LORD GEORGE G. BYRON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/18/1814 - HFSID 350486

LORD BYRON
Rare, signed autograph letter from 1814, to lifelong friend and fellow poet Francis Hodgson, discussing Byron's impending visit.
Rare ALS: "Byron", 1 page, 7x9. No place, 1814 July 18. To Mr. Hodgson. In full: "Tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday at farthest expect in all -- Capt. Byron (whom you know or will know) accompanies us. If there is not convenient room - we can dispose of him at the Hostel. Excuse haste -- in the hope of seeing you&c&c." Handwritten postscript: "P.S. Many thanks for today's epistle. I shall be happy to see you so." LORD GEORGE GORDON BYRON, 6th Baron Byron of Rothdale, wrote this letter to Reverend FRANCIS HODGSON (1781-1852), a poet and scholar whom he had met when he began studying at Trinity College in Cambridge in October 1805. By the time this letter was written, Byron had been lionized in Whig society after the 1812 publication of the first two of his four cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-1818). The opening lines of the canto had first been written to Hodgson on board a ship bound for Lisbon. In October 1813, Byron, who published his wildly popular The Corsair three months later, had recommended Hodgson, who became a lifelong friend, to translate Lucien Bonaparte's Charlemagne. The poet had also lent money to Hodgson to pay debts that were interfering with Hodgson's marriage to a Miss Tayler. This letter was written shortly before Lord Byron's own short marriage. After proposing marriage for a second time in September 1814, just two months after he wrote this letter (Byron had proposed and been rejected in October 1812), he married Anne Isabella Milbanke, a mathematician and heiress, on January 2, 1815.She gave birth to their daughter that same year. Augusta Ada (later Countess Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace), Byron's only legitimate child, would herself become a mathematician and, with Charles Babbage, wrote the first computer program. The couple's brief, unhappy marriage ended because of rumors that Byron had committed incest with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh. In 1816, Anne returned to her father's home and Lord Byron, after signing a deed of separation from his wife, left England, never to return. CAPTAIN BYRON is likely Captain GEORGE ANSON BYRON, who became the 7th Baron Byron of Rothdale. Lord Byron's father, Captain John Byron, had been known as "Mad Jack" for his wild and immoral ways, which included deserting his family when the future poet was four years of age. Following in his footsteps, Lord Byron's promiscuity during his first years abroad was referenced in the first of his 16 Don Juan cantos (1819-1824). Lightly creased. Folds. Lightly soiled at blank areas. Overall, fine condition. Small hole in matting fabric. Framed to an overall size of 30½x22¾.