I DEPARTED from Constantinople in a Greek vessel of fourteen guns, under Russian colours, from the Black Sea, where the accommodation on board formed a striking contrast to that I found in the miserable barks of the East I formerly sailed in. After a quick passage I arrived at Hydra, but could not prevail on the captain, a native of the place, to accept of the smallest gratuity, from the estimation, as he said, in which he held the English. Hydra, on a near approach to it, exhibits rather an imposing appearance, and may be considered as a naval station for the Greeks. It is situated between two mountains, extremely picturesque, and was principally built about thirty years ago, containing 15,000 inhabitants. From the houses being so remarkably white and clean, it appears to bear a strong resemblance to some of the neat towns in Devonshire. There is a small harbour with a lazaretto at the entrance, and two convents finely situated on the heights above the town. From this place I crossed over in a small boat to Athens, the principal city in the Grecian empire, and put up in a small convent at the extremity of it, inhabited by a solitary monk, where, from the crowd of names of English men written and cut out on the walls, seems to be a kind of head-quarters for British travellers. This celebrated capital, which perhaps of all others in the world is entitled to boast of having produced the most illustrious characters, eminently distinguished for their literary and military attainments, has been so fully and eloquently described by various authors, that I shall not presume to attempt a delineation of it. The present population may be estimated at 12,000. I went over all its ruins and precious antiquities, which are weeping, as it were, over the ravages of time, and accompanied by Mr. Logathetti, the English consul; it stood upon the hill of Mars, contiguous to the town, where the worship of an unknown being by the Athenians roused a severe reprobation on the part of the Apostle of the Gentiles, who confounded the stoics and philosophers, and boldly addressed them from this sanctified elevation in the name of his great Master, on their gross ignorance in dedicating temples to, and worshipping a God altogether unknown, and imparting to them a knowledge of the only living and true God. On this spot, also, the great ambassador directed epistles to others who became converts to the faith*, and in going through the public market, one expression of Scripture in explanation of his labours in prosecution of his divine mission was particularly brought to recollection. + At this place I was struck with the mode of cattle treading out the corn, or separating it from the straw: it is spread out in the form of a circle, when a team of cattle goes round it, two abreast, with a string attached to them, and is held by a person who stands in the centre and urges them forward. This appears to be a mode practised in the earliest period of time, and is transmitted to us by Revelation. + On departing from the convent, the monk, who was distinguished by great humility, presented to me several earthen vessels of a red colour, in the form of small * Acts xvii. 22-30. + Id. xvii. 17. 1 Corinth. ix. 9. bottles, recently found in excavations, where tears had been put as a mark of affection on the part of surviving friends. This circumstance occurred to me as illustrating an expression made use of by the Psalmist in his supplication a practice which even at the present period appears to be followed in other countries. + After remunerating the monk for the accommodation he afforded me, I embarked in the afternoon in a small open boat in the port of Athens, the ruins of which exhibit abundant proof of its original extent and strength, and sailed to Porto Chikio, having the view of a comet during a remarkably serene night, which had just begun to make its appearance. I arrived there next morning, from which I rode on a mule to Corinth, and lodged in the house of Dr. Simonetti. The city of Corinth was taken by the Apostle Paul in the journey he continued after visiting Athens ‡, which is forty miles distant, to sow the seeds of the Christian doctrine, whence he honoured the Romans with addresses in writing. It had been as much distinguished for its pride as its opulence, and repeatedly erased from the ground and rebuilt by various powers. This place stands at the foot of a stupendous mountain, crowned with a Turkish fortification, which strangers are not permitted to visit, to which there is attached an impenetrable secret; it is situated in a plain of about twelve miles in length, stretching to the sea, and at the top of the gulf of Lepanto, which is most striking in appearance, especially when taken in combination with those sacred events which had occurred in promoting the gospel of peace. Here the great ambassador took up a residence for the space of eighteen months, teaching those things which concerned the kingdom of God §, and exercising that miraculous * Psalm lvi. 8. + In some of their mournful assemblies, it is the custom for a priest to go about to each person at the height of his grief, with a piece of cotton in his hand, with which he carefully collects the falling tears, and which he then squeezes into a bottle.—MORIER on Persia. Acts xviii. 2, 3. § Id. xviii. 4-10. power which had been conferred on him from on high, in restoring the dead* to life; and at the same time that he laboured in spiritual acts in behalf of others, he did not forget to exercise a vocation for the relief of his own temporal wants, and on taking a final leave of the city, recommended believers to the word of God's grace. On this occasion it was affecting to perceive the peculiar impression which his labours for their conversion and steady belief, and his solemn recommendations had made on the hearts of the Corinthians, their hanging upon his neck, saluting him, overwhelmed with distress on being made acquainted that it would be a final adieu, as they should behold his face there no more. + Further, the peculiar care on the part of the Apostle for the spiritual welfare of the Christians at Corinth, is very strongly exemplified in the eloquent and impressive addresses he -directed to them from Macedonia, descriptive of the faith and patience exercised in his own particular case, during that accumulation of personal suffering he had endured in the cause of Christ; when, among other trials, he acquainted them with his having been scourged, stoned, suffered shipwreck, was exposed in the wilderness, cold, and nakedness, and called on them to be followers of him as he was also of Christ. In short, he solemnly assured the Corinthians, that if they were only of one mind, the result would prove that the God of Peace and Love would always continue to remain with them. I walked about the town, which consists of few houses, about 400 families, and two mosques; and though under the Turkish yoke, there are a considerable number of Greeks. I looked into some of the dwellings, and was surprised to observe the particular form of the cradles which were used for children. This was a hollowed piece of wood, similar to the tray in which the English butcher carries meat, with a string attached to each corner, about three feet in height, tied together in a bunch at top, and suspended from the ceiling, in which the infant is * Acts xx. 9-12. + Id. xx. 18-28. rocked. Some of these hang from the roof, over the bed of the parents, that they may touch it when necessary, to keep it in motion, so as to cause the child to sleep, as I observed at Zachale. The city of Corinth originally was distinguished for the grandeur of its buildings, from whose noble decorations the Corinthian order of architecture may be said to owe its origin; but the devouring hand of time has swept off these like a mighty current, leaving hardly a wreck behind. There exist some columns of a temple dedicated to Venus, of the Doric order of architecture; and the synagogue in which the Apostle had baptised, and exhorted so boldly for months, concerning salvation, is presumed to have been a short distance from the town on the brow of the mountain. The bazaars are miserable. The palace of the Bey, to whom I had a letter of recommendation, is respectable, and commands a fine view of the plain. In this place I fell in with a poor schoolmaster, in a miserable place, teaching several ragged children to read; and the interview leading to a conversation on the Scriptures, I was concerned to be informed there had been such a scarcity of Bibles in that particular spot where the faith of the gospel had been so strongly proclaimed in an early age. On acquainting him with the society instituted in the English metropolis, and the indefatigable exertions made to spread the knowledge of Revelation throughout the world, and a calculation which had been formed, that the Bibles published was equal to the number of words the volume contained, I found he had never heard of such a society. I afterwards learned that a person had been commissioned by it to distribute the word of God over different quarters in Greece, and was to take Corinth in his way in the exercise of this work of benevolence. I hope the complaint of this schoolmaster has long before this time been removed, and that the faith formerly proclaimed there will be extended to, and unreservedly embraced by the present, and the name of our Saviour be magnified, as it had been by the former Corinthians. |