1813.]

PLAN OF EASTERN TRAVEL.

185

It is by no means improbable that I shall go in the spring; and if you will fix any place of rendezvous about August, I will write or join you.-When in Albania, I wish you would inquire after Dervise Tahiri and Vascillie (or Bazil), and make my respects to the viziers, both there and in the Morea. If you mention my name to Suleyman of Thebes, I think it will not hurt you; if I had my dragoman, or wrote Turkish, I could have given you letters of real service; but to the English they are hardly requisite, and the Greeks themselves can be of little advantage. Liston1 you know already, and I do not, as he was not then minister. Mind you visit Ephesus and the Troad, and let me hear from you when you please. I believe G. Forresti is now at Yanina; but if not, whoever is there will be too happy to assist you. Be particular about firmauns; never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take some knicknackeries for presents-watches, pistols, etc., etc., to the Beys and Pachas. If you find one Demetrius, at Athens or elsewhere, I can recommend him as a good dragoman. I hope to join you, however; but you will find swarms of English now in the Levant.

Believe me, etc.

274.-To John Murray.

Eywood, Presteign, January 8, 1813.

DEAR SIR,-You have been imposed upon by a letter forged in my name to obtain the picture left in your possession. This I know by the confession of the culprit,

1. Robert Liston, afterwards Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), succeeded Adair as Ambassador at Constantinople in 1811.

2. The culprit was Lady Caroline Lamb, who imitated Byron's handwriting with remarkable skill.

and as she is a woman (and of rank), with whom I have unfortunately been too much connected, you will for the present say very little about it; but if you have the letter retain it-write to me the particulars. You will also be more cautious in future, and not allow anything of mine to pass from your hands without my Seal as well as Signature.

I have not been in town, nor have written to you since I left it. So I presume the forgery was a skilful performance. I shall endeavour to get back the picture by fair means, if possible.

Yours ever,

BYRON.

P.S.-Keep the letter if you have it. I did not receive your parcel, and it is now too late to send it on, as I shall be in town on the 17th. The delinquent is one of the first families in this kingdom; but, as Dogberry says, this is "flat burglary." "1 Favour me with an answer. I hear I am scolded in the Quarterly; but you and it are already forgiven. I suppose that made you bashful about sending it.

275.-To Francis Hodgson.

February 3, 1813.

MY DEAR HODGSON,-I will join you in any bond for the money you require, be it that or a larger sum. With regard to security, as Newstead is in a sort of abeyance between sale and purchase, and my Lancashire property very unsettled, I do not know how far I can give more than personal security, but what I can I will. At any rate you can try, and as the sum is not very

1. Much Ado about Nothing, act iv. sc. 2.

1813.]

A LOAN TO HODGSON.

187

considerable, the chances are favourable. I hear nothing of my own concerns, but expect a letter daily. Let me hear from you where you are and will be this month. I am a great admirer of the R.A. [Rejected Addresses], though I have had so great a share in the cause of their publication, and I like the C.H. [Childe Harold] imitation one of the best.1 Lady Oxford has heard me talk much of you as a relative of the Cokes, etc., and desires me to say she would be happy to have the pleasure of your acquaintance. You must come and see me at K[insham]. I am sure you would like all here if you knew them.

The "Agnus" is furious. You can have no idea of the horrible and absurd things she has said and done 2 since (really from the best motives) I withdrew my homage. "Great pleasure" is, certes, my object, but "why brief, Mr. Wild ?" I cannot answer for the future,

I. "Byron often talks of the authors of the Rejected Addresses, "and always in terms of unqualified praise. He says that the imita “tions, unlike all other imitations, are full of genius. 'Parodies,' "he said, 'always give a bad impression of the original, but in the Rejected Addresses the reverse was the fact;' and he quoted the "second and third stanzas, in imitation of himself, as admirable, "and just what he could have wished to write on a similar subject " (Lady Blessington's Conversations, p. 134).

