allowance we may be inclined to make for his errors, and the more approbation his virtues may extort from us? The arduous task of being the biographer of Byron is one, at least, on which I have not obtruded myself: the wish of my friend that I should undertake that office having been more than once expressed, at a time when none but a boding imagination like his could have foreseen much chance of the sad honour devolving to me. If in some instances I have consulted rather the spirit than the exact letter of his injunctions, it was with the view solely of doing him more justice than he would have done himself; there being no hands in which his character could have been less safe than his own, nor any greater wrong offered to his memory than the substitution of what he affected to be for what he was. Of any partiality, however, beyond what our mutual friendship accounts for and justifies, I am by no means conscious; nor would it be in the power, indeed, of even the most partial friend to allege anything more convincingly favourable of his character than is contained in the few simple facts with which I shall here conclude,-that, through life, with all his faults, he never lost a friend;-that those about him in his youth, whether as companions, teachers, or servants, remained attached to him to the last; that the woman, to whom he gave the love of his maturer years, idolizes his name; and that, with a single unhappy exception, scarce an instance is to be found of any one, once brought, however briefly, into relations of amity with him, that did not feel towards him a kind regard in life, and retain a fondness for his memory. I have now done with the subject, nor shall be easily tempted to recur to it. Any mistakes or misstatements I may be proved to have made shall be corrected; any new facts which it is in the power of others to produce will speak for themselves. To mere opinions I am not called upon to pay attention-and still less to insinuations or mysteries. I have here told what I myself know and think concerning my friend; and now leave his character, moral as well as literary, to the judgment of the world. APPENDIX. TWO EPISTLES FROM THE ARMENIAN VERSION. THE EPISTLE OF THE CORINTHIANS TO ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE*. 1 STEPHEN, and the elders with him, Dabnus, Eubulus, Theophilus, and Xinon, to Paul, our father and evangelist, and faithful master in Jesus Christ, health. 2 Two men have come to Corinth, Simon by name, and Cleobus §, who vehemently disturb the faith of some with deceitful and corrupt words; 3 Of which words thou shouldst inform thyself: 4 For neither have we heard such words from thee, nor from the other apostles: 5 But we know only that what we have heard from thee and from them, that we have kept firmly. 6 But in this chiefly has our Lord had compassion, that, whilst thou art yet with us in the flesh, we are again about to hear from thee. 7 Therefore do thou write to us, or come thyself amongst us quickly. 8 We believe in the Lord, that, as it was revealed to Theonas, he hath delivered thee from the hands of the unrighteous ||. 9 But these are the sinful words of these impure men, for thus do they say and teach: 10 That it behoves not to admit the Prophets T. 11 Neither do they affirm the omnipotence of God : 12 Neither do they affirm the resurrection of the flesh : 13 Neither do they affirm that man was altogether created by God: * Some MSS. have the title thus: Epistle of Stephen the Elder to Paul the Apostle, from the Corinthians. In the MSS., the marginal verses published by the Whistons are wanting. ‡ In some MSS. we find, The elders Numenus, Eubulus, Theophilus, and Nomeson, to Paul their brother, health! § Others read, There came certain men, ・・・ and Clobeus, who vehemently shake. Some MSS. have, We believe in the Lord, that his presence was made munifest; and by this hath the Lord delivered us from the hands of the unrighteous, Others read, To read the Prophets. 14 Neither do they affirm that Jesus Christ was born in the flesh from the Virgin Mary: 15 Neither do they affirm that the world was the work of God, but of some one of the angels. 16 Therefore do thou make haste* to come amongst us. 17 That this city of the Corinthians may remain without scandal. 18 And that the folly of these men may be made manifest by an open refutation. Fare thee well. The deacons Thereptus and Tichus received and conveyed this Epistle to the city of the Philippians §. When Paul received the Epistle, although he was then in chains on account of Stratonice||, the wife of Apofolanus I, yet, as it were forgetting his bonds, he mourned over these words, and said, weeping: 'It were better for me to be dead, and with the Lord. For while I am in this body, and hear the wretched words of such false doctrine, behold, 'grief arises upon grief, and my trouble adds a weight to my chains; ' when I behold this calamity, and progress of the machinations of Satan, who searcheth to do wrong.' And thus, with deep affliction, Paul composed his reply to the Epistle **. EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS ††. 1 Paul, in bonds for Jesus Christ, disturbed by so many errors, to his Corinthian brethren, health. 2 I nothing marvel that the preachers of evil have made this progress. 3 For because the Lord Jesus is about to fulfil his coming, verily on this account do certain men pervert and despise his words. 4 But I, verily, from the beginning, have taught you that only which I myself received from the former apostles, who always remained with the Lord Jesus Christ. *Some MSS. have, Therefore, brother, do thou make haste. Others read, Fare thee well in the Lord. Some MSS. have, The deacons Therepus and Techus. § The Whistons have, To the city of Phoenicia; but in all the MSS. we find, To the city of the Philippians. Others read, On account of Onotice, The Whistons have, Of Apollophanus: but in all the MSS. we read, Apofolanus. ** In the text of this Epistle there are some other variations in the words, but the sense is the same. tt Some MSS. have, Paul's Epistle from prison, for the instruction of the Corinthians. ‡‡ Others read, Disturbed by various compunctions. |