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On the sixth day they fed upon his hide,

And Juan, who had still refused, because
The creature was his father's dog that died,
Now feeling all the vulture in his jaws,
With some remorse received (though first denied)
As a great favour one of the fore paws,
Which he divided with Pedrillo, who

Devoured it, longing for the other too.'

After enduring hardships, the mere relation of which is frightful, the remnant of the ship's crew, reduced by various desertions to only five persons, were carried by some Indians to the island of Chiloe. Mr. Byron and Captain Cheap were of this party. The apprehensions which they had reasonably enough entertained of rough usage from the inhabitants of Chiloe turned out to be unfounded: they were treated with great humanity, and, for the first time since their shipwreck, had sufficient food to satisfy their hunger. From the island of Chiloe they were taken to Castro, where the Spanish corregidor of the town gave them to understand that they, being Englishmen, were prisoners to the government of Spain. Here, however, they were also kindly treated, and had a plentiful supply of food: but such an impression had their former privations made upon them, that their appetites seem to have increased to an ungovernable degree, and to have overcome all notions of decency and propriety, even in men whose education and habits had taught them to observe the customs of civilized life. Such a strange thing is human nature, and so nearly do its mere passions ally it to the brutes that perish! Mr. Byron says, speaking of The amazing quantity which he and his companions ate, 'It is amazing that our eating to that excess we had done, from the time we first got among these kind Indians, had not killed us; we were never satisfied, and used to take all opportunities for some months after of filling our pockets when we were not seen, that we might get up two or three times in the night to cram ourselves. Captain Cheap used to declare that he was quite ashamed of himself.' At Castro, Mr. Byron seems to have made an impression on the niece of a rich old priest, of whom she was the reputed heiress. This young lady,' he says, 'did me the honour to take more notice of me than I deserved; and proposed to her uncle to convert me, and afterwards begged his consent to marry me. As the old man doted upon her, he readily agreed to it; and, accordingly on the next visit I made him, acquainted me with the young lady's proposal, and his approbation of it, taking me at the same time into

room where there were several chests and boxes, which be unlocked ; first showing me what a number of fine clothes his niece had, and then his own wardrobe, which he said should be mine at his death. Amongst other things, he produced a piece of linen, which he said should immediately be made up into shirts for me. I own this last article was a great temptation to me: however, I had the resolution to withstand it, and made the best excuses I could for not accepting of the honour they intended me; for by this time I could speak Spanish well enough to make myself understood.'

The confession which he makes of the difficulty he had to withstand the temptation of the shirts is a proof how far the love of clean linen will carry a man.

At length the prisoners, whom the death of two had reduced to Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr. Hamilton, were taken to Chili in the beginning of 1743, where Mr. Byron was hospitably entertained for nearly two years in the house of Don Patricio Gedd, a physician of Scotch family, settled at that place. On the 20th of December, 1744, they were put on board the Lys, a French frigate belonging to St. Malo, and, after a voyage of twelve months, were landed in Brest harbour. They thence obtained a passage in a Dutch vessel; and, being boarded by the boat of an English ship, they were carried to Dover. The narrative concludes in the following manner :—

'Captain Masterson immediately sent one of the cutters he had with him to land us at Dover, where we arrived that afternoon, and directly set out for Canterbury upon post-horses; but Captain Cheap was so tired by the time he got there that he could proceed no farther that night. The next morning he still found himself so much fatigued that he could ride no longer; therefore it was agreed that he and Mr. Hamilton should take a post-chaise, and that I should ride: but here an unlucky difficulty was started; for, upon sharing the little money we had, it was found to be not sufficient to pay the charges to London; and my proportion fell so short, that it was, by calculation, barely enough to pay for horses, without a farthing for eating a bit upon the road, or even for the very turnpikes. Those I was obliged to defraud, by riding as hard as I could through them all, not paying the least regard to the men, who called out to stop me. The want of refreshment I bore as well as I could. When I got to the Borough I took a coach and drove to Marlborough Street, where my friends had lived when I left England; but, when I came there, I found the house shut up. Having been absent so many years, and in all that time

never having heard a word from home, I knew not who was dead or who was living, or where to go next, or even how to pay the coachman. I recollected a linen-draper's shop, not far from thence, which our family had used: I therefore drove there next, and, making myself known, they paid the coachman. I then inquired after our family, and was told my sister had married Lord Carlisle, and was at that time in Soho Square. I immediately walked to the house, and knocked at the door; but the porter not liking my figure, which was half French, half Spanish, with the addition of a large pair of boots covered with dirt, he was going to shut the door in my face; but I prevailed with him to let me come in.

'I need not acquaint my readers with what surprise and joy my sister received me. She immediately furnished me with money sufficient to appear like the rest of my countrymen till that time I could not be properly said to have finished all the extraordinary scenes which a series of unfortunate adventures had kept me in for the space of five years and upwards.'

