imitation of some of the above-named qualities." The Greek firms in England itself, with branch houses in the Levant, are a numerous body, and the yearly amount of their transactions in the grain trade alone has been computed at no less than four millions sterling. Their business is universally allowed to be conducted with the utmost diligence and exactness; and even in Great Britain the Greeks successfully compete with merchants from all parts of the world. This part of our subject may be summed up in the words of the author of The Ionian Islands under British Protection':-"We shall indeed be proud and happy if any labours of ours, now or hereafter, can prove of service to any part of the Greek race, by diffusing in England accurate information as to their present condition and character. They have been much misrepresented, partly through ignorance, partly through prejudice. Classical travellers have been too ready to look down with cold disdain on the forlorn estate of a people for whose ancestors they profess even an extravagant veneration :-foreigners resident among them have been too ready to accuse of every meanness and every vice the sons of those fathers who taught honour and virtue to the ancient world.

"No doubt the Greek character has suffered much from centuries of slavery. All the vices which tyranny generates the abject vices which it generates in those who quail under it-the ferocious vices which it generates in those who struggle against it-have occasionally been exhibited by Greeks in modern times. The valour which of old won the great battle of European civilization, which saved the West and conquered the East, was often most eminently displayed by pirates and robbers. The ingenuity of old so conspicuous in eloquence, in poetry, in philosophy, in the fine arts, in every department of physical and moral science, was often found to have sunk into a timid and servile cunning. Still, to repeat-as foreigners in the Levant are continually repeating-that the Turks have more honour and honesty than the Greeks, is but faint praise. They have never had the same necessity, or, at least, the same sore temptation, to practise fraud and falsehood. What other arms against their Latin and Moslem oppressors were left for many centuries to the unhappy Greeks?

We envy neither the head nor the heart of the man who can travel from Thermopyla to Sparta, and from Sparta to Corcyra, and say that all is barren, or who is ever seeking for motes in the bright eyes of Hellas. For our own part we love the country and the race. Despite their many faults we call to mind their misfortunes and the blood that is in them, and still love the Greeks. Their forefathers were the intellectual aristocracy of mankind. To them may be traced the beginnings of all mental refinement, and of all free political institutions. Christianity itself is inseparably connected with the Greek language. No other nation can ever do for the human race what the Greeks did. It has been said of Newton that he was a fortunate man, for there was only one system of the universe to discover. We may, in like manner, say of the Greeks that they were a fortunate people for they took the one great step from the stationary into the progressive form of society; the advance from the darkness of Asiastic barbarism into the light of European civilization could only be made once. Lord Bacon is 'Il gran maestro di color che sano' in the modern, as Dante said of Aristotle in the ancient world; and he has thus written of the Greeks—' Scientiæ quas habemus, ferè a Græcis fluxerunt. Quæ enim scriptores Romani, aut Arabes, aut recentiores addiderunt, non multa aut magni momenti sunt; et, qualiacunque sint, fundata sunt super basim eorum quæ inventa sunt a Græcis" (Novum Organon, i. 71).

The manners and customs of the higher and best educated classes among

the Greeks now differ but little from those of Western Europe, excepting inasmuch as there is in them less of formality, the Hellenes making no pretence of being more wealthy or more advanced in civilization than they really are. Both ladies and gentlemen in general dress in the fashions of France and Italy. A considerable number of the latter, however, wear the Greek national costume. This dress is, properly speaking, the Albanian costume, and has been adopted in Greece only since the Revolution. It may be made very costly. Those who can afford it wear two velvet jackets, one inside the other, richly embroidered with gold and lace, and with fanciful patterns of birds, flowers, stars, &c., with white fustanelles, or kilts, bound round the waist by a shawl or belt, generally containing pistols and daggers, often with silver hilts and scabbards curiously worked, and sometimes studded with precious stones. An Albanian chieftain wears also at his belt a whole armoury of little silver cartouche-boxes, and a small silver ink-horn; in fact he invests all his money in his arms and apparel. Embroidered mocassins and sandals, the fez, or red skull-cap, with a flowing blue tassel, and the shaggy white capote, or cloak, complete this classical costume. The dress of the Greek women varies in different districts. Those of the higher classes, who have not yet adopted French fashions, wear a red skull-cap, often set with pearls, an embroidered jacket fitting close to the body, and a loose petticoat of gay colours. The villagers in Attica wear in many instances a costume which in some respects resembles the Albanian, and in others that of the islanders described below. It consists of dark blue gaiters covering the whole foot, and coming up to the knee; of loose, but not baggy, trowsers from the knee upwards, fastened by a waistband of a bright colour; of a vest embroidered in front, and open and laced behind; of a dark capote thrown over the shoulders; and of a scarlet cap, the fringe of which falls down at the back of the head.

