Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 -- Last years; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
'It resulted, from the examination which Volpiotti underwent, that he
had been charged to ask Omer Pacha for a _Bouyourtè_, appointing
Cariascachi Capitano of the province of Agraffa. Cariascachi engaged
in return to co-operate with Vernakiotti in the reduction of Western
Greece, and to draw over to his party several of the chiefs who had
hitherto most faithfully adhered to the Greek Government.'
Under these circumstances it was not wise, even if it were politic, to
allow Cariascachi to escape. Byron felt this keenly, and foresaw what
actually happened. Cariascachi was no sooner clear of Anatolico than he
placed himself at the head of his followers, and, assisted by Andrea Isco,
of Macrinoro, he again made Agraffa and its adjoining provinces the scene
of his depredations and daily sanguinary encounters.
'At no time in his life,' says Millingen, 'did Lord Byron find himself
in circumstances more calculated to render him unhappy. The cup of
health had dropped from his lips, and constant anxiety and suffering
operated powerfully on his mind, already a prey to melancholy
apprehensions, and disappointment, increased by disgust. Continually
haunted by a dread of epilepsy or palsy, he fell into the lowest state
of hypochondriasis, and vented his sorrows in language which, though
sometimes sublime, was at others as peevish and capricious as that of
an unruly and quarrelsome child.'
Gamba tells us that Byron, after the events above mentioned, became
nervous and irritable. He had not been on horseback for some days on
account of the weather, but on April 9, though the weather was
threatening, he determined to ride. Three miles from the town he and Gamba
were caught in a heavy downpour of rain, and they returned to the town
walls wet through and in a violent perspiration. Gamba says:
'I have before mentioned that it was our practice to dismount at the
walls, and return to our house in a boat. This day, however, I
entreated Byron to return home on horseback the whole way, as it would
be dangerous, hot as he was, to remain exposed to the rain in a boat
for half an hour. But he would not listen to me, and said: "I should
make a pretty soldier indeed, if I were to care for such a trifle."
Accordingly we dismounted, and got into the boat as usual. Two hours
after his return home, he was seized with a shuddering: he complained
of fever and rheumatic pains. At eight in the evening I entered his
rooms; he was lying on a sofa, restless and melancholy.'
Byron said that he suffered a great deal of pain, and in consequence Dr.
Bruno proposed to bleed him. Bruno seems to have considered the lancet as
a sovereign remedy for all the ills of life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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