Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to John Murray, 28 November 1813
“Send another copy (if not too much of a request) to
Lady Holland of the Journal*, in my name, when you receive this; it is for Earl Grey—and I will relinquish my own. Also to Mr. Sharpe,
and Lady Holland, and Lady Caroline Lamb, copies of ‘The Bride,’ as soon as convenient.
“P.S. Mr. Ward and
myself still continue our purpose; but I shall not trouble you on any arrangement on
the score of the Giaour and the Bride till our return—or, at any rate,
before May, 1814—that is, six months from hence: and before
that time you will be able to ascertain
488 | NOTICES OF THE | A. D. 1813. |
how far your offer may be a losing one; if so, you can
deduct proportionably; and if not, I shall not at any rate allow you to go higher
than your present proposal, which is very handsome and more than fair*.
“I have had,—but this must be entre nous,—a very kind note, on the subject of
‘the Bride,’ from
Sir James Mackintosh, and an invitation to
go there this evening, which it is now too late to accept.”
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
Lady Caroline Lamb [née Ponsonby] (1785-1828)
Daughter of the third earl of Bessborough; she married the Hon. William Lamb (1779-1848)
and fictionalized her infatuation with Lord Byron in her first novel,
Glenarvon (1816).
Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832)
Scottish philosopher and man of letters who defended the French Revolution in
Vindiciae Gallicae (1791); he was Recorder of Bombay (1803-1812) and
MP for Knaresborough (1819-32).
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Richard Sharp [Conversation Sharp] (1759-1835)
English merchant, Whig MP, and member of the Holland House set; he published
Letters and Essays in Poetry and Prose (1834).
John William Ward, earl of Dudley (1781-1833)
The son of William Ward, third Viscount Dudley (d. 1823); educated at Edinburgh and
Oxford, he was an English MP, sometimes a Foxite Whig and sometimes Canningite Tory, who
suffered from insanity in his latter years.