means. They talked of newspapers and types,* and libels, as if the moral instruments of civil exhortation were adequate to wrench the independence of Greece from the bloody grasp of the Ottoman. No

*It is amusing to see what a piece of insane work was made about the printing press.

"The press will be at work next Monday. Its first production will be a prospectus. On the first day of the year 1824, the Greek Chronicle will be issued.-It will be printed in Greek and Italian; it will come out twice a-week. Pray endeavour to assist its circulation in England.(!) I hope to establish presses in other parts."-18th December, 1823. Page 46. "Your agent has now been at Missolonghi one week; during that period a free press has been established."-20th December, 1823. Page 50. "The press is not yet in motion; I will explain to you the cause."— 23d December, 1823. Page 54.

"The Greek Chronicle published, with a passage from Bentham on the liberty of the press."-2d January, 1824. Page 63.

"The English Committee has sent hither several presses, for the purpose of spreading the light of the nineteenth century."-7th January, 1824. Page 74.

"The press is exciting general interest-all our party are working for it; some translate, and some write original articles. As yet we have not a compositor to arrange our Italian types."-7th January, 1824. Page 82.

"I have no one to work the lithographic press."-7th February, 1824. Page 108.

"I am going to take the three presses round to the Morea."-11th February, 1824. Page 112.

These extracts will help the reader to form some idea of the inordinate attention which was paid to "the press," as an ENGINE of war against the Turks; but the following extract is more immediately applicable to my object in noticing the thing so contemptuously:

"Your Lordship stated, yesterday evening, that you had said to Prince Mavrocordato, that 'were you in his place, you would have placed the press under a censor;' and that he replied, 'No, the liberty of the press is guaranteed by the constitution.' Now, I wish to know whether your Lordship was serious when you made the observation, or whether you only said so to provoke me. If your Lordship was serious, I shall consider it my duty to communicate this affair to the Committee in England, in order to show them how difficult a task I have to fulfil, in promoting the liberties of Greece, if your Lordship is to throw the weight of your vast talents into the opposite scale in a question of such vital importance.'

"After Lord Byron had read this paper, he said that he was an ardent friend of publicity and the press; but he feared it was not applicable to this Society in its present combustible state. I answered, that I thought it applicable to all countries, and essentially here in order to put an end to the state of anarchy which at present prevailed. Lord Byron feared libels and licentiousness. I said, that the object of a free press was to check public licentiousness, and to expose libellers to odium," &c. &c -24th January, 1824. Page 91.

These extracts are made from the Hon. Colonel Stanhope's Letters on

wonder that Byron, accustomed to the management only of his own fancies, was fluttered amid the conflicts of such riot and controversy.

His situation at this period was indeed calculated to inspire pity. Had he survived, it might, instead of awakening the derision of history, have supplied to himself materials for another canto of Don Juan. I shall select one instance of his afflictions.

The captain of a British gun-brig came to Missolonghi to demand an equivalent for an Ionian boat, which had been taken in the act of going out of the Gulf of Lepanto, with provisions and arms. The Greek fleet at that time blockading the port consisted of five brigs, and the Turks had fourteen vessels of war in the gulf. The captain maintained that the British government recognised no blockade which was not efficient, and that the efficiency depended on the numerical superiority of cannon. On this principle he demanded restitution of the property. Mavrocordato offered to submit the case to the decision of the British government, but the captain would only give him four hours to consider. The indemnification was granted.

Lord Byron conducted the business in behalf of the captain. In the evening, conversing with Stanhope on the subject, the colonel said the affair was conducted in a bullying manner. His Lordship started into a passion and contended that law, justice, and equity had nothing to do with politics.

"That may be," replied Stanhope, "but I will never lend myself to injustice."

His Lordship then began to attack Jeremy Bentham. The colonel complained of such illiberality, as to make personal attacks on that gentleman before a friend who held him in high estimation.

the Greek Revolution. It is impossible to read them without being im pressed with the benevolent intentions of the Colonel. But, O Cervantes! truly thou didst lose a hand at Lepanto, when Byron died in the expedition against it.

B b

"I only attack his public principles," replied Byron, "which are mere theories, but dangerous,injurious to Spain, and calculated to do great mischief in Greece."

