Occasional excursions to the country varied the enjoyments of town and of the club. One of these
her reputation must pay the penalty; for her friends, by destroying her papers, have left complete vindication impossible.
For the story of the children, mentioned on the authority of the colonel, no sufficient foundation appears. No record marks separation from her husband, so as to admit the birth of two children from the time of their return from Constantinople till her departure from England on a twenty years’ exile. She was then forty-nine years old. Time, therefore, would seem to acquit her at least of child-bearing.
It is certain from admissions in her own letters that a Frenchman, who professed the strongest attachment, and who we must suppose was a previous acquaintance, wrote from France, requesting permission to join her in England. This after some time was conceded. He was not, however, to come empty-handed. With his money, or a joint sum, purchases were made in the funds; but disagreement arising, she wished him to quit England leaving his investment behind. He would not go. She sought the return of her letters from him, which were refused; he even made communications to her husband, which she had ingenuity enough to intercept; and then, it is said, threatened him with personal violence, if not assassination. In return he threatened the publication of her letters. This produced agonies of terror, as evinced in communications to her sister, such as are not known in any of her writings. Exposure, no doubt, would have been ruin, but her good genius prevailed in staying its execution.
Lady Mary, it appears, kept a journal from her earliest years to their close. Her sister, afterward Countess of Mar, destroyed it on her elopement with her husband, Mr. Wortley. After marriage, the practice was resumed and continued. At her death—whether procured, as stated, from the clergyman in attendance does not appear—it fell into the hands of Lady Bute, who ever after kept it under lock and key. Occasionally she would read passages to her family and friends, but would not trust any portion of it out of her own hands, except a few of the early copybooks, which she allowed one of the family, Lady Louisa Stuart, to read alone, on condition that nothing should be transcribed. Shortly before her death, Lady Bute burned the entire journal, to the great grief of the junior portion of the family.
What disclosures or explanations were made in those papers, none can now tell. Unquestionably they must have been curious in a high degree in literature, morals, wit, anecdote, and sketches of personal character, from one who saw so much and described so freely in her journey through life.
Lord Wharnclifte, in his edition of her works, puts the best construction on unexplained points. This is natural and charitable. We readily go with him where we can, though not at the expense of truth. We would all desire to see genius as pure in conduct as noble in attri-
