Medwin's Conversations of...
The Times, 1824-10-23T00:00:00

IlhS book, from. whtich a weekly mincellany haa, by anticipation, taken some of the most curous passages, Co. pied by us into Tlwe Times, is published this day. It does not aimtat authorship; but, like Boswzl'.s Lf fJoiohnson, proesses to gve merely the actual conversations of iheher' ofthe work. 1 tis full of curious matter, but it is not arr2nged with mruch ordcr, 'nor are the occasional remarks of the ie. porter indlicative of uncoinmon ability or sagacity: at ihe samne time it must be allowed, that they =re quite un- pretending, and for the st part in a good spirist , the Conversations are evidently authentic,_they are ex- tremely valuable, as affording a clue to the character of one of the most extraordinary men of this or ary age. 'We hope Mr. Metlwin will not get himself into anv difficulties by Isis unreserved. exposiure of several persons, who bave no- probably lost their sensitiveness with their shame. We have room for only a few extracts:- ' Somebody possessed Aladame de Stael with an opinion of Fly immorality.. I uscd occasionally to visit her at Coppet; and once she invited me to a famiy dinner, and I found the rooin ful of strangers, who had come to stare at me as at some outlandish bmast in a raree-show. One of the ladies fainted. -nd the rest looked as if his Satanic Alajesty had been among them. Madame de Stanl took the liberty to read me a lectute before this ctowd; to which I only made her a low bow. " I knew very few of the Genevese. Hentsh was very civil to tme; and I Iave a great respect for Sisniondi. I was forced-to return the civilities of one of their Professors by asking hinm, and an old gentle_ man, a fricnd of Gray's, to dine with me. I had gone out to sail early in the morning, and the wind 3reverited ne from returning in time for dinner. I understand that I offended them mortally. Poli- dori'did the honours. "Among our countrynen.1 maee no new acquaintancer; Shelley, Sonk Lewis, and Hobhouse were almost the only Engli6h people I saw. No wonde; { ;aiowed a distaste for society at thatetime, and *vent little among the Genevese; besides, I could not speak French. What is become of Iny boatman and boat ? I suppose she is rotten: she was never worth much. WNlhen I went the tsar of the Lake in her with SheUcy and Hobhoune, she was nearlv wrecked near the very spot where St. Preux and J tilia were in danger of being drown. ed. It would have been classical to have been lost tsere, bat not so agreeable. Shellev was on the Lake rainch oftener than L, at all hours of the night and day: he almost lived on it; his great-rage in a host. We are both building now at Gen9a: I a yacht, and he an (n5r. boat." "We played at biliards tiU the carriage was announced, and F accompaniedhiiinrhisdrive. Soonafterwegoteffthe stones, we rtmounted our horses, Nvhich were waiting for us. Lord Byron is an admirable horseman, coumbining grace with the security of big seat. e prides himself much on this exercise. He conductea us for some miles till we came to a farm-house, whel-e he practises pistol-firing every evening. This is his favourite amusement, and may indeeqc4 be called almost a pursuit. He always has pistols in his&boLcter, i and eight or ten pair by the first makers in London carried by his courier. We hag each twelve rounds of amrnunition, and in a diameter of four inches he put eleven out of twelve shots. T observed his hand shook exceedingly. He said that when he first began at lUanton's hc was the worst shot in the world. and l Uantor was perhasps the brat. The subject turned upon duelling, and he contended forits necessity, and quoted s;ome strong arguments irx favour of it. ',I have been concerned," said he, " in many duels asrecond, but only in two as principal; one was with Hobhouse, before 1 became intimate with bim. The best marksmen at the target are not the surest in the field. Cecil's and Stackpoolc's affair proved this. They fought after a quarrel of three years, during which they were pr&c- tising daily. Stackpoole was so good a shot that lhe used to cut off the heads of the fovwls for dinner as thcy drank out of the coops about. Fe had every wisb to kill his antaRonist, but he received his death-blow from Cecil, Nwho fired rather finie, or rather was the quickest shot of the two. AU he said when faLirtg was, 'D-n it, have I missed him ?' Shelley is a much better shot than I am, but he i6 thinling of metaphywlcs rather thanoffiring."