up" on the cause of the separation between her and myself. If their
lips are sealed up, they are not sealed up by me, and the greatest
favour _they_ can confer upon me will be to open them. From the first
hour in which I was apprised of the intentions of the Noel family to
the last communication between Lady Byron and myself in the character
of wife and husband (a period of some months), I called repeatedly and
in vain for a statement of their or her charges, and it was chiefly in
consequence of Lady Byron's claiming (in a letter still existing) a
promise on my part to consent to a separation, if such was _really_
her wish, that I consented at all; this claim, and the exasperating
and inexpiable manner in which their object was pursued, which
rendered it next to an impossibility that two persons so divided could
ever be reunited, induced me reluctantly then, and repentantly still,
to sign the deed, which I shall be happy--most happy--to cancel, and
go before any tribunal which may discuss the business in the most
public manner.

'Mr. Hobhouse made this proposition on my part, viz. to abrogate all
prior intentions--and go into court--the very day before the
separation was signed, and it was declined by the other party, as also
the publication of the correspondence during the previous discussion.
Those propositions I beg here to repeat, and to call upon her and hers
to say their worst, pledging myself to meet their
allegations,--whatever they may be,--and only too happy to be informed
at last of their real nature.

'BYRON.'

'August 9, 1817.