dicating birth-aristocratically small. The lameness of his right foot, though an obstacle to grace, but little impeded the activity of his movements; and from this circumstance, as well as from the skill with which the foot was disguised by means of long trowsers, it would be difficult to conceive a defect of this kind less obtrud. ing itself as a deformity; while the diffidence which a constant consciousness of the infirmity gave to his first appoach and address made, in him, even lameless a source of interest.

MOORE'S FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE "MEMOIRS."

In laying before the reader these last extracts from the papers in my possession, it may be expected, perhaps, that I should say something,-in addition to what has been already stated on this subject,-respecting those Memoranda, or Memoirs, which, in the exercise of the discretionary power given to me by my noble friend, I placed, shortly after his death, at the disposal of his sister and executor, and which they, from a sense of what they thought due to his memory, consigned to the flames. As the circumstances, however, connected with the surrender of that manuscript, besidesrequiring much more detail than my present limits allow, do not, in any respect concern the character of Lord Byron, but effect solely my own, it is not here, at least that I feel myself called upon to enter into an explanation of them. The world will, of course continue, to think of that step as it pleases; but it is, after all, on a man's own opinion of his actions that his happiness chiefly depends, and I can only say that were I again placed in the same circumstances, I would-even at ten times the pecuniary sacrifice which my conduct then cost me-again act precisely in the same

manner.

For the satisfaction of those whose regret at the loss of that manuscript arises from some better motive than the mere disappointment of a prurient curiosity, I shall here add, that on the mysterious cause of the separation, it afforded no light whatever; that, while some of its details could never have been published at all, and little if any, of what it contained personal towards others could have appeared till long after the individuals concerned had left the scene, all that materially related to Lord Byron himself was (as I well knew when I made that sacrifice) to be found repeated in the various Journals and Memorandum-books, which, though uot all to

In speaking of this lameness at the commencement of my work, I forbore, both from my own doubts on the subject and the great variance I found in the recollections of others, from stating in which of his feet this lameness existed. It will, indeed, with difficulty be believed what uncertainty I found upon this point, even among those most intimate with him. Mr. Hunt in his book states it to have been the left foot that was deformed and this though contrary to my own impression, and, as it appears also, to the fact, was the opinion I found also of others who had been much in the habit of living with him. On applying to his early friends at Southwell and to the shoemaker of that town who worked for him so little prepared were they to answer with any certainty on the subject that it was only by recollecting that the lame foot "was the off one in going up the street" they at last came to the conclusion that his right limb was the one affected; and Mr. Jackson, his preceptor in pugilism, was, in like manner, obliged to call to mind whether his noble pupil was a right or left hand hitter before he could arrive at the same decision.

+ This description applies only to the Second Part of the Memoranda; there having been but little unfit for publication in the First Part; which was, indeed, read, as is well known, by many of the noble author's friends.

be made use of, were, as the reader has seen from the preceding pages, all preserved.

As far as suppression, indeed, is blameable, I have had in the course of this task, abundantly to answer for it: having, as the reader must have perceived, withheld a large portion of my materials, to which Lord Byron, no doubt, in his fearlessness of consequences, would have wished to give publicity, but which, it is now more than probable, will never meet the light.

AN AMUSING ANECDOTE.

(From a Letter from Lord Byron to Mr. Murray.)

"I have been in a rage these two days, and am still bilious therefrom. You shall hear a Captain of Dragoons, Hanoverian by birth, in the Papal troops

*

*

at present, whom I had obliged by a loan, when nobody would lend him a paul, recommended a horse to me on sale by Lieutenant an officer who unites the

sale of cattle to the purchase of men; I bought it. The next day, on shoeing the horse, we discovered the thrush-the animal being warranted sound. I sent to reclaim the contract and the money. The Lieutenant desired to speak with me in person; I consented; he came; it was his own particular request; he began a story; I asked him if he would return the money; he said, No, but he would exchange. He asked an exorbitant price for his other horses; I told him that he was a thief. He said he was an officer and a man of honour, and pulled out a Parmesan passport, signed by General Count Neifperg. I answered, that, as he was an officer, I would treat him as such; and that, as to his being a gentleman, he might prove it, by returning the money; as for his Parmesan passport, I should have valued it more if it had been a Parmesan cheese. He answered in bigh terms and said that if it were in the morning (it was about eight o'clock in the evening) he would have satisfaction. I then lost my temper. As for THAT,' I replied, you shall have it directly,-it will be mutual satisfaction, I can assure you, thief, and, as you say, an officer; my pistols are in the next room, loaded ; take one of the candles, examine, and make your choice of weapons.' He replied, that pistols were English weapons-he always fought with the sword, I told him that I was able to accommodate him, having three regimental swords in a drawer near us, and he might take the longest, and put himself on guard.

