247—to Lord Holland

Cheltenham, September 23, 1812.

Ecco!—I have marked some passages with double readings—choose between them— cut—add—reject —or destroy —do with them as you will—I leave it to you and the Committee—you cannot say so called "a non committendo."

What will they do (and I do) with the hundred and one rejected Troubadours 1 ?

"With trumpets, yea, and with shawms," will you be assailed in the most diabolical doggerel. I wish my name not to transpire till the day is decided. I shall not be in town, so it won't much matter; but let us have a good deliverer . I

think Elliston 2 should be the man, or Pope 3 ; not Raymond 4 , I implore you, by the love of Rhythmus!

The passages marked thus = =, above and below, are for you to choose between epithets, and such like poetical furniture. Pray write me a line, and believe me

Ever, etc.

My best remembrances to Lady H. Will you be good enough to decide between the various readings marked, and erase the other; or our deliverer may be as puzzled as a commentator, and belike repeat both. If these versicles won't do, I will hammer out some more endecasyllables.

P.S.—Tell Lady H. I have had sad work to keep out the Phœnix—I mean the Fire Office of that name. It has insured the theatre, and why not the Address?

Footnote 1:

  The genuine rejected addresses were advertised for by B. McMillan, of Bow Street, Covent Garden, and forty-two of them were published by him in November, 1812, with the following title:

The Genuine Rejected Addresses presented to the Committee of Management for Drury Lane Theatre; preceded by that written by Lord Byron and adopted by the Committee

.

The youngest competitor was "Anna, a young lady in the fifteenth year of her age."

The actual number sent in was 112, and sixty-nine of the competitors invoked the Phœnix. Among the competitors were Peter Pindar, whose Address was printed in 1813; Whitbread, the manager, who gave the "poulterer's description" of the Phœnix; and Horace Smith, who published his Address without a Phœnix , By S. T. P., in Rejected Addresses.

Footnote 2:

  Robert William Elliston (1774-1831), according to Genest (English Stage, vol. ix. p. 338), made his first appearance at Bath in April, 1791, as "Tressel" in Richard III., and from 1796 to 1803 Bath remained his head-quarters. An excellent actor both in tragedy and comedy, he became in 1803 a member of the Haymarket Company. From 1804 to 1809, and again from 1812 to 1815, he acted at Drury Lane. Byron's Prologue was spoken by him on October 10, 1812, at the reopening of the new theatre. It was at Drury Lane in April, 1821, while he was lessee (1819-26), that Byron's Marino Faliero was acted. His last appearance was as "Sheva" in The Jew, at the Surrey Theatre, of which (1826-31) he was lessee. In spite of his drunken habits, he won the enthusiastic praise of Charles Lamb as the "joyousest of once embodied spirits" (see Essays of Elia, "To the Shade of Elliston" and "Ellistoniana").

Footnote 3:

  Alexander Pope (1763-1835), miniaturist, gourmand, and actor, was for years the principal tragedian at Covent Garden. Opinion was divided as to his merits as an actor. He owed much to his voice, which had a "mellow richness ... superior to any other performer on the stage." Genest, who quotes the above (vol. ix. p. 377), adds that "in his better days he had more pathos about him than any other actor." He made his first appearance in Cork as "Oroonoko," and subsequently (January, 1785) at Covent Garden in the same part. He ceased acting at Covent Garden in June, 1827.

Footnote 4:

 In the cast for Hamlet, with which Drury Lane reopened, Raymond played the Ghost. Raymond was also the stage manager of the theatre.