Fragment written shortly after the Marriage of Miss Chaworth
George Gordon, Lord Byron
1.
Hills of Annesley, Bleak and Barren,
Where my thoughtless Childhood stray'd,
How the northern Tempests, warring,
Howl above thy tufted Shade!
2.
Now no more, the Hours beguiling,
Former favourite Haunts I see;
Now no more my Mary smiling,
Makes ye seem a Heaven to Me.
1805.
Annesley Hall is an estate adjoining Byron's estate at Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. In one summer holidays, when he was 15, George Gordon, Lord Byron fell in love with the daughter of the house, Miss Mary Ann Chaworth. Unfortunately, she married someone else (John Musters) very soon afterwards.
