Slike strani
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

partum, they my, f
I have read L B.'s

Letter 2, Bowers : sme good ting but he ought
Bot do waste prise crises.

You receive a long letter, went with some of
LB's, express to Flores. I write this in haste.
Your natif - pately,

LETTER LVL

To Mas SHELLEY.

S

[ocr errors]

Ravenna, Tuesday, August 15/A, IBIL MY DEAREST LOTE, I accept your kind present of your jacture, and wish you would get it prettily framed for me. I will wear, for your sake, upon my beart this image which is ever present to my mini I have only two minutes to write, the post is just setting off. I shall leave this place on Thursday or Friday morning. You would forgive me for my longer stay, if you knew the fighting I have had to make it so short. I need not say where my own feelings impel me.

It still remains fixed that L. B. should come to Tuscany, and, if possible, Pisa; but more of that

[blocks in formation]

Wednesday, Ravenna.

MY DEAREST LOVE,-I write, though I doubt whether I shall not arrive before this letter; as the post only leaves Ravenna once a week, on Saturdays, and as I hope to set out to-morrow evening by the courier. But as I must necessarily stay a day at Florence, and as the natural incidents of travelling may prevent me from taking my intended advantage of the couriers, it is probable that this letter will arrive first. Besides, as I will explain, I am not yet quite my own master. But that by and bye. I do not think it necessary to tell you of my impatience to return to you and my little darling, or the disappointment with which I have prolonged my absence from you. I am happy to think that you are not quite alone.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors]

Indy I had s Gucci is Switzerland Her L and my prot them to the unfitness das a of a letter, f says she has heari I transcribe :--8"

ardita di dinler, za Now part te da R being now, by all the to a lady's report, I

prode, until Lord I shail reply, of cours and that if her lover after I have male arr: at Pisa, I am bound situation as now, to as

to rejoin her. Of th. need; and I need not that this chivalric sub general laws of antiqu

never rebel, and wh interfere with my qui maining with you, dear I have seen Dante's sacred spot. The buil comparatively modern, tablet of marble, with evidently of equal anti countenance has all the his own; the lines are than the portraits, whi except, indeed, the ey reminded me of Pacchi after death. I saw th

mens of the earliest ill press of Faust. They execution little inferior We ride out every ev pistol-shooting at a pun to observe, that I ap friend's exactness of air lanous, and I have suf drink nothing but alcald relieved. I have the gr and L. B., as a reason that, without either mo certainly fall into his old he listens to reason; 8

Lord Byron is still decided upon Tuscany and such is his impatience, that he has desired meas if I should not arrive in time-to write to you! he is too well aware of

1

mg consequences of his former mode of life, to be
in danger from the short interval of temptation
that will be left him. L. B. speaks with great
kindness and interest of you, and seems to wish to
see you.

Thursday, Ravenna,

* * *

balanced.

*

all; Lord Byron and his Italian friends would remain quietly thore; and Lord Byron has certainly a great regard for us-the regard of such a man is worth some of the tribute we must pay to the base passions of humanity in any inter. course with those within their circle; he is better I HAVE received your letter with that to Mrs. worth it than those on whom we bestow it from Hoppner. I do not wonder, my dearest friend, mere custom. The are there, and as far as that you should have been moved. I was at first, solid affairs are concerned, are my friends. * but speedily regained the indifference which the At Pisa I need not distil my water-if opinion of anything, or anybody, except our own I can distil it anywhere. Last winter I suffered consciousness, amply merits; and day by day less from my painful disorder than the winter I shall more receive from me. I have not recopied spent at Florence. The arguments for Florence your letter; such a measure would destroy its you know, and they are very weighty; judge authenticity, but have given it to Lord Byron, (I know you like the job,) which scale is overwho has engaged to send it with his own comments to the Hoppners. People do not hesitate, it seems, to make themselves panders and accomplices to slander, for the Hoppners had exacted from Lord Byron that these accusations should be concealed from me. Lord Byron is not a man to keep a secret, good or bad; but in openly confessing that he has not done so, he must observe a certain delicacy, and therefore wished to send the letter himself, and indeed this adds weight to your representations. Have you seen the article in the Literary Gazette on me? They evidently allude to some story of this kind-however cautious the Hoppners have been in preventing the calumniated person from asserting his justification, you know too much of the world not to be certain that this was the utmost limit of their caution. So much for nothing.

