"It is by no means improbable that I shall go in the spring, and if you will fix any place of rendezvous about August, I will _write_ or _join_ you.--When in Albania, I wish you would enquire after Dervise Tahiri and Vascillie (or Bazil), and make my respects to the viziers, both there and in the Morea. If you mention my name to Suleyman of Thebes, I think it will not hurt you; if I had my dragoman, or wrote Turkish, I could have given you letters of _real service_; but to the English they are hardly requisite, and the Greeks themselves can be of little advantage. Liston you know already, and I do not, as he was not then minister. Mind you visit Ephesus and the Troad, and let me hear from you when you please. I believe G. Forresti is now at Yanina, but if not, whoever is there will be too happy to assist you. Be particular about _firmauns_; never allow yourself to be bullied, for you are better protected in Turkey than any where; trust not the Greeks; and take some _knicknackeries_ for _presents_--_watches_, _pistols_, &c. &c. to the Beys and Pachas. If you find one Demetrius, at Athens or elsewhere, I can recommend him as a good dragoman. I hope to join you, however; but you will find swarms of English now in the Levant. "Believe me," &c. * * * * * TO MR. MURRAY. "February 20. 1813. "In 'Horace in London' I perceive some stanzas on Lord Elgin in which (waving the kind compliment to myself[60]) I heartily concur. I wish I had the pleasure of Mr. Smith's acquaintance, as I could communicate the curious anecdote you read in Mr. T.'s letter. If he would like it, he can have the _substance_ for his second edition; if not, I shall add it to our next, though I think we already have enough of Lord Elgin. "What I have read of this work seems admirably done. My praise, however, is not much worth the author's having; but you may thank him in my name for _his_. The idea is new--we have excellent imitations of the Satires, &c. by Pope; but I remember but one imitative Ode in his works, and _none_ any where else. I can hardly suppose that _they_ have lost any fame by the fate of the _farce_; but even should this be the case, the present publication will again place them on their pinnacle. "Yours," &c. [Footnote 60: In the Ode entitled "The Parthenon," Minerva thus speaks:-- "All who behold my mutilated pile Shall brand its ravager with classic rage; And soon a titled bard from Britain's isle Thy country's praise and suffrage shall engage, And fire with Athens' wrongs an angry age!" HORACE IN LONDON. ] * * * * *