Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 5: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 5: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
"Peel (the _second_ brother of the Secretary) was a correspondent
of mine, and also Porter, the son of the Bishop of Clogher; Lord
Clare a very voluminous one; William Harness (a friend of Milman's)
another; Charles Drummond (son of the banker); William Bankes (the
voyager), your friend: R.C. Dallas, Esq.; Hodgson; Henry Drury;
Hobhouse you were already aware of.
"I have gone through this long list[57] of
"'The cold, the faithless, and the dead,'
because I know that, like 'the curious in fish-sauce,' you are a
researcher of such things.
"Besides these, there are other occasional ones to literary men and
so forth, complimentary, &c. &c. &c. not worth much more than the
rest. There are some hundreds, too, of Italian notes of mine,
scribbled with a noble contempt of the grammar and dictionary, in
very English Etruscan; for I _speak_ Italian very fluently, but
write it carelessly and incorrectly to a degree."
[Footnote 56: He here adverts to a passing remark, in one of Mr.
Murray's letters, that, as his Lordship's "Memoranda" were not to be
published in his lifetime, the sum now paid for the work, 2100_l_. would
most probably, upon a reasonable calculation of survivorship, amount
ultimately to no less than 8000_l_.]
[Footnote 57: To all the persons upon this list who were accessible,
application has, of course, been made,--with what success it is in the
reader's power to judge from the communications that have been laid
before him. Among the companions of the poet's boyhood there are (as I
have already had occasion to mention and regret) but few traces of his
youthful correspondence to be found; and of all those who knew him at
that period, his fair Southwell correspondent alone seems to have been
sufficiently endowed with the gift of second-sight to anticipate the
Byron of a future day, and foresee the compound interest that Time and
Fame would accumulate on every precious scrap of the young bard which
she hoarded. On the whole, however, it is not unsatisfactory to be able
to state that, with the exception of a very small minority (only one of
whom is possessed of any papers of much importance), every distinguished
associate and intimate of the noble poet, from the very outset to the
close of his extraordinary career, have come forward cordially to
communicate whatever memorials they possessed of him,--trusting, as I am
willing to flatter myself, that they confided these treasures to one,
who, if not able to do full justice to the memory of their common
friend, would, at least, not willingly suffer it to be dishonoured in
his hands.]
* * * * *
LETTER 459. TO MR. MOORE.
"September 29. 1821.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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