te 130: See what Moore says of this trait in Lord Byron.]

CHAPTER XXI.

THE VANITY OF LORD BYRON.

But it is incomprehensible that any one should have been found to accuse
Lord Byron of vanity. For is not the vain man one who lies in order to
appear better and more highly gifted than he really is; who knows full
well that the good opinion he so ardently seeks is not what he deserves;
who endeavors by every means to attract the attention of others; who
flatters in order to be flattered; whose willingness to oblige, whose
care and kindness, all flow from interested motives; whose whole
character savors of ostentation and show; and who despises humble
friends, in order to run after brilliant society and wear borrowed
plumes? All these signs indicate vanity. Can a single one be found in
Byron's character?

Surely our readers will not have forgotten that, for fear of making
himself out better, he always wished to appear worse than he was; that
he exaggerated the weaknesses common to most of us, and which every body
else hides, magnifying them into serious faults; that he never flattered
others, nor wished to be flattered himself; that he concealed the
services he rendered, the good he did; and kept aloof from those in
power so as to give himself more to true friendship.

We know besides that his love of _meriting_, rather than _obtaining_,
admiration, went so far as to make undeserved praise quite offensive to
him. If eulogiums did not seem to him duly bestowed, his soul, athirst
for justice and truth, repelled them indignantly. Blame, or harsh
criticism, annoyed him far less than unmerited praise or suffrages
obtained through favor or intrigue. At the moment he was about to
publish his first poem, "Childe Harold," which might naturally be
expected to prove the making of his literary reputation, Dallas having
given him some advice with a view to gaining popularity, Lord Byron
answered:--

"My work must make its way as well as it can; I know I have every thing
against me, angry poets and prejudices; but if the poem is a _poem_, it
will surmount these obstacles, and if _not_, it deserves its fate."

And then, when he discovered that his publisher had been taking steps to
obtain the approbation of Gifford, the great critic, he wrote
indignantly to Dallas, calling this proceeding of Murray's _a paltry
transaction_.

"The more I think, the more it vexes me," said he. "It is bad enough to
be a scribbler, without