"I never," said Byron, "was much more disgusted with any human production than with the eternal nonsense, and _tracasseries_, and emptiness, and ill-humour, and vanity of this young person; but he has some talent, and is a man of honour, and has dispositions of amendment. Therefore use your interest for him, for he is improved and improvable;" and, in a letter to Murray, Aug. 21, 1817, "You want a 'civil and delicate declension' for the medical tragedy? Take it."--For J.W. Polidori (1795-1821), see _Letters_, 1899, iii, 284 _note_ I.] [76] [Maturin's second tragedy, _Manuel_, produced at Drury Lane, March 8, 1817, with Kean as "Manuel Count Valdis, failed, and after five nights was withdrawn." It was published in 1817. "It is," says Byron (letter to Murray, June 14, 1817), "the absurd work of a clever man."--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 134, and _note_ I.] [77] [Sotheby published, in 1814, _Five Tragedies_, viz. "The Confession," "Orestes," "Ivan," "The Death of Darnley," and "Zamorin and Zama."] [78] [_Ina, A Tragedy_, by Mrs. Wilmot [Barberina Ogle (1768-1854), daughter of Sir Chaloner Ogle], afterwards Lady Dacre, was produced at Drury Lane, April 22, 1815. Her "tragedy," writes Byron to Moore, April 23, 1815, "was last night damned." See _Letters_, 1898, ii. 332, _note_ 3, etc.; _ibid._, 1899, iii. 195, _note_ I.] [79] [George Hammond (1763-1853) was a distinguished diplomatist, who twice (1795-1806 and 1807-1809) held the office of Under-secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He is associated with the foundation of the _Anti-Jacobin_ and the _Quarterly Review_. In the drawing-room of Albemarle Street, he was Murray's "chief 4-o'clock man," until his official duties compelled him to settle at Paris.--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 160, _note_ 1. John Dent, M.P., a banker, was nicknamed "Dog Dent" because he was concerned in the introduction of the Dog-tax Bill in 1796. In 1802 he introduced a Bill to abolish bull-baiting.--_Ibid_] [80] [Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), soldier, administrator, and diplomatist, published (January, 1815) his _History of Persia.--Letters_, 1899, iii. 113, _note_ 1.] [81] [For "Dark Hamilton," W.R. Hamilton (1777-1859), see _Childe Harold_, Canto II. stanza xiii. _var_. I, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 108, _note_ 1. Lines 61, 62 were added October 12, 1817.] [82] [Madame de Staël's _Considérations sur la Révolution Française_ was offered to Murray in June, 1816 (_Memoir, etc., 1891_, i. 316), and the sum of £4000 asked for the work. During the negotiations, Madame de Staël died (July 14, 1817), and the book was eventually published by Messrs. Baldwin and Cradock.--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 94, _note_.] [83] [Byron and the elder Schlegel met at Copet, in 1816, but they did not take to each other. Byron "would not flatter him," perhaps because he did not appreciate or flatter Byron.] EPISTLE TO MR. MURRAY. 1.