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It may be true that the Zolikogloou. Coray has recently been involved in an un-change is to be attributed to their misfortunes rather than to pleasant controversy with M. Gail,t a Parisian commentator any "physical degradation."' and editor of some translations from the Greek poets, in con- Greeks are not physically degenerated, and that Constanti. sequence of the Institute having awarded him the prize for his nople contained on the day when it changed masters as many To his ancient history and modern politics instruct us that something version of Hippocrates' Hepi võárov,' &c., to the disparage. men of six feet and upwards as in the hour of prosperity; but ment, and consequently displeasure, of the said Gail. exertions, literary and patriotic, great praise is undoubtedly more than physical perfection is necessary to preserve a state due; but a part of that praise ought not to be withheld from in vigour and independence; and the Greeks, in particular, the two brothers Zosimado (merchants settled in Leghorn), are a melancholy example of the near connection between The Reviewer mentions a plan we believe' by Potemkin who sent him to Paris, and maintained him, for the express moral degradation and natural decay. purpose of elucidating the ancient, and adding to the modern, researches of his countrymen. Coray, however, is not con- for the purification of the Romaic; and I have endeavoured sidered by his countrymen equal to some who lived in the in vain to procure any tidings or traces of its existence. There two last centuries; more particularly Dorotheus of Mitylene, was an academy in St Petersburg for the Greeks: but it was There is a slip of the pen, and it can only be a slip of the whose Hellenic writings are so much esteemed by the Greeks, suppressed by Paul, and has not been revived by his successor. pen, in p. 58, No. 31 of the Edinburgh Review,' where these that Meletius terms him Μετὰ τὸν Θουκυδίδην καὶ Eevodávτa apiσTOS 'EλAŃvwv.' (P. 224, Ecclesiastical words occur: We are told that when the capital of the East yielded to Solyman-It may be presumed that this last word History, vol. iv.) Panagiotes Kodrikas, the translator of Fontenelle, and will, in a future edition, be altered to Mahomet II. The Kamarases, who translated Ocellus Lucanus on the Universe ladies of Constantinople,' it seems, at that period spoke a into French, Christodoulus, and more particularly Psalida, dialect, which would not have disgraced the lips of an whom I have conversed with in Joannina, are also in high re- Athenian.' I do not know how that might be, but am sorry pute among their literati. The last-mentioned has published to say the ladies in general, and the Athenians in particular, in Romaic and Latin a work on True Happiness, dedicated are much altered; being far from choice either in their dialect to Catherine II. But Polyzois, who is stated by the Reviewer or expressions, as the whole Attic race are barbarous to a to be the only modern except Coray who has distinguished proverb:himself by a knowledge of Hellenic, if he be the Polyzois Lampanitziotes of Yanina, who has published a number of editions in Romaic, was neither more nor less than an itinerant vender of books; with the contents of which he had no concern be-In Gibbon, vol. x. p. 161, is the following sentence:- The yond his name on the title-page, placed there to secure his property in the publication; and he was, moreover, a man utterly destitute of scholastic acquirements. As the name, however, is not uncommon, some other Polyzois may have edited the Epistles of Aristænetus.

• 2 Αθήνα, προτη χώρα,

Τι γαιδαρους τρέφεις τωρα

There is now in Athens a pupil of Psalida's, who is making a tour of observation through Greece: he is intelligent, and better educated than a fellow-commoner of most colleges. I mention this as a proof that the spirit of inquiry is not dormant among the Greeks.

vulgar dialect of the city was gross and barbarous, though the compositions of the church and palace sometimes affected to copy the purity of the Attic models. Whatever may be asserted on the subject, it is difficult to conceive that the ladies of Constantinople,' in the reign of the last Cæsar, spoke a purer It is to be regretted that the system of continental blockade dialect than Anna Comnena wrote three centuries before: and has closed the few channels through which the Greeks received those royal pages are not esteemed the best models of comtheir publications, particularly Venice and Trieste. Even the common grammars for children are become too dear for the position, although the princess yλwTrav exer AKPIBNE lower orders. Amongst their original works the Geography ATTIKICOVσav. In the Fanal, and in Yanina, the best Greek is of Meletius, Archbishop of Athens, and a multitude of theo-spoken: in the latter there is a flourishing school under the logical quartos and poetical pamphlets, are to be met with; direction of Psalida, their grammars and lexicons of two, three, and four languages are numerous and excellent. Their poetry is in rhyme. The most singular piece I have lately seen is a satire in dialogue between a Russian, English, and French traveller, and the The Reviewer mentions Mr Wright, the author of the beauti Waywode of Wallachia (or Blackbey, as they term him), an archbishop, a merchant, and Cogia Bachi (or primate) in succession; to all of whom under the Turks the writer attributes ful poem Hora Ionicæ,' as qualified to give details of these their present degeneracy. Their songs are sometimes pretty nominal Romans and degenerate Greeks; and also of their and pathetic, but their tunes generally unpleasing to the ear language: but Mr Wright, though a good poet and an able dialect of the Romaic to approximate nearest to the Hellenic; of a Frank; the best is the famous Aevre maides Toy 'EX-man, has made a mistake where he states the Albanian Anvov, by the unfortunate Riga. But from a catalogue of for the Albanians speak a Romaic as notoriously corrupt as the more than sixty authors, now before me, only fifteen can be Scotch of Aberdeenshire, or the Italian of Naples. Yanina (where, next to the Fanal, the Greek is purest), although the found who have touched on any theme except theology. capital of Ali Pacha's dominions, is not in Albania, but Epirus; and beyond Delvinachi in Albania Proper up to Argyrocastro I was attended for a and Tepaleen (beyond which I did not advance) they speak worse Greek than even the Athenians. year and a half by two of these singular mountaineers, whose mother tongue is Illyric, and I never heard them or their countrymen (whom I have seen, not only at home, but to the amount of twenty thousand in the army of Vely Pacha) praised for their Greek, but often laughed at for their provincial barbarisms.

