54
JEUX D'ESPRIT AND MINOR POEMS, 1798-1824.
From Canning, the tall wit,
To Wilmot,[1] the small wit,
Ward's creeping Companion and Louse,
11.
Who 's so damnably bit
With fashion and Wit,
That he crawls on the surface like Vermin,
But an Insect in both,—
By his Intellect's growth,
Of what size you may quickly determine.[2]
Venice, January 8, 1818.
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 156, 157;
stanzas 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, first published, Letters, 1900,
iv. 191-193.]
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 156, 157;
stanzas 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, first published, Letters, 1900,
iv. 191-193.]
ON THE BIRTH OF JOHN WILLIAM RIZZO HOPPNER.[3]
His father's sense, his mother's grace,
In him, I hope, will always fit so;
With—still to keep him in good case—
The health and appetite of Rizzo.
February 20, 1818.
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 134.]
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 134.]
- ↑ [Probably Sir Robert John Wilmot (1784-1841) (afterwards Wilmot Horton), Byron's first cousin, who took a prominent part in the destruction of the "Memoirs," May 17, 1824. (For Lady Wilmot Horton, the original of "She walks in beauty," see Poetical Works, 1900, iii. 381, note 1.)]
- ↑ [Stanzas 12, 13, 14 cannot be published.]
- ↑ [Richard Belgrave Hoppner (1786-1872), second son of John Hoppner, R.A., was appointed English Consul at Venice, October, 1814. (See Letters, 1900, iv. 83, note 1.) The quatrain was translated (see the following poem) into eleven different languages—Greek, Latin, Italian (also the Venetian dialect), German, French,