The national dress is generally worn by the peasantry on the mainland, but the islanders, both of the Ionian and Ægean Seas, wear a garb of a very different cut-consisting of a jacket of rough dark cloth, with wide blue trowsers, descending only as far as to the knee. The red fez, and long stockings and sandals, complete the island costume.

Among the Greeks, families are usually more united than in other countries; and it is an unfrequent consequence of the death of a father that the children should divide the property and separate; the more general course being that the elder son, though entitled to no greater portion than the other members, should become the head of the family, and manage the common inheritance for the common benefit of all his brothers and sisters. Poor relations, dependents, and servants are kindly treated by the Greeks.

The influx of foreign customs has of late years brought about a great difference in this respect, as in others, at Corfu, Athens, and other large towns, but elsewhere marriages are generally managed by the parents or friends of a young couple. This royal mode of match-making is as common among the Greeks now as of old. Even in the Ionian Islands young ladies, with few exceptions, seldom go into society before marriage. Girls are rarely married without a dowry; and the first care of parents, of whatever condition, is to set aside such portions for their daughters as their station in life requires. Moreover, it is common among the young Greeks to refrain from taking a wife themselves until their sisters are married; unless under peculiar circumstances advantageous to the family.

It has been truly observed that the domestic habits of the Greek peasantry, and indeed of all classes which have not as yet learnt to imitate the manners of the West, seem not to have undergone any great change since the time of Homer. Many even of their superstitions are probably as old

the age of Hesiod. That their manners are almost identical with those of the Turks, except in those points in which their respective religions have given rise to a difference, may be attributed to the strong tincture of Oriental customs, which is traceable in the Greeks of every age, in consequence of their situation on the borders of the Eastern World. But though the resemblance may thus partly be traced to a common origin, the Turks have probably adopted most of their present customs in the progress of their conquest of Grecce and Asia Minor, during which they gradually exchanged the rude and simple habits of Tartary for the comparative refinement and luxury of the Byzantine empire.

It may be worth mentioning, that all Levantines, whether Greeks, Moslems, or others, may frequently be seen twirling a string of beads, called Comboloio, in their fingers. This is a mere restless habit, and is nowise connected with any religious observance, such as the use of rosaries among the Latins.

The superstitious belief in the Evil Eye is common in Greece, as in the rest of the East. Amulets are often worn as safeguards against its influence.

It is due to the Greeks to mention that inebriety is a vice almost unknown among them. They are great drinkers of water (apiσTov μèv üdwp), and very particular about its taste and coolness. Salted olives, coarse bread, and a few common vegetables are now, as they appear always to have been, the food of the lower classes. A Greek peasant's meal would still be well described by some lines of Antiphanes (apud Athenæum), beginning with τὸ δεῖπνον ἐστι μάζα, &c.

