St. Paul at Ephesus The harbour town of Scala Nuova The young Greek couple - The monastery of St. John-Patmos and The Revelations The manuscripts of the monastery Remarkable passengers - Lesbos The field of Troy - The mound of Achilles- The Castles of the Dardanelles - Description of the field of Troy - Hero and Leander-Lampsaki and Gallipoli — The noble view The Aya Sofia-The Soleymania-The mosque of Bajazet― The Achmedeya The Seraglio - The Hippodrome with the Obelisks, the Colossus, and the bronze serpents - The thousand and one pillars- The burnt The library of the Seraglio and its concealed treasures-Visit to the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople- The library of the Patriarch of Jerusalem Arrival at the Armenian's on the Island Chalki― The deposed Patriarch Gregorius — Visit to the Patriarch Constantius, on the Island Antigone The tract on conversion by the apostolical vicar at Con- stantinople The island Prinkipios and the Empress Irene libraries at Chalki- The festival of fireworks of the Persians Ancient churches - Galata, the commercial suburb Pera and the drago- Communication of a travelling companion, relative to Laodicea and the Dead Sea Quarantine at Syra The sponge hunters— Arrival at Athens- The Acropolis and ruins around The Greek people- Their conduct towards the Bavarians Their political character Coletti . Excur - TRAVELS IN THE IN THE EAST. 11 TO MY BROTHER JULIUS. Leghorn, 12th March, 1844. HERE am I on the eve of an earnest day to-morrow I depart for My heart throbbed with fervent desire. The man who has said to himself, "I will see Jerusalem," is not to be diverted from his object by the attractions of happiness, or pleasure, or affection. Its accomplishment was protracted; but a few words, vibrating from the very depths of hoar antiquity, resounded both day and night within my ears. They are those of Priam to Hecuba repelling every entreaty to desist from his intention of visiting the camp of the Greeks to redeem the body of Hector. But, indeed, you must read them in the original to feel the full force of their expression. "Seek not to stay me, nor my soul affright With words of omen like a bird of night; 'Tis heaven commands me, and you urge in vain ; A present goddess brought the high command, B 2 LEGHORN. I go, ye Gods! obedient to your call, If in yon camp your powers have doomed my fall, POPE. Then at last came the longed-for letters. In imagination I have already returned, and that prompt faculty has conveyed me through all the countries of my pilgrimage. Mentally I have already listened to your greeting, and with heart pressed to heart have seen my rejoicing eye vividly reflected in yours. Thus I go forth with cheerful confidence: it cannot be a delusion which dazzles me. Do you still ask me what I seek? Does it not suffice to behold the Pyramids ? - to gaze upon Mount Sinai ? to view Jerusalem ? Goethe said of Naples, that he who has visited it may at least compute some days of happiness even in the most miserable life. Naples I have enjoyed, yet how happy shall I be when I shall have seen the Pyramids, Mount Sinai, and Jerusalem. But I have a still more definite purpose to accomplish. How much more prolific will be my study of the Bible when I shall have beheld the Holy Land with its memorials and its inhabitants. The history of the Church has no theatre grander than the East. And is not the East at this very moment in the act of a political as well as religious development? This must be beheld, examined, comprehended. Nor does hope fail me as to the success of my researches with respect to manuscripts. It is thence that Europe has derived its riches, and many a monastery still contains unexamined recesses. No one has explored recently with so definite a purpose as myself. I have learned to distrust the labours of my predecessors. Should however nothing present itself, we can then proceed with so much greater energy to reconstruct with the materials we possess. Should I never return, I know that I shall have fallen in a worthy cause. The warrior falls upon the battle-field; you know my field of battle and if this be its termination, I shall find the heavenly, in seeking the earthly Jerusalem. The blooming earth is beautiful; how far more beautiful must the holy heavens be. Whether my permanent abode be here or there, the route will I cheerfully pursue. Farewell, my beloved one! and, oh! fare ye well, ye dear ones in my paternal home. Think of me whilst traversing the dark waves, when wandering in strange lands; for, "Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, Malta, 26th March, 1844. The French mail-boat, the Lycurgus, was in vain expected upon the MALTA. 