Death of Lord Byron

Today’s installment concludes Lord Byron and the Greek War of Independence,
the name of our combined selection from Lewis Sergeant and John Nichol. The concluding installment, by John Nichol from Lord Byron, was published in 1899.

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Previously in Lord Byron and the Greek War of Independence.

Time: 1824
Place: Greece

Visions of enlisting Europe and America in behalf of the establishment of a new state, that might in course of time develop itself over the realm of Alexander, floated and gleamed in his fancy; but in his practical daily procedure the poet took as his text the motto festina lente, insisted on solid ground under his feet, and had no notion of sailing balloons over the sea. With this view he discouraged Stanhope’s philanthropic and propagandist paper, the Telegrapho, and disparaged Doctor Mayer, its Swiss editor, saying, “Of all petty tyrants he is one of the pettiest, as are most demagogues.”

Byron had none of the Slavonic leanings, and almost personal hatred of Ottoman rule, of some of our statesmen but he saw on what side lay the forces and the hopes of the future. “I cannot calculate,” he said to Gamba, during one of their latest rides together, “to what a height Greece may rise. Hitherto it has been a subject for the hymns and elegies of fanatics and enthusiasts; but now it will draw the attention of the politician. At present there is little difference, in many respects, between Greeks and Turks, nor could there be; but the latter must, in the common course of events, decline in power; and the former must as inevitably become better. The English Government deceived itself at first in thinking it possible to maintain the Turkish empire in its integrity; but it cannot be done — that unwieldy mass is al ready putrefied and must dissolve. If anything like an equilibrium is to be upheld, Greece must be supported.” These words have been well characterized as prophetic. During this time Byron rallied in health and displayed much of his old spirit, vivacity, and humor, took part in such of his favorite amusements as circumstances admitted, fencing, shooting, riding, and playing with his pet dog, Lion. The last of his recorded practical jokes is his rolling about cannon-balls and shaking the rafters, to frighten Parry in the room below with the dread of an earthquake.

On the 30th. he was presented with the freedom of the city of Missolonghi. On April 3d he intervened to prevent an Italian private, guilty of theft, from being flogged by order of some German officers. On the 9th he took a long ride with Gamba and a few of the remaining Suliotes, and after being violently heated, and then drenched in a heavy shower, persisted in returning home in a boat, remarking with a laugh, in answer to a remonstrance, “I should make a pretty soldier if I were to care for such a trifle.”

It soon became apparent that he had caught his death. Almost immediately on his return he was seized with shiverings and violent pain. The next day he rose as usual and had his last ride in the olive woods. On the 11th. a rheumatic fever set in. On the 14th, Bruno’s skill being exhausted, it was proposed to call Doctor Thomas from Zante, but a hurricane prevented any ship being sent. On the 15th. another physician, Doctor Milligen, suggested bleeding to allay the fever, but Byron held out against it, quoting Doctor Reid to the effect that “less slaughter is effected by the lance than the lancet — that minute instrument of mighty mischief,” and saying to Bruno, “If my hour is come I shall die, whether I lose my blood or keep it.” Next morning Milligen induced him to yield, by a suggestion of the possible loss of his reason. Throwing out his arm he cried: “There! you are, I see, a damned set of butchers. Take away as much blood as you like and have done with it.” The remedy, repeated on the following day, with blistering, was either too late or ill-advised.

On the 18th he saw more doctors, but was manifestly sinking, amid the tears and lamentations of attendants who could not understand one another’s language. In his last hours his delirium bore him to the field of arms. He fancied he was leading the attack on Lepanto, and was heard exclaiming, “Forward! forward! follow meI” Who is not reminded of another death-bed, not remote in time from his, and the ” Tete d’armee “of the great Emperor who with the great poet divided the wonder of Europe? The stormy vision passed, and his thoughts reverted home. “Go to my sister,” he faltered out to Fletcher; “tell her — go to Lady Byron — you will see her, and say” — nothing more could be heard but broken ejaculations: “Augusta — Ada — my sister, my child. To lascio qualche cosa di caronel mondo. *. For the rest, I am content to die.” At six on the evening of the 18th he uttered his last words, “Lord receive my spirit”; and on the 19th he passed away.

[* ‘There are things which make the world dear to me’]

Never, perhaps, was there such a national lamentation. By order of Maurocordatos, thirty-seven guns — one for each year of the poet’s life — were fired from the battery, and answered by the Turks from Patras with an exultant volley. All offices, tribunals, and shops were shut, and a general mourning for twenty-one days was proclaimed. Stanhope wrote, on hearing the news, “England has lost her brightest genius — Greece her noblest friend”; and Trelawney, on coming to Missolonghi, heard nothing in the streets but “Byron is dead!” like a bell tolling through the silence and the gloom. Intending contributors to the cause of Greece turned back when they heard the tidings, that seemed to them to mean she was headless. Her cities contended for the body, as of old for the birth of a poet. Athens wished him to rest in the Temple of Theseus. The funeral service was performed at Missolonghi. But on May 2nd the embalmed remains left Zante and on the 29th arrived in the Downs. His relatives applied for permission to have them interred in Westminster Abbey, but it was refused; and on July 16th they were conveyed to the village church of Hucknall-Torkard.

This ends our selections on Lord Byron and the Greek War of Independence by two of the most important authorities of this topic:

• Greece in the Nineteenth Century, a Record of Hellenic Emancipation and Progress, 1821–1897 by Lewis Sergeant published in 1897.
• Lord Byron by John Nichol published in 1899.

Lewis Sergeant began here. John Nichol began here.

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More information on Lord Byron and the Greek War of Independence here and here and below.