In verse most stale, unprofitable, flat- To which this note was appended: - Mr. Pratt, once a Bath bookseller, now a London author, has written as much, to as little purpose, as any of his scribbling cotemporaries. Mr. P.'s Sympathy is in rhyme; but his prose productions are the most voluminous.' The more popular of these last were entitled Gleanings.] Line 351. Awake a louder and a loftier strain.' The first line in Bowles's Spirit of Discovery: a very spirited and pretty dwarf Epic. Among other exquisite lines we have the following: That is, the woods of Madeira trembled to a kiss; very much astonished, as well they might be, at such a phenomenon. [Misquoted and misunderstood by me; but not intentionally. It was not the "woods," but the people in them who trembled - why, Heaven only knows unless they were overheard making this prodigious smack.' - B., 1816.] Line 358. A gentle episode. The episode above alluded to is the story of Robert à Machin' and 'Anna d'Arfet,' a pair of constant lovers, who performed the kiss above mentioned, that startled the woods of Madeira. Line 372. Consult Lord Fanny and confide in Curll. Curll is one of the Heroes of the Dunciad, and was a bookseller. Lord Fanny is the poetical name of Lord Hervey, author of Lines to the Imitator of Horace. Page 247, line 378. What Mallet did for hire. Lord Bolingbroke hired Mallet to traduce Pope after his decease, because the poet had retained some copies of a work by Lord Bolingbrokethe Patriot King - which that splendid, but malignant, genius had ordered to be destroyed. Line 380. To rave with Dennis, and with Ralph to rhyme. Dennis the critic, and Ralph the rhymester. Line 382. Not raised thy hoof against the lion dead. See Bowles's late edition of Pope's works, for which he received three hundred pounds. Thus Mr. B. has experienced how much easier it is to profit by the reputation of another than to elevate his own. Line 391. Fresh fish from Hippocrene. ["Helicon " is a mountain, and not a fish-pond. It should have been "Hippocrene."'-B., 1816. The text has read Helicon; Byron's correction is followed.] Line 406. Cottle. Mr. Cottle, Amos, Joseph, I don't know which, but one or both, once sellers of books they did not write, and now writers of books they do not sell, have published a pair of Epics-Alfred (poor Alfred! Pye has been at him too!) Alfred and the Fall of Cambria. Joseph Cottle is the author of these works.] Line 414. Maurice. Mr. Maurice [the Rev. Thomas Maurice, 1754-1824] hath manufactured the component parts of a ponderous quarto, upon the beauties of Richmond Hill, and the like: it also takes in a charming view of Turnham Green, Hammersmith, Brentford, Old and New, and the parts adjacent. Line 424. Sheffield. Poor Montgomery, though praised by every English Review, has been bitterly reviled by the Edinburgh. After all, the bard of Sheffield is a man of considerable genius. His Wanderer of Switzerland is worth a thousand Lyrical Ballads, and at least fifty 'degraded epics.' [James Montgomery (17711854) edited a newspaper at Sheffield.] Page 248, line 467. And Bow-street myrmidons stood laughing by. In 1806, Messrs. Jeffrey and Moore met at Chalk-Farm. The duel was prevented by the interference of the magistracy; and on examination, the balls of the pistols were found to have evaporated. This incident gave occasion to much waggery in the daily prints. [The above note was struck out of the fifth edition, and the following, after being submitted to Moore, substituted in its place: I am informed that Mr. Moore published at the time a disavowal of the statements in the newspapers, as far as regarded himself; and, in justice to him, I mention this circumstance. As I never heard of it before, I cannot state the particulars, and was only made acquainted with the fact very lately.' - November 4, 1811.] Line 472. Tweed ruffled half his waves. The Tweed here behaved with proper decorum; it would have been entirely reprehensible in the English half of the river to have shown the smallest symptom of apprehension. Line 509. Athenian Aberdeen. His lordship has been much abroad, is a member of the Athenian Society, and reviewer of Gell's Topography of Troy. [George Hamilton Gordon, fourth Earl of Aberdeen. In 1822, he published an Inquiry into the Principles of Beauty in Grecian Architecture.] Line 510. Herbert. Mr. Herbert is a translator of Icelandic and other poetry. One of the principal pieces is a Song