| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| [I.] | Ancestors, Parents, and Hereditary Influences | [1] |
| [II.] | Childhood and Schooldays at Aberdeen, Dulwich, and Harrow | [10] |
| [III.] | A Schoolboy’s Love Affairs—Mary Duff, Margaret Parker, and Mary Chaworth | [23] |
| [IV.] | Life at Cambridge and Flirtations at Southwell | [35] |
| [V.] | Revelry at Newstead—“English Bards and Scotch Reviewers” | [50] |
| [VI.] | The Grand Tour—Flirtations in Spain | [63] |
| [VII.] | Florence Spencer Smith | [75] |
| [VIII.] | The Maid of Athens—Mrs. Werry—Mrs. Pedley—The Swimming of the Hellespont | [87] |
| [IX.] | Return to England—Publication of “Childe Harold” | [101] |
| [X.] | The Secret Orchard | [114] |
| [XI.] | Lady Caroline Lamb | [127] |
| [XII.] | The Quarrel with Lady Caroline—Her Character and Subsequent Career | [138] |
| [XIII.] | Lady Oxford—Byron’s Intention of going Abroad with Her | [148] |
| [XIV.] | An Emotional Crisis—Thoughts of Marriage, of Foreign Travel, and of Mary Chaworth | [158] |
| [XV.] | Renewal and Interruption of Relations with Mary Chaworth | [170] |
| [XVI.] | Marriage | [182] |
| [XVII.] | Incompatibility of Temper | [194] |
| [XVIII.] | Lady Byron’s Demand for a Separation—Rumours that “Gross Charges” might be brought, involving Mrs. Leigh | [208] |
| [XIX.] | “Gross Charges” Disavowed by Lady Byron—Separation agreed to | [221] |
| [XX.] | Revival of the Byron Scandal by Mrs. Beecher Stowe and the late Lord Lovelace | [231] |
| [XXI.] | Inherent Improbability of the Charges against Augusta Leigh—The Allegation that she “Confessed”—The Proof that she did nothing of the kind | [240] |
| [XXII.] | Byron’s Departure for the Continent—His Acquaintance with Jane Clairmont | [253] |
| [XXIII.] | Life at Geneva—The Affair with Jane Clairmont | [264] |
| [XXIV.] | From Geneva to Venice—The Affair with the Draper’s Wife | [277] |
| [XXV.] | At Venice—The Affair with the Baker’s Wife—Dissolute Proceedings in the Mocenigo Palace—Illness, Recovery and Reformation | [287] |
| [XXVI.] | In the Venetian Salons—Introduction to Countess Guiccioli | [300] |
| [XXVII.] | Byron’s Relations with the Countess Guiccioli and her Husband at Ravenna | [312] |
| [XXVIII.] | Revolutionary Activities—Removal From Ravenna to Pisa | [324] |
| [XXIX.] | The Trivial Round at Pisa | [336] |
| [XXX.] | From Pisa to Genoa | [345] |
| [XXXI.] | Departure for Greece | [356] |
| [XXXII.] | Death in a Great Cause | [369] |
| Appendix | [375] | |
| Index | [377] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| Lord Byron | [Frontispiece] | |
| The Maid of Athens | To face page | [88] |
| Lady Caroline Lamb | " | [128] |
| Mary Chaworth | " | [174] |
| Lady Byron | " | [222] |
| Countess Guiccioli | " | [302] |
CHAPTER I
ANCESTORS, PARENTS, AND HEREDITARY INFLUENCES
The Byrons came over with the Conqueror, helped him to conquer, and were rewarded with a grant of landed estates in Lancashire. Hundreds of years elapsed before they distinguished themselves either for good or evil, or emerged from the ruck of the landed gentry. There were Byrons at Crecy, and at the siege of Calais; and there probably were Byrons among the Crusaders. There is even a legend of a Byron Crusader rescuing a Christian maiden from the Saracens; but neither the maiden nor the Crusader can be identified. The authentic history of the family only begins with the grant of Newstead Abbey, at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, to Sir John Byron of Clayton, in Lancashire—a reward, apparently, for services rendered by his father at the Battle of Bosworth Field.