44

them to Cos. They were intended, he said, for his son, who was to be educated in the Patmos monastery.*

We were not permitted to enter the castle; this is close to the town of Stanchio, on the sea shore, fortified by a moat upon the land side. Taking the small boat belonging to our vessel, we examined the outside of its walls toward the sea, and here had the satisfaction to discover one of the finest bas-reliefs perhaps ever derived from the arts of Greece. It was employed by the Genoese as part of the building materials in the construction of the castle: being of great length, it was broken in four pieces: these are placed in the wall, two above and two below, facing the sea. The subject seems to represent the nuptials of Neptune and Amphitrite. It contains fifteen figures, although some are nearly effaced. Among these, the principal is a bearded figure of Neptune, sitting with a trident or sceptre in his right hand, and leaning upon his left elbow. By his left side sits also a female, holding in her left hand a small statue: the base of this rests upon her knee. She is covered with drapery, executed in the highest style of the art of sculpture, and extends her right arm around, the neck of Neptune; her hand pending negligently over his right shoulder. They are delineated sitting upon a rock. By the right side of the god stands a male figure, naked; and upon the left of Amphitrite a female, half clothed, presenting something in form like an ancient helmet. Before them, female bacchanals are introduced, singing, or playing upon the lyre and the tambourine. In the lower fragments of this exquisite piece of sculpture are seen satyrs, pouring wine from skins into a large vase.

*The interesting intelligence, thus communicated, was the cause of my subsequent visit to that island, and of the valuable acquisitions I there made.

The removal of this precious relique, to any of the Museums of Europe, must be a desirable object with every civilized nation. It is an honour reserved for some more favoured adventurers. The only power we possessed of adding to the stock of our national literary treasures, was due to our industry alone. The aid our national situation, with regard to Turkey, might then have afforded, was studiously withheld. An absolute prohibition was enforced, respecting the removal of any of the antiquities of the country, excepting by the agents of our own ambasador at the Porte. Mr. Gell, author of "The Topography of Troy," &c. was actually interdicted making drawings within the Acropolis of Athens. While I must lament the miserable policy of such a measure, and a loss affecting the public, rather than ourselves as individuals, I can only add, that every exertion is now making toward rescuing from destruction, not only the valuable monument here alluded to, but also many other important objects of acquisition lying scattered over the desolated territories of the Turkish empire. To a British minister at the Porte, their removal and safe conveyance to England would be the work merely of a wish expressed upon the subject to the Capudan Pacha; and for the measures necessary in removing them from their present place, no injury would be sustained by the fine arts, in the dilapidation of any Grecian building. English travellers, distinguished by their talents, illustrious by their rank, and fortupate in their wealth, are now traversing those regions, to whom every instruction has been given that may facilitate and expedite their researches; it is hoped success will attend their promised endeavours to enrich their nation by the possession of such ye luable documents.

Others are engaged in seizing an animal, as a victim for sacri fice. The animal has the appearance of a tiger, or a leopard.* These beautiful remains of Grecian sculpture may have been consequences of the vicinity of Cos to Halicarnassus, Cnidus, and other cites of Asia Minor, where the art attained to such high perfection; or they may have all resulted from the destruction of some magnificent edifice whereby the island was formerly adorned. Columns of cipolino, breccia, and granite, together with blocks of the finest marble, either upon the shore, in the courts, and inclosures belonging to the inhabitants, or used in constructing the walls of the town and fortress, in the public fountains, moques, mortars, and grave stones, the pave ment of baths, and other modern works, denote the ruin that has taken place, and the immense quantity of ancient materials here employed. The mosque of the town of Stanchio is built entirely of marble.

The voyage from Cos to Rhodes, like that already describ ed, resembles more a pleasing excursion in a large river, than in the open sea. The Mediterranean is here so thickly planted with islands, that the view is every where bounded by land.‡ We steered close round the Triopian Promontory, now called Cape Crio, and, having doubled it, beheld, toward the west and southwest, the islands of Nisyrus and Telus, whose modern names are Nisaray and Piscopy. According to Strabo, Nisyrus anciently possessed a temple of Neptune. We af terward obtained a most interesting view, from the deck, of the ruins of Cnidus, a city famous in having produced the most re nowned sculptors and architects of ancient Greece. The Turks and Greeks have long resorted thither, as to a quarry, for the building materials afforded by its immense remains. With the aid of our telescopes we could still discern a magnificent theatre almost entire, and many other mouldering edifices. This city stood on the two sides of an ancient mole, separating its two ports, and connecting the Triopian land, in Strabo's time an island, with the continent.§

*We also saw here the remains of a sculptured marble frieze, exhibiting festoons supported by ancient masks. The principal part of it is in the land side of the castle, over the entrance, where may also be observed part of a Corinthian cornice of the finest workmanship.