Lord Byron is immediately coming to Pisa. He will set off the moment I can get him a house. Who would have imagined this! Our first thought ought to be, our second our own plans. The hesitation in your letter about Florence has communicated itself to me; although I hardly see what we can do about Horace Smith, to whom our attentions are so due, and would be so useful. If I do not arrive before this long scrawl, write something to Florence to decide me. I shall certainly, not without strong reasons, at present sign the agreement for the old codger's house; although the extreme beauty and fitness of the place, should we decide on Florence, might well overbalance the objection of your deaf visitor. One thing with Lord Byron and the people we know at Pisa, we should have a security and protection, which seems to be more questionable at Florence. But I do not think that this consideration ought to weigh. What think you of remaining at Pisa? The Williams's would probably be induced to stay there if we did; Hunt would certainly stay, at least this winter, near us, should he emigrate at

My greatest content would be utterly to desert all human society. I would retire with you and our child to a solitary island in the sea, would build a boat, and shut upon my retreat the floodgates of the world. I would read no reviews, and talk with no authors. If I dared trust my imagination, it would tell me that there are one or two chosen companions beside yourself whom I should desire. But to this I would not listen-where two or three are gathered together, the devil is among them. And good, far more than evil impulses, love, far more than hatred, has been to me, except as you have been its object, the source of all sorts of mischief. So on this plan, I would be alone, and would devote, either to oblivion or to future generations, the overflowings of a mind which, timely withdrawn from the contagion, should be kept fit for no baser object. But this it does not appear that we shall do.

The other side of the alternative (for a medium ought not to be adopted) is to form for ourselves a society of our own class, as much as possible in intellect, or in feelings; and to connect ourselves with the interests of that society. Our roots never struck so deeply as at Pisa, and the transplanted tree flourishes not. People who lead the lives which we led until last winter, are like a family of Wahabee Arabs, pitching their tent in the midst of London. We must do one thing or the other-for yourself, for our child, for our existence The calumnies, the sources of which are probably deeper than we perceive, have ultimately, for object, the depriving us of the means of security and subsistence. You will easily perceive the gradations by which calumny proceeds to pretext, pretext to persecution, and persecution to the ban of fire and water. It is for this, and not because this or that fool, or the whole court of fools, curse and rail, that calumny is worth refuting or chastising.

LETTER LVIII.

To LEIGH HUNT, Esq.

Pisa, August 26th, 1821.

[ocr errors]

MY DEAREST FRIEND,-Since I last wrote to you, I have been on a visit to Lord Byron at Ravenna. The result of this visit was a determination, on his part, to come and live at Pisa; and I have taken the finest palace on the Lung' Arno for him. But the material part of my visit consists in a message which he desires me to give you, and which, I think, ought to add to your determination-for such a one I hope you have formed, of restoring your shattered health and spirits by a migration to these "regions mild of calm and serene air." He proposes that you should come and go shares with him and me, in a periodical work, to be conducted here; in which each of the contracting, parties should publish all their original compositions, and share the profits. He proposed it to Moore, but for some reason it was never brought to bear. There can be no doubt that the profits of any scheme in which you and Lord Byron engage, must, from various, yet co-operating reasons, be very great. As for myself, I am, for the present, only a sort of link between you and him, until you can know each other, and effectuate the arrangement; since (to entrust you with a secret which, for your sake, I withhold from Lord Byron) nothing would induce me to share in the profits, and still less, in the borrowed splendour of such a partnership. You and he, in different manners, would be equal, and would bring, in a different manner, but in the same proportion, equal stocks of reputation and success. Do not let my frankness with you, nor my belief that you deserve it more than Lord Byron, have the effect of deterring you from assuming a station in modern literature, which the universal voice of my contemporaries forbids me either to stoop or to aspire to. I am, and I desire to be, nothing.

I did not ask Lord Byron to assist me in sending a remittance for your journey; because there are men, however excellent, from whom we would never receive an obligation, in the worldly sense of the word; and I am as jealous for my friend as for myself; but I suppose that I shall at last make up an impudent face, and ask Horace Smith to add to the many obligations he has conferred on me. I know I need only ask.

