more simple. Fish, poultry and rice, served up in different ways, constitute the principal articles in the cookery of the rich; and salted olives, coarse bread, honey and onions are now, as they always appear to have been, the food of the lower classes. The peasantry of the rich vale of Thessaly, and from the defile of Tempe along the eastern coast as far as Attica, are probably in as good a condition as those in any other part of Greece; yet the most substantial of them is content with what we should call a mere hovel, the principal furniture of which consists of a few implements of cookery, and a large jar, about five feet high, of wicker-work, coated with mud and filled with corn. The dress of the female peasantry in this line of country consists of a coarse woollen petticoat, a short gown, a belt round the waist, fastened in front by two enormous metal clasps, a band round the head, and the hair plaited in two wreaths behind, and descending to the ancles.

The habitations and the domestic economy of the superior classes of Greeks are accurately and minutely described by Dr. Holland from a residence of some weeks in the house of a Greek of Ioannina, a man of a generous and affectionate temper, whose wife, with much vivacity and beauty, possessed the same excellent qualities of heart, and whose domestic connections were of the most exemplary kind. The family consisted of two sons, two daughters, and an elderly lady, a near relation of the husband.

'The habitation of our host resembled those which are common in the country. Externally to the street nothing is seen but a high stone wall, with the summit of a small part of the inner building. Large double gates conduct you into an outer area, from which you pass through other gates into an inner square, surrounded on three sides by the buildings of the house. The basement story is constructed of stone, the upper part of the structure almost entirely of wood. A broad gallery passes along two sides of the area, open in front, and shaded overhead by the roof of the building. To this gallery you ascend by a flight of stairs, the doors of which conduct to the different living rooms of the house, all going from it. In this country, it is uncommon, except with the lower classes, to live upon the ground-floor, which is therefore generally occupied as out-buildings, the first floor being that always inhabited by the family. In the house of our host there were four or five living rooms, furnished with couches, carpets, and looking-glasses, which, with the decorations of the ceiling and walls, may be considered as almost the only appendages to a Grecian apartment. The principal room (or what with us would be the drawing-room) was large, lofty, and decorated with much richness. Its height was sufficient for a double row of windows along three sides of the apartment; all these windows however being small, and so situated as merely to admit light without allowing any external view. The ceiling was profusely ornamented with painting and gilding upon carved wood, the walls divided

into pannels, and decorated in the same way, with the addition of several pier-glasses. A couch or divan, like those described in the seraglio, passed along three sides of the apartment, and superseded equally the use of chairs and tables, which are but rarely found in a Greek house. "The dining-room was also large, but furnished with less decoration; and the same with the other living apartments. The kitchen and servants' rooms were connected by a passage with the great gallery; but this gallery itself formed a privileged place to all the members of the family, and it was seldom that some of the domestics might not be seen here partaking in the sports of the children, and using a familiarity with their superiors, which is sufficiently common in the south of Europe, but very unusual in England. Bed-chambers are not to be sought for in Greek or Turkish habitations. The sofas of their living apartments are the place of nightly repose with the higher classes; the floor with those of inferior rank. Upon the sofas are spread their cotton or woollen mattrasses, cotton sheets, sometimes with worked muslin trimmings, and ornamented quilts. Neither men nor women take off more than a small part of their dress; and the lower classes seldom make any change whatever before throwing themselves down among the coarse woollen cloaks which form their nightly covering. In this point the oriental customs are much more simple than those of civilized Europe.

The separate communication of the rooms with an open gallery renders the Greek houses very cold in winter, of which I had reason to be convinced during both my residences at Ioannina. The higher class of Greeks seldom use any other means of artificial warmth than a brazier of charcoal in the middle of the apartment, trusting to their pelisses and thick clothing for the rest. Sometimes the brazier is placed under a table, covered with a thick rug cloth which falls down to the floor. The heat is thus confined, and the feet of those sitting round the table acquire an agreeable warmth, which is diffused to the rest of the body.

