as to his power of serving it, I have little doubt that the “soldier’s grave” which, in his own beautiful verses, he marked out for himself, was no idle dream of poetry; but that, on the contrary, his “wish was father to the thought,” and that to an honourable death, in some such achievement as that of storming Lepanto, he looked forward, not only as the sole means of redeeming worthily the great pledge he had now given, but as the most signal and lasting service that a name like his,—­echoed, as it would then be, among the watch-words of Liberty, from age to age,—­could bequeath to her cause.

In the midst of these cares he was much gratified by the receipt of a letter from an old friend of his, Andrea Londo, whom he had made acquaintance with in his early travels in 1809, and who was at that period a rich proprietor, under the Turks, in the Morca.[1] This patriotic Greek was one of the foremost to raise the standard of the Cross; and at the present moment stood distinguished among the supporters of the Legislative Body and of the new national Government.  The following is a translation of Lord Byron’s answer to his letter.

[Footnote 1:  This brave Moriote, when Lord Byron first knew him, was particularly boyish in his aspect and manners, but still cherished, under this exterior, a mature spirit of patriotism which occasionally broke forth; and the noble poet used to relate that, one day, while they were playing at draughts together, on the name of Riga being pronounced, Londo leaped from the table, and clapping violently his hands, began singing the famous song of that ill-fated patriot:—­

  “Sons of the Greeks, arise! 
  The glorious hour’s gone forth.”]

LETTER 542.  TO LONDO.

“Dear Friend,

“The sight of your handwriting gave me the greatest pleasure.  Greece has ever been for me, as it must be for all men of any feeling or education, the promised land of valour, of the arts, and of liberty; nor did the time I passed in my youth in travelling among her ruins at all chill my affection for the birthplace of heroes.  In addition to this, I am bound to yourself by ties of friendship and gratitude for the hospitality which I experienced from you during my stay in that country, of which you are now become one of the first defenders and ornaments.  To see myself serving, by your side and under your eyes, in the cause of Greece, will be to me one of the happiest events of my life.  In the mean time, with the hope of our again meeting,

“I am, as ever,” &c.