The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-17 00:00:00

feasible, and their arguments were based upon parti-
culars supplied to them by documents furnished to that
very end by the Greek Ministers themselves. After
all this had been done, and the labours of the Commis-
sion were to all intents and purposes completed, the
commissioners thereupon invited to a Conference
upon the whole matter, the members of the Greek
Government individually and collectively. At that
Conference the Reports of the Commission (observe
the plural here italicised) were submitted, each re-
port to the head of the respective department, to the
end that any errors of fact that might peradventure
by sheer casualty have crept in might there and
then be detected, and either struck out altogether
or scrupulously corrected. Afterwards—that is,
after the completion of this conference between the
members of the Financial Commission and • the

members of the Greek Government—the epitomised
labours of the Commission were by the Commis-
sioners embodied in A Report—which report (and
no more than which report) was eventually laid
before Parliament and published. All the prelimi-
nary Reports already particularised—the whole of
the accumulation of valuable (some among them
it might be said wholely invaluable) docu-
ments accompanying that one final and . isolated
Report, which was eventually published, being
summarily and en masse suppressed, or at any rate
cushioned. " A mine of knowledge and instruction" it
was proounced to be at the time—this accumulation
of papers accompanying the report—by those who
had the privilege of dipping into them. And, among
those elaborate documents, several were drawn up
by Sir Thomas Wyse himself, the President of the
Commission--conspicuous amongst his papers being
one on " Justice," one on the " Church," and one
upon that always congenial theme for him,
" Education." Those three treatises, of themselves,
would, if produced, we feel certain, be of ines-
timable value, not only for the student of modern
history, but for the future guidance of the Greek
Government. But no !—manuscript they remain, in
common with much, we feel certain that might no
less radiantly illustrate the rare ability of the accom-
plished man who from 1849 to 1862 (au interval of
profound anxiety at Athens to all the diplomatists
there resident) occupied at the Court of Greece the
delicate and responsible position of H.M.'s Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. At
any rate, in the midst of the regrets thus called to
mind by the publication of this splendid posthumous
work of Sir Thomas Wyse' upon the Peloponnesus
—we at the least can exult in possessing this one
work of his upon the Peloponnesus. Among all those
of his literary performances which as have as yet
seen the light, it is, in every way, the most felici-
tous. And we say this, moreover, with no dis-
paragement whatever to his earlier productions.
Whatever else he may have written, and that may
yet be lying hid away from our ken in manuscript
like those three treatises of his upon Justice, and
the Church, and Education in Greece, which have
in a manner, as we have said, been shelved by the
Government, this posthumous work by Sir Thomas
Wyse is certainly, among all his published works,
the one likely to win the largest amount of popu-
larity, and to enhance and extend his reputation
very considerably. It is written delightfully. Not
intelligently alone, but delightfully. We have read it
with a relish: and yet, for all that, we have read it at
every turn of the leaf with an appreciable sense of
instruction. It yields an ampler amount of infor-
mation, we believe—of solid and valuable informa-
tion upon Greece and the Greeks—the Greece and
Greeks of nowadays—than any other two volumes
that were ever before printed. Nevertheless, while
doing so, the work never once wearies us with its
stores of information. We:read on willingly, and
are almost unconsciously instructed while we are
very conscieusly, indeed, entertained.

