"I presume you are alone in your voyages. Moore is and very well, but till you can persuade me that there is in London incog., according to my latest advices from those climates. "It is better than a lustre (five years and six months and some days, more or less,) since me met; and, like the man from Tadcaster in the farce, ('Love laughs at Locksmiths,') whose acquaintances, including the cat and the terrier, 'who caught a halfpenny in his mouth,' were all gone dead,' but too many of our acquaintances have taken the same path. Lady Melbourne, Grattan, Sheri dan, Curran, &c. &c. almost every body of much name of the old school. But 'so aki not I, said the foolish fat scullion,' therefore let us make the most of our remainder "Let me find two lines from you at 'the hostel or inn.' "Yours ever, &c. "B." LETTER DXXXIII. TO MR. MOORE. "Ravenna, Oct. 28, 1821. T is the middle of night by the castle clock,' and in three hours more I have to set out on my way to Pisa-| sitting up all night to be sure of rising. I have just made them take off my bed-clothes-blankets inclusive-in case of temptation from the apparel of sheets to my eyelids. "Samuel Rogers is-or is to be-at Bologna, as he writes from Venice. no credit and no self-applause to be obtained by being of use to a celebrated man, I must retain the same opinion of the human species, which I do of our friena M. Specie LETTER DXXXIV. TO MR. MURRAY. "Pisa, November 3, 1821. "The two passages cannot be altered without making Lucifer talk like the Bishop of Lincoln, which would not be in the character of the former. The notion is from Cuvier, (that of the old worlds,) as I have explained in an additional note to the preface. The other passage is also in character: if nonsense, so much the better, because then it can do no harm, and the sillier Satan is made, the safer for every body. As to 'alarms,' &c. do you really think such things ever led any body astray? Are these people more impious than Milton's Satan? or the Prometheus of Eschylus? or even than the Sadducees of Milman, the 'Fall of Jerusalem' * * ? Are not Adain Eve, Adah, and Abel, as pious as the catechism? "Gifford is too wise a man to think that such things can have any serious effect: who was ever altered by a poem? I beg leave to observe, that there is no creed nor personal hypothesis of mine in all this; but I was obliged to make Cain and Lucifer talk consistently and surely this has always been permitted to poesy. Cain is a proud "I thought our Magnifico would 'pound you,' if possi-man: if Lucifer promised him kingdom, &c. it would elats ble. He is trying to 'pound' me, too; but I'll specie the rogue-or, at least, I'll have the odd shillings out of him in keen iambics. "Your approbation of 'Sardanapalus' is agreeable, for more reasons than one. Hobhouse is pleased to think as you do of it, and so do some others—but the 'Arimaspian,' whom, like 'a Gryphon in the wilderness,' I will follow for his gold,' (as I exhorted you to do before,) did or doth disparage it stinting me in my sizings.' His notable opinions on the Foscari' and 'Cain' he hath not as yet forwarded; or, at least, I have not yet received them, nor the proofs thereof, though promised by last post. "I see the way that he and his Quarterly people are tending they want a row with me, and they shall have it. I only regret that I am not in England for the nonce; as, here, it is hardly fair ground for me, isolated and out of the way of prompt rejoinder and information, as I am. But, though backed by all the corruption, and infamy, and patronage of their master rogues and slave renegadoes, if they do once rouse me up, They had better gall the devil, Salisbury.' "I have that for two or three of them, which they had better not move me to put in motion;-and yet, after all, what a fool I am to disquiet myself about such fellows! It was all very well ten or twelve years ago, when I was a' curled darling,' and minded such things. At present, rate them at their true value; but, from natural temper and bile, am not able to keep quiet. "Let me hear from you on your return from Ireland, which ought to be ashamed to see you, after her Brunswick blarney. I am of Longman's opinion, that you should allow your friends to liquidate the Bermuda claim. Why should you throw away the two thousand pounds fof the non-guinea Murray) upon that cursed piece of reacherous inveiglement? I think you carry the matter a little too far and scrupulously. When we see patriots begging publicly, and know that Grattan received a fortune from his country, I really do not see why a man, in no whit inferior to any or all of them, should shrink from accepting that assistance from his private friends, which every tradesman receives from his connexions upon much ess occasions. For, after all, it