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ÆT. 35.

DEPARTURE FROM GENOA.

TO THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON.
"Albaro, June 2. 1823.

My dear Lady Blessington,

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I am superstitious, and have recollected that memorials with a point are of less fortunate augury; I will, therefore, request you to accept, instead of the pin, the enclosed chain, which is of so slight a value that you need not hesitate. As you wished for something worn, I can only say, that it has been worn oftener and longer than the other. It is of Venetian manufacture; and the only peculiarity about it is, that it could only be obtained at or from Venice. At Genoa they have none of the same kind. I also enclose a ring, which I would wish Alfred to keep; it is too large to wear; but is formed of lava, and so far adapted to the fire of his years and character. You will perhaps have the goodness to acknowledge the receipt of this note, and send back the pin (for good luck's sake), which I shall value much more for having been a night in your custody.

Ever and faithfully your obliged, &c. "P. S.-I hope your nerves are well today, and will continue to flourish."

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"In conformity to the desires of Mr. B. and other correspondents in Greece, I have to suggest, with all deference to the Committee, that a remittance of even ten thousand pounds only' (Mr. B.'s expression) would be of the greatest service to the Greek Government at present. I have also to recommend strongly the attempt of a loan, for which there will be offered a sufficient security by deputies now on their way to England. In the mean time, I hope that the Committee will be enabled to do something effectual.

"For my own part, I mean to carry up, in cash or credits, above eight, and nearly nine thousand pounds sterling, which I am enabled to do by funds I have in Italy, and credits in England. Of this sum I must necessarily reserve a portion for the subsistence of myself and suite; the rest I am willing to apply in the manner which seems most likely to be useful to the cause-having of course some guarantee or assurance, that it will not be misapplied to any individual speculation.

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If I remain in Greece, which will mainly depend upon the presumed probable utility of my presence there, and of the opinion of the Greeks themselves as to its propriety in short, if I am welcome to them, I shall continue, during my residence at least, to apply such portions of my income, present and future, as may forward the object - that is to say, what I can spare for that purpose. Privations I can, or at least could once, bear - abstinence I am accustomed to and as to fatigue, I was once a tolerable traveller. What I may be now, I cannot tell - but I will try.

"I await the commands of the Committee. Address to Genoa- - the letters will be forwarded me, wherever I may be, by my bankers, Messrs. Webb and Barry. It would have given me pleasure to have had some more defined instructions before I went ; but these, of course, rest at the option of the Committee. I have the honour to be,

In the mean time the preparations for his romantic expedition were in progress. With the aid of his banker and very sincere friend, Mr. Barry, of Genoa, he was enabled to raise the large sums of money necessary for his supply;-10,000 crowns in specie, and 40,000 crowns in bills of exchange, being the amount of what he took with him, and a portion of this having been raised upon his furniture and books, on which Mr. Barry, as I understand, advanced a sum far beyond their worth. An English brig, the Hercules, had been freighted to convey himself and his suite, which consisted, at this time, of Count Gamba, Mr. Trelawney, Dr. Bruno, and eight domestics. There were also aboard five horses, sufficient arms and ammunition for the use of his own party, two one-pounders belonging to his schooner, the Bolivar, which "P. S. he had left at Genoa, and medicine enough Great anxiety is expressed for for the supply of a thousand men for a year. the time to provide them, but recommend a printing press and types, &c. I have not The following letter to the Secretary of this to the notice of the Committee. I prethe Greek Committee announces his ap-sume the types must, partly at least, be Greek: proaching departure. they wish to publish papers, and perhaps a Journal, probably in Romaic, with Italian translations."

LETTER 523. TO MR. BOWRING.

"July 7. 1823.

"We sail on the 12th for Greece. - I have had a letter from Mr. Blaquiere, too long for present transcription, but very satisfactory. The Greek Government expects me without delay.

"Yours obediently, &c.

