Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 5: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 5: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
this, the shabby dog complained to the _Government_,--after being
quite satisfied, as he said. _This_ roused me, and I gave them a
remonstrance which had some effect. The captain has been
reprimanded, the servant released, and the business at present
rests there."
* * * * *
Among the victims of the "black sentence and proscription" by which the
rulers of Italy were now, as appears from the above letters, avenging
their late alarm upon all who had even in the remotest degree
contributed to it, the two Gambas were, of course, as suspected Chiefs
of the Carbonari of Romagna, included. About the middle of July, Madame
Guiccioli, in a state of despair, wrote to inform Lord Byron that her
father, in whose palazzo she was at that time residing, had just been
ordered to quit Ravenna within twenty-four hours, and that it was the
intention of her brother to depart the following morning. The young
Count, however, was not permitted to remain even so long, being arrested
that very night, and conveyed by soldiers to the frontier; and the
Contessa herself, in but a few days after, found that she also must join
the crowd of exiles. The prospect of being again separated from her
noble friend seems to have rendered banishment little less fearful, in
her eyes, than death. "This alone," she says in a letter to him, "was
wanting to fill up the measure of my despair. Help me, my dear Byron,
for I am in a situation most terrible; and without you, I can resolve
upon nothing. * * has just been with me, having been sent by * * to
tell me that I must depart from Ravenna before next Tuesday, as my
husband has had recourse to Rome, for the purpose of either forcing me
to return to him, or else putting me in a convent; and the answer from
thence is expected in a few days. I must not speak of this to any
one,--I roust escape by night; for, if my project should be discovered,
it will be impeded, and my passport (which the goodness of Heaven has
permitted me, I know not how, to obtain) will be taken from me. Byron! I
am in despair!--If I must leave you here without knowing when I shall
see you again, if it is your will that I should suffer so cruelly, I am
resolved to remain. They may put me in a convent; I shall die,--but--but
then you cannot aid me, and I cannot reproach you. I know not what they
tell me, for my agitation overwhelms me;--and why? Not because I fear my
present danger, but solely, I call Heaven to witness, solely because I
must leave you."
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