been content to accommodate himself to this. But instead of it, he lived extravagantly, contracted debts, and even gave to others the honorarium he derived from his works. With the best-regulated economy, however, a thorough restoration of Newstead would have far exceeded his means. The sale of Newstead became, therefore, a matter of necessity; and accordingly Byron, in the autumn of 1812, resolved to sell it by auction; but, the sum of 90,000l. only being offered, no sale took place. Two years later a sale was privately agreed upon for 140,000l.; but again the business fell through, the purchaser, as it appears, being unable to pay the purchase-money. Byron received, however, from the latter indemnification to the amount of 25,000l., which he applied, partly, to the liquidation of debts, and partly squandered away. It was at this period (Sept. 1814) that he was at Newstead, probably for the last time, accompanied by his sister, and took farewell of it. He wandered with her through the park, and on a tree with a double stem cut the two names 'Byron' and 'Augusta.' In November 1817, the estate was at last sold, although the formal conveyance of the property was delayed till the summer of the following year. The purchaser was Major (afterwards Colonel)

1 See Dallas' Recollections, p. 249.

2 Moore's Life, iii. 112.

4

3 Ibid. iii. 112.

[The stem on which the names were cut being threatened with decay has been removed by Mr. Webb, and the interesting portion of the trunk is preserved in a glass case at Newstead, on which is inscribed: 'This portion of the tree, on which George Noel Lord Byron engraved his and his sister's names on his last visit to Newstead, was cut from the trunk in 1861, to preserve it from decay.' The names and the date stand thus:

Wildman, the school companion of the poet at Harrow, who had meanwhile served with honour in the wars against Napoleon, and had been present at the battles of Corunna, Pampeluna, Quatre-Bras, and lastly Waterloo. In Colonel Wildman a new era began for Newstead. He regarded it as the darling business of his life, not only to restore the former seat of his celebrated school companion to its ancient glory, in which object he expended above 80,0001.,' but to preserve and cherish all recollections of the Byron family, especially of the poet, with devoted reverence. He looked on himself, especially after Byron's death, to a certain extent, as the guardian of a national monument, and with this feeling exercised the noblest hospitality. At the same time, Colonel Wildman watched over the tenants and labourers, who, according to Washington Irving's expression, had, under the dynasty of the Byrons, borne their part in the general mismanagement and decay, and yet had been too devoted or too dull to tear themselves from their native soil.' He improved and renovated their dwellings, fostered and encouraged their industry, and spread over the whole estate kindness and care,-two good things which had long been wanting to it. The poet, although attached to some individuals among his subordinates and looking to their interests, yet neither heeded nor understood the economical relations of his property; these lay beyond the sphere of his sympathies.

At the time when Colonel Wildman had finished this restoration of Newstead, and while Byron was still alive, there lived in one of the farmhouses an eccentric character who, from Washington Irving's description, has become famous under the name of the little white lady.'

1 Washington Irving's Newstead Abbey, p. 109.

She

2 Among many others, Washington Irving was his guest for three weeks, and wrote during this time his charming book on Newstead.

Day by day

was called Sophia Hyatt, and was the daughter of a country bookseller. She had lost both her parents, and had been deprived of the sense of hearing by a severe illness, which at the same time entailed the almost complete loss of speech; even her vision also was singularly weak. Without relatives and friends (her only brother had died in the West Indies), she was, as it were, excluded from human society, and her only means of support consisted of an annual pension of about 201. which a cousin in London caused to be paid to her, that she might not fall on the parish. This unfortunate person was filled with an enthusiasm bordering on monomania for Byron, whom she had never seen, and for his poetry. she flitted like an owl about the park and around the Abbey, and gave utterance to her dreams in touching though mediocre verses, of which Irving has communicated some specimens. Colonel Wildman and his wife showed a sincere interest in her, and when at last the little white lady' was compelled by necessity to go to her cousin in London, in order to obtain some further aid from him, she handed to Mrs. Wildman a long farewell letter together with a packet of her poems. The letter contained an unreserved statement of her circumstances. Acting in harmony with her husband, Mrs. Wildman decided at once to offer her a permanent home in one of their farmhouses. The servant sent with the message, finding that she had left her home, hastened after her on horseback to Nottingham. The first thing which he saw there, was a crowd of people in the street standing round a person who had met with an accident. It was 'the little white lady,' who had been driven over by a heavy waggon, the approach of which she had not heard: she had died instantly, without suffering.

It only remains briefly to say, that at the death of

Colonel Wildman, the estate was again sold in the year 1860, and became the property of W. F. Webb, Esq. The work of restoration commenced by his predecessor has been continued and perfected in admirable taste by the present proprietor; and the most ardent admirers of the great poet could not desire more touching proofs, that due honour is done to the memory of Byron in his old historical home, than those which meet the eyes of pilgrims from far and near at Newstead.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PILGRIMAGE.

1809-1811.

Ar the beginning of 1809 Byron, having attained his majority, repaired to London to assume his place in the political world, by taking his seat in the House of Lords; in the literary, by the publication of his Satire, by which, as Schiller by his 'Robbers,' he announced to the world that he had reached his intellectual manhood; and lastly in the social, by preparing for his long-intended grand tour.

If Byron had often occasion, during his minority, to feel his friendless and lonely condition, he had now again, when he took his seat in the senate of the realm, to experience the bitterness of his desolation. His guardian and kinsman the Earl of Carlisle, to whom, according to long-established custom, it belonged to introduce the young peer to the House, declined this honorary duty, although Byron had expressly requested him to undertake it. That Byron's demeanour in the mode of making this request had anything to do with this refusal, is nowhere hinted at and must not be assumed. The attack on his guardian in the passage of the Satire originally meant for a panegyric, thus becomes intelligible and in some degree more excusable. Byron had, therefore, to take (March 13) this important step alone; just, however, as he was on the point of getting into his carriage, his