his excesses, and his person outlawed for debt, either from necessity or choice, he sought an asylum in the woods and forests, with which immense tracts, especially in the northern parts of the kingdom, were at that time covered. Here he either found or was afterwards joined by a number of persons in similar circumstances, who appear to have considered and obeyed him as their chief or leader.

His company, in process of time. consisted of a hundred archers; men, says Major, "most skillful in battle, whom four times that number of the boldest fellows durst not attack." His manner of recruiting was somewhat singular; for in the words of an old writer, "whersoever he hard of any that were of unusual strength and hardines,' he would desgyse himselfe, and. rather then fayle, go lyke a begger, to become acquaynted with them; and, after he had tryed them with fyghting; never give them over tyl he had used means to drawe them to lyve after his fashion:" a practice of which numerous instances are recorded in the more common and popular songs, where, indeed, he seldom fails to receive a sound beating. In shooting with the long bow, which they chiefly practised, "they excelled all the men of the land; though, as occasion required, they had also other weapons."

That our hero and his companions, while they lived in the woods, had recourse to robbery for their better support is neither to be concealed nor to be denied. Testimonies to this purpose, indeed would be equally endless and unnecessary. Fordun in the fourteenth century calls him," ille famossisimus siccarius," that most celebrated robber, and Major terms him and Little John, "famatissimi latrones." But it is to be remembered, according to the confession of the latter historian, that, in these exertions of power, he took away the goods of rich men only; never killing any person, unless he was attacked or resisted that he would not suffer a woman to be maltreated; nor ever took any thing from the poor, but charitably fed them with the wealth he drew from the abbots. I disapprove, says he, of the rapine of the man; but he was the most humane and the prince of all robbers.

Notwithstanding, however, the aversion in which he appears to have held the clergy of every denomination, he was a man of exemplary piety, according to the notions of that age, and retained a domestic chaplain (Friar Tuck, no doubt) for diurnal celebration of the divine mysteries. This we learn from an anecdote preserved by Fordun, as an instance of those actions which the historian allows to deserve commendation. One day, as he heard mass, which he was most devoutly accustomed to do. (nor would he, in whatever necessity, suffer the office to be interrupted,) he was espied by a certain sheriff and officers belonging to the King, who had frequently before molested him, in that most secret recess of the wood where he was at mass. Some of his people, who perceived what was going forward, advised him to fly with all speed, which out of reverence to the sacrament, which he was then most devoutly worshipping, he absolutely refused to do. But the rest of his men having fled for fear of death, Robin confiding solely in him whom he reverently worshipped, with a very few, who by chance were present, set upon his enemies, whom he easily vanquished; and, being enriched with their spoils and ransom, he always held the ministers of the church and masses in greater veneration ever after.

Having for a long series of years, maintained a sort of independent sovereignty, and set kings, judges, and magistrates at defiance, a proclamation was published, offering a considerable reward for bringing him in, either dead or alive; which, however, seems to have been productive of no greater success than former attempts for that purpose. At length the infirmities of old age increasing upon him, and desirous to be relieved in a fit of sickness, by being let blood, he applied for that purpose to the prioress of Kirkley's Nunnery, in Yorkshire, his relation, (women, and particularly religious women, being in those times, somewhat better skilled in surgery than the sex is at present,) by whom he was treacherously suffered to bleed to death. This event happened on the 18th of November, 1247, being the 31st year of King Henry III, and (if the date assigned to his birth be correct) about the eighty-seventh of his age. He was interred under some trees, at a short distance from the house; a stone placed over his grave, with an inscription to his memory.

Byron's Signature.

LORD BYRON.

GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON, the celebrated poet, was born in London, January 22d, 1788. The English branch of the family came in with William the Conqueror, and were distinguished from that era till modern time for the extent of their possessions. The ancestors of the poet during the civil wars espoused the cause of Charles I, for which they received various honors. Captain Byron, the father of the poet, led such a profligate life that his parents discarded him long before his death. The first wife of Captain Byron having died of a broken heart, occasioned by his brutal treatment, he married Miss Catharine Gordon, a Scottish lady and an heiress, who was the mother of the poet.

