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WANDERINGS 
 
 SEARCH OF HEALTH 
 

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 Fig. 1. — Gold Fipur? found at Corinth. 
 2, 3, 4, 5._ Silver Dice found near Marseilles. 
 
WANDERINGS 
 
 SEARCH OF HEALTH 
 
 LORD ALBERT DENISON, 
 
 K.C.H., F.S.A. 
 
 LONDON. 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLIX. 
 

 LONDON: 
 RICHARDS, 100, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. 
 

 WANDERINGS 
 
 IN 
 
 SEARCH OF HEALTH 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 After six weeks 1 confinement to a sick room, 
 the state of my chest causing me to experience 
 the sensations of a fish taken out of water and 
 gasping in another element, my medical advisers 
 determined that I was sufficiently recovered to 
 leave England for a winter in a warm climate ; 
 and on Wednesday, the 15 th day of November 
 1848, 1 made my way to Southampton, and em- 
 barked on board the Tagus, a steamer belonging 
 to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Naviga- 
 tion Company, commanded by Captain Joy. 
 
 My impedimenta consisted of a wife, a plump 
 and rather pretty English maid, and an English 
 valet, the said valet being an exception to the 
 
 B 
 
 681 
 
2 WANDERINGS 
 
 latter part of the rule, " that a servant may be 
 a good servant for the first five years, a good 
 master for the second five years, but is a hard 
 master for the third five years of his service." 
 
 Plan of journey I formed none, beyond that 
 of seeing as much as a forced return to England 
 in May would allow me to see : the information 
 which I might gain, whilst wandering, having 
 to be acquired in that peculiar Anglo-Gallic used 
 by the English, and familiar to Lady Albert and 
 myself, added to the mother tongue alone spoken 
 by the rest of the party. I had also a sort of 
 hallucination of my own, that I could manage a 
 little broken Italian. 
 
 The cabin — allotted to my wife and myself, 
 intended to contain four persons — was a curious 
 piece of mechanism : two berths might be made 
 up on each side, or two on one side and a sofa 
 on the other, or one berth and one sofa on oppo- 
 site sides ; between the berths was a large wash- 
 ing stand, taking half of the remaining space. I 
 had the curiosity to measure the standing room 
 with my measuring tape, and found, that three 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 3 
 
 feet by two feet eight inches was allowed for 
 washing, dressing, and undressing room for four 
 persons. Gradually we learnt to dispose of hat, 
 bonnet, coat, great coat, male and female cloaks, 
 shawls, handkerchiefs, gowns, and the other arti- 
 cles of clothing, and for washing and dressing, 
 hanging them, by every sort of contrivance of 
 our own, from the bulk-heads ; but how these 
 things were disposed of when the cabin was 
 tenanted by four persons, was a mystery that I 
 reflected upon in many a waking hour, and that 
 I never solved during the voyage ; but if the 
 Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company limited 
 the washing and dressing, the eating and drink- 
 ing on board was most unlimited, and was conti- 
 nued from nine in the morning till ten at night 
 The Bay of Biscay was perfectly calm. Whilst 
 crossing it, three or four whales showed them- 
 selves very distinctly near the steamer, rolling 
 on the "swell" of the sea, they appeared of 
 huge size, and must have measured about forty- 
 five feet in length. Occasionally they blew forth 
 a puffing noise, and spouted steam precisely like 
 
4 WANDERINGS 
 
 the escape of steam from a locomotive engine. 
 On the 18th, in the afternoon, we made Cape 
 Finisterre : it is a rugged, barren highland, with 
 a mass of white buildings at its very verge. 
 Again we lost sight of land. On the 19th we 
 were off Oporto, but passed it at a considerable 
 distance. The 21st was stormy, and we had 
 a dreadful tossing till about two o'clock on the 
 following morning, when we anchored in the 
 Bay of Gibraltar. 
 
 Gibraltar, the Phoenician Alupe and Greek 
 and Roman Calpe, was the European pillar of 
 Hercules. It appears to have been neglected as 
 a military station by the Romans, and first em- 
 ployed for that purpose by the Moors, when they 
 invaded Spain in the beginning of the eighth 
 century. From their leader Tarif, it was called 
 Gibel Tarif, or the mountain of Tarif. Gibraltar 
 is a corruption of this Arabic name. 
 
 The town now contains a population of above 
 17,000 persons. The Emperor Charles V, in 
 the sixteenth century, fortified it in the modern 
 style, employing the German engineer, Daniel 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 5 
 
 Speck el. Hardly any vestiges of the fortifica- 
 tions then erected now remain. 
 
 Alas ! we were not allowed pratique, but were 
 forced to remain on board whilst we took in 
 coals, tinder the shelter of the rock. It was a 
 dull, drizzling day, and clouds of coal dust pene- 
 trated into the cabins. Great was the dearth of 
 amusement. Some, to kill time, tried fishing out 
 of the cabin windows; others, joking with and 
 laughing at the quarantine guard-boats along- 
 side. At last a passenger threw a piece of orange 
 at one of the guardianos, who returned it by 
 throwing a piece of wood, about the size of a 
 boat's tiller, at the group of passengers on deck, 
 hitting the wrong man on the shoulder. Away 
 rowed the boat ; and alongside, in about half an 
 hour, came the pompous lieutenant of the port, 
 and he, in his turn, fixed upon the wrong man 
 as culprit, venting his wrath upon the captain 
 of the steamer, who, poor man, had in vain en- 
 deavoured to keep order amongst his passengers. 
 " The vessel was to be detained", etc. 
 
 Lord Selkirke, one of the passengers, was 
 
 b2 
 
6 WANDERINGS 
 
 rash enough M to put in his oar", and to think 
 of interfering between " the lion and the lamb", 
 and thus came in for his share of the great man's 
 wrath. Then commenced the correspondences. 
 Lord Selkirke wrote to Captain Grey (the cap- 
 tain of the port), and I wrote to the governor 
 (Sir Eobert Wilson), deprecating the conse- 
 quences of the lieutenant's anger. In another 
 hour back came the lieutenant, stating, that as 
 we had chosen to interfere, he would in good 
 earnest stop the coaling and watering, and thus 
 virtually detain the vessel. — More writing from 
 all parties. A general memorial from the pas- 
 sengers was drawn up and forwarded to the 
 governor. A memorial of complaint of the lieu- 
 tenant's tyrannic conduct was also sent to the 
 Admiralty, accompanied by a private letter from 
 Lord Selkirke to the First Lord. Never, since 
 the world began, was there such a God -send for 
 men who were at a loss for weapons to kill 
 time. In the morning of the 23rd, a long feather 
 was seen floating over a small shore boat, and 
 great was the sensation on perceiving no less a 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 7 
 
 personage than the governor himself, with an 
 aide-de-camp, who looked rather sea-sick, and the 
 culprit lieutenant, coming alongside. The lion 
 lieutenant was converted into a lamb. Virtue, 
 in the shape of Captain Joy, of the Tagus, was 
 applauded. The governor edified all parties by 
 a most apposite speech. Again began the coal- 
 ing and watering, and in the afternoon we 
 passed the lovely scenery upon the Spanish 
 coast. 
 
 Nothing worthy of note occurred on the 24th 
 or 25th, excepting that, early on the 25th, a 
 flying fish was idiot enough to fly on board, to 
 be stared at by all of us, and afterwards to 
 practise the surgeon of the vessel in the art of 
 preserving fish and reptiles. 
 
 On the night of the 25th we had a gale of 
 wind. The entries in the vessel's log-book for 
 the 26th, 27th, and 28th, were, alas! "heavy 
 gales at intervals". Still worse was the fact that 
 the said gales were dead against us ; and right 
 glad were we when, at about eleven o'clock on 
 the morning of the 29th, we found ourselves 
 
8 WANDERINGS 
 
 safely anchored in the harbour of Valetta. Then 
 commenced the most amusing scene that I ever 
 witnessed. Swarms of boats collected round the 
 steamer: some with "touters" from the various 
 hotels, and others seeking the custom of the 
 passengers ; but every human being exerting 
 the whole of his voice and strength in chatter- 
 ing, squabbling, and pushing. 
 
 Lord Selkirke, in his zeal for lodgings, was 
 the first who ventured to descend the ship's 
 side ; both his legs were instantly seized by 
 rival boatmen, whilst one wrist was pounced 
 upon by another. Do him the justice I must, 
 that with his disengaged hand he fought man- 
 fully, and did escape being torn limb from limb. 
 
 Mr. Vyse, leaving his servant and luggage to 
 their fate, then descended with a coat over his 
 arm, and a small bag and dressing-box ; in the 
 twinkling of an eye each article was snatched 
 from him, and placed in a separate boat. He 
 himself, unwilling that his body should follow 
 this example, and be also deposited piecemeal 
 in different boats, hung on to a rope with all his 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 9 
 
 strength, only allowing his legs to be pulled at 
 till help arrived. 
 
 Captain Joy ordered for us the gig of the 
 Tagus, and whilst it was preparing, some divers, 
 from a boat alongside, exhibited for us. 
 
 After washing away the dirt of the steam- 
 packet, and devouring quantities of exquisite 
 Maltese oranges, we walked upon the heights, 
 crowned by the arcade called Upper Barracka, 
 commanding noble views of the town, harbours, 
 etc. On the opposite, but lower height, is an 
 arcade with a monument to Sir Alexander Ball, 
 in the form of a Grecian temple. 
 
 We afterwards went into the cathedral dedi- 
 cated to St. John, the patron of the Order of 
 Malta. It was built in 1580, by the Grand 
 Master, John de la Cassiere. The really re- 
 markable object of this cathedral is its pave- 
 ment in mosaic, of monuments of the knights ; 
 thus giving a grand heraldic picture of the ar- 
 morial bearings of the principal European nobi- 
 lity. Only a portion of this pavement is visible, 
 except by a special order from the Governor, 
 
10 WANDERINGS 
 
 or on high days of festival ; it is at other times 
 covered up with matting. The eight languages 
 composing the Order had each their chapel; 
 the chapel of the Madonna has a railing before 
 it in silver ; it escaped pillage during the French 
 occupation of Malta, by having been painted 
 over. There is a good picture by Caravaggio 
 of the beheading of St. John. The crypt under 
 the choir contains the sarcophagi of some of the 
 Grand Masters of the Order. 
 
 On Thursday we visited the governor's 
 country palace and gardens of St. Antonio; 
 they are pleasing to an English eye, from being 
 filled with orange trees (not of any great size), 
 and other trees and plants which we can only 
 rear in conservatories. On our way we walked 
 through the public botanical garden. One of 
 the gardeners, a Moorish-looking lad, of about 
 nineteen, and barefooted, like the generality of 
 the lower orders, walked up to my wife, made 
 her a graceful bow, handed her a tea rose, and, 
 wonderful to relate, hurried away, without 
 appearing to expect anything in return. I 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 11 
 
 called to him, and gave him a trifle ; and it was 
 amusing to see each one of the gardeners pre- 
 paring flowers as we came near them, each 
 hoping that in his turn he should obtain some- 
 thing. 
 
 I narrowly inspected the armory, in the hopes 
 of meeting with some rare specimens of curious 
 arms ; alas I it had not escaped pillage. I saw 
 very few of what we collectors call '* covetable 
 objects," with the exception of one suit of 
 armour, inlaid with gold, said to have been that 
 of the Grand Master Vignacourt, and of no 
 great value, a very few good sword-blades, 
 and some curious powder-horns of bone, en- 
 graved quaintly and grotesquely enough ; there 
 were also some Turkish arms, and some thou- 
 sand stand of arms for modern warfare ; there 
 was also a rope cannon. 
 
 On Friday, the 1st December, we drove a 
 " Tagus" fellow-passenger, H General Mattan," 
 by the Quarantine harbour, along a fine road 
 that follows the coast by Sliema to the village 
 of St. Julian, a favourite change of residence 
 
1 2 WANDERINGS 
 
 for English families during the summer. The 
 country is so barren and destitute cf vegetation, 
 that one feels wonder at the trouble being taken 
 to move from Valetta. 
 
 On Saturday, the 2nd, I was introduced to 
 the Union Club : it is conducted upon a liberal 
 footing with respect to strangers ; they may be 
 introduced by any member for a week " gratis" ; 
 at the end of that time they are admitted for 
 a month longer, on payment of a sovereign ; 
 after that they must be balloted for, as mem- 
 bers. 
 
 The apartments are remarkably lofty, and the 
 ball-room is splendid. The building was for- 
 merly the " Auberge de Provence," " The Lan- 
 guages", or national divisions composing the 
 order of St. John of Malta, having given the 
 name of" Auberges" to their palaces. 
 
 Dr. Cesare Vassallo, the librarian of the 
 public library, conducted me over that institu- 
 tion ; he is an enthusiastic antiquary, and, in 
 going over the little museum which he has com- 
 menced, he made me remark the circular shape 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 13 
 
 of the indentations upon the altar found at 
 Gebel Keem, of the seated and crouching figures 
 that had also been found there; and pointed 
 out to me the half spheres which, when joined, 
 give the symbol of the " egg^ (the Phoenician 
 Venus) ; he wished to prove that all the articles 
 found in the temple had reference to this symbol 
 of the egg. 
 
 On Sunday, the 3rd, we attended divine 
 worship in the Protestant church of St. Paul. 
 It is a handsome building, laid out in seats, and 
 not in pews, holding a congregation of above 
 1500 persons. Till this church was erected, a 
 room in the palace and the clock-yard chapel 
 were alone devoted to our Protestant service. 
 It was founded by Queen Adelaide, who laid 
 the first stone on the 20th of March, 1839. She 
 nobly took upon herself the whole expense, and 
 expended £10,000 upon the building ; — one act 
 of munificence amongst the great number by 
 which the Queen Dowager's visit will be long 
 remembered at Malta. 
 
 In the afternoon we drove to Citta Vecchia, 
 
 c 
 
14 WANDERINGS 
 
 the Medina of the Saracens, and the " notabile" 
 
 ■» 
 of the Arragonese capital of the island previ- 
 ously to Valetta having been founded, in 1566, 
 by La Valette, a Provencal, the then grand 
 master. The road for some distance runs 
 parallel to, and at one point passes under, the 
 great aqueduct constructed by the grand master 
 Vignacourt, in 1635. It is carried over arches 
 and through tunnels for a distance of 16,885 
 yards. Citta Vecchia is about five miles from 
 Valetta. It has a melancholy deserted appear- 
 ance. Situated in the centre of the island, and 
 on very high ground, it commands an extensive 
 view. What with the very small stone enclo- 
 sures, and the numerous bleak-looking, and 
 deserted, villages, that are to be seen from it, 
 the face of the country gives the effect of one 
 vast and deserted city. The villages being de- 
 serted arises from the fact, that when a church 
 becomes too small for the population of its 
 village, building materials are so abundant and 
 cheap, that a new church is built on another 
 site, instead of the old one being enlarged. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 15 
 
 The position of the village then gradually 
 changes ; new houses being erected round the 
 church, and the old ones either pulled down or 
 deserted. Many instances of this change of 
 position have been mentioned to me. 
 
 There is much to be seen at Citta Vecchia. 
 On this occasion we visited a fine cathedral, said 
 to be built upon the site of the house of Publius, 
 who was the Roman governor during St. Paul's 
 stay in the island. 
 
 We then went to the celebrated catacombs 
 in the suburb of *W Rabbato. The priest who 
 conducted us over those which, either from 
 their size or from their being first discovered, 
 are distinguished by the natives under the 
 name of u the catacombs", gave us his theories 
 upon them. He considers them to have been 
 the early habitations of the islanders, and 
 shewed us what he conceives to be a chapel, 
 and what had been its altar, with two large 
 round platforms, which he presumes to have 
 been mills for the use of this subterraneous 
 town, this town being afterwards used as a 
 cemetery. 
 
16 WANDERINGS 
 
 These catacombs are of vast extent, with 
 tombs of all sizes cut into the soft limestone. 
 In each tomb was a place carved in the stone, 
 so shaped as to fit the head of the corpse ; and 
 two small niches were usually cut by the side, 
 above the body, to receive lamps. There were 
 single tombs for adults; single tombs for in- 
 fants ; double tombs ; family tombs for two 
 persons, with a small niche adjoining for the 
 tomb of an infant ; and a large line of tombs, 
 as if a party had agreed to be buried together ; 
 but almost invariably was there the place for 
 the head of the corpse, and the niches for the 
 lamps. There were several ventilators walled 
 up, and several passages, also blocked up : two 
 of these were stated to lead, one to Valetta, and 
 the other to Boschetto, a mile distant. They 
 were ordered to be closed, said the priest, 
 from the loss of life consequent upon persons 
 rambling without guides ; a schoolmaster and 
 his seven pupils having wandered into them, 
 and having never after been heard of. I no- 
 ticed faint traces of fresco painting in some of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 17 
 
 the passages : these my guide assured me had 
 faded even in his time, and were growing 
 fainter and more faint. I purchased from the 
 guide an urn of a pleasing shape, and of a clay 
 and fabrique precisely that of some fragments 
 of pottery which I picked up amongst the rub- 
 bish. I also purchased from him a small lamp, 
 and as I only gave one shilling and sixpence 
 for both these articles, the manufacturer, if 
 they were not genuine, would not make any 
 great sum by his skill in forgery. Dr. Cesare 
 Vassallo, in a note which he addressed to me 
 upon the subject of these catacombs, states, 
 " that they extend many miles around, and that 
 if we place any faith in local tradition, supported 
 by facts which have from time to time taken 
 place, — such, for instance, as animals having 
 wandered and found egress at some opening of 
 the distant rocks, — some of the galleries have 
 their issue in valleys five miles distant from the 
 chief entrance. 
 
 " It is for this reason that, in times not very 
 remote from our own, it has been found neces- 
 
 c2 
 
18 WANDERINGS 
 
 sary to restrict their extent by walling up more 
 than one passage ; and several of our husband- 
 men, in breaking up the soil, have found them- 
 selves plunged into small tombs, which evi- 
 dently formed a continuation of the catacombs. 
 
 " They go back to a period antecedent to the 
 Christian era, and are probably Roman ; the 
 same customs that prevailed in Rome prevailed 
 also in Malta, a Roman province. The primi- 
 tive Christians, and their immediate successors, 
 made use of the Roman sepulchres, adding to 
 them, perhaps, another story, to bury the 
 faithful apart from the Pagans ; for this reason 
 two stories are visible. 
 
 "With some expense and much patience a 
 third and lower story might be laid open, in 
 which bodies still lie undisturbed. Those circu- 
 lar platforms, rising two or three feet from the 
 ground, and about six feet in diameter, which 
 attracted your Lordship's attention, may have 
 served, I think, in Pagan times, for slaughtering 
 the black victims to the manes, and, in the days 
 of Christianity, for washing the corpses of the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 19 
 
 faithful. I am induced to believe this from the 
 projecting border round the platforms, and the 
 opening at the front of them to give passage to 
 the blood or water ; of these platforms no traces 
 are perceptible in any other catacombs hitherto 
 discovered, not even in those of Rome." 
 
 On the 4th we drove to Casal Crendi, seven 
 miles from Valetta. At a mile and a half from 
 Casal Crendi, at a place called Gebel Keem — 
 signifying, in Arabic, " the mountain of wor- 
 ship" — you come to the larger but most ruined 
 of two Phoenician temples. It is difficult to 
 trace the plan of the building ; it is almost two 
 parallel compressed rhomboids of unequal length, 
 divided into several apartments, leading one 
 into another, with a number of circular or oval 
 enclosures of a lesser size : the extreme area 
 measures 105 feet by 70 ; the outer wall ave- 
 rages ten feet in height, and is constructed of 
 one tier of huge stones, chiefly hewn and placed 
 vertically. Without this enclosure at the 
 southern extremity stand four colossal slabs, 
 from 14 to 20 feet in height, and covering aline 
 
20 WANDERINGS 
 
 of 27 feet by their united width. I measured 
 another huge stone employed in the building ; 
 it was 21 feet in length by 9 in height. The 
 principal entrance was from the south east, 
 opposite to which was one of smaller dimen- 
 sions ; and there were apparently one or two 
 more, but not very distinctly to be traced. 
 The first grand section of the building, on en- 
 tering from the south-east, is divided into three 
 almost equal parts by two corresponding parti- 
 tions, each containing a door-way connecting 
 the chambers together ; in the central division 
 is a carved stone placed upright between two 
 other stones, forming a cell, found filled with 
 animal bones ; and this stone is sculptured with 
 two serpents meeting at the lower part of an 
 egg. The rest of this sculptured stone, and 
 the two upright stones which support it, are 
 covered with small, round indentations. Close 
 to this cell is a beautiful small altar, with its 
 four sides grooved, each having the representa- 
 tion of a tree growing out of a vessel or pot. 
 The second grand section is connected with the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 21 
 
 first by an opening in the wall, which separates 
 them. The area to the right of the entrance 
 slopes slightly, till it reaches a row of circular 
 stone slabs, four feet high, gradually inclining 
 outwards towards the top, so forming a species 
 of basin with a narrow opening left in the cir- 
 cumference. 
 
 On either side of the wall to the left are two 
 rude cells, the roofs of which are each formed of 
 a single stone, and supported chiefly by the wall 
 over which they hang ; a passage from this 
 division leads into two other chambers, and is 
 flanked at the entrance by two altars of stone, 
 five feet high, and with a slightly depressed 
 surface. From one of these chambers were dug 
 a number of stone hemispheres, measuring five 
 inches in diameter, and an oval figure, twice 
 the size of a hen's egg. Whilst these ruins 
 were being excavated, a few human bones were 
 discovered, and one remarkable head, now pre- 
 served in the museum of the public library, — 
 it has a very low forehead. The eight small 
 headless figures, also at the library, were here 
 
22 WANDERINGS 
 
 disinterred ; they are in a sitting or crouching 
 position : six are in soft Maltese stone, and two 
 in well-glazed pottery : the part below the neck 
 of three of the figures is scooped out and per- 
 forated with holes, supposed to be for strings to 
 fasten heads upon them at pleasure. 
 
 At the distance of about a quarter of a mile, 
 at a place called Minaidra, is the smaller temple, 
 which our laquais -de-place, to save himself 
 the trouble of a scrambling walk, in vain en- 
 deavoured to dissuade us from visiting. It is 
 a most beautiful sort of " chapel of ease" to the 
 larger one : it is placed in a commanding posi- 
 tion, near the sea, and the walls are as fresh 
 and as perfect (but with few exceptions) as 
 when they were erected. Here you are struck 
 by the circular shape of the apartments ; the 
 beautiful manner in which the architect rounded 
 the circles in huge and often unwrought stones, 
 fills you with admiration. There are many 
 small cells, in which skeletons are said to have 
 been discovered. 
 
 This temple is a gem of architectural skill ; 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 23 
 
 and every antiquary must dread lest it should 
 suffer desecration. We afterwards drove to 
 Macluba, a circular well-like hollow in a stratum 
 of rock. It is 100 feet in depth, and 90 yards 
 in diameter. It is stated to have been formed 
 by an earthquake ; the descent into it is wild 
 and picturesque, by rude stone steps ; the 
 bottom is of the richest mould, and forms a 
 valuable garden, filled with plants and trees. 
 The soil is said to be so deep as to have " no 
 soundings", to use a nautical term. 
 
 On the 5th, I visited Citta Vecchia with 
 Dr. Cesare Vassallo. We entered the celebrated 
 grotto of St. Paul : it contains a fine statue of 
 the apostle, by a scholar of Bernini, and has a 
 church built over it ; tradition calls it the resi- 
 dence of the apostle whilst on a visit to Publius, 
 but it is supposed to have been the spot selected 
 by him for the worship of the early Christian 
 converts, and for his own preaching. The cave 
 is said to have the miraculous property of 
 not increasing in size, although the soft stone 
 of which it is formed is constantly scraped 
 
24 WANDERINGS 
 
 away by the peasantry, as a specific for various 
 
 We then descended into the principal cata- 
 combs. I advanced to more distant points than 
 at my former visit, — to passages not generally 
 visited, but which presented no new feature. 
 Remarking a slab of stone under my feet, I had 
 the loose earth and rubble scraped from its side, 
 and found it to be the covering of an undisco- 
 vered and undisturbed tomb ; giving the idea 
 of still greater size to these catacombs, from the 
 probability of another layer of tombs existing 
 under those till now discovered, — precisely as 
 Dr. Vassallo suggested in his note to me. 
 
 I also met with another of those remarkable 
 raised platforms of circular shape. 
 
 I then visited another catacomb, in the garden 
 of Ta l'Abatia, close to Citta Vecchia. The 
 tombs are supposed to be exclusively Christian. 
 They are much more regularly placed than in 
 the catacombs we first visited, and many have 
 ornaments channeled in the stone. I remarked 
 one with an ornament (fig. 1) carved over the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 25 
 
 side of the tomb ; another had the covering, or 
 vault of the tomb, carved like fig. 2. Just at 
 
 (5^ 
 
 the entrance of this catacomb, is a chamber, cut 
 in the rock, for a chapel. It has a painting in 
 fresco, upon a very thick coat of plaister, repre - 
 senting the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and 
 St. John, and gives the appropriate motto, — 
 " Viktor mortis" ; and another, with the angel 
 Gabriel saluting the kneeling Mary, with the 
 motto, — " Mater Dei 11 . Father Marchi, the 
 Americus Vesputius of the Roman catacombs, 
 thinks this painting to be of the seventh cen- 
 tury ; and, indeed, before that time, no mystery 
 of the Passion appears to have been attempted 
 by Christian artists. I could not descend into 
 another in the same garden, which is entered 
 by a well, — no ladder being at hand for that 
 purpose ; but it is said to contain some curious 
 early Christian frescoes, representing the Chris- 
 tian symbols of the Dove, the Rabbit, and the 
 
26 WANDERINGS 
 
 Fish. I thence went to the catacombs under 
 the church of St. Cataldo. They are of small 
 extent : the tombs are regularly placed, but 
 without ornaments. I there noticed a peculiar 
 feature which I had not remarked in the other 
 catacombs : upright niches cut in the stone, as 
 if to enclose a human being, giving the idea of 
 the niches used for the fearful punishment of 
 the " In pace", by monastic discipline. 
 
 These catacombs are imagined to have be- 
 longed to some Roman family numerous in its 
 branches (gens), who wished to have a separate 
 place of interment. These small catacombs are 
 numerous both in Malta and Gozo. 
 
 Before leaving Citta Vecchia, I visited the 
 curious crypt of St. Agatha. The walls have 
 been richly decorated with frescoes of sacred 
 subjects, in the Byzantine style ; but, alas, they 
 are fast disappearing by the action of the air. 
 There are, however, many traces of their former 
 richness and beauty. 
 
 In the evening we went to the Opera. It was 
 the Lombardi. The orchestra was remarkably 
 good; and though there were no very good 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 27 
 
 singers, it was what the French might call pro- 
 prement donne. It is a pretty, small theatre. 
 
 On the 6th, our English maid thought herself 
 desperately ill. In vain the English medical 
 man whom 1 sent for, represented to her that 
 there was nothing the matter but what a little 
 aperient medicine would remove. Dying she 
 was, and dying she would remain ; fortunately, 
 by desiring her to remain in bed, she got bored, 
 and declared herself recovering. 
 
 The gaieties of Malta now began to open 
 upon us. General Ellice sent us an invitation 
 to dinner. On this evening there was a concert ; 
 and we were also invited to two balls. My 
 health did not allow me to accept any of these 
 invitations. I traced out an old Jew in the 
 Strada Levante, who owned some coins. He 
 had only a few large brass, and a drawer of 
 denarii. They were in wretched condition ; and 
 he asked more than thrice the price for which I 
 could have purchased them from any London 
 dealer. 
 
 Tired of driving along the same dusty roads, 
 
28 WANDERINGS 
 
 we next rowed about the harbour. Fort St. 
 Elmo, with fort Bicasoli on the opposite shore, 
 command the entrance of the grand harbour. 
 In 1 807, the latter fort was the scene of a des- 
 perate mutiny. Our government had made a 
 bargain with a foreign nobleman for a regiment 
 to be raised in the Levant for the Mediterra- 
 nean service. He raised a number of men, who 
 were enrolled under the name of Froberg's regi- 
 ment. They were stationed in Fort Ricasoli. 
 Disgusted by the severity with which they were 
 treated by their officers, who were principally 
 Germans, and disappointed by the failure of the 
 hopes which had induced them to enlist, they 
 broke into open mutiny upon an officer striking 
 a drummer across the face with a cane. Killing 
 some of their officers, they bade defiance to the 
 garrison of Valetta. 
 
 An English artillery officer, and some of his 
 men, retained prisoners by them, were com- 
 pelled to assist in their defence. Scarcity of 
 provisions, and quarrels amongst themselves, 
 caused the largest portion of the mutineers to 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 29 
 
 quit the fort, leaving about one hundred and 
 fifty of their companions firm in their mutiny. 
 A naval officer, Captain Collins, volunteered to 
 take the fort, and succeeded in storming it by 
 night, securing all the mutineers, with the ex- 
 ception of six, who took possession of the pow- 
 der magazine, and protested they would blow it 
 up if the stormers persevered in their endea- 
 vours to seize them. Of those who were taken, 
 ten were hung, and fifteen shot, at Floriana. 
 Those shot were made to kneel upon their cof- 
 fins without being blindfolded; and after the 
 first discharge, several rose up and ran about 
 the plain, in vain endeavours to escape from 
 their fate. One managed to reach the bastions, 
 from which he threw himself, at a height of 
 one hundred and fifty feet. The soldiers, who 
 reached the spot, found him still alive, and had 
 to despatch him. The six remaining mutineers 
 held out five days without provisions, endea- 
 vouring to negotiate for pardon. On the sixth 
 day they threatened that, if assurances of par- 
 don were not given them, they would blow up 
 
 d2 
 
30 WANDERINGS 
 
 the fort at vespers. The threat was treated 
 with contempt ; but at the appointed hour, the 
 stones of the magazine were seen rising into the 
 air, and a loud explosion was heard. The whole 
 building was destroyed, with a part of the for- 
 tification, and considerable loss of life was occa- 
 sioned. Some time after, a priest, returning 
 home on a donkey from the direction of the fort^ 
 had a musket pointed at him by a man in the 
 Froberg uniform. In great alarm, the priest 
 made his escape; and on giving notice to the 
 police, they managed to discover the retreat of 
 the six mutineers, who had escaped the explo- 
 sion, and, weak and emaciated, could not offer 
 much resistance. They stated that they had 
 carried out a mine to the edge of the fortfiica- 
 tions, so that, after placing a train to the maga- 
 zine, they were enabled to make their escape 
 when they fired it. They had hoped that, hav- 
 ing escaped from the fort, they might fall in 
 with some vessel, and thus leave the island. 
 They were publicly executed. 
 
 We passed the following days in idling and 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. SI 
 
 sight-seeing. I ordered some specimens of the 
 carvings in the stone of the island, and Lady 
 Albert selected some of those beautiful silk mit- 
 tens made by Maltese ladies, who, with limited 
 incomes, are so sensible as not to waste their 
 time upon unproductive works. 
 
 The upper classes do not mix much in Eng- 
 lish society. They are not wealthy, and have 
 great self-respect. They are not altogether in- 
 different to the position and condition of their 
 island ; and indeed, of late, some Maltese, of all 
 classes, have endeavoured to recover certain 
 rights and privileges, which they claim as theirs 
 before the cession of the island to the knights of 
 St. John ; but Bulwer has said, and with some 
 truth, that " the people's voice is not heard 
 unless it speaks in thunder" ; and the Maltese, 
 having merely employed " the still small voice", 
 it has not been listened to. 
 
 We duly admired the beautiful building called 
 the Chiesa disecrata di Birchircara, rendered 
 touching by its forlorn and deserted appear- 
 ance. This church, which was too small for the 
 
32 WANDERINGS 
 
 village, has been allowed to fall to ruins, and 
 another, not to be compared to it for architec- 
 tural beauty, has been built at a little distance. 
 Our whole party, including the plump maid and 
 English valet, went to Monte Benjemma, distant 
 about three miles from Citta Vecchia : it com- 
 mands a fine view of Gozo. Its eastern side, 
 overhanging a wild mountain gorge, is honey- 
 combed by chambers of various sizes, in many 
 instances communicating with each other. In 
 the tombs, within these caves, niches were placed 
 for the heads of the bodies deposited, and niches 
 for lamps, as at the Citta Vecchia catacombs ; 
 and lamps are often found as fresh tombs are 
 opened. In vain, Dr. Vassallo, who was of the 
 party, endeavoured to argue me into his favour- 
 ite theory of their being the habitations of the 
 Troglodytae. Tombs they are, and for tombs 
 they were intended. Some of the entrances 
 were narrow, and easily to be closed by a very 
 large stone ; and I was forcibly struck with the 
 resemblance to the mode of sepulchre used for 
 our Lord, as described in the gospel according 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. S3 
 
 to St. Mark, 15th chapter, 45th verse, where it 
 is said that Joseph of Arimathea " laid him in 
 a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and 
 rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre." 
 And then in the 16th chapter, the 3rd, 4th, and 
 5th verses: "And they said amongst them- 
 selves, who shall roll us away the stone from 
 the door of the sepulchre ? And when they 
 looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, 
 for it was very great ; and entering into the 
 sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the 
 right side, clothed in a long white garment, and 
 they were affrighted. " 
 
 The wildness of the spot brought to my mind 
 the passage in the gospel according to St. Mark, 
 5th chapter, 5th verse, where it is said of the 
 man possessed with the unclean spirit, " that he 
 always, night and day, was in the mountains 
 and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself 
 with stones." Although this mountain is called 
 Benjemma, which, in Arabic, means " the son 
 of loveliness", the popular Maltese name for this 
 place is the City of the Jews, " Bliet il EuoV\ 
 
34 WANDERINGS 
 
 as if the Maltese had some idea of the resem- 
 blance between the ancient Hebrew mode of 
 interment and that used at Benjemma, and 
 which must have been Phoenician, copied from 
 the Hebrews, for the Jews themselves never 
 visited Malta. After passing some time amongst 
 these caves, whilst eating the luncheon that 
 we had brought with us, the cultivator of 
 the adjacent fields and gardens offered us some 
 honey that he had collected from his own bees ; 
 and however we may have differed respecting 
 the caves, we agreed that the honey was exqui- 
 site, and well worthy of having given the island 
 its name of Melita. It has a peculiar taste of 
 strongly-scented flowers. Benjemma has been 
 called the highest point in the island. This is 
 not correct. Ta Ghalia is the highest point of 
 Malta ; whilst Ta Tbiegi, in the island of Gozo, 
 is the highest land upon any of these islands. 
 
 Another day we inspected the colossal church 
 building at Musta, on the plan of the Pantheon 
 at Kome. The architect is M. Grognet. The 
 total height of the edifice, when finished, will 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 35 
 
 be 200 feet. The main body of the edifice 
 consists of a circle of about 200 feet in extreme 
 diameter: it has two projections, at opposite 
 sides; one, a portico of 125 feet long by 60 
 high, with a double row of columns, between 
 two bell towers : here are three entrance doors. 
 The other and opposite projection is ornamented 
 with pilasters, and contains sacristies or vestries, 
 with an upper story of rooms, for a certain 
 number of priests to be attached to the church. 
 The edifice surrounds a church already existing 
 upon the spot, which will be removed as soon 
 as the new one is completed. This building is 
 astonishing, when the slender means of those 
 who commenced and are finishing it are taken 
 into consideration. 
 
 The village of Musta contains about 6,000 
 inhabitants, almost all of the poorer classes; 
 and this splendid building arises from a native 
 of the village, a poor priest, Don Felice Calleja, 
 having celebrated his first mass in the Pantheon 
 at Borne. The thought then suddenly struck 
 him of raising a similar temple in his own native 
 
36 WANDERINGS 
 
 village. Upon his return to Malta and to 
 Musta, appointed parish priest, he laboured 
 hard in the accumulation of wealth, and laid by 
 money with the most scrupulous care. Unable 
 to carry out his darling plan in his life-time, he 
 left his property by will for the purpose of 
 erecting a round temple like the Pantheon. 
 Even after his death, the strongest opposition 
 arose to this building. The bishop, as well as 
 the general opinion in the island, opposed the 
 construction of a round temple, upon the plea 
 that round temples, though used for heathen 
 worship, are not adapted for that of Christians. 
 The bishop insisted upon a plan being adopted, 
 drawn by his own architect, and in the form of 
 a Greek cross. 
 
 The inhabitants of Musta were so pleased by 
 a plan presented to them by M. Grognet, that 
 they petitioned the governor. All objections 
 were overruled, and the first stone was laid 
 on May 30th, 1833. The funds left by the 
 parish priest, 30,000 scudi, being quite inade- 
 quate to the object in view, subscriptions were 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 37 
 
 raised, and labour being the principal expense, 
 the Church bestows indulgences upon those 
 who work there gratuitously on Sundays. From 
 two to three hundred volunteers have been seen 
 labouring there on the same day ; and the 
 church is thus progressing gradually, though 
 slowly, towards completion. I made acquaint- 
 ance with M. Grognet. He is far advanced in 
 years, and of eccentric appearance ; but he is 
 an enthusiastic lover of his profession, and 
 ardent in his wish to draw attention to the 
 antiquities of his island, and to the interesting 
 nature of the Maltese language. He put him- 
 self into a state of great excitement whilst 
 demonstrating to me that the island of Malta 
 was the real Tyre of Holy Writ ; and that this 
 was an incontrovertible fact, he could prove 
 geologically by the Maltese stone, as well as 
 by other arguments, of which I own I could 
 not see the force. He stated the Maltese lan- 
 guage to be Syro-Phcenician, and that an in- 
 scription upon a slab brought from Syria was 
 mere Maltese. 
 
38 WANDERINGS 
 
 Admiral Harvey took us over the splendid 
 new government buildings, erected for work- 
 shops, etc., and made us remark the new dock. 
 
 During all our expeditions the weather was 
 lovely, the heat of the sun intense. On the 
 10th I placed my thermometer at the open 
 window of the covered balcony ; the quicksilver 
 rose to 98, or blood heat, still the air was not 
 oppressive. It is said that November and Fe- 
 bruary are the most rainy months of the winter, 
 but that January. is generally fine; and indeed 
 the beauty of the nights during that month 
 have become a proverb. 
 
 I must here bear my testimony that I never 
 found the Maltese beggars to be so importunate 
 as they have been represented. Let the com- 
 plaining traveller visit poor Ireland, and he will 
 then experience the importunity of beggary, 
 when, alas ! it is urged on by starvation. 
 
 During my stay at Malta I had the opportu- 
 nity of inspecting two or three collections of 
 coins. Captain Graves, of the "Volage", has one 
 which must charm the eye of any person of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 39 
 
 taste, even though neither a numismatist nor 
 an antiquary : his coins are absolute gems of 
 Greek art, and the enthusiasm of a frank sailor 
 on subjects of this nature adds to the pleasure 
 of viewing them. He gave me a curious little 
 bronze figure, found in Crete, near Megalo 
 Castro : it is apparently a satirical figure of an 
 Ethiop, with his finger in his mouth : though 
 of rude, careless workmanship, the ease of the 
 attitude and the folds of the dress are most 
 artistic. Mr. Ross has a large collection o* 
 consular denarii in fine condition ; amongst his 
 other coins he has two fine specimens, with 
 satisfactorily clear reverses, of that very rare 
 coin of Malta, having on the obverse the head 
 of Hercules, and on the reverse what has been 
 so strongly disputed, whether it be meant to 
 represent a bell or some other object. Polio - 
 nius's whale is nothing to this vexata quwstio. 
 
