Life
, pp. 99, 100),
"I saw a flight of twelve eagles (H. says they were vultures — at least in conversation), and I seized the omen. On the day before I composed the lines to Parnassus (in Childe Harold), and, on beholding the birds, had a hope that Apollo had accepted my homage. I have at least had the name and fame of a poet during the poetical part of life (from twenty to thirty); — whether it will last is another matter."
(For the lines to Parnassus, see
Childe Harold
, Canto I. stanzas lx.-lxii.) To this journey belongs another incident, recorded by Byron.
"The last bird I ever fired at was an eaglet, on the shore of the Gulf of Lepanto, near Vostizza. It was only wounded, and I tried to save it, — the eye was so bright. But it pined, and died in a few days; and I never did since, and never will, attempt the death of another bird."
Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander John Ball (1757-1809), who belonged to a Gloucestershire family, entered the navy, inspired by