The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1874-06-03
PRACTICAL


SneIIey's BOuS I fcIlHLSu LIZ EItSShSt vi
Lord Byron.
1t is rather singular that in the many
articles written recently on the subject
of cremation no account has been given
of the most notable instance of burn
ing the dead in modern times. We re-
fer to the burning of the body Of the
poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, on the
shore Of the Mediterranean in the sum
mer Of 1922, in the presence of Lord
Byron, Mr.. Leigh Hunt and Mr.. E. j.
Trelawny. Shelley, like Byron, vas
p~assionately fond of the sea. and loved
to talk of ships and sailors and of the
adventures of the early navigators in
their small craft. While in Leghorn
he would visit the vessels of all nations,
and take notes of their shape, build,
rigging and decoration. His friend,
Lieut.. T. E. Williams, a half-pay officer
of the eighth dragroons, recently from
India, was his constant companion-a
~aenia n>qp-f fond Of hnoka and thu 600
His family occupied the same house
with Shelley, on the Gulf of Spezzia.
After much talking and planning,
Williams, who had been three years in
the navy, assisted Shelley in building a
boat, according to his W cherished
model, which the happy owner chris
tened the "DOn Juan" She was fast
and strong, but it took two tons of iron
ballast to bring her down to her bear
ing5, and the Genoese sailors considered
her a ticklish craft to manage. It was
pleasant to behold Shelloy's boyish
eagerness at the possession of this new
toy, anticipating never-failing pleasure
in gliding over the blue sea, beneath
the cloudless sky of an italian summer.
Shelley and Williams were in ecstasies
oven their boat, and were hardly ever
out of her. Their only assistant was a
boy, quick and handy and used to boats.
Trelawny advised them to add to their
crew a Genoese sailor accustomed to the
coast, such an one as he had on Lord
Byron's boat, the Bolivar, but thinking
their ~seamansh'p s~candalized, they re-
PEELED the suggestion. Toward the end
of June, 1922, Leigh Hunt and his
family arrived by sea from England.
Hunt Anticipated great literary projects
in conjunction with Byron and Shelley,
and the pleasure which surpassed ali
the rest was of meeting and commun-
ing with his friend, Shelley. Alas ! for
the brevity of their union.
On the 8th of July, 1922, Shelley and
his friend Williams left Leghorn in the
Don Juan, to go to Spezzia, where their
families awaited them. Trelawny ac-
companicd Thorn to the Ofing in the
Bolivar. They were fretting and FUN
ing to be off it was getting late, and
there was very little wind. Trelawny
watched the progress of his friends
boat through a glass, while his Genoese
mate observed /: "They should have
sailed this morning; they are standing
too much in shore the current will set
in there" But" said Trelawny,
will soon have a land breeze"
"Their gaff topsail," continued the
mate, sis foolish in. a boat with no
deck, and no sailor on board" Then,
pointing to the southwest, "Look at
those black lines, and the dirty rags
hanging on them out of the sky-they
are a warning. Look at the smoke on
the water-the devil is brewing mis-
Shelley's boat was soon after
onveloped in a sea-fog, and was never
seen again. A furious storm ensued
when it abated Trelawny watched every
7peck that doomed on the horizon, bnt
vain the boat had gone down with
it's precious freight.
After three days Of horrible suspense
Trelawny rode to Pisa and told his fears
TO Byron and Hunt. On the third day
two bodies were found on the shore
one at Via Reggie, the other three miles
1i"topt. Tho tall, slisht figure, the
the volume of S0phocles in one
and Keats poems in the other.
doubled back as if just read, were suf.
to identify the body of the poet:
the other was identified as the body of
Williams. They were immediately
buried ia the sand beyond the reach of
he waves.
1t then became the melancholy duty
Trelawny to carry the sad news to
he lone house on the sea shore where
he widows of his deceased companions
ived. Mary, the wife of Shelly, was
he daughter of William Goodwin and
Nary Woolstonecraft, and herself a
woman of genius /; Jane, the lovely
of Lieut. Williams, had Just re-
urned from India. These young moth
were left by their husbands on a
'eranda, singing merry tunes to the
the happiest and most united of
antilles. 1t was now determined bv
hose most interested that Shelley's re-
lains should be removed to Rome. and
aid beside his child and his friend
Keats, while those of Williams should
e taken to England. ,
To do this in their then far advanced
tate of decomposition was almost i'm !
oSsible, and the ancient custom of
and reducing the bodies to :
was resOrtedtO. The Lucchese and c
lorentlne governments having granted 9
request mrde by the British legation 9
to be allowed to remove the mortal :
'mains of Mr.. Shelley and his com y
cast ashore by the waves of the
"a" Mr.. Trelawny caused a furnace to
3 made IN Leghorn of strong sheet :;
on, with iron bands around it, and ::
so collected such articles as ShelIey's j
UGH loved Hellenese used on their
pyres.
An officer of the quarantine, with a
Lpad of soldiers, accompanied the expe. f,
ton, armed with long-handled tonpH D
ppers, poles with iron hooks, and d. L
rs other implements. Lord Byron il
d Mr.. Hunt joined them on the beach, u
tn the health officer aud some dis D
ounted dragons. There was also a Il
nsiderable gathering of spectators ri
the neighborhood, and among them g
any ladies richly dressed. A morbid a
drew most of these, but it is NJ
nest beyond belief that personal is
ends, men of birth, culture and gen. Il
breeding, could have witnessed the in
enc which followed. We copy Ire ii
account a,
On the removal of q layer of brush. nj
all that remained of our friend q
llliams was exposed-a shapeless m
IS the head had fallen from the in
nix on hninr tnnnhad MIs thnk -