LORD  BYRON  and  his  TIMES
Byron
Documents Biography Criticism
The Life of Lord Byron
Front Matter
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
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THE


LIFE


OF


LORD BYRON:






BY JOHN GALT, ESQ.











LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,
NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1830.
PREFACE.
The letters and journals of Lord Byron, with the interwoven notes of Mr. Moore, should have superseded the utility of writing any other account of that extraordinary man. The compilation has, however, not proved satisfactory, and the consequence, almost of necessity, is, that many other biographical portraits of the noble poet may yet be expected; but will they materially alter the general effect of Mr. Moore’s work? I think not; and have accordingly confined myself, as much as practicable, consistent with the end in view, to an outline of his Lordship’s intellectual features—a substratum only of the general mass of his character.
If Mr. Moore has evinced too eager an anxiety to set out the best qualities of his friend to the brightest advantage, it ought to be recollected that no less was expected of him. The spirit of the times ran strong against Lord Byron, as a man; and it was natural, that Mr. Moore should attempt to stem the tide. I respect the generosity with which he has executed his task. I think that he has made no striking misre-
iv PREFACE.
presentation; I even discern but little exaggeration, although he has amiably chosen to paint only the sunny side: the limning is correct; but the likeness is too radiant and conciliatory.
There is one point with respect to the subsequent pages, on which I think it unnecessary to offer any explanation—the separation of Lord and Lady Byron. I have avoided, as much as I well could, every thing like the expression of an opinion on the subject. Mr. Moore has done all in his power to excuse his Lordship; and Lady Byron has protested against the correctness of his statement, without however assigning any reason for her own conduct, calculated to satisfy the public, who have been too indecorously, I conceive, made parties to the question.
But I should explain that in omitting to notice the rancour with which Lord Byron was pursued by Dr. Southey, I have always considered his Lordship as the first aggressor. The affair is therefore properly comprehended in the general observations respecting the enemies whom the satire of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers provoked. I may add further, in explanation, that I did not conceive any particular examination was required of his Lordship’s minor poems, nor of his part in the controversy concerning the poetical genius of Pope.
Considering how much the conduct of Lord Byron has been in question, perhaps I ought to state, that I never stood on such a footing with his Lordship as to
PREFACE. v
inspire me with any sentiment likely to bias my judgment. I am indebted to him for no other favours than those which a well-bred person of rank bestows in the interchange of civility on a man who is of none, and that I do not undervalue the courtesy with which he ever treated me, will probably be apparent. I am gratified with the recollection of having known a person so celebrated, and I believe myself incapable of intentional injustice. I can only regret the impression he made upon me, if it shall be thought I have spoken of him with prejudice.
It will be seen by a note, relative to a circumstance which took place in Lord Byron’s conduct towards the Countess Guiccioli, that Mr. Hobhouse has enabled me to give two versions of an affair not regarded by some of that lady’s relations as having been marked by generosity; but I could not expunge from the text what I had stated, having no reason to doubt the authenticity of my information. The reader is enabled to form his own opinion on the subject.
I cannot conclude without offering my best acknowledgements to the learned and ingenious Mr. Nicolas, for the curious genealogical fact of a baton sinister being in the escutcheon of the Byrons of Newstead. Lord Byron, in his pride of birth, does not appear to have been aware of this stain.
Leigh Hunt, Byron & his Contemporaries
N. B. Since this work was completed, a small pamphlet, judiciously suppressed, has been placed in
vi PREFACE.
