and plenty of beef and mutton. But cash being scarce with them, I never have great hopes when that is the article wanted. My own situation, still greatly embarrassed, though the weather is clearing to leeward,' will make it improper for me to give more as a subscriber than a small sum, for there may be people capable of saying I should pay all my own debts before I assist others. I am, in haste, but very truly, yours, WALTER SCOTT. To THOMAS MOORE. MY DEAR SIR, London, 23rd January, 1830. Unable to bear the prosy procrastination of library readers, I ventured on an indulgence, and bought your book ("Life of Lord Byron "), which I have read and re-read with delight and melancholy. The world will soon acknowledge it as one of the most exquisite pieces of biography in the language, and although Sheridan's was delightful, yet in style of writing and calmness of deduction you have beaten it hollow. Perhaps you should not have concluded that marriage for men of great genius was likely to be unhappy, because many of such men who were married had been so. Might not the caution have been applied to the character of the woman to be chosen? Surely, when a man of great genius marries a woman who is perfectly content with the reflection of his splendor, and is willing to be informed by him alone, who watches his moments of abstraction, and never intrudes, though lovely as an angel, into his solitude; but when she sees he wishes for solitude no longer, such a wife would have softened and subdued, and not lost Byron, have saved Milton from all his domestic harassings, and have doubled the tranquillity of Bacon or Locke. I venture to think you may do injury to the thoughtless and 1 This may seem of no consequence, as what is to leeward must be blown over; but Scott was right, for it may work back, and hence the old sea-saying, "Always look to leeward for your weather."-ED. unsettled by laying down such a principle as the one I take the liberty to allude to; and will you pardon my saying that I think posterity will not bear you out in placing Byron by the side of Shakespeare? Byron says of himself (p. 640), "I could not write upon anything without some personal experience and foundation." Herein, as it appears to me, is contained the whole principle of his genius. He required the stimulus of personal suffering or experience to develop any human feeling, and the excitement of personal observation of spots rendered immortal by others to describe his scenery. Ought this degree of invention to be put on the same level with the self-acting, innate pouring-out of Shakespeare's faculty? Shakespeare, who immortalized what he touched by the radiance of his own power, however obscure before; who invented characters independent of his own experience, and conveyed their essence to the reader by a few words, making each man develop himself? Surely not! I wish that I had known Lord Byron. Douglas Kinnaird promised, when I was introduced to him, to introduce me to Byron; but we never met again. The letter which you have had the kindness to address to me has afforded me the greatest pleasure; for as my soul has been elevated for many years by the contemplation of the important pictures formerly sent to me, which occupy an honorable station in my house, it cannot but be highly gratifying to me to learn that you still remember me, and embrace this opportunity of convincing me that you do so. Most gladly will I add my name to the list of subscribers to your very valuable painting,' and I shall give directions to my 1 "Xenophon and the Ten Thousand."-ED. banker here to forward you the amount of my ticket, through the hands of his correspondents in London, Messrs. Coutts and Co. Reserving to myself the liberty at a future period for further information, as well about the matter in question and the picture that is to be raffled for, as concerning other objects of Art, I beg to conclude the present letter by recommending myself to your friendly remembrance. W. VON GOETHE. To his Wife. Leeds, 3rd November, 1838, He was I dined at Dr. Hook's last night with a large party. Two of the sons of Sir John Sinclair were present. I asked the elder if he was the one Bonaparte had detained in Prussia in 1806. It was his brother, then only a boy of sixteen. travelling from Berlin, and came into the neighborhood of the French armies, was captured by the patrols, and brought a prisoner to headquarters. He was then brought before Napoleon. Bonaparte was in his tent, with a large map on the table, and Berthier was with him. He looked up fiercely at Sinclair, and asked him where he had come from, and where he was going? Sinclair replied that his father had sent him to travel; and described his journeys. Napoleon sent one of his suite who understood English, and ordered him to read Sinclair's letters. The aide-de-camp read the letters, and told the Emperor that they confirmed the boy's statement. Napoleon then asked him about his studies, and how far he had got on in Greek. Sinclair said that he was then reading "Thucydides." Napoleon said, "Bravo! now you must stay here until something decisive has taken place; " and in a day or two after the battles of Auerstädt and Jena were fought and won, and the boy was allowed to continue his journey. As I remembered the incident being related in 1806-7, it was satisfactory to have it confirmed by Sinclair's own brother.* * Mr., afterwards Sir George Sinclair, was travelling with a companion, Mr. Kegel, from Gotha to Leipsic ; and the Prussians being ill informed of the roads by which the At Manchester last week they told me that Chantrey, Wilkie, and Shee had been there, and that Chantrey grumbled at the French were advancing, told him he was quite safe to go by way of Gleina and Kostritz, where the French outposts captured him, carried him to Murat, who sent him on to the Emperor. It is curious to find, by Mr. Sinclair's account, that although this was only a few days before the battle of Jena, Napoleon did not know where Jena was on the map, and could not find it. But this was a trifle compared to the blunder of the Prussians, who did not know where Napoleon was. Sir George Sinclair's account is so interesting it is worth quoting. When brought to the Emperor's tent, Count Frohberg opened the door saying, "Voilà, Sire le jeune Anglais dont je viens de parler à votre Majesté." The door closed, Mr. Sinclair made a low bow, and on raising his eyes saw a little figure arrayed in a white night-cap and dressing-gown; an officer in uniform, Marshal Berthier, the Minister at War, standing by his side. "The Emperor stood still with his arms crossed, and a cup of coffee in his right hand: he surveyed me attentively, and said, 'Qui êtes-vous?' My reply was, Sire, je suis sujet de S. M. Britannique.' 