wmarket, came up to London on a visit. After a
long interval the brother and sister met, and whether there is or is not
any foundation for the dark story obscurely hinted at in Byron's lifetime,
and afterwards made public property by Mrs Beecher Stowe (_Macmillan's
Magazine_, 1869, pp. 377-396), there is no question as to the depth and
sincerity of his love for his "one relative,"--that her well-being was more
to him than his own. Byron passed the "seasons" of 1813, 1814 in London.
His manner of life we know from his journals. Socially he was on the crest
of the wave. He was a welcome guest at the great Whig houses, at Lady
Melbourne's, at Lady Jersey's, at Holland House. Sheridan and Moore, Rogers
and Campbell, were his intimates and companions. He was a member of the
Alfred, of Watier's, of the Cocoa Tree, and half a dozen clubs besides.
After the publication of _The Corsair_ he had promised an interval of
silence, but the abdication of Napoleon evoked "An Ode," &c., in his
dishonour (April 16); _Lara, a Tale_, an informal sequel to _The Corsair_,
was published anonymously on August 6, 1814.

Newstead had been put up for sale, but pending the completion of the
contract was still in his possession. During his last visit but one, whilst
his sister was his guest, he became engaged to Miss Anna Isabella Milbanke
(b. May 17, 1792; d. May 16, 1860), the only daughter of Sir Ralph
Milbanke, Bart., and the Hon. Judith (born Noel), daughter of Lord
Wentworth. She was an heiress, and in succession to a peerage in her own
right (becoming Baroness Wentworth in 1856). She was a pretty girl of "a
perfect figure," highly educated, a mathematician, and, by courtesy, a
poetess. She had rejected Byron's first offer, but, believing that her
cruelty had broken his heart and that he was an altered man, she was now
determined on marriage. High-principled, but self-willed and opinionated,
she believed that she held her future in her own hands. On her side there
was ambition touched with fancy--on his, a wish to be married and some hope
perhaps of finding an escape from himself. The marriage took place at
Seaham in Durham on the 2nd of January 1815. Bride and bridegroom spent
three months in paying visits, and at the end of March settled at 13
Piccadilly Terrace, London.

Byron was a member of the committee of management of Drury Lane theatre,
and devoted much of his time to his professional duties. He wrote but
little poetry. _Hebrew Melodi