Martinsburgh Gazette

Miscellaneous.

MR. EDITOR,

According to promise, I now send you the supposed reply, from the Connecticut Herald, to Lord Byron's address to his wife.

J. A. D.

TO LORD BYRON

Fare thee well, inconstant lover!
If thy fickle flame was love--
Though our transient joys are over,
I can ne'er inconstant prove.

Man may boast a deathless passion,
Swear his love shall ne'er decline,
Yet, unfixed as changeful Fashion,
Woman's fate may change like mine.

Once I thought I might believe thee,
Might on Byron's faith rely;
But thy arms did scarce receive me,
E'er thy oaths, unheeded, die.

From parental arms you took me
Stole me from a mother's care,
Then in wantonness forsook me,
For some less admiring fair.

Pray'rs and tears were unavailing:
Nought thy purpose could beguile;
Not a wife her woes bewailing,
Not a lovely infant's smile.

Heav'n had form'd thee for unkindness,
Steel'd thy soul to all that's mild,
Dimm'd thy moral sight with blindness
Left thee Nature's wayward child.

Stay! I must not, cannot chide thee,
What thou hast not, who can blame?
Virtue is what Heav'n denied thee;
And the world has done the same.

Think not I can e'er forget thee;
No! thy griefs will all be mine;
I shall weep when foes beset thee;
Smile when fortune's sun shall shine:

Must I, can I, shall a mother
Hate the father of her child?
Mercy! Heav'n! my anguish smother--
At that name my infant smiled!!

Smiled to think she had a father,
To protect her growing years.--
"Unsuspecting orphan! rather
Drown thine eyes in floods of tears.

"Father, now, sweet babe, thou hast not;
All his cares you must forego:
"Other woes thy peace may blast not;
But thou hast this keenest woe.

"Orphan babe! my cares shall ever
Guard thee from the ills of life:
"Death alone hath power to sever
Byron's babe and constant wife."

LADY BYRON.