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LURI) BYRON AT THE AR}}}NIAN CONVENT

, LORD BYRON
. . . . . publislied in English.
GEORGE ERIC MACKAY
.---
-
ARMENIAN CONVENT
BY
A
is author of “ Sylvia in the West, ” et".
This work contains the “ Confessions of the
Blind Friar, ‘’ never before published, and
Lord Byron's Will and Codicil, signed and sealed
in Venice, in 1818, together with the legend of Our
Saviour's Message to the Armenians, now arst
mºmºmºm- - J
viºrs Icrº
Office of the “ Poliglotta, " .
| 8 7 6 .
Entered at Stationer's Hall
Proprieta Letteraria -- Tous Droits Reserves








TO
TER ESA -
COUNESS SORMINI-MOREIT
THIS WoRK
.-
y- -
---
:
IS
- --
D E D c A T E D
by . . . . . . .
HER LADYSHIP's SINGERE FRIEND
owner ERIC MACKAY









- **
. . .
stray articles both at home and abroad. But
. . . . .
- ... * *
. . .
* :
. . .
. , 5
. . . . . .
§ {
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . ."
• - -n
. . . . .
. . .
- ‘’’ ‘,
our Saviour is now for the first time pub-
lished in the English language. I have tran.
I believe that Abgar's correspondence with
ed somewhere in Venice.
PREFACE
-***===Lºs
I have included in this volume small por-
tions of my former writings, published in
the great bulk of the work is original, and
the chapter entitled the “Blind Friar's
Confessions” will be found to be quite new : -
a new chapter in the romance of Byron's
life. - . . . -
Byron's translation, which I was told exist.

















CONTENTs
. . . . CHAPTER I.
Byron at Twenty Nine .
* . CHAPTER II.
Byron's Studies at St Lazarus.
. . . CHAPTER III.
- * The Island of the Blest
CHAPTER IV.
Byron at the Lido . -
CHAPPTER V.
The Doctors of Penitence .
- CHAPTER VI,
The Blind Friar's Confessions.
CHAPTER VII.
Lord Byron's Will
CHAPTER VIII.
The Church and Convent Garden.
CHAPTER IX.
Abgar's Correspondence . .
50
66
94
99











































































































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In troduction
Before entering on the subject of the pre-
sent work I propose to devote a few pages to
a memoir of Byron's life up to the time of his
arrival in Venice. Some of my readers may - -
perhaps be glad to have their memories refreshed
in this way ! - -
BIOGRAPHY OF LORD BYRON
Lord Byron was born in Holles Street, London,
on Jan 22, 1788. He came of gentle parents,
his father being Captain Byron, a descendant
of the Byrons of Rochdale and Newstead, - .
and his mother the only child and heiress of
George Gordon Esq. of Gight. At the age of . . .
three years our hero was taken to Scotland,
and there lived, with his father and mother,
in a house in Aberdeen. Captain Byron quar-
reled with his wife soon afterwards, and, in 1791,
died somewhere in France after a brief illness.















- Young Byron was sent, at the age of five
. years, to a day-school kept by a Mr. Bowers,
to learn reading and writing, and afterwards
to the Grammar School, where he distinguished
himself in the first rudiments of learning. In
1798, Byron succeeded to the title and estates
of his ancestors, (on the death of his grand-
uncle, the last peer) and was removed to New-
stead, a bright boy of ten, the pride of his
mother and of all who knew him, with one
slight defect: 3. twist in one of his feet. George
. . . . Gordon Byron was a lord, but he was lame.
He limped all through his life, and was at all
times extremely 's sensitive on this point.
In 1799 the Byrons went to London, and
there lived for a short time in Sloane Terrace. . . .
- It was in London that Byron made what he
- called his “first dash into poetry, " by falling
in love with his cousin, Margaret Parker, and
writing verses to her. This was in 1800, when
- . . . - . the author of Childe Harold was twelve years
old In 1801 Lord Byron was sent to Harrow,
and there studied to some purpose, gaining in












INTRODUCTION 5
that school many friends, and “making many
verses, " and, of course, falling in love several
times, when at home for the holidays. The most
romantic of his early love-affairs was his pas-
sion for Mary Chaworth, about whom, and for
whom, he wrote his poem called the “Dream, ”
one of the most beautiful poems in the English
language. -
Lord Byron was seventeen years old, when,
* }
to “ complete his education
he was sent to
Trinity College, Cambridge, but he completed
it in the great world long after he had left - -
s that seat of learning. He published his “Hours
of Idleness " in the winter of 1807, and his
. . “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers " on
i the following year. In November 1808 he lost
his dog Boatswain “one of his truest friends,”
and buried him at Newstead Abbey, giving him
a monument with the following strange in-
scription :
“’Near this spot are deposited the Remains
of one who possessed Beau ty without Vanity,




6 - INTRODUCTION
Forocity, and all the virtues of Man without
his vices. – This Praise, which would be
- unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human
ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of
Boatswain, a dog, who was born at Newfound-
land, May 1803, and died at Newstead Abbey,
November 18, 1808. "
Lord Byron left England on his first conti- •.
mental tour on July 2, 1809, and arrived at
Lisbon on July 16; at Gibraltar in the begin—
ning of August; and at Prevesa in Turkey
early in November, returning to England on
July 12, 1811, after an extended tour in Greece,
Albania, and other Turkish Possessions. The
first two cantoes of Childe Harold, the glorious
and undying fruit of this pilgrimage, were pub.
lished at the end of February 1812, within a
few days of the author's first speech in the
House of Lords. As Byron himself said soon
afterwards half-jestingly with tears in his eyes,
that he was famous." Childe Harold placed Lord





The “ Giaour, " another master-piece, fol-
lowed quickly in the wake of “Childe Harold, w
. and then came the “ Bride of Abydos, " and -
the “Corsair "
which will carry Byron's name, - with that of -
Shakspeare and Scott, - down to the remotest
posterity. Lord Byron's ill fated marriage took
and other matchless poems
- place on January 2, 1815, Miss Milbank becoming -
Lady Byron. His daughter Ada was born on
. Dec 10 of the same year; and in January 1816,
Lady Byron after bidding him good bye “most
affectionately," left his home for ever, — leaving
| him, as he himself has expressed it, in words
- that go to the heart, “alone on his hearth with . . . . .
his household gods shivered around him.” Byron
did not stay in England long after the separa-
tion. On April 25, 1816, he left England for the
second, and last time, and mever returned again
to the land of his birth, except in death, his
... remains being taken from Missolunghi, (where
he died) to Hucknallin England (where he was
buried) A. D. 1824. . . . . . .
Lord Byron arrived in Brussels early in














s INTRODUCTION
May, and in Switzerland (Geneva and Lausanne)
towards the end of June. He first set foot in
Italy in October, staying at Milan from the
fifteenth of that month till the beginning of the
first week in November. On November 6, 1818,
Byron wrote a letter from Verona to his friend
Thomas Moore, then in England; and at the end of
the month he reached Venice, taking up his
abode in the Merceria, in the house of a trades-
man, where he had good apartments, afterwards
removing, however, to La Mira, and finally to the -
Palazzo Mocenigo on the Grand Canal, at all
. . . . . . . . . . of which residences he wrote portions of his
poems on Italian subjects, including “Beppo, "
and “Marino Faliero " and parts of “ Don -
- Juan. ” The drama of “ Manfred ” was writ-
ten, as the reader will remember, in Switzerland
amidst the scenes it so well describes, while * . .
. . he has enhanced by his writings and his resi–
It is quite possible that the monks ofs. Lazarus
its noble author was meditating his journey to
the City of the Doges, whose name and fame
dence. Venice owes a monument to Byron!







INTRODUCTION 9
will pay the debt, and that the monument, in
accordance with the suggestions I myselfmade
a year ago in the “Poliglotta, " will be erect-
ed in one of the islands of the lagunes. What
island more appropriate than the Island of St -
Lazarus 2 What spot more sacred than the con-
vent-garden of the Armenians ? My original
idea, when, in my own journal I suggested the
- monument, was a site in the city itself, or,
failing that, on the Lido where Byron wished
to be buried. But there are municipal difficul-
ties to both undertakings, and the monks pro-
pose to settle the question by building the
monument on their own island : giving to the
effigy of the Dead that hospitality they
awarded to the Living. May the monks succeed
in their undertaking; may they find funds and
encouragement, and rich and influential patrons!
Copies of this work will be sent to England
and the United States..... May it awaken in both
a noble nation
. countries a desire to help the aspirations of the
Armenians of Venice, the “ priesthood of
º
who, by the connecting-link . - -

of Byron's name, are associating their literature
with that of England. If there is a place in all
Europe, where, after London and Missolunghi,
Byron's monument ought to stand, that place is
Venice. Any part of Venice will do : the Lido,
the Public Gardens, or the Island of St Laza-
rus. But if the Venetians are indifferent as to
the site of the monument, let ;the Armenians
choose it in God's name. Venice, and St Lazarus,
and the whole of Italy will be enriched, and
ennobled, by the tribute. -

#2.
Byron at Twenty Nine
Soon after his arrival in Venice, in November
1816, Lord Byron visited the Convent of the
Armenians, on the island of St Lazarus, and
there lived, at intervals, for several months. His
object was the study of Armenian, and he thus
speaks of his first visits to the Convent in a letter
to Thomas Moore: “By way of divertissement
I am studying daily, at an Arm enian monastery,
the Armenian language. I found that my mind
- wanted something craggy to break upon; a nd
this, - as the most difficult thing I could dis co-
ver here for an amusement, — I have chosen, to
however, and would amply repay any one the
trouble of learning it. I try, and shall go on;
‘… .
but I answer for nothing, least of all for my
tentions, or my success. There are some very
as well as books
Irious Mss, in the monastery,

























12 LORD BYRON AT THE
translations also from Greek originals, now lost,
and from Persian and Syriac, etc.; besides works
of their own people.... Four years ago the French
instituted an Armenian professorship. Twenty
pupils presented themselves on Monday morning,
full of noble ardour, ingenuous youth, and im-
pregnable industry. They persevered, with a
courage worthy of the nation, and of universal
conquest, till Thursday; when fifteen of the
twenty succumbed to the twenty sixth letter
of the alphabet. It is, to be sure, a Waterloo of
an Alphabet, — that must be said for them. But
it is so like these fellows, to do by it as they
did by their sovereigns, – abandon both; to
parody the old rhymes, ‘Take a thing and give a
thing – Take a King and give a King. They are
the worst of animals, except their conquerors. "
The letter which supplies this extract was written .
. . . on Dec 5, 1816; another letter, written the day º
‘. . . before, and addressed to Mr Murray, contains the
º º following statement “I go to the Armenian Convent
every day to take lessons of a learned friar, and
have gained some singular and not useless inform-

ARMENIAN CONVENT 13
ation with regard to the literature and customs
of that Oriental people. They have an establish-
m ent here ; a church and convent of ninety
monks, very learned and accomplished men, some
of them. They have also a press, and make great
efforts for the enlightenment of their nation. I
find the language (which is twin: the literal,
and the vulgar) difficult, but not invincible (at
least I hope not.) I shall go on.... I found it .
necessary to twist my mind round some severer
‘. . . study, and this, as being the hardest I could
devise here, will be a file for the serpent . . . .
Mr Hobhouse has gone to Rome. I should have
- gone too, but I fell in love, and must stay that
over. I should think that and the Armenian al-
phabet will last the winter. The lady, has luckily -
for me, been less obdurate than the language, . . . .
or between the two. I should have lost my re-
mains of sanity. By the way, she is not an
Armenian but a Venetian, as I believe I told you
in my last. " Later he says: “I am going
on with my Armenian studies in a morning, and
assisting in, and stimulating, the English portion


14 LoRD BYRON AT THE
of an English and Armenian grammar, now pub-
lishing at the convent of St. Lazarus. The
superior of the friars is a bishop, and a fine old
fellow, with the beard of a meteor. Father Pa-
schal is also a learned and pious soul. He was
two years in England. ” In a subsequent letter
Byron speaks of two epistles, which, according to | --
the Armenians, ought to form part of the New
Testament, but are excluded from it: “ The
Epistle of Stephen the Elder, to Paul the Apo-
stle, ” and “ Paul's Epistle from Prison for the
Instruction of the Corinthians ; ” both translated
by Lord Byron into English prose. But with these,
for the present, we have nothing to do.
When Lord Byron first visited the Armenian
# , - Convent, — and he did so, as we have stated,
a few days after his arrival in Venice, — he
was in his twenty-ninth year, or, to be more
* . . . . . . . . . . precise, twenty eight years and ten months old
• ‘: . (or thereabouts) having been born on the 22nd
- of J anuary - 1788, in Holles Street, London, his
baptismal names being George Gordon Byron.
As a child he was beautiful : as a man he was














ARMENIAN CONVENT 15
-
w exceedingly handsome, an Apollo rather than a
Hercules, but gifted with great strength, both of
mind and body, and, in spite of his faults, one
of the noblest of men. -
Here is a sketch of his personal appearance,
at the time he visited the Armenian Convent,
written, if I mistake not, by his friend the Count-
ess Albrizzi, the “De Stael of Italy " as he
himself loved to call her : “It would be to little
purpose to dwell upon the mere beauty of a
countenance in which the expression of an ex-
traordinary mind was so conspicuous. What
serenity was seated on the forehead, adorned
with the finest chestnut hair, light, curling,
and disposed with such art, that the art was
hidden in the imitation of most pleasing nature!
What varied expression in his eyes! They were
of the azure colour of the heavens, from which
. . . they seemed to derive their origin. His teeth, in
- form, in colour, and in transparency, resembled - . . . . . . ."
pearls; but his cheeks were too delicately tin-
ged with the hue of the pale rose. His neck,
which he was in the habit of keeping uncovered



". . . . . . . . . . . . .
16 LoRD BYRON AT THE
as much as the usages of society permitted,
seemed to have been formed in a mould, and
was very white. His hands were as beautiful . .
as if they had been works of art.......... His
figure left nothing to be desired, particularly by
those who found rather a grace than a defect
in a certain light and gentle undulation of the
person when he entered a room, and of which
you hardly felt tempted to inquire the cause. . . .
. . . Indeed it was scarcely perceptible, the clothes
he wore were so long. He was never seen
to walk through the streets of Venice, nor along
the pleasant banks of the Brenta, where he
spent some weeks of the summer: and there
are some who assert that he has never seen,
excepting from a window, the wonders of the
Piazza di San Marco; ' — so powerful in him
- was the desire of not showing himself to be -
deformed in any part of his person. I, however,
believe that he has often gazed on those won.
ders, but in the late and solitary hour, when
the stupendous edifices which surrounded him,
illuminated by the soft and placid light of the








ARMENIAN convent 17
moon, appeared a thousand times more lovely.
His face appeared tranquil like the ocean on a
fine spring morning; but, like it, in an instant
.. became changed into the tempestuous and ter-
rible, if a passion, (a passion did I say?) a
thought, a word, occurred to disturb his mind.
His eyes then lost all their sweetness, and spark-
led so that it became difficult to look on them.
So rapid a change would not have been thought
possible ; but it was impossible to avoid acknow-
ledging that the natural state of his mind was
. . . the tempestuous. What delighted him greatly
one day annoyed him the next; and whenever
he appeared constant in the practice of any .
habits, it arose merely from the indifference,
# , not to say contempt, in which he held them
all ; whatever they might be, they were not
worthy that he should occupy his thoughts with
them. His heart was highly sensitive, and suf-
fered itself to be governed in an extraordinary
degree by sympathy; but his imagination carried
him away, and spoiled everything. He believed
in presages, and delighted in the recollection




that he held this belief in common with Napo-
leon. It appeared that, in proportion as his in-
tellectual education was cultivated, his moral
- - education was neglected, and that he - never
suffered himself to know or observe other re-
straints than those imposed by his inclinations.
- Nevertheless, who could believe that he had a
constant, and almost infantine timidity, of which -
the evidences were so apparent as to render
its existence indisputable, notwithstanding the
. . . difficulty experienced in associating with Lord
Byron a sentiment which had the appearance -
. of modesty. Conscious as he was that, where-
- wer he presented himself, all eyes were fixe d º
on him, and all lips, particularly those of the
women, were opened to say ‘There he is, that
is Lord Byron — he necessarily found him-
- self in the situation of an actor obliged to sus-
tain a character, and to renderan account, not
to others (or about them he gave himself no
concern), but to himself, of his every action
and word. This occasioned him a feeling of
uneasiness which was obvious to every one."















ARMENIAN CONVENT 10
This description is excellent, for we have here
- both a portrait and a chapter of romance, but
I produce a better. It is that of Thomas Moore.
“The beauty of Byron's face, " writes Moore
in his biography, “may be pronounced to have
been of the highest order, as combining at once
regularity of features with the most varied and
interesting expression. The same facility, indeed,
of change observable in the movements of his
mind was seen also in the free play of his fea-
tures, as the passing thoughts within darkened
could be, on my telling him, thoughtlessly enough,
. that a friend of mine had said to me – “ Beware :
* ..., of Byron; he will some day or other do some-
thing very wicked!"— “Was it man or woman
who said so?" he exclaimed, suddenly turning
or shone through them. His eyes, though of a
light grey, were capable of all extremes of ex-
pression, from the most joyous hilarity to the
deepest sadness, from the very sunshine of be- . . . .
nevolence to the most concentrated scorn or
rage. Of this latter passion I had once an op-
portunity of seeing what fiery interpreters they









round upon me with a look of such instense
anger as, though it lasted not an instant, could
not easily be forgotten, and of which no better
idea can be given than in the words of one
who, speaking of Chatterton's eyes, says that . . . .
fire rolled at the bottom of them . . . . But
it was in the mouth and chin that the great
. beauty as well as expression of his fine coun-
tenance lay . . . . His head was remarkably
small, so much so as to be rather out of pro-
portion with his face. The forehead, though a
little too narrow, was high, and appeared more
so from his having his hair (to preserve it, as
he said) shaved over the temples; while the glossy,
dark-brown curls, clustering over his head, gave
the finish to its beauty. When to this is added,
that his nose, though handsomely, was rather
thickly shaped, that his teeth were white and
* regular, and his complexion colourless, as good
an idea, perhaps, as it is in the power of mere
words to convey, may be conceived of his fea-
tures. In height he was, as he hinself has in- .
formed us, five feet eight inches and a half,





: and to the length of his limbs he attributed his
* being such a good swimmer. His hands were
- very white, – and, according to his own
+ motion of the size of hands as indicating birth,
. — aristocratically small. The lameness of his
right foot, though an obstacle to grace but lit—
- tie impeded the activity of his movements; and
from this circumstance, as well as from the .
skill with which the foot was disguised by
| means of long trowsers, it would de difficult
• :- to conceive a defect of this kind less obtruding
itself as a deformity. ” . i.
A lady, whose name has not transpired, de-
scribes our young Apollo in the following terms :
“Many pictures have been painted of Lord
Byron with various success; but the excessive
beauty of his lips escaped every painter and * . .
sculptor. In their ceaseless play they represented - . .”
- every emotion whether pale with anger, curled *
in disdain, smiling in triumph, or dimpled with
archness and love. This extreme facility of ex-
pression was sometimes painful, for I have seen
him look so hard and cold, that you





















22 toRD BYRON
• - hate him, and then, in a moment brighter than
the sum, with such playful softness in his look,
such affectionate eagerness kindling in his eyes
and dimpling his lips into something more sweet
than 3. smile, that you forgot the man, Lord
Byron, in the picture of beauty presented to - .
- you, and gazed with intense curiosity, - I had
almost said, - as if to satisfy yourself. that
thus looked the god of poetry, the god of the
Vatican, when he conversed with the soms and
daughters of man. ” Such was Lord Byron in
1816; such was the greatest poet of the nine-
teenth centur , when he arrived at the Gates of ---
the Convent of St Lazarus a. few hours before
sunset, a brisk wind blowing at the time, and
the sky overhung with clouds.


i
\
Chapter II.
Byron's Studies at St Lazarus
The island on which the convent of the
...' Armenians is built, is distant from St Mark's
Square about a mile, and lies mid-way between
- the Lido, where Byron bathed and rode (keep-
ing his horses there) and the Island of San
Servolo, -- one the two mad–houses of V enice,
namely the one for men, the other lunatic asy-
lum (the one for women) being further off, and
called San Clemente. . , - .
What gondolier rowed Lord Byron to St
Lazarus on the afternoon in autumn above allud-,
ed to, is not known: it was not Tita, who fol- '' {
lowed him to Greece in 1823 (dying at Ramsgate
in England in the winter of 1874); it was a
nameless gondolier, — unremembered even by
the monks of St Lazarus, – a fellow who, had
he known the way, might gave become cele-






once placed at his disposal and he began the
• : study of Arm enian as a pupil of Father Paschal.
But the first lessons were dialogues rather
than
among the immortals. What is certain is this:
Lord Byron was received at the Convent Gates . . .
by Padre Paschal, and from him received the
cordial hospitality of two hours: time enough
to see the monastery, and to learn respecting
it those facts which induced him afterwards to
desire a longer sojourn on the island.
It is recorded at the convent, though not men- -
tioned by Moore, or by Byron himselfin any of
“ his letters, that our hero stayed in the Convent * , .
Garden, during his first visit, till night-ſall, and
left it with a promise to return early on the
following day: a promise which he kept most
. faithfully. It was during this second visit that
he solicited, and obtained, permission to live in
the Convent while studying the Armenian lan-
" . . . . . . guage, — meaning of course to defray the ex-
penses of his board and lodging. Two rooms,
— one for sleep and one for work, - were at
task s, and Byron asked, — and F ather º






