I am intrusted with a commission by a Greek of Athens named Marmarctouri to make arrangements, if possible, for printing in London a translation of Barthelemi's Anacharsis in Romaic, as he has no other opportunity, unless he despatches the MS to Vienna by the Black Sea and Danube.

The Reviewer mentions a school established at Hecatonesi, and suppressed at the instigation of Sebastiani: he means Cidonies, or, in Turkish, Haivali; a town on the continent, where that institution for a hundred students and three proIt is true that this establishment was disfessors still exists. turbed by the Porte, under the ridiculous pretext that the Greeks were constructing a fortress instead of a college: but on investigation, and the payment of some purses to the Divan, it has been permitted to continue. The principal professor, named Ueniamin, (i. e. Benjamin), is stated to be a man of talent, but a freethinker. He was born in Lesbos, studied in Italy, and is master of Hellenic, Latin, and some Frank languages: besides a smattering of the sciences.

Though it is not my intention to enter farther on this topic than may allude to the article in question, I cannot but observe that the Reviewer's lamentation over the fall of the Greeks appears singular, when he closes it with these words: The

I have in my possession about twenty-five letters, amongst which some from the Bey of Corinth, wrtten to me by Notaras, the Cogia Bachi, and others by the dragoman of the Caimacam of the Morea (which last governs in Vely Pacha's absence),

• In a former number of the Edinburgh Review, 1808, it is observed: Lord Byron passed some of his early years in Scotland, where he might have learned that pibroch does not mean a bagpipe, any more than duet means a fiddle. Query,Was it in Scotland that the young gentlemen of the Edinburgh than criticism means infallibility 1-but thus it is, Review learned that Solyman means Mahomet II. any more

'Cædimus inque vicem præbemus crura sagittis.'

I have in my possession an excellent lexicon 'rptyλwo-The mistake seemed so completely a lapse of the pen (from σov, which I received in exchange from S. G-, Esq. for a small gem: my antiquarian friends have never forgotten it, or forgiven me.

In Gail's pamphlet against Coray, he talks of 'throwing the insolent Hellenist out of the windows. On this a French Critic exclaims, 'Ah, my God! throw an Hellenist out of the window! what sacrilege!' It certainly would be a serious business for those authors who dwell in the attics: but I have quoted the passage merely to prove the similarity of style among the controversialists of all polished countries; London or Edinburgh could hardly parallel this Parisian ebullition.

the great similarity of the two words, and the total absence of
error from the former pages of the literary leviathan) that I
should have passed it over as in the text, had I not perceived
in the Edinburgh Review much facetious exultation on all such
detections, particularly a recent one, where words and syllables
are subjects of disquisition and transposition; and the above-
mentioned parallel passage in my own case irresistibly pro-
pelled ine to hint how much easier it is to be critical than cor-
rect. The gentlemen, having enjoyed many a triumph on
present.
such victories, will hardly begrudge me a slight ovation for the

46

are said to be favourable specimens of their epistolary style. I also received some at Constantinople from private persons, written in a most hyperbolical style, but in the true antique

character.

The Reviewer proceeds, after some remarks on the tongue in its past and present state, to a paradox (page 59) on the great mischief the knowledge of his own language has done to Coray, who, it seems, is less likely to understand the ancient Greek, because he is perfect master of the modern! This observation follows a paragraph, recommending, in explicit terms, the study of the Romaic, as 'a powerful auxiliary, not only to ་ the traveller and foreign merchant, but also to the classical scholar; in short, to everybody except the only person who can be thoroughly acquainted with its uses; and by a parity of reasoning, our old language is conjectured to be probably more attainable by foreigners than by ourselves! Now, I am inclined to think, that a Dutch Tyre in our tongue (albeit himself of Saxon blood) would be sadly perplexed with Sir Tristrem,' or any other given Auchinleck MS., with or without a grammar or glossary; and to most apprehensions it seems evident, that none but a native can acquire a competent, far less complete, knowledge of our obsolete idioms. We may give the critic credit for his ingenuity, but no more believe him than we do Smollett's Lismahago, who maintains that the purest English is spoken in Edinburgh. That Coray may err is very possible; but if he does, the fault is in the man rather than in his mother tongue, which is, as it ought to be, of the greatest aid to the native student.-Here the Reviewer proceeds to business on Strabo's translators, and here I close my remarks.

Sir W. Drummond, Mr Hamilton, Lord Aberdeen, Dr Clarke, Captain Leake, Mr Gell, Mr Walpole, and many others now in England, have all the requisites to furnish de: tails of this fallen people. The few observations I have offered I should have left where I made them, had not the article in question, and above all the spot where I read it, induced me to advert to those pages, which the advantage of my present situation enabled me to clear, or at least to make the attempt. I have endeavoured to waive the personal feelings which rise in despite of me in touching upon any part of the Edinburgh Review; not from a wish to conciliate the favour of its writers, or to cancel the remembrance of a syllable I have formerly published, but simply from a sense of the impropriety of mixing up private resentments with a disquisition of the present kind, and more particularly at this distance of time and place.

