THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BYRON AND RICHARD BELGRAVE AND ISABELLE HOPPNER, 1817-1823 Edited by Peter Cochran Update June 2012. My thanks to Paul Curtis for his contribution. Interior, Palazzo Mocenigo A point often made about the superiority of R.E.Prothero’s Edwardian edition of Byron’s Letters and Journals over that of Leslie Marchand is that Prothero often gives you the other side of the correspondence in his notes. It’s a matter of swings and roundabouts – Marchand edits nothing out (or hardly anything), where Prothero bowdlerises quite a bit without acknowledgement, and Marchand gives you fewer notes, but many more letters. You really have to have both editions. We can’t deny that when Byron writes to Richard Belgrave Hoppner “What right had they to dispose of another’s property without consulting him? Had it been fairly lost – I should not have cared one sixpence – it was natural & to be overlooked – but to throw it away – the devil damn them all to the lowest maid of their own kitchen” (BLJ VIII 75) we are baffled, because we have no idea who threw what away, or in what circumstances. It’s possible to guess; but that’s not good enough. When Byron describes Father Pascal Aucher, his hitherto revered mentor at the Armenian convent of San Lazzaro, as “a dishonest man” and “the rogue of an Armenian” (BLJ X 112) and when he writes, “I have no fault to find with the bargain itself, though a great deal with Father Pascal Aucher, but it only confirms my opinion of mankind, and especially the priestly portion thereof …” (BLJ X 128) it seems a sad disillusion – but occasioned by what, we may go read i’th’stars. Such queries are answered in this edition. Richard Belgrave Hoppner (1786-1872) was son to the portrait-painter John Hoppner, who once painted Byron’s lover Elizabeth, Countess of Oxford. He was also godson to Byron’s “Literary Father” William Gifford – so it was natural that upon Byron’s reaching Venice in 1816 the two men should get together. Hoppner had artistic and literary interests, and was by political inclination more Whiggish than not, so he and Byron got on well. He had a Swiss wife, Isabelle; and this made him resent his Venetian posting and long for one in Milan, as being closer to the Swiss frontier, his in-laws, and friends. He wrote poetry, about which Byron is polite. He assisted Byron in many ways, especially in the matter of Allegra, in whom he and Isabelle took an interest, and whom they looked after sometimes. If they had had their way Allegra would have been educated in Switzerland – and might have lived. Byron’s letters to the married and more grown-up Hoppner show a greater intimacy than those to Hobhouse, with whom there were some matters – amatory ones in particular – that he was unable to discuss. However, Hoppner disapproved of Byron’s liaison with Teresa Guccioli, in whose sincerity he had no faith, and once Byron had moved to Ravenna, the correspondence, though it did not cease, became more desultory, and finally petered out. 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. I’m also gratefu l to Jack Gumpert Wasserman for his help. Sunday November 10th 1816: Byron and Hobhouse arrive in Venice. November 18th 1816: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage III published. December 5th 1816: The Prisoner of Chillon and other Poems published (Churchill’s Grave, Darkness, The Dream, Prometheus ). 1817: In England, Claire Claremont gives birth to Allegra, January 12th. Byron finishes Manfred , after study at the Armenian monastery of San Lazzaro. His liaison with Marianna Segati has begun. From April 17th to May 28th, he travels via Florence to Rome, where he revises Manfred’s third act under advice from William Gifford. He starts Childe Harold IV . In June he leases the Villa Foscarini on the Brenta. On June 16th, Manfred is published. In October, as he is finishing Childe Harold IV , he reads Whistlecraft , a mock-epic in ottava rima by John Hookham Frere: and writes Beppo in two nights by way of imitation. On December 10th, he hears that Newstead Abbey has at last been sold, to Colonel Thomas Wildman, for £94,554 3s 1d; his years of financial insecurity are at last over. April 2nd–September 26th 1817: Byron writes Mazeppa . April 19th 1817: Byron writes The Lament of Tasso . June 26th-July 19th 1817: Byron drafts Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Canto IV. July 26th-27th 1817: Byron