July 26, 2025 • 24 mins
Delve into the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Cincinnati-born author who stirred the world with her powerful literature. Best known for her groundbreaking novel, Uncle Toms Cabin, Stowes work revealed the harsh realities of slavery, and is said to have ignited the American Civil War. A prolific writer, Stowe authored 30 books, articles, travelogues, poems, hymns, and speeches, all reflecting her deep commitment to social issues. Born into a family of ministers, teachers, and social activists, Stowe and her family were instrumental in the Underground Railroad, often facing fierce criticism in their fight against slavery. Post-war, Stowe, her husband Calvin, and her brother Henry, relocated to Florida, establishing schools and churches to aid newly freed African Americans. This intimate portrait of Stowe, told through personal letters, offers a rare glimpse into her emotional journey - from her humble beginnings, through her ascent to global recognition, her encounters with European royalty, the heart-wrenching loss of her children, and her spiritual reconciliation. Experience the life of a woman whose faith, perseverance, and powerful writing changed the course of history.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter nineteen of the Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, compiled
from her letters and journals by her son, Charles Edward Stowe.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter nineteen,
The Byron Controversy eighteen sixty nine through eighteen seventy Missus
(00:21):
Stowe's statement of her own case the circumstances under which
she first met Lady Byron, Letters to Lady Byron, letter
to Doctor Holmes when about to publish the true story
of Lady Byron's life in the Atlantic. Doctor Holmes's reply,
the conclusion of the matter, It seems impossible to avoid
(00:44):
the unpleasant episode in Missus Stow's life known as the
Byron Controversy. It will be our effort to deal with
the matter as colorlessly as is consistent with an adequate
setting forth of the motives which moved Missus Stoke to
awaken this unsavory discussion. In justification of her action in
this matter, Missus Stowe says, what interests have you and I,
(01:08):
my brother and my sister, in this short life of
ours to utter anything but the truth? Is not truth
between man and man and between man and woman, The
foundation on which all things rest, have you not every
individual of you who must hereafter give an account of
yourself alone to God, an interest to know the exact
(01:29):
truth in this matter, and a duty to perform as
respects that truth. Hear me, then, while I tell you
the position in which I stood and what was my
course in relation to it. A shameless attack on my
friend's memory had appeared in The Blackwood of July eighteen
sixty nine, branding Lady Byron as the vilist of criminals
(01:51):
and recommending the Guccioli book to a Christian public as
interesting from the very fact that it was the avowed
product of Lloyd Byron's mistass. No efficient protest was made
against this outrage in England, and Lttel's Living Age reprinted
the Blackwood article, and the Harper's, the largest publishing house
(02:12):
in America, perhaps in the world, republished the book. Its
statements with those of the Blackwood. Paul mal Gazette and
other English periodicals were being propagated through all the young
reading and writing world of America. I was meeting them
advertised in dailies and made up into articles in magazines,
(02:33):
and thus the generation of today, who had no means
of judging Lady Byron, but by these fables of her
slanders were being foully deceived. The friends who knew her
personally were a small select circle in England whom death
is every day reducing. They were few in number compared
with the great world, and were silent. I saw these
(02:56):
foul slanders crystallizing into history, uncontradicted by friends who knew
her personally, who firm in their own knowledge of her virtues,
and limited in view, as aristocratic circles generally are, had
no idea of the width of the world they were
living in and the exigency of the crisis. When time
passed on and no voice was raised, I spoke. It
(03:21):
is hardly necessary to recapitulate at any great length facts
already so familiar to the reading public. It may be
sufficient simply to say that, after the appearance in eighteen
sixty eight of the Countess Guiccioli's recollections of Lord Byron,
missus Stowe felt herself called upon to defend the memory
of her friend from what she esteemed to be falsehoods
(03:44):
and slanders. To accomplish this object, she prepared for the
Atlantic Monthly of September eighteen sixty nine, an article The
True Story of Lady Byron's Life. Speaking of her first
impressions of Lady Byron, missus Stow, as I formed her
acquaintance in the year eighteen fifty three, during my first
(04:05):
visit to England, I met her at a lunch party
in the house of one of her friends. When I
was introduced to her, I felt in a moment the
words of her husband. There was awe in the homage
that she drew her spirits seemed as seated on a throne.
