LORD  BYRON  and  his  TIMES
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[William Henry Humphreys]
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece. No. I.
New Monthly Magazine  Vol. NS 17  (August 1826)  172-181.
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THE

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.


AUGUST 1, 1826.

ORIGINAL PAPERS.



ADVENTURES OF AN ENGLISH OFFICER IN GREECE.
NO. I.

[The present is the first of a series of articles relative to the affairs of Greece, which will be continued from time to time by the author, who is lately returned thither, and intends favouring us with his correspondence.]

Having resolved to make a third, for I have already made two crusades to Greece, it is my intention, on my arrival again in that country, to keep a journal of every thing worthy of record which may fall under my observation. In the mean time, I think it may not be amiss to make a retrospect of one or two remarkable events which occurred to me in my late sojourn there, more particularly of the extraordinary treachery and attempt to assassinate Mr. Trelawney, perpetrated, I am grieved to say, by two or my own countrymen, in the cave of Ulysses, on Mount Parnassus. This subject has lately been a frequent topic of conversation in England; but no authentic account of the particulars connected with it has yet been published.

In the month of August 1824, I was at the capital and head-quarters of the Greeks, Napoli di Romania, witnessing with regret the combined dissensions and tardiness of the existing government, which were cruelly marring the favourable chance, afforded by the campaign of that year, for exertion against the Turks. Though so disunited among themselves, so extremely jealous were they of the co-operation of strangers, that they seemed infinitely to prefer losing an advantage to owing it to the influence of a foreigner. They had no native artillery-officers, therefore they would have no artillery: they had no cavalry-officers, and they would have no cavalry. A French military gentleman (a son of General Berton), myself and others, supported by several Greeks of influence, made an attempt to prevail on the government to give their support to our forming a small body of cavalry; but, after dancing attendance on this cross-legged divan, as though it had been the commander-in-chief’s levee in England, and equally a matter of favour to be employed, we were compelled to abandon the idea! Young Berton went to Smyrna, and, for aught I know, joined the Pasha of Egypt. I left Napoli to join Ulysses, and to accept my friend Trelawney’s invitation to visit their mountain-fortress (a remarkable cave on Parnassus), commanded, in the absence of Ulysses, by Trelawney. I began my march towards the Gulf of Lepanto (which I meant to cross into Roumelie) with my little band, or rather gang of twelve soldiers; myself well mounted, and in the costume of the country. The turban girt my shaven brow, and belted pistols pressed my waist, while the sun glanced brightly on the weapons of my following train,
“Each arm’d as best becomes a man,
With arquebuss and ataghan.”
Two mules, pressed into the service by no other right than that of the strong hand, carried our baggage, and each soldier’s capote, a most valuable and valued possession, alike our couch and canopy in rain or sunshine. The beasts were driven by a luckless Maureote peasant, whose race were regarded by my Roumeliot soldiers as inferior and degraded, and deserving of no other than the worst treatment. After passing the dilapidated city of Argos, situated at the foot of a rocky mountain, on the summit of which stands a
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.173
decayed Venetian fortress, our road lay through the uncultivated but fruitful plain of Argos, which, after about three hours march, terminated in a lofty ridge of barren mountains, extending across the peninsula of the Morea, from the Archipelago to the Gulf of Lepanto. We then entered the grand defile, so fatal to the formidable expedition under
Courscid Pacha in 1822, which was annihilated by the justly-famed chieftain Collocotroni. Among the mountains to the right of the road, was the tomb of Agamemnon. It was certainly a pleasurable feeling to find oneself engaged on the same ground of action, and with as fair a chance of renown, as the heroes of antiquity, whose names have reached us through the gloom of ages, like stars, by the strength of their own glorious rays. At night-fall, choosing a small eminence in the vicinity of a clear runnmg stream, crowned by a thick tuft of lofty cypresses, and surrounded by bushes of myrtle, I ordered a halt: a slip of carpet, about the size of a rug, the usual appendage of a military chief, was quickly spread at the foot of a tree; a pair of saddle-bags at the head, and my gun and scimitar, covered by my capote, at the side. On my dismounting, the chibouque was presented by my pipe-bearer, and, taking my cross-legged posture on the carpet, I reposed from the day’s march. Some of my men were engaged in gathering fuel for a fire, and in killing, skinning, and dressing the sheep that was to serve for our night’s repast, while one or two of the elite of my party stood round me and recounted their exploits in the various scenes of rapine during their distinguished career as kleftis, or robbers.

