Part 4 (1/2)

On entering the House, he is described to have appeared abashed and pale: he passed the woolsack without looking round, and advanced to the table where the proper officer was attending to adh them, the chancellor quitted his seat, and went towards hi out his hand in a friendly manner to welcome him, but he ers the chancellor's hand, who iiven of this important incident by Mr Dallas, ith hi When Lord Eldon advanced with the cordiality described, he expressed with becoed hie--”Your Lordshi+p has done your duty, and no more,” was the cold reply, in the words of Tom Thumb, and which probably was the cause of the marked manner of the chancellor's cool return to his seat

The satire was published anonymously, and immediately attracted attention; the sale was rapid, and a new edition being called for, Byron revised it The preparations for his travels being completed, he then embarked in July of the same year, with Mr Hobhouse, for Lisbon, and thence proceeded by the southern provinces of Spain to Gibraltar

In the account of his adventures during this journey, he seeree, the hazards to which he was exposed But ht pen

That of Lisbon has always been admired for its justness, and the mixture of force and familiarity

What beauties doth Lisboa's port unfold!

Her i on that noble tide, Which poets vainly pave with sands of gold, But nohereon a thousand keels did ride, Of th since Albion was allied, And to the Lusians did her aid afford

A nation sith ignorance and pride, Who lick, yet loathe, the hand that waves the sword To save the lord

But whoso entereth within this town, That sheening for celestial seems to be, Disconsolate ander up and down, 'Mid e to see, For hut and palace show like filthily; The dingy denizens are reared in dirt; No personage of high or ree Doth care for cleanness of surtout and shi+rt, Though shent with Egypt's plague, unke the interest which he afterwards took in the affairs of Greece, it is reh Spain, at the period he has described, without feeling any sympathy with the spirit which then ani onward to an unknown goal, he paused not to inquire as to the earnestness of the patriotic zeal of the Spaniards, nor once drea a part in their heroic cause

CHAPTER VIII

First Acquaintance with Byron--Ee

It was at Gibraltar that I first fell in with Lord Byron I had arrived there in the packet froland, in indifferent health, onI only went a trip, intending to return ho a feeeks in Malta, Sicily, and Sardinia; having, before my departure, entered into the Society of Lincoln's Inn, with the design of studying the law

At this tiht, of the artillery, was secretary to the Governor; and during the short stay of the packet at the Rock, he invitedother civilities gave arrison library

The day, I well rely sultry The air was sickly; and if the as not a sirocco, it was a withering levanter--oppressive to the functions of life, and to an invalid denying all exercise Instead of ra over the fortifications, I was, in consequence, constrained to spend the hottest part of the day in the library; and, while sitting there, a young man came in and seated hi

So in his appearance attracted my attention His dress indicated a Londoner of some fashi+on, partly by its neatness and simplicity, with just so h he belonged to the order of ether a coan to conjecture where I could have seen him; and, after an unobserved scrutiny, to speculate both as to his character and vocation His physiognoent, but ever and anon his broered and gathered; a habit, as I then thought, with a degree of affectation in it, probably first assuetic expression; but which I afterwards discovered was undoubtedly the occasional scowl of soreeable--forbidding--but still the general cast of his features was ie party asse others the Countess of Westmorland, with Tom Sheridan and his beautiful wife; and it happened that Sheridan, in relating the local news of the , mentioned that Lord Byron and Mr Hobhouse had come in from Spain, and were to proceed up the Mediterranean in the packet

He was not acquainted with either

Hobhouse had, a short time before I left London,, published certain translations and poems rather respectable in their way, and I had seen the work, so that his nae to h Review had lish Bards and Scotch Reviewers, but I was not conscious of having seen the persons of either

On the following evening I embarked early, and soon after the two travellers canised the visitor to the library, and he proved to be Lord Byron In the little bustle and process of ee, his Lordshi+p affected, as it seemed to me, more aristocracy than befitted his years, or the occasion; and I then thought of his singular scowl, and suspected hi was not agreeable, but it was interesting; and that forehead et conjectures

Hobhouse, with ers at once; but Byron held hi on the , as it were, poetical sylooht

There was in all about hi much ardness; he spoke petulantly to Fletcher, his valet; and was evidently ill at ease with hiht he would turn out an unsatisfactory shi+p in the tones of his voice, when, soain addressed Fletcher; so that, instead of finding him ill-natured, I was soon convinced he was only capricious