It was in the fall of eighteen fifty six, on
the occasion of missus Stow's second visit to England, as
(04:28):
she and her sister were on their way to Eversley
to visit the Reverend C. Kingsley, that they stopped by
invitation to lunch with Lady Byron at her summer residence
at ham Common, near Richmond. At that time, Lady Byron
informed missus Stow that it was her earnest desire to
receive a visit from her on her return, as there
was a subject of great importance concerning which she desired
(04:51):
her advice. Missus Stow has thus described this interview with
Lady Byron. After lunch, I retired with Lady Byron, and
my sister remained with her friends. I should here remark
that the chief subject of the conversation which ensued was
not entirely new to me. In the interval between my
first and second visits to England, a lady who for
(05:13):
many years had enjoyed Lady Byron's friendship and confidence, had
with her consent, stated the case generally to me, giving
some of the incidents, so that I was in a
manner prepared for what followed. Those who accused Lady Byron
of being a person fond of talking upon this subject
and apt to make unconsidered confidences, can have known very
(05:35):
little of her, of her reserve, and of the apparent
difficulty she had in speaking on subjects nearest her heart.
Her habitual calmness and composure of manner, her collected dignity
on all occasions are often mentioned by her husband, sometimes
with bitterness, sometimes with admiration. He says, quote, though I
(05:58):
accuse Lady Byron of ans excess of self respect, I
must in candor admit that if ever a person had
excuse for an extraordinary portion of it, she has, as
in all her thoughts, words, and deeds. She is the
most decorous woman that ever existed, and must appear what
few I fancy could, a perfectly refined gentlewoman, even in
(06:21):
her femme de chambre. And this calmness and dignity were
never more manifested than in this interview. In recalling the
conversation at this distance of time, I cannot remember all
the language used. Some particular words and forms of expression
I do remember, and those I give, and in other
(06:41):
cases I give my recollection of the substance of what
was said. There was something awful to me in the
intensity of repressed motion which she showed as she proceeded.
The great fact upon which all turned was stated in
words that were unmistakable. Missus Stow goes on to give
minutely Lady Byron's conversation and concludes by saying, of course,
(07:07):
I did not listen to this story as one who
was investigating its worth. I received it as truth, and
the purpose for which it was communicated was not to
enable me to prove it to the world, but to
ask my opinion whether she should show it to the
world before leaving it. The whole consultation was upon the
assumption that she had at her command such proofs as
(07:29):
could not be questioned concerning what they were. I did
not minutely inquire. Only in answer to a general question,
she said that she had letters and documents in proof
of her story. Knowing Lady Byron's strength of mind, her
clear headedness, her accurate habits, and her perfect knowledge of
the matter, I considered her judgment on this point decisive.
(07:52):
I told her that I would take the subject into
consideration and give my opinion in a few days. That night,
after my sister and myself had retired to our own apartment,
I related to her the whole history, and we spent
the night in talking it over. I was powerfully impressed
with the justice and propriety of an immediate disclosure, while she,
(08:13):
on the contrary, represented the fatal consequences that would probably
come upon Lady Byron from taking such a step. Before
we parted the next day, I requested Lady Byron to
give me some memoranda of such dates and outlines of
the general story as would enable me better to keep
it in its connection, which she did. On giving me
(08:35):
the paper, Lady Byron requested me to return it to
her when it had ceased to be of use to
me for the purpose intended Accordingly, a day or two
after I enclosed it to her in a hasty note,
as I was then leaving London for Paris and had
not yet had time fully to consider the subject. On
reviewing my note, I can recall that then the whole
(08:56):
history appeared to me like one of those singular cases
is where unnatural impulses to vice are the result of
a taint of constitutional insanity. This has always seemed to
me the only way of accounting for instances of utterly
motiveless and abnormal wickedness and cruelty. These my first impressions,
(09:17):
were expressed in the hasty note written at the time, London,
November fifth, eighteen fifty six. Dearest friend, I return these
They have held mine eyes waking. How strange, how unaccountable?
Have you ever subjected the facts to the judgment of
a medical man learned in nervous pathology? Is it not insanity?
(09:42):
Great wits to madness nearly are allied, and thin partitions
do their bounds divide. But my purpose tonight is not
to write to you fully what I think of this matter.
I am going to write to you from Paris more
at leisure. The rest of the letter was taken up
in the final details of a charity in which Lady
(10:02):
Byron had been engaged with me in assisting an unfortunate artist.
It concludes thus, I write now in all haste, and
wrote for Paris as to America. All is not lost yet. Farewell.
