334 PHARSALIA. 
CHAP, character ; and with regard to the shrewd pea- 
■ santry of Yorkshire, however we may be dis- 
posed to make the exception, and to dispute the 
application of an ilUberal pleasantry, we shall 
not be able to banish it from the lano:uao:e of 
Boundaries common convcrsation. The bomidaries how- 
and names 
of Thes- ever of Thessaly have varied as often as the 
appellation it has received'. Its most antient 
denomination was Pelasgia; wherefore Homer 
always calls it Pelasgicon Argos. He does not 
once mention it mider the name of Thessaly. It 
has also borne the various names of Pyrrhcea, 
j^monia, Pandora, Nesonis, and lastly Thessaly. 
It is divided by Straho^ into the four districts of 
Phthiotis, Esticeotis, Thessaliods, and Pelasgiotis ; 
all of vfhich Ptolemy' ascribes to Macedonia. 
Pharsaiut. Wc fouud but fcw autiquitics remaining of 
the antient Pharsalus. Like other towns and 
villages of Thessaly, Pharsa is so entirely 
under Turkish domination, and has been so long 
in the hands of Moslems, that if they have not 
destroyed the relics of its former state, they 
have always hidden them from a traveller's view. 
(1) Vid. Stephan. de Urbib, p. 305. Not. 46. edit. CronoLii. Amst. 
1678. 
(2) Vid. Strahon. Geog. lib. ix. 
(3) Ptolemai Gqo^. lib. iii. cap. 13. 
