Thomas Moore- Collected Poetical Works

by Thomas Moore

  LETTER 475. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

  “Pisa, January 12. 1822.

  “My dear Sir Walter,

  “I need not say how grateful I am for your letter, but I must own my ingratitude in not having written to you again long ago. Since I left England (and it is not for all the usual term of transportation) I have scribbled to five hundred blockheads on business, &c. without difficulty, though with no great pleasure; and yet, with the notion of addressing you a hundred times in my head, and always in my heart, I have not done what I ought to have done. I can only account for it on the same principle of tremulous anxiety with which one sometimes makes love to a beautiful woman of our own degree, with whom one is enamoured in good earnest; whereas, we attack a fresh-coloured housemaid without (I speak, of course, of earlier times) any sentimental remorse or mitigation of our virtuous purpose.

  “I owe to you far more than the usual obligation for the courtesies of literature and common friendship; for you went out of your way in 1817 to do me a service, when it required not merely kindness, but courage to do so: to have been recorded by you in such a manner, would have been a proud memorial at any time, but at such a time when ‘all the world and his wife,’ as the proverb goes, were trying to trample upon me, was something still higher to my self-esteem, — I allude to the Quarterly Review of the Third Canto of Childe Harold, which Murray told me was written by you, — and, indeed, I should have known it without his information, as there could not be two who could and would have done this at the time. Had it been a common criticism, however eloquent or panegyrical, I should have felt pleased, undoubtedly, and grateful, but not to the extent which the extraordinary good-heartedness of the whole proceeding must induce in any mind capable of such sensations. The very tardiness of this acknowledgment will, at least, show that I have not forgotten the obligation; and I can assure you that my sense of it has been out at compound interest during the delay. I shall only add one word upon the subject, which is, that I think that you, and Jeffrey, and Leigh Hunt were the only literary men, of numbers whom I know (and some of whom I had served), who dared venture even an anonymous word in my favour just then: and that, of those three, I had never seen one at all — of the second much less than I desired — and that the third was under no kind of obligation to me, whatever; while the other two had been actually attacked by me on a former occasion; one, indeed, with some provocation, but the other wantonly enough. So you see you have been heaping ‘coals of fire, &c.’ in the true gospel manner, and I can assure you that they have burnt down to my very heart.

  “I am glad that you accepted the Inscription. I meant to have inscribed ‘The Foscarini’ to you instead; but first, I heard that ‘Cain’ was thought the least bad of the two as a composition; and, 2dly, I have abused S * * like a pickpocket, in a note to the Foscarini, and I recollected that he is a friend of yours (though not of mine), and that it would not be the handsome thing to dedicate to one friend any thing containing such matters about another. However, I’ll work the Laureate before I have done with him, as soon as I can muster Billingsgate therefor. I like a row, and always did from a boy, in the course of which propensity, I must needs say, that I have found it the most easy of all to be gratified, personally and poetically. You disclaim ‘jealousies;’ but I would ask, as Boswell did of Johnson, ‘of whom could you be jealous?’ — of none of the living certainly, and (taking all and all into consideration) of which of the dead? I don’t like to bore you about the Scotch novels, (as they call them, though two of them are wholly English, and the rest half so,) but nothing can or could ever persuade me, since I was the first ten minutes in your company, that you are not the man. To me those novels have so much of ‘Auld lang syne’ (I was bred a canny Scot till ten years old) that I never move without them; and when I removed from Ravenna to Pisa the other day, and sent on my library before, they were the only books that I kept by me, although I already have them by heart.

  “January 27. 1822.

  “I delayed till now concluding, in the hope that I should have got ‘The Pirate,’ who is under way for me, but has not yet hove in sight. I hear that your daughter is married, and I suppose by this time you are half a grandfather — a young one, by the way. I have heard great things of Mrs. Lockhart’s personal and mental charms, and much good of her lord: that you may live to see as many novel Scotts as there are Scots’ novels, is the very bad pun, but sincere wish of

  “Yours ever most affectionately, &c.

