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

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Kinnaird answers Byron’s of December 27th.
95
London Feb 20 – 1824
My dear Byron,
I have receiv’d your letter written on the point of embarkation for Missalonghi – Durrah! Durrah! The
loan is taken – we shall have a dinner; & by our oratory place it at a Premium – Success attend you –
The Rochdale mony is not yet paid – But I expect it weekly – However the loan is made – & I shall
take care to secure your £4000, as the first disbursements thereout – I shall not increase your credit for
above £4000 with Messrs Webb & Barry unless I hear further from you – Marry! One bumping sum of
£4000 & the mony a float is enough for
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one labour of Hercules in one year –
I am delighted to receive a letter from you written in such excellent spirits –
Durrah! Durrah!
Your’s ever truly
Douglas Kinnaird
Hunt’s sentence is put off till next Term
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On address side:
D. Kinnaird / Letters arrived – but not read to Lord Byron as they came the day in which he lost his
senses & the day before he died
Byron to Douglas Kinnaird, from Missolonghi, February 21st 1824:
(Source: National Historical Museum, Athens, 19435 / a; Moore’s Life II 737; LJ VI 328-9; 1922 II
288-9; BLJ XI 116-17)
The only letter from Byron to Kinnaird to appear in Moore’s Life, and thus in Prothero.
P.S. – I have obtained from the
Greeks the release of eight
and twenty Turkish prisoners,
men, women, and children, and sent them to Patras and Prevesa
at my own expence.
Messolonghi. F y . 21 st . 1824.
My dear Douglas –
I received y r . letter of 9 bre 23 d and Hobhouse’s of the 6 th . l0 bre . – with some others
and all satisfactory; so far so good. – I have said and say again that I am willing to accept a mortgage
and {to lend my monies} upon fair terms (– 4 {per cent if that is the best medium)} and of course on
those which others accept – but the Security ought to be good. I wish you could settle that matter – as I
hope by this time that you have the Rochdale business; – I agree to your proposition of a fee {of one
hundred guineas to} and to your eulogy also of M r . Crabtree, and I wish {that} these matters were well
settled, while the funds are high. I have been here some time – after some very narrow escapes from the
Turks – and also from being ship=wrecked (we were twice upon the rocks) but this you
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will have heard truly or falsely through other channels – and I won’t bore you with a long story. – I
have also been very seriously unwell – but am getting better – and can ride about again – so pray –
quiet our friends on that Score. – {For} public affairs {here} I refer you to Stanhope’s and
Parry’s reports; – we are making the best fight we can – and without being too sanguine – we still have
good hopes of the Greeks and of their cause. – The Deputies will or should have arrived by this time. –
–
I drew the other day on your house for three thousand pounds – to carry on the war – but my intention
of taking the field in person – has been interrupted for the present by a smart illness – from which I am
slowly convalescing. – – – –