Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-01-25

Merthl,, for February, on Lady Byron, in
whlcb sbe defends that lady from the charges
made against her but In 50 doing shows
decided bias against the poet. We select a
few extracts from the article:
They were married on the ID of Jauu-
ary. The wedding day was miserable.
Byron awoke in one of his melancholy
moods, and wandered alone in the grounds
Til called to be married. His wayward
mind YVES full of the associations that were
ileast congeIiaI with the day. His thoughts
were. fun of Mary Cbawcrth, cad OF old
scenes in his life, which he fanCied he loved
because he was nowleaving them behind
He declared that his poem Of The Dream
was true picture Of his wedding mornings
and there are circumstances, not told In his
Life, which render this probable.
artsr the ceremony and breakfast, the
vouno connie left Seahsm for Sir ksiph's
seat at Halnaby. Toward ddsk q thaat as
| winter. day, the carriage drove up to the
| door, where the old butler stood ready TO
| receive his young lady and her bridegroom.
| The moment the carriage door was opened,
the bridegroom jumped out and walked
awsy. When his bride alighted, the old
| serTant was aghast. She came up the steps
| With the hstless gait Of despair. Her face
| and movements expressed such utter horror
| and dtsolation, that the old butler longed
! 70 offer his arm TO the lonely young cseature,
| rs an assurance of sympathy aud protection.
! Various stories got abroad as W " Ne cause OF
this horror, one probably as false as another;
and, for his own part Byron met them by a
| false story of Miss Milbankes ladys.mald
| having been stuck in, bodkin wise between
| them AS Lady Byron certainly soon got
| over the shock, the probability is that she
| satisfied herself that he had been suffering
under one of the dark moods to which he
was subject, both constitutionally and as the
| poet of moods. u-lli lI
Before six weeks were over, he wrote to
! Moore latter some previous hankerings) that
| he should go abroad soon, land alone, too"
| He did not 70 then. In April, the death of
| Lord Wentworth occurred, causing Sir
| Ralph ard Lady Nilbanke to take the name
| Of Noel according TO Lord Wentworth's
| will, and assuring the prospect OF ultimate
| accession of wealth. Meantime, the new
/ expenses of his married life, entered upon
| without any eXtricatiOn from old debts,
4 caused such embarrassment that, after
! many other hnmiiiations had been under
cone, he offered his books for SALE As Lady
| Byron maintained q lifelong silence ABOUT
| the suffeIings of her married life, little is
| known of that miserable year beyond what
| all the world saw; executions in the house,
| increasing gloom aud recklessness in the
husband; bright patience and resoluteness
| in the wife; and au immense pity felt by the
| poets adoTers for bis trials by prosecuting
| Fate During the summer and autumn, his
| mention of his wife to his correspondents
| became less frequent and more formal. His
tone about his approaching "papaship" tells
| nothing. He was not likely to show TO such
| men any good or nataral feelings on the
| occasion In December, his daughter, Au-
| gust Ada, was born; and early in January,
| he wrote TO Moore so melancholy "Heigho,"
| s l. ka,v hea I'D
| year, as to incite that critical observer to
write him an inquiry about the state of his
domestic spirits. The end was near, aud
| the world was about to see its idol and his
wife tested in moral action of a very strin-
gent kind.
BY means of the only publication ever
made or authorized by Lady Byron on the
subject of her domestic life, her vindication
of Der parents contained in the appendix of
Moore's life of the poet, we know, that
during her confinement Lord Byron's near
est relatives were alarmed by tokens of CO.
centricity SO marked, that they informed
| her. as soon as she was recovered, that they
believed him insane. His confidential SER
| want bore the same testimony aud she ma
turally believed it, when she resumed her
| place in the household, and saw how he
was going on. On the 9Th of January, the
day after he wrote the 3" HeigboW to Moore,
he desired his wife, in writing, to 20 to her
uarents on the first day that it was possible
for her to travel Her physicians would
not let her go earlier than the 10th, and on
that day she went She never saw her hus-
band again.
She had. in agreement with his family,
consulted DR.. Baillie on her husbands be-
half, and he, supposing the insanity to be
real, advised, before seeing Lord Byron, that
she should obey his wish about absenting
herself as an eXperiment--and that, in the
interval, she should converse only on light
and cheerful topics. She observed these
directions, and, in the spirit OF them, wrote
two letters, on the journey, which bore no
marks of the trouble which existed between
them. These letters were afterward used,
even circulated, to create belief that Lady
Byron had been suddenly persuaded to de-
sert her husband, though he at least was well
aware that the fact was not so. 1t soon ap-
peared that he was not insane. Such was
the decision of physicians, relatives, and
presently, of Lady Byron herself. While
there was any room for supposing disease to
be the cause of his. conduct, she and hel
parents were anxious to use ali tenderness
with him, and devote themselves to his vel
fare; but when it became necessary to con
slider him sane, bis wife declared that she
could not return to him.
1t is not necessary to dwell on the impu
tations Lord Byron spread abroad at tht
time, and his biographer afterward, agains
the parents of his wife, and every body be
longing to them, who could be supposed II
have the slightest influence over Lady
Byren's views or feelings. Those allega
, tions were publicly shown by her to be false
nearly thirty years ago. | refer to then
now solely because they were the occasion
of the only public disclosure Lady ByroI
ever voluntarily made on any part of tn
subject of her married life. 1t is needles
to exhibit how different in this respect wa
the conduct of her husband and his friends
II became known by that statement, ate
} some years, that when Lady Noel went +
London, to see what could and ought to b
= done, she obtained good legal opinions o.
l the case, SO far as she knew it. Thos
, opinions declared Lady Byron fully justihe
! in refusing to rejoin her husband. Th
parents, however, never knew the whole
! and it was on yet more substantial ground
that Lady Byron formed her resolution
u The facts were submitted, as the world bs
since known, as an A. B. case, to DIR. Lusl
ington aud Sir Samuel Romilly; and thos
# able lawyers and good men peremptorily d.
a cided, that the wife, whoever she might b.
n must never see her husband again. Whe
they learned whose case it was, they NJ
: only gave their full sanction to her retus
# to return, but declared that they woul
q never countenance in any way change
that resolution. DR.. Lushington's statemeI
to this effect appears ip the appendix
Moore's Life, as part Of Lady Byrons VII
: dication of her parents.
a 1t was very hard on her to be compellC
to speak at all. For six years she had ke
oilanoa 1ttarlv haariney all limitations wit