Page:Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron.pdf/74

 own case, and proved myself guilty of vanity." I allowed that I thought so, as he had a thousand times repeated to me, that he was feared and detested in England, which I never would admit. He tried various arguments to prove to me that it was not vanity, but a knowledge of the fact, that made him believe himself detested; but I, continuing to smile, and look incredulous, he got really displeased, and said: "You have such a provoking memory, that you compare notes of all one's different opinions, so that one is sure to get into a scrape." Byron observed, that he once told Madame de Staël that he considered her "Delphine" and "Corinne" as very dangerous productions to be put into the hands of young women. I asked him how she received this piece of candor, and he answered: "Oh! just as all such candid avowals are received - she never forgave me for it. She endeavored to prove to me, that, the tendencies of both her novels were super-eminently moral. I begged that we might not enter on Delphine, as that was hors du question, (she was furious at this,) but that all the moral world thought, that her representing all the virtuous characters in Corinne' as being dull; common-place, and tedious, was a most insidious blow aimed at virtue, and calculated to throw it into the shade. She was so excited and impa-