Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to John Murray, 23 August 1819
“Bologna, August 23d, 1819.
I send you a letter to R * * ts, signed ‘Wortley
Clutterbuck,’ which you may publish in what form you please, in
answer to his article. I have had many proofs of men’s absurdity, but he beats all
in folly. Why, the wolf in sheep’s clothing has tumbled into the very trap!
We’ll strip him. The letter is written in great haste, and amidst a thousand
vexations. Your letter only came yesterday, so that there is no time to polish: the post
goes out to-morrow. The date is ‘Little Pidlington.’ Let * * * * correct the press: he knows and
can read the handwriting. Continue to keep the anonymous about
‘Juan;’ it helps us to fight
against overwhelming numbers. I have a thousand
236 | NOTICES OF THE | A. D. 1819. |
distractions at present; so excuse haste, and wonder I can act or write at all. Answer
by post, as usual.
“Yours.
“P.S. If I had had time, and been quieter and nearer, I
would have cut him to hash; but as it is, you can judge for yourselves.”
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).
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.
William Roberts (1767-1849)
Educated at Eton, St. Paul's School, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he was a Tory
lawyer, editor of the
British Review (1811-22), and biographer of
Hannah More.
George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824)
Don Juan. (London: 1819-1824). A burlesque poem in ottava rima published in installments: Cantos I and II published in
1819, III, IV and V in 1821, VI, VII, and VIII in 1823, IX, X, and XI in 1823, XII, XIII,
and XIV in 1823, and XV and XVI in 1824.