“My dear Moore.—A thousand thanks to you for the kind things which you have said of me in your ‘Life of Lord Byron,’—but forgive me for animadverting to what his lordship says of me at page 463 of your first volume. It is not every day that one is mentioned in such joint pages as those of Moore and Byron.
| MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. | 203 |
“Lord Byron there states, that one evening at Lord Holland’s I was nettled at something, and the whole passage, if believed, leaves it to infer that I was angry, envious, and ill-mannered. Now I have never envied Lord Byron, but, on the contrary, rejoiced in his fame; in the first place, from a sense of justice, and in the next place, because, as a poetical writer, he was my beneficent friend. I never was nettled in Lord Holland’s house, as Lord and Lady Holland can witness; and on the evening to which Lord Byron alludes, I said, ‘carry all your incense to Lord Byron,’ in the most perfect spirit of good humour. I remember the evening most distinctly, one of the happiest evenings of my life; and, if Lord Byron imagined me for a moment displeased, it only shows me, that, with all his transcendent powers, he was one of the most fanciful of human beings. I by no means impeach his veracity—but I see from this case that he was subject to strange illusions.
“What feeling but that of kindness could I have
towards Lord Byron? He was always
affectionate to me both in his writings and in personal interviews; how strange
that he should misunderstand my manner on the occasion alluded to; and what
temptation could I have to show myself pettish and envious before my
inestimable friend Lord Holland. The whole
scene as described by
| 204 | LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND |
