"1815. _Friday, April_ 7.--This day Lord Byron and Walter Scott met for
the first time and were introduced by me to each other. They conversed
together for nearly two hours. There were present, at different times,
Mr. William Gifford, James Boswell (son of the biographer of Johnson),
William Sotheby, Robert Wilmot, Richard Heber, and Mr. Dusgate."

Mr. Murray's son--then John Murray, Junior--gives his recollections as
follows:

"I can recollect seeing Lord Byron in Albemarle Street. So far as I can
remember, he appeared to me rather a short man, with a handsome
countenance, remarkable for the fine blue veins which ran over his pale,
marble temples. He wore many rings on his fingers, and a brooch in his
shirt-front, which was embroidered. When he called, he used to be
dressed in a black dress-coat (as we should now call it), with grey, and
sometimes nankeen trousers, his shirt open at the neck. Lord Byron's
deformity in his foot was very evident, especially as he walked
downstairs. He carried a stick. After Scott and he had ended their
conversation in the drawing-room, it was a curious sight to see the two
greatest poets of the age--both lame--stumping downstairs side by side.
They continued to meet in Albemarle Street nearly every day, and
remained together for two or three hours at a time. Lord Byron dined
several times at Albemarle Street, On one of these occasions, he met Sir
John Malcolm--a most agreeable and accomplished man--who was all the
more interesting to Lord Byron, because of his intimate knowledge of
Persia and India. After dinner, Sir John observed to Lord Byron, how
much gratified he had been to meet him, and how surprised he was to find
him so full of gaiety and entertaining conversation. Byron replied,
'Perhaps you see me now at my best.' Sometimes, though not often, Lord
Byron read passages from his poems to my father. His voice and manner