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*-
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■ ... Uriisl‘‘.l by J.SNOW. L\’UmosUr P.cw - •'
A NARRATIVE
OF
THE GREEK MISSION;
OR,
Sbtxtem gj^ars m jWalta anti :
INCLUDING
TOURS IN THE PELOPONNESUS, IN THE ^EGEAN AND
IONIAN ISLES;
WITH REMARKS ON THE RELIGIOUS OPINIONS, MORAL STATE, SOCIAL HABITS,
POLITICS, LANGUAGE, HISTORY, AND LAZARETTOS OF
MALTA AND GREECE.
BY THE REV. S. S. WILSON,
MEMBER OF THE LITERARY SOCIETY OF ATHENS.
HARBOUR OF MALTA.
(K&itf) TEngraJnngs ftp €L Baxter.
LONDON: JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1839.
LONDON;
TAINTED BY A. SIMPSON, WARWICK LANK,
PATRN06TEII HOW.
TO
Ster jfflogt (©various: JCTajcgtg,
ADELAIDE AMELIA,
QUEEN DOWAGER OF ENGLAND.
Illustrious Lady!
When the Ambassadors of the Queen of
Madagascar had the high honour of an interview
with your Majesty, you were pleased to express
the truly Christian desire,—that the natives of that
populous African island might again welcome to its
shores those devoted Missionaries, who, in an unpro-
pitious hour, had been exiled from the scene of their
philanthropic exertions.
To your Majesty, moreover, the very important
island of Malta, whose past history and actual posi¬
tion occupy so considerable a portion of the present
volume, seems destined, in the gracious providence of
11
DEDICATION.
God, to owe a sacred fabric, which, in such a locality,
may truly be styled a missionary church.
By these exhibitions of generous concern for the
ultimate triumph of Truth, your Majesty has won the
plaudits and the prayers of thousands in the British
empire.
Induced by such considerations, nor less by un¬
feigned admiration of high moral worth ; I have ven¬
tured to dedicate to your Majesty the facts and
details of this unpretending volume.
That your Majesty may long retain the honours,
and exert the philanthrophic influence, of your exalted
station; and that the holy gospel, now proclaimed
afresh both in Malta and in Greece, may increasingly
bless your royal House; is the sincere and fervent
prayer of
Your Majesty's most humble,
And most obedient servant,
The Author.
PREFACE.
The following pages contain a condensed and careful
summary of information, gathered during a sojourn
of sixteen years in the Mediterranean.
To previous travellers the author owes but few ob¬
ligations. A tolerable knowledge of the languages
of those for whom he has laboured, prepared him for
a free and daily interchange of thought with them;
the results and many of the details of which he has
endeavoured to supply. Nor has this information
been gathered in one locality, but by very extensive
observation, by residence in the bosom of Greek
families, and by familiar intercourse with the bold
military leaders of the Greek revolution. In the
rudest of times, the author has travelled with the
civilians and soldiers of this land,—
“ Land of the Bard, the Warrior and the Sage.”
Many a night has he slept with the half-savage
VI
PREFACE.
Kumeliots, and Spartans, and Peloponnesians, all
bristling in arms. In such society, as well as in
company with Chevalier Colegno, Count Gamba,
Count Palma, and other public men, his tours have
been made. At Athens, Corinth, Eleusis, Daphne,
Tyrins, Megara, Nauplia, the plain of Argos, some
islands of the iEgean, with numerous other towns
and villages of the classic land, the subsequent sheets
will show that the author has not been an unob-
servant spectator.
The accounts of Tours in the JEgean and Pelo¬
ponnesus were drawn up for general readers. They
present no dry statistics, but incident, narrative and
detail.
The volume might have been adorned with the
antiquities of Athens, of Corinth, of Eleusis, of
Nemea, Tyrins, Argos and Mycence ; yet this would
have been but a repetition of what has been often
described, and has therefore given place to details of
a less familiar, and more generally interesting cha-
racter.
Placed for so many years in closest juxta-position
with the Papal Church, the reader will not be sur¬
prised to find, especially in the chapters on Malta,
PREFACE.
Vll
repeated reference to the tenets, rites and deleterious
influence of that once apostolic communion.
While the Author has not confined his narrative
to missionary details, his constant object has been to
fix upon the recent sphere of his labours, the eye of
enlightened philanthropy and Christian benevolence.
It is his anxious hope, that the following sheets may
secure for Greece an increased amount of pious
sympathy and holy exertion, among the churches of
his native land.
The Anglican orthography of Greek terms we owe
to the Eomans, whose primitive tongue was Pelas-
gic Greek. This entire system the author has oc¬
casionally ventured to forget; for why perpetuate a
baseless usage %—why for ever Latinise the lan¬
guage of Plato, or caricature the sounds of a living
language ?
Greece is now in her transit to greatness; and it
is highly probable that, as a commercial people,
England is destined to have with this nation such
mercantile relations, as might, by a tenacity of
adherence to the old system of orthography, be
altogether crippled. And most sensibly is it re-
Vi\[ PREFACE.
gretted, that want of space forbids a chapter, to
advocate the wisdom of adopting the actual pronun¬
ciation of living Greece, in all our celebrated schools
of learning.
THE AUTHOR.
I
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Malta.—Name—Population—Climate—Produce—Cochineal Insect—
Natives —Language — Property — Early History— St. Paul’s
Shipwreck . I
CHAPTER II.
Malta. — History Resumed—Successive Masters—Knights of St. John
—Rarities and Principal Structures—Celebrated Natives—Edu¬
cation—Religion—Superstitions . 16
/ '
CHAPTER III.
The Carnival at Malta.—Identity of the Papal Carnival, and the Pagan
Dionysia or Bacchanalia . 31
CHAPTER IV.
The Plague at Malta.—Ancient Plagues—Origin of Plague — The
Plague Ships from Egypt—Plague gets on Shore—Public Mea¬
sures—Anecdotes—Dead-Carts—Priests—Remedy for Plague—
The Missionary Retires—Concluding Suggestion . . .44
CHAPTER V.
Commencement of the Greek Mission at Malta.—Mr. Weisenger — Mr.
Bloomfield—Notices of Sicily—Mr. Lowndes—Proceedings at
Malta—Notice of a Convert—Mr. L.’s Departure for Zante . 62
CHAPTER VI.
The Author Arrives at Malta.—A Fearful Tempest—Survey of the
Field—Papal Statistics—Austrian Influence on Missions—Greece
Open to Missionaries—Her Claims.74
X
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
Streets of Malta—Mosquitos—Mission Premises—Visit to Gozo Island
—Equipage—St. Paul’s Bay—Notices of Gozo—Visit the Con¬
vents and the Garrison—Language of Malta—Books—An Exe¬
cution .'. 90
CHAPTER VIII.
A Singular Event—The Mission Press—The Capuchin Monk—His
valuable Letter—Colonel Tordo’s Narrative—Notice of Dr. But¬
ler—Recent Events.104
CHAPTER IX.
The Sotterraneo at San Pubblio—Gross Imposition—Sadie the Egyp-
tian—Soldier Shot—Execution—Retrospect of Two Years in
Malta — Death of Two Consuls—Embalming—Death of Mrs.
Lowndes.124
CHAPTER X.
Statistics of the Church in Malta—Suggestions for a Reform—Com¬
mencement of the Reformed Church in the Island—Anecdotes—
Italian Service and Books—Anecdotes—Shocking Addresses to
the Virgin—The Relic Vender at Naples—Anecdotes . . 142
CHAPTER XI.
The Roman Consul—Shocking Scene—Books—Conversation—Anec¬
dotes—Notice of Manuscripts—The Wicked Monk—Anecdote
of a Marquis—Dreadful Storm of Thunder—Anecdotes—La
Scuola Bethelina—Dr. Naudi—Concluding Remarks—Hints to
Missionaries in Malta . ..164
CHAPTER XII.
A Glance at Greece.—Geography—Population—Productions—Cli¬
mate—Ruins—Antiquity—Introduction of the Gospel—Mars’-
Hill—Paul’s Visit—Primitive Church—Altered Condition . . 187
CHAPTER XIII.
Grounds of the Greek Mission.—Melancholy state of Greece—The
Press a Specific—Syllabus of Publications—Brief Review of
them—Books distributed—Results ...... 202
CHAPTER XIV.
The Ionian Isles.—Population—Vicissitudes—Want of Education—
Dr. and Mrs. Kennedy begin—Greek Youths from Borough-road
School—Cefalonia—Other Islands—Proceedings of Mr. Lowndes
—Of Mr. Dickson—Mr. Lowndes Inspector-General of Schools
Actual State of Education in these Islands ..... 215
CONTENTS.
XI
CHAPTER XV.
PAGE
Island of Patinos.—Moral State—Efforts there—The Seven Churches
of Asia.—Ephesus—Its History and Present State—Smyrna—
Pergamos—Thyatira— Sardis— Philadelphia—Laodicea—Mis¬
sionary Efforts in these Localities—Letters—Summary from
1826 to 1838 of Educational Labours in the Asiatic Churches,
and in the Isles of the Aegean.229
CHAPTER XVI.
A Tour in the Aegean Sea.—First View of Greece—Melos—A Cha¬
racter—Population and Wants of Melos—Imaginary Danger at
Spetsia—First Night ashore—Spetsia — Houses—’Costume—
Natives—Scenes in the Family of my Host .... 249
CHAPTER XVII.
Visit the Greek Fleet—Distribute the Scriptures amongst them—
Brulottes—Their Construction and Management—Greek Fasts
—Sign of the Cross—Misapplication of Scripture—Arrival of the
Greek Loan—Its Importance—Sentiments of the People respect¬
ing it—Conversation on the State and Prospects of the Greek
Language.267
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Humourist—The Bishop—Relics—The Anglers—Books sold—
The Cretan Schoolmaster.278
CHAPTER XIX.
Kyria Bobolina—Colocotrones—Vicissitudes of Greece—Visit from
Spartans—Greek Hospitality—Piracy—A Visit to the Bishop . 286
CHAPTER XX.
The Port—Greek Customs—Turkish Oppression—Conversations—
Missionary Books sold—Sabbath Profanation—Adieu to Spetsia. 303
CHAPTER XXL
Voyage from Spetsia—Names of Places—Hydra—Town—Ports—
Natives—AdmiralMiaoules—Count Palma — Monastic Effrontery
—Domestic Amusements—Character of the Hydriots . .316
CHAPTER XXII.
Women’s Apartment—Female Occupations—Embroidery—Domestic
Duties—Washing at the Fountains — Marriage — Sir Thomas
Maitland—Court Martial—Protestant Conformity to Popish Ce¬
remonial— Celibacy—Betrothing — Polygamy— The Dowry —
Dowry Cap—Nuptial Presents—Nuptial Appellations—A Wed¬
ding in the Aegean.339
Xll
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Chiefs have a Fracas about Spoils—Canaris—Niketas—A Visit
—A Poet—Books sold in Hydra—Tomb of a Chieftain’s Wife—
A New Year’s Call—Classic Usages in Modern Greece—Dreams
—Omens—Fascination—Bad Faith—Imprecations .
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Drunken Bishop—Find an Englishwoman—Education—A Story
—Carols—Feast of the Cross—Farewell to Hydra—Reflections.
CHAPTER XXV.
Proceed to Peloponnesus—Greek Martyr—Description of Pelopon¬
nesus — A Storm — Euroclydon— House at Marcopolo — Do¬
mestic Scenes—Drunken Monks—On the word Tares—Sermon
—Robbery—Journey to Athens—Difficulties there—Visit the
Bishop—Modern Athens—Athenian Lady—Mars’-Hill
CHAPTER XXVI.
Greek Lady’s Costume—The Girdle—The Head-dress—The Vail—
Their origin—Greek Lady’s Toilet—Anecdote—Staining^the
Hair—Eyelids—Rouge—Ancient and Modem modes of Adorn¬
ment—Confession—Anecdotes.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Signs of the Times in Greece—Appeal on Education—Modern Greek
Pronunciation—Departure from Athens—Evils of Papal Con¬
fessionals—Arrival at Eleusis—Remarks on Mysteries—Megara
—Xerxes—Arrive at Corinth—The Stadium—Paul’s Allusions
to the Olympic Contests—Origin and vicissitudes of Corinth—
Aghios Georgios—Nemean Ruins—Cave of the N. Lion—N auplia
—Scenes and Proceedings—Mylos—Scene at Aghioryetiko
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Arrival at Tripolitsa—Description of the Locality—Tegea and Man-
tinea—Eligible as a Missionary Station—A Rencounter—De-
mitsana—Its School—Erymanthos—Achaia—Albanian Lan¬
guage and Testament—School System in Greece—Letter—Shot
through my Gown—Cross the River Alpheus—Pyrgos—Robbers
—Scene at Katacolo—Anecdote—Reach Zakynthos—Lord Byron
—Return to Malta.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Leave Malta for Corfu—A Storm—Vows of Levant Seamen—Corfu
—University — Baron Theotokys — Professors— Psalithas—Ali
Pasha .
PAGE
367
388
410
437
450
474
497
CONTENTS.
Xlll
CHAPTER XXX.
PAGE
Result of Missionary Labour—Notice of Thessalonica—Shocking
Proceedings — St. Spiridion — Processions — Festivals — Their
Antiquity—Domestic Scenes—The Greek Craniologist—Anec¬
dote—Greek Lectures.509
CHAPTER XXXI.
Leave Corfu for Cefalonia—Make a Tour of the Island—-Mrs. Ken¬
nedy’s Notes—State of Education and Literature—Attachment
to Established Usages—Productions and Exports—The Mole—
The Shops—Employment—Figurative Style of Speech—Horror
of Death—Difficulty of obtaining a Capital Conviction—Quaran¬
tine Laws—Affecting instance of their Violation—State of the
Offender—His Rescue—Flight and Death—General Napier’s
praiseworthy Conduct—Degradation of Females—Indifference
to Female Children—Visits to the Lying-in Chamber—Contrast
between Ancient and Modern Greece—Lixuri—St. Euphemia—
Fort St. George—Ruins of Cranii and Palaio-choro—Miasmatic
Theories—The Pontine Marshes.518
CHAPTER XXXII.
Obtain a fresh Supply of Books—Declaration of the Patriarch—
Letter to the London Missionary Society—Letter to a Friend at
Malta — Results of this Tour — Actual State of the Ionian
Islands.534
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Marriage Rites of Greece.— Their Classic Antiquity — Domestic
Arrangements—Mode of Sitting—Chamber Lamps—Tutelar
Saints—Fatal Event—The Olympian Lady—The Language—A
Hint on Unknown Tongues—Customs in Sickness—At Funerals
—Just View of Death . ..553
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Albania.—Its Interesting Character—Derivation of the Name—Boun¬
daries—Its Christian Church—Open to Missionaries—Origin of
its Inhabitants—Language—Religious State—Albanian Testa¬
ment.—Proposal for a Missionary Colony at Euboea—Its Situ¬
ation—Ancient Importance—Present Resources—Capacity of
Population—Difficulties—Plan—The Greek Church less hostile
than the Papal—Corroboration of the Plan—Conclusion . . 578
ALTA—NAME—POPULATION,
—CLIMATE—PRODUCE.—COCHINEAL INSECT—NATIVES—LANGUAGE
—PROPERTY.—EARLY HISTORY.—ST. PAUL’S SHIPWRECK.
The rocky and precipitous isle of Malta is remark¬
able as the probable scene of St. Paul’s shipwreck,
and rendered notable by its having been, for nearly
2
MALTA.
four centuries, occupied by the soldier-monks of St,
John of Jerusalem. It was anciently styled Melita;
a name traceable to its excellent honey, one of the
products for which it is yet famous.
This name the island bore at the era of Paul’s ship**
wreck, # but it was subsequently metamorphosed,
probably by the Saracenic Arabs, into its present,
name, Malta. According to some, this sea-girt rock
was so called in honour of the nymph Melita, daugh¬
ter of Doris and Nereus; while others derive the
name from melit , to escape, supposing it to have been
thus designated by the Phoenicians, on the ground
that when those adventurous ancients extended their
traffic to the ocean, this island formed a most eligible
shelter from the perils of the turbulent Levant.^
Others consider that the name,, Melita, is derived
from Mylith, which, among the Syrians, and proba¬
bly the Phoenicians, was the name given to Juno.
By Ptolemy, Malta was considered an African
island, but by Pliny a part of Europe. It lies be¬
tween the two continents of Africa and Europe;
sixty miles from Cape Passero in Sicily, and about
two hundred from Calipia, the most proximate point
of Africa. Its location is 33° 40" E, longitude, and
35° 26" north of the equator.
The medium width of Malta is about eighteen
miles; and, since three diameters complete the cir¬
cle, its circumference must be fifty-four. For its
size Malta is, perhaps, the most populous country in
* See Acts xxviii. 1—11.
f Diod. Siculus, Lib. v., and Bochart, vol. i. p. 499, 500,
CLIMATE AND NATIVE HABITS. 3
Europe or the world, containing about 85,000 souls.
Notabile, alias Limdina, where stands a neat church,
dedicated to St. Paul, was its ancient capital; its
present is Valletta. Of the latter city, in which I
resided many years, the foundations were laid in
1566, by John de Vallette, Grand Master of the
Order of St. John, and therefore prince and head of
the island. Its population is about 25,000. The
city is remarkably clean. The streets, like those of
ancient Babylon, intersect each other at right angles.
From April to October, the climate of Malta is ex¬
tremely hot, exhibiting a medium temperature of
eighty degrees, and this during about eighteen hours
of the natural day. From June to September the
common people often sleep all night in the streets.
I have had occasionally to pick my way carefully
round a man, his wife, and half a dozen poor urchins,
lest I should stumble over them in the dark, and dis¬
turb the slumbers of an entire family. On these
occasions they draw a mattrass to the door of their
house, but the children generally enjoy the luxury of
the stones. In the day time, from twelve to two,
the facchini, or lazzaroni of Malta—barefooted, with
sleeves rolled up, long red or blue woollen caps, made
in Barbary, light shirts, waistcoats and trousers, gene¬
rally working as porters—take a comfortable siesta in
the open street. They usually lay themselves down
after dining, perhaps on bread, oil, and luscious grapes,
draw the long dangling end of their cap over the
face, as a protection from both sun and musquetos,
and thus enjoy their repose as calmly as though on a
B
a
4
PRODUCE.
couch of down. In passing the streets of Valletta
early in the morning, I have often seen children
asleep on the step of some large house, quite alone;
and, occasionally too, I have seen a man or a woman
enjoying their slumbers on the roof of their house, or
snugly laid up in their balcony.
The island of Malta is literally an immense mag¬
nesian limestone rock. Its produce, upon soil said
to have been imported from Sicily, is chiefly cotton,
oranges, lemons, honey, wheat, clover, canes, figs,
pomegranates, and various leguminous plants. To
England is now occasionally brought the celebrated
blood orange of Malta. In speaking subsequently
of the produce of Greece, I shall fully state the sin¬
gular mode of procuring this rare and much sought
fruit. The staple of Malta is cotton, which is gathered
from a shrub not unlike our potatoe, either in bulk,
height, or colour. The ball of cotton is at first en¬
closed in the calyx, whose leaves are green. At this
time it bears some resemblance to the capsule of the
English poppy, after the fall of the corolla. On
bursting, the elegant ball of cotton, thus enlarged
from its vegetable incarceration, swells out to the size
of a nectarine or golden pippin. Whenjully ripe
and dry, this seed-vessel of the cotton shrub, for such
in effect it is, is gathered into small baskets; the
cotton is then separated, by women and girls, from
the seeds it envelopes ; and these, which are of a rich
oily nature, about the size of large peas, and of a dark
brown or black hue, are given to the goats.
Subsequently to my arrival in Malta, the natives
THE CACTUS INDIANUS.
5
devoted much attention to the cultivation of the silk
worm, and of the mulberry tree. Eventually, per¬
haps, their silk may come even to rival the cotton as
a staple produce of the island, but it is not likely ever
to equal that of Greece.
In a climate so hot as that of Malta, the various
species and varieties of the cacti luxuriate. This is
a singular class, and some of the species found in
Malta are highly curious. In the splendid garden of
the Governor at Sant Antonio, there is one consisting
entirely of stems, massive and rugged; while others,
especially the cactus Indianus or Indian fig, present
nothing but leaves. This plant is a perennial, and is
rather a tree than a shrub. It reaches .an elevation
of eight or ten feet, spreading out its giant leaves like
the barbed flook of a sheet anchor. In effect, the
tree is nothing but leaves, leaf growing out of leaf; at
least the stem is to the leaves as the stalks to the
pumpkin, and is hardly an object to catch the eye at
all. To one that gazes for the first time on this plant
when in fruit, it presents a most singular appearance ;
for the figs, styled in Malta prickly pears, literally
spring from the leaf, and range themselves in single
file round its edge. The corolla or bloom is generally
of a rich crimson. The fruit is about the bulk of a
duck-egg, coarse and granulated. It is eaten in great
abundance in Malta, and sells at about a farthing
per rotolo , which is equivalent, I believe, to two
pounds troy-weight. I often gave it to my children
as an economical breakfast, with bread and tea; and
occasionally had it myself. The facchini or porters
b 2
6
THE COCHINEAL INSECT.
of the island almost live on it in the very hot months,
when it is very abundant. The fig is covered with a
thick, spiny, or rather hairy skin. This is cut off,
and then it is really amusing to see the natives gulp
fig after fig at the comers of the streets, as fast as
the venders can peel and hand them to the hungry
purchasers. Had Hogarth gone to Malta, we had
had one scene more from his graphic pencil. When
peeled, the pure fruit is as large as a common egg.
It looks inviting to the eye from the varied and beau¬
tiful hues it presents, some being of an agreeable
fawn, and others of an elegant purple, crimson, or
yellow. The skins are used in Malta for dyeing, and,
of late years, the leaves have been applied as food
for the small insect called, by the Italians, cocco,
which, when dead, is the cochineal, used for dyeing
crimson or scarlet. It is but lately that the natives
have cultivated this valuable insect, and though some
have pursued it with a very commendable spirit, the
result is yet a problem.
The cocco of Italy is the coccus in natural history,
a genus of the order of hemiptera. The insect is
not, in general, larger than a bug: its snout is pec¬
toral, the abdomen bristled behind. The female is
wingless, but the male has a pair of upright wings.
Of this insect there are many species, perhaps forty
or fifty, but of all these the most important is the
coccus cacti , or cochineal, so celebrated for the rich
and elegant colour it yields when properly prepared
for dyeing. It is a native of South America, and
its natural food is the cactus opuntia. As a dye, I
THE COCHINEAL INSECT.
7
believe the female only is used. To such a size does
the body of these insects grow, in proportion to the
legs, antennae, and proboscis, that on a hasty glance
the animal looks as much like a small seed as an
insect; and, except by a keen eye, or the aid of a
glass, the parts I have named are not easily observed.
On reaching its full growth, the female fixes itself to
the surface of the cactus leaf, and envelopes itself in
a gossamer sheet of cotton, or something like it,
which it spins in a double filament. No sooner has
it deposited its eggs, than it becomes almost a mere
husk and dies. The utmost care must, therefore, be
taken to kill it before it lays, to prevent the young
from escaping; for in them, it seems, is deposited the
colouring matter for which the insect is cultivated
In the house of Don Luigi, of Zeitun in Malta, I
witnessed a part of the process of preparation. When
the insects are brushed, or carefully picked off, it is
usual to deprive them of life by applying the fumes
of heated vinegar. They arn then dried in the sun,
and in this state are fit for the market and for use.
If this insect can be cultivated in Malta, I think it
would amply indemnify all fatigue; for it has been
said that Spain is more enriched by the profit of
cochineal, than by all her mines of gold. From this
insect comes the beautiful dye styled carmine; and
the rouge used by ladies is, in fact, the mangled
limbs of this little animal, mixed with a proportion
of hair-powder. The crimson, properly so called, is
derived from that species of this useful insect, which
8
HABITS AND LANGUAGE.
feeds on the cactus ilicis; and this plant abounds
both in Greece and the Aigean sea.
The 100,000 souls inhabiting Malta and its sister
island Gozo, the supposed isle of Calypso, and an¬
ciently named, it is said, Ogygia, consist of a mingled
race of Phoenicians, Saracens, Italians, and other
nations, who, with some virtues, exhibit the usual
vices and follies of fallen human nature. Papal su¬
perstition and ghostly tyranny give their peculiar hue
to the character of this people. Under the rule of
the Knights of Jerusalem, they became brave to a
high degree; and often made the barbarian foe- trem¬
ble and fly, or brought him to battle and to defeat.
The higher ranks are polite, the lower ingenious and
kind, but dishonest and vindictive; yet all are pacific,
respectful, and laborious. The lower orders, both
male and female, go shoeless. Formerly the men
wore long caps, manufactured in Africa, but within
the last seven years many have straw hats. Intelli¬
gent piety, such as the gospel inculcates, will render
these islanders good, active in goodness, and happy ;
but popery is at present the dominant faith. Owing
to their ancestry, their complexion is much darker
than that of the Hungarian, yet fairer than that of
the Barbary tribes.
The language of Malta is a corrupt dialect of the
Arabic, with numerous adjections from the Italian.
I have traced in this language many Hebrew terms,
but this can excite no surprise, as Arabic and Hebrew
are sister dialects. Since the island became an in-
nobility: division of property.
9
tegral part of the British empire, the language of the
courts has very properly been made that of England;
but as yet few of the natives are very well versed in
it.* Italian, as the key to all the Levant, is the com¬
mercial language of Malta; and in this all respect¬
able natives are well versed. There is now a great
and commendable desire to obtain the English; and
this is fast spreading in the island:—the more the
better;—better for the temporal interests of that
ingenious portion of her majesty’s loyal subjects,
and infinitely better for their faith.
The nobless of Malta are an amiable class. Their
titles are derived from the feudal ages and the cru¬
sades. Some of these titles are odd enough to justify
a good-natured smile. Among these I may single
out that of one of my landlords, “ L’illustrissimo
Signore, il Signor Barone Testaferrata,” the most
illustrious Signor, the Signor Baron Ironhead. To
the previous honours of this island, the local govern¬
ment has added a new order of knighthood,—that of
St. Michael and St. George.
For the liberty and happiness of the Maltese, the
property of the island is too unequally distributed.
One-third is said to be in the hands of government,
another in that of the all-grasping priesthood, the rest
in those of the nobless and plebeians. The convents
* “ What for you rompy my pig with your bayonet?” said a poor Mal¬
tese one day to an Irish soldier. “ Because, honey, you shant drive him
this way.”—“ What for I no drive him so ?”—“ Arrah, man, an’ don’t ye
seethe proclamation on the wall there?”—“ Yes, I see de paper, John,
but my pig nix stendi de English.” Rompy is a corruption of the Italian,
rompere, to break or bruise. Nijc is for not, and stendi is for understand.
10
EARLY INHABITANTS.
and monasteries are mournfully numerous, while
monastic and sacerdotal habits meet the eye on all
hands. On every account, in fact, the ecclesiastics
are far too numerous a body, for either the spiritual
or temporal weal of the island. The dissonant and
almost incessant twang of discordant bells,—bells, I
mean, not in scale, and this is the case with all in
Malta,—forms one of the chief annoyances of the
island, especially on church festivals, whose number
and pomp tend greatly to impoverish the laity, to
dignify the priesthood, and to remind one of those
ancient pagan festivals, which Christianity calls upon
its professors solemnly to renounce.
It appears, from the Iliad, that the earliest inha¬
bitants of this celebrated rock were a people called
Pheeacians, a race altogether distinct from the ancient
and far more enterprising Phoenicians. The former
are fabulously regarded as giants, and a ruin still
exists in the isle of Gozo bearing the name of the
Giant’s Tower. It is a circular, massive structure,
and seemed to me to have anciently served as a
Druid’s temple. It is located on an eminence, about
five minutes’ walk from the Grotto of Calypso, a cave
of frightful aspect and of difficult descent, among the
most rugged and barren cliffs that ever formed the
abode of soft-footed feminine deities. To have resided
here, Calypso must have been blessed with feet as
hard as those of her sisters of the Maltese peasantry,
who with amusing ease and sang froid tread the
most forbidding craggs of their rude and rocky
domain.
CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
11
In 1519, before the incarnation, the Phoenicians
took Malta from its previous masters, and held it
448 years. This great commercial people, the Eng¬
lish of the east, were expelled by the Greeks; these,
by the warlike inhabitants of Carthage; and the
latter, in their turn, yielded to the Romans in the
first Punic war, when Attilus Regulus sacked the
island, and Cornelius took possession. After this,
Malta was successively lost and won by these fierce
belligerents, in many a bloody contest; but at
length, after a splendid victory by Lutatius in the
year 242, B. C., the Homans completely established
their dominion at the commencement of the second
Punic war.
It was during the Roman occupation of Malta,
and in the reign of Tiberius, that the holy apostle
Paul was cast upon these rocky shores, and the
creek off which he was stranded retains to this day
the name of La Baia di San Paolo , the Bay of St.
Paul. The first time I visited it was in 1820, when
I killed a serpent near the very spot where that
blessed man shook one from his hand. By that
apostle a church was planted on this interesting
rock of 44 the great sea;” and a building stands at
Floriana, not five minutes’ walk from the house I
occupied, which still bears the name of San Publio,
in honour of the 44 chief man of the island,” con¬
verted to the faith while Paul remained there.*
Even since that signal shipwreck, it seems, the
profession of Christianity has retained its hold in the
* See Acts xxviii.
12
THE SHIPWRECK OF ST. PAUL.
island; but, alas ! the gospel introduced by St. Paul
has too long been supplanted by “ another gospel; ”
as that originally brought to Britain, probably by
the very same apostle, was early obscured by those
emissaries of Borne, Augustin and his companions.
The cunning fox of the Tybur, with fatal astuteness,
burrowed his way into the simple, unsuspecting vine¬
yard of Malta, and the withering hand of the Latin
priesthood touched and blasted this once pure church
of Christ, replacing its original truth by a system of
semi-paganism, baptized with a Christian name.
I have brought with me from Malta a view of
St. Paul’s bay, which the reader finds annexed;* to
give as complete an idea as may be of the locality of
the shipwreck, showing the mouth of the bay or
creek of St. Paul, with the vessel half under water.
This is a drawing of the place where two seas meet,
named in the inspired narrative.
* See page 1.
f The phrase of St. Luke is, tottoq dtB-dXaffffog, which I prefer to render,
a place washed on each side by the sea. I think no other writer has ever
used the word; but on consulting an excellent Lexicon in ancient and
modern Greek, by Varinus, Bishop of Noukeria, printed at Venice in 1801,
I find some similar compounds, which may throw light on that used by the
sacred historian. Bacchus is styled Dithyrambus, because educated in dvrpy
d&vp&iiPv, a grotto of Nyssa, having a double door, or two doors. Varinus
explains the adjective in the latter sense; I own my preference for the
former,_double-doored; and thus would I render or understand the term
used by St. Luke; a douhle-seaed place, by sea meaning a part of the sea,
of the same sea; as when mariners say, “ we have a heavy sea astern, but a
smooth sea a-head.” By all this is simply meant, that by the phrase,
“ where two seas meet,” the reader of the Acts is not to understand that
there was, at the point where Paul’s vessel struck, a confluence of the waters
of two different seas, but merely that the same sea washed that point in op¬
posite directions; and if he so understand the phrase, I apprehend it may
justly be preferred to the version I have suggested.
THAT MALTA IDENTIFIES
13
The point at which the vessel struck is styled by
Bochart an isthmus; but as that term describes a
tongue of land projecting rather far into the sea, it
seems hardly the correct word. The etching will
show that it is merely a jutting rocky point, and the
small island in front, behind which is the to7to9
hfiaXaoaos of St. Luke, is not perhaps more than
two hundred paces from the point in question. I
have frequently sailed in this highly interesting
locality, and am familiar with its outline.
It has long been a debated point with the learned,
whether the island visited by St. Paul was Malta or
the island of Mileda, in the Adriatic. Bryant revived
the question, and supported the claims put forth in
favour of the latter, the chief of which seems to be
the statement of Luke, that the vessel was “ driven
up and down in Adria,” in which sea it is obvious
she finally struck. # Into this controversy I cannot
persuade myself to enter at any length ; but I will
just specify a few reasons to favour the identity of
Malta with Luke’s Melita, and hastily dismiss the
subject.
1. Bryant’s great difficulty is at once removed by
Strabo. Wetstein cites this ancient geographer, to
show that even in his time,—viz. in the reign of
Augustus Caesar, and therefore prior to the voyage of
Paul, the name Adria was not limited to what is now
styled the gulf of Adria, or the Adriatic, but ex¬
tended at least as far as the Ionian gulf, as it cer¬
tainly was afterwards to the Sicilian sea, and even to
* Acts xxvii. 27—29.
14
WITH MELITA OF ST. LUKE.
the south of Peloponnesus.* A ship, therefore, in
the locality of Malta is in the sea of Adria.
2. I observe that, at the time of the apostle’s
shipwreck, it was the cold and rainy season of the
island.*]* In Malta “ the former rain” begins gene¬
rally in the end of September, “ the latter,” about
January, which is also the cold season of the island.
Now, the natives of Malta say that Paul’s visit
occurred in J anuary, and every 29th of that month
there is a pompous “ festa” in the island, in celebra¬
tion of the apostle’s shipwreck.
3. In the words of Bishop Pearce: “ In Paul’s
voyage to Italy from Melita, on board the Alexan¬
drian ship, which had wintered there; he and his
companions landed at Syracuse, and from thence
went to Rhegium : but if Melita had been the Illy¬
rian isle of that name, the proper course of the ship
would have been to Rhegium before it reached
Syracuse: whereas, in a voyage from the present
Malta to Italy, it was necessary to reach Syracuse
in Sicily, before the ship could arrive at Rhegium in
Italy.” *
4. Though in the traditionary fictions of a super¬
stitious people scarcely any confidence can be placed;
since the same interest that so systematically induces
the inmates of rival monasteries and rival churches,
in all papal countries, to hatch up a false miracle, or
concoct a false relic, to attract devotees and obla¬
tions, leads cities and islands, contending for the
same honour, to feign if they cannot find proof; yet
* Bp. Pearce and Wetstein on Acts xxvii. 27. f Acts xxviii. 1, 2.
THE SHIP OF ALEXANDRIA.
15
even this very dubious species of evidence,—a church
of St. Publius, a grotto of St. Paul, a fane to his
honour, a festa on his shipwreck,—may just for a
moment claim the notice of the traveller.
5. Paul found in Melita an Alexandrian vessel
that, being on her way to Italy, had stopped and
wintered at this island. Two things have often
occurred to me in Malta; first, that vessels from
Alexandria are constantly touching at that island in
the present age, of which I have probably seen hun¬
dreds ; and secondly, that no vessel bound for the
voyage made by Paul from Malta could ever think
of touching at Mileda in the Adriatic gulf.
CHAPTER II.
MALTA.—HISTORY RESUMED.-SUCCESSIVE MASTERS.-KNIGHTS OF
ST. JOHN.—R ARITIES AND PRINCIPAL STRUCTURES-CELEBRATED
NATIVES.—EDUCATION.—RELIGION.—SUPERSTITIONS.
Too small to defend its existence as an indepen¬
dent government, Malta has in all ages, or nearly all,
formed a portion of some one of the mighty empires
of the world. We have already seen it successively
under the Phaeacians, Greeks, and Romans, and
that during the dominion of the last it bowed, like so
many other portions of the Roman empire, to the
sway of heaven-horn truth.
On the dissolution of this gigantic empire, Malta
fell under the sword of the Yandals. In the year of
our Lord 164, the Goths succeeded that short-lived
power, aud these, seventy-four years afterwards, were
expelled by Relisarius, who united Malta to the
eastern empire. This regime was of long continu¬
ance ; —it was not till 870 that it was shaken off. In
that year, in consequence of misrule on the part of
her governors, the natives rose against their oppres¬
sors, and surrendered the island to the Saracenic
Arabs. To this people, who held the island about
200 years, the present Maltese owe their language
RULERS OF MALTA.
17
and their sombre complexion. After the lapse of
the period just named, Malta shared the fate of
England, and, singular to observe, nearly at the
same time; for, while William, Duke of Normandy,
took possession of Britain in 1060, it was in 1070
that Count Roger, the Norman, united Malta to the
crown of Sicily.
Under the Normando-Sicilians, Malta remained
about seventy years rand then, in consequence of
the marriage of Constantia, heiress of Sicily, with
the Emperor, Henry YI. of Germany, this plaything
of princes, this far-famed rock, passed over, in 1226,
to the imperial masters of the western empire. Its
next ruler was a Frenchman, Charles d’Anjou, bro¬
ther of Lewis of Franee; for, after the Germans had
swayed the changeful destinies of Malta for seventy-
two years, Charles held the crown of Sicily and
sovereignty of Malta. By Peter of Arragon this
island was, after two years, wrested from the feeble
grasp of the house of Anjou; and Peter was suc¬
ceeded by King Alphonso, from whom this insular
domain was redeemed by the natives, who reim¬
bursed the sum of 30,000 florins, for which it had, it
seems, been mortgaged to the house of Arragon.
On this occasion the island secured certain privi¬
leges, granted by Alphonso, who pledged his royal
word that Malta should not again suffer a separation
from the crown of Sicily. By Charles Y. however,
this pledge was soon forgotten; for on obtaining pos¬
session of Malta and Sicily in 1516, he conceded
this celebrated rock to the Order of Knights of
18 ITS CESSION TO THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN.
St. John, who had just been driven from Rhodes,
their previous domain and asylum, by the irresistible
prowess of Soliman the Magnificent. This event, so
pregnant with results, occurred in 1522 or 1523.
Historians generally represent this act as that of
Charles exclusively, but a native who presented me
with an elegant small work in Italian, from which I
am citing, seemed altogether indignant at the idea
of his country’s being in the ^exclusive gift of any
one, and he roundly asserts that this concession was
made with the previous consent of the Maltese, and
of all the Christian princes in whose kingdoms the
Order had possessions, securing to themselves the
rights and immunities acquired by payment of the
30,000 florins aforesaid.
Ry the celebrated Knights of St. John of Jeru¬
salem, also styled Knights of Rhodes, the destinies of
Malta were swayed until the eventful 1798, when the
French fleet, under command of Napoleon, appeared
before the island. Ferdinand Hompesh was then
Grand Master of the Order, and of course sovereign of
the island. Not possessing sufficient nerve to oppose
the victorious arms of France, this feeble ruler surren¬
dered an island and a rampart that might probably
have defied even Napoleon himself. Short wms the
reign of France in Malta! Better, in some respects,
had it been longer ; for that great people are not in
the habit of currying favour by pretending to vene¬
rate the most deleterious superstitions, by cashiering
brave officers, whose conscientious scruples forbid
their uniting in idolatrous rites, or by compelling
MALTA UNDER BRITISH RULE. 19
a whole suite of staff officers to change their steel
for a taper, their martial step for that of a monkish
procession, to brandish a flambeau instead of a sword,
to wear, I had almost said, the gown of the effimi-
nate Sardanapalus, instead of the more fitting ac¬
coutrements of a soldier. The successors of the
French do all this except the last, both in Malta and
the Ionian isles—the successors of the French are the
English. In the year 1800 Malta passed under the
powerful sceptre of Great Britain; for in that year
the native inclination and “ the voice of Europe,”
confirmed to our country the possession of this cele¬
brated rock. The island has been since 1813 an
integral part of the British empire; and a gracious
providence thus affords to protestants of England, of
Germany, and of America, a golden opportunity for
conferring upon a benighted people the light of
eternal truth, fresh from the mind of God.*
The Knights of Malta are gone: I saw the last, a
venerable man: he, too, is gone—not so their his¬
tory. For upwards of 360 years was the island held
by these quixotical soldiers of the crucifix; nor, had
they not become so fearfully emasculated by luxury
and by excess in various ways, would either Napo¬
leon or Nelson have dislodged them from that unique
and amazing stronghold.
Their history is singular. Splendid as this order
became, celebrated almost equally for opulence,
prowess and vice, they were originally but a convent
* Consult Ciantar’s “ Malta Illustrata,” 2 vols. folio.
C
20
ORIGIN OF THE KNIGHTS.
of humble and ignorant monks. These Knights
first appear as monastics in 1043 at Jerusalem, in a
convent established that year by a few Italian mer¬
chants. Their business was simply to entertain and
protect by their presence the vagrant pilgrims who
visited the holy city. Hence their original name
Hospitulars; and because their convent was dedi¬
cated to John the Baptist, they also took the name of
Monks of St. John.
These enterprising monastics soon drew the eye
and the wealth of superstition from all parts of the
Christian world. The subsequent conquest of Jeru¬
salem by Godfrey de Boulogne, who wrested it from
the Moslems, proved of vast moment to this monastic
settlement; for from thence the crowd of devotees
increased, and with them the opulence and fame of
the monks. And now began the high race of ambi¬
tion. Raymond, rector of the convent, being of an
active and martial spirit, devised the plan of trans¬
forming his monks into Knights—Knights com¬
manders, and Knights servitors—the former to rank
as officers, the latter as soldiers. This high-minded
plan was realised. Raymond marshalled them into
bands, invented banners, and led his new made belli¬
gerents against the Turks, as “ Knights of the Order
of St. John of Jerusalem.”
Thus elevated to equestrian dignity, they fought
with great courage and varied fortunes against the
Moslems, the sworn foes of the Christian name; but
inferiority of numbers entailed upon them frequent
defeat; and they were at length compelled to relin-
VICISSITUDES OF THE ORDER.
21
quish all their possessions in the holy city to the
invincible Saladin. After a long series of toils and
misfortunes, they were finally expelled from Jerusa¬
lem in 1292, having maintained their standing, as
monks or Knights, for the period of 244 years.
Driven from the holy land, the Grand Master and
brethren fled to Cyprus, and recurring to their former
martial habits, they attacked Rhodes and took that
island with seven others. This was in 1308, and
now the Order took the style of Knights of Rhodes.
Here they flourished for about 220 years, and rarely
has bravery or passive courage equalled ’theirs To
the Turks their very name was terrific. Happy had
they fought in a better cause, than that of personal or
papal aggrandisement.
At length Sultan Soliman having determined, at
all events, to dislodge this formidable foe of the cres¬
cent, assembled an armament of300,000 men, invaded
the island of Rhodes, and, after six months’ incessant
fatigues and appalling loss of human life, on both
sides, this fiery son of Ishmael succeeded in driving
the Knights from their second asylum.
At this most critical era, the Emperor Charles
V. proved a friend to the vagrant Knights. As a
third asylum, he gave them—the Maltese aver with
their consent as a party to the arrangement—the
sovereignty of Malta. To this island the fugitives
removed in 1523, and held it till the memorable 1798,
when it was ceded by Hompesh to the victorious arms
of Napoleon. On obtaining this possession, they
took the style of Knights of the Order of Malta.
c 2
22
ANTIQUITIES OF MALTA.
Bravery such as they now displayed against the
Turks has rarely been exhibited; but the luxury and
vices that gradually crept in, undermined both their
courage and their fame, and rendered them an easy
prey to a power then in the zenith of its glory.
This capture, however, was but the transit of the
island: in two short years it passed from the hands
of France, and remains to this day a portion of the
British empire.
In noticing the objects of chief interest in Malta, I
place in the foreground the Inquisitor’s Palace; an ex¬
ecrated relic of ghostly oppression, and of worse than
Vandal or Neronian ferocity. It now holds a magni¬
ficent armoury, and the inquisition itself no longer
exists to disgrace the name, or to tarnish the honour
of Malta. From a very remote age, the temples of
Juno, Proserpine, and other pagan deities, were
much celebrated; but few remains of these are now
to be met with. In the seventeenth century was dug
up, out of a small hill named Mitarfa, an inscription
that had belonged to the temple of Proserpine; and
in 1538 were found many vestiges of a fane to Her¬
cules, which once stood near the port of Marsascirocco,
built by the Phoenicians at an early age. Quintinus
speaks of this temple, and says its circumference em¬
braced a circle of not less than three miles. Pausanias
mentions the erection of a costly palace in Malta, and
Eschiles names a theatre of elegant and expensive
materials; but of these nothing, I believe, now sur¬
vives. To the curious in these matters I would ad¬
vise a visit to the public library of Malta, where they
LIBRARY. FORTIFICATIONS. CATHEDRAL. 23
will find some interesting antiquities, and a very
polite native librarian. The principal hospital is
chiefly notable for having been, in the palmy days of
the Order, served by the Knights in silver plate.