+ Called sporades from the irregularity wherein they are here scattered. Some of them are not laid down in any chart; although I believe the observations of captain Castle. the master of our vessel, made upon a map of Arrowsmith's, have been since transmitted to England, and published.

Strab. Geogr. lib. x. p. 714. Ed. Oxon.

We are indebted for the information which I shall here subjoin, concerning Hali garnassus and Cnidus, together with the plan which accompanies it, to the observaTous of Bir. Morritt, celebrated for his controversy with Mr. Bryant, on the subject

From our distant view of the place, being about two leagues from the entrance to its southern and larger port, the hill whereen its ruins stood seemed to rise from the sea in form of a theatre. Strabo notices this form as characterizing the land

of Homer's Poems, and the existence of Troy. It is the more valuable, because I believe few modern travellers have visited these ruins; and certainly no one of them better qualified for the undertaking.

14th June, 1795.-We set out in a boat from Cos, and in a few hours reached Boudroun, the ancient Halicarnassus, a distance of eighteen computed Turkish miles. This small town stands on a shallow bay, at the eastern extremity of the large and deep port of the ancient city. Off this bay lies the island mentioned in Strabo by the name of Arconnesos. 'Apxovvncos, (lib. xiv. p 656.) The houses are irregularly scattered on the shore, and interspersed with gardens, burying grounds. and cultivated fields. We lodged at a large khan near the bazar, which is marked in the deline. ation given in Choiseul's Voyage Pittoresque (Pl. 96. p. 152.) Several Turkish vessels were at anchor in the port; and the disorderly conduct of the crews at night made the houses of the Greeks uncomfortable, and, indeed, unsafe places of residence. Pistolballs were at night so often fired at their windows, that they were obliged to barricade those of their sleeping rooms; and the outward windows of the khan had been carefully walled up, for the same reason. We, soon after our arrival, crossed some gardens be hind the town, to view the remains of an ancient edifice which is on the northeast side of it. We found six columns of the fluted Doric, supporting their architrave, mutilated frieze, and cornice The marble of which they are made is of a dark gray colour, with a few white veins; nor is the masonry of the same workmanship with the remains we had elsewhere found of the finer ages of Greece. The forms of the stones and junctures of the building are more slovenly and inaccurate, and the architecture is not of the same elegant proportions with the earlier Doric buildings at Athens, and in Magna Græcia. The intercolumniations are much greater, and the entablature heavier, and with less relief and projection. The lower parts of the columns are buried in earth; and near them are two or three plain sarcophagi, of ordinary work, and without inscriptions. Broken stumps of columns, in a line with those which are standing, and many ruined fragments of marble, are scattered over the field. From the length of the colonnade, and the disappearance of all the corresponding columns of the peristyle, if this be supposed to have been a temple, I should hesitate to adopt the conjecture. It appeared to me the remains of a stoa, or portico, and probably ranged along one side of the ancient Agora of the town. It agrees in many respects with the situation assigned to the Agora by Vitruvius; as it would be on the right of a person looking from the modern fortress, where stood the ancient castle and palace of Mausolus, at the eastern horn of the greater port; while the smaller port formed by the island of Arconnesus would be on the left, in which order Vitruvius seems to place them. A quantity of marble is dug up near these ruins, the remains of other magnifieent buildings. The walls are visible from hence through a great part of their extent, which appears to have been about six English miles from the western horn of the port, along high grounds to a considerable eminence northwest of this ruin, and thence to the eastern promontory on which the modern castle is built. On the eminence, which I noticed, are traces of ancient walls, indicating the situation of the fortress called the Arx Media by Vitruvius, wherein stood the Temple of Mars; but of that, or indeed of the fortress itself, there are but indistinct remains, so that we could not ascertain the position of the temple. At the foot of this hill remains the ancient theatre, fronting the south: it is scooped in the hill, and many rows of marble seats are left in their places. The arcades of communication, and the proscenium, ate in ruins. Many large caverns are cut in the hill behind the theatre, probably places of sepulture, from their appearance; but their contents have been long ago carried away. The moderp castle stands on a tongue of land at the eastern extremity of the port, which it Commanded; and from the ancient materials used in its construction, appears to have been formerly a fortress commanding the port; and here, as I suppose, was one of the citadels mentioned by Strabo, who says expressly, that when Alexander took the town, there were imo, (dirîn d' ñ inɛívn, lib. xiv. p. 657.) At the western extremity of the bay, the situation of the aga's house and harem prevented our researches Here was the fountain Salmacis, the temples of Venus and Mercury, and the a pas mentioned by Arrian (lib. i. p. 25. de Exped. Alexand) the Second Acropolis of Strabo, in which the Persians took refuge, as well as in that on the island, when the town had been carried by the attack of Alexander on the land side. Arrian also notices the third Acropolis, the Arx Media of Vitruvius, on the eminence behind the theatre, άκραν τὴν πρὸς Μύλασσαν μάλιστα τετραμμένην, the fortress that looked toward Mylassa, near the wall where the Macedonians made

