Life of Lord Byron Volume III Part 3

"Pray write to me. I must send you a copy of the letter of dedication. When do you come out? I am sure we don't _clash_ this time, for I am all at sea, and in action,--and a wife, and a mistress, &c.

"Thomas, thou art a happy fellow; but if you wish us to be so, you must come up to town, as you did last year: and we shall have a world to say, and to see, and to hear. Let me hear from you.

"P.S. Of course you will keep my secret, and don't even talk in your sleep of it. Happen what may, your dedication is ensured, being already written; and I shall copy it out fair to-night, in case business or amus.e.m.e.nt--_Amant alterna Camaenae_."

TO MR. MURRAY.

"Jan. 7. 1814.

"You don't like the dedication--very well; there is another: but you will send the other to Mr. Moore, that he may know I _had_ written it. I send also mottoes for the cantos. I think you will allow that an elephant may be more sagacious, but cannot be more docile.

"Yours, BN.

"The _name_ is again altered to _Medora_"[7]

[Footnote 7: It had been at first Genevra,--not Francesca, as Mr. Dallas a.s.serts.]

LETTER 156. TO MR. MOORE.

"January 8. 1814.

"As it would not be fair to press you into a dedication, without previous notice, I send you _two_, and I will tell you _why two_.

The first, Mr. M., who sometimes takes upon him the critic (and I bear it from _astonishment_), says, may do you _harm_--G.o.d forbid!--this alone makes me listen to him. The fact is, he is a d.a.m.ned Tory, and has, I dare swear, something of _self_, which I cannot divine, at the bottom of his objection, as it is the allusion to Ireland to which he objects. But he be d----d--though a good fellow enough (your sinner would not be worth a d----n).

"Take your choice;--no one, save he and Mr. Dallas, has seen either, and D. is quite on my side, and for the first.[8] If I can but testify to you and the world how truly I admire and esteem you, I shall be quite satisfied. As to prose, I don't know Addison's from Johnson's; but I will try to mend my cacology. Pray perpend, p.r.o.nounce, and don't be offended with either.

"My last epistle would probably put you in a fidget. But the devil, who _ought_ to be civil on such occasions, proved so, and took my letter to the right place.

"Is it not odd?--the very fate I said she had escaped from * *, she has now undergone from the worthy * *. Like Mr. Fitzgerald, shall I not lay claim to the character of 'Vates?'--as he did in the Morning Herald for prophesying the fall of Buonaparte,--who, by the by, I don't think is yet fallen. I wish he would rally and route your legitimate sovereigns, having a mortal hate to all royal entails.--But I am scrawling a treatise. Good night. Ever," &c.

[Footnote 8: The first was, of course, the one that I preferred. The other ran as follows:--

"January 7. 1814.

"My dear Moore,

"I had written to you a long letter of dedication, which I suppress, because, though it contained something relating to you which every one had been glad to hear, yet there was too much about politics, and poesy, and all things whatsoever, ending with that topic on which most men are fluent, and none very amusing--_one's self_. It might have been re-written--but to what purpose? My praise could add nothing to your well-earned and firmly-established fame; and with my most hearty admiration of your talents, and delight in your conversation, you are already acquainted. In availing myself of your friendly permission to inscribe this poem to you, I can only wish the offering were as worthy your acceptance as your regard is dear to,

"Yours, most affectionately and faithfully,

"BYRON."

TO MR. MURRAY.

"January 11. 1814.

"Correct this proof by Mr. Gifford's (and from the MSS.), particularly as to the _pointing_. I have added a section for _Gulnare_, to fill up the parting, and dismiss her more ceremoniously. If Mr. Gifford or you dislike, 'tis but a _sponge_ and another midnight better employed than in yawning over Miss * *; who, by the by, may soon return the compliment.

"Wednesday or Thursday.

"P.S. I have redde * *. It is full of praises of Lord Ellenborough!!! (from which I infer near and dear relations at the bar), and * * * *.

"I do not love Madame de Stael; but, depend upon it, she beats all your natives hollow as an auth.o.r.ess, in my opinion; and I would not say this if I could help it.

"P.S. Pray report my best acknowledgments to Mr. Gifford in any words that may best express how truly his kindness obliges me. I won't bore him with _lip_ thanks or _notes_."

TO MR. MOORE.

"January 13. 1814.

"I have but a moment to write, but all is as it should be. I have said really far short of my opinion, but if you think enough, I am content. Will you return the proof by the post, as I leave town on Sunday, and have no other corrected copy. I put 'servant,' as being less familiar before the public; because I don't like presuming upon our friends.h.i.+p to infringe upon forms. As to the other _word_, you may be sure it is one I cannot hear or repeat too often.

"I write in an agony of haste and confusion.--Perdonate."

LETTER 157. TO MR. MURRAY.

"January 15. 1814.

"Before any proof goes to Mr. Gifford, it may be as well to revise this, where there are _words omitted_, faults committed, and the devil knows what. As to the dedication, I cut out the parenthesis of _Mr._[9], but not another word shall move unless for a better.

Mr. Moore has seen, and decidedly preferred the part your Tory bile sickens at. If every syllable were a rattle-snake, or every letter a pestilence, they should not be expunged. Let those who cannot swallow chew the expressions on Ireland; or should even Mr. Croker array himself in all his terrors them, I care for none of you, except Gifford; and he won't abuse me, except I deserve it--which will at least reconcile me to his justice. As to the poems in Hobhouse's volume, the translation from the Romaic is well enough; but the best of the other volume (of _mine_, I mean) have been already printed. But do as you please--only, as I shall be absent when you come out, _do_, _pray_, let Mr. _Dallas_ and _you_ have a care of the _press_. Yours," &c.

[Footnote 9: He had at first, after the words "Scott alone," inserted, in a parenthesis,--"He will excuse the _Mr._----'we do not say _Mr._ Caesar.'"]

TO MR. MURRAY.

["1814. January 16.]

"I do believe that the devil never created or perverted such a fiend as the fool of a printer.[10] I am obliged to enclose you, _luckily_ for me, this _second_ proof, _corrected_, because there is an ingenuity in his blunders peculiar to himself. Let the press be guided by the present sheet. Yours, &c.

"_Burn the other_.

"Correct _this also_ by the other in some things which I may have forgotten. There is one mistake he made, which, if it had stood, I would most certainly have broken his neck."

[Footnote 10: The amusing rages into which he was thrown by the printer were vented not only in these notes, but frequently on the proof-sheets themselves. Thus, a pa.s.sage in the dedication having been printed "the first of her bands in estimation," he writes in the margin, "bards, not bands--was there ever such a stupid misprint?" and, in correcting a line that had been curtailed of its due number of syllables, he says, "Do _not_ omit words--it is quite enough to alter or mis-spell them."]