Published 28 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4098
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4098
Views & Reviews
Between the Lines
Poet scorner
Theodore Dalrymple, writer and retired doctor
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
It pains me to have to admit it, but not every member of our profession who ever lived was endowed with a sense of humour. Among those who were not is James Kennedy, author of Conversations on Religion with Lord Byron and Others, Held in Cephalonia, a Short Time Previous to His Lordship’s Death, published posthumously in 1830.
Dr Kennedy was a military doctor stationed in the Ionian island of Cephallonia when Lord Byron arrived. An earnest evangelical, Dr Kennedy sought to convert his lordship to Christianity, a thankless task. He did not see the irony of it.
According to the doctor, Byron was always prone to say what was witty or "smart"; truth was with him a secondary consideration. He reports that Byron was in favour of the current pope, for example, and said of him, "I like his holiness very much, particularly since an order, which I
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