LXVI. Childe Harold saw them in their chieftain's tower That saddening hour when bad men hotlier press : LXVIL It chanced that adverse winds once drove his bark Dubious to trust where treachery might lurk : 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 sooth the sad, Doth lesson happier men, and shames at least the bad. Alluding to the wreckers of Cornwall. LXIX. It came to pass, that when he did address To traverse Acarnania's forest wide, In war well season'd, and with labours tann'd, 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, 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 Пaλinagi, 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 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'd1: 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 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! • Κλεφτεις ποτε 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."] [For a specimen of the Albanian or Arnaout dialect of the Illyric, see Appendix, Note [C].] 1. TAMBOURGI! Tambourgi! thy 'larum afar 2. Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote, In his snowy camese and his shaggy capote? To the wolf and the vulture he leaves his wild flock, And descends to the plain like the stream from the rock. 3. Shall the sons of Chimari, who never forgive Let those guns so unerring such vengeance forego? 4. Macedonia sends forth her invincible race; For a time they abandon the cave and the chase: 5. Then the pirates of Parga that dwell by the waves, 6. I ask not the pleasures that riches supply, My sabre shall win what the feeble must buy; 1 Drummer. 2 These stanzas are partly taken from different Albanese songs, as far as I was able to make them out by the exposition of the Albanese in Romaic and Italian. 7. I love the fair face of the maid in her youth, Her caresses shall lull me, her music shall sooth; 8. Remember the moment when Previsa fell, 1 9. I talk not of mercy, I talk not of fear; He neither must know who would serve the Vizier : Since the days of our prophet the Crescent ne'er saw A chief ever glorious like Ali Pashaw. 10. Dark Muchtar his son to the Danube is sped, [dread; Let the yellow-hair'd2 Giaours view his horsetail 4 with When his Delhis 5 come dashing in blood o'er the banks, How few shall escape from the Muscovite ranks! 11. Selictar! 6 unsheathe then our chief's scimitar: 1 It was taken by storm from the French. 4 The insignia of a Pacha. 5 Horsemen, answering to our forlorn hope. |