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The Correspondence Between Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley

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THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BYRON AND PERCY AND MARY SHELLEY Update 1/10/10 “The demon of mistrust & pride lurks between two persons in our situation,” writes Shelley to Mary on August 10th 1821, “poisoning the freedom of their intercourse. – This is a tax and a heavy one which we must pay for being human – I think the fault is not on my side; nor is it likely, I being the weaker. I hope that in the next world these things will be better managed. – What is passing in the heart of another rarely escapes the observation of one who is a strict anatomist of his own. ==== ————— —” Byron and Shelley can never be completely frank with one another, either in conversation or correspondence. When writing to Hoppner, Byron is scathing about Shelley; when writing to Peacock, Shelley laments Byron’s failings in life and art. Shelley’s understanding of Byron’s belief in the Hoppner / Elise Foggi rumour, that Claire had had a child by Shelley, poisons their friendship. The major imbalance in the correspondence lies in the contrast between Shelley’s continual praise of Byron’s poetry, and his exhortations to write more, and the absence of any such positive thoughts in Byron’s few references to Shelley’s poetry. This, along with Shelley’s awareness that, while everyone reads Byron, no-one reads him, and the knowledge that Byron believes him to have been unfaithful to Mary with Claire, makes Shelley more and more desperate. In writing to England, Byron hovers between implicit denigration of Shelley’s poetry, and defence of his moral character – a defence which we know to be incompatible with his actual skepticism on that subject. Shelley’s letters are also of great value in their depiction of Byron’s Italian household; and on August 13th 1821 he gives the most extended description of Allegra. Mary’s letter describing the Pisan Afray is the most detailed we have of that event. Otherwise, our knowledge, derived from her journal entry of October 19th 1822, of how much Byron means to her, give a sad subtext to her letters to him after Shelley’s death. I count eight letters from Byron which have disappeared, and one from Shelley. 1922: Lord Byron’s Correspondence Chiefly with Lady Melbourne, Mr Hobhouse, The Hon. Douglas Kinnaird, and P.B.Shelley (2 vols., John Murray 1922). Bennett: Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley . Ed. Betty T. Bennett, 3 vols. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980–88. HBF: Letters of Edward John Trelawny . Ed. and Int. H. Buxton Forman, Henry Frowde Oxford, 1910. Jones: Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley . Ed. Frederick L. Jones, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. LJ: The Works of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals . Ed. R. E. Prothero, 6 vols. London: John Murray, 1899-1904. Stocking: The Claire Clairmont Correspondence . Ed. Stocking, Marion Kingston. 2 vols. Baltimore and London. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. 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. January 24th 1816: William Shelley born. February 1816: Alastor published. April 21st 1816: Byron first meets Mary Shelley, in the company of Claire Clairmont. Claire Clairmont to Byron, from 26 Marchmont Street, London, April 21st 1816: (Source: text from NLS Ms.43419; Stocking I 40-1) 26. Marchmont Street Brunswick Square I steal a moment to write to you to know whether you go to to morrow. It is not through selfishness that I pray some thing may prevent your departure. But tomorrow Shelley’s chancery suit 1 will be decided & so much of my fate depends on the decision; besides tomorrow will inform me whether I should be able to offer you that which it has long been the passionate wish of my heart to offer you. 2 Mary is delighted with you as I knew she would be; she entreats me in private {to obtain} your address abroad that we may if possible have again the pleasure of seeing you. She perpetually exclaims. “How mild he is! how gentle!” So different from what I expected.” (letter continues ) April 25th 1816: Byron leaves England for good. May 3rd 1816: Percy, Mary and Claire leave England for Switzerland. May 27th 1816: Byron and Percy Shelley meet at Geneva. June 22nd to July 1st 1816: Byron and Shelley tour Lake Geneva. Shelley to Byron, from Chamounix, July 22nd 1816: (Source: this text from 1922 II 14-15; Jones I 494-5) Shelley’s