BYRON

byron, hon. john (1723-1786), british vice-admiral, second son of the 4th lord byron, and grandfather of the poet, was born on the 8th of november 1723. while still very young, he accompanied anson in his voyage of discovery round the world. during many successive years he saw a great deal of hard service, and so constantly had he to contend, on his various expeditions, with adverse gales and dangerous storms, that he was nicknamed by the sailors, "foul-weather jack." it is to this that lord byron alludes in his _epistle to augusta_:-- "a strange doom is thy father's son's, and past recalling as it lies beyond redress, reversed for him our grandsire's fate of yore, he had no rest at sea, nor i on shore." among his other expeditions was that to louisburg in 1760, where he was sent in command of a squadron to destroy the fortifications. and in 1764 in the "dolphin" he went for a prolonged cruise in the south seas. in 1768 he published a _narrative_ of some of his early adventures with anson, which was to some extent utilized by his grandson in _don juan_. in 1769 he was appointed governor of newfoundland. in 1775 he attained his flag rank, and in 1778 became a vice-admiral. in the same year he was despatched with a fleet to watch the movements of the count d'estaing, and in july 1779 fought an indecisive engagement with him off grenada. he soon after returned to england, retiring into private life, and died on the 10th of april 1786. bystrom, johan niklas (1783-1848), swedish sculptor, was born on the 18th of december 1783 at philipstad. at the age of twenty he went to stockholm and studied for three years under sergel. in 1809 he gained the academy prize, and in the following year visited rome. he sent home a beautiful work, "the reclining bacchante," in half life size, which raised him at once to the first rank among swedish sculptors. on his return to stockholm in 1816 he presented the crown prince with a colossal statue of himself, and was entrusted with several important works. although he was appointed professor of sculpture at the academy, he soon returned to italy, and with the exception of the years from 1838 to 1844 continued to reside there. he died at rome in 1848. among bystrom's numerous productions the best are his representations of the female form, such as "hebe," "pandora," "juno suckling hercules," and the "girl entering the bath." his colossal statues of the swedish kings are also much admired.