Byron reputedly drank wine from a goblet made from a human skull. this goblet is now buired in the grounds in an unmarked location. He even wrote a poem about it. the skull above is part of a dice game for young visitors to play. I like the simple symbols and the chance/ fortune telling element of the game. Ive made a few sketches of this skull and would like to add it to a plate design.
Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed from a Skull
Start not—nor deem my spirit fled:
In me behold the only skull
From which, unlike a living head,
Whatever flows is never dull.
I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee:
I died: let earth my bones resign;
Fill up—thou canst not injure me;
The worm hath fouler lips than thine.
Better to hold the sparkling grape,
Than nurse the earth-worm's slimy brood;
And circle in the goblet's shape
The drink of Gods, than reptiles' food.
Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,
In aid of others' let me shine;
And when, alas! our brains are gone,
What nobler substitute than wine?
Quaff while thou canst—another race,
When thou and thine like me are sped,
May rescue thee from earth's embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.
Why not? since through life's little day
Our heads such sad effects produce;
Redeem'd from worms and wasting clay,
This chance is theirs, to be of use.
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| Ink illustration |
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