Page images
PDF
EPUB

When the young king assumed the government, it was exactly a Charles II. succeeding an Oliver Cromwell; the dissolute licentious cavalier to the rigid Puritans and Roundheads. The pertinacious "Jesuits" made other attempts; the "persecution" was renewed, and the American Missionaries still maintained their influence with the native government and their converts. This strife of rival sects is not likely soon to terminate.

The American Missionaries are not more jealous of the French Roman Catholic priests in the Sandwich Islands than is this author of English ascendency there. It is asserted in his book that the English are, at present, very unpopular in Hawaii; and the English Consul, Mr. Charlton, is run down and calumniated in a style which, perhaps, required to be modified before the work was published in England. So would the account of the death and visits of Cook. If American writers were thus fierce before, what will they be now that the Sandwich Islands, which were long since ceded to Vancouver, have been taken formal possession of. Though the book is alloyed by these jealous feelings, and some unfairness, it possesses merit, and both value and interest, as a fresh and faithful picture of a group of the great human family placed under very peculiar circumstances.

ODE TO THE EVENING STAR.

WRITTEN IN THE AUTUMN.

Down the rosy-tinted West,
Sinking fast, effulgent star,
Whither in your regions blest
Guid'st thy tranquil course afar?
O'er the golden year presiding,

Autumn woos thy glistening light; Still through Heaven's pure ether gliding. Star of Eve-good night, good night.

Oh, how oft in life's soft leisure,

World-worn spirits past away
Thus have drawn a secret pleasure,
Felt thy calm, benignant ray-
Nearer, now, perchance, they view thee,
Nature's mystic veil remove,
Rapt in endless bliss pursue thee,
Through their native skies above.

Downward, lo! the sun forth speeding,
Bids thee to thy early rest,
Ere the twilight hour receding,

Shuts the crimson-curtain'd West;
Still as one last look to borrow,

Lingering on the verge of light, Thee I trace with parting sorrow, Faded Star of Eve, good night!

SPAIN.-Espartero has abandoned the field, and is now a refugee from Spain. The siege of Seville lasted twenty-one days, and the bombardment ten. was raised on the night of the 27th July; having Espartero himself left it for Cadiz on the night of the 26th, with an escort of three or four hundred cavalry; his retreat being covered by a stronger force. His soldiers remained true to the last, and defended the bridge of Suazo, which connects the island of Leon with the main, against Concha, who pursued the retreating chief. Concha took another road, and near Puerto Real he came up with Espartero's escort; and had a smart engagement with it, Nogueras,) his Minister of the Interior, (Gomez de whilst Espartero, his Minister of War, (General la Serna,) Van Halen, Linage, and many other officers, succeeded in embarking at Puerto de Santa Maria. The boat on board which they went soon tion of the cannon of the Malabar British ship-ofgained an offing, and placed itself under the protecthe-line; the commander of which, Captain Sir George Sartorius, refused to admit them on board until authorized to do so by the English Consul at and the Regent and his friends were received in the Cadiz. The order, however, soon reached him, Malabar. When on board, Espartero hesitated whether or not to be landed at Cadiz, which was supposed still to hold out for him the bells and Lisbon, then!" exclaimed he; and the Malabar cannon were heard, celebrating his defeat: "To weighed anchor and sailed for that capital. Shortly after the embarkation of Espartero, the cavalry of his escort surrendered to Concha; when Generals Juan Van Halen, (a brother of the Van Halen,) AlColonel of the Regiment of Luchana, General Osovarez, Captain-General of Granada, General Össet, rio, Governor of Tarragona, and a number of other officers, were made prisoners.

On the 2d instant, a deputation left Madrid for Seville, to present a gold crown of laurel to the Ayuntamiento in the name of the Queen, together with a letter from S. Lopez, complimenting the city in the most glowing terms upon its resistance.

Seoane was a prisoner at large, in Burgos; detained as a hostage for the safety of important prisoners who might fall into the hands of Espartero or Van Halen.

A strong protest against the usurpation by the Provisional Government of the authority of the Provincial Juntas, who gave it life and support, was received from Galicia on the 2d instant, and caused such a sensation that the Government had immediately issued orders for the march of a strong force on the province. Letters from Barcelona, of the 4th, announce that the Junta of that town is in a state of open hostility with the Provisional Government of Madrid. It has refused to obey orders to stop demolishing the ramparts.

