The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-11

sudden resolution I'll formed no CODJ9c-
ture about the cause? j will tell you.
have preiudices about women: do not
like to see them eat. Rousseau makes Julie
aa peu g0u1mdade; but that is not at all
according to roy taste / do not like to
be interrupted when j am writing. Lady
Byron did not attend to these whims
of mine.r The only harsh thing /
ever remember saying to her was one eve
ming shortly before our parting / was stand
ing before the fire, ruminating upon the em-
barrassznent of my affairs, and other annoy
ances, when Lady Byron came up to me and
said, Byron, am / in your way 2" to which
replied, "damnably !" l was afterwards sorry,
and reproached myself for the expression
but it escaped me unconsciously-invol
rily; / hardly knew what said. .t
j heard Afterwards that Mrs Charlemont
had been the means of poisoning Lady
Noels mind against me; that she had en-
ployed herself and others in watching me
in London, and had reported having
traced me into house in Portland
place. There was one act of which might
justly have complained, and which was un-
worthy of any one but such a confdante. 1
allude to the breaking open my writing desk.
A book was found in it that did notdo much
credit to my taste in literature, and some let
ters from married woman with whom i had
been intimate before my marriage. The use
that was made of the latter was most un justi-
fable, whatever may be thought of the breach
of confidence that led to their discovery.
Lady Byron sent them to the husband of the
lady, who had the good sense to take no no
tice of their contents The gravest accusa-
tion that has been made against me is that
of having intrigued with Mrs. Mardyn in
my own house; introduced her to my own
table, etc. There never was more unfounded
calumny. Being on the Committee Of Drury
Lane Theatre, l have no doubt that several
actresses called on me; but as to Mrs. Mardyl,
who was a beautiful woman, and might have
been a dangerous visitress, / was scarcely
acquainted Ito speak, with her.
| had been shut up in dark street in
London, writing ''The Siege of Corinth," and
had refused myself to every one till it was
finished. was surprised one day by a doctor
and lawyer almost forcing themselves at
the same time into my room. I did not
know till afterwards the real object of
their visit l thought their questions
singular, frivolous, and somewhat imrortu-
nate, if not impertinent; but what should ]
have thought if l had known that they we're
sent to provide proofs of my insanity?
have no doubt that my answers to these
emissaries' interrogations were not very
rational or consistent, for my imagination was
heated by other things. But DIR. Bailey could
hOC CCOusClcHJlOUbIy Dldk0 OUT II C6rUlHCdU0
for Bedlam; and perhaps the lawyer gave a
more favorable report to his employers. The
doctor said afterwards he had been told that
always looked down when Lady Byron bent
her eyes on me, and exhibited other
symptoms equally infallible, particularly
those that marked the late Kings
case SO strongly. l do not, however, tax Lady
Byron with this Transaction; probably, she
was not privy to it. She was the tool of
others Her mother always detested me; she
had not even the decency to conceal it in her
own house. Dining one day at Sir Ralph's
(who was good sort of man, and of whom
you may form some idea, when 1 tell you that
a leg of mutton was always served at his
table, that he might cut the same joke upon
it), broke tooth and was in great pain,
which / could not avoid showing 1T will do
you good, said Lady Noel; II am glad of it !"
l gave her a look!
You ask if Lady Byron was ever in love
with mel have answered that question
l was the fashion when she
first came out. ar-e.E
had the character of being a great rake,
and was a great dandy-both of which young
ladies like. She married me fIom vanity and
the hope of reforming and fixing me. She
was a spoiled child, and naturally of jealous
and this was increased by the
internal Vaccinations of those in her conf
dence.
She was easily made the dupe of the design
ing, for she thought her knowledge of man
kind infallible. She had got some foolish
idea of Madame de Stael in her head,
that person may be better known in
the first hour than in ten years. She
had the habit of drawing peoples char,
acters after she had seen them once or twice.
She wrote pages on pages about my character,
but it was as unlike as possible. Erh TgLT.
Lady Byron had good ideas, but could
never express them; wrote poetry too, but it
was only good by accident. Her letters were
always enigmatical, often unintelligible. She
was governed by what she called fixed rules
and principles, squared mathematically. She
would have made an excellent wranpler at
Cambridge 1t must be confessed, however,
that she gave no proof of her boasted consis-
tency. First she refused me, then she ac-
cepted me, then she separated herself from
me. So much for consistency. I need not
tell You of the obloquy and oppro-
brium that were cast upon my name
when our separation was made pub
lie. l once made a list from the Jour
mails of the day, of the different worthless, an
cient and modern, to whom / was compared
l remember few:-Nero, Apicius, Epicurus.
Caligula, Heliogabalus, Henry the Eighth.
and lastly the -. All my former friends.
even my cousin George Byron, who had been
brought up with me, and whom / loved as a
brother, took my wife's part. was looked
upon as the worst of husbands, the most
abandoned and wicked of men, and my wife
as suffering angel-an incarnation of all the
virtues and perfections of the sex. was
abused in the public prints, made the common
talk of private companies, hissed az / went
to the House of Lords, insulted in the
streets, afraid to go to the theatre, whence