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Seaham Hall (September 22 1814)

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‘It is indeed a pleasure to me to write when I need no longer measure, not my words, but my feelings…

Since I made myself yours, I have had a happiness, deep as it promises to be durable – not a moment of doubt.

Nothing but gratitude for all this – so unexpected, and which from some strange principle in human nature or in mine, I have sought to avert, and to bring despair on myself as well as you.

Had I known that you suffered, the baseless fabric would sooner have fallen…

I have been very foolish, and if you had not been wiser, we might both still have been without hope.

No, I remember too well what I last felt in your presence, under that coldness – my only resource and at the same time my vexation.

What I may seem to feel when we meet again I cannot guess – I could shrink from it too, yet let it be as soon as possible.‘

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Sources Used:

The Life and Letters of Anne Isabella Lady Noel Byron Ethel Colburn Mayne (London: Constable & Co Ltd 1929)