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"The captains are generally adverse to the loan. They say that it will be plundered by the government party. The fact is, they fear that it will deprive them of power and the means of acquiring wealth. They have a notion, too, that the government is hostile to the army, and I have solicited the government to remove this opinion, by paying their soldiers, and doing them strict justice; also, by issuing proclamations against those captains who do not pursue this course. It should always be considered that an army consists of two branches; if, therefore, you cannot gain the officers, gain the men, and you render their leaders impotent."

Nov. 23.-"The accounts received here about Greek affairs are not favourable. It is my duty to speak the whole truth to the committee. Lord Byron, Colonel Napier, all in fact, concur in representing the executive body as devoid of public virtue, and actuated by avarice or low ambition. The legislative body have always acted with great discretion. The armies and navies are ill spoken of by all Europeans: they, however, possess this redeeming quality, they are invariably successful. The primates have many of them exercised power under the Turks, and are, generally, vicious and devoid of honour. The clergy are illiterate, and not distinguished for their morality. But what is most important is the character of the people. They are said to possess many of the vices of Asiatic nations; but they are sensible, shrewd, discriminating, anxious to acquire knowledge, and attached to the legislative body. M. Paraidi, Mavrocordato's secretary, called on me yesterday. He told me that Colcotroni had filled Napoli di Romania with his friends; that the legislative assembly had, in consequence, quitted it, and had settled at Argos. The executive body adhered to Colocotroni. I told the secretary that, while the government remained in this state of anarchy, they could expect no loan.

"I proposed to Lord Byron, before M. Paraidi, to address the executive and legislative bodies, to represent to them the grief he felt at these calamitous dissensions, which must thwart all the exertions that had been made to obtain a loan for the Greeks; and the anxious hope he entertained that, for the safety and happiness of Greece, they would make a generous effort toward reconciliation. The object of the proposed measure was to force a reconciliation between the parties, or else to attach to

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"In fact, the system in Greece is quite military and feudal, and the laws are neiethr much known nor observed.

"The executive are accused of having attempted to sell and to appropriate to their own use the public lands, which has rendered them odious. `

"The followers of the Greek religion, like the Catholics and the Hindoos, do not read their Scriptures; the consequence is, ignorance of their creed, and superstition, upon which is always engrafted despotism. The only edition of the Scriptures in modern Greek, was, I believe, published at Venice a few years back.

"Prince Mavrocordato is a good man. Do not imagine, however, that he is a friend of liberty in a large sense. He is not: but these are no times for an avowal of sentiments hostile to freedom. -

"He lately informed me that the polltax of one piastre had been levied last year. From it the government had ascertained that the whole population now under their controul, including the islands, amounted to about two millions of souls.

"Mavrocordato is a clever, shrewd, insinuating, and amiable man. He wins men, at first, by his yes's and his smiles. He is accessible and open to good counsel; but he pursues a temporizing policy, and there is nothing great or profound in his mind. He has the ambition, but not the daring or the selfconfidence required to play a first part in the state. His game, therefore, is to secure the second character either under the commonwealth or under a king. The constitution is said to be his child, but he seems to have no parental predilections in its favour. And what, after all, can you expect from a Turk or Greek of Constantinople? All men are more or less influenced by the circumstances and the society that surround them; and Mavrocordato, in the office of a vizier, might be eulogised by the historian as a demi-god.

"Monsieur Negris, who is the ablest man in Greece, and professes wi

GREECE.

principles of government, is labouring at a code of laws. He says, that in order to make it palatable to the people, he must make them believe that it is framed after the model of the Byzantine code. I condemned this quackery, and told him to read Dumont.

