Herbert shall wield Thor's hammer, (1) and some times, In gratitude, thou'lt praise his rugged rhymes. Turn beef to bannocks, cauliflowers to kail." Then prosper, Jeffrey! pertest of the train (1) Mr. Herbert is a translator of Icelandic and other poetry. One of the principal pieces is a Song on the Recovery of Thor's Hammer; the translation is a pleasant chant in the vulgar tongue, and endeth thus: **Instead of money and rings, I wot, The hammer's bruises were her lot, Thus Odin's son his hammer got." [The Hon. William Herbert, brother to the Earl of CarnarHe also published, in 1811, Helga, a poem in seven cantos.-L. E.] von. (2) The Rev. Sydney Smith, the reputed author of Peter Plymley's Letters, and sundry criticisms.-[Now (1834) one of the Canons Residentiary of St. Paul's, etc. etc. Dyson's Address to his Constituents on the Reform Bill, and many other pieces published anonymously, or pseudonomously, are generally ascribed to this eminently witty person, who has put forth nothing, it is believed, in his own name, except a volume of Sermons.-L. E.] (3) Mr. Hallam reviewed Payne Knight's Taste, and was exceedingly severe on some Greek verses therein. It was not discovered that the lines were Pindar's till the press rendered it impossible to cancel the critique, which still stands an everlasting monument of Hallam's ingenuity. Note added to second edition. The said Hallam is incensed because he is falsely accused, seeing that he never dineth at Holland House. If this be true, I am sorry-not for having said so, but on his account, as I understand his lordship's feasts are preferable to his compositions. If he did not review Lord Holland's performance, I am glad, be. cause it must have been painful to read, and irksome to praise it. If Mr. Hallam will tell me who did review it, the real name shall find a place in the text; provided, nevertheless, the said name be of two orthodox musical syllables, and will come into the verse: till then, Hallam must stand for want of a better.-[It cannot be necessary to vindicate the great author of the Middle Ages and the Constitutional History of England from the insinuations of the juvenile poet.-L. E.] (4) Pillans is a tutor at Eton. Mr. Pillans became afterwards Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, and has now been for some years Professor of Humanity in that University. There was not, it is believed, the slightest foundation for the charge in the text.-L. E.] (5) The Hon. George Lambe reviewed Beresford's Miseries, and is, moreover, author of a farce enacted with much ap. planse at the Priory, Stanmore, and damned with great expedition at the late theatre, Covent Garden. It was entitled, Whistle for It.—Mr. Lambe was, in 1818, the successful candidate for the representation of Westminster, in opposition to Mr. Hobhouse; who, however, defeated him in the following year. In 1821, Mr. Lambe published a translation of Catullus.-L. E.] (6) Mr. Brougham, in No. XXV. of the Edinburgh Review, throughout the article concerning Don Pedro de Cevallos, Whatever blessing waits a genuine Scot, Illustrious Holland! hard would be his lot, His hirelings mention'd, and himself forgot! (10) Holland, with Henry Petty (11) at his back, The whipper-in and huntsman of the pack. Blest be the banquets spread at Holland House, (12) Where Scotchmen feed, and critics may carouse! Long, long beneath that hospitable roof Shall Grub-street dine, while duns are kept aloof. See honest Hallam lay aside his fork, Resume his pen, review his Lordship's work, And, grateful for the dainties on his plate, Declare his landlord can at least translate! (13) has displayed more politics than policy; many of the worthy burgesses of Edinburgh being so incensed at the infamous principles it evinces, as to have withdrawn their subscriptions. [Here followed, in the first edition: -"The name of this personage is pronounced Broom in the south, but the truly northern and musical pronunciation is BROUGH-AM, in two syllables:" but, for this, Lord B. substituted in the second edition:-"It seems that Mr. Brougham is not a Pict, as I supposed, but a Borderer, and his name is pronounced Broom, from Trent to Tay: so be it."