Byron: The Last Phase

We seized the moment, and drew about twenty ounces. On coagulating, the blood presented a strong buffy coat. Yet the relief obtained did not correspond to the hopes we had anticipated, and during the night the fever became stronger than it had been hitherto. The restlessness and agitation increased, and the patient spoke several times in an incoherent manner. The next morning (17th) the bleeding was repeated; for, although the rheumatic symptoms had completely disappeared, the cerebral ones were hourly increasing, and this continuing all day, we opened the vein for the third time in the afternoon. Cold applications were from the beginning constantly kept on the head; blisters were also proposed. When on the point of applying them, Lord Byron asked me whether it would answer the same purpose to apply both on the same leg. Guessing the motive that led him to ask this question, I told him I would place them above the knees, on the inside of the thighs. ‘Do so,’ said he; ‘for as long as I live I will not allow anyone to see my lame foot.’

In spite of our endeavours, the danger hourly increased; the different signs of strong nervous affection succeeded each other with surprising rapidity; twitchings and involuntary motions of the tendons began to manifest themselves in the night; and, more frequently than before, the patient muttered to himself and talked incoherently.

In the morning (18th) a consultation was proposed, to which Dr. Lucca Vaga and Dr. Freiber, my assistant, were invited. Our opinions were divided. Bruno and Lucca proposed having recourse to antispasmodics and other remedies employed in the last stage of typhus. Freiber and I maintained that such remedies could only hasten the fatal termination; that nothing could be more empirical than flying from one extreme to the other; that if, as we all thought, the complaint was owing to the metastasis of rheumatic inflammation, the existing symptoms only depended on the rapid and extensive progress it had made in an organ previously so weakened and irritable. Antiphlogistic means could never prove hurtful in this case; they would become useless only if disorganization were already operated; but then, when all hopes were fled, what means would not prove superfluous?

We recommended the application of numerous leeches to the temples, behind the ears, and along the course of the jugular vein, a large blister between the shoulders, and sinapisms to the feet. These we considered to be the only means likely to succeed. Dr. Bruno, however, being the patient’s physician, had, of course, the casting vote, and he prepared, in consequence, the antispasmodic potion which he and Dr. Lucca had agreed upon. It was a strong infusion of valerian with ether, etc. After its administration the convulsive movements and the delirium increased; yet, notwithstanding my earnest representations, a second dose was administered half an hour after; when, after articulating confusedly a few broken phrases, our patient sank into a comatose sleep, which the next day terminated in death.

Lord Byron expired on the 19th of April, at six o’clock in the afternoon. Interesting as every circumstance relative to the death of so celebrated a person may prove to some, I should, nevertheless, have hesitated in obtruding so much medical detail on the patience of the reader, had not the accounts published by Dr. Bruno in the Westminster Review, and many of the newspapers, rendered it necessary that I should disabuse the friends of the deceased; and at the same time vindicate my own professional character, on which the imputation has been laid of my having been the cause of Lord Byron’s death by putting off, during four successive days, the operation of bleeding.

I must first observe that, not knowing a syllable of English, although present at the conversation I had with Lord Byron, Dr. Bruno could neither understand the force of the language I employed to surmount his lordship’s deep-rooted prejudice and aversion for bleeding, nor the positive refusals he repeatedly made before I could obtain his promise to consent to the operation. Yet he boldly states that I spoke to Lord Byron in a very undecided manner of the benefits of such an operation, and that I even ventured to recommend procrastination; and these, he says, are the reasons that induced him to consent to the delay – as if he were himself indifferent to such treatment, or as if a few words from me were sufficient to determine him! Conduct like this it is not difficult to appreciate: I shall therefore forbear abandoning myself to the indignation such a falsehood might naturally excite; nor shall I repel his unwarrantable accusation by relating the causes of that deep-rooted jealousy which Dr. Bruno entertained against me from the day he perceived the preference which Lord Byron indicated in favour of English physicians. This narrow-minded, envious feeling, as I could prove, prevented him from insisting on immediately calling me, or other medical men at Missolonghi, to a consultation. Had he done so, he would have exonerated himself from every responsibility; but his vanity made him forget the duty he owed to his patient, and even to himself. For I did not see Lord Byron (medically) till I was sent for by his lordship himself, without any participation on the part of Dr. Bruno. I can refute Dr. Bruno’s calumnies, not only from the testimony of others, but even from his own. For the following extract from the article published in the Telegrapho Greco, announcing the death of Lord Byron, was at the request of Count Gamba (himself a witness of whatever took place during the fatal illness of his friend) composed by the doctor:

