"June 27. 1814. "You could not have made me a more acceptable present than Jacqueline, - she is all grace and softness, and poetry; there is so much of the last, that we do not feel the want of story, which is simple, yet enough. I wonder that you do not oftener unbend to more of the same kind. I have some sympathy with the softer affections, though very little in my way, and no one can depict them so truly and successfully as yourself. I have half a mind to pay you in kind, or rather unkind, for I have just 'supped full of horror' in two cantos of darkness and dismay.

"Do you go to Lord Essex's to-night? if so, will you let me call for you at your own hour? I dined with Holland-house yesterday at Lord Cowper's; my Lady very gracious, which she can be more than any one when she likes. I was not sorry to see them again, for I can't forget that they have been very kind to me.

"Ever yours most truly,

"BN.

"P.S. Is there any chance or possibility of making it up with Lord Carlisle, as I feel disposed to do any thing reasonable or unreasonable to effect it? I would before, but for the 'Courier,' and the possible misconstructions at such a time. Perpend, pronounce."

On my return to London, for a short time, at the beginning of July, I found his poem of Lara,' which he had begun at the latter end of May, in the hands of the

1 He alludes to an action for piracy brought by Mr. Power (the publisher of my musical works), to the trial of which I had been summoned as a witness.

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printer, and nearly ready for publication. He had, before I left town, repeated to me, as we were on our way to some evening party, the first one hundred and twenty lines of the poem, which he had written the day before, at the same time giving me a general sketch of the characters and the

story.

says,

His short notes to Mr. Murray, during the printing of this work, are of the same impatient and whimsical character as those, of which I have already given specimens, in my account of his preceding publications : but, as matter of more interest now presses upon us, I shall forbear from transcribing them at length. In one of them he have just corrected some of the most horrible blunders that ever crept into a proof:"-in another, "I hope the next proof will be better; this was one which would have consoled Job, if it had been of his enemy's book:"- -a third contains only the following words: "Dear sir, you demanded more battle-there it is. Yours,

&c."

TO MR. MOORE.

"July 8. 1814. "I returned to town last night, and had some hopes of seeing you to-day, and would have called, — but I have been (though in exceeding distempered good health) a little head-achy with free living, as it is called, and am now at the freezing point of returning soberness. Of course, I should be sorry that our parallel lines did not deviate into intersection before you return to the country, after that same nonsuit', whereof the papers have told us, but, as you must be much occupied, I won't be affronted, should your time and business militate against our meeting.

"Rogers and I have almost coalesced into a joint invasion of the public. Whether it will take place or not, I do not yet know, and I am afraid Jacqueline (which is very beautiful) will be in bad company. But in this case, the lady will not be the sufferer.

2

"I am going to the sea, and then to Scotland; and I have been doing nothing, that is, no good, and am very truly, &c."

2 Lord Byron afterwards proposed that I should make

a third in this publication; but the honour was a perilous one, and I begged leave to decline it.

S

“I suppose, by your non-appearance, that the philosophy of my note, and the previous silence of the writer, have put or kept you in humeur. Never mind-it is hardly worth while.

"This day have I received information from my man of law of the non- - and never likely to be-performance of purchase by Mr. Claughton, of impecuniary memory. He don't know what to do, or when to pay; and so all my hopes and worldly projects and prospects are gone to the devil. He (the purchaser, and the devil too, for aught I care), and I, and my legal advisers, are to meet to-morrow, the said purchaser having first taken special care to inquire whether I would meet him with temper?'- Certainly. The question is this - I shall either have the estate back, which is as good as ruin, or I shall go on with him dawdling, which is rather worse. I have brought my pigs to a Mussulman market. If I had but a wife now, and children, of whose paternity I entertained doubts, I should be happy, or rather fortunate, as Candide or Scarmentado. In the mean time, if you don't come and see me, I shall think that Sam.'s bank is broke too; and that you, having assets there, are despairing of more than a piastre in the pound for your dividend. Ever, &c."

TO MR. MURRAY.

64 July 18. 1814.

“You shall have one of the pictures. I wish you to send the proof of 'Lara' to Mr. Moore, 33. Bury Street, to-night, as he leaves town to-morrow, and wishes to see it before he goes'; and I am also willing to have the benefit of his remarks. Yours, &c."

