[686] Siria, i.e. bitch-star.
[MO] I have seen—no matter what—we now shall see.—[MS. erased.]
[687] {506}[Parolles [see All's Well that Ends Well, passim] is Brougham (vide ante, the suppressed stanzas, Canto I. [pp. 67-69]). It is possible that this stanza was written after the Canto as a whole was finished. But, if not, an incident which took place in the House of Commons, April 17, 1823, during a debate on Catholic Emancipation, may be quoted in corroboration of Brougham's unreadiness with regard to the point of honour. In the course of his speech he accused Canning of "monstrous truckling for the purpose of obtaining office," and Canning, without waiting for Brougham to finish, gave him the lie: "I rise to say that that is false" (Parl. Deb., N.S. vol. 8, p. 1091).
There was a "scene," which ended in an exchange of explanations and quasi-apologies, and henceforth, as a rule, parliamentary insults were given and received without recourse to duelling. Byron was not aware that the "old order" had passed or was passing. Compare Hazlitt, in The Spirit of the Age, 1825, pp. 302, 303: "He [Brougham] is adventurous, but easily panic-struck, and sacrifices the vanity of self-opinion to the necessity of self-preservation ... himself the first to get out of harm's way and escape from the danger;" and Mr. Parthenopex Puff (W. Stewart Rose), in Vivian Grey (1826, i. 186, 187), "Oh! he's a prodigious fellow! What do you think Booby says? he says, that Foaming Fudge [Brougham] can do more than any man in Great Britain; that he had one day to plead in the King's Bench, spout at a tavern, speak in the House, and fight a duel—and that he found time for everything but the last.">[
[MP] There was, too, Henry B——.—[MS. erased.]
[688] [In his Journal for December 5, 1813, Byron writes: "The Duke of —— called.... His Grace is a good, noble, ducal person" (Letters, 1898, ii. 361). Possibly the earlier "Duke of Dash" was William Spencer, sixth Duke of Devonshire, an old schoolfellow of Byron's, who was eager to renew the acquaintance (Letters, 1899, iii. 98, note 2); and, if so, he may be reckoned as one of the guests of "Norman Abbey.">[
[689] {507}[Gronow (Reminiscences, 1889, i. 234-240) identifies the Chevalier de la Ruse with Casimir Comte de Montrond (1768-1843), back-stairs diplomatist, wit, gambler, and man of fashion. He was the lifelong companion, if not friend, of Talleyrand, who pleaded for him: "Qui est-ce qui ne l'aimerait pas, il est si vicieux!" At one time in the pay of Napoleon, he fell under his displeasure, and, to avoid arrest, spent two years of exile (1812-14) in England. "He was not," says Gronow, "a great talker, nor did he swagger ... or laugh at his own bons-mots. He was demure, sleek, sly, and dangerous.... In the London clubs he went by the name of Old French." He was a constant guest of the Duke of York's at Oatlands, "and won much at his whist-table" (English Whist, by W.P. Courtney, 1894, p. 181). For his second residence in England, and for a sketch by D'Orsay, see A Portion of the Journal, etc., by Thomas Raikes, 1857, frontispiece to vol. iv., et vols. i.-iv. passim. See, for biographical notice, L'Ami de M. de Talleyrand, par Henri Welschinger, La Revue de Paris, 1895, Fev., tom. i. pp. 640-654.]
[690] [Perhaps Sir James Mackintosh—a frequent guest at Holland House.]
[691] {508}[Possibly Colonel (afterwards Sir James) Macdonell [d. 1857], "a man of colossal stature," who occupied and defended the Château of Hougoumont on the night before the battle of Waterloo. (See Gronow, Reminiscences, 1889, i. 76, 77.)]
[692] [Sir George Prevost (1767-1816), the Governor-General of British North America, and nominally Commander-in-chief of the Army in the second American War, contributed, by his excess of caution, supineness, and delay, to the humiliation of the British forces. The particular allusion is to his alleged inaction at a critical moment in the engagement of September 11, 1814, between Commodore Macdonough and Captain Downie in Plattsburg Bay. "A letter was sent to Capt. Downie, strongly urging him to come on, as the army had long been waiting for his co-operation.... The brave Downie replied that he required no urging to do his duty.... He was as good as his word. The guns were scaled when he got under way, upon hearing which Sir George issued an order for the troops to cook, instead of that of instant co-operation."—To Editor of the Montreal Herald, May 23, 1815, Letters of Veritas, 1815, pp. 116, 117. See, too, The Quarterly Review, July, 1822, vol. xxvii. p. 446.]