The Ridpath Library of Universal Literature

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1898 Excerpt: ... is the part which she took in regard to the controversy concerning Lord Byron and his wife. In 1869 she wrote a magazine paper entitled The True Story of Lady Byron's Life. In this paper, purporting to be based upon statements made fo her some fifteen years before by Lady Byron, Mrs. Stowe expressly declared that the real cause of the separation between Lady Byron and her husband was that he had been guilty of incestuous intercourse with his sister Augusta, Mrs. Leigh. This magazine article, which was afterward expanded into a volume, called forth the sharpest criticisms from many quarters. To these Mrs. Stowe responded in a book entitled Lady Byron Vindicated, in which the original charges were reiterated, together with a labored argument attempting to show that the main allegation was absolutely true, and that Byron and his sister were guilty of the heinous crime of which they were accused. Our quotations are designed to present some of the chief points in Mrs. Stowe's numerous writings. BARGAINING FOR UNCLE TOM. Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine in a wellfurnished dining-parlor in the town of P, in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great earnestness. We have said two "gentlemen." One of the parties, however, when critically examined, did not seem, strictly speaking, to come under the species. He was a short, thick-set man, with coarse, commonplace features, and that swaggering air of pretension which marks a low man who is trying to elbow his way up in the world. He was much over-dressed, in a gaudy vest of many colors, a blue neckerchief, bedropped gayly with yellow spots, and arranged wit...