Stanhope vindicated Bentham, and said, "He possesses a truly British heart; but your Lordship, after professing liberal principles from boyhood, have, when called upon to act, proved yourself a Turk." "What proofs have you of this ?"

"Your conduct in endeavouring to crush the press by declaiming against it to Mavrocordato, and your general abuse of liberal principles."

"If I had held up my finger," retorted his Lordship, "I could have crushed the press.”

"With all this power," said Stanhope," which by the way you never possessed, you went to the prince, and poisoned his ear."

Lord Byron then disclaimed against the liberals. "What liberals?" cried Stanhope. "Did you borrow your notions of freemen from the Italians?"

"No: from the Hunts, Cartwrights, and such." “And yet your Lordship presented Cartwright's Reform Bill, and aided Hunt by praising his poetry and giving him the sale of your works."

"You are worse than Wilson," exclaimed Byron, "and should quit the army."

"I am a mere soldier," replied Stanhope, "but never will I abandon my principles. Our principles are diametrically opposite, so let us avoid the subject. If Lord Byron acts up to his professions, he will be the greatest, if not, the meanest of mankind.” My character," said his Lordship, "I hope, does not depend on your assertions."

66

“No: your genius has immortalized you. The worst will not deprive you of fame.”

Lord Byron then rejoined, "Well; you shall see : judge of me by my acts." And, bidding the colonel good night, who took up the light to conduct him to the passage, he added, "What! hold up a light to a Turk!"

Such were the Franklins, the Washingtons, and the Hamiltons who undertook the regeneration of Greece.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Lord Byron appointed to the Command of three thousand Men to besiege Lepanto The Siege abandoned for a Blockade-Advanced Guard ordered to proceed-Lord Byron's first Illness-A Riot-He is urged to leave Greece-The Expedition against Lepanto abandoned-Byron dejected--A wild diplomatic Scheme.

THREE days after the conversation related in the preceding chapter, Byron was officially placed in the command of about three thousand men, destined for the attack on Lepanto; but the Suliotes remained refractory, and refused to quit their quarters; his Lordship, however, employed an argument which proved effectual. He told them that if they did not obey his commands, he would discharge them from his service.

But the impediments were not to be surmounted; in less than a week it was formally reported to Byron that Missolonghi could not furnish the means of undertaking the siege of Lepanto, upon which his Lordship proposed that Lepanto should be only blockaded by two thousand men. Before any actual step was, however, taken, two spies came in with a report that the Albanians in garrison at Lepanto had seized the citadel, and were determined to surrender it to his Lordship. Still the expedition lingered; at last, on the 14th of February, six weeks after Byron's arrival at Missolonghi, it was determined that an advanced guard of three hundred soldiers, under the command of Count Gamba, should march for Lepanto, and that Lord Byron, with the main body, should follow. The

Suliotes were, however, still exorbitant, calling for fresh contributions for themselves and their families. His troubles were increasing, and every new rush of the angry tide rose nearer and nearer his heart; still his fortitude enabled him to preserve an outward show of equanimity. But, on the very day after the determination had been adopted, to send forward the advanced guard, his constitution gave

way.

He was sitting in Colonel Stanhope's room, talking jestingly, according to his wonted manner, with Captain Parry, when his eyes and forehead occasionally discovered that he was agitated by strong feelings. On a sudden he complained of weakness in one of his legs; he rose, but finding himself unable to walk, called for assistance; he then fell into a violent nervous convulsion, and was placed upon a bed: while the fit lasted, his face was hideously distorted; but in the course of a few minutes the convulsion ceased, and he began to recover his senses: his speech returned, and he soon rose, apparently well. During the struggle his strength was preter naturally augmented, and when it was over, he behaved with his usual firmness. "I conceive," says Colonel Stanhope, "that this fit was occasioned by over-excitement. The mind of Byron is like a volcano; it is full of fire, wrath, and combustibles, and when this matter comes to be strongly agitated, the explosion is dreadful. With respect to the causes which produced this excess of feeling, they are beyond my reach, except one great cause, the provoking conduct of the Suliotes."

A few days after this distressing incident, a new occurrence arose, which materially disturbed the tranquillity of Byron. A Suliote, accompanied by the son, a little boy, of Marco Botzaris, with another man, walked into the Seraglio, a kind of citadel, which had been used as a barrack for the Suliotes, and out of which they had been ejected with diffi