The public library was founded in 1760, by Bailly
de Tancin, who generously presented it with 7700
volumes. It now contains 50,000, among which
are some valuable works, but many of them are the
merest trash of an unscientific age.
The chief lion of Malta is its celebrated fortifica¬
tions. Let the reader attentively examine the birds-
eye view of Valletta, with its harbour and suburbs,
given in this volume, and he will probably own that
these massive forts and embrasured curtains are a
lasting monument to the magnanimity and resources
of the Knights. The aqueduct I regard as remark¬
able only because, like those of Greece and of Rome,
it exhibits ignorance of one of the simplest principles
of hydraulics—that water always rises to the level
of its source.
The next object of interest in Malta is the church
of St. John, in Valletta, a large and sightless struc¬
ture externally, but enriched within by some most
costly marble monuments and altars. This is properly
the government church; but from a wish not to pain
the natives, it has hitherto been left in their hands;
and, to the lasting disgrace of our country, the gover¬
nor, his suite, his staff, and most of the elite of the En¬
glish, absolutely worship in a kitchen of the Knights,
neatly fittedupfor the purposes of divine service. The
only protestant place of worship is one belonging to
24 st. Paul’s, catacombs, grotto.
the Methodists. The Maltese churches are numer¬
ous and costly, though not elegant. The houses are
large freestone erections, spacious and airy ; hut the
only purely architectural erection is the Naval Hos¬
pital, near the mouth of the Grand Harbour, built
•within the last ten years. It was erected by the in¬
genious islanders, after English designs and under
English surveilance.
At Citta Yecchia or Notabile, near the Bay of St.
Paul, is a neat church dedicated to that apostle.
There also are the celebrated catacombs, that appear
to have anciently served as subterraneous abodes or
cemeteries, or both; but their use is problematical.
If the reader can persuade himself that St. Paul had
leisure to spend three months in a cave in forma
monachi, he may here inspect the grotto itself, which
is under the church just named. The attendant gives
to the visitor a small portion of the soft rock of this
grot or cave, which is a talisman against all evils.
What a pity the natives should have diseases and die !
If the government of Malta is a century behind
the parent isle, in the encouragement of free in¬
quiry; if it is too military, and yet too prone to cringe
to monastic assumption; let it have, at all events, the
praise that is due. The Naval Hospital, the chastest
piece of architecture on the island, I have already
named; add to this a valuable institution, the House
of Industry, established by the most noble the Mar¬
quis of Hastings, to furnish employment and food to
a numerous class of persons, comprising the indigent,
the aged, and friendless youth. Nor must we omit
SCHOOL. PALACE. LAZZARETTO.
25
to add that a Lancastrian School, containing about
400 boys and 200 girls, is supported, chiefly at
least, by the munificence of government. This
school has stood now about twenty years, and if the
Maltese wish to keep pace with the European march
of intellect, if they would neither be priest-ridden nor
prince-ridden, let them continue to place their youth
in that useful lyceum.
The chief ornament of Valletta is, unquestionably,
the Governor’s Palace. This splendid erection was
built for the Grand Masters about 250 years ago,
and within its immense quadrangle there is a magni¬
ficent armoury, containing a stand of 10,000 mus-
quets, together with the armour of the Knights, and
some interesting trophies. Altogether, this splendid
collection is, perhaps, the greatest treat of Malta
lionizers, as the arms used by the warriors of the
middle ages, arranged with high taste, render it pe¬
culiarly interesting.
In the view I have given of Malta is a distinct
draft of the celebrated Lazzaretto, a most commodious
though expensive residence pro tempore for travel¬
lers from plague countries, during the period of their
quarantine. Having myself been twice pent up in this
place, I am somewhat versed both in its annoyances
and comforts, and must say its internal management,
on the whole, reflects high honour on the local
authorities. The hotels of the nine languages of
knights are generally noble structures, but that of
Spain seems the best and the largest. In this I re¬
sided three years, having been kindly accommodated
26 HOTELS. MEN OF CELEBRITY.
by government with field-officers’ quarters in that
splendid erection, in which also I held public
service thrice a week. The Hotel formerly pertain¬
ing to the “ English language,” or English Knights
of Malta, who, I suppose, sank into oblivion in the
reign of Henry VIII. It is now cutup into shops for
hucksters and others, and a part of it forms an ap¬
pendage to the arsenal. The rest of these once busy
scenes of authority and luxury and vice, now serve
as officers’ quarters to the garrison of Valletta.
Malta may be noted as the reputed birthland of
some illustrious persons. The famous Hannibal is
claimed as one of these. A Maltese family named
Barchina assert themselves to be his posterity. This
brave warrior died in Bithynia, but it seems from a
discovery made in 1761 at Ta Binjisa, that his re¬
mains were removed to that place for interment in
the tomb of his ancestors. These islanders also
claim as compatriots Lucius Cajus, a Roman eques¬
trian and a very erudite ancient; Meander, the cele¬
brated orator who pleaded before the senate of Delos
under the archon Aristemus, and who won the crown
of eloquence at Athens; Aulus Licinius, the friend
of Pompey, and whom Cicero styles the Aristotle of
Malta; Diodorus the philosopher, ranked by Cicero
as his own intimate acquaintance ;* Theodosius, au¬
thor of the Life of the emperor Theophilus; Jacob
who conquered the island of Salamis, and was made
duke of Candia by the king of Cyprus; with others
in later times. But, though one can cheerfully for-
* See his Oration against Verres,
EDUCATION AND RELIGION.
27
give the nationality that lays claim to a share of the
celebrity of a Carthaginian, a Greek, or a Roman,
because horn in Malta, yet there is truth in a proverb
I have often heard in that island, “ luomo non e un
cavallo anche nato in una stalla a man is not a
horse though born in a stable. It is, in fact, on this
slender evidence that such names are attached to
Malta; though it is certain the island has given birth
to some illustrious men.*
Till of late years, all generous education has been
utterly neglected; nor, before the arrival of mission¬
aries, was the language reduced to a written standard.
In this useful labour the church missionary society
has confessedly led the van. By the aid of a clever
native named Yassali, something has been done in
lexicography, and from the church missionary press
has issued a grammar of the native tongue, while by
a spirited Maltese, whose name I regret to have for¬
gotten, another has been composed and published
that does its author the highest honour. To aid the
natives in the acquisition of English, I published a
few works, among which is, “ Elementi Inglesi,” a
grammar in Italian and English.
The religion of Malta is the papal, in its most de¬
leterious forms and influences. I suppose it must
have been during the occupation of this island by the
Normans and Arragonese, that the fatal errors of the
papacy supplanted the purer truth originally intro¬
duced by the great apostle of the gentiles. The
present faith of this people produces its legitimate
* See Ciantar’s Malta Illustrata, and Michallef’s Catechismo Storico.
28 NATIVE SPIRIT. SUPERSTITIONS.
fruits;—superstition, falsehood, irregularity, Cimme¬
rian ignorance in the mass; and scepticism among
the elite of the island. On the other hand the natives,
when religion is not in question, are affable, pacific,
ingenuous, and thousands among this estimable race
exhibit a most honourable mind, and a resolution not
to lag far behind the inquisitive spirit of the age, an
age that is clamourous for the reason of things. Let
the Maltese but cherish this noble disposition, so
justly lauded by an inspired penman,* and Malta
will eventually become a highly influential country.
Meantime it is lamentable to observe how greatly
these islanders incline to the various forms of what in¬
spiration has so justly named 6e\o6pfjGKeia or will-wor¬
ship. Their images meet the eye in every street, and
abound in every temple, are carried about in every pro¬
cession, and are the lares et penates of every house.
In their afflictions, the natives systematically fly to the
ideal aid of some favourite saint. Each convent has its
fictions, its pretended relics and its sleepless finesse,
to attract devotees from rival convents ; and, at the
audacity of sacerdotal expedients to keep up the
credit of a falling saint or cry down a rival, the heart
sometimes sickens, for the victims of these frauds are
numerous, and the fear of God is not before their de¬
ceived and deceiving guides. Parturient females
often make vows to some saint; and I have seen their
children, in fulfilment of such vows, dressed in the
habits of a monk or nun of the saints order. Such
as suffer from toothache apply for relief to St. Apol-
* See Acts xvii. 10—12.
IMAGES. PROCESSIONS. CASUISTRY.
29
Ionia. In short, each saint in the papacy, like his
pagan original, has an assigned dominion and duty,
and sometimes a locality. Beneath the images or
idols—so God calls them—at the corners of the
streets, are inscriptions promising indulgences to such
as violate the very first commandment by worshiping
a graven image and deifying a creature. Every
Monday boxes, covered with frightful representations
of purgatorial scenes, are carried round the city, and
the bearer with a hand-bell calls aloud for “ money
for souls in purgatory.” Religious processions are
numerous and pompous, and these gaudy and barba¬
ric scenes perpetually make the island a sort of puppet
show. On some of these occasions one observes a
number of penitents in the procession, both male and
female, dragging at each heel a tremendous length
and weight of iron chain, so ponderous as to compel
them to rest at every twenty or thirty paces, while
the ignorant multitude stand gazing at the ideal
sanctity of the deed and of the devotee. In time of
thunder the bells are constantly rung as a charm
against peril. In lent, the people are canonically
forbid the sale or use of milk; and yet, in the exqui¬
site casuistry of blissful ignorance, the milch goats
perambulate the city as at other seasons, but the
venders cry “ something white” This something
white the casuists allow the people to purchase, but
for a world they must not purchase milk! In
some processions I have often seen little children
dressed out in wings and wire glories round their
head to personate angels and cherubs. Plenary in-
30 OBLIGATIONS OF PROTESTANTS.
diligences are affixed to the doors of their churches,
and within the same buildings are publicly sold
sacred talismans to string round the neck and charm
off evil. Every year there is literally “ a feast of
asses.” These animals, as also mules and horses, all
bedizened in ribbons and floral wreaths, are made to
pass before a priest, who edifies the devout brutes
with holy water and his blessing. All this I have
often seen. “ Credat Apelles /”
Such is Malta; now placed by divine providence,
since the peace of Amiens, under British influence.
Behold a generous population of 100,000 souls, in¬
cluding the small sister isle of Gozo, the plaything
of ghostly chicanery, the dupes of unholy finesse, the
prey of imposture and superstition, far off from truth
and righteousness and God. He who duly venerates
the divine precept, “ Ye shall not depart from my
statutes,” will devoutly wish to the natives of Malta,
a speedy return to the Jides paulina , to the apostolic
faith of their honoured progenitors that faith ori¬
ginally planted among them by St. Paul, that faith
still recorded in the epistles of the holy man, that
faith, in fine, so mournfully obscured by the mist
from the banks of the Tybur, the moral gloom, which
has for twenty generations brooded over this seagirt
rock, hatching a fearful progeny of error, of sin and
of ruin.
CHAPTER III.
THE CARNIVAL AT MALTA.—IDENTITY OF THE PAPAL CARNIVAL,
AND THE PAGAN DIONYSIA OR BACCHANALL4.
Religion in Malta exhibits most of those painful
affinities with Paganism, so elaborately displayed in
Dr. Middleton’s celebrated “ Letter from Rome.”
Candour itself must surely, after a proper study of
the papal creed and ritual, weepingly pronounce the
faith of the Tyhur to be paganism in a visor. Such
is that of Malta, and the perusal of such details as
appear in the present chapter, amply justify that
missionary , who labours to introduce among the de¬
luded Maltese the ineffable blessings of a purer
Christianity.
The carnival, a sort of religious wake, is observed
in most of the principal towns and cities that yet sub¬
mit to the guidance of the Roman see. But at
Venice, Naples, Rome, Bologna, Palermo and Malta,
it is celebrated with more than ordinary splendour.
I am not certain the term carnival can he better ac¬
counted for, than by an etymology suggested to me by
the late Sardinian consul at Malta, my excellent
friend and a member of my congregation till his
happy death, which took place in 1820 or 1821.
32
PERNICIOUS USE OF FASTS.
That gentleman derived carnival from the vulgar
Latin, or Latino-Italian, 44 came vale” adieu to ani¬
mal food. It is certain that the last day of carnival
precedes the first day of quaresima or lent, during
which such people as obey the priesthood, eat no ani¬
mal foodin Malta. So strictly, indeed, is this usage obser¬
ved, that a vulgar proverb of the Maltese says, “ he
who eats flesh on the first day of lent, will die on the
last ” The term of quaresima is forty days, or rather
forty-six. It is therefore, perhaps, not at all surpriz¬
ing so significant a term should have been sanctioned
by conventional usage to designate the carnival; for
the hour it closes, the devotees of the papal pale may
say to all animal food, as Virgil to the smiling scenes
of Italy ;—
“ Vale ! vale! longum vale !
Adieu! adieu! a long adieu!”
Yet, it is a characteristic feature in superstition,
that the 46 fasts” so styled are but a change from one
species of food to another equally rich. With my
native servants in Malta, most devout creatures, I
had many a contest during these seasons of stern self
denial; for they not only emptied my lamps to en¬
rich their dinners, but took up a most trying amount
of my time, in contriving and concocting and dishing
their savoury proxies for animal food. Would that
men saw that moderation is the best fast; that a
Christian fasts daily; that Christianity permits but
never enjoins this usage. The practice, performed
as it is under the frown of sacerdotal wrath, is suffi¬
ciently bad in itself; but a still greater evil is the
CARNIVAL AT MALTA.
33
melancholy fact, that, forgetting the atonement of the
cross, people fast, not to prevent sin, but to expyate it.
Since one object of this chapter is to trace the
papal carnival to the pagan Dionysia, the reader
shall first be presented with a description of the
former festivity from the author of 66 Italy,” and then
compare it with these ancient Bacchanalia. Perhaps
the candid may allow me some little claim to form an
opinion; for while preparing this expose, the noise
and turmoil of the Malta carnival were actually
stunning my senses, and furnishing ample materials
to lighten the onus probandi , the burden of proof. I
prefer giving Lady Morgan’s lively description of the
carnival, for several reasons, and only stay to assure
the reader that in Malta, this singular festa is alto¬
gether the same as in Italy and elsewhere.
“ To the ceremonies and festivities of Christmas suc¬
ceeds the Carnival, that season of enjoyment over which
conscience holds no jurisdiction, and care no sway.
Then the church caters for the frailties of her children,
and gives a license for errors, destined to confirm her
power, and to pay the peace-offering of contrition into
her treasury. It is not by saints that any church,
made up of a powerful hierarchy, and founded in
worldly interests, has risen; but by sinners; and
myriads have erred and suffered, that priests might
continue to absolve and to rule.
“ Love is no sin in Italy.* Neither the law, the
religion, nor the customs of the land restrain its im-
* I do most sincerely regret that authors will apply so sacred a term as
love in the sense of illicit pursuits.—Author.
34
ROME DURING CARNIVAL.
pulses, nor limit its range: and if love is not the sole
business of the carnival, it at least places a large ca¬
pital in the venture. The rest is all idle amusement,
and puerile pleasures.
“ For several days before the beginning of these
festivities c the city of death’ exhibits the agitation,
bustle, and hurry of the living. The shops are con¬
verted into wardrobes; whole streets are lined with
masks and dominos, the robes of sultans and jackets
of pantaloons ; canopies are suspendedbalconies and
windows festooned with hangings and tapestry; scaf¬
folds are erected for the accommodation of those who
have not the interest to obtain admission to the houses
and palaces along the whole line of the Cor so ; while
double rows of chains are placed along the causeway,
and hired by the still less opulent candidates for
festivity.
“ On the first day, few of the regular forces are as¬
sembled, but all Home is already a masquerade le-
hersal. Old women are patching harlequin s jackets
before their doors. Young ones assume the innocent,
waxen-faced mask, white trousers, and shirt hanging
loosely over every thing, with its sleeves tied with
colouredribbons, the common disguise of all those who
can afford no other. Children are every where seen
making or tying on their paper masks, and girding
their wooden swords. At the sound of the cannon
the shops are closed, palaces deserted, and the Corso’s
long and narrow defile teems with nearly the whole
of the Roman population.
“ The scene then exhibited is truly singular. The
LUDICROUS PERSONIFICATIONS.
35
whole length of the street from the Porta del Popolo
to the foot of the Capitol, a distance of considerably
more than a mile, is patroled by troops of cavalry;
the windows and balconies are crowded from the first
to the sixth story, by spectators and actors. Here
and there the moults crown and cardinals red skull
cap are seen peeping among heads not more fantastic
than their own. The chairs and scaffolding along
the streets are filled to crushing with maskers and
country folk in their gala dresses, by far the most
grotesque that the carnival produces.
“ The centre of the Corso is occupied by the car¬
riages of princes, potentates, the ambassadors of all
nations, and the municipality of Rome; and two lines
of carriages, moving in opposite directions on each
side, are filled by English peers, Irish commoners,
Polish counts, Spanish grandees, German barons,
Scotch lairds, and French marquises. In an open
carriage sits, bolt upright, la Signora Padrona , or
mistress of the family, nearly the whole of her beau¬
tiful bust exposed, or only covered by rows of coral,
pearl, or false gems: her white satin robe and gaudy
head-dress left to the pitiless pelting of the storm,
showered indiscriminately from all the houses and by
the pedestrians, on the occupants of carriages, in the
form of sugar-plums, but in substance of plaister of
Paris or lime. Opposite to her sits her caro sposo.
He, good man, is dressed as a grand Sultan, or Mus¬
covite czar, his hands meekly folded, his eyes blinded
with lime, and his face unmasked, to show that it is
to him belongs the gay set-out, the handsome wife,
D
36
ITS FOLLY AND SATIETY.
the golden turban, and the crimson caftan. The ca-
valiere pagante or the favourite abate occupies the
place next the lady, snugly hidden under the popular
dress of Pierrot or Pagliaccio; while all the little
signorini or children of the family, male and female,
habited as harlequins and columbines, kings and
queens, are stuffed in without mercy. On Shrove
Tuesday the carnival terminates by a most singular
illumination. Not only all the houses are illumin¬
ated, but all persons, on foot or in carriages, hold
lighted tapers, and sit or stand in the cold or wet,
their fingers dripping with wax and tallow, accord¬
ing to the ability of the illuminator.
“ Every step is now turned home, or to the trat¬
toria, where a supper concludes the epoch of sin and
enjoyment. Bile and dyspepsia follow, the probati¬
onary stages to penitence and penance, and to all the
gloom and privations of that long black lent, in which
the sinner expiates, by fasting and flagellation, the
pleasures snatched, and the faults committed, during
the gay, thoughtless interval of the carnival
“After the first two days, even the spirits of
foreigners flag ; and after the first sensations subside,
the barbarous character of the institution appears in
its true symptoms of puerility, forced mirth, and real
dulness. Nothing in the range of pleasurable pur¬
suit can be more wearying to the mind, more solemnly
dull, than the last days of the carnival, when the ex¬
haustion of animal spirits damps the very little stock
of wit which the occasion sets afloat; when amuse¬
ment is reduced to flinging lime in the morning, and
CARNIVAL AT MALTA.
37
in the evening hearing complaints of inflamed eyes,
of spoiled dresses, ennui, disappointed expectation,
and congratulations on the approaching termination
of the week.”*
I have felt the more surprised that in Malta, as well
as in other parts, the priesthood occasionally figure in
the carnival, though disguised, since on every account
it is an objectionable festivity, not to add that the
first day of its celebration is always that which the
Christian scriptures style the Lord’s, which the pri¬
mitive believers held so sacred, and which all true
protestants improve to holy purposes. But in Malta
little sacredness is attached to the Sabbath, in com¬
parison with the generality of the days made holy on
mere sacerdotal authority:—a most painful state of
things, but in the Mediterranean universal, even in¬
cluding Greece herself.
Among other appendages to the carnival of Malta,
which render it additionally objectionable, is the mask¬
ed ball, which is attended each night by all of both
sexes, who can spare the small entrance fee demanded.
What, under the sway of a creed not sufficiently
favourable to the high sanctions of morality, must be,
and are, the transactions of these orgies, it would
scarcely become me to describe.
During’ a carnival Malta presents one feature, the
grotesque absurdity of which would provoke a laugh,
if it did not rather call for tears. In the midst of the
celebration, the bell of San Giovanni occasionally tolls,
to announce, I believe, the closing of a mass. It is
Italy by Lady Morgan, vol. iii. p 87, et sequent.
D 2
38
PERSONIFICATIONS.
a vulgar notion in Malta, that if a person can kneel
down before the mass is actually ended, he derives
the same advantage as those who have joined m all
its parts; an opinion that few of my readers will
question. Hence, the moment this peal is heard, I
have often seen the maskers and the spectators of the
carnival rush in a crowd from the Corso, and kneel
most reverently, in the grotesque habiliments of the
moment, at the steps of the church; and there, till
the bell ceased, might be seen a harlequin by the side
of a mute, a shepherdess elbowing a columbine, a
sooty-faced lazzarone huddling by the red coat of one,
who for a few hours was assuming the dignity, with¬
out the pay, of a British officer. The moment the
bell ceases, these most devout assistants at the mass
spring from their knees, and rejoin the melt of the
Corso.
To aid the reader in forming his opinion of the
identity of this festival and the Bacchanalia of Greece
and Rome, I will add some other notices of the cha¬
racters which usually figure at the carnivals of Malta.
To describe all I have seen, for my house stood in
the Corso, would require a volume.
Children generally personate imps in a nameless
dress, a long tapering cap, reaching at least a yard
above their head, and striking the ground or each
other with inflated bladders at the end of a string.
Young fellows are extremely fond of figuring as de¬
mons fresh from the infernal shades. Their dress
covers all the person, from the crown of the head to
the ancles, and is composed of thrums, generally black
and red, to imitate smoke and flames, while from the
PERSONIFICATIONS.
39
mouth protrudes a long dangling tongue of red cloth.
In this disgusting form they wildly run along the
Corso, generally in couples, but sometimes five or
six in company, making the most horrid sepulchral
yells, to affright the other masks and annoy the spec¬
tators. Poor girls generally assume, on these occa¬
sions, a neat, gay, pastoral costume. This consists
of white trousers, short petticoats, a dashing apron,
smaller than the philibeg of a highlander, with a
pretty, smirking mask, and a large bouquet carried
in their hand. I once saw Mr. -, the United
States consul, in full figure as an American chief,
mounted, and attended by a henchman. That the
consular dignity should thus, and from a republic too,
sink itself to a level with the mob of masks at a car¬
nival ! For some infraction of the leges non scriptce
of this modern bacchanalia, Mr.-was ordered
aside by a common seijeant, just under my window ;
and I fancied that I could discern the fire of demo¬
cratic indignation glow even through his black mask,
as he descended from his charger in the midst of the
crowd.
It is not uncommon for the masks to assume the
character of a wild bull, attended and governed by
herdsmen dressed in strings of bones. Others again
put on the heads of mules or horses, a sort of reverse
minotaurs. Sometimes two men combine to walk
as an elephant or a camel, the upper frame work
representing the body and head, while their own legs
serve for those of the animal. Drunken bacchanals
are seen on all hands, decorated with wreaths of
40
PERSONIFICATIONS. ANECDOTE.
grass instead of the vine. Not unfrequently you
will observe an old crate, or a sugar cantar from the
Brazils, mounted on the relics of a calesh of the last
century. This is the equipage of an English milordo
or a Gallic marquis. It is generally filled with half a
dozen dirty fellows, with sooty faces and hands, bel¬
lowing in the highest style of aristocratic importance.
The Maltese are extremely fond of dressing as fe¬
males, whom they often personate in a manner so un¬
becoming, that the police end the business by handing
them over to the prison of the castellania, to study
for a night manners more comporting with the mo¬
desty of the sex. I have even seen, on the last day
of carnival,—and this is almost invariably a part of
this singular revel, in which Lady Morgan gives
even princes the high honour of joining,—a striking
resemblance to the obsequies of Adonis. This is a
representation of the death of carnival. One man
personates the dead, and, as such, is carried about the
streets on a bier, his face besmeared with flour, fol¬
lowed by crowds of dirty attendents, who occasionally
set up a funeral wail.
It not unfrequently happens on these occasions,
that circumstances occur which are irresistably ludi¬
crous. I will name one. The year before I left
Malta, two seamen came on shore from one of the
men-of-war lying at anchor in the harbour. It was
the carnival, and instigated partly by the surrounding
scenes and partly by inebriation, they resolved to
join the mele. Entering a shop where dresses were
let on hire, they each singled out the habiliments of a
CARNIVAL OF PAGAN ORIGIN.
41
lawyer. Out came the tars in a black, shabby, seedy
dress and long robes, a volume of parchment for a
brief, and each with an eye-glass as large as the
rings of Saturn ; leaving their own clothes and some
money as a pledge. Having perambulated the streets
for some hours, as evening closed in, they deemed it
high time to return on board; and began to search
for the shop where they had left their jackets and
trousers. But their memory failed them, and Their
enquiries were in vain; and they were therefore com¬
pelled to board their frigate in these grotesque habili¬
ments. The reader may imagine the surprise and
merriment of the officers and crew, at receiving and
discovering their ominous visitors.
I shall now conclude this chapter by tracing the
resemblance between the carnival and the pagan
Dionysia or Bacchanalia; which will shew how little
papal lands have been benefited by their religion,
and evince beyond controversy how much Malta
requires the light of biblical Christianity.
1. The incessant vociferations are alike character¬
istic of both. In the former, both sexes ran about
the streets, the hills and the country, nodding their
heads, dancing in the most fantastic postures, and
filling the air with hideous yells, crying out, “ evohe,
Bacche! Iollo!” Thus Euripides,—
“ Away ye Bacchanals!
Away ye Bacchanals!
With the softness of gold-flowing Pactolus,
Chant the feats of Bacchus,
To the sound of deep-toned drums.
Health to the princely god of wine !”
42
SPECIFIC EXEMPLIFICATIONS.
Numerous females appeared, their heads decked
with wreaths of flowers.
“ Follow me, she cries,
Follow me armed with the green thyrsus.
Thou art a bull: lo thy horns !
Heigho ! do ye hear our voices ?
Shrill sounds issue from the fanes of Pan.”*
2. Their dances or gesticulations are the accom¬
paniments of the carnival, a sort of military chorus.
“ Let us dance the Bacchanalia,
With laughing faces.”— Ibid.
That this is the practice at Home I am not assifred,
but at Malta I have often seen it. The dance is a
contest for a young maiden. It would be disinge¬
nuous to conceal the origin of this dance, as explained
by the Maltese. At the epoch, they say, of the occu¬
pation of the island by the Greeks, some fair one was
chosen by rivals. The question was settled at the
point of the lance. The damsel stood by during the
fearful contest, and the conqueror bore her off to the
camp.
3. The time of celebration is the same, viz. in
February, and at the same hour of the day. At least
the most celebrated orgies in honour of Bacchus were
always celebrated at mid-day in the month of Febru-
ary, as is the modern carnival.
4. It is most obvious that in the habits and per¬
sonifications, these festivities are closely identified.
The author of Anacharsis states that the Bacchanals
clothed themselves in fawn skins, mitres, and other
uncouth dresses; that they had flutes and pipes; that
they carried thyrsi , and crowned themselves with
* T Q ire etc. etc. Eurip. Baech.
THE SUBJECT CONCLUDED.
43
garlands; that some imitated drunken Pan and the
satyrs.* It is well known that scenes remarkably
similar are constantly witnessed in the carnival.
5. Masks, it is needless to say, are characteristic
of both.
6. In both, insane characters are represented, and
the skins of beasts worn. The origin is easily trace¬
able. It is said that Alcithoe, a Theban lady, de¬
rided the priestesses of Bacchus, and was turned
into a bat. Pentheus, the son of Echion, for the same
offence, was torn in pieces by his own mother and sis¬
ters, who in their madness took him for a wild boar.
7. Homs were used then as now. Bacchus was
styled Tauriformis and Bugenes, of bull-race or form.
It is very striking that, in Malta, carnival invariably
opens with the blowing of horns, while “ men of the
baser sort” may be seen with horns dangling
round their necks.
8. The ancient Dionysia closed with races. At
Malta I think this is not the case, but the reader has
seen by the extract given from Lady M organ, that at
Home the same usage still holds.
Finally. The interchange of dresses by the two
sexes is remarkable. This very indecorous phasis of
all idolatry, and of most false religious theories, is
extremely ancient, and divinely prohibited.! City
of Bomulus!
“ Quam felix esses,—ne Baccha sacra videres /”
How happy hadst thou never seen these rites !*
* Anarcharsis; vol. 2. pp. 37, 38. f Dent. xxii. 5.
% Ovid. Met. lib. iii. v. 517, 8.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PLAGUE AT MALTA.—ANCIENT PLAGUES.—ORIGIN OP PLAGUES.—
THE PLAGUE SHIPS FROM EGYPT.—PLAGUE GETS ON SHORE.—
PUBLIC MEASURES.—ANECDOTES.—DEAD-CARTS.—PRIESTS.—REME¬
DY FOR PLAGUE.—THE MISSIONARY RETIRES.—CONCLUDING SUG¬
GESTION.
Of all human calamities, entailed by the fall on
man, the plague is, on every account, the most appal¬
ling. It blights both the root and the branches of
our social affections; it brutalizes the softest natures;
it paralyzes all public measures, impedes every com¬
mercial enterprize, every effort of the artizan and the
cultivator; and, severing the most endeared relations,
and the most sacred ties; inflicts on our race the
frown of God in one of its most fearful exhibitions.
Though many, perhaps all parts of Europe, have
groaned beneath this calamity, its proper locality seems
to he the east. There , from time immemorial, this
“ vial of wrath” has been poured out on man, this
“ noisome pestilence hath walked at noon day.” Few
terms occur so frequently in the inspired records as
this; yet the word rendered plague, in Hebrew deber ,
is applied alike to all epidemical and contageous ma¬
ladies. By the penman of the books of Kings, “ pes-
NOTICE OF ANCIENT PLAGUES.
45
tilence and locust” are named together; and every
reader of oriental history may recall to mind, how
much the east has since been the victim of both those
calamities.* Nor can a careful student of the sacred
volume fail to be struck and admonished by the fact,
that God has, in very numerous instances, expressly
commissioned a direful plague, that the impenitent
“ inhabitants might die” of the scourge, or rather,
that the penitent might live.
In the year 250 of the Christian era, a frightful
plague fell upon the entire Roman empire, and for
fifteen years spread death on every side. It began in
Ethiopia, but extended even to Britain. In 542,
another originated in Egypt, and extended its pes¬
tilent ravages over almost the whole world, the Roman
world at least. This is noticed by Gibbon.f In
the year 558 it revived and continued not less than
fifty years. There was another of these awful visi¬
tations in Asia during the year 1006, which lasted
three entire years. Italy has not escaped: in the
eventful year 1350, that land suffered so fearfully
from this cause, that, it is said, “ scarce ten of a
thousand survived.” It is perhaps not easy to call up
before the mind events like these, without recurring
to a prophetic record. “ I looked, and behold a pale
horse; and the name of him that sat on him was
Death; and Hades followed with him: and power
was given unto them over the fourth part of the
earth.”!
* 1 Kings, viii. 37. f Decline and Fall; ch. 43, p. 751; note-
t Rev. vi 8.
46
ORIGIN OF THE PLAGUE.
“ ./Ethiopia and Egypt,” says the learned author
of the Decline and Fall*, “ have been stigmatized in
every age, as the original source and seminary of the
plague. In a damp, hot, stagnating air, this African
fever is generated from the putrefaction of animal
substances, and especially from the swarms of locusts,
not less destructive to mankind in their death than in
their lives. The fatal disease, which depopulated
the earth in the time of Justinian and his successors,
first appeared in the neighbourhood of Pelusium,
between the Serbonian bog and the eastern channel
of the Nile. From thence traceing, as it were, a
double path, it spread to the east, over Syria, Persia,
and the Indies, and penetrated to the west, along
the coast of Africa, and over the continent of Europe.”
In a note, Gibbon has the following remark, in refe¬
rence to the appalling plague of Athens: “ Thucydides
affirms, that the infection could only be once taken;
but Evagrius, who had family experience of the
plague, observes, that some persons who had escaped,
sank under the second attack; and this repetition is
confirmed by Eabius Paulinus, p. 588.” “ I observe,”
adds Gibbon, “ that on this head physicians are divi¬
ded.” It may not be irrelevant to add here the fact,
that I had a servant at Malta in 1821, who took the
plague no less than three times.
The reader has seen to what origin Gibbon traces
this fearful malady, “ the putrefaction of animal sub¬
stances;” but I find that Boyle and other men of
deep research'attribute it to the poisonous exhalations
* Gibbon, ch. 43; p. 750. Edit. Loud. 1830.
FREQUENT PLAGUE AT MALTA.
47
from minerals, as orpiment, sandarac, white arsenic
and similar substances, which, lying near the surface,
give out their effluvia every summer. Thus, they
say, in Egypt, where these exhalations are suddenly
checked by the rise of the Nile; but in other places
these minerals lie deeper in the earth, and therefore
cannot emit their noxious effluvia, unless the localities
be shaken by an earthquake.
In a small Italian work now before me, by a Mal¬
tese of very respectable talents, named Michallef, not
less than three plagues are said to have visited Malta;
but il Signor Conte Ciantar* names four. The first
of these occurred under the grandmaster Hugues de
Loubens de Yerdala, in 1592, about the time when
that fiery corsair, Biserta, sailed from the Barbary
coast, and, making a descent on the sister isle of Gozo,
five miles only from Malta, sacked Babbato the
chief town. It might be thought that this African
freebooter brought the plague with him; but it is
easily traced to another source. In that year, four
gallies pertaining to the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
touched at the port of Malta for pilots versed in the
Levant seas. Proceeding towards Alexandria, this
squadron made prize of a ship, and a galley laden
with rice and flax, which but a few days previously
had sailed out of the port of that Egyptian city, bound
for Constantinople, and having on board a hundred
and fifty Turks. These prizes the victors brought
* Malta Illustrata. Pronounce Chantar. A fifth, since Ciantar’s
death, comes down to the era of our mission. This the reader will find
noticed in its turn.
48
ITS APPALLING RAVAGES,
back with them to Malta, and with them the plague
which was raging in Alexandria at the moment these
Othomans left it.
Malta was again visited by this distressful malady
during the grandmastership of Anthony de Paula, in
1623, The disease first appeared in the house of
Paolo Emilio Ramado, a guardian or health officer;
but happily was soon subdued after a loss, Michallef
says, of forty persons, but a gentleman I knew in
Malta, author of a work on the plague of 1813, says
“ forty-five.* In 1633, this disease once more ap¬
peared. The occupant of a house over Marina gate,
contracted the malady by boarding one of the Levant
ships, lying at anchor close by. From him it travel¬
led to a sister, residing at Zeitun, about four miles
out of Valletta, and finally attacked the whole family.
But this visit, too, was short, and the victims only
twenty-one.
The next visit was truly appalling—it carried off, in
the short space of seven months, no less than 11,300
victims! This was in 1660, under the celebrated
grandmaster Nicholas Cotoner, who erected fort
Ricasoli on the left of the entrance to the grand har¬
bour of Valletta, and constructed that prodigious for¬
tification now called “ the Cottoneras,” and used, I
believe, as a store for powder. The disease began in
the house of Matteo Bonici, a shopkeeper. His child
dying, neighbours came in to condole with him, and
soon conveyed the insidious disorder to the bosom of
* The History of the Plague &c. by J. D. Tully Esq., Surgeon to the
Forces, &c. &c. Longman, 1821.
LAST PLAGUE AT MALTA.
49
their own families. The grandmaster had the infec¬
ted transported to the Lazzaretto, with such of their
effects as were deemed susceptible of conveying the
pest. It was on this occasion we find the infancy
of an institution, now so complete,—the Lazzaretto of
the present day, on a small isle in one of the har¬
bours ; for there Nicholas Cotoner had some apart¬
ments erected for the hapless persons who had been
attacked; but, after the disease had spread, the whole
of the suspected were embarked on vessels anchored
in the Marsamuscetto harbour, the one in which all
suspected ships at this day ride out their quarantine,
save those of her majesty, which are permitted,
generally, to ride off Coradino in the grand harbour.
Not to enlarge on this heart rending visitation, I only
repeat, that all the arts of an anxious government
failed to arrest the appalling scourge, until, in men,
women and children, it had swept to a hasty tomb, a
common receptacle, 11,300 natives !
But the visitation I shall more fully describe, is
that, which depopulated the island of Malta, after
the London Missionary Society had selected it, pro
tempore at least, as a missionary station. It was
during this awful calamity, that one of my predeces¬
sors, the Bev. Bezaleel Bloomfield, left this world of
sorrow for a better. This fearful pestilence paid its
visit to Malta in 1813.
Fenced about as the island had been, by its even
then superior quarantine regulations, a fatal security
in the public mind had perhaps occasioned some
laxity in the administration of the sanitary depart-
50
IS BROUGHT FROM EGYPT.
ment. At this eventful period the plague was abso¬
lutely raging in all corners of the Levant, and nu¬
merous heads of families in Malta felt the most
painful apprehensions for the safety of those who
were dear to them as their own lives.
At length, on the fatal 28th of March, 1813, the
San Nicola, a mercantile craft from Alexandria in
Egypt, bearing the British flag, furled her pest-laden
sails in the waters of Malta. This event forthwith
excited the most trembling anxieties, both of the
natives and the authorities. Not that the mere fact
of a plague ship’s arrival is in itself so fearful an
event, for during my stay in Malta we had the pla¬
gue repeatedly in the Lazaretto, and on the very day
I quitted the island I sailed close astern of a vessel
with the plague on board, which had commenced its
ravages among the devoted crew. But at the period
I have named, the quarantine arrangements were far
less secure than in the present day.
During the voyage of the San Nicola from Egypt,
two of her crew had sickened and died; and on board
the Nancy, which reached Malta on the same
day, two men had exhibited violent symptoms on
the voyage, and were still infected. The Bella
Maria, from the same place, also arrived, having
lost one man of plague even prior to quitting Egypt.
To all these vessels the British consul at Alex¬
andria had supplied foul bills of health.
Not many days after the arrival of the San Nicola,
her captain fell ill of the disease. The day follow¬
ing, a poor seaman who attended him, exhibited simi-
THE FIRST CASES OF PLAGUE.
51
lar symptoms; and on the 7th of April both these
victims expired, after all the usual fever, bile,
tumours and delirium of this appalling calamity.
After the Government had sent back the pest ship
to Egypt, under her majesty’s brig, the Badger, as an
escort, the public mind appears to have been somewhat
tranquilized; and yet, with fatal insidiousness, this al¬
most resistless epidemic was meantime working its
way into all parts of Valletta, the capital of Malta, in
consequence, as I often heard the natives say, of some
leathers having been furtively conveyed from the San
Nicola to the abode of a native calzolaio, or shoe¬
maker, named Salvator Borge.
The first assault of the plague on shore seems to
have been on the unsuspecting daughter of the cal¬
zolaio, who resided in the street named Strada San
Paolo, or St. Paul’s-street, where my predecessor,
and afterwards myself, resided for several years.
This hapless girl first felt the attack on the 16th of
April: the symptoms were of a violent character,
and in a few days death closed her sufferings. It is
singular that little suspicion seems to have been
generally felt as to the real cause of this girl’s de¬
cease ; since over her body the usual rites of the
papal church were duly performed, and the funeral
was conducted in the usual manner. All who die in
Malta must be interred the next day, to avoid that
peril which, in a climate so extremely hot, would
inevitably result from delay; and I have been in¬
formed by the physicians, that every corpse is opened
prior to interment, to ascertain the probable cause of
death.
E
52 UNIVERSAL CONSTERNATION.
Not many hours after the death of the shoemaker’s
daughter, his wife began to complain of pain in the
groins, and, in fact, soon presented all the other
appalling symptoms of plague: sickness, vomiting,
violent pains in the head, vertigo, sallowness, and
restlessness. It was her symptoms that first opened
the eyes of the medical advisers, as to the fearful
fact that the plague was actually on shore. After
her death, an examination of the body gave melan¬
choly corroboration to previous apprehensions. She
died on the day of attack, and the presence of livid
spots over the body, tumours in the groins, the axillae,
and under the hams, furnished hut too unequivocal
proofs of the cause.
“ This event,” to cite the language of Dr. Tully,
“ had scarcely occurred, when the shoemaker him¬
self was taken ill; upon the knowledge of which, and
the general suspicion of the nature of the disease,
most of the inhabitants were thrown into the utmost
consternation; alarm spread itself everywhere, and
flight was not only meditated, but in numerous in¬
stances carried into effect. The streets and roads
were crowded with carts, conveying the baggage of
families hurrying to the interior; whilst the seafaring
people were betaking themselves to their ships.
Those accustomed to similar scenes in the Levant, as
well as the English generally, and the most prudent
part of the natives, shut themselves up within their
respective residences.”*
The local government forthwith issued a procla-
History of the Plague, &c., by J. T. Tully, Esq., p. 40, 41.
SINGULAR PLAGUE ANECDOTE.
53
mation, ordering all places of public resort, the
courts, the theatre, and the schools to be closed, and
placed under a strict medical surveillance. Fear, in
all endemics, seems, by some mysterious law of our
nature, to foster the seeds of death; and now the
plague began to appear on all hands ; it fled with the
fugitives, and staid with the more daring. I believe
it was in Thornton’s Turkey that I met with a fact,
which may not be here out of place.
An English lady at Constantinople, during one of
the plague visits to that city, became alarmingly in¬
disposed. By another British lady, her friend, the
invalid was carefully nursed till death released her.
After her interment the lady returned to her friends,
not at all suspecting that she had been nursing a
patient infected with plague. Some time subse¬
quently she made a call at the house of a friend.
“ What a melancholy thing,” remarked the visited
lady, 44 that our friend, Mrs. N., should have died of
plague! ” “ Plague ! ” was the reply of the astounded
visitor;— 44 plague ! it was not plague she died of.”
44 Indeed it was; were you not apprised of the fact 4 ?”
The lady went home in great agitation ; and in a few
days sickened and died of the plague. To fear,
surely to fear alone, must one attribute her singular
death. A strong, fearless nerve seems, generally, to
bid defiance to' this most insidious of diseases.
At length the plague prevailed so extensively,
that government deemed it expedient to make some
uncommon regulations. Under penalty of death,
every head of a family was enjoined to make to a
e 2
54
PUBLIC MEASURES.
board of health, then established, a veracious report
of the slightest symptoms of plague, and of all sus¬
picious ailments in their respective households. If
any person under attack of plague, above a specified
age, knowingly concealed the fact, such concealment
was made a capital offence.
A lady in Malta one day shewed me a door, close
by Fort St. Elmo, perforated with bullets, and gave
me the following explanation :— 44 During the plague,
certain carts perambulated the city every day, dis¬
tributing bread to the several houses. The inmates
let down from their upper windows a bucket, and
into this the loaves were placed and drawn up, to
avoid all contact with individuals who were at large.
Near this door was a man, erect in a bread cart, and
in the act of distribution; when he was observed to
move his shoulders convulsively, an indication, well
understood, that plague was upon him. By a sen¬
tinel, or some other official near, the poor fellow 7 was
ordered to stand still, when he was immediately shot
dead on the spot, and this door was perforated by
the balls.”
The natives were now dying in terrific numbers.
One district of Valletta, which was frequently visited
afterwards by my late wife to get at the poor, was
almost completely depopulated. This is a low portion
of the city, styled the Manderaggio. It is probable
that the pent atmosphere of this place, which is very
extensive, confined, and populous, fearfully favoured
the infection; and I have often asked myself why
the authorities, by whom the most commendable re-
INTERMENT OF THE DEAD.
55
gard is ever paid to the general health, have not long
ago opened the Manderaggio to the admission of a
larger amount of air, and swept off some of the
houses to improve the rest. No city of the Levant
can at all compete with Valletta for space and clean¬
liness ; but this portion of it is, to all intents and
purposes, a purlieu among peristyles, a Cretan
labyrinth with the pest for its minotaur.