was not your debt-it was a piece of swindling against you. As to ****, and the what noble creatures!' &c. &c. it is all very fine him: the object of the Demon is to depress him still farther in his own estimation than he was before, by showing him infinite things, and his own abasernent, till he falls into the frame of mind that leads to the catastrophe, from more internal irritation, not premeditation, or envy of Abel, (which would have made him contemptible,) but from rage and fury against the inadequacy of his state to his conceptions, and which discharges itself rather against life, and the Author of life, than the mere living. "His subsequent remorse is the natural effect of looking on his sudden deed. Had the deed been premeditated, his repentance would have been tardier. "Either dedicate it to Walter Scott, or, if you think he would like the dedication of 'the Foscaris' better, put the dedication to the Foscaris. Ask him which. I "Your first note was queer enough; but your two other letters, with Moore's and Gifford's opinions, set all right again. I told you before that I can never recast any thing. am like the tiger: if I miss the first spring, I go grumbing back to my jungle again; but if I do hit, it is crushing. You disparaged the last three cantos to me, and kept them back above a year; but I have heard from England that (notwithstanding the errors of the press,) they are well thought of; for instance, by Ameri can Irving, which last is a feather in my (fool's) cap. * * * "You have received my letter (open) through Mr. kind. I will read no more of evil or good in that line Kinnaird, and so, pray, send me no more reviews of any Walter Scott has not read a review of himself for thir teen years. LETTER S, 1821. any repetition, or expressions which do not seem good to tim, who is a better judge than you or I. "P.S. What I wrote to you about low spirits is, however, very true. At present, owing to the climate, &c. (I "Enclosed is a lyrical drama, (entitled 'a Mystery,' can walk down into my garden, and pluck my own oranges from its subject,) which, perhaps, may arrive in time for and, by-the-way, have got a diarrhoea in consequence of the volume. You will find it pious enough, I trust-at indulging in this meridian luxury of proprietorship,) my least some of the Chorus might have been written by spirits are much better. You seem to think that I could Sternhold and Hopkins themselves for that, and perhaps not have written the 'Vision,' &c. under the influence of for melody. As it is longer, and more lyrical and Greek low spirits ;-but I think there you err. A man's poetry than I intended at first, I have not divided it into acts, but is a distinct faculty, or Soul, and has no more to do with called what I have sent Part First, as there is a suspen- the every-day individual than the Inspiration with the sion of the action, which may either close there without Pythoness when removed from her tripod." impropriety, or be continued in a way that I have in view. I wish the first part to be published before the second, because, if it don't succeed, it is better to stop there than to go on in a fruitless experiment. 'I desire you to acknowledge the arrival of this packet by return of pos, if you can conveniently, with a proof. "Your obedient, &c. "P. S. My wish is to have it published at the same time, and, if possible, in the same volume, with the others, because, whatever the merits or demerits of these pieces may be, it will perhaps be allowed that each is of a different kind, and in a different style; so that, including the prose and the Don Juans, &c. I have at least sent you variety during the last year or two." LETTER DXXXVI. TO MR. MOORE. "Pisa, Nov. 16, 1821. "There is here Mr. Taafe, an Irish genius, with whom we are acquainted. He hath written a really excellent Commentary on Dante, full of new and true information, and much ingenuity. But his verse is such as it hath pleased God to endue him withal. Nevertheless, he is so firmly persuaded of its equal excellence, that he won't divorce the Commentary from the traduction, as I ventured delicately to hint,-not having the fear of Ireland before my eyes, and upon the presumption of having shotten very well in his presence (with common pistols too, not with my Manton's) the day before. But he is eager to publish all, and must be gratified, though the Reviewers will make him suffer more tortures than there are in his original. Indeed, the Notes are well worth publication; but he insists upon the translation for company, so that they will come out together, like Lady Cchaperoning Miss * *. I read a letter of yours to him yesterday, and he begs me to write to you about his Poeshie. He is really a good fellow, apparently, and I dare say that his verse is very good