Lord Byron.
The Times, 1824-10-22T00:00:00

'lhe following lett4r from LtoriByroto te001ine1 hove, after .his arrow escatpe fromh the' Tlurks, is charao- teristic of his Lordship's epistolary style:- Scrofer, or some such name, on board a Cepbaloniote Alistice, December31st, 1823. C Aly dear Stanhope,_YWe are just arrived here, that iR, part of ny people and I, with some things, &c,X and wlhich it may be as well not to specify in a letter (which has a risk of being intercepted, perhaps); but Gamba antl my horses, negro, steward, and the press, and all the committee things, also some eight thoasandAdli-s of mine, (but never miad, we have more left *-.Do you undeNtand ?) are taken by the Turkish frigates, and my party and myse6,'in an- other boat, have had a narrow escape last night, (being close under their stern, and hailed, but we would not answer, and bore away,) as well as this morning. Here we are, with sun and clearing wea. ther, withini a pretty little port enough ; but whether our Turkish friends may not send in their boats and take us out, (for we have no arms, except two carbines, and some pistols, and, I suspect, not more than Four fighting people en board,) is another question, espe- cially if wve remain long here, since we are blocked out of Missolon- ghi by the direct entrance. You had better send my t'riend George Drake, and a body of Suliots, to escort Its by land, or by the canals, with all convenient speed. Gamnba antl our bombard are taken into Patras, I suppose, and we must take a tura at the Turks to get them out; but where the devil is the fleet gone? the Greek I mean, leav; ing us to get in, witlhout the least intimation to take heed that the Moslems rwere out again. Ilake my respects to Alavrocordato, and say, that I am here at his disposal. I am uneasy at being here; not so much en our own nccount as on that of a Greek boy with me, fbr you know what his fate would b'; and I wonld sooner cut hirm in piec and mnyself too, than have him taken out by those barbarians. 00e are all very well, Yours, &c., " N. B." '" P.S. The bombard was twelve miles out wlhen taken, at least so it appeared to us, (if taken she actually be, for it is not certain,) and we had to escape from another vessel that stood right in between us and the port." The subjoined letter, giving an accoutnt of his Lordship's death, is probably from the sasne hand that wrote the character which we inserted in eur paper some time ago 1IR03t CAPTAiN TRELAwiY TO COLONET. STASHOPE- i " Alissxlonghi, April28, 1824. "MIv dear Colonel,- ith all vmy anxiety I could not get here before the third day. It was the second, after having crossed the first great torrent, that I met some soldiers from Missolonghi. I had let them all pass ne ere I had resolution enough to inquire the news from Mlissolonghi. I then rode back and demanded of a straggler the news. I heard nothing inore titan-Lortl Byron is dead,-aud I proceeded on in gloomy silence. WritFi all hib faults I loved him truly; he is connected with every event of the most interesting years of my wandering life: his every-day com3par.ion-we lived in ships, boats, and in lhouses tegetlier-we hail no secrets -r..-reserve,antl,though we often differed in opinicrn, never quarrelled. If it gave inp pain wit. nessing his frailties, lie only wanted a little excitement to avwaken and pat forth -virtues that redeemnedl them all. He was an only child_ edrly an orphan-thie world adopted him,aitd soilt him-his concep- tions were so noble whten his best elemenits were aroused, that we,his friends, considered it pure inspiration. He was violent and caprici. ous. In one of his moments of frailty, two years backs he could think of nothing which could give him so much pleasure as saving money, and he talked of nothing but ita accumulation, and the power and resnect it wouldbe the means of giving hlim; and so much .tid he indulge in this contemptible vice, that we, his friends, began to fear it would become his leading passion ; however, as in all his other passions, lie indulged it to satiety, and then grew weary. I was absent frsm hiim in Rome when lie wrote me fromF Genoa, and said, " Trelawny, you must have heard I anm going to Greece, why do you not come to me ? I can do nothing without yon, and aRn exccedingly anxious to see you 4 ptay come, for I am at last determined to go to Greece, it is the only