and I lived only in her presence, and was rich only in her goodness and her beauty, so that now, with all my love, I am most powerless, wretched, and feeble. Oh, were she dead, it is not thus that I would mourn for her; I would not pray or weep, for when did death heed prayers or tears? but I would look my last of her sweet eyes, and bind her hair with flowers of spotless white, and then take her in my arms and lie down with her in her quiet grave, so that her last sleep, like her first, should be upon this loving breast."

"But if she be not dead," said Lester, "why do you say that she is lost?"

"Because she is a slave," she answered, with a burst of anguish—“ a slave to our worst enemies, the cruel and hateful Turks. Oh, stranger, if you will not succour us this day-if you refuse the task for which the saints have sent you here to-night, I never shall behold Cyllene more. Think, think what it is I say—a living mother never to look again upon her living child!"

"Do not doubt that I will help you, if it is in my power," replied Lester; "but can you tell me even where she is? when was she taken from you?"

"Not long since, and yet how many ages," said the mother-"six weary months. I had upon this earth a husband and a child-all that it was given me to love in this world, and I performed well that blessed duty, for look to what boundless agony that boundless love has turned. My husband took his life from me to give it to his country-he died for Greece. I saw him buried in his honourable tomb, and night and day my heart called out to him that I would not leave him lonely in his gloomy couch; but she stood between me and that grave-Cyllene; I could not pass her by to seek him there, and leave her in her helpless innocence to wander through a world so vile. I lived for her; but when the Turkish soldiers, fierce and merciless, came thundering down upon our peaceful home, and tore her from my feeble arms, then for her I vainly would have died. They dragged her from me, and I followed in the track of their horses' feet, till exhausted, bleeding, faint, I could but crawl along among the stones and dust-still, when my very life was expiring within me, drawn after

her by the power of irresistible affec

tion.

They came to Nauplia-I was there as soon; I saw her sold; I saw them give their gold for my sweet, gentle child, with her warm, loving heart, and pious soul, that, like an angel, ever found in prayer swift wings to bear it up to heaven-and then I saw no more. But when I woke, to weep that ever I did wake, they told me she was gone! -gone far over that terrible sea, which vainly indeed these feeble steps would seek to pass. Then I sold all I had, house, and jewels, and land, to buy from a sordid Turk, who alone knew it, the secret of her destination, and from him I learned that she had been bought by the principal sultana of Kosreff Pasha's harem, and that they had taken her to his palace on the coast of Asia. Since then, what could I do but crawl from church to church, and wear the stones with kneeling there to pray for succour. To-night I was on a pilgrimage to the chapel of St. Sophia's on Mount Chaon, but my strength failed me, so I made a temple of this awful tomb, and knelt down here, and behold the Hearer of Prayer is everywhere, for you are sent in answer to my supplications."

As she ceased, the old woman looked up to Lester with a gaze of imploring earnestness which it would have been difficult to resist; nor had he any wish to do so, for this adventure seemed to have come most opportunely, to try the strength of the determination he had so lately made, rather to use his life for the good of others, than impiously to fling it from him in his selfish sorrow, and it mattered little to him in what channel he directed the energies and the powers of endurance and courage which he had hitherto wasted so lavishly.

"It would indeed appear," he said, "as though heaven willed I should assist you, for to-morrow I set sail for Smyrna, which cannot be far distant from the dwelling of Kosreff Pasha. That prince is so well known, that I can easily obtain access to him, and if gold can buy her, or if they will take my life in exchange for her liberty, your daughter shall be restored to you."

The aged woman sunk at his feet, speechless from excess of gratitude. She was so firmly convinced that the stranger's arrival at the very moment of her ardent pleading for succour, had been caused by a miraculous inter

position, that she did not for one instant doubt the success of his enterprise, or the truth of his promise. She was possessed, in common with most of her countrymen, of that simple, unquestioning faith, which is the greatest of treasures in this twilight world where we wander!-a pearl beyond all price to the human soul, encompassed about with such thick clouds, and darkness, and mists, through which, too often, shine only the false meteors' glare. She

felt as though her child were already restored to her, and when Lester had obtained from her all the information she could give, he was obliged to leave her in order to rejoin his companions, for she obstinately refused to follow him to some place of shelter, designing, as is very customary among the Greeks, to pass the night in prayer, and all the more determined so to do, that her supplication was changed to thanksgiving.