You are a

"All this passed in the presence of a third person. He then said, No; but to-morrow morning he would give me the meeting at any time or place. I answer. ed, that it was not usual to appoint meetings in the presence of witnesses, and that we had best speak man to man, and appoint time and instruments. But as the man present was leaving the room, Lieutenant *, before he could shut the door after him, ran out roaring" Help and murder" most lustily, and fell into a sort of hysteric in the arms of about 50 people, who all saw that I had no weapon of any sort or kind about me. I followed him, asking him what the devil was the matter with him. Nothing would do; he ran away without his hat, and went to bed ill of the fright. He then tried his complaint at the Police, which dismissed it as frivolous. He is, I believe, gone away, or going.

The horse was warranted, but, I believe, so worded, that the villain will not be obliged to refund, according to law. He endeavoured to raise up an indictment of assault and battery, but as it was in a public inn, in a frequented street, there were too many witnesses to the contrary; and, as a military man, he has not cut a martial figure, even in the opinion of the priest. He ran off in such a hurry that he left his hat, and never missed it until he got to his hotel, or inn. The facts are as I tell you I can asaure you. He began by coming Captain Grand over me,' or I should never have thought of trying his cunning in fence.' But what could I do? Hə talked of honour, and satisfaction, and his commission. He produced a military passport; there are severe punishments for regular duels on the Continent, and trifling ones for rencontres, so that it is best to fight it out directly; he had robbed, and then wanted to insult me. What could I do? My patience was gone, and the weapons at hand fair and equal. Besides, it was just after dinner, when my digestion was bad, and I don't like to be disturbed. His friend

at Forli; we shall meet on my way back to Ravenna. The Hanoverian seems the greater rogue of the two; and if my valour does not ooze away like Acre's-“Odds flints and triggers!” if it should be a rainy morning, and my stomach is in disorder, there may be something for the obituary."

'SHELLEY AND BYRON.

"There was no want of disposition towards acquaintance on either side, and an intimacy almost immediately sprung up between them. Among the tastes common to both, that for boating was not the least strong; and in this beautiful region they had more than ordinary temptations to indulge in it. Every evening, during their residence under the same roof at Sécheron, they embarked, accompanied by the la dies and Polidori, on the Lake; and to the feelings and fancies inspired by these excursions, which were not unfrequently prolonged into the hour of moonlight, we are indebted for some of those enchanting stanzas in which the poet has given way to his passionate love of Nature so fervidly.

"There breathes a living fragrance from the shore

Of flowers yet fresh with childhood; on the ear

Drips the light drop of the suspended oar.

At intervals, some bird from out the brakes

Starts into voice a moment, then is still.
There seems a floating whisper on the hill,
But that is fancy, for the starlight dews
All silently their tears of love instil,
Weeping themselves away."

"A person who was of these parties has thus described to me one of their evenWhen the bise or north-east wind blows, the waters of the Lake are driven

ings.

Childe Harold, Canto 3.

towards the town, and, with the stream of the Rhone, which sets strongly in the same direction, combine to make a very rapid current towards the harbour. Carelessly, one evening, we had yielded to its course, till we found ourselves almost driven on the piles; and it required all our rowers' strength to master the tide. The waves were high and inspiriting, we were all animated by our contest with the elements. I will sing you an Albanian song,' cried Lord Byron; "now, be sentimental, and give me all your attention." It was a strange, wild howl that he gave forth; but such as, be declared, was an exact imitation of the savage Albanian mode,-laughing, the while, at our disappointment, who had expected a wild Eastern melody.'

