Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to Thomas Moore, 4 February 1815
“February 4th, 1815.
“I enclose you half a letter from * * which will explain itself—at least the latter part—the former
refers to private business of mine own. If Jeffrey will take such an article, and you will undertake the revision
or, indeed, any portion of the article itself (for unless you do,
by Phœbus I will have nothing to do with it), we can
cook up, between us three, a pretty a dish of sour-crout as ever tipped over the tongue
of a book-maker. * * * *
“You can, at any rate, try Jeffrey’s inclination. Your late proposal from him made me hint
this to * *, who is a much better proser and
scholar than I am, and a very superior man indeed. Excuse haste—answer this.
“Ever yours most,
“B.
“P.S. All is well at home. I wrote to you
yesterday.”
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869)
Founder of the Cambridge Whig Club; traveled with Byron in the orient, radical MP for
Westminster (1820); Byron's executor; after a long career in politics published
Some Account of a Long Life (1865) later augmented as
Recollections of a Long Life, 6 vols (1909-1911).
Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773-1850)
Scottish barrister, Whig MP, and co-founder and editor of the
Edinburgh
Review (1802-29). As a reviewer he was the implacable foe of the Lake School of
poetry.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Irish poet and biographer, author of the
Irish Melodies (1807-34),
The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), and
Lalla
Rookh (1817); he was Byron's close friend and designated biographer.