All was now ready; and on the 13th of July himself and his whole party slept on board the Hercules. About sunrise the next morning they succeeded in clearing the port; but there was little wind, and they ren ained in

sight of Genoa the whole day. The night was a bright moonlight, but the wind had become stormy and adverse, and they were, for a short time, in serious danger. Lord Byron, who remained on deck during the storm, was employed anxiously, with the aid of such of his suite as were not disabled by sea-sickness from helping him, in preventing further mischief to the horses, which, having been badly secured, had broken loose and injured each other. After making head against the wind for three or four hours, the captain was at last obliged to steer back to Genoa, and re-entered the port at six in the morning. On landing again, after this unpromising commencement of his voyage, Lord Byron (says Count Gamba) "appeared thoughtful, and remarked that he considered a bad beginning a favourable omen."

It has been already, I believe, mentioned that, among the superstitions in which he chose to indulge, the supposed unluckiness of Friday, as a day for the commencement of any work, was one by which he, almost always, allowed himself to be influenced. Soon after his arrival at Pisa, a lady of his acquaintance happening to meet him on the road from her house as she was herself returning thither, and supposing that he had been to make her a visit, requested that he would go back with her. I have not been to your house," he answered; "for, just before I got to the door, I remembered that it was Friday; and, not liking to make my first visit on a Friday, I turned back." It is even related of him that he once sent away a Genoese tailor who brought him home a new coat on the same ominous day.

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Gamba alone. "His conversation," says this gentleman, was somewhat melancholy on our way to Albaro: he spoke much of his past life, and of the uncertainty of the future. Where,' said he, shall we be in a year?'

It looked (adds his friend) like a melancholy foreboding; for, on the same day, of the same month, in the next year, he was carried to the tomb of his ancestors."

It took nearly the whole of the day to repair the damages of their vessel; and the greater part of this interval was passed by Lord Byron, in company with Mr. Barry, at some gardens near the city. Here his conversation, as this gentleman informs me, took the same gloomy turn. That he had not fixed to go to England, in preference, seemed one of his deep regrets; and so hopeless were the views he expressed of the whole enterprise before him, that, as it appeared to Mr. Barry, nothing but a devoted sense of duty and honour could have determined him to persist in it.

In the evening of that day they set sail;

and now, fairly launched in the cause, and disengaged, as it were, from his former state of existence, the natural power of his spirit to shake off pressure, whether from within or without, began instantly to display itself. According to the report of one of his fellowvoyagers, though so clouded while on shore, no sooner did he find himself, once more, bounding over the waters, than all the light and life of his better nature shone forth. In the breeze that now bore him towards his beloved Greece, the voice of his youth seemed again to speak. Before the titles of hero, of benefactor, to which he now aspired, that With all this, strange to say, he set sail of poet, however pre-eminent, faded into for Greece on a Friday and though, by nothing. His love of freedom, his genethose who have any leaning to this supersti- rosity, his thirst for the new and adventious fancy, the result may be thought but turous,-all were re-awakened ; and even the too sadly confirmatory of the omen, it is plain bodings that still lingered at the bottom of that either the influence of the superstition his heart but made the course before him over his own mind was slight, or, in the ex- more precious from his consciousness of its citement of self-devotion under which he brevity, and from the high and self-ennobling now acted, was forgotten. In truth, not-resolution he had now taken to turn what withstanding his encouraging speech to Count yet remained of it gloriously to account. Gamba, the forewarning he now felt of his approaching doom seems to have been far too deep and serious to need the aid of any such accessory. Having expressed a wish, on relanding, to visit his own palace, which he had left to the care of Mr. Barry during his absence, and from which Madame Guiccioli had early that morning departed, he now proceeded thither, accompanied by Count

"He goes: and as he takes his road to part,
Desires of bright and endless glory start,
And la.sh and animate his rising heart.
His soul immense achievements ponders o'er,

"Parte, e porta un desio d'eterna ed alma
Gloria, che a nobil cuor, è sferza e sprone;
A magnanime imprese intenta ha l'alma,
Ed insolite cose oprar dispone:

Gir fra' nemici-ivi o cipresso o palma
Acquistar." I

After a passage of five days, they reached Leghorn, at which place it was thought necessary to touch, for the purpose of taking

And dreams on exploits never known before;
To traverse lands amidst the hostile train, —
There, or the cypress or the palm to gain.”

