651 
Modern Greci:s.-~-C;yclades. 
the seraglio* A disdar or governor is 
the representative of the monstrous pro¬ 
tector among the people of Solon. 
This disdar resides in the citadel, filled 
with the master-pieces of Phidias and 
Ictinus, vvitHont enquiring what nation 
left these remains behind it, Vv-rthont 
deigning to step beyond the threshold 
of the mean liahitation which he has 
built for himself under the ruins of the 
monuments of Pericles: except very 
rarely when this automaton shuffles to 
the door of his den, squats cross-legged 
on a dirty carpet, and, while tlie smoke 
from his pipe ascends between the co- 
lumns of the temple of Minerva, eyes 
with vacant stare the shores of Salamis 
and the sea of E[)idaurus. 
You would suppose that Greece her¬ 
self intended, by the mourning which 
she wears, to announce the wretchedness 
of iier children. The country in gene¬ 
ral is uncultivated, fiare, monotonous, 
wild, and the ground of a yellow hue, 
the colour of witliered herbage. There 
are no rivers that deserve the appella¬ 
tion; but small streams and torrents 
which are dry in summer. No farm¬ 
houses, or scarcely any, are to be seen 
in the country; you observe no husband¬ 
men, you meet no carts, no teams of 
oxen. Nothing can be more melancho¬ 
ly tlian never to be able to discover the 
marks of modern wheels, where you 
still perceive in the rock the traces ot 
ancient ones. A few peasants in tu¬ 
nics, with red caps on their lieads, like 
the galley-slaves at Marseilles, dolefully' 
wish you, as they pass, l^ali sperrif Good 
jjaorning! Before them they drive asses 
or small horses with rough coats, which 
are sufficient to carry their scanty rustic 
equipage, or the produce ol their vine¬ 
yard. Bound this desolate region with 
a sea almost as solitary; place on the 
declivity of a rock a dilapidated watch- 
tower, a forsaken convent ; let a minaret 
rise from the midst of the desert to an¬ 
nounce the empire of slavery ; let a 
herd of goats, or a number of sheep, 
browse upon a cape among columns in 
ruins; let the turban of a Turk put the 
lierdsmen to flight, and render the road 
still more lonely; and you will have an 
accurate idea of the picture wliich 
Greece now presents. 
MODERN GREEKS. 
I have not seen enough of the modern 
Greeks to venture to form an opinion 
respecting their character. Full well I 
khow how easy it is to slander the un- 
' 'Monthly Mao. No. 
fortunate; nothing is more natural than 
for those who are secure from all danger^ 
to say: ‘MVhy do they not break tha 
yoke under which tliey groan ?’^ Any 
man may express in liis own chimney- 
corner tliese lofty sentiments, and this 
proud spirit of independence. Besides, 
decisive opinions abound in an age when 
nolhiftg is doubted of but the existence 
of God, But, as the general opinions 
which we form of nations are very often 
contradicted by experience, I shall be¬ 
ware of forming any. I merely think 
tliat there is still abundance of genius 
in Greece ; I even think that our mas¬ 
ters in every line still reside there; just 
fts I conceive that human nature still 
preserves its superiority at Rome; by 
which, I would not be understood to say, 
that superior men are now to be found in 
that city. 
But, at the same time, 1 fear that the 
Greeks are not too well disposed to 
break their chains. Tf even they were 
released from the tyranny which op¬ 
presses them, they would not lose in a 
moment the marks of their fetters* 
They have not only been crushed be¬ 
neath the weight of despotism, but for 
these two thousand years they have been 
a superannuated and degraded nation. 
They have not been renovated, like th^i 
rest of Europe, by barbarous nations; 
and the very nation which has conquered 
them has contributed C(^ t.heir corrup¬ 
tion. That nation iias not introduced 
among them the rude and savage man¬ 
ners of the natives of the north, hut 
the voluptuous customs of southeni 
climes. To say nothing of the religious 
crime which the Greeks would have 
committed in abjuring their altars, they 
would have gained nothing by the adop¬ 
tion of the koran. In the book of 
Mahomet, there is no principle of civi¬ 
lisation, no precept that can impart 
elevation to the character; that -book 
inculcates neither a hatred of tyranny 
nor a love of independence.. In em¬ 
bracing the religion of their rulers, the 
Greeks would have renounced the artSs, 
sciences, and letters, to become the 
soldiers of fortune, and blindly obey 
the caprice of an absolute sovereign. 
They would have spent their lives in 
ravaging the world, or in slumbering on 
a carpel among women and perfumes. 
THE CYCLADES. 
The sea having become calm, and the 
sky serene, I beheld, at different dis¬ 
tances, all the Cvclades ; Scyros, whei'o 
-10 Achiilei 
