presented to him his 'Autobiography,' the following scene occurred, as
narrated by Moore (vol. iv. p.221):--

'The chief subject of conversation, when alone, was his marriage, and
the load of obloquy which it had brought upon him. He was most
anxious to know _the worst_ that had been alleged of his conduct; and,
as this was our first opportunity of speaking together on the subject,
I did not hesitate to put his candour most searchingly to the proof,
not only by enumerating the various charges I had heard brought
against him by others, but by specifying such portions of these
charges as I had been inclined to think not incredible myself.

'To all this he listened with patience, and answered with the most
unhesitating frankness; laughing to scorn the tales of unmanly outrage
related of him, but at the same time acknowledging that there had been
in his conduct but too much to blame and regret, and stating one or
two occasions during his domestic life when he had been irritated into
letting the "breath of bitter words" escape him,. . . which he now
evidently remembered with a degree of remorse and pain which might
well have entitled them to be forgotten by others.

'It was, at the same time, manifest, that, whatever admissions he
might be inclined to make respecting his own delinquencies, the
inordinate measure of the punishment dealt out to him had sunk deeply
into his mind, and, with the usual effect of such injustice, drove him
also to be unjust himself; so much so, indeed, as to impute to the
quarter to which he now traced all his ill fate a feeling of fixed
hostility to himself, which would not rest, he thought, even at his
grave, but continue to persecute his memory as it was now embittering
his life. So strong was this impression upon him, that, during one of