The family of Metzou generally rose before eight o'clock. Their breakfast consisted simply of one or two cups of coffee, served up with a salver of sweetmeats, but without any more substantial food. In consideration to our grosser morning appetites, bread, honey, and rice-milk were added to the repast which was set before us. Our host, who was always addressed with the epithet of Affendi by his children and domestics, passed much of the morning in smoking, in walking up and down the gallery, or in talking with his friends who called upon him. Not being engaged in commerce, and influenced perhaps by his natural timidity, he rarely quitted the house; and I do not recollect to have seen him more than five or six times beyond the gates of the area of his dwelling. His lady meanwhile was engaged either in directing her household affairs, in working embroidery, or in weaving silk thread. The boys were occupied during a part of the morning in learning to read and write the Romaic with a young man who officiated as tutor, the mode of instruction not differing much from that common elsewhere.

The dinner hour of the family was usually between twelve and one, but from complaisance to us they delayed it till two o'clock. Summoned

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moned to the dining-room, a female domestic, in the usage of the East, presented to each person in succession a large bason with soap, and poured tepid water upon the hands from a brazen ewer. This finished, we seated ourselves at the table, which was simply a circular pewter tray, still called Trapeza, placed upon a stool, and without cloth or other appendage. The dinner consisted generally of ten or twelve dishes, presented singly at the table by an Albanian servant, habited in his national costume. The dishes afforded some, though not great variety; and the enumeration of those at one dinner may suffice as a general example of the common style of this repast in a Greek family of the higher class:-First, a dish of boiled rice flavoured with lemon juice; then a plate of mutton boiled to rags; another plate of mutton cooked with spinach or onions, and rich sauces; a Turkish dish composed of force-meat with vegetables, made into balls; another Turkish dish, which appears as a large flat cake, the outside of a rich and greasy paste, the inside composed of eggs, vegetables, with a small quantity of meat: following this, a plate of baked mutton, with raisins and almonds, boiled rice with oil, omelet balls, a dish of thin cakes made of flour, eggs and honey; or sometimes in lieu of these, small cakes made, of flour, coffee, and eggs; and the repast finished by a desert of grapes, raisins and chesnuts. But for the presence of strangers the family would have eat in common from the dishes successively brought to the table, and even with separate plates before them this was frequently done. The thin wine of the country was drunk during the repast; but neither in eating or drinking is it common for the Greeks to indulge in excess.

The dinner tray removed, the basin and ewer were again carried round-a practice which is seldom omitted even among the inferior classes in this country. After an interval of a few minutes a glass of liquor and coffee were handed to us, and a Turkish pipe presented to any one who desired it. In summer a short siesta is generally taken at this hour, but now it was not considered necessary. After passing an hour or two on the couches of the apartment some visitors generally arrived, and the family moved to the larger room before described. These visitors were Greeks of the city, some of them relations, others friends of the family, who did not come on formal invitation, but in an unreserved way, to pass the evening in conversation. This mode of society is common in Ioannina, and, but that the women take little part in it, might be considered extremely pleasant. When a visitor enters the apartment, he salutes, and is saluted, by the right hand placed on the left breast a method of address at once simple and dignified. Seated on the couch, sweetmeats, coffee and a pipe are presented to him; and these form in fact the only articles of entertainment.'-vol. i. pp. 227

-232.

In the present degraded state of Greece we should look in vain for any progress in the arts of painting or sculpture; these can flourish only in a wealthy and enlightened nation. It is, however, not a little remarkable that the moderns should have so completely lost all traces of those dramatic exhibitions of which the

ancients

ancients were so fond: not a vestige of these are left; nor have they either taste or skill for music. Mr. Haygarth heard at Athens songs exactly such as an admirer of antiquity would wish for❜that is to say, as indifferent as can well be imagined. As far, indeed, as the most careful inquiries have been carried into the state of music among the ancient Greeks, it appears that their scale was always imperfect; that they were ignorant of singing or playing in parts, and that their powers, both of voice and instruments, were exceedingly limited. In the same state they still remain. The beauty and expression of Greek and Turkish music, so rapturously applauded by M. Guys, have no existence.

