Record Number: 10005

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'With the most intense interest I have just finished your Book which does you credit as to the manner in which it is executed, and after the momentary pain in part which it excites in many a bosom, will live in despight [sic] of censure and be gratefully accepted by the Public as long as Lord Byron's name is remembered--yet as you have left to one who adored him a little legacy and as I feel secure the lines "remember thee-thou false to him then friend time"--were his--and as I have been very ill I am not likely to trouble any one much longer--you will I am sure grant me one favour--let me to you at least confide the truth of the past--you owe it to me--you will not I know refuse me [...] Still I love him [Byron]--witness the agony I experienced at his death & the tears your book has cost me. Yet, Sir, allow me to say, although you have unitentionally given me pain I had rather have experienced it than not have read your book. Parts of it are beautiful, and I can vouch for the truth of much as I read his own memoirs before Murray burnt them.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Oct 1824 and 30 Nov 1824

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Lady Caroline Lamb

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

13 Nov 1785

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy

Occupation:

socialite, novelist, inflential member of the Whig political elite

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n?e Ponsonby

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Thomas Medwin

Title:

Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron

Genre:

Poetry, Biography, Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Henry Colburn, 1824

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

10005

Source:

Print

Author:

Lady Caroline Lamb (n?e Ponsonby)

Editor:

Paul Douglass

Title:

The Whole Disgraceful Truth: Selected Letters of Lady Caroline Lamb

Place of Publication:

New York

Date of Publication:

2006

Vol:

n/a

Page:

201-203

Additional Comments:

Letter to Thomas Medwin November 1824.

Citation:

Lady Caroline Lamb (n?e Ponsonby), Paul Douglass (ed.), The Whole Disgraceful Truth: Selected Letters of Lady Caroline Lamb, (New York, 2006), n/a, p. 201-203, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=10005, accessed: 27 March 2025

---

Additional Comments:

Lady Caroline's letter tries to correct many of the misconceptions about her relationship with Byron that Medwin's book had propagated. The lines she misquotes are from Byron's poem "Remember Thee", which was published in Medwin's book.