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diff --git a/40394-8.txt b/40394-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f998f6a..0000000 --- a/40394-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9309 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour -Lands of Venice, by Edward A. Freeman - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice - -Author: Edward A. Freeman - -Release Date: August 2, 2012 [EBook #40394] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEIGHBOUR LANDS OF VENICE *** - - - - -Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note: - - Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have - been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal - signs=. This book uses the ~ over occasional letters to represent - scribal abbreviations. This is indicated as (for example) p[~r]b. - - - - - _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ - - Historical and Architectural Sketches; - CHIEFLY ITALIAN. - - ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR. - - BEING A - _Companion Volume to 'Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice.'_ - Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ - - -"A historian is not always an antiquary, even less frequently is an -antiquary a historian; by combining the two characters, he thereby -redeems his historical writings from the dangers of shallowness and -inaccuracy, and his antiquarianism from pedantry and dryness.... From -the information afforded by the essays themselves, we may gather much -which should heighten the enjoyment of visits to the inexhaustible -architectural treasures of the Italian Peninsula."--_The Times._ - -"For these essays we have only words of unqualified praise; they are -full of valuable information, and are delightfully interesting." ---_Westminster Review._ - -"Full of valuable teachings and suggestions to all who are ready to -profit by them."--_Academy._ - -"Those who know Italy will retrace their steps with delight in Mr. -Freeman's company, and find him a most interesting guide and -instructor, not merely in the architectural, but in the history of the -various Italian towns that he deals with.... One of the most -interesting features of the volume are the illustrations, twenty-two -in number, from the author's own pencil."--_Examiner._ - - - MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON, W.C. - - - - - WORKS BY E. A. FREEMAN, D.C.L., LL.D. - - - HISTORY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FROM THE FOUNDATION of the - ACHAIAN LEAGUE TO THE DISRUPTION of the UNITED STATES. Vol. - I. General Introduction.--History of the Greek Federations. - 8vo. 21_s._ - - HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF WELLS, as illustrating - the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old Foundation. - Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._ - - OLD ENGLISH HISTORY. With Five Coloured Maps. _New Edition, - Revised._ Extra fcap. 8vo. 6_s._ - - HISTORICAL ESSAYS. _Third Edition._ 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ - - CONTENTS:--The Mythical and Romantic Elements in Early - English History--The Continuity of English History--The - Relations between the Crown of England and Scotland--St. - Thomas of Canterbury and his Biographers, &c. - - HISTORICAL ESSAYS. _Second Series. Second Edition_, with - additional Essays. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ - - CONTENTS:--Ancient Greece and Mediæval Italy--Mr. - Gladstone's Homer and the Homeric Ages--The Historians of - Athens--The Athenian Democracy--Alexander the Great--Greece - during the Macedonian Period--Mommsen's History of - Rome--Lucius Cornelius Sulla--The Flavian Cæsars, &c. - - HISTORICAL ESSAYS. _Third Series._ 8vo. 12_s._ - - CONTENTS:--First Impressions of Rome--The Illyrian Emperors - and their Land--Augusta Treverorum--The Goths at - Ravenna--Race and Language--The Byzantine Empire--First - Impressions of Athens--Mediæval and Modern Greece--The - Southern Slaves--Sicilian Cycles--The Normans at Palermo. - - THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION FROM THE EARLIEST - TIMES. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo. 5_s._ - - THE HISTORY AND CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS. Six Lectures. - _Third Edition_, with New Preface. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._ - - THE OTTOMAN POWER IN EUROPE: its Nature, its Growth, and its - Decline. With Coloured Maps. Crown 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._ - - GENERAL SKETCH OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. _New Edition._ Enlarged, - with Maps, &c. 18mo. 3_s._ 6_d._ (Vol. I. of Historical - Course for Schools.) - - COMPARATIVE POLITICS. Lectures at the Royal Institution. To - which is added "The Unity of History." 8vo. 14_s._ - - - MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON, W.C. - - - - - SKETCHES - FROM THE - SUBJECT AND NEIGHBOUR LANDS - OF - VENICE. - - - - - [Illustration: PERISTYLE AND CATHEDRAL TOWER, SPALATO.] - - - - - SKETCHES - FROM THE - SUBJECT AND NEIGHBOUR LANDS - OF - VENICE. - - BY - EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L., LL.D., - HONORARY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. - - London: - MACMILLAN AND CO. - 1881. - - [_All Rights reserved._] - - - - -PREFACE. - - -This volume is designed as a companion and sequel to my former volume -called "Architectural and Historical Sketches, chiefly Italian." Its -general plan is the same. But more of the papers in the present volume -appear for the first time than was the case with the earlier one, and -most of those which are reprinted have been more largely changed in -reprinting than those which appeared in the former book. This could -hardly be otherwise with the pieces relating to the lands east of the -Hadriatic, where I have had to work in remarks made during later -journeys, and where great events have happened since I first saw those -lands. - -The papers are chiefly the results of three journeys. The first, in -the autumn of 1875, took in Dalmatia and Istria, with Trieste and -Aquileia. At that time the revolt of Herzegovina had just begun, and -Ragusa was crowded with refugees. Some of the papers contained -references to the state of things at the moment, and those references -I saw no reason to alter. But I may as well say that the time of my -first visit to the South-Slavonic lands was not chosen with reference -to any political or military object. The journey was planned before -the revolt began; it was in fact the accomplishment of a thirty years' -yearning after the architectural wonders of Spalato, which till that -year I had been unable to gratify. If that visit taught me some things -with regard to our own times as well as to earlier times, it is not, I -think, either wonderful or blameworthy. - -In 1877 I visited Dalmatia for the second time, and Greece for the -first. I should be well pleased some day to put together some out of -many papers on the more distant Greek lands. In this volume I have -brought in those on Corfu only, as that island forms an essential part -of my present subject. - -In the present year 1881 I again visited Dalmatia and some parts of -Istria and Albania, as also a large part of Italy. This has enabled me -to add some papers on the Venetian possessions both in northern and -southern Italy, as also one on the Dalmatian island of Curzola, which -on former visits I had seen only in passing. - -The papers headed "Treviso," "Gorizia," "Spalato revisited," "Trani," -"Otranto," "Corfu to Durazzo," and "Antivari," are all due to this -last journey, and have never been in print before. That on "Curzola" -appeared in _Macmillan's Magazine_ for September 1881. Those headed -"Udine and Cividale," "Aquileia," "Trieste to Spalato," "Spalato to -Cattaro," "A trudge to Trebinje," appeared in the _Pall Mall Gazette_ -in 1875. The rest appeared in the _Saturday Review_ in 1875 and 1876. -But many of them have been so much altered that they can hardly be -called mere reprints; they are rather recastings, with large -additions, omissions, and changes, such as the light of second and -third visits seemed to call for. - -I made none of these journeys alone, and I have much for which to -thank the companions with whom I made them. In 1877 I was with the -Earl of Morley and Mr. J. F. F. Horner. And I must not forget to -mention that it was Lord Morley who at once read and explained the -inscription in the basilica of Parenzo, when Mr. Horner and I had seen -that Mr. Neale's explanation was nonsense, but had not yet hit upon -anything better for ourselves. In a great part of my two later -journeys I had the companionship of Mr. Arthur Evans, my friend of -1877, my son-in-law of 1881. How much I owe to his knowledge of -South-Slavonic matters, words would fail me to tell. I had seen -Dalmatia for the first time, and I had begun to write about it, before -I knew him and, I believe, before he had published anything; otherwise -I should almost feel myself an intruder in a province which he has -made his own. One out of many points I may specially mention. It was -Mr. Evans who found and explained the two missing capitals from the -palace at Ragusa, which are at once so remarkable in themselves and -which throw so much light on the history of the building. - -The illustrations to my former volume met with some severe criticism. -But I am bound to say that of that severe criticism I agreed to every -word. Only I thought that the critics would perhaps have been less -severe if they had seen my original drawings themselves. The -illustrations to the present volume have been made by a new process, -partly, as before, from my own sketches, but partly also from -photographs. I trust that they will be found less unsatisfactory than -those that went before them. - -As there are in these papers a good many historical references, some -of them to rather out-of-the-way matters, but matters which could not -always be explained at length in the text, I have drawn up a -chronological table of the chief events in the history of the lands -and cities of which I have had to speak. - -I need hardly say that this volume, though I hope it may be useful to -travellers on the spot, is not strictly a guide-book. But a good -guide-book to Istria and Dalmatia is much needed. I am not joking when -I say that the best guide to those parts is still the account written -by the Emperor Constantino Porphyrogenitus more than nine hundred -years back. But it is surely high time that there should be another. -The attempts made in one or two of Murray's Handbooks are very poor. -Sir Gardner Wilkinson's "Dalmatia and Montenegro," published more than -thirty years ago, is an admirable book, and one to which I owe a very -deep debt of gratitude. It first taught me what there was to see in -the East-Hadriatic lands. But it is over-big for a guide-book. Mr. -Neale's book contains some information, and, even in its ecclesiastical -grotesqueness, it is sometimes instructive as well as amusing. But we -can hardly take as our guide one who leaves out the Ragusan palace and -who, when at Spalato, does not think of Diocletian. It would be in -itself well if Gsel-fels, the prince of guide-book-makers, would do -for Dalmatia as he has done for Sicily; but one would rather see it -done in our own tongue. - - SOMERLEAZE, WELLS, - _September 20th, 1881_. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - THE LOMBARD AUSTRIA:-- PAGE - - TREVISO 3 - - UDINE AND CIVIDALE 24 - - GORIZIA 41 - - AQUILEIA 52 - - TRIESTE 70 - - - TRIESTE TO SPALATO:-- - - TRIESTE TO SPALATO 85 - - PARENZO 97 - - POLA 109 - - ZARA 121 - - - SPALATO AND ITS NEIGHBOURS:-- - - SPALATO 137 - - SPALATO REVISITED 149 - - SALONA 156 - - TRAÜ 175 - - - SPALATO TO CATTARO:-- - - SPALATO TO CATTARO 189 - - CURZOLA 200 - - RAGUSA 218 - - RAGUSAN ARCHITECTURE 240 - - A TRUDGE TO TREBINJE 260 - - CATTARO 271 - - - VENICE IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE NORMANS:-- - - TRANI 287 - - OTRANTO 313 - - FIRST GLIMPSES OF HELLAS 332 - - CORFU AND ITS NAMES 343 - - CORFU AND ITS HISTORY 353 - - CORFU TO DURAZZO 365 - - ANTIVARI 381 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - PERISTYLE AND CATHEDRAL TOWER, SPALATO _Frontispiece_ - - PORTA GEMINA, POLA 113 - - TOWER OF SAINT MARY'S, ZARA 132 - - SAINT VITUS, ZARA, AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH, CATTARO 133 - - THE TOWER, SPALATO 145 - - CATHEDRAL, TRAÜ 182 - - SAINT JOHN BAPTIST, TRAÜ 185 - - TOWER OF FRANCISCAN CHURCH, RAGUSA 242 - - PALACE, RAGUSA 245 - - DOGANA, RAGUSA 253 - - CABOGA HOUSE, GRAVOSA 255 - - CATHEDRAL, TRANI 299 - - CATHEDRAL, TRANI, INSIDE 305 - - CHURCHES AT CORFU 358 - - SAINT JASON AND SAINT SOSIPATROS, CORFU, INSIDE 363 - - - - -CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. - - - B.C. - Foundation of Korkyra _c._ 734 - - Foundation of Epidamnos _c._ 627 - - War between Corinth and Korkyra about Epidamnos 435 - - Colonization of Pharos and Issa 385 - - Korkyra held by Agathoklês 300 - - Korkyra held by Pyrrhos 287 - - First Roman war with Illyria, time of Queen Teuta - and Demetrios of Pharos 229 - - Korkyra, Epidamnos, and Apollonia become allies of - Rome 229 - - Second Illyrian War 219 - - Foundation of Aquileia 181 - - First Roman Conquest of Illyria 168 - - First mention of Tragyrion (Traü) 158 - - First Dalmatian War 156 - - Salona the head of Dalmatia 117 - - Roman Conquest of Istria 107 - - Foundation of Forum Julii _c._ 45 - - Colony of Tergeste fortified by Augustus 32 - - Foundation of Pietas Julia _c._ 30 - - A.D. - Final conquest of Dalmatia 6 - - Martyrdom of Saint Caius 296? - - Diocletian retires to Salona 305 - - Crispus put to death at Pola 326 - - First church of Aquileia built by Fortunatian _c._ 347 - - Gallus put to death at Pola 354 - - Aquileia destroyed by Attila 452 - - Dalmatia under Marcellian 454-468 - - Dalmatia under Odoacer _c._ 480 - - Dalmatia under Theodoric 488 - - The Emperor Glycerius Bishop of Salona 474 - - Nepos killed near Salona 480 - - Salona recovered to the Empire 535 - - Building of the church of Parenzo 535-543 - - Belisarius sails from Salona 544 - - Narses sails from Salona 552 - - Schism in the church of Aquileia 557 - - Beginning of the Patriarchate of Grado 606 - - Lombard conquest of Italy begins 568 - - Slavonic settlements under Heraclius _c._ 620 - - Salona destroyed by the Avars 639 - - Inland Dalmatia under Charles the Great; the - coast cities left to the Eastern Empire 806 - - The church of Pola built by Bishop Handegis 857 - - Cattaro taken by the Saracens 867 - - Saracen siege of Ragusa 867 - - First Venetian conquest of Dalmatia 997 - - Poppo Patriarch of Aquileia; rebuilding of the - church 1019-1042 - - First authentic mention of Gorizia 1051 - - Croatian kingdom of Dalmatia 1062 - - Foundation of Saint Nicolas at Traü 1064 - - Corfu conquered by Robert Wiscard 1081 - - Corfu recovered by the Empire 1085 - - Exploits of the English exiles at Durazzo 1086 - - Magyar kingdom of Dalmatia 1102 - - The tower of Saint Mary's at Zara built by Coloman - of Hungary 1105 - - Beginning of the Counts of Gorizia 1120 - - Corfu held by Roger of Sicily 1147-1150 - - Dalmatia restored to the Eastern Empire 1171 - - Corfu conquered by William the Good 1186 - - Corfu, Durazzo, etc., held by Margarito as a - kingdom dependent on Sicily 1186 - - Richard the First at Ragusa 1192 - - Taking of Zara by the Crusaders 1202 - - Venetian Counts at Ragusa 1204 - - Corfu and Durazzo first occupied by Venice 1206 - - Building of Traü cathedral 1215-1321 - - Corfu and Durazzo recovered by Michael of Epeiros 1216 - - Durazzo recovered by the Empire 1259 - - Corfu and Durazzo ceded to Manfred 1268 - - Consecration of Saint Anastasia at Zara 1285 - - Durazzo under Servia 1322 - - Durazzo restored to the Kings of Naples 1322 - - Pola submits to Venice 1331 - - Neapolitan duchy of Durazzo 1333-1360 - - Treviso first occupied by Venice 1338 - - Building of the Archbishop's castle at Salona 1347 - - Treviso besieged by Lewis of Hungary 1356 - - Dalmatia ceded to Lewis of Hungary 1358 - - Durazzo the capital of an Albanian kingdom 1358-1392 - - Complete independence of Ragusa 1359 - - Markquard, Patriarch of Aquileia; recasting - of the church 1365-1381 - - Gradual advance of Venice in Dalmatia 1378-1444 - - Treviso ceded to Leopold of Austria 1381 - - Trieste commends itself to Austria 1381 - - Final acquisition of Corfu by Venice 1386 - - Venetian occupation of Argos 1388 - - Treviso restored to Venice 1388 - - Second Venetian acquisition of Durazzo 1392 - - Building of the palace at Ragusa 1388-1435 - - Butrinto and Parga commend themselves to Venice 1407 - - Consecration of Saint Chrysogonos at Zara 1407 - - Sebenico annexed by Venice 1412 - - Building of the cathedral at Sebenico 1415-1555 - - Cattaro becomes Venetian 1419 - - Traü annexed by Venice 1420 - - Curzola finally submits to Venice 1420 - - Dominions of the Patriarch of Aquileia annexed - by Venice 1420 - - Udine annexed by Venice 1420 - - Lesina occupied by Venice 1424 - - The city of Aquileia left to the Patriarchs 1451 - - Argos ceded by Venice 1463 - - Fluctuations between Venice and the Turk in - Dalmatia 1465-1718 - - Date of the cloister at Badia 1477 - - Otranto taken by the Turks 1480 - - Otranto recovered by Alfonso 1481 - - Veglia annexed by Venice 1481 - - Monopoli stormed by the Venetians 1495 - - Trani, Otranto, and other cities pledged to Venice - by Ferdinand of Naples 1496 - - Durazzo and Butrinto lost by Venice 1500 - - Gorizia annexed to Austria by Maximilian 1500 - - Treviso besieged by Maximilian 1508 - - Trani, etc., recovered by Ferdinand of Aragon 1509 - - Building of the Dogana at Ragusa 1520 - - Trani, etc., recovered by Venice 1528 - - Trani, etc., restored to Charles the Fifth 1530 - - Aquileia annexed to Austria 1544 - - Mark Anthony de Dominis Archbishop of Spalato 1622 - - Building of the gate at Curzola 1643 - - The great earthquake at Ragusa 1667 - - Prevesa won and Butrinto recovered by Venice 1685-1699 - - The Emperor Leopold repairs the castle of Gorizia 1660 - - Athens taken by Morosini 1687 - - Abolition of the patriarchate of Aquileia; Udine - and Gorizia become metropolitan sees 1751 - - Peace of Campo Formio; fall of Venice: Venetia, - Istria, and Dalmatia, except Ragusa, occupied - by Austria 1797-8 - - The Ionian Islands and the Venetian outposts - ceded to France 1797 - - Septinsular Republic under Ottoman overlordship 1798 - - Prevesa stormed by Ali of Jôannina 1798 - - Venetia, Istria, Trieste, and Dalmatia ceded - to the French kingdom of Italy; Dalmatia partly - occupied 1805 - - The Republic of Ragusa suppressed by Buonaparte 1808 - - Various points occupied by England 1810-1814 - - Cattaro delivered from France by England and - Montenegro; Cattaro, capital of Montenegro 1813 - - Dalmatia recovered by Austria, Ragusa also - occupied by Austria for the first time 1814 - - Venetia, Istria, and Trieste recovered by Austria 1814 - - English occupation of Curzola 1813-1815 - - The Ionian Islands under British protection 1815 - - Surrender of Parga to the Turk 1819 - - Liberation of Venice and recovery by Austria 1848-9 - - The Ionian Islands added to free Greece 1864 - - Final liberation of Venetia 1866 - - Austrian attempt to infringe the liberties of the - Bocchesi; defeat of the Austrians 1869 - - Beginning of the war in Herzegovina 1875 - - Servian and Montenegrin war; recovery of Antivari, - Dulcigno, and Spizza by Montenegro 1876-7 - - Congress of Berlin; Dulcigno restored to the Turk; - Spizza taken by Austria; Antivari left to - Montenegro; the Turk "invited" to cede Epeiros - to free Greece 1878 - - The liberation of Epeiros decreed the second time 1880 - - Dulcigno recovered for Montenegro 1880 - - Liberation of Thessaly, but not of Epeiros 1881 - - - - -THE LOMBARD AUSTRIA. - - - - -TREVISO. - -1881. - - -The north-eastern corner of Italy is one of those parts of the world -which have gone through the most remarkable changes. That it has often -changed its political masters is only common to it with the rest of -Italy, and with many other lands as well. The physical changes too -which the soil and its waters have gone through are remarkable, but -they are not unparalleled. The Po may perhaps be reckoned as the -frontier stream of the region towards the south, and the many paths by -which the Po has found its way into the Hadriatic need not be dwelled -on. We are more concerned with rivers further to the north-east. The -Isonzo no longer represents the course of the ancient Sontius; the -Natisone no longer flows by fallen Aquileia. The changes of the -coast-line which have made what is left of Aquileia inland have their -counterparts at Pisa and at Ravenna. In the range of historical -geography, the most curious feature is the way in which certain -political names have kept on an abiding life in this region, though -with singular changes of meaning. The land has constantly been either -Venetian or Austrian; sometimes it has been Venetian and Austrian at -once. But it has been Venetian and Austrian in various meanings. It -was Venetian long before the name of Venice was heard of in its present -sense; it was Austrian long before the name of Austria was heard of in -its present sense. The land of the old Veneti bore the Venetian name -ages before the city of Venice was in being, and it keeps it now that -Venice has ceased to be a political power. Venetian then the land has -ever been in one sense, while a large part of it was for some centuries -Venetian in another sense, in the days when so many of its cities -bowed to Saint Mark and his commonwealth as its rulers. Austrian the -land was in the old geographical sense, when it formed the Lombard -_Austria_--the eastern half, the _Eastrice_--that form would, we -suspect, come nearer to Lombard speech than _Oesterreich_--of the -Lombard realm. But if the Lombard realm had its Austria and its -Neustria, so also had the Frankish realm. Wherever a land could be -easily divided into east and west, there was an _Austria_, and its -negative a _Neustria_. Lombardy then had its Austria, and its -_Austria_ was found in the old and the new Venetian land. No one -perhaps ever spoke of the Karlings as the House of Austria, or of -their Empire as the dominions of the House of Austria. And yet the -name would not have been out of place. Their dominion marked the -predominance of the eastern part of the Frankish realm--its -_Oesterreich_, its _Austrasia_, its _Austria_--over the Neustrian -power of the earlier dynasty. The Lombard Austria became part of the -dominions of those who were before all things lords of the Frankish -Austria. And in later times, when the Lombard and the Frankish Austria -were both forgotten, when the name clave only to a third Austria, the -more modern Austria of Germany--the Eastern mark called into being to -guard Germany from the Magyar--the Venetian land has more than once -become Austrian in another sense; some of it in that sense remains -Austrian still. Dukes of the most modern Austria--plain dukes who were -satisfied with being dukes--archdukes who were Emperors by lawful -election--archdukes who have had a strange fancy for calling -themselves Emperors of their archduchy--have all of them at various -times borne rule over the whole or part of the older Austria of -Lombardy. To-day the north-eastern corner of Italy, land of Venetia, -the once Lombard Austria, is parted asunder by an artificial boundary -between the dominions of the Italian King and the lord of the later -Austria. And, what a passing traveller might not easily find out, in -this old Venetian land, in both parts of it, alike under modern -Italian and under modern Austrian rule, besides the Latin speech which -everywhere meets the eye and the ear, the speech of Slavonic settlers -still lingers. Settlers they are in the Venetian land, no less than -its Roman or its German masters. It is hard to say who the old Veneti -were, perhaps nearer akin to the Albanians than to any other European -people. At all events there is no reason for thinking that they were -Slaves. The presence of a Slavonic speech in this region is a fruit of -the same migration which made the land beyond Hadria Slavonic. But to -hear the Slavonic and the Italian tongues side by side is so familiar -a phænomenon under modern Austrian rule, that its appearance at -Aquileia or Gorizia may with some minds seem to give the land a -specially Austrian character, and may help to shut out the remembrance -that at Aquileia and Gorizia we are within the ancient kingdom of -Italy. Nay it may be a new and strange thing to many to hear that, -even within the bounds of the modern kingdom of Italy, there are -districts where, though Italian is the cultivated tongue, yet Slave is -the common peasant speech. - -But besides physical changes, changes of name, changes of inhabitants, -we are perhaps yet more deeply struck with the fluctuations in the -history of the cities of this region. In this matter, throughout the -Venetian land, the first do indeed become last and the last first. No -city in this region has kept on that enduring life through all changes -which has belonged to many cities in other parts of Europe. We do not -here find the Roman walls, or the walls yet earlier than Roman days, -fencing in dwelling-places of man which have been continuously -inhabited, which have sometimes been continuously flourishing, through -all times of which history has anything to tell us. We need not take -our examples from Rome or Athens or Argos or the Phoenician Gades. -It is enough to look to one or two of the capitals of modern Europe. -At the beginning of the fifth century, London and Paris, not yet -indeed capitals of kingdoms, were already in being, and had been in -being for some centuries. But far above either ranked the great city -of north-eastern Italy, then one of the foremost cities of the world, -the ancient colony of Aquileia, keeper of one of the great lines of -approach towards Italy and Rome. No one city had then taken the name -of the Venetian land; no wanderers from the mainland had as yet -settled down like sea-fowl, as Cassiodorus puts it, on the islands of -the lagoons. By the end of the fifth century both London and Paris had -passed from Roman rule to the rule of Teutonic conquerors. London, we -may conceive, was still inhabited; at all events its walls stood -ready to receive a fresh colony before long. Paris had received one of -those momentary lifts of which she went through several before her -final exaltation; the city which had been favoured by Roman Julian was -favoured also by Frankish Chlodwig. But Aquileia had felt the full -fury of invaders who came, not to occupy or to settle, but simply to -destroy. As a city, as a bulwark of Italy, she had passed away for -ever. But out of her fall several cities had, in the course of that -century, risen to increased greatness, and the greatest of all had -come into being. The city was born which, simply as a city, as a city -bearing rule over distant lands, must rank as the one historic peer of -Rome. Not yet Queen of the Hadriatic, not yet the chosen sanctuary of -Saint Mark, not yet enthroned on her own Rialto, the settlement which -was to grow into Venice had already made its small beginnings. - -But the fall of Aquileia, the rise of Venice, are only the greatest -examples of a general law. A nearer neighbour of Aquileia at once -profited by her overthrow; Grado, on her own coast, almost at her own -gates, sprang up as her rival; but the greatness of Grado has passed -away only less thoroughly than the greatness of Aquileia. So the -Venetian Forum Julii gave way to its more modern neighbour Udine. It -lost the name which it had given to the land around it. Its shortened -form _Friuli_ lived on as one of the names of the surrounding -district, but Forum Julii itself was forgotten under the vaguer -description of _Cividale_. Gorizia has been for ages the head of a -principality; in later times it has been the head of an ecclesiastical -province. But Gorizia is absolutely unknown till the beginning of the -eleventh century, and it does not seem even to have supplanted any -earlier city. It is thus a marked peculiarity of this district that -the chief towns, with Venice itself at their head, have not lived on -continuously as chief towns from Roman or earlier times. West of -Venice the rule does not apply. Padua and Verona are old enough for -the warmest lover of antiquity, and Vicenza, going back at least to -the second century B.C., must be allowed to be of a respectable age. - -That the chief cities of a district should date from early mediæval, -and not from Roman times, is a feature which at once suggests -analogies with our own island. Both in Venetia and in Britain we are -struck with the prevalence of places which arose after the fall of the -elder Roman power, in opposition to most parts of Italy and Gaul, -where nearly every town can trace back to Roman days or earlier. But -the likeness cannot be carried out in detail. In the district which we -have just marked out it is absolutely the greatest cities--one of them -so great as to be put out of all comparison with the others--which -are of this comparatively recent date. In England, though the great -mass of the local centres are places of English foundation and bearing -English names, yet the greatest and most historic cities still carry -the marks of Roman origin about them. Some Roman cities in Britain -passed utterly away; others lived on, or soon came to life again, in -the forms of York, London, and Winchester. But in Venetia it is the -cities which answer to York and London which have lost their -greatness, though they have not utterly passed away. This last fact is -one of the characteristics of the district; the fallen cities have -simply fallen from their greatness; they have not ceased to be -dwelling-places of man. Aquileia and Forum Julii have ceased for ages -to be what Aquileia and Forum Julii once were, but they have not -become as Silchester, or even as Salona. Of the position of all these -places there is no manner of doubt. They are there to speak for -themselves; even Julium Carnacum, whose site has had to be looked for, -still abides, though those who have reached it describe it as a small -village. Aquileia under its old name, Forum Julii under its new name, -are still inhabited, they still hold the rank of towns; but while they -still abide, the rule that the first should become last and the last -first is carried out among them. As ancient Aquileia was far greater -than ancient Forum Julii, so modern Aquileia, though it keeps its -name, is now far less than modern Cividale, from which the name of -Forum Julii has passed away. - -Aquileia then, once the greatest city of all, is the city that has -come nearest to being altogether wiped out of being. Venice, -afterwards the greatest of all, is the city which may most truly be -said to have been called out of nothing in after-times. Among the -other cities the change has been rather a change of relation and -proportion, than a case of absolute birth and death. Cividale is still -there, though it is but a poor representative of Forum Julii. Udine -has taken its place. But Udine, though its importance belongs wholly -to mediæval times, was not strictly a mediæval creation. It is just -possible to prove the existence of _Vedinum_ in Roman days, though it -is only its existence which can be proved; it plays no part whatever -in early history. The case is slightly different with another -neighbouring city, the Roman Tarvisium, whose name gradually changed -to _Treviso_. Tarvisium was of more account than Vedinum, but it first -comes into notice in the wars of Belisarius, and its position as an -important city playing a part in Italian history dates only from the -days of the Lombard League. And its general history is one in which -the shifting nomenclature of the district may be read with almost -grotesque accuracy. It has not only been, like its neighbours, -Venetian and Austrian in two widely different senses--it has not only -been Venetian in the old geographical sense, and Venetian in the sense -of being subject to the commonwealth of Venice--it has not only been -Austrian in the old Lombard sense, and Austrian in the sense of being -subject to the Dukes of the German Austria--but it has also shifted -backwards and forwards between the rule of the Serene Republic and the -rule of the Austrian Dukes, in a way to which it would not be easy to -find a parallel even among the old revolutions of its neighbours. - - * * * * * - -Treviso and its district, the march which bears its name, was the -first possession of Venice on the true mainland of Italy, as -distinguished from that mere fringe of coast along the lagoons which -may be more truly counted as part of her dominion by sea. That Treviso -lay near to Venice was a truth which came home to Venetian minds at a -very early stage of Venetian history. Even in the eleventh century, -the earliest authentic chronicler of Venice, that John whose work will -be found in the seventh volume of Pertz, speaks with some -significance, even when recording events of the time of Charles the -Great, of "quædam civitas non procul a Venetia, nomine Tarvisium." -When strictly Italian history begins, Treviso runs through the -ordinary course of a Lombard city; it takes its share in resistance to -the imperial power, it falls into the hands of tyrants of the house of -Romano and of the house of Scala. Along with Padua, it is the city -which is fullest of memories of the terrible Eccelinò. Won by the -Republic in 1338 from its lord Mastino della Scala, the special -strangeness of its fortunes begins. The modern House of Austria was -already in being; but its Dukes had not yet grown into Emperors, one -only had grown into an acknowledged King. They had not won for -themselves the crowns of Bohemia or Hungary, though, by the opposite -process, one Bohemian king, the mighty Ottocar, had counted Austria in -the long list of his conquered lands. But presently Treviso becomes -the centre of events in which Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and the -Empire, all play their parts. It is perhaps not wonderful when the -maritime republic, mistress of the Trevisan march, vainly seeks to -obtain the confirmation of her right from the overlord of Treviso -though not of Venice, Charles of Bohemia, King of the Romans and -future Emperor. But the old times when Huns, Avars, Magyars, -barbarians of every kind, poured into this devoted corner of Italy, -seem to have come back, when in 1356 we find Treviso besieged by a -Hungarian king. But the Hungarian king is no longer an outside -barbarian; he is a prince of the house of Anjou and Paris. If Lewis -the Great besieged Treviso, it was not in the character of a new -Attila or Arpad; he attacked the now Venetian city as part of the war -which he so successfully waged against the Republic in her Dalmatian -lands. Not thirty years later we find the Doge Andrew Contarini, with -more wisdom perhaps than the more famous Foscari of the next age, -considering that to Venice the sea was greater than the land, and -therefore commending her new conquest on the mainland to Duke Leopold -of Austria. The words of the chronicler Andrew Dandolo are worth -remembering. They express the truest policy of the Republic, from -which she ought never to have gone astray. - - "Ducalis excellentia prudentissima, meditatione considerans - proprium Venetorum esse mare colere, terramque postergare; - hinc enim divitiis et honoribus abundat, inde sæpe sibi - proveniunt scandala et errores." - -But Leopold, he who fell at Sempach, had not the same passion for -dominion south of the Alps as some of his successors. He wisely sold -Treviso to the lord of Padua, Francesco Carrara, from whom, after a -moment of doubt whether the prize would not pass to the tyrant of -Milan, the Republic won it back after eight years' separation. -Henceforward Treviso shared the fate of the other Venetian possessions -which gradually gathered on each side of her. Having had for a moment -its share of Austrian dominion in the fourteenth century, Treviso was -able, in the wars of the sixteenth century, to withstand the same -power in a new shape, the power of Maximilian, Austrian Archduke and -Roman King. In later times nothing distinguishes the city from the -common course by which Treviso and her neighbours became Austrian, -French, and Austrian again, till, by the happiest change of all, they -became members of a free and united Italy. - - * * * * * - -In the aspect of the city itself, the Roman Tarvisium has left but -small signs of its former being. All that we see is the Treviso of -mediæval and later times. The walls, the bell-towers, the slenderer -tower of the municipal palace, the arcaded streets, the houses too, -though they are not rich in the more elaborate forms of Italian -domestic art, have all the genuine character of a mediæval Italian -town. Not placed in any striking position, not a hill-city, not in any -strictness a river-city, but a city of the plain looking towards the -distant mountains--not adorned by any building of conspicuous -splendour--Treviso is still far from being void of objects which -deserve study. As we look on the city, either from the lofty walk into -which so large a part of its walls have been turned, or else from the -neighbourhood of its railway station, its aspect, without rivalling -that of the great cities of Italy, is far from unsatisfactory. But -the character of the city differs widely in the two views. From the -station the ecclesiastical element prevails. The main object in the -view from this side is the Dominican church of Saint Nicolas, one of -those vast brick friars' churches so characteristic of Italy, and to -which the praise of a certain stateliness cannot be denied. Saint -Nicolas, with its great bell-tower, groups well with the smaller -church and smaller tower of a neighbouring Benedictine house. In -short, the towers of Treviso form its leading feature, and that, -though several of the greatest, above all the huge campanile designed -for the cathedral church, have never been finished. In the view from -the railway Saint Nicolas' tower is dominant; the tall slender tower -of the municipal palace, loftier, we suspect, in positive height, -fails to balance it. In the other view, from the wall on the other -side, the municipal tower is the leading object, which it certainly -would not have been if the bell-tower of the _duomo_ had ever been -carried up. There is a great friars' church on this side too, the -desecrated church of Saint Francis; but, though a large building with -marked outline, it does not stand out at all so conspicuously as its -Dominican rival on the other side. The _duomo_ itself, with its -eccentric cupolas, goes for less in the general view than either. On -the whole, the aspect of Treviso is very characteristically Italian; -it would be yet more so if it sent up its one great campanile to mark -its site from afar. Still, even as it is, this city of the Lombard -Austria proclaims itself as one of the same group as those cities -further to the west which we look down on side by side from the -castle-hill of Brescia. - -Treviso, so near a neighbour of Venice, the earliest of her subject -cities of the mainland, does not fail to proclaim the relation between -the subject and the ruling commonwealth in the usual fashion. The -winged lion, the ensign which we are to follow along so many shores, -appears on not a few points of her defences. Over the gate of Saint -Thomas the badge of the Evangelist appears in special size and -majesty, accompanied, it would seem, by several younger members of his -family whose wings have not yet had time to grow. And Treviso too in -some sort calls up the memory of its mistress in the abundance of -streams, canals, and bridges. It has at least more right than some of -the towns to which the guide-books give the name, to be called a -little Venice. But the contrast is indeed great between the still -waters of the lagoons and the rushing torrents which pass under the -walls and turn the mills of Treviso. Venice, in short, though her name -has been rather freely scattered about hither and thither, remains -without likeness or miniature among either subjects, rivals, or -strangers. - -The heart of an Italian city is to be looked for in its town-house and -the open space before it. It is characteristic of the mistress of -Treviso that her palace, the palace of her rulers, not of her people, -stands somewhat aside from the great centre of Venetian life. The -church of the patron saint who had become identified with the -commonwealth takes in some sort the place which in more democratic -states belongs to the home of the commonwealth itself. Technically -indeed Saint Mark's is itself part of the palace; it answers to Saint -Stephen's at Westminster, not to Saint Peter's; but nowhere else among -commonwealths does the chapel of the palace in this sort surpass or -rival the palace itself. The less famous Saint Liberalis, patron of -the city and diocese of Tarvisium, does not venture, after the manner -of the Evangelist, thus to supplant Tarvisium itself. The commonwealth -fully proclaims its being in the group of municipal buildings which -surround the irregular space which forms the municipal centre of the -city. One alone of these, at once in some sort the oldest and the -newest, calls for special notice. The former _palazzo della Signoria_, -now the palace, the centre, in the new arrangement of things, not only -of the city of Treviso but of the whole province of which it is the -head, has been clearly renewed, perhaps rebuilt. But it keeps the true -character of a Lombard building of the kind, the simpler and truer -forms which were in vogue before the Venetian Gothic set in. It marks -the true position of that style that, though we cannot help admiring -many of its buildings when we look at them, we find it a relief when -we come to something earlier and more real. The buildings of which -Venice set the type are very rich, very elegant; but we feel that, -after all, England, France, Germany, could all do better in the way of -windows, and that Italy left to herself could do better in the way of -columns and arches. Old or new, rebuilt or simply repaired, there is -nothing very wonderful in the municipal palace of Treviso; but in -either case it is pleasing as an example of the genuine native style -of Italy. It has arcades below, groups of round-headed windows above, -and the tower looks over the palace with the more effect, because it -is not parallel to it. The arcades of the palace, continued in the -form of the arcades of the streets, are a feature of Treviso, as of -all other southern cities that were built by rational men in rational -times, and were designed, unlike Venice and Curzola, for the passage -of carriages and horses. At Treviso we have arcades of all kinds, all -shapes, all dates, some rude enough, some really elegant, but all of -them better than the portentous folly which has offered up modern Rome -and modern Athens as helpless victims to whatever powers may be -conceived to preside over heat, dust, and their consequences. Treviso -is not a first-class Italian city; it is hardly one of the second -class; but it is pleasant to thread one's way through the arcades, to -try to spell out the geography of the streams that are crossed by many -bridges; it is pleasant to mount here and there on the wall, to look -down on the broad foss below, and across it on the rich plain with its -wall of mountains in the distance. - -In the ecclesiastical department what there is of any value above -ground belongs mainly to the friars. The interest of the _duomo_, as a -building, lies wholly in its crypt, a grand and spacious one, -certainly not later than the twelfth century. It may be that some of -the smaller marble shafts which support its vault had already done -duty in some earlier building, and there is no doubt as to the -classical date of a fragment of a large fluted column which in this -same crypt serves the purpose of a well. The church above has been -mercilessly Jesuited; yet, as it keeps more than one cupola, those -cupolas give it a certain dignity; the stamp of Constantinople and -Venice, of Périgueux and Angoulême, is hard wholly to wipe out. -Otherwise a few tombs and a fine piece of mediæval gilded wood-carving -are about all that the church of Treviso has to show. The great -Dominican church has been more lucky. The guide-book of Gsel-fels, -commonly the best of guide-books, but which cuts Treviso a little -short, rather sets one against it by saying that it has been wholly -modernized within. Repaired and freshened up it certainly has been; -but it can hardly be said to have been modernized; the old lines seem -not to have been tampered with. And there is something far from -lacking in dignity in the effect of its vast interior, even though its -style be the corrupt Gothic of Italy. One merit is that the arches -which spring from the huge pillars, though wide, are not -sprawling--not like those which those who do not dare to think for -themselves are called on to admire in the nave of the Florentine -_duomo_. Unlike the work of Arnolfo, the Dominican church of Treviso -does not look one inch shorter or lower than it is. It has too the -interest of much contemporary painting and other ornamental work. The -smaller Benedictine church hard by, whose bell-tower groups so well -with Saint Nicolas, employs in that bell-tower a trefoil arch, a -strange form to spring from mid-wall shafts. Within there is not much -to look at, beyond a tablet setting forth the glories of the -Benedictine order, how many emperors, empresses, kings, queens, popes, -cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and so forth, belonged to it. Dukes, -marquesses, counts, and knights, were unnumbered. It is a strange -thought that to that countless band Bec added the full manhood and -long monastic life of Herlwin, that Saint Peter of Shrewsbury and -Saint Werburh of Chester had severally the privilege of enrolling Earl -Roger and Earl Hugh, each for a few days only, as members of the -brotherhood of Benedict and Anselm. - -The other friars' church, that of Saint Francis, has been less lucky -than its Dominican rival. Desecrated and partitioned, its inside is -now inaccessible; the outside promises well for a church of its own -type. Yet how feeble after all are the very best of these Italian -buildings which forsook their own native forms for a hopeless attempt -to reproduce the forms of other lands. We are always told that Italian -Gothic cannot be Northern Gothic, because Italy is not like Northern -lands. True enough; but what that argument proves is that Italy should -have kept to her own natural Romanesque, the true fruit of her own -soil, and should never have meddled with forms which could not be -transplanted in their purity. The great fact of Italian architectural -history is that the native style never was thoroughly driven out, but -that, alongside of the sham Gothic, true Romanesque lived on to lose -itself in the earlier and better kind of _Renaissance_. The open -arcades of streets and houses, and the bell-towers of the churches, -largely remain really Romanesque in style at all dates. For the -working out of the same law in greater buildings we must make our way -south-eastward. The chronicler of the eleventh century hinted that -Treviso was near to Venice, and the men of the fourteenth century -acted on the hint. But the wise Doge, who a generation later told his -people to stick to the sea and leave the land behind, knew better -where the true subject and neighbour lands of Venice lay. We cannot -fully obey him as yet, as we have still points on the Italian mainland -to visit. But we may still keep the true goal of our pilgrimage before -our eyes, and we may remember that the lands which were most truly -near to Venice were those lands, subject and hostile, to which the -path lay by her own element. The lessons of which we begin to get a -glimpse at Treviso we shall not learn in their fulness till we have -reached the other side of Hadria. - - - - -UDINE AND CIVIDALE. - -1875--1881. - - -Ought the antiquarian traveller who has taken up his quarters at Udine -and has thence made an expedition to Cividale to counsel his -fellow-inquirers to follow his example in so doing or not? The answer -to this question may be well made largely to depend on the state of -the weather. It would be dangerous to say, from an experience of two -visits only, that at Udine and Cividale it always either rains or has -very lately rained; but those are the only two conditions in which we -can speak of those places from personal knowledge. Now it is wonderful -how a heavy rain damps the zeal of the most inquiring spirit, -especially if he be carrying on his inquiries by himself. If he has -companions, a good deal of wet may be shaken off by the process of -talking and laughing at the common bad luck. If he be alone, every -drop sticks; he has nothing to do but to grumble, and he has nobody to -listen to his grumblings but himself. The land may be beautiful, but -its beauties are half hid; the buildings may have the most taking -outlines, but it is impossible to make a drawing of them. Even -interiors lose their cheerfulness; the general gloom makes half their -details invisible; and his own depression of spirit makes the inquirer -less able than usual to understand and appreciate what he can see. -Udine and Cividale on a fine day are something quite unlike Udine and -Cividale in the rain. But even in this more cheerful state of things, -when the rain has to be spoken of in the past tense, it may happen -that the past puts serious difficulties in the way of the enjoyment of -the present. Cividale is undoubtedly more pleasant and more profitable -to see when the rain is past than when the rain is actually falling. -But then, to judge from our two experiences, Cividale is easier to get -at while the rain is actually falling than when it has ceased to fall. -What in the one state of things is the half-dry _ghiara_ of an Alpine -stream becomes a flood covering the road for no small distance, and -suggesting, to all but the most zealous, the thought of turning back. -It is only those for whom the attractions of the spot which once was -the Forum Julii are strong indeed, who will pluck up heart to go on -when their carriage has sometimes to be helped on by men who are used -to wade through the flood, or else is forced to leave what should have -been the high road for a narrow and difficult path across the fields. -It is well to record these things, that those who stay at home may be -put in mind that, even in perfectly civilized lands, topographical -knowledge is not always to be got without going to some little trouble -in the search after it. We have seen Udine and Cividale wet, and we -have seen them dry, but then it was when they had been wet only a very -short time before. We are tempted to think that we might understand -them better at some time when the rainfall was neither of the present -nor of the very recent past. - -One thing however is certain, that, wet or dry, not many Englishmen -make the experiment of trying to find out what this corner of Italy -may have to show. Not an English name, save that of one specially -famous and adventurous traveller, was to be seen in the visitors' -book, either in Albergo dell' Italia at Udine or in the Museum at -Cividale. The true traveller is always in a doubtful state of mind -when he finds a place of interest neglected by his own countrymen. On -the one hand he is personally relieved, as being set free from the -gabble of English tourists at _tables d'hôte_ and the like. But how -far ought he to proclaim to the world the merits of the place which he -has found out for himself? How can he draw the line, so as to lead -travellers to come, without holding out the least inducement to mere -tourists? But perhaps the danger is not great; tourists will go only -where it is the fashion to go, and the historical traveller must not -think of himself more highly than he ought to think or fancy that it -is for such as he to create a fashion. - - * * * * * - -We will suppose then that our traveller has started from Treviso, and -has reached the frontier town of Italy in the modern sense of the -name. We have seen that the existence of the place in Roman times -under the name of Vedinum can be proved and no more. The importance -and history of Udine, _Utinum_, are wholly mediæval. It takes the -place of Forum Julii as the capital of Friuli the district which keeps -the name which has passed away from the city. It is one of the -eccentricities of nomenclature that the other Forum Julii in southern -Gaul has kept its name, but in the still more corrupted shape of -_Fréjus_. The new head of the Venetian borderland--Venetia in the -older sense--went through the usual course of the neighbouring cities -with one feature peculiar to itself. Not a patriarchal see, Udine was -a patriarchal capital, the capital of the patriarchs of Aquileia in -that temporal character which for a long while made the bishops of the -forsaken city the chief princes of that corner of Italy. - -Like Treviso, but somewhat later, Udine had to undergo a Hungarian -siege, when the Magyar crown had passed by marriage from the house of -Anjou to the house of Luxemburg. But we may mark how the different -powers which had something to do with the lands with which we are -concerned are already beginning to gather from the same hands. Lewis, -the enemy of Treviso in 1356, purely western in origin, was purely -eastern in power--King of Hungary and of the lands round about -Hungary, King of Poland by a personal union. Siegmund, the enemy of -Udine in 1411, was already King of Hungary, Margrave of Brandenburg -also, in days when, as Hungary had nothing to do with Austria, so -Brandenburg had nothing to do with Prussia. He was already chosen but -not crowned King of the Romans; he was to be, before he had done, King -of Bohemia, reformer of the Church, and Emperor, last crowned Emperor -not of the Austrian house. Presently the city passed away from the -rule of the patriarchs, but it could hardly be said to pass from a -spiritual to a temporal lord when it came under the direct superiority -of the Evangelist and his Lion. In the war of the League of Cambray it -passed for a moment into the hands of an Austrian Archduke, but one -who wore the crown of Aachen, and bore the titles of Rome without her -crown. The first momentary master saw from the German Austria that -Udine was Maximilian, King of Germany and Emperor-elect. In the -eighteenth century the patriarchs of Aquileia had become harmless -indeed, so harmless that their dignity could be altogether swept away, -and their immediate province divided between the two new -archbishoprics of Udine and Gorizia. Thus Udine, having once been the -temporal seat of an ecclesiastical prince of the highest rank, came, -as a subject city, to hold the highest ecclesiastical rank short of -that which was swept away to make room for its elevation. - - * * * * * - -Udine is one of those places which keep fortifications of what we may -call the intermediate period, what, in this part of the world, is -specially the Venetian period. Such walls stand removed alike from -those which, even when not Roman in date, closely follow the Roman -type of defences, and from fortifications of the purely modern kind. -The walls of Udine are well preserved and defended with ditches, and, -as they fence in a large space and as there is comparatively little -suburb, they form a prominent feature in the aspect of the town. -Within the town, towering over every other object, is the castle or -citadel, as unpicturesque a military structure as can be conceived, -but perched on a huge mound, like so many of the castles of our own -land. Here is work for Mr. Clark. Is the mound natural or artificial? -Tradition says that it was thrown up by Attila, that he might stand on -it and see the burning of Aquileia. Legendary as such a tale is on the -face of it, it may perhaps be taken as some traditional witness to the -artificial nature of the mound. It would be dangerous to say anything -more positively without minute knowledge both of the geology and of -the præ-historic antiquities of Venetia; but analogy always suggests -that such mounds are artificial, or at least largely improved by art. -Anyhow there the mound is, an earthwork which, if artificial it be, -the Lady of the Mercians herself need not have been ashamed of. - -Some of the guide-books call Udine "a miniature Venice;" it is not -easy to see why. There are some canals and bridges in Udine, but so -there are in Milan, Amiens, and countless other towns. There is even a -Rialto; but one hardly sees how it came by its name. The true "piccola -Venezia" is far away in Dalmatia, floating on its islands in the bay -of Salona. The point of likeness to Venice is probably found in the -civic palace and the two neighbouring columns. But these last are only -the usual badges of Venetian rule, and the palace, though it may -suggest the dwelling of the Doges, has no more likeness to it than is -shared by many other buildings of the same kind in Italy. But, like or -unlike to Venice, there is no doubt, even on a rainy day, that the -palace of Udine is a building of no small merit; on a fine day it -might perhaps make us say that it was worth going to Udine to see it. -It is, of course, far smaller than the Doges' palace; and if it lacks -the wonderful intermediate story of the Venetian building, it also -lacks the ugly story above it. The point of likeness, if any, lies in -the arcades, with their columns of true Italian type, slenderer than -those at Venice, and using the pointed arch in the outer and the round -arch in the inner range. But the columns at Udine are not a mere range -like those at Venice. They stand row behind row, almost like the -columns of a crypt, and they supply a profitable study in their -floriated capitals. The pillared space forms the market-place of the -city, and a busy place it is at the times of buying and selling, -filled with the characteristic merchandise of the district, the golden -balls of silk, for whose presence the Venetian land may thank the -adventurous monks of Justinian's day. Some of the columns, and a large -part of the rest of the building, had been renewed between 1875 and -1881. Between those years the palace had been nearly destroyed by -fire. Here was a case of necessary restoration. No rational person -could have been better pleased, either if the palace had been left in -ruins or if it had been repaired in some incongruous fashion. In such -a case as this, the new work is as much in its place as the old, and -the new work at Udine is as worthy as any new work is ever likely to -be to stand side by side with the old. At Udine again, as in many -other places, the thought cannot fail to strike us how thoroughly -these grand public palaces of Italy do but set before us, on a grand -scale and in a more ornamented style, a kind of building of which a -humble variety is familiar enough among ourselves. Many an English -market-town has an open market-house with arches, with a room above -for the administration of justice or any other public purpose. Enlarge -and enrich a building of this kind, and we come by easy steps to the -palace of Udine and to the palace of Venice. - -The civic palace is the only building of any great architectural value -in Udine. The metropolitan church contains little that is attractive -for antiquity or for beauty of the higher kind. But the interior, -though of mixed and corrupt style, is not without a certain -stateliness, and its huge octagonal tower would have been a grand -object if its upper stages had been carried up in a manner worthy of -its basement. The streets are largely arcaded; and if the arcades of -Udine supply less detail than those of some other Italian cities, any -arcade is better than none. Udine can at least hold its head higher -than modern Bari, modern Athens, modern Rome. Still at best Udine in -itself holds but a secondary place among Italian cities, and its main -historic interest consists in the way in which the utterly obscure -_Vedinum_ contrived to supplant both Aquileia and Forum Julii. As -things now are, Forum Julii, dwindled to Cividale, has become a kind -of appendage to Udine, and we must make our way thither from what is -now the greater city. - - * * * * * - -Let us here put on record the memories of an actual journey, as -strengthened and corrected by a later one made under more favourable -circumstances. The accounts in the common guide-books are so meagre, -and it is so impossible to get any topographical books in Udine, that -our inquirer sets out, it must be confessed, with the vaguest notions -of what he is going to see. Gsel-fels was not in those days, and, now -that he has come into being, he has treated the lands at the head of -the Hadriatic a good deal less fully than he has done most other parts -of Italy. The traveller then is promised a store of Roman remains by -one guide-book, and an early Romanesque church by another. He knows -that the greatness of Forum Julii has gone elsewhere, and he is -perhaps led to the belief that he is going to see a fallen city, -perhaps another Aquileia, perhaps even another Salona. One thing is -clear, even in the rain--namely, that the natural surroundings of -Forum Julii are of the noblest kind. The grand position of the place -itself he will not find out till later; but the mist half hides, half -brings out, the fact that Udine lies near, and Cividale lies nearer, -to the great range of the Julian Alps. Here and there their outlines -can be made out; here and there a snowy peak shows itself for a moment -in the further distance. A fertile plain with a mountain barrier, with -broad and rushing rivers to water it--it was clearly a goodly land in -which the old Veneti had fixed themselves, and in which Rome fixed the -Forum of Julius as a colony and garrison to keep their land in -obedience. - -A long and flat road, but with the mountains ever in front, leads on -by several villages with their bell-towers, over what, according to -the accidents of weather, may be either a half-dry _ghiara_ or a deep -flood, till the traveller reaches the place which was Forum Julii, and -which is Cividale. Here he finds himself--a little to his -amazement--in a living town, with walls and gates and towers, with -streets and houses and churches, none of them certainly of the Julian -æra. The town is not very large; it is not a local capital like Udine; -still it is a town, not a village among ruins and fragments like -Aquileia and Salona. But it is plain that Cividale has not forgotten -what she once was; the traveller is set down at the _Grande Albergo al -Friuli_, and the _albergo_ stands in the _Piazza Giulio Cesare_. He -remembers the like name at Rimini, and he begins to cherish hopes that -the treasures of Rimini may have their like at Cividale. In utter -ignorance of what the place may really contain, he seeks for a -bookseller's shop, hoping that some guide-book or plan of some kind -may still be found. The bookseller is soon found, but his shop -contains nothing of the least profit to an inquirer into the remains -of Forum Julii. But the traveller hears that there is a museum; that -promises something: besides the treasures which the museum itself may -contain, such a place commonly implies an intelligent keeper, who -sometimes proves to be a scholar of a high order. But he takes a wrong -turn; no great harm however, as he thereby learns sooner than he -otherwise would have learned the noble natural site of Cividale, -planted on the rocky banks of the rushing stream of the Natisone. He -sees two or three unpromising churches, and looks into the chief of -them, a building of strange and mixed style, but not without a certain -stateliness of general effect. He sees the _Via Cornelio Gallo_, which -promises something, and the _Via del Tempio_, which promises more. -Visions of Nîmes, Vienne, and Pola rise before him; he follows the -track, but he finds nothing in the least savouring of Jupiter or -Diana, and he learns afterwards that the _Tempio_ from which the -street is called is the great church, known, it seems, in a special -way, as _Templum Maximum_. Still the museum is not reached; but a -second inquiry, a second journey to quite another end of the town, -leads to it. The museum is examined; it contains a considerable stock -of objects of the usual kind, fragments of architecture and sculpture, -which witness to the former greatness of Forum Julii. More remarkable -are the specimens of Lombard workmanship, in various forms of armour -and ornament, to say nothing of the actual tomb of the Lombard Duke -Gisulf. At the museum he is put under the friendly guidance of a -kindly priest, by whose care many matters are cleared up. Roman -remains, strictly so called, there are none to see. There have been -diggings, and the walls have been traced out, but all has been covered -up again; outside the museum there is nothing in the pagan line left. -But of Romanesque work the remains, though neither large nor many, are -of high interest. Buried in an Ursuline nunnery, of which the good -father opens the door, is a small Romanesque church of most singular -design, built, so he tells us, in 764, but which, if so, must have -received some further enrichment in the twelfth century. The -sculptures in the western wall are surely of the later date; but the -shell, parts of which in their coupled Corinthian columns strongly -call to mind some of the ancient churches of Rome, may well be of the -earlier date, of the last days of the Lombard kingdom. - -Here at last something of no small value has been lighted on. As a -matter of architecture, this church is by far the best thing in -Cividale. Indeed, as a matter of architecture strictly so called, it -is the only thing of any importance. But let the other churches be -gone through again, perhaps only with that relief of the mind which -follows the discovery of an intelligible clue, yet more when old -memories are revived and strengthened by a second visit, and, though -they are of no great value as buildings, they are found to be of no -small interest in other ways. The _Templum Maximum_ indeed, late and -corrupt as is its style, is not without a certain grandeur of internal -effect, and it contains more than one object which calls up historic -memories. There is the chair which cannot in strictness be called -patriarchal, but which was doubtless used by patriarchs when the -spiritual shepherds of Aquileia fled from their wasted home to the -safer shelter of Forum Julii, and ruled its chief church as provosts. -There too on the altar we may see the silver image work of the twelfth -century, the gift of one of the two patriarchs who bore the name of -Peregrinus. And there too is a wonderful object, the indoor -baptistery--for it is more than a font--repaired two years after -Charles the Great had added the style of King of the Lombards to his -Frankish kingship and his Roman patriciate. We may then believe that, -in the columns and round arches of its octagon, we see work of the -date when the land of Forum Julii was still the Austria of an -independent Lombard realm. Other objects of early days are to be found -in even the less promising churches, specially an altar, rich with the -goldsmith's craft, which suggests, though it does not rival, the altar -of Saint Ambrose at Milan. But first