Thomas Moore - Life of Lord Byron, Vol. I. (of VI.)

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"Theresa, the Maid of Athens, Catinco, and Mariana, are of middle
stature. On the crown of the head of each is a red Albanian skull-cap,
with a blue tassel spread out and fastened down like a star. Near the
edge or bottom of the skull-cap is a handkerchief of various colours
bound round their temples. The youngest wears her hair loose, falling
on her shoulders,--the hair behind descending down the back nearly to
the waist, and, as usual, mixed with silk. The two eldest generally
have their hair bound, and fastened under the handkerchief. Their
upper robe is a pelisse edged with fur, hanging loose down to the
ankles; below is a handkerchief of muslin covering the bosom, and
terminating at the waist, which is short; under that, a gown of
striped silk or muslin, with a gore round the swell of the loins,
falling in front in graceful negligence;--white stockings and yellow
slippers complete their attire. The two eldest have black, or dark
hair and eyes; their visage oval, and complexion somewhat pale, with
teeth of dazzling whiteness. Their cheeks are rounded, and noses
straight, rather inclined to aquiline. The youngest, Mariana, is very
fair, her face not so finely rounded, but has a gayer expression than
her sisters', whose countenances, except when the conversation has
something of mirth in it, may be said to be rather pensive. Their
persons are elegant, and their manners pleasing and lady-like, such as
would be fascinating in any country. They possess very considerable
powers of conversation, and their minds seem to be more instructed
than those of the Greek women in general. With such attractions it
would, indeed, be remarkable, if they did not meet with great
attentions from the travellers who occasionally are resident in
Athens. They sit in the eastern style, a little reclined, with their
limbs gathered under them on the divan, and without shoes. Their
employments are the needle, tambouring, and reading.

"I have said that I saw these Grecian beauties through the waving
aromatic plants before their window. This, perhaps, has raised your
imagination somewhat too high, in regard to their condition. You may
have supposed their dwelling to have every attribute of eastern
luxury. The golden cups, too, may have thrown a little witchery over
your excited fancy. Confess, do you not imagine that the doors

"'Self-open'd into halls, where, who can tell
What elegance and grandeur wide expand,
The pride of Turkey and of Persia's land;
Soft quilts on quilts, on carpets carpets spread,
And couches stretch'd around in seemly band,
And endless pillows rise to prop the head,
So that each spacious room was one full swelling bed?'

"You will shortly perceive the propriety of my delaying, till now, to
inform you that the aromatic plants which I have mentioned are neither
more nor less than a few geraniums and Grecian balms, and that the
room in which the ladies sit is quite unfurnished, the walls neither
painted nor decorated by 'cunning hand.' Then, what would have become
of the Graces had I told you sooner that a single room is all they
have, save a little closet and a kitchen? You see how careful I have
been to make the first impression good; not that they do not merit
every praise, but that it is in man's august and elevated nature to
think a little slightingly of merit, and even of beauty, if not
supported by some worldly show. Now, I shall communicate to you a
secret, but in the lowest whisper.

"These ladies, since the death of the consul, their father, depend on
strangers living in their spare room and closet,--which we now occupy.
But, though so poor, their virtue shines as conspicuously as their
beauty.

"Not all the wealth of the East, or the complimentary lays even of the
first of England's poets, could render them so truly worthy of love
and admiration."[134]

Ten weeks had flown rapidly away, when the unexpected offer of a
passage in an English sloop of war to Smyrna induced the travellers to
make immediate preparations for departure, and, on the 5th of March,
they reluctantly took leave of Athens. "Passing," says Mr. Hobhouse,
"through the gate leading to the Piraeus, we struck into the
olive-wood on the road going to Salamis, galloping at a quick pace, in
order to rid ourselves, by hurry, of the pain of parting." He adds,
"We could not refrain from looking back, as we passed rapidly to the
shore, and we continued to direct our eyes towards the spot, where we
had caught the last glimpse of the Theseum and the ruins of the
Parthenon through the vistas in the woods, for many minutes after the
city and the Acropolis had been totally hidden from our view."

At Smyrna Lord Byron took up his residence in the house of the
consul-general, and remained there, with the exception of two or three
days employed in a visit to the ruins of Ephesus, till the 11th of
April. It was during this time, as appears from a memorandum of his
own, that the two first Cantos of Childe Harold, which he had begun
five months before at Ioannina, were completed. The memorandum alluded
to, which I find prefixed to his original manuscript of the poem, is
as follows:--

"Byron, Ioannina in Albania.
Begun October 31st, 1809;
Concluded Canto 2d, Smyrna,
March 28th. 1810.

