 Benita Eisler , in 2000 , argues that Giraud was one of many of Byron 's intended sexual conquests . Although , as Eisler claims , Byron was at first unable to attain " that state of total and complete satisfaction " of a sexual relationship with Giraud , he wrote to Charles Matthews declaring that he would soon conquer any of the boy 's remaining inhibitions . During Byron 's illness , Byron boasted to Hobhouse and Lady Melbourne that he continued to have sex with one such incident almost causing his death . Although it is uncertain , according to Eisler , " Whether this surfeit of erotic fulfillment involved only Nicolo as partner , he does not say . He was still fond enough of the boy , but his sexual obsession , with its attendant scorekeeping , seems to have run its course . " Nigel Leask , in 2004 , argues that Hobhouse would have disapproved of Byron 's relationship with Giraud , and Fiona MacCarthy notes in her 2002 biography that Lady Melbourne " would have understood his partner to be female " . In a survey of the various biographical opinions and disagreements about Byron 's relationships , including Giraud , written before 2004 , Douglass points out that " despite the greater certainty about his sexual ambivalence , the exact nature of those relationships remains elusive " . 
