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ters of the present age, who, by his wonderful powers, and fatal use of them, has acquired so dreadful a distinction in the world of letters, as calls for the only effectual means of abridging his influence by a detection of his errors.

Beyond this salutary point the writer does not profess or wish to go; for his aim is truth, and not satire; a simple exposition of facts, and not an exaggeration of failings. But if the life of a man is an illustration of his works, and if these, however elegant they may be, have a perilous tendency to make shipwreck the best interests of society, then a full and candid examination of the author's history is necessary in order to correct the mischief likely to be produced by the influence of his name, and the popularity of his writings.

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To use the language of a sensible French criticComme il n'y a point de loix civiles qui défendent à personne de se faire auteur, et d'écrire pour le public; il semble qu'il n'y en ait pas aussi, pour retrancher ou réformer la licence que chacun prend de se rendre le censeur ou le juge de ces sortes de

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personnes. ."-"As there are no civil laws to forbid any one from being an author, and writing for the public; so neither are there any, as it should seem, to restrain or correct the liberty which every person takes to become the censor and judge of such characters."-Baillet.

CHAPTER I.

First.

Genealogical History.-Grant of Newstead Abbey. Sir John Byron created a Peer by Charles the His Descendants.—Trial of William Lord Byron, for murder.-Memoir of Admiral Byron.-Account of his Son, John Byron.

THE family of Buron or Byron, for the orthography continued unsettled till the reign of Henry the Second, ascends to the Conquest, at which period there were two potent barons of this name, Erneis and Ralph; but what relation they bore to each other, antiquaries and genealogists cannot determine. The first of these lords, Erneis, who appears to have been the most considerable of the two, held numerous manors in the counties of York and Lincoln; as Ralph, the direct ancestor of the present lord, did in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, in which last county he had his seat,

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who

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.

called Horestan Castle, from whence he took his title. To this Ralph succeeded Hugh de Buron, Lord of Horestan, who with his son Hugh, in the ninth year of the reign of King Stephen, gave to the monastery of Lenton in Nottinghamshire, the church of Ossington, to which grant was afterwards added that of Horsley, being the parochial church of Horestan. This last-mentioned Hugh de Buron retired from secular affairs, and professed himself a monk in the hermitage of Kersale, belonging to the priory of Lenton. He was succeeded in his estates by Sir Roger de Buron, gave some lands to the monastery of Swinsted in the reign of Henry the Second. His son Robert de Byron, as the name now began to be spelt, increased the possessions and consequence of his family by marrying Cecilia, the daughter and sole heir of Sir Richard Clayton, of Clayton in Lancashire, at which seat the Byrons fixed their seat, till the reign of Henry the Eighth. This Sir Robert was succeeded by a son of the same name, whose two sons distinguished themselves with great glory, in the military service, under Edward the First. Sir John de Byron, the elder of these warriors, became governor of the city of York; and from him descended Sir John, who served in the

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.

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wars of France, under Edward the Third, by whom he was knighted at the memorable siege of Calais. He was succeeded by his brother, Sir Richard de Byron; whose widow, in 1397, made a vow of perpetual chastity before the Archbishop of York. Her son John, who received the honour of knighthood in the third year of Henry the Fifth, was succeeded in his estates by his second son Nicholas, whose son and heir, Sir John, joined Henry Earl of Richmond, on his landing at Milford, and was knighted by him at that place. He fought gallantly at the battle of Bosworth, for which he was afterwards made Constable of Nottingham Castle, and Steward and Warden of Sherwood Forest. At his death, in 1480, he left his lands to Nicholas his brother, who was made one of the knights of the Bath, at the marriage of Arthur Prince of Wales, in 1502. This Sir Nicholas had only one son, Sir John Byron, who was made by Henry the Eighth Steward of Manchester and Rochdale, and Lieutenant of the Forest of Sherwood. On the dissolution of the monasteries, he came in for no small

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portion of the spoils, being rewarded with the grant of the church and priory of Newstead, in the County of Nottingham, together with the manor of Papel

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