Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-09-12
Lord ByrOn's Family and Female Gam
blers.
The following gossip is drawn out by the
lnnIl. &C I ni.- ..-...

.- blers.
The following gossip is drawn out by the
recent death of Lady Byron, in England
The death of Lady Byron has awakened
few old recollections and old controversies,
and the family feud is again fought over.
Strange to say, in an interesting sale which
took place not long since at Puttick &
Simpsons, the well-known auctioneers of
literary property, of autographs, and MSS,
including letters of Napoleon, Nelson, Moore,
Rogers and Fox, were several addressed to
Monk Lewis by Lord Byron, in one of which
he wrote: ut has been intimated to me that
the persons understood to be the legal ad-
visers of Lady Byron have declared their
lips to be sealed on the causes of the separa-
ton between Lady Byron and me. If their
lips are sealed up they are not sealed by me,
and the greatest favor they can confer on me
is TO open them"
He goes on to say that he signed the
deed Of separation with the greatest reluc-
tance after repeatedly and in vain calling for
a statement of the charges against him, and
that he would be glad TO cancel and submit
the whole case to any tribunal, a proposition
which had been declined previous to the
separation. Her ladyship's legal adviser was
DR.. Lushington, it may be remembered, who,
as well as Hobhouse, the poets dear friend
now Lord Broughton, are both alive. Those
dals of that. soandalous time (Which were
reviewed by Campbell on Lord Byron's part
on the publication of MooTes MemotrS), will
remember that DR.. Lushington said there
were reasons which made it impossible for
Byron and his wife ever to cohabit and
that for a time the foulest fances ran riot in
imaging them, nothing being too monstrous
to attribute to the head of the Satanic school,
as Southey calls him in his review of Cain,
t1birn calf fhn osrnat oriuiDal he drpXvb Now
that both Lady Byron and Ada are dead and
all the parties of the scene, it may be well
that the secret should be published. 1t may
wipe away a stain from the poets name.
At the worst, nothing can be worse than the
worlds prurient imaginings.
Lady Byron latterly never mixed in So
! ciety and even some twelve years since
looked completely broken. She possessed a
highly cultivated mind, which she trained
under the severest discipline of mathematics,
of which science she was passionately fond.
Her daughter "Ada, sole daughter of my
house and heart" inherited this passion, but,
unfortunately for herself carried it into q
dangerous field. For some years, wholly
unknown to her husband, she had, through
! an agent, a MI. Kreelake, bet large sums on
the turf, and was, down to 'Teddington's last
year, q large winner. Lured on by her sue
cess, and doubtless hoping to make a large
coup, she veutured out of her depth, and laid
immense sums against the horse "Tedding-
ton" At the settling, Mr.. Kreelake being
made unable to pay his debts the story had
/ to be told. Lord Lovelace, with unbending
honor, paid the whole amount, some where
near 10000 but Lady Lovelace never re-
covered from the pain and suffering this ex-
posure brought, and died in Italy soon after
This passion of gambling was not confined
to Ada alone, or the British aristocracy. Per.
haps the strangest feature of railway excite.
! ment in England was the eagerness with
whichsthe ladies leaped into it. These bright
\ gamblers gathered each morning round the
share list, with the same eager passion with
which they might be seen to-day round the
faro-table at Baden, OF round some Partisan
i gambling-booth some century since. They
| were far more INSCRIPTIONS aud dariag thar
the men, and if many lost, many also won
= The most brilliant of the band is the pres
ent Dowager Marchioness of Ailesbury, one
of the most dazzling and dashing women il
England, of the Lady Gay Spanker school
Afirst-rate whip and charming horse-woman
her presence in the Park, with her profusior
of fair curls, as with the grace of an Amazor
she directs, preceded by her outrlders, hel
fiery steeds down the row, always wakes
great wonder and admiration among the
gaping loungers of the rails. OF her opera
tions during the railway management shu
never made any concealment. Indeed, he
light, airy carriage, might be often seer
hanging in Cheapside, between two burl,
omnibuses, or gliding fairy-like among
huge bundle of baggage-carts during tn
cheated term,n as Mr.. Merriam would tern
it, which usually preeedes the storm. He
late lord, who was of the dolly Spanker
school, used to look on his lady's exploit
with stupid joy. At one time she was sal
to realize fl00,00O under the advice of MI
Hudson, of whom her rank and fashiol
made her special pet, and out of who's
keeping she used, with most playful co
quetry, to coax the most important secret
Of railway state. -3l -