Chapter III (2)

"I have had a very dismal letter from my son, informing me that he is
_ruined_. He wishes to borrow my money. This I shall be very ready to
oblige him in, on such security as you approve. As it is my _all_,
this is very necessary, and I am sure he would not wish to have it on
any other terms. It cannot be paid up, however, under six months'
notice. I wish he would take the debt of a thousand pounds, that I
have been security for, on himself, and pay about eighty pounds he
owes here.

I wish to God he would exert himself and retrieve his affairs. He
must marry a Woman of _fortune_ this spring; love matches is all
nonsense. Let him make use of the Talents God has given him. He is an
English Peer, and has all the privileges of that situation. What is
this about proving his grandfather's marriage? I thought it had been
in Lancashire. If it was not, it surely easily can be proved. Is
nothing going forward concerning the Rochdale Property? I am sure, if
I was Lord Byron, I would sell no estates to pay Jews; I only would
pay what was lawful. Pray answer the note immediately, and answer all
my questions concerning lending the money, the Rochdale property, and
why B. don't or can't take his seat, which is very hard, and very
provoking.

I am, Dear Sir, yours sincerely,

C. G. BYRON."]

108.--To Francis Hodgson.

Newstead Abbey, Notts., Dec. 17, 1808.

My Dear Hodgson,--I have just received your letter, and one from B.
Drury, [1] which I would send, were it not too bulky to despatch
within a sheet of paper; but I must impart the contents and consign
the answer to your care. In the first place, I cannot address the
answer to him, because the epistle is without date or direction; and
in the next, the contents are so singular that I can scarce believe my
optics, "which are made the fools of the other senses, or else worth
all the rest."

A few weeks ago, I wrote to our friend Harry Drury of facetious
memory, to request he would prevail on his brother at Eton to receive
the son of a citizen in London well known unto me as a pupil; the
family having been particularly polite during the short time I was
with them, induced me to this application. "Now mark what follows," as
somebody or Southey sublimely saith: on this day, the 17th December,
arrives an epistle signed B. Drury, containing not the smallest
reference to tuition or _in_tuition, but a _petition_ for _Robert
Gregson_, [2] of pugilistic notoriety, now in bondage for certain
paltry pounds sterling, and liable to take up his everlasting abode in
Banco Regis. Had this letter been from any of my _lay_ acquaintance,
or, in short, from anyone but the gentleman whose signature it bears,
I should have marvelled not. If Drury is serious, I congratulate
pugilism on the acquisition of such a patron, and shall be happy to
advance any sum necessary for the liberation of the captive Gregson;
but I certainly hope to be certified from you or some reputable
housekeeper of the fact, before I write to Drury on the subject. When
I say the _fact_, I mean of the _letter_ being written by _Drury_, not
having any doubt as to the authenticity of the statement. The letter
is now before me, and I keep it for your perusal. When I hear from you
I shall address my answer to him, under _your care_; for as it is now
the vacation at Eton, and the letter is without _time_ or _place_, I
cannot venture to consign my sentiments on so _momentous_ a _concern_
to chance.

To you, my dear Hodgson, I have not much to say. If you can make it
convenient or pleasant to trust yourself here, be assured it will be
both to me.

[Footnote 1: Benjamin Heath Drury (1782-1835), second son of the Headmaster of Harrow (see page 41 [Letter 14], [Foot]note 2 [1]), was a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Assistant-master at Eton. Gronow ('Reminiscences', vol. i. pp. 209 and 233) says that Drury was "passionately devoted to theatricals," and, with his friend Knapp, frequently drove up to London after school-hours to sup with Edmund Kean and Arnold at Drury Lane or the Hummums in Covent Garden. On one occasion they took with them Lord Eldon's son, then a school-boy at Eton. After supper the party were "run in" by the watchmen, and bailed out at Bow Street by the Lord Chancellor's secretary.]

