of languages, the Briareus of parts of speech, a walking Polyglott and more, who ought to have existed at the time of the Tower of Babel, as universal interpreter. He is indeed a marvel-unassuming, also. I tried him in all the tongues of which I knew a single oath (or adjuration to the gods against post-boys, savages, Tartars, boatmen, sailors, pilots, gondoliers, muleteers, camel-drivers, vetturini, post-masters, posthorses, post-houses, post-everything), and egad! he astounded me-even to my English.

"No man would live his life over again,' is an old and true saying which all can resolve for themselves. At the same time, there are probably moments in most men's lives which they would live over the rest of life to regain? Else why do we live at all? because Hope recurs to Memory, both false-but-but -but-but-and this but drags on till--what? I do not know; and who does? 'He that died o' Wednesday.""

In laying before the reader these last extracts from the papers in my possession, it may be expected, perhaps, that I should say something,-in addition to what has been already stated on this subject,-respecting those Memoranda, or Memoirs, which, in the exercise of the discretionary power given to me by my noble friend, I placed, shortly after his death, at the disposal of his sister and executor, and which they, from a sense of what they thought due to his memory, consigned to the flames. As the circumstances, however, connected with the surrender of that manuscript, besides requiring much more detail than my present limits allow, do not, in any respect, concern the character of Lord Byron, but affect solely my own, it is not here, at least, that I feel myself called upon to enter into an explanation of them. The world will, of course, continue to think of that step as it pleases; but it is, after all, on a man's own opinion of his actions that his happiness chiefly depends, and I can only say that, were I again placed in the same circumstances, I would-even at ten times the pecuniary sacrifice which my conduct then cost me-again act precisely in the same manner.

For the satisfaction of those whose regret at the loss of that manuscript arises from some better motive than the mere disappointment of a prurient curiosity, I shall here add, that on the mysterious cause of the separation, it afforded no light whatever;-that, while some of its details could never have been published at all, and little, if any, of what it contained personal towards others could have appeared till long after the individuals concerned had left the scene, all that materially related to Lord Byron himself was (as I well knew when I made that sacrifice) to be found repeated in the various Journals and Memorandumbooks, which, though not all to be made use of, were, as the reader has seen from the preceding pages, all preserved.

This description applies only to the Second Part of the Memoranda; there having been but little unfit for publication in the First Part, which was, indeed, read, ns is well known, by many of the noble author's friends.

As far as suppression, indeed, is blamable, I have had, in the course of this task, abundantly to answer for it; having, as the reader must have perceived, withheld a large portion of my materials, to which Lord Byron, no doubt, in his fearlessness of consequenc s, would have wished to give publicity, but which, it is now more than probable, will never meet the light.

There remains little more to add. It has been remarked by Lord Orford, as "strange, that the writing a man's life should in general make the biographer become enamoured of his subject, whereas one should think that the nicer disquisition one makes into the life of any man, the less reason one should find to love or admire him." On the contrary, may we not rather say that, as knowledge is ever the parent of tolerance, the more insight we gain into the springs and motives of a man's actions, the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed, and the influences and temptations under which he acted, the more allowance we may be inclined to make for his errors, and the more approbation his virtues may extort from

us?

The arduous task of being the biographer of Byron is one, at least, on which I have not obtruded myself: the wish of my friend that I should undertake that office having been more than once expressed, at a time when none but a boding imagination like his could have foreseen much chance of the sad honour devolving to me. If in some instances I have con sulted rather the spirit than the exact letter of his injunctions, it was with the view solely of doing him more justice than he would have done himself; there being no hands in which his character could have been less safe than his own, nor any greater wrong offered to his memory than the substitution of what he affected to be for what he was. Of any partiality, however, beyond what our mutual friendship accounts for and justifies, I am by no means concious; nor would it be in the power, indeed, of even the most partial friend to allege any thing more convincingly favourable of his character than is contained in the few simple facts with which I shall here conclude, that, through life, with all his faults, he never lost a friend;-that those about him in his youth, whether as companions, teachers, or servants, remained attached to him to the last;-that the woman, to whom he gave the love of his maturer years, idolizes his name; and that, with a single unhappy exception, scarce an instance is to be found of any one, once brought, however briefly, into relations of amity with him, that did not feel towards him a kind regard in life, and retain a fondness for his memory.

I have now done with the subject, nor shall be easily tempted into a recurrence to it. Any mistakes or misstatements I may be proved to have made shall be corrected;-any new facts which it is in the power of others to produce will speak for themselves. To mere opinions I am not called upon to pay attention-and, still less, to insinuations or mysteries. I have here told what I myself know and think concerning my friend; and now leave his character, moral as well as literary, to the judgment of the world.

