Of this remarkable young man, Charles Skinner Matthews, I have already had occasion to speak; but the high station which he held in Lord Byron's affection and admiration may justify a somewhat ampler tribute to his memory. ties by which his affections held, whether within, or journey to London. Write or come, but come if you without, the circle of relationship, he was now can, or one or both. Yours ever." doomed, within a short space, to see the most of them swept away by death. Besides the loss of his mother, he had to mourn over, in quick succession, the untimely fatalities that carried off, within a few weeks of each other, two or three of his most loved and valued friends. "In the short space of one month," he says, in a note on Childe Harold, "I have lost her who gave me being, and most of those who made that being tolerable." Of these, young Wingfield, whom we have seen high on the list of his Harrow favourites, died of a fever at Coimbra ; and Matthews, the idol of his admiration at college, was drowned while bathing in the waters of the Cam. The following letter, written immediately after the latter event, bears the impress of strong and even agonized feeling, to such a degree as renders it almost painful to read it. LETTER LVI. TO MR SCROPE DAVIES. "Newstead Abbey, August 7, 1811. "MY DEAREST DAVIES. "Some curse hangs over me and mine. My mother lies a corpse in this house: one of my best friends is drowned in a ditch. What can I say, or think, or do? I received a letter from him the day before yesterday. My dear Scrope, if you can spare a moment, do come down to me; I want a friend. Matthews's last letter was written on Friday,-on Saturday he was not. In ability, who was like Matthews? How did we all shrink before him? You do me but justice in saying, I would have risked my paltry existence to have preserved his. This very evening did I mean to write, inviting him, as I invite you, my very dear friend, to visit me. God forgive **for his apathy! What will our poor Hobhouse feel! His letters breathe but of Matthews. Come to me, Scrope; I am almost desolate-left almost alone in the world-I had but you, and H. and M., and let me enjoy the survivors whilst I can. Poor M., in his letter of Friday, speaks of his intended contest for Cambridge, and a speedy * *In a letter written between two and three months after his mother's death, he states no less a number than six persons, all friends or relatives, who had been snatched away from him by death between May and the end of August. + In continuation of the note quoted in the text, he says of Matthews-"His powers of mind, shown in the attainment of greater honours, against the ablest candidates, than those of any graduate on record at Cambridge, have sufficiently established his fame on the spot where it was acquired." One of the candidates thus described, was Mr Thomas Barnes, a gentleman whose career since has kept fully the promise of his youth, though, from the nature of the channels through which his literary labours have beer directed, his great talents are far more extensively known than his name. It had been the intention of Mr Matthews to offer himself, at the ensuing election, for the university. In reference to this purpose, a manuscript Memoir of him, now lying before me, says "If acknowledged and successful talents-if principles of the strictest honour-if the devotion of many friends could have secured the success of 'an independent pauper' (as he jocularly called himself in a letter on the subject), the vision would have been realized." There have seldom, perhaps, started together in life so many youths of high promise and hope as were to be found among the society of which Lord Byron formed a part at Cambridge. Of some of these, the names have since eminently distinguished themselves in the world, as the mere mention of Mr Hobhouse and Mr William Bankes is sufficient to testify; while in the instance of another of this lively circle, Mr Scrope Davies,† the only regret of his friends is, that the social wit of which he is such a master should, in the memories of his hearers alone, be likely to leave any record of its brilliancy. Among all these young men of learning and talent (including Byron himself, whose genius was, however, as yet, 66 an undiscovered world"), the superiority, in almost every department of intellect, seems to have been, by the ready consent of all, awarded to Matthews;a concurrence of homage which, considering the persons from whom it came, gives such a high notion of the powers of his mind at that period as renders the thought of what he might have been, if spared, a matter of interesting, though vain and mournful, speculation. To mere mental pre-eminence, unaccompanied by the kindlier qualities of the heart, such a tribute, however deserved, might not, perhaps, have been so uncontestedly paid. But young Matthews appears,-in spite