The New York herald., 1922-04-23
CHRONICLE AND
COMMENT
BY ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE.

told her in 1856. AS result Of
the storm which naturally fol-
lowed, Mrs. Stowe wrote her "IIis-
tory of the Byron Controversy"
and in an appendix. gave as her
reason for breaking silence in Sep
tember, 1869, the Blacktcood's arti-
Gle. Ethel Colburn Mayne, in har
Byron" scored that excuse: This
article had not once been alluded
to in the original piece; and the
author of A Vindication of Lady
Byron proves by the chronology
of the two articles that Mrs. Stowe
could have had no though. of
BlackW0od's when the wrote fer
Macmilldn's. Yet she now de-
clared that it was the BIdcktcood's S
frantic ISLANDERS on Lady Byron,
remaining unrefuted by Lady BY
ron's relatives, which had driven
her-Mrs. Stowe-into print. She
had not given those relations one
little day, not an hour, in which to
refute those slanders."
TIFTY-THREE years after the
L separation Of Lord and Lady
Byron Mrs. Stowe raked up the
old scandal. Thirty-six years after
Mrs. Stoves article Lord Lovelace
revived it again with the publication
Of "Astarte." Lord Loyelace was a
grandson of the i'll mated pair, and
in 1905 he was induced to circulate
among those who, for special rea-
sons, ought to have the means of
acquainting themselves with the
true position of Lord and Lady
Byron" the book, which is mainly
a compilation OF letters and data
skillfully selected for the purpose of
defaming his grandfather. Love
lace claimed to have found the key
to the mystery in Manfred" The
haunting remorse of Manfred was
emphasized to prove that Byron
was guilty. According to Lovelace,
"the germ of this nightmare in
blank verse was in the actual letters
of the living Astarte." He believed
that he had found additional evi-
dence in the lines beginning: Il
speak not, ! trace not, / breathe
not thy name: There is grief in the
sound, there is guilt in the fame"
which he claimed that Augusta
Leigh had confessed to Lady Byron
were written to her.
N S if it were necessary to turn to
I = the hideous for the explana-
tion of that miserable marriage and
early separation! Byron was born
to be fiippant in bis attitude toward
woman. His cry was: 1T is the
plague of these women that we can
not live with them or live without
them" Besoin imperieuse de Ia
femme, ct mepris de Ia femme, we're
the words in which the incisive
Frenchman Felix Rabbe summed up
the case. There is a conflict of ac-
counts, but it is certain that the
was a farce from the altar.
According to Medwin's "Conversa-
tions," Byron said. Il was surprised
at the arrangements for the jour-
ney and somewhat out of humor to
find lady's maid stuck between me
and my bride. 1t was rather too
early to assume the husband, so
was forced to submit, but it was
not with very good grace.
/ have been accused of saying on
getting into the carriage that l had
married Lady Byron out Of spite,
and because she had refused me
twice. Though l was for a mo-
ment vexed at her prudery, or
whatever you may choose to call it,
If | had made so uncavalier, not to
say so brutal, speech, l am con-
yinced Lady Byron would instantly
have left the carriage" 1t matters
not in the least that when Hobhouse
in 1924 read this he exclaimed
fiercelY that Madwin was an infa-