CHILDE HAROLD'S PROPHECY.
[To THE EDITOR OF TIM "SPECTATOR..1 SLE,-I do not think anyone has recalled the conditions fore- told by Lord Byron, under which
"The city won for Allah from the Giaour
The Giaour from Othinan's race again may wrest, And the Serai's impenetrable tower Receive the fiery Frank, her former guest."
The time of the Greek was to come
"When riseth Lacedaemon's hardihood, When Thebes Epaminondas rears again, When Athens' children are with arts endued, When Grecian mothers shall give birth to men. Then mayest thou be restored; but not till then."
The peoples of the Balkans have acted upon the adjuration of their friend:—
"Hereditary Bondsmen! know ye not
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow, By their right arms the conquest must be wrought, Will Gaul or Muscovite redress ye? No! True they may lay the proud despoiler low, But not for you will Freedom's altar flame."
And the result gives fresh point to a moral which appeals to others besides Turks :— "A thousand years scarce serve to form a state: An hour may lay it in the dust, and when
Can man its shattered splendour renovate,
Recall its virtues back, and vanquish Time and Fate ?"
Jordanhill, Glasgow.
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