Lord Carlisle's works, most resplendently bound, form a conspicuous
ornament to his book-shelves:--
"The rest is all but [only, MS.] leather and prunella."
"Wrong also--the provocation was not sufficient to justify such
acerbity."--B., 1816.]
[Footnote 115: 'All the Blocks, or an Antidote to "All the Talents"' by
Flagellum (W. H. Ireland), London, 1807: 'The Groan of the Talents, or
Private Sentiments on Public Occasions,' 1807; "Gr--vile Agonistes, 'A
Dramatic Poem, 1807,' etc., etc."]
[Footnote 116: "MELVILLE'S Mantle," a parody on 'Elijah's Mantle,' a
poem. ['Elijah's Mantle, being verses occasioned by the death of that
illustrious statesman, the Right Hon. W. Pitt.' Dedicated to the Right
Rev. the Lord Bishop of Lincoln (1807), was written by James Sayer.
'Melville's Mantle, being a Parody on the poem entitled "Elijah's
Mantle"' was published by Budd, 1807. 'A Monody on the death of the R.
H. C. J. Fox,' by Richard Payne Knight, was printed for J. Payne,
1806-7. Another "Monody," 'Lines written on returning from the Funeral
of the R. H. C. J. Fox, Friday Oct'. 10, 1806, addressed to Lord
Holland, was by M. G. Lewis, and there were others.]]
[Footnote 117: This lovely little Jessica, the daughter of the noted Jew
King, seems to be a follower of the Della Crusca school, and has
published two volumes of very respectable absurdities in rhyme, as times
go; besides sundry novels in the style of the first edition of 'The
Monk.'
"She since married the 'Morning Post'--an exceeding good match; and is
now dead--which is better."--B., 1816. [The last seven words are in
pencil, and, possibly, by another hand. The novelist "Rosa," the
daughter of "Jew King," the lordly money-lender who lived in Clarges
Street, and drove a yellow chariot, may possibly be confounded with
"Rosa Matilda," Mrs. Byrne (Gronow, 'Rem.' (1889), i. 132-136). (See
note 1, p. 358.)]
[Footnote 118: Lines 759, 760 were added for the first time in the
Fourth Edition.]
[Footnote 119: Lines 756-764, with variant ii., refer to the Della
Cruscan school, attacked by Gifford in 'The Baviad' and 'The Mæviad.'
Robert Merry (1755-1798), together with Mrs. Piozzi, Bertie Greatheed,
William Parsons, and some Italian friends, formed a literary society
called the 'Oziosi' at Florence, where they published 'The Arno
Miscellany' (1784) and 'The Florence Miscellany' (1785), consisting of
verses in which the authors "say kind things of each other" (Preface to
'The Florence Miscellany,' by Mrs. Piozzi). In 1787 Merry, who had
become a member of the Della Cruscan Academy at Florence, returned to
London, and wrote in the 'World' (then edited by Captain Topham) a
sonnet on "Love," under the signature of "Della Crusca." He was answered
by Mrs. Hannah Cowley, 'née' Parkhouse (1743-1809), famous as the
authoress of 'The Belles Stratagem' (acted at Covent Garden in 1782), in
a sonnet called "The Pen," signed "Anna Matilda." The poetical
correspondence which followed was published in 'The British Album'
(1789, 2 vols.) by John Bell. Other writers connected with the Della
Cruscan school were "Perdita" Robinson, 'née' Darby (1758-1800), who
published 'The Mistletoe' (1800) under the pseudonym "Laura Maria," and
to whom Merry addressed a poem quoted by Gifford in 'The Baviad' ('note'
to line 284); Charlotte Dacre, who married Byrne, Robinson's successor
as editor of the 'Morning Post,' wrote under the pseudonym of "Rosa
Matilda," and published poems ('Hours of Solitude,' 1805) and numerous
novels ('Confessions of the Nun of St. Omer's,' 1805; 'Zofloya;' 'The
Libertine,' etc.); and "Hafiz" (Robert Stott, of the 'Morning Post'). Of
these writers, "Della Crusca" Merry, and "Laura Maria" Robinson, were
dead; "Anna Matilda" Cowley, "Hafiz" Stott, and "Rosa Matilda" Dacre
were still living. John Bell (1745-1831), the publisher of 'The British
Album,' was also one of the proprietors of the 'Morning Post,' the
'Oracle,' and the 'World,' in all of which the Della Cruscans wrote. His
"Owls and Nightingales" are explained by a reference to 'The Baviad' (l.
