Chapter III

The publication of 'Astarte' has had one good result; it has placed beyond question the precise nature of Lady Byron's complaints against her husband. On March 14, 1816, Lady Byron was induced by Dr. Lushington to draw up and sign a statement which would be useful if her conduct should at any future time be criticized.

We place the entire document before the reader, just as it appears in Lord Lovelace's book:

'STATEMENT.--A. L.

'In case of my death to be given to Colonel Doyle.

A. I. BYRON,
Thursday, March 14, 1816.'

'During the year that Lady Byron lived under the same roof with Lord
B. certain circumstances occurred, and some intimations were made,
which excited a suspicion in Lady B.'s mind that an improper
connection had at one time, and might even still, subsist between Lord
B. and Mrs. L----.[68] The causes, however, of this suspicion did not
amount to proof, and Lady Byron did not consider herself justified in
acting upon these suspicions by immediately quitting Lord B.'s house,
for the following reasons:

'First and principally, because the causes of suspicion, though they
made a strong impression upon her mind, did not amount to positive
proof, and Lady B. considered, that whilst a possibility of innocence
existed, every principle of duty and humanity forbad her to act as if
Mrs. Leigh was actually guilty, more especially as any intimation of
so heinous a crime, even if not distinctly proved, must have seriously
affected Mrs. L.'s character and happiness.

'Secondly, Lady B. had it not in her power to pursue a middle course;
it was utterly impossible for her to remove Mrs. L. from the society
and roof of Lord B. except by a direct accusation.

'Thirdly, because Mrs. L. had from her first acquaintance with Lady B.
always manifested towards her the utmost kindness and attention,
endeavouring as far as laid in her power to mitigate the violence and
cruelty of Lord B.

'Fourthly, because Mrs. L. at times exhibited signs of a deep remorse;
at least so Lady B. interpreted them to be, though she does not mean
to aver that the feelings Mrs. L. then showed were signs of remorse
for the commission of the crime alluded to, or any other of so dark a
description.

'And, lastly, because Lady B. conceived it possible that the crime, if
committed, might not only be deeply repented of, but never have been
perpetrated since her marriage with Lord B.

'It was from these motives, and strongly inclining to a charitable
interpretation of all that passed, that Lady B. never during her
living with Lord B. intimated a suspicion of this nature. Since Lady
B.'s separation from Lord B. the report has become current in the
world of such a connection having subsisted. This report was not
spread nor sanctioned by Lady B. Mrs. L.'s character has, however,
been to some extent affected thereby. Lady B. cannot divest her mind
of the impressions before stated; but anxious to avoid all possibility
of doing injury to Mrs. L., and not by any conduct of her own to throw
any suspicion upon Mrs. L., and it being intimated that Mrs. L.'s
character can never be so effectually preserved as by a renewal of
intercourse with Lady B., she does for the motives and reasons before
mentioned consent to renew that intercourse.

'Now, this statement is made in order to justify Lady B. in the line
of conduct she has now determined to adopt, and in order to prevent
all misconstruction of her motives in case Mrs. L. should be proved
hereafter to be guilty; and, if any circumstances should compel or
render it necessary for Lady B. to prefer the charge, in order that
Lady B. may be at full liberty so to do without being prejudiced by
her present conduct.

'It is to be observed that this paper does not contain nor pretends to
contain any of the grounds which gave rise to the suspicion which has
existed and still continues to exist in Lady B.'s mind.

'We whose names are hereunto subscribed are of opinion, that under all
the circumstances above stated, and also from our knowledge of what
has passed respecting the conduct of all parties mentioned, that the
line now adopted by Lady B. is strictly right and honourable, as well
as just towards Mrs. L., and Lady B. ought not, whatever may hereafter
occur, to be prejudiced thereby.

'ROBT. JOHN WILMOT.
F. H. DOYLE.
STEPHEN LUSHINGTON.
(_Signed by each._)

'LONDON,
_March 14, 1816_.'