on the Recovery of Thor's Hammer: the translation is a pleasant chant in the vulgar tongue, and endeth thus: 'Instead of money and rings, I wot, The hammer's bruises were her lot, Thus Odin's son his hammer got.' [The Hon. William Herbert, brother to the Earl of Carnarvon. He also published, in 1811, Helga, a poem in seven cantos.] Line 512. Sydney. The Rev. Sydney Smith, the reputed author of Peter Plymley's Letters, and sundry criticisms. Line 515. Pillans. Pillans is a tutor at Eton. [James Pillans (1778–1864), Rector of the High School, and Professor of Humanity in the University, Edinburgh. Byron probably assumed that the review of Hodgson's Translation of Ju venal, in the Edinburgh Review, April, 1808, was by him.'-E. H. COLERIDGE.] Line 516. Lambe. [See note on line 55 supra.] Line 524. Lest blundering Brougham destroy the sale. Mr. Brougham, in No. xxv. of the Edinburgh Review, throughout the article concerning Don Pedro de Cevallos, has displayed more politics than policy; many of the worthy burgesses of Edinburgh being so incensed at the infamous principles it evinces, as to have withdrawn their subscriptions. Page 249, line 535. That gilds its rear. See the colour of the back binding of the Edinburgh Review. Line 542. Henry Petty. [The third Marquis of Lansdowne, a constant visitor at Holland House.] Line 551. His lordship can at least translate. Lord Holland has translated some specimens of Lope de Vega, inserted in his life of the author. Both are bepraised by his disinterested guests. Line 557. My lady skims the cream of each critique. Certain it is, her ladyship is suspected of having displayed her matchless wit in the Edinburgh Review. However that may be, we know, from good authority, that the manuscripts are submitted to her perusal -no doubt, for correction. Line 560. Now to the Drama turn. [To save space the student desiring information on the obscurer names in this and the two following paragraphs must be referred to the Dictionary of National Biography.] Line 562. A prince within a barrel pent. In the melo-drama of Tekeli [by Theodore Hook], that heroic prince is clapped into a barrel on the stage; a new asylum for distressed heroes. Page 250, line 639. Greville and Argyle. To prevent any blunder, such as mistaking a street for a man, I beg leave to state, that it is the institution, and not the duke of that name, which is here alluded to. A gentleman, with whom I am slightly acquainted, lost in the Argyle Rooms several thousand pounds at backgammon. It is but justice to the manager in this instance to say, that some degree of disapprobation was manifested: but why are the implements of gaming allowed in a place devoted to the society of both sexes. [The Argyle Institution was founded by Colonel Greville.] Line 642. Petronius. Petronius, Arbiter elegantiarum' to Nero, and a very pretty fellow in his day,' as Mr. Congreve's Old Bachelor saith of Hannibal. Page 251, line 686. To live like Clodius, and like Falkland fall. I knew the late Lord Falkland well. On Sunday night I beheld him presiding at his own table, in all the honest pride of hospitality; on Wednesday morning, at three o'clock, I saw stretched before me all that remained of courage, feeling, and a host of passions. He was a gallant and successful officer; his faults were the faults of a sailor - as such, Britons will forgive them. He died like a brave man in a better cause; for had he fallen in like manner on the deck of the frigate to which he was just appointed, his last moments would have been held up by his countrymen as an example to succeeding heroes. [Lord Falkland was killed in a duel by Mr. Powell, in 1809. It was not by words only that Lord Byron gave proof of sympathy on the occasion. Though his own difficulties pressed on him at the time, he contrived to administer relief to the widow and children of his friend. The infamous Clodius intruded himself into Cæsar's house while the women were celebrating the mysteries of the Bona Dea. On his account Cæsar divorced his wife Pompeia.] Line 717. Miles Andrews. [Miles Peter Andrews, many years M. P. for Bewdley, Colonel of the Prince of Wales's Volunteers, proprietor of a gunpowder manufactory at Dartford. author of numerous prologues, epilogues, and farces, and one of the heroes of the Baviad.] Line 722. Ah! who would take their titles with their rhymes? [In the original manuscript we find these lines: In these, our times, with daily