The Works of Lord Byron Volume II Part 16

[107] [Compare the In Memoriam stanzas at the end of Beattie's _Minstrel_--"And am I left to unavailing woe?" II. 63, line 2.]

[dl] {83} ----_belov'd the most_.--[MS. D.]

[108] [With reference to this stanza, Byron wrote to Dallas, October 25, 1811 (_Letters_, 1898, ii. 58, 59), "I send you a conclusion to the _whole_. In a stanza towards the end of Canto I. in the line,

"Oh, known the earliest and _beloved_ the most,

I shall alter the epithet to '_esteemed_ the most.'"]

[dm] ----_where none so long was dear_.--[MS. D.]

[dn] _And fancy follow to_----.--[MS. D.]

[109] "Fytte" means "part."--[Note erased.]

NOTES TO CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE.

CANTO I.

1.

Yes! sighed o'er Delphi's long deserted shrine.

Stanza i. line 6.

The little village of Castri stands partially on the site of Delphi.

Along the path of the mountain, from Chrysso, are the remains of sepulchres hewn in and from the rock:--"One," said the guide, "of a king who broke his neck hunting." His majesty had certainly chosen the fittest spot for such an achievement.

A little above Castri is a cave, supposed the Pythian, of immense depth; the upper part of it is paved, and now a cowhouse.

On the other side of Castri stands a Greek monastery; some way above which is the cleft in the rock, with a range of caverns difficult of ascent, and apparently leading to the interior of the mountain; probably to the Corycian Cavern mentioned by Pausanias. From this part descend the fountain and the "Dews of Castalie."

[Byron and Hobhouse slept at Crissa December 15, and visited Delphi December 16, 1809.--_Travels in Albania_, i. 199-209.]

2.

And rest ye at "Our Lady's house of Woe."

Stanza xx. line 4.

The convent of "Our Lady of Punishment," _Nossa Senora de Pena_, on the summit of the rock. Below, at some distance, is the Cork Convent, where St. Honorius dug his den, over which is his epitaph. From the hills, the sea adds to the beauty of the view.--[_Note to First Edition_.] Since the publication of this poem, I have been informed [by W. Scott, July 1, 1812] of the misapprehension of the term _Nossa Senora de Pena_. It was owing to the want of the _tilde_, or mark over the _n_, which alters the signification of the word: with it, _Pena_ signifies a rock; without it, _Pena_ has the sense I adopted. _I_ do not think it necessary to alter the pa.s.sage; as, though the common acceptation affixed to it is "Our Lady of the Rock," I may well a.s.sume the other sense from the severities practised there.--[_Note to Second Edition._]

3.

Throughout this purple land, where Law secures not life.

Stanza xxi. line 9.

It is a well-known fact that in the year 1809, the a.s.sa.s.sinations in the streets of Lisbon and its vicinity were not confined by the Portuguese to their countrymen; but that Englishmen were daily butchered: and so far from redress being obtained, we were requested not to interfere if we perceived any compatriot defending himself against his allies. I was once stopped in the way to the theatre at eight o'clock in the evening, when the streets were not more empty than they generally are at that hour, opposite to an open shop, and in a carriage with a friend: had we not fortunately been armed, I have not the least doubt that we should have "adorned a tale" instead of telling one. The crime of a.s.sa.s.sination is not confined to Portugal; in Sicily and Malta we are knocked on the head at a handsome average nightly, and not a Sicilian or Maltese is ever punished!

4.

Behold the hall where chiefs were late convened!

Stanza xxiv. line 1.

The Convention of Cintra was signed in the palace of the Marchese Marialva. The late exploits of Lord Wellington have effaced the follies of Cintra. He has, indeed, done wonders; he has perhaps changed the character of a nation, reconciled rival superst.i.tions, and baffled an enemy who never retreated before his predecessor.

["The armistice, the negotiations, the convention, the execution of its provisions, were commenced, conducted, concluded, at the distance of thirty miles from Cintra, with which place they had not the slightest connection, political, military, or local. Yet Lord Byron has sung that the convention was signed in the Marquis of Marialva's house at Cintra"

(Napier's _History of the War in the Peninsula_, i. 161). The "suspension of arms" is dated "Head Quarters of the British Army, August 22, 1808." The "Definitive Convention for the Evacuation of Portugal by the British Army" is dated "Head Quarters, Lisbon, August 30, 1808."

(See Wordsworth's pamphlet _Concerning the Relations of Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal, etc._, 1809, App. pp. 199-201. For sentiments almost identical with those expressed in stanzas xxiv., xxv., see _ibid._, p. 49, _et pa.s.sim_.)]

5.

Yet Mafra shall one moment claim delay.

Stanza xxix. line 1.

The extent of Mafra is prodigious; it contains a palace, convent, and most superb church. The six organs are the most beautiful I ever beheld, in point of decoration: we did not hear them, but were told that their tones were correspondent to their splendour. Mafra is termed the Escurial of Portugal.

[Mafra was built by D. Joo V. The foundation-stone was laid November 7, 1717, and the church consecrated October 22, 1730. (For descriptions of Mafra, see Southey's _Life and Correspondence_, ii. 113; and _Letters_, 1898, i. 237.)]

6.

