THE LEVANT AND THE ASIATIC || It was here that Xerxes marched his army across ISLANDS.

upon boats. The forts are not many in number, We left Constantinople on board the Stambul

but very low, and hardly at all defended by land; steamer on Tuesday the 17th September, about

they possess, however, the well-known guns, the six in the evening; it was nearly calm, and on

stone shot of which weighs nearly two hundred rounding the point, we came in sight of this queen

weight, and requires as much as five minutes in of cities as she is seen from the sea, with an even

loading. The passage has been forced by some

frigates in our service, but with great loss. ing sun retiring like ourselves from the prospect.

The There is something melancholy, in spite of all high

entrance from the sea is guarded by two modern

forts, the new Dardanelles; Sestos and Abydos spirits and adventure, and in spite of all the queer

being the old Dardanelles. On coming into the people and strange sights, in such an object as

open sea, the Isle of Imbros is seen to the north ; ihis city, receding gradually from view as the dis

and before arriving off Tenedos, a few nameless tance kept increasing, and the clouds and dusk of evening closed and settled over it. The tall white

islands are visible, sometimes distinguished as the minarets of the mosques were visible for many

Rabbit Islands. A solitary hermit pig is said to hours, seemingly tinged with a waning glow from

dwell upon one of them, though of the date and

manner of his arrival in his domains there is no the remains of sunset light; and at last we were

extant tradition. On coming near Tenedos we obliged to say farewell perhaps for ever. It was

were gratified by the unusual and noble sight of the calm all the night, and we were up early in the

two combined Aeets of Great Britain and France; morning to survey the passage of the Dardanelles;

in all nineteen sail of the line, ten English and but were disappointed by the comparative tame

nine French. ness of their banks. Gallipoli is certainly a re

The French were anchored in line,

with their flag-ship at their head, the English in spectable town on the right hand, situated at the

the form of a crescent close to shore, with their mouth and close to the first fortress. In about three hours we had passed through; the coast in

sails hung loose to dry. The admiral's ship, a general winding and without feature, far inferior

three-decker, had in no way the neat sailor-like

appearance of the Frenchman; and, I think, a to the Bosphorus. At Sestos the stream forms a ||

fair, unprejudiced spectator, with nothing but his kind of bay, where the fort, so called, is built : the

general knowledge as landsman of naval matters, opposite one, still retaining the name Abydos, (it

could hardly avoid forming a much more favouris wonderful how these ancient names remain,) is

able opinion of the French. However, naval arbuilt upon a narrow neck of land. This is that || a

chitecture does not win sea-fights; Archimedes spot so renowned in history by the nocturnal swim- ||

| himself might build ships, but sailors are not mings of Leander, and after him, of Lord Byron.

made in dock-yards; and as we passed, I could i From "A Visit to the East; comprising Germany and ||

not help wondering at the strange revolution in the Danube, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Idumea.” By the Rev. Henry Formby, M.A. The last || the wheel of diplomacy that had laid alongsid addition to the Englishman's Library. London, Burns. ll each other, in peaceful proximity, forces that cenNo. XXXI.

JULY 1843.

H

turies and even years ago had sought each other's || than most Turkish towns, a little more cleanly, company for quite different purposes.

