Cast

Lord Byron

Pietro Gamba

Teresa Guiccioli

William West

Mrs Catherine Potter Stith

​George Bancroft, passenger

Lady 2

Commodore Jones

Master in Command Wolcott Chauncey

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SCENE 1

 

Leghorn, 1822 - the American squadron prepares to meet a distinguished guest

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T: Amore mio - you will return to me, si? You will not feel the stirring of the Byron sea-blood, no - and escape the America?

B: Are you mad?! 'tis but a great honour to have the American Commodore invite me on board his Frigate - why 'twas commission by the great Cinninatus himself, Mr. Washington - I look forward to seeing her - Old Ironsides (chuckles) - and him​

T: So be it - here mio Byron (pins a red rose to his black frock-coat) - do not forget me amongst those American girls

B: there, my love - I shall not be long

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B and the tender approach the USS Constitution

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CJ: Ahoy there - over here! us first - don't mind the Ontario, they can wait

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CJ: Most welcome you are, Lord Byron - come on board!

B: Why, thank you Commander Jones - I am most conscious of the honour you do me

CJ: Ah, aint nothing for the poet of the land - and grandson of the Admiral - oh! stories, mt Lord, blood-curdling stories we have of that gallant sailor!

GB: And you father too - a gambler - soldier - of renown - (surveys deck) - yes, there is no-one he he owed money to

CJ: This is Mr. George Bancroft - a friend to many literary great this side of the pond

B: Indeed?

GB: Yes - just finished supping with Goethe - big fan - fancies you to be homicidal

B: Perhaps I can become enmeshed in some twine and you could furnish another horror out of that

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All laugh in a hearty manner

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CJ: Now, here is a young man worthy of remark  - this little boy was born on board of her by a sailor’s wife, Sally Jinn, over here!

SJ:  We christened him “Constitution Jones”

B: That is perfectly sound

SJ: Ah Sir – if he turns out but half as good as his name!

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B bows

​I guess

B: I cant help but remark, Commodore, I find your ships finer than your own of the same class – well manned & officered

CJ:

GB: You shall take luncheon with us

B: I thank you - but please, do visit me if when you chaance to set foot on land

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Gents bow

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CPS: I hope you won't think me to forward - my lord? Not to osure how to address a nobleman - for we have none in out own country

B: Why - that will do perfectly - may

CPS: I'm Mrs. Potter Stith - wife of Consul to Tunis - on our way back home, do you lnow

B: I am most plea...

CPS: As you are a favorite of all the folks back home - I feel sure you will not begrudge me this (removes B's red rose buttonhole) wished to send something which I had about me to America - as a memorial

B: Ah -er - most certainly (the reserved Englishman impressed by the fearless American) - I need not add that I feel the Compliment properly

GB(whispers): There is a kind of Lalla Rookh incident for you!

B: Not at all - I would rather wish for nod from an American, than a snuff-box from an emperor

CPS (to Sall): Why, he's so unpretending and natural - like a sensitive, gracefully bashful boy - a young Jove, hiding his thunderbolts

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The tender arrives to transport B to the Ontario - however, frigate becomes the epicentre of frenzied women competing for the rose leaves: “the ladies on board of the ship begged the leaves,” notes Emily Brandegee, “but the rose is still able to tell of that distinguished visitor.”

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SCENE 2

 

USS Ontario delivers a somewhat less restrained welcome with rather too much ceremony

 

I was invited by the Americans on board of their Squadron here – and received with the greatest kindness and – They have asked me to sit for my picture to an American Artist now in Florence. – a. – – They showed me an American edition of my poems &c. &c. – and all kinds of attention & good will. – – – – I also hear that as an author I am in great request in Germany. – All this is some compensation for the brutality of the native English. –​

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 more ceremony than I am fond of. – I found them finer ships than your own of the same class – well manned & officered. – A number of American gentlemen also were on board at the time {& some ladies.} –