"The state of Greece is not easily conveyed to the mind of a foreigner. The society is formed, 1st, of the Primates, who lean to oligarchy, or Turkish principles of government; 2dly, of the captains, who profess democratical notions, but who are, in reality, for power and plunder; and lastly, of the people, who are irreproachable in character, and of course desire to have a proper weight in the constitution. The people of Peloponnessus are much under the influence of the civil and military oligarchies. Those of Eastern and Western Greece are chiefly under the captains. Of these Odysseus is the most influential. His father never bowed to the Turkish yoke; he was a freeman and a robber. Odysseus himself was brought up by the famous tyrant Ali Pacha. He is shrewd and ambitious, and has played the tyrant, but is now persuaded that the road to fame and wealth is by pursuing good government. He, therefore, follows this course, and supports the people and the republic. Negris, who once signed his sentence of death, is now his minister. Of the islands, Hydra and Spezia are under the influence of some rich oligarchs, supported by the rabble, and Ipsara is purely democratic.

"The parties may be said to be three, 1st. There is Mavrocordato, the oligarchs of the islands, and some of those of the Peloponnesus, and the legislative body. These are for order and a mild despotism, either under a foreign king or otherwise. This faction stood high, but must now change its principles or lose its power. 2dly, There is Colocotroni, and some of the captains, and some of the oligarchs of the Morea, who are for power and plunder. This party is going down hill at a gallop. And, 3dly, there is Ipsilanti, Odysseus, Negris, and the mass who are now beginuing to embrace republican notions, finding that they can not otherwise maintain their power, Now the question is, which of these parties should an honest man embrace. ? “Capt. York, of the Alacrity, a tengun brig, came on shore, a few days ago, to demand an equivalent for an Ionian boat that had been taken in the act of going out of the Gulf of Lepanto with provisions, arms, &c. The Greek fleet at that time blockaded the harbour with five brigs, and the Turks had fourteen vessels of war in the Gulf. The Captain

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maintained that the British government recognised no blockade that was not efficient, and that that efficiency depended on the numerical superiority of cannon. On this principle, without going at all into the merits of the case, he demanded restitution of the property. Prince Mavrocordato remonstrated, and offered to submit the cose to the decision of the British government; but the captain peremptorily demanded restitution of the property in four hours. He received 200 dollars as an equivalent. Lord Byron conducted the business in behalf of the captain. In the evening he conversed with me on the subject. I said the affair was conducted in a bullying manner, and not according to the principles of equity and the laws of nations. His lordship started into a passion. He contended, that law, justice, and equity, had nothing to do with politics. That may be; but I will never lend myself to injustice. His lordship then began, according to custom, to attack Mr. Benthain. I said, that it was highly illiberal to make personal attacks on Mr. Bentham before a friend who held him in high estimation. He said, that he only attacked his public principles, which were mere theories, but dangerous ;-injurious to Spain, and calculated to do great mischief in Greece. I did not object to his lordship's attacking Mr. B.'s principles; what I objected to were his personalities. His lordship never reasoned on any of Mr. B.'s writings, but merely made sport of them. I would, therefore, ask him, what it was that he objected to? Lord Byron mentioned his Panopticon as visionary. I said that experience in Pennsylvania, at Milbank, &c. had proved it otherwise. I said that Bentham had a truly British heart; but that Lord Byron, after professing liberal principles from his boyhood, had, when called upon to act, proved himself a Turk.-Lord Byron asked, what proofs have you of this?-Your conduct in endeavouring to crush the press, by declaiming against it to Mavrocordato, and your general abuse of liberal principles.-Lord Byron said, that if he had held up his finger he could have crushed the press.—I replied, with all this power, which, by the way, you never possessed, you went to the prince and poisoned his ear.-Lord Byron declaimed against the liberals whom he knew.-But what liberals? I asked; did he borrow his notions of freemen from the Italians?-Lord Byron.No; from the Hunts, Cartwrights, &c. and still, said I, you presented Cartwright's Reform Bill, and aided Hunt by praising his poetry and giving him the

sale of your works.-Lord Byron exclaimed, you are worse than Wilson, and should quit the army.-I replied, I am a mere soldier, but never will I abandon my principles. Our principles are diametrically opposite, so let us avoid the subject. If Lord Byron acts up to his professions, he will be the greatest -if not, the meanest of mankind.-He said he hoped his character did not depend on my assertions.—No, said I, your genius has immortalized you. The worst could not deprive you of fame.-Lord Byron-Well; you shall see: judge me by my acts. When he wished me good night, I took up the light to conduct him to the passage, but he said, What! hold up a light to a Turk."

