Adam, Sir F., High Commissioner of the Ionian islands:
his tribute to Byron’s character, 202
Agraffa, the scene of Cariascachi’s depredations, 162
Allegra, Byron’s natural daughter:
her life and death, 22;
Byron’s feelings for, 35
Americans, Byron on, 131
Anatoliko, Turkish abandonment of, 68
Argostoli, Byron arrives at, 63
Astarte, by Earl of Lovelace. See Lovelace
Augusta, Stanzas and Epistle to, 290, 324, 364
Barnard, Lady Anne, on Byron’s married life, 329 et seq.
Beecher Stowe scandals, 318, 326
Bentham, Jeremy, and Byron, 108 et seq., 119;
amusing anecdote about, 126 et seq.
Berry, Messrs., Byron’s wine merchants:
register of Byron’s weight, 19
Bible, The, Scott’s lines on, 73
Blackwood’s Magazine on Byron, 50, 100, 315, 316
BlaquiÈre, Captain, 48;
sails for England, 64;
describes the return of HatajÈ to her parents, 137;
eulogy on Byron, 176, 177, 199 et seq.
Blessington, Lady, Conversations of Lord Byron:
describes Byron, 5, 6;
character and reminiscences of Byron, 34 et seq., 40, 41
Bolivar, The, Byron’s yacht, sold to Lord Blessington, 32;
her end, 33
Botzari, Marco, 48;
his death, 66
Bowring, Mr., hon. secretary to the Greek Committee, 126
Bride of Abydos, The:
what the poem reveals, 240, 259, 260, 262, 265
Brougham, Mr., spreads the scandal, 340
Broughton, Lord (see Hobhouse, John Cam), Recollections of a Long Life, 201, 247 n., 339 n., 340 n., 359 n.
Browne, Hamilton, goes with Byron to Greece, 47, 48;
Byron’s illness, 62;
arrives at Cephalonia, 67
Bruno, Dr., travels with Byron to Greece, 47, 48;
Byron’s illness, 59, 62;
medical discussions with Dr. Stravolemo, 79;
his medical treatment of Byron, 124, 163, 166, 168, 169, 193 et seq.;
accompanies Byron’s body to England, 202;
reply to Fletcher’s statement, 403 et seq.;
Dr. Millingen on, 405 et seq.
Brydges, Sir Egerton, 291
Burdett, Sir Francis, 11, 208
Byron, George Gordon (sixth Lord):
arrival and habits of life at Pisa, 3, 11, 20-22;
personal appearance, 4-7;
evidence as to his lameness, 7, 8, 191;
portraits of, 9, 10;
inherits the Noel property on death of Lady Noel, 10, 11;
the society and influence of the Shelleys, 11 et seq.;
discussion on the most perfect ode produced, 11, 12, 58;
religion, 13 et seq.;
habit of vaunting his vices, 17, 18, 78;
abstinence, 18;
weight register, 19;
fracas at Pisa and Montenero, 21, 22;
his natural daughter Allegra, 22 et seq.;
effect of Allegra’s death on, 24;
dealings with Leigh Hunt, 26 et seq.;
death of Shelley and Williams, 29, 30;
refuses Shelley’s legacy of £2,000, 32;
leaves Pisa with Countess Guiccioli and goes to Albaro, 32;
sells his yacht The Bolivar, 33;
feelings on his own position, and desire for reconciliation with his wife, 33 et seq.;
admiration for Sir Walter Scott and Shelley, 35;
liaison with Countess Guiccioli, 37, 379, 380;
conduct after separation from his wife, 39 et seq.;
Lady Blessington on, 40;
anomalies, 41;
opinion of his wife, 42;
admiration for his sister, 42;
affection for his child Ada, 43;
craving for celebrity, 45;
takes up the Greek cause, 46;
travels to Greece with money, arms, and retinue, 47;
arrives at Argostoli, 47, 65;
practical sympathy, 48, 67;
an interesting interview with, 48 et seq.;
visits the Fountain of Arethusa, 51-53;
attacks of illness, 51, 52, 59, 62, 63;
excursion to the School of Homer, 54-57;
on the Waverley Novels, 57;
at Vathi, 58;
admiration for Southey, Gifford, and others, 59, 60;
reception at Santa Eufemia, 60;
on actors, 61;
journey over the Black Mountain to Argostoli, 63;
action with regard to dissensions in Greece, 64 et seq.;
resides at Metaxata, 67;
advances £4,000 to the Greeks, 67 et seq.;
