tempted to fancy him one of the pilots of the ancient Greeks, and to fuppofe that he was at the fiege of Troy, and that one of the fabulous deities has reftored him to life, to prove to us the truth of the. everlasting voyages of Homer's heroes.-We give up, at least for the prefent, all hope of reaching Crete. Wearied with fruitless ftruggles against oppofing fortune, our Captain has just turned his prow toward Afia Minor.' Our traveller was at length driven to Caftel Roffo, an island fituated on the weft fide of a femicireular bay on the coaft of Caramania, or the ancient Lycia. The poverty of the island, and the mifery of its inhabitants, can fcarcely be equalled. On the eaft fide of this bay, oppofite to the island, M. Savary found the ruins of a once magnificent city. The firft object which attracted his attention, on approaching the land, was a vaft amphitheatre about 70 feet high, and with 80 rows of feats, one raised above the other, floping; it is built with beautiful ftones, and with fuch folidity as to be proof against the ravages of time, the arena alone having fuffered by the violence of the waves. Beyond this amphitheatre, M. Savary found a variety of ruins; among which he more minutely defcribes thofe of a spacious building, that appears, from the huge columns, partly overthrown and partly retaining their erect pofition, from the thick walls half demolished, highly finished capitals, and broken fragments of elegant cornices, to have been the remains of a temple, or other magnificent edifice confecrated to a deity. At the extremity of these vaft ruins, our traveller found tombs in perfect prefervation, many of them furrounded with columns fupporting domes of great folidity. We fhall not, however, anticipate the curious reader, whom we refer to the book for the ample defcription of the deplorable condition of this once rich and flourishing city. Its harbour deftitute of fhips, its magnificent theatre without fpectators, thofe piles of ruins, thole tombs, defpoiled even of the bodies which they contained, infpire the traveller with curious reflections on the viciffitude of fortune, the ravages of time, and the cruelty and avarice of plundering conquerors. After adducing many arguments that this city muft have been deftroyed by an earthquake, and perhaps fubfequently plundered by the Turks, M. Savary enters into a long and learned inveftigation to determine that thefe ruins are thofe of the ancient Patara; famous on account of its temple of Apollo, which was as much celebrated for its riches and the respect paid to its oracles as that of Delphos; he fupports his proofs by quotations from Strabo, Pomponius Mela, and Livy, not forgetting that Horace once fung the Patarean Apollo. From the coaft of Lycia, M. Savary went to Rhodes: in his paffage thither, nothing material occurred, except his meeting The other tranflation fays endless wanderings. Cc 2 with with prodigious flocks of fwans and cranes on their paffage to Arabia. This circumftance aftonished us! Cranes certainly vifit Egypt in the winter; but we do not recollect that fwans have ever been deemed birds of paffage. The cranes, too, are defcribed as fwimming, which feems eontrary to nature:-yet we cannot pretend to difpute the fact. Contrary winds driving the veffel once more on the coaft of Afia, into the Gulph of Macri, M. Savary here faw the ruins of Telmiffus, which he defcribes, together with the adjacent country. With fome difficulty, our traveller at length reached Rhodes, the ancient state of which he amply defcribes; he fhews alfo how the ambition of the Romans, the degeneracy of the monarchs of the lower empire, the fanaticism of the Arabs, and deftructive earthquakes, have alternately laid wafte this once beautiful and rich ifland. The defpotifm of the Turks fucceeding these calamities, has utterly deftroyed the remaining monuments of fcience and of art. The prefent town is built on the fite of the ancient city, occupying only the fourth part of its extent, and poffeffing no remarkable antiquities. The temples and theatres are levelled with the ground. Coloffuffes, fmaller ftatues, and paintings, have all been deftroyed, or carried off by avaricious barbarians. Inftead of fpacious and regularly dif pofed ftreets, our traveller describes narrow and winding lanes; instead of a fertile country, a defolate island; and instead of a free, happy, and enlightened nation, he defcribes a flavish, miferable, and ignorant race. In his paffage from Rhodes, M. Savary vifited the island of Symé, famous for its fifhery of sponges, which is the only fupport