The Life of Lord Byron. John Galt

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СКАЧАТЬ before, passed over with the packet on her return from Messina to Girgenti, and did not fall in with them again till the following spring, when we met at Athens. In the meantime, besides his Platonic dalliance with Mrs Spencer Smith, Byron had involved himself in a quarrel with an officer; but it was satisfactorily settled.

      His residence at Malta did not greatly interest him. The story of its chivalrous masters made no impression on his imagination – none that appears in his works – but it is not the less probable that the remembrance of the place itself occupied a deep niche in his bosom: for I have remarked, that he had a voluntary power of forgetfulness, which, on more than one occasion, struck me as singular: and I am led in consequence to think, that something unpleasant, connected with this quarrel, may have been the cause of his suppression of all direct allusion to the island. It was impossible that his imagination could avoid the impulses of the spirit which haunts the walls and ramparts of Malta; and the silence of his muse on a topic so rich in romance, and so well calculated to awaken associations concerning the knights, in unison with the ruminations of Childe Harold, persuades me that there must have been some specific cause for the omission. If it were nothing in the duel, I should be inclined to say, notwithstanding the seeming improbability of the notion, that it was owing to some curious modification of vindictive spite. It might not be that Malta should receive no celebrity from his pen; but assuredly he had met with something there which made him resolute to forget the place. The question as to what it was, he never answered the result would throw light into the labyrinths of his character.

      CHAPTER X

      Sails from Malta to Prevesa—Lands at Patras—Sails again—Passes Ithaca—Arrival at Prevesa

      It was on the 19th of September, 1809, that Byron sailed in the Spider brig from Malta for Prevesa, and on the morning of the fourth day after, he first saw the mountains of Greece; next day he landed at Patras, and walked for some time among the currant grounds between the town and the shore. Around him lay one of the noblest landscapes in the world, and afar in the north-east rose the purple summits of the Grecian mountains.

      Having re-embarked, the Spider proceeded towards her destination; the poet not receiving much augmentation to his ideas of the grandeur of the ancients, from the magnitude of their realms and states. Ithaca, which he doubtless regarded with wonder and disappointment, as he passed its cliffy shores, was then in the possession of the French. In the course of a month after, the kingdom of Ulysses surrendered to a British serjeant and seven men.

      Childe Harold sail’d, and pass’d the barren spot,

      Where sad Penelope o’erlook’d the wave;

      And onward view’d the mount, not yet forgot.

      The lover’s refuge, and the Lesbian’s grave.

      But when he saw the evening star above

      Leucadia’s far-projecting rock of woe,

      And hail’d the last resort of fruitless love,

      He felt, or deem’d he felt, no common glow;

      And as the stately vessel glided slow

      Beneath the shadow of that ancient mount,

      He watch’d the billows’ melancholy flow,

      And, sunk albeit in thought as he was wont —

      More placid seem’d his eye, and smooth his pallid front.

      At seven in the evening, of the same day on which he passed Leucadia, the vessel came to anchor off Prevesa. The day was wet and gloomy, and the appearance of the town was little calculated to bespeak cheerfulness. But the novelty in the costume and appearance of the inhabitants and their dwellings, produced an immediate effect on the imagination of Byron, and we can trace the vivid impression animating and adorning his descriptions.

      The wild Albanian, kirtled to his knee,

      With shawl-girt head and ornamented gun,

      And gold-embroider’d garments, fair to see;

      The crimson-scarfed men of Macedon;

      The Delhi with his cap of terror on,

      And crooked glaive; the lively, supple Greek,

      And swarthy Nubia’s mutilated son;

      The bearded Turk, that rarely deigns to speak,

      Master of all around, too potent to be meek.

      Having partaken of a consecutive dinner, dish after dish, with the brother of the English consul, the travellers proceeded to visit the Governor of the town: he resided within the enclosure of a fort, and they were conducted towards him by a long gallery, open on one side, and through several large unfurnished rooms. In the last of this series, the Governor received them with the wonted solemn civility of the Turks, and entertained them with pipes and coffee. Neither his appearance, nor the style of the entertainment, were distinguished by any display of Ottoman grandeur; he was seated on a sofa in the midst of a group of shabby Albanian guards, who had but little reverence for the greatness of the guests, as they sat down beside them, and stared and laughed at their conversation with the Governor.

      But if the circumstances and aspect of the place derived no importance from visible splendour, every object around was enriched with stories and classical recollections. The battle of Actium was fought within the gulf.

      Ambracia’s gulf behold, where once was lost

      A world for woman – lovely, harmless thing!

      In yonder rippling bay, their naval host

      Did many a Roman chief and Asian king

      To doubtful conflict, certain slaughter bring.

      Look where the second Cæsar’s trophies rose!

      Now, like the lands that rear’d them, withering;

      Imperial monarchs doubling human woes!

      God! was Thy globe ordained for such to win and lose?

      Having inspected the ruins of Nicopolis, which are more remarkable for their desultory extent and scattered remnants, than for any remains of magnificence or of beauty,

      Childe Harold pass’d o’er many a mount sublime,

      Through lands scarce noticed in historic tales.

      Yet in famed Attica such lovely dales

      Are rarely seen; nor can fair Tempe boast

      A charm they know not; loved Parnassus fails,

      Though classic ground and consecrated most,

      To match some spots that lurk within this lowering coast.

      In this journey he was still accompanied by Mr Hobhouse. They had provided themselves with a Greek to serve as a dragoman. With this person they soon became dissatisfied, in consequence of their general suspicion of Greek integrity, and because of the necessary influence which such an appendage acquires in the exercise of his office. He is the tongue and purse-bearer of his master; he procures him lodging, food, horses, and all conveniences; must support his dignity with the Turks – a difficult task in those days for a Greek – and his manifold trusts demand that he should be not only active and ingenious, but prompt and resolute. In the qualifications of this essential servant, the travellers were not fortunate – he never lost an opportunity of pilfering; – he was, however, zealous, bustling, and talkative, and withal good-humoured; and, having his mind intent on one object – making money – was never lazy nor drunken, negligent nor unprepared.

      On the 1st of October they embarked, and sailed up the Gulf of Salona, where they were shown into an empty barrack for lodgings. In this habitation twelve Albanian soldiers and an officer were quartered, who behaved towards them with civility. On their entrance, the officer gave them pipes and coffee, and after they had dined in their own apartment, he invited them to СКАЧАТЬ