een, and just emancipated from a
convent, was the selected victim.

The first time Lord Byron had ever seen this lady was in the autumn of
1818, when she made her appearance, three days after her marriage, at
the house of the Countess Albrizzi, in all the gaiety of bridal array,
and the first delight of exchanging a convent for the world. At this
time, however, no acquaintance ensued between them;--it was not till the
spring of the present year that, at an evening party of Madame
Benzoni's, they were introduced to each other. The love that sprung out
of this meeting was instantaneous and mutual, though with the usual
disproportion of sacrifice between the parties; such an event being, to
the man, but one of the many scenes of life, while, with woman, it
generally constitutes the whole drama. The young Italian found herself
suddenly inspired with a passion of which, till that moment, her mind
could not have formed the least idea;--she had thought of love but as an
amusement, and now became its slave. If at the outset, too, less slow to
be won than an Englishwoman, no sooner did she begin to understand the
full despotism of the passion than her heart shrunk from it as something
terrible, and she would have escaped, but that the chain was already
around her.

No words, however, can describe so simply and feelingly as her own, the
strong impression which their first meeting left upon her mind:--

"I became acquainted (says Madame Guiccioli) with Lord Byron in the
April of 1819:--he was introduced to me at Venice, by the Countess
Benzoni, at one of that lady's parties. This introduction, which had so
much influence over the lives of us both, took place contrary to our
wishes, and had been permitted by us only from courtesy. For myself,
more fatigued than usual that evening on account of the late hours they
keep at Venice, I went with great repugnance to this party, and purely
in obedience to Count Guiccioli. Lord Byron, too, who was averse to
forming new acquaintances,--alleging that he had entirely renounced all
attachments, and was unwilling any more to expose himself to their
consequences,--on being requested by the countess Benzoni to allow
himself to be presented to me, refused, and, at last, only assented from
a desire to oblige her.

"His noble and exquisitely beautiful countenance, the tone of his voice,
his manners, the thousand enchantments that surrounded him, rendered him
so different and so superior a being