The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1 by Lord Byron, Edited by Rowland E. Prothero

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The portrait of Pomposus [2] was drawn at Harrow, after a _long
sitting_; this accounts for the resemblance, or rather the
_caricatura_. He is _your_ friend, he _never was mine_--for both our
sakes I shall be silent on this head. The _collegiate_ rhymes [3] are
not personal--one of the notes may appear so, but could not be
omitted. I have little doubt they will be deservedly abused--a just
punishment for my unfilial treatment of so excellent an Alma Mater. I
sent you no copy, lest _we_ should be placed in the situation of _Gil
Blas_ and the _Archbishop_ of Grenada; [4] though running some hazard
from the experiment, I wished your _verdict_ to be unbiassed. Had my
"_Libellus_" been presented previous to your letter, it would have
appeared a species of bribe to purchase compliment. I feel no
hesitation in saying, I was more anxious to hear your critique,
however severe, than the praises of the _million_. On the same day I
was honoured with the encomiums of _Mackenzie_, the celebrated author
of the _Man of Feeling_ [5] Whether _his_ approbation or _yours_
elated me most, I cannot decide.

You will receive my _Juvenilia_,--at least all yet published. I have a
large volume in manuscript, which may in part appear hereafter; at
present I have neither time nor inclination to prepare it for the
press. In the spring I shall return to Trinity, to dismantle my rooms,
and bid you a final adieu. The _Cam_ will not be much increased by my
_tears_ on the occasion. Your further remarks, however _caustic_ or
bitter, to a palate vitiated with the _sweets of adulation_, will be
of service. Johnson has shown us _that no poetry_ is perfect; but to
correct mine would be an Herculean labour. In fact I never looked
beyond the moment of composition, and published merely at the request
of my friends. Notwithstanding so much has been said concerning the
"Genus irritabile vatum," we shall never quarrel on the
subject--poetic fame is by no means the "acme" of my wishes.--Adieu.
Yours ever,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: William John Bankes, of Kingston Lacy, Dorsetshire, was
Byron's friend, possibly at Harrow, though his name does not occur in
the school lists, certainly at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1808).
He represented Truro from 1810 to 1812, when he left England on his
Eastern travels. At Philæ he discovered an obelisk, the geometrical
elevation and inscriptions of which he published in 1820. In Mesopotamia
he encountered John Silk Buckingham, whom he afterwards charged with
making use of his notes in his 'Travels', a statement, found to be
libellous, which (October 19, 1826) cost Bankes £400 in damages. He also
travelled with Giovanni Finati, a native of Ferrara, who, under the
assumed name of Mahomet, made the campaigns against the Wahabees for the
recovery of Mecca and Medina. Finati's Italian 'Narrative' was
translated by Bankes, to whom it is dedicated by his "attached and
faithful servant Hadjee Mahomet," and published in 1830. In 1822 Bankes
was elected M.P. for Cambridge University, but lost his seat to Sir J.
Copley in 1826. At a bye-election in 1827, he was again unsuccessful.
His candidature gave occasion to Macaulay's squib, which appeared in the
'Times' for May 14, 1827, 'A Country Clergyman's Trip to Cambridge'.

"A letter--and free--bring it here:
I have no correspondent who franks.
No! Yes! Can it be? Why, my dear,
'Tis our glorious, our Protestant Bankes.

'Dear Sir as I know your desire
That the Church should receive due protection,
I humbly presume to require
Your aid at the Cambridge election,'"etc., etc.

Bankes subsequently represented Marlborough (1829-1832) and Dorsetshire
(1833-1834). He was Byron's "collegiate pastor, and master and patron,"
"ruled the roast" at Trinity, "or, rather, the 'roasting', and was
father of all mischief" (Byron to Murray, October 12, 1820). "William
Bankes," Byron told Lady Blessington ('Conversations', p. 172), "is
another of my early friends. He is very clever, very original, and has
a fund of information: he is also very good-natured, but he is not much
of a flatterer." Bankes died at Venice in 1855.]