wonders big, Both know their alphabet, but who, from thence, Line 723. Roscommon. [Wentworth Dillon, fourth Earl of Roscommon (1633-1685), attempted to found a literary academy.] Line 723. Sheffield. [John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham (1649-1721), author of an Essay on Poetry, etc.] Line 726. Carlisle. [Frederick Howard, fifth Earl of Carlisle (1748-1825), Lord Byron's guardian, was author of Tragedies and Poems, etc.] The Earl of Carlisle has lately published an eighteen-penny pamphlet on the state of the stage, and offers his plan for building a new theatre. It is to be hoped his lordship will be permitted to bring forward anything for the stage except his own tragedies. 'Doff that lion's hide, And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.' Shak. King John. Lord Carlisle's works, most resplendently bound, form a conspicuous ornament to his book-shelves: 'The rest is all but leather and prunella.' Line 745. All the talents. All the Blocks, or an Antidote to All the Talents,' by Flagellum (W. H. Ireland), London, 1807. Page 252, line 748. Melville's Mantle. A parody on Elijah's Mantle, a poem. [ Elijah's Mantle, being verses occasioned by the death of that illustrious statesman, the Right Hon. W. Pitt, was written by James Sayer. Melville's Mantle was published by Budd, 1807.-E. H. COLERIDGE.] Line 756. Rosa's prose. This lovely little Jessica, the daughter of the noted Jew King, seems to be a follower of the Della Crusca school, and has published two volumes of very respectable absurdities in rhyme, as times go; besides sundry novels in the style of the first edition of The Monk. ['She since married the Morning Post an exceeding good match; and is now dead which is better.' B. 1816.] Line 759. Crusca's bards. [The Della Cruscans were a small clique of English writers living at Florence, who published in a paper called The World. Mrs. Piozzi, Robert Merry (1755-1798), Mrs. Hannah Cowley (Anna Matilda,' 1743-1809), and other scribblers were connected with the circle.] Line 764. O. P. Q. These are the signatures of various worthies who figure in the poetical departments of the newspapers. Line 770. How ladies read, and literati laud! [This was meant for poor Blackett, who was then patronised by A. J. B.' (Lady Byron); but that I did not know, or this would not have been written, at least I think not.'- B. 1816. Joseph Blackett, the shoemaker. He died at Seaham, in 1810. His poems were afterwards collected by Pratt.] Line 774. Capel Lofft. Capel Lofft, Esq., the Mæcenas of shoemakers, and preface-writergeneral to distressed versemen; a kind of gratis accoucheur to those who wish to be delivered of rhyme, but do not know how to bring it forth. [He was the patron of Robert Bloomfield.] Line 777. Bloomfield. [Robert Bloomfield, author of The Farmer Boy, etc. His brother Nathaniel was a tailor, his brother George a shoemaker. The former was likewise a poet in a small way.] Line 795. Moorland weavers. [T. Bakewell published, in 1807, The Moorland Bard; or Poetical Recollections of a Weaver.] It Lines 801, 803. Campbell. · Rogers. would be superfluous to recall to the mind of the reader the authors of The Pleasures of Memory and The Pleasures of Hope, the most beautiful didactic poems in our language, if we except Pope's Essay on Man: but so many poetasters have started up, that even the names of Campbell and Rogers are become strange. [Beneath this note Byron scribbled, in 1816, Pretty Miss Jaqueline Page 253, line 818. Sotheby, Macniel. Sotheby [William S., 1757-1833], translator of Wieland's Oberon and Virgil's Georgics, and author of Saul, an epic poem. - Macniel [Hector M., 1746-1816], whose poems are deservedly popular, particularly Scotland's Scaith and the Woes of War, of which ten thousand copies were sold in one month. Line 831. White. Henry Kirke White died at Cambridge, in October, 1806, in consequence of too much exertion in the pursuit of studies that would have matured a mind which disease and poverty could not impair, and which death itself destroyed rather than subdued. His poems abound in such beauties as must impress the reader with the liveliest regret that so short a period was allotted to talents which would have dignified even the sacred functions he was destined to assume. Line 857. Crabbe. ['I consider Crabbe and Coleridge as the first of these times, in point of power and genius.' B. 1816.] - Line 859. Shee. Mr. Shee, author