and altogether has some faint tinge of a European We passed between the two fleets, and continued character. Now, as bazaars are in the East the our way in sight of the celebrated plains of Troy. great rendezvous of all the business and idleness It would appear that the learned world are at no of the town, we resorted to them to spend the day, little fault upon the momentous question of the land to make a few necessary purchases before enwhereabouts of the ancient city, Lysimachus, say || tering upon the wilds of Syria. All that ever was the historians, one of the generals of Alexander | or could be said, would never give an European a the Great, received orders from his master to re- ll just idea of an eastern bazaar. You may, it is build Troy. Now there are ruins of Alexander's true, imagine a labyrinth of archways, so conTroas, the town he is supposed to have built, near || structed as to admit both light and darkness,- the the sea at the south of the plain; and the point in | light, as it might be, serving only to make the debate is, whether Lysimachus might or might not || darkness discernible ; you may gain some kind of have been mistaken in taking a then existing tra- || a notion of the place and territory belonging to dition, if he did so, as true, which is now found | each tradesman or artificer ; you may conceive a hardly capable of being reconciled with the locali- | little keen-eyed grave man, very commonly the ties described by Homer himself. Prokesch, a || fabricant of his own wares, and have an indistinct German author of recent date, examines the evi- || vision of eastern dresses ; but the singular characdence on each side of this important matter; and || ter of his goods no European can ever know, until but that the encomiastic tone of Germans about || he goes and sees for himself. The cross-legged, eastern antiquarian objects is a great obstacle in venerable, long-robed occupant of a small divan the way of their being understood, it would appear waits in expectant repose, with the cell close at from his account, that the true site of Homer's || hand, that contains his wares, on all sides and even Troy is close by the Simois, a rocky torrent which || suspended above his head. Like the monument falls into the more canal-like Scamander, at the of some poet or statesman in Europe, which is mouth of which latter river, within the Dardanelles, ll enveloped with figures and emblems, all supposed the Grecian fleet landed. It was here that Achilles to shew off the real genius himself to advantage, spent the whole period of his sullen absence in a || so sits the eastern vendor in the midst of his dotent, while the camp may have been about ten mains, a very emblem and personification of trade. miles off; the city, perhaps, about one or two And, whether working or waiting, he surveys the more. The supposed site, then, as ascertained or passing multitude with a degree of calm insouciconjectured by M. Prokesch, commands a view of | ance and mingled dignity, with a full collected the plain, and lies under Mount Ida, at some con | gravity and yet benevolent aspect, which is to be siderable distance from the site of Alexander's looked for in vain in the dapper impertinence of Troy. There are some tumuli on the sea-shore, the satellites of an European shop. to which tradition assigns the name of the tombs Together with a sprinkling of divers sinister of Hector, Ajax, and Patroclus; but with what Europeans, upon whose faces no other passion but authority it is impossible to say.

the love of dollars is stamped, there are all manner Passing onwards, we doubled Cape Baba, and of surrounding tribes, doubtless owning kindred our course lay between the mainland and the an with the nations of Xerxes' army, each in their cient Lesbos, now called after its old chief city | national dress; and since the Oriental taste has a Mitylene. The coasts of both are rocky, and the || strong leaning toward gaudy colours, you will view highly agreeable, as you may well imagine || hardly see any one description of costume like its with a clear blue sea, a sober afternoon sun, and fellow. The practised eye can distinguish the an Ionian sky. About four o'clock we came in || merchant, the military, and the learned, by the view of the ancient Mitylene, built on the side of || peculiar twist of the turban, and even the rank the hill and very prettily situated in a small bay; they hold in their vocation may be known by the the ancient Acropolis having very possibly occu same index. But these are minute shades of difpied the site of the present fort. Its giege by the ference that are completely lost to the eye of the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war, and the nar stranger. There is one very pleasing trait of charow escape of all its inhabitants from the anger of racter in the Turk merchant, which it is but just to their conquerors, have given to it a kind of renown || notice, viz. that he is the only one who may be in history, which may be said to have derived some trusted; he asks, it is true, a price a little above kindred increase by certain bloody scenes, of which what he will take, but this is scarcely more than a it was the theatre in the late rebellion of the Greeks. conventional form for the pleasure of the dialogue, In Horace's time it appears to have borne a fair during which his demand subsides to his real price. character for beauty and pleasantness. On leaving Indeed, it is not at all unusual with them to refuse this island, we keep the interior of the country in the offer of a bargain upon the terms first proposed, full view up to the entrance of the bay of Smyrna, and at once to state their real price, if they find where the high land closes in on both sides; and the stranger not aware of the local practice, and in about three hours the ship arrives at the ancient || disposed to make a straightforward purchase. Above town of Smyrna.

all persons, the visitor must beware of the insidiIsmir or Smyrna, one of the two surviving | ous Frank or Greek, who is ever lying in wait to churches whose candlestick has not been removed, offer his assistance to complete a bargain; he is more anciently in pagan times one of the twelve invariably a rogue, and lives upon the premium of Ionian cities, is now a principal mart of Turkish || misleading. In a scene of this kind you may well and European commerce. The trade of all na conceive how entertaining a day could be spent. tions is in its harbours, and nearly all spoken lan- || In the evening we visited the fort, or rather the guages in its streets. It is a little better built Genoese ruin which commands the town, but in what century it was built no one could say; in- | that the apostle lived during the period of his deed, so given up is the city to its commercial | banishment; here he received the revelation of pursuits, that it is a great question who are the things to come." With the following little demost ignorant of its history, the guides, who pro scription of the school adjoining, which has played fess to relate every thing, or the resident inhabi- | no inconsiderable part in the simple annals of Pata tants. In fact, almost the only thing not to be mos, we must take leave of the island and the profound in the city is a bookseller's shop containing fessor. “As we approached the grotto, we were works of real information.