appeal to the Greek nation, 69;
motives in coming to Greece, 70, 71, 94;
discussions with Dr. Kennedy on religion, 72 et seq.;
favourite books, 79, 82, 100;
helps to rescue workmen, 80;
sails with money from Zante for Missolonghi to join and help the Greek fleet, 81, 82;
adventurous voyage, 83-86;
reception at Missolonghi, 88;
releases Turkish prisoners, 89, 90, 132;
preparations against Lepanto, 91;
takes 500 Suliotes into his pay, 91;
and Major Parry, 92 et seq., 143;
Turks blockade Missolonghi, 96;
verses on his birthday, 96;
presentiment that he would never leave Greece, and his intentions, 97;
some reminiscences of, 98 et seq.;
wonderful memory, 102;
a popular idol in Greece, 105;
relations with Mavrocordato, 106, 116;
and Colonel Stanhope, 107 et seq., 120, 121, 122;
Jeremy Bentham, 108;
dealings with the press, 112, 113;
views of the politics of Greece, 114;
effective mode of reproof, 117;
on the useless supplies sent by the London Committee, 119;
abandonment of the Lepanto project, 121;
illness and feelings as to death, 122-125;
dismisses the Suliotes, 125, 142;
anecdote of Jerry Bentham’s Cruise, 126 et seq.;
interest in the working classes, 130;
his politics, 131;
on America, 131;
the story of HatajÈ, 133 et seq.;
Turkish brig ashore, 139;
firmness and tact in difficulties, 140, 156 et seq.;
desertion of the English artificers, 142, 143;
improvement in his health, 144;
favourite dogs, 145, 227;
daily life, 145, 147;
the unhealthy state of Missolonghi, 146;
bodyguard, 146;
indisposition of, 148;
peasants’ respect for, 149;
no desire for self-aggrandizement in Greece, 151 et seq.;
Greek loan raised in London, 156;
receives the freedom of Missolonghi, 157;
Cariascachi’s treachery, 159 et seq.;
detailed accounts of his last illness, and death, 163 et seq., 192 et seq., 403 et seq.;
eulogies on, 174 et seq., 201, 205;
Trelawny’s opinion of, 178 et seq.;
effect of his death on Greece, 183 et seq., 201;
the funeral oration, 185;
body conveyed to Zante, and thence to England, 198 et seq.;
arrival of the body in England, 202-204;
character sketch by Colonel Stanhope, 205 et seq.;
funeral procession and burial at Hucknall-Torkard, 215, 216;
what the poems reveal, 219 et seq.;
infatuation for Mary Chaworth, 220 et seq.;
mystery of the Thyrza poems, 221 et seq.;
romantic attachment to Edleston, 222, 223, 230, 231;
anecdote of Mary Chaworth’s gift, 224;
his mother’s death, 227;
on death of his friends, 227, 228;
Childe Harold, 233, 236, 238, 287, 363;
and the Hon. Mrs. George Lamb, 235;
disbelief in existence after death, 239, 240;
in great dejection writes The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, and The Corsair, 240, 256 et seq., 277, 278, 281, 303;
and Lady Webster, 240, 241, 259;
persuaded to give up going abroad, 241, 242;
what he wishes the world to believe about Mary Chaworth, 244, 245;
their meetings after her separation from her husband, 246, 258 et seq.;
remorse and parting, 249;
suspense and fear preceding the birth of Medora, 253, 260;
reason of separation from his wife, 255;
reproaches Mary Chaworth, 256, 257;
device for a seal, 261, 267;
remarkable letter to Moore, 266;
birth of Medora, 268;
Lara, 268, 271, 273;340 et seq., 378
Cockburn, Sir Alexander, Lord Chief Justice, and the Byron mystery, 358;
his opinion of Lady Byron, 387
Coleridge, Ernest Hartley, on identity of Byron’s infatuation, 233, 240, 260
Colocotroni, one of the turbulent capitani, 153
Congreve rockets, 92, 93
Corsair, The, what the poem reveals, 240, 262 et seq., 277, 279
Dacre, Lord, 11
Davies, Scrope B., 98, 352;
Byron’s letter to, 227
Don Juan, what the poem reveals, 219, 276, 304 et seq.
