The Writer’s arrival at Pisa. Lord Byron’s live stock and impedimenta. The Lanfranchi palace; Ugolino; Lanfranchi’s ghost. English Cerberus. Lord B.’s Leporello; bas reliefs and mantel-pieces
Introduction to Lord Byron. His cordiality of manner. Description of his person; his bust by Bertolini; the cloven foot; his temperate habits, and regard for the brute creation. Conversations on Switzerland and Germany; strong predilection for Turkey
Residence at Geneva. Malicious intruders. Madame de Staël. Dinner disaster. Excursions on the lake; Shelley and Hobhouse; St. Preux and Julia; classical drowning. Lord Byron’s horsemanship; pistol-firing; remarks on duelling; his own duels. Anecdote
Sunset at Venice and Pisa. Routine of Lord Byron’s life. The Countess Guiccioli: Lord B.’s attachment to her; beautiful Sonnet and Stanzas in honour of her. Cavalieri Serventi. Mode of bringing up Italian females; its consequences. Italian propensity to love. Intimacy with the Countess: her rescue
Lord Byron’s preference for Ravenna. Female beauty in Italy and England compared. The Constitutionalists; their proscription. Lord Byron’s danger. Assassination of the military Commandant at Ravenna. Lord B.’s humanity
The Byron Memoirs: Mr. Moore, Lady Burghersh, and Lady Byron. Lord B.’s opinion of his own Memoirs; his marriage and separation. Mrs. Williams, the English Sybil. An omen. Lord B.’s introduction to Miss Millbank; his courtship and marriage
The wedding-ring. An uneasy ride. The honey-moon. Lord and Lady B.’s fashionable dissipation; consequent embarrassment; final separation. Lord B.’s prejudices respecting women. Family jars; Mrs. Charlement. Domestic felony. Mrs. Mardyn. Statute of lunacy. Lady Noel’s hatred: anecdote
Madame de Staël and Goëthe. Lord B.’s partiality for America; curious specimen of American criticism. The ‘Sketches of Italy.’ Lord B.’s life at Venice; further remarks on his Memoirs
Anecdotes of himself and companions; Lord Falkland. Lord B.’s presentiments; early horror of matrimony; anti-matrimonial wager. Anecdotes of his father. Craniology. Anecdote of his uncle. Early love for Scotland; Mary C——. Harrow School; Duke of Dorset; Lords Clare and Calthorpe; school rebellion
The ‘Hours of Idleness.’ The skull goblet; a new order established at Newstead. Julia Alpinula. Skulls from the field of Morat. Lord B.’s contempt for academic honours; his bear; the ourang-outang. A lady in masquerade. Mrs. L. G.’s depravity. Singular occurrence. Comparison of English and Italian profligacy
Fashionable pastimes; Hell in St. James’s Street; chicken-hazard. Scroope Davies, and Lord B.’s pistols; the deodand. Lord B. commences his travels. His opinion of Venice. His own and Napoleon’s opinion of women. The new Fornarina; Harlowe the painter. Gallantry sometimes dangerous at Venice
Lord Byron’s religious opinions; his scepticism only occasional. English Cathedral Service. Religion of Tasso and Milton. Missionary Societies, and missions to the East. Tentazione di Sant’ Antonio. Tacitus; Priestley and Wesley. Dying moments of Johnson, Cowper, Hume, Voltaire, and Creech. Sale. Anything-arians; Gibbon; Plato’s three principles. Lord B.’s correspondents; ecstatic epistolary extract. Prayer for Lord B.’s conversion; his avowal of being a Christian
Ali Pacha’s barbarity. Affecting tale. Real incident in ‘The Giaour.’ Albanian guards. The Doctor in alarm. Lord Byron’s ghost. He prophesies that he should die in Greece. Lord Byron and the Drury Lane Committee. Theatricals. Obstacles to writing for the stage. Kemble; Mrs. Siddons; Munden; Shakspeare; Alfieri; Maturin; Miss Baillie. Modern sensitiveness. ‘Marino Faliero.’ Ugo Foscolo
Ada. Singular coincidence. Ideas on education. Ada’s birth-day. Lord Byron’s melancholy and superstition. Birth-day fatalities. Death of Polidori. ‘The Vampyre’—foundation of the story Lord Byron’s; ‘Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.’ Query to Sir Humphrey Davy. Scott, Rousseau, and Goëthe. Fulfilment of Mrs. Williams’s prophecy. Unlucky numbers
