53 — To Elizabeth Bridget Pigot
London, August 10, 1806.
My Dear Bridget
, — As I have already troubled your brother with more than he will find pleasure in deciphering, you are the next to whom I shall assign the employment of perusing this second epistle. You will perceive from my first, that no idea of Mrs. B.'s arrival had disturbed me at the time it was written;
not
so the present, since the appearance of a note from the
illustrious cause
of my
sudden decampment
has driven the "natural ruby from my cheeks," and completely blanched my woebegone countenance. This gunpowder intimation of her arrival (confound her activity!) breathes less of terror and dismay than you will probably imagine, from the volcanic temperament of her ladyship; and concludes with the comfortable assurance of
present motion
being prevented by the fatigue of her journey, for which my
blessings
are due to the rough roads and restive quadrupeds of his Majesty's highways. As I have not the smallest inclination to be chased round the country, I shall e'en make a merit of necessity; and since, like Macbeth, "they've tied me to the stake, I cannot fly," I shall imitate that valorous tyrant, and bear-like fight the "course," all escape being precluded. I can now engage with less disadvantage, having drawn the enemy from her intrenchments, though, like the
prototype
to whom I have compared myself, with an excellent chance of being knocked on the head. However, "lay on Macduff", and "damned be he who first cries, Hold, enough."
I shall remain in town for, at least, a week, and expect to hear from
you
before its expiration.
I
presume the printer has brought you the offspring of my
poetic mania
. Remember in the first line to read "
loud
the winds whistle," instead of "round," which that blockhead Ridge had inserted by mistake, and makes nonsense of the whole stanza. Addio! — Now to encounter my
Hydra
.
Yours ever.
Footnote 1:
Byron's first volume of verse was now in the press. The line to which he alludes is the first line of the poem, "On Leaving Newstead Abbey" (
Poems
, vol. i. pp. 1-4). It now runs —
"Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle."
(For the bibliography of his early poems, see
Poems
, vol. i., Bibliographical Note; and
vol. vi
., Appendix.) The first collection (
Fugitive Pieces
, printed by S. and J. Ridge, Newark, 4to, 1806) was destroyed, with the exception of two copies, by the advice of the Rev. J. T. Becher (see page 182,
1). The second collection (
Poems on Various Occasions
, printed by S. and J. Ridge, Newark, 12mo, 1807) was published anonymously. It is to this edition that Letters
,
,
,
,
,
,
, refer.
In the summer of 1807,
Poems on Various Occasions
was superseded by the third collection, called
Hours of Idleness
(printed by S. and J. Ridge, Newark, 12mo, 1807), published with the author's name. To this edition Letters
and
refer.
Hours of Idleness
was reviewed by Lord Brougham (
Notes from a Diary
, by Sir M. E. Grant Duff, vol. ii. p. 189) in the
Edinburgh Review
for January, 1808.
The fourth and final collection, entitled
Poems Original and Translated
(printed by S. and J. Ridge, Newark, 12mo, 1808), was dedicated to the Earl of Carlisle.