[Footnote 2: Bob Gregson (1778-1824), the big-boned, burly landlord of the Castle, Holborn, known as "Bob's Chop-house," was a familiar figure in the sporting world. When captain of the Liverpool and Wigan Packet, he established his reputation in Lancashire as a fighter. He stood 6 feet 1-1/2 inches in height, and weighed 15 stone 6 pounds. But, in spite of the eulogies of Pierce Egan--a low-caste Irishman, who was first a compositor, then a comedian, and afterwards a newspaper reporter (see Grantley Berkeley's 'My Life and Recollections', vol. i. pp. 107, 108)--Gregson had no science, and depended only on his strength, courage, and endurance. He was beaten by Gully at Six Mile Bottom in 1807, and again in 1808 at Markyate Street; also by Tom Cribb at Moulsey Hurst in 1808 ('Pugilistica', vol. i. pp. 237-241). Failing as landlord of the Castle, he set up a school of boxing at Dublin, where he afterwards kept "the Punch House," in Moor Street. He died at Liverpool in 1824. According to Egan ('Boxiana', vol. i. pp. 357, 358), Gregson "united Pugilism with Poetry." On this claim he adopted the letters "P.P." after his name. Egan gives some of his doggerel among "Prime Chaunts for the Fancy" ('ibid'., p. 358). Moore, in 'Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress', attributes to him his "Lines to Miss Grace Maddox" (pp. 75-77); "Ya-Hip, my Hearties!" (pp. 80-83); and "The Annual Pill" (pp. 84-86).]

109.--To John Hanson.

Newstead Abbey, Jan. 15th, 1809.

My Dear Sir,--I am much obliged by your kind invitation, but I wish
you, if possible, to be here on the 22nd. [1] Your presence will be of
great service, everything is prepared for your reception exactly as if
I remained, and I think Hargreaves will be gratified by the appearance
of the place, and the humours of the day. I shall on the first
opportunity pay my respects to your family, and though I will not
trespass on your hospitality on the 22nd, my obligation is not less
for your agreeable offer, which on any other occasion would be
immediately accepted, but I wish you much to be present at the
festivities, and I hope you will add Charles to the party. Consider,
as the Courtier says in the tragedy of _Tom Thumb_ [2]--

"This is a day; your Majesties may boast of it,
And since it never can come o'er, 'tis fit you make the most of it."

I shall take my seat as soon as circumstances will admit. I have not
yet chosen my side in politics, nor shall I hastily commit myself with
professions, or pledge my support to any men or measures, but though I
shall not run headlong into opposition, I will studiously avoid a
connection with ministry. I cannot say that my opinion is strongly in
favour of either party; [3] on the one side we have the late
underlings of Pitt, possessing all his ill fortune, without his
talents; this may render their failure more excusable, but will not
diminish the public contempt; on the other, we have the ill-assorted
fragments of a worn-out minority; Mr. Windham with his coat _twice_
turned, and my Lord Grenville who perhaps has more sense than he can
make good use of; between the two and the shuttlecock of both, a
Sidmouth, and the general _football_ Sir F. Burdett, kicked at by all,
and owned by none.

I shall stand aloof, speak what I think, but not often, nor too soon.
I will preserve my independence, if possible, but if involved with a
party, I will take care not to be the _last_ or _least_ in the ranks.
As to _patriotism_, the word is obsolete, perhaps improperly, so, for
all men in the Country are patriots, knowing that their own existence
must stand or fall with the Constitution, yet everybody thinks he
could alter it for the better, and govern a people, who are in fact
easily governed, but always claim the privilege of grumbling. So much
for Politics, of which I at present know little and care less; bye and
bye, I shall use the senatorial privilege of talking, and indeed in
such times, and in such a crew, it must be difficult to hold one's
tongue.

Believe me, etc.,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: Byron's coming of age was celebrated at Newstead on January 22, 1809.]

[Footnote 2: See O'Hara's acting version of Fielding's _Tom Thumb the Great_, act i. sc. I--

"_Doodle_. A Day we never saw before;
A Day of fun and drollery.

_Noodle_. That you may say,
Their Majesties may boast of it;
And since it never can come more,
'Tis fit they make the most of it."]

