Two Rediscovered Byron Letters

Abstract

Two lost letters from Byron have recently turned up at libraries in the United States (Harvard and Princeton). Although both were partially published in Leslie Marchand's edition of the poet's correspondence, neither has appeared in its entirety. In both cases, Marchand was working from a transcription in an auction catalogue. We now have the manuscripts themselves. Soon it will be time for a thorough survey of all of Byron's correspondence that has passed through the auction houses or has been presented in scholarly communications since the conclusion of Marchand's edition in 1994. Peter Cochran has published an essay in this direction already and has collected numerous other instances.1 The first of the two rediscovered letters presented here, from Byron to Edward Daniel Clarke (1769-1822), is part of the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Samuel Johnson at the Houghton Library of Harvard University. The entire letter has never been published, nor have its recipient and proper date been identified. It became part of the Hyde collection (bequeathed to Harvard in 2004), where it was inserted by the collector Robert Borthwick Adam (1833-1904) into an extra-illustrated edition of George Birkbeck Hill's Letters of Samuel Johnson (1892), at a point where Byron's name is mentioned in a footnote (MS Hyde 77). The complete text of the letter, written on a single sheet, is presented below. Byron first met E. D. Clarke, professor of Mineralogy at Cambridge, in October 1811,2 and shared with him a passion for the Near East, where Clarke had travelled extensively in the previous decade. In a November 1814 letter to Anabella Milbanke, Byron calls him 'the best & goodnatured of souls - and uniformly kind to me'.3 Byron's correspondence with Clarke frequently touches on the East,4 and Clarke's influence on Byron, and particularly on the Oriental Tales, deserves further investigation. One barrier to this has been the multitude of Cambridge professors named 'Clarke' (or 'Clark') mentioned in Byron's correspondence (a phenomenon that confused both Prothero and Marchand).5 As A. E. Shipley notes, Edward Daniel Clarke was known as 'Stone Clarke, the traveller, Professor of Mineralogy, 1808; University Librarian, 1817; to distinguish him from Bone Clark' - William Clark, the anatomist and physician who planned to travel to the East with Byron in 1814 - and 'Tone Clarke - i.e., John Clarke, afterwards Clarke-Whitfeld, Mus.D., Professor of Music, 1821'.6 Indeed, when Byron mentions a 'Dr. Clarke', one has to be particularly careful, particularly since both 'Stone' and 'Bone' are associated with Eastern travel in Byron's frame of reference. In this particular letter, as in others,7 Byron plays on the coincidence of names, referring here to John ('Tone') Clarke as E. D. Clarke's 'harmonious namesake'. Byron's letters to E. D. Clarke are now widely scattered: there are four at the British Museum,8 one at Princeton,9 one at the University of Texas,10 one at the Keats-Shelley House in Rome,11 one at the Wisbech Museum,12 and now two at Harvard,13 suggesting that others may well turn up singly. Meanwhile, this letter to E. D. Clarke should take its place as part of the record. January 10th 181414 My dear Sir, Many thanks for Sadi15 Dr. yourself and your harmonious namesake16 - to the two last I am infinitely indebted as I mean to be to the former. - Fogs - journeys - and business have hitherto prevented the due acknowledgements for your kindness which to me has been uniform and deeply felt since our first acquaintance. Dr. C. has sent me the Music for which I return him my most sincere thanks - if the works from which he has honoured me by taking ye words are deemed worthy his acceptance I will take an early opportunity of sending him ye latest E[ditio]ns of all - C[hilde] H[arold]e is at present out of print17 but Mr. Murray talks of an illustrated E[ditio]n & in that case I should wish my friends to have copies with Stothard's designs. …