of its wretched inhabitants; he fays, Men, women and children, all know how to dive, and plunge into the waters in fearch of the only patrimony beftowed on them by nature. The men, efpecially, are inimitable in this dangerous art; they throw themfelves into the fea, and dive to a very great depth; but they frequently ftrain themselves by retaining their breath too long, and, on coming out of the water, often vomit great quantities of blood. Sometimes they are in danger of deftruction from the monsters of the deep. The knife they carry in their hands would be but an inadequate weapon for their defence; but accuftomed perfectly to distinguish objects through that pellucid element, as foon as they difcover the voracious fifh, they shoot up with the greatest rapidity from a prodigious depth, and in an instant are in their boat.' Bad weather detaining our traveller a few days in the harbour of Symé, he made an excurfion into the country; but as nothing material occurs here, we fhall follow him on his voyage, buffeted by contrary winds, driven from ifland to ifland, and feeking Candia, as Ulyffes fought Ithaca. The Greek failors fufpected the ship to be enchanted; and in order to break the enchantment, a priest was brought on board. As a fpecimen of this peculiar fuperftition, we fhall transcribe M. Savary's description of the ceremony: He [the priest] is now come on board, arrayed in the facerdotal habit. In one hand he carries a cenfer, in the other a brush + for fprinkling holy water. A long ftole hangs down his black gown. The length of his beard, the contraction of his brows, and his conical cap, make him appear not unlike a magician himself. A young child walks before him, carrying a bafon full of holy water. The grave priest is just begun to besprinkle our apartments, without sparing any of the affiftants §. He has beftowed his benedictions on all on board, the men, the mafts, and the ropes. He has repeated a power || of prayers and forms, to exorcife Satan, and diffipate his wicked enchantments. With his cenfer in his hand, and burning in it fragrant aromatics, he has gone through every part of the ship. Each of us has had his fhare; for each has been smoked with the perfumes iffuing from the facred cenfer.-After the ceremony was finished, the priest held out a little bafon, into which we put fome pieces of money. He then took his leave, wifhing us a profperous voyage, and great happiness. The failors, thinking themselves now difenchanted, feem quite happy. Can they not perceive, that their own unskilfulness in the art of navigation is the only charm which retards their progrefs? No, doubtlefs; fuch fagacity fuppofes an extent of knowledge far beyond what they poffefs. Superftition is the daughter of ignorance. She is as old as the firft of the human race; nor will our lateft pofterity survive her.' The unbewitched failors proceeded on their voyage. Contrary winds, however, drove them to Cafos, where our traveller describes a happy, though not a rich people. Cafos is subject to the Turks, but they dare not inhabit it, because it has no fort; the people therefore enjoy a tranquillity and liberty almoft unknown in the Archipelago. Sailing from Cafos, M. Savary, at length, arrived at Candia. His defcription of this ifland forms an abftract of its history from the earliest times; containing an account of its first inhabitants, their government and manners; the explication of those parts of its hiftory that are involved in fable, and the mysteries of the heathen mythology; the revolutions which it hath undergone, and the ftate in which it is at prefent. M. Savary is not lefs attentive to the manners and appearance of the inhabitants, than to the other circumstances which *This extract is from the firft tranflation. The other tranflation fays a vessel. The French word is gou pillon, a brush. The other tranflation fays a boy. § Byeftanders. we have already mentioned. The following general defcription of the Cretan ladies, which follows that of the men, will give our readers no unfavourable idea of the author's gallantry and attachment to the fair fex: In a country where ftrength and dignity diftinguish the men, you may well fuppofe, Madam, that grace and beauty adorn the women. Their dress does not reftrain the growth of any part of their bodies, and their fhape therefore affumes thofe admirable proportions with which the hand of the Creator has graced his fairest workmanship on earth. They are not all handsome or charming. But fome of them are beautiful, particularly the Turkish ladies. In general, the Cretan women have