Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

present or future, shall induce me to barter the last vestige of our inheritance. I have that pride within me which will enable me to support difficulties. I can endure privations ; but could I obtain in exchange for Newstead Abbey the first fortune in the country, I would reject the proposition. Set your mind at ease on that score; Mr. H [Hanson] talks like a man of business on the subject, -I feel like a man of honour, and I will not sell Newstead.

"I shall get my seat on the return of the affidavits from Carhais, in Cornwall, and will do something in the House soon: I must dash, or it is all over. My satire must be kept secret for a month; after that you may say what you please on the subject. Lord Carlisle has used me infamously, and refused to state any particulars of my family to the Chancellor. I have lashed him in my rhymes, and perhaps his lordship may regret not being more conciliatory. They tell me it will have a sale; I hope so, for the bookseller has behaved well, as far as publishing well goes.

"Believe me, etc.

"P.S. You shall have a mortgage on one of the farms."

TO MR. HARNESS.

"8 St. James's Street, March 18, 1809.

"There was no necessity for your excuses: if you have time and inclination to write, 'for what we receive, the Lord make us thankful,'-if I do not hear from you, I console myself with the idea that you are much more agreeably employed.

"I send down to you by this post a certain satire lately published, and in return for the three-and-sixpence expenditure upon it, only beg that if you should guess the author, you will keep his name secret; at least for the present. London is full of the Duke's business. The Commons have been at it these last three nights, and are not yet come to a decision. I do not know if the affair will be brought before our House, unless in the shape of an impeachment. If it makes its appearance in a debatable form, I believe I shall be tempted to say something on the subject. - I am glad to hear you like Cambridge: firstly, because, to know that you are happy is pleasant to one who wishes you all possible sublunary enjoyment; and, secondly, I admire the morality of the sentiment. Alma Mater was to me injusta noverca; and the old beldam only gave me my M.A. degree because she could not avoid it. - You know what a farce a noble Cantab. must perform.

"I am going abroad, if possible, in the spring, and before I depart I am collecting the pictures of my most intimate schoolfellows; I have already a few, and shall want yours, or my cabinet will be incomplete. I have employed one of the first miniature painters of the day to take them, of course, at my own expense, as I never allow my acquaintance to incur the least expenditure to gratify a whim of mine. To mention this may seem indelicate; but when I tell you a friend of ours first refused to sit, under the idea that he was to disburse on the occasion, you will see that it is necessary to state the preliminaries to prevent the recurrence of any similar mistake. I shall see you in time, and will carry you to the limner. It will be a tax on your patience for a week; but pray excuse it, as it is possible the resemblance may be the sole trace I shall be able to preserve of our past friendship and acquaintance. Just now it seems foolish enough; but in a few years, when some of us are dead, and others are separated by inevitable circumstances, it will be a kind of satisfaction to retain in these images of the living the idea of our former selves, and to contemplate, in the resemblance of the dead, all that remains of judgment, feeling, and a host of passions. But all this will be dull enough for you, and so good night: and to end my chapter, or rather my homily, believe me, my dear H., yours most affectionately."

TO MRS. BYRON.

Falmouth, June 22, 1809.

"Dear Mother, -I am about to sail in a few days; probably before this reaches you. Fletcher begged so hard, that I have continued him in my service. If he does not behave well abroad, I will send him back in a transport. I have a German servant (who has been with Mr. Wilbraham in Persia before, and was strongly recommended to me by Dr. Butler, of Harrow), Robert and William; they constitute my whole suite. I have letters in plenty :-you shall hear from me at the different ports I touch upon; but you must not be alarmed if my letters miscarry. The Continent is in a fine state an insurrection has broken out at Paris, and the Austrians are beating Buonaparte-the Tyrolese have risen.

