127 — To Francis Hodgson
Gibraltar, August 6, 1809.
I have just arrived at this place after a journey through Portugal, and a part of Spain, of nearly 500 miles. We left Lisbon and travelled on horseback to Seville and Cadiz, and thence in the Hyperion frigate to Gibraltar. The horses are excellent — we rode seventy miles a day. Eggs and wine, and hard beds, are all the accommodation we found, and, in such torrid weather, quite enough. My health is better than in England.
Seville is a fine town, and the Sierra Morena, part of which we crossed, a very sufficient mountain; but damn description, it is always disgusting.
Cadiz, sweet Cadiz
! — it is the first spot in the creation. The beauty of its streets and mansions is only excelled by the loveliness of its inhabitants. For, with all national prejudice, I must confess the women of Cadiz are as far superior to the English women in beauty as the Spaniards are inferior to the English in every quality that dignifies the name of man. Just as I began to know the principal persons of the city, I was obliged to sail.
You will not expect a long letter after my riding so far "on hollow pampered jades of Asia." Talking of Asia puts me in mind of Africa, which is within five miles of my present residence. I am going over before I go on to Constantinople.
Cadiz is a complete Cythera. Many of the grandees who have left Madrid during the troubles reside there, and I do believe it is the prettiest and cleanest town in Europe. London is filthy in the comparison. The Spanish women are all alike, their education the same. The wife of a duke is, in information, as the wife of a peasant, — the wife of peasant, in manner, equal to a duchess. Certainly they are fascinating; but their minds have only one idea, and the business of their lives is intrigue.
I have seen Sir John Carr
at Seville and Cadiz, and, like Swift's barber, have been down on my knees to beg he would not put me into black and white
.
Pray remember me
. to the Drurys and the Davies, and all of that stamp who are yet extant. Send me a letter and news to Malta. My next epistle shall be from Mount Caucasus or Mount Sion. I shall return to Spain before I see England, for I am enamoured of the country. Adieu, and believe me, etc.
Footnote 1:
In
Childe Harold
(Canto I., after stanza lxxxiv.), instead of the song "To Inez," Byron originally wrote the song beginning
"Oh never talk again to me
Of northern climes and British ladies,
It has not been your lot to see,
Like me, the lovely girl of Cadiz."
Footnote 2:
Sir John Carr (1772-1832), a native of Devonshire, and a barrister of the Middle Temple, was knighted by the Duke of Bedford as Viceroy of Ireland about 1807. He published
The Fury of Discord, a Poem
(1803);
The Sea-side Hero, a Drama in 3 Acts
(1804); and
Poems
(1809). But he is best known by his travels, which gained him the nickname of "Jaunting Carr," and considerable profit.
The Stranger in France
(1803) was bought by Johnson for £100.
A Northern Summer, or Travels round the Baltic, etc.
(1805),
The Stranger in Ireland
(1806), and
A Tour through Holland
(1807), were bought for £500, £700, and £600 respectively by Sir Richard Phillips, who, but for the ridicule cast upon Carr by Edward Dubois (in
My Pocket Book; or Hints for a Ryhte Merrie and Conceited Tour in Quarto, to be called "The Stranger in Ireland in 1805," by a Knight Errant
), would have given £600 for his
Caledonian Sketches
(1808). In spite, however, of this proof of damages, the jury found, in Carr's action against Messrs. Hood and Sharpe, the publishers of
My Pocket Book
, that the criticism was fair and justifiable (1808). Carr published, in 1811, his
Descriptive Travels in the Southern and Eastern Parts of Spain
, without mentioning Byron's name. Byron concluded his MS. of
Childe Harold
, Canto I. with three stanzas on "Green Erin's Knight and Europe's Wandering Star" (see, for the lines,
Childe Harold
, at the end of Canto I.). In letter vii. of
Intercepted Letters; or the Twopenny Post-bag
, by Thomas Brown the Younger (1813), occur the following lines:—
"Since the Chevalier C — rr took to marrying lately,
The Trade is in want of a Traveller greatly —
No job, Sir, more easy — your Country once plann'd,
A month aboard ship and a fortnight on land
Puts your Quarto of Travels, Sir, clean out of hand."
Footnote 3:
"Once stopping at an inn at Dundalk, the Dean was so much amused with a prating barber, that rather than be alone he invited him to dinner. The fellow was rejoiced at this unexpected honour, and being dressed out in his best apparel came to the inn, first inquiring of the groom what the clergyman's name was who had so kindly invited him. 'What the vengeance!' said the servant,' don't you know Dean Swift?' At which the barber turned pale, and, running into the house, fell upon his knees and intreated the Dean 'not to put him into print; for that he was a poor barber, had a large family to maintain, and if his reverence put him into black and white he should lose all his customers.' Swift laughed heartily at the poor fellow's simplicity, bade him sit down and eat his dinner in peace, for he assured him he would neither put him nor his wife in print."
Sheridan's
Life of Swift
. — (Moore).
Footnote 4:
"This sort of passage," says the Rev. Francis Hodgson, in a note on his copy of this letter, "constantly occurs in his correspondence. Nor was his interest confined to mere remembrances and inquiries after health. Were it possible to state all he has done for numerous friends, he would appear amiable indeed. For myself, I am bound to acknowledge, in the fullest and warmest manner, his most generous and well-timed aid; and, were my poor friend Bland alive, he would as gladly bear the like testimony; — though I have most reason, of all men, to do so "
(Moore).