I love you, my dear friend, as never before, with
an intense feeling that I cannot easily express. God Bless you,
(10:26):
H b f's. The next letter is as follows, Paris,
December seventeenth, eighteen fifty six. Dear Lady Byron, the Kansas
Committee have written me a letter desiring me to express
to Miss Blank their gratitude for the five pounds she
sent them. I am not personally acquainted with her and
(10:47):
must return these acknowledgments through you. I wrote you a
day or two sins inclosing the reply of the Kansas
Committee to you on that subject on which you spoke
to me the last time we were together. I have
thought often and deeply. I have changed my mind somewhat
considering the peculiar circumstances of the case. I could wish
(11:09):
that the sacred veil of silence so bravely thrown over
the past should never be withdrawn during the time that
you remain with us, I would say, then leave all
with some discreet friends, who, after both have passed from earth,
shall say what was due to justice. I am led
to think this by seeing how low, how unworthy the
(11:31):
judgments of this world are, and I would not that
what I so much respect, love and revere should be
placed within the reach of its harpy claw, which pollutes
what it touches. The day will yet come which will
bring to light every hidden thing. There is nothing covered
that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not
be known, and so justice will not fail. Such, my
(11:55):
dear friend, are my thoughts different from what they were
since first I heard that strang sad history. Meanwhile, I
love you forever, whether we meet again on Earth or not, affectionately, Yours,
H B. S. Before her article appeared in print, missus
Stow addressed the following letter to doctor Holmes in Boston, Hartford,
(12:18):
June twenty sixth, eighteen sixty nine. Dear doctor, I am
going to ask help of you, and I feel that
confidence in your friendship that leaves me to be glad
that I have a friend like you to ask advice
of In order that you may understand fully what it is,
I must go back some years and tell you about it.
(12:38):
When I went to England the first time, I formed
a friendship with Lady Byron, which led to a somewhat
interesting correspondence when there the second time, after the publication
of Dread in eighteen fifty six, Lady Byron wrote to
me that she wished to have some private, confidential conversation
with me, and invited me to come spend a day
(12:59):
with her at her country seat near London. I went
met her alone and spent an afternoon with her. The
object of the visit. She then explained to me she
was in such a state of health that she considered
she had very little time to live, and was engaged
in those duties and reviews which every thoughtful person finds
(13:20):
who is coming deliberately and with their eyes open to
the boundaries of this mortal life. Lady Byron, as you
must perceive, has all her life lived under the weight
of slanders and false imputations laid upon her by her husband.
Her own side of the story has been told only
to that small circle of confidential friends who needed to
(13:42):
know it in order to assist her in meeting the
exigencies which it imposed on her. Of course, it has
thrown the sympathy mostly on his side, since the world
generally has more sympathy with impulsive incorrectness than with strict justice.
At that time, there was a cheap addition of Byron's
works in contemplation, meant to bring them into circulation among
(14:05):
the masses, and the pathos arising from the story of
his domestic misfortunes, was one great means relied on for
giving it currency. Under these circumstances, some of Lady Byron's
friends had proposed the question to her whether she had
not a responsibility to society for the truth, whether she
(14:25):
did right to allow these persons to gain influence over
the popular mind by a silent consent to an utter falsehood.
As her whole life had been passed in the most
heroic self abnegation and self sacrifice, the question was now
proposed to her whether one more act of self denial
was not required of her, namely to declare the truth,
(14:48):
no matter at what expends to her own feelings. For
this purpose, she told me she wished to recount the
whole story to a person in whom she had confidence
a person of another country, and out of the whole
sphere of personal and local feelings which might be supposed
to influence those in the country and station in life
(15:08):
where the events really happened, in order that I might
judge whether anything more was required of her in relation
to this history. The interview had almost the solemnity of
a deathbed confession. And Lady Byron told me the history
which I have embodied in an article to appear in
the Atlantic Monthly. I have been induced to prepare it
(15:30):
by the run which the Guccioli book is having, which is,
from first to last, an unsparing attack on Lady Byron's memory.
By Lord Byron's mistress, When you have read my article,
I want not your advice as to whether the main
facts shall be told, for on this point I am
so resolved that I frankly say advice would do me
(15:52):
no good. But you might help me with your delicacy
and insight to make the manner of telling more perfect.
And I want to do it as wisely and well
as such story can be told. My post office address
after July first will be Westport Point, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
Care of Missus I. M. Souley. The proof sheets will
(16:15):
be sent to you by the publisher, Very truly yours, H. B. Stowe.
In reply to the storm of controversy aroused by the
publication of this article, Missus Stowe made a more extended
effort to justify the charges which she had brought against
Lord Byron in a work published in eighteen sixty nine.
(16:35):
Lady Byron vindicated. Immediately after the publication of this work,
she mailed a copy to doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, accompanied
by the following note Boston, May nineteenth, eighteen sixty nine,
their doctor. In writing this book, which I now take
the liberty of sending to you, I have been in
(16:57):
a critical place. It has been at weird sort of experience,
and I have had not a word to say to anybody,
though often thinking of you and wishing I could have
a little of your help and sympathy in getting out
what I saw. I think of you very much and
rejoice to see the hold your works get on England
(17:17):
as well as this country. And I would give more
for your opinion than that of most folks. How often
I have pondered your last letter to me, and sent
it to many friends. God bless you. Please accept for
yourself and your good wife this copy from yours July H. B. Stowe,
(17:40):
missus Stow, also published in eighteen seventy through Samson, Lowe
and Son of London, a volume for English readers, The
History of the Byron Controversy. These additional volumes, however, do
not seem to have satisfied the public as a whole,
and perhaps the expediency of the publication of missus Stow's
first article is doubtful even to her most ardent admirers.
