“We were at the Crown Inn, at Low Harrowgate.  We always dined in the public room, but retired very soon after dinner to our private one; for Byron was no more a friend to drinking than myself.  We lived retired, and made few acquaintance; for he was naturally shy, very shy, which people who did not know him mistook for pride.  While at Harrowgate he accidentally met with Professor Hailstone from Cambridge, and appeared much delighted to see him.  The professor was at Upper Harrowgate:  we called upon him one evening to take him to the theatre, I think,—­and Lord Byron sent his carriage for him, another time, to a ball at the Granby.  This desire to show attention to one of the professors of his college is a proof that, though he might choose to satirise the mode of education in the university, and to abuse the antiquated regulations and restrictions to which under-graduates are subjected, he had yet a due discrimination in his respect for the individuals who belonged to it.  I have always, indeed, heard him speak in high terms of praise of Hailstone, as well as of his master, Bishop Mansel, of Trinity College, and of others whose names I have now forgotten.

“Few people understood Byron; but I know that he had naturally a kind and feeling heart, and that there was not a single spark of malice in his composition."[54]

The private theatricals alluded to in the letters from Harrowgate were, both in prospect and performance, a source of infinite delight to him, and took place soon after his return to Southwell.  How anxiously he was expected back by all parties, may be judged from the following fragment of a letter which was received by his companion during their absence from home:—­

“Tell Lord Byron that, if any accident should retard his return, his mother desires he will write to her, as she shall be miserable if he does not arrive the day he fixes.  Mr. W. B. has written a card to Mrs. H. to offer for the character of ’Henry Woodville,’—­Mr. and Mrs. ——­ not approving of their son’s taking a part in the play:  but I believe he will persist in it.  Mr. G. W. says, that sooner than the party should be disappointed, he will take any part,—­sing—­dance—­in short, do any thing to oblige.  Till Lord Byron returns, nothing can be done; and positively he must not be later than Tuesday or Wednesday.”

We have already seen that, at Harrow, his talent for declamation was the only one by which Lord Byron was particularly distinguished; and in one of his note-books he adverts, with evident satisfaction, both to his school displays and to the share which he took in these representations at Southwell:—­

“When I was a youth, I was reckoned a good actor.  Besides Harrow speeches (in which I shone), I enacted Penruddock in the Wheel of Fortune, and Tristram Fickle in Allingham’s farce of the Weathercock, for three nights (the duration of our compact), in some private theatricals at Southwell, in 1806, with great applause.  The occasional prologue for our volunteer play was also of my composition.  The other performers were young ladies and gentlemen of the neighbourhood, and the whole went off with great effect upon our good-natured audience.”