Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-12-24
THE SON OF LORD BYRON.
A "Reminiscences.

see story going the rounds of the
Western press concerning somebody who
is representing himself to, be the natural
son of the great English poet, Lord By
ron, which reminds me of little story"
as the late Mr.. Lincoln would say, and
one which, with your permission, / will
relate as briefly as "Spectator" knows
how:
Some twelve years ago, or thereabouts,
the hospitable mansion of a well-known
Baptist clergyman in Twelfth street, not
far from Third Avenue, was the favorite
resort of select coterie of well known
literary gentleman, who used to come to-
gether of Saturday night to talk over
the events of the week, enjoy one an.
Others bon mots, and work up the next
weeks newspaper or magazine, with
which the most of them were associated
That little back parlor in Twelfth street,
in short, was for long while sort of
literary Eden, where everybody was
happy at home There was the philoso-
phical Cornelius Matthews, author of
"Behemoth" and "Other Works." the
brothers Duyckink of the (now, alas !
dead and gomez Literary World; blutf
Tom Picton and Constable of the Era; ;
genial Tom Powell, who once perpetrated
a wicked book called ''The Living Au-
thors of America, which drew down
upon his devoted head the merciless fire
Of Charles Dickens, whom Powell had
offended by mentioning him in the same
breath with the author of 'Behemoth. "
There, too, was Mcmillan, of the En-
prsss, and host of other slaves Of the
lamp"
A good many years, as have said,
have passed since then, and not few of
those good fellows are gone-(well, let
us hope to heayen) but such of them
as are still in the land Of the living will
remember the great sensation which was
created one evening by the Rev. Mr..
C-r-y's announcement that real, gen.
uine, original son of Lord Byron had
tprned up in New York-in fact, just
arrived from England, ETC., with whole
truks fqll OF unpublished poems, and
other valuable MSS" which had been
bequenthed to him somehow hyv bis illus
trious parent. OF course all hands we're
soon dying with impatienoe to take this
astonishing genius by the hand, and hear
him recite some of those wonderful
"poemg." Mine host, the clergyman,
ever ready to crafty his guests, un-
dertook to capture tho lion, and 1t
was not long before the enterprise
was a brilliant success. The son
of Lord Byron WIS introduced to
the little circle, and It was not
a great while before he became "one
of us. Many an hour was spent listen.
ing to his reading of those " unpublished
poems, and many were the common
datory paragraphs written by admirlng
friends for the various newspapers. The
son of Lord Byron was advised to pub
lish the literary remains of his illustri-
Gus father in book. He took that ad-
vice, and Tom Powell got all the jour
nails TO advertise it on tick. Things
now went on swimmingly. The son OF
the noble lord felt grateful for the assist
ance that had bean given him by the
gentlemen OF the press, and he accord
ingly invited them to dinner one tine
afternoon, at one of the most sumptu-
GUS Of the Broadway restaurants. The
game was superb, the wines delicious,
the creams, etc. etc, all your fancy
painted them. Eloquent speeches were
in order. Mutual admiration was in
order. The son of Lord Byran felt
happy. Powell was happy. Picton was
happy. Everybody was happy. it was
a picture of human bliss not often in the
mower of the press-gang TO contemplate.
The only drawback to the enjoyment
of this delightful literary reunion was
the Vulgar reflection that the dinner
would have 10 be paid for before any of
tho gentlemen could be permitted to
leave the house. That was tho mandate
delivered in the imperative mood hon
the boniface of the establishment, at the
same time that he ordered Mr.. Byron
bill TO be presented to him for payment
at sight. The son of Lord Byron took
the document, aud. after " looking enat-
terable things" for a moment or two,
with unassuming dignity drew from his
nooket. not the cash nor cheek for 1t, but
Ibis card. Had the landlord been an
old acouaiutsnce the card would doubt
less have made 1t al right, but as he had
meyer seen the face Of tbs sop Of the illus
,rious Lord Byron till that very day. the
card vas Indignantly flung back IN his
face wi,k sa jntimatiou that if the
iltbv lucre vas not at once forth
coming not only thH son Of the
noble lord, but the entire RsTiF-his
quests = gould be introduced 70 tha
Joha Nornssey Of the hostelry:
Here was a eriast The guests looked
AZ each other aad then looked at the son
~ ,ho nohle lord IL was 4 c3ezE L4so 0f