  “P.S. Why don’t you take a turn in Italy? You would find yourself as well known and as welcome as in the Highlands among the natives. As for the English, you would be with them as in London; and I need not add, that I should be delighted to see you again, which is far more than I shall ever feel or say for England, or (with a few exceptions ‘of kith, kin, and allies’) any thing that it contains. But my ‘heart warms to the tartan,’ or to any thing of Scotland, which reminds me of Aberdeen and other parts, not so far from the Highlands as that town, about Invercauld and Braemar, where I was sent to drink goat’s fey in 1795-6, in consequence of a threatened decline after the scarlet fever. But I am gossiping, so, good night — and the gods be with your dreams!

  “Pray, present my respects to Lady Scott, who may, perhaps, recollect having seen me in town in 1815.

  “I see that one of your supporters (for like Sir Hildebrand, I am fond of Guillin) is a mermaid; it is my crest too, and with precisely the same curl of tail. There’s concatenation for you: — I am building a little cutter at Genoa, to go a cruising in the summer. I know you like the sea too.”

  LETTER 476. TO —— .

  “Pisa, February 6. 1822.

  “‘Try back the deep lane,’ till we find a publisher for the ‘Vision;’ and if none such is to be found, print fifty copies at my expense, distribute them amongst my acquaintance, and you will soon see that the booksellers will publish them, even if we opposed them. That they are now afraid is natural, but I do not see that I ought to give way on that account. I know nothing of Rivington’s ‘Remonstrance’ by the ‘eminent Churchman;’ but I suppose he wants a living. I once heard of a preacher at Kentish Town against ‘Cain.’ The same outcry was raised against Priestley, Hume, Gibbon, Voltaire, and all the men who dared to put tithes to the question.

  “I have got S — — ‘s pretended reply, to which I am surprised that you do not allude. What remains to be done is to call him out. The question is, would he come? for, if he would not, the whole thing would appear ridiculous, if I were to take a long and expensive journey to no purpose.

  “You must be my second, and, as such, I wish to consult you.

  “I apply to you, as one well versed in the duello, or monomachie. Of course I shall come to England as privately as possible, and leave it (supposing that I was the survivor) in the same manner; having no other object which could bring me to that country except to settle quarrels accumulated during my absence.

  “By the last post I transmitted to you a letter upon some Rochdale toll business, from which there are moneys in prospect. My agent says two thousand pounds, but supposing it to be only one, or even one hundred, still they may be moneys; and I have lived long enough to have an exceeding respect for the smallest current coin of any realm, or the least sum, which, although I may not want it myself, may do something for others who may need it more than I.

  “They say that ‘Knowledge is Power:’ — I used to think so; but I now know that they meant ‘money:’ and when Socrates declared, ‘that all he knew was, that he knew nothing,’ he merely intended to declare, that he had not a drachm in the Athenian world.

  “The circulars are arrived, and circulating like the vortices (or vortexes) of Descartes. Still I have a due care of the needful, and keep a look out ahead, as my notions upon the score of moneys coincide with yours, and with all men’s who have lived to see that every guinea is a philosopher’s stone, or at least his touch-stone. You will doubt me the less, when I pronounce my firm belief, that Cash is Virtue.
<
br />   “I cannot reproach myself with much expenditure: my only extra expense (and it is more than I have spent upon myself) being a loan of two hundred and fifty pounds to —— ; and fifty pounds worth of furniture, which I have bought for him; and a boat which I am building for myself at Genoa, which will cost about a hundred pounds more.

  “But to return. I am determined to have all the moneys I can, whether by my own funds, or succession, or lawsuit, or MSS. or any lawful means whatever.

  “I will pay (though with the sincerest reluctance) my remaining creditors, and every man of law, by instalments from the award of the arbitrators.

  “I recommend to you the notice in Mr. Hanson’s letter, on the demands of moneys for the Rochdale tolls.

  “Above all, I recommend my interests to your honourable worship.

  “Recollect, too, that I expect some moneys for the various MSS. (no matter what); and, in short, ‘Rem quocunque modo, Rem!’ — the noble feeling of cupidity grows upon us with our years.

  “Yours ever,” &c.

  LETTER 477. TO MR. MURRAY.

