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ADVANTAGES IN VISITING IOANNINA AT THIS TIME.

449 himself to us said he hoped he should see us frequently, adding in the true style of oriental hyperbole, that his palace and all he possessed must be considered as our own*. The conference was now broken up and we departed. In the outer court of the serai we met two grandsons of the vizir, young Mahmet Pasha and Ismail Bey, who had lately arrived in Ioannina to reside in the palace of their father Vely Pasha, not more for the purposes of education than as hostages, a deadly feud having but lately been reconciled between their grandfather and father; they rode on spirited little Arabian chargers, which they sat firmly and elegantly during their curvets and plunges. The Albanian guards ran with a shew of eager zeal to assist the young princes in descending from their horses, and these little despots marched through the crowd in measured steps, scarcely deigning to notice those faithful retainers who would have shed every drop of blood in their service. Our intention was to have paid a visit of ceremony to Mouchtar Pasha, the vizir's eldest son; but upon application at his seraglio we learned that he was out on a shooting excursion.

We returned therefore with Mr. Foresti to his house very much gratified by the reception we had met with: indeed it was impossible to have visited Ioannina at any time more favourable to our views. Never was the vizir under so many obligations to our government and never did he entertain such strong hopes of receiving still greater advantages from his connexion with Great Britain. He had the earliest and most accurate information of all Buonaparte's reverses; he foresaw the result of this long protracted contest, and easily conjectured that the Ionian isles would pass under the dominion of that conquering power which already possessed the greatest share of them. The

* This mode of speaking is very common in Spain: an English officer of my acquaintance in that country by way of joke once put a valuable, snuff-box into his pocket, which an old lady of the first class of grandees had often proffered to him with the most apparent cordiality. When he carried it off however to his ship, such an outcry was set up that the consequences had nearly been extremely disagreeable.

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450

DINNER WITH MR. FORESTI.

French ruler himself never longed for ships, colonies and commerce so eagerly as Ali has always desired a footing in these Islands, as well for the establishment of a more powerful marine and commercial depôt, as for a place of security against any unfortunate reverses: I am convinced that he would cede half his continental dominions for the possession of Corfu, which would render him more independent of the Porte than every other acquisition. With regard to Santa Maura he claims that island as his own, not only by right of compact with the inhabitants, the deed of which he often declares he carries in his bosom next his heart, but by the solemn promises of British agents. At the conclusion therefore of a war, during a very important part of which he had rendered considerable services to his British allies, he confidently anticipated the cession of some insular dependency at least as a recompence. With such objects in view he endeavoured to cultivate the acquaintance and conciliate the regard of every English subject: so favourable a disposition, aided by the powerful influence of Mr. Foresti, exerted on all occasions for our pleasure and advantage, induced this stern and powerful chieftain to treat us with an attention which he never before shewed to simple travellers of any nation whatever.

At dinner to-day we again met Signore Psalida, who, amongst other topics, attacked us upon our English pronunciation of the ancient Greek I was very willing to compromise this matter by allowing our own demerits, provided a similar concession were made respecting the utterance of those who receive it almost as a vernacular tongue: but no, the descendants of the Greeks could not err in pronouncing the language of their ancestors, and their disgusting iotacism must needs be correct. Desirous of shewing him how the English could compose in Hellenic, I presented him with a copy of beautiful Iambics from the pen of the late Professor Porson. These, however, he treated with so much contempt, and endeavoured so injudiciously to criticise, that he gave me no very favourable idea of his own erudition; and this

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opinion was strongly confirmed by an incident which occurred next morning at our own lodging, where we invited him to breakfast. In the course of a long conversation at this meal the interesting subject of Dodona and its probable site was introduced; in the opinion of Psalida this lay near a place called Pheniké (the ancient and opulent city dovín) in the district of Delvino, upon the banks of the river Pistrizza, the Dodon or Simois of antiquity. There he described as still to be recognised the dark obscure wood of oaks, the fountain and the hill, with ancient Cyclopéan walls, and many other features of the prophetic Hieron. Though we could not entirely agree with him in the locality thus assigned to Dodona, chiefly on account of its proximity to the sea*, still he sketched out a route which comprised so interesting a portion of Epirus, that we determined, if it were possible in this season of the year, to investigate the spot before the departure of our friend Mr. Cockerell.

After this, our guest unfortunately produced from his pocket-book an inscription which he had copied from an ancient fragment near Triccala: this he handed over to me in return probably for the Porsonian Iambics, and requested that I would give it any person in England who might think of publishing a new edition of the Anthologia † The inscription is as follows, being an epitaph upon a physician named Cimber, by his faithful widow Andromache.

Φῶτα θεοῖς ἴκελον συγερὼν ἰήτορα νέσων
Μοίρῃ ὑπ' ἀτρέπτῳ Κιμβέρα τύμβος ἔχει·
*Ον πινυτὴ παράκοιτις ἀνιηρὸν, φιλ ̓ ὀδίτα,
Θάψεν ἀκοιμήτοις δάκρυσιν Ανδρομάχη

* The reader will see this question amply discussed in the learned Dissertation in the Appendix

to this volume.

Many of the epigrams already in the Anthologia are transcriptions from Grecian monuments. Sir G. Wheeler copied, at a house in Venice, the famous inscription on the tomb of Diogenes, which stood at the entrance of Corinth to those who came from the Isthmus: it was probably conveyed away like the lions from the Piræus, when that country was under the Venetian government.

It is not extraordinary to find the name of a physician in an inscription found at Triccala, since

452

WALK ROUND THE CITY.

In transcribing this epitaph he had unfortunately made three blunders*, which I pointed out to him with as much tenderness as I could, and with rather more than his prior attacks deserved. His pride being now piqued he still more unfortunately defended his faults, the necessary exposure of which so disconcerted him, that he took it in high dudgeon, and we had very little more of his company during our residence in Ioannina.

After his departure we took a walk round the city, accompanied by Signore Nicolo and his brother Giovanni, who introduced us to several respectable Greek families. Some time however elapsed before we were admitted to terms of intimacy with the inhabitants of Ioannina: despotism here locks up the sympathies and affections of the heart, nor dare any person shew civility to a stranger until it be quite ascertained upon what footing he stands with regard to the pasha.

loannina, as I have before observed, extends along the western bank of its magnificent lake: it lies at the foot of some low vine-clad hills which defend it on the west, and is sheltered on the east by the lofty range of Mitzikeli, a diverging ridge of Pindus. Near the middle of the city a large promontory juts out into the water, called the Castron or fortress, crowded with habitations of Turks and Jews, for no Christian is permitted to reside there: it contains also the old seraglio, an immense pile of building, with two very fine mosques. This castron was the site of the primitive town, and its figure is not unaptly compared to the double head of a spread-eagle, whose wings are represented by the outstretched habitations of the city. Opposite this fortress is a picturesque island in the lake. Its fortifications, and the deep ditch by which it is now isolated, were greatly improved by Ali

this city in ancient times was celebrated for nothing but a very ancient and renowned Temple of Esculapius, the great patron of the medical profession. Ἔτι δ ̓ ἡ μὲν τρίκκη ὅπυ τὸ ἱερὸν τῶ Ασκληπιῶ τὸ ἀρχαιότατον και ἐπιφανέσατον Strab. Geog. lib. ix. p. 437.

These were suyepòv in the first line, Kußipa in the second, and the omission of the word Þλ' in the third. Nothing can shew in a stronger point of view the errors into which a neglect of prosody, which they entirely sacrifice to accent, must ever lead the modern Greeks.

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