The dead-carts perambulated the city daily, to re¬
ceive the humbled remnants of mortality from each
afflicted house, and these, “ unknelled, uncoffined”
were all cast into a common grave. Over the bodies
was strewed a quantity of lime, to accelerate their
decomposition. At all times the Maltese inter with¬
out coffins, and in general cast into the grave a small
portion of lime. The difference during the pest was
a common grave and & freer use of lime.
The dead-carts were served by what are styled
“ forzati,” that is, persons condemned for various
crimes to wear a chain and sweep the city daily. On
condition that these unfortunates would run all the
hazards of daily contact with the dead and infected,
they were promised liberty when the plague should
cease. These men were dressed in long, loose, can¬
vas frocks, a sort of rude tunic, thoroughly saturated
with oil; and to cast the body into and from the carts,
made use of pitchforks. I have often heard that
some of these lazzaroni subsequently left Malta for
Barbary and Egypt with thousands of dollars, gold
and silver vessels, trinkets and precious stones,
amassed by them during their frightful service, in
56 PRIESTLY ATTENTION TO THE DYING.
houses which had been completely untenanted by the
pest, or in the rooms of others where death had so
far removed, observers as to favour nefarious arts.
It has even been surmised that an assassin’s hand
occasionally despatched the remaining member of a
family, perhaps defenceless by disease, in order to
cover the deeds of the ruthless marauders.
Both in houses and in the streets the priests had
their hands full of work, and generally, I have heard,
risked their life to attend to the dying. To ad¬
minister the host, “ l’ostia,” as they style the wafer,
mistakenly given as the passport of death and the
talisman of the soul, the priesthood made use of a
long pair of tongs, somewhat resembling those of an
English smith. I have seen, in the studio of a Mal¬
tese artist, Pietro Paolo Caruana, a protege of his
Excellency the late Sir Thomas Maitland, by whose
energetic and severe, yet salutary arrangements
as governor of the island, this appalling pestilence
was arrested, a heartrending picture, in oil, of the
plague I am describing, in which he represents,
among other characterists of this visitation, a priest
handing to a dying female in the street, with the
above-named instrument, this last specific of the
Boman pale. The length of the instrument, by pre¬
cluding the need of contact, was a sort of safeguard
to the priest. Caruana’s painting I should, were my
opinion of any worth, pronounce a superior produc¬
tion, though by no means un capo d'opera.
I have spoken of oil as a preventative of in¬
fection, and since I wish to render these pages of
ANECDOTE ON THE USE OF OIL.
57
practical utility to such as may visit plague countries,
the reader will allow me to add the following anec¬
dote from “ Political Reflections relative to Egypt,”
published about the year 1811.*
“My opposite neighbour being at his window,
looked afflicted. I asked him what ailed him. A
young man in the same building, he said, was struck
with plague. 4 Anoint him with oil,' said 1. He
neglected it. The third day I saw him again. He
was crying. 4 What is the matter with you is
your relation dead 4 ?’ 4 No, but lie’s dying.’ 4 Anoint
him with oil,’ I said to him again. 4 What do you
risk % ’ Oil is heating,’ he replied. Heating or
cooling,’ I said, 4 would you have the man die ? try
it.’ He did so. The next day the man was free from
pain, with a large tumour in the groin and a good
appetite, but perfectly easy. I ordered him to
moisten the tumor with oil frequently. In eight
days it came to a suppuration, and soon after the
man was walking in the streets. Many followed his
example, and were cured.”
Our brother missionary, the late Bezaleel Bloom¬
field, fled from Valletta to a cazal or village, in the
interior ;—I think it was Bircharchara, a very popu¬
lous place, and crammed by an increase of two or
three thousand fugitives from Valletta. It was now
the heat of May, when the thermometer of Malta
usually ranges between 80 and 90 degrees for some
ten of the twenty-four hours. This led the natives
to hope that the excessive heat might mitigate the
* I cite from the Universal Mag. for 1811, p. 408.
58
HEARTRENDING SCENES.
horrors of the scene. Certain it is, that a transition
either from cold to heat, or the reverse, will super¬
induce a check to plague ; but the hopes of the Mal¬
tese were grievously disappointed—the malady fear¬
fully advanced, and hundreds were speedily swept
into eternity. On all hands were heard lamentation
and w r eeping, 44 Kachel mourning for her children, and
refusing to be comforted.” Most heartrending it
was, to see the brother frantic by the death couch of
a beloved sister; the parent wringing her hands over
the livid corps of a dear infant, whose smiles had just
been exchanged for the sallow placidity of death; the
neighbour half phrenzied, half appalled, too see his
next door friend cast yet warm, and oh, how changed!
into the rumbling dead-cart; to see many a young
maiden and many a youth exhibiting the anguish
that said, 44 lover and friend hast thou put away from
me, and mine acquaintance into darknesswhile
from the doors and windows of house after house
might be heard the most sickening wails, as a yet
living, yet sensative, but infected, or at all events
suspected inmate of the family prepared to obey the
fearful order of the attending physician— 44 Come
down to the Lazaretto ; you are ill of the plague.”
One English medical man has been occasionally
named to me in Malta, who either during or soon
after the pest quitted that island for the Ionian Isles.
44 Well for him,” they have said, 44 that he left us ; and
should he ever return it will be his last visit. Many
of our friends did that gentleman order down to the
Lazaretto, who were at the time as free from plague
SCENES IN THE LAZARETTO.
59
as himself; but they could not long hope to remain
so, for almost all that went to the Lazzaretto returned
no more to their homes.” Yet, I hope their charge
of needless severity against that gentleman might be
proved groundless. To err is human, and anxiety
for the general safety might palliate seeming severity.
Yet, that it was most desirable not to multiply need¬
lessly the hapless inmates of the Lazaretto, which
flanks Fort Manuele, is most obvious, both from the
mournful statements made to me by my servant, who
was then a plague patient there, and from the follow¬
ing citation from Dr. Tully.
“ Unhappily, towards the latter end of June, the
hospital of the Lazaretto was incapable of admitting
more inmates; consequently all those subsequently
attacked, so long as there was space left at Fort
Manuele, were received at that establishment, which,
in a very short time, changed its general aspect, and
became the focus of disease. Here, the sick of
both sexes, and of all ages, together with the sus¬
pected, were hourly crowding; and the scenes of
terror, disease, and mortality, can better be imagined
than described. Increasing mortality and the dread
of want produced the most distressing feelings
amongst every class of inhabitants, heightened by
the hourly passing of the dead cart, driving with all
the rapidity that its encumbered state would permit.
These scenes were not confined to any particular part
of the town or its suburbs, but alike extended to
every street, lane, and alley; the transfer of the sick,
the dying, the dead, and the suspected, being an
60
ON THE MEDIUM OF INFECTION.
hourly occurrence, and an object of constant contem¬
plation. Alarm every where prevailed. Self pre¬
servation was the only acknowledged law, and all
alike dreaded their fellow creatures.”*
To these fearful scenes, so exact a parallel to those
painted by Thucidides, in his account of that appalling
plague, which happened during the second year of
the Peloponnesian war, before Christ 430, the words
of that celebrated historian are too fitly adapted;
u el’re o/3e-
0 wtcito 9.” As poor Lambrinos concluded this learned
252
POPULATION.
speech, he looked vastly consequential, as feeling
himself a descendant of Diomedes; and I think I
said some kind thing about his island ; for why take
umbrage at a harmless love of country, or to hear
the Italian artist exclaim, 44 anche io son pittore
Mis. 44 What population in Melos 4 ?”
Lamb. 44 About 2,000:—but, O dear! I beg you
will speak for me to the captain, to take me onboard
as schoolmaster. I’ll teach Greek to the officers.
I’m a pupil of Yamvas. If you speak a word, I’m
sure to succeed.”
To have so vast an amount of credit for influence
in the British navy, naturally called up a smile on
the lips of a simple missionary; but at all events
I promised to do my best for the poor Meliot. In
short, Lambrinos was forthwith installed as modern
Greek professor on board the Cambrian; and when
his boat put to shore minus himself, how agitated,
how pale, yet how glad was this child of Diomedes,
the 44 terrible sage!” Some years after this I again
fell in with Lambrinos: he was then dressed in the
Frank costume, and had served as Greek Dominie in
different British vessels.
As by the term 44 Gentile ” we understand any man
except a Jew, so by 44 Frank ” the reader must under¬
stand any inhabitant of Europe, save a Turk or
Greek. The natives of the Ionian isles I have
heard Greeks of the Morea style half-franks, 0/>ay-
yofjLepiTai , as having in their veins so much of the
blood of Genoa and Venice. It was near Argos
that I first heard this epithet contemptuously applied.
USELESS MONASTERIES.
253
I was among four or five hundred rude soldiers ; our
discourse turned on a foul deed just perpetrated, and
the Peloponnesians, anxious to avoid the stigma, told
me “ not to think a true Greek capable of such base¬
ness, for that it was unquestionably the deed of some
half-frank of the Ionian isles.”
Most unfortunately for Melos, the island is op¬
pressed by useless monasteries; but it is hoped that
a considerate and intelligent government will sweep
away these hives of sanctimonious drones, and con¬
vert the twelve monasteries into lyceums for train¬
ing the Meliot youth. Besides the monasteries,
there exist about fifteen churches. My Meliot friend
estimated the population at 2,000; but I should
rather state it at three. The bishop of Melos has
ample revenues. The Latin church had formerly a
convent here ; but at present, it seems, the entire
population belong to the Greek communion. To the
active mind of a protestant missionary, more anxious
to give the Bible than the monastery, more bent to
spread Christian education and intelligent piety, than
to fix the vacant stare of ignorance upon the semi-
pagan pageantry of the mass; Melos presents claims
to notice: she wants schools, elementary books for
youth, the Bible, and some zealous men of Paul’s
spirit, men “determined to know nothing save Jesus
Christ, and him crucified! ”
The Meliots are as fine a race as the rest of the
Greeks, but the education of the females is there, as
elsewhere, altogether neglected. The language is
Greek, in a state of greater corruption than in some
254
PRODUCE AND COSTUME.
other portions of the country, but it is similar to that
spoken in the other isles of the Archipelago. The
books prepared for Melos must, therefore, be the same
as for the rest of Greece; nor has the missionary or
tourist any additional language to learn, before he can
interchange thoughts with the natives. Though this
island, like the rest, is extremely rocky, it yet pro¬
duces abundance of melons, cotton, barley, grain,
leguminous plants, figs, olives, grapes, and citrons.
The houses are good, of a dark stone, and the fields
present a vernal aspect; but the costume of the in¬
habitants does no honour either to taste or to art,
either to the noble bearing of the male, or the softer
attractions of the female.
As this was chiefly a tour of investigation , the mis¬
sionary results are here given but briefly. In nearly
all the Cyclades and Sporades, schools are now in
operation. The details of the present tour are de¬
signed in part for general readers. How, indeed,
could a traveller range among islands classically in¬
teresting, without occasionally touching on topics dear
to every reader of Homer and Herodotus'?—and
who but a Yandal would wish only for missionary
detail, though dear as a pious mother’s blessing %
Quitting Melos, we encountered, in “ these ever
calm waters,” a sudden and most severe squall. The
Aegean is a treacherous friend, bland but insidious.
The next island we approached was Spetsia; and here,
after thanking Captain Hamilton for his politeness,
I quitted the Cambrian for a tour among the adjacent
isles, and on the continent of Greece. Here began
LANDING AT SPETSIA.
255
those solitary wanderings in a land of strangers,
a land of battle and of blood, a land for which
Greek and Turk were, at this very time, most
fiercely contending; — whose details will occupy,
and I hope reward, the reader’s attention for some
time. The Cambrian I never saw more; she was
wrecked on the island of Crete, and in her our navy
lost a splendid frigate, but her talented commander
lost none of his honour. A few years previously, we
lost the Columbine near the very island I had now
landed on; and I think I one day saw some of her
guns. I know at least that the natives of the Aegean
did fish up some of them. Alas! in the Columbine
I had a young friend, an officer, Mr. Robinson. This
gentleman and the Italian master alone perished with
the ship. Mr. R. ran below for a bag of dollars
after she had struck, and while there she filled!
The brave young officer was never again seen.
It was getting night when I landed at Spetsia.
The Turkish squadron had just been seen in those
waters, and as the Cambrian was taken for a Turk,
I was in the utmost danger of assassination the
moment I set foot ashore. Three hundred eyes, and
three hundred more, flashed fire upon me. But when
I pointed to my boxes, and stated the benevolent
object I had in view, their hands let go the grasped
yatagan. I was the first to jump ashore.
After such a scene, such an ordeal as made my
heart tremble, I was taken into the KayyeKapia or
town-hall, and, by a small rushlight, letters which I
had brought from Captain Hamilton were read to
256
NATIVE HOSPITALITY.
the crowd by a venerable priest. I was now no
longer an object of mistrust, but a welcome guest.
The priest formally put this question; 44 Who will
give a lodging to the stranger T’ An old man about
sixty forthwith replied; 44 1 will.” With this worthy
veteran I went home, and in the bosom of his family
I lived ten days, enjoying the sacred rights of hospi¬
tality. Rites I should prefer to style them; for what
claim had I, save that I was a helpless wanderer ?
I shall never forget the first night I passed be¬
neath the friendly roof of old Santos; such was the
name of mine host. He introduced me to his son,
his nephew, and even to his wife and daughter. It
was the former who said, when Santos introduced
me as an English priest, 44 impossible, he has no
beard!”
We supped on some fish half broiled, sopped in
oil, some good bread and some decent wine. After
this the ladies retired to their apartment, and Santos,
his son, and myself, had some general conversation.
At last old Santos retiring, left the son and myself
to sleep in the room where we were sitting, on the
divan.
I blush to add what follows, I blush to say that,
from ignorance of the real character and intentions of
my new friends, I really did expect that night to
have been murdered. And why*? My reply will
scarcely justify my fears. I saw that when my half-
civilised island companion, a warrior about twenty-
five, was disrobing for the night, he drew from his
girdle the long knife he had used at supper, and
THE YOUNG ISLANDER.
257
placed it carefully on a table, close to the mattrass
on which I was to sleep! Now, I own I did not
like this. I had already laid myself down, and I
watched with eagle eye every movement of Capitan
Anthreas,—such were the young warrior’s style and
name. The knife looked ominous. “ Yet,” thought
I, “ surely they will not murder a poor defenceless
stranger. Shepherd of Israel, who neither slum-
berest nor sleepest! I commend myself to thee.”
The young islander next took off his girdle, his
yeleki, or jacket, his slippers, and other parts of his
dress, and advancing to a lamp, that cast a gloomy,
flickering light on a picture of Panagia, or the virgin,
he began his evening prayers. For about three or four
minutes he half whispered the vespers of his church,
at the same time repeatedly making what the Greeks
strangely style geravoicu, or repentances. And what,
in the language of poor modern Greece, is a repent¬
ance ?—an inclination of the body to or towards the
ground; a bending it forward at least half way to
the earth. Such is the havoc that monastic imbe¬
cility has made with the meaning of the scripture
term gei-avoid, which imports a change of mind, a
change from evil to good. During these repeated
inclinations, my compagnon de nuit crossed himself
as often and as earnestly, as though his salvation de¬
pended on that one act of puerile devotion. Captain
Anthreas next took a long pull at a jar of water, and
then throwing himself on the divan close by me,
seemed to fall asleep.
My eye meantime often turned woefully to the
258
ARCHITECTURE OF SPETSIA.
sheathless cutlass that lay on the table. Would it
had been at the bottom of the Aegean sea! 44 Here
I am,” thought I, 44 unprotected save by heaven, re¬
posing by the side of an island warrior, of whose
moral principles I know precisely nothing. That
knife ! that cutlass! those ominous weapons that hang
around the walls!” Well; I resigned myself to the
safeguard of the divine shield, and tried to repose;
but I think I often said with Job, 44 when shall I arise,
and the night be gone % I am full of tossing to and
fro, until the dawning of the day.”
My truant thoughts glanced to Malta;—my wife,
my children, my friends, my affairs: then to Eng¬
land,—my kindred, my youthful days; then to the
great affairs I had in hand,—my future perils, my
hopes; and then, that knife!” At length I sank
into a feverish slumber, and awoke next morning to
tell "my countrymen that my lot had fallen among,
perhaps, the most hospitable natives of the Aegean.
To circulate books, I sojourned for a time in
Spetsia, an island which lies off the promontory of
Athens, and is, I think, the ancient Serphia. It is
small, and seemed to be but thinly peopled. The
town of Spetsia, which mostly skirts the sea, whence
the name of the island is derived, consists of strag¬
gling dwellings, without order, and exhibiting but a
small amount of architectural attractions. The
general style is Yenician, but within one sees a mix¬
ture of Italian and Greek. The ceiling of the apart¬
ments is tastefully painted and gilt. The house I
resided in may be described, as a specimen of the
DWELLINGS AND COSTUME.
259
rest. We entered it by a yard door, bearing no
small resemblance to the back entrance of an English
gentleman’s residence ; and yet this formed the exclu¬
sive passage to the dwelling of my friend Santos,
though he was, for the island, a man of wealth.
Crossing a yard about twenty paces square, on one
side of which stood an apartment, in which the
females worked the loom a la Penelope, we entered
the house properly so called. This consisted of a
lobby, one facade of which was formed of the
yenaikeion or woman’s apartment, and the thalamos;
the other presented a square apartment, half carpeted,
having a divan along the entire upper end. This
served the purposes of sitting and eating room by
day, and bed room at night.
The Spetsiot costume is common to Hydra and
some other islands of the Aegean. It consists of a
cotton shirt, Frank stockings, Greek slippers, dark,
without heels. The i>7ro/ca/uow, or shirt, is fol¬
lowed by the kawfipaKov or drawers. Over these
come Ta ppcLKia or brogues, the least elegant part of
the island costume, and yet used in almost all the
islands of the Archipelago. A close under-vest fol¬
lows the brogues, and over this comes the yeXe/a or
jacket, often sleeveless, generally of some light ma¬
terial, as Salonian silk or stuff, but in winter of
cloth. This vest is partially open and very wide at
the lower end of the sleeves, when it has sleeves; but
of whatever material it consists, it is braided to pro¬
fusion. The loins are always girt with the pretty zone,
s
260
TURKISH SUMPTUARY LAW,
or girdle, while the i\oifjiov avpnraTpiuiTcu !
“ AovXoi v u/isS’ £v Tvpavvuv ;
“ , 'EK^iKr](T£(i)g i] lop a,
“ "E^S'acrfv, ai (piXoi, Tutpa !”
I have often heard this song, the air of which,
quite at the antipodes of the language, is very plain¬
tive. In fact, almost all the airs of Greece are such.
I have six, all martial, yet all in a minor key. The
reader must hear with a prose translation of the lines
just given, till he meet with a better. Each of the
six lines of the Greek stanza presents four iambic
THE YOUNG WARRIOR.
279
feet, and would be pretty were it not vindictive.
My friends! my compatriots !
Slaves how long shall we be,
Of the vile Mousoulmans,
The tyrants of Greece ?
The hour of vengeance,
Friends ! has now arrived.
“ Captain Anthreas,” said I, “ you should not sing
songs on Sunday.”— u Why, afendi 4 ?”— 44 It is wicked.”
— 44 But what must I do .”— 44 Sing psalms.”—
44 But I am not a psalmist; let our priests do that.”—
44 You might, at all events, sing songs on other days,
not on the Sunday .”— 44 No, sir, I must work on other
days, and sing on this .”— 44 On Sunday you ought to
sing psalms and hymns .”— 44 Very well, but if I must
sing, I shall expect your reverence will get up and
dance!” As the young warrior made the last reply,
he smiled in good nature. I own I had not a reply;
at least I find none in my notes. The Bible says,
44 answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be
wise in his own conceit.” But I am not the first
that has been nonplused by a humorist. I had
better occasions for such conversation, as my good-
natured banterer’s repartees required, and those I
hope I did not fail to improve.
During my stay in Spetsia, I had much inter¬
course with the acting bishop, of a most interesting
kind. Before we separated, he also gave me much
valuable information. He begged me to send him
copies of all my books, and in return sent me a present
of wine of Monemvasia, or Malmsey. He also pre¬
sented me with a beautiful copy of the new musical
280
CHURCH MUSIC. RELICS.
notes of the Greek church; and, in a long conver¬
sation we had on sacred airs, in which I freely but
kindly expressed my dislike to the actual singing of
his country, as intolerably nasal, full of most un¬
meaning and unedifying repetitions ; he stated that all
must be reformed; in fact, that the process had
already commenced, and he gave me the following
new terms for so solfaying.
7ca /3 oil yd id ice %o) vrj jea.
d, e, f, g, a, b, c, d.
pa, vou, gha, kee, ke, zo, nee, pa.
I think it was the day after my arrival among
these simple islanders, that old Santos engaged to
show me, as a mark of high confidence and esteem,
a rich casket of relics. I easily saw that the poor
man attached mighty importance to this affair, for he
repeatedly alluded to the feast I was to have, with a
great amount of gravity. At length the casket made
its appearance. The old man first most devoutly
laid it on the table, then stepped back about a yard,
and with his facial muscles expressive at once of vene¬
ration and fear, began crossing himself and bending
half way to the ground. This lasted about half a
minute. He then, with tremulous hands, opened a
rich box, and lifted from it a casket either of solid
gold, or silver-gilt, the former I believe; and yet the
casket was about a foot in length, by eight inches in
width. The material was obviously of great value.
And now were we all allowed an inspection of the
contents. With that I would have dispensed, but at
all events I observed a decorous silence. “ What
MODES OF ANGLING.
281
was within*?”—Reader! I can only reply— bones.
Instead of praising “a hand of St. Jerome,”—“a
shoulder blade of the Baptist”—and 44 a piece of the
very wood of the original cross of Calvary;” I merely
passed a decorous encomium on the precious casket
itself. The day will come when good men, of all
communions, instead of a slavish veneration for the
poor relics of the pious dead, will rather strive to imi¬
tate their virtues. I wonder from what body or
bodies those of Santos came; and it is painful to
reply to oneself, not improbably from that of some pa¬
gan, or of some graceless victim of vice and of crime.
While standing by the sea-side, watching the arts
of a poor fisherman who was angling, I saw him take
a fine fish that floundered and struggled desperately.
44 What is the name of the fish V I asked:—he
kindly replied, 44 Kefalos .”— 44 What dost thou bate
with *?”— 44 With leaven.” Hence I learned that the
Greeks, like the natives of Malta, bate with pounded
bread and other material mixed, such as faded cheese,
or old dried fish. Many a time have I seen the
Maltese bring to the shore about a pound of bread,
bad cheese and spoiled herrings, lay all down on a
stone, take a smaller stone, and so mash the whole to
a paste. The Maltese often, indeed generally, bate
with simple bread and cheese. This Greek fisher¬
man had, I think, only one hook, while those of
Malta invariably fish with two. I have in my eye
at this moment a ship-owner of that island, a short,
thick, hard-faced, odd sort of being, who spent almost
282
SUNDRY CONVERSATIONS.
all his life in angling for mullet by the sea-side.
Early and late might poor Tagliaferro be seen
studying patience.
One day old Tagliaferro gave me a short history of
his life :— 44 I was at first in a monastery. My bro¬
ther was there too. I remained for some time, but
became at length so disgusted with the vile conduct of
the monks, that one day off I ran, and got on board a
ship as a common sailor, without a penny in the
world. By degrees I saved a little; that made more ;
I bought part of a ship. At length I became owner
of an entire mercantile brig, and now I have several.
But the monks shall never have a stiver when I die.
Sad rascals, Signor Wilson—sad rascals !”
While I remained in Santo’s calm little islet, the
natives kept me on my feet almost all day for several
days together, selling my books ; and one day some
three or four came together to purchase, when one of
them turned to me and said, “ Is not Greece a fine
country?”—“ Yes, beautiful .”— 44 And the natives!”
44 The men, very ; but not your females; at least not
handsome in proportion .”— 44 But our handsome wo¬
men don’t come abroad.” I recollect once a French
gentleman made a similar remark to me :— 44 The
females of England who wheel about in carriages are
certainly very handsome; but those on foot are
generally him laides .” I gave little credit to the re¬
mark of my French friend; but, after all, Christian
ladies in Britain have some charms that other nations
equal not,—intelligence and goodness. Whatever
THE CRETAN SCHOOLMASTER.
283
befalls the graces, let them wisely keep to that, and
they will always be lovely. “ A woman that feareth
the Lord, she shall be praised.”
In one day I sold books to the amount of about
nine pounds sterling. The principal books I circu¬
lated among these islanders were the Pilgrim’s Pro¬
gress, the Dairyman’s Daughter, the Young Cottager,
a large Tutor’s Guide, a Treatise on Redemption,
the New Testament, and others.
Standing one morning by the side of an open case
of these books, I saw a man come up, about forty
years old, with a very good-natured face. This indi¬
vidual was accompanied by a number of boys. I
soon found that my visitor was a schoolmaster, and
the lads were his pupils, or as the word ga^gral is
rendered in the New Testament, disciples; for there
it is spoken of the pupils of the adorable teacher of
Christianity. Well, the worthy dominie of Spetsia
laid his hand on one of my books, and the following
dialogue passed between us.
Teacher .—“ What book is this
Missionary .—“ The New Testament.”
T .—“ That book I don’t like.”
M .—“ Why 4 ?—it is a good book.”
T .—“ And yet, you must know, I don’t exactly
like it.”
M .—“ But why, my friend ?”
T .—“ Why !—for a very good reason.” As he
said this he good-naturedly smiled, and I smiled too,
for I fancied it was all badinage. Yet I could not
284
HIS LIVELY CONVERSATION.
imagine what the worthy man was driving at. The
dialogue went on.
Missionary .—“ Pray say why you object to the
New Testament*?”
Teacher .—“ Did not St. Paul write it?”
M .—“ He wrote part of it.”
T .—“ Well; that’s quite enough: you must
know that St. Paul libels my countrymen, and I’m
mortally offended at him.”
M .—“ But how is that ?”
T .—“ Why, I’m not a native of this island; I’m
a Cretan.”
M.—“ Well!”
T .—“ St. Paul has mortally offended me, /me
e(TKavha\i(Te, because he boldly declares that the
Cretans are always liars!”
M .—“ He cites one of your own poets, Menander.”
T .—“ Well, after all, I don’t care: for if St. Paul
says the Cretans are liars, David declares all men
are liars ; so we’re no worse than others.”
After this he called all his disciples; told which
books to purchase; and after each of them had
bought two or three, the worthy Cretan thus ad¬
dressed them. “ Now, boys, go up and kiss the
hand of this stranger, for bringing us these nice
books from England.” As a kiss is not a sign of
servility, but of gratitude, I permitted them to kiss
my hand. Once when I told this anecdote to a
London auditory, I remarked that in idea I was dis¬
posed to transfer that kiss to the hands of British
THE YOUNG SPARTAN.
285
philanthropists, since I was but the almoner of their
bounty—so indeed I felt it, and do so still; and may
our dear brethren in the British churches have all the
honour; or rather let us 44 give God the glory, for we
are sinners.”
Pointing to one of his pupils, as fine a youth as
ever I beheld, about sixteen, my Cretan friend said:
44 Dost thou see this youth ¥’ “ Yes,” said I, gazing
on the fine form and elegant costume of the youth.
44 Well, I am sorry to say he’s a thief!” — 44 I hope
not .”— 44 He is indeed .”— 44 How is that ?”■— 44 Bah!”
replied this facetious Cretan; 44 can’t you understand
me ?—the lad’s a Spartan , and does not that mean a
thief?” There was a general laugh at my simplicity.
After this interesting interview, the master and
pupils left me to other visitors. Till after an awful
change of scenes, I never expect to behold them
again. Farewell, ye good-natured islanders; farewell
till then, and may our meeting be happy.
CHAPTER XIX.
KYRIA BOBOLINA.— COLOCOTRONES.— VICISSITUDES OF GREECE.—
VISITS FROM SPARTANS.—GREEK HOSPITALITY.—PIRACY.—A VISIT
TO THE BISHOP.
During my sojourn in the island of Spetsia, Captain
Santos took me to visit the bearded lady, mentioned
in another part of these pages. I there expressed
my belief that this lady is the celebrated Madame
Bobolina, so signalized by the part she took in the
war of independence, but I am not positive. 44 She
is sick,” said my worthy host, 44 she will die; I want
thee to go and talk to her about her salvation; and
be sure to tell her to give much to the church, e^ei jule t 2,
she has the wherewith.” I staid with this interesting
lady about a quarter of an hour, and endeavoured 44 to
minister to a mind diseased,” by directing her thoughts
to the good Physician.
Her history is singular: she was to Greece what
the maid of Saragossa was to Spain. I have reason
to think her a Hydriot, but her husband was of
Spetsia, and there she resided after his death. At
the commencement of the revolution, this heroine ex¬
hibited an amount of zeal in the cause, that justly
NOTICE OF BOBOLINA.
287
leaves the odour of fame on her memory. Whether
dead or alive, at the time I am writing, is a problem
I cannot solve, but believe she has long since 44 passed
the bourne.” Being a ship-owner, as so many of the
Hydriots and Spetsiots were, and as her brigs, like
the rest of their mercantile navy, could no longer en¬
gage with safety in commercial voyages, after the
war with Turkey had commenced, Kyria Bobolina,
like other private ship-owners, fitted out her vessels
for war.
But her patriotism stayed not here: she, like the
hardy Amazons of her ancestors, buckled on the wea¬
pons of war, accompanied some of her ships, and was,
it is said, at the sacking and pillage of poor Tripo-
litsa, the Turkish capital of the Morea, and the resi¬
dence both of the pasha of Peloponnesus, and of most
of the richest Moslem families. I was at Tripolitsa
soon after the pillage, and the streets seemed yet
streaked with the blood of thirty thousand poor Otho-
mans, who fell on that appalling occasion.
Kyria Bobolina had formed an acquaintance with
Colocotrones, to whose son, Panos, she gave her fair
daughter in the bonds of Hymen. When poor Tri¬
politsa was sacked, it is said that Bobolina was seen
to enter the devoted town on a mule, not mounted
like a lady, but like a bold chevalier; and after find¬
ing her way into the richest families, who loaded her
mule with gold chains, bracelets, coins, and splendid
portions of their wardrobes, to induce her to use her
influence with the infuriated guerillas, and so save
their devoted lives at least, she came forth with these
288
NOTICE OF COLOCOTRONES.
untold treasures. Old Colocotrones meantime was
lading his own mule, or mules; and rich, fearfully
rich, were the spoils of that fell day.
Haying thus brought Colocotrones under the read¬
er’s eye, I may stay a moment to notice him.
This renowned, but singularly erring warrior was,
I believe, born either in Zante or Cefalonia, most
probably in the latter island, whence was addressed
to him a most interesting letter, never yet published,
save in Greek, by my esteemed fellow-traveller,
Mrs. Kennedy, a letter I shall shortly add. He is, I
believe, of noble birth, but during certain family
troubles, he acquired considerable wealth in Zante as
a butcher. Soon after the first sound of the tocsin of
war, he passed over into the Morea, and for a long
time fought most nobly the battles of his country
against her Moslem oppressors. His military fame
was speedily established, and the fortunes of war
placed him high in the scale of rank and of riches.
Subsequently, however, Colocotrones seems to
have lost sight of his country, and to have been par¬
tially blinded by extreme cupidity and love of power.
At last, after king Otho’s enthronement, whom the
Greeks style “’’OOwv 6 Trpwros” poor Colocotrones
was tried for treason, condemned to die, but had his
penalty commuted into twenty years’ imprisonment,
in a fort I once passed, about six miles from Argos.
I will now request thanks of the reader for a sin¬
gular document. Only imagine a British lady, a
daughter of Boadicea, addressing a letter of calm,
dispassionate remonstrance, and in Greek too, to a
LETTER TO COLOCOTRONES.
289
martial descendent of Alcibiades! My fair friend
was assisted in the Greek by a nephew of Sir Neo-
phytos Vamvas of Cefalonia. The address purports
to come from a native, and the original appeared in
one of the Greek newspapers. At the time this
document was given to the public of Greece, the
whole country was absolutely ringing with patriotic
songs in honour of Colocotrones. His errors were at
that period known only to the few.
This address to the sturdy chieftain is from the
talented pen of my excellent friend, just named,
a lady who did much service in the cause of educa¬
tion and of truth, during her long residence in the
Ionian Isles, where her late excellent husband was
on the medical staff. Mrs. K. kindly placed this
paper at my disposal for the present volume. S he
also translated into modern Greek, Mackenzie’s La
Roch, which I printed. The youth of Greece will
long remember her assiduous exertions to see them
trained “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
“ It is said—and I enquire not into the justice of the accusation
—that you are the enemy of your country. I would only from
yourself demand — 4 is this true ?’ You have aided and succoured her
when she began her struggles for liberty, and surely you would
not wish to see her again plunged into that state of misery and
suffering, from which you have attempted to rescue her !
44 You have money and influence—why are not these freely given,
towards accomplishing the glorious work commenced ? Indeed,
should we fail, a most melancholy blank will occur in the pages of
history, which have been so long filled with the degrading accounts
of our past slavery. We cannot, even if we should desire it,
return to what we were before the struggle began: and, if we be
290
LETTER TO COLOCOTRONES.
unsuccessful—annihilation as a nation—as a people—must follow:
or, if any wretched individual escaped from the general wreck, he
must drag on a miserable existence, far from the place which gave
him birth; and his exile must be rendered doubly galling by the
reflection of what might have been his lot, had his countrymen
been unanimous—had they been truly patriotic.
44 The eyes of Europe and America are fixed upon us—and with
no small degree of interest. But while these enlightened and
blessed people sympathize with our sufferings, animate us by
their exhortations, and rejoice in our victories, they must despise
and pity the race, who, at such an awful crisis as the present,
would permit jealousies and rivalries to enter into their councils.
J\Tow we should permanently secure what we have acquired; and
when these plans are put in training, we should seek to extend
our conquests. Were we unanimous, and acting with disinterested
patriotism, those generous individuals who wish to assist us—but
fear our dissensions—would step forth to our help with con¬
fidence. And let not the term 4 individual ’ be despised. Eng¬
land has shewn her good-will towards us, by the exertions her
sons have made, more emphatically than if her Government had
taken part with us.* Taxes would then have been levied, and
must have been paid; but the contributions, personal and pecu¬
niary, are voluntary, and are the more to be valued, since they
have been attended with personal self-denial and sacrifices.
4 4 America has declared in our favour, and has been the first as a
nation to acknowledge our infant independence. She has done
well and justly, in thus acting, for it was toiling war, and per¬
severance, amidst every privation, that gave to her the sweet
reward of liberty, and placed her on that footing, which has made
her great and prosperous as she is. But while we thank her—and
thank each individually—for these expressions of good-will—these
merely, cannot aid us. A mere declaration of our freedom,
cannot make us free ! And are we free ? If we are so, why the
*“The poor Greeks ! And I, as a Greek, was deceived.—Lord Byron
had gone.—Lord Cochrane was expected. The grand Loan was made—
thus I was warranted in the position. Many of the Greeks said afterwards
that the Loan was a great cause of evil.”
EVILS OF DISCORD.
291
oppression which still hangs over my beloved and desolated
country ? A small spot is rescued from the hands of the enemy,
but can we respire freely when we see them so near ? And are
they not exerting themselves to the utmost to subdue—to extir¬
pate us ? Armies are levied—-a fleet is prepared, and a last effort
Avill be made to overwhelm us in one common destruction !* And
what are we doing, w r hilst surrounded by such imminent danger ?
Surely this is not the time for investigation into our individual
rights ; nor the time in which we can put in any claim for prece¬
dence ! I ask not where is Leonidas?—where the heroes who
fought on the plains of Marathon ?—or, where the spirit that ani¬
mated our ancestors at Platea? Alas ! these seem to have been
as dazzling meteors, which have darted across the horizon of our
history, and are to be met with no more. But I do ask—and
with earnestness I would enquire—what spirit of infatuation has
seized us ? Do not past sufferings conspire to teach us ?—Do not
present events warn us ? In a more favoured country than ours
—among a people more enlightened—the struggle for liberty has
failed. And why ? Is it because they loved not liberty ? Is
there a wretch so vile, so degraded, so lost, that he would not
sacrifice his all—himself—for so dear a treasure ? Yes ! liberty
is dear to all, though some have worshipped a phantom. In an
account of one of the most ancient nations, it is most emphatically
recorded : * kv ralg rifiepaig tKUvaiq ovk fjv BacriXavg kv ’I aparfK' ’Avr/p
eica^og to svSrkg kv 6(j)Sa\p,oZg avrov s7roi£i.’f And what was the
consequence ? Confusion and misery ensued. But does not this
bear a parallel with the present state of Greece! and, if it thus
continue, who can tell the result ?
“ I beseech, I implore you, in the character of weeping Greece,
to conquer yourself. Exert a noble generosity. Seek neither the
applause of men, nor yet to be their ruler. Act in accordance
Avith those, who are co-operators for the good of Greece. Let not
the finger of scorn be directed towards us, by the nations sur-
* “ This was too true. Ibrahim Pasha came.—The tragedy was com¬
plete.”
f “ In those days there was no king in Israel: And every man did that
which was right in his own eyes.”
U
292
VICISSITUDES OF OREECE.
rounding. Let not our enemies triumphantly ask—what has become
of our patriotism. Let each one—however high in influence, or
however low—consider himself as composing a member of the
body politic ; and let him be cautious, prudent, and energetic; for
if one member relax or disagree, the whole body must suffer.
“ Were we thus to act, we might, with great hope of success,
entreat the aid of the enlightened and Christian bodies of Europe.
England is bound by certain political relations; and while we
deplore, she cannot violate them. America is not thus bound ;
and she has declared in our favour, but the distance, and many
intervening obstacles, prevent her from sending armies to succour
us. But armies are not wanted. Greece’s liberty should be ef¬
fected by the sons of Greece! Many of our difficulties are pecu¬
niary, and therefore we might apply for pecuniary aid: the hope
of repayment is far distant; but surely the sons of America will
not be backward in imitating the noble example of England, by
raising voluntary contributions. With the money thus acquired,
a regular army might he established, and with the aid of such dis¬
interested Europeans, as have come to assist us, might be
regularly organized, and taught submission to its head.
“ In the plaintive language of an ancient, I would say, ‘ Oh
that this people were wise ! ’ What the result will be, is known
only to the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe: to him I would sub¬
mit our cause ; and humbly hope and pray that he may dispose
your hearts to unanimity, and cause to prosper the counsels of the
rulers.”
The fate of poor Greece is almost without parallel.
How many the changes she has undergone! At
first she rises from obscurest barbarism. Cadmus
brings to the boors of Bceotia and of Helas an im¬
perfect alphabet. It is studied, as Greece is now
again studying her wonderful “ alphabeton.” Gra¬
dually the savages and nomades of Greece, under
the civilizing tendencies of growing knowledge,
became the fathers, and their country the cradle, of
CONQUERED BY THE ROMANS.
293
science. Ages roll on, and leave behind them the
name of a Sophocles, an iEschylus, a Homer, a
Plato, an Alcibiades, a Cimon, a Pericles. Glorious
ages ! but they glide by. Philip and Alexander of
Macedon lay their hand on the land of the free.
Athens and Sparta bow to a yoke not properly
Greek. Still celebrity steps in the train of this fairy
land, and Xenophon can yet record her glories, the
glories of the setting sun.
At length the Homans spread their arms into the
birthland of Demosthenes; the eagle of the eternal
city flutters over Athens, pounces upon her temples,
and Greece ceases to be free! The Romans rule the
fair land for a few ages, and, as Horace sings, “ cap¬
tured Greece takes her victor captive.” The “ molles
artes ” of the classic soil polish even the Roman. In
a little, the Romans and Greeks actually change
names ;—the former call themselves "E Wrjves, and
study the elegant language of Greece; the latter
style themselves 'P iDficuoi, a name used by all until
the revolution of 1821.
About this time the great apostle of the gentiles
finds his way to Greece. I have, with feelings not
to be described, walked in his track between Athens
and Corinth, followed him up to Mars’-hill and stood
on the very rostrum of the court of Areopagus, which
remains to this day. A church was planted in
Greece,—a church that retained its apostolic purity,
till carnal ascetics, light-headed monastics, lucre-
loving hierophants, lordly prelates, and scripture-
u 2
294
VANDAL RULE.
neglecting professors, obscured the glory of the tem¬
ple, and “ ichabod” was read on every marble stone.
In short, “ the candlestick” was removed.
About the third century, Alaric and his Vandal
horde rushed into Greece, and displaced the Eomans.
These were followed, in after ages, by the Venetians
and Genoese, who held poor Greece under a venal
regime for about four hundred years. During this
period, the western patriarch made his encroachments
on the purity and freedom of the Greek church ; and
rancorous and cordial as is the hatred of the Greeks
towards their ci-devant oppressors, the pope gained
over some thousands of the Greeks, especially in
Syra, Tinos, and Peloponnesus.
Last of all came the Moslems. These knights of
the flashing cimeter took Athens about the year
1450. Almost immediately after that, Corinth fell,
and with Corinth all the Peloponnesus. I suppose
it was about this epoch, that this name fell into
dissuetude through all Greece, and the term Morea
supplanted it almost universally. From 1450 till
1821, the Turks firmly retained their iron grasp of
this fair but hapless land.
Sparta, like the rest of Greece, is now availing her¬
self of the blessings of education, and gradually bow¬
ing her stubborn will to the sway of the gospel. This
can conquer where Athens often failed. Yet I can¬
not but record my impression, that Sparta will perhaps
be among the latest portions of Greece in admitting
among her mountain fastnesses the humanising beams
THE SPARTAN YOUTH.
295
of evangelical truth. Always free, or professing her
self so, she has yet to learn that “ when the Son shall
make her free, she will be free indeed.”
One day while in Spetsia, a fine young Spartan
youth came to buy my books. Little did I imagine,
on first perusing the history of Lacedemon, that
divine Providence had destined to me the high honour
of giving into the very hands of her sons the life-
conferring light of revelation. This dear youth
bought of me a New Testament, a Spelling-book, the
Pilgrim’s Progress, and a small treatise on Redemp¬
tion. As I gazed on the boy, and ejaculated heaven’s
blessing upon him and his hardy race, I thought,
“ well; it requires no aid from fancy or memory, to
pronounce you a youth of an elastic and independent
mind.” Ah! how little did Lycurgus divine, that
his distant posterity were to read the production of a
poor persecuted English tinker! And as little did
Bunyan forebode, that the Pilgrim would put on the
Greek costume, and, traversing the snowy mountains
and sunny vales of the classic land, guide her chil¬
dren into the narrow road!
The same day, I think it was, I had a visit from
another, a very celebrated Spartan, who had accom¬
panied one of the Greek vavapy^oi, or admirals, in all
his victorious cruises against the Moslem fleet. “ Are
you a Spartan?” said I.—“ I am, sir.”—“ Then give
me your hand.” The brave palicari placed his hand
in mine. I most heartily shook it, and felt that I
almost revered this child of hoary Lacedemon.
Reader! if you own a heart, you will forgive my
296
DOMESTIC SCENES.
enthusiasm. After my cordial shake of the Spartan’s
hand, a priest who accompanied him said, 44 Bro¬
ther, kiss his hand.” He readily obeyed the priest,
and as he kissed my hand, a young captain present,
smiling, said, 44 That Lacedemonian is a thief T
How easy to get a had name! and how hard to shake
it off!
Before I boarded the Greek fleet, I called on the
admiral, to acquaint him with my intention. He
received me most politely, and promptly assented.
Intending to avail myself of all occasions for effect¬
ing my great object, I made the best possible use of
this call. The admiral’s name is Georgios Kolan-
drutsos. He was a fine, athletic man, about forty-
five ; and had a family, with some Turkish slaves.
With an amount of enthusiasm I should in vain hope
to transmit to paper, Kolandrutsos described to me
some of his recent naval feats against the Othomans.
His face glowed; his voice became sonorous ; his
words flowed with astonishing rapidity ; and his ges¬
ticulations might have induced a cold northern to
imagine the brave admiral under galvanic influence.