(18:04):
The most that can be hoped for through the mention
of this subject in this biography is the vindication of
missus Stow's purity of motive and nobility of intention in
bringing this painful matter into notice. While she was being
on all hands effectively and evidently in some quarters with
rare satisfaction, roundly abused for the article and her consequent
(18:27):
responsibility in bringing this unsavory discussion so prominently before the
public mind. She received the following letter from doctor O. W. Holmes, Boston,
September twenty five, eighteen sixty nine. My dear missus Stowe,
I have been meaning to write to you for some time.
But in the midst of all the wild and virulent
(18:48):
talk about the article in The Atlantic, I felt as
if there was little to say until the first fury
of the storm had blown over. I think that we
all perceive now that the battle is not to be
fought here but in England. I have listened to a
good deal of talk, always taking your side in a
quiet way, backed very heartily on one occasion by one
(19:10):
of my most intellectual friends, reading all that came in
my way and watching the course of opinion. At first
it was to be expected that the Guiccioli fanciers would
resent any attack on Lord Byron, and would highly relish
the opportunity of abusing one who, like yourself, had been
identified with all those moral enterprises which elevate the standard
(19:33):
of humanity at large, and of womanhood in particular. After
this scum had worked itself off, there must necessarily follow
a controversy, none the less sharp and bitter, but not
depending essentially on abuse. The first point the Recusan scot
hold of was the error of the two years which
contrived to run the gauntlet of so many pairs of eyes,
(19:56):
some of them were made happy by mouthing and shaking
the between their teeth as a poodle tears round with
a glove. This did not last long. No sensible person
could believe for a moment you were mistaken in the
essential character of a statement, every word of which would
fall on the ear of a listening friend like a
drop of melted lead and burn its scar deep into
(20:19):
the memory. That lady Byron believed and told you the
story will not be questioned by any but fools and malignants.
Whether her belief was well founded. There may be positive
evidence in existence to show affirmatively the fact that her
statement is not peremptorily contradicted by those most likely to
be acquainted with the facts of the case. Is the
(20:40):
one result so far which is forcing itself into unwilling recognition.
I have seen nothing in the various hypotheses brought forward
which did not to me involve a greater improbability than
the presumption of guilt. Take that for witness that Byron
accused himself through a spirit of perverse ventage of crimes
(21:01):
he had not committed. How preposterous he would stain the
name of a sister whom, on the supposition of his
innocence he loved with angelic ardor as well as purity
by associating it with an infamous accusation. Suppose there are
some anomalies hard to explain in Lady Byron's conduct. Could
a young and guileless woman in the hands of such
(21:23):
a man be expected to act in any given way?
Or would she not be likely to waver to doubt,
to hope, to contradict herself in the anomalous position in which,
without experience, she found herself. As to the intrinsic evidence
contained in the poems, I think it confirms, rather than contradicts,
the hypothesis of guilt. I do not think that Butler's
(21:46):
argument and all the other attempts at invalidation of the
story avail much in the face of the acknowledged fact
that it was told to various competent and honest witnesses,
and remains without a satisfactory answer from those most interested.
I know your firm self reliance and your courage to
proclaim the truth when any good end is to be
(22:07):
served by it. It is to be expected that public
opinion will be more or less divided as to the
expediency of this revelation. Hoping that you have recovered from
your indisposition. I am faithfully yours, O. W. Holmes. While
undergoing the most unsparing and pitiless criticism and brutal insult,
(22:28):
missus Stow received the following sympathetic words from missus Lew's
George Eliot, The Priory, twenty one North Bank, December tenth,
eighteen sixty nine. My dear friend, in the midst of
your trouble, I was often thinking of you, for I
feared that you were undergoing a considerable trial from the
harsh and unfair judgments, partly the fruit of hostility glad
(22:51):
to find an opportunity for venting itself, and partly of
that unthinking cruelty which belongs to hasty anonymous journalism. For
my own part, I should have preferred that the Byron
question should never have been brought before the public, because
I think the discussion of such subjects is injurious socially.
But with regard to yourself, dear friend, I feel sure that,
(23:14):
in acting on a different basis of impressions, you were
impelled by pure generous feeling. Do not think that I
would have written to you of this point to express
a judgment I am anxious only to convey to you
a sense of my sympathy and confidence, such as a
kiss and a pressure of the hand could give if
I were near you. I trust that I shall hear
(23:36):
a good account of Professor Stowe's health, as well as
your own. Whenever you have time to write me a
word or two. I shall not be so unreasonable as
to expect a long letter, for the hours of needful
rest from writing become more and more precious as the
years go on. But some brief news of you and
yours will be especially welcome. Just now, mister Lews, your
(23:59):
knights with me in high regards to your husband and yourself.
