Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-03-02
Causes Of Lord ByrOn's Separation
from his Wife.

The Home Journal gives us an iterestins
piece of gossip relative to the rupture be-
tween Lord and Lady Byron 1t appear:
that Byron himself repeatedly declared, ir
his letters, that the actual cause of the sep
aration was unknown tQ him. Yet, brie
recapitulation of such facts as have trans.
PRED, will give the reader who has never
heard of them pretty correct idea of the
unhappy domestic relations of the great
poet: -
On the second of January, 1915, Lord
Byron--then in his twenty year
was united in marriage with Miss Mill
banke. On the tenth of December, of the
same year, Augusta Ada, their child was
born. About six weeks after, Lady Byron
left London on visit to her fatherin Lei
cestershire, with the understanding that
her husband would shortly JOIN her. They
parted in kindness, nay, in tender afec-
ton and she wrote him playful letter
while on the journey. Immediately on
hel arrival at the paternal mansion, her fa-
ther wrote to Lord Byron, to inform him
that his daughter would return to him no
more, and the husband and wife never met
again. Such are the bare facts of the case,
and for their explanation we are obliged to
resort to conjecture, and to glance at the
previous history Of bosh parties.
AT the time of his marriage, LORD Byron
was man of fashion, and addicted to the
vices of a man of fashion. We believe
that his errors in the latter respect have
been greatly exaggerated that, in fact, he
transgTessed less against the laws of moral
ity than young men of raMk usually do
But he was a shining mark for the shafts
Of calumny; and it was his lot to bear that
fury of resentment which common mortals
sometimes cherish towards those whose tal-
ents cast their pigmy pretensions utterly
into the shade. He was not seosualist,
in correct sense of that expression. Bis
cults and water often formed his repast /;
his libations to Bacchus were unfrequent,
and seldom excessive: and he Injured him
self to fatigue by daily practice in boxing
and fencing. He was always generous,
scattering his money, when he had any,
with more than princely generosity. His
income never exceeded four thousand
pounds sterling a year, and, taking his
whole life into the account, we believe he
gave away more than a third of it. For
all that, however, he was not Puritan
1t was not in his blood, in his position, or
in his circumstances, to be so. We do not
justify his departures from morality. On
the contrary, we deplore them, knowing
we'll that in morality, all mon ought to be
puritanic and that no degree of temptation
justi6es any degree of sin. Marriage was
continually recommended to Byron, as an
"antdote" to dissipation. At length he
took the prescrption-and bitter dose it
proved. He proposed to Miss Millbanke,
and was refused. They continued, howev-
er, to be on very friendly terms, and to
correspond. He proposed a second time
and was accepted. His friends protested
against his choice for two reasons: frst,be~
cause she was too "stra;t-Iaoed," /. E.. too
good for him. and secondly, because her
fortune consisted chiefly in expectations
But, setting one day with frierd, when a
refusal from another lady arrived, Byron
said, "You see that, after all, Miss Mill
banke is to be the person, will write to
her." He wrote on the instant, and show
ed the letter to bis friend, who, still remon-
srating against his choice, read the letter
over and remarked, "Well, really, this is
very pretty letter; it is pity it should not
go; | never read a prettier one.' Then it
shall 60" said Lord Byron. 1t did 90, and
it sealed his fate. Thus lightly are the
words spoken, and thus thoughtlessly are
the deeds done, which make or mar our
happiness for life.
Miss Alllbanke was the pattern daugh-
ter of pattern country gentleman. Rea-
der,if thou hast ever resided, for one week,
in an English country house, thou needest
no further description of Miss Millbanke.
But probably thou hast not, and so few
additional syllables are required. An En-
glish country house, of the pattern sort, is
a place where peace and plenty, order and
regularity, have taken up their abode
Life in it goes on in an unvarying round of
duties and delights. From the master to
the scullion, each inhabitant has, and
kno'cs, and keeps his place, yielding obedi-
ence to those above him, requiring respect
and submission from those below him.
But the yoke is easy and the burthen Is
light, because respect is mingled with af-
lection and obedience is rendered with 10y
olty. 'lntellectual''-as we understand
the word-the family are not but, in such
a home, human nature has reached as high
point OF harmonious development, as it
has attained on :his planet, in any age
We have met with people who, in some re-
specs, were vastly superior 10 the inmates
of an English pattern country house-more
learned, for example, more imaginative,
more open to'new ideas-but never any
who seeiaed upon the whole more enviable
or more excellent. Miss Millbanke, as we
have just observed, was pattern lady of
her class-virtuous, discrete prudent, order
ly, knd-formed to be wise mother of
English children, an admirable mistress of
an English home. She was not a woman
who would see anything romantic in hu-
son, or anything interesting in a seizure Of
furniture by the sheriff; nor was she a wo-
man who could regard the glory of the po-
ct as set off against the faults Of the man;
on the contrary she would consider-and
rightly consider-that the possession of ex-
traordinary talents heightens the turpitude
Of moral delinquency.
Nine times during the year that Lord
and Lady Byron lived together the sher-
if s officers seized theirf urniture for debt.
1t was reported about town that his extrav-
agant lordship had married an heiress, and
his marriage was the signal for creditors TO
come upon HIM in ,s~arm-iritating him,
dsmaying her. Lord Byron's connection
with Drury Lane Theatre gave rise to a
variety of rumors, which, though probably