ising high above the other peaks of that
hilly region, and capped with snow. It probably was during this
first visit to Vostizza that the Address to Parnassus was suggested.

Oh, thou Parnassus! whom I now survey
Not in the frensy of a dreamer's eye,
Not in the fabled landscape of a lay,
But soaring snow-clad through thy native sky,
In the wild pomp of mountain majesty!
What marvel if I thus essay to sing?
The humblest of thy pilgrims passing by
Would gladly woo thine echoes with his string,
Though from thy heights no more one muse will wave her wing.

Oft have I dream'd of thee! whose glorious name
Who knows not, knows not man's divinest lore;
And now I view thee, 'tis, alas! with shame
That I in feeblest accents must adore.
When I recount thy worshippers of yore
I tremble, and can only bend the knee;
Nor raise my voice, nor vainly dare to soar,
But gaze beneath thy cloudy canopy
In silent joy, to think at last I look on thee.

CHAPTER XVI

Vostizza--Battle of Lepanto--Parnassus--Livadia--Cave at Trophonius--
The Fountains of Oblivion and Memory--Chaeronea--Thebes--Athens

Vostizza was then a considerable town, containing between three and
four thousand inhabitants, chiefly Greeks. It stands on a rising
ground on the Peloponnesian side of the Gulf of Corinth. I say
stands, but I know not if it has survived the war. The scenery
around it will always make it delightful, while the associations
connected with the Achaian League, and the important events which
have happened in the vicinity, will ever render the site interesting.
The battle of Lepanto, in which Cervantes lost his hand, was fought
within sight of it.

What a strange thing is glory! Three hundred years ago all
Christendom rang with the battle of Lepanto, and yet it is already
probable that it will only be interesting to posterity as an incident
in the life of one of the private soldiers engaged in it. This is
certainly no very mournful reflection to one who is of opinion that
there is no permanent fame, but that which is obtained by adding to
the comforts and pleasures of mankind. Military transactions, after
their immediate effects cease to be felt, are little productive of
such a result. Not that I value military virtues the less by being
of this opinion; on the contrary, I am the more convinced of their
excellence. Burke has unguardedly said, 'that vice loses half its
malignity