SITY ELEVATED INTO HEROISM 396

CHAPTER XVI.
HIS FAULTS 414

CHAPTER XVII.
HIS IRRITABILITY 427

CHAPTER XVIII.
HIS MOBILITY 450

CHAPTER XIX.
HIS MISANTHROPY AND SOCIABILITY 457

CHAPTER XX.
HIS PRIDE 484

CHAPTER XXI.
HIS VANITY 488

CHAPTER XXII.
LORD BYRON'S MARRIAGE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 504

CHAPTER XXIII.
HIS GAYETY AND MELANCHOLY 545

CHAPTER XXIV.
HIS MELANCHOLY 563

CHAPTER XXV.
ATTRACTION OF TRUTH FOR; OR, CONSCIENCE THE
CHIEF QUALITY OF HIS SOUL 631

SEMI-BIOGRAPHY OF BYRON IN MR. DISRAELI'S
"VENETIA" 656

MY RECOLLECTIONS, ETC.

INTRODUCTION.

"To know another man well, especially if he be a noted and
illustrious character, is a great thing not to be
despised."--SAINTE-BEUVE.

Many years ago a celebrated writer, in speaking of Lord Byron, who had
then been dead some years, said that so much had already been written
upon him that the subject had almost become commonplace, but was far
from being exhausted. This truth, indisputable when applied to Byron's
genius, his works, and to his intellect, was then and still is equally
positive when referring to his moral qualities. A subject as well as an
object may become commonplace by the quantity, but nevertheless remain
new and rare, owing to its quality. A subject can not be exhausted
before it has been seen under every one of its various aspects, and
appreciated in all its points. If much has been said of Lord Byron, has
his truly noble character been fairly brought to light? Has he not, on
the contrary, been judged rather as the author than the man, and have
not the imaginary creations of his powerful mind been too much
identified with reality? In the best biographies of his life do we not
meet with many gaps which have to be filled up--nay, worse, gaps filled
up with errors which have to be eradicated to make room for the truth?
The object of this work is precisely to do away with these errors and to
replace them by facts, and to dispel the shadows which fancy has raised
around his name. For the old opinions we wish to substitute new
appreciations, by weighing exactly the measure of truth which