Byron and Moore, 1811-1824
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1 THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BYRON AND THOMAS MOORE, 1811-1824 Edited by Peter Cochran, with much welcome assistance from Jeffery Vail. Updated June 9th 2012. This correspondence is unique in that most of Byron’s letters to Moore have been lost. They seem to have disappeared some time during the 1840s, and we have to rely on the censored transcriptions which Moore made of them for his 1830 / 1 Life of Byron (for the sole exception, see this edition’s final item). William St Clair argues ( The Temptations of a Biographer: Thomas Moore and Byron, Byron Journal 17, 1989, pp.50-6), that Moore’s texts show signs of having been both cut and added to, with a view to increasing the affection and literary regard for him which Byron expresses. Jeffery W. Vail (The Literary Relationship of Lord Byron and Thomas Moore , Johns Hopkins 2001, pp.195-8), argues against this thesis. In his Life , Moore indicated his major cuts by asterisks, but didn’t mark his additions (if such there be) at all. See the two versions of Byron to Moore, July 10th 1817, below. Conversely, at least fifty-one letters from Moore to Byron are missing. Two previously unknown and unsuspected ones are those of July 11th 1813, and July 8th 1822. To give some idea of Tom Moore’s personality, and the way he charmed even the most tight-lipped, here is an extract from Hobhouse’s diary, September 1818. The place is Sir Francis Burdett’s estate at Ramsbury in Wiltshire: [Commentary :] Tom Moore turns up! He sings, records the disdainful Hobhouse, “one or two of his own songs in his own peculiar style”. Titles mentioned are The Evening Bells and Strike the Loud Cymbal . What Hobhouse feels when “Susan [Burdett] sang with him” we have to imagine, for Hobhouse does not record it. But the next day, Moore’s charm wins over even the unmusical diarist: Tuesday September 8th. Burdett, Davies, Moore and myself walked from twelve to six in the forest, and had a delightful day. Moore was everything – his Irish stories kept us in a constant roar – his anecdotes of Curran and others, perfect. He talked, however, too much of himself, made his dinner at Dublin lately given to him a test of Irish patriotism, and he confessed he could not repent enough he had ever lived with lords – there was not the parity he sighed for. He mentioned anecdotes of Lord Holland and Lord Lansdowne to prove it. He was angry with George Vernon for calling him, Crabbe and Bowles “three poets” – and with Lord Holland for using the words “one of us”. He told us he had received £900 already from Longman for his Fudge Family – he talked of classical subjects, of Paris, of Payne Knight and others, equally well. He beat all three of us out of the field, and I saw Scrope was envious. I, who have no pretension to conversational powers, was delighted. Amongst his stories was this: ‘An Irish chatenist[??] asked me, “How many gods are there?” – “Three.” – “May you never see one of them!” was her answer’. We dined, had music in the evening, and were most charmed. Alone among Byron’s regular correspondents, Moore is treated by Byron as an equal (“I don’t much care what the wretches of the world think of me—all that’s past. But I care a good deal what you think of me, and, so, say what you like” – Byron to Moore, February 2nd 1818). Posterity has not agreed that they are equals, but Byron regards Moore as a poet of stature comparable to himself: he even pays Moore the compliment of imitating his style in several works. Only with the publication of Lalla Rookh 2 in 1817 does he pause to reflect – and doesn’t have the nerve to tell Moore his real opinion, or his critical reflections about the decline of English poetry which have arisen. The missing Moore letters leave a number of intriguing and annoying blanks: what did Moore think of Don Juan ? We know he disapproved of Cain . Why did Byron’s idea for them to run a joint periodical fail, thereby thrusting him (to Moore’s horror) into the arms of Shelley and Leigh Hunt? The thought that most of Moore’s letters to Byron, all but one of Byron’s letters to Moore, and above all Moore’s own copy of Byron’s Memoirs, are sleeping, crated and uncatalogued, in some American Xanadu, or mouldering away in some Wiltshire attic, troubles one’s sleep. My thanks to David McClay, Rachel Beattie, and their colleagues at the National Library of Scotland. I am also very grateful to John and Virginia