1824.J 



otiier an li«itr and ten, inimitcs. 'I lie 

 breadth is a mile, but llie ciuient so rapid, 

 tliat no boat can row directly across. This 

 notable adventure was, however, followed 

 by a fit of the ague. He returned to Eng- 

 land, after an absence of nearly three 

 years, and the two first Cantos of " Childe 

 Harold" made their appearance a few 

 months afterwards. To this poem, in 

 rapid succession, followed the '' Giaour," 

 and the " Bride of Abydos," two Turkish 

 stories ; and, while the world was as yet 

 divided in opinion as to which of these 

 three pieces tlie palm was due, he produced 

 his beautiful poem of the " Corsair." On 

 the 2d of January, 1815, lie married, at 

 Sehani, in Durham, the only daughter of 

 Sir Ralph Millbank Noel, baronet ; and, 

 towards the close of the same year, his 

 lady brought him a daughter. Within a 

 few weeks, however, after that event, a 

 separation took place, for which various 

 causes have been stated. This difference 

 excited a great sensation at the time. His 

 lordship, while the public anxiety as to the 

 course he would adopt was at its height, 

 suddenly left the kingdom, with a resolu- 

 tion never to return. He crossed over to 

 France, through which he passed rapidly 

 to Brussels, taking in his way a survey of 

 the field of Waterloo. He proceeded to 

 Cohleniz, and thence up the Rhine as far 

 as Basle. After visiting some of the most 

 remarkable scenes in Switzerland, he pro- 

 ceeded to the North of Italy. He took 

 up his abode for some time at Venice, 

 where he was joined by Mr. Hobliouse, 

 who accompanied him in an excursion to 

 Rome, where he completed liis " Childe 

 Harold." At Venice, Lord Byron avoided 

 as much as possible all intercourse with his 

 countrymen. He quitted that city, and 

 took up his residence in otiier parts of the 

 Austrian domiuions in Italy, which he 

 quitted for Tuscany. He was joined by 

 the late Mr. Shelley, and afterwards by 

 Mr. Leigh Hunt. His patrimonial estate 

 received lately a large increase by the 

 death of Lady Byron's mother; and a 

 valuable coal mine, said to be worth 

 .50,000/. had been discoverrd on his Roch- 

 dale estate before he left England, «o that 

 at his death he must have been in the pos- 

 session of a larue income. The journey of 

 bis lordship to Greece, and the part he has 

 acted in that country, will endear his 

 memory to every friend of liberty. 



On the 9tli of April, he had exposed 

 himself in a violent rain; the consequence 

 of which was a severe cold, and he was 

 iiimiediately confined to his bed. The 

 low state to which he had been reduced by 

 previous illness, made him unwilling to be 

 bled, and the inflammatory action, nn- 

 chccked, terminated fatally on the 19th 

 Apiil. The following is a translation of 

 •he Proclamation which was issued by the 

 Greek authorities at Missolonghi, to the 

 grief of its inhabitants, who vrcre thus ar- 



Lord Byron. 467 



rested in the celebraiiun of their Easter 

 festivities : — 



" Pnivisional Government of Greece.— Th& 

 present days of festivity are converted 

 into days of bitter lamentation for all. 

 Lord Noel Byron departed this life to- 

 day, about eleven o'clock in the evening, 

 in consequence of a rheumatic inflamma- 

 tory fever, which lasted for ten days. 

 Duiing tlie time of his illness, your ge- 

 neral anxiety evinced the profound sorrow 

 that pervaded your hearts. All classes, 

 without distinction of age or sex, op- 

 pressed by grief, entirely forgot the days 

 of Easter. The death of this illustrious 

 personage is certainly a most calamitous 

 event for all Greece, and still more la- 

 mentable for this city, to which he was 

 eminently partial, of which he became a 

 citizen, and of the dangers of which he 

 determined personally to partake, when- 

 ever circumstances should require it. His 

 munificent donations to this community 

 are before the eyes of every one, and no 

 one amongst us e^cr ceased, or ever will 

 cease, to consider him, with the })urest 

 and most grateful sentmienls, our bene- 

 factor. Until the dispositions of the Na- 

 tional Government regarding this most 

 calamitous event be known, by virtue of 

 the decree of the Legislature, No. 314, 

 of date the loth October, 



" It is ordained, 1. To-morrow, by sun- 

 rise, thirty.-hcven minute guns shall be fired 

 from the batteries of this town, equal to 

 the number of years of the deceased per- 

 sonage. 2. All public offices, including 

 all courts of justice, shall be shut for three 

 following days. 3. All shops, except: 

 those for provisions and medicines, shall 

 also be kept shut ; and all sorts of mu- 

 sical instruments, all dances customary in 

 these days, all sorts of festivities and merri- 

 ment in the public taverns, and every sort 

 of public amusement, shall cease during the 

 above named period. 4. A general 

 mourning shall lake place tor twenty- 

 one days. Funeral ceremonies shall take 

 place in all the churches." 



[Dr. Robert Hall, late Surgeon to 

 his Majesty's Forces, whose death we 

 recorded in our last, was descended from 

 the ancient family of the Halls of Haugh- 

 head, in Roxburghshire, on the southern 

 confines of the Scottish border. The ex- 

 ploits of one of his ancestors, Hobbie 

 Hall, of Haugh-head, a renowned border 

 chieftain, frequently occur in the tradi- 

 tional records of the time in which he 

 lived. One instance of his remarkable 

 strength and hardihood is conimcnioratod 

 by the following inscription, on a rude 

 monument placed upon a mount on the 

 lands of Haugh-head, near the junction 



of the Kale and the classical Teviot. It 

 records the valiant defence, made in 

 1620, by this extraordinary inan, against 

 an attempt by the powerful clan of Ker to 

 dispossess him of bis paternal estate : 



Here 



