A BYRON MYSTERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3864, 3 April 1928, Page 74

A BYRON MYSTERY.

Critical examination of a packet of letters written by Lord Byron in 18221523 to Lady Hardy, wife of Nelson’s Admiral Hardy, has brought to light a hitherto unpublished stanza of the song which begins:— ° When we two parted In silence and tears. In addition, the letters help, it is shown by Mr John Gore, who examines the correspondence in an article in the Cornhill Magazine, to solve the mystery which surrounds two of Byron’s amours. In September, 1822, a year and seven months before his death, Byron, jaded and no longer youthful, began a stay of 10 months with the Garnbas at Casa Saluzzi, Albaro, Genoa. He. lived with Teresa Guiccioli, wrote cantos 12 to 16 of “Don Juan,” and saw much of Lady Blessington and her lover, the Comte d’Orsay. It was here that lie used some of his amplegleisure in writing to Lady Hardy the packet of letters which passed into the possession of her granddaughter, Mrs Thynne, and theuee into the hands of Mr Gore. In one of these letters he makes her a gift of the unpublished stanzas, and informs her that the poem to which they belonged was written to Lady Frances Webster. “ So here is a treasure for you in honour of our relationship,” he writes, “ rhymes unpublished, and a secret into the bargain, which you won’t keep.” The circumstances surrounding the “secret” are these: —When Byron was aged 19 years, his half-sister Augusta Mary, who was foul’ years his senior, married her cousin Colonel George Leigh, with whom - she lived unhappily. She and Byron had been brought up apart, and it was not until she had been married for several years that they met frequently. In 1813 Byron, who was then 25, brought her with him to London, and announced to Lady Melbourne that he intended to take her abroad. Foreseeing the danger of such an action, Lady Melbourne deliberately substituted a counter-attraction, by persuading Byron to visit his friend Weddcrburn

Webster, ’at Aston Hall, Rotherham. Byron went to Rotherham, and immediately began to court his friend’s wife, Lady Frances Webster, who was then aged only 20 years. Byron found conquest easy. The callous Lady Melbourne encouraged him, and received regular reports from Byron regarding the progres of the affair. In 1815 Byron married Miss Annabella Millbanke. In the following year a deed of separation between husband and wife was signed. No reason for the parting was ever given, but there was a persistent rumour that the reason was that there had existed a guilty connection between Byron and his half-sister, Mrs Leigh. The theory has been advanced that the poem “ When We Two Parted ” was addressed to Mrs Leigh. Fifty-three years later Mrs Beecher Stowe announced to the world that Lady Byron had confided to her that the story regarding the relation of Byron and Mrs Leigh was true. At the time when the letters were written Webster was attempting to obtain a separation from his wife. With whimsical cynicism Byron wrote to Lady Hardy, in the letter which contains his comment upon Webster’s attempt to obtain a separation from his wife:— “As for your Chevalier, W. W., my Coz, to be sure I heard from himself all but his surprise, but there is some little doubt of his accuracy. At least, it is very strange that he could never prove so public a voyage of discovery. She, poor thing, has made a sad affair of it altogether. I had the melancholy task of prophesying as much many years ago in some lines of which the three or four first stanzas only were printed, and, of course, without names or allusions, and with a false date. I send you the concluding stanza, which never was printed with the others: Then fare thee well, Fanny, Now doubly undone. To prove false unto many As faithless to one. Thou art past all recalling, Even would I recall, For the woman once falling Forever must fall. There’s morality and sentiment for vou in a word’s worth, but I was very ten-der-hearted in those days.”