-L. E.] (7) I ought to apologize to the worthy deities for introducing a new goddess with short petticoats to their notice: but, alas! what was to be done? I could not say Calcdonia's genius, it being well known there is no such genius to be found, from Clackmannan to Caithness; yet, without supernatural agency, how was Jeffrey to be saved? The national "kelpies" are too unpoetical, and the "brownies" and "gude neighbours" (spirits of a good disposition) refused to extricate him. A goddess, therefore, has been called for the purpose; and great ought to be the gratitude of Jeffrey, seeing it is the only communication he ever held, or is likely to hold, with any thing heavenly. (8) See the colour of the back binding of the Edinburgh Review. (9) In the tenth canto of Don Juan, Lord Byron pays the following pretty compliment to his quondam antagonist:"And all our little feuds at least all mine Dear Jeffrey, once my most redoubted foe, (As far as rhyme and criticism combine To make such puppets of us things below.) Are over; here's a health to 'Auld Lang syne,' I do not know you, and may never know Your face-but you have acted on the whole Most nobly, and I own it from my soul."-L. E. (10) "Bad enough, and on mistaken grounds too."B. 1816.-L. E. (11) Lord Henry Petty;-now (1834) Marquess of Lansdowne.-L. E. (12) In 1813, Lord Byron dedicated the Bride of Abydos to Lord Holland; and we find in his Journal (Nov. 17th) this passage:-"I have had a most kind letter from Lord Holland on the Bride of Abydos, which he likes, and so does Lady H. This is very good-natured in both, from whom I don't deserve any quarter. Yet I did think at the time that my cause of enmity proceeded from Holland House, and am glad I was wrong, and wish I had not been in such a hurry with that confounded Satire, of which 1 would suppress even the memory, but people, now they can't get it, make a fuss, I verily believe, out of contradiction."-L. E. (13) Lord Holland has translated some specimens of Lope de Vega, inserted in his life of the author. Both are bepraised by his disinterested guests.-[We are not aware Dunedin! view thy children with delight, They write for food-and feed because they write: Now to the Drama turn-Oh! motley sight! And common-place and common sense confounds? Who but must mourn, while these are all the rage, Heavens! is all sense of shame and talent gone? Give, as thy last memorial to the age, Such are we now. Ah! wherefore should we turn To what our fathers were, unless to mourn? Awake, George Colman! (6) Cumberland, (7) awake! Degenerate Britons! are ye dead to shame, Ring the alarum bell! let folly quake! Oh, Sheridan! if aught can move thy pen, Let Comedy assume her throne again; Abjure the mummery of the German schools; Leave new Pizarros to translating fools; that Lord Holland has subsequently published any verses, except a universally-admired version of the 28th canto of the Orlando Furioso, which is given by way of appendix to one of Mr. W. Stewart Rose's volumes.-L. E.] (1) Certain it is, that her ladyship is suspected of having displayed her matchless wit in the Edinburgh Review. However that may be, we know, from good authority, that the manuscripts are submitted to her perusal-no doubt for correction. (2) In the melo-drama of Tekeli, that heroic prince is clapt into a barrel on the stage; a new asylum for distressed heroes.-[In the original MS. the note stands thus: "In the melo-drama of Tekeli, that heroic prince is clapt into a barrel on the stage, and Count Evrard in the fortress hides himself in a green-house built expressly for the occa. sion. 'Tis a pity that Theodore Ilook, who is really a man of talent, should confine his genius to such paltry productions as the Fortress, Music Mad, etc. etc." This extraordinary humourist, who was a mere boy at the date of Lord Byron's satire, has since distinguished himself by works more worthy of his abilities-nine volumes of highly popu lar novels, entitled Sayings and Doings-a world of political jeux d'esprit, etc. etc.-L. E.] (3) All these are favourite expressions of Mr. Reynolds, and prominent in his comedies, living and defunct.-[ The reader is referred to Mr. Reynolds's Autobiography, published in 1826, for a full account of his voluminous writings for the stage.-L. E.] (4) Mr. Kenney has since written many successful dramas.-L. E (5) Mr. T. Sheridan, the new manager of Drury Lane theatre, stripped the tragedy of Bonduca of the dialogue, and exhibited the scenes as the spectacle of Caractacus. Was this worthy of his sire? or of himself?