Byron and Shelley belonged to a group of poets who were influenced by the French Revolution. Byron's love of freedom was so great that he aided Italy, and finally died from a fever contracted at Missolonghi, where he had gone to aid the Greek revolutionists. The following sonnet, which was prefixed to The Prisoner of Chillon, gives an idea of Byron's love of liberty.
Sonnet of Chillon
"Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind! Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art, For there thy habitation is the heart— The heart which love of thee alone can bind; And when thy sons to fetters are consigned— To fetters, and the damp vault's dayless gloom, Their country conquers with their martyrdom, And Freedom's fame finds wings on every wind.
"Chillon! thy prison is a holy place, And thy sad floor an altar—for 'twas trod, Until his very steps have left a trace Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod, By Bonnivard!—May none those marks efface! For they appeal from tyranny to God."
[ [107] 4. Sudden fears. Marie Antoinette's hair has been said to have turned gray on the return from Varennes to Paris. It certainly turned gray very quickly during the anxiety of the Revolution.
[ [108] 22. Sealed. How?
[ [109] 27.Chillon has seven Gothic-looking pillars, i.e. a pillar that holds up Gothic-style arches.[Note missing in original text.]
[ [110] 35. Marsh's meteor lamp; will o' the wisp.
[ [111] 38. Cankering thing. What does canker do?