13th at Leghorn; the violence of contrary winds had blown her to Elba. The rough sea looked cheerless, indeed; before me lay the wrecks of two vessels. On the afternoon of the 14th the anxiously expected steamer made her appearance, covered to the very summit of her funnel with foam. She lay so far from the shore, that none but courageous sailors would venture to go aboard in the customary frail little boat. I During the two following days we had a charming passage. thoroughly enjoyed the delights of a sea voyage, pacing the deck with an undimmed eye and a firm step: the blue sky above, the still deeper blue of the water beneath, and the vanishing shore upon our left, I greeted with a painful smile. In the imprisonment of a ship there is a sensation of freedom seldom experienced elsewhere. We lay to several hours at Civita Vecchia and Naples; but scarcely had we turned our back upon the smoky column of Vesuvius, when the sky gave indication of its previous stormy disposition, and therefore, when La Valetta received us in its splendid harbour on the 19th, I resolved upon remaining for a week at Malta. This island is remarkable from its soil, the peculiarities of its inhabitants, and its history. Surveyed from one of its elevated points, we observe many districts in their aboriginal state of naked rock, for the whole of the very superficial soil that lies upon it has been brought from Sicily. Nevertheless, Malta possesses a luxuriant vegetation. The palm grows nobly by the side of the olive; and its oranges are of singularly delicate flavour. Unfortunately the splendour of its roses I knew only by repute, and yet gardens and meadows glowed with variegated beauty. The heat would be insufferable were it not relieved daily by refreshing breezes. Its aspect is wholly African, in spite of the act of parliament which has incorporated Malta with Europe. The climate of the island is considered as very salubrious, and its extreme fertility may possibly be a concurrent result; and so rapid is the increase of population, that her sons have to seek a domicile away from home, and with them she has enriched the proximate coasts of Asia and Africa. A suggestion was recently made to colonise the Peloponnesus with Maltese, but only under an especial guarantee from the Greek government. It was, however, followed by no result, as that government would not be responsible for every contingency. These Maltese would, in my opinion, be just the people for Greece, which, absorbed in musing over its sad political visions, allows the soil to sigh for the plough. The The population comprises a variety of different elements. women, with their olive complexions, their dark and sparkling eyes, their perfidious mantillas of black silk reaching from head to foot, 4 MALTA AND THE MALTESE. belong, as the very first glance convinces, aboriginally to the island. The Italians harmonise readily herewith; the charming Neapolitan at my Hôtel del Mediterraneo is exactly in her place. But we find here stiff Englishmen in multitudes, and, indeed, as lords of the island. The Scottish garrison, clothed above in the vesture of the North, and beneath in that of the South, are not here exposed to the chance of having their naked legs frost-bitten. But every feature of its northern protectors does not as congruously blend with the characteristics of the island. Hence a certain trait of Maltese nationality stands prominently forth in harsh contrast, notwithstanding the inscription glittering in gold opposite the palace of the governor: Magnæ et invictæ Britanniæ Melitensium amor et Europæ vox has insulas confirmant, 1814. It is well known that Englishmen carry with them the stamp of their origin on the brow, and in the eye and in the heart, even to the very farthest recesses of the earth; and at Malta they conspicuously avoid all assimilation with the peculiarities of the place. How absurd does it seem that the present governor does not even understand Italian! Italian is the written language, as well as that of superior society; whereas the Maltese, which is a dialect of the Arabic, is confined to familiar intercourse. To the expressed wish of the Maltese, that the former governor should remain with them longer than the usual time, the English minister for foreign affairs could only object, that places were few, but expectants many. There are but few French in the island. British influence is unlimited; although an attempt was made to restrain it a few years ago, when the Russian fleet repaired to Malta to recruit, after the battle of Navarino. I was told that the Russians then made such an enormous expenditure, and gave such profuse presents to the natives, that the local government hastened by all possible means the oftdelayed departure of their fleet. Russia's friendly advances, before the island reverted to the protection of the English, were also remembered. It is very natural that Russia should not forget that the Emperor Paul was Grand Master of the order of St. John, who was only prevented by his assassination from opposing his claims to the appropriation of the island by the English. The truly splendid period of Malta's history still dwells in the memory of all, though the present generation, within its own experience, beholds but the faint reflection. I refer to the time of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Originally a colony of Carthaginians; then belonging first to Rome and next to Byzan, tium; and subsequently wrested from the hands of the Goths by Belisarius; in the ninth century under the dominion of the Saracens, who were driven thence by the valiant Norman, Roger, |