Chapter IV (5)

Byron had apparently suggested that Hobhouse should write some brief record of his friend. Hobhouse replies from Enniscorthy, September 13, 1811:--

"The melancholy subject of your last, in spite of every effort,
perpetually recurs to me. It is indeed a hard science to forget,
though I cannot but think that it is the wisest and indeed the only
remedy for grief. I should be quite incapable every way of doing what
you mention, and I could not even set about such a melancholy task
with spirit or prospect of success. The thing may be better done by a
person less interested than myself in so cruel a catastrophe. Whatever
you say in your book will be well said, and do credit both to your
heart and head; how much would it have gratified him who shall ne'er
hear it!"]

[Footnote 2: Dallas had written on July 29 to protest, on six grounds which he gives ('Correspondence of Lord Byron', pp. 151-153), "against the sceptical stanzas" of 'Childe Harold'.]

163.--To----Bolton.

Newstead Abbey, August 12, 1811.

Sir,--I enclose a rough draught of my intended will which I beg to
have drawn up as soon as possible, in the firmest manner. The
alterations are principally made in consequence of the death of Mrs.
Byron. I have only to request that it may be got ready in a short
time, and have the honour to be,

Your most obedient, humble servant,

BYRON.

163. To----Bolton.

Newstead Abbey, August 12, 1811.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE CONTENTS OF A WILL TO BE DRAWN UP IMMEDIATELY.

The estate of Newstead to be entailed (subject to certain deductions)
on George Anson Byron, heir-at-law, or whoever may be the heir-at-law
on the death of Lord B. The Rochdale property to be sold in part or
the whole, according to the debts and legacies of the present Lord B.

To Nicolo Giraud of Athens, subject of France, but born in Greece, the
sum of seven thousand pounds sterling, to be paid from the sale of
such parts of Rochdale, Newstead, or elsewhere, as may enable the said
Nicolo Giraud (resident at Athens and Malta in the year 1810) to
receive the above sum on his attaining the age of twenty-one years.

To William Fletcher, Joseph Murray, and Demetrius Zograffo [1] (native
of Greece), servants, the sum of fifty pounds pr. ann. each, for their
natural lives. To Wm. Fletcher, the Mill at Newstead, on condition
that he payeth rent, but not subject to the caprice of the landlord.
To Rt. Rushton the sum of fifty pounds per ann. for life, and a
further sum of one thousand pounds on attaining the age of twenty-five
years.

To Jn. Hanson, Esq. the sum of two thousand pounds sterling.

The claims of S. B. Davies, Esq. to be satisfied on proving the amount
of the same.

The body of Lord B. to be buried in the vault of the garden of
Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, or any
inscription, save his name and age. His dog not to be removed from the
said vault.

My library and furniture of every description to my friends Jn. Cam
Hobhouse, Esq., and S. B. Davies, Esq., my executors. In case of their
decease, the Rev. J. Becher, of Southwell, Notts., and R. C. Dallas,
Esq., of Mortlake, Surrey, to be executors. [2]

The produce of the sale of Wymondham in Norfolk, and the late Mrs.
B.'s Scotch property, [3] to be appropriated in aid of the payment of
debts and legacies.

This is the last will and testament of me, the Rt. Honble George
Gordon, Lord Byron, Baron Byron of Rochdale, in the county of
Lancaster.--I desire that my body may be buried in the vault of the
garden of Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever,
and that no inscription, save my name and age, be written on the tomb
or tablet; and it is my will that my faithful dog may not be removed
from the said vault. To the performance of this my particular desire,
I rely on the attention of my executors hereinafter named.

==It is submitted to Lord Byron whether this clause relative to the
funeral had not better be omitted. The substance of it can be given
in a letter from his Lordship to the executors, and accompany the
will; and the will may state that the funeral shall be performed in
such manner as his Lordship may by letter direct, and, in default of
any such letter, then at the discretion of his executors== [4].

It must stand.

B.

I do hereby specifically order and direct that all the claims of the
said S. B. Davies upon me shall be fully paid and satisfied as soon as
conveniently may be after my decease, on his proving {by vouchers, or
otherwise, to the satisfaction of my executors hereinafter named} [5]
the amount thereof, and the correctness of the same.

==If Mr, Davies has any unsettled claims upon Lord Byron, that
circumstance is a reason for his not being appointed executor; each
executor having an opportunity of paying himself his own debt
without consulting his co-executors.==

So much the better--if possible, let him be an executor.

