"Frome, Somerset, November 21. 1821.
"My Lord,
"More than two years since, a lovely and beloved wife was taken
from me, by lingering disease, after a very short union. She
possessed unvarying gentleness and fortitude, and a piety so
retiring as rarely to disclose itself in words, but so influential
as to produce uniform benevolence of conduct. In the last hour of
life, after a farewell look on a lately born and only infant, for
whom she had evinced inexpressible affection, her last whispers
were 'God's happiness! God's happiness!' Since the second
anniversary of her decease, I have read some papers which no one
had seen during her life, and which contain her most secret
thoughts. I am induced to communicate to your Lordship a passage
from these papers, which, there is no doubt, refers to yourself; as
I have more than once heard the writer mention your agility on the
rocks at Hastings.
"'Oh, my God, I take encouragement from the assurance of thy word,
to pray to Thee in behalf of one for whom I have lately been much
interested. May the person to whom I allude (and who is now, we
fear, as much distinguished for his neglect of Thee as for the
transcendant talents thou hast bestowed on him) be awakened to a
sense of his own danger, and led to seek that peace of mind in a
proper sense of religion, which he has found this world's
enjoyments unable to procure! Do Thou grant that his future example
may be productive of far more extensive benefit than his past
conduct and writings have been of evil; and may the Sun of
righteousness, which, we trust, will, at some future period, arise
on him, be bright in proportion to the darkness of those clouds
which guilt has raised around him, and the balm which it bestows,
healing and soothing in proportion to the keenness of that agony
which the punishment of his vices has inflicted on him! May the
hope that the sincerity of my own efforts for the attainment of
holiness, and the approval of my own love to the great Author of
religion, will render this prayer, and every other for the welfare
of mankind, more efficacious!--Cheer me in the path of duty;--but,
let me not forget, that, while we are permitted to animate
ourselves to exertion by every innocent motive, these are but the
lesser streams which may serve to increase the current, but which,
deprived of the grand fountain of good, (a deep conviction of
inborn sin, and firm belief in the efficacy of Christ's death for
the salvation of those who trust in him, and really wish to serve
him,) would soon dry up, and leave us barren of every virtue as
before.
"'July 31. 1814--Hastings.'
"There is nothing, my Lord, in this extract which, in a literary
sense, can _at all_ interest you; but it may, perhaps, appear to
you worthy of reflection how deep and expansive a concern for the
happiness of others the Christian faith can awaken in the midst of
youth and prosperity. Here is nothing poetical and splendid, as in
the expostulatory homage of M. Delamartine; but here is the
_sublime_, my Lord; for this intercession was offered, on your
account, to the supreme _Source_ of happiness. It sprang from a
faith more confirmed than that of the French poet: and from a
charity which, in combination with faith, showed its power
unimpaired amidst the languors and pains of approaching
dissolution. I will hope that a prayer, which, I am sure, was
deeply sincere, may not be always unavailing.
"It would add _nothing_, my Lord, to the fame with which your
genius has surrounded you, for an unknown and obscure individual to
express his admiration of it. I had rather be numbered with those
who wish and pray, that 'wisdom from above,' and 'peace,' and 'joy,'
may enter such a mind.
"JOHN SHEPPARD."
[Footnote 70: See "Thoughts on Private Devotion," by Mr. Sheppard.]
* * * * *
However romantic, in the eyes of the cold and worldly, the piety of this
young person may appear, it were to be wished that the truly Christian
feeling which dictated her prayer were more common among all who profess
the same creed; and that those indications of a better nature, so
visible even through the clouds of his character, which induced this
innocent young woman to pray for Byron, while living, could have the
effect of inspiring others with more charity towards his memory, now
that he is dead.
The following is Lord Byron's answer to this affecting communication.