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Letters and
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Title: The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals,
Vol. 1
Author: Lord Byron, Edited by Rowland E. Prothero
Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8901]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
* START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS AND
JOURNALS, VOL. 1 *
Produced by Distributed Proofreaders
THE WORKS
OF
LORD BYRON.
A NEW, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
Letters and Journals.  Vol.  I.
_____________________________
EDITED BY
ROWLAND E. PROTHERO.
1898.
PREFACE
Two great collections of Byron’s letters have
been already printed. In
Moore’s ‘Life’, which appeared in
1830, 561 were given. These, in
FitzGreene Halleck’s American edition of Byron’s
‘Works’, published in
1847, were increased to 635. The first volume
of a third collection,
edited by Mr. W. E. Henley, appeared early in 1897.
A comparison of the
number of letters contained in these three collections
down to August
22, 1811, shows that Moore prints 61, Halleck 78,
and Mr. Henley 88. In
other words, the edition of 1897, which was the most
complete so far as
it goes, added 27 letters to that of 1830, and 10
to that of 1847. But
it should be remembered that by far the greater part
of the material
added by Halleck and Mr. Henley was seen and rejected
by Moore.
The present edition, down to August 22, 1811, prints
168 letters, or an
addition of 107 to Moore, 90 to Halleck, and 80 to
Mr. Henley. Of this
additional matter considerably more than two-thirds
was inaccessible to
Moore in 1830.
In preparing this volume for the press, use has been
also made of a mass
of material, bearing more or less directly on Byron’s
life, which was
accumulated by the grandfather and father of Mr. Murray.
The notes thus
contain, it is believed, many details of biographical
interest, which
are now for the first time published.
It is necessary to make these comparisons, in order
to define the
position which this edition claims to hold with regard
to its
predecessors. On the other hand, no one can regret
more sincerely than
myself—no one has more cause to regret—the
circumstances which placed
this wealth of new material in my hands rather than
in those of the true
poet and brilliant critic, who, to enthusiasm for
Byron, and wide
acquaintance with the literature and social life of
the day, adds the
rarer gift of giving life and significance to bygone
events or trivial
details by unconsciously interesting his readers in
his own living
personality.
Byron’s letters appeal on three special grounds
to all lovers of English
literature. They offer the most suggestive commentary
on his poetry;
they give the truest portrait of the man; they possess,
at their best,
in their ease, freshness, and racy vigour, a very
high literary value.
The present volume, which covers the period from 1798
to August, 1811,
includes the letters written Lord Byron from his eleventh
to his
twenty-third year. They therefore illustrate
the composition of his
youthful poetry, of ‘English Bards, and Scotch
Reviewers’, and of the
first two cantos of ‘Childe Harold’.
They carry his history down to the
eve of that morning in March, 1812, when he awoke
and found himself
famous—in a degree and to an extent which
to the present generation
seem almost incomprehensible.
If the letters were selected for their literary value
alone, it is
probable that very few of those contained in the present
volume would
find a place in a collection formed on this principle.
But biographical
interest also demands consideration, and, in the case
of Byron, this
claim is peculiarly strong. He has for years
suffered much from the
suppression of the material on which a just estimate
of his life may be
formed. It is difficult not to regret the destruction
of the ‘Memoirs’,
in which he himself intended his history to be told.
Their loss cannot
be replaced; but their best substitute is found in
his letters. Through
them a truer conception of Byron can be formed than
any impression which
is derived from Dallas, Leigh Hunt, Medwin, or even
Moore. It therefore
seems only fair to Byron, that they should be allowed,
as far as
possible, to interpret his career. For other
reasons also it appears to
me too late, or too soon, to publish only those letters
which possess a
high literary value. The real motive of such
a selection would probably
be misread, and thus further misconceptions of Byron’s
character would
be encouraged.
With one exception, therefore, the whole of the available
material has
been published. The exception consists of some
of the business letters
written by Byron to his solicitor. Enough of
these have been printed to
indicate the pecuniary difficulties which undoubtedly
influenced his
life and character; but it was not considered necessary
to publish the
whole series. Men of genius ask money from their
lawyers in the same
language, and with the same arguments, as the most
ordinary persons.
The picture which the letters give of Byron, is, it
is believed, unique
in its completeness, while the portrait has the additional
value of
being painted by his own hand. Byron’s
career lends itself only too
easily to that method of treatment, which dashes off
a likeness by
vigorous strokes with a full brush, seizing with false
emphasis on some
salient feature, and revelling in striking contrasts
of light and shade.
But the style here adopted by the unconscious artist
is rather that in
which Richardson the novelist painted his pathetic
picture of Clarissa
Harlowe. With slow, laborious touches, with delicate
gradations of
colour, sometimes with almost tedious minuteness and
iteration, the
gradual growth of a strangely composite character
is presented,
surrounded by the influences which controlled or moulded
its
development, and traced through all the varieties
of its rapidly
changing moods. Written, as Byron wrote, with
habitual exaggeration, and
on the impulse of the moment, his letters correct
one another, and, from
this point of view, every letter contained in the
volume adds something
to the truth and completeness of the portrait.
