16. Look where the second Cæsar's trophies rose. Stanza xlv. line 6. Nicopolis, whose ruins are most extensive, is at some distance from Actium, where the wall of the Hippodrome survives in a few fragments. 17. Acherusia's lake. Stanza xlvii. line 1. According to Pouqueville the Lake of Yanina; but Pouqueville is always out. ì8. To greet Albania's chief. Stanza xlvii. line 4. The celebrated Ali Pacha. Of this extraordinary man there is an incorrect account in Pouqueville's Travels. 19. Yet here and there some daring mountain band Disdain his power, and from their rocky hold Hurl their defiance far, nor yield, unless to gold. Stanza xlvii. lines 7, 8, and 9. Five thousand Suliotes, among the rocks and in the castle of Suli, withstood 30,000 Albanians for eighteen years: the castle at last was taken by bribery. In this contest there were several acts performed not unworthy of the better days of Greece. 20. Monastic Zitza! &c. Stanza xlviii. line 1. The convent and village of Zitza are four hours journey from Joannina, or Yanina, the capital of the Pachalick. In the valley the river Kalamas (once the Acheron) flows, and not far from Zitza forms a fine cataract. The situation is perhaps the finest in Greece, though the approach to Delvinachi and parts of Acarnania and Ætolia may contest the palm. Delphi, Parnassus, and, in Attica, even Cape Colonna and Port Raphti, are very inferior; as also every scene in Ionia, or the Troad: I am almost inclined to add the approach to Constantinople; but from the different features of the last, a comparison can hardly be made. The river Laos was full at the time the author passed it; and, immediately above Tepaleen, was to the eye as wide as the Thames at Westminster; at least in the opinion of the author and his fellow-traveller, Mr. Hobhouse. In the summer it must be much narrower. It certainly is the finest river in the Levant; neither Achelous, Alpheus, Acheron, Scamander nor Cayster, approached it in breadth or beauty. 27. And fellow-countrymen have stood aloof. Stanza lxvi. line 8. Alluding to the wreckers of Cornwall. 28. the red wine circling fast. Stanza lxxi. line 2. The Albanian Mussulmans do not abstain from wine, and Palikar, shortened when addressed to a single person, from Пaλıxapı, a general name for a soldier amongst the Greeks and Albanese who speak Romaic-it means properly "a lad." 30. While thus in concert, &c. Stanza lxxii. line last. As a specimen of the Albanian or Arnaout dialect of the Illyric, I here insert two of their most popular choral songs, which are generally chanted in dancing by men or women indiscriminately. The first words are merely a kind of chorus without meaning, like some in our own and all other languages. |