My solitary meal was then served, consisting of the mutton, admirably roasted, cheese, bread and grapes, placed on branches and leaves, as substitutes for a table and table-cloth. The ceremony of ablution preceding and following the meal, and rendered still more necessary at its termination from fingers being used instead of knife and fork, was duly performed; nor was the juice of the grape wanting, poured from a goat’s-skin, and presented in a silver cup, which is carried by the pipe-bearer, slung in a leather case. A small cup of coffee was now presented, and my pipe again; and, as I smoked it, I envied the conviviality of my men, feasting in merry harmony together, at a short distance from me. The scene was strange; but by this time it had lost its novelty to me. Outwardly, indeed, I had made myself at home in strange lands; but I felt lonely, desolate, far from my country, and with my last thoughts on dear England. Wrapping myself up in my cloak as night closed round, I composed myself to sleep. Before daylight, we were again in marching order. It is pleasing, in a wild solitude like this, to mark the break of day encroaching on the dark sky, and imperfectly revealing, as it gathers strength, the fantastic shapes of distant objects, till, at last, the sun blazes out in the unclouded glory of this, its own Eastern clime. The eagle soared through the clear azure above my head, and the last remnant of the morning mist, which had lingered on the lofty Acropolis of Corinth, was now dispersing, and showed its high turrets towering over the plain below, which seemed to lengthen as we traversed it under the sultry sun. We halted, at midday, by the side of a fountain, a short distance from Corinth. The fountains of Greece are most refreshing resting-places: the springs are enclosed by stone-buildings, out of which the cool, refreshing water flows. Some trees generally shelter the spot; and here the shepherd with his flock, and the way-worn traveller, come to enjoy the shade. Making but a short stay at Corinth, I proceeded down to La Scala, and embarked, after some opposition, on board a caique, which I hired to take me to the nearest port to Ulysses’s Cave. During the night, a light and unfavourable breeze carried us, ere sunrise, to the Roumeliot coast, and we put into the harbour of Aspra Spitia, about eight hours’ march from my destination. Having procured mules, which were now brought with readiness, when it was known I was an Englishman and going to Ulysses, I passed the small town of Dystoma, which derives its name from the words “dua stoma” (two mouths), designating the two openings through the mountains that lead from it into
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.
the extensive and rich plain of Livadia. I found the names of my two countrymen,
Captain Trelawney, and Captain Janni* (Fenton, the wretch who afterwards attempted Trelawney’s life), well known in Livadia. Towards evening, we came in sight of the lofty range of rocky mountains which branches from Parnassus towards the plain, and in which this singular cave is situated. Crossing a defile (the bed of a foaming mountain-stream, that forced its sounding course through the obstructing rocks), my docile Turkish steed unhesitatingly, though carefully, descended the rugged and perilous path. Emerging from the defile, we regained the road, winding up the steep ascent of the mountain covered with underwood, stunted trees, and disjointed masses of rock and stones. Half-way, upon a flat covered with trees, stood a small stone church, from which a still steeper ascent of half an hour leads to the foot of a stupendous perpendicular range of rock, which crowns and terminates the mountainous ascent; and, above a hundred feet from its base, an immense vaulted aperture, receding deep in the rock, forms the cave.