Murray for permission to quote (where necessary) texts from Byron’s Letters and Journals , ed. Leslie A. Marchand (John Murray 1973-1994). This is referred to as BLJ. Sections in bold type are added from BLJ XI 196-8. My special thanks to Jeffery W. Vaill for his help. Dowden: The Letters of Thomas Moore . Ed. Wilfred Dowden, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. MJ: Journal of Thomas Moore , ed. Dowden et al, Newark 1983-91. NLS: National Library of Scotland. Moore to Byron, from 22 Molesworth Street, Dublin, January 1st 1810: (Source: Ms. not found; text from Moore’s Life) Moore’s first letter to Byron, He does not know that Byron is out of the country. Dublin, January 1. 1810. My Lord, Having just seen the name of ‘Lord Byron’ prefixed to a work entitled ‘English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,’ in which, as it appears to me, the lie is given to a public statement of mine, respecting an affair with Mr. Jeffrey some years since, 1 I beg you will have the goodness to inform me whether I may consider your Lordship as the author of this publication. I shall not, I fear, be able to return to London for a week or two; but, in the mean time, I trust your Lordship will not deny me the satisfaction of knowing whether you avow the insult contained in the passages alluded to. It is needless to suggest to your Lordship the propriety of keeping our correspondence secret. I have the honour to be Your Lordship’s very humble servant, THOMAS MOORE. 22. Molesworth Street. July 14th 1811: Byron returns from his eastern travels. September 9th 1811: Moore’s play M.P.; or the Blue-Stocking premiered. Byron to Moore, from Cambridge, October 27th 1811. (Source: Ms. not found; text from Moore’s Life I 309-10; LJ II 59-63; QI 125-6; BLJ II 118-19) Byron’s first letter to Moore; he has heard about Moore’s “challenge”, and answers the previous item, twenty-two months late. Cambridge, October 27. 1811. Sir, 1: See EBSR, 490-7: But Caledonia’s Goddess hovered o’er The field, and saved him [Jeffrey ] from the wrath of MOORE ; From either pistol snatched the vengeful lead, And straight restored it to her favourite’s head. That head, with greater than magnetic power, Caught it, as Danæ caught the golden shower, And, though the thickening dross will scarce refine, Augments its ore, and is itself a mine. 3 Your letter followed me from Notts, to this place, which will account for the delay of my reply. Your former letter I never had the honour to receive;—be assured, in whatever part of the world it had found me, I should have deemed it my duty to return and answer it in person. The advertisement you mention, I know nothing of.—At the time of your meeting with Mr. Jeffrey, I had recently entered College, and remember to have heard and read a number of squibs on the occasion; and from the recollection of these I derived all my knowledge on the subject, without the slightest idea of ‘giving the lie’ to an address which I never beheld. When I put my name to the production, which has occasioned this correspondence, I became responsible to all whom it might concern,—to explain where it requires explanation, and, where insufficiently, or too sufficiently explicit, at all events to satisfy. My situation leaves me no choice; it rests with the injured and the angry to obtain reparation in their own way. With regard to the passage in question, you were certainly not the person towards whom I felt personally hostile. On the contrary, my whole thoughts were engrossed by one, whom I had reason to consider as my worst literary enemy, 2 nor could I foresee that his former antagonist was about to become his champion. You do not specify what you would wish to have done: I can neither retract nor apologise for a charge of falsehood which I never advanced. In the beginning of the week, I shall be at No. 8. St. James’s Street.—Neither the letter nor the friend to whom you stated your intention ever made their appearance. Your friend, Mr. Rogers, or any other gentleman delegated by you, will find me most ready to adopt any conciliatory proposition which shall not compromise my own honour,—or, failing in that, to make the atonement you deem it necessary to require. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, BYRON. Byron to Moore, from St James’s Street, London, October 29th 1811: (Source: Ms. not found; text from Moore’s Life I 311; LJ II 63-4; BLJ II 120-1) Written two days after the previous item, in answer to another Moore letter, now missing.