Dowden, Professor, Life of Shelley: on Byron, 13;
the death of Allegra, 23
Doyle, Colonel Francis:
consulted by Lady Byron as to a separation, 338;
signs Lady Byron’s statement of her conduct, 355;
advises Lady Byron to obtain a confession from Mrs. Leigh, 360, 361, 397
Dragomestri, Byron’s visit to, 85
Dream, The, what the poem reveals, 289, 290
Duel, The, the poem’s application to Mary Chaworth, 298
Edleston, a chorister at Cambridge:
Byron saves his life and forms a romantic attachment to, 222;
his death, 230, 231
Elphinstone, Miss Mercer, and Byron, 311
Fenton, Captain, 180
Finlay, George, History of Greece:
the siege of Missolonghi, 70;
Byron’s mode of life at Missolonghi, 98 et seq., 148;
on Byron, 176;
Reminiscences of Byron, 201;
Byron’s last illness, 405
Fletcher, Byron’s valet:
Byron’s last ride, 164;
ignorance of the doctors, 165, 166;
Byron’s last illness and death, 170, 171, 252;
his statement, 192 et seq.;
accompanies Byron’s body to England, 202;
Dr. Bruno’s reply to the statement, 403 et seq.;
Dr. Millingen’s account of Byron’s last illness, 405 et seq.
Florida, the brig, brings the loan to Greece, and conveys back Byron’s body, 199 et seq.
Freiber, Dr., German physician, attends Byron, 169
fracas at Pisa, 20;
goes to Albaro, 32;
travels with Byron to Greece, 47, 48;
on Byron’s perseverance and discernment, 65;
on Byron’s favourite reading, 79;
Byron’s practical sympathy, 80;
accompanies Byron to Missolonghi, 83;
taken prisoner by the Turks, 84;
release and arrival at Missolonghi, 85;
the General Assembly at Missolonghi, 88;
Byron’s interview with the two privateer sailors, 91;
becomes editor of the Greek Telegraph, 114;
Byron’s illness, 121, 143, 148, 163 et seq.;
arrest of English officers, 157;
Byron’s funeral, 184;
conveys Byron’s body to Zante, 198
Gamba, Count Ruggiero, Byron’s neighbour at Pisa, 3;
leaves Pisa and goes to Montenero, 21;
ordered to leave Montenero, 22;
goes to Albaro, 32;
and Byron, 212
Gamba, Teresa. See Guiccioli, Countess
Gell, Sir William, his writings, 100, 101 n.
George IV. makes ‘equivocation’ the fashion, 17, 18;
and Sir Walter Scott, 53
Giaour, The, what the poem reveals, 240, 256, 257, 265
Gifford, William, Byron’s opinion of, 51, 60
Greece:
Byron sails for, 47;
state of the country and army, 64, 87 et seq., 118, 180;
Byron advances £4,000, 67;
Byron’s appeal to the nation, 69, 70;
preparations against Lepanto, 91;
honours offered to Byron, 151, 152;
Congress at Salona, 153;
Greek loan raised in London, 156;
effect of Byron’s death on, 175 et seq.
