The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-12
3 " R o N.
The Countess of Blessington's Testi-
mony- Leigh Hunts Testimony
Campbelps Testimony Ma
caulay's Testimony.
THE COUNTESS OF BLESSTNGTON'S
TESTIMONY

1bE COUNIhOo VF' BLLOIoI4 ~ U 4 ON y
TESTIMONY.
The following passages concerning Lord
Byrons relations with his wife and sister are
taken from Conversations of Lord Byron
with the Countess Of Blessington, at Genoa,
in 1929. London, 1S34:--
'"In all his conversations relative to Lady
Byron--and they are frequent he declares
that he is totally unconscious of the cause of
her leaving him, but suspects that the ill
natured interposition of Mrs Charlemont led
10 it, II is a strange business He declares
that he left no means untried to effect re-
Cancellation, and always adds with bitterness,
"A day will arrive when / shall be avenged.
/ feel that shall not live long, and when the
grave has closed over me, what must she
feell' When Lord Byron was praising the
mental and personal qualifications of Lady
Byron, L asked him how all that he now said
agreed with certain sarcasms supposed to bear
n reference to her in his works. He smiled,
shook his head, and said they were meant to
spite and vex her, when he was wounded and
irritated at her refusing to receive or an
swer his letters; that he was not sincere in
his implied censures, and that he was
sorry he had written them; but, notwith-
standing this regret, and oil his good resolu-
tions to avoid similar sins, he might, on re-
newed provocation, recur to the same ven
unworthy of him. Lord Byron speaks of his
sister, Mrs. Leigh, constantly, and always
with strong expressions of affection. He
says she is the most faultless person he ever
knew, and that she was his only source of
consolation in his troubles on the separation. y
HIS TENDERNESS FOR LADY BYRON.
'It is evident that Lady Byron occupies his
attention continually He introduces her
name frequently; is fond of recurring to the
brief period of their living together; dwells
with complacency on her personal attractions,
saying, that though not regularly handsome,
he liked her looks. He is very inquisitive
about herr was much disappointed that /
had never seen her, nor could give any
account of her appearance at present. In
short, thousand indescribable circum-
stances have left the impression on my mind
that she occupies much of his thoughts
and that they appear to revert continually to
her and his child. He owned to me that
when he reflected on the whole tenor of her
conduct-the refusing any explanation, never
answering his letters, or holding out even q
hope that in future years their child might
form bond of union between them-he felt
exasperated against her, and vented this
feeling in his writings; nay, more, he blushed
for his own weakness in thinking so often
and SO kindly of one who certainly showed
no symptom of ever bestowing thought on
him" ~f
BYRON TO THE COUNTESS OF BLEss1NGroN ON
THE ISLANDERS RIFE AGAINST HIM IN ENG
LAND.
''I have often thought of writing book to
be filled with all the charges brought against
me in England, said Byron; sit would make
an interesting folio, with my notes. and might
serve posterity as proof of the charity, good
nature, and candor of Christian England in the
nineteenth century. Our laws are bound to
think a man innocent until he is proved to be
guilty, but our English society condemns him
before trial, which is q summary proceeding
that saves trouble. II The moment
my wife left me 1 was assailed by all the
falsehoods that malice could invent or slander
publish. How many wives have since left
their husbands, and husbands their wives,
without either of the parties being blackened
by defamation, the public having the sense to
perceive that husband and wife's living to-
gether or separate can only concern the par
ties or their immediate families; but in nly
case, no sooner did Lady Byron take herself
off than my character went off, or, rather,
was carried off, not by force Of arms, but by
force of tongue, and pens, too; and there
was no crime too dark to be attributed to me
by the moral English, to account for so very
common an occurrence as q separation in
high life. was thought a devil because
Lady Byron was allowed to be an angel"
BYRoN's FITS OF RAGE.
81 hope my daughter will be well educated,
but of this have little dread, as her mother
is highly cultivated and certainly has de-
gree of elf-control that never saw equalled.
/ am certain that Lady Byron's first idea is,
what is due to herself-I mean, that it is the
undertaking rule of her conduct. I wish she
had thought a little more of what is due to
others. Now my besetting sin is want of
that self-respect, which she has ip epcess; /; and
that want has produced much unhappiness to
us both, But though accuse Lady Byron of
an excess of self respect, must in candor
admit, that if any person ever had an excuse
for an extraordinary portion of it, she has, as
in all her thoughts, words, and deeds she is
the most decorous woman that ever existed,
and must appear-wbat few, fancy, could
a perfect and refined gentlewoman, even to
her femme-de-chdm6re. This extraordinary
degree of self-command in Lady Byron
produced an opposite effect on
me. When have broken out, on slight pro-
vocations, into one Of my jungovernable fits
Of rage, her calmness piqued and seemed to
reproach me; it gave her an air of superiority
that vexed and increased my 0aGagaise hu.
m6ar. / am now older and wiser, and should
know how to appreciate her conduct as it de-
served, as / look on self-command as posi-
tive virtue" tE oE
LORD BYRoNs TRIBUTE TO HIS SISTER.
''My first and earliest Impressions were
melancholy-my poor mother gave them; but
10 my sister, who, incapable of wrong her
self, suspected no wrong in others, owe the
little good of which / can boast; and had
earlier known her it might have influenced
my destiny. Augusta has great strength Of
nh 10 L,