‘Notwithstanding the most urgent entreaties and representations of the imminent danger attending his complaint made to him from the onset of his illness, both by his private physician and the medical man sent by the Greek Committee, it was impossible to surmount the great aversion and prejudice he entertained against bleeding, although he lay under imperious want of it’ (Vide Telegrapho Greco, il di 24 Aprile, 1824).

As to the assertion confidently made by Dr. Bruno, that, had his patient submitted at the onset of his malady to phlebotomy, he would have infallibly recovered, I believe every medical man who maturely considers the subject will be led to esteem this assertion as being founded rather on presumption than on reason. Positive language, which is in general so misplaced in medical science, becomes in the present case even ridiculous; for, if different authors be consulted, it will appear that the very remedy which is proclaimed by some as the anchor of salvation, is by others condemned as the instrument of ruin. Bleeding (as many will be found to assert) favours metastasis in rheumatic fevers; and, in confirmation of this opinion, they will remark that in this case, as soon as the lancet was employed, the cerebral symptoms manifested themselves on the disappearance of the rheumatic; while those who incline to Dr. Reid’s and Dr. Heberden’s opinion will observe that, after each successive phlebotomy, the cerebral symptoms not only did not remain at the same degree, but that they hourly went on increasing. In this dilemmatic position it is evident that, whatever treatment might have been adopted, detractors could not fail to have some grounds for laying the blame on the medical attendants. The more I consider this difficult question, however, the more I feel convinced that, whatsoever method of cure had been adopted, there is every reason to believe that a fatal termination was inevitable; and here I may be permitted to observe, that it must have been the lot of every medical man to observe how frequently the fear of death produces it, and how seldom a patient, who persuades himself that he must die, is mistaken. The prediction of the Scotch fortune-teller was ever present to Lord Byron, and, like an insidious poison, destroyed that moral energy which is so useful to keep up the patient in dangerous complaints. ‘Did I not tell you,’ said he repeatedly to me, ‘that I should die at thirty-seven?’

There is an entry in Millingen’s ‘Memoirs of Greece’ which has not received the attention it deserves – namely, a request made by Byron on the day before his death. It is given by Millingen in the following words:

‘One request let me make to you. Let not my body be hacked, or be sent to England. Here let my bones moulder. Lay me in the first corner without pomp or nonsense.’

After Byron’s death Millingen informed Gamba of this request, but it was thought that it would be a sacrilege to leave his remains in a place ‘where they might some day become the sport of insulting barbarians.’

1

Medwin, in his book ‘The Angler in Wales,’ vol. ii., p. 211, says: ‘The right foot, as everyone knows, being twisted inwards, so as to amount to what is generally known as a club-foot.’

2

Letter to Mr. Gisborne, January 12, 1822. Professor Dowden’s ‘Life of Shelley,’ vol. ii., p. 447.

3

‘Lord Byron.’

4

‘Letters and Journals of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. vi., appendix iii.

5

‘Life of Shelley,’ vol. ii., p. 494.

6

Henry Dunn kept a British shop at Leghorn.

7

For Byron’s opinion of Shelley’s poetry, see appendix to ‘The Two Foscari’: ‘I highly admire the poetry of “Queen Mab” and Shelley’s other publications.’

8

‘The Angler in Wales,’ by Thomas Medwin, vol. ii., pp. 144-146.

9

Lady Noel left by her will to the trustees a portrait of Byron, with directions that it was not to be shown to his daughter Ada till she attained the age of twenty-one; but that if her mother were still living, it was not to be so delivered without Lady Byron’s consent.

