George Byron and John Cam Hobhouse, accompanied by Byron’s domestic staff - Robert Rushton (page), William Fletcher (valet) and Joe Murray (butler/steward), departed from Falmouth on 2nd July 1809 aboard the ship Princess Elizabeth. Lord Byron’s ‘Grand Tour’ was different from the norm in several ways, primarily due to the geopolitical situation at the time, his Romantic sensibilities and his choice of destination.
The traditional route, popular in the 18th
century, involved traveling through France and Italy to study classical art and
architecture in cities like Paris, Rome and Venice. The Napoleonic Wars (1789 –
1815) made this conventional route largely inaccessible for young Englishmen in
1809. Byron’s journey focused instead on the Iberian Peninsula and the Eastern
Mediterranean - Portugal, Spain, Malta, Albania, Greece and Turkey - skirting
the areas of conflict.
While the traditional tour was a formal rite of
passage, focused upon classical antiquities and European society, Byron’s tour
aligned with the emerging ideals of Romanticism. Instead of just ‘fancy old buildings’
Byron and his university friend ‘Hobby’ were interested in dramatic landscapes
and picturesque scenes and a more personal pursuit of self-discovery. Byron
actively sought out danger, such as meeting local warlords and swimming across maritime
passages. He immersed himself in local
cultures and politics that aligned with the changing values of the Romantic
era.
His time in Greece awakened a strong political
consciousness that led to his involvement and death in the Greek War of
Independence on 19th April 1824 at the age of thirty-six.
Byron returned to England on 14th July 1811, exactly two years and 12 days after their departure.
Here we have Byron’s Travelogue – in his own words, those
of fellow-travellers and his contemporaries – along with Finden’s
Illustrations of the Life and Works of Lord Byron.
PORTUGAL: 7th
– 20th July
Lisbon Sintra Belem Mafra
SPAIN: 25thJuly
– 3rd August
Seville Jerez de la Frontera Cadiz
GIBRALTAR: 4th
– 16th August
SARDINIA &
SICILY: 26th August – 30th August
MALTA: 31st August – 19th September
Valletta
GREECE: 26th
– 28th September
Patras and passage
through The Ionian Isles (Ithica & Santa Maura)
ALBANIA: 29th
September – 12th November
Preveza Ioannina
Tepelene Ioannina Preveza
GREECE: 21st
November 1809 – 5th March 1810
Missolonghi Patras
Delphi Mazi Thebes Skurta
Athens:
The Makri House - 25th December 1809 – 5th March 1810
Excursions –
Acropolis and other sites in Athens
Battlefield of
Marathon Temple of Jupiter Olympus Cape
Colonna
TURKEY: 5th
March – 14th July
Smyrna Ephesus Troy Hellespont Constantinople
GREECE: 18th
July 1810 – 22nd April 1811
Athens: The Capuchin
Monastery
Excursions:
The Peloponnese – Corinth Vostitza Patras
Tripolitza
Cape
Sounion
RETURN JOURNEY:
22nd April – 14th July
MALTA
ENGLAND: 14th July – docked at Sheerness (Isle of Sheppey) and Portsmout
1809
PORTUGAL: 7th- 20th July
Lisbon: 7th July
“I have been sea-sick and sick of the sea. I am very happy here, because I love oranges, and talk bad Latin to the monks, who understand it, as it is like their own; and I goes into society (with my pocket pistols), and I swim in the Tagus all across at once, and I rides on an ass or mule, and swears Portuguese.” (Letter to Francis Hodgson)
Cintra: 11th July
“The village of Cintra, about fifteen miles from the capital, is perhaps, in every respect, the most delightful in Europe: it contains beauties of every description, natural and artificial. Palaces and gardens rising in the midst of rocks, cataracts, and precipices; Convents on stupendous heights; a distant view of the sea and the Tagus.” (Letter to mother)
Belem Castle: 13th July
Byron and John Cam Hobhouse hired a boat and rode across the river Tagus. Byron dove into the river from the south bank and swam nearly two miles to the north shore, coming ashore at the Belem Tower.
“I was three hours in swimming across the Tagus, which is much more hazardous, being two hours longer than the Hellespont… Comfort must not be expected by folks that go a pleasuring.”
Mafra: 14th
July
“About ten miles to the right of Cintra, is the palace of Mafra, the boast of Portugal, as it might be of any country, in point of magnificence, without elegance. There is a convent annexed – the monks, who possess large revenues, are courteous enough, and understand Latin; so that we had a long conversation. They have a large library and asked me if the English had any books in their country.” (Letter to mother)
SPAIN: 25th July – 3rd August
Seville: 25th July
George Byron and John Cam Hobhouse took lodgings with
two unmarried ladies in the Calle de las Cruzes – ‘all 4 in one little room’.
“The eldest honoured your unworthy son with very particular attention, embracing him with great tenderness at parting, after cutting off a lock of his hair, and presenting him with one of her own, about three feet in length, which I send, and beg you to retain till my return. Her last words were, Adios,tu hermosa! me gusto mucho – ‘Adieu, you pretty fellow! you please me much.” (Letter to mother)
Cadiz: 29th July
“Cadiz, sweet Cadiz! – it is the first spot in the creation. The beauty of its streets and mansions is only excelled by the loveliness of its inhabitants … Cadiz is a complete Cythera. Many of the grandees who have left Madrid during the troubles reside there, and I do believe it is the prettiest and cleanest town in Europe. London is filthy in the comparison.” (Letter to Francis Hodgson)
GIBRALTAR: 4th – 16th August
Gibraltar proved to be a stopping point of little interest to Byron or Hobhouse – “the dirtiest most detestable spot.” Once the servants and baggage finally arrived from Lisbon, the party made hasty arrangements to sail on to Malta. Byron sent home Joe Murray because he was too old for the rigors of Eastern travel, and Robert Rushton “because Turkey is in too dangerous a state for boys to enter.” Byron wrote to his mother – “Pray show the lad kindness, as he is my great favourite.”, and asked the boy’s father to deduct £25 a year from his rent for Robert’s education.
SARDINIA & SICILY: 26th August - 30th
August
Cagliari
“My next stage is Cagliari, in Sardinia, where I shall be presented to his majesty (King of Sardinia). I have a most superb uniform as a court dress, indispensable in travelling.” (Letter to mother)
The uniform was a necessity for formal society and diplomatic meetings. However, the nearest Byron got to the Sardinian court was attending the opera where the Royal family were present!
MALTA: 31st August – 19th
September
Valletta
“They were accommodated by the governor within an agreeable house in the upper part of Valetta; and his lordship, as soon as they were domiciled, began to take lessons in Arabic from a monk. His whole time was not, however, devoted to study; for he formed an acquaintance with Mrs. Spencer Smith. He affected a passion for her; but it was only platonic. She, however, beguiled him of his valuable yellow diamond ring. She is the Florence of Childe Harold, and merited the poetical embalmment, or rather the amber immortalisation she possesses there, being herself a heroine. There was no exaggeration in saying, that many incidents of her life would appear improbable in fiction… She incurred the special enmity of Napoleon. (John Galt: The Life of Lord Byron)
In latter correspondence with Lady Melbourne, Byron
indicated that there was more to their relationship that either John Galt or
Hobhouse had realized.
“I was seized with an everlasting passion … we were to meet next year at a certain time; though I told my amica there was no time like the present, and I could not answer for the future.”
GREECE: 26th – 28th September
Patras: 26th September
A stopover while sailing from Malta to Preveza, they anchored the Spider in the harbour of Patras.
“I had approached it just as dawn was breaking over the mountains to the back of the town, which is itself on the foot of a hill clothed with gardens, groves of oranges and lemon trees, and currant-grounds that, when seen at a distance remind me of the bright green of an English meadow. The minarets of the Turkish moscks, always a beautiful object, glittering in the first rays of the sun, and the cultivated appearance of the whole neighbourhood of the town, formed an agreeable contrast with the barren rocks on the other side of the gulf.” (John Cam Hobhouse)
THE IONIAN ISLANDS
Sailing on to Preveza, Byron and Hobhouse were unable to land on the Ionian Islands of Cephalonia, Ithica and Santa Maura. They were occupied by the French, making it enemy territory for a British traveller.