place I was ever contented in. I am serious, and did not write before, as I might have given you ajourney for nothing: they al! say I can be ofuse to Greece; I rio not know how, nor tio they ; but at all events, let's go." I who had long depaired of getting himn out of Italy, to whicli he had becomeat- tached from habit, indolence, and strong ties-I lost no time; every thing was hurried on, antd, from the moniment he left Genoa, though twice driven back, his ruling passion became ambition of a nane, or rather by one great effort to wipe out the memory of those deeds which his enemies had begun to rather freely descant on in the public prinrat, and to nmake his name as great in glorious acts, as it alreatly was by his writings, " He wrote a song the other day on his birth-day, his thirty-sixth year, strongly exemplifying thlis. It is the most beautiful and touch- ing of all his songs, for he was not very happy at composing them. It is here amonzst his papers. If thou regret thy youth, why live ? ' The land of honourable dleath Is here. Up to the field and give ' Away thy breath. Awakec! not Greece, she is awake ! ' Awake! mzv spirit.' " He died on the 19th April, at six o'clock at night; the two last days he was alto-ether insensible, and died so, apparently without pain. From the first moment of his illness, lie expressed on this, as on all former occasions, his dread of pain and fearlessness of death. He talked chiefly of Ada, bothi in his sensible and insensible state. He had much to say, and many directiens to leave, as was manifest from his calling Fletcher, Tita, Gamba, Parry, to his bed-side ; his lips moved, but he could articulate nothing distinctly, " Ada-my sister_wite-say-do you understand my directions ?" said lie, to Fleteher. After muttering thus for half an hour, about-" vSaythis to Ada,"-"this to my sister,"-wriitging his hands. "Not a word, my Lord," said Fletcher.-"' That's a ptty," said he, " for 'tisnow too late,-for I shall die os go matd." He then raved, said-" I will not live a nadiman, for I can dlestroy mvself." I kinow the reason of this fear he had of losing his senses, lie had latelv, on his voyage front Italy, read, with deep interest, Swift's life,'and was always talking to me of his horrible fate. Byron's mtalady was a rheumatic fever; was brough t on by getting wet after violent perspiration from hard riding, and neglecting to change his clothes. Its commence- ment was trifling. On the 10tlh he v/as taken ill; his doctors urged him tO be bled, but this was one of his greatest prejudices,-he ab- horred bleediitg. Medicine was not efflcient ; the fever gained rapid ground. and on the third day the blood showed a tendency to mount to his head; he then submitted to bleeding, but it proved too late; it hail already affected his brain, and this causeti his death. Had he submit ted to bleeding on its first appearance, he would have assuredly recovered in a few days. On opening him, a great quantity of blood was found in the head and brain; the latter. his brain, the doctor says, was a third greater in quantity than is usuially found, weighing four pounds. His heart is likewvise strikiniglv large, but performed its functions feebly, and was very exhausted ; his liver much too small, which was the reason of that deficiency of bile, which neces- sitated him to continually stimulate his stomach by medicine. His body was in a perfect state of health an(d soundness. They say his only malady was a strong tendenev of the blood to mount to the head, and weakness of the vessels there ; that he could not, for this reasori, have lived more than six or seven years more. I do itot ex- actly understand this; but the doctor is going to write me a medi- cal account of his illnes;s, death, and state of his body. " His remains are preparing to send by w;ay of Zante to England, he having left no directions on this head. I shall ever regret I was not with him wheit he gave up his mortality. " Your pardon, Stanhope, that I have turned aside from the great cause in which I a-m embarked; butt thir is no private grief; the world has; lost its greatest man, I my bect friend, and that must g be my excuse for having filled a letter with this one subject. To- morTow, for Mm arocordato has delayed my courier till his letters are I ready, I will retarn to duty. " Yours very sincerely " EDWARD TRELAWNY." LORD BYRONY.