The following extract from a communication addressed to a distinguished monthly work, by a traveller who, at this period, happened to meet with Lord Byron at Constantinople, bears sufficiently the features of authenticity to be presented, without hesitation, to my readers.

“We were interrupted in our debate by the entrance of a stranger, whom, on the first glance, I guessed to be an Englishman, but lately arrived at Constantinople.  He wore a scarlet coat, richly embroidered with gold, in the style of an English aide-de-camp’s dress uniform, with two heavy epaulettes.  His countenance announced him to be about the age of two-and-twenty.  His features were remarkably delicate, and would have given him a feminine appearance, but for the manly expression of his fine blue eyes.  On entering the inner shop, he took off his feathered cocked-hat, and showed a head of curly auburn hair, which improved in no small degree the uncommon beauty of his face.  The impression which his whole appearance made upon my mind was such, that it has ever since remained deeply engraven on it; and although fifteen years have since gone by, the lapse of time has not in the slightest degree impaired the freshness of the recollection.  He was attended by a Janissary attached to the English embassy, and by a person who professionally acted as a Cicerone to strangers.  These circumstances, together with a very visible lameness in one of his legs, convinced me at once he was Lord Byron.  I had already heard of his Lordship, and of his late arrival in the Salsette frigate, which had come up from the Smyrna station, to fetch away Mr. Adair, our ambassador to the Porte.  Lord Byron had been previously travelling in Epirus and Asia Minor, with his friend Mr. Hobhouse, and had become a great amateur of smoking:  he was conducted to this shop for the purpose of purchasing a few pipes.  The indifferent Italian, in which language he spoke to his Cicerone, and the latter’s still more imperfect Turkish, made it difficult for the shopkeeper to understand their wishes, and as this seemed to vex the stranger, I addressed him in English, offering to interpret for him.  When his Lordship thus discovered me to be an Englishman, he shook me cordially by the hand, and assured me, with some warmth in his manner, that he always felt great pleasure when he met with a countryman abroad.  His purchase and my bargain being completed, we walked out together, and rambled about the streets, in several of which I had the pleasure of directing his attention to some of the most remarkable curiosities in Constantinople.  The peculiar circumstances under which our acquaintance took place, established between us, in one day, a certain degree of intimacy, which two or three years’ frequenting each other’s company in England would most likely not have accomplished.  I frequently addressed him by his name, but he did not think of enquiring how I came to learn it, nor of asking mine.  His Lordship had not yet laid