PLUM-PUDDING.

THIS is one of the relics of barbarous cookery-a compilation of grossness, gastronomically unscientific, and preeminently unwholesome. Sugar, dough, and fat, are its basis, and in such proportion, that its lighter ingredients have not power to redeem its crudity.-No wonder John Bull is dyspeptic, hypochondriac,and suicidical, when plum-puddings and malt-liqour occupy his stomach so often. Boiled dough is the food of his youth-solid, stone-like dough-and when he grows up, he mollifies his mess with sugar and raisins; scarcely a day passes without a wedge of his favourite dishplum-pudding; and then he mopes and drinks his ale, until a sufficient quantity of coculus indicus, or opium, or bangue -the narcotic portion of his beveragenods him down to sleep. Yet John wonders why he suffers from indigestion! Leave off plum-pudding. The French,

who know better than we do the science of cookery, laugh at us for still patrozining it.

PRINTER'S INK TOO MUCH FOR THE DEVIL.

"UNDER the name of exorcism (says Mr. Bentham, in his Book of Fallacies) the Catholic Liturgy contains a form of procedure for driving out devils. Even with the help of this instrument the operation cannot be performed with the desired success, but by an operator qualified by holy orders for the working of this as well as many other wonders. In our days, and in our country, the same object is attained, and beyond comparison more effectually, by so cheap an instrument as a common Newspaper. Before this talisman, not only devils, but ghosts, vampires, witches, and all their Kindred tribes, are driven out of the land, never to return again; the touch of holy water is not so intolerable to them as the bare smell of printer's ink."

RODOLPH'S DAUGHTER.

A Fragment.

Original.

THE moon-beams thro' the dark trees quiver,

And dance on the ripple of the river;
And every star in the clear blue sky,
Is bright as the glance of true love's eye.
So soft, and so silent, that even the kiss
O! sure love must wake in a night like this,

Of the sweet south breeze is heard to close
Its lips of perfume on the rose !

And who is it sits in her bower, so lone
And pale, as the moon-lit turret-stone;
And anxious, as the flutt'ring dove
Seeking the grove for her wandering love?

'Tis Rodolph's lily, wet with tears,
From a desponding heart supplied;
Watching her love with anxious fears,
The victim of a father's pride:
For her lover comes, in the silent hour,
To visit the ladie in her bower:
In the still midnight, when the watchers slum-
ber,

And nought but hope, the minuets number;
And nought but love awakes to listen,
And nought but stars, and tear-drops, glisten.-
He comes, with many a rash endeavour,
And but to say-" Farewell for ever!"
And why should he rove, and why should they
part,

And not unite, their truth to cherishl
Alas! her proud Sire's 'vengeful heart

Decrees their passion's rose to perish! The youth is brave-and has gained him fame, But wealth, nor rank, he cannot claim, As any knight renowned in story;

Nor ancestry's emblazon'd glory. So why must they part-each fond hope smother

And Rodolph's lily wed—another!

O! how her eyes watch the forest's shade,
Some tall tree's shadow o'er the glade,—
As the fantastic moon-light throws
It seems as if her lover goes!
And every fading leaf that flies
Where the wand'ring breeze thro' the foliage
sighs,

Seems like some lightsome footstep's tread,
And her cheek is flush'd with a transient red;
And a brighter ray lights her soft blue eyes,
That quiver thro' their fringe-and dies!

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LOVE IN A CONVENT.

LOVE IN A CONVENT.