[Footnote 3: Lord Grenville (1759-1834) became First Lord of the Treasury; Lord Sidmouth, Lord Privy Seal; and William Windham, Secretary for War, in February, 1806. They, with Fox and his friends, formed the administration of "All the Talents," which in March, 1807, fell over the Roman Catholic question. They were succeeded by the Duke of Portland's Ministry, which included the "late underlings of Pitt,"--Perceval, Canning, Dundas, etc. "Weathercock" Windham, in the Ministry of "All the Talents," was responsible for the conduct of a war which, as leader of the so-called "New Opposition," he had vigorously opposed. Sir Francis Burdett's zeal for Parliamentary Reform involved him in hostility to both Whigs and Tories, who had combined to exclude him from Parliament after his election for Middlesex (1802-6). In 1807 he had been elected for Westminster.]

110.--To R. C. Dallas.

Reddish's Hotel, Jan. 25, 1809.

My Dear Sir,--My only reason for not adopting your lines is because
they are _your_ lines. [1] You will recollect that Lady Wortley
Montague said to Pope: "No touching, for the good will be given to
you, and the bad attributed to me." I am determined it shall be all my
own, except such alterations as may be absolutely required; but I am
much obliged by the trouble you have taken, and your good opinion.

The couplet on Lord C. [2] may be scratched out and the following
inserted:

Roscommon! Sheffield! with your spirits fled,
No future laurels deck a noble head.
Nor e'en a hackney'd Muse will deign to smile
On minor Byron, nor mature Carlisle.

This will answer the purpose of concealment. Now for some couplets on
Mr. Crabbe, [3] which you may place after "Gifford, Sotheby, M'Niel:"

There be who say, in these enlightened days,
That splendid lies are all the Poet's praise;
That strained invention, ever on the wing,
Alone impels the modern Bard to sing.
'Tis true that all who rhyme, nay, all who write,
Shrink from that fatal word to genius, trite:
Yet Truth will sometimes lend her noblest fires,
And decorate the verse herself inspires.
This fact in Virtue's name let Crabbe attest;
Though Nature's sternest painter, yet the best.

I am sorry to differ with you with regard to the title, [4] but I mean
to retain it with this addition: _The British [the word "British" is
struck through] English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_; and if we call it
a _Satire_, it will obviate the objection, as the Bards also were
Welch. Your title is too humorous;--and as I know a little of----, I
wish not to embroil myself with him, though I do not commend his
treatment of----. I shall be glad to hear from you or see you, and beg
you to believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: Dallas (January 24, 1809) takes "the liberty of sending you some two dozen lines," etc.]

[Footnote 2: The couplet on Lord Carlisle, as it stood in 'British Bards', was--

"On one alone Apollo deigns to smile,
And crowns a new Roscommon in Carlisle."

(See 'English Bards, etc.', lines 723, 'et seqq.'; see also line 927, note 2. For Lord Carlisle, see page 36, note 2.)]

[Footnote 3: For "Gifford, Sotheby, Macneil," see 'English Bards, etc'., line 818, and 'notes'. Dallas had written (January 24, 1809),

"I am sorry you have not found a place among the genuine sons of
Apollo for Crabbe, who, in spite of something bordering on servility
in his dedication, may surely rank with some you have admitted to his
temple"

(see 'English Bards, etc'., lines 849-858).]

[Footnote 4: Dallas suggested as a title, 'The Parish Poor of Parnassus'.]

111.--To R. C. Dallas.

February 7, 1809.

My Dear Sir,--Suppose we have this couplet--

Though sweet the sound, disdain a borrow'd tone,
Resign Achaia's lyre, and strike your own: [1]

or,

Though soft the echo, scorn a borrow'd tone,
Resign Achaia's lyre, and strike your own.

So much for your admonition; but my note of notes, my solitary pun,
[2] must not be given up--no, rather

"Let mightiest of all the beasts of chace
That roam in woody Caledon"

come against me; my annotation must stand.

We shall never sell a thousand; then why print so many? Did you receive
my yesterday's note? I am troubling you, but I am apprehensive some of
the lines are omitted by your young amanuensis, to whom, however, I am
infinitely obliged.

Believe me, yours very truly,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: Dallas (February 6, 1809) objected to the rhyme in the couplet:--

"Translation's servile work at length disown,
And quit Achaia's Muse to court your own."

(For the corrected couplet, see 'English Bards, etc'., lines 889, 890.)]

[Footnote 2: See 'English Bards, etc.', line 1016, note 2.]

112.--To R. C. Dallas.

February 11, 1809.

