om he sent to Marco Botzaris to assist in the defence
of Missolonghi. An adventurer of more daring would have gone with
them; and when the battle was over, in which Botzaris fell, he
transmitted bandages and medicines, of which he had brought a large
supply from Italy, and pecuniary succour, to the wounded.

This was considerate, but there was too much consideration in all
that he did at this time, neither in unison with the impulses of his
natural character, nor consistent with the heroic enthusiasm with
which the admirers of his poetry imagined he was kindled.

In the mean time he had offered to advance one thousand dollars a
month for the succour of Missolonghi and the troops with Marco
Botzaris; but the government, instead of accepting the offer,
intimated that they wished previously to confer with him, which he
interpreted into a desire to direct the expenditure of the money to
other purposes. In his opinion his Lordship was probably not
mistaken; but his own account of his feeling in the business does not
tend to exalt the magnanimity of his attachment to the cause: "I
will take care," says he, "that it is for the public cause, otherwise
I will not advance a para. The opposition say they want to cajole
me, and the party in power say the others wish to seduce me; so,
between the two, I have a difficult part to play; however, I will
have nothing to do with the factions, unless to reconcile them, if
possible."

It is difficult to conceive that Lord Byron, "the searcher of dark
bosoms," could have expressed himself so weakly and with such vanity;
but the shadow of coming fate had already reached him, and his
judgment was suffering in the blight that had fallen on his
reputation. To think of the possibility of reconciling two Greek
factions, or any factions, implies a degree of ignorance of mankind,
which, unless it had been given in his Lordship's own writing, would
not have been credible; and as to having nothing to do with the
factions, for what purpose went he to Greece, unless it was to take a
part with one of them? I abstain from saying what I think of his
hesitation in going to the government instead of sending two of his
associated adventurers, Mr Trelawney and Mr Hamilton Brown, whom he
despatched to collect intelligence as to the real state of things,
substituting their judgment for his own. When the Hercules, the ship
he chartered to carry him to Greece, weighed anchor, he was committed
with the G