The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-01-08
A NEW BYRON STORY.
THE LIFE OF MEDORA LEIGH, THE
ALLEGED "CHILD OF SIN"
A Sad and Revolving Narrative.

In "The True Story of Lady Byrons Life, y
Mrs. Stowe wrote: "Thcre was an unfort1-
nate child OF sin born with the curse upon
her, over whose wayward nature Lady Byron
watched with mothers tenderness. She was
the one who could have patience when the
patience of every one else failed; and though
the task was difficult one, from the strange,
abnormal propensities to evil in the subject OF
it. vet Lady Byron never faltered, and never
gave over till death took the responsibility
ftom her hands," Many have supposed that
this child, like the crime of which the child
was assumed to be the fruit, was only the
phantom of dsordcrcd brain; but the writer
of the article in the last Quarterly Review, in a
note on the passage We have quoted, made the
following significant remark: "As the child
was not what the context may suggest, and
has nothing to do with the story, this para
graph is to the last degree wanton and cruel,
as! every one Who k7a0,cS aehat that caild ,odS
mast feel"
What that child was, q book Just published
in London, entitled "Medora Leigh: A History
and an Autobiography and edited BY Charles
Mackay, processes to reveal. Incidentally it
also undertakes to show that Lady Byron's ac-
cusation against her husband was unfoundcd,
and to explain how that accusation came to be
made. We transfer to our columns, from the
New York Tribune, the following interesting
and elaborate analysis Of the narrative:
We may warn our readers at the start, 1st,
that, supposing the narrative 10 be authentic,
it proves nothing as to the truth or untruth Of
the charge in controversy, though 1t opens
some curious conlecturcs; and I'd, that no evi-
dence Is Afforded OF its authenticity, while
several circumstances connected with the pub
Iication are suspicious. Dr.. Mackay informs
us that he received the autobiography from "a
friend" among whose papers it had lain unhced-
cd for &c years. He does not say who his
friend is; he does not distinctly inform lis
where that friend obtained the Ms. For the
present, lie SAYS, we must be content to know
that the friend is a Mr.. s., and that ne came
into possession Of the papers while he was en-
deavoring to bring about reconciliation be-
tween Lord Byron and the unfortunate person
whose story they relate. This is about as
unsatisfactory as anything could well be-;
and we might reject the book ct once
were it not for one or two circumstances
which indirectly and impcrfectiy vouch Tor
it. II is clear, for instance, both from Mrs.
Stoves account and the comment OF the we'll
informed writer in The Quarterly, that there
was child of Mrs. Leigh's upon whom some
sort of mystery rested; and in the narrative
\ here presented correspondence IS menuoned
or quoted with various members of the Byron
family and other we'll known pcrsons-corres-
pondence which would be at once repudiated
if the story were mere bO0k-makcr's fraud.
Passing over the shameful language which the
editor permits himself 10 uso toward Mrs.
Stowe in the Introductory chaptcr-the calllnl-
nious and utterly uncallcd for remarks about
American ''nigger-worshinacrs ultra Republic
cans, and grim Puritans, who plotted to de-
stroy the Union as means OF getting rid OF
slavery; and the 'lnprOftablc resume OF The
whole Byron controversy which fills nearly a
third of the literally padded book, we come
to the history of Medora Leigh, the fourth
daughter of Lord Byron's sister.
In the summer Of lS43, twenty-scven years
after the separation of Lord and Lady Byron,
and nineteen years after the poets death,
Medora Leigh, then twenty-eight years OF age,
came from Paris to London accompanied by
her child, daughter ofnine or ten. She is de-
scribed as good-looking, lively and agreeable,
but in bad health and without money. Her
expenses in travelling had been betrayed by a
retired English officer, Captain De B
tance she had made at Hyeres, in the south Of
France, where she lived for some time before
going to Paris. He found her destitute in the
French capital; he heard her story; he learn
ed from her lips that she was the daughter of
Mrs. Leigh by Lord Byron, and until
recently had been treated with great kind
ness and liberality by Lady Byron; and
he urged he to go to London and
plead her canse in person with her
rich and powerful relatives, helping
her ont Of his slender purse, and even sup
porting her tor some time aficr her arrival in
England. In London she had an interview
with DR.. Mackay's Mr.. S -, one of the part
ners in q law firm with which Captain Dc b
had dealings. She wrote out the painful story
of her life, and convinced him OF the truth OF
all her assertions. He had several interviews
with Lady Byrons legal advisers, Or. Lush
ington and Sir George Stephen, with q
view of bringing about reconciliation. He
failed in that; he failed also in an effort 10 in
duce the family to refund what Captain De
B had advanced. But before we pursue
this part of the history any further it will be
convenient to disregard DR.. Mackays order of
narrative, and look at the extraordinary aato-
biography which this handsome woman of
twcnty-ci"ht laid before her counsel:
s'l am the fourth child OF family of seven. Ny
eldest sister, Georgiana, married &r. Henry Tire.
vanlon a distant cousin in 1926. when was
eleven years old. The marriage, which had met
the appreciation Of no one except my mother, did
net turn out very happily, owing to the smai!nrss
OF fortune and The uneven temper OF beth parties.
was frequently called in to keep them company,
and in March, 1870, latter they lad been married