Allegra Byron - Resemblances To Byron

Resemblances To Byron

Mary Shelley had called the baby Allegra "the little Commodore" because of her sturdy body and alert, intelligent look. Byron was also pleased with Allegra's resemblances to himself in appearance and temperament. When she was eighteen months old, he wrote in a letter to a friend: "My bastard came three days ago—very like—healthy—noisy & capricious." In an 1818 letter to his half-sister Augusta Leigh, Byron wrote that "She is very pretty—remarkably intelligent ... She has very blue eyes—that singular forehead—fair curly hair—and a devil of a spirit—but that is Papa's." In 1819, in another letter to Augusta Leigh, Byron described two and a half-year-old Allegra as "very droll" and again commented on her resemblance to himself in physical appearance, temperament and interests: "(She) has a very good deal of the Byron. Can't articulate the letter 'r' at all—frowns and pouts quite in our way—blue eyes—light hair growing darker daily—and a dimple in the chin—a scowl on the brow—white skin—sweet voice—and a particular liking of Music—and of her own way in every thing—is that not B. all over?" The child had forgotten any English she had learned and now spoke only Venetian Italian. In March 1820, he complained in a letter that three-year-old Allegra was vain and "obstinate as a mule". Her behavior was sometimes unmanageable, probably as a result of her unstable living arrangements and frequent changes in caregivers. At age four, the naughty child terrorized Byron's servants with her temper tantrums and other misbehavior and told frequent lies.

As she grew older, Allegra also demonstrated a talent for acting and singing. Byron's mistress Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli, whom Allegra called "mammina," remarked on Allegra's talent for mimicking the servants and for singing popular songs. Byron felt her talent for mimicry, another talent she shared with him, might amuse other people in the short term but would eventually be a cause of trouble for her.

Stability and the affection of the nuns at the Capuchin convent in Bagnacavallo, where she spent the last year of her life, improved Allegra's self-control. Still, the nuns indulged her because of her charm and she was rarely punished for breaking the rules.