Laurenfs Tour ihrottgh Greece, Turkey and Italy. 



trer, the holy banner of Mohammed, 

 which in battle is kept at a convenient 

 distance from the field, and at the first 

 lij)pearauce of a defeat, is precipitately 

 Removed. The Janissaries conceive 

 Military glory to consist in a sfremioas 

 defence of their kettles and spoons. — 

 Quid Rides ? Is it more rational to 

 place honour in the defence of a piece 

 of tattered silk, or of a monstrous two 

 headed black eagle ? 



lliLIUM AND THE PliAIN OF TKOY. 



The precise site of Troy was long an 

 object of dispute among the ancient 

 teritics ; Strabo, in the thirteenth book 

 of his geography, gives a most accurate 

 account of the country, and after throw- 

 ing forth many hints, which, in modern 

 times, have been made good use of, 

 leaves the question undecided. Deme- 

 trius, a native of Skepsis, a town not 

 situated far from Alexandria of Troas, 

 passed his life in an unsuccessful seari'h 

 ror the spot, and only concluded that 

 the town in his days called Illium, 

 could not be, according to the descrip- 

 tion of Homer, upon the same spot as 

 the ancient city of Priam. 

 ^■'This Illium, of which the ruins are 

 pretty well determined, was placed 

 near the sea; its Acropolis was shown 

 as the Pergamus of Troj'. To the nortli 

 of the hill on which it was erected, 

 flowed a small rivulet, which they de- 

 nominated the Simoeis ; it united with 

 a stream, or rather river, which rolled 

 its waters down the plain from Mount 

 Ida, and threw itself into the Helles- 

 pont ; this river was called the Sca- 

 mander. Pliny, in his geographical 

 description of the world, mentions this 

 modern Illium in a manner which 

 pi-dves, beyond a doubt, that he re- 

 gained if as built on the site of ancient 

 Troy, 



1 ill the last century the question 

 remained undecided, as Strabo had left 

 it ; but in the year 1785, Le Chevalier, 

 an accurate and laborious traveller, 

 discovered a spot in the plain, or rather 

 at the foot of Ida, which seemed better 

 to answer the description of the poet : 

 it was a hill near the village of Boun.ar- 

 Bfeshi, which he chose for his Perga- 

 mus : the river which before every 

 traveller had regarded as the Scaman- 

 der, was now proved to be the Simeois, 

 and the former Simeois remained with- 

 out a name ; much was said concerning 

 the hot and warm sources of the newly- 

 found Scamandei-. Other travellers, 

 With an imagination less heated, vi- 

 sittd tliis spot ; they found the diMtauce 



591 



from Bounar-BAshl to the Hellespont? 

 too great ; they discovered that the 

 sources of the new Scamander, instead 

 of being one warm and the other cold, 

 were both warm : many difficulties were 

 raised against the system of Le Cheva- 

 lier, and rebutted with warmth by his 

 friends. Two parties immediately di- 

 vided the classic world ; one contended 

 for the truth of the minute, and often 

 fanciful details, of Le Chevalier ; while 

 others denied the truth of many of the 

 most important facts brought forward 

 by that geographist. Both parties were 

 violent, and, as generally happens iu 

 such cases, equivocation took (he place 

 of truth, passion that of argument. 



To conciliate the two parties is a task 

 which 1 have neither the wish nor the 

 talent to perform ; I have too often ex- 

 perienced, that when once discord has 

 reared her head in religion, in politics, 

 or in literature, argument is the last 

 instrument to which resort must be 

 had to check its influence — blustering 

 ignorance generally crushes one of the 

 factions, and the tyranny of the other 

 necessarily ensures a temporary quiet. 

 AVhcn I visited the plain of Illium, I 

 had heard but little of the dispute in 

 question. I, indeed, knew that some 

 persons had endeavoured to prove the 

 Trojan war a fable ; but I rejected the 

 idea, as a Chri-.tian does that of infi- 

 delity, from which, in future life, he 

 guesses much harm may perhaps accrue, 

 while with certainty he knows that no 

 bad eff'ects can ensue from his adhering 

 to the tenets of his ancestors. If it be 

 proved that the truth of the main facts 

 contained in the Iliad is chimerical, 

 what will become of the history attach- 

 ed to them ? Are we to betray to all-de- 

 vouring scepticism so many interesting 

 records? If we prove that Helen, that 

 Paris, that Achilles, that Troy itself 

 never existed, the interest felt in read- 

 ing the works of Homer must necessa- 

 rily be diminished, the pleasure will 

 be no longer so great, and the bard, 

 whose poems have nearly exhausted the 

 whole fund of human knowledge would 

 be more neglected than even he now is. 

 — Apollo and the muses defend us 

 from so dire a misfortune ! 



The scenery, as to the islands, the 

 seas, the mountains, or in a few words, 

 as to its general features, corresponds, 

 certainly as much as one can expect, 

 with the description of Homer ; Lemnos, 

 Imbros, Teuedos, Ida, the Chersonesus, 

 and the Hellespont, are found in the 

 same relative situation as a cuj'sory 

 reader 