[Footnote 2: Dr. Butler, Head-master of Harrow. (See page 58 [Letter
22],[Foot]note 1.)]

[Footnote 3: "Thoughts suggested by a College Examination" ('Poems',
vol. i. pp. 28-31); and "Granta, A Medley" ('Poems', vol. i. pp. 56-62).]

[Footnote 4: Alluding to 'Gil Blas', bk. vii. chap, iv., where Gil Blas
ventures to criticize the Archbishop's work, and is dismissed for his
candour.

"Adieu, monsieur Gil Blas; Je vous souhaite toutes sortes de
prosperités, avec un peu plus de goût."]

[Footnote 5: The praise was worth having. Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831)
was not only the author of the lackadaisical 'Man of Feeling', but in
real life a shrewd, hard-headed man. As a novelist, he wrote 'The Man of
Feeling' (1771), 'The Man of Honour' (1773), and 'Julia de Roubigne'
(1777). As a playwright, he produced four plays, none of which
succeeded. As an essayist, he contributed to the 'Mirror' (1779-80) and
the 'Lounger' (1785-86). As a political writer, he supported Pitt, and
was rewarded by the comptrollership of taxes. An original member of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, many of his papers appear in its
'Transactions'. In Edinburgh society he was "the life of the company," a
connecting link on the literary side between David Hume, Walter Scott,
and Lord Cockburn, and in all matters of sport a fund of anecdotes and
reminiscences.]

68.--To William Bankes. [1]

For my own part, I have suffered severely in the decease of my two
greatest friends, the only beings I ever loved (females excepted); I
am therefore a solitary animal, miserable enough, and so perfectly a
citizen of the world, that whether I pass my days in Great Britain or
Kamschatka, is to me a matter of perfect indifference. I cannot evince
greater respect for your alteration than by immediately adopting
it--this shall be done in the next edition. I am sorry your remarks
are not more frequent, as I am certain they would be equally
beneficial. Since my last, I have received two critical opinions from
Edinburgh, both too flattering for me to detail. One is from Lord
Woodhouselee, [2] at the head of the Scotch literati, and a most
_voluminous_ writer (his last work is a _Life_ of Lord Kaimes); the
other from Mackenzie, who sent his decision a second time, more at
length. I am not personally acquainted with either of these gentlemen,
nor ever requested their sentiments on the subject: their praise is
voluntary, and transmitted through the medium of a friend, at whose
house they read the productions.

Contrary to my former intention, I am now preparing a volume for the
public at large: my amatory pieces will be exchanged, and others
substituted in their place. The whole will be considerably enlarged,
and appear the latter end of May. This is a hazardous experiment; but
want of better employment, the encouragement I have met with, and my
own vanity, induce me to stand the test, though not without _sundry
palpitations_. The book will circulate fast enough in this country
from mere curiosity; what I prin----...

[letter incomplete]

[Footnote 1: This fragment refers, like the previous letter, to Byron's
volume of verse, 'Poems on Various Occasions'.]

[Footnote 2: Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, one of the
Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland, and a friend of Robert
Burns. Besides the 'Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Hon. Henry
Home of Kames' (1807), he published 'Elements of General History'
(1801), 'Essay on the Principles of Translation', etc. He died in 1813.
His 'Universal History', in six vols., appeared in 1834.]

69.--To----Falkner. [1]

Sir,--The volume of little pieces which accompanies this, would have
been presented before, had I not been apprehensive that Miss Falkner's
indisposition might render some trifles unwelcome. There are some
errors of the printer which I have not had time to correct in the
collection: you have it thus, with "all its imperfections on its
head," a heavy weight, when joined with the faults of its author. Such
_Juvenilia_, as they can claim no great degree of approbation, I may
venture to hope, will also escape the severity of uncalled for, though
perhaps _not_ undeserved, criticism.

They were written on many and various occasions, and are now published
merely for the perusal of a friendly circle. Believe me, sir, if they
afford the slightest amusement to yourself and the rest of my _social_
readers, I shall have gathered all the _bays_ I ever wish to adorn the
head of yours very truly,

BYRON.

