whose
appearance distinctly recalled Conrad.

That peaceful men, leading a regular monotonous life in the midst of
civilized Europe, or persons who have only travelled over their maps or
their books, quietly seated in their library--that they should find
characters like Conrad's eccentric, and the incidents of such a career
improbable, may easily be conceived; but it is not the less true that
both are in perfect keeping with each other and with truth.

I might say the same thing of "Childe Harold." But having spoken of this
character sufficiently elsewhere, in order to repel the unjust
identification of the Pilgrim with the author,--for "Childe Harold"
appears to me the personification of a moral idea, of the accidental
transitory state of a soul placed under certain circumstances, rather
than type,--I will only add here, that this unjust identification was
also caused by that craving which Lord Byron experienced of leaning, in
all things, on reality, on facts acquired through his own experience.
For although it is incorrect to imagine that he made use of his
looking-glass for drawing the portraits of his heroes, since the glass
could not even for a passing moment--such as suffices only for a
daguerreotype--have converted his gentle, beautiful expression of face
into the dark countenance of a Harold, a Giaour, a Conrad, or a Lara;
still it is true that he lent them some of his own noble, fine
lineaments, some faint shadow of his beauty, and that more than once he
committed the fault of placing them in situations exactly similar to his
own, even going so far as to install his heroes within the ancient abbey
of Newstead,--a hospitality that cost him dear.

Characters that had produced a strong impression on him easily became
models for the personages portrayed in his poems. It was the terrible
Ali Pasha of Yanina who furnished the most striking features depicted in
the heroes of his Eastern poems. The reports current about Ali Pasha's
uncle served to lend their share of truth; and we may say, in general,
that those acquainted with Lord Byron and his history possessed the clew
to his imaginary personages; they could even recognize his Adelinas,
Dudus, Gulbeyazs, Angelinas, Myrrhas, Adahs; and having first taken his
stand on earth, it cost his fancy very little to soar and idealize what
might else have been too commonplace.

As to the historical characters, we are certain of finding them in the
most authentic histories