1
THE DAILY FVEISIISG TELKGRAMl-WntADELPniA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1870.
o
The Countesa of filetsington''a Testi
mony Ltigt Hunt's Testimony
. Campbell's Testimony Ma
caulay'g Testimony.
THE COUNTESS OF HLESSTNG TON'S
TESTIMONY,
The following passages concerning Lord
Byron's relations with his wife and sister are
taken from "Conversations of Lord Hyron
with the ConntoRS of Blennington," at Genoa,
Ja 182:1, London, 1 ;4:
"In ail his conversations relative to Lady
Byron and they are frequent he declares
that he is totally unconscious of the caiine of
her leaving him, but suspects that tne ill
natured interposition of Mrs. Charlemont led
to it. It is a strange business ! lie declares
that he left no means untried to effect a re
conciliation, and always adds with bitterness,
'A day will arrive when I shall be avenged.
I feel that I shall not live long, and when the
grave has - closed - over me, what must she
feell' When Lord Uyron was praising the
mental and person nl qualifications of Lady
Uyron, I asked him how all that he now said
agreed with certain sarcasms supposed to hear
a reference to her in his works. He smiled,
shook his head, and said they were meant to
spite and vex her, when he was wounded and
irritated at her refusing to receive or an
swer his letters; that he was not sincore in
his implied censures, and . that he was
sorry he had written them; but, notwith
standing this regret, and all his good resolu
tions to avoid similar sins, he might, on re
newed provocation, recur to the same ven
geance, though he allowed it was petty and
unworthy of him. Lord Byron speaks of his
sister, Mrs. , Leigh, constantly, and always
with strong expressions of 'affection. He
says she is the most faultless person he ever
knew, and that she was his only source of
consolation in his troubles on the separation."
HIS TKNDEBNE8S FOR LADY BYRON.
"It is evident that Lady Byron ocoupieB his
attention continually.' He . introduces her
name frequently; is fond of reourring to the
brief peried of their living together; dwells
with complacency on her personal attractions,
Raying, that though not regularly handsome,
he liked her looks. He is very inquisitive
about her; was much disappointed that I
bad never seen her, nor could give any
account of her appearance at present. In
short, a thousand indescribable circum
ntances have left the impression ou my mind
that she occupies much of his thoughts,
and that they appear to revert continually to
her and his child. He owned to me that
when he reflected on the whole tenor of her
conduct the refusing any explanation, never
answering his letters, or holding out even a
. hope that in future years their child might
form a bond of union between them he felt
exasperated against her, and vented this
feeling in his writings; nay, more, he blushed
for his own weakness in thinking so often
and so kindly of one who certainly showed
no symptom of ever bestowing a thought on
him." '
BYRON TO THE COUXTEBS OP BLE9SINGT0N ON
THE SLANDERS RIFE AGAINST HIM IN ENG
LAND. "I have often thought of writing a book, to
be filled with all the charges brought against
me in England," said Byron; "it would make
an interesting folio, with my notes, and might
serve posterity as a proof of the charity, good
nature, and candor of Christian England in the
nineteenth century. Our laws are bound to
think a man innocent until he is proved to be
guilty, but our English society condemns him
before trial, which is a summary proceeding
that saves trouble. The moment
my wife left me I was assailed by all the
falsehoods that malice could invent or slander
publish. How many wives have since left
their husbands, and husbands their wives,
without either of the parties being blackened
by defamation, the public having the sense to
perceive that a husband and wife's living to
gether or separate can only concern the par
ties or their immediate families ; but in my
ctiaq, no sooner did Lady Byron take herself
off than my character went off, or," rather,
was carried off, not by force of arms, but by
force of tongue, and pens, too; and there
was no crime too dark to be attributed to me
by the moral English, to account for so very
common an occurrence as a separation in
high life. I was thought a devil, because
Lady Byron was allowed to be an angel."
v . .....
BYRON 8 FITS OF RAGE.
"I hope my daughter will be well educated,
but of this I have little dread, as her mother
is highly cultivated, and certainly has a de-
f ee of self-control that I never saw equalled,
am certain that Lady Byron's first idea is,
what is due to herself I mean, that it is the
nndeviating rule of her conduct. I wish she
had thought a little more of what is due to
others. Now my besetting sin is a want of
that self-respect, which she has in excess; and
that want has produced much unhappiness to
ns both, But though I accuse Lady Byron of
an excess of self-respect, I must in candor
admit, that if any person ever had an excuse
for an extraordinary portion of it, she has, as
in all her thoughts, words, and deeds she is
the most decorous woman that ever existed,
and must appear what few, I fancy, could
a perfect and refined gentlewoman, even to
her Jemme-de-iliambre. This extraordinary
degree of self-command in " Lady Byron
produced an opposite effect on
me. When I have broken out, on slight pro
vocations, into one of my ungovernable fits
of rage, her calmnoss piqued and seemed to
reproach me; it gave her an air of superiority
that vexed and increased my mauvaist ha
mew. I am now older and wiser, and should
know how to appreciate her conduct as it de
served, as I look on self-command as a posi
tive virtue.' . - i
LORD B TOON'S TRIBUTE TO HIS BISTER. , '
"My first and earliest impressions were
melancholy my poor mother gave them; but
to my sister, who, incapable of wrong her
self, suspected no wrong in others, I owe the
little good of which I can. boast; and had
I earlier known her it might have influenced
my destiny. Anguata has great Btrength of
mind, which is displayed not only in her own
conduct, but to support the weak and infirm
of purpose. To me she was, in the hour of
need, as a tower of strength. Her affection
was my last rallying point, and is now the only
bright spot that the horizon of England offers
to my view. Augusta knew my weaknesses, but
she had love enough to bear with them. I
value not the false sentiment ofjtlTeotioa
thut adheres to . one while we believe him
faultless; not to love him would then be diffi
cult: but give me the love that, with percep
tion to view the errors, has sufficient force to
pardon them who 'can 'love the offender,
yet detest the offense;' and this my sister
Lad. BLe has given me such good advice,
and vet, finding me incapable of following it,
loved and pitied we but the more because I
it
wns erring. This is true affection, and above
nil, titio Christinn feeling. Poor Lady
had j?tt Buch a muter as mine, who, faultless
hcrwlf. could pardon and weep over the
errors of ere less pure, and nln'iost redeem
ilitm by her own excellence. Had Lady 'b
sister or mine," oontinued Byron, "been less
good and irreproachable, they could not
have afforded to be so forbearing; but, being
unsullied, they could show mercy without
fear of drawing attention to tlreir own misde
meanors." LEIQD. HUNTS TESTIMONY
is taken from "Lord Byron and some of
his Contemporaries," by Leigh Hunt. Lon
don, 1828.
