that Mr. Sheridan was absent, and that no dinner had been ordered; upon hearing which intelligence, they all adjourned to the Thatched House Tavern. The other instance is as follows:-A friend of mine, who had been several times invited by Sheridan to come and visit him at his house at Polesden in Surrey, having occasion to go into that neighbourhood, thought that it would be a good opportunity to avail himself of Sheridan's invitation. Upon inquiry, however, where Polesden House was situated, he discovered that it had long since been pulled down.

I hope that my relating these anecdotes concerning Mr. Sheridan will not be thought in any degree inconsistent with the greatest admiration of his extraordinary endowments. His fame, as an orator and dramatic writer, will last as long as the English language; whilst the recollection of his foibles and errors, so frequently the accompaniments of splendid talents, and in his case so often the subject of malignant exaggeration, will in a few years be absorbed by sorrow and regret for the misfortunes and sufferings which threw a gloom over the latter years of his chequered life.

Dr. Parr had a great dislike to Bishop Horsley. That learned prelate, in the course of a speech in the House of Lords, said that "the people had nothing to do with the laws but to obey them." This sentiment, which at the time was much commented upon in the newspapers, excited Parr's indignation to so great a degree, that he wrote on the occasion a poetical remonstrance to the Bishop in English blank verse, Latin iambicks, and Greek hexameters, in which latter he denominated Horsley Ιππωτης.

My preceptor was not a great admirer of the poems of Ossian. Whilst reading with him the " Elements of Criticism," he often made me skip over the passages quoted by Kaims from Macpherson's work.

Of all Parr's friends, there was no one to whom he was more attached than to Dr. Routh, the President of Magdalen College, Oxford, in whose house, when he visited Oxford, he was always domiciliated. I recollect that on one occasion he took me with him to dine in the Hall of Trinity College, to meet Mr. Kett, who was a fellow and also a tutor of Trinity, Dr. Routh, and several other Oxonians. The President's coming was considered a great favour, as he rarely absented himself from his own college. Being a thorough valetudinarian, and consequently afraid of a breath of air, he came wrapped up in flannels, although in the midst of summer, and was preceded by an avant-courier, with directions to ascertain that all the windows of the different rooms through which he had to pass, were shut. After dinner we adjourned to Kett's rooms, in Trinity College, where I listened for many hours to a most interesting conversation, chiefly on subjects connected with the classics. The Doctor rode his hobby-horse in fine style; and quotations from Homer, Virgil, Euripides, Sophocles, Demosthenes, Tacitus, and Cicero, flew about in every direction, amidst clouds of smoke and deep potations of Kett's old port.

I perfectly agree with the writer of the article in a former Number of this Magazine, entitled "The latter Years of Dr. Parr," in thinking that there is no foundation for the story of my preceptor's placing himself, by inference, above the late Dr. Burney, in speaking of the triumvirate of great Greek scholars. I have heard him say,-" No one

is better acquainted than Charles Burney with the niceties of the Greek language, particularly with reference to the Greek metres: and my godson*," he added, "is also a capital scholar, and a very sensible and agreeable man.”

Several years ago Dr. Parr met Cobbet, for the first time, at the house of one of his pupils, who had a vicarage near Southampton. After dinner, the conversation turned upon Mr. Pitt, respecting whom there was a perfect unison of sentiment between them, or what Dr. Johnson would have called a rivality of vituperation. Unluckily, the subject of the learned languages was next started: this was the apple of discord. Cobbet's heresy on that topic is well known; but whatever is his confidence, he must, in an argument on such a subject, have been impar congressus Achilli. Much warmth was evinced on both sides; but they shook hands at parting; and it was after this interview that the Doctor visited Cobbet at Botley.

Mr. Dugald Stewart was a prodigious favourite with my preceptor, who delighted in his writings, the style of which he considered as coming nearer to perfection than that of almost any other writer of his age. "David Hume's style," he said, "was delicious, but abounding in Gallicisms."

do

At Grove Park, near Warwick, the seat of the late Lord Dormer + (father of the present Lord), Dr. Parr was a frequent guest. Indeed, he often went there without invitation, and in his most ordinary costume. Thither, also, he occasionally sent me on an embassy to obtain the Courier newspaper; and, upon my return, he made me read to him the parliamentary debates, which were at that period full of interest. In the delivery of Mr. Pitt's speeches, I sometimes took a malicious pleasure in giving the utmost possible effect to the brilliant passages, upon which the Doctor would exclaim, "Why, you noodle, you dwell with such energy upon Pitt's empty declamation? Don't you see, it is all sophistry?" At other moments he would say, "That is powerful; but Fox will answer it." When I pronounced the words, "Mr. Fox rose," Parr would roar out, "Stop!"-and after shaking the ashes out of his pipe, and filling it afresh, he would add, with a marked emphasis, "Now, you dog, do your best!" In the course of the speech in question, he would often interrupt me, in a tone of triumphant exultation, with exclamations such as the following,-"To be sure!"-" Capital !"- "Answer that, if you can, Master Pitt!"— and at the conclusion, "That is the speech of the orator and the statesman; Pitt is a mere rhetorician;" adding, after a pause, " a very able one, I admit." Sometimes, after hearing the first three or four sentences of a speech of Mr. Pitt, he would say,-"Now, the dog is thinking what he shall say; Fox rushes into the subject at once." Here let me remark, that when Parr called any of his pupils noodle or dog, or

Alluding to the Rev. Dr. Charles Parr Burney, who, since the death of his respected father, has presided over the school at Greenwich, certainly one of the best in England.

+ Lord Dormer, and Mr. Edward Monckton, the late member for Stafford, both stuttered dreadfully. Once, upon the occasion of their meeting in London, Mr. Monckton, seeing Lord Dormer, making a vain attempt to give utterance to his words, said to him, "My dear Lo-or-ord, wh-y do-n't you go to the man that cu-cu-cur-cured me?"

even in some instances "blockhead," it was a proof that they were in high favour; and on those occasions, his good-natured smile showed, that he spoke in perfect good-humour; but the word "dunce" he always used contemptuously. When engaged in our lessons, he assumed a magisterial gravity of manner; but at other times he conversed with us as friends, and not as pupils, and frequently entertained us with the most amusing anecdotes.

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 of 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-inchief'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

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 running 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 crosslegged 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.

A

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. 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

the extensive and rich plain of Livadia. I found the names of my two countrymen, Captain Trelawney, and Captain Jauni* (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, Jauni. George, Georgio.