I wish you to call, if possible, as I have some alterations to suggest
as to the part about Brougham. [1]

B.

[Footnote 1: See 'ibid.', line 524, note 2.]

113.--To R. C. Dallas.

February 12, 1809.

Excuse the trouble, but I have added two lines which are necessary to
complete the poetical character of Lord Carlisle. [1]

..........in his age
His scenes alone had damn'd our singing stage;
But Managers for once cried, "hold, enough!"
Nor drugg'd their audience with the tragic stuff!

Yours, etc.,

B.

[Footnote 1: See 'ibid.', lines 733-736. Another letter, written February 15, 1809, runs as follows:--

"I wish you much to call on me, about _One_, not later, if convenient,
as I have some thirty or forty lines for addition.

Believe me, etc.,

B."]

114.--To R. C. Dallas.

February 16, 1809.

_Ecce iterum Crispinus!_--I send you some lines to be placed after
"Gifford, Sotheby, M'Niel." [1] Pray call tomorrow any time before
two, and

Believe me, etc.,

B.

P.S.--Print soon, or I shall overflow with more rhyme.

[Footnote 1: See 'English Bards, etc.', lines 819-830.]

115.--To R. C. Dallas.

February 19, 1809.

I enclose some lines to be inserted, the first six after "Lords too
are bards," etc., or rather immediately following the line:

"Ah! who would take their titles with their rhymes."

The four next will wind up the panegyric on Lord Carlisle, and come
after "tragic stuff." [1]

Yours truly.

In these our times with daily wonders big,
A letter'd Peer is like a letter'd Pig:
Both know their alphabet, but who from thence
Infers that Peers or Pigs have manly sense?
Still less that such should woo the graceful Nine?
Parnassus was not made for Lords and Swine.
Roscommon, Sheffield, etc., etc.
...
... tragic stuff.
Yet at their judgment let his Lordship laugh,
And case his volumes in congenial calf:
Yes, doff that covering where morocco shines,
"And hang a calf-skin on those recreant" lines.

[Footnote 1: See 'ibid.', lines 736-740.]

116.--To R. C. Dallas.

February 22, 1809.

A cut at the opera.--_Ecce signum_! from last night's observation,
and inuendos against the Society for the Suppression of Vice. [1]
The lines will come well in after the couplets concerning Naldi and
Catalani! [2]

Yours truly,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: See 'English Bards, etc.', lines 618-631, note 1, for the "cut at the opera." The piece which provoked the outburst was 'I Villegiatori Rezzani', at the King's Theatre, February 21, 1809. Guiseppe Naldi (1770-1820) made his 'début' in London, at the King's Theatre, in April, 1806. (For further details, see 'English Bards, etc.', line 613, note 2.) Angelica Catalani, born at Sinigaglia, in 1779, or, according to some authorities, 1785, came out at Venice, in an opera by Nasolini. She sang in many capitals of Europe, married at Lisbon a French officer named Vallabrègue, and came to London in October, 1806. The salary paid her was a cause of the O. P. riots at Covent Garden in 1809, when one of the cries was, "No foreigners! No Catalani!" A series of caricatures, one set by Isaac Cruikshank, and several medals, commemorate the riots. Madame Catalani died at Paris in 1849.]

[Footnote 2: See 'English Bards, etc.', lines 632-637.]

117.--To his Mother.

8, St. James's Street, March 6, 1809.

Dear Mother,--My last letter was written under great depression of
spirits from poor Falkland's death, [1] who has left without a
shilling four children and his wife. I have been endeavouring to
assist them, which, God knows, I cannot do as I could wish, for my own
embarrassments and the many claims upon me from other quarters.

What you say is all very true: come what may, _Newstead_ and I _stand_
or fall together. I have now lived on the spot, I have fixed my heart
upon it, and no pressure, present or future, shall induce me to barter
the last vestige of our inheritance. I have that pride within me which
will enable me to support difficulties. I can endure privations; but
could I obtain in exchange for Newstead Abbey the first fortune in the
country, I would reject the proposition. Set your mind at ease on that
score; Mr. Hanson talks like a man of business on the subject,--I feel
like a man of honour, and I will not sell Newstead.

