Chapter I (1)

1788-1805.

CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL.

Catherine Gordon of Gight (1765-1811), afterwards Mrs. Byron, and mother of the poet, was descended on the paternal side from Sir William Gordon of Gight, the third son, by Annabella Stewart, daughter of James I of Scotland, of George, second Earl of Huntly, Chancellor of Scotland (1498-1502), and Lord-Lieutenant of the North from 1491 to his death in 1507. The owners of Gight, now a ruin, once a feudal stronghold, were a hot-headed, hasty-handed race, sufficiently notable to be commemorated by Thomas the Rhymer, and to leave their mark in the traditions of Aberdeenshire. In the seventh generation from Sir William Gordon, the property passed to an heiress, Mary Gordon. By her marriage with Alexander Davidson of Newton, who assumed the name of Gordon, she had a son Alexander, Mrs. Byron's grandfather, who married Margaret Duff of Craigston, a cousin of the first Earl of Fife. Their eldest son, George, the fifth of the Gordons of Gight who bore that name, married Catherine Innes of Rosieburn, and by her became the father of Catherine Gordon, born in 1765, afterwards Mrs. Byron. Both her parents dying early, Catherine Gordon was brought up at Banff by her grandmother, commonly called Lady Gight, a penurious, illiterate woman, who, however, was careful that her granddaughter was better educated than herself. Thus, for the second time, Gight, which, with other property, was worth between £23,000 and £24,000, passed to an heiress.

Miss Catherine Gordon had her full share of feminine vanity. At the age of thirty-five she was a stout, dumpy, coarse-looking woman, awkward in her movements, provincial in her accent and manner. But as her son was vain of his personal appearance, and especially of his hands, neck, and ears, so she, when other charms had vanished, clung to her pride in her arms and hands. She exhausted the patience of Stewartson the artist, who in 1806, after forty sittings, painted her portrait, by her anxiety to have a particular turn in her elbow exhibited in the most pleasing light. Of her ancestry she was, to use her son's expression, as "proud as Lucifer," looked down upon the Byron family, and regarded the Duke of Gordon as an inferior member of her clan. In later life, at any rate, her temper was ungovernable; her language, when excited, unrestrained; her love of gossip insatiable. Capricious in her moods, she flew from one extreme to the other, passing, for the slightest cause, from passionate affection to equally passionate resentment. How far these defects were produced, as they certainly were aggravated, by her husband's ill treatment and her hard struggle with poverty, it is impossible to say. She had many good qualities. She bore her ruin, as her letters show, with good sense, dignity, and composure. She lived on a miserable pittance without running into debt; she pinched herself in order to give her son a liberal supply of money; she was warm-hearted and generous to those in distress. She adored her scamp of a husband, and, in her own way, was a devoted mother. In politics she affected democratic opinions, took in the 'Morning Chronicle', and paid for it, as is shown by a bill sent in after her death, at the rate of £4 17s. 6d. for the half-year--no small deduction from her narrow income. She was fond of books, subscribed to the Southwell Book Club, copied passages which struck her in the course of her reading, collected all the criticisms on her son's poetry, made shrewd remarks upon them herself (Moore's 'Journal and Correspondence', vol. v. p. 295), and corresponded with her friends on literary subjects.

In 1785 Miss Catherine Gordon was at Bath, where, it may be mentioned, her father had, some years before, committed suicide. There she met, and there, on May 13, 1785, in the parish church of St. Michael, as the register shows, she married Captain John Byron.

Captain John Byron (1755-91), born at Plymouth, was the eldest son of Admiral the Hon. John Byron (1723-86)--known in the Royal Navy as "Hardy Byron" or "Foul-weather Jack"--by his marriage (1748) with Sophia Trevanion of Carhais, in Cornwall. The admiral, next brother to William, fifth Lord Byron, was a distinguished naval officer, whose 'Narrative' of his shipwreck in the 'Wager' was published in 1768, and whose 'Voyage round the World' in the 'Dolphin' was described by "an officer in the said ship" in 1767. His eldest son, John Byron, educated at Westminster and a French Military Academy, entered the Guards and served in America. A gambler, a spendthrift, a profligate scamp, disowned by his father, he in 1778 ran away with, and in 1779 married, Lady Carmarthen, wife of Francis, afterwards fifth Duke of Leeds, née Lady Amelia d'Arcy, only child and heiress of the last Earl of Holderness, and Baroness Conyers in her own right.

Captain Byron and his wife lived in Paris, where were born to them a son and a daughter, both of whom died in infancy, and Augusta, born 1783, the poet's half-sister, who subsequently married her first cousin, Colonel George Leigh. In 1784 Lady Conyers died, and Captain Byron returned to England, a widower, over head and ears in debt, and in search of an heiress.

It was a rhyme in Aberdeenshire--

"When the heron leaves the tree,
The laird of Gight shall landless be."

Tradition has it that, at the marriage of Catherine Gordon with "mad Jack Byron," the heronry at Gight passed over to Kelly or Haddo, the property of the Earl of Aberdeen. "The land itself will not be long in following," said his lordship, and so it proved. For a few months Mrs. Byron Gordon--for her husband assumed the name, and by this title her Scottish friends always addressed her--lived at Gight. But the ready money, the outlying lands, the rights of fishery, the timber, failed to liquidate Captain Byron's debts, and in 1786 Gight itself was sold to Lord Aberdeen for £17,850. Mrs. Byron Gordon found herself, at the end of eighteen months, stripped of her property, and reduced to the income derived from £4200, subject to an annuity payable to her grandmother. She bore the reverse with a composure which shows her to have been a woman of no ordinary courage. Her letters on the subject are sensible, not ill-expressed, and, considering the circumstances in which they were written, give a favourable impression of her character.

