, gave a
reality to the notion formed of him by his admirers which seemed to
authorise them in imagining still more; and what has been said of the
poet Young, that he found out the art of "making the public a party to
his private sorrows," may be, with infinitely more force and truth,
applied to Lord Byron.

On that circle of society with whom he came immediately in contact,
these personal influences acted with increased force, from being
assisted by others, which, to female imaginations especially, would
have presented a sufficiency of attraction, even without the great
qualities joined with them. His youth,--the noble beauty of his
countenance, and its constant play of lights and shadows,--the
gentleness of his voice and manner to women, and his occasional
haughtiness to men,--the alleged singularities of his mode of life,
which kept curiosity alive and inquisitive,--all these lesser traits and
habitudes concurred towards the quick spread of his fame; nor can it be
denied that, among many purer sources of interest in his poem, the
allusions which he makes to instances of "_successful_ passion" in his
career[45] were not without their influence on the fancies of that sex,
whose weakness it is to be most easily won by those who come recommended
by the greatest number of triumphs over others.

That his rank was also to be numbered among these extrinsic advantages
appears to have been--partly, perhaps, from a feeling of modesty at the
time--his own persuasion. "I may place a great deal of it," said he to
Mr. Dallas, "to my being a lord." It might be supposed that it is only
on a rank inferior to his own such a charm could operate; but this very
speech is, in itself, a proof, that in no class whatever is the
advantage of being noble more felt and appreciated than among nobles
themselves. It was, also, natural that, in that circle, the admiration
of the new poet should be, at least, quickened by the consideration that
he had sprung up among themselves, and that their order had, at length,
produced a man of genius, by whom the arrears of contribution, long due
from them to the treasury of English literature, would be at once fully
and splendidly discharged.

Altogether, taking into consideration the various points I have here
enumerated, it may be asserted, that never did there exist before, and
it is most probable never will exist again, a combination of such vast
mental power and surpassing genius, with so many other of