The decree convoking the new Cortes, for the 15th October, is observed to depart from the constitution, in requiring that body to be totally renewed; thus prematurely expelling two-thirds of the senators. A second decree, equally unconstitu tional, had dissolved the Provisional Deputation of Madrid, and appointed other Deputies to replace those whose services were dispensed with, until another election shall take place. The President and nine other Judges of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice had been summarily dismissed for refusing, without qualification, to recognize the Revolutionary Government; and a new Tribunal, with Olozaga at its head, appointed.

Madame Blake, the widow of an officer of Irish extraction, had been appointed to succeed Madame Mina as preceptress of the Queen.-Spectator.

ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN GREECE. | vulgarly called the Lantern of Demosthenes,

From the Athenæum.

July, 1843.

was chosen, and the whole of this interesting building was laid open to public view, its basement having been previously concealed by an accumulation of earth to the depth of 12 to 15 feet. The intention of the

illustration, the necessity of an excavation round most of the ancient buildings, in order to display, as far as possible, the peculiarities of their original sites. This excavation led to nothing further at the time, as the excavators were not allowed to extend their researches, and it excited the jealousy of the royal government, which has permitted the little square formed round the monument of Lysicrates to be ruined, and almost filled with rubbish, for the purpose, as it is maliciously asserted, of clearing it out again, and making such improvements as will give a specious claim the excavation is a government

say

work.

THE interest you have always taken in keeping the public accurately informed concerning the progress of Archaiological Re-excavators was to inculcate, by a practical search in Greece, induces me to send you an account of all that has been done in the Hellenic kingdom since the establishment of the German government. One object of this statement is to call the attention of the friends of Greek art in England to the importance of lending some aid towards furthering these researches, which, it will be seen from the following summary, have not been without important results both to art and literature. The artists and antiquaries at Athens have had quite as great difficulties to encounter from the supineness and illiberality of the Greek government as the mercantile and agricultural classes; yet I to venture to refer to the essays of Professor Ross, on various questions of Greek topog- Some time after this first attempt, a secraphy, to the splendid work on the Tem- ond was made, and the foundation of an ple of Victory Apteros in the Acropolis of Archaiological Society was laid. Most of Athens, which he published in conjunction the Greeks of wealth at Athens subscribed, with the architects Hausen and Schaubert, and it was determined to make a consider-to the learned travels of Professor Ul-able excavation in the Acropolis, in order richs, in Baotia and Phocis,-to the disser- to greet King Otho on his first arrival at tation of the late General Gordon on the his future capital, with matter to excite his pass of Thermopyla, with his map,-to the large Greek map of the Hellenic kingdom, by the engineer Aldenhoven, and to the extensive collection, of unedited inscriptions, by Messrs. Rangavé and Pittakis, published periodically, under the title of the Archaiological Journal,'-to these works I refer as proofs of the services which the inhabitants of modern Athens have already rendered to the cause of ancient art and literature.*

It may not be superfluous to recapitulate the various attempts made at different times to excite the attention of King Otho's government to the importance of forming a society for the purpose of pursuing a regular system of excavation. The first attempt was made by four strangers residing at Athens, as soon as it was known that the son of a monarch so devoted to the cultivation of ancient art as King Louis of Bavaria was elected sovereign of Greece. The beautiful choragic monument of Lysicrates,

I may mention as a proof of my own anxiety to aid the exertions of abler men and better scholars, a map of the northern part of Attica, and an Essay printed at Athens in English, on the topography of Diacria and Oropia, as they have been adopted as authority for laying down that district in the

new Topographisch-historischer Atlas of Greece and its colonies, by Kiepert.

