"Dorant's Hotel, Albemarle Street, Jan. 20. 1808.
"Sir,
"Your letter was not received till this morning, I presume from being
addressed to me in Notts., where I have not resided since last June,
and as the date is the 6th, you will excuse the delay of my answer.
"If the little volume you mention has given pleasure to the author of
_Percival_ and _Aubrey_, I am sufficiently repaid by his praise.
Though our periodical censors have been uncommonly lenient, I confess
a tribute from a man of acknowledged genius is still more flattering.
But I am afraid I should forfeit all claim to candour, if I did not
decline such praise as I do not deserve; and this is, I am sorry to
say, the case in the present instance.
"My compositions speak for themselves, and must stand or fall by their
own worth or demerit: _thus far_ I feel highly gratified by your
favourable opinion. But my pretensions to virtue are unluckily so few,
that though I should be happy to merit, I cannot accept, your applause
in that respect. One passage in your letter struck me forcibly: you
mention the two Lords Lyttleton in a manner they respectively deserve,
and will be surprised to hear the person who is now addressing you has
been frequently compared to the _latter_. I know I am injuring myself
in your esteem by this avowal, but the circumstance was so remarkable
from your observation, that I cannot help relating the fact. The
events of my short life have been of so singular a nature, that,
though the pride commonly called honour has, and I trust ever will,
prevent me from disgracing my name by a mean or cowardly action, I
have been already held up as the votary of licentiousness, and the
disciple of infidelity. How far justice may have dictated this
accusation, I cannot pretend to say; but, like the _gentleman_ to whom
my religious friends, in the warmth of their charity, have already
devoted me, I am made worse than I really am. However, to quit myself
(the worst theme I could pitch upon), and return to my poems, I cannot
sufficiently express my thanks, and I hope I shall some day have an
opportunity of rendering them in person. A second edition is now in
the press, with some additions and considerable omissions; you will
allow me to present you with a copy. The Critical, Monthly, and
Anti-Jacobin Reviews have been very indulgent; but the Eclectic has
pronounced a furious Philippic, not against the _book_ but the
_author_, where you will find all I have mentioned asserted by a
reverend divine who wrote the critique.
Your name and connection with our family have been long known to me,
and I hope your person will be not less so: you will find me an
excellent compound of a 'Brainless' and a 'Stanhope.'[83] I am afraid
you will hardly be able to read this, for my hand is almost as bad as
my character; but you will find me, as legibly as possible,
"Your obliged and obedient servant,
"BYRON."
There is here, evidently, a degree of pride in being thought to
resemble the wicked Lord Lyttleton; and, lest his known irregularities
should not bear him out in the pretension, he refers mysteriously, as
was his habit, to certain untold events of his life, to warrant the
parallel.[84] Mr. Dallas, who seems to have been but little prepared
for such a reception of his compliments, escapes out of the difficulty
by transferring to the young lord's "candour" the praise he had so
thanklessly bestowed on his morals in general; adding, that from the
design Lord Byron had expressed in his preface of resigning the
service of the Muses for a different vocation, he had "conceived him
bent on pursuits which lead to the character of a legislator and
statesman;--had imagined him at one of the universities, training
himself to habits of reasoning and eloquence, and storing up a large
fund of history and law." It is in reply to this letter that the
exposition of the noble poet's opinions, to which I have above
alluded, is contained.