Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 1: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 1: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
"What you say is all very true: come what may, _Newstead_ and I
_stand_ or fall together. I have now lived on the spot, I have fixed
my heart upon it, and no pressure, present or future, shall induce me
to barter the last vestige of our inheritance. I have that pride
within me which will enable me to support difficulties. I can endure
privations; but could I obtain in exchange for Newstead Abbey the
first fortune in the country I would reject the proposition. Set your
mind at ease on that score; Mr. H---- talks like a man of business on
the subject,--I feel like a man of honour, and I will not sell
Newstead.
"I shall get my seat on the return of the affidavits from Carhais, in
Cornwall, and will do something in the House soon: I must dash, or it
is all over. My Satire must be kept secret for a month; after that you
may say what you please on the subject. Lord C. has used me
infamously, and refused to state any particulars of my family to the
Chancellor. I have _lashed_ him in my rhymes, and perhaps his Lordship
may regret not being more conciliatory. They tell me it will have a
sale; I hope so, for the bookseller has behaved well, as far as
publishing well goes.
"Believe me, &c.
"P.S.--You shall have a mortgage on one of the farms."
The affidavits which he here mentions, as expected from Cornwall, were
those required in proof of the marriage of Admiral Byron with Miss
Trevanion, the solemnisation of which having taken place, as it
appears, in a private chapel at Carhais, no regular certificate of the
ceremony could be produced. The delay in procuring other evidence,
coupled with the refusal of Lord Carlisle to afford any explanations
respecting his family, interposed those difficulties which he alludes
to in the way of his taking his seat. At length, all the necessary
proofs having been obtained, he, on the 13th of March, presented
himself in the House of Lords, in a state more lone and unfriended,
perhaps, than any youth of his high station had ever before been
reduced to on such an occasion,--not having a single individual of his
own class either to take him by the hand as friend or acknowledge him
as acquaintance. To chance alone was he even indebted for being
accompanied as far as the bar of the House by a very distant relative,
who had been, little more than a year before, an utter stranger to
him. This relative was Mr. Dallas; and the account which he has given
of the whole scene is too striking in all its details to be related in
any other words than his own:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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