on the western side of the mole, not included in the view then presented to us. According to the interesting observations of Mr. Morritt, given below, in au extract from his manuscript journal, that mole is now become au isthmus; connecting the

one of their assaults upon the city. Diodorus Siculus mentions this fortress as the ánpórolls, Acropolis, (lib. xvii. p. 178. vol. II. Wesseling.) From his writings, or at least from the same source, Arrian seems to have collected most of the details of Alexander's famous siege. The citadel and fountain of Salmacis, on the western horn, and that on the island of Arconnesus, continued to resist the Macedonians after the Arx Media and the city were destroyed. They probably therefore were the double Acropolis mentioned by Strabo; but the third is certainly mentioned both by Diodorus, Arrian and Vitruvius; and as certainly its remains are seen behind the theatre, though Choiseul considers the Acropolis here as only meaning an elevated part of the city, a mode of expression not at all usual to Greek writers.

15th June. We tried to procure permission from the disdar, the Turkish governor of the castle, to see the interior of that fortress; but after a long negotiation, we were at last only permitted to walk with a janissary round the outward ramparts, his jealousy not permitting the inner gates to be opened into the court. The castle is a work of modern date, but built, in a great degree, of ancient materials. confusedly put together in the walls. There is a plate which gives a correct notion of its general appearance, in the Voyage Pittoresque. We found over the door an ill-carved lion, and a mutilated bust of ancient work. Old coats of arms, the remains probably of the crusaders, and the knights of St John of Rhodes, are mixed in the walls with many precious fragments of the finest periods of Grecian art. There are several pieces of an ancient frieze, representing the combats of Theseus and the Amazons, of which the design and execution are equal to those which Lord Elgin brought over from the Parthenon. These are stuck in the wall, some of them reversed, some edgewise, and some which have probably been better preserved by having the curved side toward the wall, and inserted in it. No entreaties nor bribes could procure these at the time we were abroad; but now if they could be procured, they would form, I think, a most valuable supplement to the monuments already brought hither from Athens. From my recollection of them, I should say they were of a higher finish, rather better preserved, and the design of a date somewhat subsequent to those of Phidias, the proportions less massive, and the forms of a softer, more flowing, and less severe character. It is probable that these beautiful marbles were taken from the celebrated Mausoleum of this, however, no other remains are discoverable in those parts of the town we were permitted to examine. I found an inscription this day, near a fountain in the town, containing hexameter and pentameter lines, on the consecration, or dedication, of some person to Apollo.

16th June. We examined the general situation of the town: this is already described, and we searched in vain for traces of the Mausoleum. The view of Cos and of the gulph are beautiful; and there is a picturesque little port behind the castle, to the east, shut in by the rock of the Arconnesus. This was the little port seen from the palace of the Carian kings, which stood in the old Acropolis, where the castle now is, although Arrian places this Acropolis (¿v rñ vow) on the island itself.

