annihilation of all thoughts, feelings, or hopes, which have not more or less a reference, to you and to _our recollections_. 'Ever, dearest,' [Signature erased]. The terms of this letter, which Lord Lovelace produces as conclusive evidence against Augusta Leigh, deserve attention. At first sight they seem to confirm Lady Byron's belief that a criminal intercourse had existed between her husband and his sister. But close examination shows that the letter was not written to Mrs. Leigh at all, but to Mary Chaworth. On the day it was written Byron was at Venice, where he had recently made the acquaintance of the Countess Guiccioli, whom, as 'Lady of the land,' he followed to Ravenna a fortnight later. It will be noticed that the date synchronizes with the period when the 'Stanzas to the Po' were written. Both letter and poem dwell upon the memory of an unsatisfied passion. The letter bears neither superscription nor signature, both having been erased by Mrs. Leigh before the document reached Lady Byron's hands. The writer excuses himself for not having written to his correspondent (_a_) because three years' absence, (_b_) total change of scene, and (_c_) _because there is nothing in common between them_, except mutual affections and their relationship. Byron could not have excused himself in that manner to a sister, who had much in common with him, and to whom he had written, on an average, twice in every month since he left England. His letters to Augusta entered minutely into all his feelings and actions, and the common bond between them was Ada, whose disposition, appearance, and health, occupied a considerable space in their correspondence. Nor would Byron have written in that amatory strain to his dear 'Goose.' In the letter which preceded the one we have quoted, Byron begins, 'Dearest Augusta,' and ends, 'I am in health, and yours, B.' In that which followed it there is nothing in the least effusive. It begins, 'Dearest Augusta,' and ends, 'Yours ever, and very truly, B.' There are not many of Byron's letters to Augusta extant. All those which mentioned Medora were either mutilated or suppressed. For Byron to have given 'three years' absence, and a total change of scene,' as reasons for not having written to his sister for a month or so would have been absurd. But when he said that he had nothing in common with Mary Chaworth, except 'our affections and our relationship,' his meaning was--their mutual affections, their kinship, and their common relationship to Medora. We invite any unprejudiced person to say whether Byron would have been likely to write to a sister, who knew his mind thoroughly, 'I have never ceased--nor can cease to feel for a moment that perfect and boundless attachment which bound and binds me to you.' Did not Augusta know very well that he loved and admired her, and that Byron was under the strongest obligations to her for her loyalty at a trying time?