Byron (George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron, 1788-1824). English Romantic poet and peer. Lord Byron's personal acting copy of The Wheel of Fortune; A Comedy, in Five Acts; as Performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane, by Richard Cumberland, printed… from the Prompt Book, with Remarks by Mrs Inchbald, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, [1806], engraved frontispiece, 70 pp., the engraved frontispiece signed and inscribed by Lord Byron in black ink at head, ‘Byron / Harrogate / Monday Sept. 15th 1806’, inscribed ‘Leacroft’ at head of title, manuscript annotations, (probably by Julia Leacroft) to ‘Persons Represented’ leaf, identifying the names of the persons playing each part, (with Byron as Penruddock and Julia L[eacroft] as Emily Tempest, plus [C.] Becher, [John] Leacroft, [John] Pigot, [H.] Houson, [Captain] Lightfoot, [G.] Wylde, Weatherell, Miss L[eacroft] and [Ann] Bristoe), the pencil letters ‘O S’ over-inked in an unidentified hand adjacent to first prompt on p. [7], the dialogue affecting Weazel, a ivery servant and Jenkins struck through with pencil on p. 40 (Act 3 Scene 3, just prior to Penruddock’s entrance), lacks the final printed leaf (pp. 71-2), supplied in slightly later manuscript on 5 pages in the autograph of Caroline Elizabeth Leacroft, frontispiece heavily spotted and detached with paper loss to stub where originally stitched, title somewhat dust-soiled and frayed without loss of text, occasional spotting, marks and finger-soiling with page edge curling and a little fraying to a few leaves (touching a few initial letters of manuscript names on ‘Persons Represented’ leaf), the contents somewhat loose with later re-stitching into plain wrappers by Caroline Leacroft, the later stitching now partly broken, signed by Caroline Elizabeth Leacroft on the inside front wrapper, wrappers lightly dust-soiled, slim 12mo (165 x 99 mm)QTY: (1)NOTE:This is the original acting copy of the play used by Lord Byron to learn his lines in Harrogate during his brief visit there in September 1806. Though very battered and lacking the final text leaf, it was lovingly completed in manuscript and re-stitched by Caroline Leacroft (1799-1861) into plain wrappers. As such, it is a unique and powerfully emotive association item from Byron’s tempestuous teenage years.Byron’s mother rented Burgage Manor in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and from 1803 Byron would visit her during school holidays from Harrow, and then later when he was at Cambridge. While visiting his mother, Byron formed friendships with neighbouring families, in particular Elizabeth and her brother John Pigot, and the siblings John and Julia Leacroft (1789-1855) at Burgage House. It was here that in the summer of 1806 the group of friends decided to stage some amateur dramatics. For this play Byron took the lead male role, while Julia Leacroft played the role of Emily Tempest. During this period Byron and Julia became close, their flirtation leading to rumours in the Southwell community. By January 1807 the idea that the pair would marry was assumed by many, including the Leacroft family. However, Byron had no intention of marrying Julia and the circumstances caused a local scandal.‘Life at Harrogate was anything but wild. All the while Byron was poetizing, and he and Pigot were memorizing their parts for the play. “Lord Byron can say all his parts,” Pigot wrote his sister, “and I most of mine. He certainly acts it inimitably.” Byron had seen a beautiful Quaker who inspired some verses to be included in his volume.On his return from Harrogate Byron wrote between stages a prologue for the play. He entered wholeheartedly into the production of the amateur group, which had chosen Cumberland’s Wheel of Fortune, a heroic drama that gave ample scope to Byron’s love for histrionic rhetoric. He had the leading role of Penruddock, the gloomy disappointed lover of Arabella Woodville (Miss Ann Bristoe). He mouthed the heroic passages with gusto, frequently bringing down the house with his acting. Byron also played the lead (Tristram Fickle) in Allingham’s Weathercock in the second play of the evening’s offering. Miss Bristoe played the heroine again.Through October Byron was working on his poems, sending them off to Ridge, the printer, in Newark, as he copied and revised old ones or wrote new. At the same time he was paying court and writing verses to several of the Southwell belles, especially to Julia Leacroft, in the dining-room of whose home the plays were represented, and to Ann Houson. To none of these Southwell flirtations did Byron give more than cynical attention. Since his frustrated passion for Mary Chaworth he felt that the capacity for romantic attachments had been burned out of him. Most of his verses addressed to the Southwell girls were essays in gallantry and accusations of infidelity and fickleness.’ Leslie Marchand Byron, A Biography, volume 1, (London: John Murray), p. 117: More information about this period and the people in Byron's life can be found in his Letters and Journals.Byron wrote two poems referring to Julia Leacroft, the first entitled ‘To Julia’ and published in his first collection, Fugitive Pieces, though the title was later changed to ‘To Lesbia’. In the poem he addresses her and explains he no longer loves her.When these theatricals were performed in September 1806 Julia would have been about 17 years old, her younger sister Caroline about 7. Caroline would undoubtedly have been swept along with the dramas then going on in the drawing room and beyond, and perhaps re-discovering the dog-eared pamphlet in her adult years, decided to restore and preserve this fragile Byron holy relic.