66

Sometimes the party landed, for a walk upon the shore, and, on such occasions, Lord Byron would loiter behind the rest, lazily trailing his sword-stick along, and moulding, as he went, his thronging thoughts into shape. Often too, when in the boat, he would lean abstractedly over the side, and surrender himself up, in silence, to the same absorbing task.

"The conversation of Mr. Shelley, from the extent of his poetic reading, and the strange, mystic speculations into which his system of philosophy led him, was of a nature strongly to arrest and interest the attention of Lord Byron, and to turn him away from worldly associations and topics into more abstract and untrodden ways of thought. As far as contrast, indeed, is an enlivening ingredient of such intercourse, it would be difficult to find two persons more formed to whet each other's faculties by discussion, as on few points of common interest between them did their opinions agree; and that this difference had its root deep in the conformation of their respective minds needs but a glance through the rich, glittering labyrinth of Mr. Shelley's pages to assure us."

BYRON'S VANITY.

'No petît-maitre (says Dr. Millingen) could pay more sedulous attention than he did to external appearance, or consult with more complacency the looking-glass. Even when en négligé, he studied the nature of the postures he assumed as attentively as if he had been sitting for his picture; and so much value did he attach to the whiteness of his hands, that in order not to suffer "the winds of heaven to visit them too roughly," he constantly, and even within doors, wore gloves. The lameness which he had from his birth, was a source of actual misery to him; and it was curious to notice with how much coquetry he endeavoured, by a thousand petty tricks, to conceal from strangers this unfortunate malconformation.'

BYRON'S ALLUSION TO HIS MARRIAGE,

(Extracted from an unfinished novel by Byron,)

A few hours afterwards we were very good friends, and a few days after she set out for Arragon, with my son, on a visit to her father and mother. I did not accom

pany her immediately, having been in Arragon before, but was to join the family in their Moorish chateau within a few weeks.

ness,

During her journey I received a very affectionate letter from Donna Josepha, apprizing me of the welfare of herself and my son. On her arrival at the chateau, I received another, still more affectionate, pressing me, in very fond, and rather foolish terms, to join her immediately. As I was preparing to set out from Seville, I received a third-this was from her father Don José di Cardozo, who requested me, in the politest manner, to dissolve my marriage. I answered him with equal politethat I would do no such thing. A fourth letter arrived-it was from Donna Josepha, in which she informed me that her father's letter was written by her particular desire. I requested the reason by return of post; she replied, by express, that as reason had nothing to do with the matter, it was unnecessary to give any - but that she was an injured and excellent woman. I then inquired why she had written to me the two preceding affectionate letters, requesting me to come to Arragon. She answered, that was because she believed me out of my senses-that, being unfit to take care of myself, I had only to set out on this journey alone, and, making my way without difficulty to Don José di Cardozo's, I should there have found the tenderest of wives and a straight waistcoat.

I had nothing to reply to this piece of affection but a reiteration of my request r some lights upon the subject. I was answered that they would only be related to the Inquisition. In the mean time, our domestic discrepancy had become a public topic of discussion; and the world, which always decides justly, not only in Arragon but in Andalusia, determined that I was not only to blame, but that all Spain could pro. duce nobody so blamable. My case was supposed to comprise all the crimes which could, and several which could not, be committed, and little less than an auto-da-fé was anticipated as the result. But let no man say that we are abandoned by our friends in adversity-it was just the reverse. Mine thronged around me to condemn, advise, and console me with their disapprobation. They told me all that was, would or could be said on the subject. They shook their heads they exhorted me-deplored me, with tears in their eyes, and-went to dinner.'-vol. ii., pp. 522, 523.

BYRON'S NON-CHRISTIANITY.

'It is with infinite regret I must state, that, although I seldom left Lord Byron's pillow during the latter part of his illness, I did not hear him make any, even the smallest mention of religion. At one moment I heard him say: "Shall I sue for mercy?" After a long pause, he added, " Come, come, no weakness! let me be a man to the last." -Millingen, p. 141.

ANECDOTE OF POLIDORI.

A dialogue which Lord Byron himself used to mention as having taken place be tween them during their journey on the Rhine, is amusingly characteristic of both the persons concerned. "After all," said the physician, "what is there you can do