 The casual visitor soon tires of Malta ; there 
 are but few rides and drives, and but a limited 
 number of sights. The situation of Valetta, 
 with its noble harbour, and Burmola, Serglea, 
 
40 WANDERINGS 
 
 and Vittoriosa, lying around it, is strikingly 
 beautiful: everything about this city is pic- 
 turesque or strange; some of its streets are 
 gradations of steps ; some form vistas, ended by 
 the sea, of houses in the soft white stone of the 
 island, with covered and over-hanging balconies ; 
 whilst figures, some with handsome but always 
 with picturesque features, form groups in strange 
 costumes, and converse in strange languages. — 
 All interests or commands admiration. Lovely 
 as is Yaletta by day, it is, if possible, still more 
 exquisitely beautiful at night, when the moon 
 shows some of the buildings and of the harbour 
 in a flood of light, but without the painful glare 
 of day, and leaves the imagination to work in 
 those portions that are thrown into shade, 
 whilst the sea, glittering in its beams, gives life 
 to the scene. Unlikely as it may appear, after 
 a time all this palls, and the traveller, unless he 
 finds the island to be still that of Calypso, and 
 is fascinated by the acquaintance that he may 
 have formed, longs to quit it. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 41 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Malta did not quite agree with me ; a hot sun, 
 whilst climbing the steep streets of Valetta, 
 was too much for an invalid. I also found 
 that the drives in the neighbourhood were few 
 and unattractive, so I made up my mind to try 
 Greece. 
 
 Athens, if there were any truth in classical 
 writing, was the very place for me. Euripides 
 has, in the Medea, described the Athenians " as 
 for ever delicately marching through pellucid 
 air." The classics also acquaint us with the 
 fashion in those days at Athens for invalids and 
 travellers alone to cover their heads ; and tell 
 us, that "any man wearing a cap would he 
 stared at'"'; proving to me that the sun could 
 
 E 2 
 
42 WANDERINGS 
 
 neither be very broiling, the air very cold, or 
 the ruin very heavy, unless the climate had 
 sadly changed since their time. Attracted by 
 these prospects of a fine climate, with plenty 
 of sight-seeing occupation, I secured berths for 
 the Peirseus by the French Government steamer 
 " Eurotas", running as packet-boat between 
 Marseilles and Constantinople, stopping at 
 various intermediate ports. 
 
 Though I had only passed sixteen days at 
 Malta, yet, on leaving the acquaintances I had 
 made there, I felt as if separating from old, old 
 friends. 
 
 Mr. Holton, the agent of the Peninsular and 
 Oriental Steam Navigation Company (who had 
 shown us every sort of attention whilst we 
 were at Malta), accompanied us on board the 
 " Eurotas", and would not leave us till the last 
 moment before sailing. 
 
 I had never been on board a French vessel, 
 and their habits of discipline amused me : each 
 individual appeared to give his opinion, when it 
 differed with that of those above him ; and the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 43 
 
 arguments that occasionally took place before 
 an order was executed were very comical. 
 Nothing could exceed the courtesy and kind- 
 ness of the officers, who were bearded like 
 "pards", and were literally " a tout crin", as 
 the French say of their horses. 
 
 By dark, on the 17 th, we were off Cape Gallo; 
 and on my going on deck on the 18th, we were 
 close under the Island of Hydra. It was 
 a lovely morning, and we had a clear view of 
 this little rocky cradle of liberty : it is only 
 eleven miles long by three broad, and apparently 
 so utterly barren that Mr. Waddington's sur- 
 prise was very natural. " What a spot you 
 have chosen for your country", he said to 
 Admiral Tombazi. " It was Liberty that 
 chose the spot, not we", was the reply. 
 
 Hydra was the birth-place of Miaulis, and 
 of several other Greek patriots, as well as of 
 Tombazi. 
 
 We coasted along the island of Egina ; but, 
 even with a glass, I could not make out any of 
 the ruins still existing upon it. In the dis- 
 
44 WANDERINGS 
 
 tance, the promontory of Sunium was distinctly 
 visible. We approached the Peiraeus ; and no 
 expectations formed of the exquisite beauty of 
 Athens can be disappointed, thus viewed from 
 the sea on a fine day, through the pellucid air of 
 Euripides, the Acropolis standing out in the 
 boldest relief; Hymettus and Lycabettus form- 
 ing a noble back-ground. The bay of Phalerum 
 was on the right, as we drew near the mouth 
 of the harbour ; and I could not help thinking 
 of Demosthenes walking on its beach and 
 haranguing the waves, preparing himself for 
 " his public speaking" to the vast audience 
 which he purposed addressing from the Bema. 
 
 There is a good harbour at the Peiraeus, and 
 a fair proportion of shipping ; but it is fortunate 
 that Hippodamus, of Miletus, who was distin- 
 guished fur having improved the mode of build- 
 ing in the Greek cities, cannot see the present 
 condition of that town, which he built by the 
 order of Themistocles : it is now like a wretched 
 small town in a remote part of Ireland. A host 
 of crazy carriages await the passengers who 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 45 
 
 land ; and it is highly ludicrous to see Greeks, 
 in the beautiful dress of their country, driving 
 these miserable vehicles, that some extraordinary 
 speculation has brought into Greece. 
 
 We landed on St. Nicholas' day. He is evi- 
 dently a popular saint, as it was a general holi- 
 day. Numbers of the same equipages that met 
 us upon our landing were driving between the 
 Peirasus and Athens, filled with joyous passen- 
 gers, and clouding the very good road in dust. 
 Just at the entrance of the Peiraeus, you pass 
 the ruins of one of the three celebrated long 
 walls, built by Themistocles. They were of a 
 width that would permit two chariots to pass 
 on their summit. After a drive of five miles, 
 you reach Athens. Its present appearance is 
 not prepossessing. There is one long street, 
 that commences from the road to the Peirseus, 
 and leads up to the palace. This is intersected 
 by a church, which, though low, is highly pic- 
 turesque. Branching right and left from this 
 street, are a vast number of ill-paved, irregular 
 lanes. The best houses are in the neighbourhood 
 
46 WANDERINGS 
 
 of the palace ; but they are scattered and uncon- 
 nected : and this part of Athens made me think 
 of a box of toy houses carelessly set up by a 
 child. The bye lanes are disgustingly dirty ; 
 and indeed, we always found that with the 
 exception of the Acropolis, the filth surrounding 
 the various localities of interest rendered caution 
 in approaching them absolutely necessary. 
 
 We had some difficulty in escaping from the 
 landlord of the Hotel d' Angleterre, who, though 
 his house was full, was not content, but endea- 
 voured to detain us in an unfurnished apartment 
 in an adjoining building. He almost cried when 
 we proceeded to lodge at the Hotel de l'Orient. 
 
 Having letters of credit and of introduction 
 to M. Notara, a Greek merchant, that gentleman 
 called upon us on the morning following our 
 arrival, and, as we found difficulty in obtaining 
 lodgings, rented me the upper story : t>f his own 
 house. 
 
 I was very fortunate in engaging Dimitri 
 Pomonis, the very best valet-de-place and tra- 
 velling servant that I ever had in my service. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 47 
 
 He appears full of zeal for his temporary mas- 
 ter's interest, and has the tact merely to draw 
 his attention to the objects worthy of notice ; 
 then leaves him to his own stores of information, 
 or to Murray's Hand-book. 
 
 We made acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hill. He is an American, and a Philhellene who 
 has rendered Greece far the most important ser- 
 vices of any of her friends. Since the year 1830 
 he has devoted himself to Greece. Possessing 
 judgment and perseverance, as well as enthu- 
 siasm in her cause, he has been fitting her for 
 liberty and power by educating her children. 
 The beneficial working of his system of educa- 
 tion is now beginning to tell ; and his scholars 
 are fitted to teach, and are teaching in their own 
 localities. One thousand children used at one 
 time to receive the blessings of education ; but 
 lately that number has been reduced to five 
 hundred, on account of Mrs. Hill's delicate 
 health. Besides being a thoroughly pious cler- 
 gyman, Mr. Hill is a most agreeable and well- 
 informed man. In spite of his remark to me, 
 
48 WANDERINGS 
 
 that the wonders of the Acropolis, which every 
 traveller hurries to visit upon his arrival at 
 Athens, spoil him for her other beauties, we, 
 like the rest, hastened to the Acropolis, as soon 
 as I had secured Dimitri to act as guide to it. 
 
 Wordsworth states " that, in its best days 
 the Acropolis of Athens had four distinct cha- 
 racters. It was at once the fortress, the sacred 
 enclosure, the treasury, and the museum of art 
 of the Athenian nation. Thus a flat oblong 
 rock, the greatest length of which was a thou- 
 sand feet, and breadth five hundred, was made 
 the most interesting spot of ground on the face 
 of the heathen earth." 
 
 Though it has suffered in every possible man- 
 ner, its treasures pillaged, its works of art de- 
 faced or mutilated, portions of those mutilated 
 fragments being the boast and pride of foreign 
 museums, — though it has served as the mark of 
 batteries directed against it at no great range, 
 — the fire of these batteries being returned by 
 missiles formed from the marbles of its columns, 
 again and again suffering from its very strength, 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 49 
 
 by serving as magazines for powder, and that 
 powder ignited, blasting its beauties, — still there 
 it remains unrivalled, as a concentration of won- 
 ders in architecture and sculpture. Alas ! that 
 the ill-directed zeal of Athenians of the present 
 day should be disfiguring it more than the hands 
 or weapons of earlier barbarians. In searching 
 for inscriptions, or those statues and works of 
 art, that may be buried under the accumulated 
 rubbish of the whole Christian era, they tumble 
 all the mould and stuff cleaned away down the 
 sides of the rock, instead of carting it away, 
 and are actually changing the bold features of 
 the rock. In vain I have lifted my voice against 
 such Vandalism. I feel that it is useless. 
 
 From the Acropolis you can distinctly trace 
 many localities of interest mentioned by clas- 
 sical writers, as well as those monuments of 
 Athenian grandeur and art that are still in ex- 
 istence. My first visit being towards the even- 
 ing, I viewed the exquisite scenery that sur- 
 rounded me by the light of the setting sun. I 
 returned there at all hours, and each time 
 
 F 
 
50 WANDERINGS 
 
 fancied that the light of the moment was the 
 best suited to exhibit its beauty. 
 
 The Acropolis received its name of the Cecro- 
 pian rock from Cecrops, who may be considered 
 as the earliest king and legislator of the Athen- 
 ians, and was supposed to have been buried 
 under that southern portico of the Erechtheum, 
 supported by Caryatides, and called the Cecro- 
 pium. He was an Egyptian, and obtained his 
 position by marriage with a daughter of Actaeus. 
 He introduced amongst the Pelasgi, the earlier 
 inhabitants of Attica, the worship of Neith 
 (Adeyrj) or Minerva, although it was not till the 
 reign of Erechtheus that she became the tute- 
 lary deity of Attica, giving the inhabitants her 
 name in lieu of that of Cecropidge. Bacon 
 alludes to this when he mentions " the light air 
 which passed from more ancient people into the 
 flutes of the Grecians, and became modulated 
 into the many beautiful harmonies of their most 
 plastic and poetic religion." And it is remark- 
 able that the Athenians, when about the time 
 of Solon they first gave, upon that coinage of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 51 
 
 which they were so justly proud, the type of 
 the head of Minerva, represented rather an 
 Egyptian than a Grecian model. 
 
 The Acropolis is entered from the west, after 
 winding through a modern fortification, by a 
 gate, where permission has to be asked, and an 
 attendant is appointed. This preserves the 
 buildings within from further desecration than 
 they have already suffered. After passing this 
 barrier, at a sudden turn, you have the Pro- 
 pylasa before you. It was the most celebrated 
 of all the Athenian buildings ; so much so, that 
 when Epaminondas wished to inspire the The- 
 ban assembly, he cried : " Oh, men of Thebes, 
 you must uproot the propylaea of the Athenian 
 Acropolis, and plant them in front of the Cad- 
 moean citadel." It is, indeed, a noble pile of 
 pure white marble, simple as well as magnifi- 
 cent, as befitted what was purposed for a work 
 of defence to the citadel, as well as an orna- 
 mental structure. Commenced in the archon- 
 ship of Euthymenes, in the year before Christ 
 437, the architect, Mnesides, completed it in 
 
52 WANDERINGS 
 
 five years. It presents a front of six columns 
 and two wings, surmounted by a frieze. There 
 are four rows of these columns, then a barrier 
 of marble, running its whole height and width, 
 which supported the celebrated brazen gates of 
 entrance ; and then another row of six columns 
 on the inner side. On the right, it is disfigured 
 by a high tower, built in the middle ages. It 
 was approached by flights of marble steps, 
 extending the whole width, with an inclined 
 plane of marble in the centre, for chariots and 
 horses. On the right of the Propylsea, and so 
 close as to have even been fancied to belong to 
 it, is the little temple of Victory without 
 wings. This temple was erected on the spot 
 whence iEgeus precipitated himself, on seeing 
 the black sail on his son's ship. It is, by some, 
 supposed to have been dedicated to Victory 
 without wings, from the news of Theseus' 
 victory not having preceded him ; but there is 
 a tablet of marble, — though, alas ! it is but a 
 mutilated one, — lying in the temple, that tells 
 another story. It represents a Victory, of ex- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 53 
 
 quisite beauty and grace, untying her sandal ; 
 as if Victory, arrived at Athens, purposed to 
 unfit herself for wandering from it, by laying 
 aside her sandals as well as her wings. This 
 temple forms a sort of outwork, or bastion ; 
 and it shews what the resources of sculpture, in 
 the days of Pericles, must have been, when that 
 exquisite slab was only one of a series that 
 formed a parapet round the temple for the pro- 
 tection of the archers who defended it. 
 
 The Acropolis contained three principal sta- 
 tues of Minerva, besides numberless others of 
 less repute. The first was in bronze, and armed, 
 the work of Phidias, and called " Minerva Pro- 
 machus' p : it was so colossal that the point of 
 its spear and the crest of its helmet were de- 
 scribed as being visible above the Parthenon 
 by mariners when they had rounded Sunium. 
 The next was Minerva Parthenos, or the Virgin 
 Goddess, whose temple was the Parthenon : her 
 statue, in ivory and gold, was also the work of 
 Phidias. On passing through the Propykea 
 that temple is before you, a little to your right ; 
 
 f2 
 
54 WANDERINGS 
 
 it was erected by Pericles, to replace that more 
 ancient temple destroyed by the Persians, and 
 which stood upon the site of the present 
 Erechtheum. Tetinus and Calistratus being 
 the architects, it was adorned by Phidias and 
 his scholars, and its frieze represented the pro- 
 cession to the Parthenon on the great quin- 
 quennial festival of the Panathensea. In this 
 temple was the treasury of Athens. Near it, 
 and to the left, stands the Erechtheum, the 
 temple of the third Minerva, called * Minerva 
 Polias"; it contained her statue in olive wood, 
 said to have descended from heaven ; before her 
 burned, night and day, the sacred golden lamp, 
 the work of Calimachus, that architect who first 
 formed the Corinthian capital, — it was only fed 
 with oil once a year. To her was brought the 
 sacred peplos in the Panathenaic festival, — that 
 peplos, such a matter of dispute whether it 
 were meant for her garment or to be a curtain 
 to hang before her. Another chamber in this 
 temple contained the salt spring produced by 
 Nepture with a stroke of his trident, in his con- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 55 
 
 test with Minerva for the guardianship of 
 Attica. The sacred olive tree, produced by 
 Minerva in the same contest, also grew here ; 
 and some trophies specially valued by the 
 Athenians, were here preserved. The Erech- 
 theum was commenced by Pericles, and finished 
 thirty years after his decease : it is supposed to 
 stand upon the site of that ancient temple of 
 Minerva burnt by the Persians. Erechtheus 
 was buried beneath it, whence its name; and 
 Cecrops was also buried under its southern por- 
 tico, called the "Cecropium", and supported 
 by Caryatides : they are represented as virgins, 
 arrayed in their Panathenaic costume. 
 
 I especially remarked in the Acropolis that, 
 at the period when the Greeks had attained the 
 highest perfection in the fine arts, they care- 
 fully avoided straight lines : all the lines in the 
 Parthenon are curved, and you are brought up 
 to it from the Propylsea by a curved chariot- 
 way of marble. I have heard that the rules 
 which they followed in these curves have not 
 yet been defined. The effect produced is, that 
 
56 WANDERINGS 
 
 the Parthenon deceives the eye as to its real 
 size, and appears larger than the reality : in 
 contradistinction to this rule I may here state, 
 that the remaining columns of the temple of 
 Jupiter Olympus, in the plain, are straight, 
 that temple being of a later epoch ; there the 
 eye leads you to imagine that they are smaller 
 than the reality, and on approaching them you 
 are astounded to find them six feet in diameter, 
 and lofty in proportion. 
 
 The principal objects of classical interest now 
 remaining, and forming a part of the Acropolis, 
 but below the main platform, are — the Cave 
 sacred to Pan and Apollo ; Apollo had first pos- 
 session, — Pan having been given his share for 
 services rendered at the battle of Marathon : 
 a well that was named the Spring of Clepsydra, 
 from a supposed subterraneous communication 
 with Phalerum, is adjacent to it : — the Cave of 
 Agraulus, where the young soldiers of Athens 
 took the military oath ; thus named after 
 Agraulus, who precipitated herself from the 
 Acropolis as a sacrifice to save her country : its 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 57 
 
 subterraneous communication with the Erech- 
 theum has lately been discovered. The Temple 
 of Bacchus is a cave converted by Thrasylus 
 into a small temple; it is marked by two 
 columns that stand above it with triangular 
 capitals to support tripods. Just at the foot 
 of the Acropolis, to the south-east, is the site 
 of the theatre ; it was formed by seats scooped 
 in the rock, and is mentioned as having been 
 the most magnificent in the world : Plato states 
 that more than 30,000 persons have been assem- 
 bled there, but the correctness of this statement 
 is doubted. These, as far as I can remember, 
 are the principal objects actually forming a part 
 of the Acropolis. On my first visit we had 
 a proof that Minerva no longer held her former 
 sway there, for we actually saw a crow, — it flew 
 before us, and lighted upon the Parthenon. 
 
 Minerva had forbidden the crow ever to 
 enter the Acropolis ; for having met her on her 
 return from Pallene with Mount Lycabettus, 
 the present Mount St. George, which she was 
 bringing as an outwork for the Acropolis, and 
 
58 WANDERINGS 
 
 giving her the bad news of the birth of Erich- 
 thonius, Minerva, startled at this intelligence, 
 dropped her burthen where it still remains. 
 This myth arose from the crows, which are seen 
 flying about the rock of the Acropolis, seldom 
 soaring to the summit. 
 
 We had passed two days at Athens, when 
 the weather changed to what would, in Eng- 
 land, have been very severe weather for March : 
 the wind was dreadfully cold, and occasionally 
 a little sleet fell ; the mountains round were 
 capped with snow ; there was even some little 
 attempt at frost, but it was a failure. Dimitri, 
 as well as all those with whom I had made 
 acquaintance at Athens, thought it necessary 
 to apologize for their weather; and assured me 
 that it could not last, that such cold had not 
 been known since the year 1832, etc. No wood 
 is burned but olive wood. It is said that all 
 the olive trees of Attica were originally propa- 
 gated from the olive tree in the Erechtheum : 
 hence they were sacred. Whilst the cold 
 weather lasted, I must have made sad havoc in 
 the sacred groves. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 59 
 
 On one bitter day, I took courage and went 
 to the Chamber of Representatives. It is a 
 small, paltry, octagonal building, with dirty 
 red and white fluted linen hangings. It was 
 the ball room attached to the King's temporary 
 residence before he moved into the present 
 palace. Benches for the members slope towards 
 the President's tribune ; around, there are 
 galleries for the court, for the diplomatic body, 
 and for the public. The members themselves, 
 some in dirty Greek, others in shabby European 
 dresses, were as careless about their persons as 
 even the members of our own House of Com- 
 mons. The business was generally carried on 
 by conversational remarks; sometimes by a 
 speech; but there was no warmth of discus- 
 sion. The President was provided with a 
 hand-bell. The elections are conducted upon 
 a system of universal suffrage ; but the King 
 manages completely to pack the house. I will 
 give, as one instance, the case of my friend, 
 M. Boudouris, a Hydriote, and an opposition 
 member. He became a marked man. Three 
 
60 WANDERINGS 
 
 times was his election invalidated, and twice 
 was he reelected. Hydra was then kept without 
 a representative, till, in despair, it consented to 
 return one that would agree to all the govern- 
 ment measures. I must here mention the very 
 marked unpopularity of the present King of 
 Greece. In no single instance have I heard 
 him well spoken of. His subjects consider him 
 to be a man totally indifferent to the historical 
 recollections of this, his adopted country ; and 
 who cares not for its condition, so that it be 
 incapable of resisting his encroachments upon 
 its liberties. Those that do not like to speak 
 ill of him, are silent ; but none praise him. 
 
 The members of the representative body being 
 paid, so long as the king does not dissolve them 
 they are his very humble servants. No work 
 no pay being the system, they are only paid 
 during the session : they therefore contrive to 
 spin out the little business before them for 
 unconscionable periods. 
 
 The senate sits in a room in the same building. 
 This body is entirely nominated by the king. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 61 
 
 We attended divine service on Christmas 
 day at a pretty little church which Mr. Hill has 
 been the means of founding. The congregation 
 was very small. After service we went to the 
 Areopagus. This celebrated rock is under the 
 Acropolis ; and here the council of the Areopa- 
 gus met by night in the open air. We mounted 
 the rock by the same steps which the apostle 
 Paul ascended to address — not the tribunal, as 
 it has been supposed, for he was not actually 
 accused of any crime — but, those philosophers of 
 the Epicureans and Stoics- who had taken him 
 to the Areopagus, as to a convenient locality for 
 hearing what he had to say for himself. From 
 the spot where he stood, a great part of Athens, 
 and especially the bazaar and Eolus-street are 
 in view. These are the site of the Agora 
 (translated market in the New Testament) of 
 St. Paul's time ; and still called Agora by the 
 Greeks of the present day. The streets and 
 lanes of that quarter of the town are as noisy, 
 and evidently as gossiping as when St. Paul 
 visited them. You see little knots of " Athe- 
 
 G 
 
02 WANDERINGS 
 
 nians and strangers" at the doors of the coffee 
 houses and in the streets, who appear " to spend 
 their time in nothing else but either to tell or 
 to hear of some new thing."* 
 
 We learn that the Agora was divided into 
 markets, streets, and porticoes, which, in gene- 
 ral, took their names from the objects sold in 
 them. Of those manifold articles of trade, the 
 most curious to persons of the present day, was 
 the sale in the "«c rd fXEfficovia", or the place 
 where asses' flesh was sold. M. Pittaky, the 
 government conservator of antiquities, who has 
 often accompanied me in my walks, insists that 
 the porch known as the entrance to the Agora, 
 and which consists of four Doric columns sup- 
 porting a pediment with an inscription, was, in 
 reality, the entrance to the temple of Minerva 
 Archegetis. This is stoutly disputed by other 
 archaeologists. The pillar just within the porch, 
 known as the market tariff of Hadrian, he 
 
 * Mr. Hill tells me, that the first conversational remark 
 of an Athenian of the present day, would be : " Is there 
 any thing newer ?" 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 63 
 
 affirms, stood within the temple, that being the 
 usual place where the public documents were 
 preserved. This pillar has been hastily called 
 the Market Tariff; but the inscription, when 
 read through, states the terms upon which the 
 growth of certain articles upon the forfeited 
 estates of one Hipparchus, might be farmed. 
 Not far from this, are two marble measures, 
 with traces of a third, that has been broken. 
 They were the standard measures for the mar- 
 ket. At a very little distance from these 
 remains, at the top of Eolus-street, is the cele- 
 brated Tower of the Winds, or the Water Clock 
 of Andronicus Cyrrhestes. The form of the 
 building is octagonal, and each side faces one 
 of the eight points into which the Athenian 
 compass was divided. Upon each, the name of 
 the wind blowing from that quarter is inscribed, 
 and its ideal form sculptured. The top was 
 surmounted by a bronze triton, with a wand 
 acting as a vane ; the whole building was thus 
 one large weather-cock. Below these sculptured 
 winds were sun-dials, and the meridian is now 
 
64 WANDERINGS 
 
 as correctly pointed by one of them as on the 
 day on which the tower was erected. In the 
 interior of the tower was a water clock, sup- 
 plied by water brought by a small aqueduct 
 from a spring just under the cave sacred to 
 Pan. The regular flow of the water acted 
 upon a bronze triton that, with a rod, pointed 
 to the hour. 
 
 Dimitri, longing to persuade us to some expe- 
 dition from Athens, whence profits of every 
 kind might accrue to himself, tempted us to 
 his house, to see his travelling apparatus, can- 
 teen, portable bedsteads, etc. ; he showed us 
 his horses, and boasted of his side-saddle. His 
 pretty little wife bustled about, and brought us 
 orange marmalade of her own making. He has 
 two children, of three or four years old, who 
 were ordered to kiss our hands. Madame 
 Dimitri pretended to be angry with her hus- 
 band for not having prepared her for our visit, 
 but could not conceal her delight, that the 
 neighbours in the unpaved, narrow lane, should 
 see a carriage at her door. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 65 
 
 Dimitri holds out to me hopes, that, whilst 
 travelling through the country, he will obtain 
 for me objects of antiquity which I may pur- 
 chase ; for this he finds to be a temptation 
 which will, at any time, lead me into the dirtiest 
 house of the dirtiest lane in Athens. 
 
 The law laid in Greece, with respect to ob- 
 jects of this nature, for the purpose of retaining 
 them in the country, is as follows : half of every 
 thing found belongs to the government, and 
 half to the proprietor of the soil. If of value, 
 it is priced, and the proprietor has it at his 
 option to receive his moiety of the value, and 
 to hand it over to the proper authorities, or to 
 retain it himself; but, in the latter case, he 
 must give security that he will not sell it, and 
 that it shall be secure from robbery, and shall 
 not suffer damage from fire. The exportation 
 of antiquities is absolutely forbidden. If the 
 individual who finds any thing, should give it 
 up to the government, he well knows that he 
 will never receive payment for it ; he therefore 
 uses every means in his power to conceal it till 
 
 G 2 
 
66 WANDERINGS 
 
 he can sell it to some foreigner, who bribes the 
 ill-paid custom-house officers to close their eyes 
 when it is exported. 
 
 Occasionally my friend, M. Pittaky, makes a 
 sad hawl of the vases, etc., of some unfortunate 
 collector too stingy to bribe effectually ; but in 
 my own case, I found no difficulty in sending 
 trunk upon trunk, filled with antiquities, out 
 of the country ; and the collection at the Acro- 
 polis, of vases, bronzes, etc., shows how very 
 seldom really valuable objects fall into the 
 hands of the government. The Greeks of the 
 present day are sharp enough where their own 
 interests are concerned, and make the mystery 
 to be observed in purchases of this nature, a 
 capital excuse for shewing a sepulchral tablet 
 or a statue, of very inferior art, in such a dimly 
 lighted place, that its defects cannot be seen. 
 Of all the articles that I have been shown for 
 sale, I have never seen one first-rate work of 
 art. I should have liked — and, indeed, endea- 
 voured — to obtain a most exquisite marble urn, 
 found by the King's butler whilst building his 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 67 
 
 house ; but, as bad luck would have it, the 
 authorities happened to hear of it. Gend'armes^ 
 headed by M. Pittaky, carried it off at once, 
 and by force, to the Temple of Theseus ; and 
 the butler was left to endeavour to recover it 
 by a tardy and tedious course of law. " Adhuc 
 sub judice lis est." 
 
 The natives of Athens must think the Eng- 
 lish deranged, whilst under the influence of 
 curiosity. M. Pittaky conducted us to trace 
 the Stoa of Hadrian. It was a square enclosure, 
 which contained a library, temples, etc. Part 
 of the walls, with half its gateway, and half its 
 facade, with seven noble marble columns, still 
 remain. The interior is now partly filled by a 
 barrack and its barrack-yard, partly by hovels 
 belonging to the bazaar, and other miserable 
 tenements. 
 
 M. Pittaky leading the way, we all, namely 
 Lady Albert, Dimitri, and myself, turned into an 
 open wine-stall filled with customers. They were 
 in utter astonishment at our entrance, having 
 probably never heard of the object of our search ; 
 
68 WANDERINGS 
 
 for even Dimitri, during the fifteen years that 
 he has acted as guide at Athens, had never 
 visited the place. M. Pittaky raised a trap-door 
 at the back of the shop ; customers, as well as 
 visitors, descended some crazy steps, crept along 
 a very filthy sort of cellar, — a receptacle for 
 dirt and rubbish, — and then issued into a small 
 sunken enclosure, also filled with rubbish. Into 
 this opened two small deserted chapels, one of 
 which was dedicated to the angel Gabriel, the 
 other to * Megali Panaghia", or the Great Vir- 
 gin. Fresco paintings, in the Byzantine style 
 of art, still appear upon the walls and upon the 
 roof; upon some marble columns remain por- 
 tions of painted stucco. These chapels, and 
 this yard, were part of the site of two temples, 
 the Pantheon and the Temple of Juno. Marble 
 columns are built into the wall around the 
 sunken enclosure. Hovels, belonging to the 
 bazaar, cover the roofs of these deserted chapels, 
 and prove how the accumulation of rubbish 
 must have raised the level of the soil. I know 
 not whether the archaeological information which 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 69 
 
 I carried away from this expedition, will re- 
 main impressed upon my mind ; but the bite of 
 those fleas, which I also carried off, never can 
 be forgotten. 
 
 We visited several times that often-described 
 and lovely little temple, called the Choragic 
 monument of Lysicrates. It is contrasted by 
 the crumbling modern tenements which are 
 scattered around. Every sort of abomination 
 must be waded through to view it. Six grace- 
 ful columns support a frieze beautifully sculp- 
 tured. This is the only temple left of a series 
 of twelve that formed a street, called the Street 
 of Tripods, from these temples having been sur- 
 mounted by the tripods gained by the Choragi 
 in the neighbouring theatre of Bacchus, and 
 here dedicated by them to that patron of dra- 
 matic representation. The popular name of this 
 temple being the f* Lantern of Diogenes", the 
 story given to explain it is, that this philosopher 
 retired to it as his study, and shaved half his 
 beard, that his eccentric appearance might pre- 
 clude him from showing himself in public. This 
 
70 WANDERINGS 
 
 little temple has been copied on the roof of a 
 chapel in London ; it has also been copied in 
 Scotland ; but, like all the other imitations of 
 Greek works of art, however correct in their 
 measurements, they fail in giving the effect of 
 the original. 
 
 The last day of the year fell upon a Sunday. 
 After service, I went to the temple of Theseus. 
 The conservator of antiquities accompanied me, 
 as he wished to point out some inscriptions and 
 monumental effigies, of peculiar interest, that 
 are kept there. The mass of objects of this 
 nature that are found at Athens puzzle him, 
 for he hardly knows where to place them for 
 temporary preservation. He flatters himself 
 that, at some future day, the destinies of Greece 
 may be ruled by one alive to the interests of 
 her monuments and works of art ; in the mean 
 while, he preserves them as well as he can, and 
 crams every available locality. He specially 
 called my attention to a number of large slabs 
 found at the Peiraeus, and covered with inscrip- 
 tions : they are the records of the armament of 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 71 
 
 certain vessels, furnished by individuals for the 
 service of the State : they contain a list of arti- 
 cles granted for their outfit from the public 
 stores, and state what were brought back and 
 delivered up on the return of the vessels. 
 
 A full-sized effigy of a Greek warrior, that 
 was found at Velanidheza, is as fresh as on the 
 day when it was sculptured : it gives the cor- 
 rect costume of Greece, and is an admirable 
 specimen of Grecian art at a very early period. 
 The artist has added to the effect of the sculp- 
 ture by paint, some of which has not yet disap- 
 peared. There are inscriptions at the feet of 
 the figure. Thus his name, "Aristion", is 
 known, and that the artist was Aristocles. 
 Were not the individuality thus proved, it 
 might readily be taken for an Egyptian war- 
 rior, as well as an Egyptian work of art. 
 
 Some of the monumental marbles preserved 
 at this temple are most touching, from the 
 pathos of the tales they tell of affecting separa- 
 tions between relations and friends. Scenes of 
 domestic life are given. In one, the dog be- 
 
72 WANDERINGS 
 
 longing to the dying man appears under his 
 bed, and an attendant is busied in the back- 
 ground, during his master's last interview with a 
 female, supposed to be his wife. Invariably some 
 poetic allusion to the deceased is introduced ; 
 thus, if the monument were that of a female, 
 she would perhaps be represented veiling her- 
 self, as if no longer to encounter the gaze of 
 human kind. 
 
 The numberless representations of this temple 
 that have been given, in models of every size 
 and of every material, have rendered it one of 
 the most universally known remains of anti- 
 quity. It will be remembered that only four 
 metopes on the southern, and four on the north- 
 ern side, are sculptured ; the remaining metopes 
 on those sides being destitute of ornament. M. 
 Pittaky suggested to me that this might arise 
 from their having been painted, — Micon, who 
 ornamented this temple, having been a painter, 
 as well as sculptor. The whole of this temple, 
 like the Parthenon, inclines inwards. This has 
 most materially added to the strength and dura- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 73 
 
 bility of their construction. Its lines, also, are 
 curved, like those of the Parthenon. 
 
 This day made me moralize upon the uncer- 
 tainty of all that has to do with this life, and 
 upon the folly of plans for the future. How 
 little, at the commencement of the year, did my 
 wife or I think that we should see its close in 
 Greece. It was a lesson, to cause us to reflect 
 that a longer journey might be at hand, and 
 that, before the close of another year, either or 
 both of us might be summoned to that far 
 country whence no traveller returns. 
 
74 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 On the 1st of January 1849, at ten o'clock, 
 Dimitri announced to us that the carriage which 
 he had ordered to take us to Eleusis, twelve 
 miles distant, was at the door; it attracted 
 much attention, as well it might, for its shabby- 
 finery really merited attentive examination ; — 
 it was evidently a worn-out state-carriage, its 
 light blue colour faded, and its rich silver 
 mountings fast changing into iron : — a tattered 
 Greek, in what had once been a splendid dress, 
 was to drive a team composed of a pair of greys 
 and a pair of bays; he had evidently wasted 
 no time in attempting to clean the old plated 
 harness. I suggested, from the first, that the 
 leaders should be attached behind the carriage, 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 75 
 
 and indeed all parties would have benefited 
 had my advice been followed; their eccentric 
 vagaries from side to side of the road, and their 
 attempts to turn from it at every available op- 
 portunity, produced a series of attacks upon our 
 own nervous systems, tried Dimitri's muscles, 
 who had perpetually to jump down to secure 
 them before mischief ensued, and stretched the 
 charioteering Greek's lungs with one incessant 
 roll of what, I presume, were Greek anathemas. 
 However, Dimitri was in raptures at the sensa- 
 tion we created whilst shouting, jolting, and 
 hitching our wheels along the streets and lanes 
 and round the corners, till we turned out of 
 Athens upon the very fine road that leads to 
 Eleusis; thence one branch is continued to 
 Megara, and another, that is not yet completed, 
 is to go to Thebes. This road follows the an- 
 cient sacred way ; the monuments and temples 
 that bordered it have disappeared ; it now passes 
 through a grove of most venerable and dingy 
 looking olive trees, crossing two branches of 
 the Cephissus; but their channels were dry, the 
 
76 WANDERINGS 
 
 water being diverted to irrigate the land. This 
 was the spot selected for one of the numerous 
 halts made by the sacred processions on their 
 way to Eleusis, and here the Athenian popu- 
 lace assembled to see them pass. They do not 
 appear to have treated either the procession or 
 those who formed it, with any great respect — 
 the more illustrious the individuals, the more 
 bitterly were they gibed ; in fact, it was a sort of 
 Derby day for the inhabitants of Athens, who 
 all turned out to see them pass. Issuing from the 
 olive grove, the road crosses a wild, barren 
 country and ascends to the pass of Daphne. 
 The monastery of that name is a curious build- 
 ing ; it is one of the earliest Christian edifices, 
 and well deserves a visit : marble columns and 
 slabs are built into the masonry: it stands upon 
 the site of the Temple of Apollo. The chapel 
 was gorgeously decorated with mosaic in the 
 Byzantine style of art; much of this mosaic 
 being gilded, it has suffered from Turkish rapa- 
 city, portions having been pulled down under 
 the flattering delusion that it was composed of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 77 
 
 gold. A few old women are now the only 
 tenants of this desecrated spot. 
 
 Dimitri produced a basket of human bones 
 with fragments of flesh still adhering ; these he 
 declared to be the bones " of one bishop, a bad 
 man, who had sold the place to the Turkeys": 
 it is believed that as a retribution for his per- 
 fidy, his dust is not allowed to return to dust. 
 In this defile are some very indistinct ruins, 
 and in one place niches cut in the rock for 
 votive offerings. 
 
 On descending from this pass into the Thria- 
 sian plain, the view gradually opens upon the 
 Bay of Eleusis. It is so land-locked that, in 
 despite of a breeze of wind, there was hardly a 
 curl upon the water ; and the little miniature 
 waves breaking upon the shore, would have 
 permitted the tiniest fairy-boat to have been 
 " beached " without danger. I thought this 
 view the most exquisite that I had ever seen ; 
 traces of the ancient sacred road are pointed 
 out, still visible upon the rocks at the foot of 
 the defile. The road passes those celebrated 
 
 h 2 
 
78 WANDERINGS 
 
 salt pools formed by the Rheiti, and on reach- 
 ing Eleusis skirts an aqueduct supposed to have 
 been built by Hadrian, to remedy the scarcity 
 of water which inconvenienced the inhabitants. 
 The beauty of the views during the drive, and 
 which are obtained from the Acropolis, render 
 an expedition to Eleusis most delightful; but 
 the ruins there are disappointing. The present 
 village is upon the site of the temple of Ceres, 
 and it is impossible to imagine a havock more 
 complete than has been made of its remains ; — 
 columns, friezes, and slabs are worked into 
 the various hovels and enclosures. One large 
 marble medallion, containing a Roman, but 
 headless, bust, is the only statuary that I saw ; 
 excepting two large female figures that had suf- 
 fered amputation of all their extremities, with 
 a few other fragments that are either preserved 
 in, or built into, the little mud chapel of St. 
 Zacharias. All traces of the temple of Tripto- 
 lemus and his threshing-floor have disappeared, 
 and the precise locality of the Rharian plain, 
 where corn was first planted, is a matter of dis- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 79 
 
 pute. A ruined fragment of masonry, part of 
 some medieval fortification on the high ground 
 near the Acropolis, is now the most prominent 
 feature of Eleusis. 
 
 The costumes worn are those of the Albanian 
 peasantry — white, embroidered with some dark 
 colour, and very picturesque. The head-dress 
 of the young women worn on festivals, proves 
 the inhabitants to be cautious in investing their 
 capital ; it is a sort of cloth helmet, or rather 
 skull-cap, covered with coins of the present day. 
 They all attempt to form one by their earnings 
 for their dowry ; when married, the coins com- 
 posing it are only spent in cases of the most 
 urgent necessity, for they wish to leave it to 
 their children. 
 
