i. p. 440).]
[Footnote 3: A reminiscence of Sheridan's 'Trip to Scarborough' (act v.
sc. 2), itself borrowed from Vanbrugh's 'Relapse' (act iv. sc. 6), in
both of which passages Lord Foppington says, "Strike me dumb, Tam, thou
art a very impudent fellow."]
[Footnote 4: The following is the letter to which Byron refers:
Albany, Monday, August 31, 1813.
"MY DEAR BYRON,--You have requested me to tell you all that I heard at
Athens about the affair of that girl who was so near being put an end
to while you were there; you have asked me to remember every
circumstance, in the remotest degree relating to it, which I heard. In
compliance with your wishes, I write to you all I heard, and I cannot
imagine it to be very far from the fact, as the circumstances happened
only a day or two before I arrived at Athens, and, consequently, was a
matter of common conversation at the time.
"The new governor, unaccustomed to have the same intercourse with the
Christians as his predecessor, had, of course, the barbarous Turkish
ideas with regard to women. In consequence, and in compliance with the
strict letter of the Mohammedan law, he ordered this girl to be sewed
up in a sack, and thrown into the sea--as is, indeed, quite customary
at Constantinople. As you were returning from bathing in the Piraeus,
you met the procession going down to execute the sentence of the
Waywode on this unhappy girl. Report continues to say, that on finding
out what the object of their journey was, and who was the miserable
sufferer, you immediately interfered; and on some delay in obeying
your orders, you were obliged to inform the leader of the escort that
force should make him comply; that, on further hesitation, you drew a
pistol, and told him, that if he did not immediately obey your orders,
and come back with you to the Aga's house, you would shoot him dead.
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