However disheartening the comparison may be, between the ancient and modern Greeks, we would fain persuade ourselves that the moral regeneration of the latter is not an impracticable event. One thing is at least certain-they have begun, of late years, to direct their attention to the pursuits of literature. 'After an interval of twelve centuries,' says Haygarth, their harp is again strung, and though the hand that sweeps the chords is unskilful, and the spirit that inspires the composition weak, yet the rudest efforts of the descendants of so illustrious an ancestry must always be interesting.' These efforts in intellectual improvement, however, are not rude, nor have they been unsuccessful. The progress made, in the last thirty years, in the ancient Greek language, and in general literature, is very considerable; and in the same period the Romaic, or vulgar language, has made approaches towards the Hellenic. That language, in its worst state, may be considered to bear about the same relation to the ancient Greek, as the old Italian to the Latin; perhaps somewhat closer; the approximation, therefore, to the ancient Greek standard may not be attended with those inconveniences which have been apprehended from the recent amended editions of their standard books, while it must necessarily tend to the revival of the ancient authors.

The Greeks of Ioannina, in particular, are celebrated among their countrymen for their literary acquirements. Hitherto they have confined themselves chiefly to translations of the best modern works, which, through the liberality of their merchants, have been executed abroad-and they have done wisely. Ioannina has two academies; one of them kept by Athanasius Psalida, considered as one of the chiefs of the literature of modern Greece; the other, devoted to a younger class of scholars, is conducted by Valano, whose father, the author of some mathematical treatises, preceded him. The physician Sakallarius has produced several original works as well as translations. Koletti, another physician, has published a chemical treatise in the Romaic language, chiefly on the modern doctrines of heat, and translated the Geometry of Legendre, and the Arithmetic of Biot.

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In

In the flourishing town of Volo, situated at the head of the gulf of the same name, and containing about seven hundred houses built of stone; in the large and populous town of Makrinitza, and the group of villages called Zagora, and indeed in the whole region of Thessaly, from the vale of Tempé to the gulf of Volo, the Greeks enjoy certain advantages in situation and commerce, which afford them more liberty and greater scope for exertion than are common to most of their countrymen. Much of the literature of modern Greece,' says Dr. Holland, ' has come from this quarter.' The authors of the Modern Greek Geography,' were natives of Melies, and so is Gazi, the conductor of the Eguns ó Aoyios, at Vienna. Philipidi, another native of Melies, has published translations of La Lande's Astronomy and of the Logic of Condillac; and Kavra, of Ampelachia, has translated the Arithmetic and Algebra of Euler, and the Abbé Millot's Elements of History.

The Hellenic language is now extensively cultivated both in and out of Greece. In Constantinople are two schools: one for ancient Greek; the other for logic, physics, and mathematics. At Smyrna there is a Greek college in which the Hellenic language is taught, two on the island of Scio, and one on Patmos ; two at Ioannina, and two at Athens; and several in the Ionian islands. In Venice, in Vienna, and many towns of Austria and Hungary, are free schools for the education of the Greeks in their ancient language, and the universities of Padua, Pisa, and Bologna, are open to them. To what extent it is intended to carry the university of Cephallonia, of which the Earl of Guilford has been appointed Chancellor, we know not; but we cannot help thinking that, if the money to be expended upon it were appropriated to the education of the Grecian youths at our own universities, they would have a fairer chance of becoming better scholars, better men, and consequently better patriots, than by receiving their education in the Ionian islands.

Upon the whole, however, the Greeks may be considered as in a progressive state of improvement; and, with their literary improvement, will necessarily be increased that desire for the restoration of their independence, which they have never wholly lost sight of, and of which every lover of freedom must wish to see the accomplishment. There is much, however, to be done before they can be considered ripe for such an event. In their present divided and dispersed condition, without the means of communication, without military skill or military resources, ignorant besides as the bulk of the people are, and low in morals, they are not fit to govern themselves. In such a state, the sudden removal of the Turkish power would prove an evil instead of a good. If from the Achæan league to the present day, the states of Greece never