CHAPTER VI
In order to meet the charges which the late Lord Lovelace brought against Mrs. Leigh in 'Astarte,' we have been compelled to quote rather extensively from its pages. In the chapter entitled 'Manfred' will be found selections from a mass of correspondence which, without qualification or comment, might go far to convince the reader. Lord Lovelace was evidently 'a good hater,' and he detested the very name of Augusta Leigh with all his heart and soul. There was some reason for this. She had, in Lord Lovelace's opinion, '_substituted herself for Lord Byron's right heirs_' ('Astarte,' p. 125). It was evidently a sore point that Augusta should have benefited by Lord Byron's will. Lord Lovelace forgot that Lady Byron had approved of the terms of her husband's will, and that Lady Byron's conduct had not been such as to deserve any pecuniary consideration at Lord Byron's death. But impartiality does not seem to have been Lord Lovelace's forte. Having made up his mind that Mrs. Leigh was guilty, he selected from his papers whatever might appear most likely to convict her. But the violence of his antagonism has impaired the value of his contention; and the effect of his arguments is very different from that which he intended. Having satisfied himself that Mrs. Leigh (though liked and respected by her contemporaries) was an abandoned woman, Lord Lovelace says:
'A real reformation, according to Christian ideals, would not merely have driven Byron and Augusta apart from each other, but expelled them from the world of wickedness, consigned them for the rest of their lives to strict expiation and holiness. But this could never be; and in the long-run her flight to an outcast life would have been a lesser evil than the consequences of preventing it. The fall of Mrs. Leigh would have been a definite catastrophe, affecting a small number of people for a time in a startling manner. The disaster would have been obvious, but partial, immediately over and ended.... She would have lived in open revolt against the Christian standard, not in secret disobedience and unrepentant hypocrisy.'
Poor Mrs. Leigh! and was it so bad as all that? Had she committed incest with her brother after the separation of 1816? Did she follow Byron abroad 'in the dress of a page,' as stated by some lying chronicler from the banks of the Lake of Geneva? Did Byron come to England in secret at some period between 1816 and 1824? If not, what on earth is the meaning of this mysterious homily? Does Lord Lovelace, in the book that survives him, wish the world to believe that Lady Byron prevented Augusta from deserting her husband and children, and flying into Byron's arms in a 'far countree'? If that was the author's intention, he has signally failed. There never was a moment, since the trip abroad was abandoned in 1813, when Augusta had the mind to join her brother in his travels. There is not a hint of any such wish in any document published up to the present time. Augusta, who was undoubtedly innocent, had suffered enough from the lying reports that had been spread about town by Lady Caroline Lamb, ever to wish for another dose of scandal. If the Lovelace papers contain any hint of that nature, the author of 'Astarte' would most assuredly have set it forth in Double Pica. It is a baseless calumny.
In Lord Lovelace's opinion,
'judged by the light of nature, a heroism and sincerity of united fates and doom would have seemed, beyond all comparison, purer and nobler than what they actually drifted into. By the social code, sin between man and woman can never be blotted out, as assuredly it is the most irreversible of facts. Nevertheless, societies secretly respect, though they excommunicate, those rebel lovers who sacrifice everything else, but observe a law of their own, and make a religion out of sin itself, by living it through with constancy.'
These be perilous doctrines, surely! But how do those reflections apply to the case of Byron and his sister? The hypothesis may be something like this: Byron and his sister commit a deadly sin. They are found out, but their secret is kept by a select circle of their friends. They part, and never meet again in this world. The sin might have been forgiven, or at least condoned, if they had 'observed a law of their own'--in other words, 'gone on sinning.' Why? because 'societies secretly respect rebel lovers.' But these wretches had not the courage of their profligacy; they parted and sinned no more, therefore they were 'unrepentant hypocrites.' The 'heroism and sincerity of united fates and doom' was denied to them, and no one would ever have suspected them of such a crime, if Lady Byron and Lord Lovelace had not betrayed them. What pestilential rubbish! One wonders how a man of Lord Lovelace's undoubted ability could have sunk to bathos of that kind.
'Byron,' he tells us, 'was ready to sacrifice everything for Augusta, and to defy the world with her. If this _had not been prevented_ [the italics are ours], _he would have been a more poetical figure in history_ than as the author of "Manfred."'
It is clear, then, that in Lord Lovelace's opinion Byron and Augusta were prevented by someone from becoming poetical figures. Who was that guardian angel? Lady Byron, of course!
Now, what are the facts? Byron parted from his sister on April 14, 1816, _nine days prior to his own departure from London_. They never met again. There was nothing to 'prevent' them from being together up to the last moment if they had felt so disposed. Byron never disguised his deep and lasting affection for Augusta, whom in private he called his 'Dear Goose,' and in public his 'Sweet Sister.' There was no hypocrisy on either side--nothing, in short, except the prurient imagination of a distracted wife, aided and abetted by a circle of fawning gossips.
It is a lamentable example of how public opinion may be misdirected by evidence, which Horace would have called _Parthis mendacior_.
Lord Lovelace comforts himself by the reflection that Augusta
'was not spared misery or degradation by being preserved from flagrant acts; for nothing could be more wretched than her subsequent existence; and far from growing virtuous, she went farther down without end temporally and spiritually.'
Now, that is very strange! How could Augusta have gone farther down spiritually after Byron's departure? According to Lord Lovelace, 'Character regained was the consummation of Mrs. Leigh's ruin!'
