Chapter 23

"Ravenna, Marzo, 1821.

"Dear Moray,

"In my packet of the 12th instant, in the last sheet (_not_ the _half_ sheet), last page, _omit_ the sentence which (defining, or attempting to define, what and who are gentlemen) begins, 'I should say at least in life that most military men have it, and few naval; that several men of rank have it, and few lawyers,' &c. &c. I say, omit the whole of that sentence, because, like the 'cosmogony, or creation of the world,' in the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' it is not much to the purpose.

"In the sentence above, too, almost at the top of the same page, after the words 'that there ever was, or can be, an aristocracy of poets,' add and insert these words--'I do not mean that they should write in the style of the song by a person of quality, or _parle euphuism_; but there is a _nobility_ of thought and expression to be found no less in Shakspeare, Pope, and Burns, than in Dante, Alfieri,' &c. &c. and so on. Or, if you please, perhaps you had better omit the whole of the latter digression on the _vulgar_ poets, and insert only as far as the end of the sentence on Pope's Homer, where I prefer it to Cowper's, and quote Dr. Clarke in favour of its accuracy.

"Upon all these points, take an opinion; take the sense (or nonsense) of your learned visitants, and act thereby. I am very tractable--in PROSE.

"Whether I have made out the case for Pope, I know not; but I am very sure that I have been zealous in the attempt. If it comes to the proofs we shall beat the blackguards. I will show more _imagery_ in twenty lines of Pope than in any equal length of quotation in English poesy, and that in places where they least expect it. For instance, in his lines on _Sporus_,--now, do just _read_ them over--the subject is of no consequence (whether it be _satire_ or epic)--we are talking of _poetry_ and _imagery_ from _nature_ and _art_. Now, mark the images separately and arithmetically:--

"'1. The thing of _silk_. 2. _Curd_ of _ass_'s milk. 3. The _butterfly_. 4. The _wheel_. 5. Bug with gilded wings. 6. _Painted_ child of dirt. 7. Whose _buzz_. 8. Well-bred _spaniels_. 9. _Shallow streams run dimpling._ 10. Florid impotence. 11. _Prompter. Puppet squeaks._ 12. _The ear of Eve._ 13. _Familiar toad._ 14. _Half froth, half venom, splits_ himself abroad. 15. _Fop_ at the _toilet_. 16. _Flatterer_ at the _board_. 17. _Amphibious thing_. 18. Now _trips a lady_. 19. Now _struts a lord_. 20. A _cherub's face_. 21. A _reptile_ all the rest. 22. The _Rabbins_. 23. Pride that _licks the dust_.

"'Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will trust. Wit that can creep, and _pride_ that _licks the dust_.'

"Now, is there a line of all the passage without the most _forcible_ imagery (for his purpose)? Look at the _variety_--at the _poetry_ of the passage--at the _imagination_: there is hardly a line from which a painting might not be made, and _is_. But this is nothing in comparison with his higher passages in the Essay on Man, and many of his other poems, serious and comic. There never was such an unjust outcry in this world as that which these fellows are trying against Pope.

"Ask Mr. Gifford if, in the fifth act of 'The Doge,' you could not contrive (where the sentence of the _Veil_ is passed) to insert the following lines in Marino Faliero's answer?

"But let it be so. It will be in vain: The veil which blackens o'er this blighted name, And hides, or seems to hide, these lineaments, Shall draw more gazers than the thousand portraits Which glitter round it in their painted trappings, Your delegated slaves--the people's tyrants.[33]

"Yours, truly, &c.

"P.S. Upon _public_ matters here I say little: you will all hear soon enough of a general row throughout Italy. There never was a more foolish step than the expedition to Naples by these fellows.

"I wish to propose to _Holmes_, the miniature painter, to come out to me this spring. I will pay his expenses, and any sum in reason. I wish him to take my daughter's picture (who is in a convent) and the Countess G.'s, and the head of a peasant girl, which latter would make a study for Raphael. It is a complete _peasant_ face, but an _Italian_ peasant's, and quite in the Raphael Fornarina style. Her figure is tall, but rather large, and not at all comparable to her face, which is really superb. She is not seventeen, and I am anxious to have her face while it lasts. Madame G. is also very handsome, but it is quite in a different style--completely blonde and fair--very uncommon in Italy; yet not an _English_ fairness, but more like a Swede or a Norwegian. Her figure, too, particularly the bust, is uncommonly good. It must be _Holmes_; I like him because he takes such inveterate likenesses. There is a war here; but a solitary traveller, with little baggage, and nothing to do with politics, has nothing to fear. Pack him up in the Diligence. Don't forget."

[Footnote 33: These lines--perhaps from some difficulty in introducing them--were never inserted in the Tragedy.]

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