The fortune of Mrs. Byron, which consisted of upwards of £23,000, and which appears to have been the only motive of her despicable husband's connection in marriage, was, for the most part, wasted in two years. He died in 1797, "greatly," it is stated, "to the gratification of all who knew him." Mrs. Byron took up her residence in Aberdeen, where her son received his earlier education. "In the few reminiscences preserved of his life," says Mr. Galt, "it is remarkable that he appears in this period, commonly of innocence and playfulness, rarely to have evinced any symptom of generous feeling. Silent rages, moody sullenness, and revenge are the general characteristics of his conduct as a boy.

By the death of William, the fifth Lord Byron (called for his vindictiveness, the "wicked Lord,") his title and estate descended to the subject of this notice in 1798, who, with his mother, left Aberdeen for Newstead. The mother of Byron appears to have been a woman without judgment or self-command; alternately spoiling her child by indulgence, irritating him by her self-willed obstinacy, or disgusting him by her fits of drunkenness. She being a short and corpulent person, she rolled in her gait, and would, in her rage, sometimes endeavor to catch him for the purpose of inflicting punishment, while he ran round the room, mocking her menaces and mimicking her motion. Having a deformed foot, his mother, in one of her fits of passion, called him a "lame brat," an expression he never appears to have forgiven.*

Byron for four years attended a school at Harrow. Here he formed a romantic attachment for Mary Chaworth, who was several years older than himself. She, however, "jilted him," and married some one else. At age of sixteen he became a student in Trinity College, Cambridge. About this period his poetic talents began to develope themselves, and he published a small volume, entitled, "The Hours of Idleness," in the obscure market-town press of Newark. A copy was somehow communicated to one of the Edinburgh critics, who, in the "Edinburgh Review," came out with an article replete with satire, and unjust insinuations, which could not but be extremely cutting to the author's feelings. It had the effect of rousing the indignation of Byron, and of his putting forth all his energies of retaliation and revenge which he so spiritedly inflicted in his satire of "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers."

When his satire was ready for the press, he carried it with him

*Byron was extremely sensitive to whatever related to his personal appearance. In conversing with a person in the vicinity of Newstead Abbey, who had been employed on the estate when Byron resided there, he informed me, that his Lordship, fearing he was getting too fleshy to appear well, would occasionally wrap himself up in a blanket, lay down on a heap of horse litter, and then have himself covered up with the same, till he sweat profusely, in order to sweat off what he deemed his superfluous flesh.

to London, where it was published anonymously, and created quite a sensation in the literary world. He at this time took his seat in the House of Lords previous to his going abroad. After an absence of more than two years in Portugal, Spain and Greece, he returned and published the two first cantos of "Childe Harold," and not long after, the "Giaour," "Bride of Abydos," and "Corsair." In January, 1815, Lord Byron was married to Miss Milbanke. With a person of Byron's principles and disposition, nothing less could have been expected than that this union would prove unhappy. They soon separated, and Lady Byron returned to her father's house.

Byron left England in 1816, and travelling through Switzerland to Italy resided several years at Venice, Rome, and Genoa. For the most part during this period, he led a dissolute and profligate life in open contempt of the principles of morality which govern men of virtuous lives. During this period he completed

This engraving shows the appearance of Hucknall Torkard Church, in which the remains of Lord Byron are deposited, about three miles from Newstead Abbey, and about eight north-west from Nottingham. The village, consisting of perhaps some sixty or seventy ordinary looking houses, irregularly situated, is unpleasant in its general appearance. The church, an ancient-looking structure, would seat perhaps five or six hundred persons. A person is struck with the fact of finding the same names on the monuments in the church-yard as he would find in almost any grave-yard in New England, and he would find none legible more ancient than those usually found in the older settlements. The following inscription is copied from one in this yard:"In memory of GEORGE, son of James and Hannah Hibbard, who died January 28th, 1851, aged twenty-three years."

