return to footnote mark
cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 231
Список писем
Contents
243 — Джону Мюррею
Dear Sir E.R. bays and wicked rhyme upon't
Send Rokeby 1 What me mine 2 when complete—no no
Byron
last Jeremy Diddler 3 Diet and Regimen 4
Footnote 1: Rokeby "To have kept his ground at the crisis when Rokeby appeared," he writes, "its author ought to have put forth his utmost strength, and to have possessed all his original advantages, for a mighty and unexpected rival was advancing on the stage—a rival not in poetical powers only, but in that art of attracting popularity, in which the present writer had hitherto preceded better men than himself. The reader will easily see that Byron is here meant, who, after a little velitation of no great promise, now appeared as a serious candidate, in the first two cantos of Childe Harold."
Rokeby Lay Marmion Twopenny Post-bag Rokeby
"Should you feel any touch of poetical glow,
We've a Scheme to suggest—Mr. Sc—tt, you must know,
(Who, we're sorry to say it, now works for the Row)
Having quitted the Borders, to seek new renown,
Is coming by long Quarto stages, to Town;
And beginning with Rokeby (the job's sure to pay)
Means to do all the Gentlemen's Seats on the way.
Now the Scheme is (though none of our hackneys can beat him)
To start a fresh Poet through Highgate to meet him;
Who, by means of quick proofs—no revises—long coaches—
May do a few Villas before Sc—tt approaches—
Indeed, if our Pegasus be not curst shabby,
He'll reach, without found'ring, at least Woburn Abbey."
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: The Giaour
return
Footnote 3: Raising the Wind
Diddler O Sam, you haven't got such a thing as tenpence about you, have you?
Sam Yes. And I mean to keep it about me, you see.
Diddler Oh, aye, certainly. I only asked for information.
return
Footnote 4: An Essay on Diet and Regimen, as indispensable to the Recovery and Preservation of Firm Health, especially to Indolent, Studious, Delicate and Invalid; with appropriate cases
return
Список писем
Contents
244 — лорду Холланду
The were 1
either 2
unless 3 His 4 Courier
So 5 "By the waters of Cheltenham I sat down and drank, when I remembered thee, oh Georgiana Cottage! As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the willows that grew thereby. Then they said, Sing us a song of Drury Lane," etc.;
were
Byron
Footnote 1: "Rebuilding of Drury-Lane Theatre.
"The Committee are desirous of promoting a fair and free competition for an Address, to be spoken upon the opening of the Theatre, which will take place on the 10th of October next: They have therefore thought fit to announce to the Public, that they will be glad to receive any such Compositions, addressed to their Secretary at the Treasury Office in Drury Lane, on or before the 10th of September, sealed up, with a distinguishing word, number, or motto, on the cover, corresponding with the inscription, on a separate sealed paper, containing the name of the Author, which will not be opened, unless containing the name of the successful Candidate. Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane, August 13, 1812.
Owing to an accidental delay in the publication of the above Advertisement, the Committee have thought proper to extend the time for receiving Addresses, from the last day of August to the 10th of September."
Address Addresses Address
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: "The public were more importantly employed, than to observe the easy simplicity of my style, or the harmony of my periods. Sheet after sheet was thrown off to oblivion. My essays were buried among the essays upon liberty, Eastern tales, and cures for the bite of a mad dog."
Vicar of Wakefield
return
Footnote 3: Letters note
return
Footnote 4: All the World's a Stage
return
Footnote 5: Helvellyn "I climb'd the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn," etc., etc.
return
Список писем
Contents
245 — Джону Мюррею
Dear Sir The convertible Christian Knowledge Bioscope 1 Bioscope Bioscope
So 2 you his Morning Post
Diet and Regimen Rokeby The
Anti-Jacobin Review 3 Quarterly old age
Byron
Address would 4 my Honour!
Footnote 1: The Bioscope, or Dial of Life Explained Christian's Survey of all the Primary Events and Periods of the World
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: Charlemagne, ou l'Église délivrée
return
Footnote 3: The Anti-Jacobin Review Childe Harold Quarterly
return
Footnote 4: Anecdotes Lives of the Poets
return
Список писем
Contents
246 — лорду Холланду
you
my name secret
Список писем
Contents
247 — лорду Холланду
double cut—add—reject destroy non committendo What they 1
good deliverer think 2 3 4
deliverer versicles
Footnote 1: The Genuine Rejected Addresses presented to the Committee of Management for Drury Lane Theatre; preceded by that written by Lord Byron and adopted by the Committee
Address Address without a Phœnix Rejected Addresses
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: English Stage Richard III Marino Faliero The Jew Essays of Elia
return
Footnote 3: gourmand
return
Footnote 4: Hamlet
return
Список писем
Contents
248 — лорду Холланду
This greeting o'er, the ancient rule obey'd,
The drama's homage by her Herald paid,
Receive our welcome too, whose every tone
Springs from our hearts, and fain would win your own.
