Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 -- Last years; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
'Residing out of Greece, and enjoying all the pleasures and luxuries
of Europe, he might have contributed materially to the success of our
cause without coming personally amongst us; and this would have been
sufficient for us, for the well-proved ability and profound judgment
of our Governor, the President of the Senate, would have insured our
safety with the means so supplied. But if this was sufficient for us,
it was not so for Lord Byron. Destined by Nature to uphold the rights
of man whenever he saw them trampled upon; born in a free and
enlightened country; early taught, by reading the works of our
ancestors, which teach all who can read them, not only what man is,
but what he ought to be, and what he may be, he saw the persecuted and
enslaved Greek determined to break the heavy chains with which he was
bound, and to convert the iron into sharp-edged swords, that he might
regain by force what force had torn from him. He came to share our
sufferings; assisting us, not only with his wealth, of which he was
profuse; not only with his judgment, of which he has given us so many
salutary examples; but with his sword, which he was preparing to
unsheath against our barbarous and tyrannical oppressors. He
came--according to the testimony of those who were intimate with
him--with a determination to die in Greece and for Greece. How,
therefore, can we do otherwise than lament with deep sorrow the loss
of such a man! How can we do otherwise than bewail it as the loss of
the whole Greek nation! Thus far, my friends, you have seen him
liberal, generous, courageous, a true Philhellenist; and you have seen
him as your benefactor. This is indeed a sufficient cause for your
tears, but it is not sufficient for his honour. It is not sufficient
for the greatness of the undertaking in which he had engaged. He,
whose death we are now so deeply deploring, was a man who, in one
great branch of literature, gave his name to the age in which we live:
the vastness of his genius and the richness of his fancy did not
permit him to follow the splendid though beaten track of the literary
fame of the ancients; he chose a new road--a road which ancient
prejudice had endeavoured, and was still endeavouring, to shut against
the learned of Europe: but as long as his writings live, and they must
live as long as the world exists, this road will remain always open;
for it is, as well as the other, a sure road to true knowledge. I will
not detain you at the present time by expressing all the respect and
enthusiasm with which the perusal of his writings has always inspired
me, and which, indeed, I feel much more powerfully now than at any
other period. The learned men of all Europe celebrate him, and have
celebrated him; and all ages will celebrate the poet of our age, for
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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