to your proposition about inscribing the vase--which is,
that it would appear _ostentatious_ on my part; and of
course I must send it as it is, without any alteration.
Yours ever, BYRON."]

"We had a good deal of laughing, I remember, on what the public might
be supposed to think, or say, concerning the gloomy and ominous nature
of our mutual gifts.

"I think I can add little more to my recollections of Byron. He was
often melancholy--almost gloomy. When I observed him in this humor, I
used either to wait till it went off of its own accord, or till some
natural and easy mode occurred of leading him into conversation, when
the shadows almost always left his countenance, like the mist rising
from a landscape. In conversation he was very animated.

"I met with him very frequently in society; our mutual acquaintances
doing me the honor to think that he liked to meet with me. Some very
agreeable parties I can recollect--particularly one at Sir George
Beaumont's--where the amiable landlord had assembled some persons
{p.032} distinguished for talent. Of these I need only mention the
late Sir Humphry Davy, whose talents for literature were as remarkable
as his empire over science. Mr. Richard Sharpe and Mr. Rogers were
also present.

"I think I also remarked in Byron's temper starts of suspicion, when
he seemed to pause and consider whether there had not been a secret,
and perhaps offensive, meaning in something casually said to him. In
this case, I also judged it best to let his mind, like a troubled
spring, work itself clear, which it did in a minute or two. I was
considerably older, you will recollect, than my noble friend, and had
no reason to fear his misconstruing my sentiments towards him, nor had
I ever the slightest reason to doubt that they were kindly returned on
his part. If I had occasion to be mortified by the display of genius
which threw into the shade such pretensions as I was then supposed to
possess, I might console myself that, in my own case, the materials of
mental happiness had been mingled in a greater proportion.

"I rummage my brains in vain for what often rushes into my head
unbidden--little traits and sayings which recall his looks, manner,
tone, and gestures; and I have always continued to think that a crisis
of life was arrived, in which a new career of fame was opened to him,
and that had he been permitted to start upon it, he would hav