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Captain Chauncey showed me an American and very pretty edition of my poems, and offered me a passage to the United States – if I would go there. – – Commodore Jones was also not less kind and attentive. – I have since received the enclosed letter desiring me to sit for my picture for some Americans. – {It} is a singular {that} in the same year that Lady Noel leaves by will an interdiction for my daughter to see her father’s portrait for many years – the individuals of a nation not remarkable for their liking to the English {in particular} – nor for flattering men in general, request me to sit for my “portraicture” – as Baron Bradwardine calls it.12

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I have been invited on board of the American squadron, and treated with all possible honour and ceremony. They have asked me to sit for my picture; and, as I was going away, an American lady took a rose from me (which had been given to me by a very pretty Italian lady that very morning), because, she said, ‘She was determined to send or take something which I had about me to America.’ There is a kind of Lalla Rookh incident for you! However, all these American honours arise, perhaps, not so  much from their enthusiasm for my ‘Poeshie,’ as their belief in my dislike to the English,—in which I have the satisfaction to coincide with them. I would rather, however, have a nod from an American, than a snuff-box from an emperor.

american consul Townshend Stith to tunis​

This rose also prompted the gift of a book. Indeed, the very next day, Byron sent a Faust to Mrs Stith, accompanied by a letter urging her to accept “a memorial less frail than that which you did me the honour of requiring yesterday.

One lady, of great personal beauty, put out her hand, and saying, “When I return to Philadelphia, my friends will ask for some token that I have spoken with Lord Byron,” she gently took a rose which he wore in the button-hole of his black frock-coat.11

he rose had been a gift from another woman that very morning (“given to me by a very pretty Italian lady”)

“He was pleased with her unaffected boldness, and the next day sent her a charming note and a copy of ‘Outlines to Faust’ as a more durable memento.”

On the American frigate, however, the incident became the epicentre of frenzied women competing for the rose leaves: “the ladies on board of the ship begged the leaves,” notes Emily Brandegee, “but the rose is still able to tell of that distinguished visitor.”

The book Byron asks her to accept from him “contains an outline and some designs from the famous Faust of Goëthe [sic]—which have been much admired both in Germany and England.”

This was not just any ship: her name, chosen by George Washington, made the frigate the symbol of the United States’ liberation from the imperial British yoke. Launched in 1797, she is one of the first six American navy battleships and the third to be built

yron’s letter to Mrs Stith echoes this: “I have also been ever a Wellwisher to your Country and Countrymen in common with all unprejudiced minds amongst my own.”

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A Day with Lord Byron. "^ A tangible reminder of the visit, a copy of Don Juan given to the visitor with the author's autograph on its fly-leaf, was one of the treasures of Bancroft's library, and finally passed with all his books to the Lenox Library in New York. For the substance of the Ledger article Bancroft evidently had recourse to the following passages from his journal.

From the Constitution he went to the Ontario, where Capt. Chauncy received him with most distinguished civility. A salute was fired, the yards were manned : and three cheers given in most glorious and clear union."

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SCENE 3

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B returns to the Villa Dupouy​

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T(reads): Mr. Bancroft, an American citizen, ventures to request the honour of waiting on Lord Byron tomorrow Morning

B: Mr. Bancroft - of course - I shall be very happy in your visit. Could you make it convenient about an hour hence — for I have been lazy to-day and am not yet drest — and (I am ashamed to say) hardly awake - Fletcher - send that to the Consitution

A Day with Lord Byron. "^ A tangible reminder of the visit, a copy of Don Juan given to the visitor with the author's autograph on its fly-leaf, was one of the treasures of Bancroft's library, and finally passed with all his books to the Lenox Library in New York. For the substance of the Ledger article Bancroft evidently had recourse to the following passages from his journa

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Whenever an American requests to see me (which is not unfrequently), I comply: 1stly, because I respect a people who acquired their freedom by firmness without excess; and 2ndly, because these trans-atlantic visits, “few and far between,” make me feel as if talking with Posterity from the other side of the Styx. In a century or two, the new English and Spanish Atlantides will be masters of the old Countries in all probability, as Greece and Europe overcame their Mother Asia in the older, or earlier ages as they are called.