Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Journal Entry: 5 December 1813
“Sunday, December 5th.
“Dallas’s
nephew (son to the American Attorney-general) is arrived in this country,
and tells Dallas that my rhymes are very popular
in the United States. These are the first tidings that have ever sounded like ![]()
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Fame to my ears—to be redde on the banks of the Ohio! The
greatest pleasure I ever derived, of this kind, was from an extract, in Cooke the actor’s Life, from his Journal, stating
that in the reading-room of Albany, near Washington, he perused English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. To be popular in a
rising and far country has a kind of posthumous feel, very
different from the ephemeral éclât and fête-ing,
buzzing and party-ing compliments of the well-dressed multitude. I can safely say that,
during my reign in the spring of 1812, I regretted nothing but
its duration of six weeks instead of a fortnight, and was heartily glad to resign.
“Last night I supped with Lewis;—and, as usual, though I neither exceeded in solids nor fluids,
have been half dead ever since. My stomach is entirely destroyed by long abstinence, and
the rest will probably follow. Let it—I only wish the pain over. The ‘leap in the
dark’ is the least to be dreaded.
“The Duke of * * called. I have told them forty times
that, except to half-a-dozen old and specified acquaintances, I am invisible. His grace
is a good, noble, ducal person; but I am content to think so at a distance; and so—I was
not at home.
“Galt called.—Mem.—to
ask some one to speak to Raymond in favour of his
play. We are old fellow-travellers, and, with all his eccentricities, he has much strong
sense, experience of the world, and is, as far as I have seen, a good-natured
philosophical fellow. I showed him Sligo’s
letter on the reports of the Turkish girl’s aventure at Athens soon after it happened. He and Lord Holland, Lewis,
and Moore, and Rogers, and Lady Melbourne have seen
it. Murray has a copy. I thought it had been unknown, and wish it were; but Sligo arrived
only some days after, and the rumours are the subject of his
letter. That I shall preserve,—it is as well.
Lewis and Galt were both horrified; and L.
wondered I did not introduce the situation into ‘the Giaour.’ He may
wonder;—he might wonder more at that production’s being written at all. But to
describe the feelings of that situation were impossible—it is icy even to recollect them.
“The Bride of
Abydos was published on Thursday the second of December; but how it is liked
or disliked, I know not. Whether it ![]()
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succeeds or not is no
fault of the public, against whom I can have no complaint. But I am much more indebted
to the tale than I can ever be to the most partial reader; as it wrung my thoughts from
reality to imagination—from selfish regrets to vivid recollections—and recalled to a
country replete with the brightest and darkest, but always most lively colours of my memory.
Sharpe called, but was not let in,—which I
regret.
* * * * * *
*
“Saw * *
yesterday. I have not kept my appointment at Middleton, which has not pleased him,
perhaps; and my projected voyage with * * will,
perhaps, please him less. But I wish to keep well with both. They are instruments that
don’t do, in concert; but, surely, their separate tones are very musical, and I
won’t give up either.
“It is well if I don’t jar between these great
discords. At present, I stand tolerably well with all, but I cannot adopt their dislikes;—so many sets.
Holland’s is the first;—every thing distingué is welcome there, and certainly the ton of his society is
the best. Then there is Mde. de
Staël’s—there I never go, though I might, had I courted it. It is
composed of the * *s and the * * family, with a strange sprinkling,—orators,
dandies, and all kinds of Blue, from the regular Grub-street
uniform, down to the azure jacket of the Littérateur. To see
* * and * * sitting together, at dinner, always reminds me of the grave, where
all distinctions of friend and foe are levelled; and they—the Reviewer and Reviewée—the
Rhinoceros and Elephant—the Mammoth and Megalonyx—all will lie quietly together. They
now sit together, as silent, but not so quiet, as if they were
already immured.
* * * * * *
*
“I did not go to the Berrys’ the other night. The elder is a woman of much talent, and
both are handsome, and must have been beautiful. To-night asked to Lord H.’s—shall I go? um!—perhaps.
“Morning, two o’clock.
“Went to Lord H.’s,—party numerous—milady in perfect good-humour, and consequently perfect. No one more agreeable, or perhaps ![]()
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so much so, when she will. Asked for Wednesday to dine and meet the
Staël—asked particularly, I believe, out of
mischief, to see the first interview after the note, with which
Corinne professes herself to be so much taken. I don’t
much like it;—she always talks of myself or herself, and I am not (except in soliloquy, as now) much enamoured of either
subject—especially one’s Works. What the devil shall I say about De l’Allemagne?’ I like
it prodigiously; but unless I can twist my admiration into some fantastical expression,
she won’t believe me; and I know, by experience, I shall be overwhelmed with fine
things about rhyme, &c. &c. The lover, Mr.
* *, was there to-night, and C * * said ‘it was
the only proof he had seen of her good taste.’
Monsieur L’Amant is remarkably handsome; but I don’t
think more so than her book.
