I say of the poem, for I don't like the prose at all; and in the mean time, the Fire-worshippers' is the best, and the Veiled Prophet' the worst, of the volume. "With regard to poetry in general, * I am convinced, the more I think of it, that he and all of us-Scott, Southey, Wordsworth, Moore, Campbell, I,—are all in the wrong, one as much as another; that we are upon a wrong revolutionary poetical system, or systems, not worth a damn in itself, and from which none but Rogers and Crabbe are free: and that the present and next generations will finally be of this opinion. I am the more confirmed in this by having lately gone over some of our classics, particularly Pope, whom I tried in this way,-I took Moore's poems and my own and some others, and went over them side by side with Pope's, and I was really astonished (I ought not to have been so) and mortified at the ineffable distance in point of sense, learning, effect, and even imagination, passion, and invention, between the little Queen Anne's man, and us of the Lower Empire. Depend upon it, it is all Horace then, and Claudian now, among us; and if I had to begin again, I would mould myself accordingly. Crabbe's the man, but he has got a coarse and impracticable subject, and *** is retired upon half-pay, and has done enough, unless he were to do as he did formerly." LETTER 298. TO MR. MURRAY. "Sept. 17, 1817. "Mr. Hobhouse purposes being in England in November; he will bring the fourth Canto with him, notes and all; the text contains one hundred and fifty stanzas, which is long for that measure. 6 "With regard to the Ariosto of the North,' surely their themes, chivalry, war, and love, were as like as can be; and as to the compliment, if you knew what the Italians think of Ariosto, you would not hesitate about that. But as to their measures,' you forget that Ariosto's is an octave stanza, and Scott's any thing but a stanza. If you think Scott will dislike it, say so, and I will expunge. I do not call him the 'Scotch Ariosto,' which would be sad provincial eulogy, but the Ariosto of the North,' meaning of all countries that are not the South. "As I have recently troubled you rather frequently, I will conclude, repeating that I am Yours ever," &c. 6 * * * LETTER 299. TO MR. MURRAY. "October 12, 1817. “Mr. Kinnaird and his brother, Lord Kinnaird, have been here, and are now gone again. All your missives came, except the tooth-powder, of which I request further supplies, at all convenient opportunities; as * On this paragraph, in the MS. copy of the above letter, I find the following note, in the handwriting of Mr. Gifford :-"There is more good sense, and feeling, and judgment in this passage, than in any other I ever read, or Lord Byron wrote." 1 also of magnesia and soda-powders, both great luxuries here, and neither to be had good, or indeed hardly at all, of the natives. * * * "In * *'s Life, I perceive an attack upon the then Committee of D. L. Theatre for acting Bertram, and an attack upon Maturin's Bertram for being acted. Considering all things, this is not very grateful nor graceful on the part of the worthy autobiographer; and I would answer, if I had not obliged him. Putting my own pains to forward the views of ** out of the question, I know that there was every disposition, on the part of the Sub-Committee, to bring forward any production of his, were it feasible. The play he offered, though poetical, did not appear at all practicable, and Bertram did;-and hence this long tirade, which is the last chapter of his vagabond life. "As for Bertram, Maturin may defend his own begotten, if he likes it well enough; I leave the Irish clergyman and the new Orator Henley to battle it out between them, satisfied to have done the best I could for both. I may say this to you, who know it. "Mr. * * may console himself with the fervour,-the almost religious fervour of his and W * *'s disciples, as he calls it. If he means that as any proof of their merits, I will find him as much fervour' in behalf of Richard Brothers and Joanna Southcote as ever gathered over his pages, and round his fireside. 66 My answer to your proposition about the fourth Canto you will have received, and I await yours ;—perhaps we may not agree. I have since written a poem (of 84 octave stanzas), humorous, in or after the excellent manner of Mr. Whistlecraft (whom I take to be Frere), on a Venetian anecdote which amused me :-but till I have your answer, I can say nothing more about it. "Mr. Hobhouse does not return to England in November, as he intended, but will winter here; and as he is to convey the poem, or poems, -for there may perhaps be more than the two mentioned (which, by the way, I shall not perhaps include in the same publication or agreement), I shall not be able to publish so soon as expected; but I suppose there is no harm in the delay. "I have signed and sent your former copyrights by Mr. Kinnaird, but not the receipt, because the money is not yet paid. Mr. Kinnaird has a power of attorney to sign for me, and will, when necessary. 