Greece, History of, by G. Finlay, 70;
by Mitford, 100
Greek Chronicle:
Byron’s support, 108;
suppression of, 112, 113
Greek Telegraph, 103, 113
Guiccioli, Countess, daughter of Count Ruggiero Gamba:
Byron’s neighbour at Pisa, 3, 4, 20;
describes Byron, 7 et seq.;
on the characters of Shelley and Byron, 14, 15;
on Byron’s conduct towards Allegra, 23;
on Byron’s religion, 74, 78;
anecdote about Mary Chaworth’s ring, 224;
Lady of the Land, 298, 301, 370;
and Mrs. Leigh, 379
Hancock, Charles, Byron’s banker, 82
Hanson, John, Byron’s solicitor, 241, 345, 346
Harmodia, 274, 275
HatajÈ, Byron’s kindness to, 133 et seq.
Hay, Captain, fracas at Pisa, 20, 21
Hebrew Melodies, 277
Hercules, the, an English brig:
Byron and his suite sail to Greece in it, 47;
Byron lives on board, 64, 65
Herod’s Lament for Mariamne, 278
Hesketh, Mr., 158, 159
Heywood, Sergeant, consulted by Lady Byron, 338
Hobhouse, John Cam (afterwards Lord Broughton):
and Byron, 35;
persuades Byron to burn his journal, 102;
destroys one of Byron’s poems, 208;
Byron’s funeral, 215, 216;
and Lady Byron, 216, 320;
life-long friend of Mrs. Leigh, 319.
See also Broughton, Lord
Hodgson, captain of the Florida, 203
Hodgson, Rev. Francis:
consulted by Mrs. Leigh, 344 et seq.;
appeals to Lady Byron, 346 et seq.
Hodgson, Rev. F., Memoir of, 73 n.
Holmes, Mr. James, his portrait of Byron, 9
Hours of Idleness, what the poem reveals, 220
Hucknall-Torkard, Byron’s burial place, 44
Humphreys, Captain, on state of Greece, 180
Hunt, Sir Aubrey de Vere, 102
Hunt, Leigh:
the story of his literary and money relations with Byron, 26 et seq.;
Byron’s opinion of, 31
Ireland, Dr., Dean of Westminster, refuses burial of Byron in Westminster Abbey, 203
Jersey, Countess of, her party in honour of Byron, 352
Kean, Edmund, actor, Byron’s opinion of, 61
Kemble, John, actor, Byron’s opinion of, 61
Kennedy, Dr., Scottish medical man:
tries to ‘convert’ Byron, 72 et seq.;
and HatajÈ, 136;
Lady Byron on, 77
King, Lady. See Byron, Hon. Augusta Ada
Kinnaird, the Hon. Douglas, Byron’s opinion of, 208
Knox, Captain, 51
Knox, Mrs., 50, 54
Lamb, Hon. Mrs. George, and Byron, 235
Lamb, Lady Caroline, spreads the Byron scandal, 270, 317, 340, 390
Lambro, a Suliote chief, 156, 164
Lara, what the poem reveals, 268, 271, 273
Leigh, Hon. Mrs. Augusta, half-sister of Lord Byron:
influence over her brother, 42, 73, 245, 261;
and his poetry, 103;
wishes him to go abroad, 242;
first introduction to, and close intimacy with, Mary Chaworth, 250;
loyalty to her brother and Mary Chaworth, 255, 287, 317, 321;
letters from her brother about Mary Chaworth, 258, 267, 268;
simulated confinement and convalescence, 269;
her brother’s conduct gives colour to the scandal, 270, 279, 285;
letters to Hodgson on the secret, 272, 344 et seq.;
spends a month at Newstead with her brother, 279;
the difficulties of keeping the secret, 285, 317, 362 et seq.;
lines in Childe Harold referring to, 287;
the so-called confession, 289, 322, 324, 325, 341, 357, 361 et seq.;
Stanzas to Augusta, 290, 364;
Lord Lovelace’s opinion of her character, 294, 295;
the accusation dealt with in detail, 318 et seq.;
Lord Stanhope and Frances, Lady Shelley on, 318;
the story of her life, 319;
Hobhouse’s advice to, 320;
difficult position with Lady Byron, 321, 341, 362, 367;
her predicament owing to the adoption of Medora, 322;
Epistle to Augusta, 324;
letters to Hodgson on her brother’s marriage, 332 et seq.;
a long visit to her brother and Lady Byron, 336;
Lady Byron’s feelings towards her, 336, 337, 342, 343, 360;
Lady Byron’s confinement, 337;
Mrs. Clermont’s treachery, 341;
Lady Jersey’s party, 352;
parts for ever from her brother, 352;
Lady Byron’s written statement, 353 et seq.;
letters to Hodgson on her brother, 362;
her line of conduct to Lady Byron, 362 et seq.;
Moore on Byron’s feelings towards her, 366;
pretends that her brother’s letter to Mary Chaworth was written to herself, 368 et seq.;
a genuine letter, 372;
reply to Lady Byron’s advice, 375 et seq.;
her children’s prospects discussed with Lady Byron, 380, 385;
Lady Byron’s request, 380;
Lord Lovelace on, 389 et seq.
