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Sex, Seduction, and Secret Societies:
Byron, the Carbonari and Freemasonry
Dr David Harrison b
The eighteeneth century was a period Eater after his auto-biographical work L
which witnessed the development that detailed his addiction to laudanum. t
of English Freemasonry as a social De Quincey wrote the Origin of the o
phenomenon, with the society undrergoing Rosicrucians and the Free-Masons which F
constant transitions, modernisations and was fi rst published in January 1824, c
rebellions. a work that attempted to examine the T
origins of these entwined secret societies. T
The society had split into two main rival Though de Quincey was not a Mason, a
factions in 1751, with two grand lodges like Byron, he was aware of Freemasonry, P
existing, the Moderns and the Antients, the history and the nature of secret t
and as a result the society expanded, with societies providing a profound interest. w
Masonic lodges by both organisations De Quincey, like the poets William Blake
being founded throughout England, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, also drew
Europe and the American colonies. inspiration from the works of Emmanuel
Fig. 1: George Gordon Byron, 6th Swedenborg, the Swedish visionary
Baron Byron by Richard Westall who later lent his name to the Masonic
The infl uence of the society on artists, Swedenborgian Rite. 1
writers and free thinkers was immense, and this paper Freemasonry certainly attracted poets such as Robert
will examine the infl uence of the Craft on one particular Burns, a Scottish Mason who is often observed as a
writer and revolutionary, the Romantic poet George pioneer of the Romantic Movement.
Gordon Byron, the 6th Baron Byron.
George Gordon Byron (fi g. 1) was born in 1788, and is Fig. 3: Dr. John William Polidori r
(1795-1821) by F.G. Gainsford
regarded as a leading fi gure in the Romantic movement i H
as well as one of Britains greatest poets. Byron also The Poet and artist William
became known for his scandelous lifestyle, aristocratic Blake was also infl uenced by i
excesses, and sexual and social intrigues, but even Freemasonry in his artwork,
though he was not a Freemason, he did, as weshall see, incorporating what can be S
w
have rather deep rooted connections to the society. After interpreted as Masonic themes
the publication of his fi rst epic poem Childe Harold’s in works such as Newton and d
h
2
Pilgramage (fi g. 2) in 1812, Byron was, for a time, the The Ancient of Days. Another
toast of Regency London; he was elected to the most writer and friend of Byron’s i a
exclusive of gentlemen’s clubs, he had aff airs with who was a Freemason was Dr.
desirable women, an affi ar with Lady Caroline Lamb led John William Polidori (fi g. a
w
to her to label him with the imortal 3). Polidori was Byron’s personal
line ‘Mad, bad and dangerous to physician who wrote the short Gothic N
o
know’. Byron also took an interest in story The Vampyre, which was the
the same sex and was also rumoured fi rst ever published Vampire story a
to have had an aff air with his half in English. The story was based on
sister. The scandals, rumours and Byron’s Fragment of a Novel – a story
gossip led to him leaving England for composed at the Villa Diodati by Lake c
good in 1816. Geneva in Switzerland in June 1816, o
during the same time Mary Shelley
Freemasonry certainly fascinated produced what would later develop b
another writer who was linked to into Frankenstein. Polidori became a M
o
3
the Romantic movement; Thomas de Freemason in 1818, his story being
Quincey, also known as the Opium Fig. 2: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage examines published the following year. 4
the theme of ancient architecture and the
search for lost knowledge
1 See David Harrison, ‘Thomas De Quincey: The Opium Eater and the Masonic Text’, AQC, Vol. 129, (2016), pp.276-281. See also H.J. Jackson,
‘‘Swedenborg’s Meaning is the truth’ Coleridge, Tulk, and Swedenborg’, In Search of the Absolute: Essays on Swedenborg and Literature
(Swedenborg Society, 2004). For the infl uence of Swedenborg on Blake see Peter Ackroyd, Blake, (London: QPD, 1995), pp.101-104. Ackrord
discusses how Blake eventually turned against Swedenborg.
2 David Harrison, The Genesis of Freemasonry, (Hersham: Lewis Masonic, 2009), p.97. See also Ackroyd, Blake, p.185-187.
3 Polidori was a member of the Norwich based Union Lodge No. 52, Initiated on the 31st March 1818, Passed on the 28th April 1818 and Raised
on the 1st June 1818.