he most friendly intimacy with him.

"I have often lamented that I kept no notes of his observations during
our rides and aquatic excursions. Nothing could exceed the vivacity and
variety of his conversation, or the cheerfulness of his manner. His
remarks on the surrounding objects were always original: and most
particularly striking was the quickness with which he availed himself of
every circumstance, however trifling in itself, and such as would have
escaped the notice of almost any other person, to carry his point in
such arguments as we might chance to be engaged in. He was feelingly
alive to the beauties of nature, and took great interest in any
observations, which, as a dabbler in the arts, I ventured to make upon
the effects of light and shadow, or the changes produced in the colour
of objects by every variation in the atmosphere.

"The spot where we usually mounted our horses had been a Jewish
cemetery; but the French, during their occupation of Venice, had thrown
down the enclosures, and levelled all the tombstones with the ground, in
order that they might not interfere with the fortifications upon the
Lido, under the guns of which it was situated. To this place, as it was
known to be that where he alighted from his gondola and met his horses,
the curious amongst our country people, who were anxious to obtain a
glimpse of him, used to resort; and it was amusing in the extreme to
witness the excessive coolness with which ladies, as well as gentlemen,
would advance within a very few paces of him, eyeing him, some with
their glasses, as they would have done a statue in a museum, or the wild
beasts at Exeter 'Change. However flattering this might be to a man's
vanity, Lord Byron, though he bore it very patiently, expressed himself,
as I believe he really was, excessively annoyed at it.

"I have said that our usual ride was along the sea-shore, and that the
spot where we took horse, and of course dismounted, had been a cemetery.
It will readily be believed, that some caution was necessary in riding
over the broken tombstones, and that it was altogether an awkward place
for horses to pass. As the length of our ride was not very great,
scarcely more than six miles in all, we seldom rode fast, that we might
at least prolong its duration; and enjoy as much as possible the
refreshing air of the Adriatic. One day, as we were leisurely returning
homewards, Lord Byron, all at once, and without saying any thing to me,
set