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lawyers, pledged himself not to interfere, and was not allowed to mention what they thought of doing; that my family had conspired against him, and they should maintain me; that he was occupied with enquiries into my conduct towards my male acquaintance in general, and would "try for a divorce," if a case could be made out.
In one of the attempts to "make out" a case, Mr Norton resorted to the strange ruse of engaging the cab-boy of the gentleman he desired to entrap, and sending the lad to try and get his master's letters from the Club; an act of which Lord Harrington observed, that "if attempted at the Post-office, it would have been felony."
Having reported to Lord Harrington all that could be said to my detriment, Lord H. wrote to Mr Norton as follows:—
"I have told Mrs N. all the base calumnies uttered against her. I will do the same by you. They say that you kept a mistress. They say that you wanted to borrow 1,400l. from Lord Melbourne; that you, accepted favors from Lord, after professing jealousy of him. That you pledged your word of honour to a falsehood. That your wife made by her writing a sum more than sufficient to pay all your debts. That you have yourself denied her to visitors, and even to members of her own family, when Lord Melbourne has been with her. That you have often used personal violence to your wife. Unless you can disprove these accusations, you are lost in the estimation of the world."
Lord Harrington then wrote to me, as follows:—
"I called next day. I was received by a Mr Maclean; a lawyer and friend. Mr Maclean said, it was agreed that Norton should see no one. I talked over these 'accusations' with Mr M. I challenged him to answer them. He said, 'This is not the time, and you are not the person.' I said, 'You cannot answer them.' I wrote afterwards to Norton as follows:—''I now see clearly that you are surrounded by a
