ARRIVAL AT ATHENS.

163

low, close to the bank; the rest had been turned off higher up, to irrigate the plantations of olives. I have always taken a pleasure in drinking at the celebrated rivers which I have passed in my life; thus I have drunk of the water of the Mississippi, the Thames, the Rhine, the Po, the Tiber, the Eurotas, the Cephisus, the Hermus, the Granicus, the Jordan, the Nile, the Tagus, and the Ebro. What numbers on the banks of those rivers might say with the Israelites: Sedimus et flevimus!

I perceived, at some distance on my left, the ruins of the bridge over the Cephisus, built by Xenocles of Lindus. I mounted my horse, without looking for the sacred fig-tree, the altar of Zephyrus, or the pillar of Anthemocritus; for the modern. road deviates in this part from the ancient Sacred Way. On leaving the olive-wood, we came to a garden surrounded with walls, which occupies nearly the site of the outer Ceramicus. We proceeded for about half an hour, through wheat stubbles, before we reached Athens. A modern wall, recently repaired, and resembling a garden wall, encompasses the city. We passed through the gate, and entered little rural streets, cool, and very clean; each house has its garden, planted with orange and fig-trees. The inhabitants appeared to me to be lively and inquisitive, and had not the dejected look of the people of the Morea. We were shewn the house of the consul.

I could not have had a better recommendation

than to M. Fauvel for seeing Athens. He has resided for many years in the city of Minerva, and is much better acquainted with its minutest details than a Parisian is with Paris. Some excellent Memoirs by him have been published; and to him we are indebted for most interesting discoveries relative

to the site of Olympia, the plain of Marathon, the tomb of Themistocles at the Piræus, the temple of Venus in the gardens, &c. Invested with the appointment of consul at Athens, which merely serves him as a protection, he has been, and still is engaged as draughtsman upon the Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce. M. de Choiseul Gouffier, the author of that work, had favoured me with a letter for the artist, and I was furnished by the minister* with another for the consul.

* M. de Talleyrand.

CHAPTER VI.

Writers on Athens-M. Fauvel, the French Consul-His House -Dinner-News of Athens-Walk through the City-The Areopagus-The Pnyx-Hill of the Museum-Monument of Philopappus-Migration of Storks-The Citadel-Edifices of Athens Temple of Minerva-Character of Grecian Architecture-Destruction of the Edifices of Athens by the ModernsLord Elgin and the Parthenon-View from the CitadelMemorials of Travel-The Stadium-The Ilissus-Remarkable Columns-Women of Athens-The Harbours of the Phalereus, Munychia, and Piræus-Supposed Tomb of ThemistoclesSolitude of the Piraeus-Nature of that Port.

Ir will certainly not be expected that I should give a complete description of Athens; as to its history from the Romans to the present time, that may be seen in the Introduction to this volume. In regard to the monuments of ancient Athens, the translation of Pausanias, defective as it is, will completely satisfy the generality of readers; and the Travels of Anacharsis leave scarcely any thing more to wish for. The ruins of this famous city have been so amply described in the letters in Crusius's collection, by Father Babin, La Guilletière himself, notwithstanding his falsehoods, Pococke, Spon, Wheeler, Chandler, and particularly by M. Fauvel, that on this subject I could only repeat what they have written. Is it plans, maps, views

of Athens, and its monuments that you want? These you will meet with every where it is sufficient to mention the works of the Marquis de Nointel, Leroi, Stuart, and Pars. M. de Choiseul in finishing the work, which has been interrupted by so many calamities, will furnish the public with a complete delineation of Athens. The manners and government of the Athenians have been treated of with equal ability by the authors whom I have just mentioned; and, since customs are not variable in the East, as in France, all that Chandler and Guys have said concerning the modern Greeks is still perfectly correct.

Without making any display of erudition at the expense of my predecessors, I shall therefore give an account of my excursions and my feelings at Athens, day by day, and hour by hour, according to the plan which I have hitherto pursued.

I alighted in M. Fauvel's court-yard, and was so fortunate as to find him at home. I immediately delivered my letters from M. de Choiseul and M. de Talleyrand. M. Fauvel was acquainted with my name: I could not say to him, Son pittor anch'io-but at least I was an amateur, fraught with zeal, if not with talents; I was so anxious to study the antique and to make improvement, I had come so far to sketch some poor designs, that the master perceived in me a docile scholar.

A thousand questions first passed between us concerning Paris and Athens, on which we mutually endeavoured to satisfy each other; but Paris was soon forgotten, and Athens engrossed all our attention. M. Fauvel, warmed in his love of the arts

*The latter, however, should be perused with caution, and the reader should be aware of adopting his system.

M. FAUVEL'S HOUSE.

167

by a disciple, was as eager to shew me the remains of Athens as I was to see them; but yet he advised me to wait till the heat of the day was over.

In the house of my host there was nothing that betrayed the consul; but the artist and antiquary were every where apparent. How delighted was I to have for my lodging at Athens an apartment full of plaster casts taken from the Parthenon! The walls were hung round with views of the Temple of Theseus, plans of the Propylæa, maps of Attica, and the plain of Marathon. There were marbles on one table, and medals on another, with small heads and vases in terra cotta. A venerable dust was to my great regret swept away; a bed was made up for me in the midst of all these curiosities; and, like a conscript who joins the army on the eve of an engagement, I encamped on the field of battle.

M. Fauvel's house has, like most of the houses at Athens, a court in front and a small garden in the rear. I ran to all the windows to discover something or other in the streets; but all in vain. Between the roofs of some neighbouring houses might, however, be perceived a small corner of the citadel. I remained fixed at the window which looked that way, like a school-boy whose hour of recreation has not yet arrived. M. Fauvel's janissary had monopolized my janissary and Joseph, so that I had no occasion to concern myself about them.

At two I was summoned to dinner, consisting of ragouts of mutton and fowls, partly in the French and partly in the Turkish fashion. The wine, which was red, and as strong as our Rhone wines, was of good quality; but to me it tasted so bitter that I could not possibly drink it. In almost all parts of