One month later, on April 14, Byron writes a letter to his wife, who was staying at an hotel in London, in which he says that he has just parted from Augusta:

'Almost the last being you had left me to part with, and the only
unshattered tie of my existence.... If any accident occurs to me--be
kind to _her_,--if she is then nothing--to her children. Some time ago
I informed you that, with the knowledge that any child of ours was
already provided for by other and better means, I had made my will in
favour of her and her children--as prior to my marriage; this was not
done in prejudice to you, for we had not then differed--and even this
is useless during your life by the settlements. I say, therefore, be
kind to her and hers, for never has she acted or spoken otherwise
towards you. She has ever been your friend; this may seem valueless
to one who has now so many. Be kind to her, however, and recollect
that, though it may be an advantage to you to have lost your husband,
it is sorrow to her to have the waters now, or the earth hereafter,
between her and her brother. She is gone. I need hardly add that of
this request she knows nothing.'

There are two points in this letter which deserve notice. In the first place Byron intimates that he has made a will in favour of Augusta and _her children, as prior to his marriage_. This would insure that Medora would be amply provided for. In addition to this, Byron had already given his sister £3,000 in May, 1814, within one month of Medora's birth. In reply to her scruples, Byron writes: 'Consider the children, and my Georgina in particular--in short, I need say no more.'

In the second place, we appeal to any unprejudiced person whether it is likely that Byron would have made to his wife an especial appeal on behalf of Augusta, if he had not had a clear conscience as to his relations with her? That he had a clear conscience cannot be doubted, and Augusta never hesitated in private intercourse with Lady Byron to speak on that painful subject. To quote Lord Lovelace:

'On all these occasions, one subject, uppermost in the thoughts of
both, had been virtually ignored, except that Augusta had had the
audacity to name the reports about herself "with the pride of
innocence," as it is called.'

Augusta tried to make Lady Byron speak out, and say that she did not believe the reports against her, but in vain. Lady Byron, having once conceived a notion of Augusta's guilt, would not change her opinion, and was far too honest to dissemble. She found refuge in flight, not daring to show to Augusta the letters which had been abstracted from Byron's desk by Mrs. Clermont. In vain Mrs. Villiers and Wilmot urged Lady Byron to avow to Augusta the information of which they were in possession. Lady Byron would not produce her so-called 'proofs,' and said that 'she would experience pain in throwing off a person she had loved, and from whom she had received kindness.'

But Lady Byron, conscious of her false position, had recourse to her pen, and wrote a letter to Augusta telling her all that she knew. We are told that Augusta did not attempt to deny the accusation, and admitted everything in her letters of June, July, and August, 1816.

Lord Lovelace coolly says:

'It is unnecessary to produce these letters here, as their contents
are confirmed and made sufficiently clear by the correspondence of
1819, given in another chapter.'

We are further told in a footnote (p. 155) that the late Sir Leslie Stephen said it made him quite uncomfortable to read Mrs. Leigh's letters of humiliation dated 1816. One would have supposed, after such a flourish of trumpets, that Lord Lovelace would have produced those letters! He does nothing of the kind, and expects posterity to accept his _ex-parte_ statements without reserve. Lord Lovelace bids us to believe that it was 'from the best and kindest motives, and long habit of silence, that Dr. Lushington's influence was exerted in 1869, to prevent, or at least postpone, revelation.' The fact is, of course, he kept silence because he well knew that there was nothing in those letters (1813 and 1814) to fix guilt upon Mrs. Leigh. Lady Byron herself has told us that 'the causes of her suspicion _did not amount to proof_, and Lady Byron did not consider herself justified in acting upon these suspicions.' She further states that '_the possibility of innocence existed_,' but that

'Mrs. Leigh, at times, exhibited signs of deep remorse; _at least so
Lady Byron interpreted them to be_, though she does not mean to aver
that the feelings Mrs. Leigh then showed were signs of remorse for the
commission of the crime alluded to, or any other of so dark a
description.'

But Lady Byron, under Lushington's skilful hand, protects herself against the possibility of legal proceedings for defamation of character by these words:

'This paper does not contain, nor pretend to contain, any of the
grounds which give rise _to the suspicion_ which has existed, and
still continues to exist, in Lady Byron's mind. Her statement is made
in order to justify Lady Byron ... _in case Mrs. Leigh should be
proved hereafter to be guilty_.'

As this statement was made after Lady Byron's interview with Dr. Lushington (when he decided to take no part in any attempt at reconciliation), it is perfectly clear that the alleged incriminating letters were not considered as conclusive evidence against Mrs. Leigh. Although they were sufficient to detach Lushington from the party of reconciliation, it was not considered wise to produce them as evidence in 1869, at a time when a strong revulsion of feeling had set in against Lady Byron.

