the capture of which would have given great facilities to the enemies to attack by sea Missolonghi or Anatoliko.  Missolonghi gave to this important fort the name of “Fort Byron.”  This nobleman conceived afterwards, studied and prepared an expedition against the strong place of Lepanto, the capture of which would have produced consequences singularly favourable.  Once in possession of the means of regularly paying the soldiers, he would have been able to form a choice body, and take the town, which did not present any difficulty of attack, either on account of the few troops shut up there, or the weakness of its fortifications.  Byron only waited the arrival of the loan, to begin his march.

Thus he led an agreeable life in the midst of a nation which he aimed at saving.  Enchanted with the bravery of the Souliots, and their manners, which recalled to him the simplicity of Homeric times, he assisted at their banquets, extended upon the turf; he learnt their pyrrhic dance, and he sang in unison the airs of Riga, harmonizing his steps to the sound of their national mandolin.  Alas! he carried too far his benevolent condescension.  Towards the beginning of April he went to hunt in the marshes of Missolonghi.  He entered on foot in the shallows; he came out quite wet, and, following the example of the pallikares accustomed to the malaria, he would not change his clothes, and persisted in having them dried upon his body.  Attacked with an inflammation upon the lungs, he refused to let himself be bled, notwithstanding the intreaties of his physician, of Maurocordato and all his friends.  His malady quickly grew worse; on the fourth day Byron became delirious; by means of bleeding he recovered from his drowsiness, but without being able to speak; then, feeling his end approaching, he gave his attendants to understand that he wished to take leave of the captains and all the Souliots.  As each approached, Byron made a sign to them to kiss him.  At last he expired in the arms of Maurocordato, whilst pronouncing the names of his daughter and of Greece.  His death was fatal to the nation, which it plunged in mourning and tears.

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MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.

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CEREMONIES RELATING TO THE HAIR.

(For the Mirror.)

Among the ancient Greeks, all dead persons were thought to be under the jurisdiction of the infernal deities, and therefore no man (says Potter) could resign his life, till some of his hairs were cut to consecrate to them.  During the ceremony of laying out, clothing the dead, and sometimes the interment itself, the hair of the deceased person was hung upon the door, to signify the family was in mourning.  It was sometimes laid upon the dead body, sometimes cast into the funeral pile, and sometimes placed upon the grave.  Electra in Sophocles says, that Agamemnon had commanded her and Chrysothemis to pay him this honour:—­