-[Thomas Sheridan, who united much of the convivial wit of his parent to many amiable qualities, received, after the termination of his theatrical management, the appointment of colonial paymaster at the Cape of Good Hope, where he died in September, 1817, leaving a widow, whose novel of Carwell has obtained much approbation, and several chil Or, kind to dulness, do you fear to blame? dren; among others, the accomplished authoress of Rosalie and other poems, now the Honourable Mrs. Norton.L. E.) (6) Lord Byron entertained a high opinion of George Colman's convivial powers.-"If I had," he says, "to choose and could not have both at a time, I should say, 'Let me begin the evening with Sheridan, and finish it with Colman." Sheridan for dinner, and Colman for supper; Sheridan for claret or port, but Colman for every thing. Sheridan was a grenadier company of life-guards, but Colman a whole regiment of light infantry, to be sure, but still a regiment." -L. E. (7) Richard Cumberland, the well-known author of the West Indian, the Observer, and one of the most interesting of autobiographies, died in 1811.-L. E. (8) In all editions previous to the fifth, it was, "Kemble lives to tread." Lord Byron used to say, that, "of actors, Cooke was the most natural, Kemble the most supernatu ral, Kean the medium between the two; but that Mrs. Siddons was worth them all put together." Such effect, however, had Kean's acting on his mind, that once, on seeing him play Sir Giles Overreach, he was seized with a sort of convulsive fit. John Kemble died in 1823,-his illustrious sister in 1830.-L. E. (9) Dibdin's pantomime of Mother Goose had a run of nearly a hundred nights, and brought more than twenty thousand pounds to the treasury of Covent Garden theatre. -L. E. (10) Mr. Greenwood is, we believe, scene-painter to Drury-lane theatre-as such, Mr. Skeffington is much indebted to him. (I) Mr. [now Sir Lumley] Skeffington is the illustrious author of the Sleeping Beauty; and some comedies, particularly Maids and Bachelors: "Baccalaurii baculo magis quam lauro digni." (12) Naldi and Catalani require little notice; for the visage of the one, and the salary of the other, will enable us long to recollect these amusing vagabonds. Besides, we are still black and blue from the squeeze on the first night of the lady's appearance in trousers. Since their own drama yields no fairer trace Then let Ausonia, skill'd in every art To sanction Vice, and hunt Decorum down: Strain her fair neck, and charm the listening throng! Whet not your scythe, (2) suppressors of our vice! Or hail at once the patron and the pile (1) The following twenty lines were strnek off one night after Lord Byron's return from the Opera, and sent the next morning to the printer, with a request to have them placed where they now appear.-L. E. (2) In the first edition, "Raise not your scythe," etc."Good." B. 1816.— P. E. (3) To prevent any blunder, such as mistaking a street for a man, I beg leave to state, that it is the institution, and not the duke of that name, which is here alluded to. A gentleman, with whom I am slightly acquainted, lost in the Argyle Rooms several thousand pounds at back-gammon.* It is but justice to the manager in this instance to say, that some degree of disapprobation was manifested: but why are the implements of gaming allowed in a place devoted to the society of both sexes? A pleasant thing for the wives and daughters of those who are blest or cursed with such connections, to hear the billiard-tables rattling in one room and the dice in another! That this is the case I myself can testify, as a late unworthy member of an institution which materially affects the morals of the higher orders, while the lower may not even move to the sound of a tabor and fiddle, without a chance of indictment for riotous behaviour.-[Conceiving the foregoing note, together with the lines in the text, to convey a reflection upon his conduct, as manager of the Argyle Institution, Colonel Greville demanded an explanation of Lord "Tra. It was Billy Way who lost the money. I knew him. and was a subscriber to the Argyle at the time of the event." B. 1316.