The sister of whom he speaks was Isabella Countess of Carlisle-a lady who was distinguished more for that eccentricity of manners which seems to have run in the family than for her poetical talent, of which she was somewhat proud. She wrote the Answer to Mrs. Greville's ingenious Prayer for Indifference,' which is published along with that poem in some of the collections: she is said also to have been the author of some clever letters on the Education of Daughters. The present Earl of Carlisle is the son of this lady, the author of some tragedies which are sufficiently bad; but not so bad as to justify his noble relative, and the subject of our work, in putting his kinsman and guardian among such company as occupy the following lines in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers :'

'Let Stott, Carlisle, Matilda, and the rest

Of Grub Street and of Grosvenor Place the best-
Scrawl on till death release us from the strain
Or Common Sense assert her rights again.'

To return, however, to Commodore Byron-the perils which he had passed, great as they were, could not turn him from the profession of his choice. He continued in the service, and was promoted to the rank of captain. In the year 1758 the command of a small squadron was given to him, and he sailed for North America with the rank of Commodore of the British Ships off Louisbourg. He was employed

to destroy the fortifications of that place, and to remove the stores to Halifax, which commission he executed.

In 1764, when the project of ascertaining whether there actually existed a southern continent became popular, Commodore Byron was thought the person best qualified to conduct an expedition for that purpose. He bent his course towards the coast where he had suffered so much before, and there had a friendly interview with some of the gigantic people who inhabit it. He afterwards took possession of the largest of Falkland's Islands; and having satisfactorily fulfilled his mission, and circumnavigated the globe, he returned home.

He was afterwards promoted to the rank of admiral, and employed in the American war; but such was the singular fatality which attended him, that the weather always prevented his bringing the enemy to an engagement. His talents and his courage were beyond al! question; but his ill luck was so constant and so notorious, that the nickname of 'Foul-weather Jack' was bestowed on him throughout the fleet. It was for this reason that the sailors in general were unwilling to sail with him; and notwithstanding his kindness to all their wants and interests, which engaged their affection and respect for hin, they had so strong a superstition that foul weather must attend him wherever he went, that they would scarcely ever willingly enter his ships.

It was not, however, in his professional career that he was only unhappy his domestic connexions were productive of the greatest affliction to him. One of his daughters married William, the fifth Lord Byron, whose fatal duel with Mr. Chaworth we have already mentioned, and by whom she was treated with the greatest brutality. They had no children, and it was in failure of their issue that the late Lord Byron succeeded to the title.

The admiral's eldest son was another source of misery to his father, and, indeed, to every one with whom he was in any degree connected. He was born in the year 1751; and after having passed through Westminster school, where he was educated, with the reputation of having excellent parts, but very little disposition to cultivate them, his father bought him a commission in the Guards. He devoted himself to that irregularity and debauchery, which was even then more common among young men of fashion than it is at the present day. He was shunned by all sober men, feared even by his associates, and of course loved by all the ladies of high rank and light character in town. He seems, indeed, to have been eminently qualified to catch the hearts of

Without one

the fair, for he was handsome, brave, and a libertine. atom of feeling or principle, he pursued his amours for the two-fold purpose of satisfying his passions and supplying his purse. It was not the beauty of his fair innamorate that contented him, but he levied pecuniary contributions on them also; and thus made his intrigues of the back stairs supply the frequent draughts which the gaming-table made on his finances. Husbands in high life have in general so much regard for their own throats, and such laudably philosophical notions respecting their wives' chastity, that they wink at 'chartered libertines' like Jack Byron. They knew that he would be quite as ready to fight them as to lie with their wives; and being unquestionably very valiant, but not less discreet, they thought fit to suffer him to hold on in his career unchecked. In the mean time, however, it was ruin to a young man to associate with him; and no women but those whose reputations were already beyond suspicion could suffer even his acquaintance with impunity.

His amour with the ill-fated Lady Carmarthen excited a great share of the public attention, and so much indignation against him, that instead of being feared by one description of persons, and reprobated by others, he became universally hated and despised. The poor lady, who paid the penalty of her crime by a broken heart and early death, commanded the sympathy of every feeling mind, notwithstanding the folly and the fault she had committed.

Lady Carmarthen was the only daughter of the Earl of Holdernesse, and was married at the age of nineteen to the Marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards Duke of Leeds, he being then only two-and-twenty years

It appears that the marriage was one purely of affection; the equality of age and rank gave every promise of future happiness, and for some years after their union this promise was fulfilled. They had three children between November, 1773, when they were married, and 1778, when Lady Carmarthen unfortunately became acquainted with Captain Byron. Up to the latter period there can be no doubt that the affection of Lord and Lady Carmarthen was entirely reciprocal. Her ladyship, indeed, gave one proof of it on her own part, which is calculated to cause still greater pity for the suffering which her guilty yielding to her seducer afterwards brought upon her. The Marquis was seized with a violent fever, in consequence of which his life was in imminent danger. Her ladyship, during the whole of his illness, never left his bedside; to her unremitting assiduity he was indebted for the preservation of his life, and her own was placed in great peril in conse

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