The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-04

considers Byron ss. next TO Shakespeare
and Milton, the greatest poet that England
has produced. He 'is not only an admireT
Of the poet but a champion Of the man.
In one OF the chapters assigned TO the author
OF -Childe Harold the cslumny Of which
Mrs.. Stowe made herself the literary mouth
piece is effectuslly refuted. II seems TO
have been while Byron was staying with
Shelley near the Lake Of Geneva that he
first learned the exact nature of an infamous
charge which had been for some time in
circulation In England and also of the
widespread belief in 1t. We refer, Of oourseI
to the story which Mrs. Stowe published
in the en-. as having been communicated
confdentially to herself by Lady Byron
the story Of alleged criminal relations
between Lord Byron and his half-sister,
Augusta Leigh. The belief that such rela-
tions had existed seems TO have become
in course of time rooted so firmly in Lady
Byron's min that las il proved by a work
entitled "Medora Leigh" published in 1891
she did not even shrink from telling Au-
gusta's daughter, Medora. who applied to
her Tor assistance when in difficulties, that
she was not a daughter of Col. Leigh but
Of Lord Byron. Lady Byron at the same
time promised Medora that she would
always provide for her maintenance-a
promise she did not keep. We repeat
that IL was while he was in Switzerland
that Byron first learned Of this accusation.
The knowledge OF this fact helps us 20 n
derstand the poetry addressed at that time
to Augusta. From the third canto of
"Childe Harold" our author quotes the
following stanza, the pertinence Of which
il obvious:
And there wss-One soft breast, as hath been said
Which unto his was bound by stronger ties
Than the Church links withai; and. though unwed
That love was pure. and. far above disguise,
Had stood the test Of mortal enmities
sun undivided, and cementcd moro
by peril. dreaded most in female eyes:
But this was Arm, and from a foreign shore
Well 70 that heart might his these absent greet
lngs pour.
Mr.. Brandes reminds us that the @Stanzas
70 Augusta" expressed similar sentiments
n that the line though slandered, thou
never couldst shake" lin the second Of the
poems to herr indicates that she, too, knew
Of the shameful rumors Our author thinks
that the belated knowledge OF them ac-
counts for the sudden revulsion which
occurred in Switzerland in Byron's feeling
toward his wife. In he days Immediately
following the separation he had writ en-:
Il do not believe that there ever was a
better, or ever a brighter. a kinder or a
more smiable and agreeable being than
Lady B." and had laid the blame of their
separation on his own violence and incon-
sidefatenese; but somewhat later he a
zee only the blemishes in her character.
and il was while under the overpowering
t1o RNnaaiAn nnaAA hU aha villa anCttaatiOn
Just alluded to that he began the ugly
war upon a woman which, II we did not
know the circumstances, would seem
utterly inexcusable, and drew the I'M
hattering portrait OF his wife as Donna
Inez in the first canto OF Don Juan
The Judgment Ia here pronounced that
the evidence against Lady Byron, produced
in 1899 in the Quarterly RerieU, is decisive.
and positively crushing. In that periodical
seven letters and notes we're printed, writ
ten after the separation by her TO Mrs.
Leigh, all brimming over with tenderness
and assurances of affection. 1t is, she
wrote, her great comfort" hat Mrs. Leigh
il with Lord Byron. Shall l still be your
sister? must resign my rights to be SO
considered; but | don't think that would
make any difference in the kindness / have
so uniformly experienced from you In
another letter to Mrs. Leigh she said: "In
his at least I am truth itself when | say
that, whatsoever the situation may be,
there Ia no one whose society il dearer 10
me, OF can contribute more to my happi-
ness. These feelings will not change I'M
der any circumstances Should yOu here
after condemn me I shall not love you the
less" Thus did Lady Byron write to the
woman whom, after the lapse of many
years, she accused as the guilty person
who had driven her from her husbands
house. There Is no doubt that this friendly
correspondence between Lady Byron and
Mrs. Leigh continued till Byron's death
His last unfinished letter began with tho
words: My dearest Augusta, l received
a few days g your and Lady ByrUn's
report OF Ada'5 health" Yet we we're
asked by Mrs. Stowe to believe that Lady
Byron the whole time regarded Augusta
Leigh, who continued 10 be thei Intermediary
between the spousos, as the unnatural
criminal who was one of the authors of the
misfortune Of her life. What a chaos. /"
SAYS our author, "of lies and ~insanity!"
Insanity ia plainly the right word, for az the
Quarterly RerieW remarks. Lady Byron
could at first account for her gifted hus-
bands conduct on no hypothesis but in
sanity, and now. by a sort Of nemesis.
there Ia no other hypothesis on which he
charitable moralist can account for hers
There was, however, this marked difference
in their maladies: He morbidly exaR-
gerated his vices and she her virtues.
His monomania lay in being an impossible
sinner, and hers in being an impossible
saint. He in his mad moods did his best
TO blacken his own reputation, while her
self-deIusion tended invariably to damage
the characters OF all that were nearest and
should nave been dearest TO her. Which
asks the Quarterly. was the more dangerous
OF less amiabIe deiusion of the two2
After all. IL seems to nave been Byron
the man who died in the attempt 10 liberats
Greece rather than Byron the poet that
most fired the imaginations Of his Continen-
tai contemporaries. In a chapter entitled
-ByroA's Death" u author Gcstifes-anJ
certainly he is competent to ~testify-that
in the intellectual life Of Russia and Poland
Of Spain and Italy. Of France and Germany
the seeds OF Liberalism. which Byron had
strewr broadcast With such a lavish hand
fruotised. From the dragons teeth spranr
armed men. The Slav onic nations. which
- ---A-E-- s.Mla.