Irish. "Now, what shall we do for him? He says that he will risk part of the expense with the publisher. He will never rest till he is published and abused-for he has a nigh opinion of himself-and I see nothing left but to gratify him so as to have him abused as little as possible; for I think it would kill him. You must write, then, to Jeffrey to beg him not to review him, and I will do the ame to Gifford, through Murray. Perhaps they might notice the Comment without touching the text. But I doubt the dogs-the text is too tempting, * * "MY LORD, To Lord Byron. "Frome, Somerset, Nov. 21, 1821 "More than two years since, a lovely and beloved wife was taken from me, by lingering disease, after a very short union. She possessed unvarying gentleness and fortitude, and a piety so retiring as rarely to disclose itself in words, but so influential as to produce uniform benevolence of conduct. In the last hour of life, after a farewell look on a lately born and only infant, for whom she had evinced inexpressible affection, her last whispers were, 'God's happiness! God's happiness! Since the second anniwhich no papers versary of her decease, I have read some one had seen during her life, and which contain her most secret thoughts. I am induced to communicate to your lordship a passage from these papers, which, there is no doubt, refers to yourself; as I have more than once heard the writer mention your agility on the rocks at Hastings. "Oh, my God, I take encouragement from the assur ance of thy Word, to pray to Thee in behalf of one for whom I have lately been much interested. May the person to whom I allude (and who is now, we fear, as much distinguished for his neglect of Thee as for the transcendent talents thou hast bestowed on him) be awakened to a sense of his own danger, and led to seek that peace of mind, in a proper sense of religion, which he has found this world's enjoyments unable to procure! Do thou grant that his future example may be productive of far more extensive benefit than his past conduct and writings have been of evil; and may the Sun of righteousness, which, we trust, will, at some future period, arise on him, be bright in proportion to the darkness of those clouds which guilt has raised around him, and the balm which it bestows, healing and soothing in proportion to the keenness of that agony which the punishment of his vices has inflicted on him! May the hope that the sincerity of my own efforts for the attainment of holiness, and the approval of my own love to the great Author of religion, will render this prayer, and every other for the welfare of mankind, more efficacious.-Cheer me in the path of duty-but let me not forget, that, while we are permitted to animate ourselves to exertion by every innocent motive, these are but the lesser streams which may serve to increase the current, but which, deprived of the grand fountain of good, (a deep conviction of inborn sin, and firm belief in the efficacy of Christ's death for the salvation of those who trust in him, and really wish to serve him,) would soon dry up, and leave us barren of every virtue as before. "July 31st, 1814. "There is nothing, my lord, in this extract, which, in a I have to thank you again, as I believe I did before, literary sense, can at all interest you; but it may, perfor your opinion of 'Cain,' &c. to settle the claim; but haps, appear to you worthy of reflection how deep and "You are right to allow I do not see why you should repay him out of your legacy-expansive a concern for the happiness of others the at least not yet. If you feel about it, (as you are ticklish Christian faith can awaken in the midst of youth and on such points,) pay him the interest now, and the princi- prosperity. Here is nothing poetical and splendid, as in pal when you are strong in cash; or pay him by instalments; or pay him as I do my creditors-that is, not till they make me. I address this to you at Paris, as you desire. Reply the expostulatory homage of M. Delamartine? but here is the sublime, my lord; for this intercession was offered, on your account, to the supreme Source of happiness. It sprang from a faith more confirmed than that of the French poet; and from a charity which, in combination with faith, showed its power unimpaired amid the lan- who has so well explained, and deeply felt the doctrines of guors and pains of approaching dissolution. I will hope religion, will excuse the error which led me to believe him that a prayer, which, I am sure, was deeply sincere, may its minister." not be always unavailing. "It would add nothing, my lord, to the fame with which your genius has surrounded you, for an unknown and obscure individual to express his admiration of it. I had rather be numbered with those who wish and pray, that 'wisdom from above,' and 