Like Elizabeth von Arnim (of the Saunterer’s previous post), Lord Byron knew the same unsurpassed value of dogs. The inscription he composed for the burial monument of his dog Boatswain reads:
Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
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 Newfoundland, May, 1803,
And died at Newstead, Nov 18th, 1808.
For a brief biography of Lord Byron, click here.
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