disappeared; the
Sardanapalian sloth was thrown off, and he took a station in the van
of her efforts that bespoke heroic achievement.

After paying the fleet, which indeed had only come out in the
expectation of receiving the arrears from the loan he had promised to
Mavrocordato, he resolved to form a brigade of Suliotes. Five
hundred of the remains of Marco Botzaris's gallant followers were
accordingly taken into his pay. "He burns with military ardour and
chivalry," says Colonel Stanhope, "and will proceed with the
expedition to Lepanto." But the expedition was delayed by causes
which ought to have been foreseen.

The Suliotes, conceiving that in his Lordship they had found a patron
whose wealth and generosity were equally boundless, refused to quit
Missolonghi till their arrears were paid. Savage in the field, and
untamable in the city, they became insubordinate and mercenary; nor
was their conduct without excuse. They had long defended the town
with untired bravery; their families had been driven into it in the
most destitute condition; and all the hopes that had led them to take
up arms were still distant and prospective. Besides, Mavrocordato,
unlike the other Grecian captains, having no troops of his own,
affected to regard these mercenaries as allies, and was indulgent to
their excesses. The town was overawed by their turbulence, conflicts
took place in the street; riot and controversy everywhere prevailed,
and blood was shed.

Lord Byron's undisciplined spirit could ill brook delay; he partook
of the general vehemence, and lost the power of discerning the
comparative importance both of measures and things. He was out of
his element; confusion thickened around him; his irritability grew
into passion; and there was the rush and haste, the oblivion and
alarm of fatality in all he undertook and suggested.

One day, a party of German adventurers reached the fortress so
demoralized by hardships, that few of them were fit for service. It
was intended to form a corps of artillery, and these men were
destined for that branch of the service; but their condition was
such, that Stanhope doubted the practicability of carrying the
measure into effect at that time. He had promised to contribute a
hundred pounds to their equipment. Byron attributed the Colonel's
objections to reluctance to pay the money; and threatened him if it
were refused, with a punishment, new in Grecian war----to libel him
in the Greek