New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-06

I sInceTeTV beIng
everything she said to her ssterln-laws dls;redt;
believed the monstrous and absolutely false tale she
told to Mrs. Beecher Stowe, and lwlth divers Varla-
tions to so many other people, that there Is no
| oTonnd for questioning substantial accuracy OF
Mrs Stoves record of the communications male 10
| her. .o,- % od,,
ByroE as the victim in her later years. OF monomanla
on tins subject but the word in no fair way repre-
| sents the condition of her mind, which never was
mad or unsettled or dIsordered IN such manner as
to Justify writer III rating her with sufferers Ten
| irsanIty. To the last she was clear ana precise
observer EXPIRE sed her thoughts with lnclIlty 90,
herence and ygOr. To the last she had suOte anu
| logical mind. BY no definition on insanity IhaG
would he entertained seriously by q commissioner
| de LlBdticO inquirendO she an insane person.
| How then did II come about that, beng unqurs-
tionaby sane she could take so mad and absolutely
| wrong n view of her husband. whom sne Regarded
| a6ectionately after his DEATH aud of the woman
| who had been her close and beloved friend lor
nearly fifteen years 1t Is not difficult TO answer
this question. At all times an asslduOus ieauer vi
her husbands works. Lady Byron FOUND lasclnaI-
ing en poyment IN discriminating between the ego
tistic tie sympathetic and the imaginative ere
ments of the compositions, and III forming concep-
ton of his character and history OF his career out
of the ingredients she classified under the lrst mead
In her well-known and ofcn-publlshei letter WITH
| ten IN 1879 TO Lady Anne Barnard she wrote, " In
| regard to his" lByrOn'5i poetry, ee"lSlu 10 nc
VII al principle OF his imaglnatlon which II 10 dll-
cult for him TO kindl9 on any SUBJECT WIN "hlch
| his own character and interests are not lIen
| fed but by the introduction of fictitious
| incidents by change OF scene ana
| time Inc has enyeloped hls pnetcal disclosures III
system imp 'netraDlc except to very few, and his
constant desire OF creating sensation makes h,m
J not aycrse to the object OF wonder
| and curiosity even though accompanied by
| some dark and vague suspicious" Excel
| lent "a precise aud accurate description OF
ByrOn's pOccal method, tins passage ~ also more
worthy a an illustration of the pleasure Lazy byron
found in examining her husDaud'S works line Oy
hne IN detective sprit-ol her practice Oi reauihB
them in this splut-and of her confluence that she
was one OF the very few capable OF penetrating tho
subtle webs OF justification, under which the pot
vcIlei his cgotIsms hiding himself even whist ne
was in the act OF revealing himself. Taught ny tue
poet himself, have seen IN carrier cnlpleTs Oh
tins work, to accept bis poems IA autoblOsraphc
confessions the multitude took every btanha anu
line % his writings from the first CLntO OF Clllde
HarCld' 10 the latest of Don juan, as somuc IN
fnTmat,on about the adventures experiences, habits.
temper, passions, sentiments Ot the author himself
Readers of finer culture and nicer Judgment KNOW
that the sincere sentiments OF the man vera puI-
Zlugly and uscpaIaby iuterninglod with the senIl-
mentalites OF tue poet ana tho pure Inventions Oh
the creator; and we're generally Oh OPINION that
after throwing OF one Of these mrdleJs oil GENUINE
feeling. playful fancy ana pOetcdl cohcell e pocV
himself would have been unable TO say what OF ~
WAS fact. what was fiction, and what was simply
peIverse contradiction OF fact. To most oi these
readers OF culture and discrimination II was enough
10 ENJOY the poem without troubling themselves 10
mouire what OF il came from the wIiter heart aud
what from his brain, aud Wbat IRON the pure way
wardncss OF his nature, what Oh III came from us
personal experiences. and what trum the expert
euces OF other persons At the Same tIine tncTe
we're a few readers 20 whom the chief delight from
a new poem 10y Lord Byron was the pleasure they
fouud IA dlssecting and IN auayzlng II. AMI sep
arating the Byrouic realism from tile DyrOnic IDEAL
ism OF every passage. Lady ByrOn was ono OF the
very few, who could penetrate All tho mysteries
solve all the riddles and eNr lain all the perrleXi-
ties of every pOctIcal disclosure one OF the
very lew who could selIe the real Lord Byron under
any disguise, aud mistuok for piece OF real
man ANYTHING of speclOu, show which he had used
for the sake Of its misleading effectiveness on the
unInItIatrd vulgar. Reading Byrons WOiks IN ms
way IN the second year of her separation from nm,
Lady Byron continued to read them IN the same
utrlt N ",
in the nth year Of her wIdowhood-a aud aliefward.
