therefore requested him to give me some account of the places before me, and to inform me what things were worth seeing. Laying his hand upon his breast, in the manner of the Turks, he made a low bow. "I have," replied he, "often heard M. Fauvel explain all that; but for my part, I am but an ignorant man, and don't even know whether it is all true or not. In the first place, you see to the west, above the promontory, the top of a mountain perfectly yellow: that is the Telo Vouni (the Little Hymettus). The island on the other side of that arm of the sea is Colouri; M. Fauvel calls it Salamis, and says that in the channel opposite to you a famous battle was fought between the fleets of the Greeks and Persians. The Greeks were stationed in this channel; the Persians on the other side towards the Lion's Port (the Piræus). The king of those Persians, whose name I have forgotten, was seated on a throne placed at the point of that cape. As to the village where we are, M. Fauvel gives it the name of Eleusis; but we call it Lepsina. He says, that there was once a temple (the temple of Ceres) below this house; and if you will take the trouble to walk a few steps, you may see the spot where stood the mutilated idol of that temple (the statue of Ceres Eleusina); but it has been taken away by the English."

The Greek returned to his work, and left me with my eyes fixed on a desert shore, and a sea where not a vessel was to be seen, but a fishingboat moored to the rings of a ruined mole.

All the modern travellers have visited Eleusis; all the inscriptions there have been copied. The Abbé Fourmont alone took about a score of them. We have a very learned dissertation on the temple of Eleusis by M. de Sainte Croix, and a plan of it by M. Foucherot. Warburton, Sainte Croix, and the Abbé Barthelemy, have said all that is worth saying on the subject of the mysteries of Ceres. The mutilated statue carried away by two English travellers is taken by Chandler for the statue of Proserpine, and by Spon for that of Ceres. According to Pococke, this colossal bust measures five feet and a half across the shoulders, and the basket which crowns it is more than two feet in height. Spon asserts, that this statue was 'in all probability the work of Praxiteles; but I know not what foundation he had for this opinion. Pausanias, out of respect for the mysteries, has not described the statue of Ceres, and Strabo is likewise silent on the subject. Pliny, to be sure, informs us that Praxiteles executed a Ceres in marble, and two Proserpines in bronze: the first having been conveyed to Rome, cannot be the same that was seen a few years since at Eleusis; and the two Proserpines of bronze are out of the question. To judge from the print which we have of this statue, it might have represented merely a Canephora. If I recollect rightly, M. Fauvel observed to me that this statue, notwithstanding its reputation, was of very inferior workmanship.

I have, therefore, nothing to relate concerning Eleusis, after so many travellers, except that I strolled among its ruins, went down to its port, and paused to survey the Streight of Salamis. The festivities and the glory of Eleusis are past: profound silence pervaded both the land and the sea: no acclamations, no songs, no pompous ceremonies on shore; no warlike shouts, no shock of galleys, no tumult of battle on the waves. My imagination was too confined now to figure to itself the religious procession of Eleusis; now to cover the shore with the countless host of Persians watching the battle of Salamis. Eleusis is, in my opinion, the most venerable place in Greece, because the unity of God was there inculcated, and because it witnessed the grandest struggle ever made by men in defence of liberty.

Who would believe that Salamis is, at the present day, almost wholly effaced from the memory of the Greeks. The reader has seen how my Athenian expressed himself. "The island of Salamis," says M. Fauvel in his Memoirs, "has not retained its name; it is forgotten, together with that of Themistocles." Spon relates, that he lodged at Salamis with the papas Joannis, "a man," he adds, "less ignorant than any of his parishioners, since he knew that the island was formerly called Salamis; and this information he received from his father." This indifference of the Greeks, relative to their country, is equally deplorable and disgrace

ful; they are not only ignorant of its history, but almost all of them are such utter strangers to the language which constitutes their glory, that we have seen an Englishman, impelled by a holy zeal, propose to settle at Athens, for the purpose of teaching the ancient Greek.

I could not think of returning till night drove me from the shore. The waves, raised by the evening breeze, broke against the beach and expired at my feet. I walked for some time along the shore of that sea which bathed the tomb of Themistocles: and in all probability I was at this moment the only person in Greece who called to mind this great man.

Joseph had purchased a sheep for our supper: he knew that we should reach the house of a French consul the next day. He cared not for Sparta which he had seen, or Athens which he was going to see; but in his joy at being so near the end of his fatigues, he provided a treat for the whole family of our host. Wife, children, husband, were all in motion; the janissary alone sat still amidst the general bustle, smoking his pipe, and enjoying his exemption from all this trouble, by which, however, he hoped to be a gainer. Since the suppression of the mysteries by Alaric, never had there been such a feast at Eleusis. We sat down to table, that is to say, we squatted upon the floor around the repast: our hostess had baked some bread, which, though not very good, was soft and smoking from the oven. Fain would I have renewed the

cry of Xaige Anunreg, Hail Ceres! This bread, made from corn of the late harvest, proved the fallacy of a prediction recorded by Chandler. At the period of that traveller's visit, it was a current saying at Eleusis, that if ever the mutilated statue of the goddess were removed, the plain would cease to be fertile. Ceres is gone to England, and the fields of Eleusis are not the less favored by that real Deity, who invites all mankind to the knowledge of his mysteries, who is not afraid of being dethroned, who paints the flowers with a thousand lovely hues, who tends the fruits from their first formation to maturity, and bestows, in due measure, sun-shine and rain, and refreshing dews.

This good cheer, and the peace in which we partook of it, I enjoyed the more, as we were indebted for them, in some measure, to the protection of France. Thirty or forty years ago, the coasts of Greece in general, and the ports of Corinth, Megara, and Eleusis in particular, were infested by pirates. The good order established in our stations in the Levant, gradually suppressed this system of plunder; our frigates kept a vigilant look-out; and under the French flag the subjects of the Porte tasted the sweets of security. The recent revolutions in Europe occasioned for a short time other combinations of powers; but the corsairs have not again made their appearance. We drank therefore to the glory of those arms which protected our entertainment at Eleusis, with the same feelings as the Athenians must have expressed towards Alcibiades