ceded to Joseph II. Emperor of Germany, were erected into a province of Maritime Austria. It once equalled Rome itself in the magnificence of it's ornaments, it's statues, and it's paintings. Of these the most valuable, including the celebrated Laocoon and the Horses of St. Mark's, have been consigned by the hand of military rapine to Paris *. They have since, however, been nobly recovered, and restored, by the conquerors of Waterloo. The two friends, along with Mr. Francis Vernon and Sir Giles Estcourt, two other English gentlemen, set sail from Venice on the twentieth of June, 1675, in a galley appointed to convey Morosini, the Venetian Envoy, to the Grand Signor's court. In the different places where they went on shore, at the rock of St. André (where was a convent of Franciscan Fryars made pleasant by the prospect of the woods, the hills, and the sea) at Ruigna, at Zara, at Mortaro, at Spalato, at Trau, at Lesina, and at Corfu, Mr. Wheler indulged his early love of botany, with an ardor which can be known only to the votaries of that delightful science. " Simpling," says he, "seldom failed to give me satisfaction, when all other * Mr. Wheler was at Venice on the Feast of the Ascension, and was a spectator of the splendid ceremony of the Doge marrying the Adriatic from his Bucentaur or state-barge, attended by those of the Venetian nobility. (Spon, I. 77.) divertisements failed." He was particularly struck with the situation of the island of Zante *. This The iλnes Zaxudos of Homer, and the Nemorosa Zacynthos of Virgil. Modern travellers relate, that Zante far excels the other islands of the Sept-insular Republic in riches and cultivation, the industry of it's inhabitants having given to it an air of cheerfulness, so that they do not scruple to call it the Flower of the Levant.' Here their two companions, called by Spon (with French inaccuracy) M. F. Vernha and Vernham, and Chevalier Gilles Etscaurt, left the party. Both of them met with an early and deplorable fate, dying far from the place of their nativity. Having visited Athens, they subsequently made the tour of the Morea. During this journey, Sir Giles Estcourt was seized with a malady, which rendered it dangerous for him to proceed. But being in a country where he had received harsh treatment, and was apprehensive of personal peril, he hastened to Athens. Before he reached that city, however, he died suddenly, as he was dismounting from his horse. His remains were interred in the Greek church, which was nearest to the place of his death. Mr. Vernon, an able astronomer and mathematician, was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. While he was abroad, he wrote a Latin poem in hexameter verse, entitled Oxonium,' printed in 1669. From the following lines it appears, that he had been absent from England four years: Ast me dum terris latè feror omnibus exul, Quarta momordit hyems, et quarta retorruit œstas. He seems to have been seized with an unconquerable desire to visit distant countries, and encountered many hazards in gratifying his wishes.. At Athens, as Spon informs us, while employed in measuring the Theatre of Bacchus, he would have been fired upon by the Turkish soldiers of the garrison, if the Consul golden island' he pronounces to be one of the most fruitful and pleasant places he ever saw. Having observed that a hill near it's principal town" abounded with many springs of excellent fresh water," he intimates his approbation of the opinion of those who maintain that "the sun first draweth the water out of the sea into clouds, and lets it drop down again in rain or snow upon the hills; whence it collects itself into subterraneous channels, and so breaks out again in springs ;" and subjoins, "We may therefore wonder, and The Venetians, a more Consul Giraud had not interposed. sagacious people (he adds) from a similar cause mistook Mr. Wheler and himself for engineers in Dalmatia and at Corfu He had heard, it appears, of Mr. V.'s being plundered by the corsairs of Seripho, and banditti in Persia, but not of his murther; and therefore anticipated from his talents, and his labours, great results. This is no solitary instance to justify the pathetic, O fallaces hominem spes, &c. of the Roman orator. As he was returning to Athens, he was taken prisoner by a band of Christian corsairs, who robbed him and left him at Milo. Some English gentlemen, however, having furnished him with money, he was enabled to proceed to Constantinople, and thence to Trebizonde, with an intention to pass into Persia. But he was met by a troop of Arabs near Astrachan in Persia, by whom he was finally assassinated. See in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 124, 'Observations in a Voyage from Venice to Smyrna.' These Observations are inserted in Ray's Travels. Mr. Vernon having with all exactness taken the latitudes of the most eminent places in Achaia (Patras, Delphi, Thebes, Chalcis or Egripo, Corinth, and Athens) was of great service to Sir George Wheler, in the construction of his Map of that country. adore the wisdom of the great Creator of all things, that hath laid the earth in heaps, and hath lifted up the rocky mountains to the heavens; which we ignorantly call 'barren,' and the Fable mocks for only bringing forth of mice: when they, like good though aged fathers, furnish their children, the valleys, with such plentiful supplies of streams, as render them so abundantly fruitful, and their fields to stand so thick with corn and every thing else that is good and beautiful, that they seem really to laugh and sing." This is inserted in order to prove how perfectly compatible an ardent pursuit of science is with true piety, which indeed seems to predominate throughout the whole of his remarks. The fleet, with which they sailed, being detained for some days at Tenos, Mr. Wheler could not resist the opportunity of visiting Delos, as it was not more than eight or ten miles distant. While he and his attendants were engaged in exploring it's fragments of antiquity, a violent tempest arose. Almost destitute of provisions, they found themselves in an extremely perilous situation. Unable to return to their ship, they drew their boat ashore, and spent the night in great anxiety. The next day proved equally tempestuous. To augment their distress, from the top of a steep hill they perceived the fleet under sail. Their little remaining portion of food they now divided into equal parts: but VOL. II. I no water was to be discovered, except what was salt. Wearied with toil, scorched with heat, and suffering from excessive thirst, on the approach of the second night they lay down to rest, "committing themselves to the mercy of the great Preserver as well as Creator of beings." At length Dr. Crescentio, their guide, brought them the welcome news, that he had found a eistern of water. "This made them all, though Greeks, Romans, English, French, and Dutch, and differing in religion as well as in country, agree in one to give praise to their great Preserver:" and they indulged the cheering hope, that he who had so far favoured them would, when he saw it convenient for them, appease the raging of the ocean. The next day, the wind abated, and a calm followed. They put out to sea without delay, and by great providence arrived safe at the port and town of Mycone *. A tradition prevails, that during his season of * Here the ships had been obliged by the violence of the gale to cast anchor. Spon has described their terrors and hazards in a very vivid manner. (I. 189-191.) At Delos Mr. Wheler noticed, near a heap of ruins where the temple of Apollo is known to have been, "the body and fore-part of a Centaur so admirably well cut in white marble, that life and vigour appeared in every vein and muscle." Et Phœbo sacer ales, et almo gratus Iäccho (Manilius.) |