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The Works of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Volume 1 by Baron George Gordon Byron Byron
page 60 of 528 (11%)
times before she could persuade him to come into the drawing-room, to
play with the young people at a round game. He was then a fat, bashful
boy, with his hair combed straight over his forehead, and extremely
like a miniature picture that his mother had painted by M. de
Chambruland. The next morning Mrs. Byron brought him to call at our
house, when he still continued shy and formal in his manner. The
conversation turned upon Cheltenham, where we had been staying, the
amusements there, the plays, etc.; and I mentioned that I had seen the
character of Gabriel Lackbrain very well performed. His mother getting
up to go, he accompanied her, making a formal bow, and I, in allusion
to the play, said, 'Good-by, Gaby.' His countenance lighted up, his
handsome mouth displayed a broad grin, all his shyness vanished, never
to return, and, upon his mother's saying, 'Come, Byron, are you
ready?'--no, she might go by herself, he would stay and talk a little
longer; and from that moment he used to come in and go out at all
hours, as it pleased him, and in our house considered himself
perfectly at home."

The character of "Gabriel Lackbrain," mentioned above, occurs in 'Life',
a comedy by F. Reynolds. It was at Byron's suggestion that Moore, when
preparing the 'Life', applied to Miss Pigot for letters. On January 22,
1828, he was taken to call on her and her mother by the Rev. John
Becher.

"Their reception of me most cordial and flattering; made me sit in the
chair which Byron used to sit in, and remarked, as a singularity, that
this was the poor fellow's birthday; he would to-day have been forty.
On parting with Mrs. Pigot, a fine, intelligent old lady, who has been
bedridden for years, she kissed my hand most affectionately, and said
that, much as she had always admired me as a poet, it was as the
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