Byron did not mean the missile for Lord Portsmouth. "But I 'did' mean
it!" he reiterated; "I will teach a fool of an earl to pinch another
noble's ear."]


[Footnote: 4. The following extract from a letter written by Hanson to
Mrs. Byron (September 1, 1799) places the character of Byron's nurse in
a different light to that which is given in Moore's 'Life':--

"I assure you, Madam, I should not have taken the liberty to have
interfered in your domestic Arrangements, had I not thought it
absolutely necessary to apprize you of the proceedings of your
Servant, Mrs. Gray; her conduct towards your son while at Nottingham
was shocking, and I was persuaded you needed but a hint of it to
dismiss her. Mrs. Parkyns, when I saw her, said something to me about
her; but when I found from dispassionate persons at Nottingham, it was
the general Topic of conversation, it would have ill become me to have
remained silent.

My honourable little companion, tho' disposed to retain his feelings,
could not refrain, from the harsh usage he had received at her hands,
from complaining to me, and such is his dread of the Woman that I
really believe he would forego the satisfaction of seeing you if he
thought he was to meet her again. He told me that she was perpetually
beating him, and that his bones sometimes ached from it; that she
brought all sorts of Company of the very lowest Description into his
apartments; that she was out late at nights, and he was frequently
left to put himself to bed; that she would take the Chaise-boys into
the Chaise with her, and stopped at every little Ale-house to drink
with them. But, Madam, this is not all; she has even----traduced