Mr. Francis Vernons Letter, Written to the Publisher Januar. 10th. 1675/6 giving a Short Account of Some of his Observations in His Travels from Venice Through Istria, Dalmatia, Greece, and the Archipelago, to Smyrna, Where This Letter Was Written

PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. April 24. 1676. The CONTENTS. Mr. Francis Vernon's Letter, giving a short Account of some of his Observations in his Travels from Venice through Istria, Dalmatia, Greece, and the Archipelago, to Smyrna. Advertisements on the Vinetum Britannicum, (mentioned in the last fore-going Tract) which were made and sent to the Publisher by Dr. John Beale of Yeovil in Somersetshire. Monsieur Hevelius's Observations of the Lunar Eclipse of the First of January last, &c. at Danzig. An Account of three Books: I, and II. in one Volume, viz Memoires pour servir à l'Histoire Naturelle des ANIMAUX; and, La MESURE de la TERRE. III. BRITANNIA ANTIGUA Illustrata, or, The ANTIQUITIES of ANCIENT BRITAIN, derived from the Phoenicians; the First Volume: By Aylett Sammes of the Inner Temple, &c. Mr. Francis Vernon's Letter, written to the Publisher Januar. 10th. 1676, giving a short account of some of his Observations in his Travels from Venice through Istria, Dalmatia, Greece, and the Archipelago, to Smyrna, where this Letter was written. SIR, I Must beg your excuse for not having written to you in so long a space: The little rest I have had, and the great unsettledness of my condition is the reason. Neither have I now any great Curiosities to impart to you; only some small circumstances of my Journey I will run over. F f f f From From Venice I set out with those Gallies which carried their Ambassador that went for the Port. We touch't at most of the considerable Towns of Istria and Dalmatia by the way. In Istria we saw Pola, an ancient Republick. There remains yet an Amphitheatre entire: It is of two orders of Tuscan Pillars, placed one over another, and the lower Pillars stand on pedestals, which is not ordinary; for, commonly they have nothing but their Bases to support them. There is, besides a Temple dedicated to Rome and Augustus, a Triumphal Arch, built by a Lady of the family of the Sergii, in honour of some of her kindred, which commanded in these Countries; besides several Inscriptions and ancient Monuments, which are in divers parts of the Town. In Dalmatia I saw Zahara, which is now the Metropolis of the Country. It was anciently called Jadera. It's now very well fortified, being encompass'd on three sides with the Sea, and that part which is toward the land extremely advantaged by all the contrivances of Art, having a Castle and a Rampart of very lofty bastions to guard it. I found here several ancient Inscriptions, by me copied, which will not find room in the compass of a Letter. We past in sight of Zebenico, and saw three Forts, which belong to the Town, St. Nicolo, St. Giovanni, and la Fortezza Vecchia; but we went not a shore. That which is most worth seeing in Dalmatia, is Spalatro; where is Diocletian's Palace, a vast and stupendous fabric, in which he made his residence, when he retreated from the Empire. It is as big as the whole town; for the whole town indeed is patch't up out of its ruins, and is said by some to take its name from it. The building is massive; there is within it an entire Temple of Jupiter, eight-square, with noble Porphyrie pillars, and Cornice, worth any bodies admiration. There is a Court before it, adorned with Egyptian pillars of that stone called Pyropoiclos, and a Temple under it, now dedicated to Sta Lucia; and up and down the Town several fragments of Antiquity, with Inscriptions and other things, worth taking notice of. Four miles from Spalatro is Salona, which shews the ruins of a great Town. About as much farther from Salona stands Clissa upon a rocky Hill, an eminent Fortress of the Venetians, which is here the frontier against the Turk; from whence they repulsed him in their late wars with great honour. I was at Lefina, where is nothing nothing very remarkable; but Biondi, that hath written our English History, was of it. Trau is ancient, and hath good marks of its being so. Here I spoke with Doctor Stafileo, who put out that fragment of Petronius Arbiter; and I saw his Manuscript. I was in the harbour of Ragusa, but not in the town, because we made no stay there. From hence we past the gulf of Ludua, and saw the Mountains of Antivari, the