The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-01-19
Medora Leigh-An English Poet
on the Byron Scandal.

the Working, mans poet" has en-
tered the lists as champion of the
injured reputation of Lord Byron
and has given to the world many in
teresting revelations which tend tc
throw light on the Byron controver
sy. He has published volume il
London, extracts from advance sheets
OF which are going the rounds of the
press, entitled " Medora Leigh; q
history and an autobiography" Now
this Medora Leigh, whose history
and private life has been given to
the world, is Mrs. Stoves child Of
SIM the child, in short, of Lord By
ron by his sister, HRS. Leigh, over
whom Mrs. Stowe says Lady Byron
watched with such tender solicitude.
Who she was, what she says of her
self, what she knows of her alleged
incestuous birth, are certainly ques-
tons of deep interest to those who
wish to have this melancholy my ste-
ry satisfactorily explained.
The documents published by DR..
Mackay were derived by him from
reliable sources and are undoubtedly
genuine. They unfold most men
ancholy tale of sin, misery and death.
Elizabeth Medora Leigh says that
she was the fourth child of Mrs.
Augusta Leigh and, as she supposed,
of Col. Leigh, her husband, and was
born in the year 1915. At the age
of fifteen she was seduced by her
sisters husband, Henry Trevanion.
and after becoming a mother three
times her sister was abandoned by
her husband, and the guilty pair
lived together many years in the
South Of France. Many pages of
the volume are taken up with reel
tai OF Medora's efforts to obtain pro-
perty settled upon her in England,
of the refusal of her mother to see
her, and of conduct Of Lady Byron to-
wards her, sometimes of pretended
affection and then again of coldness
and neglect. The unfortunate wo-
man was finally released from her
troubles by death about the year
1913, while still young and beauti-
full.
Just before this event she says she
was visited by Lady Byron at Fon-
tainebleau, who affected to take
great interest in her and gave as
reason for it (and a most singular
reason it was) that that she acas
Lord Byron's daughter.
A few lines towards the close of
5he extract of which we have spoken
contain the statement that the latter
part OF the book is taken up with
'eview of all the testimony, and that
Dr.. Mackay concludes that, while
Medora Leigh is to be believed
With regard to her illicit intercourse
With Trevanion, her revelations with
'egard to the incestuous connection
between her mother and Lord Byron
re unworthy of credit. Mrs. Stowe
S handled without gloves, her con-
luct in writing the Atlantic article
denounced, and if it were not suffi-
lent insult to call her yankee"
he is styled an "ultra Yankee. =
This is rather hard on one of the
nost celebrated of the Pilgrim
daughters.
If DR.. Mackay considers his wit
ess credible one, we can see no
eason for casting suspicion upon her
estimony by discrediting any por-
on of it. If every word of it is be-
eyed the truth of the specific charge ,
) not advanced one iota. Medora /.
'eigh does not say she believed it :
erself. She says that, while she !.
ways considered Col. Leigh her
.ther, she had often been told the .
'ntrary by her sisters, and that La :,
Y Byron told her she was the child
her husband. This statement is
ade i'll a single sentence without
and is not alluded to again, :
our knowledge, in the whole of
e autobiography. The charge,
en-, stands or falls by the testimo- =
! of a single witness, the wife of =
ord Byron, the only witness brought
rward in the first instance by Mrs.
owe to support it. This autobiog-
ply, then, is simply Gun ulative O
idence to prove that the charge was q
ade by Lady Byron in Lord By h
MS lifetime, but it has no bearing q
,atever on it's truth or falsity.- =,
lat question depends solely on the b
lount of credit to be given to L. W