  “Pisa, February 8. 1822.

  “Attacks upon me were to be expected, but I perceive one upon you in the papers, which I confess that I did not expect. How, or in what manner, you can be considered responsible for what I publish, I am at a loss to conceive.

  “If ‘Cain’ be ‘blasphemous,’ Paradise Lost is blasphemous; and the very words of the Oxford gentleman, ‘Evil, be thou my good,’ are from that very poem, from the mouth of Satan, and is there any thing more in that of Lucifer in the Mystery? Cain is nothing more than a drama, not a piece of argument. If Lucifer and Cain speak as the first murderer and the first rebel may be supposed to speak, surely all the rest of the personages talk also according to their characters — and the stronger passions have ever been permitted to the drama.

  “I have even avoided introducing the Deity as in Scripture, (though Milton does, and not very wisely either,) but have adopted his angel as sent to Cain instead, on purpose to avoid shocking any feelings on the subject by falling short of what all uninspired men must fall short in, viz. giving an adequate notion of the effect of the presence of Jehovah. The old Mysteries introduced him liberally enough, and all this is avoided in the new one.

  “The attempt to bully you, because they think it won’t succeed with me, seems to me as atrocious an attempt as ever disgraced the times. What! when Gibbon’s, Hume’s, Priestley’s, and Drummond’s publishers have been allowed to rest in peace for seventy years, are you to be singled out for a work of fiction, not of history or argument? There must be something at the bottom of this — some private enemy of your own: it is otherwise incredible.

  “I can only say, ‘Me, me; en adsum qui feci;’ — that any proceedings directed against you, I beg, may be transferred to me, who am willing, and ought, to endure them all; — that if you have lost money by the publication, I will refund any or all of the copyright; — that I desire you will say that both you and Mr. Gifford remonstrated against the publication, as also Mr. Hobhouse; — that I alone occasioned it, and I alone am the person who, either legally or otherwise, should bear the burden. If they prosecute, I will come to England — that is, if, by meeting it in my own person, I can save yours. Let me know. You sha’n’t suffer for me, if I can help it. Make any use of this letter you please.

  “Yours ever, &c.

  “P.S. I write to you about all this row of bad passions and absurdities with the summer moon (for here our winter is clearer than your dog-days) lighting the winding Arno, with all her buildings and bridges, — so quiet and still! — What nothings are we before the least of these stars!”

  LETTER 478. TO MR. MOORE.

  “Pisa, February 19. 1822.

  “I am rather surprised not to have had an answer to my letter and packets. Lady Noel is dead, and it is not impossible that I may have to go to England to settle the division of the Wentworth property, and what portion Lady B. is to have out of it; all which was left undecided by the articles of separation. But I hope not, if it can be done without, — and I have written to Sir Francis Burdett to be my referee, as he knows the property.

  “Continue to address here, as I shall not go if I can avoid it — at least, not on that account. But I may on another; for I wrote to Douglas Kinnaird to convey a message of invitation to Mr. Southey to meet me, either in England, or (as less liable to interruption) on the coast of France. This was about a fortnight ago, and I have not yet had time to have the answer. However, you shall have due notice; therefore continue to address to Pisa.

  “My agents and trustees have written to me to desire that I would take the name directly, so that I am yours very truly and affectionately,

  “Noel Byron.

  “P.S. I have had no news from England, except on business; and merely know, from some abuse in that faithful ex and de-tractor Galignani, that the clergy are up against ‘Cain.’ There is (if I am not mistaken) some good church preferment on the Wentworth estates; and I will show them what a good Christian I am, by patronising and preferring the most pious of their order, should opportunity occur.

  “M. and I are but little in correspondence, and I know nothing of literary matters at present. I have been writing on business only lately. What are you about? Be assured that there is no such coalition as you apprehend.”

  LETTER 479. TO MR. MOORE.

  “Pisa, February 20. 1822.

  “Your letter arrived since I wrote the enclosed. It is not likely, as I have appointed agents and arbitrators for the Noel estates, that I should proceed to England on that account, — though I may upon another, within stated. At any rate, continue you to address here till you hear further from me. I could wish you still to arrange for me, either with a London or Paris publisher, for the things, &c. I shall not quarrel with any arrangement you may please to make.

