he was as
usual gay, spoke in terms of the warmest commendation of Sir Walter
Scott, not only as an author, but as a man, and dwelt with apparent
delight on his novels, declaring that he had read and re-read them
over and over again, and always with increased pleasure. He said
that he quite equalled, nay, in his opinion, surpassed Cervantes. In
talking of Sir Walter's private character, goodness of heart, &c.,
Lord Byron became more animated than I had ever seen him; his colour
changed from its general pallid tint to a more lively hue, and his
eyes became humid: never had he appeared to such advantage, and it
might easily be seen that every expression he uttered proceeded from
his heart. Poor Byron!--for poor he is even with all his genius, rank,
and wealth--had he lived more with men like Scott, whose openness of
character and steady principle had convinced him that they were in
earnest in _their goodness_, and not _making believe_, (as he always
suspects good people to be,) his life might be different and happier!
Byron is so acute an observer that nothing escapes him; all the shades
of selfishness and vanity are exposed to his searching glance, and the
misfortune is, (and a serious one it is to him,) that when he finds
these, and alas! they are to be found on every side, they disgust
and prevent his giving credit to the many good qualities that often
accompany them. He declares he can sooner pardon crimes, because they
proceed from the passions, than these minor vices, that spring from
egotism and self-conceit. We had a long argument this evening on the
subject, which ended, like most arguments, by leaving both of the same
opinion as when it commenced. I endeavoured to prove that crimes were
not only injurious to the perpetrators, but often ruinous to the
innocent, and productive of misery to friends and relations, whereas
selfishness and vanity carried with them their own punishment, the
first depriving the person of all sympathy, and the second exposing
him to ridicule which to the vain is a heavy punishment, but that
their effects were not destructive to society as are crimes.

He laughed when I told him that having heard him so often declaim
against vanity, and detect it so often in his friends, I began to
suspect he knew the malady by having had it himself, and that I had
observed through life, that those persons who had the most vanity were
the most severe against that failing in their friends. He wished to
i