The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-05-28
PRACTICAL CREMATION.


1t is rather singular that i'll 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 In. dem times. We re-
fer to the burning of the body of the
poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, on the
shore of the Mediterranean i'll the sum
mer Of 1899, in the presence of Lord
Byron, Mr.. Leigh Hunt and Mr., L. j.
Trelawny. Shelley, like Byron, was
passionatcIy fond OF the sea, and loved
to talk Of ships and sailors and of the
adventures OF the early nayigators i'll
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.. L. f.. Williams, half-pay officer
OF the eighth dra9roons, recently from
India, was his constant cOmpanioD-a
genial man, fond of books and the sea.
His family occupied the same h.use
with Shelley, on the Gulf of Spezzia.
After much talking and planning,
Williams, who had been three years III
the navy, assisted Shelley in building a
boat, according to his own 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
ings, and the Genoese sailors considered
her ticklish craft to manage. II was
pleasant to behold ShellGy's boyish
eagerness at the possession OF this new
toy, anticipating neyer-iailing pleasure
in gliding over the blue sea, beneath
the cloudless sky of an Italian summer.
Shelley and Williams were i'll ecstasies
over 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 Genocse sailor accustomed to the
coast, such an one rs he had on Lord
Byron's boat, the Bolivar, but thinking
their seamansh p scandalized 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 all
the rest was of meeting and commun-
ing with his friend Shelley. Alas for
the brevity Of their union.
On the Sth of July, 1922, Shelley and
his friend Williams left Leghorn in the
Don Juan, to go to Spezzia, where their
families awaited them. Trelawny &C.
companied them to the ofling 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 glass, while his Genoese
mate observed "They should have
sailed this morning; they are standing
too much in shore the cnrrent will set
in there" "But," said Trelawny,
"they will soon have a land breeze.
"Their gaff topsail," continued the
mate, "is foolish in 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 warming, Look at the smoke on
the water-the devil is brewing mis-
chief" Shelley's boat was soon after
enveloped in sea-fog, and was never
~
when it abated Trelawny watched every
speck that loomed on the horizon, but
in vain the boat had gone down with
its precious freight,
After three days of horrible suspense
Trelawny rode to Pisa and told his fears
to Byron aud Hunt On the third day
two bodies were found on the shore
one at Via Reggie. tie other three mics
distant. The tall, slight figure, the
jacket, the volume of SJphocles in one
pocket and Keats poems i'll the other,
doubled back as if just read, were sui.
ficient to identity the body of the poet;
the other was identified as the body OF
Williams. They were Immediately
buried in the sand beyond the reach OF
the waves.
1t then became the melancholy duty
OF TrelawDy to carry the sad news TO
the lone house on the sea shore where
the widows of his deceased companions
lived. Mary, the wife of Shelly, was
the dauQhter of William Goodwin aud
Mary Woolstonccraft, and herself Il
woman of genius; Jane, the lovely
widow of Lieut.. Wi liams. had Just re.
turned from India. These young moth
ers were left by their husbands on a
veranda, singing merry tunes to the
guitar, the happiest and most united of
families. 1t was now determined BY
those most interested that Shelley's re-
mains should be removed /, Rome, and
laid beside his child and his friend
Keats, while those of Williams should
be taken to England.
To do this in their then far advanced
state of decomposition was almost i'm
possible, and the ancient custom ot
burning ami reducing the bodies tc
ashes was rescrtedto. The Lucchese aut
TIOrentiue governments baN;no, ,,rantac