  “I have appointed Sir Francis Burdett my arbitrator to decide on Lady Byron’s allowance out of the Noel estates, which are estimated at seven thousand a year, and rents very well paid, — a rare thing at this time. It is, however, owing to their consisting chiefly in pasture lands, and therefore less affected by corn bills, &c. than properties in tillage.

  “Believe me yours ever most affectionately,

  “Noel Byron.

  “Between my own property in the funds, and my wife’s in land, I do not know which side to cry out on in politics.

  “There is nothing against the immortality of the soul in ‘Cain’ that I recollect. I hold no such opinions; — but, in a drama, the first rebel and the first murderer must be made to talk according to their characters. However, the parsons are all preaching at it, from Kentish Town and Oxford to Pisa; — the scoundrels of priests, who do more harm to religion than all the infidels that ever forgot their catechisms!

  “I have not seen Lady Noel’s death announced in Galignani. — How is that?”

  LETTER 480. TO MR. MOORE.

  “Pisa, February 28. 1822.

  “I begin to think that the packet (a heavy one) of five acts of ‘Werner,’ &c. can hardly have reached you, for your letter of last week (which I answered) did not allude to it, and yet I insured it at the post-office here.

  “I have no direct news from England, except on the Noel business, which is proceeding quietly, as I have appointed a gentleman (Sir F. Burdett) for my arbitrator. They, too, have said that they will recall the lawyer whom they had chosen, and will name a gentleman too. This is better, as the arrangement of the estates and of Lady B.’s allowance will thus be settled without quibbling. My lawyers are taking out a licence for the name and arms, which it seems I am to endue.

  “By another, and indirect, quarter, I hear that ‘Cain’ has been pirated, and that the Chancellor has refused to give Murray any redress. Also, that G.R. (your friend ‘Ben’) has expressed great personal indignation at the said poem. All this is curious enough, I think, — after allowing Priestley, Hume, and Gibbon, and Bolingbroke, and Voltaire to be published, without depriving the
booksellers of their rights. I heard from Rome a day or two ago, and, with what truth I know not, that * * *.

  “Yours,” &c.

  LETTER 481. TO MR. MOORE.

  “Pisa, March 1. 1822.

  “As I still have no news of my ‘Werner,’ &c. packet, sent to you on the 29th of January, I continue to bore you (for the fifth time, I believe) to know whether it has not miscarried. As it was fairly copied out, it will be vexatious if it be lost. Indeed, I insured it at the post-office to make them take more care, and directed it regularly to you at Paris.

  “In the impartial Galignani I perceive an extract from Blackwood’s Magazine, in which it is said that there are people who have discovered that you and I are no poets. With regard to one of us, I know that this north-west passage to my magnetic pole had been long discovered by some sages, and I leave them the full benefit of their penetration. I think, as Gibbon says of his History, ‘that, perhaps, a hundred years hence it may still continue to be abused.’ However, I am far from pretending to compete or compare with that illustrious literary character.

  “But, with regard to you, I thought that you had always been allowed to be a poet, even by the stupid as well as the envious — a bad one, to be sure — immoral, florid, Asiatic, and diabolically popular, — but still always a poet, nem. con. This discovery therefore, has to me all the grace of novelty, as well as of consolation (according to Rochefoucault), to find myself no-poetised in such good company. I am content to ‘err with Plato;’ and can assure you very sincerely, that I would rather be received a non-poet with you, than be crowned with all the bays of (the yet-uncrowned) Lakers in their society. I believe you think better of those worthies than I do. I know them * * * * * * *.

  “As for Southey, the answer to my proposition of a meeting is not yet come. I sent the message, with a short note, to him through Douglas Kinnaird, and Douglas’s response is not arrived. If he accepts, I shall have to go to England; but if not, I do not think the Noel affairs will take me there, as the arbitrators can settle them without my presence, and there do not seem to be any difficulties. The licence for the new name and armorial bearings will be taken out by the regular application, in such cases, to the Crown, and sent to me.