Insight into the character of this pasha: my own attention was directed chiefly to the contemplation of his countenance; and this is in general no index of his mind. Here it is very difficult to find any traces of that bloodthirsty disposition, that ferocious appetite for revenge, that restless and inordinate ambition, that inexplicable cunning, which has marked his eventful career: the mien of his face on the contrary has an air of mildness in it, his front is open, his venerable white beard descending over his breast gives him a kind of patriarchal appearance, whilst the silvery tones of his voice, and the familiar simplicity with which he addresses his attendants, strongly aid the deception. He appears as he is described by the animated bard "A man of war and woes; Yet in his lineaments ye cannot trace, While gentleness her milder radiance throws Along that aged venerable face, The deeds that lurk beneath, and stain him with disgrace." Childe Harold, p. 91. Still after very attentive consideration I thought I could perceive certain indications of cruelty and perfidy beneath his grey eyebrows, with marks of deep craftiness and policy in the lineaments of his forehead; there was something sarcastic in his smile, and even terrible in his laugh. His address was engaging, his figure very corpulent, although it is said to have been graceful in his youth; as his stature is rather below the middle size, and his waist long in proportion, he appears to greatest advantage as we now saw him seated on the divan, or on horseback: but the print annexed will give a much better idea of his personal appearance than any other representation could hope to do. Soon after our entrance some young boys dressed in rich garments with their fine hair flowing over their shoulders, presented us with pipes, whose amber heads were ornamented with jewels: others brought us coffee in small china cups with golden soucups. Our conversation was very desultory. The vizir paid many handsome compliments to our country, assuring us that he should always feel happy whilst his territories afforded objects of curiosity and interest to his English friends. We assured him in return, that the theatre of his exploits, would long continue to attract the regards, not only of the English but all other nations. He seemed pleased at the compliment, inquired with much apparent interest respecting Lord Byron and Mr. Hobhouse, asked us how long we had left Athens, whether any discoveries had been made there lately by excavations, and mentioned the pleasure which his son Vely Pasha had received by his visit to that beautiful city. Observing that I was somewhat incommoded by sitting close to an immense fire piled up with logs of wood upon the hearth, he directed an Albanian attendant to place a large metal pan before me in lieu of a screen, saying " Young men require no fire at all; when I was young, I lived upon the mountains in the midst of snows and exposed to storms, with my touphéki on my shoulder and my Albanian capote, but I never cared for the cold." He then turned to Colonel Church with an air of the greatest affability, for whatever displeasure he may feel internally he can mask it by the most complete veil of hypocrisy, and expressed his hopes that he would stay at least a month with him in Ioannina: this invitation was politely declined under plea of military orders, which obliged the colonel to leave Albania next day : upon this the vizir requested another conference with him in the morning before his departure, and addressing *He certainly was at this time very jealous of our raising the Greek regiments, and suspected some deep and secret plot beyond the mere enrolment of a corps against the common enemy of Europe: many of the troops composing it were certainly his subjects, and others were outlaws or robbers who had escaped from his vengeance. Possessing, as he does, the art of simulation and dissimulation to the greatest possible extent, he hoped to have elicited all he wished to know from Colonel Church, but was cruelly disappointed by that gentleman's politic feint of ignorance in the Romaic language: thus he was thrown into the necessity of employing Mr. Foresti as an interpreter, the only man in the world perhaps who had ever so thoroughly studied his character that he was able to retain his confidence, whilst he eluded his wiles and foiled his machinations. To prevent our recruiting, Ali had very sedulously set abroad reports that the plague was in his country, and had thereby occasioned the quarantine in the Ionian isles, which prohibited our excursions in Santa Maura. Not long after Colonel Church's departure from Ioannina, we learned that all his agents had been arrested at the same time by orders of the Pasha. ADVANTAGES IN VISITING IOANNINA AT THIS TIME. 449 himself to us said he hoped he should see us frequently, adding in the true style of oriental hyperbole, that his palace and all he possessed must be considered as our own*. The conference was now broken up and we departed. In the outer court of the serai we met two grandsons of the vizir, young Mahmet Pasha and Ismail Bey, who had lately arrived in Ioannina to reside in the palace of their father Vely Pasha, not more for the purposes of education than as hostages, a deadly feud having but lately been reconciled between their grandfather and father; they rode on spirited little Arabian chargers, which they sat firmly and elegantly during their curvets and plunges. The Albanian guards ran with a shew of eager zeal to assist the young princes in descending from their horses, and these little despots marched through the crowd in measured steps, scarcely deigning to notice those faithful retainers who would have shed every drop of blood in their service. Our intention was to have paid a visit of ceremony to Mouchtar Pasha, the vizir's eldest son; but upon application at his seraglio we learned that he was out on a shooting excursion. We returned therefore with Mr. Foresti to his house very much gratified by the reception we had met with: indeed it was impossible to have visited Ioannina at any time more favourable to our views. Never was the vizir under so many obligations to our government and never did he entertain such strong hopes of receiving still greater advantages from his connexion with Great Britain. He had the earliest and most accurate information of all Buonaparte's reverses; he foresaw the result of this long protracted contest, and easily conjectured that the Ionian isles would pass under the dominion of that conquering power which already possessed the greatest share of them. The * This mode of speaking is very common in Spain: an English officer of my acquaintance in that country by way of joke once put a valuable snuff-box into his pocket, which an old lady of the first class of grandees had often proffered to him with the most apparent cordiality. When he carried it off however to his ship, such an outcry was set up that the consequences had nearly been extremely disagreeable. 450 DINNER WITH MR. FORESTI. French ruler himself never longed for ships, colonies and commerce so eagerly as Ali has always desired a footing in these Islands, as well for the establishment of a more powerful marine and commercial depôt, as for a place of security against any unfortunate reverses: I am convinced that he would cede half his continental dominions for the possession of Corfu, which would render him more independent of the Porte than every other acquisition. With regard to Santa Maura he claims that island as his own, not only by right of compact with the inhabitants, the deed of which he often declares he carries in his bosom next his heart, but by the solemn promises of British agents. At the conclusion therefore of a war, during a very important part of which he had rendered considerable services to his British allies, he confidently anticipated the cession of some insular dependency at least as a recompence. With such objects in view he endeavoured to cultivate the acquaintance and conciliate the regard of every English subject: so favourable a disposition, aided by the powerful influence of Mr. Foresti, exerted on all occasions for our pleasure and advantage, induced this stern and powerful chieftain to treat us with an attention which he never before showed to simple travellers of any nation whatever. At dinner to-day we again met Signore Psalida, who, amongst other topics, attacked us upon our English pronunciation of the ancient Greek: I was very willing to compromise this matter by allowing our own demerits, provided a similar concession were made respecting the utterance of those who receive it almost as a vernacular tongue: but no, the descendants of the Greeks could not err in pronouncing the language of their ancestors, and their disgusting iotacism must needs be correct. Desirous of shewing him how the English could compose in Hellenic, I presented him with a copy of beautiful Iambics from the pen of the late Professor Porson. These, however, he treated with so much contempt, and endeavoured so injudiciously to criticise, that he gave me no very favourable idea of his own erudition; and this |