Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1846-10-08
Lord Byron in his Coffin.

Lord Byron in his Coffin.
In the month of July, 1924, the body
of Lord Byron was brought from Misso-
longhi TO England. and. on being landed
from the Florida was removed 10 the
house Of Sir Edward Kna,chbul, who
then resided in Great Georges street;
Westminster. Having availed myself of
peculiar facilities, saw on one occasion
the corpse of the poet-,he lid of the
coffin being for some necessary purpose
removed.
II was a. night that the work Of OPEN
| ing the shell commenced. This was soon
effected; and when the covering was re-
moved, We beheld the face Of the llustri.
Gus dead
| "All cold, and all screne''
Were 10 live thousand years, I
should never, never forge, tina. moment.
| For years | had been intimate with the
mind of Byron. His wonderous works
had thrown around my daily paths, and
with all the enthusiasm of youth | had
almost adored his genius. With his fea-
lures, through the medium Of paintings,
! had been familiar from my boyhood; and
now. far more beautiful even in death than
my most vivid fancy had ever pictured.
there he lay in marble repose.
The body was not aitireG in that most
awful OF habIlimenls--a shroud. II was
wrapped in blue cloth cloak, and the
throat and head were uncovered. The
former was beautifully moulded. The
head Of The poe, was covered with short,
crisp curling locks, slightly sireaked with
grey hairs, especially over the temples,
which were ample and free from hair, as
we see in the portraits. The face had
nothing of the appearance Of death about
it; it was neither sunken or discoored in
the least, but Of dead marble whiteness;
the expression was that Of stern quietude.
How classealy beautiful was the curved
upper lip and chin. fancied the nose
appeared as il il was no, in harmony with
the other features, but il might possibly
have been lille disfigured by the process
of embalming. The forehead was high
and broad; indeed. the whole head was
extremely large-it must have been so to
have contained brain of such capacity.
But what struck me most was the
exceeding beauty of the profile, as / OBJ
served when The head was lifted for the
purpose Of adjusting the furniture. 1t
t was perlec, in lis way. and seemed like a
production Of Phidias. Indeed. il far
more resembled an exquisite piece oil
sculpture than the face of the dead--so
/ still, sharply defined, and so marbie-like
e in it. repose. caught the view of il blu
for moment, yet il was long enough to
have it stand upon my memory as
, "a thing Of beauty"
which poor Keats tells us is "a Joy fore
YER Ii is, indeed, melancholy Joy tc
] me to have gazed upon the poet. A.
Washington Irving says of the old sexton
h who crept into the vault where Shaks
: peare was enlombed, and beheld Their
: The dust of ages-'It was something evel
;. to have seen the dust Of Byron
n Amongst the persons engaged in tn
!. performance of removal, noticed one
a tall, thin man, who spoke little. ant
seemed absorbed in grief. He woult
! scarcelyalow anyone 10 touch The corpse
. and with his own hands he com posed tn,
n head i'll its new resting place. Tn
), words. MY dear lord!' were frequently
;, uttered by him, whilst performing hi
melancholy duties. 1t was Fletcher
!. Byron's faithful valet. The man after
A wards told me the particulars of the nobl
poets death, and gave me lock of hi
hair. Fletcher did not long survive hi
: master.-Pen and Ink Sketches.