TO MR. MURRAY.

"July 18. 1814. "I think you will be satisfied even to repletion with our northern friends 2, and I won't deprive you longer of what I think will give you pleasure; for my own part, my modesty, or my vanity, must be silent.

"P. S.-If you could spare it for an hour in the evening, I wish you to send it up to Mrs. Leigh, your neighbour, at the London Hotel, Albemarle Street."

1 In a note which I wrote to him, before starting, next day, I find the following: "I got Lara at three o'clock this morning-read him before I slept, and was enraptured. I take the proofs with me."

2 He here refers to an article in No. 45. of the Edin

"I am sorry to say that the print is by no means approved of by those who have seen it, who are pretty conversant with the original, as well as the picture from whence it is taken. I rather suspect that it is from the copy, and not the exhibited portrait, and in this dilemma would recommend a suspension, if not an abandonment, of the prefirion to the volumes which you purpose inflicting upon the public.

66

With regard to Lara, don't be in any hurry. I have not yet made up my mind on the subject, nor know what to think or do till I hear from you; and Mr. Moore appeared to me in a similar state of indetermination. I do not know that it may not be better to reserve it for the entire publication you proposed, and not adventure in hardy singleness, or even backed by the fairy Jacqueline. I have been seized with all kinds of doubts, &c. &c. since I left

ET. 26.

"August 3. 1814.

"It is certainly a little extraordinary that you have not sent the Edinburgh Review, as I requested, and hoped it would not require a note a day to remind you. I see advertisements of Lara and Jacqueline; pray, why? when I requested you to postpone publication till my return to town.

"I have a most amusing epistle from the Ettrick bard - Hogg; in which, speaking of his bookseller, whom he denominates the 'shabbiest' of the trade for not 'lifting his bills,' he adds, in so many words, 'G-d d-n him and them both.' This is a pretty prelude to asking you to adopt him (the said Hogg); but this he wishes; and if you please, you and I will talk it over. He has a poem ready for the press (and your bills too, if liftable'), and bestows some benedictions on Mr. Moore for his abduction of Lara from the forthcoming Miscellany.'

"P. S. Sincerely, I think Mr. Hogg would suit you very well; and surely he is a man of great powers, and deserving of encouragement. I must knock out a Tale for him, and you should at all events consider before you reject his suit. Scott is gone to the Orkneys in a gale of wind; and Hogg says that, during the said gale, he is sure that Scott is not quite at his ease, to say the best of it.' Ah! I wish these homekeeping bards could taste a Mediterranean white squall, or the Gut' in a gale of wind, or even the Bay of Biscay' with no wind at all."

LETTER 192.

TO MR. MOORE.

"Hastings, August 3. 1814.

"By the time this reaches your dwelling, I shall (God wot) be in town again probably. I have been here renewing my ac

1 Mr. Hogg had been led to hope that he should be permitted to insert this poem in a Miscellany which he had at this time some thoughts of publishing; and whatever advice I may have given against such a mode of disposing

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and

quaintance with my old friend Ocean; and I find his bosom as pleasant a pillow for an hour in the morning as his daughters of Paphos could be in the twilight. I have been swimming and eating turbot, and smuggling neat brandies and silk handkerchiefs, listening to my friend Hodgson's raptures about a pretty wife-elect of his, - and walking on cliffs, and tumbling down hills, and making the most of the dolce far-niente' for the last fortnight. I met a son of Lord Erskine's, who says he has been married a year, and is the happiest of men; and I have met the aforesaid H., who is also the being here, if only to witness the superlative 'happiest of men ;' so, it is worth while their tails, and would persuade the rest to felicity of these foxes, who have cut off part with their brushes to keep them in

countenance.

66

It rejoiceth me that you like 'Lara.' I suppose you have got. He is only too Jeffrey is out with his 45th Number, which kind to me, in my share of it, and I begin to fancy myself a golden pheasant, upon the strength of the plumage wherewith he hath

bedecked me.

But then, surgit amari,' &c.

Perry, have got hold (I know not how) of the gentlemen of the Champion, and the condolatory address to Lady Jersey on have published them-with my name, too, the picture-abduction by our Regent, and smack without even asking leave, or inD-n their impuquiring whether or no! dence, and d-n every thing. It has put me out of patience, and so, I shall say no more about it.

