Byron
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Byron. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD, one of the greatest English poets, born in London, Jan. 22, 1788. He was the grandson of Admiral John Byron and son of the Admiral's only son, Capt. John Byron, of the Guards, known as "Mad Jack By . Catherine Gordon of Aberdeenshire, who Byron " His mother was was left a widow in 1791. Mrs. Byron retired with the infant poet to Aberdeen, where she lived in seclusion on the ruins of her fortune. Till the age of seven he was entirely under the care of his mother, and to her injudicious indulgence the waywardness that marked his after career has been partly attributed. On reaching his seventh year he was sent to the grammar school at Aberdeen, and four years after, in 1798, the death of his granduncle gave him the titles and estates of the family. Mother and son then removed to Newstead Abbey, the family seat, near Nottingham. Soon after Byron was sent to Harrow, where he distinguished himself by his love of manly sports and his undaunted spirit. While yet yet at school he fell deeply in love with Miss Chaworth, a distant cousin; but the lady slighted the homage of the Harrow school boy, her junior by two years, and married another and more mature suitor. In "The Dream," Byron alludes finely to their parting interview. In 1805 he was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge. Two years after, in 1807, appeared his first poetic volume, "Hours of Idleness," which, though indeed containing nothing much of merit, was castigated with over-severity by Brougham in the "Edinburgh Review." This caustic critic roused the slumbering energy in Byron, and drew from him his first really notable effort, the celebrated satire, "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." In 1809, in company with a friend, he visited the southern provinces of Spain, and voyaged along the shores of the Mediterranean. The fruit of these travels was the fine poem of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," the first two cantos of which were published on his return in 1812. The poem was an immense success, and Byron "awoke one morning and found himself famous." His acquaintance was now much courted, and his first entry on the stage of public life may be dated from this era. During the next two years (1813-1814) the "Giaour," the "Bride of Abydos," the "Corsair," "Lara," and the "Siege of Corinth" showed the brilliant work of which the new poet was capable. On Jan. 2, 1815, Byron married Anna Isabella, only daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke, but the marriage turned out unfortunate, and in about a year, Lady Byron, having gone on a visit to her parents, refused to return, and a formal separation took place. This rupture produced a considerable sensation, and the real cause of it has never been satisfactorily explained. It gave rise to much popular indignation against Byron, who left England, with an expressed resolution never to return. He visited France, the LORD BYRON field of Waterloo, and Brussels, the Rhine, Switzerland, and the north of Italy, and for some time took up his abode at Venice, and later at Rome, where he completed his third canto of "Childe Harold." Not long after appeared the "Prisoner of Chillon," "The Dream," and other "Poems," and, in 1817, "Manfred," a tragedy, and the "Lament of Tasso." From Italy he made occasional excursions to the islands of Greece, and at length visited Athens, where he sketched many of the scenes of the fourth and last canto of "Childe Harold." In 1819 was published the romantic tale of "Mazeppa," and the same year was marked by the commencement of "Don Juan." In 1820 appeared "Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice," a tragedy; the drama of "Sardanapalus," the "Two Foscari," a tragedy, and "Cain," a mystery. After leaving Venice, Byron resided for some time at Ravenna, then at Pisa, and lastly at Genoa. At Ravenna he became intimate with the Countess Guiccioli, a married lady; and when he removed to Pisa, in 1822, she followed him. There he continued to occupy himself with literature and poetry, sustained for a time by the companionship of Shelley, one of the few men whom he entirely respected and with whom he was quite confidential. Besides his contributions to the "Liberal," a periodical established at this time in conjunction with Leigh Hunt and Shelley, he completed the later cantos of "Don Juan," with "Werner," a tragedy, and the "Deformed Transformed," a fragment. These are the last of Byron's poetical efforts. In 1823, troubled perhaps by the consciousness that his life had too long been unworthy of him, he conceived the idea of throwing himself into the struggle for the independence of Greece. In January, 1824, he arrived at Missolonghi, was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and immediately took into his pay a body of 500 Suliotes. The disorderly temper of these troops, and the difficulties of his situation, together with the malarious air of Missolonghi, began to affect his health. On April 9, 1824, while riding out in the rain, he caught a fever, which, 10 days later, ended fatally. Thus, in his 37th year, died prematurely a man whose natural force and genius were perhaps superior to those of any Englishman of his time, and, largely undisciplined as they were, and wasted by an irregular life, they acquired for him a name second, in the opinion of Continental Europe, at least, to that of no other Englishman of his time. The body of Byron was taken to England and interred near Newstead Abbey.