B.

[Footnote 1:

"If the papers lie not (which they generally do), Demetrius Zograffo
of Athens is at the head of the Athenian part of the Greek
insurrection. He was my servant in 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, at
different intervals of those years (for I left him in Greece when I
went to Constantinople), and accompanied me to England in 1811: he
returned to Greece, spring, 1812. He was a clever, but not
_apparently_ an enterprising man; but circumstances make men. His two
sons (_then_ infants) were named Miltiades and Alcibiades: may the
omen be happy!"

Byron's MS. Journal, quoted by Moore, 'Life', p. 131.]

[Footnote 2: In the clause enumerating the names and places of abode of the executors, the solicitor had left blanks for the Christian names of these gentlemen, and Lord Byron, having filled up all but that of Dallas, writes in the margin, "I forget the Christian name of Dallas --cut him out."]

[Footnote 3: On the death of Mrs. Byron, the sum of £4200, the remains of the price of the estate of Gight were paid over to Byron by her trustee.]

[Footnote 4: The passages printed ==thus== are suggestions made by the solicitors.]

[Footnote 5: Over the words placed {between brackets}, Byron drew his pen.]

164.--To----Bolton.

Newstead Abbey, August 16, 1811.

SIR,--I have answered the queries on the margin. I wish Mr. Davies's
claims to be most fully allowed, and, further, that he be one of my
executors. I wish the will to be made in a manner to prevent all
discussion, if possible, after my decease; and this I leave to you as
a professional gentleman.

With regard to the few and simple directions for the disposal of my
_carcass_, I must have them implicitly fulfilled, as they will, at
least, prevent trouble and expense;--and (what would be of little
consequence to me, but may quiet the conscience of the survivors) the
garden is _consecrated_ ground. These directions are copied verbatim
from my former will; the alterations in other parts have arisen from
the death of Mrs. B. I have the honour to be,

Your most obedient, humble servant,

BYRON.

165.--To--Bolton.

Newstead Abbey, August 20, 1811.

Sir,--The witnesses shall be provided from amongst my tenants, and I shall be happy to see you on any day most convenient to yourself. I forgot to mention, that it must be specified by codicil, or otherwise, that my body is on no account to be removed from the vault where I have directed it to be placed; and in case any of my successors within the entail (from bigotry, or otherwise) might think proper to remove the carcass, such proceeding shall be attended by forfeiture of the estate, which in such case shall go to my sister, the Hon'ble Augusta Leigh and her heirs on similar conditions. I have the honour to be, sir,

Your very obedient, humble servant,

BYRON.

166.--To the Hon. Augusta Leigh.

Newstead Abbey, August 21st, 1811.

My Dear Sister,--I ought to have answered your letter before, but when
did I ever do any-thing that I ought?

I am losing my relatives & you are adding to the number of yours; but
which is best, God knows;--besides poor Mrs. Byron, I have been
deprived by death of two most particular friends within little more
than a month; but as all observations on such subjects are superfluous
and unavailing, I leave the dead to their rest, and return to the dull
business of life, which however presents nothing very pleasant to me
either in prospect or retrospection.

I hear you have been increasing his Majesty's Subjects, which in these
times of War and tribulation is really patriotic. Notwithstanding
Malthus [1] tells us that, were it not for Battle, Murder, and Sudden
death, we should be overstocked, I think we have latterly had a
redundance of these national benefits, and therefore I give you all
credit for your matronly behaviour.

I believe you know that for upwards of two years I have been rambling
round the Archipelago, and am returned just in time to know that I
might as well have staid away for any good I ever have done, or am
likely to do at home, and so, as soon as I have somewhat _repaired_ my
_irreparable_ affairs I shall een go abroad again, for I am heartily
sick of your climate and every thing it _rains_ upon, always save and
except _yourself_ as in _duty bound_.

I should be glad to see you here (as I think you have never seen the
place) if you could make it convenient. Murray is still like a Rock,
and will probably outlast some six Lords Byron, though in his 75th
Autumn. I took him with me to Portugal & sent him round by sea to
Gibraltar whilst I rode through the Interior of Spain, which was then
(1809) accessible.

You say you have much to communicate to me, let us have it by all
means, as I am utterly at a loss to guess; whatever it may be it will
meet with due attention.