ARMENIAN convext 35
º Paschal answered, tº-º-º: many questions as to the .
early history and literature of Armenia. The monk . . . . . . . . .
was eloquent and Byron attentive, and the
following items of information were for many
* days the subject of conversation.
- The people of Armenia call their country
Hayasdan, after its founder Hayg who flourished
about the year 2540 B. C. Haig was not, pro-
perly speaking, their king; he was their par . . . . . . . . .
triarch, and Mar Abas Catina (their first historian) . . . . &
who lived about fifty years before Christ, states,
on the authority of certain manuscripts found
among the archives of Nineveh, that Haig was
one of the builders of the Tower of Babel. -
º Haig's family and servants settled, it is said, in
the immediate neighbourhood of Mount Ararat;
and northward of that famous mount, sacred
to the memory of the Ark of Noah, the pa-
triarch himself built a town of great strength
which he called Haygashen. The descendents -
of the Hayguian Dynasty, reigned over the
of Haig, known to history as the princes
when





they were succeeded by the Arsacides, (or Se-
cond Royal Dynasty), who in their turn were
displaced, A. D. 428., by rulers called Prefects,
officers elected by the people, much as the Mas- -
ters of the Militia were elected by the Vene-
tians on the death of their third Doge. The go- .
vernment of the Prefects lasted four centuries,
and was succeeded, A. D. 856, by a Third Royal
Dymasty, known to history as the Pakradunians,
who claimed descent from Abraham, this third
dynasty being supplanted A. D. 1080, by the º
Dynasty of the Rupenians, which became ex-
tinct after a supremacy of three hundred and
thirteen years. Leo, the last of the Rupenians, º
was the last King of Armenia, and died in Paris,
- in exile, A. D. 1393, after witnessing the destruc.
tion and partition of his country. After being
repeatedly invaded and ravaged, Armenia was
finally divided among threenations, and became the
, - prey of Russians, Persians and Turks, the Turks
claiming the largest share. Armenia is the Po-
land of the E ast, and Leo was its Kos ciusko; ". -











ARMENIAN convexT 27
Byron was greatly impressed by these facts
related in English, in a wild vivid way, by
Father Paschal, a proficient in our tongue. In
Byron's opinion this spoliation of a great and
ancient nation was an act of cruelty for which
no condemnation was sufficiently severe. He
loathed the Turks, and loved the Armenians, and
refreshed his memory on these Eastern matters,
by renewed, and ever interesting demands on.
the learning of Father Paschal. The monk smil—
ing at the poet's enthusiasm and grateful to
Byron for the interest he took in a fallen race,
so noble in its antecedents, continued his re-
marks on the History of Armenia, down to the
present century, winning, at every word he . . .
spoke, the sympathy and admiration of his pu-
pil. Paschal, as I have said, was eloquent and
Byron was not sorry to be reminded of many
things he had forgotten since he had left col-
lege. He was young and enthusiastic and listen- .
ed with a boy's delight to the legends of the
past, — the history of romance and the romance
and poetry of history




28 LoRD BYRON AT THE
Tamerlane was one of the greatest and most
powerful of the enemies of the Armenians: he -
invaded Armenia in the year 1389. The next
invaders were Yussuf, chief of the Sasuns; Emir
Ezin; Miran Shah (son of Tamerlane) and Shah
Ruh, governor of Khorasan, and then followed
other chiefs, – brigands rather than soldiers —
whose names have been forgottten. In 1603 the
Persians, under their king Shah Abas, invaded the -
Turkish portion of Armenia, and drove away the
Turks with fire and sword.But the Turks re-enter-
ed their provinces of Armenia, and after many
vicissitudes became masters of the whole tract of
country known as Turkish Armenia. Russia took
possession of a large portion of Armenia, A. D.
1829, during the war with Persia. and at the
conclusion of the hostilities with Turkey, which
broke out soon afterwards, Russia became mas-
ter of the provinces of Artzakh, Snries, Udi.
Paydagaran, and portions of the provinces of
Kakark and Ararat. When all petty chiefs and
agitators had been expelled, Armenia remained,
as I have said, the sole property of three nations,


ARMENIAN CONVENT 29
Russia, Persia, and Turkey: Russia owning the
provinces above mentioned, Persia owning por—
tions of Ararat, Vasburagan,Paydagaran and Pers-
Armenia, properly so called, and Turkey owning
all the rest of Armenia namely Upper Armenia,
Aghtznik, Gortuk, Mogk, Duruperan, and the
western portions of Vasburagan and Ararat.
These outlines of the history and geography
of Armenia were the principal subjects of con-
versation between Lord Byron and Father Pa—
schal when they talked together in the Convent
Garden during their first interviews.


Chapter III. .
The Island of the Blest.
Lord Byron, in one of his letters, called St
Lazarus the “ Island of the Blest. ” The name -
clings to it. It is appropriate. It is the island
of Manoug, — the land of Mekhithar, the
Consoler. - - r -
When Lord Byron visited the island for the first
time the Convent had been in existence, about
a century, that is to say, (for it was founded º
in 1717) exactly ninety nine years. Mekhitar, , , ,
its founder, arrived in Venice with a few fol—
lowers in the spring of 1715 and on the 8th of
September, 1717, received in gift from the Doge -
the beautiful island now occupied by the monks.
The Doge was Giovanni Cornaro, hundred and
eleventh on the long and briliant line of Doges . . . . .
. . . . . . . which began in 697 with Paul Anafesto (Paoluccio)
to end in l 797 with Lodovico Manin, the hun-




LORD BYRON 31
When Mekhither took possession of St Laza–
rus it was an island of ruins and marsh-land,
— a patch on the fair lagune of Venice, — a
relic of the days when it was used as an
asylum for lepors, and a hospital for the poor.
But Mekhithar was brave and patient —
brave to encounter hardship, patient in the
prosecution of his plans, – a true christian,
and one of the pioneers of progress. He set to
work clearing the land of rubbish, and utilising
such of the ruins as were available for building
. purposes and in twenty-three years the convent.
as we now see it, rose out of the waves, sur-
rounded by groves and garden walks, a land-
mark on the sea, one of the glories of the City
of the Doges. The Doges have passed away,
but the work of Mekhithar remains; and there
it stands in the wake of the Lido, lighted, as
it were by a double fame, that of its founder,
and that of Lord Byron : — a patriarch and a
poet, two men whose names will live as long * *
as the English language, as long as the lan–
guage of the people of Hayasdan.


About six weeks after his first visit to the
Island of the Blest, — the Island of Mekhithar
the Consoler, — Lord Byron sent to England
in a letter to Mr Murray, dated Venice Jan 2,
1817, some sheets of an Armenian Grammar,
. . . with a view to aiding the cause of Armenian
- literature in England. Byron's preface to the
grammar is remarkable, and I reproduce it in
these pages, not only for its own sake as a
composition, but for Byron's sake, and that of
the Armenians whom he so nobly and so justly
extols. But first of all the extracts from the ‘. . . .
letter, in which, on Jan 2, 1817, he calls Mr tº
. Murray's attention to the claims of - Armenian
literature.
- - “In another sheet, ” writes Lord Byron
“I send you some sheets of a grammar, En- * -
glish and Armenian, for the use of the Arme-
nians, of which I promoted, and indeed induced,
the publication (It cost me but a thousand
francs – French livres.) I still pursue my
$
advancing a little daily. Padre





















ARMENIAN convent 33
Paschal, with some little help from me, as tran- *
slator of his Italian into English, is also proceeding
in a MS. Grammar for the English acquisition
of Armenian, which will be printed also, when
finished..... we want to know if there are any
. . Armenian types and letter-press in England,
at Oxford, Cambridge, or elsewhere? You know,
I suppose, that, many years ago, the two
Whistons published in England an original text
of a history of Armenia, with their own Latin . . . . . . . .
translation ? Do those types still exist ? and
where? Pray inquire among your learned
' ' - acquaintance is º g g ſº, When this Grammar (I mean
the one now printing) is done, will you have
any objection to take forty or fifly copies, which
will not cost in all above five or ten guineas, . . . . . . .
and try the curiosity of the learned with a
sale of them? Say yes or no, as you like. I .
can assure you that they have some very curious
books and MSS. chiefly translations from Greek
originals now lost. They are, besides, a much
respe cted and learne d community, and the study
of their language was taken up with gre
* . . . ."























ardour by some literary Frenchmen in Buona-
parte's time. "
Here is the preface, one of the neatest, and
at the same time, one of the justest tributes,
ever paid to a religious community: .
annesias ºn Annan.
“The English reader will probably be surprised
to find my name associated with a work of the
present description, and inclined to give me
more credit for my attainments as a linguist
than they deserve. As I would not willingly
be guilty of a deception, I will state, as shortly
as I can, my own share in the compilation,
with the motives which led to it. On my arrival
at Venice in the year 1816, I found my mind
in a state which required study of a nature
which should leave little scope for the imagi-
nation, and furnish same difficulty in the pursuit.
At this period I was much struck – in common,


















ARMENIAN CONVENT 35
the society of the convent of St Lazarus which
. . . . . . appears to unite all the advantages of the
monastic institution, without any of its vices.
The neatness, the comfort, the gentleness, the
unaffected devotion, the accomplishments, and
the virtues of the brethren of the order, are
well fitted to strike the man of the world with
- the conviction that ‘ there is another and a
better even in this life. These men are the
priesthood of an oppressed and a noble nation
which has partaken of the prescription and
bondage of the Jews and of the Greeks, without .
the sullenness of the former or the servility of
the latter. This people has attained riches
- without usury, and all the honours that can be
awarded to slavery without intrigue. But they
‘. have long accupied, nevertheless, a part of ‘the
House of Bondage, who has lately multiplied
- her many mansions. It would be difficult, perhaps, - -
to find the annals of a nation less stained with
crimes than those of the Armenians, whose
virtues have been those of peace, and their
vices those of compulsion. But whatever may




36 LoRD BYRON AT THE
have been their destiny — and it has been
bitter — whatever it may be in future, their
country must ever be one of the most interest-
ing on the globe; and perhaps their language . º -
only requires to be more studied to become
more attractive. If the Scriptures are rightly
understood, it was in Armenia that Paradise -
was placed, – Armenia, which has paid as
dearly as the descendants of Adam for that
fleeting participation of its soil in the happiness
of him who was created from its dust. It was
in Armenia that the flood first abated, and the
dove alighted. But with the disappearance of
Paradise itself may be dated almost the unhap-
piness of the country, for though long a power-
ful kingdom, it was scarcely ever an indepen-
dent one, and the satraps of Persia and the
pachas of Turkey have alike desolated the
- region where God created man in his own image.”
* . . . . . This preface did not appear in any work
printed and published by the Armenians, but
. . . . . was found among Byron's papers after his death, .
and first published, I believe, by Thomas Moore

- ARMENIAN convent 37
in his life of the poet. About this preface,
which nearly led to a rupture between Lord
Byron and the Armenians I shall have something
to say in an early chapter, but for the present
I pass on the next subject in connection with
Armenian literature as advocated by the poet.
It is the poet's own translation of the Armenian
epistles, (apochryphal almost beyond a doubt)
- which task he undertook in January and Fe-
bruary 1817. .
THE EPISTLE OF THE CORINTHIANS
- - TO - g
St Paul the Apostle
I. Stephen, and the elders with him, Dabnus, -
Eubulus, Theophilus, and Xinon, to Paul, our
father and evangelist, and faithful master in t
Jesus Christ, health. . - .
2. Two men have come to Corinth, Simon
by name, and Cleobus, who vehemently di- . .- : * : *
sturb the faith of some with deceitful and cor-
rupt words ;
3 of which wordsthoughouldstinformthyself:




thyself amongst us quickly.
º o f God: . . . .
3s LoRD BYRON AT THE
4. For neither have we heard such words
from thee, nor from the other apostles:
5. But we know only that what we have . . .
heard from thee and from them that we have
kept firmly.
6. But in this chiefly has our Lord had
compassion, that, whilst thou art yet with us -
in the flesh, we are again about to hear from
thee. - . . . . . .
7. Therefore do thou write to us, or come
8. We believe in the Lord, that, as it was
revealed to Theonas, he hath delivered thee from
the hands of the unrighteous.
9. But these are the sinful words of these
impure men, for thus do they say and teach :
10. That itbehoves motto admit the Prophets.
11. Neither do they affirm the omnipotence
12. Neither do they affirm the resurrection
of the flesh :
13. Neither do they affirm that man was





