* was shameful! All the declamatory 66 parts were left, all the dramatic ones "struck out; and Cooper, the new actor, 66 was the murderer of the whole. Lioni's soliloquy, which I wrote one moonlight 66 66 night after coming from the Benzons', ought to have been omitted altogether, or "at all events much curtailed. What audi"ence will listen with any patience to a "mere tirade of poetry, which stops the "march of the actor? No wonder, then, "that the unhappy Doge should have been "damned! But it was no pleasant news "to me; and the letter containing it was 66 accompanied by another, to inform me "that an old lady, from whom I had great 66 expectations, was likely to live to an hun"dred. There is an autumnal shoot in * Acted at Drury Lane, April 25, 1821. "some old people, as in trees; and I fancy "her constitution has got some of the new 66 sap. Well, on these two pleasant pieces "of intelligence I wrote the following epi 66 gram, or elegy it may be termed, from "the melancholy nature of the subject: Behold the blessings of a happy lot! My play is damn'd, and Lady not! "I understand that Louis Dix-huit, or "des huitres, as Moore spells it, has made a "traduction of poor 'Faliero;' but I should 66 hope it will not be attempted on the "Théatre François. It is quite enough for 66 a man to be damned once. I was satisfied "with Jeffrey's critique* on the play, for it "However, I forgive him; and I trust Old " abounded in extracts. He was welcome to "his own opinion,—which was fairly stated. "His summing up in favour of my friend "Sir Walter amused me: it reminded me of a schoolmaster, who, after flogging a bad 66 66 66 66 'boy, calls out the head of the class, and, patting him on the head, gives him all the sugar-plums. "The common trick of Reviewers is, "when they want to depreciate a work, to 66 I give no quotations from it. This is what "The Quarterly' shines in;-the way Milman put down Shelley, when he compared him to Pharaoh, and his works to his chariot wheels, by what contortion of images I Old enemies who have become new friends, Don Juan, Canto X. Stanzas 11 and 12. 66 forget;-but it reminds me of another per"son's comparing me in a poem to Jesus "Christ, and telling me, when I objected to "its profanity, that he alluded to me in situation, not in person! What!' said I "in reply, would you have me crucified? "We are not in Jerusalem, are we?' But "this is a long parenthesis. The Reviewers "are like a counsellor, after an abusive 66 speech, calling no witnesses to prove his "assertions. There are people who read nothing but "these trimestrials, and swear by the ipse "dixit of these autocrats these Actæon "hunters of literature. They are fond of 66 66 raising up and throwing down idols. The Edinburgh' did so with Walter Scott's poeperhaps there is no merit in try, and, "my plays? It may be so; and Milman may be a great poet, if Heber is right and "I am wrong. He has the dramatic faculty, " and I have not. So they pretended to say "of Milton. I am too happy in being 66 coupled in any way with Milton, and shall "be glad if they find any points of compa"rison between him and me. "But the praise or blame of Reviewers "does not last long now-a-days. It is like "straw thrown up in the air.* "I hope, notwithstanding all that has "been said, to write eight more plays this *He seemed to think somewhat differently afterwards, when, after the review in The Quarterly' of his plays, he wrote to me, saying, "I am the most unpopular writer going!" |