of Rhymes on Art and Elements of Art. [Later Sir Martin Shee became President of the Royal Academy.] Line 877. Wright. Mr. Wright [Walter Rodwell W.], late Consul-General for the Seven Islands, is author of a very beautiful poem, just published: it is entitled Hora Ionice, and is descriptive of the isles and the adjacent coast of Greece. Line 881. Associate bards. The translators of the Anthology [the Rev. Robert Bland (1779-1825) and John Herman Merivale (1731– 1844)] have since published separate poems, which evince genius that only requires opportunity to attain eminence. Page 254, line 902. False glare attracts, but more offends the eye. The neglect of The Botanic Garden is some proof of returning taste. The scenery is its sole recommendation. Page 255, line 966. Hoare - Hoyle. [The Rev. Charles James Hoare published, in 1808, the Shipwreck of St. Paul, a Seatonian prize poem. The Rev. Charles Hoyle, author of Exodus, an epic in thirteen books, and several other Seatonian prize poems.] The Games of Hoyle, well known to the votaries of whist, chess, etc., are not to be superseded by the vagaries of his poetical namesake, whose poem comprised, as expressly stated in the advertisement, all the 'plagues of Egypt.' Line 973. Clarke. This person, who has lately betrayed the most rabid symptoms of confirmed authorship, is writer of a poem denominated The Art of Pleasing, as lucus a non lucendo,' containing little pleasantry and less poetry. He also acts as monthly stipendiary and collector of calumnies for the Satirist. If this unfortunate young man would exchange the magazines for the mathematics, and endeavour to take a decent degree in his university, it might eventually prove more serviceable than his present salary. [Hewson Clarke left the University of Cambridge without taking his degree. In the Satirist he reviewed Byron's early works with considerable severity.] Line 981. Oh! dark asylum of a Vandal race. Into Cambridgeshire the Emperor Probus transported a considerable body of Vandals. - Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. ii, p. 83. There is no reason to doubt the truth of this assertion; the breed is still in high perfection. Line 983. Hodgson. This gentleman's name requires no praise: the man who in translation displays unquestionable genius may be well expected to excel in original composition, of which, it is to be hoped, we shall soon see a splendid specimen. [Francis Hodgson (1781-1852), Byron's life-long friend, besides his transla tion of Juvenal, published several original works.] Line 984. Hewson. Hewson Clarke, Esq., as it is written. Line 989. Richards. The Aboriginal Britons, an excellent poem, by Richards. [The Rev. George Richards (1769-1835), Fellow of Oriel College.] Line 1010. And urge thy bards to gain a name like thine. [With this verse the satire originally ended.] Line 1016. Dame Portland. A friend of mine being asked, why his Grace of Portland was likened to an oid woman, replied, he supposed it was because he was past bearing? His Grace is now gathered to his grandmothers, where he sleeps as sound as ever; but even his sleep was better than his colleagues' waking. 1811. [William Henry Cavendish, third Duke of Portland (1738-1809).] Line 1021. Beauty's native clime. Georgia. Line 1026. Carr. From the many tours he made, Sir John was called The Jaunting Car.' Page 256, line 1034. Gell. Mr. Gell's Topography of Troy and Ithaca cannot fail to ensure the approbation of every man possessed of classical taste, as well for the information Mr. Gell conveys to the mind of the reader, as for the ability and research the respective works display. Since seeing the plain of Troy, my opinions are somewhat changed as to the above note. Gell's survey was hasty and superficial.' - B. 1816.] - B. Line 1045. Melbourne house. [*Singular enough, and din enough, God knows.' 