 The finest view of Athens is supposed to be 
 that obtained while descending from the pass of 
 Daphne, on the return from Eleusis. 
 
 The time now came for us to be presented at 
 court. The English are supposed to be very 
 unpopular there, — and no wonder ; that unfor- 
 tunate Greek loan is one perpetual source of 
 
80 WANDERINGS 
 
 dunning from the British government ; — and 
 the audience at court bears some resemblance 
 to an interview between a London tailor and 
 a customer deep in his books. The most 
 agreeable feature in the presentation, arises 
 from the little ceremony attending it. The 
 Queen received Lady Lyons and Lady Albert 
 early in the day, in their morning dresses, 
 her only attendant present being the Grande 
 Maitresse de la Cour. 
 
 In the evening, Sir Edmund Lyons and my- 
 self drove up to the palace. One solitary ser- 
 vant was in attendance, in a vast, dimly-lighted 
 hall. We had to find our own way up a large, 
 gloomy stair-case, into a long, lofty corridor. 
 This was also scantily lighted. Doors opened 
 into it on either side. Two servants were sta- 
 tioned there. We were shown into a room 
 where the grand maitre de la cour was waiting 
 to receive us. My powers of conversation were 
 placed " under a bushel", by his only speaking 
 his native Greek and Italian. In about five 
 minutes a side-door was opened, and we were 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 81 
 
 ushered into the presence of the king and queen, 
 the only persons in waiting being the grand 
 maitre and the grande maitresse de la cour. 
 The king talked to me first, and then to Sir 
 Edmund Lyons. The queen talked first to Sir 
 Edmund Lyons, and then to me. After an 
 audience of about ten minutes, we were bowed 
 out. The king is plain, with a slim figure. He 
 was dressed in an elaborately embroidered Greek 
 dress, of blue and silver. He charmed me 
 by talking to me of the British Archasological 
 Association, having, of course, been primed for 
 this by M. Prokesh d'Osten, the Austrian mi- 
 nister at this court, who is a member of our 
 Numismatic Society, or by M. Pittaky. He 
 was less fortunate with Sir Edmund Lyons, 
 whom he scandalized by not having read Louis 
 Napoleon's manifesto, a document which just 
 then was creating great public interest. 
 
 The queen is rather pretty, and a remark- 
 ably pleasing person : she is plump, and has 
 very good teeth. Her two passions are dancing 
 and gardening. The one she gratifies, when 
 
82 WANDERINGS 
 
 she cannot get up a ball, by dancing, almost 
 every night, in her own private circle ; she in- 
 dulges the other, by planting in the rear and to 
 the west of the palace, where, in time, she will 
 form a very pleasing garden out of a barren 
 spot. Poor woman, she little thinks the un- 
 popularity that she is laying up for herself by 
 this innocent pursuit. It is said that in the 
 summer water is scarce, and that she pours vast 
 quantities upon the palace garden, instead of 
 allowing the poor to benefit by it. 
 
 The palace itself is a huge, two-storied, white 
 building, measuring 300 feet by 280 : it has a 
 portico in front, and a colonnade in the rear. 
 These, with the window-frames, cornices, angles, 
 plinths, etc., are formed of Pentelic marble ; the 
 walls being of limestone, faced with cement. It 
 is undoubtedly an unsightly building. The win- 
 dow-frames are so flat and plain, as to give it 
 the appearance of a manufactory. In forming 
 the gardens, at the back of the palace, a mag- 
 nificent mosaic pavement was discovered, of a 
 very great size, and as fresh as on the day on 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 83 
 
 which it was laid down. The queen has had it 
 roofed for preservation. It represents vases, 
 birds, fish, masks, and fancy patterns, and is a 
 splendid specimen of the art. 
 
 The winter was severe for Greece ; but the 
 air so delightfully pure, that I each day felt 
 benefit from it, and my health gradually improv- 
 ing. On one charming, but bracing, day in 
 January, Lady Albert and myself amused our- 
 selves by finding our way to the Stadium, and 
 wandering about it without a guide. The Greeks 
 found intense excitement in their races ; and 
 chaplets of victory, with a profusion of flowers, 
 were showered by the spectators upon the vic- 
 tors. They afforded favourite, because popular, 
 similes to their writers. St. Paul felt that he 
 could not employ one that would be more 
 effective with the Corinthians ; and therefore, 
 in his first Epistle to them, 9th chapter, 24th, 
 25th, 26th verses, he says : " Know ye not 
 that they which run in a race, run all ; but one 
 receiveth the prize ? so run that ye may obtain. 
 And every man that striveth for the mastery, 
 
84 WANDERINGS 
 
 is temperate in all things. Now they do it to 
 obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incor- 
 ruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly ; 
 so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." 
 
 The Athenian stadium is at right angles with 
 the Ilissus. It measures 675 feet in length, by 
 130 in width ; open at one end, and rounded 
 into a semicircle at the other. It has been said 
 that this semicircular shape was to facilitate the 
 turning of the chariots in the race ; but this is 
 incorrect, for the chariot-races were held else- 
 where, — in the Hippodrome ; of which, the 
 locality is stoutly disputed, and, I believe, yet 
 undecided amongst archaeologists. The length 
 of the actual course was probably 609 feet ; 
 the two sides and the circular end were pro- 
 vided, by Herodius Atticus, with tiers of seats 
 in Pentelic marble, that would accommodate 
 40,000 persons ; the sloping heights were partly 
 natural, and partly artificial. On the eastern 
 side, near the semicircular extremity, is an 
 aperture, in masonry, that measures twelve feet 
 wide, by ten in height; — unusual, as well as 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 85 
 
 useless, for a Greek stadium, this is believed 
 to have been made when the stadium served as 
 an arena for the exhibition offered by Hadrian 
 of the slaughter of a thousand wild beasts. 
 There were various courses ; in one, those who 
 contended started from the open end and ran up 
 to the semicircular end ; in another, they started 
 at the same place, and returned by a parallel 
 line to a point rather to the east of the starting- 
 post ; in others, they continued as many circuits 
 as the particular course demanded. The ap- 
 proach from Athens was by a bridge of three 
 arches, built by Herodius Atticus. All is now 
 changed; the bed of the Ilissus is dry, the 
 bridge over it was pulled down in 1774 by a 
 Turkish governor for the materials, the marble 
 m seats have disappeared, and the grassy slopes 
 alone mark out the course ; but the view from 
 the ground above is beautiful, and it is a fine 
 wild country to ramble over. In vain we 
 searched on the banks of the Ilissus for a spe- 
 cimen of Plato's heliotrope, — not one plant could 
 we find. 
 
86 WANDERINGS 
 
 On another day, M. Pittaky conducted me 
 over the line of rocky heights to the west of the 
 town of Athens, commencing at the hill sur- 
 mounted by the monument of Philopappus, 
 called Museum hill, to that surmounted by the 
 modern observatory, called the hill of the 
 Nymphs ; in this line the prisons of Socrates, 
 and the Pnyx, are specially to be remarked. 
 Museum hill was thus named from the poet 
 Musaeus having been buried there ; subsequently 
 Philopappus, grandson of Antiochus, king of 
 Commagen, who was deposed and carried to 
 Rome by Vespasian, erected a semicircular 
 monument in white marble upon this spot. 
 Philopappus having attained to many high 
 dignities under Trajan, and having retired to 
 Athens, erected this monument in honour of his 
 benefactor, one of whose triumphs he com- 
 memorated in the lower compartment ; and in 
 the upper one, he placed in three niches the 
 statues of his grandfather, his father Epiphanes, 
 and himself. 
 
 M. Pittaky gave me pleasure by proving 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 87 
 
 satisfactorily that the chambers cut in the rock at 
 the base of this hill, and termed the prison of 
 Socrates, really were the Athenian dungeons 
 for condemned criminals; their position, as 
 well as arrangements, tally with descriptions of 
 classical writers. There are three chambers ; 
 in the inner one, domed and receiving light from 
 an aperture above, the condemned man was 
 confined ; it was entered by a ladder, let down 
 through the same aperture that admitted light; 
 in the chamber now opening into it, but which 
 formerly was separated from it, he drank the 
 hemlock juice; as this chamber gives a loud 
 reverberation to the voice, the expression of 
 Xantippe's grief may have been as noisy as has 
 been represented. In the third chamber, the 
 doomed man bathed ; on the outside are places 
 cut in the rock apparently to fix a roof, and 
 may have been intended for that of some build- 
 ing for the use of the Eleven and of those who 
 acted as gaolers. He next drew my attention 
 to the Pnyx, which is a little further on, upon 
 a rocky elevation. Wordsworth says, with re- 
 
88 WANDERINGS 
 
 spect to it : — " This was the place provided for 
 the public assemblies at Athens in its most 
 glorious times, and nearly such as it was then, 
 is it seen now. This Bema was the throne 
 from which the ' Olympian Pericles 1 fulmined 
 over Greece. The Athenian orator spoke from 
 a block of bare stone ; his audience sat before 
 him on a blank and open field." It has been 
 stated that this celebrated place of assembly for 
 the Athenian people originally gave a view of 
 the sea, and that the Thirty Tyrants had it 
 removed to another spot, whence the popular 
 orators would be deprived of this assistance to 
 their many facilities of working upon an excita- 
 ble audience. The locality when visited com- 
 pletely bears out this account ; the site of the 
 wilfully destroyed Bema of the more early Pnyx 
 is plainly to be traced, and the sea may be 
 viewed from it ; this view cannot be obtained 
 from the well-preserved rocky tribune from 
 which the orations of Demosthenes were deli- 
 vered. The later Pnyx is a semicircular area 
 of nearly twelve thousand square yards; the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 89 
 
 circular side is faced by large square stones; 
 the chord of the semicircle is cut in the rock ; 
 in the centre of this straight line stands the 
 Bema; this, as well as the steps by which it 
 was ascended, is also cut out of the rock; un- 
 derneath it are places in the rock to which were 
 fastened tablets inscribed with the laws, ready 
 to be referred to by scribes at hand for that 
 purpose ; to the right and left are niches for 
 statues and votive offerings. Large as is the 
 area of this place of assembly, the voice travels 
 from the Bema to its furthest extremity without 
 any very great exertion. 
 
 Below the observatory, at the foot of the 
 rock that was dedicated to the nymphs, is the 
 little church of Santa Marina. Sick children 
 are brought here by their parents, and, after 
 attending mass, part of their dress is left on the 
 adjacent rock. This chapel was the site of a 
 temple dedicated to Hercules, and here children 
 were also brought when sick, and, after sacri- 
 ficing, they left the garments in which they 
 came, quitting the place in fresh attire. 
 
 i2 
 
90 WANDERINGS 
 
 Below this, again, is a bath scooped in the 
 rock. Here the Grecian married women, who 
 were enceinte, after sacrificing to Diana, under 
 her attributes of Lucina, bathed, and then slid 
 down a smooth side of the rock, from a height 
 of several feet, thus to secure a favourable con- 
 finement. The rock, by its well-worn surface, 
 shows what faith the Grecian dames must have 
 had in this rite. 
 
 Two other localities must specially be no- 
 ticed in the vicinity of Athens. Two low hills, 
 to the north-west, are celebrated as the scene 
 of Sophocles 1 tragedy of "CEdipus at Colonus." 
 The village of Colonus, the birth-place of So- 
 phocles, was situated at the foot of these hills. 
 The larger of the two is now surmounted by a 
 white marble pillar, a monument erected to the 
 celebrated German antiquary Miiller: it was 
 called Colonus Hippius, and was sacred to Nep- 
 tune. To the west of these small hills is a 
 tract of ground still called the Academy. This 
 was the celebrated Gymnasium, planted by 
 Cimon with plane-trees, from their affording 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 91 
 
 great shade, and having a rapid growth. ' Plato 
 had a small property close to it, and resided 
 there, near a small temple dedicated to the 
 Muses. It is now valuable vegetable ground, 
 from lying low, and still affording those facili- 
 ties of irrigation which rendered its verdure so 
 luxuriant of old. 
 
92 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 We made our first attempt at travelling in 
 Greece on Monday the 8th of January. This 
 is now managed with great facility, and no 
 very great discomfort, by those who secure the 
 services of either Dimitri or Yani, the rival 
 travelling servants. These, as well as some 
 other men not so well provided with the appa- 
 ratus required, are engaged at the rate of a 
 pillar dollar per diem, for their own services, 
 whilst either stationary at Athens or travelling ; 
 they receive, in addition, one pound sterling 
 per head, for each member of the party with 
 which they travel. They provide a cook, with 
 his batterie de cuisine ; portable beds and bed- 
 ding, plenty of table linen, towels, etc. ; in short, 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 93 
 
 every thing that can be wanted or required, 
 except wine. This the travellers provide for 
 themselves. In almost every Greek village 
 there is a house rather superior to the rest, 
 which is a sort of coffee-house for the pea- 
 santry ; there they meet to gossip and talk 
 politics, for they are all great politicians. Wine 
 and rakie are sold ; and it has generally a loft 
 for the shelter of a chance traveller and his 
 baggage. Of this loft the servant takes posses- 
 sion ; or should the village be too wretched for 
 even this accommodation, he bribes a whole 
 family to turn out of their hovel for the night : 
 he then, with his assistants, gets to work, and 
 cleans it out ; beds, portable chairs, etc., are set 
 up ; and the cook gives a far better dinner than 
 is to be obtained at any but a first-rate conti- 
 nental hotel. Dimitri or Yani contrive, if pos- 
 sible, to detain the party sight-seeing on the 
 road, and thus, by hustling the cook off the 
 moment he has dressed a couple of made dishes 
 for breakfast, manage that dinner shall be 
 ready for the hungry travellers as soon as they 
 have dismounted from their horses. 
 
94 WANDERINGS 
 
 All my Athenian friends assured me, that at 
 this time the country was in a state so disor- 
 ganized, that if I were not escorted by gens- 
 d'armerie, I should inevitably be stopped, and not 
 only robbed of every thing with me, but that 
 Lady Albert and myself would very probably 
 be carried up into the mountains till a ransom 
 was sent from Athens. Even the Greek mer- 
 chants, to whom I had letters of introduction 
 from England, agreed that this was a matter of 
 the greatest probability, from the bands of rob- 
 bers, which the government is not sufficiently 
 strong to put down, and who laugh at the 
 rewards set upon their heads. I was allowed 
 three gensd'armes by the authorities; one of 
 these always acted as a vidette at some distance 
 ahead, whilst the others kept close to ourselves. 
 
 The first symptom of our intended journey 
 was the appearance of Dimitri, mounted, with 
 very short stirrups, on a clever grey barb, an 
 old musket upon the pommel of his saddle, and 
 his usually pure white petticoats concealed by 
 a pair of baggy trowsers and leggings, all in 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 95 
 
 one, of shabby blue camlet. He had a belt 
 stuck full of pistols ; but on examining them in 
 the evening, I found that not one was loaded. 
 For the first half hour after his appearance, he 
 amused himself by galloping about in every 
 direction, for no object beyond showing to the 
 rival, Yani, and his other competitors, his good 
 fortune in securing a travelling party at an 
 unlikely season. 
 
 The first individual "got under weigh' 1 was 
 the cook, perched upon the top of his pots and 
 pans, with a canteen, balanced by a provision 
 basket, large enough to supply the whole party 
 for four days. This was the burthen of a stout 
 and clever but a most dreadfully restive animal, 
 who kicked a return to the whip cuts and 
 shouts by which he was started ; whilst the un- 
 fortunate cook, so hampered up that he could 
 not dismount without assistance, roared for 
 mercy as if the stripes were lighting on his 
 own back. Next started two baggage horses 
 laden with portable bedsteads, bedding, and car- 
 pet bags ; these were led by two very filthy- 
 
96 WANDERINGS 
 
 looking Greeks. Whilst we were dressing and 
 breakfasting, our two English servants, who 
 were to remain at Athens, attended upon us 
 with the dejected, subdued demeanour of the 
 attendants of persons about to mount the scaf- 
 fold. M. Notara and his family all came to the 
 door to see us off. M. Boudouris rode part of 
 the way, leaving us in the afternoon. I rebelled 
 against Dimitri's suggestion, that we should 
 ride forth escorted by the gend'armes, and in- 
 sisted upon their meeting us a few miles from 
 the town. 
 
 We left Athens by a very fine carriage-road, 
 that only leads to the village of Patissia. We 
 turned off from it to the right, before reaching 
 the little German village of Heracly ; passed 
 through a plantation of olive trees, and under a 
 Roman aqueduct— left the monastery of Kalo- 
 grias on our left hand, rode through a country 
 of great wildness and beauty, under another 
 aqueduct, — passed a sort of public-house, at a 
 place called Psichico, — through the village of 
 Halandri, and came to a single pillar in the plain 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 97 
 
 called Stavro, or the cross. It has a Byzantine 
 inscription. Here the gensd'armes were waiting 
 for us. We then kept the range of Hymettus 
 near us on the right, and Pentelicus at a dis- 
 tance on our left ; rounding Hymettus, we came 
 to the small village of Leontari. Close to the 
 little church of St. Nicholas, lies the colossal 
 lion in white marble which has given its name 
 to the village ; though very greatly mutilated, 
 it still shews that it is of the highest style of 
 art. It is represented looking round to the left, 
 and rousing itself from its lair. The peasantry 
 call it the " monster'" — say that it had its den 
 in Hymettus, and was turned to stone by St. 
 John, the hunter, who has a chapel dedicated to 
 him, that is visible in the distance on Hymettus. 
 We then crossed a dreary country, with only a 
 few olive trees, till we reached the village of 
 Macropoulos, about twenty miles from Athens. 
 Here M. Boudouris and I left Lady Albert. 
 We rode about seven miles through a rocky 
 pass to Port Raphte ; M. Boudouris being 
 attracted there by a brig from Sutherland, that 
 
 K 
 
98 WANDERINGS 
 
 had been run ashore in a gale of wind whilst 
 on her way to Odessa, and had been bought by 
 some persons from Hydra, his own native 
 island — and I, attracted by the colossal statue 
 of Apollo, upon the island in the mouth of the 
 harbour that forms its principal shelter. The 
 statue's supposed resemblance to a tailor, gives 
 that name, in Greek, to the harbour : it was 
 described to me as being fifteen feet high. 
 
 On reaching the harbour we were both dis- 
 appointed ; the brig, which had been got off, was 
 anchored too far for hailing, and M. Boudouris 
 could not go on board ; and a heavy surf break- 
 ing over the landing-place on the island pre- 
 vented my attempting to visit it. This is 
 supposed to have been the site of the ancient 
 Prassise, and that the sacred processions to 
 Delos made this their place of embarcation. 
 
 We galloped back to Macropoulos. M. 
 Boudouris swallowed some luncheon as fast as 
 he could, jumped upon his horse, that had been 
 baiting whilst he had ridden to Port Raphte 
 upon a horse of Dimitri's, and started back as 
 hard as he could gallop for Athens. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 99 
 
 I found Lady Albert in a melancholy mood, 
 established in our quarters for the night ; our 
 two truckle-beds and a little table for our dinner, 
 with two chairs, were the furniture of a large 
 loft and granary, open by many cracks in the 
 tiles to the sky, — receiving light from the door 
 alone, and warmth from an earthen pan of coals, 
 which, by the way, gave me a dreadful head- 
 ache all night. A lighted lamp, swung in the 
 draughts of wind before a Byzantine Virgin 
 and Child, and holes pierced in the floor, gave 
 us the advantage of all the noises from below, 
 which were manifold, — our place of shelter 
 being the village coffee-house. Our discomfort 
 was soon remedied by an admirable dinner. 
 
 Unfortunately for us, the English crew of the 
 stranded and sold brig arrived at Macropoulos, 
 on their way to Athens. My infernal philan- 
 thropy induced me to give them some money : 
 as bad luck would have it, the landlord had 
 some rum, — my money instantly passed into his 
 hands. They began the night by singing ; as it 
 advanced they quarrelled ; a battle-royal ensued 
 
100 WANDERINGS 
 
 — Dimitri, landlord, landlord's wife, their inter- 
 preter, gensd'armes, cook, Dimitri's assistants — 
 all got entangled in the row which they had 
 interfered to quell. On the following morning 
 Dimitri, in piteous tones, gave us a most comical 
 account of the affray, in which he had been en- 
 gaged, solely, as he said, to prevent milord being 
 disturbed by the noise: — a good purpose, but in 
 which he most completely failed. 
 
 We had a most capital breakfast, and off we 
 started, leaving the baggage to take care of 
 itself. The road was good, and away we clat- 
 tered, across a fertile plain with a good many 
 tumuli. We left, on our right, an uninhabited 
 village, where the inhabitants of Macropoulos 
 establish themselves during the season for labour 
 in the field. We passed through Keratea, which 
 was to be our quarters for the night, within 
 sight of Mount Laurium, formerly celebrated 
 for its silver mines. Gradually we entered the 
 defiles between Mounts Tibari and Korora : in 
 many places were traces of an ancient road 
 worn by chariot wheels. There were vast 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 101 
 
 quantities of scoria strewed by the sides of the 
 paths ; they were from the worn-out silver 
 mines. 
 
 Wc came to a beautiful view, where the sea 
 opened upon us between the rocks ; and we 
 descended into the fertile valley of Thorico. 
 Close to the village of that name — which was 
 the ancient Thoricus — is Port Mandri. In the 
 valley there are the remains of a temple ; and 
 the ancient city walls are plainly to be traced, 
 with the theatre, let, as it were, into them. 
 Thorico is now a wretched village, only tenanted 
 by persons from Keratea, who bring there a few 
 articles for sale to the crews of vessels taking 
 shelter in Port Mandri. 
 
 The day was advancing, and we galloped on. 
 The road was strewed with scoria. Suddenly 
 Lady Albert reined up her horse, and declared 
 that if she rode any further, she would be un- 
 able to regain Keratea. What was to be done ? 
 Dimitri produced a pewter plate with some cold 
 meat, for her luncheon ; and I left her with the 
 gensd^armes, whilst Dimitri and I went on, by a 
 
 k 2 
 
102 WANDERINGS 
 
 beautiful mountain path, towards Sunium. We 
 
 saw many vestiges of Grecian masonry, and 
 
 some of Grecian edifices. A mutilated female 
 
 statue, with a slab bearing an inscription, were 
 
 by the side of the path. 
 
 We galloped on at risk of our necks, and, 
 A 
 turning a corner, the temple of Sunium was 
 
 before us, on an opposite hill, backed by the 
 sea, which shewed through the nine graceful 
 columns that stand in line. Sunium must have 
 been a strong fortification ; the descent to the 
 sea is precipitous on one side, and on the other 
 a very steep ascent is intersected by lines of 
 fine strong masonry. The melancholy beauty of 
 this deserted and lovely fragment of the Temple 
 of Minerva, has been often described ; it seemed 
 so lonely with no human being in sight, that it 
 struck me as resembling some proud beauty re- 
 tiring to mourn and to hide her grief from every 
 human eye. The wild note of some curlews, 
 feeding in a little marshy hollow on thfc inland 
 side, added to the effect of the scene. I dis- 
 turbed some partridges sunning themselves at 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 103 
 
 the foot of the columns. I had not the heart 
 
 to do more than to meditate for some time, and 
 
 was glad when Dimitri aroused me to press my 
 
 return ; we scrambled down the steep ascent, 
 
 got upon the horses, and I rode as hard as I 
 
 could, to drown melancholy thoughts. 
 
 Cape Colonna was the scene of Falconer's 
 
 shipwreck ; and he describes it as then wearing 
 
 a very different aspect from that under which I 
 
 viewed it. 
 
 " But now Athenian mountains they descry, 
 And o'er the surge, Colonna frowns on high ; 
 Beside the cape's projecting verge are plac'd 
 A range of columns, long by time defac'd. 
 First planted by devotion, to sustain, 
 In older times, Tritonia's sacred fane. 
 Foams the wild beach below, with madd'ning rage, 
 Where waves and rocks a dreadful combat wage." 
 
 We found Lady Albert by the side of a fire, 
 with two wild-looking figures, who had left 
 their flocks to converse with the gensd'armes. I 
 had begn absent about two hours. The time 
 had appeared long ; and she had fancied every 
 sort of mishap for us. 
 
104 WANDERINGS 
 
 After breathing our horses, we made the best 
 of our way back to Karatea. On approaching 
 it, Dimitri rode forward, and we found dinner 
 ready upon our arrival. We slept in the same 
 sort of place as on the preceding night, light 
 being only admitted through the door; the 
 walls were not quite weather-tight ; however, 
 wonderful to relate, there was a hearth-stone, 
 with a chimney over it, and the luxury of a fire 
 made up for any other discomfort. 
 
 On the following morning we again passed 
 through Macropoulos, and then crossed an un- 
 interesting plain, towards a very peculiar round 
 hill called Ettos. We passed it on our left 
 hand, and threaded some passes in those hills, 
 which run up to Mount Argaliki. These passes 
 have been disfigured by the practice of the 
 shepherds, of firing the woods, to encourage the 
 growth of the more tender shoots for their 
 flocks. Here we entered upon the plain of 
 Marathon. The commencement of this plain 
 abounds in lentisk and arbutus, with a little 
 fine timber. The first object that catches the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. J 05 
 
 eye is the large tumulus of the Athenians. It 
 is diminished by the scraping of persons anxious 
 to obtain, as relics, some of the arrow-heads 
 said to be found in great numbers. In vain 
 Lady Albert and myself searched, — not one 
 could we find. Dimitri, to comfort us, affirmed 
 that all the persons with whom he had travelled, 
 had been equally unsuccessful. The marshy 
 plain was unusually deep, and I had trouble to 
 reach a little island, surrounded by a streamlet, 
 and situated near the sea. There is a sheep- 
 fold upon it, and many sculptured fragments. 
 This is supposed to be the site of the Temple 
 of Minerva Hellotis. Many tumuli are scattered 
 about the marsh and plain : all appear to have 
 been opened. I observed fragments of marble 
 columns. These are now mere objects for anti- 
 quarian discussion. We remained on the plain 
 till dusk, in the vain hopes of seeing the bag- 
 gage, or the cook, in the distance. 
 
 Tired .of waiting, we made for the village of 
 Marathon, where Dimitri took possession of the 
 house belonging to the Dimark, or mayor. It 
 
106 WANDERINGS 
 
 was a miserable place. The evening was chilly, 
 and our feet had got soaked in the marshes. 
 The family amongst whom we had sought re- 
 fuge, consisted of two fine-looking brothers, 
 with their hideous and dirty wives, and swarms 
 of young children. The women and children 
 were cowering upon the ground round a hearth ; 
 the smoke from it had rendered the room black 
 and sooty as the chimney itself. Sitting up 
 would have been at the risk of suffocation ; we 
 therefore crouched down with the rest. The 
 poor children appeared too chilled to have much 
 curiosity about us, and merely stared with their 
 large, black eyes; whilst the youngest crept 
 whimpering close to their mothers. The la- 
 bourers employed by the Dimark came in and 
 had their suppers, consisting of bread, which 
 they dipped into some sort of porridge: they 
 eat it seated upon the ground, around a board 
 that was raised a few inches. At length our 
 belated luggage and dinner arrived, and we 
 were consigned to solitary grandeur and a pan 
 of coals in another room. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 107 
 
 Early on the next morning I visited the cave 
 of Pan, situated in a rugged mountain at the 
 back of the village. The outer chamber is 
 entered by merely stooping, but the interior 
 chambers, that are hung with stalactites, must 
 be reached by traversing a very wet passage 
 upon the hands and knees. They contain no 
 inscriptions. We found the skeleton of an 
 unfortunate goat upon a sort of natural altar ; 
 it had caught its hind feet in the crevice of a 
 rock, and died a miserable death by starvation. 
 Fragments of matting, left upon some of the 
 floors, showed that human beings had at some 
 period chosen this as a place of refuge. These 
 chambers are of considerable extent. A pea- 
 sant had guided us up to the spot, and entered 
 the cave with Dimitri and myself. We had 
 only two candles with us ; and as, whilst ex- 
 ploring, we felt misgivings of our own powers 
 of retracing our steps, we placed the guide, to 
 await our return, as a sort of human finger-post, 
 at an awkward turning. He had to be left in 
 the dark, and as he greatly disliked this arrange- 
 
108 WANDERINGS 
 
 ment, we could hear him, the whole time of our 
 absence, piteously bleating for our return. It 
 was from this cave that Pan was supposed to 
 have issued, to render his services at the battle 
 of Marathon. 
 
 Remounting our horses at the foot of the 
 mountain, we turned to the right, and passed 
 one of those medieval towers so common in 
 Greece. This ought to be a place of celebrity, 
 as the scene of the gallant defence of a few 
 Greeks, who held it against an overwhelming 
 Turkish force, till they were relieved by General 
 Church. 
 
 We soon came to Vrana, a deserted monas- 
 tery, picturesquely situated at the entrance of 
 a gorge, dividing Mounts Argaliki and Afor- 
 ismo. As usual, our vidette led the way far 
 ahead. I followed next, just keeping him in 
 sight ; then came Lady Albert ; Dimitri after 
 her ; the gensd'armes bringing up the rear. The 
 path became more and more difficult, and at 
 last so rugged, that the sheer precipice below 
 us made our nerves give way, and we all 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 109 
 
 scrambled up on foot, the horses making by far 
 the best fight of the ascent. It was now evi- 
 dent that we were too far to the left; but a 
 steep cliff hemmed us in on one side, and a pre- 
 cipice on the other, and we did not quite like 
 returning. A little further, a number of huge 
 dogs rushed forward and attacked our vidette, 
 who had to defend himself with his broad sword 
 from the ferocious brutes. A flock of goats 
 was under their care, but no human being 
 would appear. 
 
 After breathing our horses, we went on. 
 Some distance further, we came to a man who 
 was tending the bees by whose honey he gained 
 his livelihood. From him we learnt that we 
 had no alternative but to return to the monas- 
 tery, and thence start afresh. Dimitri, who is 
 not blest with a very good temper, poured forth 
 dreadful lamentations at his bad fortune in thus 
 unnecessarily tiring his horses. It was all in 
 vain. Return we must to the monastery. To 
 add to his despair, whilst he was still muttering 
 execrations, Lady Albert and I, thinking that 
 
 L 
 
1 10 WANDERINGS 
 
 our apparently quiet horses would follow us, 
 let go their bridles. Mine, far from following, 
 turned short round, and then attempted to 
 mount the rocky side of the path, that was 
 steep and slippery as the slated roof of a house. 
 Dimitri had only time to spring forward, when 
 the brute made a scramble, his legs flew from 
 under him, and down he came, plump upon his 
 side. I thought Dimitri would have died on 
 the spot. He was speechless for some moments ; 
 then vented his grief in a torrent of words. He 
 knew that something dreadful must happen to 
 the horse, for I had praised its surefootedness 
 in the morning ; and it appears that either 
 admiring or praising any thing in Greece, is 
 sure to bring misfortune to the object praised, 
 unless at the time a short formula is repeated 
 to avert the evil omen. However, the horse 
 escaped without much damage. 
 
 We returned to the monastery at Vrana, and 
 thence wound our way by the side of Mount 
 Aforismo, our former path having entangled us 
 in Mount Argaliki. The scenery was lovely : a 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. Ill 
 
 torrent was below us, and the side of the moun- 
 tain thickly planted with evergreen shrubs, 
 festooned with creepers. Nothing could be 
 more picturesque than the effect produced by 
 our party, thus winding our way, with the sun 
 shining brightly upon us. 
 
 We reached the hamlet of Arapdosa, snugly 
 nestled in a mountain nook : here we were to 
 bait the horses and have luncheon. In one of 
 the huts its mistress was making the new year's 
 cake for the following day, which was our 
 thirteenth, and their first, of January. The 
 cake was of meal and honey. Some pieces of 
 the dough from which the cake had been made, 
 were given to us: they were baked upon the 
 hearth, and excellent. Some pretty children 
 were playing on the floor, and we were much 
 touched by the affectionate good nature with 
 which the elder ones took care of, or played 
 with, the younger ones : when we gave them 
 anything to eat, they were sure to offer it to 
 the smallest. A beautiful girl of about sixteen, 
 — who told us, by Dimitri's interpretation, that 
 
112 WANDERINGS 
 
 she was engaged to be married, and whose 
 helmet of coins we assisted to form, — bustled 
 about, did all she could to minister to our com- 
 forts, and endeavoured to converse with us by 
 
 We were all excellent friends, till Dimitri 
 made a successful search for barley for his 
 horses. Never did I hear such shrill abuse, as 
 that poured forth by the woman of the house 
 and some of her neighbours who assisted her in 
 repelling this attack upon her property, which 
 the sight of the gensd'armes made her think 
 would never be paid for: the actual touch of 
 the money alone pacified her. Whilst we were 
 resting, the weather had changed, clouds accu- 
 mulated rapidly, and before the horses could be 
 saddled, drops of rain fell. All thoughts of 
 crossing Pentelicus, and enjoying the view from 
 it, had to be abandoned. We turned to the 
 right, so as to round its base. The rain soon 
 descended in torrents, with violent gusts of 
 wind. We mended our pace, following each 
 other in silence ; sometimes trotting, sometimes 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 113 
 
 galloping. The evening closed in, and we had 
 ridden in utter darkness for more than an hour 
 and a half, when lights shone through the 
 heavy rain, and in about ten minutes more, I 
 found myself entering Athens by the road that 
 passes the palace. 
 
 l 2 
 
114 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 In despite of the charm of novelty afforded by 
 the mode of travelling in Greece, of the beauti- 
 ful scenery through which we had passed, and 
 of the enthusiasm which all are bound to affect 
 who visit Marathon, we were glad to find our- 
 selves again established in a weather-tight room 
 at Athens. 
 
 Sir Edmund Lyons, with the hospitality for 
 which he is so justly celebrated, again gave us 
 repeated invitations to his house ; and for some 
 time, the attraction of comparative comfort in 
 our own apartments, prevented us from starting 
 on any fresh expedition. 
 
 We returned just in time to be enabled to 
 attend a grand ball at the palace. On driving 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 115 
 
 to the principal entrance, and mounting the 
 grand staircase, a large anteroom is first entered. 
 This leads into a suite of three very lofty and 
 well-decorated rooms, with " parquets" of beau- 
 tiful " marqueterie". The first is the ball-room. 
 The Queen, and all the ladies present, collect 
 on one side, — the King and the principal mem- 
 bers of the corps diplomatique approaching to 
 speak to them ; whilst the remainder of the 
 male guests, crowded together, form a deep 
 semicircle opposite. After a very formal half- 
 hour spent in presentations, etc., the Queen 
 opened the ball by a " polonaise"; she was fol- 
 lowed by the King, but by not more than three 
 other couple; for this unfortunate polonaise 
 has been an apple of diplomatic discord at 
 Athens. The King danced the first quadrille 
 with Lady Albert. As we only went to the 
 ball to look at the dresses, we left it after two 
 or three dances. Sir Edmund Lyons told us 
 that, hardly had we parted from him, when the 
 grande maitresse came up in search of me, to 
 dance with the Queen ; thus drawing a host of 
 
116 WANDERINGS 
 
 excuses from Sir Edmund, with respect to a 
 sudden indisposition of Lady Albert, which had 
 forced us to quit the ball, and a visit of apology 
 from me to the grande maitresse on the follow- 
 ing morning. 
 
 There was a remarkable deficiency of female 
 beauty, and not a single fresh-looking girl did I 
 see ; all looked like faded, married women. The 
 Queen, who is thirty, appeared the youngest 
 person in the room : she was admirably dressed, 
 danced beautifully, and it is impossible to do 
 justice to the grace with which she spoke to 
 those present. The male guests must have 
 nearly quadrupled the women, for the Grecian 
 ladies are not fond of dancing. Of the latter, 
 but a few were in the costumes of their country, 
 and these dresses had evidently seen much ser- 
 vice. There was a great mixture in the attire 
 of the men : some wore a mass of embroidery, 
 (especially the king's Greek aides-de-camps, who 
 blazed in scarlet and a profusion of gold, (said 
 to be the Queen's taste) ; others were in plain 
 clothes, with black and evenJcoloured neck- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 117 
 
 cloths, and wore boots. I heard that some of 
 the guests present bore dreadful characters. One 
 or two were pointed out to me as having been 
 more than suspected of awful crimes. Dancing 
 being for the young, this ball made me think of 
 a definition of youth that I had heard, — " the 
 age of thirty in a man and fifty in a woman " , 
 but, indeed, there are many ladies in our own 
 country who appear to be of this opinion. 
 
 Our 18th, or the Greek 1st of January, is 
 their Epiphany, and a grand festival. We drove 
 over to the Peirseus to see the ceremony of 
 blessing the waters that is to ensure fine weather. 
 The sight was pleasing, from the vast number 
 of picturesque figures assembled around an altar 
 that had been erected at the fountain in the 
 principal square. The religious ceremony was 
 very tedious, and the voices of those taking part 
 in it were painfully nasal, and gave it a ridicu- 
 lous effect. Our great object of attraction was 
 the subsequent ceremonial of throwing a cross 
 into the sea : any who chose were to plunge in, 
 and the fortunate individual who recovered it 
 
118 WANDERINGS 
 
 was to be certain of good luck for the whole 
 year ensuing, and, above all, was to have the 
 privilege of taking it first to the Queen, and then 
 round Athens, to be kissed by the devout, who 
 give money in return. We hastened to the 
 quay to secure a good place, and were in the 
 act of stepping into a shore boat, when we were 
 accosted by M. Ebeling, the lieutenant of a 
 Kussian vessel of war in the harbour. He 
 offered to take us in one of her boats. We 
 gladly availed ourselves of his kindness, and in 
 a few moments, by a mixture of fair means and 
 foul, we were backed up to one of the three 
 booms, which, lashed together, formed, with the 
 quay, a square space into which the cross was 
 to be thrown. About eight men were standing 
 half dressed upon the booms, prepared for their 
 plunge; all around was crowded with boats, 
 and every spot from whence a glimpse could be 
 obtained was swarming with people. I threw 
 a dollar into the vacant space : in sprung the 
 divers, and in a moment one reappeared with 
 the dollar. Another that I threw in afforded 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 119 
 
 the spectators more diversion ; again and again 
 was it dived after, but in vain. The procession 
 with the cross now approached ; the excitement 
 of the populace passed all bounds ; an escort of 
 gensd'armes could hardly clear the way ; and 
 when at last it reached the quay, the priests, 
 who composed it, had difficulty in frustrating 
 the attempts of some enthusiastic individuals 
 who endeavoured to snatch the cross from the 
 hands of the little boy who was to cast it into 
 the sea. The instant the coveted prize touched 
 the water, in sprung the competitors. Two 
 sailors, belonging to a Grecian corvette, were 
 looking at the show, balancing themselves upon 
 the bowsprit of a small craft moored close along- 
 side. One of these men, completely dressed, 
 plunged after the divers, and almost directly 
 reappeared with the cross in his hand. There 
 were several vessels of war in the harbour, all 
 of which fired a salute, and the populace were 
 actually mad with delight. Lieutenant Ebeling 
 then took us on board his vessel. She was a 
 fine corvette, and tolerably well kept, but there 
 
120 WANDERINGS 
 
 was something not quite sailor- like in the ap- 
 pearance of the crew : they looked more like 
 soldiers than sailors. 
 
