To judge from his letters to his mother and other evidence (Scott"s testimony, for instance), he was a kindly, well-intentioned man, but lacking in humour. When his father condemned the indecency of the "Monk", he a.s.sured him "that he had not the slightest idea that what he was then writing could injure the principles of any human being." "He was," said Byron, "too great a bore to lie," and the plea is evidently offered in good faith. As a writer, he is memorable chiefly for his sponsorship of German literature. Scott said of him that he had the finest ear for rhythm he ever met with--finer than Byron"s; and Coleridge, in a letter to Wordsworth, Jan., 1798 ("Letters of S. T. C."
(1895), i. 237), and again in "Table Talk" for March 20, 1834, commends his verses. Certainly his ballad of "Crazy Jane," once so famous that ladies took to wearing "Crazy Jane" hats, is of the nature of poetry.
(See "Life", 349, 362, 491, etc.; "Life and Correspondence" of M. G.
Lewis (1839), i. 158, etc.; "Life of Scott", by J. G. Lockhart (1842), pp. 80-83, 94.)] ]
[Footnote 40: "For every one knows little Matt"s an M.P."--See a poem to Mr. Lewis, in "The Statesman", supposed to be written by Mr. Jekyll.
[Joseph Jekyll (d. 1837) was celebrated for his witticisms and metrical "jeux d"esprit" which he contributed to the "Morning Chronicle" and the "Evening Statesman". His election as M.P. for Calne in 1787, at the nomination of Lord Lansdowne, gave rise to "Jekyll, A Political Eclogue"
(see "The Rottiad" (1799), pp. 219-224). He was a favourite with the Prince Regent, at whose instance he was appointed a Master in Chancery in 1815.]]
[Footnote 41: The reader, who may wish for an explanation of this, may refer to "Strangford"s Camoens," p. 127, note to p. 56, or to the last page of the "Edinburgh Review" of Strangford"s Camoens.
[Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, sixth Viscount Strangford (1780-1855), published "Translations from the Portuguese by Luis de Camoens" in 1803.
The note to which Byron refers is on the canzonet "Nao sei quem a.s.sella", "Thou hast an eye of tender blue." It runs thus:
"Locks of auburn and eyes of blue have ever been dear to the sons of song.... Sterne even considers them as indicative of qualities the most amiable.... The Translator does not wish to deem ... this unfounded. He is, however, aware of the danger to which such a confession exposes him--but he flies for protection to the temple of AUREA VENUS."
It may be added that Byron"s own locks were auburn, and his eyes a greyish-blue.]]
[Footnote 42: It is also to be remarked, that the things given to the public as poems of Camoens are no more to be found in the original Portuguese, than in the Song of Solomon.]
[Footnote 43: See his various Biographies of defunct Painters, etc.
[William Hayley (1745-1820) published "The Triumphs of Temper" in 1781, and "The Triumph of Music" in 1804. His biography of Milton appeared in 1796, of Cowper in 1803-4, of Romney in 1809. He had produced, among other plays, "The Happy Prescription" and "The Two Connoisseurs" in 1784. In 1808 he would be regarded as out of date, "hobbling on" behind younger rivals in the race (see E.B., I. 923). For his life and works, see Southey"s article in the "Quarterly Review" (vol. x.x.xi. p. 263). The appeal to "tarts" to "spare the text," is possibly an echo of "The Dunciad", i. 155, 156--
"Of these twelve volumes, twelve of amplest size, Redeemed from topers and defrauded pies."
The meaning of the appeal is fixed by such a pa.s.sage as this from "The Blues", where the company discuss Wordsworth"s appointment to a Collectorship of Stamps--
""Inkle".
I shall think of him oft when I buy a new hat; There his works will appear.
""Lady Bluemount".
Sir, they reach to the Ganges.
""Inkle".
I sha"n"t go so far. I can have them at Grange"s."
Grange"s was a well-known pastry-cook"s in Piccadilly. In Pierce Egan"s "Life in London" (ed. 1821), p. 70, "note" 1, the author writes, "As I sincerely hope that this work will shrink from the touch of a pastry-cook, and also avoid the foul uses of a trunk-maker ... I feel induced now to describe, for the benefit of posterity, the pedigree of a Dandy in 1820."]
[Footnote 44: Hayley"s two most notorious verse productions are "Triumphs of Temper" and "The Triumph of Music". He has also written much Comedy in rhyme, Epistles, etc., etc. As he is rather an elegant writer of notes and biography, let us recommend POPE"S advice to WYCHERLEY to Mr. H."s consideration, viz., "to convert poetry into prose," which may be easily done by taking away the final syllable of each couplet.]
