"The first time I saw Lord Byron," says Leigh Hunt (Lord Byron and his Contemporaries, p. 1), "he was rehearsing the part of Leander, under the auspices of Mr. Jackson the prize-fighter. It was in the river Thames, before he went to Greece. I had been bathing, and was standing on the floating machine adjusting my clothes, when I noticed a respectable-looking manly person who was eyeing something at a distance. This was Mr. Jackson waiting for his pupil. The latter was swimming with somebody for a wager."
On this occasion, however, Hunt only saw "his Lordship's head bob up and down in the water, like a "buoy."
[80 — To John Hanson]
Dorant's Hotel, October 19th, 1807.
Dear Hanson, — I will thank you to disburse the quarter due as soon as possible, for I am at this moment contemplating with woeful visage, one
solitary Guinea, two bad sixpences