it.

'"Believe me, very faithfully yours,

'"STEPH. LUSHINGTON.

'"Great George Street, Jan. 31, 1830."

'I have only to observe, that, if the statements on which my legal
advisers (the late Sir Samuel Romilly and Dr. Lushington) formed their
opinions were false, the responsibility and the odium should rest with
me only. I trust that the facts which I have here briefly
recapitulated will absolve my father and mother from all accusations
with regard to the part they took in the separation between Lord Byron
and myself.

'They neither originated, instigated, nor advised that separation; and
they cannot be condemned for having afforded to their daughter the
assistance and protection which she claimed. There is no other near
relative to vindicate their memory from insult. I am therefore
compelled to break the silence which I had hoped always to observe,
and to solicit from the readers of Lord Byron's "Life" an impartial
consideration of the testimony extorted from me.

'A. I. NOEL BYRON.

'Hanger Hill, Feb. 19, 1830.'

The effect of this statement on the literary world may be best judged by
the discussion of it by Christopher North (Wilson) in the succeeding May