in Lady Blessington's Conversations with Lord Byron. They are of that gay,
jaunty character which editors, booksellers, and readers think so
peculiarly adapted for the season. Here are a few specimens:]


JOURNAL OF CONVERSATIONS WITH LORD BYRON.

_By the Countess of Blessington._

*** Our readers will recollect those letters in the second volume of
Moore's Byron, addressed to Lady B----, which confer such additional value
on that work. The whole of the journal, in which those letters, given by
Lady B---- to Mr. Moore, were entered, (and which journal was never shown
to Mr. Moore, nor indeed till now confided to any one,) is in our hands,
and will appear, from time to time, in the _New Monthly_, till concluded.
It is full of the most varied interest, and we believe that it will be
found to convey at least as natural and unexaggerated an account of Lord
Byron's character as has yet been presented to the public.

_Genoa, April 1st_, 1823.--Saw Lord Byron for the first time. The
impression for the first few minutes disappointed me, as I had, both from
the portraits and descriptions given, conceived a different idea of him. I
had fancied him taller, with a more dignified and commanding air; and I
looked in vain for the hero-looking sort of person with whom I had so long
identified him in imagination. His appearance is, however, highly
prepossessing; his head is finely shaped, and the forehead open, high, and
noble; his eyes are grey and full of expression, but one is visibly larger
than the other; the nose is large and well shaped, but from being a little
_too thick_, it looks better in profile than in front-face: his mouth is
the most remarkable feature in his face, the upper lip of Grecian