The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1

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"Where fancy yet joys to retrace the resemblance
Of comrades, in friendship and mischief allied,
How welcome to me your ne'er-fading remembrance,
Which rests in the bosom, though hope is denied."

In like manner, the exquisite lines of Mr. Rogers, "On a Tear," might
have warned the noble author off those premises, and spared us a whole
dozen such stanzas as the following:--

"Mild Charity's glow, to us mortals below,
Shows the soul from barbarity clear;
Compassion will melt where this virtue is felt,
And its dew is diffused in a Tear.

"The man doom'd to sail with the blast of the gale,
Through billows Atlantic to steer,
As he bends o'er the wave, which may soon be his grave,
The green sparkles bright with a Tear."

And so of instances in which former poets have failed. Thus we do not
think Lord Byron was made for translating, during his nonage, "Adrian's
Address to his Soul," when Pope succeeded so indifferently in the
attempt. If our readers, however, are of another opinion, they may look
at it.

"Ah! gentle, fleeting, wavering sprite,
Friend and associate of this clay!
To what unknown region borne
Wilt thou now wing thy distant flight?
No more with wonted humour gay,
But pallid, cheerless, and forlorn."

However, be this as it may, we fear his translations and imitations are
great favourites with Lord Byron. We have them of all kinds, from
Anacreon to Ossian; and, viewing them as school exercises, they may
pass. Only, why print them after they have had their day and served
their turn? And why call the thing in p. 79 (see p. 380) a translation,
where 'two' words [Gr.]('thel_o legein') of the original are expanded
into four lines, and the other thing in p. 81 (see 'ibid'.) where [Gr.]
'mesonuktiais poth h_orais' is rendered by means of six hobbling verses?
As to his Ossianic poesy, we are not very good judges, being in truth,
so moderately skilled in that species of composition, that we should, in
all probability, be criticizing some bit of the genuine Macpherson
itself, were we to express our opinion of Lord Byron's rhapsodies. If,
then, the following beginning of a "Song of Bards" is by his lordship,
we venture to object to it, as far as we can comprehend it. "What form
rises on the roar of clouds? whose dark ghost gleams on the red stream
of tempests? His voice rolls on the thunder; 'tis Orla, the brown chief
of Oithona. He "was," etc. After detaining this "brown chief" some time,
the bards conclude by giving him their advice to "raise his fair locks;"
then to "spread them on the arch of the rainbow;" and to "smile through
the tears of the storm." Of this kind of thing there are no less than
_nine_ pages; and we can so far venture an opinion in their favour, that
they look very like Macpherson; and we are positive they are pretty
nearly as stupid and tiresome.

It is a sort of privilege of poets to be egotists; but they should "use
it as not abusing it;" and particularly one who piques himself (though
indeed at the ripe age of nineteen) on being "an infant bard,"--("The
artless Helicon I boast is youth")--should either not know, or should
seem not to know, so much about his own ancestry. Besides a poem above
cited, on the family seat of the Byrons, we have another of eleven
pages, on the self-same subject, introduced with an apology, "he
certainly had no intention of inserting it," but really "the particular
request of some friends," etc., etc. It concludes with five stanzas on
himself, "the last and youngest of a noble line." There is a good deal
also about his maternal ancestors, in a poem on Lachin y Gair, a
mountain where he spent part of his youth, and might have learnt that
pibroch is not a bagpipe, any more than duet means a fiddle.

As the author has dedicated so large a part of his volume to immortalise
his employments at school and college, we cannot possibly dismiss it
without presenting the reader with a specimen of these ingenious
effusions. In an ode with a Greek motto, called "Granta," we have the
following magnificent stanzas:--

There, in apartments small and damp,
The candidate for college prizes,
Sits poring by the midnight lamp,
Goes late to bed, yet early rises.

Who reads false quantities in Sele,
Or puzzles o'er the deep triangle,
Deprived of many a wholesome meal,
In barbarous Latin doom'd to wrangle:

Renouncing every pleasing page,
From authors of historic use;
Preferring to the letter'd sage,
The square of the hypothenuse.

Still harmless are these occupations,
That hurt none but the hapless student,
Compared with other recreations,
Which bring together the imprudent."

We are sorry to hear so bad an account of the college psalmody as is
contained in the following Attic stanzas:--

"Our choir would scarcely be excused
Even as a band of raw beginners;
All mercy now must be refused
To such a set of croaking sinners.