Mrs. Leigh must have been totally unlike anyone else, if character regained proved her ruin. There must be some mistake. No, there it is in black and white. 'Her return to outward respectability was an unmixed misfortune to the third person through whose protection it was possible.'
This cryptic utterance implies that Mrs. Leigh's respectability was injurious to Lady Byron. Why?
'If Augusta had fled to Byron in exile, and was seen with him as _et soror et conjux_, the victory remained with Lady Byron, solid and final. _This was the solution hoped for by Lady Byron's friends_, Lushington and Doyle, as well as Lady Noel.'
So the cat is out of the bag at last! It having been impossible for Lady Byron to bring any proof against Byron and his sister which would have held water in a law-court, her friends and her legal adviser hoped that Augusta would desert her husband and children, and thus furnish them with evidence which would justify their conduct before the world. But Augusta was sorry not to be able to oblige them. This was a pity, because, according to Lord Lovelace, who was the most ingenuous of men: 'Their triumph and Lady Byron's justification would have been complete, and great would have been their rejoicing.'
Well, they made up for it afterwards, when Byron and Augusta were dead; after those memoirs had been destroyed which, in Byron's words, 'will be a kind of guide-post in case of death, and prevent some of the lies which would otherwise be told, and destroy some which have been told already.'
In allusion to the meetings between Lady Byron and Augusta immediately after the separation, we are told in 'Astarte' that
'on all these occasions, one subject--uppermost in the thoughts of both--had been virtually ignored, except that Augusta _had had the audacity_ to name the reports about herself with all the pride of innocence. _Intercourse could not continue on that footing_, for Augusta probably aimed at a positive guarantee of her innocence, and at committing Lady Byron irretrievably to that.'
This was great presumption on Mrs. Leigh's part, after all the pains they had taken to make her uncomfortable. Lady Byron, we are told by Lord Lovelace, could no longer bear the false position, and 'before leaving London she went to the Hon. Mrs. Villiers--a most intimate friend of Augusta's'--and deliberately poisoned her mind. That which she told Mrs. Villiers is not stated; but we infer that Lady Byron retailed some of the gossip that had reached her through one of Mrs. Leigh's servants who had overheard part of a conversation between Augusta and Byron shortly after Medora's birth. After the child had been taken to St. James's Palace, Byron often went there. It is likely that Augusta had been overheard jesting with Byron about his child. We cannot be sure of this; but, at any rate, some such expression, if whispered in Lady Byron's ears, would be sufficient to confirm her erroneous belief.
Mrs. Villiers, we are told, began from this time to be slightly prejudiced against Augusta. She believed her to be absolutely pure, but with lax notions of morality. This sounds like a contradiction in terms, but so it was; and through the wilful misrepresentation of Lady Byron and her coterie, Augusta's best friend was lured from her allegiance. Mrs. Villiers was also informed of something else by Wilmot-Horton, another friend of Lady Byron's. The plot thickened, and, without any attempt being made to arrive at the truth, Augusta's life became almost unbearable. No wonder the poor woman said in her agony: 'None can know _how much_ I have suffered from this unhappy business, and, indeed, I have never known a moment's peace, and begin to despair for the future.'
The 'unhappy business' was, of course, her unwise adoption of Medora. Through that error of judgment she was doomed to plod her way to the grave, suspected by even her dearest friend, and persecuted by the Byron family. Mrs. Villiers was a good woman and scented treason. She boldly urged Lady Byron to avow to Augusta the information of which she was in possession. But Lady Byron was at first afraid to run the risk. She knew very well the value of servants' gossip, and feared the open hostility of Augusta if she made common cause with Byron. This much she ingenuously avowed in a letter to Dr. Lushington. But, upon being further pressed, she consented to _write_ to Augusta and announce what she had been told. We have no doubt that the letter was written with great care, after consultation with Colonel Doyle and Lushington, and that the gossip was retailed with every outward consideration for Augusta's feelings. Whatever was said, and there is no evidence of it in 'Astarte,' we are there told that 'Augusta did not attempt to deny it, and, in fact, admitted everything in subsequent letters to Lady Byron during the summer of 1816.' Lord Lovelace ingenuously adds: 'It is unnecessary to produce them here, as their contents are confirmed and made sufficiently clear by the correspondence of 1819, in another chapter.'
It is very strange that Lord Lovelace, who is not thrifty in his selections, should have withheld the only positive proof of Augusta's confession known to be in existence. His reference to the letters of 1819, which he publishes, is a poor substitute for the letters themselves. The only letter which affords any clue to the mystery is the 'Dearest Love' letter, dated May 17, 1819, which we have quoted in a previous chapter. The value of that letter, as evidence against Augusta, we have already shown. When compared with the letter which Byron wrote to his sister on June 3, 1817--a year after he had parted from her--the conclusion that the incriminating letter is not addressed to Augusta at all, forces itself irresistibly upon the mind. As an example of varying moods, it is worth quoting:
'For the life of me I can't make out whether your disorder is a broken heart or ear-ache--or whether it is you that have been ill or the children--or what your melancholy and mysterious apprehensions tend to--or refer to--whether to Caroline Lamb's novels--Mrs. Clermont's evidence--Lady Byron's magnanimity, or any other piece of imposture.'
It is really laughable to suppose that the writer of the above extract could have written to the same lady two years later in the following strain:
'My dearest love, I have never ceased, nor can cease, to feel for a moment that perfect and boundless attachment which bound and binds me to you--which renders me utterly incapable of _real_ love for any other human being--for what could they be to me after _you_? My own * * * * we may have been very wrong,' etc.
