[746 the few who escape drowning, or being crushed to death, fall by the hands of their comrades. Historians, in their accounts of the Battle of Marathon, simply relate, that the Persians were driven into the Lake, without being aware of the defile whereby they were ensnared: but it is very remarkable, that in the two memorable inunder Darius, when they were defeated at vasions of Greece by the Persians, the first Marathon; and the second, only eleven years afterwards, under Xerxes, when they the curious circumstance of a natural defile, encountered the Spartans at Thermopyla, exactly similar in either instance, should have tended so materially towards the renown acquired by the Greeks. second most illustrious victory of the We now direct our attention to the Greeks over their Persian invaders. It has always appeared to us the most illustrious, because the heroism of a small band of men, has in it something more striking than that of a large army. the hot springs of Thermopyla. As soon as we had reached this defile, we perceived at once what had been the main cause of the prodigious destruction which here befel the Persian army; and why so fatal a disaster particularly distinguished this swampy Lake. The appearance of the place is the best comment upon the catastrophe: it is, in fact, a pass which a smaller band than that of the Spartan heroes, under Leonidas, might have easily guarded against the myriads of Darius: and the story of the battle shews plainly that the vast overthrow which here took place must have been owing as much to the Persians themselves as to the valour of the Greeks. In the beginning of the fight, an interval of eight stadia separated the two armies; and this precisely corresponds with the distance, as Thus are the accountsof ancient histobefore mentioned, between the Charadrus rians at once confirmed and corrected, and the Skela at the foot of Mount Agher- by examination of the locality. After lichili. It was therefore beneath this moun- having repulsed the Greeks, the Pertain that Miltiades ranged his troops; hav-sians lost themselves in a confused flight; ing the Plateans upon his left wing, towards but in numbers not so great as fame re-, Brauron; and his right towards the sea, ported. commanded by Callimachus The Charadrus perhaps separated the hostile legions. That the Greeks were repulsed after their first onset, seems very probable; not only from the obstinate combat that ensued after they made the attack, but also from the situation of the mound raised over their dead, where the combat was the most severe, and which still serves to mark the situation of the Grecian line. Afterwards, when victory began to declare itself in their favour, it is related, that the right wing of the Grecian army tured the left of the Persians upon their centre, and, by throwing the main army into disorder, dispersed it in the Plain. Here it was again intercepted by the Platans and Greeks stationed upon the left, and driven across the Charadrus; whence, flying in the utmost confusion, the whole body made at once for the defile we have mentioned; where the only passage was afforded by au antient paved causeway, hardly wide enough to admit of two persons abreast of each other, and which remains at the present day. Every other attempt to escape must have been fruitless, as the sea or the Jake intervened to oppose it. The cousequence, therefore, of so vast a multitude all rushing towards one narrow outlet, must be obvious; for it would be similar to that which so recently 'befel the French army, in its retreat from Moscow, at the sanguinary passage of the Berisina;-heaps of dead bodies choking the only channel through which any chance of a retreat is offered, the fugitives either plunge into the abyss, or turn their arms upon each other; and ་ We shall give this, at length, in the author's own words. ing part of all our travels-au expedition We now set out upon the most interestto the STRAITS OF THERMOPYLE: and we began the day's journey with increased satisfaction, because we had already discovered, that, in quitting the usual track of travellers by the coast, we were actually following the antient military way, mentioned by Livy, as it was prepared and paved by the states of Greece for the passage of their armies; and, consequently, that we Spartans who with Leonidas guarded this were now treading in the footsteps of those defile at the invasion of Xerxes. The remains of the old paved road will long contiuue; because it is the common practice ferring an easier path, by the side of it. of passengers to avoid the pavement: preAlthough the whole of this road is a descent from Bodonitza, we nevertheless continued to proceed at a considerable height above the level of the marshy plain of Mola and the sea. The hills around us were covered with trees; and we found some rare plants growing beneath them, both among the rocks, aud over the rest of this narrow valley. We had journeyed in this manner wards; but the reader, wishing to have 46 AND for about an hour, when, having passed se- in shape. We have not thought it right, veral stadia of the antient pavement, we in relating our discovery of this tomb to insuddenly found ourselves in a small plaintroduce any remarks that were made aftersurrounded by mountains, just before the descent to the narrowest part of the Straits falls off abruptly, by a steep and uninterrupted declivity. Here we observed, close to the antient way, upon our right, an antient TUMULUS, whereon the broken remains of a massive pedestal, as a