"You shall have Lara and Jacque (both with some additions) when out; but I am still demurring and delaying, and in a fuss, and so is Rogers in his way.

66

Newstead is to be mine again. Claughton forfeits twenty-five thousand pounds; but that don't prevent me from being very prettily ruined. I mean to bury myself there and let my beard grow-and hate you all.

"Oh! I have had the most amusing letter from Hogg, the Ettick minstrel and shepherd. He wants me to recommend him to Murray; and, speaking of his present bookseller, whose bills' are never lifted,' he adds, totidem verbis, God d-n him and them both.' I laughed, and so would you too, at the way in which this execration is introduced. The said Hogg is a strange

of the work arose certainly not from any ill will to this ingenious and remarkable man, but from a consideration of what I thought most advantageous to the fame of Lord Byron.

a man

being, but of great, though uncouth, powers. I think very highly of him, as a poet; but he, and half of these Scotch and Lake troubadours, are spoilt by living in little circles and petty societies. London and the world is the only place to take the conceit out of in the milling phrase. Scott, he says, is gone to the Orkneys in a gale of wind;-during which wind, he affirms, the said Scott, he is sure, is not at his ease, to say the best of it.' Lord, Lord, if these home-keeping minstrels had crossed your Atlantic or my Mediterranean, and tasted a little open boating in a white squall a gale in the Gut- or the Bay of Biscay,' with no gale at all-how it would enliven and introduce them to a few of the sensations! to say nothing of an illicit amour or two upon shore, in the way of essay upon the Passions, beginning with simple adultery, and compounding it as they

went along.

or

"I have forwarded your letter to Murray, -by the way, you had addressed it to Miller. Pray write to me, and say what art thou doing? Not finished!' - Oons! how is this?these flaws and starts' must be authorised by your grandam,' and are unbecoming of any other author. I was sorry to hear of your discrepancy with the **s, or rather your abjuration of agreement. I don't want to be impertinent, or buffoon on a serious subject, and am therefore at a loss what to say.

"I hope nothing will induce you to abate from the proper price of your poem, as long as there is a prospect of getting it. For my own part, I have seriously and not whiningly (for that is not my way at least, it used not to be) neither hopes, nor prospects, and scarcely even wishes. I am, in some respects, happy, but not in a manner that can or ought to last, - but enough of that. The worst of it is, I feel quite enervated and indifferent. I really do not know, if Jupiter were to offer me my choice of the contents of his benevolent cask, what I would pick out of it. If I was born, as the nurses say, with a silver spoon in my mouth,' it has stuck in my throat, and spoiled my palate, so that nothing put into it is swallowed with much relish, unless it be cayenne. However, I have grievances enough to occupy me that way too;-but for fear of adding to yours by this pestilent long diatribe, I postpone the reading of them, sine die.

"I beg leave, then, to inform these gentlemen (whoever they may be) that I am a little surprised at the previous neglect of the deceased, and also at observing an advertisement of an approaching publication on Saturday next, against the which I protested, and do protest for the present. "Yours (or theirs), &c.

"B."

August 5. 1814. "The Edinburgh Review is arrived thanks. I enclose Mr. Hobhouse's letter, from which you will perceive the work you have made. However, I have done : you must send my rhymes to the devil your own way. It seems, also, that the 'faithful and spirited likeness' is another of your publications. I wish you joy of it; but it is no likeness-that is the point. Seriously, if I have delayed your journey to Scotland, I am sorry that you carried your complaisance so far; particularly as upon trifles you have a more summary method ;-witness the grammar of Hobhouse's 'bit of prose,' which has put him and me into a fever.

,

Hogg must translate his own words: lifting is a quotation from his letter, toge ther with 'God d—n,' &c., which I suppose requires no translation.

"I was unaware of the contents of Mr. Moore's letter; I think your offer very handsome, but of that you and he must judge. If he can get more, you won't wonder that he should accept it.

"Out with Lara, since it must be. The tome looks pretty enough—on the outside. I shall be in town next week, and in the mean time wish you a pleasant journey. "Yours, &c.

"B."

Ær. 26.

LETTER 195.