Amongst an enslaved people, obliged to have recourse to foreign presses even for their books of religion, it is less to be wondered at that we find so few publications on general subjects than that we find any at all. The whole number of the Grecks, scattered up and down the Turkish empire and elsewhere, may amount, at most, to three millions; and yet, for so scanty a number, it is impossible to discover any nation with so great a proportion of books and their authors as the Greeks of the present century. Ay, but say the generous advocates of oppression, who, while they assert the ignorance of the Greeks, wish to prevent them from dispelling it, ay, but these are mostly, if not all, ecclesiastical tracts, and consequently good for nothing. Well! and pray what else can they write about? It is pleasant enough to hear a Frank, particularly an Englishman, who may abuse the government of his own country; or a Frenchman, who may abuse every government except his own, and who may range at will over every philosophical, religious, scientific, sceptical, or moral subject, sneering at the Greek legends. A Greek must not write on politics, and cannot touch on science for want of instruction; if he doubts, he is excommunicated and damned; therefore his countrymen are not poisoned with modern philosophy; and, as to morals, thanks to the Turks! there are no such things. What then is left him, if he has a turn for scribbling? Ke. ligion and holy biography: and it is natural enough that those who have so little in this life should look to the next. It is no great wonder, then, that in a catalogue now before me of fiftyfive Greek writers, many of whom were lately living, not above fifteen should have touched on anything but religion. The catalogue alluded to is contained in the twenty-sixth chapter of the fourth volume of Meletius' Ecclesiastical History.

CANTO II., STANZA LXXIV., p. 172.

Trembling beneath the scourge of Turkish hand. The difficulties of travelling in Turkey have been much exaggerated, or rather have considerably diminished, of late years. The Mussulmans have been beaten into a kind of sullen civility very comfortable to voyagers.

It is hazardous to say much on the subject of Turks and Turkey; since it is possible to live amongst them twenty years without acquiring information, at least from themselves. As far as my own slight experience carried me, I have no complaint to make; but am indebted for many civilities (I might also say for friendship), and much hospitality, to Ali Pacha, his son Veli Pacha of the Morea, and several others of high

rank in the provinces. Suleyman Aga, late Governor of Athens, and now of Thebes, was a bon vivant, and as social a being as ever sat cross-legged at a tray or a table. During the carnival, when our English party were masquerading, both himself and his successor were more happy to receive masks," than any dowager in Grosvenor-square.

On one occasion of his supping at the convent, his friend and visitor, the Cadi of Thebes, was carried from table perfectly qualified for any club in Christendom; while the worthy Waywode himself triumphed in his fall

In all money transactions with the Moslems, I ever found the strictest honour, the highest disinterestedness. In trans acting business with them, there are none of those dirty peculations, under the name of interest, difference of exchange, commission, &c. &c., uniformly found in applying to a Greek consul to cash bills, even on the first houses in Pera With regard to presents, an established custom in the East, you will rarely find yourself a loser; as one worth acceptance is generally returned by another of similar value—a börse, or a shawl. In the capital and 'at court the citizens and courtiers are formed in the same school with those of Christianity; best there does not exist a more honourable, friendly, and highspirited character than the true Turkish provincia. Aga, or Moslem country gentleman. It is not meant here to designate the governors of towns, but those Agas who, by a kind of feudal tenure, possess lands and houses, of more or less extent, in Greece and Asia Minor.

The lower orders are in as tolerable discipline as the rabble in countries with greater pretensions to civilization. A Mos lem, in walking the streets of our country towns, would be more incommoded in England than a Frank in a similar situa tion in Turkey. Regimentals are the best travelling dress. The best accounts of the religion and different sects đỂ Islamism, may be found in D'Uhsson's French; of their manners, &c. perhaps in Thornton's English. The Ottomans, with all their defects, are not a people to be despised. Equal at least, to the Spaniards, they are superior to the Portuguese. If it be difficult to pronounce what they are, we can at least say what they are not; they are not treacherous, they are not cowardly, they do not burn heretics, they are assassins, nor has an enemy advanced to their capital. They are farthful to their sultan till he becomes unfit to govern, and devost to their God without an inquisition. Were they driven from St Sophia to-morrow, and the French or Russians enthroned in their stead, it would become a question whether Europe would gain by the exchange. England would certainly be the loser.

With regard to that ignorance of which they are so generally, and sometimes justly, accused, it may be doubted, always excepting France and England, in what useful points of know ledge they are excelled by other nations. Is it in the COMEDOM arts of life? In their manufactures? Is a Turkish sabre ferior to a Toledo? or is a Turk worse clothed, or lodged, or fed and taught, than a Spaniard? Are their Pachas worke educated than a Grandee? or an Effendi than a Knight of St Jago? I think not. I remember Mahinout, the grandson of Ali Pacha, asking whether my fellow-traveller and myself were in the upper ar lower House of Parliament. Now, this question from a boy of ten years old proved that his education had not been neglected. It may be doubted if an English boy at that age knows the difference of the Divan from a College of Dervises; but I am very sure a Spaniard does not. How little Mahmoct, sur rounded, as he had been, entirely by his Turkish tutors, had learned that there was such a thing as a Parliament, it were use less to conjecture, unless we suppose that his instructors did not confine his studies to the Koran.