The wreck of their fortunes compelled Mrs. Byron Gordon and her husband to retire to France. At the beginning of 1788 she had returned to London, and on January 22, 1788, at 16, Holles Street (since numbered 24, and now destroyed), in the back drawing-room of the first floor, gave birth to her only child, George Gordon, afterwards sixth Lord Byron. Hanson gives the names of the nurse, Mrs. Mills, the man-midwife, Mr. Combe, the doctor, Dr. Denman, who attended Mrs. Byron at her confinement. Dallas was, therefore, mistaken in his supposition that the poet was born at Dover. The child was baptized in London on February 29, 1788, as is proved by the register of the parish of Marylebone.

Shortly after the birth of her son, Mrs. Byron settled in Aberdeen, where she lived for upwards of eight years. During her stay there, in the summer of 1791, her husband died at Valenciennes. In the year 1794, by the death of his cousin William John Byron (1772-94) from a wound received at the siege of Calvi, in Corsica, her son became the heir to his great-uncle, the "wicked Lord Byron" (William, fifth Lord Byron, 1722-98), and a solicitor named Hanson was appointed to protect the boy's interests. From Aberdeen Mrs. Byron kept up a correspondence with her sister-in-law, Frances Leigh ('née' Byron), wife of General Charles Leigh, to whom, in a letter, dated March 27, 1791, she speaks of her son as "very well, and really a charming boy." Writing again to Mrs. Leigh, December 8, 1794, she says,

"I think myself much obliged to you for being so interested for
George; you may be sure I would do anything I could for my son, but I
really don't see what can be done for him in that case. You say you
are afraid Lord B. will dispose of the estates that are left, if he
can; if he has it in his power, nobody can prevent him from selling
them; if he has not, no one will buy them from him. You know Lord
Byron. Do you think he will do anything for George, or be at any
expense to give him a proper education; or, if he wish to do it, is
his present fortune such a one that he could spare anything out of it?
You know how poor I am, not that I mean to ask him to do anything for
him, that is to say, to be of any expense on his account."

If any application was made to the boy's great-uncle, it was unsuccessful. On May 19, 1798, Lord Byron died, and Hanson informed Mrs. Byron that her son had succeeded to the title and estates. At the end of the summer of that year, the little Lord Byron, with his mother and the nurse May Gray, reached Newstead, and, within a few weeks from their arrival, his first letter was written. His letters to his mother, it may be observed, are always addressed to "the Honourable Mrs. Byron," a title to which she had no claim.

1.--To Mrs. Parker. [1]

Newstead Abbey, Nov. 8th, 1798.

Dear Madam,--My Mamma being unable to write herself desires I will let
you know that the potatoes are now ready and you are welcome to them
whenever you please.

She begs you will ask Mrs. Parkyns if she would wish the poney to go
round by Nottingham or to go home the nearest way as it is now quite
well but too small to carry me.

I have sent a young Rabbit which I beg Miss Frances will accept off
and which I promised to send before. My Mamma desires her best
compliments to you all in which I join.

I am, Dear Aunt, yours sincerely,

BYRON.

I hope you will excuse all blunders as it is the first letter I ever
wrote.

[Footnote 1: This letter, the first that Byron wrote, was written when he was ten years and ten months old. It is preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a facsimile is given by Elze, in his 'Life of Lord Byron'.

It is apparently addressed to his aunt, Mrs. Parker. Charlotte Augusta Byron, daughter of Admiral the Hon. John Byron, married Christopher Parker (1761-1804), Vice-Admiral 1804, the son of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Peter Parker, Bart. (1721-1811). Her son, who, on the death of his grandfather, succeeded to the baronetcy as Sir Peter Parker, second Bart. (1786-1814), commanded H.M.S. 'Menelaus', and was killed in an attack on a body of American militia encamped near Baltimore. (See Byron's "Elegy on the Death of Sir Peter Parker," and his letter to Moore, October 7, 1814.) Her daughter Margaret, one of Byron's early loves, inspired, as he says, his "first dash into poetry" (see 'Poems', vol. i, p. 5, note 1).]

2.--To his Mother.

Nottingham, 13 March, 1799.

Dear Mama,--I am very glad to hear you are well. I am so myself, thank
God; upon my word I did not expect so long a Letter from you; however
I will answer it as well as I can. Mrs. Parkyns and the rest are well
and are much obliged to you for the present. Mr. Rogers [1] could
attend me every night at a separate hour from the Miss Parkynses, and
I am astonished you do not acquiesce in this Scheme which would keep
me in Mind of what I have almost entirely forgot. I recommend this to
you because, if some plan of this kind is not adopted, I shall be
called, or rather branded with the name of a dunce, which you know I
could never bear. I beg you will consider this plan seriously and I
will lend it all the assistance in my power. I shall be very glad to
see the Letter you talk of, and I have time just to say I hope every
body is well at Newstead,

And remain, your affectionate Son,

BYRON.

P.S.--Pray let me know when you are to send in the Horses to go to
Newstead. May [2] desires her Duty and I also expect an answer by the
miller.

[Footnote 1: Dummer Rogers, "Teacher of French, English, Latin, and Mathematicks", was, according to 'Notes and Queries' (4th series, vol. iii. p. 561), an American loyalist, pensioned by the English Government. He lived at Hen Cross, Nottingham, when Byron was staying in that city, partly with Mrs. Parkyns, partly at Mr. Gill's, in St. James's Lane, to be attended by a man named Lavender, "trussmaker to the general hospital", who had some local reputation for the treatment of misshapen limbs. Lavender, in 1814 ('Nottingham Directory' for 1814), appears as a "surgeon". Rogers, who read parts of Virgil and Cicero with Byron, represents him as, for his age, a fair scholar. He was often, during his lessons, in violent pain, from the position in which his foot was kept; and Rogers one day said to him, "It makes me uncomfortable, my Lord, to see you sitting there in such pain as I know you must be suffering". "Never mind, Mr. Rogers," answered the boy; "you shall not see any signs of it in _me_." Many years after, when in the neighbourhood of Nottingham, Byron sent a kind message to his old instructor, bidding the bearer tell him that he could still recite twenty verses of Virgil which he had read with Rogers when suffering torture all the time.

