Newstead Abbey fell out badly. In 1808, Lord Grey left at the end of his lease and Byron returned to live at Newstead and began extensive and expensive renovations. His works were mainly decorative, however, rather than structural, so that rain and damp obscured his changes within just a few years. Byron had a beloved Newfoundland dog named Boatswain, who died of rabies in 1808. Boatswain was buried at Newstead Abbey and has a monument larger than his master's. The inscription, from Byron's poem "Epitaph to a Dog", has become one of his best-known works: Near this Spot Are deposited the Remains
Of James Dog the poem is found in the Maitland Folio Manuscript where it is entitled "To The Quene" and has the postscript "Quod Dunbar of James Dog Kepair of the Quenis wardrop". Apparently Dunbar's complaint did not convince the Queen. The poem He Is Na Dog, He Is a Lam seems to represent a half-hearted change of the poet's mind. Queen Margaret of Scotland was the consort of James IV of Scotland. She was the daughter of Henry VII of England and had married King James in 1503. William Dunbar was a poet employed at the Scottish court during the reign of