But it would be unjust to close even here the bright
catalogue of his services. It is, after all, _not_ with the span of mortal
life that the good achieved by a name immortal ends. The charm acts into
the future--it is an auxiliary through all time; and the inspiring example
of Byron, as a martyr of liberty, is for ever freshly embalmed in his
glory as a poet.
HIS PORTRAIT.
Of his face, the beauty may be pronounced to have been of the highest
order, as combining at once regularity of features with the most varied
and interesting expression.
The same facility, indeed, of change observable in the movements of his
mind was seen also in the free play of his features, as the passing
thoughts within darkened or shone through them. His eyes, though of a
light grey, were capable of all extremes of expression, from the most
joyous hilarity to the deepest sadness--from the very sunshine of
benevolence to the most concentrated scorn or rage. Of this latter passion,
I had once an opportunity of seeing what fiery interpreters they could be,
on my telling him, thoughtlessly enough, that a friend of mine had said to
me--"Beware of Lord Byron, he will, some day or other, do something very
wicked." "Was it man or woman said so?" he exclaimed, suddenly turning
round upon me with a look of such intense anger as, though it lasted not
an instant, could not easily be forgot, and of which no better idea can be
given than in the words of one who, speaking of Chatterton's eyes, says
that "fire rolled at the bottom of them.
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