'peace,' and 'joy,' may enter such a mind. "JOHN SHEPPARD." SIR, LETTER DXXXVII. TO MR. SHEPPARD. Pisa, December 8, 1821. LETTER DXXXVIII. TO MR. MURRAY. Pisa, December 4, 1821. "By extracts in the English papers,-in your holy ally Galignani's 'Messenger,-I perceive that 'the two greatest examples of human vanity in the present age' are firstly,' the ex-emperor Napoleon,' and, secondly, 'his lordship, &c. the noble poet,' meaning your humble servant, 'poor guiltless I.' "Poor Napoleon! he little dreamed to what vile com. parisons the turn of the wheel would reduce him! I have received your letter. I need not say, that the "I have got here into a famous old feudal palazzo, on extract which it contains has affected me, because it would the Arno, large enough for a garrison, with dungeons beimply a want of all feeling to have read it with indifference. low and cells in the walls, and so full of ghosts that the Though I am not quite sure that it was intended by the learned Fletcher (my valet) has begged leave to change writer for me, yet the date, the place where it was written, his room, and then refused to occupy his new room, bewith some other circumstances that you mention, render cause there were more ghosts there than in the other. It the allusion probable. But for whomever it was meant, I is quite true that there are most extraordinary noises, (as have read it with all the pleasure which can arise from so in all old buildings,) which have terrified the servants so melancholy a topic. I say pleasure-because your brief as to incommode me extremely. There is one place and simple picture of the life and demeanour of the ex- where people were evidently walled up, for there is but one cellent person whom I trust you will again meet, cannot possible passage, broken through the wall, and then meant be contemplated without the admiration due to her virtues to be closed again upon the inmate. The house belonged and her pure and unpretending piety. Her last moments to the Lanfranchi family, (the same mentioned by Ugolino were particularly striking; and I do not know that, in the in his dream, as his persecutor with Sismondi,) and has course of reading the story of mankind, and still less in my had a fierce owner or two in its time. The staircase, &c. observations upon the existing portion, 1 ever met with any is said to have been built by Michel Agnolo. It is not yet thing so unostentatiously beautiful. Indisputably, the firm cold enough for a fire. What a climate! believers in the Gospel have a great advantage over all "I am, however, bothered about these spectres, (as they others, for this simple reason, that, if true, they will say the last occupants were, too,) of whom I have as yet have their reward hereafter; and if there be no here-seen nothing, nor, indeed, heard (myself); but all the other after, they can be but with the infidel in his eternal sleep, ears have been regaled by all kinds of supernatural sounds. having had the assistance of an exalted hope, through The first night I thought I heard an odd noise, but it has life, without subsequent disappointment, since (at the not been repeated. I have now been here more than a worst for them) 'out of nothing, nothing can arise,' not month. even sorrow. But a man's creed does not depend upon! himself: who can say, I will believe this, that, or the other? and, least of all, that which he least can comprehend. I 'have, however, observed, that those who have begun life with extreme faith, have in the end greatly narrowed it, as Chillingworth, Clarke, (who ended as an Arian,) Bayle, and Gibbon, (once a Catholic,) and some others; while, on the other hand, nothing is more common than for the early skeptic to end in a firm belief, like Maupertuis and Henry Kirk White. LETTER DXXXIX TO MR. MURPAY. "Yours, &c." "Pisa, December 10, 1821 "This day and this hour, (one, on the clock,) my daugh ter is six years old. I wonder when I shall see her again, or if ever I shall see her at ali. "I have remarked a curious coincidence, which almost looks like a fatality. "My mother, my wife, my daughter, my half-sister, my sister's mother, my natural daughter, (as far at least as I am concerned,) and myself, are all only children. "But my business is to acknowledge your letter, and not to make a dissertation. I am obliged to you for your good wishes, and more than obliged by the extract from the papers of the beloved object whose qualities you have so well described in a few words. I can assure you, that all the fame which ever cheated humanity into higher no"My father, by his first marriage with Lady Conyers, (an tions of its own importance would never weigh in my mind only child,) had only my sister; and by his second maragainst the pure and pious interest which a virtuous being riage with