" 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 Phoenix--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.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222