A small circular battery defends the foot of the ladders that lead to the entrance, which is by a small portal cut in the solid rock. I mounted the three flights of ladders, and, on entering, was welcomed in this far, wild, and almost inaccessible dwelling, in my native tongue, by Trelawney, and a Mr. Gill, an English engineer, who was making several improvements in the fortress. The high vault perfectly admitted the light and sun, though, as the sun passed to the west, the overarching rock above threw its long shadow over the mountain some time before sunset, spreading a dusky stillness over surrounding objects, and heightening the effect of the wild scenery. In the interior of the cave were several houses, that of the chieftain, Ulysses, forming a part of the battlements on a line with the perpendicular height, while deeper and higher up in the cave (the inequality of the ground forming stages, one above another) were the dwellings of his wife and sister, who, after the Turkish custom, were kept in perfect seclusion, his mother only appearing to strangers. Numerous magazines, well filled with corn, oil, wine, cheese, olives, and rakee (brandy), sufficient to supply hundreds of men for twenty years, occupied the recesses of the cave. Besides military stores, there were four mountain-guns, brought by Trelawney from Missolonghi. Water was supplied by a small stream that issued from the rock in winter, and which dropped from the roof into large vessels, prepared for it during one or two months in the summer; and Mr. Gill was now constructing a large cistern. The fortress, therefore, was as secure against a blockade, as, from its inaccessible position, it was against attack. Cranes, with ropes and pullies, conveyed up or pulled down every thing required, with facility. Trelawney was also building a house, as his chieftain’s sister was now his destined bride. Two half-brothers of Ulysses were in the cave; but so high was the state Ulysses preserved in his household, that they were not admitted to his table. His camp was about twelve hours distant, and he was soon expected at the fortress, as he had been ill for some time. Our fare in the cave was sumptuous: flesh of all kinds, fresh and salt water fish, game, and poultry were dressed after the best Turkish fashion; and their cookery is by no means despicable. The day after my arrival in the cave, Fenton returned from the camp. It was the first time I had seen him, though I had heard him well spoken of by Mr. Gill, and by some of Ulysses’s retainers. Trelawney himself mentioned Fenton with approbation, as will be seen by the following letter, which I received at Napoli:—

“Fortress of Parnassus, August 15th, 1824.

“Dear H——. Our chief is in the mountains, checking the advance of the enemy. I am completing the fortifications of this impregnable fortress. The

* All the foreigners whose Christian names were fortunate to be included among the saints, were called in Greece by these names alone, as John, Janni, George, Georgio.
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.175
Government has behaved villainously towards us: no commissary, no supplies, no soldier’s pay, bread, or any necessary for the war; our chief shot at, and hunted from the Morea, and assassins sent down here to kill me. Unfortunately for
Fenton, they mistook him for me; and having waylaid him in the mountains, as he was strolling alone, a Government captain rushed up to him, and, putting a pistol to his breast, fired. Fenton then struck the man from him, and killed him with his carbine. Two others, peasants who accompanied him, Fenton pursued; but having no cartridges or pistols, and being dreadfully maimed with stones, he was obliged to retreat. This man, Ulysses says, was sent to me. The Turks are around us; but we are safe here; though I do not think it so for you to venture here in the winter. Come over now and see us.

“I send this letter by some of our brigade of artillery, ten of whom I discharge. If you serve in the Government Regulars, which for reasons I hope you will, they will do for you; if not, get them in the Regiment. Some of them are good.

“F——is ill at Missolonghi. Gill is still with us here. I suppose H—— is at Zante. Fenton is out with Ulysses. We have no news. Then: are 20,000 Turks here, and the Pasha is guarding Thermopylæ with a large force. Tell Negris I would write to him, but for this reason, namely, that I write French unintelligibly, and have nothing particular to say; but tell him we are staunch to our resolves, and trust entirely to his energy and talent, that we may together extract all the good we can out of these evil times. Tell him to be sure of us, and go fearlessly on, for he alone has talent and courage to save his tottering country. Tell him so, and request he will, when any thing new occurs, write to me.

