with him. The Chancellor did not press a
welcome so received, but resumed his seat ;
while Lord Byron carelessly seated himself
for a few minutes on one of the empty
benches to the left of the throne, usually
occupied by the Lords in opposition. When,
on his joining me, I expressed what I had
felt, he said; " If I had shaken hands
heartily, he would have set me down for
one of his party — but I will have nothing
to do with any of them, on either side ; I
have taken my seat, and now I will go
abroad." We returned to St. James's-
street, but he did not recover his spirits.
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 55
The going abroad was a plan on which his
thoughts had tui'ned for some time ; I did
not, however, consider it as determined, or
so near at hand as it proved. In a few
days he left town for Newstead Abbey,
after seeing the last proof of the Satire,
and writing a short preface to the Poem.
In a few weeks I had the pleasure of send-
ing him an account of its success, in the
following letter, dated April 17, 1809 :
" The essence of what I have to
say was comprised in the few lines I
wrote to you in the cover of my letter
to Mr. H**. Your Satire has had a
rapid sale, and the publisher thinks the
edition will soon be out. However, what
I have to repeat to you is a legitimate
source of pleasure, and I request you will
receive it as the tribute of genuine praise.
In the first place, notwithstanding our
precautions,y ou are already pretty generally
56 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
known to be the author. So Cawthorn tells
me; and a proof occurred to myself at
Hatchard's, the Queen's Bookseller. On
inquiring for the Satire, he told me that he
had sold a great many, and had none left,
and was going to send for more, which I
afterwards found he did. I asked who was
the author ? He said it was believed to be
Lord Byron s. Did he believe it? Yes,
he did. On asking the ground of his belief,
he told me that a lady of distinction had,
without hesitation, asked for it as Lord
Byron's Satire. He likewise informed me
that he had inquired of Mr. GifFord, who
frequents his shop, whether it was yours.
Mr. Gifford denied any knowledge of the
author, but spoke very highly of it, and said
a copy had been sent to him. Hatchard
assured me that all who came to his read-
ing-room admired it. Cawthorn tells me
it is universally well-spoken of, not only
among his own customers, but generally at
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 57
all the booksellers'. I heard it highly
praised at my own publishers', where I have
lately called several times. At Philhps's
it was read aloud by Pratt to a circle of
literary guests, who were unanimous in
their applause :— The Antijacobin, as well
as the Gentleman s Magazine, has already
blown the trump of fame for you. We
shall see it in the other Reviews next
month, and probably in some severely
handled, according to the connexions of
the proprietors and editors with those
whom it lashes. I shall not repeat my
own opinion to you; but I will repeat the
request I once made to you, never to consi-
der me as a flatterer. Were you a mo-
narch, and had conferred on me the most
munificent favours, such an opinion of me
would be a signal of retreat, if not of in-
gratitude : but if you think me sincere, and
like me to be candid, I shall delight iji your
fame, and be happy in your friendship."
58 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
The success of the Satire brought him
quickly to town. He found the edition al-
most exhausted, and began the preparations
for another, to which he determined to prefix
his name. I saw him constantly; and in
about a fortnight found the Poem com-
pletely metamorphosed, and augmented
nearly four hundred lines, but retaining the
whole of the first impression. He happily
seized on some of the vices which at that
juncture obtruded themselves on the public
notice, and added some new characters to
the list of authors with censure or applause.
Among those who received the meed of
praise,2it gave me great pleasure to find my
excellent friend Waller Rodwell Wright,
whose poem " Horae Ionics," was just pub-
lished*. He allowed me to take home
with me his manuscripts as he wrote them ;
* Mr. Wright was, at that time, Recorder of Bury St.
Edmunds; and is now in a liigh judicial situation at Malta.