The clear legal brain of Sir Alexander Cockburn, trained to appraise evidence, saw through the flimsy pretext which had deceived an equally great lawyer. Time instructs us, and much has come to light in this so-called 'Byron mystery,' since Lady Byron beguiled Lushington. Among other things, we now know, on Lord Lovelace's authority, that Lady Byron was afraid that her child would be taken from her by Byron, and placed under the care of Mrs. Leigh. We also know, on the authority of Hobhouse,[69] that Lady Byron's representatives distinctly disavowed, on Lady Byron's behalf, having spread any rumours injurious to Lord Byron's character in that respect, and also stated that a charge of incest would not have been made part of her allegations if she had come into court. This disavowal was signed by Lady Byron herself, and was witnessed by Mr. Wilmot. It is certain that Lord Byron would have gone into a court of law to meet that charge, and that he refused to agree to a separation until that assurance had been given. This grave charge was still in abeyance in 1816; it was not safe to speak of it until after Byron's death, and then only under the seal of secrecy.

'Upon one contingency only,' wrote Sir Francis Doyle in 1830--'namely,
the taking from Lady Byron of her child, and placing her under the
care of Mrs. Leigh--would the disclosure have been made of Lady
Byron's grounds for _suspecting_ Mrs. Leigh's guilt.'

It was evident that Lady Byron was clutching at straws to save her child from Mrs. Leigh, and to prevent this it was essential to prove Mrs. Leigh's unworthiness. In her maternal anxiety she stuck at nothing, and for a time she triumphed. Her private correspondence was drenched with the theme that had impressed Lushington so strongly.

A fortnight after signing her 'statement,' Lady Byron writes to Mrs. George Lamb, in reference to Mrs. Leigh:

'I am glad that you think of _her_ with the feelings of pity which
prevail in my mind, and surely if in _mine_ there must be some cause
for them. I never was, nor ever can be, so _mercilessly_ virtuous as
to admit _no_ excuse for even the worst of errors.'

Such letters go perilously near that charge which Lady Byron's representatives had repudiated in the presence of Hobhouse. But Lady Byron was desperate, and her whole case depended on a general belief in that foul accusation. What could not be done openly could be done secretly, and she poisoned the air to save her child.

Colonel Doyle, who seems to have been one of the few on Lady Byron's side who kept his head, wrote to her on July 9, 1816:

'I see the possibility of a contingency under which the fullest
explanation of the motives and grounds of your conduct may be
necessary; I therefore implore of you to suffer no delicacy to
interfere with your endeavouring to obtain the fullest _admission_ of
the fact. If you obtain an acknowledgment of the facts and that your
motives be, as you seem to think, properly appreciated, I think on the
whole we shall have reason to rejoice that you have acted as you have
done, but I shall be very anxious to have a more detailed knowledge of
what has passed, and particularly of the state in which you leave it.
The step you have taken was attended with great risk, and I could not,
contemplating the danger to which it might have exposed you, have
originally advised it.

'If, however, your correspondence has produced an acknowledgment of
the fact even previous to your marriage, I shall be most happy that it
has taken place.'

Colonel Doyle, by no means easy in his own mind, again writes to Lady Byron on July 18, 1816:

'I must recommend you to act as if a time might possibly arise when it
would be necessary for you to justify yourself, though nothing short
of an absolute necessity so imperative as to be irresistible could
ever authorize your advertence to your present communications. Still,
I cannot dismiss from my mind the experience we have had, nor so far
forget the very serious embarrassment we were under from the effects
of your too confiding disposition, as not to implore you to bear in
mind the importance of securing yourself from eventual danger.

'This is my first object, and if that be attained, I shall approve and
applaud all the kindness you can show [to Mrs. Leigh].'

Here, then, we have a picture of the state of affairs limned by a man who was an accomplice of Lady Byron's, and who was fully awake to the danger of their position in the event of Byron turning round upon them. The husband might insist upon Lady Byron explaining the grounds of her conduct. In order to make their position secure, it would be, above all things, necessary to obtain a full confession from Mrs. Leigh of her criminal intercourse with Byron. With this end in view, Lady Byron opened a correspondence with Augusta Leigh, and tried to inveigle her into making an admission of her guilt. It was not an easy matter to open the subject, but Lady Byron was not abashed, and, under cover of sundry acts of kindness, tried hard to gain her point. In this game of foils Augusta showed remarkable skill, and seems to have eventually fooled Lady Byron to the top of her bent. No wonder, then, that Mrs. Leigh, accused of an abominable crime by her sister-in-law, should have written to a friend:

'None can know _how much_ I have suffered from this unhappy
business--and, indeed, I have never known a moment's peace, and begin
to despair for the future.'