But Lord Lovelace found no difficulty in believing that the letter in question sealed the fate of Augusta Leigh. In the face of such a document, Lord Lovelace thought that a direct confession in Augusta's handwriting would be superfluous, and Sir Leslie Stephen had warned him against superfluity!
Colonel Doyle, an intimate friend of Lady Byron, seems to have been the only man on her side of the question--not even excepting Lushington--who showed anything approaching to common sense. He perceived that Lady Byron, by avowing the grounds of her suspicions to Mrs. Leigh, had placed herself in an awkward position. He foresaw that this avowal would turn Mrs. Leigh into an enemy, who must sooner or later avenge the insults heaped upon her. On July 9, 1816, Colonel Doyle wrote to Lady Byron:
'Your feelings I perfectly understand; I will even _whisper_ to you I approve. But you must remember that your position is very extraordinary, and though, when we have sufficiently deliberated and _decided_, we should pursue our course without embarrassing ourselves with the consequences; yet we should _not neglect the means of fully justifying ourselves_ if the necessity be ever imposed upon us.'
We have quoted enough to show that, _five months after the separation was formally proposed to Lord Byron_, they had not sufficient evidence to bring into a court of law. Under those depressing circumstances Lady Byron was urged to induce Augusta to 'confess'; the conspirators would have been grateful even for an admission of guilt as _prior to Lord Byron's marriage_!
Colonel Doyle, as a man of honour, did not wish Lady Byron to rely upon 'confessions' made under the seal of secrecy. They had, apparently, been duped on a previous occasion; and, in case Mrs. Leigh were to bring an action against Lady Byron for defamation of character, it would not be advisable to rely, for her defence, upon letters which were strictly private and confidential. As to Augusta's 'admissions,' made orally and without witnesses, they were absolutely valueless--especially as the conditions under which they were made could not in honour be broken.
Augusta through all this worry fell into a state of deep dejection. She had been accused of a crime which (though innocent) she had tacitly admitted. Her friends were beginning to look coldly upon her, and consequently her position became tenfold more difficult and 'extraordinary' than that of her accuser. Perhaps she came to realize the truth of Dryden's lines:
'Smooth the descent and easy is the way; But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labour lies.'
Equivocation is a dangerous game.
Lord Lovelace tells us that all the papers concerning the marriage of Lord and Lady Byron have been carefully preserved. 'They are a complete record of all the causes of separation, and contain full information on every part of the subject.'
We can only say that it is a pity Lord Lovelace should have withheld those which were most likely to prove his case--for example, the letters which Mrs. Leigh wrote to Lady Byron in the summer of 1816. The public have a right to demand from an accuser the grounds of his accusation. Lord Lovelace gives us none. He bids us listen to what he deigns to tell us, and to ask for nothing more. That his case is built upon Lady Byron's surmises, and upon no more solid foundation, is shown by the following illuminating extract from 'Astarte':
'When a woman is placed as Lady Byron was, her mind works involuntarily, almost unconsciously, and conclusions force their way into it. She has not meant to think so and so, and she has thought it; the dreadful idea is repelled then, and to the last, with the whole force of her will, but when once conceived it cannot be banished. The distinctive features of a true hypothesis, when once in the mind, are a precise conformity to facts already known, and an adaptability to fresh developments, which allow us not to throw it aside at pleasure. Lady Byron's agony of doubt could only end in the still greater agony of certainty; but this was no result of ingenuity or inquiry, as she sought not for information.'
If Lady Byron did not seek for information when she plied Augusta with questions, and encouraged her friends to do the same, she must have derived pleasure from torturing her supposed rival. But that is absurd.
'Women,' says Lord Lovelace, 'are said to excel in piecing together scattered insignificant fragments of conversations and circumstances, and fitting them all into their right places amongst what they know already, and thus reconstruct a whole that is very close to the complete truth. But Lady Byron's whole effort was to resist the light, or rather the darkness, that would flow into her mind.'
In her effort to resist the light, Lady Byron seems to have admirably succeeded. But, in spite of her grandson's statement, that she employed any great effort to resist the darkness that flowed into her mind we entirely disbelieve. We are rather inclined to think that, in her search for evidence to convict Mrs. Leigh, she would have been very grateful for a farthing rushlight.
We now leave 'Astarte' to the judgment of posterity, for whom, in a peculiarly cruel sense, it was originally intended. If in a court of law counsel for the prosecution were to declaim loudly and frequently about evidence which he does not--perhaps dares not--produce, his harangues would make an unfavourable impression on a British jury. We have no wish to speak ill of the dead, but, in justice to Mrs. Leigh, we feel bound to say that the author of 'Astarte,' with all his talk about evidence against Byron and Augusta Leigh, has not produced a scrap of evidence which would have any weight with an impartial jury of their countrymen.
But we will not end upon a jarring note. Let us remember that Lord Lovelace, as Ada's son, felt an affectionate regard for the memory of Lady Byron. It was his misfortune to imbibe a false tradition, and, while groping his way through the darkness, his sole guide was a packet of collected papers by which his grandmother hoped to justify her conduct in leaving her husband. If Lady Byron had deigned to read Byron's 'Memoirs,' she might have been spared those painful delusions by which her mind was obsessed in later years. That she had ample grounds, in Byron's extraordinary conduct during the brief period of their intercourse, to separate herself from him is not disputed; but her premises were wrong, and her vain attempt to justify herself by unsupported accusations against Mrs. Leigh has failed.
