From A Wonderful History of Lord Byron and His Dog, a verse narrative written by close friend and neighbour Elizabeth Pigot in 1807, when Byron was 19 living in Southwell.

He went into the house & sat to writing,
And when he was done, Found Bosen was fighting. 

Because even then, Byron loved dogs more than most people.

#byron  #bosen  #dogs  #elizabeth pigot  

Lord Byron corner, a small café at one of the narrow old streets of Sintra, Portugal.

Lo! Cintra’s glorious Eden intervenes
In variegated maze of mount and glen.
Ah me! what hand can pencil guide, or pen,
To follow half on which the eye dilates
Through views more dazzling unto mortal ken
Than those whereof such things the bard relates,
Who to the awe-struck world unlocked Elysium’s gates?

#sintra  #byron  #lord byron  #cafe  #portugal  #childe harold's pilgrimage  

Byron sketched by Count Alfred D’Orsay in Genoa, months before his participation in the Greek War.

Byron struggled with self-image and weight issues throughout much of his life, often subjecting himself to extreme diets solely consisted of potatoes and vinegar. One of these diets in his young adulthood resulted in a weight loss of 69 pounds.

#byron  #lord byron  #sketch  #count alfred d'orsay  

An etching of Byron’s Genevese villa: Villa de Lord Byron, by Mauriche Achener, 1923.

#etching  #villa de lord byron  #byron  #lord byron  #maurice achener  

1950’s Spanish comic book apparently dedicated to Byron’s manly virtue with a cover depicting his swim across the Hellespont.

You, too, can join in the festivities and swim the Hellespont in honour of Byron and of Leander, the mythological figure whom Byron emulated. This is the 25th anniversary of the traditional race, held on the 30th of August annually!

#hellespont  #swim hellespont  #byron  #lord byron  #comic  #spanish  #leander  

Byron’s instructions, amendments, and page proofs of Cantos I & II of Don Juan.

#byron  #lord byron  #don juan  

Greek stamp of Byron.

#lord byron  #byron  #stamp  #greek  

Teenaged Byron, circa 1804-6.

And engraving from the collected works of John Murray.

#lord byron  #byron  

#lord byron  #byron  #kate beaton  #hark! a vagrant  

“Lord Byron gets up at two. I get up, quite contrary to my usual custom … at 12. After breakfast we sit talking till six. From six to eight we gallop through the pine forest which divide Ravenna from the sea; we then come home and dine, and sit up gossiping till six in the morning. I don’t suppose this will kill me in a week or fortnight, but I shall not try it longer. Lord B.’s establishment consists, besides servants, of ten horses, eight enormous dogs, three monkeys, five cats, an eagle, a crow, and a falcon; and all these, except the horses, walk about the house, which every now and then resounds with their unarbitrated quarrels, as if they were the masters of it… . [P.S.] I find that my enumeration of the animals in this Circean Palace was defective … . I have just met on the grand staircase five peacocks, two guinea hens, and an Egyptian crane. I wonder who all these animals were before they were changed into these shapes.” – Percy Bysshe Shelley on the lifestyle of Lord Byron (via jawdust)