among the treasures of Cividale -must rank the precious volume which is still guarded in the treasury -of the great church. This is an ancient book of the gospels, now of -three gospels only, for some zealous Venetian, eager for the honour of -Saint Mark, deemed that the pages which contained his writings were -out of place anywhere except in the Evangelist's own city. The highest -historical value of the book consists in the crowds of signatures -scattered through its margin, signatures of persons great and small, -known and unknown, from the days of the Lombard princes to the -Empress-Queen of the last age and the Bourbon pretender of the -present. When we have grasped the fact that the popular speech of the -surrounding district is Slavonic, we are less surprised than we -otherwise might be to find that a large proportion of the signatures -come from eastern Europe. Among them are a crowd of signatures from -Bulgaria, headed by Michael their king. It is for palæographers to -judge of the date by the writing. And palæographers say that, of the -ancient names, none are earlier than the end of the eighth century or -later than the end of the tenth. Otherwise we might have been driven -to see in this Michael nothing greater than a fourteenth century king -of an already divided Bulgaria. But the great Simeon of an earlier day -left a son Michael, a monk, who left his monastery to strive vainly -for his father's crown. Yet, if the witness of wise men as to the -dates of the writing may be trusted, it must be either the signature -of this Michael or else an utter forgery. But the unenlightened in -such matters asks how the signatures of men of so many lands and ages -got there. Did those whose names were written--for of course few, if -any, would write them themselves--come to the book, or did the book go -to them? The earlier signatures at least are said to be the names of -reconciled enemies who took the holy book to witness that their -enmities were laid aside. This we can neither affirm nor deny, but it -surely cannot apply to all the signatures in the book. The treasury -contains other ancient books, and other objects which are well worth -notice, but this strange and precious relic is the chiefest of them -all. - -Altogether then there turns out to be a good deal to see on the site -which once was Forum Julii. What is to be seen is perhaps not exactly -of the kind which the traveller may have fancied in his dreams. He can -hardly have come expecting to find a stately mediæval or modern city. -He may have come expecting to find the walls of a Roman city -sheltering here and there either Roman fragments or modern cottages. -He will find neither of these; but he will find a town whose natural -position is far more striking than could have been looked for in the -approach from Udine, and whose chief merit is that it shelters here -and there, in corners where they have to be sought for, several -objects, neither Roman nor mediæval, but of the darker, and therefore -most instructive, period which lies between the two. - - - - -GORIZIA. - -1881. - - -At Udine and at Cividale we are still in Italy in every sense which -that name has borne since the days of Augustus Cæsar. But the fact -which may have startled us at the last stage of our course, the fact -that a Slavonic tongue is to be heard within the borders of both the -old and the new Italian kingdom, may suggest the thought that we are -drawing near to parts of the world which are in some respects -different from Treviso and the lands to the west of it. We are about -to pass from the subject lands of Venice to the neighbour lands. We -shall presently reach the borders which modern diplomacy has decreed -for the Italian kingdom, seemingly because they were the borders of -the territory of the Venetian commonwealth on the mainland. Venice, as -Venice, has passed away, but it is strange to see how one of the most -artificial of her boundaries survives. The present arrangements of the -European map seem to lay down as the rule on this frontier that -nothing that was not Venetian can be Italian. The rule is purely -negative; no weight at all is given to the converse doctrine that -whatever was Venetian should be Italian. Nor is it necessary to plead -for any such doctrine, a doctrine which nationality and geography, as -well as practical possibility, would all decline to support. Still it -is hard to see why the negative doctrine should be so strictly -pressed, and why Italian lands should be forced to remain under a -foreign dominion, simply because they never came under the dominion of -Venice. If any argument grounded in this way on facts which have long -since ceased to have a meaning were urged on the Italian side, it -would be at once scouted as pedantic and antiquarian. But it would -seem that even pedantry and antiquarianism are welcomed when they tell -on behalf of the other side. For surely it is the height of pedantry -and antiquarianism to argue that, because a land was never numbered -among the subject provinces of Venice, it therefore may not be -numbered among the equal members of a free Italian kingdom. It is -certainly hard to find any other reason, except that the advance of -Venice stopped at a certain point, to account for the fact that the -dominions of a foreign prince come so awkwardly near to Verona, for -the fact that Trent and Roveredo look to Vienna and not to Rome. Such -are our thoughts on one line of journey; on our present course the -same question suggests itself again. We pass a frontier where it is -not at first sight easy to see why any frontier should be there. We -journey from Udine to Gorizia, still keeping within the old Lombard -Austria, but between Udine and Gorizia lies Cormons, and after Cormons -we find ourselves in a new Austria. We speak with geographical -accuracy. We might not say, as some would, that we were in Austria if -we were at Cattaro or at Tzernovitz, but in the land which we have now -entered, we are, not indeed in the archduchy of Austria, but within -the circle of Austria according to the arrangements of Maximilian. And -in truth we do soon mark a change. We soon come to feel more -distinctly than before that we are in a land where more tongues than -one are spoken. We may have found out that round about Cividale all is -not Italian in speech; but the Slavonic tongue of those parts is -modest and retiring. It does not thrust itself into print or show -itself flauntingly on doors or windows. But when we pass the border, -when we are in the land which is Austrian both in the oldest and the -newest sense, the presence of a twofold, even of a three-fold, speech -makes itself very clear. At Cividale, if Slavonic was to be heard, it -was at least not to be seen. In the city which we next reach, Italian -and Slavonic are both to be seen openly, and a third tongue is to be -seen alongside of them. Are we to seek here for the justification of -the frontier which struck us as artificial and needless? Is the fact -that the Slavonic tongue is spoken in or close by the city which we -next reach a proof that that city ought to remain outside the Italian -kingdom? If so, the argument might be thought to prove too much; it -might be thought to prove that Cividale ought not to be counted to -Italy any more than its neighbour. But any one who took up this line -of argument would hardly be led by it to approval of things as they -are. The Panslavist who should go the length of arguing that neither -Gorizia nor Cividale ought to look to Rome as its head would hardly -argue that either of them ought to look to Vienna. - -We have written the name _Gorizia_; but we have written it with fear -and trembling. For we have now reached a city where we have three -names to choose from. Shall we say _Görz_, _Gorizia_, or _Gorici_? All -three names will be found carefully displayed side by side in public -notices. One is tempted, by the analogy of a crowd of Slavonic names -in other places, to suggest _Goritaz_ instead of any of them. But -_Gorici_ is the Slavonic form as by law established, and to that rule -both natives and visitors may do well to bow. In any case there is -little doubt that on this spot of many names we have reached a place -which, though Italian in geography, though for ages German in -allegiance, was in truth Slavonic in origin. A charter of Otto the -Third speaks of "una villa quæ Sclavonica lingua vocatur Gorizia." -This is the earliest certain mention of the place. There is indeed a -document which tells us how in the year 949 Bishop John of Trieste was -borne down by many troubles, and how one source of his troubles was a -heavy debt to David the Jew of Gorizia. But wise men reject the -document which asserts this piece of episcopal mismanagement. And the -way in which the place is spoken of in the eleventh century does not -sound as if it could have been a spot whose wealth could have drawn -Jews thither in the tenth. In any case the Slavonic _villa_ grew into -a town and a county of the Empire, and late in the fifteenth century -the Counts of Gorizia became the same persons as the Archdukes of -Austria. But long after the beginning of that union, the distinction -between Austria and Gorizia was still strongly drawn. How much Gorizia -still thought of itself, how much its prince still thought of himself -in his local character, is made plain by the most prominent feature of -the chief building of the place. Over the gateway of the castle is an -inscription recording repairs done in the year 1660 by the reigning -Count Leopold. That Count bore higher titles, and he does not fail to -record them on the stone; but they are recorded in an almost -incidental way. Letters boldly cut, letters which catch the eye at -some distance, proclaim that the work was done by LEOPOLDUS COMES -GORITIÆ. Go near, and you may literally read between the lines, in -smaller letters and abbreviated words, that this Count Leopold -happened to be also Emperor of the Romans, King of Germany, Hungary, -and Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, and--in his own eyes at least--Duke -of Burgundy. But here at Gorizia he reigned and built directly as -Count of Gorizia, and he proclaimed himself primarily by his local -title. In an inscription such things could be done; heraldry hardly -admitted of any such ingenious devices. The bird of Cæsar must bear -the hereditary shield of the prince who has been chosen to the -imperial office, and on that hereditary shield the bearings of the -Gorizian county cannot displace those of duchies and kingdoms. While -therefore the legend proclaims the doer of the repairs of 1660 as -before all things a hereditary local count, the shield proclaims him -as before all things a Roman Emperor-elect. Yet one may believe that -most of those who pass under the imperial bird over the gateway deem -him all one with his bastard likeness over the tobacco-shops. Some may -even fail to see that, among the many hereditary bearings of the -elective Cæsar, the lion of the Austrian duchy keeps his proper place. -That lion is so apt to pass out of sight, men are so ready to cry -"Austria" when they see the eagle of Rome, so little ready to cry -"Austria" when they see Austria's own bearing, that it may be kind to -point out one place where his form and his occasional destiny may best -be studied. The true Austrian beast is plainly to be seen on the walls -of the _Schlachtkapelle_ near Sempach, and his presence there is -explained by the legend, thrilling to the federal and democratic mind, -"Das Panier von Oestreich ist gefangen, und ist nach Uri gekommen." - -The eagle of Rome over the gateway, in a place where in these regions -we look almost mechanically for the lion of Saint Mark, reminds us yet -again that we have passed from the subject into the neighbour lands of -Venice. And various inscriptions, public and private, bring no less -clearly home to our minds that we are in a land of more than one -tongue. Of the three names of the town, that by which we have hitherto -spoken of it, that which it bears in the earliest trustworthy charter, -that which differs by one letter only from its more ordinary Latin -shape as seen over the gate, is also the name which the traveller will -most frequently hear in its streets and will see universally written -over its shops. As far as one can see at a glance, German is at _Görz_ -the tongue of hôtels, _cafés_, public departments of all kinds. -Italian is the tongue of the citizens of _Gorizia_ whose shops are -sheltered by its street arcades. Slavonic, we conceive, will some day -be the tongue of the little children who, in all the joy of a state of -nature, as naked as any other mammals, creep, as merrily though more -slowly than the lizards, over the grass and stones of the castle-hill -of _Gorici_. Anyhow Gorizia is, like Palermo of old, the city of the -threefold tongue. But the place itself is, considering its history, a -little disappointing. Nothing indeed is lacking in the way of -position. Mountains on all sides, except where the rich plain of the -swift Isonzo stretches away to the sea, fence in the city, without -hemming it close in as in a prison. One hill is crowned by the castle, -whence we look out on another crowned by the long white line of the -Franciscan convent, suggesting memories of the banished king who was -the last to receive the consecrating oil of Rheims. Houses, churches, -villages, are thickly scattered over the plain and the hill sides. The -vines and the mulberry-trees, the food of the silkworm whose endless -cocoons choke up the market-place, witness to the richness of the -land. But there is a strange lack of buildings of any importance in -this capital of an ancient county, this resort which boasts itself as -the "Nizza Austriaca," the "Oesterreichische Nizza"--in such formulæ -the third tongue of the spot is not called into play. A Nizza without -any Mediterranean may seem as strange as the Rialto which we saw at -Udine without any Grand Canal. But Gorizia as a modern town is not -striking. Its best features are the old arcades in some of its streets -and markets. Such arcades must be bad indeed to be wholly -unsatisfactory, and some of those at Gorizia are very fairly done. But -there is no grand church, no grand municipal palace; the castle itself -is not what on such a site it ought to be. The castle is the kernel of -the whole place. Gorizia is not a hill-town, nor can we call it a -river-town. There is the castle on the hill, and the town seems to -have gathered at its foot. The castle soars so commandingly over the -country round that we wish here, as at Udine, that there was something -better to soar than the ugly barrack which forms its uppermost stage. -There are indeed better things within Count Leopold's gateway. The -outer court is laid out in streets, and contains several houses with -architectural features. One, bearing date 1475, with respectable -columns and round arches below, and with windows of the Venetian type -above, might pass for a very humble following, not of the palaces of -Venice or Udine, but of the far nobler pile which is in store for us -at Ragusa. A small church too strikes us, with its windows projecting -like oriels, one of them indeed rising from the ground. This last, -when we enter, proves to be the smallest of side-chapels set on this -fashion. In some cities such a small eccentricity would hardly deserve -any notice; but at Gorizia we learn to become thankful for rather -small mercies. - -In the lower town what little interest there is gathers round the -pieces of street arcades; the churches go for next to nothing. Yet -Gorizia ranks as an ecclesiastical metropolis, and it has its -metropolitan church no less than Canterbury or Lyons. Nor is this -merely one of those arrangements of the present century which have -stripped Mainz and Trier of their immemorial dignity, and which have -given us archbishops of such unexpected places as Munich and -Freiburg-im-Breisgau. The style of Archbishop of Gorizia is at least -several generations older than the style of Emperor of Austria. The -church of Gorizia rose to metropolitan rank, at the same time as the -church of Udine, when the patriarchate of Aquileia came to an end, and -its province was divided between the two new metropolitans thus called -into being. But the seat of the modern primacy is hardly worthy of a -simple bishopric. There is nothing in the building of any antiquity -but a choir, German rather than Italian, and of no great antiquity -either. The rest of the church is of a gaudy _Renaissance_; yet it -deserves some notice from the boldness of its construction. It is -designed, within and without, of two stories: that is, the upper -gallery is an essential part of the building. The principle is the -same as in Saint Agnes and Saint Laurence at Rome, and as in German -churches like the Great Minster at Zürich; but the feeling is quite -different. Still, if a church is to be built in a _Renaissance_ style -and to receive two sets of worshippers, one over the heads of the -other, it must be allowed that the object is thoroughly attained in -the metropolitan church of Gorizia, and its architect is entitled to -the credit of having successfully grappled with the problem -immediately set before him. - -Gorizia then can hardly claim, on the ground either of its history or -its buildings, to rank among cities of the first, or even of the -second class. Its natural position far surpasses all that has been -done in it, and all that has been built in it. But there is no spot on -which men have lived for eight or nine hundred years which does not -teach us something, and Gorizia has its lessons as well as other -places. It would hardly be worth making a journey thither from any -distant point to see Gorizia only; but the place should be seen by any -one whose course takes him through the lands at the head of the -Hadriatic. Udine, Cividale, and Gorizia are places which have in some -sort partitioned among them the position of fallen Aquileia. From the -children, we might perhaps say the rebellious children, we must go on -to the ancient mother. - - - - -AQUILEIA. - -1875--1881. - - -We have already, in our course through the lands at the head of the -Hadriatic, had need constantly to refer to the fallen city which once -was the acknowledged head of those lands, the city whose fame began as -a great Roman colony, the bulwark of Italy at her north-eastern -corner, and which lived on, after the fall of its first greatness, in -the character of the nominal head alike of a considerable temporal -power and of an ecclesiastical power whose position and history were -altogether unique. We have noticed that, while the cities of this -region rise and fall, still even those which fall are not wholly swept -away. Aquileia has always lived, though, since the days of Attila, the -life of the actual city of Aquileia has been a very feeble one indeed. -But though Aquileia, as a city, practically perished in the fifth -century, yet it continued till the eighteenth to give its name to a -power of some kind. Its temporal position passed to Forum Julii, and -Udine succeeded to the position alike of Forum Julii and of Aquileia. -But the patriarchs grew into temporal princes, and their style -continued to be taken from Aquileia, and not from Forum Julii or -Udine. On the ecclesiastical side, the patriarchal title itself arose -out of a theological and a local schism. And, while the bishops of -Aquileia thus rose to the same nominal rank as those of Constantinople -and Alexandria, they had, as the result of the same chain of events, -to see--at least, if they had gone on living at Aquileia they would -have seen--a rival power of the same rank spring up, at their own -gates, in the form of the patriarchs of Grado. This last was surely -the greatest anomaly in all ecclesiastical geography. He who is not -familiar with the Italian ecclesiastical map may be surprised to find -Fiesole a separate bishopric from Florence. Even he who is familiar -with such matters may still be surprised to find Monreale a separate -archbishopric from Palermo. But even this last real anomaly seems a -small matter, compared with the arrangement which placed one patriarch -at Aquileia itself, and another almost within a stone's throw at -Aquileia's port of Grado. At every step we have lighted on something -to suggest the thought of the ancient capital of the Venetian -borderland; we have now to look at what is left of the fallen city -itself. Setting aside the actual seats of Imperial power, Rome Old and -New, Milan, Trier, and Ravenna, few cities stand out more -conspicuously than Aquileia both in general and in ecclesiastical -history. The stronghold by which Rome first secured her power over the -borderland of Illyria and Cisalpine Gaul--the city which grew under -the fostering hand of Augustus into one of the great cities of the -Empire--the city whose overthrow by Attila was one of the causes of -the birth of Venice--might have claimed for itself no mean place in -history, even if it had never become one of the special seats of -ecclesiastical rule and ecclesiastical controversy. To see such a city -sunk to a mean village, to trace out the remains of its ancient -greatness and splendour, is indeed a worthy work for the historical -traveller. - -But how shall the traveller find his way to Aquileia? Let us confess -to a certain degree of pious fraud in our notices of Treviso, Udine, -and Gorizia. We have, for the general purposes of the series, -conceived the traveller as starting from Venice, while in truth those -notices contained the impressions of journeys made the other way, with -Trieste as their starting-point. The mask must be thrown off, if only -because the journey to Aquileia always calls up the memory of an -earlier visit to Aquileia when it was also from Trieste that another -traveller set forth. We have before us a record of travel from Trieste -to Aquileia, in which the pilgrim, finding himself on the road "in a -capital barouche behind two excellent horses," tells us that "the -idea of thus visiting a church city, which seemed a mere existence of -the past, had something so singular and inappropriate as to seem an -ecclesiastical joke. When at the octroi," he continues, "our driver -gave out his destination, the whole arrangement produced the same -effect in my mind as if Saint Augustine had asked me to have a bottle -of soda-water, or Saint Jerome to procure for him a third-class -ticket." Without professing altogether to throw ourselves into -enthusiasm of this kind, the ecclesiastical history of the city, its -long line of patriarchs, schismatical and orthodox, is of itself -enough to give Aquileia a high place among the cities of the earth. -But why Aquileia should be called "a church city" as if it were Wells -or Lichfield or Saint David's, cities to which that name would very -well apply--why going thither should seem an "ecclesiastical -joke"--why Saint Augustine, if he were still on earth, should be -debarred from the use of soda-water--why Saint Jerome should be -condemned to a third-class ticket, while his modern admirer goes in a -capital barouche behind two excellent horses--all these are mysteries -into which it would not do for the profane to peer too narrowly. But -the traveller from whom we quote was one in whose mind the first sight -of Spalato called up no memory of Diocletian, but who wandered off -from the organizer of the Roman power to an ecclesiastical squabble -in which the British Solomon was a chief actor. We quote his own -words. As he first saw the mighty bell-tower, he asks, "What were our -thoughts? What but of poor Mark Antony de Dominis?" - -Our ecclesiastical traveller who went straight from Trieste to -Aquileia in the barouche with the excellent horses made his pilgrimage -before the railway was opened. As it is, the more modern inquirer is -more likely to take the train to Monfalcone--perhaps humbly, like -Saint Jerome, by the third class, perhaps otherwise, according to -circumstances. He will pass through a land of specially stony hills -coming down near to the sea, but leaving ever and anon, in the most -utter contrast, green marshy places between the stones and the water. -Some may find an interest in passing by Miramar, the dwelling of the -Maximilian who perished in Mexico; some may prefer to speculate about -Antenor, and to wonder where he found the nine mouths of Timavus. But -it is still possible to go by the same path as our predecessor, and -that antiquated course has something to be said for it. The road from -Trieste to Aquileia is, for some while at least, not rich in specially -striking objects, but it passes over lofty ground whence the traveller -will better understand the geography of the Hadriatic, and will come -in for some glimpses of the inland parts of this region of many -tongues. For here it is not quite enough to say that native Italian -and Slave and official German all meet side by side. We are not far -off from the march-land of two forms of the Slavonic speech; the -tongue of Rome too is represented at no great distance by another of -its children, distinct from the more classic speech of Italy. We -remember that the Vlach, the Rouman, the Latin-speaking remnant of the -East, has settled or has lingered at not very distant points. We are -tempted to fancy--wrongly, it may be--that some of them must almost -come within the distant landscape. One thing is certain; bearers far -more strange of the Roman name, though no speakers of the Roman -tongue, are there in special abundance. Those whom sixteenth century -Acts of Parliament spoke of as "outlandish persons calling themselves -Egyptians," though they certainly now at least no more call themselves -Egyptians than Englishmen ever called themselves Saxons, are there as -a distinct element in the land. The traveller who comes on the right -day may come in for a gipsy fair at Duino; he may hear philologers -whose studies have lain that way talking to them in their own branch -of the common Aryan tongue. He himself meanwhile, driven to look at -their outsides only, perhaps thinks that after all gipsies do not look -so very different from other ragged people. Certainly if he chances -to be making his way, as it is possible that he may be, from Dalmatia -and Montenegro, he will miss, both among the gipsies and the other -inhabitants of the land, the picturesque costumes to which he has -become used further south. Duino itself, a very small haven, but which -once believed that it could rival Trieste, will, to the antiquary at -least, be more interesting than its gipsy visitors. A castle on rocks, -overhanging the sea--a castle, so to speak, in two parts, one of which -contains a tower which claims a Roman date, while the other is said to -have sheltered Dante--will reward the traveller who still keeps to the -barouche and the horses on his journey to the "church city," instead -of making use of the swifter means which modern skill has provided for -him. - - * * * * * - -At last, by whichever road he goes, the traveller finds himself at the -little town of Monfalcone, and there he who comes by the railway must -now look for the capital barouche and the excellent horses, or such -substitutes for them as Monfalcone can supply. A small castle frowns -on the hill above the station, but the town contains nothing but an -utterly worthless _duomo_ and some street arcades, to remind us once -more that, if we are under the political rule of the Apostolic King, -we are on soil which is Italian in history and in architecture. After -a railway journey which has mainly skirted the sea, perhaps even after -a journey over the hills during a great part of which we have looked -down on the sea, we are a little surprised at finding that the road -which leads us to what once was a great haven takes us wholly inland. -We pass through a flat and richly cultivated country, broken here and -there by a village with its campanile, till two Corinthian columns -catch the eye in front of a modern building, which otherwise might be -passed by without notice. Those two columns, standing forsaken, away -from their fellows, mark that we have reached Monastero; in the days -before Attila we should have reached Aquileia. We are now within the -circuit of the ancient colony. But mediæval Aquileia was shut up -within far narrower limits; modern Aquileia is shut up within narrower -limits still. Within the courtyard of the building which is fronted by -the two columns, we find a large collection, a kind of outdoor museum, -of scraps of architecture and sculpture, the fragments of the great -city that once was. We go on, and gradually our approach to the centre -is marked by further fragments of columns lying here and there, as at -Rome or Ravenna. A little farther, and we are in modern Aquileia, -"città Aquileia," as it still proudly calls itself in the official -description, which, as usual, proclaims to the traveller the name of -the place where he is, and in what administrative division of the -"Imperial and Royal" dominions he finds himself. - -Of the village into which the ancient colony has shrunk up we must -allow that the main existing interest is ecclesiastical. So far as -Aquileia is a city at all, it is now a "church city." The patriarchal -church, with its tall but certainly not beautiful campanile, soars -above all. But, if it soars above all, it still is not all. Here and -there a fragment of a column, or an inscription built into the wall, -reminds us of what Aquileia once was. One ingenious man has even built -himself an outhouse wholly out of such scraps, here a capital, there a -bit of sculpture, there inscriptions of various dates, with letters of -the best and of the worst kinds of Roman lettering. Queer and confused -as the collection is, the bits out of which it is put together are at -least safe, which they would not be if they were left lying about in -the streets. Another more regularly assorted collection will be found -in the local museum, which has the advantage of containing several -plans, showing the extent of the city in earlier times. At last we -approach the church, now, and doubtless for many ages past, the one -great object in Aquileia. In front of it a single shattered column -marks the place of the ancient forum. To climb the tower is the best -way of studying the geography of Aquileia, just as to climb the tower -of Saint Apollinaris is the best way of studying the geography of -Ravenna. In both cases the first feeling that comes upon the mind is -that the sea has become a distant object. Now the eye ranges over a -wide flat, and the sea, which once brought greatness to Aquileia, is -far away. A map of Aquileia in the fifteenth century is to be had, and -it is wise to take it to the top of the tower. There we may trace out -the churches, gates, and other buildings, which have perished since -the date of the map, remembering always that the Aquileia of the -fifteenth century was the merest fragment of the vast city of earlier -times. A good deal of the town wall of the mediæval date may still be -traced. It runs near to the east end of the church, acting, as at -Exeter and Chichester, as the wall at once of the town and of the -ecclesiastical precinct. The church itself, the patriarchal basilica -of Aquileia, is a study indeed, though the first feeling on seeing it -either within or without is likely to be one of disappointment. We do -not expect outline, strictly so called, in an Italian church; when we -come in for any grouping of towers, such as we see at Saint Abbondio -at Como and at more wonderful Vercelli, we accept with thankfulness -the boon which we had not looked for. So we do not complain that the -basilica of Aquileia, with its vast length and its lofty tower, is -still, as judged by a northern eye, somewhat shapeless. But in such a -place we might have expected to find a front such as those which form -the glory of Pisa and Lucca, such a tower as may be found at Pisa and -Lucca and at a crowd of places of less renown. We enter the church, -and we find ourselves in a vast and stately basilica; but one feature -in its architecture at once amazes us. There are the long rows of -columns with which we have become familiar at Pisa and Lucca, at Rome -and Ravenna; but all the main arches are pointed. And the pointed -arches are not, as at Palermo and indeed at Pisa also, trophies of the -vanquished Saracen; their details at once show that they are actual -mediæval work. We search the history, for which no great book-learning -is needed, as inscriptions on the walls and floor supply the most -important facts. The church was twice recast, once early in the -eleventh century, and again in the fourteenth. The pointed work in the -main building is of course due to this last change; the crypt, with -its heavy columns and rude capitals, looks like work of the eleventh -century, though it has been assigned to the fifth, and though -doubtless materials of that date have been used up again. And in the -upper church also, the columns of the elder building have, as so often -happens, lived through all repairs. Their capitals for the most part -are mediæval imitations of classical forms rather than actual relics -of the days before Attila. But two among them, one in each transept, -still keep shattered Corinthian capitals of the very finest work. - -The fittings of the church are largely of _Renaissance_ date, but the -patriarchal throne remains, and there are one or two fragments of -columns and the like put to new uses. On the north side of the nave is -a singular building, known as the _sacrario_, of which it is not easy -to guess the original purpose. It is a round building supporting a -miniature colonnade with a conical roof above, so that it looks more -like a model of a baptistery than anything else. Those who see -Cividale before Aquileia may be reminded of the baptistery within the -_Templum Maximum_. But the Forojulian work is larger than the -Aquileian, and we can hardly fancy that this last was really designed -to be used for baptism; at all events there is a notable baptistery -elsewhere. - -In the basilica of Aquileia we have three marked dates, but we may -call it on the whole a church of the eleventh century, keeping -portions of a church of the fourth, and itself largely recast in the -fourteenth. Thus, setting aside later changes, the existing church -shows portions of work a thousand years apart, and spans nearly the -whole of Aquileian history. When the rich capitals of the transepts -were carved, the days of persecution were still of recent memory; -when pointed arches were set on the ancient columns, the temporal -power of the patriarchate was within a century of its fall. The first -church of Aquileia is assigned to the bishop Fortunatian, who -succeeded in 347, the last prelate who held Aquileia as a simple -bishopric without metropolitan rank. The builder and consecrator of -the present church--for present we may call it, though it shows less -detail of his work than of either earlier or later times--was Poppo or -Wolfgang, patriarch from 1019 to 1042, a man famous in local history -as the chief founder of the temporal power of the patriarchate. His -influence was great with the Emperors Henry the Second and Conrad the -Second; he accompanied the latter prince to his Roman coronation, and -must therefore have stood face to face with our own Cnut. The name of -this magnificent prelate suggests his namesake, who at the very same -moment filled the metropolitan throne of Trier, and was engaged in the -same work of transforming a great church of an older day. If we -compare Trier and Aquileia, we see how men's minds are worked on by -local circumstances and local associations. Poppo of Aquileia and -Poppo of Trier were alike German prelates, but one was working in -Germany and the other in Italy. The northern Poppo therefore gave the -remodelled church of Trier a German character, while the remodelled -church of Aquileia remained, under the hands of the southern Poppo, a -church thoroughly Italian. We may even say that the essential -character of the building was not changed, even by the still later -remodelling which brought in the pointed arches; these were the work -of Markquard of Randeck, who was translated from Augsburg to the -patriarchal see in 1365, and who held it till 1381. He brought in the -received constructive form of his day, but he did not by bringing in -pointed arches turn the building into Italian Gothic. The church of -Markquard remained within and without a true basilica, keeping the -general effect of the church of Poppo, perhaps even of the church of -Fortunatian. The walls of the church moreover show inscriptions of -much later date, recording work done in the church of Aquileia in the -days of Apostolic sovereigns of our own time. The newest of all, which -was not there in 1875, but which was there in 1881, bears the name of -the prince who has ceased to be lord of Forum Julii, but who still -remains lord of Aquileia. - -But the basilica itself is not all. A succession of buildings join on -to the west: first a _loggia_, then a plain vaulted building, called, -but without much likelihood, an older church, which leads to the -ruined baptistery. The old map shows this last with a high roof or -cupola, and then the range from the western baptistery to the great -eastern apse must have been striking indeed. Fragments of every kind, -columns, capitals, bits of entablature, lie around; and to the south -of the church stand up two great pillars, the object of which it is -for some local antiquary to explain. The old map shows that they stood -just within the court of the patriarchal palace, which was then a -ruin, and which has now utterly vanished. They are not of classical -work; they are not columns in the strict sense; they are simply built -up of stones, like the pillars of Gloucester or Tewkesbury. Standing -side by side, they remind us of the columns which in towns which were -subject to Venice commonly bear the badges of the dominion of Saint -Mark. But can we look for such badges at Aquileia? The lands of the -patriarchate, in by far the greater part of their extent, did indeed -pass from the patriarch to the Evangelist. But had the Evangelist ever -such a settled possession of the city itself as to make it likely that -columns should be set up at Aquileia as well as at Udine? The treaty -which confirmed Venice in the possession of the patriarchal state left -the patriarchal city to its own bishop and prince. Was the winged lion -ever set up, and then taken down again? The old map which represents -Aquileia in the fifteenth century shows that, as the pillars carry -nothing now, so they carried nothing then. Again, would Venetian taste -have allowed such clumsy substitutes for columns as these? And, if -they had been meant as badges of dominion, would they not have stood -in the forum rather than in the court of the Patriarch's palace? - -We are far from having exhausted even the existing antiquities of -Aquileia, further still from exhausted its long and varied history. -Within the bounds of the fallen city pleasant walks may be taken, -which here and there bring us among memories of the past. Here is a -fine street pavement brought to light, here a fragment of a theatre. -But men do not dig at Aquileia with the same vigour with which they -dig at Silchester and at Solunto. The difference between the diggings -at the beginning and the end of a term of six years is less than it -should be. But we have perhaps done enough to point out the claims of -so wonderful a spot on those who look on travelling as something more -than a way either of killing time or of conforming to fashion. -Aquileia has a character of its own; it is not a ruined or buried -city; nor is it altogether like Trier or Ravenna, which, though fallen -from their ancient greatness, are cities still. In the general feeling -of the spot it has more in common with such a place as Saint David's -in our own island, that thorough "church city," where a great minster -and its ecclesiastical establishment still live on amid surrounding -desolation. But there is no reason to believe that Saint David's, as -a town, was ever greater than it is now. Still Saint David's keeps its -bishopric, it keeps its chapter; at Aquileia the patriarch with his -fifty canons are altogether things of the past. We must seek for their -surviving fragments at Udine and Gorizia. Aquileia then, as regards -its present state, has really fallen lower than Saint David's. But -then at Aquileia we see at every step, what could never at any time -have been seen at Saint David's, the signs of the days when it ranked -among the great cities of the earth. Aquileia, in short, is unique. We -turn away from it with the feeling that we have seen one of the most -remarkable spots that Europe can show us. It may be that our horses, -excellent or otherwise, take us back to Monfalcone, and that from -Monfalcone the train takes us back to Trieste. In theory, it must be -remembered, we have not been at Trieste at all; we are going thither -from Venice, by way of Treviso, Udine, Gorizia, and Aquileia. In going -thither, we shall outstrip the strict boundary of the Lombard Austria, -though we shall keep within the Italy of Augustus and the Italy of -Charles the Great. On the other hand, in matter of fact it may be -that, as we have come by the older mode of going from Trieste to -Aquileia, we go on to make our way by the same mode from Aquileia to -Gorizia. In favourable states of the astronomical world, we may even -be lighted on our way by a newly-risen comet. We follow the precedent -of our forefathers: "Isti mirant stellam." Such a phænomenon must, -according to all ancient belief, imply the coming of some great -shaking among the powers of the world. In such a frame of mind, the -gazer may be excused if he dreams that the portent may be sent to show -that the boundary which parts Aquileia and Gorizia from Udine and -Treviso need not be eternal. - - - - -TRIESTE. - -1875--1877--1881. - - -We have already learned, at Gorizia and at Aquileia, that, whether in -real travel or on the map, the subject lands of Venice cannot be kept -apart from those neighbour lands which were not her subjects. The -Queen of the Hadriatic could at no time boast of the possession of the -whole Hadriatic coast; could she now be called up again to her old -life, to her old dominion, she would feel very sensibly that she had -only a divided rule over her own sea. She would find her peer in a -city, a haven, all claim to dominion over which she had formally -resigned more than four hundred years before her fall. Facing her from -the other side of her own watery kingdom, she would see a city too far -off to be an eyesore, but quite near enough to be a rival. She is -fronted by a city which hardly comes within the old Venetian land, -though it comes within the bounds of the old Italian kingdom, a city -which for five hundred years has been parted from Venetian or Italian -rule, emphatically a city of the present, which has swallowed up no -small share of the wealth and prosperity of the city of the past. - -_Tergeste_, Trieste, stands forth as a rival of Venice, which has, in -a low practical view of things, outstripped her. Italian zeal -naturally cries for the recovery of a great city, once part of the old -Italian kingdom, and whose speech is largely, perhaps chiefly, Italian -to this day. But, cry of _Italia Irredenta_, however far it may go, he -must not go so far as this. Trieste, a cosmopolitan city on a Slavonic -shore, cannot be called Italian in the same sense as the lands and -towns so near Verona which yearn to be as Verona is. Let Trieste be -the rival, even the eyesore, of Venice, still Southern Germany must -have a mouth. We might indeed be better pleased to see Trieste a free -city, the southern fellow of Lübeck, Bremen, and Hamburg; but it must -not be forgotten that the Archduke of Austria and Lord of Trieste -reigns at Trieste by a far better right than that by which he reigns -at Cattaro and Spizza. The present people of Trieste did not choose -him, but the people of Trieste five hundred years back did choose the -forefather of his great-grandmother. Compared with the grounds on -which kingdoms, duchies, counties, and lordships, are commonly held in -that neighbourhood, such a claim as this must be allowed to be -respectable indeed. - -The great haven of Trieste may almost at pleasure be quoted as either -confirming or contradicting the rule that it is not in the great -commercial cities of Europe that we are to look for the choicest or -the most plentiful remains of antiquity. Sometimes the cities -themselves are of modern foundation; in other cases the cities -themselves, as habitations of men and seats of commerce, are of the -hoariest antiquity, but the remains of their early days have perished -through their very prosperity. Massalia, with her long history, with -her double wreath of freedom, the city which withstood Cæsar and which -withstood Charles of Anjou, is bare of monuments of her early days. -She has been the victim of her abiding good fortune. We can look down -from the height on the Phôkaian harbour; but for actual memorials of -the men who fled from the Persian, of the men who defied the Roman and -the Angevin, we might look as well at Liverpool or at Havre. Genoa, -Venice herself, are hardly real exceptions; they were indeed -commercial cities, but they were ruling cities also, and, as ruling -cities, they reared monuments which could hardly pass away. What are -we to say to the modern rival of Venice, the upstart rebel, one is -tempted to say, against the supremacy of the Hadriatic Queen? Trieste, -at the head of her gulf, with the hills looking down to her haven, -with the snowy mountains which seem to guard the approach from the -other side of her inland sea, with her harbour full of the ships of -every nation, her streets echoing with every tongue, is she to be -reckoned as an example of the rule or an exception to it? - -No city at first sight seems more thoroughly modern; old town and new, -wide streets and narrow, we search them in vain for any of those -vestiges of past times which in some cities meet us at every step. -Compare Trieste with Ancona; we miss the arch of Trajan on the haven; -we miss the cupola of Saint Cyriacus soaring in triumph above the -triumphal monument of the heathen. We pass through the stately streets -of the newer town, we thread the steep ascents which lead us to the -older town above, and we nowhere light on any of those little scraps -of ornamental architecture, a window, a doorway, a column, which meet -us at every step in so many of the cities of Italy. Yet the monumental -wealth of Trieste is all but equal to the monumental wealth of Ancona. -At Ancona we have the cathedral church and the triumphal arch; so we -have at Trieste; though at Trieste we have nothing to set against the -grand front of the lower and smaller church of Ancona. But at Ancona -arch and _duomo_ both stand out before all eyes; at Trieste both have -to be looked for. The church of Saint Justus at Trieste crowns the -hill as well as the church of Saint Cyriacus at Ancona; but it does -not in the same way proclaim its presence. The castle, with its ugly -modern fortifications, rises again above the church; and the _duomo_ -of Trieste, with its shapeless outline and its low, heavy, unsightly -campanile, does not catch the eyes like the Greek cross and cupola of -Ancona. Again at Trieste the arch could never, in its best days, have -been a rival to the arch at Ancona; and now either we have to hunt it -out by an effort, or else it comes upon us suddenly, standing, as it -does, at the head of a mean street on the ascent to the upper town. Of -a truth it cannot compete with Ancona or with Rimini, with Orange or -with Aosta. But the _duomo_, utterly unsightly as it is in a general -view, puts on quite a new character when we first see the remains of -pagan times imprisoned in the lower stage of the heavy campanile, -still more so when we take our first glance of its wonderful interior. -At the first glimpse we see that here there is a mystery to be -unravelled; and as we gradually find the clue to the marvellous -changes which it has undergone, we feel that outside show is not -everything, and that, in point both of antiquity and of interest, -though not of actual beauty, the double basilica of Trieste may claim -no mean place among buildings of its own type. Even after the glories -of Rome and Ravenna, the Tergestine church may be studied with no -small pleasure and profit, as an example of a kind of transformation -of which neither Rome nor Ravenna can supply another example. - - * * * * * - -Whatever was the first origin of Tergeste, whoever, among the varied -and perplexing inhabitants of this corner of the Hadriatic coast, were -the first to pitch on the spot for a dwelling-place of man, it is -plain that it ranks among the cities which have grown up out of -hill-forts. Trieste in this affords a marked contrast to Marseilles, -as it supplies a marked analogy to Cumæ and Ancona. The site of the -Phôkaian settlement marks a distinct advance in civilization. The -_castellieri_, the primitive forts, in the neighbouring land of -Istria, were, according to Captain Burton, often made into places of -Roman occupation, and something of the same kind may have been the -case with Tergeste itself. The position of the cathedral church, -occupying the site of the capitol of the Roman colony, shows of itself -that Tergeste was thoroughly a hill-city. It has spread itself -downwards, like so many others, though this time, not into the plain, -but towards the sea. Standing on the border-land of Italy and Illyria, -its destiny has been in some things the same as that of its -neighbours, in others peculiar to itself. It must not be forgotten -that, setting aside the coast cities, the land in which Trieste stands -has for ages been a Slavonic land, except so far as it is also partly -a Rouman land. How far the Italian and the Rouman elements may have -been originally the same, is a puzzling question on which it would be -dangerous to enter here. But one thing is certain, that, if the -present inhabitants of the Tergestine city had obeyed the call of -Garibaldi, "Men of Trieste, to your mountains," they would have found -Slavonic possessors claiming those mountains by the strongest of all -titles. For we have now distinctly passed the national border. We have -come to the lands where the body is Slavonic, where the Italian -element, greater or smaller, is at most only a fringe along the coast. -Tergeste with the neighbouring lands formed part of the dominion of -Theodoric and of the recovered Empire of Justinian; but it never came -under the rule of the Lombard. Its allegiance to the lords of -Constantinople and Ravenna, lords whose abiding power in this region -is shown in the foundation of the Istrian Justinopolis, lasted -unshaken till the Frank conquest, when Tergeste became part of the -Italian kingdom of the Karlings. From that time to the fourteenth -century, its history is the common history of an Italian city. It is -sometimes a free commonwealth, sometimes subject to, or claimed by, -the Patriarch of Aquileia or to the Serene Republic itself. By the -treaty of Turin in 1381, the independence of the commonwealth of -Trieste was formally acknowledged by all the contending powers. The -next year the liberated city took the seemingly strange step of -submitting itself to the lordship of a foreign prince. Leopold, Duke -of Austria, he who died at Sempach, he to whom Venice resigned -Treviso, was received by a solemn act as Lord of Trieste, and that -lordship passed on to the Dukes, Archdukes, Kings, and Emperors of his -house, and from them to their Lotharingian successors. Thus, unlike -Treviso and Udine, Trieste has been Austrian in one sense only. Never -forming a part of the Austria of Lombardy, it has had a far more -abiding connexion with the Austria of Germany. The lordship which -Trieste acknowledged was of course at first only an overlordship, and -the Council and Commons of the city still continued to act as a -separate commonwealth. But an union of this kind is one of those fatal -partnerships between the stronger and the weaker which can lead only -to bondage. Trieste has ever since remained Austrian in allegiance, -save during the chaos of the days of the elder Buonaparte. Those days -are commemorated by an inscription on the _duomo_, which tells of the -expulsion of the French from the castle by an allied force, whose name -of "Austro-Angli" might almost suggest some unrecorded tribe in our -own island. - - * * * * * - -It is certainly hard to conceive a building more uninviting without -than the cathedral church of Saint Justus. But Sokratês was not to be -judged by his outside, neither is the _duomo_ of Trieste. A broad and -almost shapeless west front is flanked by a low, heavy tower, not -standing detached as a campanile, as it should stand in Italy, not -worked into the church as it would be worked in England or Germany, -but standing forward in a kind of Scotch fashion, like Dunkeld. The -only architectural feature seems to be a large wheel window, which it -would be unfair to compare to that of Saint Zeno. But the next moment -will show, built in at the angle of the church and the tower, a noble -fluted column with its half-defaced Corinthian capital, which is -enough to show what has been. We are carried back to Rome, to Saint -Mary _in Cosmedin_ and Saint Nicolas _in Carcere_, as we trace out in -the lower stage of the tower the remains of the temple of Jupiter -which has given way to the church of Justus. Imbedded in its walls are -pilasters, columns, and their basement, showing that Jupiter of -Tergeste must have lifted his pillared portico above the sea as -proudly as Aphroditê of the Doric Ankón. Fragments of entablatures, -trophies, sepulchral monuments, are built up in the wall. The western -doorway of the church is made out of a huge tomb of the Barbii--a -_gens_ which we do not elsewhere remember--deliberately cut in two, -and set up the wrong way. The building or rebuilding of the tower in -1337 is commemorated by an inscription in letters of that -date--"Gothic" letters, as some call them--out of a mutilated part of -which the earlier Tergestine antiquaries spelled out that the tower -was rebuilt, in 556, after a destruction by the Goths. As the letters -..LVM.. were enough to create the new saint Philumena, the letters -..OT... could easily be filled up into "a Gothis eversa"--quite -evidence enough to lead a zealous Italian to lay the destroying deeds -of his own forefathers on the Gothic preservers of the works of the -elder day. - -As soon as we pass the doorway with the heads of the Barbii on either -side, we forget the wrongs alike of Jupiter and of the Goths. The -wonderful interior of the double basilica opens upon us. The first -feeling is simply puzzledom. A nave of vast width seems to be flanked -by two ranges of columns on either side, columns varying even more -than is usual in their height and in the width of the arches which -they support. When we look within the two lateral ranges, we are not -surprised to find each ending in an apse with a noble mosaic; we are -surprised to find the southern range interrupted by a cupola. This -last phænomenon will help us to the explanation of the whole mystery. -The church is in fact two churches thrown into one. When they were -distinct, they must have stood even nearer than the old and new -minsters at Winchester; indeed a plan in a local work shows, with -every probability, their walls as actually touching in one point. The -northern church was a basilica of the ordinary type, made up of -columns--some of them of very fine marble--put together, as usual, -without much regard to uniformity. All bear Corinthian capitals of -different varieties, and all carry the Ravenna stilt in a rude form -without the cross. The wall rose high above the arcade, and was -pierced with a range of narrow clerestory windows, but with nothing -else to relieve its blankness. This church the Tergestine antiquaries -attribute, but, as far as we can see, without any direct evidence, to -the reign of Theodosius. The southern church is, in its original -parts, the same in style as the northern, but it is much smaller and, -in its plan at least, thoroughly Byzantine. It was a small cross -church, with a central cupola, and its north transept seems to have -touched the south aisle of its northern neighbour. It is perhaps on -the strength of the plan that the church is assigned to the reign of -Justinian. But there is nothing Byzantine in the details; where the -original capitals remain, they are of the same somewhat rude -Corinthian character as those in the northern church; they have the -same stilt, and under the cupola there is even a bit or two of -entablature built up again. But the building went through much greater -changes than the northern church did in the work of throwing the two -into one whole. The date of this change seems to be fixed by a -consecration recorded in the local annals in 1262. The south aisle of -the northern church, the north aisle and north transept of the -southern one, were pulled down, and the space which they had covered -was roofed in to form the nave of the united building, while the two -earlier basilicas sank into the position of its aisles. In the -northern church this involved no change beyond the disappearance of -the south aisle and the blocking of its clerestory; the smaller church -to the south had to suffer far more. It had to be raised and -lengthened; a quadrangular pier on the south side marks the original -length, and the increase of height of course destroys the proper -effect of the cupola. Then, as the cupola of course rested on columns -with wider arches, its northern arch was filled up with two smaller -arches and an inserted column, so as to make something like a -continuous range. Still, late in the thirteenth century, they again -used up the old marble columns; but they now used a flat capital, by -which the additions of this time may be distinguished from the genuine -basilican work. - -Probably no church anywhere has undergone a more singular change than -this. It is puzzling indeed at first sight; but, when the key is once -caught, the signs of each alteration are so easily seen. The other -ancient relic at Trieste is the small triumphal arch. On one side it -keeps its Corinthian pilasters; on the other they are imbedded in a -house. The arch is in a certain sense double; but the two are close -together and touch in the keystone. The Roman date of this arch cannot -be doubted; but legends connect it both with Charles the Great and -with Richard of Poitou and of England, a prince about whom Tergestine -fancy has been very busy. The popular name of the arch is _Arco -Riccardo_. - -Such, beside some fragments in the museum, are all the remains that -the antiquary will find in Trieste; not much in point of number, but, -in the case of the _duomo_ at least, of surpassing interest in their -own way. But the true merit of Trieste is not in anything that it has -in itself, its church, its arch, its noble site. Placed there at the -head of the gulf, on the borders of two great portions of the Empire, -it leads to the land which produced that line of famous Illyrian -Emperors who for a while checked the advance of our own race in the -world's history, and it leads specially to the chosen home of the -greatest among them. The chief glory of Trieste, after all, is that it -is the way to Spalato. - - - - -TRIESTE TO SPALATO. - - - - -TRIESTE TO SPALATO. - -1875. - - -Given such weather as suits fair-weather sailors, there can hardly be -any enjoyment more thoroughly unmixed than a sail along the coast of -Dalmatia. First of all, there is a freshness about everything. Here is -a portion of land which is thoroughly unhackneyed; the coasts, the -islands, the channels, of Dalmatia are as yet uninvaded by the British -tourist. No Cook's ticket can be taken for Spalato; no hotel coupon -would be of the slightest use at Sebenico. The land is whatever its -long and strange history, old and new, has made it. It has gone -through many changes and it has put on many shapes, but it has escaped -the fate of being changed into a "playground of Europe." - -The narrow strip of land on the eastern side of the Hadriatic on which -the name of Dalmatia has settled down has a history which is -strikingly analogous to its scenery. A coast for the most part barren -and rocky, but with its barrenness and rockiness diversified by a -series of noble havens, is fenced off by a range of mountains from a -boundless inland region. Each of these havens, with the cities which -from early days have sprung up on each, has always been an isolated -centre of civilization in a backward land. As a rule, broken only -during a few centuries of the universal sway of Rome, the coast and -the inland country have been the possession, by no means always of -different nations, but most commonly of different governments. On the -coast the rule of the Venetian has been succeeded by the rule of the -Austrian, while in the inland region the rule of native Slavonic -princes has been succeeded by the rule of the Turk. Yet the Slave, -though an earlier settler than the Turk or the Venetian, was himself -only a settler in comparatively recent times. Native Illyrians, Greek -colonists, Roman colonists, the rule of the Goth from Ravenna, the -rule of the Eastern Roman from Constantinople, had all to take their -turn before the land put on its present character of a more or less -Italianized fringe on a Slavonic body, of a narrow rim of Christendom -hemming in the north-eastern conquests of the once advancing and now -receding Mussulman. - -So it is with Dalmatian history. As the cultivation and civilization -of the land lies in patches, as harbours and cities alternate with -barren hills, so Dalmatia has played a part in history only by fits -and starts. This fitful kind of history goes on from the days of Greek -colonies and Illyrian piracy to the last war between Italy and -Austria. But of continuous history, steadily influencing the course of -the world's progress, Dalmatia has none to show. Salona plays its part -in the wars both of Cæsar and of Belisarius; Zara reminds us of the -fourth crusade; the whole history of Ragusa claims a high place among -the histories of independent and isolated cities; Lissa recalls the -memory of two times of warfare within our own century. But if there -was any time when Dalmatia really influenced the history of the world, -it was when Dalmatia had no national being, when it was merely a -province of an universal dominion along with Britain and Egypt. Of the -great Emperors of the third century, who called the Roman power into -new life and checked the ever-advancing wave of Teutonic invasion, -many came from the Illyrian lands, several came from the actual -Dalmatian coast. And the most famous among them--Docles, Diocletian, -Jovius--not only came forth from Dalmatia to rule the world, but went -back to Dalmatia to seek rest when weary of the toil of ruling it. - -But in our immediate point of view we must never forget that our -course now lies wholly, not only by subject lands of Venice, but by -lands where Venice appears in her highest character as the bulwark of -Christendom against the misbeliever. The shores and cities by which we -pass, were subject to the Serene Republic, but subjection to the -Serene Republic was their only chance of escaping subjection to the -Ottoman Sultan. Every town, every fortress, almost every point of -ground along this whole coast, has been fought for, most of them have -been won and lost, over and over again, in the long crusade which -Venice waged, if for herself, yet for Europe also. Her rule was an -alien rule, but it was still European and Christian; it shut out the -rule of the barbarian. It was a rule better and worse in different -times and places, but it had always the merit of shutting out a worse -rule than itself, which was ever ready to take its place. Whenever we -see the winged lion keeping guard, the thought should rise that he -kept guard over spots which he alone kept for Christendom, which he -alone saved from barbarian bondage. - - * * * * * - -The visitor to Dalmatia may be conceived as setting forth from the -harbour of Trieste--from Trieste with its houses climbing up to the -church and castle on the hill, with the background of mountains -growing in the far distance into snowy Alps. From the Dalmatian coast -itself no snowy Alps are seen; but the whole land is only a mountain -slope, and the cities are cities on a smaller scale than Trieste, and -which seldom run so high as Trieste does up the hill-side. But we must -not forget that, even at Trieste, Dalmatia is still a distant land. -There is the Istrian peninsula to be skirted, the peninsula whose -coast was so long counted among the subject lands of Venice, while the -inland region, under the rule of counts of Gorizia and dukes of -Austria, counted only among the neighbours of the Republic. The -Istrian coast, largely flat, is marked here and there by small towns -standing well on high points over the sea, or seen more faintly in the -more distant inland region. But we know that inland Istria is a hilly -land, and, even from the sea, the mountain wall may still be seen -skirting the horizon. Darkness has come on by the time we reach the -harbour of Pola, once Pietas Julia, now the chief station of the -infant navy of Austria. But the darkness is not so great but that the -dim outline of the vast amphitheatre can be seen, and the arrangements -of the Austrian Lloyd's steamers allow time enough to go on shore and -take in the general effect both of the amphitheatre and the other -buildings of Pola. We here get our first impression of the Venetian -towns beyond the Hadriatic, all of which seem to attempt in some sort -to reproduce their mistress, so far as Venice can be reproduced where -there are no canals and therefore no gondolas. But all have the same -narrow, paved streets, the same little squares, and, if the passage -of horses and wheels is not so utterly unknown as it is at Venice, -their presence is, to say the least, rare. The lion of Saint Mark is -to be seen everywhere else; by daylight therefore he is to be seen at -Pola also. But the Lloyd's arrangements condemn Pola, in the early -part of October at least, to be seen only by dim glimpses, while Zara -has an ample measure of daylight. Let no one however blame a -time-table which will bring him into Spalato with the setting sun, and -will allow him to take his first glance of Diocletian's palace by the -rising moon. - -In the night we pass by several islands, but none are of any historic -importance. Veglia lies out of our path, or we might muse on the evil -deeds of the last independent Count, at least as they were reported by -his Venetian enemies, who were eager to get possession of his island. -The tale will be found in Sir Gardner Wilkinson's "Dalmatia and -Montenegro," a book which no traveller in these lands should be -without. The next morning's light shows us genuine Dalmatia, its coast -at this stage marked by the barren hills coming down to the sea and -the range of higher mountains further inland. We skirt among endless -islands, most of which seem barren and uninhabited; we pass along the -channel of Zara, and come to anchor off the city itself, standing on -its peninsula crowned with its walls--Venetian and later--and with -the towers of its churches rising above them. Here a stay of several -hours