od graces. She says,--

'"That," said Byron, "is precisely one of the ideas that most amuses
me. I often fancy the rage and humiliation of my quondam friends in
hearing the truth, at least from me, for the first time, and when I am
beyond the reach of their malice. . . . What grief," continued Byron,
laughing, "could resist the charges of ugliness, dulness, or any of
the thousand nameless defects, personal or mental, 'that flesh is heir
to,' when reprisal or recantation was impossible? . . . People are in
such daily habits of commenting on the defects of friends, that they
are unconscious of the unkindness of it. . . Now, I write down as well
as speak my sentiments of those who think they have gulled me; and I
only wish, in case I die before them, that I might return to witness
the effects my posthumous opinions of them are likely to produce in
their minds. What good fun this would be! . . . You don't seem to
value this as you ought," said Byron with one of his sardonic smiles,
seeing I looked, as I really felt, surprised at his avowed
insincerity. "I feel the same pleasure in anticipating the rage and
mortification of my soi-disant friends at the discovery of my real
sentiments of them, that a miser may be supposed to feel while making
a will that will disappoint all the expectants that have been toadying
him for years. Then how amusing it will be to compare my posthumous
with my previously given opinions, the one throwing ridicule on the
other!"'

It is asserted, in a note to 'The Noctes,' that Byron, besides his
Autobiography, prepared a voluminous dictionary of all his friends and
acquaintances, in which brief notes of their persons and character were
given, with his opinion of them. It was not considered that the
publication of this would add to the noble lord's popularity; and it has
never appeared.

In Hunt's Life of Byron, there is similar testimony. Speaking of Byron's
carelessness in exposing his friends' secrets, and showing or giving away
their letters, he says,--

'If his five hundred confidants, by a reticence as remarkable as his
laxity, had not kept his secrets better than he did himself, the very
devil might have been played with I don't know how many people. But
there was always this saving reflection to be made, that the man who
could be guilty of such extravagances for the sake of making an
impression m