"BYRON."

From Smyrna the only letter, at all interesting, which I am enabled to
present to the reader, is the following:--

LETTER 41.

TO MRS. BYRON.

"Smyrna, March 19. 1810.

"Dear Mother,

"I cannot write you a long letter; but as I know you will not be sorry
to receive any intelligence of my movements, pray accept what I can
give. I have traversed the greatest part of Greece, besides Epirus,
&c. &c., resided ten weeks at Athens, and am now on the Asiatic side
on my way to Constantinople. I have just returned from viewing the
ruins of Ephesus, a day's journey from Smyrna. I presume you have
received a long letter I wrote from Albania, with an account of my
reception by the Pacha of the province.

"When I arrive at Constantinople, I shall determine whether to proceed
into Persia or return, which latter I do not wish, if I can avoid it.
But I have no intelligence from Mr. H----, and but one letter from
yourself. I shall stand in need of remittances whether I proceed or
return. I have written to him repeatedly, that he may not plead
ignorance of my situation for neglect. I can give you no account of
any thing, for I have not time or opportunity, the frigate sailing
immediately. Indeed the further I go the more my laziness increases,
and my aversion to letter-writing becomes more confirmed. I have
written to no one but to yourself and Mr. H----, and these are
communications of business and duty rather than of inclination.

"F---- is very much disgusted with his fatigues, though he has
undergone nothing that I have not shared. He is a poor creature;
indeed English servants are detestable travellers. I have, besides
him, two Albanian soldiers and a Greek interpreter; all excellent in
their way. Greece, particularly in the vicinity of Athens, is
delightful,--cloudless skies and lovely landscapes. But I must reserve
all account of my adventures till we meet. I keep no journal, but my
friend H. writes incessantly. Pray take care of Murray and Robert, and
tell the boy it is the most fortunate thing for him that he did not
accompany me to Turkey. Consider this as merely a notice of my safety,
and believe me,

yours, &c. &c.

"BYRON."

On the 11th of April he left Smyrna in the Salsette frigate, which had
been ordered to Constantinople, for the purpose of conveying the
ambassador, Mr. Adair, to England, and, after an exploratory visit to
the ruins of Troas, arrived, at the beginning of the following month,
in the Dardanelles.--While the frigate was at anchor in these straits,
the following letters to his friends Mr. Drury and Mr. Hodgson were
written.

LETTER 42.

TO MR. HENRY DRURY.

"Salsette frigate, May 3. 1810.

"My dear Drury,

"When I left England, nearly a year ago, you requested me to write to
you--I will do so. I have crossed Portugal, traversed the south of
Spain, visited Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, and thence passed into Turkey,
where I am still wandering. I first landed in Albania, the ancient
Epirus, where we penetrated as far as Mount Tomarit--excellently
treated by the chief AH Pacha,--and, after journeying through Illyria,
Chaonia, &c., crossed the Gulf of Actium, with a guard of fifty
Albanians, and passed the Achelous in our route through Acarnania and
AEtolia. We stopped a short time in the Morea, crossed the Gulf of
Lepanto, and landed at the foot of Parnassus;--saw all that Delphi
retains, and so on to Thebes and Athens, at which last we remained ten
weeks.

"His Majesty's ship, Pylades, brought us to Smyrna; but not before we
had topographised Attica, including, of course, Marathon and the
Sunian promontory. From Smyrna to the Troad (which we visited when at
anchor, for a fortnight, off the tomb of Antilochus) was our next
stage; and now we are in the Dardanelles, waiting for a wind to
proceed to Constantinople.

"This morning I _swam_ from _Sestos_ to _Abydos_. The immediate
distance is not above a mile, but the current renders it
hazardous;--so much so that I doubt whether Leander's conjugal
affection must not have been a little chilled in his passage to
Paradise. I attempted it a week ago, and failed,--owing to the north
wind, and the wonderful rapidity of the tide,--though I have been from
my childhood a strong swimmer. But, this morning being calmer, I
succeeded, and crossed the 'broad Hellespont' in an hour and ten
minutes.

