Chapter 21

[Footnote 73: I ought to apologise to the worthy Deities for introducing a new Goddess with short petticoats to their notice: but, alas! what was to be done? I could not say Caledonia's Genius, it being well known there is no genius to be found from Clackmannan to Caithness; yet without supernatural agency, how was Jeffrey to be saved? The national "Kelpies" are too unpoetical, and the "Brownies" and "gude neighbours" (spirits of a good disposition) refused to extricate him. A Goddess, therefore, has been called for the purpose; and great ought to be the gratitude of Jeffrey, seeing it is the only communication he ever held, or is likely to hold, with anything heavenly.]

[Footnote 74: Lines 528-539 appeared for the first time in the Fifth Edition.]

[Footnote 75: See the colour of the back binding of the 'Edinburgh Review'.]

[Footnote 76: "Bad enough, and on mistaken grounds too."--B., 1816. [The comment applies to the whole passage on Lord Holland.]

[Henry Richard Vassall, third Lord Holland (1773-1840), to whom Byron dedicated the 'Bride of Abydos' (1813). His 'Life of Lope de Vega' (see note 4) was published in 1806, and 'Three Comedies from the Spanish', in 1807.]]

[Footnote 77: Henry Petty (1780-1863) succeeded his brother as third Marquis of Lansdowne in 1809. He was a regular attendant at the social and political gatherings of his relative, Lord Holland; and as Holland House was regarded as one of the main rallying-points of the Whig party and of the Edinburgh Reviewers, the words, "whipper-in and hunts-man," probably refer to their exertions in this respect.]

[Footnote 78: See note 1, p. 337. (Footnote 69--Text Ed.)]

[Footnote 79: Lord Holland has translated some specimens of Lope de Vega, inserted in his life of the author. Both are bepraised by his 'disinterested' guests.]

[Footnote 80: Certain it is, her ladyship is suspected of having displayed her matchless wit in the 'Edinburgh Review'. However that may be, we know from good authority, that the manuscripts are submitted to her perusal--no doubt, for correction.]

[Footnote 81: In the melo-drama of 'Tekeli', that heroic prince is clapt into a barrel on the stage; a new asylum for distressed heroes.--[In the 'MS'. and 'British Bards' the note stands thus:--"In the melodrama of 'Tekeli', that heroic prince is clapt into a barrel on the stage, and Count Everard in the fortress hides himself in a green-house built expressly for the occasion. 'Tis a pity that Theodore Hook, who is really a man of talent, should confine his genius to such paltry productions as 'The Fortress, Music Mad', etc. etc." Theodore Hook (1788-1841) produced 'Tekeli' in 1806. 'Fortress' and 'Music Mad' were played in 1807. He had written some eight or ten popular plays before he was twenty-one.]]

[Footnote 82: 'Vide post', 1. 591, note 3.]

[Footnote 83: William Henry West Betty (1791-1874) ("the Young Roscius") made his first appearance on the London stage as Selim, disguised as Achmet, in 'Barbarossa', Dec. 1, 1804, and his last, as a boy actor, in 'Tancred', and Captain Flash in 'Miss in her Teens', Mar. 17, 1806, but acted in the provinces till 1808. So great was the excitement on the occasion of his 'début', that the military were held in readiness to assist in keeping order. Having made a large fortune, he finally retired from the stage in 1824, and passed the last fifty years of his life in retirement, surviving his fame by more than half a century.]

[Footnote 84: All these are favourite expressions of Mr. Reynolds, and prominent in his comedies, living and defunct. [Frederick Reynolds (1764-1841) produced nearly one hundred plays, one of the most successful of which was 'The Caravan, or the Driver and his Dog'. The text alludes to his endeavour to introduce the language of ordinary life on the stage. Compare 'The Children of Apollo', p. 9--

"But in his diction Reynolds grossly errs; For whether the love hero smiles or mourns, 'Tis oh! and ah! and ah! and oh! by turns."]]

