Across the literary pages | 11 July 2011

A long lost book of tributes to Byron has surfaced at a Church bazaar. The Guardian reports:

‘Inscribed “to the immortal and illustrious fame of Lord Byron, the first poet of the age in which he lived”, the memorial book contains accolades to the writer by famous figures of the day, from the American author Washington Irving to the Irish poet Tom Moore and future president of the US Martin Van Buren. It was placed at Byron’s family vault in Nottinghamshire where the poet’s body was buried after its return from Greece in 1824, and was filled with eulogies from more than 800 people by 1834.’


The Telegraph
’s Helen Brown visits the Secret Garden.

‘It is a sun-baked afternoon deep in the Kentish countryside which once left Frances Hodgson Burnett feeling “flower drunk”. Hollyhocks skirt the old brick walls, lavender nods beneath the weight of drowsy bees and the ivy-wreathed archway of my childhood fantasies is just one step ahead of me.