"The Kastriotes have a tradition that, at the birth of Christ, a priest of Apollo, who was sacrificing at this place, suddenly stopped the sacrificial ceremonies, and declared to the surrounding multitude that the son of a god was at that moment born, whose power would equal that of Apollo; but that the Delphian god would ultimately triumph over the new-born divinity. The words were scarcely finished, when the rock was rent in two by a clap of thunder, and the priest consumed to ashes by a flash of lightning.' Vol. I. P. 195. Of the dilapidations at Athens, Mr. Dodwell speaks largely and strongly; we have already, in our Review of Mr. Walpole's work on Turkey, expressed our unwillingness to take any part in this controversy, not so much from reluctance to commit ourselves, as from a conviction that the question is attended with such difficulties as render a suspense of judgment absolutely necessary in common equity. All wanton spoliation, under a pretext of love of the arts, we utterly abhor; but if these precious remains were exposed, as it is stated by lord Elgin's friends, either to destruction by the Turks, or seizure by any other European government, whose influence chanced to prevail at the moment in the Divan, we are not sorry to have been the first to profit by favourable opportunities. We cordially wish, if they could have remained there in safety, that our Athenian marbles never had been displaced from their original abodes; and we feel that a nation which is content to lodge them pell-mell in the miserable barn which they now occupy, but little deserves their possession. The feelings of the Turks on this subject, may be estimated by the following anecdote. 'During my residence at Athens, the work of devastation having been begun by the Christians, was imitated in an humble manner by the Turks, and a large block of the epistylia of the Erechtheion at the south-west angle, contiguous to the Pandroseion, was thrown down by order of the Disdar, and placed over one of the doors of the fortress! As I imagined that he intended to demolish other parts of this elegant edifice, which seemed doomed to destruction, I took the liberty of remonstrating on the impropriety of his proceedings. He pointed to the Parthenon! to the Caryatid portico! and to the Erechtheion! and answered, with a singularly enraged tone of voice,' What right have you to complain? Where are now the marbles which were taken by your countrymen from the temples?' Vol. I. P. 352. We rejoice to hear that lord Guildford, by an honourable act of private munificence, has removed the disgraceful pilaster (EAгINOE EПOIEI was the inscription which it bore) which supplied the place of the Pandrosian Caryatis, now in the British Museum. His lordship has substituted in its place a statue of artificial stone, made from a cast of the original figure. The monument of Lysi crates and the Theseion were preserved from violence solely through their consecration to religious purposes. There was a laudable practice some years ago of fining dilapidators. A Voivode of Athens, for the sake of the materials, threw down the single column which stood at the western extremity of the Olympeion; the Pacha of Egripos, demanded seventeen purses as a compensation for the offence. After the destruction of this column, the three nearest to it were heard every night distinctly to lament the loss of their sister; nor did their terrific murmurs cease till the profane Voivode was poisoned. Even now the temple is under supernatural protection. You know where the sequins are,' said an old woman, surprised to see Mr. Dodwell drawing its ruins with his camera obscura, but with all your magic you cannot conjure them into your box! for a black watches them all day, and at night jumps from column to column.' Why were not the Pacha of Egripos, and the Negro Griffin at their posts, when the Arimaspian invaded them in 1801? Mr. Dodwell made numerous excavations among the Piræan tombs, and discovered many interesting remains. A night adventure in his excursion to Hymettos, we must leave him to relate himself. 'The monastery of Sirgiani is about half a mile from the ruins of Elike, and one hour and forty minutes, or about four miles and a half from Athens. We arrived there in the evening; and, to our great surprise, found it completely deserted, and the doors fastened! The prospect of passing the night in the open air, at this season of the year, and in a spot remarkable for its humidity, made us take a liberty which we should not otherwise have done; but for which we were confident that the hegoumenos, or abbot, would accept our apology upon our return to Athens. With a great deal of difficulty, and some danger, we scaled the lofty walls. When we entered, the night was closing in; and a deep silence prevailed throughout the cells; the occupants of which seemed to have recently retired. The store-rooms were open, and well furnished with jars of Hymettian honey, ranged in neat order: next were large tubs of olives; and from the roof hung rows of grapes, pomegranates, and figs. 