96 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
weakest; just as rabid in the improper use of power when 
we obtain it, as the most despotic. The frailties of human 
nature abound under every form of government; the princi¬ 
ples of right exist every where, and are every where sustained 
or abused, according to the interests which they involve ; 
hence we should be careful that the mote be not in our own 
eye, before we point to it in the eyes of others. There are 
principles of liberty and of right implanted in us by the Deity; 
the most enlightened of mankind have ever recognized them 
as the only true basis of government, the only enduring found¬ 
ation of human happiness; let us, therefore, while we con¬ 
demn the errors and follies of others, profit by the condition 
to which we see them reduced, and aspire to be the most 
consistent as well as the freest and most liberal of nations. 
Doctor Mendoza and the Madam having seen all that was 
to be seen in Athens, invited me to join them in an excursion 
down to Eleusis, which I very gladly did, inasmuch as it en¬ 
abled me to enjoy their society, and at the same time see some¬ 
thing of country life in Greece. We hired the only guide that 
happened to be unemployed at the time—a lean ill-looking 
fellow, whose expression of countenance gave us but little 
promise of being enlightened by his intellectual researches. 
There was no help for it, however; and having employed 
the best carriage the place afforded, and moreover provided 
ourselves with some cold chicken and bread from the Orient, 
we set out at an early hour, and were soon rolling along 
over the dusty road toward Eleusis. A short distance from 
Athens we came to the Academical Groves, where we de¬ 
scended to see the sights. The only sights we saw were an 
old villa, in a very dilapidated state ; a few dust-covered trees 
and grape-vines of modern growth, some fine bunches of 
grapes ; a ditch of water that one could jump over with ease, 
called the river Ilissus, and some ragged and dirty Greeks 
lying on their backs in the shade—descendants probably of 
the ancient philosophers. 
Some miles farther on, we came to a sort of way-side 
inn, near the Convent of Daphne, where the Doctor thought 
it expedient to stop for refreshments ; “ because,” said he, 
