activity. He was quiet enough while in the house with the Doctor,
but no sooner was he released to play, than he showed as much
ambition to excel in violent exercises as the most robust youth of
the school; an ambition common to young persons who have the
misfortune to labour under bodily defects.

While under the charge of Dr Glennie, he was playful, good-humoured,
and beloved by his companions; and addicted to reading history and
poetry far beyond the usual scope of his age. In these studies he
showed a predilection for the Scriptures; and certainly there are
many traces in his works which show that, whatever the laxity of his
religious principles may have been in after-life, he was not
unacquainted with the records and history of our religion.

During this period, Mrs Byron often indiscreetly interfered with the
course of his education; and if his classical studies were in
consequence not so effectually conducted as they might have been, his
mind derived some of its best nutriment from the loose desultory
course of his reading.

Among the books to which the boys at Dr Glennie's school had access
was a pamphlet containing the narrative of a shipwreck on the coast
of Arracan, filled with impressive descriptions. It had not
attracted much public attention, but it was a favourite with the
pupils, particularly with Byron, and furnished him afterwards with
the leading circumstances in the striking description of the
shipwreck in Don Juan.

Although the rhymes upon the lunar lady of Notts are supposed to have
been the first twitter of his muse, he has said himself, "My first