1816.] Line 1070. Yet rarely blames unjustly, now declare. The greater part of this satire I most sincerely wish had never been written, not only on account of the injustice of much of the critical and some of the personal part of it, but the tone and temper are such as I cannot approve.' BYRON, July 14, 1816. Diodati, Geneva. - Subsequently Byron, in manuscript notes, letters, or elsewhere, did full justice to many of the persons satirized in this poem, notably to Scott, Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, Jeffrey, Holland, Lamb, Carlisle.] Page 256, line 7. Dubost. In an English newspaper, which finds its way abroad wherever there are Englishmen, I read an account of this dirty dauber's caricature of Mr. H as a 'beast,' and the consequent action, etc. The circumstance is, probably, too well known to require further comment. [The gentleman here alluded to was Thomas Hope, Esq., the author of Anastasius, and a munificent patron of art. Having somehow offended an unprincipled French painter, by name Dubost, that adventurer revenged himself by a picture called Beauty and the Beast,' in which Mr. Hope and his lady were represented according to the well-known fairy story.] Line 11. Moschus. [In the original MS., Hobhouse.] Page 257, line 75. Pitt has furnish'd us a word or two. Mr. Pitt was liberal in his additions to our parliamentary tongue: as may be seen in Page 259, line 164. Lying Valet. [Garrick's comedy of that name.] Line 166. A wandering' Peregrine.' [A char acter in George Colman's comedy, John Bull.] Line 173. Drawcansir. [A savage braggadocio in Buckingham's The Rehearsal.] Line 195. Awake a louder and a loftier strain. [The first line of Bowles's A Spirit of Discovery by Sea.] Line 226. Virgil's devilish verses. Harvey, the circulator of the circulation of the blood, used to fling away Virgil in his ecstasy of admiration, and say, the book had a devil.' Line 228. Tavell. [The Rev. G. F. Tavell was a fellow and tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge, during Lord Byron's residence, and owed this notice to the zeal with which he had protested against some juvenile vagaries.] Page 260, line 241. Hells and clubs. Hell,' a gaming-house so-called, where you risk little, and are cheated a good deal. 'Club,' a pleasant purgatory, where you lose more, and are not supposed to be cheated at all. Line 281. A halter'd heroine Johnson sought to slay. Irene had to speak two lines with the bowstring round her neck; but the audience cried out "Murder!" and she was obliged to go off the stage alive.'- BOSWELL'S Johnson. Line 290. Whose postscripts prate of dyeing heroines blue? In the postscript to the Castle Spectre, Mr. Lewis tells us, that though blacks were unknown in England at the period of his action, yet he has made the anachronism to set off the scene; and if he could have produced the effect by making his heroine blue,'-I quote him, 'blue he would have made her!' Line 296. I loathe an opera worse than Dennis did. [In 1706, Dennis, the critic, wrote an Essay on the Operas after the Italian manner, which are about to be established on the English stage; in which he endeavored to show, that it is a diversion of more pernicious consequence than the most licentious play that ever appeared upon the stage.] Page 261, line 311. Fop's Alley.' [A meeting place at the Opera House for the beaux and fashionables of the day.] Line 319. Ere scenes were play'd by many a reverend clerk. The first theatrical representations, entitled "Mysteries and Moralities," were generally enacted at Christmas, by monks (as the only persons who could read), and latterly by the clergy and students of the universities. The dramatis person were usually Adam, Pater Cœlestis, Faith, Vice,' etc., etc. - See Warton's History of English Poetry. Line 326. Benvolio suffers such a show. Ben volio does not bet; but every man who maintains race-horses is a promoter of all the concomitant evils of the turf. [Benvolio, the second Earl Grosvenor, a patron of the turf, was originator of a motion in Parliament to suppress the Sunday newspapers.] Line 3:30. Foote's fantastic time. [Samuel Foote (1720-1777), actor and playwright.] Line 339. 'Chrononhotonthologos.' [Chrononhotonthologos, the most tragical tragedy ever yet tragedised by any company of tragedians,' by Henry Carey.] Line 349. But find in thine, like pagan Plato's bed. Under Plato's pillow a volume of the Mimes of Sophron was found the day he died. Line 352. Fetter'd by whig Walpole. [In 1737 the manager of Goodman's Fields Theatre having brought to Sir Robert Walpole a farce called The Golden Rump, which had been proffered for exhibition, the minister paid the profits which might have accrued from the performance, and detained the copy. He then made extracts of the most exceptionable passages, abounding in profaneness, sedition, and blasphemy, read them to the house, and obtained leave to bring in a bill to limit the number of playhouses; to subject all dramatic writings to the inspection of the