Lepanto, preparations against, 91
Liberal, The, its unsuccessful career, 31, 32
Lion, Byron’s favourite dog, 145, 146
Londos, General Andrea, and Byron, 155
Lovelace, Earl of, Astarte:
Byron’s Thyrza, 234 n.;
accusations against Mrs. Leigh, 249, 269 et seq., 287, 288, 318, 321, 322, 338, 341, 362, 366 et seq., 368 et seq., 385 et seq., 390;
describes Mrs. Leigh’s character, 294;
Manfred, the key of the mystery, 326 et seq., 364;
Byron’s mutability, 339;
Lady Byron’s written statement, 353 et seq.;
important letters from Byron, 368 et seq., 385, 386;
and Lady Byron, 387
Lushington, Dr.:
advises Lady Byron, 338, 351, 352, 357, 358, 383, 387;
his opinion on Byron’s letters abstracted by Mrs. Clermont, 341;
signs Lady Byron’s statement, 353 et seq.
Magdalen, a fragment, 269
Maitland, Sir Thomas, High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, 52, 61;
character and death, 115, 116
Manfred, the supposed key to the mystery, 291 et seq., 328, 364
Marino Faliero, 100
Marshall, Mrs. Julian, Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 178, 180
Masi, Sergeant-Major, fracas at Pisa, 20, 21
Matthews, Charles Skinner, one of Byron’s best friends, his death, 227
Mavrocordato, Prince, Governor-General of Western Greece:
and Byron, 66, 68, 70, 202;
brings the Greek fleet to Missolonghi, 81;
Byron’s arrival at Missolonghi, 85;
Byron’s interview with two privateer sailors, 91;
his jealousy, 105, 106;
infraction of neutrality in Ithaca, 115;
Byron’s opinion of, 116;
opposition by Colonel Stanhope, 119, 153;
and Odysseus, 53
Segati, Marianna, Byron’s liaison with, 371
Shakespeare, William, Byron’s opinion of, 101
Shelley, Percy Bysshe:
describes Pisa, 3;
and Byron, 11 et seq.;
fracas at Pisa, 20, 21;
and Allegra, 22;
leaves Pisa for Lerici, 26;
and Leigh Hunt, 26 et seq.;
his death, 30;
Byron’s opinion of, 30, 35;
his legacy to Byron, 32
Shelley, Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft, by Mrs. Julian Marshall, 178
Stanhope, Col. the Hon. Leicester:
arrives in Cephalonia to co-operate with Byron, 68;
on Byron’s character, 78, 174;
begs Byron to come to Missolonghi, 81;
on Byron’s conduct in Greece, 91, 107;
interviews and misunderstandings with Byron, 108 et seq.;
his conduct in Greece, 119, 153;
accompanies Byron’s body to England, 199, 202;
Greece in 1823 and 1824, and Sketch of Byron, 201;
character sketch of Byron, 205 et seq.