 We made the Peiraeus the commencement 
 of a very interesting ride, following the shore 
 by a rugged path, as far as Phalerum ; and 
 thence returning to Athens, we passed Muny- 
 chia, which celebrated Athenian port is now 
 a favourite bathing place from Athens. The 
 whole line of coast from the Peirseus to Pha- 
 lerum presents vestiges of the fortifications of 
 maritime Athens ; there are foundations of the 
 walls and of the towers that flanked them : 
 in some places several courses of the masonry 
 remain ; they are not constructed in the usual 
 manner, that is to say — piled up in the middle 
 with broken stones and mortar, but are formed 
 throughout of large stones well fitted and not 
 cemented, but cramped together with metal. 
 
 I observed, at Munychia, masonry jutting 
 into the sea below the surface ; these are pro- 
 bably the foundations of jetties. It is at 
 Phalerum that the Queen bathes during the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 121 
 
 summer, she drives down at four o'clock in 
 the morning, bathes and returns to bed at 
 Athens ; the King bathes at ten or eleven 
 at night. Very near the entrance of the har- 
 bour at the Peirseus, at the western point of 
 the Munychian promontory, is a prostrate 
 column ; close to it, and just covered by the 
 sea, is a double sarcophagus hewn in the 
 rock ; this is called the Tomb of Themistocles, 
 but there is no evidence by which this tra- 
 dition can be supported, and there are many 
 sepulchres of a similar nature on both sides 
 of the entrance of the harbour. Colonel Leake 
 does not credit it ; he imagines that Themis- 
 tocles was not interred at the Peirseus, but 
 that an honorary cenotaph was there erected to 
 his memory. 
 
 We took a very fatiguing ride up Mount 
 Pentelicus, the ancient Mount Brilessus or 
 Brilettus, it is 3,500 feet above the level of 
 the sea, and seven or eight miles from Athens ; 
 the fatigue was occasioned by the snow which 
 had drifted in many places, so as to render 
 
 M 
 
122 WANDERINGS 
 
 a steep but very practicable path really dan- 
 gerous for horses; the view from the summit 
 is magnificent, commanding Attica and the 
 Negropont; the deserted quarries are pictu- 
 resque, and are curious from shewing the 
 means used by the ancient Greeks for facili- 
 tating the lowering their large blocks of mar- 
 ble. Half way up is the celebrated Grotto, 
 sixty feet square ; a small chapel dedicated to 
 the Virgin is built into it, on the right as you 
 enter ; lower down are the quarries that were 
 worked during the construction of the palace, 
 and it is strange to see some huts, deserted by 
 the artisans who were then employed, built of 
 white marble. At the foot of the mountain, 
 in a very fertile position, there is a monastery, 
 which is a favourite spot for those who visit 
 Pentelicus to eat their luncheon. The Duchesse 
 de Plaisance is building a small house by the 
 side of the road that leads to the monastery. 
 Having the misfortune to lose her only daugh- 
 ter whilst travelling in the East, she caused 
 the body to be embalmed, purposing that it 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 123 
 
 should be interred with herself, and she kept 
 it in her own room; her house catching fire, 
 she offered a very large reward to those who 
 would save the body, — but in vain, the case was 
 too heavy for removal. She has now left her 
 property to " the most virtuous woman;" a com- 
 mittee, of which the Queen of Greece is to 
 be the president, having to decide amongst the 
 competitors ; English women are specially ex- 
 cluded from competing. 
 
 Unpopular as the English are said to be 
 at the Grecian court, I cannot but feel the 
 great personal civility shewn to ourselves. On 
 the 20th, I was invited, but without Lady 
 Albert, to dine at the palace — for a rule has 
 been established that no foreign ladies should 
 be invited unless of royal rank. When the 
 guests were assembled, the King and Queen 
 entered the room ; after speaking to every 
 person present, they led the way into the 
 dining-room, and sat side by side ; I sat next 
 the King, who talked to me constantly about 
 England ; he appeared to be well informed : on 
 
124 WANDERINGS 
 
 my other side sat a very pretty lady of honour, 
 who could talk English : after dinner the King 
 and Queen led the way into an adjoining 
 room; again they spoke to each one of their 
 guests, who were about twenty-four in num- 
 ber, and who consisted of members of the 
 Chamber of Deputies, with a few officers, — 
 they then retired, leaving us to depart as soon 
 as we chose. 
 
 The small balls at the palace are usually 
 given on Sundays ; but one being given on the 
 22nd, which was Monday, we were enabled to 
 be present. These balls are held in a suite of 
 rooms above the principal apartments. The 
 King was suffering from a relapse of an inter- 
 mittent fever which he caught whilst making a 
 tour in the Negropont; this kept him from 
 dancing much, but the Queen made up for it by 
 dancing enough for both. The King sat out a 
 dance with Lady Albert, and the Queen danced 
 the first quadrille with me. I was amused on 
 hearing that a grave, elderly man, one of her 
 partners, was the Minister of Religion and of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 125 
 
 Public Instruction. It is wonderful that the 
 Queen, in despite of her fondness for dancing, 
 should not get tired of giving balls, from which 
 the ladies invited seize every decent excuse for 
 absenting themselves. Many ladies, whose 
 position in the country ought to ensure them 
 invitations to these balls, are excluded from 
 them when the political opinions of their male 
 relations are disagreeable to the Court. 
 
 Considerable interest was excited about this 
 time at Athens by a number of very early 
 Greek manuscripts, the property of a young 
 man named Symonides : he stated that he had 
 an uncle, a priest in one of the monasteries of 
 Mount Athos, who discovered these manu- 
 scripts, and gave them to him. Anxious that 
 they should remain in Greece, M. Symonides 
 proposed to present them to the government, 
 provided that an annual sum of money were 
 given him for six years, to enable him to pur- 
 sue his studies at a European university; he 
 affirmed that he had as many as a hundred in 
 his possession, though only twelve or fifteen 
 
 m 2 
 
126 WANDERINGS 
 
 were exhibited ; he represented them to consist 
 of a few manuscripts of classical authors, many 
 others of Fathers of the Greek Church, and 
 some which he himself had not time to deci- 
 pher. A commission was appointed to exa- 
 mine into their authenticity ; this committee 
 consisted of four members ; two of these not 
 attending, the remaining two added three other 
 literati to their number: of these five — two 
 would not give an opinion, two others decided 
 them to be genuine, and one stoutly affirmed 
 them to be forgeries. They now became 
 matters of great discussion, and their partizans 
 and opponents grew very warm. M. Symoni- 
 des showed them several times to me : whether 
 forgeries or genuine, they are exquisite speci- 
 mens of caligraphy, written upon the finest 
 parchment — one, indeed, is so fine as to be 
 imagined of human skin. The characters are so 
 minute as to render the assistance of a magni- 
 fying glass indispensable to make them out. It 
 must be allowed, in favour of the opponents to 
 their being genuine, that M. Symonides is cele- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 127 
 
 brated for his skill as a copyist ; he made what 
 is termed a " Chinese copy " of a Sanscrit 
 manuscript without a single mistake, whilst 
 perfectly ignorant of the language. It is as- 
 serted that he must have become the possessor 
 of some valueless Greek manuscripts, and em- 
 ployed their margins for these skilful imitations 
 of earlier manuscripts, using the earliest alpha- 
 bets. As he speaks nothing but Greek, his re- 
 peated long morning visits, with an interpreter, 
 became matters of dread to Lady Albert and 
 myself. He probably thought that, failing with 
 the Greek government, I might finally become 
 a purchaser. 
 
 Of all the purchases made by amateurs, that 
 have come to my knowledge, that made, many 
 years ago, by Sir Edmund Lyons, has the most 
 amused me. Excited, like many other English- 
 men, with the wish to be the possessor of a 
 Grecian statue, he was so unfortunate as to 
 exemplify the proverb of " buying a pig in a 
 poke" 1 ' 1 , by trusting to a " soi-disant " friend, who 
 assured him that he could find him such a thing 
 
128 WANDERINGS 
 
 if he gave him forty dollars to lay out. Sir 
 Edmund did so, and the friend soon after re- 
 turned, in great glee, to acquaint him that he 
 had purchased a splendid and very cheap work 
 of art. Beautiful it certainly is, were it port- 
 able ; but Sir Edmund had not made this a 
 stipulation. It is a colossal figure, with serpent 
 legs, mutilated of both head and arms, and of 
 enormous weight; it has often attracted me 
 into its squalid locality just below the temple 
 of Theseus, from the contrast which it and 
 some other pieces of statuary offer to all around 
 them. 
 
 The number of small churches and chapels 
 in Greece, as compared with the population, is 
 a striking feature of the country. In the most 
 remote districts, and without a single habitation 
 in sight, are chapels, causing wonder whence 
 their congregations can possibly come. When 
 there is a chapel near any city or temple of 
 ancient renown, the marble objects of ancient 
 art found, are generally placed there for pre- 
 servation, and portions of pillars, friezes, and 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 129 
 
 sepulchral stones are built into the walls, — they 
 thus form a sort of local museum. 
 
 The former cathedral of Athens, which is 
 now deserted, is a curious example of this 
 method of building ancient fragments into mo- 
 dern ecclesiastical buildings. It is a charming 
 little specimen. Over the door is an exquisite 
 frieze of the zodiac, in the first style of Grecian 
 art, but with modern crosses carved upon it; 
 below this there is another ancient and beau- 
 tiful fragment. Let into the side walls are 
 sculptured marbles of every style — Grecian as 
 well as Byzantine — most of them possessing 
 great beauty : the interior has been injured by 
 fire, and presents defaced fresco paintings, in 
 the Byzantine style of art. I have been told 
 that there are no less than seventy deserted 
 churches and chapels at Athens ; all of these 
 are to be pulled down, with the exception of 
 this ancient cathedral; and the funds raised 
 by the sale of the sites and the materials are 
 to pay for the new cathedral now building. 
 
130 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Our next expedition began unprosperously. I 
 had planned to commence it by Plataea, then to 
 cross Mount Cithseron, and sleep at the village 
 of Villia ; there I should be within reach of 
 Porto Ghermano, the site of the ancient Agos- 
 thenes; I could visit Psathos and Pagae, and 
 reach Megara to sleep. 
 
 For my first day's journey I sent horses upon 
 the previous day to a place called Casa, intend- 
 ing to go thus far in a carriage. We were to 
 start punctually at seven o'clock : we were 
 quite ready, and had finished breakfast by the 
 time appointed, but no carriage appeared till 
 half-past eight, and then four wretched horses, 
 hardly able to drag themselves, attached to 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 131 
 
 a rickety vehicle, crawled up to the door ; but 
 it was then too late to do more than vent my 
 wrath in words. 
 
 The coachman, by means of a short stick 
 with a long lash, with which, at the very first 
 cut, he almost whisked an eye from Dimitri, who 
 was sitting by his side, at length drove us to 
 Eleusis by Daphne. We followed the ancient 
 city walls, which form the foundation of the 
 road, and reached the village of Mandra : here 
 the starving horses were fed. From Mandra 
 to Casa the road was a series of ascents and 
 descents, that sorely tried our nervous systems. 
 The leaders, in the descents, could not get out 
 of the way of the wheelers : we had no drag- 
 chain, and Dimitri and an amateur assistant 
 coachman w T ho accompanied us to assist in flog- 
 ging the horses up the hills, had to rush to the 
 rescue whenever the leaders turned short round : 
 our instant destruction would have been the 
 inevitable consequence of any w T ant of activity. 
 We were thankful when we reached Casa with 
 whole bones. 
 
132 WANDERINGS 
 
 Casa, or Gyphtro Kastro, as it is also called, 
 is a khan at the entrance of a pass winding 
 round the foot of Mount Cithseron : on an 
 eminence above are the ruins of an ancient 
 fortification ; the walls, of which several courses 
 still remain, are of that beautiful Hellenic 
 masonry used when the arts in Greece were at 
 their highest perfection : it completely com- 
 manded the pass. Colonel Leake imagines this 
 to have been the Acropolis of the ancient CEnoe. 
 The Pytheium, or temple of Apollo Pytheius, 
 there, was esteemed of such sanctity as to have 
 given CEnoe the name of "the sacred". Other 
 antiquaries contend that this fortification be- 
 longed to the ancient Eleutherae. 
 
 By the time I had visited these ruins, it was 
 three o'clock. I mounted my horse, leaving 
 Lady Albert to proceed with Dimitri, the bag- 
 gage, and two gensd'armes, to Villia, five miles 
 distant, whilst I, with the remaining gens- 
 d'armes, went to visit Platoea. Afraid of being 
 overtaken by darkness in the very bad pass 
 over Mount Cithaeron, between Platoea and 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 133 
 
 Villia, we galloped on as hard as we could. It 
 was but a few miles to the highest point of the 
 pass, and we descended intoBoeotia ; then turned 
 short to the left, round the base of Mount 
 Cithasron, crossed a straggling village, and 
 reached the site of Platasa, which derives such 
 melancholy interest from the gallant defence of 
 its inhabitants against the Lacedemonians, and 
 from their melancholy fate. The city walls 
 have not been quite levelled : they are to be 
 traced all round the town ; two fragments of 
 buildings alone remain within the circuit of the 
 walls. The piles of stones, in all directions, 
 recall to the mind the city demolished by the 
 Thebans, and that which was subsequently 
 rebuilt by Alexander the Great is forgotten. 
 There are some sarcophagi ranged along a bank 
 to the westward, but I had no time to loiter for 
 long examination ; the gensd'arme made me 
 understand, in broken Italian, that we must 
 hurry away. We made for a mountain path 
 that ascends Mount Cithasron ; as we advanced, 
 the whole of Bceotia was visible, whenever I 
 
 N 
 
134 . WANDERINGS 
 
 turned to view it. The evening shut in. There 
 was a good deal of snow at the top of the moun- 
 tain, and as we descended towards Villia, the 
 path became worse and worse. The ledge 
 along which we walked, sloping towards the 
 precipice, made our own footing, whilst leading 
 our horses, very precarious; the horses well 
 knew their danger, and carefully examined 
 the ground before trusting themselves upon it. 
 
 It was quite dark before we reached Villia, — 
 a large village, with apparently greater comfort 
 amongst the inhabitants than is generally to be 
 met with in Greek villages. I found Lady 
 Albert established in the judged house : his 
 official papers and documents were neatly ar- 
 ranged in pigeon-holes, made in a wooden frame, 
 near a window that blew open twice during the 
 night ; when I left my bed to close it, I was in 
 a perfect storm of these papers, whirling in 
 every direction about the room. 
 
 By day-break these gusts of wind had blown 
 up rain. We started for Porto Ghermano, 
 none of our party knowing the way, but trust- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 135 
 
 ing to the promises of the village schoolmaster, 
 that, if we preceded him, he would follow us, 
 to be our guide, as soon as he could saddle his 
 mule. The clouds grew thicker and thicker ; 
 no signs of the schoolmaster were to be seen as 
 far as the eye could reach ; presently a violent 
 thunder-storm came on, the rain descended in 
 torrents, and we were all drenched to the skin 
 in a twinkling. We determined to give up the 
 attempt of making our way to Porto Ghermano, 
 and struck into a path that led towards Megara, 
 our quarters for the night. We were too wet 
 and wretched to admire the beautiful mountain 
 scenery around us ; but a square tower, quite 
 perfect, of the most beautiful Hellenic masonry, 
 attracted my attention; it was an exquisite 
 specimen, only requiring a roof to be even now 
 habitable. The foundations of two or three 
 other towers were visible, as we advanced, on 
 the slope of the mountain which we descended 
 towards the Megarian plain. Glad were we 
 when, reaching this plain, we were able to 
 gallop towards the miserable deserted-looking 
 
136 WANDERINGS 
 
 village, miscalled town, of Megara. A fire was 
 made up in our quarters for the night; and, 
 throwing off our soaked clothes, we made our- 
 selves tolerably comfortable, partly with things 
 that we had brought in Dimitri's saddle-bags, 
 and partly with capotes that he obtained for us 
 till our luggage arrived. We then re -dressed, 
 and, having no books, dosed away our time till 
 dinner. From the wet state in which our port- 
 able bedsteads reached Megara, we thought it 
 prudent to spread our mattresses upon the floor; 
 and we practically learnt the truth of what we 
 had heard of the torment of Greek vermin. 
 
 Hardly any vestiges of antiquity remain at 
 Megara, with the exception of some of the 
 foundations of the walls that defended the Acro- 
 polis, and a few of the foundations which have 
 been excavated of the wall that connected 
 Megara with the Port of Nisea, now called 
 Dodeka Ecclesiae ; and some inscriptions built 
 into various walls, which I could not visit upon 
 this occasion. The Megarians were celebrated 
 for their mirth and for their roguery; hence 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. J 37 
 
 the two proverbs, " Megarensis ars," and "Me- 
 garensis risus." It is rather curious that, to 
 this day, the festivals and holidays of the 
 Megarians are remarkable for their gaiety and 
 liveliness, and that they themselves are reck- 
 oned a light-hearted race. Megara boasts of 
 being the birth-place of Euclid. 
 
 We determined to go to Corinth by the 
 mount Geranion, the old road between Corinth 
 and Megara: it is the steepest as well as the 
 longest of the two roads that connect these 
 places, and therefore, although far the most 
 picturesque, it is now hardly ever used. We 
 were on horseback by eight o'clock, and crossed 
 the plain of Megara to Mount Geranion. As 
 we ascended it, we passed a ruined village in a 
 lovely situation, and a few peasants at work. 
 One of the principal features in Greek travel- 
 ing is the thinness of the population ; these 
 individuals were the only persons we saw for 
 eight hours. Higher up we obtained a beautiful 
 view of the bay of Salamis and the Egean sea, 
 the plain of Megara, the Gulf of Lepanto, and 
 
 n2 
 
138 WANDERINGS 
 
 Porto Ghermano. On reaching the ruined fort 
 of Devernia, at the summit of the pass, those 
 views were behind us, and before us the Isthmus 
 and Gulph of Corinth, and the Morea. 
 
 The road as we descended became worse : it 
 had originally been paved, but, cut up by the 
 winter torrents and never repaired, it was in 
 many places very dangerous. The views were 
 beyond measure lovely, and the stone pines 
 covering the mountains had not suffered by 
 fire. We passed two ruined hamlets, and de- 
 scended to the Isthmus : here it began to rain. 
 We hurried on, crossed the excellent carriage- 
 road from Lutraki to Calamaki, saw traces of 
 the canal commenced by Nero to connect the two 
 seas, — and which, if completed at the present 
 day, would be a good speculation, — observed the 
 remains of the great Isthmian wall, passed, on 
 our left, the subterranean entrance to the 
 amphitheatre, and, almost directly after, entered 
 that most ancient but filthy town of Corinth, 
 supposed to have been built by Sisyphus, the 
 son of iEolus, 1438 years before Christ. I 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 139 
 
 triumphed in being one of those men allowed 
 by fate to visit it ; for Horace says, " Non 
 cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum". But 
 what a contrast does the wretched, dirty, 
 modern town offer to that Corinth, so cele- 
 brated for its luxury, and the voluptuousness 
 of its inhabitants! 
 
 The bazaar was crowded as we rode up it 
 towards the miserable hotel, although it was 
 raining heavily. Wonderful to relate, the 
 windows of our room were, or rather had 
 been, glazed. It was over a sort of coffee and 
 wine-stall, and we thus learned the early rising 
 of the modern Corinthians. After four o'clock 
 in the morning sleep was impossible, from the 
 noise of the customers who thronged it from 
 that hour. 
 
 On the morning after our arrival we found 
 that it would be vain to attempt visiting the 
 Aero Corinth, from the clouds hanging round 
 its summit, and I devoted the day to search- 
 ing for vases. I rode to the village founded 
 by the American missionary, Dr. Howe; its 
 
140 WANDERINGS 
 
 inhabitants make a trade in the vases which 
 they rifle from the ancient tombs of that dis- 
 trict. I was offered at least a hundred for sale, 
 but they were all of very inferior kinds. I 
 heard that one of the villagers was even then 
 excavating at a short distance, and I went in 
 search of him. — I found the individual whom 
 I sought, with four other men busily employed 
 in opening the tombs which abounded and lay 
 opened in hundreds within a circuit of three 
 miles : their mode of proceeding was to probe 
 the ground with long augurs till they felt the 
 covering stone of the sarcophagus, of lime- 
 stone ; it was generally at a depth of from 
 two to five feet from the surface; they then 
 dug till the stone could be broken with a pick. 
 The sarcophagus was then rifled. The number 
 of urns which are found prove Strabo's state- 
 ment to be incorrect ; " The Romans," he says, 
 " when sent to colonize the town, happening 
 at the commencement of their building opera- 
 tions to light upon some tombs, charmed with 
 the beauty of their contents, ransacked the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 141 
 
 whole cemeteries of the place, not leaving a 
 single grave unopened." For a dollar, (4s. 4=d. 
 English), I purchased the contents of a tomb that 
 they had just prepared for opening, it con- 
 tained six urns of different sizes and of grace- 
 ful shapes ; during the two days that I 
 remained at Corinth, I purchased forty vases, 
 and might have purchased at least two hun- 
 dred more. 
 
 On the next day I found that our hopes 
 of seeing the Aero Corinth under favourable 
 auspices were vain ; it was a thorough wet 
 day, but I thought that it would be absurd to 
 have been to Corinth without visiting this pre- 
 sent given by Briareus to the sun, and by 
 the sun to Venus. We mounted our horses 
 and passed the seven celebrated columns sup- 
 posed to have belonged to the temple of 
 Minerva Chalamatis. They are each formed of 
 one single block of limestone, and stuccoed; 
 they are imagined to date from an antiquity 
 so remote as 700 years before Christ, and are 
 almost the only remains' of ancient Corinth. 
 
142 WANDERINGS 
 
 Our horses scrambled up the ascent of the 
 Aero Corinth; it is so steep that I should 
 have thought it might have been defended 
 with no better weapons than stones from 
 above, and it made me wonder how the citadel 
 could have been so repeatedly taken and re- 
 taken. We contrived to ride up far beyond 
 the first gate where visitors generally alight: 
 the rain changed to snow, and when we reach- 
 ed the summit, panting, and with hearts pal- 
 pitating, we found that we might just as well 
 have remained in our room at Corinth for any 
 view that we could obtain. On our descent 
 we noticed the fountain of Peirene, where 
 Bellerophon is said to have caught Pegasus when 
 he came to drink there. Close to the remains 
 of the governor's house, I observed some pros- 
 trate Corinthian capitals of no great size ; in 
 the wall of the modern fortification, may be 
 remarked two pieces of Hellenic masonry. 
 I was too cold and wet on returning to the 
 town to visit the remains of the Roman am- 
 phitheatre as I had intended. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 143 
 
 On the morning of the 3rd, we quitted 
 Corinth ; provokingly enough it was a fine 
 morning, but we could not defer our return 
 to Athens, for a carriage was waiting for us 
 at Megara. I again passed through the Ame- 
 rican village ; on approaching Calamaki, 
 Dimitri pointed out to me that single, broken 
 drum of a column, now the only remains of 
 the temple of Neptune, with its sacred groves, 
 shrines, and statues. On the right of the 
 road is the Stadium, where the Isthmian games 
 were celebrated, and hard by are the remains 
 of the Isthmian wall. About half a mile 
 further is the little town of Callamaki, the 
 ancient Schoenus, situated on the bay of the 
 same name : like the generality of Greek vil- 
 lages and towns, it is far more promising at 
 a distance than when entered. Here Dimitri 
 stopped for a few minutes to allow the people 
 the amusement of gazing at us ; a respite from 
 travel which our escort employed in tossing 
 down glass after glass of " raki ", the common 
 spirit of the country. We then kept along 
 
144 WANDERINGS 
 
 the coast, by the celebrated Scironian rocks. 
 The " Kaki-scala" pass is not nearly so bad 
 as it has been represented ; the path overhangs 
 the sea, and in some places is rugged and 
 slippery, but there was so little danger that 
 Lady Albert was able to pass it without dis- 
 mounting from her horse : however, I observed 
 that Dimitri, as well as the gens-d'armes, 
 though protesting that there was nothing to 
 fear, took very good care to cross it on foot. 
 This was the spot chosen by Scirron for 
 kicking down his guests whilst in the act of 
 washing his feet ; Theseus punished him by the 
 same fate. 
 
 On reaching Megara, we found the carriage 
 in readiness ; we rounded the Gulf of Salamis, 
 passed through Eleusis and Daphne, and reached 
 Athens by six o'clock. 
 
 For some days after our return, the weather 
 was so chilly and disagreeable, that I thought it 
 advisable to leave Lady Albert whilst I went to 
 get a glimpse of a small portion of the Morea. 
 At five o'clock on the cold moonlight morning 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 145 
 
 of the 12th, Dimitri and I mounted our hacks : 
 mine was a grey poney with very straight 
 shoulders, that nearly kicked me off in defend- 
 ing itself from the pack of dogs that rushed 
 upon us from all directions, and pursued us as 
 we galloped through the town, and towards the 
 Peirseus. The Grecian dogs are a perpetual 
 source of annoyance ; they rush from any dis- 
 tance for the amusement of attacking a travel- 
 ler : those belonging to the shepherds are large 
 and very savage ; they are so useful, as a pro- 
 tection to their flocks from the wolves which 
 abound, that I have been informed, as a fact, 
 that the owners would prefer the death of a 
 child to the loss of a really good dog. However 
 ferocious and dangerous may be their attack, 
 they may not be shot, but must only be killed 
 by a weapon, not a missile. M. Boudouris told 
 me that a young English nobleman, whose name 
 he mentioned, having shot one of these animals 
 that attacked him, M. Boudouris had serious 
 difficulty in pacifying the owner and his friends, 
 though offering to pay a good round sum. In 
 
 o 
 
146 WANDERINGS 
 
 general, one of the large stones that are scat- 
 tered about, proves a sufficient defence; from 
 the days of their puppyhood they have so often 
 experienced the pain of these missiles, that the 
 most ferocious dog will generally hesitate in his 
 attack when the object of his rage stoops to 
 pick up a stone. I had heard that Ulysses' 
 plan, related in the Odyssey, of sitting down 
 and laying aside the truncheon which he had in 
 his hand, was followed in the present day ; and 
 that if the person attacked sat down and laid 
 aside his stick or other weapon, the dogs would 
 not molest him till he attempted to rise. I 
 asked Dimitri if this was true ? his answer was 
 sensible : " I hear so, Milor ; but who try it?" 
 He assured me that he had never met with a 
 person who had actually ventured upon an ex- 
 periment requiring so much nerve. Our course 
 might have been traced by the noisy chase of 
 these torments. 
 
 Though day had not dawned as we entered 
 the Peiraeus, it was in a state of bustle, from 
 the preparations of those who were to embark 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 147 
 
 by the Austrian steamer that was to sail at six 
 o'clock for Calamaki, in communication with 
 one at Lutraki, on the opposite side of the 
 Isthmus of Corinth, running to Corfu and 
 Trieste. 
 
 Having time to spare, Dimitri conducted me to 
 a coffee-house, where the proprietor had a statue 
 for sale. On being taken, with great mystery, 
 to view this statue, concealed in the back pre- 
 mises, I was, as on previous occasions, shown a 
 sepulchral tablet, of a very low style of art, and 
 not worth purchasing. 
 
 I went on board the steamer : it presented a 
 curious scene ; the whole deck, with the excep- 
 tion of a small space railed off, was devoted to 
 a crowd of third-class passengers ; they were 
 sheltering themselves, as well as they could, 
 under the bulwarks, huddling together for mu- 
 tual warmth; the morning being cold, they 
 were well provided with blankets, coverlets, 
 etc., and were full of fun, talking and laughing 
 at and with each other. A group, returning 
 to the Ionian Islands, had two guitars, and 
 
148 WANDERINGS 
 
 amused their fellow-passengsrs by singing na- 
 tional melodies, in which the different voices 
 took part in perfect harmony. It would seem 
 as if the Venetian blood in the veins of the 
 Ionian Islanders gave them their taste for 
 music ; for, whilst they are good musicians, the 
 inhabitants of the rest of Greece are, to the 
 most remarkable degree, the reverse. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hill have told me that the Greek children 
 whom they educated, easily obtained the theory 
 of music, but never had any ear, nor could be 
 made to keep time. 
 
 I felt so cold that I went below, and thus 
 witnessed the " toilettes" of the cabin passen- 
 gers, most of whom had slept on board rather 
 than rise early ; neither much time was em- 
 ployed nor water used. Two Greek officers of 
 rank were amongst the passengers ; they had 
 seen me at the court balls ; and one of them, 
 hearing that I proposed riding to Nauplia, gave 
 me a letter to the Commandant de place, to 
 admit me into the town, in case I were too late 
 for the gates, that close at seven. I afterwards 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 149 
 
 found that this gentleman was the son of the 
 celebrated Marco Botzaris. In no part of the 
 world can a public conveyance be entered 
 without an Englishman being met : on board 
 this steamer were a young English gentleman 
 and his sister, on their way to Patras. 
 
 The wind was high and dead against us. The 
 captain, to keep in smooth water, followed the 
 coast, and went between the island of Salamis 
 and the main land, affording a good opportunity 
 for the fancy to work upon the scene of the 
 celebrated battle, and to imagine whence Xerxes 
 might best have viewed it. iEschylus, who 
 was present, gives a most graphic description 
 of it : he supposes a messenger sent from 
 Athens to Persia by Xerxes to his mother, 
 who states, " that the monarch, upon receiving 
 information from a pretended friend in the 
 Grecian fleet that the Greeks were preparing 
 to retreat in the ensuing night from the straits 
 of Salamis, gave orders to his naval commanders 
 to arrange his fleet in three lines as soon as the 
 darkness should be sufficient to commence their 
 
 o 2 
 
150 WANDERINGS 
 
 proceedings ; and at the same time to occupy- 
 all the openings and narrow passages of the 
 straits, detaching other ships to complete the 
 blockade of the island, and making the Persian 
 commanders answerable with their heads for 
 the escape of any of the Greeks". The poet 
 then proceeds to say : " The Persians having 
 taken their supper, the rowers tied their oars 
 with the leathern thongs to the pegs, and, when 
 the night came on, both rowers and combatants 
 embarked. All night the commanders were 
 occupied in arranging the ships in their ap- 
 pointed stations. The Greeks made no attempt 
 to escape ; on the contrary, at day-light the 
 barbarians were struck with surprise and fear 
 when they beheld the Greeks prepared for 
 battle, and heard the rocks of Salamis re-echo 
 to the sound of the trumpet and to the song of 
 the poean. The stroke of the Grecian oars kept 
 time to the word of command. First, the right 
 wing, and then the whole fleet, moved forward, 
 the commanders exhorting their men to liberate 
 by that day's combat their country, their fami- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 151 
 
 lies, the tombs of their ancestors, and the seats 
 of their paternal deities. These cries having 
 been met by those of the Persians, the battle 
 was commenced by a Greek ship, which attacked 
 a Phoenician, and carried away its outer works. 
 u At first the Persians sustained the encoun- 
 ter ; but at length the multitude of their ships be- 
 came embarassed in the narrow sea, and, instead 
 of assisting one another, their oars were carried 
 away by the brazen prows of their own fleet. 
 The Greeks then attacked them on every side ; 
 the hulls of the Persian vessels were overturned, 
 and the sea was no longer to be seen for the 
 broken ships and the bodies of the slain, which 
 covered even the rocks and the shore. The 
 remaining vessels of the Persians had recourse 
 to a disorderly flight ; those disabled were sur- 
 rounded by the Greeks, and the men were 
 beaten to death by broken oars and fragments 
 of the wreck, like a shoal of tunnies or a netful 
 of other fish. Night alone put an end to the 
 cries and groans which filled all the Pelasgian 
 sea ; for never before was there such a multi- 
 tude of men slain in one day. 
 
152 WANDERINGS 
 
 " In a small island, difficult of access, the re- 
 sort of Pan, which lies before Salamis, Xerxes 
 had posted a body of Persians, selected for their 
 beauty, valour, noble birth, or fidelity to the 
 king. He had placed them there for the pur- 
 pose of securing a refuge to his own friends, or 
 of preparing an easy conquest of the Greeks, if 
 the latter, after having lost their ships, should 
 escape to the island. But no sooner had the 
 deity given victory to the Greeks, than a band 
 of them, clothed in brazen armour, leaped out 
 of their vessels and surrounded the island on 
 every side, that the enemy might have no means 
 of escaping. Many of the Persians fell by stones 
 and arrows, and at length, in a general assault 
 of the Greeks, they all perished. When Xerxes, 
 who had been seated during the action upon a 
 lofty height near the sea, beheld this last most 
 severe misfortune, he cried out aloud and rent 
 his garments, gave orders to his army, and be- 
 took himself to a disorderly flight." 
 
 On landing at Calamaki, I found Dimitri's 
 horses in readiness. It was then half-past eleven 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 153 
 
 o'clock, and we had a long journey before us. 
 My mind misgave me, as Dimitri galloped away 
 to show off to our fellow-passengers, that we 
 should rue the speed at which we started, before 
 we arrived at Nauplia. We rode at a good 
 pace till we reached Corinth ; but on passing 
 those pillars which serve as a sort of land-mark, 
 we rode more leisurely. We entered upon a 
 desolate, wild tract of land called the Plain of 
 Courtesa : it is much broken by ravines, and 
 the road is slippery and bad. 
 
 At eight miles from Corinth, are the founda- 
 tions of walls surrounding an eminence that 
 overlooks some more fertile land ; this was the 
 site of Cleona. Between three and four miles 
 from Cleona, on descending from a height, the 
 three remaining columns of the temple of the 
 Nemsean Jupiter are particularly striking, from 
 the desolation of the scenery that surrounds 
 them. Close to these columns, are the drums of 
 many other columns that belonged to the same 
 building, but which have been shaken down by 
 earthquakes. The wild pear trees which are 
 
154 WANDERINGS 
 
 scattered about the plain, were all that pre- 
 sented themselves to recall to my memory the 
 Nemasan forest where Hercules cut his club. I 
 passed on my left, before I reached the columns, 
 a height with a cave; it is shown as the retreat 
 of the Nemsean Lion. Below this cave is the 
 Stadium. 
 
 From Nemsea, the road wound amongst the 
 mountains, and we passed through a narrow 
 defile, which Dimitri pointed out as the scene 
 of the celebrated defeat of Mohammed Dramali 
 Pacha in 1824. This Mohammed Dramali (or 
 native of Drama), who had the command of the 
 Turks in the Morea, finding his position in the 
 plain of Argos hardly tenable, determined to 
 retreat upon Corinth, there to await relief from 
 Chouechid and his fleet. He entangled himself 
 in these defiles ; and then the Greeks attacked 
 his army, — pouring down their shot and rolling 
 down rocks from the heights above, in com- 
 parative safety to themselves ; for they only lost 
 one hundred of their number. Of the Turkish 
 forces two thousand cut their way back to 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 155 
 
 Nauplia, which was still theirs ; about the 
 same number reached Corinth; but three thou- 
 sand perished in these defiles. 
 
 When we issued from them we entered upon 
 a vast open plain, and came to a solitary khan, 
 named Khavati, where Dimitri tossed down 
 some " raki ". Our horses were now very- 
 weary ; but the sea was before us in the dis- 
 tance, and we could see Argos, with Nauplia, 
 that was to be our resting place for the night, 
 with their respective Acropolises frowning at 
 each other across the intervening plain. The 
 sight of my journey's end gave me fresh courage 
 to keep up my jaded horse. 
 
 The Acropolis of Argos is striking. It is a 
 round lofty hill, surrounded by a ruined Vene- 
 tian fortification: some portions of Hellenic 
 masonry are built into its more modern walls. 
 At the side of the hill, below the Acropolis, is 
 a picturesque monastery, forming a pleasing 
 feature when the Acropolis is not viewed from 
 too great a distance. Argos is a thriving town, 
 but built without the slightest attempt at regu- 
 
156 WANDERINGS 
 
 larity : its houses, which have gardens attached 
 to them, are scattered in disorder, giving the 
 appearance of an overgrown hamlet. 
 
 This city is full of school-boy recollections. 
 Founded by Inachus, a Phoenician, 1856 years 
 before Christ, and having Juno for its special 
 patroness, it was joint capital with Mycene, of 
 the kingdom of Argos, and the most embellished 
 of the two. It would appear that Mycene be- 
 came, finally, the seat of government. It was 
 the scene of one of the labours of Hercules, 
 when he cleaned the stables of Augias, king 
 of Argos, by turning through them the river 
 Alpheus; — a very unnecessary feat, I should 
 have thought, as the river Alpheus runs on the 
 other side of the Morea, and other plans more 
 feasible might easily have been hit upon. Here 
 the Danaides, daughters of Danaus, murdered 
 their husbands. This was the birth-place of 
 Perseus, son of Danae, and of Jupiter. Few 
 vestiges of its ancient splendour now remain. 
 There are twenty-one rows of seats that be- 
 longed to the theatre, cut in the rock and most 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 157 
 
 gracefully designed. Besides these are the re- 
 mains of sixty-seven other rows, falling into 
 ruins, that appear not to have been connected 
 with them : close to these are the ruins of a 
 huge, graceless Roman pile. I observed a cave 
 sacred to Pan in the rock above. This was all 
 that I saw at Argos. Evening was closing in, 
 and Nauplia six miles distant : our horses were 
 unable to move out of a walk ; but the road 
 communicating between Nauplia and Argos is 
 good : it was constructed by General Gordon, 
 a Philhellene, who resided near Argos. The 
 road passes close by Tirynth : but it was so 
 dark when we reached it, that I deferred visit- 
 ing it till the following morning. 
 
 We reached Nauplia, or Napoli di Romania, 
 at a few minutes before seven. I could only 
 distinguish that it was a fortified town, and that 
 we rode up a street with few people about. 
 The inn was wretched ; and I never heard any 
 thing so wonderful as the crowing of the cocks, 
 which was kept up throughout the whole night. 
 The morning of the 13th was brilliant, and I 
 
158 WANDERINGS 
 
 expected to have made a grand day of " sight- 
 seeing". But, " Thomme propose et Dieu dis- 
 pose"; whilst at breakfast, Dimitri introduced 
 to me a man, who, from under his handkerchief, 
 produced, for sale, a very extraordinary group 
 of statuettes, representing heathen divinities 
 supporting a sort of cup upon their heads ; 
 these statuettes being of very early art. Upon 
 inquiring the price, it was j8100: I offered 
 him £15. Dreadful were the vendor's out- 
 cries : the group had cost him £50. After long 
 discussions, he offered to take £80, and I left 
 him and his group. Dimitri mounted a broken- 
 down chesnut, and I, a worn-out grey with 
 a vicious eye. 
 
 Nauplia (founded by Nauplius, a reputed son 
 of Neptune) is a slovenly modern town, in a 
 beautiful situation. It is overhung by the 
 Palamede, a stupendous rock, seven hundred 
 and twenty feet above the level of the sea; 
 taking its name from that Palamedes, son of 
 Nauplius, who lost his life from Ulysses' revenge 
 for having discovered that his insanity was 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 159 
 
 feigned. The Greeks took it from the Turks 
 by blockade, starving out the garrison. Below 
 the Palamede again, is another fortification, 
 called the fortress of Itch Kali. Lying off the 
 town, is a castle, upon a small island ; it is now 
 solely used as a prison. Whilst Dimitri and I 
 were riding out of the town, it struck me that 
 I ought to make an attempt to obtain the group 
 which I had seen; I therefore sent Dimitri 
 back, to offer its owner £20. I then found 
 that I had judged aright in thinking that my 
 grey had a vicious eye. He would not move 
 without his companion : the more I spurred, 
 the more he kicked ; and when I kept his head 
 up, he ran me against every thing that offered 
 him an opportunity for so doing. At length I 
 got the better of him. After a while, up came 
 Dimitri. He had bargained till he had reduced 
 the price of my group to £30. As this was 
 more than I wished to give, we cantered along 
 till we reached the village of New Tirynth, — 
 a village which the present king purposed as a 
 Bavarian colony ; but these colonists took 
 
160 WANDERINGS 
 
 alarm, and quitted the country, when the hatred 
 of the Grecians and the Bavarians had risen to 
 such a pitch, before a constitution was granted 
 by King Otho, in 1843. Here again my mind 
 misgave me, that I had done a foolish thing ; 
 and I sent Dimitri back, to offer £25 for the 
 group. A hack-carriage was passing, Dimitri 
 got upon it, not to tire his horse, leaving me to 
 lead it, and to view the ruins of Tirynth at my 
 leisure. When he had fairly started, I found 
 that his horse would not lead. He struck out 
 his fore-legs, held back, and I was a mounted 
 fac-simile of Mr. Winkle in the Pickwick 
 Papers, Finding him immovable, I dismounted ; 
 and then neither horses would go on. Fortu- 
 nately, a garden wall ran by the road-side : I 
 allowed the brutes to back up against it, and 
 then flogged them on, backing them before me 
 till I got them to Tirynth, which was at no 
 great distance. 
 
 Never can I forget those ruins, from the long 
 hours which I passed there. We had left 
 Nauplia at a little after eight : Tirynth is but 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 161 
 
 two miles from it ; and yet it was nearly ten by 
 the time Dimitri returned to me. The owner 
 of the group was with him, vowing and pro- 
 testing that he could not take a leptha (or 
 the hundredth part of ninepence) under £30. 
 When I had mounted my horse, to ride away, 
 he changed his mind, and would accept my 
 offer of £25. But how was the money to be 
 paid ? Dimitri was well known at Nauplia, and 
 went back there with the man, to give security 
 for the money. Again was I left to my examin- 
 ation of Tirynth. 
 
 Tirynth is said to have been founded by 
 Tiryns, son of Argus, and that its walls were 
 built by Cyclopeans, architects from Lycia, for 
 Proetus. It was destroyed by the Argives 466 
 years before Christ. The ruins which remain 
 are supposed to have been the defences of the 
 Acropolis, and that the town itself lay between 
 the hill which they surround and the sea. This 
 hill is about half a mile in circumference : its 
 summit is upon two levels, which appear to 
 have been separate fortifications. The prin- 
 
 p2 
 
162 WANDERINGS 
 
 cipal entrance, postern, etc., are plainly to be 
 traced ; indeed the postern is still quite perfect : 
 it is composed of four huge stones on each side, 
 with a smaller one forming the top into an 
 angle ; the walls are twenty-five feet in thick- 
 ness, and of what is termed Cyclopean masonry, 
 of large irregular blocks of stone, with the inter- 
 stices filled up by small stones. Pausanias 
 has correctly stated that two mules, harnessed 
 to the smallest of these blocks, would be unable 
 to stir it. There are two curious galleries in 
 the thickness of the walls, that are imagined to 
 have served as communications to towers or 
 places of arms at their extremities. 
 
 The Tirynthians were such great laughers 
 that it rendered them incapable of transacting 
 serious business, and they consulted the Delphic 
 oracle for a remedy. The answer was, that if 
 they sacrificed a bull to Neptune without laugh- 
 ing, they would be freed from their infirmity. 
 To succeed in this, they ordered the children 
 to keep away from the ceremony. One boy, 
 whom they were driving away, cried, " Aha ! I 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 163 
 
 see that you are afraid of ray swallowing your 
 fat ox." This made them all burst out laugh- 
 ing, and they gave up in despair all attempts at 
 any remedy. 
 
 I waited and waited, — paced and repaced 
 these ruins, — grew uneasy, — lost my patience, 
 — paced again, — still no Dimitri appeared. I 
 walked into a cottage and sat down, though 
 I could not make the inhabitants understand 
 a word that I said. It was half-past three 
 before Dimitri reappeared ; it was then too late 
 to think of seeing Mycenae, or of any thing but 
 reaching Corinth, where we were to sleep. I 
 hastily assisted in getting the horses ready, and 
 securing my treasure behind Dimitri's saddle. 
 As we galloped towards the khan of Kavati, 
 where we had fresh horses, he told me his mis- 
 fortunes and the cause of his delay. On get- 
 ting back to Nauplia, he sought out and found 
 a friend who would join him in security for 
 the payment of the statuettes at Athens ; but 
 in the meanwhile, the landlord of the Hotel 
 d'Angleterre, who happened to be at Nauplia, 
 
164 WANDERINGS 
 
 offered the owner twenty-eight pounds, and he 
 did all in his power to be off the bargain. First, 
 he said that he must have the money paid 
 down, and poor Dimitri, in despair, had to 
 search the town for some friend so wealthy as 
 to have such a sum at his command. After 
 long searching, or, as he said, "walking the 
 streets like one stupid," he found a friend from 
 Sparta able to lend him the money. He paid it 
 down, and the vendor then offered him five 
 dollars to be off the bargain ; but " No," cried 
 Dimitri ; " I tell him he give me one hunder 
 dollar, and he no get it back." 
 
 We returned very nearly by the road that 
 we had passed on the previous day, only 
 leaving Argos, Nemea, and Cleona? a little to 
 our left. Poor Dimitri had a most dreadful fall : 
 his hack turned completely over with him 
 whilst we w r ere at a full gallop ; and I was 
 much touched to see that, when in the act of 
 rolling over, he had the presence of mind to 
 think of my group, and to endeavour to protect 
 them from injury in the fall. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 165 
 
 It was perfectly dark very long before we 
 reached Corinth. How our horses took us in 
 safety over the bad ground, which had made 
 me nervous and caused me to dismount by 
 daylight, is marvellous. I was thankful that, 
 by having sent them forward, they were com- 
 paratively fresh for such a wonderful feat of 
 surefootedness. 
 
 Many urns were brought to me at Corinth, 
 but none worth purchasing. The road by which 
 I returned to Athens, by Megara, taking me 
 through the American village, I stopped there 
 to bargain with an old woman who had a 
 curious specimen of Roman glass, taken out of 
 a ring found in a tomb. She had asked me 
 twenty-five drachmas for this glass on a former 
 occasion ; she now sold it me for seven. 
 
 On reaching Megara, I passed three quarters 
 of an hour visiting the various chapels and 
 buildings which have inscriptions built into 
 their walls ; of these a considerable number 
 still remain. I was also shown three graceless 
 female figures, without heads, of a late style of 
 
166 WANDERINGS 
 
 art, which would have been sold to me. Mount- 
 ing fresh horses, we reached Athens by about 
 five o'clock. 
 
 At three miles from the town, I saw before 
 me a carriage progressing at a foot-pace ; and 
 Dimitri, who was following me as fast as his 
 jaded horse would permit him, cried, " Milor, 
 milor, please stop!" In front of the carriage 
 were two ladies and a gentleman, walking in 
 line along the dusty high road ; it was the 
 Queen, with two attendants, taking that exer- 
 cise for which she has a fondness quite inexpli- 
 cable to the Greeks, who, especially the women, 
 detest any exertion that is not unavoidable. 
 Her greatest triumph is, during one of those 
 equestrian tours in which she delights, to gallop 
 on before the King, with a few of her own 
 more immediate attendants, compel him, through 
 fatigue, to pass the night at some village not so 
 far advanced as that which she herself has 
 reached, and, finally, gain a whole day upon 
 him in the course of the journey. To the utter 
 astonishment of those who witness it, she drives 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 167 
 
 out of Athens by one road, alights from her 
 carriage, and sends it round to await her in a 
 road in an opposite direction ; then makes her 
 way across the fields on foot. The Greek 
 maids of honour, unaccustomed to exertion till 
 they entered her service, can hardly perform 
 the duties of their office and keep up with 
 her. 
 
 I got out of the road, and passed her Majesty 
 in the field by its side ; she recognzied me, and 
 was amused at my dusty appearance and tired 
 horses; they were tokens of congenial tastes 
 for travelling in Greece. 
 
168 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Upon returning to Athens, I found great ex- 
 citement, produced at a daring attempt to rob 
 a wealthy banker, living in the centre of the 
 town, that had nearly proved successful. His 
 family consisted of himself and his wife, four 
 or five children, a tutor, and a small establish- 
 ment of servants ; whilst at dinner, evening 
 having closed in, the coachman came into the 
 room, stating that one of the horses was taken 
 dangerously ill. The banker went to his 
 stables in the court-yard of his house, to see 
 what was the matter. He was instantly seized 
 and gagged by a band of armed men ; the 
 coachman then returned to the dining-room, 
 and said that his master wished to see the 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 169 
 
 tutor directly. The tutor hastened to the 
 stables, almost immediately followed by the 
 banker's wife, whose curiosity was excited ; 
 each in turn was seized and gagged ; the rob- 
 bers then went into the house and bound the 
 servants. Upon demanding the banker's keys, 
 he said that they were useless unless he 
 shewed the mode of using them ; his strong 
 box being in an upper story, they led him 
 there, and the house being now quite in their 
 possession, they did not watch him very 
 closely. Seizing an opportunity, he rushed to 
 the balcony, and called aloud for help; those 
 of the band who kept watch outside hearing 
 the alarm, gave the signal for flight; those 
 inside the house, upon this signal being given, 
 only thought of making their escape as rapidly 
 as possible. To create a panic and thus pre- 
 vent their being stopped, they fired a volley 
 down the street, wounding two or three unfor- 
 tunate passengers ; they then got clean off. 
 
 Not one would have been subsequently taken, 
 for all, except the coachman, were disguised, 
 
 Q 
 
170 WANDERINGS 
 
 had it not been for the banker's wife, who 
 recognized the voice of a man who threatened 
 the death of herself and all her children, as 
 that of their dealer in fire-wood; this led to 
 his arrest, and his confessions facilitated the 
 arrest of the remainder of the band. 
 
 But two or three weeks before, we heard 
 several volleys of fire-arms near the house 
 where we lived ; and, upon the following morn- 
 ing, we were told that an attempt to rob a 
 neighbouring house had been resisted; that 
 some gens-d'armes had arrived to the rescue, 
 and that two robbers had been shot. These 
 were the only attempts at robbing during our 
 stay at Athens. 
 
 Monday the 26th of February was the first 
 day of the Grecian Lent : it is a general holi- 
 day; and though more strict in their fasting 
 than Roman Catholics, — abstaining from fish 
 and eggs, as well as animal food and fowl, — they 
 contrive to feast upon vegetables, olives, caviare, 
 and, above all, drink a good deal of wine. 
 Should the weather prove fine, all classes upon 
 this day enjoy themselves in the open air. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 171 
 
 Lady Albert, her maid, and myself, started 
 by the steamer for Calamaki. I had sent on 
 horses. We made a circuit to several small 
 villages on our way to Corinth, in the hopes of 
 finding something worth purchasing ; but the 
 villagers had only a number of very inferior 
 vases, and one engraved stone, for sale. It was 
 a lovely day, and on reaching Corinth we 
 strolled out to look at the amphitheatre. It is 
 a natural hollow in the rock, assisted by art. 
 Vestiges of the seats still remain, and there is 
 a subterranean passage leading into it, for the 
 entrance of wild beasts or gladiators. The 
 beauty of the view, which is obtained from 
 above it, was enhanced by groups feasting in 
 the sun ; and a number of peasant girls were 
 dancing to their own unmelodious singing. 
 
 This amphitheatre is not mentioned by Pau- 
 sanias, and is supposed to be posterior to his 
 time. The barbarous exhibitions for which 
 these theatres were intended were introduced 
 by the Romans into Greece. Their origin 
 appears to have been the practice of killing a 
 
172 WANDERINGS 
 
 certain number of slaves at the funerals of emi- 
 nent men, for the benefit of the souls of the 
 dead. In succeeding ages, it was reckoned less 
 cruel to oblige them to kill one another like 
 men, than to slaughter them like brutes ; there- 
 fore the barbarity was covered by the specious 
 show of pleasure and voluntary combat. 
 
 Gladiators were first exhibited at Rome, a. u. 
 433, by M. and D. Brutus, on occasion of the 
 death of their father. This show consisted 
 only of three pairs: a.u. 537, the three sons of 
 M. ^milius Lepidus, the augur, entertaining 
 the people in the forum with eleven pairs, and 
 the show lasted three days : a.u. 552, the three 
 sons of M. Valerius Lasvinus exhibited twenty- 
 five pairs, and thus these shows increased in 
 number and frequency. 
 
 Originally only captives, criminals, and dis- 
 obedient slaves, were trained up for combat ; 
 but when the diversion became more frequent, 
 and was exhibited on the smallest occasion* 
 many of the Roman citizens enlisted themselves 
 amongst the gladiators ; and Nero, at one show, 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 173 
 
 exhibited no less than four hundred senators 
 and six hundred knights. No exhibition upon 
 a scale so magnificent was ever attempted in 
 Greece ; the slaughter of one thousand wild 
 beasts, exhibited by Hadrian to the Athenians, 
 being the greatest ever mentioned. 
 
 These barbarities were abolished by Constan- 
 tine the Great nearly six hundred years after 
 their first institution ; they were, however, 
 revived for a while under Constantius and his 
 two successors ; but in the reign of Honorius, 
 when he was celebrating, with magnificent 
 games, the retreat of the Goths and the deliver- 
 ance of Rome, an Asiatic monk, by name Tele- 
 machus, had the boldness to descend into the 
 arena to part the combatants. The Romans 
 were provoked by this interruption, and the 
 monk was overwhelmed under a shower of 
 stones ; but the rage of the people soon sub- 
 sided: they respected the memory of Tele- 
 machus, who had deserved the honours of mar- 
 tyrdom, and they submitted to the laws of 
 Honorius, which abolished the human sacrifices 
 
 Q2 
 
174 WANDERINGS 
 
 of the amphitheatre. This occurred a.d. 404 ; 
 it was not, however, until the year 500 that 
 the practice was finally and completely abo- 
 lished by Theodoric. 
 
 England was disgraced by a taste for gla- 
 diatorial excitement as late as the last century, 
 and the following is a curious notice of one of 
 these exhibitions : — 
 
 " In Islington Road, on Monday, being the 
 17th of July 1727, will be performed a trial of 
 skill by the following combatants : We, Robert 
 Barker and Mary Welsh, from Ireland, having 
 often contaminated our swords in the abdom- 
 nious corporations of such antagonists as have 
 had the insolence to dispute our skill, do find 
 ourselves once more necessitated to challenge, 
 defy, and invite, Mr. Stokes and his bold ama- 
 zonian virago, to meet us on the stage ; when 
 we hope to give a satisfaction to the honourable 
 lord of our nation, who has laid a wager of 
 twenty guineas on our heads. They that give 
 the most cuts, to have the whole money, and 
 the benefit of the house ; and if swords, dag- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 175 
 
 gers, quarter -staff, fury, rage, and resolution, 
 will prevail, our friends shall not meet with a 
 disappointment." 
 
 " We, James and Elizabeth Stokes, of the 
 city of London, having already gained an uni- 
 versal approbation by our agility of body, dex- 
 terous hands, and courageous hearts, need not 
 perambulate on this occasion ; but rather choose 
 to exercise the sword, to their sorrow, and cor- 
 roborate the general opinion of the town, than 
 to follow the custom of our repartee antago- 
 nists. This will be the last time of Mrs. Stokes' 
 appearing on the stage. There will be a door 
 open for the reception of gentlemen, where 
 coaches may drive up to it, and company come 
 in without being crowded. Attendance will be 
 given at three, and the combatants mount at 
 six. They all fight in the same dresses as 
 before." 
 
 Upon returning to Corinth, a labourer sold 
 me a charming terra cotta group, of a female 
 figure carrying a child upon her shoulder. In 
 the evening a party of men assembled in the 
 
176 WANDERINGS 
 
 small square, to dance the " romaika", said to 
 be the ancient Pyrrhic dance. At first, they 
 were in great good humour : a man carrying a 
 bottle, and keeping time to the music, managed 
 that they should drink without stopping in 
 their dance. Their mirth grew " fast and furi- 
 ous": a quarrel arose; the mob around took 
 part in it. A general affray took place : knives 
 and daggers were drawn ; but, in despite of the 
 excitement, they were not used, — greatly to 
 Dimitrfs disgust, who, being from the Ionian 
 Islands, boasted that there, at least, a knife was 
 never drawn in vain. The gens-d'armes arrived, 
 and behaved with great firmness and good 
 temper. The most violent of the mob were 
 walked off in custody : all was again quiet ; and 
 this ended the gaiety of the day. 
 
 On the 27th, I left Lady Albert and her maid 
 at Corinth, whilst I rode to see Mycense. She 
 was rather nervous at my leaving her : for the 
 hotel has a villainous appearance, and she had 
 heard the story of the Englishman who had 
 disappeared so mysteriously. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 177 
 
 In 1837, the Intrepid, commanded by Captain 
 Price, was laying at Calamaki, and Mr. Cooper, 
 the purser, with two other officers, agreed to 
 walk over to Corinth. Mr. Cooper, although 
 an elderly man, out-walked his companions so 
 much, that he had mounted the Aero-Corinth, 
 and descended to the outer gate, by the time 
 they reached it. They then arranged to meet 
 at the hotel. After viewing the Aero-Corinth, 
 the two officers went to the place of meeting. 
 Mr. Cooper was not there ; and was never again 
 seen. Sir Edmund Lyons, who was on board 
 the Intrepid with Captain Price, caused every 
 possible search to be made : a large reward was 
 offered ; all the wells were dragged, and a con- 
 siderable body of men were employed, for a 
 fortnight, closely searching every likely place 
 of concealment in the isthmus ; but the body 
 could not be found. The last authentic trace 
 of Mr. Cooper, was, when he inquired of a sol- 
 dier the way to the hotel. 
 
 I reached the Mycenae about one o'clock. 
 This town was built about the year 1344 before 
 
178 WANDERINGS 
 
 the Christian era, either by Acrisius or Per- 
 seus. One derivation of its name is attributed 
 to the word /uqicqc, signifying a sword-handle, — 
 the oracle having directed Perseus to found a 
 city where the handle of his sword had fallen. 
 Homer calls it the " well-built city", and men- 
 tions the width of its streets. This was the 
 scene of the murder of Agamemnon by Cly tem- 
 nestra ; and here Orestes revenged his death by 
 murdering Clytemnestra and -ZEgysthus in the 
 temple of Apollo. The walls of the Acropolis, 
 and part of a bridge in Hellenic masonry, were 
 all the remains of the city that I could meet 
 with. The Acropolis is a height between two 
 commanding mountains, and offers a splendid 
 view. Some of the masonry is Cyclopean, like 
 that of Tyrinth ; other parts are what is termed 
 Hellenic, or of wrought stone symmetrically 
 placed. The whole style of fortification must 
 have resembled that of Tyrinth. The great 
 gate had its approach between, and was com- 
 manded by the rampart, and a wall running 
 parallel to it. It is called the Gate of the Lions, 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 179 
 
 from being surmounted by a slab of grey stone, 
 upon which are sculptured two lions, standing 
 upon their hind legs, with their fore-feet rest- 
 ing upon a pedestal that supports a pillar. 
 Some distance below the Acropolis, is the cele- 
 brated vault, termed, by some, the Treasury of 
 Atreus ; by others, the tomb of Agamemnon. 
 It is partially built into the side of the hill, and 
 the top bears the appearance of a tumulus, 
 being covered with earth. It is entered by a 
 beautiful doorway, of Egyptian appearance, 
 having an approach twenty feet wide, faced 
 with stones. Over the door is a triangular win- 
 dow : the door itself was covered by an enor- 
 mous stone, measuring twenty-seven feet by 
 eighteen. A domed chamber, forty-seven feet 
 in diameter, by fifty in height, is first entered ; 
 it is formed of worked stones, symmetrically 
 placed, being studded with fragments of bronze 
 nails, or holes from which the nails have fallen. 
 It is imagined that it was lined with brazen 
 plates, and that this was the mode of construct- 
 ing the brazen chambers in Greece : such as 
 
] 80 WANDERINGS 
 
 that in which Danae was confined at Argos, 
 by Acrisius. Through this domed apartment 
 a smaller chamber is entered, not faced with 
 stone, but rudely cut out of the rock, which is 
 a sort of pudding stone. There are three other 
 buildings of the same nature, in the immediate 
 neighbourhood ; but far inferior to this, and not 
 well preserved. 
 
 In the adjoining village I was offered a few 
 miserable coins for sale. Descending from 
 Mycenae, on my way to Nauplia, I passed 
 through the village of Kerbata. The church is 
 evidently upon the site of some ancient temple. 
 In the interior are four marble columns, that 
 have been painted over ; and some sculptured 
 slabs are let into the exterior walls. My 
 cicerone, observing me examining one rather 
 minutely, and suspecting me of evil designs 
 upon it, assured me, that two men coming by 
 night to remove it had been struck dead on the 
 spot : this was intended to deter me from a 
 similar crime. 
 
 I slept at Nauplia ; and on the following 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 181 
 
 morning rode round by Argos, where I had 
 heard that an officer, high in the Greek service, 
 had a collection of antiquities : he had, alas ! 
 parted with them. 
 
 I returned to Corinth by the same road that 
 I had followed on a previous occasion, crossing, 
 near Argos, the bed of the Inachus. I found it 
 quite dry, — an illustration of the myth, that 
 Inachus, the founder of the kingdom, gave his 
 name to this river ; and that Neptune deprived 
 it of its water, in revenge for the kingdom 
 having been placed under the protection of 
 Juno. 
 
 Reaching Corinth by three o'clock, I mounted 
 a fresh horse and rode with Lady Albert to see 
 the excavator licensed by the government — a 
 courier, named Francois— open some tombs. 
 He had opened seven or eight in the course of 
 the day, but had obtained nothing but vases of 
 the most common kind, with the exception of a 
 bronze scraper used in the baths. It was in 
 perfect condition, and I purchased it for two 
 drachmas (eighteen pence). 
 
182 WANDERINGS 
 
 On the 1st of March, the maid and the 
 baggage were sent on at daylight; at eight, 
 Lady Albert, Dimitri, and myself followed. 
 We visited the American village, for urns ; one 
 peasant had a fine specimen as to shape, but not 
 as to painting. He insisted upon double the 
 price which I felt disposed to give. We came 
 up with the baggage, at the khan situated 
 on the Corinthian side of the Kaki Scala pass. 
 The maid was seated on a stone by the side of 
 the door, ruefully cracking some almonds with 
 which Dimitri had supplied her, by way of pro- 
 vision for her journey. In a strange country, 
 and with strange faces around her, she had 
 given herself up for lost. Dimitri had mounted 
 her upon a long -tailed grey, that went as if its 
 legs were fastened together by hobbles. When 
 we all started again, I managed, with a long 
 whip, to make it keep up to the rest, whilst the 
 poor woman held fast by the pommel. On a 
 very bad part of the pass, the grey did not 
 exactly follow in the track of the horse imme- 
 diately preceding him, ventured on a slippery 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 183 
 
 rock, and his legs flew from under him. To 
 my horror, its rider was some seconds before 
 she could free herself from her stirrups I but 
 when she did so, 1 thought that she never 
 intended to stop rolling. Over and over she 
 turned, till she had placed ten or twelve yards 
 between herself and her horse. When she was 
 safe and found to be quite unhurt, none of us 
 could help laughing at her bewildered look. 
 Sir Edmund Lyons' little grandchild, a boy of 
 about seven, telling him about the fall, said, 
 " You see, grandpapa, being a fat, round maid, 
 she did not hurt herself". I did not laugh long. 
 At the very same spot my horse lost his footing, 
 and came down with me for the first time. 
 
 This was our only adventure till we reached 
 Megara, where a carriage was waiting to take 
 us to Athens. This carriage was the cause of 
 my not seeing anything more of Greece. I had 
 planned for the following week to go by the 
 pass of Phyle to Thebes ; thence to visit 
 Leuctra, Lebadea, Chaeronea, and Delphi, and, 
 engaging a boat at Scala, to have sailed to 
 
184 WANDERINGS 
 
 Patras, where I should have met the Austrian 
 steamboat and proceeded to Corfu. The week 
 was less agreeably passed under the care of Dr. 
 Treiber, a German philhellene, — who is at the 
 head of the military medical department in 
 Greece. I caught a chill from sitting in the 
 carriage after a hot ride, and the cold instantly 
 flew to my chest. During the first days of my 
 confinement, I had not even the resource of con- 
 versation ; for the pain in my chest prevented 
 my speaking. When I became a little better, 
 that gallant veteran, Sir Richard Church, con- 
 soled me for my indisposition by sitting with 
 me, and giving me the most interesting informa- 
 tion with regard to the present state of Greece, 
 and to the mischievous system pursued by her 
 present rulers. When conversing upon the 
 War of Independence, in which he had taken 
 so distinguished a part, he described to me 
 the gallantry, the sufferings, as well as the 
 pecuniary sacrifices of all classes of Greeks ; — 
 how the army kept together without money, 
 often without food, and depended for ammuni- 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 185 
 
 tion upon what was seized from the enemy. 
 Upon one occasion the whole army was nine 
 days totally unprovided with food ; officers as 
 well as men having to subsist upon grass or 
 anything of that nature they could get bold 
 of, but their spirits never flagged. Sir Kichard 
 may well sicken with disgust when he sees the 
 thankless being, who has benefited by their 
 sacrifices and struggles, and obtained by them 
 a throne. 
 
 The time having elapsed which I could pass 
 in Greece, I left it with the most sincere re- 
 gret. I had made acquaintances there of a 
 very superior order ; and the lower classes had 
 especially interested me : they never ceased 
 causing me wonder by their intelligence, and 
 natural intellect. It is inconceivable that the 
 faults of their character should not be tenfold 
 what they are, from the ages during which 
 they have groaned in the most abject bondage, 
 and from which they have only been released, 
 to be ruled under the most demoralizing system 
 of government. 
 
 k2 
 
186 WANDERINGS 
 
 I felt pain even at parting from Dimitri, 
 with his most amusing English conversation ; 
 I regretted leaving the curiosity dealers, who 
 came to me every morning, each in turn, bring- 
 ing me the very same articles that another had 
 brought me on the previous day; all hoping, 
 that, at last, some one among them might per- 
 suade me to purchase, against my own consent. 
 One of them, a tall, fat man, with little pig- 
 like eyes, enormous baggy Turkish trousers, 
 and a red Turkish cap, was a constant source 
 of amusement to us, from his earnest entreaties 
 that I would purchase from him, and his anger 
 when he discovered that I had made any pur- 
 chase elsewhere. 
 
 He invariably declared that the articles he 
 had for sale, were not his own property ; and, 
 when I offered him a tenth of what he asked, 
 always said he must consult the owner ; he 
 would then go down into the garden, remain 
 there ten minutes and come up again, saying, 
 that with much difficulty, he had concluded 
 the bargain for me, and trusted that I would 
 give him something for his trouble. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 187 
 
 Both Lady Albert and myself could have 
 cried when we took leave of dear, kind, round, 
 little Madame Notara, the lady of our house ; 
 with whom we used to reciprocate long visits, 
 she chattering away in Greek, and we answer- 
 ing in English or French, as the case might 
 be, neither party understanding one syllable that 
 the other said. 
 
188 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 On Monday, the 12th of March, I left the 
 Peirasus with a heavy heart; sailing by the 
 Austrian steamboat at six in the morning, we 
 reached Calamaki at eleven o'clock. Three 
 sets of dealers from Corinth were awaiting my 
 arrival : Francois, to tell me that he had 
 found some good vases which should meet me 
 at Lutraki ; the owner of a mirror supported 
 by a bronze figure, to tell me that I should 
 have it at my own price; and two peasants, 
 who had a few bad urns and a glass vase for 
 sale. I purchased the vase of them ; but, poor 
 fellows, as they were leaving the village, three 
 gensd'armes, who had their suspicions excited, 
 stopped them and seized all their urns; for- 
 tunately they were of no great value. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 189 
 
 Carriages for the passengers, and vans for 
 the luggage, were provided by the Austrian 
 company, and conveyed us to Lutraki, a dis- 
 tance of seven miles ; there we waited till ten 
 at night ; my only resource for killing time, 
 being bargaining with Francois for the pur- 
 chase of two of his vases. This dreadful 
 arrangement of leaving Lutraki at night, pre- 
 vents the passengers from seeing the beautiful 
 scenery of the Gulf of Lepanto ; we had an- 
 chored off Patras, before I was up in the 
 morning. 
 
 Patras is situated at the foot of a ridge of 
 hills running up to Mount Voidha. Just above 
 the modern town are the foundations, as well as 
 some remains, of the more ancient town ; above 
 these, again, is the melancholy, deserted-looking 
 citadel. There is a considerable tract of land 
 near the town, cultivated with currants, and 
 vineyards clothe the side of the hills. The 
 situation of Patras has great beauty : Mount 
 Voidha is at its back, and before it, the coast of 
 Etolia, with the two striking mountains of 
 
190 WANDERINGS 
 
 Varasova and Klokova. The town is planned 
 with much regularity; but only one street — 
 that which runs parallel with, and close to, the 
 sea — has any appearance of life. This street 
 is stirring and bustling enough. At about a 
 quarter of a mile from the westward end of 
 this street, is the church of St. Andrew, — the 
 site of the temple of Ceres, and of the well 
 mentioned by Pausanias. There are several 
 fountains in the town: one is curious, being 
 surrounded by columns, and was shewn to me 
 as Roman. The others are very humble imita- 
 tions of it. There are also some remains of an 
 aqueduct just outside the town. 
 
 Patras was founded by Eumelius, to whom 
 Triptolemus taught building and to sow wheat. 
 It was originally called Aroe: Pataerus, having 
 enlarged and fortified it, gave it his name. It 
 had fallen into a state of total decline, when 
 Augustus, after the battle of Nicopolis, colo- 
 nized it from Etolia, called it Colonia Augusta, 
 Arae-Patrensis, and gave its inhabitants the 
 rights of Roman citizenship. Diana was the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 191 
 
 deity especially worshipped here, and, under 
 the name of Diana Triclaria, had a temple near 
 the river Meilichos, as it is now called, or 
 Ameilichos, as it was anciently called, — from the 
 annual human sacrifice of a youth and a virgin, 
 on its banks, to that most cruel of Grecian 
 deities, in revenge for Melanippus and Cometho 
 having polluted her temple. This stream still 
 flows, as well as the Selemnus, — once a hand- 
 some shepherd, loved by the nymph Argyra, 
 who daily left the sea to visit him. Her attach- 
 ment growing cool, and finally ceasing, Selem- 
 nus died of despair; and Venus, in compassion, 
 turned him into this river. 
 
 We had to embark again at two o'clock, and 
 the track followed by the steamboat enabled us 
 to have a distant view of Missolonghi. Placed 
 on level ground, its situation was totally diffe- 
 rent from what my imagination had drawn it 
 to me. I had figured it to myself, on a height, 
 and its defenders rushing down, as they cut 
 their way out of it, at its celebrated siege. It 
 has a thoroughly prosaic appearance. Evening 
 
1 92 WANDERINGS 
 
 closing in, I saw nothing more; and we had 
 anchored at Corfu before I had left my berth 
 on the morning of the 1 4th. 
 
 The health-officers came alongside, and the 
 usual formalities were gone through before the 
 vessel had free pratique. Presently up came a 
 very long boat, rowed by heaven knows how 
 many men. In the stern-sheets was a very 
 smart gentleman with mustachios, who, seeing 
 me leaning over the side, nodded very fami- 
 liarly ; being in an absent mood, I only recol- 
 lected the face, and nodded and smiled in 
 return. He came on deck ; and I then remem- 
 bered who he was, — a servant of Lord Seaton, 
 whom I had seen at Athens. He told me that the 
 Lord High Commissioner's boat was intended for 
 me, and that breakfast was ready at the palace. 
 I thought this very odd, and marvellously civil, 
 as I had only seen Lord Seaton once in my 
 life, and Lady Albert was not acquainted with 
 Lady Seaton. However, as I had despatches 
 for Lord Seaton, I thought that I might make 
 use of the boat : the breakfast was another 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 193 
 
 affair ; and I therefore said that we must first 
 go to the hotel. My friend made great diffi- 
 culty about this plan ; but I was not to be 
 caught, and the more so, as he dropped, in his 
 agreeable conversation, that Sir Edmund and 
 Lady Lyons had been expected by the same 
 steamer. Never was such good fortune as my 
 not having been taken in, — the invitation being 
 solely the impulse of my friend's own civility 
 and love of patronage. Lord and Lady Seaton 
 would have been not a little surprised, had two 
 comparative strangers marched in, at nine 
 o'clock in the morning, and coolly established 
 themselves at their breakfast-table. This would 
 indeed have been presuming upon the very great 
 hospitality and kindness which they exercised 
 towards all visiting the island, and which they 
 shewed towards ourselves. 
 
 The town of Corfu is beautifully situated, 
 near the sea, opposite the coast of Albania. It 
 is built on the sides and top of an eminence ; at 
 the south-eastern extremity of this eminence 
 rises a striking hill with two summits, upon 
 
 s 
 
1 94 WANDERINGS 
 
 one of which is a magazine ; the other is 
 covered with barracks, military hospitals, etc. 
 The whole forms a strong citadel that is con- 
 nected, by a draw-bridge, with the beautiful 
 esplanade forming the most agreeable feature of 
 the town. It is prettily laid out, surrounded 
 by trees, and commands fine views. At one 
 end is the palace called the Palace of St. 
 Michael and St. George ; a fine building, of 
 Maltese stone, with its first-floor devoted to the 
 Lord High Commissioner's apartments, and the 
 ground-floor to various public offices. One side 
 of the esplanade has some good houses, with 
 colonades. The rest of the town is not prepos- 
 sessing, though it has a very thriving appear- 
 ance. Its little Opera was described to me as 
 good. There are no sights beyond the mum- 
 mied body of St. Spiridion, kept in the rather 
 richly-decorated, small cathedral dedicated to 
 that saint. 
 
 Corfu was the ancient Corcyra. It was 
 also named Scheria, Phaeacia, and Drepanon. 
 It was an island of importance, and had a 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 195 
 
 powerful navy ; but few vestiges of antiquity 
 remain upon it, and fewer objects of antiquarian 
 interest have been found here, than upon the 
 other islands. In the centre of the mouth of 
 the harbour, is the little strongly-fortified 
 island of Vido, which assists its shelter. 
 
 We found the Club Hotel fair, and the bill 
 was very reasonable. There is a most obliging 
 English shop-keeper, Mr. Taylor, established at 
 Corfu; and we hired excellent carriages and 
 horses from Mr. Carter, an Englishman. 
 
 The short drive generally taken from the 
 town, is to the one-gun battery overhanging 
 the sea, and within sight of one of the two 
 islands, given as the Phaeacian galley, petrified 
 by Neptune for having conveyed Ulysses to 
 Ithaca. Near the town are numerous vegetable 
 gardens, — originally a speculation of some Mal- 
 tese, who first introduced into Corfu the culti- 
 vation of vegetables for the supply of the town. 
 
 The Ionian islanders are a dissatisfied race : 
 they have obtained liberty of the press within 
 the last two years ; it was, in fact, found better 
 
196 WANDERINGS 
 
 to give it them, to render the publishers of 
 papers responsible, and to check the mass of 
 inflammatory pamphlets, etc., that were printed 
 out of the islands and poured in upon the popu- 
 lation. The principal agitation appears to be, 
 at present, for freedom of election to their 
 legislative assembly, and their principal griev- 
 ance, that pensions granted to natives of Britain 
 for official duties in the islands, should be spent 
 out of their country : but many of their pub- 
 lications boldly declare the wish of the popula- 
 tion to be a separation from Great Britain, and 
 an annexation to Greece. They thank the 
 British for affording them protection whilst it 
 was required ; but affirm that they no longer 
 wish for it. The principal inhabitants en- 
 deavour to connect themselves with the Greek 
 families by marriage, and the population gene- 
 rally ape the Greeks, being as inferior to them 
 as is the monkey to its human prototype. 
 
 We drove to Paleacastrizza ; it is sixteen 
 miles from Corfu, on the north-western coast. 
 Having so lately left Greece, with her ne- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 197 
 
 glected resources, the higher state of cultivation 
 of Corfu, its thickly planted olive trees, and 
 fine roads running in every direction, struck us 
 more than they otherwise might have done. 
 The surface of the country undulates beauti- 
 fully ; and the charm of the island does not so 
 much consist in the simple, bold outline of 
 Greek scenery, as in the softness of the more 
 fertile parts of Italy. I thought that were I 
 to live out of England, no part of the world 
 would offer to me such attractions as Corfu, — 
 with its temperate climate and lovely scenery ; 
 as a sportsman, I should have first-rate shooting 
 on the coast of Albania, which is only sepa- 
 rated from it by a channel, varying from two to 
 twelve miles in breadth. I should have the 
 finest yachting, boating, and sea-fishing in the 
 world — all this, combined with the advantages 
 of a good town in Corfu, and the protection of 
 the British government ; regular communication 
 with England, and, above all, very cheap living. 
 Paleacastrizza is a monastic institution, now 
 only consisting of three nuns, a priest, a monk, 
 
 s2 
 
1 98 WANDERINGS 
 
 and a clerk. The salubrity of the situation 
 caused it at one time to be employed as a sort 
 of hospital for the invalids of the Garrison; but 
 now one English sergeant is alone quartered 
 there, who, with his wife, takes care of some 
 apartments, to which the Lord Commissioner's 
 family or British officers retire from the close 
 air of Corfu in the height of summer. It is on 
 very high ground, and with splendid views of 
 the Adriatic and of the coast of Corfu. 
 
 I did not fail to take advantage of Mr. 
 Woodehouse's kind permission to view his very 
 extraordinary series of Greek coins belonging 
 to the islands, formed during a residence of 
 thirty years ; he filled the office of treasurer. 
 He has also made an admirable collection of 
 objects of antiquity. I do not think that I ever 
 saw one so well selected, and so little encum- 
 bered by what I should call " rubbish' 1 . 
 
 At seven o'clock on the morning of the 17th, 
 we embarked on board a steamer which makes 
 a weekly tour of the islands. We were taken 
 on board by the Lord High Commissioner's 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 199 
 
 boat. My former friend, who again accom- 
 panied us, was, to my regret, far more subdued 
 in his manner, and thus not nearly so amusing. 
 We had a most entertaining fat captain, 
 evidently well known and a general favourite, 
 " Captain Gavaso " ; he told us that he had 
 been thirty-three years in the Adriatic. The 
 steamer was small and very crowded ; first and 
 second class passengers, without distinction, 
 slept in the main and lady's cabin. The good- 
 natured captain had to give up his own to 
 Lady Albert and to me. The passage was 
 amusing ; the cabin passengers were principally 
 merchants and landed proprietors, belonging to 
 the various islands: having formed an ac- 
 quaintance with one of them at Corfu, I soon 
 got acquainted with the rest; they fully 
 appreciated their own and each other's jokes 
 and fun, but were all desperate radicals, and 
 complained bitterly of the onerous export duties 
 laid upon the produce of their lands. They 
 represented them to be nearly twice as heavy 
 as those of the continent of Greece. To add 
 
200 WANDERINGS 
 
 to their difficulties, the growth of currants is 
 rapidly increasing in Greece, and the produce 
 is more esteemed than that of Zante; which, 
 again, is preferred to that of the other islands. 
 They were, also, uneasy lest the price of their 
 oil should not be kept up ; the only produce 
 about which they were in spirits, were their 
 wines — which they boasted as superior to any 
 grown in the Levant, and still capable of great 
 improvement. 
 
