whom Queen Elizabeth bestowed the honour of knighthood in 1579. His eldest son, Sir Nicholas, served with distinction in the Low Country wars; and when the great Rebellion broke out, he was one of the first to take up arms in the defence of the Royal cause. After the battle of Edge Hill, where he displayed his courage, he was made Colonel-General of Cheshire and Shropshire, and Governor of Chester, which city he defended gallantly against the Parliamentarians, though at last he fell into their hands. Lord Clarendon speaks highly of his character, and of the exertions made by him in Cheshire to assist the King. He was,' says the noble historian, ‘a person of great affability and dexterity, as well as martial knowledge, which gave great life to the designs of the well-affected; and, with the encouragement of some gentlemen of North Wales, he in a short time raised such a power of horse and foot, as made frequent skirmishes with the enemy, sometimes with notable advantage, never with signal loss.'

Sir John Byron, the younger brother of Sir Nicholas, was made Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King James I. He married Anne, the eldest daughter of Sir Richard Molyneux, Bart. by whom he had eleven sons and a daughter. The eldest of the sons served under his uncle in the Low Countries; and in 1641, when the House of Commons complained against Sir Thomas Lunsford, as being an unfit person to be Governor of the Tower, the King appointed this Sir John Byron to that office. In a short time, however, the new Lieutenant became no less obnoxious to the refractory spirits in the City and Parliament than his predecessor; and information having been given them that much provision was sent into the Tower every day, they sent for Sir John Byron, who appeared at their bar, and gave so full answers to all the questions they asked of him, that they could not but dismiss him. However, they sent again to the King to remove him, and put a fitter man into the place, and recommended Sir John Coniers to him as a man in whom they could confide; and, because they did not speedily receive such an answer as they liked, they appointed their Major-General Skippon to place such guards about the Tower as might prevent the carrying in more provision of victual thither than would serve for one day's consumption; notwithstanding which the King would not consent to their desire.

The Commons then applied to the Lords to join them in a petition to the King, praying him for the removal of Sir John Byron; but though the Peers in other respects gave too much way to the en

encroachments of the Lower House, they had firmness enough in this instance to reject the proposition, as well for that the disposal of the custody of the Tower was the King's peculiar right and prerogative, as likewise that his Majesty had committed the charge thereof to Sir John Byron, a person of very ancient family, an honorable extraction and good fortune, and as unblemished a reputation as any gentleman in England.' The City, however, petitioned the King on this subject, and, among other grievances, complained of the preparations made in the Tower, and the calling of divers cannoniers into that fortress.' To this his Majesty replied, that, for the Tower, he wondered that, having removed a servant of good trust and reputation from that charge, only to satisfy the fears of the City, and put in another of unquestionable reputation and known ability, the petitioners should still entertain those fears.'

But some time afterwards the King-less perhaps from a disposition to conciliate the malcontents than at the express desire of Sir John Byron, who begged to be freed from the agony and vexation of that place, which had exposed his person and reputation to the rage and fury of the people, and compelled him to submit to such reproaches as a generous spirit could not brook without much regret'-thought proper to remove him. In the summer of 1642 he was employed in escorting the plate contributed by the University of Oxford, and some money which had been sent thither from London, for his royal master's use. This important trust he discharged with such satisfaction, that the learned body conferred on him, the same year, the honorary degree of Doctor in the Civil Law. Shortly after this he bore a distinguished part in the battle of Edge Hill; as also in that of Marston, where three of his brothers, besides himself, were actively engaged. Lord Byron has commemorated the achievements of his ancestors on this occasion in the following verse :

On Marston, with Rupert 'gainst traitors contending,

Four brothers enriched with their blood the bleak field;
For the rights of a monarch, their country defending,
Till death their attachment to Royalty sealed.

For these services Sir John Byron received a patent of peerage, dated at Oxford, October 27, 1643, creating him Baron Byron, of Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster, with the remainder of the title to his brothers, and their male issue respectively.

As a farther testimony of the royal favour, Lord Byron was made Field-Marshal-General of all his Majesty's Forces in Worcestershire, Shropshire, Cheshire, and North Wales; and when his uncle, Sir Nicholas, was made prisoner by the rebels at the battle of Edge Hill he was appointed to the government of the city of Chester in his room. In this capacity he rendered great service to the Royal cause, particularly by defeating Sir Thomas Fairfax, and relieving Montgomery Castle, for which the Parliament passed a vote, excepting him from pardon, and sequestrating his estates. His success was not, however, always proportioned to his valour or his loyalty; for, being intrusted with the command of the Irish forces, he was induced to make a winter campaign, relying on the hardihood of his troops, who, as Lord Clarendon says, 'being used to little ease in Ireland, the season of the year made little impression on them and his enterprise, though prosperous enough at the beginning, was afterwards wholly defeated. Hume gives the following account of it:

'The forces brought from Ireland were landed at Mostyne, in North Wales; and, being put under the command of Lord Byron, they besieged and took the castles Hawarden, Beeston, Acton, and Deddington-house. No place in Cheshire, or the neighborhood, now adhered to the Parliament, except Nantwich ; and to this town Byron laid siege during the depth of winter. Sir Thomas Fairfax, alarmed at so considerable a progress of the Royalists, assembled an army of four thousand men in Yorkshire, and, having joined Sir William Brereton, was approaching to the camp of the enemy. Byron and his soldiers, elated with the successes obtained in Ireland, had entertained the most profound contempt for the Parliamentary forces; a disposition which, if confined to the army, may be regarded as a good presage of victory; but, if it extend to the General, is the most probable forerunner of a defeat.-(25th Jan.) Fairfax suddenly attacked the camp of the Royalists. The swelling of the river by a thaw divided one part of the army from the other. That part exposed to Fairfax, being beaten from their post, retired into the church of Acton, and were all taken prisoners: the other retreated with precipitation. And thus was dissipated, or rendered useless, the body of forces which had been drawn from Ireland; and the Parliamentary party revived in those north-west counties of England.'

On the other hand, the King reposed the most entire confidence in this loyal subject, and appointed him Governor to the Duke of York, with whom he escaped to Holland, when the unfortunate monarch be

came a prisoner in the Isle of Wight. Lord Byron afterwards accompanied his royal pupil in Flanders, under the immortal Turenne. He died at Paris, in 1652, enjoying the reputation of having served his sovereign with unshaken fidelity and activity through the most disastrous times. Though married twice, he left no issue, and was succeeded in the title and estates by his second brother, Sir Richard Byron, who was knighted by Charles I. for his conduct at the battle of Edge Hill. He was also appointed Governor, first of Appleby Castle, in Westmorland, and next of Newark, which place he defended with great honour. This second Lord Byron died in 1679, and was succeeded by his eldest son William, who married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Viscount Chaworth, of the kingdom of Ireland; by whom he had five sons, all of whom died young, except William, the fourth lord, born in 1669. He became Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Prince George of Denmark, with whom he was a great favorite. His first wife, Mary, daughter of John Earl of Bridgewater, died of the small-pox eleven weeks after her nuptials. By his second wife, the daughter of William Bentinck, Earl of Portland, he had three sons, who all died before their father. His third wife, Frances, daughter of William Lord Berkeley, of Stratton, brought him five sons and a daughter.

The following Elegy by Lord Byron is peculiarly interesting, as well for the idea which it conveys of the feelings excited, at a very early period of his life, in the mind of the noble poet, on a retrospect of the glories of his ancestors, as because it seems to contain the promise of that high excellence which was afterwards so gloriously fulfilled.

ELEGY ON NEWSTEAD ABBEY.

It is the voice of years that are gone! they roll before me with all

their deeds.

OSSIAN.

Newstead! fast falling, once resplendent dome!

Religion's shrine! repentant Henry's pride!
Of warriors, monks, and dames, the cloistered tomb,
Whose pensive shades around thy ruins glide ;—

Hail to thy pile! more honoured in thy fall

Than modern mansions in their pillared state;
Proudly majestic frowns thy vaulted hall,

Scowling defiance on the blasts of fate.

• Henry II. founded Newstead, soon after the murder of Thomas à Pecket.

No mail-clad serfs, obedient to their lord,

In grim array the crimson cross↑ demand;
Or gay assemble round the festive board,
Their chief's retainers, an immortal band.
Else might inspiring Fancy's magic eye

Retrace their progress through the lapse of time.
Marking each ardent youth, ordained to die,
A votive pilgrim in Judea's clime.

But not from thee, dark pile! departs the chief;
His feudal realm in other regions lay;
In thee the wounded conscience courts relief,
Retiring from the garish blaze of day.

Yes, in thy gloomy cells and shades profound,
The monk abjured a world he ne'er could view ;
Or blood-stained Guilt repenting solace found,
Or Innocence from stern Oppression flew.

A monarch bade thee from that wild arise,

Where Sherwood's outlaws once were wont to prowl;
And Superstition's crimes, of various dyes,
Sought shelter in the priest's protecting cow!.
Where now the grass exhales a murky dew,
The humid pall of life-extinguished clay,

In sainted fame the sacred fathers grew,

Nor raised their pious voices but to pray.
Where now the bats their wavering wings extend,
Soon as the Gloaming spreads her waning shade,
The choir did oft their mingling vespers blend,
Or matin orisons to Marys paid.

Years roll on years; to ages ages yield;
Abbots to abbots in a line succeed:
Religion's charter their protecting shield,

Till Royal sacrilege their doom decreed.

This word is used by Walter Scott, in his poem The Wild Huntsman,' synonymous with vassal,

The red cross was the badge of the Crusaders.

As' Gloaming,' the Scotish word for Twilight, is far more poetical, and has been recommended by many eminent literary men, particularly by Dr. Moore, in his Letters to Burns, I have ventured to use it on account of its harmony.

§ The priory was dedicated to the Virgin.