hausted, and he fell by a mortal wound from the hand of the horseman. Bull fights are still practised among the Spanish.

7. Among the curious fables of Thessaly was that of the Centaurs; these were represented as half men and half beasts, under the figure of a horse, whose neck and head were changed to the upper part of the human figure. It is said that the Thessalians were the first who tamed the horse, and made him servicable to man. It is probable that ignorant people who first saw these horsemen, mistook the horse and his rider for one animal, and represented them as such; and thus, the fable of the Centaur might have originated: some of the Centaurs were mentioned as very wise. Chiron, the Centaur, was the preceptor of Achilles,

DORIS

South of Thessaly lay Doris and Locris. The latter has no historical fame, but the former is celebrated in poetry. The Doric dialect, the Doric music, Doric architecture, Doric simplicity, are often mentioned. The speech, the arts, and the manners of the little province of Doris have not been lost in oblivion.-The scholar, the artist, and the poet, still find subjects for thought, and for imitation, amidst monuments and records of this small te tory.

EPIRUS.

The range of Mount Pindus separates Thes saly from Epirus. Epirus was divided into Thes protia, Chaonia, and Molossis; in it were har bours on the Mediterranean, and along the coasts Greek colonies were established. The inhabitants of this country were chiefly barbarous, though Plutarch relates that a young prince of Molossis was once sent to Athens for education, where he was instructed in all the duties of a sovereign On his return to Molossis, he introduced letters among his subjects, confined himself to the arts of peace, and established laws and magistrates. The Molossi idolized their benefactor; they became more civilized than their neighbours, and were soon acknowledged to possess the superiority which knowledge confers over ignorance and barbarism.

2. In Epirus were Acheron and Cocytus, fabled to be rivers of Hell; and the lake Avernus, which was held to have some communication with the regions below. At Dodona was an oracle of Jupiter; the responses issued from a grove of oaks, and were interpreted by priestesses.

3. Achilles, in the Iliad, addresses a prayer to Jove of Dodona.

"Oh thou supreme! high-thron'd, all height above!

Oh great Pelasgic, Dodonæan Jove!

Who, 'midst surrounding hills, and vapours chill Presid'st on bleak Dodona's vocal hill:

(Whose groves, the Selli, race austere ! surround, Their feet unwash'd, their slumbers on the ground;) Who hear, from rustling oaks, thy dark decrees; And catch the fates, low whispered, in the breeze :)

Hear as of old!”.

4. Acarnania, Etolia, and Locrisozelæ lay south and south-east of Epirus; Acarnania lay upon the sea; the river Achelous separated it from Etolia; Etolia was bounded east by the country of the Locri and by Doris, and Locrisozelæ extended along the Corinthian gulf till it reached the confines of Phocis. These states severally had small participation in the arts or civilization of Greece: and the inhabitants of the coasts were addicted to piracies. The little island of Ithaca lay not far from Acarnania, and is an object of curiosity on account of its ancient king, Ulysses, who is well known to all the readers of Homer.

The country near Athens is described in the following translation of a passage in one of the dramas cf Sophocles: it is a welcome to a stranger who had arrived at Mount Colonus, in the vicinity of Athens.

Well, stranger, to these rural seats
Thou comest, this region's blest retreats,
Where white Colonus lifts his head,
And glories in the bounding steed;
Where sadly sweet the frequent nightingale,
Impassioned pours her evening song,

?

And charms with varied note each verdant vale,
The ivy's dark green boughs among
Or sheltered midst the clustering vine,
Which high above to form a bower,
Safe from the sun, or stormy shower
Loves its thick branches to entwine.

Where frolic Bacchus always roves,

And visits, with his fostering nymphs, the groves.

Bathed in the dew of heaven, each morn
Fresh is the fair Narcissus born:

Of these great powers the crown of old,
The Crocus glitters, robed in gold:
Here restless fountains, ever murmuring, glide,
And as their crisped streamlets stray
To feed, Cephisus, thy unfailing tide,

Fresh verdure marks their winding way;
And as their pure stream rolls along
O'er the rich bosom of the ground

Quick spring the plants, the flowers around. Here, oft to raise the tuneful song,

The virgin band of Muses deigns;

And car-borne Venus guides her golden reins.

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*

Here blooms, this fertile region round
The fruitfulolive's hoary head;
The young, the old, behold it spread,
Nor dare with impious hand to wound
For Morian Jove with guardian ca
Delights to see it flourish fair;
And Pallas, favouring, from the skit
Rolls the blue lustre of her eyes.

My voice yet once more let me raise,
Yet other glories to relate :
A potent god for these we praise,
His presents to this favoured state ;-
The steed obedient to the rein,

And safe to plough the watery main.