my hands, dated from the Chateau de Blonai, 20th August, 1825, in which Mr. Medwin vindicates the correctness of those statements in his conversations with Lord Byron, which Mr. Hobhouse had impugned in The Westminster Review. Had I seen it before expressing my opinion of Mr. Medwin’s publication, I am not sure it would have in any degree affected that opinion, which was formed without reference to the errors imputed by Mr. Hobhouse.
London, 12th August, 1830.
CONTENTS.
Page
Introduction 1
CHAPTER I.
Ancient descent—Pedigree—Birth—Troubles of his mother—Early Education—Accession to the title. 5
CHAPTER II.
Moral effects of local scenery; a peculiarity in taste—Early love—Impressions and traditions. 14
CHAPTER III.
Arrival at Newstead—Find it in ruins—The old Lord and his beetles—The Earl of Carlisle becomes the guardian of Byron—The poet’s acute sense of his own deformed foot—His mother consults a fortuneteller. 23
CHAPTER IV.
Placed at Harrow—Progress there—Love for Miss Chatworth—His reading—Oratorical powers. 31
CHAPTER V.
Character at Harrow—Poetical predilections at Cambridge—His Hours of Idleness. 39
CHAPTER VI.
Criticism of the Edinburgh Review. 41
viii CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER VII.
Effect of the criticism in the Edinburgh Review—English Bards and Scotch Reviewers—His satiety—Intention to travel—Publishes his Satire—Takes his seat in the House of Lords—Departs for Lisbon; thence to Gibraltar. 53
CHAPTER VIII.
First acquaintance with Byron—Embark together—The voyage. 59
CHAPTER IX.
Dinner at the ambassador’s at Cagliari—Opera—Disaster of Byron at Malta—Mrs. Spencer Smith. 65
CHAPTER X.
Sails from Malta to Prevesa—Lands at Patras—Sails Again—Passes Ithaca—Arrival at Prevesa—Salona—Joannina—Zitza. 70
CHAPTER XI.
Halt at Zitza—The river Acheron—Greek wine—A Greek chariot—Arrival at Tepellené—The vizier’s palace. 77
CHAPTER XII.
Audience appointed with Ali Pashaw—Description of the vizier’s person—My audience of the Vizier of the Morea. 82
CHAPTER XIII.
The effect of Ali Pashaw’s character on Lord Byron—Sketch of the career of Ali, and the perseverance with which he pursued the objects of his ambition. 88
CHAPTER XIV.
Leave Joannina for Prevesa—Land at Fanari-Albania—Byron’s character of the inhabitants. 93
CHAPTER XV.
Leave Utraikee—Dangerous pass in the woods—Catoona—Quarrel between the guard and primate of the village—Makala-Gouri—Missolonghi—Parnassus. 99
CHAPTER XVI.
Vostizza—Battle of Lepanto—Parnassus—Livadia—Cave of Trophonius—The fountains of Oblivion and memory—Chæronéa—Thebes—Athens. 104
CONTENTS. ix
Page
CHAPTER XVII.
Byron’s character of the modern Athenians—Visit to Eleusis—Visit to the Caverns at Vary and Keraéta—Lost in the labyrinths of the latter. 109
CHAPTER XVIII.
Proceed from Keraéta to Cape Colonna—Associations connected with the spot—Second hearing of the Albanians—Journey to Marathon—Effect of his adventures on the mind of the Poet—Return to Athens—I join the travellers there—Maid of Athens. 115
CHAPTER XIX.
Occupation at Athens—Mount Pentilicus—We descend into the caverns—Return to Athens—A Greek contract of marriage—Various Athenian and Albanian superstitions—Effect of their impression on the genius of the poet. 120
CHAPTER XX.
Local pleasures—Byron’s Grecian poems—His departure from Athens—Description of evening in the Corsair—The opening of the Giaour—State of patriotic feeling then in Greece—Smyrna—Change in Lord Byron’s manners. 126
CHAPTER XXI.
Smyrna—The sport of the Djerid—Journey to Ephesus—The dead city—The desolate country—The ruins and obliteration of the temple—The slight impression of all on Byron. 133
CHAPTER XXII.
Embarks for Constantinople—Touches at Tenedos—Visits Alexandria Troas—The Trojan plain—Swims the Hellespont—Arrival at Constantinople. 138
CHAPTER XXIII.
Constantinople—Description—The dogs and the dead—Landed at Tophana—The masterless dogs—The slave-market—The seraglio—The defects in the description. 146
CHAPTER XXIV.
Dispute with the ambassador—Reflections on Byron’s pride of rank—Abandons his Oriental travels—Re-embarks in the Salsette—The dagger-scene—Zea—Returns to Athens—Tour in the Morea—Dangerous illness—Return to Athens—The adventure on which the Giaour is founded. 153
x CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER XXV.
