Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
On the following morning, the 17th, the bleeding was repeated; for,
although the rheumatic symptoms had been completely removed, the
appearances of inflammation on the brain were now hourly increasing.
Count Gamba, who had not for the last two days seen him, being
confined to his own apartment by a sprained ankle, now contrived to
reach his room. "His countenance," says this gentleman, "at once
awakened in me the most dreadful suspicions. He was very calm; he
talked to me in the kindest manner about my accident, but in a
hollow, sepulchral tone. 'Take care of your foot,' said he; 'I know
by experience how painful it must be.' I could not stay near his bed:
a flood of tears rushed into my eyes, and I was obliged to withdraw."
Neither Count Gamba, indeed, nor Fletcher, appear to have been
sufficiently masters of themselves to do much else than weep during
the remainder of this afflicting scene.
In addition to the bleeding, which was repeated twice on the 17th, it
was thought right also to apply blisters to the soles of his feet.
"When on the point of putting them on," says Mr. Millingen, "Lord
Byron asked me whether it would answer the purpose to apply both on
the same leg. Guessing immediately the motive that led him to ask
this question, I told him that I would place them above the knees.
'Do so,' he replied."
It is painful to dwell on such details,--but we are now approaching
the close. In addition to most of those sad varieties of wretchedness
which surround alike the grandest and humblest deathbeds, there was
also in the scene now passing around the dying Byron such a degree of
confusion and uncomfort as renders it doubly dreary to contemplate.
There having been no person invested, since his illness, with
authority over the household, neither order nor quiet was maintained
in his apartment. Most of the comforts necessary in such an illness
were wanting; and those around him, either unprepared for the danger,
were, like Bruno, when it came, bewildered by it; or, like the
kind-hearted Fletcher and Count Gamba, were by their feelings
rendered no less helpless.
"In all the attendants," says Parry, "there was the officiousness of
zeal; but, owing to their ignorance of each other's language, their
zeal only added to the confusion. This circumstance, and the want of
common necessaries, made Lord Byron's apartment such a picture of
distress and even anguish during the two or three last days of his
life, as I never before beheld, and wish never again to witness."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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