'The only inhabitants left in the convent were some cats, who seemed to welcome us in the absence of their masters. We took complete possession of the place, and feasted on the produce of the deserted mansion, which seemed to have been prepared for our reception. We barricadoed the doors with great poles; and, as it grew dark, expected to hear the astonished monks demanding admittance: but they did not come; and no noise during the night disturbed the tranquillity of our solitary abode. We slept in a room, to which we ascended by a ladder, which we pulled up after us.' Vol. I. P. 485. For several nights they used the monastery as their dormitory in the same manner, and, strange as it may seem, encountered neither wandering spectre, nor sleeping beauty in its deserted cloysters. The Turks of Athens are not much more enlightened than their countrymen elsewhere. When the Disdar saw the Parthenon reflected, in all its lines and colours, by the camera obscura, he stroked his beard, and contented himself with repeating, Alla Masch. Allah!' several times. But when some of his soldiers happened accidentally to pass by, and appeared in motion on the paper, he became outrageous, called Mr. Dodwell, 'pig, devil, and Bonaparte,' and told him that he might take away the temple, and all the stones of the citadel, but that he, (the Disdar) never would permit his soldiers to be conjured into the box. Mr. Dodwell, in reply, threatened to put him into the box, and that he should find it a very difficult matter to get out again. The Turk stared with fear and astonishment, retired as soon as possible, and kept out of the way ever afterwards. By another Turk, of no small consequence, our traveller was once asked whether England was as large as Athens, whether we did not pass most of our time in ships, and go about in boats from house to house. In Much as we have been told of the beauty of the Romaika, we suspect that this dance, in truth, has neither grace, elegance, nor activity; according to Mr. Dodwell's account, it is nothing more than a heavy, clownish jumping alternately with each foot. spite of lady M. W. Montagu, the modern Greek music is equally deficient in good taste with their dancing; it is more noisy than harmonious. We may judge something of its style, when we are told that the only foreign air which has been completely naturalized in Malbrouk-every body however sings-love, of course, is the principal topic of song; and they love in songs like these-If the sky was paper, and the sea was ink, it would be insufficient to write down the troubles of a heart absent from the object of its adoration.' 'Oh may the mountains sink down, and Athens be seen, where my love walks about like a goose! An animal which of all others as its gait is most slow and heavy, is supposed in these countries to be the most elegant. An interesting adventure occurred to Mr. Dodwell, during his stay in Athens. The Disdar, like a second Clodius, had the rashness to intrude upon the mysteries of the female bath. 'Fœmineæ loca clausa Deo fontesque piandos He was discovered; and as the insult was inexpiable, was compelled to fly from the vengeance of the outraged husbands. Mr. Dodwell resided at that time in the convent of the Catholic Missionaries. One night, after all within the walls of the monastery had retired to rest, a stranger knocked loudly at the gate, and in a voice of deep distress implored admission. It was the Disdar who had returned in disguise. He was for a long time refused, but through Mr. Dodwell's interference, who, notwithstanding the incivilities which he had received, very generously interested himself on behalf of the unfortunate exile, at last was suffered to en ter. 