25th June. We again set off early, and 'doubling the western point of our little harbour as the day broke, we saw, in another small creek, a few remains of ruined walls, the vestiges of the ancient Bargasa, enumerated by Strabo after Keramos, in his description of the gulph, With some trouble, after standing northward for some hours, we doubled Cape Crio, under a very heavy swell, and soon ran before the wind into the southern harbour of Cnidus: at the mouth of this we moored, under a rocky shore near the eastern extremity of the city walls. Some large stones, which have served for the foundation of a tower, are still seen on the edge of the sea. Mounting the rock, extending along the shore, we came in view of the broken cliffs of the Acropolis, and its ruined walls The foundation and lower courses of the city walls are also visible: these extend from those of the Acropolis to the sea, and have been strengthened by towers, now also in ruins. Above us, we found a building (See B. of the Plan) whose use I am unable to explain. It was a plain wall of brown stone, with a semicircle in the centre, and a terrace in front, supported by a breastwork of masonry, facing the sea. The wall was about ten or twelve feet in height, solidly built of hewn stone, but without ornament. We now turned westward, along the shore. The hill on our right was a steep slope, covered with old foundations and traces of buildings; behind these rose the rocky points and higher eminences, where the Aeropolis is situated. We soon came to the theatre, whereof the marble seats remain, although mixed with bushes, and overturned. The arches and walls of the proscenium are now a heap of ruins on the ground. A large torso of a female figure with drapery,

Triopian promontory and the land to the eastward of it, once an island, with the Asiatic continent. The English consul at Rhodes afterward informed us, that a fine colossal statue of marble was still standing in the centre of the orchestra belonging to the theatre, the head of which the Turks had broken off; but that he well remembered the statue in its perfect state. This is evidently the same alluded to by Mr. Morritt. Mr. Walpole, in a subsequent visit to Cnidus, brought away the torso of a male statue: this he has since added to the collection of Greek marbles in the vestibule of the university library, at Cambridge. No specimen of Cnidian sculpture can be regarded with indifference. The famous Venus of Praxiteles was among the number of the ornaments once decorating this celebrated city, and its effigy is still extant upon the medals of the place. Sostratus of Cuidus, son of Dexiphanes, built upon the isle of Pharos the celebrated Light-Tower, considered one of the seven wonders of the world, whence all

of white marble, lies in the orchestra. It appeared of good work originally, but is so mutilated and corroded by the air as to be of little or no consequence. Near this are the foundations and ruins of a magnificent Corinthian temple, also of white marble; and several beautiful fragments of the frieze, cornice, and capitals, lie scattered about the few bases of the peristyle, remaining in their original situation. It is so ruined, that it would be, I believe, impossible to ascertain the original form and proportions of the building. We left the isthmus that divides the two harbours on our left; and on the eastern shore of the north harbour came to a still larger Corinthian temple, also in ruins, and still more overgrown with bushes. The frieze and cornice of this temple, which lie among the ruins, are of the highest and most beautiful workmanship. A little to the north of this stood a smaller temple, of gray-veined marble, whereof almost every vestige is obliterated. We now turned again eastward toward the Acropolis. Several arches of rough masonry, and a breastwork, support a large square area, probably the ancient Agora, in which are the remains of a long colonnade, of white marble, and of the Doric order, the ruins of an ancient stoa. Here also is the foundation of another small temple. On the north of this area a broad street ran from the port toward the Acropolis, terminating near the port in an arched gateway of plain and solid masonry. Above this are the foundations of houses, on platforms rising toward the outward walls; traces of a cross street near the theatre; and the Acropolis, of which nothing is left but a few ruined walls of strong brown stone, the same used for the substructions of the platforms into which the hill is cut. A few marbles, grooved to convey water from the hill of the Acropolis, are scattered on part of this ground; and we could trace the covered conduits of marble wherein it had been conveyed. We now descended again to the isthmus that separates the two harbours. In Strabo's time it was an artificial mole, over a narrow channel of the sea; and the western part of the town stood on an island united by this isthmus to the continent. An arch still remains in the side of it, probably a part of this mole; but the ruins which have fallen, with the sand that has accumulated on each side of it, have formed a neck of land here, about sixty or seventy yards across. The port on the north, as Strabo tells us, was shut by flood gates; and two towers are still to be traced, at the entrance to which the gates were fixed. It contained, he says, twenty triremes. The southern port is much larger, and protected from the open sea by a mole of large rough-hewn stones, which still remains. Beyond the ports, to the west, the town rose on a hill: the form of this Strabo compares to that of a theatre, bounded from the mole on the south by steep precipices of rock, and on the north by walls descending from the ridge to the gates of the northern harbour, in a semicircular sweep. On this side of the town we found the old foundations of the houses, but no temples nor traces of ornamental buildings, and no marble. The circuit of the walls is perhaps three miles, including the two ports within them. A reference to the annexed plan will give a clearer view of the situation than I am able to afford by description only." Morrill's MS. Journal.

N