Stanhope, Earl, historian, opinion of Mrs. Leigh, 318
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Mrs. Leigh’s letters, 357
Stowe. See Beecher Stowe
Stravolemo, Dr., physician, and Dr. Bruno, 79
Suliotes:
Byron takes 500 into his pay, 91;
false alarm, 123;
serious fracas, 140;
their dismissal, 142
Swift, William, bootmaker at Southwell, his evidence of Byron’s lameness, 8
Taaffe, Mr., fracas at Pisa, 20, 21
Thomas, Dr., invited to attend Byron in his last illness, 168, 193 et seq.
Thorwaldsen, his marble bust of Byron, 10
Thyrza poems, what they reveal, 221, 232, 235
Tita, Giovanni Battista Falcieri, Byron’s faithful servant, 97, 166, 169 et seq.
Toole, Mr., receives Byron at Santa Eufemia, 60
Trelawny, Edward John:
arrives at Pisa, 4;
describes Byron and his peculiarities, 5, 17, 18;
on Leigh Hunt and Byron, 28;
effect of Shelley’s death, 32;
lays up The Bolivar, 32;
travels with Byron to Greece, 47, 48;
and Byron’s seizure, 62;
mistaken views of Byron’s motives, 64, 65;
unhealthiness of Missolonghi, 87;
his opinion of Byron, 178 et seq.;
and Mavrocordato, 179;
on Byron’s deformity, 191, 192
Tricoupi, Spiridion, pronounces funeral oration over Byron, 185
Vaga, Dr. Lucca, Greek physician, attends Byron in his last illness, 169, 408
Vathi, Byron at, 58
Villiers, Hon. Mrs., and Mrs. Leigh, 357, 362, 367;
Lady Byron confides the secret to, 381, 394
Vivian, Charles, his death, 30
Volpiotti, Constantine, spy under Byron’s roof, 162
Watson’s Philip II., 102
Webster, Lady Frances Wedderburn, and Byron, 240, 241, 259
Wentworth, Lord, Byron inherits his property, 10
West, William Edward, American painter, his portrait of Byron, 9
Wildman, Colonel Thomas, 44
Wildman, Mrs., owner of Byron’s boot-trees and the bootmaker’s statement as to Byron’s deformity, 7, 8
Williams, Edward, and Leigh Hunt, 29;
on Byron’s treatment of Mrs. Hunt, 29;
his death, 30
Wilmot, Robert John, signs Lady Byron’s statement, 355, 357, 359
Wilson, John, 60
Wilson, General Sir Robert, known as ‘Jaffa Wilson,’ 110
Wordsworth, William, 60;
Byron reviews his poems, 101 n.
York, Duke of, and Sir Walter Scott, 53
Young, Charles, actor, Byron’s opinion of, 61
Zante, Byron at, 83, 198
THE END
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
Footnotes:
[1] Medwin, in his book ‘The Angler in Wales,’ vol. ii., p. 211, says: ‘The right foot, as everyone knows, being twisted inwards, so as to amount to what is generally known as a club-foot.’
[2] Letter to Mr. Gisborne, January 12, 1822. Professor Dowden’s ‘Life of Shelley,’ vol. ii., p. 447.
[3] ‘Lord Byron.’
[4] ‘Letters and Journals of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. vi., appendix iii.
[5] ‘Life of Shelley,’ vol. ii., p. 494.
[6] Henry Dunn kept a British shop at Leghorn.
[7] For Byron’s opinion of Shelley’s poetry, see appendix to ‘The Two Foscari’: ‘I highly admire the poetry of “Queen Mab” and Shelley’s other publications.’
[8] ‘The Angler in Wales,’ by Thomas Medwin, vol. ii., pp. 144-146.
[9] Lady Noel left by her will to the trustees a portrait of Byron, with directions that it was not to be shown to his daughter Ada till she attained the age of twenty-one; but that if her mother were still living, it was not to be so delivered without Lady Byron’s consent.
[10] It was at this time that Byron endeavoured to suppress the fact that he had written ‘The Age of Bronze.’
[11] Dr. Bruno.
[12] Byron’s sobriquet for Walter Scott.
