APOLOGY FOR SIGNOR LUSIERI.

377

We shall leave Athens with regret; for, although we have had our eyes and ears in constant exercise, still there is much to see and know. The few acquaintances we have made in Athens have the highest claims to our regard; more particularly Signor Lusieri, whose attentions have been most obliging. 'Lusieri is a worthy man ; and although engaged in despoiling the Parthenon of its marbles, a proceeding which, I believe, he was the first to suggest to Lord Elgin, is not altogether without apology. He may have foreseen the happy change which those precious marbles must produce on modern taste, and, with a view to their reviving the purity of ancient art, may have thought that no situation could be more eligible than where the wisdom of Minerva is centeredin Britain.

Departure from Athens.-Piræus.—Cape Colonni.-Temple of Minerva Sunias.-Views in sailing up the Gulf of Egina.Island of Ægina-Singular mode of Rowing. Isthmus of Corinth, &c.

WHEN HEN our friends in Athens had collected to offer their adieus, the party of the British alone consisted of about a dozen. The three Athenian Maids graced the meeting in the court, and our hearts, at this moment of separation, did full homage to their charms. Modesty, and delicacy of conduct, will always command affection.

Before our baggage could be adjusted, and the unruly mules be brought quietly to receive their burdens, the sky was putting on its amber-coloured robes, and ere we reached the port of the Piræus, the night was throwing her shadow over the farewell hues of day. Still a rosy cloud hung above the Parthenon; and the dark and solemn olive grove was rendered doubly interesting by the hoot

ing of the owl, and the few remains of the long walls of the Piræus, which were but indistinctly seen through the mysterious shades.

4

We remained in the Dojanna* for the night, and the morning disclosed to us the site of what was once the pride of Athens. The splendid porticoes, the numerous temples, the theatre, the grand armoury, and other magnificent buildings of ancient date, have vanished from the earth, to give place to a few wretched sheds!-But what is be come of such extensive works? The long walls were high, and cased with hewn stone, and so broad, that a carriage might have been driven on them, yet scarcely a trace of them is now perceptible.

f

Instead of the riches of the world pouring into the Piræus, we could perceive nothing but a heap or two of tiles, and a few empty oil and currant jars. The sailors, for want of shelter, were lying rolled up in their capotes, (or great-coats,) like as many Russian bears, upon the beach; one of them was sleeping with his head within a jar.

Finding nothing at the Piræus to detain us, we stepped into our boat, and rowed away for Sunium, † our sailors singing a morning hymn, and the cool morning air bringing from the various hills

*The custom-house.

+ Cape Colonni

380

CAPE COLONNI.

the most delightful odour. We rushed through the

waters with great rapidity, breaking the blue crystal of the seas." By word of command, the ten men stood upon the cross benches, and with their whole force and weight they fell upon their seats. Each gave the word for action in succession, in a loud or low tone, according as they should proceed fast or slow. Sometimes they would halt a few seconds; then, as if they had lost their time by doing so, they sprung up suddenly, and pulled together like as many furies ;-rising and falling with a quickness of motion and bodily exertion, quite astonishing.

On neither side was the scenery at all striking. Hymettus has not a pleasing form, (being rather lumpish,) and, without the aid of association, our eyes would have hardly dwelt upon it. The sea is overpowering, and reduces in importance all the points and promontories. But a few short hours presented to our admiring eyes the columns of Minerva Sunias: * and very soon we entered the scene of Falconer's Shipwreck :

"Where 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 elder times Tritonia's sacred fane."

Nearly forty-two miles from the Piræus.

TEMPLE OF MINERVA SUNIAS.

381

From the sea, the whole scene did not appear to much advantage, perhaps from being too near the shore. We soon reached the land, but our men took the precaution to row about the promontory, to ascertain that all was safe. We entered a cave or two, and saw that fires had been lately kindled in them; but, as no boat was seen either on the seas,* or on the shore, we concluded there were no robbers near.

You may be sure we did not tarry long before we proceeded to the temple. All was wild and desolate, impressing the mind with melancholy thoughts. The place where Plato and his scholars once assembled is now a trackless waste. Only fourteen columns of the temple now remain, of the whitest Parian marble, some of them greatly corroded by time, and dislocated by lightning. As seen by us they were relieved against the sky; but when the white clouds appeared behind them, the temple was just perceptible, and looked like a faint vision of a thing that had been! All was still as death, save the murmuring of the waves below, polishing the fallen marbles into pebbles on the shore, and degrading them into dust, to be blown before the winds of heaven!

* Towards Macronisi, (where Helen landed after Troy was taken,) which is about five miles distant.