OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA I. Das Erscheinen des Gedichtes und seine Beurteilung durch die zeitgenössische Kritik. Byron schrieb die,Siege of Corinth' in der zweiten Hälfte des Jahres 1815. An ihre Abfassung knüpft sich, wenn wir Medwin Glauben schenken dürfen, eine traurige Reminiscenz. Dieser lässt den Dichter sagen (Conversations of Lord Byron &c. A new edition. London 1824, p. 45): "I had been shut up in a dark street in London, writing (I think he said),The Siege of Corinth', and had refused myself to every one till it was finished. I was surprised one day by a Doctor and a Lawyer almost forcing themselves at the same time into my room. I did not know till afterwards the real object of their visit. I thought their questions singular frivolous, and somewhat importunate, if not impertinent: but what should I have thought, if I had known that they were sent to provide proofs of my insanity?” Mag übrigens dieses Geschichtchen wahr sein oder nicht, jedenfalls waren seine häuslichen Verhältnisse zu dieser Zeit schon recht unerquicklich, ohne indessen auf seine Schaffenskraft lähmend einzuwirken. Moore bemerkt über diesen Punkt (The Life, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron by Thomas Moore. London, John Murray, 1866, p. 307a): "It is, indeed, worthy of remark, that it was not till his domestic circumstances began to darken around him that his fancy, which had long been idle, again rose upon the wing, both The Siege of Corinth and Parisina having been produced but a short time before the separation.” Auf die zweite dieser Dichtungen müssen sich folgende Worte in einem Briefe an Murray vom 4. Nov. 1815 (Letter 230, bei Moore aao. p. 289b) beziehen: "And now to the last my own, which I feel ashamed of after the others; publish or not as you like, I don't care one damn. If you don't, no one else shall, and I never thought or dreamed of it, except as one in the collection. If it is worth being in the fourth volume, put it there and nowhere else; and if not, put it in the fire." Dafür spricht vor allem ihre inhaltliche Ähnlichkeit mit dem unten abgedruckten Briefe vom 3. Jan. 1816. Wenn Byron hier den Titel des betr. Werkes nicht nennt, so war doch Murray jedenfalls durch frühere mündliche Mitteilungen desselben genügend instruiert, um zu wissen, um was es sich handle. Den Wunsch, dass das Werk nicht in Separatausgabe erscheinen, sondern sofort einer Gesamtausgabe seiner bisherigen Werke einverleibt werden sollte, hatte Byron seinem Verleger schon bei Übersendung von Lara in Bezug auf dies Gedicht ausgesprochen (Letter 184, aao. p. 256 a). Der der Sendung selbst beigelegte Begleitbrief ist weder bei Moore noch m. W. sonstwo gedruckt. Murray quittierte über den Empfang in folgendem Schreiben, abgedruckt in dem kürzlich erschienenen Werke: ‚A Publisher and His Friends. Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray, with an Account of the Origin and Progress of the House, 1768-1843. Samuel Smiles, LL. D. Vol. I. London 1891', p. 353 f.: "My Lord, I tore open the packet you sent me, and have found in it a Pearl. It is very interesting, pathetic, beautiful do you know, I would almost say moral. I am really writing to you before the billows of the passions you excited have subsided. I have been most agreeably disappointed (a word I cannot associate with the poem) at the story, which what you hinted to me and wrote had alarmed me; and I should not have read it aloud to my wife, if my eye had not traced the delicate hand that transcribed it. This poem is all action and interest: not a line but what is necessary. Now, I do think that you should fragmentize the first hundred, and condense the last thirty, of,Corinth', and then you have, in words of the highest compliment, two poems (as Mr. H. said) as good as any you have written I will answer for Mr. Gifford and. to conclude (a bargain), say that they are mine for the enclosed, and add to the obligations of" &c. Die Worte: "what you hinted to me and wrote", beziehen sich jedenfalls auf die obigen überbescheidenen Bemerkungen vom 4. Nov., vielleicht zugleich auf entsprechende Äusserungen über Parisina in dem ungedruckten Begleitbriefe. Die beigeschlossenen 1000 Guineen für das Verlagsrecht der beiden Gedichte lehnte Byron ab mit der Begründung, dass dieselben nicht so viel wert seien. Der betreffende Brief ist datiert vom 3. Jan. 1816 und lautet folgendermassen (Letter 236, bei Moore aao. p. 299): "Your offer is liberal in the extreme. and much more than the two poems can possibly be worth; but I cannot accept it, nor will not. You are most welcome to them as additions to the collected volumes, without any demand or expectation on my part whatever. But I cannot consent to their separate publication. I do not like to risk any fame (whether merited or not), which I have been favoured with, upon compositions which I do not feel to be at all equal to my own notions of what they should be, (and as I flatter myself some have been, here and there), though they may do very well as things without pretension, to add to the publication with the lighter pieces. I am very glad that the handwriting was a favourable omen of the morale of the piece: but you must not trust to that, for my copyist would write out any thing I desired in all the ignorance of innocence I hope, however, in this instance, with no great peril to either. -- P. S. I have inclosed your draft torn, for fear of accidents by the way I wish you would not throw temptation in mine. It is not from a disdain of the universal idol, nor from a present superfluity of his treasures, I can assure you, that I refuse to worship him; but what is right, is right, and must not yield to circumstances." Also Lady Byron hatte die Reinschrift besorgt. Der Dichter selbst hat diese Arbeit zu allen Zeiten als eine sehr lästige empfunden; er schreibt z. B. an Murray am 16. April 1820 (Letter 368, bei Moore aao. p. 441b): “I am naturally . . anxious to hear that they (sc. Packete mit Manuscripten) are arrived; especially as I loathe the task of copying so much, that if there was a human being that could copy my blotted MSS. he should have all they can ever bring for his trouble." Nur daraus erklärt sich, dass Byron seine Gattin, trotz bereits |