Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-10-21

in cod6leH To- Huntington may
have bes14t ~ ian accdsation of some
crime heinons essgh 70 justify Lady
.Byrozss sabseq1snf Behavior; that Byron
know wl,at II vsa nd submitted to a
separation rather than risk public dis
elosuss; and that Il was 50 bad he had de-
termined to destroy himself ii it became
known. What his crime was the writer
in Temple Bar believes it useless to try to
discover. "There is no longer an excuse"
he says, "for lawless and uncertain
thoughts wandering in the region of i'm
aginary crime" Out Of thousand pos
sible causes he suggests one: Suppose
Byron tried to poison his wife. But he is
careful to warn us that this is mere hy-
pothesis Thus another complication is
added to this affair. Perhaps Mrs. Stowe,
in her forthcoming paper, can clear it up
little.
Lydia Maria Child has an article in this
weeks Independent, warmly defending
Mrs Stowe for her revelation, and show
ing that she was not the only American
woman to whom Lady Byron confided
her secret. She says.
Ny dear friend, Mrs. Follen, widow of
t. Q admirable DR.. Charles Follen, visited
England soon after Mrs Stowe had re-
ceived her great ovation there. Being a
person of refinement and high culture,
and Jealous advocate of the anti-slavery
cause, she naturally received attention
from the same people who courted Mrs.
Stowe-such as the Duchess of Suther-
land, Lady Byron, etc. l spent day
with her soon after her return, and a
| large portion of it was spent in listening
to her accounts of Lady Byron. She de-
scribed her perfect personification of
Christian saint-gentle, loving, charit-
able in thoughts and deeds, deeply re-
| ligious, and entirely free from pions pre-
tension. She especially spoke of the lib
erality and earnestness with which she
gave her time, money and personal atten-
ton to rescue young women who had been
caught in the snares of vice. Her inter
course with these unfortunate beings was
siugulariy free from the condescension of
benevolence; she treated them precisely
as if she were the mother or Sis
| ter, and in that way acquired ex-
traordinary influence over them.
Was this the sort of person likely to bring
such horrid charge against her husband,
if it had no other foundation than her
! jealous suspicious Was this person
likely to tell an outright lie by represent
ing that her husband acknowledged the
shameful fact, and tried to induce her to
connive at it, by quoting the example of
married people III other countries, who
were very liberal and oblging to each
other in such matters Worst of all,
would such person fabricate fiction
concerning child disgraced by its birth,
whose Last hours she solaced ? 1t seems
to me more incredible than the shocking
story revealed by Mrs. Stowe, In the
course of my conversation with Mrs. Fol-
| len, which occurred some twelve or thir-
teen years ago, she said Lady Byron
confided to me the true cause of her sepa-
ration from her husband. 1t is known to
several individuals, but, for good reasons.
has never been made public. l cannot
reveal the dreadful secret, because it was
told to me in confidence but thus much
| will assure you, it was something SO
| shocking that no woman, even if her
principles were not of the -trctest, could
possibly have consented to live with
/ him"