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824), an eminent English poet. His mother was a Gordon of Aberdeenshire. His father was a dissipated captain, John Byron, a man of good family, who deserted his wife soon after the birth of young George. She retired to Aberdeen and lived in a small way, sending her son to the grammar school. His mother's temper and his own appear to have prevented their living happily together. At one time she caressed him, and at another threw the poker at his head, and called him a "lame brat," in allusion to a deformed foot. His playmates said to him, "Your mother's a fool." "I know it," was his answer. In 1798 the death of his grand-uncle, Lord Byron, left him a title, but very little property. He was sent, however, to the school at Harrow. "I soon found," wrote the head master, "that a wild mountain colt had been submitted to my management." In 1805 he entered Cambridge University where he paid little attention to study, but read omnivorously and excelled in outdoor sports. During his college residence he published a volume of verses entitled Hours of Idleness. It was criticized in a rasping, contemptuous manner by the Edinburgh Review. Byron took his time and wrote the famous onslaught known as English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, a satire directed against those who had criticized him. Later he himself called it "a miserable record of misplaced anger and indiscriminate acrimony." In 1809 he set out on a tour through Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Turkey. On his return he published the first two cantos of Childe Harold. Byron indeed disclaimed all connection between himself and Childe, but the poem reflects only too faithfully his own mental unrest and struggles. It ran through seven editions inside of a month, and a Byron said of himself, he "woke up one morning to find himself famous." We cannot go into a discussion of Byron's moral conduct. He set at defiance all laws of marriage and morality. He rivals Burns in the facility with which he picked up illicit acquaintances and deified them in verse. In 1815 he married a Miss Millbank, but the ill sorted match was soon dissolved. He appears to have been capable of treating his wife with brutality, and she him with contempt, and yet his Fare Thee Well, a poem written after their separation, is one of the tenderest things in the English language. Childe Harold was afterward extended by the addition of a third and a fourth canto. Other famous poems are the Prisoner of Chillon, Manfred, Don Juan, Giaour, Corsair, and Bride of Abydos. In 1816 Byron left England for the continent, and resided at various cities of southern Europe. In 1823 he became interested in the struggles of Greece for independence. He raised all the money he could, and set out for Missolonghi, where he was received with great enthusiasm by the Greeks and given a military command. Before he had been able to render much service, he was seized with a fever and died April 9th. The Greeks desired to bury him there, but his remains were taken home to England. Burial at Westminster was refused on the ground of irreverence, and he was laid at rest by the village church of Hucknall near Newstead Abbey. See Mazeppa ; Chillon ; Blanc ; Mont; St. Peter'S QUOTATIONS FROM BYRON. There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There a rapture in the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar. I love not Man the less; but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal. A thousand years scarce serve to form a state An hour may lay it in the dust. All who joy would win Must share it,--happiness was born a twin. I've stood upon Achilles' tomb, And heard Troy doubted: time will doubt of Rome. 'Tis strange, but true; for truth is always strange,-- Stranger than fiction. And what is writ is writ,-- Would it were worthier! SAID OF BYRON. In my mind, Byron has been sinking at an accelerated rate for the last ten years, and has now reached a very low level.--Carlyle. He is so grand, and so English, that from him alone, we shall learn more truths of his country and his age than from all the rest of them put together.--Taine.