greeted by a friendly old man of learned aspect, We embarked for Syria in the Seri Pervas who offered us, in the Eastern manner, some sweet. steamer late in the evening, and by morning were meats of the country, with fresh water, araki, and off Scio-Homer's home, a rocky bare island, then coffee. The walls of the school-room were where a blind man could have nothing much to covered with maps, and all manner of materials for regret: here we stayed half an hour, and about general instruction. This school, whose doctors noon came in sight of Nixaria and Samos, and have been renowned among many of the same after we had passed between them, there lay to | profession, especially for their acquaintance with the right a little group of islands, the Fermi. Pat- || ancient Greek literature, has, in former generamos, the scene of St. John's banishment, next tions, educated many useful clergymen and men came in sight; and as this spot is deservedly an I of business, and has been frequented by many inobject of sincerest interest to every Christian, I || dustrious scholars from all parts of Greece. Even shall stay to extract Professor Schubert's descrip || now it possesses no inconsiderable fame, although tion, as he found and visited it a few years ago it does not pretend to competition with the abor(in 1839).

tive brood of new schools in Greece as lately estaPatmos appears to be, from the professor's de blished.” scription, one of those happy retreats which the The remainder of our course from Patmos to Christian religion does yet possess, unknown to | Cos lay between different little islands and the the world, and not as yet blown upon by its mainland: we remained some time at Cos, sailed treacherous commendation. It is full of little cha- | away in the night, and came to Rhodes early in pels, scattered all over the island, and possesses a the morning, where we were to remain a few hours. population a little exceeding four thousand, of || We accordingly lost no time in going on shore, to whom more than three parts are females. As the || make the most of the stay allowed by the steamer's island is a complete rock, this industrious people | program. live principally by petty trade at sea; and it is no | Before entering Rhodes in its ruins, we must, if uncommon thing for the mother and daughters to you please, see what Rhodes has once been. Rhodes occupy the paternal cottage, while the father and is one of Horace's beauties; but, then, so was Delos eldest sons are seeking elsewhere on the Asiatic || a favourite of Apollo, and Cythera of Venus; and coast a subsistence for their family by trade or yet both islands are notorious for their ugliness. labour. Domestic peace, virtue, happiness, and If I mistake not, the Rhodians were a Greek tribe simple arts of life, all centre round a deep attach- || of Æolian origin, and possessed a very flourishing ment to their Church, founded by the apostle who community in the time of the Grecian and Persian was banished here; and most justly do these men wars, principally by means of trade and shipping. boast that not one of their number, during the They seem to have fared on the whole pretty well, convulsions that ensued among the islanders upon by keeping on good terms with the great power of the great Greek rebellion against the Turks, be the time being; and in later times, successfully came a pirate, or was known to commit a single sustained the severest siege ever known in history, act of violence. Their chief characteristic is the carried on against them by the well-known Demesimple retirement of their lives, without ostenta trius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus emperor of tion, living up to the faith they profess in word Syria. To celebrate this victory they erected the and deed, and bringing up their children to better || great Colossus, eighty yards high, which in fiftythings than the knowledge of the nineteenth cen six years afterwards was broken to pieces by an tury-as the apostle directs, in the fear and admo earthquake. There it remained in fragments, until nition of the Lord. Long may they be protected one of the caliphs had the pieces removed to Asia, from the educating philanthropies of Europe! It and carried away upon nine hundred camels, in is quite pleasing to find a European speak of the the year 653. Rhodes continued, after this siege, genuine kindness and hospitality, and the hearty the great rendezvous of painters and statuaries, good will, which all ranks shewed to him during and contrived to maintain a sort of independence, the four days he remained on the island. When until it was taken by Cassius in the last war of the the education of our own country bears such fruit Roman republic, and became finally a Roman proas this, it will be a time for general rejoicing. vince under Vespasian. From this time it was an

The engraving at the head of this article gives | appendage of Rome, and subsequently of the easta view of the grotto of St. John the apostle, which old ern empire of Constantinople; and then, falling tradition assigns as the spot where the Revelation into the hands of the Arabs, it was taken from was given to him. It is described as follows in the them by the Genoese ; in 1311 becoming the posprofessor's own narrative :-" But what was to me session of the knights of St. John, and remaining the chief attraction, was the grotto of the apostle in their possession until Sultan Suleiman subdued St. John, with a small plain chapel, commanding the island, after a forty years' siege, that began in a noble prospect over the still solitary inlet of the the time of his grandfather, Mohammed II.; since sea and its rocky coast. It was here, according to that time it has continued in the hands of the a legend resting upon credible ancient tradition, Turks. and coming from the mouth of his first followers, The town and fortress of Rhodes lies in the form