* In speaking of Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Life of Henry VIII.

and delivered in the presence of two or more credible witnesses, or by her last will and testament in writing, or any writing of appointment in the nature of a will, shall direct or appoint, and in default of any such appointment, or in case of the death of my said sister in my life-time, then upon trust that they my said trustees and the survivor of them, his executors, administrators, and assigns, do and shall assign and transfer all the trust, property, and funds unto and among the children of my said sister, if more than one, equally to be divided between them, share and share alike, and if only one such child, then to such only child the share and shares of such of them as shall be a son or sons, to be paid and transferred unto him and them when and as he or they shall respeetively attain his or their age or ages of twenty-one years; and the share and shares of such of them as shall be a daughter or daughters, to be paid and transferred unto her or them when and as she or they shall respectively attain his or their age or ages of twenty-one years, or be married, which shall first happen, and in case any of such children shall happen to die, being a son or sons, before he or they shall attain the age of twenty-one years, or being a daughter or daughters, before she or they shall attain the said age of twenty-one, or be married; then it is my will and I do direct that the share or shares of such of the said children as shall so die shall go to the survivor or survivors of such children, with the benefit of further accruer in case of the death of any such surviving children before their shares shall be come vested. And I do direct that my said trustees shall pay and apply the interest and dividends of each of the said children's shares in the said trust funds for his, her, or their maintenance and education during their minorities, notwithstanding their shares may not become vested interests, but that such interest and dividends as shall not have been so applied shall accumulate, and follow, and go over with the principal. And I do nominate, constitute, and appoint the said John Cam Hobhouse and John Hanson executors of this my will. And I do will and direct that my said trustees shall not be answerable the one of them for the other of them, or for the acts, deeds, receipts, or defaults of the other of them, but each of them for his own acts, deeds, receipts, and wilful defaults only, and that they my said trustees shall be entitled to retain and deduct out of the monies which shall come to their hands under the trusts aforesaid all such costs, charges, damages, and expenses which they or any of them shall bear, pay, sustain, or be put unto, in the execution and performance of the trusts herein reposed in them. I make the above provision for my sister and her children, in consequence of my dear wife Lady Byron and any children I may have being otherwise amply provided for; and, lastly, I do revoke all former wills by me at any time heretofore made, and do declare this only to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof, I have to this my last will, contained in three sheets of paper, set my hand to the first two sheets thereof,

CODICIL.-This is a Codicil to the last will and testament of me, the Right Honourable George Gordon, Lord Byron. I give and bequeath unto Allegra Biron, an infant of about twenty months old. by me brought up, and now residing at Venice, the sum of five thousand pounds, which I direct the executors of my said will to pay to her on ber attaining the age of twenty-one years, or on the day of her marriage, on condition that she does not many with a native of Great Britain, which shall fr happen. And I direct my said executors, as san as conveniently may be after my decease, to invest the said sum of five thousand pounds upon government of real security, and to pay and apply the annual income thereof in or towards the maintenance and education of the said Allegra Biron, until she attains her said age of twenty-one years, or shall be married as aforesaid; but in case she shall die before attaining the said age and without having been married, then I direct the said sum of five thousand pounds become part of the residue of my personal estate, and in all other respects I do confirm. my said will, and declare this to be a codicil thereto. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, a Venice, this 17th day of November, in the year af our Lord 1818.

BYRON (L. S.)

and exposition of the Armenian text by the Father Paschal Aucher, Armenian Friar.

BYRON.

Venice, April 10th, 1817.

I had also the Latin text, but it is in many places very corrupt, and with great omissions.

REMARKS ON MR MOORE'S LIFE OF LORD

BYRON, BY LADY BYRON.

