Lord Byron
Back in the day, poets were the rockstars of their time, and none more notorious than George Gordon Noel, also known as Lord Byron. During his lifetime, he cultivated a reputation that was summed up by Lady Caroline Lamb in six words, 'mad, bad, and dangerous to know'. He probably inherited such traits from his father, Captain John 'Mad Jack' Byron, who married the poet's mother, dissipated her fortune, and then left her to her own devices. The captain probably died of tuberculosis, despite the legend that Lord Byron himself concocted about him slitting his own throat. This was though the type of hyperbole that fed his larger than life image, as did his aristocratic excesses, huge debts, many love affairs, self-imposed exile, and other scandalous rumors.
The imagery of his poems ('She walks in beauty, like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies', She Walks in Beauty; 'Give me the mild beam of the soul-breathing glance,/Or the rapture which dwells on the first kiss of love', The First Kiss of Love), coupled with his own physical prowess (he was tall and athletic, and a proficient boxer, horse-rider and swimmer), and adventurous disposition (fought against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, and is revered as a national hero in Greece) all account for his status as a ladies' favorite. Even today he'd be featured on the list of men who would never need to buy Viagra.
His influence has been so great that there is even a literary figure called the Byronic Hero; arrogant, cunning, cynical, sexually attractive and dominant, yet intelligent, charismatic, educated and sophisticated. Byron himself is thought to be the archetype of this anti-heroic character, someone who appeals to both males and females. Coming to think about it, next time you're getting all cozy with your partner, instead of turning to an online pharmacy for help in the libido department, a trip to the library for a volume of Lord Byron's works may do you more good.