-L. E. When for the night some lately titled ass With art the charms which nature could not spare; Oh! blest retreats of infamy and ease, While none but menials o'er the bed of death, The mangled victim of a drunken brawl, Truth! rouse some genuine bard, and guide his hand Byron. The matter was referred to Mr. Leckie (the author of a work on Sicilian affairs) on the part of Colonel Greville, and to Mr. Moore on the part of Lord Byron; by whom it was amicably settled.-L. E.] (4) Petronius, arbiter elegantiarum" to Nero, and "a very pretty fellow in his day," as Mr. Congreve's Old Bachelor saith of Hannibal. (6) I knew the late Lord Falkland well. On Sunday night I beheld him presiding at his own table, in all the honest pride of hospitality; on Wednesday morning, at three o'clock, I saw stretched before me all that remained of courage, feeling, and a host of passions. He was a gallant and successful officer: his faults were the faults of a sailor as such, Britons will forgive them. He died like a brave man in a better cause; for had he fallen in like manner on the deck of the frigate to which he was just appointed, his last moments would have been held up by his countrymen as an example to succeeding heroes.-[Lord Falkland was killed in a duel, by Mr. Powell, in 1809. It was not by words only that Lord Byron gave proof of sympathy on the melancholy occasion. Though his own difficulties pressed on him at the time, he contrived to administer relief to the widow and children of his friend.-L. F..] "He lost his life," said Lord Byron, "for a joke, and one too he did not make himself." Medwin.-P. E. (7) "Yes; and a precious chase they led me." B. 1816. -L. E. Although some kind censorious friend will say, No matter when some bard in virtue strong, As for the smaller fry, who swarm in shoals, From silly Hafiz (2) up to simple Bowles, Why should we call them from their dark abode, In broad St. Giles's or in Tottenham-road? Or (since some men of fashion nobly dare Lords too are bards, such things at times befall, No muse will cheer, with renovating smile, (6) worse What heterogeneous honours deck the peer! Lord, rhymester, petit-maître, pamphleteer! (8) So dull in youth, so drivelling in his age, To scrawl in verse) from Bond-street or the Square? His scenes alone had damn'd our sinking stage; If things of ton their harmless lays indite, (1)Fool enough, certainly, then, and no wiser since." B. 1816.-L. E. (2) What would be the sentiments of the Persian Ana creon, Hafiz, could he rise from his splendid sepulchre at Sheeraz (where he reposes with Ferdousi and Sadi, the oriental Homer and Catullus), and behold his name assumed by one Stott of Dromore, the most impudent and execrable of literary poachers for the daily prints? (3) Miles Peter Andrews, many years M. P. for Bewdley, Colonel of the Prince of Wales's Volunteers, proprietor of a gunpowder-manufactory at Dartford, author of numerous prologues, epilogues, and farces, and one of the heroes of the Baviad. He died in 1814.-L. E. (4) In the original manuscript we find these lines:"In these our times, with daily wonders big, A letter'd peer is like a letter'd pig; Both know their alphabet, but who, from thence Infers that peers or pigs have manly sense? Still less that such should woo the graceful nine; (5) Instead of the four lines commencing with "Roscommon," etc. the satire, as originally intended for the press, contained the following couplet: "On one alone Apollo deigns to smile And crowns a new Roscommon in Carlisle," In the interval however between the inditing of this couplet and the delivery of the manuscript to the press, the fancied slight offered to him by Lord Carlisle, in neglecting to introduce him to the House of Lords, on first taking his seat, was sufficient to rouse in the poet's sensitive mind a strong feeling of resentment. The result was that the laudatory couplet was expunged, and the vituperative verses, now published, were inserted in its place. Lord Byron appears to have long retained a bitter recollection of the circumstances under which he first presented himself in the House of Lords; and, as the reader may also feel an interest in them, we take the present opportunity of giving Mr. Dallas's striking account of that episode in the noble poet's life :-"I accompanied Lord Byron to the House. He was received in one of the ante-chambers by some of the officers in attendance, with whom he settled respecting the fees he had to pay, One of them went to apprise the Lord Chancellor of his being