The Works of Lord Byron Volume II Part 37

[225] [Miss Owenson (Sydney, Lady Morgan), 1783-1859, published her _Woman, or Ida of Athens_, in 4 vols., in 1812. Writing to Murray, February 20, 1818, Byron alludes to the "cruel work" which an article (attributed to Croker but, probably, written by Hookham Frere) had made with her _France_ in the _Quarterly Review_ (vol. xvii. p. 260); and in a note to _The Two Foscari_, act iii. sc. 1, he points out that his description of Venice as an "Ocean-Rome" had been antic.i.p.ated by Lady Morgan in her "fearless and excellent work upon Italy." The play was completed July 9, 1821, but the work containing the phrase, "Rome of the Ocean," had not been received till August 16 (see, too, his letter to Murray, August 23, 1821). His conviction of the excellence of Lady Morgan's work was, perhaps strengthened by her outspoken eulogium.]

[226] {188} [For the Disdar's extortions, see _Travels in Albania_, i.

244.]

[227]

["The poor ...when once abroad, Grow sick, and d.a.m.n the climate like a lord."

Pope, _Imit. of Horace_, Ep. 1, lines 159, 160.]

[228] [_Works and Days_, v. 493, _et seq.; Hesiod. Carm._, C.

Goettlingius (1843), p. 215.]

[229] Nonsense; humbug.

[230] {189} [Hobhouse p.r.o.nounced it to be the Fountain of Ares, the Paraporti Spring, "which serves to swell the scanty waters of the Dirce." The Dirce flows on the west; the Ismenus, which forms the fountain, to the east of Thebes. "The water was tepid, as I found by bathing in it" (_Travels in Albania_, i. 233; _Handbook for Greece_, p.

703).]

[231] [_Travels in Greece_, ch. lxvii.]

[232] [Gell's _Itinerary of Greece_ (1810), Preface, p. xi.]

[233] {190} [For M. Roque, see _Itineraire de Paris a Jerusalem: Oeuvres Chateaubriand_, Paris, 1837, ii. 258-266.]

[234] {191} [William Eton published (1798-1809) _A Survey of the Turkish Empire_, in which he advocated the cause of Greek independence. Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751-1812), another ardent phil-h.e.l.lenist, published his _Voyage en Grece et en Turquie_ in 1801.]

[235] [Cornelius de Pauw (1739-1799), Dutch historian, published, in 1787, _Recherches philosophiques sur les Grecs_. Byron reflects upon his paradoxes and superficiality in Note II., _infra_. Thomas Thornton published, in 1807, a work ent.i.tled _Present State of Turkey_ (see Note II., _infra_).]

[236] {192} [The MSS. of _Hints from Horace_ and _The Curse of Minerva_ are dated, "Athens, Capuchin Convent, March 12 and March 17, 1811."

Proof B of _Hints from Horace_ is dated, "Athens, Franciscan Convent, March 12, 1811." Writing to Hodgson, November 14, 1810, he says, "I am living alone in the Franciscan monastery with one 'fri_ar_' (a Capuchin of course) and one 'fri_er_' (a bandy-legged Turkish cook)" (_Letters_, 1898, i. 307).]

[237] {193} [The Ionian Islands, with the exception of Corfu and Paxos, fell into the hands of the English in 1809, 1810. Paxos was captured in 1814, but Corfu, which had been blockaded by Napoleon, was not surrendered till the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815.]

[238] [The Mainotes or Mainates, who take their name from Maina, near Cape Taenaron, were the Highlanders of the Morea, "remarkable for their love of violence and plunder, but also for their frankness and independence." "Pedants have termed the Mainates descendants of the ancient Spartans," but "they must be either descended from the Helots, or from the Perioikoi.... To an older genealogy they can have no pretension."--Finlay's History of Greece, 1877, v. 113; vi. 26.]

[239] {194} [The Fa.n.a.l, or Phanar, is to the left, Pera to the right, of the Golden Horn. "The water of the Golden Horn, which flows between the city and the suburbs, is a line of separation seldom transgressed by the Frank residents."--_Travels in Albania_, ii. 208.]