But in addition to that, I have the sister woman's
privilege of saying that I am always your affectionate friend. M. H. Lewes.
End of Chapter nineteen, Read for You by Michel Frye
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Chapter nineteen of the Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, compiled
from her letters and journals by her son, Charles Edward Stowe.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter nineteen,
The Byron Controversy eighteen sixty nine through eighteen seventy Missus
(00:21):
Stowe's statement of her own case the circumstances under which
she first met Lady Byron, Letters to Lady Byron, letter
to Doctor Holmes when about to publish the true story
of Lady Byron's life in the Atlantic. Doctor Holmes's reply,
the conclusion of the matter, It seems impossible to avoid
(00:44):
the unpleasant episode in Missus Stow's life known as the
Byron Controversy. It will be our effort to deal with
the matter as colorlessly as is consistent with an adequate
setting forth of the motives which moved Missus Stoke to
awaken this unsavory discussion. In justification of her action in
this matter, Missus Stowe says, what interests have you and I,
(01:08):
my brother and my sister, in this short life of
ours to utter anything but the truth? Is not truth
between man and man and between man and woman, The
foundation on which all things rest, have you not every
individual of you who must hereafter give an account of
yourself alone to God, an interest to know the exact
(01:29):
truth in this matter, and a duty to perform as
respects that truth. Hear me, then, while I tell you
the position in which I stood and what was my
course in relation to it. A shameless attack on my
friend's memory had appeared in The Blackwood of July eighteen
sixty nine, branding Lady Byron as the vilist of criminals
(01:51):
and recommending the Guccioli book to a Christian public as
interesting from the very fact that it was the avowed
product of Lloyd Byron's mistass. No efficient protest was made
against this outrage in England, and Lttel's Living Age reprinted
the Blackwood article, and the Harper's, the largest publishing house
(02:12):
in America, perhaps in the world, republished the book. Its
statements with those of the Blackwood. Paul mal Gazette and
other English periodicals were being propagated through all the young
reading and writing world of America. I was meeting them
advertised in dailies and made up into articles in magazines,
(02:33):
and thus the generation of today, who had no means
of judging Lady Byron, but by these fables of her
slanders were being foully deceived. The friends who knew her
personally were a small select circle in England whom death
is every day reducing. They were few in number compared
with the great world, and were silent. I saw these
(02:56):
foul slanders crystallizing into history, uncontradicted by friends who knew
her personally, who firm in their own knowledge of her virtues,
and limited in view, as aristocratic circles generally are, had
no idea of the width of the world they were
living in and the exigency of the crisis. When time
passed on and no voice was raised, I spoke. It
(03:21):
is hardly necessary to recapitulate at any great length facts
already so familiar to the reading public. It may be
sufficient simply to say that, after the appearance in eighteen
sixty eight of the Countess Guiccioli's recollections of Lord Byron,
missus Stowe felt herself called upon to defend the memory
of her friend from what she esteemed to be falsehoods
(03:44):
and slanders. To accomplish this object, she prepared for the
Atlantic Monthly of September eighteen sixty nine, an article The
True Story of Lady Byron's Life. Speaking of her first
impressions of Lady Byron, missus Stow, as I formed her
acquaintance in the year eighteen fifty three, during my first
(04:05):
visit to England, I met her at a lunch party
in the house of one of her friends. When I
was introduced to her, I felt in a moment the
words of her husband. There was awe in the homage
that she drew her spirits seemed as seated on a throne.
It was in the fall of eighteen fifty six, on
the occasion of missus Stow's second visit to England, as
(04:28):
she and her sister were on their way to Eversley
to visit the Reverend C. Kingsley, that they stopped by
invitation to lunch with Lady Byron at her summer residence
at ham Common, near Richmond. At that time, Lady Byron
informed missus Stow that it was her earnest desire to
receive a visit from her on her return, as there
was a subject of great importance concerning which she desired
(04:51):
her advice. Missus Stow has thus described this interview with
Lady Byron. After lunch, I retired with Lady Byron, and
my sister remained with her friends. I should here remark
that the chief subject of the conversation which ensued was
not entirely new to me. In the interval between my
first and second visits to England, a lady who for
(05:13):
many years had enjoyed Lady Byron's friendship and confidence, had
with her consent, stated the case generally to me, giving
some of the incidents, so that I was in a
manner prepared for what followed. Those who accused Lady Byron
of being a person fond of talking upon this subject
and apt to make unconsidered confidences, can have known very
(05:35):
little of her, of her reserve, and of the apparent
difficulty she had in speaking on subjects nearest her heart.
Her habitual calmness and composure of manner, her collected dignity
on all occasions are often mentioned by her husband, sometimes
with bitterness, sometimes with admiration. He says, quote, though I
(05:58):
accuse Lady Byron of ans excess of self respect, I
must in candor admit that if ever a person had
excuse for an extraordinary portion of it, she has, as
in all her thoughts, words, and deeds. She is the
most decorous woman that ever existed, and must appear what
few I fancy could, a perfectly refined gentlewoman, even in
(06:21):
her femme de chambre. And this calmness and dignity were
never more manifested than in this interview. In recalling the
conversation at this distance of time, I cannot remember all
the language used. Some particular words and forms of expression
I do remember, and those I give, and in other
(06:41):
cases I give my recollection of the substance of what
was said. There was something awful to me in the
intensity of repressed motion which she showed as she proceeded.
The great fact upon which all turned was stated in
words that were unmistakable. Missus Stow goes on to give
minutely Lady Byron's conversation and concludes by saying, of course,
(07:07):
I did not listen to this story as one who
was investigating its worth. I received it as truth, and
the purpose for which it was communicated was not to
enable me to prove it to the world, but to
ask my opinion whether she should show it to the
world before leaving it. The whole consultation was upon the
assumption that she had at her command such proofs as
(07:29):
could not be questioned concerning what they were. I did
not minutely inquire. Only in answer to a general question,
she said that she had letters and documents in proof
of her story. Knowing Lady Byron's strength of mind, her
clear headedness, her accurate habits, and her perfect knowledge of
the matter, I considered her judgment on this point decisive.
(07:52):
I told her that I would take the subject into
consideration and give my opinion in a few days. That night,
after my sister and myself had retired to our own apartment,
I related to her the whole history, and we spent
the night in talking it over. I was powerfully impressed
with the justice and propriety of an immediate disclosure, while she,
(08:13):
on the contrary, represented the fatal consequences that would probably
come upon Lady Byron from taking such a step. Before
we parted the next day, I requested Lady Byron to
give me some memoranda of such dates and outlines of
the general story as would enable me better to keep
it in its connection, which she did. On giving me
(08:35):
the paper, Lady Byron requested me to return it to
her when it had ceased to be of use to
me for the purpose intended Accordingly, a day or two
after I enclosed it to her in a hasty note,
as I was then leaving London for Paris and had
not yet had time fully to consider the subject. On
reviewing my note, I can recall that then the whole
(08:56):
history appeared to me like one of those singular cases
is where unnatural impulses to vice are the result of
a taint of constitutional insanity. This has always seemed to
me the only way of accounting for instances of utterly
motiveless and abnormal wickedness and cruelty. These my first impressions,
(09:17):
were expressed in the hasty note written at the time, London,
November fifth, eighteen fifty six. Dearest friend, I return these
They have held mine eyes waking. How strange, how unaccountable?
Have you ever subjected the facts to the judgment of
a medical man learned in nervous pathology? Is it not insanity?
(09:42):
Great wits to madness nearly are allied, and thin partitions
do their bounds divide. But my purpose tonight is not
to write to you fully what I think of this matter.
I am going to write to you from Paris more
at leisure. The rest of the letter was taken up
in the final details of a charity in which Lady
(10:02):
Byron had been engaged with me in assisting an unfortunate artist.
It concludes thus, I write now in all haste, and
wrote for Paris as to America. All is not lost yet. Farewell.
I love you, my dear friend, as never before, with
an intense feeling that I cannot easily express. God Bless you,
(10:26):
H b f's. The next letter is as follows, Paris,
December seventeenth, eighteen fifty six. Dear Lady Byron, the Kansas
Committee have written me a letter desiring me to express
to Miss Blank their gratitude for the five pounds she
sent them. I am not personally acquainted with her and
(10:47):
must return these acknowledgments through you. I wrote you a
day or two sins inclosing the reply of the Kansas
Committee to you on that subject on which you spoke
to me the last time we were together. I have
thought often and deeply. I have changed my mind somewhat
considering the peculiar circumstances of the case. I could wish
(11:09):
that the sacred veil of silence so bravely thrown over
the past should never be withdrawn during the time that
you remain with us, I would say, then leave all
with some discreet friends, who, after both have passed from earth,
shall say what was due to justice. I am led
to think this by seeing how low, how unworthy the
(11:31):
judgments of this world are, and I would not that
what I so much respect, love and revere should be
placed within the reach of its harpy claw, which pollutes
what it touches. The day will yet come which will
bring to light every hidden thing. There is nothing covered
that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not
be known, and so justice will not fail. Such, my
(11:55):
dear friend, are my thoughts different from what they were
since first I heard that strang sad history. Meanwhile, I
love you forever, whether we meet again on Earth or not, affectionately, Yours,
H B. S. Before her article appeared in print, missus
Stow addressed the following letter to doctor Holmes in Boston, Hartford,
(12:18):
June twenty sixth, eighteen sixty nine. Dear doctor, I am
going to ask help of you, and I feel that
confidence in your friendship that leaves me to be glad
that I have a friend like you to ask advice
of In order that you may understand fully what it is,
I must go back some years and tell you about it.
