The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-02 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE

Is this month highly entertaining, whether as re-
gards amusement or instruction, 'wit, or fancy ?
Among the contributors we find Mr. Hood, whose
talents were well known as a humourist of very
original cast. He has here given an address in
poetry to Mr. Bish, which is very smart and pun-
gent. As an interesting extract, we give the fol-
lowing spirited portrait of Lord Byron :

" All merit has a right to be recorded." So says Toni
Davies in the outset of his Life of Garrick. The sentence
smacks of Samuel Johnson ; arid perhaps it would have
been more correct to say,—" MI merit ought to be re.
corded," I respect the collectors of small anecdotes of
great men. James Boswell has been ridiculed for his trivial
anecdotes of Johnson. But what would we not give for
a work equally trivial that should trace the private life and
conversation of Shakspeare?

I first became acquainted with Lord Byron in 1812,
when the new Drury-lane Theatre opened. The com-
mittee (of which he not long after became a member) ap-
plied to him, as all the World knows, for an opening
address,—none of those advertised for, being
to the
." He contributed it, and Elliston spoke it,
a"allcouplet in it somewhat like the following :
;i:r 'who beheld, with awe, the God of flames
lila red shadow o'er the startled Thames.
I quote kph; Ingin„ y couplet (tilt
-T the coet t e tll4t

caught my ear, on my entrance behind the scene. When
my further acquaintance with Lord Byron authorized the
freedom. I asked him whether he should pot have used the
word " reflection" in lieu of shadow ; and whether a
shadow could have a colour? Hs answered with a smile,
—" To be sure it can. What says Wordsworth ?
" The swans on sweet St. Mary's lake
" Swim double : swan and shadow."

There is a shadow with a white body, black legs, and a
yellow back." I did not push the subject. When I first
saw him, he was sitting in the Green-room of Drury-lane
Theatre, on the right side of the fire-place. Mr. Whitbread
was standing with his back to the fire with Lady Elizabeth
on his arm, and was congratulating Pope on his engage-
ment at that theatre. So many people have risen iuto.
life since the departure of that extraordinary poet, that an
account more minute than any that has yet appeared, of
his dress and person, may, perhaps, interest. The figure
of Lord Byron was about the middle site: erect and well
proportioned, with the exception of one of the feet, which
was truncated of about half its quantity. This deprived
him of the spring in that limb, and obliged him to use the
leg as if it were a wooden one. His face was expressive
rather of hauteur than of any other quality. It was void
of colour, and had I met it on the shoulders of Mr. Tre-
maine, I should have thought it characteristically disposed
of. His hair was dark brown and curly, and seemed to be
set off with some unguent. He wore no whiskers : his
eyes were light grey, and rolled in their orbit in a very
peculiar way, as if they were surveying the attitude of the
party to whom he addressed himself. Of his dress, the
most remarkable part was his cravat. It consisted of a
narrow slip of white sarsnet, and the shirt collar was
rolled over it. I rather suspect he piqued himself on the
beauty of his throat. For the rest, lie wore a brown or
black coat, and in the morning white Russia duck troweers,
very wide, with a broad strap under the foot. The object
of this was to veil as much as possible the mutilated limb.
In the evening his trowsers were white jean, equally wide.
He had a handsome gold watch, and a,rich chain and seal
of the same material. These were hooked into the third
button of the waistcoat, and hung across in a semicircle :
when any thing either tickled or troubled him (and this
happened generally about a dozen times in the course of an
evening) he would twirl his watch-key with nervous
rapidity.
I dined with Lord Byron at Mr. Murray's in Albemarle-
street : Sir John Malcolm, and two other gentlemen,
whose names I have forgptten, formed the party. Lord
Byron, at that time, had a project of visiting Persia, and
asked Sir John Malcolm what he must do to equip himself
for the journey. " The first thing you must do," said the
other, " is to cut off your buttons," (he wore a blue coat
with gilt buttons ou that evening). "My buttons! pray
why ?" " Why, to secure your life; a cloth button in
Persia may get on pretty well, but gilt metal would cause
you to be waylaid and murdered. .The temptation is too
great." Perhaps this induced tht.Noble Poet to.give up
his scheme. I observed that at dinner-he ate nothing but
turbot, which he sauced with a considerable quantity of
vinegar. He was lively and jocose in.hie conversation, with
a tendency to sarcasm. I mentioned the drama of the Maid
and the Magpie, which Miss' Kelly's talents had just
brought into great celebrity.' .He said he did not think
much of it. " Nay, surely,'-' said,l,." it is a very interest-
ing story." " I don't. think so," answered his Lordship.
" Only put yourself in-the situation of that poor girl," re-
plied I. " I can't," retorted Lord Byron : " I never was
innocent of stealing a silver spoon in all my life."
After coffee, f ord Byron stood by the fire, resting his el-
bow upon the chimney piece, and his head upon his hand.
I stood by him and observed what a parsimonious dinner he
had made. ' He said, ." Yes : it is only to he done by
,starvation ; fat is an oily dropsy." I asked him what lie
meant. He answered, "To be thin ;—nothing is to be
done without it : no man ofgenius was ever fat." I men-
tioned Samael Johnson, Beattie, and Gibbon: " Men of
learning," he answered, " and perhaps of talents, but not
of genius." I then said, " What 'cla you say to David
Hume ?" He answered, with a laugh--
" Thefattest hog in Epicurus' stye."-
. . _ _ _