[Footnote 2: Byron's nurse, who had accompanied him from Aberdeen (see p. 10, note 1).]

3.--To John Hanson. [1]

SIR,--I am not a little disappointed at your Stay, for this last week
I expected you every hour; but, however, I beg it as a favour that you
will come up soon from Newstead as the Holidays commence in three
weeks Time. I congratulate you on Capt. Hanson's [1] being appointed
commander of The 'Brazen' Sloop of War, and I congratulate myself on
Lord Portsmouth's [2] Marriage, hoping his Lady, when he and I meet
next, will keep him in a little better order. The manner I knew that
Capt. Hanson was appointed Commander of the Ship before mentioned was
this. I saw it in the public Paper, and now, since you are going to
Newstead, I beg if you meet Gray [3] send her a packing as fast as
possible, and give my Compliments to Mrs. Hanson and to all my
comrades of the Battalions in and out upon different Stations,

And remain, your little friend,

BYRON.

I forgot to tell you how I was. I am at present very well and my foot
goes but indifferently; I cannot perceive any alteration.

[Footnote 1: John Hanson, of 6, Chancery Lane, a well-known London solicitor, was introduced to the Byron family by an Aberdeenshire friend of Mrs. Byron, Mr. Farquhar, a member of Parliament, and a civilian practising in Doctors' Commons. The acquaintance began in January, 1788, with Byron's birth, for the midwife and the nurse were recommended by Mrs. Hanson. Six years later, Hanson was employed by Mrs. Byron to watch the interests of her son, who in 1794 had become heir-presumptive to his great-uncle. It was Hanson who, in the summer of 1798, communicated the news of the death of Lord Byron to Mrs. Byron, and with his wife received her and her son at Newstead. From that time till the close of the minority, Hanson was intimately associated with Byron, both as a man of business and a friend. He selected Dr. Glennie's school for the boy, persuaded Lord Carlisle to become his guardian, introduced the ward to Lord Carlisle, and entered him at Harrow. It was at his house in Earl's Court that Byron, for five years, spent a considerable part of his successive holidays. There he made acquaintance with Hanson's children--his sons Charles, Hargreaves (his contemporary at Harrow), and Newton, and his daughter, Mary Anne, who subsequently (March 7, 1814) married the Earl of Portsmouth, Byron giving her away. This letter was written by Byron a few weeks after he had gone to school at Dr. Glennie's, in Lordship Lane, Dulwich. He remained there from August, 1799, to April, 1801.

In a letter to Mrs. Byron, dated September 1, 1799, Hanson describes Dr. Glennie's "Academy," where he had shortly before left the boy:--

"I left my entertaining companion with Mr. Glennie last Thursday week,
and I have since learnt from him that he is very comfortable and likes
the situation. His schoolfellows are very fine youths, and their
deportment does very great credit to their Preceptor. I succeeded in
getting Lord Byron a separate room, and I am persuaded the greatest
attention will be paid to him. Mr. Glennie is a Scotchman, has
travelled a great deal, and seems every way qualified for his present
situation."

[Footnote 2: Captain James Hanson, R.N., was the brother of John Hanson to whom the letter is written. Byron was born with a caul, prized by sailors as a preservative from drowning. The caul was sold by Mrs. Mills, the nurse who attended Mrs. Byron in January, 1788, to Captain Hanson. In January, 1800, Captain Hanson, in command of H.M.S. 'Brazen', had captured a French vessel, which he sent to Portsmouth with a prize crew. On the 26th of the month, while shorthanded, he was caught in a storm off Newhaven. The 'Brazen' foundered, and Captain Hanson with all his men, except one, were drowned.]

[Footnote 3: In the late autumn of 1799 Lord Portsmouth was staying with the Hansons before his marriage (November 23, 1799) with Miss Norton, sister of Lord Grantley. In rough play he pinched Byron's ear; the boy picked up a conch shell which was lying on the ground, and hurled it at Lord Portsmouth's head, missing it by a hair's breadth, and smashing the glass behind. In vain Mrs. Hanson tried to make the peace by saying that Byron did not mean the missile for Lord Portsmouth. "But I 'did' mean it!" he reiterated; "I will teach a fool of an earl to pinch another noble's ear."]

[Footnote: 4. The following extract from a letter written by Hanson to Mrs. Byron (September 1, 1799) places the character of Byron's nurse in a different light to that which is given in Moore's 'Life':--

"I assure you, Madam, I should not have taken the liberty to have
interfered in your domestic Arrangements, had I not thought it
absolutely necessary to apprize you of the proceedings of your
Servant, Mrs. Gray; her conduct towards your son while at Nottingham
was shocking, and I was persuaded you needed but a hint of it to
dismiss her. Mrs. Parkyns, when I saw her, said something to me about
her; but when I found from dispassionate persons at Nottingham, it was
the general Topic of conversation, it would have ill become me to have
remained silent.

