NOTES. p. 272. THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. The jackal's troop. I believe I have taken a poetical licence to transplant the jackal from Asia. In Greece I never saw nor heard these animals; but among the ruins of Ephesus I have heard them by hundreds. They haunt ruins and follow armies.-B. THE PRISONER OF CHILLON. p. 287. "When this poem was composed," says Lord Byron," "I was not sufficiently aware of the history of Bonnivard, or I should have endeavoured to dignify the subject by an attempt to celebrate his courage and his virtues. With some account of his life I have been furnished, by the kindness of a citizen of that republic, which is still proud of the memory of a man worthy of the best age of ancient freedom." François de Bonnivard, son of Louis de Bonnivard, originally of Seyssel and Lord of Lunes, was born in 1496. He studied at Turin. In 1510 his uncle, Jean Aimé de Bonnivard, resigned to him the Priory of St Victor, which abutted on the walls of Geneva, and formed a considerable benefice. This great man,-(for Bonnivard deserves this title by the energy of his spirit, the uprightness of his heart, the nobleness of his intentions, the wisdom of his counsels, the boldness of his undertakings, the extent of his knowledge, and the acuteness of his intellect),-this great man, who must excite the admiration of all who are affected by heroic virtue, will also inspire, with the liveliest gratitude, the hearts of the Genevese who love their country. Bonnivard was ever one of its firmest supporters.-To secure the liberty of our Republic he feared not to lose his own. He forgot his repose. He despised his riches. He neglected nothing to secure the happiness of a country which he honoured by his choice; and from this moment he cherished it as one of its most zealous citizens. He served it with the intrepidity of a hero, whilst he wrote its history with the naïveté of a philosopher, and the ardour of a patriot. In the beginning of his History of Geneva, he says "that from the moment he commenced reading the history of nations, he felt himself impelled onwards by his partiality for Republicanism, the interests of which he had ever adopted." It was this taste for liberty which caused him no doubt to adopt Geneva for his country. Bonnivard, still young, announced himself boldly as the defender o Geneva against the Duke of Savoy and the Bishop. In 1519 Bonnivard became the martyr of his country. The Duke of Savoy entered Geneva with five hundred men, and Bonnivard feared the Duke's resentment. He wished to retire to Fribourg, to avoid the consequences; but was betrayed by two of his followers, and conveyed by order of the Prince to Grolee, where he was imprisoned during two years Bonnivard was unfortunate in his journeys; for as his misfortunes had not abated his zeal for Geneva, he was always a formidable enemy to those who threatened it, and consequently was exposed to their attacks. In 1530 he was met on the Jura by a party of robbers, who, having plundered him, delivered him into the hands of the Duke of Savoy. This prince imprisoned him in the Castle of Chillon, where he remained, without trial, until 1536, when he was rescued by the Bernese, who had seized the Pays de Vaud On his release he had the satisfaction of finding Geneva free and reformed. The Republic hastened to testify its gratitude towards him, and to compensate him for the injuries he had sustained. In June 1536 they elected him a citizen of Geneva. They presented him with the palace formerly inhabited by the Vicar-General; and they assigned him a pension of two hundred gold crowns as long as he dwelt in Geneva In 1537 he was admitted into the Council of the Two Hundred. Bonnivard, however, did not cease to be useful. After having laboured to render Geneva free, he succeeded in making it tolerant. He engaged the Council to grant the ecclesiastics and peasantry sufficient time to examine the propositions submitted to them. This he accomplished by his mildness; and Christianity is always preached with success when preached with charity. Bonnivard was learned. His manuscripts, which exist in the public library, give evidence of his having well read the Latin classical authors, and searched deeply into theology and history. This great man loved the sciences, and believed they would bring glory to Geneva. Accordingly, he neglected nothing that would plant and nourish them in this rising city. In 1551 he presented his library to the public, which formed the commencement of our Public Library, and among those books, are the rare and fine editions of the 15th century, which are now to be found in our collection. Finally, in the same year, this good patriot made the Republic his heir, on condition that his property should be devoted towards the maintenance of the college, the foundation of which was then projected. It appears that Bonnivard died in 1570, but this cannot be vouched for, as there is a blank in the Necrology, from the month of July 1570 to 1571 P. 349. CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE. Yes! sigh'd o'er Delphi's long deserted shrine. The little village of Castri stands partly on the site of Delphi. Along the path of the mountain, from Chrysso, are the remains of sepulchres hewn In and from the rock; "one," said the guide, "of a king who broke his neck hunting." His majesty had certainly chosen the fittest spot for such an achievement. A little above Castri is a cave, supposed the Pythian, of immense depth; the upper part of it is paved, and now a cowhouse. On the other side of Castri stands a Greek monastery; some way above which is the cleft in the rock, with a range of caverns difficult of ascent, and apparently leading to the interior of the mountain; probably to the Corycian Cavern mentioned by Pausanias From this part descend the fountain and the "Dews of Castalie."