The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-24
THE BYRON SCANDAL.

Countess Guiccioli. As it was the publication
of this ladys "reminiscences that gave Mrs
Stowe her cue, the public will of course
wish to know what she said on this particular
subject
Lord Byron's marriage exercised such a
deplorable influence over his destiny, that it
Is impossible to speak of it succinctly, and
without entering into details; for this one
great misfortune proved the fruitful source
of all Others If we were permitted to be-
lieve that Providence sometimes abandons
men here below to the influence of an evil
genius, we might well conceive this baneful
Intervention in the case of Lord Byron's con-
jugal union, and all the circumstances that
led to it.
1t was but few months after having re-
turned from his travels in the East that Lord
Byron published his first cantos of 'Childe
Harold, and obtained triumphs as an orator
in the House of Lords. Presenting himself
thus for the first time to the public, sur
rounded by all the prestige belonging to
handsome person, rank and youth-in word,
with such an assemblage of qualities as are
seldom, if ever, found united in one person
he Immediately became the idol of England
The enemies created 10y his boyish satire, and
augmented by the jealousy his success could
not fail to cause, now hid themselves like
those vile insects that stink back into their
holes on the first appearance of the suns rays,
ready to creep out again when fogs and dark
ness return Living, then, in the midst of
the great world in the closest intimacy with
many of the fair SEX and witnessing the small
amount of welded happiness enjoyed by aris-
tocratic couples within his observation, intend
ing also to wing his flight eventually towards
climes more in unison with his tastes, he no
longer felt that attraction for marriage which
he had experienced in bOyhood (lille most
youths) and he said, quite seriously, that if
his cousin, George Byron, would marry, he,
on his part, would willingly engage not to
enter into wedlock But his friends saw with
regret that his eyes were still seeking through
English clouds the blue skies of the East, and
that he was kept in perpetual agitation by the
fair ones who would cast themselves athwart
his path. throwing themselves at his head
when not at his feet. Vainly did he distort
himself give himself ont to the public as a
true collide Har... malign himself; his
friends knew thai bis heart was overtlowing
with tenderness, and they could not thus be
duped If he had wished to Gull some flowers
idly for the sake Of scattering their leaves to
the breeze as youth 50 often does, this sort
of amusement would have been difficult for
him; for the fine ladies of his choice, if once
they succeeded in inspiring him with some
kind of tender feeling fastened themselves
upon him in such a passionate way that his
freedom became greatly shaclled, and they
generally ended by making the public the
Confddnte of their secret.
Lord Byron had some adventures that
brought him annoyance and grief. They
made him fall into low spirits-a sort of
moral apathy and indifference for everything.
His best friends, and the wisest among them
thought that the surest way of settling him in
England and getting him out of the scrapes
into which he was being dragged by female
enthusiasm would be for him to marry, and
they advised him to it pertinaciously. Lord
Byron. ever docile to the voice of affection,
did not repel the counsels given; but he made
them well understand that he should marry
from reason rather than choice.
And so he married Miss Mill
banke. Lady Byron possessed one
of those minds clever at reasoning but weak
in Judgment; that can reason much without
being reasonable, to use the words of a great
philosophical moralist of our day; one of
those minds that act as if life were problem
in jurisprudence or geometry; who argue,
distinguish, and by dint of syllogisms deceive
themselves learnedly. She always deceived
herself in this way about Lord Byron. When
she was enc5ente, and her conhne-
ment drawing near, the storm continued to
gather above her husbands head. He was in
correspondence with Moore, then absent from
London. Moore's apprehensions with regard
to the happiness likely to result from a union
that had never appeared suitable in his eyes
had nevertheless calmed down on receiving
letters from Lord Byron that expressed salts
faction. Yet during the first days of what is
vulgarly termed the honeymoon" Lord
Byron sent Moore some very melancholy
verses, to be set to music, said he, and which
began thus-
There's not joy the world can give like that it takes
away
Moore had already felt some vague dis
quietude, and he asked why he allowed his
mind to dwell on such sorrowful ideas ? Lore
Byron replied that he had written these verses
on learning the death of a friend of his child
hood, the Duke of Dorset and as his subse
quent letters were full of jests Moore became
reassured. Lord Byron said he was happy
and so he was; for Lady Byron, not being
jealous then, continued to be gentle anC
amiable.
''But these indications of contented heart
soon ceased. His mention of the partner Of
his home became more rare and formal anG
there was observable, / thought, through
some of his letters a feeling of unquiet an(
WEAKNESS that brought back all those gloomy
anticipations which had from the first fel
regarding his fate"
Above all, there were expressions in hi
letters that seemed of sad augury. For in
stance, in announcing the birth of his littl
girl, Lord Byron said he was absorbed in fiv
hundred contradictory contemplations, al
though he had only one single object in view
which would probably come to nothing, as i
mostly happens with all we desire. ''Bu
never mind, he said, ''as somebody says
for the blue sky bends over all 1 onl
could be glad if it bent over me where it is
little bluer, like skyish top of blue Olympus.
On reading this letter, dated the 9Th