 Our course lay between the island and the 
 bold picturesque coast of Albania ; the steamer 
 just stopped off the small town of Leftimo, 
 some two miles inland of the coast. Our next 
 station was the little island of Paxos, cele- 
 brated for its oil; it is covered with olive 
 trees, averaging an annual crop worth one 
 hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Though 
 only four miles and a half long, by one and 
 a half broad, it has its miniature Lord High 
 Commissioner, in the person of the resident ; 
 its courts of law, and civil establishment, with 
 a military force of forty men. Once a week 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 201 
 
 the steamer supplies the British with vegeta- 
 bles and meat from Corfu, goats being its only 
 live stock. The inhabitants depend upon tanks 
 for water, or must bring it from the Albanian 
 coast. 
 
 The few houses forming the town are close 
 to the harbour, which is good. The little 
 island of Anti Paxos is separated from it by 
 a narrow channel. At the northern extremity 
 of the latter island is a curious rock, washed 
 by the sea into the shape of a tower; and 
 this is, again, fretted by the action of the 
 waves into grotesque shapes of animals, &c. 
 
 At about four o'clock we had anchored in 
 the harbour of Santa Maura, to the north-east 
 of the island of the same name. The captain 
 had his boat ready to take us on shore, the 
 moment that we had finished dinner: at this 
 dinner, the poor, dear captain, whilst employ- 
 ing his knife, with the greatest activity, in 
 the united services of spoon, knife, and fork, 
 missed his aim, and gave himself a dreadful 
 gash ; an accident that I had all my life ex- 
 pected to witness upon such occasions. 
 
202 WANDERINGS 
 
 Santa Maura, the ancient Leucadia, is only 
 separated from Acarnania by a swampy chan- 
 nel of two or three feet deep, and from one 
 hundred yards to a mile and a half in breadth ; 
 at the entrance of the channel there is a 
 fort garrisoned by British troops, who suffer 
 fearful ravages from the fevers which the 
 surrounding swamps produce in the autumn. 
 Some of the British officers and residents came 
 on board to inquire for parcels and newspapers, 
 and to hear the latest news ; the arrival of 
 the steamer being evidently a source of great 
 excitement in their banishment. They looked 
 as if the pestilential climate was telling upon 
 them, and it struck me as cruel, that they 
 should be condemned to this fort, (pest-house 
 as it is, and commanded by the opposite coast), 
 when there is a fine, healthy situation above 
 the town, which might be fitted, at a small 
 expense, for the reception of the troops. This 
 fort and the harbour are connected with the 
 mainland, and the town, by a trench cut 
 through the mud for a distance of about a 
 mile and a half. The town is large and very 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 203 
 
 populous; it has a curious appearance, from 
 the upper part of the houses being of wood; 
 earthquakes being awfully frequent there. The 
 two objects worth landing for, are the exquisite 
 inland view — for, when looking from the end 
 of the main street up towards the mountains 
 over the olive woods, it has much the cha- 
 racter of Sicilian scenery, — and a very curious 
 ruined bridge of prodigious length crossing the 
 swamp ; it must have connected the town with 
 the harbour. The government is cutting a 
 channel to enable vessels of burthen to pass 
 between the island and the main land, instead 
 of being compelled to sail round it ; the island 
 is twenty miles long, by about eight miles 
 wide, with a population of about eighteen 
 thousand souls. 
 
 It was ten o'clock when we got under weigh, 
 and I thus missed the great sight of the island, 
 called Sappho's leap — a rock of one hundred 
 and fifty feet in height, to the south-east of 
 the island, whence Sappho is said to have pre- 
 cipitated herself. 
 
204 WANDERINGS 
 
 It blew a gale of wind on the night of the 
 17th; Captain Gavaso's cabin did not protect 
 us from the horrible noises of sea sickness 
 which rose above the tempest. Unable to face 
 the weather, and perhaps, deservedly reckoned 
 a timid man, the captain went between Ithaca 
 and Cephalonia, and, to my great disappoint- 
 ment, anchored in the Bay of Samos instead of 
 at Argostoli. 
 
 Argostoli is a good town, where I purposed 
 passing two or three days for excursions in the 
 island ; but it would have been madness to 
 land at the little village of Samos, on a cold, 
 wet morning, trusting to the chance of finding 
 donkeys or mules to take me, Lady Albert, 
 servants, and baggage, to Argostoli, over the 
 ridge of the black mountain (the mount Enos 
 of old) that is four thousand, five hundred feet 
 in height, and that we could see was covered 
 with snow. I therefore had reluctantly to 
 abandon my purpose of visiting Cephalonia, 
 with its objects of natural as well as antiquarian 
 interest, and stick to the steamer. 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 205 
 
 The Bay of Samos has the appearance of a 
 large lake, shut in, as it is, by the island of 
 Ithaca. The ancient town of Samos, whence 
 came Penelope's twenty-four suitors, still pre- 
 sents fine remains of Cyclopean walls. The 
 site of the castle of Ulysses was pointed out to 
 me upon Ithaca, on the summit of mount 
 Aito — a round hill, standing perfectly distinct 
 from the other mountains forming the island. 
 Ithaca, like many other spots of classical in- 
 terest, surprises by the disparity between its 
 size and its celebrity. It is a rugged, moun- 
 tainous island, of eighteen miles in length, by 
 four in breadth. 
 
 We landed at Zante at about two o'clock. The 
 town is of great length, built round a bay, 
 which bears some faint resemblance to the bay of 
 Naples; but reversed, as Mount Skopo, which 
 would represent Mount Vesuvius, is at the 
 opposite side of the town. Captain Gavaso, 
 in the fulness of his heart, sent us on shore in 
 his own boat. We went to the miserable place 
 called the hotel : it was horribly filthy, and the 
 
206 WANDERINGS 
 
 prospect of vermin justly alarming. Some 
 merchants, to whom I had letters, called upon 
 me almost immediately after my arrival, and 
 promised to look out for lodgings for me : how- 
 ever, Colonel Hill, the British resident at Zante, 
 called upon us, and hospitably insisted upon 
 our going to his house. We only, therefore, 
 passed one night in the purgatory of the hotel. 
 
 We employed our time at Zante, viewing the 
 natural beauties of the island, for it possesses 
 no remains of antiquarian interest. The island 
 is sixty miles in circumference and very fer- 
 tile ; it has a plain, running from the northern 
 to the southern coast, bounded to the west by 
 a very high range of hills, and to the east by 
 Mount Skopo, formerly Mount Elatus; the 
 castle hill, and the eminences connected with 
 it. The views from these hills, down upon 
 the sea and upon the fertile plain, are beautiful 
 in the extreme, as is also that from the plain 
 up to the hills, which are studded by picturesque 
 villages and small country houses. The island 
 has acquired the rather exaggerated name of the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 207 
 
 " Fior di Levante". The inhabitants are very 
 proud of their country houses ; but those which 
 I was shown as specimens, resembled inferior 
 Italian villas; their gardens are not what in 
 England we should call, well kept. I went to 
 one beautiful garden, laid out on the side of 
 a hill in terraces, but the house belonging to 
 it lay in ruins, just as the earthquake, from 
 which it had suffered, had left it : these earth- 
 quakes are of great frequency, though the 
 inhabitants calculate that the severe shocks 
 only recur every twenty years; perhaps they 
 adopt this calculation from one of great 
 violence having occurred in December 1820, 
 and another in 1840. Very serious damage to 
 life and property was occasioned by both these 
 shocks. One was felt at six o'clock on the 
 morning of the 20th ; it was so slight as not to 
 awaken me. 
 
 We went with Colonel and Mrs. Hill, Colonel 
 Grubbe, and Count Metarci, to visit the celebrated 
 Pitch Wells, described by various classical wri- 
 ters. There is a fine carriage road as far as the 
 
208 WANDERINGS 
 
 little village of Litakia, but thence the road 
 winds for some miles by a rugged path, through 
 a mixture of rocky, barren land, and olive 
 plantations, to a marsh. On the edge of this, 
 at a short distance from the sea, is a circular 
 spring of about six feet in diameter ; the pitch 
 rises in very large bubbles, under the clear 
 spring water, which is about eighteen inches 
 deep, and not very disagreeable to the taste : 
 the bubbles burst, and then the pitch, if not 
 collected, runs off and flows with the water 
 into the sea. About three barrels of pitch may 
 be collected in a day ; upon analyzing it, it 
 proves to be pure petrolium, — it will not harden 
 unless mixed with pine pitch and lime. 
 
 In a cleft between two mountains, at a dis- 
 tance of about two miles from the Pitch Well, 
 is a round bason of very clear water ; attempts 
 have often been made — but without success — 
 to fathom its depth : it is confidently asserted 
 that a bull that fell into it reappeared at a 
 distance of four miles out at sea. The weather, 
 whilst I was at Zante, was too unsettled to 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 209 
 
 permit me to visit without danger the locality 
 known by the name of the Tallow Well, for 
 it can only be approached by water. It was 
 described to me as a fissure in a cliff upon the 
 sea, from which exudes a quantity of fatty 
 matter of most disagreeable smell ; this matter 
 flows into the sea, and I could not learn that 
 any experiment had ever been made to dis- 
 cover whether it would be serviceable, even as 
 manure. I did not consider it sufficiently 
 interesting to tempt me to run any risk in 
 visiting it. 
 
 Count Roma was good enough to show 
 me his celebrated collection of Greek coins ; 
 it is very large, but of no great value. As 
 it consists of between three and four thou- 
 sand pieces, it would indeed be extraordinary 
 were not some among them of great interest. 
 He had one coin that specially interested me ; 
 the reverse being that bell which has so puzzled 
 antiquarians, as the reverse of a coin belonging 
 to the island of Malta. 
 
 t2 
 
2 1 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Zante must be a place of dreadful banishment 
 for an Englishman. The Resident remains 
 there for a period of five years ; his small 
 salary is dearly earned, in despite of the charming 
 climate and tempting situation of the official 
 residence. 
 
 We heard, whilst at dinner, the report of the 
 gun fired from the steamer which each fortnight 
 is the medium of communication between the 
 Ionian islands and Malta. We had no time to 
 lose, for her commander did not anchor, but 
 waited, with the steam up, in the roadstead, for 
 the boat bearing the letters. We took a hurried 
 leave of Mrs. Hill, and hastened into Colonel 
 Hill's boat. He accompanied us on board, and 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 211 
 
 it was very fortunate that he did so, for Lieu- 
 tenant Glinn refused us a passage, upon the 
 plea of want of accommodation, — not without 
 some reason, the Locust being a very small 
 vessel, with only one cabin for passengers. 
 Colonel Hill long used in vain the influence of 
 an acquaintance and of his official situation, 
 whilst persuading him to take us. At length, 
 finding that he had no alternative but that of 
 ordering his men to remove us by force, for we 
 would not listen to his objections, he gave way. 
 Much as we dreaded the appearance of the 
 Locust, we felt that we could not trespass upon 
 Colonel Hill's hospitality till the arrival of 
 another steamer, in a fortnight. 
 
 When Lieutenant Glinn found resistance 
 vain, he gave up his own cabin to Lady Albert, 
 and did all in his power to accommodate us. 
 We did not long congratulate ourselves upon 
 having obtained our wishes. We had dreadful 
 weather for the first six and-thirty hours of our 
 passage, with the wind from the north-east ; 
 and the Locust laboured, as I never felt vessel 
 
212 WANDERINGS 
 
 labour before, in the trough of the heavy sea 
 that got up. 
 
 One unfortunate Maltese gentleman, our only 
 fellow-passenger, appeared to think that his last 
 hour was come ; and as for Lady Albert, she 
 stoutly refused to touch food or to move out of 
 her berth when the weather moderated, till we 
 were safely anchored in the harbour of Malta, 
 at two o'clock in the morning of the 26th. 
 
 Lieutenant Glinn sent us on shore in his gig. 
 We knocked up the waiters at Baker's hotel, 
 and after a few hours' sleep, whilst sitting at 
 breakfast in the apartments that we had before 
 occupied, with the band playing in the square 
 before the palace, we felt as if our absence from 
 Malta had been the previous night's dream. 
 
 I unpacked with trembling hands the vases 
 which had preceded me to Malta. They had 
 all escaped the perils of the journey ; not one 
 had been injured. The unpacking, cleaning, 
 and repacking for their journey to England was 
 great occupation for me, whilst passing the few 
 days that intervened till the French steamer 
 sailed for the Italian coast and Marseilles. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 213 
 
 On the second of April, at ten o'clock, we 
 embarked on board the Alexandre, a fine-looking 
 vessel, with excellent accommodation. We put 
 into Messina for a few hours on our passage. 
 The town was a sad wreck. Three forts on 
 the inland side, were vast masses of ruin ; 
 whilst the only remaining fort on the outer 
 side of the harbour, appeared grimly waiting to 
 destroy the town in case of necessity. The 
 southern suburbs were in ruins, and many of 
 that fine row of houses forming the Marina, 
 were riddled by shot. The Alexandre had been 
 in Messina for some days during the late con- 
 test, and her officers gave me some painful 
 accounts of it. I heard from them, as well as 
 from an English gentleman, a resident at Mes- 
 sina, that it was Neapolitan money, and not 
 their arms, that had taken the town, for that 
 many of the Sicilian leaders had been bought. 
 Three days' sack kad been promised the troops ; 
 but after the town had suffered, during four-and- 
 twenty hours, atrocities that the imagination of 
 demons alone could have invented, the com- 
 
214 WANDERINGS 
 
 manders of the English and French vessels of 
 war remonstrated, and the total destruction of 
 Messina was thus prevented. The soldiers had 
 been provided with canteens filled with a sort 
 of combustible stuff, to be applied by a brush 
 and with lucifer matches, for firing the town ; 
 and certainly they used them effectually in the 
 southern suburb, the only one that they had 
 spare time from their other enormities to destroy. 
 These statements were not merely assertions, 
 for pains had been taken to render them capable 
 of being proved. 
 
 The whole Neapolitan force had left Messina 
 the day before we arrived there, upon that ex- 
 pedition against Catania, that ended in three 
 days' sack of that unfortunate town. 
 
 The principal performers of an Opera, that 
 had been sent to Messina, apparently for the 
 amusement of the troops (for the inhabitants 
 had no spirits for such entertainments), re- 
 turned by the Alexandre to Naples. The first 
 tenor was a very good-looking young fellow, of 
 about one-and-twenty : he was remarkably well 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 215 
 
 dressed. The prima donna made a sad appear- 
 ance without rouge, and in her slovenly travel- 
 ling dress. These two were objects of worship 
 to their companions, as well as to several mus- 
 tachiod, dingy-looking men, with satin stocks 
 and collarless shirts, who had come with us 
 from Malta. Sea sickness, soon after they came 
 on board, levelled all distinctions amongst them 
 and cooled the attentions of their admirers. 
 They suffered dreadfully whilst the Alexandre 
 rolled about ; for she proved a sad impostor, 
 being a bad sea-boat. Her boilers were so out 
 of repair, that their leakage rendered it a matter 
 of difficulty to keep up the fires, and after a 
 bad passage, she hobbled into Naples in a very 
 crippled condition. 
 
 We landed at the custom-house, at about two 
 o'clock on the afternoon of the 4th, in the 
 Babel of tongues, and in the confusion, with 
 which every thing must be done at Naples. 
 The authorities, being nervously sensitive to 
 the chance of any foreign publications being 
 introduced into the country that might add to 
 
216 WANDERINGS 
 
 the excitement of public opinion, have quite 
 altered the old system, by which a trifling bribe 
 would pass luggage unexamined, and nothing 
 could exceed the rigour with which our passport 
 was verified and baggage ransacked. 
 
 I had not seen Naples for seventeen years : I 
 could perceive no alterations in the town ; but 
 I thought that I saw a very marked difference 
 in the character of the people. The light- 
 headedness and gaity amongst the very lowest 
 of the populace, peculiar to Naples, and which 
 added such a charm to the scenes that I re- 
 membered, was gone, and replaced by the 
 matter-of-fact appearance of the inhabitants of 
 other towns : — it was the buoyancy of youth 
 converted into the gravity of discontented 
 middle age. At first, I feared that my own 
 advancing years caused me to view things under 
 a different aspect, and that what had charmed 
 and amused a young man, no longer had the 
 same effect upon one now blase and middle-aged. 
 I was comforted to find that this was not the 
 case ; but that the character of the Neapolitan 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 217 
 
 population had indeed undergone a change 
 within the last few years. It did not look 
 the happier for having turned its thoughts to 
 political agitation. The two parties opposed to 
 each other had divided Naples between them. 
 The lazzaroni, and those of the lower orders 
 inhabiting the vicinity of the sea, called them- 
 selves royalists ; those living on the inland side 
 of the Toledo were constitutionalists. Patrols 
 of cavalry and infantry were incessantly moving 
 through the streets, to show that the authorities 
 were prepared, should any disturbances arise. 
 
 Our first drive from Naples was to Baia — 
 that Baia so celebrated as the most favourite 
 of all the haunts of pleasure of the Romans. 
 Besides the invalids who flocked there to obtain 
 relief from the healing springs and warm sul- 
 phur baths, a much larger number of persons in 
 health assembled there in pursuit of pleasure, 
 and solely devoted to enjoyment in any shape : 
 the licentiousness which was veiled in the me- 
 tropolis, was there openly displayed. Seneca 
 called it a seat of voluptuousness and a harbour 
 
 u 
 
2 I 8 WANDERINGS 
 
 of vice, and was so disgusted with the life led 
 there, that he left it on the second day after his 
 arrival. 
 
 The bay was surrounded by palaces built 
 into the sea for salubrity, and which were suffi- 
 ciently lofty to command extended views ; 
 whilst the heights were covered by villas of less 
 pretensions. The beauty of the scenery remains 
 as in the days of the Romans, and the climate 
 as genial ; but the vestiges of its splendour 
 consist but in the ruins of three baths, now 
 termed, respectively, the temples of Diana, of 
 Mercury, and the temple of Venus. The baths 
 must have been of enormous size ; but all 
 those luxurious decorations have disappeared, 
 for which they were celebrated, and that were 
 much as those described by Seneca in his 
 eighty-sixth letter, when, after mentioning the 
 simplicity of the baths of the great Scipio, he 
 continues : " But who would now submit to 
 bathe in this fashion ? He would consider him- 
 self poor and sordid, whose walls shone not 
 with precious materials ; unless the marbles of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 219 
 
 Egypt be picked out by those of Numidia, and 
 the walls laboriously inlaid with them, in imita- 
 tion of painting ; unless the Thasian stone — 
 formerly a rare sight, even in a temple — sur- 
 round those basons into which we cast our 
 bodies weakened by perspiration ; unless silver 
 pipes bring the water. And, as yet, I only 
 speak of plebeian baths : what must I say of 
 those of freedmen ? What numbers of statues ; 
 what numbers of columns supporting nothing, 
 but placed as ornaments, for the sake of ex-* 
 pense; what quantities of water, producing 
 noise by tumbling down steps. We have 
 reached that degree of luxury, that it would 
 appear as if we could only tread upon precious 
 stones." 
 
 Fragments of mosaic upon the ceilings and 
 walls, alone mark that these baths were de- 
 corated ; and even these are fast disappearing, 
 as they are sold for relics to visitors. 
 
 The passion for bathing must have amounted 
 to a mania with the Romans: the noblest 
 women visited the baths, as well as the men ; 
 
220 WANDERINGS 
 
 and that habit arose, of men and women bathing 
 together, often alluded to by Juvenal and Mar- 
 tial. Hadrian was the first to endeavour to 
 check these improprieties ; but he only suc- 
 ceeded for a short period; and the renewal, 
 afterwards, of these interdicts, shews that the 
 evil could not easily be eradicated. It is given 
 as an instance of the extent to which luxury 
 was carried, that Nero's ladies used to bathe in 
 asses' milk ; but it will be perhaps remembered, 
 that a well-known lady of fashion, in our own 
 country, and in the present century, made use 
 of milk-baths, that were supposed to find their 
 way, afterwards, into the milk-pails supplying 
 the town. Baia retained its reputation as a 
 haunt of pleasure and of vice, through the 
 middle ages. 
 
 The tour which the laquais-de -place compels 
 his victim to take, when visiting Baia, includes 
 Pozzuoli, Bauli, and Misene. He conducts 
 him over ruins and vaults that belonged to 
 celebrated villas; shews him wonders of ma- 
 sonry, in the cisterns and the amphitheatre, 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 221 
 
 with an interesting and ancient temple, that 
 was dedicated to Serapis ; he also makes him 
 look at the Port of Misene. Such was our fate ; 
 and we fell in with another party, guide-book 
 in hand, undergoing precisely the same course 
 of treatment. 
 
 We had a succession of rainy days, so that it 
 was some time before we could visit Hercula- 
 neum or Pompeii. Of Herculaneum, but a 
 small portion is exposed to view, the towns of 
 Resina and Portici having been built over it, 
 upon repeated layers of lava. The process of 
 clearing has been very laborious ; and, to avoid 
 the extra labour of raising the quarried mate- 
 rials to the surface, from a depth of seventy or 
 eighty feet, former excavations have been filled 
 up from the later excavations. Only a small 
 portion of the town has been bared. The 
 theatre, which must be viewed by torch-light, 
 gives the idea of a modern coal-pit, whilst 
 galleries, cut in the black-looking lava, are 
 being paced ; it has, however, been a rich mine 
 for valuable objects of art. It was decorated 
 
 u2 
 
222 WANDERINGS 
 
 with statues and columns : of these, four eques- 
 trian statues were in gilded bronze. 
 
 At Herculaneum were found a vast number 
 of papyri: at first, they were supposed to be 
 merely charred wood, and many were therefore 
 thrown aside; but in excavating under the 
 garden of St. Augustin, at Portici, a country 
 house of a very superior order was discovered, 
 that had a garden leading down to the sea, 
 adorned with columns, marble busts, and 
 bronze statues, with a summer-house contain- 
 ing numerous mosaics. In clearing out one of 
 the rooms of this house, a number of car- 
 bonized rolls were found, so symmetrically 
 arranged as to attract attention ; and an 
 inspector of the excavations, named Paderni, 
 made out that they were inscribed with Greek 
 characters. 
 
 The Herculaneum rolls are written with a 
 preparation like our Indian ink; and, if the 
 writing be held towards the light, it appears 
 in slight relief. The material written upon 
 was the bark of the Egyptian papyrus, care- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 223 
 
 fully prepared and bleached ; as it was brought 
 into the greatest state of perfection at the time 
 of Augustus, the best kind was called after 
 him ; the second best after Livia. Charles the 
 Third, who was king of Naples at the time 
 of this discovery, had about eighteen hundred 
 of these rolls taken to the museum at Portici, 
 whence they were again moved to the Museo 
 Reale Bourbonico, by Ferdinand the First, in 
 1816, with the other collections which he 
 deposited there. It was long before a method 
 to unroll them could be invented. Antonio 
 Piazzi, an ecclesiastic, has the merit of the 
 simple apparatus by which they are now 
 unrolled. Being written only on one side, the 
 exterior is stuck upon gold beater's skin, and 
 this is raised by two wires ; the outer fold of 
 the papyrus is then separated from the next, 
 and, as unrolled, continues to be stuck upon 
 fresh skin. It is a process requiring great 
 delicacy of touch. About five hundred of these 
 manuscripts have been deciphered. 
 
 Pompeii is now reached by the railway that 
 
224 WANDERINGS 
 
 connects Naples with Nocera, and this facility 
 of access, renders it no longer what Sir Walter 
 Scott termed it, when on visiting it, he 
 exclaimed, "this is, indeed, the city of the 
 dead". Joyous parties of visitors cause the 
 walls to resound, and the contrast between 
 these thoughtless butterflies, and the scenes 
 which they have chosen for their fluttering, is 
 not without its effect. 
 
 The railway station is surrounded by men- 
 dicants of every description, to torment and 
 distract the attention of the unfortunate 
 antiquary. Some are musicians playing the 
 Tarantelle, others are dancing to the music; 
 some accompany their own singing by their 
 guitars ; there are blind and lame beggars ; 
 many compel charity by the disgust of their 
 deformities, and others alarm women into it 
 by their gibbering as idiots. All this, though 
 provoking, forms a very curious scene; and 
 as we left the station and returned to it, 
 escorted by all these individuals, and followed 
 by our English servants, we must have amused 
 all who saw us. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 225 
 
 Far less labour has been required for excava- 
 ting at Pompeii than at Herculaneum. It was 
 buried under a mass of pumice-stone and ashes, 
 to a depth of about fourteen feet; and it is 
 bared with comparative ease. The ashes are 
 supposed to have fallen in a shower, being 
 mixed with boiling water. Successive layers of 
 these ashes are distinctly to be traced ; eight of 
 them have been counted ; the lowest has been 
 moved, whilst the others have not. From this 
 appearance, and from many of the houses having 
 been evidently ransacked previous to the later 
 excavations, it is supposed that many of the in- 
 habitants returned, to endeavour to save what 
 they could of this ruined property, and that the 
 town has been again and again covered by fresh 
 showers of ashes at various periods. The late 
 Lord Dudley and Ward aptly termed it "a 
 town potted for the use of antiquaries". 
 
 The king has ordered one house, that has 
 been lately excavated, to be left precisely as it 
 was found, with its statues and its frescoes 
 undisturbed. This is useful, as it enables the 
 
226 WANDERINGS 
 
 visitor more readily to understand the plan of 
 the other houses, all having been built upon 
 very much the same model, only varying in size 
 and extent of accommodation. Even in the best 
 houses the rooms were small. All had gardens 
 attached to them. The space being limited, 
 they made up for want of extent by painting 
 the walls of the gardens so as to represent trees 
 with birds in them, shrubs, and flowers. Much 
 bad taste is shewn in the gaudiness* and general 
 decorations of those little gardens, when com- 
 pared with the artistic skill of the other frescoes, 
 of the mosaics and statues, as well as with the 
 beauty and good taste of the various articles 
 that have been found. 
 
 The houses of the richer classes were usually 
 surrounded by shops, which they let out to hire, 
 and from which they derived a considerable 
 source of revenue. This was also the habit in 
 other towns, for Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, 
 mentions the ruinous state into which his shops 
 had fallen ; so much so, that not only the men, 
 but the mice had quitted them ; and an inscrip- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 227 
 
 tion at Pompeii states, that one Julia Felix 
 possessed nine hundred of these shops. A baker's 
 shop is attached to the house termed " the house 
 of Sallust" ; another to that of Panza. 
 
 The principal charm of visiting Pompeii, con- 
 sists in the traces of every-day life that are to 
 be seen. The piece of marble left half worked 
 by the mason ; the stains upon the counters in 
 the shops, from the wet glasses set down upon 
 them ; the ill-written names of the owners of 
 the various houses ; the scrawled inscriptions 
 and notices upon the walls, in many places de- 
 faced and again covered by other inscriptions ; 
 the marks of .the chariot wheels in the streets ; 
 that of the feet of the passengers upon the foot 
 pavement ; the worn resting-places for the feet in 
 the waiting-room of the public baths, shewing 
 that some were peculiarly favourite seats ; the 
 rings pierced in the curb-stone before a shop, to 
 which beasts of burthen might be fastened whilst 
 their owners dealt within; — these are the sort of 
 things that give a special interest to Pompeii. 
 After visiting it and inspecting, at the Museo 
 
228 WANDERINGS 
 
 Bourbonico, the mass of articles, sacrificial, 
 military, domestic, and for personal ornament, 
 that are preserved there, Bulwer's " Last Days 
 of Pompeii " made me feel as if I had actually 
 lived amongst beings who existed eighteen hun- 
 dred years since. Strabo (lib. v.) gives the fol- 
 lowing account of the position and origin of 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii : " Next to Neapolis 
 is Herculaneum, standing on a promontory re- 
 markably open to the south-west wind, which 
 makes it unusually healthy. This city and its 
 next neighbour, Pompeii, on the river Sarnus, 
 were originally held by the Osci, then by 
 the Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians, then by the 
 Samnites, who in their turn were expelled by 
 the Romans. It is the port of Nola, Nuceria, 
 and Acerrse, being situated on the river Sarnus, 
 which is suited for the exportation and im- 
 portation of cargoes. Above these places rises 
 Vesuvius ; well cultivated and inhabited all 
 round, except its top, which is for the most 
 part level and entirely barren, covered with 
 ashes, and displaying cavernous hollows in rocks 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 22§ 
 
 which look as if they had been burned in the 
 fire ; so that we may suppose this spot to have 
 been formerly a volcano with burning craters, 
 now extinguished for want of fuel.' 11 
 
230 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 On the 23rd of April, we ascended Mount 
 Vesuvius; that extraordinary volcano, which, 
 after being dormant for so many ages that 
 even traditions of its eruptions were lost in 
 time, burst forth afresh, a.d. 79, causing the 
 most awful destruction of property. 
 
 No exertion is required for this expedition ; 
 a capital carriage- road leads from the town of 
 Resina up to the government building erected 
 for meteorological observations, close to the 
 well-known hermitage. About three-fourths 
 of the ascent can thus be mounted ; some 
 distance is then ridden, and the summit may 
 finally be reached in a chair carried on men's 
 shoulders. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 231 
 
 It had been a bad year for the guides, from 
 the few travellers who had visited Naples, and 
 they determined to make all they could out 
 of us. I had sent on the previous day to 
 Salvatore, the guide principally employed, 
 giving him notice that three persons would 
 ascend. When we reached the little town of 
 Kesina, we found it in a state of great 
 excitement; all the idlers, who hope to gain 
 something by those who visit Vesuvius, were 
 assembled round Salvatore's house, and every 
 available horse and mule that could not find 
 standing room in his little court-yard, was 
 squealing and fighting in the street without. 
 
 Salvatore would not hear of our quietly 
 driving up to the hermitage, but made us start 
 from his house in procession. Lady Albert, 
 her maid, and myself, were all the party, but 
 he had made preparations more suited for 
 twenty persons. I was, alas ! a " Milord An- 
 glais", and to suffer accordingly. Salvatore's 
 face lengthened when I told him that I should 
 settle with him alone, at the regular fixed price, 
 
232 WANDERINGS 
 
 for horses and a reasonable number of bearers 
 and idlers. 
 
 The hermitage is reached without difficulty ; 
 the hermit is but a regular innkeeper, who, 
 with one assistant, drives a stirring trade 
 in the wine, fruit, bread, and eggs, — of 
 which, all who visit Vesuvius think it a sort 
 of duty to partake ; and who, in his turn, has 
 to part with his gains to the peasantry of the 
 adjacent country, who make parties to rob 
 him. Here Salvatore assembled his forces of 
 guides, bearers, and idlers. Though it was in 
 the middle of the day, one man was provided 
 with torches ; but to this hour I know not for 
 what purpose they were intended. A soldier, 
 also, insisted upon being an escort, against the 
 possible brigands of the mountain. 
 
 We soon entered upon the table-land lying 
 between Monte Somma and Vesuvius; it has 
 the appearance of an extinct crater, and I 
 amused myself by fancying it the very spot 
 where Spartacus encamped with his band of 
 insurgent slaves and gladiators. It is well- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 233 
 
 known that it was on Vesuvius that he 
 encamped, and the aspect of the place tallies 
 with the description. " The Romans besieged 
 them in their fort, situate upon a hill that 
 had a very steep and narrow ascent to it, and 
 kept the passage up to them. All the rest 
 of the ground round about it, was nothing 
 but high rocks hanging over, and upon them 
 great store of wild vines". It had a strange, 
 wild appearance, and looked very much like 
 the approach to the infernal regions, or 
 some English mining district, upon a gigantic 
 scale. 
 
 There had been a slight eruption high on the 
 south-eastern side of the mountain, which spared 
 us the trouble of mounting to the summit. 
 Several streamlets of lava trickling forth gave a 
 good idea of what the effect would be when 
 appearing on a larger scale. The largest stream 
 issued very slowly, like molten ore from a fur- 
 nace, with scoria, representing the dross, floating 
 upon it. It rapidly crusted over. When sufrj - 
 ciently cool to be walked upon, the effect to the 
 
 x2 
 
234 WANDERINGS 
 
 tread was much like walking upon strongly 
 frozen snow. There were a good many round 
 apertures scattered about, of very trifling width, 
 but which appeared of awful depth. Some were 
 throwing up volumes of smoke ; others only 
 heated air, with suffocating fumes of brimstone. 
 The remark of Lady Albert's maid, when peer- 
 ing into one of them was, " Lor, if it is not for 
 all the world like looking down a London 
 chimney !" I cannot vouch for the correctness 
 of this simile from personal observation, but I 
 imagine it to be apt. The chair bearers earned 
 their hire without much fatigue ; the apertures 
 and the lava are approached over large cinders 
 and scoria ; Lady Albert was seated upon a 
 chair upon the shoulders of six men j but from 
 the rolling gait of the bearers, produced partly 
 from the real ruggedness of the way, partly 
 from their anxiety to shew the labour with 
 which they earned their reward, she took fright, 
 screamed aloud for mercy, and begged only to 
 be carried where there was good walking ground 
 of ashes, — trusting to Salvatore's arm, and a 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 235 
 
 stick for the bad passes. The maid got on 
 well enough : two stout young fellows gave her 
 each an arm, and half carried, half led her along. 
 After passing a short time scrambling about 
 the lava, admiring the exquisite beauty of the 
 views, and, of course, eating luncheon, we made 
 our way back to where we had left our horses. 
 We stopped for Lacryma Christi at the her- 
 mitage, and then rode back to Resina. After 
 settling with Salvatore his by no means un- 
 reasonable charges, we attempted to start for 
 Naples ; but no imagination could possibly con- 
 ceive the scene outside the house, from the mob 
 of people of every sort and kind, of some who 
 had, and others who had not, accompanied us 
 upon our expedition, but all clamouring for 
 money, though fully understanding that Salva- 
 tore had been amply paid for all who had earned 
 money by accompanying us. They raved with 
 excitement ; and the laquais-de-place's coat was 
 converted into a jacket, as he tore himself out 
 of their hands and scrambled up behind the 
 
236 WANDERINGS 
 
 We had left Naples at twelve o'clock, and 
 had returned there in time for dinner, and for 
 the opera at San Carlos. 
 
 Oh, the daily labour that I allotted to myself, 
 and in which I persevered without respite or 
 flinching, to get through the various sights ! 
 Forty -six churches are reckoned worth seeing ; 
 some for the splendour of the marbles that 
 adorn them, others for pictures ; the Santa 
 Maria della Pieta, de' Principi di Sansavero for 
 its marble effigy of the Saviour, extended and 
 enveloped in a winding sheet, for the statues of 
 the man entangled in a net, and of the veiled 
 female figure. Some must be visited for me- 
 dieval monuments ; the Santa Chiara for its 
 towers, and the tombs of the Neapolitan kings. 
 
 Then there are the catacombs, which are 
 much more lofty than those at Malta, but not 
 to be compared to them for extent. Here, as 
 at Malta, are niches for lamps attached to each 
 sepulchre. The Campo Santo must be seen, with 
 its gaudy resting-places for the clay of the rich, 
 and its awful, but disgusting receptacle for the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 237 
 
 poor. Here there are three hundred and sixty- 
 five pits ; one of these is alternately opened on 
 each day of the year, and into it are indiscrimi- 
 nately thrown the bodies of all whose survivors 
 have not the means or the will to provide an 
 expensive but decent interment. It gave me a 
 sickening sensation, which habit could not over- 
 come, to see, each evening, hearses of various 
 sorts driving rapidly about the streets, to convey 
 with indecent haste the dead to their long home. 
 The Museo Bourbonico requires days for 
 even a slight examination. It is classified into 
 fourteen compartments ; the first contains the 
 frescoes and mosaics ; the second, Egyptian an- 
 tiquities ; the third, marble statues and bas- 
 reliefs; the fourth, inscriptions, with the Farnese 
 Hercules, and the group with the Bull, from 
 the sauie collection ; the fifth, the bronze sta- 
 tues ; the sixth, works of medieval art, ancient 
 glass, and pottery ; the seventh, gold and silver 
 ornaments, cameos, and intaglios, eatables and 
 colours from Herculaneum and Pompeii, with 
 various kinds of tissues ; the eighth, coins and 
 
238 WANDERINGS 
 
 medals ; the ninth, a collection too improper to 
 be shewn ; the tenth, bronze articles of every 
 sort and for every possible use ; the eleventh, 
 vases of pottery; the twelfth, paintings and cork 
 models ; the thirteenth, Herculaneum papyri ; 
 the fourteenth, the library, taking up the whole 
 upper story of the building, and containing two 
 hundred thousand volumes: of these, three thou- 
 sand are manuscripts. The principal room for 
 this vast mass of books is of enormous size ; it 
 measures one hundred and seventy feet eight 
 inches, by sixty feet three inches. 
 
 This splendid museum was founded by Fer- 
 dinand the First, in 1816; and he directed that 
 all the treasures of literature, of the fine arts, 
 and of antiquity, preserved in the different 
 palaces, should be there collected : the royal 
 palaces, of which there are six, are thus de- 
 prived of any objects of interest. Noble apart- 
 ments are paced by the visitor, but they contain 
 little to attract his attention : however, they 
 have all fine pleasure-grounds attached to them, 
 and command views of exquisite loveliness. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 239 
 
 There are no less than twenty private col- 
 lections, principally of paintings, that may be 
 viewed upon application through proper chan- 
 nels : of these, the most interesting to me was 
 that of the Marquis Santangelo, lately Minister 
 of the Interior. Pictures I do not understand ; 
 but I was told that those in his collection were 
 invaluable. His collection of ancient vases, 
 bronzes, coins, and glass, I did understand, and 
 imagine it to be the finest in the world, after 
 the leading national collections. Whilst he was 
 in office, all those who wished to obtain favours, 
 fancied that they would gain his good will by 
 presenting him something to add to his collec- 
 tion ; and, in addition to this, he spared no 
 money where his superior taste told him it 
 would be well laid out. He possesses two basso 
 relievos in mosaic, that are very nearly unique. 
 Lord Pembroke, at Wilton, had, or still has in 
 his possession, a mosaic of this nature that 
 would be envied by any crowned head for his 
 national museum, and one I afterwards saw in 
 the Museum at Lyons. His collection of rhytons 
 
240 WANDERINGS 
 
 is decidedly unrivalled; they are drinking cups, 
 modelled after animal or human heads, or to 
 represent grotesque figures : they were so made, 
 that, when held on high, the liquid might be 
 poured into the mouth through a small aperture. 
 
 The cabinet of bronzes and vases formed by 
 the British minister, Mr. Temple, though small, 
 displays the most perfect taste in its selection. 
 Besides all these sights, there are, at least, 
 eighteen villas that the laquais-de-place urges 
 his employer to visit, that he may divide the 
 fee given to the servants as a bribe for shewing 
 them. 
 