-B. P. 354. And rest ye at "Our Lady's house of woe." The convent of "Our Lady of Punishment," Nossa Senora de Pena, on the summit of the rock. Below, at some distance, is the Cork Convent, where St Honorius dug his den, over which is his epitaph. From the hills, the sea adds to the beauty of the view. (Note to 1st Edition.) Since the publication of this poem, I have been informed of the misapprehension of the term Nossa Senora de Peno. It was owing to the want of the tilde or mark over the n which alters the signification of the word: with it, Pena signifies a rock; without it, Pena has the sense I adopted. I do not think it necessary to alter the passage; as, though the common acceptation affixed to it is "Our Lady of the Rock," I may well assume the other sense from the severities practised there. (Note to 2d Edition.)—B. P. 355. Throughout this purple land, where law secures not life. It is a well-known fact, that, in the year 1809, the assassinations in the streets of Lisbon and its vicinity were not confined by the Portuguese to their countrymen; but that Englishmen were daily butchered: and so far from redress being obtained, we were requested not to interfere if we perceived any compatriot defending himself against his allies. I was once stopped in the way to the theatre at 8 o'clock in the evening, when the streets were not more empty than they generally are at that hour, opposite to an open shop, and in a carriage with a friend: had we not fortunately been armed, I have not the least doubt that we should have "adorned a tale" instead of telling one. The crime of assassination is not confined to Portugal; in Sicily and Malta we are knocked on the head at a handsome average nightly, and not a Sicilian or Maltese is ever punished!-B. P. 370. And thou, my friend! The Honourable John Wingfield, of the Guards, who died of a fever at Coimbra. I had known him ten years, the better half of his life, and the happiest part of mine. In the short space of one month, I have lost her who gave me being, and most of those who had made that being tolerable. To me the lines of Young are no fiction : "Insatiate archer! could not one suffice? Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain, I should have ventured a verse to the memory of the late Charles Skinner Matthews, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, were he not too much above all praise of mine. His powers of mind, shown in the attainment of greater honours, against the ablest candidates, than those of any graduate on record at Cambridge, have sufficiently established his fame on the spot where it was acquired; while his softer qualities live in the recollection of friends who loved him too well to envy his superiority.-B. P. 371. Ancient of days! august Athena! We can all feel, or imagine, the regret with which the ruins of cities, once the capitals of empires, are beheld: the reflections suggested by such objects are too trite to require recapitulation. But never did the littleness of man, and the vanity of his very best virtues-of patriotism to exalt, and of valour to defend his country-appear more conspicuous than in the record of what Athens was, and the certainty of what she now is. This theatre of contention between mighty factions, of the struggles of orators, the exaltation and deposition of tyrants, the triumph and punishment of generals, is now become a scene of petty intrigue and perpetual disturbance, between the bickering agents of certain British nobility and gentry. "The wild foxes, the owls and serpents in the ruins of Babylon," were surely less degrading than such inhabitants. The Turks have the plea of conquest for their tyranny, and the Greeks have only suffered the fortune of war, incidental to the bravest; but how are the mighty fallen, when two painters contest the privilege of plundering the Parthenon, and triumph in turn according to the tenor of each succeeding firman! Sylla could but punish, Philip subdue, and Xerxes burn Athens; but it remained for the paltry antiquarian and his despicable agents to render her contemptible as himself and his pursuits. The Parthenon, before its destruc tion in part by fire during the Venetian siege, had been a temple, a church, and a mosque. In each point of view it is an object of regard: it changed its worshippers; but still it was a place of worship thrice sacred to devotion: its violation is a triple sacrifice. But"Man, proud man, p. 372. Dress'd in a little brief authority, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, Far on the solitary shore he sleeps. B. It was not always the custom of the Greeks to burn their dead; the greater Ajax, in particular, was interred entire. Almost all the chiefs became gods after their decease; and he was indeed neglected who had not annual games near his tomb, or festivals in honour of his memory by his countrymen, as Achilles, Brasidas, &c., and at last even Antinous, whose death was as heroic as his life was infamous.-B. p. 373. To rive what Goth, and Turk, and Time hath spared. At this moment (January 3, 1810), besides what has been already deposited in London, an Hydriot vessel is in the Pyræus to receive every portable relic. Thus, as I heard a young Greek observe, in common with many of his countrymen-for, lost as they are, they yet feel on this occasion-thus may Lord Elgin boast of having ruined Athens. An Italian painter of the first eminence, named Lusieri, is the agent of devastation; and like the Greek finder of Verres in Sicily, who followed the same profession, he has proved the able instrument of plunder. Between this artist and the French Consul Fauvel, who wishes to rescue the remains for his own government, there is now a violent dispute concerning a car employed in their conveyance, the wheel of which-I wish they were both broken upon it!