E. S.
Stanzas in Childe Harold (Vol. iv, pp. 223. 285. 323.).
—In reply to T. W. I will merely refer him and your other correspondents upon this subject to page 391. of Moore's Life of Byron, 1 vol. edition, 1844, where will be found this passage, in Letter 323, addressed to Mr. Murray:—
"What does 'thy waters wasted them' mean (in the Canto)? That is not me. Consult the MS. always."
I am fully aware this will not interpret the meaning of the passage, but it will go far to satisfy your correspondents that their emendations and suggestions do not completely answer Lord Byron's query in the letter referred to by
LEON.
London.
The Island and Temple of Ægina (Vol. iv., pp. 255. 412.).
—Having been, some time since, greatly pleased by a fine engraving of the ruined Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius in Ægina (but unaccompanied by any description), and having had a well executed water-colour drawing made therefrom, my interest was aroused on the subject, and I searched among books within reach for particulars on the subject of what there seems every reason to regard as the oldest temple in Greece, with the single exception of that of Corinth. After a patient search I found Fosbroke's Foreign Topography (4to. edition, 1828, pp. 3, 4, 5.) to contain the best account of those interesting ruins. The work is not a scarce one in good libraries: I shall therefore be concise in the extracts from it. The article entitled "Ægina (Greece)" states that the remains of the Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius (which are engraved in the Ionian Antiquities) prove it to have been of the Doric order; that it had six columns in front, but only twelve on the side, in opposition to the usual custom among Greek architects of adding one column more than double the number of those in front. The architecture is said closely to approach that of the hexastyle hypæthral Temple of Pæstum. Williams, in his Travels, expresses the opinion that this Temple of Jupiter is older than that of Theseus or the Parthenon. In Dodwell's Greece, too, there is an ample description of it. He represents it to have been part of the ruins of an ancient city, perhaps of Oië. Twenty-five columns were left entire in his day; together with the greater part of the epistylion, or architrave. The cornice, however, with the metopæ and triglyphs, have all fallen. The view of this gloriously positioned temple must have been magnificent from the sea; while the details of the building must have been equally delighting to the near spectator. The temple was built of soft porous stone, coated with a thin stucco, which must have given it a marble appearance. The epistylia were painted, and the cornice elegantly ornamented in a similar manner. The pavement was also covered with a thick stucco, painted vermilion. Chandler (Greece, 12-15.) describes traces of the peribolus of this temple; and Clarke styles it at once the most ancient and remarkable in Greece. I may add that the Æginetans were celebrated for their works in bronze, for fine medals (the art of coining money indeed being first introduced by the inhabitants of this island), for their terra cotta vases, &c. Fosbroke's excellent Cyclopædia of Antiquities may be with advantage consulted in respect to the Eginetic school of art.
J. J. S.