I shall get my seat [2] on the return of the affidavits from Carhais,
in Cornwall, and will do something in the House soon: I must dash, or
it is all over. My Satire must be kept secret for a _month_; after
that you may say what you please on the subject. Lord Carlisle has
used me infamously, and refused to state any particulars of my family
to the Chancellor. I have _lashed_ him in my rhymes, and perhaps his
lordship may regret not being more conciliatory. They tell me it will
have a sale; I hope so, for the bookseller has behaved well, as far as
publishing well goes.

Believe me, etc.

P.S.--You shall have a mortgage on one of the farms. [3]

[Footnote 1: Captain Charles John Cary, R.N., succeeded his brother Thomas in 1796 as ninth Lord Falkland. He married, in 1803, Miss Anton, the daughter of a West India merchant. He had been recently dismissed from his ship "on account of some irregularities arising from too free a circulation of the bottle." But he had received a promise of being reinstated, and, in high spirits at the prospect, dined one evening in March, 1809, at Stevens's Coffeehouse, in Bond Street. There he applied to Mr. Powell an offensive nickname. "He lost his life for a joke, and one too he did not make himself" (Medwin, 'Conversations', ed. 1825, p. 66). A challenge resulted. The parties met on Goldar's Green, and Falkland, mortally wounded, died two days later in Powell's house in Devonshire Place, on March 7, 1809. ('Annual Register', vol. li. pp. 449, 450.) For a more detailed account, see 'Gentleman's Magazine' for March, 1809. Both accounts give March 7 as the date of Falkland's death. A posthumous child was born to Lady Falkland. Byron stood godfather, and gave £500 at the christening.

[Footnote 2: Byron took his seat in the House of Lords, March 13, 1809. The delay was caused by the difficulty of proving the marriage of Admiral the Hon. John Byron with Miss Sophia Trevanion in the private chapel of Carhais. Probably Carlisle neither possessed nor withheld any information.]

[Footnote 3: Byron had borrowed £1000 for his return to Cambridge in 1807: £200 from Messrs. Wylde and Co., bankers, of Southwell; and the remainder from the Misses Parkyns, and his great-aunt, the Hon. Mrs. George Byron. For this debt his mother made herself liable. No mortgage was given (see page 221 [Letter 121], [Foot]note 2 [1]).]

118.--To William Harness.

8, St. James's Street, March 18, 1809.

There was no necessity for your excuses: if you have time and
inclination to write, "for what we receive, the Lord make us
thankful,"--if I do not hear from you, I console myself with the idea
that you are much more agreeably employed.

I send down to you by this post a certain Satire lately published, and
in return for the three and sixpence expenditure upon it, only beg
that if you should guess the author, you will keep his name secret; at
least for the present. London is full of the Duke's business. [1] The
Commons have been at it these last three nights, and are not yet come
to a decision. I do not know if the affair will be brought before our
House, unless in the shape of an impeachment. If it makes its
appearance in a debatable form, I believe I shall be tempted to say
something on the subject.--I am glad to hear you like Cambridge:
firstly, because, to know that you are happy is pleasant to one who
wishes you all possible sublunary enjoyment; and, secondly, I admire
the morality of the sentiment. _Alma Mater_ was to me _injusta
noverca_; and the old beldam only gave me my M.A. degree because she
could not avoid it. [2]--You know what a farce a noble Cantab. must
perform.

I am going abroad, if possible, in the spring, and before I depart I
am collecting the pictures of my most intimate school-fellows; I have
already a few, and shall want yours, or my cabinet will be incomplete.
I have employed one of the first miniature painters [3] of the day to
take them, of course, at my own expense, as I never allow my
acquaintance to incur the least expenditure to gratify a whim of mine.
To mention this may seem indelicate; but when I tell you a friend of
ours first refused to sit, under the idea that he was to disburse on
the occasion, you will see that it is necessary to state these
preliminaries to prevent the recurrence of any similar mistake. I
shall see you in time, and will carry you to the 'limner'. It
will be a tax on your patience for a week; but pray excuse it, as it
is possible the resemblance may be the sole trace I shall be able to
preserve of our past friendship and acquaintance. Just now it seems
foolish enough; but in a few years, when some of us are dead, and
others are separated by inevitable circumstances, it will be a kind of
satisfaction to retain in these images of the living the idea of our
former selves, and, to contemplate, in the resemblances of the dead,
all that remains of judgment, feeling, and a host of passions. But all
this will be dull enough for you, and so good night; and, to end my
chapter, or rather my homily,

Believe me, my dear H., yours most affectionately,

[Footnote 1: This was the inquiry into the charges made by Colonel Gwyllym Wardle, M.P. for Okehampton (1807-12), against the Duke of York and his mistress, Mary Ann Clarke. The inquiry began January 27, 1809, and ended March 20, 1809, with the duke's resignation, the Commons having previously (March 17) acquitted him of "personal connivance and corruption."

