the title to
his brothers, and their male issue, respectively. He was also made
Field-Marshal-General of all his Majesty's forces in Worcestershire,
Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales: nor were these trusts and
honours unwon, for the Byrons, during the Civil War, were eminently
distinguished. At the battle of Newbury, seven of the brothers were
in the field, and all actively engaged.

Sir Richard, the second brother of the first lord, was knighted by
Charles I. for his conduct at the battle of Edgehill, and appointed
Governor of Appleby Castle, in Westmorland, and afterwards of Newark,
which he defended with great honour. Sir Richard, on the death of
his brother, in 1652, succeeded to the peerage, and died in 1679.

His eldest son, William, the third lord, married Elizabeth, the
daughter of Viscount Chaworth, of Ireland, by whom he had five sons,
four of whom died young. William, the fourth lord, his son, was
Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Prince George of Denmark, and married,
for his first wife, a daughter of the Earl of Bridgewater, who died
eleven weeks after their nuptials. His second wife was the daughter
of the Earl of Portland, by whom he had three sons, who all died
before their father. His third wife was Frances, daughter of Lord
Berkley, of Stratton, from whom the poet was descended. Her eldest
son, William, born in 1722, succeeded to the family honours on the
death of his father in 1736. He entered the naval service, and
became a lieutenant under Admiral Balchen. In the year 1763 he was
made Master of the Staghounds; and in 1765, he was sent to the Tower,
and tried before the House of Peers, for killing his relation and
neighbour, Mr Chaworth, in a duel fought at the Star and Garter
Tavern, in Pall-mall.

This Lord William was naturally boisterous and vindictive. It
appeared in evidence that he insisted on fighting with Mr Chaworth in
the room where the quarrel commenced. They accordingly fought
without seconds by the dim light of a single candle; and, although Mr
Chaworth was the more skilful swordsman of the two, he received a
mortal wound; but he lived long enough to disclose some particulars
of the rencounter, which induced the coroner's jury to return a
verdict of wilful murder, and Lord Byron was tried for the crime.

The trial took place in Westminster Hall, and the public curiosity
was so great that the Peers' tickets of admission were publicly sold
for six guineas each. It lasted