My honourable little companion, tho' disposed to retain his feelings,
could not refrain, from the harsh usage he had received at her hands,
from complaining to me, and such is his dread of the Woman that I
really believe he would forego the satisfaction of seeing you if he
thought he was to meet her again. He told me that she was perpetually
beating him, and that his bones sometimes ached from it; that she
brought all sorts of Company of the very lowest Description into his
apartments; that she was out late at nights, and he was frequently
left to put himself to bed; that she would take the Chaise-boys into
the Chaise with her, and stopped at every little Ale-house to drink
with them. But, Madam, this is not all; she has even----traduced
yourself.

I entertain a very great affection for Lord Byron, and I trust I shall
not be considered solely in my professional character, but as his
Friend. I introduced him to my Friends, Lord Grantley and his Brother
General Norton, who were vastly taken with him, as indeed are every
one. And I should be mortified in the highest degree to see the
honourable feelings of my little fellow exposed to insult by the
inordinate Indiscretions of any Servant. He has Ability and a
quickness of Conception, and a correct Discrimination that is seldom
seen in a youth, and he is a fit associate of men, and choice indeed
must be the Company that is selected for him."]

4.--To his Mother.

Harrow-on-the-Hill, Sunday, May 1st, 1803.

MY DEAR MOTHER,--I received your Letter the other day. And am happy to
hear you are well. I hope you will find Newstead in as favorable a
state as you can wish. I wish you would write to Sheldrake to tell him
to make haste with my shoes. [1]

I am sorry to say that Mr. Henry Drury [2] has behaved himself to me
in a manner I neither'can' nor 'will bear'. He has seized now an
opportunity of showing his resentment towards me. To day in church I
was talking to a Boy who was sitting next me; 'that' perhaps was not
right, but hear what followed. After Church he spoke not a word to me,
but he took this Boy to his pupil room, where he abused me in a most
violent manner, called me 'blackguard', said he 'would' and 'could'
have me expelled from the School, and bade me thank his 'Charity' that
'prevented' him; this was the Message he sent me, to which I shall
return no answer, but submit my case to 'you' and those you may think
'fit' to 'consult'. Is this fit usage for any body? had I 'stole' or
behaved in the most 'abominable' way to him, his language could not
have been more outrageous. What must the boys think of me to hear such
a Message ordered to be delivered to me by a 'Master'? Better let him
take away my life than ruin my 'Character'. My Conscience acquits me
of ever 'meriting' expulsion at this School; I have been 'idle' and I
certainly ought not to talk in church, but I have never done a mean
action at this School to him or 'any one'. If I had done anything so
'heinous', why should he allow me to stay at the School? Why should he
himself be so 'criminal' as to overlook faults which merit the
'appellation' of a 'blackguard'? If he had had it in his power to have
me expelled, he would long ago have 'done' it; as it is, he has done
'worse'. If I am treated in this Manner, I will not stay at this
School. I write you that I will not as yet appeal to Dr. Drury; his
Son's influence is more than mine and 'justice' would be 'refused' me.
Remember I told you, when I 'left' you at 'Bath', that he would seize
every means and opportunity of revenge, not for leaving him so much as
the mortification he suffered, because I begged you to let me leave
him. If I had been the Blackguard he talks of, why did he not of his
own accord refuse to keep me as his 'pupil'? You know Dr. Drury's
first letter, in it were these Words: "My son and Lord Byron have had
some Disagreements; but I hope that his future behaviour will render a
change of Tutors unnecessary." Last Term I was here but a short time,
and though he endeavoured, he could find nothing to abuse me in. Among
other things I forgot to tell you he said he had a great mind to expel
the Boy for speaking to me, and that if he ever again spoke to me he
would expel him. Let him explain his meaning; he abused me, but he
neither did nor can mention anything bad of me, further than what
every boy else in the School has done. I fear him not; but let him
explain his meaning; 'tis all I ask. I beg you will write to Dr. Drury
to let him know what I have said. He has behaved to me, as also Mr.
Evans, very kindly. If you do not take notice of this, I will leave
the School myself; but I am sure 'you' will not see me 'ill treated';
better that I should suffer anything than this. I believe you will be
tired by this time of reading my letter, but, if you love me, you will
now show it. Pray write me immediately. I shall ever remain, Your
affectionate Son, BYRON.

P.S.--Hargreaves Hanson desires his love to you and hopes you are very
well. I am not in want of any Money so will not ask you for any. God
bless, bless you.

[Footnote 1: Byron appears to have suffered from what would now be described as infantile paralysis, which affected the inner muscles of the right leg and foot, and rendered him permanently lame. Before leaving London for Aberdeen, Mrs. Byron consulted John Hunter, who, in correspondence with Dr. Livingstone of Aberdeen, advised her as to the treatment of her son. Writing, May 31, 1791, to Mrs. Leigh, she says, "George's foot turns inward, and it is the right foot; he walks quite on the side of his foot." In 1798 the child was placed under the care of Lavender (see p. 7, note 1) at Nottingham, doubtless on the recommendation of his aunt. In July, 1799, he was taken to London, in order to consult Dr. Baillie. From July, 1799, till the end of 1802, he was attended by Baillie in consultation with Dr. Laurie of 2, Bartholomew's Close. Special appliances were made for the boy, under their superintendence, by a scientific bootmaker named Sheldrake, in the Strand. In 'The Lancet' for 1827-8 (vol. ii. p. 779) Mr. T. Sheldrake describes "Lord Byron's case," giving an illustration of the foot. His account does not tally, in some respects, with that taken from contemporary letters, and his sketch represents the left not the right leg. But the nature and extent of Byron's lameness have been the subject of a curious variety of opinion. Lady Blessington, Moore, Gait, the Contessa Albrizzi, never knew which foot was deformed. Jackson, the boxer, thought it was the 'left' foot. Trelawney says that it proceeded from a contraction of the back sinews, and that the 'right' foot was most distorted. The lasts from which his shoes were made by Swift, the Southwell bootmaker, are preserved in the Nottingham Museum, and in both the foot is perfect in shape. The last pair of shoes modelled on them were made May 7, 1807. Mrs. Leigh Hunt says that the 'left' foot was shrunken, but was not a club-foot. Stendhal says the 'right' foot. Thorwaldsen indicates the 'left' foot. Dr. James Millingen, who inspected the feet after the poet's death, says that there was a malformation of the 'left' foot and leg, and that he was born club-footed. Two surgical boots are in the possession of Mr. Murray, made for Byron as a child; both are for the 'right' foot, ankle, and leg, and, assuming that they were made to fit the foot, they are too long and thin for a club-foot. Both at Dulwich and at Harrow, Byron was frequently seen by Laurie, whom Mrs. Byron paid, as she once complained in a letter to Laurie, "at the rate of £150 a year." It is difficult to see what more could have been done for the boy, and the explanation of the failure to effect a cure is probably to be found in the following extracts from two of Laurie's letters to Mrs. Byron. The first is dated December 7, 1801:--

