Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6) by Thomas Moore

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"Mr. Blackett is here ill, and will soon set out for Cephalonia. He
came to me for some pills, and I gave him some reserved for
particular friends, and which I never knew any body recover from
under several months; but he is no better, and, what is odd, no
worse; and as the doctors have had no better success with him than I,
he goes to Argostoli, sick of the Greeks and of a constipation.

"I must reiterate my request for _specie_, and that speedily,
otherwise public affairs will be at a standstill here. I have
undertaken to pay the Suliotes for a year, to advance in March 3000
dollars, besides, to the Government for a balance due to the troops,
and some other smaller matters for the Germans, and the press, &c.
&c. &c.; so what with these, and the expenses of my suite, which,
though not extravagant, is expensive, with Gamba's d--d nonsense, I
shall have occasion for all the monies I can muster; and I have
credits wherewithal to face the undertakings, if realised, and expect
to have more soon.

"Believe me ever and truly yours," &c.

On the morning of the 22d of January, his birthday,--the last my poor
friend was ever fated to see,--he came from his bedroom into the
apartment where Colonel Stanhope and some others were assembled, and
said with a smile, "You were complaining the other day that I never
write any poetry now. This is my birthday, and I have just finished
something which, I think, is better than what I usually write." He
then produced to them those beautiful stanzas, which, though already
known to most readers, are far too affectingly associated with this
closing scene of his life to be omitted among its details. Taking
into consideration, indeed, every thing connected with these
verses,--the last tender aspirations of a loving spirit which they
breathe, the self-devotion to a noble cause which they so nobly
express, and that consciousness of a near grave glimmering sadly
through the whole,--there is perhaps no production within the range
of mere human composition round which the circumstances and feelings
under which it was written cast so touching an interest.

"JANUARY 22D.

"ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR.

1.
"'Tis time this heart should be unmoved,
Since others it hath ceased to move;
Yet though I cannot be beloved,
Still let me love!

2.
"My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone!

3.
"The fire that on my bosom preys
Is lone as some volcanic isle;
No torch is kindled at its blaze--
A funeral pile!

4.
"The hope, the fear, the jealous care,
The exalted portion of the pain
And power of love, I cannot share,
But wear the chain.

5.
"But 'tis not _thus_--and 'tis not _here_--
Such thoughts should shake my soul, nor _now_,
Where glory decks the hero's bier,
Or binds his brow.

6.
"The sword, the banner, and the field,
Glory and Greece, around roe see!
The Spartan, borne upon his shield,
Was not more free.

7.
"Awake! (not Greece--she _is_ awake!)
Awake, my spirit! Think through _whom_
Thy life-blood tracks its parent lake,
And then strike home!

8.
"Tread those reviving passions down,
Unworthy manhood!--unto thee
Indifferent should the smile or frown
Of beauty be.

9.
"If thou regret'st thy youth, _why live_?
The land of honourable death
Is here:--up to the field, and give
Away thy breath!

10.
"Seek out--less often sought than found--
A soldier's grave, for thee the best;
Then look around, and choose thy ground,--
And take thy rest."

"We perceived," says Count Gamba, "from these lines, as well as from
his daily conversations, that his ambition and his hope were
irrevocably fixed upon the glorious objects of his expedition to
Greece, and that he had made up his mind to 'return victorious, or
return no more.' Indeed, he often said to me, 'Others may do as they
please--they may go--but I stay here, _that is certain_.' The same
determination was expressed in his letters to his friends; and this
resolution was not unaccompanied with the very natural
presentiment--that he should never leave Greece alive. He one day
asked his faithful servant, Tita, whether he thought of returning to
Italy? 'Yes,' said Tita: 'if your Lordship goes, I go.' Lord Byron
smiled, and said, 'No, Tita, I shall never go back from
Greece--either the Turks, or the Greeks, or the climate, will prevent
that.'"

LETTER 540. TO MR. CHARLES HANCOCK.

"Missolonghi, February 5. 1824.

"Dr. Muir's letter and yours of the 23d reached me some days ago.
Tell Muir that I am glad of his promotion for his sake, and of his
remaining near us for all our sakes; though I cannot but regret Dr.
Kennedy's departure, which accounts for the previous earthquakes and
the present English weather in this climate. With all respect to my
medical pastor, I have to announce to him, that amongst other
fire-brands, our firemaster Parry (just landed) has disembarked an
elect blacksmith, intrusted with three hundred and twenty-two Greek
Testaments. I have given him all facilities in my power for his works
spiritual and temporal; and if he can settle matters as easily with
the Greek Archbishop and hierarchy, I trust that neither the heretic
nor the supposed sceptic will be accused of intolerance.

