Epitaph to a Dog

When Boatswain contracted the disease, Byron reportedly nursed him without any fear of becoming bitten and infected.

[3] Near this Spot are deposited the Remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferosity, and all the virtues of Man without his Vices.

This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human Ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of Boatswain, a Dog who was born in Newfoundland May 1803 and died at Newstead November 18th 1808.

[4] When some proud Son of Man returns to Earth, Unknown to Glory but upheld by Birth, The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe, And storied urns record who rests below.

But the poor Dog, in life the firmest friend, The first to welcome, foremost to defend, Whose honest heart is still his Masters own, Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone, Unhonour'd falls, unnotic'd all his worth, Deny'd in heaven the Soul he held on earth.