(12:38):
When I went to England the first time, I formed
a friendship with Lady Byron, which led to a somewhat
interesting correspondence when there the second time, after the publication
of Dread in eighteen fifty six, Lady Byron wrote to
me that she wished to have some private, confidential conversation
with me, and invited me to come spend a day
(12:59):
with her at her country seat near London. I went
met her alone and spent an afternoon with her. The
object of the visit. She then explained to me she
was in such a state of health that she considered
she had very little time to live, and was engaged
in those duties and reviews which every thoughtful person finds
(13:20):
who is coming deliberately and with their eyes open to
the boundaries of this mortal life. Lady Byron, as you
must perceive, has all her life lived under the weight
of slanders and false imputations laid upon her by her husband.
Her own side of the story has been told only
to that small circle of confidential friends who needed to
(13:42):
know it in order to assist her in meeting the
exigencies which it imposed on her. Of course, it has
thrown the sympathy mostly on his side, since the world
generally has more sympathy with impulsive incorrectness than with strict justice.
At that time, there was a cheap addition of Byron's
works in contemplation, meant to bring them into circulation among
(14:05):
the masses, and the pathos arising from the story of
his domestic misfortunes, was one great means relied on for
giving it currency. Under these circumstances, some of Lady Byron's
friends had proposed the question to her whether she had
not a responsibility to society for the truth, whether she
(14:25):
did right to allow these persons to gain influence over
the popular mind by a silent consent to an utter falsehood.
As her whole life had been passed in the most
heroic self abnegation and self sacrifice, the question was now
proposed to her whether one more act of self denial
was not required of her, namely to declare the truth,
(14:48):
no matter at what expends to her own feelings. For
this purpose, she told me she wished to recount the
whole story to a person in whom she had confidence
a person of another country, and out of the whole
sphere of personal and local feelings which might be supposed
to influence those in the country and station in life
(15:08):
where the events really happened, in order that I might
judge whether anything more was required of her in relation
to this history. The interview had almost the solemnity of
a deathbed confession. And Lady Byron told me the history
which I have embodied in an article to appear in
the Atlantic Monthly. I have been induced to prepare it
(15:30):
by the run which the Guccioli book is having, which is,
from first to last, an unsparing attack on Lady Byron's memory.
By Lord Byron's mistress, When you have read my article,
I want not your advice as to whether the main
facts shall be told, for on this point I am
so resolved that I frankly say advice would do me
(15:52):
no good. But you might help me with your delicacy
and insight to make the manner of telling more perfect.
And I want to do it as wisely and well
as such story can be told. My post office address
after July first will be Westport Point, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
Care of Missus I. M. Souley. The proof sheets will
(16:15):
be sent to you by the publisher, Very truly yours, H. B. Stowe.
In reply to the storm of controversy aroused by the
publication of this article, Missus Stowe made a more extended
effort to justify the charges which she had brought against
Lord Byron in a work published in eighteen sixty nine.
(16:35):
Lady Byron vindicated. Immediately after the publication of this work,
she mailed a copy to doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, accompanied
by the following note Boston, May nineteenth, eighteen sixty nine,
their doctor. In writing this book, which I now take
the liberty of sending to you, I have been in
(16:57):
a critical place. It has been at weird sort of experience,
and I have had not a word to say to anybody,
though often thinking of you and wishing I could have
a little of your help and sympathy in getting out
what I saw. I think of you very much and
rejoice to see the hold your works get on England
(17:17):
as well as this country. And I would give more
for your opinion than that of most folks. How often
I have pondered your last letter to me, and sent
it to many friends. God bless you. Please accept for
yourself and your good wife this copy from yours July H. B. Stowe,
(17:40):
missus Stow, also published in eighteen seventy through Samson, Lowe
and Son of London, a volume for English readers, The
History of the Byron Controversy. These additional volumes, however, do
not seem to have satisfied the public as a whole,
and perhaps the expediency of the publication of missus Stow's
first article is doubtful even to her most ardent admirers.
