Lord Byron, it is true, thought to heal
this by writing a satire; still, despite the vein of pleasantry
indulged, he continued to discipline his mind by serious study of the
great masters of literature and of the deepest thinkers.

It must be acknowledged that the balm he sought in _satire_, was a
dangerous caustic which, while closing one wound, might well cause
others to open. At the same time, the money embarrassments inherited
from his predecessor in the estate went on accumulating, and the period
was approaching when the cassock, donned in boyish fun, was to be
exchanged for the grave ermine of a peer of the realm. Who should
present him, then, to the noble assembly, if not his guardian, and near
relative, the Earl of Carlisle? The young lord had always met his
coldness with deference and respect, even dedicating his early poems to
him. But the noble earl now still further aggravated his unkind conduct
toward his ward by abandoning him at this solemn moment. Not only did he
refuse to lend countenance himself, but he even hurt and wounded Lord
Byron by interposing delays so as to prevent or put off his reception
in the House of Peers, and that _solely because he did not like the
young man's mother_! It would be impossible for the most loving heart,
the one most susceptible of family affections, not to have felt cruelly,
under such circumstances, the absence of near ties, and Lord Byron did
not then know his sister. Suffer he did, of course; and, had it not been
for a distant relative, despite his high birth and wondrous gifts, he
must have entered the august assembly accompanied only by his title.
However frivolous the young man might have appeared, he was not so in
reality; and he hesitated at this time between a project of travelling
for information, and the desire to take part immediately in the labors
of the Senate. Some months before, attaining his majority, when the wish
of travelling predominated, after having informed his mother of a
thousand arrangements, all equally affectionate, wise, and generous,
that he was about to take for her during his absence, he wrote that he
proposed visiting Persia, India, and other countries.

"If I do not travel now," said he, "I never shall, and all men should,
one day or other. I have, at present, no connections to keep me at home;
no wife, or unprovided sisters, brothers, etc. I shall take care of you,
and when I return I may possibly become a politician. A few years'
kn