Picturesque sketches in Greece and Turkey

Chapter I. 0, The Ionian Islands

Sail down the Adriatic — Arrival at Corfu — Scenery of Corfu — Character and aspect of the Ionian Greeks — Town of Corfu — The palace of the Lord High Commissioner — A reception at the government-house — Prorogation of Parliament — University — Sunset at Corfu — Ancient remains — Temple of Neptune — Nereido Castro — Departure from Corfu — Paxos — Leucadia — Sappho's rock — Cephalonia — Zante — An English steamer . . . . . .13

Chapter II. From Patras To Athens

Missolonghi — Patras — An Albanian guide — Antiquities — Scenery between Patras and Vostizza — Lepanto — Territory of the Achaian League — English and Greek mountains — Site of Sicyon — Ancient remains — Robbers — Character of our Albanian guide — Corinth — The AcropoHs of Corinth — Ruins of temples — The Fountain of Peirene — Callimachi — Arrival before Athens . . .29

Chapter III. The Acropolis Of Athens

Relation of the Acropolis to Athens — Dimensions of the Acropolis — The walls of Themistocles — The Propylea — The Temple of " Victory without Wings" — The Parthenon — The Panathenaic procession — Fragmentary sculpture . . . . . .48

1*

Tl CONTENTS.

CHAPTER lY.

THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS.

Temple of Minerva Polias — The relics it once contained — The porch of the Caryatides — The theatre of Herodes Atticus — Cave of Pan — Cave of Aglaurus — Tragic theatre of Athens — The Acropolis as it once was —View from the Acropolis — Lycabettus — Spirit of Athenian religion.

CHAPTER Y.

ATHENS.

Temple of Jupiter Olympius — Practical benefit resulting from great national monuments- — The Ilissus — A rural festival near Athens 76

CHAPTER YI.

ATHENS.

Athens — The Stoa of Adrian— The gate of the Agora — The monument of Philopappus — Stadium — Temple of Theseus — Temple of the Winds — The lantern of Demosthenes — The Pnyx — The prison of Socrates — The religion of Socrates — The Areopagus . 86

CHAPTER YII.

ATHENS.

A ball at the Palace — A Greek chief — Lord Byron in Greece — The plain of Athens — The Cephysus^ — The farm of Plato — Estate and residence of an English settler — Progress of civilization — Position of the Greek Church — Influence of French literature . . 101

•

CHAPTER Yin.

MARATHON.

The neighborhood of Athens — Site of Aphidnee — expedition to Marathon — The plains of Marathon — The tumulus — Influence of the battle of Marathon on Greece — Wars not unmixed evils — Assistance rendered by the god Pan to the Greeks . . . .115

CONTENTS. Vll

CHAPTER IX.

ELEUSIS.

Degree in which the physical characteristics of Attica moulded the Athenian character — Its shallow soil, its light air, its quarries, its mines — Its freedom from rapacious aggression, its dependence on maritime enterprise — The road to Eleusis — Athenian landscape — Ancient procession to Eleusis — Its position — Ancient remains — Character of the Eleusinian mysteries — Ceremonies attached to them — Relation of the Eleusinian teaching to Christian doctrines — Paganism a witness to Christianity — Eleusinian priesthood , . 128

CHAPTER X.

THE PEIREUS— ATHENS.

The Peireus — Disappearance of the ancient fortifications — Incompleteness of History — Ruined temple iiear the Peireus — Tomb of Themistocles — Greek politics— Small progress which the nation has made — = Greek education — Mr. Hill — An Athenian school — Greek hymns and music — A Philhellenist — The modern language — its relations with the ancient — Advantages which modern Greece may derive from her ancient literature — Benefit from select study . . .141

CHAPTER XL

JOURNEY FROM ATHENS TO NAUPLIA.

Lazaretto at the Peireus — Greek guardianos — An old Frenchman — Sail to Epidaurus — Ancient character and scenery of Epidaurus — Ride from Epidaurus to Nauplia — Extraordinary vegetation — Remarkable sunset — Gulf of Nauplia — its fortifications — Memorials of Venice — the adieus of my French friend — Good fortune in picking up a traveling servant . . . . • . 156

CHAPTER XII.

TIRYNTHUS— ARGOS— MYCEN^.

The Ruins of Tirynthus — Early specimens of the Arch — The Plain of Argos — Theatre carved out of the rock — Acropolis of Argos — The

Vlll CONTENTS.

Hereum — Antiquity of Argos — Homeric recollections — Legendary History— A night on the Argolic plain — Contrast between Italian and Grecian scenery — Colossal ruins of Mycense — Gateway of the Lions — Tomb of Agamemnon — Stones of its vault . . . 169

CHAPTER XIII.

EXPEDITION TO DELPHI.

Arts of antiquity — Way to Corinth — Nemea — Character of Greek mountains — Greek scenery and Greek character — Corinth — Lutrarki — A child's consolation — Embarkation for Delphi — Arrival at Salona — Gulf of Lepanto and surrounding mountains — Flowers in unreclaimed lands — Greek agriculturists^ — Plain of "Cirrha — A Parnassian ravine — Rock temples — Castri — Site of Delphi — The Sacred Cleft and Oracular Shrine — Loss of its memorials — Fountain of Castalia ........ 180

CHAPTER Xiy.

RETURN FROM DELPHL

Character of Parnassian scenery — An olive wood — A storm — Dance of the Greek boatmen — Revels on the shore by night — Moonrise — Philosophy of the oracle — Demoniacal inspiration — An unnecessary sup-

' position — An imperfect faith ever placed in oracles — Physical effects of the Delphic vapor — An extraordinary penetration assisted by imposture . . . . . . .195

CHAPTER XV.

VOYAGE FROM DELPHI TO PATRAS.

Continuance of the storm — Ineffectual attempt to put to sea — Parnassian harbor — Another vain attempt at navigation — Coast scenery of Parnassus — Sunsets during a week of storm — Arrival at Lepanto — A calm — Reflections on Greece — The advantages derived from its small size — Proximity of its rival States — Benefits from compression — Variety of Greek institutions — Character of the Greek confederation — Benefits resulting from the independence of its several States — Advantages which the republican principle derived from the small size

CONTENTS. ix

of the Greek States — The Athenian Government no Democracy — Arrival at Patras' — -Departure of the Austrian steamer — Return to Corfu.

CHAPTER XYI.

VOYAGE TO CONSTANTINOPLE.

Sail to Syra — A strange accident — The Lazaretto of Syria — Aspect of the city by night — The Island of Syra — -Views of the Egean — Sail to Smyrna — Accident by sea — A boat upset — Loss of an anchor- Greek sailor saved — The Bay of Smyrna — The City — Spot of St. Polycarp's martyrdom — Views from the hills of Smyrna — Its burialgrounds — Bazaar — Mosques — French and Greek -diplomacy — Plain of Troy — The Dardanelles — Sestos — The sea of Marmora — A Turkish woman and her children . . . . .219

CHAPTER XYII.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

First appearance of the city as seen from the water — Rich intermingling of architectural and natural beauty — Brilliant coloring of the scene — Contrast between Constantinople and Venice — Also between Constantinople and the ancient cities of Greece — Vast size of Constantinople and its suburbs — A traveler's disappointment on landing at Constantinople — Interior of Constantinople — Its narrow streets — The character of nations illustrated by the aspect of their capitals — Prominent characteristics of Constantinople — Mosques — Baths — Tombs — Tomb of the Sultan Solyman .... 239

CHAPTER XVIII.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

General aspect of the city and its inhabitants — Veiled women — Carriages drawn by oxen — The bazaar — Its armory — Method of dealing — The Seraglio — Palace of Beshik-Tash — The Sultan — An attempt to withstand the reforms — An imposture detected — Effect of the Sultan Mahmoud's reforms — Hills above Constantinople — Views of the city from the heights — Character of Constantinople — A conflagration ....... 250

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE BOSPHORUS.

Scenery of the Bosphorus — Palaces on the Bosphorus — Festal groups on its banks — Varieties of female beauty in the East — Turkish women — Armenian women — Character of female subjection in the East — Eastern habits of reverence and secrecy — Sunset on the Bosphorus — Therapia — Historic trees — The "Giant's Mount" — -Genoese Castle — - The Black Sea — The Symplegades — Scenery of the Asiatic valleys — The " Valley of Sweet Waters" — Castles of Europe and Asia — Europa — Influence of the East on the West . . . 265

CHAPTER XX.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

St. Sophia's — Interior of St. Sophia's — The Achmetie — Its court — Fountain — Inscriptions — The Yeric Djami — The Suliemanie — Its interior a Christian church — Ancient Mosaics — The Golden Horn — Cemetery and mosque of Eyoub — The European " Valley of Sweet Waters" — The Armenians— The "Mosque of Blood" . . .279

CHAPTER XXI.