. . . . . . . . . ARMENIAN convexT - ' . . - -
14. Neither do they affirm that Jesus Christ
was born in the flesh from the Virgin Mary:
15. Neither do they affirm that the world
was the work of God, but of some one of the
angels. - . -
16. Therefore do thou make haste to come
amongst us. ": ,
17. That this city of the Corinthians may
remain without scandal. . . .
18. And that the folly of these men may
be made manifest by an open refutation. Fare
thee well. -
. . . . . - The deacons Thereptus and Tichus receiv-
ed and conveyed this Epistle to the city of the
Philippians.
When Paul received the Epistle, although
he was then in chains on account of Stratonice,
the wife of Apofolanus, yet, as it were forgetting
his bonds, he mourned over these words, and ..
said weeping: “It were better for me to be
dead, and with the Lord. For while I am in this
body and hear the wretched words of such false.





doctrine, behold, grief arises u pon grief, and my .
trouble adds a weight to my chains; when I
behold this calamity, and this progress of the ma- i.
chinations of Satan, who searcheth to do wrong."
And thus, with deep affliction, Paul com-
posed his reply to the Epistle. . . . . .
Epistle of PAUL To THE coRINTHIANs.
- 1. Paul, in bonds for Jesus Christ, disturb-
ed by so many errors, to his Corinthian bre-
thren, health.
- - 2. I nothing marvel that the preachers of
evil have made this progress.
3. For because the Lord Jesus is about to
fulfil his coming, verily on this account do cer-
tain men pervert and despise his words.
... . . . . . . . 4. But I, verily, from the beginning, have
taught you that only which I myself received
. . . . from - the former apostles, who always re maine d
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. And I now say unto you, that the Lord
Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, who



















6. According to the - annunciation of the . . . . . .
Holy Ghost, sent to her by our Father from
heaven; . . . . .
. . . 7. That Jesus might be introduced into the
world and deliver our flesh by his flesh, and
that he might raise us up from the dead;
º 8. As in this also he himself became the
- example:
9. That it might be made manifest that
“. . . . man was created by the Father,
10. He has not remained in perdition un-
11. But he is sought for, that he might
be revived by adoption. .
12. For God, who is the Lord of all, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who made . . .
heaven and earth, sent, firstly, the Prophets to
13. That he would absolve them from their
sins, and bring them to his judgment.
14. Because he wished to save the house
Spirit upon the Prophets;




















compassion upon him;
15 That they should, for a long time, preach * .
the worship of God, and the nativity of Christ.
16. But he who was the prince of evil, when
he wished to make himself God, laid his hand
upon them, -
17. And bound all men in sin, . . .
18. Because the judgment of the word was
approaching. - -
19. But Almighly God when he willed to
#,
justify was unwilling to abandon his creature;
20. But when he saw his affliction, he had
21. And at the end of a time he sent the
Holy Ghost into the Virgin foretold by the Pro-
phets.
22, who, believing readily, was made wor-
thy to conceive, and bring forth our Lord J esus
Christ. -
23. That from this perishable body, in
which the evil spirit was glorified, he should be
cast out, and it should be made manifest.
24. That he was not God: For Jesus Christ,







ARMENIAN CONVENT 43.
ble flesh, and drawn it into eternal life by faith.
25. Because in his body he would prepare
a pure temple of justice for all ages;
26. In whom believing we, too, are saved.
27. Therefore know ye that these men are
not the children of justice but of wrath;
28. Who turn away from themselves the
compassion of God; - - -
29. Who say that neither the heavens nor
, the earth were altogether works made by the
hand of the Father of all things.
30. But these cursed men have the doctrine
of the serpent. -º-º-
31. But do ye, by the power of God, with-
draw yourselves far from these, and expel
from amongst you the doctrine of the wicked.
- 32. Because you are not the children of
rebellion, but the sons of the beloved church.
33. And on this account the time of the
resurrection is preached to all men. -
34. Therefore they who affirm that there is no
resurrection of the flesh, they indeed shall not
be raised up to eternal life; . -
3
35. But to judgement and condemnation shall
the unbeliever arise in the flesh:
36. For to that body which denies the re-
surrection of the body, shall be denied the re-
surrection: because such are found to refuse
the resurrection. * *
- . 37. But you also, Corinthians! have known, º -
from the seeds of wheat, and from other seeds,
- 38. That one grain falls dry into the earth,
and within it first dies,
39. And afterward rises again, by the will
of the Lord, endued with the same body:
40. Neither indeed does it arise with the
same simple body, but manifold, and filled with
blessing. - s
. .” 41. But we produce the example not only
from seeds, but from the honorable bodies of .
men.
42. Ye have also known Jonas, the son of
- Amittal. º
" . . . 43. Because he - delayed to preach to the
Ninevites he was swallowed up in the belly of
a fish for three days and three nights:
















. . . ARMENIAN convent 45
44. And after three days God heard his sup-
plication, and brought him out of the deep abyss;
45. Neither was any part of his body cor-
rupted; neither was his eyebrow bent down.
* 46. And how much more for you, oh men
of little faith: - - .
* . 47. If you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ,
will he raise you up, even as he himself hath
arisen. -
48. If the bones of Elisha the prophet fall-
ing upon the dead revived the dead,
49. By how much more shall ye, who are
supported by the flesh and the blood and the
Spirit of Christ, arise again on that day with
a perfect body?
50. Elias the prophet, embracing the widow's
son, raised him from the dead:
‘. . . 51. By how much more shall Jesus Christ
revive you, on that day, with a perfect body,
even as he himself hath arisen?
52. But if ye receive other things vainly;
53. Henceforth no one shall cause me - - to
travail; for I bear on my body these ſetters,


54. To -- obtain Christ; and I suffer with pa—
resurrection of the dead; . . . . -
. . 55. And do each of you, having received s
the law from the hands of the blessed Prophets
and the holy gospel, firmly maintain it; .
- - - 56. To the end that you may be rewarded
in the resurrection of the dead, and the posses-
sion of the life eternal. - º
57. But if any of ye, not believing, shall
60. And the peace and grace of the below-
. . . . . Done into English by me, January and Feb- * -
ruary, 1817, at the Convent of San Lazaro, with
‘. . ed Son be upon you. Amen.
by the Father Paschal Aucher, Armenian Friar.
BYRON.
tience the afflictions, to become worthy of the
trespass, he shall be judged with the misdoers,
and punished with those who have false belief.
58. Because such are the generation of vi- i.
pers, and the children of dragons and basilisks.
59. Drive far from amongst ye, and fly
from such, with the aid of our Lord Jesus Christ.
the aid and eanositiºn of the Armenian teat




















ARMENIAN CONVENT 47
and as, proceeding from his pen, it must possess,
not be displeased to find it in the appen dix, "
— namely the appendix to Moore's Life. Byron
Concerning the authenticity of these epistles : -
Thomas Moore wrote as follows: “ The only
plausible claim to authenticity of the Epistles
translated by Lord Byron consists in the cir- - - -
cumstance of St Paul having (according to the
opinion of Moshoim and others) written an
Epistle to the Corinthians, before that which
- we now call his First. They are, however,
universally given up as spurious. Though fre-
quently referred to as existing in the Armenian,
by Primate Usher, Johan Gregorius, and other -
learned men, they were for the first time, I
believe, translated from that language by the
two Whistons, who subjoined the correspon- -
dence, with a Greek and Latin version, to their
edition of the Armenian History of Moses of
Choren, published in 1736 ... The translation
by Lord Byron is, as far as I can learn,
the first that has ever been attempted in English; .
of course, additional interest the reader will



















• , himself in a letter to Moore, speaks of the
epistles as follows: “Did I tell you that I have
translated two Epistles 2 — a correspondence
between St Paul and the Corinthians, not to be
found in our version, but the Armenian — but
which seems to me very orthodox and I have
- - done it into scriptural English prose. ” This º
letter was written on March 31st 1817, at a time
when Byron was recovering from what he
called a Venetian fever, and when his giant
..., mind, always ready for work, even in the midst
of pleasure, was preparing for new triumphs
in the realms of art and imagination, “ painting
the lily" of Armenian piety, and “ gilding the i.
refined gold " of Armenian learning. The epistles
in fact could not have appeared under better . . .
auspices, and Lord Byron, living in the “Island
of the Blest, ” &S a. pupil - of Father Pas chal,
º could not have left behind him a purer record
* .. of his visits. But we shall presently have to do
with other records, and among others a knife,
now preserved in the museum attached to the

. . . . . . . . . . . . .” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ;
*. ples- but with which he also wanted to cut off the . . . . . . . .
heads of the Turks! Byron hated the Turks as he 4
proved afterwards in Greece; and he loved and
honoured all nations who cherished a spirit of
found in them a nation whom tyranny and loss
tion which, in spite of conquest, has maintained
independence. This was perhaps the key-note
to his admiration of the Armenians, for he
of nationality could not vilify or subdue, a na-.
intact the glory of its traditions, and the beauty
of its ancient faith.



s
Chapter IV.
- Byron at the Lido.
The island of St Lazarus is, as it were, an
off-shoot of the Lido. Byron sometimes went
there in the convent boat, but more frequently
‘. in a boat of his own from St Mark's. Here is what a
gentleman residing in Venice in 1817, says of
the Lido in Lord Byron's time: “Almost im-
mediately after Mr. Hobhouse's departure, Lord
... • Byron proposed to me to accompany him in his
rides on the Lido. One of the long narrow islands
which separate the Lagune, in the midst of
which Venice stands, from the Adriatic, is
more particularly distinguished by this - name. At
one extremity is a fortification, which, with the
Castle of Sant'Andrea on an island on the opposite
side, defends the nearest entrance to the city
is almost dismantled and Lord Byron had hired
tion here of the Commandant an unoccupied


from the city was not very considerable ; it was
riding. "
Elisabetta, where the steamboats land to the
for more than seventy years, namely from 742,
during the rule of Teodato Ipato (Fourth Doge)
º the - following terms;
Lord Byron called for me in his gondola, and
stable, where he kept his horses. The distance
much less than to the Terra Ferma, and, as
far as it went, the spot was not ineligible for
These words “as far as it went " were
applicable in the year 1817; they are not ap-
plicable in 1874. A high road now extends from
one end of the Lido to the other, and vi-
sitors can go comfortably on foot, or on horse-
back, or in carriages and omnibuses, from Santa
village of Malamocco once the capital of the La-
. gumes, and the seat and residence of the Doges
Tenth Doge of the Republic. . . . . . . . .
Lord Byron's friend continues his diary in
to 814, during the rule of Angelo Partecipazio,
we always found the horses waiting for us out-



















52 LoRD BYRON AT THE
side of the fort. We rode as faras we could along
the sea-shore, and then on a kind of dyke, or
embankment, which has been raised where the
island was very narrow, as far as another small
fort about half way between the principal one .
which I have already mentioned, and the town
or village of Malamocco, which is near the
other extremity of the island, – the distance
between the two forts' being about three miles.
On the land side of the embankment, not far
from the smaller fort, was a boundary stone
which probably marked some division of pro-
perty, - all the side of the island nearest the
Lagune being divided into gardens for the cul-
tivation of vegetables for the Venetian markets.
At the foot of this stone Lord Byron repeatedly .
told me that I should cause him to be buried,
if he should die in Venice, or its neighbour- -
hood, during my residence there; and he appear-
ed to think, as he was not a Catholic, that, on
the part of the government, there could be
no obstacle to his interment in an unhal-
º lowed spot of gro und by the sea-side. At all








ARMENIAN CONVENT 53
events, I was to overcome whatever difficulties
might be raised on this account. I was, by no
means, he repeatedly told me, to allow his body s
to be removed to England, nor permit any of
his family to interfere with his funeral. Nothing
could be more delightful than these rides on
the Lido were to me. We were from half to
three quarters of an hour crossing the water,
during which his conversation was always most
. amusing and interesting. Sometimes he would
bring with him any new book he had received
and read to me the passages which most struck
him. Often he would repeat to me whole stan—
zas of the Poems he was engaged in writing;
as he had composed them on the preceding even-
ing; and this was the more interesting to me,
because I could frequently trace in them some
idea which he had started in our conversation
- of the preceding day, or some remark, the effect
of which he had been evidently - trying upon
me. Occasionally, too, he spoke of his own affairs
to him, and desiring that I would not spare





54 LoRD BYRON AT THE
by the wayside
him but let him know the worst that was said. º
Who wrote this diary? I know not. All By-
Tom's biographers are silent on the subject. -
I am therefore ignorant in good company.
The Lido is a long narrow island seven miles
in length and a half a mile in breadth, about
three miles from the Piazza San Marco as the
fish swims or four miles as the gondolas per-
form the journey. Its name (from Litus the shore)
describes it well enough. It is a shore, — a
sort of breakwater between Venice and the
Adriatic. Its “Favorita” where there is music —
its inn where Byron used to lunch — its church,
- its cluster of houses — its pier for gondolas
where there is always a beggar or a beggaress -
in waiting: — all these things ought to be de-
scribed. So ought its villages and its shrubberies: -
its, fortifications, its fields and its vineyards
which are mow being converted into parks and
gardens with sumptuous hotels and restaurants
and pretty little Swiss Cottages (used as shops) .
Everybody in fact ought to see the Lido.



ARMENIAN CONVENT 55
The best bathing is to be had there and plenty
of shells, — called Flowers of the Sea; — some-
times bits of spar. The waves of the Adriatic
roll and tumble on the beach, making it as smoothe
as a Brussels carpet and wrecking a ship now
and then when days and nights are stormy.
One of the many romances of Venetian
history, about which so much has been said and
written, both in prose and verse, is the story of
Nicholas Giustiniani, a monk of noble family
residing on the Lido in the monastery of St
Nicholas, who, when all his brothers and rela-
tions were killed in war, asked permission of
the Pope to leave his cell and marry the daugh-
ter of the Doge, Dame Anna Michieli, — that
the illustrious family of the Giustiniani might
be preserved. The permission of the Pope being
obtained the monk married the lady of his choice
and after a wedded life of many years, returned
to his monastery and there died in the odour
of sanctity, his wife following his example by
becoming a nun. The children, – six boys
and three girls, — grew up to maturity and





lived to tell the story of their lives to
the children of their children, who, in the
sainted Lady Anna of St Adriano (a convent built -
by herself) venerated the name of the illustrious
and romantic lady who preserved and dignified
their race. - .
Of the Wedding of the Sea. — the first wed-
ding of the kind of which there is any record
. in history a few remarks may be made here
as illustrating some passages in Byron's Poems.
- - The first Doge of Venice who took the sea
to be his wedded wife was Doge Sebastian Ziani, *
the enemy of Barbarossa, the friend and patron
of Pope Alexander the Third. The marriage , *
- was arranged and consummanted in the follow-
ing manner. - , • -- -
- As soon as Doge Ziani returned to the Lido,
after his victory over Otho, son of the Emper- -
- or Barbarossa, Alexanderthe 3rd, Pope of Rome,
. . . . . and long an exile from his court, went to the
. sea-shore to meet the Conqueror and do him
honour. When Ziani knelt to his spiritual
Chief, the latter raised him from the ground,



*º:
--~
f
g
ARMENIAN convKNT
and kissing him on both cheeks, gave him a
ring in token of his approval of the maritime . . . . . . ."
supremacy of Venice. “Take this ring, " said a
the Pope “ and with it my benediction. The . . . . . .
Sea you have conquered is your Bride.
Take her in God's name. You have won
her well, and in future the Sea belongs to Venice
as a spouse belongs to her Husband!" This
- was in the year, 1177, on the morning of
- Ascension-Day; and on that day in the follow-
ing year, and every Fourteenth of May from
that time till the Fall of the Republic in 1797,
the Doges of Venice wedded the Sea, and prov-
ed by word and deed their supremacy in the ~
- Adriatic, using the well-known formula: “Maret . . .
Noi ti sposiamo in segno del nostro vero e
perpetuo dominio !” – O Sea! we wed thee
in token of our true and perpetual dominionſ -
— words which are again attracting attention
. . . in connection with commerce and navigation, - . - 3... .
- and the beauties of Venice as a watering-place.
during the summer months. - * , .
::::: -























nection - with these remarks about Venice and
the Lido if I did not include the episode of the .
Crusaders who encamped seven centuries. ago
close to the spot now occupied by the “Favo–
- rita " and not far from the stone where Byron
wished to be buried.
The Crusade alluded to was preached and
proclaimed by Pope Innocent III. Cristendon
was once more roused to unwonted activity; and
hate and love, -- hate of the heathen, and
. love of the Holy Sepulchre, — conspired to
make Jerusalem the centre of all men's thoughts,
— of all women' s cares, of the prayers and
hopes of maidens and of young men. Whoever
could bear a sword or a bow, a pilgrim's staff,
or a flag (sacred or the reverse) had sudden
and earnest thoughts of going to Palestine, • ,
some to fight and some to pray, some to col-
lect relics and others to leave their own bones
as relics in a foreign land; relics of a glorious º
. but mistaken zeal which, however splendid it
may, and does, appear on the pages of History,
plunged Europe in misery, for may a long day.
. . . . #: . . . ... . . . . . . .



ARMENIAN convexT 59
Among the nations crased with the holy
fire were the Venetians. Among the many
sovereigns who took partin the drama: — a Dance
of Death, – a procession of Saints and Sinners
wandering about the earth to do they knew .
not what, — was Henry Dandolo, Doge of the
Republic of Venice. Among the places chosen
as a rendez-vous for the army was the Lido of
these Lagunes, a place already honored as I
have said by the visit of Barbarossa, Emperor
of Germany, and his foe and conqueror Alex-
ander III, “pontiff by direct succession from
St Peter, " and Pope and Dictator of the Chri-
stian world. -
On the Lido in the year 1202 set foot, one
lovely summer’s day, an army of forty thousand
men, – all crusaders, – composed of French-
- men, Flemings, and Lorenese. Soon afterwards -
- arrived on the same island an army of Italians
under the command of the Duke of Savoy (am-
cestor of Victor Emmanuel) and that of the
Marquis of Monferrato, a noble army which was
finally joined by the troops of the Doge of




Venice who received, in the fields and lanes ----
. where fêtes are so often held, a welcome worthy
of those days of passion and excitement: days.
when brave men were kings if they could fight
well, and men were heroes if they could win
by force of arms, the love of “lady fair" and
the protection of their patron-saint. .
- The united army of crusaders set sail on a
- day not specified in history, with shouts and - - -
songs and prayers to the Virgin Mary, under
a bright and burning sun with Henry Dandolo,
nearly blind, but proud and erect with the glory
of eighty winters on his brow, at the head of
the fleet: two hundred and forty ships of war,
a hundred and twenty galleys and other boats
carrying provisions and about a hundred smal-
ler vessels, like fishing smacks. The Crusaders
- led by Dandolo sailed for the Holy Land, but
Dandolo and his men, more fortunate than their
companions, missed the object of the Crusade
º, and instead of dying or sustaining defeat
on the outskirts of Jerusalem, conquered
• º a larger and a mightier city inste ad: — c on-










ARMENIAN convent 61
stantinople once the Capital of the Eastern
world.
. To this enterprise, to this Doge – “ Blind
old Dandolo, the octogenarian chief", as Byron
calls him, - the author of “Childe Harold ".
devoted several lines. He foresaw, if no other did,
that the Lido would one day become an impor-
tant place, and, sitting in the convent garden
with the learned monks, he spoke of things
that were to be, but were not yet. Who
knows? In his fertile brain, aided by the ima-
gination which sees a century in advance, he,
Byron, may have seen the Lido ofto–day, the Lido
of the future. Who first kept horses on the Lido,
who first rode from St Elisabetta to Malamocco,
- formerly the capital of the Lagunes? Lord Byron
did. Here is what he says of it in one of his
letters: “ Talking of horses, I have transport-
ed my own, four in number to the Lido (beach
in English) a strip of some ten miles along the
- Adriatic, a mile or two from the city; so that
. . . I not only get a row in my gondola, but a
spanking gallop of some miles daily along a firm




62 . " LORD BYRON AT THE
. and solitary beach, from the fortress to Mala-
mocco, the which contributes considerably to my
health and spirits.” May not Lord Byron have
imagined it, as it now is, and as I described it
a few months ago, in an article in the Venice Mail
(now Il Poligiotta) which I reproduce here
without being able to ask the reader's permission.
My Article in the Venice Mail.
“It has been my custom of late years always
to leave Venice during the summer months
but this year I have changed my plans, that is
to say I have left Venice, without quitting the -
Lagunes. I have come to the Lido, and here.
without trouble, or expense, or railway-journeys,
Í find myself in the country, with a vast expanse
of ocean on one side of me, and a noble and
fantastic city on the other. I need hardly de-
- scribe the journey out, or the comfort of the
Lagune steamers. One of them, - I forget its
name, – brought us here from Danieli's Hotel y
- in a quarter of an hour. I liked the trip, for
it was less fatiguing than a voyage to Naples,
and more enjoyable than a journey to Padua;





ARMENIAN convent 63
and yet. strange to say, when I landed at
Santa Elisabetta, and saw the carriages and
saddle horses (waiting to be hired) the cakes
and peaches and lemonade (waiting to be bought)
and the inns (waiting to be frequented) the
doors of which were wide open, I thought of
terra ferma and the joys and temptations
of town-life. But here was the smell of
hay, here were groups of men with dusty
boots and sunburnt faces. Ah surely I
have come to a village of the sea, a garden
on the salt waves, a suburb of the mighty town
where lived the Doges of old, they who wed-
. . ded the ocean, they who were lords of the
Adriatic | Yes it was so. I had done impossible
things, – and therefore commonplace ones, –
things contradictory in themselves, and yet con-
sistent by a special rule, for in Fairyland all
things go by anomally. I had sailed for an
island, a desert a year ago, and I foun d a . . .
village and a garden. I had turned my back on
the Sea-City, and yet I could hear, on the
summer air, the bells of St Mark's Square, know-







64 LORD BYRON AT THE
X- ing full well that if I turned again, if only for
a moment, I could see Venice again in all her
splendour, see her and Iove her afar off as
poets love the city of their dreams. I did turn,
— I did see her. The huge tower, the Molo,
the domes of the Cathedral, the gorgeous pal– º
ace of the Doges, the Grand Canal, the Island
of St George, all glittered, and swam in the ;
haze of light, as if, — like a mirage described
by travellers in the East, — it would melt
- away in the mist, break to pieces in the wind,
or crumble down and be swallowed up in the
waves, which lent themselves, as by enchantment,
to the deception of a fairy city. No one can
see Venice properly who does not see it from
- the Lido, and all who so see it, whether by
night or day, by moonlight or by sunlight, will
imbibe, even at a glance, the love which lasts
for ever. No one with a soul for art or poetry
or music can see Venice without loving her,
and those who love her not condemn them-
selves. Let no such man be trusted! He is without
music, and therefore without sentiment.





