his door most of the
leading names of the day presented themselves. From morning till night
the most flattering testimonies of his success crowded his table from
the grave tributes of the statesman and the philosopher down to (what
flattered him still more) the romantic billet of some _incognita_, or
the pressing note of invitation from some fair leader of fashion; and,
in place of the desert which London had been to him but a few weeks
before, he now not only saw the whole splendid interior of high life
thrown open to receive him, but found himself among its illustrious
crowds the most distinguished object."

I may also mention Dallas, who in speaking of this unexampled success,
says:--

"Lord Byron had become the subject of every conversation in town.

"He was surrounded with honors. From the regent and his admirable
daughter, down to the editor and his clerk; from Walter Scott and
Jeffrey down to the anonymous authors of the 'Satirist' and the
'Scourge,' all and each extolled his merits. He was the admiration of
the old, and the marvel of the fashionable circles of which he had
become the idol."

This adoration of a whole nation did not turn his head, but it touched
and rejoiced his heart. When he knew himself forgiven and loved by those
even whom he had most offended in his satire, toward whom he felt most
guilty, as, for instance, the excellent Lord Holland, who asked for his
friendship, predicting his future fame as an orator, and already placing
him beside Walter Scott as a poet; then by Lord Fitzgerald, who declared
himself incapable of feeling angry with "Childe Harold," and many, many
others; when all this occurred, Lord Byron's heart expanded to the
better feelings he had long kept under control and hidden. He gave way
to his innate kindness, to generous forgiveness; his own good qualities
were stimulated by the kindness and generosity of others; this, rather
than any satisfaction of self-love, dispelled the clouds from his soul,
changed the sky and atmosphere, and his melancholy of that period, which
owed its source to the heart, became neutralized by the heartfelt
satisfaction he experienced. His letters, and particularly those to
Moore, are full of life and animation at this time; and such as he
appeared in his letters, such did Moore describe him in his habitual
frame of mind. Dallas, who before had so often seen him melancholy,
says:--

"I am happy to think that the success with which he has met, a