MISSOLONGHI Drawn by W. Purser. THIS place will never be heard of or seen but with the most melancholy associations with the warrior poet, who, in the devotion of his fortune and his energies to the emancipation of Greece, found here a grave. It was almost the first spot in Greece that he saw on his way to Prevesa, in 1809, with his friend Mr. Hobhouse, who says, in his "Travels in Albania:❞— "Before sunset we had a view of the town of Messalonge, with a singular-looking double shore at the foot of the mountains, rising one above the other as far as the eye could reach, which is, indeed, the appearance of all the country to be seen to the north of the gulf of Lepanto." With how little of the anticipation of the fatalities yet to be associated with this spot did the friends contemplate the scene before them! On their return from the court of Ali Pacha, through Etolia, they arrived at Missolonghi, and stayed two nights. The situation of the town is described by Mr. Hobhouse as "on the south-east side of a salt marsh, or shallow, that extends two or three miles into the land below Natolico, and six miles about, beyond Messalonge itself, into the gulf of Lepanto." The swampy nature of the detestable country around this fatal spot, so productive of malaria, was one of the causes of the event which, fifteen years after, left Byron's heart cold in that country for which it had beat with such noble ardour. After the breaking out of the Greek revolution, which began in 1821 at Patrass, it was continued with various success. In October 1822, Missolonghi was invested with a force of 12,000 men by Omar Vrione; but the siege was raised, after a gallant defence by Mavrocordato, and the besieging army dispersed. In August 1823, another was formed of 10,000 Albanians, under Isouf Pacha, which deserted its commander before it could be effectually brought into action, owing, it was supposed, to the intrigues of Vrione, who, having failed himself, was jealous of Isouf. A third army, however, was raised, under the command of Mustafa, Pacha of Scutari, amounting to 15,000 men, which on the 2d of October invested Missolonghi by land, whilst Isouf Pacha blockaded it by sea. Yet, with only 3000 men for the defence of its miserable walls, it was gallantly defended; and this army also retired disgracefully the first week in December, leaving the town blockaded by the Turkish fleet. MISSOLONGHI On the 29th of December Lord Byron reached Missolonghi; having been detained by adverse winds for several days, and at last effected his landing there, in spite of the blockade, his own vessel getting in safely, while that on board of which his servants and baggage had embarked was captured, though afterwards released. On his landing he was received with all kindness and honour; and he immediately began to organise a body of Suliotes, who had quitted Cephalonia to enter his service, of whom he had taken about 500 men into pay. The fatal disputes of these Suliotes with the citizens, and the jealousies of the Greek chiefs, who, with the exception of Mavrocordato, displayed little gratitude or respect towards Lord Byron, were sources of annoyance to him. They were men who, in their own petty squabbles for power, forgot the interests of their country and their country's friends; but, with firmness and temper and enthusiasm, Byron slackened not in his energies for the deliverance of the country to which he had devoted himself. These troubles, however, lessened his hopes of that success he so thirsted after, and, harassing a mind like his, began to affect his health; the climate increased the evil; and that these had created some presentiment of his fate, those beautiful lines, ""Tis time this heart should be unmoved," the last that he wrote, and on his last birth-day, January 22d, bear melancholy testimony. The details of his last days, given in Moore's "Life," have the most intense interest. He had been attacked in February with an epileptic fit, from the effects of which he had not recovered when an inflammation followed, which, after an illness of twelve days, removed from all earthly pain and anxiety the " Pilgrim of Eternity." After the death of Lord Byron, the struggles in Greece still continued, and Missolonghi was bravely defended above two years longer. At length Ibrahim Pacha, with an army of Arabs, and the fleet and soldiers of the Capoudan Pacha, bombarded the place, and so effectually blockaded it, that the wretched inhabitants made a sortie, not to fight, but to escape, and a horrible slaughter was the consequence. Missolonghi was sacked by the Arabs, or rather all that remained of it; for when the consul for the Morea, Mr. Green, visited it after it was taken, it was, with the exception of about twenty of the houses, a heap of ruins; but that in which Lord Byron died had escaped destruction. THE END. LONDON: J. MOYES, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. |