XXXIV. Not much he kens, I ween, of woman's breast, Who thinks that wanton thing is won by sighs; What careth she for hearts when once possess'd? Do proper homage to thine idol's eyes; But not too humbly, or she will despise Thee and thy suit, though told in moving tropes; Disguise ev'n tenderness, if thou art wise; Brisk Confidence still best with woman copes; Pique her and soothe in turn, soon Passion crowns thy hopes. XXXV. 'Tis an old lesson; Time approves it true, Not to be cured when Love itself forgets to please. XXXVI. Away! nor let me loiter in my song, For we have many a mountain-path to tread, To teach man what he might be, or he ought; If that corrupted thing could ever such be taught. XXXVII. Dear Nature is the kindest mother still, Though alway changing, in her aspect mild; From her bare bosom let me take my fill, Her never-wean'd, though not her favour'd child. Oh! she is fairest in her features wild, Where nothing polish'd dares pollute her path: To me by day or night she ever smiled, Though I have mark'd her when none other hath, And sought her more and more, and loved her best in wrath. XXXVIII. Land of Albania! where Iskander rose, Theme of the young, and beacon of the wise, And he his namesake, whose oft-baffled foes Shrunk from his deeds of chivalrous emprize : Land of Albania 2! let me bend mine eyes On thee, thou rugged nurse of savage men! The cross descends, thy minarets arise, And the pale crescent sparkles in the glen, Through many a cypress grove within each city's ken. self-misrepresentation. However great might have been the irregularities of his college life, such phrases as the spoiler's art,' and spreading snares,' were in no wise applicable to them."-- MOORE.] ["Brisk Impudence," &c. - MS.] 2 See Appendix to this Canto, Note [B]. 3 Ithaca." Sept. 24th," says Mr. Hobhouse, "we were in the channel, with Ithaca, then in the hands of the French, to the west of us. We were close to it, and saw a few shrubs on a brown heathy land, two little towns in the hills, scattered amongst trees, and a windmill or two, with a tower on the heights. That Ithaca was not very strongly garrisoned, you will easily believe, when I tell, that a month afterwards, when the Ionian Islands were invested by a British squadron, it was surrendered into the hands of a sergeant and seven XXXIX. Childe Harold sail'd, and pass'd the barren Where sad Penelope o'erlook'd the wave; 3 And onward view'd the mount, not yet forg The lover's refuge, and the Lesbian's grave Dark Sappho could not verse immortal sa That breast imbued with such immortal fir Could she not live who life eternal gave? If life eternal may await the lyre, That only Heaven to which Earth's children may XL. "T was on a Grecian autumn's gentle eve Childe Harold hail'd Leucadia's cape afar;" A spot he long'd to see, nor cared to leave Oft did he mark the scenes of vanish'd war Actium, Lepanto, fatal Trafalgar ; Mark them unmoved, for he would not del (Born beneath some remote inglorious star In themes of bloody fray, or gallant fight, But loathed the bravo's trade, and laughed at XLI. But when he saw the evening star above Leucadia's far-projecting rock of woe, And hail'd the last resort of fruitless love, He felt, or deem'd he felt, no common glow And as the stately vessel glided slow Beneath the shadow of that ancient mount He watch'd the billows' melancholy flow, And, sunk albeit in thought as he was wor More placid seem'd his eye, and smooth h front. 6 XLII. Morn dawns; and with it stern Albania's Dark Suli's rocks, and Pindus' inland peak Robed half in mist, bedew'd with snowy ri Array'd in many a dun and purple streak, Arise; and, as the clouds along them brea Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer: Here roams the wolf, the cagle whets his t Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appea And gathering storms around convulse the XLIII. Now Harold felt himself at length alone, And bade to Christian tongues a long adie Now he adventured on a shore unknown, Which all admire, but many dread to view His breast was arm'd 'gainst fate, his wants w Peril he sought not, but ne'er shrank to m The scene was savage, but the scene was n This made the ceaseless toil of travel swee Beat back keen winter's blast, and welcomed s men." For a very curious account of the state of the of Ulysses in 1816, see Williams's Travels, vol. ii. p. 4 Leucadia, now Santa Maura. From the promo Lover's Leap) Sappho is said to have thrown ["Sept. 28th, we doubled the promontory of Sant and saw the precipice which the fate of Sappho, t of Ovid, and the rocks so formidable to the ancient have made for ever memorable."- HOBHOUSE] 5 Actium and Trafalgar need no further menti battle of Lepanto, equally bloody and considerable known, was fought in the Gulf of Patras. Here t of Don Quixote lost his left hand. 6" And roused him more from thought than he While Pleasure almost seemed to smooth front."-MS.] XLIV. Here the red cross, for still the cross is here, Lunt, virgin, prophet, crescent, cross, XLV. Ambraer's gulf behold, where once was lost A well for woman, lovely, harmless thing! In der rippling bay, their naval host Dd run a Ronan chief and Asian king1 I. Geritful conflict, certain slaughter bring: Lab where the second Cæsar's trophies rose ! 2 3, like the hands that rear'd them, withering; Imperial anarchs, doubling human woes! Gus, was thy globe ordain'd for such to win and lose? XLVI. 1-m the dark barriers of that rugged clime, A ramy seen; nor can fair Tempe boast sume spots that lurk within this lowering XLVII. Ee paw'd bleak Pindus, Acherusia's lake, " To get Alania's chief, whose dread command zer defance far, nor yield, unless to gold. 5 a sad that on the day previous to the battle of 1 had thirteen kings at his levee. -["To- I saw the remains of the town of Actium, 4tome bust the world, in a small bay, where two a. 1 kafy manoeuvre: a broken wall is the sole anther part of the gulf stand the ruins of Augustus, in honour of his victory."— nuki Maker, 1809.] * ruins are most extensive, is at some Atm, where the wall of the Hippodrome a few ingments. These ruins are large masses te berks of which are joined by interstices large as the bricks themselves, and equally Proqueville, the lake of Yanina: but Pou ted Aft Parha Of this extraordinary man et arount in Pouqueville's Travels. - [" a Soviet Ming of war, on the 21st of September, • gut days at Prevesa I thence have traversed *Lepince of Albania, on a visit to the T-paleen, his highness's country palace, E day? The name of the Pacha is Ali, Lastetovi a man of the first abilities: he governs amia the ancient Illyricum), Epirus, and »» «___* — B. to his Mother.] aid Suites, among the rocks and in the castle wad thirty thousand Albanians for eighteen - at last was taken by bribery. In this contest avera, acta performed not unworthy of the better Caromeent and village of Zitza are four hours' journey XLVIII. Monastic Zitza 6! from thy shady brow, Thou small, but favour'd spot of holy ground! Where'er we gaze, around, above, below, What rainbow tints, what magic charms are found! Rock, river, forest, mountain, all abound, And bluest skies that harmonise the whole : Beneath, the distant torrent's rushing sound Tells where the volumed cataract doth roll Between those hanging rocks, that shock yet please the soul. XLIX. Amidst the grove that crowns yon tufted hill, Is welcome still; nor heedless will he flee Here in the sultriest season let him rest, Fresh is the green beneath those aged trees; Here winds of gentlest wing will fan his breast, From heaven itself he may inhale the breeze : The plain is far beneath -- oh! let him seize Pure pleasure while he can; the scorching ray Here pierceth not, impregnate with disease: Then let his length the loitering pilgrim lay, And gaze, untired, the morn, the noon, the eve away. from Joannina, or Yanina, the capital of the Pachalick. In the valley the river Kalamas (once the Acheron) flows, and, not far from Zitza, forms a fine cataract. The situation is per. haps the finest in Greece, though the approach to Delvinachi and parts of Acarnania and Etolia may contest the palm. Delphi, Parnassus, and, in Attica, even Cape Colonna and Port Raphti, are very inferior; as also every scene in Ionia, or the Troad I am almost inclined to add the approach to Constantinople; but, from the different features of the last, a comparison can hardly be made. ["Zitza," says the poet's companion," is a village inhabited by Greek peasants. Perhaps there is not in the world a more romantic prospect than that which is viewed from the summit of the hill. The foreground is a gentle declivity, terminating on every side in an extensive landscape of green hills and dale, enriched with vineyards, and dotted with frequent flocks."] The Greek monks are so called. -[“ We went into the monastery," says Mr. Hobhouse, "after some parley with one of the monks, through a small door plated with iron, on which the marks of violence were very apparent, and which, before the country had been tranquillised under the powerful government of Ali, had been battered in vain by the troops of robbers then, by turns, infesting every district. The prior, a humble, meek-mannered man, entertained us in a warm chamber with grapes, and a pleasant white wine, not trodden out, as he told us, by the feet, but pressed from the grape by the hand; and we were so well pleased with every thing about us, that we agreed to lodge with him on our return from the Vizier."] The Chimariot mountains appear to have been volcanic. 9 Now called Kalamas. 19" Keep heaven for better souls, my shade," &c. — 1 -MS.] 1 Albanese cloak. 2 Anciently Mount Tomarus. 3 The river Laos was full at the time the author passed it; and, immediately above Tepaleen, was to the eye as wide as the Thames at Westminster; at least in the opinion of the author and his fellow-traveller. In the summer it must be much narrower. It certainly is the finest river in the Levant; neither Achelous, Alpheus, Acheron, Scamander, nor Cayster, approached it in breadth or beauty. ["Ali Pacha, hearing that an Englishman of rank was in his dominions, left orders, in Yanina, with the commandant, to provide a house, and supply me with every kind of neces sary gratis. I rode out on the vizier's horses, and saw the palaces of himself and grandsons. I shall never forget the singular scene on entering Tepaleen, at five in the afternoon (Oct. 11.), as the sun was going down. It brought to my mind (with some change of dress, however,) Scott's description of Branksome Castle in his Lay, and the feudal system. The Albanians in their dresses (the most magnificent in the world, consisting of a long white kilt, gold-worked cloak, crimson velvet gold-laced jacket and waistcoat, silver-mounted pistols and daggers); the Tartars, with their high caps; the Turks in their vast pelisses and turbans; the soldiers and black slaves with the horses, the former in groups, in an immense Amidst no common pomp the despot sate, While busy preparation shook the court, Slaves, eunuchs, soldiers, guests, and santon Within, a palace, and without, a fort: Here men of every clime appear to make resor LVII. Richly caparison'd, a ready row Of armed horse, and many a warlike store, Circled the wide-extending court below; Above, strange groups adorn'd the corridor And oft-times through the area's echoing d Some high-capp'd Tartar spurr'd his steed: The Turk, the Greek, the Albanian, and th Here mingled in their many-hued array, [ While the deep war-drum's sound announced t LVIII. The wild Albanian kirtled to his knee, With shawl-girt head and ornamented gun, And gold-embroider'd garments, fair to see The crimson-scarfed men of Macedon; The Delhi with his cap of terror on, And crooked glaive; the lively, supple Gr And swarthy Nubia's mutilated son; The bearded Turk, that rarely deigns to sp Master of all around, too potent to be meek, LIX. Are mix'd conspicuous: some recline in g Scanning the motley scene that varies rour There some grave Moslem to devotion stoc And some that smoke, and some that play, an Here the Albanian proudly treads the grou Half-whispering there the Greek is heard t Hark! from the mosque the nightly solem The Muezzin's call doth shake the minare "There is no god but God! -to prayer-1 is great!" 5 LX. Just at this season Ramazani's fast 6 Through the long day its penance did mai But when the lingering twilight hour was Revel and feast assumed the rule again: Now all was bustle, and the menial train Prepared and spread the plenteous board v The vacant gallery now seem'd made in v But from the chambers came the mingling As page and slave anon were passing out and large open gallery in front of the palace, the latter a kind of cloister below it; two hundred steeds re risoned to move in a moment; couriers entering o out with despatches; the kettle-drums beating; bo the hour from the minaret of the mosque; altoge the singular appearance of the building itself, form and delightful spectacle to a stranger. I was cond very handsome apartment, and my health inquired the vizier's secretary, 'à la mode Turque."- B. I ["On our arrival at Tepalcen, we were lodg palace. During the night, we were disturbed by petual carousal which seemed to be kept up in th and by the drum, and the voice of the Muezzin,' o calling the Turks to prayers from the minaret or t attached to the palace. The chanter was a boy, an out his hymn in a sort of loud melancholy recita was a long time repeating the purport of these fe God most high! I bear witness, that there is n God, and Mahomet is his prophet: come to prayer the asylum of salvation; great God! there is no God "-HOBHOUSE] 6 ["We were a little unfortunate in the time we travelling, for it was during the Ramazan, or Tur which fell this year in October, and was bailed at LXI. Hre woman's voice is never heard: apart, self more sweetly rears the babe she bears, Thever quits the breast, no meaner passion shares. LXIL In marble-paved pavilion, where a spring And soft voluptuous couches breathed repose, This lineaments ye cannot trace, The ads that lork beneath, and stain him with disgrace. LXIIL I a set that yon hoary lengthening beard I sat the passions which belong to youth: 2 the Teian, and he sings in soothIs that scorn the tender voice of ruth, 3 all men ill, but most the man Lahave mark'd him with a tiger's tooth: f blood, and, through their mortal span, ader acts conclude those who with blood began. 