Lord Byron.
The Times, 1824-10-26T00:00:00

ut nis early poems, Lorl Byron savs-" lWhen I first saw the review Of Hours of I deness, I was faiious-in such a rage as I bave never been in since. I dined that day with Scrope Davis, and Trank three bottles of claret to drown it, but it only boiled the more. That czrtque was a master-piece of low wit-_a tissue of scurrilous abus.e I remember there wan a great leal of vulgar trash in it, that was meant far humour, about ' people being thankfuil for what they could get;' looking a gift horse in thc mouth,' and other uuch stable expressions. The severity of the Quarterly killetd Por Keats, and neglect Kirke White: but I waS made of dif- ferent stufF-of tougher materials. So far frosn bullying me, or deterring se from writing, I iwes bent on falsifying their raven predictions, and determined to show them, croak as they would, that it was not the last tiute they should hear from me. I set to work immediately, and in good earnest, and produced in a year The Pngltsh Bard.s cnd Scotch Reviewers. I had good grounds to believe that Jeffrey (though, perhaps, really, responsible for whatever appears in the Rditrbaught as Gifforri is for the Quartcrly, as Editor) was not the author of that article-was not guiltv of it. Hle disowned it, an( though he would not give up theaggressor, he said he would convince me, if I ever came to Scotland, who the person vwas. I have every reason to believe it was a certain lawyer, who bated nme for something I once said of him." -" But there was another reason that influenced me, more even than mv cool rdtentment against Jeffrey, to suppress RBiglish Bards and Scotch Reiewersa. In thc duel scene I had unconsciously made a part of the ridicule to fall on Aloore. The fact was, that there was r.o Imputation on the courage of either of the principals. One of thc balls feUl out iR the carriage, and was lost; and the seconds, not having a further supply, drew the remaining one. Shortlv after this publication I went abroad, and Aloore was so o0- fendd by the mention of the leadless pistols, that hes addressed a letter to me in the nature of a challenge, deliverinig it to the care of AMr. Hanson, but without nequaintiRg him with the contents. This letter *Yas mislai(d: at least never forwarded to me. But en my re- turn to England in 1812, an inquiry was made by Mloore if f had received such a letter, adding that particular circumstances (mean- ing his marriage, or perhaps the suppression of my satire) had now tered his situation, and that he wished to reca1l the letter, and to be known to me through Rogers. ! was shy of this mode of ar- ezangsigmatters-one hand presenting a pistol, and another held out to shake and felt awkward at the loss of a letter of such a nature, and the imputations it might have given rise to: but when. after a considerable search, it was at length found, I retumed it to Aleore, with the seal unbroken; and we have since been the best friends in the world. I correspond with no one so regularly as with Mloore." Tbe following is Captain Aledwin's notice of the Countess Guic- cioli-.the lady who maintained the longest and greatest influence ever Lord Byron in Italy:- " He dined at half an hour after sunset, (at twenty-four o'clock;) tien dlrove to Count Gamba's, th- Countess Guiccioli's father passed several hours in her society, returned to his palace, and either read or wrote till two or three in the morning; occasionally drinking spirits diluted with water as a medicine, from a dread of a nephrittc complaint, to which he was, or fancied himself, subject- -such was his life at Pisa. e Countess Guiccioli is twenty-three years of age, though she IaJ-pears no more than seventeen or eighteen. Unlike most of tbe Itaian wornen. her complexion is delica4ely fair. Her eyes, large, dark, and langiuishing, are shaded by the longest eyelashes in the world; and her hair, which is ungathered on her head, plays over her falling shoulders in a profusion of natural ringlets of the darkest auburn. Her figure is, perhaps, too much em,sbonpoizt for her height, but her bust is perfect; her features want little of possessing a Grecian regularity ot- outline; and she has the most beautiful mouth and teeth imaginable. It is impossible to see without ad. mirmn to hear the Guiccioli speak wi;hout being fascinated. Her amiabilsty anid gentleness show themselves in every intonation of her voice, which and the music of her perfect Italian, give a peculiar charm to every thing she utters. Grace and elegance seem centpo- snent parts of her nature. Notwithstanding that she adores Lord Byron, it is evident that the exile and poverty of her aged father sometimes affect her spirits, and th1row a shade of melancholy on her countenance, which adds to the deep interest this lovely girl creates. " Extraordinary pains (said Lord Bvron one day) were taken with the education of Teresa. Her conversation is lively, without being frivolous: without being learned, she has read all the best ;authors of her own and the French language. She often conceals what she knows, from the fear of being thought to know too much ; possibly because she knows I am not fond of blues To use an ex- pression of Jeflrey's, i If she has blue stoclkings, she contrives her petticoat shall hide them.' " " Lord Bvron is certainly very much attached to her, without beingactually in love. His description of the Giorgione, in the lanfrini palace at Venice. is meant fcr the Countess. The beauti- ful s,onnet prefixed to the Prophecy of Daaitc was addressedl to her; and I cannot resist copying some stanzas written when he was about tO quit Venice to join her at Ravennwa, which will describe the sSate of his ferlings at that time." v * c , a O The following is lIord Byron's opinion of Rogers "(lMedwin.) Is there one line of that poem (The Pleasures of Aremorv) that lies nut been altered and re-altered, till it would be difficult to detect in the patch-work any thing like the texture of the original stuff?" " (Byron.)