there, and soon returned for him. There were very few persons in the House. Lord Eldon was going through some ordinary business when Lord Byron entered. I thought he looked still paler than before; and he certainly wore a countenance in which mortification was mingled with, but subdued by, indignation. He passed the Woolsack without looking round, and advanced to the table where the proper officer was attending to administer the oaths. When he had gone through them, the Chancellor quitted his seat, and went towards him with a smile, putting out his hand warmly to welcome him; and though I did not catch his words, I saw that he paid him some compliment. This was all thrown away upon Lord Byron, who But managers for once cried, "Hold, enough!" made a stiff bow, and put the tips of his fingers into the Chancellor's hand. The Chancellor did not press a welcome so received, but resumed his seat, while Lord Byron carelessly seated himself for a few minutes on one of the empty benches to the left of the throne, usually occupied by the Lords in opposition. When, on his joining me, I expressed what I had felt, he said-If I had shaken hands heartily he would have set me down for one of his party-but I will have nothing to do with any of them, on either side; I have taken my seat, and now I will go abroad.' We returned to St. James's Street, but he did not recover his spirits." Moore, on the authority of Lord Byron's own report in one of his note-books, adds the particulars of the short conversation which he held with the Lord Chancellor on the occasion above referred to:-"When I came of age, some delays, on account of some birth and marriage certificates from Cornwall, occasioned me not to take my seat for several weeks. When these were over, and I had taken the oaths, the Chancellor apologized to me for the delay, observing, that ¦ these forms were a part of his duty.' I begged him to make no apology, and added (as he certainly had shown no violent hurry), 'Your lordship was exactly like Tom Thumb, (which was then being acted)—you did your duty and you did no more.'"-P. E. (6) Instead of these lines, the original MS. had the following:"Nor e'en a hackney'd muse will deign to smile On minor Byron, or mature Carlisle." It was the poet's intention to make this seeming attack on himself, for the purpose of concealment. Dallas.-P. E. (7) On being told that it was believed he alluded to Lord Carlisle's nervous disorder in this line, Lord Byron exclaimed, "I thank Heaven I did not know it; and would not, could not, if I had. I must naturally be the last person to be pointed on defects or maladies."-L. E. (8) The Earl of Carlisle has lately published an eighteenpenny pamphlet on the state of the stage, and offers his plan for building a new theatre. It is to be hoped his lordship will be permitted to bring forward any thing for the stage except his own tragedies. (9) "Doff that lion's hide, And hang a calf skin on those recreant limbs." Shak. King John, Lord Carlisle's works, most resplendently bound, form a conspicuous ornament to his book-shelves: "The rest is all but leather and prunella." (10) "Wrong also-the provocation was not sufficient to justify the acerhity." B. 1816.-Lord Byron greatly regretted the sarcasms he had published against his noble relation, under the mistaken impression that Lord Carlisle had intentionally slighted him. In a letter to Mr. Rogers, written in 1814, he asks,-"Is there any chance or possibility of making it up with Lord Carlisle, as I feel disposed to do any thing reasonable or ureasonable to effect it?" And, in the third Canto of Childe Harold, he thus adverts With you, ye Druids! rich in native lead, Has crush'd, without remorse, your numerous band. When some brisk youth, the tenant of a stall,(4) Employs a pen less pointed than his awl, Leaves his snug shop, forsakes his store of shoes, St. Crispin quits, and cobbles for the muse, Heavens! how the vulgar stare! how crowds applaud! How ladies read, and literati laud! (5) to the fate of the Hon. Frederick Howard, Lord Carlisle's youngest son, one of those who fell gloriously at Waterloo : **Their praise is hymn'd by loftier harps than mine, Yet one I would select from that proud throng, Partly because they blend me with his line, And partly that I did his Sire some wrong, And partly that bright names will hallow