selfish disposition and habit; of the absolute neces sity of a holy life, and the extensive obligations implied in that expression; and, above all, of the great account which we must one day give. The public is therefore obliged to you, and I can not but sincerely thank you for a performance which has supplied so much matter for serious reflection and self-examination; which has made me think and feel; which has instructed and deeply interested me; and from which, by God's grace, I hope to derive real benefit. While I see, with combined feelings of pity and sorrow, the nume rous controversies which issue from the press, I have reason at the same time to rejoice that it is not unproductive of books of "practical devotion for the increase of piety and virtue," and that works of this kind readily obtain a general reception and approbation. You are eminently entitled to applause for your labours in this line: the sentiments in Colebs have made an impression on many minds, to which they would have had no access if they had been introduced under a more formal garb; and "practical piety," which is calculated to instruct the wisest, will, I doubt not, tend to inform many who are both ignorant and unsuspicious that they are so.

In expressing my feelings with so little reserve, I am aware that I expose myself to a suspicion of flattering, but why should I on this account be silent? Indeed, my dear madam, I should be grati fied if anything I have said should tempt you to future exertions for the good of mankind. It is true that we have many excellent manuals of piety and devotion; but the public taste varies, and those productions only which are adapted to it will stimu jate it. Justin justly observes "that the under

standings of men are as the chords of musical instruments; when a string sounds, the strings which are unisons to it, if within proper distance, will vibrate," and as you possess the talent of adapting your writings to all tastes, with very few exceptions, I trust you will continue to exert it as long as it shall please God to give you health and strength for the work.

In all these sentiments, Lady Teignmouth most cordially concurs. We have both long been invalids, and for myself I can say that I owe a very severe indisposition, which I have suffered ever since the 25th of January, to application, and which for many weeks precluded the use of my pen beyond absolute necessity. We have the greater occasion, therefore, for a manual of practical picty. A few years, at the utmost, will determine whether religion has had "that influence on our hearts, and on the conduct of our lives," which it ought to have, and as we advance towards the period of our earthly carcer, we are more disposed to read those books which renew and fortify our conviction of this truth. Your whole performance, and especially the concluding chapter, is well calculated to produce this effect, and to lead to that heavenly meditation which Baxter describes with a pen plucked from an angel's wing. If you have not the passage in your memory, you will thank me for transcribing it from mine.

"Other meditations are as numerous as there are lines in the Scripture, creatures in the universe, or particular providences in the government of the world. But this is a walk to Mount Sion! from the kingdoms of this world to the kingdom of saints; from earth to heaven; from time to eterni

ty; it is walking on sun, moon, and stars, in the garden and paradise of God."

Lady Teignmouth begs her most affectionate remenibrance to you, and we unite in kindest remembrance to Miss P. More and your family. I am, my dear madam,

Your obliged and sincere

TEIGNMOUTH.

PRINCE,

Lord Byron to Prince Mavrocordato.

Cephalonia, 2d Dec. 1823,

THE present will be put into your hands by Colonel Stanhope, son of Major-General the Earl of Harrington, &c. &c. He has arrived from London in fifty days, after having visited all the Committees of Germany. He is charged by our Committee to act in concert with me for the liberation of Greece. I conceive that his name and his mission will be a sufficient recommendation, without the necessity of any other from a foreigner, although one who, in common with all Europe, respects and admires the courage, the talents, and, above all, the probity of Prince Mavrocordato.

I am very uneasy at hearing that the dissensions of Greece still continue, and at a moment when she might triumph over everything in general, as she has already triumphed in part. Greece is, at present, placed between three measures: either to reconquer her liberty, to become a dependence of the sovereigns of Europe, or to return to a Turkish province. She has the choice only of these three alternatives. Civil war is but a road which leads to the two latter. If she is desirous of the fate of

Walachia and the Crimea, she may obtain it tomorrow; if of that of Italy, the day after; but if she wishes to become truly Greece, free and independent, she must resolve to-day, or she will never again have the opportunity.

I am, with all respect,

Your Highness's obedient servant,

N. B.

P. S. Your Highness will already have known that I have sought to fulfil the wishes of the Greek government, as much as it lay in my power to do so; but I should wish that the fleet so long and so vainly expected were arrived, or, at least, that it were on the way; and especially that your Highness should approach these parts either on board the fleet, with a public mission, or in some other

manner.

Lord Byron to Goëthe.

ILLUSTRIOUS SIR,

Leghorn, July 24, 1823.

I CANNOT thank you as you ought to be thanked for the lines which my young friend, Mr. Sterling, sent me of yours; and it would but ill become me to pretend to exchange verses with him who, for fifty years, has been the undisputed sovereign of European literature. You must therefore accept my most sincere acknowledgments in prose-and in hasty prose too; for I am at present on my voyage to Greece once more, and surrounded by hurry and bustle, which hardly allow a moment even to gratitude and admiration to express themselves.

I sailed from Genoa some days ago, was driven

back by a gale of wind, and have since sailed again and arrived here, Leghorn,' this morning, to receive on board some Greek passengers for their struggling country.

Here also I found your lines and Mr. Sterling's letter, and I could not have had a more favourable omen, a more agreeable surprise, than a word of Goethe, written by his own hand.

I am returning to Greece, to see if I can be of any little use there; if ever I come back, I will pay a visit to Weimar, to offer the sincere homage of one of the many millions of your admirers. I have the honour to be, ever and most,

Your obliged,

NOEL BYRON.

Lord Byron to Mr. Rogers.

Venice, April 4, 1817.

It is a considerable time since I wrote to you last, and I hardly know why I should trouble you now, except that I think you will not be sorry to hear from me now and then. You and I were never correspondents, but always something better, which is, very good friends.

I saw your friend Sharp in Switzerland, or rather in the German territory, (which is and is not Switzerland,) and he gave Hobhouse and me a very good route for the Bernese Alps; however, we took another from a German, and went by Clarens, the Dent de Jaman to Montbovon, and through Simmenthal to Thoul, and so on to Lauterbrounn; except that from thence to the Grindelwald, instead of round about, we went right over the Wengen Alps' very summit, and being close under the Jung