-WtJell, if thcre is not a line or a word that has not been canvassed, and madc the subject of separate epistolary discussion, what does that prove but the general nierit of the whole piece ? And the c-orrespondence will be valuable by and by, an<l save the commentators a vast deal of labour and waste of ingenuity. People ido wisest who take care of their fame when they have got it. That is the rock I have split on. It has been said that he has been puffied into notice by liis dinners and Lady Holland. Though he giveg very good ones, and female Mlrecenases are no bad things now-a- laysd it is by ngtneans true. Ka, gers, has been a spoilt child; no 7OD er tTiatTi is arltde vamin and jealous. And yet he deals praise Tvery liberally sometimes ; for he wrote to a little friend of mine, on the.9ccaion of lics late publication, ' that he was born wsith a rose- bud in hia mouth, and a nightingale singing in hIis eat'-two very nretiily turned Orientalis8ss. Before my wife and the world quar- relled with me, and brought me into disrepute with the public, Rogers had composed some very pretty commendatory verses on nae ; but they wvere kept corked utl for many long years under hope that I might reform and get into favour with the world again, and that the said lines (for he is rather costive and does not like to throw aray his effusions3 might find a place 'in human life.' But after a frreat deal of escillation, and many a sigh at their hard destiny- their still-born fate-they were hermictically sealed, anid adieu to my inmortality." a * " Rogers is the only man I know whio can write epigrams, anid abarp bone-cutters too, in two lines; for insttance, that on an Al.P., (nnw a Peer) who had reviewed his book, and said he wrote very well for a Banker- 'They say he has no lleart, and I dieny it, " ' ie has a heart-and geta his speecies by it.' " 'The following is his lordshIp's opinion of Campbell 't The conversatlon turned afterdinner on the lyrical poetry of the dsy, and a question arose as to which was the most perfect Ode that hbd bcen preduced- Shelley contended for Coleridge's on Switzer. land, beginning ' -e clouds,' &c.; otheisnanied some of floore's Iri.sh Melodies, and Caniphell's Hohenlinden; and, bad Lord lyron not been present, his own Invocation to ,lanfred, or Ode to Napoleon, or on Pronmetheus, might have been cited. " I,ike G)ray," 9aid he, " Camnpbell smells too much of tite oil lhz is never satisfied with what he noes: his finest tliings have been apoi'ed by over pmolish-the sharpness of the outline is worn off. Like paintings, poems may be too highly finished. The great art is effect, no matter llow prodluced. " I will show you asl ode You have never seen, that I consider little inferior to the best whichI the present prolific age has brought fbrth. WVith this he left the ttable, almost before the cloth was re- moved, and returned with a magazine, from which lie read the f4l. IDwing lines an Sir John 5foore's burial, which perhaps require no apology for fluding a place here:- " ' Not a drum was heard, not a futneral note, " ' As his corse to the ramparts was hurried " ' Not a soldier discharged his farewell sliot i ' O'er the grave where our bero we've buried. 'lire buried hiiti darkly at dead of nighit, " ' TIe sods with our bayonets turning.-_ .'By the struggling moonbeam's misty ilght, "'And the lantern dimly burning. N ' No useless coffin confined his breast, I Nor in slteet nor in shreud we bound him 'But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, "' With his martial cloak around him. " ' Few and short were the pratyers we said, I And we spoke not a word of sorrow; 'Buit we steadfastly gazed on the fare of the dead, " 'And wrc bitterly chought of the morrow. We thoug t, as we hean'd his neirrow bed, And sniooth'd down his lonely pillow., "'That the foe and the stranger would tread oter his head, " ' And we far ta'vay on the billow ! " Lightly, they'll tallc of the spirit that's gone, I' And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him; But nothing he'll reck. if they let him sleep on "I'In- the grave where a Briton has laid him. s '+ B-at balf or our heavy las's v/as done, *f""WLen the clock told the hour for retiring; 5 c-swsd,e heard by the distant and random gun, Ts Tat- the foe was suddenly firing. 4-XSl'onvIyand sadly w'elaid him down. Fro mm- the field of his famwe fresh and gorv; :"PV Wc carived not a line, we raised not a stonc; "I';B tt we left him alone with his glory.' -Tlhef'eeling viith which he recited these admirable stanzas, I shahImievef forget. After he liad cosr e to an end, he repeated the third, aand said it was perfect, particularly the lines "' I But he lay like a warrior takihg his rest, " ' With his inartial cloak around him.' " I should have taken," said Shelley, " the whole for a rough sketch of Cam pbell's." >,"No," replied liord Byrop: " Canmpbell would have claimed it, if it liad been his." " I afterwards had reason to think that tie ode was Lord Byron's, that he was piqued at none of his own being mentioned: aeid, afer le had praised the verses so highly, cotuld not own tilem. No other reason can be assigned for his not ackinowledging himselr the author, particula rly ais e was a great adinirer of General Alloore. Of MAi - Adaisre deStal he said- " No woman had " muchi botinc foi as Mladame de Stael: hers tas a real kindness of heart. She took the greatest possible interest Amm tri arrel with Lady Byron, or rather Lady Byron's wvith m e, nsad esome irpluenceovermy wofeas much as anyperson but her Siother, wsidh is not saying muoh. I believe Madame she Staeldid her utt. ost to bring about ni reconciliation between us. She was the best creature in the worid."' of G oleridge he had the highest opinion- " Coleridge is like Sosie in Amphitryon ; he does not know 14heatbe is hitselt or not. If he lhad inever Fone to Germatmy, hiorsptilt his finr genius by the tri@6cetidentrl philosophy and (;er. snan s metaphysic nor taken to write lay sennons, hc would have de the greatest Poet of the day . What Poets lad we in 1795 ? ad got a monopoly, se it as it -was; Coletidge migh t 'rv bcn any tt: ing: as it is, he is a thing that dreams are a lb0 I ' l1ns corro borated in tblse opJnton lately by& lady whose brother Sacelved It many years ago from be ord Byron, in h is Lordship's own LORD BYRON. PVURTfnr ESTRACTS FRO!? CAI'TAIJN MMDWrINS 3OURNLAL