________________________________________________
_ "The world was all before him, where to choose his place of rest, and
Providence his guide."
IN Sailing through the Grecian Archipelago, on board one of his
Majesty's vessels, in the year 1812, we put into the harbour of
Mitylene, in the island of that name. The beauty of this place, and
the certain supply of cattle and vegetables always to be had there,
induce many British vessels to visit it---both men of war and
merchantmen; and though it lies rather out of the track for ships
bound to Smyrna, its bounties amply repay for the deviation of a
voyage. We landed; as usual, at the bottom of the bay, and whilst the
men were employed in watering, and the purser bargaining for cattle
with the natives, the clergyman and myself took a ramble to the cave
called Homer's School, and other places, where we had been before. On
the brow of Mount Ida (a small monticule so named) we met with and
engaged a young Greek as our guide, who told us he had come from Scio
with an English lord, who left the island four days previous to our
arrival in his felucca. "He engaged me as a pilot, " said the Greek, "
and would have taken me with him; but I did not choose to quit
Mitylene, where I am likely to get married. He was an odd, but a very
good man. The cottage over the hill, facing the river, belongs to him,
and he has left an old man in charge of it: he gave Dominick, the
wine-trader, six hundred zechines for it, (about 250l. English
currency,) and has resided there about fourteen months, though not
constantly; for he sails in his felucca very often to the different
islands. "
This account excited our curiosity very much, and we lost no time in
hastening to the house where out countryman had resided. We were
kindly received by an old man, who conducted us over the mansion. It
consisted of four apartments on the ground-floor---an entrance hall, a
drawing-room, a sitting parlour, and a bed-room, with a spacious
closet annexed. They were all simply decorated: plain green-stained
walls, marble tables on either side, a large myrtle in the centre, and
a small fountain beneath, which could be made to play through the
branches by moving a spring fixed in the side of a small bronze Venus
in a leaning posture; a large couch or sofa completed the furniture.
In the hall stood half a dozen English cane chairs, and an empty
book-case: there were no mirrors, nor a single painting. The
bedchamber had merely a large mattress spread on the floor, with two
stuffed cotton quilts and a pillow---the common bed throughout Greece.
In the sitting-room we observed a marble recess, formerly, the old man
told us, filled with books and papers, which were then in a large
seaman's chest in the closet: it was open, but we did not think
ourselves justified in examining the contents. On the tablet of the
recess lay Voltaire's, Shakspeare's, Boileau's, and Rousseau's works
complete; Volney's Ruins of Empires; Zimmerman, in the German
language; Klopstock's Messiah; Kotzebue's novels; Schiller's play of
the Robbers; Milton's Paradise Lost, an Italian edition, printed at
Parma in 1810; several small pamphlets from the Greek press at
Constantinople, much torn, but no English book of any description.
Most of these books were filled with marginal notes, written with a
pencil, in Italian and Latin. The Messiah was literally scribbled all
over, and marked with slips of paper, on which also were remarks.
The old man said: " The lord had been reading these books the evening
before he sailed, and forgot to place them with the others; but, "
said he, " there they must lie until his return; for he is so
particular, that were I to move one thing without orders, he would
frown upon me for a week together; he is otherways very good. I once
did him a service; and I have the produce of this farm for the trouble
of taking care of it, except twenty zechines which I pay to an aged
Armenian who resides in a small cottage in the wood, and whom the lord
brought here from Adrianople; I don't know for what reason. "
The appearance of the house externally was pleasing. The portico in
front was fifty paces long and fourteen broad, and the fluted marble
pillars with black plinths and fret-work cornices, (as it is now
customary in Grecian architecture,) were considerably higher than the
roof. The roof, surrounded by a light stone balustrade, was covered by
a fine Turkey carpet, beneath an awning of strong coarse linen. Most
of the house-tops are thus furnished, as upon them the Greeks pass
their evenings in smoking, drinking light wines, such as " lachryma
christi, " eating fruit, and enjoying the evening breeze.