I listened with great decorum, yet own that he natu¬
rally threw into his descriptions such a profusion of
nautical terms, that I did not thoroughly understand
him.
Meantime his household were showing me the
usual attentions; and as a detail of these is that of
nearly all visits to a Greek family, I will add some
particulars. On entering, we leave our shoes, gene¬
rally at the edge of the carpet, lay our right hand on
CIVILITIES ON A VISIT.
297
the left breast, bow to the company, say “ /caX
rjjiepa o-as*, good day,” and seat ourselves d la tailor on
the divan. The master of the house pronounces
some compliment;— 44 is happy to see us ; hopes we
are well;” and sometimes adds, “ aa? 7rapaKa\w va
pas dya7rdre, I entreat you to love us.” Meantime
I, as chief visitor, am seated cross-legged next the
master. The lady and daughters are away, but will
soon appear. A servant maid, a paramana, a daugh¬
ter, or the wife, will now step in, bearing a small
tray. On this are placed two or three glasses of
water, a small silver salver containing preserved
limes, pears, peaches, or other fruit, and a few
spoons. The visitors each take, as she politely hands
it round, a little fruit, and drink a little water. How
much better all this than the eternal alcohol of Bri¬
tain !
This discussed, another waiter enters, bearing in
his right hand a string of pipes, perhaps half-a-dozen.
These are each about four or five feet long, made of
cherry stick, with terra cotta bowls. The bowl is
brown, glazed, and often elegantly gilt. The mouth¬
piece is generally amber, sometimes amber and agate.
As I took one of these TGipiroviaa, or chibookis, as
the Greeks style them, the servant presented it with
his right hand, and laying the left on the bosom,
modestly said, f4 rys byieiaGGovf obviously an ellip¬
tical phrase, which I may render, 44 may it do thee
good!”
We now begin a valiant pull at the pipe, but never
spit. The pipe is held in the front of the mouth,
298 „
CUSTOMS IN SMOKING.
and occasionally, not, I think, on this occasion,
small plates of copper are laid on the carpet, in
which, if your hands be tired, you repose the howl as
you smoke. A Greek smoker is the very antipodes
of our taciturn German neighbours, who often hold
about as much conversation as the horses in their
stables. In Greece we puff and talk, and each with
equal ardour. In fact, a pipe without conversation
would be as great an anomaly, as a conversation
without a pipe.
After smoking about ten minutes, in steps, proba¬
bly, the lady of the family, accompanied by an at¬
tendant bearing cups of coffee. These cups are
little larger than half an egg-shell: each is already
filled with coffee, sweet as honey, but without cream
or milk. The cups are of china, and each is placed
in a gold or silver cup, of filigree-work; for they
have no under rim, and cannot be laid down, unless
placed in some species of stand. We now smoke on,
sip one cup, perhaps two, converse, and after, per¬
haps, half an hour, the visit closes. We rise from
the divan, slip on our shoes,—not our cap, for we re¬
tain it on the head,—exchange some friendly words,
and so depart. Such is a Greek visit or call.
During my stay among these kind islanders, I was
invited to the chancery, to hear a debate about a ship
carrying the British flag, which had been chased and
taken by a Greek cruiser, and brought into the Spet-
siot harbour. I found she was a Maltese brig of
about 180 tons, and the captain’s name was, I think,
Azzopardi, a very common name in Malta. The
CHANCERY DEBATE.
*299
captain was there in person, and pleaded hard that
she was not a good prize, and that the brig of war
which boarded and captured her was, in short, a
pirate ! The Greek authorities of Spetsia had con¬
demned her as lawful capture, because she was taken
in the act of conveying a cargo of powder, shot, or
other effects, to their Turkish foes.
I shall not soon forget the appearance of this as¬
sembly, and their very words, though I find them
not in my note book, are still vividly fresh upon my
memory. The apartment we were in was rather
low, and stood on the sea shore. The Greeks as¬
sembled might be about fifty, mostly seated cross-
legged on the ground, and I among them. Their
island costume was striking. Some of them were
dressed in English broad-cloth, though cut up into
Greek articles of dress; and their red caps strangely
contrasted with the produce of the British loom.
The debate was rather angry. Could it fail to re¬
mind me of the contentious scenes of the Iliad and
Odyssey, where the wrathful heroes hotly dispute
about the cutting up of an ox, or the possession of a
captive. 66 111 have Captain Hamilton about your
ears ! said the Maltese captain. “ Captain Hamilton
is our good friend! ’ replied old Procopius, the priest
who read my letters on first landing. His words yet
ring in my ears, and I know not why; “ etvai 6
ko\o 9 txa* (j)[\o9 • he is our good friend." So indeed
he was. That talented officer of the British squadron
stood the friend of Greece, when her numerous foes
among the English made a friend a mighty acqui-
300
GREEK PIRATES.
sition. Still Captain H. must do his duty as an
Englishman, and I rather think the brig was event¬
ually adjudged to be no good prize. This was,
however, in another court.
The poor Greeks appealed to me for my opinion;
hut it became me to stand on neutral ground. One
thing I well know; the merchants of England,—not
all, however,—in the Mediterranean, drove a lucra¬
tive trade with Turkey at this time, in the supply of
munitions of war; but when their vessels were cap¬
tured by Greek letters of marque, why, we had a
powerful squadron to prove, by very striking argu¬
ments, that the prize was not lawful; and thus “ the
prey was taken from the mighty, and the lawful cap¬
tive was delivered,” while 44 piracy! piracy ! ” rang
through England’s press.
I deny not that the waters of Greece, during her
most distressing war of independence, did at times
swarm with pirates. I have occasionally preached
to from sixty to eighty at a time, imprisoned in Fort
Emanuele at Malta. To five or six, who were exiled
to Yan Diemen’s Land, I also gave a letter of intro¬
duction to an English minister of that penal settle¬
ment; and it is possible that they may now have
children in that distant land, who with their descend¬
ants may long remember, with patriotic ardour, that
their fathers were natives of the classic land. Two
of the pirates of Greece committed murder; but only
two that ever I heard of; and they expiated their
crime on the tree. It was one of these, a native of
Parnassus, who composed, after his condemnation,
VISIT TO THE BISHOP.
301
and sang on his way to the gallows, the singular
madrigal I have given in another portion of this
work. Poor Greece! thy foes greatly traduced thee!
I retain to this hour a most vivid recollection of
the pirates I addressed in Fort Emanuele. I see them
at this moment;—their haggard forms, their island
costume, their agitation as I spoke to them on the
grace of Him, who said to the dying thief on the
cross—“ This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”
My heart bled for them.
The Greeks are quite alive to the renown of their
fathers. On visiting Thoux the physician, we had
much conversation on this and more important con¬
cerns, and he kindly presented me with two silver
coins found by himself, one at Sicyon, the other at
Mantinea. I think it was the same day that the
bishop, when we were discussing the expediency of
improvements in the church of Greece,—in her doc¬
trines, her discipline, her mode of singing,—told me
of certain changes in contemplation, and sang me an
air on the old, with another on the new system.
This new system was in the press, and I saw some
of the sheets. Though I felt the condescension of
this simple bishop, yet I honestly expressed to him
my painful impression, that his country had changed
rather the characters than the airs. To explain my
meaning, I then sang, in one of our sweetest sacred
airs, that charming little ode in “No Fiction,” by
Dr. Peed:—
Gentle stranger, fare you well !
Heavenly blessings with you dwell !
302
WANTS OF GREECE.
Blessings such as you impart,
To the orphan’sTbleeding heart.
Gentle stranger, fare you well!
Heavenly blessings with you dwell!”
But, alas! changes in singing are, after all, among
the minor wants of poor Greece. She wants light,
gospel light; she wants guides to point her to Cal¬
vary ; she needs to be taught, by God the Spirit,
that the best melody is the melody of the heart.
Arise, Christians, to her aid.
CHAPTER XX.
THE PORT. —GREEK CUSTOMS. —TURKISH OPPRESSION.—CONVERSA¬
TIONS. — MISSIONARY BOOKS SOLD. — SABBATH PROFANATION.—
ADIEU TO SPETSIA.
On one occasion during my stay at Spetsia, in com¬
pany with a native or two, I paid a visit to the port.
We ascended a Turkish prize that had just been
captured. Her crew, sixty poor creatures, had all
been slain! The battle appeared to have been ap¬
palling ; for her timbers were fearfully battered by
Greek balls. On one vessel that we boarded, my
friends showed me a ball which killed, just where I
was standing, one Turkish slave and two Greeks.
This ball came, of course, from a Moslem gun. My
companions also informed me, that the remnant of
the poor Psarriot nation, that was almost annihilated
by the Turks in a single descent upon their devoted
island, were about to build a town on the Pyreeus,
close to the grave of Themistocles. I also saw several
Turkish prizes, almost entirely dismantled and broken
up for the materials.
While residing with this kind family, I had op-
304
NATIONAL USAGES.
portunities of marking several customs. The mat-
trasses and covers used at night, are carefully folded
up by day, and form a decent looking pile in some
part of the room. If you drink a glass of water, the
person presenting it, bows and says, “ may it do thee
good!” You sneeze, and if a layman, some one ex¬
claims, “ by tela ! health!” but if an ecclesiastic,
“ GWTTjpLa ! salvation” In Malta every sneeze is
followed by “ aviva!” The people of this island
generally commune four times a year; hut all must
first confess, including children at ten years of age.
When a friend or neighbour dies, these islanders do
not plainly tell you so; for instead of saying airwave,
he is dead, they say, l(jvyx a) P^V Are , he is pardoned!
The ancient Greeks used to say, 66 he is gone to
sleep and, as the death of a believer is but a sleep,
our Lord says of the brother of Mary and of Martha,
our friend Lazarus sleepeth.”
When some one in Spetsia used to me the phrase,
“ he is pardoned,” speaking of a death, I very natu¬
rally signified my hope that it might be so, but
solemnly reminded my friend that such language
could not be true of all. If a person yawns, it is
usual to make the cross before the mouth. I well
recollect a scene of this kind in Malta. A priest of
the name of Caravellas, came to visit me, and one of
my dear children was placed in his lap. While there,
it began to gape, when the priest forthwith passed
his hand rapidly from side to side of the child’s
mouth, with something like the agitation of a shuttle.
TURKISH OPPRESSION.
305
44 What art thou at, papas ?” I enquired .— 44 Making
the cross.”—“ What for*? ”— 44 To keep the devil out
of the child’s mouth ; it was gaping! ” The Greek
infants are 44 wrapped in swathing bands,” like the
infant Saviour, so are those of Malta. The latter,
among the poor, are so tightly swathed, that they ac¬
tually look like little mummies, and you may toss
them about like so many moppets. They say that
thus to bind the infant secures the legs, arms, and
body from contortions.
A very intelligent native narrated to me the fol¬
lowing fact, as a sample of poor Greece’s wrongs
under the partial laws of the Othomans. I record it
because of the respectability of my informant, and in
view of what some have stated as the comfortable
position of Greece under the Moslem yoke. 44 They
were quiet,” it has been said—I recollect seeing in a
Greek newspaper this remark: but it was 44 the quiet
of the hare,” that durst not stir in its seat, lest the
hounds should pounce upon it. The law was parted;
the Moslem was the pet; the rajah a pigeon. Oc¬
casionally a Turk would even try his skill as a
marksman by firing at a Greek peasant. I fully be¬
lieve, however, that the existing law, spiritedly and
impartially administered, would have effectually pun¬
ished such remorseless ruffianism; and much real
friendship existed occasionally between Turkish and
Greek families; yet, after all this, such events trans¬
pired as the one I am now to narrate on the authority
of my Spetsiot friend.
306
TURKISH OPPRESSION,
44 A Turk of Crete knocked one night at the door
of a Greek priest. c Papas,’ said the stranger, 4 1 am
travelling, thou must provide me supper; some bread,
a fowl, a few eggs, and some wine.’
Priest 4 But I am a poor man—have a family.
How am I to get them V
Turk. — 4 If it is thy wish not to be slain, I counsel
thee to make few words, and get what I command.’
P. — 4 I’ll do what I can.’ It was all got.
T. — 4 Now I’ve supped, thou must prepare me a
mattress, papas, for I sleep here to-night.’
P. — 4 Then I must sleep on the floor myself.’
Other demands were then made, too revolting to
be described; but refusal was death. 4 If thy life,’
said the Turk, 4 is valued at a single pora, do as I
bid.’ Next morning came.
P. — 4 Afendi, I’ve got coffee and pipes ready.’
T. — 4 Well, papas, I’ve been treated pretty well, I
think; I have had supper, a bed, pipe, coffee; but
I have, of course, a claim on thee for money.’ The
money was paid! ”
Such unprincipled oppression is the more galling
from the fact, as stated to me by a native of this is¬
land, on whose intelligence I place very considerable
reliance, that poor, afflicted Greece ought to have
stood on a footing of greater equality with the rest of
the Athenian empire. True it is, Greece is now in
a new position;—Peloponnesus at least, and some
of the Aegean isles, no longer bow to the Moslems, or
tremble at the flash of the cimeter; but as the rest
VISIT TO A SUFFERER.
307
of Greece may sometime make a noble effort to crush
the Turkish yoke, I will give my Greek informant’s
statement for the possible information of the diplo¬
matic circle. A physician of Spetsia assured me,
that Greece ought never to have been treated as a
conquered province, far less ought she to have en¬
dured such heartless tyranny, as for four hundred
years she groaned under; since she yielded to Turkish
authority and protection as the result of a regular
treaty; and he positively affirmed, that this docu¬
ment actually existed at the time I was in the
Aegean, among the archives of the Patriarchate of
Constantinople ! True or false, no humane mind can
contemplate the ruffianism I have detailed, without
heart-felt aversion to the laws that sanctioned, or the
police that winked at so atrocious a deed.
I was taken by Procopios, my venerable friend, to
visit a tall, comely lady in this very island, who had
been victimised in somewhat the same style. As I
entered her apartment, she raised herself a little
from the divan she was seated upon, and saluting me,
told me how happy she was to see me. Into a
minister’s ear the tale of sorrow is very promptly
poured, for from us the sufferer always exacts sym¬
pathy. We are expected to resemble our adorable
Lord, “ who is touched with the feeling of our
infirmities.” She told me her woeful history, and
then the dialogue between us passed very much as
follows.
Greek Lady .—“ The vile Turks!—what have I
x
308
FORGIVENESS OF WRONGS.
not suffered from their oppression! In person, in
property, every way they have most cruelly used
me.
Missionary .—“All you say is really most afflic¬
tive, but let us thank God that Greece is now likely
to be liberated from the yoke of bondage.”
G.L .—“I wish them anathema— avaOe/ma va r/vai!”
M .—“ Stay, my dear friend; you must not curse
even your enemies. You must pray for the poor
Turks, that God may turn their heart, and make
them better. You must imitate Jesus, who said even
of those who nailed him to the tree, 6 Father, forgive
them, they know not what they do.’ Remember what
Paul says, 4 Render not evil for evil, but overcome
evil with good.’ You must pray for the Turks.”
G. L .—“ What you say is good; you may pray for
them—you are a good man, but we have been so long
enslaved, we are not fit to pray even for ourselves.
We have need to pray that God would improve us,
before we pray for others. And, then, how can we
think of praying for the Turks, after all their vil-
lanies
M .—“I confess there appears something plausible
in what you say; and were I as great a sufferer as
you have been, dear Madame, I fear I might perhaps
feel as you do; hut it would be very wicked.”
“ To pray for our enemies,” is, I have other reason
to fear, a duty little understood by the bulk of the
Greek nation. I recollect one Sabbath-day in Malta,
I was instructing a class of little Greek boys, all
SCHOOL ANECDOTES.
309
about fourteen years of age. I think they were learn¬
ing the 44 Parent’s Guide,” chiefly a translation of
Watts’ First Catechism. This part of Christian doc¬
trine came up, when the young rogues, one and all,
most stoutly insisted that to pray for enemies is not a
duty! A philippic of Demosthenes against the Ma¬
cedonian could hardly have exhibited a more testy
opposition.
While referring to this Greek Sunday-school, I
will mention an anecdote or two. I was one
day standing at the table, receiving the names of
new scholars. Two brothers came up. 44 Well,”
said I to the first, 44 what is your name— 44 Leoni¬
das,” he replied. 44 And yours % ” said I to his bro¬
ther.— 44 Lycurgus,” said he. What an idea! Only
imagine, Leonidas and Lycurgus in a Sunday-school!
Leonidas and Lycurgus under the tuition of an Eng¬
lish missionary! The pupil of an English minister
falling at the pass of Thermopylae, or giving laws to
Sparta! 44 Ah!” I have said, as I thought on those
two dear boys, 44 if your celebrated namesakes had
enjoyed your privileges—had they sat at the feet of
Jesus, what a happy land Lacedemon might have
been!”
The American missionary, Mr. Temple, had a
number of Greek youths under his care, after the
dreadful massacre of Chios. One of these wished to
learn English. Mr. T. gave him a translation of our
Lord’s commission to the disciples, in which were the
words, 44 hiwKere ra 'baifiovia —cast out devils.” The
poor little fellow hammered long and hard at the
x 2
310
SABBATII OCCUPATIONS.
meaning of the verb hiw/cw. What it meant in his own
language he knew very well; but, for the life of him,
he could not determine what it must be in English .
At last, he found out that Iiwkw, was translated in
Italian, by cacciare , and this in English by chase, or
hunt. So up he came at last with the following
translation, “ Jesus said to the disciples, go ye, and
hunt devils.”
I was painfully struck, on the second Sabbath of
my stay among these islanders, to observe the gross
profanation of the Sabbath-day. In fact, England is,
in this respect, with all her faults, an example to the
Christian world. I remember counting when I was
last in Paris, the proportion of closed and open shops;
and I think it may be said, that two in every six stood
wide open for ordinary business, on the day of holy
rest. In Malta the market is, on this day, fuller
than usual. A gentleman of Sicily informed me
that there even the post-office, custom-house, mer¬
chants’ offices, and other public places are plunged
in secular concerns on this day, just as on others.
Yet all these countries profess the law of Christ!
The Greeks of Spetsia heard mass in the morning,
and all was over for the day.
For myself, I trust I endeavoured to improve my
time for the good of the natives. I find by my notes
I had an invitation to dine with the acting bishop of
the island, and that our subject of discourse was on
fasting. Sorry I am to have made no record of
the dialogue. When alone, I felt myself a solitary
wanderer in a far away isle of the Grecian seas.
ON PREACHING CHRIST.
311
On such occasions, I generally turned to singing;
and on this I sang, with that indescribable sort of
melancholy felicity, experienced by sensitive minds
in similar circumstances, away from the green pas¬
tures of the sanctuary, those sweet lines of Addison :
“ When in the sultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountain pant;
To fertile vales and dewy meads,
My weary, wandering steps He leads ;
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.
“ Though in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious, lonely wilds I stray.
Thy presence shall my pains beguile;
The barren wilderness shall smile,
With sudden greens, and herbage crowned,
And streams shall murmur all around ”
Deeply feeling that the island ought to have the
gospel, and regretting that I had not, as elsewhere,
an invitation to preach in any of the churches; I
opened my mind to the venerable priest, Procopios,
when we had some very interesting discourse, much
as follows:—
Missionary .—“ I hope, my dear friend, you will re¬
commend the Holy Scriptures from the pulpit as often
as you can.”
Procopios .—“ But we have scarcely any preaching
at all in the island.”
M. —“ What a pity! The gospel should be preached
to all, my dear sir.”
P . —True ; but I cannot preach, unless I write
312
GREEK PREACHING.
my sermon, and commit it to memory—no easy affair
in Greek.”
Missionary .—But can you not tell the people
something simple and plain about the love of Christ’? ”
Procopios. — 44 That is not quite the way to preach.
The Greeks must have eu^XwrT/a, eloquence; and to
write and get by heart such a sermon is hard work.
I cannot preach properly without writing all. You
may perhaps have heard that I pronounced the
€7TLTa(j)iov \6yov , funeral oration, on the death of
Lord Byron; but, sir, I composed the whole and
committed it to memory first.”
M. — 44 My friend, forgive me, if I think you mis¬
take the true character of preaching. I do not think
you need all this toil.”
P. — 44 But, sir, the people will have eloquence ;
besides, without writing, I cannot talk for half an
hour or an hour—it is no easy matter.”
M. — 44 But let us see: if a man feels deeply that we
are lost sinners, by nature and by practice ;—that God
has pitied our forlorn state ;—that he has sent his dear
Son to save us;—that Jesus died on the tree to atone
for our sins; and that if we repent and believe in him,
in Jesus as mediator, we are saved from the wrath to
come;—I say, if a man, if you, deeply feel these
truths, cannot you speak of them without a book?
Now if you can, what is that but preaching? We
speak that which we do know.”
P .— 44 1 see what you mean.”
M .— 44 1 think, forgive my sincerity—that you do
CONVERSATION WITH A PRIEST.
313
not sufficiently preach Christ and him crucified ; that
you do not explain the death of J esus; that while
you «all allow he died for us, you do not seem to
understand what that admission means; in short
that you do not properly receive the atonement.”
P. —“What you say may be true, but I think
we understand the subject. Christ died for us.
That is a plain statement; but I shall be happy to
hear your ideas explained.”
M. —“ What I fear is this,—that while you grant
that Jesus died for us, you neither understand why
he should die, nor how we are made partakers of the
benefit of his death.”
P. —“ For example.”
M .—“ You know that hia y/na?, for us, is a phrase
capable of a lax explanation; hence we find that the
substitution of Jesus as our victim, is expressed in
the New Testament by two other phrases, hirep rjfiwv
on our behalf, and still more explicitly by, avrl
instead of us ; which means that Jesus suffered death
in our stead el? tov tottov fmwv, in our room or place.
Now it was necessary that Jesus should die, because
sin must be atoned for; justice must be satisfied; that
God may be just to himself while he justifies the
penitent sinner: and we are made partakers of his
death by faith: being justified by faith , we have
peace with*God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The above report presents not, except in respect
to the Greek prepositions, the exact language we
used; but as my notes are full, and my memory, even
to this day, carries some parts of our dialogue not
314
DEPARTURE FROM SPETSIA.
now in my notes; the reader may rely on my having
presented him with a true report of the sense. I
have often reflected on this interview; and I really
do think this worthy old islander received at my lips,
for the first time in his life, a correct view of the
vicarious sacrifice of the cross. Nor this alone ; for
I hope that, as the result of our conversation, he
savingly “received the atonement.” But the Greek
mission has a character all its own; which generally
postpones a knowledge of its saving results “ till
that day.”
At length arrived the day for my departure from
Spetsia. I was bent on a visit to the island of Hy¬
dra, which lay about twenty miles distant. Accor-
cordingly I took leave of my very kind friends, who
“ supplied me,” like Paul, 46 with such things as were
necessary,” and I embarked in an open boat, and a
small one too. During my stay among these islanders,
I had sold, at about one-third the full price, including
the books I gave on board the Greek fleet, 204
Testaments; 80 Pilgrims; 85 Spelling-books; and
about 150 small books of different kinds. For all
these I had drawn about ^20 sterling.
Ye British churches! by you was this 44 grace”
conferred on the sweet isle of Spetsia. I was your
almoner. Yet by me you only paid your debts.
From the learned ancestors of the modern Greeks,
Britain received the writings of a Homer, a Plato, a
Basil; and is repaying, in these latter days, her ancient
obligations. Britain ! art not thou destined, in the
counsels of the Holy One, to dispense the light of
SUCCESS DESIRED.
315
heaven to many a land ? An island “ skilled in
ships” is singled out in scripture as the peculiar
nursling of heaven, and as appointed to illume a large
portion of the moral world. Surely it is my country!
It is this
“ Isle of the ocean; lion of the seas;
Child of the wares, and nursling of the breeze.”
And now, farewell, my venerable Santos, my good
natured humorist, my affectionate mother! As for
thee, dear, simple Lascara! may the holy book I
gave thee for thy bridal-day, lead thee to the throne
of the true bridegroom, in the beautiful house
above! I have sowed in your isle the seed of the
gospel;—and now I pray that God the good s Spirit
may cause fruit to abound, that I may not 44 labour
in vain.” Let but one soul be saved and I am
amply indemnified.
CHAPTER XXI.
VOYAGE FROM SPETSIA.—NAMES OF PLACES.—HYDRA—TOWN.—PORTS.
— NATIVES. — ADMIRAL MIAOULES—COUNT PALMA. — MONASTIC
EFFRONTERY. — DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS. — CHARACTER OF THE
HYDRIOTS.
On the 4th of January, I quitted the island of Spet-
sia for the rocky cliffs of Hydra, lying about twenty
miles to the north-east. Captain Santos put into my
boat a loaf, some Archipelago cheese, and a bottle of
wine. The weather was serene, the sky blue, the
sea calm. The boat was rowed by two islanders,
rather repulsive looking persons, of whom I knew
just nothing at all. Now, in Greece at this time,
as all were warriors, all were armed. Near Nemea,
the site of the celebrated Nemean games, I saw even
the very shepherds in arms. At this period people
did that which was good in their own eyes, and I
have seen human blood flow from the yatagan stroke
of the ruffian kleft or mountain robber. Hence
I too was armed. At Athens I bought my armour
girdle, into which I stuck a brace of small pistols;
but mark me well, I never carried either shot, or
balls, or powder; nor ever once charged my pistols.
In fact, I only wore them in terrorem, or as a
scarecrow.
SUSPICIONS EXCITED.
317
Will the reader blame me for making a display of
my defensive armour to my Aegean boatmen ? At
all events I sat in the centre of the boat, with one of
my appalling weapons of destruction actually in my
hand. The boatmen were armed with cutlasses, and
about five or ten miles from Spetsia I felt alarmed.
One of them drew his cutlass, made a certain sign
with it to his rough companion, and forthwith returned
the weapon to his girdle. He was in front of me;
his companion behind; I therefore forthwith changed
my position, so as to keep an eagle eye on both; and
as I had been eating a little bread and cheese, I kept
the knife I had used open in my hand during the
rest of the voyage, which lasted about nine hours.
Yet I held the knife with a sort of nonchalant air;
for 1 did not wish it to be thought I dreaded them.
The reader will, however, easily perceive that against
two armed islanders, two long cutlasses, my little
knife and empty pop-guns formed but a poor defence.
In fact, I felt my utter helplessness, and that I was
completely a child of providence. But the missionary
is immortal till his work is done, and I felt I could
repose on the protection of heaven.
As we neared the bluff coasts of Hydra, I thought
I discovered a Greek origin of our term shallow. I
said to the boatmen, “had you not better keep an
offing T ’—“ Oh, no!” one of them replied, “ $a ’ 7 ra/>iey
7 ia\o yiaXo; we shall sail close by the shore.”
The term 7 iaXo is pronounced yallo, and is a cor¬
ruption of alyiaXos, the shore; and I still am of opi¬
nion that our term shallow is a cognate of 7 iaXo.
318
ORIGIN OF NAMES.
The classic reader will perhaps remember, that
many of the Aegean isles receive their names from
something in nature. Thus 44 Melos,” an apple;
“ Avgon,” an egg; 44 Hydra,” a dragon; while this
sea itself, was anciently styled the 44 Aegean Pela-
gos” or goat sea, whence, by a corruptive process,
came the modern Archipelago. I allude to this
singular nomenclature, simply because I think I can
explain its origin. I remarked, in sailing about the
Aegean, that its numerous isles, while in the distance,
assume the most grotesque and fanciful forms ima¬
ginable. One presents the semblance of a neat pie
in an oblong dish; another is the precise image of a
broad plate with curled rim; a third is an egg, a
fourth a ? pear or apple, while another closely re¬
sembles an ape or a cat. As you change your position
by the working of the boat, these islands change
their shapes ; but almost always present vivid pictures
of some familiar object. Hence, I presume, their
names may have originated; for I am not conscious
that my fancy is more redolent of vagaries than that
of other travellers.
While on this topic, permit me to add a passing
remark. It is humbly conceived that one reason of
the ideal change from ancient to modern names, is
the defective acquaintance of British tourists with the
actual language of Greece, especially of its pronun¬
ciation. Thus, they find Constantinople is styled
44 StamboulEgripos is 44 Negropont;” Agrellia is
44 Staggrellia Phlia is 44 Staphliaand Hymettus is
44 Monte Matto or Trelovonnon,” 44 What a change!”
PROCESS OF CHANGE.
319
what barbarism!” Patience, good reader; all may
be explained without much dishonour to the poor
Greeks. Let us try.
European tourists would feel less embarrassment
in tracing those etymologies, were they but possessed
of two trifling qualifications,—a little more travel
in Greece, and a good knowledge of the actual
pronunciation of the Greek characters. For some of
the above names, let them apply a simple rule, nearly
allied to that by which we easily trace certain Eng¬
lish names to the principality. Prichard, Probert,
and Be van, we trace to our dear brethren of Wales,
by simply prefixing P or B to Bichard, Kobert, and
Evan; and this P or B is for the Welsh ap or ab, a
son, answering to mac or fitz. So the names of
places in Greece, beginning with St or N, are often
compounds, consisting of the classic appellations with
the preposition el?, or el? ror, or el? rrjv. These
names originate in this way: on coming near a town,
I have asked its name, and have been surprised that,
instead of simply giving me the name, the respond¬
ent has prefixed some particle as above. Thus, I
asked the name of Agrellia: it was at a small dis¬
tance, and hence the reply of my muleteer, 44 Sra-
ypeWia, Stagrellia,” which is for el? ra aypeWia, to
Agrellia. Thus is formed Staphlia, from the ancient
Phlia ; Negropont, from the ancient Egripos ; Naxos,
from Axos; Stamboul, from el? ti]v t:6\iv, to the city,
meaning Constantinople, the city par excellence. But
when I passed the celebrated Hymettus, on my way
to Athens, the present name of that mountain might
320
ISLAND OF HYDRA.
well strike me as the ne plus ultra of oddity. It is
TpeXo-fiowov, Mad Mountain; and whence its ori¬
gin^ Reader, remember the Venetians long swayed
the sceptre of Greece. In the Venetian tongue,
Mount Hymettus became Monte Matto, meaning
Mad Mountain; and the supple, good-natured Greeks
gradually took up with this ludicrous name, and in
time actually translated it into their own beautiful
language. Hence the modern appellation, T pe\o-
fiowov, or Mad Mountain. “ O tempora /”
About six in the evening our boat entered the har¬
bour of Hydra, just as it was getting dark; and I
was kindly received by good Miaoules, admiral of
the Hydriot fleet, at whose home I remained seven¬
teen days, purely as a stranger, or guest, and a friend
of afflicted Greece. Of this worthy veteran I shall
have something to say. In passing from the boat to
his residence on the hill overhanging the harbour, I
observed some marriage candles on sale, together
with some pretty tinsel garlands, used in Greece as
nuptial crowns. The former are wax tapers, fantas¬
tically painted and gilt, but very pretty to the eye.
The island of Hydra is an uneven, rocky elevation,
rising bluffly out of the fair waters of the Aegean,
and is not, I conceive, above twenty miles in circum¬
ference. It is said to contain about four thousand
houses, which would give a population of twenty
thousand inhabitants. This sterile island appears
not to have been inhabited by the ancient Greeks.
The language, like that of its sister, Spetsia, is Alba¬
nian and Greek. The island has neither rivers nor
TOWN. HOUSES. NAVY.
321
roads. I think it was to this barren rock that So¬
crates was exiled by the fickle Athenians. It is not
more than ten leagues from the promontory of Athens.
The inhabitants are a robust and hardy race of ma¬
riners, less civilized, I conceive, but not less kind,
than the Spetsiots, and are friends of education.
The town of Hydra lies close on the shore, but,
like Algiers, it is perched on a hill, and prettily seated
on the acclivity. In form, the town resembles an
amphitheatre, backed by semicircular, rocky eleva¬
tions. The houses are chiefly of stone, and some of
them are handsome structures for such an island,
particularly those of Miaoules, Condurriotes, and the
Tombazi family. Within, the houses of Hydra are
generally painted in pretty frescos. That of one of
the sons of the admiral was elegantly papered in the
arabesque style, or painted in fresco; but I cannot
inform the reader whether this house was decorated
with paper from France, or by the ingenious pencil
of the Italian school. At all events, the effect was
pretty, and I regretted any exhibition of bad taste in
the artist, that compelled the eye of modesty to turn
away. In the structure of the houses, I did not ob¬
serve any display of architectural skill or design, and
far less of any notion of the orders.
The port of Hydra is small, and but for the shel¬
ter afforded by the proximity of Peloponnesus, I
should certainly pronounce it quite unsafe. Yet here,
and in a small harbour a little to the east, rode that
splendid mercantile navy I have already described;
a navy of about forty brigs, that, prior to the war of
322
ANCIENT RUINS.
independence, carried on a lucrative trade with the
Levant, that gained for some of its owners a princely
fortune during our war with France, from 1793 to
1814, and that achieved, during that between Greece
and Turkey, from 1821 to 1830, victories and lau¬
rels scarcely less brilliant than the galleys of Cimon,
in the wars of the classic age.
The interior of the island is not much cultivated
for want of soil. Malta, it is said, received its layer
of soil from Sicily. Were the Hydriots equally de¬
voted to agriculture as to commerce, they might, per¬
haps, transport from Peloponnesus an equally fertile
bed. I one day journeyed into the interior, in com¬
pany with a son of the admiral. Just before, a
number of splendid Arab steeds had been taken in
battle from the fleet of Ali Pasha, and we mounted
two of these fleet and spirited animals, accompanied
by an Arab groom, a slave, or a prisoner of war.
One object of our excursion was to inspect the ruins
of, perhaps, an old pagan temple, which lies two hours’
ride from the town. I found the island was, like
Malta, chiefly a rock, and has only one town. My
noble charger fell, but I providentially escaped un¬
hurt. Had he fallen in one part of our excursion,
both horse and rider had plunged into the sea; for,
during no inconsiderable portion of the way, we am¬
bled on a narrow rocky ridge, overhanging the
ocean, which rolled about twenty fathoms below us !
On a hill, an hour’s ride from the town, are some
very ancient remains; but I can give, I regret to add,
no clue to their origin. The old temple might pos-
GREEK NAVY.
323
sibly have been the asylum of Socrates during his
banishment.
After living so many days among the Hydriots, I
think Pope’s fine verses, so descriptive of Britons, will
apply to these islanders.
“ A race of rugged mariners are these,
Unpolished men, and boisterous as their seas;
Them did the ruler of the deep ordain,
To build proud navies, and command the main.”
The natives seem to think so, for as I went round
the port, and thoughtfully surveyed about twenty-five
brigs lying at anchor, each carrying about twenty
guns, manned with an average of about fifty brave
fellows, with the new national flag of blue and white
stripes gaily flirting in the breeze; Kyr Antonios,
one of the admiral’s sons, who kindly acted as my
cicerone , remarked with a smile, “ behold the wooden
walls of Greece.”
As my visit to this island, to further the great ob¬
jects of my important mission, brought me under
the hospitable roof of a man so celebrated during
the war of independence—celebrated beyond any of
his brave compatriots, it occurs to me that I ought to
give the worthy patriot a formal introduction to the
reader.
Admiral Miaoules was at this time about fifty-five,
or verging on sixty. He was a tall, but chubby-
faced man, of a vastly good-tempered contour. His
physical bulk would have done no dishonour to a
London alderman. When Admiral Miaoules subse-
Y
324
ADMIRAL MIAOULES.
quently visited England as an envoy, I read that he
danced with the ladies of our court. Forgive me, my
worthy friend, my excellent host, hut had a gibbet
stood before me, I should have smiled; for I won¬
dered how in the world my most bulky friend, and
a Greek too, could manage to trip 44 on the light fan¬
tastic toe ” in a British court;—how he, who had
passed an active life of fifty years in skipping from
the rocks of Hydra to the ship’s deck, and from the
ship’s deck to the rocks of Hydra, could hobble
through the poussade , the alemande , and the pirouette ,
without capsising half the court.
Admiral Miaoules informed me the real name of
his family is Vokos. I therefore asked him, 44 whence
the name Miaoules 4 ?”— 44 Why,” said he, 44 I had a
ship so named,”—which means the mewler— 44 and
from my ship the name was gradually transferred to
myself; and now I always call myself Anthreas
Yokos Miaoules”—Andrew Yokos, the Mewler.—-
“ This,” added he, 44 is not a singular case, for the
Tombazi derive their name from one of their ships.”
Admiral Miaoules was a genuine patriot. Innu¬
merable hordes rushed into the mele of the revolution,
merely as soldiers of fortune; patriotic indeed in a
measure, but sacrificing their country’s interests when¬
ever they clashed with personal ones ; but to Miaou¬
les, all his countrymen freely allow the palm of
disinterested patriotism. At the call of Greece, the
good man rushed to the conflict; and when placed at
the head of the nation’s fleet, on the establishment of
HIS GOOD HUMOUR.
325
a settled government, he still exhibited the same de¬
votion to its cause, the same ardour, the same valour,
the same activity.
Miaoules, I think, could not read a syllable.
Education, the angel of freedom to the slave, had
overlooked this generous man. In stating, however,
that Miaoules could not read, I am but recording my
own impression. During my stay beneath his friendly
dome, numerous letters arrived on his private affairs,
and on those of his country; but I observed that he
invariably handed them to Kyr Antonios, or Kyr Yo-
annes, one of his two sons.
Miaoules was a very facetious man. His bon mots
were as constant as his pipe , and this was never laid
aside long. A graver, or truer, or more faithful
knight of the weed, I knew not in all my perigrina-
tions through insular and continental Greece. The
old warrior seemed particularly fond of singing about
the fate of a Greek prelate, the bishop of Dramalee.
Before I give this dolorous madrigal, I will record
the legend, or rather fact, as told me by the ingenu¬
ous admiral.
Opposite Hydra, on the coast of the Morea, and
not more than some thirty miles from the island, lie
two towns, Castri the ancient Hermione, and Drama¬
lee, or rather Thramalee, anciently Troezene. From
the left battery of Hydra, I had a distinct view of
both these places, and also of the celebrated promon¬
tory of Sunium, twenty miles from Athens.
A certain bishop of Dramalee was addicted to
y 2
326
ANECDOTE.
very unprelatical diversion; he was vastly fond of
fishing. One luckless day the bishop sallied forth, to
enjoy the capture of the finny tribe about cape Su-
nium. Want of success, or longing for nobler spoil,
our prelate pushed away to a good offing. A Barbary
corsair was skulking under the cliffs, with a single
sail hoisted ; when, seeing the bishop’s boat, up went
all her canvass, and ere the prelate could regain the
port of Dramalee, the infidel succeeded in cutting off
his retreat, and, in short, captured him, and took
him off to Barbary.
Somebody—some Greek versifier,—I dare not
style him a poet—has reduced this dolorous affair to
what he would style an ode. The first couplet is at
the reader’s service; and so is my translation of the
whole.
O ’ 7 ri(TK 07 rog rr}g Apa/xaXrj,
O vre vovg, ovte fiveXog
A prelate dwelt at Thramalee,
But neither mind nor brains had he.
This good man would a fishing go—
There’s not much harm in that, ye know,—
Yet catching none but little fish,
And longing for a larger dish;
He launched far out for cod or mullet,
To satiate his anxious gullet.
Ah! luckless day ! a Barbary barque,
Cruising about with purpose dark,
Nabbed our poor bishop at his sport,
And sailed away for Barbary’s port.
So now, good prelate, will or nill,
You’re set to turn the grinding-mill,
To mind the spit, to ply the ladle,
And rock the Moslem baby’s cradle.
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.
327
The last couplet, which I have so mildly rendered,
stands thus in the original:
“ T pa€a top %«|C>6jtiu\ov,
YLovvia tov 8ia£o\ov.”
Admiral Miaoules is, I believe, a warm friend to
general education. He always favoured my views
among his countrymen; entertained me gratis during
my long sojourn among them; and used to take plea¬
sure in hearing his smallest boy, about twelve, read
the stories of good children, in my Greek Spel¬
ling-book. By the way, one of these narratives I
made from my reminiscences of some very amiable
traits in the character of a then little daughter of my
esteemed friend, Mr. N-, of Berner-street. The
children of Socrates, hundreds and hundreds, have
read dear, excellent Isabella’s simple story, in many
parts of Greece; and I feel persuaded that now,
when she, like the dear children of the classic land
who first read her story, is arrived at woman’s age,
she will forgive a liberty originating in a purpose so
benevolent.
It is delightful to contemplate such a character as
Miaoules. As the eye, gazing on a dry and barren
landscape, delights to rest on some patch of verdure,
which may chance to appear; so the mind, w r earied
with contemplating the selfishness and vices of the
leading Greeks, turns with pleasure to Miaoules, for
a striking proof that all good has not departed from
them. To return to the description of this interesting
person: Miaoules was born at Hydra, and educated
328
HIS PERSON AND CHARACTER.
on the waters; as are also his sons. His coun¬
tenance is, as I have stated, good-natured, hut it
is one of the most difficult to describe, yet most
strongly impressive. It inspires with affection and
respect, and though there is no mark of greatness
about it, yet you see there not only the kind heart,
but the firm mind, and enough to convince you that
it is the face of an honest man. His complexion
is light and rather florid; his features strongly
marked, the nose particularly large; and his eyes of
a mild hazel colour. Strangers are always struck
with his patriarchal appearance, and after ever so
short an intercourse, go away satisfied that there is
at least one honest patriot in Greece.
He was averse to the struggle’s being commenced
at the precise period it did commence, because he did
not consider the people sufficiently enlightened to
conduct it to a favourable issue ; but when once the
blow was struck, he embarked heartily in the cause,
and has ever been forward in exposing himself, in
sacrificing his fortune, in giving examples of obe¬
dience to government, with perfect disinterestedness
of action.
Such is the man who commanded the Greek fleet;
and so irreproachable is his character, that even in
Greece, where the people are so jealous and suspi¬
cious of their leading men, that the least foible cannot
escape them, no voice is ever raised against Miaoules.
All parties unite in considering him pure and disin¬
terested in his patriotism; and a doubt expressed
of it, would sound as strange to a Greek, as it would
THE HOLY FIRE.
329
to an American to hear the patriotism of Washington
mooted for debate.
In the island of Hydra I had the unexpected plea¬
sure of meeting a worthy Italian philellen, Count
Palma. The count was one of the commissioners,
who accompanied the Greek loan from London to
Napoli di Romania; but had fled the latter town in
consequence of a frightful endemic, that was fast
sweeping into eternity its greatly distressed popula¬
tion, and to which some of the other commissioners
had fallen a sacrifice.
The count, and a very intelligent young Greek, of
the name of Latres, occasionally dined with us at the
admirals, where, with other natives of the island, I
had many highly interesting conversations. With
one old Greek, who had been thirty-eight years ab¬
sent from this his native island, and had travelled a
great deal, I had much discourse on the holy fire of
Jerusalem. I forget his name; but one thing I re¬
member—he was a stanch believer in this pretended
miracle, this most unhallowed pantomime of the
Greek monks of “ the holy city.” Perhaps the reader
would be informed what this holy fire is. I am happy
I can gratify him; for I have a full account of it from
the pen of an excellent brother, who, not many years
since, himself witnessed the mournful scene in the
holy church at Jerusalem. It was furnished by the
Rev. Levy Parsons, an American missionary, whose
remains now slumber among the pious dead at Syra;
—a man in whose testimony the utmost reliance may
be placed.
330
HOLY FIRE EXPECTED.
“ The afternoon was a memorable season. Every
apartment of the church was crowded with Turks,
Jews, Christians, and with people 4 from every nation
under heaven.’ These assembled to witness the sup¬
posed miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost, under
the similitude of fire.” This ceremony is perpetrated
every year in Easter week at Jerusalem, in memory
of the day of Pentecost.
44 It is estimated that at least 5,000 people were
present. The governor of the city and the Turks of
rank were there. A very convenient place was al¬
lotted me, to observe distinctly every ceremony.
