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Peril he sought not, but ne'er shrank to meet :
The scene was savage, but the scene was new;
This made the ceaseless toil of travel sweet,
Beat back keen winter's blast, and welcomed
summer's heat.

XLIV.

Here the red cross, for still the cross is here,
Though sadly scoff'd at by the circumcised,
Forgets that pride to pamper'd priesthood dear,
Churchman and votary alike despised.
Foul Superstition! howsoe'er disguised,
Idol, saint, virgin, prophet, crescent, cross,
For whatsoever symbol thou art prized,
Thou sacerdotal gain, but general loss!
Who from true worship's gold can separate thy
dross?

XLV.

Ambracia's gulf behold, where once was lost
A world for woman, lovely, harmless thing!
In yonder rippling bay, their naval host
Did many a Roman chief and Asian king*
To doubtful conflict, certain slaughter, bring:
Look where the second Cæsar's trophies rose,t
Now, like the hands that rear'd them, withering;
Imperial anarchs, doubling human woes!
GOD! was thy globe ordain'd for such to win and
lose?

XLVI.

From the dark barriers of that rugged clime,
Even to the centre of Illyria's vales,
Childe Harold pass'd o'er many a mount sublime,
Through lands scarce noticed in historic tales:
Yet in famed Attica such lovely dales
Are rarely seen; nor can fair Tempe boast
A charm they know not; loved Parnassus fails,
Though classic ground and consecrated most,
To match some spots that lurk within this lowering

coast.

XLVII.

He pass'd bleak Pindus, Acherusia's lake,‡
And left the primal city of the land,
And onwards did his further journey take
To greet Albania's chief, whose dread command
Is lawless law; for with a bloody hand
He sways a nation, turbulent and bold:
Yet here and there some daring mountain-band
Disdain his power, and from their rocky hold
Hurl their defiance far, nor yield, unless to gold.||

It is said that, on the day previous to the battle of Actium, Antony had thirteen kings at his levée.

XLVIII.

Monastic Zitza! from thy shady brow,*
Thou small, but favour'd spot of holy ground!
Where'er we gaze, around, above, below,
What rainbowtints, what magic charms are found!
Rock, river, forest, mountain all abound,
And bluest skies that harmonize 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,
Which, were it not for many a mountain nigh
Rising in lofty ranks, and loftier still,
Might well itself be deem'd of dignity,
The convent's white walls glisten fair on high;
Here dwells the caloyer.† nor rude is he,
Nor niggard of his cheer: the passer-by
Is welcome still; nor heedless will he flee
From hence, if he delight kind Nature's sheen to see.

L.

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.

LI.

Dusky and huge, enlarging on the sight,
Nature's volcanic amphitheatre,
Chimera's alps extend from left to right:
Beneath, a living valley seems to stir ;

Flocks play, trees wave, streams flow, the moun-
tain fir

Nodding above; behold black Acheron !

Once consecrated to the sepulchre.

Pluto! if this be hell I look upon,

Close shamed Elysium's gates, my shade shall seek

for none.

LII.

Ne city's towers pollute the lovely view;
Unseen is Yanina, though not remote,
Veil'd by the screen of hills: here men are few,
Scanty the hamlet, rare the lonely cot;

+ Nicopolis, whose ruins are most extensive, is at The convent and village of Zitza are four hours' some distance from Actium, where the wall of the journey from Joannina, or Yanina,, the capital of the Hippodrome survives in a few fragments. These pachalic. In the valley the river Kalamas (once the ruins are large masses of brickwork, the bricks of Acheron) flows, and not far from Zitza forms a fine which are joined by interstices of mortar, as large as cataract. The situation is perhaps the finest in Greece, the bricks themselves, and equally durable. though the approach to Delvinachi and parts of According to Pouqueville, the lake of Yanina: Acarnania and Etolia may contest the pan. Delphi. but Pouqueville is always out. Parnassus, and, in Attica, even Cape Colonna and The celebrated Ali Pacha. Of this extraordinary Port Raphti, are very inferior; as also every scene in man there is an incorrect account in Pouqueville's Ionia, or the Troad: I am almost inclined to add, the Travels. approach to Constantinople; but, from the different features of the last, a comparison can hardly be made. The Greek monks are so called.

Five thousand Suliotes, among the rocks and in the castle of Suli, withstood thirty thousand Albanians for eighteen years: the castle at last was taken by bribery. In this contest there were several acts performed not unworthy of the better days of Greece.

The Chimariot mountains appear to have been volcanic. Now called Kalamas,

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Childe Harold saw them in their chieftain's For many a joy could he from night's soft presence 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_ In 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 butcherwork.

Alluding to the wreckers of Cornwall.

glean.

LXXI.

On the smooth shore the night-fires brightly blazed,

The feast was done, the red wine circling fast,
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 Palikart his sabre from him cast,

And bounding hand in hand, man link'd to man, Yelling their uncouth dirge, long daunced the kirtled clan.

LXXII.

Childe Harold at a little distance stood,
And view'd, but not displeased, the revelrie,
Nor hated harınless 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 Albanian Mussulmans do not abstain from wine, and indeed very few of the others.