ARMENIAN CONVENT 65
This letter appeared in the Venice Mail of
August 29, 1874, the Venice Mail having been
in some sort forstalled by Lord Byron who, on
September 19, 1817, wrote to his friend Thomas
Moore as follows: “An English newspaper here,
in Venice, would be a prodigy; and an opposi-
tion one a monster.” The opposition newspaper,
thus dimly foreshadowed, is called Il Poliglotta, -
and is joined body and soul with its prede–
cessor under the same proprietorship, and under
the same editorship, the editor and proprietor
being the author of this little volume.



Chapter V.
The Doctors of Penitence.
I have spoken in another chapter of the
Confessions of the Blind Friar, never before
published, and have promised to insert them in
the present volume. This shall be done, but I
must first of all take up the thread of Byron's
studies at the convent.
Byron intended to write a history of the
Mekhitarists, and to show from the days of
Mekhitar to those of Aconce what progress had
been made by the Armenians in Venice, but
Love and Learning struggled for the mastery
in the powerful, but too susceptible mind of
Lord Byron, and Love conquered. There lie the
documents un-used; here is a pen willing to
undertake the task, willing to follow, reverent
ly, in the traces of Lord Byron's studies.
The island of St Lazarus is first mentioned
in the annals of Venice in the 12.* century,





ARMENIAN CONVENT 67 .
when, after being private property for centuries.
it was bought by the Venetian Republic, (the Doge
• . being Orio Mastropiero) for conversion into a
hospital, whence the name of St Lazarus : the
friend and patron of the poor and the afflicted.
Mekhitar, after being driven out of the Morea,
where for twelve years he had established a
convent, arrived in Venice with eleven of his
followers, in April 1715, and obtained two
years afterwards the right to settle on the island
- of St Lazarus, rent-free and without payment
of taxes. On the 8" of September 1717 the
Island was ceded to Mekhitar and his commu– - ?
nity, and their successors, for ever, the Doge
being Giovanni Cornaro. In 1740 the convent,
— almost in its present form, -— was complet–
ed nine years before the death of its founder,
the good Mekhitar, and in the eighth year of
the dukedom of Pietro Grimani, the hundred
and fifteenth Doge of Venice.
Mekhitar was born in Sivas (formerly Se-
baste) in Asia Minor, in the year 1675, and
º was baptised by the name of Manoug (Joshua or ,



68 LoRD BYRON AT THE * - .
Jesus,) becoming a monk at the age of fifteen,
and receiving a second baptism, with the title
of deacon, and the name of Mekhitar, which in
Armenian signifies the Consoler.
A short time before quitting the Morea for
Venice Mekhitar gave his followers a new title,
which henceforward served them as a motto, or
rallying word, in times of difficulty. They were
called the “Children of Mary" and the “Doc- ---
5
tors of Penitence,
and began a new life of
labour combined with a life of prayer, — working
as well as waiting, — doing deeds of useful-i
mess, and singing songs of praise, contributing
'. to the welfare of their fellow-men, without
omitting to invoke on their own lives the
blessing of the Almighty. - - .
Mekhitar died on the 27" of April 1749, at
the age of 74, and was buried in the convent
church, in front of the High Altar, as a tablet
testifies, in words invisible to the eyebut clear
º to the hearts of the faithful. His successor was
Melchior, (a native of Costantinople) who go-
verned the destinies of the convent, till the



ARMENIAN conveNT 69
year 1800, when, he, in his turn, departed
this life and was succeeded by Aconce, the Ab-
bot whom Byron knew, receiving from the Pope
the title of Archbishop, in addition to that of
Abbot which he and his predecessors had borne.
Aconce died in 1824, - seven years after
Byron's first visits and residence in the con–
vent — and was succeeded by Sakias, an aged
man, full of piety and science, who died in
1846. His successor was George Hurmuz, the
present Abbot-General, who, among other
titles, possesses that of Archbishop of Siunie.
- Monseigneur Hurmuz is a poet as well as
a divine and one of the most distinguished
writers of his country. He is a Commander
of the Iron Crown of Austra, and a Cavalier
of the Order of S. S. Maurice and Lazarus of -
Italy ; and possesses other decorations, namely -
that of Nishan Iſthikar, that of the Medjidié, and
- that of the Lion and Sun of Persia.
The number of monks residing in the convent
of St Lazarus during Byron' s visit was thirty, of
whom six were lay brothers; the former being





70 LoBD BYRON AT THE
priests and Doctors of Penitence, and the lat-
tev help-mates of the Doctors. The monks
now residing in the convent are 16 Doctors of
Penitence (including the arch-bishop) and 6.
lay-brothers. Among the former are several
gentlemen of distinction: Father James Issaver-
denz, a very learned man who has translated
several works from Armenian into English ;
Father Mathias de Bedros, a young but learned -
monk, who, like Father James, is an excellent
linguist, speaking English as it is rarely spoken
by foreigners. Father Mathias is at present at
work on an English and Armenian dictionary,
a colossal work which will be ready for pub–
lication in less than a year. Another learned
friar is Father Karekin, director of the Convent
Printing Office, one of the finest printing estab-
lishments in Italy, and Father Gomidas, editor
of the Convent journal, a kind of Revue des Deux
Mondes (illustrated) published once a quarter,
and sent in large numbers to the East, prin-
cipally, of course, to Costantinople. The name





ARMENIAN CONVENT 71
The Doctors of Penitence have recently
printed and published on their island, a tran-
slation of a work entitled “ England's Eulogy , ,
written in Armenian verse, by the Rev. James
Grigorenz with which there is reason to believe
that Lord Byron was acquainted. It was writ-
ten and published in London in 1675 and a co-
py of it exists in the Bodleian Libeary, other
copies existing elsewhere among Armenian
communities. The edition now recently printed
and published at St Lazarus consists of a ver-
sion in two languages: the original Armenian
and the translation in English. The translation
is rather funny, in parts, but the Preface is
written in a style worthy of the convent.
Here are a few extracts: “ The author of
this curious little work, to whom we leave
all responsability for the ideas therein ex-
pressed, says enough about himself. The Ori-
ginal Armenian manuscript is preserved in the
Bodleian Library, under the head Thurston, 17. ... ',
There is another MS. (357, Marshall, 106.) .
which contains an Armenian Liturgy, written



by the same author, in which he gives some
further details about himself. “On the 12" of
December (1674) — he writes — I arrived at .
Oxford, and called directly upon Dr Marshall, to
whom I had a letter of introduction. I found
him a very learned man, acquainted with many - .
languages, who in his old age wishes also to
learn our Armenian language. And I, the poor
sinful D." James Grigorenz, come here desiring
to See countries; and I was obliged to
remain here on account of the winter; be-
cause either by sea or by land this is not
the season to travel. If God gives me - help I
shall go on the first of April from hence to
our country, Armenia. Adieu, my Brethren, be
happy for the glory of our Lord J. C.” In ano-
- ther Manuscript, a Missal (N. 47, Arch) is
written: “I, Der (R., ) Hagop (James) Grigo-
renz, an Armenian Priest, wrote this little
-: treatise by request of the Most Illustrious D."
Marshal, in the city of Oxford, on the 8.* of
January, 1675, or according to the Armenian


The author's reason for going to England, was,
by his own confession, the desire to see the
world. About ten years later (1684) we find
James among our Armenian Colony, at Lemberg
in Poland, where he transcribed another Mis-
sal and a Ritual, at the end of which, writ-
ten in verses in his own language, he says:
I loved Poland, where in the town of Lwow
(Lemberg.) I wrote this Ritual Liturgy, and
offered it to my countrymen, for the use of the
priests, and finished it in the year of our Lord
1684. I, the most humble James, am called Gri-
gorenz (son of Gregory). Those who possess
this book so coarsely written, are entreated to
. pray for me its unworthy Author. ' We have
. no other information about our author than
that which he gives of himself in his work;
and what he says To little Boys shows
that he wore the Oriental costume while at
Oxford, as also a large beard, a terror to the .
English boys who avoided him as if he had
been a mecromancer.” These extracts will serve
to show that England's Eulogy, written by an



Armenian priest! – and such a priest!— must
be a strange work, and I earnestly advise such
of my readers as visit the convent, to purchase'
the work in the Convent Library. It costs a
trifling sum, and is, in many respects, a rare
treat.
But I must now take leave of the Doctors
of Penitence, in so far as they themselves are
concerned and return to Lord Byron, or rather
to the Blind Friar of whose confessions I have
already spoken. Perhaps the word “ Conſes-
sions " is not the best that could be used; but,
for the moment, I can find no better. “Confes-
sions or “ Gossip", - or whatever it is, –
the reader must decide, and he will find the whole
matter detailed in the next chapter. * -






ARMENIAN convent
.
visit to the Convent.
. —Countess Scholowska and her daughter, with
fessor of English in this city, and one of the
best I know. Our conductors were Father Ma-
s. thias, — the monk who is compiling the En-
glish and Armenian dictionary, - and Father
English, and an excellent missal-painter. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Poor old Nicholas (such was the name of . . . . " :
Chapter VI.
The Blind Friar's Confessions. -
I, the writer of this little volume, first saw
the blind old friar of St Lazarus in the year .
. 1868. It was late in the autumn, within a. day **
or two of the anniversary of Lord Byron's first -
My companions were three Polish ladies,
their ladies' maid, – and a young Italian gen-
". tleman, Signor Carlo Moretti; no relative of the
lady to whom this work is dedicated, but a pro-
James, the translater of Armenian works into
the Blind Friar of St Lazarus) a lay-brother














76 LoRD BYRON AT THE
- - stricken in years, and evidently the pet of the
community, sat in his chair in the sunlight,
counting his beads, and muttering a scrap of
prayer to keep his mind in order. Father Mathias
introduced us with these words spoken in Italian: . .
“Here are some strangers of all nations who
wish to speak with you about Lord Byron "
The old man's face, which was beginning to
be rather languid under the influence of his
prayer, immediately brightened up : “Bironi! ”
he exclaimed “Bironi! Oh, speak to me about
Bironi!" The beads fell to the ground and were
immediately picked up, blushingly, by the Coun-
tess' pretty daughter, and restored to the owner
with a kind smile, Brother Nicholas once more
exclaiming, as if his very life depended on our
reply: “Oh speak to me about milord Byron,
ſ my master who is in Heaven Speak to me
about him...... Why dontyou speak?" And then
querelously: “I cannot answer you unless you
speak to me ! Ask me questions } ask me as many ‘. . . .
&S you like and as often as you like; I will answer
them all!" The young lady then stepped for-


