of the new moan. on the evening of the 8th, by every demonstration of joy: but although, during this month, the strictest abstinence is observed in the daytime, yet with the setting of the sun the feasting commences: then is the time for paying and receiving visits, and for the amusements of Turkey, Fappet-shows, jugglers, dancers, and story-tellers." - HOBBOUSE] [On the th, I was introduced to Ali Pacha. I was dressed in a full suit of staff uniform, with a very magnificent abre, &c. The vizier received me in a large room paved with marble; a fountain was playing in the centre; the apartment was surrounded by scarlet ottomans. He received me standing, a wonderful compliment from a Mussulman, and made me sit down on his right hand. His first question was, why, at so early an age, I left my country? He then said, the English minister, Captain Leake, had told him I was of a great family, and desired his respects to my mother; which 1 now, in the name of Ali Pacha, present to you. He said he was certain I was a man of birth, because I had small ears, curling hair, and little white hands. He told me to consider him as a father whilst I was in Turkey, and said he looked on me as his own son. Indeed, he treated me like a child, sending me almonds and sugared sherbet, fruit, and sweetmeats, twenty times a day. I then after coffee and pipes retired." B. to his Mother.] 2 Delights to mingle with the lip of youth."- MS.] Mr. Hobhouse describes the vizier as "a short man, about five feet five inches in height, and very fat; possessing a very pleasing face, fair and round, with blue quick eyes, not et all settled into a Turkish gravity." Dr. Holland happily compares the spirit which lurked under Ali's usual exterior, LXV. Fierce are Albania's children, yet they lack Not virtues, were those virtues more mature. Where is the foe that ever saw their back? Who can so well the toil of war endure? Their native fastnesses not more secure Than they in doubtful time of troublous need: Their wrath how deadly! but their friendship sure, When Gratitude or Valour bids them biced, Unshaken rushing on where'er their chief may lead. L.XVI. Childe Harold saw them in their chieftain's tower Thronging to war in splendour and success; And after view'd them, when, within their power, Himself awhile the victim of distress; That saddening hour when bad men hotlier press: But these did shelter him beneath their roof, When less barbarians would have cheer'd him less, And fellow-countrymen have stood aloof 5 — In aught that tries the heart how few withstand the proof! LXVII. It chanced that adverse winds once drove his bark Full on the coast of Suli's shaggy shore, When all around was desolate and dark; To land was perilous, to sojourn more; Yet for awhile the mariners forbore, Dubious to trust where treachery might lurk : At length they ventured forth, though doubting sore That those who loathe alike the Frank and Turk Might once again renew their ancient butcher-work. LXVIII. Vain fear! the Suliotes stretch'd the welcome hand, Led them o'er rocks and past the dangerous swamp, Kinder than polish'd slaves, though not so bland, And piled the hearth, and wrung their garments damp, And fill'd the bowl, and trimm'd the cheerful lamp, And spread their fare; though homely, all they had: Such conduct bears Philanthropy's rare stamp : To rest the weary and to soothe the sad, Doth lesson happier men, and shames at least the bad. to "the fire of a stove, burning fiercely under a smooth and polished surface." When the doctor returned from Albania, in 1813, he brought a letter from the Pacha to Lord Byron. "It is," says the poet," in Latin, and begins Excellentissime, necnon Carissime,' and ends about a gun he wants made for him. He tells me that, last spring, he took a town, a hostile town, where, forty-two years ago, his mother and sisters were treated as Miss Cunegunde was by the Bulgarian cavalry. He takes the town, selects all the survivors of the exploit-children, grand-children, &c., to the tune of six hundred, and has them shot before his face. So much for dearest friend.'"] 3 [The fate of Ali was precisely such as the poet anticipated. For a circumstantial account of his assassination, in February, 1822, see Walsh's Journey. His head was sent to Constantinople, and exhibited at the gates of the seraglio. As the name of Ali had made a considerable noise in England, in consequence of his negotiations with Sir Thomas Maitland, and still more, perhaps, these stanzas of Lord Byron, a merchant of Constantinople thought it would be no bad speculation to purchase the head and consign it to a London showman; but this scheme was defeated by the piety of an old servant of the Pacha, who bribed the executioner with a higher price, and bestowed decent sepulture on the relic.] ["Childe Harold with the chief held colloquy, LXIX. It came to pass, that when he did address In war well season'd, and with labours tann'd, And from his further bank Etolia's wolds espied. Where lone Ctraikey forms its circling cove, On the smooth shore the night-fires brightly blazed, The feast was done, the red wine circling fast, 1 And he that unawares had there ygazed With gaping wonderment had stared aghast; For ere night's midmost, stillest hour was past, The native revels of the troop began; Each Palikar 2 his sabre from him cast, And bounding hand in hand, man link'd to man, Yelling their uncouth dirge, long daunced the kirtled clan. 3 LXXIL Childe Harold at a little distance stood And view'd, but not displeased, the revelrie, Nor hated harmless mirth, however rude : In sooth, it was no vulgar sight to see Their barbarous, yet their not indecent, glee; And, as the flames along their faces gleam'd, Their gestures nimble, dark eyes flashing free, The long wild locks that to their girdles stream'd, While thus in concert they this lay half sang, half scream'd: 4— 1. TAMBOURGI! Tambourgi ! thy 'larum afar Gives hope to the valiant, and promise of war All the sons of the mountains arise at the note Chimariot, Illyrian, and dark Suliote! 