’After the marriage, they posted
to Halnaby Lodge in Yorkshire, a distance of about
forty miles; to which place my father accompanied
them, and he always spoke strongly of Lady Byron’s
apparent distress during and at the end of the
journey.
’The insulting words mentioned
by Mrs. Stowe were spoken by Byron before leaving
the park at Seaham; after which he appeared to sit
in moody silence, reading a book, for the rest
of the journey. At Halnaby, a number of persons,
tenants and others, were met to cheer them on their
arrival. Of these he took not the slightest notice,
but jumped out of the carriage, and walked away,
leaving his bride to alight by herself. She
shook hands with my father, and begged that he would
see that some refreshment was supplied to those who
had thus come to welcome them.
’I have in my possession several
letters (which I should be glad to show to anyone
interested in the matter) both from Lady Byron, and
her mother, Lady Milbanke, to my father, all showing
the deep and kind interest which they took in the
welfare of all connected with them, and directing
the distribution of various charities, etc.
Pensions were allowed both to the old servants
of the Milbankes and to several poor persons in
the village and neighbourhood for the rest of their
lives; and Lady Byron never ceased to take a lively
interest in all that concerned them.
’I desire to tender my humble thanks
to Mrs. Stowe for having come forward in defence
of one whose character has been much misrepresented;
and to you, sir, for having published the same in your
pages.
’I have
the honour to be, sir, yours obediently,
’G.
H. AIRD.
‘DAOURTY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
Sept. 29, 1869.’
I have now fulfilled as conscientiously as possible
the requests of those who feel that they have a right
to know exactly what was said in this interview.
It has been my object, in doing this, to place myself
just where I should stand were I giving evidence under
oath before a legal tribunal. In my first published
account, there were given some smaller details of the
story, of no particular value to the main purpose of
it, which I received not from Lady Byron, but from
her confidential friend. One of these was the
account of her seeing Lord Byron’s favourite
spaniel lying at his door, and the other was the scene
of the parting.
The first was communicated to me before I ever saw
Lady Byron, and under these circumstances:—I
was invited to meet her, and had expressed my desire
to do so, because Lord Byron had been all my life an
object of great interest to me. I inquired what
sort of a person Lady Byron was. My friend spoke
of her with enthusiasm. I then said, ’but
of course she never loved Lord Byron, or she would
not have left him.’ The lady answered,
’I can show you with what feelings she left him
by relating this story;’ and then followed the
anecdote.