[13] ‘Letters and Journals of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. vi., p. 259.
[14] ‘Memoir of Rev. F. Hodgson,’ vol. ii., p. 150.
[15] ‘Diary,’ vol. iii., pp. 435, 436.
[16] Parry, p. 170.
[17] Byron wrote a review of Wordsworth’s ‘Poems’ in Monthly Literary Recreations for July, 1807, and a review of Gell’s ‘Geography of Ithaca’ in the Monthly Review for August, 1811.
[18] General Sir Robert Wilson (1777-1849), commonly known as ‘Jaffa Wilson,’ entered Parliament in 1818. Having held Napoleon up to horror and execration for his cruelty at Jaffa, Wilson subsequently became one of his strongest eulogists. Being by nature a demagogue, he posed as a champion in the cause of freedom and civil government; he accused England of injustice and tyranny towards other nations, and prophesied her speedy fall. He warmly espoused the cause of Queen Caroline, and was present at the riot in Hyde Park on the occasion of her funeral, when there was a collision between the Horse Guards and the mob. For his conduct on that occasion, despite a long record of gallant service in the field, Wilson was dismissed the Army in 1821, but was reinstated on the accession of William IV. He appears to have been both foolish and vain, and fond of creating effect. He was constantly brooding over services which he conceived to have been overlooked, and merits which he fancied were neglected. He attached himself to the ultra-radicals, and puffed himself into notoriety by swimming against the stream. A writer in the Quarterly Review (Vol. xix., July, 1818) says: ‘The obliquity of his (Wilson’s) perceptions make his talents worse than useless as a politician, and form, even in his own profession, a serious drawback to energy however great, and to bravery however distinguished.’
[19] High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.
[20] Acting as Secretary to High Commissioner.
[21] Vol. vi., p. 326.
[22] One of the turbulent capitani who was playing for his own hand. He was at one time a member of the Executive Body, and was afterwards proclaimed by the Legislative Assembly as an enemy of the State.
[23] A leader of Greek insurgents—Byron calls him Ulysses—who broke away from Government control to form an independent party in opposition to Mavrocordato, with whose views Byron sympathized. Trelawny and Colonel Stanhope believed in Odysseus, who after having acquired great influence in Eastern Greece was proclaimed by the Government, imprisoned, and murdered while in captivity.
[24] ‘Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,’ edited by Mrs. Julian Marshall.
[25] For further evidence on this point, see ‘Letters of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. i., pp. 9-11.
[26] It is difficult to reconcile this with Millingen’s statement.
[27] Edinburgh Review, April, 1871, pp. 294-298.
[28] He succeeded Sir Thomas Maitland as High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.
[29] This must be taken cum grano salis.
[30] They appear to have met accidentally in Trinity Walks a few days earlier. Edleston did not at first recognize Byron, who had grown so thin.
[31] Edleston, who some time previously had given Byron a ‘Cornelian’ as a parting gift on leaving Cambridge for the vacation.
[32] Edleston had died five months before Byron heard the sad news.
[33] ‘I think it proper to state to you that this stanza alludes to an event which has taken place since my arrival here, and not to the death of any male friend.’—Lord Byron to Mr. Dallas.
[34] That this Thyrza was no passing fancy is proved by Lord Lovelace’s statement in ‘Astarte’ (p. 138): ‘He had occasionally spoken of Thyrza to Lady Byron, at Seaham and afterwards in London, always with strong but contained emotion. He once showed his wife a beautiful tress of Thyrza’s hair, but never mentioned her real name.’
[35] Captain (afterwards Commodore) Walter Bathurst was mortally wounded at the Battle of Navarino, on October 20, 1827.—‘Battles of the British Navy,’ Joseph Allen, vol. ii., p. 518.
[36] The last line was in the first draft.
[37] Medwin (edition of 1824), p. 63.
[38] ‘A power of fascination rarely, if ever, possessed by any man of his age’ (‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ by Lord Broughton, vol. ii., p. 196).
