destroy what little good writing or taste remains amongst us. I hope there are still a few men of taste to second me; but if not, I'll battle it alone, convinced that it is in the best cause of English literature.

I have sent you so many packets, verse and prose, lately, that you will be tired of the postage, if not of the perusal. I want to answer some parts of your last letter, but I have not time, for I must "boot and saddle," as my Captain Craigengelt1 (an officer of the old Napoleon Italian army) is in waiting, and my Groom and cattle to boot.

You have given me a screed of Metaphor and what not about Pulci, and manners, and "going without clothes "like our Saxon ancestors." Now, the Saxons did not go without cloathes; and, in the next place, they are not my ancestors, nor yours either; for mine were Normans, and yours, I take it by your name, were Gael. And, in the next, I differ from you about the "refinement" which has banished the comedies of Congreve. Are not the Comedies of Sheridan acted to the thinnest houses? I know (as ex-Committed) that the School for Scandal was the worst Stock piece upon record. I also know that Congreve gave up writing because Mrs. Centlivre's balderdash drove his comedies off. So it is not decency,

1. Bucklaw's associate in the Bride of Lammermoor.

2. Susanna Centlivre, born about 1680 (Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. p. 97), died December 1, 1723, wrote 19 plays, of which two, The Busy Body (1709) and The Wonder (1714), were the most successful. In the life of Mrs. Centlivre given in the Biographia Dramatica (pp. 97-100), the success of the Busy Body is noticed, while "Mr. Congreve's Way of the World, which perhaps contains "more true intrinsic wit, and unexceptionable accuracy of language, "than any dramatic piece ever written, . . . could scarcely make "its way at all." The article goes on to say that Wilks, the actor, "made use of this remarkable expression with regard to her Bold "Stroke for a Wife, viz. that not only her play would be damned, "but she herself be damned for writing it."

Robert Wilks first appeared on the stage at Dublin in 1691. He

1820.]

MRS. CENTLIVRE AND WILKS.

427

but Stupidity, that does all this; for Sheridan is as decent a writer as need be, and Congreve no worse than Mrs. Centlivre, of whom Wilks (the Actor) said, "not only her "play would be damned, but She too." He alluded to a Bold Stroke for a Wife. But last, and most to the purpose, Pulci is not an indecent writer-at least in his first Canto, as you will have perceived by this time.

You talk of refinement :—are you all more moral? are you so moral? No such thing. I know what the World is in England, by my own proper experience of the best of it at least of the loftiest. And I have described it every where as it is to be found in all places.

But to return. I should like to see the proofs of mine Answer, because there will be something to omit or to alter; but pray let it be carefully printed. When convenient let me have an answer.

Yours,

B.

785-To Richard Belgrave Hoppner.

*

Ravenna, March 31, 1820.

Ravenna continues much the same as I described it. Conversazioni all Lent, and much better ones than any at Venice. There are small games at hazard, that is, faro, where nobody can point more than a shilling or

came to London, and acted "Palamede" in Marriage à-la-Mode, in 1698, at Drury Lane. There he also made his last appearance, as "Don Pedro" in Mistake (May 15, 1732). He died September 27, 1732. A list of his characters is given by Genest (English Stage, vol. iii. pp. 339-342). In Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature (ed. 1865, vol. ii. p. 376) reference is made to the great difficulty which Mrs. Centlivre had in getting "her Busy Body performed. Wilks "threw down his part with an oath of detestation-our comic "authoress fell on her knees and wept.-Her tears, and not her wit, "prevailed."

two

other card-tables, and as much talk and coffee as you please. Every body does and says what they please; and I do not recollect any disagreeable events, except being three times falsely accused of flirtation, and once being robbed of six sixpences by a nobleman of the city, a Count * * *. I did not suspect the illustrious delinquent; but the Countess V *** and the Marquis L * * * told me of it directly, and also that it was a way he had, of filching money when he saw it before him; but I did not ax him for the cash, but contented myself with telling him that if he did it again, I should anticipate the law.

There is to be a theatre in April, and a fair, and an opera, and another opera in June, besides the fine weather of nature's giving, and the rides in the Forest of Pine. With my best respects to Mrs. Hoppner, Believe me ever, etc.,

BYRON.