On the left hand as we entered the house, a small streamlet glided
away, grapes, oranges and limes were clustering together on its
borders, and under the shade of two large myrtle bushes, a marble scat
with an ornamental wooden back was placed, on which we were told, the
lord passed many of his evenings and nights till twelve o'clock,
reading, writing, and talking to himself. " I suppose, " said the old
man, "praying" for he was very devout, and always attended our church
twice a week, besides Sundays. "
The view from this seat was what may be termed " a bird's-eye view. "
A line of rich vineyards led the eye to Mount Calcla, covered with
olive and myrtle trees in bloom, and on the summit of which an ancient
Greek temple appeared in majestic decay. A small stream issuing from
the ruins descended in broken cascades, until it was lost in the woods
near the mountain's base. The sea smooth as glass, and an horizon
unshadowed by a single cloud, terminates the view in front; and a
little on the left, through a vista of lofty chesnut and palm-trees,
several small islands were distinctly observed, studding the light
blue wave with spots of emerald green. I seldom enjoyed a view more
than I did this; but our enquiries were fruitless as to the name of
the person who had resided in this romantic solitude: none knew his
name but Dominick, his banker, who had gone to Candia. " The Armenian,
" said our conductor, " could tell, but I am sure he will not,"---"And
cannot you tell, old friend?" said I---" If I can, " said he, " I dare
not. " We had not time to visit the Armenian, but on our return to the
town we learnt several particulars of the isolated lord. He had
portioned eight young girls when he was last upon the island, and even
danced with them at the nuptial feast. He gave a cow to one man,
horses to others, and cotton and silk to the girls who live by weaving
these articles. He also bought a new boat for a fisherman who had lost
his own in a gale, and he often gave Greek Testaments to the poor
children. In short, he appeared to us, from all we collected, to have
been a very eccentric and benevolent character. One circumstance we
learnt, which our old friend at the cottage thought proper not to
disclose. He had a most beautiful daughter, with whom the lord was
often seen walking on the sea-shore, and he had bought her a
piano-forte, and taught her himself the use of it.
Such was the information with which we departed from the peaceful isle
of Mitylene; our imaginations all on the rack, guessing who this
rambler in Greece could be. He had money it was evident: he had
philanthropy of disposition, and all those eccentricities which mark
peculiar genius. Arrived at Palermo, all our doubts were dispelled.
Falling in company with Mr. FOSTER, the architect, a pupil of WYATT'S,
who had been travelling in Egypt and Greece, " The individual, " said
he, " about whom you are so anxious, is Lord Byron; I met him in my
travels on the island of Tenedos, and I also visited him at Mitylene.
" We had never then heard of his lordship's fame, as we had been some
years from home; but "Childe Harolde" being put into our hands we
recognized the recluse of Calcla in every page. Deeply did we regret
not having been more curious in our researches at the cottage, but we
consoled ourselves with the idea of returning to Mitylene on some
future day; but to me that day will never return. I make this
statement, believing it not quite uninteresting, and in justice to his
lordship's good name, which has been grossly slandered. He has been
described as of an unfeeling disposition, averse to associating with
human nature, or contributing in any way to sooth its sorrows, or add
to its pleasures. The fact is directly the reverse, as may be plainly
gathered from these little anecdotes. All the finer feelings of the
heart, so elegantly depicted in his lordship's poems, seem to have
their seat in his bosom. Tenderness, sympathy, and charity appear to
guide all his actions: and his courting the repose of solitude is an
additional reason for marking him as a being on whose heart Religion
hath set her seal, and over whose head Benevolence hath thrown her
mantle. No man can read the preceding pleasing "traits" without
feeling proud of him as a countryman. With respect to his loves or
pleasures, I do not assume a right to give an opinion. Reports are
ever to be received with caution, particularly when directed against
man's moral integrity; and he who dares justify himself before that
awful tribunal where all must appear, alone may censure the errors of
a fellow-mortal. Lord Byron's character is worthy of his genius. To do
good in secret, and shun the world's applause, is the surest testimony
of a virtuous heart and self-approving conscience.
THE END
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Gillet, Printer, Crown-court, Fleet-street.
The End.
THE VAMPYRE, A TALE BY JOHN POLIDORI. _
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