File:The Byron Memorial Statue in Hyde Park - ILN 1888.jpg

English: The Byron Memorial Statue in Hyde Park. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 28 January 1888. A reprint of the same engraving from the earlier issue published by The Illustrated London News on 18 November 1882. Mr. T. Belt, sculptor.

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BYRON MEMORIAL STATUE. We give an Illustration of the design adopted by the Committee of the proposed Byron Memorial for the bronze statue to be erected in Piccadilly The sculptor is Mr. Richard Belt, who was a pupil of the late Mr. J. H. Foley, R.A., and a student of the Royal Academy. The first public work executed by him was a bust of the late Charles Kingsley for Chester Cathedral, which was in the Royal Academy Exhibition last year, and for a copy of which the sculptor was honoured with a commission by her Majesty the Queen. Among other works already intrusted to Mr. Belt are the monuments of Isaac Walton for Stafford, that of the late Canon Conway, for Westminster and Charlton, and one of Dr. Jabez Burns. The design of Mr. Belt for the Byron Monument requires no explanation; but we suppose the noble animal which ere accompanies his master, as in Sir Walter Scott's monument at Edinburgh, is meant for one that we know actually belonged to the noble poet. The reader will not have forgotten, in Byron's " Hours of Idleness," some lines for inscription on the tomb of a Newfoundland dog at Newstead Abbey:- But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend, The first to welcome; foremost to defend ; Whose honest heart is still his master's own, Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone, Unhonoured falls, unnoticed all his worth, Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth.