Chapter LXXV: Letter 468: To Mr. Moore

"Pisa, November 16. 1821.

"There is here Mr. * *, an Irish genius, with whom we are
acquainted. He hath written a really _excellent_ Commentary on
Dante, full of new and true information, and much ingenuity. But
his verse is such as it hath pleased God to endue him withal.
Nevertheless, he is so firmly persuaded of its equal excellence,
that he won't divorce the Commentary from the traduction, as I
ventured delicately to hint,--not having the fear of Ireland before
my eyes, and upon the presumption of having shotten very well in
his presence (with common pistols too, not with my Manton's) the
day before.

"But he is eager to publish all, and must be gratified, though the
Reviewers will make him suffer more tortures than there are in his
original. Indeed, the _Notes_ are well worth publication; but he
insists upon the translation for company, so that they will come
out together, like Lady C * *t chaperoning Miss * *. I read a
letter of yours to him yesterday, and he begs me to write to you
about his Poeshie. He is really a good fellow, apparently, and I
dare say that his verse is very good Irish.

"Now, what shall we do for him? He says that he will risk part of
the expense with the publisher. He will never rest till he is
published and abused--for he has a high opinion of himself--and I
see nothing left but to gratify him, so as to have him abused as
little as possible; for I think it would kill him. You must write,
then, to Jeffrey to beg him _not_ to review him, and I will do the
same to Gifford, through Murray. Perhaps they might notice the
Comment without touching the text. But I doubt the dogs--the text
is too tempting. * *

"I have to thank you again, as I believe I did before, for your
opinion of 'Cain,' &c.

"You are right to allow ---- to settle the claim; but I do not see
why you should repay him out of your _legacy_--at least, not
yet.[68] If you _feel_ about it (as you are ticklish on such
points) pay him the interest now, and the principal when you are
strong in cash; or pay him by instalments; or pay him as I do my
creditors--that is, not till they make me.

"I address this to you at Paris, as you desire. Reply soon, and
believe me ever, &c.

"P.S. What I wrote to you about low spirits is, however, very true.
At present, owing to the climate, &c. (I can walk down into my
garden, and pluck my own oranges,--and, by the way, have got a
diarrhoea in consequence of indulging in this meridian luxury of
proprietorship,) my spirits are much better. You seem to think that
I could not have written the 'Vision,' &c. under the influence of
low spirits; but I think there you err.[69] A man's poetry is a
distinct faculty, or Soul, and has no more to do with the every-day
individual than the Inspiration with the Pythoness when removed
from her tripod."

[Footnote 68: Having discovered that, while I was abroad, a kind friend had, without any communication with myself, placed at the disposal of the person who acted for me a large sum for the discharge of this claim, I thought it right to allow the money, thus generously destined, to be employed as was intended, and then immediately repaid my friend out of the sum given by Mr. Murray for the manuscript.

It may seem obtrusive, I fear, to enter into this sort of personal details; but, without some few words of explanation, such passages as the above would be unintelligible.]

[Footnote 69: My remark had been hasty and inconsiderate, and Lord Byron's is the view borne out by all experience. Almost all the tragic and gloomy writers have been, in social life, mirthful persons. The author of the Night Thoughts was a "fellow of infinite jest;" and of the pathetic Rowe, Pope says--"He would laugh all day long--he would do nothing else but laugh."]

* * * * *

The correspondence which I am now about to insert, though long since published by the gentleman with whom it originated[70], will, I have no doubt, even by those already acquainted with all the circumstances, be reperused with pleasure; as, among the many strange and affecting incidents with which these pages abound, there is not one, perhaps, so touching and singular as that to which the following letters refer.

TO LORD BYRON.

"Frome, Somerset, November 21. 1821.

"My Lord,

"More than two years since, a lovely and beloved wife was taken
from me, by lingering disease, after a very short union. She
possessed unvarying gentleness and fortitude, and a piety so
retiring as rarely to disclose itself in words, but so influential
as to produce uniform benevolence of conduct. In the last hour of
life, after a farewell look on a lately born and only infant, for
whom she had evinced inexpressible affection, her last whispers
were 'God's happiness! God's happiness!' Since the second
anniversary of her decease, I have read some papers which no one
had seen during her life, and which contain her most secret
thoughts. I am induced to communicate to your Lordship a passage
from these papers, which, there is no doubt, refers to yourself; as
I have more than once heard the writer mention your agility on the
rocks at Hastings.

"'Oh, my God, I take encouragement from the assurance of thy word,
to pray to Thee in behalf of one for whom I have lately been much
interested. May the person to whom I allude (and who is now, we
fear, as much distinguished for his neglect of Thee as for the
transcendant talents thou hast bestowed on him) be awakened to a
sense of his own danger, and led to seek that peace of mind in a
proper sense of religion, which he has found this world's
enjoyments unable to procure! Do Thou grant that his future example
may be productive of far more extensive benefit than his past
conduct and writings have been of evil; and may the Sun of
righteousness, which, we trust, will, at some future period, arise
on him, be bright in proportion to the darkness of those clouds
which guilt has raised around him, and the balm which it bestows,
healing and soothing in proportion to the keenness of that agony
which the punishment of his vices has inflicted on him! May the
hope that the sincerity of my own efforts for the attainment of
holiness, and the approval of my own love to the great Author of
religion, will render this prayer, and every other for the welfare
of mankind, more efficacious!--Cheer me in the path of duty;--but,
let me not forget, that, while we are permitted to animate
ourselves to exertion by every innocent motive, these are but the
lesser streams which may serve to increase the current, but which,
deprived of the grand fountain of good, (a deep conviction of
inborn sin, and firm belief in the efficacy of Christ's death for
the salvation of those who trust in him, and really wish to serve
him,) would soon dry up, and leave us barren of every virtue as
before.

"'July 31. 1814--Hastings.'

"There is nothing, my Lord, in this extract which, in a literary
sense, can _at all_ interest you; but it may, perhaps, appear to
you worthy of reflection how deep and expansive a concern for the
happiness of others the Christian faith can awaken in the midst of
youth and prosperity. Here is nothing poetical and splendid, as in
the expostulatory homage of M. Delamartine; but here is the
_sublime_, my Lord; for this intercession was offered, on your
account, to the supreme _Source_ of happiness. It sprang from a
faith more confirmed than that of the French poet: and from a
charity which, in combination with faith, showed its power
unimpaired amidst the languors and pains of approaching
dissolution. I will hope that a prayer, which, I am sure, was
deeply sincere, may not be always unavailing.

"It would add _nothing_, my Lord, to the fame with which your
genius has surrounded you, for an unknown and obscure individual to
express his admiration of it. I had rather be numbered with those
who wish and pray, that 'wisdom from above,' and 'peace,' and 'joy,'
may enter such a mind.

"JOHN SHEPPARD."

[Footnote 70: See "Thoughts on Private Devotion," by Mr. Sheppard.]

* * * * *

However romantic, in the eyes of the cold and worldly, the piety of this young person may appear, it were to be wished that the truly Christian feeling which dictated her prayer were more common among all who profess the same creed; and that those indications of a better nature, so visible even through the clouds of his character, which induced this innocent young woman to pray for Byron, while living, could have the effect of inspiring others with more charity towards his memory, now that he is dead.

The following is Lord Byron's answer to this affecting communication.