284), where Gifford pretends to mistake the nightingale, to which Merry
("Arno") addressed some lines, for an owl. "On looking again, I find the
owl to be a nightingale!--N'importe."]]
[Footnote 120: These are the signatures of various worthies who figure
in the poetical departments of the newspapers.]
[Footnote 121: "This was meant for poor Blackett, who was then
patronised by A. I. B." (Lady Byron); "but 'that' I did not know, or
this would not have been written, at least I think not."--B., 1816.
[Joseph Blacket (1786-1810), said by Southey ('Letters,' i. 172) to
possess "force and rapidity," and to be endowed with "more powers than
Robert Bloomfield, and an intellect of higher pitch," was the son of a
labourer, and by trade a cobbler. He was brought into notice by S. J.
Pratt (who published Blacket's 'Remains' in 1811), and was befriended by
the Milbanke family. Miss Milbanke, afterwards Lady Byron, wrote (Sept.
2, 1809), "Seaham is at present the residence of a poet, by name Joseph
Blacket, one of the Burns-like and Dermody kind, whose genius is his
sole possession. I was yesterday in his company for the first time, and
was much pleased with his manners and conversation. He is extremely
diffident, his deportment is mild, and his countenance animated
melancholy and of a satirical turn. His poems certainly display a
superior genius and an enlarged mind...." Blacket died on the Seaham
estate in Sept., 1810, at the age of twenty-three. (See Byron's letter
to Dallas, June 28, 1811; his 'Epitaph for Joseph Blackett;' and 'Hints
from Horace,' l. 734.)]]
[Footnote 122: Capel Lofft, Esq., the Mæcenas of shoemakers, and
Preface-writer-General to distressed versemen; a kind of gratis
Accoucheur to those who wish to be delivered of rhyme, but do not know
how to bring it forth.
[Capel Lofft (1751-1824), jurist, poet, critic, and horticulturist,
honoured himself by his kindly patronage of Robert Bloomfield
(1766-1823), who was born at Honington, near Lofft's estate of Throston,
Suffolk. Robert Bloomfield was brought up by his elder brothers--
Nathaniel a tailor, and George a shoemaker. It was in the latter's
workshop that he composed 'The Farmer's Boy,' which was published (1798)
with the help of Lofft. He also wrote 'Rural Tales' (1802), 'Good
Tidings; or News from the Farm '(1804), 'The Banks of the Wye' (1811),
etc. (See 'Hints from Horace,' line 734, notes 1 and 2.)]]
[Footnote 123: See Nathaniel Bloomfield's ode, elegy, or whatever he or
any one else chooses to call it, on the enclosures of "Honington Green."
[Nathaniel Bloomfield, as a matter of fact, called it a ballad.--'Poems'
(1803).]]
[Footnote 124: Vide 'Recollections of a Weaver in the Moorlands of
Staffordshire'. [The exact title is 'The Moorland Bard; or Poetical
Recollections of a Weaver', etc. 2 vols., 1807. The author was T.
Bakewell, who also wrote 'A Domestic Guide to Insanity', 1805.]]
[Footnote 125: It would be superfluous to recall to the mind of the
reader the authors of 'The Pleasures of Memory' and 'The Pleasures of
Hope', the most beautiful didactic poems in our language, if we except
Pope's 'Essay on Man': but so many poetasters have started up, that even
the names of Campbell and Rogers are become strange.--[Beneath this note
Byron scribbled, in 1816,--
"Pretty Miss Jaqueline
Had a nose aquiline,
And would assert rude
Things of Miss Gertrude,
While Mr. Marmion
Led a great army on,
Making Kehama look
Like a fierce Mameluke."
"I have been reading," he says, in 1813, "'Memory' again, and 'Hope'
together, and retain all my preference of the former. His elegance is
really wonderful--there is no such a thing as a vulgar line in his
book." In the annotations of 1816, Byron remarks, "Rogers has not
fulfilled the promise of his first poems, but has still very great
merit."]
