The Works of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Volume 1

CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL.

Catherine Gordon of Gight (1765-1811), afterwards Mrs. Byron, and mother
of the poet, was descended on the paternal side from Sir William Gordon
of Gight, the third son, by Annabella Stewart, daughter of James I of
Scotland, of George, second Earl of Huntly, Chancellor of Scotland
(1498-1502), and Lord-Lieutenant of the North from 1491 to his death in
1507. The owners of Gight, now a ruin, once a feudal stronghold, were a
hot-headed, hasty-handed race, sufficiently notable to be commemorated
by Thomas the Rhymer, and to leave their mark in the traditions of
Aberdeenshire. In the seventh generation from Sir William Gordon, the
property passed to an heiress, Mary Gordon. By her marriage with
Alexander Davidson of Newton, who assumed the name of Gordon, she had a
son Alexander, Mrs. Byron's grandfather, who married Margaret Duff of
Craigston, a cousin of the first Earl of Fife. Their eldest son, George,
the fifth of the Gordons of Gight who bore that name, married Catherine
Innes of Rosieburn, and by her became the father of Catherine Gordon,
born in 1765, afterwards Mrs. Byron. Both her parents dying early,
Catherine Gordon was brought up at Banff by her grandmother, commonly
called Lady Gight, a penurious, illiterate woman, who, however, was
careful that her granddaughter was better educated than herself. Thus,
for the second time, Gight, which, with other property, was worth
between £23,000 and £24,000, passed to an heiress.

Miss Catherine Gordon had her full share of feminine vanity. At the age
of thirty-five she was a stout, dumpy, coarse-looking woman, awkward in
her movements, provincial in her accent and manner. But as her son was
vain of his personal appearance, and especially of his hands, neck, and
ears, so she, when other charms had vanished, clung to her pride in her
arms and hands. She exhausted the patience of Stewartson the artist, who
in 1806, after forty sittings, painted her portrait, by her anxiety to
have a particular turn in her elbow exhibited in the most pleasing
light. Of her ancestry she was, to use her son's expression, as "proud
as Lucifer," looked down upon the Byron family, and regarded the Duke of
Gordon as an inferior member of her clan. In later life, at any rate,
her temper was ungovernable; her language, when excited, unrestrained;
her love of gossip insatiable. Capricious in her moods, she flew from
one extreme to the other, passing, for the slightest cause, from
passionate affection to equally passionate resentment. How far these
defects were produced, as they certainly were aggravated, by her
husband's ill treatment and her hard struggle with poverty, it is
impossible to say. She had many good qualities. She bore her ruin, as
her letters show, with good sense, dignity, and composure. She lived on
a miserable pittance without running into debt; she pinched herself in
order to give her son a liberal supply of money; she was warm-hearted
and generous to those in distress. She adored her scamp of a husband,
and, in her own way, was a devoted mother. In politics she affected
democratic opinions, took in the 'Morning Chronicle', and paid for it,
as is shown by a bill sent in after her death, at the rate of £4 17s.
6d. for the half-year--no small deduction from her narrow income. She
was fond of books, subscribed to the Southwell Book Club, copied
passages which struck her in the course of her reading, collected all
the criticisms on her son's poetry, made shrewd remarks upon them