[39] ‘Letters and Journals of Byron,’ vol. iii., p. 406, edited by Rowland E. Prothero.
[40] Moore had rented a cottage in Nottinghamshire, not very remote from Newstead Abbey.
[41] See ‘Letters and Journals of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. ii., pp. 267, 269, 278, 292.
[42] ‘Had I not written “The Bride” (in four nights), I must have gone mad by eating my own heart—bitter diet.’—‘Journals and Letters,’ vol. ii., p. 321.
[43]
‘Hail be you, Mary, mother and May,
Mild, and meek, and merciable!’
An Ancient Hymn to the Virgin.
[44] Mary was ‘the last of a time-honoured race.’ The line of the Chaworths ended with her.
[45] It will be remembered that Byron had announced ‘The Corsair’ as ‘the last production with which he should trespass on public patience for some years.’ With the loss of Mary’s love his inspiration was gone.
[46]
‘With hackbut bent, my secret stand,
Dark as the purposed deed, I chose,
And mark’d where, mingling in his band,
Trooped Scottish pikes and English bows.’
Sir Walter Scott: Cadyow Castle.
[47] Mary’s allusion to the seal is explained by an entry in Byron’s journal, November 14, 1813. The seal is treasured as a memento of Byron by the Musters family.
[48] No one, we presume, will question the identity of the person mentioned in ‘The Dream’:
‘Upon a tone,
A touch of hers, his blood would ebb and flow,
And his cheek change tempestuously—his heart
Unknowing of its cause of agony.’
[49] ‘Astarte,’ p. 134.
[50] Lady Caroline Lamb also asserted that Byron showed her some letters which contained some such expression as this: “Oh! B——, if we loved one another as we did in childhood—then it was innocent.” The reader may judge whether such a remark would be more natural from Augusta, or from Mary Chaworth.
[51] October 14, 1814.
[52] See the poem ‘Remember Him’: ‘Thy soul from long seclusion pure.’
[53]
‘Ophelia. O heavenly powers, restore him!’
Hamlet, Act III., Scene i.
[54]
‘The song, celestial from thy voice,
But sweet to me from none but thine.’
Poetry of Byron, vol. iv.: ‘To Thyrza.’
[55]
‘Siede la terra, dove nata fui,
Su la marina dove il Po discende.’
Inferno, Canto V., 97, 98.
[56] Although not near the source of the Po itself, Byron, at Ferrara, was not very far from the point where the Po di Primaro breaks away from the Po, and, becoming an independent river, flows into the dark blue Adriatic, about midway between Comachio and Ravenna.
[57] Shortly afterwards he translated ‘The Episode of Francesca,’ line for line, into English verse.
[58] ‘Beppo,’ stanza 83.
[59] ‘Astarte,’ p. 166.
[60] Lady Byron and Rev. F. Robertson drew up a memorandum of this conversation, April 8, 1851.
[61] ‘Astarte,’ p. 137.
[62] ‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ by Lord Broughton, vol. ii., p. 297.
[63] Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 219, 239.
[64] ‘Lady Byron said that she founded her determination [to part from her husband] on some communication from London.’—‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ vol. ii., p. 255.
[65] ‘There is reason to believe that Lord Chief Justice Cockburn privately saw letters [in 1869] of 1813 and 1814 which proved the fact of incest, and the overwhelming effect of the evidence therein contained.’—‘Astarte,’ p. 54.
[66] ‘Astarte,’ p. 77.
[67] Hanson.
[68] Leigh.
[69] ‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ vol. ii., p. 303.
[70] A fortnight before writing ‘Stanzas to the Po.’
[71] ‘Short name of three or four letters obliterated.’—‘Astarte,’ p. 180.
[72] Short name of three or four letters obliterated.
[73] Marianna (Anglice: Mary Anne).
[74] Lady Byron (see ‘Astarte,’ p. 166).
[75] His sister’s society.
[76] In case Byron altered his will.
[77] Vol. v., p. 1.
[78] Tinct. chinÆ corticis; tinct. cinchonÆ.