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SOME ACCOUNT

OF

LORD BYRON'S RESIDENCE IN GREECE.

[The Editor is indebted for the following interesting Account of Lord Byron's Residence in Greece, &c. to "The Westminster Review," a publication which has already justly acquired a high name in the periodical literature of England.]

THE motives which induced Lord Byron to leave Italy and join the Greeks struggling for emancipation from the yoke of their ignorant and cruel oppressors, are of so obvious a nature, that it is scarcely worth while to allude to them. It was in Greece that his high poetical faculties had been first most powerfully developed; and they who know the delight attendant, even in a very inferior degree, upon this intellectual process, will know how to appreciate the tender associations which,

"soft as the memory of buried love," cling to the scenes and the persons that have first stimulated the dormant genius. Greece, a land of the most venerable and illustrious history, of a peculiarly grand and beautiful scenery, inhabited by various races of the most wild and picturesque manners, was to him the land of excitement, -never-cloying, never-wearying, ever-changing excitement:-such must necessarily have been the chosen and favourite spot of a man of powerful and original intellect, of quick and sensible feelings, of a restless and untameable spirit, of warm affections, of various information,—and, above all, of one satiated and disgusted with the formality, hypocrisy, and sameness of daily life. Dwelling upon that country, as it is clear from all Lord Byron's writings he did, with the fondest solicitude, and being, as he was well known to be, an ardent though perhaps not a very systematic lover of freedom, we may be certain that he was no unconcerned spectator of its recent revolution: and as soon as it appeared to him that his presence might be useful, he prepared to visit once more the shores of Greece. The imagination of Lord Byron, however, was the subject and servant of his reason in this instance he did not act, and perhaps never did, under the influence of the delusions of a wild enthusiasm, by which poets, very erroneously as regards great poets, are supposed to be generally led. It was not until after very serious deliberation of the advantages to be derived from this step, and after acquiring all possible information on the subject, that he de

termined on it; and in this as in every other act regarding this expedition, as we shall find, proved himself a wise and practical philanthropist. Like all men educated as he had been, Lord Byron too often probably obeyed the dictates of impulse, and threw up the reins to passions which he had never been taught the necessity of governing; but the world are under a grievous mistake if they fancy that Lord Byron embarked for Greece with the ignorant ardour of a schoolboy, or the flighty fanaticism of a crusader. It appeared to him that there was a good chance of his being useful in a country which he loved-a field of honourable distinction was open to him, and doubtless he expected to derive no mean gratification from witnessing so singular and instructive a spectacle as the emancipation of Greece. A glorious career apparently presented itself, and he determined to try the event. When he had made up his mind to leave Italy for Greece, he wrote from Genoa to one of his most intimate friends and constant companions, then at Rome, saying,

“T———, you must have heard I am going to Greece; why do you not come to me? I am at last determined-Greece is the only place I ever was contented in-I am seriousand did not write before, as I might have given you a journey for nothing. They all say I can be of great use in Greece; I do not know how, nor do they, but at all events let us try!"

He had, says this friend, who knew him well, become ambitious of a name as distinguished for deeds as it

was already by his writings. It was but a short time before his decease, that he composed one of the most beautiful and touching of his songs on his 36th birthday, which remarkably proves the birth of this new passion. One stanza runs as follows:

If thou regret thy youth, why live?

The land of honourable death
Is here-Up to the field, and give
Away thy breath!—

Awake not Greece-She is awake,

Awake my spirit !

Lord Byron embarked from Leghorn and arrived in Cephalonia in the early part of August, 1823, attended by a suite of six or seven friends, in an English vessel (the Hercules, Captain Scott), which he had hired for the express purpose of taking him to Greece. His Lordship had never seen any of the volcanic mountains, and for this purpose the vessel deviated from its regular course in order to pass the island of Stromboli. The vessel lay off this place a whole night in the hopes of witnessing the usual phenomena, when, for the first time within the memory of man, the volcano emitted no fire-the disappointed poet was obliged to proceed in no good humour with the fabled forge of Vulcan.

Lord Byron was an eager and constant observer of nature, and generally spent the principal part of the night in solitary contemplation of the objects that present themselves in a sea voyage: 66 For many a joy

could he from night's soft presence glean." He was far above any affectation of poetical ecstasy, but his whole works demonstrate the sincere delight he took in feeding his imagination with the glories of the material world. Marine imagery is more characteristic of his writings than those of any other poet, and it was to the Mediterranean and its sunny shores that he was indebted for it all.

As the stately vessel glided slow

Beneath the shadow of that ancient mount,
He watched the billows' melancholy flow,
And, sunk albeit in thought as he was wont,

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

It was a point of the greatest importance to determine on the particular part of Greece to which his Lordship should direct his course-the country was afflicted by intestine divisions, and Lord Byron thought that if he wished to serve it, he must keep aloof from faction. The different parties had their different seats of influence, and to choose a residence, if not in fact, was in appearance to choose a party. In a country where communication is impeded by natural obstacles and unassisted by civilized regulations, which had scarcely succeeded in expelling a barbarian master, and where the clashing interests of contending factions often make it advantageous to conceal the truth, the extreme difficulty of procuring accurate information may be easily supposed. It, therefore, became necessary to

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