Conversations on Religion, with Lord Byron
James Kennedy to John Cam Hobhouse, 11 November 1824
CONVERSATIONS ON RELIGION,
WITH
LORD BYRON
AND OTHERS,
HELD IN CEPHALONIA, A SHORT TIME PREVIOUS TO HIS
LORDSHIP’S DEATH.
BY THE LATE
JAMES KENNEDY, M.D.
OF H. M. MEDICAL STAFF.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXX.
Ithaca, November 11th, 1824.
Sir,
‘I received your letter a few
days ago, and thank you for your politeness and candour. It cannot be supposed
that I imagined that I was about to do any thing prejudicial to the character
or fame of Lord Byron, when, in my letter to
Mr. Kinnaird, whom I addressed by
mistake as an executor, I stated that my reasons for resolving to publish an
account of the Conversations with his lordship on religion were, that I believe
such an account would be interesting in itself; would tend to remove much of
that obloquy which many Christians attach to his lordship; and would not be
injurious nor offensive to any one, whilst it might possibly be useful to many.
‘My objects are still the same; but as you are entitled
from your long friendship with his lordship, as well as from your office, to
inquire into every thing that may affect his character, I shall more fully
explain the nature of my intended publication, by which means you can judge
whether my design be praiseworthy or not, and whether you can approve or
condemn it. I shall certainly hesitate before I publish any thing derived from
a private or confidential intercourse with Lord
Byron, at least such an intercourse as implied no right to
publish what took place, which can in any way appear to you or his friends
calculated to injure his reputation.
‘A few days after his lordship’s arrival in
Cephalonia, I became acquainted with him in consequence of his having expressed
a desire to be present at a meeting of some of my acquaintances, who wished to
hear me explain, in a logical and demonstrative manner, the evidences and
doctrines of Christianity. He attended the first meeting, but was not present
at several others which were held, partly because he was busy in the country,
and partly because he was not expressly invited. He took, however, an interest
in the discussions carried on, and
repeatedly expressed
his wish through the medium of a friend, that I would go out and converse with
him on these subjects. I therefore visited him several times, and had very long
conversations with him. The conversation was chiefly on religion, but it turned
occasionally on literature, authors, books, the character of living
individuals, and sometimes on his own views and plans, works, and private
concerns. On religion his lordship was in general a hearer, proposing his
difficulties and objections with more fairness than could have been expected
from one under similar circumstances, and with so much candour that they often
seemed to be proposed more for the purpose of procuring information or
satisfactory answers, than from any other motive. These difficulties and
objections were neither original nor new, and proved that his lordship, though
tolerably well acquainted with the historical and poetical parts of Scripture,
had no understanding of them as the means of salvation. On other topics, I was
for the most part a hearer, and heard from him many anecdotes and opinions
which, though interesting and expressed in his characteristic manner, I never
intended to publish, not only from a consideration of the circum-stances under which they were communicated, but from their
having no immediate relation with the object of my work. Opinions, however, on
authors who have been long dead, and on their writings, may or may not, I
imagine, be mentioned, according as they may fall within my plan.
‘I intend, in the first division of the work, to give an
account of the conversations with my friends; and as I was the principal
speaker, this part will contain my arguments in favour of religion, while the
objections and difficulties that were started, will be stated and examined,
without ascribing this to this, or that to that individual. As all these
friends are alive, delicacy requires that I should be general and brief in all
that relates to them, not from an idea that any shame will accrue to them for
wishing to hear and understand religion, but from deference to the repugnance
which every one has to appearing before the public unnecessarily. The second
division will attempt to convey a view of the chief external evidences, but,
above all, of the internal evidences of Christianity, drawn entirely from the
Scriptures themselves, and divested of all theological theories and
technicalities, in the most simple and per-
spicuous
manner of which I am capable; and if my execution of this part of the subject
could equal, which I know it will not, my design, I think that a scheme of
religion so pure, perfect, and complete, accounting for the state of man,
solving the difficulties of moral and physical evil, suiting the actual
condition and circumstances of mankind and pointing out the only road to
happiness here and hereafter, could be presented, that the most exalted reason,
if fairly exercised, would be compelled to recognise the impress of divinity in
the Christian revelation. The third division will contain an account of my
conversations with Lord Byron, written with
the same precautions which I use in the first division, except that I mention
his name on the ground that these conversations do more credit to his lordship
with respect to religious opinion, than can be inferred from many of his
writings. The last part of the work will contain an examination of the extent
to which real Christian principles appear to pervade and influence the
different ranks of society; of the causes which have hitherto retarded the
spread of Christianity, and the means calculated to promote its progress in
future.
