Page:Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron (1824).djvu/206

 “But to return to Lewis. He was even worse treated about ‘The Castle Spectre,’ which had also an immense run, a prodigious success. Sheridan never gave him any of its profits either. One day Lewis being in company with him, said,—‘Sheridan, I will make you a large bet.’ Sheridan, who was always ready to make a wager, (however he might find it inconvenient to pay it if lost,) asked eagerly what bet? ‘All the profits of my Castle Spectre,’ replied Lewis. ‘I will tell you what,’ said Sheridan, (who never found his match at repartee,) ‘I will make you a very small one,—what it is worth.

I asked him if he had known Sheridan?

“Yes,” said he. “Sheridan was an extraordinary compound of contradictions, and Moore will be much puzzled in reconciling them for the Life he is writing. The upper part of Sheridan’s face was that of a God—a forehead most expansive, an eye of peculiar brilliancy and fire; but below he shewed the satyr.

“Lewis was a pleasant companion, and would always have remained a boy in spirits and manners—(unlike me!) He was fond of the society of younger men than him-