My Recollections of Lord Byron
says Mr. Joy, 'of this considerate _courtesy_ by naming the day fixed
for our return to Padua, when our route would lead us to his door; and
we were welcomed with all the cordiality which was to be expected from
so friendly an invitation. Such traits of kindness in such a man deserve
to be recorded on account of the numerous slanders heaped upon him by
some of the tribes of tourists, who resented, as a personal affront, his
resolution to avoid their impertinent inroads upon his retirement.
"'So far from any appearance of indiscriminate aversion to his
countrymen, his inquiries about his friends in England were most anxious
and particular.
"'After regaling us with an excellent dinner (in which, by-the-by, a
very English joint of roast-beef showed that he did not extend his
antipathies to all John Bullisms), he took us in his carriage some miles
on our route toward Padua, after apologizing to my fellow-traveller for
the separation, on the score of _his anxiety to hear all he could of
his friends in England_: and I quitted him with a confirmed impression
of the strong ardor and sincerity of his attachment to those by whom he
did not fancy himself slighted or ill-treated!'"
It has been seen elsewhere[123] that Mr. Rose, speaking of Lord Byron's
sociable temper at Venice, said _his presence sufficed to diffuse joy
and gayety in the salons he frequented_."
When any worthy persons among his countrymen arrived, his _house_, his
_time_, his _purse_ were at _their service_.
For further proof, let people only read the details Captain Basil Hall
gave Murray of his intercourse with Byron.
"_His witty, clever conversation_," says Shelley, who visited him at
Venice in 1817, "_enlivened our winter nights and taught me to know my
own soul. Day dawned upon us, ere we perceived with surprise that we
were still listening to him._"
When he went from Venice to Romagna, he passed by Ferrara. But though
eager to arrive where his heart summoned him, he did not fail delivering
the letters of introduction given him by friends. At Ferrara he made the
acquaintance of a noble family, and went into society there, speaking of
it afterward in the most flattering manner.[124]
At Ravenna, he frequented all the salons where he was introduced; and at
the request of Count G----, became the _cavaliere servente_ of the young
countess. According to the custom of the country, he accompanied her to
assemblies or theatres, or spent his evenings in her family circle. At
Pisa, he held aloof from the world, because his friends, the Gambas, who
had taken refuge there in consequence of the troubles and political
enmities existing in Romagna, did not wish to mix in society. But he
passed all his evenings regularly with them, either at their house, or
sometimes dispensing hospitality at home with the greatest affability
and kindness.
"I believe I can not give a better proof of the sociability of Lord
Byron's disposition," says Medwin, "than by speaking of the gayety that
prevailed at his Wednesday dinner-parties at Pisa. His table, when
alone, was more than frugal; but on these occasions, every sort of wine,
and all the delicacies of the season, were served up in grand display,
worthy of the best houses. I never knew any one who did the honors of
his house with greater affability and hospitality than Lord Byron.
"The vivacity of his wit, the warmth of his eloquence, are things not to
be expressed. Could we forget the tone of his voice, or his gesture,
adding charm to all he said?"[125]
At Pisa he generally received in the morning all those who wished to see
him, and among others several of his countrymen, mostly acquaintances or
friends of Shelley, who also went to see him every day. In the afternoon
he rode out on horseback, still followed by his countrymen, and by the
young Count Gamba; amusing himself with them till evening came, in
shooting exercises or in long excursions. We have already said how he
employed his evenings. In fact, he was so seldom alone that people could
not understand how he found time for writing. He did find it, however,
and without subtracting from social intercourse. Nor was it solely
because he composed so rapidly, but likewise because he gave to
occupation the hours that young men are wont to pass in idle, not to say
vicious, amusements. When he went from Pisa to a villa situated on the
hills that overlook Leghorn and the Mediterranean, in order to pass the
great heats of summer there, an American painter, Mr. West, who had been
commissioned by an American society, requested him to sit for his
picture. Lord Byron could not give him much time, and the portrait was
not successful. But Mr. West, who, if not a good artist, possessed a
just and cultivated mind, drew a picture of his moral character as true
as it was flattering,--his pen doing him better service than his
brush:--
"I returned to Leghorn," says he, "hardly able to persuade myself that
this was the proud misanthrope whose character had ever appeared
shrouded in gloom and mystery. For I never remember having met with
_gentler, more attractive manners_ in my life. When I told him the idea
I had previously formed, what I had thought about him, he was extremely
amused, laughed a great deal, and said, 'Don't you find that I am like
every body else?'"
But Mr. Rogers thought him better than every body else, for he says:--
"From all I had observed, I left him under the impression that he
possessed an excellent heart, which had been _completely misunderstood_,
perhaps on account of his mobility and apparent likeness of manner.
Indeed he took a capricious pleasure in bringing out this contrast
between himself and others."
On quitting Pisa he went to Genoa, and there produced the same
impression on all who saw him until he left for Greece.