[Footnote 85: James Kenney (1780-1849). Among his very numerous plays, the most successful were 'Raising the Wind' (1803), and 'Sweethearts and Wives' (1823). 'The World' was brought out at Covent Garden, March 30, 1808, and had a considerable run. He was intimate with Charles and Mary Lamb (see 'Letters of Charles Lamb', ii. 16, 44).]

[Footnote 85a: Mr. T. Sheridan, the new Manager of Drury Lane theatre, stripped the Tragedy of 'Bonduca' ['Caratach' in the original 'MS'.] of the dialogue, and exhibited the scenes as the spectacle of 'Caractacus'. Was this worthy of his sire? or of himself? [Thomas Sheridan (1775-1817), most famous as the son of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and father of Lady Dufferin, Mrs. Norton, and the Duchess of Somerset, was author of several plays. His 'Bonduca' was played at Covent Garden, May 3, 1808. The following answer to a real or fictitious correspondent, in the 'European Magazine' for May, 1808, is an indication of contemporary opinion: "The Fishwoman's letter to the author of 'Caractacus' on the art of gutting is inadmissible." For anecdotes of Thomas Sheridan, see Angelo's 'Reminiscences', 1828, ii. 170-175. See, too, 'Epics of the Ton', p. 264.]]

[Footnote 86: George Colman, the younger (1762-1836), wrote numerous dramas, several of which, 'e.g. The Iron Chest' (1796), 'John Bull' (1803), 'The Heir-at-Law' (1808), have been popular with more than one generation of playgoers. An amusing companion, and a favourite at Court, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Yeomen of the Guard, and examiner of plays by Royal favour, but his reckless mode of life kept him always in difficulties. 'John Bull' is referred to in 'Hints from Horace', line 166.]]

[Footnote 87: Richard Cumberland (1732-1811), the original of Sir Fretful Plagiary in 'The Critic', a man of varied abilities, wrote poetry, plays, novels, classical translations, and works of religious controversy. He was successively Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and secretary to the Board of Trade. His best known plays are 'The West Indian, The Wheels of Fortune', and 'The Jew'. He published his 'Memoirs' in 1806-7.]]

[Footnote 88: Sheridan's translation of 'Pizarro', by Kotzebue, was first played at Drury Lane, 1799. Southey wrote of it, "It is impossible to sink below 'Pizarro'. Kotzebue's play might have passed for the worst possible if Sheridan had not proved the possibility of making it worse" (Southey's 'Letters', i. 87). Gifford alludes to it in a note to 'The Mæviad' as "the translation so maliciously attributed to Sheridan."]

[Footnote 89: In all editions, previous to the fifth, it was, "Kemble lives to tread." Byron used to say, that, of actors, "Cooke was the most natural, Kemble the most supernatural, Kean the medium between the two; but that Mrs. Siddons was worth them all put together." Such effect, however, had Kean's acting on his mind, that once, on seeing him play Sir Giles Overreach, he was seized with a fit.]

[Footnote 90: See 'supra', line 562.]

[Footnote 91: Andrew Cherry (1762-1812) acted many parts in Ireland and in the provinces, and for a few years appeared at Drury Lane. He was popular in Dublin, where he was known as "Little Cherry." He was painted as Lazarillo in Jephson's 'Two Strings to Your Bow'. He wrote 'The Travellers' (1806), 'Peter the Great' (1807), and other plays.]]

[Footnote 92: Mr. [now Sir Lumley] Skeffington is the illustrious author of 'The Sleeping Beauty;' and some comedies, particularly 'Maids and Bachelors: Baccalaurii' baculo magis quam lauro digni.

