“Of the two, I should think the long sleep better than the agonised vigil.  But men, miserable as they are, cling so to any thing like life, that they probably would prefer damnation to quiet.  Besides, they think themselves so important in the creation, that nothing less can satisfy their pride—­the insects!”

[Footnote 75:  It will be seen from the extract I shall give presently of the passage to which he refers, that he wholly mistook my meaning.]

* * * * *

It is Dr. Clarke, I think, who gives, in his Travels, rather a striking account of a Tartar whom he once saw exercising a young, fiery horse, upon a spot of ground almost surrounded by a steep precipice, and describes the wantonness of courage with which the rider, as if delighting in his own peril, would, at times, dash, with loose rein, towards the giddy verge.  Something of the same breathless apprehension with which the traveller viewed that scene, did the unchecked daring of Byron’s genius inspire in all who watched its course,—­causing them, at the same moment, to admire and tremble, and, in those more especially who loved him, awakening a sort of instinctive impulse to rush forward and save him from his own headlong strength.  But, however natural it was in friends to give way to this feeling, a little reflection upon his now altered character might have forewarned them that such interference would prove as little useful to him as safe for themselves; and it is not without some surprise I look back upon my own temerity and presumption in supposing that, let loose as he was now, in the full pride and consciousness of strength, with the wide regions of thought outstretching before him, any representations that even friendship could make would have the power—­or ought to have—­of checking him.  As the motives, however, by which I was actuated in my remonstrances to him may be left to speak for themselves, I shall, without dwelling any further upon the subject, content myself with laying before the reader a few such extracts from my own letters at this period[76] as may serve to explain some allusions in those just given.

In writing to me under the date January 24th, it will be recollected that he says—­“be assured that there is no such coalition as you apprehend.”  The following extracts from my previous communication to him will explain what this means:—­“I heard some days ago that Leigh Hunt was on his way to you with all his family; and the idea seems to be, that you and Shelley and he are to conspire together in the Examiner.  I cannot believe this,—­and deprecate such a plan with all my might.  Alone you may do any thing; but partnerships in fame, like those in trade, make the strongest party answerable for the deficiencies or delinquencies of the rest, and I tremble even for you with such a bankrupt >i>Co._—­* * *.  They are both clever fellows, and Shelley I look upon as a man of real genius; but I must again