BYRON AND CHILLON

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1913, Page 10

BYRON AND CHILLON

Nearly a century ago, June, 1816, Byron wrote "The Prisoner of Chillon." The Hey.. Thomas Hannan, anticipating the centenary of the poem, has an interesting article on Byron and the Chateau do Chillon in tho English Illustrated Magazine. In the month of April, 1816, Byron left i England, passing through Brussels, whence he Visited the field of Waterloo, and it is said that •it was during this "Visit to Brussels that he wrote the stanzas in "Childe Harold',s Pilgrimage" dealing with the • great battle. From Brussels he proceeded up tho Rhine to 'Bale, and thence "to Berne, Lausartne, and Geneva. At Geneva he met Shelley, and the two poets spent most of their time together on the lake. Below Lausanne, by the side of the lake, lies Ouchy. Here Byron was detained two days by bad weather, and here it was he wrote "The Prisoner of Chillon." Probably he had just visited the castle, with its pillared vaults and ancient halls, and apparently he wrote at once' while the inspiration was still upon him. There 13, explains the writer, a lack of corres Ipo'ndence between the atory .as told in the.poom and the story as told ,by history, and this proclaims the suddenness and completeness of the inspiration. Byron's story is full of pathos, but it is not the historical account of Bonnivard. The Duke of Savoy put Bonnivard in prison at Grolee and kept him in captivity for two years, not as a prisoner for religion, but entirely for affairs of State. In 1530, when on a journey, Bonnivard was seized by robbers, who handed him' over to the Duke. On this occasion he was confined in the Castle of Chillon, and he remained there without trial till 1536. In that year the Castle was captured by the inhabitants of Berne, at war with the Duke, and Bonnivard was released. Returning to Geneva, he found the city was now free and, that it had embraced the principles of the Reformation. He was made a citizen, and in 153? became a member of the Council of the Two Hundred. History says nothing of his father having been persecuted, and there is no record of any brothers. It does not even say that Bonnivard was chained to a pillar in a dungeon of the Castle. 'All this, however, does not detract from tho beauty of the poem, the story of which will continue to" appeal to every lover of liberty. • and the Castle will remain' to attract multitudes -"to the eoerie of 'ib& heart-rending tragedy,,