Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to Thomas Moore, 28 February 1822
“Pisa, February 28th, 1822.
“I begin to think that the packet (a heavy one) of five acts
of ‘Werner,’ &c. can
hardly have reached you, for your letter of last week (which I answered) did not allude
to it, and yet I insured it at the post-office here.
“I have no direct news from England, except on the Noel
business, which is proceeding quietly, as I have appointed a gentleman (Sir F. Burdett) for my arbitrator. They, too, have said
that they will recall the lawyer whom they
had chosen, and will name a gentleman too. This is better, as the arrangement of the
estates and of Lady B.’s allowance will thus be
settled without quibbling. My lawyers are taking out a licence for the name and arms,
which it seems I am to endue.
“By another, and indirect, quarter, I hear that ‘Cain’ has been pirated, and that the
Chancellor has refused to give Murray any redress. Also, that G. R. (your friend ‘Ben’) has expressed great personal indignation at the said poem.
All this is curious enough, I think,—after allowing Priestley, Hume, and Gibbon, and Bolingbroke, and Voltaire to be
published, without depriving the booksellers of their rights. I heard from Rome a day or
two ago, and, with what truth I know not, that * * *.
“Yours, &c.”
Sir Francis Burdett, fifth baronet (1770-1844)
Whig MP for Westminster (1807-1837) who was imprisoned on political charges in 1810 and
again in 1820; in the 1830s he voted with the Conservatives.
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
Author of
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776-1788).
David Hume (1711-1776)
Scottish philosopher and historian; author of
Essays Moral and
Political (1741-42),
Enquiry concerning Human Understanding
(1748) and
History of Great Britain (1754-62).
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.
Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)
Dissenting theologian, schoolmaster, and scientist; he was author of
The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments
(1767).
Henry St. John, first viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751)
English politician and writer, friend of Alexander Pope; author of
The
Idea of a Patriot King (written 1738), and
Letters on the Study
and Use of History (1752).
John Scott, first earl of Eldon (1751-1838)
Lord chancellor (1801-27); he was legal counsel to the Prince of Wales and an active
opponent of the Reform Bill.
Voltaire (1694-1778)
French historian and man of letters; author of, among many other works,
The Age of Louis XIV (1751) and
Candide (1759).
