In the account of his adventures during this journey, he seems to have felt, to an exaggerated degree, the hazards to which he was exposed.  But many of his descriptions are given with a bright pen.  That of Lisbon has always been admired for its justness, and the mixture of force and familiarity.

   What beauties doth Lisboa’s port unfold! 
   Her image floating on that noble tide,
   Which poets vainly pave with sands of gold,
   But now whereon a thousand keels did ride,
   Of mighty strength since Albion was allied,
   And to the Lusians did her aid afford. 
   A nation swoln with ignorance and pride,
   Who lick, yet loathe, the hand that waves the sword
To save them from the wrath of Gaul’s unsparing lord.

   But whoso entereth within this town,
   That sheening for celestial seems to be,
   Disconsolate will wander up and down,
   ’Mid many things unsightly strange to see,
   For hut and palace show like filthily;
   The dingy denizens are reared in dirt;
   No personage of high or mean degree
   Doth care for cleanness of surtout and shirt,
Though shent with Egypt’s plague, unkempt, unwash’d, unhurt.

Considering the interest which he afterwards took in the affairs of Greece, it is remarkable that he should have passed through Spain, at the period he has described, without feeling any sympathy with the spirit which then animated that nation.  Intent, however, on his travels, pressing onward to an unknown goal, he paused not to inquire as to the earnestness of the patriotic zeal of the Spaniards, nor once dreamed, even for adventure, of taking a part in their heroic cause.

CHAPTER VIII

First Acquaintance with Byron—­Embark together—­The Voyage

It was at Gibraltar that I first fell in with Lord Byron.  I had arrived there in the packet from England, in indifferent health, on my way to Sicily.  I had then no intention of travelling.  I only went a trip, intending to return home after spending a few weeks in Malta, Sicily, and Sardinia; having, before my departure, entered into the Society of Lincoln’s Inn, with the design of studying the law.

At this time, my friend, the late Colonel Wright, of the artillery, was secretary to the Governor; and during the short stay of the packet at the Rock, he invited me to the hospitalities of his house, and among other civilities gave me admission to the garrison library.

The day, I well remember, was exceedingly sultry.  The air was sickly; and if the wind was not a sirocco, it was a withering levanter—­oppressive to the functions of life, and to an invalid denying all exercise.  Instead of rambling over the fortifications, I was, in consequence, constrained to spend the hottest part of the day in the library; and, while sitting there, a young man came in and seated himself opposite to me at the table where I was reading.  Something in his appearance attracted my attention.  His dress indicated a Londoner of some fashion, partly by its neatness and simplicity, with just so much of a peculiarity of style as served to show, that although he belonged to the order of metropolitan beaux, he was not altogether a common one.