an only child, an only child again. Lady Byron, may be pleased to take in my welfare. In this point of as you know, was one also, and so is my daughter, &c. view, I would not exchange the prayer of the deceased in "Is not this rather odd-such a complication of only ny behalf for the united glory of Homer, Cæsar, and Na-children? By-the-way, send me my daughter Ada's poleon, could such be accumulated upon a living head. Do miniature. I have only the print, which gives little or me at least the justice to suppose, that Video meliora proboque,' however the 'deteriora sequor,' may have been applied to my conduct. "I have the honour to be no idea cher complexion. "Yours, &c. "B." LETTER DXL. TO MR. MOORE. "your obliged and obedient servant, "Pisa, December 12, 1821. What you say about Galignani's two biographies is "P. S. I do not know that I am addressing a clergy- very amusing; and, if I were not lazy, I would certainly man; but I presume that you will not be affronted by the onistake (if it is one) on the address of this letter. One • See Memorandums, page 261. LETTERS, 1821. do what you desire. But I doubt my present stock of strance, is of course out of the question; but I do not see * "I suppose I told you that the Giaour story had actually some foundation on facts; or, if I did not, you will one day find it in a letter of Lord Sligo's, written to me after the publication of the poem. I should not like marvels to rest upon any account of my own, and shall say nothing about it. However, the real incident is still remote enough from the poetical one, being just such as, happening to a man of any imagination, might suggest such a composition. The worst of any real adventures is that they involve living people-else Mrs. s —' -'s, &c. are as 'german to the matter' as Mr. Maturin could desire for his novels. *The consummation you mentioned for poor Taafe was near taking place yesterday. Riding pretty sharply after Mr. Medwin and myself, in turning the corner of a lane between Pisa and the hills, he was spilt,-and, besides losing some claret on the spot, bruised himself a good deal, but is in no danger. He was bled, and keeps his room. As I was a-head of him some hundred yards, I did not see the accident; but my servant, who was behind, did, and, says the horse did not fall-the usual excuse of floored equestrians. As Taafe piques himself upon his horsemanship, and his horse is really a pretty horse enough, I long for his personal narrative, as I never yet met the man who would fairly claim a tumble as his own property "Could not you send me a printed copy of the 'Irish Avatar ?-I do not know what has become of Rogers since we parted at Florence. "Don't let the Angles keep you from writing. Sam old me that you were somewhat dissipated in Paris, which I can easily believe. Let me hear from you at your best "Ever and truly, &c. leisure. which I LETTER DXLII. TO MR. MOORE. "I send you the two notes, which will tell you the story Goethe's allude to of the Auto da Fè. Shelley's allusion to his fellow-serpent' is a buffoonery of mine. Mephistofilus calls the serpent who tempted Eve 'my aunt, the renowned snake and I always insist that Shelley is nothing but one of her nephews, walking about on the tip of his tail." To Lord Byron. "2 o'clock, Tuesday Morning. "MY DEAR LORD, "Although strongly persuaded that the story must be either an entire fabrication, or so gross an exaggeration as to be nearly so; yet, in order to be able to discover the truth beyond all doubt, and to set your mind quite at this morning. Should it prove less false than I am conrest, I have taken the determination to go myself to Lucca vinced it is, I shall not fail to exert myself in every way that I can imagine may have any success. of this. Be assured "Your lordship's most truly, * "P. S. To prevent bavardage, I prefer going in person to sending my servant with a letter. It is better for you to mention nothing (except, of course, to Shelley) of my excursion. The person I visit there is one on whom 1 can have every dependence in every way, both as to au To Lord Byron. "MY DEAR LORD BYRON, Thursday Morning "P. S. December 13. "I enclose you some lines, written not long ago, you may do what you like with, as they are very harm-thority and truth. less.f Only, if copied, or printed, or set, I could wish it more correctly than in the usual way, in which one's 'nothings are monstered,' as Coriolanus says. "I hear this morning that the design, which certainly "You must really get Taafe published-he never will He is just gone with his broken head to had been in contemplation, of burning my fellow-serpent, rest till he is so. Luccea, at my desire, to try to save a man from being has been abandoned, and that he has been condemned to burnt. The Spanish ***, that has her