LORD BYRON IN PRIVATE

LIFE.

THIS great man has been generally represented as a gloomy misanthropical being, as one averse to all the amiabilities and endearments of social life. The following letter from the pen of an American, descriptive of an interview he and some friends had with this distinguished poet, has such an air of sincerity about it, that we willingly

place it within our columns.

"Genoa, 1823.

"I have been rambling about Italy for 14 months, and know every road in it better than any one in America, and every street or lane in Milan, Florence, Rome, Venice, &c. &c. better than the main street in Richmond; I am, however, I believe, about to quit it, I fear for ever. Í am here lingering on the end.-On the 16th we arrived here; about two miles from town we overtook a gentleman on horseback, attended by a servant; I looked at his face and instantly recognized him from a portrait by an American painter, West, now at Florence, to be the most extraordinary man now alive-a glance at his distorted foot confirmed itwe rode on-part of our object in visiting Genoa had been to introduce ourselves to him. Accordingly next day we wrote a short and polite note requesting leave to pay our respects, to which we received one equally polite, requesting us to call next day at two o'clock. We went, a servant stood ready to receive us, and we were shown into a saloon, where we waited with beating hearts for about a minute, when he made his appearance. He is about five feet six inches high-his body is small, and his right leg shrunk, and about two inches shorter than the other his head is beyond description fine. West's likeness is pretty good, but no other head I ever saw of him is the least like him. His forehead is high, and smaller at the top than below (the likenesses are vice versa.) His hair, which had formerly hung in beauti

ful brown ringlets, is beginning to turn grey, he being, as he told us, thirty-five years of age. His eyes between a light blue and grey, his nose straight but a little turned up, his teeth most beautiful, his head is perhaps too large for his body. Who is he? One of our company began a set apology, which he cut short by telling us it was useless, for that he was very glad to see us, and then began to ask us questions fifty in a minute without waiting for an answer to any, and if by chance it was made he seemed impatient if it contained more than two words. He flew from one object to another, and during about an hour and a half talked of at least 200 subjects— sometimes with great humour, laughing very heartily; at length looking round, he asked with a quizzical leer, which of us was from old Virginny? I bowed assent; then followed a catechism, to which I occasionally edged in an answer. Have you been in England? How long have you been in Italy? Is Jefferson alive? Is it true that your landlords are all Colonels and Justices? Do you know Washington Irving? He is decidedly the first English prose writer except Scott. Have you read

Bracebridge Hall?' (I answered no.) Well if you choose, I'll lend it you? here it is. Have you any American books to lend me? I am very desirous of reading the Spy.' I intend to visit América as soon as

I can arrange my affairs in Italy. Your morals are much purer than those of England (there I laughed) -those of the higher classes in England have become very corrupt (I smothered my laugh.) Do you think if I was to live in America, they would ever make me a judge in the ten pound court? Is it true that an Englishman is always insulted in travelling through America?' We assured him not. He then told us more laughable stories of the ridiculous biographies made of him, especially by the French. One of thein represented him as a gloomy, miserable mortal, keeping the skull of his

LORD BYRON,

mistress as a drinking cup-I told him that was pretty much the idea we had of him-as we considered him a sort of Vampire-he laughed heartily. He said Bracebridge Hall' was beautifully written, but as for the characters they only exist in the brain of W, I. There are no old English gentlemen-no yeomen. The English have lost every thing good in their character. Their morals are particularly bad. (Here I thought he really was quizzing us.) In fine he kept us for an hour and a half constantly amused, and dismissed us well satisfied with our interview. His manners are most. charming and fascinating, and if he is, as they say, a devil, he is certainly a merry one-nothing gloomy. His voice is low, and at first sounds affected.

Now who is it? Who is this man, about whom I have written a whole letter? It is Childe Harolde, Corsair, Don Juan-in plain English, Lord Byron."

ADMIRABLE METHOD OF
RENOVATING CLOTHES.

"THERE is a time for all things," says the proverb, and surely this must be the time for appearances. The following recipe to those who wish to make their mourning last through a whole generation, we are assured is well adapted for the purpose, although we cannot speak of any practical experience. A pint of common black ink, mixed with as much water, is all the expense necessary. The clothes should be previously cleansed from all dirt, dust; grease, &c. (the latter can be done through the means of turpentine) and then should be spread over by a piece of linen or calico previously sopped in this mixture of ink and water; this done, the whole garment should be pressed, the calico still remaining on it, with a hot iron, and the effect, we are assured by those who have tried the experiment, is worthy the trouble it occasions. Care should be taken that the iron is not too hot, and that the linen is not tou full of the liquid,

ABOMINABLE SUPERSTITION.