of a crescent; the two horns of which come down | the buildings must have undergone some considerto the harbour, now divided into three parts. We | able change since its time, as there is certainly on came in our boat through the middle division, and || spot answering to the description we have of it, picking up the first person who offered himself as that a trireme could enter the harbour through the a guide, entered by the principal gate and advanced || span of its legs. northwards, up a street in which the ancient habi- | On quitting Rhodes, the noble coast of Cilicia tations of the knights of St. John were on our right, continued for many hours in view, on the left ; and in ruins, but still serving as the dwellings of some I on Sunday, the 22d, we arrived at Larnaka in Cypoor families. Their different shields and devices | prus, on the south side of the island. Cyprus fell still remained, and here and there Maltese crosses | into the hands of Sultan Selim II. in the year shewed themselves on all parts of the walls. At the 1571, after enduring a very singular succession of top of the street we turned to the left, and entered tyrannical rulers. In fact, all these islands of the a mosque that had formerly been a church belong Archipelago and the Levant have their history, ing to their order, but found only a few tokens of | little known it is true, but only so its former character, bare walls, and a few defaced tombstones. The Mahometan faith forbids an imi.

~ carent quia vate sacro." tation of the human form, or indeed that of any | It is celebrated for little else now than its sweet other animal life. The altar also was taken away. wine ; and certainly the part of the island where On the right-hand side of the same street are re we landed has a truly woful appearance, being little mains of what appeared to have been the cathedral else but white sickly coloured chalk land, covered church. A great part was still standing, but fast with nothing but weeds and thistles. There are going to decay. Quitting this part of the town by a but few Turks; and the Greek population, as far number of crooked alleys, we came in sight of the | as we could judge from the specimen of Larnaka, fortifications, consisting of an outer wall and double miserable and destitute enough. I purchased some fosse. On the wall were several of the guns that | old coins, which an intelligent store-keeper asdischarge the stone shot, with apertures as if meant sured me were brought to him by the country peofor casks rather than cannon, and capable of af ple; and I paid dear enough for them, as they fording ample room for any cynical Turk who proved to be nothing but the common copper coinmight think them desirable as a solid refuge from age of the Eastern empire after its separation from the world. Several of the stone shot lie about the the Roman. The climate is extremely variable, guns, and here and there they have been used to | being subject to the malaria fevers. repair the breaches they no doubt helped to make: a curious instance of inanimate retribution! We passed outside the walls, and came upon a Turkish

VILLAGE FEASTS. cemetery; its gravestones in the usual sad dis- || THE Jews used to keep a yearly festival in order, its surface bearing a luxuriant abundance of || cominemoration of the dedication of the Temthistles, the present representatives of the roses

ple, over and above the three great festivals which once gave the name to the island. Tiring of this scene, and finding the dust disagreeable, we

appointed under the law. re-entered the town as soon as possible by another

Our blessed Saviour and His disciples pargate. The streets were far too narrow to admit of

took in its celebration : from hence we learn a carriage ; and this part of the town had some- || that the observance of a yearly holyday of thing subterraneous about it, from the number of man's appointment is not inconsistent with archways sustaining buildings which connect one || the Christian religion. house with its opposite neighbour, together with A question, however, arises out of this obdistinct traces of many more having once existed. || servation, viz.--How is it possible to celebrate On attempting to mount the inner wall, we were pre- || public holydays so that the observance of them vented by a sentinel; and at last determined to ask

may tend to the honour of Almighty God? the pasha's permission to go where we liked, parti.

One part of the answer seems to be obvious, cularly to see the castle that commanded the little

viz. by giving to the observance of them á harbour. While waiting for the return of our guide with the keys, the garrison, that had been exercising

religious character. But still the question reoutside the walls, passed by, with European music,

turns, How are we to give them a religious in tolerable order. Something less in number than

character? · It is not merely the holding a a regiment, but sadly jumbled together; blacks and | feast on a Sunday which will give it a religiwhites, boys and veterans, short and tall, and all || ous character. meagre, dirty, and ill-dressed; on the whole, worse | We propose to enter a little into this questhan the raw recuits of Constantinople. At last || tion, and to offer some suggestions for renderour guide came, and we were taken to see the ||

ing public holydays public blessings. But tower, at the entrance of the harbour ; the view

first, then, let us consider what are the evils from whence gives an excellent idea of the town

complained of as usually attendant upon wakes of Rhodes and its position. Here were the old

| in country parishes; for wakes are, in their cannons of the knights mixed with Turkish guns

origin, religious festivals; they are generally in prime confusion; pieces of old breastplates co

held on the anniversary of the consecration of vering the touch-holes, and the whole allowed to rust and go to decay, until they would be far more

|| the parish church. dangerous for the defenders to fire than for the We shall not content ourselves with comenemy to receive the discharge. Where the Co- || mon everyday conversation on the subject. lossus may have stood, I could form no judgment; Il but will quote the following extracts, taken

parish.”

from reports collected from several parts of a stop to? And why is it that, while respectthe country, by a person anxious to bring || able people stand aloof from the scene, disorabout better things. And first, as to the peo- || derly characters flock in from other parishes ? ple who attend these wakes.