LEIGH HTJKI ON BYRON AND HIS SISTER.
"I believe there did exist one person to
whom he would have been generous, if she
pleased; perhaps was so. At all events, he
left her the bulk of his property, and always
spoke of her with the greatest esteem. This
was his sister, Mrs. Leigh. He told me Bhe
used to call him baby Byron !' It was easy
to see, that of the two persons, he had by far
the greatest judgment; I will add, without
meaning to impeach her womanhood, the
more masculine sense. She had recorded
him on his tomb as the author of 'Childe
Harold,' which was not so judicious; but this
may have been owing to a fit of affectionate
spleen at 'Don Juan,' which she could not
bear, and (I was told) would never speak of.
She thought ho had committed his dignity in
it. I believe she was only woman for whom
he ever enteriained a real respect; a feeling
which was mixed up, perhaps, with some
thing of family self-love.
BYRON TO LEIGH HUNT, OCT. 15, 1814.
"My stay in town has not been long, and
I am in all the agonies of quitting it again
next week on business, preparatory to 'a
change of condition,' as it is called by the talk
ers on such matters. I am about to be married;
and am, of course, in all the misery of a man
in pursuit of happiness. My intended is two
hundred miles off; and the efforts I am
making with lawyers, etc. etc., to join my
future connections, are for a personage of my
single and inveterate habits to say nothing
of indolence quite prodigious ! "
BYRON TO LEIGH HUNT.
"13 riocadilly Terrace, June 1, 181.". I
am as glad to hear from as I shall be to see
you. We came to town what is called late in
the season; and since that time the death of
Lady Byron's uncle (in the first place) and
her own delicate state of health, have pre
vented either of us from going out much;
however, she is now better, and in a fair way
of going crodibly through the whole process
of beginning a family. Whenever
you come this way I shall be happy to make
you acquainted with Lady Byron, whom you
will find anything but a line lady a species
of animal which you probably do not affect
more than myself."
BYRON TO LEIOH HUNT, FEB. 20, 181G.
"With regard to the circumstances to which
yon allude, there is no reason why you should
not speak only to ine on a subject already
sufficiently rife in the mouths and minds of
what is called 'the world.' Of the .'fifty re
ports,' it follows that forty-nine must have
more or less error and exaggeration; but I
am sorry to say, that on the main and essen
tial point of an intended, and, it may be, an
inevitable separation, I can contradict none.
At present I shall say no more; but this is
not from want of confidence; in the mean
time, I shall merely request a suspension of
opinion."
LADY JJYRON AND TI10S. MOORE.
BY THOMAS CAMPBELL.
The following paper, which originally ap
peared in The New Monthly Magazine, of
April, 1830, will show that Mrs. Stowe was not
the first person to come forward, unauthorized,
with a "True Story" of Lady Byron's Married
Life. Nearly forty years ago, Thomas Camp
bell thought fit, on the plea of refuting the
slanders of Moore, just as Mrs. Stowe now
sets up as a pretext the slanders of the
Countess Guiccioli, to publish for the edifica
tion of the world an account of his private
interviews with Lady Byron, and a confiden
tial letter she had written him. a
Campbell, however, does not tell the whole
story, but only darkly hints at it. 7
From a lettor of Lady Byron, quoted by
Miss Martincau we find that she repudiated
this interference with her private affairs, as
she would doubtless have still more indig
nantly, disclaimed her posthumous American
advocate.
i "I found my right to speak on this painful
subject on its now irrevocable publicity,
brought up afresh, as it has been by Mr.
Moore, to be the theme of discourse to mil
lions, and, if I err not much, the cause of
misconception to innumerable minds. I
claim tc speak of Lady Byron in the right of
a man, and of a friend to the rights of
woman, and to liberty, and to natural reli
gion. I claim a right, more especially, as
one of the many friends of Lady Byron, who,
one and all, feel aggrieved by this production.