Broadhead's Tasso, 1837.]

Ær. 35.

LEGHORN. GOETHE.

on board a supply of gunpowder, and other English goods, not to be had elsewhere.

It would have been the wish of Lord Byron, in the new path he had now marked out for himself, to disconnect from his name, if possible, all those poetical associations, which, by throwing a character of romance over the step he was now taking, might have a tendency, as he feared, to impair its practical utility; and it is, perhaps, hardly saying too much for his sincere zeal in the cause to assert, that he would willingly at this moment have sacrificed his whole fame, as poet, for even the prospect of an equivalent re- | nown, as philanthropist and liberator. How vain, however, was the thought that he could thus supersede his own glory, or cause the fame of the lyre to be forgotten in that of the sword, was made manifest to him by a mark of homage which reached him, while at Leghorn, from the hands of one of the only two men of the age who could contend with him in the universality of his literary fame.

- the

Already, as has been seen, an exchange of courtesies, founded upon mutual admiration, had taken place between Lord Byron and the great poet of Germany, Goethe. Of this intercourse between two such men, former as brief a light in the world's eyes, as the latter has been long and steadily luminous, — an account has been by the venerable survivor put on record, which, as a fit preliminary to the letter I am about to give, I shall here insert in as faithful a translation as it has been in my power to procure.

"GOETHE AND BYRON.

"The German poet, who, down to the latest period of his long life, had been always anxious to acknowledge the merits of his literary predecessors and contemporaries, because he has always considered this to be the surest means of cultivating his own powers, could not but have his attention attracted to the great talent of the noble Lord almost from his earliest appearance, and uninterruptedly watched the progress of his mind throughout the great works which he unceasingly produced. It was immediately perceived by him that the public appreciation of his poetical merits kept pace with the rapid succession of his writings. The joyful sympathy of others would have been perfect, had not the poet, by a life marked by self-dissatisfaction, and the indulgence of strong passions, disturbed the enjoyment which his infinite genius produced. But his German admirer was not led astray by this,

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or prevented from following with close attention both his works and his life in all their eccentricity. These astonished him the more, as he found in the experience of past ages no element for the calculation of so eccentric an orbit.

"These endeavours of the German did not remain unknown to the Englishman, of which his poems contain unambiguous proofs; and he also availed himself of the means afforded by various travellers to forward some friendly salutation to his unknown admirer. At length a manuscript Dedication of Sardanapalus, in the most complimentary terms, was forwarded to him, with an obliging enquiry whether it might be prefixed to the tragedy. The German, who, at his advanced age, was conscious of his own powers and of their effects, could only gratefully and modestly consider this Dedication as the expression of an inexhaustible intellect, deeply feeling and creating its own object. He was by no means dissatisfied when, after a long delay, Sardanapalus appeared without the Dedication; and was made happy by the possession of a fac-simile of it, engraved on stone, which he considered a precious memorial.

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The noble Lord, however, did not abandon his purpose of proclaiming to the world his valued kindness towards his German contemporary and brother poet, a precious evidence of which was placed in front of the tragedy of Werner. It will be readily believed, when so unhoped for an honour was conferred upon the German poet, -one seldom experienced in life, and that too from one himself so highly distinguished, he was by no means reluctant to express the high esteem and sympathising sentiment with which his unsurpassed contemporary had inspired him. The task was difficult, and was found the more so, the more it was contemplated; - for what can be said of one whose unfathomable qualities are not to be reached by words? But when a young gentleman, Mr. Sterling, of pleasing person and excellent character, in the spring of 1823, on a journey from Genoa to Weimar, delivered a few lines under the hand of the great man as an introduction, and when the report was soon after spread that the noble Peer was about to direct his great mind and various power to deeds of sublime daring beyond the ocean, there appeared to be no time left for further delay, and the following lines were hastily written :

