Abstract
We walked along the shore to the grave, where Byron and Hunt soon joined us; they, too, had an officer and soldiers from the tower of Migliarino, an officer of the Health Office, and some dismounted dragoons, so we were surrounded by soldiers; but they kept the ground clear, and readily lent their aid. There was a considerable gathering of spectators from the neighbourhood, and many ladies richly dressed were amongst them. The spot where the body lay was marked by the gnarled root of a pine tree.
Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author, I, 206–14.
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Notes
On Trelawny, see p. 27. Shelley and Williams set off from Leghorn in the sailing-boat Don Juan on 8 July 1822 and were never seen alive again. Their bodies were found washed ashore on 16 and 18 July and were promptly buried on the beach in accordance with local health regulations. That of Williams was exhumed and cremated on 15 August and that of Shelley on the following day. Trelawny wrote at least a dozen accounts of the episode, the first almost immediately afterwards (see note 1), the last in 1878. See Leslie A. Marchand, ‘Trelawny on the Death of Shelley’, Keats-Shelley Memorial Bulletin, IV (1952) 9–34. In his Journal, under the date 12 July 1828 (p. 178), Thomas Moore describes Byron’s premonition of Shelley’s death: according to Moore’s informant, Byron had told him that he had seen Shelley ‘walking into a little wood at Lerici, when it was discovered afterwards that Shelley was at that time in quite another direction. “This”, said Byron, in a sort of awe-struck voice, “was about ten days before his death.”’
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© 1985 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Trelawny, E.J. (1985). The Cremation of Williams and Shelley. In: Page, N. (eds) Byron. Interviews and Recollections. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06632-2_34
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