Byron: The Last Phase Part 40

[37] Medwin (edition of 1824), p. 63.

[38] 'A power of fascination rarely, if ever, possessed by any man of his age' ('Recollections of a Long Life,' by Lord Broughton, vol. ii., p.

196).

[39] 'Letters and Journals of Byron,' vol. iii., p. 406, edited by Rowland E. Prothero.

[40] Moore had rented a cottage in Nottinghams.h.i.+re, not very remote from Newstead Abbey.

[41] See 'Letters and Journals of Lord Byron,' edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. ii., pp. 267, 269, 278, 292.

[42] 'Had I not written "The Bride" (in four nights), I must have gone mad by eating my own heart--bitter diet.'--'Journals and Letters,' vol. ii., p. 321.

[43]

'Hail be you, Mary, mother and May, Mild, and meek, and merciable!'

_An Ancient Hymn to the Virgin._

[44] Mary was 'the last of a time-honoured race.' The line of the Chaworths ended with her.

[45] It will be remembered that Byron had announced 'The Corsair' as 'the last production with which he should trespa.s.s on public patience for some years.' With the loss of Mary's love his inspiration was gone.

[46]

'With hackbut bent, my secret stand, Dark as the purposed deed, I chose, And mark'd where, mingling in his band, Trooped Scottish pikes and English bows.'

SIR WALTER SCOTT: _Cadyow Castle_.

[47] Mary's allusion to the seal is explained by an entry in Byron's journal, November 14, 1813. The seal is treasured as a memento of Byron by the Musters family.

[48] No one, we presume, will question the ident.i.ty of the person mentioned in 'The Dream':

'Upon a tone, A touch of hers, his blood would ebb and flow, And his cheek change tempestuously--his heart Unknowing of its cause of agony.'

[49] 'Astarte,' p. 134.

[50] Lady Caroline Lamb also a.s.serted that Byron showed her some letters which contained some such expression as this: "Oh! B----, if we loved one another as we did in childhood--_then_ it was innocent." The reader may judge whether such a remark would be more natural from Augusta, or from Mary Chaworth.

[51] October 14, 1814.

[52] See the poem 'Remember Him': 'Thy soul from long seclusion pure.'

[53]

'OPHELIA. O heavenly powers, restore him!'

_Hamlet_, Act III., Scene i.

[54]

'The song, celestial from thy voice, But sweet to me from none but thine.'

_Poetry of Byron_, vol. iv.: 'To Thyrza.'

[55]

'Siede la terra, dove nata fui, Su la marina dove il Po discende.'

_Inferno_, Canto V., 97, 98.

[56] Although not near the source of the Po itself, Byron, at Ferrara, was not very far from the point where the Po di Primaro breaks away from the Po, and, becoming an independent river, flows into the dark blue Adriatic, about midway between Comachio and Ravenna.

[57] Shortly afterwards he translated 'The Episode of Francesca,' line for line, into English verse.

[58] 'Beppo,' stanza 83.

[59] 'Astarte,' p. 166.

[60] Lady Byron and Rev. F. Robertson drew up a memorandum of this conversation, April 8, 1851.

[61] 'Astarte,' p. 137.

[62] 'Recollections of a Long Life,' by Lord Broughton, vol. ii., p. 297.

[63] _Ibid._, vol. ii., pp. 219, 239.

[64] 'Lady Byron said that she founded her determination [to part from her husband] on some communication from London.'--'Recollections of a Long Life,' vol. ii., p. 255.

[65] 'There is reason to believe that Lord Chief Justice c.o.c.kburn privately saw letters [in 1869] of 1813 and 1814 which proved the fact of incest, and the overwhelming effect of the evidence therein contained.'--'Astarte,' p. 54.

[66] 'Astarte,' p. 77.

[67] Hanson.

[68] Leigh.

[69] 'Recollections of a Long Life,' vol. ii., p. 303.

[70] A fortnight before writing 'Stanzas to the Po.'

[71] 'Short name of three or four letters obliterated.'--'Astarte,' p.

180.

[72] Short name of three or four letters obliterated.

[73] Marianna (Anglice: Mary Anne).

[74] Lady Byron (see 'Astarte,' p. 166).

[75] His sister's society.

[76] In case Byron altered his will.