nte; and every facility
having been afforded by the Resident, Sir Frederick Stoven, in
providing and sending transports to Missolonghi for that purpose, on
the morning of the 2d of May the remains were embarked, under a
mournful salute from the guns of the fortress:--"How different," says
Count Gamba, "from that which had welcomed the arrival of Byron only
four months ago!"

At Zante, the determination was taken to send the body to England;
and the brig Florida, which had just arrived there with the first
instalment of the Loan, was engaged for the purpose. Mr. Blaquiere,
under whose care this first portion of the Loan had come, was also
the bearer of a Commission for the due management of its disposal in
Greece, in which Lord Byron was named as the principal Commissioner.
The same ship, however, that brought this honourable mark of
confidence was to return with him a corpse. To Colonel Stanhope, who
was then at Zante, on his way homeward, was intrusted the charge of
his illustrious colleague's remains; and on the 25th of May he
embarked with them on board the Florida for England.

In the letter which, on his arrival in the Downs, June 29th, this
gentleman addressed to Lord Byron's executors, there is the following
passage:--"With respect to the funeral ceremony, I am of opinion that
his Lordship's family should be immediately consulted, and that
sanction should be obtained for the public burial of his body either
in the great Abbey or Cathedral of London." It has been asserted, and
I fear too truly, that on some intimation of the wish suggested in
this last sentence being conveyed to one of those Reverend persons
who have the honours of the Abbey at their disposal, such an answer
was returned as left but little doubt that a refusal would be the
result of any more regular application.[1]

[Footnote 1: A former Dean of Westminster went so far, we know, in
his scruples as to exclude an epitaph from the Abbey, because it
contained the name of Milton:--"a name, in his opinion," says
Johnson, "too detestable to be read on the wall of a building
dedicated to devotion."--_Life of_ MILTON.]

There is an anecdote told of the poet Hafiz, in Sir William Jones's
Life, which, in reporting this instance of illiberality, recurs
naturally to the memory. After the death of the great Persian bard,
some of the religious among his countrymen protested strongly against
allowing to him the right of sepulture, alleging, as their objectio