" When I was at school- at Harrow," continued Lord
Byron, looking around him, and speaking in a lower note,
" I was as fat as Lord Sligo. This disgraceful infirmity
I afterwards determined to get rid of. Accordingly, when
I quitted school and came to town, I got some dresses of
flannel, to envelope me from head to foot. Thus dressed, I
stood at the wicket, while my servants bowled to ine, two
or three hours in the day." " your" Blair
succeed?" " Pertly ; noreatirtge`-T\i;eirinit'lheO
fuse perspiration!, but was not reduced as I eXpected. I
therefore determined to effect the rest by starvation. You
observed what I ate for dinner to day. Well, this is Satur-
41:4;irttsSiog&aiai Indeed ! why
'
mwr •• icw'iwyet;---so
saying, he drew from his waistcoat pocket a snuff-box, and
opening it, showed me several black substances, of which
I could not guess the quality or use. " These," continued
Lord Byron, " are preparations of tobacco. ' To-morrow I
shall drink some green tea for breakfast; and at five o'clock
chew three of these fi.,, dinner. They will absorb the gas-
tric juices of the stomach, and prevent the sensation of
hunger. I have told you how fat I was at Harrow ; lend
me your hand what do you think of me now ?" Thus
speaking, he passed my hand down his left side. " I can
count every rib in your body." " Indeed?' lam delighted
to hear you say so." •

Any one who has seen, as I have, Lord Byron and 'Ma-
dame de Steel in the same party, has seen one star too
many. The lady was fond of lecturing, and the Lord never
condescended to that office : consequently lie was rather
silent. Madame de Stael was attended by Miss Lydia
White, who echoed her sentiments". "'I never could ma-
nage the mathematics," said Madame de Stael. " Nor
I," said Lydia ; I never could even learn the multiplication
table." " Nay, I cannot go that length," replied Ma-
dame ; and Lord Byron muttered " Fairly lurched."
To return to the theatre. Daring Lord Byron's admi-
nistration, a ballet was invented by the elder Byrne, in
which Miss Smith (since Mrs. Oscar Byrne) had a pas
seal. This the lady wished to remove to a later period in
the ballet. The ballet-master refused, and the lady swore
she would not dance it at all. The muric incidental to the
dance began to play, and the lady walked off the stage.
Both parties flounced into the Green-room to lay the case
before Lord Byron, who happened to be the only person in
that apartment. The noble committee-man made an award
in favour of Miss Smith, and both complainants rushed angrily
out of the room at the instant of my entering it. "If
you had come a minute sooner," said Lord Byron, " you
would have heard a curious matter decided on by ale : • a
question of dancing !—by me," added he, looking down at
'the lame limb, " whom Nature from my birth has pro-
hibited from taking a single step." His countenance fell
after he had uttered this, as if he had raid too much; and
for a moment there was an embarrassing silence on both
sides.

Jack Johnstone, one evening, talked of one of the Thes-
pian fraternity, who had got into what he called "the de-
vil's own scrape." " What, is he married ?" inquired Lord
Byron. " Worse, my Lord." " Indeed," said the Peer,
" can there be a pejority?" The word is not in the Dic-
tionary, but I think it should be.