"There is a picture of me in oil, to be sent down to Newstead soon. I wish the Miss Pigots had something better to do than carry my miniatures to Nottingham to copy. Now they have done it, you may ask them to copy the others, which are greater favourites than my own. As to money matters, I am ruined-at least till Rochdale is sold; and if that does not turn out well, I shall enter into the Austrian or Russian service-perhaps the Turkish, if I like their manners. The world is all before me, and I leave England without regret, and without a wish to revisit anything it contains, except yourself, and your present residence. "Believe me, yours ever sincerely.

"P.S.-Pray tell Mr. Rushton his son is well, and doing well; so is Murray, indeed better than I ever saw him; he will be back in about a month. I ought to add the leaving Murray to my few regrets, as his age perhaps will prevent my seeing him again. Robert I take with me; I like him, because, like myself, he seems a friendless animal."

TO MR. HODGSON.

Falmouth, June 25, 1809.

"My dear Hodgson, - Before this reaches you, Hobhouse, two officers' wives, three children, two waiting-maids, ditto subalterns for the troops, three Portuguese esquires and domestics, in all nineteen souls, will have sailed in the Lisbon packet, with the noble Captain Kidd, a gallant commander as ever smuggled an anker of right Nantz.

"We are going to Lisbon first, because the Malta packet has sailed, d'ye see?- from Lisbon to Gibraltar, Malta, Constantinople, and 'all that,' as Orator Henley said, when he put the Church, and 'all that,' in danger.*

"This town of Falmouth, as you will partly conjecture, is no great ways from the sea. It is defended on the seaside by tway castles, St. Maws and Pendennis, extremely well calculated for annoying every body except an enemy. St. Maws is garrisoned by an able-bodied person of fourscore, a widower. He has the whole command and sole management of six most unmanageable pieces of ordnance, admirably adapted for the destruction of Pendennis, a like tower of strength on the opposite side of the Channel. We have seen St. Maws, but Pendennis they will not let us behold, save at a distance, because Hobhouse and I are suspected of having already taken St. Maws by a coup de main.

"The town contains many Quakers and salt fish-the oysters have a taste of copper, owing to the soil of a mining country-the women (blessed be the Corporation therefor!) are flogged at the cart's tail when they pick and steal, as happened to one of the fair sex yesterday noon. She was pertinacious in her behaviour, and damned the mayor.

* Henley, in one of his publications, entitled "Oratory Transactions," engaged "to execute singly what would sprain a dozen of modern doctors of the tribe of Issachar-to write, read, and study twelve hours a day, and yet appear as untouched by the yoke as if he never wore it to teach in one year what schools or universities teach in five;" and he furthermore pledged himself to persevere in his bold scheme, until he had "put the Church, and all that, in danger."

I

"I don't know when I can write again, because it depends on that experienced navigator, Captain Kidd, and the 'stormy winds that (don't) blow' at this season. leave England without regret-I shall return to it without pleasure. I am like Adam, the first convict sentenced to transportation, but I have no Eve, and have eaten no apple but what was sour as a crab; - and thus ends my first chapter. Adieu. Yours," etc.

In this letter the following lively verses were enclosed :

"Falmouth Roads, June 30, 1809.

"Huzza! Hodgson, we are going,
Our embargo's off at last;
Favourable breezes blowing

Bend the canvas o'er the mast.
From aloft the signal's streaming,
Hark! the farewell gun is fired,
Women screeching, tars blaspheming,
Tell us that our time's expired.
Here's a rascal

Come to task all,

Prying from the Custom-house;
Trunks unpacking,
Cases cracking,
Not a corner for a mouse
'Scapes unsearch'd amid the racket,
Ere we sail on board the Packet.

Now our boatmen quit their mooring,

And all hands must ply the oar;
Baggage from the quay is lowering,
We're impatient-push from shore.
'Have a care! that case holds liquor-
Stop the boat-I'm sick-oh Lord!'
'Sick, ma'am, damme, you'll be sicker
Ere you've been an hour on board.'
Thus are screaming
Men and women,

Gemmen, ladies, servants, Jacks;
Here entangling,
All are wrangling,

Stuck together close as wax.-
Such the general noise and racket,
Ere we reach the Lisbon Packet.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »