WM. THOMPSON, ESQ. 



Strictly applicable." Changes had in some cases taken place in the con- 

 dition or m the habits and customs of a community. Thus, in Venice, as 

 the journal informs us, " The gondolas are greatly changed for the worse 

 since 182(5, the fine steel front being now only seen on old ones ; the mo- 

 dern are simply bound with polished steel for a protection, and instead of 

 the canopy overhead, a common awning is used, which in some is plain 

 canvas,_in others blue and white striped, and a few more tasteful, all as 

 in British boats. In connexion with the fast disappearing gondolas, I 

 could not but think of the changes in Greece and Turkey. Pictorially, it 

 IS a pity that it is becoming a more matter-of-fact world every day, 

 though it is well that the human race is becoming daily more and more 

 one great family. In the evening I saw a few gondolas, each rowed by 

 two hvery servants {d VAmilais). J could not hear any songs of gondo- 

 hers this time, though in 1826 they were occasionally to be heard." 

 ^ The changes, however, which the journal indicates as having occurred 

 in the external world, are few compared to those which had taken place 

 in the mind of its author. Fifteen years of the most active period of 

 man's existence had passed by, and had cast their mellowing influence 

 both on his feelings and on his intellect. He had lived during that time 

 among the intelligent inhabitants of his native town, and among the 

 literary and scientific circles of Metropolitan Societies. His reading had 

 not been restricted to Natural Science, but had embraced biography, his- 

 tory, travels, poetry, and the fine arts. Tlie journal in every page indicates 

 his more mature and cultivated intellect; and passages occasionally occur 

 ^v•hIch breathe a comprehensive charity for his fellow-men, and a sympa- 

 tnywith their social advancement. There is, too, a discrimination in 

 praise or in censure, which time and experience alone can give ; and a 

 nice perception of beauty in form, outline, colouring, and aerial tint, 

 which mark the artistic eye. To personal friends, therefore, it contains 

 much that is interesting. Yet it cannot be denied that many scenes or 

 incidents which are graphically narrated, are told as well or better by 

 other travellers, such as the ordeal of a Turkish bath— the slave-market 

 at Smyrna— a turtle chase in the ^gean, and the absurd annovances con- 

 nected with the Lazaretto at Trieste. The journal too is obviously a per- 

 sonal and_ private record, not written with a view to publication. But 

 while the insertion of it as a Avhole would not seem justifiable or judici- 

 ous, a few extracts illustrative of the remarks which have just been made, 

 may not appear out of place, especially if they be regarded as revelations 

 made by Thompson himself of his own mind, perceptions, and feelings. 

 _ Valence to Avignon, April 9th, 1841.—" Never did I see the Almond 

 in flower look so beautiful as to-day, when several large trees in full 

 bloom were in their graceful beauty backed by dark-hued rocks." 

 ' l^mally, to contrast the scenery of the Rhine and the Rhone, in vine- 

 covered hills they are alike— the rivers are much on a par— the Rhine 

 rather the grander— the Rhone more varied by the hills coming forward 

 and again receding or folding in the most romantic manner back and for- 

 ward. No verdure from grass or pasture is to be seen on the Rhone banks, 

 the more Southern character of the vegetation being from ferns springino' 

 from a sterile soil. The Rhine has its numerous castles, but against these 

 are the snow-clad mountains seen from the Rhone." 



May 5th.— " The setting of the sun, as we lay ofi"Syra, was very grand, so 

 many hues as the land displayed I never before witnessed. The island on 

 which he sank was empurpled ; another displayed the ordinary distant 

 blue ; those in the west were tinged with lilac. Immediately in the fore- 



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