LETTERS FROM GREECE.

To

LETTER I.

Corfu, March 29, 1817.

WE arrived here about a week since, having proceeded from Naples direct to Bari, intending to pursue a route from thence along the coast, and to embark at Otranto; but, as the passage across the Adriatic is much more uncertain from that point than from Mola,-a small town about fifteen miles below Bari,-we acted on the suggestion of the Commandant of the latter place, and hired a light vessel for seventy-five ducats, which, on the third morning, brought us within the beautiful harbour of this town.

The quarantine regulations prevented our de

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barking our effects under four days, though we were allowed to quit the boat the next evening, and walk on an esplanade, which stretches from the Lazaretto about a hundred yards into the bay. The port is thronged with small craft from the neighbouring coast and islands, but both the vessels and their navigators look in a most slovenly condition. Our sailors are here termed i dei del mare, and their appearance, as opposed to the Greeks and Italians, seems almost literally to justify the phrase. It is, indeed, scarcely possible to conceive a greater contrast than that presented by the active crew of a British man-of-war's barge, and the yawning, indolent mariners who paddle about in the waters of Corfu.

The city appears for the most part in a decayed state; the streets are dark and narrow, and in some instances rendered peculiarly gloomy by heavy and disproportioned piazzas. There is not a single building, either private or public, which merits any particular description;—not even the residence of the Governor, though designated xar'

ox, the Palace ;-all that can be said for it is, that it is an extensive pile, and capable of being

strongly fortified'. Sir T. M-t-d, the present "Lord High Commissioner," has won the atttachment both of the stranger and the native, by his dignified and cordial hospitality.

Of the seven islands which constitute the Ionian Republic, (Paxos, St. Maura, Corfu, Ithaca, Cephalonia, Zante, Cerigo)—Corfu, though less than Cephalonia, is incomparably the most important. The identification of their interests with those of Great Britain is very justly regarded by the inhabitants as an advancement in the political scale, and they attend with great anxiety the development of a constitution, which has long engaged the consideration of the Governor. Its outlines are said to be as follow-There is to be a legislative assembly chosen by the electoral body, and a senate chosen by the legislative assembly-the law-officers are to receive their appointment from the senate. The elections are to be made for five years; the Lord Commissioner is to have the power of convoking or proroguing the parliament, but not of dissolving it, except by virtue of an order from the government

1 The new palace was not begun at the time the writer visited Corfu.

of England. Each island is to have a local government-the dominant religion is to be the Greek church-the language Greek. A general printingoffice will be established at Corfu, under the direction of the senate, and the superintendence of the Secretary-General; and no other printing establishment is to be allowed in any of the islands, without the express permission of the senate, and the approbation of the Lord Commissioner.

The annexation of these islands to the British

who

colonial possessions naturally adds to the interest which it is scarcely possible not to feel, on visiting any one of them: your friend, Captain Ebelongs to the Governor's staff, has accompanied me to those parts of the interior of this, with which a residence of some months here has familiarized him. The figure of Corfu has some resemblance to a bow, the extremities of the chord pointing to the east and west. Its length was anciently considered to be nearly one hundred miles: the minuter accuracy of modern surveys has, I believe, reduced it to something less than sixty; and the greatest breadth does not exceed twenty-four'. The most

1 Insulæ autem ex adverso Thesprotiæ, Corcyra a Buthroto

ancient name of this island is Phæacia; but it has been successively termed Drepane, Scheria, and Corcyra; which last designation it received from the daughter of Esopus, who was buried here. Besides the magic fictions of Homer, there are many historical recollections, which hastily pass in review, as the eye ranges amidst the varieties of this enchanting scenery. The commotions so minutely detailed by Thucydides' awaken only melancholy reflections, and the imagination hurries to the plains of Olympia, where the citizens of Corcyra were frequently rewarded with the wreath of victory. It was Corcyra that Alexander selected for his residence, on his temporary retreat from the court of Philip-it was here also that the interview took place between Cicero and Cato, after the deathblow to their hopes at Pharsalia-and here were solemnized those ill-fated nuptials between Antony

duodecim millia passuum: eadem ab Acrocerauniis quinquaginta mill: cum urbe ejusdem nominis, Corcyra, liberæ civitatis, et oppido Cassiope, temploque Cassii Jovis, passuum nonaginta septem millia in longitudinem patens: Homero dicta Scheria et Phæacia, Callimacho etiam Drepane.-Nat. Hist. lib. iv. 19.

1 Lib. i. 2.