foundation for some monument, were yet conspicuous. In its present state, it is sufficiently entire to prove that the form of this pedestal was square, and that it covered the top of a conical mound of earth; which is the shape common not only to antient sepulchres in general, but in particular to those of Greece; as appears in the examples already adduced of the Tomb of the Athenians in the Plain of Marathon, and the Tomb of the Thebans in the Plain of Charonéa. It con sisted of large square blocks of a red marble breccia, some of which remained as they were originally placed: others, dislo-plain here, extending along the valley tocated and broken, were lying by, with a considerable fragment of one of the wrought corners of the pedestal. The surface of this red marble briccia was entirely encrusted with a brown lichen; and the stone itself, by weathering, was so far decomposed upon its surface, that it resembled common grey limestone; proving thereby the great length of time it has thus remained exposed to the action of the atmosphere. It is hard-When the Spartans composed the advanced ly necessary to allege any additional facts guard, during the day upon which a person to prove to whom this tomb belonged: be was sent by Xerxes to reconnoitre, they ing the only one that occurs in the whole of had descended from their camp, and were this defile, and corresponding precisely, as to scen at the entry of the defile, without the its situation by the military way, with the wall, a little removed from the south-east accounts given of it by antient authors, side of the small bridge where the Turkthere can be no doubt but that this was ish dervene now is, upon the outside of the the place of burial alluded to by Herodotus, old wall:-for these Straits are still guardwhere those heroes were interred who felled as a frontier pass; and they are as much in the action of Thermopyla; and that the Tumulus itself is the POLYANDRIUM meutioned by Strabo, whereon were placed the five STELE; one of which contained that thrilling Epitaph, yet speaking to the 'hearts of all who love their country. It may be thus rendered into English metre, without altering the sense of the original : TO SPARTA'S FREE-BORN SONS, O STRAN- HOW, FIGHTING FOR HER LAWS, WE SPAR- The same appellation of POLYANDRIUM, Əs LEONIDAS." They retired to this spot, answering also to the situation of their camp; for this was within the wall that closed the passage; there being a little wards Bodonitza: and there is no other place" within the wall" where their camp could have been situate, as will presently appear. In the description of the position held by the Greeks at THERMOPYLA, Leonidos is represented as not being within sight of the Persian army; which would have been the case if he had been anywhere further advanced towards the north. the Gates of Greece as they were when Xerxes invaded the country; neither is there any reason to doubt, that, with respect to so narrow a passage, any remarkable circumstance related formerly should be irreconcileable with its present appearance. Indeed, some of the most Trivial facts, casually dropped by historians, guide. us to particular parts of the defile where the events took place. For example, it is mentioned by Herodotus, that the Spartan soldiers, upon the occasion alluded to, were found" combing their hair." Whoever has seen the inhabitants of the country thus occupied, must have observed that this operation of cleansing the hair is also accompanied by ablution, and that it takes place, of course, by the side of some fountain. The mere circumstance of being stationed near to a fountain, often suggeste 749] to the persons so situate the propriety of this duty. Observing therefore the little change that has taken place in Greece, in in any of the customs among its inhabitants which relate to their way of life, it might be expected that a fountain still exists, de noting the spot where the Spartans were Whether the seen upon this occasion. probability be admitted or not, the sequel will shew that this is really the truth. years. Arcadia supposed to have been planted by Mendlaus; so that the age of the tree. when he saw it, must have been thirteen huudred It is well known that the seeds of the Platanus Orientalis remain upon the tree, in little balls, until the spring, as they do not ripen early in the autumn. We found many of the seed vessels in a mature state, hanging from the branches; and being desirous of bearing away a living meHence the descent becomes rapid to- muorial from a spot so celebrated, we gawards the narrowest part of the Straits; thered many of them. Thence, leaving the and the military way leading through thick fountain,, we entered the extensive bog, or woods covering the declivity, is in many fen, through which a narrow paved causeway offers the only approach to all the places broken up by torrents, as it is described by Strabo. In about three quarters southern parts of Greece. This causeway of an hour from the POLYANDRIUM, we ar- has, upon either side of it, a deep and imrived at the WALL mentioned by Herodotus. passable morass; and it is further bounded The remains of it are still very consider- by the sea towards the east, and the preciable; insomuch that it has been traced the pices of Mount Eta towards the west. whole way from the Gulph of Malea to the | Here is situate the Turkish dervene, or barGulph of Corinth, a distance of twenty-four rier, upon a small narrow stone bridge leagues; extending along the mountainous which marks the most important point