of some little asperities of temper and manner, which he was already beginning to soften down when snatched away,-to have been one of those rare individuals who, while they command deference, can, at the same time, win regard, and who, as it were, relieve the intense feeling of admiration which they excite by blending it with love. To his religious opinions, and their unfortunate coincidence with those of Lord Byron, I have before adverted. Like his noble friend, ardent in the pursuit of Truth, he, like him too, unluckily lost his way in seeking her," the light that led astray" being by both friends mistaken for hers. That in his scepticism he proceeded any farther than Lord Byron, or ever suffered his doubting, but still ingenuous, mind *He was the third son of the late John Matthews, Esq. of Belmont, Herefordshire, representative of that county in the parliament of 1802-6. The author of The Diary of an Invalid," also untimely snatched away, was another son of the same gentleman, as is likewise the present Prebendary of Hereford, the Reverend Arthur Matthews, who, by his ability and attainments, sustains worthily the reputation of the name. The father of this accomplished family was himself a man of considerable talent, and the author of several unavowed poetical pieces; one of which, a Parody of Pope's Eloisa, written in early youth, has been erroneously ascribed to the late Professor Porson, who was in the habit of reciting it, and even printed an edition of the verses. +One of the cleverest men I ever knew, in conversation, was Scrope Berdmore Davies. Hobhouse is also very good in that line, though it is of less consequence to a man who has other ways of showing his talents than in company. Scrope was always ready and often witty-Hobhouse as witty, but not always so ready, being more diffident."-MS. Journal of Lord Byron. to persuade itself into the "incredible creed" of atheism, is I find, (notwithstanding an assertion in a letter of the noble poet to this effect) disproved by the testimony of those among his relations and friends, who are the most ready to admit, and, of course, lament his other heresies;-nor should I have felt that I had a any right to allude thus to the religious opinions of one who had never, by promulgating his heterodoxy, brought himself within the jurisdiction of the public, had not the wrong impression, as it appears, given of those opinions, on the authority of Lord Byron, rendered it an act of justice to both friends to remove the imputation. In the letters to Mrs Byron, written previously to the departure of her son on his travels, there occurs, it will be recollected, some mention of a Will, which it was his intention to leave behind him in the hands of his trustees. Whatever may have been the contents of this former instrument, we find that, in about a fortnight after his mother's death, he thought it right to have a new form of will drawn up, and the following letter, enclosing his instructions for that purpose, was addressed to the late Mr Bolton, a solicitor of Nottingham. Of the existence, in any serious or formal shape, of the strange directions here given, respecting his own interment, I was for some time, I confess, much inclined to doubt; but the curious documents here annexed put this remarkable instance of his eccentricity beyond all question. "Newstead Abbey, August 12th, 1811. DIRECTIONS FOR THE CONTENTS OF A WILL TO BE DRAWN UP IMMEDIATELY. "The estate of Newstead to be entailed (subject to certain deductions) on George Anson Byron, heir at law, or whoever may be the heir at law on the death of Lord B. The Rochdale property to be sold in part or the whole, according to the debts and legacies of the present Lord B. "To Nicolo Giraud of Athens, subject of France, but born in Greece, the sum of seven thousand pounds sterling, to be paid from the sale of such parts of Rochdale, Newstead, or elsewhere, as may enable the said Nicolo Giraud (resident at Athens and Malta in the year 1810) to receive the above sum on his attaining the age of twenty-one years. sum of fifty pounds pr. ann. each, for their natural lives. To Wm Fletcher the Mill at Newstead, on condition that he payeth rent, but not subject to the caprice of the landlord. To Rt. Rushton the sum of fifty pounds per ann. for life, and a further sum of one thousand pounds on attaining the age of twentyfive years. "To Jn. Hanson, Esq., the sum of two thousand pounds sterling. "The claims of S. B. Davies, Esq., to be satisfied on proving the amount of the same. "The body of Lord B. to be buried in the vault of the garden of Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, or any inscription, save his name and age. His dog not to be removed from the said vault. "My library and furniture of every description to my friends Jn. Cam Hobhouse, Esq., and S. B. Davies, Esq., my executors. In case of their decease, the