Ithica
Only a passing glance on the Grand Tour– Byron
maintained a deep interest in Ithica and, along with Pietro Gamba made a
dedicated tour in August 1823 to the kingdom of Ulysses – hero of Homer’s Odyssey.
“Lord Byron ascended to the grotto, but the steepness and height prevented him from reaching the remains of the castle. Lord Byron sat reading in the grotto - but fell asleep. I awoke him on my return, and he said that I had interrupted dreams more pleasant than ever he had before in his life.” (Count Gamba: Life of Lord Byron)
Santa Maura
“On the 28th we sailed through the channel between Ithica and the island of Santa Maura, and again saw Cefalonia stretching farther to the north. We doubled the promontory of Santa Maura, and saw the precipice which the fate of Sappho, the poetry of Ovid, and the rocks so formidable to the ancient mariners, have made for ever memorable.” (Hobhouse’s Travels)
ALBANIA: 29th September – 12th November
Preveza: 29th September
The following day the party arrived in Preveza. Their
first impression was marred by the rain which made the narrow streets muddy and
emphasized the bare dinginess of the barrack-like houses. The next day the sun shone,
and the land was transformed as they rode out through olive groves to the ruins
of Nicopolis.
The travellers then started on their journey to Yanina
(Ioannina) – Ali Pasha’s newly made capital in the heart of the Epirus.
“A journey of three days over the mountains, through a country of the most picturesque beauty.” (Byron)
Yanina: 5th October
“Houses, domes, and Minarets, glittering through gardens of orange and lemon trees, and from groves of cypresses – the lake spreading its smooth expanse at the foot of the city- mountains rising abruptly from the banks of the lake.” (Hobhouse)
Their arrival in Albania occurred as the British were
taking over the Ionian Islands. Ali Pasha, whose primary seat of power was Yanina
– the capital of his pashalik - had already been informed by British officials
of Byron’s imminent arrival. He invited the young nobleman to his palace –
perhaps as a gesture of goodwill. However, when Lord Byron and Hobhouse arrived
in Yanina, Ali Pasha was not at home – he was at war!
“I found that Ali Pacha was with his army in
Illyricum, besieging Ibrahim Pacha in the Castle of Beral. He had heard that an
Englishman of rank was in his dominions, and had left orders in Yanina, with
the commandant, to provide a house, and supply me with every kind of necessary
gratis.” (Letter to mother)
The English visitors spent six pleasant days in the
town. A tailor called at the house and Byron bought “some very ‘magnifiques’
Albanian dresses … they cost fifty guineas each and have so much gold, they
would cost in England two hundred.”
On the 11th, they set out to meet Ali Pasha at his palace in Tepelene. During the journey north, Byron expressed his admiration for the wild mountain scenery which reminded him of the Highlands of Scotland.
Tepelene: 19th October
The party descended from the passes to see the towers
and minarets of Tepelene just as the sun was setting. They had finally arrived at
Ali Pasha’s ancestral home.
“The Albanians, in their dresses (the most magnificent
in the world, consisting of a long white kilt, gold-worked cloak, crimson
velvet gold-laced jacket and waistcoat, silver-mounted pistols and daggers,)
the Tartars with their high caps, the Turks in their vast pelisses and turbans.”
(Letter to mother)
Byron had dressed for the interview “in a full suit of staff uniform, with a very magnificent sabre, etc.”
 |
| Ali Pasha |
“The vizier received me in a large room paved with marble; a fountain was playing in the centre; the apartment was surrounded by scarlet ottomans. He received me standing, a wonderful compliment from a Mussulman, and made me sit down on his right hand… He said he was certain I was a man of birth, because I had small ears, curling hair, and little white hands, and expressed himself pleased with my appearance and garb. (Letter to mother)
Ali Pasha had provided Byron with a military escort
for safe travel through the region. He later retained a couple of the Albanian
soldiers, notably a man named Vasil Gjk Pjetrias, as his personal guards. Byron
with his entourage left Tepelene on 23rd October and returned to
Yanina.
Whilst in Yanina, Byron began his autobiographical poem concerning the adventures and reflections of Childe Burun. In the weeks that followed he added to the poem at every opportunity. They left Yanina on 3rd November and headed on back to Preveza where they stayed several days. On 12th November they departed the town by boat and headed for Missolonghi in mainland Greece.
GREECE: 21st November 1809 – 5th
March 1810
Missolonghi: 21st November
Missolonghi stood on a flat, marshy promontory sticking
out into the shallow lagoon accessible only to small boats. It was a stopover
and Byron and Hobhouse spent little time in the town. Nowhere in his letters or
poems did Byron describe the fateful town as it appeared to him on his first
visit.
Both men were keen to see the home of the muses and to drink from the Castalian Spring at Delphi. They crossed the Cointhian Gulf to reach their destination, instead of following the easier route through Corinth.
Delphi: 15th December
Byron expressed a mix of romantic awe at the site’s classical significance and disappointment at its contemporary, ruined state. (Note: the most interesting relics of the temples and the theatre had not yet been uncovered).
Byron was captivated by the legend that the Castalian
Spring’s water provided poetic inspiration and immersed himself in its
‘freezing’ flow. While climbing towards the spring (located in a gorge between the
two cliffs known as the Phaedriades) at the base of Mount Parnassus, Byron interpreted
a flight of eagles as a symbolic affirmation of his future as a poet. He
‘seized the omen’ and wrote some stanzas for Childe Harold in the hope that “Apollo
had accepted my homage”. Byron saw the event as a personal omen that stayed
with him for life. John Cam Hobhouse was clearly less impressed -
“We were sprinkled with the spray of the immortal
rill, and here, if anywhere, should have felt the poetic inspiration: we drank
deep, too, of the spring; but – (I can answer for myself) – without feeling of
any extraordinary effect.”
The two men scratched their names on an ancient column that stood at the entrance to the monastery of the Panagia situated above the Gymnasium – a record of their ‘pilgrimage to Castaly’.
Athens: 25th December 1809 – 5th
March 1810
The first view of Athens from a pine-clad hill near
Fort Phyle roused Byron’s enthusiasm –
“The plain of Athens, Pentelicus, Hymettus, the
Aegean, and the Acropolis, burst upon the eye at once; in my opinion, a more
glorious prospect than even Cintra.”
Since there was no hotel or inn, as they entered
Athens, the travellers took rooms in a house under the shadow of the Acropolis,
owned by Mrs. Tarsia Macri.
“A sitting room and two bedrooms, opening into a court-yard
where there was five or six lemon trees, from which was plucked the fruit that
seasoned the pilaf.” The meals were served by the three daughters of the
widow Macri – Mariana, Katinka and Theresa - all under fifteen years of age.
Byron referred to them as ‘the three grace’ and to Theresa, his personal
favourite, as his ‘Maid of Athens’. Byron and Hobhouse resided there for about
ten weeks.
“At Athens, on his first visit, Lord Byron made a stay of between two and three months, not a day of which he let pass without employing some of its hours in visiting the grand monuments of ancient genius around him, and calling up the spirit of other times among their ruins…it was to Nature, - or, as at Athens, shining, unchanged among the ruins of glory and of art, - that the true fervid homage of his whole soul was paid” (Moore’s Life of Byron)
The Acropolis
Byron visited the Acropolis and its main temples, almost
daily, during his extended stays in Athens. He deeply admired the ancient Greek
sculptures and the sunset views from the elevated rock. His visits to the
Acropolis monuments had a significant impact on him, particularly in the light
of Lord Elgin’s removal of the Parthenon marbles - which was ongoing around
that time. Byron was shocked at the ‘plight of the Parthenon’ and strongly
condemned his compatriot’s actions in his poems.
His first trip to the Acropolis was on the 8thJanuary
1810. He was accompanied by John Cam Hobhouse and Giovanni Battista Lusieri – a
Neopolitan painter employed by Lord Elgin. While British Ambassador at
Constantinople, Elgin had gained permission to have drawings made - and then to
remove - some of the statues and friezes. He was still shipping to England when
Byron arrived in Athens. The first shipment had gone as early as 1802, but the
collection was not open to public view in England until 1807.
But who, of
all the plunderers of you Fane
On high - where
Pallas linger’d, loath to flee
The latest
relic of her ancient reign –
The last, the
worst, dull spoiler, who was he?
British
Caledonia! such thy son could be!