THE day was dawning, as Lester approached the spot where the band of Philellenists had bivouacked for the night. The bright sunlight-so much more sad and dreary than the darkest night, to those who, while life endures, must let their soul keep watch in silence over one deep-buried and ever-living sorrow that sunlight had already begun to render visible the ravages which the once luxuriant plain of Argos had sustained, during the long and dreadful siege of Nauplia.

In looking over the records of this world, whilst we cannot but admit that man has his lucid intervals, we are, at the same time, almost constrained to believe, that he is actuated in most of his proceedings by a strange and unnatural madness; and in none more so than when he conjures up the demon, war, with its attendants, rapine, murder, and destruction, out of the unfathomable abyss of his own evil passions, and delivers up to them, as a hapless prey, this fair and goodly earth, where all things were given him richly to enjoy. beautiful flower-gardens and fragrant lemon-groves, which surrounded the once celebrated capital of the Argolide, had given place to a dreary waste, blackened by fire, and serving as the unhallowed sepulchre of heaps of corrupting dead.

The

The siege of the modern town of Nauplia, which was a strong and important place of defence, and considered quite as the key to the Morea, had terminated only a few days before, presenting in its details a series of horrors which, in another time and place, would have been thought unequalled; though, during the Greek revolution, they had become sufficiently common to induce us almost to fancy that the very powers of evil had been

let loose over this ill-fated and lovely country. The Greeks had long turned their best energies, as well as their warmest hopes, to the acquisition of this important stronghold; but it was strongly garrisoned and stoutly defended by the Turks, under the command of Selim Pasha, and the almost inaccessible fortress of the Palamede, which stands on a rock nearly eight hundred feet high, had enabled them to resist repeated and most energetic attacks. At length, however, the brave old chief, Colocotroni took a solemn vow, that he would gain possession of the citadel, or perish, and encamped with a force greatly inferior to that of the enemy, on the hill of St. Elias, among the Cyclopean ruins of Tyrins. Colocotroni was an able general, and knowing well that his numbers were quite inadequate to give him even a chance of success, he called in to his aid those two powerful agents, famine and pestilence-he succeeded in so dextrously closing and guarding the issues from the besieged town, that the Turks were, from the commencement, reduced solely to the slender provision of food actually collected for their immediate wants.

With so enormous a garrison, this supply was necessarily soon exhausted-for three long months did the Greek chief obstinately blockade the fortress, and the Moslems as obstinately defend it, although during this period, they passed from stage to stage of the most horrible sufferings. Having devoured everything in the shape of animals which the place contained, they lived for weeks on the leaves of the prickly pear, and were finally reduced to subsist, or rather to fail in subsisting, on boiled leather

Long before this, however, a deadly sickness had broken out amongst them, they sunk by hundreds, and at last the miserable remainder, who were described by an eye-witness to have presented actually the appearance of blackened skeletons, on the day of St. Andrew, the patron saint of the Morea, descended from the Palamede, and surrendered without conditions to the Greeks at noon, the conquerors entered the town in procession-the Hellenni flag was hoisted on the citadel, where it floats, even now, in all security and Colocotroni achieved that day a triumph which influenced in no small degree the ultimate fate of his country.

Whilst that of Nauplia was still impending, the Philellenists, but lately organised as a distinct body, had hastened to the scene of action, to render what assistance they could to the Greeks they arrived, however, a few days too late-the conflict was over the successful troops in peaceable possession, and the few wretched Turks, whom want and disease had spared, secured as close prisoners, or already put to death. The volunteers had, therefore, to turn their attention elsewhere, as their aim was solely to seek out opportunities for tendering their needful aid wherever the Hellenic cause seemed most weak and unsuccessful.