 The view of Naples and of its immediate 
 neighbourhood, that most interested me, was 
 that from the Carthusian monastery of St. Mar- 
 tino. This building is situated just under the 
 castle of St. Elmo, upon the hill of St. Erasmo, 
 commonly called St. Elmo. It gives distant 
 views of the Bay of Naples and its islands, with 
 a part of Campania, and has the town of Naples 
 so immediately beneath it, that every street and 
 building can be distinguished: the sounds rising 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 241 
 
 from the town, and softened by distance, pre- 
 cisely resemble the hum of a bee-hive when its 
 inmates have entered it for the night. The 
 church belonging to the convent is a mass of 
 splendour, in marbles and pietra dura of the 
 rarest sort, and contains paintings of the greatest 
 beauty. Its treasury is curious, from a number 
 of glazed niches, each filled by the labelled 
 bones of some saint or martyr, and there is 
 placed the celebrated picture, by Ribera, of the 
 descent from the cross. The vestibule leading 
 to the treasury, is ornamented by a number of 
 chefs-cFceuvre in marqueterie. I never saw any 
 thing that excelled them, in any of those pic- 
 tures, in marqueterie, executed by first-rate 
 artists in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. 
 It is unfortunate that the marqueteur's name 
 should be lost. The exterior of the convent, 
 when I visited it, had just been furnished with 
 a new wall, well provided with loop-holes, 
 by his Majesty of the Two Sicilies. It com- 
 mands the town, and evidently shows that, in 
 his fancy for the paternal mode of rule, he 
 
242 WANDERINGS 
 
 did not intend to neglect giving his children 
 a very good punishing should they prove 
 unruly. Time will show whether all his pre- 
 cautions, and his severities, will enable him 
 to overcome the popular desire for a more 
 liberal form of government. For the last year 
 he has not ventured to show himself in public. 
 The Queen is and always was unpopular ; she 
 is a thrifty housewife, and therefore the very 
 tradespeople whom she employs, dislike her. 
 After all she is only prudent in looking after 
 their bills ; and I respected her for an anecdote 
 that Madame Bolton, the mistress of the cele- 
 brated coral shop, told us in great wrath. 
 
 The Queen had ordered an album to be 
 mounted in coral, after a design of her own ; 
 when it was sent to the palace, she considered 
 the price exorbitant, and would not take it; 
 about a week afterwards she changed her 
 mind, and sent for it; to Madame Bolton's 
 delight the album had been already sold to 
 a Russian princess. Amusing stories are told 
 of her care for the durability as well as the 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 243 
 
 price of her children's boots and shoes. She 
 will, indeed, make an admirable wife, if the 
 King should have to retire into private life. 
 
 A very pretty drive may be taken along 
 the tops of the hills from St. Elmo, passing 
 over the summit of the tunneled hill of 
 Posilipo, and getting into the Strada Nuova. 
 An important and interesting fact was told 
 us ; that this was the favourite and almost 
 daily drive of the " reine m£re" — vulgo, 
 queen dowager. 
 
244 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTEK XL 
 
 In true English fashion, we determined to 
 follow the tract generally taken by our fellow- 
 countrymen in visiting Capri and Pcestum ; and 
 we, therefore, set off by the railway, which, 
 branching at Torre Annunziata, connects both 
 Nocera and Castellamare with Naples. 
 
 This railway is the property of a company ; 
 the only other Neapolitan railway — that lead- 
 ing to Capua — is government property. It 
 can give but a poor return to the share- 
 holders, if one may judge from Lady Albert 
 and myself being the only first-class passengers 
 in the train by which we went to Castel- 
 lamare. This was unfortunate in two respects ; 
 it was bad for the shareholders and worse for 
 us, as it caused the whole swarm of porters, 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 245 
 
 hack-carriage drivers, idlers, and beggars, to 
 fasten upon us when the train reached its 
 destination. By their combined annoyance 
 they very nearly drove me into a state of dis- 
 traction, and it was only by a strong effort 
 of self-command that I could resist making 
 my way through them by blows. 
 
 We took refuge in a carriage and drove to 
 Salerno. Castellamare, the ancient Stabiae, is 
 the favourite summer residence of Anglo- 
 Neapolitans, and is a flourishing town, with 
 numerous villas built around it, and with a 
 royal palace. Ninety-one years before Christ, 
 in the Social or Marsic war, Stabias raised the 
 standard of revolt with the other Campanian 
 towns. The Romans then destroyed it, and 
 scattered villas were built upon its site ; these 
 were buried with Herculaneum and Pompeii : 
 and have been in later years laid open for the 
 benefit of the curious. 
 
 We drove to Sorento by a road shaded by 
 orange groves. There I hoisted Lady Albert 
 upon a donkey, and leaving the servants and 
 
 y2 
 
246 WANDERINGS 
 
 luggage to establish themselves in a boat, we 
 made our way along the coast to the village of 
 Masa, where there is a government establish- 
 ment for invalid soldiers. Upon going down 
 to the shore, we found our boat in readiness, 
 and every available chair from the village placed 
 in a line to it, down the beach ; a mob of men, 
 women, and children, on each side of them, 
 were endeavouring even to touch them, that 
 they might claim a reward for assisting us. To 
 satisfy this mob would have been impossible; 
 I collected a number of halfpence from the 
 laquais-de~place, servants, and boatmen, and 
 gave them a scramble. As if by magic, a crowd 
 of dirty faces was converted into a confused 
 mass of bare legs, and not a face reappeared for 
 several minutes after we had pushed off from 
 the shore, and had started for the island of Capri. 
 We were about two hours rowing to the island. 
 On approaching the landing-place, two little 
 boats, each sculled by one man, came off to us ; 
 they accompanied us three miles along the 
 coast, under high and precipitous cliffs; we 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 247 
 
 then had reached the entrance to the cele- 
 brated blue grotto. Lady Albert placed herself 
 at the stern, and I at the head of one of the 
 little boats ; and the man sculling warned us 
 not to raise our heads above the gunwale. The 
 light air of wind was off the land, still there 
 was a slight swell, that occasionally almost filled 
 the low and narrow fissure in the cliff, through 
 which our boatman, watching his opportunity, 
 passed the boat, and, within the distance but 
 of a few yards, we found ourselves floating upon 
 a pond of the most beautiful turquoise-coloured 
 liquid. As our eyes got accustomed to the dark- 
 ness, we perceived that we were in a splendid 
 domed grotto, and it finally seemed to us tole- 
 rably well lit by the lovely blue light from 
 beneath us. The grotto is one hundred and 
 fifty feet long by one hundred wide, fifty-eight 
 feet in height, and the depth of the water is 
 also fifty-eight feet. At the furthest extremity 
 is a spacious shelf, forming a kind of apartment 
 hollowed in the rock ; from this our boatman 
 precipitated himself into the water, to give us 
 
248 WANDERINGS 
 
 the effect of the light flashing in all directions 
 by the splash which he made. 
 
 We did not loiter long, for the slightest change 
 in the wind would have made the sea block up the 
 entrance, and we remembered that in the year 
 1839, a party of eleven gentlemen and five ladies, 
 friends of a friend of ours, had to remain twenty- 
 four hours upon the ledge which I have men- 
 tioned. They bribed a boatman to dive out to 
 their larger boat waiting without, and a commu- 
 nication being thus established, provisions and 
 candles were conveyed to them wrapped in 
 oil cloths, and they passed the period of their 
 imprisonment telling stories, a favourite amuse- 
 ment with the Italians. 
 
 We proceeded from the Grotto to visit the 
 remainder of the island, which has obtained such 
 a painful celebrity from those atrocities in cruelty 
 and depravity of which Tiberius rendered it the 
 scene, and of which Suetonius gives the disgust- 
 ing particulars. 
 
 It is said that Augustus visited it occasion- 
 ally, and built the principal palace; but that 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 249 
 
 Tiberius, during the seven years of his resi- 
 dence, erected no less than twelve palaces or 
 villas at Capri, though it cannot be more than 
 about eighteen miles in circumference. His 
 first and principal residence — that of Jupiter, 
 built by Augustus, and which he only enlarged, 
 was situated upon the height where the chapel 
 of Santa Maria del Soccorso now stands ; the 
 second, was upon the height called Tuoro 
 Grande ; the third, at Unghia Marina ; the 
 fourth, upon the hill called San Michele; the 
 fifth, at Castiglione ; the sixth, at Truglio ; the 
 seventh, at Aiano ; the eighth, which must have 
 been his bathing-place, was at Palazzo a Mare: it 
 was built into the very sea, and its ruined found- 
 ations shew how wonderfully Roman masonry 
 could resist the action of the elements — five 
 hundred and thirty-six steps cut in the rock, 
 lead from it up to Anacapri ; the ninth, was at 
 Capo-di-monte ; the tenth, at Timberino ; the 
 eleventh, at Monticello ; and the twelfth, at 
 Damecuta, 
 
 When we reached the landing-place, we found 
 
250 WANDERINGS 
 
 poneys and donkeys ready saddled, with their 
 owners prepared to clamour for our custom, and 
 a whole host of idlers, as well as donkey-drivers, 
 waiting to conduct us about the island. Lady 
 Albert got upon a donkey, and a beautiful girl 
 volunteered to lead it. I mounted a pony, 
 whilst a troop of lads and girls insisted upon 
 following us. 
 
 We first crossed the island, and viewed it in 
 that direction ; we then turned to the south- 
 ward, and mounted the heights upon which 
 stands the chapel of Santa Maria del Soccorso, for 
 there are the ruins that are most worth visiting. 
 Many apartments are still paved with mosaic, 
 and vast vaults may be explored beneath them. 
 Near to it are the remains of that lighthouse or 
 pharus, which, Suetonius tells us, fell from an 
 earthquake a few days before the death of that 
 monster who was allowed to be a curse to the 
 earth till the age of seventy-eight. The hermit 
 who does religious service in the chapel was 
 waiting to receive us, had nosegays ready upon 
 the chance of visitors, and conducted us to a 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 251 
 
 convenient position for looking down that awful 
 precipice, five hundred yards in height, close to 
 the palace, which Suetonius states to have been 
 the place of execution, whence, after long and 
 exquisite torments, he caused those whom he had 
 condemned to be precipitated in his own pre- 
 sence. I should have imagined that the precau- 
 tion mentioned by Suetonius, of placing "ma- 
 rines" below to beat the bodies of those whom 
 he thus precipitated, lest life might not be quite 
 extinct, most unnecessary. I said, with Edgar, 
 
 in King Lear — 
 
 " I'll look no more, 
 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 
 Topple down headlong" 
 
 although a parapet is placed as a protec- 
 tion for the spectator. The hermit brought us 
 chairs that we might rest after our rambles ; all 
 his attentions being, as a matter of course, ren- 
 dered "for a consideration": but we were gradu- 
 ally getting accustomed to find that no civility 
 of the most trifling kind could be oifered to 
 us without proceeding from the hope of gain. 
 How different was the feeling of self-respect 
 
252 WANDERINGS 
 
 of the very lowest and poorest of the Greek 
 population, from that entertained by the lower 
 orders in the Neapolitan dominions! During 
 my search after antiquities, or whilst travelling, 
 in Greece, Lady Albert would often sit down 
 to rest in wretched hovels ; never was any re- 
 ward expected, nor did the poorest child ever 
 ask us for anything. Every little attention 
 in their power was rendered to us, evidently 
 from a pleasure in obliging, and the presents 
 in money that we gave to the poorest peasants, 
 had to be given through the children, not to 
 hurt their pride. True, there were beggars, 
 but they were only the crippled or the blind, 
 who must have otherwise starved. In Italy, 
 the inhabitants of the most respectable cottages, 
 whilst sitting at their doors, were not ashamed 
 of saying, when we passed, "Ah, EccellenzhOL 
 date qualche cosa"; and never was the most 
 trifling act of civility rendered to us by the 
 lower orders, during our stay at Naples, or 
 during our rambles in the neighbourhood, with- 
 out a reward being expected and asked. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 253 
 
 When we had left the hermit, and descended 
 to where our train was waiting for us, we 
 found them prepared with an old tambourine, 
 and with an old woman to sell us wine. They 
 had rested and proposed dancing the Taran- 
 tella ; in spite of their disreputable appearance, 
 they danced with the greatest possible grace. 
 As a matter of course, besides paying for the 
 wine, we were expected to give a present to 
 the dancers, and, equally as a matter of course, 
 they pretended to expect more than what we 
 gave them. 
 
 We returned to an excellent inn, in the only 
 town of the island. It is beautifully situated 
 and delightfully clean ; I am happy to say that 
 the landlord will realize a rapid fortune. Our 
 dinner consisted of a little weak broth with 
 the morsel of beef with which it had been 
 made, a few small fish, some wretched little 
 robins that must have been taken off their 
 nests, with two small coffee cups half filled 
 with some sort of custard ; oranges, and dried 
 figs : hunger made me ask for a little of the 
 
254 WANDERINGS 
 
 cheese made in the island. The charge for 
 this was the highest dinner price of the dearest 
 hotel in Naples ; breakfast was at a still higher 
 rate. The price of apartments and a lamp, 
 woulcl have obtained at Naples a suite of rooms, 
 and lit for a ball. 
 
 On the following morning, we embarked 
 early and crossed over to the Sorentine pro- 
 montory. It has still a few ruins left of the 
 celebrated temple of Minerva, said to have 
 been founded by Ulysses ; there is a light- 
 house upon it, and a fortified tower. A little 
 further on, the view of the island of Capri 
 enabled me to fancy that I could trace that 
 resemblance to a goat, whence the name of 
 Caprsea was given to it. We passed 
 
 " The syren's cliffs, a shelfy coast, 
 Long infamous for ships and sailors lost ; 
 And white with bones, the impetuous ocean roars, 
 And rocks rebellow from the sounding shores." 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 Those islands are now called Galli, probably 
 
 from the winged appearance of the Syrens. 
 
 The tower upon the largest of the three was 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 255 
 
 inhabited when we passed by a solitary indi- 
 vidual, occupied in catching the quails that 
 alighted there from their migratory flight. We 
 went close to Amalfi, that we might view that 
 town, so celebrated in the middle ages, and 
 that had such extensive commerce ; its modern 
 reputation is derived from manufacturing the 
 best maccaroni. A fine coast-road for wheeled 
 vehicles will, before long, connect it with 
 Salerno ; hitherto it could only be approached 
 by sea, or by bridle roads. 
 
 Salerno is beautifully situated in the centre 
 of the bay which bears its name; its streets 
 are narrow, and the houses high. The cathe- 
 dral well deserves being visited; the piazza 
 before it, is surrounded by eight-and-twenty 
 Corinthian columns of granite, and some fine 
 marble sarcophagi are ranged around ; they are 
 stated to have been all brought from Pcestum ; 
 these sarcophagi have been used as coffins for 
 the first princes of Salerno. It is curious to 
 see here, as well as in the interior of the 
 cathedral, sarcophagi, of Grecian workmanship, 
 
256 WANDERINGS 
 
 and portraying profane subjects, such for 
 instance as the Rape of Prosperine, employed 
 as Christian tombs, surmounted by middle-age 
 effigies, and bearing Christian inscriptions. 
 Below the cathedral is the subterraneous 
 chapel, dedicated to St. Matthew, with his 
 double statue in bronze, and his tomb under- 
 neath. The chapel also contains three busts 
 in bronze, of martyrs, with the block, in 
 marble, upon which they were beheaded; in 
 this block there is a slit to receive the axe 
 when it had divided the neck. I was re- 
 quested to apply my ear to it ; the sort of 
 sound is heard that is produced by a shell when 
 placed at the ear; this is presumed to be the 
 flowing blood of the martyrs. There is a good 
 deal of mosaic in the church, and two fine 
 pulpits are covered with it ; it is all said to have 
 been brought from Poestum. 
 
 By leaving Salerno early, Poestum may be 
 visited, and Naples reached the same evening, 
 by means of the railway from Nocera : this was 
 the course we pursued. The drive round the 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 257 
 
 bay, of twenty-four miles, is interesting, and 
 half of it very beautiful. The carriage has to 
 be ferried across the Sele, the ancient Silaris, — 
 
 " Est lucos Silari circa, ilicibusque virentem 
 Plurimus Alburnum volitans."...... 
 
 The most beautiful of the four temples at Pces- 
 tum, that of Neptune, is indeed a splendid 
 specimen of Doric architecture, and striking even 
 to an eye fresh from the Parthenon and Temple 
 of Theseus. A few plants of the double-blowing 
 roses of Pcestum still exist in gardens ; and the 
 person who has the care of the ruins, has planted 
 a few cuttings near the Temple of Neptune. 
 The walls of the city are interesting, built of 
 Hellenic work : it may be distinctly seen where 
 they have been repaired by more modern ma- 
 sonry. They were about two miles and three- 
 quarters in circumference, and had four gates : 
 only one remains ; it is quite perfect, is arched, 
 and forty-six feet in height. The two bas- 
 reliefs that were upon it, of a syren gathering a 
 rose, and a dolphin, are now defaced. 
 
 After returning to Salerno, we passed through 
 
 z2 
 
258 WANDERINGS 
 
 Vetri. Here there is a curious foot-bridge 
 crossing a ravine : it is awfully high and nar- 
 row, without any parapet, and is composed of a 
 line of small arches built upon other arches of 
 great height. A moral, teaching the value of 
 penitence, is attached to the legend of its erec- 
 tion. One Pietro Boyardo sold himself to the 
 devil, as the price of its construction ; although 
 he had received absolution for this crime, and 
 was released, by the church, from his compact, 
 even then the devil kept him to his bargain ; 
 but he was so constant in his feelings and 
 expressions of penitence, that the devil at length 
 gave him up in despair, — as a bad debt, I 
 presume. 
 
 Passing through La Cava, and a beautiful 
 country, consisting of an undulating valley 
 bounded by high hills, I reached Nocera, and 
 visited the ruined church of Santa Maria Mag- 
 giore. The centre is taken up by a large 
 marble bath or fountain, surrounded by marble 
 pillars. It is called Constantine's baptismal 
 fount ; but I never heard for what purpose it 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 259 
 
 had really been used. At Nocera we got upon 
 the railway, and were conveyed through scenery 
 exactly that described by Virgil. It is still 
 
 " Well clothed with cheerful grapes, and ever green, 
 Is good for olives and aspiring vines, 
 Embracing husband elms in amorous twines ; 
 Is fit for feeding cattle, fit to sow, 
 And equal to the pasture and the plough. 
 Such is the soil of fat Campanian fields, 
 Such large increase the land that joins Vesuvius 
 yields." Dryden. 
 
 We got back to Naples about half-past eight 
 o'clock. 
 
260 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 On the 4th of May we left Naples by the 
 government railway that connects it with Ca- 
 pua, to make a tour through the only tract 
 of country at that time safe for travellers. We 
 started very early in the morning, and first 
 visited the royal palace at Caserta ; though its 
 beauty is much praised, it struck me as an 
 unsightly brick building ; it has a splendid 
 marble staircase and vestibule, fine gardens and 
 cascade, and in the theatre are some noble 
 columns, brought from the Temple of Serapis 
 at Pozzuoles. 
 
 We then visited the ancient Capua, which is 
 close to the station of Santa Maria. In the 
 second Punic war, two hundred and sixteen 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 261 
 
 years before Christ, Campania revolted, and 
 took part with Hannibal, who proposed to make 
 Capua the capital of Italy. His long stay in 
 this delightful climate was fatal to the discipline 
 of his troops. Capua was severely punished ; 
 for, being taken, it was plundered, and stripped 
 of all the honours of a city, and yet it was 
 afterwards represented, by Cicero, as superior 
 to Rome for the width, convenience, and appear- 
 ance of its streets. But few vestiges of its 
 former greatness remain, except in its amphi- 
 theatre : this, though much dilapidated, shews 
 what a splendid building it must have been. 
 It measured rather more than five hundred and 
 thirty-two feet in its greatest diameter, was 
 adorned with statues, and Hadrian added to it a 
 noble portico : the building could contain more 
 than sixty thousand spectators. But Capua was 
 celebrated for its gladiators ; its lanistas — those 
 scoundrels who trafficked in their blood — hired 
 them out to other cities. It was from Capua 
 that Spartacus, with a band of gladiators, made 
 his escape. He was joined by fugitive slaves, 
 
262 WANDERINGS 
 
 and was only overcome through their want of 
 discipline : they were finally all cut to pieces. 
 The modern Capua is two miles from the 
 ancient city : it was built about the middle of 
 the ninth century. The town is fortified, and 
 the still muddy Vulturnus runs beneath it : 
 
 " Multamque trahens sub gurgite arenam 
 Vulturnus." Ovid. 
 
 I Observed some colossal busts of divinities let 
 into a wall in the principal square, and learnt 
 that they had ornamented the amphitheatre of 
 the ancient town. 
 
 At Capua we found our carriage and three 
 fresh horses waiting for us. We were late, and 
 therefore hastened along a fine road through 
 Calvi, the ancient Cales ; leaving Teano, for a 
 future visit, on our left. We entered a beauti- 
 ful and woody tract of country, between high 
 hills, the commencement of the country of the 
 Volsci ; and slept at the populous town of St. 
 Germano, situated at the foot and side of a hill 
 that is crested by a ruined fortification of the 
 middle ages. Above this towers a mountain, 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 263 
 
 with the noble pile forming the celebrated mo- 
 nastery of Monte Casino at its summit, which 
 my plan of tour also made me leave for a visit 
 on my return. 
 
 We slept at a wretched inn ; but travelling 
 in Greece had rendered Lady Albert accustomed 
 to bad quarters. Future travellers will have the 
 advantage of a very superior hotel, nearly com- 
 pleted. 
 
 The innkeeper amused me. Upon bringing 
 his bill, and on my remonstrating at the amount, 
 he agreed that it was too high, and received 
 two-thirds of it with the greatest good humour 
 and great gratitude. 
 
 San Germano is built near the site of the 
 ancient Casinum, the birth -place of Yarro. We 
 passed a fine amphitheatre on the right of the 
 road. The area is oval, and measures about 
 seventy yards in its length. It is built against 
 the side of a hill, and was entered by six gate- 
 ways, with fine stone arches. The whole build- 
 ing was faced by a sort of mosaic work, com- 
 posed of small stones, about three inches square, 
 
264 WANDERINGS 
 
 at their head ; shoemakers' tacks give not a 
 bad idea of the manner in which they were 
 shaped. 
 
 The road from St. Germano crosses an exten- 
 sive plain, surrounded by mountains, and studded 
 with forest trees. At about five miles from St. 
 Germano, a bad country road turns off to the 
 left, and leads to the little town of Aquino, 
 containing about two thousand inhabitants. It 
 lies just within the area of the ancient town of 
 Aquinum, the birth-place of Juvenal, of Pesce- 
 nius Niger, and St. Thomas of Aquinas. 
 
 I should have found it difficult to have traced 
 out the ruins, had it not been for a respectably 
 dressed man, mounted upon a donkey. Upon 
 my entering into conversation with him, he 
 volunteered to act as my cicerone, and insisted 
 upon Lady Albert riding his donkey. A dese- 
 crated church is built upon the site of a temple, 
 with the remains of a noble ascent by stone 
 steps. Fragments of columns lay about. Close 
 to it is a triumphal arch, of exquisite beauty. 
 A mill-stream runs under it. Alas ! the summit 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 265 
 
 of the arch is giving way. A fine gateway, 
 belonging to the ancient town, is still in a very 
 perfect state : the masonry is so beautiful as 
 almost to appear Hellenic. The walls of the 
 town are worth tracing : they are of those large 
 polygonal stones, with small stones filling the 
 interstices, that are given as Pelasgic work. 
 As a matter of course, there are the ruins of an 
 amphitheatre. Fragments of buildings in stone, 
 but indistinct, are scattered around. Before 
 taking leave of my friend, upon getting into 
 the carriage, I consulted the coachman whether 
 I might venture to offer him a trifle for his 
 trouble. He assured me that it was not likely 
 he would take offence. He knew his country- 
 men well, for my cicerone pocketed a gratuity 
 with the most fervent expressions of gratitude. 
 From Aquino the road runs nearer the 
 mountains; little fortified towns are dotted 
 along their sides Or summits. We passed 
 through Arce ; the ancient Arx is the present 
 Monte Arce, and the most curious of these 
 fortified towns. It quite corresponds to its 
 
 AA 
 
266 WANDERINGS 
 
 Latin name of citadel ; placed above the town 
 of Arce, it is built round the summit of a 
 rock, crested by a ruined castle, and so steep, 
 that from a distance, it is difficult to imagine 
 how the houses can retain their position. 
 
 We toiled under a broiling sun to Arpino ; 
 this town is now rendered thriving by a vast 
 number of manufactories, principally of hats 
 and of cloth : above it is the ancient Arpinum, 
 the birth-place of Cicero and of Marius. A 
 road, cut into steps, winds up to polygonal 
 walls of a masonry that is a humble imitation 
 of that of Tiryns, for the stones are of very 
 inferior size; but a postern in its triangular 
 shape exactly resembles the celebrated postern 
 at Tiryns. How I suffered through my anxiety 
 to see it; I could count the beatings of my 
 heart as I laboured up to it, though I had 
 a donkey to help me ; but the poor animal was 
 more tired whilst walking without a burthen 
 than I was, and I had not the heart to load 
 it with my heavy weight. 
 
 Besides this massive masonry, there is a good 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 267 
 
 deal of Roman work, and a very perfect Roman 
 gateway; a stone is shown, which is called 
 Cicero's seat, wke is said to have generally 
 chosen this place to enjoy the splendid view 
 which is obtained from this commanding posi- 
 tion. A medieval house is shown as the place 
 of Cicero's birth. I was not long descending 
 the height which I had attained with so much 
 labour. I had left Lady Albert, servants, and 
 carriage below ; I found them all nearly stifled 
 by the effluvia of the mob that had gathered 
 round them on a day so hot, — but strangers are 
 rarities at Arpino. 
 
 The road gradually descended into a vale, 
 where the town of Sora is placed, at the base 
 of the mountains of the Abbruzzi. We passed 
 one of the manufactories belonging to Monsieur 
 Lefebvre, and his splendid residence; but, 
 though I had a letter from him to the super- 
 intendent of his works, which my coachman 
 assured me always obtained a hospitable recep- 
 tion for travellers, I preferred taking u mine 
 ease at mine inn ", and therefore went on to 
 
268 WANDERINGS 
 
 Sora, where I left Lady Albert to rest, whilst 
 I took a little light carriage of the country 
 to see the Lake of Posta. It is celebrated 
 for its beauty ; the drive to it is worth taking, 
 for it shows a prettily wooded country backed 
 by high mountains, but the lake itself is 
 quite unworthy of its reputation. The river 
 Fibrenus takes its source from it, and the road 
 went along its bank; but, though I made 
 diligent inquiries, I could not purchase any of 
 those trouts rendered classical by Horace, and 
 which are still highly esteemed. 
 
 Before leaving the wretched inn at Sora, 
 where we passed the night, our coachman gave 
 us a pantomimic representation that I never 
 saw equalled, but by the actor who takes the 
 part of Polichinello in the comic company of 
 St. Carlino at Naples. His whip had been 
 stolen, whilst he was getting the carriage 
 ready. He first stood aghast as the fact flashed 
 across his mind ; then commenced a frantic, 
 but evidently hopeless, search through coach- 
 house and stables, and, finally, tore his hair, 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 269 
 
 and looking up to heaven, seemed to curse his 
 evil star. His despair got him a far better 
 whip than the one which he had lost. 
 
 Sora is on the borders of the Abruzzi, and 
 of what was the country of the Marsi. A 
 fine military road winding along the sides of 
 the mountains is completed to Capistrello ; it 
 was made with funds advanced by Monsieur 
 Lefebvre, and was planned to lead to Avezzano 
 and thence to Aquila ; but the disturbed state 
 of the whole of Italy has delayed the com- 
 pletion of the original design. The deficiency 
 of good roads in the more remote provinces 
 of the Neapolitan dominions produces serious 
 evils ; plenty has reigned in one district, whilst 
 there has been death by starvation from failure 
 of crops in that immediately adjoining. 
 
 At about nine miles from Sora, on the left 
 may be seen in the distance a waterfall, called 
 the "Fall of Morino", from the adjacent vil- 
 lage of that name, in the Valle di Roveto ; its 
 beauty amply repays the fatiguing walk of five 
 miles from the high road that must be taken 
 
 aa 2 
 
270 WANDERINGS 
 
 to visit it. At the extremity of an amphi- 
 theatre of well-wooded mountains, the stream 
 is first collected in a narrow channel, and falls 
 from a considerable height on a ledge of rocks, 
 thence the water descends as a mist. The fall 
 was improved by some snow that had fallen 
 about a fortnight before my visit, and that was 
 gradually melting on the heights. The country 
 through which we drove was dotted with forest 
 trees, and an occasional town crowned some 
 height. 
 
 Capistrello is a town in a very striking situa- 
 tion, hanging over a ravine, at the bottom of 
 which runs the Liris. Close to it, opens into 
 the river that most extraordinary work, known 
 by the name of the Emissarium of the emperor 
 Claudius, planned for draining the Lake Fu- 
 cinus. This wonderful tunnel is about four 
 miles in length. It is six feet wide, and ten 
 feet high, where it empties itself into the Liris. 
 It passes under one of a high range of hills ; and 
 along its length there are apertures, faced with 
 stone, in some places of awful depth, that pro- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 271 
 
 bably were the apertures through which the soil 
 was raised to the surface, as well as intended to 
 admit air into the tunnel. The interior of the 
 tunnel was faced by bricks, where the nature of 
 the soil required it to be thus supported. The 
 end next Capistrello is faced by an arch of about 
 eighteen feet high ; the other end of the tunnel 
 is in the Lake of Fucinus, near Avezzano, and is 
 now almost entirely clogged up by soil. On the 
 hill side, above the lake, there are four arches, 
 two leading by a passage down to the tunnel, 
 and two so contrived as to admit air and light. 
 It is said that this stupendous work was executed 
 at a fearful cost of human life, and that between 
 forty and fifty thousand slaves lost their lives 
 whilst completing it. A plan, of late years, was 
 formed for clearing out the Emissarium, and 
 employing it for its original purpose ; the work 
 was slowly carried on for a considerable time, but 
 is now discontinued, although it was plainly seen 
 that it would have been perfectly successful. 
 The reason given, is the malaria that would be 
 produced by the mass of mud exposed to the 
 
272 WANDERINGS 
 
 atmosphere ; but the real cause is presumed to 
 arise from the sovereign's wish, that money 
 should alone be expended where it may assist 
 in furthering his darling system of absolute and 
 uncontrolled power. 
 
 From Capistrello the road changes to one of 
 the worst possible description, winding along 
 the side, and gradually mounting, a barren line 
 of hills, but with a fertile plain below, the 
 " Campi Palentini," and the battle field of 
 Charles of Anjou and Conradin of Hohen 
 Staufen. When we reached the summit of 
 these hills, and crossed it, we saw the Lake 
 Fucinus beneath us, and, soon after, the sight of 
 Avezzano, that was to be our resting place for 
 the night, cheered our poor coachman. Situated 
 at the foot of the mountain, it is not visible on 
 first crossing its summit, and the coachman 
 feared that we had mistaken the direction that 
 had been given to us for reaching Avezzano. 
 The inn was most wretched and forlorn ; but 
 we preferred remaining there to taking advan- 
 tage of the sotto intendente's hospitable invita- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 273 
 
 tion to his house. Hearing of our arrival, he 
 called upon me, and most civilly pressed his 
 hospitality upon us. The sotto intendente is 
 the principal government officer in each district, 
 and represents what in France is called the 
 " sous prefet". Avezzano is a town so poor, 
 that our servants, who were on board wages, 
 were unable to purchase any provisions; we 
 had the prudence to provide ourselves before- 
 hand. The principal feature of the place is the 
 striking building, that must once have been a 
 splendid mansion, and that belonged to the 
 Colonna family. It is very massive, but yet 
 graceful. Flanked at its four corners by strongly 
 constructed towers ; it is entered by a bridge, 
 leading to a handsome portal, is surrounded by 
 a moat, and appears as if, whilst a luxurious resi- 
 dence, it could have resisted any irregular attack. 
 It has now a forlorn melancholy appearance. 
 
 I rose at day-light to visit the ruined walls 
 of Alba Fucensis. I had promised my valet 
 that he should accompany me, and had engaged 
 horses the night before. Upon descending from 
 
274 WANDERINGS 
 
 my room, to mount and depart, I found that, 
 instead of a horse, I was to ride a broken-down 
 pony, and my servant a lame mule ; the guide, 
 whom I had also engaged with a horse, was 
 mounted upon a donkey ; but it was then too 
 late to remonstrate. At first I was too much 
 occupied with my own preparations for mount- 
 ing, and my own departure, to think of anything 
 or anybody else ; but when I had fairly started, 
 and my nerves permitted me to look about me, 
 I saw my servant limping away, at a foot- 
 pace, upon his lame mule, in exactly the con- 
 trary direction to that which he ought to have 
 followed, and in vain pulling at the bridle, 
 which only turned the animal's head, but not 
 its body ; whilst the combined energies of all 
 the spectators were employed in dragging and 
 pushing the guide, upon his restive donkey, 
 away from the door, and getting it to follow 
 my pony. Wretched as was my animal, he far 
 outstripped his companions. 
 
 Upon my reaching Alba Fucensis, I met 
 with an intelligent inhabitant of the modern 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 275 
 
 village to act as my guide. Several lengths of 
 wall of massive polygonal stones, as well as one 
 gateway with a flanking tower, remain in a 
 comparatively perfect state, — at least, to an 
 antiquarian eye. The grooved stone, to receive 
 the gate, still retains its position; the other 
 gates can only be traced. Vestiges of later 
 inhabitants remain in the foundations of Roman 
 houses, and there is a little cluster of half- 
 ruined modern houses, with quite ruined medi- 
 eval fortifications, and a medieval gateway still 
 entire, upon the summit of the hill which was 
 once surrounded by the walls of the more 
 ancient city. It commands a fine view of the 
 Lake Fucensis, rendered celebrated by the 
 horrible slaughter of twenty thousand gladia- 
 tors, offered as a show upon it, by the emperor 
 Claudius, and the largest ever given. As they 
 passed the emperor, they exclaimed, — " The 
 miserable beings about to die, salute thee!" He 
 had the barbarity, by his answer to their touch- 
 ing salutation, to give them false hopes of 
 mercy, and thus the exhibition was a little 
 
276 WANDERINGS 
 
 delayed; but the unfortunate wretches were 
 finally compelled to engage. I was shown the 
 spot whence Claudius is supposed to have viewed 
 the exhibition ; it is at the southern end of the 
 lake, and the church of St. Egidio is erected 
 there 
 
 After viewing Alba Fucensis, I rode to the 
 opposite side of Avezzano ; to the spot where, 
 at the distance of a mile and a half from the 
 town, the tunnel which I have already men- 
 tioned, commences. The deposit of soil has 
 formed a small islet in the lake, at a little dis- 
 tance from the shore. 
 
 It had rained heavily the whole morning, and 
 when, at about twelve o'clock, we left Avezzano, 
 upon our return to Sora, the road had become 
 so heavy, as to make it a matter of very serious 
 difficulty to get our carriage up the first very 
 long and steep ascent. It was late when we 
 reached Sora, and it was pleasing to see the 
 delighted faces with which all the hangers-on 
 of the wretched inn received us upon our re- 
 turn, and the alacrity with which all endea- 
 voured to minister to our comfort. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 277 
 
 We left Sora early, and viewed the junction 
 of the Fucensis and Liris close to a monastery 
 of Trappists, erected upon the site of a villa 
 that several inscriptions prove to have belonged 
 to Cicero. We stopped at Monsieur Lefeb- 
 vre's house at Formes, and I sent up his letter 
 to Monsieur Delamorte, his agent; — that gen- 
 tlemen came to me directly ; told me that 
 Monsieur Lefebvre had written to him that we 
 might be expected at any moment, and to have 
 every thing ready for our reception ; that our 
 apartments had been accordingly prepared for 
 us, and dinner ready every day. I do not 
 think hospitality could go beyond this, for I 
 had never even made Monsieur Lefebvre's ac- 
 quaintance, and had only once met his son at 
 dinner. But it is well known that the Italians 
 shew the greatest hospitality and kindness to 
 strangers who travel through their districts; 
 and in this they resemble the Romans of old, — 
 it was then unusual for a traveller to be re- 
 duced to take up his quarters at an inn. Mon- 
 sieur Delamorte is a gentlemanlike, intelligent 
 
 BB 
 
278 WANDERINGS 
 
 Belgian. He first took me round Monsieur 
 Lefebvre's pleasure grounds ; those falls of the 
 Liris, called " the Cascatelli", embellish them. 
 They are of no great height ; but the gardens 
 and falls combined render it a scene of great 
 loveliness. After in vain pressing Monsieur 
 Lefebvre's hospitality upon us, Monsieur Dela- 
 morte accompanied us to the little town of 
 Isola, to view the other falls of the Liris. The 
 building once the palace of the Dukes of Sora 
 is now converted into a cloth manufactory ; 
 behind it the Liris branches into two channels, 
 and these have each falls of different charac- 
 ters ; one having a precipitous descent, the 
 other rushing down a channel with a steep 
 slope. We passed Arpino at a distance on our 
 left ; stopped for a short time at Arce, where 
 I remarked a fine Roman fountain with an 
 inscription, and I made the carriage set me 
 down at the amphitheatre before entering St. 
 Germano, that I might more closely examine 
 some ancient walls that I had remarked near it 
 on my previous visit. I found some few frag- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 279 
 
 ments of the walls, made of polygonal-shaped 
 stones, built into Roman work, and much 
 Roman masonry around; a modern church 
 stood just by these remains. A woman seeing 
 me looking at it, asked me if I should like to 
 enter ; the exterior was not very promising ; 
 the front was merely a white-washed facade, 
 and a belfry raised above it. Upon the door 
 being unlocked, 1 thought that I was in a dream ; 
 within was a doorway of massive stones, that 
 resembled, on a minor scale, that of the trea- 
 sury of Atreus, or tomb of Agamemnon at 
 Mycene, and the interior was domed like that 
 vault. Within the doorway of large stones, 
 measuring eight feet three inches long, by nine 
 wide, and about fourteen high, is a circular 
 apartment about thirty feet high, and twenty 
 feet three inches in diameter, having four 
 arched side aisles, if they may be so termed, 
 one of which joins to the doorway ; they are 
 eleven feet six inches wide, by nine feet long, 
 and fifteen feet high. Being exactly opposite 
 each other, they give the interior the form of a 
 
280 WANDERINGS 
 
 cross, and the church into which this tomb is 
 now converted is therefore called that of the 
 Holy Crucifix. Like the treasury of Atreus, 
 it was built into the side of a hill : two cottages 
 are erected above it. Four apertures in the 
 dome opened to the exterior ; they are about 
 two feet high, two feet across the top, and 
 three across their base. I had the curiosity to 
 examine two of them that opened into one of 
 the cottages above ; they were about ten feet 
 in length, faced with stone at the end joining 
 the building, but, wonderful to say, at the 
 outer end with Roman brick. I could only 
 understand this by supposing the tomb to have 
 been opened by the Romans, who, finding it 
 a strong and useful building, employed it for 
 the purposes of a prison, and prepared these 
 apertures to admit light and air. I carefully 
 examined the inside of the building, and found 
 no traces of those brazen nails that sometimes 
 lined the interior of the Grecian tombs; the 
 whole building was paved, and built of massive 
 blocks of granite. 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 281 
 
 After we had rested a little at the inn, at 
 St. Germano, Lady Albert and I mounted the 
 long winding road which leads to the monas- 
 tery of Monte Cassino ; I had a letter to the 
 Padre L. Posti Cassinese, a member of that 
 community. He received us with the greatest 
 kindness, and did the honours of that splendid 
 establishment with the good breeding of a man 
 of the world. 
 