ADVENTURE IN A HAREM.

A French adventurer — Fortune made by conjuring — Conjuring exploits — Visit to the house of a Turk — His mother — His wives — Beauty of Eastern women — The favorite — Circassian beauty — Failure of the Conjuror's incantations — A timely retreat . 291

CHAPTER XXII.

ANCIENT AND MODERN CONSTANTINOPLE.

Defect of Constantinople as a residence — Its social character repulsive of western sympathies — Its religious and domestic institutes — ■ Its political character — Analogy between the Turkish empire and the Greek empire— Principles of government common to both — Character of the social state built up by Constantine — Its absence of simplicity — Of personal greatness— Of hereditary honors-Its dependence on

CONTENTS. XI

despotism and intrigue — Ancient remains at Constantinople — Tlie " Burned Pillar" — The Atmeidan — The obelisk of Theodosius — The monument of Constantine — The Delphic serpents — The ancient Hippodrome — The column of Marcian — Palace of Belisarius — Subterranean cisterns — The " Seven Towers" . . .301

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

Sight-seeing — The " dancing dervises" — Turkish bathing — Real objects of interest at Constantinople — The ancient walls — The Armenian cemetery— The walls of an ancient metropolis — Its visible history — The destinies of Constantinople determined by its site — Monumental philosophy . . . . . . .313

CHAPTER XXIY.

THE WALLS AND THEIR MEMORIES.

The vision of Constantine — The foundation of the city— Its fortunes — Beleaguered by the Goths, A.D, 378 — By the Bulgarians, A.D. 559 — By the Persians and Avars, A. D. 626 — By the Arabs, A. D, 668, and A. D. 718— By the Russians, A. D. 865, A. D. 904, A.D. 941, A. D. 1043 — Insulted by the Norman fleet, A. D. 1146 — Besieged and taken by the Crusaders, A. D. 1203— Second siege by the Latins, A. D. 1204— Surprised and captured by Alexius, A. D. 1261 — By John Cantacuzene, A. D, 1347— Final destruction of the Greek Empire, A. D. 1453— Its destruction in part occasioned by the schism of the East and West— = Neutrality of the Western Powers— Heroic resistance and death of Constantine Palseologus , . . • ,331

GREECE AND TURKEY

Chapter I. The Ionian Islands

Sail down the Adriatic — Arrival at Corfu — Scenery of Corfu — Character and aspect of the Ionian Greeks — Town of Corfu — The palace of the Lord High Commissioner — A reception at the government-house — Prorogation of Parliament — University — Sunset at Corfu — Ancient remains — Temple of Neptune — Nereido Castro — Departure from Corfu — Paxos — Leucadia — Sappho's rock — Cephalonia — Zante — An English steamer,

I CANNOT fulfil my promise, and give you an account of my Greek tour, without vividly recalling the pleasure which I experienced on my first approach to the shores which I had mused on in so many a youthful dream. The delight of advancing rapidly into a delicious climate, dipping into warmer, purer, and more fragrant air, can seldom be forgotten by one who has ever known it. The weather in Italy, which we northerns regard as a paradise, "where never wind blows loudly,^' had been severe before I left it. At Bologna the cold had been so intense that, even cloaked to the chin, I could hardly make my 2 way from the hotel to the theatre; and at Ancona it was far from agreeable. You may imagine, therefore, the delight with which, feeling the change almost momently, I left the north and all its asperities behind me as we steered down the Adriatic. Before the first evening, I had forgotten whether my cloak was on or off; and the second night, I lay on the deck till twelve o'clock without remembering that it was January and not June. The breeze, instead of passing over the snows of the Appenines, came to us warm from the ^gean, and mingled the softness of a southern clime with the wild and exhilaratingodors of the sea. The moon was full, and pierced the firmament with a light so keen and penetrating that, like the sculptors of old, who distinguished their statues of the virgin huntress by the far glance of the direct, well-opened eye, we remembered that Dian was no mere patroness of midnight dreamers, or moping lovers, but that she was sister of Apollo, and that her beams, like her brother's, were arrows from an immortal bow. Beneath her orb the plane of waters seemed to swell into a wide and plenary light to the remote horizon : every rock, however distant, shone with silver radiance; and all around us — dark blue sea, and bright blue heaven — was as luminous as it was warm and joyous, except where the islands, of which we passed three or four successively, trailed dim shadows over the shoals, or flung a darker streak of purple beyond their rocky promontories.