About twelve o’clock we witnessed scenes of a very
extraordinary nature, highly derogatory to the Chris¬
tian profession. A body of Arab Christians, natives
of Palestine, were admitted to perform their part in
the duties of the holy week. They began by run¬
ning round the holy sepulchre, with all the frantic
airs of madness—clapping their hands, throwing
their caps into the air, cuffing each other’s ears,
walking half naked upon the shoulders of their com¬
panions, hallooing, or rather, shrieking to the utmost
extent of their voices! This was the exhibition to
5,000 people, in expectation of soon witnessing the
descent of the Holy Ghost.
“About 1 o’clock the Turks entered the small
apartment of the holy tomb, extinguished the lamps,
closed the door, and set a watch. I was determined
myself to enter the holy sepulchre with the Russian
consul, to see from what direction the fire proceeded.
FANATICISM OF SPECTATORS.
331
“ But,” they replied; “ the Turks will not give per¬
mission for strangers to enter.”
•‘ Shortly after, the principal Greek priest entered
the holy sepulchre, attended by the Armenian patri¬
arch, and also by the Syrian patriarch. The Greek
priest, however, entered the second apartment unat¬
tended. Every eye was fixed as the time approached.
“ As we stood waiting, suddenly there dashed from
the sepulchre a flaming torch, which was carried
almost instantaneously to a distant part of the assem¬
bly. I stood among the first to receive the fire, and
to prove that, as to its power of burning, it contained
no extraordinary quality. The zeal of the pilgrims
to get a part of the fire, before its superior qualities
departed, (as they say it burns like other fire in a
few minutes,) endangered the lives of many. Several
were well nigh crushed to death. Some lighted
candles, others tow, with a view to preserve a part of
its influence. Some held their faces in the blaze,
saying; ‘it does not burn!’ Others said; ‘now,
Lord, I believe; forgive my former unbelief!’”
By such an unskilful employment of phosphorus,
by such ghostly legerdemain, was my poor Hydriot
friend convinced that the monks and Turks and
Arabs of Jerusalem, have really the power of causing
the Holy Ghost to descend. May a most merciful
God forbear to visit them with his frown! But I own
I have ceased to wonder at Turkish unbelief and
contempt; for what but these can be the result of
such unholy impostures
It is a pleasing feature of modern Greece, and a
332
GREEK PALINDROMES
promise of much future good, that the young men of
this age rise vastly above those of ages past, both
in polite literature and in honourable sentiments.
Young Latres, Count Palma, the Admiral’s family
and others, spent the greater part of an evening
together, in the course of which the conversation
turned on those trifles of literature styled palindromes,
that is, lines capable of being read both from left to
right, and vice versa. The modern Greeks have
many of these, and call them crab verses , because
they read both ways. I gave them an elegant Latin
palindrome, composed by an excellent lady, whose
faultless reputation had unjustly been blighted by the
breath of scandal. She drew a fair moon behind a
cloud, and wrote below it,—
“ Ablata, at alba.”
“ Taken away, but bright.”
On the laver of the church of Santa Sofia, built
by the first Christian emperor Constantine at Con¬
stantinople, there is another palindrome, containing an
excellent moral for ministers, noticed in a former page:
“ Nh//ov dvofirjixara, fir/ fiovav oipiv.”
“ Wash iniquities, not the face alone.”
Will the reader pardon my feeble attempt to para¬
phrase this pretty relic of antiquity
’Tis not enough, O mortal!
To lave the hand or face;
Nor opes yon holy portal,
Save to a holy race.
Oh! wouldst thou chant the anthem,
The holy chant on high ?
Take refuge in the ransom,
And holy live and die.
PROPOUNDED BY LATRIS.
333
“ In stream or orient fountain.
The Persian laves his hand;
In solitude or mountain,
The Arab laves with sand:
*
But vain is all ablution
At Rome or Mecca’s shrine ;
The pilgrim’s deep pollution
Must wash in blood divine.
My young Greek friend, Latris, proposed several
pretty charades; and if the reader will only picture
to himself a circle of Greeks in an island of the
Aegean, engaged in solving conundrums, I secure
one object of these pages,—I pourtray the domestic
recreations of the modern Greeks. “Now,” said
Latris, “ who can solve this enigma 1 —Try your
best”
“ Ei (iid vriOG&v sQiXeig,”
“ n6”
To every Greek ear, and even to my dull English
one, it seemed as though Latris had said in the
first line,
“ 'I (odvvrjg ov sx; Kelrcu r) A.ov\rj rov Qeov,
Eiprjvri,
Yvvq rov Ka7r. ’Avd. Mi aovXov.”
That is ; “ here lies the servant of God, Eirene, wife
of Captain Anthreas Miaoules.” At the head of the
grave I observed a burning lamp,—at least I think it
was burning at that moment. “ Pray,” said I, “ my
dear friend, what is this lamp for?” “ It is placed
here,” replied my mourning guide, “ to keep off ma¬
licious spirits, and also to give my mother some light
when she leaves her grave at night, to walk about.”
This usage and kindred superstitions may be traced
to a classic age.
One day I called on the papas, or priest of the dis-
378
FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
trict, to interchange some useful thoughts with the
worthy man. Unhappily he was not at home, being
just then in attendance at a funeral. At all Greek
funerals, the priest in full canonicals heads the pro¬
cession. At the grave he reads a number of prayers,
a fact not a little puzzling, inasmuch as the Latin
pale has in vain, many a time and oft, attempted to
induce the Greeks to admit the pagan notion of a
purgatory. But if the eternal destiny of the soul
is unalterably fixed at death,—and this the Greeks
most firmly believe—why do they pray for the dead ?
To such a question their reply is—“ we thus signify
our love to the departed.”
The good papas being out, his wife did the honours
of the house. She brought us coffee and pipes.
“ Thank you, dear Madam,” said I; “I am a minis¬
ter too, though not a priest; and it is my happiness
to have a wife and three children; but they are four
hundred miles away from me, far, far over the seas.
We in England, like you in Greece, follow the law
of Christ, the great head of the church, and become
“ the husband of one wife.” I told this worthy
papathia, Trairabla^ or priestess, what good advice
Paul gives to ministers’ partners, and I cited my own
wife as an example.
Patient reader, if thou hast a heart, indulge me in
one fond remark. This very day I have been weep¬
ing over her endeared memory. It is now beyond
three years since,—
“ Her spirit hath left me,
To lodge in His bosom who bled to redeem—
GREEK SUPERSTITIONS.
379
but her face, her voice, her form, her labours, her
love,—are all fresh in my too faithful memory.
The mental features of the antient and modern
Greeks, bear to each other a close resemblance. They
have a brightness, a perspicacity all their own, but
are yet subject to vagaries almost equally unique.
Hence, on the one hand, the science of ancient
Greece; and hence, on the other, her fantastic and
untoward mythology.
Credulity characterised the ancient Greeks, as it
does the modern. Hence the observation of Pliny ;—
“ It is astonishing to what an extent Greek cre¬
dulity is carried.”* Education,—Christian education
—is its only corrective, and that Greece must have.
The divine faith of J esus annihilated the once
garrulous oracles of pagan antiquity, both in Greece
and in Rome; but this light, added even to that of
nature, has not at all diminished the credit anciently
given to auguries, dreams, the evil eye, and appari¬
tions of departed spirits. This credulity prevails
even among the men of modern Greece; but among
monks and females is so rife, as almost to rival the
pagan ages themselves.
So great among the ancients was the confidence re¬
posed in dreams, that their interpretation assumed the
rank of a profession, as among gypsies of the present
day. This science was held in the highest reputa¬
tion. Plutarch relates that Lysimachus, nephew
to Aristides, being extremely poor, used to sit
before the temple of Bacchus, and gain his daily
Mirum est quo procedat Grceca credulitas. Plin. lib. viii. cap. 22.
380
DREAMS. AUGURIES.
bread by interpreting dreams: and that Lysima-
chus made use of certain tablets or calcula¬
tions, prepared expressly for that purpose.* The
oveipoXoyoL , or interpreters of dreams in modern
Greece, are certain old women, who gain no small
amount of cash, especially from such young Greek
maidens, as soon expect the visit of their espousing
Lothario, or rather Imeneus, to throw around them
the chains of wedded love. I have been informed by
a learned Greek, that these old ladies principally in¬
terpret “ by the rule of contrary:” that is, if the
young girl dream that her Leonidas is dead, she may
take it for granted he is still among the living. If
she dream that here spoused husband, or rather bride¬
groom, came to marry her, but left her in disgust the
moment she lifted her vail; the happy fair one must
take it as gospel, that come when he may to claim
his bride, he will be enchanted at the sight of her
charms.
Every reader of the classic page knows, that the
ancient Greeks placed in auguries as much confidence,
as though they heard the voice of the deity himself.
That human victims were slain, to divine something
from the palpitation of the heart, or other portion of
the body, is a fact of equal notoriety. In like manner
the modern Greeks have an astonishing penchant for
auguries, and have retained nearly all the interpre¬
tations made by their pagan fathers, from phenomena
presented to the observation, from words, from actions,
and from certain movements of the body. Thus,
* Plutarch’s Life of Aristides.
GREEK OMENS.
381
when the right eye winks and the left recoils, it is a
good omen. The 44 evil eye” is much in vogue; of
which I shall hereafter record a singular exemplifi¬
cation. To sneeze was deemed an omen of evil, and
thence the ancient Greeks used to exclaim, when any
one sneezed, long may he live! or, God save him!
This custom is most religiously observed still, with
only a change of the word used as a counter charm.
For example; a civilian sneezes, and, as before ob¬
served, immediately half a dozen sonorous voices ex¬
claim, 44 may you be well, or happiness to you!” but if
a minister of religion, the salutation is, 64 salvation!”
In all lands the custom holds. In all Italy a sneeze
always calls forth the 44 avivia and formerly some
similar exclamations were common even in Eng¬
land.
There is in modern Greece one remnant of classic
antiquity, at which I have often smiled. A diviner
or soothsayer was erst styled Python, also fia vtls or
guesser, and a witch fiavTivaa , or female guesser.
Hence, when children now play at guessing, as among
us, they say to each other,— fxavTevae , guess or divine;
as when they play at odd or even, a game which they
call double and single. But what I have alluded
to as singular, is the fact, that while English artists
generally place a pair of bellows in the hands of a
witch, in Greece this stormy utensil is absolutely
styled to /xai/Tetoi/, the diviner, oracle, or guesser.
In all enterprises, the ancient Greeks anxiously
watched for the first word they might hear from any
382
THE EVIL EYE.
one; and always considered it an omen of good, if
the name of a deity were the first sound they listened
to. Hence they invoked the name of Jove in all
great undertakings, using the phrase, “ let us begin
with Jove;”*—a noble sentiment, a splendid maxim
of conduct, when the God of the divine oracles is the
object of trust. At this day the natives of Greece
practice the same, not, I fear, without much super¬
stition ; for, though J ove is now forsaken for the name
of the true God, yet this fact is perfectly consistent
with an 44 ignorant worship” even of the eternal; and
when we find that the virgin’s name is about as much
invoked as that of Jehovah, and both coupled with
the childish sign of the cross ; I fear the modern
usage is not much of an improvement .
In the classic age, if one Greek pronounced an
imprecation on another, the latter replied, 44 thy curse
fall upon thy own head, but to me may it be for good !”f
The same answer is customary still;—it is the form
only which is somewhat changed.
To every one is known the extreme and painful
credence, placed by ancient Greece in the fascination
of 44 an evil eye” 44 We know,” says Plutarch, 44 that
some people can do harm in this way, especially when
they look at children.”! Theocritus adds, that to
burst the malefic spell of an evil eye, the supposed
victim used to spit thrice into his own bosom.
* Aratus de Phsenom.
t Herodotus states, that thisusage reached Greece from Egypt. In Euterp.
X Plut. de Conviv. See Nicola Valletta of Naples.
ANTIDOTES TO FASCINATION.
383
“'Qg fiTj taaKavSio de , Tpig
E ig If.ibv tTTTVcrcL koXttov .”
To burst the spell, by all confessed,
Full thrice I spat upon my breast, f
Nor is it Greece alone that had been, and still is,
a victim to this idle theory;—Italy, Malta, Eng¬
land, are alike superstitious, though not equally so,
because not equally bereft of the light of science
and of truth. If among us a gipsy look earnestly
at an infant, the anxious mother occasionally turns
pale. Our term fascinate, though now of harmless
import, comes from the Greek fiaaKaivu); the labial b,
or as now pronounced in Greece, v, being changed
into the labial f, in its passage through the Latin
tongue.
In Greece this superstition is still rife,—rife as
ever. The countercharm, however, is different; for
now, not the person fascinated, but the one who aims
to cure him, spits three times either on the ground,
or in the face of the victim; and this to burst the
spell. With such kindness one might well wish to
dispense, especially if the operator were an old cam¬
paigner and a knight of the pipe. To shield young
children against an evil eye, the ancients hung
various pretty amulets upon their necks; and hence,
I suppose, originated the English baby’s silver and
gold bells. But a far simpler amulet often appeared
among the classic Greeks;—no other than a small
knob of garlic. This garlic is still appended; nor is
it used in this way alone; for if any one, especially
f Tlieocr. Idyll, vi. v. 30.
384
LAX MORALS OF GREECE.
a distrusted stranger, should kiss a beautiful babe,
or young child, with obvious admiration and peculiar
interest; the bystanders exclaim, as a countercharm,
44 garlic, garlic!”
It is generally believed of the existing Greeks,
that they are a people of bad faith, a people in whom
confidence is generally misplaced. To the honour of
the race, however, I must add, that I deem the
Greeks above their reputation, and think they have
been traduced by Italy and France, because they
have nobly vowed to 44 stand fast in their liberty”
from the patriarch of Home, whom we style the pope.
I grant, however, that Greece is often wanting in
44 honour brightbut, if all that is classic is to be
admired,—and some have almost thought so—in this
they but resemble their sires. The Spartans were
painfully lax in observance of an oath, and were even
base enough to use it as an instrument of deception.
Lysander did not blush to make a public avowal,
44 that children must be cheated by dice, and the
enemy by oaths.”* The Spartans, indeed, appear of
extremely defective morals in this respect. Hence
Euripides boldly styles them 44 traitors ;”•]• while Aris¬
tophanes declares them to be 44 atheists :”t two most
disreputable imputations.
The other states of Greece seem not to have merited
this reproach, nor to have been taxed with so much
laxity of good faith. True it is that the Romans
speak ironically of 44 Grcsca fidesj' and roundly of
Plut Vit. Lysand.
1 In Acar.
f In Andromache.
THE USE OF OATHS.
385
“ Gracia mendax ,” or lying Greece. Yet I cannot
but think the too common adage, “ Graeca tides,” ap¬
plied in the sense of bad faith, claims an origin not
at all to cause Greece a blush. Ausonius thus so¬
lemnly addresses Paulus:—“ If it be allowed to use,
not penalties, but Greek faith.”* But in the lower
empire the Greeks became vile ; for tyranny begets
cunning; the vices of tyrants originate the vices of
slaves ; and what was honoured and great, becomes
ingeniously vile. Philosophers of classic fame dis¬
countenanced even an oath; teaching that honour
and conscience give sufficient security. Plato de¬
claims against any oath;*)' and Isocrates councilled
his friend and disciple, Demonicus, never to use an
oath save on two occasions ;—to demonstrate his own
innocence and honour, or to liberate a friend from
danger. A higher authority says, “ swear not at all.”
Yet the ancient Greeks were shockingly addicted
to oaths, even on the most trivial occasions; and in
this respect are imitated by their children at this day.
With what frequency does a reader of the classics fall
upon the asseverations, “by Jove! ” and kindred ap¬
peals to a bevy of demigods. So in modern Greece,
I have been pained and annoyed a thousand times by
the counterpart of these oaths. I was once distri¬
buting holy books in an island just off the coast of
Peloponnesus. A priest took up one, and said with
the utmost naivete: “ This is an excellent book,
fia t 6v 0eop/” Another of the actual asseverations
* Memoria, &c. by Andr. Papadopulos, p. 56.
f Plat, de Leg. lib. vi.
386
IMPRECATIONS. CONCLUSION.
is, 44 by the Virgin Mary!” Koraes,-in his admirable
volumes, often exclaims, 44 by the truth! ”
The ancients used also to appeal to the spirits of
the departed. Thus Demosthenes in his peroration:
44 by the heroes of Marathon! ” In immitation of
this classic usage, the Greeks of this distant age still
employ various kindred asseverations, which I cannot
persuade myself to record. I will not, however, omit
one most unclassical expression I have ofter heard:
44 t l hia(3o\os 6e\eis; che diable voidez vous /”
It were easy to carry on these points of resem¬
blance between the present Greeks and their far-
famed progenitors, but I add only another. One
often hears, on modern Greek lips, the ungracious
words, 44 may you never succeed! ” or 44 may you
never arrive! ” And thus, when faithless Helen is
far more angry than ladies ever ought to be, or gen¬
tlemen either; since anger can neither add a charm
to woman’s face, nor dignity to man’s; she addresses
Venus in this very impolite wish:— 44 may you never
return to Olympus!”*
On the whole, one cannot fail to be struck with the
fact, that numerous customs actually existing among
the Greeks, are traceable to the usages, the modes of
thinking, the polity and mythology of their cele¬
brated fathers. The sound moralist may hence glean
a maxim of conduct; so may the senator, and so the
divine:—since the usuages, and morals, and politics,
and creeds of a previous age, so powerfully act on a
far distant posterity, a philanthropist must watch
* Iliad, b. iii.
POWER OF EARLY EXAMPLE.
387
with eagle eyes, over the principles of his own gene¬
ration. It was this view of things, that induced me
to pay the utmost attention to the education of my
first children; for I was fully possessed with the
conviction, that their deportment would be respected
and imitated by the rest;—that their good or bad
morals, their purity or vulgarity of expression, their
neat or slovenly habits, their sweet or churlish tem¬
pers, would insensibly influence and form the minds
of the younger children; for the latter as naturally
respect and copy the former, as any existing age
venerates, and studies, and copies 44 the wisdom” of a
distant ancestry. To the missionary also this study
is useful, as it enables him the more appropriately to
apply the healing balm to those pagan wounds,
under which poor Greece is even yet bleeding.
CHAPTER XXIY.
THE DRUNKEN BISHOP—FIND AN ENGLISH WOMAN —EDUCATION —
A STORY.—CAROLS. — FEAST OF THE CROSS. — FAREWELL TO HY¬
DRA-REFLECTIONS.
During my stay in the rocky isle of Hydra, I re¬
ceived and paid some visits, a brief notice of which
will be carrying out one purpose of this work;—to
give some insight into the domestic habits and
manners of the modern Greeks.
I think I have elsewhere named a bishop whom I
found drunk on the road, lying almost senseless on
the ground; as also that he called on the admiral in
this state, and gave him his blessing in return for a
dole of charity. On this occasion the bishop asked
me for a trifle of pecuniary assistance, when a brief
colloquy passed between us, which I shall transfer to
these pages.
B .—“ You will give me something, no doubt.”
M.—“ But I do not know who you are, sir.”
B.— u I am a high-priest, of the most-
high God. I have had the honour of dining with
the emperor of Russia. But now the world is
changed; I am a worm and no man.”
THE DRUNKEN BISHOP.
389
M. — 44 I too am a minister; but surely our conduct
ought to become our profession. We should not live
in sin, dear sir, but seek to do good.”
B. — 44 To do good 4 ? how 4 ?”
M. — 44 By our consistent example.”
B. — 44 I know all that very well.”
M. — 44 But sorry I am to say your deportment be¬
lies your profession. I do not see you as I could wish.”
B. — 44 You ought to see me; you wear glasses.
You say you also are a priest; but I do not conceive
how that can be, since you have no beard.”
Some of the company now slid in a word, and one
of the islanders, in replying to the last sage difficulty
of our Hydriot wine-bibber, said something about a
monkey’s beard, and set the people in a hearty laugh
by dubbing that animal with the title of 44 the Rev.
papas monkey.” I was greatly pained to witness
such degradation, especially when I heard the worthy
admiral ask this reeling prelate’s blessing, and saw
the latter kiss the sailor’s cheek, at the same time
muttering, 44 my blessing.” The blessing of a
drunkard!
A priest who was present informed me as follows.
“ This poor man has, for the last ten years, fallen into
drunken habits. He was formerly a most respectable
man; but now he turns every thing to wine and
rhakee, and eats very little. He once signified his
wish to become a Mussulman. He has traversed
the greater part of Europe, and seen much of men
and of manners.” I seriously gave the people to un¬
derstand my grief, that such a man should still wear
c c 2
390
AN ENGLISH WOMAN.
the shepherd’s robe, since he had not the shepherd’s
heart. Even in worldly affairs the 44 overseer” is ex¬
pected to show 44 all fidelityfor Xenophon speaks
of 44 sending out faithful men to oversee and the
law of Solon relative to the sober court on Mars’-hill,
concludes in these terms : 44 the council on Mars’-hill
is the overseer of all, and guardian of the laws.” f
To find a native of England, a female too, and
wedded to a native of Hydra, with whom she had
lived no less than twelve years on this distant rock
of the Grecian waters, may appear extremely singular;
yet such is the event I have now to record.
Anthreas Miaoules said to me one day; 44 If you will
go with me about half a mile, I will take you to visit a
woman of your own country. She is married to a
native of this island, and has lived among us about
twelve years. Her husband was once a major in the
service of Prussia, of the name of Pandilles. She is
young and fair, but he is old and churlish.” We walk¬
ed out together, and I think he left me with this lady.
I sat down much affected and greatly interested, and
we had much conversation. Such of it as suits
general readers I will record.
44 Good day to you; I hope you are well.”
44 Good day, sir, I am glad to see you: I heard
you had landed on this island.”
4 * You are far away from your dear country, Mrs.
Pandilles.”
44 Ah! yes, sir; and I wish I were there again.”
44 Are you not happy ? ”
* Cyropsed. f Plutarch’s Life of Solon.
CONVERSATION WITH HER.
391
“ Oh, no! my husband is such a churl. I am
very unhappy.”
“ From what part of England do you come ?”
“I am a native of Stafford. The major married
me at Gibraltar, and I have lived in this island a
long time.”
“ Do you visit with the natives ?”
“Never; I never go out; my husband, I suppose,
does not like me to go out.”
“ Well; I must say, my dear friend, I am very sorry
for you; but you must look up to God, and try
to solace your troubles, and to be content with your
lot.”
“No, sir; I’ll not stay in Hydra, I’ll run away
the very first opportunity. I wish to conceal myself
in a ship, about to sail for the Morea, or down
the Mediterranean; for I cannot bear my lot any
longer.”
“ But if you ran away from your husband, would
not that be a violation of the law, both human and
divine ?”
“ But if I’m miserable ?”
“ Can you read?”
“ Yes, a little.”
“ Have you any books ?”
“ I have a few old story books.”
“ But such reading must fail to afford you the best
comfort. Have you not the word of God ?”
“ No, sir.”
To this unhappy woman I presented an English
Testament, after I had written on a fly-leaf the fol-
392
WISDOM OF PRUDENCE.
lowing affectionate memento:—“ My best wishes for
the eternal happiness of Mrs. Pandilles.” I also
gave her some good advice, and hoped my visit might
prove a blessing.
She had, in a great measure, forgot her English.
The poor woman was obviously fond of dogs and
pigeons; and was surrounded by a bevy of both. To
these she seemed to have transferred those affections,
to which an old, churlish, jealous, griping husband
could prefer no successful claim. When I said to
her, “ You have plenty of pigeons,” her reply was,
with a smile—yet it was the smile of grief;—“ Yes,
sir, I have plenty of pigeons, and they make eggs.”
To lay is a verb she had forgotten.
This was obviously an unhappy match. There
was no union of minds. He was a Greek—she an
English woman. She had not lost all her English
feelings. How should she ^
“ Non mutant animum qui trans mare currunt .”
The human mind shall span the sea,
Shall pace the desert o’er;
Yet rarely shall it fail to be
The mind it was before.
’Tis not the vagrant pilgrim’s toe,
Imprest on desert sand;
Erased by softest airs that blow,
O’er Mecca’s balmy land.
I one day made a call on a native of Hydra, when
I was received by a black slave, who had been cap¬
tured on the shore at Mitylene, when the Moslem
frigate was burnt in those waters, by a brulotte or
EDUCATION.
393
Greek fire-ship. Two remarks were made in this
visit, which my intelligent countrywomen would not
deem very high praise; and yet I fear what was said
is too true of the females of present Greece. 44 What
is the reason,” I asked, “ that when I propose a ques¬
tion to any of your women, instead of a distinct and
appropriate reply, they generally laugh, or give me
an unmeaning smile 44 Because,” said a Greek,
44 our women are so dreadfully ignorant.”— 44 Well, I
hope you now see the propriety of educating your
girls; since their minds go far to the formation of
your own. We in England give education to all”
Another native was labouring to pass his best eulo-
gium on my Greek translation of the Pilgrim’s Pro¬
gress :— 44 Excellent!” he exclaimed; 44 even a woman
may understand it!” I one day offered a Greek Tes¬
tament to an old man. 44 Here,” said I, 44 you have
a child at home; take that for the young one.” 44 It
is a girl,” replied he, and looked as if he had given
me a whole Iliad of reasons for declining my generous
offer. From Italy eastward to China, woman’s mind
is trampled on, and left a moral waste.
The company in the evening were vastly amused
by a story of three Greek travellers. To the best of
my ability I will transfer it to these pages, for younger
readers. Is was told by young Latres.
A long time ago, three travellers were v on their
way from Epidaurus to Sparta. After travelling hard
all day, and eating nothing, they at length reached a
channi , or sort of inn. Here, being night, they
spread their mats on the ground, but before going to
394
THE THREE TRAVELLERS.
sleep, one of them produced a large cake, which was
to serve for supper to the whole party. 44 Ah! I’m
dreadfully fagged and famished,” said one of the tra¬
vellers ; “ I could eat the whole of that cake myself.”
44 So could I,” said a second. 44 And so could I,”
added the third. After some canvassing of the matter,
the three travellers agreed to lie down, and that he
who could invent the most ingenious falsehood by
next morning, should have the entire cake to himself.
They might have found better employment, but I
tell the story with all its defects.
At sun-rise next morning, up start the three tra¬
vellers, half famished with hunger; and, seating
themselves d la tailor on their mats, began the fear¬
ful contest for the prize cake. 44 Last night,” said
one of them, 44 I made a voyage to the moon.”—
44 Last night,” said the second, 44 I paid a visit to the
paradise of Mohammed, and in fact, I returned just
as you two were awaking.” The latter felt sure of
the cake, and both looked as if they could have de¬
voured a dozen. At length the third began. 44 Well,”
said he, 44 this is rather singular. I had some little
doubt, but find I was right after all. I thought one
of you had set off for the moon last night, and the
other to Mohammed’s paradise; and taking it for
granted you would never come back, I got up about
two this morning, and eat all the cake myself.” And
so he had; so that his two simple companions, as a
punishment for telling fibs, were obliged to go
without breakfast.
To find Christmas carols among the modern Greeks,
FEAST OF THE CROSS.
395
was to me very interesting. During my stay in Hy¬
dra, the season arrived which we call 46 Twelfth-day,”
so styled as being the twelfth day after our Christ-
mas-day. This, before the Gregorian calender, was
celebrated as the birth-day of our Lord’s human
nature. In Greece and Hussia it is so still, for they
obstinately adhere to 44 the old style.” On the arrival
of this Greek Christmas-day, I heard two urchins,
about eight years of age, singing at the admiral’s
door. Going out, I found them both holding the
corners of a tattered manuscript, and bawling out its
contents at the top of their voice, which the poor
little dears wished me to understand to be singing.
Well, they did their best; so I paid them the com¬
pliment of standing to listen, and then paid the piper,
which they doubtless accounted the best compliment
of all. They had sung a Greek carol.
I was next invited to the Feast of the Cross. It
was a singular ceremony, and obviously originated
in superstition. There was a rather splendid pro¬
cession of priests, the bishop at the head, who bent
their way to the sea-side. A large crowd of men in
holiday finery, and females in gaudy attire, accom¬
panied the priesthood as spectators; while a still
larger assemblage stood, some on the high, bluff cliffs
impending over the sea, and others upon the sea¬
board. Cannon were roaring, as in a naval engage¬
ment. The newly-invented flags of the infant king¬
dom, blue and white stripes, waved gallantly in the
breeze, from the masts of all the shipping. Hilarity
sat on every face; and hundreds of vociferous lads
396
ITS FORMS AND ORIGIN.
and young folks rent the air with repeated and long-
continued shouting.
On reaching the sea, the bishop hurled into the
waves, first a cross, and then an image of the Pana-
gia, or Virgin. The moment these trinkets reached
the water, a number of adventurous men plunged
headlong after them. It now became a struggle,
while the spectators shouted aloud, and the two
divers who secured the cross and the virgin, received
a prize.
The object of this ceremony is to bless the waters
of the ocean, and to render the Deity propitious to
seamen. Does the reader remember the folly of
Xerxes, who cast a chain into the waters of the deep,
and chastised the waves because disobedient to his
royal will 4 ? This Feast of the Cross is equally ra¬
tional. In religion, and its rites, we are most safe,
and most edified, when we adhere “ to the pattern
shown in the mount.” When the Doge of Venice
throws a gold ring into the bosom of the Adriatic, I
think one discerns not only a counterpart to the
Hydriot Feast of the Cross, but perhaps the origin.
As I stood among a large crowd, a native, of a
very bizar countenance, and thick build, presented
himself to public notice. This poor man was a
clever mimic of voices and phrases, and hit off cha¬
racter to the life; and because he so ably mimicked
Vamvas, now Sir Neophytus Vamvas, of the Ionian
isles, the Hydriots had given him the knight’s name
as a subriquet. Placing himself in the midst of the
large assembly, Vamvas waited till the cross should be
A SINGULAR HARANGUE.
397
plunged into the waves, when he forthwith pronunced
in mock solemnity, and at the top of his sonorous
voice, an harangue that set the spectators in a roar
of laughter. “ There goes the cross,” said he, “ and
this day, O, Greeks! the light of orthodoxy shines
upon all the nations of the earth. Let us be glad,
for the day is great. We are here assembled, like
the cat and the rats, to celebrate the epiphany of the
cross. O, Greeks! let us be united—let there be
concord and amity in our fleet, and among our brave
palicaris. By concord and union, you will obtain
liberty from the Turks, and the kingdom of heaven.”
In this singularly whimsical strain he went on for
some time; and on this occasion I learned for the
first time, that union among fiery warriors secures
the kingdom of heaven.
I afterwards made this part of the poor man’s
mock heroics a subject of serious converse, and hope
it was done to edification. One young man, indeed,
stoutly defended the theology of Yamvas. “ Con¬
cord,” said he, “ is a good thing, and may, perhaps,
obtain heaven itself.”—“ Concord,” said I, “is good;
but eternal life is a gift, not a salary; and there may
be concord among a band of burglars.”
Soon after Christmas-day, the editor of a Greek
newspaper, which had begun to appear in the island
of Hydra, inserted a fable I had written for his jour¬
nal, the design of which was to urge the Greeks to
mutual candour, and submission to wholesome autho¬
rity. This fable was seen by a schoolmaster, who
posted up the hill on which stands the house of Mi-
398
CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES.
aoules, and begged me very hard to write another
fable in favour of education. “ Bah,” said the admi¬
ral, “ we shall do nothing with fables and laws; these
savages of Hydra will bend to no authority; we must
have an iron cage.” “ But, father,” replied one of the
worthy veteran’s sons, “ recollect my former remark;
—if you get an iron cage for these desperate spirits,
perhaps the rogues will put you in the first.” “ Very
well,” added this virtuous patriot, “lam content, pro¬
vided it eventually give peace to our distracted councils,
and do good to the country.” Submission to authority
is necessary to the happiness of all lands; nor can there
be real liberty without a relinquishment of some por¬
tion of our natural freedom, unless we choose to range
the desert; but Greece, at the time I am now
speaking of, was a complete bear garden, and was
constantly in danger of falling back into the grasp of
Turkey, from which it had half effected its liberation.
I think it was on the last night of my stay in Hy¬
dra, that I vastly interested the natives who were at
the admiral’s levy, if I may so call it, by translating
aloud the following rather imposing declamation from
Chatfield’s Appeal to the British public on behalf of
the Greeks, who were now struggling hard against
the Turkish troops and squadrons. Is it wonderful if
a tear bedewed some hardy warrior’s eye, to find that
afflicted Greece had friends in England —to hear me
read the name of their own island The passage I
read them was as follows—“ The poean of triumph
shall sound from the barren shores of Hydra, to the
snow-clad summits of Olympus; and the hymn of
ENCOURAGING PROSPECTS.
399
Christian gratitude be raised in those temples, which
are now profaned by the service of Apollyon.”—“ He
names our island.”—“ He is a friend to our holy
cause.”—“ What a change in our state! thirty years
ago we almost fancied this island of ours, and the
part of Peloponnesus that flanks our port, was all the
world.” These, and remarks like these, seemed to
come rather from the heart than the lips of these in¬
teresting islanders; and I trust the incident led us
to some profitable interchange of thought.
Farewell, kind friends of Hydra ! To a poor, lone
wanderer ye showed much hospitality. You protected
me in danger; you listened respectfully to what a
minister from a far-away isle had to tell you; you re¬
ceived the holy volume at my hands. May we meet
in a better land!
To a devoted missionary, these Aegean isles present
an aspect most inviting; and it is hoped the churches
of Britain will put in the gospel sickle while the fields
are so ready and so white to the harvest. Let but pure
Christianity have a footing in these islands, what may
not be hoped for in Crete, in Cyprus, in Rhodes, and
among the numerous other isles to the north of the
Cyclades, up to the Bosphoros itself? Those islands
stand in equal need of Bibles, of schools, and of
school-books; nor less of holy men to show unto
them the way of salvation. So long as Greece shall
bow her head in reverence to carnal monks, and mi¬
nisters untaught in the truth of God; so long as, in
place of the Bible, she listens to the trashy legends
of the dark ages; what can one expect but grovelling
400
DUTY OF THE CHURCHES.
superstition on the one hand, and on the other, the
bold speculations of men, who, though pent up in
these sea-girt nooks, have access in their own lan¬
guage to the ravings and the poisonous productions
of French theo-philanthropists. Man will not for
ever be a babe, at the beck of a heartless priesthood;
and as he is so prone to extremes, it must be ours, as
missionaries, to pilot the Greek mind aright, by
showing, that tyrannous superstition and genuine
Christianity are two things.
%
CHAPTER XXY.
PROCEED TO PELOPONNESUS. — GREEK MARTYR. — DESCRIPTION OF
PELOPONNESUS.—A STORM—EUROCLYDON,—HOUSE AT MARCOPOLO.
—DOMESTIC SCENES.—DRUNKEN MONKS.—ON THE WORD TARES.—
SERMON—ROBBERY—JOURNEY TO ATHENS.—DIFFICULTIES THERE.
—VISIT THE BISHOP.—MODERN ATHENS.—ATHENIAN LADY.—MARS’-
HILL.
The reader is now to accompany me to continental
Greece, to that portion of this celebrated land, styled
Peloponnesus. During the middle ages, this classic
name had been dropped for the name Morea; but
free Greece is rapidly reassuming her ancient nomen¬
clature, and Peloponnesus is once more the name of
the birthland of Themistocles. The Venetians pro¬
bably first applied the appellation Morea, which
seems to have meant the land of sycamores; but to
a people now free, the island of Pelops is a more
endeared name.
The new kingdom of Greece lies between the 36th
and 39th degree of north latitude ; and between the
19th and 24th of east longitude; it is therefore a
genial and delightful climate, and some parts of it
might lay claim to a visit from English valetu¬
dinarians, in preference to Madeira or Mont Pelier.
402
ATHANASIUS.
One pleasing impression on setting foot upon free
Greece is, that now the Greeks are no longer, except
those in Turkey, exposed to apostacy. Formerly
they sometimes went over to Mohamedanism. In
case of apostacy, the Greek church requires a severe
discipline, ere she again receive her recreant son.
My former correspondent, the Rev. Mr. Williamson,
late chaplain to the British Factory at Smyrna,
transmitted a narrative of a case, which appeared
in the Missionary Register for 1819, and which here
follows:—
Athanasius, a fine young man, about four and
twenty years of age, was the son of a boatman who
carried on a small trade in the Archipelago. The
business of the father being insufficient to require
the assistance of the son, he was obliged, like thou¬
sands of his countrymen, to leave the land of his
birth in search of a livelihood.
Athanasius fell, at length, into the service of a
Turk in decent circumstances, and something above
the common rank. The master, pleased with the
conduct of his servant, and in reward of his fidelity,
often proposed, with great offers, to elevate him from
the degrading bondage of a Greek, to the privileges
of a Turk. Every temptation was manfully resisted;
till, on one fatal festival night, he was overcome.
The words of abjuration once spoken, the deed is
done. The next morning made the man a Turk.
He remained with his master about a twelvemonth;
suffering many pangs of conscience, and having no
alternative but to die, since he could not live a chris-
HIS APOSTACY.
403
tian. Thus circumstanced, and, no doubt, urged by
his own people, whose practice it is not to receive
back to their communion any one who has aposta¬
tized ; Athanasius resolved to sacrifice his life as an
atonement fomhis crime.
With this intention he quitted his master, and
went on pilgrimage to Mount Athos. At this place,
sacred among the Greeks, he remained some months,
receiving instruction, and preparing for death. On
the expiration of his pilgrimage, he quitted Mount
Athos, with the congratulations of the whole body
of the Greek monks who reside there, on the pros¬
pect of becoming a distinguished saint. He arrived
at Smyrna in the habit of a monk; and went imme¬
diately, with the approbation of the Greeks, to the
Turkish judge; declaring his resolution to die a
Christian, rather than live an apostate. The judge
wished to save his life, by persuading the Turks he
was mad ; but he persisted in publicly abjuring Mo¬
hammedanism, and asserting his readiness to die.
He was confined, therefore, in a dungeon, and tor¬
tured ; which he endured with the greatest firmness
and patience.
The Greeks were afraid, that during his con¬
finement, the tortures and extravagant promises and
allurements of the Turks, would shake his resolu¬
tion ; and sent a priest to strengthen him to suffer
death.
On the day of his execution, Athanasius was led
out of prison with his hands tied behind. He walked
D D
404
MARTYRDOM OF ATHANASIUS.
firmly to the square, a very public place in the large
mosque. There he was again offered his life, with
riches, women, land and houses, if he would remain
a Turk; but nothing could tempt him from his pur¬
pose. At last, a Turkish blacksmith^ was ordered,
by the captain of the guard, to strike%ff his head :
but, as a last attempt to induce the sufferer to live a
Turk, the executioner was desired to cut a little of
the skin of his neck, that he might feel the edge of
the sword. This last attempt having failed, and
Athanasius on his knees, declaring with a calm and
resigned countenance that he was born with Jesus
and would die with Jesus, his head was struck off at
a single blow. The Turkish guard instantly threw
buckets of water on the neck of the corpse and dis¬
severed head, to prevent the multitude of expec¬
ting Greeks from dipping their handkerchiefs in his
blood, to be kept as memorials of the great event.
The body lay guarded and exposed, for three days.
It was afterwards given up to the Greeks, and buried
in the principal church-yard.
Peloponnesus naturally classifies itself into a
changeful picture of mountains, vales, and rivers.
This fact will, I think, be present to the mind of any
attentive traveller in this far-famed region. The
mountains, however, are not very high. Even those
of northern Greece are not higher than about 11,000
feet, lower by 1,000 than the peak of Teneriffe.
Mount Athos rises to an elevation of 4,000 feet.
Aghios Elias, anciently Taygetus, to about 10,000.
PELOPONNESIAN SCENERY.
405
The mountains of Greece are not, therefore, regions of
perpetual snow, like the higher Alps; yet I have
passed them when covered even in the summer.
The principal vales or rather plains of Greece,
passed by myself, are those of Argos, and Tegea or
Tripolitsa in Arcadia. They are both splendid locali¬
ties, and I fancy the bond-holders of Greek scrip
might consider themselves secure, if in possession of
either. The principal rivers of Greece are the
Eurotas, the Alpheus, and the Acheloiis, now gene¬
rally named the Yasilicon, the Rhufias and the As-
propotamos or White River. Over the Alpheus I
passed on horseback; the other two are respectable
streams; but of the remaining rivers of Greece, so
sung by the poets, so grand in idea, I used to drink
of the water and then vault over them.
If then the reader draw a circle round the infant
kingdom of young Otho, that line will extend about
1,000 miles. Three diameters make the circum¬
ference of the circle; which gives us, in round num¬
bers, about 330 miles as the mean width of this infant
realm.
To this realm I now invite the reader, and as we
approach this magic circle, what a train of splendid
reminiscences crowd upon the mind! No country
has produced heroes so renowned. No land has been
so fertile in sages. If battles were an honour, what
region compares with Greece ? Here Hercules was
cradled. Here Homer sang. Here Solon legis¬
lated. Here Aristides exemplified high moral prin¬
ciple. Here are the “ isles of Elishah,” spoken of
d d 2
406
SAIL FOR SYRA.
by Moses.* This is “ the realm of Javan,” given by
Daniel to Xerxes.t The million and a half of souls
we are about to visit together, are the distant pos¬
terity of “ Japheth,” one of the “ three sons of
Noah.”+ Here the zealous Paul, “ apostle to the gen¬
tiles,” travelled and preached and planted infant
churches; and we shall trace the road he passed
between Athens and Corinth. We shall tread in his
steps. In fine, this is the land of which Isaiah said;
“The Lord shall send his ambassadors to Javan,
the isles afar off.Ӥ These ambassadors appeared
in the time of the early Caesars; and the noble
attempt of the British churches to enter the same
field, and to prosecute the same heaven-approved
and heaven-predicted object, has originated these
pages.
Intending to sail to the isle of Syr a, the ancient
Syros, lying between Delos and Paros; I em¬
barked in a small Hydriot kelupa or sloop, about
ten o’clock a. m. on the 21st of January 1824. The
sky, black as ebony, foreboded a storm. The bluff
cliffs of Hydra, the ancient Aristera, were enveloped
in a dingy mantle of vapour. The fiery eye of
our Greek captain ever and anon cast a prognos¬
ticating glance over the heavens; but, as ever is the
case, other captains were weighing anchor, and up
came ours. The parting from friends, the look of the
sky, the fact that I was a lone wanderer, far, far
away from my country and from my family, must
* Gen. x. 4, 5.
% Gen. x. 1—5.
f Dan. xi. 2.
§ Isaiah lxvi. 19.
DRIVEN INTO POROS.
407
have imprinted on my face the seriousness of my
heart; for a young Greek came up, just ere we spread
our canvass to the now howling breeze, and addressing
me kindly said, 44 cheer up.” I hear his soft accent
still.
Scarcely had we cleared the port, when the tempest
burst on us with all its fury; and this too in 44 the
gently laving Aegean.” Homer describes it better
than Mr. North,— 44 the stormy sea;” in fact, all seas
are stormy, and for sudden squalls, I suppose Greece
is the very region. As our creaking and labouring
sloop soon became the plaything of Neptune, we all
held on above, or crept below. The wind roared
appallingly. The billowy main was lashed to foam
and fury. We soon saw it had been vain to attempt
Syra, which lay about eighty miles distant, in the
wind’s eye ; and our captain prudently put about, and
bore up for the island of Poros, about twenty miles
north of our course.
Now and then a tremendous squall of snow, and
sleet, and hail, with sudden gusts of wind, almost
confounded us; for our vessel seemed many a time to
be on the point of capsizing. At length, after about
seven hours’ anxious sailing, we happily rounded
the promontory of Sylleum, passed Calauria, and
made the port or rather roadstead of Poros.
Poros is the ancient Hiera, and seems to me to
derive its actual name from 7r epw to pass; for, as the
island lies close by the Morea, the anchorage is, in
fact, but a passage , which is the proper import of
Poros. I was informed that the inhabitants of this
408
VIOLENT STORM.
island were about 5,000; but just prior to my visit,
an endemic had swept a large portion of them into
the tomb.
Next morning the sky looked bright, and we once
more weighed for Syra, to be once more disappointed.
