Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1869-09-04

DlltHJ bnc was even 10 HeT own par
ents, whose feelings she magDanimously
spared. She did not act rashly in leav-
ing him, though sho had been most rash
in marrying him.
Not at once did the full knowledge Of
the dreadful reality into which she had
entered come upon the young wife. She
knew vaguely, from the wild avowals of
the first hours Of their marriage, that
there was dreadful secret ot guilt, that
Byron's soul was torn with agonies Of
remorse, and that he had no love TO give
TO her in return for love which was
ready TO do and dare all for him. Yet
bravely she addressed herself TO the task
OF soothing and pleasing and calming
the man whom she had taken "for better
or worse"
Young and gifted, with peculiar air
of refinement and spiritual beauty. grace
ful in every movement; possessed of ex-
! qulsltc taste; a perfect companion TO his
mind in all the higher walks OF literary
culture, and with that infinite pliability
to all his varying, capricious moods which
true love alone can give; bearing in her
hand princely fortune, which, with a
woman's uncalculating generosity, was
thrown at his feot-there is no wonder
that she might feel for awhile as if she
could enter the lists with the very devil
himself, and fight with woman's weap-
ons for the heart of her husband.
There are indications scattered through
the letters Of Lord Byron, which, though
brief indeed, showed that his young wife
was making every effort TO accommodate
herself 10 him, and to give him cheer
ful homo. One of the poems that he
sends to his publisher about this time he
speaks of being copied by her. He had
always the highest regard for literary
Judgments and opinions, and this little
incident shows that she was already as
sociating herself in a wifely fashion with
his aims as an author.
Only few days before she left him
forever, Lord Byron sent Murray manu-
scripts, in Lady Bvron's Handwriting, of
the Siege of Corinth and Parisinia, and
wrote:
81 am very glad that the handwriting
was favorable omen Of the morale of
the piece; but yoa must not trust to
that, for the copyist would write out
any thing desired, in all the ignorance
of innocence"
There were lncid intervals in which
Lord Byron felt the charm of his wife's
mind and the strength of her powers.
"BeE, you could be poet, too, if YOU
only thought So" be would saw There
were summer hours in her stormy life,
the memory of which never left her, when
| Byron was as gentle and tender as he
was beautiful; when he seemed TO be pos
sessesed by good angel, and then for a
little time all the ideal possibilities OF his
nature stood revealed.
But there came an hsur of revelation
an hour when, in manner which left no
kind Of doubt, Lady Byron saw the full
depth of The abyss of intamy which her
marriage was expected to cover, and un-
derstood that she was expected TO be the
accomplice Of this infany.
! Many women would have been utterly
crushed by such a disclosure; some would
have fled from him Immediately, and ex-
posed and denounced the crime. Lady
Byron did neither. When all the hope
of womanhood died out of her heart,
there arose within her stronger, purer,
|
such as God feels for the sinner-the love
of which Jesus spoke and which holds
the wanderer of more account than the
ninety and nine that went not astrav. She
would neither leave her husband nor be-
tray him, nor vet would she for one mo-
ment justify his sin; and hence came two
years of convulsive struggle, in which
sometimes for awhile, the good angel
seemed to gain ground, and then the
evil one returned with sevenfold vehe-
mcnce.
Lord Byron argued lis case with him
self and with her, with all the sophistries
of his powerful mind. He rcpudiated
Christianity as authority, asserted the
right of every human being to follow
out what he called "the impulse of ma
ture." Subsequently he introduced into
one of his dramas the reason by which
he justified himself in incest. -
These two years, in which Lady Byron
was with all her soul struggling to bring
her husband back to his better self, were
a series of passionate commissions.
During this time, such was the disor-
dcred and desperate state of his worldly
affairs, that there were ten executions for
debt levied on their family establishment
and it was Lady Byron's fortune each
time which settled the account. ..
Toward the last she and her husband
saw less and less of each other, and he
came more and more decidedly under
evil influences, and seemed TO acquire a
sort of hatred of her.
Lady Byron once said significantly to
a friend who spoke of some causeless
dislike in another: "My dear, have
known persons to be lrated Tor nc other
reason than because they impersonated
conscience" ...... ..-.
The 6iographers of Lord Byron and
all his apologists are careful to narrate
how sweet, and amiable, and ohliging he
was to everybody who approached him ;
and the saying Of Fletcher, his man
servant, that anybody could do any
thing with my Lord, except my Lady,"
has often been quoted.
The reason of all this viii now be evil
dent. "AIy Lady, was the only one
fully understanding the deep and dread
! ful secrets of his life who had the cour-