which then existed in her, and still lives in my imagination, at the
distance of more than sixteen years."

Such precocious and sympathetic affections are, as I have already
mentioned, common among children, and is something very different
from the love of riper years; but the extract is curious, and shows
how truly little and vague Byron's experience of the passion must
have been. In his recollection of the girl, be it observed, there is
no circumstance noticed which shows, however strong the mutual
sympathy, the slightest influence of particular attraction. He
recollects the colour of her hair, the hue of her eyes, her very
dress, and he remembers her as a Peri, a spirit; nor does it appear
that his sleepless restlessness, in which the thought of her was ever
uppermost, was produced by jealousy, or doubt, or fear, or any other
concomitant of the passion.

There is another most important circumstance in what may be called
the Aberdonian epoch of Lord Byron's life.

That Byron, in his boyhood, was possessed of lively sensibilities, is
sufficiently clear; that he enjoyed the advantage of indulging his
humour and temper without restraint, is not disputable; and that his
natural temperament made him sensible, in no ordinary degree, to the
beauties of nature, is also abundantly manifest in all his
productions; but it is surprising that this admiration of the
beauties of Nature is but an ingredient in Byron's poetry, and not
its most remarkable characteristic. Deep feelings of dissatisfaction
and disappointment are far more obvious; they constitute, indeed, the
very spirit of his works, and a spirit of such qualities is the least
of all likely to have arisen from the contemplation of magnificent