Image ID: 21377

Newstead Abbey, Boatswain's Memorial

Courtesy of Sue Hardy

Newstead Abbey
Newstead Abbey
England

Lord Byron had a variety of pets, (an interest he acquired from his eccentric predecessor who had kept a wolf at Newstead!). The best known of Byron's animal companions is Boatswain, whose portrait is displayed at the Abbey. Byron always refers to him as a Newfoundland, but according to animal historian Gerald Pendred, the ears, coat and head-shape of the handsome black and white dog shown in the picture suggest some husky blood. Certainly he was - like his master - a strong swimmer. A tenant farmer told that whilst by the Upper Lake at Newstead he sometimes saw the poet 'get into the boat with his two noble Newfoundland dogs, row into the middle of the lake, then dropping the oars tumble over into the middle of the water. The faithful animals would immediately follow, seize him by the coat collar, one on each side, and bear him away to land'. Perhaps the second dog was 'Thunder'. Mrs. Francis, a former servant at the Abbey, wrote that two rather battered brass collars still shown at Newstead were damaged through the dogs scraps with Byron's bear. She recorded that Thunder 'though the largest dog, was not so courageous, and could seldom be induced to face the bear'. The same Mrs. Francis tells the sad tale of how Boatswain, being in the habit of following the postboy to Mansfield, was bitten by a rabid dog in the town and fell ill. Moore, Byron's biographer, writes how, as the dog foamed at the mouth, the grief stricken poet gently wiped away the slaver with his own hands. Despite his many debts, Byron commissioned an impressive marble monument for his canine friend, - the only piece of building Byron ever carried out at Newstead, and the dog was buried in a garden vault amongst the old Abbey ruins. The carved epitaph is engraved as follows; '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. When some proud son of man returns to earth, Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth, The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe, And storied urns record who rest below: When all is done, upon the tomb is seen, Not what he was, but what he should have been: But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend, The first to welcome, foremost to defend, Whose honest heart is still his master's own, Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone, Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth, Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth: While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven, And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven. Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour, Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power, Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust, Degraded mass of animated dust! Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat, Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit! By nature vile, ennobled but by name, Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame. Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn, Pass on, it honours none you wish to mourn: To mark a friend's remains these stones arise; I never knew but one, and here he lies.

Date: 1980 - 1990

Organisation Reference: NCCW000662

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