Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Journal Entry: 10 January 1821
“January 10th, 1821.
“Day fine—rained only in the morning. Looked over accounts.
Read Campbell’s
Poets—marked errors of
Tom (the author) for cor-![]()
| A. D. 1821. | LIFE OF LORD BYRON. | 405 |
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rection.
Dined—went out—music—Tyrolese air, with variations. Sustained the cause of the original
simple air against the variations of the Italian school. * *
* *
* * * *
“Politics somewhat tempestuous, and cloudier daily. To-morrow
being foreign post-day, probably something more will be known.
“Came home—read. Corrected Tom
Campbell’s slips of the pen. A good work, though—style affected—but
his defence of Pope is glorious. To be sure, it is
his own cause too,—but no matter, it is very good, and does him
great credit.
“Midnight.
“I have been turning over different Lives of the Poets. I rarely read their works, unless an occasional flight over
the classical ones, Pope, Dryden, Johnson,
Gray, and those who approach them nearest (I
leave the rant of the rest to the cant of
the day), and—I had made several reflections, but I feel sleepy, and may as well go to
bed.
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).
John Dryden (1631-1700)
English poet laureate, dramatist, and critic; author of
Of Dramatick
Poesie (1667),
Absalom and Achitophel (1681),
Alexander's Feast; or the Power of Musique (1697),
The Works of Virgil translated into English Verse (1697), and
Fables (1700).
Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
English poet, author of “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” “Elegy written in a
Country Churchyard,” and “The Bard”; he was professor of history at Cambridge
(1768).
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
English man of letters, among many other works he edited
A Dictionary
of the English Language (1755) and Shakespeare (1765), and wrote
Lives of the Poets (1779-81).
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
English poet and satirist; author of
The Rape of the Lock (1714)
and
The Dunciad (1728).
