THE FRANK DOCTOR IN GREECE. 571 



tian Governors ; the winged lion of St. Mark is still visible over the 

 doorway. It is now little better than a ruin, and serves as a cavern 

 for the Tactikoi. A second side is formed by the serai of the late 

 Pacha ; the broken lattices and shivered glass, shew that the jealous 

 Moslem is no longer there. The cathedral, a low ill-built edifice, and 

 some ruined houses, constitute the third and fourth sides, and in the 

 midst is a huge plane-tree. In this square the regulars are paraded 

 every evening, and every one who has any thing to learn, any thing 

 to relate, or nothing to do, is to be found here at sundown. One 

 brief evening here suffices to kill more Moslems than ever owned 

 fealty to the keeper of holy Mecca. The motley group which is 

 nightly collected, >: uprises inhabitants of all countries talkers of all 

 tongues. Here stalks the bold Albanian kirtled to his knee, the 

 hardy mountaineers of Suli, and (( the sons of Chimaia who never 

 forgive" the neat clad Islander and shewy Peloponnesian, and Franks 

 from all the countries that produce them. If the proper study of 

 mankind be man, there is no school like the Piazza of Napoli ; there 

 is no place where you can have the same diversity of character and 

 purpose brought under one view ; the very number of factions, the 

 curse of the country, assists you in discovering the motives by which 

 each is actuated. 



It being Easter, I had an opportunity of witnessing the mode in 

 which they think proper to carry on their festivities. Easter day was 

 ushered in by a procession of priests and images, which they called the 

 resurrection. They sung and danced, and cracked off their fire-arms 

 as if their powder magazines were inexhaustible, and not a Turk 

 could be had for a target in the whole country. The procession 

 ended, every Greek saluted his fellow with " Christos aneste," (Christ 

 is risen,) they then kissed each other three times, on the mouth and on 

 each cheek ; a ceremony which, for this and the two following 

 days must by no means be omitted. Their feasting, about which 

 they talk a great deal, which they certainly have a right to 

 do, as they fast most rigorously for forty previous days, is con- 

 temptible enough ; hard eggs dyed pink, and white soup containing 

 fried lamb's liver, do not come up to my beau ideal of culinary deli- 

 cacies ; neither does bread sopped in the water in which fish has been 

 boiled, present any quality peculiarly attractive to my palate ; yet 

 these are the viands with which the Greeks love to set out their 

 tables at Easter. 



In the midst of joy and feasting, arrived the melancholy news of 

 the loss of Missalonghi ; the squadron sent to its relief having failed, 

 and all provisions, even to the very rats and mice, being consumed, the 

 garrison had determined to abandon the place. They made a signal 

 to some Greek troops posted in the rear of the Turks to attack, and 

 thus operate a diversion in their favour, but this was either not un- 

 derstood or not attended to. About nine in the evening of Saturday 

 the 19th of April, the brave defenders of Missalonghi came out in 

 three columns, the first consisting of their best soldiers, the second 

 and third of men women and children, promiscuously mingled together. 

 The first column, about fifteen hundred strong, escaped with little 

 loss, but the Turks being better prepared for the others, these, in- 