One of the most interesting inheritances which the modern Greek peasantry have derived from their forefathers is their national dance, the Romaïka, as it is now generally called, though it probably bears a traditional resemblance to the Pyrrhic dance of antiquity. Though weapons are not now generally brandished by the male dancers, the whirls and inflexions of the body in which they sometimes indulge seem imitations of a warrior parrying and giving blows, handed down from the times when it was a sword-dance. At the present day the chief action devolves upon two leaders, the others merely following their movements in a sort of circular outline, and with a step alternately advancing and receding to the measures of the music. The leading dancer, with an action of the arms and figure directed by his own choice, conducts his partner by the hand in a winding and labyrinthic course; each of them constantly varying their movements in obedience to the music, which is either slow and measured, or lively and impetuous. The rapid and frequent change of step and expression render the Romaïka a very pleasing dance. Sir Henry Holland describes in forcible language how much he has " enjoyed its exhibition in some Arcadian villages; where in the spring of the year, and when the whole country was glowing with beauty, groups of youth of both sexes were assembled amidst their habitations, circling round in the mazes of this dance with flowing hair, and a dress picturesque enough even for the outline which fancy frames of Arcadian scenery. It is impossible to look upon the Romaïka without the suggestion of antiquity; as well in the representations we have upon marbles and vases, as in the description of similar movements of the poets of that age.'

A favourable opportunity for seeing the Romaïka, and the dresses of the peasantry, is afforded by the annual festa celebrated at Corfu on Ascensionday, in an olive-grove near the town. The mountaineers of Albania dance, of course, with greater energy and wildness. Every one will recollect Lord Byron's description of their dances, and paraphrase of their songs,

in 'Childe Harold' (ii. 71, 72)—a poem which should be the pocketcompanion of the English traveller in Greece.

The modern Greeks have still retained many relics of the customs observed by their ancestors at the birth of their children, at their marriages, and at their funerals. In the remoter and more primitive districts of the country most of the ancient ceremonies expressive of veneration for the dead are still preserved. The deceased is dressed in his best apparel, crowned with a garland of flowers, and carried in procession to the grave, with dirges sung by morologists, or professional mourners, like those of the Scotch Highlands. "The last embrace is concluded," writes Dr. Wordsworth, "with a chant of the solemn and melodious hymn attributed to Damascene-Seeing me speechless and breathless, oh! weep over me, all my brothers, friends, kindred, and acquaintance; for yesterday I was speaking to you. Give me the last embrace, for I shall not walk or speak with you again. I go away to the Judge, with whom there is no respect of persons; I go where servants and masters stand together, kings and soldiers, rich and poor, in equal dignity; for every one will be either glorified or condemned, according to his own works.""

2. Albanians CAλßavirai; Skipetar).

There can be little doubt that the Albanians of the present day are the representatives of the ancient Illyrians, and that they were driven southward by the Slavonian migrations which settled in Dalmatia and the adjacent provinces during the decline of the Roman power. The name of Albania is now given to the whole of the ancient Epirus, and also to the southern provinces of ancient Illyria, as far north as the Rhizonic Gulf, or Bocche di Cattaro, and the mountains of Montenegro. The course of the river Aous (the modern Viosa) is, speaking roughly, the line which divides at the present day Epirus Proper from Albania, properly so called. Ptolemy (Geog. III. 13) mentions the tribe of Albani, and the town of Albanopolis, the modern Elbassan; and the name of this obscure clan seems to have been extended over the whole nation: just as the Græci (an Epirot tribe) have given to the Hellenes the appellation by which they are known in Latin, and, through Latin, in most modern languages. Some of the later Byzantine writers use the term Albanitæ ('Aλßavīrai) in its present signification; and perhaps Arnaout, the Turkish word for the Albanians, is a corrupted form of it. Numerous colonies of this nation, allured by the prospect of plunder and conquest, settled during the middle ages in Southern Greece; indeed, nearly a fourth of the inhabitants of the modern kingdom are at this day Christian Albanians, both by race and language. Such are the peasantry of most parts of Attica, Argolis, Boeotia, and other districts of the mainland; and the islanders of Hydra and Spetzia, the most gallant champions of Greek independence, though with little claim to Greek blood. The Albanians in Greece, however, are fast being Hellenized; and are allowing their peculiar language and customs to fall into disuse. The real type of the nation must now be sought in Albania itself.

