Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-07-30
Lord Byron's Daughter.

Few persons probably have ever read
the commencing and concluding stanzss
of the third csnt0 of g Childe Harold "
without q deep in terest in the ada "
he touchingly spostrphozes. The story
| of her life, intimately enough known
in those repositories of unwritten bio
graphifies of the aristocracy-theP Pail
Mall Club-has not often been told
abroad.
It will be remembered that the first
and only born of that unhappy mar
riage Of Lord Byron to Miss Mllbanke
was just five weeks old when the moth.
er and wife, for reasons never salts
factorily explained, returned to her
fathers house. Here the infant grew
into girlhood under the care of her
mother, and here, after Lady Byron 8
accession to her property, were the
foundations of Augusta Ada's education
laid.
Inheriting uncommon genius, though,
as we shall presently explain, wholly
| diverse from her fathers, she was
brought up with the most tender care,
and educated by the most thorough
training. Her personal beauty de-
veloped with her mind. She is de-
scribed by person who frequently
saw her, when at the age of twenty
years she was living With her mother
at Clifton Springs, rs of the most
queenly presence and graceful carriage,
her complexion fresh, her features of
perfect contour, her eyes large and
brilliant, her head Set upon her shout
| ders like her fathers, her hair chest
nut, abundant and wavy, and her per-
son slightly embonposnt, but perfect in
proportions. To these charms there
were added voice Of great sweetness,
and o vivacity in conversation that
held in thrall all who approached
her.
Her tastes, however, were for pure
mathematics. Whether owing to her
education-for she read no poetry, and
never saw work of Lord Byron till
past her puberty-or to inheritance
from her mother, her understanding of
the exact sciences was excellcd by no
woman OF her time, except Mrs. Somer-
vile. and. indeed, by few Of the other
sex. In proof Of her extraordinary at
tainments in this respect, it Is mention
ed by the late Charles Babbaye, in his
Passages from the Life of Philoso-
pher." that she informed him she had
translated for her amusement, Mena
brea's Memoir of the Analytical En-
gine," from the Bibiiotheque Uni
verselle." He proposed that she
| should add notes Of her own. This she
did, extending them to three times the
length Of the original memoir. Bah
bage says that to all persons capable of
understanding the reasoning, it fur
nishes "a demonstration that the oper
atoms of analysis are capable of being
executed by machinery" This trans
lation with the notes may be found in
volume XXI. of the Transactions of
the Royal Society"
of Lovelace in March. 1885. The mar
riage 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 possessed of large
estates, regarded his wife with mingled
feelings of affection and admiration.
Unwilling that she should be known
publicly as an authoress, be, neverthe
less. 0ftener than once gave permission
| that certain of her articles on various
branches of science about which think
ing men made inquiry, might be ac-
knowledged US hers. Children were
| born to them; their tastes we're NO
more dissimilar than was consistent
with common if not promotive of un-
usual harmony; aud their home WAS
often spoken Of by those old enough to
remember the two, as furnishing hap.
by contrast to that which her mother
had abandoned twenty years before.
But Lady Lovelsce craved excite.
ment. Neither town life nor country
was sufficient to satisfy her inherited
desire for constant stimulus. Neither
her studies nor her pen, the care OF
her children nor the pleasures of 30
ciety, her rank among the aristocracy,
nor the admiration of her beauty and
gifts received wherever she appeared,
were sufficient. She speculated in the
funds, bet at horse-races, bought and
sold IN the stock market, and finally,
during the railway mania, that under
the lead of Hudson, was second only in
its universally among the rich and
great to the South Sea bubble of the
carly days Of the last century, partook
largely IN the ventures. ALI this could
we'll enough be without the knowledge.
AS 1t was, of her husband. Beside the
ample pin money allowed her in the
marriage-settlement, large returns came
to her from trust funds held for her III
her own right.
but she went too deep. Her risks
were uniortunate; and though she
might have recovered from all this.
most lnopportunely her attorney be-
came a bankrupt, and her operations
were exposed. in his assets before the
courts. to the world. Terribly morti-
ned, she appealed to her husband, who.
to save the scandal of any legal pr ocess,
cancelled her liabilities by a very con-
siderable pecuniary sacrifice. The
shocK, however, was too great for her
excitablo nature, and it has always
been believed, by those who best knew
what followed, that the shame she felt
ut the exposure was the remote, if not
the proximate, cause of her DEATH
| N. Y. Homo Journal.
| A small niece Of napar mr. l;nop m o;e