Her daughter Ada, the mother of Lord Lovelace, had learnt enough of the family history to come to the conclusion (which she decidedly expressed to Mr. Fonblanque) that the sole cause of the separation was incompatibility. There let it rest. The Byron of the last phase was a very different man from the poet of 'The Dream.'
On the day that Byron was buried at Hucknall-Torkard the great Goethe, in allusion to a letter which Byron, on the eve of his departure for Greece, had written to him, says:
'What emotions of joy and hope did not that paper once excite! But now it has become, by the premature death of its noble writer, an inestimable relic and a source of unspeakable regret; for it aggravates, to a peculiar degree in me, the mourning and melancholy that pervade the moral and poetic world. In me, who looked forward (after the success of his great efforts) to the prospect of being blessed with the sight of this master-spirit of the age, this friend so fortunately acquired; and of having to welcome on his return the most humane of conquerors.
'But I am consoled by the conviction that his country will at once _awake_, and shake off, like a troubled dream, the partialities, the prejudices, the injuries, and the calumnies, with which he has been assailed; and that these will subside and sink into oblivion; and that she will at length acknowledge that his frailties, whether the effect of temperament, or the defect of the times in which he lived (against which even the best of mortals wrestle painfully), were only momentary, fleeting, and transitory; whilst the imperishable greatness to which he has raised her, now and for ever remains, and will remain, illimitable in its glory and incalculable in its consequences. Certain it is that a nation, who may well pride herself on so many great sons, will place Byron, all radiant as he is, by the side of those who have done most honour to her name.'
With these just words it is fitting to draw our subject to a close. The poetic fame of Byron has passed through several phases, and will probably pass through another before his exact position in the poetical hierarchy is determined. But the world's interest in the man who cheerfully gave his life to the cause of Greek Independence has not declined. Eighty-five years have passed, and Time has gradually fulfilled the prophecy which inspiration wrung from the anguish of his heart:
'But I have lived, and have not lived in vain: My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire, And my frame perish even in conquering pain; But there is that within me which shall tire Torture and Time, and breathe when I expire; Something unearthly, which they deem not of, Like the remembered tone of a mute lyre, Shall on their softened spirits sink, and move In hearts all rocky now the late remorse of Love.'
APPENDIX
DR. BRUNO'S REPLY TO FLETCHER'S STATEMENT
The following remarks appeared in the _Westminster Review_, and gave great annoyance to Dr. Millingen, who thought that he had been accused of having caused the death of Byron by putting off, during four successive days, the operation of bleeding:
Mr. Fletcher has omitted to state that on the second day of Lord Byron's illness his physician, Dr. Bruno, seeing the sudorific medicines had no effect, proposed blood-letting, and that his lordship refused to allow it, and caused Mr. Millingen to be sent for in order to consult with his physician, and see if the rheumatic fever could not be cured without the loss of blood.
Mr. Millingen approved of the medicines previously prescribed by Dr. Bruno, and was not opposed to the opinion that bleeding was necessary; but he said to his lordship that it might be deferred till the next day. He held this language for three successive days, while the other physician (Dr. Bruno) every day threatened Lord Byron that he would die by his obstinacy in not allowing himself to be bled. His lordship always answered: 'You wish to get the reputation of curing my disease, that is why you tell me it is so serious; but I will not permit you to bleed me.'
After the first consultation with Mr. Millingen, the domestic Fletcher asked Dr. Bruno how his lordship's complaint was going on. The physician replied that, if he would allow the bleeding, he would be cured in a few days. But the surgeon Mr. Millingen, assured Lord Byron from day to day that it could wait till to-morrow; and thus four days slipped away, during which the disease, for want of blood-letting, grew much worse. At length Mr. Millingen, seeing that the prognostications which Dr. Bruno had made respecting Lord Byron's malady were more and more confirmed, urged the necessity of bleeding, and of no longer delaying it a moment. This caused Lord Byron, disgusted at finding that he could not be cured without loss of blood, to say that it seemed to him that the doctors did not understand his malady. He then had a man sent to Zante to fetch Dr. Thomas. Mr. Fletcher having mentioned this to Dr. Bruno, the latter observed that, if his lordship would consent to lose as much blood as was necessary, he would answer for his cure; but that if he delayed any longer, or did not entirely follow his advice, Dr. Thomas would not arrive in time: in fact, when Dr. Thomas was ready to set out from Zante, Lord Byron was dead.
The pistols and stiletto were removed from his lordship's bed--not by Fletcher, but by the servant Tita, who was the only person that constantly waited on Lord Byron in his illness, and who had been advised to take this precaution by Dr. Bruno, the latter having perceived that my lord had moments of delirium.
Two days before the death a consultation was held with three other doctors, who appeared to think that his lordship's disease was changing from inflammatory diathesis to languid, and they ordered china,[78] opium, and ammonia.
Dr. Bruno opposed this with the greatest warmth, and pointed out to them that the symptoms were those, not of an alteration in the disease, but of a fever flying to the brain, which was violently attacked by it; and that the wine, the china, and the stimulants, would kill Lord Byron more speedily than the complaint itself could; while, on the other hand, by copious bleedings and the medicines that had been taken before he might yet be saved. The other physicians, however, were of a different opinion; and it was then that Dr. Bruno declared to his colleagues that he would have no further responsibility for the loss of Lord Byron, which he pronounced inevitable if the china were given him. In effect, after my lord had taken the tincture, with some grains of carbonate of ammonia, he was seized by convulsions. Soon afterwards they gave him a cup of very strong decoction of china, with some drops of laudanum. He instantly fell into a deep lethargic sleep, from which he never rose.
