Chapter Butler to Byron of B by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

cantos of Don Juan were written between 1818 and 1820, during which period he made the acquaintance of the Countess Guiccioli, whom he persuaded to leave her husband. It was about this time that he received a visit from Moore, to whom he confided his MS. autobiography, which Moore, in the exercise of the discretion left to him, burned in 1824. His next move was to Ravenna, where he wrote much, chiefly dramas, including Marino Faliero. In 1821-22 he finished Don Juan at Pisa, and in the same year he joined with Leigh Hunt in starting a short-lived newspaper, The Liberal, in the first number of which appeared The Vision of Judgment. His last Italian home was Genoa, where he was still accompanied by the Countess, and where he lived until 1823, when he offered himself as an ally to the Greek insurgents. In July of that year he started for Greece, spent some months in Cephalonia waiting for the Greeks to form some definite plans. In January, 1824, he landed at Missolonghi, but caught a malarial fever, of which he died on April 19, 1824.

The final position of Byron in English literature is probably not yet settled. It is at present undoubtedly lower than it was in his own generation. Yet his energy, passion, and power of vivid and richly-coloured description, together with the interest attaching to his way-ward and unhappy career, must always make him loom large in the assembly of English writers. He exercised a marked influence on Continental literature, and his reputation as poet is higher in some foreign countries than in his own.

Among edition of the works of Byron may be mentioned Murray’s (13 vols. 1898-1904). Moore’s Life (1830), Lady Blessington’s Conversations with Lord Byron (1834, new, 1894).

Summary.—Born 1788, spent childhood in Aberdeen, educated Harrow and Cambridge, published English Bards etc., 1809, Childe Harold first two cantos 1812, married 1815, separated 1816, owing to this and financial difficulties leaves England, meets Shelley, published third canto of Childe Harold 1816, fourth canto 1817, writes Don Juan cantos 1-4 1818-20, lives at various places in Italy 1816-24 with Countess Guiccioli, finished Don Juan 1822, goes to Greece 1823 to assist insurgents, died 1824.

Byron, Henry James (1834-1884).—Dramatist, born at Manchester, entered the Middle Temple, but soon took to writing for the stage, and produced many popular burlesques and extravaganzas. He also wrote for periodicals, and was the first editor of Fun. Among his best dramatic pieces are Cyril’s Success (1868), Our Boys (1875), and The Upper Crust.