To attempt to describe how the intelligence of this sad event struck upon all hearts would be as difficult as it is superfluous.  He, whom the whole world was to mourn, had on the tears of Greece peculiar claim,—­for it was at her feet he now laid down the harvest of such a life of fame.  To the people of Missolonghi, who first felt the shock that was soon to spread through all Europe, the event seemed almost incredible.  It was but the other day that he had come among them, radiant with renown,—­inspiring faith, by his very name, in those miracles of success that were about to spring forth at the touch of his ever-powerful genius.  All this had now vanished like a short dream:—­nor can we wonder that the poor Greeks, to whom his coming had been such a glory, and who, on the last evening of his life, thronged the streets, enquiring as to his state, should regard the thunder-storm which, at the moment he died, broke over the town, as a signal of his doom, and, in their superstitious grief, cry to each other, “The great man is gone!"[1]

[Footnote 1:  Parry’s “Last Days of Lord Byron,” p. 128.]

Prince Mavrocordato, who of all best knew and felt the extent of his country’s loss, and who had to mourn doubly the friend of Greece and of himself, on the evening of the 19th issued this melancholy proclamation:—­

“PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF WESTERN GREECE.

“ART. 1185.

“The present day of festivity and rejoicing has become one of sorrow and of mourning.  The Lord Noel Byron departed this life at six o’clock in the afternoon, after an illness of ten days; his death being caused by an inflammatory fever.  Such was the effect of his Lordship’s illness on the public mind, that all classes had forgotten their usual recreations of Easter, even before the afflicting event was apprehended.

“The loss of this illustrious individual is undoubtedly to be deplored by all Greece; but it must be more especially a subject of lamentation at Missolonghi, where his generosity has been so conspicuously displayed, and of which he had even become a citizen, with the further determination of participating in all the dangers of the war.

“Every body is acquainted with the beneficent acts of his Lordship, and none can cease to hail his name as that of a real benefactor.

“Until, therefore, the final determination of the National Government be known, and by virtue of the powers with which it has been pleased to invest me, I hereby decree,—­

“1st, To-morrow morning, at daylight, thirty seven minute guns will be fired from the Grand Battery, being the number which corresponds with the age of the illustrious deceased.

“2d, All the public offices, even the tribunals, are to remain closed for three successive days.

“3d, All the shops, except those in which provisions or medicines are sold, will also be shut; and it is strictly enjoined that every species of public amusement, and other demonstrations of festivity at Easter, shall be suspended.