"By the way, I met with the said Archbishop at Anatolico (where I
went by invitation of the Primates a few days ago, and was received
with a heavier cannonade than the Turks, probably,) for the second
time (I had known him here before); and he and P. Mavrocordato, and
the Chiefs and Primates and I, all dined together, and I thought the
metropolitan the merriest of the party, and a very good Christian for
all that. But Gamba (we got wet through on our way back) has been ill
with a fever and cholic; and Luke has been out of sorts too, and so
have some others of the people, and I have been very well,--except
that I caught cold yesterday, with swearing too much in the rain at
the Greeks, who would not bear a hand in landing the Committee
stores, and nearly spoiled our combustibles; but I turned out in
person, and made such a row as set them in motion, blaspheming at
them from the Government downwards, till they actually did _some_
part of what they ought to have done several days before, and this is
esteemed, as it deserves to be, a wonder.

"Tell Muir that, notwithstanding his remonstrances, which I receive
thankfully, it is perhaps best that I should advance with the troops;
for if we do not do something soon, we shall only have a third year
of defensive operations and another siege, and all that. We hear that
the Turks are coming down in force, and sooner than usual; and as
these fellows do mind me a little, it is the opinion that I should
go,--firstly, because they will sooner listen to a foreigner than one
of their own people, out of native jealousies; secondly, because the
Turks will sooner treat or capitulate (if such occasion should
happen) with a Frank than a Greek; and, thirdly, because nobody else
seems disposed to take the responsibility--Mavrocordato being very
busy here, the foreign military men too young or not of authority
enough to be obeyed by the natives, and the Chiefs (as aforesaid)
inclined to obey any one except, or rather than, one of their own
body. As for me, I am willing to do what I am bidden, and to follow
my instructions. I neither seek nor shun that nor any thing else they
may wish me to attempt: as for personal safety, besides that it ought
not to be a consideration, I take it that a man is on the whole as
safe in one place as another; and, after all, he had better end with
a bullet than bark in his body. If we are not taken off with the
sword, we are like to march off with an ague in this mud basket; and
to conclude with a very bad pun, to the ear rather than to the eye,
better _martially_ than _marsh-ally:_--the situation of Missolonghi
is not unknown to you. The dykes of Holland when broken down are the
Deserts of Arabia for dryness, in comparison.

"And now for the sinews of war. I thank you and Mr. Barff for your
ready answers, which, next to ready money, is a pleasant thing.
Besides the assets and balance, and the relics of the Corgialegno
correspondence with Leghorn and Genoa, (I sold the dog flour, tell
him, but not at _his_ price,) I shall request and require, from the
beginning of March ensuing, about five thousand dollars every two
months, _i.e._, about twenty-five thousand within the current year,
at regular intervals, independent of the sums now negotiating. I can
show you documents to prove that these are considerably _within_ my
supplies for the year in more ways than one; but I do not like to
tell the Greeks exactly what I _could_ or would advance on an
emergency, because otherwise, they will double and triple their
demands, (a disposition that they have already sufficiently shown):
and though I am willing to do all I can _when_ necessary, yet I do
not see why they should not help a little; for they are not quite so
bare as they pretend to be by some accounts.

"February 7. 1824.

"I have been interrupted by the arrival of Parry and afterwards by
the return of Hesketh, who has not brought an answer to my epistles,
which rather surprises me. You will write soon, I suppose. Parry
seems a fine rough subject, but will hardly be ready for the field
these three weeks; he and I will (I think) be able to draw
together,--at least, _I_ will not interfere with or contradict him in
his own department. He complains grievously of the mercantile and
_enthusymusy_ part of the Committee, but greatly praises Gordon and
Hume. Gordon _would_ have given three or four thousand pounds and
come out _himself_, but Kennedy or somebody else disgusted him, and
thus they have spoiled part of their subscription and cramped their
operations. Parry says B---- is a humbug, to which I say nothing. He
sorely laments the printing and civilising expenses, and wishes that
there was not a Sunday-school in the world, or _any_ school _here_ at
present, save and except always an academy for artilleryship.

"He complained also of the cold, a little to my surprise; firstly,
because, there being no chimneys, I have used myself to do without
other warmth than the animal heat and one's cloak, in these parts;
and, secondly, because I should as soon have expected to hear a
volcano sneeze, as a firemaster (who is to burn a whole fleet)
exclaim against the atmosphere. I fully expected that his very
approach would have scorched up the town like the burning-glasses of
Archimedes.

"Well, it seems that I am to be Commander-in-Chief, and the post is
by no means a sinecure, for we are not what Major Sturgeon calls 'a
set of the most amicable officers.' Whether we shall have 'a boxing
bout between Captain Sheers and the Colonel,' I cannot tell; but,
between Suliote chiefs, German barons, English volunteers, and
adventurers of all nations, we are likely to form as goodly an allied
army as ever quarrelled beneath the same banner.

"February 8. 1824.

"Interrupted again by business yesterday, and it is time to conclude
my letter. I drew some time since on Mr. Barff for a thousand
dollars, to complete some money wanted by the Government. The said
Government got cash on that bill _here_, and at a profit; but the
very same fellow who gave it to them, after proposing to give me
money for other bills on Barff to the amount of thirteen hundred
dollars, either could not, or thought better of it. I had written to
Barff advising him, but had afterwards to write to tell him of the
fellow's having not come up to time. You must really send me the
balance soon. I have the artillerists and my Suliotes to pay, and
Heaven knows what besides; and as every thing depends upon
punctuality, all our operations will be at a standstill unless you
use despatch. I shall send to Mr. Barff or to you further bills on
England for three thousand pounds, to be negotiated as speedily as
you can. I have already stated here and formerly the sums I can
command at home within the year,--without including my credits, or
the bills already negotiated or negotiating, as Corgialegno's balance
of Mr. Webb's letter,--and my letters from my friends (received by
Mr. Parry's vessel) confirm what I have already stated. How much I
may require in the course of the year I can't tell, but I will take
care that it shall not exceed the means to supply it. Yours ever,
N.B.

"P.S. I have had, by desire of a Mr. _Jerostati_, to draw on
Demetrius Delladecima (is it our friend in ultima analise?) to pay
the Committee expenses. I really do not understand what the Committee
mean by some of their freedoms. Parry and I get on very well
_hitherto_: how long this may last, Heaven knows, but I hope it will,
for a good deal for the Greek service depends upon it; but he has
already had some" _miffs_ with Col. S. and I do all I can to keep the
peace amongst them. However, Parry is a fine fellow, extremely
active, and of strong, sound, practical talents, by all accounts.
Enclosed are bills for three thousand pounds, drawn in the mode
directed (_i.e._ parcelled out in smaller bills). A good opportunity
occurring for Cephalonia to send letters on, I avail myself of it.
Remember me to Stevens and to all friends. Also my compliments and
every thing kind to the colonels and officers.

"February 9. 1824.

"P.S. 2d or 3d. I have reason to expect a person from England
directed with papers (on business) for me to sign, somewhere in the
Islands, by and by: if such should arrive, would you forward him to
me by a safe conveyance, as the papers regard a transaction with
regard to the adjustment of a lawsuit, and a sum of several thousand
pounds, which I, or my bankers and trustees for me, may have to
receive (in England) in consequence. The time of the probable arrival
I cannot state, but the date of my letters is the 2d Nov. and I
suppose that he ought to arrive soon."

How strong were the hopes which even those who watched him most
observingly conceived from the whole tenor of his conduct since his
arrival at Missolonghi, will appear from the following words of
Colonel Stanhope, in one of his letters to the Greek Committee:--

"Lord Byron possesses all the means of playing a great part in the
glorious revolution of Greece. He has talent; he professes liberal
principles; he has money, and is inspired with fervent and chivalrous
feelings. He has commenced his career by two good measures: 1st, by
recommending union, and declaring himself of no party; and, 2dly, by
taking five hundred Suliotes into pay, and acting as their chief.
These acts cannot fail to render his Lordship universally popular,
and proportionally powerful. Thus advantageously circumstanced, his
Lordship will have an opportunity of realising all his professions."