1 believe the system

In all the mosques there are schools established, which are very regularly attended; and the poor are taught without the church of Turkey being put into peril. is not yet printed (though there is such a thing as a Turkeh press, and books printed on the late military institution of the Nizam Gedidd); nor have I heard whether the Mufti and the Mollas have subscribed, or the Caimacan and the Tefter far taken the alarm, for fear the ingenuous youth of the virten The Greeks should be taught not to pray to God their way." also a kind of Eastern Irish Papists-have a college of the own at Maynooth,-no, at Haivali; where the heterna receive much the same kind of countenance from the Ottoman as the Catholic college from the English legislature W2e shall then affirm that the Turks are ignorant sets, when they thus evince the exact proportion of Christian Charity which is tolerated in the most prosperous and orthodox of ali possi” de kingdoms? But though they allow all this, they will not suffer the Greeks to participate in their privileges: no, let them fi their battles, and pay their haratch (taxes), be dratted is tha world, and damned in the next. And shall we then eTAD 1; 478 our Irish Helots! Mahomet forbid! We should then te lat Mussulmans, and worse Christians: at present we unite the best of both-Jesuitical faith, and something not much inferior to Turkish toleration.

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CANTO III., STANZA XCI., p. 185.

CANTO III., STANZA XCIX., p. 186.

the mountains. On the opposite height of Clarens is a château. The hills are covered with vineyards, and interspersed with some small but beautiful woods; one of these was named the Bosquet de Julie;' and it is remarkable that, though long ago cut down by the brutal selfishness of the monks of St Bernard (to whom the land appertained), that the ground might be enclosed into a vineyard for the miserable drones of an execrable superstition, the inhabitants of Clarens still point out the spot where its trees stood, calling it by the name which consecrated and survived them. Rousseau has not been particularly fortunate in the preservation of the local habitations' he has given to 'airy nothings.' The Prior of Great St Bernard has cut down some of his woods for the sake of a few casks of wine, and Buonaparte has levelled part of the rocks of Meillerie in improving the road to the Simplon. The road is an excellent one; but I cannot quite agree with a remark which I heard made, that 'La route vaut mieux que les souvenirs.'

THE CORSAIR.

'Of earth-o'ergazing mountains, and thus take. It is to be recollected, that the most beautiful and impressive doctrines of the divine Founder of Christianity were delivered, not in the Temple, but on the Mount. To waive the question of devotion, and turn to human eloquence,-the most efectual and splendid specimens were not pronounced within walls. Demosthenes addressed the public and popular assemblies. Cicero spoke in the forum. That this added to their effect on the mind of both orator and hearers, may be conceived from the difference between what we read of the emotions then and there produced, and those we ourselves experience in the perusal in the closet. It is one thing to read the Iliad at Sigæum and on the tumuli, or by the springs with Mount Ida above, and the plain and rivers and Archipelago around you; and another to trim your taper over it in a snug library-this I know. Were the early and rapid progress of what is called Methodism to be attributed to any cause beyond the enthusiasm excited by its vehement faith and doctrines (the truth or error of which I presume neither to canvass nor to question), I should venture to ascribe it to the practice of preaching in the fields, and the unstudied and extemporaneous effusions of its teachers. The CANTO III., PARAGRAPH XXIV., p. 256. Mussulmans, whose erroneous devotion (at least in the lower orders) is most sincere, and therefore impressive, are accus- Link'd with one virtue, and a thousand crimes.] That the tomed to repeat their prescribed orisons and prayers, wher-point of honour which is represented in one instance of Conever they may be, at the stated hours-of course, frequently rad's character has not been carried beyond the bounds of in the open air, kneeling upon a light mat (which they carry probability, may perhaps be in some degree confirmed by the for the purpose of a bed or cushion as required); the ceremony following anecdote of a brother buccaneer in the year 1814:lasts some minutes, during which they are totally absorbed, 'Our readers have all seen the account of the enterprise and only living in their supplication: nothing can disturb them. against the pirates of Barrataria; but few, we believe, were On me the simple and entire sincerity of these men, and the informed of the situation, history, or nature of that establishspirit which appeared to be within and upon them, made a far ment. For the information of such as were unacquainted greater impression than any general rite which was ever per- with it, we have procured from a friend the following interestformed in places of worship, of which I have seen those of ing narrative of the main facts, of which he has personal knowalmost every persuasion under the sun: including most of our ledge, and which cannot fail to interest some of our readers:own sectaries, and the Greek, the Catholic, the Armenian, the Barrataria is a bay, or a narrow arm, of the Gulf of Mexico; Lutheran, the Jewish, and the Mahometan. Many of the it runs through a rich but very flat country, until it reaches negroes, of whom there are numbers in the Turkish empire. within a mile of the Mississippi river, fifteen miles below are idolaters, and have free exercise of their belief and its the city of New Orleans. The bay has branches almost inrites; some of these I had a distant view of at Patras; and, numerable, in which persons can lie concealed from the from what I could make out of them, they appeared to be of severest scrutiny. It communicates with three lakes which lie a truly Pagan description, and not very agreeable to a spec- on the south-west side, and these, with the lake of the same name, and which lies contiguous to the sea, where there is an island formed by the two arms of this lake and the sea. The east and west points of this island were fortified, in the year 1811, by a band of pirates, under the command of one Monsieur La Fitte. A large majority of these outlaws are of that class of the population of the State of Louisiana who fled from the island of St Domingo during the troubles there, and took refuge in the island of Cuba; and when the last war between France and Spain commenced, they were compelled to leave that island with the short notice of a few days. Without ceremony they entered the United States, the most of them the State of Louisiana, with all the negroes they had possessed in Cuba. They were notified by the Governor of that State of of slaves; but, at the same time, received the assurance of the Governor that he would obtain, if possible, the approbation of the General Government for their retaining this property.The island of Barrataria is situated about lat. 29 deg. 15 min., lon. 92. 30.; and is as remarkable for its health as for the superior scale and shell fish with which its waters abound. The many vices, some virtues. In the year 1813, this party had, from its turpitude and boldness, claimed the attention of the Governor of Louisiana; and to break up the establishment he thought proper to strike at the head. He therefore offered a reward of 500 dollars for the head of Monsieur La Fitte, who was well known to the inhabitants of the city of New Orleans, from his immediate connection, and his once having been a fencing-master in that city of great reputation, which art he learnt in Buonaparte's army, where he was a captain. The reward which was offered by the Governor for the head of La Fitte was answered by the offer of a reward from the latter of 15,000 for the head of the Governor. The Governor ordered out a company to march from the city to La Fitte's island, and to burn and destroy all the property, and to bring to the city of New Orleans all its banditti. This company, under the command of a man who had been the intimate associate of this bold Captain, approached very near to the fortified island, before he saw a man, or heard a sound, until he heard a whistle, not unlike a boatswain's call. Then it was he found himself surrounded by armed men who had emerged from the secret avenues which led into Bayou. Here it was that the modern Charles de Moor developed his few noble traits; for to this man, who had come to destroy his life and all that was dear to him, he not only spared his life, but offered him that which would have made the honest soldier easy for the remainder of his days; which was indignantly refused. He then, with the approbation of his captor, returned to the city. This circum stance, and some concomitant events, proved that this band of pirates was not to be taken by land.” Our naval force having