The opening of the body discovered the brain in a state of the highest inflammation; and all the six physicians who were present at that opening were convinced that my lord would have been saved by the bleeding, which his physician, Dr. Bruno, had advised from the beginning with the most pressing urgency and the greatest firmness.
F. B.
DR. MILLINGEN'S ACCOUNT
Mr. Finlay and myself called upon him in the evening, when we found him lying on a sofa, complaining of a slight fever and of pains in the articulations. He was at first more gay than usual; but on a sudden he became pensive, and, after remaining some few minutes in silence, he said that during the whole day he had reflected a great deal on a prediction which had been made to him, when a boy, by a famed fortune-teller in Scotland. His mother, who firmly believed in cheiromancy and astrology, had sent for this person, and desired him to inform her what would be the future destiny of her son. Having examined attentively the palm of his hand, the man looked at him for a while steadfastly, and then with a solemn voice exclaimed: 'Beware of your thirty-seventh year, my young lord--beware!'
He had entered on his thirty-seventh year on the 22nd of January; and it was evident, from the emotion with which he related this circumstance, that the caution of the palmist had produced a deep impression on his mind, which in many respects was so superstitious that we thought proper to accuse him of superstition. 'To say the truth,' answered his lordship, 'I find it equally difficult to know what to believe in this world and what not to believe. There are as many plausible reasons for inducing me to die a bigot as there have been to make me hitherto live a freethinker. You will, I know, ridicule my belief in lucky and unlucky days; but no consideration can now induce me to undertake anything either on a Friday or a Sunday. I am positive it would terminate unfortunately. Every one of my misfortunes--and God knows I have had my share--have happened to me on one of those days.'
Considering myself on this occasion, not a medical man, but a visitor, and being questioned neither by his physician nor himself, I did not even feel Lord Byron's pulse. I was informed next morning that during the night he had taken diaphoretic infusions, and that he felt himself better. The next day Dr. Bruno administered a purgative, and kept up its effects by a solution of cream of tartar, which the Italians call 'imperial lemonade.' In the evening the fever augmented, and as on the 14th, although the pains in the articulations had diminished, the feverish symptoms were equally strong, Dr. Bruno strongly recommended him to be blooded; but as the patient entertained a deep-rooted prejudice against bleeding, his physician could obtain no influence whatever over him, and his lordship obstinately persevered in refusing to submit to the operation.
On the 15th, towards noon, Fletcher called upon me and informed me that his master desired to see me, in order to consult with Dr. Bruno on the state of his health. Dr. Bruno informed me that his patient laboured under a rheumatic fever--that, as at first the symptoms had been of a mild character, he had trusted chiefly to sudorifics; but during the last two days the fever had so much increased that he had repeatedly proposed bleeding, but that he could not overcome his lordship's antipathy to that mode of treatment. Convinced, by an examination of the patient, that bleeding was absolutely necessary, I endeavoured, as mildly and as gently as possible, to persuade him; but, in spite of all my caution, his temper was so morbidly irritable that he refused in a manner excessively peevish. He observed that, of all his prejudices, the strongest was against phlebotomy. 'Besides,' said his lordship, 'does not Dr. Reid observe in his Essays that less slaughter has been effected by the warrior's lance than by the physician's lancet? It is, in fact, a minute instrument of mighty mischief.' On my observing that this remark related to the treatment of nervous disorders, not of inflammatory ones, he angrily replied: 'Who is nervous, if I am not? Do not these words, besides, apply to my case? Drawing blood from a nervous patient is like loosening the chords of a musical instrument, the tones of which are already defective for want of sufficient tension. Before I became ill, you know yourself how weak and irritable I had become. Bleeding, by increasing this state, will inevitably kill me. Do with me whatever else you please, but bleed me you shall not. I have had several inflammatory fevers during my life, and at an age when I was much more robust and plethoric than I am now; yet I got through them without bleeding. This time also I will take my chance.'
After much reasoning and entreaty, however, I at length succeeded in obtaining a promise that, should his fever increase at night, he would allow Bruno to bleed him. Happy to inform the doctor of this partial victory, I left the room, and, with a view of lowering the impetus of the circulatory system, and determining to the skin, I recommended the administration of an ounce of a solution of half a grain of tartarized antimony and two drachms of nitre in twelve ounces of water.
Early the next morning I called on the patient, who told me that, having passed a better night than he had expected, he had not requested Dr. Bruno to bleed him. Chagrined at this, I laid aside all consideration for his feelings, and solemnly assured him how deeply I lamented to see him trifle with his life in this manner. I told him that his pertinacious refusal to be bled had caused a precious opportunity to be lost; that a few hours of hope yet remained; but that, unless he would submit immediately to be bled, neither Dr. Bruno nor myself could answer for the consequences. He might not care for life, it was true; but who could assure him, unless he changed his resolution, the disease might not operate such disorganization in his cerebral and nervous system as entirely to deprive him of his reason? I had now touched the sensible chord, for, partly annoyed by our unceasing importunities, and partly convinced, casting at us both the fiercest glance of vexation, he threw out his arm, and said in the most angry tone: 'Come; you are, I see, a d----d set of butchers. Take away as much blood as you will, but have done with it.'