It has virtually dragged her forward from the
shade of retirement, where she had hid her
sorrows, and compelled her to defend the
heads of her friends and her parents, from
being crushed under the tombstone of Byron.
Nay, in a general view, it has forced her to
defend herself; though with her true sense,
and her pure taste, she stands above all spe
cial pleading.- To plenary explanation she
ovglit not she never shall be driven. Mr.
Moore is too much a gentleman not to shud
der at the thought of that; but if other Byron
ists, of a far different stamp, were to force
the savage ordeal, it is her enemies, and not
she, that would have to dread the burning
ploughshare.' '
"We, her friends, have no wish to 'prolong
the discussion; but a few words we must add,
even to her admirable stateinent-for hers
is a cause not only dear to her friends, but
having become, from Mr. Moore anil her mis
fortunes, a publicly agitated cause,- it con
cerns morality, and the most sacred rights of
the sex, that she should (and that, too, with
out more special explanations) be acquitted
out and out, and honorably acquitted in this
business, of all share in the blame, which is
one and indivisible. Mr. Moore, on farther
reflection, may see this, and his return to
candor will surprise us less than his momen
tary deviation from its path.
i "For the tact of Mr. Moore's conduct Jn
this affair, I have not to answer; but, if in
delicacy lie charged upon me, I soorn the
charge. Neither will I submit to be called
Lord Byron's accuser because a word against
him I wibh not to say, beyond what is pain
fully wrung from me by the necessity of own
ing or illustrating Lady Byron's nnblamablo
ness, and of repelling certain miscon
ceptions respecting her, which are
now walking the fashionable world,
and which have been fostered (though
Heaven knows where they were born) most
delicately nud warily by the Christian god
fatiership of Mr. Mooro.
"I write tiot at Lady Byron's bidding I
have never humiliated either her or myself by
asking if I should write or what I should
write that is to sny, I never applied to her
for information against Lord Byron, though
I was justified, as one intending to criticise
Mr. Moore, in inquiring into the truth of
some of his statements. Neither will I suffer
myself to be called her champion, if by that
word he meant the advocate of hor mere legal
innocence, for that, I take it, nobody ques
tions. Still less is it from the sorry impulse
of pity that I speak of this noble woman, for
I look with wonder and even, envy at the
Erond purity of her sense and conscience, that
ave carried her exquisite sensibilities in
triumph through such poignant tribulations.
But I am prond to be called her friend the
humble illustrator of her cause, and the advo
cate of those principles which make it to me
more interesting. than Lord Byron's. Lady
Byron (if the subject muRt be discussed)
bcloDgs to sentiment and morality
at least as much as Lord Byron nor is she
to be suffered, when compelled to speak, to
raise her voice as in a desert, with no friendly
voice to respond to her. Lady Byron could
not have outlived her sufferings if she hod
not wound np her fortitude to the high
point of trusting mainly for consolation, not
to the opinion of the world, but to her own
inward peace; and having said what ought
to convince the world, I verily believe that
fhe has less oare about the fashionable opin
ion respecting her than any of her friends
can have. But we, her friends, mix with the
world, and we hear offensive absurdities
about her which we have a right to put down.
"What Lady Byron professes to be her
main aim in her 'ltemarks on the Life of her
Husband,' it seems to me that she very
clearly accomplishes. I am not sure that I
should feel my esteem for Byron, or for any
man, much enhanced by finding that a fool
ish relative or two eould sever from him a
wife once doatingly fond of him. But we
have not a tittle of fair evidence against this
pack of , as his Lordship politely calls
them; and, to throw the blame on her pa
rents is proved ridieulous by Dr. Lushing
ton's letter, for it shows that the deepest
cause or causes of the separation were not
imparted to her parents. I dismiss, there
fore, this hinted plea of palliation with con
tempt. "I proceed to deal more generally with
Mr. Moore's book. You speak, Mr. Moore,
against Lord Byron's censurers in a tone of
indignation which is perfectly lawful towards
calumnious traducers, but which will not
terrify me, of any other man of courage, who
is no calumniator, from uttering his mind
freely with regard to this part of your hero's
conduct. I question your philosophy in
assuming that all that is noble in Byron's
poetry was inconsistent with the possibility of
his being devoted to a pure and good woman
and I repudiate your morality for canting too
complacently about 'the lava of his imagina
tion,' and the unsettled fever of his passions
being any excuses for his planting the tic
dvuluvrcttx of domestic suffering in a meek
woman's bosom. These are hard words, Mr.
Moere, but yon have brought them on your
self by your voluntary ignorance of facts
known to me for you might, and ought to.
have known both sides of the question, and if
the subject was too delicate for you to
Consult Lady Byron's confidential friends,
you ought to have had nothing to do with the
subject. But you cannot have submitted
your book even to Lady Byron's sister, other
wise she would have set you right about the
imaginary spy, Mrs Clermont.
Hence arose your misconceptions, which
are bo numerous, that having applied to Lord
Byron (you will please to observe that I ap
plied not for facts against Lord Byron, for
these I got elsewhere, but for an estimate of
the correctness of. your statements), I . re
ceived the following letter from her lady
shipi ' '"Dear Mr. Campbell In taking up my
pen to point out for your private information
those passages in Mr. Moore's representation
of my part of the story which wore open to
contradiction, I find them of still greater
extent than I had supposed and to deny an
assertion here and there would virtually
admit the truth of the rest. If, on the contrary,
I were to enter into a full exposure of the
falsehood of the views taken by Mr. Moore, I
must detail various matters, which, consist
ently with my principles and feelings, I can
not under the existing circumstances disclose.
