We Then Bade
Each Other Good-Night, And Found Our Carriages As Soon As We Chose.
LETTER: To W.D.B. and A.B.
LONDON, May 16, 1847
My dear Sons: My letters by this steamer will have very little
interest for you, as, from being in complete retirement, I have no
new things to related to you. . . . We have taken advantage of our
leisure to drive a little into the country, and on Tuesday I had a
pleasure of the highest order in driving down to Esher and passing a
quiet day with Lady Byron, the widow of the poet. She is an
intimate friend of Miss Murray, who has long wished us to see her
and desired her to name the day for our visit.
Esher is a little village about sixteen miles from London, and Lady
Byron has selected it as her residence, though her estates are in
Leicestershire, because it is near Lord and Lady Lovelace, her only
child, the "ADA" of poetry. We went in our own carriage, taking
Miss Murray with us, and as the country is now radiant with blossoms
and glowing green, the drive itself was very agreeable. We arrived
at two o'clock, and found only Lady Byron, with the second boy of
Lady Lovelace and his tutor. Lady Byron is now about fifty-five,
and with the remains of an attractive, if not brilliant beauty. She
has extremely delicate features, and very pale and finely delicate
skin. A tone of voice and manner of the most trembling refinement,
with a culture and strong intellect, almost masculine, but which
betrays itself under such sweet and gentle and unobtrusive forms
that one is only led to perceive it by slow degrees.
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