The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-08-22


Watching the growth Of stunted goosbery bushes in
the garden, that have neither time nor sense to
say more than yours ever.n And once more. within
aweek. 81 have been very comfortable here listening
so tnat - monologue which elderly gentlemen call
repeats himself every evening save one when he
played pom the 1ddlen
IN these earlier letters written within two months
strong conjugal affection and bliss as stllled tn,e
.ears YMch had haunted him, lest the happiness of
chosen for HIMSELF In other words, by his ma iage
with such woman as Miss Milbanke. But f.nese IN
dicatiOns OF contented heart soon .sed. The
mention Of the wife became more rare and formal,
and there was observable a feeling 81 unquiet and
WEAKNESS which brought back al the gloomy
ticipaon9 with which the biograr Iher had from the
sf fecafed the poets Fate "a the last letter be-
fore the separation In which lord Byron announced
the birth Of his d aug aere were longass for
sight of olympus and q sight, have now been
married year on the I'd OF this month. Hegh-hop'
less and rowing spirit Which unhappiness or impa-
thence always called Up; and he knew that 1t was
the habit Of the writer's mind under the pressure OF
disgust dlsquiet seek relief In that sense OF
freedom which told him that there were homes for
him elsewhere.
From his return to London until the day that his
wife left him, period OF ten months, we have but
few and far between glimpses OF his domestic life
In the interval his daughter was born, and LORD
wentworth died. or the expected birth, the father,
many months before 1t happened, wrote that 1t was
subject upon which he was not particularly anxious,
IL
Gle, Lord Wentworth, and her father and mother
On the eve OF the uncles funeral he went to Drary
IN @ iii DS ws
less. His biographer, having before him Lord
Byrons Journals has not thought 1T to tell more OF
the birth Of his daughter than that in the beginning
OF the period, he was drunk. day AFTER day, with
would possess snow that their first zest as subject
OF scandal IS gone would be too slight to justify
me In entering upon them more particularly"
no NJ I'm mol nj n
the poets life. More likely causes might be found,
and, among them, that the Journals would have con.
his wires sorrow In childbirth was aggravated by his
unkindness he himself bears witness He had
breathed upon her "the breath OF bitter words"
their child was born In bitterness and nurtured In
convulsi0n," and the bitterness was altogether his
own; he never had, or could have, any reproach to
make against her; the fault OF the cruel separation
lay with him alone. Adding his confession that he
had 9 soul (which not only tormented itself, but
everybody else in contact with IT, his intimations
that following the doctrine OF William OF Nassau, he
chose to go wherever he had a mind, and never
dreamed his lady was concerned.
From these revelations his wifes wreIchedness
may, In some degree, be imagined. From her we
learn incidentally that during the latter part OF her
stay IN London she saw little OF her husband; that
twenty-seven days after the birth OF her child, ne
signifed TO her. IN writing his absolute desire that
she should leave London on the earliest day that
she could conveniently tx, and that she went &C.
cordingly. And what manner OF woman was she to
whom the VOW to love, honor and cherish, had been
after she had enforced separation, and while, as
the consequence Of the. separation, he was
lawed In the general opinion an exile G. with
out hope without pride without alienation.
~ must set you right in one point. however The
fault was not no, nor even the misfortune in my
choice unless IN choosing at ALL; for do not be-
leve, and must say 1t in the very dregs Of all this
bitter business that there ever was better.
O brighter, kinder, OF more amiable and agree.
able being than Lady Byron. never had nor can
q n m aalf nd 7
connot redeem, must bear it,"
In the PORTRAITS" Of the Countess Al
brizzi she writes Of Lord Byron at vence:-"Speak-
ing OF his marriages. delicate subject, but one still
agreeable TO him. If 1t was treated in q friendly
was moved S;s and sad i had been
OF his wife ne spoke with much respect ana affec-
ton: He said she was an illustrious lady, distin-
standing and that all the fault Of their cruel separa
ton lay with himself" As taunt against his wife
nxed rules and There is
passage in letter to Murray, letter which, coupled
with one TO Moore, shows the wife's delight in shar
band few weeks after their marriage he sent to
Moore, In Lady Byron's handwriting, the verses
which begin:-
There's not joy the world give like that takes
Some days before the day on which he expressed
his absolute desire that she shoud leave his house.
he sent to Murray manuscripts, also in his wife's
handwriting OF "The Siege Of COrnth and Parish.
ma" and wrote presently afterwards:-
handwriting favorable
for 10 .hr
with no great peril to either.
How could Lord Byron 30 soon grow weary of,
and neglect and breathe bitter words against; a
Bile. SO agreeable OF such exquisite purity and
TRUTH 1t might have been thought that he would
md, to borrow the words OF Mr.. Moore, 'th0se
images of ideal good and beauty that surround HIM
in his musings" rather In the society Of his wife
than Of those whom he sought before and after mar
~ n
hardens the heart and depraves the taste, though
seldom 80 cruelty, and SO utterly, as in him; and
but give darker hue TO his pollution. Lady Byron
was no mate for the man whose thoughts OF women
were such as these:-
Thought Of the state Of under The ancient Greeks
Ism Of the chvalry and feuda and unnatural
not mixed IN socioty ws educated religion but to
neither poetry poltics-nothng hut pety
ing and po now sns then have them msnd
ing the roads in Eprus with good success.
The sort OF piety which he contemplated appears
In his story OF ViragO the regnipg favorite OF
harem at Venice:--''She was very devOut.n What.
ever Lady Byron suffered from neglect WEAKNESS,
disquet, disgust or bitterness, she concealed. Her
father and mother were unacqualnted with any
cause OF unhapplness. There was not murmur
abroad that the course Of her married life had not
Her child was born on the 10th OF December, 1915.
On the 9th OF the next month she received, III writ
Ing her husbands absolute desire that she should
was insane-her opinion being derived, In q great
measure, from communications made TO her by his
nearest relatives and his personal attend
ant who had more opportunities than
she had OF observing him during the latter
part Of her stay in London. IL was represented
to her that he was in danger OF destroying himself
Lord Byron allows that she really did believe him
to be mad. On The sth OF January, with the con.
cnrrence OF his family, she consulted Dr. Bailie
friend Not having the opportunity OF seeing Lord
Byron, he could not give positive opinion; but be.
ing informed Of his wish that Lady Byron should
inay "a n
al experiment. He enjoined that in her letters
she should avoid all but light aud soothing topics
She left London on the 18th OF January. That
day, and the next when she arrived at her fathers
house, she wrote to her husband in kind and
cheerful tone. She told her parents OF the opinion
which had been formed OF his state of mind, and
they assured the relations who were with him In
London that II he would visit them, they would de-
vote their whole care to the alienation OF his malady.
on the 18th OF January Lady Noel wrote to Lord
Byron inviting him TO Kirkby Mallory. Reports
which Lady Byron received from the persons In
constant intercourse with him, and from his medi-
cal attendant, increased doubts, which mad already
crossed her mind, whether anything like lunacy did