The case has passed into literature. Wardle, the valorous Dowler, and Lowten, Mr. Perker's clerk, had all figured in the trial before they played their parts in 'Pickwick'. Wardle, who was a colonel of the Welsh Fusiliers ("Wynne's Lambs") had fought at Vinegar Hill. After losing his seat, he took a farm between Tunbridge Wells and Rochester, from which he fled to escape his creditors, and died at Florence, November 30, 1834, aged seventy-two.]

[Footnote 2: Byron took his M.A. degree, July 4, 1808. In another letter to Harness, dated February, 1809, he says,

"I do not know how you and Alma Mater agree. I was but an untoward
child myself, and I believe the good lady and her brat were equally
rejoiced when I was weaned, and if I obtained her benediction at
parting, it was, at best, equivocal."]

[Footnote 3: George Sanders (1774-1846) painted miniatures, made watercolour copies of continental master-pieces, and afterwards became a portrait-painter in oils. He painted several portraits of Byron, two of which have been often engraved.]

119.--To William Bankes.

Twelve o'clock, Friday night.

My Dear Bankes,--I have just received your note; believe me I regret
most sincerely that I was not fortunate enough to see it before, as I
need not repeat to you that your conversation for half an hour would
have been much more agreeable to me than gambling [1] or drinking, or
any other fashionable mode of passing an evening abroad or at home.--I
really am very sorry that I went out previous to the arrival of your
despatch: in future pray let me hear from you before six, and whatever
my engagements may be, I will always postpone them.--Believe me, with
that deference which I have always from my childhood paid to your
_talents_, and with somewhat a better opinion of your heart than I
have hitherto entertained,

Yours ever, etc.

[Footnote 1:

"I learn with delight," writes Hobhouse from Cambridge, May 12, 1808,
"from Scrope Davies, that you have totally given up dice. To be sure
you must give it up; for you to be seen every night in the very vilest
company in town--could anything be more shocking, anything more unfit?
I speak feelingly on this occasion, 'non ignara mali miseris, &c'. I
know of nothing that should bribe me to be present once more at such
horrible scenes. Perhaps 'tis as well that we are both acquainted with
the extent of the evil, that we may be the more earnest in abstaining
from it. You shall henceforth be 'Diis animosus hostis'."

Moore quotes ('Life', p. 86) the following extract from Byron's 'Journal':--

"I have a notion that gamblers are as happy as many people, being
always _excited_. Women, wine, fame, the table,--even ambition,
_sate_ now and then; but every turn of the card and cast of the
dice keeps the gamester alive: besides, one can game ten times longer
than one can do any thing else. I was very fond of it when young, that
is to say, of hazard, for I hate all _card_ games,--even faro.
When macco (or whatever they spell it) was introduced, I gave up the
whole thing, for I loved and missed the _rattle_ and _dash_
of the box and dice, and the glorious uncertainty, not only of good
luck or bad luck, but of _any luck at all_, as one had sometimes
to throw _often_ to decide at all. I have thrown as many as
fourteen mains running, and carried off all the cash upon the table
occasionally; but I had no coolness, or judgment, or calculation. It
was the delight of the thing that pleased me. Upon the whole, I left
off in time, without being much a winner or loser. Since
one-and-twenty years of age I played but little, and then never above
a hundred, or two, or three."]

120.--To R. C. Dallas.

April 25, 1809.