Rev. J. Becher, of Southwell, Notts., and R. C. Dallas, Esq., of Mortlake, Surrey, to be executors. "The produce of the sale of Wymondham in Norfolk, and the late Mrs B.'s Scotch property,* to be appropriated in aid of the payment of debts and legacies." In sending a copy of the Will, framed on these instructions, to Lord Byron, the solicitor accompanied some of the clauses with marginal queries, calling the attention of his noble client to points which he considered inexpedient or questionable; and as the short, pithy answers to these suggestions are strongly characteristic of their writer, I shall here give one or two of the clauses in full, with the respective queries and answers annexed. "This is the last will and testament of me the Rt. Honble. George Gordon Lord Byron, Baron Byron of Rochdale in the county of Lancaster.-I desire that my body may be buried in the vault of the garden of Newstead, without any ceremony or burial-service whatever, and that no inscription, save my name and age, be written on the tomb or tablet; and it is my will that my faithful dog may not be removed from the said vault. To the performance of this my particular desire, I rely on the attention of my executors hereinafter named." "It is submitted to Lord Byron whether this clause relative to the funeral had not betler be omitted. The substance of it can be given in a letter from his lordship to the executors, and accompany the will; and in such manner as his lordship may by letter direct, the will may state that the funeral shall be performed and, in default of any such letter, then at the discretion of his executors." panied me to England in 1811; he returned to Greece, "To William Fletcher, Joseph Murray, and Demetrius Zograffo* (native of Greece), servants, the spring, 1812. He was a clever, but not apparently an **If the papers lie not (which they generally do), Demetrius Zograffo of Athens is at the head of the Athenian part of the Greek insurrection. He was my servant in 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, at different intervals in those years (for I left him in Greece when I went to Constantinople), and accom enterprising man; but circumstances make men. His two sons (then infants) were named Miltiades and Alcibiades: may the omen be happy !"-MS. Journal. *On the death of his mother a considerable sum of money, the remains of the price of the estate of Gight, was paid into his hands by her trustee, Baron Clerk. the claims of the said S. B. Davies upon me shall be fully paid and satisfied as soon as conveniently may be after my decease, on his proving [by vouchers, or otherwise, to the satisfaction of my executors hereinafter named]* the amount thereof and the correctness of the same." "If Mr Davies has any unsettled claims upon Lord Byron, that circumstance is a reason for his not being appointed executor; each executor having an opportunity of paying himself his own debt without consulting his co-executors." "So much the better-if possible, let him be an "B." executor. In consequence of this last letter, a proviso and declaration, in conformity with its instructions, were inserted in the will. He also executed, on the 28th of this month, a codicil, by which he revoked the bequest of his "household goods and furniture, library, pictures, sabres, watches, plate, linen, trinkets, and other personal estate (except money and securities) situate within the walls of the mansion-house and premises at his decease"-and bequeathed the same (except his wine and spirituous liquors) to his friends, the said J. C. Hobhouse, J. B. Davies, and Francis Hodgson, their executors, &c., to be equally divided between them for their own use; and he bequeathed his wine and The two following letters contain further instruc- spirituous liquors, which should be in the cellars and tions on the same subject. 66 SIR, LETTER LVII. TO MR BOLTON. Newstead Abbey, August 16th, 1811. I "I have answered the queries on the margin. wish Mr Davies's claims to be most fully allowed, and, further, that he be one of my executors. I wish the will to be made in a manner to prevent all discussion, if possible, after my decease; and this I leave to you, as a professional gentleman. "With regard to the few and simple directions for the disposal of my carcass, I must have them implicitly fulfilled, as they will, at least, prevent trouble and expense; and (what would be of little consequence to me, but may quiet the conscience of the survivors) the garden is consecrated ground. These directions are copied verbatim from my former will; the alterations in other parts have arisen from the death of Mrs B. "I have the honour to be your most obedient, humble servant, LETTER LVIII. TO MR BOLTON. "BYRON." "Newstead Abbey, August 20, 1811. “SIR, "The witnesses shall be provided from amongst my tenants, and I shall be happy to see you on any day most convenient to