song; And his was of the bravest, and when shower'd The death-bolts deadliest the thinn'd piles along, Even there the thickest of war's tempest lower'd, They reach'd no nobler breast than thine, young gallant Howard!" In the following extracts from two unpublished letters, | written when Lord B. was at Harrow, may possibly be traced the origin of his conduct towards his guardian:Nov. 11, 1804. You mistake me if you think I dislike Lord Carlisle. I respect him, and might like him did I know him better. For him my mother has an antipathywhy, I know not. I am afraid he could be but of little use to me; but I dare say he would assist me if he could; so I take the will for the deed, and am obliged to him, exactly in the same manner as if he succeeded in his efforts.""Nov. 21, 1804. To Lord Carlisle make my warmest acknowledgments. I feel more gratitude than I can well express. I am truly obliged to him for his endeavours, and am perfectly satisfied with your explanation of his reserve, though I was hitherto afraid it might proceed from personal dislike. For the future I shall consider him as more my friend than I have hitherto been taught to think."-L. E. (1) Melville's Mantle, a parody on Elijah's Mantle, a poem. (2) This lovely little Jessica, the daughter of the noted Jew King, seems to be a follower of the Della Crusca sebool, and has published two volumes of very respectable absurdities in rhyme, as times go; besides sundry novels in the style of the first edition of the Monk.-[" She since married the Morning Post-an exceeding good match; and is now dead-which is better." B. 1816.-L. E.] (3) These are the signatures of various worthies who figure in the poetical departments of the newspapers. (4) Joseph Blackett, the shoemaker. He died at Seaham, in 1810. His poems were afterwards collected by Pratt; and, oddly enough, his principal patroness was Miss Milbank, then a perfect stranger to Lord Byron. In a letter written to Dallas, on board the Volage frigate, at sea, in If chance some wicked wag should pass his jest, To the famed throng now paid the tribute due, Neglected genius! let me turn to you. June 1811, he says, "I see that yours and Pratt's protégé, Blackett the cobbler, is dead, in spite of his rhymes, and is probably one of the instances where death has saved a man from damnation. You were the ruin of that poor fellow amongst you: had it not been for his patrons, he might now have been in very good plight, shoe- (not verse-) making; but you have made him immortal with a vengeance: who would think that any body would be such a blockhead as to sin against an express proverb.- Ne sutor ultra crepidam!' But spare him, ye Crities, his follies are past, For the Cobbler is come, as he ought, to his last!"— Which two lines, with a scratch under last, to show where the joke lies, I beg that you will prevail on Miss Milbank to have inserted on the tomb of her departed Blackett."-L. E. (5) "This was meant for poor Blackett, who was then patronised by A. J. B." (Lady Byron); "but that I did not know, or this would not have been written, at least I think not." B. 1816.-L. E. (6) Capel Lofft, Esq., the Maecenas of shoemakers, and preface-writer-general to distressed versemen; a kind of gratis accoucheur to those who wish to be delivered of rhyme, but do not know how to bring forth. [The poet Bloomfield owed his first celebrity to the notice of Capel Lofft and Thomas Hill, Esquires, who read his Farmer's Boy in manuscript, recommended it to a publisher, and, by their influence in society and literature, soon drew general attention to its merits. It is distressing to remember that, after all that had been done by the zeal of a few friends, the public sympathy did not rest permanently on the amiable Bloomfield, who died in extreme poverty in 1823.-L. E.] (7) "Read Burns to-day. What would he have been if a patrician? We should have had more polish-less forcejust as much verse, but no immorality-a divorce and a duel or two, the which had he survived, as his potations must have been less spirituous, he might have lived as long as Sheridan, and outlived as much as poor Brinsley."B. Journal, 1813.-L. E. (8) See Nathaniel Bloomfield's ode, elegy, or whatever he or any one else chooses to call it, on the enclosure of Honington Green. (9) Vide Recollections of a Weaver in the Moorlands of Staffordshire. |