(18:04):
The most that can be hoped for through the mention
of this subject in this biography is the vindication of
missus Stow's purity of motive and nobility of intention in
bringing this painful matter into notice. While she was being
on all hands effectively and evidently in some quarters with
rare satisfaction, roundly abused for the article and her consequent
(18:27):
responsibility in bringing this unsavory discussion so prominently before the
public mind. She received the following letter from doctor O. W. Holmes, Boston,
September twenty five, eighteen sixty nine. My dear missus Stowe,
I have been meaning to write to you for some time.
But in the midst of all the wild and virulent
(18:48):
talk about the article in The Atlantic, I felt as
if there was little to say until the first fury
of the storm had blown over. I think that we
all perceive now that the battle is not to be
fought here but in England. I have listened to a
good deal of talk, always taking your side in a
quiet way, backed very heartily on one occasion by one
(19:10):
of my most intellectual friends, reading all that came in
my way and watching the course of opinion. At first
it was to be expected that the Guiccioli fanciers would
resent any attack on Lord Byron, and would highly relish
the opportunity of abusing one who, like yourself, had been
identified with all those moral enterprises which elevate the standard
(19:33):
of humanity at large, and of womanhood in particular. After
this scum had worked itself off, there must necessarily follow
a controversy, none the less sharp and bitter, but not
depending essentially on abuse. The first point the Recusan scot
hold of was the error of the two years which
contrived to run the gauntlet of so many pairs of eyes,
(19:56):
some of them were made happy by mouthing and shaking
the between their teeth as a poodle tears round with
a glove. This did not last long. No sensible person
could believe for a moment you were mistaken in the
essential character of a statement, every word of which would
fall on the ear of a listening friend like a
drop of melted lead and burn its scar deep into
(20:19):
the memory. That lady Byron believed and told you the
story will not be questioned by any but fools and malignants.
Whether her belief was well founded. There may be positive
evidence in existence to show affirmatively the fact that her
statement is not peremptorily contradicted by those most likely to
be acquainted with the facts of the case. Is the
(20:40):
one result so far which is forcing itself into unwilling recognition.
I have seen nothing in the various hypotheses brought forward
which did not to me involve a greater improbability than
the presumption of guilt. Take that for witness that Byron
accused himself through a spirit of perverse ventage of crimes
(21:01):
he had not committed. How preposterous he would stain the
name of a sister whom, on the supposition of his
innocence he loved with angelic ardor as well as purity
by associating it with an infamous accusation. Suppose there are
some anomalies hard to explain in Lady Byron's conduct. Could
a young and guileless woman in the hands of such
(21:23):
a man be expected to act in any given way?
Or would she not be likely to waver to doubt,
to hope, to contradict herself in the anomalous position in which,
without experience, she found herself. As to the intrinsic evidence
contained in the poems, I think it confirms, rather than contradicts,
the hypothesis of guilt. I do not think that Butler's
(21:46):
argument and all the other attempts at invalidation of the
story avail much in the face of the acknowledged fact
that it was told to various competent and honest witnesses,
and remains without a satisfactory answer from those most interested.
I know your firm self reliance and your courage to
proclaim the truth when any good end is to be
(22:07):
served by it. It is to be expected that public
opinion will be more or less divided as to the
expediency of this revelation. Hoping that you have recovered from
your indisposition. I am faithfully yours, O. W. Holmes. While
undergoing the most unsparing and pitiless criticism and brutal insult,
(22:28):
missus Stow received the following sympathetic words from missus Lew's
George Eliot, The Priory, twenty one North Bank, December tenth,
eighteen sixty nine. My dear friend, in the midst of
your trouble, I was often thinking of you, for I
feared that you were undergoing a considerable trial from the
harsh and unfair judgments, partly the fruit of hostility glad
(22:51):
to find an opportunity for venting itself, and partly of
that unthinking cruelty which belongs to hasty anonymous journalism. For
my own part, I should have preferred that the Byron
question should never have been brought before the public, because
I think the discussion of such subjects is injurious socially.
But with regard to yourself, dear friend, I feel sure that,
(23:14):
in acting on a different basis of impressions, you were
impelled by pure generous feeling. Do not think that I
would have written to you of this point to express
a judgment I am anxious only to convey to you
a sense of my sympathy and confidence, such as a
kiss and a pressure of the hand could give if
I were near you. I trust that I shall hear
(23:36):
a good account of Professor Stowe's health, as well as
your own. Whenever you have time to write me a
word or two. I shall not be so unreasonable as
to expect a long letter, for the hours of needful
rest from writing become more and more precious as the
years go on. But some brief news of you and
yours will be especially welcome. Just now, mister Lews, your
(23:59):
knights with me in high regards to your husband and yourself.
But in addition to that, I have the sister woman's
privilege of saying that I am always your affectionate friend. M. H. Lewes.
End of Chapter nineteen, Read for You by Michel Frye
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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