Lady Byron and her friends plied Mrs. Leigh with questions, hoping to gain a confession which would justify their conduct. Lady Noel strongly and repeatedly warned Lady Byron against Mrs. Leigh, who, like a wounded animal, was dangerous. 'Take care of Augusta,' she wrote September 7, 1816. 'If I know anything of human nature, she _does_ and must _hate you_.'

As a matter of fact, Augusta, while pretending contrition for imaginary sins, revenged herself upon Lady Byron by heightening her jealousy, and encouraging her in the belief that Byron had not only been her lover, but was still appealing to her from abroad. She even went so far as to pretend that she was going to join him, which nearly frightened Mrs. Villiers out of her wits. They lied to Augusta profusely, these immaculate people, and had the meanness to tell her that Byron had betrayed her in writing to two or three women. They probably wished to cause a breach between brother and sister, but Augusta, who pretended to be alarmed by this intelligence, laughed in her sleeve. She knew the truth, and saw through these manoeuvres; it was part of her plan to keep Lady Byron on a false scent. 'I cannot believe my brother to have been so dishonourable,' was her meek rejoinder, meaning, of course, that it would have been dishonourable for Byron to have defamed one who, having taken his child under her protection, had saved the honour of the woman whom he loved. But Lady Byron regarded Mrs. Leigh's answer as an admission of guilt, and trumpeted the news to all her friends. Lord Lovelace tells us that Augusta, on August 5, 1816, wrote to Lady Byron a letter, in which she asserted most solemnly that Byron had not been her friend, and that, though there were difficulties in writing to him, she was determined never to see him again in the way she had done. It is remarkable that the letter to which Lord Lovelace refers is not given in 'Astarte,' where one would naturally expect to find it. In order to gauge the impression made upon Augusta's mind, the reader will do well to consult the letters which she wrote a little later to the Rev. Francis Hodgson, in which she speaks of Byron with the greatest affection.

'And now for our old subject, dear B. I wonder whether you have heard
from him? The last to me was from Geneva, sending me a short but most
interesting journal of an excursion to the Bernese Alps. He speaks of
his health as _very_ good, but, alas! his spirits appear wofully the
contrary. I believe, however, that he does not write in that strain to
others. Sometimes I venture to indulge a hope that what I wish most
earnestly for him may be working its way in his mind. Heaven grant
it!'

In another letter to Hodgson she speaks of Ada, and says:

'The bulletins of the poor child's health, by Byron's desire, pass
through me, and I'm very sorry for it, and that I ever had any concern
in this most wretched business. I can't, however, explain all my
reasons at this distance, and must console myself by the consciousness
of having done my duty, and, to the best of my judgment, all I could
for the happiness of _both_.'

At a time when Byron was accused of having 'betrayed his sister in writing to two or three women,' he was writing that well-known stanza in 'Childe Harold':

'But there was one soft breast, as hath been said,
Which unto his was bound by stronger ties
Than the Church links withal; and though unwed,
Yet it was pure--and, far above disguise,
Had stood the test of mortal enmities
Still undivided, and cemented more
By peril, dreaded most in female eyes;
But this was firm, and from a foreign shore
Well to that heart might his these absent greetings pour.'

And it was in July, 1816, that Augusta's loyalty to him and to Mary Chaworth moved Byron to write his celebrated 'Stanzas to Augusta':

'_Though thy soul with my grief was acquainted_,
It shrunk not to share it with me,
And the Love which my spirit hath painted
It never hath found but in _Thee_.'

'Though human, thou didst not _betray_ me;
Though tempted, thou never couldst shake.'

Lord Lovelace claims to have found the key of the Byron mystery in 'Manfred,' and employs it as a damning proof against Augusta, with what justice we have seen.

At the time when 'Manfred' was begun Mary Chaworth was temporarily insane. The anxiety which she had undergone at the time of Byron's matrimonial quarrels, when she feared that a public inquiry might disclose her own secret, affected her health. She bore up bravely until after Byron's departure from England; then, the strain relieved, her mind gave way, and she lived for some time in London, under the care of a doctor. Her illness was kept as secret as possible, but Augusta, who was constantly at her side, informed Byron of her condition.