petticoats over the galleys. Lord Guilford is at Leghorn; and as vour Lucca, had actually condemned a poor devil to the stake, courier applied to me to know whether he ought to leave for stealing the wafer-box out of a church. Shelley and "Ever faithfully yours, L, of course, were up in arms against this piece of piety, your letter for him or not, I have thought it best since this and have been disturbing every body to get the sentence changed. Taafe is gone to see what can be done. "B." information to tell him to take it back. "P. B. SHELLEY. LETTER DXLI. LETTER DXLIII. TO MR. SHELLEY. TO SIR WALTER Scott, Bart. "Pisa, January 12, 1822. "MY DEAR SIR WALTER, "I need not say how grateful I am for your letter, but I must own my ingratitude in not having written to you again long ago. Since I left England, (and it is not for all the usual term of transportation,) I have scribbled to five hundred blockheads on business, &c. without difficul ty, though with no great pleasure; and yet, with the noMr. Galignani having expressed a wish to be furnished with a short tion of addressing you a hundred times, in my head, and Memoir of Lord Byron, for the purpose of prefixing it to the French edition of his works, I had said Jestingly in a preceding letter to his lord- always in my heart, I have not done what I ought to have up, that it would be but a fair satire on the disposition of the world to done. I can only account for it on the same principle of hemonster his features," if he would write for the public, English as well! e French, a sort of mock-heroic account of himself, outdoing, in horrors tremulous anxiety with which one sometimes makes love and wonders, all that had been yet related or believed of him, and leaving to a beautiful woman of our own degree, with whom one even Goethe's story of the double murder at Florence far behind. is enamoured in good earnest; whereas, we attack a freshcoloured housemaid without (I speak, of cou: sc, of earlier Moore. + Stenzas written on the road between Florence and Pisa, page 487. times) any sentimental remorse or mitigation of our virtuous purpose. "P. S. Why don't you take a turn in Italy? You would find yourself as well known and as welcome as in "I owe to you far more than the usual obligation for the Highlands among the natives. As for the English the courtesies of literature and common friendship, for you you would be with them as in London; and I need not went out of your way in 1817 to do me a service, when it add, that I should be delighted to see you again, which is required not merely kindness, but courage to do so; to far more than I shall ever feel or say for England, or (with have been recorded by you in such a manner would have a few exceptions of kith, kin, and allies') any thing that it been a proud memorial at any time, but at such a time contains. But my 'heart warms to the tartan,' or to any when all the world and his wife,' as the proverb goes, thing of Scotland, which reminds me of Aberdeen and were trying to trample upon me, was something still higher other parts, not so far from the Highlands * as that town, to myself-esteem, I allude to the Quarterly Review of about Invercauld and Braemar, where I was sent to drink the Third Canto of Childe Harold, which Murray told me goat's fey in 1795-6, in consequence of a threatened dewas written by you,—and, indeed, I should have known cline after the scarlet fever. But I am gossiping; so, good it without his information, as there could not be two who night-and the gods be with your dreams! could and would have done this at the time. Had it been "Pray, present my respects to Lady Scott, who may a common criticism, however eloquent or panegyrical, I perhaps recollect having seen me in town in 1815. should have felt pleased, undoubtedly, and grateful, but "I see that one of your supporters (for, like Sir Hildenot to the extent which the extraordinary good-hearted-brand, I am fond of Guillin) is a mermaid; it is my crest ness of the whole proceeding must induce in any mind too, and with precisely the same curl of tail. There's capable of such sensations. The very tardiness of this concatenation for you!