“Yours truly,

I joined Trelawney and Fenton as they were sitting together, conversing, on the battlements; and, not knowing of Fenton’s arrival, and seeing him in the Greek dress, with which his dark countenance and fine features well agreed, I thought he was some Suliote or Albanian captain, who had been in our service in the Ionian islands. His physiognomy, though handsome, did not please me. On my remarking to him how well he spoke English, he answered,—“I am English, or at least Scotch, Captain H——.”—“Oh then,” I replied, “you are Captain Fenton;” and cordially shook him by the hand, that hand which was afterwards stained with the blood of his avowed friend and companion in arms! One feels naturally prepossessed in favour of a countryman whom one meets in a distant land; and Fenton’s lively manners tended to promote confidence and friendship: but we have now too dearly proved, and Trelawney nearly fatally, that he was a most accomplished, specious villain. He was in the habit of roaming about the mountains alone, night and day, and was the most active fellow I ever saw. Though swift of foot myself, and no bad mountaineer, I was not at all a match for him, and none of the Greeks themselves could equal him. He was covered with scars; how got, Heaven knows, though he said he had received them in Spain; and that he had joined the 23d Light Fusileers when only fourteen years old (shortly before the siege of Badajoz), as an ensign. One of his brothers, a captain in the same regiment, he stated to have been killed at the assault, and that he himself was thrown back over the chevaux-de-frize and stunned by a blow from the butt-end of a musket. He represented his father to be a gentleman who had an estate in Lanarkshire. The romantic story of the attempt to murder him, alluded to in Trelawney’s letter, was nothing more than a specimen of Fenton’s inventive powers. I believe it never took place. He had certainly been wounded by the peasants with stones; but this was nothing more than a punishment inflicted on him for indecent conduct to one of their women.

Trelawney had made one campaign with Ulysses in Negroponte, and his actions had been worthy of his English blood. Ulysses said, if he were supported by a thousand such men, he would go to Constantinople. In the evening we learnt Ulysses was on his march from the camp, and was then at the town of Dystoma; and Fenton and myself determined to go early the next morning to meet him, which we accordingly did. The chief welcomed
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.
me with his usual warmth, for I was a great favourite with him.* His camp was now broken up and his troops dispersed; for he could not, he said, support men on his own resources, while those of other captains in the same cause received pay and supplies from the existing government. He had retained with him, for the present, few more men than his body-guard, which consisted of about fifty of his most faithful followers.† I had brought him letters from
Prince Demetrius Ipsilanti, which mentioned the shortly expected arrival of his brother, Prince Alexander, in the Morea, (though he is still a prisoner in Austria,) and proposing to Ulysses a plan of co-operation. Ulysses spoke of Prince Demetrius with great esteem for his devoted patriotism and integrity of character; and asked anxiously after Colonel Stanhope, for whom he had a great regard. Fenton appeared most devoted to Ulysses, who also seemed to repose great confidence m him. Shortly after Fenton’s first arrival at Mount Parnassus, Trelawney accompanied Ulysses to the Morea, leaving Fenton in command of the cave. In one of his usual solitary rambles, he said he was accosted in tolerable English by a person in the dress of a peasant. Surprised at the circumstance, he entered into conversation with the stranger, who concluded by offering him ten thousand dollars if he would take possession of Ulysses’s fortress, and deliver it up to the government. Fenton immediately despatched a messenger to inform Ulysses of the affair, who wrote back to his mother to express to Fenton his thanks for his fidelity, and to tell him, that if at any time he might want money, he had only to say so, and he should be supplied to any amount. When Fenton was afterwards with the chief at Salona, he pretended that he saw the individual who had tampered with him, well dressed and mounted. Ulysses desired him instantly to take horse with some men, and pursue him; but the chase was, of course, unsuccessful.

To return to the cave at the time of my visit. How distinctly do the strange remembrances connected with it, arise in my mind! As the evening closed, we sat, enjoying our pipes, on the battlements overlooking the steep below, while Trelawney and Ulysses conversed in their strange language, which might have almost passed as a new dialect. It was composed of Italian (not exactly the purest Tuscan) mixed up with such words of Greek and English as they had acquired of each other; Fenton, the while, with his dark restless eye glancing beneath his white turban, would sit or walk about with a joke or a laugh. Beneath, were seen groups of soldiers and peasantry, who tenanted the numerous caverns in the surrounding rocks, or formed rude huts of trees and branches, under the protection of the fortress; and often the eagle, proudly soaring, would skim the high vault above us, his strong pinions smiting the air audibly as he rushed along.
“It made you pause, and glance your eye
To see what movement was on high.”

