her sister-in-law, Frances Leigh ('nee' Byron), wife of General Charles
Leigh, to whom, in a letter, dated March 27, 1791, she speaks of her son
as "very well, and really a charming boy." Writing again to Mrs. Leigh,
December 8, 1794, she says,

"I think myself much obliged to you for being so interested for
George; you may be sure I would do anything I could for my son, but I
really don't see what can be done for him in that case. You say you
are afraid Lord B. will dispose of the estates that are left, if he
can; if he has it in his power, nobody can prevent him from selling
them; if he has not, no one will buy them from him. You know Lord
Byron. Do you think he will do anything for George, or be at any
expense to give him a proper education; or, if he wish to do it, is
his present fortune such a one that he could spare anything out of it?
You know how poor I am, not that I mean to ask him to do anything for
him, that is to say, to be of any expense on his account."

If any application was made to the boy's great-uncle, it was
unsuccessful. On May 19, 1798, Lord Byron died, and Hanson informed Mrs.
Byron that her son had succeeded to the title and estates. At the end of
the summer of that year, the little Lord Byron, with his mother and the
nurse May Gray, reached Newstead, and, within a few weeks from their
arrival, his first letter was written. His letters to his mother, it may
be observed, are always addressed to "the Honourable Mrs. Byron," a
title to which she had no claim.


1.--To Mrs. Parker. [1]