And sun-set into rose-hues sees them wrought."] Rousseau's Héloïse, Lettre 17, Part IV., note. Ces montagnes sont si hautes qu'une demi-heure après le soleil couche, leurs sommets sont éclairés de ses rayons; dont le rouge forme sur ces cimes blanches une belle couleur de rose, qu'on aperçoit de fort loin.-This applies more particularly to the heights over Meillerie. J'allai à Vevay loger à la Clef, et pendant deux jours que j'y restai sans voir personne, je pris pour cette ville un amoir qui m'a suivi dans tous mes voyages, et qui m'y a fait établir enfin les héros de mon roman. Je dirais volontiers à ceux qui ont du goût et qui sont sensibles: Allez à Vevay-the clause in the constitution which forbade the importation visitez le pays, examinez les sites, promenez-vous sur le lac, et dites si la Nature n'a pas fait ce beau pays pour une Julie, pour une Claire, et pour un St Preux; mais ne les y cherchez pas.' -Les Confessions, livre iv. p. 306, Lyon, ed. 1796.-In July, 1816, I made a voyage round the Lake of Geneva: and, as far as my own observations have led me in a not uninterested nor inattentive survey of all the scenes most celebrated by Rous-chief of this horde, like Charles de Moor, had, mixed with his seau in his 'Héloïse,' I can safely say, that in this there is no exaggeration. It would be difficult to see Clarens (with the scenes around it, Vevay, Chillon, Bôveret, St Gingo, Meillerie, Eivan, and the entrances of the Rhone) without being forcibly struck with its peculiar adaptation to the persons and events with which it has been peopled. But this is not all; the feel ing with which all around Clarens, and the opposite rocks of Meillerie, is invested, is of a still higher and more comprehensive order than the mere sympathy with individual passion; it is a sense of the existence of love in its most extended and sublime capacity, and of our own participation of its good and of its glory: it is the great principle of the universe, which is there more condensed, but not less manifested; and of which, though knowing ourselves a part, we lose our individuality, and mingle in the beauty of the whole.-If Rousseau had never written, nor lived, the same associations would not less have belonged to such scenes. He has added to the interest of his works by their adoption; he has shown his sense of their beauty by the selection; but they have done that for him which no human being could do for them.-I had the fortune (good or evil as it might be) to sail from Meillerie (where we landed for some time) to St Gingo during a lake storm, which added to the magnificence of all around, although occasionally accompanied by danger to the boat, which was small and overloaded. It was over this very part of the lake that Rousseau has driven the boat of St Preux and Madame Wolmar to Meillerie for shelter during a tempest. On gaining the shore at St Gingo, I found that the wind had been sufficiently strong to blow down some fine old chestnut trees on the lower part of,

always been small in that quarter, exertions for the destruc-ing, the Duke not having returned to the palace, his servants tion of this illicit establishment could not be expected from them until augmented: for an officer of the navy, with most of the gun-boats on that station, had to retreat from an overwhelming force of La Fitte's. So soon as the augmentation of the navy authorized an attack, one was made; and the overthrow of this banditti has been the result: and now this almost invulnerable point and key to New Orleans is clear of an enemy, it is to be hoped the government will hold it by a strong military force.'-American Newspaper.