allows a pretty full examination of our first Dalmatian city--a -city however more Italian and far less thoroughly Dalmatian than other -cities to which our further course will lead us. There is time to -visit the _duomo_ and the smaller churches--to mark the two surviving -Roman columns--to thread the narrow streets, with their occasional -scraps of Venetian architecture--to stroll by the harbour, under the -gateways marked by the lion of Saint Mark, one of which so oddly -proves to be really a Roman gate with a Venetian casing. We may even, -if we so think good, climb the mound which, though crowned by a not -attractive Chinese pagoda, nevertheless supplies the best view of Zara -and her two seas. The _Albergo al Cappello_--the sign of the -Hat--supplies food certainly not worse than an Italian town of the -same class would set before a passing traveller. The meal done, to sit -out of doors in a _café_ is nothing new to any one who has crossed the -straits, not of Zara but of Calais; but it is a new feeling to do so -in the narrow streets of a Dalmatian town, and to add the further -luxury of maraschino drunk in its native land. - -Night is now passed on board, and Zara is left by sunrise. Islands and -hills again succeed on either side, till we enter a narrow strait and -find ourselves in a noble harbour with a town in front, lying, like -most Dalmatian towns except Zara, at the foot of the mountains. We are -in the haven of Sebenico, but the haven of Sebenico is by no means the -whole of the inlet, which runs much further inland in the shape of a -narrow creek. We land, and give such time as is allowed us to a sight -of the little hill-side city. Shall we give Sebenico the last place -among the cities which we stay and examine in detail, or the first -place among the lesser cities to which we give such time as we can in -passing by? We are driven to this last course, not forgetting, if we -are minded to turn away from history and art to look for a while on a -striking natural object, that it is from Sebenico that we may best -make our way to the great waterfall of Kerka. And, as far as those who -have made no special study of Alpine matters may speak, the falls of -Kerka, rushing down in a company of torrents side by side, look as if -they had a right to take a high place among the falls at least of the -old world. But Sebenico is not simply the way to Kerka; there is -something to see in Sebenico itself. It is a hill city, but it is -emphatically not a hill-top city, but a hill-side city. We climb up -through the inhabited town to the castle, and when we reach the -castle, we are far from having reached the hill top. And to those who -make Sebenico their second halting-place on the strictly Dalmatian -coast it will have a special interest. Much smaller than Zara, it is -far more thoroughly Dalmatian; costume is more marked, and its -position gives it that peculiar air of quaintness which is shared by -all places where narrow streets run up a steep hill. And those streets -moreover are rich with architectural features, graceful windows and -the like, which witness to the influence of the ruling city. And there -is something not a little taking in the small _piazza_ of -Sebenico--the arcaded _loggia_ on the one side, the cathedral on the -other, with its mixed but stately architecture, its waggon-roof of -stone standing out boldly without either buttress or external roof. -Mr. Neale, whom, as he does not rule Sebenico to be a "church city," -we may now quote seriously, holds that the cathedral of Sebenico is -"in an exclusively architectural view the most interesting church in -Dalmatia." He adds that "in truth it is one of the noblest, most -striking, most simple, most Christian of churches." This is high -praise, especially when bestowed by Mr. Neale on a church which was -consecrated so lately as 1555. But there is no denying that, strangely -confused as is its style, the church of Sebenico is, both inside and -out, not only a most remarkable, but a thoroughly effective building. -The internal proportions are noble; the height is great; the columns, -though their arches are pointed, might have stood in any basilica at -Rome or Ravenna; the barrel vaulting carries us away to Saint Sernin -at Toulouse and to the Conqueror's Tower. The details are a strange -mixture of late Gothic and _Renaissance_, very rich and somehow very -effective. It is not exactly like that class of French churches of -which Saint Eustache at Paris is the grandest example, where a -thoroughly mediæval outline is carried out with _Renaissance_ detail. -At Sebenico we see side by side, a bit in one style and a bit in the -other, and yet the two contrive to harmonize. We go down again to the -haven; we mark a few classical capitals preserved, as we here preserve -ammonites and pieces of rock-work; we start again to make the second -portion of our second day's voyage, and to reach the most marked and -memorable spot in our whole course. - -After Sebenico the coast is for a while almost free from islands. -Presently we pass along among a few small ones, and Lissa, famous for -piracies two thousand years back and for more regular warfare in our -own century and in our own day, shows itself in the distance. Our -course has by this time turned nearly due east. We pass by Bua, hardly -conscious that it is an island. We pass by the mouth of the bay which -Bua guards, hardly conscious of the depth of the inlet into which it -leads, or that two cities--Traü and fallen Salona--are washed by its -waters. For the child of Salona, the great object of a Dalmatian -voyage, is coming within sight far away. The mighty campanile of -Spalato rises, kindled with the last rays of sunlight; presently the -cupola of the metropolitan church, the long line of the palace wall, -the buildings of what is plainly no inconsiderable city, stand out -against their mountain background. The sun has gone down behind the -western headland, but we can get our first glimpse of the city, its -arcades and tower and temples, by that moonlight which is as good at -Spalato as at Melrose. We have been in the home of Diocletian, and we -go back to our ship, for the next day to bring us to the one city -along these shores which the might of Venice could never bring into -subjection. - - * * * * * - -In such a voyage as this many points necessarily escape notice, and -the great objects of study are well reserved for the return journey. -In all travelling for instruction's sake, it is a point specially to -be insisted on that every place should, whenever it is possible, be -seen twice. Nothing fixes a thing so well in the memory as going -through the process of recollection. And, in such a voyage as this, it -is no bad way to go at once to the furthest point, to see on the way -so much of the several points as the arrangements of the steamers -allow, and to stop a longer time at the important places coming back. -In this way a general notion of Dalmatia and its cities is gained -first of all--a notion which may be enlarged and corrected by more -minute examination of the chief places, and of course, foremost among -them, of Spalato itself. But Spalato, though the great object of a -Dalmatian voyage, is by no means its final object. When we have -reached Spalato, we have not yet gone through half our course. Before -we can come back to study its wonders more worthily, we have to spend -a day in the archipelago of larger islands, nearly each of which, -unlike their northern fellows, has some old historical memory. We have -for part of another day to sail along that still narrower strip of -Christendom which fences off Ragusa from the Mussulman, to thread our -way through the lovely Bocche of Cattaro, till we reach the furthest -of Dalmatian cities, with the path to unconquered Montenegro over our -heads. - - - - -PARENZO. - -1875. - - -Parenzo, the ancient colony of Parentium, is likely to be, for many -travellers in Istria and Dalmatia, their first point of stoppage after -leaving Trieste. To such travellers it will be the beginning of the -dominion of Venice in spots lying wholly beyond the Hadriatic, the -first glimpse of the long series of lands and cities, from Istria to -Cyprus, which once "looked to the winged lion's marble piles," and -where the winged lion still abides in stone to keep up the memory of -his old dominion. The short voyage is a lovely one. Looking back, -there is Trieste on her hill-side, with her suburbs and detached -houses spreading far away in both directions, and backed by the vast -semicircle of the Julian Alps, with the snowy peaks of their higher -summits soaring above all. The northern part of the Istrian peninsula, -as we see it from the sea, has a strikingly rich and picturesque look, -which is lost as we follow the coast towards the south. The small -Istrian towns, each one of which has its civil and ecclesiastical -history, jut out, each one on its own smaller peninsula; and in this -part of the voyage the spaces between them are not lacking in signs of -human dwelling and cultivation. Capo d'Istria, once Justinopolis, lies -in its gulf to the left, to remind us that we have passed into the -dominions of the Cæsars of the East. Forwards, Pirano stands on its -headland, its _duomo_ rising above the water on arcades built up to -save it from the further effects of the stripping process which is so -clearly seen along the coast. The castle, with its many towers capped -with their Scala battlements, rises over town and church, with a -picturesqueness not common in Italian buildings. The church, on the -other hand, is as far from picturesque as most Italian churches are -without, and the detached campanile is simply, like many other Istrian -bell-towers, a miniature of the great tower of the ruling city. But -neither Capo d'Istria nor Pirano is so likely to cause the traveller -bound for Dalmatia to halt as the other and more famous peninsular -town of Parenzo. Long before Parenzo is reached, the Istrian shore has -lost its beauty, though the Istrian hills, now and then capped by a -hill-side town, and the higher mountains beyond them, tell us -something of the character of the inland scenery. At last the -Parentine headland is reached; the temples which crowned it are no -longer to be seen, but the campanile of the famous _duomo_, with its -Veronese spire, and one or two smaller towers, have taken their place -as the prominent objects of the little city. On the side which would -otherwise be open to the Hadriatic, the isle of Saint Nicolas shuts in -the haven guarded by a round Venetian tower. The other side of the -peninsula is washed by the mouth--here we must not say the estuary--of -a stream yellow as Tiber, which comes rushing down by a small -waterfall from the high ground where the Parentine peninsula joins the -mainland. On this peninsula stood the older _municipium_ of Parentium, -and the colony, some say the Julian Colony of Augustus, others the -Ulpian Colony of Trajan. The zeal of Dr. Kandler, the great master of -Istrian antiquities, made out the position of the forum, patrician and -plebeian, of the capitol, the theatre, and the temples. The traveller -will probably need a guide even to the temples, though one of them -keeps the greater part of its stylobate, and the other one has two -broken fluted columns left. A single inscribed stone in the ancient -forum he can hardly fail to see; but the truth is that the Roman -remains of Parentium are such as concern only immediate inquirers into -local Parentine history. At Pola it is otherwise; there the Roman -remains stand out as the great object, utterly overshadowing the -buildings of later times; but at Parenzo the main interest, as it is -not mediæval so neither is it pagan Roman. As at Ravenna, so at -Parenzo, the real charm is to be found in the traces which it keeps of -the great transitional ages when Roman and Teuton stood side by side. -Against the many objects of Ravenna Parenzo has only to set its one. -It has no palace, no kingly tomb--though the thought cannot fail to -suggest itself that it was from Istrian soil that the mighty stone was -brought which once covered the resting-place of Theodoric. Parenzo has -but a single church of moment, but that church is one which would hold -no mean place even among the glories of Ravenna. The capitol of -Parentium has given way to the episcopal precinct, and the temple of -the capitoline god has given way to the great basilica of Saint -Maurus, the building which now gives Parenzo its chief claim to the -study of those for whom the days of the struggle of Goth and Roman -have a special charm. - - * * * * * - -As to the date of the church of Parenzo there seems little doubt. It -is a basilica of the reign of Justinian, which has been preserved with -remarkably little change, and which will hardly find, out of Rome and -Ravenna, any building of its own class to surpass it. With the -buildings of Ravenna it stands in immediate connexion, being actually -contemporary with the work both at Saint Vital and at Saint -Apollinaris in Classe. Its foundation is a little later, as the -church of Parenzo seems to have been begun after the reconquest of -Italy and Istria by Belisarius, while both Saint Vital and Saint -Apollinaris, though finished under the rule of the Emperor, were begun -under the rule of the Goth. There are points at Parenzo which connect -it with both the contemporary churches of Ravenna. The pure basilican -form, the shape of the apse, hexagonal without, though round within, -are common to Parenzo and Classis; the capitals too have throughout -the Ravenna stilt above them; but of the capitals themselves many take -that specially Byzantine shape which at Ravenna is found only in Saint -Vital. That the founder was a Bishop Euphrasius is shown by his -monogram on many of the stilts, by the great mosaic of the apse, in -which he appears holding the church in his hand as founder, and by the -inscription on the disused tabernacle, which is engraved in Mr. -Neale's book on Dalmatia and Istria. At Parenzo, as at Sebenico, Mr. -Neale was in a serious mood; but, though he copied the inscription -rightly or nearly so, he misunderstood it in the strangest fashion, -and thereby led himself into much needless puzzledom. Euphrasius, -according to Dr. Kandler, having been before a decurion of the town, -became the first bishop in 524, when the Istrian bishoprics were -founded under Theodoric. The church would seem to have been built -between 535 and 543. The inscription runs thus:-- - - Famul[us] . D[e]i . Eufrasius . Antis[tes] . temporib[us] . - suis . ag[ens] an[num] . xi. hunc. loc[um] . fondamen[tis] . - D[e]o . jobant[e] . s[an]c[t]e . æc[c]l[esie] Catholec[e] . - cond[idit]. - -The church was therefore begun in the eleventh year of the episcopate -of Euphrasius; that is, in 535. Dr. Kandler prints, unluckily only in -an Italian translation, a document of 543, the sixteenth year of -Justinian, who appears with his usual titles, in which Euphrasius -makes regulations for the Chapter, and speaks of the church as -something already in being. Mr. Neale quotes from Coletti, the editor -of Ughelli's _Italia Sacra_, part of a document in Latin which is -obviously the same, but which is assigned to 796, the sixteenth year -of Constantine the Sixth. The difference is strange; but the date of -the document does not directly affect the date of the church, and, -whatever be the date of either, Mr. Neale needlessly perplexed himself -with the inscription. He says that the inscription commemorates a -certain Pope John, and wonders that Euphrasius, who took part in the -Aquileian schism about the Three Chapters--the Three Chapters which -readers of Gibbon will remember--should record the name of a Pope with -whom he was not in communion. But this difficulty is got rid of by the -simple fact that there is nothing about any Pope John in the -inscription. Mr. Neale strangely read the two words DO . IOBANT .--the -words are carefully marked off by stops--that is, in the barbarous -spelling of the inscription, DEO IVVANTE, into the four words "Domino -Johanne Beatissimo Antistite." We therefore need not, in fixing the -date of the church of Parenzo, trouble ourselves about any Popes. -There can be no doubt that it is the work of Euphrasius, and that -Euphrasius was one of those who opposed Rome about the Three Chapters. -In any case, the _duomo_ of Parenzo has the interest which attaches to -any church built while our own forefathers were still worshipping -Woden; and we may safely add that it has the further interest of being -built by a prelate who threw off all allegiance to the see of Rome. - -The church is indeed a noble one, and its long arcades preserve to us -one of the most speaking examples of the forms of a great basilica. -Every arch deserves careful study, because at Parenzo the capitals -seem not to have been the spoil of earlier buildings, but to have been -made for the church itself. Some still cleave to the general -Corinthian type, though without any slavish copying of classical -models. Animal forms are freely introduced; bulls, swans, and other -creatures, are made to do duty as volutes; and when bulls and swans -are set on that work, we may be sure that the Imperial bird is not -left idle. Others altogether forsake the earlier types; it perhaps -became a church built in the dominions of Justinian while Saint Sophia -was actually rising, that some of its capitals should adopt the square -Byzantine form enwreathed with its basket-work of foliage. But all, -whatever may be their form in other ways, carry the Ravenna stilt, -marked, in some cases at least, with the monogram of the founder -Euphrasius. Happily the love of red rags which is so rampant on either -side of Parenzo, at Trieste and at Zara, seems not to have spread to -Parenzo itself, and the whole of this noble series of capitals may be -studied with ease. The upper part, including the arches, has been more -or less Jesuited within and without, but enough remains to make out -the original arrangements. The soffits on the north side are -ornamented like those in the basilica of Theodoric, a style of -ornament identical with that of so many Roman roofs; above was a -simple round-headed clerestory, and outside are the same slight -beginnings of ornamental arcades which are to be seen at Saint -Apollinaris in Classe. The apse, with its happily untouched windows -and its grand mosaic, also carries us across to Ravenna. Besides the -founder Euphrasius, we see the likeness of the Archdeacon Claudius and -his son, a younger Euphrasius, besides Saint Maurus the patron and -other saintly personages. Below is a rich ornament, but which surely -must be of somewhat later date, formed largely of the actual shells of -mother-of-pearl. The Bishop's throne is in its place; and, as at -Ravenna and in the great Roman basilicas, mass is celebrated by the -priest standing behind the altar with his face westward. Such was -doubtless the usage of the days of Euphrasius, and in such an -old-world place as Parenzo it still goes on. - -But if, in this matter, Parenzo clings to a very ancient use, we may -doubt whether, at Parenzo or anywhere else, the men who made these -great apses and covered them with these splendid mosaics designed them -to be, as they so often are, half hidden by the _baldacchini_ which -cover the high altar. Even in Saint Ambrose at Milan, where the apse -is so high above the altar and where apse and _baldacchino_ are of the -same date, we feel that the view of the east end is in some measure -interfered with. Much more is this the case at Parenzo, where the apse -is lower and the _baldacchino_ more lofty. But the Parenzo -_baldacchino_, dating from 1277, is a noble work of its kind, and it -is wonderful how little change the course of seven hundred years has -made in some of its details as compared with those of the great -arcades. The pointed arch is used, and the Ravenna stilt is absent; -but the capitals, with their animal volutes, are almost the same as -some of those of Euphrasius. Between the date of Euphrasius and the -date of the _baldacchino_ we hear of more than one consecration, one -of which, in 961, is said to have followed a destroying Slavonic -inroad; but it is clear that any works done then must have been works -of mere repair, not of rebuilding. No one can doubt that the columns -and their capitals are the work of Euphrasius, and by diligently -peeping round among the mass of buildings by which the church is -encumbered, the original design may be seen outside as well as in. - -But the church of Parenzo is not merely a basilica; it has all the -further accompaniments of an Italian episcopal church. West of the -church stands the atrium, with the windows of the west front and the -remains of mosaic enrichment rising above it. An arcade of three on -each side surrounds the court, a court certainly far smaller than that -of Saint Ambrose. Two columns with Byzantine capitals stand on each -side; the rest are ancient, but those of the west side are a repair of -the present king, or by whatever title it is that the King of Dalmatia -and Lord of Trieste reigns on the intermediate Istrian shore. To the -west of the atrium is the roofless baptistery, to the west of that the -not remarkable campanile. We have thus reached the extreme west of -this great pile of building, which, after all--such is the difference -of scale between the churches of northern and southern Europe--reaches -only the measure of one of our smallest minsters or greatest parish -churches. The basilica of Parenzo, with all its accompaniments, -measures, according to Mr. Neale's plan, only about 240 feet in -length. But, if we have traced out those accompaniments towards the -west, we have not yet done with those towards the east. A modern -quasi-transept has been thrown out on each side, of which the northern -one strangely forms the usual choir, much as in St. Peter's at Rome. -These additions have columns with Byzantine capitals, like those in -the atrium, copied from the old ones. But beyond this choir, and -connected with the original church, is a low vaulted building of the -plainest round-arched work, called, as usual, the "old church," the -"pagan temple," and what not, which leads again into two chapels, the -furthest having an eastern apse. Now these chapels have a mosaic -pavement, and it is most remarkable that, below the pavement of the -church, is a pavement some feet lower, which evidently belongs to some -earlier building, and which is on the same level as the pavement of -these chapels. It is therefore quite possible that we have here some -remains of a building, perhaps a church, earlier than the time of -Euphrasius. Between Constantine and Justinian there was time enough -for a church to be built at Parentium and for Euphrasius to think it -needful to rebuild it. Lastly, among the canonical buildings on the -south side of the church is one, said to have been a tithe barn, with -a grand range of Romanesque coupled windows, bearing date 1250. They -remind us somewhat of the so-called John of Gaunt's stables, the real -Saint Mary's Guild, at Lincoln. In short, so long as any traces are -left of the style once common to all Western Europe, England and Italy -are ever reminding us of one another. - -Such is the church of Parenzo, and at Parenzo the church is the main -thing. As we pass away, and catch the last traces of the church of -Euphrasius rising above the little peninsular city, our thoughts fly -back to the other side of the Hadriatic, and it seems as if the men -who came to fetch the great stone from Istria to Ravenna had left one -of the noblest basilicas of their own city behind them on the Istrian -shore. - - - - -POLA. - -1875--1881. - - -After Parenzo the most obvious stopping-place on the Istrian shore -will be Pola; and at Pola the main objects of interest for the -historical student will be classed in an order of merit exactly -opposite to those which he has seen at Parenzo. At Parenzo the main -attraction is the great basilica, none the less attractive as being a -monument of early opposition to the claims of the Roman see. Beside -this ecclesiastical treasure the remains of the Parentine colony are -felt to be quite secondary. At Pola things are the other way; the -monuments of Pietas Julia claim the first place; the basilica, though -not without a certain special interest, comes long after them. The -character of the place is fixed by the first sight of it; we see the -present and we see the more distant past; the Austrian navy is to be -seen, and the amphitheatre is to be seen. But intermediate times have -little to show; if the duomo strikes the eye at all, it strikes it -only by the extreme ugliness of its outside, nor is there anything -very taking, nothing like the picturesque castle of Pirano, in the -works which occupy the site of the colonial capitol. The _duomo_ -should not be forgotten; even the church of Saint Francis is worth a -glance; but it is in the remains of the Roman colony, in the -amphitheatre, the arches, the temples, the fragments preserved in that -temple which serves, as at Nîmes, for a museum, that the real -antiquarian wealth of Pola lies. - -There is no need to go into the mythical history of the place. Tales -about Thracians and Argonauts need not be seriously discussed at this -time of day. Nor can there be any need to show that the name Pola is -not a contraction of Pietas Julia. Save for the slight accidental -likeness of letters, so to say is about as reasonable as to say that -London is a corruption of Augusta, or Jerusalem of Ælia. In all these -cases the older, native, familiar, name outlived the later, foreign, -official, name. When we have thoroughly cleared up the origin of the -Illyrians and the old Veneti, we may know something of the earliest -inhabitants of Pola, and possibly of the origin of its name. But the -known history of Pola begins with the Roman conquest of Istria in 178 -B.C. The town became a Roman colony and a flourishing seat of -commerce. Its action on the republican side in the civil war brought -on it the vengeance of the second Cæsar. But the destroyer became the -restorer, and Pietas Julia, in the height of its greatness, far -surpassed the extent either of the elder or the younger Pola. Like all -cities of this region, Pola kept up its importance down to the days of -the Carolingian Empire, the specially flourishing time of the whole -district being that of Gothic and Byzantine dominion at Ravenna. A -barbarian king, the Roxolan Rasparasanus, is said to have withdrawn to -Pola after the submission of his nation to Hadrian; and the -panegyrists of the Flavian house rank Pola along with Trier and Autun -among the cities which the princes of that house had adorned or -strengthened. But in the history of their dynasty the name of the city -chiefly stands out as the chosen place for the execution of princes -whom it was convenient to put out of the way. Here Crispus died at the -bidding of Constantine, and Gallus at the bidding of Constantius. -Under Theodoric, Pola doubtless shared that general prosperity of the -Istrian land on which Cassiodorus grows eloquent when writing to its -inhabitants. In the next generation Pola appears in somewhat of the -same character which has come back to it in our own times; it was -there that Belisarius gathered the Imperial fleet for his second and -less prosperous expedition against the Gothic lords of Italy. But, -after the break up of the Frankish Empire, the history of mediæval -Pola is but a history of decline. It was, in the geography of Dante, -the furthest city of Italy; but, like most of the other cities of its -own neighbourhood, its day of greatness had passed away when Dante -sang. Tossed to and fro between the temporal and spiritual lords who -claimed to be marquesses of Istria, torn by the dissensions of -aristocratic and popular parties among its own citizens, Pola found -rest, the rest of bondage, in submission to the dominion of Saint Mark -in 1331. Since then, till its new birth in our own times, Pola has -been a falling city. Like the other Istrian and Dalmatian towns, -modern revolutions have handed it over from Venice to Austria, from -Austria to France, from France to Austria again. It is under its -newest masters that Pola has at last begun to live a fresh life, and -the haven whence Belisarius sailed forth has again become a haven in -more than name, the cradle of the rising navy of the united Austrian -and Hungarian realm. - - [Illustration: PORTA GEMINA, POLA.] - -That haven is indeed a noble one. Few sights are more striking than to -see the huge mass of the amphitheatre at Pola seeming to rise at once -out of the land-locked sea. As Pola is seen now, the amphitheatre is -the one monument of its older days which strikes the eye in the -general view, and which divides attention with signs that show how -heartily the once forsaken city has entered on its new career. But -in the old time Pola could show all the buildings which befitted its -rank as a colony of Rome. The amphitheatre of course stood without the -walls; the city itself stood at the foot and on the slope of the hill -which was crowned by the capitol of the colony, where the modern -fortress rises above the Franciscan church. Parts of the Roman wall -still stand; one of its gates is left; another has left a neighbour -and a memory. At the north side of the capitol stands the _Porta -Gemina_, leading from it to the amphitheatre. The outer gateway -remains, a double gate-way, as its name implies, with three Corinthian -half-columns between and on each side of the two arches. But here -steps in a singular architectural peculiarity, one which reminds us -that we are on the road to Spalato, and which already points to the -arcades of Diocletian. The columns support an entablature with its -frieze and cornice, but the architrave is wanting. Does not this show -a lurking sign of what was coming, a lurking feeling that the arch -itself was the true architrave? Be this as it may, there it stands, -sinning, like so many other ancient works, against pedantic rules, but -perhaps thereby winning its place in the great series of architectural -strivings which the palace of Spalato shows us the crowning-point. The -other arch, which is commonly known as _Porta Aurea_ or _Porta -Aurata_, conforms more nearly to ordinary rules. Here we have the -arch with the coupled Corinthian columns on each side of it, -supporting, as usual, their bit of broken entablature, and leaving -room for a spandril filled in much the same fashion as in the arch of -Severus at Rome. Compared with other arches of the same kind, this -arch of Pola may certainly claim to rank amongst the most graceful of -its class. With Trajan's arch at Ancona it can hardly be compared. -That tallest and slenderest of monumental arches palpably stands on -the haven to be looked at; while the arch of Pola, like its fellows at -Rimini and Aosta, and like the arch of Drusus at Rome, is a real -thoroughfare, which the citizens of Pietas Julia must have been in the -daily habit of passing under. And, as compared with the arches of -Rimini and Aosta, its design is perhaps the most pleasing of the -three. Its proportions are better designed; the coupled columns on -each side are more graceful than either the single columns at Rimini -or the pair of columns which at Aosta are placed so much further -apart. The idolater of minute rules will not be offended, as at Aosta, -with Doric triglyphs placed over Corinthian capitals, and the lover of -consistent design will not regret the absence of the sham pediment of -Rimini. But it must be borne in mind that the arch of Pola did not -originally stand alone, and that its usual name of _Porta Aurea_ is a -misnomer. It was built close against the _golden gate_ of the city, -whose name it has usurped. But it is, in truth, the family arch of the -Sergii, raised in honour of one of that house by his wife Salvia -Postuma. As such, it has a special interest in the local history of -Pola. Ages afterwards, as late as the thirteenth century, Sergii -appear again at Pola, as one of the chief families by whose -dissensions the commonwealth was torn in pieces. If there is authentic -evidence to connect these latter Sergii with the Sergii of the arch, -and these again with the great Patrician _gens_ which played such a -part in the history of the Roman commonwealth, here would indeed be a -pedigree before which that of the house of Paris itself might stand -abashed. - -A curious dialogue of the year 1600 is printed by Dr. Kandler in his -little book, _Cenni al Forrestiere che visita Pola_, which, with a -later little book, _Pola und seine nächste Umgebung_, by A. Gareis, -form together a very sufficient guide for the visitor to Pola. From -this evidence it is plain that, as late as the end of the sixteenth -century, the ancient buildings of Pola were in a far more perfect -state than they are now. Even late in the next century, in the days of -Spon and Wheler, a great deal was standing that is no longer there. -Wheler's view represents the city surrounded with walls, and with at -least one gate. The amphitheatre stands without the wall; the arch of -the Sergii stands within it; but the theatre must have utterly -vanished, because in the references to the plan its name is given to -the amphitheatre. And it must have been before this time that the -amphitheatre had begun to be mutilated in order to supply materials -for the fortress on the capitoline hill. Indeed it is even said that -there was at one time a scheme for carrying off the amphitheatre -bodily to Venice and setting it up on the Lido. This scheme, never -carried out, almost beats one which actually was carried out, when the -people of Jersey gave a _cromlech_ as a mark of respect to a popular -governor, by whom it was carried off and set up in his grounds in -England. Of the two temples in the forum, that which is said to have -been dedicated to Diana is utterly masked by the process which turned -it into the palace of the Venetian governor. A decent Venetian arcade -has supplanted its portico; but some of the original details can be -made out on the other sides. But the temple of Augustus, the restorer -of Pietas Julia, with its portico of unfluted Corinthian columns, -still fittingly remains almost untouched. Fragments and remains of all -dates are gathered together within and without the temple, and new -stores are constantly brought to light in digging the foundations for -the buildings of the growing town. But the chief wonder of Pola, after -all, is its amphitheatre. Travellers are sometimes apt to complain, -and that not wholly without reason, that all amphitheatres are very -like one another. At Pola this remark is less true than elsewhere, as -the amphitheatre there has several marked peculiarities of its own. We -do not pretend to expound all its details scientifically; but this we -may say, that those who dispute--if the dispute still goes on--about -various points as regards the Coliseum at Rome will do well to go and -look for some further lights in the amphitheatre of Pola. The outer -range, which is wonderfully perfect, while the inner arrangements are -fearfully ruined, consists, on the side towards the town, of two rows -of arches, with a third story with square-headed openings above them. -But the main peculiarity in the outside is to be found in four -tower-like projections, not, as at Arles and Nîmes, signs of Saracenic -occupation, but clearly parts of the original design. Many conjectures -have been made about them; they look as if they were means of approach -to the upper part of the building; but it is wisest not to be -positive. But the main peculiarity of this amphitheatre is that it -lies on the slope of a hill, which thus supplied a natural basement -for the seats on one side only. But this same position swallowed up -the lower arcade on this side, and it hindered the usual works -underneath the seats from being carried into this part of the -building. In the other part the traces of the underground arrangements -are very clear, especially those which seem to have been meant for -the _naumachiæ_. These we specially recommend to any disputants about -the underground works of the Flavian amphitheatre. - -The Roman antiquities of Pola are thus its chief attraction, and they -are enough to give Pietas Julia a high place among Roman colonies. But -the ecclesiastical side of the city must not be wholly forgotten. The -_duomo_, if a small matter after that of Parenzo, if absolutely -unsightly as seen from without, is not without its importance. It may -briefly be described as a church of the fifteenth century, built on -the lines of an ancient basilica, some parts of whose materials have -been used up again. There is, we believe, no kind of doubt as to the -date, and we do not see why Mr. Neale should have wondered at Murray's -Handbook for assigning the building to the time to which it really -belongs. No one could surely have placed a church with pointed arches, -and with capitals of the kind so common in Venetian buildings, more -than a century or two earlier. There is indeed an inscription built -into the south wall which has a special interest from another point of -view, but which, one would have thought, could hardly have led any one -to mistake the date of the existing church. It records the building of -the church by Bishop Handegis in 857, "Regnante Ludowico Imperatore -Augusto in Italia." The minute accuracy of the phrase--"the Emperor -Lewis being King in Italy"--is in itself something amazing; and this -inscription shares the interest which attaches to any memorial of that -gallant prince, the most truly Roman Emperor of his line. And it is -something to mark that the stonecutter doubted between "L_o_dowico" -and "L_u_dowico," and wrote both letters, one over the other. But the -inscription of course refers to a reconstruction some hundred years -earlier than the time when the church took its present shape. Yet -these basilican churches were so constantly reconstructed over and -over again, and largely out of the same materials, that the building -of the fifteenth century may very well reproduce the general effect, -both of the building of the eighth and of the far earlier church, -parts of which have lived on through both recastings. - -The ten arches on each side of the Polan basilica are all pointed, but -the width of the arches differs. Some of them are only just pointed, -and it is only in the most eastern pair of arches that the pointed -form comes out at all prominently. For here the arches are the -narrowest of the series, and the columns the slightest, that on the -south side being banded. The arch of triumph, which is round, looks -very much as if it had been preserved from the earlier church; and -such is clearly the case with two columns and one capital, whose -classical Corinthian foliage stands in marked contrast with the -Venetian imitations on each side of it. The church, on the whole, -though not striking after such a marvel as Parenzo, is really one of -high interest, as an example of the way in which the general effect of -an early building was sometimes reproduced at a very late time. Still -at Pola, among such wealth of earlier remains, it is quite secondary, -and its beauties are, even more than is usual in churches of its type, -altogether confined to the inside. The campanile is modern and -worthless, and the outside of the church itself is disfigured, after -the usual fashion of Italian ugliness, with stable-windows and the -like. Yet even they are better than the red rags of Trieste and Zara -within. - -Such is Pola, another step on the road to the birthplace of true grace -and harmony in the building art. Yet, among the straits and islands of -the Dalmatian coast, there is more than one spot at which the -traveller bound for Spalato must stop. The first and most famous one -is the city where Venetians and Crusaders once stopped with such -deadly effect on that voyage which was to have led them to Jerusalem, -but which did lead them only to New Rome. After the glimpses of Istria -taken at Parenzo and Pola, the first glimpse, not of Dalmatia itself, -but of the half-Italian cities which fringe its coast, may well be -taken at Zara. - - - - -ZARA. - -1875--1877--1881. - - -The name of Zara is familiar to every one who has read the history of -the Fourth Crusade, and its fate in the Fourth Crusade is undoubtedly -the one point in its history which makes Zara stand out prominently -before the eyes of the world. Of all the possessions of Venice along -this coast, it is the one whose connexion with Venice is stamped for -ever on the pages of universal history. Those who know nothing else of -Zara, who perhaps know nothing at all of the other cities, at least -know that, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the possession -of Zara was claimed by Venice, and that the claim of Venice was made -good by the help of warriors of the Cross who thus turned aside from -their course, not for the last time, to wield their arms against a -Christian city. It is as Zara that the city is famous, because it is -as Zara that its name appears in the pages of the great English teller -of the tale. And perhaps those who may casually light on some mention -of the city by any of its earlier names may not at once recognize Zara -under the form either of _Jadera_ or of _Diadora_. One is curious to -know how a city which under the first Augustus became a Roman colony -by the name of _Jadera_ had, in the time of his orthodox successors in -the tenth century, changed its name into anything with such a -heathenish sound as _Diadora_. Yet such was its name in the days of -Constantine Porphyrogenitus; and the Imperial historian does not make -matters much clearer when he tells us that the true Roman name of the -city was "Jam erat," implying that the city so called was older than -Rome. Let us quote him in his own Greek, if only to show how oddly his -Latin words look in their Greek dress. - -[Greek: To kastron tôn Diadôrôn kaleitai tê Rhômaiôn dialektô iam -erat, hoper hermêneuetai aparti êton; dêlonoti hote hê Rhômê ektisthê, -proektismenon ên to toiouton kastron. esti de to kastron mega; hê de -koinê synêtheia kalei auto Diadôra.] - -Yet the name of the colony of Augustus lived on through these strange -changes and stranger etymologies, and even in the narrative of the -Crusade it appears as _Jadres_ in the text of Villehardouin. - -The history of the city in the intermediate ages is the usual history -of the towns on the Dalmatian coast. They all for a while keep on -their formal allegiance to the Eastern Empire, sometimes being really -its subjects, sometimes being practically independent, sometimes -tributary to the neighbouring Slaves. Still, under all changes, they -clave to the character of Roman cities, just as they still remain -seats of Italian influence in a Slavonic land. Then came a second time -of confusion, in which Zara and her sister cities are tossed to and -fro between another set of contending disputants. The Eastern Empire -hardly keeps even a nominal claim to the Dalmatian towns; the Slavonic -settlements have grown into regular kingdoms; Hungary on one side, -Venice on the other, are claiming the dominion of the Dalmatian coast. -The history of Zara now consists of conquests and reconquests between -the Republic of Saint Mark and the Hungarian and Croatian kings. The -one moment when Zara stands out in general history is the famous time -when one of the Venetian reconquests was made by the combined arms of -the Republic and the Frank Crusaders. The tale is a strange episode in -a greater episode--the episode of the conquest of the New Rome by the -united powers which first tried their 'prentice hand on Zara. But the -siege, as described by the Marshal of Champagne and the many writers -who have followed him, is not easy to understand, except by those who -have either seen the place itself or have maps before them such as are -not easily to be had. Like so many other Istrian and Dalmatian towns, -Zara stands on a narrow peninsula, lying east and west. It has on its -north side an inlet of the sea, which forms its harbour; to the south -is the main sea, or, more strictly, the channel of Zara lying between -the Dalmatian coast and the barren islands which at this point lie off -it. Villehardouin describes the port as being guarded by a chain, -which was broken by the galleys of the Crusaders. They presently -landed on the opposite coast, so as to have the haven between them and -the town ("et descendirent à terre, si que di porz fu entr' aus et la -ville"). That is to say, they landed on the mainland north of the -haven. The Frank army then besieged the city by land--that is, from -the isthmus on the east, and perhaps also from the shore of the haven; -while the Venetians, though their ships anchored in the haven ("le -port ou les nés estoient"), made their assault on the side of the open -sea ("devers la mer"). On the spot, or in reading the narrative of -Villehardouin by the light of remembrance of the spot, the description -becomes perfectly clear. - -Zara still keeps its peninsular site, and the traveller, as he draws -near, still marks the fortifications, old and new, the many towers, no -one of which so predominates over its fellows as to make itself the -chief object in the view. Either however the modern Venetian and -Austrian fortifications of Zara are less formidable, in appearance at -least, than those which the Crusaders found there, or else they seemed -more terrible to those who had actually to undertake the business of -attacking them. Villehardouin had never seen such high walls and -towers, nor, though he had just come from Venice, could he conceive a -city fairer or more rich. The pilgrims were amazed at the sight, and -wondered how they could ever become masters of such a place, unless -God specially put it into their hands. The modern traveller, as he -draws nearer, soon sees the signs of the success which the pilgrims so -little hoped for. He sees the badge of Venetian rule over the -water-gate, and most likely he little suspects that the outer arch, of -manifest Venetian date, masks a plain Roman arch which is to be seen -on the inner side. There is another large Venetian gate towards the -inlet; and the traveller who at Zara first lands on Dalmatian ground -will find on landing much to remind him that Dalmatian ground once was -Venetian ground. The streets are narrow and paved; they are not quite -as narrow as in Venice, nor is the passage of horses and all that -horses draw so absolutely unknown as it is in Venice. Still the -subject city comes near enough to its mistress to remind us under -whose dominion Zara stayed for so many ages. And the traveller who -begins his Dalmatian studies at Zara will perhaps think Dalmatia is -not so strange and out-of-the-way a land as he had fancied before -going thither. He may be tempted to look on Zara simply as an Italian -town, and to say that an Italian town east of the Hadriatic is not -very unlike an Italian town on the other side. This feeling, not -wholly true even at Zara, will become more and more untrue as the -traveller makes his way further along the coast. Each town, as he goes -on, will become less Italian and more Slavonic. In street architecture -Zara certainly stands behind some of the other Dalmatian towns. We see -fewer of those windows of Venetian and Veronese type which in some -places meet us in almost every house. The Roman remains are not very -extensive. We have said that Jadera still keeps a Roman arch under a -Venetian mask. That arch keeps its pilasters and its inscription, but -the statues which, according to that inscription, once crowned it, -have given way to another inscription of Venetian times. Besides the -_Porta Marina_, two other visible memorials of earlier days still -exist in the form of two ancient columns standing solitary, one near -the church of Saint Simeon, presently to be spoken of, the other in -the herb-market between the _duomo_ and the haven. But the main -interest of Zara, apart from its general and special history, and -apart from the feeling of freshness in treading a land so famous and -so little known, is undoubtedly to be found in its ecclesiastical -buildings. - -The churches of Zara are certainly very much such churches as might be -looked for in any Italian city of the same size. But they specially -remind us of Lucca. The cathedral, now metropolitan, church of Saint -Anastasia, has had its west front engraved in more than one book, from -Sir Gardner Wilkinson downwards; it is a pity that local art has not -been stirred up to produce some better memorial of this and the other -buildings of Zara than the wretched little photographs which are all -that is to be had on the spot. But perhaps not much in the way of art -is to be looked for in a city where, as at Trieste and Ancona and Rome -herself, it seems to be looked on as adding beauty to the inside of a -church to swathe marble columns and Corinthian capitals in ugly -wrappings of red cloth. This at least seems to be an innovation since -the days of the Imperial topographer. Constantine speaks of the church -of Saint Anastasia as being of oblong, that is, basilican, -shape--[Greek: dromikos] is his Greek word--with columns of green and -white marble, enriched with much ancient woodwork, and having a -tesselated pavement, which the Emperor, or those from whom he drew his -report of Zara, looked on as wonderful. It is very likely that some of -the columns which in the tenth century were clearly allowed to stand -naked and to be seen have been used up again in the present church. -This was built in the thirteenth century, after the destruction -wrought in the Frank and Venetian capture, and it is said to have been -consecrated in 1285. It is, on the whole, a witness to the way in -which the Romanesque style so long stood its ground, though here and -there is a touch of the coming pseudo-Gothic, and, what is far more -interesting to note, here and there is a touch of the Romanesque forms -of the lands beyond the Alps. The church is, in its architectural -arrangements, a great and simple basilica; but, as might be expected -from its date, it shows somewhat of that more elaborate way of -treating exteriors which had grown up at Pisa and Lucca. The west -front has surface arcades broken in upon by two wheel windows, the -lower arcade with round, the upper with pointed, arches. Along the -north aisle runs an open gallery, which, oddly enough, is not carried -round the apse. The narrow windows below it are round in the eastern -part, trefoiled in the western, showing a change of design as the work -went on. Near the east end stands the unfinished campanile; a stage or -two of good Romanesque design is all that is finished. The one perfect -ancient tower in Zara is not that of the _duomo_. - -On entering the church, we at once feel how much the building has -suffered from puzzling and disfiguring modern changes. But this is -not all; the general effect of the inside has been greatly altered by -a change which we cannot bring ourselves wholly to condemn. The choir -is lifted up above the crypt as at Saint Zeno and Saint Ambrose; the -stone chair still remains in the apse; but the object which chiefly -strikes the eye is one which is hardly in harmony with these. The -choir is fitted up with a range of splendid _cinque cento_ -stalls--reminding one of King's College chapel or of Wimborne as it -once was--placed in the position usual in Western churches. This last -feature, grand in itself, takes away from the perfection of the -basilican design, and carries us away into Northern lands. - -Of the church which preceded the Venetian rebuilding, the church -described by Constantine, little remains above ground, allowing of -course for the great likelihood that the columns were used up again. -There is nothing to which one is even tempted to give an early date, -except some small and plain buildings clinging on to the north side of -the choir, and containing the tomb of an early bishop. But in the -crypt, though it has unluckily lost two of its ranges of columns, two -rows, together with those of the apse, are left, columns with finished -bases but with capitals which are perfectly rude, but whose shape -would allow them to be carved into the most elaborate Byzantine -forms. The main arcades of the church form a range of ten bays or five -pair of arches, showing a most singular collection of shapes which are -not often seen together. Some are simple Corinthian; in others -Corinthian columns are clustered--after the example of Vespasian's -temple at Brescia; others have twisted fluting; one pair has a -section, differing in the two opposite columns, which might pass for -genuine Northern work; while--here in Dalmatia in the thirteenth -century--not a few shafts are crowned with our familiar Norman cushion -capital. Yet the effect of the whole range would be undoubtedly fine, -if we were only allowed to see it. The hideous red rags have covered -even the four columns of the _baldacchino_, columns fluted and -channelled in various ways and supporting pointed arches. They have -also diligently swathed the floriated cornice above the arcade; in -short, wherever there is any fine work, Jaderan taste seems at once to -hide it; but nothing hides the clerestory with its stable windows or -the flat plastered ceiling which crowns all. The triforium has an air -of Jesuitry; but it seems to be genuine, only more or less plastered; -six small arches, with channelled square piers, which would not look -out of place at Rome, at Autun, or at Deerhurst, stand over each pair -of arches. With all its original inconsistencies and its later -changes, the _duomo_ of Zara, if it were only stripped of its -swaddling-clothes, would be no contemptible specimen of its own style. - - [Illustration: TOWER OF ST. MARY'S ZARA.] - -But Saint Anastasia is not the only, it is hardly the most -interesting, church in Zara. Saint Chrysogonos, monk and martyr, was -held in reverence at Diadora in the days of Constantine, where his -tomb and his holy chain were to be seen. Perhaps they are to be seen -still; certainly his name is still preserved in an admirable church of -the same general Lucchese type as the _duomo_, but which surpasses it -in the exquisite grace of the three apses at its east end, after the -best models of the type common to Italy and Germany. Within, the -arrangement of the triapsidal basilica is perfect; the range of -columns is, as is so often found, interrupted by two pairs of more -massive piers, making groups of three, two, and two arches. It is -almost startling to find that the date of the consecration of this -exquisite Romanesque church is as late as 1407; but the fact is only -one example out of many of the way in which in some districts, in -Dalmatia above all, the true style of the land stood its ground. In -Dalmatia the Italian pseudo-Gothic, common in houses, is but little -seen in churches at any time. Another church, Saint Simeon, called -after the Prophet of _Nunc dimittis_, boasts of its gorgeous shrine -borne aloft behind the high altar, the gift of Elizabeth of Bosnia, -the wife of Lewis the Great. The church itself is of the same -basilican type as the other, but in less good preservation. Saint -Mary's, a church of nuns, is itself of a rather good kind of -_Renaissance_, but its chief merit is that it keeps the only finished -ancient tower in Zara, a noble campanile of the best Italian type, -thick with midwall shafts, which every Englishman will feel to be the -true kinsman of our own towers at Lincoln and Oxford. Its date is -known; it is the work of King Coloman of Hungary, in 1105. But, after -all, the most interesting architectural work in Zara is one which, as -far as we have seen, is not noticed in any English book, but which was -described by the Imperial pen in the tenth century, and which has in -our own days been more fully illustrated in the excellent work of -Eitelberger on the Dalmatian buildings. Close by Saint Anastasia there -stood in the days of Constantine, and there still stands, a round -church, lately desecrated, now simply disused, which was then called -by the name of the Trinity ([Greek: heteros naos plêsion autou -eilêmatikos, hê hagia Trias]), but which now bears that of Saint -Donatus. Its dome and the tower of Saint Mary's are the two objects -which first catch the eye in the general view of Zara. Tradition, as -usual, calls the building a pagan temple, in this case of Juno; but it -has in no way the look of a temple, nor does the Emperor who -describes it with some minuteness give any hint of its having been -such. Yet it is plain that, if it was not itself a pagan building, the -spoils of pagan buildings contributed to its materials. Formed of two -arcaded stages, the whole pile rises to a vast height, and the height -of the lower stage alone is very considerable. The arches of the round -rest on heavy rectangular piers of truly Roman strength, save only two -vast columns with splendid Composite capitals--which mark the approach -to the triapsidal east end. This building, lately cleared from the -disfigurements and partition of its profane use, forms one of the -noblest round churches to be found; the so-called house of Juno at -Zara is almost a rival of the so-called house of Jupiter at Spalato. -The upper stage is of the same general type as the lower, having again -two columns left free and uninjured, but not rivalling the splendour -of those which are in bondage below. Zara had lately another -desecrated church of extreme interest, but of quite another type from -Saint Donatus. This was the little church of Saint Vitus, a perfect -example of the genuine Byzantine arrangement on a very small scale. -The ground-plan was square; four arms, square-ended without, -quasi-apsidal within, bore up the cupola on perfectly plain -square-edged piers. Between our first and second visits to Zara, -between 1875 and 1877, this charming little piece of Byzantine work -was swept away to make a smart shop-front. It was a recompense no more -than was due to find on our third visit that the round church had been -cleared out. - - [Illustration: SAINT VITUS, ZARA, AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH, CATTARO.] - - * * * * * - -Such is Zara, a city in which, as at Parenzo, the ecclesiastical -element distinctly prevails, as contrasted with the mainly pagan -interest of Pola. Such is equally the case in our next Dalmatian city -also. But the main interest of Sebenico is of a different kind from -that of any of its fellows. We go there to study a church, but, as we -have seen, a church which has little in common with other churches in -Dalmatia or anywhere else. At Zara, at Spalato, at Ragusa, we study -buildings which all in some sort hang together. At Sebenico we stop -our course to study something which stands altogether aloof from all. - - - - -SPALATO AND ITS NEIGHBOURS. - - - - -SPALATO. - -1875. - - -The main object and centre of all historical and architectural -inquiries on the Dalmatian coast is of course the home of Diocletian, -the still abiding palace of Spalato. From a local point of view, it is -the spot which the greatest of the long line of renowned Illyrian -Emperors chose as his resting-place from the toils of warfare and -government, and where he reared the vastest and noblest dwelling that -ever arose at the bidding of a single man. From an oecumenical point -of view, Spalato is yet more. If it does not rank with Rome, Old and -New, with Ravenna and with Trier, it is because it never was, like -them, an actual seat of empire. But it not the less marks a stage, and -one of the greatest stages, in the history of the Empire. On his own -Dalmatian soil, Docles of Salona, Diocletian of Rome, was the man who -had won fame for his own land, and who, on the throne of the world, -did not forget his provincial birthplace. In the sight of Rome and of -the world Jovius Augustus was more than this. Alike in the history of -politics and in the history of art, he has left his mark on all time -that has come after him, and it is on his own Spalato that his mark -has been most deeply stamped. The polity of Rome and the architecture -of Rome alike received a new life at his hands. In each alike he cast -away shams and pretences, and made the true construction of the fabric -stand out before men's eyes. Master of the Roman world, if not King, -yet more than King, he let the true nature of his power be seen, and, -first among the Cæsars, arrayed himself with the outward pomp of -sovereignty. In a smaller man we might have deemed the change a mark -of weakness, a sign of childish delight in gewgaws, titles, and -trappings. Such could hardly have been the motive in the man who, when -he deemed that his work was done, could cast away both the form and -the substance of power, and could so steadily withstand all -temptations to take them up again. It was simply that the change was -fully wrought; that the chief magistrate of the commonwealth had -gradually changed into the sovereign of the Empire; that Imperator, -Cæsar, and Augustus, once titles lowlier than that of King, had now -become, as they have ever since remained, titles far loftier. The -change was wrought, and all that Diocletian did was to announce the -fact of the change to the world. So again, now that the Roman city had -grown into the Roman world, a hill by the Tiber had long ceased to be -a fit dwelling-place for rulers who had to keep back hostile inroads -from the Rhine and the Euphrates. This fact too Diocletian announced -to the world. He planted his Augusti and his Cæsars on spots better -suited for defence against the German and the Persian than the spot -which had been chosen for defence against the Sabine and the Etruscan. -Jupiter of the Capitol and his representatives on earth were to be -equally at home in every corner of their dominions. Nor is it -wonderful if, with such aims before him, he deemed that a faith which -taught that Jupiter of the Capitol was a thing of naught was a faith -which it became his votary to root out from all the lands that bowed -to Jove and to Jovius. What if his work in some sort failed? what if -his system of fourfold rule broke up before his own eyes--if his -Bithynian capital soon gave way to the wiser choice of a successor, if -the faith which he persecuted became, almost on the morrow, the faith -of his Empire? Still his work did not wholly fail. He taught that -Empire was more than kingship, a lesson never forgotten by those who, -for fifteen hundred years after him, wore the diadem of Diocletian -rather than of Augustus. In some sort he founded the Roman Empire. -What Constantine did was at once to undo and to complete his work by -making that Empire Holy. - -Such a man, if not actually a creator, yet so pre-eminently one who -moulded the creations of others into new shapes, might well take to -himself a name from the supreme deity of his creed, the deity of whom -he loved to be deemed the special votary. The conception which had -grown up in the mind, and had been carried out by the hand, of the -peasant of Salona might well entitle him to his proud surname. Nor did -the organizing hand of Jovius confine its sphere to the polity of the -Empire only. He built himself an house, and, above all builders, he -might boast himself of the house that he had builded. Fast by his own -birthplace--a meaner soul might have chosen some distant -spot--Diocletian reared the palace which marks a still greater epoch -in Roman art than his political changes mark in Roman polity. On the -inmost shore of one of the lake-like inlets of the Hadriatic, an inlet -guarded almost from sight by the great island of Bua at its mouth, lay -his own Salona, now desolate, then one of the great cities of the -Roman world. But it was not in the city, it was not close under its -walls, that Diocletian fixed his home. An isthmus between the bay of -Salona and the outer sea cuts off a peninsula, which again throws out -two horns into the water to form the harbour which has for ages -supplanted Salona. There, not on any hill-top, but on a level spot by -the coast, with the sea in front, with a background of more distant -mountains, and with one peaked hill rising between the two seas like a -watch-tower, did Diocletian build the house to which he withdrew when -he deemed that his work of empire was over. And in building that -house, he won for himself, or for the nameless genius whom he set at -work, a place in the history of art worthy to rank alongside of -Iktinos of Athens and Anthemios of Byzantium, of William of Durham and -of Hugh of Lincoln. - -And now the birthplace of Jovius is forsaken, but his house still -abides, and abides in a shape marvellously little shorn of its ancient -greatness. The name which it still bears comes straight from the name -of the elder home of the Cæsars. The fates of the two spots have been -in a strange way the converse of one another. By the banks of the -Tiber the city of Romulus became the house of a single man; by the -shores of the Hadriatic the house of a single man became a city. The -Palatine hill became the _Palatium_ of the Cæsars, and _Palatium_ was -the name which was borne by the house of Cæsar by the Dalmatian shore. -The house became a city; but its name still clave to it, and the house -of Jovius still, at least in the mouths of its own inhabitants, keeps -its name in the slightly altered form of Spálato. - -He placed his home in a goodly land, on a spot whose first sight is -striking at any moment; but special indeed is the good luck of him who -for the first time draws near to Spalato at the hour of sunset. It is -a moment to be marked in a life, as we round the island headland, one -of the stony Dalmatian hills rising bleak and barren from the sea, and -catch the first glimpse of the city, the tall bell-tower, the proud -rampart of mountains which forms its background. But the sight is more -spirit-stirring still if we come on that sight at the very moment -when--in sight of the home of the great persecutor we may use the -language of mythology--the sun-god has just sunk into its golden cup. -The sinking sun seems no unfit symbol, as we look on the spot where -the lord of the world withdrew to seek for rest after his toils. -Another moment, the headland is rounded; its top is kindled like -Vesuvius in the last rays of the sunlight; the lesser light is kindled -before the greater has wholly failed us, and, by the light of sun and -moon together, we can trace out the long line of the sea-front of the -palace which became a city. No nobler site could surely have been -found within the bounds of the Empire of the two Augusti and their -Cæsars. The sea in front, the mountains behind, the headlands, the -bays, the islands scattered around, might indeed have formed a realm -from which the prince who had there fixed his home would have been -unwise to go forth again to wrestle with the storms of the world which -lay beyond its borders. The mountains have drawn nearer to the shore; -the islands have gathered round the entrance of the haven, as if to -shut out all but the noble bay and its immediate surroundings, as if -to fence in a dominion worthy of Jovius himself. - -We land with the moon lighting up the water, with the stars above us, -the northern wain shining on the Hadriatic, as if, while Diocletian -was seeking rest by Salona, the star of Constantine was rising over -York and Trier. Dimly rising above us we see, disfigured indeed, but -not destroyed, the pillared front of the palace, reminding us of the -Tabularium of Rome's own Capitol. We pass under