The curtain rises, etc., etc.
genteelest
Список писем
Contents
249 — лорду Холланду
Still 1 After Thames 2 Annus Mirabilis 3 Times As flashing far the new Volcano shone
And swept the skies with {lightnings}/{meteors} not their own,
While thousands throng'd around the burning dome,
Etc., etc.
but Bedlam metaphors 4
please yourself 5 As flash'd the volumed blaze, and {sadly}/{ghastly} shone
The skies with lightnings awful as their own.
runs better best
Footnote 1: Twelfth Night
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: Annus Mirabilis "A key of fire ran all along the shore,
And lightened all the river with a blaze;
The wakened tides began again to roar,
And wondering fish in shining waters gaze."
return
Footnote 3: Times "Bidding in one grand pile this Town expire,
Her towers in dust, her Thames a Lake of fire."
return
Footnote 4: The Rival Queens "When Greek join'd Greek then was the tug of war."
Œdipus The Duke of Guise
return
Footnote 5: The Critic "He is as envious as an old maid verging on the desperation of six and thirty; and then the insidious humility with which he seduces you to give a free opinion on any of his works can be exceeded only by the petulant arrogance with which he is sure to reject your observations."
return
Список писем
Contents
250 — лорду Холланду
Ye who beheld—oh sight admired and mourn'd,
Whose radiance mock'd the ruin it adorn'd;
you you
When Garrick died, and Brinsley ceased to write.
Ceasing live 1
Childe Harold
After Address 2
that
There Cato 3 4
These The Distrest Mother 5 6 Philaster 7
Footnote 1: "Such are the names that here your plaudits sought,
When Garrick acted, and when Brinsley wrote."
"Dear are the days that made our annals bright,
Ere Garrick fled, or Brinsley ceased to write."
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: "I am almost ashamed," writes Lord Holland to Rogers, October 22, 1812 (Clayden's Rogers and his Contemporaries, vol. i. p. 115), "of having induced Lord Byron to write on so ungrateful a theme (ungrateful in all senses) as the opening of a theatre; he was so good-humoured, took so much pains, corrected so good-humouredly, and produced, as I thought and think, a prologue so superior to the common run of that sort of trumpery, that it is quite vexatious to see him attacked for it. Some part of it is a little too much laboured, and the whole too long; but surely it is good and poetical.... You cannot imagine how I grew to like Lord Byron in my critical intercourse with him, and how much I am convinced that your friendship and judgment have contributed to improve both his understanding and his happiness."
return
Footnote 3: Cato
return
Footnote 4: The Merchant of Venice English Stage Comus Good-Natured Man A Word to the Wise
return
Footnote 5: The Distrest Mother English Stage
return
Footnote 6: Life, etc The Sister
return
Footnote 7: Philaster
return
Список писем
Contents
251 — лорду Холланду
believe col' permesso 1 However 2
Byron
Footnote 1: "Immortal names emblazon'd on our line."
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
return
Список писем
Contents
252 — лорду Холланду
with As glared each rising flash1, and ghastly shone
The skies with lightnings awful as their own.
With 2 Address quicker brick Adorn Death of the Unfortunate Lady Tears of Scotland 3
Footnote 1: "As glared the volumed blaze."
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: Journal "Mr. Whitbread was a more steady character; his appearance was heavy; he was fond of agriculture, and was very plain and simple in his tastes. Both were reckoned good debaters in the House, but Grey was the most eloquent."
Anecdotal History of the British Parliament "I'm like Archimedes for science and skill;
I'm like a young prince going straight up a hill;
I'm like—(with respect to the fair be it said)—
I'm like a young lady just bringing to bed.
If you ask why the 11th of June I remember
Much better than April, or May, or November,
On that day, my lords, with truth I assure ye,
My sainted progenitor set up his brewery;
On that day, in the morn, he began brewing beer;
On that day, too, commenced his connubial career;]
On that day he received and he issued his bills;
On that day he cleared out all the cash from his tills;
On that day he died, having finished his summing,
And the angels all cried, 'Here's old Whitbread a-coming!'