66

2. "The Bessboroughs," writes Lady H. Leveson Gower to Lady G. Morpeth, September 12, 1812 (Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville, vol. i. pp. 40, 41), "have been unpacked about a couple "of hours. My aunt looks stout and well, but poor Caroline most "terribly the contrary. She is worn to the bone, as pale as death "and her eyes starting out of her head. She seems indeed in a "sad way, alternately in tearing spirits and in tears. I hate her "character, her feelings, and herself when I am away from her, but "she interests me when I am with her, and to see her poor careworn "face is dismal, in spite of reason and speculation upon her extra"ordinary conduct. She appears to me in a state very (little) short "of insanity, and my aunt describes it as at times having been "decidedly so."

3. The context and allusion seem to require another word than brief;" "but the sentence is written as printed. In Fielding's Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild (Bk. III. chap. viii.) and in "a dialogue "matrimonial, which passed between Jonathan Wild, Esquire, and

but the past is pretty secure; and in it I can number the last two months as worthy of the gods in Lucretius. I cannot review in the "Monthly;" in fact I can just now do nothing, at least with a pen; and I really think the days of Authorship are over with me altogether. I hear and rejoice in Bland's and Merivale's intentions.1 Murray has grown great, and has got him new premises in the fashionable part of the town. We live here so shut out of the monde that I have nothing of general import to communicate, and fill this up with a "happy new year," and drink to you and Drury.

Ever yours, dear H.,

B.

I have no intention of continuing "Childe Harold." There are a few additions in the "body of the book of description, which will merely add to the number of pages in the next edition. I have taken Kinsham Court. The business of last summer I broke off,3 and now the amusement of the gentle fair is writing letters literally threatening my life, and much in the style of "Miss Mathews" in "Amelia," or "Lucy" in the "Beggar's "Opera." Such is the reward of restoring a woman to her family, who are treating her with the greatest kindness, and with whom I am on good terms. I am still in palatia Circes, and, being no Ulysses, cannot tell into what animal I may be converted; as you are aware of the turn of both parties, your conjectures will be very correct, I daresay, and, seriously, I am very much

"Lætitia his wife" (née Lætitia Snap), "Lætitia asks, 'But pray, "Mr. Wild, why b-ch? Why did you suffer such a word to 'escape you?'"'

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1. The republication of the Anthology.

2. Murray's removal from 32, Fleet Street, to 50, Albemarle Street.

3. With Lady Caroline Lamb.

1813.]

HORACE IN LONDON.

189

attached. She has had her share of the denunciations of the brilliant Phryne, and regards them as much as I do. I hope you will visit me at K. which will not be ready before spring, and I am very sure you would like my neighbours if you knew them. If you come down now to Kington,1 pray come and see me.

276.-To John Hanson.

3d Feby, 1813.

DEAR SIR,-Will you forward the inclosed immediately to Corbet, whose address I do not exactly remember? It is of consequence, relative to a foolish woman 2 I never saw, who fancies I want to marry her.

Yours ever,

B.

P.S.-I wish you would see Corbet and talk to him about it, for she plagues my soul out with her damned letters.

277.-To John Murray.

February 20, 1813.

DEAR SIR,-In "Horace in London" I perceive some stanzas on Lord Elgin in which (waving the kind compliment to myself) I heartily concur. I wish I had

1. Near Lower Moor, the residence of Hodgson's relatives, the Cokes.

2. The lady in question seems to have been Lady Falkland (see Letters, vol. i. p. 216, note 1, and the letter dated March 5, 1813). 3. Horace in London; consisting of Imitations of the First Two Books of the Odes of Horace, by James and Horace Smith (1813), was a collection of imitations, the best of which are by James Smith, republished from Hill's Monthly Mirror, where they originally appeared.

4. In Book I. ode xv. of Horace in London, entitled "The 66 'Parthenon," Minerva thus speaks