tails and a swallow: I know not what could have induced the former to quit their companions; aa to the latter, it was going perhaps to Syria, and it came perhaps from France. I was tempted to enquire of it about that paternal roof which I had so long quitted. I recollect that when I was a child, I passed whole hours in watching, with a certain melancholy pleasure, the swallows flying about in autumn, as if some secret instinct had whispered that I should be a traveller like those birds. They assembled about the end of September, among the rushes of a large pond; there twittering and making a thousand evolutions over the surface of the water, they seemed to be trying their wings, and preparing for a long pilgrimage. Among all the recollections of existence, why do we prefer those of our infancy? The pleasures of self-love, the illusions of youth, appear not to the memory clothed in charms; we think them, on the contrary, insipid or bitter: but the most trifling circumstances awaken in the heart the emotions of childhood, and always with new attractions. On the banks of the lakes of America, in an unknown desert, which relates nothing to the traveller, in a region which has nothing to boast but the grandeur of solitude, a swallow was sufficient to revive the scenes of the early days of my life, as it recalled them to my memory on the sea of Syria, in sight of an antique land re-echoing the voice of ages and the traditions of history.

The currents now carried us towards the island

of Cyprus. We descried its low, sandy, and apparently sterile coasts. On these shores Mythology placed her most pleasing fables:

Ipsa Paphum sublimis abit, sedesque revisit
Læta suas, ubi templum illi, centumque Sabao
Thure calent aræ, sertisque recentibus halant.

"As soon as I went on shore," said the son of Ulysses, "I perceived a certain softness in the air, which, though it rendered the body indolent and inactive, yet brought on a disposition to gaiety and wantonness; and, indeed, the inhabitants were so averse to labour, that the country, though extremely fertile and pleasant, was almost wholly uncultivated. I met, in every street, crowds of women loosely dressed, singing the praises of Venus, and going to dedicate themselves to the service of her temple. Beauty and pleasure sparkled in their countenances, but their beauty was tainted by affectation; and the modest simplicity, from which female charms principally derive their power, was wanting; the dissolute air, the studied look, the flaunting dress, and the lascivious gait, the expressive glances that seemed to wander in search after those of the men, the visible emulation who should kindle the most ardent passion, and whatever else I discovered in these women, moved only my contempt and aversion, and I was disgusted by all that they did with a desire to please.

"I was conducted to a temple of the goddess, of which there are several in the island; for she is

worshipped at Cythera, Idalia, and Paphos. That which I visited was at Cythera: the structure, which is all of marble, is a complete peristyle; and the columns are so large and lofty that its appearance is extremely majestic: on each front, over the architrave and frieze, are large pediments, on which the most entertaining adventures of the goddess are represented in bas-relief. There is a perpetual crowd of people with offerings at the gate, but within the limits of the consecrated ground no victim is ever slain; the fat of bulls and heifers is never burnt, as at other temples; nor are the rites of pleasure profaned with their blood: the beasts that are here offered are only presented before the altar; nor are any accepted but those that are young, white, and without blemish; they are dressed with purple fillets embroidered with gold, and their horns are decorated with gilding and flowers; after they have been presented, they are led to a proper place at a considerable distance, and killed for the banquet of the priests.

"Perfumed liquors are also offered, and wines of the richest flavour. The habit of the priests is a long white robe, fringed with gold at the bottom, and bound round them with golden girdles; the richest aromatics of the East burn night and day upon the altars, and the smoke rises in a cloud of fragrance to the skies. All the columns of the

temple are adorned with festoons; all the sacrificial vessels are of gold; and the whole building is surrounded by a consecrated grove of odoriferous

myrtle: none are permitted to present the victims to the priest, or to kindle the hallowed fire, but boys and girls of consummate beauty. But this temple, however magnificent, was rendered infamous by the dissolute manners of the votaries."*

In regard to Cyprus, we had better adhere to poetry than history, unless we can derive pleasure from the recollection of one of the most flagrant acts of injustice ever committed by the Romans, and a scandalous expedition of Cato's. But it is a singular thing to represent to ourselves, that, in the middle ages, the temples of Amathus and Idalia were transformed into dungeons. A French gentleman was king of Paphos, and barons, covered with coats of mail, were quartered in the sanctuaries of Cupid and the Graces. In Dapper's Archipelago may be seen the complete history of Cyprus; and the Abbé Mariti has treated of the modern revolutions and the present state of this island, which, from its position, is still a place of importance.

The weather was so fine, and the air so mild, that all the passengers continued the whole night upon deck. I had a contest about a little corner of the quarter-deck with two lusty caloyers, who gave it up to me, but not without grumbling. Here I was sleeping at six in the morning of the 30th of September, when I was rouzed by a confused sound of voices; I opened my eyes, and per

Telemachus, Book IV.

ceived all the pilgrims looking towards the prow of the vessel. I asked what was the matter, and they called out to me: Signor, il Carmelo! Mount Carmel! A breeze had sprung up at eight the preceding evening, and in the night we had come in sight of the coast of Syria. As I had lain down in my clothes, I was soon on my legs, enquiring which was the sacred mountain, Each was eager to point it out to me, but I could see nothing of it, because the sun began to rise in our faces. This moment had something religious and august; all the pilgrims, with their chaplets in their hands, had remained in silence in the same attitude, await, ing the appearance of the Holy Land. The chief of the papas was praying aloud; nothing was to be heard but this prayer and the noise made in her course by the ship, wafted by a most favorable wind upon a brilliant sea. From time to time a cry was raised on the prow, when Carmel again appeared in sight. At length I perceived that mountain myself, like a round spot beneath the rays of the sun; I fell upon my knees after the manner of the Latin pilgrims. I felt not that agitation which seized me on beholding, for the first time, the shores of Greece; but the sight of the cradle of the Israelites and the birth-place of christianity filled me with awe and veneration. I was just arriving in that land of wonders, at the sources of the most astonishing poesy, at the spot, where, even humanly speaking, happened the greatest event that ever changed the face of the world; I