[Footnote 45: Lines 319-326 do not form part of the original "MS". A slip of paper which contains a fair copy of the lines in Byron"s handwriting has been, with other fragments, bound up with Dallas"s copy of "British Bards". In the "MS". this place is taken by a pa.s.sage and its pendant note, which Byron omitted at the request of Dallas, who was a friend of Pratt"s:--
"In verse most stale, unprofitable, flat-- Come, let us change the scene, and ""glean"" with Pratt; In him an author"s luckless lot behold, Condemned to make the books which once he sold: Degraded man! again resume thy trade-- The votaries of the Muse are ill repaid, Though daily puffs once more invite to buy A new edition of thy "Sympathy.""
"Mr. Pratt, once a Bath bookseller, now a London author, has written as much, to as little purpose, as any of his scribbling contemporaries. Mr.
P."s "Sympathy" is in rhyme; but his prose productions are the most voluminous."
Samuel Jackson Pratt (1749-1814), actor, itinerant lecturer, poet of the Cruscan school, tragedian, and novelist, published a large number of volumes. His "Gleanings" in England, Holland, Wales, and Westphalia attained some reputation. His "Sympathy; a Poem" (1788) pa.s.sed through several editions. His pseudonym was Courtney Melmoth. He was a patron of the cobbler-poet, Blacket] ]
[Footnote 46: Mr. Grahame has poured forth two volumes of Cant, under the name of "Sabbath Walks" and "Biblical Pictures". [James Grahame (1765-1811), a lawyer, who subsequently took Holy Orders. "The Sabbath", a poem, was published anonymously in 1804; and to a second edition were added "Sabbath Walks". "Biblical Pictures" appeared in 1807.]
[Footnote 47: The Rev. W. Lisle Bowles (1768-1850). His edition of Pope"s "Works", in ten vols., which stirred Byron"s gall, appeared in 1807. The "Fall of Empires", Tyre, Carthage, etc., is the subject of part of the third book of "The Spirit of Discovery by Sea" (1805). Lines "To a Withered Leaf," are, perhaps, of later date; but the "sear tresses" and "shivering leaves" of "Autumn"s gradual gloom" are familiar images in his earlier poems. Byron"s senior by twenty years, he was destined to outlive him by more than a quarter of a century; but when "English Bards, etc.", was in progress, he was little more than middle-aged, and the "three score years" must have been written in the spirit of prophecy. As it chanced, the last word rested with him, and it was a generous one. Addressing Moore, in 1824, he says ("Childe Harold"s Last Pilgrimage")--
"So Harold ends, in Greece, his pilgrimage!
There fitly ending--in that land renown"d, Whose mighty Genius lives in Glory"s page,-- He on the Muses" consecrated ground, Sinking to rest, while his young brows are bound With their unfading wreath!"
Among his poems are a "Sonnet to Oxford," and "Stanzas on hearing the Bells of Ostend."]
[Footnote 48: "Awake a louder," etc., is the first line in BOWLES"S "Spirit of Discovery": a very spirited and pretty dwarf Epic. Among other exquisite lines we have the following:--
----"A kiss Stole on the list"ning silence, never yet Here heard; they trembled even as if the power," etc., etc.
That is, the woods of Madeira trembled to a kiss; very much astonished, as well they might be, at such a phenomenon.
"Mis-quoted and misunderstood by me; but not intentionally. It was not the "woods," but the people in them who trembled--why, Heaven only knows--unless they were overheard making this prodigious smack."-B., 1816.]
[Footnote 49: The episode above alluded to is the story of "Robert a Machin" and "Anna d"Arfet," a pair of constant lovers, who performed the kiss above mentioned, that startled the woods of Madeira. [See Byron"s letter to Murray, Feb. 7, 1821, "On Bowies" Strictures," "Life", p.
688.]]
[Footnote 50: CURLL is one of the Heroes of the "Dunciad", and was a bookseller. Lord f.a.n.n.y is the poetical name of Lord HERVEY, author of "Lines to the Imitator of Horace".]
[Footnote 51: Lord BOLINGBROKE hired MALLET to traduce POPE after his decease, because the poet had retained some copies of a work by Lord Bolingbroke--the "Patriot King,"--which that splendid, but malignant genius had ordered to be destroyed.]
[Footnote 52: Dennis the critic, and Ralph the rhymester:--
"Silence, ye Wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, Making Night hideous: answer him, ye owls!"
DUNCIAD.