I may, .perhaps, convince you better of the
difficulty of the case by an example: It is
not true that pecuniary embarrassments were
the canse of the disturbed state of Lord By
ron's mind, or formed the chief reason for
the arrangements made by him at that time.'
But is it reasonable forme to expect that you,
or any one else, should believe this, unless I
show you what were the causes in question ?
and this I cannot do. I am, eta, etc.,
i " 'A. I. Noel Byron.'
"Excellent woman! honored by all who
know her, I will believe her on her own tes
timony. "What I regret most in Mr. Moore's Life of
Lord Byron is, that he had in his own hands
the only pure means of serving Lord
Byron's character which , was , his Lord
ship's own touching confession, and
that he has thrown away the
said means by garnishing that fair confession
with unfair attempts at blaming others. In
Letter !i35 Lord Byron takes all blame on
himself. 'The fault,' he says, 'was not, no,
nor even the misfortune in my choice (unless
in chosing at all), but I must say it inihe
very dregs of all this bitter ' business, that
there never was a better, or even a kinder
or more amiable and agreeable being than
Lady Byron. , I never had, or even can have,
any reproach to make her while with me.'
New, nothing in Lord Byron's poetry is
finer than this. ., But why, Mr. Moore, have
you frozen the effect of this melting can.
dor by dishing up the inconsistencies of Lord
Byron on the same tubjeot, and by showing
your own ungallant indiff erence to the thus
acquitted Lady Byron ? In the name of both
of them, I reprove you. Byron confesses,
but you try to explain away his confession;
and by your hints at spies, unsuitableness,
etc,i you dirty and puddle . the holy water of
acknowledgment that alone will wash away
the poor penitent man's transgressions. ; You.
resort to Byron's letter to Mr. Itogers for the
means of inculpating Lady Byron and her
friends as blamers of Lord Byron. But they
never said more than thut Lord Byron's tem
per was intolerable to Lady Byron. That
was true, and they nevtjr circulated any
calumnies against him.
"There is equal injustice in the allusion to
Lord Byron having been ever surrounded by
Bpies. Why spy was near him? The only
Eerson denounced in that odious capacity by
ord Byron himself was Mrs. Clermont; and
what was the fact with regard to her ? If
Mrs. Clermont was a spy, surely the last per
son in the world to have acquitted her would
have been Mrs. Leigh, the sister of Lord By
ron; but I have in my possession the authen
tic copy of a letter from Mrs. Leigh to the
I same Mrs. Clermont, earnestly aoquitting her
01 uie caiumny, ana onenng even puuno tes
timony' to her (Mrs. Clermont's) tendcrneei
and forbearance (I copy Mrs. Leigh's words)
Tinner circumstances tbat must have been
trying to any friend of Ily Byron. Another
unworthy expression of Mr. Moore's is, that
of calling Lord Byron 'a diverted hmband.'
Let him read Lady Byron's remarks, and blot
out this absurdity from his volume. Dr.
Lushinofon, versed in the harsheit cases of
justifiable separation, and bound to admit
nona of a slight nature, thought that it was
impossible she could live with him.
1 "You should have paused, Mr. Moore, be
fore you compelled any friend of Lady Byron
to bring out this truth.
' "It is a farther mistake on Mr. Moore's
part, and I can prove it to be so, if proof
be necessary, to represent Lady Byron, in
the course of their courtship, as one inviting
her future husband to correspondence by let
ters after she had at first refused him. She
never proposed a correspondence. On the
contrary, he sent her a message, after that first
refusal, stating that he meant to go abroad,
and to travel for some years in the East; that
he should depart with a heart aching, but
not angry; and that he only begged a verbal
assurance that she had still some interest
in his happiness. Could Miss Millbanke, aa
a well-bred woman, refuss a courteous answer
to such a message ? She sent him a verbal
message, which was merely kind and be
coming, but which signified no encourage
ment that he should renew his offer of mar
riage. After that message he wrote to her a
most interesting letter about himself about
his views, personal, moral, and religious, to
which it would have been uncharitable not
to have replied. The result was an insensibly
increasing correspondence, which ended in
her being devotedly attached to him.
About that time I occasionally saw
Lord Byron, and though I knew
less of him than Mr. Moore, yet I sus
pect I knew as much of him as Miss Milbanke
then knew. At that time, he was bo pleasing
that if I had had a daughter with ample for
tune and beauty, I should have trusted her in
marriage with Lord Byron.
"Mr. Moore at that period evidently under
stood Lord Byron better than either his future
bride or myself; but this speaks more for
Moore's shrewdness than for Byron's ingenu
ousness of character.
"It is more for Lord Byron's sake than for
his widow's that I resort not to a more special
examination of Mr. Moore's misconceptions.