P.S.-Could you give me an item of what books remain at Venice? I don't want them, but want to know whether the few that are not here are there, and were not lost by the way. I hope and trust you have got all your wine safe, and that it is drinkable. Allegra is prettier, I think, but as obstinate as a mule, and as ravenous as a vulture; health good, to judge of the complexiontemper tolerable, but for vanity and pertinacity. She thinks herself handsome, and will do as she pleases.

1.]

THE CORINTHIANS TO ST. PAUL.

429

APPENDIX I.

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ARMENIAN.
(See p. 9, note 1.)

Two Epistles from the Armenian Version,1 and the "Pleasure "Houses of Byzantium."

(1) "THE EPISTLE OF THE CORINTHIANS TO ST. Paul the

APOSTLE.2

"1. STEPHEN, and the Elders with him, Dabnus, Eubulus, Theophilus, and Xinon, to Paul, our Father and Evangelist, and faithful Master in Jesus Christ, health.

"2. Two men have come to Corinth, Simon by name, and Cleobus ['Clebus,' A.], who vehemently disturb the faith of some with deceitful and corrupt words;

"3. Of which words thou should'st inform thyself:

"4. For neither have we heard such words from thee, nor from the other apostles :

"5. But we know only that what we have heard from thee and from them, that we have kept firmly.

"6. But in this chiefly has our Lord had compassion, that,

1. On a copy of these Epistles, in the possession of Moore, Byron has written-Done into English by me, January-February, 1817, at the Convent of St. Lazaro, with the aid and exposition of the Armenian text by the Father Paschal Aucher, Armenian Friar.BYRON. Venice, April 10, 1817. I had also the Latin text, but it is in many places very corrupt, and with great omissions." The version has been compared with that given by Aucher, and the differences are noted in the text thus [4.]. The notes are those given in Moore's Life (1830), vol. ii. pp. 809-813.

2. Some MSS. have the title thus: Epistle of Stephen the Elder to Paul the Apostle, from the Corinthians.

3. In the MSS. the marginal verses published by the Whistons are wanting.

4. In some MSS. we find, The elders Numenus, Eubulus, Theophilus, and Nomeson, to Paul their brother, health!

...

5. Others read, There came certain men, . . . and Clobeus, who vehemently shake.

whilst thou art yet with us in the flesh, we are again about to hear from thee.

"7. Therefore do thou write to us, or come thyself amongst us quickly;

"8. we believe in the Lord, that, as it was revealed to Theonas, he hath delivered thee from the hands of the unrighteous.'

"9. But these are the sinful words of these impure men, for thus do they say and teach:

"10. That it behoves not to admit the Prophets;2

"II. neither do they affirm the omnipotence of God:

66

12. neither do they affirm the resurrection of the flesh :

"13. neither do they affirm that man was altogether created by God:

"14. neither do they affirm that Jesus Christ was born in the flesh from the Virgin Mary :

"15. neither do they affirm that the world was the work of God, but of some one of the Angels.

"16. Therefore do thou make haste to come amongst us; "17. that this city of the Corinthians may remain without scandal ;

"18. and that the folly of these men may be made manifest by an open refutation. Fare thee well.'

5

"The deacons Thereptus and Tichus received and conveyed the Epistle to the city of the Philippians.

6

8

"When Paul received the Epistle, although he was then in chains on account of Stratonice [ Statonice,' A.], the wife of Apofolanus, yet as it were forgetting his bonds, he mourned over these words, and said, weeping: 'It were better for me to be dead, and with the Lord. For while I am in this body, and hear the wretched words of such false doctrine, behold, grief arises upon grief, and my [this,' A.] trouble adds a weight to my chains; when I behold this calamity, and progress of the machinations of Satan, who searcheth to do wrong.'

"And thus, with deep affliction, Paul composed his reply to the Epistle."

1. Some MSS. have, We believe in the Lord, that his presence was made manifest; and by this hath the Lord delivered us from the hands of the unrighteous.

2. Others read, To read the Prophets.

3. Some MSS. have, Therefore, brother, do thou make haste.

4. Others read, Fare thee well in the Lord.

5. Some MSS. have, The deacons Therepus and Techus.

6. The Whistons have, To the city of Phoenicia: but in all the MSS. we find, To the city of the Philippians.

7. Others read, On account of Onotice.

8. The Whistons have, Of Apollophanus: but in all the MSS. we read, Apofolanus.

9. In the text of this Epistle there are some other variations in the words, but the sense is the same.