gloomy arches, through -dark passages, and presently we find ourselves in the centre of palace -and city, between those two renowned rows of arches which mark the -greatest of all epochs in the history of the building art. We think -how the man who re-organized the Empire of Rome was also the man who -first put harmony and consistency into the architecture of Rome. We -think that, if it was in truth the crown of Diocletian which passed to -every Cæsar from the first Constantius to the last Francis, it was no -less in the pile which rose into being at his word that the germ was -planted which grew into Pisa and Durham, into Westminster and Saint -Ouen's. There is light enough to mark the columns put for the first -time to their true Roman use, and to think how strange was the fate -which called up on this spot the happy arrangement which had entered -the brain of no earlier artist--the arrangement which, but a few years -later, was to be applied to another use in the basilica of the Lateran -and in Saint Paul without the walls. Yes, it is in the court of the -persecutor, the man who boasted that he had wiped out the Christian -superstition from the world, that we see the noblest forestalling of -the long arcades of the Christian basilica. It is with thoughts like -these, thoughts pressing all the more upon us where every outline is -clear and every detail is invisible, that we tread for the first time -the Court of Jovius--the columns with their arches on either side of -us, the vast bell-tower rising to the sky, as if to mock the art of -those whose mightiest works might still seem only to grovel upon -earth. Nowhere within the compass of the Roman world do we find -ourselves more distinctly in the presence of one of the great minds of -the world's history; we see that, alike in politics and in art, -Diocletian breathed a living soul into a lifeless body. In the bitter -irony of the triumphant faith, his mausoleum has become a church, -his temple has become a baptistery, the great bell-tower rises proudly -over his own work; his immediate dwelling-place is broken down and -crowded with paltry houses; but the sea-front and the Golden Gate are -still there amid all disfigurements, and the great peristyle stands -almost unhurt, to remind us of the greatest advance that a single mind -ever made in the progress of the building art. - - [Illustration: THE TOWER, SPALATO.] - -At the present time the city into which the house of Diocletian has -grown is the largest and most growing town of the Dalmatian coast. It -has had to yield both spiritual and temporal precedence to Zara, but, -both in actual population and all that forms the life of a city, -Spalato greatly surpasses Zara and all its other neighbours. The -youngest of the Dalmatian towns, which could boast neither of any -mythical origin nor of any Imperial foundation, the city which, as it -were, became a city by mere chance, has outstripped the colonies of -Epidauros, of Corinth, and of Rome. The palace of Diocletian had but -one occupant; after the founder no Emperor had dwelled in it, unless -we hold that this was the villa near Salona where the deposed Emperor -Nepos was slain, during the patriciate of Odoacer. The forsaken palace -seems, while still almost new, to have become a cloth factory, where -women worked, and which therefore appears in the Notitia as a -Gynæcium. But when Salona was overthrown, the palace stood ready to -afford shelter to those who were driven from their homes. The palace, -in the widest sense of the word--for of course its vast circuit took -in quarters for soldiers and officials of various kinds, as well as -the rooms actually occupied by the Emperor--stood ready to become a -city. It was a _chester_ ready made, with its four streets, its four -gates, all but that towards the sea flanked with octagonal towers, and -with four greater square towers at the corners. To this day the -circuit of the walls is nearly perfect; and the space contained within -them must be as large as that contained within some of the oldest -_chesters_ in our own island. The walls, the towers, the gates, are -those of a city rather than of a house. Two of the gates, though their -towers are gone, are nearly perfect: the _porta aurea_, with its -graceful ornament; the _porta ferrea_ in its stern plainness, -strangely crowned with its small campanile of later days perched on -its top. Within the walls, besides the splendid buildings which still -remain, besides the broken-down walls and chambers which formed the -immediate dwelling-place of the founder, the main streets were lined -with massive arcades, large parts of which still remain. Diocletian, -in short, in building a house, had built a city. In the days of -Constantine Porphyrogenitus it was a [Greek: kastron]--Greek and -English had by his day alike borrowed the Latin name; but it was a -[Greek: kastron] which Diocletian had built as his own house, and -within which was his hall and palace. In his day the city bore the -name of Aspalathon, which he explains to mean [Greek: palation -mikron]. When the palace had thus become a common habitation of men, -it is not wonderful that all the more private buildings whose use had -passed away were broken down, disfigured, and put to mean uses. The -work of building over the site must have gone on from that day to -this. The view in Wheler shows several parts of the enclosure occupied -by ruins which are now covered with houses. The real wonder is that so -much has been spared and has survived to our own days. And we are -rather surprised to find Constantine saying that in his time the -greater part had been destroyed. For the parts which must always have -been the stateliest remain still. The great open court, the peristyle, -with its arcades, have become the public piazza of the town; the -mausoleum on one side of it and the temple on the other were preserved -and put to Christian uses. We say the mausoleum, for we fully accept -the suggestion made by Professor Glavinich, the curator of the museum -of Spalato, that the present _duomo_, traditionally called the temple -of Jupiter, was not a temple, but a mausoleum. These must have been -the great public buildings of the palace, and, with the addition of -the bell-tower, they remain the chief public buildings of the modern -city. But, though the ancient square of the palace remains wonderfully -perfect, the modern city, with its Venetian defences, its Venetian and -later buildings, has spread itself far beyond the walls of Diocletian. -But those walls have made the history of Spalato, and it is the great -buildings which stand within them that give Spalato its special place -in the history of architecture. In the face of them we hardly stop to -think of the remains of Venetian or even of earlier times. Yet both -within and without the palace walls, scraps of Venetian work may be -found which would attract the eye on any other spot, and hard by the -north-western tower of Diocletian there remains a small desecrated -church of the Byzantine type, which out of Spalato might be set down -as a treasure. But, as we stand beneath the arcades of Jovius, things -which would elsewhere be treasures seem as nothing. They, and the -other buildings which stand in artistic connexion with them, form an -epoch in the history of art, apart from the general history and -general impression of the city which they have at once created and -made famous. - - - - -SPALATO REVISITED. - -1877--1881. - - -I thought it right to reprint the foregoing sketch of Spalato, the -record of my first visit there in 1875, exactly as it was first -written, with the change of two or three words only. It seemed worth -while to keep the first impressions of such a place as they were set -down at once after the first sight of it. Instead therefore of -recasting this piece, as I have done several of the others, I will -mention a few points on which later visits and further reading might -have led to some change in what I first wrote nearly on the spot. -Another paper of a strictly architectural character, headed -"Diocletian's Place in Architectural History," has been reprinted in -the third series of my Historical Essays, as an appendix to the essay -headed "The Illyrian Emperors and their Land." - -First, with regard to the name of the place itself. I seem, when I -wrote my paper of first impressions, to have had no doubt as to the -received derivation from _Palatium_. That derivation is wonderfully -tempting, and it enables one to make an epigrammatic contrast between -the _Palatium_ of Rome and the _Palatium_ of Spalato, between the city -which became a house and the house which became a city. But the fact -remains the same, whatever may be the name. The city did become a -house, and the house did become a city, whether the two were called by -the same name or not. And I am now convinced, chiefly by Mr. Arthur -Evans, that the name of Spalato has nothing to do with _Palatium_. I -began to doubt rather early, as I did not see how the =s= could have -got into the name; in a Greek name the origin of the =s= would have -been plain enough, but it seemed to have no place in a Latin name. -And I was staggered by the form _Aspalato_ found as early as the -Notitia Imperii. Nothing goes for less than the etymologies of -Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and anyhow it is hard to see how [Greek: -Aspalathon], the form which he uses, could mean [Greek: mikron -palation]. But, as I had nothing better to propose, I thought it -better, when I wrote the fuller paper which appears in the Historical -Essays, to say nothing about the matter either way. I need not stop to -dispute against the intrusive r in the vulgar form _Spalatro_, as both -Sir Gardner Wilkinson and Mr. Neale have done that before me. But it -is wonderful to see how early it got in. It is as old as the Ravenna -Geographer, who has three forms--_Spalathon_, _Spalathron_, and -_Spalatrum_. I need hardly say that the _r_ is unknown in the country, -unless perhaps now and then in the mouth of some one who thinks it -fine. So one has known people in England destroy etymology, by -sounding _Waltham_ as if it had a _thorn_, and _Bosham_ with the sound -of the German _sch_. I am now fully convinced that the name has -nothing to do with _Palatium_. It is plain that the oldest form that -we can find is _Aspalathum_, and I am inclined to accept the view of -Mr. Evans, who connects the name with _Aspalathus_, or perhaps with -[Greek: asphaltos]. But I must not venture myself in any quarter which -savours of botany or geology. - -With the newer lights which I have made use of in Historical Essays, I -think I should no longer speak of Diocletian as "the great -persecutor." Galerius ought in fairness to take that name off his -shoulders. Mr. A. J. Mason has certainly proved thus much; and it is a -great comfort to think so in visiting Spalato. Nor should I have -spoken of him as a native of Salona. He was of Doclea, Dioclea, -however we are to spell it, within the present bounds of Tzernagora. -Those who at various times have spoken of Saint Alban as "protomartyr -_Anglorum_," and of King Lucius as becoming "a _Swiss_ bishop," might -also speak of Diocletian as a Montenegrin. - -I was doubtless right in saying that no Emperor, strictly so called, -inhabited the Palace after Diocletian. In strictness indeed no Emperor -ever inhabited it at all, as Diocletian had ceased to be Emperor when -he went there. But I think that, at the time of my first visit, I had -not fully taken in the story of Nepos and his father Count Marcellian. -One is strongly tempted to think that, when Nepos was killed "haud -longe a Salonis, sua in villa," the place meant is the palace of -Spalato. On the other hand, we have the earlier entry in the Notitia, -which certainly looks as if the palace had already become a kind of -Imperial factory. But Nepos would hardly live in the same style as -Jovius, and the palace is quite big enough to lodge the deposed -Emperor and the work-women at the same time. - -On the special importance of Spalato in the history of architecture I -have spoken in several places, specially in the paper in my Historical -Essays to which I have already referred. My main position is that, in -the palace at Spalato, after a series of approaches, many of which may -be seen in the building itself, Diocletian or his architect hit on the -happy device of making the arch spring directly from the capital of -the column. To merely classical critics this seems to mark the depth -of degradation into which art had fallen in Diocletian's day. To me it -seems to be the greatest step ever taken, the beginning of all later -forms of consistent arched architecture, Romanesque, Gothic, or any -other. The importance of the step is of course the same whoever took -it; and if the same feature can be shown in any building earlier than -Spalato, we must transfer our praises from, the designer of Spalato to -the designer of that building. Spalato would in that case lose -something of its strictly architectural interest; but that would be -all. But, as far as I know, no such rival has appeared. If the same -form really was used in the baths of Diocletian at Rome, that would -not be a rival building, but a case of the same mind working in the -same way in two places. And to establish an earlier use of the form, -it would be needful to show that it was deliberately employed in some -considerable building. There is nothing commoner in the history of -architecture than the casual and isolated appearance of some form, -which the designer had not so much chosen as stumbled on, long before -the time when it really came into use. I put in this caution, because -I know that there is a kind of feeble approach to the arrangement at -Spalato in one or two buildings at Pompeii. And, great as was the -advance at Spalato, it had, like many other cases of advance, its weak -side. The Ravenna stilt and the Byzantine double capital were both of -them shifts to relieve, as it were, the light abacus of the Corinthian -capital from the weight which the arch laid upon it. The heavy abacus -of Pisa and Lucca was a better escape from this difficulty. Again, the -lightness of the columns used at Spalato and in the basilicas which -followed its model forbade the use of the vault, and condemned the -roofs of the basilicas to be among their poorest features. In the -peristyle itself of course no roof was needed, though to an eye used -to Rome and Ravenna it has so much the air of an unroofed basilica -that it is really hard to believe that it was always open. But, though -the basilican arrangement forbade the use of the vault, yet the step -taken at Spalato was not without its effect on later vaulted -buildings. When the vault came in again, as in the heavier forms of -the German Romanesque, men had learned that the arch and its pier, -whether that pier was a light column or a massive piece of wall, were -enough for all artistic purposes, without bringing in, as in the -classical Roman, purely ornamental features from a style which -followed another system of construction. I came to my belief in the -architectural importance of Spalato thirty years before I saw the -building itself, and, now that repeated visits have made the peristyle -of Diocletian as familiar to me as Wells cathedral, I admire and -approve just as much, though of course I cannot undertake to be quite -as enthusiastic now as I was on the evening when I first saw it. - -When I was last at Spalato, a process was going on which always makes -one tremble. The peristyle and the inside of the mausoleum were -surrounded by scaffoldings. As for the mausoleum, it was perhaps a -mistake ever to make it into a church; but, as it has been made into a -church, the additions and changes which were needed for that purpose -have become part of the history, and ought not to be meddled with. It -must always have been nearly the smallest, and quite the darkest, -metropolitan church in Christendom; but that it is so is part of the -wonder of the place. And, if some of the details were restored in -plaster at the time of a certain famous royal visit, it seems hardly -worth while to knock them away, with the chance of knocking away some -of the genuine stone along with them. That royal visit is commemorated -in a tablet at the end of the peristyle, which professes great loyalty -to a personage described as "Franciscus Primus, Austriæ Imperator et -Dalmatiæ Rex." The man so labelled in Diocletian's own house had been -the last successor to Diocletian's empire. - -In the changes which are being made in the peristyle, it is said that -this tablet was first taken down as being modern, and then set up -again, because official loyalty overrode all considerations of what -was old and what was new. But some care should be taken in removing -what is modern in such a place as Spalato. It is very well to get rid -of some mean excrescences; but, where the arches have been filled up -by Venetian buildings of respectable work, it would seem to be a great -mistake to open them, to say nothing of the chance that such opening -may endanger the columns and arches themselves. Though built up, they -are not so blocked as to hinder a full study of their details. Indeed -the building up, both of the arches of the peristyle and of the -heavier arches in the other parts of the palace, is really a part of -the history which should be preserved. It marks the distinctive -character of Spalato as the house which became a city. - -That city, as it now stands, stretches, I need hardly say again, a -long way beyond the bounds of the ancient house. Yet one cannot -conceive Spalato without Diocletian's palace. It is something much -more than the chief object and ornament of Spalato, as this or that -building is the chief object and ornament of any other city. It is -more than the castle or monastery round which a city has often grown. -It is not merely that, but for the existence of the palace, the city -would never have come into being; the palace still is the city in a -sense in which we could hardly use those words of any other building -elsewhere. Yet there are things to see at Spalato besides the palace. -The museum is eminently a thing to see; but then it is within the -palace, and moreover, though it is locally placed at Spalato, it -belongs historically to Salona. There is a good deal of pretty -Venetian work scattered up and down, both within the walls of -Diocletian and without them. The piazza just outside the gate of iron, -where the traveller will most likely seek his breakfast, his coffee, -and his maraschino, would have some attractions in itself, if it did -not lie just outside the gate of iron. The eye naturally turns to the -gate, and to the little campanile perched on it; otherwise it might -very fairly rest on the Venetian _loggia_, with its columns and their -wide--yet not sprawling--pointed arches. It might rest none the less -because the building so strongly suggests that class of English -town-halls or market-houses of which I said something when speaking of -Udine. The octagonal tower too, and the remains of the Venetian -fortifications generally, are worth a glance. The difficulty is, in -the home of Jovius, to give even a glance to anything but the works of -Jovius. - -The mausoleum, now the once metropolitan church, and the temple, now -the baptistery, have both of them become churches by accident. Besides -these, the first impression is that Spalato has little to show in the -ecclesiastical line. And further examination will not take away that -impression as to quantity, though it will modify it somewhat as to -quality. The little desecrated church which in 1875 I saw just within -the palace walls, embodied in military buildings, I could not find in -1881. I was told that it had been burned, and there certainly was a -burned building thereabouts; but I did not feel quite sure that I had -hit upon the right site, and whether the church that I was looking for -might not still be there, imprisoned in some of the queer devices of -Austrian occupation. But in 1881 I and my companion lighted by way of -recompense on one most curious building which neither of us had seen -in earlier visits. This is the little church of Saint Nicolas in the -suburb on the slope of the hill. It is very small, of a rude kind of -Byzantine type, with four of the very strangest columns I ever saw. -Save that they have a mighty _entasis_, they really have more of an -Egyptian cut than anything Greek, Roman, Gothic, or any of the forms -to which Aryan eyes are used. The Franciscan church at the foot of the -hill, with its cloister, would be worth a glance for its own sake; and -it is worth much more than a glance on account of the precious -sarcophagus which the cloister shelters. But this, like the objects -in the museum, is an outlying fragment of Salona, to be talked of -there. To the modern church on the other side of the city it would be -only kindness to shut our eyes. But we cannot help looking at it; it -aims at the style of the place, and clearly fancies itself to be -Romanesque, if not Roman. We look at its tower, and we look back to -the mighty campanile within the walls. Somehow the fourteenth century -could adapt itself to the fourth; but the nineteenth cannot adapt -itself to the fourteenth. Yet it is something for Spalato to say that -it contains the noblest and the most ignoble of all towers that do -profess and call themselves Romanesque. - -Eitelberger has well hit off the character of the three chief -Dalmatian cities in three pithy epithets. Zara is _bureaukratisch_; -Spalato is _bürgerlich_; Ragusa is _alt-aristokratisch_. The burghers -seem to make more progress than either the foreign officials or the -native patricians. Both better quarters and better dinners can be had -at Spalato in 1881 than were to be had there in 1875. In 1881 we can -walk on shore, while in 1877 boats were needed. And in 1881 the -railway--a wonder in Dalmatia--was ready to carry us to Salona or even -to Sebenico, but not to Traü. On the other hand in some other -respects, if not Spalato, at least its foreign rulers, seem to advance -backwards, if they advance at all. Those who dwell under the shadow of -Apostolic Majesty are used to the daily suppression of such newspapers -as venture to proclaim inconvenient truths. At Spalato that Apostolic -and constitutional power has gone a step further by suppressing the -municipality. With us, when a Stewart king suppressed an ancient -corporation, he at least set up another of a new Stewart fashion. But -at Spalato the _podestà_--the _potestas_ still lingers in Dalmatia, -while in Italy only syndics are tolerated--and the other elders of the -city seem to have become altogether things of the past, no less than -Jovius and his Empire. - - - - -SALONA. - -1875--1877--1881. - - -The strictly classical student will perhaps be offended if any one, on -reading the name at the head of this article, should ask him where the -place is, and how its name is to be pronounced. Salona, he will -answer, is in Dalmatia, and how can there be more than one way of -sounding the _omega_ in the second syllable? And so far he will be -right. The Salona of which we speak is in Dalmatia, and, as its most -usual Greek forms are [Greek: Salôna] and [Greek: Salônai], there can -be no doubt as to the rights of that particular _omega_. But those who -have gone a little deeper into the geography of south-eastern Europe -will know that, besides the Dalmatian Salona, there is another within -the Greek kingdom, which has taken the place of the Lokrian Amphissa. -As we write the names of the two, we make no difference between them, -and we fear that most Englishmen will make as little difference in -sounding the two names as in writing them. Yet, as Boughton in -Northamptonshire and Boughton in Kent are, by those who have local -knowledge, sounded in two different ways, so it is with the Lokrian -and the Dalmatian Salona. [Greek: Sálona] and [Greek: Salôna] differ -to the eye; and, among those with whom Greek is a living tongue, they -differ to the ear also. But it is not with the Lokrian Sálona, but -with the Dalmatian Salóna, that we are here concerned. We need not -disturb the feelings of the late Bishop Monk, whose one notion of -accentual reading was that those who follow it must "make some strange -false quantities." The classical purist may make the _omega_ in the -Dalmatian Salóna as long as he pleases. Only, if he pronounces the -Lokrian Sálona in the same fashion, he will wound the ears of those to -whom the chief notion of (so-called) quantitative reading is that -those who follow it must make some strange false accents. - -At Salona we are in one of the subject lands of Venice, but we cannot -say that we are in one of her subject cities. For Salona, as a city, -had passed away before the Serene Republic bore rule on these coasts, -in truth before the Serene Republic was, while the lagoons still -sheltered only those few settlers whom the minister of Theodoric -likened to waterfowl on their nests. As a city, it passed away as few -cities have passed away. Others indeed have perished more thoroughly; -of some the very sites have been lost; but there is no city whose name -survives which has left so little trace of what it was in the time of -its greatness. For it is not like those cities whose very name and -memory have perished, which are wholly ruined or buried, which have no -modern representatives, or whose modern representatives bear wholly -different names. Salona is still an existing name, marked on at least -the local map; but, instead of the head of Dalmatia, one of the great -cities of the Roman Empire, a city which was said to have reached half -the size and population of the New Rome itself, we find only a few -scattered houses, which hardly deserve the name of a village. By the -side of modern Salona, modern Aquileia looks flourishing, and modern -Forum Julii might pass for a great city. For Aquileia is not wholly -dead as long as the patriarchal basilica still stands, if only to -discharge the functions of a village church. But at Salona the -traveller hardly notices whether there be any church in use or not. Of -modern objects the one which is most likely to catch his eye is the -building which at least proclaims, in the name of "Caffè Diocleziano," -that Salona in her fall has not forgotten the man who commonly passes -for her greatest son, who, according to some, was her second founder, -and who, in any case, was her most renowned neighbour. By a strange -piece of good luck, the citizen and sovereign of Salona who came back -to spend his last days in his own land had reared at no great distance -from her the house which, when Salona fell, stood ready to receive -her inhabitants, and to take her place as a new city. - -There is a marked difference between the position of the older and -that of the newer city. Spalato stands indeed on a bay, but it is a -bay which, in that region of channels and islands, may pass for the -open sea. Salona lay at the innermost point of the deep gulf which -bears her own name, the gulf which forms one side of the peninsula on -which Spalato stands, and which is shielded from the main sea by the -island of Bua. It is curious to compare the real geography with the -way in which the land and sea are laid down in the Peutinger Table, -where Bua seems nearer to the coast of Italy than it is to Salona. Sir -Gardner Wilkinson appositely quotes the lines of Lucan:-- - - "Qua maris Hadriaci longas ferit unda Salonas, - Et tepidum in molles Zephyros excurrit Iader." - -_Longæ_ certainly well expresses the way in which the city must have -spread itself along the mouth of the river, and the northern side of -the bay. And, more than this, the idea of length must have been deeply -impressed on Salona by the long walls which, as we shall presently -see, yoked the city to something or other beyond her own immediate -defences. Salona, like most of the older cities, was not at all like -one of our square _chesters_ which rose up at once out of some -military necessity. The Dalmatian capital had grown up bit by bit, -and its walls formed a circuit almost as irregular as that of Rome -herself. The site was a striking one. As we set forth from the -comparatively flourishing daughter to visit the fallen mother, the -road from Spalato leads us over a slight hill, from the descent of -which we look on the bay with its background of mountains, a view -which brings before us two strongly contrasted sites of human -habitation. In advance of the mountain range stands the stronghold of -Clissa, so famous in later wars--a stronghold most tempting in a -distant view, but utterly disappearing when we come near to it. The -seat of the Uscocs has nothing to show but its site and an ugly -fortress; yet the hill is well worth going up, for the site and the -view from it, a most instructive geographical prospect over mainland, -sea, and islands. We turn to our Imperial guide, and we find that -[Greek: Kleisa] was so called because it kept the key of the passage -over the mountains. It was the [Greek: Kleisoura], so called -[Greek: dia to synkleiein tous dierchomenous ekeithen]. He has to -tell us how it was taken by invaders, whom he speaks of as the Slaves -who were called Avars ([Greek: Slaboi, hoi kai Abaroi kaloumenoi]). -The ethnological confusion is like that of another self-styled -Imperial personage, who thought that he could get at a Tartar by -scratching a Russian. But in both cases the confusion is instructive, -as pointing to the way in which Slavonic and Turanian nations were -mixed up together, as allies and as enemies, in the history of these -lands. Far below, on the bosom of the bay, a group of small islands -are covered by a small village, which seems to float on the water, and -which well deserves its name of _Piccola Venezia_. Between the height -and the sea lay Salona, on a slight elevation gently sloping down to -the water; here, as so often on the Dalmatian coast, it needs somewhat -of an effort to believe that the water is the sea. To the right of the -road, we see the ruins of the aqueduct which brought water to the -house of Diocletian--an aqueduct lately repaired, and again set to -discharge its ancient duties. Ancient fragments of one kind or another -begin to line the road; an ancient bridge presently leads us across -the main stream of the Giadro, Lucan's Iader, which we might rather -have looked for at Zara. We mark to the right the marshy ground -divided by the many channels of the river; we pass by a square castle -with turreted corners, in which a mediæval archbishop tried to -reproduce the wonder of his own city; and we at last find ourselves -close by one of the gates of Salona, ready to begin our examination of -the fallen city in due order. - -The city distinctly consists of two parts. A large suburb has at some -time or another been taken in within the walls of the city. This is -plain, because part of a cross wall with a gate still remains, which -must have divided the space contained within the outer walls into two. -This wall runs in a direction which, without professing to be -mathematically correct, we may call north and south. That is, it runs -from the hills down towards the bay or the river. Now, which was the -elder part of the two? that to the east or that to the west? In other -words, which represents the præ-Roman city, and which represents its -enlargement in Roman times? By putting the question in this shape, we -do not mean to imply that any part of the existing walls is of earlier -than Roman date. The Roman city would arise on the site of the earlier -settlement, and, as it grew and as its circuit was found too narrow, -it would itself be further enlarged. The cross wall with the gate in -it must of course have been at some time external; it marks the extent -of the city at the time when it was built; but in which way has the -enlargement taken place? It used to be thought that the eastern, the -most inland division, was the elder, and that the city was extended to -the west. And it certainly at first sight looks in favour of this view -that, in the extreme north-west corner, an amphitheatre has clearly -been worked into the wall, exactly in the same way in which the -_Amphitheatrum Castrense_ at Rome is worked into the wall of Aurelian. -How so keen an observer as Sir Gardner Wilkinson could have doubted -about this building being an amphitheatre, still more how his doubts -ended in his positively deciding that it was not, seems really -wonderful. It has all the unmistakeable features of an amphitheatre, -and we can only suppose that a good deal has been brought to light -since Sir Gardner Wilkinson's visit, and that what is seen now was not -so clearly to be seen then. As amphitheatres were commonly without the -walls, this certainly looks as if the eastern part were the old city, -and as if those who enlarged it to the west had made use of the -amphitheatre in drawing out their new line of fortification, exactly -as Aurelian in the like case made use of amphitheatre, aqueducts, -anything that came conveniently in his way. But, on the other hand, -Professor Glavinivc, whom we have already referred to when speaking -of Spalato, and whose keener observation has come usefully in the wake -of the praiseworthy researches of Dr. Carrara, has pointed out with -unanswerable force that the gate has two towers on its eastern side, -showing that that side was external, and that therefore the western -part must be the older and the eastern the addition. This is evidence -which it is impossible to get over. Clearly then the space to the west -of it was once the whole city, and the far greater space to the east -once lay beyond the walls. The gate must have been a grand one; but -unluckily its arches have perished. There was a central opening, -along which the wheel-tracks may still be traced, and a passage for -foot-passengers on each side. The large rectangular blocks of -limestone of which it is built have been encrusted in a singular way -with some natural formation, which might almost be mistaken either for -plaster or for some peculiarity of the stone itself. In the northern -wall of the eastern part is an inscription commemorating the building -or repair of the wall in the time of the Antonines. This by itself -would not be conclusive; for the wall might very well have been -rebuilt in their day and the city might have been enlarged to the west -in a still later time. But the position of the gate is decisive, and -the position of the amphitheatre is a difficulty that can easily be -got over. If, besides the great enlargement to the east, we also -suppose an enlargement to the west which would take the amphitheatre -within the city walls, this will be quite enough. - -We may rule then that the Illyrian city, the earlier Roman city, stood -to the west of the cross wall, and that it was enlarged at some time -earlier than the reigns of the Antonines by taking in an eastern -suburb larger than the original town. The walls of both parts may be -traced through a large part of their extent. The outer gate to the -east was flanked by octagonal towers, and both a square and an octagon -tower may be traced near the north-east corner. But the most -remarkable thing about the walls of Salona is that, besides the walls -of the city itself, there are long walls, like those of Athens and -Megara, reaching from the western side of the city for a mile and more -nearly along the present road to Traü. They have not been traced to -the end; but there can be no doubt that they were built to make long -Salona yet longer by joining the town to some further point of the -coast. Nothing is more natural; the water of the bay by Salona itself -is very shallow; when the city became one of the great maritime -stations of the world, it was an obvious undertaking to plant a dock -at some point of the coast where the water was deeper. And to one who -comes to Salona almost fresh from the hill-cities of central Italy, -from the strongholds of Volscians, Hernicans, and Old-Latins, from -Cora and Signia and Alatrium, it becomes matter of unfeigned surprise -to find Dalmatian antiquaries speaking of these walls as "Cyclopean." -The name "Cyclopean," though as old as Euripides, is as dangerous as -"Pelasgian" or "Druid;" but, if it means anything, it must mean the -first form of wall-building, the irregular stones heaped together, -such as we see in the oldest work at Cora and Signia. Here we have -nothing of the kind. The blocks are very large, and the outer surface -is not smooth; but all of them are carefully cut to a rectangular -shape, and they are laid with great regularity. There seems no kind of -temptation to attribute them to any date earlier than the Roman -conquest of Illyricum. The style of building is simply that which is -made natural by the kind of stone. And the same kind of construction, -though with smaller blocks, is that which prevails throughout the -walls of Salona, except where later repairs have clearly been made. -This has happened with the outer wall to the west, where some earlier -fragments have even been built in. Otherwise, by far the greater part -of the walls, towers, and gates of Salona, not forgetting a gate which -has been made out in the long walls themselves, all belong to one -general style of masonry. - - * * * * * - -Within the walls of Salona the general effect is somewhat strange. The -city is pierced by the road from Spalato to Traü; in these later times -it has been further pierced by the railway--strange object in -Dalmatia, strangest of all at Salona--which starts from Spalato, but -which does not find its way to Traü. The greater part of the space is -still covered with vineyards and olive-trees; systematic digging would -bring a vast deal to light; but a good deal positively has been made -out already. The amphitheatre has been already spoken of; the road -cuts through the theatre. But, as becomes the history of the city, the -greater part of the discoveries belong to Christian times, to the -days when the bishopric of Salona was a post great enough to be -employed to break the fall of deposed emperors. But we may doubt -whether the head church of Salona, the church which held the episcopal -chair of Glycerius, has yet been brought to light. - -Near the north-western corner of the eastern division of the city the -foundation of a Christian baptistery has been uncovered. The site of -the baptistery, according to all rule, must be near to the site of the -great church of the city. Now the baptistery stands near the wall; is -it fanciful to think that at Salona, as well as at Rome, it was not -thought prudent in the earliest days of the establishment of -Christianity to build churches in the more central and prominent parts -of the city? The baptistery of Salona keeps--the great basilica must -therefore have kept--under the shadow of the wall of the extended -city, exactly as the Lateran basilica and baptistery do at Rome. Of -the baptistery it is easy to study the plan, as the foundations and -the bases of the columns, both of the building itself and the portico -in front of it, are plainly to be seen. Many of their splendid -capitals are preserved among the rich treasures of the museum at -Spalato. These are of a Composite variety, in which the part of the -volute is played by griffins, while the lower part of the capital is -rich with foliage of a Byzantine type. West of the baptistery, but -hardly placed in any relation to it, are the remains of a small -church, which seems to have been a square, with columns to the east -and an apse to the north. Whatever this building was, it surely can -never have been the great church of Salona. That must have been a -basilica of the first class; and we may hope that future diggings may -bring that to light also. But outside the city to the north, -successive diggings have made precious discoveries in the way of -Christian burying-places and churches. Since the last researches have -been made, it is perfectly clear that here, outside the walls, like -the basilicas of the apostles at Rome, there stood a church of -considerable size, that it had supplanted a smaller predecessor, and -that it had another smaller neighbour hard by. It is now easy--but it -is only very lately that it has become easy--to see nearly the whole -outline of a church measuring--speaking roughly--about 120 feet long. -It ranged therefore with the smaller rather than the larger basilicas -of Rome. It had two rows of large columns, which, from their nearness -to one another, look as if they had supported an entablature rather -than arches, with a transept, with the arch of triumph opening into -it, and the apse beyond, to the east. There are also, in front of the -arch of triumph, foundations which look most temptingly like those of -_cancelli_, like those of Saint Clement's at Rome, but which seem too -narrow for such a purpose. It is also plain, from the base of a -smaller column at a lower level, that this comparatively large church -was built on the remains of an earlier one. And this is borne out by -the discovery of pavements at more than one level, which supported -sarcophagi, which are still to be seen, and of which an inscription -shows that the lowest level was of the time of Theodosius the Second -and Valentinian the Third. This thrusts on the building of the upper -and greater church to a later time, surely not earlier than the reign -of Justinian. It must therefore have still been almost in its -freshness when the last blow fell on Salona. And at such a time we can -better take in the full force of the inscription which stood over the -west door: "Dominus noster propitius esto reipublicæ Romanæ." The -church, it should be noted, has been, at some time or other before it -was quite swept away, patched up or applied to some other use. A later -wall runs across the western face of the transept. An endless field -for guessing is hereby opened; but it is more prudent not to enter -upon it. - -Another smaller ruined church stands close by, with its apse pointing -to the north. This and the eastern part of the larger church are -filled with sarcophagi of all kinds and sizes, reminding us of the -newly-opened basilica of Saint Petronilla by the Appian Way. Among -these is the tomb of an early _Chorepiscopus_. A crowd of -architectural fragments are scattered around, among which one splendid -Corinthian capital bears witness to the magnificence of the upper -church. But the real wealth of Salona, both sepulchral and -architectural, is not to be looked for in Salona itself, but in the -museum at Spalato. There are a crowd of superb tombs, pagan and -Christian, and the splendid capitals from the baptistery. There are -stores of inscriptions, Latin and Greek, which would make the place -where they are preserved a place of no small interest, even if that -place were not Spalato. But one sarcophagus of pagan date still stays -in its place, a little way beyond the city, because, being hewn in the -limestone rock, it could not be taken away. This is that which is -described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, which has some of the exploits of -Hêraklês carved on its one face, and which has been so oddly changed -in modern times into the altar of the canonized Pope Saint Caius. For -he, like the Emperor under whom he suffered, passes for a native of -Salona. And a no less precious sarcophagus of Christian days is -preserved in the cloister of the Franciscan church at Spalato. This -represents the crossing of the Red Sea. The Pharaoh looks very much as -if he were in a Roman triumphal chariot, trampling a genius or two of -the waters under his wheels. His warriors follow, looking, according -to the eyes with which we look at them, like Romans in military dress -or like Albanians in the immemorial fustanella. The Aryan mind is -offended at seeing men of another continent clothed in such a very -European garb; it is for Egyptologers to say whether the sculpture is -correct. The sea is very narrow; it swallows up the Egyptian chariots -with great force, and the rescued Hebrews stand on the other side, -Miriam just about to begin her hymn of victory. The subject of the -sculpture is obvious; but it seems that nobody understood it till it -was expounded by an exalted lady at that royal visit of 1818 which at -Spalato is commemorated oftener than enough. The expounder was the -wife of the man who had once been the last successor of Diocletian and -Augustus; whether his queen had any claim to rank either as a -successor of Prisca and Livia or as the doubtful mother-in-law of a -conqueror from Ajaccio, we have not looked in any pedigree-book to -find out. One would really have thought that the loosing of the knot -was so easy that it might have been unravelled by the hand of a -subject; but a book which we have before us by a local antiquary goes -off into raptures at the surprising keenness of Imperial, Royal, and -Apostolic eyes. - -The chapel of Saint Caius, with its heathenish altar, brings our -thoughts back to the long walls below it, the walls which yoked the -ancient Salona to the deeper sea. It must not be forgotten that, in -the days of its greatness, Salona was one of the chief ports of the -Hadriatic, the greatest on its own side of it. After shifting to and -fro from one port to another, that position has come back, if not to -Salona itself, yet to its modern representative. If we distinguish the -Hadriatic from the Gulf of Trieste, Spalato is undoubtedly its chief -port; but the smallness of Spalato, as compared with the greatness of -ancient Salona, is a speaking historical lesson. We see the difference -between the place in Europe which is held by the Illyrian lands now -and the place which they held in the days of the Roman peace. Then -Salona was one of the chief cities of the Roman world, placed on one -of the most central sites in the Roman world, the chief port of one of -the great divisions of the Empire, and one of the main highways -between its eastern and western halves. Such could be the position of -a Dalmatian city when Dalmatia had a civilized mainland to the back of -it. Salona therefore kept up its position as long as the Empire still -kept any strength on its Illyrian frontier. It played its part in both -the civil wars. Cæsar himself enlarges on the strength of the -city--"oppidum et loci natura et colle munitum." In after-times it was -a special object of the regard of its own great citizen, who took up -his abode so near to its neighbourhood. According to Constantino -Porphyrogenitus, Salona was pretty well rebuilt by Diocletian. Its -importance went on in the time of transition, as is witnessed by the -growth of its ecclesiastical buildings, and by the high position held -by its bishopric. Like the rest of the neighbouring lands, it passed -under the dominion, first of Odoacer and then of Theodoric, and it was -the first place which was won back to the Empire in the wars of -Justinian. Lost again and won back again, it appears throughout those -wars as the chief point of embarcation for the Imperial armies on -their voyages to Italy. This was the last century of its greatness; in -the next century the modern history of Illyria begins. The Slaves were -moving, and the Avars were moving with them. Salona fell into the -hands of these last barbarians; it was ruined and pillaged, and sank -to the state in which it has remained till our own time. Since the -seventh century Salona has ceased to rank among the cities of the -earth, but the house which had been raised by its greatest citizen -stood ready hard by to supply a shelter to some at least of its -homeless inhabitants. Things were wholly turned about on the bay of -Salona and on the neighbouring peninsula. Down to the days of -Heraclius, Salona had been a great city, with the vastest house that -one man ever reared standing useless in its neighbourhood. From his -day onwards the house grew into a city, and the city became a petty -village, where, of all the places along that historic coast, the -traveller finds least to disturb him in the pious contemplation of -ruins. The only danger is that his meditations may be broken in upon -by sellers of coins and scraps of all ages, dates, and values. Coins -at Salona hardly need the process once known at the Mercian Dorchester -as "going a-Cæsaring." Cæsars seem to be picked up from under and off -the ground with much less trouble than hunting for truffles. And even -he who is no professed numismatist or collector of gems will be -pleased to give a few _soldi_, perhaps even for a very clear image and -superscription of "Constantinus Junior Nob[ilissimus] C[æsar]," much -more for any image and superscription of Jovius himself. It may have -neither rarity nor value in the eyes of the numismatically learned; -but it is something to carry away from Salona itself the head of the -foremost local worthy in Salona's long annals. - - - - -TRAÜ. - -1875--1877--1881. - - -The visitor to Spalato and Salona should, if possible, not fail to pay -a visit to Traü. To most readers the very name will doubtless be -strange. Yet Tragurium is an old city, a city old enough to be named -by Polybios, to say nothing of later Greek and Latin writers. As in -countless other cases, many readers may have passed by the name -without any notice at all; others may have turned to the map, and, -having once found Tragurium, may have presently forgotten that -Tragurium was anywhere recorded. The case may be different with those -who carry on their studies so far as to have dealings with the -Imperial topographer. In his pages the name of the city has got -lengthened into [Greek: Tetrangourion], and we are told that it was so -called [Greek: dia to einai auto mikron dikên angouriou]. We are not -ashamed to confess that the word [Greek: angouriou] gave us no meaning -whatever, and that we had to turn to our dictionary to find that -[Greek: angourion] means a water-melon. But where the point of -likeness is between the town of Traü and a water-melon, and why the -name should have been lengthened, so as to suggest, if anything, the -notion of four water-melons, we are as much in the dark as before. -Those therefore who have made acquaintance with the city in the shape -of [Greek: Tetrangourion] will have a chance of keeping it in their -minds. But with those who light only either on Tragurium or on Traü, -it will most likely happen as most commonly happens with places which -play no great part in general history. The name passes away as a mere -name, till something happens to clothe it with a special meaning. -Salona the parent and Spalato the child are names which never can -become meaningless to any one who has a decent knowledge of the -history of the world. But the name of Tragurium, Traü, will probably -always be purely meaningless, save to those whom anything may have led -to take a special interest in Dalmatian matters. Tragurium has a -history--no place is without one--but its history is purely local and -Dalmatian. As far as one can venture to judge, the great course of -human affairs would have been much the same if Tragurium had never -become a city. But there it stands, and, as it stands, its position, -its buildings, even its local history, combine to give it no small -interest. They make it no contemptible appendage even to the famous -spots in its immediate neighbourhood. Whatever was its origin, -Tragurium became a Roman town, and it was one of those places on the -Dalmatian coast which so long and steadily clave to their allegiance -to the Eastern Cæsars. As the Byzantine power declined, the town was -disputed between the Kings of Hungary and the commonwealth of Venice, -and once at least it is said to have felt the hand of Saracen -plunderers. By each of the Christian powers by which it was disputed -it was won and lost more than once, till it finally became Venetian in -1420. Perhaps the point of greatest interest in these dates is that -Traü was a Hungarian possession at the time of the building of its -cathedral church in the thirteenth century. It is said to have points -of likeness to other great Hungarian churches of the same date. - -The approach to Traü is a speaking commentary on the state of things -in days when no one but the lord of a private fortress could be safe -anywhere except within a walled town. The road from Spalato to Traü -goes through Salona, through the heart of the ruined city, as does the -railway which the traveller may use for part of his journey. The -railway turns off; the road keeps on alongside of the bay, with the -water on one side and the mountains on the other. This road passes -through the district of the _castelli_, forts with surrounding -villages, which various lords, spiritual and temporal, held of the -Serene Republic by a feudal tenure. Things were under the oligarchy of -Venice as they were under the democracy of Athens. A private fortress -within either city was unheard of; neither Demos nor the Council of -Ten would for a moment have endured the existence of such towers as we -still see at Rome and at Bologna. But in the outlying possessions of -either commonwealth greater licence was allowed. Alkibiadês had his -private forts in the Thracian Chersonêsos, and a string of Venetian -nobles and subjects of the Republic were allowed to have their private -forts along the shores of the bay of Salona. The points which they -occupied still remain as small towns and villages, some of them with -their little havens on the lake-like sea, where the traveller whom the -railway has forsaken may haply light on a small steamer to take him -on. But none of those among the _castelli_ which we can ourselves -speak of from our own knowledge possess any architectural interest. -When at last we reach Traü, we see further how needful it was, even in -the case of a walled city, to plant it in the position best suited for -defence. Traü, now at least, belongs to the class of island cities. At -the point where the large island of Bua comes nearest to the mainland, -a small island lies between it and the shore, leaving only a narrow -channel on each side, spanned in each case by a bridge. But the -language of the Emperor who likens the city to a water-melon might -suggest the idea that the site was once, not insular, but peninsular. -Constantine places his [Greek: Tetrangourion] on a small island, but -the small island has a neck like a bridge which joins it to the -mainland ([Greek: mikron esti nêsion en tê thalassê, echon kai -trachêlon heôs tês gês stenôtaton dikên gephyriou, en hô dierchontai -hoi katoikountes es to auto kastron]). This somewhat contradictory way -of speaking sounds as if, as in the case of some other peninsular -cities, a narrow isthmus had been cut through. In the Peutinger Table -too, "Ragurio" is made distinctly peninsular. Now at least the -likeness of a bridge is exchanged for the reality; the island is an -island, and on this island is built the main part of the city of Traü. -A small part only spreads itself on to Bua, where it begins to climb -the hills, though it goes up only a very little way, by paths almost -as rugged as though they were in Montenegro. This outlying part, which -contains two churches, may pass as a suburb, a _Peraia_; for Bua may -reckon as a mainland when compared with the neighbouring islet, and -the real mainland of Dalmatia seems to have been carefully avoided by -the builders of Tragurium. The view in Wheler would give no one any -idea of the size of Bua, any more than the Peutinger Table would give -any idea of its position. But Wheler's view well brings out the -relative positions of mainland, islet, and island, and it shows how -strongly Traü was fortified in his day. Such a site as this was a -valuable one in days when security was the main object; but it hardly -tends to prosperity in modern times, and Tragurium must be reckoned -among the cities whose day is past. While Spalato is putting on the -likeness of a busy modern town, Traü has nothing to show but its -ancient memories. - -Traü, as we now see it, is indeed an old-world place. Even the -new-made railway, which has appeared long since our first visit, and -which startles the quiet of Salona and some of the _castelli_, keeps -away from the city of the four water-melons. Strangers come but -seldom, and they are remembered when they do come; a visitor showing -himself again after some years is greeted in friendly guise as "one of -the three Englishmen with red beards." And the city looks like one of -the ends of the world. Owing to the peculiar position of Traü, the -fashion of narrow streets, common to all the Dalmatian towns, is here -carried to an extreme point. Indeed the crooked alleys through which -the visitor has to thread his way, and the dark arches and vaults -under which he has to pass, give the place a Turkish rather than a -Venetian look. The explorer of Traü might almost fancy himself at -Trebinje. One wonders how the Tragurians manage to live; it is only on -the quay and in the open place by the cathedral that there seems room -to breathe. Yet, uninviting as the streets of Traü are in their -general effect, they are far from being void of objects of interest. -As elsewhere in Dalmatia, we ever and anon light on ornamental -doorways and windows. In Traü some of these show better forms than -those of the familiar Venetian Gothic; one or two windows are in -style, whatever they may be in date, genuine Romanesque. Of the -Venetian defences some considerable portions remain; close by the -water, at the south-western point of the smaller island, is a castle -bearing the badge of Saint Mark, whose chief feature is a tower of -irregular octagonal shape, singularly and ingeniously vaulted within. -Of civic buildings the chief is the Venetian _loggia_, now dirty and -uncared for. But it still keeps at its east end what at first sight -seems like an altar, dedicated, not to the Evangelist but to his lion, -but which really marks the judgment-seat of the representative of the -Republic in Traü. The building was repaired over and over again, the -last renovation dating early in the seventeenth century; but it keeps -a colonnade, which, whenever it was put together, was put together out -of materials of far earlier date. Some of the capitals seem to be -late; but there is one of true Corinthian form, which seems closely -akin to those in Diocletian's peristyle; another capital is covered -with rich foliage of a type rather Byzantine than classical. And on -either side of the _loggia_, forming a strange contrast to one -another, one of them utterly hidden from view, the other proclaiming -itself as the main ornament of the town, stand the two most important -ecclesiastical buildings of Traü. - - [Illustration: CATHEDRAL, TRAÜ.] - -The chief architectural ornament of the city is undoubtedly the -formerly cathedral, now only collegiate, church. This is a work of the -thirteenth century, with a stately bell-tower of the fourteenth or -fifteenth. But the tower of Traü is no detached campanile, such as we -have seen at Zara and Spalato. It forms part of the building; it -occupies its north-western corner, and was designed to be one of a -pair, after the usage of more northern lands. The inscription on the -southern doorway gives 1215 as its date; one on the great western -doorway names 1240, and adds the name of Raduanus as its artist. -Looked at from the outside, the work is of the best and most finished -kind of Italian Romanesque; and we have here, what is by no means -uncommon in Dalmatia, an example of the late retention of the forms of -that admirable style. The tower palpably belongs to a later date, as -it shows the distinct forms of the Venetian Gothic, though, as usual -in Dalmatia, in a not unpleasing form. Eitelberger quotes an -inscription which gives the date as 1321, while in his text he speaks -of it as 1421, just after the Venetian capture of the town. And the -course of Dalmatian architecture is so capricious, forms are found at -dates when one would so little have looked for them, that we really -cannot undertake to decide between the two. The inside of the church -is striking, with its round arches resting on massive square piers of -German rather than Italian character, and with its clerestory and -vault, in which the round and pointed arch are struggling for the -mastery. By a freak almost more unaccountable than the red rags of -Zara, the piers have very lately been taught to discharge the perhaps -useful, but rather incongruous, function of a catalogue of the bishops -of Traü, bishops whose succession has come to an end. The pulpit, the -stalls, and other fittings, are also striking in many ways, and the -triapsidal east end shows us a rather simple Romanesque style in all -its purity. But the glory of Traü is at the other end. The stately -portico veils the still more stately western doorway, in which, if the -purity of the architectural style is somewhat forsaken, we forgive it -for the richness and variety of its sculpture. The scriptural scenes -in the tympanum, the animal forms, the statues of Adam and Eve, the -crouching turbaned figures, the strange blending together of sculpture -and architectural forms, make together a wonderful whole, none the -less wonderful because it is clear that everything is not exactly in -its right place, but that there has been a change or removal of some -kind at some time. The details of this splendid doorway, and of the -church in general, must be studied in the elaborate memoir of -Eitelberger, which, with its illustrations, goes further than most -memoirs of the kind to make the building really intelligible at a -distance. The turbaned figures are far older than the appearance of -the Ottoman in the neighbourhood of Traü, or indeed in any part of -Europe. Are they Saracens whose forms record the memories of some -returning Crusader? Or are we to believe that the Morlacchi used the -turban as their head-dress before the Ottoman came? - -But the _duomo_ is not all that Traü has to show in the way of -churches. On the other side of the Venetian loggia stands, hidden -among other buildings, a church which is in its way of equal interest -with its greater neighbour, which certainly shows us a purer form of -Romanesque. This is the little desecrated church of Saint Martin, now -called Saint Barbara, one of those domical buildings on a small scale -of which we have seen other varieties at Zara and at Spalato. Its -height and the tall stilts on its columns would, if the building were -cleared out, make it one of the most striking instances of its style -and scale. Nearer to the water, south-east from the cathedral, is -another small Romanesque church, almost as striking without as Saint -Barbara is within. This is the small church of Saint John Baptist, -which, except that it has a square east end, might pass for an almost -typical Romanesque church on a small scale. Nearly opposite to Saint -Barbara is the most striking house in Traü, with an open galleried -court; and not very far off, hidden in the narrow streets, is the -Benedictine monastery of Saint Nicolas, the foundation of the local -saint John Orsini in 1064. The points to be noticed are not in the -church but in the adjoining buildings. There, besides some pretty -Venetian windows and doorways, is an arcade which looks as if it were -of genuine Romanesque date, though perhaps hardly so old as the saint -himself. A walk outside the walls in the direction of the Venetian -castle leads to other churches, one of which, attached to a house of -Dominican nuns, surprises the visitor, like the ruined chapel of the -Gaetani by the tomb of Cæcilia Metella, by its almost English look. A -few hours may well be spent in examining the antiquities of this -strange little island city, and in taking in the varied views of land -and sea which are to be had alike from the lofty bell-tower and from -the higher ground on Bua. The journey back again shows us objects -which have become familiar to us, but which are now seen in a reverse -order. We mark the ever shifting outlines of the hills, the islands -and the bay which they surround, the ruins of fallen Salona, Clissa -on its peak, the stream of Giadro, the aqueduct of Diocletian, till we -again mount and descend the little hill on the neck of the isthmus, -and find ourselves once more under the shadow of the palace-walls of -Spalato and of the bell-tower which soars so proudly over them. - - [Illustration: SAINT JOHN BAPTIST, TRAÜ.] - - - - -SPALATO TO CATTARO. - - - - -SPALATO TO CATTARO. - -1875. - - - [I have not thought it needful to strike out of this paper a - few allusions to the times when it was written, the early - days of the revolt in Herzegovina with which the war of - 1875-1878 began.] - -As Spalato must be looked on as the great object of a Dalmatian -voyage, it may also be looked on as its centre. After Spalato the -coast scenery changes its character in a marked way. Hitherto hills, -comparatively low and utterly barren, come down straight to the sea, -while the higher mountains are seen only farther inland. From this -point the great mountains themselves come nearer to the water. We are -thus reminded of the change in the political boundary, how from this -point the Hadriatic territory of Austria and of Christendom becomes -narrower and narrower, till we reach the stage when the old dominion -of Ragusa becomes a mere fringe between the sea and the Turk, fenced -in from the former land of Saint Mark by the two points at either end -where the less dangerous infidel was allowed to spread himself to the -actual sea-board. But as the mountains come nearer to the sea, a -fringe of cultivation, narrower or wider, now spreads itself between -them and the water. Small towns and villages, detached houses, land -tilled with the vine and the olive, now skirt the bases of the -mountains, in marked contrast to the mere stony hills of the earlier -part of the voyage. The islands too among whose narrow channels we -have to make our way change their character also. After Spalato, -instead of mere uninhabited rocks, we come to islands of greater size, -some of them thirty or forty miles long, islands several of which have -a distinct place in history, islands containing towns and cities, and -which are still seats of industry and cultivation. These are the -islands which give such a marked character to the map of this part of -the Hadriatic, and they form the most marked feature in the fourth -day's voyage of the course from Trieste to Cattaro. The endless -islands which we have seen along the northern part of the Dalmatian -shore, bare and uninhabited rocks as many of them are, are without -history. Some of the Croatian islands indeed have somewhat of a -history; but with these we are not dealing; the barren archipelago of -Zara could never have had any tale to tell. First we pass through the -channel which divides the mainland from the large island of Brazza, -distinguished at a glance by its solid shape from its endless long -and narrow fellows. Dreary and rocky as it seems, it is the most -populous and industrious of the group, and at one point of its coast, -San Pietro, the steamer makes a short halt. So it does at the -picturesque little port of Almissa on the mainland, a nest of houses -and trees at the mountain's foot, standing so invitingly as to make -the traveller wish for a longer sojourn. Then comes Makarska, where we -are allowed a short glimpse of the little hill-side town, smaller and -more Dalmatian than any that we have yet seen. Presently we plunge -into the full intricacies of the Dalmatian seas. We pass through the -narrow channel which parts the mainland from the eastern promontory of -the long, slender island of Lesina--the _awl_. Here we come within old -Hellenic memories. We are now within the full range of Greek -colonization, though of Greek colonization only in its latest stage. -Issa, now Lissa, Black Korkyra, now Curzola, amongst the islands, and -Epidauros on the mainland, were all of them undoubted Greek -settlements. But Issa and Pharos, the only ones to which we can fix a -positive date, were colonized only in the first half of the fourth -century, and Dionysios of Syracuse had a hand in their colonization. -Lesina is Pharos, the ancient colony of the Ægæan Paros, whose name -still lives on Slavonic lips in the shape of _Far_ or _Hvar_. It -plays a considerable part in the history of Polybios, as the island of -that Dêmêtrios whose crooked policy formed an important element in the -affairs of mankind in the days when Greek and Roman history began to -flow together into one stream. These islands form one of the highways -by which Rome advanced to the possession of Illyricum, Macedonia, and -Greece. But we see neither the ancient nor the modern city, neither -Pharos nor Lesina; we merely skirt the island to find ourselves in the -channel of Narenta. That name suggests yet another pirate power, later -than that of Tenta and Dêmêtrios, that power of the old Pagania against -which Venice, in her early days, had to wage so hard a struggle. We -seem to be pressing on between the mainland and a long, slender, -mountainous island; but our course suddenly turns; the seeming island -is no other than the long peninsula of Sabioncello, a peninsula not -Venetian but Ragusan. We get merely a glimpse down the gulf, at the -end of which Turkish Klek once divided the possessions of the two -maritime commonwealths, and still, nominally at least, breaks the -continuity of Austrian dominion. But, if the peninsula was Ragusan, a -narrow channel only parts it from an island which was a chief seat of -the power of the rival city. We skirt the western horn of Sabioncello, -and another turn leads us through the channel--narrower than any -through which we have passed--which divides it from Curzola, Black -Korkyra of old. We stop for a little while off the island capital, the -fortress of Curzola, which was to the declining navy of Venice what -Pola now is to the rising navy of Austria. This channel passed, we -come to the last of the great islands. For miles and miles we skirt -the Ragusan island of Meleda, long, slender, with its endless hills of -no great height standing up like the teeth of a saw--a true sierra in -miniature. Here volumes of scriptural controversy are open to us. As -we are not tossed up and down in Hadria, but are floating along as on -a lake or a river, we muse on the claims which all local and some -independent authorities have set up for Illyrian Meleda, as against -Phoenician Malta, to be the true seat of the shipwreck of Saint Paul. -But Meleda can have its claims admitted only on the condition of being -shut out from Hellenic fellowship, even though its barbarians were of -a mood which led them to show no little kindness to strangers. It is -hard also to understand how those who were making their way from -Meleda to any point of Italy could have any possible business at -Syracuse. At all events, with Meleda the island history ends, though -the island scenery does not end as yet. Several islands, smaller than -these more famous ones, but not so small as they look on the map, -fringe the coast till we enter the haven of Gravosa, the port of -modern Ragusa, with its thickly wooded shores, a marked contrast to -the bleakness and barrenness of so many other points of the Dalmatian -coast. - -Ragusa, the city of argosies, the commonwealth which so long was the -rival of Venice and which never stooped to be her subject, so -thoroughly suggests maritime enterprise by her very name, that we are -surprised to find that Ragusa herself has ceased to be a port of any -moment. Her mighty walls, her castles, her more distant forts, still -rise out of the sea, and the mightier wall of mountains just behind -her still fence off her land, as the narrowest rim of Christendom, -from the land of the infidel beyond. All this is as it was; modern -military art has added to the defences of Ragusa, but it has not taken -away her elder bulwarks. But her haven is now of the very smallest, -and admits only vessels of the smallest size. The modern haven is at -Gravosa, and the road which Sir Gardner Wilkinson describes as so well -kept, but as useless because no carriages went upon it, is still as -good and more useful. At this moment Ragusa bears the honourable -character of a city of refuge for the unhappy ones who seek shelter -under the government of a civilized state from the barbarian rule -beyond the mountains. Her suburbs are crowded with women and children -flying from the seat of war, for whom the charity both of the state -and of private persons is doing much, but whose sufferings--as one who -has seen them can bear witness--cry for the sympathy and help of all -who have hearts and who have not invested in Turkish bonds. As we pass -by and look on the city--no city surely fronts the sea more proudly -than Ragusa--as we turn round to the island of La Croma, lying off -what was Ragusa's harbour, the island which suggests the names of -Richard of Poitou and of Maximilian of Mexico--the scene is so -peaceful and lovely, the warlike defences look such mere things of the -past, that it is hard indeed to believe that, just beyond the mountain -barrier, warfare is going on in its bitterest and yet its noblest -form--the struggle of an oppressed people to cast off the yoke of -ages. This form of speech may grate somewhat on the received phrases -of Western diplomacy; but, however we might be bound to write in -England, in Dalmatia--so close to the facts--we may be allowed to -write as all men in Dalmatia think and speak. We pass La Croma, and -our time among the islands is over; no other that can be called more -than a mere rock meets us between Ragusa and Cattaro. At last we enter -the loveliest of inlets of the sea, the _Bocche di Cattaro_. A narrow -strait leads us between points of land which were once Ragusan on the -west and Venetian to the east, into the winding gulf, girded by -mountains, and now for nearly its whole extent fringed by towns, -villages, houses, cultivation in every form--a land where the -sublimity of the rugged mountain has come into close partnership with -the loveliness of the smiling dwelling-places of man. As we pass -through the strait, a piece of barren mountain to the left marks the -second piece of territory where the Turk was allowed to isolate the -two commonwealths, and where, in name, his dominion still reaches to -the shore of the lovely gulf. We pass on, as on the smoothest of -lakes, round mountain headlands, with their rich fringe of life, by -towns and villages, many of which have their own local history both in -earlier and later times, till we reach the most distant of Dalmatian -cities, Cattaro at the innermost point of her own unrivalled _Bocche_. -Hemmed in between the mountains and the sea--though it seems almost -strange to apply the word sea to the gentle waters of her -harbour--with the mountains again rising on the other side, Cattaro -seems indeed to be the end of its own world. Yet in the days of -Venetian greatness, Cattaro was far indeed from being the last point -of the dominion of Saint Mark. Climb the heights above the city, and -the eye stretches far away along the Albanian coast, a coast along -which many a city and island once bowed to the winged lion, till in -fancy we track our course, as by stepping stones along the sea, to -distant Crete and to more distant Cyprus. - -Cattaro, the end of the outward journey, will also be the beginning of -the journey back again. The little town, with its narrow paved -streets, its little piazze, still keeps up the same Venetian tradition -as elsewhere. And the walls of the fortress climbing far up the -mountain show how firm was the grasp of the ruling city over its -subjects. But at Cattaro and throughout the Bocche another feature -strikes us which we do not see either at Spalato or at Ragusa. The -churches do not all belong to one denomination; the Eastern, the -Orthodox, Church, holds its own in this corner of Venetian or Austrian -rule at least as firmly as its Latin rival. The fact is, what is -forced upon our notice at every step, that, the further we go along -this coast, the Italian element dies out and the Slavonic element -grows. It is so in language, in dress, in everything. Zara, Spalato, -Ragusa, Cattaro, each city is less and less Italian according to its -geographical position. The inland country is, of course, Slave -throughout. But at Cattaro the Slave element distinctly predominates, -even in the town; Italian can hardly be said to be more than the best -known among foreign languages. The pistol and yataghan worn in the -belt, a general costume essentially the same as that of the -Montenegrin, has gradually been growing upon us; here in Cattaro it is -the rule, almost more than the rule. In short, the Bocchese, the -Montenegrin, the Turkish rayah of Herzegovina, really differ in -nothing but the difference of their political destinies. They are -members of the same immediate family, whose fortunes have led them in -three different directions. Now the religious tendency of the -south-eastern Slaves, as is only natural from their geographical -position, has always been towards the Eastern Church rather than the -Western, towards the New Rome rather than towards the Old. Here, where -the Slavonic element is so distinctly the stronger, the religious -developement has taken its natural course, and the Orthodox population -in Cattaro and all the coasts thereof is always a large minority, and -in some places it actually outnumbers the Latins. - -We have professed to give only the impressions of the outward voyage, -though our account may have here and there been influenced by later -impressions drawn from fuller observation on the way back. But the way -back, and the fuller knowledge gained in its course, only brings out -more strongly the intense charm of Dalmatian coast and mountain -scenery, fitly united with the deep historic interest of cities which, -though they seem to form a world apart by themselves, have played -their part in the world's history none the less. No one can visit -Dalmatia once without a wish that his first visit may not be his last; -no one can take a glimpse of any of her cities without the desire that -the glimpse may be only the forerunner of more perfect knowledge. - - - - -CURZOLA. - -1881. - - -We part from Spalato; by the time that we have made two or three -voyages in these seas, we shall find that there are several ways of -reaching and parting from Spalato. We speak of course of ways by sea; -by land there is but one way, and that way leads only to and from -places at no great distance, and it does not lead to or from any place -in the direction in which we are now bent. By sea the steamer takes -two courses. One keeps along the mainland, that which allows a glimpse -of the little towns of Almissa and Makarska, both nestling by the -water's edge at the mountain's foot. Of these Almissa at least has an -historical interest. Here Saint Mark was no direct sovereign; his -lion, if we rightly remember, is nowhere to be seen, a distinction -which, along this whole line of coast, Almissa alone shares with -greater Ragusa. Was it a commonwealth by itself, cradled on the -channel of Brazza like Gersau on the Lake of the Four Cantons? Or was -it the haven of the inland commonwealth of Polizza, which, like -Gersau and a crowd of other commonwealths, perished at the hands of -their newborn French sister for the unpardonable crime of being old? -But far more interesting is the other route of the steamers, that -which leads us among the greater islands. Here, as soon as we pass -Spalato, as soon as we pass the greatest monument of the dominion of -Rome, we presently find ourselves in a manner within the borders of -Hellas. We pass between Brazza and Solta, we skirt Lesina and think -once more of its old Parian memories. We look out on Lissa, where the -Hellenic name lives on with slighter change, but we are more inclined -to dwell on those later memories which have made its name an unlucky -one in our own day, a far luckier one in the days of our grandfathers. -At last we make our first halt for study where a narrow strait divides -the mainland, itself all but an island, from another ancient seat of -Greek settlement, the once renowned isle of Curzola. - -Curzola--such is its familiar Italian form--is the ancient Black -Korkyra, and on Slavonic lips it still keeps the elder name in the -shape of _Kerker_. But the sight of [Greek: hê melaina Korkyra] -suggests a question of the same kind as that which the visitor is -driven to ask on his first sight of Montenegro. How does a mass of -white limestone come to be called the Black Mountain? Curzola can -hardly be called a mass of white limestone; but the first glance -shows nothing specially black about it, nothing to make us choose this -epithet rather than any other to distinguish this Hadriatic Korkyra -from the more famous Korkyra to the south. That some distinguishing -epithet is needed is shown by the fact that, not so very long ago, a -special correspondent of the _Times_ took the whole history of Corfu -and transferred it bodily to Curzola. The reason given for the name is -the same in Curzola and in Montenegro. The blackness both of the -island and of the mountain is the blackness of the woods with which -they are covered. True the traveller from Cattaro to Tzetinje sees no -woods, black or otherwise; but he is told that the name comes from -thick woods on the other side of the principality. So he is told that -Black Korkyra was called from its thick woods, its distinctive feature -as compared with the many bare islands in its neighbourhood. But no -black woods are now to be seen in that part of the island which the -traveller is most likely to see anything of. There were such, he is -told; but they have been cut down on this side, while on the other -side they still flourish. As things are now, Curzola is certainly less -bare than most of its fellows; but the impression which it gives us -is, of the two, rather that of a green island than of a black one. It -is not green in the sense of rich verdure, but such trees as show -themselves give it a look rather green than black. At any rate, the -island looks both low and well-covered, as compared with the lofty and -rocky mountains of the opposite peninsula of Sabioncello. The two are -at one point, and that a point close by the town of Curzola, separated -by a very narrow strait. And the nearness of the two formed no -inconsiderable part of their history. There was a time when Curzola -must have been, before all things, a standing menace to Sabioncello, -and to the state of which Sabioncello formed an outpost. Sabioncello, -the long, narrow, stony peninsula, all backbone and nothing else, -formed part of the dominions of the commonwealth of Ragusa. Curzola -was for three centuries and a half a stronghold of that other -commonwealth which Ragusa so dreaded that she preferred the Turk as -her neighbour. Nowhere does the winged lion meet us more often or more -prominently than on the towers and over the gates of Curzola. And no -wonder; for Curzola was the choice seat of Venetian power in these -waters, her strong arsenal, the place for the building of her galleys. -If Aigina was the eyesore of Peiraieus, Curzola must have been yet -more truly the eyesore of Sabioncello. - -It is only of what must have been the special eyesore of its Ragusan -neighbours, of the fortified town of Curzola and of a few points in -its near neighbourhood, that we can now speak. Curzola is one of the -larger Dalmatian islands; and it is an island of some zoological -interest. It is one of the few spots in Europe where the jackal still -lingers. Perhaps there is no other, but, as we have heard rumours of -like phænomenon in Epeiros, a decided negative is dangerous. We -believe that, according to the best scientific opinion, "lingered" is -the right word. The jackal is not an importation from anywhere else -into Curzola; he is an old inhabitant of Europe, who has kept his -ground in Curzola after he has been driven out of other places. But he -who gives such time as the steamer allows him in the island to the -antiquities of the town of Curzola need cherish no hope or fear of -meeting jackals. He might as soon expect to meet with a horse. For, -true child of Venice, Curzola knows neither horse nor carriage. Horses -and carriages are not prominent features in any of the Dalmatian -towns; but they may be seen here and there. They are faintly tolerated -within the walls of Ragusa, and we have certainly seen a cart in the -streets of Zara. But at Curzola they are as impossible as at Venice -itself, though not for the same reason. Curzola does not float upon -the waters; it soars above them. The Knidian emigrants chose the site -of their town in the true spirit of Greek colonists. It is such -another site as the Sicilian Naxos, as the Epidauros of the -Hadriatic, as Zara too and Parenzo, though Zara and Parenzo can lay -no claim to a Greek foundation. The town occupies a peninsula, which -is joined to the main body of the island by a narrow isthmus. The -positive elevation is slight, but the slope close to the water on each -side is steep. From the narrow ridge where stands the once cathedral -church, the streets run down on each side, narrow and steep, for the -most part ascended by steps. The horses of the wave are the only -steeds for the men of Black Korkyra, and those steeds they have at all -times managed with much skill. The seafaring habits of the people take -off in some measure from the picturesque effect of the place. There is -much less to be seen, among men at least, of local costume at Curzola -than at other Dalmatian towns. We miss the Morlacchian turbans which -become familiar at Spalato; we miss the Montenegrin coats of the brave -_Bocchesi_, which fill the streets of Cattaro, not without a meaning. -Seafaring folk are apt to wear the dress of their calling rather than -that of their race, and the island city cannot be made such a centre -for a large rural population as the cities on the mainland. But, if -the men to be seen at Curzola are less picturesque than the men to be -seen at Spalato or Ragusa, their dwellings make up for the lack. -Curzola is a perfect specimen of a Venetian town. It is singular how -utterly everything earlier than the final Venetian occupation of 1420 -has passed away. The Greek colonist has left no sign of himself but -the site. Of Roman, of earlier mediæval, times there is nothing to be -seen beyond an inscription or two, one of which, a fragment worked -into the pavement of one of the steep streets, records the connexion -which once was between Curzola and Hungary. With præ-Venetian -inscriptions we may class one which is post-Venetian, and which -records another form of foreign dominion, one which may be classed -with that of Lewis the Great as at least better than those which went -between them. From 1813 to 1815--a time memorable at Curzola as well -as at Cattaro--the island was under English rule, and the time of -English rule was looked on as a time of freedom, compared with French -rule before or with Austrian rule both before and after. It is not -only that an official inscription speaks of the island as "libertate -fruens" at the moment when the connexion was severed; we believe that -we are justified in saying that those two years live in -Black-Korkyraian memory as the one time for many ages when the people -of Black Korkyra were let alone. - -The formerly cathedral church is the only building in the town of -Curzola which suggests any thought that it can be older than 1420. -Documentary evidence, we believe, is scanty, and contains no mention -of the church earlier than the thirteenth century. In England we -should at first sight be tempted to assign the internal arcades to the -latter days of the twelfth; but the long retention of earlier forms -which is so characteristic of the architecture of this whole region -makes it quite possible that they may be no earlier than the Venetian -times to which we must certainly attribute the west front. Setting -aside a later addition to the north, which is no improvement, this -little _duomo_ consists of a nave and aisles of five bays, ending in -three round apses. Five bays we say, though on the north side there -are only four arches; for the tower occupies one at the west end. The -inner arcades and the west doorway are worthy of real study, as -contributions to the stock of what is at any rate singular in -architecture; indeed a more honourable word might fairly be used. The -arcades consist of plain pointed arches rising from columns with -richly carved capitals, and, like so many columns of all ages in this -region, with tongues of foliage at their bases. Above is a small -triforium, a pair of round arches over each bay; above that is a -clerestory of windows which within seem to be square, but which -outside are found to be broad pointed lancets with their heads cut -off. In England or France such a composition as this would certainly, -at the first sight of its general effect, be set down as belonging to -the time of transition between Romanesque and Gothic, to the days of -Richard of Poitou and Philip Augustus. And the proportions are just as -good as they would be in England or France; there is not a trace of -that love of ungainly sprawling arches which ruins half the so-called -Gothic churches of Italy. But, when we look at the capitals, we begin -to doubt. They are singularly rich and fine; but they are not rich and -fine according to any received pattern. They are eminently not -classical; they have nothing more than that faint Corinthian stamp -which no floriated capital seems able quite to throw away; they do not -come anything like so near to the original model as the capitals at -Canterbury, at Sens, or even at Lisieux. But neither do they approach -to any of the received Romanesque or Byzantine types, nor have they a -trace of the freedom which belongs to the English foliage of days only -a little later. They are more like, though still not very much like, -our foliage of the fourteenth century; there is a massiveness about -them, a kind of cleaving to the shape of the block, which after all -has something Byzantine about it. Those on the north side have figures -wrought among the foliage; the four responds have the four -evangelistic symbols. Here then we cannot fail to find the lion of -Saint Mark, but we find him only in his place as one of a company of -four. Would the devotion of the Most Serene Republic have allowed its -patron anywhere so lowly a place as this to occupy? Otherwise the -character of the capitals, which extends to the small shafts in the -triforium, might tempt us to assign a far later date to these columns -and arches than their general effect would suggest. But at all events -they are thoroughly mediæval; there is not the faintest trace of -_Renaissance_ about them. - -Outside the church, the usual mixed character of the district comes -out more strongly. The addition to the north, and the tower worked in -instead of standing detached, go far to spoil what would otherwise be -a simple and well-proportioned Italian front. Both the round -window--of course there is a round window--and the great doorway are -worthy of notice. The window is not a mere wheel; the diverging lines -run off into real tracery, such as we might see in either England or -France. The doorway is a curious example of the way in which for a -long time in these regions, the square head, the round arch, and the -pointed arch, were for some purposes used almost indifferently. The -tradition of the square-headed doorway with the arched tympanum over -it never died out. We may believe that the mighty gateways and -doorways of Diocletian's palace set the general model for all ages. -But when the pointed arch came in, the tympanum might be as well -pointed as round. Sometimes the pointed tympanum crowns a thoroughly -round-headed doorway, and is itself crowned with a square spandril, -looking wonderfully like a piece of English Perpendicular. In the west -doorway at Curzola things do not go quite to such lengths as this; but -they go a good way. The square doorway is crowned by a pointed -tympanum, containing the figure of a bishop; over that again is a kind -of canopy. This is formed of a round arch, springing from a pair of -lions supported on projections such as those which are constantly -used, specially at Curzola, for the support of balconies. The lions -which in many places would have supported the columns of the doorway -seem, though wingless, to have flown up to this higher post. For here -the doorway has nothing to be called columns, nothing but small -shafts, twisted and otherwise, continued in the mouldings of the arch. -The cornice under the low gable is very rich; the tower is of no great -account, except the parapet, and the octagon and cupola which crown -it, a rich and graceful piece of work of that better kind of -_Renaissance_ which we claim as really Romanesque. - -In the general view of the town from the sea this tower counts for -more than it does when we come close up to it in the nearest approach -to a _piazza_ which Curzola can boast. It is the crown of the whole -mass of buildings rising from the water. At Curzola the fortifications -are far more to the taste of the antiquary than they are at Ragusa; -they fence things round at the bottom, instead of hiding everything -from the top. We may shut our eyes to a modern fort or two on the -hills; the walls of the town itself, where they are left, are -picturesque mediæval walls broken by round towers, on some of which -the winged lion does not fail to show himself. He presides again over -a _loggia_ by the seashore, one of those buildings with nondescript -columns, which may be of any date, which most likely are of very late -date, but which, because they are simply straightforward and sensible, -are pleasing, whatever may be their date. Here they simply support a -wooden roof, without either arch or entablature. And while we are -seated under the lion in the _loggia_, we may look down at another -lion in a sculptured fragment by the shore, in company with a female -half-figure, something of the nature of a siren, Nereid, or mermaid, -who seems an odd yoke-fellow for the Evangelist. He seems more in his -natural place over the gate by which we shall most likely enter the -town, a gate of 1643, itself square-headed, but with pointed vaulting -within. Its inscriptions do not fail to commemorate the Trojan Antênor -as founder of Black Korkyra, along with a more modern ruler, the -Venetian John-Baptist Grimani. To the right hand, curiosity is raised -by a series of inscriptions which have been carefully scratched out. -About them there are many guesses and many traditions. One cannot help -thinking that the deed was more likely to be done by the French than -by the Austrian intruder. To scratch out an inscription is a foolish -and barbarous act; but it implies an understanding of its meaning and -a misapplied kind of vigour, which, of the two stolen eagles, was more -likely to flourish under the single-headed one. The double-headed -pretender, by the way, though he is seen rather too often in these -parts, is seldom wrought in such lasting materials as Saint Mark's -lion. So, when the good time comes, the stolen badge of Empire may, at -Curzola as at Venice and Verona, pass away and be no more seen, -without any destruction of monuments, old or new. - -We are now fairly in the town. The best way to see Curzola thoroughly -is for the traveller to make his way how he will to the ridge of the -peninsula, and then systematically to visit the steep and narrow -streets, going in regular order down one and up another. There is not -one which does not contain some bit of domestic architecture which is -well worth looking at. But he should first walk along the ridge itself -from the gate by the isthmus to the point where the ground begins to -slope to the sea opposite Sabioncello. Hard by the gate is the -town-hall, _Obcina_, as it is now marked in the native speech. The -mixed style--most likely of the seventeenth century--of these parts -comes out here in its fulness. Columns and round arches which would -satisfy any reasonable Romanesque ideal, support square windows which -are relieved from ugliness by a slight moulding, the dentel--akin to -our Romanesque billet--which is seen everywhere. But in a projecting -building, which is clearly of a piece with the rest, columns with -nondescript capitals support pointed arches. Opposite to the town-hall -is one of the smaller churches, most of which are of but little -importance. This one bears the name of Saint Michael, and is said to -have formerly been dedicated to Orthodox worship. It shows however no -sign of such use, unless we are to count the presence of a little -cupola over the altar. We pass along the ridge, by a house where the -projection for balconies, so abundant everywhere, puts on a specially -artistic shape, being wrought into various forms, human and animal. -Opposite the cathedral the houses display some characteristic forms of -the local style, and we get more fully familiar with them, as we -plunge into the steep streets, following the regular order which has -been already prescribed. Some graceful scrap meets us at every step; -the pity is that the streets are so narrow that it needs some -straining of the neck to see those windows which are set at all high -in the walls. For it is chiefly windows which we light upon: very -little care seems to have been bestowed on the doorways. A square or -segmental-headed doorway, with no attempt at ornament, was thought -quite enough for a house for whose windows the finest work of the -style was not deemed too good. Indeed the contrasts are so odd that, -in the finest house in Curzola, in one of the streets leading down -eastward from the cathedral, a central story for which _magnificent_ -would not be too strong a word is placed between these simple doorways -below and no less simple square-headed windows above. This is one of -the few houses in Curzola where the windows are double or triple -divided by shafts. Most of the windows are of a single light, with a -pointed, an ogee, or even a round head, but always, we think, with the -eminently Venetian trefoil, and with the jambs treated as a kind of -pilaster. With windows of this kind the town of Curzola is thick-set -in every quarter. We may be sure that there is nothing older than the -Venetian occupation, and that most of the houses are of quite late -date, of the sixteenth and even the seventeenth century. The Venetian -style clave to mediæval forms of window long after the _Renaissance_ -had fully set in in everything else. And for an obvious reason; -whatever attractions the _Renaissance_ might have from any other point -of view, in the matter of windows at least it hopelessly failed. In -the streets of Curzola therefore we meet with an endless store of -windows, but with little else. Yet here and there there are other -details. The visitor will certainly be sent to see a door-knocker in a -house in one of the streets on the western slope. There Daniel between -two lions is represented in fine bronze work. And some Venetian -effigies, which would doubtless prove something for local history, may -be seen in the same court. Of the houses in Curzola not a few are -roofless; not a few have their rich windows blocked; not a few stand -open for the visitor to see their simple inside arrangements. The town -can still make some show on a day of festival; but it is plain that -the wealth and life of Curzola passed away when it ceased to be the -arsenal of Venice. And poverty has one incidental advantage; it lets -things fall to ruin, but it does not improve or restore. - -Two monasteries may be seen within an easy distance of the town. That -of Saint Nicolas, approached by a short walk along the shore to the -north-west, makes rather an imposing feature in the general view from -the sea; but it is disappointing when we come near. Yet it -illustrates some of the local tendencies; a very late building, as it -clearly is, it still keeps some traces of earlier ideas. Two equal -bodies, each with a pointed barrel-vault, might remind us of some -districts of our own island, and, with nothing else that can be called -mediæval detail, the round window does not fail to appear. The other -monastery, best known as the _Badia_, once a house of Benedictines, -afterwards of Franciscans, stands on a separate island, approached by -a pleasant sail. The church has not much more to show than the other; -but it too illustrates the prevalent mixture of styles which comes out -very instructively in the cloister. This bears date 1477, as appears -from an inscription over one of its doors. But this doorway is -flat-headed and has lost all mediæval character, while the cloister -itself is a graceful design with columns and trefoil arches, which in -other lands one would attribute to a much earlier date. The library -contains some early printed books and some Greek manuscripts, none -seemingly of any great intrinsic value. A manuscript of Dionysios -Periêgêtês is described as the property of the Korkyraian Nicolas and -his friends. ([Greek: Nikolaou Kerkyraiou kai tôn philôn.]) Nicolas -had a surname, but unluckily it has passed away from our memory and -from our notes. But the local description which he has given of -himself makes us ask, Did the book come from Corfu, or did any -citizen of Black Korkyra think it had a learned look so to describe -himself? - -On the staircase of the little inn at Curzola still hangs a print of -the taking of the arsenal of Venice by the patriots of 1848. Strange -that no Imperial, Royal, and Apostolic official has taken away so -speaking a memorial of a deed which those who commemorate it would -doubtless be glad to follow. - - - - -RAGUSA. - -1875--1877--1881. - - -The voyage onward from Curzola will lead, as its next natural -stopping-place, to Ragusa. At Curzola, or before he reaches Curzola, -the traveller will have made acquaintance with what was once the -territory of the Ragusan commonwealth, in the shape of the long -peninsula of Sabioncello. He will have seen how all the winged lions -of Curzola look out so threateningly towards the narrow tongue of land -which bowed to Saint Blaise and not to Saint Mark. He will pass by -Meleda, that one among the larger islands which obeyed Ragusan and not -Venetian rule. After Meleda the islands cease to be the most important -features in the geography or in the prospect. They end, so far as they -give any character to the scene, in the group which lies off the mouth -of the inlet of Gravosa and Ombla, the ordinary path to Ragusa. But he -who would really take in the peculiar position of Ragusa will do well -to pass by the city on his outward voyage, to go on to Cattaro, and -to take Ragusa on the way back. The wisdom of so doing springs -directly out of the history of the city. The haven, which is said--and -we have no better derivation to suggest--to have given its name to -_argosies_, could certainly not give shelter to a modern argosy. -Nothing but smaller craft now make their way to Ragusa herself; -steamers and everything else stop at the port of Gravosa. It has been -only quite lately, long since the earlier visits which gave birth to -the present sketches, that Ragusan enterprise has so far again -awakened as to send a single steamer at long intervals from the true -Ragusan haven to Trieste. He therefore who visits Ragusa on his -outward voyage has to land at Gravosa and to make his way to Ragusa by -land. He thus loses the first sight of the city from the sea which he -has had at Zara and Spalato, and which at Ragusa is, setting special -associations aside, even more striking than at Zara and Spalato. -Before he sees Ragusa from the water, as Ragusa was made to be seen, -he has already made acquaintance with the city in a more prosaic -fashion. He will not indeed have had his temper soured by the -inconveniences which Sir Gardner Wilkinson had to put up with more -than thirty years ago. There is no more delay at the gate of Ragusa, -there is no more difficulty in finding a carriage to take the -traveller from Gravosa to Ragusa, than there is in the most -frequented regions of the West. Still, in such a case, the traveller -sees Ragusa for the first time from the land, and Ragusa of all places -ought to be seen for the first time from the sea. Seen in this way, -the general effect of Ragusa is certainly more striking than that of -any other Dalmatian city; and it is so in some measure because the -effect of Ragusa, whether looked at with the bodily eye or seen in the -pages of its history, is above all things a general effect. There is -not, as there is at Zara and at Spalato, any particular moment in the -history of the city, any particular object in the city itself, which -stands out prominently above all others. We draw near to Zara, and -say, "There is the city that was stormed by the Crusaders," and, -though we find much at Zara to awaken interest on other grounds, the -crusading siege still remains the first thing. We draw near to -Spalato; we see the palace and the campanile, and round the palace and -the campanile everything gathers. We draw near to Ragusa; the eye is -struck by no such prominent object; the memory seizes on no such -prominent fact. But there is Ragusa; there is the one spot along that -whole coast from the Croatian border to Cape Tainaros itself, which -never came under the dominion either of the Venetian or of the Turk. -Ragusa will be found at different times standing in something like a -tributary or dependent relation to both those powers, but it never -was actually incorporated with the dominions of either. In this Ragusa -stands alone among the cities of the whole coast, Dalmatian, Albanian, -and Greek. Among all the endless confusions and fluctuations of power -in those regions, Ragusa stands alone as having ever kept its place, -always as a separate, commonly as an independent, commonwealth. It -lived on from the break-up of the Byzantine power on those coasts till -the day when the elder Buonaparte, in the mere caprice of tyranny, -without provocation of any kind, declared one day that the Republic of -Ragusa had ceased to exist. This is the history of Ragusa, a history -whose general effect is as striking as any history can be. It is a -history too which, if we dig into its minute details, is full of -exciting incidents, but not of incidents which, like the one incident -in the history of Zara, stand out in the general history of Europe. -There is, to be sure, one incident in Ragusan history which may claim -some attention at the hands of Englishmen, and ought to claim more at -the hands of Poitevins. Count Richard of Poitou, who was also by a -kind of accident King of England, and who in the course of his reign -paid England two very short visits, paid also a visit to Ragusa which -was perhaps still shorter. But this again is an incident of mere -curiosity. The homeward voyage and captivity of Richard had some -effect on the general affairs of the world; his special visit to -Ragusa affected only the local affairs of Ragusa. Ragusan history then -may either be taken in at a glance, and a most striking glance it is; -or else it may be studied with the minute zeal of a local antiquary. -There is no intermediate point from which it can be looked at. In the -general history of Europe Ragusa stands out, as the city itself stands -out to the eye of the traveller, as that one among the famous cities -of the Dalmatian and Albanian coast where the Lion of Saint Mark is -not to be seen. - -As is the history, so is the general effect. As we sail past Ragusa, -as we look at the city from any of the several points which the voyage -opens to us, we say at once, Here is one of the most striking sights -of our whole voyage; but we cannot at once point our finger to any one -specially striking object. There are good campaniles, but there is -nothing very special about them; there are castles and towers in -abundance, but each by itself on any other site would be passed by -without any special remark. What does call for special remark and -special admiration is the city itself, at once rising from the sea and -fenced in from the sea by its lofty walls. It is the shore, with its -rocks and its small inlets, each rock seized on as the site of a -fortress. It is the background of hills, forming themselves a natural -rampart, but with the artificial defences carried up and along them -to their very crest. Here we are not tempted, as we are tempted at -some points of our voyage, to forget that our voyage is one by sea, -and to fancy that we are floating gently on some Swiss or Italian -lake. Ragusa does not stand on a deep inlet like Cattaro, on a bay -like Spalato, on a peninsula like Zara, fenced in by islands on one -side and by the opposite shore of its haven on the other. Ragusa does -indeed stand on a peninsula, but it is a peninsula of quite another -kind; a peninsula of hills and rocks and inlets, offering a bold front -to the full force of the open sea. One island indeed, La Croma, lies -like a guard-ship anchored in front of the city, but we feel that La -Croma is strictly an island of the sea. The islands of the more -northern coast form as it were a wall to shelter the coast itself. And -such a function seems specially to be laid upon the small islands -which lie off the mouth of Ragusa's modern haven at Gravosa. Covered -indeed as they are with modern fortifications, it is not merely in a -figure that it is laid upon them. But La Croma fills no such function. -The city of argosies boldly fronts the sea on which her argosies were -to sail, and fiercely do the waves of that sea sometimes dash upon her -rocks. Ragusa seems the type of a city which has to struggle with the -element on which her life is cast, while Venice is the type of a city -which has, in the sense of her own yearly ceremony, brought that -element wholly under her dominion. - -As we look up from the sea to the mountains, we feel yet more strongly -how purely Ragusa was a city of the sea. Venice was an inland power on -that Italian land off which she herself lay anchored. She might pass -for an inland power even on the Ragusan side of the Hadriatic. The -Dalmatian territory of Venice looks on the map like a narrow strip; -but, compared with the Ragusan coast, the Venetian coast has a wide -Venetian mainland to the back of it. But Ragusa lies at the foot of -the mountains, and the crest of the mountains was her boundary. She -has always sat on a little ledge of civilization, for four centuries -on a little ledge of Christendom, with a measureless background of -barbarism behind her. Those hills, the slopes of which begin in the -streets of the city, once fenced in a ledge of Hellenic land from the -native barbarians of Illyricum. Then they fenced in a ledge of Roman -land from the Slavonic invader. Lastly, when we first looked on them, -when we first crossed them, they still fenced in a ledge of Christian -land from the dominion of the Infidel. And the newest arrangements of -diplomacy make it still not wholly impossible to use the language -which we used then. The Archduke of Austria and King of Dalmatia is -immediate sovereign of Ragusa and her ancient territory; when we -cross the line between Ragusa and Herzegovina, he rules only in the -character familiar to some even of his Imperial forefathers, that of -the man of the Turk. The Christian prince simply "administers;" it is -the Infidel Sultan who is still held to reign. To form such a boundary -as this has been no mean calling for the heights which look down upon -Ragusa. It is well to climb those heights, best of all to climb them -by the road which so lately led, which we might almost say still -leads, from civilization to barbarism, from Christendom to Islam, and -to look down on the city nestling between the sea and the mountains. -The view is of the same kind as the view of the city from the sea. -Rocks, inlets, walls, and towers, come out in new and varied -groupings, but there is still no one prominent object. La Croma -indeed, with its fallen monastery--its fortress is not seen--now comes -in as a prominent object. But it shows by its very prominence the -difference between this part of the Dalmatian coast, with its one -island, all but invisible on the map, lying close to the shore, and -the two archipelagos, one of small and obscure, one of great and -historic islands, which the voyager has already passed by. - -It would thus be well if we could look on Ragusa both from the sea and -from the mountains before we approach the city by the one possible to -reach it, by the road which leads from its port of Gravosa. This last -is a picturesque haven of thoroughly Dalmatian character, lying on a -smooth inlet with a small fertile fringe between the water and the -mountains. The road, rising and falling, looking out on both the -mountains and the sea, leads along among villas and chapels which -gradually grow into a suburb till we reach the gate. Here we see not a -few ruined houses, houses which have remained ruined for nearly -seventy years, houses whose ruin was wrought by Montenegrin hands in -the days when Ragusa was an unwilling possession of France and -Montenegro a valued ally of England. But, before we reach the gate, we -see what there was not in the time of Sir Gardner Wilkinson, carriages -standing for hire, carriages no very long drive in which will take us -over the late borders of Christendom. In that suburb too the traveller -will most likely take up his quarters--quarters, it may be, looking -down straight on the rocks and waves. And there, when war was raging -at no great distance, and when Ragusa was the special centre of the -purveyors of news, he was sure to hear both the latest truths and the -latest fables. But he is still outside the city. No city brings better -home to us than Ragusa the Eastern hyperbole of cities great and -fenced up to heaven. We must leave the military architect to discuss -their military merits or demerits. To the non-professional observer -they seem to belong to that type of fortification, between mediæval -and modern, which in these lands we naturally call Venetian, -inapplicable as that name is at Ragusa. But they have clearly been -strengthened and extended in more modern times. The city lies in a -kind of hollow between the lower slopes of the mountain on one side, -and a ridge which lies between the mountain and the sea, and which -thus adds greatly to the appearance of the fortifications as seen from -the sea. The one main street of Ragusa, the _Stradone_, thus lies in a -valley with narrow streets running down towards it on both sides. -Indeed, before the great earthquake of 1667 which destroyed so much of -old Ragusa, part at least of this wide street was covered with water -as a canal. It is so pent in with buildings that we hardly feel how -near we are to the sea; yet the small port, the true port of Ragusa, -is very near at hand. The two ends of the Stradone are guarded by -gates, which lead up--for the ascent is considerable--to the outer -gates at either end, still strong and still guarded, reminding us that -we are in what is still really a border city. And over those gates we -see, not the winged lion for which we have learned to look almost -instinctively everywhere on these coasts, but the figure of Saint -Blaise, _San Biagio_, the patron of Ragusa, whose relics form some of -the choicest treasures in the rich hoard of her once metropolitan -church. We pass under the saintly effigy, and we find that within the -walls the general aspect of the city is comparatively modern. Most of -the buildings, the metropolitan church among them, were rebuilt after -a great earthquake in 1667. Such remains however of old Ragusa as are -still left are of such surpassing interest in the history of -architecture that we must keep them for a more special examination. - - * * * * * - -The history of Ragusa, as we have already said, is of a kind which -must either be taken in at a glance or else dealt with in the minutest -detail. All Dalmatian history for a good many centuries wants a more -thorough sifting than has ever been brought to bear upon it. It wants -it all the more because it is so closely connected with early Venetian -history, than which no history is more utterly untrustworthy. But we -may safely gather that Ragusa had its origin in the destruction of the -Greek city of Epidauros, now _Ragusa Vecchia_. The old Epidaurian -colony fell, like Salona, before the barbarians. Its inhabitants had -no ready-made city to flee to, but they founded a city on the rocks -which became Raousion or Ragusa. Whether any part of the Ragusan -peninsula had ever become a dwelling-place of men at any earlier time -it is needless to inquire. It is enough that Ragusa now became a city. -As to the name of the city, our Imperial guide helps us to one of his -strange etymologies. With him Epidauros has sunk into [Greek: -Pitaura]--the _t_ seems to have supplanted the _d_ at a much earlier -time--and the city on the rocks which its exiles founded was first -called from its site [Greek: Lausion], which by vulgar use ([Greek: hê -koinê synêtheia, hê pollakis metaphtheirousa ta onomata tê enallagê tôn -grammatôn]) became [Greek: Rhaousion]. He tells us that, [Greek: epei -epanô tôn krêmnôn histatai legetai de Rhômaisti ho krêmnos lau, -eklêthêsan ek toutou Lausaioi, êgoun hoi kathezomenoi eis ton -krêmnon]. What tongue is meant by [Greek: Rhômaisti]? It is only -because the strange form [Greek: lau] seems to come one degree nearer -to [Greek: laas anaidês] than to anything in Latin, that it dawns on -us that it means Greek. But, under whatever name, the city on the -rocks, small at first, strengthened by refugees from Salona, grew and -prospered, and remained one of the outlying Roman or Greek posts which -in the days of Constantine, as now, fringed the already barbarian -land. - -For some centuries after the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the -history of Ragusa defies abridgement. It is one web of intricate -complications between the Emperors of the East and West, the Republic -of Venice, the Kings of Hungary, Dalmatia, and Bosnia. Somewhat later -the story begins to be more intelligible, when the actors get pretty -well reduced to Venice, the Turk, and the Empire in a new form, that -of Charles the Fifth. The republic of Ragusa contrived, which must -surely have needed a good deal of skill, to keep on good terms at once -with Charles and his son Philip and with their Turkish enemies. Yet -Ragusa, though never incorporated by anything earlier than the -dominion of Buonaparte, stood at different times in a kind of -dependent relation both to Venice and to the Turk. At an earlier time -the commonwealth for a short time received a Venetian Count. He was -doubtless only meant to be like a foreign _podestà_, but Venice was a -very dangerous place for Ragusa to bring a _podestà_ from. In her -later days Ragusa must be looked on as being under the protection of -the Porte; but it was a protection which in no way interfered with her -full internal freedom--such freedom at least as is consistent with the -rule of an oligarchy. The geography of Dalmatia keeps to this day a -curious memorial of the feeling which made Ragusa dread the Turk less -than she dreaded Venice. To this day the Dalmatian kingdom does not -extend continuously along the Dalmatian coast. At two points territory -which till late changes was nominally Turkish, which is still only -"administered," not "governed," by its actual ruler, comes down to the -Hadriatic coast. These are at Klek, at the bottom of the gulf formed -by the long Ragusan peninsula of Sabioncello, and at Sutorina on the -_Bocche_ di Cattaro. These two points mark the two ends of the narrow -strip of coast which formed the territory of Ragusa. Rather than have -a common frontier with Venice at either end, Ragusa willingly allowed -the dominions of the Infidel to come down to her own sea on either -side of her. - -At last all dread from Venice passed away, but only because Saint Mark -gave way to a more dangerous neighbour. The base conspiracy of -Campoformio gave Venetian Dalmatia to an Austrian master, and the -strips of Turkish territory which had once sheltered Ragusa from the -Venetian now for a while sheltered her from the Austrian. Then the -dividers of the spoil quarrelled; the master of France took to himself -what France had betrayed to Austria. Presently he disliked the small -oasis of independence, and added Ragusa to the dominion which was -presently to take in Rome and Lübeck. Lastly, when the days of -confusion were over, and order came back to the world, order at Ragusa -took the form of a new foreign master. The Austrian, who had reigned -for a moment at Zara and Cattaro, but who had never reigned at Ragusa, -put forth his hand to filch Ragusa as he has since filched Spizza. The -motive need not be asked. The pleasure of seizing the goods of a -weaker neighbour is doubtless enough in either case. - -One point in the history of Ragusa which needs a more thorough -explanation than it has yet found is the fact that the Roman or Greek -city, founded by men who had escaped from barbarian invaders--who must -surely have been largely Slavonic--has become so pre-eminently a -Slavonic city. There is no Italian party at Ragusa. Not that the city -is strongly Panslavonic; the memory of local freedom has survived -through both forms of foreign rule. The Ragusan aristocracy is -Slavonic, and the Slavonic language holds quite another position at -Ragusa from what it holds, for example, at Spalato. There all that -claims to be literature and cultivation is Italian; at Ragusa, though -Italian is familiarly spoken, the native literature and cultivation is -distinctly Slave. The difference is marked in the very names of the -two cities. Spalato is in Slavonic _Spljet_, a mere corruption of the -corrupt Latin name. But Ragusa, on Slavonic lips--that is on the lips -of its own citizens speaking their own language--is _Dubrovnik_, a -perfectly independent Slavonic name. It may be the name of some -Slavonic suburb or neighbouring settlement--like the _Wendisches Dorf_ -at Lüneburg--but at all events it is no corruption, no translation, of -Latin _Ragusa_ or of Constantine's _Raousion_. - - * * * * * - -As for King Richard, the Ragusan story is that he built the cathedral -which was destroyed in 1667. It is said that he vowed to build a -church on the island of La Croma, and that this purpose was changed -into building one in the city instead of the former cathedral, while -the commonwealth of Ragusa built a church on the island. La Croma thus -becomes connected with the memory of two princes who died of thrusting -themselves in matters which did not concern them. Richard, Count and -King, might have lived longer if he had not quarrelled with his vassal -at Limoges; Maximilian, Archduke and self-styled Emperor, was -perfectly safe at La Croma, but when he took up the trade of a -party-leader in Mexico, he could hardly look for anything but a -Mexican party-leader's end. Of the monastery which formed his -dwelling-place the great church is so utterly desecrated and spoiled -that hardly anything can be made out. But a good deal remains of the -cloister, and at a little distance stand the ruins of a beautiful -little triapsidal basilica, which surely, all save a few additions, -belongs to the age of the Lion-hearted King. Indeed we should be -tempted to fix on this, rather than any other church of Ragusa or its -island, as the work of Richard himself. It looks greatly as if a Count -of Poitiers and Duke of Aquitaine had had a hand in it. A single wide -body, with three apses opening into it, is not a Dalmatian idea, as it -is not an English idea. But something like it might easily be found in -Richard's own land of southern Gaul. - -That Richard did come to Ragusa and to La Croma seems plain from the -narrative in Roger of Howden. He hired a ship at Corfu expressly to -take him to Ragusa. He landed "prope _Gazere_ apud Ragusam." _Gazere_ -suggests Jadera or Zara, but "Gazere apud Ragusam" can hardly fail to -mean La Croma. "_Gazere_" is the Arabic name for _island_--the same -which appears in _Algesiras_--one of the Eastern words which passed -into the _lingua franca_ of the Crusaders. After all, Ragusa gives -more interest to Richard than any that it takes from him. Born and -twice crowned in England, he had little else to do with England than -to squeeze money out of it. It mattered little to Englishmen--or to -Normans either--whether their Poitevin lord was astounding the world -at Acre, at Chaluz, or at La Croma. - - * * * * * - -Two other rather longer excursions than that to La Croma may be -profitably made from Ragusa. There is, first of all, the short voyage -to the site of the city which Ragusa supplanted, the Dalmatian -Epidauros, now known by the odd name of _Ragusa Vecchia_. Beyond a few -inscriptions, there is really next to nothing to be seen of the -ancient city besides its site; but the site is well worthy of study. -It is thoroughly the site for a Greek colony, and it has much in -common with the more famous site of Korkyra and Epidamnos. The city -occupied a peninsula, sheltered on the one hand by the mainland, on -the other by another promontory, forming the outer horn of a small -bay. In this position the town had the sea on every side; it had a -double harbour, and was at the same time thoroughly sheltered on both -sides. Such a site was the perfection of Greek colonial ideas. We have -now got far away indeed from the earliest type of city--the hill-fort -which dreads the sea, and which finds the need of the haven, and of -the long walls to join the haven to the city, only in later times. The -highest point of the promontory, the akropolis--if we can use that -name in a city of such late date--is now forsaken, crowned only by a -burying-ground and sepulchral church. The view is a noble one, looking -out on the mainland and the sea, with the neighbouring island crowned -by a forsaken monastery, and directly in front Ragusa herself on her -rocks, with the beginnings of the Dalmatian archipelago rising in the -distance. The modern town, which is hardly more than a village, with -two or three churches and a small amount of fortification, covers the -isthmus and the lower ground of the promontory. Such is all that is -left of the northern city of Asklêpios, the city which played its part -alike in the wars of Cæsar and in the wars of Belisarius, which in the -great revolution that followed the Slavonic inroads perished to give -birth to the more abiding city from which it has strangely borrowed -its later name. That Ragusa Vecchia has so little to show is no ground -for despising it or passing it by; the very lack of remains in some -sort adds to the interest of the spot. - -The voyage from New to Old Ragusa is not a long one. A shorter land -journey on the same side of the city will lead to the sea-side village -of Breno, which will not supply the traveller with anything in the -antiquarian line, but which will reward him with a good deal of -Dalmatian mountain and land scenery, especially with a waterfall, -though one not quite on the scale of Kerka. And, to those who peer -pryingly into all corners, the little inn of the place will suggest -some memories of very modern history. That piece of history it has -been the interest of exalted personages to keep unknown, and their -efforts have been crowned with a remarkable degree of success. As the -inn at Curzola contains picture memories of an unsuccessful struggle -for freedom in 1848, so the inn at Breno contains picture memories of -a more successful struggle waged twenty-one years later in the same -cause and against the same enemy. When in 1869 the present ruler of -Austria and Dalmatia strove, in defiance of every chartered right and -every royal promise, to trample under foot the ancient rights of the -freemen of the Bocche di Cattaro, the troops of the foreign intruder -were driven back in ignominious defeat by the brave men of the -mountains, and the master who had sent them was forced to renew the -promises which he had striven to break. People still chatter about the -mythical exploits of Tell, but hardly any one has heard of this little -piece of successful resistance to oppression done only twelve years -back. The deed is not forgotten by the neighbours of those who did it, -and in the inn at Breno rude pictures may be seen showing the -victorious Bocchese driving the troops of the stranger down those -heights which at Vienna or at Budapest it seemed so easy a matter to -bring into bondage. Strange to say, the pictures which record this -Slavonic triumph have the legend beneath them in the High-Dutch -tongue. Stranger still, it is the eye only and not the ear by which -any knowledge of the matter is to be picked up. The wary native, even -when spoken to in his own tongue, will not enlarge on the subjects of -those pictures to a man in Western garb. It is perhaps not without -reason if a stranger in Western garb is suspected in those parts to be -a spy of the enemy. - -If the voyage from New to Old Ragusa is not a long one, the sail on -the other side of the city up the river's mouth to Ombla is shorter -still. Its starting-point will be, not Ragusa itself but its port of -Gravosa. Here the main object is scenery; but several houses, one at -least of which will deserve some further mention, a nearly forsaken -monastery with a good bell-tower and a not ungraceful church, and one -or two living or forsaken chapels may be taken in, and they help us to -complete some inferences as to the architecture of the district. But -our business at this moment is mainly with the basin which lies at the -foot of the limestone rock. The hills of Greece and Dalmatia -constantly suggest, to one who knows the West of England, the kindred, -though far lowlier, hills of Mendip. As the gorge under the akropolis -of Mykênê at once suggests the gorge of Cheddar, so the basin of the -Trebenitza at Ombla suggests, though the scale is larger, the basin of -the Axe at Wookey Hole. The river runs out from the bottom of the -rocks, and, to those who have been adventurous enough to cross the -heights and to make their way through the desolate land of -Herzegovina--the very land of limestone in all forms--as far as -Trebinje, the river that reappears at Ombla is an old friend. There -seems no doubt that it is the Trebenitza which, after hiding itself in -a _katabothra_, comes out again to light in the Ombla basin. The -journey to Trebinje itself is in its own nature less exciting now than -it was in 1875. What it was when the drive thither from Ragusa enabled -the traveller to say that he had been into "Turkey," and that he had -seen a little of a land in a state of warfare, may perhaps be worth -some separate mention. At present it is reported that Trebinje is -cleaner than it was then, that it has been adorned with a -_Rudolfsplatz_, and that justice is there administered to its Slavonic -folk, Christian and Mussulman, in the tongue of which _Rudolfsplatz_ -is a specimen. It would therefore seem that the direct rule of the -stranger is at least better than his "administration." At Ragusa men -are allowed to speak their own tongue in which they were born. - - - - -RAGUSAN ARCHITECTURE. - -1875--1877--1881. - - -We have spoken in a former article of the general aspect and the -historical position of the city and commonwealth of Ragusa, her hills, -her walls, her havens, her union of freedom from the lion of Saint -Mark with half dependence on the crescent of Mahomet. But this ancient -and isolated city has yet something more to tell of. There are several -of the municipal and domestic buildings of the fallen republic, -buildings which, as far as we know, have never been described or -illustrated in detail in any English work, and of which no worthy -representation can be found on the spot. In the work of Eitelberger -much will be found; but for the ordinary English student there is no -help at all. Yet, on the strength of these buildings, Ragusa may -really claim a place among those cities which stand foremost in the -history of architectural progress. And this fact is the more -remarkable, and the more to be insisted on, because of the seemingly -general belief that there is little or nothing to see at Ragusa in -the way of architecture. But the truth is that far more of the old -city escaped the earthquake of 1667 than would be thought at first -sight. Because the cathedral is later, because the general aspect of -the main street is later, the idea is suggested that nothing is left -but the municipal palace. That alone would be a most important -exception, but it is by no means the only one. If the traveller leaves -the main street and turns up the narrow alleys which run from it up -the hills on either side, alleys many of them which, at present at -least, lead to nothing, he will find many scraps of domestic -architecture which must belong to times earlier than the great blow of -the seventeenth century. Signs of that blow are seen in many places in -the form of scraps of detail of various kinds irregularly built up in -the wall; but there are a great number of pointed doorways still in -their places which no man can think are later than 1667. Some of these -are simply pointed; others combine the pointed arch with the tympanum, -sometimes with both the tympanum and the spandril. There is also a not -unpleasing type of _Renaissance_ doorway, a lintel resting on two -pilasters with floriated capitals, which one can hardly believe are -due to a time so late as the days after the earthquake. At all events, -if they are later than the earthquake, they only go to strengthen the -general position which we have to lay down, namely the way in which -early forms lived on at Ragusa to an amazingly late date. This same -examination of the narrow streets will also bring to light a few, but -only a few, windows of the Venetian Gothic. The strength of Ragusa, as -far as scraps of this kind are concerned, undoubtedly lies in its -doorways. - - [Illustration: TOWER OF FRANCISCAN CHURCH, RAGUSA.] - -In the churches too there is more left than the mere scraps which are -built up again. Parts at least of the tall towers--neither of them -detached--of the Franciscan and Dominican churches, the former in the -main street, the latter near the eastern gate, are also earlier. In -the former the line of junction between the older tower and the ugly -church which has been built up against it is clearly to be seen. The -upper stage of this tower, and the small cupola which crowns it, _may_ -be later than the earthquake; but if so, they have caught the spirit -of earlier work in an unusual degree, and all the lower part is in a -form of Italian Gothic less unpleasing than usual. Both this tower and -that of the Dominican church show how long the general type of the -earliest Romanesque campaniles went on. Save in the small cupola, this -tower has the perfect air, and almost the details, of a tower of the -eleventh century: three ranges of windows with mid-wall shafts rise -over one another; only they are grouped under containing arches in -what in England we should call a Norman fashion. But, as this tower -forms part of a Dominican monastery, it cannot be earlier than the -thirteenth century, and its smaller details also cannot belong to any -earlier date. Yet the general effect of this tower, even more than of -the other, is that of a tower of the Primitive type. The Dominican -church also keeps some details of Italian Gothic which must be older -than the earthquake, and the cloister is one of the best specimens of -that style. Its groupings of tracery under round arches, the poverty -of design in the tracery itself, strike us as weak, if our thoughts go -back to Salisbury or to Zürich; but the general effect is good, and -the cloister--as distinguished from the buildings above it--may almost -be called beautiful. Of more importance in the history of Ragusan -architecture is the Franciscan cloister. Being Franciscan, it cannot -be earlier than the thirteenth century, and it may well be much later. -But it is essentially Romanesque in style. The general effect of the -tall shafts which support its narrow round arches differs indeed a -good deal from the general effect of the more massive Romanesque -cloisters to which we are used elsewhere. But it is essentially one -with them in style, and it is one of the many witnesses to the way in -which at Ragusa early forms were kept in use till a late time. - -But the architectural glory of Ragusa is certainly not to be looked -for among its churches. The most truly instructive work that Ragusa -has to show in any of its ecclesiastical buildings does not show -itself at first sight, and its full significance is not likely to be -understood till the civic and domestic buildings of the city and its -suburbs have been well studied. When this has been done, it will be -easily seen that certain arches and capitals in the subordinate -buildings of the Dominican church have their part in the history of -Ragusan art; but the great civic buildings must be seen and mastered -first. Of these two of the highest interest escaped the common -overthrow. They both show the Italian Gothic in its best shape; but -they also show something else which is of far higher value. They show -that peculiar form of _Renaissance_ which can hardly be called -_Renaissance_ in any bad sense, which is in truth a last outburst of -Romanesque, a living child of classical forms, not a dead imitation of -them. Examples of this kind often meet us in Italy; we see something -of it in the north side of the great _piazza_ at Venice as compared -with the southern side; but the Ragusan examples go beyond anything -that we know of elsewhere. Give the palace of Ragusa--the palace, not -of a Doge, but of a Rector--the same size, the same position, as the -building which answers to it at Venice, and we should soon see that -the city which so long held her own against Venice in other ways could -hold her own in art also. The Venetian arcade cannot for a moment be -compared to the Ragusan; the main front of the Ragusan building has -escaped the addition of the ugly upper story which disfigures the -Venetian. As wholes, of course no one can compare the two in general -effect. Saint Blaise must yield to Saint Mark. But set Saint Blaise's -palace on Saint Mark's site; carry out his arcade to the same -boundless extent, and there is little doubt which would be the grander -pile. The Venetian building overwhelms by its general effect; the -Ragusan building will better stand the test of minute study. - - [Illustration: PALACE, RAGUSA.] - -The palace of the Ragusan commonwealth was begun in 1388, and finished -in 1435, in the reign, as an inscription takes care to announce, of -the Emperor Siegmund. What name shall we give to the style of this -most remarkable building, at all events to the style of its admirable -arcade? Here are six arches--why did not the architect carry on the -design through the whole length of the building?