Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 094.djvu/393

Rh Epistles" awaited him, headed by Francis Jeffery, with whom, in consequence, he fought the bloodless duel which Lord Byron afterwards satirised in his justly-provoked but indiscriminate onslaught. As a set-off to this criticism, Moore says he was also greeted by a letter from Stockholm, informing him that "the Princes, Nobles, and Gentlemen who composed the General Chapter of the most Illustrious, Equestrian, Secular, and Chapteral Order of St. Joachim" had elected him a knight of that Order. But he seems to have thought the honour of knighthood more damaging than the criticism, for he declined the one and defied the other; realising, in the end, two fast friends in his literary antagonist and noble satirist.

Having referred to Lord Byron, we shall slightly anticipate the period when their acquaintance began, to speak of the manner of it. It had its origin after a somewhat Irish fashion. On the 1st of January, 1810, Moore, finding himself aggrieved by an offensive passage in the "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," addressed a letter to Lord Byron, demanding the retractation of an imputation under which no gentleman—and least of all an Irish one—permits himself to lie. Lord Byron had just left England for the shores which he immortalised in the two first cantos of "Childe Harold," and Moore's letter was entrusted for delivery to Mr. Hodgson; but it never reached the wandering bard until after it had been referred to in another phase of the correspondence between the two poets. A year and a half elapsed before Lord Byron returned to England, and, in the interim, Moore had taken upon himself "obligations, both as a husband and a father, which make most men—and especially those who have nothing to bequeath—less willing to expose themselves unnecessarily to danger." But he felt it due to himself to follow up his first request of an explanation, though, in doing so, he resolved upon adopting such a tone of conciliation as should not only prove his sincere desire for a pacific result, but show his entire freedom from any angry or resentful feeling in taking the step. The death of Lord Byron's mother delayed his purpose for a time; but as soon as decency permitted, he wrote, referring to his former letter, expressing some doubts of its having been forwarded, and re-stating the question in nearly the original words. Lord Byron, in his reply, disclaimed any intention of insulting Moore; and several letters passed between them, with a little more of the aigre-doux in them, on Lord Byron's part, than Moore altogether liked. However, he finally declared himself "satisfied;" and, upon this avowal, Lord Byron at once frankly reciprocated the advances made towards a more friendly understanding, and, through the medium of Mr. Rogers, a meeting was effected—in which Thomas Campbell participated—which established a friendship that was never broken. The narrative of this occurrence is told by Moore with the utmost impartiality and frankness, and the whole transaction reflects credit on both the parties concerned.

Although the "Irish Melodies," which placed Moore at the head of all modern lyrists, were commenced in 1807, it is not in that character that we purpose yet to speak of him, his earlier satirical effusions claiming precedence in the order of publication. He began, in 1808, with two short poems called "Corruption" and "Intolerance," and these were followed by "The Sceptic," all in "the stately, Juvenalian style of satire."