P.S.--I hope Miss F. is in a state of recovery.

[Footnote 1: Mrs. Byron's landlord at Burgage Manor.]

70.--To John Hanson.

[Farleigh House, Basingstoke, Hants.]

Southwell, April 2nd, 1807.

Dear Sir,--Before I proceed in Reply to the other parts of your
Epistle, allow me to congratulate you on the _Accession_ of _Dignity_
and _profit_, which will doubtless accrue, from your official
appointment.

You was fortunate in obtaining Possession at so critical a period;
your Patrons "exeunt omnes." [1] I trust they will soon supersede the
Cyphers, their successors. The Reestablishment of your Health is
another happy event, and, though _secondary_ in my _Statement_, is by
no means so in my _Wishes_. As to our Feuds, they are purely
_official_, the natural consequence of our relative Situations, but as
little connected with _personal animosity_, as the _Florid
Declamations_ of _parliamentary_ Demagogues. I return you my thanks
for your favorable opinion of my muse; I have lately been honoured
with many very flattering literary critiques, from men of high
Reputation in the Sciences, particularly Lord Woodhouselee and Henry
Mackenzie, both _Scots_ and of great Eminence as Authors themselves. I
have received also some most favorable Testimonies from _Cambridge_.
This you will _marvel_ at, as indeed I did myself. Encouraged by these
and several other Encomiums, I am about to publish a Volume at large;
this will be very different from the present; the amatory effusions,
not to be wondered at from the _dissipated_ Life I have led, will be
cut out, and others substituted. I coincide with you in opinion that
the _Poet_ yields to the _orator_; but as nothing can be done in the
latter capacity till the Expiration of my _Minority_, the former
occupies my present attention, and both _ancients_ and _moderns_ have
declared that the two pursuits are so nearly similar as to require in
a great measure the same Talents, and he who excels in the one, would
on application succeed in the other. Lyttleton, Glover, and Young (who
was a celebrated Preacher and a Bard) are instances of the kind.
_Sheridan & Fox_ also; _these_ are _great Names_. I may imitate, I can
never equal them.

You speak of the _Charms_ of Southwell; the _Place_ I _abhor_. The
Fact is I remain here because I can appear no where else, being
_completely done_ up. _Wine_ and _Women_ have _dished_ your _humble
Servant_, not a _Sou_ to be _had_; all _over_; condemned to exist (I
cannot say live) at this _Crater_ of Dullness till my _Lease_ of
_Infancy_ expires. To appear at Cambridge is impossible; no money even
to pay my College expences. You will be surprized to hear I am grown
_very thin_; however it is the _Fact_, so much so, that the people
here think I am _going_. I have lost 18 LB in my weight, that is one
Stone & 4 pounds since January, this was ascertained last Wednesday,
on account of a _Bet_ with an acquaintance. However don't be alarmed;
I have taken every means to accomplish the end, by violent exercise
and Fasting, as I found myself too plump. I shall continue my
Exertions, having no other amusement; I wear _seven_ Waistcoats and a
great Coat, run, and play at cricket in this Dress, till quite
exhausted by excessive perspiration, use the Hip Bath daily; eat only
a quarter of a pound of Butcher's Meat in 24 hours, no Suppers or
Breakfast, only one Meal a Day; drink no malt liquor, but a little
Wine, and take Physic occasionally. By these means my _Ribs_ display
Skin of no great Thickness, & my Clothes have been taken in nearly
_half a yard_. Do you believe me now?

Adieu. Remembrance to Spouse and the Acorns.

Yours ever,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: In March, 1807, George III demanded from the Coalition
Ministry a written pledge that they would propose no further concessions
to the Roman Catholics. They refused to give it, and the Tories, with
the Duke of Portland as their nominal head, were recalled to the
Government.]

71.--To John M. B. Pigot.

Southwell, April, 1807.