He labor'd in the fields his bread to gain,

He plough'd, he sow'd, he reap'd the yellow grain,
And now by death from future service driven,

Is gone to keep his harvest-home in heaven.

his "Childe Harold," and composed several other poems. His "Don Juan" was commenced in Venice and was continued till the author left Pisa. This last production, describing the progress of a sentimental libertine, is in many parts an obscene publication, generally supposed to contain much of the author's own experience. In 1823, he proceeded to Greece to take part in the struggles then going on against the Turks. He acquired a distinguished reputation and influence among the Greeks, and died after a short illness at Missolonghi, April 19th, 1824.

On the event of Lord Byron's death, the provisional government of Western Greece ordered that a general mourning should be observed for twenty-one days. The body after being embalmed was sent to Zante, and from thence was transported to London, where it lay in state for several days. The friends of Lord Byron having intimated a wish that his remains might be deposited in Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's Church, those great national receptacles of the illustrious dead, the proper authorities refused permission, on account of his Lordship's dissolute life and writings.

His remains were conveyed by slow stages from London to Nottingham. Here they again lay in state and were visited by curious thousands. His funeral took place July 16th, and was attended by the corporation of Nottingham, and an immense multitude of persons from the neighborhood. The doors of Hucknall Church were thrown wide open, and great numbers were there at an early hour, to look at the vault which was to be the last resting place of one so celebrated. The following inscriptiou is on a plain Grecian tablet of white marble :

"In the vault beneath, where many of his ancestors and his Mother are buried, lie the remains of George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron of Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster, the Author of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." He was born in London, on the 22d of January, 1788. He died at Missolonghi, in Western Greece, on the 19th of April, 1824, engaged in the glorious attempt to restore that country to her ancient freedom and renown. His sister, the Honorable Augusta Mary Leigh, placed this tablet to his memory."

Newstead Abbey is situated about nine miles north of Nottingham, and five south of Mansfield. The visitor from Nottingham may reach it by the Mansfield Road, or by railway to Linby Station. The Hut, a celebrated inn on the Nottingham and Mansfield Road, stands on the border of an open tract of Sherwood Forest, a mile east of the Abbey. Past the Hut, is Fountain Dale, once the abode of Friar Tuck. Newstead Abbey was originally a friary of Black Canons, and was founded by Henry II, 1170: at its dissolution it was granted to Sir John Byron, Lieutenant of Sherwood Forest. It is "one of the finest specimens in existence of those quaint and romantic piles, half castle, half convent, which remain as monuments of the olden times of England." It sustained a siege from the Parliamentary forces, and was confiscated by the Puritans after the execution of Charles: the Abbey was restored by

Newstead Abbey, the Residence of Lord Byron.

Charles II to Lord Byron, who had been raised to the peerage for his loyalty by the first Charles. It descended to the most famous member of the family, the late Lord Byron, by whom, in 1815, it was sold for £140,000, to T. Clawton, Esq., who was unable to make good the purchase; in 1818, however, Colonel Wildman, the present occupant, bought it for about £100,000. The gallant Colonel, who is one of the heroes of Waterloo, animated by warm and heartfelt admiration of Byron's genius, has expended immense sums in repairing the Abbey, and in many cases rebuilding the farm-houses on the estate. Among the objects of interest are a noble oak tree, in front of the entrance gates to the park, a remnant of the old forest; the upper lake, formed by obstructing the waters of the Leen, which rises in this neighborhood; the lower lake, past which a winding path leads to the aviary; a pond, which was much esteemed and used by Lord Byron; two leaden statues in the woods of Pan and a female Satyr; the tree on which Byron and his sister carved their names; the woods planted by the "wicked Lord Byron," sometimes called "Devil Byron; "the marble monument reared by Byron over the remains of his dog Boatswain; and an oak tree in the gardens planted by the poet, in 1798, on his arrival at the Abbey, and which he fancifully associated with his personal fortunes. In the interior of the Abbey, the pilgrim is shown the entrance hall, the monks' parlor, or reception room, Lord Byron's bed-room, the haunted chamber, the library, the eastern corridor, the tapestry bed-room, the tapestry dressing-room, King Edward the Third's bed-room, King Henry the Seventh's lodgings, the Duke of Sussex's sitting-room, the grand dininghall, the breakfast room, the cloister, the chapel, and the servant's hall.