when luminosity against augusta. lmpsHinH uer
critical perceptlvIty and disturbing her Judgment,
DISPOSED her believe any evil thing or her nus
band provided her sister ln-law showed n the COM
pauiOn ana sharer of his guilt. In These ter stages
OF her career. the Byron, wLo rose 10 Lady Byr0hs
view ont Of the msroad and mlseranly nis-brooded
over pages of Manfred aud Cam, was indeed
an object of wonder and curiosity : but instead
OF being trereal Byron be was "A fictitious monster
bcgotten Of tins readers &" dark and vague sus-
picIona'
Let 1t not be ina gincd thar Lady Byron and Mrs |
Leigh never saw Que another again. The present |
writer beidcs icn pIOunds which would not justify
him IN saying hr kHOVy that, with the exception OF
the single ccason, TO which attention WIN Dc |
called Immediately, they never again held inter- |
course By word OF mouth. IL ~ certain that |
from 1880 to 1871. LAZY Byion regarded her sister
in-law with growing luminosity, as woman VINO |
had done her gricvuus injury whether III was !
nurscd secretly las it sometimes vas declared to
others tas il occasionally vas. this dislike OF the
woman whom she accused OF darkenng her honor |
aud destroying her happiness. Infatuated Lady !
mostly disposed Lady Byron 10 conceive and be- |
licvc enormous evil of her sster-ln law lt Is also
certain that-rh her II covered the whole twenty; |
one years since the appearance OF MoOros" Llle !
or was an affair of shorter duration-the total
ENHANCEMENT ot the two slsters-ln-law mad existed
for a long period when they had their last inter
view under the following remarkable crcum'
stances:-
On a certain Tuesday morning Of April, 1851. an
aged lady. having the appearance OF al extreme IN,
valid came 10 the London Bridge station, ana
seated herscf in hIst-class carriage OF the next
tram for Regate, the place OF her destination; Al
a glance 10 was obviods that she could never have
hern beautiful; must even in the spring of her
youth have been PLAN. But the signs OF sickness
and snrrow IN her couutcnance made her interesting
To her fellow travellers aud won their stnpdthj.
She was indeed womau OF sorrows, and had made
acquaintance with grefs unImagined by most OF
her sex. Of those grirts too much has been told
elsewhere. She was Byron sister, stricken with
wears ana illness, aud within "a few months OF the
hour when trouble and unkindness ceased To VeA
4 loitercr on tho platform of tho Relgate Station,
waiting for the arrival of TINS tram, would nave
seen anon St the persons about MN iah-serVanJ
i'm drab livery. On the arrival of the down train,
thi, footman bcstIrrcd huusclt. Taxing a ladys
calliug-card from his pocket, he ha>tcned to tho
first class carriages, and went from carriage to car
rlapc holding out the card to the view of the Uccu-
pants of the seats At last he came To the carriage
la which Mrs Leigh was seated On seeing the
card with Lady ByrOn's name upon 1t, Mrs. Leigh
declared herself the person he was seeking Inc
man said u fly was in attendance; and IN another
minute Mrs Leigh was driving To the White Hart
Hotel OF Rciglte. On leaving tho carriage NJ the
door Of the inn, she was shown to private room,
where Lady Byron and the Reverend Frederick
Robertson of Trinity chapel, Brighton, were ex-
Meeting her appearance Lady Byron, an invalid,
had come from Brighton with the clergyman for AN
interview with her slstcr-n-aw. During the long
years tbaC had passed since their encouragement,
Augusta had often wished for friendly speech with
her Mster-n-aw aud Lady Byron had on several
occasions been IN vain urged to comply with the
desire IL md come to Mrs Lcighs RnOwledgc that
she was said by Lady Byron TO have been tho in
nuence that prevented the poet frOm coming TO Just
,l,rv iau rom uT hi IA Aer
times when Lady ByTon's chief sOrrow was that she
and her husband had not been reconcilcd before his
death times when her greatest complaint against
Mrs Leigh was that the TerOncIcmenJ would have
taken place. had not she used her influence over
her brother to pcrpetuate the estrangcment In
fact Byron had never been more certain that Mrs.
CInrmnnL the chief CLlsh OF thn henAIAtOn. than