My Dear Pigot,--Allow me to congratulate you on the success of your
first examination--"_Courage_, mon ami." The title of Doctor will do
wonders with the damsels. I shall most probably be in Essex or London
when you arrive at this damned place, where I am detained by the
publication of my _rhymes_.

Adieu.--Believe me,

Yours very truly,

BYRON.

P.S.--Since we met, I have reduced myself by violent exercise, _much_
physic, and _hot_ bathing, from 14 stone 6 lb. to 12 stone 7 lb. In
all I have lost 27 pounds. [1] Bravo!--what say you?

[Footnote 1: The following extract is taken from a ledger in the
possession of Messrs. Merry, of St. James's Street, S.W.:--

"1806--January 4. Lord Byron (boots, no hat) 13 stone 12 lbs
1807--July 8. Lord Byron (shoes) 10 stone 13 lbs
1807--July 23. Lord Byron (shoes) 11 stone 0 lbs
1807--August 13. Lord Byron (shoes) 10 stone 11-1/2 lbs
1808--May 27. Lord Byron (shoes) 11 stone 1 lbs
1809--June 10. Lord Byron (shoes) 11 stone 5-3/4 lbs
1811--July 15. Lord Byron (shoes) 9 stone 11-1/2 lbs"]

72.--To John Hanson.

[6, Chancery Lane, Temple Bar, London.]

Southwell, 19 April, 1807.

Sir,--My last was an Epistle "_entre nous_;" _this_ is a _Letter_ of
_Business_, Of course the _formalities_ of _official communication_
must be attended to. From lying under pecuniary difficulties, I shall
draw for the Quarter due the 25th June, in a short Time. You will
recollect I was to receive £100 for the Expence of Furniture, etc., at
Cambridge. I placed in your possession accounts to amount and then I
have received £70, for which I believe you have my Receipt. This extra
£25 or £30 (though the Bills are long ago discharged from my own
purse) I should not have troubled you for, had not my present
Situation rendered even that Trifle of some Consequence. I have
therefore to request that my Draft for £150, instead of £125 the
simple Quarter, may be honoured, but think it necessary to apprize you
previous to its appearance, and indeed to request an early Answer, as
I had one Draft returned by Mistake from your _House_, some Months
past. I have no Inclination to be placed in a similar Dilemma.

I lent Mrs. B. _£60_ last year; of this I have never received a Sou and
in all probability never shall. I do not mention the circumstance as
any Reproach on that worthy and lamblike Dame, [1] but merely to show
you how affairs stand. 'Tis true myself and two Servants lodge in the
House, but my Horses, etc., and their expences are defrayed by your
humble Sert. I quit Cambridge in July, and shall have considerable
payments to make at that period; for this purpose I must sell my
_Steeds_. I paid Jones in January £150, £38 to my Stable Keeper, £21
to my wine Merchant, £20 to a _Lawyer_ for the prosecution of a
Scoundrel, a late Servant. In short I have done all I can, but am now
completely _done_ up.

Your answer will oblige

Yours, etc., etc.,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: Mrs. Byron, on the other hand, tells a different story.

"Lord Byron," she writes to Hanson (March 19, 1807), "has now been
with me seven months, with two Men Servants, for which I have never
received one farthing, as he requires the five hundred a year for
himself. Therefore it is impossible I can keep him and them out of my
small income of four hundred a year,--two in Scotland [Mrs. Gordon of
Gight (see Chapter I. p. 4) was dead], and the pension is now reduced
to two hundred a year. But if the Court allows the additional two
hundred, I shall be perfectly satisfied.

"I do not know what to say about Byron's returning to Cambridge. When
he was there, I believe he did nothing but drink, gamble, and spend
money."

A month later (April 29, 1807), she consults Hanson about raising £1000
by a loan from Mrs. Parkyns on her security.

"Byron from their last letter gave up all hopes of getting the money,
and behaved very well on the occasion, and proposed selling his Horses
and plans of OEconomy that I much fear will be laid aside if the Money
is procured. My only motive for wishing it was to keep him clear of
the Jews; but at present he does not seem at all disposed to have
anything to do with them, even if he is disappointed in this resource.
I wish to act for the best: but God knows what is for the best."

