yourself, when you must roll down some 5,000 or 8,000 feet, but by holding your head and shoulders well back you avoid this." Mr. MacDermott rejoined his regiment at Corfu, Ionian Islands, during the Greek insurrection, and had a lively experience of earthquakes in various towns of the Archipelago. At Argostoli Lord Byron was met, and the record of Mr. MacDermott's impressions with regard to that famous poet are too interesting to be omitted. He says:—"Lord Byron arrived in his yacht from Italy, accompanied by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Trelawny, Count Gamba, and an Italian medical gentleman. He retained his yacht about three weeks and frequently entertained the officers of the regiment on board, sometimes until late hours. He was very temperate on such occasions, drinking claret and water, or soda water. His conversation was usually full of interest. One evening some one referred to Lord Byron having swam the Hellespont from Sestos to Abydos; but Trelawny made light of it, and challenged Lord Byron to swim with him across the Channel from Cephalonia to Ithaca. The challenge was accepted, but Trelawny drew back. At the end of three weeks Lord Byron discharged his yacht, and took a villa four miles from the town. He usually rode in the afternoon, and took wine at the mess, after which he frequently joined small parties of officers in their rooms to smoke cigars. At this villa Lord Byron received a letter from Lady Byron informing him of the illness of his daughter Ada. He shed tears on that occasion, and appeared deeply affected." On Mr. MacDermott's return to England Lord Byron entrusted him with the manuscript of the last portion of any poem he ever wrote, viz, the last three cantos of "Don Juan," for delivery to Sir John Cam Hobhouse, and he faithfully fulfilled his trust. To follow Mr. MacDermott through all the numerous ups and downs he encountered would far outstrip the bounds we can here accord, suffice it to say that in 1829 he retired from the army after a military service of twenty-
