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CHAPTER 3.
THE POET’S BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS.
Captain Byron met his second wife at Bath. He could not have been attracted by her beauty, for she had none to boast of. She is described as being “small and plump, with a large nose and too high a colour.” She was, however, an heiress, her father having left her an estate, and some shares in a bank. This lady was Catherine Gordon of Gight, Aberdeenshire. She was of noble birth, and very proud of her descent. She claimed as an ancestor Sir William Gordon, the son of the Earl of Huntly and Anabella Stuart, who was sister of King James the Second. The story of her family, however, is one of tragedy. One Gordon was drowned, another murdered, another hanged, and George Gordon, her father, it is supposed, committed suicide by drowning himself in the Bath canal. It was at Bath that she married Captain Byron on May 13th, 1784.
After their marriage they settled at Gight. The friends and relatives of Catherine were not at all disposed to welcome them. They looked with suspicion upon the stranger, who very soon proved himself to be an unworthy husband. The religious susceptibilities of the people of Gight were outraged by his habits of dissipation, and it became evident before many months had passed that the Gordon fortune was quickly disappearing. At the end of little more than a year Captain and Mrs. Byron left Gight, and after a short stay in England fled from their creditors to France.
Catherine devoted herself to the care of Augusta, the daughter of her husband by Lady Conyers, nursing her through a very serious illness, whilst “Mad Jack," as her husband was called, abandoned himself to gambling and reckless extravagance.
In 1787 arrangements had to be made for the birth of their firstborn. Augusta went to her grandmother, Lady Holderness, and Catherine Gordon journeyed to England for her confinement. She found herself lodging in London, and at sixteen Holles Street—a house since unfortunately demolished—she gave birth to her only child, on January 22, 1788, in circumstances of pitiable distress. He was named George Gordon Byron.
Mrs. Byron was only twenty-three, and she found upon reaching England, that her income had been reduced to £150 a year. Soon after the birth of her child she made plans to return to Scotland, and eventually settled down in furnished rooms at Aberdeen. Her husband did not accompany her, but joined her at a later date. They lived in separate lodgings, content to meet upon occasions. John Byron was after money, and eventually he obtained enough from his wife and his sister, Mrs. Leigh, to enable him to go to France. Mrs. Leigh had a house at Valenciennes, and there he settled until 1791 when he died in poverty and wretchedness.
Mrs. Byron professed to be much overcome by the news of his death. She declared that had she known of his illness she would have gone to him. “Notwithstanding all his foibles,” she wrote, “I ever sincerely loved him.”
Without wishing to do injustice to Mrs. Byron, it is impossible not to regret the unfortunate character of the early surroundings of George Gordon. She was in every way a most unsuitable guardian for the early days of his life. Although she was affectionate towards him in her own way, her impulsiveness and evil temper had disastrous results upon one with such a complex and difficult nature. Her uneven temperament prompted her at one moment to fondle him with extravagant affection, and the next to make him the target of her uncontrolled passion. Her frequent reference to his lameness he could not forget, and it never ceased to rankle in his heart. It is hardly conceivable that a mother, who had any affection at all for her child, could upbraid him for a physical deformity for which she may have been responsible.
In his fifth year George Gordon was sent to school. The school was near his home, and was kept by a Mr. Bowers, who did not even possess the ordinary qualifications of a teacher. His mother, dissatisfied with his progress, arranged for him to have private tuition. One of his tutors, named Ross, was “a pious little Minister” with gentle manners. He handled his pupil tactfully, and to him the boy very largely owed his love of history. His other master, who was of humble birth, was a classical scholar, who gave him his first lessons in Latin.
His studies were continued at Aberdeen Grammar School. He seems to have been popular with his companions. Despite his lameness, he excelled in games, and his courage won the admiration of all. Although he was an intelligent boy, he did not make the progress which he might have done, but his love of reading stood him in good stead, and he thereby acquired knowledge on lines of his own. He seized every available opportunity for reading, but was careful not to give the impression that he was a student. He delighted to pose as an idle dilletante, even at this early stage of his life.
There was a short interruption in his education when he was eight years of age. After an attack of scarlet fever, his mother took him to the Highlands. The mountains and the landscapes made a tremendous impression upon him, and he loved to wander in the glens and climb the slopes of the hills. He was no doubt handicapped by his lameness, but he did not allow it to interfere with his passion for roving. He tells us himself that this short stay in the Highlands first kindled his love of mountainous countries.
In 1794 his cousin died in Corsica, and he became the heir to his great uncle, William. The knowledge of this fact tended to develop in him a sense of self-importance, which did not upon occasions show itself to his advantage.
The “Wicked Lord” died in 1798, and George Gordon Byron became the sixth baron. Soon after the news of his uncle’s death arrived, his mother made arrangements for him to leave Aberdeen, and journey with her to Newstead to enter upon his inheritance.