66 Many thanks for the Edinburgh Review, which is very kind about Manfred, and defends its originality, which I did not know that any body had attacked. I never read, and do not know that I ever saw, the Faustus of Marlow,' and had, and have, no dramatic works by me in English, except the recent things you sent me ; but I heard Mr. Lewis translate verbally some scenes of Goethe's Faust (which were, some good, and some bad) last summer ;---which is all I know of the history of that magical personage; and as to the germs of Manfred, they may be found in the Journal which I sent to Mrs. Leigh (part of which you saw) when I went over first the Dent de Jaman, and then the Wengen or Wengeberg Alp and Sheideck, and made the giro of the Jungfrau, Shreckhorn, &c. &c. shortly before I left Switzerland. I have the whole scene of Manfred before me as if it was but yesterday, and could point it out, spot by spot, torrent and all. "Of the Prometheus of Eschylus I was passionately fond as a boy (it was one of the Greek plays we read thrice a year at Harrow);— indeed that and the Medea' were the only ones, except the Seven before Thebes,' which ever much pleased me. As to the Faustus of Marlow,' I never read, never saw, nor heard of it—at least, thought of it, except that I think Mr. Gifford mentioned, in a note of his which you sent me, something about the catastrophe; but not as having any thing to do with mine, which may or may not resemble it, for any thing I know. "The Prometheus, if not exactly in my plan, has always been so much in my head, that I can easily conceive its influence over all or any thing that I have written ;—but I deny Marlow and his progeny, and beg that you will do the same. "If you can send me the paper in question,* which the Edinburgh Review mentions, do. The review in the magazine you say was written by Wilson? it had all the air of being a poet's, and was a very good one. The Edinburgh Review I take to be Jeffrey's own by its friendliness. I wonder they thought it worth while to do so, so soon after the former; but it was evidently with a good motive. "I saw Hoppner the other day, whose country-house at Este I have taken for two years. If you come out next summer, let me know in time. Yours ever truly. Love to Gifford. "Crabbe, Malcolm, Hamilton, and Chantrey, These two lines are mitted in your letter to the doctor, after LETTER 300. "All clever men who make their way." TO MR. MURRAY. "Venice, October 23, 1817. "Your two letters are before me, and our bargain is so far concluded. How sorry I am to hear that Gifford is unwell? Pray tell me he is better I hope it is nothing but cold. As you say his illness originates in cold, I trust it will get no further. "Mr. Whistlecraft has no greater admirer than myself: I have written a story in 89 stanzas, in imitation of him, called Beppo (the short name for Giuseppe, that is, the Joe of the Italian Joseph), which I shall throw you into the balance of the fourth Canto, to help you round to your money; but you perhaps had better publish it anonymously; but this we will see to by and by. * A paper in the Edinburgh Magazine, in which it was suggested that the general conception of Manfred, and much of what is excellent in the manner of its execution, had been borrowed from "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus," of Marlow. "In the Notes to Canto fourth, Mr. Hobhouse has pointed out several errors of Gibbon. You may depend upon H.'s research and accuracy. You may print it in what shape you please. 6 "With regard to a future large edition, you may print all, or any thing, except English Bards,' to the republication of which at no time will I consent. I would not reprint them on any consideration. I don't think them good for much, even in point of poetry; and, as to other things, you are to recollect that I gave up the publication on account of the Hollands, and I do not think that any time or circumstances can neutralise the suppression. Add to which, that, after being on terms with almost all the bards and critics of the day, it would be savage at any time, but worst of all now, to revive this foolish lampoon. "The review of Manfred came very safely, and I am much pleased with it. It is odd that they should say (that is, somebody in a magazine whom the Edinburgh controverts) that it was taken from Marlow's Faust, which I never read nor saw. An American, who came the other day from Germany, told Mr. Hobhouse that Manfred was taken from Goethe's Faust. The devil may take both the Faustuses, German and EnglishI have taken neither. "Will you send to Hanson, and say that he has not written since 9th September ?