Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 1.djvu/407

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

396 CAULFIELD remains of the magnificent temple of the Cnidian Venus built in the Corinthian order, of the purest Parian marble and which Praxiteles had enriched with the famous statu of the goddess, the most perfect production of his skil These precious monuments of classic architecture afforde a delightful treat to the travellers, and more especially t Lord Charlemont, whose cultivated taste taught hin t contemplate theim with ecstacy. They next visited the Isl of Cos, and thence Bodromi, and the splendid ruins of th once famous Halicarnassus, the capital of Caria; pro ceeding thence to Cynthus, now Thermia. On the 23rd o November they passed Egina, and entered the Piræus, an the following morning, with the permission of the governo of Attica, proceeded to the renowned city of Athens. O their approach to this celebrated capital, the first gran object of their attention was the temple of Theseus, whici aloue, in the opinion of Lord Charlemont, was worth th whole voyage. From this place they proceeded to th Morea, Thebes, Corinth, and the ancient Eubea; an returned to Athens on the 14th of December, 1749. From the harbour of Aulis, immortalised by the geniu of Homer and the muse of Euripides, they sailed on th 20th of January, 1750. On their voyage to Rhodes ane Malta, they encountered a tremendous storm, and ver narrowly escaped being lost. They at length arrived a Malta, and after a short quarantine of twenty-three days were allowed to land, and honoured by the grand master Don Emanuel Pinto, a Portuguese nobleman, and all the knights, with the most courteous and hospitable urbanity From Malta Lord C. and his friends returned to Italy where he resumed his exertions to become perfect in tha language, which he had cultivated with assiduity, and hi consummate. accuracy in which, aided by the polishe elegance of his mind and manners, rendered his inter highly acceptable to persons: of the first rank and accom plishments. At Turin he renewed bis intimacy with his former fellow-student, the Prince Royal of Sardinia, ther about to be married to a princess of Spain, and the pre