sort of imputation on her brother's memory, Mr. Moore, with a spirit and generosity which the better part of mankind will be at no loss to appreciate, placed the manuscript in the lady's hands, and permitted her to burn it in his presence! This sacrifice of self-interest to lofty feeling was made on the 17th of May, and the next morning the two thousand pounds were repaid to Mr. Murray by Lord Byron's selfdestituted legatee.

To supply the deficiency occasioned by the loss of the Memoirs this history has been written, and it has been thought that no means could be more likely to effect its object than by putting the public in a situation to judge for themselves of the noble bard's merits; and since that appeal, which he had prepared with his own hand, to be offered to those who should survive him, has been buried with him, his works must speak for him; and the history of his poetry must furnish forth the history of his life, accompanied by particulars derived from private and peculiar sources, and which have never yet been laid before the public.

Great as his loss would have been at any time, it is more to be regretted at this period, when he seemed to be about to lay aside for ever the extravagances which had marked his character, and to devote the energies of his exalted mind and his whole fortune to one of the noblest causes that ever called forth the sympathy of freemen.

Such, however, is the uncertainty of mortal events—such the disappointments which lie in wait to check the most honorable enterprises!

'Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)

To scorn delights and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,

And think to burst out into sudden blaze,

Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears
And slits the thin-spun life.'-

CHAPTER I.

THE late Lord Byron was descended from a family more геmarkable for its antiquity, and for the heroism and talent which have at all times distinguished its various brauches, than for the extent of the possessions which have been annexed to it. If it were worth

while, it would be easy to trace the ancestors of the late noble poet to those days of chivalry, when, the darkness of the age precluding men of ardent genius from the intellectual exertions which they now make with so much success, they carved themselves a lasting reputation by their bravery and prowess. It may, however, be sufficient for our present purpose only to remark, that the Byron family is at least as honorable as it is ancient; and that in England its history commences with the period of the Conquest, when we find that there were two nobles bearing the name of Buron, or Byron, in both of which ways it seems to have been commonly written. The consanguinity of these barons is not clearly made out; but that they were important personages, as well from their achievements as from the magnitude of their respective domains, is satisfactorily known. The more important of these barons, and that one from whom his English pedigree is to be traced, was Ralph de Burun, who, in the reign of William the Conqueror, held Horestan Castle, in the park of Horseley, and was besides the lord of other very extensive domains in the counties of Derby and Nottingham. He was succeeded by his son Hugh de Burun in his title and estates. The eldest son of the latter, who was also called Hugh de Burun, almost as soon as he had reached man's estate, devoted himself to a religious life; and, having joined with his father in alienating a considerable portion of the family estate to the use of the Lenton Priory, in Nottinghamshire, he professed himself a monk of that religious establishment, and assumed the name of De Meschines. The diminished patrimony and the honours of his house then descended on his brother, Roger de Burun, who seemed also to be smitten with the family passion for giving to the Church some portion of their property; for, in the reign of Henry II. he appears to have granted lands to the mouastery of Swiusted. John de Horestan, one of the members of this family, was distinguished among the English Crusaders under Richard I. for his zeal and courage. He fell at the siege of Askalon, and was buried in the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In the reign of Henry II. we find the family name written Biron, or Byron, instead of Burun, and thus it has remained ever since. Robert de Byron, the son of the last-mentioned Roger, added largely to the family possessions by his marriage with the heiress of the wealthy family of the Claytons, of Clayton, in Lancashire, at which place the family seat continued to be until the reign of Henry VIII. From Robert de Byron the glory of the family was transmitted by a succession of warriors, who all bore a prominent part in the domestic and

Published by J. Robins and Co. London, November 5, 1824.

foreign contests in which the nation was engaged. In the reign of Henry VIII. we find Sir John Byron Constable of Nottingham Castle and Master of Sherwood Forest. He seems to have held a high place in the favour of his sovereign, as well by the offices which were intrusted to him as by the share he received of the spoils which the rapacity of the tyrant tore from the Church. On the dissolution of the religious houses, the church and priory of Newstead, the adjacent 'manor of Papelwick, and the Church patronage, annexed to it, with certain other lands, were granted by Henry VIII. in the thirty-second year of his reign, to this Sir John Byron.

This abbey of Newstead, or De Novo Loco, was founded in the year 1170, by Henry II. as a Priory of Black Canons, and dedicated to the Holy Virgin. Its revenues had been increased by various benefactions, so that, at the Dissolution, they were estimated at about two hundred pounds. Sir John immediately fitted up part of the edifice; but the church was suffered to go to decay, though the south aisle was actually incorporated into the dwelling-house, and now contains some of the most habitable apartments. It has remained the family seat from the period we have mentioned to the present time; but, owing to some unfortunate family differences between the grandfather and the father of the late Lord Byron, the elder nobleman was induced to sell every thing belonging to the mansion, and not only to suffer every part, both of the house and grounds, to go to decay, but even to dilapidate great part of it, until he was stopped by an injunction in Chancery. During the minority of the late Lord Byron it remained nearly in this state; and even when he came of age his finances were not adequate to the task of repairing and restoring it thoroughly. Although much has been done to it since, its appearance is not greatly altered from that described in the following account, which was written in the year 1812. Lord Byron's poetry has rendered every thing relating to Newstead Abbey interesting; and it is impossible to read this description of the halls of his ancestors without feeling that its local peculiarities must have had a considerable share in producing that romantic and melancholy tone which pervades the greater and the better part of his productions:

The front of the abbey church has a most noble and majestic appearance, being built in the form of the west end of a cathedral, adorned with rich carvings and lofty pinnacles.

The castellated stables and offices are still to be seen, as the visitor enters into a sombre deserted court-yard, in the midst of which is a