round me, the outcry of the period to which I allude was beyond all
precedent, all parallel, even in those cases where political motives
have sharpened slander and doubled enmity. I was advised not to go to
the theatres lest I should be hissed, nor to my duty in parliament
lest I should be insulted by the way; even on the day of my departure
my most intimate friend told me afterwards that he was under the
apprehension of violence from the people who might be assembled at the
door of the carriage.'

Now Lord Byron's charge against his wife was that SHE was directly
responsible for getting up and keeping up this persecution, which drove
him from England,--that she did it in a deceitful, treacherous manner,
which left him no chance of defending himself.

He charged against her that, taking advantage of a time when his affairs
were in confusion, and an execution in the house, she left him suddenly,
with treacherous professions of kindness, which were repeated by letters
on the road, and that soon after her arrival at her home her parents sent
him word that she would never return to him, and she confirmed the
message; that when he asked the reason why, she refused to state any; and
that when this step gave rise to a host of slanders against him she
silently encouraged and confirmed the slanders. His claim was that he
was denied from that time forth even the justice of any tangible
accusation against himself which he might meet and refute.

He observes, in the same article from which we have quoted:--

'When one tells me that I cannot "in any way _justify_ my own
behaviour in that affair," I acquiesce, because no man can "_justify_"
himself until he knows of what he is accused; and I have never