The Italians say, “ one flower does not form the
spring,” and a bright sky is not always the com¬
panion of a calm. The most fearful storm I think I
ever read of, is described by General Burns, and
foamed beneath as fair a heaven, as ever smiled on the
sunlit gardens of Italy. Fair as the Grecian sky
was this day, I have seldom gone through a more
exhausting tempest. For twenty anxious hours I
never tasted food, and though I have buffeted many a
long sea-storm, I think I never, for the time being,
felt a greater sinking of spirits. The wind whistled
appallingly through the ship’s rattlings. Dismay
was silently enthroned on several countenances.
The billows rose fearfully high. One tremendous
wave, I single out even yet, and remember it after
years have glided by, as to all appearance, des¬
tined to shut us out for ever from the light of day.
We watched its approach in silent suspense. It
rolled on in majestic grandeur, lifting its tall, white,
boiling crest high over the reeling vessel. Each
seized a firm hold of some part of the ship’s timbers
or cordage. The wave that overwhelmed Lisbon
could hardly seem more portentous in its approach.
At length, with the roar of a hundred lions, with the
violence of a foaming cataract, and with the shock of
a falling Alp, the remorseless mountain of waters
DRIVEN INTO ZEA.
409
broke upon us, and almost lifted the keel of our
creaking sloop fairly out of the sea. Yet, it rather
rolled under than over us, and as we saw the billow
on the leeward side of our gallant little ship, more
hearts than one, I believe, looked up a thankful
thought to Him, “ who rules the wide-spread deep.”
Humanly speaking, I attribute our escape to the self-
possession of one man on board. Just before the
billow struck us, he leapt from his hold, and in a
moment let go one of the sheets, which eased the
sloop at the very moment of peril.
I think it was in this stage of our voyage, that this
same man—a person of very gentlemanly manners,
engaged, I believe, in commerce; but the very man,
as he told me, who stabbed one of the Turkish ad¬
mirals, only a little before, in a sea-fight—gravely
proposed the question, “ Who is the sinner 4 ?” Now
I did not at all like this question. Jonah, near these
waters, had been cast overboard, as the sinner who
occasioned the storm; and I was among a number of
superstitious men, where life had of late been held
very cheap. I was also of another nation, another
faith, and was distributing among them the holiest
of books, which fact they might deem the very sin
that brought the tempest. I own I felt on thorns,
and to set them on a just scent, I replied very se¬
riously, “We are all sinners.”-—Finding it impossible
to stand on our course, the captain was glad at length
to put about, and we made the island of Zea, just
before sun-down. Zea is the ancient Keos or Ceos,
the birthplace of the celebrated painter Appelles. I
410
THE EUROCLYDON.
was glad to land, and extremely happy to creep into
a small cabin by the sea-side, where a number of
drunken Greeks, who kept singing and shouting, for
a long time prevented me from sleeping. In their
hilarity, under the influence of a spirit called rhakee,
and wine, these soldiers took obvious pleasure in
vociferating again and again, “We are Hellenes,” a
name of which all Greeks are greatly proud.
One, however, of these patriots stood aloof from the
noisy party, and maintained a dignified reserve and
silence. This w T as a Bumeliot, and wore the costume
of his country, which is northern Greece. To
“ His snowy camise, and his shaggy capote,”
if you add his red cap, red leggings, pointed shoes,
braided jacket, pistols, yatagan, and other arms, you
have in your mind’s eye either a Rumeliot or Suliot.
Both are brave and hardy men; and I was struck
with the sang froid , with which this soldier of fortune
stretched himself along a board for the night, in all
his clothes, and in all his arms. This is the way they
generally sleep.
The learned Scapula, Wetstein, Griesbach, Dr.
Shaw, and others, have speculated on the import of
the term “ Euroclydon,” used by St. Luke, to signify
the wind in which St. Paul was so fearfully tossed
before his wreck on the island of Malta.* I have an
impression that the storm I have just escaped is the
Euroclydon of the New Testament; that it is the
same wind in which Jonah was tempest-tossed; and
* Acts xxvii. 14.
SAIL FOR PORTO RAFTES.
411
that Dr. Clarke is right in supposing it to be the
vento levante of the Italians. Euroclydon I consider
a compound of evpos , the east wind, and k\v a
wave or storm. Those who sail up the Levant, call
it a Levanter. I think Dr. Shaw incorrect in the
range or- sweep of the compass which he gives to the
Levanter or Euroclydon; since he brings it as far
down by the east as the south-east: whereas the
south- east is always styled the sirocco.* Most feel¬
ingly can I sympathise with the harassed apostle;
for when this Euroclydon blows strong, it is but
cheerless fare to stand in its way, unless with a
boundless ocean around you, for room “ to let her
drive.” Pent up in such a basin as the Aegean, I
should never wish for another opportunity of making
observations upon this tempestuous wind.
At Zea, I left the Hydriot sloop, resolving to
change my course. Here I found a young Italian,
Signor Giuseppe, a soldier of fortune, from the re¬
public of San Marino; and we embarked together in
a small, clumsy, deeply-laden craft, styled a sacco-
leva , bound, I think, for Nauplia. The w T ord sacco-
leva now imports a small vessel; but in the twelfth
century it signified any very coarse garment. How
this change was effected, I cannot tell.
But the winds were once more unpropitious; and
after toiling hard at sea, we again sought shelter in
the port of Zea. Next day we left our lumbering
saccoleva, and took a boat for Porto Baftes, about
thirty miles distant, and about twelve from Athens.
* See Dr. Shaw’s Travels, p. 330; and Parkhurst in Verb
412
MARBLE STATUE.
Porto Raftes, a safe riding-place, derives its name
from a statue of marble, placed in a sitting posture
on a mound in the centre of the port. This statue
the Greeks call a tailor; and hence the name
Porto Raftes, or Tailor Port.
After falling into the sea; after fatigues the reader
might hardly credit, and fears too well-grounded; we
at last sought and found shelter in the house of an old
priest, at a village called Marcopolo, about six miles
from our landing place. When I entered the door of
this miserable dwelling, I was fairly wearied out.
Here I remained six days; and some of the events
of those days will be a little chapter of incidents, cal¬
culated, I trust, to depict the domestic manners and
habits of the modern Greeks.
As we entered this singular abode, the priest’s
wife, I knew" not wherefore, actually laughed with
delight; and when I asked for her husband, her re¬
ply gave me an impression that the priests of Pelo¬
ponnesus were not much employed in spiritual
husbandry : “ He is gone,” said she, “ for the cows;
but you’ll see him directly.” At length papas Yan-
nakes, for such were his style and name, reached
home, and three horses were forthwith despatched
for my luggage, comprising my boxes of books, of
which I still had some left.
Let me describe this house. Imagine a single
apartment, twenty feet by fifteen, mud floor, thatched
roof, a hole in the floor for a fire of faggots, another
in the roof for the smoke to escape,—when it could.
We breathed an atmosphere of smoke night and day,
GREEK HOUSE.
413
for the air was chill enough to require a fire, it being
the month of February. There was no partition in
all the house; yet who does the reader imagine were
the tenants ? The priest, his wife, their three child¬
ren, the old mother of the priest, or of his wife, two
labouring men, an Italian, myself, a horse, some
cows, and a bevy of noisy fowls. We all dwelt in
one apartment, all slept in one place, and, I was
going to add, all dined at one table; but table was
out of the question, unless we must dignify with this
name a round board, about four inches high, and
fifty in circumference, around which, at meals, we
squatted in the Greek style of sitting. Such was
the dwelling of human beings, only six miles from
Athens; the very throne of the goddess of architec¬
ture. Yet, I have no doubt, that to antiquity itself
such abodes were hut too well known, amidst all the
splendour of the city of Pericles; as one sees at this
day, in Italy, the stately palace and the wretched
hovel in most unexpected vicinity.
Mrs. Priestess, as the wife of religious ministers is
styled in Greece, was a very inquisitive woman, a
true daughter of Eve. When I replied to one of her
questions, with the information that I was a minister ,
she made the same remark that good Madame Santos
had done in Spetsia; 44 how could that be when I had
no beard 4 ?” She asked if I was married.— 44 Yes.”
— 44 Any children 4 ?”— 44 Three.”— 44 Well, it is really
very odd, all priestesses have plenty of children.”
She made for me and the family a soup composed of
flour, water and oil. The papas and the rest then
414
CIRCULATION OF TRACTS.
smoked, after which we all lay down to rest; but at
midnight we were roused again by the arrival of the
horses with our baggage. Few noises have delighted
me so much; for I had a strong impression on my
mind, either that the boatman had sailed off with
it before my Italian companion arrived at Porto
Faftes, or that he would himself persuade them so to
do, and participate the booty. I felt thankful to God,
and once more went to sleep, for after so many
fatigues, repose was a cordial most welcome to my
exhausted frame.
Next morning we had coffee and bread. It was
raining hard, but I saw we had landed on a most
charming part of Greece. “Well, papas Yanna-
kes,” I said to the priest, “ as a friend to education, I
hope you have schools in your village.” “ Schools!”
said he, “ no, indeed: the Turks prevent that. Every
year since the commencement of the revolution, we
are compelled to fly to the adjacent isles of the Archi¬
pelago, to save our lives; for the Othomans pay
a regular visit. So we have no time for schools;
nor can we easily get food, as our lands cannot be
cultivated. Alas, afendi, these are melancholy times.”
I gave this poor minister some of our Greek cate¬
chisms and tracts. I also gave some to two monks
from mount Pentelicus, and circulated others among
different persons in the vicinity.
When I was dressing in the morning, the priest’s
wife, who I suppose had never gazed in a glass be¬
fore, seized my small travelling mirror, and staring
into it exclaimed, in a tone and with a gesture the
DOWRY-CAP.
415
most seriously comic, “ Oh! what a fright I am!
what a hag!” Her daughter, a girl about fourteen,
wore the dowry cap; that is, her fesi or red skull-cap
was partly covered with small coins, thus kept to form
her dowry for the marriage day. This dowry the
Greeks still style preeka.* While in Hydra, I one
day saw a son of Admiral Miaoulas counting an im¬
mense number of such coins, just received in payment
of goods; for such was the distress of numerous
families at this period, that many poor girls were
absolutely compelled to part with a long-cherished
treasure, and with that, perhaps, long-cherished hopes
of felicity. May all lovers of war feel anguish as
bitter!
I was struck with the way of making a peeta, or
cake for our table; but forbear to detail what only
disgusted me; for, to be plain, Mrs. Priestess was
not a paragon of delicacy. Before I rose from my
mattress, I saw the priest get up, and was really
amazed to see him wash his face and repeat his
prayers at the same time; so as almost to fill his
mouth with water, and make it gurgle in his
throat. Is this, one naturally asks, is this the spi¬
ritual, reverent, devout, and prostrate adoration im¬
plied in that declaration, “ God is a Spirit, and those
who worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth V
Next morning, the priest’s wife made a candle, and
* Unquestionably from tt pol%, whence I suppose, our English price,
through the French prix. Anciently a wife was purchased, and regarded
as a slave ; but now matters are somewhat reversed.
416
DRUNKEN ECCLESIASTICS.
I observed that she devoutly crossed herself with the
materials. To this sign of the cross superstition
attaches unnumbered powers. We breakfasted on
bread, butter, and blackbirds. A monk from near
Marathon breakfasted with us ; and absolutely drank
wine till he was fairly intoxicated. When I asked
the priest why a female member of the family was
not at table with us, his reply was, 44 Oh! we cannot
eat together; she is too old for that. The Greeks
treat their wives rather brutishly. The monk kept
swallowing down copious libations of wine ; so indeed
did papas Yannakes; and both urged me to do the
same: 44 Drink, drink,” they often exclaimed; but
I told them that drunkenness is a sin. 44 Well,” re¬
plied one of them, 44 that may be true, but I like
drinking.” The Greeks, even the priesthood, are
slaves to the wine-cup.
When our monastic companion came at length to
leave us, for the monastery near Marathon, his mule
was caparisoned, he armed himself cap-a-pie, like
Don Quixote, and mounted; but scarcely had he be-
strid his beast, when down he came with a heavy
thwack on the off-side. At length he set off, and I
could not fail to signify to papas Yannakes my sur¬
prise and pain at a scene so shocking.
By one incident in this family I was greatly inte¬
rested, as tending to explain a parable of our Lord ;
nor less as showing that Greece requires the light of
knowledge, as a corrective to her superstitions. I ob¬
served Mrs. Priestess and the children appear very
much indisposed, and enquired the reason. 44 Sir,”
ON THE TERM TARES.
417
said she, “ we have eaten some zizania .” This is
the word translated 44 tares” in the gospel of St.
Matthew *. They had unwittingly eaten this dele¬
terious grain as genuine corn; and I observed that
sickness, squeamishness, and head-ache were the
painful result. My attention was drawn at first by
remarking that Mrs. Yannakes held in her hand a
cloth tied up at the corner, and that she was mutter¬
ing something to herself with most mystical airs,
while the children sat by her. 44 What art thou at,
priestess ?” I enquired.— 44 Oh me! in this rag I have
got a little salt tied up at the corner; I am also eating
a few grains, and so are the children.”— 44 What for*?”
— 44 To burst the spell.”— 44 What spell V — 44 Some¬
body has bewitched us; at least she says so.”—
44 Who V — 44 1 sent to a witch who lives close by, and
she says somebody has done us this harm by the evil
eye; and to counteract the spell, she told me to do so
with the salt, and at the same time to repeat from the
Euchologion, or prayer-book, the prayer against fas¬
cination. This is what we are doing now.”— 44 But
are you bewitched"?”— 44 She says so, but it must be
the zizania we have eaten ; for that is a bad thing.”
Zizania is, as was said above, the word rendered
tares. The question is, what is this zizania P There
is, in the north of England, a seed called tares; but of
this I have eaten without the least injury. This, a
species of lolium. or ray grass, cannot surely be the
zizania of our Lord. Forskal, as cited by Taylor in
Calmet, considers it to be darnel , and adds, that to
* Matth. xiii. 25, et sequent.
418
DOMESTIC ANECDOTES.
the people of Aleppo this is a well known plant. u It
grows among corn. If the seeds remain mixed with
the meal, they render a man drunk by eating the
bread. The reapers do not separate the plant, but,
after thrashing, they reject the seeds by means of a
fan or sieve.” “ Nothing,” adds Taylor, “ can more
clearly elucidate the plant intended by our Lord than
this extract. It grows among corn—so in the para¬
ble. The reapers do not separate the plants—so in
the parable; both grow together till harvest.” Ac¬
cording to Johnson, “ darnel or lolium album is the
first of hurtful weeds.” Its leaves resemble those of
wheat or barley, but spring up rougher. The grains
having scarcely any husk, are easily scattered among
the corn where it grows. It seems that in the Ara¬
bic language darnel is actually styled zizania, and
perhaps this term is a Syriac corruption of zan , which
in Hebrew signifies sort or kind. At all events it
seems highly probable, that the proper translation of
zizania is darnel and not tares.
I was much amused one evening at Marcopolo, by
one of the domestic scenes. The priestess and her girl
were laughing most heartily at the boy, who was in
vain struggling as he sat on the floor, to draw off his
sarouchia or leggings preparatory to bed-time. He
pulled and tugged and jerked, till at last, on giving a
desperate wrench, down he fell back on the ground,
where he lay roaring lustily. The more they laughed
to hear him cry, the more he cried to hear them
laugh.—The dear little girl was sometimes naughty;
but was always good the moment I spoke of putting
A ROBBERY.
419
her into my cap. There was, alas, nothing approach¬
ing to Christian discipline, during all the days I
remained in the family. How should there be ?
One morning at six o’clock I preached in the
church of papas Yannakes. The place accommodated
about a hundred persons. The women were, as
usual, separated from the men by lattice work, and
during the address were rather turbulent. The text
singled out were the words of Jesus, “Search the
scriptures,” and while speaking on this most impor¬
tant duty, I thank God that so much liberty was
given me. At the conclusion of the service, papas
Yannakes very kindly said, “ may it bear fruit!”
In the night about twelve, I was robbed by my
Italian compagnon de voyage. It has already been
stated that we all slept in the same apartment The
mattress of Signor Giuseppe was near mine, both
being on the floor close to the wall. On the night
in question I was awoke by an unusual noise close
by my bed, and called out, “ who’s there?” The re¬
ply was in Italian, “ Sir, will you drink a little
water?” For attentions so polite and so dubious, I
thanked my friend; but felt for a small blue box
near my head, containing all the money I had re¬
ceived for holy books, about 400 dollars, and for a
small uncharged pistol, which I invariably placed in
my girdle in Greece, though I never had a grain of
powder. This pistol I found where I had left it, on
the lid of my cash box, and I soon fell asleep again.
Rising early next morning, I proceeded at once
to inspect my box. The first ominous discovery was
E E
420
DEPARTURE FOR ATHENS.
the key laid upon my clothes—I had left it the pre¬
ceding night in my pocket. On opening the box, I
soon missed a rouleau of fifty dollars. 64 Now,”
thought I, 44 this public property must not be lost by
neglect.” In a kind and gentle, but firm tone and
manner, I taxed Signor Giuseppe. 44 1 am,” said I,
44 extremely sorry to charge you, but last night you
were at my mattress, and if you refuse me permission
to search your effects, I shall not travel with you
another yard, but proceed to Athens alone. The
feelings of a gentleman I am grieved to run the risk
of hurting, but I am this morning minus fifty dollars,
and who but yourself could have taken them ?” In
vain did my companion attempt to evade me : after
many eloquent protestations of astonishment, he as¬
sented to my proposal. I searched all his effects,
but in vain. We then stepped into the garden, and
searched there with the same success. Why, after all,
do I charge this gentlemanly and handsome native of
San Marino P Because, while I was kicking among
grass and weeds, I saw him advance to an old wall
in a stealthy way, and then, as it appeared, for I only
gazed obliquely, he adroitly disposed of something
about his person. I had already examined himself
as well as his effects, but to pursue the matter farther
I really had not a heart, and so patiently sat down
with my loss. At all events he had not turned assas¬
sin, which some of my own countrymen would have
done.
At length came the hour of my departure for
Athens, and I bid adieu to Madame Yannakes and
JOURNEY TO ATHENS.
421
her children. The husband went with me as a guide.
Peace to that simple family ! I often think of them
with feelings that heaven approves, and with prayers
that heaven, I hope, will hear. “ I was a stranger
and they kindly took me in;” and during my stay I
made some observations on the wants and the sorrows
of their country, to be subsequently turned to account.
The most painful reminiscence of that cabin is the
inebriety of the monks; and from my rebukes I dare
not hope much good; for alas! what anodyne can
the monastic system supply 4 ? or what antidote can
cure the drunkard *?
During the middle ages, Greece suffered most
grievously from the dreamy reveries of the monks.
There exists a Greek history of them in six or eight
volumes. Six or eight volumes about monks! On
such a theme, a single volume is one too many. So
long as the monastic system lasts, truth cannot remain
untainted; the gospel cannot reach the masses;
the church will not be pure, and man will not
be free.
On a rainy morning I set out for Athens. After
conducting the reader to that city, I shall state some
of my observations on missionary plans and opera¬
tions for Greece; but must first detail a few of the
events which occurred upon the road. My com¬
panions were the Italian, the priest and two or three
other persons. My books and other luggage, borne
by two horses, were slung across the ponderous
packsaddle of Peloponnesus; while we all trudged
afoot. Marcopolo is six miles from the city of
e e 2
422
DISTRESS IN GREECE.
Minerva. At this time Greece was in deep distress
from war and famine; and robberies were painfully
frequent. The priest had, I believe, armour enough
for us all; but I had nothing save my little uncharged
pistols.
When about a couple of miles from Mount Hy-
mettus, we saw approaching in the opposite direction
about a dozen strong men, all armed to the teeth.
With some trepidation we still kept advancing to¬
wards Athens. As they neared us, we observed them
occasionally speak to each other, and look very
earnestly at us. This appeared highly suspicious.
At length they approached, gazed at us, and passed
on, but after a short time they came running back;
when one of them sternly asked what we had got in
those boxes. 44 Afendi,” said I, 44 1 am on my way
to Athens, with a letter of introduction to Kyreea
Sofia Pangales from her brother, the British consul
at Zea. In these boxes there is nothing that can
harm any one.” On hearing this the men stood a
moment, interchanged a few words in an ob¬
viously hesitating temper; but at length bid us good
day and left us. Who they were I have not learned;
but felt most thankful and happy to have been
allowed to pass muster unmolested. My motive in
naming the British consul, was to let them know
that a public functionary was privy to my being in
the country, and must eventually learn the fact, had I
been either murdered or robbed.
On coming to the gates of Athens, we were rudely
stopped by a couple of sentinels. 44 Who are you V 9
EGYPTIAN SPIES.
423
was their enquiry. I told them.—“ This is a time
of danger to our country. You priests,” addressing
papas Yannakes, “ are at the root of all the evil that
befalls our land.”— 44 Come,” said I, 44 my good men,
you ought not to speak so insultingly to papas Yan¬
nakes ; he is my friend, and you may depend upon it
I intend no harm to Greece.” We were at last
gruffly permitted to pass on; nor could I divine the
motive for their treatment of us, till I arrived at the
house of Madame Pangales. She read my letter
and received me kindly; but plainly told Signor
Giuseppe that she could not entertain him. 44 Sir,”
said the lady to me, 44 you must detach yourself from
this person.” I now learned that notice had reached
the city, that Ulysses had apostatised to the Turks;
that he was at Negropont, the ancient Euboia, not
far from Athens; that with this fiery chieftain were a
large body of Turkish troops; that this force was
daily expected to attack Athens; and, finally, that
there were in Greece two Egyptian spies, and my
companion and myself were suspected to be the very
persons.
My frequent astonishment has been, that in such
a ferment the authorities or the populace did not at
once seize us both, and hang us without the formalities
of law on the 44 furca ” or gibbet, which I saw stand¬
ing ready for action not far from my residence. I
soon learned that Signor Giuseppe was taken before
the authorities, and that the suspicions against him
were so strong, that within a few hours he was
ordered to quit Greece or stay at his peril. Mean-
424
BISHOP OF ATHENS.
time my own history and person were canvassed; but
as I professed to be from England, the warm friend
of Greece, I was treated with a greater amount of
courtesy. Early in the day, the Eparchos , or gover¬
nor of Athens paid me a formal visit, attended by his
suite. “ Sir,” said he, “ I am come to pay my res¬
pects to you, as a visitor from England.” I saw
through all this polite delicacy, and concluded it best
to come to the point. “ Most Excellent,” said I,—the
style in Greece of physicians and public function¬
aries, “ you are not, it seems, very adroit in the ma¬
nagement of government secrets. Here you are in¬
formed that two spies from Egypt are in Greece; and
yet, instead of acting in secret upon such intelli¬
gence, (pardon my freedom,) you divulge all; so that
every old woman of Athens is just as wise as your
Excellency. Now, how do you know but I am my¬
self one of the spies you expect from Egypt*?’’
“ O dear!” the Eparchos politely replied, 64 we
should not suspect such a thing for the world.” I
do not remember that any thing very pointed subse¬
quently passed on this very unpleasant subject; and
after the governor and myself had conversed for some
time on other matters, he paid his adieus to the lady
and her guest and retired.
On the second or third day after reaching Athens,
I paid a pre-arranged visit to Talandiou Neophytos,
bishop of the city. This was a tall, intelligent man,
of polite manners, and of noble presence. He received
me with great courtesy, and seated me on the divan
next himself, with many of his clergy around us.
HIS COURTESY.
425
Soon after my entrance, pipes were brought and
handed to several. They were the best I had yet
seen in Peloponnesus. The bowl was red terra cotta ,
the stick apparently of cherry-tree, and the mouth¬
piece of amber, variagated as usual with circles of
agate, or other stones more precious.
I introduced to the bishop the objects for which I
had come to Greece. Scarcely had I done so, when
he showed me a number of the books I had printed
in Malta, which had already reached Athens, lying
on a shelf; told me he had looked into them, and said
some kind things as to their contents. I do not recol¬
lect that any objection was started respecting them.
I explained to the bishop my wish, to place at his
disposal a supply of Greek Testaments, and signified
that he would greatly oblige me by ordering one to be
given to each boy on quitting the school of Athens.
To this he most promptly assented, and signified some
admiration of the principles and objects of the British
and Foreign Bible Society. After much, very much,
most interesting intercourse, we separated with, I
feel confident, mutual good feeling, and with some ar¬
rangements for the spiritual good of Greece, which
I reported on my arrival in Malta, but which, partly
through the long continuance of war, and for some
other reasons, were not fully carried out.
In making my observations on Athens, at this pe¬
riod, how forcibly was I struck with the desolations
of time and of the sword! Probably one half, even
of the modern Athens, was a sheer ruin; and the in¬
habitants were dismantling, from day to day, house
426
RECENT IMPROVEMENTS.
after house, now tenantless, to obtain the timber for
lighting fires. The streets were extremely narrow,
and generally clogged with the debris of ruined
dwellings. When I ascended the acropolis to inspect
the ancient marble ruins, those of the classic ages, I
was pained to find that the elegant white marble of
the Parthenon was actually broken up for munitions
of war, and rounded into cannon balls. Happily,
however, for the city of Pericles, it is now, like the
young phoenix of Greece, rising afresh from its parent
ashes.
With the actual state of Athens, few persons out
of Greece are at all acquainted. It is generally de¬
scribed according to the accounts which were pub¬
lished before it became the capital of the kingdom;
when it certainly was in a deplorable condition.
It presented to the eye of the beholder only a mass
of ruins, and one could perceive scarcely more than
about twenty tolerably solid and regularly-built
houses. Accordingly, when the seat of government
was transferred to Athens, it was with the greatest
difficulty that some buildings could be fitted up for
the members of the regency, the diplomatic body, the
secretaries of state, and other offices. But the ap¬
pearance of Athens has, since that time, been mate¬
rially changed. On the site of most of the ruins,
buildings have been erected; and they are executed
in entire conformity with a fixed plan of Athens. Seve¬
ral streets have been opened, levelled, and widened.
The principal are Hermes-street, iEolus-street, and
Minerva-street. Hermes-street divides the city into
EXERTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 427
two equal parts, parallel with the Acropolis. iEolus-
street crosses Hermes-street, and extends to the tem¬
ple of iEolus, where a square of the same name is
now in progress. Minerva-street, the broadest of
all, runs nearly in the same direction as iEolus-street.
Solid and handsome buildings have already been
erected on both sides of Hermes-street, throughout
its whole length. There are not so many buildings
in iEolus and Minerva-streets, but there is every
appearance that they will be completed within a few
years. Hermes-street is already levelled, and, as
well as many others, will soon be paved. Half of
the old Agora-street is already paved. Hermes-street
and iEolus-street divide the city of Athens into four
quarters. Of the streets of the second class, the
principal are, Metaginia, Palace, Agora, and Adrian
streets.
To secure the health of the inhabitants of the
capital, government has neglected nothing. Large
sums have been expended in repairing and cleansing
the ancient sewers, which convey the water and offal
of the town into the great canal, which divides the
city into two parts. The object of securing the health
of the inhabitants would not, however, have been
attained, had not measures been adopted at the same
time for draining the neighbouring marshes. The
overflowing of the Cephisus formed, in the grove of
olives, and in the plain between the Piraeus and
Athens, several pools of stagnant water, the exhala¬
tions of which were extremely noxious. The go¬
vernment has had them all drained, the bed of the
428
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Cephisus deepened, and canals made to carry off the
waters into the sea. These operations have, besides,
restored to agriculture a not inconsiderable tract of
land. There are in Athens twenty public wells, and
besides these, the public buildings, and many
private houses have water, copiously supplied out
of the general aqueduct, on very moderate terms.
This water, which is distributed in the city, comes
from two sources ; one at the foot of the Pentelicus,
called the fountain of St. Demetrius, which is con¬
nected with the city by an admirable canal, of the
time of the emperor Adrian, in perfect preservation,
ten feet broad, and twelve feet high; the other
source is that of Tachymachos, at the foot of mount
Hymettus. There are in Athens a civil and a mili¬
tary hospital: the latter is remarkable for its solidity
and handsome architecture, and stands on a very
healthy spot. Since the removal of the government to
Athens, several other public buildings have been
erected; such as the barracks, the artillery-barracks,
the mint, and the royal printing-office. The last is an
establishment that does honour to the government;
having nine typographic, and seven lithographic
presses, and above twenty workmen employed in
it. The palace of the king will not be deemed in¬
ferior to the edifices which formerly adorned Greece.
In situation it is equally beautiful and salubrious.
There are in Athens thirteen churches, in which
divine service is performed; twelve belonging to the
eastern, and one to the western pale. There are
two cemetaries, one belonging to the commune, the
ITS POPULATION.
429
other to the American missionaries. What was for¬
merly the Turkish school has been temporarily fitted
up as a prison. Athens is also happy with respect
to establishments for education. It is the seat of a
university, of a gymnasium, in which the government
has founded thirty exhibitions for poor students; of
a Hellenic school, a city school, and a seminary for
schoolmasters. Besides these, there are several
schools supported by private persons: that, for in¬
stance, of the American brethren. The girls’ school
of Madame Polmerange, which had long been estab¬
lished at Nauplia, is removed to Athens. In this
school fourteen girls are clothed, maintained, and
educated at the expense of government.
In Athens manufactures are still very backward ;
and the same is the case in all the other towns in
Greece. Foreigners have, however, founded some
establishments, which promise well. The revenues
of Athens have considerably improved. According to
the statement of 1836, they had risen to nearly
120,000 drachms. These arise from the rent of
buildings belonging to the town, from the excise, &c.
We may farther observe, that when a census of the
population was made for the first time in 1833, it
amounted to scarcely 7,000 souls ; whereas it is now
15,000, besides the military.
Athens stands on a spot greatly rich in remains
of antiquity; but, as the government has not yet
been able to grant any considerable sum to make
excavations in places where, there is reason to hope,
numerous antiquities might be found; the acqui-
430
SOIL OF ATTICA.
sitions hitherto made, are limited to incidental dis¬
coveries. In digging the foundation of a house,
which Dr. Treiber and M. Origone lately built in
the vicinity of the temple of Theseus, the remains of
a wall were found, with part of the cornice of a
column of the Doric order. M. Patakis, superinten-
dant of the antiquities, caused further excavations to
be made, with the permission of the owners, and a
head, of good workmanship, was discovered. From
the manner in which the hair is arranged, it seems
cotemporary with the dominion of the Romans.
Then a pedestal was also found, with three words of
an inscription. On the same day, a female head, of
exquisite workmanship, was dug out; and another
head, which seems to have belonged to the statue of
Nerva. To judge by the direction of the wall, it
probably belonged to a monument in honour of a
Roman emperor; for, on a close examination of the
workmanship of the cornice and the three heads, we
may take it for granted that they are of a later date
than the classic era.
The soil of Attica, of which Athens is the chief
town, is generally pebbly, sandy, and dry, but is still
very fertile; and the climate balmy to a degree. In
this magic locality are some of the most celebrated
hills and mountains, rivers and ruins, that the world
can produce; of which fact the sketch here presented
will convey, in five minutes, a more correct and pal¬
pable demonstration, than the most elaborate and gra¬
phic details of an hour.
A LANDSCAPE IN ATTICA
431
The first hill, commencing on the left, is Mount Parnes. Above this rises the chain of Brilessus.
This, still moving to the right, is flanked by a small modern tower; above which stands the doric
portico of Polygnotus. Next follow, in succession, the Temple of Erectheus, the Parthenon, mount
Pentelicus, mount Anchesmus, and the lofty summit of Hymettus. Below Brilessus is seen the
elegant and almost complete Temple of Theseus; and the eminence precisely to the right of this is
the celebrated Mars-hill. Then follows the theatre of Herodes Atticus, a little below, to the right of
Mars’-hill; and after the long arched wall, a little above, is the road to Marathon. To the right of
the wall stands the grove of the Lyceum; below which is the modern city of Athens. The two
remaining erections, still moving tht eye to the right, are the Gate of Hadrian, and the Temple of
Jupiter Olympus.
The Athenian lady, at whose house I was hospita¬
bly entertained, was a woman of great good sense,
about forty-five. Her husband was at the time out of
Greece. We conversed on religion, and on a variety
of topics, to which her mind was not at all unequal.
Her exterior dress comprised the loose Greek slipper
and party-coloured hose, the full petticoat, the braided
bodice, with long open sleeves, not undecked with
filigree, the skull-cap of green velvet, her long hair
falling from beneath it behind, in two plaits, reach-
to the calf. The house was but half finished: I r e-r
member only three rooms; the ondas, or sitting-room,
carpetted and divanned as already described at
Spetsia, the room I slept in on a couch, and that
where Madame Pangales reposed with her paramana
432
VISIT TO MARS’-HILL.
or duenna, which opened into mine without the en¬
cumbrance of a door. In the presence of a mis¬
sionary, no indecorum seems to have had even the
existence of a thought. The evenings we spent in
conversation, retired to rest about nine, and rose
early in the morning. In the crude theology of the
Greek church, Sofia Pangales seemed, by her re¬
marks on a large volume of ascetic lore which she
showed me, to have had considerable information;
but she did not afford me just reason to conclude that
she was versed in the way of salvation through the
vicarious sacrifice of the cross, the Lamb slain for
sinners, in the sense of a victim , a substitute, or an
atonement. Alas! how should my poor friend learn
this, “ when the blind led the blind?”
The ruins of Athens I visited, of course; but to
repeat the details of a thousand travellers, to lead the
reader round the Acropolis,—
“ Where ever and anon there falls,
Huge heaps of hoary, mouldering walls,”
would furnish nothing new; and though to me these
ruins may be dear as the smile of my first infant, I
waive the topic for other matters. As, however, my
fair friend one day accompanied me to Mars’-hill, the
celebrated scene of St. Paul’s trial and sermon, as
recorded in Acts xvii. 22—31, the reader will permit
a brief reference to that visit, in addition to what was
stated in an early part of this volume. Our visit
was, in fact, both to Mars’-hill and the Pnyx. The
scenery now before us, with distant glimpses of
classic spots, was truly enchanting. To any mind of
classic feeling, a moment’s consultation of the sketch
A VIEW NEAR ATHENS.
433
here annexed, will justify that expression. Mars’-
hill appears in the preceeding sketch, and hence, in
coming from the city, we crossed that almost hal¬
lowed locality on our way to the Pnyx. This is the
principal figure in the sketch, and is, I believe, now
styled by the Greeks, Philopappos. So my Athenian
friend informed me, though I am aware of the fact,
that some distinguish between these ruins, placing the
Pnyx to the right of the large figure, near the road to
Eleusis.
Commencing on the left, the first elevation is the island of Salamis, so extending as to cover
the bases of mount Cylene and the Acrocorinthus, which are the next two elevations, and
which ought to stand more in the back-ground. Mount Oegalus flanks the Pynk, the tall
ruin standing out in the fore-ground. Oegalus ends off to the right of the Pnyx, after which
the eye immediately reposes on the Via Sacra, or Sacred Way to Eleusis. Above this proudly
rises mount Cithoeron, followed by mount Corydallus, and a section of mount Parnes. The
small erection to the right of the Pnyx or Philoppos, and of the Sacred Way, is the structure
codsidered by some as the Pnyx itself.—From any elevated locality of Athens these celebrated
objects form a bold and imposing outline.
434
COURT OF THE AREOPAGUS.
The term philopappos, would, it is conceived,
in vain be sought in the classic authors; nor can I
discover on what authority a distinction is made
between them. The word philopappos is tantamount
to good granddad; but why it succeeded pnyx, or
what is the import of pnyx, are problems not easily
solved.
Mars’-hill, like hills adjacent, is a mass of stone,
not high, yet difficult of ascent. Its surface is not
much undulated; and its general character inclines
to rotundity. The hill is by no means so high as the
Acropolis, nor yet so spacious. On this hill the
blessed Paul was tried for his life, for preaching those
truths we now convey to the descendants of the
Areopagites; and by God’s grace one of these, Dio¬
nysius, the St. Denis of France, became a convert.
On this hill the Amazons pitched their tents, when
those redoubtable female warriors invaded Attica in
the remote age of Theseus; and in later ages the
Persians, under Xerxes, hence made their onslaught
upon the Acropolis.
Why some travellers have asserted that on this
hill are now no remains of the court of Areopagus, is
to me a mystery, and makes me diffident as to my
own notes. I can only say, that when Kyreea Sofia
Pangales conducted me to one part of this celebrated
hill, she pointed out a platform with frontal and
lateral steps, and exclaimed, 64 va to ’ Apeio7rayo?,
behold the Areopagus.” In presenting to the reader
a sketch of this venerable platform, for which I am
RUIN ON MARS’-HILL.
435
indebted to the Rev. Mr. Hughes,* it only remains to
be stated that in calling this platform the pnyx, as
that very able and amiable tourist has done, either
he or my fair Athenian Cicerone must be in error.
Let me be pardoned for the firm belief, that the
sketch here given is really what I have named it—
the celebrated pulpit of St. Paul. On the hypo¬
thesis that the Pnyx and the Areopagus identify, we
are all right.
MARS’-HILL.
In a work that can be of small authority in such
matters, I find a statement which is here added, be¬
cause the author, though but a collector, must have
derived his information from some traveller. That
statement confirms my own. “ There are still to be
seen vestiges of their seats”—the seats of the Areo-
* Travels in Sicily, Greece and Albania ; a work that amply rewards
perusal; chaste both in style and sentiment, and full of information.
F F
436 REFLECTION ON THE RUIN.
pagites,—“ cut out in the rock after a semicircular
form; and around the tribunal, or seats of the judges,
an esplanade which served as a hall.”* Let the rea¬
der mark how accurately this citation describes what
the Athenian lady showed me, on Mars’-hill, as the
celebrated court of Areopagus.
Behind the bema, or platform, are seen small re¬
cesses in the hill, probably the niches of Athenian
idols, the “ Gods many and Lords many” of pagan
antiquity. Near this bema stood the “ altar to the
unknown God” seen by St. Paul. I find that the
Greeks had a plurality of Gods styled “ Gods un¬
known.” What a delightful reflection to the Chris¬
tian’s mind, that he does not worship a God un¬
known, but “ God in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself.”
* Brown’s Dictionary of the Bible.
CHAPTER XXYI
GREEK LADY’S COSTUME. — THE GIRDLE. — THE HEAD-DRESS. — THE
VAIL. — THEIR ORIGIN. — GREEK LADY’S TOILET. — ANECDOTE. —
STAINING THE HAIR. — EYELIDS. — ROUGE. — ANCIENT AND
MODERN MODES OF ADORNMENT. — CONFESSION. — ANECDOTES.
The costume of Athens resembles that of Pelopon¬
nesus. Nor can I persuade myself that either has
departed materially from that of the classic ages.
With the dress of my Athenian hostess, I was much
struck; and ere I quit Athens, the reader will permit
me to attempt to trace out some points of resem¬
blance between the Greece of this day and that of
gone-by ages, as respects identity of costume, worn
by a people at all times amazingly fond of “ costly
apparel and braiding the hair.”
Though I have seen, especially in the Ionian isles,
some women, whose attire was not much unlike that
of Italian females, and approximating to that of our
dear country; yet the dress of Peloponnesus is still
delightfully classic in its character. To the long
subjection of the Greeks to the Venetians and Ge¬
noese, we must, I suppose, attribute the anti-Grecian
costume one occasionally sees. In general, too, the
dress of women of the lower orders differs almost as
much from what I shall describe in this chapter, as
f f 2
438
ANTIQUITY OF THE GIRDLE.
an English lady’s costume differs from that of a
ploughman’s wife. The articles most remarkable in
a modern Greek lady’s apparel, are the girdle , the
vail and the cap or head-dress.
The girdle anciently formed a most important part
of female attire. In a considerable portion of
Greece it does so at this distant day ; for Greek ladies
are still too fond of the toilet.
“ The maids in soft cymars of linen drest;
The youths all shining in the glossy vest.”
In the Ionian isles it has so far fallen into disuse,
that it is chiefly at village weddings one now sees
the girdle, and then it is worn by the bride alone.
The men, however, have retained it, and those in the
interior of the islands still use it as a purse. So do
the Maltese. This use of the girdle is very ancient;
for in the classic ages “ he has lost his girdle,” was
tantamount to saying, “ he is ruined.” Horace de¬
clares that a man who has lost his girdle will run ten
miles for a penny:—
“ Ibit eo quo vis, qui zonarn perdidit
And when the adorable author of Christianity sends
out his disciples, he thus addresses them: “ neither
take money in your zones, What these
girdles anciently were, how handsome, how impor¬
tant, how replete with mystery, in what way they
were worn around the loins, some over the vest some
beneath it; all this and more the curious reader may
* Hor. lib. ii. Epod. 2. f Math. x. 9.
THE HEAD DRESS.
439
learn, in Homer,* Theocritus,! Ovid,! and Cal¬
limachus.?
God’s ancient people wore girdles, and the Greek
term zone obviously comes from the Hebrew zana ;
whence one may infer that Greece took her girdle
from Judea. The girdle is worn by men tight about
the waist. It was so worn by the Jews, to confine
their flowing robes. Paul, we find, wore a girdle.||
John the Baptist wore a girdle made of leather, a
sort of broad belt;H to answer to his prototype
Elijah.**
I have already stated, I think, that while at
Athens, Sofia Pangales presented me with two gir¬
dles. One of these is richly embroidered. On con¬
sulting the notes made in the city of Minerva, I
find some anecdotes of the girdles, but forbear to
transcribe them. The Hon. Mr. North, however, in
his very elegant production, “ Points of Besemblance
between the Ancient and Modern Greeks,” has, if I
remember rightly, for I have not the volume, rendered
my notes a work of supererogation.
The dressing of the head .—I once saw two Greek
ladies arranging their coiffeure. One was about
twenty-five, the other sixteen. They were seated
d la tailor on the floor of their apartment, and I
stood talking to them at the door. The ladies did
not appear at all disconcerted at my presence. They
combed the hair back, and to each side of the head.
* Hymn to Venus. f Idlyll. xxvii. % Heroid ii.
§ Hymn to Jupiter. || Acts xxi. 11. Matt. iii. 4*
** 2 Kings, i. 8. Rev. i. 13.
440
THE GREEK VAIL.
The long ringlets that fell down the back, reach¬
ing, when they stood up, almost to the knees, they
plaited into two tresses, two only, and these, when
the coiffeure was completed, remained pendent be¬
hind. The fesi, or small cap, apparently of velvet,
was placed on the head, close, and scarcely covering
it to the ears all around. A yellow handkerchief
was next bound round the head, just over the edges
of the fesi; and the side tresses were interwoven with
the soft folds of the kerchief, which finished the
coiffeure.
This kerchief the Ionian ladies call the binder.
The fesi and binder must be of different hues.
The fesi is often red, or green; and the kerchief
yellow, or of a delicate white. The kerchief or
binder is triangular, like a half silk handkerchief;
and this the ladies, ere applying it to the head, folded
much as we do a cravat. The fesi is generally of
silk, the lady’s I mean; that worn by the other sex
is invariably of felt. Unmarried ladies, and young
wives, wear the fesi of a rose colour, and matrons
and aged women generally wear it yellow, and always
of cotton. The fesi alone , of whatever material, of
whatever colour, would not become a lady; it is the
additions that render the Greek lady’s coiffeure an
ornament After all, and in my sober senses, I do
not think the head-dress of a Grecian belle at all
prettier than that of an English lady.
The next article of feminine attire to be noticed,
is the vail. This was classically styled the tcaXv/uLfin or
covering. I do not recollect ever hearing this term
in Greece. In the Ionian isles the vail is styled the
ANECDOTE OF PENELOPE.
441
Ke(pa\o7ravi or head-cloth, while elsewhere I have
met with the term ncmpa/ia, macrama , from piaKpos,
long, in allusion to the great length of the vail so
worn. In the Ionian isles it reaches from the centre
of the forehead, along the back, as far as the legs.
The vail is said to have originated in the modesty
and bashfulness of women, in the earlier ages of
Greece. But Ruth wore a vail; so did the earliest
Hebrew females. However, the reader shall have
an amusing anecdote, recorded by Pausanias. It
refers to Penelope, daughter of Icarus, and accounts
in its way for the lady’s vail.
