Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog
When Byron's beloved dog Boatswain died, Byron commissioned a monument for his dog to be built on the grounds of Newstead Abbey, the ancestral Byron family home located in Nottinghamshire, England (near the fabled Sherwood Forest, of Robin Hood fame). The monument has a crypt beneath it, where Boatswain's body was interred and where Byron intended his own corpse to be placed when he died. Byron was never buried here, but Boatswain was. (To this day, the crypt is checked every 25-30 years; at last report, Boatswain's collar was still intact, although his body has long since turned to dust.)
Below are images of Boatswain's monument as it appears today — note the urn on top — including several showing the monument being visited by several modern-day Newfs!
Here is the full text of the poem inscribed on the monumnet.
For another monument involving Boatswain and Byron, this one with literal depictions of the poet and his dog, check out this page at The Cultured Newf.