a rifing throat, a neck gracefully rounded, black eyes, fparkling with animation, a fmall mouth, a fine nofe, and cheeks delicately coloured with the fresh vermillion of health. But the oval of their form is different from that of Europeans, and the character of their beauty is peculiar to their own nation. I would not prefume to draw a parallel between Cretan and European beauty. Beauty ever merits our praife and homage. the fentiments which animate the heart, and difplay themselves in the features and complexions of beauty, are what will ever determine its comparative excellence in the eyes of the man of fenfe and virtue.' After a few more remarks, he adds, Such, Madam, are the reflections of a traveller, who, by comparing the various opinions and fentiments of different nations, endeavours to diveft himself of prejudices, and thinks, that Nature alone, untortured by affectation, and unfpoiled by art, is truly beautiful. But he does not prefume to fet an high value on his reflections; and hopes you will pardon him for prefuming to offer them.' Leaving Candia, M. Savary propofed going to Conftantinople, but hearing that the plague was raging in that city, he changed his route, and defcribes, in a few words, the island of Melos, with which the volume before us closes. The author propofed to defcribe other iflands which he vifited in the Archipelago, but dying before he had put the laft hand to the remainder of his letters, the editor has not given them to the public. Mr. Elliot's tranflation wants an Index, which that for Meff. Robinfons poffeffes; this is counterbalanced by a very fenfible Preface to the former, as we before obferved, while the latter wants this advantage. Farther we can not carry the compa rifon, as we have not the original at hand. *From Mr. Elliot's tranflation, R......m. ART. ART. III. Obfervations upon the Liturgy. With a Propofal for its Reform, upon the Principles of Chriftianity, as profeffed and taught by the Church of England; and an Attempt to reconcile the Doctrines of the Angels' Apoftacy and perpetual Punishment, Man's Fall and Redemption, and the Incarnation of the Son of God, to our Conceptions of the Divine Nature and Attributes. By a Layman of the Church of England *, late an under Secretary of State f. To which is added, the Journals of the American Convention, appointed to frame an Ecclefiaftical Conftitution, and prepare a Liturgy for the Epifcopal Churches in the United States. 8vo. 212 Pages. 3s. Boards. Debrett. 1789. WH WHATEVER may be objected to our book of common prayer, it is, on the whole, an excellent formula of public devotion; and might be compared to a garden, well laid out, and adorned with many beautiful plants; but there is no garden which does not produce weeds, from which it fhould, from time to time, be cleared. Accordingly, it is the opinion of many judicious obfervers, that the heads and guardians of our ecclefiaftical eftablishment might do infinite honour to themselves, and render the caufe of Chriftianity the greatest fervice, were they, for this purpose, to fet the hoe of reformation to work; and there is, perhaps, much reafon to apprehend, that should they hold out much longer against the wifhes of an enlightened age, and refuse to make those reforms which are daily becoming more and more obvious and neceffary, their inflexibility will at last produce the most deftructive confequences. Dr. Priestley thinks that the progrefs of free enquiry will terminate in the total overthrow of the eftablishment; his prophetic eye fees, or he imagines, a vast quantity of gunpowder accumulating, grain by grain, under the very foundations of our ecclefiaftical fyftem, which, by fome accidental fpark, will violently explode; and overthrow, at once, Archbishoprics, Bishoprics, Deaneries, Prebends, Canonries, Archdeaconries, &c. We do not look with complacency for the accomplishment of this prediction; nor do we wish to be fpectators of the confufion which it muft occafion; and as the dignitaries of the church muft with it much less than others can be fuppofed to do, is it not rather ftrange that they do not endeavour to ftrengthen their establishment, by making its articles and public fervice more conformable to reafon, and to fcripture; the great ftandard of all? Do the cloud-cap'd cathedrals and the gorgeous palaces of our bishops reft on the Athanafian Creed? Would not its removal from the Liturgy ftrengthen rather than fhake their foundations? Judicious amendments may contribute to preferve, but cannot, we should In the late American De • William Knox, Efq. partment. |