184—To Francis Hodgson
Newstead Abbey, September 13, 1811.
My Dear Hodgson,—I
thank
you for your song, or, rather, your two songs,—your new song on love, and your
old song
on
religion
. I admire the
first
sincerely, and in turn call upon you to
admire
the following on Anacreon Moore's new operatic farce
, or farcical opera—call it which you will:
Good plays are scarce,
So Moore writes Farce;
Is Fame like his so brittle?
We knew before
That "Little's" Moore,
But now 'tis Moore that's Little.
I won't dispute with you on the Arcana of your new calling; they are Bagatelles like the King of Poland's rosary. One remark, and I have done; the basis of your religion is
injustice
; the
Son
of
God
, the
pure
, the
immaculate
, the
innocent
, is sacrificed for the
Guilty
. This proves
His
heroism; but no more does away
man's
guilt than a schoolboy's volunteering to be flogged for another would exculpate the dunce from negligence, or preserve him from the Rod. You degrade the Creator, in the first place, by making Him a begetter of children; and in the next you convert Him into a Tyrant over an immaculate and injured Being, who is sent into existence to suffer death for the benefit of some millions of Scoundrels, who, after all, seem as likely to be damned as ever. As to miracles, I agree with Hume that it is more probable men should
lie
or be
deceived
, than that things out of the course of Nature should so happen. Mahomet wrought
miracles
, Brothers
the prophet had
proselytes
, and so would Breslaw
the conjuror, had he lived in the time of Tiberius.
Besides I trust that God is not a
Jew
, but the God of all Mankind; and as you allow that a virtuous Gentile may be saved, you do away the necessity of being a Jew or a Christian.
I do not believe in any revealed religion, because no religion is revealed: and if it pleases the Church to damn me for not allowing a
nonentity
, I throw myself on the mercy of the "
Great First Cause, least understood
," who must do what is most proper; though I conceive He never made anything to be tortured in another life, whatever it may in this. I will neither read
pro
nor
con
. God would have made His will known without books, considering how very few could read them when Jesus of Nazareth lived, had it been His pleasure to ratify any peculiar mode of worship. As to your immortality, if people are to live, why die? And our carcases, which are to rise again, are they worth raising? I hope, if mine is, that I shall have a better
pair of legs
than I have moved on these two-and-twenty years, or I shall be sadly behind in the squeeze into Paradise. Did you ever read "Malthus on Population"? If
he
be right, war and pestilence are our best friends, to save us from being eaten alive, in this "best of all possible Worlds."
I will write, read, and think no more; indeed, I do not wish to shock your prejudices by saying all I do think. Let us make the most of life, and leave dreams to Emanuel Swedenborg. Now to dreams of another genus—Poesies. I like your song much; but I will say no more, for fear you should think I wanted to scratch you into approbation of my past, present, or future acrostics. I shall not be at Cambridge before the middle of October; but, when I go, I should certes like to see you there before you are dubbed a deacon. Write to me, and I will rejoin.
Yours ever,
Byron
Footnote 1:
The lines in which Hodgson answered Byron's letter on his religious opinions are quoted in the
Memoir of the Rev. F. Hodgson
, vol. i. pp. 199, 200.
Footnote 2:
Moore's
M.P., or The Bluestocking
, was played at the Lyceum, September 9, 1811, but was soon withdrawn.
Footnote 3:
Richard Brothers (1757-1824) believed that, in 1795, he was to be revealed as Prince of the Hebrews and ruler of the world. In that year he was arrested, and confined first as a criminal lunatic, afterwards in a private asylum, where he remained till 1806. A portrait of "Richard Brothers, Prince of the Hebrews," was engraved, April, 1795, by William Sharp, with the following inscription:
"Fully believing this to be the Man whom God has appointed, I engrave this likeness. William Sharp."
Footnote 4:
See
Breslaw's Last Legacy; or, the Magical Companion
. Including the various exhibitions of those wonderful Artists, Breslaw, Sieur Comus, Jonas, etc. (1784).
Footnote 5:
Candide, ou l'Optimisms
(chapitre xxx.);
"et Pangloss disait quelquefois à Candide; Tous les événements sont enchainés dans le meilleur des mondes possibles," etc.
Hodgson replies (September 18, 1811):
"Your last letter has unfeignedly grieved me. Believing, as I do from my heart, that you would be better and happier by thoroughly examining the evidences for Christianity, how can I hear you say you will not read any book on the subject, without being pained? But God bless you under all circumstances. I will say no more. Only do not talk of 'shocking my prejudices,' or of 'rushing to see me before I am a Deacon.' I wish to see you at all times; and as to our different opinions, we can easily keep them to ourselves."
The next day he writes again:
"Let me make one other effort. You mentioned an opinion of Hume's about miracles. For God's sake,—hear me, Byron, for God's sake—examine Paley's answer to that opinion; examine the whole of Paley's Evidences. The two volumes may be read carefully in less than a week. Let me for the last time by our friendship, implore you to read them."
