This Childe was a King's son, and there were none to cherish him but his father and his father's wife, for his mother was dead.

The "childe" is, in fact, lord Byron himself, who was only twenty-two when he began the poem, which was completed in seven years.

"'Nor wedded may this childe have been That giveth ease to me; Nor may he be constrained, I ween, But kiss me willingly.

" "The childe being oftentimes left in nonage," says Campion, "could never defend his patrimony, but by the time he grow to a competent age and have buried an uncle or two, he also taketh his turn," a custom which, as he adds, "breedeth among them continual warres.

("Childe" is a title of honor, about tantamount to "lord," as childe Waters, childe Rolande, childe Tristram, childe Arthur, childe Childers, etc.)