began to be alarmed; and one of them informed the pontiff of the evening excursion of his sons, and that the Duke had not yet made his appearance. This gave the pope no small anxiety; but he conjectured that the Duke had been attracted by some courtesan to pass the night with her, and, not choos ing to quit the house in open day, had waited till the following evening to return home. When, however, the evening arrived, and he found himself disappointed in his expectations, he became deeply afflicted, and began to make inquiries from different persons, whom he ordered to attend him for that pur In Noble's continuation of 'Granger's Biographical History' pose. Amongst these was a man named Giorgio Schiavoní, there is a singular passage in his account of Archbishop who, having discharged some timber from a bark in the river, Blackbourne; and as in some measure connected with the had remained on board the vessel to watch it; and being inter profession of the hero of the foregoing poem, I cannot resist rogated whether he had seen any one thrown into the river ca the temptation of extracting it. There is something myste- the night preceding, he replied, that he saw two men ca rious in the history and character of Dr Blackbourne. The foot, who came down the street, and looked diligently about, former is but imperfectly known; and report has even asserted to observe whether any person was passing. That seeing no he was a buccaneer; and that one of his brethren in that pro- one, they returned, and a short time afterwards two others fession having asked, on his arrival in England, what had be- came, and looked around in the same manner as the former: come of his old chum, Blackbourne, was answered, he is Arch-no person still appearing, they gave a sign to their companions, bishop of York. We are informed that Blackbourne was in- when a man came, mounted on a white horse, having behind stalled sub-dean of Exeter in 1694, which office he resigned in him a dead body, the head and arms of which hang on one 1702; but after his successor Lewis Barnet's death, in 1704, he side, and the feet on the other side of the horse; the two perregained it. In the following year he became dean; and in sons on foot supporting the body, to prevent its falling. They 1714 held with it the arch-deanery of Cornwall. He was con- thus proceeded towards that part where the filth of the city is secrated Bishop of Exeter, February 24, 1716; and translated usually discharged into the river, and turning the horse, with to York, November 28, 1724, as a reward, according to court his tail towards the water, the two persons took the dead body scandal, for uniting George I. to the Duchess of Munster. by the arms and feet, and with all their strength flung it into the river. The person on horseback then asked if they bad This, however, appears to have been an unfounded calumny thrown it in; to which they replied, Signer, st (yes, Sir). He As archbishop he behaved with great prudence, and was then looked towards the river, and seeing a mantle floating on equally respectable as the guardian of the revenues of the see. Rumour whispered he retained the vices of his youth, and the stream, he inquired what it was that appeared black, to that a passion for the fair sex formed an item in the list of his which they answered, it was a mantle; and one of them threw weaknesses; but so far from being convicted by seventy wit- stones upon it, in consequence of which it sunk. The attendnesses, he does not appear to have been directly criminated ants of the pontiff then inquired from Giorgio, why he had by one. In short, I look upon these aspersions as the effects not revealed this to the governor of the city; to which be of mere malice. How is it possible a buccaneer should have replied, that he had seen in his time a hundred dead bodies been so good a scholar as Blackbourne certainly was? He who thrown into the river at the same place, without any inquiry had so perfect a knowledge of the classics (particularly of the being made respecting them; and that he had not, therefore, considered it as a matter of any importance. The fishermen Greek tragedians), as to be able to read them with the same and seamen were then collected, and ordered to search the ease as he could Shakspeare, must have taken great pains to acquire the learned languages; and have had both leisure and river, where, on the following evening, they found the body of good masters. But he was undoubtedly educated at Christ- the Duke, with his habit entire, and thirty ducats in his purse. Church College, Oxford. He is allowed to have been a pleasant throat, the others in his head, body, and limbs. No sooner He was pierced with nine wounds, one of which was in his man; this, however, was turned against him, by its being said, was the pontiff informed of the death of his son, and that he "he gained more hearts than souls."' had been thrown, like filth, into the river, than, giving way to his grief, he shut himself up in a chamber, and wept bitterly. The Cardinal of Segovia, and other attendants on the pope, went to the door, and after many hours spent in persuasions and exhortations, prevailed upon him to admit them. From the evening of Wednesday till the following Saturday the pope took no food; nor did he sleep from Thursday morning til the same hour on the ensuing day. At length, however, giving way to the entreaties of his attendants, he began to restrain his sorrow, and to consider the injury which his own health might sustain by the further indulgence of his grief'-ROSCOE'S Leo Tenth, vol. i. p. 265.

The only voice that could soothe the passions of the savage (Alphonso III.) was that of an amiable and virtuous wife, the sole object of his love; the voice of Donna Isabella, the daughter of the Duke of Savoy, and the grand-daughter of Philip II. King of Spain.-Her dying words sunk deep into his memory; his fierce spirit melted into tears; and, after the last embrace, Alphonso retired into his chamber to bewail his irreparable loss, and to meditate on the vanity of human life -Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii. p. 473

LARA.

CANTO II., Paragraph XXIV., p. 267.

PARISINA.
Page 279

This turned out a calamitous year for the people of Ferrara, for there occurred a very tragical event in the court of their sovereign. Our annals, both printed and in manuscript, with the exception of the unpolished and negligent work of Sarpi, and one other, have given the following relation of it.-from which, however, are rejected many details, and especially the narrative of Bandelli, who wrote a century afterwards, and who does not accord with the contemporary historians.

