bones, Tom Paine,
Will. Cobbett[112] has done well:
You visit him on Earth again,
He'll visit you in Hell.
or--
You come to him on Earth again
He'll go with you to Hell!
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 295. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[112] [Cobbett, by way of atonement for youthful vituperation (he called
him "a ragamuffin deist") of Tom Paine, exhumed his bones from their
first resting-place at New Rochelle, and brought them to Liverpool on
his return to England in 1819. They were preserved by Cobbett at
Normanby, Farnham, till his death in 1835, but were sold in consequence
of his son's bankruptcy in 1836, and passed into the keeping of a Mr.
Tilly, who was known to be their fortunate possessor as late as 1844.
(See _Notes and Queries_, 1868, Series IV. vol. i. pp. 201-203. )]
EPITAPH.
POSTERITY will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this;
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop traveller, * *
_January_ 2, 1820.
[First published, _Lord Byron's Works_, 1833, xvii. 246. ]
EPIGRAM.
The world is a bundle of hay,
Mankind are the asses who pull;
Each tugs it a different way,--
And the greatest of all is John Bull!
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 494. ]
MY BOY HOBBIE O. [113]
New Song to the tune of
"_Whare hae ye been a' day,
My boy Tammy O. !
Courting o' a young thing
Just come frae her Mammie O. _"
1.
HOW came you in Hob's pound to cool,
My boy Hobbie O?
Because I bade the people pull
The House into the Lobby O.
2.
What did the House upon this call,
My boy Hobbie O?
They voted me to Newgate all,
Which is an awkward Jobby O.
