Lady Caroline Lamb's "Glenarvon" on Stage

Abstract

In 1805, Lady Caroline Ponsonby, daughter of the 3rd earl of Bessborough, became the wife of William Lamb, future Viscount Melbourne and Prime Minister under Queen Victoria. In the seventh year of her marriage, Lady Caroline Lamb, now twenty-seven years of age, commenced an affair with the twenty-four-year-old Lord Byron. Their tempestuous relationship lasted less than five months, from March until Byron broke of the relationship in August, 1812. Her obsession with Byron persisted, becoming the subject of many of her poems, more notoriously of her novel, Glenarvon, published anonymously in June, 1816, and adding further fuel to the scandal that prompted Byron's departure from England on April 24. Although critics and biographers of both Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb have given close attention to the public reception of the novel, none has yet acknowledged the adaptation of Glenarvon as stage play (1) and the dramatic exposition of the man whom Lady Caroline Lamb dubbed,--in the most-often quoted comment ever uttered about Byron--mad, bad, and dangerous to know (2) This discovery of the staging of Glenarvon opens an entirely new arena of study, adding to our understanding of the popular reception of her work and establishing for the first time her connection to the theatre. In no previous account of her career has there been any mention of her patronage of the Royal Coburg Theatre. In no edition of her letters has there been any mention of her correspondence with Thomas Dibdin, playwright, song-writer, and theatre manager. (3) In spite of the efforts of William Lamb to squelch the circulation of Glenarvon, (4) as play, it was adapted for two separate stage productions. Although both were performed at the Royal Coburg, where Lady Caroline was patron (5) the second production was not simply revival of the first but thorough reworking. The publication of Byron's Don Juan, Cantos I and II, in July, 1819, rekindled the gossip that had been smoldering since the time of Byron's exile. The outrage might have been even more extreme if Byron's publisher, John Murray, had not persuaded the poet to omit the Dedication with its ridicule of Robert Southey and to remove as well the more slanderous stanzas concerning Lady Byron in the character of Donna Inez. Although the first two cantos appeared with neither Byron's nor Murray's names on the title page in July, 1819, Byron was immediately recognized as the author. Lady Caroline Lamb herself used the animated response to Don Juan, Cantos I and II, to write clever parody of the Byronic character and style in her A New Canto (1819), also published anonymously. (6) Taking advantage of the resurgent gossip, William Barrymore brought forth A new Melo-Drama, Glenarvon, founded on the popular Novel. The play opened on Tuesday, July 13, 1819, with Henry Kemble in the title role as Lord Glenarvon. Two years passed before the next installments of Don Juan appeared. Murray published Cantos III and IV in August, 1821. On December 3, 1821, a new Melo-Drama, founded on popular and highly interesting Work, Glenarvon; or, The Murdered Heir opened at the Royal Coburg. This second version was written and arranged for Stage Representation by Mr. J. Amherst, and featured Rowbotham as Ruthven Glenarvon. (7) Both Henry Kemble and H. H. Rowbotham turned the role into studied impersonation of Lord Byron. It is possible that Henry Kemble had met Byron through his famous acting family or during his own engagement at Drury Lane. Neither actor brought to their Byronic posturing much more than what the public would anticipate through the popular caricatures and descriptions in the periodicals, already synthesized in Lamb's own delineation of her title character's traits and appearance. In his gaze he possessed mesmeric power; his sensuous lips curl readily to sneer or an expression of scorn; his gait reveals the slight limp of his deformed foot which he is at pains to disguise. …