of the chain of ETA from sea to sea, and forming whole passage; because it is still occupied. a barrier towards the north of Greece, by sentinels as in antient times; and is now, considered as the The which excludes the whole of Etolia and therefore, even Thessaly. In this respect it resembles the ПTAAI of the southern provinces. wall of Antoninus, in the north of Britain. Therma, or hot springs, whence this deIt may be supposed that we did not follow file received the appellation of THERit beyond the immediate vicinity of the MOPYLE, are at a short distance from this Straits of Thermopyla, where it begins; but bridge, a little farther on, towards the leads north the old paved causeway this fact, as to its great length, was comto those springs, immediately after passmunicated to us by our guides; and it was afterwards confirmed by the positive assuring the bridge. They issue principally ance of our Consul at Zeitun. It is built with large and rudely-shaped stones, which have been put together with cement; and in many places the work is now almost concealed by the woods and thickets that have grown over it, Immediately after passing this wall, upon the outside of it, and upon the left hand, is seen the fountain before alluded to; precisely in the situation that must have been occupied by the Spartans, when reconnoitred by command of Xerxes. It is shaded by an enormous Plane-tree (Platanus Orientalis) of unknown antiquity, selfsown in its origin, and one of many that may have flourished upon the spot ever since the Lacedæmonian soldiers were seen at this fountain, combing their hair, and amusing themselves with gymnastic exercises. Indeed, if the stories related by antient authors of the great age of the Oriental Plane-tree, in certain instances, were to be admitted as true, the present example might only be considered as an immediate offspring of some venerable plant found here upon that occasion; for the battle of Thermopyle was fought only four hundred and eighty-one years before the Christian æra, and Pausanias tells of a plane-tree in from two mouths at the foot of the lime- 751] here described. The most critical part of the Pass is at the hot springs, or at the bridge where the Turkish dervene is placed. At the former, the traveller has the mountain close to him on one side, and a deep bog ou the other, A handful of brave troops might therefore intercept the passage of the mightiest army that Persia or in its neighbourhood. The ground about the springs yields a hollow sound, like that within the crater of the Solfaterra near Naples. In some places, near to the springs, we observed cracks and fissures filled with stagnant water, through which a gaseous Auid was rising in large bubbles to the surface. The fetid smell of this gas powerfully bespeaks its nature; for it is sul-any Eastern nation ever mustered; as we phuretted hydrogen. Having before allud- find they did, until a path was pointed out ed to the accuracy with which Sophocles for the troops of Xerxes, which conducted adapted the scenery of the Trachinia to his soldiers, by a circuitous route over the real appearances around the Sinus Meliacus, mountain, to the rear of the Grecian camp. it may be worthy of remark, that even this This path was also pointed out to us: trivial circumstance, of the gaseous ebulli- it is a little beyond the hot springs, towards tion through crevices of the earth at Ther- the north; and it is still used by the inhabimopyla, did not escape his observation. tants of the country, in their journeys to He makes a curious use of it, in the scene Sulong, the antieut Amphissa. After followbetween Dejonia and the Chorus; when ing this path to a certain distance, another he causes the former to relate, that some of road branches from it towards the souththe wool stained with the blood of the Cen-cast, according to the route pursued by the taur Nessus, falling upon the Trachinian Persians upon that occasion. Plain, in a place where the sun's rays were What is it, then, that gives an intethe most fierce, there boiled up from the rest so lively to the pass of Thermoearth frothy bubbles. The audience who were present during its representation, and Pyle? It is, itself, as the Dr. justly who were weil acquainted with all that observes, one of the most disagreeable was worthy of observation in the Plain of spots upon earth. Unwholesome air, Trachinia, must have regarded with a high mephitic exhalations bursting through degree of satisfaction the appropriation of the rotten surface of a corrupted soil, as' its physical phænomena to an interesting | if all the land around were diseased; a story; because it was interweaving facts, filthy and foetid quagmire, "a heaven' whereof many of them had been witnesses, fat with fogs;" stagnant but reeking with the machinery of a fable, which, as a popular superstition, was of course listen-pools; hot and sulphureous springs; a scene of morbid nature! Yet this spot ed to by them with all the attention due to Aud, at this dis has been distinguished by PATRIOTISM; the most solemn truths. tance of time, it gives a new interest to the and the renown of those who there most beautiful productions of the Grecian shewed what that passion is capable of, drama, to be informed, that the Poet, in has consecrated it to everlasting remembrance. his descriptious, did not merely delineate an ideal picture, but that he adapted the mythological tales of his country to the actual features of its geography, and to its existing We have characteristical phænomena. before proved