It was about this period, according to his nurse, May Gray, that the first symptom of any tendency towards rhyming showed itself in him; and the occasion which she represented as having given rise to this childish effort was as follows:--An elderly lady, who was in the habit of visiting his mother, had made use of some expression that very much affronted him; and these slights, his nurse said, he generally resented violently and implacably. The old lady had some curious notions respecting the soul, which, she imagined, took its flight to the moon after death, as a preliminary essay before it proceeded further. One day, after a repetition, it is supposed, of her original insult to the boy, he appeared before his nurse in a violent rage. "Well, my little hero," she asked, "what's the matter with you now?" Upon which the child answered, that "this old woman had put him in a most terrible passion--that he could not bear the sight of her," &c. &c.--and then broke out into the following doggerel, which he repeated over and over, as if delighted with the vent he had found for his rage:-- In Nottingham county there lives at Swan Green, As curst an old lady as ever was seen; And when she does die, which I hope will be soon, She firmly believes she will go to the moon. It is possible that these rhymes may have been caught up at second-hand; and he himself, as will presently be seen, dated his "first dash into poetry," as he calls it, a year later:--but the anecdote altogether, as containing some early dawnings of character, appeared to me worth preserving. The small income of Mrs. Byron received at this time the addition--most seasonable, no doubt, though on what grounds accorded, I know not--of a pension on the Civil List, of 300_l._ a year. The following is a copy of the King's warrant for the grant:--(Signed) "GEORGE R. "WHEREAS we are graciously pleased to grant unto Catharine Gordon Byron, widow, an annuity of 300_l._, to commence from 5th July, 1799, and to continue during pleasure: our will and pleasure is, that, by virtue of our general letters of Privy Seal, bearing date 5th November, 1760, you do issue and pay out of our treasure, or revenue in the receipt of the Exchequer, applicable to the uses of our civil government, unto the said Catharine Gordon Byron, widow, or her assignees, the said annuity, to commence from 5th July, 1799, and to be paid quarterly, or otherwise, as the same shall become due, and to continue during our pleasure; and for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given at our Court of St. James's, 2d October, 1799, 39th year of our reign. "By His Majesty's command, (Signed) "W. PITT. "S. DOUGLAS. "EDW^D. ROBERTS, Dep. Cler^us. Pellium."