Is there no means of preventing these evils, One says:-“We have a wake annually in || and of restoring to the village feast its primithis parish on the day of the patron saint, St. || tive Christian character? And first with reBartholomew. It is largely attended and sup | spect to the drunkenness, midnight revelling, ported by the lower order of the inhabitants." || and debauchery, which is said to be so frea

A second writes :-" There is a wake here quently attendant upon village wakes. When which is held on the last Sunday in August, men and women are set upon wickedness, it which is spoken of as in connexion with one is not very easy to prevent it. But it would of the alehouses in this parish. It is attended || be a slander upon the peasantry of England by all the idle, dissolute, and lowest characters | in rural parishes to say that they are generin the parish and neighbourhood adjacent. || ally set upon wickedness. It sometimes hapI have only to add, that upon the younger 1 pens that a labouring man on the yearly festiportion of the community especially, the wake | val so far forgets himself as to be overtaken by seems to have a ruinous influence; and the || drunkenness; but I believe there are very few circumstance of attending it is always men- || who leave home in the morning with the detioned as being a blot and stigma on any cha- || liberate purpose of returning in a state of inracter, even by those who appear to have toxication. little regard for the holy keeping of the Sab- || How, then, are we to prevent this ? for if we bath."

can, it is doubtless the duty of the influential A third writes :-"I cannot specify the se- || members of a parish to do their best endeaveral characters which attend our wake, far- || vour to prevent it. ther than that the frequenters of it are the || There are, I think, several ways in which idle, and the refuse of the inhabitants of the the influential inhabitants of a parish may, to

a great degree, if not entirely, prevent these A fourth :-" The wake in this parish is not evils. so much frequented by the parishioners as I The first means for effecting this seems to by disorderly persons from a distance, whose | be, to provide some rational entertainment pernicious influence I need not describe.” which shall afford innocent pleasure and en

A fifth:-" The general character of the joyment. He must be bad at heart who will wake in this place is very disorderly, abound deliberately seek pleasure in wickedness, ing with worthless vagabonds from all parts, // when he has the opportunity of innocent enwho use bad language, are very drunken and joyment set before him. dissolute, and consequently demoralise the A second means is, to persuade men to go

home to their families before the night closes A sixth :-" The wake here is supported by || in upon them. the neighbouring parishes, but more particu A third is, to take some effectual means to larly by a set of dissolute characters from a | exclude disorderly persons, particularly those neighbouring town.”

| who come in from other parishes. A seventh :-" The wake here is supported | A fourth is, to induce, if possible, the influchiefly by the lower classes of labourers, and I ential persons in the parish to enter into, and is attended by a large concourse of people U partake of, the innocent enjoyments of their from the adjoining parishes, and itinerant poorer neighbours, and give a character of proprietors of small booths and petty gam- || respectability to the whole. bling establishments.”

But that which really is the effectual means We might go on to quote twenty more re- || of making a holyday a day of Christian reports in which the same estimate is given of joicing, is the connecting it with religion. If the persons who attend wakes, and as to the you can but fill the mind with pious gratievil done. In all the same complaint is made, || tude to God, then it will rejoice with a holy that drunkenness and fighting prevail; and I || joy, and will not seek to spend itself in una fear we must admit, that this description is, hallowed mirth. in most instances, a true description of the | And so, be assured, it is God's will that we yearly festivals that occur in many of our should have tiines of rejoicing. Were it not country parishes.

so, He would not have appointed three soBut does it follow necessarily that a holy | lemn feasts every year under the Jewish law. day must be a day of wickedness? Christian At these feasts all the men from the difity loves to make men happy, and teaches ferent parts of the country of Judea were to them how to be so.

meet together at the house of God at JeruWhat, then, is the reason why the village salem; and frequently other members of the holyday has, in so many cases, been made family accompanied them thither also. There a day of wickedness? How are drunkenness, did they meet their friends on a solemn occamidnight revelling, and debauchery, to be put || sion of religious rejoicing; and they joined

people."