like. The whole Address is seventy-three lines, still perhaps too long; and, if shortened, you will save time, but, I fear, a little of what I meant for sense also.

With myriads of thanks, I am ever, etc.

My sixteenth edition of respects to Lady H.-How she must laugh at all this!

I wish Murray, my publisher, to print off some copies as soon as your Lordship returns to town-it will ensure correctness in the papers afterwards.

259.-To Lord Holland.

Far be from him that hour which asks in vain
Tears such as flow for Garrick in his strain;

Will you choose between these added to the lines on Sheridan? I think they will wind up the panegyric, and agree with the train of thought preceding them.

Now, one word as to the Committee-how could they resolve on a rough copy of an Address never sent in, unless you had been good enough to retain in memory, or on paper, the thing they have been good enough to adopt? By the by, the circumstances of the case should make the Committee less avidus gloriæ, for all praise of them would look plaguy suspicious. If necessary to be stated at all, the simple facts bear them out. They

1. These added lines, as may be seen by reference to the printed Address, were not retained.

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BAITING AN OLD AUTHOR.

169

surely had a right to act as they pleased. My sole object is one which, I trust, my whole conduct has shown; viz. that I did nothing insidious-sent in no Address whatever -but, when applied to, did my best for them and myself; but, above all, that there was no undue partiality, which will be what the rejected will endeavour to make out. Fortunately-most fortunately-I sent in no lines on the occasion. For I am sure that had they, in that case, been preferred, it would have been asserted that I was known, and owed the preference to private friendship. This is what we shall probably have to encounter; but, if once spoken and approved, we sha'n't be much embarrassed by their brilliant conjectures; and, as to criticism, an old author, like an old bull, grows cooler (or ought) at every baiting.

The only thing would be to avoid a party on the night of delivery-afterwards, the more the better, and the whole transaction inevitably tends to a good deal of discussion. Murray tells me there are myriads of ironical Addresses1 ready-some, in imitation of what is called my style. If they are as good as the Probationary Odes,

1. Probably the reference is to Rejected Addresses, or the New Theatrum Poetarum (1812), by James (1775-1839) and Horace (1779-1849) Smith. "Cui Bono?" the parody on Byron, is the joint composition of James and Horace. The manuscript was offered to Murray for £20, but declined by him. It was afterwards published by John Miller, of Bow Street, Covent Garden, who also published Horace in London.

2. Probationary Odes, which generally forms, with Political Eclogues, the third portion of the Rolliad, is really distinct from that work. It is the result of an imaginary contest for the laureate. ship. Each candidate was to deliver a "Probationary Birthday "Ode," and among the candidates are Dr. Pretyman, Archbishop Markham, Thomas and Joseph Warton, Sir Cecil Wray, Sir Joseph Mawbey, Henry Dundas, Lord Thurlow, and other Tories of the day. The plan of the work is said to have been suggested by Joseph Richardson (1755-1803), who wrote Odes iv. (Sir Richard Hill) and xix. (Lord Mountmorres).

or Hawkins's Pipe of Tobacco, it will not be bad fun for the imitated.

Ever, etc.

260.-To Lord Holland.

October 2, 1812.

A copy of this still altered is sent by the post, but this will arrive first. It must be "humbler "-" yet "aspiring" does away the modesty, and, after all, truth is truth. Besides, there is a puff direct altered, to please your plaguy renters.

I shall be at Tetbury by 12 or 1-but send this for you to ponder over. There are several little things marked thus altered for your perusal. I have dismounted the cavalry, and, I hope, arranged to your general satisfaction.

/

Ever, etc.

At Tetbury by noon.-I hope, after it is sent, there will be no more elisions. It is not now so long-73 lines-two less than allotted. I will alter all Committee objections, but I hope you won't permit Elliston to have any voice whatever,-except in speaking it.

261.-To John Murray.

Cheltenham, Oct. 12, 1812.

DEAR SIR,-I have a very strong objection to the engraving of the portrait, and request that it may, on no

1. In Praise of a Pipe of Tobacco (1736), written by Isaac Hawkins Browne (1705-1760), was an ode in imitation of Swift, Pope, Thomson, and other contemporary poets. Browne represented Wenlock in the Whig interest in the Parliaments of 1744 and 1747. Johnson spoke of him (Boswell, Johnson, April 5, 1775) as "one of the first "wits of this country," who "got into Parliament, and never opened "his mouth."

