“BYRON.”

From Constantinople, where he arrived on the 14th of May, he addressed four or five letters to Mrs. Byron, in almost every one of which his achievement in swimming across the Hellespont is commemorated.  The exceeding pride, indeed, which he took in this classic feat (the particulars of which he has himself abundantly detailed) may be cited among the instances of that boyishness of character, which he carried with him so remarkably into his maturer years, and which, while it puzzled distant observers of his conduct, was not among the least amusing or attaching of his peculiarities to those who knew him intimately.  So late as eleven years from this period, when some sceptical traveller ventured to question, after all, the practicability of Leander’s exploit, Lord Byron, with that jealousy on the subject of his own personal prowess which he retained from boyhood, entered again, with fresh zeal, into the discussion, and brought forward two or three other instances of his own feats in swimming,[137] to corroborate the statement originally made by him.

In one of these letters to his mother from Constantinople, dated May 24th, after referring, as usual, to his notable exploit, “in humble imitation of Leander, of amorous memory, though,” he adds, “I had no Hero to receive me on the other side of the Hellespont,” he continues thus:—­

“When our ambassador takes his leave I shall accompany him to see the sultan, and afterwards probably return to Greece.  I have heard nothing of Mr. Hanson but one remittance, without any letter from that legal gentleman.  If you have occasion for any pecuniary supply, pray use my funds as far as they go without reserve; and, lest this should not be enough, in my next to Mr. Hanson I will direct him to advance any sum you may want, leaving it to your discretion how much, in the present state of my affairs, you may think proper to require.  I have already seen the most interesting parts of Turkey in Europe and Asia Minor, but shall not proceed further till I hear from England:  in the mean time I shall expect occasional supplies, according to circumstances; and shall pass my summer amongst my friends, the Greeks of the Morea.”

He then adds, with his usual kind solicitude about his favourite servants:—­

“Pray take care of my boy Robert, and the old man Murray.  It is fortunate they returned; neither the youth of the one, nor the age of the other, would have suited the changes of climate, and fatigue of travelling.”

LETTER 44.

TO MR. HENRY DRURY.

“Constantinople, June 17. 1810.

“Though I wrote to you so recently, I break in upon you again to congratulate you on a child being born, as a letter from Hodgson apprizes me of that event, in which I rejoice.

“I am just come from an expedition through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea and the Cyanean Symplegades, up which last I scrambled with as great risk as ever the Argonauts escaped in their hoy.  You remember the beginning of the nurse’s dole in the Medea, of which I beg you to take the following translation, done on the summit:—­