I am, yours very truly, BYRON.
P.S.--I should wish a few copies printed off _before_, that the
Newspaper copies may be correct _after_ the _delivery_.
* * * * *
254.--To Lord Holland.
September 28, 1812.
Will this do better? The metaphor is more complete.
Till slowly ebb'd the {_lava of the_/spent volcanic} wave,
And blackening ashes mark'd the Muse's grave.
If not, we will say "burning wave," and instead of "burning clime," in
the line some couplets back, have "glowing."
Is Whitbread determined to castrate all my _cavalry_ lines [1]? I don't
see why t'other house should be spared; besides it is the public, who
ought to know better; and you recollect Johnson's was against similar
buffooneries of Rich's--but, certes, I am not Johnson. [2]
Instead of "effects," say "labours"--"degenerate" will do, will it? Mr.
Betty is no longer a babe, therefore the line cannot be personal. Will
this do?
Till ebb'd the lava of {_the burning_}/{that molten} wave [3]
with "glowing dome," in case you prefer "burning" added to this "wave"
metaphorical. The word "fiery pillar" was suggested by the "pillar of
fire" in the book of Exodus, which went before the Israelites through
the Red Sea. I once thought of saying "like Israel's pillar," and making
it a simile, but I did not know,--the great temptation was leaving the
epithet "fiery" for the supplementary wave. I want to work up that
passage, as it is the only new ground us prologuizers can go upon--
This is the place where, if a poet
Shined in description, he might show it.
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