Amid the details of personal adventures, there is a great deal of shrewd and strong observation, and hence the work is calculated to be eminently useful to persons at all interested about South America. The temper and candour of Mr. Temple, at once shew him to be a person above being led away in his estimate of men and manners, by any undue considerations. Whatever he may do to check the hopes of those who looked with enthusiasm to the esta→ blishment of so many altars to liberty in the new world, his testimony goes very far indeed in favour of the moral dispositions of the people. The instances of hospitality, even amongst the lowest classes, and the warmth of their kindness, on any occasion where an appeal to humanity is made, as attested by our author, shew to what an extent they are endowed with some of the best virtues of our nature. He relates that in no part of the world has he observed such ardent affection amongst families as he has witnessed in South America. It is the custom, he says, for young married couples to live with the parents of either, and every little arrangement connected with the formation of new and permanent associations, is made as far as possible with the view of preventing a separation of the old members of a family. A similar custom, however, exists in France-at least amongst that class in which the progress of luxury has not swept away the traditionary feelings of domestic attachment. We have, then, to thank Mr. Temple for a very lively and agreeable book, upon a subject of very great interest; and though very amusing indeed for the most part, it is by no means so to the extent of prejudicing a sound and sensible view of matters which require to be treated with due gravity.

ART. X.-Remarks occasioned by Mr. Moore's Notices of Lord Byron's Life. By the Right Honourable Lady Byron. London: 1830. IN our Review of the "Notices, Journals, &c." of Lord Byron, by Mr. Moore, we ventured the expression of our opinion, that much as the biographer had shewn himself ready to suppress matter that was little calculated to raise the roble bard in the world's estimation, he yet had allowed in that work a great deal to remain which signally called for the expurgatory knife. Our notions, which were certainly not confined to any single point contained in the book, are somewhat strikingly confirmed by the expostulation which stands at the head of this article; and we verily believe, that had Mr. Moore the slightest suspicion of the real state of the facts, he never would have sanctioned the publication of such loose and unmeasured charges against Lady Byron's family, as are contained in some of the letters from her noble husband inserted in that book. We cannot, it is only candid to state, get over the impression, that Mr. Moore, the poet laureate, we may well say, of the elegant sex, wrote and arranged his compilation under the

influence of a strong prejudice against Lady Byron. Her Ladyship, as pictured in the quarto, is certainly a most unamiable being. The whole tenor of Mr. Moore's account of the marriage and separation of the parties, is to criminate her Ladyship, by insinuating that she was the first to take a decisive step in the affair of the separation; that, out of mere pride, she persevered in that measure, and, that as she was inflexible, whilst her husband was ready to be reconciled, it followed as a corollary from the old maxim, which declares that they never pardon who do the wrong, that the wrong in this instance was committed by the lady; in short, the "Notices" are characterized most strongly, as regards Lady Byron, by that combination of promptitude and timidity so well described in the line of the poet

Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike."

But it is not on her own account that Lady Byron has departed from that mysterious silence, which, we are now satisfied, proceeded not less from the delicacy of her sex than from the sense of dignity belonging to conscious innocence. The reluctant exhibition which she now makes before the public, is the sacrifice which filial piety offers to the shades of parents whose memory is sought to be calumniated. History makes mention of a dumb boy, who, when his mother was attacked, burst the ligaments which obstructed his utterance in his effort to defend her.

'I have,' Lady Byron commences, '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 authorised 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 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.

This is sufficiently strong, but the biographer deserves it; for although he professes a prudent neutrality between the husband and wife, his insinuations against the latter are not the less calculated to be effective against her reputation. The first passage which Lady Byron specifies as containing an imputation' which she knows 'to be false,' is contained in a letter from Lord Byron to Mr. Moore, dated March 8th, 1816. Before, however, we come

to this quotation, we shall take the liberty of making a few observations illustrative of the feelings of the biographer, both at the time when he received Lord Byron's letter, and when, in arranging his work, he had to furnish a commentary upon its contents. In the February of 1816, Mr. Moore heard reports of Lord Byron's separation, which induced him to make inquiries of his noble friend by letter. The reply of Lord Byron exhibits, in our opinion, any thing but the confidence of a friend. Instead of telling his correspondent that he was actually separated, and how the event occurred, he seems anxious to evade the question; and what he does say touching that interesting and prescribed subject, is singularly loose and unsatisfactory. "All the world and my wife are at war with me, and have not yet crushed me, whatever they may do." "Her" (Lady Noel's) "daughter (Miss Milbanke that was) is, I believe, in London with her father." These are the only words respecting his separation which Lord Byron thinks proper to yield to the pressing curiosity of Mr. Moore, who solicited information in the following importunate terms :-"Just communicate as much or as little as you think proper; only something I should like to know, as soon as possible, from yourself, in order to set my mind at rest with respect to the truth or falsehood of the report." We have seen how very little Lord Byron conceded to his inquisitive correspondent, even after a fortnight had intervened between the application and the reply. We only ask the reader's attention to the theory which Mr. Moore instantly jumped at, assisted by only such materials as his noble friend had supplied. "After all," says he, in his rejoinder to Lord Byron, "after all, your choice was the misfortune. I never liked-but I'm here wandering, &c." Now what was the prompt, decisive reply from the husband to this precipitate and exceedingly uncharitable judgment? It was this, "The fault was not-no, nor even the misfortune-in my 'choice' (unless in choosing at all), for I do not believe-and I must say it, in the very dregs of all this bitter business-that there ever was a better, or even a brighter, a kinder, or a more amiable and agreeable being than Lady B. I never had, nor can have, any reproach to make her while with me. Where there is blame, it belongs to myself."