"Well, my dear sir, I have left my home, and seen part of Africa and
Asia, and a tolerable portion of Europe. I have been with generals and
admirals, princes and pashas, governors and ungovernables,--but I have
not time or paper to expatiate. I wish to let you know that I live
with a friendly remembrance of you, and a hope to meet you again; and
if I do this as shortly as possible, attribute it to anything but
forgetfulness.

"Greece, ancient and modern, you know too well to require description.
Albania, indeed, I have seen more of than any Englishman (except a Mr.
Leake), for it is a country rarely visited, from the savage character
of the natives, though abounding in more natural beauties than the
classical regions of Greece,--which, however, are still eminently
beautiful, particularly Delphi and Cape Colonna in Attica. Yet these
are nothing to parts of Illyria and Epirus, where places without a
name, and rivers not laid down in maps, may, one day, when more known,
be justly esteemed superior subjects, for the pencil and the pen, to
the dry ditch of the Ilissus and the bogs of Boeotia.

"The Troad is a fine field for conjecture and snipe-shooting, and a
good sportsman and an ingenious scholar may exercise their feet and
faculties to great advantage upon the spot;--or, if they prefer
riding, lose their way (as I did) in a cursed quagmire of the
Scamander, who wriggles about as if the Dardan virgins still offered
their wonted tribute. The only vestige of Troy, or her destroyers, are
the barrows supposed to contain the carcasses of Achilles, Antilochus,
Ajax, &c.;--but Mount Ida is still in high feather, though the
shepherds are now-a-days not much like Ganymede. But why should I say
more of these things? are they not written in the _Boke_ of _Gell_?
and has not H. got a journal? I keep none, as I have renounced
scribbling.

"I see not much difference between ourselves and the Turks, save that
we have ----, and they have none--that they have long dresses, and we
short, and that we talk much, and they little. They are sensible
people. Ali Pacha told me he was sure I was a man of rank, because I
had _small ears_ and _hands_, and _curling hair_. By the by, I speak
the Romaic, or modern Greek, tolerably. It does not differ from the
ancient dialects so much as you would conceive: but the pronunciation
is diametrically opposite. Of verse, except in rhyme, they have no
idea.

"I like the Greeks, who are plausible rascals,--with all the Turkish
vices, without their courage. However, some are brave, and all are
beautiful, very much resembling the busts of Alcibiades:--the women
not quite so handsome. I can swear in Turkish; but, except one
horrible oath, and 'pimp,' and 'bread,' and 'water,' I have got no
great vocabulary in that language. They are extremely polite to
strangers of any rank, properly protected; and as I have two servants
and two soldiers, we get on with great eclat. We have been
occasionally in danger of thieves, and once of shipwreck,--but always
escaped.

"Of Spain I sent some account to our Hodgson, but have subsequently
written to no one, save notes to relations and lawyers, to keep them
out of my premises. I mean to give up all connection, on my return,
with many of my best friends--as I supposed them--and to snarl all my
life. But I hope to have one good-humoured laugh with you, and to
embrace Dwyer, and pledge Hodgson, before I commence cynicism.

"Tell Dr. Butler I am now writing with the gold pen he gave me before
I left England, which is the reason my scrawl is more unintelligible
than usual. I have been at Athens and seen plenty of these reeds for
scribbling, some of which he refused to bestow upon me, because
topographic Gell had brought them from Attica. But I will not
describe,--no--you must be satisfied with simple detail till my
return, and then we will unfold the flood-gates of colloquy. I am in a
thirty-six gun frigate, going up to fetch Bob Adair from
Constantinople, who will have the honour to carry this letter.

"And so H.'s _boke_ is out,[135] with some sentimental sing-song of my
own to fill up,--and how does it take, eh? and where the devil is the
second edition of my Satire, with additions? and my name on the title
page? and more lines tagged to the end, with a new exordium and what
not, hot from my anvil before I cleared the Channel? The Mediterranean
and the Atlantic roll between me and criticism; and the thunders of
the Hyperborean Review are deafened by the roar of the Hellespont.

"Remember me to Claridge, if not translated to college, and present to
Hodgson assurances of my high consideration. Now, you will ask, what shall
I do next? and I answer, I do not know. I may return in a few months, but
I have intents and projects after visiting Constantinople.--Hobhouse,
however, will probably be back in September.

