f the German Austrian scoundrels. There
is not an Italian who loathes them more than I do; and whatever I
could do to scour Italy and the earth of their infamous oppression
would be done _con amore_.

"Yours," &c.

* * * * *

LETTER 413. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Ravenna, February 21. 1821.

"In the forty-fourth page, volume first, of Turner's Travels (which
you lately sent me), it is stated that 'Lord Byron, when he
expressed such confidence of its practicability, seems to have
forgotten that Leander swam both ways, with and against the tide;
whereas _he_ (Lord Byron) only performed the easiest part of the
task by swimming with it from Europe to Asia.' I certainly could
not have forgotten, what is known to every schoolboy, that Leander
crossed in the night and returned towards the morning. My object
was, to ascertain that the Hellespont could be crossed _at all_ by
swimming, and in this Mr. Ekenhead and myself both succeeded, the
one in an hour and ten minutes, and the other in one hour and five
minutes. The _tide_ was _not_ in our favour; on the contrary, the
great difficulty was to bear up against the current, which, so far
from helping us into the Asiatic side, set us down right towards
the Archipelago. Neither Mr. Ekenhead, myself, nor, I will venture
to add, any person on board the frigate, from Captain Bathurst
downwards, had any notion of a difference of the current on the
Asiatic side, of which Mr. Turner speaks. I never heard of it till
this moment, or I would have taken the other course. Lieutenant
Ekenhead's sole motive, and mine also, for setting out from the
European side was, that the little cape above Sestos was a more
prominent starting place, and the frigate, which lay below, close
under the Asiatic castle, formed a better point of view for us to
swim towards; and, in fact, we landed immediately below it.

"Mr. Turner says, 'Whatever is thrown into the stream on this part
of the European bank must arrive at the Asiatic shore.' This is so
far from being the case, that it _must_ arrive in the Archipelago,
if left to the current, although a strong wind in the Asiatic
direction might have such an effect occasionally.

"Mr. Turner attempted the passage from the Asiatic side, and
failed: 'After five-an