2. A miniature by Sanders. Besides this miniature, Sanders had

1812.]

RECEPTION OF THE Address.

171 account, be prefixed; but let all the proofs be burnt, and the plate broken. I will be at the expense which has been incurred; it is but fair that I should, since I cannot permit the publication. I beg, as a particular favour, that you will lose no time in having this done, for which I have reasons that I will state when I see you. Forgive all the trouble I have occasioned you.

I have received no account of the reception of the Address, but see it is vituperated in the papers, which does not much embarrass an old author. I leave it to your own judgment to add it, or not, to your next edition when required. Pray comply strictly with my wishes as to the engraving, and believe me, etc.

Yours very truly,

BYRON.

P.S.-Favour me with an answer, as I shall not be easy until I hear that the proofs, etc., are destroyed. I hear that the Satirist has reviewed Childe Harold, in

also painted a full-length of Byron, from which the portrait prefixed to the quarto edition of Moore's Life is engraved. In reference to the latter picture, Byron says, in a note to Rogers, "If you think "the picture you saw at Murray's worth your acceptance, it is yours; "and you may put a glove or mask on it, if you like" (Moore).

1. On Saturday, October 10, Drury Lane reopened with The Devil to Pay and Hamlet. Then, after the whole body of actors had sung "God save the King" and "Rule, Britannia," Elliston delivered Byron's address.

2. The Satirist, a Monthly Meteor (see Letters, vol. i. p. 321, note 3), ran from October, 1807, to 1814. Up to 1812 it was the property of George Manners, who sold it in that year to W. Jerdan. It reviewed Childe Ilarold in October, 1812 (pp. 344-358); and again in December of the same year (pp. 542-550). In the first of the two notices, the Satirist quotes the "judgment of our predecessors," that unless Byron "improved wonderfully, he could never be a poet," and continues thus: "It is with unaffected satisfaction we find that "he has improved wonderfully, and that he is a poet. Indeed, when "we consider the comparatively short interval which has elapsed, "and contrast the character of his recent with that of his early work, 66 we confess ourselves astonished at the intellectual progress which "Lord Byron has made, and are happy to hold him up as another

what manner I need not ask; but I wish to know if the old personalities are revived? I have a better reason for asking this than any that merely concerns myself; but in publications of that kind, others, particularly female names, are sometimes introduced.

262.-To Lord Holland.

Cheltenham, Oct. 14, 1812.

MY DEAR LORD,-I perceive that the papers, yea, even Perry's,1 are somewhat ruffled at the injudicious

"example of the extraordinary effects of study and cultivation, even "on minds apparently of the most unpromising description." The reviewer severely condemns the morbid bitterness of the poet's thought and feeling, but yet affirms that the poems "abound with beautiful "imagery, clothed in a diction free, forcible, and various. Childe "Harold, although avowedly a fragment, contains many fragments "which would do honour to any poet, of any period, in any "country."

1. James Perry (1756-1821) purchased, in 1789, the Morning Chronicle, originally established by Woodfall in 1769. In Perry's hands the paper became the leading organ of the Whigs. He was the first editor to introduce a succession of parliamentary reporters. He gathered round him a remarkable staff of contributors, including Ricardo, Sir James Mackintosh, Porson (who married his sister), Charles Lamb, Sheridan, Coleridge, Hazlitt, Lord Campbell, Moore, Campbell, Byron, and Burns. The Morning Chronicle (October 12, 1812) says

"Mr. Elliston then came forward and delivered the following "Prize Address. We cannot boast of the eloquence of the delivery. "It was neither gracefully nor correctly recited. The merits of the "production itself we submit to the criticism of our readers. We cannot suppose that it was selected as the most poetical composition "of all the scores that were submitted to the Committee. But, "perhaps by its tenor, by its allusions to the fire, to Garrick, to "Siddons, and to Sheridan, it was thought most applicable to the "occasion, notwithstanding its being in parts unmusical, and in "general tame."

Again (October 14), in a notice of Rejected Addresses, the Morning Chronicle returns to the subject

"A wag has already published a small volume of Addresses "rejected, in which, with admirable wit, all the poets of the day are assembled, contesting for the Prize Address at Drury Lane. "And certainly he has assigned to the pen of Lord B. a superior "poem to that which has gained the prize."