ill-fated Amelia should have died literally of a broken heart, after giving birth to two daughters, one of whom only survived her mother.

In 1785, Mr. Byron took for a second wife, Miss Gordon, a Scotch lady of noble descent, being nearly allied to the Ducal House of that name, and herself heiress to an estate at Rayne, in the district of Garioch, near Aberdeen; which, however, fell a prey to the extravagances of her husband, who then cruelly abandoned his wife and child, and, to avoid his creditors, went to Valenciennes, where he died on the second of August, 1791. His widow lived long enough to see her son received into the House of Lords, as the legitimate claimant of the Barony of Byron; but though she had the pleasure also to witness the opening of his splendid talents, she was denied the satisfaction of embracing him in her last moments, dying in Scotland, while he was on his travels, in 1811.

CHAPTER II.

Early life of Lord Byron.-Character of Isabella, Countess of Carlisle.-His Lordship's studies at Harrow, and respect for his Tutor.—His opinion of the poetic Classics controverted.-Removal to Cambridge, and reflections upon that University.

ON the death of William, the fifth Lord Byron, without male issue, the title and estates, at least those which remained attached to the barony, devolved upon George Gordon, the only son of the last-mentioned John Byron, then a child of ten years old, being born January 22, 1788.

The old lord lived many years, after his unfortunate affair with Mr. Chaworth, a life of absolute seclusion in the country, hated by his tenantry, at war with his neighbours, and separated from all his family. He

suffered the paternal mansion to fall into a state of ruin; and, as far as lay in his power, he alienated the lands which should have kept it in repair. Eccentricity, indeed, seems to have distinguished the whole blood; for his sister Isabella, late Countess of Carlisle, and mother of the present earl, was a woman of singular genius, and as singular habits. She wrote a charming copy of verses, addressed to Mrs. Greville, on her "Ode to Indifference," which, with other poetical effusions of her ladyship's pen, are in Pearch's collection. After shining for a long period in the circle of fashion as one of its most lively and fascinating luminaries, she suddenly retired, and in a manner shut herself up from the world; which made the late Mr. Fox, in one of his sportive productions, characterize her severely enough, as

"Carlisle recluse in pride and rags."

Of the talents of her son the public has long possessed ample proofs, in a volume of poems, and the nervous tragedy of "The Father's Revenge;" which last was submitted to the judgment of Dr. Johnson, a little before his death, and received his approbation.

38

INTRIGUES WITH

ter of any man or woman into suspicion, for he was a spendthrift, a gambler, and a debauchee.

In 1778, an affair happened which occasioned much noise in the upper circles of life, and brought the subject of this narrative before the public, in a manner that excited more than common indignation. The late Duke of Leeds, then Marquess of Carmarthen, married in 1773, Amelia, the only daughter of the Earl of Holdernesse, and never to appearance was there a happier couple. Two or three years after the marriage, the marquess was taken with a violent fever at Bath, when such was the anxiety of his lady, that she watched by him herself, both day and night, with an assiduity of attention that brought her own life in danger. The Marquess was not insensible to this proof of affection, which he endeavoured to repay, after his recovery, by a correspondent concern for the happiness of one who had shown so much regard for him, in the hour of danger.

They lived together after this in the utmost harmony; and any insinuation reflecting upon the fidelity

MARCHIONESS OF CARMARTHEN.

39

of the lady, would have drawn from her lord the keenest expressions of insulted honour. Yet while the Marquess was thus wrapped up in the fullest confidence of his partner's virtue, those around them

1

saw a strange alteration in the deportment of her ladyship. Her intimacy with Jack Byron excited surprise, in all who knew the profligacy of his character; and as he took no pains to keep his conquest a secret, the illicit connexion was soon hinted abroad. The Marquess could not avoid hearing of the reports that were in circulation; but such was his opinion of his wife's affection for him, manifested so strongly in his late illness; so fully was he persuaded of the innate purity of her mind, fortified by the principles of religion, and the noble example of her parents, that he treated the rumours which were spread about, as the malignant effusions of envy, contrived by wicked minds to destroy his felicity. But this incredulity on the part of the husband, and his unabated kindness amidst the talk which his consort's behaviour had produced, facilitated a complete detection, by throwing the criminal parties off their guard. One day when the Marquess was in the country, her ladyship delivered a letter to her footman to carry to Captain