For some time he had entertained thoughts of going again abroad; and it
appeared, indeed, to be a sort of relief to him, whenever he felt
melancholy or harassed, to turn to the freedom and solitude of a life of
travel as his resource. During the depression of spirits which he
laboured under, while printing Childe Harold, "he would frequently,"
says Mr. Dallas, "talk of selling Newstead, and of going to reside at
Naxos, in the Grecian Archipelago,--to adopt the eastern costume and
customs, and to pass his time in studying the Oriental languages and
literature." The excitement of the triumph that soon after ensued, and
the success which, in other pursuits besides those of literature,
attended him, again diverted his thoughts from these migratory projects.
But the roving fit soon returned; and we have seen, from one of his
letters to Mr. William Bankes, that he looked forward to finding
himself, in the course of this spring, among the mountains of his
beloved Greece once more. For a time, this plan was exchanged for the
more social project of accompanying his friends, the family of Lord
Oxford, to Sicily; and it was while engaged in his preparatives for this
expedition that the annexed letters were written.

[Footnote 71: His speech was on presenting a petition from Major
Cartwright.]

* * * * *

LETTER 121. TO MR. MURRAY.

"Maidenhead, June 13. 1813.

"* * * I have read the 'Strictures,' which are just enough, and not