The charm of the very style of the composition
is perpetually around us like any atmosphere.
And we may safely say that any mere fragmen-
tary quotations, however well selected, could
afford no adequate notion whatever of the fascina-
tion of Sir Thomas's manner as an author, as the
appreciation of it grows upon us while reading his
book continuously. Whatever his theme at the
moment chances to be, it is the same. If, for
example, he has reason to contrast in a passing
sentence the bright, ingenuous, fresh-complexioned
Spartan boys with the Athenian urchins who are
the very reverse of being bright,, or ingenuous,
or fresh-complexioned, he does so thus by a
touch or two of his pen, resulting in an equiva-
lent to a pencilled vignette by Stothard—remark-
ing of the stripling Spartans that " Well set on
their light, clean limbs, they looked as ready as
their own goats for a tough mountain walk, and
resembled in nothing the rickety build or listless
movement of the sharp-nosed, thin-lipped, sallow-
checked, imp-like creatures packed up in the
schools at Athens." Or, to give ampler evidence of
our,:author's skill in word painting, take the follow-
ing exquisitively picturesque and vivid description
of the forest scenery traversed by him on the
road to Psophis. Heard of previously at I)ouka, as
a sylvan region, eminently worthy of examination,
this richly wooded Arcadian landscape q.ppears to
leave beguiled the travellers an by its varied beauties
for as many as throe or four consecutive hours.
Descanting upon it with manifest delight, the
author of the Peloponnesus thus comments upon
the aspect of the Greek woodland :
It presents the richest variety of forest scenery. Plane-
trees, valonea, and pines stand in masses or separate.
Hazel, arbutus, prinari, chyrysoxylo, form the intermediate
foliage whilst vigorous groups of myrtle, bay, lentisk, in-
terwoven with angus castus, fill up the foreground. This
forest belongs to the Government, and it boars the usual
marks of such proprietorship. It has been cut, or rather
destroyed, and apparently at random. Trees, tapped for
resin, and consequently perishing, others half-burnt, others
undermined, not by rule, but as tho caprice or cupidity of
the trespasser impelled him, show how ineffectual is
government control at all times, and here, how directly
pernicious. No division of district exists, and no appoint-
ment of seasons or limttation of time for cutting the tim-
ber ; all seem welcome to do what injury they can ; what
belongs to Government belongs to every one, and no one.
Yet foresters—Sao-oVaaxis—there absolutely are,
as in Franca and Germany, and also a sort of second-hand
German and French forest code. But the foresters sleep
the whole year, day and night, in the villages ; at most
they pass through the woods two or three times a year.
* * A rough and harsh mountain country succeeded the
forest. Passing through stony grey defiles, where stunted
wild olives and ragged firs with difficulty broke their way,
wont last reached, in the heart of this region, and on the
side of one of these craggy crumbling rocks, the miserable
khan of Birbisi. To enter was impossible.

Here, therefore, the travellers pause awhile for
the enjoyment of an al fresco meal spread for
them by their attendant Dimitri, under the
shadow of a plane-tree. While the mules and
horses of the cavalcade are yet enjoying their
repast, and while the companions of Sir Thomas
are yet luxuriating in their siesta, he himself is
happily tempted to wander down into one of the
defiles sweeping away from their momentary iest-
ting place. Happily tempted, we say advisedly,
and this for the simple reason enough that our
author's so doing enables him to complete not
only his pencilled sketch, but (in the manner
following) his pen and ink 'description also of
the immediate neigbourhood

A wild, broken up district it was—the mountains seamed
by olives, and here and there topped by villages, not un-
like a tamer Switzerland. At the bottom of a deep de-
scent, we reached a rough torrent bed, with the customary
decoration of plane trees, and following it for some time,
we came upon a more open pathway to Tripotama. The
whole aspect was rough, and dislocated by the perpetual
action of mountain wind, waier, and snow. The winter
climate is nearly alpine, but with this difference, that it
does not leave behind it those vividly green pasturages,

in the bosoms and hollows of mountain, edged by a cluster
of chalet; which atone for tho devastations of winter in

Switzerland. Shepherd wanderers are occasionally seen
tending widely-scattered herds of goats and sheep flocks :
but entire tracts lie silent, stony, and desolate. Great

cloven rocks overhead, regularly split and hewn, now and
then bear the semblance of some toppling mountain fast-

ness. In other cases, real remnants of ancient defences

are confounded with the natural.rock. All these small in-

ternal states, in a normal condition of unceasing feud and
fear, had to look narrowly to every approach, and to keep
their sword ready for aggression on every side. No treaty
had effect longer than suited the convience of either party :
at best, their treaties were but a series of loose and brief

armistices. Border warfare in all countries consists of

ambush, surprise, sudden foray, and successful treachery ;
and every stato in Greece stood in the position of a bor-

darer surrounded by enemies. Many of these overhanging
cliffs, new go bare, had their castles—Opo;oca,
and many now taken by the traveller for freaks of nature,
show, on closer examination, substructions of fortified

outposts exactly the counterpart of the strata of rock with
which they were interwoven. It requires some time, and
not a little labour, to reach and examine them ; and, when
the end is achieved, it turns out to be hardly worth either.
But no part of Greece is without a large harvest of shat-
tered citadels, of which traces are every day brought to
light, many more still awaiting tho investigations of
the archaeological traveller—investigations of more im-
portance in a topographical than in an artistic point of
view.