[Footnote 126: GIFFORD, author of the 'Baviad' and 'Mæviad', the first
satires of the day, and translator of Juvenal, [and one (though not the
best) of the translators of Juvenal.--'British Bards'.]]
[Footnote 127: SOTHEBY, translator of WIELAND'S 'Oberon' and Virgil's
'Georgics', and author of 'Saul', an epic poem. [William Sotheby
(1757-1833) began life as a cavalry officer, but being a man of fortune,
sold out of the army and devoted himself to literature, and to the
patronage of men of letters. His translation of the 'Oberon' appeared in
1798, and of the 'Georgics' in 1800. 'Saul' was published in 1807. When
Byron was in Venice, he conceived a dislike to Sotheby, in the belief
that he had made an anonymous attack on some of his works; but, later,
his verdict was, "a good man, rhymes well (if not wisely); but is a
bore" ('Diary', 1821; 'Works', p. 509, note). He is "the solemn antique
man of rhyme" ('Beppo', st. lxiii.), and the "Botherby" of 'The Blues';
and in 'Don Juan', Canto I. st. cxvi., we read--
"Thou shalt not covet Mr. Sotheby's house
His Pegasus nor anything that's his."]]
[Footnote 128: MACNEIL, whose poems are deservedly popular, particularly
"SCOTLAND'S Scaith," and the "Waes of War," of which ten thousand copies
were sold in one month. [Hector Macneil (1746-1816) wrote in defence of
slavery in Jamaica, and was the author of several poems: 'Scotland's
Skaith, or the History of Will and Jean' (1795), 'The Waes of War, or
the Upshot of the History of Will and Jean' (1796), etc., etc.]]
[Footnote 129: Mr. GIFFORD promised publicly that the 'Baviad' and
'Mæviad' should not be his last original works: let him remember, "Mox
in reluctantes dracones." [Cf. 'New Morality,' lines 29-42.]]
[Footnote 130: Henry Kirke White died at Cambridge, in October 1806, in
consequence of too much exertion in the pursuit of studies that would
have matured a mind which disease and poverty could not impair, and
which Death itself destroyed rather than subdued. His poems abound in
such beauties as must impress the reader with the liveliest regret that
so short a period was allotted to talents, which would have dignified
even the sacred functions he was destined to assume.
[H. K. White (1785-1806) published 'Clifton Grove' and other poems in
1803. Two volumes of his 'Remains,' consisting of poems, letters, etc.,
with a life by Southey, were issued in 1808. His tendency to epilepsy
was increased by over-work at Cambridge. He once remarked to a friend
that "were he to paint a picture of Fame, crowning a distinguished
undergraduate after the Senate house examination, he would represent her
as concealing a Death's head under a mask of Beauty" ('Life of H. K.
W.', by Southey, i. 45). By "the soaring lyre, which else had sounded an
immortal lay," Byron, perhaps, refers to the unfinished 'Christiad,'
which, says Southey, "Henry had most at heart."]]
[Footnote 131: Lines 832-834, as they stand in the text, were inserted
in MS. in both the Annotated Copies of the Fourth Edition.]]
[Footnote 132: "I consider Crabbe and Coleridge as the first of these
times, in point of power and genius."--B., 1816.]
[Footnote 133: Mr. Shee, author of 'Rhymes on Art' and 'Elements of
Art'. [Sir Martin Archer Shee (1770-1850) was President of the Royal
Academy (1830-45). His 'Rhymes on Art' (1805) and 'Elements of Art'
(1809), a poem in six cantos, will hardly be regarded as worthy of
Byron's praise, which was probably quite genuine. He also wrote a novel,
'Harry Calverley', and other works.]]
[Footnote 134: Mr. Wright, late Consul-General for the Seven Islands, is
author of a very beautiful poem, just published: it is entitled 'Horæ
Ionicæ', and is descriptive of the isles and the adjacent coast of
Greece. [Walter Rodwell Wright was afterwards President of the Court of
Appeal in Malta, where he died in 1826. 'Horæ Ionicæ, a Poem descriptive
of the Ionian Islands, and Part of the Adjacent Coast of Greece', was
published in 1809. He is mentioned in one of Byron's long notes to
'Childe Harold', canto ii., dated Franciscan Convent, Mar. 17, 1811.]]
