KNIGHT AND LACEY, PATERNOSTER ROW: AND L. SMITH. 1825. SHORT ACCOUNT OF LORD BYRON. struggled for, and GENIUS has, all the world over, and more especially in England, generally been found emanating from individuals in humble life. The greatest authors, both in ancient and modern times, have braved the most adverse fortunes, and, in the midst of poverty and want in this frail life, obtained the approbation of ages. Lord Byron, who will now stand prominent in that armament of great men, who glide undiminished in their splendour and fame down the stream of immortality, was an exception to this rule. His biographer will not commence with, "Our poet was born of poor but honest parents," or even " of respectable parents, in the county of," &c.—the usual forms in writing the lives of three-fourths of literary men. Byron was high born,-descended from a long race of warriors and nobles. The history of the family can be traced to the Conquest; for we find, during the reign of William the Conqueror, one Ralph de Buron, Burun, or Byron, who held Herestan Castle, in the Park of Herseley, and besides possessed many manors in the counties of Nottingham and Derby. In the reign of Henry II. we find the family name Biron or Byron, and thus it has remained ever since. At this time the family seat was in Lancashire, but in the reign of Henry VIII. when that "defender of the faith" reformed the church for the benefit of his own conscience and pocket, we find Sir John Byron, constable of Nottingham Castle, and master of Sherwood Forest, presented by his munificent Monarch, in whose favour he must have been far advanced, to the Church and Priory of Newstead, the adjacent manor of Poplewick, and the church patronage annexed to it. This Abbey was founded in the year 1170, by Henry II. as a Priory of Black Canons, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It continued in the family of the Byrons until the time of the late Lord, who sold it first to Mr Claughton for the sum of £140,000, and, on that gentleman's not being able to fulfil the agreement, and thus paying £20,000 of a forfeit, it was afterwards sold to another person, and the greater part of the money vested in trustees for the join ture of the Hon. Mrs Byron.* The greater part of the edifice still remains. The present possessor, Major Wildman, is, with a genuine Gothic taste, repairing this beautiful specimen of architecture. The late Lord Byron repaired a considerable part of it, but, forgetting the roof, he had turned his attention to the inside, and the consequence was, that, in a few years, the rain paying a visit to the apartments, soon destroyed all those elegant devices which his Lordship had contrived. His Lordship's own study was a neat little apartment, decorated with some good classic busts, a select collection of books, an antique cross, a sword in a gilt case, and, at the end of the room, two finely polished skulls on a pair of light fancy stands. In the garden, likewise, was a great number of these skulls taken from the burial-ground of the Abbey, and piled up together; but afterwards they were re-committed to the earth. A writer who visited it soon after Lord Byron had sold it says, "In one corner of the servants' hall lay a stone coffin, in which were fencing gloves and foils; and on * Medwin says, that it was the confusion of his affairs following his marriage that compelled Byron to part with Newstead. This shews that Captain Medwin was a very careless reporter; for Newstead was disposed of long before Byron had any intentions of marrying Miss Milbanke. |