England! I joy
no child he was of thine:
Thy free-born
men should spare what once was free;
Yet they could
violate each saddening shrine,
And bear these
altars o’er the long-reluctant brine.
Childe
Harold’s Pilgrimage Canto II Stanza X1
The specific monuments Byron visited on the Acropolis
included:
The Parthenon (temple of the goddess Athena)
The Erechtheion (temple known for its Caryatid
statues)
The Temple of Athena Nike
The Propylaea (monumental gateway to the Acropolis)
The Parthenon, or great temple of Minerva – which stood
upon the highest platform of the Acropolis. It was constructed entirely of
white marble and consisted of a cell, surrounded with a peristyle which had
eight doric columns in the front and seventeen in the sides.
They also visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus, just southeast of the Acropolis.
Battlefield of Marathon: 24th January 1810
The visit to the Plain of Marathon, where the
Albanians had defeated the Persian invaders in 490BC, deeply inspired Byron –
reinforcing for him the contrast between the glory of ancient Greece and its
contemporary state under Ottoman rule. It was here that Byron found the words
which would fire Greek national pride and spur Philhellenic zeal. His
reflections were later incorporated in Don Juan -
The mountains
look on Marathon
And Marathon
looks on the sea;
And musing
there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free.
The Pantheon: Temple of Jupiter Olympus
Note: While Hobhouse refers to the Temple of Jupiter Olympus and the Pantheon, the widely accepted name is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The nomenclature for ancient ruins was less standardized in the early 19th century, and travellers often used Roman names for Greek gods.
Cape Colonna: 23rd January
“In all Attica, if we except Athens itself and
Marathon, there is no scene more interesting than Cape Colonna. To the
antiquary and artist, sixteen columns are an inexhaustible source of
observation and design; to the philosopher, the supposed scene of some of Plato’s
conversations will not be unwelcome; and the traveller will be struck with the
beauty of the prospect over ‘isles that crown the Aegean deep.’ – This temple
of Minerva may be seen at sea from a great distance. In two journeys which I
made, and one voyage to Cape Colonna, the view from either side by land was
less striking than the approach from the isles.” (Letter to mother)
Once again, Byron is reputed to have inscribed his name into one of the columns!
Back at the Macri residence in Athens, Byron took an increasing interest in Theresa – “12 years old but quite ‘nubilia’.” (Hobhouse)
He was still aiming to go to Persia and India after
his planned visit to Constantinople. The travellers were obliged to depart from
Athens at a day’s notice upon hearing that they could get passage on the
English sloop-of-war Pylades to Smyrna.
Maid
of Athens, ere we part,
Give,
oh give me back my heart!
Or,
since that has left my breast,
Keep
it now, and take the rest!
Hear
my vow before I go,
Zoe
mou, sas agapo!
By
that lip I long to taste;
By
that zone encircled waist;
By
all the token-flowers that tell
What
words can never speak so well;
By
love’s alternate joy and woe.
Zoe
mou, sas agapo!
In his poem Byron used the Romaic expression as a refrain
– ‘My life, I love you’. The poem expresses passionate longing and
emotional vulnerability, centering on farewell and undying affection. Rumour had
it that Byron offered to ‘purchase’ the 12-year-old girl as a companion for £500
(£51,000 today), which her mother refused. According to Byron’s own letters and
accounts from his companions – Tarsia Makri eventually asked for 30,000
piastres for her daughter’s hand in marriage. Byron famously noted in a letter
to his friend Henry Drury, that the price was considered a very large fortune
and “more than she was worth” - eventually leaving Athens without her.
“I was near bringing away Theresa, but the mother asked 30,000 piastres [£600]!” (Letter to Hobhouse)
TURKEY: 5th March – 14th July
Byron and Hobhouse arrived in Smyrna on the 5th
March and stayed with the British Consul-General, awaiting the opportunity to
go on to Constantinople. During their time there, they visited the ruins of
Ephasus. On 11th April, they cadged a ride on the frigate HMS Salsette
to Constantinople. While the ship was anchored near the mouth of the
Dardanelles on 3rd May, inspired by the legend of Leander, Byron famously
swam the Hellespont from Sestos to Abydos.