That the inspirer, however, of these hopes was himself far from
participating in them is a fact manifest from all he said and wrote
on the subject, and but adds painfully to the interest which his
position at this moment excites. Too well, indeed, did he both
understand and feel the difficulties into which he was plunged to
deceive himself into any such sanguine delusions. In one only of the
objects to which he had looked forward with any hope,--that of
endeavouring to humanise, by his example, the system of warfare on
both sides,--had he yet been able to gratify himself. Not many days
after his arrival an opportunity, as we have seen, had been afforded
him of rescuing an unfortunate Turk out of the hands of some Greek
sailors; and, towards the end of the month, having learned that there
were a few Turkish prisoners in confinement at Missolonghi, he
requested of the Government to place them at his disposal, that he
might send them to Yussuff Pacha. In performing this act of humane
policy, he transmitted with the rescued captives the following
letter:--

LETTER 541.

TO HIS HIGHNESS YUSSUFF PACHA.

"Missolonghi, January 23. 1824.

"Highness!

"A vessel, in which a friend and some domestics of mine were
embarked, was detained a few days ago, and released by order of your
Highness. I have now to thank you; not for liberating the vessel,
which, as carrying a neutral flag, and being under British
protection, no one had a right to detain; but for having treated my
friends with so much kindness while they were in your hands.

"In the hope, therefore, that it may not be altogether displeasing to
your Highness, I have requested the governor of this place to release
four Turkish prisoners, and he has humanely consented to do so. I
lose no time, therefore, in sending them back, in order to make as
early a return as I could for your courtesy on the late occasion.
These prisoners are liberated without any conditions: but should the
circumstance find a place in your recollection, I venture to beg,
that your Highness will treat such Greeks as may henceforth fall into
your hands with humanity; more especially since the horrors of war
are sufficiently great in themselves, without being aggravated by
wanton cruelties on either side. NOEL BYRON."

Another favourite and, as it appeared for some time, practicable
object, on which he had most ardently set his heart, was the intended
attack upon Lepanto--a fortified town[1] which, from its command of
the navigation of the Gulf of Corinth, is a position of the first
importance. "Lord Byron," says Colonel Stanhope, in a letter dated
January 14., "burns with military ardour and chivalry, and will
accompany the expedition to Lepanto." The delay of Parry, the
engineer, who had been for some months anxiously expected with the
supplies necessary for the formation of a brigade of artillery, had
hitherto paralysed the preparations for this important enterprise;
though, in the mean time, whatever little could be effected, without
his aid, had been put in progress both by the appointment of a
brigade of Suliotes to act under Lord Byron, and by the formation, at
the joint expense of his Lordship and Colonel Stanhope, of a small
corps of artillery.

[Footnote 1: The ancient Naupactus, called Epacto by the modern
Greeks, and Lepauto by the Italians.]

It was towards the latter end of January, as we have seen, that Lord
Byron received his regular commission from the Government, as
Commander of the expedition. In conferring upon him full powers, both
civil and military, they appointed, at the same time, a Military
Council to accompany him, composed of the most experienced Chieftains
of the army, with Nota Bozzari, the uncle of the famous warrior, at
their head.

It had been expected that, among the stores sent with Parry, there
would be a supply of Congreve rockets,--an instrument of warfare of
which such wonders had been related to the Greeks as filled their
imaginations with the most absurd ideas of its powers. Their
disappointment, therefore, on finding that the engineer had come
unprovided with these missiles was excessive. Another hope,
too,--that of being enabled to complete an artillery corps by the
accession of those Germans who had been sent for into the Morea,--was
found almost equally fallacious; that body of men having, from the
death or retirement of those who originally composed it, nearly
dwindled away; and the few officers that now came to serve being,
from their fantastic notions of rank and etiquette, far more
troublesome than useful. In addition to these discouraging
circumstances, the five Speziot ships of war which had for some time
formed the sole protection of Missolonghi were now returned to their
home, and had left their places to be filled by the enemy's squadron.

Perplexing as were all these difficulties in the way of the
expedition, a still more formidable embarrassment presented itself in
the turbulent and almost mutinous disposition of those Suliote troops
on whom he mainly depended for success in his undertaking. Presuming
as well upon his wealth and generosity as upon their own military
importance, these unruly warriors had never ceased to rise in the
extravagance of their demands upon him;--the wholly destitute and
homeless state of their families at this moment affording but too
well founded a pretext both for their exaction and discontent. Nor
were their leaders much more amenable to management than themselves.
"There were," says Count Gamba, "six heads of families among them,
all of whom had equal pretensions both by their birth and their
exploits; and none of whom would obey any one of his comrades."