that the antiquities of Mycena were made subservient to his plan of the Electra; and perhaps it will hereafter appear, as Greece becomes better known, that the observations we have now made, respecting the Trachinia, may be extended to all the other productions of his Muse. The nature of this narrow pass at Thermopyla has been sufficiently explained: it is owing entirely to the marshy plain which lies at the foot of a precipitous part of Mount Eta,between the base of the mountain and the sea. This marsh never having been drained, is for the most part one entire bog: and there is no possibility of obtaining a passage by land along the shore, from south to noth, or rather from south-east to north-west except over the paved causeway It is consecrated still, by the tomb of Leonidas and his Spartans; by the poetic powers of the bard, himself immortal; by the recollections of whoever has taken a liberal education; and by the sanction of descending ages. Will it be possible for the Briton who loves his country to visit the field of Waterloo, without emotions of the most powerful kind? Will it ever be forgot, that there the British troops by their determined valour, dethroned the tyrant of France, and of Europe? that there the combat lasted for many a bloody hour; and that, the world was delivered, but, at the expense of thousands, on whose tomb might be inscribed, as on that of the companions in arms of Leonidas,-" Go, stranger, and report to the British Parliament, that here It will not, however, be said, that a single Aristodemus, deserted his colours; nor, is there an individual on whom the odious appellation of " trembler," can be fixed, by the pen of the historian, as was the fact at Thermopylæ. [To be continued.] we lie, in obedience to their Votes and | ful tradesmen would favour the world Resolutions." with such parts of their history as might be prudent, by way of direction and encouragement to young beginners. Those entering life would then learn, that an apparent course of prosperity, by no means excludes many heavy strokes of adversity; they would see on what trivial incidents profit or loss have often depended; how nearly the best laid plans have verged on total ruin; and how, when tottering as it were, at the brink, events have issued in scarcely hoped for advantage. They would see, too, how it happens, that after fathers have made fortunes, sons disperse them; because, they never felt those anxieties, or those sufferings, by which their predecessors were deterred from pursuing, or from continuing to pursue, a devious track. The Life of William Hutton, F.A. S.S. including a particular Account of the Riots at Birmingham, in 1791. To which is subjoined the History of his Family, written by himself and published by his daughter, Catherine Hutton. Svo. pp. 404. price. 12s. Baldwin and Co, London. 1816. To come more particularly to the history before us, WITH a portrait,-which is a good likeness of the author, at the age of eighty. Not every man has skill to write his own life, though he may be We commend the fidelity which marks able to narrate the more striking inci- little savings, at first;-the first five dents of it, with correctness and viva-shillings, the hiring a shop, at a shilling city neither has every man that indeper week, the journey to London, to pendence of mind--we mean that inde- lay out three pounds; with other inpendence of himself, which may enable stances of progress made: we commend him to state his errors faithfully, and to develope their causes accurately, with intent to submit them to the opinion and censure of others. to the monitions on the article of bad 1761. I still pursued the mill scheme, till lost in a labyrinth. The workmen saw my ignorance, and bit me as they pleased. "Let charged them all, let the work stand, and us fleece Hutton, he has money." I disleft myself at rest. debts; on sufferings and law suits, on bargains of land, unsight unseen, but, especially, the history of the paper-mill We all of us do mistake; perhaps, we speculation, by which, after having acfrequently mistake; but our failings wequired money, the writer lost a great disguise to ourselves, and, most assiproportion of it. duously we conceal them from others; There are very few men living, who cannot assign motives for their actions more seemly than those for which the world has given them credit; and might we believe the greatest of criminals, and even some deserving of no mean place among the heroes, and the "Greats," It appeared plain, though I could not their most flagrant offences have been see it, that the mill-wrights would not mingled with sentiments of virtue; and suffer me to rest while my property lasted what the world has execrated as guilt in One of them was set on to persuade me, its extreme of profligacy, they have as I had given up the paper-mill, at what intended as the consummation of honour. a small expense it might be converted into Mr. Hutton has confessed a portion a corn-mill, and what amazing profit would of his errors: they are not like the Con-attend it! while I, unwilling it should lie dormant, and still a dupe, was caught in fessions of Rousseau, dangerous to mothe lure. rals they merely mark his digressions from the main object of a tradesman; and by what speculations he was so many hundreds out of pocket. We have often wished, that some of our success-it again. I found that, as a miller, I was cheated on all sides, which induced me again to discharge the people, and suffer the mill to stand, with a determination never to move |