Ben Sippel Notes on Byron: Professor McDaniel English Lit 201 March 12, 2019

"Mad Jack" Byron married his second wife for the same reason that he married his first, her
fortune.[17] Byron's mother had to sell her land and title to pay her new husband's debts, and in the
space of two years, the large estate, worth some £23,500, had been squandered, leaving the former
heiress with an annual income in trust of only £150.[15] In a move to avoid his creditors, Catherine
accompanied her profligate husband to France in 1786, but returned to England at the end of 1787
to give birth to her son on English soil. He was born on 22 January in lodgings at Holles Street in
London

About his "protégé" he wrote, "He has been my almost constant associate since October, 1805,
when I entered Trinity College. His voice first attracted my attention, his countenance fixed it, and his
manners attached me to him for ever." In his memory Byron composed Thyrza, a series of elegies.
In later years, he described the affair as "a violent, though pure love and passion". This statement,
however, needs to be read in the context of hardening public attitudes toward homosexuality in
England and the severe sanctions (including public hanging) against convicted or even suspected
offenders