“P.  Hunter, Curzon, Long, and Tatersall, were my principal friends.  Clare, Dorset, C^s.  Gordon, De Bath, Claridge, and J^no.  Wingfield, were my juniors and favourites, whom I spoilt by indulgence.  Of all human beings, I was, perhaps, at one time, the most attached to poor Wingfield, who died at Coimbra, 1811, before I returned to England.”

One of the most striking results of the English system of education is, that while in no country are there so many instances of manly friendships early formed and steadily maintained, so in no other country, perhaps, are the feelings towards the parental home so early estranged, or, at the best, feebly cherished.  Transplanted as boys are from the domestic circle, at a time of life when the affections are most disposed to cling, it is but natural that they should seek a substitute for the ties of home[31] in those boyish friendships which they form at school, and which, connected as they are with the scenes and events over which youth threw its charm, retain ever after the strongest hold upon their hearts.  In Ireland, and I believe also in France, where the system of education is more domestic, a different result is accordingly observable:—­the paternal home comes in for its due and natural share of affection, and the growth of friendships, out of this domestic circle, is proportionably diminished.

To a youth like Byron, abounding with the most passionate feelings, and finding sympathy with only the ruder parts of his nature at home, the little world of school afforded a vent for his affections, which was sure to call them forth in their most ardent form.  Accordingly, the friendships which he contracted, both at school and college, were little less than what he himself describes them, “passions.”  The want he felt at home of those kindred dispositions, which greeted him among “Ida’s social band,” is thus strongly described in one of his early poems[32]:—­

    “Is there no cause beyond the common claim,
    Endear’d to all in childhood’s very name? 
    Ah! sure some stronger impulse vibrates here,
    Which whispers, Friendship will be doubly dear
    To one who thus for kindred hearts must roam,
    And seek abroad the love denied at home: 
    Those hearts, dear Ida, have I found in thee,
    A home, a world, a paradise to me.”

This early volume, indeed, abounds with the most affectionate tributes to his school-fellows.  Even his expostulations to one of them, who had given him some cause for complaint, are thus tenderly conveyed:—­

    “You knew that my soul, that my heart, my existence,
      If danger demanded, were wholly your own;
    You know me unaltered by years or by distance,
      Devoted to love and to friendship alone.

    “You knew—­but away with the vain retrospection,
      The bond of affection no longer endures. 
    Too late you may droop o’er the fond recollection,
      And sigh for the friend who was formerly yours.”