So that day still I hail with a smile and a sigh,
For his beer with an E, and his bier with an I;
And still on that day, in the hottest of weather,
The whole Whitbread family dine all together.—
So long as the beams of this house shall support
The roof which o'ershades this respectable Court,
Where Hastings was tried for oppressing the Hindoos;
So long as that sun shall shine in at those windows,
My name shall shine bright as my ancestor's shines,
Mine recorded in journals, his blazoned on signs!"
Reminiscences The Happy Return Fatal Duplicity Accepted Addresses "My Lord,—
"As I now have the honour to be
By Man'ging a Playhouse a double M.P.,
In this my address I think fit to complain
Of certain encroachments on great Drury Lane," etc., etc.
Journal
return
Footnote 3: "By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn'd,
By strangers honour'd, and by strangers mourn'd."
"Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn,
Leave me unbless'd, unpitied, here to mourn."
"Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn
Thy banish'd peace, thy laurels torn."
return
Список писем
Contents
253 — Джону Мюррею
Address confidential subsequent me has
Childe Harold
Byron
before
after delivery
Список писем
Contents
254 — лорду Холланду
Till slowly ebb'd the {lava of the}/{spent volcanic} wave,
And blackening ashes mark'd the Muse's grave.
Whitbread cavalry 1 don't 2
Will Till ebb'd the lava of {the burning}/{that molten} wave3
Exodus This is the place where, if a poet
Shined in description, he might show it.
Yes, it shall be—the magic of that name,
That scorns the scythe of Time, the torch of Flame,
On the same spot, etc., etc.
Address
Footnote 1: "Nay, lower still, the Drama yet deplores
That late she deigned to crawl upon all-fours.
When Richard roars in Bosworth for a horse,
If you command, the steed must come in course.
If you decree, the Stage must condescend
To soothe the sickly taste we dare not mend.
Blame not our judgment should we acquiesce,
And gratify you more by showing less.
Oh, since your Fiat stamps the Drama's laws,
Forbear to mock us with misplaced applause;
That public praise be ne'er again disgraced,
From {brutes to man recall}/{babes and brutes redeem} a nation's taste;
Then pride shall doubly nerve the actor's powers,
When Reason's voice is echoed back by ours."
"The past reproach let present scenes refute,
Nor shift from man to babe, from babe to brute."
Bluebeard Lucri bonus est odor ex re Qualibet Sat Timour the Tartar English Stage The Quadrupeds of Quedlinburgh Timour the Tartar "Your taste, recover'd half from foreign quacks,
Takes airings, now, on English horses' backs;
While every modern bard may raise his name,
If not on lasting praise, on stable fame."
Quadrupeds, or the Manager's Last Kick
return to footnote mark
cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of Letter 255
Footnote 2: Prologue "Then crush'd by rules, and weaken'd as refined,
For years the power of Tragedy declined;
From bard to bard the frigid caution crept,
Till Declamation roared, whilst Passion slept.
Yet still did Virtue deign the stage to tread,
Philosophy remained though Nature fled.
But forced, at length, her ancient reign to quit,
She saw great Faustus lay the ghost of Wit;
Exulting Folly hailed the joyous Day,
And Pantomime and Song confirmed her sway.
But who the coming changes can presage,
And mark the future periods of the Stage?
Perhaps if skill could distant times explore,
New Behns, new Durfeys, yet remain in store;
Perhaps, where Lear has raved, and Hamlet died,
On flying cars new sorcerers may ride;
Perhaps (for who can guess th' effects of chance?)
Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet may dance."
The Beggar's Opera rich gay Harlequin Dr. Faustus The Necromancer, or the History of Dr. Faustus
return
cross-reference: return to Footnote 3 of Letter 255
Footnote 3: "Till blackening ashes and lonely wall
Usurp'd the Muse's realm, and mark'd her fall."
return
Список писем
Contents
255 — лорду Холланду
middle do 1 now Address approved They 2
Address chasms
I he
non sequitur Many same company Stable 3
Footnote 1: For note Morning Post The Country Girl Morning Post "Ladies and gentlemen,—I know nothing I have done to offend you, and has set (sic) those who are sent here to hiss me; I will be very much obliged to you to turn them out."
