Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to John Murray, 20 February 1813
LETTER CXVIII.
TO MR. MURRAY.
“In ‘Horace in
London,’ I perceive some stanzas on Lord
Elgin, in which (waving the kind compliment to myself*) I heartily concur.
I
* In the Ode entitled “The Parthenon,” Minerva thus speaks:— “All who behold my mutilated pile Shall brand its ravager with classic rage; And soon a titled bard from Britain’s isle Thy country’s praise and suffrage shall engage, And fire with Athens’ wrongs an angry age!” |
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| 386 | NOTICES OF THE | A. D. 1813. |
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wish I had the pleasure of Mr.
Smith’s acquaintance, as I could communicate the curious anecdote
you read in Mr. T.’s letter. If he would like it, he can have
the substance for his second edition; if not, I shall add it to
our next, though I think we already have enough of Lord
Elgin.
“What I have read of this work seems admirably done. My
praise, however, is not much worth the author’s having; but you may thank him in
my name for his. The idea is new—we have excellent imitations of the Satires, &c. by
Pope; but I remember but one imitative Ode in
his works, and none any where else. I can hardly suppose that they have lost any fame by the fate of the farce; but even should
this be the case, the present publication will again place them on their pinnacle.
“Yours, &c.”
Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin (1766-1841)
British ambassador to Constantinople (1799); with the permission of the Turks he removed
the Parthenon marbles which were purchased for the British Museum in 1816.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
English poet and satirist; author of
The Rape of the Lock (1714)
and
The Dunciad (1728).
Horace Smith (1779-1849)
English poet and novelist; with his brother James he wrote
Rejected
Addresses (1812) and
Horace in London (1813). Among his
novels was
Brambletye House (1826).