We seized the moment, and drew about twenty ounces. On coagulating, the blood presented a strong buffy coat. Yet the relief obtained did not correspond to the hopes we had anticipated, and during the night the fever became stronger than it had been hitherto. The restlessness and agitation increased, and the patient spoke several times in an incoherent manner. The next morning (17th) the bleeding was repeated; for, although the rheumatic symptoms had completely disappeared, the cerebral ones were hourly increasing, and this continuing all day, we opened the vein for the third time in the afternoon. Cold applications were from the beginning constantly kept on the head; blisters were also proposed. When on the point of applying them, Lord Byron asked me whether it would answer the same purpose to apply both on the same leg. Guessing the motive that led him to ask this question, I told him I would place them above the knees, on the inside of the thighs. 'Do so,' said he; 'for as long as I live I will not allow anyone to see my lame foot.'
In spite of our endeavours, the danger hourly increased; the different signs of strong nervous affection succeeded each other with surprising rapidity; twitchings and involuntary motions of the tendons began to manifest themselves in the night; and, more frequently than before, the patient muttered to himself and talked incoherently.
In the morning (18th) a consultation was proposed, to which Dr. Lucca Vaga and Dr. Freiber, my assistant, were invited. Our opinions were divided. Bruno and Lucca proposed having recourse to antispasmodics and other remedies employed in the last stage of typhus. Freiber and I maintained that such remedies could only hasten the fatal termination; that nothing could be more empirical than flying from one extreme to the other; that if, as we all thought, the complaint was owing to the metastasis of rheumatic inflammation, the existing symptoms only depended on the rapid and extensive progress it had made in an organ previously so weakened and irritable. Antiphlogistic means could never prove hurtful in this case; they would become useless only if disorganization were already operated; but then, when all hopes were fled, what means would not prove superfluous?
We recommended the application of numerous leeches to the temples, behind the ears, and along the course of the jugular vein, a large blister between the shoulders, and sinapisms to the feet. These we considered to be the only means likely to succeed. Dr. Bruno, however, being the patient's physician, had, of course, the casting vote, and he prepared, in consequence, the antispasmodic potion which he and Dr. Lucca had agreed upon. It was a strong infusion of valerian with ether, etc. After its administration the convulsive movements and the delirium increased; yet, notwithstanding my earnest representations, a second dose was administered half an hour after; when, after articulating confusedly a few broken phrases, our patient sank into a comatose sleep, which the next day terminated in death.
Lord Byron expired on the 19th of April, at six o'clock in the afternoon. Interesting as every circumstance relative to the death of so celebrated a person may prove to some, I should, nevertheless, have hesitated in obtruding so much medical detail on the patience of the reader, had not the accounts published by Dr. Bruno in the _Westminster Review_, and many of the newspapers, rendered it necessary that I should disabuse the friends of the deceased; and at the same time vindicate my own professional character, on which the imputation has been laid of my having been the cause of Lord Byron's death by putting off, during four successive days, the operation of bleeding.
I must first observe that, not knowing a syllable of English, although present at the conversation I had with Lord Byron, Dr. Bruno could neither understand the force of the language I employed to surmount his lordship's deep-rooted prejudice and aversion for bleeding, nor the positive refusals he repeatedly made before I could obtain his promise to consent to the operation. Yet he boldly states that I spoke to Lord Byron in a very undecided manner of the benefits of such an operation, and that I even ventured to recommend procrastination; and these, he says, are the reasons that induced him to consent to the delay--as if he were himself indifferent to such treatment, or as if a few words from me were sufficient to determine him! Conduct like this it is not difficult to appreciate: I shall therefore forbear abandoning myself to the indignation such a falsehood might naturally excite; nor shall I repel his unwarrantable accusation by relating the causes of that deep-rooted jealousy which Dr. Bruno entertained against me from the day he perceived the preference which Lord Byron indicated in favour of English physicians. This narrow-minded, envious feeling, as I could prove, prevented him from insisting on immediately calling me, or other medical men at Missolonghi, to a consultation. Had he done so, he would have exonerated himself from every responsibility; but his vanity made him forget the duty he owed to his patient, and even to himself. For I did not see Lord Byron (medically) till I was sent for by his lordship himself, without any participation on the part of Dr. Bruno. I can refute Dr. Bruno's calumnies, not only from the testimony of others, but even from his own. For the following extract from the article published in the _Telegrapho Greco_, announcing the death of Lord Byron, was at the request of Count Gamba (himself a witness of whatever took place during the fatal illness of his friend) composed by the doctor:
'Notwithstanding the most urgent entreaties and representations of the imminent danger attending his complaint made to him from the onset of his illness, both by his private physician and the medical man sent by the Greek Committee, it was impossible to surmount the great aversion and prejudice he entertained against bleeding, although he lay under imperious want of it' (Vide _Telegrapho Greco_, il di 24 Aprile, 1824).
As to the assertion confidently made by Dr. Bruno, that, had his patient submitted at the onset of his malady to phlebotomy, he would have infallibly recovered, I believe every medical man who maturely considers the subject will be led to esteem this assertion as being founded rather on presumption than on reason. Positive language, which is in general so misplaced in medical science, becomes in the present case even ridiculous; for, if different authors be consulted, it will appear that the very remedy which is proclaimed by some as the anchor of salvation, is by others condemned as the instrument of ruin. Bleeding (as many will be found to assert) favours metastasis in rheumatic fevers; and, in confirmation of this opinion, they will remark that in this case, as soon as the lancet was employed, the cerebral symptoms manifested themselves on the disappearance of the rheumatic; while those who incline to Dr. Reid's and Dr. Heberden's opinion will observe that, after each successive phlebotomy, the cerebral symptoms not only did not remain at the same degree, but that they hourly went on increasing. In this dilemmatic position it is evident that, whatever treatment might have been adopted, detractors could not fail to have some grounds for laying the blame on the medical attendants. The more I consider this difficult question, however, the more I feel convinced that, whatsoever method of cure had been adopted, there is every reason to believe that a fatal termination was inevitable; and here I may be permitted to observe, that it must have been the lot of every medical man to observe how frequently the fear of death produces it, and how seldom a patient, who persuades himself that he must die, is mistaken. The prediction of the Scotch fortune-teller was ever present to Lord Byron, and, like an insidious poison, destroyed that moral energy which is so useful to keep up the patient in dangerous complaints. 'Did I not tell you,' said he repeatedly to me, 'that I should die at thirty-seven?'