66

I think I have never told you how very much I like your " Amyntas ;" it almost reconciles me to translations. In another sense I still demur. You might have written another such poem as the "Nymphs," with no great access of efforts. I am

full of thoughts and p thing, if the feeble a incloses it was willing that then I should do

you will have seen" suppose from modesty mentioned in it, did no though he was loud in and, what you will not of "the Cenci." Cert is a drama, “the Cenc ourselves. Lord Byr gallantry goes, and li sentimental Italian lad to him as may be. I tr with you, for his cred thinks his conduct is. exalted qualities, but wants to be cut out.

LET To HORAT

MY DEAR SMITH, and disappointment wi in your plans, no less

it.

Florence will no for me this winter, a down in this humdrum to chance the pleasure society this winter. packages, which have Guebhard's at Leghorn favourable change in produce a correspondi minations, and would premature to forward t residence, or to Lon possible attention to regard.

I had marked down s and one especially on place, though they aske you would have chos approaching to an Eng entirely give you up.— not to hope that Mrs. would not soon becom principal objection to have not, with the excep suffered in the least f Though, it is but fair perament approaches to

We expect Lord fortnight. I have jus

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

in Pisa for him, and his luggage, and his horses, and all his train, are, I believe, already on their way hither. I dare say you have heard of the life he led at Venice, rivalling the wise Solomon almost, in the number of his concubines. Well, he is now quite reformed, and is leading a most sober and decent life, as cavaliere servente to a very pretty Italian woman, who has already arrived at Pisa, with her father and her brother, (such are the manners of Italy,) as the jackals of the lion. He is occupied in forming a new drama, and, with views which I doubt not will expand as he proceeds, is determined to write a series of plays, in which he will follow the French tragedians and Alfieri, rather than those of England and Spain, and produce something new, at least, to England. This seems to me the wrong road; but genius like his is destined to lead and not to follow. He will shake off his shackles as he finds they cramp him. I believe he will produce something very great; and that familiarity with the dramatic power of human nature, will soon enable him to soften down the severe and unharmonising traits of his "Marino Faliero." I think you know Lord Byron personally, or is it your brother? If the latter, I know that he wished particularly to be introduced to you, and that he will sympathise, in some degree, in this great disappointment which I feel in the change, or, as I yet hope, in the prorogation of your plans.

I am glad you like “Adonais,” and, particularly, that you do not think it metaphysical, which I was afraid it was. I was resolved to pay some tribute of sympathy to the unhonoured dead, but I wrote, as usual, with a total ignorance of the effect that I should produce.-I have not yet seen your pastoral drama; if you have a copy, could you favour me with it? It will be six months before I shall receive it from England. I have heard it spoken of with high praise, and I have the greatest curiosity to see it.

The Gisbornes promised to buy me some books in Paris, and I had asked you to be kind enough to advance them what they might want to pay for them. I cannot conceive why they did not execute this little commission for me, as they knew how very much I wished to receive these books by the same conveyance as the filtering-stone. Dare I ask you to do me the favour to buy them? A complete edition of the works of Calderon, and the French translation of Kant, a German Faust, and to add the Nympholept?-1 am indifferent as to a little more or less expense, so that I may have them immediately. I will send you an order on Paris for the amount, together with the thirty-two franes you were kind enough to pay for me.

All public attention is now centred on the won. derful revolution in Greece. I dare not, after the events of last winter, hope that slaves can become freemen so cheaply; yet I know one Greek of the highest qualities, both of courage and conduct, the Prince Mavrocordato, and if the rest be like him, all will go well.-The news of this moment is, that the Russian army has orders to advance.

Mrs. S. unites with me in the most heartfelt
And I remain, my dear Smith,
Most faithfully yours,

regret,

P. B. S.

If you happen to have brought a copy of Clarke's edition of Queen Mab for me, I should like very well to see it. I really hardly know what this poem is about. I am afraid it is rather rough.

LETTER LX.

To JOHN GISBORNE, Esq.

Pisa, October 22, 1821. MY DEAR GISBORNE,-At length the post brings a welcome letter from you, and I am pleased to be assured of your health and safe arrival. I expect with interest and anxiety the intelligence of your progress in England, and how far the advantages there, compensate the loss of Italy. I hear from Hunt that he is determined on emigration, and if I thought the letter would arrive in time, I should beg you to suggest some advice to him. But you ought to be incapable of forgiving me the fact of depriving England of what it must lose when Hunt departs.

