towers.'
(Newstead, October 11, 1811.)

"'When stretched on fever's sleepless bed.'
(At Patras, about September, 1810.)

"'Death for thee
Prepared a light and pangless dart.'

"'And oft I thought at Cynthia's noon,
When sailing o'er the AEgean wave,
"Now Thyrza gazes on that moon"--
Alas, it gleam'd upon her grave!'
(_One struggle more, and I am free_.)

"Finally, in the verses of October 11, 1811--

"'The pledge we wore--_I_ wear it still,
But where is thine?--Ah! where art thou?'

"There can be no doubt that Lord Byron referred to Thyrza in
conversation with Lady Byron, and probably also with Mrs. Leigh, as
a young girl who had existed, and the date of whose death almost
coincided with Lord Byron's landing in England in 1811. On one
occasion he showed Lady Byron a beautiful tress of hair, which she
understood to be Thyrza's. He said he had never mentioned her name,
and that now she was gone his breast was the sole depository of
that secret. 'I took the name of Thyrza from Gesner. She was Abel's
wife.'

"Thyrza is mentioned in a letter from Elizabeth, Duchess of
Devonshire, to Augustus Foster (London, May 4, 1812): 'Your little
friend, Caro William (Lady Caroline Lamb), as usual, is doing all
sorts of imprudent things for him (Lord Byron) and with him; he
admires her very much, but is supposed by some to admire our
Caroline (the Hon. Mrs. George Lamb) more; he says she is like
Thyrsa, and her singing is enchantment to him.' From this extract
it is obvious that Thyrza is alluded to in the following lines,
which, with the above quotation, may be reproduced, by kind
permission of Mr. Vere Foster, from his most interesting book, _The
Two Duchesses_ (1898, pp. 362-374).

"'Verses Addressed by Lord Byron in the year 1812 to the Hon. Mrs.
George Lamb.

"'The sacred song that on my ear
Yet vibrates from that voice of thine
I heard before from one so dear,
'Tis strange it still appears divine.
But oh! so sweet that _look_ and _tone_
To her and thee alike is given;
It seemed as if for me alone
That _both_ had been recalled from Heaven.
And though I never can redeem
The vision thus endeared to me,