[Lumley St. George (afterwards Sir Lumley) Skeffington (1768-1850). Besides the plays mentioned in the note, he wrote 'The Maid of Honour' (1803) and 'The Mysterious Bride' (1808). 'Amatory Verses, by Tom Shuffleton of the Middle Temple' (1815), are attributed to his pen. They are prefaced by a dedicatory letter to Byron, which includes a coarse but clever skit in the style of 'English Bards'. "Great Skeffington" was a great dandy. According to Capt. Gronow ('Reminiscences', i. 63), "he used to paint his face so that he looked like a French toy; he dressed 'à la Robespierre', and practised all the follies;... was remarkable for his politeness and courtly manners... You always knew of his approach by an 'avant courier' of sweet smell." His play 'The Sleeping Beauty' had a considerable vogue.]]

[Footnote 93: Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), natural son of Charles Dibdin the elder, made his first appearance on the stage at the age of four, playing Cupid to Mrs. Siddons' Venus at the Shakespearian Jubilee in 1775. One of his best known pieces is 'The Jew and the Doctor' (1798). His pantomime, 'Mother Goose', in which Grimaldi took a part, was played at Covent Garden in 1807, and is said to have brought the management £20,000.]

[Footnote 94: Mr. Greenwood is, we believe, scene-painter to Drury Lane theatre--as such, Mr. Skeffington is much indebted to him.]

[Footnote 95: Naldi and Catalani require little notice; for the visage of the one, and the salary of the other, will enable us long to recollect these amusing vagabonds. Besides, we are still black and blue from the squeeze on the first night of the Lady's appearance in trousers. [Guiseppe Naldi (1770-1820) made his 'début' on the London stage at the King's Theatre in April, 1806. In conjunction with Catalani and Braham, he gave concerts at Willis' Rooms. Angelica Catalani (circ. 1785-1849), a famous soprano, Italian by birth and training, made her 'début' at Venice in 1795. She remained in England for eight years (1806-14). Her first appearance in England was at the King's Theatre, in Portogallo's 'Semiramide,' in 1806. Her large salary was one of the causes which provoked the O. P. (Old Prices) Riots in December, 1809, at Covent Garden. Praed says of his 'Ball Room Belle'--

"She warbled Handel: it was grand; She made the Catalani jealous."]

[Footnote 96: Moore says that the following twenty lines were struck off one night after Lord Byron's return from the Opera, and sent the next morning to the printer. The date of the letter to Dallas, with which the lines were enclosed, suggests that the representation which provoked the outburst was that of 'I Villegiatori Rezzani,' at the King's Theatre, February 21, 1809. The first piece, in which Naldi and Catalani were the principal singers, was followed by d'Egville's musical extravaganza, 'Don Quichotte, on les Noces de Gamache.' In the 'corps de ballet' were Deshayes, for many years master of the 'ballet' at the King's Theatre; Miss Gayton, who had played a Sylph at Drury Lane as early as 1806 (she was married, March 18, 1809, to the Rev. William Murray, brother of Sir James Pulteney, Bart.--'Morning Chronicle,' December 30, 1810), and Mademoiselle Angiolini, "elegant of figure, 'petite', but finely formed, with the manner of Vestris." Mademoiselle Presle does not seem to have taken part in 'Don Quichotte;' but she was well known as 'première danseuse' in 'La Belle Laitière, La Fête Chinoise,' and other ballets.]]

[Footnote 97: For "whet" Editions 1-5 read "raise." Lines 632-637 are marked "good" in the Annotated Fourth Edition.]

[Footnote 98: To prevent any blunder, such as mistaking a street for a man, I beg leave to state, that it is the institution, and not the Duke of that name, which is here alluded to.

A gentleman, with whom I am slightly acquainted, lost in the Argyle Rooms several thousand pounds at Backgammon.[A] It is but justice to the manager in this instance to say, that some degree of disapprobation was manifested: but why are the implements of gaming allowed in a place devoted to the society of both sexes? A pleasant thing for the wives and daughters of those who are blessed or cursed with such connections, to hear the Billiard-Balls rattling in one room, and the dice in another! That this is the case I myself can testify, as a late unworthy member of an Institution which materially affects the morals of the higher orders, while the lower may not even move to the sound of a tabor and fiddle, without a chance of indictment for riotous behaviour. [The Argyle Institution, founded by Colonel Greville, flourished many years before the Argyll Rooms were built by Nash in 1818. This mention of Greville's name caused him to demand an explanation from Byron, but the matter was amicably settled by Moore and G. F. Leckie, who acted on behalf of the disputants (see 'Life', pp. 160, 161).]]