Your trusty and well beloved cousin F. Howard [2] is married to a Miss
Somebody, I wish him joy on your account, and on his own, though
speaking generally I do not affect that Brood.

By the bye, I shall marry, if I can find any thing inclined to barter
money for rank within six months; after which I shall return to my
friends the Turks.

In the interim I am, Dear Madam,

[Signature cut out.]

[Footnote 1: The Rev. T. R. Malthus (1766-1834) published, in 1798, his 'Essay on the Principle of Population'.]

[Footnote 2: The Hon. Frederick Howard (see page 55 [Letter 19], [Foot]note 1) married, August 6, 1811, Frances Susan Lambton, only daughter of William Lambton, formerly M.P. for Durham.]

167.--To R. C. Dallas.

Newstead, August 21, 1811.

Your letter gives me credit for more acute feelings than I possess;
for though I feel tolerably miserable, yet I am at the same time
subject to a kind of hysterical merriment, or rather laughter without
merriment, which I can neither account for nor conquer, and yet I do
not feel relieved by it; but an indifferent person would think me in
excellent spirits. "We must forget these things," and have recourse to
our old selfish comforts, or rather comfortable selfishness.

I do not think I shall return to London immediately, and shall
therefore accept freely what is offered courteously--your mediation
between me and Murray. [1] I don't think my name will answer the
purpose, and you must be aware that my plaguy Satire will bring the
north and south Grub Streets down upon the _Pilgrimage_;--but,
nevertheless, if Murray makes a point of it, and you coincide with
him, I will do it daringly; so let it be entitled "_By the author of
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." My remarks on the Romaic, etc.,
once intended to accompany the _Hints from Horace_, shall go along
with the other, as being indeed more appropriate; also the smaller
poems now in my possession, with a few selected from those published
in Hobhouse's _Miscellany_. I have found amongst my poor mother's
papers all my letters from the East, and one in particular of some
length from Albania. From this, if necessary, I can work up a note or
two on that subject. As I kept no journal, the letters written on the
spot are the best. But of this anon, when we have definitively
arranged.

Has Murray shown the work to any one? He may--but I will have no
traps for applause. Of course there are little things I would wish to
alter, and perhaps the two stanzas of a buffooning cast on London's
Sunday are as well left out. I much wish to avoid identifying Childe
Harold's character with mine, and that, in sooth, is my second
objection to my name appearing in the title-page. When you have made
arrangements as to time, size, type, etc., favour me with a reply. I
am giving you an universe of trouble, which thanks cannot atone for. I
made a kind of prose apology for my scepticism at the head of the MS.,
which, on recollection, is so much more like an attack than a defence,
that, haply, it might better be omitted--perpend, pronounce. After
all, I fear Murray will be in a scrape with the orthodox; but I cannot
help it, though I wish him well through it. As for me, "I have supped
full of criticism," and I don't think that the "most dismal treatise"
will stir and rouse my "fell of hair" till "Birnam wood do come to
Dunsinane."

I shall continue to write at intervals, and hope you will pay me in
kind. How does Pratt get on, or rather get off, Joe Blackett's
posthumous stock? You killed that poor man amongst you, in spite of
your Ionian friend [2] and myself, who would have saved him from
Pratt, poetry, present poverty, and posthumous oblivion. Cruel
patronage! to ruin a man at his calling; but then he is a divine
subject for subscription and biography; and Pratt, who makes the most
of his dedications, has inscribed the volume to no less than five
families of distinction.

I am sorry you don't like Harry White: [3] with a great deal of cant,
which in him was sincere (indeed it killed him as you killed Joe
Blackett), certes there is poesy and genius. I don't say this on
account of my simile and rhymes; but surely he was beyond all the
Bloomfields [4] and Blacketts, and their collateral cobblers, whom
Lofft [5] and Pratt have or may kidnap from their calling into the
service of the trade. You must excuse my flippancy, for I am writing I
know not what, to escape from myself. Hobhouse is gone to Ireland. Mr.
Davies has been here on his way to Harrowgate.

You did not know Matthews: he was a man of the most astonishing
powers, as he sufficiently proved at Cambridge, by carrying off more
prizes and fellowships, against the ablest candidates, than any other
graduate on record; but a most decided atheist, indeed noxiously so,
for he proclaimed his principles in all societies. I knew him well,
and feel a loss not easily to be supplied to myself--to Hobhouse
never. Let me hear from you, and

Believe me, etc.

