ON THE CURRENT.

153

of going up to the Cape above it, we should have been swept down to Tenedos. The strait is, however, not extraordinarily wide, even where it broadens above and below the forts; as the frigate was stationed some time in the Dardanelles waiting for the firman, I bathed often in the Strait, subsequently to our traject, and generally on the Asiatic side, without perceiving the greater strength of the opposing stream, by which Mr. Turner palliates his own failure. Our amusement in the small bay, which opens immediately below the Asiatic fort, was to dive for the land tortoises, which we flung in on purpose, as they amphibiously crawled along the bottom: this does not argue any greater violence of current than on the European shore. With regard to the modest insinuation, that we chose the European side as 'easier,' I appeal to Mr. Hobhouse and Admiral Bathurst, if it be true or no; poor Ekenhead being since dead.-Had we been aware of any such difference of current, as is asserted, we would at least have proved it, and were not likely to have given it up in the twenty-five minutes of Mr. Turner's own experiment."

This memorable adventure, however, was attended

with a fit of the ague, which produced the following pleasant stanzas from the noble imitator of Leander.

"If in the month of dark December

Leander, who was nightly wont

(What maid will not the tale remember?)

To cross thy stream, broad Hellespont;

"If, when the wintry tempest roared
He sped to Hero, nothing loth,
And thus, of old, thy current poured-
Fair Venus! how I pity both!

"For me, degenerate, modern wretch,
Though in the genial month of May
My dripping limbs I faintly stretch,
And think I've done a feat to-day.

"But since he cross'd the rapid tide,
According to the doubtful story,

To woo-and Lord knows what beside,
And swam for love, as I for glory;

""Twere hard to say who fared the best.

Sad mortals! thus the Gods shall plague you:

He lost his labour, I my jest

For he was drown'd, and I've the ague."

Having explored the Troad, with Homer in his hand, and satisfied himself, by personal observation, of the truth of the scenes represented in the Iliad, Lord Byron visited Constantinople; and, after making some excursions in Romania, returned again to Athens, where he and Mr. Hobhouse parted; the latter bending his course homewards, and his noble friend resolving to spend a few months longer in Greece.

During this last residence in Attica, his lordship wrote several of his lighter pieces, and some part of his more important works; for the cnriching of which he was much indebted to the local knowledge he hereby acquired. But the whole story of his voyages in a ship of his own, of his residences in several islands, and particularly Mitylene (where he never was at all,) of his manner of study, his amours, and acts of eccentric benevolence,--though the narrative was alledged to be written by a person who had his information in the Archipelago and at Athens-was the fabrication of a needy adventurer in London, who wished to avail himself of the public curiosity, and to get a little money by a subject of popularity. Such is the tax which splendid genius is compelled to pay

156

RETURN TO ENGLAND.

for celebrity; and therefore he who is fortunate enough to gain a name among his contemporaries, must not be surprised at seeing things ascribed to him of which he is ashamed, or of having his acquaintance claimed by men whose company he would disdain. Horace was troubled with one of these impertinents, who stuck to him as closely as his shadow; "Prosequar hinc, quo nunc iter est tibi;" and our Pope was still more unlucky, in having his secret correspondence exposed by Curll. Lord Byron, therefore, may console himself with the reflection, that while the forgeries and falsehoods passed off in his name did him no injury, they furnished the impostor with a dinner.

After an absence of near three years, our noble poet re-visited his native shores; but without feeling that delight which usually exhilarates the mind on returning home; for some of his nearest friends were dead, and one beloved object, to whom he was attached in his earliest youth, was separated from him by an insurmountable bar.

CHAPTER VII.

Advantages of Travelling, to Poets;-Exhibited in Childe Harold.-Observations on that Poem.Lines on the Princess Charlotte of Wales.-Address on opening Drury Lane Theatre.-Sale of Newstead Abbey; and failure of the Contract.

FEW poets have been travellers; and yet the advantages arising from the observation of nature and society, in all the varieties of situation and life, are inestimably great to him who would give animation to his characters and beauty to his descriptions. But as he cannot pourtray accurately what he has not seen personally, he will be desirous of magnifying his sphere of knowledge. In the language of a great writer, "the poet who transfers his attention to nature and life,