1811.] REVEALED RELIGION. 21 “... quæris quo jaceas post obitum loco? Quo non "Nata jacent."' As to revealed religion, Christ came to save men; but a good Pagan will go to heaven, and a bad Nazarene to hell; "Argal" (I argue like the gravedigger) why are not all men Christians? or why are any? If mankind may be saved who never heard or dreamt, at Timbuctoo, Otaheite, Terra Incognita, etc., of Galilee and its Prophet, Christianity is of no avail: if they cannot be saved without, why are not all orthodox? It is a little hard to send a man preaching to Judæa, and leave the rest of the world-Negers and what not-dark as their complexions, without a ray of light for so many years to lead them on high; and who will believe that God will damn men for not knowing what they were never taught? I hope I am sincere; I was so at least on a bed of sickness in a fardistant country, when I had neither friend, nor comforter, nor hope, to sustain me. I looked to death as a relief from pain, without a wish for an after-life, but a confidence that the God who punishes in this existence had left that last asylum for the weary. "can eternal tortures answer? Human passions have probably "disfigured the divine doctrines here ;-but the whole thing is "inscrutable." "It is useless to tell me not to reason, but to believe. You might "as well tell a man not to wake, but sleep. And then to bully with "torments, and all that! I cannot help thinking that the menace "of hell makes as many devils as the severe penal codes of inhuman "humanity make villains." " "Man is born passionate of body, but with an innate though 'secret tendency to the love of good in his main-spring of mind. "But, God help us all! it is at present a sad jar of atoms." 1. The lines are quoted from Seneca's Troades (act ii. line 397, et seqq.) "Post mortem nihil est, ipsaque mors nihil. Quæris, quo jaceas post obitum loco? *Ον ὁ θεὸς ἀγαπάει ἀποθνήσκει νέος, I am no Platonist, I am nothing at all; but I would sooner be a Paulician, Manichean, Spinozist, Gentile, Pyrrhonian, Zoroastrian, than one of the seventy-two villainous sects who are tearing each other to pieces for the love of the Lord and hatred of each other. Talk of Galileeism? Show me the effects-are you better, wiser, kinder by your precepts ? I will bring you ten Mussulmans shall shame you in all goodwill towards men, prayer to God, and duty to their neighbours. And is there a Talapoin,2 or a Bonze, who is not superior to a fox-hunting curate? But I will say no more on this endless theme; let me live, well if possible, and die without pain. The rest is with God, who assuredly, had 1. The sentiment is found in one of the uovdorixo of Menander (Menandri et Philemonis reliquiæ, edidit Augustus Meineke, p. 48). It is thus quoted by Stobæus (Florilegium, cxx. 8) as an iambicΟν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνήσκει νέος. In the Comicorum Græcorum Sententiæ, id est yváμai (p. 219, ed. Henricus Stephanus, MDLXIX.) it is quoted as a leonine verseΟν γὰρ φιλεῖ θεὸς ἀποθνήσκει νέος. Plautus gives it thus (Bacchides, iv. 7)— "Quem di diligunt adolescens moritur." 2. The word is said to be illegible, and the conclusion of the letter to be lost (Memoir of the Rev. Francis Hodgson, vol. i. p. 196). Only the latter statement is correct. The word is perfectly legible. Talapoin (Yule's Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words, sub voce) is the name used by the Portuguese, and after them by the French writers, and by English travellers of the seventeenth century (Hakluyt, ed. 1807, vol. ii. p. 93; and Purchas, ed. 1645, vol. ii. p. 1747), to designate the Buddhist monks of Ceylon and the Indo-Chinese countries. Pallegoix (Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam, vol. ii. p. 23) says, Les Européens les ont appelés talapoins, probablement du "nom de l'éventail qu'ils tiennent à la main, lequel s'appelle talapat, "qui signifie feuille de palmier." Possibly Byron knew the word through Voltaire (Dial. xxii., André des Couches à Siam); “A. des C. "Combien avez-vous de soldats? Croutef. Quatre-vingt mille, fort "médiocrement payés. A. des C. Et de talapoins? Cr. Cent vingt"mille, tous fainéans et trés riches," etc. 1811.] HINTS FROM HORACE. 23 He come or sent, would have made Himself manifest to nations, and intelligible to all. I shall rejoice to see you. My present intention is to accept Scrope Davies's invitation; and then, if you accept mine, we shall meet here and there. Did you know poor Matthews? I shall miss him much at Cambridge. 178.-To R. C. Dallas. Newstead Abbey, September 4th, 1811. MY DEAR SIR,-I am at present anxious, as Cawthorn seems to wish it, to have a small edition of the Hints from Horace1 published immediately: but the Latin' 1. Hints from Horace, written during Byron's second stay at Athens, March 11-14, 1811, and subsequently added to, had been placed in the hands of Cawthorn, the publisher of English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers, for publication. Byron afterwards changed his mind, and the poem remained unpublished till after his death. The following letter from Cawthorn shows that considerable progress had been made with the printing of the poem, and that Byron also contemplated another edition of English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers. The advice of his friends led him to abandon both plans; but his letter to Cawthorn, printed below, is evidence that in September he was still at work on Hints from Horace: "24, Cockspur