[Sub-Footnote A: "True. It was Billy Way who lost the money. I knew him, and was a subscriber to the Argyle at the time of this event."--B., 1816.]

[Footnote 99: Petronius, "Arbiter elegantiarum" to Nero, "and a very pretty fellow in his day," as Mr. Congreve's "Old Bachelor" saith of Hannibal.]

[Footnote 100: "We are authorised to state that Mr. Greville, who has a small party at his private assembly rooms at the Argyle, will receive from 10 to 12 [p.m.] masks who have Mrs. Chichester's Institution tickets.--Morning Post, June 7, 1809.]

[Footnote 101: See note on line 686, infra.]

[Footnote 102: 'Clodius'--"Mutato nomine de te Fabula narratur."--['MS'] [The allusion is to the well-known incidents of his intrigue with Pompeia, Cæsar's wife, and his sacrilegious intrusion into the mysteries of the Bona Dea. The Romans had a proverb, "Clodius accuset Moechos?" (Juv., 'Sat.' ii. 27). That "Steenie" should lecture on the "turpitude of incontinence!" ('The Fortunes of Nigel,' cap. xxxii.)]]

[Footnote 103: I knew the late Lord Falkland well. On Sunday night I beheld him presiding at his own table, in all the honest pride of hospitality; on Wednesday morning, at three o'clock, I saw stretched before me all that remained of courage, feeling, and a host of passions. He was a gallant and successful officer: his faults were the faults of a sailor--as such, Britons will forgive them. ["His behaviour on the field was worthy of a better fate, and his conduct on the bed of death evinced all the firmness of a man without the farce of repentance--I say the farce of repentance, for death-bed repentance is a farce, and as little serviceable to the soul at such a moment as the surgeon to the body, though both may be useful if taken in time. Some hireling in the papers forged a tale about an agonized voice, etc. On mentioning the circumstance to Mr. Heaviside, he exclaimed, 'Good God! what absurdity to talk in this manner of one who died like a lion!'--he did more."--'MS'] He died like a brave man in a better cause; for had he fallen in like manner on the deck of the frigate to which he was just appointed, his last moments would have been held up by his countrymen as an example to succeeding heroes.

[Charles John Carey, ninth Viscount Falkland, died from a wound received in a duel with Mr. A. Powell on Feb. 28, 1809. (See Byron's letter to his mother, March 6, 1809.) The story of "the agonized voice" may be traced to a paragraph in the 'Morning Post,' March 2, 1809: "Lord Falkland, after hearing the surgeon's opinion, said with a faltering voice and as intelligibly as the agonized state of his body and mind permitted, "I acquit Mr. Powell of all blame; in this transaction I alone am culpable.'"]]

[Footnote 104: "Yes: and a precious chase they led me."--B., 1816.]

[Footnote 105: "'Fool' enough, certainly, then, and no wiser since."--B., 1816.]

[Footnote 106: What would be the sentiments of the Persian Anacreon, HAFIZ, could he rise from his splendid sepulchre at Sheeraz (where he reposes with FERDOUSI and SADI, the Oriental Homer and Catullus), and behold his name assumed by one STOTT of DROMORE, the most impudent and execrable of literary poachers for the Daily Prints?]

[Footnote 107: Miles Peter Andrews (d. 1824) was the owner of large powder-mills at Dartford. He was M.P. for Bewdley. He held a good social position, but his intimate friends were actors and playwrights. His 'Better Late than Never' (which Reynolds and Topham helped him to write) was played for the first time at Drury Lane, October 17, 1790, with Kemble as Saville, and Mrs. Jordan as Augusta. He is mentioned in 'The Baviad', l. 10; and in a note Gifford satirizes his prologue to 'Lorenzo', and describes him as an "industrious paragraph-monger."]]

