For the subsequent history of the Countess and her noble lover, I refer the reader to Moore's Life of Byron, to which I am indebted for the substance, and in many places the language, of this triple-note. He can trace their whereabouts for himself, and make whatever reflections he pleases: I have none to offer him. I can only say with the Abbot, in “Manfred :”

-This should have been a noble creature; he
Hath all the energy which would have made

A goodly frame of glorious elements,

Had they been wisely mingled; as it is,

It is an awful chaos-light and darkness—

And mind and dust-and passions and pure thoughts,

Mixed, and contending without end or order."

MAID OF ATHENS.

Byron arrived at Athens on the 25th of December, 1809, and took lodgings at the house of Theodora Macri, the widow of the English vice-consul. She had three daughters, the eldest of whom, Theresa, was Byron's favourite, and the subject of these charming verses, which were written early in March, 1810, when he was on the point of starting for Constantinople. She married a Scotchman named Black, and is still living at Athens, a hale and handsome old woman.

I have printed the Greek refrain in English characters, for the benefit of the general reader. It means, “My life, I love you!”

Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, O give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!
Hear my vow before I go,
Zoe mou, sas agapo.

By those tresses unconfined,
Wooed by each Egean wind;
By those lids whose jetty fringe
Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge;
By those wild eyes like the roe,

Zoe mou, sas agapo.

By that lip I long to taste;
By that zone-encircled waist;