The next morning he gave us a song upon the Doctor, to the tune of "The Vicar and Moses." "I have often wished," said I to Lord Byron one day, "to know how you passed your time after your return from Greece in 1812." "There is little to be said about it," replied he. "Perhaps it would have "been better had I never returned! I "had become so much attached to the Morea, its climate, and the life I led "there, that nothing but my mother's 66 death* and my affairs would have "brought me home. However, after an "absence of three years, behold! I was * In August 1811. again in London. My Second Canto "of 'Childe Harold' was then just pub 'lished; and the impersonation of my self, which, in spite of all I could say, "the world would discover in that poem, "made every one curious to know me, 66 and to discover the identity. I received every where a marked attention, was "courted in all societies, made much of 66 66 by Lady Jersey, had the entré at Devonshire-house, was in favour with Brum"mel, (and that was alone enough to "make a man of fashion at that time;) "in fact, I was a lion-a ball-room bard 66 -a hot-pressed darling! 'The Corsair' put my reputation au comble, and had a "wonderful success, as you may suppose, "by one edition being sold in a day. "Polidori, who was rather vain, once 66 66 66 asked me what there was he could not do as well as I? I think I named four things-that I could swim four miles write a book, of which four thousand copies should be sold in a day*—drink "four bottles of wine-and I forget what "the other was, but it is not worth men 66 66 tioning. However, as I told you be fore, my Corsair' was sufficient to cap"tivate all the ladies. "About this period I became what "the French call un homme à bonnes 66 fortunes, and was engaged in a liaison, "—and, I might add, a serious one. *The fact is that nearly 10,000 of several of Lord Byron's productions have been sold on the first day of publication. 66 "The lady had scarcely any personal attractions to recommend her. Her figure, though genteel, was too thin to "be good, and wanted that roundness which elegance and grace would vainly supply. She was, however, young, "and of the first connexions. Au reste, "she possessed an infinite vivacity, and 66 66 an imagination heated by novel-reading, “which made her fancy herself a heroine "of romance, and led her into all sorts of "eccentricities. She was married, but it 66 66 was a match of convenance, and no couple could be more fashionably indif"ferent to, or independent of one another, "than she and her husband. It was at "this time that we happened to be "thrown much together. She had never "been in love-at least where the affec"tions are concerned, and was perhaps "made without a heart, as many of the 66 66 sex are; but her head more than supplied the deficiency. "I was soon congratulated by my "friends on the conquest I had made, "and did my utmost to shew that I was “not insensible to the partiality I could "not help perceiving. I made every "effort to be in love, expressed as much "ardour as I could muster, and kept 66 feeding the flame with a constant sup ply of billets-dour and amatory verses. "In short, I was in decent time duly 66 and regularly installed into what the "Italians call service, and soon became, ' in every sense of the word, a patito. 66 "It required no (Edipus to see where "all this would end. I am easily govern |