MAID OF ATHENS, ERE WE PART. Ζώη μου, σάς ἀγαπῶ. MAID of Athens 1, ere we part, Give, oh give me back my heart! 1 [We copy the following interesting account of the Maid of Athens and her family from the late eminent artist, Mr. Hugh Williams of Edinburgh's, "Travels in Italy, Greece," &c.-“ Our servant, who had gone before to procure accommodation, met us at the gate, and conducted us to Theodora Macri, the Consulina's, where we at present live. This lady is the widow of the Consul, and has three lovely daughters; the eldest celebrated for her beauty, and said to be the Maid of Athens,' of Lord Byron. Their apartment is immediately opposite to ours; and, if you could see them, as we do now, through the gently waving aromatic plants before our window, you would leave your heart in Athens. "Theresa, the Maid of Athens, Catinco, and Mariana, are of middle stature. On the crown of the head of each is a red Albanian skull-cap, with a blue tassel spread out and fastened down like a star. Near the edge or bottom of the skull-cap is a handkerchief of various colours bound round their temples. The youngest wears her hair loose, falling on her shoulders, the hair behind descending down the back nearly to the waist, and, as usual, mixed with silk. The two eldest generally have their hair bound, and fastened under the handkerchief. Their upper robe is a pelisse edged with fur, hanging loose down to the ankles; below is a handkerchief of muslin covering the bosom, and terminating at the waist, which is short; under that, a gown of striped silk or muslin, with a gore round the swell of the loins, falling in front in graceful negligence; white stockings and yellow slippers complete their attire. The two eldest have black, or dark, hair and eyes; their visage oval, and complexion somewhat pale, with teeth of dazzling whiteness. Their cheeks are rounded, and noses straight, rather inclined to aquiline. The youngest, Mariana, is very fair, her face not so finely rounded, but has a gayer expression than her sisters', whose countenances, except when the conversation has something of mirth in it, may be said to be rather pensive. Their persons are elegant, and their manners pleasing and lady-like, such as would be fascinating in any country. They possess very considerable powers of conversation, and their minds eem to be more instructed than those of the Greek women in geai. With such attractions, it would, indeed, be remarkable, if Or, since that has left my breast, By those tresses unconfined, By that lip I long to taste; By all the token-flowers 2 that tell Ζώη μου, σάς ἁγαπῶ. they did not meet with great attentions from the travellers who occasionally are resident in Athens. They sit in the Eastern style, a little reclined, with their limbs gathered under them on the divan, and without shoes. Their employments are the needle, tambouring, and reading." There is a beautiful engraving of the Maid of Athens in Finden's Illustrations of Byron, No. I.] Romaic expression of tenderness: If I translate it, I shall affront the gentlemen, as it may seem that I supposed they could not; and if I do not, I may affront the ladies. For fear of any misconstruction on the part of the latter, I shall do so, begging pardon of the learned. It means, " My life, I love you!" which sounds very prettily in all languages, and is as much in fashion in Greece at this day as, Juvenal tells us, the two first words were amongst the Roman ladies, whose erotic expressions were all Hellenised. 2 In the East (where ladies are not taught to write, lest they should scribble assignations) flowers, cinders, pebbles, &c. convey the sentiments of the parties by that universal deputy of Mercury - an old woman. A cinder says, "I burn for thee; a bunch of flowers tied with hair, Take me and fly;" but a pebble declares --what nothing else can. Maid of Athens! I am gone: Athens holds my heart and soul: Ζώη μου, σάς ἀγαπῶ. No! Athens, 1810. TRANSLATION OF THE NURSE'S DOLE IN THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES. Oh how I wish that an embargo Had kept in port the good ship Argo! Who, still unlaunch'd from Grecian docks, But now I fear her trip will be a Damn'd business for my Miss Medea, &c, &c. 2 June, 1810. 1 Constantinople. 2 ["I am just come from an expedition through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea and the Cyanean Symplegades, up which last I scrambled with as great risk as ever the Argonauts escaped in their hoy. You remember the beginning of the nurse's dole in the Medea, of which I beg you to take the following translation, done on the summit. A damn'd business' it very nearly was to me; for, had not this sublime passage been in my head, I should never have dreamed of ascending the said rocks, and bruising my carcass in honour of the ancients."- Lord Byron to Mr. Henry Drury, June 17. 1810.] MY EPITAPH. YOUTH, Nature, and relenting Jove, He beat all three - - and blew it out. 1 Oct. 1810. SUBSTITUTE FOR AN EPITAPH. KIND Reader! take your choice to cry or laugh; Athens. LINES WRITTEN BENEATH A PICTURE,? DEAR object of defeated care! Though now of Love and thee bereft, To reconcile me with despair, Thine image and my tears are left. 1["I have just escaped from a physician and a fever. In spite of my teeth and tongue, the English consul, my Tartar, Albanian, dragoman, forced a physician upon me, and in three days brought me to the last gasp. In this state I made my epitaph."- Lord Byron to Mr. Hodgson, Oct. 3. 1810.] 2 [These lines are copied from a leaf of the original MS. of the second canto of " Childe Harold."] 'Tis said with Sorrow Time can cope; Athens, January, 1811.1 [On the departure in July, 1810, of his friend and fellow-traveller, Mr. Hobhouse, for England, Lord Byron fixed his headquarters at Athens, where he had taken lodgings in a Franciscan convent; making occasional excursions through Attica and the Morea, and employing himself, in the interval of his tours, in collecting materials for those notices on the state of modern Greece which are appended to the second canto of "Childe Ha.. rold." In this retreat also he wrote "Hints from Horace," "The Curse of Minerva," and "Remarks on the Romaic, or Modern Greek Language.' He thus writes to his mother:-"At present, I do not care to venture a winter's voyage, even if I were otherwise tired of travelling; but I am so convinced of the advantages of looking at mankind, instead of reading about them, and the bitter effects of staying at home with all the narrow prejudices of an islander, that I think there should be a law amongst us to send our young men abroad, for a term, among the few allies our wars have left us. Here I see, and have conversed with, French, Italians, Germans, Danes, Greeks, Turks, Americans, &c. &c. &c.; and, without losing sight of my own, I can judge of the countries and manners of others. When I see the superiority of England (which, by the by, we are a good deal mistaken about in many things), I am pleased; and where I find her inferior, I am at least enlightened. Now, I might have stayed, smoked in your towns, or fogged in your country, a century, without being sure of this, and without acquiring any thing more useful or amusing at home. I keep no journal; nor have I any intention of scribbling my travels. I have done with authorship; and if, in my last production, I have convinced the critics or the world I was something more than they took me for, I am satisfied; nor will I hazard my reputation by a future effort. It is true I have some others in manuscript, but I leave them for those who come after me; and, if deemed worth publishing, they may serve to prolong my memory, when I myself shall cease to remember. I have a famous Bavarian artist taking some views of Athens, &c. &c., for me. This will be better than scribbling-a disease I hope myself cured of. I hope on my return, to lead a quiet, recluse life; but God knows, and does best for us all."] |