enthusiasm. As Count Armansperg, Mr. Maurer, and General Heideck, the members of the regency, were also to visit Athens for the first time in his Majesty's company, it was expected that they would all join the Society as patrons and subscribers. Very liberal subscriptions were collected among the Greeks and Philhellenes; Mr. Gropius, the patriarch of Attic Archaiologists, was requested to select the ground to be examined, and Mr. Pittakis, the present conservator of antiquities in Greece, undertook to direct the operations of the workmen in person. The success of the undertaking was most encouraging, as might have been anticipated, under such able superintendence. Five portions of the frieze of the Parthenon were discovered, four of which are in an exquisite state of preservation; one belongs to the assembly of the gods at the east end, and the others to the festal procession on the north side of the temple. Several other fragments of minor interest were also found, but all the exertions of this Society met with no encouragement from the Regency,-indeed, quite the contrary; it was met with the most distinct declaration that all further exertions would be dispensed with. I had exerted myself a good deal in persuading the Greeks that

their new rulers would view their liberality | for earth-scratching. The soil of almost as a proof of great merit, and that their pa- every ancient site was rendered in turns, triotic conduct would be highly applauded. though for a very short space of time, the I own I was utterly confounded, when I scene of a little digging. But as the object laid the matter before Mr. Maurer and of this activity was only to supply a preGeneral Heideck, who were my guests on text for a series of articles in the German their royal visit to Athens. I had made newspapers, by which it was thought glory sure of their support at least, as the one was and popularity would be gained in Europe, an accomplished artist and the other a and very little reference was made to the learned scholar, and I prepared them for service likely to accrue to art or literature, the sight of the Acropolis by recounting these excavations were without any importhe formation of the Society and its achieve- tant results. Some ground was, however, ments; all this was met by a very cool ob- turned over at Olympia, at Tega, at Sparta, servation on the part of their Excellencies, at Megalopolis, at Tenea, near Corinth, at that the Society need give itself no further Thera, at Anaphé, and at Delos. It would trouble, nor incur any additional expense, certainly have been wiser to have pursued as the royal government had resolved to these researches on a more regular and intake the antiquities under its especial care, telligible system; but they deserve praise, and would appoint its own agents for exca- as activity is always preferable to idleness, vating. if the cause be in itself a good one.

For two years the Bavarian government In 1837 a new era dawned on Greece. did not appear to consider that the antiqui- Public opinion extended its influence every. ties required much care. Antiquaries are, where, and the government was compelled however, a persevering, obstinate race, and to abandon all the outworks of its antithe regency was not allowed to rest, until hellenic system, in order to defend Bavariat length Professor Ross was charged to anism in the central departments of public make excavations in the Acropolis of business. An Archaiological Society was Athens, in order to continue the researches then formed by the Greeks themselves, and commenced by the advice of Mr. Gropius. it exists to this day, though its funds are The results of these excavations were also not very large, as the annual subscription of the greatest importance to the history of the members is only about 10s. 6d., and of ancient art. The beautiful temple of from the Report drawn up and published by Victory at the entrance of the Acropolis, the president and secretary, it appears that was found to have been thrown down with a large proportion have allowed even this out its materials having been destroyed, small subscription to fall into arrear during and almost every stone of the building, with the last two years. This Society has the exception of the portion of the frieze nevertheless rendered great service to art in the British Musuem, was discovered. and literature, and its affairs have been conThe restoration of this elegant little treas- ducted in the most popular and prudent ure of Grecian art was almost completed manner. One general meeting has been when Professor Ross was removed from his held annually in the Parthenon, in the open office of conservator of antiquities, and Mr. air, and all the world has been free to atPittakis appointed in his place. From that tend; nor have the meetings failed to attract day to this, the temple remains incomplete, some of the fair dames from distant lands, in consequence of the jealousy which, in who have chanced to visit Athens at the Greece, invariably induces every new of- time. Indeed it must be owned, that such ficial to adopt a totally opposite line of sights can never fail to leave agreeable conduct from that pursued by his predeces- reminiscences. The unrivalled splendor of sor. One of the most valuable discoveries the setting sun, seen from the Acropolis, was an exquisite figure of a winged victory has excited many a noble verse: an assemtying on her sandal to fly forth in attendance on the armies of the republic, which formed the last in a series of winged figures disposed in front of the temple, as a substitute for a balustrade. Many portions of the other figures have likewise been found; but all is left huddled together in a dusty magazine, or exposed carelessly in the ruined temple.