Lord Byron’s epigrams. His hospitality. Advances towards a reconciliation with Lady Byron. Death of Lady Noel. Lord Byron’s remarks on lyric poetry; Coleridge, Moore, and Campbell. Ode on Sir John Moore’s funeral
Swimming across the Hellespont. Adventures at Brighton and Venice. ‘Marino Faliero’ and ‘The Two Foscari.’ Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd’s prediction. Failure of ‘Marino Faliero:’ Lord Byron’s epigram on the occasion. Louis Dix-huit’s translation: Jeffrey’s critique. Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews. Subjects for tragedies
Barry Cornwall. ‘Cain.’ Gessner’s ‘Death of Abel.’ Hobhouse’s opinion of ‘Cain.’ Lord B.’s defence of that poem. Goëthe’s ‘Faust.’ Letter to Murray respecting ‘Cain.’ Bacchanalian song. Private theatricals. The Definite Article. A play proposed. The Guiccioli’s Veto
Merits of actors. Dowton and Kean. Kean’s Richard the Third and Sir Giles Overreach. Garrick’s dressing of Othello. Kemble’s costume; his Coriolanus and Cato: his colloquial blank verse. Improvisatori: Theodore Hook: Sgricci; his ‘Iphigenia.’ Mrs. Siddons and Miss O‘Neill. The elephant’s legs. Stage courtship. Lamb’s Specimens. Plagiarisms. ‘Faust’
Lord Byron’s ‘Hours of Idleness.’ The ineffectual potation. Severity of reviewers. ‘English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.’ Jeffrey and Moore. Moore’s challenge to Lord Byron; miscarriage of the letter; subsequent friendship. Character of Southey
Mr. Southey’s letter in ‘The Literary Gazette.’ Lord Byron’s anxiety and anger. ‘Vision of Judgment.’ Southey’s critique on ‘Foliage.’ Shelley’s Αθεος. ‘The Deformed Transformed:’ Shelley’s opinion thereon. Southey’s epitaph. ‘Heaven and Earth:’ Murray’s refusal to print. ‘Cain,’ and the Lord Chancellor. ‘Loves of the Angels’ and ‘Lalla Rookh.’ Projected completion of ‘Heaven and Earth. ‘The Prophecy of Dante.’ Italian enthusiasm in favour of Dante
Shelley’s opinion that the study of Dante is unfavourable to writing: the difficulty of translating him: Taaffe and Cary. Lord Byron and ‘The Prophecy of Dante.’ Swedenborg’s disciples. Translations of Lord Byron’s works. The greatest compliment ever paid him. Milton and the cat’s back. Milton and Shakspeare redivivi. Lord Byron’s opinion of ‘Childe Harold,’ and the inequality of his writings. Epics. Southey’s ‘Joan of Arc;’ ‘Curse of Kehama,’ &c. ‘Don Juan’ and the Iliad. Dr. Johnson’s censorship defied. Intended plan of ‘Don Juan:’ adventures and death of the hero
Murray’s plea: the Cookery-book his sheet-anchor: real cause of his anxiety for Lord Byron’s fame. Douglas Kinnaird’s friendship. Murray’s offer for ‘Don Juan,’ per Canto. Piracy of ‘Don Juan,’ and its cause. The bishops. Murray’s dislike to Shelley. Price given for Third Canto of ‘Childe Harold,’ ‘Manfred,’ and ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’
‘The Quarterly Review’ and its bullies. A literary set-to. Murray and Galignani. Murray’s purchase of ‘Cain,’ ‘The Two Foscari,’ and ‘Sardanapalus.’ The deed. Reconciliation with Murray. ‘Cain,’ and the Anti-constitutional Society. Murray, Lord Byron, and the ‘Navy List.’ Last book of Lord Byron’s published by Murray. Opening fire of ‘The Quarterly.’ ‘The Wanderer.’ Coleridge’s ‘Christabel,’ and Scott’s ‘Metrical Tales.’ Sir W. Scott’s talents at recitation. An English October day. Unconscious plagiarism. ‘Kubla Khan.’ Madame de Staël. Coleridge’s Memoirs. Grammont. Alfier’s Life, and Lord B.’s Confessions. Coleridge’s want of identity. Poets in 1795
