umns, of
most venerable antiquity, particularly grieved me. I do not know how
many more manuscripts there might be under the piles of rubbish. Perhaps
some of them might still be legible, but without assistance and time I
could not clean out the ruins that had fallen from above; and I was
unable to save even a scrap from this general tomb of a whole race of
books. I came out of the great tower, and sitting down on a pile of
ruins, with a bearded assembly of grave caloyeri round me, I vented my
sorrow and indignation in a long oration, which however produced a very
slight effect upon my auditory; but whether from their not understanding
Italian, or my want of eloquence, is matter of doubt. My man was the
only person who seemed to commiserate my misfortune, and he looked so
genuinely vexed and sorry that I liked him the better ever afterwards.
At length I dismissed the assembly: they toddled away to their siesta,
and I, mounted anew upon a stout well-fed mule, bade adieu to the
hospitable agoumenos, and was soon occupied in picking my way among the
rocks and trees towards the next monastery. In two hours' time we passed
the ruins of a large building standing boldly on a hill. It had formerly
been a college; and a magnificent aqueduct of fourteen double
arches--that is, two rows of arches one above the other--connected it
with another hill, and had a grand effect, with long and luxuriant
masses of flowers streaming from its neglected walls. In half an hour
more I arrived at

VATOPEDE.

This is the largest and richest of all the monasteries of Mount Athos.
It is situated on the side of a hill where a valley opens to the sea,
and commands a little harbour where three small Greek vessels were lying
at anchor. The buildings are of great extent, with several towers and
domes rising above the walls: I should say it was not smaller than the
upper ward of Windsor Castle. The original building was erected by the
Emperor Constantine the Great. That worthy prince being, it appears,
much afflicted by the leprosy, ordered a number of little children to be
killed, a bath of juvenile blood being considered an excellent remedy.
But while they were selecting them, he was told in a vision that if he
would become a Christian his leprosy should depart from him: he did so,
and was immediately restored to health, and all the children lived long
and happily. This story is related by Moses Chorensis, whose veracity I
will not venture to doubt.