Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 -- Last years; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
'I ascertained from Mrs. Leigh that it was wished the interment should
take place at the family vault at Hucknall in Nottinghamshire. The
utmost eagerness was shown, both publicly and privately, to get sight
of anything connected with Byron. Lafayette was at that time on his
way to America, and a young Frenchman came over from the General at
Havre, and wrote me a note requesting a sight of the deceased poet.
The coffin had been closed, and his wishes could not be complied with.
A young man came on board the _Florida_, and in very moving terms
besought me to allow him to take one look at him. I was sorry to be
obliged to refuse, as I did not know the young man, and there were
many round the vessel who would have made the same request. He was
bitterly disappointed; and when I gave him a piece of the cotton in
which the corpse had been wrapped, he took it with much devotion, and
placed it in his pocket-book. Mr. Phillips, the Academician, applied
for permission to take a likeness, but I heard from Mrs. Leigh that
the features of her brother had been so disfigured by the means used
to preserve his remains, that she scarcely recognized them. This was
the fact; for I had summoned courage enough to look at my dead friend;
so completely was he altered, that the sight did not affect me so much
as looking at his handwriting, or anything that I knew had belonged to
him.'
The following account by Colonel Leicester Stanhope, probably outlined
during his voyage home with Byron's body, is well worth reading. It
unveils the personality of Byron as he appeared during those trying times
at Missolonghi, when, tortured by illness and worried by dissensions among
his coadjutors, he gave his life to Greece. Stanhope's sketch conveys the
honest opinion of a man whose political views, differing fundamentally
from those of Byron, brought them often in collision. But for this reason,
perhaps, this record is the more valuable. It is written without
prejudice, with considerable perspicuity, and with unquestionable
sincerity. Its peculiar value lies in the approval which, as we have seen,
it received from Mr. Hobhouse, who undoubtedly was better acquainted with
the character of Byron than any of his contemporaries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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