Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to Lord Holland, 25 September 1812
“Cheltenham, Sept. 25th, 1812.
“Still ‘more matter for a May morning.’ Having
patched the middle and end of the Address, I send one more couplet for a part of the beginning, which, if not
too turgid, you will have the goodness to add. After that flagrant image of the Thames (I hope no unlucky wag will say I have set it on fire,
though Dryden, in his ‘Annus Mirabilis,’ and Churchill, in his ‘Times,’ did it before me), I mean to insert
this:
As flashing far the new Volcano shone And swept the skies with { meteors | lightnings } not
their own, While thousands throng’d around the burning dome, &c. &c. |
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I think ‘thousands’ less flat than ‘crowds collected’—but
don’t let me plunge into the bathos, or rise into Nat.
Lee’s
Bedlam metaphors. By the by, the best view of the said fire
(which I myself saw from a housetop in Covent-garden) was at Westminster Bridge, from
the reflection on the Thames.
“Perhaps the present couplet had better come in after
‘trembled for their homes,’ the two lines after;—as otherwise the image
certainly sinks, and it will run just as well.
“The lines themselves, perhaps, may be better
thus—(‘choose,’ or ‘refuse’—but please yourself, and don’t mind ‘Sir Fretful’)—
“As flash’d the volumed blaze, and { sadly
| ghastly } shone The skies with lightnings awful as their own. |
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The last runs smoothest and, I think, best; but you know better than best. ‘Lurid’ is
also a less indistinct epithet than ‘livid wave,’ and, if you think so, a
dash of the pen will do.
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| 366 |
NOTICES OF THE |
A. D. 1812. |
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“I expected one line this morning; In the mean time, I shall
remodel and condense, and, if I do not hear from you, shall send another copy.
“I am ever, &c.”
Charles Churchill (1732-1764)
English satirist and libertine, a schoolmate of William Cowper; his brief but brilliant
career began with the publication of
The Rosciad (1761).
John Dryden (1631-1700)
English poet laureate, dramatist, and critic; author of
Of Dramatick
Poesie (1667),
Absalom and Achitophel (1681),
Alexander's Feast; or the Power of Musique (1697),
The Works of Virgil translated into English Verse (1697), and
Fables (1700).
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
Nathaniel Lee (1649 c.-1692)
English tragic poet, author of
The Rival Queens (1677); he was
confined to Bedlam, 1684-89.
