lness
of his hopes; but the adulation was enjoyed to excess, and his
infirmities were aggravated by the surfeit. I did not, however, see
the progress of the change, as in the course of the summer I went to
Scotland, and soon after again abroad. But on my return, in the
following spring, it was very obvious.

I found him, in one respect, greatly improved; there was more of a
formed character about him; he was evidently, at the first glance,
more mannered, or endeavouring to be so, and easier with the
proprieties of his rank; but he had risen in his own estimation above
the honours so willingly paid to his genius, and was again longing
for additional renown. Not content with being acknowledged as the
first poet of the age, and a respectable orator in the House of
Lords, he was aspiring to the eclat of a man of gallantry; so that
many of the most ungracious peculiarities of his temper, though
brought under better discipline, were again in full activity.

Considering how much he was then caressed, I ought to have been proud
of the warmth with which he received me. I did not, however, so
often see him as in the previous year; for I was then on the eve of
my marriage, and I should not so soon, after my return to London,
have probably renewed my visits, but a foreign nobleman of the
highest rank, who had done me the honour to treat me as a friend,
came at that juncture to this country, and knowing I had been
acquainted with Lord Byron, he requested me to introduce him to his
Lordship. This rendered a visit preliminary to the introduction
necessary; and so long as my distinguished friend remained in town,
we again often met. But after he left the country my visits became
few and far between; owing to nothing but that change in a man's
pursuits and associates which is one among some of the evils of
matrimony. It is somewhat remarkable, that of the last visit I ever
paid him, he has made rather a particular memorandum. I remember
well, that it was in many respects an occasion not to be at once
forgotten; for, among other things, after lighter topics, he
explained to me a variety of tribulations in his affairs, and I urged
him, in consequence, to marry, with the frankness which his
confidence encouraged; subjoining certain items of other good advice
concerning a liaison which he was supposed to have formed, and which
Mr Moore does not appear to have known, though it was much talked of
at the time.

During that visit t