confidence of his daughter unshadowed by a suspicion. He might have won
the reverence of the great and good in his own lands and all lands. That
hope, which was the strong support, the prayer of the silent wife, it did
not please God to fulfil.

Lord Byron died a worn-out man at thirty-six. But the bitter seeds he
had sown came up, after his death, in a harvest of thorns over his grave;
and there were not wanting hands to use them as instruments of torture on
the heart of his widow.



CHAPTER III. RESUME OF THE CONSPIRACY.


We have traced the conspiracy of Lord Byron against his wife up to its
latest device. That the reader's mind may be clear on the points of the
process, we shall now briefly recapitulate the documents in the order of
time.

I. March 17, 1816.--While negotiations for separation were
pending,--'_Fare thee well, and if for ever_.'

While writing these pages, we have received from England the testimony of
one who has seen the original draught of that 'Fare thee well.' This
original copy had evidently been subjected to the most careful and acute
revision. Scarcely two lines that were not interlined, scarcely an
adjective that was not exchanged for a better; showing that the noble
lord was not so far overcome by grief as to have forgotten his
reputation. (Found its way to the public prints through the imprudence