Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Journal Entry: 15 January 1821
“January 15th, 1821.
“Weather fine. Received visit. Rode out into the
forest—fired pistols. Returned home—dined—dipped into a volume of Mitford’s Greece—wrote part of a scene of ‘Sardanapalus.’ Went out—heard some
music—heard some politics. More ministers from the other Italian powers gone to
Congress. War seems certain—in that case, it will be a savage one. Talked over various
important matters with one of the initiated. At ten and half returned home.
“I have just thought of something odd. In the year 1814,
Moore (‘the poet,’ par excellence, and he deserves it) and I were going together, ![]()
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in the same carriage, to dine with Earl Grey, the Capo Politico of the remaining whigs.
Murray, the magnificent, (the illustrious
publisher of that name), had just sent me a Java
gazette—I know not why, or wherefore. Pulling it out, by way of curiosity, we
found it to contain a dispute (the said Java gazette) on
Moore’s merits and mine. I think, if I had been there,
that I could have saved them the trouble of disputing on the subject. But, there is fame for you at six and twenty! Alexander had conquered India at the same age; but I doubt if he was
disputed about, or his conquests compared with those of Indian Bacchus, at Java.
“It was great fame to be named with Moore; greater to be compared with him;
greatest—pleasure, at least—to be with him; and, surely, an odd coincidence, that we
should be dining together while they were quarrelling about us beyond the equinoctial
line.
“Well, the same evening, I met Lawrence, the painter, and heard one of Lord
Grey’s daughters (a fine, tall, spirit-looking girl, with much of
the patrician, thorough-bred look of her father, which I dote
upon) play on the harp, so modestly and ingenuously, that she looked
music. Well, I would rather have had my talk with Lawrence
(who talked delightfully) and heard the girl, than have had all the fame of
Moore and me put together.
“The only pleasure of fame is that it paves the way to
pleasure; and the more intellectual our pleasure, the better for the pleasure and for us
too. It was, however, agreeable to have heard our fame before dinner, and a girl’s
harp after.
Alexander the Great (356 BC-323 BC)
Macedonian conqueror; the son of Philip II, he was king of Macedon, 336-323 BC.
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).
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830)
English portrait painter who succeeded Joshua Reynolds as painter in ordinary to the king
(1792); he was president of the Royal Academy (1820).
William Mitford (1744-1827)
English historian, author of
The History of Greece, 5 vols
(1784-1818) and other works.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Irish poet and biographer, author of the
Irish Melodies (1807-34),
The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), and
Lalla
Rookh (1817); he was Byron's close friend and designated biographer.
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.