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 59
and so soon as the 10th of May I had a
note from him, urging that they should
to be sent to the press. He was desi-
rous of hastening the new edition in
order that he might see the last proofs
before he left England; for, during his
stay at Newstead Abbey, he had ar-
ranged with Mr. Hobhouse his plan of
going abroad early in June, but whither, I
believe, was not exactly settled ; for he
sometimes talked to me of crossing the line,
sometimes of Persia and India. As I per-
ceived the new edition not only concluded in
a most bitter strain, and contained besides
a prose postscript in which I thought he
allowed his feeUngs to carry him to an
excess of abuse and defiance that looked
more like the vaunting ebullition of
" Some fiery youth of new commission vam
Who sleeps on brambles till he kills his man,"
than the dignified revenge of genius, I en-
60 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
deavoured to prevail upon him to suppress
or alter it, as the proofs which I corrected
passed my hands, but was only able to obtain
some modification of his expressions. The
following letter, which was the last that I
wrote to him respecting the Satire before
he left England, will show how strenuous
I was on this point, and also the liberty
which he allowed me to take ;
" Not being certain that I shall see you
to-day, I write to tell you that I am angry
with myself on finding that I have more
deference for form, than friendship for the
author of * English Bards and Scotch Re-
viewers.' The latter prompted me to tear
the concluding pages, left at Cawthorn's ;
the former withheld me, and I was weak
enough to leave the lines to go to the
printer. You have been so kind as to
sacrifice some lines to me before. I be-
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 61
seech you to sacrifice these, for in every
respect they injure the Poem, they injure
you, and are pregnant with what you do
not mean. I will not let you print them.
I am going to dine in St. James's-place
to-day at five o'clock, and in the hope of
having a battle with you, I will be in St.
James's-street about four."
Very soon after this the Satire appeared
in its new form, but too late for its author
to enjoy his additional laurels before he
left England. I was with him almost every
day while he remained in London. Misan-
thropy, disgust of life leading to scepti-
cism and impiety, prevailed in his heart and
embittered his existence. He had for some
time past been grossly attacked in several
low publications, which he bore however
with more temper than he did the blind
headlong assault on his genius by the
Edinburgh Review. Unaccustomed to fe-
62 RECOLLECTIONS OP THE
male society, he at once dreaded and
abhorred it; and spoke of women, such I
mean as he neither dreaded nor abhorred,
more as playthings than companions. As
for domestic happiness he had no idea of
it. " A large family," he said, " appeared
like opposite ingredients mixed perforce in
the same salad, and he never relished the
composition." Unfortunately, having never
mingled in family circles, he knew nothing
of them ; and, from being at first left out of
them by his relations, he was so completely
disgusted that he avoided them, especially
the female part. *' I consider," said he,
" collateral ties as the work of prejudice,
and not the bond of the heart, which must
choose for itself unshackled." It was in
vain for me to argue that the nursery, and
a similarity of pursuits and enjoyments in
early life, are the best foundations of friend-
ship and of love ; and that to choose freely,
the knowledge of home was as requisite as
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 03
that of wider circles. In those wider cir-
cles he had found no friend, and but few
companions, whom he used to receive with
an assumed gaiety, but real indifference at
his heart, and spoke of with little regard,
sometimes with sarcasm. He used to talk
of one young man, who had been his
school-fellow, with an affection which he
flattered himself was returned. I occasion-
ally met this friend at his apartments, before
his last excursion to Newstead. Their
portraits, by capital painters, were ele-
gantly framed, and surmounted with their
respective coronets, to be exchanged. How-
ever, whether taught by ladies in revenge
to neglect Lord Byron, or actuated by a
frivolous inconstancy, he gradually lessened
the number of his calls and their duration.
Of this, however. Lord Byron made no
complaint, till the very day I went to take
my leave of him, which was the one pre-
vious to his departure. I found him bursting
64 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
with indignation. " Will you believe it,"
said he, " I have just met * * *, and asked
him to come and sit an hour v^ith me ; he
excused himself; and what do you think
was his excuse? He was engaged with
his mother and some ladies to go shopping !
And he knows I set out to-morrow, to be
absent for years, perhaps never to return !
Friendship ! — I do not believe I shall leave
behind me, yourself and family excepted,
and perhaps my mother, a single being
who will care what becomes of me."
