"a question of great importance in the literary world of 66 66 property. He would neither protect me nor Murray. “But the manner in which it was got up was shameful!* “All the declamatory parts were left, all the dramatic ones struck out; and Cooper, the new actor, was the "murderer of the whole. Lioni's soliloquy, which 1 66 wrote one moonlight night after coming from the Benyon's, ought to have been omitted altogether, or at all events much curtailed. What audience will listen " with any patience to a mere tirade of poetry, which stops "the march of the actor? No wonder, then, that the unhappy Doge should have been damned! But it was no very pleasant news for me; and the letter containing it was accompanied by another, to inform me that an old lady, from whom I had great expectations, was likely to live to an hundred. There is an autumnal shoot in some " old people, as in trees; and I fancy her constitution has got some of the new sap. Well, on these two pleasant 66 66 66 pieces of intelligence I wrote the following epigram, or elegy it may be termed, from the melancholy nature of "the subject: * Acted at Drury Lane, April 25, 1821. 66 66 66 "I understand that Louis Dix-huit, or huitres, as Moore spells it, has made a traduction of poor 'Faliero;' but I "should hope it will not be attempted on the Théatre François. It is quite enough for a man to be damned once. I was satisfied with Jeffrey's critique* on the play, for it abounded in extracts. He was welcome to his own opinion,--which was fairly stated. His summing up "in favour of my friend Sir Walter amused me: it re"minded me of a schoolmaster, who, after flogging a bad 66 66 66 boy, calls out the head of the class, and, patting him on "the head, gives him all the sugar-plums. "The common trick of Reviewers is, when they want to 66 However, I forgive him; and I trust "He will forgive himself:-if not, I must. "Old enemies who have become new friends, Don Juan, Canto X. Stanzas 11 and 12. depreciate a work, to give no quotations from it. This "is what "The Quarterly' shines in ;-the way Milman put "down Shelley, when he compared him to Pharaoh, and "his works to his chariot-wheels, by what contortion of "images I forget;-but it reminds me of another person's comparing me in a poem to Jesus Christ, and telling me, " when I objected to its profanity, that he alluded to me “in situation, not in person! What!' said I in reply, ""would you have me crucified? We are not in Jerusalem, 66 are we?' But this is a long parenthesis. The Reviewers are like a counsellor, after an abusive speech, calling no witnesses to prove his assertions. "There are people who read nothing but these trimestrials, and swear by the ipse dixit of these autocrats—these "Acteon hunters of literature. They are fond of raising "merit in my plays? It may be so; and Milman may be a great poet, if Heber is right and I am wrong. He has the dramatic faculty, and I have not. So they pretended of Milton. I am too happy in being coupled in 66 to say 66 any way with Milton, and shall be glad if they find any "points of comparison between him and me. "But the praise or blame of Reviewers does not last "long now-a-days. It is like straw thrown up in the air. * "I hope, notwithstanding all that has been said, to "write eight more plays this year, and to live long enough 66 66 66 to rival Lope de Vega, or Calderon. I have two subjects that I think of writing on,-Miss Leigh's German tale Kruitzner,' and Pausanias. 66 What do you think of Pausanias ? 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, "No event in ancient times ever struck me as more "noble and dramatic than the death of Demosthenes. You remember his last words to Archias?-But sub"jects are not wanting." * He seemed to think somewhat differently afterwards, when, after the review in The Quarterly' of his plays, he wrote to me, saying, "I am the most unpopular writer going!" 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, in such a class. They stood Farrer, Procter, Jocelyn." 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 Faliero,' although it is a matter of no 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. Barry Cornwall. |