"On the Isthmus were assembled the counsellors of Greece, chosen from "those cities which had the best opinion respecting the affairs of Greece."

1. 689. The world's Thermopyla.] The inundation of lawless power after covering the whole earth, threatens to follow us here; and we are most exactly, most critically placed in the only aperture where it can be successfully repelled, in the Thermopyla of the universe.'

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1. 692. The Gospel.] Alluding to the unwearied exertions of the Bible Society; a Society whose noblest panegyrics are the opposition of bigots in our own country, and the tears of grateful millions in every quarter of the globe.

1. 703. Yes, wretched Greece.] I have ventured to predict in poetry what I certainly should not be so hardy as to foretell in prose-the moral regeneration of Greece. It was, however, a subject to which the imagination of Milton, always warmed by the recollections of genius and the admiration of liberty, loved to recur. Quod si mihi (he exclaims) tanta vis dicendi accepta ab illis et quasi transfusa inesset, ut exercitus nostros et classes ad liberandam ab Ottomanico tyranno Græciam, eloquentiæ patriam, excitare possem, ad quod facinus egregium nostras opes pene implorare videris, facerem profecto id quo nihil mihi antiquius aut in votis prius esset. Quid enim vel fortissimi olim viri vel eloquentissimi gloriosius aut se dignius esse duxerunt quàm vel suadendo vel fortiter faciendo ελευθερες και αυτονομες ποιεισθαι τες Έλληνας ? Verum et aliud quiddam præterea tentandum est, meâ quidem sententiâ longe maximum ut quis antiquam in animis Græcorum virtutem, industriam laborum, tolerantiam, antiqua illa studia dicendo suscitare atque accendere possit.''

In one particular the Greeks may be said to be reviving: they begin to pay attention to literature. After an interval of more than twelve centuries' their harp is again strung, and though the hand that sweeps the chords is unskilful, and the spirit that inspires the composition weak, yet the rudest efforts of the

Hall's Sermon on the Present Crisis, 1803.

Epist. Famil. ad Leonard. Philaram Atheniensem.

• Paul the Silentiary, and Agathias, in the sixth century, are the last Greek poets of whom we have any remains. The deep silence which ensued can hardly be said to have been interrupted by the verses of Johannes Tzetzes, who wrote at the end of the twelfth century.

descendants of so illustrious an ancestry must always be interesting. I shall transcribe from my Journal the information I collected respecting their literature. It is, I am sensible, very imperfect, but it may assist the reader in forming an estimate of the present state of learning in Greece.

On the modern Greek or Romaic Literature.

'The rules of the Romaic language are by no means fixed, and in consequence the modern authors of Greece vary much in the terms of expression 'which they use in their writings. The Italian construction of sentences is closely imitated in their prose works, and the ancient method of inversion, ' which gave such beauty and harmony to the Greek language, is laid aside. 'Words, however, not found in the Romaic lexicon, are freely borrowed by 'the best writers from the ancient Greek, when their affinity to the modern language is such as to make them easily intelligible to the generality of readers.

'There are three different languages in use through Greece.

'I. The ancient Greek 'Exλnun, in which the service of the church is writ'ten. It is used solely in ecclesiastical affairs. The letters of the patriarchs to 'the archbishops and bishops, their proclamations and excommunications are 'written in this language, corrupted however by the introduction of a few 'modern expressions.

II. The Migo-Bagßagos or 'Aπλo-Eλλnvixn, a language possessing not the purity ' of the ancient, nor the corruption of the modern Greek. The authors of the Byzantine History wrote in this idiom. This work ends in 1462,' nine years ' after the taking of Constantinople.

‹ III. The Paμain, called also Пığʼn or Awλo-Fgaıxıxn, which is at present in general use in writing and conversation.'

'It is only within these twenty-five or thirty years that the Greeks have 'begun to pay attention to their ancient language. The tyranny of the Turks having about that time become more oppressive, compelled great numbers

2 Till the taking of Constantinople the upper ranks spoke the language of Aristophanes and Euripides. Harris, Philological Inquiries, p. 313.

• Villoison says, that in a mountainous district between Nauplia and Epidaurus, the Tzacones, a race descended from the ancient Spartans, speak a Greek language more closely allied to the ancient than that of any of their neighbours; and he gives several instances of a nearer affinity. See his Prolegomena in Homeri Iliad. p. 49, &c.

'to take refuge in Germany, Venice, Hungary, &c. This intercourse with 'the natives of those countries naturally enlarged their ideas, and led them to 'cultivate learning. Few of them return, and the most learned of the modern 'Greeks are to be sought for out of their own country.