If David, when his toils were ended,
Had heard these blockheads sing before him,
To us his psalms had ne'er descended:
In furious mood he would have tore 'em!"

But, whatever judgment may be passed on the poems of this noble minor,
it seems we must take them as we find them, and be content; for they are
the last we shall ever have from him. He is, at best, he says, but an
intruder into the groves of Parnassus: he never lived in a garret, like
thorough-bred poets; and "though he once roved a careless mountaineer in
the Highlands of Scotland," he has not of late enjoyed this advantage.
Moreover, he expects no profit from his publication; and, whether it
succeeds or not, "it is highly improbable, from his situation and
pursuits hereafter," that he should again condescend to become an
author. Therefore, let us take what we get, and be thankful. What right
have we poor devils to be nice? We are well off to have got so much from
a man of this lord's station, who does not live in a garret, but "has
the sway" of Newstead Abbey. Again, we say, let us be thankful; and,
with honest Sancho, bid God bless the giver, nor look the gift horse in
the mouth.

APPENDIX III.

REVIEW OF GELL'S GEOGRAPHY OF ITHACA', AND 'ITINERARY OF GREECE'.

(From the Monthly Review for August, 1811.)

That laudable curiosity concerning the remains of classical antiquity,
which has of late years increased among our countrymen, is in no
traveller or author more conspicuous than in Mr. Gell. Whatever
difference of opinion may yet exist with regard to the success of the
several disputants in the famous Trojan controversy [1], or, indeed,
relating to the present author's merits as an inspector of the Troad, it
must universally be acknowledged that any work, which more forcibly
impresses on our imaginations the scenes of heroic action, and the
subjects of immortal song, possesses claims on the attention of every
scholar.

Of the two works which now demand our report, we conceive the former to
be by far the most interesting to the reader, as the latter is
indisputably the most serviceable to the traveller. Excepting, indeed,
the running commentary which it contains on a number of extracts from
Pausanias and Strabo, it is, as the title imports, a mere itinerary of
Greece, or rather of Argolis only, in its present circumstances. This
being the case, surely it would have answered every purpose of utility
much better by being printed as a pocket road-book of that part of the
Morea; for a quarto is a very unmanageable travelling companion. The
maps [2] and drawings, we shall be told, would not permit such an
arrangement; but as to the drawings, they are not in general to be
admired as specimens of the art; and several of them, as we have been
assured by eye-witnesses of the scenes which they describe, do not
compensate for their mediocrity in point of execution, by any
extraordinary fidelity of representation. Others, indeed, are more
faithful, according to our informants. The true reason, however, for
this costly mode of publication is in course to be found in a desire of
gratifying the public passion for large margins, and all the luxury of
typography; and we have before expressed our dissatisfaction with Mr.
Gell's aristocratical mode of communicating a species of knowledge,
which ought to be accessible to a much greater portion of classical
students than can at present acquire it by his means:--but, as such
expostulations are generally useless, we shall be thankful for what we
can obtain, and that in the manner in which Mr. Gell has chosen to
present it.

The former of these volumes, we have observed, is the most attractive in
the closet. It comprehends a very full survey of the far-famed island
which the hero of the 'Odyssey' has immortalized; for we really are
inclined to think that the author has established the identity of the
modern 'Theaki' with the 'Ithaca' of Homer. At all events, if it be an
illusion, it is a very agreeable deception, and is effected by an
ingenious interpretation of the passages in Homer that are supposed to
be descriptive of the scenes which our traveller has visited. We shall
extract some of these adaptations of the ancient picture to the modern
scene, marking the points of resemblance which appear to be strained and
forced, as well as those which are more easy and natural; but we must
first insert some preliminary matter from the opening chapter. The
following passage conveys a sort of general sketch of the book, which
may give our readers a tolerably adequate notion of its contents:--

"The present work may adduce, by a simple and correct survey of the
island, coincidences in its geography, in its natural productions, and
moral state, before unnoticed. Some will be directly pointed out; the
fancy or ingenuity of the reader may be employed in tracing others;
the mind familiar with the imagery of the 'Odyssey' will
recognise with satisfaction the scenes themselves; and this volume is
offered to the public, not entirely without hopes of vindicating the
poem of Homer from the scepticism of those critics who imagine that
the 'Odyssey' is a mere poetical composition, unsupported by
history, and unconnected with the localities of any particular
situation.