—at least I have had no letter since, to my great surprise. "Will you desire Messrs. Morland to send out whatever additional sums have or may be paid in credit immediately, and always to their Venice correspondents? It is two months ago that they sent me out an additional credit for one thousand pounds. I was very glad of it, but I don't know how the devil it came; for I can only make out 500 of Hanson's payment, and I had thought the other 500 came from you; but it did not, it seems, as, by yours of the 7th instant, you have only just paid the 12301. balance. "Mr. Kinnaird is on his way home with the assignments. I can fix no time for the arrival of Canto fourth, which depends on the journey of Mr. Hobhouse home; and I do not think that this will be immediate. "Yours in great haste and very truly, B. "P.S. Morlands have not yet written to my bankers apprising the payment of your balances: pray desire them to do so. "Ask them about the previous thousand-of which I know 500 came from Hanson's-and make out the other 500—that is, whence it came.' LETTER 301. TO MR. MURRAY. "Venice, November 15, 1817. "Mr. Kinnaird has probably returned to England by this time, and will have conveyed to you any tidings you may wish to have of us and ours. I have come back to Venice for the winter. Mr. Hobhouse will probably set off in December, but what day or week I know not. He is my opposite neighbour at present. "I wrote yesterday in some perplexity, and no very good humour, to Mr. Kinnaird, to inform me about Newstead and the Hansons, of which and whom I hear nothing since his departure from this place, except in a few unintelligible words from an unintelligible woman. "I am as sorry to hear of Dr. Polidori's accident as one can be for a person for whom one has a dislike and something of contempt. When he gets well, tell me, and how he gets on in the sick line. Poor fellow! how came he to fix there? "I fear the Doctor's skill at Norwich Methought he was going to the Brazils to give the Portuguese physic (of which they are fond to desperation) with the Danish consul. "Your new Canto has expanded to one hundred and sixty-seven stanzas. It will be long, you see; and as for the notes by Hobhouse, I suspect they will be of the heroic size. You must keep Mr. ** in good humour, for he is devilish touchy yet about your Review and all which it inherits, including the editor, the Admiralty, and its bookseller. I used to think that I was a good deal of an author in amour-propre and noli me tangere; but these prose fellows are worst, after all, about their little comforts. "Do you remember my mentioning, some months ago, the Marquis Moncada a Spaniard of distinction and fourscore years, my summer neighbour at La Mira? Well, about six weeks ago, he fell in love with a Venetian girl of family, and no fortune or character; took her into his mansion; quarrelled with all his former friends for giving him advice (except me who gave him none), and installed her present concubine and future wife and mistress of himself and furniture. At the end of a month, in which she demeaned herself as ill as possible, he found out a correspondence between her and some former keeper, and after nearly strangling, turned her out of the house, to the great scandal of the keeping part of the town, and with a prodigious éclat, which has occupied all the canals and coffee-houses in Venice. He said she wanted to poison him; and she says-God knows what; but between them they have made a great deal of noise. I know a little of both the parties: Moncada seemed a very sensible old man, a character which he has not quite kept up on this occasion; and the woman is rather showy than pretty. For the honour of religion, she was bred in a convent, and for the credit of Great Britain, taught by an Englishwoman. Yours," &c. LETTER 302. TO MR. MURRAY. "Venice, December 3, 1817. "A Venetian lady, learned and somewhat stricken in years, having, in her intervals of love and devotion, taken upon her to translate the Letters and write the Life of Lady Mary Wortley Montague,-to which undertaking there are two obstacles, firstly, ignorance of English, and, secondly, a total dearth of information on the subject of her projected biography, has applied to me for facts or falsities upon this promising |