"With regard to the present style of poetry, and race of poets: it is impos'sible for a person accustomed to the harmony of the ancient Greek verse to endure the productions of the Romaic bards. The accent being almost always ' laid on a different syllable from what an Englishman has been used to, has a ' most disagreeable effect; in addition to which, all the modern Greek poetry ' is written in rhyme, in verse of different metre, so that instead of the beauti'ful harmony and regular cadence of the ancient Greek verse, we have in the ' modern compositions the jingle of an English ballad. I have talked with some Greeks, of learning and information, on their method of reading, and have endeavoured to persuade them that it must be wrong, for this reason, 'that it makes no distinction in rhythm between prose and poetry. A page ' of Demosthenes and of Homer, according to their pronunciation, conveys same effect to the ear. The rules of ancient metre are totally repugnant to 'the system of accents, and the Greeks understand nothing of the laws by ' which the verses of their old poets are constructed; so that when they read an Hexameter verse they make as many false quantities* as there are feet. 'As may be expected, they are not willing to give up their method of reading, ' and laugh at the idea of an Englishman coming to teach the Athenians 'Greek. The only point that I could bring them to allow was, that it was certainly a defect in their manner of pronunciation not to make a sufficient ' distinction between the rhythm of prose and poetry.

the

'I shall make an extract from the preface to a translation of Fontenelle's Plurality of Worlds, by Kodpixas, an Athenian at present resident in Paris, and formerly Dragoman to the Turkish ambassador at that court. It contains some information respecting the decay of the Greek language, and its present 'state: it is also exceedingly curious, as shewing the feelings of a Greek of 'the present day at the view of the degradation of his country; and, lastly, it

• There is a passage in Strabo (1. ix. p. 608), which shews that the ancient Greek was not pronounced like the modern. He says that Пubia is pronounced with the first syllable long, ExTractat δε την πρώτην συλλαβην like αθανατος, ακαμαλος, διακονος. The modern Greeks would read all these words with the accent on the penultima.

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'deserves notice as exhibiting a lamentable proof how much the ancient simplicity of style has degenerated.

Ἡ δυςυχὴς Ελλὰς, το ἐυδενέςατον ἐκεῖνο κλίμα, το τεχνικώτατον ὄίκημα, καὶ πολυμαθέςατον ἔδαφος, ἀφ ̓ οὗ ἄρχησε νὰ μεταπίπλῃ ἀπὸ τής προθέραν της δόξαν, και λαμπρότητα, προαισθομένη ἀπὸ τὸ πεπρωμένον τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἢ μᾶλλον ἀπο τήν συναρμοδὴν των περιςατικῶν, τὸν τελευταῖον της ὄλεθρον, ἄρχησεν ὀλίγον κατ' ὀλίγον νά χάνῃ μαζὺ μὲ τὴν ἐνδοξόν της ἐλευθερίαν, και τὰς τέχνας, καὶ τὰ ἤθη καὶ τὰ Γράμματα, καὶ σὺν πᾶσι τούλοις τὴν παλαιὰν ἐκείνην τῆς Γλώσσης ευγένειαν· άι ἀλλεπάλληλοι ἔφοδοι καὶ δουλεῖαι ὁποῦ κατὰ καιροὺς ἐδοκίμασεν, ἀπὸ διάφορα ἔθνη, πότε Μακεδονίων πότε Ρωμαίων, καὶ ἐνίοτε Γότθων, ἐις αυτὴν μὲν μετέδωκαν κατὰ τὸν ἐναπόφευκτον ἠθικὸν νόμον τοῦ νὰ μιμῆται ὁ δοῦλος τὸν δεσπότην, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν τους ἀδριοτητα καὶ τὴν τῶν ἐθῶν τους ἀχρείοτηλα. Αὐτὰ δὲ τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ πρὸ πάντων τὸ Ρωμαϊκὸν διὰ νὰ ὠφεληθῆ ἀπὸ τὴν δούλωσιν τῆς Ἑλλάδος οὐ μόνον πολιτικῶς μὲ τὴν κυρίευσιν τῶν πολιτειῶν, ἄλλα καὶ ἠθικῶς μὲ τὴν ἀπόκτησιν τῶν ἐπισημῶν ἐδανείσθη ὅσον ἐδυνήθη, καὶ λόγες, καὶ τρόπες, τέχνας, ἔθημα, μαθή ματα, καὶ νόμες ἀπὸ τοὺς δυςυχεῖς Ἕλληνας αιχμαλώτες τε. Τρόπος μὲ τὸν ὁποῖον ἡ ἀιχμάλωος καλὰ τῶν νικητῶν της ἐθριάμβευεν. Εἶδος θριάμβε ἀπολεταμιευμένον μόνον ἐἰς τὰ πεπολιτευμένα ἔθνη μέχρι καὶ ἀυτῆς τῆς ἐσχάτης των ἐξαχρειώσεως καὶ θρίαμβος παρηΓορητικὸς, ἂν τέλος τάντων ἐνδέχεται νὰ ἑυρεθή καμμία παρηΓορία διὰ τὴν ἐπικειμένην ἐις ἓν ἐυδενὲς ἔθνος σκλαβίαν, ἀφ ̓ οὗ ἐξολοθρευθῆ ἡ ἔνδοξός τε ἐλευθερία. Με ενεχθεῖσα λοιπὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐις Ρώμην ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ διάλεκτος καὶ συζευχθεῖσα τρόπον τινα μὲ τὴν δέσποινάν της Λατινικὴν, τοῦλο μὲν μετατρεπομένων τῶν φράσεών της κατὰ τὰς διαθέσεις τῶν δεσποτών της, πρὸς ἐξήδησιν τῶν ὅπως δήποτε ἰδεῶν τες. Τεῖο δὲ προςιθεμένων ἀπέιρων λέξεων καὶ διαφόρως τρεφομένων τῶν ἐκφράσεων πρὸς δήλωσιν ἔιτε συνηθείας τινὸς πολιτικῆς, ἔιτε ἐπινοίας νέας Ρωμαϊκῆς, ἐΓέννησε τὸ βάρβαρον ἔκτρωμα τὴν μιξοβάρβαρον λεγομένην δίαλεκτον. Ἡ ὁποῖα, ἄλλως ἀλλαχοῦ, καὶ ποικίλως πανταχοῦ λαλεμένη, Γραφομένη, και μάλιςα συμμιίνυμένη ἐφεξῆς μὲ τὴν τῶν Βενετῶν διαλεκτον, δι ὁποῖοι ἐξαπλωθέν τες ἔσχατον ἐις ὅλας τὰς νήσες τοῦ Αἰδαίς Πελάδε, καὶ ἕως εἰς ἀυτὸ τὸ κέντρον τῆς μετενεχθείσης, καὶ κακῆ κακῶς διαρεθείσης βασιλείας τῶν Ρωμαίων φθάσαντες πρὸς καιρὸν, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἦτον νὰ μεταδώσεν ὡς κρατοῦντες τοις ὑπὸ χειρα, καὶ ἤθη, καὶ ἰδέας, και λέξεις, καὶ φράσεις, διηρέθη, ἐις τόσας ἐγχωρίες Γλώσ σας όσα καὶ χωρία καὶ τόποι, καθὼς ἐυκολα ἠμπορεῖ νὰ πληροφορηθῇ το τοιοῦτον ὁ κάθε περίερδος ἀπὸ τὰ αυτολέξει εις πολλοὺς Ισορικοὺς τὴς Βυζαντινος σωζόμενα πολλῶν πόλεων Γράμματα. κ. τ. λ.

