He had the finest
ear for the rhythm of verse I ever heard--finer than Byron's.
"Lewis was fonder of great people than he ought to have been, either
as a man of talent or a man of fortune. He had always dukes and
duchesses in his mouth, and was particularly fond of any one who had a
title. You would have sworn he had been a 'parvenu' of yesterday, yet
he had been all his life in good society.
"He was one of the kindest and best creatures that ever lived. His
father and mother lived separately. Mr. Lewis allowed his son a
handsome income; but reduced it more than one half when he found that
he gave his mother half of it. He restricted himself in all his
expenses, and shared the diminished income with his mother as before.
He did much good by stealth, and was a most generous creature.
"I had a good picture drawn me, I think by Thos. Thomson, of Fox, in
his latter days, suffering the fatigue of an attack from Lewis. The
great statesman was become bulky and lethargic, and lay like a fat ox
which for sometime endures the persecution of a buzzing fly, rather
than rise to get rid of it; and then at last he got up, and heavily
plodded his way to the other side of the room."
Referring to Byron's story of Lewis near the Brenta, Scott adds,
"I had a worse adventure with Mat Lewis. I had been his guide from the
cottage I then had at Laswade to the Chapel of Roslin. We were to go
up one side of the river and come down the other.
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