"Halnaby, Darlington, January 10, 1815.
"I was married this day week. The parson has pronounced it--Perry
has announced it--and the Morning Post, also, under the head of
'Lord Byron's Marriage'--as if it were a fabrication, or the
puff-direct of a new stay-maker.
"Now for thine affairs. I have redde thee upon the Fathers, and it
is excellent well. Positively, you must not leave off reviewing.
You shine in it--you kill in it; and this article has been taken
for Sydney Smith's (as I heard in town), which proves not only your
proficiency in parsonology, but that you have all the airs of a
veteran critic at your first onset. So, prithee, go on and prosper.
"Scott's 'Lord of the Isles' is out--'the mail-coach copy' I have,
by special licence, of Murray.
"Now is _your_ time;--you will come upon them newly and freshly. It
is impossible to read what you have lately done (verse or prose)
without seeing that you have trained on tenfold. * * has
floundered; * * has foundered. _I_ have tried the rascals (i.e. the
public) with my Harrys and Larrys, Pilgrims and Pirates. Nobody but
S * * * *y has done any thing worth a slice of bookseller's
pudding; and _he_ has not luck enough to be found out in doing a
good thing. Now, Tom, is thy time--'Oh joyful day!--I would not
take a knighthood for thy fortune. Let me hear from you soon, and
believe me ever, &c.
"P.S. Lady Byron is vastly well. How are Mrs. Moore and Joe
Atkinson's 'Graces?' We must present our women to one another."
* * * * *