Rochester told the historian Gilbert Burnet that, "for five years together he was continually drunk; not all the while under the visible effect of it." He was repeatedly banished—and as often recalled—by the King he scurrilously lampooned. Drinking made him "extravagantly pleasant"; it also led to disgraces such as the destruction of a royal sundial and a brawl at Epsom in which his friend Mr. Downes was killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron