[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.” |
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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. |
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:—
“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 |
“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.
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
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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 |
“Would that the desert were my direlling-place, With one fair spirit for my minister!” |
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
| 178 | Adventures of an English Officer in Greece. |
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-
|
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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. |
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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
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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 attack upon Trelawney, and the continuation of our correspondent’s adventure, we must defer till our next number.]