Intended Auto da fé. Priestly charity. Duchess of Lucca. Lord Guilford. Grand Duke of Tuscany. Intended rescue; escape of the victim. Madame de Staël and the opposition leaders in England: her ultraisms. Brummell. Reported double marriage; Baron Auguste and Miss Millbank; Lord B. and the Duchess of Broglie. Madame de Staël’s conversational powers. ‘Glenarvon.’ Madame de Staël’s amiable heart. Women, and Opera figurantes: pirouetting common to both. Napoleon and Madame de Staël. Lord B.’s opinion of Napoleon and of his exit. Madame de Staël’s historical omission. Rocca
Complaint against the East India Company. Lord B.’s liberality. Balloons and Horace. Steam. Philosophical systems. Romances. Lewis’s ‘Monk:’ its groundwork. Secret of Walter Scott’s inspiration. ‘The Bleeding Nun.’ Ghost stories: the haunted room at Manheim; Mina and the passing-bell. Lewis and Matthias. ‘Abellino.’ ‘Pizarro’ and Sheridan. ‘The Castle Spectre’ in Drury Lane. Lord B.’s sketch of Sheridan. The age of companiability. Monk Lewis and his brother’s ghost. Madame de Staël, Lewis, and the Slave Trade. A fatal emetic
Imputed plagiarisms. A dose of Wordsworth physic. Shelley’s admiration of Wordsworth. Peter Bell’s ass, and the family circle. The Republican trio. Comparisons. The Botany Bay Eclogue, the Panegyric of Martin the Regicide, and ‘Wat Tyler,’ versus the Laureate odes and the Waterloo eulogium. The par nobile mortally wounded. Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd’s ‘Poetic Mirror.’ The ‘Rejected Addresses.’ Bowles: Coleridge’s praise of him inexplicable. Bowles’s good fellowship: his Madeira woods. Pope’s Letters to Martha Blount. The evil attending a punnable name. Lord B.’s partiality to Johnson’s Lives of the Poets. No monument to Pope in Poet’s Corner: the reason. Milton’s name in jeopardy. Voltaire’s tomb blocked up. Identity of a great poet and a religious man maintained
Walter Scott’s Novels. Rarity of novelty. Plagiarisms. Claims of Shakspeare and Sheridan. A good memory sometimes a misfortune. Lord Byron’s partiality to W. Scott’s novels. Scott, the great Unknown: two anecdotes in proof. Scott’s prose fatal to his poetry: his versatility. ‘Halidon Hill.’ Charlatanism in writing incognito. Junius: Sir Philip Francis. His conjugal felicity and marital affection. Warren Hastings. ‘Pursuits of Literature.’ Monk Lewis and Walter Scott. ‘The Fire-King’ and ‘Will Jones.’ Walter Scott’s obligation to Coleridge. His freedom from jealousy
Rogers ycleped a Nestor and an Argonaut. Rogers and the Catacombs. Lady Morgan’s ‘Italy.’ Immortality of ‘The Pleasures of Memory.’ ‘Jacqueline’ versus ‘Lara.’ Rogers too fastidious as to his fame. Grand end of all poetry. Lord Byron’s ‘Corsair.’ Love and poets: Mrs. —— and Shelley; Miss Stafford and Crebillon. Rogers’s dinners and Lady Holland. Elegant orientalisms. Poetical oscillation. Rogers’s sensitiveness. Spots in the sun. Rogers’s epigrammatic talent
Parson N*tt, the would-be Bishop. Warburton’s ‘Legation of Moses’ no authority. Poets and penknives. Lord Byron’s return from Greece in 1812; attachment to the Morea; Second Canto of ‘Childe Harold.’ Lady Jersey. Brummell. A hot-pressed darling. ‘The Corsair.’ Polidori. The four trials. An adventure. Love in high life. A rupture. Female espionage: the disguise: a scene. Stanzas
Imputed ingratitude towards a certain personage; defence. Presentation. Unmeaning compliments from the politest man in the world. The Irish Avatara. Lord Edward Fitzgerald; his adventures; Ça-ira. The O’Connors. Fate of Lord Edward Fitzgerald
Query on a line in ‘Beppo:’ answer. A novel. Florence and Fiorabella’s flowers. ‘The Giaour’ and the sage reviewer. Shelley and the bookseller. Sotheby, Edgeworth, Galignani, and Moore. Intended mystification. Baron Lutzerode; his heroic action. Lord Byron’s distaste for princes and their satellites. De la Martine’s comparison; his ‘Méditations Poétiques.’ Harrow the nursery for politicians. Lord Byron’s indifference to politics; his detestation of Castlereagh. Lord Byron’s two speeches in the House; universality of his views. Portugal and Spain. Greece. The Austrians in Venice. Ireland. Lord Cochrane and Mavrocordatos. Lambrino’s ode. Lord Byron’s opinion of affairs in the Morea. The Turks; their mode of warfare. Prophetic age of Voltaire, Alfieri, and Goldsmith. Shelley’s observation on poets. Lord Byron’s prospective plans. Greece. The Guiccioli. Lock of Napoleon’s hair. Lord Carlisle’s poem to Lady Holland on the snuff-box: Lord Byron’s parody on it. Epigram on Lord Carlisle. Shelley’s talent for poetry; comparison between his works and Chatterton’s. Remarks on metres