The subject would lead rae insensibly into
hateful disclosures against poor Lord Byron,
who is more unfortunate in his rash - defen
ders than his reluctant accusers. Happily his
own candor turns our hostility from himself
against his defenders. It was only in way
ward and bitter remarks that he misrepre
sented Lady Byron. He would have defended
himself irresistibly if Mr. Moore had left only
his acknowledging passages. But Mr. Moore
has produced a Life of him which reflects
blame on Lady Byron so dexterously that
is ore is meant than meets . the ear. The
almost universal impression produced by his
book is, that Lady Byron must be a precise,
and a wan unwarming spirit a blue-stocking
of chilblained learning, a piece of insensitive
goodness. Who that knows Lady Byron will
not pronounce her to be everything the re
verse? Will it be believed that this person,
so unsuitably matched to her moody Lord,
has written verses that would do no discredit
to Byron himself that her sensitiveness is
surpassed and bounded only by her good sense,
and that 6he is
'Blest wltb a temper, whose rmclcudetl ray
Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day.'
"She brought to Lord Byron beauty, man
ners, fortune, meekness, romantio affection,
and everything that ought to have made her
to the most transcendent man of genius
had he been what he sfcould haee been his
pride and his idol. I speak not of Lady Byron
m the common-place manner of attesting char
acter, I appeal to the gifted Mrs. Siddons,
and Joanna Baillie, to Lady Charle
mont, and to other ornaments of their sex,
whether I am exaggerating in the least when
I say, that in their whole lives- they have
seen few beings so intellectual and well-tempered
as Lady Byron. I wish to be as in
genuous as possible in speaking of her. Her
manner, I have ne hesitation to say; is cool
at the first interview, but is modestly, and
not insolently cool; she contracted it, I be
lieve, from being exposed, by her beauty' and
large fortune in youth, to numbers of suitors,
whom she could not have otherwise kept at a
distance. But this manner could have had
no influence with Lord Byron, for it vanishes
on nearer acquaintance, and has no origin in
coldness. All her friends like her frankness
the better foi; being preceded by this reserve.
This manner, however, though not the
slightest apology for Lord Byron, has been
inimical to Lady Byron in her misfortunes.
It endears her- to her friends, but it piques
the indifferent! Most odiously unjust, there
fore, is Mr. Moore's assertion that she has had
the advantage of Lord Byron in public opi
nion. She is, comparativelyspeaking, unknown
to the world; for though she has many friends,"
that is, a friend in every one who knows her,
yet her pride, and purity, and misfortunes,
naturally contraot the circle of her acquaint
ance. There is something exquisitely unjust
in Mr. Moore comparing her chance of popu
larity with Lord Byrorrs; the poet who can
command .men of talents, putting even Mr.'
Moore into the livery of his service, and
who has suborned the favor of almost all
women by the beauty of his person and the
voluptuousness of his verses. Lady Byron
has nothing to oppose to these fascinations
but the truth and justice of her cause. -
! "You said, Mr. Moore, that Lady Byron
was unsuitable to her Lord the word is cun
ningly insidious, and may mean as much or
as little as may suit your convenience. But
if she was unsuitable, I remark that it tells
all the worse against Lord Byron. I have not
read it in your book, for I hate to wade
through it; but they tell me, that you have
not only warily depreciated iiady liyron, but
that you have described a lady that would
have suited him. If this be true, it is the un
kindest cut of all to hold up a florid descrip
tion of a woman suitable to Lord Byron, as
if in mockery over the forlorn flower of Vir-
i tue, that was drooping in the solitude of sor-
. row. But I trnst there is no such passage
in your book. Surely you must . be conscious
of your woman, with her 'virtue loose about
her, who would have suited' Lord Byron,' to
i be as imaginary a being as the woman with
out a head. A woman to suit Lord Byron ! ! !
; rooh ! pooh ! I could paint to you the
not bargained to say as little as possible
against him.
"If Lady Byron was not suitable to Lord
Byron, so much the worse for bis Lordship;
for let me tell you, Mr. Moore, that neither
your pottry, nor Lord Byron's, nor all our
poetry put together, ever delineated a more
interesting being than the woman whom you
have so coldly treated. This was not kicking
the dead lion, but wounding the living lamb,
who was already bleeding and shorn even unto
the quick. I know that, collectively speak
ing, the world is in Lady Byron's favor; but it
is coldly favorable, and you have not warmed
its breath, lime, however, cures everything,
and even your book, Mr. Moore, may be the
means of Lady Byron's character being bettor
appreciated. Thomas Camfdcll."
LORD MAC A ULA Y ON T1IR SEPARA
TION OF LORD AND LAD YDYRON.
Much has been written about those un
happy domestic occurrence which decided
the fate of Byron's life. Yet nothing is,
nothing ever was, positively known to
the publio but this that he quarrelled
with his lady, and that she refused to
live with him. There have been hints in
abundance, and shrugs and shakings of
the head, and "Well, well, we know," and
"We could if we would," and "If we list to
speak," and "There be that might an they
list." But we are not aware that there is be
fore the world, substantiated by credible, or
even by tangible evidence, a single fact indi
cating that Lord Byron was more to blame
than any other man who is on bad terms with
his wife.
The profcssionol men whom Lady Byron
consulted were undoubtedly of opinion
that she ought not to live with hor hus
band. But it is to be remembered that
they formed that opinion without hearing
both sides. We do not say, we do not
mean to insinuate, that Lady Byron was
in any respect to blame. We think that those
who condemn her on the evidence which is
now before the public, are as rash as those
who condemn her husband. We will not pro
nounce any judgment, we cannot, even in
our own minds, form any judgment on a
transaction which is so imperfectly known to
us. It would have been well if, at the time
of the separation, all those who knew aa little
about the matter as we know about it now,
had shown forbearance, which, under such
circumstances, is but common justice.
