The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-09-26
THE BYRON CONTROVERSY
DR.. Forbes Winslow ON Lady Byron's State
of Mind,

DR.. Forbes Winsiow ON Lady Byr0n's State
of Mind.
To THE EDITOR OF THE LONDON 3rANDARD:-
Your paper OF the 4th or September containing an
able and deeply interesting "VindIcatlon OF Lord
Byron" has followed me to this place. With the
Of Lady Byron's separation from her husband, as
recorded, have no desire or intention to grapple
1t Is only with the hypothesis OF insanity, as sug
gested by the clever writer OF the vIndicatOnr to
account for Lady Byron's sad revelations to Mrs
Beecher stowe, with which / propose 10 deal.
moment maintained. II Lady Byron's state
ment OF facts to Mrs. b. Stowe is to be viewed
as the creation Of distempered fancy--a delusion
or hailucDaton OF an insane mind-at what part OF
the narrative are we to draw the boundary fine be.
tween fact and deluson, sanity and insanity
Where are we to fix the point duppt, of the unacy
Again, IL the alleged "hallucination' 70 be consld-
cred "a strictly confined to the Idea that Lord Byron
had committed the frightful sin OF incest. Is the
whole Of the true storyn Of her married life, as
reproduced with such terrible mlnuteness by Mrs.
disordered fancyr IfLady Byron was the subject oran
mathematician with regard to her husband, think
not unreasonable to conclude that the mental alien
alton existed on the day OF ner marriage II this
proposition be accepted the natural inference Will
be that the details OF the conversation which Lady
Byron represents to have occurred between herself
aud Lord Byron, as soon a. they entered the car.
rage, never took place. Lord Byron Is said to havo
remarked to Lady Byron, "You might have pre-
vented this Tor words to that efrect you will now
find that you have married DEVIL" Is this alleged
conversation to be viewed as fact or felton, EVIL
ueuCt VI sduif Vi IL tue revelation which
Lord Byron is said to have made to his wife
OF mis- 'incestuous PASSION another delusion
having no foundation except In his wifes
attempts to justify to Lady Byron's mind the
morale Of the plea Of continental latitude the
good humored marriage, in which compIaisant
others infdelitfesn another morbid pervsrslOn' of
her imaglnationf DID this conversation ever take
placer IL will be dHicult TO separate one part OF
the 'true story" from another ana maintain that
this portion indicates insanity and that portion rep
resents sanity. II we accept the hypothesis Of hal
Byron's conversations with Mrs. B. stowe and the
written statement laid before her. as the Wild and
lnconerent representation OF Iunatic On tho day
when Lady Byron parted from her husband did she
enter his private room and lind him with
a' SSeGs OF t0s MS s1sy paWsson" ana da
three meet again." In this To be considered
is actual occurrence, or as another form OF hal
OF Lady Byr0n's insanity to imagine that her deu.
sion was restricted to the idea OF his having com
United '1ncest" In common fairness we are pound
to view the aggregate mental phenomena which she
exhibited from the day OF the marriage to the final
separation and her death. No person practically
acquainted with the true CHARACTERISTICS Of insanity
would affirm that had this idea Of ''Incest" been an
insane halluchatOn Lady Byron could, from the
heightened period which interviewed between her
unhappy marriage and death, have refrain
ed from exhibiting It, not only to legal
advisers and trustees assuming that sne
exsctIng no pledge OF secrecy from them as to her
mental Impressions. Lunatics do for time, and tor
some special purpose, most cunningy conceal III cir
decisions but they have not capacity struggle
for thirtysix years, as Lady Byron must have DONE
with so frghtfu hallucinatiOn without the insane
state or mind becoming obvious TO those with whom
they are daily associatIng. Neither ia 1t consistent
with experience to suppose that II Lady Byron mad
been mon0maniac her state Of disordered under
standing would have been restricted 70 one nallu.
cinatlOn. Her diseased BRAN, affecting the normal
action Of tnought would in oil PROBABILITY have
manifested other symptoms besides those referred 70
OF aberraton OF intellect.
During the last thirty years have not met with .
case OF insanity lass uIning the hypothesis OF han
cinationl at all parallel with that Of Lady Byron.
In my experience It Is unique | never saw
patent with such deluslon. II It should be estab.
nsned by The statements OF those who the deposit
tors OF the secret and they now bound 10 win a.
cation Of Lord Byron's memory to deny, II they
have Inc power OF dong this most frghtful accu
satlonl that the idea OF incest ala unbappily
Lady Byr0n's mind prior TO her finally leaving him,
IT no doubt arose rom most Inaccurate knowledge
OF facts ana perfectly unJusthsbIe data and was
not IN the right psychological acceptatlon Of the
phrase, an insane halluclnation.
Sir. remain your obedient servant
FORBES wINSLOw NJ. ID.
LARSGsaHoy. Freburg on Bre,gau, Sept. S, 1902