We arrived at Corfu within fifty hours after leaving Ancona. It was too late to allow of our disembarking : but on such an occasion the traveler enjoys his prolonged anticipation of a feast thus extended before him in the dubious light of the imagination. We thought on the morrow, and found it no hardship to remain on deck half the night, looking round and round upon a scene which by night or day is more beautiful than any western bay, gulf, or lake. When that morrow had arrived, a single excursion was sufficient to prove tbat my expectations liad not been pitched too high. The island of Corfu encircles the bay in which the town is situated, completely enclosing it on the north and south ; while to the east, the mountains of Epirus and Albania frame the picture, making the sea look like a great lake. From the margin of that sea, the mountains rise to a height of from 3000 to 4000 feet: immediately behind them stand the snowy ranges sung of by the G-reek poets of old. The latter are about 7000 feet in height: they have not, however, "taken the veil,^^ like the Swiss mountains, which live to themselves above the clouds, but smile from their blue region upon a beaming sea, looking down over the shoulder of the terrestrial mountains ranged before them with a glance at once familiar and divine, like that which the Homeric gods cast over the heads of demigods and heroes upon the affairs of mortals. In some places, a third chain of mountains rises behind the others, and the effect is indescribably grand at sunset, when the nearer ridge has put on its violet vest, while that above it is mantled in crimson, and along the highest, which then seems transparent, floats that rose-colored flame, the quintessential spirit of light.

Within the island the hills are from 2000 to 3000 feet high, and are in most places covered with groves of olives, whose "knarled and unwedgeable'^ trunks, dried up and wrinkled by the fervid handling of many a summer, seem as if they might have gained their worldly experience before Ulysses himself had cut his wise teeth, or told his first lie. The ground is never flat, except in a single instance; nor, on the other hand, does it swell into those soft and smooth undulations which delight the traveler whose foot tarries upon the green slopes of Clarens and Yevay, and displaces the fruit-tree blossoms with which they are reddened in spring. It is abrupt and broken, diversified with rocky shelves, terraces of vine, heathy knolls, and hollows filled with mint, thyme, and other aromatic herbs. Here and there the eye is caught by a thicket of myrtle, blossoming in the distance, or by some inland promontory, that dips into the dell, but shakes, before it reaches the shadow, a green and golden radiance from the orange grove that tufts its steeps. I give you the materials, and you may make up the picture with your best skill, and without fear of surpassing the reality: you may sprinkle the meadows with geraniums in full flower, and with thickets of rose ; and if neither are the sort which our florists would most prize for their rareness, each grows with an abundance that paints the island wilderness with colors such as few gardens can boast. The beauty of Corfu is especially characterized by its union of wildness with richness.

In the whole of the island, undivided as the sea that mirrors its bosky shores, I did not see a wall, or hedge which a child could not have squeezed itself through as easily as a lion of Eden could have pierced one of Eve's sweet-brier fences. The shores are indented by numberless long and strangely-shaped bays ; sometimes widening inwards into little lakes, sometimes shallowing into lagunes, and sometimes leaving bare a rock, over which the sea shatters itself in showers of white foam and driving mist — a pleasant vapor bath for the shrubs that bloom around. Here and there the water eddies round some little green island, with a few trees to define its low margin, and perhaps an old chapel in the centre, the whole space above the waves probably not exceeding half an acre. The air of this enchanting region is of a clearness which enables you to do full justice to the abundant beauty with which you are surrounded. You look through it as through a diamond, and fancy you possess the eyes of an Olympian, not of a mortal. You stand on the top of an eminence, and feel yourself " in a large room," observing, even in the far distance, the gradations of colors, the shapes of individual objects, and the beauty of minute details, as if the whole lay close around you. The amplitude of the landscape imparts to it a characteristic nobleness; and the natural theatre in which you stand is^ when compared to that of our northern scenery, much as the temple of Bacchus^ in which 30,000 spectators witnessed at once a tragedy of Sophocles, when compared with Drury Lane or Covent Garden.