The Reviews. Shelley and Keats. Milman’s ‘Fazio.’ ‘The Quarterly’ and Shelley: Lord Byron’s eulogium on the latter. Milman’s ‘Siege of Jerusalem,’ and his obligations to Milton. The Quarterly Reviewers. Dryden’s cutting couplet. Keats and the Cockneys. Keats’s sentimentalism. ‘Hyperion.’ Lord Thurlow. ‘Lalla Rookh’ Moore and Captain Ellis; instance of an Iricism in the former. ‘The Lusiad’ and Lord Strangford. The Bermuda affair: Moore’s independence. ‘The Fudge Family: Letter to Big Ben. Moore’s immortality: the Irish Melodies
The Author takes leave of Lord Byron for some time. The affray at Pisa; French account of it; the depositions. Banishment of the Counts Gamba and Lord Byron’s servants from Pisa. Lord Byron’s departure. The Gambas ordered to quit the Tuscan States. The Lanfranchi palace. Arrival of Leigh Hunt and his family. Shelley’s death; Memoir of him (in a note): burning of his body; descriptive account of the scene. Lord Byron’s remedy for a fever: his attachment to the Countess Guiccioli. His first introduction to Leigh Hunt. Lord Byron’s gratitude. Object of Hunt’s journey. His Lordship’s intended translation of Ariosto. Advice of Moore. The new Periodical. Lord Byron’s opinion of Hunt. The Blue-coat foundation. Punning titles
Intention of a trip to America. Civilities from the Americans; different treatment by an English sloop of war. Lord Byron’s naval ancestor. ‘Werner.’ Miss Lee’s ‘Canterbury Tales:’ the German’s Tale. ‘Vathek.’ The Cave of Eblis. ‘Paul and Virginia.’ ‘The Man of Feeling:’ La Roche. ‘Werner’ written in twenty-eight days; dedication of ‘Werner.’ Lord Byron’s curiosity respecting Goëthe. ‘Faust:’ Coleridge declines translating it
Hobhouse; commencement of his and Lord Byron’s friendship; similarity of pursuits. Dedication of ‘Childe Harold.’ Lady Charlotte Harley, Lord Byron’s Ianthe. Hobhouse’s dissertation on Italian literature; his antiquarian knowledge; his sensibility. Lord Byron’s time of and facility for writing; his few corrections and surprising memory; his conversational talent; his unreserve and sincerity; his impatience of prolixity and distaste for argument; his tendency to extremes; his inconsistency in pecuniary matters
Lord Byron’s attack of indolence; his impaired digestion; addicts himself to wine and Hollands. Alleged source of his inspiration: the true Hippocrene. The Author takes leave of Lord Byron. Sketch of Lord Byron’s character. Parallel between Alfieri and Lord Byron. The latter’s pride of ancestry, and independence of character; his political sentiments: the Michael Angelo of poetry. True poetical inspiration The poetical merits of Lord Byron’s works. Invidious cognomen of the Satanic school of poetry. The real direction of his Lordship’s satire; his respect for moral liberty; general tendency of his writings; his defiance of party abuse. Applicability to Lord Byron of Raleigh’s monumental inscription
Appendix.—Copia del Rapporto fatto a sua Eccellenza il Sig. Governatore di Pisa. Secondo Rapporto. Goëthe’s Beitrag zum Andenken Lord Byron’s. Letter from Lord Byron to Monsieur Beyle, chiefly relative to Sir Walter Scott. Some account of Lord Byron’s residence in Greece. Last moments of Lord Byron. Greek Proclamation on the death of Lord Byron. Funeral oration, from the Greek. Greek Ode to the Memory of Lord Byron, with Translation