Ar the last execution of criminals at the Old Bailey, several persons afflicted with wens appeared on the scaffold, in order to rub the dead criminal's hand as the exorcism, in the hope of obtaining a cure. We hope the sheriff, Sir Peter Laurie, who took such trouble to improve the apparatus for hanging, will now do justice to the good sense of the age we live in, by putting a stop to this abominable and stupid practice. It is shocking to humanity, and cannot be of the least benefit.

THE following is a verbatim copy of a letter from a Gentleman Commoner

of B- College, Oxford, addressed, last Term, to his father in the country:

"DEAR SIR,I write this to-night (Monday) and shall put it in the post to-morrow (Tuesday). It will be in town on Wednesday, and you will receive it at Greenwich on Thursday. Pray let me have some money on Friday, or I shall set off by the Worcester Mail on Saturday, and be with you on Sunday.

"Your's most dutifully, H. B."

ANXIOUS that the PORTFOLIO may be as useful as it is entertaining, and in order that it may supersede the necessity of our Subscribers being put to the expense of purchasing other works for that intelligence which may, with propriety, be admitted into our pages, we have added the present important feature to our miscellany. This paper will be under the superintendence of a Medical Gentleman, and on whom implicit confidence may be placed.

CONSUMPTION.

THERE is no disease that claims a greater share of attention than Consumption; nor is there any complaint more prevalent, more terrible in appearance, or more fatal in its effects.

The causes of Consumption are various, such as intense and severe study, tender and delicate habit of body, long continued coughs, grief, scrophula, debauchery, mal-formation of the chest, and hereditary predisposition.

The unhappy subjects labouring under its baneful influence, are generally the young and the beautiful, and they may usually be distinguished by their form and appearance; of these, many have inherited the disease from their parents, for it is strictly hereditary, and then, indeed, little hope is there of recovery.

Patients who are affected with Consumption are usually from fifteen to thirty-five years of age, of a slight make and clear complexion, they are however not well formed about the chest, which is strait and narrow, and often flattened shoulders high and round; breathing frequently short and quick, and becoming worse on even moderate exercise and motion; however, they often remain well and hearty for many years, indeed, at this time I am attending a

patient in whom phthisical symptoms have just appeared, he being in his 50th year.

The symptoms which deserve par ticular notice, I will now enumerate. In the beginning an obstinate and usually dry cough occurs, and the voice seems more or less acute and shrill than before the commencement of the malady. There is a difficulty in respiration, a pain or oppression about the chest, and now the patient appears thin and emaciated, the cheek exhibits a circumscribed and rosy hue, and the skin is frequently fair and almost brilliant; while at other times it seems of a dirty white.

A fever always accompanies Consumption, denominated Hectic, and is attended with a small frequent pulse, increasing towards the evening; and hence arise anxiety, watch. ing, a greater degree of heat, and now and then a species of Incubus, or nightmare. The pulse in Phthisis, or Consumption, I have said, is smalĺ and frequent, but it sometimes varies to one hard and full, the tongue in this malady is peculiar, and deserves particular attention; the edges and tip are red and shining, the middle part is generally slightly furred and whitish.

The expectoration accompanying the cough is at first thin and frothy, floating on water; but, as the disease advances, it becomes yellow, of a thicker texture, and sinks in water unless supported by froth.

At length the legs and feet swell, the eyes sink in their orbits, the palms of the hands burn, and the cheek flushes (especially after taking nourishment,) while the appetite for food remains good, and the hope of recovery is generally so constant, firm, and unabating, that it ought to be recorded as a symptom of the disease.

[We must defer the remainder of this treatise, containing the method of cure, till our next Number.]

and the third as both a fool and a knave; but if I must choose among the others, give me the mere fool.

Maxim Forty-second.

Never boozify a second time with the man whom you have seen misbehave himself in his cups. I have seen a great deal of life, and I stake myself upon the assertion, that no man ever says or does that brutal thing when drunk, which he would not also say or do when sober if he durst.

Maxim Forty-third.

In literature and in love we generally begin in bad taste. I myself wrote very pompous verses at twenty, and my first flame was a flaunting, airy, artificial attitudinizer, several years older than myself. By means of experience, we educate our imagination, and become sensible to the charm of the simple and the unaffected, both in belles and belles-letters.Your septuagenarian of accomplished taste discards epithets with religious scrupulosity, and prefers an innocent blushing maiden of sixteen, to all the blazing duchesses of St. James's.

Maxim Forty-fourth.

Nothing is more disgusting than the coram publico endearments in which new-married people so frequently indulge themselves. The thing is obviously indecent; but this I could overlook, were it not also the perfection of folly and imbecility. No wise man counts his coin in the presence of those who, for aught he knows, may be thieves ---and no good sportsman permits must be corrected. the pup to do that for which the dog

Maxim Forty-fifth.

A husband should be very atten tive to his wife until the first child is born. After that she can amuse herself at home, while he resumes his jolly habits.

Maxim Forty-sixth.

Never believe in the intellect of a Whig, merely because you hear all