Thirty stadia from Sparta, says Pausanias, stood
a statue of Modesty, placed there by Icarus for the
following reason: Icarus had given his daughter Pe¬
nelope to Ulysses as his bride, and wished to persuade
the general to fix his residence at Sparta, but was
refused. Failing with Ulysses, he directed the arts
of persuasion to Penelope, conjuring her not to aban¬
don him. Ulysses and his wife, however, were on
the point of leaving him for Ithaca, when he followed
the car and redoubled his entreaties. Wearied with
these pressing invitations, Ulysses said to his bride;
“ well, it remains with you to decide for your hus¬
band or your father, for you may either accompany
me to Ithaca, or return with your father to Sparta.”
On this it is stated that blushing Penelope made
no reply, but simply drew down her vail. Icarus
well understood all this, this silent eloquence of
blushing affection, and permitted her to go with her
husband. Greatly affected also by the embarrassment
442
DIFFERENT SORTS OF VAILS.
of Penelope, he consecrated a statue to Modesty, and
placed it just where his blushing daughter stood
when she vailed her face ; “ and,” says Pausanias, “ in
imitation of Penelope, the vail was adopted by all
females.”*
There was, moreover, at Lacedemon, a temple de¬
dicated to Morphe, or Beauty, and to Venus, in which
were statues of these ideal deities, both being vailed.
Nor will the reader probably require to be reminded,
that the three Graces are always depicted in vails, to
denote the modesty of the sex—one of woman’s great¬
est charmswith the same vail are the ladies of
Greece decorated to this day. Yet, I should fear to
hazard the bold assertion, that time has made no en¬
croachments on the precise classical cut. Both on
the continent and in the Ionian isles, the vail forms
an essential part of the elegant and costly female
attire. I have an impression that of all these seven
sweet isles, Leucadia, at the present day, presents
the prettiest vails. In luxury of apparel, the females
of this island recall to mind the oriental taste. Full
of grace, it gives a pleasing relievo to the fair forms
of the Leucadians. Their vail is often splendidly
embroidered. Of course I speak of respectable
classes; for that of ordinary persons is at once bare
of ornament and very coarse. In Leucadia the vail
of all classes is white; and the reader of the classics
may possibly remember, that those of Helen and
Hermione bore the same resemblance to the chaste
snow of Olympus.
* Pan san. tom. I.
THE LAWS OF THE VAIL.
443
The vails now worn in modern Greece are em¬
broidered. Ladies from Italy to Turkey are, 1 think,
alike remarkable for two things—skill at embroidery
and inexpertness at the book or the pen. After all,
I am not certain that my own countrywomen are in¬
ferior to the Greeks at this pretty art, though less
employed at it; while in mind I will not degrade
them by a comparison with the ladies of Italy, Greece,
or Turkey. Yet, reader, sois tranquille , the foes of
human improvement will in vain attempt to arrest
the progress of feminine intelligence. Monastic
sneers will not keep it out of Italy; synodical enact¬
ments out of Greece; or the mufti out of the harem.
Rarely is a Greek lady seen in public without her
vail; and so it was anciently. Sulpicius Gallus was
cruel enough to repudiate his wife for no other reason,
than that she had dared to appear unvailed in public. *
And yet, such is the bizar working of human taste,
the glorious uncertainty of the law,—it was a sta¬
tute of Sparta that married women should vail, but
not virgins ! Pausanias states, that when the legis¬
lator was pressed for a reason for these laws, his
reply was: 44 The young women remain unvailed to
obtain husbands; the married are vailed to preserve
them.” I wish our pronouns and genders were like
the Greek and Italian; for then it would not have
been at all requisite to add the very important re¬
mark, that by 44 them ” is meant the husbands. My
female readers will be wise so to act as to preserve
their husbands. And what is your best vail —piety,
* Val. Max. lib. vi.
444
GREEK LADY’S TOILET.
fidelity, proprete personelle , and a sweet temper. Add
to these a neat attire, becoming your station in life,
with 44 attention to the ways of your householdand
then, if you fail to preserve the affection, and con¬
stancy, and kindness of your husbands, he consoled,
—they are not worth preserving.
It has already been stated that I have seen, what
hundreds in Britain would delight to see, a Greek lady
at her toilet. The toilet of a Greek lady usually
comprises the following articles ; a cup of black pow¬
der to tinge the eye, and so give it a languishing air ;
odoriferous pomades; an infusion to dye the hair
black, should it be required; to these luxuries add
combs, brushes, a sort of bodkin with which to apply
the black powder mixture to the eyelashes and eye¬
brows ; sponges, towels, rouge, and the mirror, and
then I think you have all.
The art of staining the hair, an art well known now
to the females of our own island, is attributed to the
celebrated Medea of Corinth. From her time, black
hair has been held in the highest esteem in the classic
land. The black, languishing eyes of Medea secured
no greater amount of admiration, than is still levied
by 44 the ox-eyed daughters of Greece.” Ox-eyed is
a classic term, designed to express, I suppose, the
size and languor of a beautiful eye. In this taste
Greece and China are at issue; for in the celestial
empire a small eye is the perfection of beauty.
The use of rouge , and similar matters, to heighten
the charms of a woman’s face, is an ancient custom
in Greece; of which fact the author of the Iliad sup-
STAINING THE EYE.
445
plies ample testimony. Penelope he describes as
weary of the importunities of her suitors, and in this
state of mind she avows to Eurinoma her intention
of granting them an audience; when the latter re¬
plies ; “ Go, then; but first take the bath, and with
proper colours impart to your countenance that bril¬
liancy, which your trouble has defaced.”* Most
justly is paint discountenanced by the wise and good.
One would wish a wife to be pious rather than fine,
meek rather than dressy; to have benevolence in her
eye, sweet temper on her brow, and honour in her
bosom. Let woman’s modesty be the rouge of her
cheek, and cheerfulness the ruby of her lip.
“ And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel
heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her
head, and looked out at a window.”! We hence see
how ancient is the usage. It appears from the testi¬
mony of Dr. Shaw, and of Dr. Bussel, that what the
Moorish women in Barbary, and the Turkish about
Aleppo, now use for this purpose, is the powder of
lead ore. The last-mentioned author has given so
clear an account of the women’s manner of using it,
that the reader cannot be displeased with seeing it in
this place. “ Upon the principle of strengthening
the sight, as well as an ornament, it is become a gene¬
ral practise among women to black the inside of their
eyelids, by applying a powder called ismed. This
is made of a substance called also ispahany, from the
place it is brought from. It appears to be a rich lead
ore, and is prepared by roasting it in a quince, apple,
Odyss. book xviii.
f 2 Kings ix. 30. See also Jer. iv. 30.
446
ANTIQUITY OF DYES.
or truffle; then it is levigated with oil of sweet al¬
monds on a marble stone. If intended to strengthen
the eyes, they often add flowers of olibanum or
amber.”
The devout Clemens of Alexandria mentions the
painting of the eyes, as practised in his time by the
Alexandrine females.* Pliny also names the same
usage as prevalent in Rome.f Juvenal states it to
have been practised even by the males:—
“With sooty moisture one his eyebrow dyes,
And with a bodkin paints his trembling eyes.Ӥ
So, in fine, a short time before the seige of Jeru¬
salem by the Bomans, we find numerous men of
detestable principles, practising the tinging of their
eyes in that devoted city.||
Solomon’s wife is arrayed 44 in silk and purple
but the Greeks are yet more fond of glitter than most
of the people farther east. The female attire of
Greece is indeed encumbered with ornament; yet
a Greek husband approves it all. I was once
giving to a young Aegean warrior some serious
counsels on the subject of auricular confession. In
reply, he told me an anecdote, which I here subjoin,
for two reasons:—it exemplifies a Greek husband’s
fondness of a dressy wife, and it casts a slight wash
of ridicule on that highly censurable and criminal
thing, auricular confession. I do most seriously state
my belief, that at the confessional more evil is
* Paed. lib. iii. cap. 2.
§ Sat. ii. line 93.
f Nat. Hist. lib. xi. cap. 37.
|| Joseph. D<;. Beb. lib. iv cap. 9.
CONFESSIONAL ANECDOTE.
447
learned than at a wake; and it is precisely there that
the hearts of both monk and secular become more
wicked and wanton, than even in the infectious pene¬
tralia of a convent. There is truth in this, or there
is truth in nothing.
“ Well,” said the young Greek, “ I’ll tell thee a
story about confession.” My reply was, 44 say on
and on he went as follows, “ There was a young
fellow in our town, who went to confess ; and, said
he to the priest, 4 spiritual man, I am come to confess.’
4 Very well, kneel down.’ 4 You must know,’ said
the young man, 4 that last night in passing a tailor’s
window, I saw a beautiful piece of stuff, and think¬
ing it would make a nice dress for my wife, I reached
out my hand to take it away,—to steal it; but mind, I
did not take it, for I could not reach far enough.’
4 No matter,’ said the priest, 4 you tried to get it, and
that is all the same as though you had it.’ 4 Is it so,
old codger,’ thought the young fellow ; 4 is it all one
to try to get a thing and really to get it? come,
that’s pretty good doctrine for me!’ Well, the abso¬
lution must be paid for, so the young fellow pulled out
his purse, but before laying the money down on the
table, he went round to the end next the door. Lay¬
ing down the florin at his end of the table, he thanked
the monk, and bid him good morning, feigning to go
and yet remaining. 4 My son,’ said the spiritual man,
4 push the florin over, I can’t reach it?’ 4 No mat¬
ter,’ replied the young man, 4 no matter at all; for, as
you tried to get it, that’s all the same as though you
had it, you know.’ So saying, he walked off with the
448
ANECDOTE OF JASON.
florin in his hand, leaving the monk not a little cha¬
grined.” Yet the monk was in the right;—the sin
Jay in the will.
44 But,” said my informant, 44 that is not all; I’ll
tell thee another story. Once on a time a Greek sailor
went to confess. Now Jason was an odd fish ; so was
the monk. I’ll give you their conversation. Monk.
4 Ah! you old scoundrel! ar eyou here again ? some
crime as usual, no doubt. How many times have you
sworn since your last confession ?’— 4 Guess,’ replied
Jason. 4 Ten times ?’— 14 Sail on.’— 4 Twenty ?’—
4 Sail on.’—- 4 Thirty ?’— <4 Sail on; more canvass ; the
ship lags.’— 4 Panagia bless us! fifty then ?’■— 4 Sail
on.’— 4 A hundred at a venture ?’ — 4 Ho! sail on;
shiver my timbers! at this rate you’ll never make
your port.’— 4 Panagia! I don’t know what to guess
—a thousand times?' have you sworn a thousand
times ?’— 4 Cast anchor; that’s it, and a pretty long
yarn it is. And now, spiritual man,’ added Jason,
4 what penance ?’— 14 It’s thy turn to guess now.’— 4 A
visit to the holy well on the hill?’— 4 Sail on.’—
‘Scourging?’— 4 Sail on.’— 4 Five dollars to repair
Panagia’s altar?’— 4 The ship lags.’— 4 Must I pre¬
sent some marriage candles?’— 4 More canvass, Jason,
you’ll never make your port.’— 4 Love your soul! I
don’t know what to guess, or where you’ll send me,
unless I’m to go to purgatory at once.’ — 4 Cast
anchor!’ ”
So much for confession and confessors ! I wish
them better employment. There is much of iniquity
and tyranny in the whole affair. It may sometimes
CONCLUDING REFLECTION.
449
lead to a restitution of stolen property, but does that
result indemnify society for the endurance of this
obtrusive system of ghostly espionage ,—a system so
subversive of all civil liberty, and so inimical to all
domestic security and peace %
But I must returnfrom this digression, and conclude
the chapter.
To qualify this fondness for “ outward adorning
and plaiting of the hairto tell the females of
Greece that there is a more “ beautiful garment” than
even Penelope wore ; to point their attention to, and
fix their affections upon, the robes of righteousness,
the “ wedding garment” of the gospel ; and to induce
them to adorn themselves “ with a meek and quiet
spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price
such are some of the objects of a missionary who
visits Greece. This land of elegant forms and features
must be content to range on the borders of barbarism,
and “ sit in the dust” of religious degradation; must
continue to exhibit woman in domestic slavery, man
bereft of humanizing companions, and youth untrained
in knowledge and in piety,—so long as the females of
Greece deck only the body, and leave the mind a
wilderness.
CHAPTER XXVII.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES IN GREECE—APPEAL ON EDUCATION.—MODERN
GREEK PRONUNCIATION—DEPARTURE FROM ATHENS—EVILS OF
PAPAL CONFESSIONALS—ARRIVAL AT ELEUSIS—REMARKS ON
MYSTERIES —MEGARA—XERXES—ARRIVE AT CORINTH—THE STA¬
DIUM—PAUL’S ALLUSIONS TO THE OLYMPIC CONTESTS—ORIGIN
AND VICISSITUDES OF CORINTH —AGHIOS GEORGIOS—NEMEAN
RUINS—CAVE OF THE N. LION —NAUPLIA —SCENES AND PROCEED¬
INGS —MYLOS— SCENE AT AGHIORYETIKO.
There are many indications that Greece is destined
to rise from her ruins. The spirit of patriotism is
one. Greeks are, almost to a man, fully aware of
the past glories of their land, and most sanguine in
their anticipation of her future greatness. I was one
day pensively surveying the ruins of Athens, when a
man in the attire of a boor glided up to me. 44 Sir,”
said he, 44 these are fine ruins.” “ They are so,”
was my laconic reply. 44 Yes,” he rejoined, with a
tone and an air of melancholy reminiscence, “ those
who made these things were men, yaav avfipe?”
The term he used, avfipe 9, is still applied in Greece
to brave and great men; and I conceive that the
scripture expression, 44 there were giants in those
days,” imports the same idea.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
451
The fact that Greece has now her newspapers , is a
proof that intellect is not dormant. In Hydra,
when I was there, “ The Friend of Laws” was weekly
issued from the press of that island. At Athens,
soon afterwards, appeared 44 The Triptolemos,” 64 The
Soteer,” “ The Sun,” 44 The Times,” and 44 The Mi¬
nerva.” The style of these papers was truly elegant,
a mixture of Doric and Attic, with a felicitous juxta¬
position of terms, and combination of words, that
might have done honour to the age of Xenophon.
The anxiety of Greece for education , is another
44 sign of the times.” When at Athens, I visited the
schools of that celebrated city. One was a Hellenic
Lyceum, of which Georgios Zonarios was principal.
In the library I observed the old philosophers and
poets of Greece, together with some works on eccle¬
siastical subjects. By two little incidents I felt vastly
interested;—a black slave boy was reading iEsop’s
Fables, and the urchins of the lower class were de¬
clining the word vathrakos, a frog. In the chancel
of this Lyceum I was constituted a 44 Member of the
Literary Society of Athensand to this day I care¬
fully preserve my inaugural ring and diploma. The
latter is in elegant Greek, and the former presents
the owl, emblem at once of Athens and of wisdom.
On my return to Malta, I received from the authori¬
ties of Athens a second diploma, constituting me an
kirir pottos, or Commissioner of the Athenian Society of
Literati. By one of these, I think it was Psyllas, I
was furnished with the only fact that renders at all
questionable the antiquity of the actual sound of the
G G
452
APPEAL FOR GREECE.
letter v. This letter is now sounded, not as the Eng¬
lish u, but as our ee in flee. Yet this gentleman
owned himself puzzled by the fact, that the poor of
and about Athens sound it like our oo in moon , yet
only in a few terms; thus Tpv7m , treepa , a hole, they
pronounce troopa, and for Keeriakee, Lord’s-day, they
say Kooriakee. When I was in Athens, education
was, after all, but at a low ebb, for Greece was at
war with Turkey; but it has already been stated,
that now this city can boast of several most important
schools, both missionary and others; while in all
parts general education is rapidly progressing. Per¬
haps no nation in Europe exhibits a more ardent
desire for knowledge; and if this feeling be pru¬
dently guided, piously cherished, and fully gratified,
the sun of Greece will rise again.
Anxiously alive to this subject, I ardently long to
draw to it such energies as British generosity can
well supply. With this view, I add an extract from
an important and urgent document, put forth by the
British and Foreign School Society, who, next to
missionaries, were the pioneers of education in the
land of Solon:—
“ No sooner had that arduous struggle commenced, which so ra¬
pidly devastated the plains of Greece, than the sad condition of its
inhabitants excited Christian sympathy, and called into existence
various benevolent enterprises on their behalf. For many years
past, Christian missionaries h#ve penetrated as far as the country
has been accessible ; and as fast as the tide of war has rolled
backward, they have scattered the seeds of intelligence and piety,
trusting in their Divine Master for his effectual blessing. Fully
alive to the peculiar difficulties of their work, these agents of be-
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
453
lievolence have invariably found it advisable to bend their energies
mainly towards the instruction of the young; and the appeals
they have made to British Christians for assistance in this depart¬
ment of their labour, have been both frequent and powerful.
“Among the various institutions which have promptly answered
these touching solicitations, the British and Foreign School Society
has occupied a conspicuous station.
“ The attention of its committee was first drawn to that quarter
by communications received from Corfu, informing them that plans
were maturing, under the patronage of the Government, for intro¬
ducing Elementary Schools. Mr. Allen, the treasurer of the
institution, soon after visited the east, and availed himself of every
opportunity for diffusing a knowledge of the British system, and
for promoting education throughout Greece and the Ionian islands.
His Excellency, Sir Frederick Adam, the Lord High Commis¬
sioner, warmly espoused the cause, and by his personal attentions
as well as by his correspondence with the society, evinced the
deep interest he took in the moral improvement of the inhabitants.
Under his patronage, several schools were immediately established,
and in order to supply them with suitable lessons, it was resolved
to translate those used by the society into modern Greek. A good
translation of these valuable selections from the gospels and
epistles, forming a compendium of the doctrines, facts, and duties
of Scripture, was therefore prepared, and a large edition carefully
printed. This volume, which is not quite so large as a Testament,
has been extensively circulated, and is now generally introduced
as a class-book into the Greek schools. Similar lessons were also
printed on broad sheets for reading, spelling, and arithmetic;
forming altogether a complete set for schools of mutual instruc¬
tion.
“ On the return of Mr. Allen, a correspondence was opened
between the secretary and the Rev. J. Lowndes, of the London
Missionary Society, then at Zante, but subsequently settled at
Corfu. By his exertions, the manual, detailing minutely the me¬
chanical operations of the system, was translated into modern
Greek; and an edition of it, under the revision of Dr. Politi,
G G 2
454
DIVISION OF SCHOOLS.
passed through the press. Through the efforts of this gentleman,
who had acquired a knowledge of the plan of education while
studying medicine in Paris, several schools were formed in Santa
Maura, Zante, and Cefalonia; and, in a letter to the secretary,
he feelingly acknowleges the kind assistance he had received from
the treasurer of the society.”
The presses of Venice and of Trieste have done
much injury to the faith of Greece. Telemachus, the
Life of Napoleon, and Bollin’s Ancient History, are
exceptions to the general fact, that to interpolate useful
books and give them to Greece crammed with popish
nostrums, was at least one design of those presses.
It must, therefore, be an object with British mis¬
sionaries so to edit school-books, and all their publi¬
cations, as to exert a counteracting influence. But
above all, we must see to it that we supplant the
trashy legends of ascetics with the plain, fresh, pure,
saving truths of the gospel.
In founding a good system of education, the Greek
government not only paid marked respect to the
plans of missionaries, approving ex cathedra , and by
name, many of my own elementary publications, but
wisely arranged its own schools into “ primary,” on
the excellent system of mutual instruction; “ classi¬
cal,”* or provincial academies; and a “ panepiste-
mion,” or university, to teach grammar, French,
geography, history, and other branches of science.
Athens, as to literature, is the London of Greece.
*Addison, I think, was the first author that ever used this term. It is
now found through Europe, and even in Greece itself, from whose beautiful
tongue the word was coined,— icXacng.
GREEK PRONUNCIATION.
455
One question among the Athenians, is the anti¬
quity of their actual mode of sounding the letters of
the alphabet. With men of considerable information
I have occasionally discussed this point. “ After the
entrance of the Romans into Greece, and on the es¬
tablishment of the Roman throne at Byzantium, the
Attic pronunciation, dispersed through Thrace, was
preserved entire and pure , both by the Byzantines
and the other Greeks, and has so continued to this
day.” Such is the statement of a learned modern
Greek, Gregorios of Venice.* This, it is granted,
is but a comfortable begging of the question; but to
the very rational remarks of another, the reader
will pay much higher regard. A Cretan, Simon
Portios, treats with severest contempt the foreigners
who affect to despise the actual sounds as a barbaric
innovation. Portios was a learned man, and, to
own the truth, might be chagrined that the English
and others should fondly prefer their own clashing
and baseless theories, to the established usage of an
entire nation,—a usage, as I can prove, and may
live to do so, handed down from generation to gene¬
ration. ■]*
Before me lie the notes of one conversation I had
with a Greek on this topic:—
Missionary .—“Do you think your country has
preserved the classic sounds of your alphabet^”
* In his ’A pxcuoX. tom. ii. p. 312.
f Rizo, Cours de Litterature Grecque Moderne, edit. Geneva, 1828. I
haVe by me a MS work on this subject, and wish some Maceenas would
order its publication
456
DEPART FROM ATHENS.
Greek. — 44 Sir, I have scarcely a doubt of it.”
Missionary. — 44 We English certainly do wrong in
pronouncing your living language, as though it were
a dead one. We do not use the French so.”
G .— 44 We are Hellenes—children of the classic
Greeks.”
M. — 44 I have composed a defence of your pro¬
nunciation, tracing it to the purer ages, and hope to
print it.”
G. — 44 May it be so!”
M. — 44 What do you conceive will be the result
of your nation’s present struggles to correct her lan-
guage V'
G. — 44 We shall have a mingled tongue; that is,
a union of the Doric, iEolic, and Attic.”
I gave this Greek a copy of Dr. Doddridge’s Rise
and Progress in Italian, which he very well under¬
stood ; and soon after, a captain called and purchased
of me two Italian New Testaments, which I sold at
half a dollar each.
At Athens I left nearly all the books and tracts
that remained of the boxes I brought from Malta,
and after taking leave of my kind hostess and other
friends, I left the city in company with an Italian
gentleman, the Chevalier Colegno, who was going
my way across Peloponnesus, to join the siege of
Patrass, then vigorously defended by the Othomans.
Among those of whom I took leave, was one I left to
die. This was the amiable Count Santa Rosa, who,
I think, very soon after, paid the debt of nature and
of sin, away from his struggling country and the
COUNT SANTA ROSA.
457
bosom of his friends. Of this estimable man, I find
among my papers the following notice by an Ita¬
lian, now a physician in England, whose name it
might not be prudent to subjoin.
“ Count San Torre di Santa Rosa was a man of great talent,
education, and of noble character. In less critical times, he would
have made one of the most excellent ministers. But when the
question is that of to be, or not to be, when the whole of success
depends upon energetic and prompt actions, delicacy and gentle¬
ness cease to be virtues ; because, instead of becoming the source
of common happiness, they hurl whole nations into ruin. It was
thus that the gentleness of Lafayette caused the revolution of July
to be lost for the friends of liberal institutions, and the mildness
and delicacy of Santa Rosa begot the ruin of the friends of Italian
independence.
“ Whilst Santa Rosa was preparing for war, with the same
calmness as if he was at the head of a long-established govern¬
ment, the friends of despotism and the place-hunters were trying
all means to corrupt the army, to prevent the soldiers from
joining their banners, and to check every where the energies of the
Liberals.
“ The junta of Turin was composed chiefly of weak, ignorant,
and corrupted individuals. The ministry of the home department
was intrusted to a kind of mountebank and place-hunter, a foolish,
treacherous twaddler, called Ferdinando dal Pozzo, nick-named
L’Avvocato Milanese, who, during the time that Santa Rosa was
preparing for war, was endeavouring to concoct, with the Ambas¬
sador of Russia, Mocenigo, plans subversive of the liberty of Italy.
The few strong-minded among the Liberals, such as my excellent
friend the noble poet Ravina, were consumed with indignation. I
remained three days in Turin. In my last interview with Santa
Rosa, I told him ; 4 If you do not throw off your moderation, open
the Treasury, and call the people to arms, you lose yourself and
our cause for ever.’ 4 Friend,’ answered he, 4 1 trust in the bravery
of our troops, and in the justice of our cause ; I’ll send you word
of the result of our expedition by estaffette.’ ”
458
ARRIVE AT ELEUSIS.
Alas! how many estimable men have been em¬
broiled and have perished, in the vain efforts of Italy
to shake off the disreputable yoke of her sacerdotal
tyrants! This yoke, and that of monachism were bit¬
terly bemoaned by my travelling companion. 44 Sir,”
said he, in one part of our tour, 44 1 hate confession;
to that I owe my first ideas of vice, through the im¬
pertinent, coarse, prying interrogations of my con¬
fessor : nor would my mother ever allow my sister to
confess, knowing but too well the corrupting influ¬
ence and perils of the papal confessional.”
Having now no boxes, we had but one horse be¬
tween us; which in fact belonged to Chevalier Co-
legno, whose servant, a short, stiff, dark-mustachoed
Greek, had another. We soon passed the gardens of the
academy, now no longer the retreat of the sage, but
the officinal of the husbandman, and thickly planted
with olives. I first drank of the celebrated Cephisus,
and then vaulted across its slow-moving waters.
We walked for some time along the remnants of the
44 sacred way,” passed the temple of Daphne on the
road side, and that of Venus of Phyle, both in ruins,
and soon arrived at Eleusis.
This city, once so celebrated, now scarcely a
hamlet, was the grand theatre of those impure
44 mysteries,” to which, as Macknight conceives,
allusion is made by Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians.
As I stood on the salt lake where these rites were so
long transacted, a Greek boor said to me, on seeing
me stoop to taste the water,— 44 The sea!” 44 No,” I
replied, 44 it is not the sea; it is only salt water.
SALT LAKES.
459
Whence does it come —“ That we don’t know,”
was his reply. Here I gave the papas or priest,
Nicholas, some catechisms and tracts, and begged he
would carefully instruct the dear children of Eleusis.
In thanking me for the gift, he signified his assent
to my request, by remarking laconically, “ it is my
duty.” May all ministers feel so, for next to the
pulpit the school is their fort.
Of the salt springs I have named, on the surface
of whose waters I noticed a wild duck, one was
anciently consecrated to Ceres, the other to Proserpine,
patrons of the notorious Eleusinian mysteries. None
save the priests of the temple, of all whose splen¬
dours I only saw a large and well wrought marble
altar, had the right of fishing in those waters.* But
of all the rude and tantalizing crowds who, in ancient
times, used to divert themselves in foolish harle¬
quinades, behind the backs of all persons of dis¬
tinction who attended the Eleusinian mysteries, to
commemorate a similar rude reception of Ceres by
an old Greek dame of the name of Jambe; not
one remained to annoy myself.*)*
I have scarcely a doubt that the pompous, mystic,
semi-pagan rites of the papal mass, originated in a
very censurable imitation of the mysteries of Eleusis.
Nor is the fact, that the mass was not fully concocted
for many hundred years after the apostolic age, any
proof to the contrary; for, the gradual maturation of
* See Anacharsis and the authorities cited by the author.
f Strabo ; lib. ix. p. 400. Suidas in Ttyvpa.
460
TOWN OF MEGARA.
this grievous innovation only shows, that in some
cases corruption may be long in completing its work.
If the reader consult the learned Macknight’s
Preface to the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, or
Bishop Warburton’s Divine Legation, he will not im¬
probably entertain a like sentiment.
After a tedious walk of fourteen miles, and riding
six, we came at night to Megara. This name the
English, with a noble contempt of accents, pronounce
Megara, but by the present, as by the ancient natives,
it is sounded Megara, the accent being laid on the
first syllable, precisely as the ancient Greeks wrote
the word. Of this very ancient town, standing over
the high coasts of the waters of Salamis, I saw no
remains but the walls. Its actual inhabitants were
stated to me at about 3000; yet in all the town there
was not a single school! I staid at the residence of
Anagnostes Economopoulos, whose wife kindly lodged
me, that is, provided me my meals, and allowed me
at night to spread my mattress on the floor. It was
thus I uniformly slept in my travels; and this had
been luxury itself, but that I was literally devoured
with vermin,—in plain English, with lice, during my
entire journey in the Morea. These disgusting
creatures had secured a lodgment in my linen, and
for the world I could not free myself from their
presence, unless I had burned all my wardrobe.
With my kind hostess I left some books, and pro¬
mised more. Her children, I hope, have gleaned
good from them. The poor thing was lamenting
SCRIPTURE ALLUSIONS. 461
the absence of her husband, who was engaged in
the war with Turkey. A neighbouring woman came
in, told me her daughter was sick, and requested a
small pittance of tea and sugar as a medicine. In
Greece, as in Italy, tea is taken as a sudorific.
On our way from Athens to Megara, we passed
the very spot where Xerxes stood, to witness the
discomfiture of his myriads, in the celebrated action
fought here between the Greeks and Persians. But
in all this region not a soul did I see, to the best of
my recollection. 44 Where is the disputer of this
world *?” Where were now the proud host of Xerxes*?
I asked where, and echo responded 44 where.” Such
is the glory of man. Such is the fate of conquerors.
But here I was myself a victim; for on this spot,
where Xerxes lost his army, I lost my coat; but who
stole it I never knew to this day ; nor will the pen of
Clio record my loss, though to me, perhaps, as
touching as that of Xerxes to the Persian.
From Megara we set off at daylight for Corinth.
On the road we skirted the Corinthian gulf: a most
delightful walk. At the head of the waters we
occasionally obtained, as we turned a projecting
angle of the coast, a splendid view of the towering
citadel, high in the air, yet black and frowning. We
crossed the isthmus of Corinth about noon. This,
could one fail to recollect, was the site of some of those
celebrated 44 games” so often alluded to by St. Paul.
In his epistle to Timothy is a most elegant and
endearing reference to these agonistical contests of
462
SCENE AT CORINTH.
the ancient Greeks: “I have fought a good fight;
I have finished my course; I have kept the faith;
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right¬
eousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give
unto me at that day.” The 44 course, ”or stadium, was
now mapped out at my feet. Around this stadium
thousands used to congregate, to witness the dexte¬
rity of the wrestler, the velocity of the racer, or the
genius of the poet; and the fipapevTal or judges sat
hard by, to award the prize to victors. How inte¬
resting is the allusion made to these facts by Paul,
in addressing the infant church of Christ: 44 Where¬
fore, seeing that we also”—not the agonistical can¬
didates, but we professors— 44 are encompassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight”—that might encumber us in our course
— 44 and run with patience the race set before us.”
In another place this learned and zealous apostle
addresses the very men, who in other ages assembled
where my feet now stood, in beautiful allusion to
these Isthmian contests: 44 So run that ye may
obtain”—obtain the crown of glory.
Such a ruin did Corinth, the once opulent, the
splendid, the populous Corinth, now present, that I
actually slept in a mere shed. I saw camels browsing
the long, lank, rank grass, that grew in lower rooms
of houses once tenanted by human beings, and clam¬
bering over the half-ruined walls, to graze in another
apartment, after devouring the vernal luxuries of a
* 1 Cor. ix. 24.
NOTICES OF CORINTH.
463
previous chamber. All along the road, in the vicinity
of Corinth, I marked the bones of camels, horses
and men, both Turk and Greek, bleaching on the
adjacent plains; for here had occurred one of the
most appalling battles, that originated in the Greek
revolution.
In surveying the ruins of Corinth, I was accompa¬
nied by a stupid priest, a miserable cicerone , but a yet
more miserable guide of souls. I gave away thirty
Greek catechisms and some tracts, which were uni¬
formly received with respectful thanks. When I told
my guide that, as a minister of Christ, it behoved
him to teach the young, having a fearful account
to render to God at last; his cool reply, as we stood
beneath the ruins of the temple of Jove, or of the
Sun, was “ thou art a steward.” What the poor man
meant is still a problem. The term “ steward” is the
official name of a superior priest; and perhaps he
designed to intimate, that I was officiously and gra¬
tuitously assuming the authority of an economos.
When at Corinth, I learned that its actual inhabi¬
tants did not surpass four hundred persons, male and
female. What a contrast to its classic story! Co¬
rinth is said to have been built by Sisyphus, grand¬
father of Ulysses, about the age of David and
Solomon. The site of this city, between two gulfs,
that of Lepanto and that of Corinth, rendered it ex¬
tremely rich as a commercial entrepot. As I stood
on the isthmus, with the site of the Cenchrea on the
eastern gulf, and that of Lecheum on the western,
464
DESTROYED BY FIRE.
I distinctly saw the two gulfs by an oblique glance,
without a change of position; nor did they seem be¬
yond half or a quarter of a mile asunder, though in
fact, not less than ten miles of land lay between
them. The ancient riches of Corinth produced pride,
luxury, and extreme lewdness; and as, in Malta,
“ una Siciliana ” is tantamount to a female of base
conduct, so anciently the term Kopiv^ta^eiv, to act as
at Corinth, was equivalent to the grossest of terms.
Venus, the favourite goddess of Corinth, had a tem¬
ple here, which, in fact, was no other than a brothel.
In a state of moral feeling so degrading, as to retain
a thousand prostitutes in a public fane, one discerns
the utmost need of that holy gospel, here planted by
the instrumentality of Paul.
About a. m. 3724, this city acceded to the Achaean
confederacy. Highly provoked with the Corinthians
for insulting the Homan ambassadors, who, after the
conquest of Greece, had ordered the dissolution of
that league; Mummius the consul, in the year of the
world 3858, took their city, and burnt it to ashes.
The multitude of statues of different metals, melted
and run together in the conflagration, composed the
Corinthian brass, which was reckoned more precious
than gold. About forty-six years before Christ,
Corinth was rebuilt by Julius Caesar, and peopled
with a Homan colony. It quickly became the finest
city of Greece.
About a. d. 52, Paul preached here eighteen
months, with great success, and amidst no small
RUINS OF CLEONE AND NEMEA.
465
persecution from the Jews, and planted a Christian
church here, which has continued, more or less, till
the present time.
About the year 268 of the Christian era, the Heruli
burnt Corinth to ashes. In 525 it was again almost
entirely ruined by an earthquake. About 1180
Roger, king of Sicily, took and plundered it. It sub¬
sequently fell into the hands of the fiery Othomans,
under whose withering government this hapless
city remained till 1821, which was three years before
the visit I am now recording.
We left Corinth in a shower for Aghios Georgius,
or, as pronounced in Greece, Ayios Yeoryios. Early
in the day we passed the ruins of Cleone, of which
ancient city I could discern nothing but some mis¬
shapen walls, that indicated the boundaries of this
once busy scene. Thence we advanced to a ruin
and to a locality still more touching,— Nemea , of
which there only now remains a ruin of the temple
of Jove, and even of this celebrated fane, three
columns only retain an erect position; the rest, in
drums of marble, with broken pedestals, friezes and
other blocks, lie a magnificent spectacle around the
bases of these columns.
Yet Nemea was once a noble city, crowded with
human beings, all now past into the invisible state.
This city, this very locality on which I now stood,
was one of the four sites of the famous Olympic con¬
tests, celebrated every three years, in honour of
Jove. Pausanias states, that at the Nemean games
the Argives presided, and that the only prize was a
466 CAVE OF THE NEMEAN LION.
crown. To this crown allusion is made by St. Paul:
“ Now they contend for a corruptible crown, we for
an incorruptible.” Corruptible or fading indeed it
was, for it was often of laurel or parsley.* Soon after
quitting the temple, our eyes fell on a most interest¬
ing object,—the cave of the Nemean lion. But the
lion was turned into a lamb, for I saw inside this
celebrated cavern a poor Greek shepherd and his
flock. The destruction of this furious lion was the
first labour of Hercules. The brute infested the
Nemean woods between Philus and Cleone, and
perpetrated appalling deeds. Hercules, it is said,
attacked the lion both with his club and with arrows,
but in vain sought the death of an invulnerable foe.
He at length strangled his furious enemy, tore him
to pieces with his brawny hands, and wore his skin
as a triumphant memorial of the victory. It is at
least supposable, that the Hercules of Grecian my¬
thology is but a caricature of Sampson in the inspired
record.
On reaching Aghios Georgius, we were compelled
to wander about in the cold for some time, ere any
one would receive us. The reason was found in the
conduct of the Greek soldiers of the revolution.
At last we entered a family, and observing the poor
children crying for fear, I said some kind things to
them, and succeeded in pacifying all parties. After
supper, we lay down on the floor as usual; but during
the night I was compelled to get up, as the rain and
hail, for a full hour, came down upon my head through
* Pausanias, lib. ii. cap. 15.
ARRIVE AT NAUPLIA.
467
the roof of our fragile abode. I here left some cate¬
chisms with the family, for themselves and others,
and some tracts for the village papas.
Next day, after walking fifteen miles in rain and
high harassing wind, we reached Napoli di Romania,
about six miles from Argos. Having had to pass
the tomb of Agamemnon, we intended to breakfast
in this ancient receptacle of the ashes of “ the king
of men,” but failed to recognise it. Here I found
a Mr. Masson from Scotland, sent out, I think, as a
pioneer of education, by some noble-minded ladies of
North Britain. Mr. M. seemed an estimable man
of talent, and was precisely the best Grecian of any
man I have known from England. I have an im¬
pression that Masson is yet in Greece; and that he
holds the post of a judge under the existing govern¬
ment. Here I also found Captain Hesketh, ill of
the endemic that had just cut off so many in this
town, together with my excellent friend Dr. Howe,
from America. With the latter gentleman I took up
my abode, while prosecuting a few enquiries.
Napoli di Romania is the ancient Nauplia, a name
which, since Grecian independence was established,
has been resumed. This town of Argolis is perched
on the margin of the Aegean sea, and has even in
vaded the dominions of Neptune. It was built
during the regime of the Venetians. Its low situ¬
ation is unfavourable to health. Hence the endemic
of which I have spoken, and hence the transfer of
the court from Nauplia to Athens in 1834. High
over the town, rises the almost impregnable fortress
H H
468
PROCEEDINGS AT NAUPLIA,
of Palamidse, constructed by the Venetians. From
the position of Nauplia in respect to the rest of Greece,
this place may be styled the Gibraltar of the Aegean
sea. From the latter the view of Nauplia is finely
picturesque, especially in the fairer state of the vernal
clime of Greece; but he who would preserve the
dear illusion, is advised not to step into the town.
The houses incline to ruin; the streets are narrow
and filthy; and therefore the habits of the people
cannot much assimilate with purity and decorum.
A modern Hercules might cleanse the streets; but
what shall brush away the ungenial miasma, exhaling
from the adjacent marshes ?
With my friend Masson, I spent some hours in
conference on the state and wants of Greece, and
after my return to Malta I sent up to him, still at
Nauplia, a large box of the Greek Pilgrim’s Pro¬
gress, with other books for circulation. I also paid
my respects to Prince Mavrocordatos, now at the
head of affairs. He was meditating an attack on
Patrass. We had much conversation, surrounded by
his suite of attendants armed to the teeth. The
prince had his arm in a sling, having been wounded;
but to me it was shrewdly remarked that this sling
was a mere feint, to postpone or put aside altogether
the unwelcome day of battle. Prince Mavrocordatos,
or Black-heart, as the term imports, received me very
politely, and appointed a soldier to protect me through
the rest of Greece.
One day a number of poor fellows, who had been
wounded in battle, came into our apartment to have
VISIT A BATTLE FIELD.
469
their wounds dressed by Dr. Howe. One had lost
two fingers; a second had a ball wound in his arm;
another had received a ball through his leg; and of
another the heel had been partly shot away in a
brulotte. The poor fellow with a shattered hand
could hardly refrain from tears, as Dr. Howe rocked
his wrist to prevent indurition, and said with a
touching appeal, “ see what the war has done for us!”
In company with some friends, I passed round the
fort of Palamidse to the adjacent plain near Tyrins,
to inspect the locality of a recent battle. I saw
enough to justify the imprecation of the Psalmist,
—“ scatter thou the nations that delight in war.”
Here I beheld the skeletons of Turks and of Greeks
slumbering together, neither oppressing nor oppressed.
One head had the hair still fresh upon the scalp, and
one body I saw almost entire. The clothes lay
beneath the body, but whether these humbled re¬
mains belonged to male or female, prince or peasant,
could not be determined. It lay among some nettles
and a heap of stones. A friend of Dr. Howe having
requested him, in a letter from America, to send him
a supply of good human teeth, the doctor drew those
of different heads that appeared in our path. It is
probable, therefore, that some of our transatlantic
friends are masticating their food, with the teeth of
Turks and of Greeks slain in the land of Harpoc-
rates.
During my stay at Nauplia, I was invited to dine
with an officer of the Greek army, holding the rank
of colonel. Very shortly before my arrival, a Greek
h h 2
470
ANECDOTE, QUIT NAUPLIA.
had set up an eating house on the plan of those of
Paris ; but the whole fabric was a mere burlesque on
its splendid prototypes, though highly commendable
as the first attempt of the kind, I believe, ever made
in Greece. Of this establishment I leave the reader
to form his judgment from one little incident. A hill
of fare having, to my utter astonishment, been placed
in our hands, I observed that the names of the dishes
were all written in Greek. As I ran my eye down
these names, it fell upon an English dish, “ pw
ros-peef,” meaning roast beef. We called for roast
beef: “ very well,” replied mine host of Nauplia.
We waited rather impatiently about a quarter of an
hour. “ Are they slaughtering the beef?—are they
marketing*?” At length in comes the Greek with
the roast beef; and what does the reader think it
was?—a dish of tough harricoed mutton or goat,
I know not which. Yet one may not wonder at a
Greek’s notion of roast beef; for even in France, if
this dish is ordered, one sometimes hears the question,
“ Monsieur, voulez vous ros-bef d’agneau, ou de
mouton ?”—will you have roast beef of lamb, or of
mutton ?
In company with Mr. Millar, a pious hut some¬
what singular native of Vermont in America, and
with old Baba Chronis , my Greek soldier, I set out
from Nauplia for Tripolitsa. We had to cross the
gulf to Mylos. This we did, but had no sooner
landed, than I made the terrific discovery that I had
left my box at Nauplia, containing all my money
drawn for books, together with other things of value.
DISTRIBUTION OF TRACTS.
471
While Baba Chronis returned for this, I occupied
myself in distributing tracts, and conversing with a
croud of palikaris or Greek guerillas located here.
Soon after I left Mylos, there was a hot skirmish
with the Turks. Many of the soldiers were refused
tracts, as my supply was now very small. All that
long day I waited for the appearance of my box, and
at night lay down with a heavy heart, under the
impression that Baba had got the box and tied with
it. Next morning Millar and myself often threw a
longing glance over the gulf, but no Baba, and no
tidings. At length, at ten a.m. to our inexpressible
joy he crossed the channel, and delivered me the box
with every thing secure., When Mr. Millar first saw
old Chronis, he clapped his hands and capered just
like a savage, whose scanty vocabulary cannot supply
terms to signify his joy. These amusing harlequin¬
ades, added to his most bizar mixture of costume,—
blue American trousers, small red Greek cap, suliot
capote and arms,—were a scene for Hogarth.
Before quitting the vicinity of Nauplia, let me re¬
mark that here, or at Epidaurus, would be a good
field for a devoted missionary. Epidaurus, Kranithee,
Thramalee, and many other towns and villages lie in
the vicinity. If a missionary made either Nauplia
or Epidaurus the centre, he would have a circle
around him peopled by immortals much in want of
the gospel and of education.
Leaving Mylos, with our mattresses and other ef-
ec ts across a shaggy Peloponnesian nag, we arrived
at Acjhioryctiko soon after sunset, but met a most
472
INHOSPITABLE RECEPTION.
inhospitable reception. Few know the heart of a
stranger. Our soldier at length proceeded to break
open a cottage-door. The woman within scolded,
and I saw there was need of wisdom. Advancing to
the door, I spoke kindly to her, calmly depicting our
case and wants; and old Chronis now laid aside the
janizary, and put in requisition all the kindest words
and phrases his vocabulary could furnish. Two very
soothing phrases in modern Greek are, /xx ! At their head stands the chief mourner,
when a simultaneous wailing and sobbing, often re¬
peated, finishes with the triple interjection just
given. That this was one of the classic usages, is
unproblematical; but from the scholiast in Aristo¬
phanes it appears, that the cadence of the ancient
Greeks was, e, e, e, which is not perhaps so touching
and expressive as the ov or of the present day.
