I have somewhere met with a commentary on this to the following effect: 

The Christian religion, in the time of Adrian, was rapidly spreading throughout the empire, and the doctrine of gaining eternal life by the expiatory offering was openly preached.  The Egyptian priests, who pretended to be in possession of all knowledge, affected to be acquainted with this mystery also.  The emperor was, by his taste and his vices, attached to the old religion; but he trembled at the truths disclosed by the revelation; and in this state of apprehension, his thirst of knowledge and his fears led him to consult the priests of Osiris and Isis; and they impressed him with a notion that the infernal deities would be appeased by the sacrifice of a human being dear to him, and who loved him so entirely as to lay down his life for him.  Antinous, moved by the anxiety of his imperial master, when all others had refused, consented to sacrifice himself; and it was for this devotion that Adrian caused his memory to be hallowed with religious rites.

{255} Mr Hobhouse has assured me that this information is not correct.  “I happen,” says he, “to know that Lord Byron offered to give the Guiccioli a sum of money outright, or to leave it to her by his will.  I also happen to know that the lady would not hear of any such present or provision; for I have a letter in which Lord Byron extols her disinterestedness, and mentions that he has met with a similar refusal from another female.  As to the being in destitute circumstances, I cannot believe it; for Count Gamba, her brother, whom I knew very well after Lord Byron’s death, never made any complaint or mention of such a fact:  add to which, I know a maintenance was provided for her by her husband, in consequence of a law process, before the death of Lord Byron.”

{291a} The calenture.

{291b} The Swiss air.

{319} The doctor evidently makes a mistake in confounding Sir William Hamilton with Sir William Drummond.

{354} Fletcher’s narrative implies at six that evening, the 19th April, 1824.

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