There is an entry in Millingen's 'Memoirs of Greece' which has not received the attention it deserves--namely, a request made by Byron on the day before his death. It is given by Millingen in the following words:
'One request let me make to you. Let not my body be hacked, or be sent to England. Here let my bones moulder. Lay me in the first corner without pomp or nonsense.'
After Byron's death Millingen informed Gamba of this request, but it was thought that it would be a sacrilege to leave his remains in a place 'where they might some day become the sport of insulting barbarians.'
INDEX
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; partly the cause of the scandal about Mrs. Leigh, 270; effect of Miss Milbanke's first refusal, 271 _et seq._; _Harmodia_, 274, 275; _Don Juan_, 276, 304 _et seq._; _Hebrew Melodies_, 277; _Herod's Lament for Mariamne_, 278; his significant communication to his lawyer, 279; verses to Mary Chaworth, 280, 281; fear of disgrace, 281; important correspondence with Murray, 282, 283; last meeting with Mary Chaworth, 283; how the secret was kept, 285; verses to his sister, 286, 287; _The Dream_, 289, 290; _Stanzas to Augusta_, 290, 364; _Manfred_, 291 _et seq._, 328, 364; his treatment of the scandal, 291, 317, 320; _The Duel_, 293, 298; _The Lament of Tasso_, 297; _Stanzas to the Po_, 298 _et seq._, 370; _Last Words on Greece_, 311; on his separation from his wife, 315 _et seq._; Mrs. Leigh's so-called confession, 319 _et seq._, 356 _et seq._, 368; _Epistle to Augusta_, 324; story of his married life, 329 _et seq._; Sir Ralph Noel requires a separation, 339; Lady Jersey's party, 352; parts for the last time from his sister, 352, 366, 392; consents to separation from his wife, 352; Lady Byron's written statement of complaints, 353; letter to Lady Byron as to his will, 355; Moore's life of, 365 _et seq._; writes to Moore about the scandal, 367; letter supposed to be written to Mary Chaworth, 368 _et seq._; letter compared with one to his sister, 372; writes to Lady Byron as to the memoir of his life, 382; asks Lady Byron to make provision for Mrs. Leigh's children, 385, 388; Goethe on, 400, 401
_Byron, Lord: Letters and Journals of_, by Rowland Prothero, 70 n., 256 n., 260 n.; _Life of_, by Tom Moore, 365; _Reminiscences of_, by G. Finlay, 201; _Sketch of_, by Colonel Stanhope, 201
Byron, Captain George (afterwards seventh Lord), 337, 338
Byron, Hon. Augusta. See Leigh, Hon. Mrs. Augusta
Byron, Hon. Augusta Ada (afterwards Lady King and Countess of Lovelace), Byron's daughter: separation from her father, 43, 44, 288; Hobhouse's opinion of, 206, 207; her health, 363
Byron, Lady (formerly Miss Milbanke): property and settlements on marriage, 10; married life, 36, 329 _et seq._; her husband's desire for reconciliation, 36, 46, 206; on Byron's religion, 77, 78; the result of first refusal of Byron, 206, 272; _If I am not happy, it will be my own fault_, 216; on Byron's poetry, 219; on his indiscreet confidences, 270; her conduct after the birth of Medora, 285, 289, 321 _et seq._; interview with Mrs. Leigh at Reigate, 324; Mrs. Leigh's long visit to, 336; birth of a daughter, and her husband's treatment, 337; steps for a separation taken, 338, 341, 351, 352, 357, 358; her treatment of the abstracted letters, 340, 357; attempts to extract a confession from Mrs. Leigh, 322, 324, 341, 357, 361 _et seq._; letters to Mrs. Leigh, 342, 343, 357; Hodgson's appeal to, 346 _et seq._; text of the signed statement of her conduct, 353 _et seq._; Colonel Doyle's advice, 360; her husband's letter to Mary Chaworth, 368 _et seq._; and the prospects of Mrs. Leigh's children, 380, 385; confides in Mrs. Villiers, 381; letter from Byron, 382; the weakness of her position, 383, 384; Cockburn's opinion of, 387; Lord Lovelace on, 389 _et seq._
Campbell, Dr., Presbyterian divine, 55
Campbell, Thomas, _Battle of the Baltic_, 60
Cariascachi, a Greek chieftain, his treachery, 159 _et seq._
Chaworth, Mary (afterwards Mrs. John Musters): Byron's infatuation for, and references in his poems to, 220 _et seq._; unhappy married life and separation, 243 _et seq._; weakness and repentance, 245 _et seq._; breakdown of health, and reconciliation with her husband, 251; describes her own character, 252; birth of Medora, 254, 268; how the secret was kept by Mrs. Leigh, 255, 285, 287, 317, 321, 362 _et seq._; letters to Byron, 267, 368 _et seq._; last parting with Byron, 283
_Childe Harold_, what the poem reveals, 228, 229, 232 _et seq._, 287, 363
Clairmont, Claire: her anxiety about her daughter Allegra, 22, 23; her conduct to Byron, 24, 25
Clare, Lord, and Byron, 208
Clermont, Mrs., 337; her abstraction of Byron's letters, 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
Gamba, Count Pietro: on Byron's religious opinions, 16, 17; 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, 153 _et seq._; Byron's last illness and death, 164 _et seq._; effect of Byron's death on, 177, 202; Trelawny's opinion of, 179, 180; his efforts for Greece, 181; issues a proclamation on Byron's death, 183, 184
Medora, birth of, 254, 268; _Childe Harold_, 288; adoption by Mrs. Leigh, 322
Medwin, Captain Thomas: his description of Byron, 4, 6, 11; on Byron's life at Pisa, 20; _The Angler in Wales_, 33 n.
