Beecher Stowe Harriet. Lady Byron Vindicated

Boston: Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1870. — 484 p.In 1869, Lord Byron's last mistress, Countess Guicciolo, had written a book about her life with Byron and in the book disparaged Lady Byron. Harriet Beecher Stowe was upset, and she decided to reveal that Lady Byron's husband was incestuously involved with his half-sister. Everyone in Harriet's inner circle begged her not to do so, saying there would be severe consequence if she did–her reputation, including the prestige in which her literary career had accrued, would be damaged by such a revelation. Harriet ignored these warnings.
"The True Story of Lady Byron's Life" was published in the August 1869 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. The issue sold out of newsstands at once and created great controversy. As her family predicted, her supporters were few. Most found her actions reprehensible and even laughable. Her detractors attacked the veracity of Harriet's story, pointing out that she offered no proof whatsoever to the charge of incest, and relied solely on Lady Byron's memory. Harriet suggested that both she and the late Lady Byron were not believed because they were women.
For the first time in her life, Harriet Beecher Stowe found herself the object of almost unanimous derision, and was mocked in newspaper editorials and satirical articles as a meddler and a hack writer. She was bewildered at the outcry and the appearance of books defending Byron prompted her to write her own book, which she titled Lady Byron Vindicated. It appeared in 1870. It offered no new proof for her charges and attacked Byron's poetry. The tempest between the supporters of Lord Byron and those of his wife has continued almost to the present day.