* For a description of Ulysses, see “Picture of Greece,” Vol. II. note, p. 211.
† When we were at Napoli in July, Captain Yorke, of the brig Alacrity, (then lying there,) with his officers, accepted Trelawney’s invitation to dine with Ulysses, and we rode out to a monastery and dined very pleasantly à la pic-nic. Our guests seemed much pleased with our chief, and with the entertainment altogether; more especially at seeing us English so completely Greekified and barbarized. We were indebted to Captain Yorke for Champaign and other French wines, and particularly for some good home-brewed ale, for which we had by no means lost our taste, however unclassical it might be deemed to drink beer in Greece. Our visitors had, moreover, very providentially supplied themselves with plates, knives, and forks, a species of accommodation of which we were utterly destitute. Mr. Trelawney and Captain Yorke, who were excellent pistol-shots, amused themselves after dinner by firing at a mark, with an accuracy of which the Greeks have no idea; and Captain Yorke and Lieut. Wheatley played single-stick, at which Ulysses took a lesson, while the rest of us lay down to take our siesta.
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.177
At night the mildly-refreshing breeze blew from the mountain’s side, and we lay on our couches placed in a rocky niche, and enjoyed its coolness. Alas! though reposing on sacred Parnassus, the Muses did not reveal themselves to us, as they were wont in this their accustomed haunts. Nevertheless, we were not destitute of works which they had inspired; and among our little library was one of the productions of the great Scotch romancer, “
St. Ronan’s Well.” I recollect that one night when I could not sleep, I finished, by lamp-light, the last volume of this novel; then gazed upon the fires, just visible in the distant plain, which showed the halting-place of Turkish parties of horse going from Negroponte to Dervish Pacha’s camp. These wandering bands recalled my thoughts to my own adventurous and unsettled life. England, it is true, affords not such wild and stirring scenes; but then I missed the delight of social intercourse, and, above all, the bright eyes and lovely forms of my countrywomen. Lord Byron has said, and often, in youthful reverie, had I echoed the wish:—
“Would that the desert were my direlling-place,
With one fair spirit for my minister!”
And now I had grown to manhood, and in the wilds of fiery climes had made myself a home; but that fair spirit, where was she? I looked to the rocky balcony—Beauty dwelt there, but devoted and concealed.

In one of our rambles about the country, Ulysses showed us a large piece of marble, with a bas-relief representing his famous predecessor of the same name, in his disguise of a beggar, being recognized by his dog on his return to Ithaca. It was the intention of Ulysses to have this interesting specimen of antique sculpture transported to the cave.

Fenton and myself prepared for a journey to Missolonghi, to execute a number of commissions, such as to get saltpetre to pickle Theban pigs on Mount Parnassus—to procure a billiard-table from Zante, together with potatoes and garden-seeds, a barrel of Byron’s favourite liquor (which Trelawney also approved), and English needles for the Greek ladies. Bidding farewell to Trelawney and Ulysses, which in respect of the latter I little thought would be for the last time, I left the cave with Fenton. Our party consisted of ten men, five of whom were the remnant of my band; the others I had discharged on finding there was no chance of any fighting going on. Leaving the road to Dystonia, we branched off to the right through the defile of Kachona, leading towards Salona, and halted for the night at a town of that name, which, like most others, had been sacked and pillaged. I cannot without the bitterest vexation call to mind Fenton’s endless arts and insinuations, on every subject, to suit his deceitful purposes. He gave me to suppose that Trelawney had been most anxious for my departure, and that the last injunction he received from him was, “Whatever you do, bring no Englishmen here,—my friend M—— excepted.” This, I afterwards found, was utterly false.