"Agreeable to your desire, I waited on Lord Byron at Harrow, and I
think it proper to inform you that I found his foot in a much worse
state than when I last saw it,--the shoe entirely wet through and the
brace round his ancle quite loose. I much fear his extreme inattention
will counteract every exertion on my part to make him better. I have
only to add that with proper care and bandaging, his foot may still be
greatly recovered; but any delay further than the present vacation
would render it folly to undertake it."

The second letter is dated October 2, 1802. In it Laurie complains that the boy had spent several days in London without seeing him, and adds--

"I cannot help lamenting he has so little sense of the Benefit he has
already received as to be so apparently neglectful."]

[Footnote 2: For Henry Drury (afterwards an intimate friend of Byron) and his father, the Head-master of Harrow, see p. 41, note 2.

When Byron went to Harrow, in April, 1801, he was placed in Henry Drury's house. But in January, 1803, he refused to go back to school unless he was removed from Drury's care. He was in consequence placed at Evans's house. Dr. Drury, writing to explain the new arrangement, says, in a letter to Hanson, dated February 4, 1803--

"The reason why Lord Byron wishes for this change arises from the
repeated complaints of Mr. Henry Drury respecting his Inattention to
Business, and his propensity to make others laugh and disregard their
Employments as much as himself. On this subject I have had many very
serious conversations with him, and though Mr. H. D. had repeatedly
requested me to withdraw him from his Tuition, yet, relying on my own
remonstrances and arguments to rectify his Error, and on his own
reflection to confirm him in what is right, I was unwilling to accede
to my son's wishes. Lord Byron has now made the request himself; I am
glad it has been made, as he thereby imposes on himself an additional
responsibility, and encourages me to hope that by this change he
intends to lay aside all that negligence and those Childish Practices
which were the cause of former complaints."

Fresh troubles soon arose, as Byron's letter indicates. Hanson forwarded the boy's complaint to Dr. Drury, from whom he received the following answer, dated May 15, 1803:--

"The Perusal of the inclosed has allowed me to inquire into the whole
Matter, and to relieve your young friend's Mind from any uneasy
impression it might have sustained from a hasty word I fairly confess.
I am sorry it was ever uttered; but certainly it was never intended to
make so deep a wound as his letter intimates.

"I may truly say, without any parade of words, that I am deeply
interested in Lord Byron's welfare. He possesses, as his letter
proves, a mind that feels, and that can discriminate reasonably on
points in which it conceives itself injured. When I look forward to
the Possibility of the exercise of his Talents hereafter, and his
supplying the Deficiencies of fortune by the exertion of his abilities
and by application, I feel particularly hurt to see him idle, and
negligent, and apparently indifferent to the great object to be
pursued. This event, and the conversations which have passed between
us relative to it, will probably awaken in his mind a greater degree
of emulation, and make him studious of acquiring Distinction among his
Schoolfellows, as well as of securing to himself the affectionate
regard of his Instructors."]

5.--To his Mother.

Harrow-on-the-Hill, June 23rd, 6th, 8th, 30th, 1803.

My dear Mother,--I am much obliged to you for the Money you sent me. I
have already wrote to you several times about writing to Sheldrake: I
wish you would write to him, or Mr. Hanson to call on him, to tell him
to make an Instrument for my leg immediately, as I want one, rather. I
have been placed in a higher form in this School to day, and Dr. Drury
and I go on very well; write soon, my Dear Mother.

I remain, your affectionate Son,

BYRON.

6.--To his Mother. [1]

Southwell, [Sept. 1803].

MY DEAR MOTHER,--I have sent Mealey [2] to day to you, before William
came, but now I shall write myself. I _promise_ you, upon my _honour_,
I will come over tomorrow in the _Afternoon_. I was not wishing to
resist your _Commands_, and really seriously intended coming over
tomorrow, ever since I received your last Letter; you know as well as
I do that it is not your Company I dislike, but the place you reside
in. I know it is time to go to Harrow. It will make me _unhappy_; but
I will _obey_. I only desire, entreat, this one day, and on my
_honour_ I will be over tomorrow in the evening or afternoon. I am
sorry you disapprove my Companions, who, however, are the first this
County affords, and my equals in most respects; but I will be
permitted to chuse for myself. I shall never interfere in your's and I
desire you will not molest me in mine. If you grant me this favour,
and allow me this one day unmolested, you will eternally oblige your

Unhappy Son,

BYRON.

I shall attempt to offer no excuse as you do not desire one. I only
entreat you as a Governor, not as a Mother, to allow me this one day.
Those that I most love live in this County; therefore in the name of
Mercy I entreat this one day to take leave, and then I will join you
again at Southwell to prepare to go to a place where--I will write no
more; it would only incense you. Adieu. Tomorrow I come.

