A R G O L I S. 395 
reaching to the clouds; although we rode CHAP. 
continually through delicious valleys, covered v. y ' 
by cultivated fields, or filled with myrtles, 
flowering shrubs, and trees. Every fertile spot 
seemed to^be secluded from all the rest of the 
world, and to be protected from storms by 
the lofty summits with which it was surrounded. 
A white dress, worn by the peasants, reminded 
us of the garments often seen upon antient 
statues ; and it gave to these delightful retreats 
a costume of the greatest simplicity, with the 
most striking effect. Lusieri had spoken in 
rapturous terms of the country he had beheld in 
Arcadia : but the fields, and the groves, and the 
mountains, and the vales of Argolis, surpassed all 
that we had imagined, even from his description of 
thefinestparts of the PELOPONNESUS. Torender 
the effect of the landscape still more impressive, 
shepherds, upon distant hills, began to play, 
as it were an evening-service, upon their reed 
pipes; seeming to realize the ages of poetic 
fiction; and filling the mind with dreams of 
innocence, which, if it dwell anywhere on 
earth, may perhaps be found in these retreats, 
apart from the haunts of the disturber, whose 
" whereabout" is in cities and courts, amidst 
wealth and ambition and power. All that 
seems to be dreaded in these pastoral retreats 
