The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 1. PoetryByron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
General
The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 1. Poetry
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
Poetry
[William Herbert (1778-1847), son of the first Earl of Carnarvon, edited
'Musæ Etonenses' in 1795, whilst he was still at school. He was one of
the earliest contributors to the 'Edinburgh Review'. At the time when
Byron was writing his satire, he was M.P. for Hampshire, but in 1814 he
took Orders. He was appointed Dean of Manchester in 1840, and
republished his poetical works, and among them his Icelandic
Translations or 'Horæ Scandicæ (Miscellaneous Works', 2 vols.), in
1842.]]
[Footnote 68: The Rev. SYDNEY SMITH, the reputed Author of 'Peter
Plymley's Letters', and sundry criticisms. [Sydney Smith (1771-1845),
the "witty Canon of St. Paul's," was one of the founders, and for a
short time (1802) the editor, of the 'Edinburgh Review'. His 'Letters on
the Catholicks, from Peter Plymley to his brother Abraham', appeared in
1807-8.]
[Footnote 69: Mr. HALLAM reviewed PAYNE KNIGHT'S "Taste," and was
exceedingly severe on some Greek verses therein. It was not discovered
that the lines were Pindar's till the press rendered it impossible to
cancel the critique, which still stands an everlasting monument of
Hallam's ingenuity.--['Note added to Second Edition':
Hallam is incensed because he is falsely accused, seeing that he never
dineth at Holland House. If this be true, I am sorry--not for having
said so, but on his account, as I understand his Lordship's feasts are
preferable to his compositions. If he did not review Lord HOLLAND'S
performance, I am glad; because it must have been painful to read, and
irksome to praise it. If Mr. HALLAM will tell me who did review it,
the real name shall find a place in the text; provided, nevertheless,
the said name be of two orthodox musical syllables, and will come into
the verse: till then, HALLAM must stand for want of a better.]
[Henry Hallam (1777-1859), author of 'Europe during the Middle Ages',
1808, etc.
"This," said Byron, "is the style in which history ought to be
written, if it is wished to impress it on the memory"
('Lady Blessington's Conversations with Lord Byron', 1834, p. 213). The
article in question was written by Dr. John Allen, Lord Holland's
domestic physician, and Byron was misled by the similarity of sound in
the two names (see H. C. Robinson's 'Diary', i. 277), or repeated what
Hodgson had told him (see Introduction, and Letter 102, 'note' i).
For a disproof that Hallam wrote the article, see 'Gent. Mag'., 1830,
pt. i. p. 389; and for an allusion to the mistake in the review, compare
'All the Talents', p. 96, and 'note'.
"Spare me not 'Chronicles' and 'Sunday News',
Spare me not 'Pamphleteers' and 'Scotch Reviews'"
"The best literary joke I recollect is its [the 'Edin. Rev'.] attempting
to prove some of the Grecian Pindar rank non sense, supposing it to have
been written by Mr. P. Knight."]
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