Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 2 With His Letters and Journals

"Your letter, like all the best, and even kindest things in this world, is both painful and pleasing. But, first, to what sits nearest. Do you know I was actually about to dedic...

"I shall be in town by Sunday next, and will call and have some conversation on the subject of Westall's designs. I am to sit to him for a picture at the request of a friend of...

"I am coming back with little prospect of pleasure at home, and with a body a little shaken by one or two smart fevers, but a spirit I hope yet unbroken. My affairs, it seems, a...

"May I request your Lordship to accept a copy of the thing which accompanies this note? You have already so fully proved the truth of the first line of Pope's couplet,

"Some curse hangs over me and mine. My mother lies a corpse in this house; one of my best friends is drowned in a ditch. What can I say, or think, or do? I received a letter fro...

"My eagerness to come to an explanation has, I trust, convinced you that whatever my unlucky manner might inadvertently be, the change was as unintentional as (if intended) it w...

"You will begin to deem me a most liberal correspondent; but as my letters are free, you will overlook their frequency. I have sent you answers in prose and verse[29] to all you...

"With my best thanks, I have the honour to return the Notts, letter to your Lordship. I have read it with attention, but do not think I shall venture to avail myself of its cont...

"I wrote you an answer to your last, which, on reflection, pleases me as little as it probably has pleased yourself. I will not wait for your rejoinder; but proceed to tell you,...

"If you please, we will drop our former monosyllables, and adhere to the appellations sanctioned by our godfathers and godmothers. If you make it a point, I will withdraw your n...

"My poor mother died yesterday! and I am on my way from town to attend her to the family vault. I heard _one_ day of her illness, the _next_ of her death. Thank God her last mom...

"I have returned from Lancs., and ascertained that my property there may be made very valuable, but various circumstances very much circumscribe my exertions at present. I shall...

"As our late--I might say, deceased--correspondence had too much of the town-life leaven in it, we will now, 'paulo majora,' prattle a little of literature in all its branches;...

"I have redde through your Persian Tales[105], and have taken the liberty of making some remarks on the _blank_ pages. There are many beautiful passages, and an interesting stor...

"The multitude of your recommendations has already superseded my humble endeavours to be of use to you; and, indeed, most of my principal friends are returned. Leake from Joanni...

"I have redde Roncesvaux with very great pleasure, and (if I were so disposed) see very little room for criticism. There is a choice of two lines in one of the last Cantos,--I t...

"I have just been honoured with your letter.--I feel sorry that you should have thought it worth while to notice the 'evil works of my nonage,' as the thing is suppressed volunt...

"You will act as you please upon that point; but whether I go or stay, I shall not say another word on the subject till May--nor then, unless quite convenient to yourself. I hav...

"Ay, my dear Moore, 'there _was_ a time'--I have heard of your tricks, when 'you was campaigning at the King of Bohemy.' I am much mistaken if, some fine London spring, about th...

"As Gifford has been ever my 'Magnus Apollo.' any approbation, such as you mention, would, of course, be more welcome than 'all Bokara's vaunted gold, than all the gems of Samar...

"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,...

"The lines which I sketched off on your hint are still, or rather _were_, in an unfinished state, for I have just committed them to a flame more decisive than that of Drury. Und...

"Behold a most formidable sheet, without gilt or black edging, and consequently very vulgar and indecorous, particularly to one of your precision; but this being Sunday, I can p...

"As I should be very sorry to interrupt your Sunday's engagement, if Monday, or any other day of the ensuing week, would be equally convenient to yourself and friend, I will the...

"When you point out to one how people can be intimate at the distance of some seventy leagues, I will plead guilty to your charge, and accept your farewell, but not _wittingly_,...

"That you and I may distinctly understand each other on a subject, which, like 'the dreadful reckoning when men smile no more,' makes conversation not very pleasant, I think it...

"I can easily excuse your not writing, as you have, I hope, something better to do, and you must pardon my frequent invasions on your attention, because I have at this moment no...

"Two friends of mine (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Sharpe) have advised me not to risk at present any single publication separately, for various reasons. As they have not seen the one in...

"Your letter followed me from Notts, to this place, which will account for the delay of my reply. Your former letter I never had the honour to receive;--be assured, in whatever...

"I have been dining like the dragon of Wantley for this last week. My head aches with the vintage of various cellars, and my brains are muddled as their dregs. I met your friend...

"I sent you a sad Tale of Three Friars the other day, and now take a dose in another style. I wrote it a day or two ago, on hearing a song of former days.

