A RIDE TO MAGNESIA. 133 



Astraea might have last lingered, and whence the 

 impress of her footstep had not been yet obliterated 

 by the violence of man. It was a perfect presenta- 

 tion of the still and calm, and touched the same 

 associations that are made to thrill by Flaxman or 

 Eetsch. 



On the verge of this plain, snugly ensconced under 

 the lee of the hills we had been descending, lies the 

 city of Magnesia. It is of reverend aspect, and quite 

 worthy of its incomparable situation. It is placed so 

 closely under the hills, that its details are very grad- 

 ually unfolded to one advancing. First appears a 

 minaret, that most graceful of architectural concep- 

 tions, then comes a burying-ground, and at last peep 

 out the domes of the baths and mosques and par- 

 ticular houses. The place has quite the air of having 

 come to hide itself in this quiet nook ; and its inhab- 

 itants seemed to be of the same mind, for not one 

 of them could we see. At such an hour, poetic 

 justice demanded that there should have been scat- 

 tered over the ways groups of peasants returning 

 from their toil, and citizens refreshing themselves 

 with an evening walk. But here seemed to be no 

 fields to cultivate. All looked as if it were common 

 land ; and one could but feel what a first-rate exer- 

 cising ground Oglii Pascha had for his cavalry. As 

 for the citizens, walking does not come within their 

 idea of enjoyment ; to which exertion is so essentially 

 opposed, that probably half of them would forego 