Did I tell you that Lord Byron comes to settle at Pisa, and that he has a plan of writing a periodical work in conjunction with Hunt? His house, Madame Felichi's, is already taken and fitted up for him, and he has been expected every day these six weeks, La Guiccioli, who awaits him impatiently, is a very pretty, sentimental, innocent Italian, who has sacrificed an immense fortune for the sake of Lord Byron, and who, if I know any. thing of my friend, of her and of human nature, will hereafter have plenty of leisure and opportunity to repent her rashness. Lord Byron is, however, quite cured of his gross habits, as far as habits; the perverse ideas on which they were formed, are not yet eradicated.

We have furnished a house at Pisa, and mean to make it our head-quarters. I shall get all my books out, and entrench myself like a spider in a web. If you can assist P. in sending them to Leghorn, you would do me an especial favour; but do not buy me Calderon, Faust, or Kant, as H. S. promises to send them me from Paris, where I

suppose you had not time to procure them. Any other books you or Henry think would accord with my design, Ollier will furnish you with.

I should like very much to hear what is said of my "Adonais," and you would oblige me by cutting out, or making Ollier cut out, any respectable criticism on it and sending it me; you know I do not mind a crown or two in postage. The Epipsy chidion is a mystery; as to real flesh and blood, you know that I do not deal in those articles; you might as well go to a gin-shop for a leg of mutton, as expect anything human or earthly from me. I desired Ollier not to circulate this piece except to the ovveroi, and even they, it seems, are inclined to approximate me to the circle of a servant girl and her sweetheart. But I intend to write a Symposium of my own to set all this right.

LETT
To J. SE

and I wish it were be DEAR SIR, I send yo before I could obtain an You will see, by the

last moments; all that nicated to me by a fr information from Colon

to express, as I felt, th which your conduct tow

In spite of his transce was, nor ever will be, total neglect and obscur remnants of his mind

I am just finishing a dramatic poem, called Hellas, upon the contest now raging in Greece dissipated by a writer, a sort of imitation of the Perse of Æschylus, full of lyrical poetry. I try to be what I might have been, but am not successful. I find that (I dare say I shall quote wrong,)

"Den herrlichsten, den sich der Geist emprängt Drängt immer fremd und fremder Stoff sich an."

The Edinburgh Review lies. Godwin's answer to Malthus is victorious and decisive; and that it should not be generally acknowledged as such, is full evidence of the influence of successful evil and tyranny. What Godwin is, compared to Plato and Lord Bacon, we well know; but compared with these miserable sciolists, he is a vulture to

a worm.

I read the Greek dramatists and Plato for ever. You are right about Antigone; how sublime a picture of a woman! and what think you of the choruses, and especially the lyrical complaints of the godlike victim? and the menaces of Tiresias, and their rapid fulfilment? Some of us have, in a prior existence, been in love with an Antigone, and that makes us find no full content in any mortal tie. As to books, I advise you to live near the British Museum, and read there. I have read, since I saw you, the "Jungfrau von Orleans" of Schiller, a fine play, if the fifth act did not fall off. Some Greeks, escaped from the defeat in Wallachia, have passed through Pisa to re-embark at Leghorn for the Morea; and the Tuscan Government allowed them, during their stay and passage, three lire each per day and their lodging ; that is good. Remember me and Mary most kindly to Mrs. Gisborne and Henry, and believe me,

Yours most affectionately,

P. B. S.

from Keats in more in resembles him in that popularity.

I have little hope, t send you will excite an assured that a critical find a single reader. B it had been my intent remnants of his compo lished them with a life any poems or writings whose possession are t oblige me by informatio

Many thanks for the I shall consider it amon the past.

For my part, I little Keats at my friend Le survive hini.

Should you ever pass have the pleasure of see an acquaintance into s under such melancholy

Accept, my dear sir, th esteem, and believe me

faithful servant,

Do you know Leigh H his family here every day

LETT

To JOHN GI

MY DEAR GISBORNE, which is prettily printed.

*The original of this let Rev. T. Wilkinson.

« PrejšnjaNaprej »