"I HAVE disregarded various publications in which facts within my own knowledge have been grossly misrepresented; but I am called upon to notice some of the erroneous statements proceeding from one who claims to be considered as Lord Byron's confidential and authorized friend. Domestic details ought not to be intruded on the public attention: if, however, they are so intruded, the persons affected by them have a right to refute injurious charges. Mr Moore has promulgated his own impressions of private events in which I was most nearly concerned, as if he possessed a competent knowledge of the subject. Having survived Lord Byron, I feel increased reluctance to advert to any circumstances connected with the period of my marriage; nor is it now my intention to disclose them, further than may be indispensably requisite for the end I have in view. Self-vindication is not the motive which actuates me to make this appeal, and the spirit of accusation is unmingled with it; but when the conduct of my parents is brought forward in a disgraceful light, by the passages selected from Lord Byron's letters, and by the remarks of his biographer, I feel bound to justify their characters from imputations which I know to be false. The passages from Lord Byron's letters, to which I refer, are the aspersion on my mother's character, page 220:- My child is very well, and flourishing, I hear; but I must see also. I feel no disposition to resign it to the contagion of its grandmother's society.' The assertion of her dishonourable conduct in employing a spy, page 219. A Mrs C. (now a kind of housekeeper and spy of Lady N.'s), who, in her better days, was a washerwoman, is supposed to be—by the learnedvery much the occult cause of our domestic discrepancies.' The seeming exculpation of myself, in the extract, p. 219, with the words immediately following it," Her nearest relatives are a ;' where the blank clearly implies something too offensive for publication. These passages tend to throw suspicion on my parents, and give reason to ascribe the separation either to their direct agency, or to that of officious spies' employed by them.* From the following part of the narrative, p. 218, it must also be inferred that an undue influence was exercised by them for the accomplishment of this purpose. 'It was in a few weeks after the latter cominunication between us (Lord Byron and Mr Moore), that Lady Byron adopted the determination of parting from him. She had left London at the latter end of January, on a visit to her father's house, in Leicestershire, and Lord Byron was in a short time to follow her. They had parted in the utmost kindness,-she wrote him a letter full of playfulness and affection, on the road; and immediately

* The officious spies of his privacy," p. 220.

on her arrival at Kirkby Mallory, her father wrote to acquaint Lord Byron that she would return to him no more.' In my observations upon this statement, I shall, as far as possible, avoid touching on any matters relating personally to Lord Byron and myself. The facts are:-I left London for Kirkby Mallory, the residence of my father and mother, on the 15th of January, 1816. Lord Byron had signified to me m writing (Jan. 6th) his absolute desire that I should leave London on the earliest day that I could conve niently fix. It was not safe for me to undertake the fatigue of a journey sooner than the 15th. Previous to my departure, it had been strongly impressed on my mind, that Lord Byron was under the influence of insanity. This opinion was derived in a great measure from the communications made to me by his neare relatives and personal attendant, who had more portunities than myself of observing him during the latter part of my stay in town. It was even reprosented to me that he was in danger of destroying himself. With the concurrence of his family, I had consulted Dr Baillie as a friend (Jan. 8th re specting this supposed malady. On acquainting be with the state of the case, and with Lord Byron' desire that I should leave London, Dr Baillie thoug that my absence might be advisable as an experimen assuming the fact of mental derangement; for ♫ Baillie, not having had access to Lord Byron, A not pronounce a positive opinion on that point. Fe enjoined that in correspondence with Lord Byra | should avoid all but light and soothing topics. Us these impressions, I left London, determined to f the advice given by Dr Baillie. Whatever have been the nature of Lord Byron's conduct toward me from the time of my marriage, yet, supposing in to be in a state of mental alienation, it was not me, nor for any person of common humanity, to ma nifest, at that moment, a sense of injury. On the d of my departure, and again on my arrival at Kinky, Jan. 16th, I wrote to Lord Byron in a kind and chess ful tone, according to those medical directions. T last letter was circulated, and employed as a preses. for the charge of my having been subsequently fluenced to ‘desert'* my husband. It has bee argued, that I parted from Lord Byron in pers. harmony; that feelings, incompatible with any sense of injury had dictated the letter which I a dressed to him; and that my sentiments must ha been changed by persuasion and interference, w** I was under the roof of my parents. These assert and inferences are wholly destitute of foundan When I arrived at Kirkby Mallory, my parents we unacquainted with the existence of any causes to destroy my prospects of happiness; and w communicated to them the opinion which had be formed concerning Lord Byron's state of mind, th! were most anxious to promote his restoration by ev means in their power. They assured those rear who were with him in London, that they w devote their whole care and attention to the aleva. of his malady,' and hoped to make the best are ments for his comfort, if he could be induced to re them. With these intentions, my mother wrote on 17th to Lord Byron, inviting him to Kirkby Mas

