o may be most clearly,
perhaps, communicated to my readers through the medium of the following
extract from a letter which Mr. Barry (the friend and banker of Lord
Byron) did me the favour of addressing to me, soon after his Lordship's
death:--"When Lord Byron went to Greece, he gave me orders to advance
money to Madame G * *; but that lady would never consent to receive any.
His Lordship had also told me that he meant to leave his will in my
hands, and that there would be a bequest in it of 10,000_l._ to Madame G
* *. He mentioned this circumstance also to Lord Blessington. When the
melancholy news of his death reached me, I took for granted that this
will would be found among the sealed papers he had left with me; but
there was no such instrument. I immediately then wrote to Madame G * *,
enquiring if she knew any thing concerning it, and mentioning, at the
same time, what his Lordship had said is to the legacy. To this the lady
replied, that he had frequently spoken to her on the same subject, but
that she had always cut the conversation short, as it was a topic she by
no means liked to hear him speak upon. In addition, she expressed a wish
that no such will as I had mentioned would be found; as her
circumstances were already sufficiently independent, and the world might
put a wrong construction on her attachment, should it appear that her
fortunes were, in any degree, bettered by it."]

[Footnote 52: This will remind the reader of Moliere's avowal in
speaking of wit:--"C'est mon bien, et je le prends partout ou je le
trouve."]

[Footnote 53: The History of Agathon, by Wieland.]

[Footnote 54: Between Wieland, the author of this Romance, and Lord
Byron, may be observed some of those generic points of resemblance which
it is so interesting to trace in the characters of men of genius. The
German poet, it is said, never perused any work that made a strong
impression upon him, without being stimulated to commence one, himself,
on the same topic and plan; and in Lord Byron the imitative principle
was almost equally active,--there being few of his poems that might not,
in the same manner, be traced to the strong impulse given to his
imagination by the perusal of some work that had just before interested
him. In the history, too, of their lives and feelings, there was a
strange and painful coincidence,--the revolution that took place in all
Wieland's opinions, from the Platonism and romance of his youthful days,
to the m