"Some have asserted that, in the comparison of places now existing
with the descriptions of Homer, we ought not to expect coincidence in
minute details; yet it seems only by these that the kingdom of
Ulysses, or any other, can be identified, as, if such an idea be
admitted, every small and rocky island in the Ionian Sea, containing a
good port, might, with equal plausibility, assume the appellation of
Ithaca.

"The Venetian geographers have in a great degree contributed to raise
those doubts which have existed on the identity of the modern with the
ancient Ithaca, by giving, in their charts, the name of Val di Compare
to the island. That name is, however, totally unknown in the country,
where the isle is invariably called Ithaca by the upper ranks, and
Theaki by the vulgar. The Venetians have equally corrupted the name of
almost every place in Greece; yet, as the natives of Epactos or
Naupactos never heard of Lepanto, those of Zacynthos of Zante, or the
Athenians of Settines, it would be as unfair to rob Ithaca of its
name, on such authority, as it would be to assert that no such island
existed, because no tolerable representation of its form can be found
in the Venetian surveys.

"The rare medals of the Island, of which three are represented in the
title-page, might be adduced as a proof that the name of Ithaca was
not lost during the reigns of the Roman emperors. They have the head
of Ulysses, recognised by the pileum, or pointed cap, while the
reverse of one presents the figure of a cock, the emblem of his
vigilance, with the legend [Greek:IThAK_ON]. A few of these medals are
preserved in the cabinets of the curious, and one also, with the cock,
found in the island, is in the possession of Signor Zavo, of Bathi.
The uppermost coin is in the collection of Dr. Hunter; the second is
copied from Newman; and the third is the property of R.P. Knight, Esq.

"Several inscriptions, which will be hereafter produced, will tend to
the confirmation of the idea that Ithaca was inhabited about the time
when the Romans were masters of Greece; yet there is every reason to
believe that few, if any, of the present proprietors of the soil are
descended from ancestors who had long resided successively in the
island. Even those who lived, at the time of Ulysses, in Ithaca, seem
to have been on the point of emigrating to Argos, and no chief
remained, after the second in descent from that hero, worthy of being
recorded in history. It appears that the isle has been twice colonised
from Cephalonia in modern times, and I was informed that a grant had
been made by the Venetians, entitling each settler in Ithaca to as
much land as his circumstances would enable him to cultivate."

Mr. Gell then proceeds to invalidate the authority of previous writers
on the subject of Ithaca. Sir George Wheeler and M. le Chevalier fall
under his severe animadversion; and, indeed, according to his account,
neither of these gentlemen had visited the island, and the description
of the latter is "absolutely too absurd for refutation." In another
place, he speaks of M. le C. "disgracing a work of such merit by the
introduction of such fabrications;" again, of the inaccuracy of the
author's maps; and, lastly, of his inserting an island at the southern
entry of the channel between Cephalonia and Ithaca, which has no
existence. This observation very nearly approaches to the use of that
monosyllable which Gibbon [3], without expressing it, so adroitly
applied to some assertion of his antagonist, Mr. Davies. In truth, our
traveller's words are rather bitter towards his brother tourist; but we
must conclude that their justice warrants their severity.

In the second chapter, the author describes his landing in Ithaca, and
arrival at the rock Korax and the fountain Arethusa, as he designates it
with sufficient positiveness.--This rock, now known by the name of
Korax, or Koraka Petra, he contends to be the same with that which Homer
mentions as contiguous to the habitation of Eumaeus, the faithful
swineherd of Ulysses.--We shall take the liberty of adding to our
extracts from Mr. Gell some of the passages in Homer to which he
_refers_ only, conceiving this to be the fairest method of exhibiting
the strength or the weakness of his argument.

"Ulysses," he observes, "came to the extremity of the isle to visit
Eumaeus, and that extremity was the most southern; for Telemachus,
coming from Pylos, touched at the first south-eastern part of Ithaca
with the same intention."

[Greek:

Kai tote dae r Odysaea kakos pothen aegage daim_on
Agrou ep eschatiaen, hothi d_omata naie sub_otaes
Enth aelthen philos uhios Odyssaeos theioio,
Ek Pylon aemathoentos i_on sun naei melainae.

Odyssei _O.

