DURING THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 175 



having been disappointed. A German who goes 

 abroad to make his fortune is always far more im- 

 patient and insatiable than any other adventurer. 

 I have all my life sought after truth in the fan- 

 tastic mirror of history. The fancy struck me, that 

 the Greek revolution would afford any one, who 

 could venture to live in the tumult, an interesting 

 view both of history as it really is, and of history 

 as it is represented in the reflection of the historian's 

 mind. Awake to the folly of the German heroes 

 who returned with empty stomachs, but blind to my 

 own, I resolved to terminate my university studies in 

 " the tented field." 



In order to arrive on the scene of action only half 

 a yi'lffin, I determined to acquire some little know- 

 ledge of the language and habits of the people I was 

 about to visit. There was one Greek studying at the 

 university ; he was older than I was, and went little 

 into society, for he was silent, and his manners were 

 repulsive. I became acquainted with him, communi- 

 cated my project of visiting Greece, and engaged him 

 to give me lessons. In a few months I thought myself 

 qualified to venture into the land of heroes. On the 

 morning before my departure from the university, 

 this Greek, whom I shall call Alecco, informed me 

 that circumstances required him to visit Leghorn 

 without loss of time, and that I should meet him 

 at Rome. 



Xext day saw me on the road, accompanied by 



