MOUNT ATHOS. 



211 



convent, and instead of the attentions hitherto shewn to us, and 

 which had almost always anticipated our wants, we were forced to 

 send the Patriarch's letter, and afterwards the firman of the Grand 

 Signor before we could procure a room to sleep in. When we were 

 admitted to the library, we found the Didascalos seated there with 

 a large book before him, in Arabic with a Latin version. Mr. Carlyle 

 soon discovered that this important personage did not know even the 

 Arabic alphabet, and that his acquaintance with Latin did not enable 

 him to translate it ; so that his intention of imposing himself on us 

 as a profound scholar was severely disappointed. We had been told 

 that the most valuable manuscripts of the convent had lately been 

 sold, or at least concealed from strangers ; but every person whom 

 we now addressed on the subject denied the charge. The book of 

 Job with a commentary and illuminations, of Proverbs, of the Wisdom 

 of the son of Sirach, sixty-one copies of the Gospels, and the 

 History of Susannah were amongst the most curious of the sacred 

 manuscripts. Of the classical, we may mention two copies of Galen 

 well preserved ; Demosthenes ; the first and second books of the 

 Iliad ; part of Pindar ; some Lexicons, Apthonius the Sophist, and 

 Photius. 



The church of Santa Laura contains some fine columns and slabs of 

 Verd-antique marble ; and there is a greater appearance of splendor 

 in every part of the establishment of this convent than in any other 

 on Mount Athos. A caloyer was assigned us as our guide to conduct 

 us to the hermitage of St. Anne ; our ride, under a scorching sun, 

 was rendered more fatiguing, as we were forced to dismount very 

 frequently. At length we arrived at the romantic crags and dells 

 where the hermitages of St. Anne are placed ; and were refreshed by 

 the oranges, which grow there in abundance. Our accommodations 

 among the hermits were comfortless ; their cells being filthy, and 

 swarming with vermin. The library at the church of St. Anne con- 

 tains a few recent manuscripts of Gregory Nazianzenus, and other 

 ecclesiastical writers. The natural scenery here is particularly strik- 

 ing, and the summit of Athos, once consecrated by the fane and altars 



e e 2 



