"
This seems sufficiently caustic; but hear, how our dedicator proceeds:
"Illustrious Holland! hard would be his lot,
His hirelings mention'd, and himself forgot!
Blest be the banquets spread at Holland House,
Where Scotchmen feed, and Critics may carouse!
Long, long, beneath that hospitable roof
Shall _Grub-street_ dine, while duns are kept aloof,
And _grateful_ to the founder of the feast
Declare the Landlord can _translate_, at least!"
Lord Byron has, it seems, very accurate notions of _gratitude_, and the
word "_grateful_" in these lines, and in his dedication of 'The Bride of
Abydos', has a delightful similarity of meaning. His Lordship is pleased
to add, in an explanatory note to this passage, that Lord Holland's life
of Lopez de Vega, and his translated specimens of that author, are much
"BEPRAISED _by these disinterested guests_." Lord Byron well knows that
_bepraise_ and _bespatter_ are almost synonimous. There was but one
point on which he could have any hope of touching Lord Holland more
nearly; and of course he avails himself, in the most gentlemanly and
generous manner, of the golden opportunity.
When his club of literary assassins is assembled at Lord Holland's
table, Lord Byron informs us
"That lest when heated with the unusual grape,
Some _glowing_ thoughts should to the press escape,
And tinge with red the _female_ reader's cheek,
My LADY skims the _cream_ of each critique;
Breathes o'er each page _her purity_ of soul,
Reforms each error, and refines the whole.
Pages:
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637