There appears in Homer’s living pictures of gone-by
ages, in the 24th book of the Iliad, a pathetic
scene, exemplifying the modern practice. It is on
the death of Hector, and Andromache figures as chief
mourner:■—
The body stretched along a princely bier,
Now flowed around the mercenary tear:
The dirge repeaters ’gan the mournful song,
While women wail, the requiem to prolong.
THE FINAL SALUTE.
567
Like the ancient Greeks, those of the present day
prefer hasty interments. In Malta, the grave closes
on the day following that of the death. So Achilles
appears in haste to bury Patroclus.* It is now
deemed, by all Greeks, a repulsive thing to inter in
the night, as such sepulture is superstitiously ac¬
counted ominous of ill. In the writings of Euripides
one most clearly discerns a kindred feeling; as when
Cassandra pronounces an imprecation on Thalibius.j*
The hasty interments of Palestine, too, are strikingly
exemplified in the case of Lazarus; for at verse
39 of John xi., it is stated, that this “ friend of
Jesus” had been dead four days; while, from verse
17, it appears he had lain four days in the grave. It
is hence inferable, that Lazarus was interred on the
day of his death. The body of Jesus was interred
the evening he expired. In all hot climates, not in
Greece or Malta alone, the death-day and that of
sepulture are never far apart.
Tourists in Greece, had they time or opportunity,
would be much struck with the funeral ceremony
called the final salute. This takes place at church,
after the funeral prayers; for now the priests, the re¬
latives, and the friends apply their warmer lips to the
cold face of the deceased, while some very touching
language drops from those of the minister. This rite,
prescribed by the Greek ritual, was prevalent in the
classic ages; with this difference, that the ceremony
was not performed at church, but at home, the mo¬
ment before the corpse left for the tomb; and this
* Compare Iliad; b. xix
f In Trojans, v. 446.
568
MORTUARY PRAYERS.
indeed is even now the practice of Greek females,
who are not in the habit, at the present day, of fol¬
lowing the mournful procession to the last home.*
Long ago, however, prior to the classic age, we find
this custom in the east; for 66 Joseph fell upon the
neck of his dying father Jacob, and kissed him.”
Yet in this case the salute is before death; in Greece
it is after .
Since the Greek church has wisely turned her
back on all attempts made by the Latin pale, to in¬
duce her to adopt the very antiscriptural dogma
called purgatory,—a dogma, which, were it Christian
and not pagan, would amply justify prayers for the
dead; why, it has often been enquired—why do the
Greeks pray for the dead? Believing with Paul,
that, “ to be absent from the body, is to be present
with the Lord;” that, “ such as die in the Lord are
blessed, and rest from their laboursto pray for
such seems as gratuitous as to pray to them. The
reply of the Greeks does not justify the usage:—
46 Our prayers for the dead,” say they, “ are only
an affectionate way of signifying our love, and
giving a ready utterance to the fulness of the
heart.”
On returning from the grave, the Greeks have a
feast at the house of the deceased. So, according to
Homer, who describes the funeral honours rendered
to Hector, the party assembled; and,
“ In Priam’s royal halls anon they spread
A festive hoard, in honour of the dead.”— Iliad, b. xxiv.
* Compare Euripides in Alceste, t. 611.
VISITS OF CONDOLENCE.
569
I observed that the Greeks of this day put on
black, in testimony of respect for the dead. I once
asked a young Greek of the Aegean, how they ob¬
tained the black; who replied, that he had himself
dyed his ordinary raiment. On these occasions also,
for some decorous space of time, they lead a very re¬
tired life, and receive the visits of condoling friends,
for the most part resting their head on the hand,
with the elbow reposing on some object near. So
prevalent is this precise position of mourning, among
all Greeks, that on observing a friend assume it, it is
not unusual to cry, 44 What! have you lost a friend*?”
That the ancient Greeks wore black on the death of
friends, is equally clear. 44 After I am gone,” says
poor Iphigenia to her mother, 44 do not cut off your
hair, or put on black raiment; and let my sisters ob¬
serve the same rule.”* A mother or a wife hesitates
to appear in public, or leave home, for the space of
an entire year. 44 That miserable wretch,” exclaims
Aeschines against Demosthenes, 44 only seven days
after his daughter was dead—ere he had paid a tribute
of tears to her memory, or satisfied the behests of
nature and of custom, appeared in public, crowned
with flowers, and dressed in white, as though it were
a day of festivity”.*!*
By the inspired penmen, death is represented as a
sleep; 44 Those who sleep in Jesus:”— 44 our friend
Lazarus sleepeth.” Sometimes by a departure ;— 44 I
desire to depart, and to be with Christ.” In like
* Euripides’ Iphigen. in Aulis.
f Harangue of Aeschines against Demosthenes.
570
THE LAZARETTO THEORIES.
manner the ancients. Clio says to Plato; “I shall
depart from men.”* So Tibullus as cited by Potter:
“ In a blest series may your lives glide on,
If while I live, or when I’m dead and gone,
One transient glance you’ll on my memory cast,
And in soft accents say, he’s gone at last.”
But the modern Greeks, as already remarked of
young Santos at Spetsia, use the expression, 44 he is
forgiven,” as equivalent to 44 he is dead.” Ill boding
terms are by most nations avoided; but how much
more grateful is the temporary repose of the gospel,
than the eternal sleep of the ancient Greeks!
44 Awake ye dead.” 44 The dead shall arise.” Not
such the hope of Pagans:—
“ Saon the Acanthian, son of Dicon, lies,
In sleep eternal, never more to rise.”f
The commission of enquiry into the very mo¬
mentous question,—whether plague is contagious or
infectious, so urgently recommended by Dr. Bow¬
ring, is, I perceive, at this moment again pressed
upon public attention, in a pamphlet, 44 On the Qua¬
rantine Laws,” by A. T. Holroyd, Esq. Mr. H. is
rather a violent non-contagionist, and strongly depre¬
cates the sanitary precautions of Malta, and indeed
of lazarettos in general.
That there should exist a diversity of opinion on
a problem, vitally affecting the interests of the entire
* Epist. ad. Plat.
f Consult Potter’s Antiquities of Greece, vol. 2, book iv.
STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN BONAVIA,
571
human family, is a subject of most natural regret.
In my details of the last plague at Malta, it was
humbly suggested, that to harmonize the antagonist
theorists, is not at all impossible. As our govern¬
ment, in its considerate regard to the safety of the
empire, will perhaps appoint the commission of en¬
quiry, so urgently pressed; it may not be improper to
recall attention to a few facts , demonstrating, I con¬
ceive, the theory of the contagionists. Before citing
them, the reader may peruse an extract from the
recent pamphlet of Mr. Holroyd, which requires
only one remark by way of preface,—that Mr. Bon-
avia, Captain Carlton, and Signor Garcin are chief
officers in the quarantine establishment of Malta.
“ Captain Bonavia states, that 6 persons employed in fumigating
the letters from infected places, have never been attacked with the
plaguebut he also mentions, that ‘when the plague is raging at
any place, the persons employed in the smoking office, as a pre¬
caution, give a general fumigation to the letters received, before
putting themselves in contact with them.’ And this is corrobo¬
rated by Signor Garcin, who says ; ‘ this is done only with letters,
which arrive from places where plague actually exists.’ But
passengers who enter the lazaret at Malta, are always asked if
they have any letters about them, and if they have, are obliged to
give them to their guardian, who receives and handles them, and
subsequently deposits them in a box, in which they are carried to
be fumigated. Precautions are only taken with letters brought
from places Avhere the plague is actually raging. Captain Carlton
tells us, that vessels occasionally arrive at Malta from Alexandria
and Smyrna, with clean bills of health, and that letters brought by
such vessels are handled by the guardians, previous to undergoing
the process of fumigation. But Captain Carlton did not appear to
have been aware of the fact, ‘ that Egypt is never entirely free
from plague an opinion confirmed by the experience of Dr,
572
MR. HOLROYD’s STATEMENT.
Gregson, Mr. Abbot, and Dr. Pruner. And if it be true, that
plague always exists in Egypt, clean bills ought not to be received
as such at Malta, and the same precautions ought to be adopted in
the fumigating department, as are enforced when vessels arrive
with foul bills of health.
“ Supposing that we waive the question of the fumigation of
letters ; what do we observe afterwards ? Captain Bonavia, who
has been seven years attached to the lazaret, and Signor Garcin,
who has been nine and twenty, both of them tell us, that ‘ they
have never known a guardian employed in handling the baggage of
passengers or merchandise in the lazaret, to be attacked by
plague’ It is the duty of a guardian, to pass his hands daily over
all the wearing apparel of persons performing quarantine ; and by
referring to the ‘ Regulations for the performance of Quarantine at
Malta,’ I find that 4 apparel of all kinds, books, brushes of all
sorts, cordage (not tarred), all articles wholly made of or mixed
with cotton, silk, wool, thread or yarn, paper, maps, quills,
sponges, &c., are placed in class the first, articles which are con¬
sidered as most liable to infection.’ It not unfrequently happens
that passengers arrive at Malta with a great deal of soiled linen,
and permission is given to such to have a laundress from La
Yaletta, who remains in quarantine until her employers obtain
pratique. Now, if one thing ought to be considered more suscep¬
tible than another, dirty linen brought from an infected port is
peculiarly in that condition. And yet we find, that for twenty-
nine years 4 laundresses have been engaged in washing the linen
of persons in quarantine, without a single case of plague occurring
amongst them, although they handle the dirty linen without any
precaution previously to its immersion in water.’
“ Lastly, we collect from Signor Garcin, that from the commence¬
ment of his engagement at the lazaret in 1810, to the year 1832,
4 the average number of persons performing quarantine annually
at Malta, was from eight hundred to one thousand;’ and Captain
Bonavia shows, by his returns, that since 1832 there has been a
very considerable increase. Let us take therefore the mean of
Signor Garcin’s estimate at nine hundred, and this multiplied by
twenty-three (the number of years from 1810 to 1832), and we
have 20,700 persons ; whilst Captain Bonavia’s returns for six
REPLY TO MR. HOLROYD.
573
years, from 1832 to 1837 inclusive, give an amount of 13,537,
which, added to 20,700, makes in all 34,237 persons, who have
performed quarantine during a period of twenty-nine years. It
would surely be reasonable to suppose, that out of so great a
number, some one at least had been attacked with plague whilst
performing quarantine; yet we learn from both Captain Bonavia
and Signor Garcin, that not one single instance of plague has oc¬
curred in the lazaret, if we except the cases of individuals who
were removed from vessels where the plague was actually raging
at the time. Is not this sufficient to arouse the indignation of any
one, who may be compelled to undergo an incarceration for the
alleged purpose of purification ? The documents of the lazaret
show, that it would be an exception to the universal rule, if any
one were attacked with plague during quarantine; and that this
exception has actually, during twenty-nine years, never occurred.
Surely something should be done to remedy so flagrant an evil as
the quarantine laws; and if it be at present too premature to
ask for their total abolition, let me at least entreat you to think
seriously of attempting a modification of them.”
That these laws are capable of modification,—
that such a measure might place lazarettos on a more
philosophical basis,—that science and experience
give their voice in favour of some small relaxation
of quarantine rigour,—that the comfort of travellers,
the convenience of seafaring people, and of others,
might be materially augmented,—and that, if it were
possible to annihilate the entire system, such a
measure would prove to commerce a boon beyond all
price,—are almost so many axioms. But, let the
government of Malta and of the Ionian isles,—let
the imperial Parliament at home, step with cautious
foot on ground so full of malaria. Let this affair be
viewed dispassionately, and not under the fervid
impulse of adolescence.
574
HIS MISCONCEPTIONS.
The abolition of quarantine laws at Malta, would
unquestionably cripple commerce; inasmuch as all
vessels from that island, now admitted to free
pratique, or subject only to a short quarantine, at
Marseilles, Leghorn, Genoa, Trieste, Sicily, and other
ports, would thus fall under the ban of the Mediter¬
ranean powers and become subject to a period of qua¬
rantine ad libitum. I believe it may truly be added,
there is not, at this moment, a single merchant in
Malta, that would handle a ball of cotton from Egypt
with a foul bill, till after purification, however the
gentlemen may lament the sanitary laws. That they
are an evil, is unproblematical; but the question is,
are they a necessary evil, or a nuisance Mr. Hol-
royd calls on his reader to be lost in wonder, because
my friend Signor Garcin states, that 44 they have never
known a guardian employed in handling the baggage
of passengers or merchandize in the lazaretto, to be
attacked by plague.” Does not Mr. H. know, that
persons are not placed in the lazaretto as having the
plague, but only because from a plague country %
Of these suspected persons, the guardians do indeed
handle the effects ; but never, I believe, those of in¬
dividuals known to be infected. To this distinction
the utmost importance attaches, as a fact most mate¬
rially affecting the question at issue.
It only remains that a few facts be cited, in proof
that plague is caught by contact , and that, therefore,
the contagionist theory is perfectly correct. I have,
indeed, already stated my belief, that both theories
are philosophical, except in the fact of denying to
REVIEW OF FACTS.
575
each other any claim to confidence. Mount Ossa
may stand, though Athos be not overthrown. On
the correctness of the contagionist theory are based
all the laws of the Mediterranean lazarettos, and
since the safety of the human family is fearfully
involved in the question, the imperial parliament, it
is conceived, would act treason to man, by any pre¬
cipitate measures. To a commission of enquiry, as
recommended by Dr. Bowring and Mr. Holroyd,
there can be no objection. Meantime, let us look
at past events.
1. The first fact to be here noticed, is the modus
operandi of the last plague at Malta. If the plague
infection is not by contact, on what principle can it
be explained, that the earliest victims were the rela¬
tives of the Maltese shoemaker 4 ?* If only in the
air, why so systematically pass the adjacent houses,
and proceed to other streets in search of Borge’s con¬
nections ? On the principle of contagion, all this is
natural and intelligible.
2. In the year 1720, the plague visited Marseilles
in the south of France. Unhappily the Paris faculty,
under the notion that the plague is infectious, not
contagious, instructed the practitioners of Marseilles
to treat the malady accordingly. What was the re¬
sult ? or, to propound a fairer question, what num¬
ber of victims fell beneath its ravages? In the
brief period of only seven months, its victims were
60,000.
3. In 1743, Messina in Sicily was visited by this
* See the Fcmrth Chapter of this volume.
576
PLAGUES IN LONDON.
direful pestilence. The Sicilian physicians were
non-contagionists, and, in accordance with this theory,
that of Mr, Holroyd, no sanitary cordon was estab¬
lished,—no segregation of the infected from the
rest. In three months, not a less number than
43,000 deaths, marked the track of the appalling
pest.
4. Though England has frequently groaned be -
neath the ravages of plague, yet it is, I believe, a
fact, that since the establishment of quarantine regu¬
lations, this angel of death has been entirely kept
out of our island.* In 1593, the infection was im¬
ported to London from Alkmaar, when upwards of
11,000 persons became its victims. In 1603, it
again visited our metropolis from Ostend, and carried
off 36,269. In 1625, this insidious malady again
afflicted the British capital; and this time its victims
numbered nearly 36,000. On this occasion it was
traced to Denmark, Not less than twice after this,
the plague infested London; destroying in 1636, no
fewer than 13,480 citizens, and in 1665, the period
of the great London fire, 68,596. Since the latter
period, England has sedulously applied her quaran¬
tine regulations, and it remains that our adventurous
theorists of the non-contagion school solve, as best
they may, the perplexing problem. With such facts
before us, the expression of a hope, that our con¬
siderate government will not be in haste to risk the
safety, either of the kingdom itself, or any of its
* If Dr. Bowring or Mr. Holroyd has not Dr. Tully’s History of the
Plague, I would respectfully recommend it.
PROCESS OF FUMIGATION. 577
dependencies in the Mediterranean, is but too
natural.
Finally. It is, I believe, a fact, that no person was
ever known to fall a victim to plague, while avoiding
all contact with persons and things infected. Almost
annually is this fearful scourge a visitant at Con¬
stantinople, and carries off numerous victims; but
Lord Ponsonby, and all the respectable attaches, shut
themselves up, and sedulously observe the strictest
system of segregation. What is the result % Pre¬
cisely such as just now stated. But if the atmosphere
were the exclusive chariot of this destroying angel,
one might at least expect an occasional case, even in
the palace of the British embassy. The same may
be said of the consulates in Egypt.
In the statement of Mr. Holroyd, that the guardians
of the Malta lazaretto “ handle ” letters from plague
countries, there seems a trifling error. I have, in¬
deed, seen them take letters with tongs , but never
with the hand, till after the process of fumigation with
straw and sulphur.—On the whole, if my opinion
were of any importance, I should unhesitatingly offer
it in support of the theory, on which are based the
actual usages of quarantine establishments.
CHAPTER XXXIY.
ALBANIA.—ITS INTERESTING CHARACTER—DERIVATION OF THE NAME.
—BOUNDARIES—ITS CHRISTIAN CHURCH.—OPEN TO MISSIONARIES.
ORIGIN OF ITS INHABITANTS.—LANGUAGE—RELIGIOUS STATE —
ALBANIAN TESTAMENT—PROPOSAL FOR A MISSIONARY COLONY
AT EUBCEA. — ITS SITUATION. — ANCIENT IMPORTANCE. — PRE¬
SENT RESOURCES.—CAPACITY OF POPULATION.—DIFFICULTIES —
PLAN.—THE GREEK CHURCH LESS HOSTILE THAN THE PAPAL.
—CORROBORATION OF THE PLAN—CONCLUSION.
In the months that elapsed during my stay among the
Ionian isles, my eye and mind often turned to the
bluff mountains of Albania. Among that singulary
wild and erratic people, inhabiting this portion of
northern Greece, it is not known to me that any mis¬
sionary has yet laboured, or that, since the visit of
St. Paul, “ the truth as it is in Jesus,” has been pro¬
claimed.
By its customs, its manners, its religion and its
language, Albania forcibly fixes the attention of an
inquisitive traveller. It is the land of romance; it
is the asylum of freedom; it is the Caledonia of
Greece; it is the plaything—or once was—of the
notorious Ali Pasha of Yoannina. Its dingy outline
I have often surveyed with deepest interest, while the
EXTENT OF ALBANIA.
579
important question has been present to my mind—
44 What can be done for poor Albania*?” To this
topic I solicit a moment’s attention.
That portion of Greece now styled Albania, lies
partly opposite the Ionian isles, but stretches north
as far as the 41st degree of latitude. As free Greece
extends but to the 39th,—viz., to the gulf of Arta, an
ciently of Ambracia, it hence comprises no incon¬
siderable portion of Albania itself. This country
the Greeks often style Epirus; but as that term
simply signifies a continent, I suppose it to have
originated with the natives of the Ionian isles adja¬
cent, just as an Englishman speaks of 44 a trip to the
continent” on visiting France or Italy.
The actual natives of Albania do not style them¬
selves Albanians, but Shkepitars; to express which
term, my colleague was compelled, in printing the
New Testament with Greek characters, to coin a
symbol for the sound of sh. By the Turks, this
semibarbarous race are styled Arnaouts, It was,
perhaps, the Byzantine historians of the middle ages
who first named their country Albania. By them, at
all events, it is so styled.
Albania is, in fact, that part of ancient Greece,
wdiich extends from Illyricum on the north, to Achaia
on the south; and from the Adriatic on the west to
Macedonia on the east. This entire territory is often
comprehended under the term Rumelia; and hence I
have repeatedly heard the natives called Rumeliots.
In this region, therefore, that zealous and true-
souled missionary, the great 44 apostle of the gen-
p p
580
OPEN TO MISSIONARIES.
tiles,” anciently travelled, and “ fully preached the
gospel of Christ."*
By the blessing of God on the labours of Paul, a
Christian church was planted in this interesting re¬
gion, which exists to this day; but is so corrupted
by Mohammedan and trashy notions, as almost to
have forfeited the name. The Centuriators of Mag-
deburgh profess to trace the Albanian bishops or
pastors through eight centuries ; but in the numerous
vicissitudes of Albania, its portion of the visible pale
of the universal church, has almost glided from the
historic page.
Albania has passed successively beneath the scep¬
tre of Cadmus of Greece, Philip of Macedon, the
Bomans, the Goths and the Turks. At the present
day, so much of it as is comprised between the 37th
and 39th degrees of latitude, forms part of the do¬
minions of the king of Greece: the rest still writhes
in the grasp of the Moslems. Yet, whether it per¬
tains to Greece or to Turkey, is, so far as missionary
objects are the question, a very minor consideration;
for, with the professedly Christian subjects of the
sultan, a missionary may employ any discreet efforts,
without exciting much interference from the Turks.
It is, indeed, far otherwise as respects the Moslem
subjects of the Porte; since this singular govern¬
ment has yet to learn the sacred rights of conscience,
and the proper business of earthly rulers—the civil
concerns of man.
On the origin of the Albanians, but little will here
* Romans xv. 18—21.—A study for any missionary.
ANCESTRY. LANGUAGE.
581
be subjoined to what is already stated in the notes
on Spetsia and Hydra, where they are supposed to
have migrated in the middle ages from Illyria. If
length of visage, projecting cheek-bones, arched
eyebrows, firm and independent gait, high and nar¬
row forehead, an a$quiline nose, an eagle eye, a
small mouth, and rather long chin,—if these bespeak
a Scythian ancestry, perhaps the hypothesis is to be
finally established by some missionary, on his at¬
taining a competent insight into the language and
traditions of Albania. In respect to either of these,
scanty indeed is the amount of information hitherto
amassed. By Dr. Holland’s Travels, Colonel Leake’s,
and those of the Rev. Mr Hughes, with M. Vau-
dencourt’s Memoirs of the Ionian Islands, the reader
will be instructed; but on the language, customs,
and traditions of Albania, he will wish for fuller in¬
formation.
On the language of Albania, it is not in my power
to furnish much intelligence^ Though our Greek
spelling-book has been partly translated into this
tongue, and Mr. Lowndes carried through the press
an edition of the New Testament, as far as the Acts;
yet these are but slender documents; and in the
native idiom, the Albanians have neither books nor
records; nor has the language been reduced to a
grammatical standard.
Not aware that much data for judging of this
tongue are yet before the public, I subjoin a few
specimens of this remnant of Illyria; and shall use
the Roman character. They may, scanty though
p p 2
582
LANGUAGE OF ALBANIA.
they are, feebly aid the incipient efforts of the travel¬
ler or the missionary, and add an interesting trifle to
the stores of the linguist.
ALBANIAN OR ILLYRIAN VOCABULARY.
ALB.
ENG.
ALB.
ENG.
Pernti,
God
Deti,
sea
Crishti,
Christ
Na t
behold
Dita*
days
Velari,
brother
Breti,
king
Pafezemi,
baptism
Iln,
star
Dieli,
sun
E,
and
Rene,
roct
De,
in
Coke,
grain
Si,
when
Emeni<
name
Te,
of
Shpirt,
spirit
Ku?
where
Vrapt,
cliff
Ga,
from
Derrah,
hog
Eresire,
darkness
Niere,|
man
Laoi,
people
Frua,
woman
Zot,
lord
Oughe,
water
The language of Albania, like most unpolished
and primitive tongues, does not appear to abound in
cases. Prepositions supply their place. Yet it pre¬
sents various terminal changes: as Tsifute Jews;
breti i Tsifutet, king of the Jews. Masculine
nouns form their plural in exit; as nieri, man;
nierezit, men; but nouns feminine pluralize in e : as
dita, day ; dite, days. Yet frua, woman, makes fra,
women. The genitive is formed by adding t: as
* The i ande as in Italian, in all this vocabulary; the u as u or eu in
French.
f Initial n is often sounded as gn in Italian.
RELIGION AND WANTS.
583
kourmi, body; drit’ e kourmit, light of the body.
Masculines plural in igte, form the feminine in lete;
as copigte, menservants, copilete, maidservants. I
only add, that the accusative is formed by the change
of i to ne; as nom. breti, king, ac. bretne. But
that our limits forbid, I should have attempted an
epitome of the grammar.
The religion of Albania is of a threefold character.
A considerable portion of the natives are Moham¬
medans ; but I believe the great majority professes
the faith of the Greek church. Yet, the two creeds
sit so loosely on a third division, that these easily
incline to either, and, like Independents and Method¬
ists, occasionally quit each others communions.
All this is natural,—the gospel antidote is not at
hand. The only portion of scripture in the language
of Albania, is that printed at Corfu, for the British
and Foreign Bible Society, and even this requires the
usual revision of a first effort. The fact that the
apostolos , or extracts from the Acts and Epistles, are
daily read in the assemblies in ancient Greek, affords
slender ground for hope to repose on; for “the trumpet
gives an uncertain sound,” as Paul remarks when
reproving the early folly of using a strange tongue
in the service of God. Nor this alone: Albania
requires a converted ministry, the establishment of
Christian schools, and a rich provision of elementary
books, formed on gospel principles, while as yet
even the early labour of translation is scarcely com¬
menced.
But this topic must end. If the preceding notices
584
EUBOEA OR NEGROPONT.
of the language,—the probable language of old
Illyria—are extremely limited; they will yet answer
some small purpose, should they induce the traveller
to wish and search for more. I feel the more anxious
that some missionary of a fearless and enquiring
spirit, or some agent of the Bible Society, should
even spend some years in Albania; were it for no
other object, than to secure a corrected copy of that
portion of the Albanian Testament, already printed
under the surveilence of my estimable colleague,
to complete the entire version, and fully to place
before the eye of the British churches ,—the woes and
the wants of Albania.
During my residence at Athens I made a few ob¬
servations on the moral state of Greece, and the most
feasible and efficient measures for pouring upon this
interesting land the blessings of the Gospel; and the
following suggestion may both attract the general
philanthropist, and convey perhaps a useful hint to
missionary brethren actually in the classic regions.
The plan I would propose is that of locating a
missionary colony, composed entirely of pious culti¬
vators of the soil, with their families, together with a
few artizans and their families, in a very important
and very inviting portion of Greece. To this sub¬
ject I directed my enquiries when in Malta, and
received from Thomas M'Gill, Esq. consul to their
Greek and Bavarian Majesties, some available in¬
formation.
Euboea, the locality I mean, is a splendid pe¬
ninsula, stretching along the coast of Boeotia and
NAME AND FERTILITY.
585
Attica. In round numbers, it is a hundred miles in
length and forty in width; and as it lies in the thirty-
ninth degree of north latitude, the climate is genial
and the soil fertile. It is but thinly populated, and
the fact that when I left Malta, the question of
locating in that country a portion of the superfluous
Maltese population, is an evidence both of the desi¬
rableness of the country, and the disposition of the
Greek government to augment its population.
This extensive and fertile territory has resigned
its ancient name of Euboea, and taken up that of
Negropont. Whence this change of name 4 ? As
we enter Negropont from Attica, we pass the site
of Egripos. I have before stated, that when we
ask a Greek the name of a town, his reply is com¬
monly prefaced with the proposition eis, to, governing
the accusative case. Hence ton Egripon , and this
was by the Venetians naturally changed into Negro¬
pont, or Black-bridge, as by a bridge we pass from
Attica to Euboea.
Negropont was in ancient times noted for its
abundance of grain, wine, oil, and fruits.* It also
supplied copper and iron, and its artists were so
ingenious in the working of these metals, as to
cherish the vanity of having been the first to dis¬
cover their use.f In various parts of the country
were hot mineral waters, available in certain cases
of sickness. These advantages, however, had one
natural drawback,—earthquakes are known to have
swallowed up entire cities; so the author of Anar-
* Herodot. lib. v. cap. 31.
f Strabo, lib. x. p. 143,
586
A MISSIONARY COLONY.
chisis says; but at the present day I am not aware
that it suffers from such phenomena more than the
rest of Greece. Its abundant harvests supplied the
market of Athens. The ports of Negropont are
excellently available for commercial purposes. Even
as early as the time of Homer, this genial territory
was renowned for its vines; and Eustatius avers
that it abounded in excellent pasture and flocks of
sheep.*
In the quarries of Mount Ocha was obtained a
marble of variegated hues, of which were constructed
columns held in high estimation.! Strabo even
asserts, that there was here found in ancient times a
species of stone capable of being spun and woven
into cloth, which when exposed to the action of fire,
in place of consuming, only became blanched and
free from all spots. +
Within an extent of fertile territory like that of
Negropont, might dwell a population equal, perhaps,
to that of all Greece; whereas of 1,500,000 or
2,000,000 of free Greeks, probably this splendid
peninsula may not contain ten thousand; I mean at
the present moment. Were a colony of decidedly
pious Britons located here, they would, therefore, find
ample resources in extent and fecundity of land.
May not this idea be realised What stands in the
way"? Let us see. 1. It may be difficult to sin¬
gle out a hundred pious heads of families disposed
to emigrate. 2. The Greek government may not
incline to favour the measure. 3. There may not
* Iliad, lib. ii. v. 573. f Strabo, lib. ix. x. J Strabo, lib. x. p 436.
PLAN PROPOSED.
587
be sufficient protection of civil and religious rights.
But these are questions to be solved. Surely the
missionary zeal of Britain and Ireland would soon
set the first at rest; and as for the second and third,
I would myself most readily proceed to Athens,
and obtain from government direct specific infor¬
mation, together with official documents, to secure
such immunities and privileges as the existing laws
of Greece may not have defined. Or one might, as
a preliminary step, institute immediate enquiries at
the house of M. Tricupis, now ambassador of his
Grecian majesty at the court of St. James. Mean¬
time, let it be briefly stated here what is proposed.
1. That it is most desirable to aid the march of
intelligent, scriptural piety in Greece.
2. That the efforts of missionaries now in the
country, might be efficiently strengthened, by the
location of a colony of decidedly pious and evan¬
gelical families from England in Negropont, the
ancient Euboea.
3. That there should be, at least, a hundred fami¬
lies ; and that these should have at command, at least
the great majority of them, such an amount of capital,
as to secure them from dependence in the earlier
stages of this important enterprise.
4. That they be accompanied by a zealous, pru¬
dent, godly minister of Christ; an intelligent school¬
master, well versed in the Greek language; and a
few artizans.
5. That all the children be most carefully brought
up in the knowledge, and fear, and love of God; be
588
IMPORTANT DISTINCTION.
clothed in the Greek costume, and taught the Greek
language as their own, their vernacular tongue.
6. It might thus be hoped, devoutly depending on
the blessing of God, that the third generation of
these pious colonists would be Greeks in name, cos¬
tume and language, yet Protestants in faith and
morals. And to what extent their holy influence
might be felt in the land of Basil and of Plato, is, to
be sure, a question for the future, but a question to
which the history of the spread of the gospel in
other lands, supplies a prospective and almost terrible
reply.
Our brethren in Greece, pledged to the sacred
cause of missions, hold a position all its own, pecu¬
liar, unique. It has been most justly remarked, in
a small and interesting work on Greece by a gen¬
tleman whom I had the pleasure of knowing in the
Mediterranean, that a broad distinction should be
made between the Papal and the Oriental churches
by all our missionaries. The former has exalted the
pope to be the infallible and universal head of the
church, forbidden the scriptures to the great body of
the people, taken away the right of private judgment
on matters of everlasting importance to the soul, and
aimed to pervert, and thus in effect to destroy, the
power of conscience. It claims a divine right to im¬
pose its dogmas on the minds of all men, and to
confiscate the goods, and destroy the lives, of all who
refuse to acknowledge its authority. These assumed
rights it has violently enforced, whenever it has
had the power to enforce them, and it still asserts
CANDOUR OF THE GREEK PALE.
589
them with unyielding pertinacity. This is nothing
short of treason against the King of Zion, and is, in
respect to all his subjects on earth, a most tyrannical
usurpation.
The state of the case is very different in relation to
the proper oriental churches—the Greek, Armenian,
Syrian, Coptic, and Abyssinian. In many points
these churches have, indeed, departed far from the
simplicity and purity of the gospel. They have
yielded too much to traditions, and the fathers, and
councils. But they have no pope, “ exalting him¬
self above all that is called God”—“ sitting in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” If
they do not go the full length of admitting the pro-
testant maxim, that “ the scriptures are the sufficient
and only rule of faith and practice; they yet acknow¬
ledge their authority, allowing the people to read
them, and to exercise their own judgments with re¬
gard to their import. They assert no extravagant
and oppressive claims upon other portions of Christ’s
visible kingdom. They do not profess to regard the
members of other churches as of course heretics and
outlaws, nor do they meet you on the threshold with
the threat of excommunication and endless wrath,
unless you subscribe, without enquiry or reservation,
to whatever they may please to dictate.
We ought not, therefore, without reflection, to ex¬
tend the unfavourable conclusions we have been
compelled to draw concerning the papal church, to
any of the oriental churches. The points of differ¬
ence between the eastern and Latin churches are of
590
MOTIVES TO ZEAL.
greater consequence than their points of agreement.
Comparing the relations in which these two nominal
divisions of the visible church stand, to God and
ourselves, we see a marked distinction. We see, too,
that principles, and conclusions, and missionary rules
of action, applicable to the Romish church, may not
be so to the Greeks or Armenians. Indeed, taking
into view the doctrinal admissions of the oriental
churches, or at least of the Greeks, it seems to me,
that, great as is the difference between their system of
faith and that of protestant churches, the points of
resemblance are yet of higher consequence.*
May the above suggestion awake to generous sym¬
pathy, and vigorous enterprise, the pious and talented
friends of Greece, whose tent is for the present
pitched in a land more favoured with gospel light and
liberal science. Let them disdain to tremble at diffi¬
culties. Let them sing with Marsden, in a strain
of faith and resignation to what may be the high
behest of heaven;—
“ I may, like Brainerd, perish in my bloom,
A group of Indians weeping round my tomb ;
I may, like Martyn, lay my burning head,
In some lone Persian hut, or Turkish shed;
I may, like Coke, be buried in the wave;
I may, like Howard, find a Tartar grave,
Or perish, like a Xavier, on the beach,
In some poor cottage out of friendship’s reach :
I may—hut never let my soul repine ;
* Lo I am with you—Heaven is in that line :
Tropic or pole, or mild or burning zone,
Is but a step from my celestial throne.”
Observations on Peloponnesus, by Rufus Anderson, p. 317.
THE PLAN SUPPORTED.
591
Since writing the above, my attention has been
most opportunely turned to two short original articles
on emigration to Greece, which appeared iipa small
London Journal. It is a fact, that the writer singles
out and recommends that very portion of Greece, to
which the preceding suggestions refer. A document
so important, and so suited to the object I have in
view, ought not to be allowed to slumber in the
oblivion of the past. The following is an extract: *
“ One of the most favourite spots for a first experiment would,
it is thought, be the island of Euboea, particularly the northern
division. This country, in an agricultural point of view, pos¬
sesses in many respects a greater degree of similarity to England
than most other parts of Greece. There is an extensive culti¬
vation of corn and maize ;—indeed Euboea, as is well known, was
in ancient times considered the granary of Attica, and it is not so
deficient as many other parts in water, without which, during the
warm summer of that climate, our farmer would find many of his
improvements impracticable. Another chief reason of preference
is, the more settled state of the island; order has never been so
interrupted there, as in the Peloponnessus and other parts of the
continent, where disputes, besides, are likely to be frequent, before
the rightful owner of the land can establish his claim. Euboea
suffered but little from the actual presence of war, and from those
commotions connected with the sudden change of masters ; for
after a short and ineffectual struggle to regain his liberty, the
peasant returned to his home and former occupations, and resigned
once more to the Turkish yoke. Thus the proprietors never having
lost possession of their estates, the Greek or stranger, who by
purchase has since become a holder of land, is not liable to have
his right disputed, and is consequently more ready to receive the
new settler, and afford him a secure asylum. This is an import¬
ant consideration. At the same time, let it not be supposed that,
The Penny Mag. for June, 1833.
592
SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION.
because there has latterly been less disturbance and change in this
country, there is less opening for emigrants, or a less urgent call
for good workmen. The appearance of the island is scarcely
more cheering, than that of the other parts of the continent, which
have been the seat of war.
The inhabitants have groaned under a long continued system of
oppression, beneath the weight of which, their numbers have gra¬
dually diminished. The conduct of their Turkish masters was
such, as to discourage every advance and improvement. An ap¬
pearance of wealth and prosperity, was sure to draw down a pro¬
portionate direct or indirect increase of taxation. If, for instance,
the peasant employed the profits of his labour, to erect a more com¬
modious dwelling, or to purchase articles of comfort for himself or
his family, the consequence was, that his master, on his next visit
to the village with a numerous suite of attendants, or any Turk of
rank travelling through the country, would single out this abode
from the surrounding ones as his resting place. Here he would
perhaps remain many days, or even weeks ; and during this time
it would be the duty of his humble vassal to furnish him, his atten¬
dants and horses, with every necessary of life, without receiving
the least remuneration. The writer observed that the entrance to
the little huts, in many villages, is built so exceedingly low, that
light and a free circulation of air are in a great measure impeded
by it. This he was assured by the people was purposely done, in
order that the Turks, who might chance to stop in the village,
might not be able to bring their horses into the cottages.
Their dread of these visits is still extreme. While travelling
with a few friends through the country, the writer has often been
amused at the panic occasioned in the village, by the approach of
himself and party. Doors and windows were closed and barred,
and on their entrance, they found the village apparently deserted.
On one occasion, when the travellers directed their course to the
house of the priest, the poor man being at some distance from his
dwelling, and not having time to fortify himself, fairly took to his
heels, and concealed himself in the woods.
According to the agreement concluded between the Porte and the
three great powers, the Turks in Euboea, and some parts of
Attica, had sold or are still selling their estates. Thus many pri-
TEMPERATURE OF CLIMATE.
593
vate individuals find themselves proprietors of extensive territories,
of which, however, from the causes above mentioned, vast tracts
lie waste ; and they consequently derive little profits from lands,
which, in this country, would be of immense value. They would
receive those, who have some acquaintance with agriculture most
thankfully, and would supply them with land at a moderate rate.
This is not a mere supposition ; the writer has been assured of it
by many proprietors personally. Rent has been mentioned,
although, to receive a fixed sum for the use of a certain portion of
land, has not been customary. The common agreement is still the
same, which has been alluded to as subsisting between the Turk
and the peasant; but is open to so many objections, on account of
the disadvantages both to landlord and tenant, that it will pro¬
bably soon fall into disuse. The Turk provides each family on
his estate with a cottage, a yoke of oxen, and sufficient seed for
one zevgari, literally yoke, used to designate an extent of from
fifty to sixty acres in Euboea, of one hundred and upwards in
Attica and other parts ; and the tenant, after collecting the harvest,
from which is first deducted the seed for the next year’s sowing,
divides the remainder into equal parts, one for himself and one
for his landlord. If the tenant finds his own oxen and seed, he
only gives one third of the produce to the landholder. The
abuses to which this arrangement is subject, are too evident to
require pointing out.
“ The climate, in general, may be said to hold a middle station,
between the burning heat of Egypt, and that of the temperate
zone. The air is clear and wholesome, and the sea breezes, which
penetrate the deep bays that characterize this land, tend greatly to
banish that feeling of oppression, which usually accompanies heat,
during the summer months, in southern climes. The winter is
almost invariably mild, snow being seldom seen, except on the
summit of the mountains. This season announces its approach
during the month of November, by casual showers, which become
more frequent as it advances. The only period during which any
degree of cold is felt, is from the latter end of December to the
middle of February. Towards the close of the latter month, the
flowers of spring cover the mountain-side, among which the varied
dye of the wild anemone is eminently distinguishable. The
594
HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.
almond tree scatters its silver blossoms to the wind, which are
speedily followed by those of the whole tribe of odour-breathing
fruit-trees.
“ Still now and then dark clouds roll down from the mountains,
and, breaking with claps of thunder over the plain and valley, con¬
tinue to supply the earth with moisture against the coming of
summer. In March the peasant sows cotton, cuts his vines, and
begins once more to use his plough. The storms occur more
rarely, and a smiling, as yet not burning, sun, in a clear sky,
calls forth a vegetation, which reaches its highest luxuriance and
perfection as early as the month of April; the myrtle, the laurel,
and the oleander, supplying the space of our northern bushes.
Towards the end of Autumn, sown wheat and barley are in full
blossom: from May to the close of October, the heavens present
one bright expanse of cloudless blue; the heat is great; and
after the harvest, nature seems to enjoy a perfect repose, the most
delicious fruits serving to refresh the inhabitants during this
period. In October is the vintage. The island of Euboea, the
writer has been told, is not quite so free from rain during the
summer months, which must be a great relief. There are some
spots injurious to health, where the air is unwholesome, and causes
fevers ; but this probably arises from the neglect of cultivation,
and from the water having been allowed to form morasses. It is
to be expected, therefore, that when the causes are removed the
effect will cease; yet, of course, it were better that such spots as
stand in bad repute, should be avoided by settlers. As far as the
writer’s experience, and the testimony of many who have spent
several years in the country, can prove, the climate, on the whole,
is certainly healthy. At the same time, as it is a great change to
an emigrant coming from a northern country, certain precautions
are very advisable. Moderation in food and drink, particularly in
fruit, and care not to expose the body to cold by a change of tem¬
perature, are two rules of especial importance.
“ The productions of this kingdom are very various. The
cultivation of wheat and barley is general, and very successful.
Oats are not so common, neither do they prosper so well; for
which reason the horses are generally fed with barley. Maize is
much valued, particularly as winter fodder for cattle : it grows to
PRODUCE AND PRICES.
595
a great size, but requires a damp situation, or a spot which is
capable of being irrigated. The cotton plant is another common
production, which likewise requires much moisture. The chief
riches of the country, however, consist in oil, wine, and silk. The
fable of Minerva presenting the olive to the Greeks, is well known,
and certainly it is a gift which cannot be too highly prized, yielding
a rich and never-ceasing supply—for this tree, from the immense
age it attains, is said never to perish,—and requiring but a very
small share of labour. Honey is supplied in great abundance,
and of the best quality. Rice is partially cultivated, but is
inferior in quality to the Egyptian. Oranges and lemons in pro¬
fusion, as well as fruits of almost every description, arrive at per¬
fection in this genial climate. The potatoe is little known, but
has been tried by a gentleman of the writer’s acquaintance in
Euboea, who assured him it was very productive, indeed nearly
every variety of vegetable flourishes, and is plentiful.
“ Undoubtedly such a country as that, of which we have here
given a faithful picture, offers advantages for emigration. Still it
must not be supposed, that there is not here likewise much to
struggle against; especially if the emigrant is entirely without
means. In many respects Greece is yet a wild country, and much
remains to be done. Roads there are few or none, and the dwell¬
ings that may at first be given or raised for new comers, will be
found to present accommodations inferior perhaps to those even of
the lowest class of cottages in England. The difference of lan¬
guage and religion is also, of course, to be considered as among the
inconveniences, with which the emigrant must lay his account.
As to the opening offered to mechanics, there is no doubt that
with the advance of improvement in the country, many would find
full employment, and be well paid; as the Greeks themselves are
nearly ignorant of many branches of industry. There are but
very few manufacturers of any description ; therefore the emigrant
would do well to take with him any articles of household use,
such as cloth, linen, lamps, &c. &c.
“ Milk is scarce—sheep’s milk alone is used. Mutton, two¬
pence per lb. ; bread, three-pence per loaf, weighing two and a
quarter lbs.; wine, three-half-pence per bottle ; eggs, two-pence or
three-pence per dozen. Beef is scarce. Goat’s flesh is cheaper,
Q Q
596
APPEAL TO CHRISTIANS.
and commonly used by the people. Fruit is exceedingly cheap—
grapes less than three-half-pence per lb. The price of provisions
is perhaps about two-thirds cheaper, on an average, than in
England.”
In such a locality, who would not wish to see a
Christian colony; and, with the blessing of the God
of missions, who could doubt its success % Soon
may this, or some more efficient means of evange¬
lizing lovely but neglected Greece, be employed
by the compassionate and enterprising churches of
the British isles! “ How long, O Lord V
THE END.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY A.. SIMTSON, WARWICK. LANE,
PATERN 08TE R ROW.
V
I