We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the
British public in one of its periodical
fits of morality. In general, elopements,
divorces, , and family quarrels,
pass with little notice. We read
the scandal, talk about it for a day, and forget
it. But onoe in six or seven years our virtue
becomes outrageous. We cannot suffer the
laws of religion and decency to be violated.
We must make a stand against vice. We
must teach libertines that the English people
appreciate the importance of domestic ties.
Accordingly some unfortunate man, in no re
spect more depraved than hundreds whose
offenses have been treated with lenity, is
singled out as an expiatory sacrifice. If
he has children, they are to be taken
from him. If he has a . profession,
he is to be driven from it. lie is cut
by the high orders, and hissed by the
lower. He is, in truth, a sort of whipping-boy,
by whose vicarious agonies all
the other transgressors of the same class are,
it is supposed, sufficiently chastised. We re
flect very complacently on our own severity,
and compare with great pride the high stan
dard of morals established in England with
the Parisian laxity. At length our anger is
satiated. Our victim is ruined and heart
broken, and our virtue goes quietly to sleep
for seven years more. It is dear that those
vices which destroy domestic happiness ought
to be as much as possible repressed. It is
equally clear that they cannot be repressed
by penal legislation. ' It is therefore
right and desirable - that publio opinion
shonid ' be directed against them. ' But
it ; should be directed against them ,, uni
formly, steadily, and temperately; not
by sudden fits and starts. There should be
one weight and one measure. Decimation is
always an objectionable mode of punishment.
It is the resource of judges too indolent and
hasty to investigate facts and to discriminate
nicely between shades of guilt. It is an
irrational practice, even when adopted by
military tribunals. When adopted by the
tribunal of publio opinion, it is infinitely
more irrational. It is good that a cer
tain portion of disgrace should constantly
attend on certain bad actions. But it is not
good that the offenders should merely have
to stand the risks of a lottery of infamy,
that ninety-nine out of every hundred
should escape, and that the hundredth,
perhaps .. the most innocent of the
hundred, should pay for all. - We remember
to have seen a mob , assembled in Lincoln's
Inn to hoot a gentleman against whom the
most oppressive proceeding known to the
English law was then in progress. He was
hooted because he had been an unfaithful
husband, as if some of the most popular men
of the age, Lord Nelson for example, had not
been unfaithful husbands. , We remember a
still stronger case. , Will posterity believe
that, in an age in which men whose gallan
tries were universally known, and had been
legally proved, filled some of the highest
offices in the State and in the army,
presided at the . meetings of religious
and benevolent ' institutions, were the
delight -of every society, and the
favorites of the multitude, a crowd of moral
j ists went to the theatre, in order to pelt a
r 1 j
of an alderman ? What there waa in the
circumstances either of the offender or of the
sufferer to vindicate the zeal of the audience
we could never conceive. It has never been
supposed that the situation of an actor is
peculiarly favorable to the rigid virtues, or
that an alderman enjoys any special immu
nity from . injuries such as that which on this
occasion roused the anger of the publio. But
such is. the justice of mankind. In these
cases the punishment was excessive; but the
offense was known and proved. The ease of Lord
Byron was harder. True Jedwood justice
was dealt out to him. First came the execu
tion, then the investigation, and last of all,
or rather not at all, the accusation. The
public, without knowing anything whatever
about the transactions in his family, flew into
a violent passion with him, and proceeded to
invent stories which might justify iU anger.
Ten or twenty different accounts of the
separation, inconsistent with each other, with
themselves, and with common sense, circu
lated at the same time. What evidence there
might be for any one of these the virtuous
people who repeated them neither knew nor
cared. . . For, in fact, these stories
were not the causes, but the effects
of 1 the publio indignation. They re
sembled those loathsome slanders which
Lewis Goldsmith, and other abject libellers
of the same class, were in the habit of pub
lishing about Bonaparte such as that he
poisoned a girl with arsenic when he was at
the military school; that he hired a grenadier
to shoot Desaix at Marengo; that he filled St.
Cloud with, all the pollutions of Capre.e.
There was a time when anecdotes like these
obtained some credence from persons who,
hating the French Emperor without knowing
why, were eager to believe anything which
might justify their hatred.
I Lord Byron fared in the same way. Ilia
countrymen were in a bad humor with him.
His writings and his character bad lost the
charm of novelty. He had been guilty of the
offense which, of all offenses, is punished
most severely; he had been overpraised: he
had excited too warm an interest; and the
publio, with its nsual justice, chastised him
for its own folly. The attachment of the
multitude bear no mnall resemblance to those
of the wanton enchantress in the Arabian
Tales, who, when the forty days of her fond- -
ncss were over, was not content with di.
missing her lovers, but condemned them to
expiate, in loathsome shapes, and under cruel
Eenances, the crime of having once pleased
or too well.
The obloquy which Byron had to en dura 1
was such as might well have shaken a more
constant mind. The newspapers were filled
with lampoons. The theatres shook with
execration?. He was excluded from circles
where he had lately been the observed of all
vbscrttrt. All tkose creeping things that riot
in the decay of nobler natures hastened to
their repast; and they were right; they did .
after their kind. It is not every day that the .
savage envy of aspiring dunces is gratified by,
the agonies of such a spirit, and the degra- .
dation of such a name.