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"Ein freundlich Wort kommt eines nach dem andern Von Süden her und bringt uns frohe Stunden; Es ruft uns auf zum Edelsten zu wandern, Nie ist der Geist, doch ist der Fuss gebunden. "Wie soll ich dem, den ich so lang begleitet, Nun etwas Traulich's in die Ferne sagen? Ihm der sich selbst im Innersten bestreitet, Stark angewohnt das tiefste Weh zu tragen. "Wohl sey ihm doch, wenn er sich selbst empfindet ! Er wage selbst sich hoch beglückt zu nennen, Wenn Musenkraft die Schmerzen überwindet, Und wie ich ihn erkannt mog' er sich kennen. "The verses reached Genoa; but the excellent friend to whom they were addressed was already gone, and to a distance, as it appeared, inaccessible. Driven back, however, by storms, he landed at Leghorn, where these cordial lines reached him just as he was about to embark, on the 24th of July, 1823. He had barely time to answer by a wellfilled page, which the possessor has preserved among his most precious papers, as the worthiest evidence of the connection that had been formed. Affecting and delightful as was such a document, and justifying the most lively hopes, it has acquired now the greatest, though most painful value, from the untimely death of the lofty writer, which adds a peculiar edge to the grief felt generally throughout the whole moral and poetiIcal world at his loss: for we were warranted in hoping, that when his great deeds should have been achieved, we might personally have greeted in him the pre-eminent intellect, the happily acquired friend, and the most humane of conquerors.

"At present we can only console ourselves with the conviction that his country will at last recover from that violence of invective and reproach which has been so long raised against him, and will learn to understand that the dross and lees of the age and the individual, out of which even the best have to elevate themselves, are but perishable and transient, while the wonderful glory to which he in the present and through all future ages has elevated his country, will be as boundless in its splendour as it is incalculable in its consequences. Nor can there be any doubt that the nation, which can boast of so many great names, will class BYRON among the first of those through whom she has acquired such glory."

The following is Lord Byron's answer to the communication above mentioned from Groethe:

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Mr. Sterling, sent me of yours; and it would but ill become me to pretend to exchange verses with him who, for fifty years, has been the undisputed sovereign of European literature. You must therefore accept my most sincere acknowledgments in prose- and in hasty prose too; for I am at present on my voyage to Greece once more, and surrounded by hurry and bustle, which hardly allow a moment even to gratitude and admiration to express themselves.

"I sailed from Genoa some days ago, was driven back by a gale of wind, and have since sailed again and arrived here, 'Leghorn,' this morning, to receive on board some Greek passengers for their struggling country.

"Here also I found your lines and Mr. Sterling's letter; and I could not have had a more favourable omen, a more agreeable surprise, than a word of Goethe, written by his own hand.

"I am returning to Greece, to see if I can be of any little use there: if ever I come back, I will pay a visit to Weimar, to offer the sincere homage of one of the many millions of your admirers. I have the honour to be, ever and most, "Your obliged,

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"NOEL BYRON."

From Leghorn, where his Lordship was joined by Mr. Hamilton Browne, he set sail on the 24th of July, and, after about ten days of most favourable weather, cast anchor at Argostoli, the chief port of Cephalonia.

CHAPTER LIL

1823.

ARRIVAL AT CEPHALONIA. - ARGOSTOLI.DINNER WITH THE OFFICERS OF THE GARRISON. -COLONEL NAPIER, JOURNEY TO ITHACA.-VATHI, FOUNTAIN OF ARETHUSA.—SCHOOL OF HOMER. BATHS OF PENELOPE. -ACTS OF GENEROSITY AND HUMANITY.-LETTER FROM MARCO BOTZARI.—HIS DEATH.-STATE OF PARTIES IN GREECE. DIFFICULTIES OF LORD BYRON'S POSITION. — RESIDENCE AT MATAXATA. - MODE OF LIFE. -CONVERSATIONS ON RELIGION WITH KENNEDY.-LETTERS TO MADAME GUICCIOLI, BOWRING, THE GREEK GOVERNMENT, PRINCE MAVROCORDATO, AND DOUGLAS KINNAIRD.

| Ir had been thought expedient that Lord Byron should, with the view of informing

Ær. 35.

CEPHALONIA.

