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
In addition to the vagueness which this want of any defined object so
unsatisfactorily threw round the enterprise before him, he had also a
sort of ominous presentiment--natural, perhaps, to one of his
temperament under such circumstances--that he was but fulfilling his
own doom in this expedition, and should die in Greece. On the evening
before the departure of his friends, Lord and Lady B----, from Genoa,
he called upon them for the purpose of taking leave, and sat
conversing for some time. He was evidently in low spirits, and after
expressing his regret that they should leave Genoa before his own
time of sailing, proceeded to speak of his intended voyage in a tone
full of despondence. "Here," said he, "we are all now together--but
when, and where, shall we meet again? I have a sort of boding that we
see each other for the last time; as something tells me I shall never
again return from Greece." Having continued a little longer in this
melancholy strain, he leaned his head upon the arm of the sofa on
which they were seated, and, bursting into tears, wept for some
minutes with uncontrollable feeling. Though he had been talking only
with Lady B----, all who were present in the room observed, and were
affected by his emotion, while he himself, apparently ashamed of his
weakness, endeavoured to turn off attention from it by some ironical
remark, spoken with a sort of hysterical laugh, upon the effects of
"nervousness."
He had, previous to this conversation, presented to each of the party
some little farewell gift--a book to one, a print from his bust by
Bartolini to another, and to Lady B---- a copy of his Armenian
Grammar, which had some manuscript remarks of his own on the leaves.
In now parting with her, having begged, as a memorial, some trifle
which she had worn, the lady gave him one of her rings; in return for
which he took a pin from his breast, containing a small cameo of
Napoleon, which he said had long been his companion, and presented it
to her Ladyship.
The next day Lady B---- received from him the following note.
TO THE COUNTESS OF B----.
"Albaro, June 2. 1823.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account