“C * *
looks well,—seemed pleased, and dressed to sprucery. A blue coat
becomes him,—so does his new wig. He really looked as if Apollo had sent him a birthday suit, or a wedding-garment, and was witty
and lively. * * * He abused
Corinne’s book, which I regret; because,
firstly, he understands German, and is consequently a fair judge; and, secondly, he is
first-rate, and, consequently, the best of judges. I reverence
and admire him; but I won’t give up my opinion—why should I? I read her again and again, and there can be no affectation in this. I
cannot be mistaken (except in taste) in a book I read and lay down, and take up again;
and no book can be totally bad, which finds one, even one reader, who can say as much sincerely.
“C. talks of
lecturing next spring; his last lectures were eminently successful. Moore thought of it, but gave it up,—I don’t know
why. * * had been prating dignity to him, and such stuff; as
if a man disgraced himself by instructing and pleasing at the same time.
“Introduced to Marquis
Buckingham—saw Lord Gower—he is going
to Holland;—Sir J. and Lady Mackintosh and
Horner, G.
Lamb, with I know not how many (R
Wellesley, one—a clever man) grouped about the room. Little Henry Fox, a very fine boy, and very promising in mind and
manner,—he went away to bed, before I had time to talk to him. I am sure I had rather
hear him than all the savans.
Mary Berry (1763-1852)
Of Twickenham, the elder sister of her companion Agnes Berry (1764-1852); she was a
diarist and one of Horace Walpole's primary correspondents.
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844)
Scottish poet and man of letters; author of
The Pleasures of Hope
(1799),
Gertrude of Wyoming (1808) and lyric odes. He edited the
New Monthly Magazine (1821-30).
George Frederick Cooke (1756-1812)
Shakespearean actor in London and the United States; his journals became the basis for
the biography by the American playwright William Dunlop (1766-1839).
George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864)
American statesman, son of Alexander James Dallas (1759-1817) and nephew of R. C. Dallas;
educated at Princeton, he was in Britain in 1813 as secretary to Albert Gallatin;
afterwards he was vice-president of the United States, 1845-59. Dallas Texas is named for
him.
Robert Charles Dallas (1754-1824)
English poet, novelist, and translator who corresponded with Byron. His sister Charlotte
Henrietta Dallas (d. 1793) married Captain George Anson Byron (1758-1793); their son George
Anson Byron (1789-1868) inherited Byron's title in 1824.
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
John Galt (1779-1839)
Scottish novelist who met Byron during the first journey to Greece and was afterwards his
biographer; author of
Annals of the Parish (1821).
Granville Leveson- Gower, first earl Granville (1773-1846)
English diplomat and ally of George Canning; he was ambassador to St Petersburg (1804-06,
1807) and ambassador to Paris (1824-1828). The Duchess of Devonshire described him as “the
Adonis of his day.”
Francis Horner (1778-1817)
Scottish barrister and frequent contributor to the
Edinburgh
Review; he was a Whig MP and member of the Holland House circle.
Elizabeth Lamb, viscountess Melbourne [née Milbanke] (1751-1818)
Whig hostess married to Peniston Lamb, first Viscount Melbourne (1744-1828); she was the
confidant of Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire, the mother of William Lamb (1779-1848), and
mother-in-law of Lady Caroline Lamb.
George Lamb (1784-1834)
Lawyer and Whig MP for Westminster (1819) and Dungarvan (1822-34), he was the son of
Elizabeth Lamb Viscountess Melbourne, possibly by the Prince of Wales. He was author of a
gothic drama,
Whistle for It (1807) and served with Byron on the
management-committee of Drury Lane. His sister-in-law was Lady Caroline Lamb.
Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832)
Scottish philosopher and man of letters who defended the French Revolution in
Vindiciae Gallicae (1791); he was Recorder of Bombay (1803-1812) and
MP for Knaresborough (1819-32).
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.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
James Grant Raymond (1771-1817)
Originally Grant; actor and manager of Drury Lane Theater, and biographer of the Irish
poet Thomas Dermody.
Albert Jean-Michel Rocca (1788-1818)
Swiss Hussar, the second husband of Germaine de Staël (1816); they had a son,
Louis-Alphonse Rocca (1812-42).
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
Richard Sharp [Conversation Sharp] (1759-1835)
English merchant, Whig MP, and member of the Holland House set; he published
Letters and Essays in Poetry and Prose (1834).
Germaine de Staël (1766-1817)
French woman of letters; author of the novel
Corinne, ou L'Italie
(1807) and
De l'Allemagne (1811); banned from Paris by Napoleon, she
spent her later years living in Germany, Britain, and Switzerland.
John William Ward, earl of Dudley (1781-1833)
The son of William Ward, third Viscount Dudley (d. 1823); educated at Edinburgh and
Oxford, he was an English MP, sometimes a Foxite Whig and sometimes Canningite Tory, who
suffered from insanity in his latter years.
Richard Wellesley, first marquess Wellesley (1760-1842)
The son of Garret Wesley (1735-1781) and elder brother of the Duke of Wellington; he was
Whig MP, Governor-general of Bengal (1797-1805), Foreign Secretary (1809-12), and
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1821-28); he was created Marquess Wellesley in 1799.
