BYRON'S LETTERS TO DOUGLAS KINNAIRD ... - Get a Free Blog

to have inserted in the latter the following lines after the line (which closes the paragraph on the
Country Gentleman)
1:2
“And share the blessings which yourselves prepared”
(Continuation)
“Thou sold’st thy birthright Esau! for a Mess,
Thou shouldst have gotten more, or eaten less –
Now thou hast swilled thy pottage, thy demands
Are idle, Israel says the Bargain stands!
Such landlords! was your appetite for war,
And gorged with blood you grumble at a Scar.
What would ye spread your Earthquake even to Cash?
And when land crumbles must even Paper crash!
So rents may rise bid banks and nations fall
And {found on} Change a Foundling Hospital!
Lo! Mother Church while {all} religion writhes,
Like Niobe, weeps oer her firstborn, Tithes,
The {Prelates} go to – where the Saints have gone,
The proud pluralities subside to one –
Church, State and Faction {wrestle} in the dark –
Tossed on the Deluge in one common Ark
Shorn of her bishoprics and dividends –
Babel begins indeed, but Britain ends. – 126
[swirl]
By the way – this poem was intended for a third number of H.’s publication – but as that will not
be published – and this is a temporary hit at Congress & c . – (as you will have seen by the poem if you
have received it) perhaps it had better be published now alone – it is long enough about 760 lines or so
– (as long as the first edition of E. Bards was) but this is for your consideration 127 – let me have a proof
1:3
to correct. – –
You perceive that there is a War and a fall of the funds – notwithstanding your pacific prophecies; – as
the funds are below my par – I can not afford to sell out {now} – with a loss perhaps of thousands – for
the sake a paltry four per cent interest, – and must run the risk {of remaining} – with this proviso –
[Ms. tear: “for”] Bland and Cobourne – {trustees} – i.e. – th[Ms. tear: “at”] as for four years – I have
done all in my power to get out of the funds – and they by their opposition have placed my property in
the common peril – and they only – whenever the Crash does happen – and mine goes by their
obstinacy – – I will as assuredly blow out the brains of one or both of those two persons – as they
deserve it – it is hard to be
1:4 [above address:] injured on all sides – through the agents of that fiend of a woman. – – –
y rs . ever
N. B.
Byron to Douglas Kinnaird, from Genoa, February 6th 1823 (i):
(Source: Ms. NLS TD 3079, f.59; not in 1922 II; BLJ X 96)
[1 st ) To The Honourable / Douglas Kinnaird. / Messrs Ransom & Co. Bankers. / Pall Mall. / London. /
Angleterre. // Inghilterra.]
Genoa F y . 6 o 1823.
My dear Douglas – I return you your D. Lane warrant signed I sealed I hope correctly – if not return it.
– I have no intention to renew my correspondence with Messrs Hanson except through your medium –
126: AoB 615 and 633-51.
127: B. has no evidence that there will not be a third number of The Liberal, for which AoB is styled: his intention
is to sabotage The Liberal by publishing no more in it: but he leaves the decisions to K.
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