3 LXIV. : ny things most new to ear and eye Antrated around on Moslem luxury, And were at humbler it in sooth were sweet; 1- Prace abborreth artificial joys, Pur, Iragued with Pomp, the zest of both destroy em on the evening of the 8th, by every demon. **_though during this month, the strictest wered in the daytime, yet with the setting of *Ano bang commences; then is the time for paying And for the amusements of Turkey, ***, Zigzēti, dancers, and story-tellers.". HOB Th I was introduced to Ali Pacha I was uniform, with a very magnificent The received me in a large room paved atan was playing in the crutre; the Tu 12**nded by scarlet ottomans. He received al compliment from a Mussulman, Tone? The #1 67 #% on his right hand. His first question Haenely an age, I left my country? He then %ster. Captain Leake, had told him I A and desired his respects to my mother; te of Ali Pacha, present to you. He I was a man of birth, because I had small little white hands. He told me to whilst I was in Turkey, and said he 1. Indeed, he treated me like a Tents and sugared sherbet, fruit, and *** Nettes a day. I then after coffee and pipes -8 ↑ hay Mother]] gle with the lip of youth."- MS.] ase describes the vizier as a short man, her in height, and very fat; possessing lair stud round, with blue quick eyes, not ⚫a Turkish STAY Y Dr Holland happily The 21 which lurked under All's usual exterior, LXV. Fierce are Albania's children, yet they lack Not virtues, were those virtues more mature. Where is the foe that ever saw their back? Who can so well the toil of war endure? Their native fastnesses not more secure Than they in doubtful time of troublous need: Their wrath how deadly! but their friendship sure, When Gratitude or Valour bids them bleed, Unshaken rushing on where'er their chief may lead. LXVI. Childe Harold saw them in their chieftain's tower, Thronging to war in splendour and success; And after view'd them, when, within their power, Himself awhile the victim of distress; That saddening hour when bad men hotlier press: But these did shelter him beneath their roof, When less barbarians would have cheer'd him less, And fellow-countrymen have stood aloof 5In aught that tries the heart how few withstand the proof! LXVII. It chanced that adverse winds once drove his bark Full on the coast of Suli's shaggy shore, When all around was desolate and dark; To land was perilous, to sojourn more; Yet for awhile the mariners forbore, Dubious to trust where treachery might lurk : At length they ventured forth, though doubting sore That those who loathe alike the Frank and Turk Might once again renew their ancient butcher-work. LXVIII. Vain fear! the Suliotes stretch'd the welcome hand, Led them o'er rocks and past the dangerous swamp, Kinder than polish'd slaves though not so bland, And piled the hearth, and wrung their garments damp, And fill'd the bowl, and trimm'd the cheerful lamp, And spread their fare; though homely, all they had: Such conduct bears Philanthropy's rare stamp To rest the weary and to soothe the sad, Doth lesson happier men, and shames at least the bad. to "the fire of a stove, burning fiercely under a smooth and polished surface." When the doctor returned from Albania, in 1813, he brought a letter from the Pacha to Lord Byron. "It is," says the poet," in Latin, and begins Excellentissime, necnon Carissime,' and ends about a gun he wants made for him. He tells me that, last spring, he took a town, a hostile town, where, forty-two years ago, his mother and sisters were treated as Miss Cunegunde was by the Bulgarian cavalry. He takes the town, selects all the survivors of the exploitchildren, grand-children, &c., to the tune of six hundred, and has them shot before his face. So much for dearest friend.'"] 