Year: 1874

"A writer In Scr6ner'S says: IF BY


ron's ancestry was dark one on his


fathers side, it was an evil one on his


mothers, who was an incarnation of all


unreason. She was ignorant, she was


silly, she was passionate; in her RACES


she was uncont oil able. She would in


dulge him to excess one day, and on the


next he was "a lame brat When they


were on good terms he would call her


Kitty Gordon and when they were in


their theatrical RACES, he would throw


open the door of the drawing-rOom, and


say: Enter the Honorable Kitty She


was fond of him, in her wild, foolish


way, and was generally at war with his


guardian and his teacher. He was al


lowed, while at school, to spend Sunday


with her; but that did not satisfy her,


for she frequently kept him a week, and


would not send him back. When his


teacher refused to let him visit her, she


went to the school,, and abused him so


loudly that the scholars and the servants
could not help hearing her. Byron
said one of his schoolmates, your mother
is a fool Il know it, he answered
gloomily.


Whether Byron loved his mother
may be doubted, but it is certain that he
treated her with respect and Difference.
He repaired Newstead Abbey and placed
her in it when he went abroad, and fire.
quently wrote to her, addressing her as
the Honorable Mrs. Byron, title to
which she had no claim. She was proud
of his genius, and read with eagerness
all that she saw about him in print.
When he returned to England, after his
two years travel, she was anxious to see
him. He wrote from his hotel in Lon
don that he would soon see her, and in
the postscript of his note said: You
will consider Newstead as your house,
and not mine, and me only as visitor
Superstitious at all times, she remarked
to her waiting-woman, when she read the
note, If | should be dead before Byron
comes down what strange thing it
would be- The strange thing came to
pass, and was brought about by fit of
rage into which she was thrown by read
ing over her upholstcrer's bills. Byron
received notice of her illness and started |
Immediately to her, but arrived too late.
She had breathed her last. My poor
mother died yesterday he wrote his
friend Pigot, and am on my way from
town to attend her to the family vault.
| heard one day of her illness, the next |
of her death. Thank God, her last mo-
ments were tranquil. l am told she was
in little pain, and not aware of her stu
alton. i now feel the truth of Mr.. Gray's
observation, that we can only have one



"Byron was deeply touched by his
mothers death, and the night after he
reached Ncwstead, was heard by her
signing heavily, in the
room where her body lay. She entered,
and found him sitting in the dark beside
the bed. When she expostulated with
him OH the weakness of giving way to
grief, he burst into tears and exclaimed,
Oh, Mrs. b., had but one friend in the
world, and she is gone On the morning
If the funeral he would not follow the
body to the grave, but stood looking from
The abbey door until the procession had
moved off. Then he turned tohis man
Rushton, who was the only person re-
and asking him to fetch the
parring-gloves, he proceeded to take his
usual exercise with him. Silent and alb
tracted, he threw more violence into his
blows than was his habit, as if to get the
,etter of his feelings. At last the strug-
,lc was too much for him. He flung
way the gloves, and retired to his own {
oom."