ns of human
vanity.

After passing through the hollow valley in which this monastic
habitation is situated, the road sharply turns round an elbow of the
mountain, and the Eleusinian plain opens immediately in front. It
is, however, for a plain, but of small dimensions. On the left is
the Island of Salamis, and the straits where the battle was fought;
but neither of it nor of the mysteries for which the Temple of Ceres
was for so many ages celebrated, has the poet given us description or
suggestion; and yet few topics among all his wild and wonderful
subjects were so likely to have furnished such "ample room, and verge
enough" to his fancy.

The next excursion in any degree interesting, it a qualification of
that kind can be applied to excursions, in Attica, was to Cape
Colonna. Crossing the bed of the Ilissus and keeping nearer to Mount
Hymettus, the travellers arrived at Vary, a farm belonging to the
monastery of Agios Asomatos, and under the charge of a caloyer. Here
they stopped for the night, and being furnished with lights, and
attended by the caloyer's servant as a guide, they proceeded to
inspect the Paneum, or sculptured cavern in that neighbourhood, into
which they descended. Having satisfied their curiosity there, they
proceeded, in the morning, to Keratea, a small town containing about
two hundred and fifty houses, chiefly inhabited by rural Albanians.

The wetness of the weather obliged them to remain several days at
Keratea, during which they took the opportunity of a few hours of
sunshine to ascend the mountain of Parne in quest of a cave of which
many wonderful things were reported in the country. Having found the
entrance, kindled their pine torches, and taken a supply of strips of
the same wood, they let themselves down through a narrow aperture;
creeping still farther down, they came into what seemed a large
subterranean hall, arched as it were with high cupolas of crystal,
and divided into long aisles by columns of glittering spar, in some
parts spread into wide horizontal chambers, in others terminated by
the dark mouths of deep and steep abysses receding into the interior
of the mountain.

The travellers wandered from one grotto to another until they came to
a fountain of pure water, by the side of which they lingered some
time, till, observing that their torches were wasting, they resolved
to return; but after exploring the labyrinth for a few minutes, they
found themselves again close