At this period of his life his mind was full
of bitter discontent. Already satiated with
pleasure, and disgusted with those compa-
nions who have no other resource, he had re-
solved on mastering his appetites ; he broke
up his harams ; and he reduced his palate
to a diet the most simple and abstemious ;
but the passions of the heart were too
mighty, nor did it ever enter his mind to
LfFE OF LORD BYRON. G5
overcome them: resentment, anger, and
hatred held full sway over him, and his
greatest gratification at that time was in
overcharging his pen with gall, which
flowed in every direction against indivi-
duals, his country, the world, the universe,
creation, and the Creator. He might have
become, he ought to have been, a different
creature ; and he but too well accounts for
the unfortunate bias of his disposition in
the following lines : — •
E'en I — least thinking of a thoughtless throng,
Just skiird to know the right and. choose the wrong,
Freed at that age when Reason's shield is lost,
To fight my course through Passion's countless host;
Whom every path of Pleasure's flowery way
Has lured in turn, and all have led astray .
I took leave of him on the 10th of June,
1809, and he left London the next morning:
his objects were still unsettled; but he
wished to hear from me particularly on the
subject of the Satire, and promised to inform
F
6t> RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
me how to direct to him when he could
so with certainty ;— it was, however, long
before I heard from him. After some time
I wrote to him ; directing, at a chance, to
Malta, informing him of the success of his
Poem.
Leaving England with a soured mind,
disclaiming all attachments, and even belief
in the existence of friendship, it will be no
wonder if it shall be found that Lord Byron,
during the period of his absence, kept up
little correspondence with any persons in
England. A letter, dated at Constantino-
ple, is the only one I received from him, till
he was approaching the shores of England
in the Volage frigate. To his mother he
wrote by every opportunity. Upon her
death, which happened very soon after his
arrival, and before he saw her, I was con-
versing with him about Newstead, and ex-
pressing my hope that he would never be
persuaded to part with it ; he assured me
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 67
he would not, and promised to give me a
letter which he had written to his mother
to that effect, as a pledge that he never
would. His letters to her being at New-
stead, it was some time before he performed
his promise ; but in doing it he made me a
present of all his letters to her on his leaving
England and during his absence; saying,
as he put them into my hands, " Some day
or other they will be curiosities." They
are written in an easy style, and if they do
not contain all that is to be expected from
a traveller, what they do contain of that
nature is pleasant ; and they strongly mark
the character of the writer.
T2
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
CHAPTER IV.
LORD BYRON'S TRAVELS IN 1809, 1810, and isii.
The Letters which Lord Byron had thus
given to me were twenty in number. They
consisted of two short ones written from
Newstead, at the end of 1808; one written
from London, in March, 1809; fifteen writ-
ten during his travels from Falmouth,
Gibraltar, Malta, Previsa, Smyrna, Con-
stantinople, Athens, and Patras, in 1810
and 181 1 ; one written on board the Volage
frigate, on his approach to England when
returning ; and a short note from London, to
announce his intention of going down to
Newstead.
These letters were the only ones Lord
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 69
Byron wrote during his travels, with the
single exception of letters of business to
his agent. Letter-writing was a matter of
irksome duty to him, but one which he felt
himself bound to perform to his mother.
The letters are sometimes long and full of
detail, and sometimes short, and mere inti-
mations of his good health and progress,
according as the humour of the moment
overcame or not his habitual reluctance to
the task. I cannot but lament that any
circumstances should deprive the British
public of such lively and faithful delinea-
tions of the mind and character of Lord
Byron as are to be found in these letters.
They do not, it is true, contain the informa-
tion which is usually expected from a
talented traveller through an interesting
country; but they do contain the index and
guide which enables the reader to travel
into that more interesting region — the
mind and heart of such a man as Lord
70 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
Byron ; and though it might be desirable
that he should have given a fuller descrip-
tion of his travels, it is highly satisfactory
that he should unconsciously have left the
means of penetrating into the natural cha-
racter of so singular a being.
Lord Byron's letters to his mother are
more likely to furnish these means than
any thing else that he has left us ; because
they contain the only natural expression of
his feelings, freely poured forth in the very
circumstances that excited them, v^ith no
view at the time to obtain or keep up a
particular character, and therefore v^^ith no
restraint upon his own character. This was
never afterwards the case.