As soon as the Bavarian Regency awoke from its lethargy, it was seized with a fever

bly of Greeks discussing in their own language the affairs of their ancestors-the venerable president, Mr. Rizos, eloquently expounding the new light thrown on some point of ancient history, in which he shines far more than in penning despatches as Minister of Foreign Affairs-all this makes a stranger proud on such an occasion to be a member of this Society, or even to have attended one of its meetings. At this annual meeting a committee of management

The entrance to the Acropolis has been cleared, and all the ruins and rubbish which encumbered the centre of the propylæum have been removed. All the modern buildings have been taken down which blocked up the northern wing, and the pinakotheke he devoted to the subject. In this work, is now completely laid open. A consider able portion of the cella of the Erechtheium has been re-constructed, by replacing the ancient blocks which had fallen, and a sixth caryatide has been found, so that the little portico might be restored, except for the one in the British Museum.

is elected, the report of the proceedings of several of the large marble flags of the the previous year is read, and any question pavement have likewise been replaced. concerning the administration and applica- These excavations have not been made tion of the funds determined. The excava- on the principle adopted by Klenze, the tions already made have been very success- celebrated Bavarian architect, who visited ful, and reflect great credit on the commit. Greece in 1834, in order to propose a plan tee of management. for the restoration of the Parthenon, and choose a site for the palace of King Otho. He seems to have been equally unfortunate in his opinions on both subjects, though his hurried visit may afford some apology, if his orders were not to exceed the time published after his return, he expresses some alarm lest the actual palace should be flooded by the llyssus, and with regard to the restoration of the Parthenon, he considered it sufficient to take any drum of any column at hand, the diameter of which nearly corresponded with the spot But the most important labor of the So- it was to occupy, and replace it on the ciety is the clearing the basement of the column to be restored. In this way he reParthenon, and the restoration of those placed one of the drums of a column on the parts of the building which were uninjured, northern side of the temple, where it still to the original places. The northern side remains, as a specimen of the unsightly fighas been completely cleared from the earth ure which the Parthenon would have been and rubbish which covered the fragments rendered had his plan been adopted. I canof the temple, which now remain exposed not, myself, understand how a learned to view in ruined majesty. A well preserv- scholar and an architect of the classic ed metope, three more pieces of the frieze, school, like Klenze, could have entertained and several fragments of sculpture from the idea of defacing a work of the purest different parts of the temple have been architectural taste in this manner. found amongst the rest a colossal owl, about whose position the Athenian antiquaries have expressed a multitude of opinions. The old mosque in the centre of the Parthenon has disappeared, but it was not removed until the fall of its portico warned the conservator of antiquities to remove all the fragments of sculpture it contained, and destroy it, lest it should destroy something valuable, by the fall of its heavy dome. The centre of the Parthenon would have presented a very meagre appearance after the removal of the mosque, and even the general appearance of the Acropolis would have lost something of its picturesque a man must have been an utter barbarian beauty, had nothing been done to enable the eye to connect the two masses of building which formed the eastern and western fronts, and which were left almost entirely unconnected by the explosion of the Turkish powder magazine, during the last siege of Athens by the Venetians. Several columns in this interval have been almost rostored from the fragments found merely overturn† Venit ipse in ædem Castoris: considerat temed by the explosion; 34 drums of columns plum: videt undique tectum pulcherrime laqueaon the northern side have been replaced inum. præterea cætera nova atque integra: versat their original positions, and 12 on the south, quærit quid agat. Dicit ei quidem ex illis caniside. Part of the wall of the cella, and Tu Verres hic quod moliare nihil habes nisi forte bus, quos iste Lignri dixerat esse circa se multos. VOL. III. No. II. 18

It is

well known that no two columns of the Parthenon correspond exactly. The axis of no column being exactly through its centre, every column has likewise an inclination towards the centre of the building, and the basement on which they stand, and the architrave which they support rises in the middle of the side. Since the time of Verres nothing so unclassical has been done in the way of restoration, and one would almost fancy Mr. Klenze appreciated so little the true principles of Hellenic art, that he considered it sufficient to make a column perpendicular. Cicero seems to have held that

who could so utterly fail to admire one of the most distinctive beauties of the Grecian peristyle, and we subjoin the whole passage as possessing especial interest, for it has not yet been sufficiently attended to in illustrating this peculiarity of Doric architecture.t