Street, Aug. 224, 1811. "MY LORD,-Mr. Green the Amanuensis has finished the Latin' "of the Horace, and I shall be happy to do with it as your Lordship "may direct, either to forward it to Newstead, or keep it in Town. "Would it not be better to print a small edition seperate (sic), and "afterwards print the two satires together? This I leave to your "Lordship's consideration. Four Sheets of the Travels are already. "printed, and one of the plates (Albanian Solain) is executed. I "sent it Capt. H[obhouse] yesterday to Cork, to see if it meets his "approbation. The work is printed in quarto, for which I may be "in some measure indebted to your Lordship, as I urged it so "strongly. I shall be extremely sorry if Capt. H. is not pleased "with it, but I think he will. Your Lordship's goodness will excuse "me for saying how much the very sudden and melancholy events "that have lately transpired-I regret-Capt. Hobhouse has writter. "me since the decease of Mr. Mathews. I am told Capt. H. is "very much affected at it. I have received some drawings of (the most difficult poem in the language) renders it necessary to be very particular not only in correcting the proofs with Horace open, but in adapting the parallel passages of the imitation in such places to the original as may enable the reader not to lose sight of the allusion. I don't know whether I ought to ask you to do this, but I am too far off to do it for myself; and if you condescend to my school-boy erudition, you will oblige me by setting this thing going, though you will smile at the importance I attach to it. Believe me, ever yours, 179.-To John Murray.1 BYRON. Newstead Abbey, Notts., Sept. 5, 1811. SIR,-The time seems to be past when (as Dr. John son said) a man was certain to "hear the truth from his costumes from him, which I am to deliver to your Lordship. Is "it likely we shall see your Lordship in Town soon? "I have the honour to be your Lordship's "Most respectful and greatly obliged Servt., "If a small edition is printed of 'Horace' for the first" [words erased] "that, and I think in all probability the E. Bards' "will want reprinting about March next, when both could be done "together. Do not think me too sanguine." A few days later, Byron writes to Cawthorn as follows: "Newstead Abbey, September 4th, 1811. "More notes for the 'Hints'! You mistake me much by thinking "me inattentive to this publication. If I had a friend willing and "able to correct the press, it should be out with my good will "immediately. Pray attend to annexing additional notes in their "proper places, and let them be added immediately. "Yours, etc., 1. The following is Murray's letter, to which Byron replies :"London, Sept. 4, 1811, Wednesday. "MY LORD,-An absence of some days, passed in the country, "has prevented me from writing earlier in answer to your obliging "letter. I have now, however, the pleasure of sending under a 1811.] POLITICS AND METAPHYSICS. 25 "bookseller," for you have paid me so many compliments, that, if I was not the veriest scribbler on earth, I should feel affronted. As I accept your compliments, it is but fair I should give equal or greater credit to your objections, the more so as I believe them to be well founded. With regard to the political and metaphysical parts, I am afraid I can alter nothing; but I have high authority for separate cover, the first proof sheet of your Lordship's Poem, "which is so good as to be entitled to all your care to render per"fect. Besides its general merit, there are parts, which, I am "tempted to believe, far excel anything that your Lordship has "hitherto published, and it were therefore grievous indeed, if you "do not condescend to bestow upon it all the improvement of "which your Lordship's mind is so capable; every correction "already made is valuable, and this circumstance renders me more "confident in soliciting for it your further attention. "There are some expressions, too, concerning Spain and Portugal, "which, however just, and particularly so at the time they were "conceived, yet as they do not harmonize with the general feeling, "would so greatly interfere with the popularity which the poem is, "in other respects, so certainly calculated to excite, that, in com"passion to your publisher, who does not presume to reason upon "the subject, otherwise than as a mere matter of business, I hope "your Lordship's goodness will induce you to obviate them, and, "with them, perhaps, some religious feelings which may deprive "me of some customers amongst the Orthodox. "Could I flatter myself that these suggestions were not obtrusive, "I would hazard another, in an earnest solicitation that your Lord"ship would add the two promised Cantos, and complete the "Poem. It were cruel indeed not to perfect a work which contains 'so much that is excellent; your Fame, my Lord, demands it; "you are raising a Monument that will outlive your present feelings, "and it should therefore be so constructed as to excite no other "associations than those of respect and admiration for your Lord"ship's Character and Genius. "I trust that you will pardon the warmth of this address when I "assure your Lordship that it arises, in the greatest degree, in a "sincere regard for your lasting reputation, with, however, some "view to that portion of it, which must attend the Publisher of so "beautiful a Poem, as your Lordship is capable of rendering "The Romaunt of Childe Harold. "I have the honour to be, My Lord, "Your Lordship's "Obedient and faithful servant, |