Eventually money was provided on Mrs. Byron's security (see Letters of
March 6 [Letter 117] and April 26 [Letter 121], 1809), and he resided at
Trinity for a few days at the end of the May term, 1807.

73.--To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot.

June 11, 1807.

Dear Queen Bess,--_Savage_ ought to be _immortal_:--though not a
_thorough-bred bull-dog_, he is the finest puppy I ever _saw_, and
will answer much better; in his great and manifold kindness he has
already bitten my fingers, and disturbed the _gravity_ of old
Boatswain, who is _grievously discomposed_. I wish to be informed what
he _costs_, his _expenses_, etc., etc., that I may indemnify Mr.
G----. My thanks are _all_ I can give for the trouble he has taken,
make a _long speech_, and conclude it with 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. [1] I am out
of practice, so _deputize_ you as a legate,--_ambassador_ would not do
in a matter concerning the _Pope_, which I presume this must, as the
_whole_ turns upon a _Bull_.

Yours,

BYRON.

P.S.--I write in bed.

[Footnote 1: He here alludes to an odd fancy or trick of his own;
--whenever he was at a loss for something to say, he used always to
gabble over "1 2 3 4 5 6 7" (Moore).]

74.--To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot.

Cambridge, June 30, 1807.

"Better late than never, Pal," [1] is a saying of which you know the
origin, and as it is applicable on the present occasion, you will
excuse its conspicuous place in the front of my epistle. I am almost
superannuated here. My old friends (with the exception of a very few)
all departed, and I am preparing to follow them, but remain till
Monday to be present at three _Oratorios_, two _Concerts_, a _Fair_,
and a Ball. I find I am not only _thinner_ but _taller_ by an inch
since my last visit. I was obliged to tell every body my _name_,
nobody having the least recollection of my _visage_, or person. Even
the hero of _my Cornelian_ [2] (who is now sitting _vis-à-vis_ reading
a volume of my _Poetics_) passed me in Trinity walks without
recognising me in the least, and was thunderstruck at the alteration
which had taken place in my countenance, etc., etc. Some say I look
_better_, others _worse_, but all agree I am _thinner_,--more I do not
require. I have lost two pounds in my weight since I left your
_cursed_, _detestable_, and _abhorred_ abode of _scandal_, where,
excepting yourself and John Becher, [3] I care not if the whole race
were consigned to the _Pit of Acheron_, which I would visit in person
rather than contaminate my _sandals_ with the polluted dust of
Southwell. _Seriously_, unless obliged by the _emptiness_ of my purse
to revisit Mrs. B., you will see me no more.

On Monday I depart for London. I quit Cambridge with little regret,
because our _set_ are _vanished_, and my _musical protégé_ before
mentioned has left the choir, and is stationed in a mercantile house
of considerable eminence in the metropolis. You may have heard me
observe he is exactly to an hour two years younger than myself. I
found him grown considerably, and as you will suppose, very glad to
see his former _Patron_. He is nearly my height, very _thin_, very
fair complexion, dark eyes, and light locks. My opinion of his mind
you already know;--I hope I shall never have occasion to change it.
Every body here conceives me to be an _invalid_. The University at
present is very gay from the fètes of divers kinds. I supped out last
night, but eat (or ate) nothing, sipped a bottle of claret, went to
bed at two, and rose at eight. I have commenced early rising, and find
it agrees with me. The Masters and the Fellows all very _polite_, but
look a little _askance_--don't much admire _lampoons_ [4]--truth
always disagreeable.