+Palikar,' a general name for a soldier amongst the Greeks and Albanese who speak Romaic: it means, properly, 'a lad.'

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LXXVII.

The city won for Allah from the Giaour,
The Giaour from Othman's race again may wrest;
And the Serai's impenetrable tower
Receive the fiery Frank, her former guest;*
Or Wahab's rebel brood, who dared divest
The prophet's tomb of all its pious spoil, t
May wind their path of blood along the West;
But ne'er will freedom seek this fated soil,
But slave succeed to slave through years of end-
less toil.
LXXVIII.

Yet mark their mirth-ere lenten days begin,
That penance which their holy rites prepare
To shrive from man his weight of mortal sin,
By daily abstinence and nightly prayer;
But ere his sackcloth garb Repentance wear,
Some days of joyaunce are decreed to all,
To take of pleasaunce each his secret share,
In motley robe to dance at masking ball,
And join the mimic train of merry Carnival.

LXXIX.

And whose more rife with merriment than thine, O Stamboul! once the empress of their reign? Though turbans now pollute Sophia's shrine, And Greece her very altars eyes in vain : (Alas! her woes will still pervade my strain !) Gay were her minstrels once, for free her throng, All felt the common joy they now must feign; Nor oft I've seen such sight, nor heard such song, As woo'd the eye, and thrill'd the Bosphorus along.

LXXX.

Loud was the lightsome tumult on the shore;
Oft Music changed, but never ceased her tone,
And timely echo'd back the measured oar,
And rippling waters made a pleasant moan:
The Queen of tides on high consenting shone ;
And when a transient breeze swept o'er the wave,
'Twas as if, darting from her heavenly throne,
A brighter glance her form reflected gave,
Till sparkling billows seem'd to light the banks they
lave.
LXXXI.

Glanced many a light caique along the foam,
Danced on the shore the daughters of the land,
No thought had man or maid of rest or home,
While many a languid eye and thrilling hand
Exchanged the look few bosoms may withstand
Or gently prest, returned the pressure still:
Oh Love! young Love! bound in thy rosy band,
Let sage or cynic prattle as he will,

Seem to re-echo all they mourn in vain ;
To such the gladness of the gamesome crowd
Is source of wayward thought and stern disdain :
How do they loathe the laughter idly loud,

And long to change the robe of revel for the shroud!

LXXXIII.

This must he feel, the true-born son of Greece,
If Greece one true-born patriot still can boast:
Not such as prate of war, but skulk in peace,
The bondsman's peace, who sighs for all he lost,
Yet with smooth smile his tyrant can accost,
And wield the slavish sickle, not the sword:
Ah, Greece! they love thee least who owe thee

most

Their birth, their blood, and that sublime record Of hero sires, who shame thy now degenerate horde!

LXXXIV.

When riseth Lacedæmon's hardihood, When Thebes Epaminondas rears again, When Athens' children are with hearts endued, When Grecian mothers shall give birth to men, Then may'st thou be restored; but not till then, A thousand years scarce serve to form a state; An hour may lay it in the dust: and when Can man its shatter'd splendour renovate, Recall its virtues back, and vanquish Time and Fate

LXXXV.

And yet how lovely in thine age of woc, Land of lost gods and godlike men, art thou! Thy vales of evergreen, thy hills of snow,* Proclaim thee Nature's varied favourite now; Thy fanes, thy temples to the surface bow, Commingling slowly with heroic earth, Broke by the share of every rustic plough: So perish monuments of mortal birth, So perish all in turn, save well-recorded Worth;

LXXXVI.

Save where some solitary column mourns Above its prostrate brethren of the cave ;t Save where Tritonia's airy shrine adorns Colonna's cliff, and gleams along the wave;+

*On many of the mountains, particularly Liakura, the snow never is entirely melted, notwithstanding the intense heat of the summer; but I never saw it lie on the plains, even in winter.

Of Mount Pentelicus, from whence the marble was dug that constructed the public edifices of Athens. The modern name is Mount Mendeli. An immense cave formed by the quarries still remains, and will till the end of time.

In all Attica, if we except Athens itself and Mara

These hours, and only these, redeem'd Life's years thon, there is no scene more interesting than Cape

of ill!

LXXXII.

But, 'midst the throng in merry masquerade,
Lurk there no hearts that throb with secret pain,
Even through the closest searment half-betray'd?
To such the gentle murmurs of the main

*When taken by the Latins, and retained for several years.

Mecca and Medina were taken some time ago by the Wahabees, a sect yearly increasing.

Colonna. To the antiquary and artist, sixteen coumns are an inexhaustible source of observation and design; to the philosopher, the supposed scene of some of Plato's conversations will not be unwelcome; and the traveller will be struck with the beauty of the prospect over isles that crown the Egean deep: but, for an Englishman, Colonna has yet an additional interest, as the actual spot of Falconer's shipwreck. Pallas and Plato are forgotten, in the recollection of Falconer and Campbell:

Here in the dead of night by Lonna's steep,, The seaman's cry was heard along the deep.' This temple of Minerva may be seen at sea from a

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