‘Of the delicacy and difficulty of my undertaking I am
aware; yet, if written a with spirit of truth and integrity, it may, though
imperfect in its execution, be useful to many. I shall leave this question to
be decided by my friends. There will be less difficulty in touching on Lord
Byron’s views of religion than you imagine, because I shall not form a
creed for him, which I fear he had not taken time to do for himself, but I
shall simply relate facts which, when contrasted with many of his writings,
render his character more amiable; and I shall consult both delicacy and
justice in excluding most of his opinions and anecdotes relating to living
individuals both public and private.
‘The chief difficulty which presents itself to me is,
whether I am justified in availing myself of these conversations with so
celebrated a man, in order to give additional interest to a work, the object of
which I profess to be utility. If my doing so would injure his character or
fame in the slightest degree, there could not be a moment’s hesitation in
deciding on the baseness of the measure. But as far as I can judge, a true
statement of what occurred will place his
lordship’s character in a fairer light than he has himself done in many
of his writings, or than can, perhaps, be done by a friendly biographer. The
brightest parts of his life were those which he spent in Cephalonia and
Missolunghi, and the fact of his wishing to hear Christianity explained by one,
merely because he believed him sincere; confessing that he derived no happiness
from his unsettled notions on religion; expressing a desire to be convinced;
and his carrying with him religious books, and promising to give the subject a
more attentive study than he had ever done, will throw a certain lustre over
the darker shade of his fame, and a mixture of hope and sympathy over his
character and memory, in the minds of all Christians. It will, moreover, take
him from the ranks of such men as Hume,
Gibbon, and Voltaire, in which too many will be disposed
to place him, and deprive deists of the right of quoting him as a cool,
deliberate rejector of Christianity.
‘I shall submit this difficulty to my friends in
England, and be guided by their opinion; and should they judge that the reasons
for using his lordship’s name are fair, I shall
then, if you wish it, submit to you, or any of his friends, every part of the
work which relates to him, and attend to every reasonable objection or
suggestion—I except, however, any opinions I may give on his character
and writings, derived from sources open to all: though, even on these points,
you may not find much to which to object; for I shall neither praise nor blame
his lordship so much as some of his friends on the one hand, or some of his
enemies on the other, might probably desire. My opinions shall be free and
impartial, given with that moderation which truth requires, and with that
delicacy which is due to the memory of a man whose hospitality and kindness I
have shared.
‘I have two or three letters only in my possession from
his lordship, which relate to a young Turkish
girl whom he intended to place ultimately with his daughter, but
whom, for a while, he wished to be with me. I intended to publish them as a
proof of his romantic generosity and benevolence; but if you have the least
objection, they shall be suppressed.
‘I am satisfied with the fairness of the motives which
influence me; but as I may
possibly deceive myself, I
shall remain open to conviction, and be obliged to any one who shall point put
my error; for I would rather alter the work by omitting everything which
relates to Lord Byron, or suppress it altogether, than violate any principle of
honest dealing, or of Christian duty.
‘The rather tedious explanation which I have now given
will, I hope, appear to you satisfactory, and I have only to add, that you will
oblige me if you will have the goodness to give me your opinion on the subject
as soon as you can, making, at the same time, such objections or suggestions as
you consider necessary.
‘I am, Sir,
‘Your humble,
‘Obedient servant,
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
Author of
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776-1788).
Hatagèe (1824 fl.)
A Turkish girl of about nine years of age who Byron rescued while in Missolonghi and
proposed sending to Dr. James Kennedy for adoption; in the event, she was restored to her
father, Hussein Aga, a secretary to Yusuf Pasha.
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869)
Founder of the Cambridge Whig Club; traveled with Byron in the orient, radical MP for
Westminster (1820); Byron's executor; after a long career in politics published
Some Account of a Long Life (1865) later augmented as
Recollections of a Long Life, 6 vols (1909-1911).
David Hume (1711-1776)
Scottish philosopher and historian; author of
Essays Moral and
Political (1741-42),
Enquiry concerning Human Understanding
(1748) and
History of Great Britain (1754-62).
James Kennedy (1793 c.-1827)
Scottish physician in the British forces; his experiences with Byron in Cephalonia were
published as
Conversations on Religion with Lord Byron
(1830).
Voltaire (1694-1778)
French historian and man of letters; author of, among many other works,
The Age of Louis XIV (1751) and
Candide (1759).