Camb., where he read much history and fiction, lived
extravagantly, and got into debt. Some early verses which he had _pub._
in 1806 were suppressed. They were followed in 1807 by _Hours of
Idleness_, which was savagely attacked in the _Edinburgh Review_. In
reply he sent forth _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1800), which
created considerable stir and shortly went through 5 ed. Meanwhile, he
had settled at Newstead Abbey, the family seat, where with some of his
cronies he was believed to have indulged in wild and extravagant orgies,
the accounts of which, however, were probably greatly exaggerated. In
1809 he left England, and passing through Spain, went to Greece. During
his absence, which extended over two years, he wrote the first two cantos
of _Childe Harold_, which were _pub._ after his return in 1812, and were
received with acclamation. In his own words, "he awoke one morning and
found himself famous." He followed up his success with some short poems,
_The Corsair_, _Lara_, etc. About the same time began his intimacy with
his future biographer, Thomas Moore (_q.v._), and about 1815 he married
Anne Isabella Milbanke, who had refused him in the previous year, a union
which, owing to the total incompatibility of the parties, and serious
provocations on the part of B., proved unhappy, and was in 1816 dissolved
by a formal deed of separation. The only fruit of it was a _dau._,
Augusta Ada. After this break-up of his domestic life, followed as it was
by the severe censure of society, and by pressure on the part of his
creditors, which led to the sale of his library, B. again left England,
as it turned out, for ever, and, passing through Belgium and up the
Rhine, went to Geneva, afterwards travelling with Shelley through
Switzerland, when he wrote the third canto of _Childe Harold_. He
wintered in Venice, where he formed a connection with Jane Clairmont, the
_dau._ of W. Godwin's second wife (_q.v._). In 1817 he was in Rome,
whence returning to Venice he wrote the fourth canto of _Childe Harold_.
In the same year he sold his ancestral seat of Newstead, and about the
same time _pub._ _Manfred_, _Cain_, and _The Deformed Transformed_. The
first five cantos of _Don Juan_ were written between 1818 and 1820,
during which period he made the acquaintance of the Countess Guiccioli,
whom he persuaded to leave her husband. It was about this time that he
received a visit from Moore, to whom he confided his MS. autobiography,
w