[240] {195} A word, _en pa.s.sant_, with Mr. Thornton and Dr. Pouqueville, who have been guilty between them of sadly clipping the Sultan's Turkish.[-1]

Dr. Pouqueville tells a long story of a Moslem who swallowed corrosive sublimate in such quant.i.ties that he acquired the name of "_Suleyman Yeyen_" i.e. quoth the Doctor, "_Suleyman the eater of corrosive sublimate_." "Aha," thinks Mr. Thornton (angry with the Doctor for the fiftieth time), "have I caught you?"[-2]--Then, in a note, twice the thickness of the Doctor's anecdote, he questions the Doctor's proficiency in the Turkish tongue, and his veracity in his own.--"For,"

observes Mr. Thornton (after inflicting on us the tough participle of a Turkish verb), "it means nothing more than '_Suleyman the eater_,' and quite cashiers the supplementary '_sublimate_.'" Now both are right, and both are wrong. If Mr. Thornton, when he next resides "fourteen years in the factory," will consult his Turkish dictionary, or ask any of his Stamboline acquaintance, he will discover that "_Suleyma'n yeyen_," put together discreetly, mean the "_Swallower of sublimate_" without any "Suleyman" in the case: "_Suleyma_" signifying "_corrosive sublimate_"

and not being a proper name on this occasion, although it be an orthodox name enough with the addition of _n_. After Mr. Thornton's frequent hints of profound Orientalism, he might have found this out before he sang such paeans over Dr. Pouqueville.

After this, I think "Travellers _versus_ Factors" shall be our motto, though the above Mr. Thornton has condemned "hoc genus omne," for mistake and misrepresentation. "Ne Sutor ultra crepidam," "No merchant beyond his bales." N.B. For the benefit of Mr. Thornton, "Sutor" is not a proper name.

[-1][For Pouqueville's story of the "theriakis" or opium-eaters, see _Voyage en Moree_, 1805, ii. 126.]

[-2][Thornton's _Present State of Turkey_, ii. 173.]

[241] _Recherches Philosophiques sur les Grecs_, 1787, i. 155.

[242] {196} [De Pauw (_Rech. Phil. sur les Grecs_, 1788, ii. 293), in repeating Plato's statement (_Laches_, 191), that the Lacedaemonians at Plataea first fled from the Persians, and then, when the Persians were broken, turned upon them and won the battle, misapplies to them the term ??as?de???? [thrasy/deiloi] (Arist., _Eth. Nic._, iii. 9.7)--men, that is, who affect the hero, but play the poltroon.]

[243] [Attached as a note to line 562 _of Hints from Horace_ (MS. M.).]

[244] ["I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban." Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iii. sc. 4, line 150.]

[245] [For April, 1810: vol. xvi. pp. 55, _sq_.]

[246] [Diamant or Adamantius Coray (1748-1833), scholar and phil-h.e.l.lenist, declared his views on the future of the Greeks in the preface to a translation of Beccaria Bonesani's treatise, _Dei Delitti e delle Pene_ (1764), which was published in Paris in 1802. He began to publish his _Bibliotheque h.e.l.lenique_, in 17 vols., in 1805. He was of Chian parentage, but was born at Smyrna. ???a? ??t?????af?a [Korae Au)tobiographia], Athens, 1891.]

[247] I have in my possession an excellent lexicon "t?????ss??

[tri/glosson]" which I received in exchange from S. G----, Esq., for a small gem: my antiquarian friends have never forgotten it or forgiven me.

[?e????? t?????ss?? t?? Ga?????? [Lexikon tri/glosson te~s Gallike~s], ?ta?????, ?a? '??a???? d?a???t??, ?.t.?. [I)talike~s, kai 'Romaike~s diale/ktou, k.t.l.], 3 vols., Vienna, 1790. By Georgie Vendoti (Bentotes, or Bendotes) of Joanina. The book was in Hobhouse's possession in 1854.]

[248] In Gail's pamphlet against Coray, he talks of "throwing the insolent h.e.l.lenist out of the windows." On this a French critic exclaims, "Ah, my G.o.d! throw an h.e.l.lenist out of the window! what sacrilege!" It certainly would be a serious business for those authors who dwell in the attics: but I have quoted the pa.s.sage merely to prove the similarity of style among the controversialists of all polished countries; London or Edinburgh could hardly parallel this Parisian ebullition.