Round the central figure of Byron are grouped his
relations and friends,
and two of the most interesting features in the volume
are the strength
of his family affections, and the width, if not the
depth, of his
capacity for friendship. His father died when
the child was only three
years old. But a bundle of his letters, written
from Valenciennes to his
sister, Mrs. Leigh, in 1790-91, still exists, to attest,
with startling
plainness of speech, the strength of the tendencies
which John Byron
transmitted to his son. The following extract
contains the father’s only
allusion to the boy:—
“Valenciennes, Feb. 16, 1791.
Have you never received any letters from
me by way of Bologne? I have sent two.
For God’s sake send me some, as I have a great
deal to pay. With regard to Mrs. Byron, I am
glad she writes to you. She is very amiable
at a distance; but I defy you and all the Apostles
to live with her two months, for, if any body could
live with her, it was me. ‘Mais jeu de
Mains, jeu de Vilains’. For my son, I am
happy to hear he is well; but for his walking, ’tis
impossible, as he is club-footed.”
Between his mother and himself, in spite of frequent
and violent
collisions, there existed a real affection, while
the warmth of his love
for his half-sister Augusta, who had much of her brother’s
power of
winning affection, lost nothing in its permanence
from the rarity of
their personal intercourse. Outside the family
circle, the volume
introduces the only two men among his contemporaries
who remained his
lifelong friends. In his affection for Lord Clare,
whom he very rarely
saw after leaving school, there was a tinge of romance,
and in him Byron
seems to have personified the best memories of an
idealized Harrow. In
Hobhouse he found at once the truest and the most
intimate of his
friends, a man whom he both liked and respected, and
to whose opinion
and judgment he repeatedly deferred. On Hobhouse’s
side, the sentiment
which induced him, eminently sensible and practical
as he was, to
treasure the nosegay which Byron had given him, long
after it was
withered, shows how attractive must have been the
personality of the
donor.
Without the ‘Dictionary of National Biography’,
the labour of preparing
the letters for the press would be trebled. Both
in the facts which it
supplies, and in the sources of information which
it suggests, it is an
invaluable aid.
In conclusion, I desire to express my special obligations
to Lord
Lovelace and Mr. Richard Edgcumbe, who have read the
greater part of the
proofs, and to both of whom I am indebted for several
useful
suggestions.
R. E. PROTHERO.
March, 1898.
List of Letters
1798
1. Nov. 8. To Mrs. Parker
1799.
2. March 13. To his Mother
3. Undated. To John Hanson
1803.
4.  May 1.  To his Mother
5.  June 23, To his Mother
6.  Sept.  To his Mother
1804.
7.  March 22.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
8.  March 26.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
9.  April 2.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
10.  April 9.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
11 Aug. 18.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
12.  Aug. 29.  To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot
13.  Oct. 25.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
14.  Nov. 2.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
15.  Nov. 11.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
16.  Nov. 17.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
17.  Nov. 21.  To the Hon. Augusta Byron
18.  Dec. 1.  To John Hanson
1805.
19. Jan. 30. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
20. April 4. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
21. April 15. To Hargreaves Hanson
22. April 20. To Hargreaves Hanson
23. April 23. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
24. April 25. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
25. May 11. To John Hanson
26. June 5. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
27. June 27. To John Hanson
28. July 2. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
29. July 8. To John Hanson
30. Aug. 4. To Charles O. Gordon
31. Aug. 6. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
32. Aug. 10. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
33. Aug. 14. To Charles O. Gordon.
34. Aug. 19. To Hargreaves Hanson
35. Undated. To Hargreaves Hanson
36. Oct. 25. To Hargreaves Hanson
37. Oct. 26. To John Hanson
38. Nov. 6. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
39. Nov. 12. To Hargreaves Hanson
40. Nov. 23. To John Hanson
41. Nov. 30. To John Hanson
42. Dec. 4. To John Hanson
43. Dec. 13. To John Hanson
44. Dec. 26. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
45. Dec. 27. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
1806
46. Jan. 7. To the Hon. Augusta Byron
47. Feb. 26. To his Mother
48. March 3. To John Hanson
49. March 10. To John Hanson
50. March 25. To John Hanson
51. May 16. To Henry Angelo
52. Aug. 9. To John M.B. Pigot
53. Aug. 10. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot
54. Aug. 10. To John M.B. Pigot
55. Aug. 16. To John M.B. Pigot
56. Aug. 18. To John M.B. Pigot
57. Aug. 26. To John M. B. Pigot
58. Undated. To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot
59. Dec. 7. To John Hanson
1807.