-I am building a little cutter at acknowledgment will, at least, show that I have not for-Genoa, to go a-cruising in the summer. I know you like gotten the obligation; and I can assure you that my sense the sea too." LETTER DXLIV. TO DOUGLAS KINNAIRD. "Pisa, February, 6, 1822. "Try back the deep lane,' till we find a publisher for of it has been out at compound interest during the delay. I shall only add one word upon the subject, which is, that I think that you, and Jeffrey, and Leigh Hunt, were the only literary men, of numbers whom I know, (and some of whom I have served,) who dared venture even an anonymous word in my favour just then; and that of those three, I had never seen one at all-of the second much less than I desired-and that the third was under no kind of obli-'the Vision;' and if none such is to be found, print fifty gation to me whatever; while the other two had been actually attacked by me on a former occasion; one, indeed, with some provocation, but the other wantonly enough. So you see you have been heaping 'coals of fire,' &c. in the true Gospel manner, and I can assure you that they have burnt down to my very heart. copies at my expense, distribute them among my acquaintance, and you will soon see that the booksellers will pubish them, even if we oppose them. That they are now afraid is natural; but I do not see that I ought to give way on that account. I know nothing of Rivington's 'Remonstrance' by the 'eminent Churchman;' but I suppose he wants a living. I once heard of a preacher at Kentish Town against 'Cain.' The same outcry was raised against Priestley, Hume, Gibbon, Voltaire, and all the men who dared to put tithes to the question. I have got Southey's pretended reply, to which I am surprised that you do not allude. What remains to be done is, to call him out. The question is, would he come f for, if he would not, the whole thing would appear ridicu lous, if I were to take a long and expensive journey to no purpose. "You must be my second, and, as such, I wish to consult you. "I am glad that you accepted the Inscription. I meant to have inscribed 'the Foscarini' to you instead; but first, I heard that 'Cain' was thought the least bad of the two as a composition; and, 2dly, I have abused Southey like a pickpocket, in a note to the Foscarini, and I recollected that he is a friend of yours, (though not of mine,) and that it would not be the handsome thing to dedicate to one friend any thing containing such matters about another. However, I'll work the Laureate before I have done with him, as soon as I can muster Billingsgate therefor. I like a row, and always did from a boy, in the course of which propensity, I must needs say, that I have found it the most easy of all to be gratified, personally and poeti"I apply to you as one well versed in the duello, or cally. You disclaim jealousies; but I would ask, as monomachie. Of course I shall come to England as priBoswell did of Johnson, of whom could you be jealous,vately as possible, and leave it (supposing that I was the of none of the living, certainly, and (taking all and all into survivor) in the same manner; having no other object consideration) of which of the dead? I don't like to bore which could bring me to that country except to settle you about the Scotch novels, (as they call them, though quarrels accumulated during my absence. two of them are wholly English, and the rest half so,) but nothing can or could ever persuade me, since I was the first ten minutes in your company, that you are not the man. To me those novels have so much of Auld lang syne, (I was bred a canny Scot till ten years old,) that I never move without them; and when I removed from Ravenna to Pisa, the other day, and sent on my library before, they were the only books that I kept by me, although I already have them by heart. "January 27, 1822. "I delayed till now concluding, in the hope that I should have got the Pirate,' who is now under way for me, but has not yet hove in sight. I hear that your daughter is married, and I suppose by this time you are half a grandfather a young one, by-the-way. I have heard great things of Mrs. Lockhart's personal and mental charms, and much good of her lord: that you may live to see as many hovel Scotts as there are Scots' novels, is the very bad .pun, bu sincere wish of "Yours ever most affectionately, &c. "By the last post I transmitted to you a letter upon some Rochdale toll business, from which there are moneys in prospect. My agent says two thousand pounds, but supposing it to be only one, or even one hundred, still they be moneys; and I have lived long enough to have an exceeding respect for the smallest current coin of any realm, or the least sum, which, although I may not want it myself, may do something for others who may need it more than I. "They say that Knowledge is Power;'-I used to think so; but I now know that they meant money and knew nothing,' he merely intended to declare, that he had when Socrates declared, 'that all he knew was, that he not a drachm in the Athenian world. "The circulars are arrived, and circulating like the vorof the needful, and keep a look out a-head, as my uctions tices (or vortexes) of Descartes. Still I have a due care all men's who have lived to see that every guinea is a upon the score of moneys coincide with yours, and with philosopher's stone, or at least his touch-stone. You will See Note to "The 'sland. ' |