SIBTHOllP. 



ancient name Kkto-u, which is generally taken for the Magpie, 

 was fcreaming among thefe oaks : and the Water Ouzel, Slur- 

 nus Cinclus, flying along the rocky fides of the alpine rivu- 

 lets of Arcadia, prefented itfelf to Dr. Sibthorp's recol- 

 leftion, as probably the White Blackbird, which Arillotle 

 fays is peculiar to the neighbourhood of mount Cyllene. 

 In vain did our clallical travellers look for tlie beauty of 

 Arcadian (hepherdefTes, or lillen for the pipe of the fylvan 

 twain. Figures emaciated, and features furrowed, with 

 poverty, labour and care, were all that they met with. The 

 vermin of the Pacha's court, with other vermin, who pre- 

 fume to call themfelves ChrilUan bifliops, and whole places 

 are all bnught of the Turks, devour the fubilance of thefe 

 poor people, and drive many of them to a precarious and 

 predatory life among the mountains. 



Proceeding to Argos, and thence to Mycena, the tra- 

 vellers were highly gratified by finding, on the gate of the 

 latter, thofe ancient lions, whicli Paufanias defcribes as the 

 work of the Cyclops ; and near it the reputed tomb of 

 Agamemnon, a circular building, formed of immenfe maffes 

 of ftone, placed with fuch geometrical precifion, though 

 without mortar, that not one had given way. That which 

 forms the portal is defcribed by Dr. Sibthorp as the 

 largelt ftone he ever faw employed in any edifice. A number 

 of fragments of vafes, like thofe commonly called Etrufcan, 

 lay among the ruins of Mycena. At Hermione, now called 

 Caftri, in the Argohc pcninfula, famous for the purple dye 

 anciently prepared there, a vail pile of the (hells from which 

 that dye was obtained, and itill denominated Porphyri, 

 icrved to afcertain the fpecies, which is Murex Trunculus of 

 Linnaeus, figured by Fabius Columna in his rare and learned 

 work, de Purpura, under the name of Purpura nojlras ino- 

 lacea. (See PuRPLE Fish.) From this place Dr. Sib- 

 thorp and his friend intended to have coafted along the bay 

 of Argos in a boat, but the fea was then infefted with 

 pirates, which obliged them to give up that projedt, and to 

 return by land to Argos, whence they proceeded to Corinth, 

 Patras, and by way of Elis to Pyrgos. Here they ob- 

 tained another efcort from Said Aga, to whole proteftion 

 they had before been indebted, and fafely reached Calamata, 

 on the gulf of Corone, where they were detained by the ce- 

 lebration of Eafter, on the 12th of April, amid a profu- 

 fion of (Icy-rockets and crackers. Proceeding in a boat 

 along the barren and craggy fliore, covered with bufliy and 

 prickly Euphorh'in, they reached Cardamoula. Here the 

 Greeks arc tolerably free from the tyranny of the Turks, 

 and their perfons and demeanour exhibit lefs marks of dege- 

 neracy. Panagiote, a popular charafter, nephew of the 

 Cherife, came down, with a train of followers, to wel- 

 come the Itrangers, and conduft-ed them to his tower-like 

 caille, where a narrow entrance, and dark winding itair cafe, 

 led to a chamber, whole thick walls and narrow loop-holes 

 ieemed well prepared for defence. The country of Maina, 

 though governed by a Dcy, is under the controul of eight 

 fubordinate, but partly independent, native chiefs, wlio, like 

 our old feudal lords, often make ■va.x on each other, when 

 they bring not only men but women into the field. No 

 Turk is allowed to live in this dillriCl. Th'- land is extremely 

 hilly, and eafily defended. Taygetus, the higliell mountain 

 in the Morea, and almolt rivalling Pariiailus, was alcended 

 hy our adventurous travellers ; but the quantity of Inow, 

 and the great dillance, prevented their reaching the fummit. 

 I'anagiote and fifty of his followers accompanied them, and 

 he difplaycd his botanical knowledge by fhewing Dr. Sib- 

 thorp darnel, Hill called aifx, among the corn, which he 

 faid occafioned dizzinefs ; and a wonderful root, the top ot 

 which is uled as an emetic, the bottom as a purge. This 



proved Euphorbia Ap'ios, to which the very fame properties 

 are attributed by Diofcorides. 



From Cardamoula the travellers were efcorted by the de- 

 pendants of this hofpitable Grecian chief, along a preci- 

 pitous road, to Millra, where they had the unexpefted plea- 

 fure of meeting a party of their Engliih friends, in the garb 

 of Tartars, with whom they explored the fcite of ancient 

 Sparta. After returning to Calamata, and furveying from 

 the fummit of a neighbouring precipice the ruins of Medenia, 

 with the rich plains watered by the Panifcus, and bounded 

 by the hills of Laconia, Dr. Sibthorp and Mr. Hawkins 

 haftened to Corone, where a Venetian veffel waited to con- 

 vey them to Zante, which place they reached on the 29th of 

 April. Here Dr. Sibthorp parted from the faithful com- 

 panion of his tour, whom he was dellined never to fee again, 

 but in whofe friendfhip he fafely confided in his hit hours. 

 Mr. Hawkins returned to Greece ; while the fubjeft of our 

 memoir, leaving Zante on the ilt of May, experienced a 

 moft tedious voyage of twenty-four days to Otranto, though 

 five days are the moll ufual time for that pafiage. He touched 

 at the ifland of Cephalonia, and next at Preverfa, on the 

 Grecian (hore, where being detained by a contrary wind, he 

 employed the 7th of May in vifiting the ruins of Nicopolis. 

 The weather was unfavourable, and Dr. Sibthorp here 

 caught a fevere cold, from which he never recovered. It 

 feems to have proved the exciting caufe of that difeafe, 

 which had long been latent in the mefenteric and pulmonary 

 glands, and which terminated in a confumption. Being 

 obhged by the weather to put in at the little iiland of Fanno, 

 May nth, the violent north-well wind" continued," as he 

 too expreflively fays in his journal, " to nurfe his cough and 

 fever." He was confined to his bed, in a miferable hovel, 

 to which, after frequent attempts to fail, he was driven back 

 fix times by the unfavourable wind. At length, the veflel 

 was enabled to call anchor in the port of Otranto on the 

 24th of May. Here he was obliged to fubmit to a qua- 

 rantine of three weeks, part of which, indeed, was allowed 

 to be fpent in proceeding to Ancona. From thence he 

 palled through Germany and Holland to England. Of the 

 precife time of his arrival we find no mention. It was in the 

 autumn of 1795, and his few fucceeding months were chiefly 

 marked by tiie progrefs of an unconquerable difealc, tor 

 which the climates of Dcvonfliire and Bath were, as ufua], 

 reforted to in vain. He died at Bath, February 8th, 1796, 

 in the thirty-eighth year of his age, and lies interred in the 

 abbey church, where his executors haveeredleda neat monu- 

 ment to his memory. 



We have now to record the pofthumous b:^nefits which 

 Dr. Sibthorp has rendered to his beloved Iciesoe, and which 

 are fuificicnl to rank him amongll its mull illuftrious patrons. 

 By his will, dated Alhburton, January 12, i 796, he gives 

 a freehold ellate in Oxfordfliirc to the univcrfity of Ox- 

 ford, for the purpofc of firll publKhing his Flora Grjca, in 

 10 folio volumes, with lOO coloured plates in cacli, and a 

 ProJromus of the fame work, in 8vo. without plates. His 

 executors, the honourable Thomas Wenmaii, John Haw. 

 kin> and Thomas Piatt, elqrs., wcfc to ajipoint a fuffi- 

 cieiitly competent editor of thefe works, to whom the ma- 

 nufcripts, dr.iwiiijL's, and fpccimcns, were to be confided. 

 They fixed upon tli'- writer of the prefent article, who has 

 now nearly completed the Prodromus, and the fecond vohimc 

 of the I'luiii. The plan of the former was drawn out by 

 Dr. Sibthorp, but nothing of the latter, except the figures, 

 was pri piled, iior any botanical charafters or dcfcription» 

 whatever. The final determination of the fpecies, the dif. 

 tiniStioiis of Inch as were now, and ail critical remarks, have 

 fallen to the lot of the iditor, who has alfo rcvjfed the re- 

 4. N ; fcrcncts 