writes the Ode to Venice . Hoppner to Byron, from Este, September 5th 1817: (Source: text from NLS Ms.43448) Hoppner’s first known letter to Byron. Este 5 th September 1817 My Lord Having accidentally heard that your Lordship was in search of a summer residence in this part of Italy I have taken the liberty of addressing your Lordship, as circumstances require my return to England if not this Winter at least early in the spring, conceiving that the one I occupy might answer your wishes. – The house 1 consisting of three best bed rooms, besides sitting rooms five or six in number, and rooms for four or five servants is completely furnished, and has besides the rare advantage in this country of being well supplied with water: there is a very good coach house and an excellent three stall stable. It stands in the centre of about 4 acres of ground well stocked with vines and all kinds of fruit trees, nearly at the foot of the Euganean Hills, and overlooks the town of Este, having The Right Hon ble Lord Byron &c. &. &. 1:2 1: The villa is called “I Cappuccini” at BLJ V 264 and Supp 47, “the villa Berlinger” by H. in his diary, and “the Villa d’Este” at BLJ V 274. behind it at about the distance of a couple of miles the village of Calaon, and a part of these hills which even in the times of the Romans was distinguished for its beauty, and is still without contradiction the prettiest part of them. The situation although within a few minutes walk of Este is very retired, and the neighbourhood abounds with pretty rides. – The rent which I pay is 48 Louis d’or per ann. And I have about two years of my lease to run. – If this is the kind of thing you want & your Lordship should think it worth your while to ride over here & look at the house, I shall have great pleasure in showing it to you. I have the honor to be My Lord Your Lordships most obedient Humble servant R.B.Hoppner Byron to Hoppner, from Venice, September 12th 1817: (Source: Ms. not found; text from Moore’s Life II 144-5; LJ IV 166-7; BLJ V 264) Byron’s first known letter to Hoppner. He answers the previous item. La Mira, Sept. 12. 1817. I set out yesterday morning with the intention of paying my respects, and availing myself of your permission to walk over the premises. On arriving at Padua, I found that the march of the Austrian troops had engrossed so many horses, that those I could procure were hardly able to crawl; and their weakness, together with the prospect of finding none at all at the post-house of Monselice, and consequently either not arriving that day at Este, or so late as to be unable to return home the same evening, induced me to turn aside in a second visit to Arqua, instead of proceeding onwards; and even thus I hardly got back in time. Next week I shall be obliged to be in Venice to meet Lord Kinnaird and his brother, who are expected in a few days. And this interruption, together with that occasioned by the continued march of the Austrians for the next few days, will not allow me to fix any precise period for availing myself of your kindness, though I should wish to take the earliest opportunity. Perhaps, if absent, you will have the goodness to permit one of your servants to show me the grounds and house, or as much of either as may be convenient; at any rate, I shall take the first occasion possible to go over, and regret very much that I was yesterday prevented. I have the honour to be your obliged, &c. Hoppner to Byron, from Este, September 5th 1817: (Source: text from NLS Ms.43448) Hoppner answers the previous item. Este 13 th Sep r 1817 My Lord I have just been honoured with your Lordship’s letter of yesterday’s date, and regret extremely that my invitation should have been the cause of so much unpleasant trouble. 2 It will always be a great honour & a pleasure to me to receive your Lordship whenever you can make it convenient to come over to Este, as well, I need scarcely add, as M r Hobhouse, or any of your friends you might like to bring with you; 3 and I shall not fail, if any chance should call me from hence, which is not immediately probable, to leave directions for your Lordship to see every thing here. – I take this opportunity to state that, should the house answer your Lordship’s wishes, which I sincerely hope it may, there is a private stable within a short distance of the house which stands constantly empty, and where your Lordship might have permission to keep The Right Hon ble Lord Byron &c.