Apart from Byron's rumoured sexual relation with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh
, the most notorious among his many affairs were those with Lady Caroline Lamb
, Claire Clairmont
, and Teresa Guiccioli
. Lamb's remarkable...
Friends, Associates
Marguerite Gardiner Countess of Blessington
From 1832, when she began writing and editing in earnest, she entertained such figures as Benjamin Robert Haydon
, Isaac D'Israeli
, Edward Bulwer-Lytton
, and Byron's former mistress the Countess Guiccioli
(who visited England...
Friends, Associates
Fanny Kemble
During this visit, FK
met American writer and abolitionist Catharine Maria Sedgwick
and later got to know the rest of the Sedgwick family, including Elizabeth Sedgwick
. She often found a refuge at their home...
Literary responses
Marguerite Gardiner Countess of Blessington
This book sparked both sensation and controversy. It was the starting point for Blessington's friendships with Isaac D'Israeli
and Edward Bulwer-Lytton
.
Feldman, Paula R., editor. British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. John Hopkins University Press, 1997.
149
Some critics were sceptical as to whether her friendship with Byron had...
Publishing
Marguerite Gardiner Countess of Blessington
It is a point of debate among scholars whether Blessington saw and used the memoirs of himself which Byron
wrote but later burned.
Blessington, Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of. “Introduction”. Conversations of Lord Byron, edited by Ernest J., Jr Lovell, Princeton University Press, 1969, pp. 3-114.
7
Later editions include those of 1893 and 1969 (the former mangles...
Publishing
Fanny Kemble
John Murray
bought the publication rights for the play for £450.
Clinton, Catherine. Fanny Kemble’s Civil Wars. Simon and Schuster, 2000.
48
He
presented a copy of the eighth edition (which appeared before the end of the year) to the Countess Guiccioli
on her visit...
Reception
Mary Renault
After completing Return to Night (published in 1947), MR
spent six months researching a novel about the life of Byron
. She abandoned the project when she became aware that previously unpublished correspondence between Byron...