tocles, (they were not
then very tractable, by the by,) and at the difficulty of
disciplining them; but he is a 'bon homme' and a tactician, and a
little like Dugald Dalgetty, who would insist upon the erection of 'a
sconce on the hill of Drumsnab,' or whatever it was;--the other seems
to wonder at nothing."

LETTER 522. TO LADY ----.

"May 17. 1823.

"My voyage to Greece will depend upon the Greek Committee (in
England) partly, and partly on the instructions which some persons
now in Greece on a private mission may be pleased to send me. I am a
member, lately elected, of the said Committee; and my object in going
up would be to do any little good in my power;--but as there are some
_pros_ and _cons_ on the subject, with regard to how far the
intervention of strangers may be advisable, I know no more than I
tell you; but we shall probably hear something soon from England and
Greece, which may be more decisive.

"With regard to the late person (Lord Londonderry), whom you hear
that I have attacked, I can only say that a bad minister's memory is
as much an object of investigation as his conduct while alive,--for
his measures do not die with him like a private individual's notions.
He is a matter of _history_; and, wherever I find a tyrant or a
villain, _I will mark him._ I attacked him no more than I had been
wont to do. As to the Liberal,--it was a publication set up for the
advantage of a persecuted author and a very worthy man. But it was
foolish in me to engage in it; and so it has turned out--for I have
hurt myself without doing much good to those for whose benefit it was
intended.

"Do _not defend_ me--it will never do--you will only make _yourself_
enemies.

"Mine are neither to be diminished nor softened, but they may be
overthrown; and there are events which may occur, less improbable
than those which have happened in our time, that may reverse the
present state of things--_nous verrons_.

"I send you this gossip that you may laugh at it, which is all it is
good for, if it is even good for so much. I shall be delighted to see
you again; but it will be melancholy, should it be only for a moment.

"Ever yours, N. B."

It being now decided that Lord Byron should proceed forthwith to
Greece, all the necessary preparations for his departure were
hastened. One of his first steps was to write to Mr. Trelawney, who
was then at Rome, to request that he would accompany him. "You must
have heard," he says,