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Coppee, Henry

"English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction"

From the age of five years he went to school
at Aberdeen, and very early began to exhibit traits of generosity,
manliness, and an imperious nature: he also displayed great quickness in
those studies which pleased his fancy.
In 1798, when he was eleven years old, his grand-uncle, William, the fifth
Lord Byron, died, and was succeeded in the title and estates by the young
Gordon Byron, who was at once removed with his mother to Newstead Abbey.
In 1801 he was sent to Harrow, where he was well esteemed by his comrades,
but was not considered forward in his studies.
He seems to have been of a susceptible nature, for, while still a boy, he
fell in love several times. His third experience in this way was
undoubtedly the strongest of his whole life. The lady was Miss Mary
Chaworth, who did not return his affection. His last interview with her he
has powerfully described in his poem called _The Dream_. From Harrow he
went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he lived an idle and
self-indulgent life, reading discursively, but not studying the prescribed
course.


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