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
"As I have received a firman for Egypt, &c., I shall proceed to that
quarter in the spring, and I beg you will state to Mr. H. that it is
necessary to further remittances. On the subject of Newstead, I answer
as before, _No._ If it is necessary to sell, sell Rochdale. Fletcher
will have arrived by this time with my letters to that purport. I will
tell you fairly, I have, in the first place, no opinion of funded
property; if, by any particular circumstances, I shall be led to adopt
such a determination, I will, at all events, pass my life abroad, as
my only tie to England is Newstead, and, that once gone, neither
interest nor inclination lead me northward. Competence in your country
is ample wealth in the East, such is the difference in the value of
money and the abundance of the necessaries of life; and I feel myself
so much a citizen of the world, that the spot where I can enjoy a
delicious climate, and every luxury, at a less expense than a common
college life in England, will always be a country to me; and such are
in fact the shores of the Archipelago. This then is the
alternative--if I preserve Newstead, I return; if I sell it, I stay
away. I have had no letters since yours of June, but I have written
several times, and shall continue, as usual, on the same plan.
Believe me, yours ever,
BYRON.
"P.S.--I shall most likely see you in the course of the summer, but,
of course, at such a distance, I cannot specify any particular
month." The voyage to Egypt, which he appears from this letter to
have contemplated, was, probably for want of the expected remittances,
relinquished; and, on the 3d of June, he set sail from Malta, in the
Volage frigate, for England, having, during his short stay at Malta,
suffered a severe attack of the tertian fever. The feelings with which
he returned home may be collected from the following melancholy
letters.
LETTER 51.
TO MR. HODGSON.
"Volage frigate, at sea, June 29. 1811.
"In a week, with a fair wind, we shall be at Portsmouth, and on the 2d
of July, I shall have completed (to a day) two years of peregrination,
from which I am returning with as little emotion as I set out. I
think, upon the whole, I was more grieved at leaving Greece than
England, which I am impatient to see, simply because I am tired of a
long voyage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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