10

It was at this time that Byron endeavoured to suppress the fact that he had written ‘The Age of Bronze.’

11

Dr. Bruno.

12

Byron’s sobriquet for Walter Scott.

13

‘Letters and Journals of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. vi., p. 259.

14

‘Memoir of Rev. F. Hodgson,’ vol. ii., p. 150.

15

‘Diary,’ vol. iii., pp. 435, 436.

16

Parry, p. 170.

17

Byron wrote a review of Wordsworth’s ‘Poems’ in Monthly Literary Recreations for July, 1807, and a review of Gell’s ‘Geography of Ithaca’ in the Monthly Review for August, 1811.

18

General Sir Robert Wilson (1777-1849), commonly known as ‘Jaffa Wilson,’ entered Parliament in 1818. Having held Napoleon up to horror and execration for his cruelty at Jaffa, Wilson subsequently became one of his strongest eulogists. Being by nature a demagogue, he posed as a champion in the cause of freedom and civil government; he accused England of injustice and tyranny towards other nations, and prophesied her speedy fall. He warmly espoused the cause of Queen Caroline, and was present at the riot in Hyde Park on the occasion of her funeral, when there was a collision between the Horse Guards and the mob. For his conduct on that occasion, despite a long record of gallant service in the field, Wilson was dismissed the Army in 1821, but was reinstated on the accession of William IV. He appears to have been both foolish and vain, and fond of creating effect. He was constantly brooding over services which he conceived to have been overlooked, and merits which he fancied were neglected. He attached himself to the ultra-radicals, and puffed himself into notoriety by swimming against the stream. A writer in the Quarterly Review (Vol. xix., July, 1818) says: ‘The obliquity of his (Wilson’s) perceptions make his talents worse than useless as a politician, and form, even in his own profession, a serious drawback to energy however great, and to bravery however distinguished.’

19

High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

20

Acting as Secretary to High Commissioner.

21

Vol. vi., p. 326.

22

One of the turbulent capitani who was playing for his own hand. He was at one time a member of the Executive Body, and was afterwards proclaimed by the Legislative Assembly as an enemy of the State.

23

A leader of Greek insurgents – Byron calls him Ulysses – who broke away from Government control to form an independent party in opposition to Mavrocordato, with whose views Byron sympathized. Trelawny and Colonel Stanhope believed in Odysseus, who after having acquired great influence in Eastern Greece was proclaimed by the Government, imprisoned, and murdered while in captivity.

24

‘Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,’ edited by Mrs. Julian Marshall.

25

For further evidence on this point, see ‘Letters of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. i., pp. 9-11.

26

It is difficult to reconcile this with Millingen’s statement.

27

Edinburgh Review, April, 1871, pp. 294-298.

28

He succeeded Sir Thomas Maitland as High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

29

This must be taken cum grano salis.

30

They appear to have met accidentally in Trinity Walks a few days earlier. Edleston did not at first recognize Byron, who had grown so thin.

31

Edleston, who some time previously had given Byron a ‘Cornelian’ as a parting gift on leaving Cambridge for the vacation.

32

Edleston had died five months before Byron heard the sad news.

33

‘I think it proper to state to you that this stanza alludes to an event which has taken place since my arrival here, and not to the death of any male friend.’ – Lord Byron to Mr. Dallas.

34

That this Thyrza was no passing fancy is proved by Lord Lovelace’s statement in ‘Astarte’ (p. 138): ‘He had occasionally spoken of Thyrza to Lady Byron, at Seaham and afterwards in London, always with strong but contained emotion. He once showed his wife a beautiful tress of Thyrza’s hair, but never mentioned her real name.’

35

Captain (afterwards Commodore) Walter Bathurst was mortally wounded at the Battle of Navarino, on October 20, 1827. – ‘Battles of the British Navy,’ Joseph Allen, vol. ii., p. 518.

36

The last line was in the first draft.

37

Medwin (edition of 1824), p. 63.

38

‘A power of fascination rarely, if ever, possessed by any man of his age’ (‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ by Lord Broughton, vol. ii., p. 196).