'A Serf that cross'd the intervening vale.] The event in this section was suggested by the description of the death, or rather burial, of the Duke of Gandia. The most interesting and particular account of it is given by Burchard, and is in substance as follows:-'On the eighth day of June, the Cardinal of Valenza and the Duke of Gandia, sons of the pope, supped with their mother, Vanozza, near the church of S. Pietro ad vincula; several other persons being present at the enter tainment. A late hour approaching, and the Cardinal having reminded his brother that it was time to return to the apostolic 'By the above-mentioned Stella dell' Assassine, the Marquis, palace, they mounted their horses or mules, with only a few in the year 1405, had a son called Ugo, a beautiful and inattendants, and proceeded together as far as the palace of genuous youth. Parisina Maletesta, second wife of Niccole, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, when the Duke informed the Cardinal like the generality of step-mothers, treated him with little that, before he returned home, he had to pay a visit of plea- kindness, to the infinite regret of the Marquis, who regarded sure. Dismissing therefore all his attendants, excepting his him with fond partiality. One day she asked leave of her staffiero, or footman, and a person in a mask, who had paid husband to undertake a certain journey, to which he consented, him a visit whilst at supper, and who, during the space of a but upon condition that Ugo should bear her company; for he month or thereabouts, previous to this time, had called upon hoped by these means to induce her, in the end, to lay aside him almost daily at the apostolic palace, he took this person the obstinate aversion which she had conceived against him. behind him on his mule, and proceeded to the street of the And indeed his intent was accomplished but too well, since. Jews, where he quitted his servant, directing him to remain during the journey, she not only divested herself of all her there until a certain hour; when, if he did not return he might hatred, but fell into the opposite extreme. After their rerum, repair to the palace. The Duke then seated the person in the the Marquis had no longer any occasion to renew his former mask behind him, and rode, I know not whither; but in that reproofs. It happened one day that a servant of the Marge's night he was assassinated, and thrown into the river. The named Zoese, or, as some call him, Giorgio, passing before the servant, after having been dismissed, was also assaulted and apartments of Parisina, saw going out from them one of her mortally wounded; and although he was attended with great chamber-maids, all terrified and in tears. Asking the reason care, yet such was his situation, that he could give no intelli- she told him that her mistress, for some slight offence, had gible account of what had befallen his master. In the morn, been beating her; and giving vent to her rage, she added,

hat she could easily be revenged, if she chose to make known he criminal familiarity which subsisted between Parisina and her step-son. The servant took note of the words, and related hem to his master. He was astounded thereat, but, scarcely believing his ears, he assured himself of the act, alas! too clearly, on the 18th of May, by looking through a hole made n the ceiling of his wife's chamber. Instantly he broke into a Furious rage, and arrested both of them, together with Aldoorandino Rangoni, of Modena, her gentleman, and also, as some say, two of the women of her chamber, as abettors of this sinful act. He ordered them to be brought to a hasty trial, desiring the judges to pronounce sentence, in the accustomed forms, upon the culprits. This sentence was death. Some there were that bestirred themselves in favour of the delinquents, and amongst others, Ugoccion Contrario, who was all-powerful with Niccolo, and also his aged and muchdeserving minister Alberto dal Sale. Both of these, their tears flowing down their cheeks, and upon their knees, implored him for mercy; adducing whatever reasons they could suggest for sparing the offenders, besides those motives of honour and decency which might persuade him to conceal from the public so scandalous a deed. But his rage made him inflexible, and, on the instant, he commanded that sentence should be put in execution.

It was, then, in the prisons of the castle, and exactly in those frightful dungeons which are seen at this day beneath the chamber called the Aurora, at the foot of the Lion's tower, at the top of the street Giovecca, that on the night of the 21st of May were beheaded, first Ugo, and afterwards Parisina. Zoese, he that accused her, conducted the latter under his arm to the place of punishment. She, all along, fancied that she was to be thrown into a pit, and asked at every step, whether she was yet come to the spot? She was told that her punishment was the axe. She inquired what was become of Ugo, and received for answer, that he was already dead; at the which, sighing grievously, she exclaimed, "Now, then, I wish not myself to live;" and, being come to the block, she stripped herself with her own hands of all her ornaments, and, wrapping a cloth round her head, submitted to the fatal stroke, which terminated the cruel scene. The same was done with Rangoni, who, together with the others, according to two calendars in the library of St Francesco, was buried in the cemetery of that convent. Nothing else is known respecting the women. 'The Marquis kept watch the whole of that dreadful night, and as he was walking backwards and forwards inquired of the captain of the castle if Ugo was dead yet? who answered him, Yes. He then gave himself up to the most desperate lamentations, exclaiming, "Oh that I too were dead, since I have been hurried on to resolve thus against my own Ugo!" And then gnawing with his teeth a cane which he had in his hand, he passed the rest of the night in sighs and in tears, calling frequently upon his own dear Ugo. On the following day, calling to mind that it would be necessary to make public his justification, seeing that the transaction could not be kept secret, he ordered the narrative to be drawn out upon paper, and sent it to all the courts of Italy.

'On receiving this advice, the Doge of Venice, Francesco Foscari, gave orders, but without publishing his reasons, that stop should be put to the preparations for atournament, which, under the auspices of the Marquis, and at the expense of the city of Padua, was about to take place, in the square of St Mark, in order to celebrate his advancement to the ducal

chair.