first surviving letter to Byron. Chamouni, Hotel de Ville de Londres July 22, 1816 My dear Lord Byron We have this moment arrived at Chamouni – the evening of the day after our departure. An opportunity chances to offer itself of sending a letter. I shall not attempt to describe to you the scenes through which we have passed. I hope soon to see in poetry the feelings with which they will inspire you. 3 The Valley of the Arve (strictly speaking it extends to that of Chamouni) gradually increases in magnificence and beauty, until, at a place called Servoz, where Mont Blanc and its connected mountains limit one side of the valley, it exceeds and renders insignificant all that I had before seen, or imagined. It is not alone that these mountains are immense in size, that their forests are of so immeasurable an extent; there is grandeur in the very shapes and colours which could not fail to impress, even on a smaller scale. I write in the hope – may I say so? – that we possibly shall see you here before our return. 4 No sooner had we entered this magnificent valley than we decided to remain 1: Sir Timothy Shelley had a suit in Chancery upon which depended his right to sell timber from his estate, and thus his ownership of the estate. He lost it in a judgement handed down on April 23rd. 2: The sentence shows that they are not yet lovers. 3: B., unlike Sh., wrote nothing about Chamounix, though Manfred Act I is full of Alpine scenery. 4: B. did not see Chamounix until August 30th, when he visited with Scrope Davies and H. It was in an inn here that he erased Sh.’s self-description in the guest-book as dimokritos, philanthropotos kai atheos – which Sh. Must have written about now. several days. An avalanche fell as we entered it. We heard the thunder of its fall, and in a few minutes more the smoke of its path was visible, and a torrent which it had forced from its bed overflowed the ravine which enclosed it. I wish the wonders and graces of these “palaces of Nature” 5 would induce you to visit them whilst we, who so much value your society, remain yet near them. How is our little William? Is he well? Clare sends her love to you, and Mary desires to be kindly remembered. Yours faithfully, P. B. Shelley. P.S. The roads are excellent, and every facility is accumulated for the traveller. You can go as far as Sallanches in a carriage, after which, although it is possible to accomplish the rest of the journey in a char du pays, I would advise you, as we have done, to hire mules. A guide is not absolutely necessary, although we took one; for the road, with one insignificant exception, is perfectly plain and good. There is apparently a very trifling ascent from Geneva to Chamouni. August 27th 1816: Hobhouse and Davies arrive at Diodati. August 29th 1816: the Shelleys and Claire Clairmont leave. Shelley to Byron, from Portsmouth, September 8th 1816: (Source: this text from 1922 II 15-16; Jones I 504-5) Portsmouth, September 8, 1816 Nine days of tedious voyaging over land and sea have brought us hither. We had some pleasant moments in our journey through France, visitings of sunshine in stormy weather. We passed, not through Paris, but by a shorter route through Versailles, and Fontainebleau, and stayed to visit those famous Palaces, which, as I will hereafter tell you, are well worth visiting as monuments of human power; grand, yet somewhat faded; the latter is the scene of some of the most interesting events of what may be called the master theme of the epoch in we live – the French Revolution. Our passage from Havre hither was wretched – 26 hours. We have just dined after our arrival, and I learn that the post departs in a few minutes – but I am anxious to give you the earliest intelligence of the safe arrival of the Childe. 6 His only adventure since he quitted the paternal roof has been inglorious. He was taken for a smuggler, and turned over and over by a Custom-house officer, to see if lace, &c., were hidden within. He is now quite safe, and locked in my portmanteau. You shall hear from me again in three days. Adieu – take care of your health – tranquillise yourself – and be persuaded with Coleridge – that “Hope is a most awful duty, the nurse of all other virtues.” 7 I assure you that it will not depart, if it be not rudely banished, from such a one as you. Mary unites with me in sincerest wishes for your happiness; Clare is about to enjoin me some messages which are better conceived than expressed.8 Your sincere friend, P. B. Shelley [P.S.] Make my remembrances to Hobhouse – as also to Mr.
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