friend of Byron she valued and loved me ... Her affection, indeed, to
his memory is unbounded, and she seems unwilling to allow that he had
a single fault ... Miss Pigot in the evening, with his letters, which
interested me exceedingly; some written when he was quite a boy, and
the bad spelling and scrambling handwriting delightful; spelling,
indeed, was a very late accomplishment with him"

('Diary of Thomas Moore', vol. v. p. 249). (See "To Eliza," 'Poems',
vol. i. pp.47-49; see also the lines "To M. S. G.," 'Poems', vol. i. pp.
79, 80; see for the lines which Byron wrote in her copy of Burns,
'Poems', vol. i. pp. 233, 234.)

Miss Pigot died at Southwell in 1866, her brother John (see letter of
August 9, 1806, p. 100, note 3) in 1871. Her brother Henry, whom Byron
used to call his grandson, died October 28, 1830, a captain in the 23rd
Native Infantry in the service of the East India Company.

The following undated note (1810) from Mrs. Pigot to Mrs. Byron
illustrates the enthusiastic interest with which the Pigots followed
Byron's career:--

"Indeed, my dear Mrs. Byron, you have given me a very 'great treat' in
sending me 'English Bards' to look at; you know how very highly I
thought of the 'first' edition, and this is certainly much improved;
indeed, I do not think anybody but Lord Byron could (in these our
days) have produced such a work, for it has all the fire of ancient
genius. I have always been accustomed to tell you my thoughts most
sincerely, and I cannot say that I like that addition to the part
where 'Bowles' is mentioned; it wants that 'brilliant spirit' which
almost invariably accompanies Lord B.'s writings. Maurice, too, and