See The Prophecy of Dante, Canto I lines 172–174, Poetical Works, 1901, IV 253, note 1. —Editor ↩
Milton’s first wife ran away from him within the first month. If she had not, what would John Milton have done?
[Mary Powell did not “run away,” but at the end of the honeymoon obtained her husband’s consent to visit her family at Shotover, “upon a promise of returning at Michaelmas.”
“And in the mean while his studies went on very vigorously; and his chief diversion, after the business of the day, was now and then in an evening to visit the Lady Margaret Lee. … This lady, being a woman of excellent wit and understanding, had a particular honour for our author, and took great delight in his conversation; as likewise did her husband, Captain Hobson.”
See, too, his sonnet “To the Lady Margaret Ley.” —The Life of Milton (by Thomas Newton, D.D.), Paradise Regained, ed. (Baskerville), 1758, pp. XVII, XVIII] ↩
“Yesterday a very pretty letter from Annabella. … She is a poetess—a mathematician—a metaphysician.”
—Journal November 30, 1813, Letters, 1898, II 357
—Editor ↩
Displayed much more of nerve, perhaps, of wit,
—[MS.]
Than any of the parodies of Pitt.
—toothpicks, a bidet.
—[MS. Alternative reading]
“Dr. Murray—As you are squeamish you may put ‘teapot, tray,’ in case the other piece of feminine furniture frightens you.”
—B.
For Byron’s menagerie, see Werner, act I sc. 1, line 216, Poetical Works, 1902, V 348, note 1. —Editor ↩
“But as for canine recollections … I had one (half a wolf by the she-side) that doted on me at ten years old, and very nearly ate me at twenty. When I thought he was going to enact Argus, he bit away the backside of my breeches, and never would consent to any kind of recognition, in despite of all kinds of bones which I offered him.”
—Letter to Moore, January 19, 1815, Letters, 1899, III 171, 172
Compare, too, Childe Harold, Canto I. Song, stanza IX, Poetical Works, 1899, II 30. —Editor ↩
Yet for all that don’t stay away too long,
—[MS.]
A sofa, like a bed, may come by wrong.
I’ve known the friend betrayed—.
—[MS. D]
The Pyrrhic war-dance represented “by rapid movements of the body, the way in which missiles and blows from weapons were avoided, and also the mode in which the enemy was attacked” (Dict. of Ant.). Dodwell (Tour Through Greece, 1819, II 21, 22) observes that in Thessaly and Macedon dances are performed at the present day by men armed with their musket and sword. See, too, Hobhouse’s description (Travels in Albania, 1858, I 166, 167) of the Albanian war-dance at Loutráki. —Editor ↩
“Their manner of dancing is certainly the same that Diana is sung to have danced on the banks of Eurotas. The great lady still leads the dance, and is followed by a troop of young girls, who imitate her steps, and, if she sings, make up the chorus. The tunes are extremely gay and lively, yet with something in them wonderfully soft. The steps are varied according to the pleasure of her that leads the dance, but always in exact time, and infinitely more agreeable than any of our dances.”
—Lady M. W. Montagu to Pope, April 1, O.S., 1817, Letters, etc., 1816, p. 138
The “kerchief-waving” dance is the Romaika. See “The Waltz,” line 125, Poetical Works, 1898, I 492, note 1. See, too, Voyage Pittoresque … by the Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, 1782, vol. I Planche 33. —Editor ↩
That would have set Tom Moore, though married, raving.
—[MS.]
“Upon the whole, I think the part of Don Juan in which Lambro’s return to his home, and Lambro himself are described, is the best, that is, the most individual, thing in all I know of Lord B.’s works. The festal abandonment puts one in mind of Nicholas Poussin’s pictures.”
—Table Talk of S. T. Coleridge, June 7, 1824
—Editor ↩
Compare Hudibras, Part I canto III lines 1, 2—
“Ay me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron!”
Byron’s friend, C. S. Matthews, shouted these lines, con intenzione, under the windows of a Cambridge tradesman named Hiron, who had been instrumental in the expulsion from the University of Sir Henry Smyth, a riotous undergraduate. (See letter to Murray, October 19, 1820.) —Editor ↩
All had been open, heart, and open house,
—[MS.]
Ever since Juan served her for a spouse.
“Rispose allor Margutte: a dirtel tosto,
Io non credo più al nero ch’ all’ azzurro;
Ma nel cappone, o lesso, o vuogli arrosto,
E credo alcuna volta anche nel burro;
Nella cervogia, e quando io n’ ho nel mosto,
E molto più nell’ aspro che il mangurro;
Ma sopra tutto nel buon vino ho fede,
E credo che sia salvo chi gli crede.”
Pulci, Morgante Maggiore, Canto XVIII stanza CXV
—Editor ↩
For instance, if a first or second wife.
—[MS.]
And send him forth like Samson strong in blindness.
—[MS. D]
And make him Samson-like—more fierce with blindness.
—[MS. M]
Not so the single, deep, and wordless ire,
—[MS.]
Of a strong human heart—.
“Almost all Don Juan is real life, either my own, or from people I knew. By the way, much of the description of the furniture, in Canto Third, is taken from Tully’s Tripoli (pray note this), and the rest from my own observation. Remember,