Dear Sir,--I am just arrived at Batt's Hotel, Jermyn Street, St.
James's, from Newstead, and shall be very glad to see you when
convenient or agreeable. Hobhouse is on his way up to town, full of
printing resolution, [1] and proof against criticism.--Believe me,
with great sincerity,

Yours truly,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: See page 163 [Letter 86], [Foot]note 1. Hobhouse's miscellany was published in 1809, under the title of 'Imitations and Translations from the Antient and Modern Classics: Together with Original Poems never before published'.]

121.--To John Hanson.

Batt's Hotel, Jermyn Street, April 26th, 1809.

DEAR SIR,--I wish to know before I make my final effort elsewhere, if
you can or cannot assist me in raising a sum of money on fair and
equitable terms and immediately. [1] I called twice this morning, and
beg you will favour me with an answer when convenient. I hope all your
family are well. I should like to see them together before my
departure.

The Court of Chancery it seems will not pay the money, of which indeed
I do not know the precise amount; the Duke of Portland will not pay
his debt, and with the Rochdale property nothing is done.--My debts
are daily increasing, and it is with difficulty I can command a
shilling. As soon as possible I shall get quit of this country, but I
wish to do justice to my creditors (though I do not like their
importunity), and particularly to my securities, for their annuities
must be paid off soon, or the interest will swallow up everything.
Come what may, in every shape and in any shape, I can meet ruin, but I
will never sell Newstead; the Abbey and I shall stand or fall
together, and, were my head as grey and defenceless as the Arch of the
Priory, I would abide by this resolution. The whole of my wishes are
summed up in this; procure me, either of my own or borrowed of others,
three thousand pounds, and place two in Hammersley's hands for letters
of credit at Constantinople; if possible sell Rochdale in my absence,
pay off these annuities and my debts, and with the little that remains
do as you will, but allow me to depart from this cursed country, and I
promise to turn Mussulman, rather than return to it. Believe me to be,

Yours truly, BYRON.

P.S.--Is my will finished? I should like to sign it while I have
anything to leave.

[Footnote 1: Money was obtained, partly by means of a life insurance effected with the Provident Institution. The medical report, signed by Benjamin Hutchinson, F.R.C.S., London, states that Hutchinson had attended Byron for the last four or five years; that he was, when last seen by Hutchinson, in very good health; that he never was afflicted with any serious malady; that he was sober and temperate; that he "sometimes used much exercise, and at others was of a studious and sedentary turn;" and thus concludes: "I do believe that he possesses an unimpaired, healthy constitution, and I am not aware of any circumstance which may be considered as tending to shorten his life."

Mrs. Byron (April 9, 1809) begs Hanson to see that Byron gave some security for the thousand pounds for which she was bound. She adds: "There is some Trades People at Nottingham that will be completely ruined if he does not pay them, which I would not have happen for the whole world." No security seems to have been given, and the tradesmen remained unpaid. Mrs. Byron's death was doubtless accelerated by anxiety from these causes.]

122.-To the Rev. R. Lowe. [1]

8, St. James Street, May 15, 1809.

MY DEAR SIR,--I have just been informed that a report is circulating
in Notts of an intention on my part to sell Newstead, which is rather
unfortunate, as I have just tied the property up in such a manner as
to prevent the practicability, even if my inclination led me to
dispose of it. But as such a report may render my tenants
uncomfortable, I will feel very much obliged if you will be good
enough to contradict the rumour, should it come to your ears, on my
authority. I rather conjecture it has arisen from the sale of some
copyholds of mine in Norfolk. [2] I sail for Gibraltar in June, and
thence to Malta when, of course, you shall have the promised detail. I
saw your friend Thornhill last night, who spoke of you as a friend
ought to do. Excuse this trouble, and believe me to be, with great
sincerity,

Yours affectionately, BYRON.

[Footnote 1. The Rev. Robert Lowe was some years older than Byron, and had known him intimately at Southwell in his early youth. Miss Pigot was a cousin of Mr. Lowe, as was also the Rev. J. T. Becher of Southwell. Mrs. Chaworth Musters, who contributed this letter to 'The Life and Letters of Viscount Sherbrooke' (vol. i. p. 46), adds that her grandfather was, naturally, excessively annoyed at having been made the mouthpiece of an untruth, and that the coolness which arose in consequence lasted up to the end of Byron's life. There can, however, be no doubt that Byron made the statement in all sincerity.]

[Footnote 2: At Wymondham.]