Continuing this description of the general appear-
ance of the surrounding country, Sir Thomas
writes—

We gradually emerged from these defiles into a plain
somewhat better cultivated, and shut in by two ranges of
mountain. At its extremity, a rather lofty summit, vast
and gloomy, seemed to bar our passage, or to intimate that
the plain we were traversing was only au interruption, a
favoured exception to the general ruggedness. Over its
whole extent, no village, and scarcely a habitation, was
`perceptible. As sunset approached, our Agoyiates talked
widely of khans and monasteries, but we could not yet
discover any. At length, the evening sun struck on a
small dwelling, a few miles distant. This single house in
the middle of this desert was the—khan. But the village?
"There is no village," answered our guide. "It is the
khan of Tripotamo." In another half-hour we stood before
it. A more forbidding lodging it were impossible to im-
agine, or one more deserted. At pistol-shot distance were
some enclosures for cattle; and a ruined church, once con-
nected with a monastery' stood on the declivity opposite.
All was silence. Even the khan seemed untenanted. It
was not without effort that we brought ourselves to enter
it, scrambled as we could up the broken steps ; and yet it
had rooms and " apartments," though no kitchen, and we
had to dig a hole in the neighbouring earth for our cookery,
which fortunately was simple. Then, by the warning
twilight, we made a reconnaisance of the surrounding
scenery. Tripotamo, or Tripotamos—so called from the
junction of the " three, rivers," the Erymanthus, the
Aronius, and Liopesi—is the ancient Psophis. The
mountain opposite was the site of the town and citadel,
and the river flowing between is one of the three from
which it takes its modern designation. Tho Liopesi runs
immediately behind the khan. The long ridge of hill,
higher than, the lower part of the mountain facing us, was
that on which Phillip encamped.
It is in a strain thus picturesque that the whole
narrative of this evidently most delightful Excursion
through the Peloponnesus is penned by her Ma-
jesty's late ambassador at Athens. That he was
not spared to see the work passed through the press
under his own direction is a matter of profound re-
gret to us—purely for his own sake, however, and not
for the book's ! We can hardly imagine any posthu-
mous publication produced with more exquisite care
for everything that might be supposed to have been
among the deceased author's wishes in its regard,
than that which has been lavished, with a bright in-
telligence and a tender affection, by the niece of Sir
Thomas Wyse, upon these two volumes, upon these
657 pages of his work upon the Peloponnesus.
Charming though the graceful deprecation put forth
by Miss Wyse in her Preface—her deprecation, that is
to say, of anything like a rigidly searching scrutiny
of her editorial labours upon the book under review
—it is in itself altogether superfluous. Her affec-
tionate regard for what she (better, surely, than
any one else that could be named) knew to be the
wishes and intentions of the departed author, in
the transformation of his manuscript into print, has
enabled her to accomplish what scholarship and
literary aptitude alone would certainly have failed
to effect. Aided, she has been, here and there, as
she takes occasion herself very warmly to acknow-
ledge before the close of her prefatory remarks, by
several kind and learned friends, who, during her
performance of her labour of love, have offered her
—some their assistance, all their encouragement.
Nevertheless, it is easy enough to recognise,
while reading the work itself in its in-
tegrity as a whole, that the brunt of the
toil has appertained exclusively to the Editress of
these volumes, to the author's niece, " Winefrede
M. Wyse," to give her name here simply as it
appears on the titlepage. From Monemvasia,
where we first arrive in company with Sir Thomas
and his fellow-excursionists on to Gythium, to
Sparta, to Mistra, to Trype and the Langada, to
Kalamata and Mount Ithome, to Upper Messenia
and the Stenyklarian Plain on to Eira, and
Phigaleia, and Bassw, along the Valley of the
Alpheus, within the august precincts of Olympia, on
to Lafa and Psophis, to Kalavryta and Megaspi-
lion, to Vostitza or. lEgium, along the Achaian coast,
to Sicyon, and round by way of Corinth back once
more to the starting-point of Athens, or rather to
its outport of the Pincus, we make the tour of the
whole Peloponnesus. How profitably any one
might predicate without reading one page of the

