they occasionally visited and drank tea with each other. The Captain
also paid some attention to the boy, and had him, on one occasion, to
stay with him for a night, when he proved so troublesome that he was
sent home next day.

Byron himself has said that he passed his boyhood at Marlodge, near
Aberdeen; but the statement is not correct; he visited, with his
mother, occasionally among their friends, and among other places
passed some time at Fetteresso, the seat of his godfather, Colonel
Duff. In 1796, after an attack of the scarlet fever, he passed some
time at Ballater, a summer resort for health and gaiety, about forty
miles up the Dee from Aberdeen. Although the circumstances of Mrs
Byron were at this period exceedingly straitened, she received a
visit from her husband, the object of which was to extort more money;
and he was so far successful, that she contrived to borrow a sum,
which enabled him to proceed to Valenciennes, where in the following
year he died, greatly to her relief and the gratification of all who
were connected with him.

By her advances to Captain Byron, and the expenses she incurred in
furnishing the flat of the house she occupied after his death, Mrs
Byron fell into debt to the amount of 300 pounds, the interest on
which reduced her income to 135 pounds; but, much to her credit, she
contrived to live without increasing her embarrassments until the
death of her grandmother, when she received 1122 pounds, a sum which
had been set apart for the old gentlewoman's jointure, and which
enabled her to discharge her pecuniary obligations.

Notwithstanding the manner in which this unfortunate lady was treated
by her husband, she always entertained for him a strong affection