[Footnote 1: This letter is endorsed by Hanson, "Lord Byron to his mother, "1803". In September, 1803, at the end of the summer holidays, Byron did not return to Harrow. Dr. Drury asked the reason, received no reply, and, on October 4, applied to Hanson for an explanation. Hanson's inquiry drew from Mrs. Byron, on October 30, the following answer, with which was enclosed the above letter from Byron:--

"You may well be surprized, and so may Dr. Drury, that Byron is not
returned to Harrow. But the Truth is, I cannot get him to return to
school, though I have done all in my power for six weeks past. He has
no indisposition that I know of, but love, desperate love, the 'worst'
of all 'maladies' in my opinion. In short, the Boy is distractedly in
love with Miss Chaworth, and he has not been with me three weeks all
the time he has been in this county, but spent all his time at
Annesley.

If my son was of a proper age and the lady 'disengaged', it is the
last of all connexions that I would wish to take place; it has given
me much uneasiness. To prevent all trouble in future, I am determined
he shall not come here again till Easter; therefore I beg you will
find some proper situation for him at the next Holydays. I don't care
what I pay. I wish Dr. Drury would keep him.

I shall go over to Newstead to-morrow and make a 'last effort' to get
him to Town."

The effort, if made, failed. On November 7, 1803, Mrs. Byron wrote again:--

"Byron is really so unhappy that I have agreed, much against my
inclination, to let him remain in this County till after the next
Holydays."

It was not till January, 1804, that Byron returned to Harrow.

Miss Mary Anne Chaworth, the object of Byron's passion, was then living with her mother, Mrs. Clarke, at Annesley, near Newstead (see 'Poems', vol. i. p. 189, and note 1). The grand-niece of the Mr. Chaworth who was killed in a duel by William, fifth Lord Byron, on January 26, 1765 ('Annual Register', 1765, pp. 208-212; and 'State Trials', vol. xix. pp. 1178-1236), and the heiress of Annesley, she married, in August, 1805, John Musters, by whom she had a daughter, born in 1806. (See "Well! thou art happy!" 'Poems', vol. i. p. 277; see also, for other allusions to Mrs. Chaworth Musters, 'ibid'., pp. 210, 239, 282, 285; and "The Dream" of July, 1816.) In Byron's memorandum-book, he describes a visit which he paid to Matlock with Miss Chaworth's mother, her stepfather Mr. Clarke, some friends, "and 'my' M. A. C. Alas! why do I say MY? Our union would have healed feuds in which blood had been shed by our fathers,--it would have joined lands broad and rich, it would have joined at least 'one' heart, and two persons not ill matched in years (she is two years my elder) and--and--and--'what' has been the result?" ('Life', p. 27).

Mrs. Musters, after an unhappy married life, died in February, 1832, at Wiverton Hall, near Nottingham.

The connection between the families of Chaworth and Byron came through the marriage of William, third Lord Byron (died 1695), with Elizabeth Chaworth (died 1683), daughter of George Chaworth, created (1627) Viscount Chaworth of Armagh (Thoroton's 'Nottinghamshire', vol. i. p. 198).]

[Footnote 2: Owen Mealey, the steward at Newstead.]

7.--To the Hon. Augusta Byron. [1]

[At 63, Portland Place, London.]

Burgage Manor, [Thursday], March 22d, 1804.

Although, My ever Dear Augusta, I have hitherto appeared remiss in
replying to your kind and affectionate letters; yet I hope you will
not attribute my neglect to a want of affection, but rather to a
shyness naturally inherent in my Disposition. I will now endeavour as
amply as lies in my power to repay your kindness, and for the Future I
hope you will consider me not only as _a Brother_ but as your warmest
and most affectionate _Friend_, and if ever Circumstances should
require it your _protector_. Recollect, My Dearest Sister, that you
are _the nearest relation_ I have in _the world both by the ties of
Blood_ and _affection_. If there is anything in which I can serve you,
you have only to mention it; Trust to your Brother, and be assured he
will never betray your confidence. When You see my Cousin and future
Brother George Leigh, [2] tell him that I already consider him as my
Friend, for whoever is beloved by you, my amiable Sister, will always
be equally Dear to me.

I arrived here today at 2 o'clock after a fatiguing Journey, I found
my Mother perfectly well. She desires to be kindly remembered to you;
as she is just now Gone out to an assembly, I have taken the first
opportunity to write to you, I hope she will not return immediately;
for if she was to take it into her head to peruse my epistle, there is
one part of it which would produce from her a panegyric on _a friend
of yours_, not at all agreeable to me, and I fancy, _not particularly
delightful to you_. If you see Lord Sidney Osborne [3] I beg you will
remember me to him; I fancy he has almost forgot me by this time, for
it is rather more than a year Since I had the pleasure of Seeing
him.--Also remember me to poor old Murray; [4] tell him we will see
that something is to be done for him, for _while I live he shall never
be abandoned In his old Age_. Write to me Soon, my Dear Augusta, And
do not forget to love me, In the meantime, I remain, more than words
can express, your ever sincere, affectionate

Brother and Friend,

BYRON.

P.S. Do not forget to knit the purse you promised me, Adieu my beloved
Sister.