[Footnote 135: The translators of the Anthology have since published
separate poems, which evince genius that only requires opportunity to
attain eminence. [The Rev. Robert Bland (1779-1825) published, in 1806,
'Translations chiefly from the Greek Anthology, with Tales and
Miscellaneous Poems'. In these he was assisted (see 'Life of the Rev.
Francis Hodgson', vol. i. pp. 226-260) by Denman (afterwards Chief
Justice), by Hodgson himself, and, above all, by John Herman Merivale
(1779-1844), who subsequently, in 1813, was joint editor with him of
'Collections from the Greek Anthology', etc.]]
[Footnote 136: Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), the grandfather of Charles
Robert Darwin. Coleridge describes his poetry as "nothing but a
succession of landscapes or paintings. It arrests the attention too
often, and so prevents the rapidity necessary to pathos."--'Anima
Poetæ', 1895, p. 5. His chief works are 'The Botanic Garden' (1789-92)
and 'The Temple of Nature' (1803). Byron's censure of 'The Botanic
Garden' is inconsistent with his principles, for Darwin's verse was
strictly modelled on the lines of Pope and his followers. But the 'Loves
of the Triangles' had laughed away the 'Loves of the Plants'.]]
[Footnote 137: The neglect of 'The Botanic Garden' is some proof of
returning taste. The scenery is its sole recommendation.]
[Footnote 138: This was not Byron's mature opinion, nor had he so
expressed himself in the review of Wordsworth's 'Poems' which he
contributed to 'Crosby's Magazine' in 1807 ('Life', p. 669). His scorn
was, in part, provoked by indignities offered to Pope and Dryden, and,
in part, assumed because one Lake poet called up the rest; and it was
good sport to flout and jibe at the "Fraternity." That the day would
come when the message of Wordsworth would reach his ears and awaken his
enthusiasm, he could not, of course, foresee (see 'Childe Harold', canto
iii. stanzas 72, 'et seqq.').]]
[Footnote 139: Messrs. Lamb and Lloyd, the most ignoble followers of
Southey and Co. [Charles Lloyd (1775-1839) resided for some months under
Coleridge's roof, first in Bristol, and afterwards at Nether Stowey
(1796-1797). He published, in 1796, a folio edition of his 'Poems on the
Death of Priscilla Farmer', in which a sonnet by Coleridge and a poem of
Lamb's were included. Lamb and Lloyd contributed several pieces to the
second edition of Coleridge's Poems, published in 1797; and in 1798 they
brought out a joint volume of their own composition, named 'Poems in
Blank Verse'. 'Edmund Oliver', a novel, appeared also in 1798. An
estrangement between Coleridge and Lloyd resulted in a quarrel with
Lamb, and a drawing together of Lamb, Lloyd, and Southey. But Byron
probably had in his mind nothing more than the lines in the
'Anti-Jacobin', where Lamb and Lloyd are classed with Coleridge and
Southey as advocates of French socialism:--
"Coleridge and Southey, Lloyd and Lamb and Co.,
Tune all your mystic harps to praise Lepaux."
In later life Byron expressed a very different opinion of Lamb's
literary merits. (See the preface to 'Werner', now first published.)]]
[Footnote 140: By the bye, I hope that in Mr. Scott's next poem, his
hero or heroine will be less addicted to "Gramarye," and more to
Grammar, than the Lady of the Lay and her Bravo, William of Deloraine.]
[Footnote 141: "Unjust."--B., 1816. [In 'Frost at Midnight', first
published in 1798, Coleridge twice mentions his "Cradled infant."]]
[Footnote 142: The Rev. W. L. Bowles ('vide ante', p. 323, note 2),
published, in 1789, 'Fourteen Sonnets written chiefly on Picturesque
Spots during a Journey'.]]