Well doth the Spanish hind the difference know 'Twixt him and Lusian slave, the lowest of the low.

Stanza x.x.xiii. lines 8 and 9.

As I found the Portuguese, so I have characterised them. That they are since improved, at least in courage, is evident.

[The following "Note on Spain and Portugal," part of the original draft of Note 3 (p. 86), was suppressed at the instance of Dallas: "We have heard wonders of the Portuguese lately, and their gallantry. Pray Heaven it continue; yet 'would it were bed-time, Hal, and all were well!' They must fight a great many hours, by 'Shrewsbury clock,' before the number of their slain equals that of our countrymen butchered by these kind creatures, now metamorphosed into 'Cacadores,' and what not. I merely state a fact, not confined to Portugal; for in Sicily and Malta we are knocked on the head at a handsome average nightly, and not a Sicilian or Maltese is ever punished! The neglect of protection is disgraceful to our government and governors; for the murders are as notorious as the moon that shines upon them, and the apathy that overlooks them. The Portuguese, it is to be hoped, are complimented with the 'Forlorn Hope,'--if the cowards are become brave (like the rest of their kind, in a corner), pray let them display it. But there is a subscription for these ??as?de???? [thrasy/deiloi][110] (they need not be ashamed of the epithet once applied to the Spartans); and all the charitable patronymics, from ostentatious A. to diffident Z., and 1 1s. 0d. from 'An Admirer of Valour,' are in requisition for the lists at Lloyd's, and the honour of British benevolence. Well! we have fought, and subscribed, and bestowed peerages, and buried the killed by our friends and foes; and, lo! all this is to be done over again! Like Lien Chi (in Goldsmith's _Citizen of the World_), as we 'grow older, we grow never the better.' It would be pleasant to learn who will subscribe for us, in or about the year 1815, and what nation will send fifty thousand men, first to be decimated in the capital, and then decimated again (in the Irish fashion, _nine_ out of _ten_), in the 'bed of honour;' which, as Serjeant Kite says [in Farquhar's _Recruiting Officer_, act i. sc. 1], is considerably larger and more commodious than 'the bed of Ware.' Then they must have a poet to write the 'Vision of Don Perceval,'[111] and generously bestow the profits of the well and widely printed quarto, to rebuild the 'Backwynd' and the 'Canongate,' or furnish new kilts for the half-roasted Highlanders. Lord Wellington, however, has enacted marvels; and so did his Oriental brother, whom I saw charioteering over the French flag, and heard clipping bad Spanish, after listening to the speech of a patriotic cobler of Cadiz, on the event of his own entry into that city, and the exit of some five thousand bold Britons out of this 'best of all possible worlds' [Pangloss, in _Candide_]. Sorely were we puzzled how to dispose of that same victory of Talavera; and a victory it surely was somewhere, for everybody claimed it. The Spanish despatch and mob called it Cuesta's, and made no great mention of the Viscount; the French called it _theirs_[1] (to my great discomfiture,--for a French consul stopped my mouth in Greece with a pestilent Paris Gazette, just as I had killed Sebastiani'[112] 'in buckram,' and King Joseph 'in Kendal green'),--and we have not yet determined _what_ to call it, or _whose_; for, certes, it was none of our own. Howbeit, Ma.s.sena's retreat [May, 1811] is a great comfort; and as we have not been in the habit of pursuing for some years past, no wonder we are a little awkward at first. No doubt we shall improve; or, if not, we have only to take to our old way of retrograding, and there we are at home."--_Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron_, 1824, pp.

179-185.]

7.

When Cava's traitor-sire first called the band That dyed thy mountain streams with Gothic gore.

Stanza x.x.xv. lines 3 and 4.

Count Julian's daughter, the Helen of Spain. Pelagius preserved his independence in the fastnesses of the Asturias, and the descendants of his followers, after some centuries, completed their struggle by the conquest of Grenada.

[Roderick the Goth violated Florinda, or Caba, or Cava, daughter of Count Julian, one of his princ.i.p.al lieutenants. In revenge for this outrage, Julian allied himself with Musca, the Caliph's lieutenant in Africa, and countenanced the invasion of Spain by a body of Saracens and Africans commanded by Tarik, from whom Jebel Tarik, Tarik's Rock, that is, Gibraltar, is said to have been named. The issue was the defeat and death of Roderick and the Moorish occupation of Spain. A Spaniard, according to Cervantes, may call his dog, but not his daughter, Florinda. (See _Vision of Don Roderick_, by Sir W. Scott, stanza iv.

note 5.)]

8.

No! as he speeds, he chants "Viva el Rey!"

Stanza xlviii. line 5.

"Viva el Rey Fernando!" Long live King Ferdinand! is the chorus of most of the Spanish patriotic songs. They are chiefly in dispraise of the old King Charles, the Queen, and the Prince of Peace. I have heard many of them: some of the airs are beautiful. G.o.doy, the _Principe de la Paz_, of an ancient but decayed family, was born at Badajoz, on the frontiers of Portugal, and was originally in the ranks of the Spanish guards; till his person attracted the queen's eyes, and raised him to the dukedom of Alcudia, etc., etc. It is to this man that the Spaniards universally impute the ruin of their country.