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 were very impressive.

His voice, in the deeper tones, bore some resemblance to that of Mrs.Siddons." Shortly before this first interview between Scott and Byron the news had arrived that Bonaparte had escaped from Elba, and landed at Cannes on March 1, 1815.
A few days before--indeed on the day the battle was fought--Blackwood gave great praise to the new number of the _Quarterly_, containing the contrast of Bonaparte and Wellington.

It happened that Southey wrote the article in No.

25, on the "Life and Achievements of Lord Wellington," in order to influence public opinion as much as possible, and to encourage the hearts of men throughout the country for the great contest about to take place in the Low Countries.