of our Ambassador,) jocularly inquired, whether we had abandoned the undertaking. But as soon as we informed him, that we had not only carried off the Goddess, but that she was "under weigh" and upon her voyage to Smyrna, to secure a passage to England, he expressed so much astonishment, that, with uplifted hands, he exclaimed, in his mother-tongue, "Affè! se anche pensaste di rimovere l'Agropoli, non avrete mai il mio permesso." We remained a week in Athens after this event; and during that short period we saw more of the manners of the inhabitants than we had before done. At the Governor's, it is true, our observations were restricted to the gravity of his countenance, the fumes of his pipe, and the flavour of his coffee: but Lusieri introduced us to some Greek families of his acquaintance; and our Consul invited us to a ball, given in honour of a couple betrothed to each other. Many of the Athenian ladies are very handsome. Until the period of their marriage, the greatest care is used in adorning their persons, and in preserving the beauty of their complexions : but they are almost as much secluded from common view as the incarcerated virgins of the Turkish charems. Every house belonging to a Greek of any consideration has its Gynæcéum; and unless a stranger be intimate enough with the master of a family to penetrate to the retirement set apart for its female relatives, he may come and go without meeting
(1) "Faith! and if you should think of removing the Acropolis, you shall not have my permission."