The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-10-23
ENGLAND.-RANDoM SKETCHES,

| mrs. fTy, me Jemue HoUuTu. -DHcHeSS
/ Of Sutherland.
In my last letter, dear c., promised to tell
! you something OF Lady Byron, whom 1t was my
pleasure TO meet in London few words must
4 redeem the pledge. have rarely been more in
terested in any lady on either side Of the Allan
tic than in this lovely, winning woman. She
| appears as mild as the blue sky of an Italian
evening. Instructed by her intelligent CONVEX
sation, and charmed with the softened graces
which modestly sparked on the curren, of her
thoughts, said to myself Z" Can II be tina, that
pale blue eye, that mellow voice, those band
| manners, belonged TO the Lady Byron, the wife
| of the wild genus, whose cratic fire, while it
startled the round world with its glare, withered
all that was sweet and beautiful within its own
domestic circle, and ultimately consumed itself
BY the intensity of its own heat Hidden un-
der the wan cheek and quiet countenance Of this
unfortunate lady, there may lie the smouldering
embers of fierce passions that once shot their
flames through the very veins Of the noble bard,
and made him the despairng suicide he was
but, they now sumber 50 profoundly that can
not, will not believe they Were ever in being.
But this is needless conjecture. Moore, the
partial friend of the poet, admits that Lady By
ron was gentle and lovely; and the impartial
world cannot wholly acquit her Of blame in the
unfortunate affair to which have alluded Let
oblivion cover all.
d
Lady Byron that wins and weds he listener and
digniied common sense that edifes him. The
| tinge Of sadness-shall | cal il melancholy p
which flows through il, gives serious and sin
| cere hue TO the VEN OF pure morality which per-
vades much of her discourse Her address and
mein are familiar and easy. Decidedly plain
looking, her countenance, when lying IN repose,
is rather dull and uninteresting. When excited
by the ardent conversation OF kindred spirits, it
beams, but never flashes. Even in her bloom,
she could not have been handsome. The por-
traits Of her which are usually met with in the
shops or appended to the works of Lady Byron,
are tolerably faithful TO the original.
As might be expected, she is very sensitive TO
all illusions, however remote, to her late hus-
band ! am told she often leaves the room
when his name and history are introduced-not
rudely, of course, but on some feigned or real
excuse. | was standing near her when well
meaning but bungling gentleman spoke TO her of
her sillustrous husband.n With much readi-
ness she adrotly turned the conversation, and
politely disengaged herself from the circle.
1t is not so with Ada Augusta, her daughter,
the present Lady Lovelace. She loves TO talk of
her father, and is delighted when you tell her
that his works are universally read not only in
the sea-board cities Of America, but among the
far-oh hills and prairies of the New World
Ada is gentle, witty, and pretty; but neither
beautiful nor large minded. She is said to be
the happy wife Of Lord Lovelace.
You tease me to tell you about Mrs. OPIE.-
You have read her work on Lying" Well l.:
if ] say any thing Of this good old lady, it must
be The truth, lest the book al my elbow open its
lips and rebuke me- To speak, or not to speak !!
that's the question. Mrs. 0. is far advanced in
life. The sun and shade of more than sixty
winters have chased their alternate brightness
and gloom across her path. Still, she has much
/, of her sprightness Of youth in her converse
|, n her a4a han
she possesses. II may be pardoned, though, in
J venerable auhoress who has done something
to improve her race. The finest marble has its
flaws. Mrs. Opie is Quakeress. In doctrine
she is of the straitest Of the sect, and talks Of
J Barclays Apology and Byrons Childe Harold,
of George Fox's preaching and Walter SCOTS
novels, IN the same sentence and with equal de-
T light. Her thee and thou did sound oddly in
; such company, and thought they slipped and
, trlpped occasionally, when discourslng of Tom
Moore's claret jokes, at Lord Hollands literati
e dinners. Her dress, too! How fastidious the
e arrangement; how juvenile its tout ensemble
I II dazzles my eyes as it throws back in disdain
the envious brilliancy of that blazing chandelier
Not belle in the room has toiled at her toilet
: more hours this evening than she. But will
not forget that she was not "birth-right mem
Der" of the plain spoken sect whom thou callest
4 Quakers, but joined the quiet sombre Friends
0 ION confinement" when in the post meridian
OF life, with habits indelible impress mind and
: manners. Is she therefore insncere2 Can the
e leopard change his spots Those who criticize
Mrs. Opie, the Quakeress should know that un.
I der that glossy white satin dress, beats heart
2 whose every door is open to the ngress of TRUTH
r and whose out-gushings return not till they have
n swept the entire circle of charity and benevo-
G lence
. Our worthy authoress is full of anecdote, talks
e fiuently, is sensitive, eccentric. She lives in
IL, 4
e with excellent paintings her husband was an
a eminent artist, rare statuary, &C., DC rLord
d Coke says there is oft-times much meaning hid
o under an ef ceterd. She is active in all works
= OF love and mercy; is on good terms with thai
excellent old divine the Lord Bishop fNofwich
h and delights 10 guide strangers through the
: long alsles of his aged Cathredal when the organ
t plays It's sweetest notes. Quite Catholic for a
G Quaker, methinks hear YOU saw George Fox
cherished as deadly hatred for ''steeple houses
:, as Don Quixote for wind mills. But, c., the
: march Of mind
| Think not from the utmost trivial way in
It which speak of Mrs. Opie, that | would de-
o tract from her reputation as useful, agreeable
o writer, or her excellent character as Christian
$ phlanthropist Suppose she is too fond of tell
u ing her auditors of the clever things Sir Walter
Scott said to her when she sat at his right hand
d at General Cannon's dinner party or of the
G dull joke which the Earl Of Duddlington cracked
b in her ear at Lord Hollands; or of the sharr
s discussion she once had at Wordsworh's with
d Campbell and Moore. She is only one of a
= great crowd of people on either side of the At
s antic, who glory in being spangle in some
i huge comets luminous train.
: Twenty years ago, Hannah More (my per
5 seems bent upon discoursing of wo,ncn-let il
i rum IN her Moral Sketches, speaking Of the ef
: forts which had been made 10 improve the con
: dtion OF the unfortunate women and children
y confined in Newgate, said "In alludirs to Ger