Oriental experiences has the
distinctive merits of her former work--the same unpretending simplicity
and clearness of style, the same quick appreciation of things that float
upon the surface; but it necessarily lacks its interest and special
value. It goes over familiar--nay, over hackneyed--ground, and thus
inevitably comes into comparison with the works of preceding travellers,
such as Miss Martineau and the author of "Eoethen," to whose high
standard Lady Brassey would be the first to acknowledge that she has no
pretensions to attain.

There is a certain amount of freshness in the following brief sketch of
Athens[36]:--

"We drove first to the Temple of Theseus, the most perfectly preserved
temple of the ancient world. The situation has sheltered it from shot
and shell; but, without doubt, it owes its escape from destruction in
part to the circumstance that in the Middle Ages it was consecrated as a
church. It is a beautiful building, with its double row of columns,
bas-reliefs, and roof all perfect, and now contains an interesting
collection of antiquities, gathered from its immediate neighbourhood.
Thence we drove up the hill to the Acropolis, passing on our way the
modern observatory on the Hill of the Nymphs. The Hill of Pnyx rose on
our right, and the Areopagus, where St. Paul preached, on our left. We
entered the gates, and, passing among ruins of all kinds--statues,
bas-reliefs, columns, capitals, and friezes--soon approached the
propylaea. Then we went to the little Temple of Victory, closed with iron
gates, and full of most exquisite bits of statues and bas-reliefs,
specially two dancing girls, graceful in attitude and full of life and
action. After these preliminary peeps at loveliness and art, we went up
the long flight of steps, past the Pinartheca, and soon stood on the top
of the Hill of the Acropolis, and in full view of all its glories.

"On one side was the splendid Parthenon, on the other the Erechtheum,
with the Porch of Caryatides, called Beautiful, and right well it
deserves its name. Six noble columns are still standing. We strolled
about for a long time, took some photographs, admired the lovely
panoramic view from the top--over the town of Athens to Eleusis,
Salamis, and Corinth on one side, and from Mount Pentelicus and Mount
Hymettus to the Elysian Fields, till our eyes wandered round by the
ancient harbours of Phalisum and Piraeus; back again by the Street of
Tombs to Athens, looking mo