Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron, 1788-1824, one of the great English romantic poets. In his life and in his poetry, Lord Byron epitomizes ROMANTICISM. Born with a clubfoot, he grew to be a dark, handsome man, beloved by, but contemptuous of, women. When an early work, Hours of Idleness (1807), was ridiculed by the Edinburgh Review, he replied with English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), a satire that made him famous. His many love affairs before and after his ill-fated marriage (1815-16) to Anne Isabella Milbanke (notably with Lady Caroline Lamb, wife of Viscount MELBOURNE, and Claire Clairmont, SHELLEY's sister-in-law) made him notorious. Byron settled in Venice in 1817. After wandering restlessly about Europe, he died working for Greek independence. Byron's writings include long romances and stories in verse, e.g., Childe Harold (1812-18), The Bride of Abydos (1813), The Corsair (1814), Manfred (1817), Beppo (1818), and Mazeppa (1819); shorter works such as The Prisoner of Chillon; and lyrics. His masterpiece is Don Juan (1819-24), an epic-satire.