At this last stage of his life, the testimonies as to his amiable,
genial nature are so unanimous, from the time of his arrival to the day
of his death, that we can not refrain from quoting the language used by
some of those who saw him then.
"When I was presented to him," writes Mr. D---- to Colonel Stanhope, "I
was particularly struck with his _extremely graceful and affable
manners_, so opposite to what I had expected from the reputation given
him, and which painted him as _morose, gloomy_, almost _cynical_."[126]
"I took leave of him," writes Mr. Finlay, who was presented to Lord
Byron at Cephalonia, "quite enchanted, charmed to find a great man so
agreeable."[127]
Colonel Stanhope, afterward Lord Harrington, who had been sent to Greece
by the committee, and who only knew Lord Byron a few months before his
death, notwithstanding great discrepancies of idea and character, says
frankly, _that with regard to social relations, no one could ever have
been so agreeable_; that there was no pedantry or affectation about him,
but, on the contrary, that he was like a child for simplicity and
joyousness.
"In the evening all the English, who had not, like Colonel Stanhope,
turned Odyssean, assembled at his house, and till late at night enjoyed
the charm of his conversation. His character _so much differed from what
I had been induced to imagine from the relations of travellers_, that
either their reports must have been inaccurate, or his character must
have totally changed after his departure from Genoa. It would be
difficult, indeed impossible, to convey an idea of the pleasure his
conversation afforded. Among his works that which may perhaps be more
particularly regarded as exhibiting the mirror of his conversation, and
the spirit which animated it, is 'Don Juan.' The following lines from
Shakspeare seem as if prophetically written for him:--
"'Biron they call him; but a merrier man,
Within the limits of becoming mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk withal:
His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest;
While his fair tongue (conceit's expositor)
Delivers in such apt and gracious words,
That aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger, hearing, are quite ravished;
So sweet and voluble is his discourse.'"
Millingen says:--
"His wonderful mnemonic faculties, the rich and varied store with which
he had furnished his mind, his lively, brilliant, and ever-busy
imagination, his deep acquaintance with the world, owing to his
sagacious penetration, and the advantageous position in which, through
his birth and other circumstances, he had been placed, conjoined to the
highly mercurial powers of his wit, rendered his conversation peculiarly
interesting; enhanced, too, as it was by the charm of his fascinating
manners. Far from being the surly, taciturn misanthrope generally
imagined, I always found him dwelling on the lightest and merriest
subjects; carefully shunning discussions and whatever might give rise to
unpleasing reflections. Almost every word with him was a jest; and he
possessed the talent of passing from subject to subject with a
lightness, an ease, and a grace, that could with difficulty be matched.
Communicative to a degree that astonished us, and might not unfrequently
be termed indiscretion, he related anecdotes of himself and his friends
which he might as well have kept secret."
Several persons, influenced by the stories circulated against Lord
Byron, asked Dr. Kennedy whether his manners and exterior did not give
the idea of a demon incarnate. "Quite the contrary," replied Kennedy,
"_his appearance and manners give the idea of a man with an excellent
heart, both benevolent and feeling, and he has an amiable, sympathetic
physiognomy_. The impression he made on me was that of a man of refined
politeness and great affability, united to much gayety, vivacity, and
benevolence. His cordial affability even went so far that one was often
obliged to recall his rank and fame, in order not to be involuntarily
led away by his manner into too great familiarity with him."[128]
A short time after Lord Byron's death, one of the first English reviews
published an article on him entitled "Personal Character of Lord Byron."
It was written by a personage who had had several occasions, during Lord
Byron's last sojourn in Greece, of observing his habits, feelings and
opinions. Though often jealous of Lord Byron's influence in the country,
nevertheless when he could get rid of these bad feelings, he expressed
himself with tolerable justice:--
"Lord Byron's demeanor," says he, "was perhaps the most affable and
courteous I ever met with."
When he was in a good humor, and desirous to be on fair terms with any
one, there was a great charm, an irresistible fascination in his manner.
Though very gentle, it was always gay, with an air of great frankness
and generosity, qualities most real in him. "Lord Byron," he adds, "was
known for a sort of poetic misanthrope; but that existed much more in
public imagination than in reality. He liked society, and was extremely
kind and amiable, when calm. Instead of being gloomy, he was, on the
contrary, of a very gay disposition, and was fond of jesting; it even
amused him to witness comic scenes, such as quarrels between vulgar
buffoons, to make them drink, or lead them on in any other way to show
their drolleries. In his writings, certainly, he loved to paint a
character more or less the work of his imagination, and which therefore
was assigned to himself by public opinion: that is, a proud, haughty
being, despising all men, and disgusted with the human species. His
liking for bandits and pirates may have sprung from some tendencies of
his nature, some circumstances in his life; _but there was not the
smallest resemblance between the poet and the corsair_. Lord Byron's
heart was full of kindness and generosity, he took pride in splendid