“The total distance swam was more than 4 miles, the
current very strong and cold … we were not fatigued but a little chilled; did
it with little difficulty.”
 |
| NightCafe AI Creator |
Legend has it that Leander, a young man from Abydos on the Asian side of the strait, fell in love with Hero, a beautiful young priestess of Aphrodite who lived in a tower in Sestos on the European side. To be with her, he would swim across the Hellespont every night. Hero would light a lamp in the tower window to guide his way across the treacherous currents. One stormy winter night, a strong wind blew out Hero’s guiding light. Leander lost his way and drowned. When his body washed ashore near her tower the next morning, a grief-stricken Hero threw herself from the tower to her death to join him.
Byron told Henry Drury (his classical tutor at Harrow
School) –
“The current renders it hazardous, so much so that I
doubt whether Leander’s conjugal powers must not have been exhausted in his
passage to Paradise!”
Today, an annual open-water swimming race, held on the 30th August, attracts swimmers from around the world.
Constantinople: 13th May - 14th July
Santa Sophia
On the 13th May, Byron and Hobhouse caught
their first sight of Constantinople from the sea of Marmora – minarets of the
great mosques and tall cypresses rising out of the mist. The meeting between
Lord Byron and Sultan Mahmoud II was a highly formal and brief diplomatic
encounter on 10th July at the Topkapi Palace. To meet the sultan, Byron
was required to wear traditional Ottoman robes over his own clothes. It was his
impression of Byron’s youthful, beardless face that led him to later remark he
thought the poet was a woman in disguise! The sultan granted them safe passage
and travel through the various Ottoman territories.
Byron visited numerous landmarks including the
seraglio (harem), the Grand Bazaar, ancient ruins of Troy and the Santa Sophia
Mosque. He admired the vast extent of Constantinople and the natural beauty of
the Bosphorus strait.
Byron often appeared dejected and temporarily fell out with Hobhouse. They left Constantinople together in July on HMS Salsette but parted ways in Athens when Hobhouse continued his journey back to England via Malta and Sardinia; while Byron remained in Greece for another year.
GREECE: 18th July 1810 – 22nd April
1811
Having initially returned to the Macri house, Byron
set off for the Morea (Peloponnese) with Nicolo Giraud – as his major domo
(head steward and travel companion) and dragoman (interpreter). They
visited Corinth, Vostitza, Patras and Tripolitza – where Byron spent some time
with Veli Pasha (son of Ali Pasha) who controlled the Morea.
Byron had first met Nicolo Giraud in late 1809, at which time Giraud was described as a 14 year-old boy of French parentage who served as a majordomo and later a student at the Capuchin monastery. By the time they embarked on their tour of the Morea the following summer in 1810, Giraud would have celebrated his 15th birthday. Byron was 22 years old at this time. Most modern biographers conclude their relationship was romantic and likely sexual – a relationship which was common practice in Greece at the time, but would have been scandalous in England.
Corinth
Byron visited Corinth multiple times during his Grand Tour. He was struck by the sight of Acrocorinth – the ancient citadel overlooking the Isthmus of Corinth – describing it as a ‘hoary rock’.
Many a
vanish’d year and age,
And tempest’s
breath, and battle’s rage,
Have swept
o’er Corinth; yet she stands,
A fortress
form’d to Freedom’s hands.
The whirlwind’s
wrath, the earthquake’s shock,
Have left
untouch’d her hoary rock,
The keystone
of a land, which still,
Though fall’n,
looks proudly on that hill…
(The Siege of
Corinth)
It was described by Mr. Dodwell in 1805 as “one of the finest objects in Greece; and if properly garrisoned, would be a place of great strength and importance. It shoots up majestically from the plain … at present regarded as the strongest fortification in Greece, next to Nauplia in Argolis. It contains within its walls a town and three mosques.”
Return to Athens
Capuchin Monastery: 19th August 1810 – 22nd
April 1811)
Upon their return to Athens, Byron moved into the
Capuchin Monastery. The Monastery was a school and hostelry, located at the
foot of the Acropolis and built around the 4th century monument to
Lysicrates. In a letter to Francis Hodgson dated 20th January, Byron
enthusiastically described the Franciscan Convent’s location –
“I am living in the Capuchin Convent, Hymettus before
me, the Acropolis behind, the Temple of Jove to my right, the Stadium in front,
the town to the left; eh. Sir, there’s a situation, There’s your picturesque!”
