(which is very beautiful) will be in bad company*. 'But in this case, the lady will not be the sufferer. '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.' TO MR. MOORE. " 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. ance 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 pur'chaser having first taken special care to inquire ""whether I would meet him with temper?"-Cer'tainly. 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. ' 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 " I 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.' LETTER 188. 'This day have I received information from my man of law of the non-and never likely to be-perform * 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. TO MR. MURRAY. 'July 11th, 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.' C TO MR. MURRAY, 'July 18th, 1814. ( 'I think you will be satisfied even to repletion with our northern friendst, 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. 6 '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.' LETTER 189. TO MR. MURRAY. July 23rd, 1814. '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 C an abandonment, of the prefixion to the volumes which you purpose inflicting upon the public. " '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 6 * 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.' † He here refers to an article in the number of the Edinburgh Review, just then published (No. 45), on the Corsair and Bride of Abydos. An engraving by Agar from Phillips's portrait of him. 'Mr. Moore appeared to me in a similar state of inde' termination. 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 C 6 by the fairy Jacqueline. I have been seized with ' all kinds of doubts, &c. &c. since I left London. Pray let me hear from you, and believe me, &c.' July 24th, 1814. The minority must, in this case, carry it, so pray 'let it be so, for I don't care sixpence for any of the ( opinions you mention, on such a subject; and P** 'must be a dunce to agree with them. For my own. part, I have no objection at all; but Mrs. Leigh and ( my cousin must be better judges of the likeness than others; and they hate it; and so I won't have it ' at all. LETTER 190. TO MR. MURRAY. 'Mr. Hobhouse is right as for his conclusion; but I deny the premises. The name only is Spanish*; the 'country is not Spain, but the Morea. 'Waverley is the best and most interesting novel I 'have redde since-I don't know when. I like it as 'much as I hate * *, and * *, and * *, and all the femi'nine trash of the last four months. Besides, it is all C easy to me, I have been in Scotland so much (though 'then young enough too), and feel at home with the 'people, Lowland and Gael. 'A note will correct what Mr. Hobhouse thinks an error (about the feudal system in Spain);-it is not Spain. If he puts a few words of prose anywhere, ( it will set all right. 'I have been ordered to town to vote. I shall dis * Alluding to Lara. If you obey. There is no good in so much prating, since "certain issues strokes should arbitrate." have anything to say, let me hear from you. 'Yours, &c.' LETTER 191. August 3d, 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 publi'cation 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 6 TO MR. MURRAY. 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 bene'dictions 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 Ork * 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 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. neys 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 'home-keeping 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. ፡ 'Hastings, August 3d, 1814. By the time this reaches your dwelling, I shall '(God wot) be in town again probably. I have been 'here renewing my acquaintance 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,-and listening to my friend Hodgson's raptures ahout a pretty wife-elect of his,-and walk'ing on cliffs, and tumbling down hills, and making 'the most of the "dolce far-niente" for the last fort'night. 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" happiest of men;" so, it is worth while being here, if only to witness the superlative felicity of 'these foxes, who have cut off their tails, and would 'persuade the rest to part with their brushes to keep 'them in countenance. ' TO MR. MOORE. ( It rejoiceth me that you like "Lara." Jeffrey is ' out with his 45th Number, which I suppose you have got. He is only too 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.-the |