nce.

[Illustration: CORINTH.]

"But I have not yet mentioned the Fountain of Beauty, in the valley of
Melanes, the fountain of its fertility--the Fleurio, which flows in many
small streams through the gardens, and supplies us with the most
glorious water.... The river Fleurio bounds along the middle of the
valley, and makes its fields green; it murmurs meanderingly along over a
deep bed of marble blocks and stones, its banks garlanded with
fine-leaved, white-flowering savin and oleanders; besides being
overshadowed in many places by the most beautiful plane trees stretching
out their high branches to each other across the little stream, which in
its calm but fresh career, and its romantic meanderings, is a living
image of a beautiful quiet life."

* * * * *

Not the least interesting of Miss Bremer's many pilgrimages was the one
she made to that plain of Marathon, where the genius of Miltiades beat
back the legions of Persia under Datis--the scene of the first great
victory of the West over the East. The lower portion of the plain, which
skirts the coast, was clothed with abundant harvests of wheat and rye,
which waved softly in the wind. What monument, asks Miss Bremer, could
have been more beautiful for those brave men whose dust has been mingled
with the earth?[16] After thousands of years their heroic contention for
liberty had prepared freedom and peace for Greece. The seed they sowed
was "flaming" seed, which continues to live even in the darkness of the
grave; seed from which the harvests of peace spring up in all their
glory.

The Swedish novelist and her companions rested and dined on the
greensward at a spot where a number of white marble slabs indicated that
the ancient monuments had stood there. Around them spread the shining
corn-fields, and myriads of beautiful flowers gleamed amid the grass.
In the afternoon they rambled to the village of Viana--old
Marathon--picturesquely situated at the foot of Pentelicus. Old and
young gathered round them in the village--a poor, ignorant, half-savage
people, but not one of them begged; on the contrary, they were generous
and hospitable according to their means. They fetched straw mats and
mattresses, and laid them on the ground round a large tree.... In a
cleft of the mountain, just above the village, stood a little monastery
church, wonderfully picturesque. The prospect over the extensive plain,
the gleaming straits, and the cliff