The Works of Lord Byron, vol 1 | Page 7

(Hist, of the Rebellion, 1807, i. 216) as "a person of great
affability and dexterity, as well as martial knowledge." He was
Governor of Carlisle, and afterwards Governor of Chester. His nephew
and heir-at-law, Sir John Byron, of Clayton, K.B. (1599-1652), was
raised to the peerage as Baron Byron of Rochdale, after the Battle of
Newbury, October 26, 1643. He held successively the posts of
Lieutenant of the Tower, Governor of Chester, and, after the expulsion
of the Royal Family from England, Governor to the Duke of York. He
died childless, and was succeeded by his brother Richard, the second
lord, from whom the poet was descended. Five younger brothers, as
Richard's monument in the chancel of Hucknall Torkard Church
records, "faithfully served King Charles the First in the Civil Wars,
suffered much for their loyalty, and lost all their present fortunes." (See
Life of Lord Byron, by Karl Elze: Appendix, Note (A), p. 436.)]
[Footnote i: 'On Leaving N ... ST ... D.'--[4to] 'On Leaving
Newstead.'--('P. on V. Occasions.')]
[Footnote ii:
'Through the cracks in these battlements loud the winds whistle For the
hall of my fathers is gone to decay;
And in yon once gay garden the
hemlock and thistle
Have choak'd up the rose, which late bloom'd in
the way'.
[4to]]
[Footnote iii:
'Of the barons of old, who once proudly to battle'.
[4to]]

[Footnote iv:
'For Charles the Martyr their country defending'.
[4to. 'P. on V. Occasions'.]]
[Footnote v: 'Bids ye adieu!' [4to]]
[Footnote vi: 'Though a tear dims.' [4to]]
[Footnote vii: ''Tis nature, not fear, which commands his regret'. [4to]]
[Footnote viii: 'In the grave he alone can his fathers forget'. [4to]]
[Footnote ix: 'Your fame, and your memory, still will he cherish'. [4to]]
TO E---[1]
Let Folly smile, to view the names
Of thee and me, in Friendship
twin'd;
Yet Virtue will have greater claims
To love, than rank with
vice combin'd.
And though unequal is thy fate,
Since title deck'd my higher birth;

Yet envy not this gaudy state,
Thine is the pride of modest worth.
Our souls at least congenial meet,
Nor can thy_ lot _my rank disgrace;

Our intercourse is not less sweet,
Since worth of rank supplies the
place.
November, 1802.
[Footnote 1: E---was, according to Moore, a boy of Byron's own age,
the son of one of the tenants at Newstead.]
ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY, [1]
COUSIN TO THE
AUTHOR, AND VERY DEAR TO HIM.
1.

Hush'd are the winds, and still the evening gloom,
Not e'en a zephyr
wanders through the grove,
Whilst I return to view my Margaret's
tomb,
And scatter flowers on the dust I love.
2.
Within this narrow cell reclines her clay,
That clay, where once such
animation beam'd;
The King of Terrors seiz'd her as his prey;
Not
worth, nor beauty, have her life redeem'd.
3.
Oh! could that King of Terrors pity feel,
Or Heaven reverse the dread
decree of fate,
Not here the mourner would his grief reveal,
Not
here the Muse her virtues would relate.
4.
But wherefore weep? Her matchless spirit soars
Beyond where
splendid shines the orb of day;
And weeping angels lead her to those
bowers,
Where endless pleasures virtuous deeds repay.
5.
And shall presumptuous mortals Heaven arraign!
And, madly,
Godlike Providence accuse!
Ah! no, far fly from me attempts so
vain;--
I'll ne'er submission to my God refuse.
6.
Yet is remembrance of those virtues dear,
Yet fresh the memory of
that beauteous face;
Still they call forth my warm affection's tear,

Still in my heart retain their wonted place. [i]
1802.
[Footnote 1: The author claims the indulgence of the reader more for

this piece than, perhaps, any other in the collection; but as it was
written at an earlier period than the rest (being composed at the age of
fourteen), and his first essay, he preferred submitting it to the
indulgence of his friends in its present state, to making either addition
or alteration.--[4to]
"My first dash into poetry was as early as 1800. It was the ebullition of
a passion for--my first cousin, Margaret Parker (daughter and
granddaughter of the two Admirals Parker), one of the most beautiful
of evanescent beings. I have long forgotten the verse; but it would be
difficult for me to forget her--her dark eyes--her long
eye-lashes--her
completely Greek cast of face and figure! I was then about twelve--she
rather older, perhaps a year. She died about a year or two afterwards, in
consequence of a fall, which injured her spine, and induced
consumption ... I knew nothing of her illness, being at Harrow and in
the country till she was gone. Some years after, I made an attempt at an
elegy--a very dull one."--Byron Diary, 1821; Life, p. 17.
[Margaret Parker was the sister of Sir Peter Parker, whose death at
Baltimore, in 1814, Byron celebrated in the "Elegiac Stanzas," which
were first published in the poems attached to the seventh edition of
Childe Harold.]
[Footnote i: Such