[Footnote 1: In 1793 John Murray the first (born 1745) died, leaving a widow, two daughters, and one son, John Murray the second (1778-1843), then a boy of fifteen. The bookselling and publishing business at 32, Fleet Street, which the first John Murray had purchased in 1768 from William Sandby, was for two years carried on by the chief assistant, Samuel Highley. From 1795, when John Murray the second joined it, it was conducted as a partnership, under the title of Murray and Highley. But in 1803 John Murray cancelled the partnership, and started for himself at 32, Fleet Street. Relieved from a timorous partner, he at once displayed his shrewdness, energy, and literary enthusiasm. He rapidly became, as Byron called him, "the [Greek (transliterated): Anax] of Publishers," or, as he was nicknamed, "The Emperor of the West." In February, 1809, he had launched the 'Quarterly Review'; in March, 1812, he published 'Childe Harold'; in the following September, he moved to 50, Albemarle Street, the lease of which, with the stock, good will, and copyrights, he purchased from William Miller (see page 319 [Letter 158], [Foot]note 2 [1]). The remarkable position which the second John Murray created for himself, has two aspects, one commercial, the other social. He was not only the publisher, but the friend, of the most distinguished men of the day; and he was both by reason, partly of his honourable character, partly of his personal attractiveness. Sir Walter Scott, writing, October 30, 1828, to Lockhart, speaks of Murray in words which sum up his character:

"By all means do what the Emperor says. He is what Emperor Nap was
not, 'much a gentleman.'"

Murray was the first to divorce the business of publishing from that of selling books; the first to see, as he wrote to Sir Walter Scott, October 13, 1825 ('A Publisher and his Friends', vol. ii. p. 199), that

"the business of a publishing bookseller is not in his shop, or even
his connection, but in his brains."

Quick-tempered and warm-hearted, he was endowed with a strong sense of humour, and a gift of felicitous expression, which made him at once an admirable talker and an excellent letter-writer, and enabled him to hold his own among the noted wits and brilliant men of letters whom he gathered under his roof. A man of ideas more than a man of business, of enterprise rather than of calculation, he was always on the watch for new writers and new openings. But his imagination and impulsive temperament were checked by his fine taste for sound literature, and controlled by high principles in matters of trade. Thus he was saved from those disastrous speculations which involved Scott in ruin, and might otherwise have appealed with fatal force to his own sanguine nature. His close relations with Byron, which began in 1811, and lasted till the poet's death, are set forth in the numerous letters which follow, and were never embittered even when he refused to continue the publication of 'Don Juan'. Their names are inseparably associated in the history of literature. A generous paymaster, he was also an hospitable host. Round him gathers much of the literary history of a half-century which includes such names as those of Scott, Byron, Southey, Coleridge, Hallam, Milman, Mahon, Carlyle, Grote, Benjamin Disraeli, Sir Robert Peel, Canning, and Mr. Gladstone. His literary dinners were famous, and his drawing-room was the rallying-place of all that was witty and agreeable in society. At the same time, he was the acknowledged head of the publishing trade, unswerving in the rectitude of his commercial dealings, and in the maintenance of the honourable traditions of his most distinguished predecessors, as well as sincere in his enthusiasm for English letters.]

[Footnote 2: Walter Rodwell Wright, author of 'Horae Ionicae, a Poem descriptive of the Ionian Islands, and part of the adjacent coast of Greece,' (1809), had been Consul-General of the Seven Islands. On his return he became Recorder of Bury St. Edmund's. He was subsequently President of the Court of Appeals in Malta, where he died in 1826. (See Byron's address to him in 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers', lines 877-880.)]

[Footnote 3: Henry Kirke White (1785-1806) published 'Clifton Grove' and other poems in 1803. He died at Cambridge in 1806. His 'Remains' were published by Southey in 1807. (See 'English Bards', and Scotch Reviewers', lines 831-848, and note 2.)]

[Footnote 4: The three brothers, George Bloomfield, a shoemaker, Nathaniel, a tailor, and Robert, also a shoemaker, were the sons of a tailor at Honington, in Suffolk, whose wife kept the village school. (For further details as to George and Nathaniel, see 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers', lines 765-798, and 'notes'.)

