construed as such even by the most malignant Casuistry. I could answer you; but it is too late, and it is not worth while. To the mysterious menace of the last sentencewhatever its import may be—and I really cannot pretend to unriddle it, I could hardly be very sensible, even if I understood it, as, before it could take place, I shall be where "nothing can touch him farther." I advise you, however, to anticipate the period of your intention; for be assured no power of figures can avail beyond the present; and, if it could, I would answer with the Florentine 2 "Ed io, che posto son con loro in croce In February last, at the suggestion of Mr. Douglas Kinnaird, I wrote to you on the proposition of the 1. Macbeth, act iii. sc. 2. 2. Byron quotes from Dante's Inferno, canto xvi. lines 43-45. In Round 3 of Circle vii. of Hell, Dante meets three FlorentinesGuido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci-who have sinned against nature. The latter is the spokesman "Ed io, che posto son con loro in croce, La fiera moglie più ch'altro mi nuoce." Rusticucci held a distinguished place in the councils of Florence, representing her (1254) in her foreign affairs. He owed his place in Hell to the savage temper of his wife, and his story is told by Benvenuto Rambaldi da Imola to illustrate the consequences of ill-assorted marriages. "Vir popularis, sed tamen valde politicus "et moralis. qui poterat videri satis felix . . . nisi habuisset "uxorem pravam; habuit enim mulierem ferocem, cum qua vivere "non poterat ; ideo dedit se turpitudini." 3. Printed from a draft in the possession of Mr. Murray. 1820.] THE BLESSINGTON MORTGAGE. 3 Dublin investment,' and, to put you more in possession of his opinions, I enclosed his letter. I now enclose you a statement of Mr. Hanson's, and, to say the truth, I am at a loss what to think or decide upon between such very opposite views of the question. Perhaps you will lay it before your trustees. I for my own part am ignorant of business, and am so little able to judge, that I should be disposed to think with them, whatever their ideas may be upon the subject. One thing is certain; I cannot consent to sell out of the funds at a loss, and the Dublin House should be insured. Excuse all this trouble; but as it is your affair as well as mine, you will pardon it. I have an innate distrust and detestation of the public funds and their precarious [?]; but still the sacrifice of the removal (at least at present) may be too great. I do not know what to think, nor does any body else, I believe. Yours, I recd yours of March 10th, and enclosed an answer (to Mr. Thomas Moore) to be forwarded to you. 22 788.-To John Hanson. Ravenna, April 6th 1820. DEAR SIR, I have just received yours dated March Your January packet only arrived last Sunday, so 1. Charles John Gardiner (1782-1829), who succeeded his father (1798) as second Viscount Mountjoy, and was created Earl of Blessington in 1816, had impaired his fortune by his taste for magnificence, passion for the stage, and reckless expenditure. He owned the Ormond Quays as well as Henrietta Street in Dublin, and it was on this property that Byron was advised to advance money. But the advance was in the end not made by Byron's trustees. Lord Blessington married, (1) in 1812, Mary Campbell, widow of Major Browne; (2) in 1818, Marguerite Power, second daughter of Edmund Power, of Curragheen, co. Waterford, and widow of Maurice St. Leger Farmer, Captain 47th Regiment. that I shall put off replying to it for the present (as there is a witness wanting for the Scotch deed, etc.), and answer your March epistle, which, as you yourself say, is of much more importance. But how shall I answer? Between the devil and deep Sea,1 Between the Lawyer and Trustee— it is difficult to decide. Mr. Kinnaird writes that the Mortgage is the most advantageous thing possible; you write that it is quite the contrary. You are both my old acquaintances, both men of business, and both give good reasons for both your opinions; and the result is that I finish by having no opinion at all. I cannot see that it could any way be the interest of either to persuade me either one way or the other, unless you thought it for my advantage. In short, do settle it among you if you can, for I am at my wits' end betwixt your contrary opinions. One thing is positive. I will not agree to sell out of the funds at a loss, and the Dublin House property must be insured; but you should not have waited till the Funds get low again, as you have done, so as to make the affair impracticable. I retain, however, my bad opinion of the funds, and must insist on the money being one day placed on better security somewhere. Of Irish Security, and Irish Law, I know nothing, and cannot take upon me to dispute your Statement; but I prefer higher Interest for my Money (like everybody else I believe), and shall be glad to make as much as I can at the least risk possible. It is a pity that I am not upon the Spot, but I 1. So Cuddie Headrigg, appealing to Claverhouse to save Morton from the Cameronians, found himself "atween the deil and "the deep sea."—Old Mortality, chap. xxxiii. |