A YOUNG NUN, who had been sometime enamoured of a gay cavalier, re solved on scaling the walls of the convent, to be united to her admirer. Love is violent even in the breast of one who wears a veil, and the young lady contrived a most ingenious scheme to accomplish her wishes: she acquainted the cavalier, by means of a communication through the grating, that she had resolved upon breaking her bonds, and enjoying liberty with him. He supposed that the resolution was never likely to be realized, inasmuch as there appeared so many difficulties thrown in the way;but what will not love effect?-she pointed out a spot, through her letters,

It

where she would meet the cavalier on a
certain night, directing him to have
swift horses in attendance, and leave all
the rest to her care:-she acquainted
him that she would execute her plan,
and no one would ever know that she
had relinquished a religious life.
appeared to him a mystery how she
could bring this about, and he was
anxious to know the scheme she had in
agitation; but of this she declared he
must remain ignorant until it was com-
pleted. One of her companions having
died about that time, and having just
been interred, she boldly entered the
tomb where the body was placed, and
conveyed it to her own cell, where she
placed it upon her couch, naving first
put upon it some of her own clothing,
she then set fire to the drapery of the
room, and by means of a rope ladder
escaped from the convent, and joined
her lover at the appointed place. The
fire soon alarmed those who were in the
convent, and the cell was presently

crowded with the sisterhood, who con.
trived to put out the fire, but not before
it had so disfigured the dead body that
no one suspected it to be any other than
that of the nun who had contrived to
escape they mourned her unhappy fate,
supposing that she had died by the fire,
and prayers were offered up for her soul's
repose. This ingenious but dangerous
scheme succeeded, and her honour was
unsullied. The cavalier engaged himself
as a merchant, and acquired considerable
property, having previously married his
intrepid admirer.

WOMEN.

In youth, says Lord Byron, women are our mistresses, at a riper age our companions, in old age our nurses, and in all ages our friends.

189

THE BURN O' ARDOH. *
Addressed to Mary Stuart, London.

Driginal.

Air-"The Braes o' Tallymet."

FAR I've followed thee, Mary,

To the bonit burn o' Ardoh ;
Hame I'll seek, nor see Mary,

Till thou'rt wedded wi' me.
There thou sal see-there thou sal share
The best o' fouk-the best o' fare,
Thy comfort sal be a' our care.

Dear lassie listen to me.

Blithe the birdies sing, Mary,

By the bonie burn o' Ardob,
As the sprouts o' spring, Mary,
Busk the braes sae gaily;
While wimplin' wildly out an' in,

An' dancin' down ilk little linn,
The burnie rawes wi' rantin' din,

Whare we will wander daily.

Blest sal we be then, Mary,
By the bonie burn o' Ardoh;
While baith late an' air, Mary,

I will dant thee dearly.
While lave-rocks wank the smilin' morn,
An' linties wait the e'en's return,
The lowe o' lave will fondly burn

That heats this heart-my Mary.
DONALD DHU.

The Burn o' Ardoh is a small stream that

partly separates the parishes of Methlick and Fyvie, in Aberdeenshire, and pays its tribute to the Ythan, a quarter of a mile below the roofless ruins of the house of Gight, once the family dwelling place of the maternal ancestry of the late Lord Byron, whose mother, with him, in infancy, resided there previous to her removal to Aberdeen.-[A continuation of the favours of this correspondent is most earnestly requested.]

SHAKSPEARE.

THE first authentic collection of the

Plays of Shakspeare was printed for
Heminge and Condell, by Jaggard and
Blount, in the year 1623. The original
price of this book was one pound; the
highest price it ever yet brought at our
book-sales is 107 guineas, which the late
Mr. Boswell paid for the copy that was
Mr. Kemble's. This book, it is true,
had been rendered extremely beautiful,
and had in its various stages cost Mr.
Kemble nearly three times that sum.
It had been purified from all stains by
the usual chemical process; it had been
inlaid into a royal paper, and superbly
bound, at first in three volumes, but
Thus
finally compressed into
sumptuously equipped, it was deposited
in a neat case with a lock and key; and
except to the truer order of biblio-
graphical antiquaries, remains the most
precious copy of that folio.-BOADEN'S
Enquiry into the Authenticity of the
Portraits of Shakspeare.

one.