6 The Albanian Mussulmans do not abstain from wine, and, indeed, very few of the others. Palikar, shortened when addressed to a single person, from Пanagi, a general name for a soldier amongst the Greeks and Albanese who speak Romaic: it means, properly, "a lad." 3 [The following is Mr. Hobhouse's animated description of this scene:-" In the evening the gates were secured, and preparations were made for feeding our Albanians. A goat was killed and roasted whole, and four fires were kindled in the yard, round which the soldiers seated themselves in parties. After eating and drinking, the greatest part of them assembled round the largest of the fires, and, whilst ourselves and the elders of the party were seated on the ground, danced round the blaze, to their own songs, with astonishing energy. All their songs were relations of some robbing exploits. One of them, which detained them more than an hour, began thus: When we set out from Parga, there were sixty of us:' then came the burden of the verse, 2. Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote Shall the sons of Chimari, who never forgive 4. Macedonia sends forth her invincible race; 5. Then the pirates of Parga that dwell by the waves, And teach the pale Franks what it is to be slaves, Shall leave on the beach the long galley and oar, And track to his covert the captive on shore. 6. I ask not the pleasures that riches supply, I love the fair face of the maid in her youth, 8. Remember the moment when Previsa fell, 7 9. I talk not of mercy, I talk not of fear; He neither must know who would serve the Vizier : Since the days of our prophet the Crescent ne'er saw A chief ever glorious like Ali Pashaw. 10. Dark Muchtar his son to the Danube is sped, Let the yellow-hair'ds Giaours view his horse-tail 10 with dread; [banks, When his Delhis 11 come dashing in blood o'er the How few shall escape from the Muscovite ranks ! the waves upon the pebbly margin where we were seated, filled up the pauses of the song with a milder, and not more monotonous music. The night was very dark; but, by the flashes of the fires, we caught a glimpse of the woods, the rocks, and the lake, which, together with the wild appearance of the dancers, presented us with a scene that would have made a fine picture in the hands of such an artist as the author of the Mysteries of Udolpho. As we were acquainted with the character of the Albanians, it did not at all diminish our pleasure to know, that every one of our guard had been robbers, and some of them a very short time before. It was eleven o'clock before we had retired to our room, at which time the Albanians, wrapping themselves up in their capotes, went to sleep round the fires."] [For a specimen of the Albanian or Arnaout dialect of the Illyric, see Appendix to this Canto, Note [C].] 5 Drummer. These stanzas are partly taken from different Albanese songs, as far as I was able to make them out by the exposition of the Albanese in Romaic and Italian. 7 It was taken by storm from the French. 8 Yellow is the epithet given to the Russians. 9 Infidel. 10 The insignia of a Pacha. Horsemen, answering to our forlorn hope. 11. Selictar unsheathe then our chief's scimitar : Tambourgi! thy 'larum gives promise of war. Ye mountains, that see us descend to the shore, Shall view us as victors, or view us no more! LXXIII. Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worth!? Leap from Eurotas' banks, and call thee from the tomb? LXXIV. Spirit of Freedom! when on Phyle's brow 3 Thou sat'st with Thrasybulus and his train, Couldst thou forebode the dismal hour which now Dims the green beauties of thine Attic plain? Not thirty tyrants now enforce the chain, But every carle can lord it o'er thy land; Nor rise thy sons, but idly rail in vain, Trembling beneath the scourge of Turkish hand; From birth till death enslaved; in word, in deed, unmann'd. LXXV. In all save form alone, how changed and who That marks the fire still sparkling in each eye, Who but would deem their bosoms burn'd anew With thy unquenched beam, lost Liberty! And many dream withal the hour is nigh That gives them back their fathers' heritage: For foreign arms and aid they fondly sigh, Nor solely dare encounter hostile rage, [page. Or tear their name defiled from Slavery's mournful LXXVI. Hereditary bondsmen ! know ye not Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? By their right arms the conquest must be wrought? Will Gaul or Muscovite redress ye? no! True, they may lay your proud despoilers low, But not for you will Freedom's altars flame. Shades of the Helots! triumph o'er your foe! Greece! change thy lords, thy state is still the same; Thy glorious day is o'er, but not thy years of shame. 1 Sword-bearer. 2 See some Thoughts on the present State of Greece and Turkey in the Appendix to this Canto, Notes [D] and [E]. 3 Phyle, which commands a beautiful view of Athens, has still considerable remains it was seized by Thrasybulus, previous to the expulsion of the Thirty. When taken by the Latins, and retained for several years. Mecca and Medina were taken some time ago by the Wahabees, a sect yearly increasing. [Of Constantinople Lord Byron says, "I have seen the ruins of Athens, of Ephesus, and Delphi; I have traversed great part of Turkey, and many other parts of Europe, and some of Asia; but I never beheld a work of nature or art which yielded an impression like the prospect on each side, from the Seven Towers to the end of the Golden Horn."] "["The view of Constantinople," says Mr. Rose," which appeared intersected by groves of cypress (for such is the effect of its great burial-grounds planted with these trees), its gilded domes and minarets reflecting the first rays of the sun; the deep blue sea in which it glassed itself, and that sea covered with beautiful boats and barges darting in every Glanced many a light caique along the foam, Danced on the shore the daughters of the land, Ne thought had man or maid of rest or home, While many a languid eye and thrilling hand Exchanged the look few bosoms may withstand, Or gently prest, return'd the pressure still : Oh Love! young Love! bound in thy rosy band, Let sage or cynic prattle as he will, These hours, and only these, redeem Life's years of ill! direction in perfect silence, amid sea-fowl, who sat at rest upon the waters, altogether conveyed such an impression as I had never received, and probably never shall again receive, from the view of any other place." The following sonnet, by the same author, has been so often quoted, that, but for its exquisite beauty, we should not have ventured to reprint it here: "A glorious form thy shining city wore, 'Mid cypress thickets of perennial green, Of sculptured barques and galleys many a score; Who, mute as Sinbad's man of copper, rows, |