The Curious Case of ‘Epitaph to a Dog’ Byron and The Scourge

The text of Byron’s ‘Epitaph to a Dog’ exists in two acknowledged forms: that which appears on Boatswain’s monument and that which is printed in Imitations and Translations. However, the monument text was also printed several times in many Romanticera periodicals. These printings represent an important moment in both the textual history and the history of its reception. In this essay I provide not only a record of satirical commentary surrounding the epitaph and Byron’s ‘attachment to quadrupeds’, but also a record of Byron’s appearances in The Scourge, a magazine which has thus far been all but ignored.