Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/305

LEFT BYNGt 263 BYRON ish fleet off Messina. In 1721 he was created Viscount Torrington. He died Jan. 17, 1733. BYNG, JOHN, a British admiral, born in 1704, entered the navy in 1727, and served under his father. Admiral George Byng. He was sent to relieve Minorca, blockaded by a French fleet, but failed, it was thought, through hesitation in en- gaging the enemy. The public odium of the failure was such that the ministry allowed Byng, who was condemned by a court-martial, to be shot, at Ports- mouth, March 14, 1757. BYNG, SIR JULIAN HEDWORTH GEORGE, a British soldier; born in 1862. He chose a military career and joined the 10th Royal Hussars in 1883, rising through the various grades until he be- came colonel in 1901. He served with distinction in the Soudan Expedition and GENERAL SIR JULIAN BYNG the Boer War. It was in the World War, however, that he gained fame as an army commander on the western front, especially at Cambrai, where he broke the German lines by a surprise attack, and later as leader of the van- guard in driving the enemy from France in the summer and fall of 1918. BYRD. or BIRDE, WILLIAM, an English composer, born in Lincoln in 1538, studied under Tallis; became or- ganist of Lincoln in 1563; was appointed a gentleman of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel Royal in 1569. The composer of the first Enghsh madrigals (1588), he wrote much sacred music, including the well- knowTi canon, "Non Nobis, Domine!" as well as largely for the virginal. He died in London, July 4, 1623. BYRON, GEORGE GORDON NOEL. LORD, one of the greatest English poets, born in London, Jan. 22, 1788. He was the grandson of Admiral John Byron and son of the Admiral's only son, Capt. John Byron, of the Guards, known as "Mad Jack Byron." His mother was Catherine Gordon of Aberdeenshire, who was left a widow in 1791. Mrs. Byron retired with the infant poet to Aberdeen, where she lived in seclusion on the ruins of her fortune. Till the age of seven he was entirely under the care of his mother, and to her injudicious indul- gence the waywardness that marked his after career has been partly attributed. On reaching his seventh year he was sent to the grammar school at Aberdeen, and four years after, in 1798, the death of his granduncle gave him the titles and estates of the family. Mother and son then removed to Newstead Abbey, the family seat, near Nottingham. Soon after Byron was sent to Harrow, where he distinguished himself by his love of manly sports and his undaunted spirit. While yet at school he fell deeply in love with Miss Chaworth, a distant cousin; but the lady slighted the homage of the Harrow school boy, her junior by two years, and married another and more mature suitor. In "The Dream," Byron alludes finely to their parting in- terview. In 1805 he was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge. Two years after, in 1807, appeared his first poetic volume, "Hours of Idleness," which, though indeed containing nothing much of merit, was castigated with over-sever- ity by Brougham in the "Edinburgh Review." This caustic critic roused the slumbering energy in Byron, and drew from him his first really notable effort, the celebrated satire, "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." In 1809, in company with a friend, he visited the southern provinces of Spain, and voy- aged along the shores of the Mediter- ranean. The fruit of these travels was the fine poem of "Childe Harold's Pil- grimage," the first two cantos of which were published on his return in 1812. The poem was an immense success, and Byron "awoke one morning and found himself famous." His acquaintance was