LORD  BYRON  and  his  TIMES
Byron
Documents Biography Criticism
Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Uvedale Price to Samuel Rogers, August 1814
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Preface
Vol. I Contents
Chapter I. 1803-1805.
Chapter II. 1805-1809.
Chapter III. 1810-1812.
Chapter IV. 1813-1814.
Chapter V. 1814-1815.
Chapter VI. 1815-1816.
Chapter VII. 1816-1818.
Chapter VIII. 1818-19.
Chapter IX. 1820-1821.
Chapter X. 1822-24.
Chapter XI. 1825-1827.
Vol. II Contents
Chapter I. 1828-1830.
Chapter II. 1831-34.
Chapter III. 1834-1837.
Chapter IV. 1838-41.
Chapter V. 1842-44.
Chapter VI. 1845-46.
Chapter VII. 1847-50.
Chapter VIII. 1850
Chapter IX. 1851.
Chapter X. 1852-55.
Index
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‘Sunning Hill: Wednesday (August 1814).

‘My dear Sir,—I think myself very unlucky during my two excursions to town, short as they were, to have seen you only once, and that in a crowd. It was not my fault. I called upon you several times, and at all hours, but you were not stirring, or just gone out earlier than usual, or not returned; in short, never to be found. On Friday, the day before I left town, I made a last attempt and the most unfortunate of them all. In spite
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of the rain I set out across the Park, but when I came to the passage the door was locked. I determined to go round by the stable yard, but on coming to the end of your garden I perceived that the path was railed across and a sentinel posted there. As I saw a gentleman walking that way I stopped to see what happened; he got upon a low rail and climbed over the high one close to the sentinel; I thought I might climb too, advanced boldly and had put one foot on the low rail, when the sentinel told me I must not get over; I pleaded the precedent I had just seen, he only said he must stop somewhere, and that I should not pass. Not feeling quite equal to scaling the palisade and knocking down the sentinel, I sorrowfully turned back, cursing these warlike effects of peace.1 My next recourse was the door by the canal; that too was fast; and after having traced back my steps to Hyde Park Corner, I had not the courage to begin my journey again with the uncertainty of catching you at home. I wish this history were as interesting as it is long and melancholy, but Dogberry could not be more determined to bestow all his tediousness. I wished very much to have found you at home on various accounts. I wanted to thank you for “Jacqueline,” which, indeed, George Ellis had already shown me. I have read it more than once, and with great pleasure. There were a few very trifling remarks that occurred to me, not worth putting down, but which, if I had seen you, I should have mentioned. I also wanted to take my revenge, if it can be so called, and, after having received so much pleasure from your poetry, to torment you with some of

1 A reference to the preparations for the fireworks in the Park.

UVEDALE PRICE155
my prose. You probably shudder at this and think of the famous lines on the Metromane—
‘tous mes sens se glacent à l’approche
Du griffonnage affreux, qu’il a toujours en poche.

‘You have not quite escaped, and, seriously, as the whole of this griffonage does not amount to more than a dozen pages, I should be very glad if you would take the trouble of looking it over. The subject, I think, is curious, and I rather believe it has not been treated; it is on the application of the terms that answer to beautiful in ancient and modern languages; that is in those with which I am at all acquainted. I have shewn it to a few learned and ingenious critics, who have liked it more than I expected, and have thought the argument drawn from it very convincing. My knowledge of Greek, as you know, is very scanty indeed, and my reading as confined. The examples I have given are chiefly from Homer, the only book in the language with which I am even tolerably acquainted; they are, however, the most material of any. Now, I could wish for some others from later poets and from the prose writers, or at least to be assured whether in them there are any applications of the word that essentially differ from those in Homer. I believe you are well acquainted with Dr. Burney, with whom my acquaintance is but slight, and it would be a great piece of service to me if you could induce him to look over and consider what I have written; supposing that after you have read it yourself you should think it at all worth his notice. I feel that I am imposing a heavy task on you, and shall not be surprized or in the
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least offended if you should beg to decline it altogether. Let me hear from you, however, and if you can make up your mind to receive it, and to read it yourself at least, I will send it you when I have copied it, for at present I have not a very fair copy. We set out for Foxley on Monday. I wish there were any chance of seeing you here or there, and all here most heartily join in the same wish.

‘Most truly yours,
‘U. Price.

‘I shall not be in any hurry to have the MS. returned, and it may be sent to Foxley in two or three covers.’