From the moment that the publication
of Childe Harolds Pilgrimage placed him,
as it were, by the wand of an enchanter,
upon an elevated pedestal in the Temple of
Fame, he could not write any thing even
in famihar correspondence, which was not
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 71
in some degree influenced by the idea of
supporting a character; especially as, after
the death of his mother, he had no corre-
spondent to whom he made it a duty,
at certain intervals, to communicate his
thoughts.
It is, therefore, in the natural turn of
thought, not shewn forth by any expression
of decided opinions, but rather permitted
to be seen in the light touches and unpre-
meditated indications of feeling, with which
these letters abound, that the original cha-
racter of Lord Byron is more surely to be
traced. I say his original character, because
so great an alteration took place at least in
the degree, if not in the nature of it, after
the publication of his first great poem, that
the traits which might give us an insight
into his mind at the one period, will scarcely
afford us ground to form any judgment of it
at the other. I deeply regret that being
prevented from making any thing like quo-
72 RECOLLECTIONS OP THE
tations from these letters, it is impossible
for me to convey in any adequate degree
the spirit of the character which they dis-
play.
At Newstead, just before his coming of
age, he planned his future travels ; and his
original intention included a much larger
portion of the world than that which he
afterwards visited. He first thought of
Persia, to which idea indeed he for a long
time adhered. He afterwards meant to sail
for India ; and had so far contemplated this
project as to write for information from the
Arabic Professor at Cambridge, and to ask
his mother to inquire of a friend who had
lived in India, what things would be neces-
sary for his voyage. He formed his plan of
travelling upon very different grounds from
those which he afterwards advanced. All
men should travel at one time or another, he
thought, and he had then no connexions to
prevent him ; when he returned he might
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 73
enter into political life, for which travelling
would not incapacitate him, and he wished
to judge of men by experience. He had
been compared by some one to Rousseau,
but he disclaimed any desire to resemble
so illustrious a lunatic ; though he wished to
live as much by himself and in his own
way as possible.
While at Newstead at this time, and in
contemplation of his intended departure, he
made a will which he meant to have for-
mally executed as soon as he came of age.
In it he made a proper provision for his
mother, bequeathing her the manor of New-
stead for her life. How different a will
from that which, with so different a mind
and heart, he really executed seven years
afterwards !
A short time after this a proposal was
made to him by his man of business to sell
Newstead Abbey, which made his mother
uneasy upon the subject. To set her mind
74 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
at ease he declared, in the strongest terms,
that his own fate and Newstead were inse-
parable ; stating, at the same time, the
fittest and noblest reasons why he should
never part with Newstead, and affirming
that the finest fortune in the country should
not purchase it from him. The letter in
which he had written his sentiments on this
subject, was that which he gave to me to
keep as a pledge that he never would dis-
pose of Newstead. Nor was it, indeed, until
he had abandoned himself to the evil influ-
ence which afterwards beset him, that he
forgot his solemn promise to his mother, and
the pledge of honour which he voluntarily
put into my hands, and then bartered the
last vestige of the inheritance of his family.
He left London in June, 1809; and his
acute sensibility being deeply wounded at
his relation's conduct when taking his seat
in the House of Lords, and by the disap-
pointment he had experienced on parting
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 75
with the friend whom he had beheved to be
so affectionately attached to him, he talked
of a regretless departure from the shores of
England, and said he had no wish to revisit
any thing in it, except his mother and New-
stead Abbey. The state of his affairs an-
noyed him also much. He had consented
to the sale of his estate in Lancashire, and
if it did not produce what he expected, or
what would be sufficient for his emergencies,
he thought of entering into some foreign
service ; the Austrian, the Russian, or even
the Turkish, if he liked their manners.
Amongst his suite was a German servant,
who had been abeady in Persia with Mr.
Wilbraham, and a lad whom he took with
him, because he thought him, like himself,
a friendless creature ; and to the few regrets
that he had felt on leaving his native coun-
try, his heart made him add that of parting
with an old servant, whose age prevented
his master from hoping to see him again.
76 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
The objects that he met with in his
journey as far as Gibraltar, seemed to have
occupied his mind, to the exclusion of his
gloomy and misanthropic thoughts ; for the
letter which he wrote to his mother from
thence contains no indication of them, but,
on the contrary, much playful description
of the scenes through which he had passed.
