Travels in Greece and Turkey: Comprehending a Particular Account of the Morea, Albania, Etc. ; a Comparison Between the Ancient and Present State of Greece, and an Historical and Geographical Description of the Ancient Epirus

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Page 295 - He who begins taking opium habitually at twenty, must scarcely expect to live longer than to the age of thirty, or from that age to thirty-six ; the latter is the utmost age that, for the most part, they attain. After some years they...
Page 126 - Ponqueville assures us, that the models which inspired Apelles and Phidias are still to be found among the inhabitants of the Morea. " They are generally tall, and finely formed ; their eyes are full of fire, and they have a beautiful mouth ornamented with the finest teeth. There are, however, degrees in their beauty, though all may be generally termed handsome. The Spartan woman is fair, of a slender make, but with a noble air. The women of Taygetes have the carriage of Pallas when she wielded her...
Page 126 - Messenian woman is low in stature and distinguished for her embonpoint; she has regular features, large blue eyes, and long black hair. The Arcadian, in her coarse woollen garment, scarcely suffers the regularity of her form to appear; but her countenance is expressive of great purity of mind, and her smile is the smile of innocence. Chaste as daughters, the women of the Morea assume as wives even a character of austerity.
Page 128 - Arimantt of the ancients, is a daemon, the enemy of all happiness, the very name of whom terrifies even the most courageous. According to the Greeks, this spirit or invisible power is grieved at all prosperity, groans at success, is indignant at a plentiful harvest, or at the fecundity of the flocks, murmurs even against Heaven for having made a young girl pleasing or handsome. In consequence of so strange a superstition, no one thinks of congratulating another upon having handsome children, and...
Page 296 - ... pleasure cannot be defined. Always beside themselves, the theriakis are incapable of work, they seem no more to belong to society.
Page 127 - ... therefore runs to the gypsy, who composes for her a philtre, as an inevitable means of exciting love : if the girl be in good circumstances, so that the gypsy may hope for a suitable reward, the success is certain ; for she secretly forms a plan of intrigue, which effects the desired purpose. When a girl wishes to know what sort of a husband she is to have, the gypsy orders her to knead a cake with certain aromatic herbs, to eat it without drinking, and go immediately to bed ; she also gives...
Page 296 - Towards the end of their career they, however, experience violent pains, and are devoured by constant hunger; nor can their paregoric in any way relieve their sufferings: become hideous to behold, deprived of their teeth, their eyes sunk in their heads, in a constant tremor, they cease to live, long before they cease to exist.
Page 126 - ... sensible to melody, most of the Greek women sing in a pleasing manner, accompanying themselves with a tetrachord, the tones of which are an excellent support to the voice. In their songs they do not extol the favours of love, they do not arraign the coldness and inconstancy of a lover ; it is rather a young man who pines away with love, as the grass is withered on the house-tops; who complains of the cruelty of his inflexible mistress, — who compares himself to a bird deprived of his mate,...
Page 126 - ... ambitious; at least this is the case with those in the higher ranks of society. Totally destitute of instruction, they are incapable of keeping up a conversation in any degree interesting, nor can supply their want of education by a natural playfulness of imagination which gives birth intuitively to lively sallies, and often charms in women more than cultivation of mind. It may be said in general that the...

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