A serious riot to which, about the middle of January, these Suliotes
had given rise, and in which some lives were lost, had been a source
of much irritation and anxiety to Lord Byron, as well from the
ill-blood it was likely to engender between his troops and the
citizens, as from the little dependence it gave him encouragement to
place upon materials so unmanageable. Notwithstanding all this,
however, neither his eagerness nor his efforts for the accomplishment
of this sole personal object of his ambition ever relaxed a single
instant. To whatever little glory was to be won by the attack upon
Lepanto, he looked forward as his only reward for all the sacrifices
he was making. In his conversations with Count Gamba on the subject,
"though he joked a good deal," says this gentleman, "about his post
of 'Archistrategos,' or Commander in Chief, it was plain that the
romance and the peril of the undertaking were great allurements to
him." When we combine, indeed, his determination to stand, at all
hazards, by the cause, with the very faint hopes his sagacious mind
would let him indulge as to his power of serving it, I have little
doubt that the "soldier's grave" which, in his own beautiful verses,
he marked out for himself, was no idle dream of poetry; but that, on
the contrary, his "wish was father to the thought," and that to an
honourable death, in some such achievement as that of storming
Lepanto, he looked forward, not only as the sole means of redeeming
worthily the great pledge he had now given, but as the most signal
and lasting service that a name like his,--echoed, as it would then
be, among the watch-words of Liberty, from age to age,--could
bequeath to her cause.

In the midst of these cares he was much gratified by the receipt of a
letter from an old friend of his, Andrea Londo, whom he had made
acquaintance with in his early travels in 1809, and who was at that
period a rich proprietor, under the Turks, in the Morca.[1] This
patriotic Greek was one of the foremost to raise the standard of the
Cross; and at the present moment stood distinguished among the
supporters of the Legislative Body and of the new national
Government. The following is a translation of Lord Byron's answer to
his letter.

[Footnote 1: This brave Moriote, when Lord Byron first knew him, was
particularly boyish in his aspect and manners, but still cherished,
under this exterior, a mature spirit of patriotism which occasionally
broke forth; and the noble poet used to relate that, one day, while
they were playing at draughts together, on the name of Riga being
pronounced, Londo leaped from the table, and clapping violently his
hands, began singing the famous song of that ill-fated patriot:--

"Sons of the Greeks, arise!
The glorious hour's gone forth."]

LETTER 542. TO LONDO.

"Dear Friend,

"The sight of your handwriting gave me the greatest pleasure. Greece
has ever been for me, as it must be for all men of any feeling or
education, the promised land of valour, of the arts, and of liberty;
nor did the time I passed in my youth in travelling among her ruins
at all chill my affection for the birthplace of heroes. In addition
to this, I am bound to yourself by ties of friendship and gratitude
for the hospitality which I experienced from you during my stay in
that country, of which you are now become one of the first defenders
and ornaments. To see myself serving, by your side and under your
eyes, in the cause of Greece, will be to me one of the happiest
events of my life. In the mean time, with the hope of our again
meeting,

"I am, as ever," &c.

Among the less serious embarrassments of his position at this period,
may be mentioned the struggle maintained against him by his
colleague, Colonel Stanhope,--with a degree of conscientious
perseverance which, even while thwarted by it, he could not but
respect, on the subject of a Free Press, which it was one of the
favourite objects of his fellow-agent to bring instantly into
operation in all parts of Greece. On this important point their
opinions differed considerably; and the following report, by Colonel
Stanhope, of one of their many conversations on the subject, may be
taken as a fair and concise statement of their respective
views:--"Lord Byron said that he was an ardent friend of publicity
and the press: but that 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 essential here, in order to put
an end to the state of anarchy which at present prevailed. Lord B.
feared libels and licentiousness. I said that the object of a free
press was to check public licentiousness, and to expose libellers to
odium. Lord B. had mentioned his conversation with Mavrocordato[1] to
show that the Prince was not hostile to the press. I declared that I
knew him to be an enemy to the press, although he dared not openly to
avow it. His Lordship then said that he had not made up his mind
about the liberty of the press in Greece, but that he thought the
experiment worth trying."

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