Page:Notes and Queries - Series 5 - Volume 11.djvu/358

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The question of the Byron separation has had much new light thrown upon it by the recent publication of Mr. Hodgson’s Memoirs, and as some correspondence has recently been carried on in the columns of “N. & Q.” on this subject, I imagine the subjoined document may be considered worthy of being again recorded. It was originally published by one of your contemporaries (Oct., 1869), but appears to have escaped the notice of many who are interested in all matters relating to Lord Byron.

This statement (the original autograph of which is in the possession of Mr. Murray) was drawn up by Lord Byron in August, 1817, while Mr. Hobhouse was staying with him at La Mira, near Venice, and was given by him to Mr. Matthew Gregory Lewis (commonly known as “Monk” Lewis), among whose papers it was found at the time of his death:—

The purport of this document was reiterated by Byron verbally to friends, and has never been contradicted.

The version said to have been given by Mrs. Morrell of the separation of Lord and Lady Byron recalls to me a passage in Medwin’s Conversations of Lord Byron, pp. 42–3. Conversing with Capt. Medwin, Byron says:—

Without more information on the point, it is difficult to know whether to take Mrs. Morrell’s statement as a corroboration of the above or as simply a repetition of it. Medwin’s Conversations were published in 1824, the year of Byron’s death, and it is not at all unlikely that this old servant of Lady Byron’s family, who may naturally be supposed to have interested herself in the circumstances of the separation, either read or heard related the incident above mentioned. The “standing before the fire ruminating” of Byron, and the “leaning against the mantelpiece” of Mrs. Morrell, are to me wonderfully suggestive of a common origin.



“” (5th S. xi. 307.)—The full title of this publication at its commencement was—

Vol. i. contains 452 pages, brought out in six monthly numbers; vol. ii. 416 pages, published in a similar manner. With vol. iii. there was a change in the imprint, the magazine being published by George Wightman, 46, Fleet Street, and coloured plates were introduced. In the absence of the original wrappers in the bound copy which I have seen, it is not easy to say what other changes took place, but it seems probable that during the course of this volume the monthly number was divided into two parts, 1. The Literary Magnet, 2. The Monthly Journal. Vol. iv., dated 1825, brought this series to an end. With the new series there was a change in the title, which is The Literary Magnet, or Monthly Journal of the