Write, and tell me how the inhabitants of your _Menagerie_ go _on_,
and if my publication goes _off_ well: do the quadrupeds _growl_?
Apropos, my bull-dog is deceased--"Flesh both of cur and man is
grass." Address your answer to Cambridge. If I am gone, it will be
forwarded. Sad news just arrived--Russians beat [5]--a bad set, eat
nothing but _oil_, consequently must melt before a _hard fire_. I get
awkward in my academic habiliments for want of practice. Got up in a
window to hear the oratorio at St. Mary's, popped down in the middle
of the _Messiah_, tore a _woeful_ rent in the back of my best black
silk gown, and damaged an egregious pair of breeches. Mem.--never
tumble from a church window during service. Adieu, dear----! do
not remember me to any body:--to _forget_ and be forgotten by the
people of Southwell is all I aspire to.

[Footnote 1: The allusion is to the farce _Better Late than Never_
(attributed to Miles Peter Andrews, but really, according to Reynolds
(_Life_, vol. ii. pp. 79, 80), by himself, Topham, and Andrews), in
which Pallet, an artist, is a prominent character. It was played at
Drury Lane for the first time October 17, 1790, with Kemble as "Saville"
and Mrs. Jordan as "Augusta."]

[Footnote 2: "The hero of _my Cornelian_" was a Cambridge chorister
named Edleston, whose life, as Harness has recorded in a MS. note, Byron
saved from drowning. This began their acquaintance. (See Byron's lines
on "The Cornelian," _Poems_, vol. i. 66-67.) Edleston died of
consumption in May, 1811. Byron, writing to Mrs. Pigot, gives the
following account of his death:--

"Cambridge, Oct. 28, 1811.

Dear Madam,--I am about to write to you on a silly subject, and yet I
cannot well do otherwise. You may remember a _cornelian_, which some
years ago I consigned to Miss Pigot, indeed _gave_ to her, and now I
am going to make the most selfish and rude of requests. The person who
gave it to me, when I was very young, is _dead_, and though a long
time has elapsed since we met, as it was the only memorial I possessed
of that person (in whom I was very much interested), it has acquired a
value by this event I could have wished it never to have borne in my
eyes. If, therefore, Miss Pigot should have preserved it, I must,
under these circumstances, beg her to excuse my requesting it to be
transmitted to me at No. 8, St. James's Street, London, and I will
replace it by something she may remember me by equally well. As she
was always so kind as to feel interested in the fate of him that
formed the subject of our conversation, you may tell her that the
giver of that cornelian died in May last of a consumption, at the age
of twenty-one, making the sixth, within four months, of friends and
relatives that I have lost between May and the end of August.

"Believe me, dear Madam, yours very sincerely,

"BYRON.

"P.S.--I go to London to-morrow."

The cornelian heart was, of course, returned, and Lord Byron, at the
same time, reminded that he had left it with Miss Pigot as a deposit,
_not_ a gift (Moore).]

[Footnote 3: See page 182 [Letter 94], [Foot]note 1 [2].]

[Footnote 4: See "Thoughts suggested by a College Examination" (_Poems_,
vol. i. pp. 28-31), also "Granta: a Medley" (_Poems_, vol. i. pp.
56-62).]

[Footnote 5: The Battle of Friedland, June 15, 1807. This is almost the
first allusion that Byron makes to the war.]

75.--To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot.

Trin. Coll. Camb. July 5, 1807.

Since my last letter I have determined to reside _another year_ at
Granta, as my rooms, etc., etc., are finished in great style, several
old friends come up again, and many new acquaintances made;
consequently my inclination leads me forward, and I shall return to
college in October if still _alive_. My life here has been one
continued routine of dissipation--out at different places every day,
engaged to more dinners, etc., etc., than my _stay_ would permit me to
fulfil. At this moment I write with a bottle of claret in my _head_
and _tears_ in my _eyes_; for I have just parted with my "_Cornelian_"
who spent the evening with me. As it was our last interview, I
postponed my engagement to devote the hours of the _Sabbath_ to
friendship:--Edleston and I have separated for the present, and my
mind is a chaos of hope and sorrow. To-morrow I set out for London:
you will address your answer to "Gordon's Hotel, Albemarle Street,"
where I _sojourn_ during my visit to the metropolis.

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