60.  Jan. 12.  To J. Ridge
61.  Jan. 13.  To John M. B. Pigot
62.  Jan. 31.  To Captain John Leacroft
63.  Feb. 4. " " "
64.  Feb. 4. " " "
65.  Feb. 6.  To the Earl of Clare
66.  Feb. 8.  To Mrs. Hanson
67.  March 6.  To William Bankes
68.  Undated. " "
69.  Undated.  To——­Falkner
70.  April 2.  To John Hanson
71.  April.  To John M. B. Pigot
72.  April 19.  To John Hanson
73.  June 11.  To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot
74.  June 30. " " "
75.  July 5. " " "
76.  July 13. " " "
77.  July 20.  To John Hanson
78.  Aug. 2.  To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot
79.  Aug. 11. " " "
80.  Oct. 19.  To John Hanson
81.  Oct. 26.  To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot
82.  Nov. 20.  To J. Ridge
83.  Dec. 2.  To John Hanson
84.  Nov. 9 (1820) To John Murray
1808.
85.  Jan. 13.  To Henry Drury
86.  Jan. 16.  To John Cam Hobhouse
87.  Jan. 20.  To Robert Charles Dallas
88.  Jan. 21. " " "
89.  Jan. 25.  To John Hanson
90.  Jan. 25. " "
91.  Feb. 2.  To James De Bathe
92.  Feb. 11.  To William Harness
93.  Feb. 21.  To J. Ridge
94.  Feb. 26.  To the Rev. John Becher
95.  March 28. " " "
96.  April 26.  To the Hon. Augusta Leigh
97.  Sept. 14.  To the Rev. John Becher
98.  Sept. 18.  To John Jackson
99.  Oct. 4. " "
100.  Oct. 7.  To his Mother
101.  Nov. 2. " "
102.  Nov. 3.  To Francis Hodgson
103.  Nov. 18.  To John Hanson
104.  Nov. 27.  To Francis Hodgson
105.  Nov. 30.  To the Hon. Augusta Leigh
106.  Dec. 14. " " "
107.  Dec. 17.  To John Hanson
108.  Dec. 17.  To Francis Hodgson
1809.
109. Jan. 15. To John Hanson
110. Jan. 25. To R. C. Dallas
111. Feb. 7. ” ” “
112. Feb. 11. ” ” “
113. Feb. 12. ” ” “
114. Feb. 16. ” ” “
115. Feb. 19. ” ” “
116. Feb. 22. ” ” “
117. March 6. To his Mother
118. March 18. To William Harness
119. Undated. To William Bankes
120. April 25. To R. C. Dallas
121. April 26. To John Hanson
122. May 15. To the Rev. R. Lowe
123. June 22. To his Mother
124. June 28. To the Rev. Henry Drury
125. June 25-30. To Francis Hodgson
126. July 16. ” ” “
127. Aug. 6. ” ” “
128. Aug. 11. To his Mother
129. Aug. 15. To Mr. Rushton
130. Sept. 15. To his Mother
131. Nov. 12. ” ” “
1810.
132. March 19. To his Mother
133. April 9. To his Mother
134. April I0. To his Mother
135. April 17. To his Mother
136. May 3. To Henry Drury
137. May 5. To Francis Hodgson
138. May 18. To his Mother
139. May 24. To his Mother
140. June 17. To Henry Drury
141. June 28. To his Mother
142. July 1. To his Mother
143. July 4. To Francis Hodgson
144. July 25. To his Mother
145. July 27. To his Mother
146. July 30. To his Mother
147. Oct. 2. To his Mother
148. Oct. 3. To Francis Hodgson
149. Oct. 4. To John Cam Hobhouse
150. Nov. 14. To Francis Hodgson
1811.
151. Jan. 14. To his Mother
I52. Feb. 28. To his Mother
153. June 25. To his Mother
154. June 28. To R. C. Dallas
155. June 29. To Francis Hodgson
156. July 17. To Henry Drury
157. July 23. To his Mother
158. July 30. To William Miller
159. Aug. 2. To John M. B. Pigot
160. Aug. 4. To John Hanson
161. Aug. 7. To Scrope Berdmore Davies
162. Aug. 12. To R. C. Dallas
163. Aug. 12. To——Bolton
164. Aug. 16. To——Bolton
165. Aug. 20. To——Bolton
166. Aug. 21. To the Hon. Augusta Leigh
167. Aug. 21. To R. C. Dallas
168. Aug. 22. To Francis Hodgson
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL
II.  CAMBRIDGE AND JUVENILE POEMS
III.  ENGLISH BARDS, AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS
IV.  TRAVELS IN ALBANIA, GREECE, ETC.—­DEATH OF MRS. BYRON
APPENDIX I. REVIEW OF WORDSWORTH’S POEMS
APPENDIX II. ARTICLE FROM THE ‘EDINBURGH
REVIEW’, FOR JANUARY, 1808
APPENDIX III. REVIEW OF GELL’S ‘GEOGRAPHY
OF ITHACA’, AND ’ITINERARY OF
GREECE’
THE LETTERS OF LORD BYRON.
CHAPTER I.
1788-1805.