yourself. I forgot to mention that it must be specified by codicil, or otherwise, that my body is on no account to be removed from the vault where I have directed it to be placed; and, in case any of my successors within the entail (from bigotry, or otherwise) might think proper to remove the carcass, such proceeding shall be attended by forfeiture of the estate, which, in such case, shall go to my sister the Honble. Augusta Leigh and her heirs, on similar conditions. I I have the honour to be, Sir, "Your very obedient, humble servant, *Over the words which I have here placed between brackets, Lord Byron drew his pen. In the clause enumerating the names and places of abode of the executors, the solicitor had left blanks for the christian names of these gentlemen, and Lord Byron, having filled up all but that of Dallas, writes in the margin -"I forget the christian name of Dallas-cut him out." premises at Newstead, "unto his friend the said J. Becher for his own use, and requested the said J. C. Hobhouse, J. B. Davies, F. Hodgson, and J. Becher, respectively, to accept the bequest therein contained, to them respectively, as a token of his friendship." The following letters, written while his late losses were fresh in his mind, will be read with painful interest. LETTER LIX. TO MR DALLAS. Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 12th, 1811. "Peace be with the dead! Regret cannot wake them. With a sigh to the departed, let us resume the dull business of life, in the certainty that we also shall have our repose. Besides her who gave me being, I have lost more than one who made that being tolerable.-The best friend of my friend Hobhouse, Matthews, a man of the first talents, and also not the worst of my narrow circle, has perished miserably in the muddy waves of the Cam, always fatal to genius: my poor schoolfellow, Wingfield, at Coimbra-within a month; and whilst I had heard from all three, but not seen one. Matthews wrote to me the very day before his death; and though I feel for his fate, I am still more anxious for Hobhouse, who, I very much fear, will hardly retain his senses; his letters to me since the event have been most incoherent. But let this pass-we shall all one day pass along with the rest-the world is too full of such things, and our very sorrow is selfish. "I received a letter from you, which my late occupations prevented me from duly noticing.—I hope your friends and family will long hold together. I shall be glad to hear from you, on business, on common-place, or any thing, or nothing—but death; -I am already too familiar with the dead. It is strange that I look on the skulls which stand beside me (I have always had four in my study) without emotion, but I cannot strip the features of those I have known of their fleshy covering, even in idea, without a hideous sensation; but the worms are less ceremonious.-Surely, the Romans did well when they burned the dead. I shall be happy to hear from you, and am, yours, &c." LETTER LX. TO MR HODGSON. "Newstead Abbey, August 22d, 1811, "You may have heard of the sudden death of my mother and poor Matthews, which, with that of Wingfield (of which I was not fully aware till just before I left town, and indeed hardly believed it), has made a sad chasm in my connexions. Indeed the blows followed each other so rapidly that I am yet stupid from the shock, and though I do eat and drink and talk, and even laugh, at times, yet I can hardly persuade myself that I am awake, did not every morning convince me mournfully to the contrary. I shall now wave the subject,-the dead are at rest, and none but the dead can be so. teously-your mediation between me and Murray. I don't think my name will answer the purpose, and you must be aware that my plaguy Satire will bring the north and south Grub-streets down upon the 'Pilgrimage;'-but, nevertheless, if Murray makes a point of it, and you coincide with him, I will do it daringly; so let it be entitled, By the Author of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.' My remarks on the Romaie, &c., once intended to accompany the 'Hints from Horace,' shall go along with the other, as being indeed more appropriate; also the smaller poems now in my possession, with a few selected from those published in **'s Miscellany. I have found amongst my poor mother's papers all my letters from the East, and one in particular of some length from Albania. From this, if necessary, I can work up a note or two on that subject. As I kept no journal, the letters written on the spot are the best. But of this anon, when we have definitively arranged. "Has Murray shown the work to any one? He may "You will feel for poor Hobhouse,-Matthews was the god of his idolatry;' and if intellect could exalt a man above his fellows, no one could refuse him pre-eminence. I knew him most intimately, and—but I will have no traps for applause. Of course valued him proportionably; but I am recurring-so let us talk of life and the living. 