re--and the reader can judge for himself when the picture is
before him--it would be a great defect, according to the plan of this
work, not to do so.

Ali Pasha was born at Tepellene, about the year 1750. His father was
a pasha of two tails, but possessed of little influence. At his
death Ali succeeded to no inheritance but the house in which he was
born; and it was his boast, in the plenitude of his power, that he
began his fortune with sixty paras, about eighteen pence sterling,
and a musket. At that time the country was much infested with
cattle-stealers, and the flocks and herds of the neighbouring
villages were often plundered.

Ali collected a few followers from among the retainers of his father,
made himself master, first of one village, then of another, amassed
money, increased his power, and at last found himself at the head of
a considerable body of Albanians, whom he paid by plunder; for he was
then only a great robber--the Rob Roy of Albania: in a word, one of
those independent freebooters who divide among themselves so much of
the riches and revenues of the Ottoman dominions.

In following up this career, he met with many adventures and
reverses, but his course was still onwards, and uniformly
distinguished by enterprise and cruelty. His enemies expected no
mercy when vanquished in the field; and when accidentally seized in
private, they were treated with equal rigour. It is reported that he
even roasted alive on spits some of his most distinguished
adversaries.

When he had collected money enough, he bought a pashalic; and being
invested with that dignity, he became still more eager to enlarge his
possessions. He continued in constant war with the neighbouring
pashas; and cultivating, by adroit agents, the most influential
interest at Constantinople, he finally obtained possession of
Joannina, and was confirmed pasha of the territory attached to it, by
an imperial firman. He then went to war with the pashas of Arta, of
Delvino, and of Ocrida, whom he subdued, together with that of
Triccala, and established a predominant influence over the agas of
Thessaly. The pasha of Vallona he poisoned in a bath at Sophia; and
strengthened his power by marrying his two sons, Mouctar and Velhi,
to the daughters of the successor and brother of the man whom he had
murdered. In The Bride of Abydos, Lord Byron describes the
assassination, but applies it to another party.

Reclined and feverish in the bath