ave had the heart and
confidence of his daughter unshadowed by a suspicion. He might have won
the reverence of the great and good in his own lands and all lands. That
hope, which was the strong support, the prayer of the silent wife, it did
not please God to fulfil.

Lord Byron died a worn-out man at thirty-six. But the bitter seeds he
had sown came up, after his death, in a harvest of thorns over his grave;
and there were not wanting hands to use them as instruments of torture on
the heart of his widow.

CHAPTER III. RESUME OF THE CONSPIRACY.

We have traced the conspiracy of Lord Byron against his wife up to its
latest device. That the reader's mind may be clear on the points of the
process, we shall now briefly recapitulate the documents in the order of
time.

I. March 17, 1816.--While negotiations for separation were
pending,--'_Fare thee well, and if for ever_.'

While writing these pages, we have received from England the testimony of
one who has seen the original draught of that 'Fare thee well.' This
original copy had evidently been subjected to the most careful and acute
revision. Scarcely two lines that were not interlined, scarcely an
adjective that was not exchanged for a better; showing that the noble
lord was not so far overcome by grief as to have forgotten his
reputation. (Found its way to the public prints through the imprudence
of _a friend_.)

II. March 29, 1816.--An attack on Lady Byron's old governess for having
been born poor, for being homely, and for having unduly influenced his
wife against him; promising that her grave should be a fiery bed, etc.;
also praising his wife's perfect and remarkable truthfulness and
discernment, that made it impossible for flattery to fool, or baseness
blind her; but ascribing all his woes to her being fooled and blinded by
this same governess. (Found its way to the prints by the imprudence of
_a friend_.)

III. September 1816.--Lines on hearing that Lady Byron is ill. Calls
her a Clytemnestra, who has secretly set assassins on her lord; says she
is a mean, treacherous, deceitful liar, and has entirely departed from
her early truth, and become the most unscrupulous and unprincipled of
women. (Never printed till after Lord Byron's death, but circulated
_privately_ among the '_initiated_.')

IV. Aug. 9, 1817.--Gives to M. G. Lewis a paper for circulation among
friends in England, stating that what he most wants is _public
investigation_