Plain of Durazzo and Apollonia, and came to Saffino a small Island, from whence we could see the town of Valona, and the mountains Acroceramii, which are very near, and are now called Mountains of Chimaera. I stay'd a fortnight in Corfu, and had time to view all that was considerable in the Island, particularly the Gardens of Alcinous, that is, the place where they are supposed to have been, now called Chrysa; a most delicious situation: The ancient Port, now called Naxos, and several foundations of ancient fabrics. In Zante I was likewise a fortnight, where I saw but little of Antiquity: What is Modern, is very flourishing, and the Island rich and plentiful. I went from Zante to Patras, a town in Achaia, of good note among the Ancients. Near it is a great Mountain, mention'd by Homer by the name of Petra Olenia. In the town are several massive ruins, which few there know how to give any account of. There are the remains of a large Church, dedicated to St. Andrea, who, they say, was Martyr'd there. This is the first town I saw on the Continent of Greece. The Plain about it is very fruitful, full of springs and rivulets; finely wooded with Olive-trees, Cypresses, Orange and Lemon-trees. The Citrons here are counted among the best of the Turkish Empire, and are sent for Presents to Constantinople. So are all their Fruits in very good esteem. In Athens I have spent two months. Next to Rome I judge it the most worthy to be seen for Antiquities of any I have yet been at. The Temple of Minerva is as entire as the Rotunda. I was three times in it, and took all the dimensions, with what exactness I could; but it is difficult, because the Castle of Athens, in which it stands, is a garrison, and the Turks are jealous, and brutally barbarous, if they take notice that any measures it. The length length of the Cella or Body of the Temple without side, is 168 Feet. These measures you may rely on, as exact to ½ a foot. The Portico, of the Dorique Order, which runs round it, hath 8 Pillars in front, 17 on the sides; the length of the Portico is 230 feet English. I have taken all the dimensions within, with those of the columns and Portico's; but they are too long for a Letter. The fluted or shaft of the Pillars is 19½ feet in circumference: The Intercolumnium, 1¼ of the diameter of the pillars. The Temple of Theseus is likewise entire, but 'tis much less, though built after the same model: The length of its cella is but 73 feet, the breadth, 26. The whole length of the Portico, which goes round it, 123 feet. 'Tis a Dorique building, as is that of the Minerva. Both of them are of white Marble. About the Cornice on the outside of the Temple of Minerva is a basso relievo of men on horseback, others in Chariots; and a whole procession of people going to a sacrifice of very curious sculpture. On the Front is the history of the Birth of Minerva. In the Temple of Theseus on the Front within-side the Portico, at the West-end, is the battle of the Centauri; and at the East-end seems to be a Continuation of that history: But there are several figures of Women, which seem to be Pirithous's Bride, and those other Ladies which were at the wedding. On the outside the Portico, in the spaces between the Triglyphi, are several of the prowesses of Theseus, most in Wrestling with several persons, in which he excelled: All his postures and locks are exprest with great art. Others are Monsters, which he is made encountring with, as the Bull of Marathon, the Bear of Calydon, &c. There is a Temple of Hercules, a round fabrick, only of six feet diameter, but neat architecture. The Pillars are of the Corinthian order, which support an Architrave, and Frise, wherein are done in relievo the Labours of Hercules. The top is but one stone, wrought like a Shield, with a flower on the outside, which riseth like a plume of Feathers. There is yet standing the Tower of Andronicus Cirrhester, which is an Octogone, with the figures of 8 Winds, which are large, and of good workmanship; and the names of the Winds remain legible. gible in fair Greek characters, (where a House, which is built against it on one side, does not hinder;) as ἀνέμωνες, δέκα, βότριος, στρατηγός. Each Wind placed against its quarter in the heavens; and the roof is made of little planks of Marble, broad at bottom, and which meet all in a point at top, and make an obtuse pyramid of some 32 or 36 sides. There is a delicate Temple of the Conique order in the