work under notice, bearing in remembrance simply
the fact that the late Sir Thomas Wyse is the writer,
and that his theme is Greece. How pleasantly—no
one could pcssibly conjecture who has not himself

read the book and read it, too, not casually, here and
there, but consecutively and throughout. Every-
thing that could be wished for the work in regard
to its mere material getting up has been
done for it by its publishers, the Messrs.
Day and Son, the eminent lithographers of Gate-
street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. IsTumerous embellish-
ments are scattered through the two volumes—
illustrations etched with a delicate and wonderfully
accurate needle, by Mr. A. Severn, from drawings
made upon the spot by Signor V. Lanza, and by
the accomplished author himself—Sir Thomas
handling his pencil, it should be said, as an
artist—almost as skilfully as he handled his
pen as a man of letters" Folding panoramas,
an outline map of the route taken by the
tourists, woodcut diagrams introduced here and
there among the letterpress—whenever desirable for
the purposes of elucidation, enhance the value and
interest of the two volumes as an illustrated publi-

cation. Its general excellence we have in our fore-
going remarks in no way exaggerated. They are
discernible in regard to this work alike at its heart
and upon its surface. Even a superficial reader of
it becomes aware of them in spite of himself, in de-
spite, that is, of the merely cursory glance bestowed
by him upon a work so alarmingly elaborated as
a two-voliimed record of an Excursion in the Pelo-
ponnesus. Does any one doubt what we are here
saying or regard our tributary phrases as expres-
sive in any way of an extravagance ? Let another
fragmentary passage answer, a passage culled almost
hap-hazard from these posthumous pages of Sir
Thomas Wyse—descriptive (how charmingly let
our readers judge for themselves) of Parori,
otherwise, of the sweet waters of Mistra,
as they babble and sparkle to view upon
our opening (at page 150 of Vol. I.) this
doubly pictorial book upon the Peloponnesus
Pausing upon the brink of Taygetus, he runs on
thus radiantly and eloquently in his description
of the place—
A clear clo'Ven wall, with such a profusion of ivy, so
moist, so green, that we refused to beliete we were in
Greece, where all is so intensely dry and brown. Caverns
and clefts, however, there were sufficient to let out whole

torrents, and masses of verdure with them, in spring and
summer. Just under this rock the Mahomedan love of
shade and water collected the streams into their usual form
of fountain, pieced-up with fragments wherever they could
get them, and fitted together as journeymen •masons
might deem best. A Doric frieze, supported by an
injured inscription, figured on a sort of cornice.
This not being of any antiquity harmonised sufficiently
with the coarse fleuron ornaments near. Besides the
fountain stood a group of Spartan, or at least Lako-
nian, damsels, who • in health and form would not
have shamed their countrywomen in the Lysistrata. They
were busily prepared in washing—preparing, as they told
usi for the bridal of the youngest of the party, which was
to be celebrated in a day or two. The Nausikaa was very
active and practical, and did not allow the presence
of strangers to interfere with the prosecution of her work
The great plane tree spread its fine green branches over
the party, and joined its shadows with those of the rock in
protecting them from the sun. If there lives a tree in
Greece which deserves, or appears to have, a Dryad to
take care of it, it is assuredly the plane. Oaks themselves
are dwarfs beside it, to say nothing of that artless art with
which, while grasping rock and block below (I have seen
them keep defiant hold on both in the very face of a Tay-
getan torrent) with roots like claws and talons, worthy of
the Blocksberg roots of Ooethe, they run out above, re-
sembling a sort of hugh convolvulus, the arms apparently
s coneach
-as pliant as tendrils, but loaded with shade sufficient for
a whole squadron. Nor is it massive heavy shade, but of
a light twinkling kind; theecaqnudisidtei
sharpness
ve
g at
o f
the
foliage moved by every breeze,
turn all the grey, silver, and brown purple of its lining in
rich harmony with its bright verdure. Around this one--
evidently an old favourite—its Turkish admirers, as in
other parts of Greece, had built up a circular dais, where
pasha and peasant, sleeping, smoking, coffee-drinking, or
eating, might fiud at any hour of the four-and-twenty the
fulness of Southern and Oriental enjoyment.