The next day we passed to the left of Kastri, the site of the ancient oracle of Delphi. On proceeding through Salona, I went to call on my former host, the chieftain Pannuria, with whom I had stayed when on my embassy from Ulysses to Lord Byron, at a time the congress of Salona was on the tapis. Pannuria was a fine, martial looking old kleftis; but since the sacking of Salona, when he acquired immense spoil, and when the most horrid and sanguinary scenes were, as usual, acted, he had lost all activity and enterprise. He was exceedingly ignorant; could neither write nor read, and his natural faculties were by no means good. With Ulysses he was on good terms, as his treasures were deposited in the Parnassus cave; and I grieve to say, there is no tie upon a Greek so sure as the hope of getting, or the fear of losing money. We halted for the night under some trees by a fountain’s side. Here I had an altercation with one of my men, who narrowly missed the chance of being intimately acquainted with the steel of my dagger, and I of receiving a warm salute from the mouth of his pistol. We had the next
178Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.
day a most arduous march up high and precipitous mountains; and, getting out of Ulysses’s territory, we began the usual system of sheep-stealing, which I always preferred doing in the vicinity of a monastery, as I thought, with Robin Hood in
Ivanhoe, that the friars could best afford, or afford the best predatory tribute. On the fourth day’s march, it rained in torrents, and continued during the night, which we passed in a magazine of Indian corn. The roads were excessively bad, and the river Gefuri was much swollen: we had to cross it twice at great hazard; and I recollect that, once before, this very stream had nearly terminated my career, as I was carried down the torrent with my horse, having missed the ford, and escaped with great difficulty, and the loss of 600 dollars in saddle-bags belonging to Trelawney and a Mr. Finlay, who was travelling about Greece. Neither of these gentlemen would allow me to make good their losses. We arrived at Missolonghi at daybreak, and quartered ourselves at Fenton’s old billet, where he was a great favourite with the people of the house. We found that Mr. Gill had reached the town safely a day or two before us, and that he and Mr. Hodges, having learnt of the arrival at Napoli of two commissioners concerning the loan from England (Mr. Bulwer and Mr. Hamilton Brown), had determined to proceed to meet them there, and receive instructions as to the disposal of the military stores intrusted to the care of Mr. Hodges.

Missolonghi is a most wretchedly built fishing-town; the streets, which have a few scattered stones strewed in them as an apology for a pavement, form on either side canals of stagnant and nauseous mud; and here, as in other watering-places famous for scandal, an indelible stigma was the consequence of the slightest faux pas. Had Byron lived, Missolonghi would have been immortalized in Don Juan: he threatened he would have us all in. We stayed three or four days at this place. I had fallen ill, and passed my time lying on a couch in the veranda of our house, which overlooked that which Lord Byron had inhabited, and the very room where his spirit fled.* On my recovery, I proceeded to Tripolizza, where I met Mr. Hodges on his way to England alone; his companion, Mr. Gill, having fallen a victim to the unhealthy atmosphere of Napoli. Mr. Bulwer and Mr. Hamilton Brown were also in a most precarious state on board the English brig, Florida, which had brought a supply of the loan.

After some stay at Gastouni, during which I received one or two extraordinary letters from Fenton, I proceeded to Napoli to offer my services to the government. Here I found several foreigners; and among others, Mr. Washington the American, then remarkable for his gay dress and military gait, which were but little suited to our desultory mountain warfare. This gentleman has lately made himself known by his diplomatic productions, and protest against the Greek government when he left the country in disgust, on their determining to demand protection from Great Britain. Of the English, Mr. Emerson was then with the gallant Miaoulis on board the Greek fleet. Mr. Mason, a Scotch gentleman of enthusiastic and philanthropic disposition, seemed devoted to the arduous task of promoting the regeneration of the Greeks. A young Englishman, who had come out full of enthusiasm for war and adventure, joined me, adopting the dress of the country, and taking the name of Vasili.† I now received a brevet, appoint-