39

‘Letters and Journals of Byron,’ vol. iii., p. 406, edited by Rowland E. Prothero.

40

Moore had rented a cottage in Nottinghamshire, not very remote from Newstead Abbey.

41

See ‘Letters and Journals of Lord Byron,’ edited by Rowland Prothero, vol. ii., pp. 267, 269, 278, 292.

42

‘Had I not written “The Bride” (in four nights), I must have gone mad by eating my own heart – bitter diet.’ – ‘Journals and Letters,’ vol. ii., p. 321.

43

‘Hail be you, Mary, mother and May,

Mild, and meek, and merciable!’

An Ancient Hymn to the Virgin.

44

Mary was ‘the last of a time-honoured race.’ The line of the Chaworths ended with her.

45

It will be remembered that Byron had announced ‘The Corsair’ as ‘the last production with which he should trespass on public patience for some years.’ With the loss of Mary’s love his inspiration was gone.

46

‘With hackbut bent, my secret stand,

Dark as the purposed deed, I chose,

And mark’d where, mingling in his band,

Trooped Scottish pikes and English bows.’

Sir Walter Scott: Cadyow Castle.

47

Mary’s allusion to the seal is explained by an entry in Byron’s journal, November 14, 1813. The seal is treasured as a memento of Byron by the Musters family.

48

No one, we presume, will question the identity of the person mentioned in ‘The Dream’:

‘Upon a tone,

A touch of hers, his blood would ebb and flow,

And his cheek change tempestuously – his heart

Unknowing of its cause of agony.’

49

‘Astarte,’ p. 134.

50

Lady Caroline Lamb also asserted that Byron showed her some letters which contained some such expression as this: “Oh! B – , if we loved one another as we did in childhood —then it was innocent.” The reader may judge whether such a remark would be more natural from Augusta, or from Mary Chaworth.

51

October 14, 1814.

52

See the poem ‘Remember Him’: ‘Thy soul from long seclusion pure.’

53

‘Ophelia. O heavenly powers, restore him!’

Hamlet, Act III., Scene i.

54

‘The song, celestial from thy voice,

But sweet to me from none but thine.’

Poetry of Byron, vol. iv.: ‘To Thyrza.’

55

‘Siede la terra, dove nata fui,

Su la marina dove il Po discende.’

Inferno, Canto V., 97, 98.

56

Although not near the source of the Po itself, Byron, at Ferrara, was not very far from the point where the Po di Primaro breaks away from the Po, and, becoming an independent river, flows into the dark blue Adriatic, about midway between Comachio and Ravenna.

57

Shortly afterwards he translated ‘The Episode of Francesca,’ line for line, into English verse.

58

‘Beppo,’ stanza 83.

59

‘Astarte,’ p. 166.

60

Lady Byron and Rev. F. Robertson drew up a memorandum of this conversation, April 8, 1851.

61

‘Astarte,’ p. 137.

62

‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ by Lord Broughton, vol. ii., p. 297.

63

Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 219, 239.

64

‘Lady Byron said that she founded her determination [to part from her husband] on some communication from London.’ – ‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ vol. ii., p. 255.

65

‘There is reason to believe that Lord Chief Justice Cockburn privately saw letters [in 1869] of 1813 and 1814 which proved the fact of incest, and the overwhelming effect of the evidence therein contained.’ – ‘Astarte,’ p. 54.

66

‘Astarte,’ p. 77.

67

Hanson.

68

Leigh.

69

‘Recollections of a Long Life,’ vol. ii., p. 303.

70

A fortnight before writing ‘Stanzas to the Po.’

71

‘Short name of three or four letters obliterated.’ – ‘Astarte,’ p. 180.

72

Short name of three or four letters obliterated.

73

Marianna (Anglice: Mary Anne).

74

Lady Byron (see ‘Astarte,’ p. 166).

75

His sister’s society.

76

In case Byron altered his will.

77

Vol. v., p. 1.

78

Tinct. chinæ corticis; tinct. cinchonæ.