Surely a charming picture, charmingly pencilled—
pencilled with a touch of refined and subtle appre-

ciation. And thus, as occasion offers, is the boo
written with that same appreciative touch, and that
same picturesque grace of description throughout
Satisfied, more than simply satisfied, though we are
in regard to the work as a whole—now that it has
at length made its long-announced appearance—it
has rendered us so far extortionate in our wishes,
that is with reference to the probability there surely
must be of its speedy republication, that we are fain
to suggest, thus early, for its prospective Second
Edition, one or two (as it appears to us) very ob-
vious improvements. The weeding out of the literal
errors of the press, which are indicated by those
two rather ample, but still not complete errata,
may at once be regarded as a mere matter of course
in the way of correction. The improvements, how-
ever, that we would here speak of are, in point of
fact, no corrections whatever, they are simply
additions. But they are additions that would to
our fancy very conspicuously and appreciably
enhance the value and interest of the work in the
light in which we have already said that we regard
it, namely, as among all Sir Thomas Wyse's pub-
lished works, his undoubted masterpiece. And they
are these simply—as personal memorials of the man,
these two additions that we would suggest as en-
hancements of the interest and value of the reprint
in a Second Edition of this, his magnum opus on the
Peloponnesus—A Biographical Notice of him, of
his career as a politician, a man of letters, an
orator, and a diplomatist ! And, together with
this proposed memoir, an engraved portrait of Sir
Thomas Wyse prefixed to the first volume as a
frontispiece. As it is, resting solely on its own in-
trinsic merits as a literary and artistic, as an anti-
quarian and a philosophical production, Sir Thomas
Wyse's two volumes upon the Peloponnesus, with-
out any portrait of him, without any biography
of him, affords us of his intellect, of his
idiocyncrasy, a very vivid and admirable pre-
sentment ! The individuality of the'man himself,
shines out through it quite recognisably. The
scholar, the artist, the orator, the legislator, the ad-
ministrator, the diplomatist, the philanthropist, all
are brought to view with wonderful distinctness. So
that this one work of his, may be said to constitute
of itself a sort of literary rhomboid, presenting to
view, it may be at unequal angles, but each of them
with perfect distinctness, the varied and contrasting
phases of his reputation.

(Exturt 4-`"r

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 16.

The Duke and Duchess of Somerset had the
honour of dining with the Queen and the Royal
family yesterday.

Her Majesty, accompanied by their Royal High-
nesses the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia
and Princess Helena, left Windsor by a special train
on the Great Western railway, at 10 minutes before
eleven this morning, for London.
Her Majesty, on arriving, honoured Mr-. Arm-
stead and Mr. Calder Marshall with visits to their
studios to see the progress of their sculptures for the
Prince Consort's memorial in Hyde-park.
The Queen afterwards drove to Buckingham
Palace, and returned to Windsor at a quarter past
one'clock.

Her Majesty was attended by Lady Waterpark,
Lord Charles Fitzroy, and Colonel H. Ponsonby.

The Prince and Princess of Prussia remained at
Buckingham Palace.

The Prince and Princess of Wales•

SANDRINGIiAIf, Thursday.

Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and
Prince Louis of Hesse, with the gentlemen in atten-
dance and the royal guests, have been out shooting
during the early part of the week.
On Monday Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, the
Duke and Duchess of Manchester, the Earl of Sef-
ton, and Lord Beaumont arrived at Sandringham,
on a visit to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and
Princess of Wales.