Byron used the ancient choragic Monument of Lysicrates
as his study. This was the library of the superior (internal diameter no more
than 6 ft.). Byron socialized with the friars and the boys studying there,
including Nicolo Giraud.
“my friend, as you may easily imagine, is Nicolo, who,
by-the-by, is my Italien master, and we are very philosophical, I am his
‘Padrone’ and his ‘amico’, and the Lord knows what besides.” (Letter to
Hobhouse)
In mid-September, while staying in Patras, Byron
developed a severe fever which confined him to bed. Treated by Dr. Romanelli,
Byron recovered but remained weak. The illness was a significant event that
affected his health for years to come - possibly a form of malaria that caused
relapses.
Back at the Capuchin Monastery in Athens, Byron spent time writing Hints of Horace and the satire on Lord Elgin as despoiler of Greece. Weakened by the fever and having adopted a strict slimming regime, Byron was somewhat emaciated and in poor health.
It was time to leave Greece. Byron and Nicolo Girauld boarded the transport ship HMS Hydra in the Aegean Sea (likely at Piraeus). Guess it was no laughing matter that the ship which carried the manuscripts of Byron’s Curse of Minerva – a most violent attack against Lord Elgin as the despoiler of Greece – also carried the last shipment of Elgin’s marbles, accompanied by his agent and Byron’s friend, Lusieri.
THE RETURN JOURNEY: 22nd April – 14th
July
On the return journey, passengers on the the Hydra
was put into quarantine at Malta. Byron and Nicolo Giraud parted ways in
Valetta. On their separation, Byron gave Giraud a considerable sum of money and
arranged and paid for him to receive an education at a monastery school. He later
made a will that left Giraud a large bequest of £7,000 (worth £700,000 today). Years
after they had parted company however, Byron changed his will and removed the
bequest.
Whilst in Malta, Surgeon Tucker, a regimental surgeon
stationed in Malta, treated Byron for the tertian fever he contracted while in
quarantine at the Lazzaretto on Manoel Island – and for venereal disease(s) he
had contracted during his Grand Tour.
Due to being becalmed near Brest in France and other delays, the ship did not land at Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey, until 14th July, 1811.
GRAND TOUR LEGACY
The Tour served as the direct inspiration for the
first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, the work that launched Byron
into instant fame in England.
“If I am a
poet – the air of Greece has made me one.”
His return was marred by the immediate news of his
mother’s death and soon after, those of several friends. It proved to be not so
much a homecoming, as confirmation that England was no longer his place. Byron began
to feel that he was an outsider, experiencing a profound sense of alienation,
disillusionment and melancholy. He found English society ‘dull’ and
unstimulating after the vibrant cultures and adventures of the Mediterranean
and Ottoman lands.
The Grand Tour had focused the traveller’s mind on the
geo-political perspective of Greece and Greeks rather than the romantic
classical history of ancient Greece and Mythology. Byron’s political views were
broadened by his ability to compare governmental tyrannies at home and abroad -
all adding up to worldly wisdom and a deep-lying cosmopolitanism. He grew disillusioned
with his homeland and chose to pursue a universal identity as “a citizen
of the world”.
During his Tour of the Mediterranean, Byron developed
a deep fascination and love of Greece and its people, which eventually led to
him becoming a committed ‘philhellene’ (lover of Greece) and a vociferous champion
of the Greek War of Independence. He knew that the Greeks needed help if they
were to become a nation again – and that this would not be achieved without the
assistance of other countries.
“The
interposition of foreigners alone can emancipate the Greeks”
Byron supported the cause with his fame, his fortune
and ultimately his life. He died in Missolonghi on 19th April 1824 from
a fever (likely malaria) and medical bloodletting - a death that unified
international opinion and turned the Greek Cause into a just vindication of his
loss.
“I have given my time, my means, my health – and now I give her my life! What could I do more?”
 |
Garden of Heroes Missolonghi
To this day, Byron is celebrated as a national hero and freedom fighter. It is a popular romantic speculation that Lord Byron might have even become King of Greece had he lived - but most historians view this outcome as unlikely!
