Often as Regency romance writers, we love to feature Byron in our books. While Byron doesn't actually apear in The Curious Curate, one of his poems does, along with many references to his notorious reputation.
In The Curious Curate and the Opera Singer when Amelie (my heroine) discovers more about Aiden (my hero), she compares the two, after all, Aiden has only been sent to act as a temporary curate to his uncle for a year due to his own bad behavior. Amelie teasingly refers to each of them as a scapegrace.
Despite his notoriety, Byron was a very talented writer and I discovered a poem while writing this novel that I fell in love with and gave a very special place in my book.
It is called, She Walks in Beauty
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
George Gordon Byron was born in London1788 and died in Greece in 1824.
I have been lucky enough to visit his ancestral home Newstead Abbey, and you can find my photographs of that visit here. Or simply look to the right under pages and click on Pictures of Newstead Abbey.
