THE BYRON FAMILY, FROM THE CONQUEST. Ralph de Burun (estates in Nottingham and Derby). Hugh de Burun (Lord of Horestan). Hugh de Buron (became a monk). Sir Roger de Buron (gave lands to monks of Swinstead). Robert de Byron. Robert de Byron. Sir John Byron (Governor of York under Edward I.). Sir Richard Byron. Sir John (knighted at siege of Calais). Sir John Butler. Sir John (knighted in 3rd year of Henry V.). Alice = Sir Nicholas. Sir John (knighted by Richmond at Milford; fought at Bosworth; died 1488). 2nd wife, widow of George Halgh = Sir Nicholas (made K.B. at marriage of Prince Arthur; died 1503). Sir John Byron (received grant of Newstead from Henry VIII., May 26, 1540). Sir Nicholas Strelleye. Bar Sinister RICHARD (Buried at Hucknall Torkard) RICHARD, 2nd Lord (1805-1679). Isabella = Sir Nicholas (at Edgehill; Governor of Chester; prisoner to the Parliament). Sir JOHN, 1st Lord (created Baron Byron, of Rochdale, Oct. 24, 1843; at Newbury, Edgehill, Chester, &c.; Governor of Duke of York; died at Paris, 1652). Lord Carlisle. Lord Carlisle (the poet's guardian). = John Byron (1751–1791) = 2. Miss Gordon, of Gight. WILLIAM, 5th Lord (1722-1798) (killed Mr. Chaworth; survived his sons and a grandson, who died 1794; called "The wicked Lord"). 1. Marchioness of Carmarthen Admiral John (1723-1786; "Foul-weather Jack"). A daughter. George Anson (1758-1793). GEORGE GORDON, 6th Lord (1788-1824). Married Anna Isabella (1792-1860), daughter of Si Ralph Milbanke and Judith, daughter of Sir Edward Noel (Viscount Wentworth), and by her had Earl Lovelace Augusta-Ada (1815-1852). Mr. Blunt = Lady Anne. Byron Noel (died 1862). Colonel Leigh. Admiral GEORGE ANSON, 7th Lord (1789-1868). Ralph Gordon, now GEORGE F. WILLIAM, 9th and present Lord Byron. Lord Wentworth. L BYRON. CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY AND FAMILY. BYRON'S life was passed under the fierce light that beats upon an intellectual throne. He succeeded in making himself what he wished to be the most notorious personality in the world of letters of our century. Almost every one who came in contact with him has left on record various impressions of intimacy or interview. Those whom he excluded or patronized, maligned; those to whom he was genial, loved him. Mr. Southey, in all sincerity, regarded him as the principle of Evil incarnate; an American writer of tracts in the form of stories is of the same opinion to the Countess Guiccioli he is an archangel. Mr. Carlyle considers him to have been a mere "sulky dandy." Goethe ranks him as the first English poet after Shakespeare, and is followed by the leading critics of France, Italy, and Spain. All concur in the admission that Byron was as proud of his race as of his verse, and that in unexampled measure the good and evil of his nature were inherited and inborn. His genealogy is, therefore, a matter of no idle antiquarianism. B There are legends of old Norse Buruns migrating from their home in Scandinavia, and settling, one branch in Normandy, another in Livonia. To the latter belonged a distant Marshal de Burun, famous for the almost absolute power he wielded in the then infant realm of Russia. Two members of the family came over with the Conqueror, and settled in England. Of Erneis de Burun, who had lands in York and Lincoln, we hear little more. Ralph, the poet's ancestor, is mentioned in Doomsday Book-our first authentic record-as having estates in Nottinghamshire and Derby. His son Hugh was lord of Horestan Castle in the latter county, and with his son of the same name, under King Stephen, presented the church of Ossington to the monks of Lenton. The latter. Hugh joined their order; but the race was continued by his son Sir Roger, who gave lands to the monastery of Swinstead. This brings us to the reign. of Henry II. (1155—1189), when Robert de Byron adopted the spelling of his name afterwards retained, and by his marriage with Cecilia, heir of Sir Richard Clayton, added to the family possessions an estate in Lancashire, where, till the time of Henry VIII., they fixed their seat. The poet, relying on old wood-carvings at Newstead, claims for some of his ancestors a part in the crusades, and mentions a name not apparently belonging to that age Near Ascalon's towers, John of Horestan slumbers a romance, like many of his, possibly founded on fact, but incapable of verification. Two grandsons of Sir Robert have a more substantial fame, having served with distinction in the wars of |