BYRON, (Augusta) Ada (1815-1852). Countess of Lovelace, Byron's daughter. Mathematician.
Autograph Letter Signed ('A.A. Lovelace') to Mrs Morris, 4 pages 8vo (small mounting-strip adhering to last page), Porlock, Somerset, 9 December no year. On very thin paper, resulting a degree of show-through.

Endeavouring to change a date to Saturday, New Year's Day ('owing to our unexpected detention here'); reporting on her progress [in music]; and telling her of their adventures with a new and intractable horse,'Tay-Kay'.

'... I am working most assiduously. I long to feel myself really on a par with first-rate people; & that Labarre or Alvars cannot beat me. I know this result must occur if one only perseveres sufficiently. ...'

Théodore Labarre (1805-1870) and Elias Parish-Alvars (1808-1849) were both composers of music for the harp, presumably the instrument that Ada was at this time endeavouring to master.

Ada, Lord Byron's only legitimate child, married William King, eighth Baron King of Ockham at the age of nineteen. Her husband became Earl of Lovelace in 1838. She was distinguished for her intelligence and for the work she did in conjunction with Charles Babbage, which included devising what was in effect the first computer algorithm, or program, intended for decoding by machine.
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