'D'où venez-vous?' 'Sire, je viens de Gotha en Saxe; et en me redant de là Leipzig j'ai été arrêté par quelques soldats des avant postes, qui mont mené à Gera chez le Grand-Duc de Berg; et, S. A. m'a envoyé ici pour avoir l'honneur d'être examiné par V. M.' 'Par où êtes-vous passé?' Sire, je suis pas sé par Weimar, Erfurt, et Jena, d'où n'ayant pas pu procurer des chevaux pour nous conduire plus loin que jusqu'à Gleina--' 'Où est Gleina? et qu'est-ce que c'est ? 'Gleina, Sire, est un petit village appartenant au Duc de Gotha.' 6 "Upon hearing that I had passed through these places, he paused, and then said, Tracez-moi le plan de votre route.' He then sat down at a table, on which a map of Germany was spread. . . . and, leaning his face upon his thumb and forefinger, looked me full in the face, and said,' Quel jour êtes-vous parti de Gotha?' At that moment I had forgotten the exact day of our departure; I began to calculate. This pause, though but a short one, excited the Emperor's impatience. 'Je vous demande, que! jour êtes-vous parti de Gotha?' His abrupt manner, and a significant look which I saw him exchange with Berthier, would have very much interrupted my calculation, had I not concluded it, and named the exact day of our departure. He then looked for Gotha on the map, and asked me a number of questions as to the strength of the Prussians in that place, the reports prevalent in regard to their probable movements, &c. He next sought out Erfurt, and inquired whether I had observed any troops in motion between the two places? He was very minute in his interrogatories with regard to Erfurt. He asked how strong the garrison was there? I replied, that this was a point which I had not had any opportunity of ascertaining. He asked me if I had been at the parade? I replied in the affirmative. 'How many regiments were present?' 'Sile, I cannot tell; the Duke of Brunswick was then at Erfurt, and there seemed to be almost as many officers as soldiers assembled on the parade.' 'Is Erfurt a wellfortified town?' 'Sire, I know very little about the strength of fortifications.' 'Y a-t-il un château à Erfurt?' Upon this point I felt some doubts; but was afraid to plead ignorance again, lest he should imagine that it was feigned. I therefore boldly said, 'Oui, Sire, il y a un château.' After inquiring whether I had made any observations on the road between Erfurt and Weimar, he proceeded to question me minutely as to School of Design; but they told me their influence was gone. The School is getting on pretty well. I am to make a rethe state of the latter place, the number of troops quartered there, the destination of the Grand Duke, &c. "On my mentioning that Jena was the next place at which we stopped, Napoleon did not immediately discover its exact situation on the map. I, therefore, had to point to it with my finger, and show him the place at which he soon afterwards achieved so brilliant and decisive a victory. He inquired who commanded at Jena, what was the state of the town, whether I knew any particulars about the garrison, &c.; and then made similar inquiries in regard to Gleina and the intervening road. "Having followed up the investigation until the moment when we were arrested, he paused and looked at me very earnestly. 'Comment!' said he, voulez-vous que je croie tout ce que vous dites? Les Anglais ne voyagent pas ordinairement à pied sans domestique, et comme cela' (looking at my dress, which consisted in an old boxcoat of rough and dark materials, which I had for some time previously only worn as a cover round my legs, when travelling in a carriage, but which I had been glad to resume as an article of dress, over my other clothes, when obliged to travel on foot). 'Il est vrai, Sire,' I replied, 'que cela peut paratîre un peu singulier, mais des circonstances impérieuses, et l'impossibilité de trouver des chevaux, nous ont obligés à cette démarche; d'ailleurs, je crois que j'ai dans ma poche des lettres qui prouveront la vérité de tout ce que j'ai dit au sujet de moi-même.' "I then drew out of the pocket of the old box-coat some letters. When I laid these upon the table, Napoleon pushed them quickly towards Count Frohberg, nodding to him rapidly with his head. The Count immediately took up the letters, and said to the Emperor whilst opening them, that, from having examined and conversed with me during our journey, he thought he could be responsible for the truth of everything I had said. "After cursorily glancing through some of the papers, he said, 'These letters are of no consequence, and quite of a private nature; for instance, here is one from Mr. Sinclair's father, in which, after reminding him of the attention he had paid to the Greek and Latin languages in England, he expresses a hope that the same care will be bestowed upon the acquisition of the French and German abroad." "Napoleon's features here relaxed into a smile; and I never can forget the kindness with which he eyed me, whilst he said, 'Vous avez donc appris le Crec et le Latin ; quels auteurs avez-vous lus?' "I mentioned Homer, Thucydides, Cicero, and Horace; upon which he replied, 'C'est fort bien, c'est fort bien,' and then turning to Berthier, he added, 'Je ne crois pas que ce jeune homme soit espion; mais l'autre qui est avec lui, le sera, et aura amené ce jeune homme avec lui pour être moins suspect.' He then made a slight inclination of the head, as a signal for me to retire; upon which I bowed profoundly, and passed into the ante-chamber; after which Mr. Kegel was introduced."-Pp. 3o, 31, 32, 33, 34. Mr. Kegel was severely examined by the Emperor and minutely questioned. Upon the good pastor remarking that he had believed the French were quite in another direction, and that was also the belief of the Duke of Brunswick and his staff, Napoleon smiled to himself, saying, "Ce sont des perruques. Ils se sont furieusement trompés." (See Sir George Sinclair's "Memoir.")-ED. |