Robert Bloomfield (1766-1823) achieved a success with his 'Farmer's Boy' (1800), of which thousands of copies were sold in England, and which was translated into French and Italian. But however creditable the lines may have been to the author, Byron's opinion of the merits of the poet was the true one. Bloomfield's subsequent volumes, of which there were seven, were inferior to 'The Farmer's Boy'. 'Good Tidings, or News from the Farm' (1804), is perhaps the best known. A collected edition of Bloomfield's 'Works' was published in 1824.]

[Footnote 5: Capel Lofft (1751-1824), educated at Eton and Cambridge, was called to the Bar in 1775. Succeeding in 1781 to the family estates near Bury St. Edmund's, he lived for some years at Troston Hall. Crabb Robinson ('Diary', vol. i. p. 29) describes him, in 1795, as

"a gentleman of good family and estate--an author on an infinity of
subjects; his books were on Law, History, Poetry, Antiquities,
Divinity, and Politics. He was then an acting magistrate, having
abandoned the profession of the Bar. He was one of the numerous
answerers of Burke; and, in spite of a feeble voice and other
disadvantages, was an eloquent speaker."

His boyish figure, slovenly dress, and involved sentences were well known on the platforms where he advocated parliamentary reform. On May 17, 1784, Johnson dined at Mr. Dilly's. Among the guests was

"Mr. Capel Lofft, who, though a most zealous Whig, has a mind so full
of learning and knowledge, and so much in exercise in various
exertions, and withal so much liberality, that the stupendous powers
of the literary Goliath, though they did not frighten this little
David of popular spirit, could not but excite his admiration."

Lofft held strong opinions in favour of the French Revolution, which he admired. He, "Godwin, and Thelwall are the only three persons I know (except Hazlitt) who grieve at the late events;" so writes Crabb Robinson, after the battle of Waterloo ('Diary', vol. i. p. 491). He published numerous works on law and politics, besides four volumes of poetry: 'The Praises of Poetry, a Poem' (1775); 'Eudosia, or a Poem on the Universe' (1781); 'The first and second Georgics of Virgil' (in blank verse, 1803); 'Laura, or an Anthology of Sonnets' (1814). He also edited Milton's 'Paradise Lost'. In November, 1798, Lofft read the manuscript of 'The Farmer's Boy', written by Robert Bloomfield in a London garret, where he worked as a shoemaker. Interested in the poem and the Suffolk poet, Lofft had it published in 1800, with cuts by Bewick, and a preface by himself.]

168.--To Francis Hodgson.

Newstead Abbey, August 22, 1811.

You may have heard of the sudden death of my mother, and poor
Matthews, which, with that of Wingfield (of which I was not fully
aware till just before I left town, and indeed hardly believed it,)
has made a sad chasm in my connections. Indeed the blows followed each
other so rapidly that I am yet stupid from the shock; and though I do
eat, and drink, and talk, and even laugh, at times, yet I can hardly
persuade myself that I am awake, did not every morning convince me
mournfully to the contrary.--I shall now wave the subject,--the dead
are at rest, and none but the dead can be so.

You will feel for poor Hobhouse,--Matthews was the "god of his
idolatry;" and if intellect could exalt a man above his fellows, no
one could refuse him preeminence. I knew him most intimately, and
valued him proportionably; but I am recurring--so let us talk of life
and the living.

If you should feel a disposition to come here, you will find "beef and
a sea-coal fire," and not ungenerous wine. Whether Otway's two other
requisites for an Englishman or not, I cannot tell, but probably one
of them [1].--Let me know when I may expect you, that I may tell you
when I go and when return. I have not yet been to Lancs. Davies has
been here, and has invited me to Cambridge for a week in October, so
that, peradventure, we may encounter glass to glass. His gaiety (death
cannot mar it) has done me service; but, after all, ours was a hollow
laughter.

You will write to me? I am solitary, and I never felt solitude irksome
before. Your anxiety about the critique on----'s book is amusing; as
it was anonymous, certes it was of little consequence: I wish it had
produced a little more confusion, being a lover of literary malice.
Are you doing nothing? writing nothing? printing nothing? why not your
Satire on Methodism? the subject (supposing the public to be blind to
merit) would do wonders. Besides, it would be as well for a destined
deacon to prove his orthodoxy.--It really would give me pleasure to
see you properly appreciated. I say _really_, as, being an author, my
humanity might be suspected.

Believe me, dear H., yours always.

[Footnote 1:

"Give but an Englishman his whore and ease,
Beef and a sea-coal fire, he's yours for ever."

'Venice Preserved', act ii. sc. 3]