[Footnote 1: See page 104 [Letter 53], [Foot]note 2 [1].]
[Footnote 2: Thomas Moore (1779-1852) had already published "Anacreon"
(1800), "The Poetical Works of the late Thomas Little" (1801), and "Odes, Epistles, and other Poems" (1806). In all, especially in the second, the poetry was of an erotic character.
"So heartily," said Rogers ("Table-Talk, etc.", pp. 281, 282), "has Moore repented of having published "Little"s Poems", that I have seen him shed tears--tears of deep contrition--when we were talking of them. Young ladies read his "Lalla Rookh" without being aware (I presume) of the grossness of "The Veiled Prophet". These lines by Mr.
Sneyd are amusing enough--
"""Lalla Rookh"
Is a naughty book By Tommy Moore, Who has written four, Each warmer Than the former.
So the most recent Is the least decent.""]
62.--To Captain John Leacroft. [1]
January 31, 1807.
Sir,--Upon serious reflection on the conversation we last night held, I am concerned to say, that the only effectual method to crash the animadversions of officious malevolence, is by my declining all future intercourse with those whom my acquaintance has unintentionally injured. At the same time I must observe that I do not form this resolution from any resentment at your representation, which was temperate and gentlemanly, but from a thorough conviction that the desirable end can be attained by no other line of conduct.
I beg leave to return my thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Leacroft, for the attention and hospitality I have always experienced, of which I shall ever retain a grateful remembrance.
So much to them; with your permission, I must add a few words for myself. You will be sensible, that a coolness between families, hitherto remarkable for their intimacy, cannot remain un.o.bserved in a town, whose inhabitants are notorious for officious curiosity; that the causes for our separation will be mis-represented I have little doubt; if, therefore, I discover that such misrepresentation does take place, I shall call upon you, to unite with myself in making a serious example of those _men_, be they _who_ they may, that dare to cast an aspersion on the character I am sacrificing my own comfort to protect.
If, on the other hand, they imagine, that my conduct is the consequence of intimidation, from my conference with you, I must require a further explanation of what pa.s.sed between us on the subject, as, however careful I am of your Sister"s honour, I am equally tenacious of my own.
I do not wish this to be misconstrued into any desire to quarrel; it is what I shall endeavour to avoid; but, as a young man very lately entered into the world, I feel compelled to state, that I can permit no suspicion to be attached to my name with impunity.
I have the honour to remain,
Your very obedient Servant,
BYRON.
[Footnote 1: This and the two following letters refer to a quarrel between Byron and the Leacroft family, which arose from his attentions to Miss Julia Leacroft. Moore"s statement, that Captain Leacroft, the lady"s brother (see page 34 [Letter 12], [foot]note 3), sent a challenge to Byron, who was at first inclined to accept it, is inaccurate. But it is possible that Byron was acting on the advice of the Rev. J. T.
Becher, when he decided, in order to prevent misunderstanding, to break off his acquaintance with the Leacrofts absolutely.]
63.--To Captain John Leacroft.
February 4th, 1807.
Sir,--I have just received your note, which conveys all that can be said on the subject. I can easily conceive your feelings must have been irritated in the course of the affair. I am sorry that I have been the unintentional cause of so disagreeable a business. The line of conduct, however painful to myself, which I have adopted, is the only effectual method to prevent the remarks of a _meddling world_. I therefore again take my leave for the last time. I repeat, that, though the intercourse, from which I have derived so many hours of happiness, is for ever interrupted, the remembrance can never be effaced from the bosom of
Your very obedient Servant,
BYRON.
64.--To Captain John Leacroft.
February 4th, 1807.
Sir,--I am concerned to be obliged again to trouble you, as I had hoped that our conversations had terminated amicably. Your good Father, it seems, has desired otherwise; he has just sent a most _agreeable_ epistle, in which I am honoured with the appellations of _unfeeling_ and ungrateful. But as the consequences of all this must ultimately fall on you and myself, I merely write this to apprise you that the dispute is not of my seeking, and that, if we must cut each other"s throats to please our relations, you will do me the justice to say it is from no _personal_ animosity between us, or from any insult on my part, that such _disagreeable_ events (for I am not so much enamoured of quarrels as to call them _pleasant_) have arisen.
I remain, your"s, etc.,
BYRON.
65.-To the Earl of Clare. [1]
Southwell, Notts, February 6, 1807.
My Dearest Clare,--Were I to make all the apologies necessary to atone for my late negligence, you would justly say you had received a pet.i.tion instead of a letter, as it would be filled with prayers for forgiveness; but instead of this, I will acknowledge my _sins_ at once, and I trust to your friendship and generosity rather than to my own excuses. Though my health is not perfectly re-established, I am out of all danger, and have recovered every thing but my spirits, which are subject to depression. You will be astonished to hear I have lately written to Delawarr, [2] for the purpose of explaining (as far as possible without involving some _old friends_ of mine in the business) the cause of my behaviour to him during my last residence at Harrow (nearly two years ago), which you will recollect was rather "_en cavalier_." Since that period, I have discovered he was treated with injustice both by those who misrepresented his conduct, and by me in consequence of their suggestions. I have therefore made all the reparation in my power, by apologizing for my mistake, though with very faint hopes of success; indeed I never expected any answer, but desired one for form"s sake; _that_ has not yet arrived, and most probably never will. However, I have _eased_ my own _conscience_ by the atonement, which is humiliating enough to one of my disposition; yet I could not have slept satisfied with the reflection of having, _even unintentionally_, injured any individual. I have done all that could be done to repair the injury, and there the affair must end.
Whether we renew our intimacy or not is of very trivial consequence.
My time has lately been much occupied with very different pursuits. I have been _transporting_ a servant, [3] who cheated me,--rather a disagreeable event;--performing in private theatricals; [4]--publishing a volume of poems (at the request of my friends, for their perusal);--making love,--and taking physic. The two last amus.e.m.e.nts have not had the best effect in the world; for my attentions have been divided amongst so many fair damsels, and the drugs I swallow are of such variety in their composition, that between Venus and aesculapius I am hara.s.sed to death. However, I have still leisure to devote some hours to the recollections of past, regretted friendships, and in the interval to take the advantage of the moment, to a.s.sure you how much I am, and ever will be, my dearest Clare,
Your truly attached and sincere
BYRON.
[Footnote 1: John Fitzgibbon (1792-1851), son of the first Earl of Clare, by his wife Anne Whaley, succeeded his father as second Earl in January, 1802. A schoolfellow of Byron"s at Harrow, he was the "Lycus"
of "Childish Recollections," and one of his dearest friends. Clare, after leaving Harrow, went to a private tutor, the Rev. Mr. Smith, at Woodnesborough, near Sandwich. There he formed so close a friendship with Lord John Russell as to provoke Byron"s jealousy ("Life", p. 21).
Clare was at Christ Church, Oxford (B.A. 1812); Byron at Trinity, Cambridge. They rarely met after leaving Harrow. Their meeting on the road between Imola and Bologna in 1821,
"annihilated for a moment," says Byron (see "Life", p. 540; "Detached Thoughts", November 5, 1821), "all the years between the present time and the days of Harrow. We were but five minutes together, and on the public road; but I hardly recollect an hour of my existence which could be weighed against them. Of all I have ever known, he has always been the least altered in everything from the excellent qualities and kind affections which attached me to him so strongly at school. I should hardly have thought it possible for society (or the world, as it is called) to leave a being with so little of the leaven of bad pa.s.sions. I do not speak from personal experience only, but from all I have ever heard of him from others, during absence and distance."
Lord Clare was Governor of Bombay from 1830 to 1834.]