66 If you should feel a disposition to come here, you will find beef and a sea-coal fire,' and not ungenerous wine. Whether Otway's two other requisites ran Englishman or not, I cannot tell, but probably one of them.-Let me know when I may expect you, that I may tell you when I go and when return.-I have not yet been to Lancs. Davies has been here, and has invited me to Cambridge for a week in October, so that, peradventure, we may encounter glass to glass. His gaiety (death cannot mar it) has done me service; but, after all, ours was a hollow laughter. 66 * * You will write to me? I am solitary, and I never felt solitude irksome before. Your anxiety about the critique on **'s book is amusing; as it was anonymous, certes it was of little consequence: I wish it had produced a little more confusion, being a lover of literary malice. Are you doing nothing? writing nothing? printing nothing? why not your Satire on Methodism? the subject (supposing the public to be blind to merit) would do wonders. Besides, it would be as well for a destined deacon to prove his orthodoxy. It really would give me pleasure to see you properly appreciated. I say really, as, being an author, my humanity might be suspected. Believe me, dear H., yours always." LETTER LXI. TO MR DALLAS. Newstead, August 21, 1811. "Your letter gives me credit for more acute feelings than I possess; for though I feel tolerably miserable, yet I am at the same time subject to a kind of hysterical merriment, or rather laughter without merriment, which I can neither account for nor conquer, and yet I do not feel relieved by it; but an indifferent person would think me in excellent spirits. We must forget these things,' and have recourse to our old selfish comforts, or rather comfortable selfishness. I do not think I shall return to London immediately, and shall therefore accept freely what is offered cour there are little things I would wish to alter, and perhaps the two stanzas of a buffooning cast on London's Sunday are as well left out. I much wish to avoid identifying Childe Harold's character with mine, and that, in sooth, is my second objection to my name appearing in the title-page. When you have made arrangements as to time, size, type, &c., favour me with a reply. I am giving you a universe of trouble, which thanks cannot atone for. I made a kind of prose apology for my scepticism at the head of the MS., which, on recollection, is so much more like an attack than a defence, that, haply, it might better be omitted:-perpend, pronounce. After all, I fear Murray will be in a scrape with the orthodox; but I cannot help it, though I wish him well through it. As for me, I have supped full of criticism,' and I don't think that the most dismal treatise' will stir and rouse my fell of hair' till Birnam wood do come to Dunsinane.' "I shall continue to write at intervals, and hope you will pay me in kind. How does Pratt get on, or rather get off Joe Blackett's posthumous stock? You killed that poor man amongst you, in spite of your Ionian friend and myself, who would have saved him from Pratt, poetry, present poverty, and posthumous oblivion. Cruel patronage! to ruin a man at his calling; but then he is a divine subject for subscription and biography; and Pratt, who makes the most of his dedications, has inscribed the volume to no less than five families of distinction. "I I am sorry you don't like Harry White; with a great deal of cant, which in him was sincere (indeed it killed him, as you killed Joe Blackett), certes there is poesy and genius. I don't say this on account of my simile and rhymes; but surely he was beyond all the Bloomfields and Blacketts, and their collateral cobblers, whom Lofft and Pratt have or may kidknap from their calling, into the service of the trade. You must excuse my flippancy, for I am writing I know not what, to escape from myself. Hobhouse is gone to Ireland. Mr Davies has been here on his way to Harrowgate. "You did not know M.; he was a man of the most astonishing powers, as he sufficiently proved at Cambridge, by carrying off more prizes and fellowships, against the ablest candidates, than any other graduate on record; but a most decided atheist, indeed noxiously so, for he proclaimed his principles in all societies. I knew him well, and feel a loss not easily to be supplied to myself-to Hobhouse never. Let me hear from you, and believe me, &c." The progress towards publication of his two forthcoming works will be best traced in his letters to Mr Murray and Mr Dallas. 66 LETTER LXII. TO MR MURRAY. Newstead Abbey, Notts., August 23, 1811. SIR, "A domestic calamity in the death of a near relation has hitherto prevented my addressing you on the subject of this letter.