"The eastern coast of the Adriatic," writes Dr. Arnold, "is one of those ill-fated portions of the earth which, though placed in immediate contact with civilization, have remained perpetually barbarian." Northward of the Ambracian Gulf, and lying without the limits of ancient as of modern Greece, the various Epirot tribes of the Chaonians, Thesprotians, Molossians, &c., occupied the coast of the Ionian Sea as far as the Acroceraunian Promontory, reaching inland as far as the central range of Pindus. Beyond the northern boundary of the Epirots dwelt the still wilder and ruder Illyrian tribes, the ancestors of the Albanians of the present day. The ancient and modern annals of these countries resemble each oth

closely, and their inhabitants from the earliest times have led a similar existence. They live for the most part now, as of old, in villages scattered over the mountains, or in green glades opening amidst the forests, always wearing arms, and with the outward habits, retaining much of the cruelty and restlessness of barbarians; attended by their fierce Molossian dogs, and supporting themselves chiefly by pasturage. In the most remote antiquity Epirus shared in some of the mythical glories of Hellas; and the oracle of Dodona was once no less famous than that of Delphi afterwards became. Even within historical times, though the mass of the population is styled barbarian by Thucydides, yet some of the Epirot chieftains seem to have boasted Greek descent and manners. Olympias, an Epirot princess, became the mother of Alexander the Great; and her brother, Alexander of Epirus, perished in Italy while defending the Greek colonies against the Lucanians. Their cause was afterwards espoused, though unsuccessfully, against the Romans by King Pyrrhus, under whose rule the larger part of Epirus seems to have been formed into one monarchy, and its people to have been considerably Hellenized. His family was extinct in his fourth successor; after which Epirus was only a loose confederacy of republics for about fifty years, until, in B.C. 167, it fell under the Roman yoke, and thenceforward followed the fortunes of the Empire. The Romans made from Dyrrachium to Thessalonica the celebrated Egnatian road, extending 262 miles, and connecting the Adriatic with the gean. The civil wars, and the other causes which led also to the depopulation of Greece, had rendered Epirus almost a waste in the time of Strabo; and, under the Byzantine emperors, a number of Wallachian and Illyrian colonies settled in it. On the partial conquest of the Eastern Empire by the Latins in A.D. 1204, a prince of the Imperial Comnenus family established himself as Despot, or Lord of Albania, and his dynasty maintained their authority for more than two centuries. The last and greatest of the native chieftains was George Castriot, called by the Turks Scanderbeg-the hero of Epirus in modern as was Pyrrhus in ancient times. For more than twenty years he struggled against the whole force of the Ottomans; and it was not until after his death that Albania finally became a Turkish province. Even after their nominal reduction, the impracticable nature of the country and of its inhabitants long rendered the various Albanian clans as virtually independent of the supreme government as were the Scotch Highlanders until the middle of the eighteenth century. They were first reduced to a condition somewhat resembling order and obedience by the celebrated Ali Pasha, himself originally a simple Albanian chieftain, but who, partly by force and partly by fraud, gradually made himself master of nearly the whole country. At present, Albania is divided into three pashalicsScutari or Scodra, Monastir, and Joannina. Most districts are now nearly as accessible as any portion of Greece, and have been explored by a succession of travellers since Gibbon, at the close of the eighteenth century, wrote of Albania, that a country "within sight of Italy is less known than the interior of America."

The Albanian language is harsh, guttural, and very monosyllabic; and is mixed with many Greek, Turkish, and Slavonic words. It has, however, a distinct grammar and essential character; and its inflexions and vocabulary prove it to belong to the class of Indo-European languages. The Albanians call themselves Skipetar, that is Highlanders, in their own tongue. Those of the natives who can write use the Greek characters, having none of their own; Greek is also very generally understood and spoken, except in Upper or northern Albania; Turkish very rarely. The best authorities on the Albanian language, &c., are Leake (‘Researches in Greece,' chap. ii.