* I have just been reading an article in the New Monthly Magazine for March, entitled “Lord Byron’s last Portrait,” by Mr. West. I have not seen the painting by that gentleman; but if it is pourtrayed as correctly as the written sketch, it is to the life.
† His own name, which he has since so disgraced, I have hitherto suppressed, in consideration of his family and friends; and I should continue to do so only I have lately heard that, in return for my forbearing to mention even that he was implicated with Fenton, he has dared, since I left Greece, to accuse me of being the instigator of the attempt on Trelawney’s life, of which this boy, for he was then only nineteen, was the actual instrument employed. At Hydra, one night, under the in-
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.179
ing me to the command of fifty men, and was attached to the Suliotes, whom I received orders to join at the camp of Patrass. The pay of the men was to be advanced to the captains every three months. In the month of May we were ordered to march to Roumelia to defend Salona, on which place the Turks were advancing. On the road, twenty of my men (Bulgarians), not liking to quit the good quarters of the Morea for the devastated mountains of Roumelia, refused to embark from Corinth to cross the Gulf of Lepanto; but demanded their pay, which I refused to give. Being quartered in some isolated ruins, they showed an inclination to mutiny; but, finding that menaces would not at all serve their purposes, they became contrite and orderly.

May 23d.—Embarked at Corinth; and a fair breeze wafted our little fleet, in a few hours, across the gulf. How delightful must be the eve of enterprise, in the British service, when leading on English hearts and hands, all true, brave, and chivalrous! Here we knew that our men, if an opportunity occurred, would kill us for the dress we wore. Having disembarked, we bivouacked on the mountains, and sent out foraging parties. We were too late to save Salona. The Turks had already driven Goura out with considerable loss, and he was at present stationed at the Monastery of San Lucca, which we were to reach the next day. I now determined to make another visit to Trelawney and Fenton at the cave, which was a day’s march from San Lucca.

24th.—On our route, we met Captain Vangeli, half brother to Ulysses. He had left the chief on his treating with the Turks, and was now a Government captain; but since Ulysses was in Goura’s power, he appeared most anxious for his release in this critical juncture. Vangeli wished to communicate with his mother; but as I could not answer for his reception at the cave, we agreed to meet at a village near San Lucca in the evening, and proceed during the night. Having reached San Lucca, I left Whitcombe with the men, and, accompanied by my pipe-bearer and a guide, I repaired at nightfall to my appointment in the deserted village, and a few shrill whistles, à la kleftis, soon brought Vangeli and me together. After eating of our roasted sheep, and drinking excellent wine from a goat-skin, we marched silently and rapidly through the rugged paths of our route, which was open to the inroads of the Turks; and, as the morning dawned, reached the mountain. Vangeli with his party remained at the church of San Georgio, which, in all state affairs appertaining to the cave, served as the half-way house of diplomatic rest. I ascended alone; and having, besides our night expedition, marched the whole preceding day on foot, it was with great difficulty I surmounted the ascent. On entering the battery, Fenton came down the ladders. He seemed at first rather more surprised than pleased to see me. He appeared quite changed, and had not shaved since Ulysses had been a prisoner, which is the way the Greeks express extreme sorrow at any sinister event. His physiognomy bore a savage, restless expression; but he was soon most cordial and profuse in his expressions of friendship. He declared himself quite tired of the monotonous existence of the cave, and I perceived he was not on good terms with Trelawney. Kariaskaki, and several leading chiefs of our little army desired Ulysses’s release, as his name alone was a host against the Turks. It had been agitated among them to demand his being set at liberty, and the inhabitants of Livadia claimed that their chief ought to be given up to them, as Collocotroni had been to the Maureotes. I was very willing to enter into any plan for Ulysses’s release, for I was quite tired of my present command, as I found it impossible to attach the soldiers to me, or do any thing with them. Trelawney, from having married Ulysses’s sister, was looked upon quite as a native captain. He was resolved to hold