"On the 2d of July we have left Albion one year--'oblitus meorum
obliviscendus et illis.' I was sick of my own country, and not much
prepossessed in favour of any other; but I 'drag on' 'my chain'
without 'lengthening it at each remove.' I am like the Jolly Miller,
caring for nobody, and not cared for. All countries are much the same
in my eyes. I smoke, and stare at mountains, and twirl my mustachios
very independently. I miss no comforts, and the musquitoes that rack
the morbid frame of H. have, luckily for me, little effect on mine,
because I live more temperately.

"I omitted Ephesus in my catalogue, which I visited during my sojourn
at Smyrna; but the Temple has almost perished, and St. Paul need not
trouble himself to epistolise the present brood of Ephesians, who have
converted a large church built entirely of marble into a mosque, and I
don't know that the edifice looks the worse for it.

"My paper is full, and my ink ebbing--good afternoon! If you address
to me at Malta, the letter will be forwarded wherever I may be. H.
greets you; he pines for his poetry,--at least, some tidings of it. I
almost forgot to tell you that I am dying for love of three Greek
girls at Athens, sisters. I lived in the same house. Teresa, Mariana,
and Katinka,[136] are the names of these divinities,--all of them
under fifteen.

Your {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL
LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK
SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~} {~GREEK
SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~},

"BYRON."

LETTER 43.

TO MR. HODGSON.

"Salsette frigate, in the Dardanelles, off Abydos, May 5. 1810.

"I am on my way to Constantinople, after a tour through Greece,
Epirus, &c., and part of Asia Minor, some particulars of which I have
just communicated to our friend and host, H. Drury. With these, then,
I shall not trouble you; but as you will perhaps be pleased to hear
that I am well, &c., I take the opportunity of our ambassador's return
to forward the few lines I have time to despatch. We have undergone
some inconveniences, and incurred partial perils, but no events worthy
of communication, unless you will deem it one that two days ago I swam
from Sestos to Abydos. This, with a few alarms from robbers, and some
danger of shipwreck in a Turkish galliot six months ago, a visit to a
Pacha, a passion for a married woman at Malta, a challenge to an
officer, an attachment to three Greek girls at Athens, with a great
deal of buffoonery and fine prospects, form all that has distinguished
my progress since my departure from Spain.

"H. rhymes and journalises; I stare and do nothing--unless smoking can
be deemed an active amusement. The Turks take too much care of their
women to permit them to be scrutinised; but I have lived a good deal
with the Greeks, whose modern dialect I can converse in enough for my
purposes. With the Turks I have also some male acquaintances--female
society is out of the question. I have been very well treated by the
Pachas and Governors, and have no complaint to make of any kind.
Hobhouse will one day inform you of all our adventures,--were I to
attempt the recital, neither _my_ paper nor _your_ patience would hold
out during the operation.

"Nobody, save yourself, has written to me since I left England; but
indeed I did not request it. I except my relations, who write quite as
often as I wish. Of Hobhouse's volume I know nothing, except that it
is out; and of my second edition I do not even know _that_, and
certainly do not, at this distance, interest myself in the matter. I
hope you and Bland roll down the stream of sale with rapidity.

"Of my return I cannot positively speak, but think it probable
Hobhouse will precede me in that respect. We have been very nearly one
year abroad. I should wish to gaze away another, at least, in these
ever-green climates; but I fear business, law business, the worst of
employments, will recall me previous to that period, if not very
quickly. If so, you shall have due notice.

"I hope you will find me an altered personage,--do not mean in body,
but in manner, for I begin to find out that nothing but virtue will do
in this d----d world. I am tolerably sick of vice, which I have tried
in its agreeable varieties, and mean, on my return, to cut all my
dissolute acquaintance, leave off wine and carnal company, and betake
myself to politics and decorum. I am very serious and cynical, and a
good deal disposed to moralise; but fortunately for you the coming
homily is cut off by default of pen and defection of paper.

"Good morrow! If you write, address to me at Malta, whence your
letters will be forwarded. You need not remember me to any body, but
believe me yours with all faith,

"BYRON."

From Constantinople, where he arrived on the 14th of May, he addressed
four or five letters to Mrs. Byron, in almost every one of which his
achievement in swimming across the Hellespont is commemorated. The
exceeding pride, indeed, which he took in this classic feat (the
particulars of which he has himself abundantly detailed) may be cited
among the instances of that boyishness of character, which he carried
with him so remarkably into his maturer years, and which, while it
puzzled distant observers of his conduct, was not among the least
amusing or attaching of his peculiarities to those who knew him
intimately. So late as eleven years from this period, when some
sceptical traveller ventured to question, after all, the
practicability of Leander's exploit, Lord Byron, with that jealousy on
the subject of his own personal prowess which he retained from
boyhood, entered again, with fresh zeal, into the discussion, and
brought forward two or three other instances of his own feats in
swimming,[137] to corroborate the statement originally made by him.

