Mind, I do not by this mean that the ill humour continues, as, on the contrary, that quickly subsides, exhausted by its own violence; but it shakes me terribly, and leaves me low and nervous after.'-- Lady Blessington's Conversations, p.142.
That during this time also his irritation and ill temper were increased by the mortification of duns, debts, and executions, is on the face of Moore's story.

Moore himself relates one incident, which gives some idea of the many which may have occurred at these times, in a note on p.215, vol.iv., where he speaks of Lord Byron's destroying a favourite old watch that had been his companion from boyhood, and gone with him to Greece.

'In a fit of vexation and rage, brought upon him by some of these humiliating embarrassments, to which he was now almost daily a prey, he furiously dashed this watch on the hearth, and ground it to pieces with the poker among the ashes.' It is no wonder, that, with a man of this kind to manage, Lady Byron should have clung to the only female companionship she could dare to trust in the case, and earnestly desired to retain with her the sister, who seemed, more than herself, to have influence over him.
The first letter given by 'The Quarterly,' from Lady Byron to Mrs.Leigh, without a date, evidently belongs to this period, when the sister's society presented itself as a refuge in her approaching confinement.

Mrs Leigh speaks of leaving.

The young wife, conscious that the house presents no attractions, and that soon she herself shall be laid by, cannot urge Mrs.Leigh's stay as likely to give her any pleasure, but only as a comfort to herself.
'You will think me very foolish; but I have tried two or three times, and cannot talk to you of your departure with a decent visage: so let me say one word in this way to spare my philosophy.