portion, I ever met with any thing so unostentatiously beautiful.  Indisputably, the firm believers in the Gospel have a great advantage over all others,—­for this simple reason, that, if true, they will have their reward hereafter; and if there be no hereafter, they can be but with the infidel in his eternal sleep, having had the assistance of an exalted hope, through life, without subsequent disappointment, since (at the worst for them) ’out of nothing, nothing can arise, not even sorrow.  But a man’s creed does not depend upon himself:  who can say, I will believe this, that, or the other? and least of all, that which he least can comprehend.  I have, however, observed, that those who have begun life with extreme faith, have in the end greatly narrowed it, as Chillingworth, Clarke (who ended as an Arian), Bayle, and Gibbon (once a Catholic), and some others; while, on the other hand, nothing is more common than for the early sceptic to end in a firm belief, like Maupertuis, and Henry Kirke White.

“But my business is to acknowledge your letter, and not to make a dissertation.  I am obliged to you for your good wishes, and more than obliged by the extract from the papers of the beloved object whose qualities you have so well described in a few words.  I can assure you that all the fame which ever cheated humanity into higher notions of its own importance would never weigh in my mind against the pure and pious interest which a virtuous being may be pleased to take in my welfare.  In this point of view, I would not exchange the prayer of the deceased in my behalf for the united glory of Homer, Caesar, and Napoleon, could such be accumulated upon a living head.  Do me at least the justice to suppose, that

        “‘Video meliora proboque,’

     however the ‘deteriora sequor’ may have been applied to my conduct.

     “I have the honour to be

     “Your obliged and obedient servant,

     “BYRON.

“P.S.  I do not know that I am addressing a clergyman; but I presume that you will not be affronted by the mistake (if it is one) on the address of this letter.  One who has so well explained, and deeply felt, the doctrines of religion, will excuse the error which led me to believe him its minister.”

* * * * *

LETTER 470.  TO MR. MURRAY.

     “Pisa, December 4. 1821.

“By extracts in the English papers,—­in your holy ally, Galignani’s ’Messenger,’—­I perceive that ’the two greatest examples of human vanity in the present age’ are, firstly, ‘the ex-Emperor Napoleon,’ and, secondly, ’his Lordship, &c. the noble poet,’meaning your humble servant, ‘poor guiltless I.’

     “Poor Napoleon! he little dreamed to what vile comparisons the turn
     of the wheel would reduce him!