I had not been a day in Athens before I was beset with the sick, maimed, halt, and blind, importuning me for advice and medicine. St. Paul had not more patients than I, but how different our means of cure! I, however, did what I could for all, and obtained admission to several Turkish and Greek houses in my professional capacity.
Lord Sligo had, on a previous visit to Athens, carried on several excavations among the ruins, and he renewed them on his return thither. One of those was on the Theban road, about two hundred yards from the city wall, where he employed a dozen men; another was on the side of the Acropolis; others were in other parts, and all were attended with some success. His researches brought to light several tombs. He found, at different times, some beautiful vases, gold ornaments, lacrymatories, lamps, and other objects, generally buried with the ancient Greeks. He bought, likewise, many bas-reliefs, coins, and other antiquities, all of which now compose part of his valuable cabinet at Westport Place, in Ireland.
An English gentleman named Watson, coming from Janina, fell ill on his way, and died just as he reached Athens. He was buried in the Temple of Theseus; and, as there was no memorial to testify where his body lay and his death was yet recent and the circumstances known, Lord Sligo, to whom they were told, with that sympathy for the misfortunes of others which was so natural to him, immediately took the necessary steps for placing a marble slab with an epitaph over his grave. But no slab could be found fitting for the purpose, and there were no workmen in all Athens capable of cutting the inscription.
Lord Sligo and Mr. B. made an excursion to Delphos, but, on account of my professional avocations, I could not accompany them any farther than Thebes, whence I returned the following day, with a guide only, over unfrequented mountains.
Lord Byron made one of the small society which collected every evening at Lady Hester’s: he had been the college friend of Lord Sligo and Mr. B. It was strange enough, however, that on the third or fourth day after our arrival, he alleged pressing business at Patras, in the Morea, and left us, but returned some days before our departure from Athens, when I saw him frequently. Lady Hester’s opinion of him has appeared in another publication. What struck me as singular in his behaviour was his mode of entering a room; he would wheel round from chair to chair, until he reached the one where he proposed sitting, as if anxious to conceal his lameness as much as possible. He consulted me for the indisposition of a young Greek, about whom he seemed much interested.
After having remained at Athens one month and four days, we were informed that a Greek polacca, a ship of nearly two hundred tons burden, was about to sail from the Piræus to Constantinople, with a cargo of wheat, part of the revenue of the Kislar Aga, to whom Athens belongs as a fief. As an opportunity like this might not very speedily offer again, it was resolved, now that we had seen whatever the place contained worthy of curiosity, to take our passage in her, which was agreed for at five hundred piasters, a sum equal to £25. The cabin, after having been whitewashed to kill the vermin, was set apart for Lady Hester; the servants occupied the hold, which was full of wheat, to within two feet and a half of the deck; and Lord S., Mr. B., and myself, slept in the open air, although the nights were beginning to be cold.
We embarked on the 16th of October, and, on the first day, sailed down the gulf of Ægina. The wind freshened so much as to induce the captain to cast anchor under the promontory of Sunium, where Theseus dedicated a temple to Minerva. The promontory is called by European mariners Capo de’ Colonni. We lay here the whole of the 17th, the storm still continuing, and we landed to see the ruins of the temple, the columns of which still attract the admiration of the traveller.
In a little nook at the foot of the promontory lay a small Greek boat, bound from Athens to Zea. She was hauled up on the shore, and the crew, with a passenger or two, were sitting round a fire in a cave in the rock. One was a female, and I recognized in her a very pretty-faced woman, whom I had seen in the cell of a holy friar in Athens, when, on one occasion, I had paid him a visit in the evening, somewhat after the accustomed hour. Around the temple, and covering the adjacent mountains, was a forest of stunted firs; and, in the wantonness of idlers, which sometimes leads to a great deal of mischief, we threw some firebrands among the brushwood, with the intention of setting fire to the forest, and of scaring the wolves, which were said to be very numerous hereabouts; but, fortunately, the rain that had fallen prevented the conflagration.
We quitted the promontory on the 18th, and in a few hours reached Zea, and entered the port to pass the night. The servants, from some trifling cause, had quarrelled with the crew; and matters had become so serious, that we slept on our arms, we being only sixteen in number, and they twenty. There are no bounds to the restlessness and cupidity of Greeks. In the present instance, whilst, on the one hand, the crew were cheating and robbing the servants, the captain, on the other, was scheming and contriving how he could obtain more passengers, in spite of the agreement he had made with us.
On the 19th, in the morning, no fewer than twenty persons came alongside, whom he wished to take on board; but we threatened to quit the vessel, and not to pay him anything—which menace had the desired effect, and they returned to the shore.