[Footnote 108: In a manuscript fragment, bound in the same volume as 'British Bards', we find these lines:--

"In these, our times, with daily wonders big, A Lettered peer is like a lettered 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."]

[Footnote 109: Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (1634-1685), author of many translations and minor poems, endeavoured (circ. 1663) to found an English literary academy.]

[Footnote 110: John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave (1658), Marquis of Normanby (1694), Duke of Buckingham (1703) (1649-1721), wrote an 'Essay upon Poetry', and several other works.]

[Footnote 111: Lines 727-740 were added after 'British Bards' had been printed, and are included in the First Edition, but the appearance in 'British Bards' of lines 723-726 and 741-746, which have been cut out from Mr. Murray's MS., forms one of many proofs as to the identity of the text of the 'MS'. and the printed Quarto.]]

[Footnote 112: Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, K.G. (1748-1825), Viceroy of Ireland, 1780-1782, and Privy Seal, etc., published 'Tragedies and Poems', 1801. He was Byron's first cousin once removed, and his guardian. 'Poems Original and Translated,' were dedicated to Lord Carlisle, and, as an erased MS. addition to 'British Bards' testifies, he was to have been excepted from the roll of titled poetasters--

"Ah, who would take their titles from their rhymes? On 'one' alone Apollo deigns to smile, And crowns a new Roscommon in Carlisle."

Before, however, the revised Satire was sent to the press, Carlisle ignored his cousin's request to introduce him on taking his seat in the House of Lords, and, to avenge the slight, eighteen lines of castigation supplanted the flattering couplet. Lord Carlisle suffered from a nervous disorder, and Byron was informed that some readers had scented an allusion in the words "paralytic puling." "I thank Heaven," he exclaimed, "I did not know it; and would not, could not, if I had. I must naturally be the last person to be pointed on defects or maladies."

In 1814 he consulted Rogers on the chance of conciliating Carlisle, and in 'Childe Harold', iii. 29, he laments the loss of the "young and gallant Howard" (Carlisle's youngest son) at Waterloo, and admits that "he did his sire some wrong." But, according to Medwin ('Conversations', 1824, p. 362), who prints an excellent parody on Carlisle's lines addressed to Lady Holland in 1822, in which he urges her to decline the legacy of Napoleon's snuff-box, Byron made fun of his "noble relative" to the end of the chapter ('vide post', p. 370, 'note' 2).]]

[Footnote 113: The Earl of Carlisle has lately published an eighteen-penny pamphlet on the state of the Stage, and offers his plan for building a new theatre. It is to be hoped his Lordship will be permitted to bring forward anything for the Stage--except his own tragedies. [This pamphlet was entitled 'Thoughts upon the present condition of the stage, and upon the construction of a new Theatre', anon. 1808.]

Line 732. None of the earlier editions, including the fifth and Murray, 1831, insert "and" between "petit-maître" and "pamphleteer." No doubt Byron sounded the final syllable of "maître," 'anglicé' "mailer."]]

[Footnote 114:

"Doff that lion's hide, And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs."

SHAKESPEARE, 'King John.'

Lord Carlisle's works, most resplendently bound, form a conspicuous ornament to his book-shelves:--

"The rest is all but [only, MS.] leather and prunella."

"Wrong also--the provocation was not sufficient to justify such acerbity."--B., 1816.]

[Footnote 115: 'All the Blocks, or an Antidote to "All the Talents"' by Flagellum (W. H. Ireland), London, 1807: 'The Groan of the Talents, or Private Sentiments on Public Occasions,' 1807; "Gr--vile Agonistes, 'A Dramatic Poem, 1807,' etc., etc."]

