"]
[Footnote 72: Notwithstanding the abuse which, evidently more in sport
than seriousness, he lavishes, in the course of these letters, upon
Southwell, he was, in after days, taught to feel that the hours which
he had passed in this place were far more happy than any he had known
afterwards. In a letter written not long since to his servant,
Fletcher, by a lady who had been intimate with him, in his young days,
at Southwell, there are the following words:--"Your poor, good master
always called me 'Old Piety,' when I preached to him. When he paid me
his last visit, he said, 'Well, good friend, I shall never be so happy
again as I was in old Southwell.'" His real opinion of the advantages
of this town, as a place of residence, will be seen in a subsequent
letter, where he most strenuously recommends it, in that point of
view, to Mr. Dallas.]
[Footnote 73: It may be as well to mention here the sequel of this
enthusiastic attachment. In the year 1811 young Edleston died of a
consumption, and the following letter, addressed by Lord Byron to the
mother of his fair Southwell correspondent, will show with what
melancholy faithfulness, among the many his heart had then to mourn
for, he still dwelt on the memory of his young college friend:--
"Cambridge, Oct. 28. 1811.
"Dear Madam,
"I am about to write to you on a silly subject, and yet I cannot well
do otherwise. You may remember a _cornelian_, which some years ago I
consigned to Miss ----, indeed _gave_ to her, and now I am going to
make the most selfish and rude of requests.
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