Autar epaen pr_otaen aktaen Ithakaes aphikaeai,
Naea men es polin otrunai kai pantas etairous
Autos de pr_otista sub_otaen eisaphikesthai, k.t.l.

Odyssei O.]

These citations, we think, appear to justify the author in his attempt
to identify the situation of his rock and fountain with the place of
those mentioned by Homer. But let us now follow him in the closer
description of the scene.--After some account of the subjects in the
plate affixed, Mr. Gell remarks:

"It is impossible to visit this sequestered spot without being struck
with the recollection of the Fount of Arethusa and the rock Korax,
which the poet mentions in the same line, adding, that there the swine
ate the _sweet_ [4] acorns, and drank the black water."

[Greek:

Daeeis ton ge suessi paraemenon ai de nemontai
Par Korakos petrae, epi te kraenae Arethousae,
Esthousai balanon menoeikea, kai melan hud_or
Pinousai.

Odyssei N.]

"Having passed some time at the fountain, taken a drawing, and made
the necessary observations on the situation of the place, we proceeded
to an examination of the precipice, climbing over the terraces above
the source among shady fig-trees, which, however, did not prevent us
from feeling the powerful effects of the mid-day sun. After a short
but fatiguing ascent, we arrived at the rock, which extends in a vast
perpendicular semicircle, beautifully fringed with trees, facing to
the south-east. Under the crag we found two caves of inconsiderable
extent, the entrance of one of which, not difficult of access, is seen
in the view of the fount. They are still the resort of sheep and
goats, and in one of them are small natural receptacles for the water,
covered by a stalagmatic incrustation.

"These caves, being at the extremity of the curve formed by the
precipice, open toward the south, and present us with another
accompaniment of the fount of Arethusa, mentioned by the poet, who
informs us that the swineherd Eumaeus left his guests in the house,
whilst he, putting on a thick garment, went to sleep near the herd,
under the hollow of the rock, which sheltered him from the northern
blast. Now we know that the herd fed near the fount; for Minerva tells
Ulysses that he is to go first to Eumaeus, whom he should find with
the swine, near the rock Korax and the fount of Arethusa. As the swine
then fed at the fountain, so it is necessary that a cavern should be
found in its vicinity; and this seems to coincide, in distance and
situation, with that of the poem. Near the fount also was the fold or
stathmos of Eumaeus; for the goddess informs Ulysses that he should
find his faithful servant at or above the fount.

"Now the hero meets the swineherd close to the fold, which was
consequently very near that source. At the top of the rock, and just
above the spot where the waterfall shoots down the precipice, is at
this day a stagni, or pastoral dwelling, which the herdsmen of Ithaca
still inhabit, on account of the water necessary for their cattle. One
of these people walked on the verge of the precipice at the time of
our visit to the place, and seemed so anxious to know how we had been
conveyed to the spot, that his inquiries reminded us of a question
probably not uncommon in the days of Homer, who more than once
represents the Ithacences demanding of strangers what ship had brought
them to the island, it being evident they could not come on foot. He
told us that there was, on the summit where he stood, a small cistern
of water, and a kalybea, or shepherd's hut. There are also vestiges of
ancient habitations, and the place is now called Amarathia.

"Convenience, as well as safety, seems to have pointed out the lofty
situation of Amarathia as a fit place for the residence of the
herdsmen of this part of the island from the earliest ages. A small
source of water is a treasure in these climates; and if the
inhabitants of Ithaca now select a rugged and elevated spot, to secure
them from the robbers of the Echinades, it is to be recollected that
the Taphian pirates were not less formidable, even in the days of
Ulysses, and that a residence in a solitary part of the island, far
from the fortress, and close to a celebrated fountain, must at all
times have been dangerous, without some such security as the rocks of
Korax. Indeed, there can be no doubt that the house of Eumaeus was on
the top of the precipice; for Ulysses, in order to evince the truth of
his story to the swineherd, desires to be thrown from the summit if
his narration does not prove correct.

"Near the bottom of the precipice is a curious natural gallery, about
seven feet high, which is expressed in the plate. It may be fairly
presumed, from the very remarkable coincidence between this place and
the Homeric account, that this was the scene designated by the poet as
the fountain of Arethusa, and the residence of Eumaeus; and, perhaps,
it would be impossible to find another spot which bears, at this day,
so strong a resemblance to a poetic description composed at a period
so very remote. There is no other fountain in this part of the island,
nor any rock which bears the slightest resemblance to the Korax of
Homer.

