Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 387 pages of information about Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5.

Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 387 pages of information about Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5.
“A common Bible, of a good legible print (bound in russia).  I have one; but as it was the last gift of my sister (whom I shall probably never see again), I can only use it carefully, and less frequently, because I like to keep it in good order.  Don’t forget this, for I am a great reader and admirer of those books, and had read them through and through before I was eight years old,—­that is to say, the Old Testament, for the New struck me as a task, but the other as a pleasure.  I speak as a boy, from the recollected impression of that period at Aberdeen in 1796.
“Any novels of Scott, or poetry of the same.  Ditto of Crabbe, Moore, and the Elect; but none of your curst common-place trash,—­unless something starts up of actual merit, which may very well be, for ’tis time it should.”

* * * * *

LETTER 463.  TO MR. MURRAY.

     “October 20. 1821.

“If the errors are in the MS. write me down an ass:  they are not, and I am content to undergo any penalty if they be.  Besides, the omitted stanza (last but one or two), sent afterwards, was that in the MS. too?
“As to ‘honour,’ I will trust no man’s honour in affairs of barter.  I will tell you why:  a state of bargain is Hobbes’s ’state of nature—­a state of war.’  It is so with all men.  If I come to a friend, and say, ’Friend, lend me five hundred pounds,’—­he either does it, or says that he can’t or won’t; but if I come to Ditto, and say, ’Ditto, I have an excellent house, or horse, or carriage, or MSS., or books, or pictures, or, &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. honestly worth a thousand pounds, you shall have them for five hundred,’ what does Ditto say? why, he looks at them, he hums, he ha’s,—­he humbugs, if he can, to get a bargain as cheaply as he can, because it is a bargain.  This is in the blood and bone of mankind; and the same man who would lend another a thousand pounds without interest, would not buy a horse of him for half its value if he could help it.  It is so:  there’s no denying it; and therefore I will have as much as I can, and you will give as little; and there’s an end.  All men are intrinsical rascals, and I am only sorry that, not being a dog, I can’t bite them.
“I am filling another book for you with little anecdotes, to my own knowledge, or well authenticated, of Sheridan, Curran, &c. and such other public men as I recollect to have been acquainted with, for I knew most of them more or less.  I will do what I can to prevent your losing by my obsequies.

     “Yours,” &c.

* * * * *

LETTER 464.  TO MR. ROGERS.

     “Ravenna, October 21. 1821.

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Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.