Evening star., 1870-01-05
THE BYRON SCANDAL.
Mrs. Stoves View Book.

Mrs. stOwe's View Book.
Mrs. Stoves Lady Byros vssdieates-herl long
promised defence of her Byron scandal, pub
lished in the Atlantic AomtAIy last September-
with all the facts and proofs In her possession,
is announced for publication to-day. It b
volume of nearly 500 pages, DIVIDED into three
parts. The first contains nve chapters respec-
lively entitled "Introduction," (Which has al
rom" "Rssnme Of the Conspiracy" "Resuits
After Lord Byron's DEATH" and q The Attack
on Lady Byron's Grave" The second, eight
Syfcn's story a Toid to Me-" "eS "Chronoloeicsf
two witnesses Compared;"S The The Direct Arsu-
ment to Prove = M the Crime" Physiologicsi Ar
" Conclusion, And tho third, miscellaneous
documents for reference.
The book win not be likely to help Mrs. Stowe
out Of the mire into which she has fallen BY the
publication Of her first Byron story. Not only
has she no new evidence Of any Kind to offer,
but she involves herself in so strange a mesh Of
contradictions and Inconsistencies, that at last
she stands before us like prosecutor who feels
himself bound to press the charge, even after
he has discovered the innocence OF the accused.
She seizes upon every straw that comes in her
way. She puts her own Interpretation upon
passages in Lord Byron's writings for the pur-
pose Of identifying the poet with the creations
Of his fancy. She e0ntradicts her former "true
declares that Lady Byron told her and lastly,
she contradicts, I'm the last part Of her present
volume, the accusations which she makes in the
first part.
First, we have Mrs. Stowe alleging that Lady
Byron knew Of her husbands intercourse with
his sister directly after the marriage; now Mrs.
Stowe asserts that she did not find it out till a
later PERIOD" thirdly, she quotes Lady By
ron's own words, showing that she had discov-
cred the crime at an early stage Of her married
life; fourthly, Mrs. Stowe tries to prove that
Lord Byron was insane, and this one specimen
out of many.
With the exception of the New York Tribune
and the Springfield Republican, the press uni
..vindication'' is an utter failure. The New
York Journal Of Commerce gives the following
concise summing up of the case:
CAN that Mrs. Stowe says In the new book.
she could have said and should have said, when
she spoke at all, in her first Atlantic paper, so
that her entire charge against the memory of
Lord Byron might have been before the world
=; at one net time. and in brief compass and prompt
limbo Of forgotten sensations. Her present
venture looks like piece Of professional book
making. Of which the Atlantic article was but
the cheap and successful advertisement In ad-
vance. Professional book making Is the exact
phrase for this piece of literary patchwork and
padding. 1t bears every appearance of having
mean, Of the still lingering desire to hear more
OF the shocking story which rang through the
papers months ago, and to profit by that love of
indecent scandal which the prurient litterdteurs
of the day find SO much gain in catering to- II
consists OF 4s2 10 mo. pages, and proves, upon
analysis, to be only a hammering out of the
scanty data contained in the Atlantic paper
(which also reappears in full,) a reprint and ex-
animation OF some Of the facts and arguments
offered in defense of Lord Byron, a pr0digious-
ly tiresome effort to prove from passages in his
works that he was not too good to commit incest,
a few of ByrOn's poems bearing on his unhappy
marriage, and about five pages of matter that
may be called new, though it is only an elabo-
ration, still vague and unsatisfactory, of Mrs.
previous reDOrt
ment to her.
Not a particle Of direct proof of the alleged
newly dressed up, is this: That Lady Byron % told Id
Mrs. Stowe that "one night in her presence, he
Uord Byron) treated his sister with a liberty
which both shocked and astOnished her." and
that in conversations with his sister subsequent
ly, Lord Byron "bOldly avOwed the connection
with his sister) as having existed in time past,
and as one that was to continue in time to come,
and implied that she must submit to it," Lady
Byron did not say that she was a witness of any
actual guilt between them, nor that any one
else saw evidence Of it, or that she had a scrap
than ByrOn's ipse dixiD going to confirm it. She
does not allege that Mrs. Leigh confessed her
participation in the imputed crime. So much
for the "hour Of revelation" which Mrs. Stowe
hinted at so mechanically i'm her Atlantic>
paper. The "child born with the curse OF sin
on it' makes an equally shadowy figure In this
book: Here is all that Mrs Stowe has to say on
this important topic, and We call the readers
particular attention to the evident desire of
Lady Byron and Mrs Stowe to shirk the respon-
sibility of charging that there was an offspring
OF the alleged incest:
L asked, Was there child?n had been
told by Mrs. - that there was daughter, who
had lived some years.
She said there was one, daughter, who
made her friends much trouble, being of very
dlfhcult nature to manage. i had understood
that at one time this daughter escaped from her
friends to the continent, and that Lady Byron
assisted in efforts to recover her. OF Lady By
ron's kindness both TO Mrs. Leigh and the child,
had before heard from Mrs. =, who gave me
my first information.
This is evasive and quibbling. The fact that
Mrs. Stowe dOdges the direct accusation, and
gives no name to the woman who told her f'that
there was a daughter" and slips away from this
branch of the subject so quickly, shows that she
does not fully believe her insinuati0n to be true,
though she is none the less willing to make it.
"A curious discrepancy drops out in Mrs. Stoves
new version OF her conversation with Lady
Byron. 1t is this: Lady Byron says that on one
occasion in her presence, before marriage. Lord
Byron tainted away, and attributes his emotion
10 "fear OF detection" of the incest; and vet
lew pages further on. We fnd her declaring that
ne freely acknowledged the crime to her. (of
which she had no ocular or other proofs boast
ed Of it, and justified it. The whole case, as
now made out, If we are to believe both Mrs.
stowe and her heroine, rests OH the assertion of
Lord Byron of his own guilt. But there is an
abundance OF testimony on record that Lord
Byron W as addicted to the habit of pretending to
have committed the most monstrous offenses
to be perfectly innocent, and his defenders, NAV
well insist that his reported confession to LADY
Byron was only al other instance of his banter
ing, quiZZical, self-accusatOry bumor