“Eight months after the publication of my ‘Tour in the Levant,’ there appeared in the London Magazine, and subsequently in most of the newspapers, a letter from the late Lord Byron to Mr. Murray.
“I naturally felt anxious at the time to meet a charge of error brought against me in so direct a manner: but I thought, and friends whom I consulted at the time thought with me, that I had better wait for a more favourable opportunity than that afforded by the newspapers of vindicating my opinion, which even so distinguished an authority as the letter of Lord Byron left unshaken, and which, I will venture to add, remains unshaken still.
“I must ever deplore that I resisted my first impulse to reply immediately. The hand of Death has snatched Lord Byron from his kingdom of literature and poetry, and I can only guard myself from the illiberal imputation of attacking the mighty dead, whose living talent I should have trembled to encounter, by scrupulously confining myself to such facts and illustrations as are strictly necessary to save me from the charges of error, misrepresentation, and presumptuousness, of which every writer must wish to prove himself undeserving.
“Lord Byron began by stating, ‘The
tide was not in our favour,’ and added, ‘neither I nor any person on
board the frigate had any notion of a difference of the current on the Asiatic side;
I never heard of it till this moment.’ His lordship had probably forgotten
that Strabo distinctly describes the difference in
the following words. “Διό και
έυπετέστερον έκ
τήϑ Σηστου
διάιρουσι
παραλλαξάμενοι
μικρόν έπί τόν
της Ηρους
πύργον,
κάκειθεν
άϕιέντες τά
πλοια
συμπράττοντος
του ρου ρου πρός
τήν περαίωσιν.
Τοις δ΄ έξ
Αβύδου
περαουμένοις
παραλλακτέον
έσίν είς
τάναντία, όκτω
που σταδίους
ίπί πύργον τινά
κατ΄ άντικρύτης
Σηστου έπειτα
διάιρεινπλάγιον,
καί μή τελέως
έχουσιν
έναντίον τόν
ρουν.’
| 818 | APPENDIX. |
“Here it is clearly asserted that the current assists the crossing from Sestos, and the words ‘άϕιέντες τάπλοια,’—‘navigia dimittentes,’—‘letting the vessels go of themselves,’ prove how considerable the assistance of the current was; while the words ‘πλάγιον’—‘oblique,’ and ‘τελεως,’— ‘prorsus,’ show distinctly that those who crossed from Abydos were obliged to do so in an oblique direction, or they would have the current entirely against them.
“From this ancient authority, which, I own, appears to me unanswerable, let us turn to the moderns. Baron de Tott, who, having been for some time resident on the spot, employed as an engineer in the construction of batteries, must be supposed well cognisant of the subject, has expressed himself as follows:—
“‘La surabondance des eaux que la Mer Noire reçoit, et qu’eIle ne peut évaporer, versée dans la Méditerranée par le Bosphore de Thrace et La Propontide, forme aux Dardanelles des courans si violens, que souvent les batimens, toutes voiles dehors, ont peine à les vaincre. Les pilotes doivent encore observer, lorsque le vent suffit, de diriger leur route de manière à présenter le moins de résistance possible à l’effort des eaux. On sent que cette étude a pour base la direction des courans, qui, renvoyés d’une pointe à l’autre, forment des obstacles à la navigation, et feroient courir les plus grands risques si l’on negligeoit ces connoissances hydrographiques.’—Mémoires de Tott, 3me Partie.
“To the above citations, I will add the opinion of Tournefort, who, in his description of the strait, expresses with ridicule his disbelief of the truth of Leander’s exploit; and to show that the latest travellers agree with the earlier, I will conclude my quotation with a statement of Mr. Madden, who is just returned from the spot. ‘It was from the European side Lord Byron swam with the current, which runs about four miles an hour. But I believe he would have found it totally impracticable to have crossed from Abydos to Europe.’—Madden’s Travels, Vol. I.
“There are two other observations in Lord Byron’s letter on which I feel it necessary to remark.
“‘Mr. Turner says, ‘whatever is thrown into the stream on this part of the European bank, must arrive at the Asiatic shore.’ This is so far from being the case, that it must arrive in the Archipelago, if left to the current, although a strong wind from the Asiatic† side might have such an effect occasionally.’
|
* “Strabo, Book XIII. Oxford Edition. |
|
† “This is evidently mistake of the writer or printer. His lordship must here have meant a strong wind from the European side, as no wind from the Asiatic side could have the effect of driving an object to the Asiatic shore.” I think it right to remark that it is Mr. Turner himself who has here originated the inaccuracy of which he accuses others; the words used by Lord Byron being, not, as Mr. Turner states, “from the Asiatic side,” but “in the Asiatic direction.”—T. M. |
| APPENDIX. | 819 |
“Here Lord Byron is right, and I have no hesitation in confessing that I was wrong. But I was wrong only in the letter of my remark, not in the spirit of it. Any thing thrown into the stream on the European bank would be swept into the Archipelago, because, after arriving so near the Asiatic shore as to be almost, if not quite, within a man’s depth, it would be again floated off from the coast by the current that is dashed from the Asiatic promontory. But this would not affect a swimmer, who, being so near the land, would of course, if he could not actually walk to it, reach it by a slight effort.
“Lord Byron adds, in his P.S., ‘The strait is, however, not extraordinarily wide, even where it broadens above and below the forts.’ From this statement I must venture to express my dissent, with diffidence indeed, but with diffidence diminished by the ease with which the fact may be established. The strait is widened so considerably above the forts by the Bay of Maytos, and the bay opposite to it on the Asiatic coast, that the distance to be passed by a swimmer in crossing higher up would be, in my poor judgment, too great for any one to accomplish from Asia to Europe, having such a current to stem.
“I conclude by expressing it as my humble opinion that no one is bound to believe in the possibility of Leander’s exploit, till the passage has been performed by a swimmer, at least from Asia to Europe. The sceptic is even entitled to exact, as the condition of his belief, that the strait be crossed, as Leander crossed it, both ways within at most fourteen hours.