SHIPPINQ.
LORILLARD'S STEAMSHIP
LINE FOR r. '
ISiMrtritff'T SI
NKW Y O It IC. ,
SAILING ON TUK8DAT8, THURSDAYS, AND- :
SATURDAYS, AT NOON.
On nrt after Deoombn It, tb rate will SU entf par
ICO lbs. ,10 cents perfect, or S eenU per gallon, tlilp'a -optfan.
AdTance chne ched at affloe on pier. ' '
lreiht rocetvedat all tiiaeaon ootbtmI brf. f - .'
JOHN K. OHL, -
Tin IP NORTH WHARVES. ,". .
N. B. Kit r ntca on (mall package Iron, metal, ete. etc.
(SPECIAL BOTIOK.-On and after the IRtli of Marotf. ' I
the ratea by tfaia Una will be red need ti 10 oentt per 100 j
lbs., 4 cent per ft. or 1 eent per (tall., ship' option- 138 .
JnFOR LIVERPOOL ANI
&r-lrr iSpUERNSTOWirInman Line of Halt
J-k h'L gamers are appointed to Mil as fol
n. iw.l:i3 lows:
Oitj of few York, via Halifnx, Tnesdar, Jan. 11, 13 noon. .'
!lty of l'aris, 8turiy. January 15, 1 P. M.
City of Brooklyn. Haturdnjr, Jan. 23,9 A. M. '
City of Bonton, via Halifax. Tuesday. Jan. 2."., IS Noo. . .
Chty of londn, Saturday, January 211, 1AM.
And esch sneeeedtna; Saturday and alternate Tuesday, '
from Pier 46, North Kiver.
, RATKH OF PA88AOH. ;
I T THX MAn. BTKAMKB SAUJNO VRRT iATTTOOAT.
Tyh" in old. Payable in Currency.
FIRbT CABIN 100 I STRERAUK '
To London. 105 Tolmdon ..40 ',
To Paris 116 I To Paris .. . " 47 -
; 1 ma luxsuax nuaia, via HALirai.
firm tAnm,
Payable in Gold.
1 . Arable In Currency.
Liverpool t3Q
.. 20 Halifax
Liverpool.
Halifax.
St. John's, If. V.,
t ft. John's, N. F., "' ")' ,
ier....t " r by Branch Stoaraer... .( W
by Branch Steamer
Passencers also forwarded tn U&ttm u,.!..-
etc., at reduced rates.
Tickets can be boupht here at moderate rates bi person
wishina to send for their friends.
l-or flirt hflr nArfinilara annlv at fti Ham n n i rut.
JOHN O. DALE,-A sent, Ko. 16 BROADWAY N.Y.
or to O'DONNKLL A FAULK, Ants! ,
4 Wo. 40a CUKSNUT Street. Philadelphia. '
. ONLY DIRECT LINE to FR A C.V.
f&&J?iff COMPANY'S MAIL BTK A MS UPS
BilKST' YORK AND UAVK' OALLINQ AT
The splendid new vessels on this favorite route for the
Continent will sail from Pier Mo. 60, North river, everr
Saturday.
THR ClVKV.Jt.AJ. TD1VQ1TT l wnvn
. 1 .a- PR.I0H OF PASSAGE . .
In sold (including wine), '
... 10 OR HAYRK, .
First Cabin 140 Second Cabin SSi
I TO PARIS, "w
' (Including railway tickets, furnished on board.)
First Cabin .14a I Seoond Cabin $83
1 heso steamers do not carry steerage passengers.
1 Medical attendance free of charge. - -
American travellers going to or returning from the eon.
t merit of Europe, by takin the steamers of this line avoid
unnecessary risks from transit by English railways and
crostiog toe channel, besides saving time, trouble, and ex-
, ' ' No. 68 BROADWAY, New York". 1
For passage in Philadelphia, apply at Adams Rxpreae
Company, to H. L. LEAF.
K4 No. W CHEHNUT afrSea. '
'( ' t IlILAUELflllA, RICHMOND,
TSSxreW. .TJSAMAHIP LINK1:
THE SOUTH AND WEST.
Btteetn0n' m lIK8T WHARF above! MAHKET
THROUGH RATES to all 'nofnts In North and South
Carolina via Seaboard Air Line Railroad, connecting at
Portsmouth, and to Ljrnohburg, Va Tennessee, and the)
W5"; T" y 'r,Uni f n2 Tno Air Line and Kiohmond)
and Danville Railroad.
Fre'sht HANDLED BUT 0NOE, and taken at LOWER
RATES THAN ANY OTHER lJn E. xvu rr jut .
The regularity, aafety, and cheapness of this ronteoora-"
mend it to toe publio aa the most desirable medium for
carrying every description of freight.
No charge for oommitaion, dray age, or any expense of
transfer.
Steamships fnsnred at the lowest rates. '
Freight received daily. '
WILLIAM P. OLYDK & CO.,
No.l2t. WHARVES and Fieri N. WHARVE8.1X'
W. P. PORTER, Agent at Richmond and Citr Point. .
T. P. OROWELLAOO.. Ageuts at Norfolk U '
NEW EXPRESS LINE TO
O.. via OheeaDeake and Deb. war (imn.1. win. .
connections at Alexandria from the moat direct route for
Lynchburg, Bristol, Enoxville. Nashville, Dattoa, and the-'
Southwest.