Nothing can be more different in character than the landscapes of the north and of the south. The character of the former is grave, subdued, and tender, abounding in passages of pathos and mystery, though glorified, not seldom, by a golden haze. That of the south, on the other hand, is at once majestic and joyous, ample in its dimensions, but not abounding in a complex variety of detail ; clearly defined, severe in structure, well brought out into the light ; but at the same time unspiritual in its scope, appealing less to the heart than to the fancy, expressing everything to the understanding, and, consequently, reserving little for a slowly apprehensive imagination. An analogous distinction may perhaps be traced in the character of the northern and southern races. In every country, indeed, there exists a certain analogy between the outward shapes of nature, and the mind it has nursed and helped to form.

The woodlands of Corfu consist chiefly of the olive. Many travelers complain of the monotonous coloring of the southern olive-woods ; I think, however, that in this luminous region the effect would be too dazzling if the predominant color were not a sober one^ which, by its uniformity, as color, permits the eye to appreciate the exquisite gradations of light and shade. The brilliancy of the clouds also requires the contrast of something more grave to relieve the eye as it falls from them or glances aside from that most radiant of visual objects, an orange-grove. The orange-trees grow to about the size apple-trees reach with us ; and so dense is the mass of their dark and glittering leaves, that you would fancy the nightingale — nay, the nightingale's

2* song—- could hardly force its way through their ambush. They flash of themselves in the sun, though unmoved hy a wind not often strong enough to disturb their phalanx. The upper leaves, being younger than the rest, are of a transparent golden green, and shine with a perpetual sunshine of their own ; and in the midst hang those great yellow and crimson globes, which Andrew Marvel sings of as ^^ orange lamps in a green night.^'

I wish I could give as good an account of the Greeks as of their island abode. In outward bearing, at least, they are not unworthy of being its inhabitants. In few parts of the world is there to be found so comely a race. They possess almost always fine features, invariably fine heads, and flashing eyes } and their forms and gestures hav6 a noble grace about them which in less favored climes is seldom to be met with, even among the higher ranks. A Greek never stands in an ungraceful position ; indeed, his bearing often deserves to be called majestic : but his inward gifts seldom correspond, if the estimate commonly formed of him be not very incorrect, with his outward aspect. The root of the evil is now what it was in old times ; for the Ionian Greeks are a false people. Seldom, even by accident, do they say the thing that is ; and never are they ashamed of being detected in a lie. Such a character hardly contains the elements of moral amelioration. Experience is lost upon it. Those who are false to others are false to themselves also ; what they see, will always be what they desire to see ; from whatever is repulsive they will turn their eyes away ; and neither time nor suffering can bring them a lesson which ingenuity and self-love are not able to evade. The Ionian Greeks are also greatly deficient in industry. They do not care to improve their condition ; their wants are few, and they will do little work beyond that of picking up the olives which fall from the tree. These the women carry home in baskets, almost all the labor falling on them, while the men idle away their everlasting, unhallowed holiday, telling stories, walking in procession, or showing as much diplomacy in some bargain about a capote as a Russian ambassador could display while settling the affairs of Europe with Lord Palmerston. Their - dress is eminently picturesque. On their heads they wear sometimes a sort of turban, sometimes a red cap ; round the waist they fasten a wide white zone ; and their trowsers, which do not descend below the knee, are so large that, fastened together at the mid-leg, they have all the effects of flowing drapery, their color in general being crimson.

