LXIII.

It is not that yon hoary lengthening beard
Ill suits the passions which belong to youth; (1)
Love conquers age- so Hafiz hath averr'd,

So sings the Teian, and he sings in sooth

But crimes that scorn the tender voice of Ruth, Beseeming all men ill, but most the man

In years, have mark'd him with a tiger's tooth; Blood follows blood, and, through their mortal

span,

In bloodier acts conclude those who with blood

began. (2)

fruit, and sweetmeats, twenty times a day. I then, after coffee and pipes retired."- B. to his Mother.]

(1) [Mr. Hobhouse describes the vizier as "a short man, about five feet five inches in height, and very fat; possessing a very pleasing face, fair and round, with blue quick eyes, not at all settled into a Turkish gravity." Dr. Holland happily compares the spirit which lurked under Ali's usual exterior, as "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 exploit-children, grandchildren, &c., to the tune of six hundred, and has them shot before his face. So much for dearest friend."" - E.]

(2) [The fate of Ali was precisely such as the poet anticipated. 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.-E]

LXIV.

'Mid many things most new to ear and eye
The pilgrim rested here his weary feet,
And gazed around on Moslem luxury,
Till quickly wearied with that spacious seat
Of Wealth and Wantonness, the choice retreat
Of sated Grandeur from the city's noise:
And were it humbler it in sooth were sweet;
But Peace abhorreth artificial joys,

[destroys. And Pleasure, leagued with Pomp, the zest of both

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—(1)
In aught that tries the heart how few withstand the
proof!

(1) Alluding to the wreckers of Cornwall.

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 a while 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 atleast the bad

LXIX.

It came to pass, that when he did address
Himself to quit at length this mourtain-land,
Combined marauders half-way barr'd egress,
And wasted far and near with glaive and brand;
And therefore did he take a trusty band

To traverse Acarnania's forest wide,

In war well season'd, and with labours tann'd,
Till he did greet white Achelous' tide,

And from his further bank Ætolia's wolds espied.

LXX.

Where lone Utraikey forms its circling cove, And weary waves retire to gleam at rest, How brown the foliage of the green hill's grove, Nodding at midnight o'er the calm bay's breast, As winds come lightly whispering from the west, Kissing, not ruffling, the blue deep's serene: Here Harold was received a welcome guest; Nor did he pass unmoved the gentle scene, For many a joy could he from Night's soft

-

presence

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 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)

(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 Пaλizagi, 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

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: - (1)

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 !
Κλεφτεις ποτέ 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 the waves upon the pebbly margin where we were seated, filled up the pauses of the song with a milder, and not more monotonous music. The night was very dark; but, by the flashes of the fires, we caught a glimpse of the woods, the rocks, and the lake, which, together with the wild appearance of the dancers, presented us with a scene that would have made a fine picture in the hands of such an artist as the author of the Mysteries of Udolpho. As we were acquainted with the character of the Albanians, it did not at all diminish our pleasure to know, that every one of our guard had been robbers, and some of them a very short time before. It was eleven o'clock before we had retired to our room, at which time the Albanians, wrapping themselves up in their capotes, went to sleep round the fires."]

(1) [For a specimen of the Albanian or Arnaout dialect of the Illyric, see Appendix to this Canto, Note [C].]