3 [The fate of Ali was precisely such as the poet anticfpated. For a circumstantial account of his assassination, in February, 1822, see Walsh's Journey. His head was sent to Constantinople, and exhibited at the gates of the seraglio. As the name of Ali had made a considerable noise in England, in consequence of his negotiations with Sir Thomas Maitland, and still more, perhaps, these stanzas of Lord Byron, a merchant of Constantinople thought it would be no bad speculation to purchase the head and consign it to a London showman; but this scheme was defeated by the piety of an old servant of the Pacha, who bribed the executioner with a higher price, and bestowed decent sepulture on the relic.] ["Childe Harold with the chief held colloquy, Alluding to the wreckers of Cornwall. LXIX. It came to pass, that when he did address In war well season'd, and with labours tann'd, Where lone Utraikey forms its circling cove, On the smooth shore the night-fires brightly blazed, The feast was done, the red wine circling fast, 1 And he that unawares had there ygazed With gaping wonderment had stared aghast; For ere night's midmost, stillest hour was past, The native revels of the troop began; Each Palikar 2 his sabre from him cast, And bounding hand in hand, man link'd to man, Yelling their uncouth dirge, long daunced the kirtled clan. 3 LXXII. Childe Harold at a little distance stood, And view'd, but not displeased, the revelrie, Nor hated harmless mirth, however rude : In sooth, it was no vulgar sight to see Their barbarous, yet their not indecent, glee; And, as the flames along their faces gleam'd, Their gestures nimble, dark eyes flashing free, The long wild locks that to their girdles stream'd, While thus in concert they this lay half sang, half scream'd: 4 1. TAMBOURGI! Tambourgi 5! thy larum afar Gives hope to the valiant, and promise of war; All the sons of the mountains arise at the note, Chimariot, Illyrian, and dark Suliote! 6 1 The Albanian Mussulmans do not abstain from wine, and, indeed, very few of the others. 2 Palikar, shortened when addressed to a single person, from Пanagi, a general name for a soldier amongst the Greeks and Albanese who speak Romaic: it means, properly, "a lad." 3 [The following is Mr. Hobhouse's animated description of this scene:-" In the evening the gates were secured, and preparations were made for feeding our Albanians. A goat was killed and roasted whole, and four fires were kindled in the yard, round which the soldiers seated themselves in parties. After eating and drinking, the greatest part of them assembled round the largest of the fires, and, whilst ourselves and the elders of the party were seated on the ground, danced round the blaze, to their own songs, with astonishing energy. All their songs were relations of some robbing exploits. One of them, which detained them more than an hour, began thus: When we set out from Parga, there were sixty of us:' then came the burden of the verse, Robbers all at Parga! Robbers all at Parga!' • Κλεφτεις ποτε Παργα ! Κλέφτεις ποτε Παργα ! and as they roared out this stave, they whirled round the fire, dropped, and rebounded from their knees, and again whirled round, as the chorus was again repeated. The rippling of 2. Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote, Shall the sons of Chimari, who never forgive Macedonia sends forth her invincible race; 5. Then the pirates of Parga that dwell by the And teach the pale Franks what it is to be s Shall leave on the beach the long galley and And track to his covert the captive on shore 6. I ask not the pleasures that riches supply, My sabre shall win what the feeble must bu Shall win the young bride with her long flov And many a maid from her mother shall te 7. I love the fair face of the maid in her youth Her caresses shall lull me, her music shall s Let her bring from her chamber the many-t And sing us a song on the fall of her sire. 8. Remember the moment when Previsa fell, 7 The shrieks of the conquer'd, the conquero The roofs that we fired, and the plunder w The wealthy we slaughter'd, the lovely we 9. I talk not of mercy, I talk not of fear; 10. Dark Muchtar his son to the Danube is sp Let the yellow-hair'd 8 Giaours view his h with dread When his Delhis 11 come dashing in bloo How few shall escape from the Muscovite the waves upon the pebbly margin where we v filled up the pauses of the song with a milder, a monotonous music. The night was very dark flashes of the fires, we caught a glimpse of the rocks, and the lake, which, together with the wild of the dancers, presented us with a scene that made a fine picture in the hands of such an a author of the Mysteries of Udolpho. As we wer with the character of the Albanians, it did not at our pleasure to know, that every one of our gua robbers, and some of them a very short time bef eleven o'clock before we had retired to our roo time the Albanians, wrapping themselves up in t went to sleep round the fires."] 4 [For a specimen of the Albanian or Arnao the Illyric, see Appendix to this Canto, Note [C 5 Drummer. 6 These stanzas are partly taken from differe songs, as far as I was able to make them out by th of the Albanese in Romaic and Italian. 7 It was taken by storm from the French. 8Yellow is the epithet given to the Russians. 9 Infidel. 10 The insignia of a Pacha. 11 Horsemen, answering to our forlorn hope. |