The beautiful Stanzas, from the 16th to
the 30th of the first Canto of Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage, are the exact echoes
of the thoughts which occurred to his mind
at the time, as he went over the spot
described. In going into the library of the
convent of Mafra the monks conversed with
him in Latin, and asked him whether the
English had any books in their country.
From Mafra he went to Seville, and was not
a little surprised at the excellence of the
horses and roads in Spain, by which he was
enabled to travel nearly four hundred miles
in four days, without fatigue or annoyance.
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 77
At Seville Lord Byron lodged in the
house of two unmarried ladies, one of whom,
however, was going to be married soon ;
and though he remained there only three
days she did not scruple to pay him the
most particular attentions, which, as they
were women of character, and mixing in
society, rather astonished him. His Se-
villean hostess embraced him at parting
with great tenderness, cutting off a lock of
his hair and presenting him with a very
long one of her own, which he forwarded
to his mother in his next letter. With this
specimen of Spanish female manners, he
proceeded to Cadiz, where various incidents
occurred to him calculated to confirm the
opinion he had formed at Seville of the
Andalusian belles, and which made him
leave Cadiz with regret, and determine to
return to it.
Lord Byron kept no journal ; while his
companion, Mr. Hobhouse, was occupied
78 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
without ceasing in making notes. His
aversion to letter-writing also occasions
great chasms in the only account that can
be obtained of his movements from himself.
He wrote, however, to his mother from
Malta, merely to announce his safety; and
forwarded the letter by Mrs. Spencer Smith,
whose eccentric character and extraordi-
nary situation very much attracted his
attention. He did not write again until
November, 1809, from Previsa.
Upon arriving at Yanina, Lord Byron
found that Ali Pacha was with his troops in
Illyricum besieging Ibrahim Pacha inBerat;
but the Vizier, having heard that an Eng-
lish nobleman was in his country, had
given orders at Yanina to supply him with
every kind of accommodation free of all
expense. Thus he was not allowed to pay
for any thing whatever, and was forced to
content himself with making presents to
the slaves. From Yanina he went to Te-
LIFE OF LORD BYRON. 79
paleen, a journey of nine days, owing to
the autumnal torrents which retarded his
progress. The scene which struck him
upon entering Tepaleen, at the time of the
sun s setting, recalled to his mind the de-
scription of Branksome Castle, in Scott's
Lay of the Last MinstreL The different
objects which presented themselves to his
view when arriving at the Pacha's palace, —
the Albanians in their superb costume — -
the Tartars and the Turks with their sepa-
rate peculiarities of dress — the row of two
hundred horses, ready caparisoned, waiting
in a large open gallery — the couriers which
the stirring interest of the neighbouring
siege made to pass in and out constantly —
the military music — the boys repeating the
hour from the Minaret of the Mosque, — are
all faithfully and exactly described as he
saw them, in the 55th and following stanzas,
to the 60th of the second Canto of Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage.
80 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
He was lodged in the palace, and the
next day introduced to Ali Pacha.— Ali
said, that the English minister had told
him that Lord Byron's family was a great
one ; and he desired him to give his respects
to his mother, which his Lordship faithfully
delivered immediately. The Pacha de-
clared that he knew him to be a man of
rank from the smallness of his ears, his
curling hair, and his little white hands ; and
told him to consider himself under his pro-
tection as that of a father while he remained
in Turkey, as he looked on him as his
son ; and, indeed, he showed how much he
considered him as a child, by sending him
sweetmeats, and fruit, and nice things re-
peatedly during the day.
In going in a Turkish ship of war, pro-
vided for him by Ali Pacha, from Previsa,
intending to sail for Patras, Lord Byron was
very nearly lost in but a moderate gale of
wind, from the ionorance of the Turkish
LIFE OP LORD BYRON. 81
officers and sailors — the wind, however,
abated, and they were driven on the coast of
SuH. The confusion appears to have been
very great on board the galHot, and some-
what added to by the distress of Lord By-
ron's valet, Fletcher, whose natural alarms
upon this, and other occasions; and his