"The stathmos of the good Eumaeus appears to have been little
different, either in use or construction, from the stagni and kalybea
of the present day. The poet expressly mentions that other herdsmen
drove their flocks into the city at sunset,--a custom which still
prevails throughout Greece during the winter, and that was the season
in which Ulysses visited Eumaeus. Yet Homer accounts for this deviation
from the prevailing custom, by observing that he had retired from the
city to avoid the suitors of Penelope. These trifling occurrences
afford a strong presumption that the Ithaca of Homer was something
more than the creature of his own fancy, as some have supposed it; for
though the grand outline of a fable may be easily imagined, yet the
consistent adaptation of minute incidents to a long and elaborate
falsehood is a task of the most arduous and complicated nature."

After this long extract, by which we have endeavoured to do justice to
Mr. Gell's argument, we cannot allow room for any farther quotations of
such extent; and we must offer a brief and imperfect analysis of the
remainder of the work. In the third chapter the traveller arrives at the
capital, and in the fourth he describes it in an agreeable manner. We
select his account of the mode of celebrating a Christian festival in
the Greek Church:--

"We were present at the celebration of the feast of the Ascension,
when the citizens appeared in their gayest dresses, and saluted each
other in the streets with demonstrations of pleasure. As we sate at
breakfast in the house of Signer Zavo, we were suddenly roused by the
discharge of a gun, succeeded by a tremendous crash of pottery, which
fell on the tiles, steps, and pavements, in every direction. The bells
of the numerous churches commenced a most discordant jingle; colours
were hoisted on every mast in the port, and a general shout of joy
announced some great event. Our host informed us that the feast of the
Ascension was annually commemorated in this manner at Bathi, the
populace exclaiming [Greek: anestae o Christos, alaethinos o Theos],
Christ is risen, the true God."

In another passage, he continues this account as follows:--

"In the evening of the festival, the inhabitants danced before their
houses; and at one we saw the figure which is said to have been first
used by the youths and virgins of Delos, at the happy return of
Theseus from the expedition of the Cretan Labyrinth. It has now lost
much of that intricacy which was supposed to allude to the windings of
the habitation of the Minotaur,"

etc., etc. This is rather too much for even the inflexible gravity of
our censorial muscles. When the author talks, with all the 'reality' (if
we may use the expression) of a Lempriere, on the stories of the
fabulous ages, we cannot refrain from indulging a momentary smile; nor
can we seriously accompany him in the learned architectural detail by
which he endeavours to give us, from the 'Odyssey', the ground-plot of
the house of Ulysses,--of which he actually offers a plan in drawing!
"showing how the description of the house of Ulysses in the 'Odyssey'
may be supposed to correspond with the foundations yet visible on the
hill of Aito!"--Oh, Foote! Foote! why are you lost to such inviting
subjects for your ludicrous pencil!--In his account of this celebrated
mansion, Mr. Gell says, one side of the court seems to have been
occupied by the Thalamos, or sleeping apartments of the men, etc., etc.;
and, in confirmation of this hypothesis, he refers to the 10th
'Odyssey', line 340. On examining his reference, we read--

[Greek: 'Es thalamon t' ienai, kai saes epibaemenai eunaes']

where Ulysses records an invitation which he received from Circe to take
a part of her bed. How this illustrates the above conjecture, we are at
a loss to divine: but we suppose that some numerical error has occurred
in the reference, as we have detected a trifling mistake or two of the
same nature.

Mr. G. labours hard to identify the cave of Dexia near Bathi (the
capital of the island), with the grotto of the Nymphs described in the
13th 'Odyssey'. We are disposed to grant that he has succeeded; but we
cannot here enter into the proofs by which he supports his opinion; and
we can only extract one of the concluding sentences of the chapter,
which appears to us candid and judicious:--

"Whatever opinion may be formed as to the identity of the cave of
Dexia with the grotto of the Nymphs, it is fair to state, that Strabo
positively asserts that no such cave as that described by Homer
existed in his time, and that geographer thought it better to assign a
physical change, rather than ignorance in Homer, to account for a
difference which he imagined to exist between the Ithaca of his time
and that of the poet. But Strabo, who was an uncommonly accurate
observer with respect to countries surveyed by himself, appears to
have been wretchedly misled by his informers on many occasions.

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