Castle, whether of Pandrosus, or whom, I cannot tell; but the work was most fine, and all the ornaments most accurately engraven: The Length of this Temple was 67 Feet. The Breadth 38 Feet. These Pillars which remain of a Portico of the Emperour Adrian, are very stately and noble: They are of the Corinthian order, and above 52 feet in height, and 19½ in circumference: They are canellate; and there are now standing seventeen of them, with part of their Cornice on the top. The building, to which they belonged, I measured the Area of, as near as I could conjecture; and found it near a thousand feet in length, and about six hundred and eighty in breadth. Without the Town, the Bridge over the Elissus hath three arches, of solid stone-work: The middlemost is near 20 feet broad. There is the stadium yet to be seen, whose length I measured, and found it 630 feet, near to what the precise measure of a stadium ought to be, viz. 625. Towards the Southern wall of the Castle there are the remains of the Theater of Bacchus, with the Portico of Eumenes, which is near it; the semi-diameter, which is the right Sine of the demi-circle which makes the Theatre, is about 150 feet. The whole Body of the Scene, 256. Monsieur de la Guilliotiere in that Book he hath written of Athens, hath made a Cut of a Theatre, which he calls that of Bacchus, which is a meer fancy and invention of his own, nothing like the Natural one, which by the Plan, he has drawn of the Town, I judge he did not know. I give you this one hint, that you may not be deceived by that Book, which is wide from truth; as will appear to any body who sees the reality, though to one who hath not seen it, it seems plausibly written. I have dwelt long on Athens, but yet have said nothing. This Town alone deserves a whole Book to discourse of it well, which now I have neither time nor room to do; but I have Memorials by. by me of all I saw; which one day, if it please God, I may shew you. Thebes is a large Town, but I found few Antiquities in it, excepting some Inscriptions and Fragments of the Old Wall, and one Gate, which, they say, was left by Alexander, when he demolish't the rest. It is about some fifty miles distant from Athens, as I judge. Corinth is two daies journey distant: the Castle or 'Argonoeum' is standing, which is very large. The main of the Town is demolish't, and the houses, which now are scatter'd, and a great distance from one another. So is Argos, which to go round would be some four or five miles, as the houses now stand; but if they stood together, they would scarce exceed a good Village. Napolo della Rumilia is a large town, and full of Inhabitants, and the Basha of the Morea resides there: It is but very few leagues distant from Argos. Sparta is quite forsaken; and Messra is the Town which is inhabited, four miles distant from it. But one sees great ruines thereabout; almost all the Walls, several towers and foundations of Temples with pillars and chapitres demolish't: A Theatre pretty entire. It might have been anciently some five miles in compass; and about a quarter of a mile distant from the River Eurotus. The Plain of Sparta and of Laconia is very fruitful, and long, and well watered. It will be about eighty miles in length, as I judge. The Mountains on the West-side of it very high, the highest I have yet seen in Greece; the Maniotes inhabit them. But the Plain of Calamatta, which anciently was that of Messene, seems rather richer. Corone is very abundant in Olives. Navarino, which is esteem'd the ancient Pylos, hath a very strong Castle, fortified by the Turks, and is the best Port in all the Morea. Alpheus is much the best River, and the deepest, and with great reason extolled by all the ancient Poets, and chosen for the seat of the Olympick Games; for its very pleasant. The Plains of Elis are very goodly and large, fit to breath Horses in, and for hunting; but not so fruitful as that of Argos and Messene, which are all riches. The best Woods I saw in Peloponnesus are those of Achaea, abounding with Pines and wild Pear, the Ilex and Esculus-trees, and, where there runs water, with Plane-trees. Arcadia Arcadia is a very goodly Champain, and full of Cattle, but is all encompassed with Hills, which are very rough and unhewn. Lepanto is very pleasantly seated on the Gulf, which runs up as far as Corinth; and without the Town is one of the finest Fountains I saw in Greece, very rich in veins of Water, and