The Marquis, in addition to what he had already done, from some unaccountable burst of vengeance, commanded that as many of the married women as were well known to him to be faithless, like his Parisina, should, like her, be beheaded. Amongst others, Barberina, or, as some call her, Laodamia Romei, wife of the court judge, underwent this sentence at the usual place of execution; that is to say, in the quarter of St Giacomo, opposite the present fortress, beyond St Paul's. It cannot be told how strange appeared this proceeding in a prince, who, considering his own disposition, should, as it seemed, have been in such cases most indulgent. Some, however, there were who did not fail to commend him.'

1354, Marino Faliero was elected and chosen to be the Duke of
the Commonwealth of Venice. He was Count of Valdemarino,
in the Marches of Treviso, and a Knight, and a wealthy man
to boot. As soon as the election was completed, it was resolved
in the Great Council, that a deputation of twelve should be
despatched to Marino Faliero the Duke, who was then on his
way from Rome; for when he was chosen, he was ambassador
at the court of the Holy Father, at Rome,-the Holy Father
himself held his court at Avignon. When Messer Marino
Faliero the Duke was about to land in this city, on the 5th day
of October, 1354, a thick haze came on and darkened the air:
and he was enforced to land on the place of St Mark, between
the two columns, on the spot where evil-doers are put to
death; and all thought that this was the worst of tokens.-Nor
must I forget to write that which I have read in a chronicle.
When Messer Marino Faliero was Podesta and Captain of
Treviso, the Bishop delayed coming in with the holy sacra-
ment, on a day when a procession was to take place. Now,
the said Marino Faliero was so very proud and wrathful, that
he buffeted the Bishop, and almost struck him to the ground;
and, therefore, Heaven allowed Marino Faliero to go out of his
right senses, in order that he might bring himself to an evil
death.
When this Duke had held the dukedom during nine months
and six days, he, being wicked and ambitious, sought to make
himself Lord of Venice, in the manner which I have read in an
ancient chronicle. When the Thursday arrived upon which
they were wont to hunt the bull, the bull hunt took place as
usual; and, according to the usage of those times, after the
bull hunt had ended, they all proceeded unto the palace of the
Duke, and assembled together in one of his halls; and they
disported themselves with the women. And until the first bell
tolled they danced, and then a banquet was served up. My
Lord the Duke paid the expenses thereof, provided he had a
Duchess, and after the banquet they all returned to their
homes.

Now to this feast there came a certain Ser Michele Steno, a gentleman of poor estate and very young, but crafty and daring, and who loved one of the damsels of the Duchess. Ser Michele stood amongst the women upon the solajo; and he behaved indiscreetly, so that my Lord the Duke ordered that he should be kicked off the solajo; and the esquires of the Duke flung him down from the solajo accordingly. Ser Michele thought that such an affront was beyond all bearing; and when the feast was over, and all other persons had left the palace, he, continuing heated with anger, went to the hall of audience, and wrote certain unseemly words relating to the Duke and the Duchess upon the chair in which the Duke was used to sit; for in those days the Duke did not cover his chair with cloth of sendal, but he sat in a chair of wood. Ser Michele wrote thereon-Marin Falier, the husband of the fair wife; others kiss her, but he keeps her! In the morning the words were seen, and the matter was considered to be very scandalous; and the Senate commanded the Avogadori of the Commonwealth to proceed therein with the greatest diligence. A largess of great amount was immediately proffered by the Avogadori, in order to discover who had written these words. And at length it was known that Michele Steno had written them. It was resolved in the Council of Forty that he should be arrested; and he then confessed that in the fit of vexation and spite, occasioned by his being thrust off the solajo in the presence of his mistress, he had written the words. Therefore the Council debated thereon. And the Council took his youth into consideration, and that he was a lover; and therefore they adjudged that he should be kept in close confinement during two months, and that afterwards he should be banished from Venice and the state during one year. In consequence of this merciful sentence the Duke became exceedingly wroth, it appearing to him, that the Council had not acted in such a manner as was required by the respect due to his ducal dignity; and he said that they ought to have condemned Ser Michele to be hanged by the neck, or at least to be banished for life.

Now it was fated that my Lord Duke Marino was to have his head cut off. And as it is necessary when any effect is to be brought about, that the cause of such effect must happen, it therefore came to pass, that on the very day after sentence had been pronounced on Ser Michele Steno, being the first

MARINO FALIERO, DOGE OF VENICE.day of Lent, a gentleman of the house of Barbaro, a choleric

APPENDIX.
NOTE A.

I am obliged for the following excellent translation of the old Chronicle to Mr F. Cohen, to whom the reader will find himself indebted for a version that I could not myself-though after many years' intercourse with Italian-have given by any means so purely and so faithfully.

STORY OF MARINO FALIERO, DOGE XLIX.

MCCCLIV.

gentleman, went to the arsenal, and required certain things of the masters of the galleys. This he did in the presence of the Admiral of the arsenal, and he, hearing the request, answered,-No, it cannot be done. High words arose between the gentleman and the Admiral, and the gentleman struck him with his fist just above the eye; and as he happened to have a ring on his finger, the ring cut the Admiral and drew blood. The Adiniral, all bruised and bloody, ran straight to the Duke to complain, and with the intent of praying him to inflict some heavy punishment upon the gentleman of Cà Barbaro.-' What wouldst thou have me do for thee?' answered the Duke:'think upon the shameful gibe which hath been written concerning me; and think on the manner in which they have

On the eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord' punished that ribald Michele Steno, who wrote it; and see

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