Aphoristische Bemerkungen.

vis ad perpendiculum columnas exigere. Homo

The Society adopted a very different ological zeal and judgment of the central principle, as they considered the plan of government. For some years no one was Mr. Klenze implied a re-making, not a re- allowed to build, nay, the houses half built, storation, of the Parthenon. No piece of were ordered to be left unfinished, within marble has been replaced, unless in the po- a certain limit, and government determined sition it occupied before the explosion re- to purchase all the ground for excavation. moved it. The Athenian antiquaries con- Many individuals remained ill-lodged, with sider that it will be time enough to discuss half-finished houses, and paying enormous the question, how far restoration ought to rents for upwards of eighteen months. Sudbe carried, when all the fragments in the denly the government plans were changed, Acropolis still prostrate have been reinstated and orders were given to build a large barin their original positions. rack within the sacred inclosure; and in order to remove any respect to Hellenic ruins, part of the building was erected on one of the existing walls of the gymnasium of Hadrian, near the old Turkish bazaar, while the rest of the area was filled up with a layer of rubbish seven feet deep.

Numerous interesting discoveries have likewise been made, but they appertain too exclusively to the domain of the antiquary and topographer to be interesting to general readers. Part of a sculptured frieze of black Eleusinian marble belonging to the Erechtheium was found near that building. An excavation behind the propylæum has exposed to view a beautiful specimen of a building destroyed to make way for the magnificent gateway to the Acropolis, built by Pericles. Many of the sites of temples and monuments mentioned by Pausanias, have been ascertained, and the inscription on the Trojan horse has been found on a vase in the position he mentions that he read it. Much, it is to be hoped, will be found, when it is in the power of the Society to clear out the southern side of the Parthenon, as they have done the northern. Only about half of the metopes of this side are in the British Muesum, and one is in the Museum of the Louvre, so that there seems every probability that many may be found covered with the rubbish, which, from the lowness of the level of the soil on this side, has accumulated in a greater degree than on the north.

The services which the Archaiological Society of Athens has rendered to Europe, may be appreciated from this fact. It could not, however, have accomplished as much as it has already executed, had it not received several donations from Western Europe; and its labors would have been interrupted last year if his Majesty the King of the Netherlands had not sent a donation of 300 drachmas. A request was lately transmitted to Mr. Bracebridge, who has been a liberal promoter of the cause of education in Greece, to attempt the formation of a society, or the establishment of a branch of the Athenian Archaiological Society in London; but from no official authority to act having been forwarded by the committee of management, this was found to be difficult. The state of the Athenian Society was, however, communicated to Colonel Leake, who, with his usual promptuess and liberality in aiding the cause of In the town, a considerable space has Greece, immediately sent the Society a subbeen cleared out round the tower of An- scription of 500 drachmas, (£18.) As it is dronicus Kyrrhestes, or the Temple of the probable that many admirers of ancient Art Winds, as it was formerly called. In com- may be inclined to support this useful instimon conversation it is now called the Tem-tution, I have ventured to send you this long ple of Eolus, and forms an appropriate termination to one of the new streets, of course Eolus Street. An excavation was also made by the Society in the Theatre of Bacchus, and near it a curious statue of Silenus, with a young Bacchus sitting on his shoulder, and holding a mask in his hand, was found.

statement of its affairs and proceedings.

It must be observed that the archaiological commission, charged with the publication of the Ephemeris Archæologiké, in which the ancient inscriptions are printed, is not a part of this Society. It consists of persons employed by government, though several members of the commission have been elected also members of the commit

As a contrast to the labors of the Society, I shall now mention a proof of the archai-tee of management of the Society, from pos

omnium imperitus, quærit quid sit ad perpendicu. lum. Dicunt ei, fere nullam esse columnam, quæ ad perpendiculum esse possit. Jam, mehercule, inquit, sic agamus: columnæ ad perpendiculum exigantur. -In Verr. 1. 'De Sartis Tectis exigendi,' pars ultima.

sessing the requisite qualification for the office in the highest degree. All members of the Archaiological Society are, however, entitled to receive the journal of the commission at a moderate price.

I shall now recapitulate the most re

« PreviousContinue »