Here, then, is a testimony given under circumstances which at once stamp its character for genuineness. Nothing that Lord Byron has said,-nothing that Mr. Moore can insinuate, will ever wash away this beautiful tribute to Lady Byron's connubial heroism. "You made a bad choice," exclaims Mr. Moore. "No," mournfully responds the noble sufferer, "I was wrong in marrying at all; but, marrying at all, I could not have selected a better wife." An angel out of heaven would scarcely have met with more agreeable treatment from one so passion-tost as his Lordship. It is the curse of men possessing extraordinary genius, that they think the laws of society, particularly domestic society, should

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bend perpetually to their humours. They are too prone to indulge that love of singularity or eccentricity which, it is probable, is an essential accompaniment of uncommon intellectual endowment. They will call for biscuits and soda-water on occasions when the ordinary herd of mortals conform to honest mutton and sherry wine, and anything to be unlike the rest of the world-they will not condescend to participate in the notions of matrimonial regularity, so vulgarised by its being uniformly observed amongst the herd of mankind. To return to Lady Byron's vindication :

The passages, (her Ladyship says,) from Lord Byron's letters, to which I refer, are the aspersion on my mother's character, p. 648, 1. 4:-" 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, p. 645, 1.7, &c. "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 learned very much the occult cause of our domestic discrepancies." The seeming exculpation of myself, in the extract, p. 646, with the words immediately following," 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. 642, 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 communication 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 on her arrival at Kirkby Mallory, her father wrote to acquaint Lord Byron that she would return to him no more."

Mr. Moore puts the case in a more invidious light afterwards, though Lady Byron does not notice it. He says (p. 651) :—

In truth, the circumstances, so unexampled, that attended their separation—the last words of the parting wife to the husband, being those of the most playful affection, while the language of the deserted husband towards the wife, was in a strain, as the world knows, of the tenderest eulogy-are, in themselves, a sufficient proof that, at the time of their parting, there could have been no very deep sense of injury on either side."

* Mr. Moore uses these words as though he were personally convinced that Lord Byron was watched by spies. His words are, that considering the circumstances of his Lordship's early life, and the recklessness with which he married, no surprise could be felt that he should not have been able to settle down into that "tame level of conduct which the officious spies of his privacy required."

The charge here may not easily be understood against Lady Byron. It is, however, either for caprice or hypocrisy, or perhaps for both, she is arraigned by our biographer. But her answer meets any point of the indictment,-it is ample, complete, and satisfactory. Disclaiming all anxiety about herself, her Ladyship

:

says:

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 in writing (Jan. 6th) his absolute desire that I should leave London on the earliest day that I could conveniently fix. It was not safe for me to undertake the fatigue of a journey sooner than the 15th. Previously 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 nearest relatives and personal attendant, who had more opportunities than myself of observing him during the latter part of my stay in town. It was even represented 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) respecting this supposed malady. On acquainting him with the state of the case, and with Lord Byron's desire that I should leave London, Dr. Baillie thought that my absence might be adviseable as an experiment, assuming the fact of mental derangement; for Dr. Baillie, not having had access to Lord Byron, could not pronounce a positive opinion on that point. He enjoined that, in correspondence with Lord Byron, I should avoid all but light and soothing topics. Under these impressions, I left London, determined to follow the advice given by Dr. Baillie. Whatever might have been the nature of Lord Byron's conduct towards me from the time of my marriage, yet, supposing him to be in a state of mental alienation, it was not for me, nor for any person of common humanity, to manifest, at that moment, a sense of injury. On the day of my departure, and again on my arrival at Kirkby, Jan. 16th, I wrote to Lord Byron in a kind and cheerful tone, according to those medical directions.'

Here, then, is a solution of the whole mystery. Here is the real woman after all. Unable to account for the conduct of her husband; not believing it possible that his treatment of her was sanctioned by the deliberate reason of the man, she was ready to coincide in any theory, however monstrous, however incredible, which would leave the intention of her husband, after all, free from the stain of malice; he must be mad, she concluded, to treat me as he does, for it is impossible that I can reconcile such conduct with the possession of ordinary reason in a human being. Hence, then, her letters of kindness, hence that course of hers which Mr. Moore has been at the pains of showing to be so inconsistent,-hence her letters of well meant kindness, after her departure from her husband, when she sought the protection of her parents. Mr. Moore tells us indeed, that the wife had taken the resolution of separating herself from her husband for ever. But what will he say to the fact, that such was the effect of Lady Byron's representations on