[Footnote: 1. The Hon. Augusta Byron, Byron's half-sister (January, 1783-November, 1851), was the daughter of Captain John Byron by his first wife, Amelia d'Arcy (died 1784), only child of the last Earl of Holderness, Baroness Conyers in her own right, the divorced wife of Francis, Marquis of Carmarthen, subsequently fifth Duke of Leeds. After the return of Captain and Mrs. Byron to London early in 1788, she was brought up by her grandmother, the Countess of Holderness. When the latter died, Augusta Byron divided her time between her half-sister, Lady Mary Osborne, who married, July 16, 1801, Lord Pelham, subsequently (1805) Earl of Chichester; her half-brother George, who succeeded his father as sixth Duke of Leeds in 1799; her cousin, the Earl of Carlisle; and General and Mrs. Harcourt. From their houses her letters during the period 1803-7 are written. In 1807 she married her first cousin, Colonel George Leigh of the Tenth Dragoons, the son of General Charles Leigh, by Frances, daughter of Admiral the Hon. John Byron. By her husband, who was a friend of the Prince Regent and well known in society, she was the mother of seven children. Their home was at Newmarket, till, in April, 1818, they were granted apartments in Flag Court, St. James's Palace, where she died in November, 1851.

Augusta Byron seems scarcely to have seen her brother between his infancy and 1802. Lady Holderness and Mrs. Byron were not on friendly terms, and it was not till the former's death that any intimacy was renewed between the brother and sister. Writing on October 18, 1801, to Augusta Byron, Mrs. Byron says, in allusion to the death of Lady Holderness,

"As I wish to bury what is past in _oblivion_, I shall avoid all
reflections on a person now no more; my opinion of yourself I have
suspended for some years; the time is now arrived when I shall form a
very _decided_ one. I take up my pen now, however, to condole with you
on the melancholy event that has happened, to offer you every
consolation in my power, to assure you of the inalterable regard and
friendship of myself and son. We will be extremely happy if ever we
can be of any service to you, now or at any future period. I take it
upon me to answer for him; although he knows so little of you, he
often mentions you to me in the most affectionate manner, indeed the
goodness of his heart and amiable disposition is such that your being
his sister, had he never seen you, would be a sufficient claim upon
him and ensure you every attention in his power to bestow.

Ah, Augusta, need I assure you that you will ever be dear to me as the
Daughter of the man I tenderly loved, as the sister of my beloved, my
darling Boy, and I take God to witness you _once_ was dear to me on
your own account, and may be so _again_. I still recollect with a
degree of horror the many _sleepless_ nights, and days of _agony_, I
have passed by your bedside drowned in tears, while you lay insensible
and at the gates of death. Your recovery certainly was wonderful, and
thank God I did my duty. These days you cannot remember, but I never
will forget them ... Your brother is at Harrow School, and, if you
wish to see him, I have now no desire to keep you asunder."

From 1802 till Byron's death, Augusta took in him the interest of an elder sister. Writing to Hanson (June 17, 1804), she says--

"Pray write me a line and mention all you hear of my dear Brother: he
was a most delightful correspondent while he remained in
Nottinghamshire: but I can't obtain a single line from Harrow. I was
much struck with his _general improvement_; it was beyond the
expectations raised by what you had told me, and his letters gave me
the most excellent opinion of both his _Head_ and _Heart_."

In this tone the letters are continued (see extracts p. 39; p. 45, note 1; and p. 97 [Letter 48], [Foot]note 1 [further down]).

From the end of 1805, with some interruptions, and less regularity, the correspondence between brother and sister was maintained to the end of Byron's life. To Augusta, then Mrs. Leigh, Byron sent a presentation copy of 'Childe Harold', with the inscription:

"To Augusta, my dearest sister, and my best friend, who has ever loved
me much better than I deserved, this volume is presented by her
father's son and most affectionate brother."

She was the god-mother of Byron's daughter Augusta Ada, born December 10, 1815. In January, 1816, when Lady Byron was still with her husband, she writes of and to Mrs. Leigh:

"In this at least, I _am_ 'truth itself,' when I say that, whatever
the situation may be, there is no one whose society is dearer to me,
or can contribute more to my happiness."

Lady Byron left Byron on January 15, 1816. Writing to Mrs. Leigh from Kirby Mallory, she speaks of her as her "best comforter," notices her absolute unselfishness, and says that Augusta's presence in Byron's house in Piccadilly is her "great comfort" (Lady Byron's letters to Mrs. Leigh, January 16 and January 23, 1816, quoted in the 'Quarterly Review' for October, 1869, p. 414). Through Mrs. Leigh passed many communications between Byron and Lady Byron after the separation. To her, Byron, in 1816 and 1817, wrote the two sets of "Stanzas to Augusta," the "Epistle to Augusta," and the Journal of his journey through the Alps, "which contains all the germs of 'Manfred' (letter to Murray, August, 1817). She was in his thoughts on the Rhine, and in the third canto of 'Childe Harold':--

"But one thing want these banks of Rhine,
Thy gentle hand to clasp in mine."

To her he was writing a letter at Missolonghi (February 23, 1824), which he did not live to finish, "My dearest Augusta, I received a few days ago your and Lady Byron's report of Ada's health." He carried with him everywhere the pocket Bible which she had given him. "I have a Bible," he told Dr. Kennedy ('Conversations'), "which my sister gave me, who is an excellent woman, and I read it very often." His last articulate words were "My sister--my child."

Several volumes of Mrs. Leigh's commonplace books are in existence, filled with extracts mostly on religious topics. She was, wrote the late Earl Stanhope, in a letter quoted in the 'Quarterly Review' (October, 1869, p. 421), "very fond" of talking about Byron.

"She was," he continues, "extremely unprepossessing in her person and
appearance--more like a nun than anything, and never can have had the
least pretension to beauty. I thought her shy and sensitive to a fault
in her mind and character."

Frances, Lady Shelley, who died in January, 1873, and was intimately acquainted with Byron and his contemporaries, speaks of her as a "Dowdy-Goody."

