Life of Lord Byron Volume V Part 11

LETTER 407. TO MR. MURRAY.

"January 20. 1821.

"I did not think to have troubled you with the plague and postage of a _double letter_ this time, but I have just read in an _Italian paper_, 'That Lord Byron has a tragedy coming out,' &c. &c. &c. and that the Courier and Morning Chronicle, &c. &c. are pulling one another to pieces about it and him, &c.

"Now I do reiterate and desire, that every thing may be done to prevent it from coming out on _any theatre_, for which it never was designed, and on which (in the present state of the stage of London) it could never succeed. I have sent you my appeal by last post, which you _must publish in case of need_; and I require you even in _your own name_ (if my honour is dear to you) to declare that such representation would be contrary to my _wish and to my judgment_. If you do not wish to drive me mad altogether, you will hit upon some way to prevent this.

"Yours, &c.

"P.S. I cannot conceive how Harris or Elliston should be so insane as to think of acting Marino Faliero; they might as well act the Prometheus of Aeschylus. I speak of course humbly, and with the greatest sense of the distance of time and merit between the two performances; but merely to show the absurdity of the attempt.

"The Italian paper speaks of a 'party against it;' to be sure there would be a party. Can you imagine, that after having never flattered man, nor beast, nor opinion, nor politics, there would _not_ be a party against a man, who is also a _popular_ writer--at least a successful? Why, all parties would be a party against."

LETTER 408. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, January 20. 1821.

"If Harris or Elliston persist, after the remonstrance which I desired you and Mr. Kinnaird to make on my behalf, and which I hope will be sufficient--but _if_, I say, they _do persist_, then I pray you to _present in person_ the enclosed letter to the Lord Chamberlain: I have said _in person_, because otherwise I shall have neither answer nor knowledge that it has reached its address, owing to 'the insolence of office.'

"I wish you would speak to Lord Holland, and to all my friends and yours, to interest themselves in preventing this cursed attempt at representation.

"G.o.d help me! at this distance, I am treated like a corpse or a fool by the few people that I thought I could rely upon; and I _was_ a fool to think any better of them than of the rest of mankind.

"Pray write. Yours, &c.

"P.S. I have nothing more at heart (that is, in literature) than to prevent this drama from going upon the stage: in short, rather than permit it, it must be _suppressed altogether_, and only _forty copies struck off privately_ for presents to my friends. What curst fools those speculating buffoons must be _not_ to see that it is unfit for their fair--or their booth!"

LETTER 409. TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, January 22. 1821.

"Pray get well. I do not like your complaint. So, let me have a line to say you are up and doing again. To-day I am thirty-three years of age.

"Through life's road, &c. &c.[31]

"Have you heard that the 'Braziers' Company have, or mean to present an address at Brandenburgh House, 'in armour,' and with all possible variety and splendour of brazen apparel?

"The Braziers, it seems, are preparing to pa.s.s An address, and present it themselves all in bra.s.s-- A superfluous pageant--for, by the Lord Harry, They'll find where they're going much more than they carry.

There's an Ode for you, is it not?--worthy

"Of * * * *, the grand metaquizzical poet, A man of vast merit, though few people know it; The perusal of whom (as I told _you_ at Mestri) I owe, in great part, to my pa.s.sion for pastry.

"Mestri and Fusina are the 'trajects, or common ferries,' to Venice; but it was from Fusina that you and I embarked, though 'the wicked necessity of rhyming' has made me press Mestri into the voyage.

"So, you have had a book dedicated to you? I am glad of it, and shall be very happy to see the volume.

"I am in a peck of troubles about a tragedy of mine, which is fit only for the (* * * * *) closet, and which it seems that the managers, a.s.suming a _right_ over published poetry, are determined to enact, whether I will or no, with their own alterations by Mr.

Dibdin, I presume. I have written to Murray, to the Lord Chamberlain, and to others, to interfere and preserve me from such an exhibition. I want neither the impertinence of their hisses, nor the insolence of their applause. I write only for the _reader_, and care for nothing but the _silent_ approbation of those who close one's book with good humour and quiet contentment.

"Now, if you would also write to our friend Perry, to beg of him to mediate with Harris and Elliston to _forbear_ this intent, you will greatly oblige me. The play is quite unfit for the stage, as a single glance will show them, and, I hope, _has_ shown them; and, if it were ever so fit, I will never have any thing to do willingly with the theatres.

"Yours ever, in haste," &c.

[Footnote 31: Already given in his Journal.]

LETTER 410. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, January 27. 1821.

"I differ from you about the _Dante_, which I think should be published with the tragedy. But do as you please: you must be the best judge of your own craft. I agree with you about the _t.i.tle_.

The play may be good or bad, but I flatter myself that it is original as a picture of _that_ kind of pa.s.sion, which to my mind is so natural, that I am convinced that I should have done precisely what the Doge did on those provocations.

"I am glad of Foscolo's approbation.

"Excuse haste. I believe I mentioned to you that--I forget what it was; but no matter.

"Thanks for your compliments of the year. I hope that it will be pleasanter than the last. I speak with reference to _England_ only, as far as regards myself, _where_ I had every kind of disappointment--lost an important law-suit--and the trustees of Lady Byron refusing to allow of an advantageous loan to be made from my property to Lord Blessington, &c. &c. by way of closing the four seasons. These, and a hundred other such things, made a year of bitter business for me in England. Luckily, things were a little pleasanter for me _here_, else I should have taken the liberty of Hannibal's ring.

"Pray thank Gifford for all his goodnesses. The winter is as cold here as Parry's polarities. I must now take a canter in the forest; my horses are waiting.

"Yours ever and truly."

LETTER 411. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, February 2. 1821.

"Your letter of excuses has arrived. I receive the letter, but do not admit the excuses, except in courtesy; as when a man treads on your toes and begs your pardon, the pardon is granted, but the joint aches, especially if there be a corn upon it. However, I shall scold you presently.

"In the last speech of the Doge, there occurs (I think, from memory) the phrase

"'And Thou who makest and unmakest suns:'

change this to

"'And Thou who kindlest and who quenchest suns;

that is to say, if the verse runs equally well, and Mr. Gifford thinks the expression improved. Pray have the bounty to attend to this. You are grown quite a minister of state. Mind if some of these days you are not thrown out. * * will not be always a Tory, though Johnson says the first Whig was the devil.

"You have learnt one secret from Mr. Galignani's (somewhat tardily acknowledged) correspondence: this is, that an _English_ author may dispose of his exclusive copyright in _France_--a fact of some consequence (in _time of peace_), in the case of a popular writer.