Lord Chamberlain; and to compel the proprietors to take out a license for every production before it could appear on the stage.] Line 355. Chesterfield. His speech on the Licensing Act is one of his most eloquent efforts. Line 361. Archer' -'Sullen.' [Characters in Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem.] Line 362. Copper' spouse. Michael Perez, the Copper Captain,' in [Fletcher's] Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. Line 366. Willis' skill. [The Rev. Dr. Francis Willis attended George III.in his first attack of madness.] Line 367. Macheath's example. [Dr. Johnson was of the like opinion. Of the Beggar's Opera he says, in his Life of Gay: "The play, like many others, was plainly written only to divert, without any moral purpose, and is, therefore, not likely to do good; nor can it be conceived, without more speculation than life requires or admits, to be productive of much evil. Line 369. Collier's curse. Jerry Collier's controversy with Congreve, etc., on the subject of the drama, is too well known to require further comment. Page 262, line 382. And Simeon kicks, where Baxter only shoves.' Mr. Simeon is the very bully of beliefs, and castigator of 'good works. He is ably supported by John Stickles, a labourer in the same vineyard :- but I say no more, for, according to Johnny in full congregation, no hopes for them as laughs.' [The Rev. Charles Simeon, fellow of King's College, Cambridge, a zealous Calvinist, who, in consequence of his zeal, was engaged in sundry warm disputations with other divines of the university.] Baxter's Shove to heavy-a-d Christians, the veritable title of a book once in good repute, and likely enough to be so again. [The author was really a certain William Bunyan.] Line 402. Lopp'd two final feet. He should have said two syllables, which, in iambic metre, form one foot. The iambic tetrameter is of much older use than Hudibras.] Page 263, line 476. Blake. As famous a tonsor as Licinus himself, and better paid, and may, like him, be one day a senator, having a better qualification than one half of the heads he crops, viz. - independence. Line 480. Purge in spring-like Bayes. [Bayes. Why, I'll tell you what I do. If I am to write familiar things, as sonnets to Armida, and the like, I make use of stewed prunes only; but when I have a grand design in hand, I ever take physic and let blood; for when you would have pure swiftness of thought, and fiery flights of fancy, you must have a care of the pensive part. In fine, you must purge.'- Rehearsal. It is said that Dryden resorted to purging for inspiration, and Byron himself did, or pretended to do, the same.] Page 264, line 520. He'll swell my fifty thousand to a plum.' [Cant term for £100,000.] Line 530. Is poor as Irus, or an Irish mine. Iro pauperior: this is the same beggar who boxed with Ulysses for a pound of kid's fry, which he lost, and half a dozen teeth besides. -See Odyssey, b. 18.- The Irish gold mine of Wicklow, which yields just ore enough to swear by, or gild a bad guinea. Line 565. Havard's fate. For the story of Billy Havard's tragedy, see Davies's Life of Garrick. I believe it is Regulus, or Charles the First. The moment it was known to be his, the theatre thinned, and the book-seller refused to give the customary sum for the copyright. Page 265, line 588. Are damn'd alike by gods, and men, and columns. [In the original MS. this couplet followed: Though what Gods, men, and columns' interdict, The Devil and Jeffrey pardon - in a Pict.] Line 593. Eclectics. To the Eclectic or Christian Reviewers I have to return thanks for the fervour of that charity which, in 1809, induced them to express a hope that a thing then published by me might lead to certain consequences, which, although natural enough, surely came but rashly from reverend lips. Line 602. Strike at wretched kernes.' [Macbeth, v. 7.] Line 613. No jest on minors.' [See the memorable critique of the Edinburgh Review on Hours of Idleness, vol. vii, p. 188.] Line 620. From Corydon unkind Alexis turns. Invenies alium, si te hic fastidit, Alexin. Line 638. Jackson. [John Jackson, champion of England from 1795 to 1803, was Byron's teacher in the art.] Page 266, line 717. Pollio play'd this prank. [The MS. in Mr. Murray's possession reads Rogers for Pollio.] Page 267, line 737. There lives one druid. [Cf. English Bards, v. 741, 742 : Ye Druids rich in native lead, Who daily scribble for your daily bread.'] |