66 many a sigh at their hard destiny-their still-born fate,— they were hermetically sealed, and adieu to my immortality! 66 Rogers has an unfortunately sensitive temper. We nearly quarrelled at Florence. I asked the officer of the Dogana (who had trouble enough with all my live and "dead stock), in consequence of his civilities, to dine with 66 me at Schneider's; but Rogers happened to be in one "of his ill humours, and abused the Italians. "He is coming to visit me on his return from Rome, "and will be annoyed when he finds I have any English "comforts about me. He told a person the other day that one of my new tragedies was intended for the stage, when " he knew neither of them was. I suppose he wanted to get another of them damned. O Samuel, Samuel! But, " added he, after a pause, "these things are, as Lord Kenyon 66 66 66 said of Erskine, 'mere spots in the sun.' He has good qualities to counterbalance these littlenesses in his cha "racter. 66 66 Rogers is the only man I know who can write epigrams, and sharp bone-cutters too, in two lines; for "instance, that on an M. P. who had reviewed his book, "and said he wrote very well for a banker : He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it.'" "I have been told," said he one Sunday evening during our ride, "that you have got a parson here of the name of "Nett.-Nett? I think I should know that name: was he "not one of the tutors of a late Princess? If I am not mis"taken, thereby hangs a tale,' that perhaps would have "been forgotten, but for his over-officious zeal,—or a worse "motive. The would-be Bishop having himself cracked "windows, should not throw stones. I respect the pulpit as much as any man, but would not have it made a forum "for politics or personality. The Puritans gave us quite enough of them. But to come to the point. A person "who was at his house to-day, where he has a chapel, tells 66 66 66 66 66 66 me that this dignitary of the Church has in a very un dignified way been preaching against my Cain.' He contends, it seems, that the snake which tempted Eve was not a snake, but the Devil in disguise; and that Bishop Warburton's Legation of Moses' is no authority. "It may be so, and a poor unlearned man like me may be "mistaken: but as there are not three of his congregation "who have seen Cain,' and not one but will be satisfied "that the learned Doctor's object is to preach against and 66 vilify me, under the pretext of clearing up these disputed points, surely his arguments are much misplaced. It is strange that people will not let me alone. I am sure I "lead a very quiet, moral life here.” A fortnight after he said: "I hear that your Doctor, in company with some Rus"sians, the other day, called Shelley a scelerato, and has "been preaching two sermons, two following Sundays, 66 against Atheism. It is pretty clear for whom he means them; and Mrs. Shelley being there, it was still more in"decent. The Doctor is playing with penknives when he "handles poets." The next morning he gave us a song upon the Doctor, to the tune of "The Vicar and Moses." "I have often wished," said I to Lord Byron one day, to know how you passed your time after your return from Greece in 1812." 66 "There is little to be said about it," replied he. "Per haps it would have been better had I never returned! "I had become so much attached to the Morea, its climate, and the life I led there, that nothing but my mo"ther's death and my affairs would have brought me * home. However, after an absence of three years, behold! "I I was again in London. My Second Canto of 'Childe "Harold' was then just published; and the impersonation "of myself, which, in spite of all I could say, the world "would discover in that poem, made every one curious to "know me, and to discover the identity. I received every "where a marked attention, was courted in all societies, “made much of by Lady Jersey, had the entré at Devonshire-house, was in favour with Brummel, (and that was 66 " alone enough to make a man of fashion at that time ;) in 66 66 fact, I was a lion—a ball-room bard—a hot-pressed dar ling! The Corsair' put my reputation au comble, and * In August 1811. "had a wonderful success, as you may suppose, by one "edition being sold in a day. "Polidori, who was rather vain, once asked me what "there was he could not do as well as I? I think I named "four things-that I could swim four miles-write a book, "of which four thousand copies should be sold in a day*— "drink four bottles of wine-and I forget what the other 66 66 was, but it is not worth mentioning. However, as I told you before, my Corsair' was sufficient to captivate all "the ladies. "About this period I became what the French call "un homme à bonnes fortunes, and was engaged in a liaison,—and, I might add, a serious one. 66 "The lady had scarcely any personal attractions to "recommend her. Her figure, though genteel, was too "thin to be good, and wanted that roundness which elegance and grace would vainly supply. She was, however, 66 * The fact is that nearly 10,000 of several of Lord Byron's productions have been sold on the first day of publication. |