ells on the shore, and watching the growth
of stunted gooseberry bushes in the garden, that I have neither time nor
sense to say more than yours ever,

BYRON."

And then another time he wrote,--

"I have been very comfortable here, listening to that d----d monologue
which elderly gentlemen call conversation, and in which my pious
father-in-law repeats himself every evening, except when he plays upon
the fiddle. However, they have been very kind and hospitable, and I like
them and the place vastly."

Again, feeling his thought in bondage at Seaham, when it would fain have
wandered free beneath some sunny sky, he wrote to Moore, "By the way,
don't engage yourself in any travelling expedition, as I have a plan of
travel into Italy, which we will discuss. And then, think of the poesy
wherewithal we should overflow from Venice to Vesuvius, to say nothing
of Greece, through all which--God willing--we might perambulate."

But on quitting Seaham to return home, without preventing Lady Byron
from continuing to follow her own tastes, it is likely that he wished to
resume his old habits: his beloved solitude, so necessary to him, his
fasts, his hours for study and rest, very different from those of
Seaham. And then she must have found it troublesome to have a husband,
who was not only indifferent to English comforts, but who even disliked
to see women eat! who, despite his embarrassments, continued to refuse
appropriating for his own use the money given and offered by his
publisher, making it over instead to the poor, and even borrowing to
help his friends and indigent authors.[142] She could not have known how
he would ever get disentangled. Being _extremely jealous_, she became
the easy dupe of malicious persons; and under the influence of that
wicked woman, Mrs. Claremont, allowed herself to be persuaded that her
husband committed grave faults, though in reality they were but slight
or even imaginary ones. She forced open his writing-desk, and found in
it several proofs of intrigues that had taken place _previous_ to his
marriage. In the frenzy of her jealousy, Lady Byron sent these letters
to the husband of the lady compromised, but he had the good sense to
take no notice of them. Such a revolting proceeding on the part of Lady
Byron requires no commentary: it can not be justified. Meanwhile the
conjugal abode was given up to bailiffs, and desolation reigned in Lord
Byron's soul. He had lately become a father. This was th