Near each party was seated a group of
parents and elder friends, who rekindled the last spark of their
expiring gaiety and vigour in the happiness they saw around them."
Though the Greeks are an oppressed nation, yet, as Sir William Gell
testifies, they cannot be called uncleanly in their habits. The bath is
in constant use among them, and a Greek peasant would on no account
retire to rest without having previously washed his feet. The females,
generally speaking, are kept very secluded from society, and it is
seldom that their marriages are founded on mutual love or attachment.
The conduct of the married women in Greece is deserving of our highest
praise, both for their great virtue and goodness of heart, while
instances of divorce are extremely rare.
The burial-places of the Greeks are situated without the walls of their
towns, and round the tombs are a variety of plants, (principally
parsley,) which they take great care to keep alive. Numerous ceremonies
are observed at their funerals; but the most interesting scene is the
last. "Before the body is covered with earth, the relations approach in
turn, and lifting the corpse in their arms, indulge in the full pleasure
of their grief, while they call in vain on the friend they have lost, or
curse the fate by which that loss has been occasioned.
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