The works of Lord Byron complete in one volume

Front matter

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Contents

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^ The Life of the Author . . . I— XXXII

"■"N^ Childe Harold's Pilgrimage .... 1

Appendix to the Two Foscari .... 765

Notes to Sardanapalus 771

Note to the Deformed Transformed

Note to the Lament of Tasso

Notes to the Prophecy of Dante .

Notes to the Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte

Notes to English Bards and Scotch Reviewers

Notes to the Curse of Minerva

Notes to the Age of Bronze .

Notes to the Vision of Judgment .

Notes to the Miscellaneous Poems

Notes to the Waltz ....

Notes to the Hours of Idleness

Extract from the Edinburgli-Review, Nro. 22, for

Note to the Letter on Bowles' Strictures on Pope

771 771 771

772 773 777

778 778 778 779 780

LAKE'S LIFE OF LORD BYRON.

XXV execute them much better himself tlmn I could. To this my master replied, 'No, it is now nearly over;' and then added, 'I must tell you all without losing a moment!' I then said, 'Shall I go, my lord, and fetch pen, ink and paper?' — 'Oh, my God! no; you will lose too much time, and I have it not to spare, for my time is now short,' baid his lordship, and immediately after, 'Now pay [attention!' His lordship commenced by saying, 'You will be provided for.' 1 begged him, however, to proceed witii things of more consequence. He then continued, 'oh, my poor dear child! my dear Ada! my God! could I but have seen her ! Give her my blessing — and my dear sister Augusta and her children ; and you will go to Lady Byron, and say — tell her every thing, — you are friends with her.' His lordship seemed to be greatly allccted at this moment. Here my master's voice failed liini, so that I could only catch a word at intervals; but In; kept muttering something very seriously for some time, and would often raise his voice, and said, 'Fletcher, now if you do not execute every order which I have given you, I will torment you hereafter if possible.' Here I told iiis lordship in a state of the greatest perplexity, that I had not understood a word of what he said; to which he replied, *0h, my God! then all is lost, for it is now too late ! Can it be possible you have not understood me V — 'No, my lord,' said I, 'but I pray you to try and inform me once more.' 'How can I?' rejoined my master, 'it is now too late, and all is over!' I said, 'Not our will, but God's be done!' — and he answered, 'Yes, not mine be done! — but I will try."

His lordship did indeed make several efforts to speak, but could only speak two or three words at a time, — such as 'My wife! my child! my sister ! — you know all — you must say all — you know my wishes' — the rest was quite unintelligible, A consultation was now held (about noon), when it was determined to administer some Peruvian bark and wine. My master had now been nine days witiiout any sustenance whatever, except what I have already mentioned. With the exception of a few words, which can only interest [ those to whom they were addressed, and which if required I shall communicate to themselves, it was impossible to understand any thing his lordship said after taking the bark. He expressed a wish to sleep. I at one time asked whether I should call Mr. Parry, to which he replied, 'Yes, you may call him.' Mr. Parry desired him to compose himself. He shed tears, and apparently sunk into a slumber. Mr. Parry went away expecting to find him refreshed on his return , — but it was the commencement of the lethargy preceding his death. The last words I heard my master utter were at six o'clock on the evening of the 18th, when he said, 'I must sleep now ;' upon which he laid down never to rise again ! — for he did not move hand or foot during the following twenty-four hours. His lordship appeared, however, to be in a state of suffocation at intervals, and had a frequent rattling in the throat; on these occasions I called "Tita to assist me in raising his head, and I thought he seemed to get quite stiflf. The rattling and choaking in the throat took place every half-hour, and we continued to raise Jiis head whenever the fit came on, till six o'clock in the evening of the 19th, when I saw my master open his eyes and then sliut them, but without showing any symptom of pain, or moving hand or foot, 'Oh ! my God!' I exclaimed, 'I fear his lordship is gone !' the doctors then felt his pulse, and said, 'You are right — he is gone !' "

It would be vain to attempt a description of the universal sorrow that ensued at Missolonghi. Not only Maurocordato and his immediate circle, but the whole city and all its inhabitants were, as it seemed, stunned by this blow ; it had been so sudden, so unexpected. His illness, indeed, had been known, and for the last three days none of his friends could walk in the streets witiiout anxious inquiries from every one of "How is my lord?"

