the sadness that he would fain
have concealed, but could not, which he betrayed in the parting hour,
acknowledged while climbing the hill of Albano, and which often brought
tears to his eyes on board the vessel--this sadness had its source in
the deepest sentiments of his heart. In Greece, we know, by the
unanimous and constant testimony of all who saw him there, that the rare
fits of melancholy he experienced, all arose from the same cause. During
his sojourn in the Ionian Islands, as soon as letters from Italy had
calmed his uneasiness, finding himself surrounded by general esteem,
affection, and admiration, seeing justice dawn for him, and confusion
for his enemies, being consoled also with the prospect of a future, and
that, with heart at ease, he might at last shed happiness around him;
then he was ever to be found full of serenity and even gayety, _only
intent on noble virtuous actions_. One day, however, a great melancholy
seized upon him, and all the good around suddenly appeared to vanish.
Whence did this arise? His letters tell us:--

"Poor Byron!" wrote Count Gamba, to his sister, on the 14th of October,
"he has been much concerned by the news which reached him some fortnight
ago about the headache of his dear Ada. You may imagine how _triste_
were the workings of his fancy, to which he added the fear of having to
spend several months without hearing any further tidings of her; besides
the suspicion that the truth was either kept back from him or disguised.
Happily, another bulletin has reached him, to say that she is all right
again,--and one more, to announce that the child is in good health, with
the exception of a slight pain in the eyes. His melancholy is,
therefore, a little mitigated, though it has not completely
disappeared."

The pre-occupation, disquietude, and anxiety, which he experienced more
or less continuously in Greece, and above all, at Missolonghi, and which
I have mentioned elsewhere, certainly did agitate, trouble, and even
irritate him sometimes; but then it was in such a passing way, on
account of the great empire he had acquired over himself, that every one
during his sojourn in the islands, and often even at Missolonghi,
unanimously pronounced gayety to be his predominant disposition. And,
truly, it was only to griefs proceeding from the heart that he granted
power to cloud his brow with any kind of melancholy.

After this long analysis, and before summing up, it still remains for u