Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Journal Entry: 10 March 1814
“March 10th, Thor’s Day.
On Tuesday dined with Rogers,—Mackintosh, Sheridan, Sharpe,—much talk, and good,—all, except my own little prattlement. Much of
old times—Horne Tooke—the Trials—evidence of
Sheridan, and anecdotes of those times, when I, alas! was an infant. If I had been a man, I would have made an English Lord
Edward Fitzgerald.
“Set down Sheridan at
Brookes’s,—where, by the by, he could not have well set down himself, as he and I
were the only drinkers. Sherry means to stand for Westminster, as
Cochrane (the stock-jobbing hoaxer) must vacate.
Brougham is a candidate. I fear for poor dear
Sherry. Both have talents of the highest
order, but the youngster has yet a character. We shall see, if he
lives to Sherry’s age, how he will pass over the red-hot
ploughshares of public life. I don’t know why, but I hate to see the old ones
lose; particularly Sheridan, notwithstanding all his méchanceté.
“Received many, and the kindest, thanks from Lady Portsmouth, père and mère, for my
match-making. I don’t regret it, as she looks the countess well, and is a very
good girl. It is odd how well she carries her new honours. She looks a different woman,
and high-bred, too. I had no idea that I could make so good a peeress.
“Went to the play with Hobbouse. Mrs. Jordan superlative
in Hoyden, and Jones well
enough in Foppington. What
plays! what wit!—helas! Congreve and
Vanbrugh are your only comedy. Our society is
too insipid now for the like copy. Would not go to Lady
Keith’s. Hobhouse thought it
odd. I wonder he should like parties. If one is in love, and
wants to break a commandment and covet any ![]()
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thing that is
there, they do very well. But to go out amongst the mere herd, without a motive,
pleasure, or pursuit—’sdeath! ‘I’ll none of it.’ He told
me an odd report,—that I am the actual Conrad, the veritable Corsair, and that part of my travels are supposed
to have passed in privacy. Um!—people sometimes hit near the truth; but never the whole
truth. H. don’t know what I was about the year after he left the Levant; nor does
any one—nor—nor—nor—however, it is a lie—but, ‘I doubt the equivocation of the
fiend that lies like truth!’
“I shall have letters of importance to-morrow. Which,
* *, * *, or * *? heigho!—* * is in my heart, * * in my head,
* * in my eye, and the single one, Heaven knows where. All
write, and will be answered. ‘Since I have crept in favour with myself, I must
maintain it;’ but I never ‘mistook my
person,’ though I think others have.
“ * * called to-day in great despair about his mistress,
who has taken a freak of * * *. He began a letter to her, but was obliged to
stop short—I finished it for him, and he copied and sent it. If he holds out and keeps to my instructions of affected indifference, she will
lower her colours. If she don’t, he will, at least, get rid of her, and she
don’t seem much worth keeping. But the poor lad is in love—if that is the case,
she will win. When they once discover their power, finita è
la musica.
“Sleepy, and must go to bed.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
Thomas Cochrane, tenth earl of Dundonald (1775-1860)
After an adventurous naval career in the Napoleonic wars he was caught up in financial
scandal and dismissed; he secured the independence of Chile and Peru (1819-22) but was less
successful as admiral of the Greek navy (1827-28); he was MP (1806, expelled 1814) and
succeeded to the earldom in 1831.
William Congreve (1670-1729)
English comic dramatist; author of, among others,
The Double
Dealer (1694),
Love for Love (1695), and
The Way of the World (1700).
Mary Anne Hanson (d. 1867)
Daughter of Byron's solicitor, John Hanson, the second wife of John Charles Wallop
(1767-1853), third earl of Portsmouth; the marriage, 7 March 1814, was annulled in 1828
after a long legal contest. Her obituary in GM gives her name as “Harriet Bridges.”
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869)
Founder of the Cambridge Whig Club; traveled with Byron in the orient, radical MP for
Westminster (1820); Byron's executor; after a long career in politics published
Some Account of a Long Life (1865) later augmented as
Recollections of a Long Life, 6 vols (1909-1911).
Dorothy Jordan [née Phillips] (1761-1816)
Irish actress; after a career in Ireland and the provinces she made her London debut in
1785; at one time she was a mistress of the Duke of Clarence.
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).
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
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).
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
Anglo-Irish playwright, author of
The School for Scandal (1777),
Whig MP and ally of Charles James Fox (1780-1812).
John Horne Tooke (1736-1812)
Philologist and political radical; member of the Society for Constitutional Information
(1780); tried for high treason and acquitted (1794).
Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726)
English playwright, author of
The Provoked Wife (1697); as an
architect designed Castle Howard and Blenheim.