-My friend Mr Dallas has placed in your hands a manuscript poem written by me in Greece, which he tells me you do not object to publishing. But he also informed me in London that you wished to send the MS. to Mr Gifford. Now, though no one would feel more gratified by the chance of obtaining his observations on a work than myself, there is in such a proceeding a kind of petition for praise, that neither my pride-or whatever you please to call it—will admit. Mr G. is not only the first satirist of the day, but editor of one of the principal Reviews. As such, he is the last man whose censure (however eager to avoid it) I would deprecate by clandestine means. You will therefore retain the MS. in your own care, or, if it must needs be shown, send it to another. Though not very patient of censure, I would fain obtain fairly any little praise my rhymes might deserve, at all events not by extortion and the humble solicitations of a bandied about MS. I am sure a little consideration will convince you it would be wrong. "If you determine on publication, I have some smaller poems (never published), a few notes, and a short dissertation on the literature of the modern Greeks (written at Athens), which will come in at the end of the volume.-And if the present poem should succeed, it is my intention, at some subsequent period, to publish some selections from my first work,-my Satire,-another nearly the same length, and a few other things, with the MS. now in your hands, in two volumes.-But of these hereafter. You will apprize me of your determination. I am, sir, your very obedient, &c." LETTER LXIII. TO MR DALLAS. "Newstead Abbey, August 25, 1811. 66 Being fortunately enabled to frank, I do not spare scribbling, having sent you packets within the last ten days. I am passing solitary, and do not expect my agent to accompany me to Rochdale before the second week in September, a delay which perplexes me, as I wish the business over, and should at present welcome employment. I sent you exordiums, annotations, &c., for the forthcoming quarto, if quarto it is to be; and I also have written 6 to Mr Murray my objection to sending the MS. to Juvenal, but allowing him to show it to any others of the calling. Hobhouse is amongst the types already; so, between his prose and my verse, the world will be decently drawn upon for its papermoney and patience. Besides all this, my Imitation of Horace' is gasping for the press at Cawthorn's, but I am hesitating as to the how and the when, the single or the double, the present or the future. You must excuse all this, for I have nothing to say in this lone mansion but of myself, and yet I would willingly talk or think of aught else. "What are you about to do? Do you think of perching in Cumberland, as you opined when I was in the metropolis? If you mean to retire, why not occupy Miss ***'s Cottage of Friendship,' late the seat of Cobbler Joe, for whose death you and others are answerable? His Orphan Daughter' (pathetic Pratt!) will, certes, turn out a shoemaking Sappho. Have you no remorse? I think that elegant address to Miss Dallas should be inscribed on the cenotaph which Miss *** means to stitch to his memory. "The newspapers seem much disappointed at his majesty's not dying, or doing something better. I If parliament meets in presume it is almost over. October, I shall be in town to attend. I am also invited to Cambridge for the beginning of that month, but am first to jaunt to Rochdale. Now Matthews is gone, and Hobhouse in Ireland, I have hardly one left there to bid me welcome, except my what more can we be at seventy? It is true, I am inviter. At three-and-twenty 'I am left alone, and young enough to begin again, but with whom can I retrace the laughing part of life? It is odd how few their beds. But a quiet life is of more consequence. of my friends have died a quiet death,—I mean, in Yet one loves squabbling and jostling better than yawning. This last word admonishes me to relieve you from yours, very truly, &c." LETTER LXIV. TO MR DALLAS. "Newstead Abbey, August 27, 1811. "I was so sincere in my note on the late Charles Matthews, and do feel myself so totally unable to do justice to his talents, that the passage must stand for the very reason you bring against it. To him all the men I ever knew were pigmies. He was an intellectual giant. It is true I loved W. better; he was the earliest and the dearest, and one of the few one could never repent of having loved: but in ability— ah! you did not know Matthews! "Childe Harold may wait and welcome-books are never the worse for delay in the publication. So you have got our heir, George Anson Byron, and his sister, with you. * * * * * * * "You may say what you please, but you are one of the murderers of Blackett, and yet you won't allow Harry White's genius. Setting aside his bigotry, he surely ranks next Chatterton. It is astonishing how little he was known; and at Cambridge no one thought or heard of such a man, till his death ren |