595

could express his sense of the obligation as he ought, having been so long in the practice of speaking a foreign language that it was with some difficulty he could convey the whole force of what he felt in his own." "1

himself correctly respecting Greece, direct his course, in the first instance, to one of the Ionian islands, from whence, as from a post of observation, he might be able to ascertain the exact position of affairs before he landed on the continent. For this purpose it had Having despatched messengers to Corfu been recommended that either Zante or and Missolonghi in quest of information, he Cephalonia should be selected; and his resolved, while waiting their return, to emchoice was chiefly determined towards the ploy his time in a journey to Ithaca, which latter island by his knowledge of the talents island is separated from that of Cephalonia and liberal feelings of the Resident, Colonel but by a narrow strait. On his way to Napier. Aware, however, that, in the yet Vathi, the chief city of the island, to which doubtful aspect of the foreign policy of Eng-place he had been invited, and his journey land, his arrival thus on an expedition so hospitably facilitated, by the Resident, Capdeclaredly in aid of insurrection might have tain Knox, he paid a visit to the mountainthe effect of embarrassing the existing autho- cave in which, according to tradition, Ulysses rities, he resolved to adopt such a line of deposited the presents of the Phæacians. conduct as would be the least calculated "Lord Byron (says Count Gamba) ascended either to compromise or offend them. It was to the grotto, but the steepness and height with this view he now thought it prudent | prevented him from reaching the remains of not to land at Argostoli, but to await on the castle. I myself experienced considerboard his vessel such information from the able difficulty in gaining it. Lord Byron sat Government of Greece as should enable him reading in the grotto, but fell asleep. I to decide upon his further movements. awoke him on my return, and he said that I had interrupted dreams more pleasant than ever he had before in his life.”

Though unchanged, since he first visited these regions, in his preference of the wild charms of Nature to all the classic associations of Art and History, he yet joined with much interest in any pilgrimage to those places which tradition had sanctified. At the Foun tain of Arethusa, one of the spots of this kind which he visited, a repast had been prepared for himself and his party by the Resident; and at the School of Homer, -as some remains beyond Chioni are called, — he met with an old refugee bishop, whom he had

The arrival of a person so celebrated at Argostoli excited naturally a lively sensation, as well among the Greeks as the English of that place; and the first approaches towards intercourse between the latter and their noble visitor were followed instantly, on both sides, by that sort of agreeable surprise which, from the false notions they had preconceived of each other, was to be expected. His countrymen, who, from the exaggerated stories they had so often heard of his misanthropy and especial horror of the English, expected their courtesies to be received with a haughty, if not insulting coldness, found, on the contrary, in all his demeanour, a de-known thirteen years before in Livadia, and gree of open and cheerful affability which, calculated, as it was, to charm under any circumstances, was to them, expecting so much the reverse, peculiarly fascinating; while he, on his side, even still more sensitively prepared, by a long course of brooding over his own fancies, for a cold and reluctant reception from his countrymen, found himself greeted at once with a welcome so cordial and respectful as not only surprised and flattered, but, it was evident, sensibly touched him. Among other hospitalities accepted by him was a dinner with the officers of the garrison, at which, on his health being drunk, he is reported to have said, in returning thanks, that he was doubtful whether he

["He was much pleased," says Mr. Kennedy, "when he had made his short speech, and repeatedly asked Colonel D. if he had acquitted himself properly, as he was so little in the practice of public speaking."]

2["We found at Livadia an esprit fort in a Greek

with whom he now conversed of those times, with a rapidity and freshness of recollection with which the memory of the old bishop could but ill keep pace. Neither did the traditional Baths of Penelope escape his research; and "however sceptical (says a lady, who, soon after, followed his footsteps) he might have been as to these supposed localities, he never offended the natives by any objection to the reality of their fancies. On the contrary, his politeness and kindness won the respect and admiration of all those Greek gentlemen who saw him; and to me they spoke of him with enthusiasm."

Those benevolent views by which, even more, perhaps, than by any ambition of re

bishop, of all freethinkers! This worthy hypocrite rallied
his own religion with great intrepidity (but not before
his flock), and talked of a mass as a coglioneria.
It was
impossible to think better of him for this; but, for a
Boeotian, he was brisk with all his absurdity.”. -Note to
Childe Harold, canto i. See Works, p. 764.]

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