[Jean Baptiste Gail (1755-1829), Professor of Greek in the College de France, published, in 1810, a quarto volume ent.i.tled, _Reclamations de J. B. Gail, ... et observations sur l'opinion en virtu de laquelle le juri--propose de decerner un prix a M. Coray, a l'exclusion de la cha.s.se de Xenophon, du Thucydide, etc., grec-latin-francais, etc._]

[249] {198} Dorotheus of Mitylene (fl. sixteenth century), Archbishop of Monembasia (Anglice "Malmsey"), on the south-east coast of Laconia, was the author of a _Universal History_ (?????? ?st??????, ?.t.?. [Biblion I(storiko/n, k.t.l.]), edited by A. Tzigaras, Venice, 1637, 4to.

[250] Meletius of Janina (1661-1714) was Archbishop of Athens, 1703-14.

His princ.i.p.al work is _Ancient and Modern Geography_, Venice, 1728, fol.

He also wrote an Ecclesiastical History, in four vols., Vienna, 1783-95.

[251] Panagios (Panagiotes) Kodrikas, Professor of Greek at Paris, published at Vienna, in 1794, a Greek translation of Fontenelle's _Entretiens sur la Pluralite des Mondes_. John Camarases, a Constantinopolitan, translated into French the apocryphal treatise, _De Universi Natura_, attributed to Ocellus Luca.n.u.s, a Pythagorean philosopher, who is said to have flourished in Lucania in the fifth century B.C.

[252] Christodoulos, an Acarnanian, published a work, ?e?? F???s?f??, F???s?f?a?, F?s???, ?etaf?s????, ?.t.?. [Peri Philoso/phou, Philosophi/as, Physio~n, Metaphysiko~n, k.t.l.], at Vienna, in 1786.

[253] Athanasius Psalidas published, at Vienna, in 1791, a sceptical work ent.i.tled, _True Felicity_ (?????? ??da????a [A)lethes Eu)daimoni/a]). "Very learned, and full of quotations, but written in false taste."--_MS. M._ He was a schoolmaster at Janina, where Byron and Hobhouse made his acquaintance--"the only person," says Hobhouse, "I ever saw who had what might be called a library, and that a very small one" (_Travels in Albania, etc._, i. 508).

[254] Hobhouse mentions a patriotic poet named Polyzois, "the new Tyrtaeus," and gives, as a specimen of his work, "a war-song of the Greeks in Egypt, fighting in the cause of Freedom."--_Travels in Albania, etc._, i. 507; ii. 6, 7.

[255] {199} [By Blackbey is meant Bey of Vlack, i.e. Wallachia. (See a _Translation_ of this "satire in dialogue"--"Remarks on the Romaic,"

etc., _Poetical Works_, 1891, p. 793.)]

[256] [Constantine Rhigas (born 1753), the author of the original of Byron's "Sons of the Greeks, arise," was handed over to the Turks by the Austrians, and shot at Belgrade in 1793, by the orders of Ali Pacha.]

[257] {200} [The Hecatonnesi are a cl.u.s.ter of islands in the Gulf of Adramyttium, over against the harbour and town of Aivali or Aivalik.

Cidonies may stand for ? p???? ??d???? [e( po/lis kydonis], the quince-shaped city. "At Haivali or Kidognis, opposite to Mytilene, there is a sort of university for a hundred students and three professors, now superintended by a Greek of Mytilene, who teaches not only the h.e.l.lenic, but Latin, French, and Italian."--_Travels in Albania_, _etc._, i. 509, 510.]

[258] [Francois Horace Bastien, Conte Sebastiani (1772-1851), was amba.s.sador to the _Sublime Porte_, May, 1806-June, 1807.]

[259] [Gregor Alexandrovitch Potemkin (1736-1791), the favourite of the Empress Catherine II.]

[260] {201} In a former number of the _Edinburgh Review_, 1808, it is observed: "Lord Byron pa.s.sed some of his early years in Scotland, where he might have learned that _pibroch_ does not mean a _bagpipe_, any more than _duet_ means a _fiddle_." Query,--Was it in Scotland that the young gentlemen of the _Edinburgh Review_ _learned_ that _Solyman_ means _Mahomet II._ any more than _criticism_ means _infallibility_?--but thus it is,

"Caedimus, inque vicem praebemus crura sagittis."

Persius, _Sat._ iv. 42.