Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to Mary Shelley, [16 November? 1822]
* * * * * *
*
“I presume that you, at least, know enough of me to be sure
that I could have no intention to insult Hunt’s
poverty. On the contrary, I honour him for it; for, I know what it is, having been as
much embarrassed as ever he was, without perceiving aught in it to diminish an
honourable man’s self-respect. If you mean to say that, had he been a wealthy man,
I would have joined in this Journal, I
answer in the negative. * * * I engaged in the Journal from good-will towards
him, added to respect for his character, literary and personal; and no less for his
political courage, as well as regret for his present circumstances: I did this in the
hope that he might, with the same aid from literary friends of literary contributions
(which is requisite for all Journals of a mixed nature), render himself independent.
* * * * * *
*
“I have always treated him, in our personal intercourse, with
such scrupulous delicacy, that I have forborne intruding advice, which I thought might
be disagreeable, lest he should impute it to what is called ‘taking advantage of a
man’s situation.’
“As to friendship, it is a propensity in which my genius is
very limited. I do not know the male human being, except Lord
Clare, the friend of my infancy, for whom I feel any thing that deserves
the name. All my others are men of the world friendships. I did not even feel it for
Shelley, however much I admired and esteemed
him; so that you see not even vanity could bribe me into it, for, of all men,
Shelley thought highest of my talents,—and, perhaps, of my
disposition.
“I will do my duty by my intimates, upon the principle of
doing as you would be done by. I have done so, I trust, in most instances. I ![]()
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may be pleased with their conversation—rejoice in their
success—be glad to do them service, or to receive their council and assistance in
return. But, as for friends and friendship, I have (as I already said) named the only
remaining male for whom I feel any thing of the kind, excepting, perhaps, Thomas Moore. I have had, and may have still, a thousand
friends, as they are called, in life, who are like one’s
partners in the waltz of this world, not much remembered when the ball is over, though
very pleasant for the time. Habit, business, and companionship in pleasure or in pain,
are links of a similar kind, and the same faith in politics is another.” * * *
John Fitzgibbon, second earl of Clare (1792-1851)
A Harrow friend of Byron's, son of the Lord Chamberlain of Ireland; he once fought a duel
with Henry Grattan's son in response to an aspersion on his father. Lord Clare was Governor
of Bombay between 1830 and 1834.
James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)
English poet, journalist, and man of letters; editor of
The
Examiner and
The Liberal; friend of Byron, Keats, and
Shelley.
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.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley [née Godwin] (1797-1851)
English novelist, daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecaft, and the second wife
of Percy Bysshe Shelley. She is the author of
Frankenstein (1818)
and
The Last Man (1835) and the editor of Shelley's works
(1839-40).
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
English poet, with Byron in Switzerland in 1816; author of
Queen
Mab (1813),
The Revolt of Islam (1817),
The Cenci and
Prometheus Unbound (1820), and
Adonais (1821).
