were so many fine things spoiled as in "Rimini.""" "Since you left us," said he, "I have had "serious thoughts of visiting America; and "when the Gambas were ordered out of Tus 66 cany, was on the point of embarkation for "the only country which is a sanctuary for "liberty. 66 "Since I have been abroad, I have received many civilities from the Americans; among * The motto to his book entitled 'Foliage.' + I have been favoured with a sight of a letter addressed by Lord Byron to Mr. Church, one of the American Consuls, in which he thus speaks of his Grecian project a few months after: "The accounts are so contradictory, as to what mode "will be best for supplying the Greeks, that I have "the rest, I was acquainted with the captain "of one of their frigates lying in the Leghorn "roads, and used occasionally to dine on board "his ship. He offered to take me with him to "America. I desired time to consider; but at "last declined it, not wishing to relinquish my "Grecian project. "deemed it better to take up (with the exception of 66 a few supplies) what cash and credit I can muster, "rather than lay them out in articles that might be "deemed superfluous or unnecessary. Here we can learn 66 66 nothing but from some of the refugees, who appear chiefly interested for themselves. My accounts from an agent of the Committee, an English gentleman lately gone up to Greece, are hitherto favourable; but "he had not yet reached the seat of the Provisional "Government, and I am anxiously expecting further "advice. "An American has a better right than any other to suggest to other nations the mode of obtaining that liberty which is the glory of his own!" Once landed in that country, perhaps I "should not have soon left it ;-I might have "settled there, for I shall never revisit Eng"land. On Lady Noel's death, I thought I "should have been forced to go home (and was "for a moment bent on doing so on another "occasion, which you know); but I told Hanson "that I would rather make any sacrifice. "The polite attentions of the American "sailor were very different from the treatment "I met with from the captain of a sloop of "war belonging to our Navy, who made the 66 66 gentleman commanding my yacht haul down my pennant. They might have respected "the name of the great navigator.* In the "time of peace, and in a free port, there "could have been no plea for such an in * His grandfather, Admiral Byron. I have heard him more than once speak of Campbell's having named him in The Pleasures of Hope.' “sult. I wrote to the captain of the vessel "rather sharply, and was glad to find that "his first lieutenant had acted without his "orders, and when he was on shore; but they "had been issued, and could not be reversed. 66 "You see I can't go any where without being persecuted. I am going to Genoa in "a few days." 66 "I have almost finished," said he, "another play, which I mean to call Werner.' The "story is taken from Miss Lee's Kruitzner.' "There are fine things in The Canterbury "Tales; but Miss Lee only wrote two of "them the others are the compositions of her "sister, and are vastly inferior. "There is no tale of Scott's finer than 66 6 The German's Tale.' I admired it when "I was a boy, and have continued to like "what I did then. This tale, I remember, 66 66 particularly affected me. I could not help thinking of the authoress, who destroyed "herself. I was very young when I finished "a few scenes of a play founded on that story. I perfectly remember many of the ❝ lines as I go on. 66 66 а "Vathek' was another of the tales I had "a very early admiration of. You may re"member a passage I borrowed from it in "The Siege of Corinth,' which I almost took "verbatim.* No Frenchman will believe that * "There is a light cloud by the moon ; Hath ceased the shaded orb to veil, Dark will thy doom be-darker still Siege of Corinth. |