It appeared evident at this period, that Messalonghi must ultimately become the spot where would be struck the final blow, and the last struggle take place, from which Greece must rise a conqueror, or remain for ever prostrate as a slave. The first siege of this unhappy town was over, in a manner almost ludicrously dishonourable to the Turks, whilst Mavrocordato owes to his conduct during that protracted campaign no small portion of the fame which has been so justly accorded to him. For a very considerable period, Omer Vriones, the haughty commander of an army of formidable Arnauts, had been stationed before the mud walls of this puny town, whose principal means of defence consisted of a skilfully-arranged regiment of poles, sur

mounted by bayonets, which the Turks had the complaisance to believe (as it was intended they should), to be a valiant band of Franks! After one abortive attack, the discomfited pasha found it necessary to raise the siege, as the impossibility of procuring food for his army in that hostile country had brought famine, and consequent disaffection, into his camp, to an alarming extent, and Mavrocordato actually pursued the illustrious Turk in his most cowardly retreat, beyond the Ambracian Gulf. This degrading failure had, however, but rendered the Moslems more determined to obtain possession of a place since so celebrated in many ways-it was even said that the Sultan himself, enraged to the uttermost at so disgraceful a defeat, was taking measures for sending such a force against Messalonghi, as should not only infallibly subdue it, even to its utter destruction, but also involve, perhaps, all Greece in its ruin.

This impending and final struggle, to which the attention of the whole country was turned, could not, however, take place till a more favourable season. In the interim, Lord Byron having established himself on the spot, where he was received by the Greeks almost as a demigod, occupied himself in gathering his Albanians round him, and providing supplies of ammunition, &c., whilst an imperative call was made on the assistance of the Philellenists from another quarter. The most dreadful reports were rife in the country on the condition of the Greeks at Smyrna, not so much of those who had long been resident in that city, as merchants, but of the Phanariotes, who had been exiled there from Constantinople. These being principally members of the oldest Greek families, had long been deeply desirous of devoting at once their lives and property to their country-but it was by no means an easy matter for them to escape from Smyrna, in order to reach the scene of action-no Greek ship was permitted to enter the port, and no Turkish vessel would, of course, receive them for they did, in fact, but enjoy a mock liberty, which only served to render the invisible chains

of their servitude more subtle and secure. Some of the most insignificant amongst them had found means, by various stratagems, to gain an entrance into their own country, but all whose name or riches rendered them conspicuous-or still more, who had held any important post under the Greek government, were subjected to the most jealous surveillance, and they had now, therefore, succeeded in sending secret messengers to Greece, in order to implore the aid of the Philellenists, who, it was thought, might find means to carry them off in the French corvette which they had at their disposal. The volunteers, feeling they could render no greater service to the struggling country, than that of bringing to the rescue a fresh supply of men willing to die for her, had proposed sailing on this enterprise about the period referred to, but their movements had been suddenly hastened by the reports to which we have alluded; for these seemed all to concur in stating that the Moslems, having discovered among the rayahs traces of a conspiracy, yet unripe, against the Porte, had given such an unbridled licence to their fury, that they had actually proceeded to a general massacre of the unfortunate Greeks. The Philellenists therefore determined to lose no time in flying to their succour, and they set sail from Argos for Smyrna, in a French vessel, the morning after their English companion, Lester, had met with the adventure among the ruins of Mycenæ, already recorded.

The principal object of their solicitude at Smyrna, was the family of the Rayah Petros G, who had long served as dragoman to the Ottoman Porte, and one of whose three brave sons had been hospodar of Moldavia, at the period of the outbreak of the Greek revolution, when they were all exiled together to Smyrna. On account of this last circumstance, the Philellenists were very confident that they should find, on their arrival, that the G family had not shared in the general massacre, if such had taken place, as the Russian government had made a stipulation with that of Turkey, that the Sublime Porte should not have the power of putting to death any person who had reigned as prince in the provinces, which dig

nity Demetrius G, as hospodar, had of course enjoyed. This amnesty was also extended to all the members of his family, but the chief anxiety of the Philellenists was, to procure to their ranks, before the attack on Messalonghi, so valuable an addition as that of the three young men who had of late hazarded a hundred times their lives, in the attempt to escape from their vast Asiatic prison, and rush, sword in hand, to the shores of that beloved land, which was becoming the vast sepulchre of all such noble spirits as themselves.

In

The old Petros himself, though Greece had not a truer servant, or a more zealous patriot, was excluded from the valiant band of her defenders, not only by age, but also by an infirmity under which he laboured, the result of a horrible punishment inflicted on him many years prior to this date-the poor old rayah was quite dumb. Whilst in office under the Sultan, he had been, at the instigation of his enemies (of which there, as elsewhere, every man in power has an ample supply), suspected of secret disaffection. Turkey, the slightest suspicion is sufficient to ensure punishment-it was debated whether he should be at once put to death, or have his tongue cut out the latter course was adopted, and put into execution; subsequently, the calumny was discovered to be without foundation, and he was restored to favour by Mahmoud, who contrived, notwithstanding his mutilation, to render him very serviceable, as he was a man of great talent. Almost all the members of this illustrious family succeeded in giving, sooner or later, most unanswerable proofs of their attachment to their country-and, rarely as women in the east are called upon to act, none did so more truly, or more touchingly, than the noble wife of Petros G. She was by birth a Princess Mand her own relations having remained in Greece, were amongst the principal actors of the first stage of the war. Just as the sentence of exile had been passed on her husband and sons, it was discovered that she acted as agent between the leaders of the rebellion and the influential Phanariotes-they were constrained to depart without her; she was seized, questioned, and tortured, in order that the Turks might extort

from her the secrets of the Hetairia (the Sacred Alliance).

Their efforts were utterly in vain; they found her as dumb by the power of her own strong will as they had succeeded in making her husband by their cruelty. After inflicting on her much unavailing suffering, they finally flung her into a dungeon, in hopes that her noble firmness might be subdued by a long, solitary imprisonment. Here they were again defeated: she passed the hours of her captivity with a cheerful composure, and employed herself as she best could to beguile its tediousness. One memento of her constancy exists to this day from the small grated window of her prison she could perceive a portion of the sky, the Bosphorus, the opposite shore, and a few buildings-these together formed a limited view, which, deeply as it was impressed on her memory, she wished to retain indelibly. With singular patience she drew out a number of silken threads from her handkerchiefs and shawls, and with them embroidered the scene before her eyes on a piece of muslin, with such exactness and delicacy, that she produced a most beautiful and extraordinary piece of embroi dery, now in possession of her granddaughter. She was finally released from motives of expediency, and sent to rejoin her husband, in the village near Smyrna to which which they had been consigned, and where the Philellenists hoped to find to them

now.

Lester was not sorry to see the shores of Argos receding behind him, when, at sunrise, the corvette of the Philellenists got under weigh, and took its course with a favourable wind towards Smyrna. It was with no inconsiderable degree of interest that he looked forward to the result of the attempt he was about to make, for restoring joy and gladness to the heart of the desolate mother he had left praying at the tomb of Agamemnon. There was a certain lustre of romance shed round the whole adventure which was very fascinating to an Englishman; and ardent and enthusiastic as he was, the danger and difficulty attending the enterprise were his greatest inducements for attempting it moreover, to a mind of his stamp, the fact that natural common sense would have a good deal to say against the wild promise he had

given, was exactly the reason why he was bent on fulfilling it.

Lester's first step, in pursuance of his project, was to make a confidant of an individual named Manouk, who, though a Turk and a stanch Mahohometan, had, strange to say, been received into their company. He had formed part of the unhappy garrison of Nauplia, and had escaped both the sword of the Greeks and the pestilence, though he had well-nigh pe rished from starvation. When the town surrundered, he had succeeded in stealing out of it unperceived, by taking advantage of the first moment of noise and confusion when the conquerors entered it, and had crawled as far as to the ruins of the city of Tyrins, where he secreted himself, too utterly exhausted by famine to proceed further. There he was found half dead by some of the European volunteers, and conveyed by them to their encampment. Vasili, their commander, no sooner saw him than he declared he must at once be put to death, with that vindictiveness so fatally prevalent among the revolutionary Greeks, and which more than anything has marred their success. Most of the Philellenists had, however, been taught in a different school from the ardent and poetic East, and they resolutely op posed the murder of a helpless man, even though he were an enemy to Greece. Manouk, therefore, remained among them as a prisoner on parole; for to the credit of the Turks it must be owned, that they never violate an oath taken on the Koran, and he soon became a universal favourite.

His natural goodness of disposition had rendered his character almost entirely a combination of those good qualities which his countrymen really do possess, without the darker propensities that in general so completely blot them out. He had the honesty of the Turks without their obstinacy-their love of quiet and ease, without their sensuality

their good-humour, without their selfish indifference- and, above all, their invariable politeness, carried with him to an extent, and developed to a degree of uncompromising civility so boundless, that had he discovered he could not bow as low as he desired without having his head cut off, he would certainly have smilingly submitted to the arrangement for that pur