[Footnote 116: "MELVILLE'S Mantle," a parody on 'Elijah's Mantle,' a poem. ['Elijah's Mantle, being verses occasioned by the death of that illustrious statesman, the Right Hon. W. Pitt.' Dedicated to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Lincoln (1807), was written by James Sayer. 'Melville's Mantle, being a Parody on the poem entitled "Elijah's Mantle"' was published by Budd, 1807. 'A Monody on the death of the R. H. C. J. Fox,' by Richard Payne Knight, was printed for J. Payne, 1806-7. Another "Monody," 'Lines written on returning from the Funeral of the R. H. C. J. Fox, Friday Oct'. 10, 1806, addressed to Lord Holland, was by M. G. Lewis, and there were others.]]

[Footnote 117: This lovely little Jessica, the daughter of the noted Jew King, seems to be a follower of the Della Crusca school, and has published two volumes of very respectable absurdities in rhyme, as times go; besides sundry novels in the style of the first edition of 'The Monk.'

"She since married the 'Morning Post'--an exceeding good match; and is now dead--which is better."--B., 1816. [The last seven words are in pencil, and, possibly, by another hand. The novelist "Rosa," the daughter of "Jew King," the lordly money-lender who lived in Clarges Street, and drove a yellow chariot, may possibly be confounded with "Rosa Matilda," Mrs. Byrne (Gronow, 'Rem.' (1889), i. 132-136). (See note 1, p. 358.)]

[Footnote 118: Lines 759, 760 were added for the first time in the Fourth Edition.]

[Footnote 119: Lines 756-764, with variant ii., refer to the Della Cruscan school, attacked by Gifford in 'The Baviad' and 'The Mæviad.' Robert Merry (1755-1798), together with Mrs. Piozzi, Bertie Greatheed, William Parsons, and some Italian friends, formed a literary society called the 'Oziosi' at Florence, where they published 'The Arno Miscellany' (1784) and 'The Florence Miscellany' (1785), consisting of verses in which the authors "say kind things of each other" (Preface to 'The Florence Miscellany,' by Mrs. Piozzi). In 1787 Merry, who had become a member of the Della Cruscan Academy at Florence, returned to London, and wrote in the 'World' (then edited by Captain Topham) a sonnet on "Love," under the signature of "Della Crusca." He was answered by Mrs. Hannah Cowley, 'née' Parkhouse (1743-1809), famous as the authoress of 'The Belles Stratagem' (acted at Covent Garden in 1782), in a sonnet called "The Pen," signed "Anna Matilda." The poetical correspondence which followed was published in 'The British Album' (1789, 2 vols.) by John Bell. Other writers connected with the Della Cruscan school were "Perdita" Robinson, 'née' Darby (1758-1800), who published 'The Mistletoe' (1800) under the pseudonym "Laura Maria," and to whom Merry addressed a poem quoted by Gifford in 'The Baviad' ('note' to line 284); Charlotte Dacre, who married Byrne, Robinson's successor as editor of the 'Morning Post,' wrote under the pseudonym of "Rosa Matilda," and published poems ('Hours of Solitude,' 1805) and numerous novels ('Confessions of the Nun of St. Omer's,' 1805; 'Zofloya;' 'The Libertine,' etc.); and "Hafiz" (Robert Stott, of the 'Morning Post'). Of these writers, "Della Crusca" Merry, and "Laura Maria" Robinson, were dead; "Anna Matilda" Cowley, "Hafiz" Stott, and "Rosa Matilda" Dacre were still living. John Bell (1745-1831), the publisher of 'The British Album,' was also one of the proprietors of the 'Morning Post,' the 'Oracle,' and the 'World,' in all of which the Della Cruscans wrote. His "Owls and Nightingales" are explained by a reference to 'The Baviad' (l. 284), where Gifford pretends to mistake the nightingale, to which Merry ("Arno") addressed some lines, for an owl. "On looking again, I find the owl to be a nightingale!--N'importe."]]