’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.’

How did Lady Byron silence accusations?  First, by keeping silence to her nearest relatives; second, by shutting the mouths of servants; third, by imposing silence on her friends,—­as Lady Anne Barnard; fourth, by silencing her legal counsel; fifth, and most entirely, by treating Mrs. Leigh, before the world, with unaltered kindness.  In the midst of the rumours, Lady Byron went to visit her; and Shelley says that the movement was effectual.  Can the ‘Quarterly’ prove that, at this time, Mrs. Leigh had not confessed all, and thrown herself on Lady Byron’s mercy?

It is not necessary to suppose great horror and indignation on the part of Lady Byron.  She may have regarded her sister as the victim of a most singularly powerful tempter.  Lord Byron, as she knew, had tried to corrupt her own morals and faith.  He had obtained a power over some women, even in the highest circles in England, which had led them to forego the usual decorums of their sex, and had given rise to great scandals.  He was a being of wonderful personal attractions.  He had not only strong poetical, but also strong logical power.  He was daring in speculation, and vigorous in sophistical argument; beautiful, dazzling, and possessed of magnetic power of fascination.  His sister had been kind and considerate to Lady Byron when Lord Byron was brutal and cruel.  She had been overcome by him, as a weaker nature sometimes sinks under the force of a stronger one; and Lady Byron may really have considered her to be more sinned against than sinning.

Lord Byron, if we look at it rightly, did not corrupt Mrs. Leigh any more than he did the whole British public.  They rebelled at the immorality of his conduct and the obscenity of his writings; and he resolved that they should accept both.  And he made them do it.  At first, they execrated ‘Don Juan.’  Murray was afraid to publish it.  Women were determined not to read it.  In 1819, Dr. William Maginn of the Noctes wrote a song against it in the following virtuous strain:—­

   ’Be “Juan,” then, unseen, unknown;
      It must, or we shall rue it. 
   We may have virtue of our own: 
      Ah! why should we undo it? 
   The treasured faith of days long past
      We still would prize o’er any,
   And grieve to hear the ribald jeer
      Of scamps like Don Giovanni.’