fluence of remorse, he confessed before several witnesses that he had shot Trelawney with his own hands. The applause of some of the Greek chiefs has, however, quieted his conscience, and I understand that he now bears himself highly, and is quite proud of his exploit.
180Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.
the cave as long as the chief was alive, and, if betrayed, they had always their magazine of powder, and
Cameron, who had charge of it, was quite ready for the work. Every attempt had been made to gain possession. Ulysses was brought there under an escort, and a summons to Trelawney to surrender extorted from him; but, as long as the garrison remained faithful within, they could defy all foes without. Fenton, I found, did not dine with Trelawney. I insisted on his doing so that day. He talked much of his fidelity to the chief, and said Trelawney would rather see the devil himself than Ulysses. I did all I could to conciliate them, as unanimity was absolutely necessary in our present situation. When they were blockaded by Government troops, Fenton had been attacked at the foot of the mountain by a party of thirty men, with whom he skirmished up the hill, and escaped wonderfully—one ball grazing his cheek, while another struck his gun; but he was swift of foot as a stag, and, could they even have effected it, they held him in too much dread to close on him. He had fully intended, the day of my arrival, to join the Turkish Pasha commanding at Salona. Had he done so, with his enterprise and activity, I have no doubt we should have found the Turks more actively opposing us. My arrival at the cave, however, occasioned Fenton to change his resolution, and saved many lives of my comrades in arms, though it was, unhappily, the cause of Trelawney’s nearly losing his. During the day, a brother of Vangeli, who was a captain attached to Kariaskaki, arrived at San Georgio, bringing a letter from him, without knowing we were at the cave. This was a singular coincidence; and as there had been so many manœuvres, on the part of Goura, to gain possession of the cave, this bore some appearance of being one. Fenton went down to see them. But how far the sincerity of Kariaskaki’s assurances in favour of the chief merited reliance, was not easily to be determined. Ulysses had a strong party even at Athens; for Goura’s cruelty and inaptness for command made him every day less popular, and there was some hope the chief’s liberation might be effected. As evening came on, I took leave, engaging to come to the cave again before I went to Napoli; and Trelawney sent by me an invitation to Whitcombe to visit him at Parnassus. Having procured mules from the village, we rode all night, and reached the camp by daybreak. On the summit of a hill, rising in a small plain, or rather valley, thickly wooded with olive-trees, bounded on either side by a range of mountains, and opening towards Salona, stood the dismantled Monastery of San Lucca, occupied by Goura, our present commander-in-chief. The lowly cell of the peaceful caloyer was now tenanted by his armed soldiery. A standard of the cross fixed in the ground—boughs cut down and disposed for couches at the foot of the trees—a horse or two picketed, and men in groups around, (their guns hanging from the boughs,) showed where each chief, with his retainers, had taken up his position. On waiting on Goura, I found him holding high divan, in noisy debate, with his captains, while his soldiers were clamorously demanding arrears of pay due to them. I had not seen him since we were together at Athens with Ulysses; and, à la mode du pays, we kissed on meeting. He asked after Colonel Stanhope, and whether he intended returning to Greece. I took advantage of his being engaged to make my visit as short as possible. I told him I had been at the cave, and offered to negotiate with Trelawney if I could be useful to him.

28th.—Advanced beyond Dystoma: met a party retreating, who reported that the Turks were close at hand. Reconnoitred. General Dangley sent an express for reinforcements; and Kariaskaki came up in dashing style, and we pushed on as far as the plains, where we saw only some Turkish cavalry, and found the Turks were already in possession of the town of Disfena, which we intended and ought to have occupied; but even the dilatory Mussulmen are more active in their operations. Having no provisions with us, we retired on Oystoma, and made tambours.

29th, Sunday—The Turks were advancing on Dystonia; on which our men occupied the tambours constructed on the adjoining hills and round the
Adventures of an English Officer in Greece.181
houses. A party of Delhi cavalry, “with their cap of terror on,” came close up to us reconnoitring. They were fine-looking fellows; and I could get no volunteers to make a dash at them, as all the men except
Whitcombe and about ten others kept behind their intrenchments.

I pass over about a fortnight, during which we were harassed with the vicissitudes and petty disasters incident to the wild and desultory warfare in which we were engaged; and come at once to the narration of the memorable treachery practised against my friend in the cave of Ulysses. On the 7th of June, I had persuaded Whitcombe to go to Parnassus, as he seemed heartily tired of
“The daily harass and the fight delay’d,
The long privation of the hoped supply,
The tentless rest beneath the humid sky.”
The prospect of
Mr. Trelawney’s hospitality tempted him, and he accordingly left us for the cave.

[The attack upon Trelawney, and the continuation of our correspondent’s adventure, we must defer till our next number.]




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