LIFE OF BYftOtt.
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neighbour and relative, Mr. Chavvorth, in a duel, or,according to one account, in a chance drunkenscuffle.
The boy peer bore his new-blown honours meeklyand with dignity. It is related that the day afterhis accession to his estates and title, he asked hismother “ whether she perceived any difference inhim since he became a lord, since he perceivednone himself.”
But it was different with Mrs. Gordon, Herhead, never one of the steadiest, seems to havebeen quite turned by the sudden change in theirfortunes. She immediately removed to Newstead,and took immense pains to impress upon her sonthat he was now a 16rd.
His earliest experiences of the change in his con-dition were not of a pleasurable character. By anaccident, it is said, at the time of his birth, one ofhis feet had been twisted out of its shape, and thepoor boy had to bear all the torture arising from thestupid mechanical contrivances employed to correctthe deformity. For some time, however, in Scot-land he was released from these foolish experi-ments. Now, however, that he had become a lord,fresh efforts must be made to force the erring limbinto the requisite symmetry. Accordingly, Mrs.Byron availed herself of the services of an im-pudent quack of the name of Lavender, who con-fidently promised to effect the desired transforma-tion. The cruel experiment resulted as the previousone had done—the boy was tortured, but the footwas not improved
The quack having failed, he was conveyed toLondon , where a number of skilful surgeons wereconsulted with the view of rectifying the distortedlimb, but without any advantage to Byron .
About this time, a Mr. Rogers was employed toteach him Latin . From this gentleman he is said tohave derived considerable benefit He was thenplaced in a boarding-school at Dulwich , under aDr. Glennie, a learned and intelligent teacher, who,if it had not been for the almost incessant inter-ference of Mrs. Byron, would have succeeded inmaking him a good classical scholar. After twoyears spent in Dulwich, he was removed to HarrowSchool , where, with the exception of the longvacations, he remained until 1805, when he went toTrinity College, Cambridge . At Harrow, he wassaid to be irregular and turbulent in his habits; butfrequently evincing a frank, noble, and generousspirit, which endeared him to his school-fellows.The natural generosity of his character is shownby the following anecdote;—One of his school-companions at Harrow was the late Sir RobertPeel, to whom Byron was greatly attached. Oneday, a tyrannical boy, a few years older, claimed aright to “ fag ” Peel , who resisted the claim. Butresistance was in vain: the big bully not only sub-dued Peel , but also determined to punish him forbeing refractory; and forthwith proceeded to chas-tise the hoy, by "inflicting a kind of bastinado on theinner fleshy side of Peel 's arm, which, during theoperation, was twisted round in such a manner asto produce a great deal of pain in addition to thatcaused by the stripes. Byron saw and felt for Peel ,who writhed in agony in the grip of his mercilesstormentor. But Byron knew that he was notstrong enough to fight and beat the tyrant; so,with his face reddened with rage, and tears in hiseyes, he advanced to the scene of torture, and withx voice quivering witn emotion, asked the school 1bully if ho would be pleased to tell him how many (
stripes he meant to inflict? *• Why, 1 ’ returned thfiexecutioner, “you little rascal, what is that toyou 5“Because, if you please,” said Byron hold-ing out Ms arm, “ I would take half.”
Another of his Harrow School companions wasthe present Sir George Sinclair . Baronet, of Ulbster.and late Member of Parliament for Caithness. OfSinclair, Byron had a high opinion, and they werevery great friends. In one of his letters, Bvronsays, “The prodigy of our school days was GeorgeSinclair ; he made exercises for half the school,verses at will, and themes without it. He was afriend ofmine , and in the same remove, and usedattimes to beg me to let him do my exercise—a re-quest always most readily accorded upon a pinch,or when I wanted to do something else, which wasusually once an hour. On the other hand, he waspacific, and I savage; so I fought him, or thrashedothers for him, or thrashed himself to make himthrash others, when it was necessary as a point ofhonour and stature that he should so chastise; orwe talked politics, for he was a great politician ,and were very good friends. I have some of hisletters written to me still.”
_ At Cambridge he spent two years. His irregula-rities were a source of great annoyance to theUniversity dons. He kept a bear and several bull-dogs, all of which, bear and dogs, he named aftersome of the academical authorities.
While yet at college, he brought out a thin quartovolume of poems (some of which were said to behighly improper) for private circulation. Of thisvolume, it is said that there are not now more thantwo or three copies in existence. This first literaryadventure was made in 1806.
The year following was destined to be an im-portant epoch in his life. The publication of tha“Hours of Idleness,” in 1807, may be said to havebeen the greeat turning-point of Lord Byron 'scareer. Though, from its own intrinsic merits, thework must be pronounced a miserable failure;though, from anything it contains, it would be im-possible either for the most intelligent critic ormost partial friend to predict the future splendourof fame achieved by the author of “ Chiide Harold'’and “Don Juan:” yet his volume of boyish versewas the means of fairly launching him upon a life-long voyage of literary enterprise, which, thoughthe poet perished in his prime,'resulted in wreath-ing his name in the unfading laurel of poetic im-mortality.
At the time of the publication of the “ Hours ofIdleness,” the “Edinburgh Review,” then only inits twenty-first number, was fiercely Whiggisb,almost Radical in'its politics. It has, therefore,been surmised that the mere fact of the author'sname on the title page, “ George Gordon, LordByron , a Minor,” induced the “EdinburghReviewer”to apply the literary scapel in his most mercilessmanner. Be this, however, as it may, the review iscertainly severe, almost savage, inits contemptuouscomments on the boyish production. This celebratedarticle is a very short one; only four pages and ahalf being devoted to the book. But a great dealofvirulent and irritating matter may be condensedinto even a briefer space. The reviewer begins bysaying, “ The poesy of this young lord belongs tothe class which neither gods nor men are said topermit;” and after quoting a few of the very worstlines as specimens, and having indulged in somesarcastic counsel to the noble author, he concludesthus:—“But whatever judgment may be passed