1812.] LADY CAROLINE LAMB. 115 meet with a civil reception and decent entertainment. Pray, come-I was so examined after you this morning, that I entreat you to answer in person. Believe me, etc. 'Twas because to raise the flame When he took the name of friend?" Dates are seldom affixed to the compositions, and it is impossible to say whether any are autobiographical. But, taken as a whole, they reveal a clever, romantic, impulsive, imaginative woman, whose pet names describe at once the charm of her character and the fascination of her small, slight figure, "golden hair, large hazel "eyes," and low musical voice. Her marriage with William Lamb, June 3, seems to have been at first kept secret. Lord Minto in August, 1805 (Life and Letters, vol. iii. p. 361), speaks of her as unmarried, and adds that she is "a lively and rather a pretty girl; they say she is very clever." Augustus Foster, writing to his mother, Lady Elizabeth Foster, July 30, 1805 (The Two Duchesses, p. 233), says, "I cannot fancy Lady Caroline married. I cannot be glad of it. How changed "she must be-the delicate Ariel, the little Fairy Queen become a "wife and soon perhaps a mother." Lady Elizabeth replies, September 30, 1805 (ibid., p. 242): "You may retract all your sorrow "about Caro Ponsonby's marriage, for she is the same wild, delicate, "odd, delightful person, unlike everything." 66 Lady Caroline and William Lamb are described by Lady Elizabeth, three months later, as "flirting all day long è felice adesso." The phrase, perhaps, correctly expresses Lady Caroline's conception of love as an episode; but no breach occurred till 1813. In the previous year, when Byron had suddenly risen to the height of his fame, she had refused to be introduced by Lady Westmorland to the man of whom she made the famous entry in her Diary “mad, "bad, and dangerous to know." But they met, a few days later, at Holland House, and Byron called on her in Whitehall, where for the next four months he was a daily visitor. On blue-bordered paper, embossed at the corners with scallop-shells, she wrote to Byron, at an early stage in their acquaintance, the letter numbered I in Appendix III. For the sequel to the story of their friendship, see Byron's letter to Lady Caroline, p. 135, note 1, and Appendix III. 232.-To Lady Caroline Lamb. [Undated.] I never supposed you artful: we are all selfish,nature did that for us. But even when you attempt deceit occasionally, you cannot maintain it, which is all the better; want of success will curb the tendency. Every word you utter, every line you write, proves you to be either sincere or a fool. Now as I know you are not the one, I must believe you the other. I never knew a woman with greater or more pleasing talents, general as in a woman they should be, something of everything, and too much of nothing. But these are unfortunately coupled with a total want of common conduct.1 For instance, the note to your page-do you suppose I delivered it? or did you mean that I should? I did not of course. Then your heart, my poor Caro (what a little volcano!), that pours lava through your veins; and yet I cannot wish it a bit colder, to make a marble slab of, as you sometimes see (to understand my foolish metaphor) brought in vases, tables, etc., from Vesuvius, when hardened after an eruption. To drop my detestable 1. The following letter from Lady Caroline to Fletcher, Byron's valet, illustrates the statement in the text : "FLETCHER,-Will you come and see me here some evening at "9, and no one will know of it. You may say you bring a letter, "and wait the answer. I will send for you in. But I will let you "know first, for I wish to speak with you. I also want you to take "the little Foreign Page I shall send in to see Lord Byron. Do not "tell him before-hand, but, when he comes with flowers, shew him "in. I shall not come myself, unless just before he goes away; so "do not think it is me. Besides, you will see this is quite a child, "only I wish him to see my Lord if you can contrive it, which, if 'you tell me what hour is most convenient, will be very easy. I 66 go out of Town to-morrow for a day or two, and I am now quite "well-at least much better." 1812.] LADY CAROLINE LAMB. 117 tropes and figures, you know I have always thought you the cleverest, most agreeable, absurd, amiable, perplexing, dangerous, fascinating little being that lives now, or ought to have lived 2000 years ago. I won't talk to you of beauty; I am no judge. But our beauties cease to be so when near you, and therefore you have either some, or something better. And now, Caro, this nonsense is the first and last compliment (if it be such) I ever paid you. You have often reproached me as wanting in that respect; but others will make up the deficiency. Come to Lord Grey's; at least do not let me keep you away. All that you so often say, I feel. Can more be said or felt? This same prudence is tiresome enough; but one must maintain it, or what can one do to be saved? Keep to it. 233.