in the Quarterly on the Female Character in Greece. Mr. M. has, however, by mistake attributed it to Sophocles. From the Song of Moses. Μέλψω βασιλεῖ πρέσβιστα μελῶν, λόγχης πρόβλημ ̓ ἀνεφάνθη κεῖται μούσαις πολύευκτον. ὃς νῦν τάγου λαὸν ἀναγνοῦ, πόντος δ ̓ ἐκάλυψ', ἐς δ ̓ εὐρυπόρου κατέδυ στρατιά· σὺ δὲ χειρὶ, Πάτερ, κλέος ἤνεγκας, τὴν δ ̓ ἀντιπάλων ὑπεροπλίαν ἀνομούς τε λόγους Αΐστωσας, πομπὸν δὲ ταχὺν πέμψας ὀργὴν, ὡσεὶ τ ̓ ὄροφον μαλεςῇ ῥιπῇ κατέφλεξας μέλπετ ̓ ἄνακτι πρέσβιστα μελῶν, ἤνεγκε κλέους, καὶ πανσυρδὴν ἵππους τε βαλών, ἵππων τ ̓ ἐπόχους, In Samson Agonistes, 675 sqq. Nor do I name of men the common rout; With gifts and graces eminently adorn'd VOL. XXVI. Cl. J. NO. LI. F Adorn'd' is here used in the Latin sense; furnished, or supplied with requisites for the work. So Jeremy Taylor, in his first sermon on Marriage; The Apostle therefore, who himself had been a married man-does explicate the mysteriousness of it, and describes its honors, and adorns it with rules and provisions of religion,' &c. Dryden in his translation of the exordium of Lucretius, borrows the words, but applies them in a dirferent sense: Thy Memmius, under thy bright influence born, NUGATOR. NOTICE OF JOURNAL of a TOUR in the LEVANT. By WILLIAM TURNER, Esq., in three Volumes Octavo. THIS work, which modestly presents itself as a Tour in the Levant,' comprehends the remarks of an accomplished and ingenious traveller on so many countries, and those so eminently interesting from various circumstances, that it might justly have assumed a title of much more lofty pretension:-for Mr. Turner visited not only the European and Asiatic coasts, and principal islands of the Mediterranean Sea, but explored the classic regions of Greece; Egypt with its mysterious antiquities; and Palestine, consecrated among Christians as the scene of events most awfully important. It is manifest from several passages scattered through these volumes, that he could ably have fulfilled his original intention of illustrating the observations which he had himself actually made, by a comparison with descriptions extracted from Homer, Strabo, Pausanias, Diodorus Siculus, and other ancient writers; but to examine with due attention all that they have left us, and all that modern travellers and antiquaries have published concerning the different countries above mentioned, is a task of such magnitude as seems sufficient to appal even a veteran drudge in literary labors; and had our young author consulted us, we should have agreed with those friends who advised him (as his preface, p. x, informs us) to relinquish so extensive a design, and to publish his Journal 'as nearly as possible in the form in which it was originally written.' This advice he has happily followed; and at a moment when every information respecting the Greeks and Turks must, from the nature of their present contest, be particularly acceptable, we are in possession of such authentic and curious anecdotes, illustrating their manners, customs, and opinions, as we could not possibly have received for two or three years more, had he persevered in his original intention. This work is evidently a faithful transcript of his Journal; written while each daily impression was fresh, and therefore worth a hundred recollections; Mr. Turner relates, in a lively and pleasing manner, various minute circumstances which might have escaped the notice of a less intelligent and observant traveller, yet serve, very materially, to display the true character of those who at present inhabit Greece, Syria, Egypt, and other countries, unfortunately suffering under Turkish barbarism; and amidst the venerable remains of their former greatness, at Athens or Jerusalem, at the Troad or the Pyramids, he contrives, without any affectation of profound research or antiquarian cant, to impart useful information as well as entertainment-and the writer of this notice, who has himself visited some, though not all of the places through which Mr. Turner travelled, can so far bear ample testimony to the accuracy of his descriptions and the justness of his remarks; whilst in this respect, he finds the opinions of two or three ingenious friends, who have explored the other countries, equally favorable. We proceed to state, that having obtained an appointment in the Embassy to Constantinople, under Mr. (now Sir Robert) Liston, our author embarked in April, 1812, on board the Argo, passed seven days at Cadiz, inspected Gibraltar, and remained long enough at Palermo to collect materials for a very amusing account of that city, and some excellent observations on Sicilian manners; the excessive profligacy of the higher classes, and the abject misery and poverty of the lower. Marriage is considered by the women merely as a cloak for licentiousness; all the agricultural and commercial interests of the island are sacrificed to the luxury of the capital, near which the roads are good, while the interior is almost impervious; the nobles gambling away their fortunes in Palermo, totally neglect their estates in the country-and this ancient granary of the Roman empire had been, a short time previous to Mr. T.'s visit, in imminent danger of a famine. To this neglect among the nobles is added the rapacity of the priests. And thus the people are so oppressed and plundered, that