He talked of Mr. ----, who was then our Minister at Genoa. "H----," said
he, "is a thorough good-natured and hospitable man, keeps an excellent
table, and is as fond of good things as I am, but has not my forbearance.
I received, some time ago, a _Pate de Perigord_, and finding it excellent,
I determined on sharing it with H----; but here my natural selfishness
suggested that it would be wiser for me, who had so few dainties, to keep
this for myself, than to give it to H----, who had so many. After half an
hour's debate between selfishness and generosity, which do you think"
(turning to me) "carried the point?"--I answered, "Generosity, of
course."--"No, by Jove!" said he, "no such thing; selfishness in this case,
as in most others, triumphed; I sent the _pate_ to my friend H----,
because I felt another dinner off it would play the deuce with me; and so
you see, after all, he owed the _pate_ more to selfishness than
generosity." Seeing us smile at this, he said:--"When you know me better,
you will find that I am the most selfish person in the world; I have,
however, the merit, if it be one, of not only being perfectly conscious of
my faults, but of never denying them; and this surely is something, in
this age of cant and hypocrisy."
In all his conversations relative to Lady Byron, and they are frequent, he
declares that he is totally unconscious of the cause of her leaving him,
but suspects that the illnatured interposition of Mrs.
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