In one of these letters to his mother from Constantinople, dated May
24th, after referring, as usual, to his notable exploit, "in humble
imitation of Leander, of amorous memory, though," he adds, "I had no
Hero to receive me on the other side of the Hellespont," he continues
thus:--

"When our ambassador takes his leave I shall accompany him to see the
sultan, and afterwards probably return to Greece. I have heard nothing
of Mr. Hanson but one remittance, without any letter from that legal
gentleman. If you have occasion for any pecuniary supply, pray use my
funds as far as they _go_ without reserve; and, lest this should not
be enough, in my next to Mr. Hanson I will direct him to advance any
sum you may want, leaving it to your discretion how much, in the
present state of my affairs, you may think proper to require. I have
already seen the most interesting parts of Turkey in Europe and Asia
Minor, but shall not proceed further till I hear from England: in the
mean time I shall expect occasional supplies, according to
circumstances; and shall pass my summer amongst my friends, the Greeks
of the Morea."

He then adds, with his usual kind solicitude about his favourite
servants:--

"Pray take care of my boy Robert, and the old man Murray. It is
fortunate they returned; neither the youth of the one, nor the age of
the other, would have suited the changes of climate, and fatigue of
travelling."

LETTER 44.

TO MR. HENRY DRURY.

"Constantinople, June 17. 1810.

"Though I wrote to you so recently, I break in upon you again to
congratulate you on a child being born, as a letter from Hodgson
apprizes me of that event, in which I rejoice.

"I am just come from an expedition through the Bosphorus to the Black
Sea and the Cyanean Symplegades, up which last I scrambled with as
great risk as ever the Argonauts escaped in their hoy. You remember
the beginning of the nurse's dole in the Medea, of which I beg you to
take the following translation, done on the summit:--

"Oh how I wish that an embargo
Had kept in port the good ship Argo!
Who, still unlaunch'd from Grecian docks,
Had never passed the Azure rocks;
But now I fear her trip will be a
Damn'd business for my Miss Medea, &c. &c.,

as it very nearly was to me;--for, had not this sublime passage been
in my head, I should never have dreamed of ascending the said rocks,
and bruising my carcass in honour of the ancients.

"I have now sat on the Cyaneans, swam from Sestos to Abydos (as I
trumpeted in my last), and, after passing through the Morea again,
shall set sail for Santo Maura, and toss myself from the Leucadian
promontory;--surviving which operation, I shall probably join you in
England. H., who will deliver this, is bound straight for these parts;
and, as he is bursting with his travels, I shall not anticipate his
narratives, but merely beg you not to believe one word he says, but
reserve your ear for me, if you have any desire to be acquainted with
the truth.

"I am bound for Athens once more, and thence to the Morea; but my stay
depends so much on my caprice, that I can say nothing of its probable
duration. I have been out a year already, and may stay another; but I
am quicksilver, and say nothing positively. We are all very much
occupied doing nothing, at present. We have seen every thing but the
mosques, which we are to view with a firman on Tuesday next. But of
these and other sundries let H. relate with this proviso, that _I_ am
to be referred to for authenticity; and I beg leave to contradict all
those things whereon he lays particular stress. But, if he soars at
any time into wit, I give you leave to applaud, because that is
necessarily stolen from his fellow-pilgrim. Tell Davies that H. has
made excellent use of his best jokes in many of his Majesty's ships of
war; but add, also, that I always took care to restore them to the
right owner; in consequence of which he (Davies) is no less famous by
water than by land, and reigns unrivalled in the cabin as in the
'Cocoa Tree.'

"And Hodgson has been publishing more poesy--I wish he would send me
his 'Sir Edgar,' and 'Bland's Anthology,' to Malta, where they will be
forwarded. In my last, which I hope you received, I gave an outline of
the ground we have covered. If you have not been overtaken by this
despatch, H.'s tongue is at your service. Remember me to Dwyer, who
owes me eleven guineas. Tell him to put them in my banker's hands at
Gibraltar or Constantinople. I believe he paid them once, but that
goes for nothing, as it was an annuity.

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