LaurenVs Tour through Greece, Turkey and Italy. 



S92 



reader of the Iliad would imagine (hem 

 to be placed ; the plain itself, however, 

 did not answer my expectations. — I did 

 not, certainly, hope to be able to distin- 

 guish the very walls of the town : as 

 well might I have expected to have 

 seen the Greek ships arranged upon the 

 strand, or Hector and Achilles striding 

 over the fields ; but 1 thought I should 

 have seen some eminence worthy of 

 being the Pergamus — some river wor- 

 thy of being called the Scamander ; the 

 usual fate of classic travellers awaited 

 me — I was disappointed. 

 ,' . The water was so shallow that we 

 found it impossible to land with dry 

 feet, ; the sailors offered to carry us on 

 their backs to the shore : the experi- 

 ment was first tried by an unfortunate 

 Florentine, wlio, during the wiiole voy- 

 age, had suffered mucli from sea-sick- 

 ness, a disorder ever the subject of 

 ridicule among sailors ; he mounted 

 the broad shoulders of one of our Istrian 

 seamen, but hardly had he rode fifty 

 yards in this style, before a well-pre- 

 tended stumble threw him headlong 

 into the sea; — " experieutia docet," 

 we tucked up our trowsers, threw off 

 our stockings and shoes, and with 

 praiseworthy ardour, waded to the 

 land. 



PUBLIC BATHS AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 



The very frequent recurrence of 



ablutions, enjoined by the wisdom of 



IMoliansmed, to preserve his followers 



from the disorders produced in a warm 



climate by an accximulation of dirt on 



"■j the skin, has caused pious individuals 



to erect fountains in almost every street 



of the Turkish cities, and even on the 



border of the roads, far distant from 



any town ; the tomb of the founder is 



generally i)laced in the neighbourhood, 



' and is surrounded with trees, which 



."^ offer a delightful shade to the wearied 



J traveller. These fountains are gene- 



y rally built in the Moorish style, and 



, atlorned with Arabic inscriptions. 



To the same precept of cleanliness 



we may attribute the number of warm 



baths seen in Turkey : every village 



.•has its hammam or public bath, and 



evei"y large house is provided with the 



same convenience. These thermae are 



heated by a subterraneous vault, which 



^ serves as a furnace, and is filled with 



" .logs of wood, above which, and imme- 



" .idiately below the marble pavement of 



^!jthe building, is a large cauldron of 



•/jivater, which is kept in a constant state 



Vof ebullition ; tubes placed in the in- 



'.'ierior of tiie walls carry off (he steam, 



while othcT-s furnish the interior with 

 hot water from the cauldrou, and with 

 cold water from a contiguous cistern. 

 The bather, having paid to the keeper 

 of the bath the price of entrance, is 

 shewn into a square room, along the 

 Avails of which runs a wide seat, co- 

 vered with cushions ; he here leaves 

 his clothes, and ginling round his 

 body a wide piece of cotton, which 

 hangs from his waist to his ancles, and 

 placing his feet in a pair of wooden 

 clogs, to preseiTe them from the burn- 

 ing heat of the floor, he proceeds through 

 several rooms successively increasing 

 in warmth, to the interior chamber. 

 This chamber is built in a circular 

 shape, and covered by a cupola, in 

 which there are many openings covered 

 with very thick glass, which gives a 

 free passage to the light, but not to the 

 visual rays of the curious ; a circular 

 dais on the pavement indicates the po- 

 sition of the cauldron, which is imme- 

 diately uuderneath ; small fountains 

 and marble basins are seen at equal 

 distances round the wall. , ' 



TEMPLE OP THESEUS. 



This celebrated ruin, which is well 

 preserved, stands on a large open place, 

 where a rope-maker was exercising his 

 trade when we passed ; this sjiot is 

 eulivened in the evening with the 

 youthful games of many Athenian boys; 

 it was near this temple, according to 

 Pausauias, that stood Ptolemey's gym- 

 nasium and the forum. A part of the 

 temple is now used as a church, dedi- 

 cated to St. George : it is closed by a 

 door made of flat iron bars, at which 

 tile Turks with most disgraceful im- 

 piety, amuse themselves in trying the 

 force of their muskets. In the chancel 

 are the graves of three English travel- 

 lers, who have paid the debt of nature 

 in (his countiy: one is that of the un- 

 fortunate Tweddell ; by his side is 

 buried a Mr. Walker, who fell a victim 

 to a fever produced by fatigue and heat. 

 The inscription upon Tweildell's giave 

 is engraved in the true antique style, 

 without stops, or separations ; it cannot 

 be read without considerable attention 

 and study: it is indeed astonishing 

 that men should be willing to saci-ifice 

 to the mania of imitating the very 

 en-ors of the ancients, the striking 

 effect which so beautiful an epitaph 

 would produce on every reader were 

 it legible. A grave was digging for a 

 Mr. Phillips, who had died while mak- 

 ing the tour of the Morea : he had quitted 

 Athens in August, a time when disease 



rages 



