Who"s so d.a.m.nably bit With fashion and Wit, That he crawls on the surface like Vermin, But an Insect in both,-- By his Intellect"s growth, Of what size you may quickly determine.[94]
Venice, _January_ 8, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 156, 157; stanzas 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, first published, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 191-193.]
FOOTNOTES:
[84] [The Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_.]
[85] [Murray bought a half-share in _Blackwood"s Edinburgh Monthly Magazine_ in August, 1818, and remained its joint proprietor till December, 1819, when it became the property of William Blackwood. But perhaps the reference is to Byron"s Swiss Journal of September, 1816.]
[86] [Henry Gaily Knight (1786-1846), who was a contemporary of Byron at Trinity College, Cambridge, was a poetaster, and, afterwards, a writer of works on architecture. His Oriental verses supplied Byron with a subject for more than one indifferent _jeu d"esprit_.]
[87] [_Phrosyne_, a Grecian tale, and _Alashtar_, an Arabian tale, were published in 1817. In a letter to Murray, September 4, 1817, Byron writes, "I have received safely, though tardily, the magnesia and tooth-powder, _Phrosine_ and _Alashtar_. I shall clean my teeth with one, and wipe my shoes with the other."--_Letters_, 1901, iv.]
[88] [Sotheby"s _Farewell to Italy_ and _Occasional Poems_ were published in 1818, as the record of a tour which he had taken in 1816-17 with his family, Professor Elmsley, and Dr. Playfair. For Byron"s unfinished skit on Sotheby"s Tour, see _Letters_, 1900, iv. Appendix V.
pp. 452, 453.]
[89] [_Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters of Books and Men_, by the Rev. Joseph Spence, arranged, with notes, by the late Edmund Malone, Esq., 1 vol. 8vo, 1820.]
[90] [_The Life of Mary Queen of Scots_, by George Chalmers, 2 vols.
4to, 1819.]
[91] [Thomas Gordon (1788-1841) entered the Scots Greys in 1808. Two years later he visited Ali Pasha (see _Letters_, 1898, i. 246, _note_ 1) in Albania, and travelled in Persia and Turkey in the East. From 1813 to 1815 he served in the Russian Army. He wrote a _History of the Greek Revolution_, 1832, 2 vols., but it does not appear that he was negotiating with Murray for the publication of any work at this period.]
[92] _Vide_ your letter.
[93] [Probably Sir Robert John Wilmot (1784-1841) (afterwards Wilmot Horton), Byron"s first cousin, who took a prominent part in the destruction of the "Memoirs," May 17, 1824. (For Lady Wilmot Horton, the original of "She walks in beauty," see _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 381, _note_ I.)]
[94] [Stanzas 12, 13, 14 cannot be published.]
ON THE BIRTH OF JOHN WILLIAM RIZZO HOPPNER.[95]
HIS father"s sense, his mother"s grace, In him, I hope, will always fit so; With--still to keep him in good case-- The health and appet.i.te of Rizzo.
_February_ 20, 1818.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, ii. 134.]
FOOTNOTES:
[95] [Richard Belgrave Hoppner (1786-1872), second son of John Hoppner, R.A., was appointed English Consul at Venice, October, 1814. (See _Letters_, 1900, iv. 83, _note_ I.) The quatrain was translated (see the following poem) into eleven different languages--Greek, Latin, Italian (also the Venetian dialect), German, French, Spanish, Illyrian, Hebrew, Armenian, and Samaritan, and printed "in a small neat volume in the seminary of Padua." For nine of these translations see _Works_, 1832, xi. pp. 324-326, and 1891, p. 571. Rizzo was a Venetian surname. See W.
Stewart Rose"s verses to Byron, "Grinanis, Mocenijas, Baltis, Rizzi, Compa.s.sionate our cruel case," etc., _Letters_, iv. 212.]
[E NIHILO NIHIL; OR AN EPIGRAM BEWITCHED.]
OF rhymes I printed seven volumes--[96]
The list concludes John Murray"s columns: Of these there have been few translations[97]
For Gallic or Italian nations; And one or two perhaps in German-- But in this last I can"t determine.
But then I only sung of pa.s.sions That do not suit with modern fashions; Of Incest and such like diversions Permitted only to the Persians, Or Greeks to bring upon their stages-- But that was in the earlier ages Besides my style is the romantic, Which some call fine, and some call frantic; While others are or would seem _as_ sick Of repet.i.tions nicknamed Cla.s.sic.
For my part all men must allow Whatever I was, I"m cla.s.sic now.
I saw and left my fault in time, And chose a topic all sublime-- Wondrous as antient war or hero-- Then played and sung away like Nero, Who sang of Rome, and I of Rizzo: The subject has improved my wit so, The first four lines the poet sees Start forth in fourteen languages!
Though of seven volumes none before Could ever reach the fame of four, Henceforth I sacrifice all Glory To the Rinaldo of my Story: I"ve sung his health and appet.i.te (The last word"s not translated right-- He"s turned it, G.o.d knows how, to vigour)[98]
I"ll sing them in a book that"s bigger.
Oh! Muse prepare for thy Ascension!
And generous Rizzo! thou my pension.
_February_, 1818.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for the first time printed.]
FOOTNOTES:
[96] [Byron must have added the Fourth Canto of _Childe Harold_ to the complete edition of the _Poetical Works_ in six volumes. See Murray"s list, dated "Albemarle Street, London, January, 1818." The seventh volume of the Collected Works was not issued till 1819.]
[97] [A French translation of the _Bride of Abydos_ appeared in 1816, an Italian translation of the _Lament of Ta.s.so_ in 1817. Goethe (see _Letters_, 1901, v. 503-521) translated fragments of _Manfred_ in 1817, 1818, but the earliest German translation of the entire text of _Manfred_ was issued in 1819.]
[98] [See the last line of the Italian translation of the quatrain.]
TO MR. MURRAY.
1.
Strahan, Tonson, Lintot of the times,[99]
Patron and publisher of rhymes, For thee the bard up Pindus climbs, My Murray.
2.
To thee, with hope and terror dumb, The unfledged MS. authors come; Thou printest all--and sellest some-- My Murray.
3.
Upon thy table"s baize so green The last new Quarterly is seen,-- But where is thy new Magazine,[100]
My Murray?
4.
Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine The works thou deemest most divine-- The Art of Cookery,[101] and mine, My Murray.
5.
Tours, Travels, Essays, too, I wist, And Sermons, to thy mill bring grist; And then thou hast the _Navy List_, My Murray.