A book about the dynasty of the Byron family written by John Nichol, who was a Scottish man of letters and son of the astronomer J. P. Nichol. He was educated at Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford, where he had a brilliant career. After taking his first-class in classics, he remained at Oxford as a coach. With Albert Venn Dicey, Thomas Hill Green, Swinburne and others, he formed the Old Mortality Society for discussions on literary matters. In 1862 he was made professor of English literature at Glasgow. He visited the United States in 1865, and in 1882 he wrote the article on American literature for the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica - an article which is a good example of his pungent (sometimes unduly pungent) style. He left Glasgow for London in 1889.