The Spirit of the Magazines.

GERMAN ENGLISH.

WE have at this moment lying before us one of the most singular productions we ever saw. It professes to be a collection of odes, in 32 different languages

and dialects, in celebration of the birthday of Frederick the Great. Whether they all proceeded from the pen of one poet or many, does not appear from the work. We suspect that but few hands were engaged in the compositions, for, as our readers will see presently, the writers were not particularly solicitous to know much of the languages in which they undertook to magnify the glories of their hero. The English ode, which ranks fifth in the collection, seems to have been one on which the poet prided himself. It is rather longer than the rest, and is not accompanied with a Latin translation, which, sensibly enough, has been added to most of them, to enable the reader to guess the author's meaning. Perhaps some of our readers may regret that they had not also the benefit of a versio, for it must be confessed the poet is occasionally somewhat obscure. The composition is exactly such as we might suppose one of the Babylonish labourers to have spoken, immediately after being afflicted with the confusion of tongues. Certainly the notions of sense, metre, and rhyme, we meet with in this piece, surpass every thing that has before fallen under our observation:

THOU Greatest KING in all the age,

In all the Land and World adord!
The little, Great, the sage, Savage

THEE call the Greatest KING, and
LORD.

What language, what words can express
THY greatness? GREATEST OF THE
KINGS!

THY might, THY Wisdom is boundless, Which muse, which Poete can THEE sing?

If half the World cause an uproar,

If all the nations him attake, Come FREDRIC-and he rage no more And flee, and beg the peace to make. And if the close-imbodied might

Of Hell foes numrous send, alone Alone the arm of FREDRIC fight, And self the Hell with HIM atone. In vain in vain the lions roar,

In vain the popled globe is foe: The fame of FREDRIC them dor He is Vanquisher, is Hero.

Much laurels round HIS Head→WE reign, HE regn and writte-UIM whorty care Is writing vanquisher again,

Which garlans crown the Victors Hair! Make new conquests par HIS Writings And Songs, he compose masterly, Thereby the Wises vanquishing, Himself the wisest, greatest witty. Make new conquests par laws, commands He publish the most glorious The vice vanquishing in his lands! SELF original law, virtuous. Oblisful Land! O blisful Land!

THY FATHER, KING, HERO, WISE, live A blessing, with a sparing hand

Heavn selects and on few lands give. This is the Day brandish'd trophies! Gods decreed to send FREDRIC THEE: O holy Synod! whose decrees,

Have call and send him the Godly. This Day with thousend beauthies stord, In all the World a holy day Is every where solemn adord

The peoples sing jointly a lay. Aurora Herald with his beam

Spread doubly purple rays around Auspicious sun will longer stream

Today, whom Earth and Heaven sound. Aud i GREAT FREDRIC this day rised So general a festivity, Demand also my sacrifice

And my longing, my melody. O be alive in thousend Year,

God eternal of mortals Gods! So often as this day appear

Growing more young, more vivacious. Love eternal of subjects being Fright eternal to mortal foe God save-God bless the FATHER KING, God save-God bless the WISE, HERO.

ON QUADRILLES.

I HAVE resolved never again to dance; and yet this is a resolution at two-andthirty.

For ten years I have been a happy member of our social assemblies in the pleasant town of M. My subscription will be saved; but how shall I fill up the tedious winter months without the recollections of the past, and the anticipations of the coming ball? Delightful companions of the full moon--. blooming evenings of defiance to bail and frost, ye are gone, and my solitary hearth must be my solace.

I shall never forget the night when the seeds of your destruction were first sown. Louisa W. had to call, and I was her delighted partner. The eager hands

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