The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1869-09-22
Tho stowe.Byron Case-Letter from
Lady Byrou

h"V N"No-lsNttsE tEVhs
Lady Byron.
The New York Post rcpublishes remark
able letter Of Lord Lindsay TO the London
Times, giving q full account, written In 1878
by Lady Byron herself, of her relations 10
her husband. Il is supplemented and con-
hrmed at every point by the reports Of one
Of Lady Byron's most intimate friends, drawn
from her confidential talk from 1915 TO 1918,
and taken by Lord Lindsay from Lady Anne
Bernard's manuscripts. These indicate that
what Is stated by Mrs. Stowe, on Lady By
ron's supposed authority, Is at variance with
what she stated Immediately after the sepa-
ration, when everything was fresh In her
memory. Lady Bernard alludes to the fact
that "Lady Byron's misery was whispered
soon after her marriage and his (Byronsl
ill-usage," that after the birth Of Ada and
the separation from Byron, she wrote 10
Lady Byron and was visited by her, and In
detailing the surprising circumstances OF her
unhappy married life, (Lady Bernard re-
marks,) "she (Lady Byron) saw the preci-
plce on which she stood, and kept his sister
with her as much as possible" This GER
tainly does not indicate that Lady Byron
considered that sister involved in abominable
guilt with her brother The letter Of Lady
Byron, though afIordlng convictions OF By
ron's wonderfully bad nature, gives no indi-
Stoves story
LADY BYRoS's LETTER.
81 am very Incompetent judge OF the
impression which the last canto OF Childc
Harold may produce on the minds Of in-
different readers. 1t contains the usual trace
Of a conscience restlessly awake, though his
object has been too long to aggravate Its
burden, as II it could be thus oppressed into
! eternal stupor. will hope, as you do, that
1t survives for his ultimate good. It was the
acuteness Of his remorse, impenitent In Its
character, which so long seemed to demand
from my compassion to spare every sem
blance of rcproach, every look Of grief,
which might have said to his conscience,
'You have made me wretched.' am de.
cldedly of opinion that he Is responsible.
He has wished TO be thought partially de.
ranged, or on the brink of II, to perpleN
observers and prevent them from tracing
effects to their real causes through all the
intricacies Of his conduct
"I was, rs told you, at one time the dupe
Of his acted insanity, and chung to the former
decisions In regard to the motives that con-
cerned me personally till the whole system
was laid bare. lie is the absolute monarch
OF words, and uses them, as Bonaparte did
lives, for conquest, without more regard to
their intrinsic value, considering them only
as ciphers which must derive all their import
from the situation In which he places them,
and the ends to which he adapts them with
such consummatc skill. Why, then, you
will say, does he not employ them to give a
better color to his own character Because
he is too good an actor TO ovei act, or to as.
sumo moral garb which it would be easy
to strip of. In regard to this poetry, cgot.
ism Is tho vital principle OF his imagination,
which 1t Is difficult for him to kindlc on any
subject with which his own character and
interests are not Identified; but by the intro
ductlon OF fictitious Incidents, by change OF
scene or time, he has enveloped his poetical
disclosures In system impenetrable except
ing a sensation makes him not averse to be
the object OF wonder and curiosity, even
though accompanied by some dark and
vague suspicious.
"Nothing has contributed more to tho
misunderstanding Of his real character than
the lonely grandeur In which he shrouds It,
aud his Alteration Of being above mankind
when he exists almost In their voice. Tho
romance of his sentiments Is another feature
| of this mask OF state. I know no one more
habitually destitute of that enthusiasm he Sc
beautifully expresses, and to which he car
work up his fancy chiefly by contagion.
had heard he was the best Of brothers, thu
most generous OF friends, and though
such feelings only required to be warmed ant
| lHlD ulHutlNO
Though these opinions arc eradicated, AM
could never return but with the decay Of IN,
memory, you will not wonder If there ar
still moments when the association of feel
ings which arose from them soften and sad
den my thoughts.
"But / havo not thanked you, dearcs
Lady Anne, for your kindness in regard to a
principal object-that Of rectifying false i'm
| prcssions. thrust you understand my wishes
7 4. ia. 1T. 4.
any way; for. though he would not sufle
me TO remain his wife, he cannot prevent IN,
from continuing his friendj and II was from
considering myself as such that silence
the accusations by which my own conduc
might have been more fully justified. It !
not necessary to speak Ill of his heart i
general; It Is sufficient that to me 1t wa
hard, impenGtTa bic-that my own must hay
been broken before his could have bee
touched. | would rather represent this a
my misfortune than as his guilt; but, surely
that misfortune is not to be made my Grim,
such are my feelings you will judge how
, act.
/ Ellis illusions to me In Childe Harold al
! cruel and cold, but with such a semblance Q
: ! to make me appear so, and attract all syn
PATTY to himself. 1t Is said In this poel
t that hatred Of him will be taught as lci
son to his child. might appeal to all VIII
nave ever neard nc speak OF MN, ana stl
more to my own heart, TO witness that Their
has been no moment when have remem
bcred injury otherwise than adectionatcl
and sorrOwfully. 1t is not my duty to Civ
way TO hopeless and wholly unrequitcd afiet
lion, but, so long as live, my chief struggl
will probably be not to remember him to
kindly. do not seek the sympathy Of I'll
world, but wish to be known by those who's
opinion is valuable and whose kindness
dear to me. Among such, my dear Lad
Anne, you will ever he remembered by yor
truly afiectionato A. BYRON"
, Lord Lindsay adds:
sin the face of the evidence now glvci
= positive, negative and circumstantial, thel
! can DC but two alternatives in the case.
T either Mrs. Is. Stowe must have entirely mi
understood Lady Byron, aud been thus Il
/ into error and misstatcmcnt, or we mu
conclude that under the pressure OF liz
, long and secret sorrow, Lady Byron's min
had become clouded with an hallucinatiO
in respect of the particular point in que
ton"
MARRIED.
BOYD-ALTEMUs-Juno S. 1852, by Rev. Ge
Y, Le-Ch. OF the n 3. Church, WV. J. BoIb al
. N Ii - ~