'The Disdar, of a violent and rapacious character, was about forty years of age, of a noble and imposing appearance, with a fine flowing black beard, and habited in scarlet and gold. His wife was a Greek, and his family was numerous. The convent is situated at no great distance from the Acropolis; and one of the rooms which I occupied was opposite to the eastern extremity of that fortress. When the Disdar became a little tranquillized, by the concious security of his retreat, the domestic affections, of which I should not have previously thought him so susceptible, began to operate powerfully upon his breast; and he warmly entreated me to procure him an opportunity of beholding his wife and children from my window. The secret of his return to Athens was confined to the monks, myself, and our servants; but it required considerable precautions to prevent the disclosure; and, at the same time, to obtain for the distressed individual the particular gratification which he sought. It was agreed that I should pay a visit to his wife, who lived in the Acropolis, and should arrange with her the three stated periods of each day, at which she should show herself, and her children, at the eastern battlement. The poor woman received me at first with trembling apprehension, and cautious reserve, and the more so from her knowledge of my previous dissensions with her husband. After much persuasion, however, I succeeded in conducting her to the appointed spot; where I showed her the Disdar, who was anxiously watching for his wife with a telescope, which I had lent him for the purpose. This unexpected sight of one whom she appears to have tenderly loved, was too much for her natural unaffected sensibility. She uttered a scream of joy, and fainted in my arms. This incident was alarming; for if any Turk had been passing at the moment, the retreat of the Disdar would probably have been discovered, or else I should have incurred the suspicion of an improper familiarity with the wife of a Musulman, and my situation would have been hardly less perilous than that from which I was labouring to extricate the Disdar. Fortunately, however, her house was not far off, to which I conducted her with some danger and considerable difficulty. 'When she reached her home, and recovered from her surprise, she expressed her gratitude in the most affecting manner; and in her confidence unveiled her face, which exhibited the undissembled lineaments of care and wo. Her eldest son, a fine youth of about fifteen years of age, was called in and entrusted with the secret of his father's return, and place of concealment. The same information was also confided to his eldest daughter, who, however, did not make her appearance. The other children were not of a sufficient age to be the depositories of such an important communication; but they all accompanied their mother to the eastern battlement, without being at all conscious of the purpose for which they went; and little suspecting that they were affording to their afflicted father a spectacle of unspeakable delight.' Vol. II. P. 28. These distant visits were renewed daily during Mr. Dodwell's stay, and a promise of continued protection after his departure was given by the Prior, who in the course of time brought about a reconciliation, and restored the Disdar to his command of the Acropolis. The birds of Athens are particularly tame: and crows, in contradiction to Apollonius, Pliny, and Dr. Chandler, not only fly into, and over the Acropolis, but frequently build on the Parthenon. A small hawk was a constant guest at Mr. Dodwell's dinner table, till he took offence one day on accidentally burning his bill. The frogs still continue to croak in Aristophanic chorus, and the Tettix to chatter like an old Trojan. The ants of Herodotus need no longer excite our surprise, for the Athenian gardens abound with such as carry large wasps in their mouths with seeming facility. The beauty of the Thessalian scenery is vividly described by Mr. Dodwell, more particularly in the neighbourhood of Thermopyla; and he certainly traversed the Vale of Tempe with a more favourable impression of the correctness of the accounts which Pliny and Elian have left, of its alternate voluptuousness and sublimity, than we can find in the papers of Mr. Hawkins. At Larissa, the guide who accompanied the travellers from Athens, begged them, in breathless haste, to come and look at some horses, of such size and shape as he was certain they had never seen before. He was right, for these horses were camels, which begin to be common in Macedon and Thrace, and (we beg pardon both of Herodotus and Xenophon,) live on very good terms with their friends, the horses and the asses. At Ampelakia, their Greek host had lately received a most useful protection from the Vizier of Ali Pasha, who had not neglected to demand its full value in return. The document which contained it began as follows; We, the grand Vizier of Ali Pasha, declare that Papatheodoro, of Ampelakia, shall neither be stung by the flies, nor bitten by the serpent.' Such, in the oriental style, are the titles of the collectors of parocial rates and king's taxes. We consider the journey in the Peloponnesus to be by far the most interesting portion of these volumes, but any attempt to abridge it would be unjust and endless. We had marked much for citation as we proceeded, but every fresh page added a fresh |