Do thou, amidst the fair white walls,
    If Cadiz yet be free,
  At times from out her latticed halls
    Look o’er the dark blue sea—­
  Then think upon Calypso’s isles,
    Endear’d by days gone by,—­
  To others give a thousand smiles,
    To me a single sigh.

The only other adventure of the visit is Byron’s quarrel with an officer, on some unrecorded ground, which Hobhouse tells us nearly resulted in a duel.  The friends left Malta on September 29th, in the war-ship “Spider,” and after anchoring off Patras, and spending a few hours on shore, they skirted the coast of Acarnania, in view of localities—­as Ithaca, the Leucadian rock, and Actium—­whose classic memories filtered through the poet’s mind and found a place in his masterpieces.  Landing at Previsa, they started on a tour through Albania,—­

    O’er many a mount sublime,
  Through lands scarce noticed in historic tales.

Byron was deeply impressed by the beauty of the scenery, and the half-savage independence of the people, described as “always strutting about with slow dignity, though in rags.”  In October we find him with his companions at Janina, hospitably entertained by order of Ali Pasha, the famous Albanian Turk, bandit, and despot, then besieging Ibrahim at Berat in Illyria.  They proceeded on their way by “bleak Pindus,” Acherusia’s lake, and Zitza, with its monastery door battered by robbers.  Before reaching the latter place, they encountered a terrific thunderstorm, in the midst of which they separated, and Byron’s detachment lost its way for nine hours, during which he composed the verses to Florence, quoted above.

Some days later they together arrived at Tepaleni, and were there received by Ali Pasha in person.  The scene on entering the town is described as recalling Scott’s Branksome Castle and the feudal system; and the introduction to Ali, who sat for some of the traits of the poet’s corsairs,—­is graphically reproduced in a letter to Mrs. Byron.  “His first question was, why at so early an age I left my country, and without a ‘lala,’ or nurse?  He then said the English minister had told him I was of a great family, and desired his respects to my mother, which I now present to you (date, November 12th).  He said he was certain I was a man of birth, because I had small ears, curling hair, and little white hands.  He told me to consider him as a father whilst I was in Turkey, and said he looked on me as his son.  Indeed he treated me like a child, sending me almonds, fruit, and sweetmeats, twenty times a day.”  Byron shortly afterwards discovered his host to be, a poisoner and an assassin.  “Two days ago,” he proceeds in a passage which illustrates his character and a common experience, “I was nearly lost in a Turkish ship-of-war, owing to the ignorance of the captain and crew.  Fletcher yelled after his wife; the Greeks called on all the saints, the Mussulmen on Alla; the captain burst into tears and ran below deck, telling us to