of danger from brigands, and this was the case so long as the Turkish frontier, as then defined, gave an easy means of escape to the adventurers; but now the opening up of the country by railways and new roads, and the resolute determination of the Government, have entirely put an end to risks of this kind; the brigand, courteous but rapacious, is a hero of the past, and there is no European country where travelling can be made more agreeable and interesting. A company has been formed for building hotels at convenient spots for visiting the most celebrated of the ancient monuments in various parts of the Peloponnesus; railways are being completed in all directions, and when these are overrun with tourists, who will doubtless carve their names on the columns of the ancient temples with as little feeling as they now do on the trunks of trees, people will regret that they have not visited these places while the native peasant, still uncorrupted, refuses a gift of money in return for hospitality, and while the spectacle of a beggar or cripple does not annoy and interrupt the sightseer at every turn. What a pleasing contrast to Spain, Italy, and Switzerland, where crowds of mendicants pursue the stranger, and detract from the charm of every ancient building or historical view.

To describe the beauties of the scenery and the limitless interest of the antiquities is a task which has been undertaken by poets and artists of the first rank, and cannot be attempted in this sketch, by which it is only endeavoured to note some of the many symptoms of improvement and growth.

Standing on the Acropolis, and looking over the town, Athens presents an attractive and lively appearance, with its modern white houses and projecting tiled roofs. New buildings are to be seen springing up in all directions; there are smart shops, away from the more picturesque old market, and the streets, newly made, alive with traffic, give pleasant indication of what is going on all over the country. Five-and-twenty years ago it was little more than a badly built straggling village, with a population of about 7,000; now it is a town well built, with a first-rate supply of good water, and a population of over 100,000. Many of the great merchant Greeks of Europe are building villas and settling in the capital of their newly formed country. Like the Athenians of old, they give evidence of their public spirit and belief in the future of their nation by bestowing large sums of money to erect great museums, galleries and institutions, charitable and benevolent, as well as for the encouragement of learning and science. The Academy, built of white marble from Pentelicus, was the gift of Baron Sina; the University, the Polytechnic Museum, the Central Museum, a hospital, and a new theatre, are all built at the expense of private individuals. These generous donors live themselves in what Englishmen would consider a very simple, though comfortable, style; instead of exhibiting their wealth

by surrounding themselves with unnecessary luxuries, they spend it in beautifying the town, of whose antiquities and history they feel themselves the true descendants. In the pursuit of wealth abroad they have not forgotten their country, but, intent on her development, live and strive in hope of seeing her one day accepted as a great maritime and commerical ally in the trade of Southern Europe. The type of face most common looks more Jewish or Italian than classic Greek, and, as a large number of the old families were ruined and destroyed by the War of Independence, the upper classes of society are chiefly commercial. The nature of the people is decidedly democratic, and no distinctions of birth or title are admitted. Athens, with its port of the Piræus only four miles distant, seems to have all the capabilities of becoming a great commercial city, and the railway which communicates between the two carried last year 2,431,000 passengers. The port, though recently enlarged to admit a far greater number of vessels, seems still unpleasantly crowded. From Athens a line of railway has been recently completed to Corinth and Patras, and is being carried still further along the fertile shores of the Gulf of Corinth to the western side of the Peloponnesus; another line goes south from Corinth through Argos to Nauplia; there are railways to the environs, and a very important line to the mines of Laurium and Ergasteria. The canal through the Isthmus of Corinth will be finished in about three years, and this will make a considerable decrease in distance between Western Europe and the trade of Smyrna and Asia Minor. Another great work in progress is the draining of Lake Copais in Thessaly, which will vastly increase the agricultural produce of the country. More than fifty years ago Lord Byron wrote as follows on the prospects of Greece and its relations to England: 'This consideration might weigh with English people in general, with their present passion for every kind of speculation, that they need not cross the American seas, for one much better worth their while and nearer home. The resources even for an emigrant population in the Greek islands alone are rarely to be paralleled, and the cheapness of every kind of not only necessary but luxury (that is to say, luxury of nature), fruits, wine, oil, &c.,'in a state of peace, are far beyond those of the Cape and Van Diemen's Land and the other places of refuge which the English people are searching for over the waters.' If he could have slept some half a century, to wake again, like Rip Van Winkle, he would certainly feel that his most ardent longings for the regeneration of ancient Greece were in a fair way to realisation; and he would hardly recognise in the gay, intelligent, industrious peasant, the downtrodden, longsuffering slave of the Turkish Pasha.

He would, however, have regretted the picturesque dress of the Greek peasant, which is becoming rarer and rarer in the streets of Athens. Its origin is more Albanian than Greek, and, like the Highland kilt, which it somewhat resembles, it is more the dress of a

mountaineer than that of a townsman. The fustanella, as it is called, is a white linen short full petticoat, reaching barely to the knee. It is pleated so closely and thickly that it sticks out all round somewhat like the tulle skirts of a ballet-girl. The jacket is made of a kind of woollen felt, with loose hanging sleeves, and the cap resembles a Turkish fez. The Athenian workman, however, is dressed very much like any other Continental artisan, except perhaps with a difference as to gaiters. In the Peloponnesus the shepherds tending their flocks in spring still keep themselves warm with white sheepskin straight-cut overcoats reaching to the knee, where they are joined by blue leggings or gaiters fitting tight to the leg. They wear pointed shoes very much turned up at the toes. Attached to their coat is a conical or pointed hood to pull over their head and ears, and this picturesque costume almost exactly resembles that of some of the old sepulchral monuments that have been dug up. One of these men, playing doleful music on his reed pipes, standing among his goats on wild bushy ground strewn with brilliant-coloured flowers, the pink, violet, and blue hills glowing all round, forms a unique picture, filling the imagination with the far-off mythological tales of past history; while his intelligent face and magnificent physique, together with the newly made macadamised roads and the distant whistle of the steam-engine, present the reality of an enduring race energetically grasping the facts of modern civilisation.

