of his works, was produced when the world was kindliest
disposed to set a just value on his talents; and his latter
productions, in which the faults of his taste appear the broadest,
were written when his errors as a man were harshest in the public
voice.

These allusions to the incidents of a life full of contrarieties, and
a character so strange as to be almost mysterious, sufficiently show
the difficulties of the task I have undertaken. But the course I
intend to pursue will relieve me from the necessity of entering, in
any particular manner, upon those debatable points of his personal
conduct which have been so much discussed. I shall consider him, if
I can, as his character will be estimated when contemporary surmises
are forgotten, and when the monument he has raised to himself is
contemplated for its beauty and magnificence, without suggesting
recollections of the eccentricities of the builder.

JOHN GALT.

CHAPTER I

Ancient Descent--Pedigree--Birth--Troubles of his Mother--Early
Education--Accession to the Title

The English branch of the family of Byron came in with William the
Conqueror; and from that era they have continued to be reckoned among
the eminent families of the kingdom, under the names of Buron and
Biron. It was not until the reign of Henry II. that they began to
call themselves Byron, or de Byron.

Although for upwards of seven hundred years distinguished for the
extent of their possessions, it docs not appear, that, before the
time of Charles I., they ranked very highly among the heroic families
of the kingdom.

Erneis and Ralph were the companions of the Conqueror; but
antiquaries and genealogists have not determined in what relation
they stood to each other. Erneis, who appears to have been the more
considerable personage of the two, held numerous manors in the
counties of York and Lincoln. In the Domesday Book, Ralph, the
direct ancestor of the poet, ranks high among the tenants of the
Crown, in Notts and Derbyshire; in the latter county he resided at
Horestan Castle, from which he took his title. One of the lords of
Horestan was a hostage for the payment of the ransom of Richard Coeur
de Lion; and in the time of Edward I., the possessions of his
descendants were augmented by the addition of the Manor of Rochdale,
in Lancashire. On what account this new grant was given has not been
ascertained; nor is it of importance that it should be.

In the wars of the three Edw