The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
General
The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
English poetry
and their captains at the siege of New Orleans, January 8, 1815.
Finally, when peace with Great Britain was concluded, President Madison
publicly acknowledged the "unequivocal traits of courage and fidelity"
which had been displayed by the brothers Lafitte, and the once
proscribed band of outlaws. Thenceforth Pierre Lafitte disappears from
history; but Jean is believed to have settled first at Galveston, in
Texas, and afterwards, in 1820, on the coast of Yucatan, whence "he
continued his depredations on Spanish commerce." He died game, a pirate
to the last, in 1826. See, for what purports to be documentary evidence
of the correspondence between Colonel E. Nicholls and Jean Lafitte,
_Historical Memoirs of the War in West Florida and Louisiana_, by Major
A. La Carriére Latour, 1816, Appendix III. pp. vii.-xv. See, too,
_Fernando de Lemos_ (an historical novel), by Charles Gayarré, 1872, pp.
347-361.]
In [the Rev. Mark] Noble's continuation of "Granger's _Biographical
History_" [_of England_, 1806, iii. 68], there is a singular passage in
his account of Archbishop Blackbourne [1658-1743]; and as in some
measure connected with the profession of the hero of the foregoing poem,
I cannot resist the temptation of extracting it.--"There is something
mysterious in the history and character of Dr. Blackbourne. The former
is but imperfectly known; and report has even asserted he was a
buccaneer; and that one of his brethren in that profession having asked,
on his arrival in England, what had become of his old chum, Blackbourne,
was answered, he is Archbishop of York. We are informed, that
Blackbourne was installed sub-dean of Exeter in 1694, which office he
resigned in 1702; but after his successor Lewis Barnet's death, in 1704,
he regained it. In the following year he became dean; and in 1714 held
with it the archdeanery [i.e. archdeaconry] of Cornwall. He was
consecrated Bishop of Exeter, February 24, 1716; and translated to York,
November 28, 1724, as a reward, according to court scandal, for uniting
George I. to the Duchess of Munster. This, however, appears to have been
an unfounded calumny. As archbishop he behaved with great prudence, and
was equally respectable as the guardian of the revenues of the see.
Rumour whispered he retained the vices of his youth, and that a passion
for the fair sex formed an item in the list of his weaknesses; but so
far from being convicted by seventy witnesses, he does not appear to
have been directly criminated by one. In short, I look upon these
aspersions as the effects of mere malice. How is it possible a buccaneer
should have been so good a scholar as Blackbourne certainly was? He who
had so perfect a knowledge of the classics (particularly of the Greek
tragedians), as to be able to read them with the same ease as he could
Shakespeare, must have taken great pains to acquire the learned
languages; and have had both leisure and good masters. But he was
undoubtedly educated at Christ-church College, Oxford.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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