Melbourne, Lady, persuades Byron not to go abroad, 242
Metaxata, Byron's residence at, 65, 79
Meyer, Jean Jacques, editor of the _Greek Chronicle_, 112
Milbanke, Miss. See Byron, Lady
Milbanke, Sir Ralph, his property, 10
Millingen, Dr.: on Byron's character, 95; on Parry, 96; Byron a favourite in Greece, 105, 177; on the Greek press, 113; Byron's illness, 124; Byron's kind treatment of Hatajè, 133 _et seq._; on Cariascachi's treachery, 161; on Byron's unhappiness and anxieties, 162; attends Byron in his last illness and death, 167 _et seq._, 190, 193 _et seq._, 403 _et seq._; on Mavrocordato, 181
Missolonghi: blockade of, 66, 96; Turks retire from, 70; Greek squadron at, 81; description of, 87; Byron's arrival and life at, 88, 99; release of Turkish prisoners, 133; Turkish brig-of-war runs ashore off, 139; effect of Byron's death, 175, 183 _et seq._
Mitford, William, _History of Greece_, 100
_Monthly Literary Recreations_, 101 n.
_Monthly Review_, Byron's reviews in, 100, 101 n.
Moore, Thomas: letters from Shelley and Byron, 13, 14, 266; and Byron, 36; on the _Thyrza_ poems, 229; Byron's love for Mary Chaworth, 238, 246, 266, 279; criticism on his _Life of Byron_, 365
Moore, Sir John, ode on the death of, 58
Muir, Dr., principal medical officer at Cephalonia, 82
Muir, General Skey, 82
Murray, John, Byron's publisher: Byron's letters to, 30, 31; _Childe Harold_, 50; asks for Byron to be buried in Westminster Abbey, 203; and Mrs. Leigh, 269; Byron's copyrights, 281; _Epistle to Augusta_, 324
Musters, John, husband of Mary Chaworth: the ring incident and engagement, 224, 225; separation from his wife, 245; behaviour to his wife, 246; reconciliation, 251; cuts down the _peculiar diadem of trees_, 289
Napier, Colonel, British Resident Governor of Argostoli, 48, 80
Newstead Abbey: sale of, 99; Byron's visits, 226, 227
Noel, Lady, Byron's mother-in-law: Byron inherits the Noel property on her death, 10; her bequest of Byron's portrait, 43 n.; advice as to her daughter's separation from Byron, 338; and Mrs. Leigh, 362
Noel, Sir Ralph, writes to Byron requiring a separation, 339
O'Doherty, Ensign, Byron's opinion of his poetry, 100
Odysseus, Greek insurgent leader: his opposition to Mavrocordato, 153; and Trelawny, 179, 180
Osborne, Lord Sidney, and Sir Thomas Maitland, 115; goes to Missolonghi, 198; eulogy of Byron's conduct in Greece, 201
Parry, Major: his arrival at Missolonghi, 91, 92; his peculiarities, 92 _et seq._; practical joke on, 95; on Byron's intentions in Greece, 97, 98; on the relationship between Mavrocordato and Byron, 116; on Byron's mode of reproof, 117; account of Byron's illness, 121; anecdote of _Jerry Bentham's Cruise_, 126; Turkish brig-of-war ashore, 139; artillery at Missolonghi, 144; on Byron's mode of life, 145; on Byron's power in Greece, 151, 152; Byron's last illness and death, 164 _et seq._, 196; his opinion of Byron, 175
Phillips, Thomas, his portrait of Byron, 9
Pigot, Elizabeth, Byron's letters to, 222, 223
Pisa: Shelley's description of, 3; Byron's life at, 20
_Po, Stanzas to the_, what they reveal, 298 _et seq._, 370
Pope, Alexander, Homer, 51
Prothero, Rowland E.: _Letters and Journals of Lord Byron_, 70 n., 125, 256 n., 260 n., 383
_Quarterly Review_, the, 50, 100
_Recollections of a Long Life._ See Broughton, Lord
Roberts, Captain, describes the wreck of _The Bolivar_, 33
Robertson, Rev. Frederick, Lady Byron's spiritual adviser, 324
Robinson, Crabb, 77
Romilly, Sir Samuel, consulted by Lady Byron, 338
Salona, Congress at, 152, 153
Sanders, Mr. George, painter, his portrait of Byron, 9
_Sardanapalus_, a tragedy, 101
Sass, Lieutenant, death of, 141
Schilitzy, a Greek, accompanies Byron to Greece, 47
Scott, Captain, commands the _Hercules_, in which Byron travels to Greece, 47
Scott, Dr., surgeon, and Byron, 54, 58
Scott, Sir Walter: Byron's opinion of, 35, 51, 55, 79; his denial of the authorship of the _Waverley Novels_, 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.