do not forget that I have an account with you, and that this is included. I give you too much TROUBLE to allow you to incur EXPENSE also. You best know how far this "Address Riot" will affect the future sale of C. H. I like the volume of "rejected A." better and better. The other parody which Perry has received is mine also (I believe). It is Dr. Busby's speech versified. You are removing to Albemarle Street, I find, and I rejoice that we shall be nearer neighbours. I am going to Lord Oxford's, but letters here will be forwarded. When at leisure, all communications from you will be willingly received by the humblest of your scribes. Did Mr. Ward write the review of H. Tooke's Life? It is excellent. Yours ever, B. 269.-To John Hanson. Eywood, Presteign, Hereford, Oct. 31st, 1812. DEAR SIR,―The inclosed bill will convince you how anxious I must be for the payment of Claughton's first instalment; though it has been sent in without due 1. See Quarterly Review, vol. vii. p. 313. The article alluded to was written by the Hon. J. W. Ward, afterwards Earl of Dudley. 2. The bill was Byron's for £1500, and the enclosure ran as follows: "Lord Byron. "A Bill for 1500, drawn by Scrope B. Davies, lies due at Sir "James Esdaile and Co's., No. 21, Lombard-Street. "All Drafts intended for the Payment of Bills, to be brought "before Half past Three o'Clock. "Please to call between 3 and Five o'Clock." The same day Byron writes a second letter to Hanson "Do pray press Claughton, as Mr. D.'s business must be settled "at all events. I send you his letter, and I am more uncomfortable "than I can possibly express myself upon the subject. Pray "write." 1812.] PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES. 181 notice, I cannot blame Mr. Davies who must feel very anxious to get rid of the business. Press C., and let me have an answer whenever you can to this Place. Yours ever, P.S.-I am at Lord Oxford's, Eywood, as above. 270.-To John Hanson. B. Presteign, Nov. 8th, 1812. DEAR SIR,-Not being able (and to-day being Sunday also) to procure a stamp, as the Post town is very remote, I must request this letter to be considered as an Order for paying fifteen hundred pounds to S. B. Davies, Esq., and the same sum to your own account for the Tythe purchase. Mr. D.'s receipt can be indorsed on the bond. I shall be in London the latter end of the week. I set out from this place on the 12th. As to Mr. C., the Law must decide between us; I shall abide by the Contract. Your answer will not reach me in time, so do not write to me while here. Pray let Mr. D. be paid and you also come what may.1 1. Byron was prepared to make some sacrifices to extricate himself from debt, or go abroad. The following letter to Hanson is dated December 10, 1812:— "DEAR SIR,-I have to request that you will pay the bearer (my "Groom) the wages due to him (12 pds. 10), and dismiss him "immediately, as I have given up my horses, and place the sum to "my account. "Ever yours, "BYRON." Four days later, December 14, 1812, he writes again to Hanson"DEAR SIR,-I request your attention to the enclosed. See "what can be done with Howard, and urge Claughton. If this "kind of thing continues, I must quit a country which my debts "render uninhabitable, notwithstanding every sacrifice on my part. "Yours ever, "B." I always foresaw that C. would shirk; but he did it with his eyes open. What question can arise as to the title? has it never been examined? I never heard of it before, and surely, in all our law suits, that question must have come to issue. I hope we shall meet in town. I will wait on you the moment I arrive. My best respects to your family; believe me, BYRON. 271.-To John Hanson. Presteign, Nov. 16th, 1812. DEAR SIR,-The floods having rendered the road impassable, I am detained here, but trust by the latter end of the week to proceed to Cheltenham, where I shall expect a letter from you to tell me if I am wanted in town. I shall not be in time for the Prince's address; but I wish you to write down for my Parliamentary robes (Mrs. Chaworth had them, at least Mrs. Clarke the mother); though I rather think those were the Coronation and not the House robes. At least enquire. I hope Mr. D. is paid; and, if Mr. C. demurs, we must bring an action according to Contract. I trust you are well, and well doing in my behalf and your own. Ever yours most sincerely, B. 1812.] A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT POEM. 183 272.-To John Murray. Cheltenham, November 22, 1812. DEAR SIR,-On my return here from Lord Oxford's, I found your obliging note, and will thank you to retain the letters, and any other subsequent ones to the same address, till I arrive in town to claim them, which will probably be in a few days. I have in charge a curious and very long MS. poem, written by Lord Brooke (the friend of Sir Philip Sidney), which I wish to submit to the inspection of Mr. Gifford, with the following queries: -first, whether it has ever been published, and secondly (if not), whether it is worth publication? It is from Lord Oxford's Library, and must have escaped or been overlooked amongst the MSS. of the Harleian Miscellany. The writing is Lord Brooke's, except a different hand towards the close. It is very long, and in the six-line stanza. It is not for me to hazard an opinion upon its merits; but I would take the Liberty, if not too troublesome, to submit it to Mr. Gifford's judgment, which, from his excellent edition of Massinger, I should conceive to be as decisive on the writings of that age as on those of our own. Now for a less agreeable and important topic.-How came Mr. Mac-Somebody,' without consulting you or me, to prefix the Address to his volume of "dejected "addresses?" Is not this somewhat larcenous? I think the ceremony of leave might have been asked, though I have no objection to the thing itself; and leave the "hundred and eleven" to tire themselves with base "comparisons." I should think the ingenuous public tolerably sick of the subject, and, except the parodies, 1. B. McMillan. I have not interfered, nor shall; indeed I did not know that Dr. Busby had published his apologetical letter and postscript, or I should have recalled them. But, I confess, I looked upon his conduct in a different light before its appearance. I see some mountebank has taken Alderman Birch's name to vituperate the Doctor; he had much better have pilfered his pastry, which I should imagine the more valuable ingredient—at least for a Puff. -Pray secure me a copy of Woodfall's new Junius,3 and believe me, Dear Sir, yours very sincerely, B. 273.-To William Bankes. December 26, [1812]. The multitude of your recommendations has already superseded my humble endeavours to be of use to you; and, indeed, most of my principal friends are returned, Leake from Joannina, Canning and Adair from the city of the Faithful, and at Smyrna no letter is necessary, as the consuls are always willing to do every thing for personages of respectability. I have sent you three; one to Gibraltar, which, though of no great necessity, will, perhaps, put you on a more intimate footing with a very pleasant family there. You will very soon find out that a man of any consequence has very little occasion for any letters but to ministers and bankers, and of them we have already plenty, I will be sworn. 1. This probably refers to Busby's apologetic letter in the Morning Chronicle for October 23, 1812. 2. Alderman Birch was a pastry-cook in Cornhill. 3. In the Catalogue of Byron's books, sold April 5, 1816, appear two copies of Junius :— "Junius's Letters, 2 vol. russia, 1806. "Junius's Letters, by Woodfall, 3 vol., Large Paper, 1812." |