[Footnote 143: It may be asked, why I have censured the Earl of
CARLISLE, my guardian and relative, to whom I dedicated a volume of
puerile poems a few years ago?--The guardianship was nominal, at least
as far as I have been able to discover; the relationship I cannot help,
and am very sorry for it; but as his Lordship seemed to forget it on a
very essential occasion to me, I shall not burden my memory with the
recollection. I do not think that personal differences sanction the
unjust condemnation of a brother scribbler; but I see no reason why they
should act as a preventive, when the author, noble or ignoble, has, for
a series of years, beguiled a "discerning public" (as the advertisements
have it) with divers reams of most orthodox, imperial nonsense. Besides,
I do not step aside to vituperate the earl: no--his works come fairly in
review with those of other Patrician Literati. If, before I escaped from
my teens, I said anything in favour of his Lordship's paper books, it
was in the way of dutiful dedication, and more from the advice of others
than my own judgment, and I seize the first opportunity of pronouncing
my sincere recantation. I have heard that some persons conceive me to be
under obligations to Lord CARLISLE: if so, I shall be most particularly
happy to learn what they are, and when conferred, that they may be duly
appreciated and publicly acknowledged. What I have humbly advanced as an
opinion on his printed things, I am prepared to support, if necessary,
by quotations from Elegies, Eulogies, Odes, Episodes, and certain
facetious and dainty tragedies bearing his name and mark:--
"What can ennoble knaves, or 'fools', or cowards?
Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards."
So says Pope. Amen!--"Much too savage, whatever the foundation might
be."--B., 1816.]
[Footnote 144: Line 952. 'Note'--
"Tollere humo, victorque virum volitare per ora."
(VIRGIL.)]
[Footnote 145:
"The devil take that 'Phoenix'! How came it there?"
--B., 1816.]
[Footnote 146: The Rev. Charles James Hoare (1781-1865), a close friend
of the leaders of the Evangelical party, gained the Seatonian Prize at
Cambridge in 1807 with his poem on the 'Shipwreck of St. Paul'.]
[Footnote 147: Edmund Hoyle, the father of the modern game of whist,
lived from 1672 to 1769. The Rev. Charles Hoyle, his "poetical
namesake," was, like Hoare, a Seatonian prizeman, and wrote an epic in
thirteen books on the 'Exodus'.]
[Footnote 148: The 'Games of Hoyle', well known to the votaries of
Whist, Chess, etc., are not to be superseded by the vagaries of his
poetical namesake ["illustrious Synonime" in 'MS.' and 'British Bards'],
whose poem comprised, as expressly stated in the advertisement, all the
"Plagues of Egypt."]
[Footnote 149: Here, as in line 391, "Fresh fish from Helicon," etc.,
Byron confounds Helicon and Hippocrene.]]
[Footnote 150: This person, who has lately betrayed the most rabid
symptoms of confirmed authorship, is writer of a poem denominated 'The
Art of Pleasing', as "Lucus a non lucendo," containing little
pleasantry, and less poetry. He also acts as ["lies as" in 'MS.']
monthly stipendiary and collector of calumnies for the 'Satirist'. If
this unfortunate young man would exchange the magazines for the
mathematics, and endeavour to take a decent degree in his university, it
might eventually prove more serviceable than his present salary.]
[Note.--An unfortunate young person of Emanuel College, Cambridge,
ycleped Hewson Clarke, has lately manifested the most rabid symptoms of
confirmed Authorship. His Disorder commenced some years ago, and the
'Newcastle Herald' teemed with his precocious essays, to the great
edification of the Burgesses of Newcastle, Morpeth, and the parts
adjacent even unto Berwick upon Tweed. These have since been abundantly
scurrilous upon the [town] of Newcastle, his native spot, Mr. Mathias
and Anacreon Moore. What these men had done to offend Mr. Hewson Clarke
is not known, but surely the town in whose markets he had sold meat, and
in whose weekly journal he had written prose deserved better treatment.
Mr. H.C. should recollect the proverb "'tis a villainous bird that
defiles his own nest." He now writes in the 'Satirist'. We recommend the
young man to abandon the magazines for mathematics, and to believe that
a high degree at Cambridge will be more advantageous, as well as
profitable in the end, than his present precarious gleanings.]
[Hewson Clarke (1787-circ. 1832) was entered at Emmanuel Coll. Camb.
circ. 1806 (see 'Postscript'). He had to leave the University without
taking a degree, and migrated to London, where he devoted his not
inconsiderable talents to contributions to the 'Satirist', the
'Scourge', etc. He also wrote: 'An Impartial History of the Naval, etc.,
Events of Europe ... from the French Revolution ... to the Conclusion of
a General Peace' (1815); and a continuation of Hume's 'History of
England', 2 vols. (1832).
