isunderstanding of his real
character than the lonely grandeur in which he shrouds it, and his
affectation of being above mankind, when he exists almost in their
voice. The romance of his sentiments is another feature of this mask
of state. I know no one more habitually destitute of that enthusiasm
he so beautifully expresses, and to which he can work up his fancy
chiefly by contagion.

'_I had heard he was the best of brothers, the most generous of
friends, and I thought such feelings only required to be warmed and
cherished into more diffusive benevolence. Though these opinions are
eradicated, and could never return but with the decay of my memory_,
you will not wonder if there are still moments when the association of
feelings which arose from them soften and sadden my thoughts.

'But I have not thanked you, dearest Lady Anne, for your kindness in
regard to a principal object,--that of rectifying false impressions. I
trust you understand my wishes, which never were to injure Lord Byron
in any way; for, _though he would not suffer me to remain his wife, he
cannot prevent me from continuing his friend; and it was from
considering myself as such that I silenced the accusations by which my
own conduct might have been more fully justified_.

'It is not necessary to speak ill of his heart in general; it is
sufficient that to me it was hard and impenetrable that my own must
have been broken before his could have been touched. I would rather
represent this as _my_ misfortune than as _his_ guilt; but, surely,
that misfortune is not to be made my crime! Such are my feelings; you
will judge how to act.

'His allusions to me in "Childe Harold" are cruel and cold, but with
such a semblance as to make _me_ appear so, and to attract all
sympathy to himself. It is said in this poem that hatred of him will
be taught as a lesson to his child. I might appeal to all who have
ever heard me speak of him, and still more to my own heart, to witness
that there has been no moment when I have remembered injury otherwise
than affectionately and sorrowfully.

'It is not my duty to give way to hopeless and wholly unrequited
affection; but, so long as I live, my chief struggle will probably be
not to remember him too kindly. I do not seek the sympathy of the
world, but I wish to be known by those whose opinion is valuable and