ith pride
and luxury. For we not only had a chimney, but a table and two stools,
one sitting on an inverted barrel spread with a horse-blanket. Here
Dhemetri concocted for our supper an Hellenic soup, of royal flavor, the
recollection of which is still grateful to my palate. And here a youth,
named Agamemnon, son of George, came and displayed to us his
school-books, a geography, beginning with Greece and ending with
America, where Bostonia as put down as capital of Massachoytia. Longing
to hear a Greek war-song, we requested him to sing, at which he warbled
Dehyte pahides ton Hellhenon to a tune which we strongly suspected he
composed for the occasion, following it up with others, with such
delight that we were fain at last to plead sleepiness and let him
depart.

We were up betimes the following morning, for we had a long day's work
before us. We were approaching Corinth, and knew that from the
Acrocorinthus, a very high and steep hill over-hanging it, a prospect
was to be had inferior to none in Greece. The morning, though not
actually unpleasant, was chill and hazy, and Dhemetri tried to dissuade
us from wasting the time. But we were determined to see what there was
to be seen, and after a ride of two or three hours over a rough country,
we entered the fortifications of this chief citadel of Greece. It is now
guarded by a handful of soldiers, two or three neglected cannons thrust
their muzzles idly over the rampart, and shepherds with their flocks
roam at will within. A sharp wind was sweeping over the summit, and the
mountains and islands--Parnassus, Cyllene, Helicon, Pentclicon, Salamis,
AEgina--were veiled with a dull, opaque haze. While Basil, with stiff
fingers, was sketching the view from the top, I wandered about with my
other companion, picking spring flowers, reading the descriptions of
Pausanias, and studying the distant landscape. There is a thriving town
at the bottom of the hill, and hither we descended, asking for the inn
(Xenodhekeon) where Dhemetri had told us to meet him. But alas! modern
Corinth can not sustain an inn; and we were obliged to eat our dinner in
a grocery, stared at by all the youth of Corinth. Half a dozen Doric
columns, belonging to a very old temple, are the only considerable
relics of ancient Corinth. And as we had a long afternoon's work before
us, we set off before twelve. We galloped at good speed across the
Isthmus, about an hour's ride; Dhemetri, who understood the management