Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/387

 NOTES BY THE WAY. 311

Trustees or Trustee, and the contents thereof shall be disposed of according to their best judgement, for the interests of Truth & Justice, and with due regard to the feelings of whoever may then be the Representative of my Family." This was signed Anna Isabella Noel Byron.

The late Lord Lovelace (he died on August 28th, 1906), as the representative of the family, chose to have these documents privately published, and his having done so must be the cause of universal regret. Dr. Lushington, " from the best and kindest motives and long habit of silence," had used his " influence, which was inevitably great, over the others to prevent, or at least postpone, revelation." Would that such a good resolution had prevailed with the grandson ! but as one reads ' Astarte ' one is pained to see the animus with which he regards his gifted grandfather. As to its being " a betrayal of a trust to be silent," Dr. Lushington evidently did not think so ; and any one perusing the instructions left by Lady Byron can read between the lines, and see that Lushington's decision not to publish was the right one.

As regards Lady Byron, it is indeed true, as The Athenceum stated on September 4th, 1859, at the time of the scandal raised by Mrs. Beecher Stowe, that she was " a noble woman, who needed no apologist " ; and so she remained until her death, which took place on the 16th of May, 1860. Byron had predeceased her thirty-six years. Let us bury in the silence of the grave all harsh words, and remember that farewell to his wife with " the tears falling fast over the paper as he wrote them " :

Fare thee well ! and if for ever, Byron's

Still for ever, fare thee well : ' Fare thee

Even though unforgiving, never 'Gainst thee shall my heart rebel.

Fare thee well ! thus disunited,

Torn from every nearer tie, Sear'd in heart, and lone, and blighted,

More than this I scarce can die.

On Byron's death Fletcher, his valet, overcome with grief at the loss of one who for twenty years had been " more than a father," brought the " dear and noble remains " to England. On Friday and Saturday, the 9th and 10th of July, 1824, they lay in state at the house of Sir Edward Knatchbull in Great George Street, and or. the following Monday the funeral procession took place. At St. Pancras Church the carriages returned, and the hearse was taken by slow stages to Nottingham. My friend the late Robert Hunt, of the School of Mines, has told me of his presence at the funeral, and of his having laid his hand on the glass, inserted in the coffin,

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