--which show what, as -late as the fifteenth century, a round-arched style could still do -when it followed its natural promptings, instead of either binding -itself by slavish precedents or striving after a helpless imitation of -foreign forms. Never mind the date; here is Romanesque in all its -truth and beauty; here, in the land which gave Rome so many of her -greatest Cæsars, the arcade of Ragusa may worthily end the series -which began with the arcades of Spalato. Siegmund, the last but one to -wear the crown of Diocletian in the Eternal City, has his name not -quite unworthily engraved on a building less removed in style than a -distance of more than eleven centuries would have led us to expect -from the everlasting house of Jovius. Does some pedantic Vitruvian -brand the columns as too short? The architect has grasped the truth -that, as the arch takes the place of the entablature, the height of -the arch may fairly be taken out of the height of the column. Does he -blame the massive abaci? They are wrought to bear the greater -immediate weight which the arch brings upon the capital, and they -avoid such shifts as the Ravenna stilt and the Byzantine double -capital. Does he blame the capitals, which certainly do not follow the -exact pattern of any Vitruvian order? Let us answer boldly, Why should -art be put in fetters? A Corinthian capital is a beautiful form; but -why should the hand of man be kept back from devising other beautiful -forms? The Ragusan architect has ventured to cover some of his -capitals with foliage which does not obey any pedantic rule; in others -he has ventured--like the artists of the noble capitals which may -still be seen in the Capitol and in Caracalla's baths--to bring in -the forms of animal and of human, as well as of vegetable, life. In -one point his taste seems slightly to have failed him; on some of the -capitals the winged figures with which they are wrought savour a -little of the vulgar _Renaissance_. But who shall blame the capital -long ago engraved and commented on by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in which -however a neighbouring inscription shows that tradition was right in -seeing the form of Asklêpios, and not that of a mere mortal alchemist, -though tradition was certainly wrong in believing that Asklêpios had -been brought ready made from his old home at Epidauros? And the -capitals bear arches worthy of them, round arches with mouldings and -ornaments, which thoroughly fit their shape, though, like the -capitals, they do not servilely follow any prescribed rule. Altogether -this arcade only makes us wish for more, for a longer range from the -same hand. Compare it with the vulgar Italian work of the two -neighbouring churches. Pisa and Durham might have stretched out the -right hand of fellowship to Romanesque Ragusa before the earthquake; -they would have held it back from Jesuited Ragusa after it. - -The rest of the front cannot be called worthy of this admirable -arcade. The windows behind the arcade are of the worse, those above it -are of the better, kind of Italian Gothic. These last in fact are -about as good as Italian Gothic can be. They are well proportioned -two-light windows with Geometrical tracery, and in the general effect -they really agree better than could have been looked for with the -admirable arches below. Still they are Italian Gothic, and at Ragusa -we should not welcome the loveliest form of tracery that Carlisle or -Selby could give us. A Pisan arcade, pierced for light wherever light -was wanted, would have been the right thing for the columns and arches -to bear aloft. He who duly admires the arcade will do well to shut his -eyes as he turns round the corner by the west front of the cathedral; -but let him go inside, and the court, if not altogether worthy of the -outer arcade, is no contemptible specimen of the same style. It -contains one or two monuments of Ragusan worthies. The figure of -Roland, which lay there neglected when we first saw Ragusa, has since -been set up again in the open _piazza_. And, strange to say in these -lands, it ventures to proclaim itself as having been set up, as it -might have been in the old time, by the free act of the _commune_ of -Ragusa, without any of those cringing references to a foreign power -which are commonly found expedient under foreign rule. The court is -entered by a side door with two ancient knockers, one of them a worthy -fellow of the great one at Durham or of that which we saw more lately -at Curzola. But its chief interest comes from its strictly -architectural forms, and from the comparison of them with those which -are made use of on the outside. The court is very small, and it is -surrounded on all sides, save that which is filled by the grand -staircase, by an arcade of two, supporting a second upper range. The -composition is thus better than that of the front itself, as there are -two harmonious stages in the same style, without any intrusion of -foreign elements, like the pointed windows in the front; but the -arcades themselves, though very good and simple, do not carry out the -wonderful boldness and originality of the outer range. Columns with -tongues to their base with flowered capitals, showing a remembrance, -but not a servile remembrance, of Corinthian models, support round -arches. Over these is the upper range of two round arches over each -one below, resting on coupled shafts, the arrangement which, from the -so-called tomb of Saint Constantia, has spread to so many Romanesque -cloisters and to so many works of the Saracen. Were this range open, -instead of being foolishly glazed, this design of two stages of a true -Romanesque, simpler, but perhaps more classical, than the outer -arcade, would form a design thoroughly harmonious and satisfactory. - -Now when we come to examine this inner court more minutely, we shall -find that it is certainly of later date than the outer arcade, and -that it supplanted earlier work which formed part of the same design -as the outer arcade. It is impossible to believe that the court is -later than the great earthquake; but 1667 was not the only year in -which Ragusa underwent visitations of that kind; and it is an -allowable guess that a rebuilding took place after an earlier -earthquake in the beginning of the sixteenth century. That some change -took place at some time is certain. There are preparations for -spanning arches at one point of the outer wall of the court, which -could never have agreed with the position of the present columns. And -we have a most interesting piece of documentary evidence which carries -us further. In a manuscript account of the building of the palace, it -is mentioned that at the entrance were two columns, on the capital of -one of which was carved the Judgement of Solomon, while the other -showed the Rector of Ragusa sitting to administer justice after the -model of Solomon. Now this cannot refer to the outer arcade, where -none of the capitals show those subjects. Still less is there anything -like it in the arcade of the court, nor can there have been since the -present arrangement was made. But the description is no freak of the -imagination; both capitals are in being; one of them is still within -the palace. The capital showing the Rector in his chair dispensing -justice to his fellow-citizens is built in at a corner in the upper -story of the court. And a capital of exactly the same style, and with -the Judgement of Solomon carved on one face of it, may still be seen -in the garden of a house outside the city of which we shall have -presently to speak. It is thus perfectly plain that the inner court -was rebuilt at some time later than the days of Siegmund, and that -this rebuilding displaced an inner design more in harmony with the -outer arcade, and of which these two capitals formed a part. - -To our mind this palace, to which Sir Gardner Wilkinson hardly does -justice, and of which Mr. Neale takes no notice at all, really -deserves no small place in the history of Romanesque art. It shows how -late the genuine tradition lingered on, and what vigorous offshoots -the old style could throw off, even when it might be thought to be -dead. One or two capitals show that the Ragusan architect knew of the -actual _Renaissance_. But it was only in that one detail that he went -astray. In everything else he started from sound principles, and from -them vigorously developed for himself. And the fruit of his work was a -building which thoroughly satisfies every requirement of criticism, -and on which the eye gazes with ever increased delight, as one of the -fairest triumphs of human skill within the range of the builder's art. - -But the palace must not be spoken of as if it stood altogether alone -among the buildings of the city. There is another civic building, -which, though it does not reach the full perfection of its great -neighbour, must also be treated as a true fruit, in some sort a more -remarkable fruit, of the same spirit which called its greater -neighbour into being. This is the building which acted at once in the -characters of mint and custom-house, the second character being set -forth by its name wrought in nails on the great door. This building -stands just where the main street and the _piazza_ join, close by the -arch leading to the town-gate. Here we have an arcade of five, the -columns of which are crowned with capitals, Composite in their general -shape, but not slavishly following technical precedents, nor all of -them exactly alike. They have a heavy abacus, which, as well as the -soffit of the round arch, is enriched with flowered work. One or two -of them are none the better for being new chiselled in modern times. -Here is something which is quite unlike Northern Romanesque, but which -still is absolutely identical with it in principle. The column and the -round arch are there in their purity, and the enrichment is of a kind -which we instinctively feel is in place at Ragusa, though it would be -out of place at Caen or Mainz or Durham. Whatever the date may be, the -thing is thoroughly good, incomparably better than either the Italian -Gothic or the cosmopolite Jesuit style. Above the arcade are -windows with the usual Venetian attempt at tracery, a large square -window between two with ogee arches; above is a stage with square -windows, which we may hope is a later addition. The merits of the -three stages lessen as they get higher. Yet from the date, when we -come to find it out, it seems not impossible that the arcade and both -the stages above it may really be of the same date. In the inner court -there are no such discordant elements as there are without, though the -forms of different styles are quite as much mingled. Octagonal piers -support round arches; pointed doorways with thoroughly Ragusan tympana -open into the chamber behind them. On this arcade rests another, with -round arches on the short sides of the court, and pointed arches on -the long sides, rising from columns and square piers alternately. -Above is a range which might as well be away. Square windows, round -Ragusan windows, might well be endured; but _Renaissance_ shields and -_Renaissance_ angels show that the infection had begun. Now this -beautiful piece of Romanesque work--we give it that name in defiance -of dates--was finished in 1520, when the world on the southern side of -the Alps was, for the most part, running after the dreariest forms of -the mere revived Italian. This amazingly late date makes this building -even more wonderful than the palace, though it certainly is not its -rival in beauty. The arcades, good as they are, cannot be compared to -those of the palace, and the Venetian work above is still more -inferior. Still, the later the date, the more honour to the architect -who designed such a work at such a time. And the later the date, the -more likely that he built his arcade according to the promptings of -his own genius, and added the two ranges of windows in deference to -the two rival fashions of his time. - - [Illustration: DOGANA, RAGUSA.] - -The arcade of this building, taken alone without reference to the -windows above, is the last link in a chain which shows that the -preservation of good architectural ideas at so late a time is no mere -accident. Indeed, if we pass from public buildings within the city to -private buildings outside of it, we shall begin to doubt whether the -_dogana_ is the last chain, and whether there are not still later -buildings which are fairly entitled to the Romanesque name. The best -of the houses of the Ragusan patricians are to be found, not within -the city, but by the port at Gravosa, and further on on the way to -Ombla. Several of those, while their other features are Venetian -Gothic, or even later still, have--commonly in their upper _loggie_--a -column or two supporting a round arch, which are certainly not vulgar -_Renaissance_, and which keep on the sound tradition of the palace and -the _dogana_. The finest of these is the house of the Counts Caboga, -known as Batahovina, on the coast on the way to Ombla. Here, as in -the palace, as in the _dogana_, an arcade of this late local -Romanesque supports an upper story of Venetian Gothic, very inferior -and most likely much later than that in either of the civic buildings. -It has however at each end an open _loggia_ matching the arcade below. -The columns, plain and with twisted flutes--distant kinsfolk of -Waltham, Durham, Dunfermline, and Lindisfarn--have capitals such as we -might look for in much earlier Romanesque. - - [Illustration: CABOGA HOUSE, GRAVOSA.] - -This, we may note by the way, is the house in whose garden the column -from the palace, wrought with the Judgement of Solomon, still lies -hid. Indeed we might go further away from the palace than the _loggie_ -of the houses. At Ragusa art extends itself to objects which might -have been thought hardly capable of artistic treatment. Stone is -common, and it is used for all manner of purposes. Among other things -stone vine-props are common. In not a few cases these take the form of -columns, slenderer doubtless than the rules of classical proportion, -realizing the description of Cassiodorus about the tall columns like -reeds, the lofty buildings propped as it were on the shafts of spears. -Sometimes the columns are fluted or twisted; in a great many cases -they have real capitals, with various forms according to taste. It -often happens that a row of such columns, whether on a house-top or in -a vineyard, really becomes an architectural object, a genuine -colonnade. Here the style, the construction at least, is Greek rather -than Romanesque; but the principle is the same. A good and rational -artistic form is kept in use, and is applied to a purpose for which it -is fitted. - -All these examples, the palace, the _dogana_, the houses, the remains -in the Dominican church, we might almost say the vine-props, look one -way. All point to the existence of a Ragusan style, to an unbroken -Romanesque tradition, which could not wholly withstand the inroads of -the _pseudo_-Gothic of Italy, but which could at least keep its place -alongside of the intruder. All help us to see how instructive must -have been the course of architectural developement at Ragusa, and how -much has been lost to the history of art by the destruction of so many -of the buildings of the city in the great earthquake. It is easy to -see that for a long time the struggle between the genuine Romanesque -tradition, the Italian Gothic, and the new ideas of the _Renaissance_, -must have been very hard. How long real Romanesque went on, bringing -in new developements of its own, but remaining still as truly -Romanesque by unbroken succession as anything at Pisa or Durham, is -shown by the noble arches of the palace, and the still later _dogana_. -The slight touch of _Renaissance_ in some of the capitals of the -palace in no sort takes away from the general purity of the style. -Still over these noble arcades are windows of Venetian Gothic, and one -of the most characteristic features of the Ragusan streets are the -flat-headed doorways. But these, alternating as they do with pointed -ones, help to make out our case. On the other hand, it is equally -plain that in some cases the _Renaissance_ came in early. A little -chapel by the basin at Ombla, bearing date 1480, is in a confirmed -_Renaissance_ style, and looks more like 1580. Yet of true -_Renaissance_ there is very little. One large house in the city, older -than the earthquake, stands quite alone as the kind of thing which -might easily have been built in Italy or copied in England. But at -Ragusa, in the near neighbourhood of several native doorways of -different shapes, of many native vine-props, of several native -wells--for wells too take an artistic style and copy the form of a -capital--the regular trim Palladian building looks strangely out of -place. Even in the _Stradone_, where in the houses there is little -architecture of any kind, a touch of ancient effect is kept in the -form of the shops, with their arches and stone dressers, thoroughly -after the mediæval pattern. And some architectural features never died -out. The round window with tracery goes on long after every other -feature of Romanesque or Gothic is forgotten. It is to be seen in -endless little chapels of very late date in the city and suburbs, -sometimes standing apart, sometimes attached to private houses. - -The plain conclusion from all this is that at Ragusa the use of the -round arch for the chief arcades never went out of use; that it always -remained as a constructive feature, passing from Romanesque to -_Renaissance_, if fully developed _Renaissance_ can at Ragusa be said -to exist at all, without any intermediate Gothic stage, and continuing -to invent and adopt any kind of ornament which suited its constructive -form. In windows and doorways, on the other hand, the forms of the -Italian Gothic came in and stood their ground till a very late date. -In most cases we wish the Venetian features away; in the upper story -of the palace they may be endured; but conceive palace, _dogana_, -Caboga house, with smaller arcades and windows to match the great -constructive arches. Such buildings as these, now so few, make us sigh -over the effects of the great earthquake, and over the treasures of -art which it must have swallowed up. If Ragusa, in her earlier day, -contained a series of churches to match her civic arcades, she might -claim, in strictly artistic interest, to stand alongside of Rome, -Ravenna, Pisa, and Lucca. Her churches of the fifteenth century must -have been worthy to rank with anything from the fourth century to the -twelfth. One longs to be able to study the Ragusan style in more than -these few examples. It is not indeed absolutely peculiar either to -Ragusa or to Dalmatia. Many buildings in Italy and Sicily show a good -native Romanesque tradition, holding its own against the sham Gothic, -and showing a good fight against the _Renaissance_. Not a few arcades, -not a few cloisters, of this kind may be found here and there. But it -would be hard to light on another such group of buildings as the -palace, the _dogana_, and their fellows. In any case the Dalmatian -coast may hold its head high among the artistic regions of the world. -It is no small matter that the harmonious and consistent use of the -arch and column should have begun at Spalato, and that identically the -same constructive form should still be found, eleven ages later, -putting forth fresh and genuine shapes of beauty at Ragusa. - - - - -A TRUDGE TO TREBINJE. - -1875. - - [This paper, as giving the impressions of a first visit to - the soil of Herzegovina, during an early stage of the war, - has been reprinted, with the change of a few words, as it - was first written.] - - -The first step which any man takes beyond the bounds of Christendom -can hardly fail to mark a kind of epoch in his life. And the epoch -becomes more memorable when the first step is taken into an actual -"seat of war," where the old strife between Christian and Moslem is -still going on with all the bitterness of crusading days. In Europe it -is now in one quarter only that such a step can be made by land with -somewhat less of formality than is often needed in passing from one -Christian state to another. It is now only in the great south-eastern -peninsula that the frontier of the Turk marches upon the dominions of -any Christian power; and, now that Russia and the Turk are no longer -immediate neighbours, the powers on which his frontier marches are, -with one exception, states which have been more or less fully -liberated from his real or asserted dominion. That exception is to be -found in the Hadriatic dominions of Austria; and certainly no more -striking contrast can be imagined than that which strikes the -traveller as he passes on this side from Christian to Moslem dominion. -Let us suppose him to be at Ragusa, with his ears full of tales from -the seat of war, all of which cannot be true, but all of which may -possibly be false. The insurgents have burned a Turkish village. No; -it was a Christian village, and the Turks burned it. The Turks have -murdered seven Roman Catholics. The Turks have murdered seventy Roman -Catholics--a difference this last which may throw light on some cases -of disputed numbers in various parts of history. The Turks have -threatened Austrian subjects. Austrian subjects have attacked the -Turks. An Italian has had his head cut off by the Turks just beyond -the frontier. A Turkish soldier has been found lying dead in the road -a little further on. These two last stories come on the authority of -men who have seen the bodies, so that we have got within the bounds of -credible testimony. Meanwhile the one thing about which there is no -doubt is the presence and the wretchedness of the unhappy -Herzegovinese women and children whose homes have been destroyed -either by friends or by enemies, and who are seeking such shelter as -public and private charity can give in hospitable Ragusa. All these -things kindle a certain desire to get at least a glimpse of the land -where something is certainly going on, though it may not be easy to -know exactly what. Between Ragusa and Trebinje there is just now no -actual fighting; the road is reported to be perfectly safe; only it is -advisable to get a passport _visé_ by the Turkish consul. The -passports are _visé_, but, so far for the credit of the Turks, it must -be added that, though duly carried, they were never asked for. The -party, four in number--three English and one Russian--presently set -forth from Ragusa. It is now as easy to get a carriage at Ragusa as in -any other European town. So our party sets out behind two of the small -but strong and sure-footed horses of the country, to get a glimpse of -what, to two at least of their number, were the hitherto unknown lands -of Paynimrie. - -As long as we are on Austrian territory there is nothing to fear or to -complain of but those evils which no kings or laws can cure. The day -was rainy--so rainy that a word was once or twice murmured in favour -of turning back; but it was deemed faint-hearted to turn again in an -undertaking which had been once begun. On the Austrian side the rain -was certainly to be regretted, as damping the charm of the glorious -prospect from the zigzag road which winds up from Ragusa to the -frontier point of Drino. Ragusa, nestling among hills and forts and -castles, the isle of La Croma keeping guard over the haven which has -ceased to be a haven, the wide Hadriatic stretching to the horizon, -form a picture surpassed by but few pictures even in the glorious -scenery of the Dalmatian coast. On the other side, it was perhaps no -great harm if the rain made the savage land between Drino and Trebinje -seem more savage still. At the top of the height the Austrian -guard-house is reached, a guard-house which the line of the frontier -causes to be overlooked by a Turkish fort above it. The guardians of -the borders of Christendom look wild enough in their local dress; but -the wildness is all outside, though one certainly does not envy them -their watch on so dreary a spot. Hard by is the place where the -Italian lost his head; but the Italian was openly in the ranks of the -insurgents; so, though the thought is a little thrilling, our present -travellers feel no real danger for their heads. The frontier is now -passed; we are in the land where the Asiatic and Mahometan invader -still holds European and Christian nations in bondage. We see no -immediate sign of his presence. The Turkish guard-house is at some -distance from the Austrian, in order to watch the pass on the other -side, where the road begins to go down towards Trebinje, as the -Austrian guards the road immediately up from Ragusa. But, if as yet we -see not the Turk, we feel his presence in another way. In one point -at least we have suddenly changed from civilization to barbarism. The -excellently kept Austrian road at once stops--that is to say, its -excellent keeping stops; the road goes on, only it is no longer mended -in Austrian but in Turkish fashion--a fashion of which the dullest -English highway board would perhaps be ashamed. We presently begin to -see something cf the land of Herzegovina, or at least of that part of -it which lies between Ragusa and Trebinje. It may be most simply -described as a continuous mass of limestone. The town lies in a plain -surrounded by hills, and it would be untrue to say that that plain is -altogether without trees or without cultivation. Close to the town -tobacco grows freely, and before we reach the town, as we draw near to -the river Trebenitza, the dominion of utter barrenness has come to an -end. But the first general impression of the land is one of utter -barrenness, and for a great part of our course, long after we have -come down into the lower ground, this first general impression remains -literally true. It is not like a mountain valley or a mountain coast, -with a fringe of inhabited and cultivated land at the foot of the -heights. All is barren; all is stone; stone which, if it serves no -other human purpose, might at least be used to make the road better. -That road, in all its Turkish wretchedness, goes on and on, through -masses of limestone of every size, from the mountains which form the -natural wall of Trebinje down to lumps which nature has broken nearly -small enough for the purposes of MacAdam. Through the greater part of -the route not a house is to be seen; there are one or two near the -frontier; there is hardly another till we draw near to the town, when -we pass a small village or two, of which more anon. Through the -greater part of the route not a living being is to be seen. In such a -wilderness we might at least have looked for birds of prey; but no -flight of vultures, no solitary eagle, shows itself. As for man, he -seems absent also, save for one great exception, which exception gives -the journey to Trebinje its marked character, and which brings -thoroughly home to us that we are passing through a seat of war. - -It will be remembered that, early in the war, the insurgents were -attacking the town of Trebinje, and, among later rumours, were tales -of renewed attacks in that quarter. But at the time of our travellers' -journey the road was perfectly open, and no actual fighting was going -on in the neighbourhood. Trebinje however was on the watch: the plain -before the town was full of tents, and, long before the town or the -tents were within sight, the sight of actual campaigners gave a keen -feeling of what was going on. Flour is to be had in the stony land -only by seeking it within the Austrian frontier, and to the Austrian -frontier accordingly the packhorses go, with a strong convoy of -Turkish soldiers to guard them. Twice therefore in the course of their -journey, going and coming back, did our travellers fall in with the -Turkish troops on their way to and from the land of food. For men who -had never before seen anything of actual warfare there was something -striking in the first sight of soldiers, not neat and trim as for some -day of parade, but ragged, dirty, and weather-stained with the actual -work of war. And there was something more striking still in the -thought that these were the old enemies of Europe and of Christendom, -the representatives of the men who stormed the gates of the New Rome -and who overthrew the chivalry of Burgundy and Poland at Nikopolis and -at Varna. But the Turk in a half-European uniform has lost both his -picturesqueness and his terrors, and the best troops in Europe would -be seen to no great advantage on such a day and on such a march. And -perhaps Turkish soldiers, like all other men and things, look -differently according to the eyes with which they are looked at. Some -eyes noticed them as being, under all their disadvantages, well-made -and powerful-looking men. Other eyes looked with less pleasure on the -countenances of the barbarians who were brought to spread havoc over -Christian lands. All however agreed that, as the armed votaries of -the Prophet passed before them, the unmistakeable features of the -Æthiop were not lacking among the many varieties of countenance which -they displayed. But the Paynim force, though it did no actual deed of -arms before the eyes of our party, did something more than simply -march along the road. The realities of warfare came out more vividly -when, at every fitting point, skirmishers were thrown off to occupy -each of the peaked hills and other prominent points which line the -road like so many watchtowers. - -The armed force went and came back that day without any need for -actually using their arms. Insurgent attacks on the convoys are a -marked feature of the present war; but our travellers had not the -opportunity of seeing such a skirmish. Still before long they did see -one most speaking sign of war and its horrors. By the banks of the -Trebenitza a burned village first came in sight. The sight gives a -kind of turn to the whole man; still a burned village is not quite so -ugly in reality as it sounds in name. The stone walls of the houses -are standing; it is only the roofs that are burned off. But who burned -the village, and why? He would be a very rash man who should venture -to say, without the personal witness of those who burned it, or saw it -burned. Was it a Christian village burned by Turks? Was it a Turkish -village burned by Christians? Was it a Christian village burned by -the insurgents because its inhabitants refused to join in the -insurrection? Was it a Christian village burned by its own inhabitants -rather than leave anything to fall into the hands of the Turks? If -rumour is to be trusted, cases of all these four kinds have happened -in the course of the war. All that can be said is that the village has -a church and shows no signs of a mosque, and that, while the houses -were burned, the church was not. The burned village lay near a point -of the river which it is usually possible to ford in a carriage. This -time however, the Trebenitza--a river which, like so many Greek -rivers, loses itself in a _katabothra_--was far too full to be crossed -in this way, and our travellers had to leave their carriage and horses -and get to Trebinje as they could. After some scrambling over stones, -a boat was found, which strongly suggested those legends of Charon -which are far from having died out of the memory of the Christians of -the East. A primitive punt it was, with much water in it, which Charon -slowly ladled out with a weapon which suggested the notion of a -gigantic spoon. Charon himself was a ragged object enough, but, as -became his craft, he seemed master of many tongues. We may guess that -his native speech would be Slave, but one of the company recognized -some of his talk for Turkish, and the demand for the two oboli of old -was translated into the strange phrase of "dieci groschen." To our -travellers the words suggested was the expiring coinage of the German -Empire; they did not then take it how widely the _groat_ had spread -its name in the south-eastern lands. At first hearing, the name -sounded strange on the banks of the Trebenitza; but in the absence of -literal _groats_ or _groschen_, the currency of the Austro-Hungarian -monarchy was found in practice to do just as well. Then our four -pilgrims crossed and crossed again, the second time with much gladness -of heart, as for a while things looked as if no means of getting back -again were forthcoming, and it was not every one of the party that had -a heart stout enough even to think of trying to swim or wade. Charon's -second appearance was therefore hailed with special pleasure. - -From the crossing-place to Trebinje itself our travellers had to -trudge as they could along a fearfully rough Turkish path--not rougher -though than some Dalmatian and Montenegrin paths--till they reached -the town itself, which this delay gave them but little time to -examine. The suburbs stretched along the hillside; below, the tents of -the Turkish troops were pitched on one side; the Mahometan -burial-ground lay on the other. After so much time and pains had been -spent in getting to Trebinje, a glimpse of Trebinje itself was all -that was to be had. But even a glimpse of Eastern life was something, -particularly a glimpse of Eastern life where Eastern life should not -be, in a land which once was European. It is the rule of the Turk, it -is the effect of his four hundred years of oppression, which makes -Trebinje to differ alike from Tzetinje and from Cattaro. The dark, -dingy, narrow, streets, the dim arches and vaults, the bazaar, with -the Turk--more truly the renegade Slave--squatting in his shop, the -gate with its Arabic inscription, the mosques with their minarets -contrasting with the church with its disused campanile, all come home -to us with a feeling not only of mere strangeness, but of something -which is where it ought not to be. It is with a feeling of relief -that, after our second trudge, our second voyage, our second meeting -with the convoy, we reach the heights, we pass the guard-houses, and -find ourselves again in Christendom. Presently Ragusa comes within -sight; we are in no mood to discuss the respective merits of the -fallen aristocratic commonwealths and of the rule of the Apostolic -King. King or Doge or Rector, we may be thankful for the rule of any -of them, so as it be not the rule of the Sultan. The difference -between four hundred years of civilized government and four hundred -years of barbarian tyranny has made the difference between Ragusa and -Trebinje. - - - - -CATTARO. - -1875. - - [I have left this paper, with a few needful corrections, as - it was published in March 1876. Since then, it must be - remembered, much has changed, especially in the way of - boundaries--to say nothing of a carriage-way to Tzetinje. - Neither Cattaro nor Budua is any longer either the end of - Christendom or the end of the Dalmatian kingdom of the - Austrian. That kingdom has been enlarged by the harbour of - Spizza, won from the Turk by Montenegrin valour and won from - the Montenegrin by Austrian diplomacy. But Christendom must - now be looked on as enlarged by the whole Montenegrin - sea-coast, a form of words which I could not have used - either in 1875 or in 1877. Of this sea-coast I shall have - something to say in another paper.] - - -The end of a purely Dalmatian pilgrimage will be Cattaro. He who goes -further along the coast will pass into lands that have a history, past -and present, which is wholly distinct from that of the coast which he -has hitherto traced from Zara--we might say from Capo d'Istria--onwards. -We have not reached the end of the old Venetian dominion--for that we -must carry on our voyage to Crete and Cyprus. But we have reached the -end of the nearly continuous Venetian dominion--the end of the coast -which, save at two small points, was either Venetian or Ragusan--the -end of that territory of the two maritime commonwealths which they -kept down to their fall in modern times, and in which they have been -succeeded by the modern Dalmatian kingdom. After Cattaro and the small -district of Budua beyond it, the Venetian territory did indeed once go -on continuously as far as Epidamnos, Dyrrhachion, or Durazzo, while, -down to the fall of the Republic, it went on, in the form of scattered -outposts, much farther. But, for a long time past, Venice had held -beyond Budua only islands and outlying points; and most of these, -except the seven so-called Ionian Islands and a few memorable points -on the neighbouring mainland, had passed away from her before her -fall. Cattaro is the last city of the present Austrian dominion; it -is, till we reach the frontier of the modern Greek kingdom, the last -city of Christendom. The next point at which the steamer stops will -land the traveller on what is now Turkish ground. But the distinction -is older than that; he will now change from a Slavonic mainland with a -half-Italian fringe on its coast to an Albanian, that is an -Old-Illyrian, land, with a few points here and there which once came -under Italian influences. It is not at an arbitrary point that the -dominion in which the Apostolic King has succeeded the Serene Republic -comes to an end. With Cattaro then the Dalmatian journey and the -series of Dalmatian cities will naturally end. - -Cattaro is commonly said to have been the Ascrivium or Askrourion of -Pliny and Ptolemy, one of the Roman towns which Pliny places after -Epidauros--that Epidauros which was the parent of Ragusa--towards the -south-east. And, as it is placed between Rhizinion and Butua, which -must be Risano and Budua, one can hardly doubt that the identification -is right. But though Ascrivium is described as a town of Roman -citizens, it has not, like some of its neighbours, any history in -purely Roman times. It first comes into notice in the pages of -Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and it will therefore give us for the -last time the privilege of studying topography in company with an -Emperor. In his pages the city bears a name which is evidently the -same as the name which it bears still, but which the august geographer -seizes on as the subject of one of his wonderful bits of etymology. -Cattaro with him is Dekatera, and we read: - - [Greek: hoti to kastron tôn Dekaterôn hermêneuetai tê - Rhômaiôn dialektô estenômenon kai peplêgmenon.] - -We are again driven to ask, Which is the dialect of the Romans? What -word either of Greek or of Latin can the Emperor have got hold of? At -the same time he had got a fair notion of the general position of -Cattaro, though he runs off into bits of exaggeration which remind us -of Giraldus' description of Llanthony. The city stands at the end of -an inlet of the sea fifteen or twenty miles long, and it has mountains -around it so high that it is only in fair summer weather that the sun -can be seen; in winter Dekatera never enjoys his presence. There -certainly is no place where it is harder to believe that the smooth -waters of the narrow, lake-like inlet, with mountains on each side -which it seems as if one could put out one's hand and touch, are -really part of the same sea which dashes against the rocks of Ragusa. -They end in a meadow-like coast which makes one think of Bourget or -Trasimenus rather than of Hadria. The Dalmatian voyage is well ended -by the sail along the _Bocche_, the loveliest piece of inland sea -which can be conceived, and whose shores are as rich in curious bits -of political history as they are in scenes of surpassing natural -beauty. The general history of the district consists in the usual -tossing to and fro between the various powers which have at different -times been strong in the neighbourhood. Cattaro--[Greek: ta katô -Dekatera]--was in the reign of Basil the Macedonian besieged and taken -by Saracens, who presently went on unsuccessfully to besiege Ragusa. -And, as under Byzantine rule it was taken by Saracens, so under -Venetian rule it was more than once besieged by Turks. In the -intermediate stages we get the usual alternations of independence and -of subjection to all the neighbouring powers in turn, till in 1419 -Cattaro finally became Venetian. At the fall of the Republic it became -part of the Austrian share of the spoil. When the spoilers quarrelled, -it fell to France. When England, Russia, and Montenegro were allies, -the city joined the land of which it naturally forms the head, and -Cattaro became the Montenegrin haven and capital. When France was no -longer dangerous, and the powers of Europe came together to part out -other men's goods, Austria calmly asked for Cattaro back again, and -easily got it. To this day the land keeps many signs of the endless -changes which it has undergone. We enter the mouth of the gulf, where, -eighty years ago, the land was Ragusan on the left hand and Venetian -on the right. But Ragusa and Venice between them did not occupy the -whole shore of the _Bocche_; neither at this day does the whole of it -belong to that Dalmatian kingdom which has taken the place of both the -old republics. We soon reach the further of the two points where -Ragusan jealousy preferred an infidel to a Christian neighbour. At -Sutorina the Turkish territory nominally comes down to the sea; -nominally we say, for if the soil belongs to the Sultan, the road, the -most important thing upon it, belongs to the Dalmatian King. And if -the Turk comes down to the _Bocche_ at this end, at the other end the -Montenegrin, if he does not come down to the water, at least looks -down upon it. In this furthest corner of Dalmatia political elements, -old and new, come in which do not show themselves at Zara and Spalato. -In short, on the _Bocche_ we have really got into another region, -national and religious, from the nearer parts of the country. We have -hitherto spoken of an Italian fringe on a Slavonic mainland; we might -be tempted to speak of Italian cities with a surrounding Slavonic -country. On the shores of the _Bocche_ we may drop those forms of -speech. We can hardly say that here there is so much as an Italian -fringe. We feel at last we have reached the land which is thoroughly -Slavonic. The _Bocchesi_ at once proclaim themselves as the near -kinsmen of the unconquered race above them, from whom indeed they -differ only in the accidents of their political history. For all -purposes but those of war and government, Cattaro is more truly the -capital of Montenegro than Tzetinje. In one sense indeed Cattaro is -more Italian than Ragusa. All Ragusa, though it has an Italian -varnish, is Slavonic at heart. At Cattaro it would be truer to speak -of a Slavonic majority and an Italian minority. And along these -coasts, together with this distinct predominance of the Slavonic -nationality, we come also, if not to the predominance, at all events -to the greatly increased prominence, of that form of Christianity to -which the Eastern Slave naturally tends. Elsewhere in Dalmatia, as we -have on the Slavonic body a narrow fringe of Italian speech, art, and -manners, so we have a narrow fringe of the religion of the Old Rome -skirting a body belonging to the New. Here, along with the Slavonic -nationality, the religion of Eastern Christendom makes itself -distinctly seen. In the city of Cattaro the Orthodox Church is still -in a minority, but it is a minority not far short of a majority. -Outside its walls, the Orthodox outnumber the Catholics. In short, -when we reach Cattaro, we have very little temptation to fancy -ourselves in Italy or in any part of Western Christendom. We not only -know, but feel, that we are on the Byzantine side of the Hadriatic; -that we have, in fact, made our way into Eastern Europe. - -And East and West, Slave and Italian, New Rome and Old, might well -struggle for the possession of the land and of the water through which -we pass from Ragusa to our final goal at Cattaro. The strait leads us -into a gulf; another narrow strait leads us into an inner gulf; and on -an inlet again branching out of that inner gulf lies the furthest of -Dalmatian cities. The lower city, Cattaro itself, [Greek: ta katô -Dekatera], seems to lie so quietly, so peacefully, as if in a world of -its own from which nothing beyond the shores of its own _Bocche_ -could enter, that we are tempted to forget, not only that the spot has -been the scene of so many revolutions through so many ages, but that -it is even now a border city, a city on the marchland of contending -powers, creeds, and races. But, if we once look up to the mountains, -we see signs both of the past and of the present, which may remind us -of the true nature and history of the land in which we are. In some of -the other smaller Dalmatian towns, and at other points along the -coast, we see castles perched on mountain peaks or ledges at a height -which seems almost frightful; but the castle of Cattaro and the walls -leading up to it, walls which seem to leap from point to point of the -almost perpendicular hill, form surely the most striking of all the -mountain fortresses of the land. The castle is perhaps all the more -striking, nestling as it does among the rocks, than if it actually -stood, like some others, on a peak or crest of the mountain. One -thinks of Alexander's Aornos, and indeed the name of Aornos might be -given to any of these Dalmatian heights. The lack of birds, great and -small, especially the lack of the eagles and vultures that one sees in -other mountain lands, is a distinct feature in the aspect of the -Dalmatian hills and of their immediate borders, Montenegrin and -Turkish. But, while the castle stands as if no human power could reach -it, much less fight against it, there are other signs of more modern -date which remind us that there are points higher still where no one -can complain that the art of fighting has been unknown in any age. Up -the mountain, during part of its course skirting the castle walls, -climbs the winding road--the staircase rather--which leads from -Cattaro to Tzetinje. On it climbs, up and up, till it is lost in the -higher peaks; long before the traveller reaches the frontier line -which divides Dalmatia and Montenegro, long before he reaches the -ridge to which he looks up from Cattaro and its gulf, he has begun to -look down, not only on the gulf and the city, but on the mountain -castle itself, as something lying far below his feet. From below, -Cattaro seems like the end of the world. As we climb the mountain -paths, we soon find that it is but a border post on the frontier of a -vast world beyond it, a world in whose past history Cattaro has had -some share, a world whose history is not yet over. - - * * * * * - -The city of Cattaro itself is small, standing on a narrow ledge -between the gulf and the base of the mountain. It carries the features -of the Dalmatian cities to what any one who has not seen Traü will -call their extreme point. But, though the streets of Cattaro are -narrow, yet they are civilized and airy-looking compared with those of -Traü, and the little paved squares, as so often along this coast, -suggest the memory of the ruling city. The memory of Venice is again -called up by the graceful little scraps of its characteristic -architecture which catch the eye ever and anon among the houses of -Cattaro. The landing-place, the _marina_, the space between the coast -and the Venetian wall, where we pass for the last time under the -winged lion over the gate, has put on the air of a _boulevard_. But -the forms and costume of _Bocchesi_ and Montenegrins, the men of the -gulf, with their arms in their girdles, no less than the men of the -Black Mountain, banish all thought that we are anywhere but where we -really are, at one of the border points of Christian and civilized -Europe. If in the sons of the mountains we see the men who have in all -ages held out against the invading Turk, we see in their brethren of -the coast the men who, but a few years back, brought Imperial, Royal, -and Apostolic Majesty to its knees. The same thought is brought home -to us in another form. The antiquities of Cattaro are mainly -ecclesiastical, and among them the Orthodox church, standing well in -one of the open places, claims a rank second only to the _duomo_. Here -some may see for the first time the ecclesiastical arrangements of -Eastern Christendom; and those who do not wish to see a church thrown -wide open from end to end, those who would cleave alike to the -rood-beam of Lübeck, the _jubé_ of Albi, and the _cancelli_ of Saint -Clement, to the old screen which once was at Wimborne and to the new -screen which now is at Lichfield, may be startled at the first sight -of the Eastern _eikonostasis_ blocking off apse and altar utterly from -sight. The arrangements of the Eastern Church may indeed be seen in -places much nearer than Cattaro, at Trieste, at Wiesbaden, in London -itself; but in all these places the Eastern Church is an exotic, -standing as a stranger on Western ground. At Cattaro the Orthodox -Church is on its own ground, standing side by side on equal terms with -its Latin rival, pointing to lands where the _Filioque_ is unknown and -where the Bishop of the Old Rome has ever been deemed an intruder. The -building itself is a small Byzantine church, less Byzantine in fact in -its outline than the small churches of the Byzantine type at Zara, -Spalato, and Traü. The single dome rises, not from the intersection of -a Greek cross, but from the middle of a single body, and, resting as -it does on pointed arches, it suggests the thought of Périgueux and -Angoulême. But this arrangement, which is shared by a neighbouring -Latin church, is well known throughout the East. The Latin _duomo_, -which has been minutely described by Mr. Neale, is of quite another -type, and is by no means Dalmatian in its general look. A modern west -front with two western towers does not go for much; but it reminds us -that a design of the same kind was begun at Traü in better times. The -inside is quite unlike anything of later Italian work. It seems like a -cross between a basilica and an Aquitanian church. It is small, but -the inside is lofty and solemn. The body of the church, not counting -the apses and the western portico, has seven narrow arches, the six -eastern ones grouped in pairs forming, as in so many German examples, -three bays only in the vaulting. The principal pillars are rectangular -with flat pilasters; the intermediate piers are Corinthian columns -with a heavy Lucchese abacus, enriched with more mouldings than is -usual at Lucca. As there is no triforium, and only a blank clerestory, -the whole effect comes from the tall columns and their narrow arches, -the last offshoots of Spalato that we have to record. For the -ecclesiologist proper there is a prodigious _baldacchino_, and a grand -display of metal-work behind the high altar. A good deal too, as Mr. -Neale has shown, may be gleaned from the inscriptions and records. The -traveller whose objects are of a more general kind turns away from -this border church of Christendom as the last stage of a pilgrimage -unsurpassed either for natural beauty or for historic interest. And, -as he looks up at the mountain which rises almost close above the east -end of the _duomo_ of Cattaro, and thinks of the land and the men to -which the path over that mountain leads, he feels that, on this -frontier at least, the spirit still lives which led English warriors -to the side of Manuel Komnênos, and which steeled the heart of the -last Constantine to die in the breach for the Roman name and the faith -of Christendom. - - - - -VENICE IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE NORMANS. - - - - -TRANI. - -1881. - - -The solemn yearly marriage between the Venetian commonwealth and the -Hadriatic sea had much more effect on the eastern shore of that sea -than on the western. On the eastern side of the long gulf there are -few points which have not at some time or other "looked to the winged -lion's marble piles," and for many ages a long and nearly continuous -dominion looked steadily to that quarter. On the western shore Venice -never established any lasting dominion very far from her own lagoons. -Ravenna was the furthest point on that side which she held for any -considerable time, and at Ravenna we are hardly clear of the delta of -the Po. In the northern region of Italy her power struck inland, till -at last, defying the precepts of the wise Doge who could not keep even -Treviso, she held an unbroken dominion from Bergamo to Cividale. That -she kept that dominion down to her fall, that that dominion could live -through the fearful trial of the League of Cambray, may perhaps show -that Venice, after all, was not so unfitted to become a land-power as -she seems at first sight, and as Andrew Contarini deemed her in the -fourteenth century. Yet one might have thought that the occupation of -this or that point along the long coast from Ravenna to the heel of -the boot would have better suited her policy than the lordship over -Bergamo and Brescia. And one might have thought too that, amid the -endless changes that went on among the small commonwealths and -tyrannies of that region, it would have been easier for the Republic -to establish its dominion there than to establish it over great cities -like Padua and Verona. Yet Venice did not establish even a temporary -dominion along these coasts till she was already a great land power in -Lombardy and Venetia. And then the few outlying points which she held -for a while lay, not among the small towns of the marches, but within -the solid kingdom which the Norman had made, and which had passed from -him to kings from Swabia, from Anjou, and from Aragon. It is this last -thought which gives the short Venetian occupation of certain cities -within what the Italians called _the Kingdom_ a higher interest in -itself, and withal a certain connexion in idea with more lasting -possessions of the commonwealth elsewhere. At Trani and at Otranto, no -less than in Corfu and at Durazzo, the Venetian was treading in the -footsteps of the Norman. Only, on the eastern side of Hadria the -Republic won firm and long possession of places where the Norman had -been seen only for a moment; on the western side, the Republic held -only for a moment places which the Norman had firmly grasped, and -which he handed on to his successors of other races. And, if we pass -on from the Norman himself to those successors, we shall find the -connexion between the Venetian dominion on the eastern and the western -side of the gulf become yet stronger. The Venetian occupation of -Neapolitan towns within the actual Neapolitan kingdom seems less -strange, if we look on it as a continuation of the process by which -many points on the eastern coast had passed to and fro between the -Republic and the Kings of Sicily and afterwards of Naples. The -connexion between Sicily and southern Italy on the one hand and the -coasts and islands of western Greece on the other, is as old as the -days of the Greek colonies, perhaps as old as the days of Homer. The -singer of the Odyssey seems to know of Sikels in Epeiros; but, if his -Sikels were in Italy, we only get the same connexion in another shape. -A crowd of rulers from one side and from the other have ruled on both -sides of the lower waters of Hadria. Agathoklês, Pyrrhos, Robert -Wiscard, King Roger, William the Good, strove alike either to add -Epeiros and Korkyra to a Sicilian dominion or to add Sicily to a -dominion which already took in Epeiros and Korkyra. So did Manfred; so -did Charles of Anjou. And after the division of the Sicilian kingdom, -the kings of the continental realm held a considerable dominion on the -Greek side of the sea. And that dominion largely consisted of places -which had been Venetian and which were to become Venetian again. To go -no further into detail, if we remember that Corfu and Durazzo were -held by Norman Dukes and Kings of Apulia and Sicily--that they were -afterwards possessions of Venice--that they were possessions of the -Angevin kings at Naples, and then possessions of Venice again--it may -perhaps seem less wonderful to find the Republic at a later time -occupying outposts on the coasts of the Neapolitan kingdom itself. - -It was not till the last years of the fifteenth century, when so many -of her Greek and Albanian possessions had passed away, that the -Republic appeared as a ruler on the coasts of Apulia and of that land -of Otranto, the heel of the boot, from which the name of Calabria had -long before wandered to the toe. It was in 1495, when Charles of -France went into southern Italy to receive for himself a kingdom and -to return,--only to return without the kingdom,--that the Venetians, -as allies of his rival Ferdinand, took the town of Monopoli by storm, -and one or two smaller places by capitulation. What they took they -kept, and in the next year their ally pledged to them other cities, -among them Trani, Brindisi, Otranto, and Taranto, in return for help -in men and money. These cities were thus won by Venice as the ally of -the Aragonese King against the French. But at a later time, when -France and Aragon were allied against Venice, the Aragonese King of -the Sicilies, a more famous Ferdinand than the first, took them as his -share in 1509. We cannot wonder at this; no king, or commonwealth -either, can be pleased to see a string of precious coast towns in the -hands of a foreign power. Again in 1528 Venice is allied with France -against Aragon and Naples, and Aragon and Naples are now only two of -the endless kingdoms of Charles of Austria. For a moment the lost -cities are again Venetian. Two years later, as part of the great -pageant of Bologna, they passed back from the rule of Saint Mark to -the last prince who ever wore the crown of Rome. - -So short an occupation cannot be expected to have left any marked -impress on the cities which Venice thus held for a few years at a late -time as isolated outposts. These Apulian towns are not Venetian in the -same sense in which the Istrian and Dalmatian towns are. In those -regions, even the cities which were merely neighbours and not subjects -of Venice may be called Venetian in an artistic sense; they were in -some sort members of a body of which Venice was the chief. Here we see -next to nothing which recalls Venice in any way. The difference is -most likely owing, not so much in the late date at which these towns -became Venetian possessions, as to the shortness of time by which they -were held, and to the precarious tenure by which the Republic held -them. As far as mere dates go, Cattaro and Trani were won by Venice -within the same century. But, as we have seen, the architectural -features which give the Dalmatian towns their Venetian character -belong to the most part to times even later than the occupation of -Trani. Men must have gone on building at Cattaro in the Venetian -fashion for fully a century and a half after Trani was again lost by -Venice. There are few Venetian memorials to be seen in these towns; -and if the winged lion ever appeared over their gates, he has been -carefully thrust aside by kings and emperors. More truly perhaps, -kings and emperors rebuilt the walls of these towns after the Venetian -power had passed away. Still the occupation of these towns forms part -of Venetian history, and they may be visited so as to bring them -within the range of Venetian geography. Brindisi is the natural -starting point for Corfu and the Albanian coast, and Brindisi is one -of the towns which Venice thus held for a season. The two opposite -coasts are thus brought into direct connexion. The lands which owned, -first the Norman and the Angevin, and then the Venetian, as their -masters, may thus naturally become part of a single journey. We may -have passed through the hilly lands, we may have seen the hill-cities, -of central Italy; we may have gone through lands too far from the sea -to suggest any memories of Venice, but which are full of the memories -of the Norman and the Swabian. We find ourselves in the great Apulian -plain, the great sheep-feeding plain so memorable in the wars of Anjou -and Aragon, and we tarry to visit some of the cities of the Apulian -coast. The contrast indeed is great between the land in which we are -and either the land from which we have come, or the land whither we -are going. Bari, Trani, and their fellows, planted on the low coast -where the great plain joins the sea, are indeed unlike, either the -Latin and Volscian towns on their hill-tops, or the Dalmatian towns -nestling between the sea and the mountains. The greatest of these -towns, the greatest at least in its present state, never came under -Venetian rule. Bari, the city which it needed the strength of both -Empires to win from the Saracen, is said to have been defended by a -Venetian fleet early in the eleventh century, when Venetian fleets -still sailed at the bidding of the Eastern Emperor. Further than this, -we can find few or no points of connexion between Venice and these -cities, till their first occupation at the end of the fifteenth -century. But that short occupation brings them within our range. We -are passing, it may be, from Benevento to fishy Bari, as two stages of -the "iter ad Brundisium." Thence we may go on, in the wake of so many -travellers and conquerors, to those lands beyond the sea where the -Lords of one-fourth and one-eighth of the Empire of Romania, and the -Norman lords of Apulia and Sicily, the conquerors of Corfu and -Albania, were alike at home. Between Benevento and Bari the eye is -caught by the great tower of Trani. Such a city cannot be passed by; -or, if we are driven to pass it by, we must go back to get something -more than a glimpse of it. And Trani is one of the towns pledged to -Venice by Ferdinand of Naples. In the midst of cities whose chief -memories later than old Imperial times carry us back to the Norman and -Swabian days of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, we -find ourselves suddenly plunged into the Venetian history of the end -of the fifteenth. - - * * * * * - -Trani then will be our introduction to the group of towns with which -we are at present concerned. At the present moment, it is undoubtedly -the foremost among them; but it is hard to call up any distinct memory -of its history till we reach the times which made it for a moment a -Venetian possession. Trani, like other places, doubtless has its -history known to local inquirers; but the more general inquirer will -very seldom light upon its name. It is hard to find any sure sign of -its being in Roman times, but it must be the "Tirhennium quæ et Trana" -of the geographer Guido. Let us take such a common-place test as -looking through the indices to several volumes of Muratori and Pertz -till the task becomes wearisome. Such a task will show us the name of -Trani here and there, but only here and there. We do by searching find -it mentioned in the days of King Roger and in the days of the Emperor -Lothar, but it is only by searching that we find it. The name of Trani -does not stand out without searching, like so many of the cities even -of southern Italy. Yet Trani is no inconsiderable place; it is an -archæpiscopal see with a noble metropolitan church; and in our own -day, though much smaller than its neighbour Bari, it seems to share in -the present prosperity of which the signs at Bari are unmistakeable. -The visitor to Trani will find much to see there, but he will not find -the stamp of Venice on the city. Trani, like its fellows, had received -its distinctive character long before it had to do with Venice, and -that character was not one that was at all marked by Venetian -influences. The city is not without Venetian monuments; the memory of -its Venetian days is not forgotten even in its modern street -nomenclature. There is a _Piazza Gradenigo_, and an inscription near -one of the later churches records the name of Giuliano Gradenigo as -the Venetian governor of Trani in 1503, and as having had a hand in -its building. The castle might be suspected of containing work of the -days of the Republic; but a threatening man of the sword forbids any -study of its walls even with a distant spy-glass; not however till the -chief inscription has been read, and has been found to belong to days -later than those of Venetian rule. There is no knowing what may not -happen to places when they have once fallen into the hands of -soldiers; to the civilian mind it might seem that, when a king writes -up an inscription to record his buildings, he wishes that inscription -to be read of all men for all time. It is hard too to see how an -antiquary's spy-glass can do anything to help prisoners confined -within massive walls to break forth, as Italian--at least -Sicilian--prisoners sometimes know how to break forth. The -metropolitan church of Trani is happily not in military hands; neither -are the streets and lanes of the city, the houses, the smaller -churches, the arcades by the haven, the buildings of the town in -general. All these may therefore be studied without let or hindrance; -civil officials, even cloistered nuns, see no danger to Church or -State if the stranger draws the outside of a window or copies an -inscription on an outer wall. But though we may find at Trani bits of -work which might have stood in Venice, it is only as they might have -stood in any other city of Italy. There is nothing in Trani, besides -the memorial of Gradenigo, which brings the Serene Republic specially -before the mind. The great church, the glory of Trani, bears the -impress of that mixed style of art which is characteristic of Norman -rule in Apulia, but which is quite different from anything to be found -in Norman Sicily. It has some points in common with its neighbours at -Bitonto and Bari, and some points very distinctive of itself. It is -undoubtedly one of the noblest churches of its own class. If we were -to call it one of the noblest churches of Christendom, the phrase -would be misleading, because, to an English ear at least, it would -suggest the thought of something on a much greater scale, something -more nearly approaching the boundless length of an English minster or -the boundless height of a French one. In southern Italy bishops and -archbishops were so thick upon the ground that even a metropolitan -church was not likely to reach, in point of mere size, to the measure -of a second-class cathedral or conventual church in England or even in -Normandy. But mere size is not everything, and, as an example of a -particular form of Romanesque, as an example of difficulties ably -grappled with and thoroughly overcome, the church of Trani might -almost claim to rank beside the church of Pisa and the church of -Durham. And higher praise than that no building can have. - - [Illustration: CATHEDRAL, TRANI.] - -Fully to take in the effect of this grand church, it will be well not -to hurry towards it on reaching the city. Go straight from the -railway-station towards another bell-tower, not to that of the -_duomo_. That course will lead to the so-called _villa_ or public -garden. The suppressed Dominican convent close by its gate has no -attractive feature except its tower, one of the usual Italian type, -only with pointed arches. But the grounds of the _villa_, raised on -the ancient walls of the monastic precinct, look down at once on the -waves of Hadria. In the northern view we look out on lands and hills -beyond the water; but no man must dream that the eastern peninsula of -Europe is to be seen from Trani. We look out only over the gulf of -Manfredonia--the name of the Hohenstaufen king is as it were stamped -upon the waters--to the Italian peninsula of Mount Garganus. Hence, on -our way to the metropolitan church, we pass by the basin which forms -the haven of Trani, a basin which reminds us of the _cala_ which is -all that is left of the many waters of Palermo. The distant view -clearly brings out its main outline; above all, it brings out those -arrangements of the eastern end which form the most characteristic -feature. We see the tall tower at the south-west corner; we see the -line of the clerestory with its small round-headed windows; above all, -we see--so unlike anything in Northern architecture--the tall transept -seeming to soar far above the rest of the church, with the three -apses, strangely narrow and lofty, treated simply, as it would seem, -as appendages to the transept itself. Those who have not seen Bitonto -and Bari will not guess how great a danger these soaring apses have -escaped. The Norman of Apulia did not, like the native Italian, deal -in detached bell-towers; he clave to the use of his native land which -made the tower or towers an integral part of the church. But he seems -to have specially chosen a place for them which is German rather than -Norman, and then to have treated them in a way which is neither -German, Norman, nor Italian. At Bitonto and in the two great churches -of Bari, a pair of towers flanks the east end. In Italy it might be -safer to say the apse end; but we think that in all these cases the -apse end is the east end or nearly so. Such pairs of eastern towers -are common in Germany; but there the great apse projects between them. -At Bari and Bitonto the whole apsidal arrangement is masked by a flat -wall. The towers rise above the side apses; the great central apse is -hidden by the wall carried in front of it. We thus get at the east end -a flat front, like a west front; we lose the curves of the apses, and -with them the arcades and grouped windows which form so marked a -feature in the ordinary Romanesque of Germany and Italy. A single -window, of larger size than Romanesque taste commonly allows, marks -the place of the high altar. And this window is adorned with shafts -and mouldings of special richness, and with animal figures above and -below the shafts. Now here at Trani, though all the apses stand out, -yet a like arrangement is followed. The central apse has only a single -window of the same enriched type; the side apses have also only a -single window each, but of a much plainer kind. Thus much, without -taking in every detail, we can mark in our distant view; we can mark -too somewhat of the unusually rich and heavy cornice of the transept, -and the upper part of the transept front, the wheel window and the two -rich coupled windows beneath it. We can mark too the arrangements of -the great square tower, crowned with its small octagonal finish; and -even here we can see that, with all its majesty of outline, it is far -from ranking in the first class of Italian bell-towers. Its -composition lacks boldness and simplicity, while it has nothing -remarkable in the way of ornament. Saint Zeno among the simpler -towers, Spalato among the more elaborate, stand indeed unrivalled. But -the cathedral tower of Trani, when closely examined, is less -satisfactory than its own majestic neighbour at Bari. It is not merely -that the pointed arch, always out of place in an Italian bell-tower, -is used in the upper stages. The pointed arch is used with better -effect, both far away in the noble tower of Velletri, and close by at -Trani itself, in the far humbler tower of the Dominican church. The -fault lies in this, that the windows, instead of being spread over the -whole face of each stage, are gathered together in the centre of each, -while two of them have rather awkward pointed canopies over the groups -of windows. Still, seen from far or near, it is a grand and majestic -tower, though its faults, which catch the eye at a distance, become -more distinct as we draw nearer. - -The road by which we approach the _duomo_ will give us no view of it -from the west, and, till we come quite near to the church, we shall -hardly see how closely it overhangs the sea. We take our course by the -harbour, for part of the way is under heavy and dark arcades which -remind us of Genoa. Presently, before we reach the great church, we -come across the east end of a smaller one, with which we shall -afterwards become better acquainted from its western side. At this end -it seems to be called _Purgatorio_; at the other end we shall find -that its true name is _Ogni Santi_--All Hallows. Here there is no -transept; still the three apses may pass for a miniature of those in -the metropolitan church; there is the same single large and elaborate -window in the mid apse, the same smaller single windows in the side -apses. We go landwards for a short way, and we presently find -ourselves on a terrace overlooking the sea, close under the east end -of the _duomo_. We now better take in both the grandeur and the -singularity of the building whose general effect we have studied from -a distance. We take in some fresh features, as the tall blank arcades -along the walls, a feature shared by Trani with Bari, and we guess -that the extraordinary height of the apses must be owing to the -presence of a lofty under-church. We see signs too at the east end -which seem to show that at some time or other there was a design for -some other form of east end, inconsistent with the present design. The -visitor will now perhaps be tempted to go at once within, though he -ought in strictness to pass under the tower in order to finish his -outside survey at the west end. It is curious to see how the same -feeling which prevails in the east end prevails in the west front -also. Here we have no continuous arcades like Pisa, Lucca, and -Zara--happily we have no sham gables like the great one at Lucca; we -have again the single great window with the small ones on each side. -Only here the mid window has over it a rich wheel, the favourite form -of the country, a form which the apsidal east end would not allow. And -it is treated in exactly the same way, with the same kind of -surrounding ornaments, as the single-light windows. - -This west front, as it now stands, has a rather bare look; the windows -have too much the air of being cut through the wall without any -artistic design, and there is too great a gap between the windows and -the west doorway with its flanking arcades below. But this last fault -at least is not to be charged on the original design, which clearly -took in a projecting portico. We may doubt however whether the portico -could have been high enough to have much dignity, and we shall find -this feature far more skilfully treated in the other smaller church of -which we have already spoken. And here we must confess that it is -possible to make two visits to Trani, and each time to make a somewhat -careful examination of its great church, and yet to miss--not at all -to forget to look for, but to fail to find--the bronze doors which -form one of the wonders of Trani. This may seem incredible at a -distance; it will be found on the spot not to be wonderful. We will -not describe the doors at second-hand; we will rather hasten within to -gaze on the surpassing grandeur of an interior, which, as an example -of architectural design, may, as we have already hinted, rank beside -the church by the Arno and the church by the Wear, beside the -Conqueror's abbey at Caen and King Roger's chapel at Palermo. - -We say King Roger's chapel advisedly; for the palace chapel of -Palermo, were every scrap of its gorgeous mosaics whitewashed over, -would still rank, simply as an architectural design, among the most -successful in the world. And the chapel of Palermo has points which at -once suggest comparison and contrast with the great church of Trani. -We see the traces of the Saracen in both; but at Palermo the building -itself is thoroughly Saracenic, at Trani the Saracen contributes only -one element among others. In Sicily, where the Saracen was thoroughly -at home, the Norman kings simply built their churches and palaces in -the received style of the island, a style of which the pointed arch -was a main feature. In southern Italy, where the Saracen was only an -occasional visitor, a style arose in which elements from Normandy -itself--elements, that is, perhaps brought first of all from northern -Italy--are mixed with other elements to be found on the spot, Italian, -Saracenic, and Byzantine. The churches of Bari, Bitonto, and Trani, -all show this mixture in different shapes. One feature of it is to -take the detached Italian bell-tower, and to make it, Norman fashion, -part of the church itself. In such cases the general character of the -tower is kept, but Norman touches are often brought into the details; -for instance, the common Norman coupled window, such as we are used to -in Normandy and England, often displaces the oecumenical -_mid-wall_ shaft which the older England shared with Italy. Thus here -at Trani, the tower joins the church, though it is not made so -completely part of its substance as it is at Bari and Bitonto. The -inside of the church shows us another form of the same tendency. The -Norman in Apulia could hardly fail to adopt the columnar forms of the -land in which he was settled; but he could not bring himself to give -up the threefold division of height and the bold triforium of his own -land. An upper floor was not unknown in Italy, as we see in more than -one of the Roman churches, as in Saint Agnes, Saint Laurence, and the -church known as _Quattro Coronati_, to say nothing of Modena and Pisa, -and _Sta. Maria della Pieve_ at Arezzo. But in some of these cases the -arrangement is widely different from the genuine Norman triforium, and -the threefold division certainly cannot be called characteristically -Italian, any more than characteristically Greek. But it is -characteristically Norman; and when we find it systematically -appearing in churches built under Norman rule, we must set it down as -a result of special Norman taste. At Trani each of the seven arches of -the nave has a triplet of round arches over it, and a single -clerestory window above that. The Norman in his own land would have -made more of the clerestory; he would have drawn a string underneath -it to part it off from the triforium; he would have carried up shafts -to the roof to mark the division into bays. But the triforium itself, -as it stands at Trani, might have been set up at Caen or Bayeux, with -only the smallest changes in detail. But where in Normandy, where in -England, where, we may add, in Sicily, is there anything at all like -the arcades which in the church of Trani support this all but -thoroughly Norman triforium? These have no fellow at Bitonto; they -have hardly a fellow at Bari. In those cities the Norman adopted the -columnar arcades of the basilica, while in Sicily the Saracen still at -his bidding placed the pointed arch on the Roman column. At Trani too -we see the work, or at least the influence, of the Saracen; but it -takes quite another form. The pointed arch would have been out of -place; in Normandy and England it is ever a mark of the coming Gothic, -and there is certainly no sign of coming Gothic at Trani. But the -coupling of two columns with their capitals under a single -abacus--sometimes rather a bit of entablature--to form the support of -an arch, is a well-known Saracenic feature. Not that it was any -Saracen invention. In architecture, as in everything else, the Saracen -was, as regards the main forms, only a pupil of Rome, Old and New; -but, exactly like the Norman, he knew how to develope and to throw a -new character into the forms which he borrowed. The coupled columns -may truly be called a Saracenic feature, though the Saracen must have -learned it in the first instance from such buildings as the sepulchral -church known as Saint Constantia at Rome. We may fairly see a -Saracenic influence in a crowd of Christian examples where this form -is used in cloisters and other smaller buildings where the arches and -columns are of no great size. It is even not uncommon in strictly -Norman buildings in positions where the shafts are merely part of the -decorative construction, and do not actually support the weight of the -building. It was a bolder risk to take a pair of such columns, and bid -them bear up the real weight of the three stages of what we may fairly -call a Norman minster. - - [Illustration: CATHEDRAL, TRANI, INSIDE.] - -But the daring attempt is thoroughly successful; there is not, what we -might well have looked for, any feeling of weakness; the twin columns -yoked together to bear all that would have been laid on the massive -round piers of England or their square fellows of Germany, seem fully -equal to their work. It may be that the appearance of strength is -partly owing to the use of real half-columns, and not mere slender -vaulting-shafts, to support the roofs of the aisles. But the slender -shaft comes in with good effect to support both the arch between the -nave and the transept, and the arch between the transept and the great -apse. The lofty transept is wholly an Italian idea; but the general -idea of these two tall arches is thoroughly Norman. - -In looking at such a church as this, so widely different from any of -the many forms with which we are already familiar, there is always a -certain doubt as to our own feelings. We admire; as to that there is -no doubt. But how far is that admiration the result of mere wonder at -something which in any case is strange and striking? how far is it a -really intelligent approval of beauty or artistic skill? Both -feelings, we may be pretty sure, come in; but it is not easy to say -which is the leading one, till we are better acquainted with the -building than we are likely to become in an ordinary journey. It is -familiarity which is the real test. It is the building which we admire -as much the thousandth time as the first which really approves itself -to our critical judgement. We have not seen Trani for the thousandth -time; but we did what we could; we were so struck with a first visit -to Trani that, at the cost of some disturbance of travelling -arrangements, we went there again, and we certainly did not admire it -less the second time than the first. And, whatever may be the exact -relation of the two feelings of mere wonder and of strictly critical -approval, it is certain that a third feeling comes in by no means -small a measure. This is a kind of feeling of historic fitness. The -church of Trani is the kind of church which ought to have been built -by Normans building on Apulian ground, with Greek and Saracen skill at -their disposal. - -But at Trani, as commonly in these Apulian churches, it is not enough -to look at the building from above ground. The great height of the -apses will have already suggested that there is a lower building of no -small size; and so we find it, conspicuously tall and stately, even in -this land of tall and stately under-churches--crypt is a word hardly -worthy of them. The under-church at Trani shows us a forest of tall -columns, some of them fluted, with a vast variety of capitals of -foliage. A few only can be called classical; some have the punched -ornament characteristic of Ravenna. A good many of the bases have -leaves at the corners, a fashion which in England is commonly a mark -of the thirteenth century, but which in Sicily and Dalmatia goes on at -least till the seventeenth. - - * * * * * - -But the metropolitan church is not all that Trani has to show. In some -of the buildings which we pass by in its narrow streets, we see some -good windows of the style which it is most easy to call Venetian, -though it might be rash hastily to refer them to the days of Venetian -occupation. And there are other windows seemingly of earlier date, -certainly of earlier character, which bear about them signs of the -genuine Norman impress. But the strength of Trani, even setting aside -the great church, lies in its ecclesiastical buildings; the best -pieces even of domestic work are found in one of the monasteries. Two -smaller churches deserve notice; one of them deserves special notice. -This is the church of All Saints, of which we saw the east end on our -way to the great minster, and on whose west end we shall most likely -light as we come away from it. That west end is covered by a portico, -or rather something more than a portico, as it contains a double row -of arches. The front to the street forms part of a long and -picturesque range of building, of which the actual arcade consists of -four arches. One only of these is pointed, and that is the only one -which rests on a column, the others being supported by square piers. -But beyond this outer range, the vaulted approach to the church -displays a grand series of columns and half-columns, with capitals of -various forms. One is of extraordinary grandeur, with the volutes -formed of crowned angels; the forms of the man and the eagle, either -of them good for a volute, are here pressed into partnership. Within, -the church is a small but graceful basilica, which, notwithstanding -some disfigurements in 1853 which are boastfully recorded, pretty well -keeps its ancient character, its columns with their capitals of -foliage. He who visits Trani will doubtless also visit Bari, and such -an one will do well both to compare the great church of Trani with -the two great churches of Bari, and to compare and contrast this -smaller building with the smaller church at Bari, that of Saint -Gregory. Besides this little basilica, Trani possesses, not in one of -its narrow streets, but in its widest _piazza_, a church, now of Saint -Francis, but which, among many disfigurements, still keeps the form of -the Greek cross within, and some Romanesque fragments without. Here, -as also at Bari and at Bitonto, oriental influences--something we mean -more oriental than Greeks or even than Sicilian Saracens--may be seen -in the pierced tracery with which some of the windows are filled. In -these cases this kind of work suggests a mosque; with other details, -it might have carried our thoughts far away, to the great towers of -the West of England. - - * * * * * - -Among the other members of this group of cities we might have expected -to find Brindisi, so famous as a haven of the voyager in Roman days, -and no less famous in our own, fill a high, if not the highest, place -among its fellows. And Brindisi has its points of interest also, one -of them of an almost unique interest. Over the haven rises a -commemorative column--its fellow has left only its pedestal--which -records, not the dominion of Saint Mark, but the restoration of the -city by the Protospatharius Lupus. Is this he whose name has been -rightly or wrongly added to certain annals of Bari? Anyhow there the -column stands, one of the few direct memorials of Byzantine rule in -Italy. There is the round church also, the mosaic in the otherwise -worthless cathedral, and one or two fragments of domestic work. The -lie of the city and its haven is truly a sight to be studied; we see -that in whatever language it is that _Brentesion_ means a stag's horn, -the name was not unfittingly given to the antler-like fiords of this -little inland sea. We trace out too the walls of Charles the Fifth, -and we see how Brindisi has shrunk up since his day. But we are -perhaps tempted to do injustice to Brindisi, to hurry over its -monuments, when we are driven to choose between Brindisi and the -greater attractions of the furthest city of our group, in some sort -the furthest city of Europe. We pass by Lecce, which lies outside our -group, as between Trani and Brindisi we have been driven to pass -Monopoli, the spot which saw the first beginnings of the short -Venetian rule in these parts. Everything cannot be seen, and we shall -hardly regret sacrificing something to hasten to a spot which may well -call itself the end of the world, and which forms the most fitting -link between the central and the eastern peninsulas of Europe. - - - - -OTRANTO. - -1881. - - -Hydrous, Hydruntum, Otranto, has as good a claim as a city can well -have to be looked on as the end of the world. It is very nearly the -physical end of the world in that part of the world with which it has -most concern. When we have reached Otranto, we can go no further by -any common means of going. It may pass for the south-eastern point of -the peninsula of Italy: it is the point where that central peninsula -comes nearest to the peninsula which lies beyond it. It is the point -where Western and Eastern Europe are parted by the smallest amount of -sea. It has therefore been in all times one of the main points of -communication between Eastern and Western Europe. The old Hydrous -appears as a Greek colony, placed, as one of the old geographers -happily puts it, on the mouth either of the Hadriatic or of the Ionian -sea. Hydruntum appears in Roman days as a rival route to Brundisium -for those who wish to pass from Italy into Greece. A city so placed -naturally plays its part in the wars of Belisarius and in the wars of -Roger. Held by the Eastern Emperors as long as they held anything west -of the Hadriatic, it passed, when the Norman came, into the hands of -Apulian Dukes and Sicilian Kings, and it remained part of the -continental Sicilian kingdom, save for the two moments in its history -which bring it within our immediate range. Otranto is the one city of -Western Europe in which the Turk has really reigned, though happily -for a moment only. It is one of the cities in this corner of Italy -which formed, for a somewhat longer time, outlying posts of Venetian -dominion; and it is a spot where the memory of the Turk and the memory -of the Venetian are mingled together in a strange, an unusual, and a -shameful way. In most of the other spots which have seen the presence -of the Turk and the Venetian, the commonwealth which was the -temple-keeper of the Evangelist shows itself only in its nobler -calling, as "Europe's bulwark 'gainst the Ottomite." At Otranto, -Venice appears in a character which is more commonly taken by the Most -Christian King. Before Francis and Lewis had conspired with the -barbarian against their Christian rivals, the Serene Republic had -already stirred him up to make havoc of a Christian city. - -At Otranto then we finish our journey by land, and from Otranto, as -Otranto is now, we have no means of continuing it by sea. We cannot -sail straight, as men did in old times, either to Corfu or to Aulona. -To make our way from the central to the south-eastern peninsula, we -have to make the "iter ad Brundisium" back again from the other side. -It is the natural consequence of being at the end of the world, that -when we reach the point which holds that place, we have to go back -again. And when we find ourselves at Otranto, the fact that we are at -the end of the world, that we have reached the end, not only of our -actual journey, but of any possible journey of the same kind, is -forcibly set before us as a kind of symbol. We have come to an end, to -a very marked end, of the great railway system of central Europe. From -any place within that system we can find our way to Otranto by the -power of steam. Beyond Otranto that power can take us no further; -indeed we have so nearly reached the heel of the boot that there is -not much further to go by the help of any other power. We are at the -end of Italy, at the end, that is, of the central peninsula of Europe, -in a sense in which we are not even at more distant Reggio. For Reggio -is before all things the way to Sicily, and Sicily we must allow to be -geographically an appendage to Italy, strongly as we must assert the -right of that great island to be looked on historically in quite -another light. And that at Otranto we have distinctly reached the end -of something is clearly set forth by the arrangements of the railway -station itself. The rails come to an end; the buildings of the -station are placed, not at the side of the line, but straight across -it, a speaking sign that we can go no further, and that the thought of -taking us further has not entered the most speculative mind. - -At Otranto then we have come to the end of one of the great divisions -of the European world; it is therefore a fitting point to form a main -point of connexion between that division and another. Otranto and its -neighbourhood are the only points of the central peninsula from which -we can, as a matter of ordinary course, look across into the eastern -peninsula. We say as a matter of ordinary course. There are Albanian -or Dalmatian heights from which it is said that, in unusually -favourable weather, the Garganian peninsula may be descried; so it may -be that the Garganian peninsula is favoured back again with occasional -glimpses of south-eastern Europe. But a stay of even a few hours at -Otranto shows that there south-eastern Europe comes within the gazer's -ordinary ken. It is easy to see that it does not so much need good -weather to show it as bad weather to hinder it from being shown. -Before we reach Otranto, while we are still on the railway, the -mountains of Albania rise clearly before our eyes; from the hill of -Otranto itself they rise more clearly still. And even to those to whom -those heights are no unfamiliar objects from nearer points of view, -it is a thrilling and a saddening thought, when we look forth for the -first time from a land of which every inch belongs to the free and -Christian world, and gaze on the once kindred land that has passed -away from freedom and from Christendom. From the soil of free Italy we -look on shores which are still left under the barbarian yoke, shores -where so many whose fathers were sharers in the European and Christian -heritage have fallen away to the creed of the barbarian and to all -that that creed brings with it. On the other hand, it is said that -there are more favourable moments when it is possible to look from -free Italy into free Greece. It is said that, sometimes perhaps Corfu -itself, more certainly the smaller islands which lie off it to the -west, may be seen from the hill of Otranto. If so, we look out from -that one spot of the central peninsula, from that one spot of the -general western world, where the Turk can be said to have really -ruled, for however short a time, and not simply to have harried. And -we look out on that one among the many islands which gird the eastern -peninsula, which has gone through many changes and has bowed to many -masters, but where alone the Turk has never ruled as a master, but has -shown himself only as a momentary besieger. - -The Turk then was never lord of Corfu; he was for a while, though only -for a very little while, lord of Otranto. The winged lion floated -over Corfu while the crescent floated for a season over Otranto. It -was therefore perhaps not wholly unfitting that, for another somewhat -longer season, the winged lion should float over Corfu and Otranto -together. But it was not in his nobler character that the winged lion -floated over Otranto. It would have been a worthy exploit indeed, if -the arms of Venice, by that time a great Italian power, had driven out -the Turk from his first lodgement on Italian soil. But instead of -Venice driving the Turk out of Otranto, it was the common belief of -the time that it was Venetian intrigue which had let him in. Nay more, -if there was any truth in other suspicions of the time, the good old -prayer of our forefathers, which prayed for deliverance from "Pope and -Turk," might well have been put up by the people of Otranto and all -Apulia in the year 1480. Not only the commonwealth of Venice, but the -Holy Father himself, Pope Sixtus the Fourth, was believed to be an -accomplice in the intrigues which enabled the infidel to establish -himself on the shores of Italy. A time came, almost within our own -day, when Pope and Turk were really leagued together, and when the -Latin Bishop of the Old Rome owed his restoration to his seat to the -joint help of the Mussulman Sultan of Constantinople and the Orthodox -Tzar of Moscow. But in the fifteenth century we need hardly expect -even such a Pope as Sixtus of deliberately bringing the Turk into -Italy. His own interests both as priest and as prince were too -directly threatened. But it is hard to acquit the Venetian -commonwealth, under the dogeship of Giovanni Mocenigo, of risking the -lasting interests of all Christendom, and of their own Eastern -dominion as part of it, to serve the momentary calls of a petty -Italian policy. We even read that Venetian envoys worked on the mind -of the Sultan by the argument that it was the part of the new lord of -Constantinople to assert his claim to all that the older lords of -Constantinople had held east of the Hadriatic. No argument could be -more self-destructive in Venetian mouths. If the Turk had inherited -the rights of Eastern Cæsar in the Western lands, how cruelly was -Venice defrauding him of a large part of the rights of the Eastern -Cæsar in his own Eastern lands. - - * * * * * - -The conquest of Otranto was the last of the conquests of him who -rightly stands out in Ottoman history as pre-eminently the Conqueror. -The second Mahomet, he who completed the conquest of Christian Asia by -the taking of Trebizond, who crowned the work of Ottoman conquest in -Europe by the taking of Constantinople, who by the taking of Euboia -dealt the heaviest blow to the Venetian power in the Ægæan, who -brought under his power, as a gleaning after the vintage, the Frank -lordship of Attica and the Greek lordship of Peloponnêsos, in his last -days stretched forth his hand to vex Western Europe as he had so long -vexed Eastern Europe and what was left of Christian Asia. He was in -truth attacking both at the same time; he won Otranto almost at the -moment when he was beaten back from Rhodes. Each scene of his warfare -illustrates the nature of the Ottoman power at that moment, how it was -by the hands of her own apostate sons that Christendom was brought -into bondage. Against Rhodes the infidel host was led by a Greek, -against Otranto by an Albanian, both renegades or sons of renegades. -And under the first Ferdinand of Aragon such was the state of things -in the land which had once been ruled by good King William that -soldiers of the Neapolitan King were willing to pass into the service -of the Turk. Nay, the inhabitants in general seemed ready to believe -the Turk's promises and to accept his dominion as likely to be milder -than that of their own stranger king. The invader was his own worst -enemy. A contemporary writer witnesses that the prisoners taken by -Achmet _Break-Tooth_--such is said to be the meaning of his surname -_Giédek_--pointed out to him that by his cruelties at Otranto he was -losing for his master a province which otherwise might have been won -with little effort. - -But happily things took another turn. Otranto was in the Western world -what Kallipolis--the Kallipolis of the Thracian Chersonêsos--had been -in the Eastern. It was the first foothold of the barbarian, the gate -by which he seemed likely to open his way to the possession of the -central peninsula of Europe, as he had by the gate of Kallipolis -opened his way to the possession of the eastern peninsula. Otranto was -the last of the conquests of the great Conqueror; what if he had been -longer-lived? what if the second Bajazet had deserved the name of -Thunderbolt like the first? Would the threat of the first Sultan have -been carried out, and would the Turk have fed his horse on the high -altar of Saint Peter's? The eastern peninsula fell by internal -division, and the central peninsula, as his very entrance into it -shows, was fully as divided as the eastern. The French conquests -presently showed how little prepared Italy was to withstand a vigorous -attack, and Mahomet the Conqueror would have been another kind of -enemy from Charles the Eighth. But all such dangers were warded off. -The Turk still showed himself once and again in northern Italy, but -only as a momentary plunderer. Otranto remained his only conquest on -Italian ground, and that a conquest held for thirteen months only. -Alfonso, who bears so unfavourable a character from other sides, must -be at least allowed the merit of winning back the lost city for his -father's realm. Otranto, and Otranto alone of Italian cities, belongs -to, and heads, the list on which we inscribe the names of Buda and -Belgrade and Athens and Sofia, on which it may now inscribe the names -of Arta and Larissa, but from which hapless Jôannina and -twice-forsaken Parga are still for a while shut out. - -It was not therefore till the Turk had been driven out, not until -southern Italy had been more thoroughly but not much more lastingly -overrun by the armies of France, that Otranto passed for a while under -the rule of Venice. The Serene Republic hardly deserved to rule in a -city which she had so lately betrayed; the place seems never to have -recovered from the frightful blow of the Turkish capture. The town now -shows no sign either of the short Venetian occupation or of the -shorter Turkish occupation. From the side of military history, this -last fact is to be regretted. We must remember that in that day the -Ottomans, pressing and hiring into their service the best skill of -Europe, were in advance of all other people in all warlike arts. So -Guiccardini remarks that the Turks, during their short occupation of -Otranto, strengthened the city with works of a kind hitherto unknown -in Italy, and which, as he seems to hint, Italian engineers would -have done well to copy, but did not. The present fortifications date -from the time of Charles the Fifth. Their extent shows at once how far -the Otranto of his day had shrunk up within the bounds of the ancient -city, and how far again modern Otranto has shrunk up within the walls -of the Emperor. It is said that, before the Turkish capture, Otranto -numbered twenty-two thousand inhabitants; it has now hardly above a -tenth part of that number. As the military importance of the place has -passed away, military precautions seemed to have passed away with it; -the castle stands free and open; no sentinel hinders the traveller -from wandering as he will within its walls. But the traveller will -gain little by such wanderings except the look-out over land and sea. -The town stands close upon the sea, on a small height with a valley -between it and the railway station. It is entered by a gateway of late -date, but of some dignity; but it is not much that the frowning -entrance leads to. The visitor soon finds that Otranto, which gave its -name of old to the surrounding land, which still ranks as a -metropolitan city, has sunk to little more than a village. It seems to -have had no share in the revived prosperity of the other towns along -this coast. Its one object of any importance is the metropolitan -church, and this is at once the only monument of the ancient -greatness of the place, and also in a strange way the chief memorial -of its momentary bondage to the barbarian. - - * * * * * - -In order thoroughly to take in the position of the great church of -Otranto in its second character, as a memorial of bondage and -deliverance, it may be well to pass it by for a moment and to go first -to the castle, and look out on one of the points of view which it -commands. Any local guide will be able to show the traveller the Hill -of the Martyrs. It stands at no great distance beyond the town, and is -held to mark the site of a pagan temple. There the Turks, after their -capture of the city, did as they have done in later times. Some eight -or nine hundred of the people of Otranto were massacred. Their bodies -lay unburied so long as the Turk kept possession; on the recovery of -the city, the bodies of the martyrs, as they were now deemed, were -gathered together, and a special chapel was added to the metropolitan -church to receive them. There they may still be seen, piled together -in cases, with inscriptions telling the story. There are skulls, legs, -arms, bones of every part of the human body, some still showing the -dents of barbarian weapons, some with barbarian weapons still cleaving -to them. There we look on them, ghastly witnesses that, neither in -their days nor in ours, is the Æthiopian at all disposed to change -his skin or the leopard his spots. What the Turk did at Otranto he has -done at Batak; he may, if the freak seizes him, do the like at -Jôannina. Only the deeds of Otranto were at least done by the Turk as -a mere outside barbarian; he was not licensed to do them by the united -voice of Europe. It is only in these latest times that the Turk has -been fully authorized, under all the sanctions of so-called -international right, to renew at pleasure the deeds of Otranto and of -Batak in lands to which Europe has twice promised freedom. - -The martyrs of 1480, their sufferings, their honours, have made so -deep an impression on the mind of Otranto that the metropolitan -basilica has popularly lost its name of _Annunziata_, and is more -commonly spoken of as the church of the martyrs. But the great church -of Otranto, the church of the prelate whose style runs as -"archiepiscopus Hydrutinus et primas Salentinorum," is a building of -deep interest on other grounds. Like so many Italian churches, it is -not very attractive without, nor is there anything specially to tarry -over in its bell-tower. But even outside we may mark one or two signs -of the restoration which the church underwent after its deliverance -from the Turk. The west window is of that date, one of those -rose-windows to which Italian, and still more Dalmatian, taste clave -so long, even when all other mediæval fashions had vanished away. Of -the same date is the north door, showing, like the great doors at -Benevento, the Primate of the Salentines attended by the bishops and -chief abbots of his province. As we go within, our first feeling is -one of wonder that so much should have lived through the infidel storm -and occupation. But, according to the usual practice of Mussulman -conquerors, the head church of the city was turned into a mosque; -there was therefore, after the first moment of havoc had passed by, no -temptation on the part of the new occupants to damage the essential -features of a building which had become a temple of their own worship. -It is therefore not wonderful that the main features of the basilica -are still there, either untouched or most skilfully restored. Seven -arches rise from columns, perhaps of classical date, with capitals, -mostly of different kinds of foliage, but one of which brings in human -figures, after the type which was so well set in Caracalla's baths. -But a more interesting study is supplied by the great crypt, or rather -under-church. At Otranto, as in some of its neighbours, the craftsmen -who worked below clearly allowed themselves a freer choice of forms in -the carving of capitals than they ventured on above ground. The vault -of the under-church rests on ranges of slender columns, with heavy -abaci and with an amazing variety in the capitals. None perhaps can -be called classical; but very few are simply grotesque. The few that -are so are found--one does not quite see the reason of the -distinction--among the half-columns against the walls. Most of them -show various forms of foliage and animal figures; the old law that -almost any kind of man, beast, or bird, can be pressed to serve as the -volute at the corner of a capital is here most fully carried out. But -the further law, that that duty is most worthily discharged by the -imperial eagle, can be nowhere better studied than in the Hydrantine -under-church. In some capitals again, especially in the columns of the -apses, the bird of Cæsar is perched as it were on Byzantine -basket-work, clearly showing which Augustus it was to whom the -Salentine Primate bowed as his temporal lord. Other capitals again are -much simpler, but also savouring of the East; the plain square block -has mere carving on the surface. Then, of the columns themselves, some -are plain, some are fluted, some are themselves carved out with -various patterns. In short a rich and wonderful variety reigns in -every feature of the under-church of Otranto. - -Our comparison of the columns and capitals has carried us underground; -but the really distinctive feature of the basilica of Otranto is -above. Other churches of southern Italy have wonderful crypts; none, -we may feel sure, has so wonderful a pavement. And here we do wonder -that the Turks did not do incomparably more mischief than they did do. -Some mischief they did; but the archbishops and canons of Otranto -seem--perhaps unavoidably--to have done a great deal more by -destroying or covering the rich pavement to make room for the -furniture of the church. It would surely be hard to find another -example of a pavement whose design is spread over the whole -ground-floor of a great church. The pictures are in mosaic, rough -mosaic certainly, of the second half of the twelfth century, when -Otranto formed part of the Sicilian realm, and when that realm was -ruled by William the Bad. Luckily inscriptions in the pavement itself -have preserved to us the exact date, and the names of the giver and -the artist. One tells us in leonine rimes: - - "Ex Ionathi donis per dexteram Pantaleonis - Hoc opus insigne est superans impendia digne." - -Another stoops to prose: "Humilis servus Ionathas Hydruntinus -archieps. jussit hoc [~o]p fieri per manus Pantaleonis p[~r]b. Anno ab -Incarnatione Dn[~i] Nr[~i] Ihu. Xr[~i] MCLXV indictione XIV, regnante -Dn[~o] nostro W. Rege Magnif." The design of the priest Pantaleon, -wrought at the bidding of Archbishop Jonathan in the last year of the -first William, is of a most extensive and varied kind. Scriptural -scenes and persons, figures which seem purely fanciful, the favourite -subject of the signs of the zodiac, all find their place. We meet also -with one or two heroes of earlier and later times whom we should -hardly have looked for. The main design starts, not far from the west -end, with a tree rising from the backs of two elephants. The huge -earth-shaking beast, the Lucanian ox, is, it must be remembered, a -favourite in southern Italy; he finds a marked place among the -sculptures of the great churches of Bari. The tree--one is tempted to -see in it the mystic ash of Northern mythology--sends its vast trunk -along the central line of the nave, throwing forth its branches, and -what we may call their fruit, on either side. Here are strange beasts -which may pass either for the fancies of the herald or for the -discoveries of the palæontologist; but in the lion with four bodies -and a single head we must surely look for a symbolical meaning of some -kind. He is balanced, to be sure, by other strange forms, in which two -or three heads rise from a single body. Here are figures with musical -instruments, here a huntress aiming at a stag; and in the midst of all -this, not very far from the west end, we find the figure of "Alexander -Rex." To the left we have Noah, making ready to build the ark--the -story begins at the beginning, like the building of the Norman fleet -in the Bayeux Tapestry. Four figures are cutting down trees, and the -patriarch himself is sawing up the wood, with a saw of the type still -used in the country. The centre of the pavement is occupied by the -zodiac; each month has its befitting work assigned to it according to -the latitude of Otranto. Thus June cuts the corn. July threshes it, -neither with a modern machine, nor with the feet of primitive oxen, -but with the flail which many of us will remember in our youth. -August, with his feet in the wine-press, gathers the grapes. December -carries a boar, as if for the Yule feast of Queen Philippa's scholars. -Each month has its celestial sign attached; but it would seem that the -priest Pantaleon was in a hurry in putting together his kalendar, and -that he put each of the signs a month in advance. Beyond the zodiac, -near the entrance of the choir, and partly covered by its furniture, -is a figure, which startles us with the legend "Arturus Rex." If we -were to have Alexander and Arthur, why not the rest of the nine -worthies? If only a selection, why are the Hebrews defrauded of their -representative?--unless indeed Samson, who appears in the form of a -mutilated figure, not far from the left of Arthur, has taken the place -of the more familiar Joshua, David, and Judas. Here is a witness to -the early spread of the Arthurian legends; here, in 1165, within the -Sicilian kingdom, the legendary British hero receives a place of -honour, alongside of the Macedonian. Nor is this our only witness to -the currency in these regions of the tales which had been not so long -before spread abroad by Walter Map. By this time, or not long after, -the name of Arthur had already found a local habitation on Ætna -itself. Among other scriptural pieces in different parts, we find of -course Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel; there is Jonah too, far to the -east; and in the eastern part of the north aisle, the imagination of -Jonathan or Pantaleon has forestalled somewhat of the Dantesque -conception of the _Inferno_. "Satanas" is vividly drawn, riding on a -serpent, and other figures armed with serpents are doing their -terrible work in the train of the "duke of that dark place." The whole -work is strictly mosaic, and the design, though everywhere rude, is -carried out with wonderful spirit. We may indeed rejoice that the -hoofs of Turkish horses and the improvements of modern canons have -left so much of a work which, even if it stood by itself, it would be -worth while going to the end of railways at Otranto to see. - - * * * * * - -Such is now the one city in which the Turk ever ruled on our side of -Hadria. In earlier times we might have passed straight from Otranto to -the lands where he still rules, or to the island where he never ruled. -But now he who looks out for Otranto on the heights of Albania, and -whose objects call him to the nearer neighbourhood of those heights, -must go back to Brindisi to find his way to reach them. - - - - -FIRST GLIMPSES OF HELLAS. - -1875--1881. - - -In our present journey we draw near to the eastern peninsula, to the -Hellenic parts of that peninsula, by way of the great island--great as -compared with the mass of Greek islands, though small as compared with -Sicily or Britain--which keeps guard, as a strictly Hellenic outpost, -over a mainland which was and is less purely Hellenic. From Brindisi -we sail to Corfu, the elder Korkyra, as distinguished from the black -isle of the same name off the Dalmatian shore. In so sailing, we -specially feel ourselves to be sailing in the wake of the conquerors -who made Corfu an appendage to the Sicilian realm; we are passing -between spots on either side which have known both a Norman and -Venetian master. But it may be that we may have already drawn near to -Greece by another path. It is easy to prolong the voyage which took us -from Trieste to Spalato, from Spalato to Cattaro, by a third stage -which will take us from Cattaro to Corfu. In this case we may have -already studied the Albanian coast, and that with no small pleasure -and profit. We may have marked a point not long after we had left -Dalmatia behind us, and that where a line may well be drawn. There is -a geographical change in the direction of the coast, from the shore of -Dalmatia, with its islands and inland seas, its coast-line stretching -away to the south-east, to the nearly direct southern line of the -shore of Albania. In modern political geography we pass from the -dominion of Austria to the dominion of the Turk. In the map of an -earlier day, we pass from the all but wholly continuous dominion of -the two commonwealths of Venice and Ragusa. In modern ethnology we -pass from the Slave under a certain amount of Italian influence to the -Albanian under a certain, though smaller, amount of influence, Italian -or Greek, according to his local position and his religious creed. In -modern religious geography we pass from a land which is wholly -Christian, but where the Eastern form of Christianity, though still in -the minority, makes itself more deeply felt at every step, to a land -where Islam and the two great ancient forms of Christianity are all -found side by side. In the geography of earlier times this point marks -the frontier of a land intermediate between the barbaric land to the -north, with only a few Greek colonies scattered here and there, and -the purely Greek lands, the "continuous Hellas," to the south. We -find on this western shore of the south-eastern peninsula the same -feature which is characteristic of so large a part of the Ægæan and -Euxine coasts, both of the south-eastern peninsula itself and of the -neighbouring land of Asia. The great mainland is barbarian; the -islands and a fringe of sea-coast are Greek. As we draw nearer to the -boundary of Greece proper, the Hellenic element is strengthened. -Thesprotians, Molossians, Chaonians, were at least capable of becoming -Greeks. Epeiros, [Greek: Êpeiros], _terra firma_, once the vague name -of an undefined barbarian region, became the name of a Greek federal -commonwealth with definite boundaries. And the character of a -barbarian land, fringed with European settlements and looking out on -European islands, did not wholly pass away till almost our own day. A -few still living men may remember the storming of Prevesa; many can -remember the cession--some might call it the betrayal--of Parga. It -was only when Parga was yielded to the Turk that this ancient feature -of the Illyrian and Epeirot lands passed away. What Corinth had once -been Venice was. Corinth first studded that coast with outposts of the -civilized world. Venice held those outposts, sadly lessened in number, -down to her fall. And the men of Parga deemed, though they were -mistaken in the thought, that to the mission of Corinth and Venice -England had succeeded. - -From whichever side our traveller draws near to Corfu, he comes from -lands where Greek influence and Greek colonization spread in ancient -times, but from which the Greek elements have been gradually driven -out, partly by the barbarism of the East, partly by the rival -civilization of the West. Whether we come from Otranto and Brindisi or -from the Illyrian Pharos and the Illyrian Korkyra, we are coming from -lands which once were Greek. But Otranto and Brindisi, Pharos and -Black Korkyra, even Epidamnos and Apollonia, were scattered outposts -of Greek life among barbarian neighbours; as the traveller draws near -to the elder Korkyra, he finds himself for the first time within the -bounds of "continuous Hellas." He may have seen in other lands greater -and more speaking monuments of old Hellenic life than any that the -island has to show him; he may have seen the lonely hill of Kymê, the -hardly less lonely temples of Poseidônia; but those were Greece in -Italy; now for the first time he sees Greece itself. Whatever we may -say of the mainland to the left, there can be no doubt, either now or -in ancient times, of the Hellenic character of the island to the -right. There are the small attendant isles; there are the great peaks -of Korkyra--not the lowlier peaks which gave city and island their -later name--but the far mightier mountains which catch the eye as we -approach the great island from the north. That island at least is -Hellas--less purely Hellenic, it may be, than some other lands and -islands, but still Hellenic, part of the immediate Hellenic world of -both ancient and modern days. It was and is the most distant part of -the immediate Hellenic world; but it forms an integral part of it. The -land which we see is Hellenic in a sense in which not even Sicily, not -even the Great Hellas of Southern Italy, much less then the Dalmatian -archipelago, ever became Hellenic. From the first historic glimpse -which we get of Korkyra, it is not merely a land fringed by Hellenic -colonies; it is a Hellenic island, the dominion of a single Hellenic -city, a territory the whole of whose inhabitants were, at the -beginning of recorded history, either actually Hellenic or so -thoroughly hellenized that no one thought of calling their Hellenic -position in question. Modern policy has restored it to its old -position by making it an integral portion of the modern Greek kingdom. -And, if in some things it is less purely Greek than the rest of that -kingdom, what is the cause? It is because, if Corfu may be thought for -a while to have ceased to be part of Greece, it never ceased to be -part of Christendom. It was for ages under alien dominion, but it -never was under the dominion of the Turk. The Venetian could to some -extent modify and assimilate his Greek subjects; the Turk could -modify or assimilate none but actual renegades. And, after all, the -main influence has been the other way. If Italian became the -fashionable speech, even for men of Greek descent, men on the other -hand whose names distinctly show their Italian descent have cast in -their lot with their own country rather than with the country of their -forefathers. Shallow critics have mocked because men with Venetian -names have been strong political assertors of Greek nationality. They -might as well mock whenever a man of Norman descent shows himself a -patriotic Englishman. They might as well hint that Presidents and -Ministers of France and Spain, who have borne names which proclaim -their Irish origin, were bound or likely to follow an Irish policy -rather than a French or a Spanish one. - -The first aspect, indeed every aspect, of the island of Corfu and the -neighbouring coast of Epeiros is deeply instructive. The island and -the mainland come so close together that, till the eye has got well -used to the outline of particular mountains, it is not easy to tell -how much is island and how much mainland. A statesman of the last -generation twice told the House of Lords that Corfu lay within a mile -of the coast of Thessaly. We cannot say, without looking carefully to -the scale on the map, how many miles Corfu lies from the coast of -Thessaly, any more than we can say offhand how many miles Anglesey -lies from the coast of Norfolk. It is a more practical fact that some -parts of Corfu lie very near indeed to the coast of Epeiros, though -not quite so near as Anglesey lies to the coast of Caernarvonshire. -The channel must surely be everywhere more than a mile in width; -certainly it could nowhere be bridged, as in the case of Anglesey, or -in the cases of Euboia and nearer Leukas. Both coasts are irregular, -both coasts are mountainous, and the mountains on both sides fuse into -one general mass. Above all, prominent from many points, soars the -famous range where, with a singular disregard of later geography, - - "Arethusa arose - From her couch of snows - In the Acroceraunian mountains." - -Snow of course is in these lands to be had only at a much higher level -than the snow-line of the Alps, so that the couch of Arethousa stands -out yet more conspicuously over the neighbouring heights than it might -have done in a more northern region. The inhabitants of Corfu are fond -of pointing to the contrast between the well-wooded hills and valleys -of their own fertile island and the bare, almost uninhabited, land -which lies opposite to them. And of course they do not fail to point -the inevitable moral. As in most such cases, there is truth in the -boast, but truth that needs some qualifications. Corfu, through all -its changes of masters, has always been under governments which were -civilized according to the standard of their own times. It has fared -accordingly. Epeiros has been handed over to a barbarian master, and -it has also been largely colonized by the least advanced of European -races. Besides having the Turk as a ruler, it has had the Albanian, -Christian and Mussulman, as a settler. In Corfu the Albanian is a -frequent visitor; his sheepskin and _fustanella_ may be constantly -seen in the streets of Corfu; but he has not--unless possibly in the -shape of refugees from Parga--formed any distinct element in her -population. It is only in the nature of things that Greeks under -successive Venetian, French, and English rule should do more for their -land than Albanians under Turkish rule. But we may doubt whether any -people under any government could have made the land opposite to Corfu -like Corfu itself. Had the mainland shared the successive destinies of -the island, it would doubtless have been far better off than it has -been. But it could hardly have been as the island. One point of -advantage for the island was the mere fact that it was an island. In -all but the highest states of civilization, this is an advantage -beyond words; and the ancient colonists fully understood the fact. - -Still it is a striking contrast to pass across the narrow sea from -Corfu to what was Butrinto. Buthrotum, the mythical city of the Trojan -Helenos, has a more real being as a Roman colony, and as one of those -outposts on the mainland in which Venice succeeded the Neapolitan -Kings, and which she kept down to her own fall. Butrinto was once a -city no less than Corfu; to Virgil's eyes it was the reproduction of -Troy itself. Now we cross from the busy streets and harbour of Corfu -to utter desolation at Butrinto. The desolation is greater in one way -than any that Helenos or any other primitive settler could have found, -because it is that form of desolation which consists in traces of what -has been. We enter the mouth of the river, with rich trees and -pasturage between its banks and the rugged mountains; we mark ruins of -fortresses and buildings on either side, till we come to the ruined -castle at the mouth of the lake. The lake is a carefully preserved -fishery, and permission is needed to enter it. A few dirty-looking men -assemble at the door of a tumble-down building standing against the -ruined castle. But among them are personages of some local importance. -One is the lessee of the fishery, whose good will is of special -importance. There is also a Turkish officer of some kind--more likely -a Mussulman Albanian than an Ottoman--with his small and not -threatening following. There are one or two native Christians; and it -brings the varied ethnology of the land more deeply home to learn that -they are neither Greeks nor Albanians, but that they belong to the -scattered race of the Vlachs, the Latin-speaking people of the East, -whose greatest settlement, far away from Butrinto, has now grown into -an European kingdom. It is well to be reminded at such a moment that -the Rouman principality, though the greatest, is only one among many, -and that the latest, of the settlements of this scattered people. And -it brings home the fact to us when we see here, in a land where Greek -and Albanian--that is, Hellên and Illyrian--are both at home, the -third of the great primitive races of the peninsula, the widely spread -Thracian kin, the people of Sitalkês and Kersobleptês, so far away -from the land in which alone political geography acknowledges them. - -One feeling however the group, so small, but differing so widely in -race and creed, seem all to share very deeply. This is a devout -reverence for the image of George King of the Greeks, when graven on a -five- (new) drachma piece, and held up in the hand of one of the -representatives of Corfu in the Greek Parliament. We remember the -ancient power of much smaller coins--[Greek: hôs mega dynasthon -pantachou tô dy' obolô]--and we begin to doubt whether a smaller sum -might not have done the work as well. Anyhow his Hellenic Majesty's -countenance, in this attractive shape, acts as a talisman on all, -private and official, Christian and Mussulman; it buys off all -questions or searchings of any kind, and wins free access to the -beautiful scenery of the lake, full licence to poke about among what -little there is to poke about in the shattered castle. The thought -cannot help coming into the mind that those who so greatly respect the -image and superscription of King George would have no very violent -dislike to become his subjects. Still it is not without a certain -feeling of having escaped out of the mouth of the lion that we cross -once more over the channel, and find ourselves at the hospitable door -of a Greek gentleman of Koloura. - - - - -CORFU AND ITS NAMES. - -1875. - - -The great argument to establish the fact of a long-abiding Slavonic -occupation in Greece has always been the changes in local -nomenclature, the actual Slavonic names and the Greek names which have -displaced older Greek names. The former class speak for themselves; -the latter class are held to have been given during the process of -Greek reconquest. Nor can there be any reasonable doubt that there is -a large amount of truth in this doctrine, if only it is kept in -moderation, and is not pressed to the extreme conclusions of -Fallmerayer. But it is important to note that the change from one -Greek name to another has taken place also in cases when there has -been no foreign settlement, no reconquest, no violent change of any -kind. One of the greatest of Greek islands has lost one Greek name and -has taken another, without the operation of any of the causes which -are said to have brought about the change of nomenclature in -Peloponnêsos. Crete and Euboia, we may say in passing, seem to have -changed their names, when in truth they have not; but Korkyra really -has changed its name. It had, for all purposes, become Corfu--in some -spelling or other--till the modern revival--unwisely, we must venture -to think--brought back, not the true local _Korkyra_ ([Greek: -Korkyra]), but the Attic and Byzantine _Kerkyra_ ([Greek: Kerkyra]). -City and island alike are now again [Greek: Kerkyra]; or rather we -cannot say that the city is again [Greek: Kerkyra], as the modern city -never was [Greek: Kerkyra] at all, nor even [Greek: Korkyra]. The -modern town of Corfu--in its best Greek form [Greek: Koryphô]--stands -on a different site from the ancient town of Korkyra, and there can be -little doubt that the change of name is connected with the change of -site. - -The legendary history of the island goes up, we need not say, to the -Homeric tales. That Korkyra was the Homeric Scheriê was an accepted -article of faith as early as the days of Thucydides. His casual phrase -goes for more than any direct statement. He connects the naval -greatness of the Korkyraians of his day with the seafaring fame of the -mythical Phaiakians ([Greek: nautikô poly proechein estin hote -epairomenoi kai kata tên tôn Phaiakôn proenoikêsin tês Kerkyras kleos -echontôn ta peri tas naus]). Nearly a thousand years later Prokopios -is equally believing, though he goes into some doubts and speculations -as to the position of the isle of Kalypsô. His way of describing the -island should be noticed. With him the island is the Phaiakian land, -which is now called _Korkyra_ ([Greek: hê Phaiakôn chôra, hê nyn -Kerkyra epikaleitai]). Against this description we may fairly balance -that of Nikêtas ([Greek: hê Kerkyraiôn akra, hê nyn epikeklêtai -Koryphô]), with whom the promontory of the Kerkyraians is now called -_Koryphô_. The two answer to each other. To talk of [Greek: Kerkyraiôn -akra] was as much an archaism in the eleventh century as to talk of -[Greek: Phaiakôn chôra] was in the sixth. The everyday name of the -island in the days of Prokopios was still [Greek: Korkyra] or [Greek: -Kerkyra]. In the days of Nikêtas it was already [Greek: Koryphô]. - -We put the two phrases of Prokopios and Nikêtas together, because they -are turned out as it were from the same mould. But there is no doubt -that the change of name had happened a good while before Nikêtas, and -there is some reason to believe that it was the result of causes which -are