FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   >>  
sary to consider his actions to perceive the contradiction they bore to his words: it was necessary to be witness of certain moments, during which unforeseen and involuntary emotion forced him to give himself entirely up to his feelings; and whoever beheld him then, became aware of the stores of sensibility and goodness of which his noble heart was full. "Among the many occasions I had of seeing him thus overpowered, I shall mention one relative to his feelings of friendship. A few days before leaving Pisa, we were one evening seated in the garden of the Palazzo Lanfranchi. A soft melancholy was spread over his countenance;--he recalled to mind the events of his life; compared them with his present situation and with that which it might have been if his affection for me had not caused him to remain in Italy, saying things which would have made earth a paradise for me, but that even then a presentiment that I should lose all this happiness tormented me. At this moment a servant announced Mr. Hobhouse. The slight shade of melancholy diffused over Lord Byron's face gave instant place to the liveliest joy; but it was so great, that it almost deprived him of strength. A fearful paleness came over his cheeks, and his eyes were filled with tears as he embraced his friend. His emotion was so great that he was forced to sit down. "Lord Clare's visit also occasioned him extreme delight. He had a great affection for Lord Clare, and was very happy during the short visit that he paid him at Leghorn. The day on which they separated was a melancholy one for Lord Byron. 'I have a presentiment that I shall never see him more,' he said, and his eyes filled with tears. The same melancholy came over him during the first weeks that succeeded to Lord Clare's departure, whenever his conversation happened to fall upon this friend." Of his feelings on the death of his daughter Allegra, this lady gives the following account:--"On the occasion also of the death of his natural daughter, I saw in his grief the excess of paternal tenderness. His conduct towards this child was always that of a fond father; but no one would have guessed from his expressions that he felt this affection for her. He was dreadfully agitated by the first intelligence of her illness; and when afterwards that of her death arrived, I was obliged to fulfil the melancholy task of communicating it to him. The memory of that frightful moment is stamped indelibly on my mind. F
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   >>  



Top keywords:

melancholy

 

affection

 

feelings

 

moment

 

friend

 

daughter

 

presentiment

 

emotion

 

forced

 

filled


strength
 

fulfil

 

obliged

 
separated
 

communicating

 

fearful

 

Leghorn

 

frightful

 
indelibly
 

stamped


occasioned

 

paleness

 
embraced
 

cheeks

 

extreme

 
delight
 

memory

 

excess

 

paternal

 

tenderness


agitated
 

occasion

 
intelligence
 
natural
 

conduct

 

guessed

 

expressions

 

father

 

account

 

succeeded


departure
 

arrived

 

dreadfully

 

conversation

 
happened
 

Allegra

 

deprived

 

illness

 

tormented

 
occasions