 The monastery is a Benedictine establish- 
 ment, and has a seminary and lay school 
 within its walls ; for now, as in early times, the 
 disciples of St. Benedict are celebrated for 
 their exertions in cultivating the human mind. 
 The English owe the order a debt of gratitude; 
 for St. Augustine was a member of it, and 
 he founded our two universities. Amongst 
 the members of the monastery at Monte 
 Cassino, there are some men of deep research 
 and great erudition; their library was cele- 
 brated for its manuscripts, but far the greater 
 number have been removed to the Vatican : 
 only eight hundred remain. They have some 
 
 BB 2 
 
282 WANDERINGS 
 
 in uncial characters before the introduction of 
 the barbarous characters ; they have some 
 Longobardic manuscripts, of peculiar interest 
 from the illuminations ; and an early copy of 
 Dante, with most curious and interesting ex- 
 planatory notes. The greater number of their 
 manuscripts are, of course, of fathers of the 
 Church. They are extremely rich in deeds ; 
 many are interesting in the highest degree as 
 historical documents ; and there are no less than 
 40,000 parchments. Their library is admira- 
 bly arranged for study, being divided into 
 various moderate sized rooms, comfortably 
 furnished. 
 
 I had long wished to have a sight of these 
 treasures. After passing some time amongst 
 them, Monsieur Cassinese took us over the 
 splendid church, gorgeous in marbles and pietro- 
 duras, and decorated by Giordano ; he then 
 directed that their organ should be played. This 
 instrument was made in the commencement of 
 the eighteenth century, by Catarinotzi, a native 
 of a small town in the Papal dominions : it is 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 283 
 
 very charming, and they are very proud of it, 
 but it is not to be compared to those mag- 
 nificent organs that may be heard at York and 
 Birmingham. A shrine, by Bernini, of the 
 most costly materials, was specially pointed out 
 to me ; but what particularly struck me were 
 the wood carvings in the sacristy, designed by 
 Maio, and executed by Franzese, as well as 
 the wood carvings of the stalls, that would 
 have been worthy of Brustoleone, termed the 
 Michael Angelo of wood. In one of the 
 cloisters were some inscriptions found at 
 Casinum; one mentioned the building of the 
 amphitheatre, and of a temple by Ummidia 
 Quadratilla, a matron, who, from other docu- 
 ments, appears to have been very "fast". But, 
 of all the objects of interest that may be seen 
 at the monastery, I believe that of greatest 
 rarity to be priests liberal in their ideas, and 
 of liberal political opinions. 
 
 We loitered about till evening caused us to 
 hasten down, Italian twilight being very short, 
 and there would have been no moon to assist 
 our descent. 
 
284 WANDERINGS 
 
 On the following morning, I rose early to 
 take another view of the Church of the Holy- 
 Crucifix, and then started for Naples. I made 
 the coachman drive round by Teano, the 
 ancient Teanum ; it has some massive Roman 
 ruins of baths, and the remains of a very large 
 amphitheatre in a barely traceable state, with 
 its area converted into a vegetable garden. A 
 beautiful fountain, with light arches, just with- 
 out the town, was crowded with picturesque 
 groups of women; some washing, others gos- 
 siping instead of drawing water, and of men 
 watering their mules. On this, as on many 
 other occasions, I bitterly regretted having 
 never learnt to sketch. 
 
 The appearance of the weather became very 
 threatening. Heavy clouds were fast gathering 
 for a thunder-storm. The coachman entreated 
 me to hasten on. He was in despair when I 
 insisted upon his stopping at Calvi, the ancient 
 Cales, celebrated for the Obbse Calense. A 
 square medieval castle stands close by the high 
 road, and at some distance on the right of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 285 
 
 the road leading to Naples, in a large ploughed 
 field, is an amphitheatre, of no very great size. 
 Its walls are now but slightly elevated above 
 the surface of the soil. The interior, which is 
 of some depth, is overgrown by brush- wood. 
 Large masses of Roman work are scattered at 
 a considerable distance around ; the town must 
 have been of great size. 
 
 Heavy drops of rain now fell, and thunder 
 muttered in the distance ; I had compassion upon 
 my coachman's impatience, and returned to the 
 carriage. By the time we reached Capua an 
 awful storm had commenced; we splashed on 
 to Naples by the railway, converted into a long 
 line of muddy puddles by the wonderful torrents 
 of rain that were falling, after a continuance of 
 fine weather. 
 
286 WANDERINGS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 I finished my course of sight-seeing at Naples 
 by visiting Cuma and the magnificent Arco Fe- 
 lice, and in my zeal for scientific experiments, 
 emulated Dr. Majendie in barbarity to animals, 
 by allowing an unfortunate dog to be placed in 
 the Grotto del Cane, seeing it faint from the 
 effects of the exhalations, and witnessing its 
 painful return to animation ; then, on May 14th, 
 went on board the French packet, on its way 
 from Malta to Marseilles. 
 
 I left Naples without regret. Though the 
 most charming residence in the world, it is 
 dreadfully unsafe ; there would be an immediate 
 insurrection whenever the Neapolitans saw the 
 slightest chance of success ; and the muzzles of 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 287 
 
 cannon that are expressively pointing down 
 various streets, show how well the king is aware 
 of the feeling of his capital. 
 
 I carried under my arm a box containing be- 
 tween eight and nine hundred consular denarii, 
 which I had purchased at Naples : a heavy load, 
 but which I dared not trust to another person, 
 as, had its contents been known, it would not 
 have been allowed to quit the country. A 
 custom-house officer on duty wished to open it, 
 but a piece of silver that I produced, instead of 
 the key, obtained for me a low bow and an order 
 to pass into my boat. 
 
 The steamer was much crowded. Amongst 
 the passengers was a Neapolitan Church digni- 
 tary, with his staff of chaplain, secretary, etc., 
 on their way to pay their respects to the Pope, 
 who was waiting at Mola di Gaeta till foreign 
 intervention could persuade his unruly flock to 
 receive him back at Rome. It was about ten 
 o'clock at night when we were off Mola, and 
 the prelate with his followers became sadly en- 
 tangled in their flowing dresses, whilst scram- 
 
288 WANDERINGS 
 
 bling into a shore boat at night. By midday on 
 the 15th, we were in the harbour of Givita 
 Vecchia. The Roman and French flags were 
 fraternizing over that most dull of all dull 
 towns, garrisoned by a few French troops, the 
 main body of the French army being between 
 it and Rome. 
 
 Our crowded steamer was still more closely 
 crammed by a number of fresh passengers, 
 rejoicing at having left Rome and its dangers. 
 Of these, the most important, in her own esti- 
 mation, was a very smart and very faded French 
 beauty, all airs and graces. I was given to 
 understand, and my informant told it me with 
 great awe, that she was an eminent banker's 
 lady at Rome ; she was comically irritated that 
 the stewardess did not give her bankership 
 undivided attention. 
 
 I ought to except from the alarmed fugitives 
 three Roman patriots, who, dressed and bearded 
 in true young Italy fashion, and finding them- 
 selves safe under the French flag, were loud in 
 their regrets at having left their brothers in arms. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 289 
 
 One was the spokesman of the rest, and boasted 
 to all who would listen to him, of what they 
 themselves had done in the gallant defence 
 offered by the Romans to the French. 
 
 My excellent, short, and sleek acquaintance, 
 
 Count St. G e, who was returning from 
 
 Naples to Tuscany, upon some private mission 
 from the Grand Duke to his Austrian reinstators, 
 swelled and strutted as he passed their group, 
 and cast them such melodramatic glances of 
 hate, that, had they any feeling, they must have 
 been withered. 
 
 Early on the 16th, we had reached Leghorn. 
 We went on shore to breakfast and kill time 
 till five o'clock, when the steamer was again to 
 sail. The town was swarming with troops ; 
 twenty thousand AustrianS, and three thousand 
 Modenese, had taken it on the 11th, after an 
 obstinate resistance offered by not more than 
 seven hundred men, principally foreigners, the 
 other defenders having taken to flight. Not 
 a single individual taken with arms in his hands 
 received quarter. After the troops had posses- 
 
 c c 
 
290 WANDERINGS 
 
 sion of the town, a few individuals still held 
 out in the cathedral, and were mad enough to fire 
 upon the troops drawn up in the square. The 
 door was instantly forced, and these few reck- 
 less individuals were overpowered and slaugh- 
 tered before they could do much mischief; but 
 they very nearly caused the town to be sacked 
 by the troops, and their conduct was offered to 
 me, at Leghorn, as an excuse for the severities 
 exercised by the Austrians. 
 
 Kolavrath, who was at Leghorn when I was 
 there, had entered it with the troops, provided 
 with a long list of persons to be disposed of; 
 but a great number of these, having seen the 
 hopelessness of resistance, had made their escape 
 in time. The former police of the town had 
 been recalled, and went round Leghorn and the 
 neighbourhood, accompanied by parties of sol- 
 diers ; all individuals reported by them as 
 disaffected, were seized and confined, and a 
 large number were daily shot in the fortress. 
 An Englishman of the highest respectability? 
 who had long resided at Leghorn, assured me that 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 291 
 
 in the five days that the Austrians had then had 
 possession, from four to five hundred individuals 
 must have been thus butchered without trial. 
 Before I left Naples, a deputation had been sent 
 from Florence to the Grand Duke, soliciting his 
 peaceful return there. He had declined the 
 invitation till the Austrians had first had it in 
 their possession ; such a very simple method of 
 getting rid of disaffected individuals, or those 
 disagreeable to him, was not to be neglected. 
 
 The town presented a picturesque appear- 
 ance ; all the churches, with the exception of 
 two that were left for religious worship, 
 were converted into quarters for the troops. 
 Soldiers were idling under the porches, or upon 
 the steps, in picturesque groups, whilst small 
 parties of cavalry and infantry were constantly 
 hurrying about, and every available spot of 
 ground was occupied by field batteries and 
 waggon trains. 
 
 I was glad to leave the place, for I found 
 the reflection exciting, but not altogether 
 agreeable, that I might at any moment be 
 
292 WANDERINGS 
 
 taken, and, without undergoing the slightest 
 form of trial, or my remonstrances being at- 
 tended to, shot the following morning, merely 
 because some scoundrel took a fancy to point 
 me out as a proper person to be mixed in the 
 next morning's "battue". I thought that it 
 would be no great satisfaction to myself, per- 
 sonally, that apologies should be afterwards 
 offered to my government for my having been 
 executed through mistake, — all the redress that 
 I could hope for, or, at all events, should 
 obtain. 
 
 I left Leghorn, blessing my stars that I was 
 born an Englishman, and, coward that I was, 
 almost vowed that, let me once get back to 
 England, I would never leave it again. This 
 love of my country was not diminished, when 
 on the following day we reached Genoa, and 
 I there learnt what a narrow escape its beau- 
 tiful palaces had but lately experienced from 
 destruction ; an escape for which it was prin- 
 cipally indebted to the humane exertions and 
 negotiations of Lord Hardwick, in the Ven- 
 geance. 
 
IN SEARCH OP HEALTH. 293 
 
 By twelve o'clock on the 18th, we had en- 
 tered the harbour of Marseilles, — an oblong 
 basin, 1000 yards long by 330 broad, and 
 crowded with shipping. In the confusion of 
 landing, I did not fail personally to secure 
 the safety of my coin-box, the only article 
 which I would not trust out of my sight. To 
 my despair I had to open it in the centre 
 of a crowd of curious idlers on the quay, and 
 the douanier very nearly made me take it 
 to the custom-house after all. 
 
 After dinner we first drove up to the hill 
 overlooking the town, with the rough pleasure 
 ground, called the "Jardin Napoleon 11 , strag- 
 gling about it. I hardly knew why, but I 
 never before saw a view that gave me so 
 exactly the feeling that I was looking at a 
 panorama in Leicester-square ; on one side it 
 is bounded by a range of hills, and the ground 
 from them gradually slopes to the town ; every 
 available spot being dotted by those well- 
 known little country-houses belonging to the 
 middle classes, that are called " Bastides" ; on 
 
 cc 2 
 
294 WANDERINGS 
 
 the other side is the sea, with islands and 
 forts. 
 
 Marseilles, the ancient Massilia, was founded 
 by a colony of Phocaeans, from Ionia, 600 
 years b. c. It grew into great importance, and 
 was increased by fresh settlers, when the 
 Phocaeans left their country rather than submit 
 to Cyrus ; an event which has been confounded 
 with the origin of the city. The coins of 
 Massilia are extremely numerous, and vary 
 from the rudest specimen of those curious 
 monstrosities, called "Gaulish coins", to the 
 most exquisite gems of art. I endeavoured, 
 but in vain, to meet with any that were worth 
 purchasing. However, I was rewarded for my 
 trouble in the research, by meeting with a very 
 curious set of Roman silver dice, in the shape 
 of male and female figures, found in a glass 
 vase, dug up in the neighbourhood of Mar- 
 seilles; which silver dice nearly killed my 
 friend, Monsieur Comarmond, with envy, when 
 I exhibited them to him at Lyons. 
 
 On the 19th, we went by the railway to Aries. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 295 
 
 We crossed a frightful country, and a small 
 portion of that curious stony plain, called the 
 " Crau"; which extends to the Delta of the 
 Rhone, or the " Camargue", and to the Medi- 
 terranean. The vast quantities of stones that 
 cover the whole surface of that great plain, 
 were attributed by the ancients to a shower 
 of stones from Jupiter; when the Tyrian 
 Hercules landed at the mouth of the Rhone, 
 and had a battle with the sons of Neptune: 
 having exhausted his quiver, Jupiter assisted 
 him by raining stones upon his adversaries. 
 This myth has been explained by a battle 
 between the Phoenicians, who purposed to 
 establish a colony, and the Liguri, the pos- 
 sessors of the country ; the Phoenicians, having 
 expended their ammunition, had recourse to 
 the stones which cover the plain of Crau. 
 
 The railway enters Aries by that celebrated 
 ancient cemetery, called the "Aliscamps" or 
 "Elisii Campi", a fertile mine for sarcophagi 
 of the early Christians, and for all sorts of 
 curious relics. It has furnished the museum 
 
296 WANDERINGS 
 
 at Aries with some interesting sarcophagi of 
 the early Christians, with scriptural subjects; 
 and the cathedral church of St. Trophimus 
 possesses a sculptured marble that was brought 
 from it, of the resurrection of some female 
 saint, — one of the most beautiful works of art 
 that I ever saw. 
 
 A monument in the museum to the memory 
 of a child of three years old, also brought from 
 the Aliscamp, bears an inscription of the most 
 touching pathos. The museum at Aries con- 
 tains many valuable objects; a quantity of 
 leaden pipe found in the Ehone, and inscribed 
 in many places with the plumber's name, is 
 curious ; the town itself is full of remains of 
 great interest, which are all correctly described 
 in Murray's Hand-book. On the day after my 
 visit, there was to be an entertainment, called 
 a " Ferrade", in the amphitheatre, in which a 
 number of wild bulls from the " Camargue", 
 were to be tormented for the amusement of the 
 spectators, before being branded with the mark 
 of their various proprietors. 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 297 
 
 I was strongly urged to be present, and I 
 was assured that Lady Albert would meet 
 at that exhibition all the best society of the 
 adjoining country, and that special trains 
 brought vast numbers of persons from Mar- 
 seilles to witness it. These exhibitions were 
 forbidden, both at Aries and at Nismes, by 
 Louis Philippe, but are now given at both these 
 places. 
 
 In the evening I went on to Nismes by rail- 
 way. It is interrupted at Tarascon, where we 
 were all — first, second, and third class passen- 
 gers — huddled together into omnibuses, and 
 thus crossed a wire suspension bridge across the 
 Rhone. We got a good view of the fine massive 
 square castle at the water side, that dates as 
 early as the reign of King Henry II, and reached 
 Nismes at about half-past eight o'clock. 
 
 Nismes, the ancient Nemausus, was the capital 
 of the Volcae Arecomici, a people who inhabited 
 the districts known as Agde, Lodece, Montpel- 
 lier, Uzes, Nismes, and Alais, and was reported 
 to have been founded by the Tyrian Hercules. 
 
298 WANDERINGS 
 
 It became tributary to the Romans ; and a coin 
 of Agrippa bears on its reverse, Col : Nem : 
 (Colonia Nemausus). A palm tree rises in the 
 centre of the field, to which is chained a croco- 
 dile. This was struck by the citizens of Ne- 
 mausus in honour of a victory gained in Egypt ; 
 and the symbol was in late years placed upon 
 the reverse of one of the Napoleon medals, 
 struck to commemorate his successes in the 
 same country. Murray's Guide Book gives, 
 as usual, a most accurate description of every 
 thing that is worth seeing at Nismes. 
 
 I called upon Monsieur Perrot, the antiquary, 
 who has occasionally some objects worth pur- 
 chasing. He had sold his fine brongp head of 
 Sappho to my friend Mr. Wells, only about ten 
 days before my visit. He had little left that 
 was tempting ; and what he had, he valued at 
 prices that I considered too high. That cele- 
 brated and beautiful building called the " Mai- 
 son carree," now converted into a museum, is 
 not as rich in antiquities as it ought to be, con- 
 sidering the rich mine of them that the town 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 299 
 
 and neighbourhood afford ; they have evidently- 
 been taken elsewhere, a fate from which the 
 " Maison carree" itself narrowly escaped, Col- 
 bert having planned its removal to Versailles ; 
 I understood that their collection of medals had 
 heen ™llncred hv a faithless sruardian. I visited 
 JlG £?, /2x y'/^i^c /te^t+ls JJZ^cJf £* x 6+m^^^ /L+y* 
 
 tion under that name. Two strong barriers are 
 erected on each side of the arena, in such a 
 manner that men can just slip between the 
 planking for refuge, whilst they prevent the 
 passage of the angry animal. The bull is turned 
 into the arena with a cockade fastened between 
 his horns: the individual who removes it re- 
 ceives a reward of five francs. A large con- 
 course of people were assembled to view the 
 sport, and four or five hundred took part in it, 
 by entering the arena and teazing the animal by 
 shouting at him, but taking very good care to 
 keep at a safe distance from his horns. About 
 
 A. 
 

 298 WANDERINGS 
 
 It became tributary to the Romans ; and a coin 
 of Agrippa bears on its reverse, Col : Nem : 
 (Colonia Nemausus). A palm tree rises in the 
 centre of the field, to which is chained a croco- 
 dile. This was struck by the citizens of Ne- 
 mausus in honour of a victory sained in Egypt ; 
 
 as usual, a most accurate description ui evoij 
 thing that is worth seeing at Nismes. 
 
 I called upon Monsieur Perrot, the antiquary, 
 who has occasionally some objects worth pur- 
 chasing. He had sold his fine bronao head of 
 Sappho to my friend Mr. Wells, only about ten 
 days before my visit. He had little left that 
 was tempting ; and what he had, he valued at 
 prices that I considered too high. That cele- 
 brated and beautiful building called the " Mai- 
 son carree," now converted into a museum, is 
 not as rich in antiquities as it ought to be, con- 
 sidering the rich mine of them that the town 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 299 
 
 and neighbourhood afford ; they have evidently 
 been taken elsewhere, a fate from which the 
 " Maison carree" itself narrowly escaped, Col- 
 bert having planned its removal to Versailles ; 
 I understood that their collection of medals had 
 been pillaged by a faithless guardian. I visited 
 the Amphitheatre, now called the Areines, whilst 
 a " course de taureaux" was taking place there ; 
 the ferrades are so popular, that some spectators 
 keep bulls for the purpose of giving an exhibi- 
 tion under that name. Two strong barriers are 
 erected on each side of the arena, in such a 
 manner that men can just slip between the 
 planking for refuge, whilst they prevent the 
 passage of the angry animal. The bull is turned 
 into the arena with a cockade fastened between 
 his horns: the individual who removes it re- 
 ceives a reward of five francs. A large con- 
 course of people were assembled to view the 
 sport, and four or five hundred took part in it, 
 by entering the arena and teazing the animal by 
 shouting at him, but taking very good care to 
 keep at a safe distance from his horns. About 
 
300 WANDERINGS 
 
 eight individuals shewed their dexterity by 
 allowing the bull to run at them, and nimbly 
 slipping aside so as to escape his rush ; their 
 feats were loudly applauded by the spectators. 
 There appeared to be no great danger; for 
 when a bull ran at any individual he hardly 
 seemed in earnest, but appeared merely to wish 
 to drive away his tormentor. A gentleman 
 with whom I entered into conversation, assured 
 me that the proprietors of the bulls were not 
 allowed to exhibit any animal considered to be 
 savage, lest an accident should occur. The 
 noise was deafening, and the heat overpowering, 
 the sun having full force, and the building pre- 
 venting any current of air. The amphitheatre 
 is stated to be seventy feet in height ; its length, 
 four hundred and thirty-seven feet ; and width, 
 three hundred and thirty-two feet. About four 
 thousand spectators were assembled there when 
 I visited it; only the respectable people ap- 
 peared to me to pay for admission : boys and 
 rabble seemed to slip in gratis. 
 
 I was much interested by the reservoir which 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 301 
 
 received the water brought by the aqueduct 
 that crosses the valley of the Gardon by the 
 Pont du Gard : it was accidentally discovered 
 by a gardener, not very long since ; it is a 
 bason of about sixteen feet in diameter, by five 
 feet in depth, with three apertures at the bot- 
 tom, to let water into the arena, and ten at 
 the side, to distribute it into various parts of 
 the town ; there were contrivances to shut it off, 
 or admit it, at pleasure. The channel of entrance 
 was formed of large slabs of stone : these are 
 encrusted with a very hard and thick deposit 
 left by the water. Above the bason, there is a 
 line of fresco paintings that are fast disappear- 
 ing, from the effects of the atmosphere. 
 
 That extraordinary octagon building which, 
 after long disputes amongst antiquaries, appears 
 to have finally settled into a tomb, and which 
 is known by the name of La Tourmagne, is 
 placed at the summit of a hill that has been 
 planted, within the last few years, with trees ; 
 at the foot of the hill are the public gardens, 
 an ancient temple, and a fine modern fountain, 
 
 DD 
 
302 WANDERINGS 
 
 erected over some curious Roman baths ; they 
 together form a delightful place of recreation 
 for the public. The Tourmagne commands an 
 extensive, but decidedly an unpicturesque view. 
 The inhabitants of Nismes are very thriving, 
 both through agriculture and their manufac- 
 tories. 
 
 The time that I had allotted to myself for an 
 absence from England, was now nearly expired, 
 and I had to hasten homewards. I followed 
 the advice given in Murray's Guide-Book, and 
 visited the Pont du Gard, on my way to 
 Avignon : as a matter of course, the advice was 
 good, and the description given quite accurate. 
 I implicitly followed the instructions also given 
 for viewing Avignon, and the objects most 
 worth seeing at Villeneuve les Avignon. 
 
 The interior of the Palace of the Popes, with 
 the chamber of the inquisition, has very lately 
 been again altered, to improve its arrangements 
 as barracks. Avignon possesses an admirable 
 museum, founded by Monsieur Calvet ; but 
 this is to be expected, for Pomponius Mela 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 303 
 
 states that Avenio Cavarum was one of the 
 wealthy towns of Narbonnic Gaul, and it has 
 many neighbouring localities, such as Arauseo 
 (the present Orange), and Vaison, to assist it 
 with objects of archaeological interest. The 
 gallery of paintings possesses some splendid 
 works by the Vernets. The landlord of the 
 Hotel de l'Europe, Monsieur Pierron, takes 
 great pride in the museum, and appeared pleased 
 by my admiration of its arrangement and con- 
 tents ; fortunately, I still had by me some 
 modern medals, which I generally carry about, 
 upon Aladdin's principle of exchanging new 
 lamps for old, and I was thus enabled to please 
 him, by entrusting him with a few for presen- 
 tation. I only said what I felt, when I assured 
 him that I sincerely wished that they had been 
 more worthy of being placed in the collection 
 for which I left them ; Monsieur Pierron and 
 I entangled ourselves in a labyrinth of civil 
 speeches to each other, and on the next morn- 
 ing, when I left the hotel, at a quarter before 
 four, to go on board the Lyons steamer, two 
 
304 WANDERINGS 
 
 sonnets that he had written, * Sur la Fontaine 
 de Vaucluse 1 ', were presented from him to me 
 by the waiter. 
 
 I was put into good humour with the dirty- 
 steamer on which we embarked, by the fine 
 view of the Papal Palace which is obtained 
 from the river. The town, with its graceful 
 medieval fortifications, appeared in the early 
 light, and later, when glittering in the rising 
 sun, as if it only formed a part of the proud 
 pile that domineered above it. It is amusing 
 that the period of residence of the Popes, from 
 1305 to 1376, at Avignon, should have been 
 termed by them their Babylonish captivity, 
 celebrated as the papal court then was for its 
 luxury and vice. Froissart gives an amusing 
 account of the alarm which it received from 
 the free companies, thrown out of employ by 
 the peace between Edward the Third and 
 King John of France. They advanced so near 
 to Avignon as the Pont St. Esprit, threatening 
 it with plunder; his account gives an admi- 
 rable insight into the insecure state of life 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 305 
 
 and property, at the period which he describes ; 
 their insisting upon absolution, as part of the 
 bribe for giving up a prize so tempting as the 
 sack of Avignon, is not the least curious part 
 of his relation ; which is as follows : 
 
 " The other division of these free compa- 
 nies, under the command of Nandoz de Bau- 
 guierant, Espiote, Carnelle, Robert Briquet, 
 Ortingo, and Bernard de la Salle, Lannuyt, 
 Le Bourgeamus, Le Bourg de Breteuil, Le 
 Bourg de l'Espagne, and many others of the 
 same sort, and with the same intentions, ad- 
 vanced towards Avignon, saying, they would 
 go and visit the Pope and the cardinals, in 
 order to have some of their money, otherwise 
 they should be well vexed. They waited in 
 that neighbourhood to receive the amount of 
 their ransoms for the prisoners taken at 
 Brignais, as well as to see if the peace that 
 had been made between the two kings was 
 likely to be lasting ; in the route to Avignon, 
 they took towns, castles, and forts, for nothing 
 could stand before them. 
 
 dd 2 
 
306 WANDERINGS 
 
 "The whole country was in alarm; for, in 
 those parts they had not had any war, and 
 the guards did not know how to defend, or 
 keep their strongholds against such men at 
 arms; these companies got information that, 
 at the Pont St. Esprit, seven leagues from 
 Avignon, there was very great wealth, and 
 that all the riches of the country thereabouts 
 had been carried thither, as to a place of 
 safety, trusting to the strength of its castle. 
 They, therefore, consulted together, and agreed 
 that, if they could get possession of this town 
 of St. Esprit, it would be of the greatest 
 advantage to them ; for they then would be 
 masters of the Rhone as well as of Avignon. 
 
 "After they had well digested their plan, 
 Guyot du Pin and the little Mechin (as I have 
 heard it related) mounted their horses, and with 
 their companies rode one whole night to the 
 extent of fifteen leagues. They arrived by 
 break of day at the town of St. Esprit, which 
 they took, and all those of both sexes which 
 were therein. It was a pitiful sight; for 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 307 
 
 they murdered many a discreet man, and 
 violated many a virgin. They gained im- 
 mense riches, and provision sufficient to last 
 them for a whole year. They could from 
 this town escape easily in one hour's time, 
 and without danger, into the kingdom of France; 
 and, in another hour, into the empire. They 
 collected their companies together, and kept 
 advancing towards Avignon, at which the Pope 
 and cardinals were much alarmed. These com- 
 panies had chosen, at the Pont St. Esprit, a 
 captain to command the whole of their forces, 
 who was commonly styled the friend of God, 
 and enemy of all the world. 
 
 " There were at that time in France, 
 besides these companies, many other pil- 
 lagers, English, Gascons, and Germans ; who 
 were desirous of living there, and who main- 
 tained many garrisons in fortresses ; although 
 the commissaries, from the King of England, 
 had ordered them to evacuate these castles, 
 and to leave the country, they had not 
 obeyed, which was very displeasing to the King 
 
308 WANDERINGS 
 
 of France, as well as his council. But when 
 many of them learnt (for they had possession 
 of different places in France) that their brethren 
 had overthrown the Lord James de Bourbon, 
 with two thousand knights and squires ; had 
 taken a great many prisoners, and had very 
 lately surprised and conquered the town of St. 
 Esprit, where they had found immense riches, 
 and that they had expectations of all Provence: 
 each was eager to join them, in the hopes of 
 gain, and doing more mischief; this was the 
 reason why many warriors left their forts and 
 castles, and advanced before their companions, 
 expecting greater pillage. When Pope Innocent 
 the Sixth, and the Roman college, saw them- 
 selves thus threatened by these accursed people, 
 they were exceedingly alarmed, and ordered a 
 croisade to be published against these wicked 
 Christians, who were doing everything in their 
 power to destroy Christianity (like the Vandals 
 of old, without right or reason,) by ruining all 
 the countries whither they resorted, — by rob- 
 bing, whenever they could find anything, — by 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 309 
 
 violating women, both young and old, without 
 pity, and by killing men, women, and children 
 without mercy, who had done no ill to them ; 
 for he was reckoned the bravest, and most 
 honoured, who could boast of the most vil- 
 lainous actions. 
 
 "The Pope and the Cardinals had there- 
 fore a croisade publicly preached; they ab- 
 solved from every crime and sin all those 
 who should take the cross, and voluntarily 
 give themselves up to destroy these wretches. 
 The Cardinals elected the Lord Peter de 
 Monstier, Cardinal d'Arras, by some called 
 Cardinal d'Ostia, to be the chief of this croisade ; 
 who, upon his nomination, immediately left 
 Avignon, and went to Carpentras, seven leagues 
 distant, where he fixed his quarters. He retained 
 all soldiers and others, who were desirous of 
 saving their souls, and of gaining the foresaid 
 pardons, but he would not give them any pay ; 
 which caused many of them to depart, and go 
 into Lombardy ; others returned to their own 
 countries, and some joined these wicked com- 
 
310 WANDERINGS 
 
 panies, which were daily increasing. They 
 divided themselves into several companies, over 
 each of which they nominated captains, and 
 took up their quarters in different places ; thus 
 they harassed the Pope, the Cardinals, and the 
 merchants in the neighbourhood of Avignon, 
 and did a great deal of mischief until the 
 summer was far advanced of the year 1361. 
 
 " It happened that the Pope and Cardinals cast 
 their eyes upon a very accomplished knight and 
 good warrior, that is to say, upon the Marquis 
 de Montferrat, who for a long time had been 
 engaged in war against the lords of Milan, and 
 was at this time so employed. They sent to 
 him to come to Avignon, where he was received 
 with much honour by the Pope and Cardinals ; 
 a treaty was then entered into with him ; he 
 agreed for a considerable sum of money to free 
 the territories of the Pope, and the neighbour- 
 hood, of those freebooting companies, and lead 
 them with him into Lombardy. The marquis 
 negotiated, therefore, with the captains of these 
 companies, and managed so well, that by means 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 311 
 
 of sixty thousand florins, which he divided 
 among them, and the high pay he promised 
 them, they consented to follow him into Lom- 
 bardy ; but they also insisted on receiving 
 pardon and absolution from all crimes and sin. 
 Every article was fulfilled, and the money paid. 
 They gave up the towns of St. Espirit, quitted 
 the territory of Avignon, and marched away 
 with the Marquis of Montferrat." 
 
 The steamer, for the first few hours, toiled 
 its way against a rapid current, through a 
 frightful country. At Pont St. Esprit, supposed 
 to be the longest brick bridge in the world, the 
 struggle between steam and water was very 
 serious, and at one time steam had decidedly the 
 worst of the encounter. A fellow steamer to 
 the one upon which we were, was lying at Pont 
 St. Esprit for repairs ; three days previously, 
 she had run against one of the arches of the 
 bridge. The man steering had been knocked 
 overboard and drowned, and the steamer greatly 
 damaged. 
 
 Pont St. Esprit is an ugly town, of four thou- 
 
312 WANDERINGS 
 
 sand five hundred inhabitants, — some portions 
 of its ruined fortifications are still to be seen. At 
 Viviers, the banks of the Rhone change from 
 a flat country to hills, and to great beauty. 
 The river was swelled by rain, and instead of 
 reaching Valence, our resting place for the 
 night, at eight o'clock, it was eleven when we 
 arrived there. The rain was descending in tor- 
 rents, and we must have presented a curious 
 sight to the host of individuals who turned out 
 at the Hotel de la Poste to view the arrival 
 of the " Milord Anglais" and the " Miladi," for 
 whom rooms had been ordered, as, wet, draggled, 
 and blackened by the steamer's smoke, we 
 struggled out of the odd-looking vehicle that 
 had been sent to meet us at the river side. The 
 steamer left Valence at six on the following 
 morning; the weather had cleared, and we 
 were able to view from the deck the pleasing 
 villages and picturesque ruins that are scattered 
 within sight of the river. 
 
 In the cabin, the scene was less pleasing; 
 the steamer was crowded, and a curious mix- 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 313 
 
 ture of passengers assembled in the principal 
 cabin, without respect of persons or distinction 
 of first and second class fares. Those who had 
 left Avignon with us on the previous day, 
 showed that they had considered it unadvisable 
 to waste any portion of the short time allotted 
 for rest on shore, to ablutions : the conductor 
 of a diligence, in his professional dress, was one 
 of the most respectable of the party ; the spit- 
 ting talked of as disgusting in America, cannot 
 exceed the horrible shower that was incessantly 
 sent forth on all sides. We passed, during the 
 day, localities whose names are dear to the wine 
 bibber : the village of St. Peray ; the hill topped 
 by a ruin, whose sides are covered with the 
 vineyards — growing Hermitage, and the hill- 
 side known by the name of Cote Koti. The 
 most celebrated place which we passed was 
 Vienne, the ancient Vienna, and capital of the 
 Allobroges : it was long a rival of Lyons ; we 
 stopped there for passengers. The cathedral, 
 with its two massive towers, gives it an imposing 
 aspect as it is approached, and it has many 
 
 EE 
 
314 WANDERINGS 
 
 objects of interest to be noticed when it is 
 reached. A square tower by the water-side, 
 with " Restaurant et Cafe" placarded upon it in 
 large letters, is called "Tour de Mauconseil", 
 from the tradition that Pilate cast himself from 
 its summit. That Pilate really was banished to 
 Vienna on his return to Rome from Jerusalem, 
 is authentic; but the tower being a medieval 
 building, Pilate must have committed suicide in 
 some other manner. 
 
 We reached Lyons at seven o'clock, after a 
 day passed in steaming through scenery of great 
 beauty. 
 
 It was my good fortune to be known by 
 name to Monsieur Comarmond, the conservator 
 of the archaeological department of the museum 
 at Lyons, and the district inspector of antiqui- 
 ties ; this gentleman acted as my guide during 
 the two days that I passed in his town, which 
 is filled with objects of the highest antiquarian 
 interest, that he was well qualified to point 
 out to me. Lyons was the most important of the 
 Gaulish capitals ; four aqueducts led to it ; it 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 315 
 
 contained an imperial palace, a forum, temples, 
 naumachias, and was decorated with colossal 
 statues ; indeed, a bronze fragment, preserved 
 at the museum, is the largest fragment of bronze 
 statuary extant. 
 
 Claudius and Caligula were born at Lyons, and 
 Augustus resided there three years ; the school 
 of debate and composition, founded by Caligula, 
 attained the highest reputation. It is celebrated 
 for the sufferings of the early Christians, and 
 the localities of the confinement of some, and of 
 the martyrdom of others, may be seen. We 
 could see from the windows of the Hotel du 
 Pare, where we were staying, the Place des 
 Terreaux, the scene of execution of Cinq Mars 
 and De Thon, and where, in 1794, the blood of 
 the victims of the guillotine flowed in such 
 streams, as to compel other modes of execution. 
 
 Monsieur Comarmond pointed out to me the 
 scene of the engagement between Septimius 
 Severus and Albinus, which may be traced 
 from the heights of Fourvieres, and, what to 
 me was personally more interesting, obtained 
 
336 WANDERINGS 
 
 for me, from the extensive Roman cemetery in 
 the Faubourg St. Irenee, just at the back of 
 Fourvieres, a leaden urn with its contents, con- 
 sisting of small unguent bottles in coloured 
 glass, and various small articles in bone. 
 
 He took me twice over the museum ; it is 
 especially rich in monumental inscriptions ; some 
 give those touching sentiments which the an- 
 cients so often used. One, in particular, aifected 
 me : it was that of two soldiers who had received 
 an honourable dismissal; having long rested under 
 the same tent, they wished that their ashes might 
 also repose in the same tomb. A man, endeared 
 to his friends by his virtues, had a monument 
 erected by the affection of his slaves. Other 
 inscriptions are of historical value. Upon 
 a taurobole appears at full length the ancient 
 names of Lyons, — Colonia — Copia — Claudia 
 Augusta, Lugdunum, and many have it in 
 abbreviation. A seated statuette in the museum 
 represents a deity symbolical of the town ; she 
 is turreted, and bears two cornu copise. 
 
 But the boast of the Lyons collection is in 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 317 
 
 the bronze tablet, (broken into two pieces, but 
 now carefully preserved from further injury) 
 on which is beautifully engraved the speech 
 of the Emperor Claudius in the Roman senate, 
 moving that the communities of Gallia Comata 
 should be admitted to the privileges of Roman 
 citizenship. The museum is rendered rich in 
 objects of female ornament by a treasure dis- 
 covered in 1841, by the "Freres de la Doctrine 
 chretienne", in making excavations for the 
 erection of some building on the eastern side 
 of the heights of Fourvieres. Two thousand 
 coins and some ornaments are supposed to have 
 been abstracted when found; but some hun- 
 dred silver coins, from the reign of Vespasian 
 to that of Septimius Severus, were recovered ; 
 together with three gold coins, seven bracelets, 
 two rings, four sliders, three pairs of earrings, 
 five necklaces, and a considerable length of 
 small chain, supposed to have been intended to 
 wear in the hair, with a quantity of small 
 pendants. All these articles being of gold, and 
 many set with precious stones, make the Lyons 
 
«318 WANDERINGS 
 
 museum rival, in splendour of personal orna- 
 ments, the Museo Borbonico at Naples. 
 
 Many mosaics have been found at Lyons, 
 and several are preserved in the museum : one 
 is of especial interest ; it represents a chariot 
 race ; the various courses are marked upon it ; 
 the judges are in their stand ; the chariots are 
 accompanied by individuals interested in the 
 race, and the frequency of accidents vividly 
 shown. 
 
 Monsieur Comarmond also showed me his own 
 splendid collection of antiquities. His Roman 
 glass is the finest that I have ever seen ; a 
 few of his bronze statuettes are gems of beauty, 
 and he has a pair of bronze panther couples, 
 that I would have made any pecuniary sacrifice 
 to obtain. The collars, as well as the connect- 
 ing bar, which is of the same width as the 
 collars, are of open work, of fine tracery ; lines 
 of it are modelled into cocks, others into bands 
 of monkeys holding hands: it is a wonderful 
 specimen of combined lightness and strength. 
 He made me acquainted with Monsieur de 
 
IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 319 
 
 Belley, who has, in addition to a vast collection 
 of Roman coins in brass and silver, a magnifi- 
 cent collection of Roman gold. 
 
 The two days spent in the society of this 
 most kind-hearted and well-informed man, 
 Monsieur Comarmond, made an agreeable finale 
 to my loiterings, and I returned from Lyons 
 to England with all the speed that steam and 
 horses could enable me to make. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 LONDON! 
 RICHARDS, 100, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. 
 
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