"* * * I have read the 'Strictures,' which are just enough, and not grossly abusive, in very fair couplets. There is a note against Massinger near the end, and one cannot quarre...

because 'night' is repeated the next line but one; and, as it now stands, the conclusion of the paragraph, 'worthy him (Shakspeare) and _you_,' appears to apply the '_you_' to t...

"The time seems to be past when (as Dr. Johnson said) a man was certain to 'hear the truth from his bookseller,' for you have paid me so many compliments, that, if I was not the...

"The parcels contained some letters and verses, all but one anonymous and complimentary, and very anxious for my conversion from certain infidelities into which my good-natured...

"I send you, begging your acceptance, Castellan, and three vols. on Turkish Literature, not yet looked into. The _last_ I will thank you to read, extract what you want, and retu...

"(Thou wilt never be called '_true_ Thomas,' like he of Ercildoune,) why don't you write to me?--as you won't, I must. I was near you at Aston the other day, and hope I soon sha...

"Lord Holland is laid up with the gout, and would feel very much obliged if you could obtain, and send as soon as possible, Madame d'Arblay's (or even Miss Edgeworth's) new work...

"You need not tie yourself down to a day with Toderini, but send him at your leisure, having anatomised him into such annotations as you want; I do not believe that he has ever...

"You have not answered some six letters of mine. This, therefore, is my penultimate. I will write to you once more, but, after that--I swear by all the saints--I am silent and s...

"I was so sincere in my note on the late Charles Matthews, and do feel myself so totally unable to do justice to his talents, that the passage must stand for the very reason you...

"Being fortunately enabled to frank, I do not spare scribbling, having sent you packets within the last ten days. I am passing solitary, and do not expect my agent to accompany...

"I send you a proof. Last week I was very ill and confined to bed with stone in the kidney, but I am now quite recovered. If the stone had got into my heart instead of my kidney...

"I presume by your silence that I have blundered into something noxious in my reply to your letter, for the which I beg leave to send beforehand a sweeping apology, which you ma...

"You have probably long ago forgotten the writer of these lines, who would, perhaps, be unable to recognise _yourself_, from the difference which must naturally have taken place...

"Now, one word as to the Committee--how could they resolve on a rough copy of an Address never sent in, unless you had been good enough to retain in memory, or on paper, the thi...

"Send another copy (if not too much of a request) to Lady Holland of the _Journal_[111], in my name, when you receive this; it is for _Earl Grey_--and I will relinquish my _own_...

"I write again, but don't suppose I mean to lay such a tax on your pen and patience as to expect regular replies. When you are inclined, write; when silent, I shall have the con...

"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...

"On my return here from Lord Oxford's, I found your obliging note, and will thank you to retain the letters, and any other subsequent ones to the same address, till I arrive in...

"I was honoured with your unexpected[74] and very obliging letter, when on the point of leaving London, which prevented me from acknowledging my obligation as quickly as I felt...

"Your letter set me at ease; for I really thought (as I hear of your susceptibility) that I had said--I know not what--but something I should have been very sorry for, had it, o...

"Soon after my return to England, my friend, Mr. Hodgson, apprised me that a letter for me was in his possession; but a domestic event hurrying me from London, immediately after...

"Since your former letter, Mr. Dallas informs me that the MS. has been submitted to the perusal of Mr. Gifford, most contrary to my wishes, as Mr. D. could have explained, and a...

"Why do you say that I dislike your poesy? I have expressed no such opinion, either in _print_ or elsewhere. In scribbling myself, it was necessary for me to find fault, and I f...

"I hope you will consider, when I venture on any request, that it is the reverse of a certain Dedication, and is addressed, _not_ to 'The Editor of the Quarterly Review,' but to...

"_Lisboa_ is the Portuguese word, consequently the very best. Ulissipont is pedantic; and as I have _Hellas_ and _Eros_ not long before, there would be something like an affecta...

"_We_ are not answerable for reports of speeches in the papers; they are always given incorrectly, and on this occasion more so than usual, from the debate in the Commons on the...

"A domestic calamity in the death of a near relation has hitherto prevented my addressing you on the subject of this letter.--My friend, Mr. Dallas, has placed in your hands a m...

"Since I last wrote to you, much has occurred, good, bad, and indifferent,--not to make me forget you, but to prevent me from reminding you of one who, nevertheless, has often t...

"I feel greatly at a loss how to write to you at all--still more to thank you as I ought. If you knew the veneration with which I have ever regarded you, long before I had the m...

"Thanks, as usual. You go on boldly; but have a care of _glutting_ the public, who have by this time had enough of Childe Harold. 'Waltzing' shall be prepared. It is rather abov...

"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...

"Peace be with the dead! Regret cannot wake them. With a sigh to the departed, let us resume the dull business of life, in the certainty that we also shall have our repose. Besi...