On the day of this melancholy event, Prince Maurocordato issued a proclamation expressive of tlie deep and unfeigned grief felt by all classes, and ordering every public demonstration of respect and sorrow to be paid to the memory of the illustrious deceased, by iiring minuteguns, closing all the public offices and shops, suspending the usual Easter festivities, and by a general mourning and funeral prayers in all tiie churches. It was resolved that the body should be embalmed, and after the suitable funeral honours had been performed, should be embarked forZante, — thence to be conveyed to England. Accordingly the medical men opened the body and embalmed it, and having enclosed the heart, and brain, and intestines in separate vessels, they placed it in a chest lined with tin, as there were no means of procuring a leaden coffin capable of holding the spirits necessary for its preservation on the voyage. Dr. Bruno drew up an account of the examination of the body, by which it appeared his lordship's death had been caused by an inflammatory fever. Dr. Meyer, a Swiss physician, who was present, and had accidentally seen Madame de Stael after her deatli, stated that the formation of the brain in both these illustrious persons was extremely similar, but that Lord Byron had a much greater quantity.

On the 22d of April, 1824, in the midst of his own brigade, of the troops of thegovcrnment,and ofthe whole population, on the shoulders of the officers of his corps, relieved occasionally by other Greeks, the most precious portion of his honoured remains were carried to the church, where lie the bodies of Marco Botzaris and of General Normann. There they were laid down : the coffin was a rude, ill-constructed chest of wood; a black mantle served for a pall, and over it were placed a helmet, a sword, and a crown of laurel. But no funeral pomp could have left the impression, nor spoken the feelings, of this simple ceremony. The wretciiedness and desolation of tiie place itself; the wild and half-civilized warriors present; their deep-felt, unaffected grief; the fond recollections; the disappointed hopes; the anxieties and sad presentiments which might be read on every countenance - all contributed to form a scene more moving, more truly aftecting than perhaps was ever before witnessed round the grave of a great man.

When the funeral service was over, the bier was left in the middle of the church, where it remained until the evening of the next day, and w as guarded by a detachment of his own brigade. The church was incessantly crowded by those who came to honour and to regret the benefactor of Greece. In the evening ofthe 23d, the bier was privately carried back by his officers to his own house. The coffin was not closed tillthe29th ofthe month.

Immediately after his death, his countenance had an air of calmness, mingled with a severity, that seemed gradually to soften, and the whole expression was truly suUimc.

On May 2d, the remains of Lor d Byron were embarked, under a salute from the guns ofthe fortress. "How diflerent," exclaims Count Gamba, "from that which had welcomed the arrival of Byron only four months ago !" After a passage of three days, the vessel reached Zante, and the precious deposit was placed in the quarantine house. Here some additional precautions were taken to ensure its safe arrival in England, by providing another case for the body. On May the 10th, Colonel Stanhope arrived at Zante, from the Morea, and, as he Avas on liis way back to England, he took charge of Lord Byron's remains, and embarked with them on board the Florida. On the 25th of May she sailed from Zante, on the 29th of June entered the Downs, and from thence proceeded to Stangate creek, to perform quarantine, where she arrived on Thursday, July 1st.

John Cam Hobhouse, esq. and John Hanson, esq., Lord Byron's executors, after having proved his will, claimed the body from the Florida, and under their directions it was removed to the house of Sir Edward Knatchbull, No. 29, Great George-street, Westminster.

TT

XXVI

LAKE'S LIFE OF LORD BYRON.

It was announced from time to time tliat the body of Lord BjTon was to be exhibited in state, and the progress of tlie embellishments of the poet's bier was recorded in tlie pages of a hundred publications. They were at length completed, and to separate the curiosity of the poor from the admiration of the rich, the latter were indulged with tickets of admission, and a day was set apart for them to go and wonder over tiie decked room and the emblazoned bier. Peers and peeresses, priests, poets, and politicians, came in gilded chariots and in hired hacks to gaze upon the splendour of the funeral preparations, and to see in how rich and how vain a shroud the body of the immortal bard had been hid. Those idle trappings in which rank seems to mark its altitude above the vulgar belonged to the state of the peer rather than to the state of the poet ; genius required no such attractions, and all this magnificence served only to distract our regard from the man whose inspired tongue was now silenced for ever. Who -cared for Lord Byron the peer and the privy counsellor, with his coronet and bis long descent from princes on one side, and from heroes on both? and who did not care for George Gordon Byron the poet, who has charmed us, and will charm our descendants with his deep and impassioned verse? The homage was rendered to genius, not surely to rank — for lord can be stamped on any clay, but inspiration can only be impressed on the finest metal.

