The solicitude, in the mean time, of all at Missolonghi, knowing that the Turkish fleet was out, and Lord Byron on his way, may without difficulty be conceived, and is most livelily depicted in a letter written during the suspense of that moment, by an eye-witness.  “The Turkish fleet,” says Colonel Stanhope, “has ventured out, and is, at this moment, blockading the port.  Beyond these again are seen the Greek ships, and among the rest the one that was sent for Lord Byron.  Whether he is on board or not is a question.  You will allow that this is an eventful day.”  Towards the end of the letter, he adds, “Lord Byron’s servants have just arrived; he himself will be here to-morrow.  If he had not come, we had need have prayed for fair weather; for both fleet and army are hungry and inactive.  Parry has not appeared.  Should he also arrive to-morrow, all Missolonghi will go mad with pleasure.”

The reception their noble visiter experienced on his arrival was such as, from the ardent eagerness with which he had been looked for, might be expected.  The whole population of the place crowded to the shore to welcome him:  the ships anchored off the fortress fired a salute as he passed; and all the troops and dignitaries of the place, civil and military, with the Prince Mavrocordato at their head, met him on his landing, and accompanied him, amidst the mingled din of shouts, wild music, and discharges of artillery, to the house that had been prepared for him.  “I cannot easily describe,” says Count Gamba, “the emotions which such a scene excited.  I could scarcely refrain from tears.”

After eight days of fatigue such as Lord Byron had endured, some short interval of rest might fairly have been desired by him.  But the scene on which he had now entered was one that precluded all thoughts of repose.  He on whom the eyes and hopes of all others were centred, could but little dream of indulging any care for himself.  There were, at this particular moment, too, collected within the precincts of that town as great an abundance of the materials of unquiet and misrule as had been ever brought together in so small a space.  In every quarter; both public and private, disorganisation and dissatisfaction presented themselves.  Of the fourteen brigs of war which had come to the succour of Missolonghi, and which had for some time actually protected it against a Turkish fleet double its number, nine had already, hopeless of pay, returned to Hydra, while the sailors of the remaining five, from the same cause of complaint, had just quitted their ships, and were murmuring idly on shore.  The inhabitants, seeing themselves thus deserted or preyed upon by their defenders, with a scarcity of provisions threatening them, and the Turkish fleet before their eyes, were no less ready to break forth into riot and revolt; while, at the same moment, to complete the confusion, a General Assembly was on the point of being held in the town, for the purpose of organising the forces of Western Greece, and to