'This extract will suffice as a specimen of the style of the modern Greek prose writers. I shall give more of the author in translation than I have thought 'it necessary to transcribe in the original.

" Unhappy Greece, that most favoured climate, the habitation of the arts, " and the soil of erudition, from the time that she began to fall from her "former glory and splendour, foresaw her own ruin in the fate of other nations, " or rather in the unavoidable connection of different circumstances; and by “ degrees lost her glorious liberty, her arts, her manners, her writings, and "with them her ancient nobleness of language. The successive inroads and "subjections which she endured from different nations, from the Macedonians, “ the Romans, and the Goths, brought upon her (according to that certain

"law of our nature by which the slave imitates the master) a savageness of "manners, a barbarity of customs, and a debasement of language. These "nations, and particularly the Romans, in order to profit by the subjugation "of Greece, not merely for political purposes, as far as regarded the mere capture of her towns, but also in a moral point of view, by the possession of "her science and knowledge, made themselves masters, as much as possible, "of the language, the manners, arts, customs, erudition, and laws of the "unhappy Greeks, her captives. This was the way in which the conquered " vanquished their conquerors, a species of triumph preserved only amongst "civilised nations, except indeed in the last subjugation of Greece; a triumph " indeed consoling to the vanquished, if any consolation can be found for the "slavery which now oppresses a noble nation. The Grecian language, transported from Greece to Rome, and in a manner joined with its mistress the "Latin in part changed its construction, according as the fancy and disposi"tion of its masters adapted it to the expression of their ideas; adding a "multitude of terms, and varying the phrases, either for the explication of

some political custom, or of some new Roman discovery. Thus was pro"duced that monstrous compilation, the half-barbarous language. This, in "different places, was differently spoken and written, and mixed a good deal "with the language of the Venetians, who were spread over the islands of "the Ægean sea, and established even in the centre of the Roman power, "which had been transferred into Greece, and afterwards divided. These “Venetians, arriving at that time, conferred necessarily, as conquerors, their "manners, ideas, terms, and expressions. In consequence of this, the Greek tongue was divided into as many provincial idioms as there were towns and "provinces, of which any one may be satisfied who reads the Byzantine "History, the work of a number of authors, who were natives of various "cities.

"In this manner the Greek language being mutilated and changed, as was "also its sovereign, the Roman power, there succeeded the most shameful captivity, the most grievous scourge of Heaven, the inevitable effect of the "inconstancy of Roman power, which advancing with a two-edged sword, " and establishing its dominion with chains and fetters, slew and subjugated "the natives, burnt the libraries, and, lastly, overturned from its foundation "the whole empire, and forcibly debased that noble race of the Romans. Our "unhappy nation then lost, together with its ancient splendour and dignity,