Arrival in London—Mr. Dallas’s patronage—Arranges for the publication of Childe Harold—The death of Mrs. Byron: his sorrow—His affair with Mr. Moore—Their meeting at Mr. Roger’s house, and friendship. 159
CHAPTER XXVI.
The libel in the Scourge—The general impression of his character—Improvements in his manners as his merit was acknowledged by the public—His address in management—His first speech in parliament—The Publication of Childe Harold—Its reception and effect. 168
CHAPTER XXVII.
Sketches of character—His friendly dispositions—Introduce Prince K——to him—Our last interview—His continued kindness towards me—Instance of it to one of my friends. 174
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A miff with Lord Byron—Remarkable coincidences—Plagiarisms of his Lordship. 180
CHAPTER XXIX.
Lord Byron in 1813—The Lady’s Tragedy—Miss Milbanke—Growing uneasiness of Lord Byron’s mind —The friar’s ghosts—The marriage—A member of the Drury-lane committee—Embarrassed affairs—The separation. 186
CHAPTER XXX.
Reflections on his domestic verses—Consideration of his works—The Corsair—Probabilities of the character and incidents of the story—On the difference between poetical invention and moral experience, illustrated by the difference between the genius of Shakspeare and that of Byron. 196
CHAPTER XXXI.
Byron determines to reside abroad—Visits the plain of Waterloo—State of his feelings. 204
CHAPTER XXXII.
Byron’s residence in Switzerland—Excursion to the Glaciers—Manfred founded on a magical sacrifice, not on guilt—Similarity between sentiments given to Manfred, and those expressed by Lord Byron in his own person. 211
CONTENTS. xi
Page
CHAPTER XXIII.
State of Byron in Switzerland—He goes to Venice—The fourth canto of Childe Harold—Rumination on his own condition—Beppo—Lament of Tasso—Curious example of Byron’s metaphysical love. 219
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Removes to Ravenna—The Countess Guiccioli. 225
CHAPTER XXXV.
Residence in Ravenna—The Carbonari—Byron’s part in their plot—The murder of the military commandant—The poetical use of the incident—Marino Faliero—Reflections—The Prophecy of Dante. 229
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The tragedy of Sardanapalus considered with reference to Lord Byron’s own circumstances—Cain. 235
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Removal to Pisa—The Lanfranchi Palace—Affair with the guard at Pisa—Removal to Monte Nero—Junction with Mr. Hunt—Mr. Shelley’s letter. 243
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Mr. Hunt arrives in Italy—Meeting with Lord Byron—Tumults in the house—Arrangements for Mr. Hunt’s family—Extent of his obligations to Lord Byron—Their copartnery—Meanness of the whole business. 249
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Mr. Shelley—Sketch of his life—His death—The burning of his body, and the return of the mourners. 255
CHAPTER XI.
The Two Foscari—Werner—The Deformed Transformed—Don Juan—The Liberal—Removes from Pisa to Genoa. 260
CHAPTER XLI.
Genoa—Change in the manners of Lord Byron—Residence at the Casa Saluzzi—The Liberal—Remarks on the poet’s works in general, and on Hunt’s strictures on his character. 268
xii CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER XLII.
Lord Byron resolves to join the Greeks—Arrives at Cephalonia—Greek factions—Sends emissaries to the Grecian Chiefs—Writes to London about the loan—To Mavrocordato on the dissensions—Embarks at last for Missolonghi. 273
CHAPTER XLIII.
Lord Byron’s conversations on religion with Dr. Kennedy. 280
CHAPTER XLIV.
Voyage to Cephalonia—Letter—Count Gamba’s address—Grateful feelings of the Turks—Endeavours of Lord Byron to mitigate the horrors of the war. 294
CHAPTER XLV.
Proceedings at Missolonghi—Byron’s Suliote brigade—Their insubordination—Difference with Colonel Stanhope—Imbecility of the plans for the independence of Greece. 300
CHAPTER XLVI.
Lord Byron appointed to the command of three thousand men to besiege Lepanto—The siege abandoned for a blockade—Advanced guard ordered to proceed—Lord Byron’s first illness—A riot—He is urged to leave Greece—The expedition against Lepanto abandoned—Byron dejected—A wild diplomatic scheme. 306
CHAPTER XLVII.
The last illness and death of Lord Byron—His last poem. 312
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The funeral preparations and final obsequies. 320
CHAPTER XLIX.
Character of Lord Byron. 324
Appendix. 331