Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-07-21
Lord Byron's Daughter.

| rev persons prODaoiy nave ever read the
commencing and concluding stanzas of the
third canto of ''Child Harold without a
deep interest in the ''Ada" he touchincly
apostrophizes. The story of her life, inti-
,mately enough known in those repertories
of nnwriten biographies of the aristocracy
the Paul Mall Club-has not often been
told abroad. II will be remembered that
the first and only born of that unhappy
marriage OF Lord Byron to Miss Nlilbank
was just five weeks old when the mother
and wife, for reasoss never sstisfact-
orily explained, returned TO her fathers
house. Here the infant grew into girlhood
under the care of her mother, aud here, af.
ter Lady Byron's accession to her property,
where the foundations of August. Ada's
education laid. Inheriting uncommon
genius, though, as We shall presently ex-
plain, wholly diverse from her fathers, she
was brought up with the most tender care,
and educated by the most thorough train
ing. Her personal beauty developed with
her mind. She is described by person
who frequently saw her, when, al the age
of twenty years, she was living v,th her
mother at Clifton Springs. as one OF the
most queenly presence and graceful car
riage, her complexion fresh, her features of
perfect contour, her eyes large and brillI-
ant, her head set upon her shoulders like
her fathers, her hair chesnut, abundant
and wavy, and her person slightly embou-
point, but perfect in proportions. To these
charms there were added voice of great
sweetness, ard vivacity in conversat ion
that held in thrsll all who approached her
! Her tastes, however were for pure mathe-
matics. Whether owing 10 her education-
for she read no poetry, and never saw a
work of Byron TILL pas, her puberty-or to
inheritance from her mother, her under
standing of the exact sciences was eXcelled
by no woman of her time, except Mrs. SOM
erville, and, indeed, by few Of the other
sex. In proof of her extraordinary attain
ments IN this respect, ii is mentioned by
the late Charles Babbage, in his Passages
from the Life of Philosopher that she
informed him that she had translated for
amusement "Menabrea's Memoir of the
Analytical Engine from the Biblo,heque
Universelle. He proposed that she should
add notes of her own. This she did. eN-
tending them 10 three times the length of
the original memoir. Babhage says that
to all persons capable of understanding the
reasoning il furnishes "a demonstration Of
analysis are capable Of being executed by
machinery This translation with the
notes may he found in Vol XXXI of the
Transactions of the Royal Society"
Ada Byron was married to the Earl of
Lovelace in March, 1850. The marriage
was not an unhappy one. Her husband, |
respectable IN talents and domestic habits, |
Lord Lieutenant of his county and high in |
social position, suitable IN age, and possess !
ed Of large estates, regarded his wife with |
mingled feelings OF affection and admira- !
ton. Unwilling that she should be known
publicly as authoreSs, he, nevertheless, Of |
nerthan once gave permission that certain |
of her articles on various branches Of
science, about which thinking men made
inquiry, might be acknowledged as hers
Children were born 10 them, their tastes
were no more disSimilar than was consis- |
tent with common if no, promo.ive OF un-
usual harmony; and their home was often
spoken Of by those old enough to remember
the two, by furnishing happy contrast 20
that which her mother had abandoned
twenty years before. But Lady LOvela
craved excitement. Neither town life nor
NouutAN was StslaOiOi4t 10 NdtlSlN uSI iuiitti- I
ted desire for constant stimulus Neither I
her study nor her pen, the care of her |
children, nor the pleasures of society, her |
rank among the aristocracy, nor the adj |
miration her beauty and gifts received /
wherever she appeared, were sufficient. She 1
speculated in the funds, bet at horse races |
bought and sold in the stock market, and ]
finally, during the railway mania, that, un-
der the lead of Hudson, was second only |
in its universally among the rich and great I
South Sea bubble of the early days Of the !
last century, partook largely in the ven |
ture. All this could well enough 5e with !
out the knowledge, as il was. of her huS- !
band Beside the ample pin money"
allowed her IN the marriage settlement, |
large returns came 10 her from trust I
funds held for her in her own right. But /
she went too deep. Her risks were unfOrt- |
innate; and though she might have recOv-
cred from all this, most inopportunely her |
attorney became bankrupt, and her Oper- |
ationS were exposed, in his assets before |
the Courts, to the worlu. Terribly morti. !
fed, she appealed 10 her husband, who, to
save the scandal Of any legal process, can
celed her liabilities by a very considerable 1
pecuniary sacrifice The shock however,
was too great for her excitable nature, and |
it has always been believed by those who |
best knew what followed that the shame she /
felt at the exposure was the lremote, if not !
the proNimate, cause of her death.
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~ Roy-The Glrrna-