-has been locked up by the Consul, and Lusieri has laid his complaint before the Waywode. Lord Elgin has been extremely happy in his choice of Signor Lusieri. During a residence of ten years in Athens he never had the curiosity to proceed as far as Sunium, till he accompanied us in our second excursion. However, his works, as far as they go, are most beautiful: but they are almost all unfinished. While he and his patrons confine themselves to tasting medals, appreciating cameos, sketching columns, and cheapening gems, their little absurdities are as harmless as insect or fox-hunting, maiden speechifying, barouche-driving, or any such pastime; but when they carry away three or four shiploads of the most valuable and massy relics that time and barbarism have left to the most injured and most celebrated of cities; when they destroy, in a vain attempt to tear down, those works which have been the admiration of ages, I know no motive which can excuse, no name which can designate, the perpetrators of this dastardly devastation. It was not the least of the crimes laid to the charge of Verres, that he had plundered Sicily in the manner since imitated at Athens. The most unblushing impudence could hardly go farther than to affix the name of its plunderer to the walls of the Acropolis; while the wanton and useless defacement of the whole range of the basso-relievos, in one compartment of the temple, will never permit that name to be pronounced by an observer without execration. On this occasion I speak impartially: I am not a collector or admirer of collections, consequently no rival; but I have some early prepossession in favour of Greece, and do not think the honour of England advanced by plunder, whether of India or Attica. Another noble Lord has done better, because he has done less: but some others, more or less noble, yet "all honourable men," have done best, because, after a deal of excavation and execration, bribery to the Waywode, mining and countermining, they have done nothing at all. We had such ink-shed and wine-shed, which almost ended in bloodshed! Lord E.'s prig"-see Jonathan Wild for the definition of "priggism"-quarrell'd with another, Gropius by name (a very good name too for his business), and muttered something about satisfaction, in a verbal answer to a note of 66 the poor Prussian: this was stated at table to Gropius, who laughed, but could eat no dinner afterwards. The rivals were not reconciled when I left Greece. I have reason to remember their squabble, for they wanted to make me their arbitrator. p. 379. Land of Albania! Albania comprises part of Macedonia, Illyria, Chaonia, and Epirus. Iskander is the Turkish word for Alexander; and the celebrated Scanderbeg (Lord Alexander) is alluded to in the third and fourth lines of this the thirty-eighth stanza. I do not know whether I am correct in making Scanderbeg the countryman of Alexander, who was born at Pella in Macedon, but Mr Gibbon terms him so, and adds Pyrrhus to the list in speaking of his exploits.-B. In all Attica, if we except Athens itself and Marathon, there is no scene more interesting than Cape Colonna. To the antiquary and artist sixteen columns are an inexhaustible source of observation and design; to the philosopher the supposed scene of some of Plato's conversations will not be unwelcome; and the traveller will be struck with the beauty of the prospect over "Isles that crown the Ægean deep:" but for an Englishman, Colonna has yet an additional interest, as the actual spot of Falconer's "Shipwreck." Pallas and Plato are forgotten in the recollection of Falconer and Campbell:— "Here in the dead of night by Lonna's steep, The seaman's cry was heard along the deep." This temple of Minerva may be seen at sea from a great distance. In two journeys which I made, and one voyage to Cape Colonna, the view from either side, by land, was less striking than the approach from the isles. In our second land excursion we had a narrow escape from a party of Mainotes, concealed in the caverns beneath. We were told afterwards, by one of their prisoners, subsequently ransomed, that they were deterred from attacking us by the appearance of my two Albanians: conjecturing very sagaciously, but falsely, that we had a complete guard of these Arnaouts at hand, they remained stationary, and thus saved our party, which was too small to have opposed any effectual resistance. Colonna is no less a resort of painters than of pirates; there "The hireling artist plants his paltry desk, (See Hodgson's" Lady Jane Grey," &c.) But there Nature, with the aid of Art, has done that for herself. I was fortunate enough to engage a very superior German artist; and hope to renew my acquaintance with this and many other Levantine scenes, by the arrival of his performances.-B. p. 399. I turn'd from all she brought. My guide from Mont St Jean over the field seemed intelligent and accurate. The place where Major Howard fell was not far from two tall and solitary trees (there was a third, cut down, or shivered in the battle), which stand a few yards from each other at a pathway's side. Beneath these he died and was buried. The body has since been removed to England. A small hollow for the present marks where it lay, but will probably soon be effaced; the plough has been upon it, and the grain is. After pointing out the different spots where Picton and other gallant men had perished, the guide said, "Here Major Howard lay: I was near him when wounded." I told him my relationship, and he seemed then stil more anxious to point out the particular spot and circumstances. place is one of the most marked in the field, from the peculiarity of the two trees above mentioned. I went on horseback twice over the field, comparing it with my recollection of similar scenes. As a plain, Waterloo seems marked out for the scene of some great action, though this may be mere imagination: I have viewed with attention those of Platea, Troy, Mantinea, Leuctra, Charonea, and Marathon; and the field around Mont The |