The 'Satirist', a monthly magazine illustrated with coloured cartoons,
was issued 1808-1814. 'Hours of Idleness' was reviewed Jan. 1808 (i.
77-81). "The Diary of a Cantab" (June, 1808, ii. 368) contains some
verses of "Lord B----n to his Bear. To the tune of Lachin y gair." The
last verse runs thus:--
"But when with the ardour of Love I am burning,
I feel for thy torments, I feel for thy care;
And weep for thy bondage, so truly discerning
What's felt by a 'Lord', may be felt by a 'Bear'."
In August, 1808 (iii. 78-86), there is a critique on 'Poems Original and
Translated', in which the bear plays many parts. The writer "is without
his bear and is himself muzzled," etc. Towards the close of the article
a solemn sentence is passed on the author for his disregard of the
advice of parents, tutors, friends; "but," adds the reviewer, "in the
paltry volume before us we think we observe some proof that the still
small voice of conscience will be heard in the cool of the day. Even now
the gay, the gallant, the accomplished bear-leader is not happy," etc.
Hence the castigation of "the sizar of Emmanuel College."]
[Footnote 151:
"Right enough: this was well deserved, and well laid on."
(B., 1816.)]
[Footnote 152:
"Into Cambridgeshire the Emperor Probus transported a considerable
body of Vandals."
(Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall', ii. 83.) There is no reason to doubt the
truth of this assertion; the breed is still in high perfection.
We see no reason to doubt the truth of this statement, as a large stock
of the same breed are to be found there at this day.--'British Bards'.
[Lines 981-984 do not occur in the 'MS'. Lines 981, 982, are inserted in
MS. in 'British Bards'.]]
[Footnote 153: This gentleman's name requires no praise: the man who
[has surpassed Dryden and Gifford as a Translator.--'MS. British Bards']
in translation displays unquestionable genius may be well expected to
excel in original composition, of which, it is to be hoped, we shall
soon see a splendid specimen. [Francis Hodgson (1781-1852) was Byron's
lifelong friend. His 'Juvenal' appeared in 1807; 'Lady Jane Grey and
other Poems', in 1809; 'Sir Edgar, a Tale', in 1810. For other works and
details, see 'Life of the Rev. Francis Hodgson', by the Rev. James T.
Hodgson (1878).]]
[Footnote 154: Hewson Clarke, 'Esq'., as it is written.]
[Footnote 155: 'The Aboriginal Britons', an excellent ["most excellent"
in 'MS.'] poem, by Richards. [The Rev. George Richards, D.D.
(1769-1835), a Fellow of Oriel, and afterwards Rector of St.
Martin's-in-the-Fields. 'The Aboriginal Britons', a prize poem, was
published in 1792, and was followed by 'The Songs of the Aboriginal
Bards of Britain' (1792), and various other prose and poetical works.]]
[Footnote: 156. With this verse the satire originally ended.]
[Footnote 157: A friend of mine being asked, why his Grace of Portland
was likened to an old woman? replied, "he supposed it was because he was
past bearing." (Even Homer was a punster--a solitary pun.)--['MS'.] His
Grace is now gathered to his grandmothers, where he sleeps as sound as
ever; but even his sleep was better than his colleagues' waking. 1811.
[William Henry Cavendish, third Duke of Portland (1738-1809), Prime
Minister in 1807, on the downfall of the Ministry of "All the Talents,"
till his death in 1809, was, as the wits said, "a convenient block to
hang Whigs on," but was not, even in his vigour, a man of much
intellectual capacity. When Byron meditated a tour to India in 1808,
Portland declined to write on his behalf to the Directors of the East
India Company, and couched his refusal in terms which Byron fancied to
be offensive.]]
[Footnote 158: "Saw it August, 1809."--B., 1816. [The following notes
were omitted from the Fifth Edition:--
"Calpe is the ancient name of Gibraltar. Saw it August, 1809.--B.,
1816.
"Stamboul is the Turkish word for Constantinople. Was there the summer
1810."