A few select friends and admirers followed Lord Byron to the grave — his coronet was borne before him, and there were many indications of his rank; but, save the assembled multitude, no indications of his genius. In conformity with a singular practice of the great, a long train of their empty carriages followed the mourning-coaches — mocking the dead with idle state, and impeding with barren pageantry the honester sympathy of the crowd. Where were the owners of those machines of sloth and luxury — where were the men of rank among whose dark pedigrees Lord Byron threw the light of his genius, and lent the brows of nobility a halo to which they were strangers ? Where were the great whigs ? where were the illustrious tories? could a mere difference in matters of human belief keep those fastidious persons away? But, above all, wKere were the friends with whom wedlock had united him ? On his desolate corpse no wife looked, no child shed a tear. We have no wisii to set ourselves up as judges in domestic infelicities, and we are w illing to believe they were separated in such a way as to render conciliation hopeless ; but who could stand and look on his pale manly face, and his dark locks whi«h early sorrows were making thin and grey, without feeling that, gifted as he was, with a soul above the mark of other men, his domestic misfortunes called for our pity as surely as his genius called for our admiration ?

As the cavalcade proceeded through the streets of London, a fine-looking honest tar was observed to "walk near the hearse uncovered throughout the morning, and on being asked by a stranger whether he formed part of the funeral cortege, he replied he came there to pay his respects to the deceased, with whom he had served in the Levant, when he made the tour of the Grecian Islands. This poor fellow was kindly offered a place by some of the servants who were behind the carriage, but he said he was strong, and had rather walk near the hearse.

It was not till Friday, July 16th, that the interment took place. Lord Byron was buried in the family-vault, atthevillageofHucknall, eight miles beyond Nottingham, and within two miles of the venerable abbey ofNewstead. He was accompanied to the grave by crowds of persons eager to show this last testimony of respect to his memory. In one of his earlier poems he had expressed a wish that his- dust might mingle with his mother's, and, in compliance with this wish, his coffin was placed in the vault next to hers. It was twenty minutes past four o'clock on Friday, July 16th, 1824, when the ceremony was concluded, when tiie tomb closed for ever on Byron, and when his friends were relieved from every care concerning liim, save tliat of doing justice to his memory, and of cherishing his fame.

The following inscription was placed on the cotfin: —

George Gordon Noel Byron,

Lord Byron, of Rochdale, Born in London, Jan. 22, 1788, died at Missolonghi, in Western Greece, April 19th, 1824. An urn accompanied the coffin, and on it was inscribed :

Within this urn are deposited the heart, brain, etc. of the deceased Lord Byron.

An elegant Grecian tablet of white marble has been placed in the chancel of the Hucknall church. We subjoin a copy of the inscription.

IN THE VAULT BENEATH,

WHERE MANY OF HIS ANCESTORS AND HIS MOTHER ARE BURIED,

LIE THE REMAINS OF

GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON,

tORD BYRON, OF ROCHDALE, IN THE COUNTY OF LANCASTER;

THE AUTHOR OF " CHILDE HAROLD's PILGRIMAGE."

HE WAS BORN IN LONDON, ON THE 22d OF JANUARY, 1788.

HE DIED AT MISSOLONGHI, IN WESTERN GREECE, ON THE 19tH OF APRIL, 1824,

ENGAGED IN THE GLORIOUS ATTEMPT TO RESTORE THAT COUNTRY

TO HER ANCIENT FREEDOM AND RENOWN.

HIS SISTER, THE HONOURABLE AUGUSTA MARIA LEIGH, PLACED THIS TABLET TO HIS MEMORY.

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE.

A KOMAUNT.

L'univers est une espece de livre dont on n'a lu que la premiere page, quand on n'a vu que son pays. J'en ai feuillete nn assez grand nombrc, que j'ai trouve egalement mauvaises. Cet examen nc m'a point t'te iurructneiix. Je haissals ma patrie. Toutes les impertinences des peuples divers, parmi lesquels j'ai vecu, m'ont reconcilio avec elle. Quand je n'uurait tire d'aatre benefice de mes voyages que celni-la, je n'en regretterais ni les frais, ni les fatigues.

Lb Cosmopolitb.