-(Paze 17 w 20.) " 1 heard afterwards that llrs. C-harlment had been the mneans of poisoning Lady Noel's mind agaInst ume ;-that she had employed herself and others in watching me in London, and isad repcrted having traced me iato a house in Partland-place. There was one act of which I might justly have complained, and which was un. worthy of any one but such a confidante: I aUude to the breaking open of my vriting-desk. A book was found in it that did not do much credit to my taste in literature, and ssme letters fromn a mar- ried woman with whom I had been intimate befbre rrv rrtrriage. The use that Was made of the latter was most unjustifiable, vhat- ever nmay be thought of the breach of confidence that led to their discovery. Lsdy B3yron sent them to the husband of the ladv, who had the good tseNitse to take no notice of ltheir contents. The gravest accus;:tion that has been made aLgainst mc is that of havir-g intrigued with MIrs.M1ardyn in msly own house; introduced herte my own table, & There never was a more untbandets calumny. Beingon thecommit- teeof Drury-lanre Theatre, I have no doubt thtseveral actresses call- ed ont me: but as to Airs. Itlarelvn, who was a beaut?ti, woman, and miiight have been a c angeroUS visitrfst, I was scarcely acquainted (to speak) with her. I might even make a more seH.ous charge agaitnst _ than employing spies to watch suspected amours. - 1 had been shut up in a dark street in London, writing (I think he said) The Siege of Co7inth, and hbd iefused myself to every one till it was finished. I was surprised one day by a doctor and 3 lawver, almost torcing themselves at the same time into mv room. I did not knowtill after, ards the realobject of their visit. I thougbt their questions singular, frivolous, and somewisat i-nportunate, if not impertinent: but what should I have thought, if 1 bad known hat they were sent to provide proofs of my insanity ? werenot verv rtio-.,. ,,, t'lCse eeissarles'interrogation wrer net very rational .,. ^ ^;0W for my irnaginativa was tiidet7a ny other thimgs But Ltr. Bailey could net conscientiously make me out a certificate for Bedlam; and perhaps the lawyex gave a more favour. able report to his employers. The Doctor said afterwards, he had been told that I always looked down when Lady Byron bent ber eyes on me, and exhibited other symptoms equally infallible. pard cularly those that marked the late King's case so atrongly. I do not, however, tax Lady Ibyron with this traRnsactionl; probably she was not privy to it. She was the too:ofothers. Her niotheralways detested me; shc had not even the decency to conceal it in her own house. Dining one day at Sir Ralph's, (who was a good sort of man, and otv whom you may form some idea, when I tell you that a Ig of mutton was always served at his table thoat hc might cut the same joke upon it, ) 1 broke a tooth, and was in grcat ?ain, w.hich I could ot avoid allowing. It will do yon gsod,' said lady Noel; I ram gliati of it!' I gave her a look;! * ott ask if Lady Byron were evcr in love with me-I have an. swered that question already-No ! I was the fa4hion when she first came out: I had the character of being a great rake, and was a great dandy-both of which young ladies like. She married me from v2nity, and the hope of retbrtning and fixing me. She was a spoiled child, and naturally of a jealous dispotsition ; and this was increased by the infernal inachinations of those in her confidence. 'She was ceasiIy madethe dapeof the designing, forshethou ht her knowledge o; ma.kind infallible: she had gotsomne foelisht idea of' Aladante de Stael's into her head, that a persor. may be better known in the first hour titan in ten years. She had the babit of drawing people's characters after she bad seen thetn once or twice. She wrote pages on pages about my cha-acter, but it was as unlike as poEsible. La Udy BYronl hld good ideas, but could never express -.heta wrote poetry, too, hut it was only good by accident. ier letters were always enigmatical, often unintelligible. She was governed by what site called fixed ru.es and pr1nciples, squared rmat?bema4jcaflv. Shie ould have macte an excellent wrangler at Carnbridge. It muot be confessed, however, that she gave no proof of her boasted con- sistency. First, bhe refused me, then sne accepted me, they she seoa, rated herself fromirme :e-o mitch tor consistency.- (Page 42 to 47.) I atti sorry to finid that he (Lord Byron) has become more in- dolent. He hais almot discontinued htis rides on horseback, and lias starved. ihitisellj into an unuiatural tbinness; and luis digestiou has bccolttu weaker. In order to keep up the stamina that he requihes, he inuldgessontewhtat too freely in Wine, and it his favourite bever- age, Hollands, of which he now drinaL a pint almost every night. He said Lo me bumornously enough, * Wybvdon't voa drink Aledwin r Gin.and.water is the source of all -my inspiration If y ou were to drink as nouch as I do, yoA would write as good v-le;s drpend on it, it is the true Hippocrene.' `-(Page 22-. OI- - O , IBD]reDs001MR.9A ION of r OtD D-Y,0V.