ARMENIAN convent 77
. . ward, and asked him in French: “ Was Lord
Byron very handsome, if you piease ? $ )
: — Eh! what? asked the Friar not catching
the words. - -
— The lady asks you whether Lord Byron
. was handsome 2 replied Father Mathias in Ar-
menian. • .
— Handsome Lord Bironi? Tell the lady
he was as beautiful as a Saint, but very yellow.
Oh yes dreadfully yellow .
This startled us all. Lord Byron beautiful
but yellow ! The young lady sighed, the Countess
crossed herself on hearing Lord Byron called
a Saint, and the ladies' maid fanned her for
several minutes to keep down her wrath.
— You waited on Lord Byron, I inquired,
did you not the during his stay in the convent?
— I did, replied the Blind Man, and he was
good to me, very good to us all. But the Turks,
how he hated the Turks,
Hereupon he began chuckling, as if he had . . .
a joke on his mind, which would not come out.
– Ask him about the apples, urged Father




Mathias; ask him to show you his knife He
has one in his pocket. . . . .
We asked him for the knife. He soon found
it somewhere in his vestments and opened the
large blade. -
— See! he exlaimed, this was the knife of
Lord Bironi. He used to cut apples with it,
but do you know what he said to me one day,
out there among the olive trees? “Here", he
cried “I am cutting an apple now, but this is
how I should like to cut off the Turks heads: "Yes
Bironi hated those people and at Missolunghi he
!' tried to cut off their heads! But he was yellow;
oh yes, dreadfully yellow. And do you know
why he was so yellow? he inquired.
— No 1 we replied in chorus. . . .
— Neither do I, replied the Friar grimly as he
put the knife back into his pocket; and again he
counted his beads, as if he had sinned in
speaking of sin, and began muttering a ser ap of
.* Before leaving the convent we heard - from
Brother Nicholas an account of Byron's quarrel


- ARMENIAN convext 70
with Padre Paschal, alluded to in a previous letter.
- After Byron had resided in the convent for º
some time, by special permission of the Abbot,
(who was also an Archbishop), and after he
had assisted Padre Paschal in the compilation
of the Armenian grammar, the poet proposed to
write a preface in English: which he did, as produc-
ed in this volume in a previous chapter. Padre
Paschal did not approve of the preface. He said
it was an attack on the Turkish Government,
whose flag protected the Convent, and declined
to accept it. - - - - -
i • — What! you refuse to print this preface .
because it is severe on your masters and op-
pressors ? Slaves and cowards ! You ought to
have hard masters; you are not worthy of the
great nation from which you sprang ! g
Padre Paschal remonstrated, but Byron, who,
- as the Blind Friar remarked, hated the Turks. -
beyond the limits of reason, knew no bounds to
his fury and exclaimed: . . . .
— Monks, not men you're cowards all, and
I know not what keeps me from beating you





80 LoRD BYRON AT THE
The Monk withdrew deeply offended and
Lord Byron soon afterwards quitted the convent,
— to return again, however, to ask and obtain
forgiveness of the Padre.
Among the souvenirs of Lord Byron in the
Island of St Lazarus are the four Cypress Trees
which he presented to the community. His knife
is preserved as a relic, and the table at which
he used to write is shown to visitors as a rare
and priceless treasure.
Before bidding good bye to the Blind Friar
of St. Lazarus, I asked him, in téte-a-tête, what
he meant by saying that Lord Byron, his ma–
ster, was a Saint in Heaven?
Prompt and startling was his reply; his face
flushed up to the temples; he grasped his
crutch as if it had been a sword (and he fit
to use it!) and said or rather shrieked the
following words: “Milord Bironi died for Greece,
but he died also for Armenia, ... He is a
* -. Saint in Heaven, for he cut off the heads of
the Turks ” I hurried away from the ol d man,
to join my gompanions, and left him counting




ARMENIAN CONVENT 81
his beads in the sunlight and muttering bits
of prayer for the welfare of his soul, and per-
haps also for the soul of Lord Byron whom
he loved tenderly. t
Before leaving the Island we made the tour
of the garden, escorted by the two monks, and
- receiving from Father Mathias a bouquet for
the ladies, and from Father James a few leaves
from the Olive Trees at the end of the island,
These trees are called the “ Olive Trees of
Lord Byron " because he loved to sit there -
of an evening with his face towards the East,
as represented (very touchingly) in one of Nerly's



Chapter VII.
Lord Byron's will and Codici.
- I include in this book, as promised on the
title page, the Will of Lord Byron, with the
Codicil, signed and sealed in Venice on the Seven- -
teenth of November 1818. • '
The Wifi
This is the last will and testament of me,
George Gordon, Lord Byron, Baron Byron of
Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster as fol—
lows: – I give and devise all that my manor
or lordship of Rochester, in the said county of -
Lancaster, contains, with all its rights, royal-
ties, members, and appartenances, and all my
lands, tenements, heriditaments, and premises
situate, lying, and being within the parish,
manor or lordship of Rochdale aforesaid, and
all my other estates, lands, hereditaments, and




ARMENIAN convent sº
premises. whatsoever and wheresoever, unto
my friends John Cam Hobhouse, late of Trinity
College, Cambridge, Esquire, and John Hanson.
: of Chancery Lane, London, Esquire, to the use
and behoof of them, their heirs and assigns.
upon trust that they, the said John Cam Hob-
house and John Hanson, and the survivor of
.. them, their heirs and assigns of each survivor,
-do, and shall, as soon as conveniently may be
after my decease, sell and dispose of all my
said manor and estates for the most money
that can or may be had or gotten for the same,
either by private contract or public sale or
by auction, and either together or in lots, as
. my said trustees shall think proper; and for -
the facilitating such sale and sales, I do direct
that the receipt and receipts of my said trust—
ees, and the survivor of them, and the heirs
and assigns of such survivor, shall be a good
and sufficient discharge, and good and sufficient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .”
discharges to the purchaser or purchasers of
my said estates, or any part or parts thereof.
for so much money as in such receipt or re-






84 LoRD BYRON AT THE
ceipts shall be expressed or acknowledged to
be received ; and that such purchaser or pur–
chasers, his, her, or their heirs and assigns,
shall not afterwards be in any manner answer-
able or accountable for such purchase-monies,
or qe obliged to see to the application thereof. -
And I do will and direct that my said trustees
shall stand possessed of the monies to arise by
the sale of my said estates upon such trusts
and for such intents and purposes as I have
hereinafter directed of and concerning the same:
And whereas I have by certain deeds of con-
veyance made on my marriage with my pre-
sent wife conveyed all my manor and estate.
of Newstead, in the parishes of Newstead and
Limby, in the county of Nottingham, unto trust-
ees, upon trust to sell the same, and apply
the sum of sixty thousand pounds, part of the
money to arise by such sale, upon the trusts
- of my marriage settlement: Now I do hereby
give and bequeath all the remainder of the
purchase-money to arise by sale of my said
estate at Newstead, and all the whole of the


said sixty thousand pounds, or such part there-
of as shall not become vested and payable
under the trusts of my said marriage settle-
ment, unto the said John Cam Hobhouse and
John Hanson, their executors, administrators,
and assigns, upon such trusts and for such
ends, intents, and purposes as hereinafter di-
rected of and concerning the residue of my
personal estate. I give and bequeath unto the
said John Cam Hobhouse and John Hanson,
the sum of one thousand pounds each. I give
and bequeath all the rest, residue, and remain-
der of my personal estate whatsoever and
wheresoever unto the said John Cam Hobhouse
- and John Hanson, their executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, upon trust that they, my , - '
said trustees and the survivor of them, and
the executors and administrators of such sur-
vivor, do and shall stand possessed of all such
rest and residue of my said personal estate ' ' ' , º,
and the money to arise by sale of my real ‘. . . . .
estates herein-before devised to them for sale,
and such of the monies to arise by sale of my


sº LoRD BYRON AT THE
said estate at Newstead as I have upon the
trusts and for the ends, intents, and debts and
legacies hereby given, power to dispose of
after payment of my purposes hereinafter
mentioned and directed of and concerning the
same, that is to say, upon trust, that they my
said trustees and the survivor of them, and the
executors and administrators of such survivor,
do and shall lay out and invest the same in -
the public stocks or funds, or upon government
or real security at interest, with power from
time to time to change, vary, and transpose
such securities, and from time to time during
the life of my sister Augusta Mary Leigh, the
wife of George Leigh, Esquire, pay, receive,
apply, and dispose of the interest, dividends,
and annual produce thereof, when and as the
same shall become due and payable, into the
proper hands of the said Augusta Mary Leigh,
to and for her sole and separate use and be-
nefit, free from the control, debts, or engage-
ments of her present or any future husband,




ARMENIAN convexT 87
sister shall from time to time, by any writing
under her hand, notwithstanding her present
or any future coverture, and whether covert
or sole, direct or appoint; and from and im-
. mediately after the decease of my said sister,
then upon trust, that they my said trustees
and the survivor of them, his executors or ad-
ministrators, do and shall assign and transfer
º all my said personal estate and other the trust
property hereinbefore mentioned, or the stocks,
funds, or securities wherein or upon which the
same shall or may be placed out or invested,
unto and among all and every the child and
children of my said sister, if more than one,
in such parts, shares, and proportions, and to
become a vested interest, and to be paid and
transferred at such time and times, and in such -
manner, and with, under, and subject to such
provision, conditions, and restrictions, as my
- said sister, at any time during her life, whe-
ther covert or sole, by any deed or deeds, in- . . .
strument or instruments, in writing, with or * , , .
without power of revocation, to be sealed and




delivered in the presence of two or more cre-
dible witnesses, or by her last will and testa-
ment in writing, or any writing of appointment
in the nature of a will, shall direct or appoint; -
and in default of any such appointment, or in
case of the death of my said sister in my life.
time, then upon trust that they my said trust-
ees and the survivor of them, his executors,
administrators, and assigns, do and shall assign
and transfer all the trust, property, and funds
unto and among the children of my said sister,
if more than one, equally to be divided be-
tween them, share and share alike, and if only
one such child. then to such only child the
shares and shares of such of them as shall be
a son or sons, to be paid and transferred unto
him and them when and as he or they shall
respectively attain his or their age or ages
of twenty-one years; and the share and shares
of such of them as shall be a daughter or daugh-
ters, to be paid and transferred unto her or unto
them when and as she or they shall respectively




ARMENIAN convPNT 89
one years, or be married, whichever shall first
happen; and in case any of such children shall
happen to die, being a son or sons, before he -
or they shall attain the age of twenty-one years,
or being a daughter or daughters, before she
or they shall attain the said age of twenty-one,
or be married ; then it is my will and I do
direct that the share and shares of such of the
said children as shall so die shall go to the
survivor or survivors of such children, with
. the benefit of further accruer in case of the
death of any such surviving children before
their shares shall become vested. And I do di-
rect that my said trustees shall pay and apply
the interest and dividends of each of the said
children's shares in the said trust funds for his,
her, or their maintenance and education during
- their minorities, notwithstanding their shares
may not become vested interests, but that such
interest and dividends as shall not have been
so applied shall accumulate, and follow, and go
- over with the principal. And I do nominate, con– -
stitute, and appoint the said John Cam Hoh-