"You must excuse my troubling you once more upon this very unpleasant subject. It would be a satisfaction to me, and I should think, to yourself, that the unopened letter in Mr....

"I have a very _strong_ objection to the engraving of the portrait[57], and request that it may, on no account, be prefixed; but let _all_ the proofs be burnt, and the plate bro...

"Can't you be satisfied with the pangs of my jealousy of Rogers, without actually making me the pander of your epistolary intrigue? This is the second letter you have enclosed t...

"I am sorry to see Tod. again so soon, for fear your scrupulous conscience should have prevented you from fully availing yourself of his spoils. By this coach I send you a copy...

"Ecco!--I have marked some passages with _double_ readings--choose between them--_cut_--_add_--_reject_--or _destroy_--do with them as you will--I leave it to you and the Commit...

"Will you have the goodness to get this Parody of a peculiar kind[58] (for all the first lines are _Busby_'s entire) inserted in several of the papers (_correctly_--and copied _...

"Your refusal to carry the letter was not a subject of remonstrance; it was not a part of your business; but the language you used to the girl was (as _she_ stated it) highly im...

"I leave town for a few days to-morrow; on my return, I will answer your letter more at length. Whatever may be your situation, I cannot but commend your resolution to abjure an...

"I must appear very ungrateful, and have, indeed, been very negligent, but till last night I was not apprised of Lady Holland's restoration, and I shall call to-morrow to have t...

"Yesterday I dined in company with '* *, the Epicene,' whose politics are sadly changed. She is for the Lord of Israel and the Lord of Liverpool--a vile antithesis of a Methodis...

"I have just received your very kind letter, and hope you have met with a second copy corrected and addressed to Holland House, with some omissions and this new couplet,

and so on. So I have got rid of Dr. Lowth and 'drunk' to boot, and very glad I am to say so. I have also sullenised the line as heretofore, and in short have been quite conforma...

"I perceive that the papers, yea, even Perry's, are somewhat ruffled at the injudicious preference of the Committee. My friend Perry has, indeed, 'et tu Brute'-d me rather scurv...

"When you accuse a stranger of neglect, you forget that it is possible business or absence from London may have interfered to delay his answer, as has actually occurred in the p...

"I have just recollected an alteration you may make in the proof to be sent to Aston.--Among the lines on Hassan's Serai, not far from the beginning, is this--

"Why, Hodgson! I fear you have left off wine and me at the same time,--I have written and written and written, and no answer! My dear Sir Edgar, water disagrees with you,--drink...

"I have looked over and corrected one proof, but not so carefully (God knows if you can read it through, but I can't) as to preclude your eye from discovering some _o_mission of...

"Though I have no objection to your refusal to carry _letters_ to Mealey's, you will take care that the letters are taken by _Spero_ at the proper time. I have also to observe,...

"You must look The Giaour again over carefully; there are a few lapses, particularly in the last page.--'I _know_ 'twas false; she could not die;' it was, and ought to be--'I _k...

"With my best acknowledgments to Lord Holland, I have to offer my perfect concurrence in the propriety of the question previously to be put to ministers. If their answer is in t...

"I have answered the queries on the margin.[25] 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...

"Mr. Hodgson has looked over and _stopped_, or rather _pointed_, this revise, which must be the one to print from. He has also made some suggestions, with most of which I have c...

"Pray have the goodness to send those despatches, and a No. of the Edinburgh Review with the rest. I hope you have written to Mr. Thompson, thanked him in my name for his presen...

"Many thanks, but I _must_ pay the _damage_, and will thank you to tell me the amount for the engraving. I think the 'Rejected Addresses' by far the best thing of the kind since...

"If you look over this carefully by the _last proof_ with my corrections, it is probably right; this _you_ can do as well or better;--I have not now time. The copies I mentioned...

"Shakspeare certainly ceased to reign in _one_ of his kingdoms, as George III. did in America, and George IV. may in Ireland.[53] Now, we have nothing to do out of our own realm...

"I feel rather hurt (not savagely) at the speech you made to me last night, and my hope is, that it was only one of your _profane_ jests. I should be very sorry that any part of...

"I sent in no Address whatever to the Committee; but out of nearly one hundred (this is _confidential_), none have been deemed worth acceptance; and in consequence of their _sub...

"When you next imitate the style of 'Tacitus,' pray add, 'de moribus Germanorum;'--this last was a piece of barbarous silence, and could only be taken from the _Woods_, and, as...

"I write to you from Mr. Murray's, and I may say, from Murray, who, if you are not predisposed in favour of any other publisher, would be happy to treat with you, at a fitting t...