perhaps. no instance can be found of a nation enjoying the reputation of being civilised, and presenting every where such scenes of misery.' (Vol. I. p. 25.) Malta, and the island of Milo with its hot-springs, and ancient ruins, among which our author discovered and copied some Greek inscriptions, must not detain us from the Plain of Troy, (p. 36.) where he found reason to commend in the strongest manner Sir William Gell's extraordinarily accurate descriptions and drawings.' He passed through the paltry village of Koum Kali, and crossed the rivers Simois and Scamander below their junction, where they were (on the 16th of June) about fifty feet wide, and knee deep; in the heap of stones called Hector's Tomb, a large hole, seen by one of Mr. T.'s party eighteen years before, was now filled up with wild fig-trees. Some of immense size abound in this neighbourhood. The Simois is beautifully bordered by trees of the richest foliage. The English gentlemen dined and passed the night in Bounarbashi, at the Aga's house, where they breakfasted next day under an arbour of vines in his garden, said to occupy the site of Priam's. (P. 38.) Some women of the village, washing at one source of the river Scamander, reminded Mr. Turner of Homer, who describes the Trojan dames assembled there for the same purpose in time of peace. (Iliad. xxII. 155.) At Alexandria Troas he copied some Greek inscriptions, and examined the ancient aqueduct, remains of a gate, a theatre and bath-but the Turks are daily reducing these ruins, whence they derive materials for the stone balls discharged from the batteries round Constantinople, and for their buildings in the vicinity. (P. 40.) At the Asiatic town of the Dardanelles (called Abydos by Europeans) Mr. T. crept with ease into the great gun which fired stone shots at our fleet in 1806; it lies immoveable on the ground: the diameter of its bore is two feet; it requires sixty-three okes (each oke 24lbs.) of powder, and its stone ball weighs one hundred and forty two okes. Here Lord Byron's experiment excited our author's curiosity on the subject of Leander's exploit ; and he attempted to swim across from Asia to Europe; but so strong and adverse was the current, that after twenty-five minutes of violent exertion, he had not advanced above an hundred yards, and desisted. He is convinced that no man could swim a mile and a half (the breadth in the narrowest part of the strait) against such a current-whereas the task is comparatively easy from the European side. 'I therefore,' says he, treat the tale of Leander's swimming across both ways, as one of those fables to which the Greeks were so ready to give the name of history; quidquid Gracia mendax audet in historia.' (P. 45.) We must be brief in noticing the arrival at Constantinople, and the British Ambassador's audience of the Sultan, whose letter to the Kaimakam, or officer representing the Grand Vizier (then absent), ordered him to feed, wash and clothe the infidels, and bring them to him.' Indeed such are the studied insults to which every ambassador from a Christian Sovereign is exposed on his introduction to this barbarian despot, that it is difficult to conceive why the governments of Europe submit so tamely to the degradation of their representatives-the more, as it does not by any means serve to advance the conduct of their negotiations. Mr. Eton (in his Survey of the Turkish Empire,) relates that the Freneh Ambassador in 1700, (Mons. de Ferioles,) did not obtain an audience of the Sultan because he would not take off his sword, yet he remained a dozen years longer at Constantinople, and transacted the business of his office with credit to himself and advantage to his country." After some very judicious observations on the Turkish government, the character and policy of the Sultan, the system of dragomans or interpreters attached to European missions; the extraordinary establishment of Janizaries, the plague, the dogs that infest Constantinople, the population of that great city, (perhaps, including the suburbs, between six and seven hundred thousand souls, to support which the provinces are often drained after a severe plague,) and various other subjects, Mr. Turner begins the account of his journey to Greece. (P. 93.) On this expedition he set out from Constantinople (or Pera, close to it) in August 1813, and returned to the same place in July of the year immediately following. The principal objects which he visited during this expedition were, the islands of Tino, Zanta, Cephalonia, and Ithaca; Patrass, Lepanto, Prevesa, Arta, Yoannina, the celebrated residence of Ali Pasha, Mount Pindus, from the summit of which were visible Olympus, Thermopyla and Parnassus, with the Achelous and Peneus, now inconsiderable streams; he passed a month at Tripolizza, then proceeded to Argos, the ruins of Mycena, Corinth, Salona, Delphi, Mount Parnassus, Livadia, Thebes, the remains of Platea, and Athens. We cannot follow our ingenious author closely through all these places, most of which have afforded him subjects of pleasing communication, curious anecdote, or instructive remark. Near Previsa he examined the ruins of Nicopolis, where had been a temple of Apollo, and two theatres: of the smaller he says:'This was the most interesting remnant of antiquity I had yet seen, |