.uvnTl 'ff regnrly every Saturday at noon from "
the first wharf above Market street. 1 .
Freight received daily. - t.i
- VlLLIAM P. OLYBJS CO., '
n-tmw a tNo-.U North nd South wharves. c
HYDH A TYLER, Agents, at Georgetown: M.
KLDR1DGK A CO., Agents Tat Alexandria, 1 "
l a-! V NOTICE FOR NEW YORK". VTA
DELAWARE AND RAR1SAN CANAL,
'1 he CHEAPEST AND OUIOKEH'P nt,mml.'
tion between Philadelphia and New York,
Steamers lesve daily from first wharf below Market
Street, Philadelphia, and foot of Wall street. New York. -
Goods forwarded by all the lines running out of Hw
York, North, East, snd West, free of eommiSHion.
Freight- received and forwarded on iMummaJ.tiM. !
ll ' ' A.4.lA.'l & . JI. . at W. AITIIDUL
n ii.i.i a .ii r. uj.ijuh a uv.. Agents,
No. IS 8. DELAWARE Avenue, Philadelphia
I
. UAr,n ajj. Agent,
Wo. 119 WALL Street. New Yo7k.
NOTICE. FOR NEW YORK, VIA .
T1b.M an' 1)..- fl.H.1 BU7 1 17vl3TTD
jStatMTRANKIMRTATKlV flllMPAazv nuo. . ,
'A'iUli AND SWIFTSIJRR LINK.
'i he business of these lines will be reenmed oa and alter1
the tfth of March. For freights, whioh will bo taken oa
accommodating terms, apply to
W.M. BAIRTJ A OO.,
, B3 - - - No. 132 South Wharves. .
TTF?. : 1TKUM CHARLESTON TO J J
f WEEKLY'LINE. " '
S-'t- ..,tj l'h fullnwinir atAamara will '.)
C&ariebMin furFlorida, via Savanonh, three times a week,
after arrival of the New York steamships and the North
eastern Railroad train: t . ,
PILOT BOY (Inland Route), every BUNDAY MORN
ING at 8 o'clock.
DICTATOR, every TUESDAY KVENINO at 8 o'olook.
CITY POINT, every FRIDAY EVENING at 6 o'clock. -
Throngh tickets to be had of all Charleston and Savan
nah Sleaniabip Line Agencies in New York. ' 1
, J. D. AIKEN CO., , , 1.
, Agents at ( 'harlenton. 1 i
l; j. guilmartin a co.. ' i
1 4 A genu a t Savannah. (.
I erK FOR 8T. THOMAS AND BRA-, .
ZU-.-UNI TED STATES A ND BRAZIl . ' t
STJ,?" MAIL STEAMbHIP COMPANY. 1
gar t'JLa 1 ...... 1 - Al - . 1 U.... .... ;i: . at. . I
. ajmJ lloiiular Alall KLMalura auiilin. aa tha
Hxl ot evt-iy month :
.MERRIMACK, Captain Wier. ' ' " ' - ;
' SOUTH AMERICA, Captain E. . TinklepauKU.
NOK'lH AMERICA, Captain U. B. Sloeuin.
These splendid steamers sail on schedule time, and call
at 'St. Thomas, Para, Pernaiubuoo, Bahia. and Kio de
Janeiro, going and returning. .,
for euwmeweuu freight or passage apply to
14
No. t BOWLING GUEEN, New York.
w jvi . it. ujitrti,-iiv, Agenr,
FOR NEW ORLEANS DIRECT.
THE CROM WELL. LINE. H
111 Hteainahins of this Line will Imm PW
fc?Styiiy No. , North River, at o'clock i. id. ou ,
Saturdays. . , ,
, t.KOKGE WASHINGTON, Oagar. , . : '
' MARIPO8A, Kuiulile. ' ' ' ''
Freight taken for St. Lonis, Mobile, and Galveston at
tluougii rates. Cabin passage. -.
For paaaaga (first tat seeond clues) or freight apply to . J.
H. B. CROMWELL A CO., ,.
14 No. M W I.ST Street.
U. 8. MAIL TO HAVANA -
LANTIO MATT, STEAMSHIP CO ,
inareiriilarlv EVERY 1 ITKKOAV nf.-
lfr-LMxt 8 e'ulouk P. 1L precisely, from Pier No.
s aurio mver.
. MORO CASTLE, Captain R. Adam.
C OLUMBIA, Captain E. Va Sice. V v
' KAGLE, Onptaiu M. R. Greene. '
For lreight or namajie apply to
S. l. WlfrTELER, Jn., President,
1 f . Ko- WOWLlNlJWRKEN, New York.
I. T. auaroa. i. HfHAHOU, .
1j A M T O IV it neSlAHONi
It twiri'ino j Kit conmismoif mmhojujit
SaOOKNTIE8 6LllNewYork. ,
o. Is SOUTH WHARVES, Philadelphia.
Mo. 4s W. PRATT Street, Baltimore.
Wo are prepared to ship every description of Frelgntt
Philadelphia, New York, Wilrnington, and intermedial
tiauvian furnished at the horteet 1
S'
TfiYatiNSOawV M0 etc CO.,
OIIiB,
No. 13! 8. SECOND Blr est.
U1S3W
I
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4
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