-To William Bankes. April 20, 1812. MY DEAR BANKES,—I feel rather hurt (not savagely) at the speech you made to me last night, and my hope is that it was only one of your profane jests. I should be very sorry that any part of my behaviour should give you cause to suppose that I think higher of myself, or otherwise of you than I have always done. I can assure you that I am as much the humblest of your servants as at Trin. Coll.; and if I have not been at home when you favoured me with a call, the loss was more mine than yours. In the bustle of buzzing parties, there is, there can be, no rational conversation; but when I can enjoy it, there is nobody's I can prefer to your own. Believe me, ever faithfully and most affectionately yours, BYRON. 234.-To Thomas Moore. Friday noon. I I should have answered your note yesterday, but I hoped to have seen you this morning. I must consult with you about the day we dine with Sir Francis.1 suppose we shall meet at Lady Spencer's 2 to-night. I did not know that you were at Miss Berry's the other night, or I should have certainly gone there. 8 As usual, I am in all sorts of scrapes, though none, at present, of a martial description. Believe me, etc. 235.-To Lady Caroline Lamb. May 1st, 1812. MY DEAR LADY CAROLINE,-I have read over the few poems of Miss Milbank with attention. They 1. Probably with Sir Francis Burdett, at 77, Piccadilly. 2. Grandmother of Lady Caroline Lamb. 3. Mary Berry (1763-1852), the friend and editor of Horace Walpole, whom she might have married, lived at Little Strawberry Hill, and in North Audley Street, London. In her Journal Miss Berry mentions two occasions on which she met Byron. The first was Thursday, April 2, 1812, at Lord Glenbervie's. "I had a quarter of an hour's conversation, which, I own, gave me great "desire to know him better, and he seemed willing that I should do "so." The second occasion was May 7, 1812. "At the end of "the evening I had half an hour's conversation with Lord Byron, "principally on the subject of the Scotch Review, with which he is "very much pleased. He is a singular man, and pleasant to me, "but I very much fear that his head begins to be turned by all the "adoration of the world, especially the women (Journal and Correspondence of Miss Berry, vol. ii. pp. 496, 497). " 4. This letter refers to the future Lady Byron, the "Miss Mon"mouth" of Glenarvon (see vol. iii. p. 100), who was first brought to Byron's notice by Lady Caroline Lamb. Anna Isabella (often shortened into Annabella) Milbanke (born May 17, 1792; died May 16, 1860) was the only child of Sir Ralph Milbanke, Bart., and the Hon. Judith Noel, daughter of Lord Wentworth. Her 66 119 practice would very Though I have an childhood was passed at Halnaby, or at Seaham, where her father had "a pretty villa on the cliff." In 1808 Seaham "was the most primitive hamlet ever met with-a dozen or so of cottages, no "trade, no manufacture, no business doing that we could see; the owners were mostly servants of Sir Ralph Milbanke's" (Memoirs of a Highland Lady, p. 71). It was here that Blacket the poet (see Letters, vol. i. p. 314, note 2 ; p. 6, note 5, of the present volume; and English Bards, etc., line 770, and Byron's note) died, befriended by Miss Milbanke.. 66 Byron (Medwin's Conversations with Lord Byron, pp. 44, 45) thus describes the personal appearance of his future wife: There was something piquant and what we term pretty in Miss Milbanke. "Her features were small and feminine, though not regular. She "had the fairest skin imaginable. Her figure was perfect for her 'height; and there was a simplicity, a retired modesty, about her, "which was very characteristic, and formed a happy contrast to the "cold, artificial formality and studied stiffness which is called "fashion." The roundness of her face suggested to Byron the pet name of "Pippin." High-principled, guided by a strong sense of duty, imbued with deep religious feeling, Miss Milbanke lived to impress F. W. Robertson as the noblest woman he ever knew" (Diary of Crabb Robinson (1852), vol. iii. p. 405). She was also a clever, well-read girl, fond of mathematics, a student of theology and of Greek, a writer of meritorious verse, which, however, Byron only allowed to be "good by accident" (Medwin, p. 60). Among her mother's friends were Mrs. Siddons, Joanna Baillie, and Maria Edgeworth. The latter, writing, May, 1813, to Miss Ruxton, says, "Lady Mil"banke is very agreeable, and has a charming, well-informed "daughter." With all her personal charms, virtues, and mental gifts, she shows, in many of her letters, a precision, formality, and self-complacency, which suggest the female pedant. Byron says of her that "she was governed by what she called fixed rules and "principles, squared mathematically" (Medwin, p. 60) ; at one time he used to speak of her as his "Princess of Parallelograms," and at a later period he called her his "Mathematical Medea." Before Miss Milbanke met Byron, she had a lover in Augustus Foster, son of Lady Elizabeth Foster, afterwards Duchess of Devonshire. The duchess, writing to her son, February 29, 1812, says that Mrs. George Lamb (?) would sound Miss Milbanke as to her feelings: "Caro means to see la bella Annabelle before she writes 66 to you. I shall almost hate her if she is blind to the merits of 'one who would make her so happy" (The Two Duchesses, p. 358). Apparently Mr. Foster's love was not returned. "She persists in "saying," writes the duchess, May 4, 1812 (ibid., p. 362), "that "she never suspected your attachment to her; but she is so odd a 'girl that, though she has for some time rather liked another, she |