"I have seen," she writes

(see 'Quarterly Review', October, 1869, p. 421, quoting from a letter signed E. M. U., which appeared in the 'Times' for September II, 1869),

"a great deal of Mrs. Leigh (Augusta), having passed some days with
her and Colonel Leigh, for my husband's shooting near Newmarket, when
Lord Byron was in the house, and, as she told me, was writing 'The
Corsair', to my great astonishment, for it was a wretched small house,
full of her ill-trained children, who were always running up and down
stairs, and going into 'uncle's' bedroom, where he remained all the
morning."]

[Footnote 2: See preceding note.]

[Footnote 3: Francis, fifth Duke of Leeds, married, October 14, 1788, as his second wife, Miss Catherine Anguish, by whom he had two children: the eldest, a son, Sydney Godolphin Osborne, was born December 16, 1789.]

[Footnote 4: Joe Murray had been for many years in the employment of William, fifth Lord Byron. At his master's death, in 1798, he was taken into the service of the Duke of Leeds.

"I saw poor Joseph Murray the other night," writes Augusta Byron to
Hanson (June 17, 1804), "who wishes me particularly to apply to Col.
Leigh, to get him into some City Charity which the Prince of Wales is
at the head of.

I cannot understand what he means, nor can any body else, and
therefore, as he said he was advised by you, I think it better to
apply to you on the subject. I'm sure Col. Leigh would be happy to
oblige him; but in general he dislikes _asking favours_ of the
_Prince_, and this present moment is a bad one to chuse for the
purpose, as H.R.H. is so much taken up with _public affairs_. I am
very anxious about poor Joseph, and would almost do anything to serve
him. I fear he is too old and infirm to go to service again."

Three years later (March 19, 1807), Augusta Byron writes again to Hanson:--

"I have just had a pitiful note from poor old Murray, telling me of
his dismissal from the Duchess of Leeds; but he says he does not leave
her till June. I therefore hope something may in the mean time be done
for him. He requests me to write word of it to my Brother. I shall
certainly comply with his wishes, and send _two lines_ on that subject
to Southwell, where I conclude he is."

Byron made Murray an allowance of £20 a year (see Letter 83), took him, as soon as he could, into his service, and was careful, as he promises, to provide that he should not be "abandoned in his old age." His affection for Murray is marked by the postscript to the letter to Mrs. Byron of June 22, 1809 (see also 'Life', pp. 74, 121); as also by his draft will of 1811, in which he leaves Murray £50 a year for life.

8.--To the Hon. Augusta Byron.

[63, Portland Place, London.]

Southwell, March 26th, 1804.

I received your affectionate letter, my ever Dear Sister, yesterday
and I now hasten to comply with your injunction by answering it as
soon as possible. Not, my Dear Girl, that it can be in the least
irksome to me to write to you, on the Contrary it will always prove my
Greatest pleasure, but I am sorry that I am afraid my correspondence
will not prove the most entertaining, for I have nothing that I can
relate to you, except my affection for you, which I can never
sufficiently express, therefore I should tire you, before I had half
satisfied myself. Ah, How unhappy I have hitherto been in being so
long separated from so amiable a Sister! but fortune has now
sufficiently atoned by discovering to me a relation whom I love, a
Friend in whom I can confide. In both these lights, my Dear Augusta, I
shall ever look upon you, and I hope you will never find your Brother
unworthy of your affection and Friendship.

I am as you may imagine a little dull here; not being on terms of
intimacy with Lord Grey [1] I avoid Newstead, and my resources of
amusement are Books, and writing to my Augusta, which, wherever I am,
will always constitute my Greatest pleasure. I am not reconciled to
Lord Grey, _and I never will_. He was once my _Greatest Friend_, my
reasons for ceasing that Friendship are such as I cannot explain, not
even to you, my Dear Sister, (although were they to be made known to
any body, you would be the first,) but they will ever remain hidden in
my own breast.

They are Good ones, however, for although I am _violent_ I am not
_capricious_ in my _attachments_. My mother disapproves of my
quarrelling with him, but if she knew the cause (which she never will
know,) She would reproach me no more. He Has forfeited all _title to
my esteem_, but I hold him in too much _contempt_ ever _to hate him_.
My mother desires to be kindly remembered to you. I shall soon be in
town to resume my studies at Harrow; I will certainly call upon you in
my way up. Present my respects to Mrs. Harcourt; [2] I am Glad to hear
that I am in her Good Graces for I shall always esteem her on account
of her behaviour to you, my Dear Girl. Pray tell me If you see Lord S.
Osborne, and how he is; what little I know of him I like very much and
If we were better acquainted I doubt not I should like him still
better. Do not forget to tell me how Murray is. As to your Future
prospects, my Dear Girl, _may they be happy_! I am sure you deserve
Happiness and if _you_ do not meet with it I shall begin to think it
is "a bad world we live in." Write to me soon. I am impatient to hear
from you. God bless you, My amiable Augusta, I remain,

Your ever affectionate Brother and Friend,

BYRON.

[Footnote 1: Henry, third Earl of Sussex, died in 1799, when the earldom lapsed. He was, however, succeeded in the ancient barony of Grey de Ruthyn by his daughter's son, Henry Edward, twentieth Baron Grey de Ruthyn (1780-1810), to whom Newstead was let.

"I am glad," writes Mrs. Byron to Hanson, March 10, 1803, "that
Newstead is well let. I cannot find Lord Grey de Ruthin's Title in the
Peerage of England, Ireland, or Scotland. I suppose he is a _new_
Peer."

Lord Grey de Ruthyn married, in 1809, Anna Maria, daughter of William Kelham, of Ryton-upon-Dunsmore, Warwick. (See postscript to Byron's Letter to his mother, August 11, 1809.) The lease of Newstead terminated in April, 1808.]