. house and John Hanson executors of this my
will. And I do will and direct that my said
trustees shall not be answerable the one of º
them for the other of them, or for the acts,
deeds, receipts, or defaults of the other of them,
but each of them for his own acts, deeds, re-
ceipts, and wilful defaults only, and that they -
my said trustess shall be entitled to retain and
deduct out of the monies which shall come to
their hands under the trusts aforesaid all such
costs, charges, damages, and expenses which
they or any of them shall bear, pay, sustain,
or be put unto, in the execution and perfor-
mance of the trusts herein reposed in them. I
make the above provision for my sister and
her children, in consequence of my dear wife
Lady Byron, and any children I may have,
. . . . being otherwise amply provided for ; and, last-
ly, I do revoke all former wills by me at any
time heretofore made, and do declare this only
* . . . . to be my last will and testament. In witness
whereof. I have to this my last will, contained
in three sheets of paper, set my hand to the


ARMENIAN convent 9i ‘. . . . . . .
first two sheets thereof, and, to this third and . . . .
last sheet, my hand and seal this 29th day of
July, in the year of our Lord 1815.
- - BYRON (L. s.)
Signed, sealed, published, and declared by
• . the said Lord Byron, the testator, as and for
his last will and testament, in the presence of
us, who, at his request, in his presence, and in
the presence of each other, have hereto sub-
scribed our names as witnesses. .
Thomas Jones Mawse,
Edmund Griffin, -
Frederick Jervis, .
Clerks to Mr. Hanson, Chancery-lane.
The Codicil
This is a Codicil to the last will and testa-
ment of me, the Right Honourable George
Gordon, Lord Byron. — I give and bequeath . . . .
unto Allegra Biron, an infant of about twenty
months old, by me brought up, and now resid—
ing at Venice, the sum of five thousand
pounds, which I direct the executors of my said .



- - .*.*.* - * ,
will to pay to her on her attaining the age of
twenty-one years, or on the day of her mar-
: riage, on condition that she does not marry
with a native of Great Britain, which shall first .
. happen. And I direct my said executors, as soon
- as conveniently may be after my decease, to
invest the said sum of five thousand pounds
upon government or real security, and to pay -
. and apply the annual income thereof in or to-
wards the maintenance and education of the
said Allegra Biron, until she attains her said
age of twenty-one years, or shall be married
as aforesaid ; but in case she shall die before -
attaining the said age and without having been
. . . married, then I direct the said sum of five thou-
sand pounds to become part of the residue of
my personal estate, and in all other respects
I do confirm my said will, and declare this to
." be a codicil thereto. In witness wh ereof, I have
hereuato set my hand and seal, at Venice, this
17th day of November, in the year of our Lord,










ARMENIAN convent 93
#. Signed, sealed, published, and declared by
his will, in the presence of us, who, in his pre-
sence, at his request, and in the presence of
each other, have subscribed our names as wit-
is messes. - -
; :
; ;
Newton Hansom, -
" . . . . . . . . William Fletcher.
A Proved at London (with a Codicil), 6th of
J uly, 1824, before the Worshipful Stephen Lush-
ington, Doctor of Laws, and surrogate, by.
the said Lord Byron, as and for a codicil to
the oaths of John Cam Hobhouse and John
Hanson, Esquires, the executors, to whom ad–
ministration was granted, having been first
sworn duly to administer, -
Nathaniel Gostling,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . George Jenner,
Charles Dyneley,



Chapter VIII.
The Church and Convent Garden. -
Byron, though he seldom went to church,
either in England or in Italy, or elsewhere on
his travels, often entered the church of Mekhitar:
to meditate, if not to pray, and never to sneer
or criticise. Byron was no sectarian, but he
was religious (as Emmerson and Carlyle are
religious) and held sacred things in reverence,
— even the relics of monks and nuns, – ne–
ver forgetting that he, too, as a poet, was a
worshipper of the inner-spirit of Nature. Let
us enter the church where Byron sat; I could
show you the very spot, where, in the solitude
of the temple, he brooded on the nothingness
of human life.
The convent-church is simple, — not magnifi-
cent. But for the crosses and the pictures and the º
altars a presbyterian might pray here; (unfortu-
nately the Presbyterians do not believe that


ARMENIAN CONVENT 95.
God abides in any church built by Roman Catholics,
although, according to their own showing, He
exists everywhere) Mekhitar made it what it
- is, rebuilding it from the remains of a church
which had existed since the twelfth century. It
is of Gothic architecture, and was visited in
the year 1800, by Pope Pius VII, &S recorded
in Latin and Armenian inscriptions over the
º entrance. There are five altars. On the right
hand side of the High Altar is a picture of
- the Virgin Mary: a copy by John Emir (a Turk
converted by the Armenians) the original being
by Sassoferrato. Near one of the other altars
is a picture of Tiridates, the first Christian
Monarch of Armenia; and in other parts of the
church are pictures of St Mesrob (inventor of
the Armenian Alphabet), and St Isaac, a pa–
triarch, — not of the Jews but of the Armenians. .
The monks celebrate their rites, and pray) and
sing, and chaunt in their native language. , ,
The convent of St Lazarus, besides the
previous chapter, gives shelter to about thirty



96 LoRD BYRON AT THE
- boys and young men who, by study and devo-
tion, are preparing for the convent-life. They
are all Armenians by birth, and on Sundays
and other fête-days, take part in the services
of the church, clad in rich vestments and sing-
ing the monotonous hymns of their nation. On
grand occasions the archbishop in his robes of * .
state, (attended by the Deacons, and others,
attired befittingly) officiates at the high altar. -
After the church the most prominent part
. of the Convent is the Library, with its adjoin—
ing chambers. In one of the rooms is a ca-
binet of curiosities: coins, relics, etc. In other
rooms are portraits of Lord Byron, the antique
armour of a warrior, some Birmese Papyrus,
* -. an Egyptian Mummey, etc. Last, not least, are
the marble busts of two Popes and of Mekhitar
the founder of the convent. -
The monks are building a new museum
which, when completed, will be one of the most
attractive in this part of Italy. The ceiling is
decorated with alle gorical paintings by Signor
A. E. Pa oletti, one of the most int elligent of .

ARMENIAN convest 97
the rising painters of Venice, and the room is
already partly fitted up with curiosities.
I must not forget to state that the Convent
Library contains 30,000 volumes (chiefly in Ar-
menian), and that the Convent Printing Press
is daily at work printing new books, in almost
all the known languages of the world, Neither
must-I omit to call attention to the fact that
the library contains missals and manuscripts,
which are literally without price. No money can
purchase them (as no money can buy the relices
of Lord Byron) and only by special favour can ... "
they be examined, under the jealous eye of the
guardian priest.
º But I must also refer to the register.... All
visitors are expected to sign their names in this
day-book of the convent, each according to his,
or her nationality, and, sooth to say, the register -
is not the least curious of the many books col-
lected in the island. It would be curious to add
up the names of tourists, and find out how many . . . . . . . . . . .
- Englishmen, and how many Americans, have
visited the Convent.





The first person who signed his name in the
convent register was, if I mistake not, Lord Byron
himself. After him came Kings, and Queens, and
Emperors, and other illustrious persons, from all
parts of the world; but no name is more
honoured than that of Lord Byron, – no signa-
ture is more proudly shown to visitors - than
that of the English Apollo; he who, after Shaks-
peare, holds the noblest name in literature.
So will it ever be, both in the Convent and the
great world; king and queens will die, but
Byron, — already dead, - will live for ever



Chapter IX.
Abgar's Correspondence
My task is done, – or nearly done, – for
I must now keep the promise of my title page
and add, by way of appendix, the correspon-
dence which is said to have taken place
between Our Saviour and the King of the
Armenians : Abgar by name, a person of whom
historians in general have little to say.,
Ahgar to Our Saviour.
; : “Abgar, son of Archam, prince of the earth,
to Jesus, saviour and benefactor of men.
I have heard speak of thee and of the -
cures effected by thee, without remedies and
.. without plants; for, it is said of thee that thou
makest the blind to see and the lame to walk;
and thou curest lepors ; thou drivest away un-
clean spirits, and thou healest those unhappy
men who are afflicted by long and inveterate
$ Tº . . . . . . . .
*r ... • w


Joo LoRD BYRON AT THE
maladies ; it is said even that thou callest the
lead back to life. As I have heard speak of all
these prodigies effected by thee, I have come
to the conclusion that thou art God, descended
from Heaven to accomplish these great feats,
or that thon art the Son of God, thon who
performest these miracles In consequence of
this I have written to thee, beseeching thee to
deign to visit me, and cure me of the ills by
which I am afflicted. I have heard say also ,
that the Jews begin to murmur against thee,
. . . and wish to torture thee. I have a villa (or
fortress?) small but agreeable; it may suffice
for both of us.” . . . .
ſlur Saviour's Answer.
- * > . “Blessed is he who believeth in me without . . . .
seeing me! For it is written of me: “ Those . . . • ,
... " who see me shall not believe in me ; but
those who see me not shall believe, and live. w
As for what thou hast written to me, to come .
to thee; lo! I must accomplish here the work
for which I was sent, and when I have accom—






ARMENIAN convenT 101
plished it I shall ascend to Him who sent me;
and when I have departed I will send one of
my disciples who will cure thee of thy ills, and
give thee the Life Eternal: to thee and those who
• are with thee. ”
A belief exists in the Armenian Convent that
Lord Byron intended to translate these letters,
and that he actually began a translation of one
of them, but whether the letter of Abgar or
that of Our Saviour I have not been able to dis-
' ' - cover. What is very certain is this: Lord Byron - . . . . .
saw the letters in the original Armenian, and
spoke of them to Padre Paschal. I have been
. unable to discover any translation thereof in
º Byron's hand-writing, and I have therefore, — as
. a sorry substitute, – translated them myself. I am
not acquainted with any other version than mine
in the English language.
I may add, for the information of the curious, * .
that the letter written, – or said to have been
written, – by Our Saviour, is believed by the . . . . . . . . . . . .
Armenians to have been presented to Abgar, by
Abgar's own messenger Anan ; and that Our


- Saviour sent his portrait to Abgar : the same
now miraculonsly preserved in the town of
Edesse, in a church consacrated by Armenian
priests. The curious may furthermore be pleas–
ed to learn that Byron, during his residence
at Venice, expressed his firm belief in the ge-
nuineness of Armenian traditions, and told the
monks so, during his visits to the monastery.
But Byron's word will not, of course, be taken -
as an authority on religious matters, and I leave
the question as it is, for theologians to accept or
dismis it, as they think proper. To Byron and
his residence in this part of Italy I shall return
in another volume, entitled “ Lord Byron in
Venice." It is now in the press, and will shortly
be published, uniform in form and price with the
present work.




is renew he dº m A. R I I s rough it ſhe desk.
DO NOI RETURN B0060N SUNDAY
but but
JAN 16 2005 -


º:- Hºly

ſae
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