On Wednesday the West Norfolk " meet" was
arranged to be at Aumor,. the seat of Mr. H. W.
Coldham, adjoining the royal estate, and as it was
understood that his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales and his distinguished guests would join the
hunt, a very brilliant meet was anticipated. The
morning opened beautifully fine, the sun shining as
brightly as a May morning, and the interest attached
to the meet was neightened by the fact that this
was the first time the " West Norfolk" had been
honoured with the royal presence since the hounds
have been under the management of the popular
new master, Mr. A. Hamond, who has succeeded
Mr. Villebois. The scene was indeed a gay one ;in
the park in front of Anmer Hall it was computed
that there were not less than 700 or 800 persons
present. About 12 o'clock the Prince of Wales,
accompanied by Prince Louis of Hesse and Prince
Edward of Saxe-Weimar, with the Duke of Man-
chester, the Earl of Sefton, &c., arrived. Soon
after the royal party had arrived, Anmer woods
were drawn blank, and all trotted off to Fring,
about four miles distant, and drew the osier
car, when a fox was soon found, but was unfor-
tunately run into and killed immediately. The
hounds were again put in, and soon the welcome
cry of " Tally-ho ! Gone away !" was heard, and
Reynard, with his face towards Houghton, scampered
off, the new pack of hounds well after him. Some
capital sport was got.
The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland have left
Sandringham, having completed their visit to the
Prince and Princess of Wales.

Their royal highnesses gave a dance this evening
at Sandringham.

The Duke of Leinster will leave town to-morrow
,o visit Mr. and Lady Jane Repton at their seat in Bed-
'ordshire.

The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland left Staf-
ford House, SL James's, yesterday morning, for Lilleshall,
Newport, Salop.

The Earl and Countess of Wilton will take up
their residence for the season the week after next at Eger-.
:on Lodge, Melton Mowbray.

The Countess (Frances) Waldegrave and the
Eight Hon. Chichester Fortescue, M.P., left town yesterday
for Dudbrook, Essex.

Viscount and Viscountess Barrington arrived in.
,own yesterday from Becket House, Berks.

Viscount Somerton arrived in town yesterday
!rem his residence near Midhurst, Sussex.

Lady Augusta Poulett has arrived at Thomas's
Hotel, Berkeley-square, from Hastings.
Rear-Admiral the Hon. James R. Drummond,
C. 8., has returned to his official residence at the Admiralty
from visiting Mr. and Lady Elizabeth Portal at their seat
in Hampshire.

THE LATE VISCOUNT GORT.—At the desire of
her Majesty, Lady Augusta, Stanley has written a letter of
condolence upon the death of the late Viscount Gort to his
bereaved widow, expressing her Majesty's sympathy in the
great affliction that has fallen upon her and the family of
that esteemed and lamented nobleman.

THE CASE OF CHARLOTTE WINSOR again came
before the Court of Queen's Bench yesterday. Mr•
TT

Hannon, on behalf of the Crown, moved fora rule to shar
cause why certain amendments should not be made in the
record of the trial which has been returned to the court.
The object of the learned counsel is to substitute a definite
for a vague form of expression in the document in question.
Mr. Justice Shee said that the bench would be happy to
agree to the proposed amendments if counsel could obta
Baron Channell's sanction. Baron Channell subsequently
gave his consent, and the record was amended.
THE DEPARTURE OF SIR WILLIAM CODRINGTOI4
FROM GIBRALTAR.—A deputation of the merchants
of Gibraltar waited upon the Govornor-General, Sir W•
Codrington, G.C.B„ on the 7th, for the purpose of express-
ing to his Excellency the regret felt by the merchant°
upon his Excellency's departure, and of requesting Ili°
acceptance of a piece of plate as a memento of his
siS
years' residence amongst them. The governor, in rePifci
expressed himself highly gratifind at this mark of regard
from the members of a community he was leaving
regret, and that this token of regard and esteem from ti-L
merchants of Gibraltar, iaresbective of its intrinsic veil-I.f,',
would be always looked upon by himself and family
pride and pleasure, with an agreeable reminiscence of lof
association with the donors, and a grateful recollectio;
e 1
the kind fooling 'which his departure from them had c4l
forth,