The Greek Government has not been remiss in providing State education; every child in the country is compulsorily educated by the Government. No difficulty is found in securing attendance wherever the schools are within reasonable distance. The condition of Greek finance, which is only just beginning to recover the errors of M. Delyanni's administration and the political disturbances of 1885, does not appear to affect the individual. The people are orderly and well-disposed; there is work for every one, and the wages are amply sufficient to provide for the needs of a comparatively easy and simple life. The elections take place every fourth year by constitutional law, unless a dissolution intervenes; but the present Government, under the leadership of M. Tricoupis, well known among English statesmen for his ability and integrity, is practically at this moment without any valid opposition. The recent bye-elections all indicate a continuance of this state of things, and the unanimity thus secured supplies an element of strength much needed among other European Governments. During the session of this year the obstructionist party in the Chambers, finding that they failed to make any impression on the serried ranks of the Government, retired in a body, under the delusion that they would thus render it impossible for the Chambers to carry through any legislation. Their calculations, however, were mistaken, for the Government were able to

retain the necessary constitutional quorum, and the only result of this expedient was that measures were produced and completed in three weeks which would otherwise have occupied as many months. It may be regretted that this course of action is not more frequently adopted where opposition has degenerated into mere factiousness, and perhaps if the Greek people had always made a virtue of necessity and shown greater steadiness of action, they might by this time have exercised a more important influence in European politics; but there is much reason to hope that they are preparing themselves in good earnest to become a useful and permanent ally in the East to any commercial Power willing to befriend them and sympathise in their efforts.

Owing to the geographical configuration of the country and the number of natural ports on the coast, Greece has unrivalled possibilities of becoming a maritime Power in the Mediterranean. The population has many of the tastes and qualities of a seafaring people. There is a large fleet of torpedo-boats, and though the Royal Navy is principally recruited by conscription-two years of service being all that is required to make an efficient sailor-it possesses in addition training-ships after the British pattern, where boys also are drilled for service in the ironclads and gunboats.

It is not, however, to the army or navy that the true friends of Greece should look for her future prosperity, but to the development of her trade and industry. Each year sees an improvement in the manufacture of Greek wine, much having been done by the present King to achieve this result. From an imperfect knowledge of the principles of wine-making, the peasant proprietor, besides storing and carrying it in odoriferous goatskins, adds large quantities of resin to preserve the vintage, which process gives the peculiar bitter flavour well known in the common vins du pays,' which are called 'resinata.' This is, of course, quite unnecessary, and the well-made Greek wine is excellent, though perhaps somewhat strong. The Grand Hotel at Paris has been among the first to appreciate the fact, and has purchased large quantities for its cellar. It is said by those who ought to know that in consequence of the duties quite recently imposed by France on Italy there will be a still larger importation for conversion into the light French wines sold as claret. The English market is also moving in the same direction, and there might now be a fresh opening for a better class of vintages, which would stand the transit in wood and compete with those bottled wines to be taxed under the new Budget.

The whole of the southern shore of the Gulf of Corinth is famous for the culture of a small, very sweet grape, which is grown almost entirely for foreign export. When picked, the bunches are laid out to dry in the hot sun, and these, deriving their name from the classic spot, are known to the English housekeeper as the currants which

she uses for her cakes, plum-puddings, and mince-pies. Until recently the larger proportion of the export was to England. Latterly, however, owing to the phylloxera, great quantities are sent to France for wine-making, and are largely used in the manufacture of champagne.

Another great and promising source of wealth to the nation are the Laurium Mines, worked by two companies, one French and one Greek, and which, although known to the ancients, had, till about twenty years ago, been practically abandoned. There is now a prosperous seaport town, several miles of railway, and extensive workings, where, some twenty years ago, the first founder of the Greek Mining Company had to make his terms with the brigands infesting the then desert country. Here again English trade absorbs large portions of Greek produce; the steamers which come laden with coal from England, and anchor in the pretty little port of Ergasteria, take back annually about 184,000 tons of minerals. A great portion of these are extracted from the old disused scoria of the ancients, whose powers of smelting and washing were unequal to the task of obtaining the whole wealth of the ore. A large quantity has now been cleared away, and on the ground thus uncovered there has sprung up a yellow flower said to be unknown among the indigenous flora. It is alleged by the savants on the spot that the seed must have lain imbedded in the soil hidden from sun and rain for over two thousand years. It has remained, while everything around it has changed; and as soon as the heavy covering of ages was removed, it has started afresh into life and vigour. May not the Greek nation of to-day look upon this humble little flower as a type of the new life which has arisen now that the burden of a foreign race is lifted away and the air and light of modern civilisation and progress reanimate what seemed for ever lost?

Free Greece will, ere long, be in direct railway communication with Europe by Thebes and Livadia, taking either the line of the seacoast to Salonica, or by Servia, Monastir, and Uschküpp; and when this is considered, together with the present condition of the Balkan provinces, it seems impossible, there being no longer an oracle at Delphi to consult, in any way to forecast the future. With an improved condition of finance, produced by an extended commerce and an industrious and contented people, there is every reason to be sanguine. The danger that Greece feels impending, and barring her way, is the advance southwards of the Slav races in the Balkan Peninsula. While these struggling nationalities keep up a perpetual irritation in Southern Europe, Greece is continually striving that her kindred populations still under Turkey's rule should not pass to the dominion of another people. Lord Beaconsfield once told an eminent Greek, who was pleading the cause of Greek extension, that he must have patience. Patience is not so easy,' was