**The deserted husband," p. 221.

She had always treated him with an affectionate consideration and indulgence, which extended to every little peculiarity of his feelings. Never did an irritating word escape her lips in her whole intercourse with him. The accounts given me after I left Lord Byron by the persons in constant intercourse with him, added to those doubts which had before transiently occurred to my mind, as to the reality of the alleged disease, and the reports of his medical attendant, were far from establishing the existence of any thing like lunacy. Under this uncertainty, I deemed it right to communicate to my parents, that if I were to consider Lord Byron's past conduct as that of a person of sound mind, nothing could induce me to return to him. It therefore appeared expedient both to them and myself to consult the ablest advisers. For that object, and also to obtain still further information respecting the appearances which seemed to indicate mental derangement, my mother determined to go to London. She was empowered by me to take legal opinions on a written statement of mine, though I had then reasons for reserving a part of the case from the knowledge even of my father and mother. Being convinced by the result of these inquiries, and by the tenor of Lord Byron's proceedings, that the notion of insanity was an illusion, I no longer hesitated to authorise such measures as were necessary, in order to secure me from being ever again placed in his power. Conformably with this resolution, my father wrote to him on the 2d of February, to propose an amicable separation. Lord Byron at first rejected this proposal; but when it was distinctly notified to him, that if he persisted in his refusal, recourse must be had to legal measures, he agreed to sign a deed of separation. Upon applying to Dr Lushington, who was intimately acquainted with all the circumstances, to state in writing what he recollected upon this subject, I received from him the following letter, by which it will be manifest that my mother cannot have been actuated by any hostile or ungenerous motives towards Lord By

ron.

"MY DEAR LADY BYRON,

"I can rely upon the accuracy of my memory for the following statement. I was originally consulted by Lady Noel on your behalf, whilst you were in the country; the circumstances detailed by her were such as justified a separation, but they were not of that aggravated description as to render such a measure indispensable. On Lady Noel's representation, I deemed a reconciliation with Lord Byron practicable, and felt most sincerely a wish to aid in effecting it. There was not on Lady Noel's part any exaggeration of the facts; nor, so far as I could perceive, any determination to prevent a return to Lord Byron: certainly none was expressed when I spoke of a reconciliation. When you came to town in about a fortnight, or perhaps more, after my first interview with Lady Noel, I was for the first time informed by you of facts utterly unknown, as I have no doubt, to Sir Ralph and Lady Noel. On receiving this additional information, my opinion was entirely changed: I considered a reconciliation impossible. declared my opinion, and added, that if such an idea should be entertained, I could not, either profes

I

"I have only to observe, that if the statements on which my legal advisers (the late Sir Samuel Romilly and Dr. Lushington) formed their opinions, were false, the responsibility and the odium should rest with me only. I trust that the facts which I have here briefly recapitulated will absolve my father and mother from all accusations with regard to the part they took in the separation between Lord Byron and myself. They neither originated, instigated, nor advised, that separation; and they cannot be condemned for having afforded to their daughter the assistance and protection which she claimed. There is no other near relative to vindicate their memory from insult. I am therefore compelled to break the silence which I had hoped always to observe, and to solicit from the readers of Lord Byron's life an impartial consideration of the testimony extorted from me.

"A. I. NOEL BYRON."

"Hanger Hill, Feb. 19, 1830."

LETTER OF MR. TURNER,

referred to in page 382.

"EIGHT months after the publication of my "Tour in the Levant,' there appeared in the London Magazine, and subsequently in most of the newspapers, a letter from the late Lord Byron to Mr. Murray.

"I naturally felt anxious at the time to meet a charge of error brought against me in so direct a manner: but I thought, and friends whom I consulted at the time thought with me, that I had better wait for a more favourable opportunity than that afforded by the newspapers of vindicating my opinion, which even so distinguished an authority as the letter of Lord Byron left unshaken, and which, I will venture to add, remains unshaken still.

"I must ever deplore that I resisted my first impulse to reply immediately. The hand of Death has snatched Lord Byron from his kingdom of literature and poetry, and I can only guard myself from the illiberal imputation of attacking the mighty dead, whose living talent I should have trembled to encounter, by scrupulously confining myself to such facts and illustrations as are strictly necessary to save me from the charges of error, misrepresentation, and presumptuousness, of which every writer must wish to prove himself undeserving.

"Lord Byron began by stating, "The tide was not in our favour,' and added, neither I nor any person on board the frigate had any notion of a difference of the current on the Asiatic side; I never heard of it till this moment.' His lordship had probably forgotten that Strabo distinctly describes the difference in the following words.

σε Διό καὶ λυπετέστερον ἐκ τῆς Ἰηστοῦ διαιρουσι που

ραλλαξώμενοι μικρὸν ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς Ἡροὺς πύργον, κἀκεῖθεν ἀφιέντες

τὰ πλοία συμπράττοντος τοῦ ῥοῦ πρός την περαίωσιν.

τοῖς δ' δὲ Αβύδου παραιουμένοις παραλλακτέον ἐστὶν εἰς τἀναντία,