"He was," says Sir Walter Scott ('Diary,' January 18, 1827), "a little
man, dumpled up together, and so ill-made as to seem almost deformed,
but with a singular expression of talent in his countenance."

Byron was attracted to Gifford, partly by his devotion to the classical
models of literature, partly by the outspoken frankness of his literary
criticism, partly also, perhaps, by his physical deformity.





103.--To John Hanson.


Newstead Abbey, Notts., November 18th, 1808.


Dear Sir,--I am truly glad to hear your health is reinstated. As for
my affairs I am sure you will do your best, and, though I should be
glad to get rid of my Lancashire property for an equivalent in money,
I shall not take any steps of that nature without good advice and
mature consideration.

I am (as I have already told you) going abroad in the spring; for this
I have many reasons. In the first place, I wish to study India and
Asiatic policy and manners. I am young, tolerably vigorous, abstemious
in my way of living; I have no pleasure in fashionable dissipation,
and I am determined to take a wider field than is customary with
travellers. If I return, my judgment will be more mature, and I shall