Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 41701-h.htm or 41701-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41701/41701-h/41701-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41701/41701-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://archive.org/details/cu31924013451913 THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF LORD BYRON * * * * * _Works by the Same Author_ MADAME DE STAËL AND HER LOVERS GEORGE SAND AND HER LOVERS ROSSEAU AND THE WOMEN HE LOVED CHATEAUBRIAND AND HIS COURT OF WOMEN THE PASSIONS OF THE FRENCH ROMANTICS * * * * * [Illustration: _Lord Byron._] THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF LORD BYRON by FRANCIS GRIBBLE Author of "George Sand and Her Lovers" etc. London Eveleigh Nash Fawside House 1910 PREFACE Whether a book is called "The Love Affairs of Lord Byron" or "The Life of Lord Byron" can make very little difference to the contents of its pages. Byron's love affairs were the principal incidents of his life, and almost the only ones. Like Chateaubriand, he might have spoke of "a procession of women" as the great panoramic effect of his career. He differed from Chateaubriand, however, in the first place, in not professing to be very much concerned by the pageant, and, in the second place, in being, in reality, very deeply affected by it. Chateaubriand kept his emotions well in hand, exaggerating them in retrospect for the sake of literary effect, picturing the sensibility of his heart in polished phrases, but never giving the impression of a man who has suffered through his passions, or been swept off his feet by them, or diverted by them from the pursuit of ambition or the serene cult of the all-important ego. In all Chateaubriand's love affairs, in short, red blood is lacking and self-consciousness prevails. He appears to be equally in love with all the women in the procession; the explanation being that he is more in love with himself than with any of them. In spite of the procession of women, which is admitted to have been magnificent, it may justly be said of Chateaubriand that love was "of his life a thing apart."