New-York tribune., 1878-12-18
LORD AND LADY BYRON.
,,ru ,prrpps AND A NEW POEM.


d,sa and h. made his WILL Hodgson was
ono Of three persons to whom he bequeathed
his "househOld goods and furniture horary'
pctures ssbres watches plate, nen trnKets anu oni
personal estate Except money and seour1tes) situate
within the walls of the mansion house" Two volumes
of memoirs OF Francis Ho1gson have just been printed
In london by Macmillan Co., and a single copy only
of the advance sheets has been received IN TINS country
These memoirs contain poem and several letters from
Lord Byron that before given 10 the Woru
The poem is dated Newstead Abbey, August 26. 1871,
and is follows:
In the dome Of my sires as the clear moonbeam falls
Through silence aud shade Ger It's desoIate Wsiis'
It silds but II warns not-'tis dazzling, but cold.
let the sunbeam be bright the younger OF days;
the light Inat snOu m & a1S the d%s on the gfound
Aud the long shadow fingers the ruin around
And the step that oerechoes the gray floor OF stone,
Fails sullenly now, for tits only my own
Aud sunk are the voices that sounded In miIth,
And empty the goblets aud dreary the hearth
And vain each effort TO raise and recall
The brightness OF old to tumine our nall;
AND vain was the hope to avert our decline,
And the fate OF my fathers has iaded 70 mine.
And theirs was the wealth and the fulness Of fame
Aud m-ne To inherit TOO naughty name -
Aud theirs were the times and tSe tumpns OF yore'
And mine to regret, but renew them no more
And ruin is fixed on my tower and my wall,
Too hoary to fade and too massy to iah Ill
But the wreck line that have (si held it in sway
This poem was written two months after Byrous
return to England and about three weeks after
his mother died. He had also just lost two intimate
friends To his friend Mr.. Dallas, the day before he
wrote the poem. he said in letter: You Will excuse
ali this for have nothing to say in this lone mansion
but OF myself, and yet I would willingly talk or
think OF aught else" Lord Byron returned from
the East, as 1t is well known. with his "Paraphrase
of Horaces Art OF Poetry" which he thought would
yield him additional fame, and Childe Harold"
which he thought would yield him little or none IL
was weeks before the date OF the above poem that
he was induced let MIR. Murray publish "Childe Hsr-
old" The memoirs of Hodgson, contain unpublished
letters from Byron, Lady Byron, Mrs. Augusta Leigh
tByrons sister, Thomas Moore, and many more eminent
In literature fifty and sixty years ago. Byron and Hob
house. after travelling together about year. separated
Hobhouse returning England while Byron set out for
Greece alone. Writing TO Hodgson Of this, he said:
have known hundred instances OF men setting out
in couples one of similar return. Aberdeen's
party split several voyagers present have done the
same. am confident that twelve months OF any given
individual Is perfect lpecacuanha
In November he In Athens and sent the following
bits of autobiography to bis friend:
am living alone in the Franciscan monastery with
eoO WS ASa1an
Tartar and Dragoman my only Englishnan departs
s' Athens with I the Mutt Of T Thsbes "a sort Of
convent, and my attic feast went of with great ecat
tsel. have had present Of stallion from the Pacha
was blown ashore the Island Of saams, in my way
an Athenian postmaster Ihave friendship with tho
FrencD Consul and Italian painter, and good
terms with five TeutOnes and Cmbri, Danes and Ger
MANS who are travelling for academy. Vale.
He liked the Pacbas One OF them called him " his
son desired his compliments my mother, and said he
was sure man OF birth, because / had small
ears and curling hair"
Francis Hodgson was Byron's senior by seven
years. In his time he well known as
writer The friendship began IN March.
1908, when Byron went to Cambridge to take
his NJ A. degree. They had both been severely criti
Tdfa DanSs,a and Hod0 had oil.
ready answered his critics in satire of ordinary
spirit and power" Byrons famous reply was in prepa-
ration That they talked upon this subject freely can
not be doubted Their early tastes in poetry much
alike. Both jealous admirers OF Dryden and both
had profound reverence for Pope But in religious
matters they were not OF the mind. Hodgson
son of clergyman and himself entered holy orders,
rising eventually to the post Of Provost OF EtOn Lord
Byron had been reared in Calvinsm. and taught from
boyhood identify it with Christianity. Being early
dsgused" he says with a Calvinisto Scotch school
where eudgeed to church for the hrst ten years
of my hfe afflicted me with this malady." They had
correspondence in September. 1S11 on the subject OF
revealed religion Lord Byron wrote
Itis little hard to send man preaching to Judea,
dark as their compilations, without OF light Tor 80
many years to LEAD them on mgh; ana VINO viii @ 9esHe @
were never TAUGHT hope am slncere was so at
had neither friend comforter hope to sustain
me- Hooked TO death as q reliet from pain without
Furnishes in this existence had left that last asylum for
the weary. am no Plstonls am nothing at al but
Gentle. Pyrrhonian, Zoroastisn, than one Of the
other. Talk OF Galeeismf Show me the effects-are
BRING ten MussIlmans who shall shame you all in good
will toward men, prayers to God and duty to their neigh
bors.
And again:
thrust that God is not Jer but the God of all
kind and, you allow that yirtuous Gentle may be
ayad dO WI on
ci Christian i do not believe in any revealed religion,
sSsS % aa@S @e for non throw
myself on the mercy OF Great First Cause least
SnssSs
Dther life, whatever 1t may In this.
In spite of these passages HodgsOn was not without
hope for his friend He believed him thoroughly sincere
In his belief and his unbelie and that he became
moro mature his unbelief being gradually relin
qushed- But at this point there sudden wreck
to his domestic happiness which plunged him into
hopeess cynicsm. To the original manuscript Of the
"Episte to Friend" in which Byron describes himself
Suit with the sablest the times,
Hodgson appended this note an. B.-Tbe poor dear
soul meant nothing of thls-F. H." HOdgson however,
good opinion of Shelley. He calls him one OF
the most worthless OF his contemporaries" Some years
afterward Byron's sister gave him Bible, which he
carried with him to Italy and Greece. After his death
the following lines. which not published with his
works. were found
Within this awful volume lies
The mystery OF mysteries.
Obi happiest they Of human race,
To whom our God has given grace.
To hear, 10 read, to fear TO pray.
To lift the latch. and force the way;
But better had they neer been born
Who read 70 doubt or read 10 scorn
To these the following fragment is added:
oh that to me the wings were given
Which bear the turtle to her nest;
Then would cleave the vault or heaven,
And nee ana be al rest.