Editing Newstead Abbey (section)

==Lord Byron==
[[File:Byron 1813 by Phillips.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Lord Byron]]'' by [[Thomas Phillips]], c.1814,]]
The young Lord Byron soon arrived at Newstead and was greatly impressed by the estate. The scale of the estate contributed to Byron's extravagant taste and sense of his own importance. However, yearly income had fallen to just £800 and many repairs were needed. He and his mother soon moved to the nearby town of Southwell and neither lived permanently at Newstead for any extended period. His view of the decayed Newstead became one of the romantic ruin, a metaphor for his family's fall:

<blockquote> Thro' thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle;<br>
Thou, the hall of my fathers, art gone to decay.</blockquote>

The estate was leased to the 23-year-old [[Henry Edward Yelverton, 19th Baron Grey de Ruthyn]], from January 1803. The lease was for £50 a year for the Abbey and Park for five years, until Byron came of age. Byron stayed for some time in 1803 with Lord Grey, before they fell out badly.

In 1808, Lord Grey left at the end of his lease and Byron returned to live at Newstead and began extensive and expensive renovations. His works were mainly decorative, however, rather than structural, so that rain and damp obscured his changes within just a few years.

Byron had a beloved [[Newfoundland dog]] named Boatswain, who died of [[rabies]] in 1808. Boatswain was buried at Newstead Abbey and has a monument larger than his master's. The inscription, from Byron's poem ''[[Epitaph to a Dog]]'', has become one of his best-known works:

[[Image:Boatswainmonument.JPG|thumb|upright|right|The poem ''Epitaph to a Dog'' as inscribed on Boatswain's monument]]

<blockquote>{{center|Near this Spot}}
{{center|Are deposited the Remains}}
{{center|of one}}
{{center|Who possessed Beauty}}
{{center|Without Vanity,}}
{{center|Strength without Insolence,}}
{{center|Courage without Ferosity,}}
{{center|And all the Virtues of Man}}
{{center|without his Vices.}}
{{center|This Praise, which would be unmeaning flattery}}
{{center|If inscribed over Human Ashes,}}
{{center|Is but a just tribute to the Memory of}}
{{center|"Boatswain," a Dog}}
{{center|Who was born at Newfoundland,}}
{{center|May, 1803,}}
{{center|And died at Newstead Abbey}}
{{center|Nov. 18, 1808.}}</blockquote>

Byron had wanted to be buried with Boatswain, although he would ultimately be buried in the family vault at the nearby [[Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall]].

He was determined to stay at Newstead—"Newstead and I stand or fall together"—and he hoped to raise a mortgage on the property, but his advisor John Hanson urged a sale. This would be a preoccupation for many years and was certainly not resolved when Byron left for his Mediterranean travels in 1809. Upon his return to England in 1811, Byron stayed in London, not returning to see his mother who had been living in Newstead. She died, leaving him distraught at his own negligence of her. He lived again at the Abbey for a time but was soon drawn to life in London.

For the next few years, Byron made several attempts to sell the Abbey. It was put up at auction in 1812 but failed to reach a satisfactory price. A buyer was found, however, who offered £140,000, which was accepted. By spring 1813, though, the buyer, Thomas Claughton, had only paid £5,000 of the agreed down-payment. Byron was in debt and had continued to spend money on the expectation that the house would be sold. Negotiations began to degenerate and Byron accused Claughton of robbing the wine cellar. By August 1814, it was clear that the sale had fallen through, and Claughton forfeited what he had paid of the deposit. Byron was now without settled financial means and proposed marriage to the heiress [[Anne Isabella Milbanke]]. Claughton did return with new proposals involving a reduced price and further delays. Byron turned him down.

[[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]]'s poetical illustration ''Lines Suggested on Visiting Newstead Abbey'' accompanies an engraving of Newstead Abbey after a painting by [[Thomas Allom]] (Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839). This poem is mainly a reflection on Byron and what it means to be a poet. Miss Landon may have visited Newstead Abbey on one of her visits to her uncle in Aberford, Yorkshire.<ref> {{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ufpcAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA34-IA44|section=poetical illustration|pages=44-45|year=1838|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}} {{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ufpcAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA34-IA46|section=picture|year=1838|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}</ref>
{{wikisource|Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839/Lines Suggested on Visiting Newstead Abbey|'Lines Suggested on Visiting Newstead Abbey', a poetical illustration<br />by L. E. L.}}