"September 28. 1821.
"I add another cover to request you to ask Moore to obtain (if
possible) my letters to the late Lady Melbourne from Lady Cowper.
They are very numerous, and ought to have been restored long ago,
as I was ready to give back Lady Melbourne's in exchange. These
latter are in Mr. Hobhouse's custody with my other papers, and
shall be punctually restored if required. I did not choose before
to apply to Lady Cowper, as her mother's death naturally kept me
from intruding upon her feelings at the time of its occurrence.
Some years have now elapsed, and it is essential that I should have
my own epistles. They are essential as confirming that part of the
'Memoranda' which refers to the two periods (1812 and 1814) when my
marriage with her niece was in contemplation, and will tend to show
what my real views and feelings were upon that subject.
"You need not be alarmed; the 'fourteen years[56]' will hardly
elapse without some mortality amongst us; it is a long lease of
life to speculate upon. So your calculation will not be in so much
peril, as the 'argosie' will sink before that time, and 'the pound
of flesh' be withered previously to your being so long out of a
return.
"I also wish to give you a hint or two (as you have really behaved
very handsomely to Moore in the business, and are a fine fellow in
your line) for your advantage. _If_ by your own management you can
extract any of my epistles from Lady ----, (* * * * * * *), they
might be of use in your collection (sinking of course the _names_
and _all such circumstances_ as might hurt _living_ feelings, or
_those_ of _survivors_); they treat of more topics than love
occasionally.
"I will tell you who may _happen_ to have some letters of mine in
their possession: Lord Powerscourt, some to his late brother; Mr.
Long of--(I forget his place)--but the father of Edward Long of the
Guards, who was drowned in going to Lisbon early in 1809; Miss
Elizabeth Pigot, of Southwell, Notts (she may be _Mistress_ by this
time, for she had a year or two more than I): _they_ were _not_
love-letters, so that you might have them without scruple. There
are, or might be, some to the late Rev. J.C. Tattersall, in the
hands of his brother (half-brother) Mr. Wheatley, who resides near
Canterbury, I think. There are some of Charles Gordon, now of
Dulwich; and some few to Mrs. Chaworth; but these latter are
probably destroyed or inaccessible.
"I mention these people and particulars merely as _chances_. Most
of them have probably destroyed the letters, which in fact are of
little import, many of them written when very young, and several at
school and college.
"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.]
* * * * *