When we enter Turkey, the scene changes, or rather expands. Within its
European, as well as its Asiatic empire, travellers of all descriptions,
however various their objects, will find rich and ample materials.
Situated in a mild climate, with great variety of soil, in it are found
plants remarkable for their uses in medicine and the arts, or for their
beauty: its mountainous districts contain treasures for the
mineralogist; and to the politician and student of human nature, it
exhibits the decided effects of the Mahometan religion, and of Asiatic
despotism. But what principally distinguishes it from the other
countries which have hitherto occupied us, must be sought in its ruins
of Grecian magnificence and taste: in the traces and evidences it
affords of ancient times, manners, and acquirements: in the hold it
possesses over our feelings, and even over our judgment, as being
classic ground--the soil which nourished the heroes of Marathon and the
bard of Troy.--The language, the manners, the customs, the human form
and countenance of ancient Greece, are forcibly recalled to our
recollection.
The travels in this part of the world have been so numerous, that we
must be strict and limited in our selection, having regard principally
to those which exhibit it under its various aspects with the greatest
fidelity, at various periods.
Pages:
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958