The town of Corfu is a strange medley, in which a character now Greek and now Italian- is oddly diversified by French and English associations. The house of our lord high commissioner is called " the palace,'^ and deserves the name. It is of very considerable size, is built of Maltese stone, and abounds in stately apartments. Soldiers stand in waiting along the corridors; and the landing-places and ante-rooms catch a" picturesque effect from the Albanian servants, who move about with a prompt, decisive grace, in their jeweled vests and tightlyfitting buskins. In front of the palace is the esplanade, thronged all day by the red coats and well-harnessed horses of English soldiers. In the evening it is comparatively quiet, and you may meet no one but a few Grreek priests, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs, pacing the long acacia avenues, with their black sacerdotal caps, black robe, dark eye — piercing at once and still — venerable beard, and hair that flows in waves down their backs. In the evening every one goes to the opera; nor are even the smaller islands without their theatre

As the spring advanced^ my stay at Corfu became more and more agreeable. A kindlier warmth crept every day into the air, which lost nothing, however, of its sharp and clear freshness, while it gained in sweetness. Every evening I enjoyed more and more my walk along the esplanade^ between rows of

Persian lilacs, about the size of our birch-trees^ and in redundant bloom. Under them, at each side, were beds of geraniums, and all sorts of bot-bouse plants, wbicb extended tbeir ranks as if in a conservatory a quarter of a mile long ; and around them, as soon as evening fell, the fire-flies played with their trails of green light, pure as a diamond, till one would have fancied that the air had caught life at every pore, and darted about in sparks of electric fire. The night of the queen's birthday a grand ball was given at the lord high commissioner's house. The place looked every inch a palace, the whole of it being thrown open, brilliantly lighted, and filled with the chief people of the island — not, I dare say, selected on any very exclusive principle. The scene was truly festal in aspect, and everywhere there was that air of enjoyment, the absence of which is perhaps the most striking characteristic of those great London parties at which the grave guests seem to be performing some penitential duty, remembering the sins of their youth, and fashionably repenting in purple and fine linen. While some were dancing, others walked up and down a magnificent gallery which runs along the top of the portico, the whole length of the building. Above us stretched an awning which protected us from the dew; beneath us were countless flowers, which did not injure the air by breathing it before us; around us the flre-flies flashed, and from within the music of the band streamed through all the casements and floated far away over the town. It pursued me through the thickets and gardens in which I occasionally took refuge for the sake of enjoying cooler air, and looking back on the distant revelry through the bowers of lilacs and festoons of roses. From those gardens it was not easy to return to the palace; but their solitudes were made more delightful by the intrusion of the distant mirth.

Another characteristic scene at which I ^^ assisted" was the prorogation of the parliament — a scene that illustrated well the meaning of our British " protection/' and the freedom of the Ionian republic. The parliament sits in the lord high commissioner's palace ; and the members entered between files of soldiers^ who gave them a somewhat unceremonious greeting, so far as " privilege'^ is concerned, clashing their arms every moment, with emphatic loyalty, on the marble steps. As the president took his place, the band was playing " God save the Queen." The moment the lord high commissioner had finished his speech, a loud peal of artillery rang out from the citadel, and pronounced the " Amen'' in an audible voice j and the much-complimented and somewhat bewildered senators took their departure, amid the gleaming of swords, the glaring of uniforms, and the prancing of cavalry that charged up and down the esplanade. On the whole, the spectacle was both picturesque and significant, and would have met the cordial approbation of Queen Elizabeth, who marveled that the members of the " nether" house should sometimes be betrayed into meddling with " matters of state."

There is at Corfu a university — not using the word, however, quite in the sense in which it is applied to Oxford or Cambridge. During a visit which I paid to it, I had some interesting conversation with a Greek professor, apparently a man of much learning. Among other things he discussed the subject of Greek prosody, and made himself merry with what he called our preposterous mode of pronouncing. I referred to the poets, and asked how he could make harmony out of Homer's hexameters on his metrical principles. He, on the other hand, appealed to experience and to precedent, and affirmed that our prosodiacal system was merely an arbitrary and fanciful device of our own, which pleased us because we had invented it and were used to it. Having no demonstrative process at hand, I appealed, as prudent controversialists do on such occasions, to common sense, to the moral sense, and to every infallible intuition whicli occupies the space Ibetween these extremes : especially I appealed to the ear. The little lively old man clapped both his hands to his head, and answered, " I too have ears/^ I looked at his head, and there were two ears, not at all too long, and in all respects as good-looking as another man's. The professor also stood on his native soil, discussed his native language, and was paid for knowing all about the matter. Accordingly, I made my submission. The only mode in which I can reconcile local traditions with the needs of our western ears is by supposing that the chant of the ancient minstrel, in reciting, swallowed up all discords, just as in our cathedral chant mere prose can be accommodated to music, whether the clause be long or short.