THE SHORES AND ISLANDS

OF

THE MEDITERRANEAN.

DRAWN FROM NATURE,

BY

SIR GRENVILLE TEMPLE, BART.

W. L. LEITCH, ESQ., MAJOR IRTON, & LIEUT. ALLEN, R.E.

WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES,

BY THE REV. G. N. WRIGHT, M.A.

"THE GRAND OBJECT OF ALL TRAVELLING IS TO SEE THE SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN: ON THESE
SHORES WERE THE FOUR GREAT EMPIRES OF THE WORLD; THE ASSYRIAN, THE PERSIAN, THE GRECIAN, AND
THE ROMAN. ALL OUR RELIGION, ALMOST ALL OUR LAWS, ALMOST ALL THAT SETS US ABOVE SAVAGES, HAS
COME TO US FROM THE SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN."
SAMUEL JOHNSON.

FISHER, SON, & CO.

NEWGATE STREET, LONDON; POST-OFFICE PLACE, LIVERPOOL;
AND RUE ST. HONORÉ, 108, PARIS.

INTRODUCTION.

THE Shores of the Mediterranean, embracing a littorale of 5000 leagues, present the most splendid subject for graphic illustration in the whole range of the Olden World. Placed by nature in the happiest of our zones, as a medium that unites-as a barrier that separates Europe, Asia, and Africa-its coasts have always been peopled by nations, as varied in character, as the soil and the climate allotted to them. Barbary, the portion of "the children of the sun," once ruled by Afric's hundred thrones, abounds in scenery of the most interesting description-gigantic Roman remains, and rich specimens of those minor Alhambras that are dedicated to Moorish luxury. The province of Algiers and the Beylik of Tunis have been visited by Sir Grenville Temple, under more favourable auspices than any other European, in modern times, has enjoyed; and, from his beautiful drawings, the African portion of "The Mediterranean" is completed.

Sacred as are the shattery fragments of ancient Carthage, they yet yield in interest to the magnificent remains of temples, theatres, and public works with which its conquerors have adorned the varied surface of classic Sicily; as well as to those wellpreserved records of refinement, the Saracenic and Norman buildings in that island, which are superior to everything of their age yet discovered. Our views of old Trinacria constitute the most prominent portion of the work, and were originally sketched by Mr. Leitch during two years' residence in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; while the graceful pencil of Major Irton has been exercised in the delineation of several exquisite landscapes in Malta, Italy, and Greece. The Northern Coast and Islands of the Mediterranean, as opposite, in climate, in productions, and in scenery, to the shores of Barbary, as the sun-burnt Moor to the pallid European, are illustrated from the spirited sketches of Lieutenant Allen, on whom a long residence in the Ionian Isles conferred an opportunity of visiting every object of beauty and value around the shores of Greece. The brief descriptions which are attached to each illustration, invite attention to the historical, political, and commercial interests that belong to every rock in the Mediterranean, and recall to memory those empires that have flourished and faded upon its

shores.

As the south of Europe may now be visited in the short period of a few weeks, with little danger and less fatigue, the moment seems to have arrived, when a "Mirror of the Mediterranean" may be held up to view, in which the reflections of its blue waters will be found multiplied, and the transient character of the images exchanged for a lasting existence. We cannot restore the faded form of Carthage, or raise up a Marius standing alone amidst her mouldering monuments; yet probably our Illustrations will present a picture at once affecting and instructive; one which shall exhibit the permanence of Nature's works-the mutability of man's-a ruined empire.