Hunt gave the following ominous description of his first call upon Lord Byron: "The day was very hot; the road to Mount Nero was very hot, through dusty suburbs; and when I got there I found the hottest looking house I ever saw. It was salmon colour. Think of this, flaring over the country in a hot Italian sun! But the greatest of all the heats was within. Upon seeing Lord Byron, I hardly knew him, he was grown so fat; and he was longer in recognizing me, I had grown so thin."[380] Hunt wrote to England that Byron received him with marked cordiality[381] but Shelley's friend Williams, in his last letter to his wife, stated that Byron treated Hunt vilely and "actually said as much that he did not wish his name to be attached to the work, and of course to theirs"; that his treatment of Mrs. Hunt was "most shameful"; and that his "conduct cut H. to the soul."[382] The Hunt family was quickly quartered on the ground floor of Byron's palace, which Byron had furnished at a cost of L60.[383] Shelley's sensible suggestions to Hunt about his furniture,[384] about the income from _The Examiner_, and worse still, his delicately given advice that it was not possible for him to bring _all_ of his family, had been ignored.[385] With Shelley's tragic death a few days after their arrival, the only "link of the two thunderbolts,"[386] as he had called himself, was broken. Hunt was left in an awkward position which no one could have foreseen. A few days later he wrote to friends at home of Byron's kindness.[387] In 1828 he gave a different version: "Lord Byron requested me to look upon him as standing in Mr. S.'s place. My heart died within me to hear him; I made the proper acknowledgment, but I knew what he meant, and I more than doubted whether even in that, the most trivial part of the friendship, he could resemble Mr. Shelley, if he would. Circumstances unfortunately rendered the matter of too much importance to me at the moment. I had reason to fear:--I was compelled to try:--and things turned out as I had dreaded. The public have been given to understand that Lord Byron's purse was at my command, and that I used it according to the spirit with which it was offered. _I did so._ Stern necessity and a family compelled me."[388] With the magazine scarcely likely to yield an income for some time, it was absolutely necessary for Hunt to get money from somewhere for living expenses and, Shelley gone, there was no one left to tide over the interval but Byron. The latter did not relish the position of sole banker to a family of nine and doled out L70 in small doses through his steward, Hunt says, just as if his "disgraces were being counted."[389] He was embittered by his position as suppliant and dependent, though there is nothing to show that he was ever refused what he asked for or requested to pay back what he owed.[390]