gave me the greatest pleasure. Greece
has ever been for me, as it must be for all men of any feeling or
education, the promised land of valour, of the arts, and of liberty;
nor did the time I passed in my youth in travelling among her ruins
at all chill my affection for the birthplace of heroes. In addition
to this, I am bound to yourself by ties of friendship and gratitude
for the hospitality which I experienced from you during my stay in
that country, of which you are now become one of the first defenders
and ornaments. To see myself serving, by your side and under your
eyes, in the cause of Greece, will be to me one of the happiest
events of my life. In the mean time, with the hope of our again
meeting,

"I am, as ever," &c.

Among the less serious embarrassments of his position at this period,
may be mentioned the struggle maintained against him by his
colleague, Colonel Stanhope,--with a degree of conscientious
perseverance which, even while thwarted by it, he could not but
respect, on the subject of a Free Press, which it was one of the
favourite objects of his fellow-agent to bring instantly into
operation in all parts of Greece. On this important point their
opinions differed considerably; and the following report, by Colonel
Stanhope, of one of their many conversations on the subject, may be
taken as a fair and concise statement of their respective
views:--"Lord Byron said that he was an ardent friend of publicity
and the press: but that he feared it was not applicable to this
society in its present combustible state. I answered that I thought
it applicable to all countries, and essential here, in order to put
an end to the state of anarchy which at present prevailed. Lord B.
feared libels and licentiousness. I said that the object of a free
press was to check public licentiousness, and to expose libellers to
odium. Lord B. had mentioned his conversation with Mavrocordato[1] to
show that the Prince was not hostile to the press. I declared that I
knew him to be an enemy to the press, although he dared not openly to
avow it. His Lordship then said that he had not made up his mind
about the liberty of the press in Greece, but that he thought the
experiment worth trying."

[Footnote 1: Lord Byron had, it seems, acknowledged, on the preceding
evening, his having remarked to Prince Blavrocordato that "if he were
in his situation, he would have placed the press under a censor;" to
which the Prince had replied, "N