shaded with huge Plane-trees; not inferior in anything to the Spring of Castalia on Mount Parnassus, which runs through Delphos, except in this, that one was chosen by the Muses, and the other not; and Poetical fancies have given immortality to the one, and never mentioned the other. Delphos itself is very strangely situated on a rugged hill, to which you have an ascent of some two or three leagues; and yet that is not a quarter of the way to come up to the Pique of Parnassus, on the side of which hill it stands. It seems very barren to the eye; but the Fruits are very good, where there are any. The Wines are excellent, and the Plants and Simples, which are found there, very fragrant and of great efficacy. About Lebadia, and all through Boeotia, the Plains are very fertile, and make amends for the barrenness of the Hills which encompass them: But in Winter they are apt to be overflowed for that reason, and to be turn'd into Lakes; which renders the Boeotian Air very thick, and so were their Skulls too, if the Ancients may be believed concerning them; though Pindar, who was one that sublimated Poetry to its highest exaltation, and is much fancied and imitated in our Age, as he was admired in his own, was born there: And Amphion, who was said to be so divine in his Musick, that he ravish't the very stones, had skill enough to entice them to make up the Walls of Thebes: So that not every thing that's born in a dull Air, is dull. These Vales I found much planted with Cotton, and Sesamum, and Cumin, of which they make great profit and a great trade at Thebes and Lebadia. I went from Thebes into the Island of Euboea or Negropont, and saw the Euripus, which ebbs and flows much after the nature of our Tides; only the Moon, and sometimes Winds, make it irregular. The Channel, which runs between the Town, and a Castle, which stands in an Island over against it, is some fifty feet broad; and there are three Mills on it, which shew all the changes and varieties that happen in the Current. Near the Euripus and opposite to the Town, they shew a Port, which they say was Aulis, and it is not improbable; babie; for it must be thereabouts. Between Negropont and Athens is a high Hill, called Aegaeum, formerly very dangerous, but now guarded by Albanese: It is part of Mount Parnasse; and near it on the left hand lies Mount Pentelicus, from whence the Athenians anciently fetch their Stone, and now there is a Convent of Galoeri's there, one of the richest of all Greece. In going from Athens by Sea, I embarked in a Port, which lies just by Munichia: That which they call Porto Pyrao lies behind it a mile distant, which is a large Port, able to contain 500 Vessels. There are the ruins of the Town yet remaining, and of the walls, which join'd it to the City of Athens. I sailed by Porto Phalero, the ancient Haven of Athens, which is rather a Road than a Port. I saw an Island called Aegina, where the Athenians had anciently Mines. I went ashore on the Promontory of Sunium, to view the remains of the Temple of Minerve, which stood on it. Hence I sailed among the Isles of the Archipelago, Macronesia, Thermea, Serphanto, Siphanto, till I came to Melo. From Melo I sailed through the Cyclades to come hither. I past by Andros, Tenos, Mycone, Delos; Naxia and Paros I saw at a distance. We sailed near the Northern Cape of Sio, and the Southern of Mytilene or Lesbos, and so came into the Gulf of Smyrna. Within this Gulf stands Burla near some small Islands, which is judged to be the ancient Clazomenae; Foja, which is the same with the ancient Phocæa: Near this the River Hermus discharges itself into this Gulf. In this my Journey I had some misadventures: My Companion, Sir Giles Eastcourt, dyed by the way. At Sea I was plunder'd by the Serphiotes, where I lost all my Letters, and Yours among the rest, which you sent to My Lord Ambassador at Constantinople, and Consul Rycant, whom I find here a very civil and knowing Gentleman, and am much obliged to him for his favours. I have been as curious as I could in taking the latitudes of some remarkable places: As I find them, I shall give them you: | Gr. | m. | |-----|----| | Athens | 38. 5. | | Corinth | 38. 14. | | Sparta | 37. 10. | | Corone | 37. 2. | | Gr. | |-----| | Patras | 38. 40. | | Delphos | 38. 50. | | Thebes | 38. 22. | | Negropont or Chaleis | 38. 31 | I desire you to present my humble Services to the Gentlemen of the Royal Society. I am, &c. Adverti-