Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

"I hope, notwithstanding all that has "been said, to write eight more plays this and to live long enough to rival Lope de Vega, or Calderon. I have two

66 year,

66

[ocr errors]

subjects that I think of writing on,"Miss Leigh's German tale Kruitzner,' "and Pausanias.

"What do you think of Pausanias ? "The unities can be strictly preserved, "almost without deviating from history. "The temple where he took refuge, and "from whose sanctuary he was forced "without profaning it, will furnish complete unities of time and place.

66

"No event in ancient times ever struck

Quarterly' of his plays, he wrote to me, saying, "I am the most unpopular writer going!"

66

66

66

me as more noble and dramatic than

the death of Demosthenes. You re

member his last words to Archias?— "But subjects are not wanting."

6

I told Lord Byron, that I had had a letter from Procter*, and that he had been jeered on The Duke of Mirandola' not having been included in his (Lord B.'s) enumeration of the dramatic pieces of the day; and that he added, he had been at Harrow with him.

66

Ay," said Lord Byron, "I remember "the name: he was in the lower school,

[blocks in formation]

I have no doubt Lord Byron could have gone through all the names, such was his memory. He immediately sat down, and very good-naturedly gave me the following note to send to Barry Cornwall, which shews that the arguments of the Reviewers had not changed his Unitarian opinions, (as he called them):

"Had I been aware of your tragedy "when I wrote my note to 'Marino Fa"liero,' although it is a matter of no

[ocr errors]

66

consequence to you, I should certainly

not have omitted to insert your name "with those of the other writers who still "do honour to the drama.

[merged small][ocr errors]

"My own notions on the subject altogether are so different from the popular

ideas of the day, that we differ essen

66

[ocr errors]

tially, as indeed I do from our whole

English literati, upon that topic. But I "do not contend that I am right—I merely

66

say that such is my opinion; and as it " is a solitary one, it can do no great harm. "But it does not prevent me from doing

[ocr errors][merged small]

justice to the powers of those who adopt a different system."

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

"When I was a boy," said he, "I stu"died German, which I have now entirely

66

forgotten. It was very little I ever knew

"of it. Abel was one of the first books

[ocr errors]

my German master read to me; and

"whilst he was crying his eyes out over

66

its pages, I thought that any other than

"Cain had hardly committed a crime in

6.6

ridding the world of so dull a fellow "as Gessner made brother Abel.

"I always thought Cain a fine subject, " and when I took it up I determined to "treat it strictly after the Mosaic ac"count. I therefore made the snake a "snake, and took a Bishop for my inter

[blocks in formation]

"I had once an idea of following the "Arminian Scriptures, and making Cain's crime proceed from jealousy, and love "of his uterine sister; but, though a more

66

66

probable cause of dispute, I abandoned "it as unorthodox.

"One mistake crept in,-Abel's should have been made the first sacrifice: and "it is singular that the first form of reli

« ZurückWeiter »