TO MR. MOORE.

--

August 12. 1814. "I was not alone, nor will be while I can help it. Newstead is not yet decided. Claughton is to make a grand effort by Saturday week to complete, if not, he must give up twenty-five thousand pounds and the estate, with expenses, &c. &c. If I resume the Abbacy, you shall have due notice, and a cell set apart for your reception, with a pious welcome. Rogers I have not seen, but Larry and Jacky came out a few days ago. Of their effect I know nothing.

"There is something very amusing in your being an Edinburgh Reviewer. You know, I suppose, that Thurlow is none of the placidest, and may possibly enact some tragedy on being told that he is only a fool. If, now, Jeffrey were to be slain on account of an article of yours, there would be a fine conclusion. For my part, as Mrs. Winifred Jenkins says, 'he has done the handsome thing by me, particularly in his last number; so, he is the best of men and the ablest of critics, and I won't have him killed-though I dare say many wish he were, for being so good-humoured.

"Before I left Hastings I got in a passion with an ink-bottle, which I flung out of the window one night with a vengeance; - and what then? Why, next morning I was horrified by seeing that it had struck, and split upon, the petticoat of Euterpe's graven image in the garden, and grimed her as if it were on purpose. Only think of my distress, and the epigrams that might be engendered on the Muse and her misadventure.

“I had an adventure almost as ridiculous, at some private theatricals near Cambridge - though of a different description- since I saw you last. I quarrelled with a man in the dark for asking me who I was (insolently enough to be sure), and followed him into the green-room (a stable) in a rage, amongst a set of people I never saw before. He turned out to be a low comedian, engaged to act with the amateurs, and to be a civil-spoken man enough, when he found out that nothing very pleasant was to be got by rudeness. But you would have been amused with the row, and the dialogue, and the dress- or rather the undress of the party, where I had introduced myself in a devil of a hurry, and

1 [A critique on Lord Thurlow's poems had recently appeared in the Edinburgh Review.]

2 His servant had brought him up a large jar of ink, into which, not supposing it to be full, he had thrust his pen down to the very bottom. Enraged, on finding it come out all smeared with ink, he flung the bottle out of

261

the astonishment that ensued. I had gone out of the theatre, for coolness, into the garden; - there I had tumbled over some dogs, and, coming away from them in very ill humour, encountered the man in a worse, which produced all this confusion.

66

Well-and why don't you launch ? '— Now is your time. The people are tolerably tired with me, and not very much enamoured of Wordsworth 3, who has just spawned a quarto of metaphysical blank verse, which is nevertheless only a part of a poem. Murray talks of divorcing Larry and

Jacky- -a bad sign for the authors, who, I suppose, will be divorced too, and throw the blame upon one another. Seriously, I don't care a cigar about it, and I don't see why Sam should.

"Let me hear from and of you and my godson. If a daughter, the name will do quite as well.

LETTER 196.

"Ever, &c."

TO MR. MOORE.

"August 13. 1814.

I wrote yesterday to Mayfield, and have just now enfranked your letter to mamma. My stay in town is so uncertain (not later than next week) that your packets for the north may not reach me ; and as I know not exactly where I am going-however, Newstead is my most probable destination, and if you send your despatches before Tuesday, I can forward them to our new ally. But, after that day, you had better not trust to their arrival in time.

"Lord Kinnaird has been exiled from Paris, on dit, for saying the Bourbons were old women. The Bourbons might have been content, I think, with returning the compliment.

"I told you all about Jacky and Larry yesterday ;- they are to be separated, at least, so says the grand M., and I know no more of the matter. Jeffrey has done me more than justice;' but as to tragedy. um! — I have no time for fiction at present. A man cannot paint a storm with the vessel under bare poles on a lee-shore. When I get to land, I will try what is to be done, and, if I founder, there be plenty of mine elders and betters to console Melpomene.

"When at Newstead, you must come over, if only for a day-should Mrs. M. be exigeante of your presence. The place is worth seeing,

the window into the garden, where it lighted, as here described, upon one of eight leaden Muses, that had been imported, some time before, from Holland, -the ninth having been, by some accident, left behind.

3 [Mr. Wordsworth published, in 1814, his "Excursion; being part of the Recluse, a Foem."]