set forth in the narrative of Prokopios. The earliest mention of -Corfu by its present name seems to be that in Liudprand, who calls it -"Coriphus" in the plural, the Greek [Greek: Koryphous]. The change -therefore happened between the sixth century and the tenth, the change -doubtless of site no less than the change of name. And no time seems -more likely for either than the time which followed the wasting -expedition of Totilas which Prokopios records. Then doubtless it was -that the old city, if it did not at once perish, at least began to -decay; a new site began to be occupied; a new town arose, and that new -town took a new name from its most remarkable physical feature, the -[Greek: koryphô], the two peaks crowned by the citadel, which form the -most striking feature in the entrance to the harbour of modern Corfu. - -One argument alone need be mentioned the other way, and that is one -which perhaps is not likely to present itself to any one out of Corfu -itself. The local writer Quirini quotes a single line as from -Dionysios Periêgêtês, which runs thus:-- - - [Greek: keinên nyn Korphyn nautai diephêmixanto.] - -Dionysios is a writer of uncertain date; but he may safely be set down -as older than Prokopios. If then he used the later name, and used it -in a form more modern than the [Greek: Koryphô] of Nikêtas, the whole -argument would be set aside, and the name of Corfu would be carried -back to a much earlier time. But where Quirini got his verse is by no -means clear. We have looked in more than one edition of Dionysios, and -no such verse can we find. The only mention of Korkyra is in a verse -which runs thus:-- - - [Greek: kai liparê Kerkyra, philon pedon Alkinooio.] - -Nor does the commentator Eustathios say one word as to the change of -name. We can only conceive that the line must have been added as a -gloss in some copy, printed or manuscript, which was consulted by -Quirini. - -We will assume then that, as far as the island is concerned, Korkyra -and Corfu--in its various spellings--are two successive names, one of -which supplanted the other, while, as far as the city is concerned, -they are strictly the names of two distinct though neighbouring -cities, one of which fell as the other rose. And now the question -comes, Is the island of Korkyra the Scheriê of Homer? Is his -description of Scheriê and the city of Alkinoos meant for the -description of Korkyra or any part of it, whether the historical city -or any other? We must remember that the general witness of antiquity -in favour of Korkyra being Scheriê loses a good deal of its weight -when we consider that the ancient writers felt bound to place Scheriê -somewhere, while no such necessity is laid upon us. Bearing this in -mind, the plain case seems to be that it is far more likely that -Scheriê was nowhere at all. In dealing with Scheriê and its -inhabitants, we are not dealing with an entry in the Catalogue of the -Iliad, the Domesday of the Mykênaian empire; we are simply dealing -with a piece of the romantic geography of the Odyssey. Everything -about the Phaiakians and their land reads as if the whole thing was as -purely a play of the imagination as the Kyklôpes and the -Laistrygones. It is indeed quite possible that, even in describing -purely imaginary lands, a poet may bring in his remembrance of real -places, just as the features of a real person may be reproduced in the -picture of an imaginary event. The poet, in painting Scheriê, may have -brought in bits of local description from Korkyra or from any other -place. But that is all. As we read the story, it seems quite as -reasonable to look on the map for Nephelokokkygia as to look on the -map for Scheriê. The thinkers of the days of Thucydides or of some -time before Thucydides, deeming themselves bound to place Scheriê -somewhere, fixed it at Korkyra. The reason doubtless was that the -Phaiakians are spoken of as the most distant of mankind, far away from -any others, and that Korkyra really was for a long time the most -distant of Greek settlements in this region. When Korkyra was once -ruled to be Scheriê, the process of identification naturally went on. -Spots received Homeric names. Alkinoos had his grove and his harbour -in the historical Korkyra. All this is the common course of legend, -and proves nothing for either geography or history. Yet the tale of -Scheriê, of Alkinoos, Arêtê, and the charming Nausikaa, is not simply -one of the loveliest of tales. Scheriê knew the use of wheeled -carriages; therefore Scheriê had roads. Alkinoos, the head king, was -chief over twelve lesser kings. Here we get real history, though -history neither personal nor local. Scheriê itself may safely be -looked for in the moon; but the roads of Scheriê and the _Bretwalda_ -of Scheriê have their place in the early history of institutions. - -Other names of the island are spoken of, as Drepanê and Makris, -descriptive names which perhaps never were in real use, and which, if -they were, were supplanted by the historical name of Korkyra. We must -again repeat that _Korkyra_, not _Kerkyra_, is the genuine local name. -It is the spelling on the coins of the country; it is the spelling of -the Latin writers, who would get the name from the island itself; it -is the spelling of Strabo. But it is equally plain that in Greece -generally the spelling [Greek: Kerkyra] prevailed. It is so in -Herodotus and the Attic writers; it is so in Polybios; it is so in the -Byzantine writers, who of course affect Attic forms. It must never be -forgotten that, from the time of Polybios, perhaps from an earlier -time than his, down to the present moment, written Greek has been one -thing, and spoken Greek another. Polybios wrote [Greek: Kerkyra], -while its own people called it [Greek: Korkyra], just as he wrote -[Greek: Êlis], while its own people called it [Greek: Walis]. The -difference has been thought to have its origin in some joke or -sarcasm--some play on [Greek: kerkos, kerkouros], and the like. But -the literary form may just as likely be simply a tempting softening -of the local form. One point only is to be insisted on, that the -syllable [Greek: Kor] in [Greek: Korkyra], and the syllable [Greek: -Kor] in [Greek: Koryphô], have nothing to do with one another. The -latter name is no corruption of the elder; it is a genuine case of one -Greek name supplanting another--perhaps rather a case of a Greek name, -after so many ages, supplanting a name which the first Greek colonists -may have borrowed from earlier barbarian inhabitants. In this case the -change implies no change of inhabitants, no change of language. It is -a change within the Greek language itself, which can be fully -accounted for by historical causes. It therefore teaches that changes -of name, such as the Slavonic theory insists on in Peloponnêsos, -though they do often arise from new settlements and reconquests, do -also come about in other ways. - -It is for the mythologist to find out whether Homer had Korkyra in his -eye when he described the mythic Scheriê. This, be it again noted, is -a perfectly reasonable subject for inquiry, and in no way implies any -historical belief in the legend. It is simply like asking whether the -real Glastonbury at all suggested the mythic Avalon. History begins to -deal with Korkyra in the eighth century B.C., when the settlement of -the Corinthian Chersikratês added the island to the Greek world. From -that day onward the island has a long and eventful story, reaching -down to our own times. But, before that story begins, the historian -may fairly ask of the ethnologist what evidence, what hints of any -kind, there are as to the people whom the Corinthian colonists found -settled in the island. It is not likely that they found so promising a -site wholly uninhabited. Some branch of the great Illyrian race, the -race which is still so near to the island, and which still supplies -it, if not with inhabitants, at least with constant visitors, may well -be supposed to have made their way into so tempting an island. The -harbours of Corfu would surely attract the seafaring Liburnians. We -are then brought to the common conditions of a Greek colony, planted, -as usual, among pre-existing barbarian inhabitants, and, as Mr. Grote -has so strongly enforced, sure to receive a dash of barbarian blood -among some classes of its members. The _dêmos_ of Korkyra may well -have been far from being of pure Hellenic descent--a fact which, if it -be so, may go far to explain the wide difference between the _dêmos_ -of Korkyra and the _dêmos_ of Athens. Since the time of the Corinthian -settlement, the island has undergone endless conquests and changes of -masters, each of which has doubtless brought with it a fresh infusion -into the blood of its inhabitants. But since the time of Chersikratês -there has been nothing like extirpation, displacement, or -resettlement. Korkyra has ever since been an Hellenic land, though a -succession of foreign occupations may have marred the purity of its -Hellenism. And one point at once distinguishes it from all the -neighbouring lands. Among all the changes of masters which Korkyra or -Corfu has undergone, they have always been European masters. It is the -one land in those parts that has never seen the Turk as more than a -momentary invader, to be speedily beaten back by European prowess. - -So much for the origin and the name of the greatest of the group which -in modern geography has come by the strange name of the Ionian -Islands. The only sense in which that name has any meaning is if it be -taken as meaning the Islands of the Ionian Sea. It ought to be -needless to remind any one that the word in that sense has nothing -whatever to do with the real Ionians, with the Ionic dialect or the -Ionic order. It certainly has an odd effect when one hears the people -of Doric Korkyra spoken of as "Ionians;" and we have even seen the -whole group of islands spoken of as "Ionia," to the great wrong of -Chios, Samos, Ephesos, and others of the famous Ionian twelve. But -having said so much about names, we must in another paper say -something of the long series of revolutions which mark the history of -Korkyra under its two names, and of their effect on its present state. - - - - -CORFU AND ITS HISTORY. - -1875. - - -We have already spoken of the singular change of name which has -befallen the most famous and important, though not the largest in -superficial extent, of the group known as the Ionian Islands. The change -of name, as we hold, followed naturally on the change of site of the -city. The new city took a new name, and the island has always followed -the name of the city. The old city and the new both occupy neighbouring -points in a system of small peninsulas and havens, which form the -middle of the eastern coast of the long and irregularly-shaped island -of Korkyra. There, to the south of the present town, connected with it -by a favourite walk of the inhabitants of Corfu, a long and broad -peninsula stretches boldly into the sea. Both from land and from sea, -it chiefly strikes the eye as a wooded mass, thickly covered with the -aged olive-trees which form so marked a feature in the scenery of the -island. A few houses skirt the base, growing on the land side into -the suburb of Kastrades, which may pass for a kind of connecting link -between the old and the new city. And from the midst of the wood, on -the side nearest to the modern town, stands out the villa of the King -of the Greeks, the chief modern dwelling on the site of ancient -Korkyra. This peninsular hill, still known as Palaiopolis, was the -site of the old Corinthian city whose name is so familiar to every -reader of Thucydides. On either side of it lies one of its two -forsaken harbours. Between the old and the new city lies the so-called -harbour of Alkinoos; beyond the peninsula, stretching far inland, lies -the old Hyllaic harbour, bearing the name of one of the three tribes -which seem to have been essential to the being of a Dorian -commonwealth. But the physical features of the country have greatly -changed since Chersikratês led thither his band of settlers twenty-six -centuries back. It is plain that both harbours once came much further -inland than they do now, that they covered a great deal of the low -ground at the foot of the peninsular hill. The question indeed -presents itself, whether the two did not once meet, whether the -peninsula was not once an island, whether the original colony did not -occupy a site standing to the mainland of Korkyra in exactly the same -relation in which the original insular Syracuse, the sister Corinthian -colony, stood to the mainland of Sicily. The physical aspect of the -country certainly strongly suggests the belief. And though Thucydides -does not directly speak of the city as insular, though his words do -not at all suggest that it was so, yet we do not know that there is -anything in his narrative which directly shuts out the idea. Anyhow, -the great change which has happened is plain when we see how utterly -the great Hyllaic haven has lost the character of a haven. It is now -called a lake, and exists only for purposes of fishing. We may believe -that these physical changes had a great deal to do with the removal of -the city to another site, with the change from Korkyra to Corfu. - -The description which Thucydides gives of the great sedition brings -out a fact which we should at first sight hardly have expected, the -fact that the aristocratic quarter of Korkyra was on the lower ground -by the harbour, while the upper part of the town was occupied by the -_dêmos_. To one who thinks of Rome, Athens, and ancient cities -generally, this seems strange. But arguments from the most ancient -class of cities do not fully apply to cities of the colonial class. -These, where commerce was so great an object, were no longer, as a -rule, placed on heights; convenient access from the sea was a main -point, and we can therefore understand that the ground by the coast -would be first settled, and would remain the dwelling-place of the old -citizens, the forefathers of the oligarchs of the great sedition. -There on the lower ground was the _agora_, where the Epidamnian exiles -craved for help, and pointed to the tombs of their forefathers. The -impression of the scene becomes more lively when we see not far off an -actual ancient tomb remaining in its place, though it could hardly -have been the tomb of the forefather of any Epidamnian. This is the -tomb of Menekratês of Oianthê, honoured in this way by the people of -Korkyra on account of his friendship for their city, a plain round -tomb with one of those archaic inscriptions in which Korkyra is rich. -Archaic indeed it is, written from right to left, in characters which -mere familiarity with the Greek of printed books or of later -inscriptions will not enable any one to read off with much ease. It -formed doubtless only one of a range of tombs, doubtless outside the -city, but visible from the _agora_. An orator in the Roman forum could -not have pointed to the tombs of forefathers by the Appian Way. - -The position of the quarter of the oligarchs by the modern suburb of -Kastrades seems perfectly clear from Thucydides. The _dêmos_ took -refuge in the upper part of the city and held the Hyllaic harbour; the -other party held the _agora_, where most of them dwelled, and the -harbour near it and towards the continent ([Greek: hoi de tên te -agoran katelabon, houper hoi polloi ôkoun autôn, kai ton limena ton -pros autê kai pros tên êpeiron êpeiron]). This district marks out the -haven by Kastrades, looking out on the Albanian mountains, as -distinguished from the Hyllaic haven shut in by the hills of Korkyra -itself. - -But where was the Hêraion, the temple of Hêrê, which plays a part in -more than one of the Thucydidean narratives? and where was the island -opposite to the Hêraion--[Greek: pros to Hêraion]--and the isle of -Ptychia, both of which appear in his history? The answer to the former -question seems to turn on another. Was the present citadel, the true -[Greek: Koryphô], itself always an island, as it is now? The present -channel is artificial--that is to say, it is made artificial by -fortifications--but it may after all have been a natural channel -improved by art. And that is the belief of some of the best Corfiote -antiquaries. If so, this may well be the [Greek: nêsos pros to -Hêraion], and Ptychia may be the isle of Vido beyond. The Hêraion -would thus stand on the north side of the old Korkyra, looking towards -the modern city; it would stand in the oligarchic quarter on the low -ground near the _agora_. It was therefore neither of the two temples -of which traces remain. One, of which the walls can be traced out -nearly throughout, and of which a single broken Doric column is -standing, overlooks the open sea towards Epeiros. Another on the other -side overlooked the Hyllaic harbour. This in course of time became a -church, a now ruined church, but which keeps large parts of its -Hellenic walls and some windows of beautiful Byzantine brickwork. It -seems hardly possible in any case that the Hêraion could have been at -quite the further end of the peninsula, and that the island [Greek: -pros to Hêraion] could be either of the small islands, each containing -a church, which keep the entrance of the Hyllaic harbour. - -Such then was old Korkyra, the colony of Chersikratês, the Korkyra -which figures in the tale of Periandros, the Korkyra which played such -a doubtful part in the Persian War, which gained so fearful a name in -the Peloponnesian War, and which, within two generations, had so -thoroughly recovered itself that in the days of Timotheos it struck -both friends and enemies by its wealth and flourishing state. It is -the Korkyra of Pyrrhos and Agathoklês, the Korkyra which formed one of -the first stepping-stones for the Roman to make his way to the -Hellenic continent, the Korkyra whose history goes on till the wasting -inroad of Totilas. Then, as we hold, ancient Korkyra on its peninsula -began to give way to Koryphô (Corfu) on another peninsula or island, -that to which the two peaks which form its most marked feature gave -its name. - - * * * * * - - [Illustration: CHURCHES AT CORFU.] - -This last is the Corfu whose fate seems to have been to become the -possession of every power which has ruled in that quarter of the -world, with one exception. For fourteen hundred years the history of -the island is the history of endless changes of masters. We see it -first a nominal ally, then a direct possession, of Rome and of -Constantinople; we then see it formed into a separate Byzantine -principality, conquered by the Norman lord of Sicily, again a -possession of the Empire, then a momentary possession of Venice, again -a possession of the Sicilian kingdom under its Angevin kings, till at -last it came back to Venetian rule, and abode for four hundred years -under the Lion of Saint Mark. Then it became part of that first -strange Septinsular Republic of which the Tzar was to be the protector -and the Sultan the overlord. Then it was a possession of France; then -a member of the second Septinsular Republic under the hardly disguised -sovereignty of England; now at last it is the most distant, but one of -the most valuable, of the provinces of the modern Greek kingdom. But -Corfu has never for a moment been under the direct rule of the Turk. -The proudest memory in the later history of the island is the defeat -of the Turks in 1716. Peloponnêsos, the conquest of Morosini, had -again been lost, and the Turk deemed that he might again carry his -conquests into the Western seas. The city was besieged by land and -sea; the two fleets, Christian and infidel, stretched across the -narrow channel between the island and the mainland, the left wing of -the Turkish fleet resting strangely enough on Venetian Butrinto, while -the ships of Venice and her allies stretched from Vido to the Albanian -shore. The statue of Schulemberg, set up as an unparalleled honour in -his lifetime, adorns the esplanade of the city which he saved. Unless -we count the Turkish acquisition of the Venetian points on the -mainland, which, though done under the cover of a treaty, took at -Prevesa at least the form of an actual conquest, this was the last -great attempt of the Turk to extend his dominion by altogether fresh -conquests at the expense of any Christian power. - -Korkyra thus gave way to Corfu, and the endless fortifications of -Corfu of every date were largely built out of the remains of Korkyra -which supplied so convenient a quarry. None but an accomplished -military engineer could attempt to give an account of the remains of -all the fortifications, Venetian and English, dismantled, ruined, or -altogether blown up. But the kingdom of which Corfu now forms a part -still keeps the insular citadel, the outline of the two peaks being -sadly disfigured by the needs of modern military defence. Of the -modern city there is but little to say. As becomes a city which was so -long a Venetian possession, the older part of it has much of the -character of an Italian town. It is rich in street arcades; but they -present but few architectural features, and we find none of those -various forms of ornamental window, so common, not only in Venice and -Verona, but in Spalato, Cattaro, and Traü. The churches in the modern -city are architecturally worthless. They are interesting so far as -they will give to many their first impression of Orthodox arrangement -and Orthodox ritual. The few ecclesiastical antiquities of the place -belong to the elder city. The suburb of the lower slope of the hill -contains three churches, all of them small, but each of which has an -interest of its own. Of one, known as [Greek: hê Panagia tôn -blachernôn], we have already spoken; another, known specially as Our -Lady of _Oldbury_ ([Greek: hê Panagia palaiopoleôs]), is unattractive -enough from any point from which the spectator is likely to see it. -Its form is by courtesy called basilican; but, if so, it is like the -basilica of Trier, without columns or arches. Within it is a dreary -building enough, but it presents one object of interest in a -side-altar, a Latin intrusion into the Orthodox fabric. But the west -end is one of the most memorable things to be found in Corfu or -anywhere else. Two columns, not of the usual early Doric of the -island, but with floriated capitals, though not exactly Corinthian, -are built into the wall with a piece of their entablature. On this is -graven a Christian inscription, which is given in an inaccurate shape -by Mustoxidi (_Delle cose Corciresi_, p. 405), who has further -improved the spelling. The spelling is in truth after the manner of -Liudprand and the modern shoe-makers of Corfu, and is therefore -instructive. At the top come the words of the Psalmist; "This is the -gate of the Lord; the _writeous_ shall enter into it":--[Greek: hautê -hê pylê tou Kyriou, dikeoi eiseleusontai en autê.] Below come four -hexameters:-- - - [Greek: pistin echôn basilian emôn meneôn sunerithon, - soi makar hypsimedon tond' hieron ektisa naon, - Hellênôn temenê kai bômous exalapaxas, - cheiros ap' outidanês Iobianos edôken anakti.] - -Who was this Jovianus? Clearly a Christian as zealous as his Imperial -namesake; for he cannot be the Emperor himself, as some have thought. -He thought it glory and not shame to destroy the works of the -Gentiles--the [Greek: Hellênes]--and to turn them to the service of -the royal faith. But are we to take the "royal faith" in the same -sense as the "royal law" of the New Testament? or does it mean the -"royal faith," as being set up under some orthodox Emperor, when the -orthodoxy of Emperors was still a new thing? Anyhow the plunderer of -Gentile temples and altars could not keep himself from something of -the Gentile in the ring and the language of his verses. And had he -made use of his spoil to rear a basilica like those of Constantine and -Theodoric, we should, from a wider view than that of the mere -classical antiquary, have but little right to blame him. The rest of -the columns, besides the two that are left, would have well relieved -the bareness of his interior; better still would it have been if Saint -Peter _ad Vincula_ had found a rival in two arcades formed out of the -Doric columns whose fragments lie about at Corfu, almost as Corinthian -and Composite fragments lie about at Rome. The third church, that -which professes to be the oldest in the island, that which bears the -name of the alleged apostles of the island, the Jasôn and Sosipatros -of the New Testament, is a more successful work. Brought to its -present form about the twelfth century by the priest Stephen, as is -recorded in two inscriptions on its west front, it is, allowing for -some modern disfigurements, an admirable specimen of a small Byzantine -church. It will remind him who comes by way of Dalmatia of old friends -at Zara, Spalato, and Traü; but it has the advantage over them of -somewhat greater size, and of standing free and detached, so that the -outline of its cross, its single central cupola and its three apses, -may be well seen. This church, like most in the neighbourhood, has a -bell-gable--[Greek: kôdônostasion]--with arches for three bells, of a -type which seems to be found of all ages from genuine Byzantine to -late _Renaissance_. - - [Illustration: SAINT JASON AND SAINT SOSIPATROS, CORFU.] - -To go back to earlier times, the museum of Corfu contains an -inscription, [Greek: boustrophêdon] inscription, rivalling that of -Menekratês in its archaism, attached to a Doric capital, of far later -workmanship, one would have thought, than the inscription. The -building art had clearly outstripped the writing art. The military -cemetery contains some beautiful Greek sepulchral sculptures from -various quarters, not all Korkyraian. And at some distance from the -city, near the shore of Benizza--a name of Slavonic sound--is a Roman -ruin with mosaics and hypocaust, whose bricks we think Mr. Parker -would rule to be not older than Diocletian. In Corfu such a monument -seems at first sight to be out of place. For Hellenic remains, for -Venetian remains, we naturally look; still it is well to have -something of an intermediate day, something to remind us of the long -ages which passed between the revolutions recorded by Polybios and the -revolutions recorded by Nikêtas. - - - - -CORFU TO DURAZZO. - -1881. - - -We start again from Corfu, and this time our course is northward. A -survey of Greece as Greece would lead us southward and eastward. So -would even a complete survey of the subject lands of Venice. For that -we must go on to the rest of the western islands, to not a few points -in the Ægæan, to the greater islands of Euboia and Crete, to Saint -Mark's own realm of Cyprus, which the Evangelist so strangely -inherited from his daughter and her son. Not a few points of -Peloponnêsos for some ages, all Peloponnêsos for a few years, Athens -itself for a moment, comes within the same range. We might write the -history of Argos from the Venetian point of view, a point of view -which would shut out the history of Mykênê, and would look on Tiryns -only as _Palai-Nauplia_, the precursor of Napoli di Romania. But no -man could journey through Greece itself with Venice in this way in his -thoughts. Far older, far nobler, memories would press upon him at -every moment. The mediæval history of Greece is a subject which -deserves far more attention than it commonly gets, and in that history -Venice plays a prominent part. But it is hard, in a Greek journey, to -make the mediæval history primary, and even in the mediæval history -Venice is only one element among others. A large part of Greece fairly -comes under the head of the Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice; but -we cannot bring ourselves to make that the chief aspect in which we -look at them. It is otherwise with the Dalmatian and Albanian -possessions of the Republic. There, though other points of view are -possible, yet the special Venetian point of view is one which may be -both easily and fairly taken. So too with Corfu; thoroughly Greek as -the island is, it still lies on the very verge of continuous Greece. -In its history and geography it is closely connected with the more -northern possessions of the Republic; its Venetian side is at least as -important as any other side; we can without an effort bring ourselves -to treat it in a way in which we could hardly bring ourselves to treat -Argos. We can then fairly take Corfu into our special Venetian survey; -but we can hardly venture to carry that survey further. The rest of -Greece, though it has its Venetian side, though it is important that -its Venetian side should not be forgotten, can never be looked on in -this way as an appendage to the Hadriatic commonwealth. We cannot go -through the earliest homes of European civilization and freedom, and -keep our mind mainly fixed even on the days when Rome had made them -members of her Empire, and when their influence had gone far to make -the later power of Rome at least as much Greek as Roman. Still less -can we go through them with our mind mainly fixed on the days when so -large part of Greece had passed under the rule of a city which was in -truth a revolted member of the Empire which it helped to split in -pieces. - -We start then again from Corfu, with our faces turned towards our old -haunts among the Illyrian coasts and islands. In so doing, we pass for -a while out of the Christian and civilized world, to skirt along the -coasts where Europe is still in bondage to Asia. The wrong is an old -one, as old as the days when Herodotus put on record how Greek cities -for the first time passed under the rule of a barbarian master. From -his day, from times long before his day, from the days of Agamemnôn, -perhaps from the days of the brave men who lived before him, the same -long strife has been going on, the same "eternal Eastern question" has -been awaiting its "solution." And nowhere does that abiding struggle -come more fully home to us than in the lands where the Eastern -question has become a Western question. The Greek cities whose bondage -to the barbarian was recorded by Herodotus were Greek cities on -barbarian ground. They were outposts of Europe on the soil of Asia; -they were spots in winning which the Asiatic might deem that he was -winning back his own. And after all, the barbarian whose conquest of -the Greek cities of Asia marks one important stage in this long -strife, was a barbarian of another kind from the barbarians whom -European lands have in later times been driven to receive as masters. -Croesus worshipped the Gods of Greece, and Greek poets sang his -praises. It may even be that the Lydian, like the Persian who -succeeded him, was not a barbarian at all in the strictest sense, but -that there was some measure of kindred, however distant, between him -and his European subjects. It is another kind of master, another kind -of bondage, which has fallen to the lot of the lands along whose coast -we are now sailing. Here we do indeed see the West in bondage to the -East, we do indeed see Europe on her own soil bowed down beneath the -yoke of Asia. We pass by coasts which look to the setting sun no less -than our own island, but which the Asiatic intruder still holds -beneath the yoke,--over some of which he has pressed the yoke for the -first time within the memory of living men. On these coasts at least -we think of Venice only in her nobler character. Here indeed every -island, every headland, which owned her rule, was something saved from -the grasp of the enemy; it was indeed a brand plucked from the -burning. As we sail northward, we leave spots behind us, memorable in -past times, memorable some of them in our own day. We leave behind us -Prevesa, where, till almost within our own century, Saint Mark still -held his own, hard by the City of Victory of the first Emperor. We -remember how Prevesa was torn away from Christendom by the arms of Ali -of Jôannina, and how within the last three years freedom has been -twice promised to her but never given. We leave behind us more famous -Parga, where, within the lifetime of many of us, stout hearts could -still maintain their freedom, in the teeth alike of barbarian force -and of European diplomacy--Parga, whose banished sons bore with them -the bones of their fathers rather than leave them to be trampled on by -the feet of the misbelievers. There must be men still living who had -their share in that famous exodus, and who have lived to see Europe -first decree that their land should be again set free, and then thrust -it back again beneath the yoke. We leave behind us Butrinto, happier -at least in this, that there no promise of later days has been broken. -There we have passed the point beyond which assembled Europe ruled -that even the dreams of freedom might go no further. And as we sail -between the home of freedom and the house of bondage, our thoughts -overleap the mountain wall. They fly to the heights where Souli, -birth-place of Botzarês, is left to the foes against whom it so long -and so stoutly strove. They fly to Jôannina, so long the home of light -and comparative freedom amid surrounding darkness and bondage, but -which now, instead of receiving the twice-promised deliverance, is -again thrust back into bondage for a while. We pass on by the High -Thunderpeaks, fencing in the land of Chimara, famous in the wars of -Ali. We double the promontory of Glôssa, and find ourselves in the -deep bay of Aulôn, Aulona, Valona, with the town itself high on its -hill, guarding the entrance to the gulf from the other side. Here is a -true hill-city, unlike Korkyra, unlike even Buthrotum; but while -Korkyra and Buthrotum, each on its shore, has each its history, Aulôn -on its height has none. We pass by the mouths of the great Illyrian -rivers, by Aoos and Apsos, and we leave between them the place where -once stood Apollonia, another of the paths by which Rome made her way -into the Eastern world. At last we find ourselves in another bay, -wider, but not so deep as the bay of Aulôn. Here we look out on what -remains of a city whose earlier name dwells in the memory of every -reader of the greatest of Greek historians, a city whose later name, -famous through a long series of revolutions, ought to be ever fresh in -the minds of Englishmen, as having become by a strange destiny the -scene of one stage of the same struggle as Senlac and York and Ely. -The city on which we look was, under its elder name of Epidamnos, that -famous colony of Korkyra which gave an occasion for the Peloponnesian -war. Under its later name of Dyrrhachion or Durazzo it beheld -Englishmen and Normans meet in arms, when Englishmen driven from their -homes had found a shelter and an honourable calling in the service of -the Eastern Cæsar. - -The city on which we gaze, though it is only by a figure that we can -be said to gaze on the original Epidamnos, is one of those cities -which, without ever holding any great place themselves, without being -widely ruling cities, without exercising any direct influence on the -course of the world's history, have given occasion for the greatest -events through their relations to cities and powers greater than -themselves. Under none of its names was Epidamnos the peer of Corinth -in the elder state of things, or of Venice in the later. Yet events of -no small moment came of the relations between Epidamnos and Corinth, -of the relations between Durazzo and Venice. Greater events still came -of the relations between Dyrrhachion and Rome. The three names, though -of course the third is a simple corruption of the second, are -convenient to mark three periods in the history of the place, just as -one of the great Sicilian cities is conveniently spoken of at three -stages of its life as Akragas, Agrigentum, and Girgenti. When and how -the name changed from Epidamnos to Dyrrhachion is not clear, nor are -the reasons given for the change satisfactory. In practice, Epidamnos -is its old Greek name, Dyrrhachion its Roman, Durazzo its mediæval -name. But the name Dyrrhachion can be Roman only in usage; the word -itself is palpably Greek. In strictness it seems that Epidamnos was -the name of the city, and Dyrrhachion the name of the peninsula on -which the city was built. The change then has some analogy with the -process by which the tribal names in northern Gaul have displaced the -elder names of their chief cities, or with the change among ourselves -by which Kingston-on-Hull, as it is still always called in formal -writings, is in common speech always spoken of as "Hull." Anyhow, -under Roman rule, the name of Dyrrhachion altogether displaced -Epidamnos. The new name gradually came to be mispelled or Latinized -into _Durachium_ and _Duracium_, and, in that state, it supplied the -material for more than one play upon words. When Robert Wiscard came -against it, he said that the city might indeed be _Duracium_, but that -he was a _dour_ man (_durus_) and knew how to _endure_ (_durare_). The -Norman made his way by this path into the Eastern lands, as the Roman -had done before him; but as his course was quicker, his stay was -shorter. Epidamnos, along with Apollônia and Korkyra, were the first -possessions of Rome east of the Hadriatic. They were possessions of -the ruling city where dominion was for a long time disguised under the -name of alliance. But, under whatever name, Rome, Old and New, held -them till the Norman came. But the Norman did not hold them till the -Venetian came. In a few years after the coming of Robert Wiscard, -Durazzo and Corfu were again cities of the Eastern Empire. - -Amidst all the revolutions which this little peninsula has gone -through, one law seems to hold. Under all its names, it has had in a -marked way what we may call a colonial life, in the modern sense of -the word _colonial_. It has ever been an outpost of some other power, -of whatever power has been strongest in those seas, and it has been an -outpost ever threatened by the elder races of the mainland. Herein -comes one of the differences between this Albanian coast and the -Dalmatian coast further north. The Roman Peace took in all; but in the -days before and after the Roman Peace, the settlements of Corinth, -Venice, or any other colonizing and civilizing power, along the coast -of which Durazzo was the centre, were merely scattered outposts. There -never was that continuous fringe of a higher culture, Italian or -Greek, which spread along the whole coast further north. As a colony, -an isolated colony, Epidamnos or Durazzo was always exposed to the -attacks of barbarian neighbours. And in this land the barbarian -neighbours have always been the same. The old Illyrian, the Albanian, -the Arnaout, the Skipetar--call him by whichever name we will--has -here lived on through all changes. He has indeed a right to look on -Greek, Roman, Norman, Angevin, Servian, Venetian, and Ottoman, as -alike intruders within his own immemorial land. It was danger from the -Illyrian that led to the disputes which open the history of -Thucydides, when Corinth and Korkyra fought over their common colony. -It was danger from the Illyrian which drove Epidamnos into the arms of -Rome. It was the Illyrian under his new name who in the fourteenth -century for a moment made Durazzo the head of a national state, the -capital of a short-lived kingdom of Albania. Twice conquered by the -Normans of Apulia and Sicily, twice by their Angevin successors, -granted as part of a vassal kingdom by the Norman and as a vassal -duchy by the Angevin, twice won by the Venetian commonwealth, held by -the despots of Epeiros, by the restored Emperors of Constantinople, by -the kings of Servia, by the native kings of Albania, no city has had a -more varied succession of foreign masters; but, save in the days of -the old Epidamnian commonwealth and in the days of the momentary -Albanian kingdom, it has always had a foreign master of some kind. -But in the endless succession of strangers which this memorable spot -has seen, as masters, as invaders, as defenders, it is the Englishman -and the Venetian who can look with most satisfaction on their share in -its long history. Englishmen had the honour of guarding the spot for -the Eastern Cæsar; Venice had the honour of being the last Christian -champion to guard it against the Ottoman Sultan. - - * * * * * - -We stand then gazing from our ship on what is left of the city which -Robert Wiscard crossed the sea to conquer, which Alexios came with his -motley host to defend, and to find that in all that host the men whom -he could best trust were the English exiles. There, as in their own -island, the English axe and the Norman lance clashed together; there -the stout axemen alone stayed to die, while the other soldiers of the -Eastern Rome, the Greek, the Turk, and the Slave, all turned to fly -around their Emperor. We look out, and we long to know the site of the -church of Saint Michael, which our countrymen so stoutly guarded, till -the Normans, Norman-like, took to their favourite weapon of fire. But -may we confess to the weakness of looking at all these things only -from the deck of the steamer? Perhaps there are some who may be -forgiven if they shrink from thrusting themselves alone, with no -native or experienced guide, into the jaws of the present masters of -Durazzo. They may be the more forgiven when those who have the care of -their vessel and its temporary inhabitants utter warnings against any -but the most stout-hearted trusting themselves to the boats which form -the only means of reaching the Dyrrhachian peninsula. Strengthened in -weakness by such counsels, there seems a kind of magnanimity in the -resolution to abide in the ship, to say that we have landed at free -Corfu, that we shall land at recovered Antivari, but that we will not -betweenwhiles set foot on any soil where the Turk still reigns. And -the time of distant gazing is not wasted. Without risking ourselves -either on Turkish ground or on the rough waves of the Epidamnian bay, -a fair general view of the city may be had from the steamer. The wide -curve of the bay has for the most part a flat shore, with a background -of mountains in the distant landscape. Towards the north-west corner, -a promontory of a good height, backed by a comb-like range of peaks, -rises at once from the water. This is the peninsula of Dyrrhachion, -once crowned by the Epidamnian city. The modern town is seen on a -small part of the tower slope of the hill. The walls can be traced -through the greater part of their circuit; a huge round bastion by the -sea, more than one tower, round and square, teach us that Durazzo has -been strongly fortified. If we may eke out our own distant -impressions by the help of an old print showing what Durazzo was in -times past, we see that it was fortified indeed. We can recognize in -the picture most of the towers which we have seen with our own eyes, -and there is shown also another tower far greater, a huge square tower -of many stages, which no imagination of the artist can have devised -out of anything which now comes into the sea-view of the city. But -that view enables us to trace out a few buildings within the wall. We -mark the distinctive symbols of the two stranger forms of worship, -from the East and from the West, which have, each in its turn, -supplanted or dominated the native Church. The Latin church, with its -conspicuous bell-tower, carries on the traditions of Angevin and -Venetian rule; the mosque, with its more conspicuous minaret, speaks -of the more abiding dominion of the representative of the False -Prophet. The native church meanwhile lurks significantly unseen in the -general view. Our teacher on board our ship assures us that Durazzo is -not without an Orthodox place of worship; but he cannot point out its -whereabouts. - -And it may be that it is no common anniversary on which we look out on -the land which has passed into bondage. Looked at by the evening light -of the twenty-ninth day of May, the group of buildings at Durazzo, -alike by what is present to the eye and by what is absent, brings to -the mind the fate of a greater city than Durazzo was in its proudest -day. It makes us muse how, after four hundred and eight and twenty -years, we have still to repeat the Psalmist's words: "O God, the -heathen have come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they -defiled, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones." Durazzo has not -indeed, like some other cities under the yoke, sunk to a heap of -stones; but it is easy to see how the Turkish town has shrunk up -within the Venetian walls, and again how narrow must be the circuit of -Venetian Durazzo compared with the Epidamnos of the days of -Thucydides, or even with the Dyrrhachion beneath whose walls our -banished kinsmen so well maintained the cause of the Eastern Augustus. -For the church that they so stoutly defended we need not say that it -is vain to look in such a Pisgah view of the city as is all that we -can take. But to the left of the present wall, where the hill soars, -one stage upon another, far above the height of Durazzo that now is, -we must surely place the site of the akropolis of the old Korkyraian -settlers. Such a post, looking over the wide bay and commanding its -mouth, would be just what would commend itself to the Greek colonists -for the site of their new stronghold, while the lower city would -naturally be spread over the more sheltered ground which holds all -that is left of Durazzo under the rule of the Turk. Pausanias indeed -implies that there had been a change of site before his time, that the -Dyrrhachion of his day did not stand on exactly the same ground as the -elder Epidamnos. No doubt the loftier site was the older; men came -down from the hill-top as they did at Athens and Corinth. Thus much -the passing stranger can see of this historic spot, even without -setting his foot on the soil which the barbarian has torn away from -Christendom. His course will bear him on to the place of his next -halt, to the spot which, only a few months back, was the last soil -which Christendom had won back from the barbarian. Since then, if -another land has been denied the promised freedom, in a third the boon -has been actually bestowed. And we may comfort ourselves by thinking -that, while the shame of what is left undone belongs to others, the -praise of what is done belongs to our own land only. We may comfort -ourselves too by further thinking that right and freedom are powers -which have an awkward way, when they have taken the inch, of going on -to take the ell. The wise men whose wisdom consists in living -politically from hand to mouth, are again crying out against -"re-opening the Eastern question." In sailing along the shores, in -scanning their history in past and present times, we feel how deep a -truth was casually uttered in the shallow sneer which called that -question "eternal." We feel how vain is the dream of those who think -that this or that half-measure has solved it. As we gaze on enslaved -Durazzo, with free Greece behind us, with free Montenegro before -us--as we run swiftly in our thoughts over the long history of the -spot--as we specially call up the deeds of our own countrymen on the -shore on which we look--we feel that something indeed has been done, -but that there is yet much more to do. Before us, behind us, are lands -to which England, and England only, has given freedom. A day must come -when, what England has done for Corfu, for Arta, and for Dulcigno, she -must do for Jôannina and for Durazzo. - - - - -ANTIVARI. - -1881. - - -We wind up our course with one more of the once subject cities of -Venice, one where we can hardly say that we are any longer following -in Norman footsteps, but whose history stands apart from the history -of Dalmatia and Istria, while it has much in common with our last -halting place. But here the main interest belongs to our own day. It -is with new and strange feelings that we look out on a land which, -when we last passed by it, was still clutched tight in the grasp of -the barbarian, but to which we can now give the new and thrilling name -of the sea-coast of Tzernagora. And yet it is with mingled feelings -that we gaze. We rejoice in the victories, in the extension, of the -unconquered principality, the land which has shown itself a surer -"bulwark 'gainst the Ottomite" than Hungary or Poland, or even Venice, -ever proved. We rejoice that the warriors of the mountain, long shut -in by force and fraud, have again, with their own right hands, cut -their way to their own sea. And yet we feel that, though the sea to -which they have cut their way is truly their own sea, their own -ancient heritage, yet the coast and the havens which they have won are -not the coast and the havens which they should have won. If all had -their own, Dulcigno, Antivari, and the ewe lamb which the rich man -stole at Spizza, would be the havens of the free Albanian, while the -free Slave would have his outlet to the Hadriatic waters at his own -Cattaro and at Ragusa too. In such an ideal state of things, the -present lord of Cattaro and Ragusa might reign peaceably and -harmlessly in the duchy of his grandmothers, happy in deliverance from -the curses of those whom he now keeps back from union with the -brethren whom they love and with the one prince whom they acknowledge. -The Montenegrin, in short, kept back by wrong from winning his way to -the sea by peaceful union with those who yearn for his presence, has -been driven to win his way to the sea by the conquest of lands which -were once the heritage of his race, but from which his race has now -passed away. Forbidden to be the deliverer of the Slave, he has been -forced to be the conqueror of the Albanian. The Albanian Mussulman -himself has practically gained by being conquered; still, as we said, -if every one had his own, arrangements would be different. The blame -indeed lies, not with the people who extend their borders when to -extend their border is a matter of national life, but with those who, -not in the interest of any people, nation, or language, but in the -private interest of their own family estate, sit by to hinder them -from extending their borders in the right way. We rejoice then as we -look for the first time on the sea-coast of Montenegro; but we mourn -that the sea-coast of Montenegro lies where it does and not elsewhere. -We mourn too that the enlargement of Christendom, the falling back of -Islam, has been bought only by the destruction of an ancient and -beautiful city from which the memorials at least of Christendom had -not wholly passed away. - -Antibaris, Antivari, in the tongues of the land, _Bar_ and _Tivari_, -is perhaps rather to be understood as meaning "the Bari on the other -side" than "the city opposite Bari." But there is no doubt that its -name contains, in one way or another, a reference to the more famous -Bari, "Barium piscosum," on the other side of the Hadriatic. And -Antivari is the opposite to Bari in a sense which was certainly not -meant; no two sites can well be more unlike one another than the sites -of Bari and of Antivari. The Apulian Bari lies low on a flat shore, -with not so much as a background of hills; the Albanian Bari crowns a -height, with a wall of more soaring heights on each side of it. The -Apulian Bari had no chance of occupying such a position as this; the -marked difference between the two coasts of the Hadriatic forbade it. -But the site of Antivari is hardly less unlike most of the other sites -on its own coast. Zara, Salona and its successor Spalato, Epidauros -and its successor Ragusa, Cattaro, Durazzo, and a crowd of others of -lesser name, are none of them placed on heights. Some of them nestle -immediately at the foot of the mountain; some have thrown out their -defences, older or newer, some way up the side of the mountain; in -none is the city itself perched high on the hills. For a parallel to -Antivari on this coast we have to go back to the mountain citadel of -Aulona. The position and the name of Antivari seem to point to a state -of things differing both from the days of the Greek and Roman -foundations, and from the days of the cities which arose to shelter -their fugitives in the day of overthrow. Long Salona stood low on the -shore; the house of Jovius stood low on the shore also; it did not -come into the head of the founders of either to plant city or palace -on the height of Clissa. When Antivari arose, it would seem that men -had gone back to that earlier state of things which planted the oldest -Argos, even the oldest Corinth, on mountain peaks some way from their -own coasts. The inaccessible height had again come to be looked on as -a source of strength. Antivari may take its place alongside of the -mediæval Syra, the Latin town covering its own peaked hill--a _mons -acutus_, a Montacute, by the shore--while the oldest and the newest -Hermoupolis lies on the shore at its feet. The town does not even look -down at once on the haven; it has to be reached in a manner sideways -from the haven. It is true indeed that the sea has gone back, that the -plain at the foot of the mountains between the town and the shore was -smaller than it now is, even in times not far removed from our own. -But Antivari was never as Cattaro; it always stood on a height, with -some greater or less extent of level ground between the town and its -own haven. - -The city thus placed has gone through its full share of the -revolutions of the eastern coasts of the Hadriatic. Once a -commonwealth under the protection of the Servian kings and tzars, it -came late under Venetian rule. But it remained under that rule down to -a later time than any other of the possessions of the Republic on this -coast, save those which came within the actual Dalmatian border and -those detached points further to the south which have a history of -their own in common with the so-called Ionian Islands. It was for a -while in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, what Budua was for so -long afterwards, the furthest point of the continuous rule of Saint -Mark, a city which remained part of Christendom after Durazzo and -Skodra had passed into the hands of the infidel. In earlier times, -when Antivari had a separate being, its tendency was rather to a -connexion with Ragusa than with Venice. Ragusa, though the nearer of -the rivals, was the weaker, the less likely to change alliance or -protection into dominion. Antivari too, like most other -city-commonwealths, had its patricians and plebeians, its disputes -between the privileged and the non-privileged order. As the justice of -either side at home was distrusted, it was agreed that the decision of -some classes of causes should be referred to the courts of Ragusa. -Such a settlement, though taking another and more dangerous form, is -the same in principle as the favourite Italian custom of choosing a -foreign _podestà_, as the earlier usage by which cities which had won -their independence in all other points were still willing to receive a -criminal judge of the Emperor's naming. In all these cases alike, the -stranger is looked on as more likely than the native to deal out -even-handed justice amid the disputes and rivalries of persons and -parties. - -Though Antivari stands on a hill, it does not crown any such height as -those of Cortona or Akrokorinthos, nor does it call for any such -journey as that which leads to the spot which masters of the -high-polite style will now doubtless call its "metropolis" at -Tzetinje. It stands on an advanced point among the mountains, one -easily commanded from higher points, as was soon found in the siege -of 1877. A road of no astonishing steepness leads us up to the -town--or more strictly to its ruins. We look down on a church in the -valley, whose air proclaims it as belonging to the Orthodox communion; -and that church seems to be the only untouched building within sight. -It is not till we get within the walls that we take in the full -measure of the destruction which has been wrought; but the first -glance shows that Antivari has suffered not a little from the warfare -of our own times. The walls and towers are there; but we see that they -fence in only roofless buildings; the mosques, with their minarets, -several of them shattered, remind us that we are drawing near to a -city which has been won for Christendom from Islam, as a nearer view -reminds us that it is a city which had before been won for Islam from -Christendom. We halt at a small _café_ outside the walls, where we -receive a friendly greeting from the representatives of Montenegrin -authority in the new conquest. Here too is the club and reading-room -of Antivari, supplied with newspapers in the Slavonic, Italian, and -Turkish tongues; the really prevailing speech of the district, the -immemorial Skipetar or Albanian, hardly boasts of a representative in -the press. Here too are gathered a few fragments from the ruins, a few -capitals, sculptures, and inscriptions, all or most of Venetian -times. Among them is the winged lion himself, and the epitaph of a -local dignitary who bears the very English-sounding title of "justitia -pacis." Even among ourselves embodied righteousness sometimes takes -the same abstract form, instead of the more mortal and fleshly -"justitiarius." A slight descent and a steep ascent leads us through a -rebuilt suburb, which now forms the only part of Antivari which serves -as a dwelling-place of man. A line of shops, or rather booths, -supplies the needs of the neighbouring people, among whom Christians -and Mussulmans, Slaves and Albanians, seem pretty equally mingled. A -Montenegrin sentinel, whose national coat must once have been whiter -than it now is, guards the gate, a Venetian gate where inscriptions in -the Arabic character record the dominion of the late masters of -Antivari. We enter, we gaze around, we climb a tower for a better -view, and we look on a scene of havoc which is startling to men of -peaceful lives, and which, one would think, must be unusual even in -the experience of men of the sword. We believe that we are speaking -the truth when we say that every building within the enclosed space -has become uninhabitable; certainly not one seemed to be inhabited. -This destruction is indeed not wholly the immediate result of the -siege. A powder-magazine was afterwards struck by lightning, and its -explosion destroyed whatever the siege had spared. But the havoc -wrought by the siege itself must have been fearful. Antivari is as -strictly a collection of ruins, and of nothing but ruins, as Ninfa at -the foot of the Volscian hills, looking up at the mighty walls of -Norba. But Ninfa was simply forsaken some ages back. Its inhabitants -fled from an unhealthy site, and left their houses, churches, and -military defences, to crumble away. But at Antivari we see the work of -destruction in our own day, almost at the present moment. Four years -back, the traveller passing along the Albanian coast was shown where -Antivari, then an inhabited town, nestled among its rocks. The war was -then raging inland; the Montenegrin was then defending his own heights -against Turkish invasion; he had not yet come down to win back a -fragment of his ancient coast from one of the two intruders who kept -him from it. The traveller comes again; this time he does not only -look from afar, but examines on the spot with his own eyes. But he -finds only the shattered fragments of what four years before was a -city of men. - -And, small as Antivari must have been even in its most flourishing -times, it is no mean city that it must have been. It must be -remembered that Antivari, though it was a Mussulman town under Turkish -rule, was never in any strict sense a Turkish town. Its history is -that of Albania generally, as it is the history of large classes of -men in Bosnia. Antivari was easily won by the Turk, and it remained in -the hands of its old inhabitants, Christian Albanians and Venetian -settlers. Gradually, for the sake of their temporal interests, they -conformed outwardly to the religion of their conquerors, and so passed -from the subject to the ruling order. At first, this was a mere -outward conformity for worldly ends; men still hoped that some chance -of warfare would bring back the rule of Saint Mark. If so, they were -ready to return to the faith which they still secretly held. But the -happy revolution never came; new generations sprang up with whom Islam -was an hereditary creed, and Antivari became a Mussulman city. But it -never became a Turkish city. The descendants of the once Christian -inhabitants lived on in their fathers' houses, and worshipped in the -same temples as their fathers, though they were now turned to the use -of another faith. Each church had a minaret added, and it became a -mosque. In most cases of Mahometan conquest, the conquerors took the -head church of the city as a trophy of their own faith, but left the -subject Christians in possession of one or more of the lesser -churches. So, in this same region, it was at Durazzo; so it was at -Trebinje; in both there was a church, or more than one, within the -walls. Here at Antivari, as the inhabitants gradually embraced Islam, -all the churches became mosques; and thus, for the very reason that -there was less of violent disturbance than in most cases of Turkish -conquest, Antivari, while never becoming Turkish, became more strictly -Mussulman than most cities under Turkish rule. The churches, or rather -their ruins, still stand, examples of the usual churches of the -country, none of them remarkable for size or antiquity or -architectural splendour; but still essentially churches, with their -fabrics untouched, save only the inevitable addition of the minaret. -Some of them even keep memorials of their earlier use of which one -would have expected Mussulman zeal to wipe out every trace as -monuments of idolatry. Intruding Turks or Saracens would doubtless -have done so; but the Mahometan descendants of the Christian citizens -of Antivari still felt a tenderness for the works of their -forefathers. Even pictures of Christian subjects have been spared. In -one case especially, in a church which does not seem ever to have been -a mosque, but, as having perhaps been a private chapel, to have formed -part of a private house, among other kindred pictures, the baptism of -our Lord in Jordan is still almost as clear as when the painter first -traced it on the wall. Old ancestral memories, perhaps the vague -feeling that after all a day of change might come--the feeling which -led Bosnian beys, while holding their Christian countrymen in bondage, -to keep Christian patents of nobility and even concealed objects of -Christian worship--were clearly stronger in Antivari than any strict -regard to the Mussulman law. - -And as it was with the churches, so it was with the houses. Antivari -never became, like Trebinje, a tumble-down Eastern town, nor, like -Butrinto, a collection of beggarly huts, not fit to be called a town -at all. It was a small, but well-built city, after the pattern of the -other cities on the eastern coast of the Hadriatic. There was clearly -no moment of general havoc; the Mussulman lived on in the house of his -Christian father. Some of those houses must have been still almost new -when their owners embraced the faith of their conquerors. At every -step we see among the shattered houses some pretty scrap, door or -window, of the style which we commonly call Venetian; we see some too -which belong to the confirmed _Renaissance_, and which can hardly be -older than the sixteenth century. One stately building indeed seems to -have perished. An old print of Antivari, in a book called _Viaggio da -Venetia a Costantinopoli_, a book without date but which has an air of -the sixteenth century, shows what is plainly meant for a municipal -palace, after the same general type as the bigger one at Venice and -the more beautiful one at Ragusa. It has arcades below and windows -above. Still as we tread, even in their state of ruin, the streets, -the little _piazze_, of what once was Antivari, we see that the city -perched on its Albanian height must have been no unworthy fellow of -its neighbours on the Dalmatian shore. - -It is sad that the enlargement of Europe and of Christendom, the -winning back of their ancient coast by the valiant warriors of the -Black Mountain, should have been bought only at such a price as the -destruction of this interesting and really beautiful little city. The -loss, it may be feared, cannot be repaired. A gently working hand -might possibly set up again the ruined houses and churches nearly as -they once were. Or it might at first sight seem a more obvious work to -forsake the ruined hill-town, and to build another by the haven, a new -Montenegrin Cattaro, to make up as far as may be for the city by the -_Bocche_ so cruelly torn away from its free brethren. But either -scheme seems to be forbidden by the growing unhealthiness of the spot. -The place has been for some while getting more and more -fever-stricken, and the disease has now--seemingly since the -siege--spread upwards to the hill-town itself. It is for medical -knowledge to judge whether, as is said to be the case in some parts -of the Roman _Campagna_, sudden colonization, the settlement of a -large number of new inhabitants at once, could do anything to check -the evil. Failing this chance, it would seem as if Antivari was doomed -utterly to perish. A new Montenegrin town and haven may arise, but not -on the site of the ancient town and haven of the eastern Bari. - -On whom rests the blame? Surely not on the conquerors, whose warfare -was waged in the noblest cause for which man can fight, for their -faith, their freedom, their national life, the extension of freedom -and national life to their brethren under the yoke. Nor can we say -that it rests with the men who fought against them, who, from their -own side, were fighting for faith and freedom and national life fully -as much. It rather rests with the dangerous neighbour of both, whose -very existence is founded on the trampling down of freedom and -national life among all its neighbours. It rests with the power which -takes care to strike no blows itself, but which knows how to suck no -small advantage from the blows which are struck by others on either -side. The ruin of Antivari is in truth the work, though the indirect -work, of the power hard by, the power which was not ashamed to stretch -forth its hand for such a spoil as Spizza, the hard-won earnings of -its poor neighbour. The guilt of ruined Antivari rests with those who -drove its conquerors to conquest in the wrong place by hindering them -from peaceful advance in the right place. It rests with those who -stirred up its defenders to a hopeless resistance by promises which -never were fulfilled. When we see how in 1878 Montenegro was allowed -to keep possession of ruined and almost worthless Antivari, but was -forced to give up its other comparatively flourishing conquests of -Spizza and Dulcigno, we better understand how the rule of doing as one -would be done by is looked on in the council-chamber of an Apostolic -King. And we see too, with some comfort, how England, as one of her -first national acts when England found herself once more under English -leadership, knew how to step in, with vigour and with patience, to -undo at least one part of the wrong which had been done. - - -THE END. - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, - STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches from the Subject and -Neighbour Lands of Venice, by Edward A. 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