"Child! Why, sir, when I was a very young actor in the York Company, that little creature kept an inn at Tadcaster, and had a large family"
Representative Actors note Morning Post "though deservedly discountenanced at a great theatre, she will, no doubt, prove an acquisition to the infant establishment"
Dawn of the XIXth Century in England
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: Macbeth
return
Footnote 3: For note Prologue Poestical Works
return
Список писем
Contents
256 — Уильяму Бэнксу
My Dear Bankes wittingly old now
You 1 In 2 dolce far niente We 3 4 5 6
Did 7 lost
had When 8 ought
Footnote 1:
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2: note Detached Thoughts "In 1812 at Middelton (Lord Jersey's), amongst a goodly company of Lords, Ladies, and wits, etc., there was poor old Vice Leach, the lawyer, attempting to play off the fine gentleman. His first exhibition, an attempt on horseback, I think, to escort the women—God knows where—in the month of November, ended in a fit of the Lumbago—as Lord Ogleby says, 'a grievous enemy to Gallantry and address'—and if he could have but heard Lady Jersey quizzing him (as I did) next day for the cause of his malady, I don't think that he would have turned a 'Squire of dames' in a hurry again. He seemed to me the greatest fool (in that line) I ever saw. This was the last I saw of old Vice Leach, except in town, where he was creeping into assemblies, and trying to look young—and gentlemanly.
Erskine too!—Erskine was there—good but intolerable. He jested, he talked, he did everything admirably, but then he would be applauded for the same thing twice over. He would read his own verses, his own paragraphs, and tell his own story again and again; and then 'the trial by Jury!!!'—I almost wished it abolished, for I sate next him at dinner, and, as I had read his published speeches, there was no occasion to repeat them to me. Chester (the fox-hunter), surnamed 'Cheek Chester,' and I sweated the Claret, being the only two who did so. Cheek, who loves his bottle, and had no notion of meeting with a 'bonvivant' in a scribbler, in making my eulogy to somebody one evening, summed it up in 'by G-d, he drinks like a Man!'"
return
Footnote 3: "On Tuesday," he says, "I supped, after the opera, at Mrs. Meynel's with a set of the most fashionable company, which, take notice, I very seldom do now, as I certainly am not of the age to mix often with young people. Lady Melbourne was standing before the fire, and adjusting her feathers in the glass. Says she, 'Lord, they say the stocks will blow up! That will be very comical.'"
Memoirs Maternal Affection "Ah! my mother was a most remarkable woman; not merely clever and engaging, but the most sagacious woman I ever knew"
Memoirs of Viscount Melbourne "the best, the kindest, and ablest female I have ever known, old or young,"
Conversations "Lady M., who might have been my mother, excited an interest in my feelings that few young women have been able to awaken. She was a charming person—a sort of modern Aspasia, uniting the energy of a man's mind with the delicacy and tenderness of a woman's. She wrote and spoke admirably, because she felt admirably. Envy, malice, hatred, or uncharitableness, found no place in her feelings. She had all of philosophy, save its moroseness, and all of nature, save its defects and general faiblesse; or if some portion of faiblesse attached to her, it only served to render her more forbearing to the errors of others. I have often thought, that, with a little more youth, Lady M. might have turned my head, at all events she often turned my heart, by bringing me back to mild feelings, when the demon passion was strong within me. Her mind and heart were as fresh as if only sixteen summers had flown over her, instead of four times that number."
return
Footnote 4:
return
Footnote 5:
return
Footnote 6: Conversations "Even now the autumnal charms of Lady —— are remembered by me with more than admiration. She resembled a landscape by Claude Lorraine, with a setting sun, her beauties enhanced by the knowledge that they were shedding their last dying beams, which threw a radiance around. A woman... is only grateful for her first and last conquest. The first of poor dear Lady ——'s was achieved before I entered on this world of care; but the last, I do flatter myself, was reserved for me, and a bonne bouche it was."
"There was a lady at that time," said Byron (Medwin's Conversations, pp. 93, 94), "double my own age, the mother of several children who were perfect angels, with whom I had formed a liaison that continued without interruption for eight months. The autumn of a beauty like her's is preferable to the spring in others. She told me she was never in love till she was thirty; and I thought myself so with her when she was forty. I never felt a stronger passion; which she returned with equal ardour.... She had been sacrificed, almost before she was a woman, to one whose mind and body were equally contemptible in the scale of creation; and on whom she bestowed a numerous family, to which the law gave him the right to be called father. Strange as it may seem, she gained (as all women do) an influence over me so strong, that I had great difficulty in breaking with her, even when I knew she had been inconstant to me: and once was on the point of going abroad with her, and narrowly escaped this folly."