A.D. traffic amogst the Cyclades.

1792.

The treaty of Kainardji, followed by that of Yassi, in 1792, opened at once a new field to the enterprise of the Greeks. Availing themselves of the privilege of carrying the Russian flag, they ventured, for the first time, to pass the Dardanelles, and engage in the commerce of the Black Sea; and the towns of Odessa and Taiganroc were, in a few years, peopled by colonies of their speculating merchants. Three islands in particular, Hydra, Spezzia, and Psara, became rapidly conspicuous by the intrepidity and naval intelligence of their inhabitants. These had been originally mere sterile rocks, which were peopled in the close of the fifteenth century by Christian Albanians, who had sought an asylum in the Peloponnesus and the Cyclades from the oppression of the Ottomans in Northern Greece.* Here they had supported themselves for upwards of two centuries as fishermen and sailors, till, by the interference and protection of Russia, they rose at once into unexpected importance. Their coasting caiques were quickly superseded by fleet of swift and commodious merchantmen; their huts were converted into magazines and elegant mansions; their ships were seen enter

* Pouqueville, Voyage, &c. v. iii. p. 212; v. vi. p. 303, Leake's Outline, &c. p. 9.

1792.

ing every port from the Crimea to Gibraltar, A.D.
they extended their voyages even to the shores
of America; and their islands became, in a few
years, the chief depositories of the riches and
produce of Greece. In order to protect them-
selves from the attacks of the Barbary corsairs,
they were permitted to arm their vessels, and
Catharine II. was the first to provide them
with cannon for that purpose. By the influ-
ence of their friends at the Phanar, they were
likewise enabled to purchase exemption from
the degrading karatch, nor was any Turk per-

mitted to reside in their islands. In return for
this, they paid annually a fixed tribute to the
Porte, and furnished each year 300 seamen for
the fleet of the Sultan.*
*

Wealth and intelligence were thus springing up together amongst the Greeks, their intercourse with Europe increased, and the success of their mercantile establishments abroad induced fresh adventurers to emigrate to the ports of the Mediterranean. In the cities where they had principally congregated together, they founded schools for the education of their children: institutions of this kind existed at Venice, Trieste, Leghorn, Vienna, Bucharest, and

These were assembled from various islands of the Levant, and were paid partly by the Porte, and partly by the Hydriots. See Pouqueville, Voyage, &c. v. vi. l. xx. c. v. p. 304.

422

1792.

A.D. Yassi; and each produced a number of pupils whose writings and exertions were instantly directed to the enlightenment and civilization of their country.* Numerous publications in modern Greek issued annually from the continental presses,† and though the works chosen

Such was Spiridion Vlandis, of the Greek college of Venice, the translator of Ovid and Cornelius Nepos, (Rizo, Cours, &c. pp. 126, 147.) editor of an edition of Chariton Aphrodisiensis, and author of an Italian Grammar and Romaic Lexicon; he was a native of Cerigo. (Leake's Researches, p. 90.) Asopius, one of the most eminent littérateurs of Modern Greece, was educated at Trieste; Angelico Palli, an improvisatrice, at Leghorn; and Vienna has produced Alexandrides, a writer on ancient Greek literature, and author of a translation of Goldsmith's History, a Dictionary of Turkish and Romaic, and a translation of Abulfeda's Geography; (ib. p. 90. Rizo, pp. 127, 146.) Govdhela, who translated Telemachus, and published a system of Algebra; (ib. p. 147. Leake, p. 91.) and Authimus Gazis, a writer on Science and Philology, and at present editor of a Journal at Vienna, entitled 'Epuns ó óyi05. Odessa, Yassi, and Bucharest have likewise produced their distinguished men.

† We may form an idea of the exertions made at this period for the enlightenment of the Greeks, from the assertion of Rizo, that during the first twenty years of the present century, upwards of three thousand Romaic works have been published on the continent or at Constantinople: "Pendant les vingt premières années du siècle actuel, plus de trois mille ouvrages ou traductions en Grec Moderne ont été imprimés à Paris, à Vienne, à Venise, à Leipsick, à Moscou, à Yassi, et à Constantinople." (p. 113.)

1792.

for translation, or the subjects selected for ori- A.D. ginal compositions, were not in all cases those best suited to the immediate wants of the nation, their effect was mainly conducive to the furtherance of a taste for education. The Sultan Selim III. was highly favourable to this spread of intelligence; he founded a paper manufactory at Kyatkhana, and a printingpress at Scutari, and gave every encouragement to the exertions of Demetrius Morousi for the establishment of schools throughout his dominions. Those already existing acquired a new energy from the countenance vouchsafed to them, and new institutions sprang up under the auspices of Selim at Smyrna, Scio, Coroutchesmé,† and Aivali.

Philipides and Constandas, whose names are justly classed with those of Bulgaris and Theotoky, were at this period the most active partisans of literature in Greece. They were natives of Milies, a little village at the foot of Mount Pelion, which had already produced individuals of talent, and after an elementary education at home, they had concluded their collegiate studies in Italy and France. During

Walsh, pp. 16, 274. Villemain, p. 255.

+ The school of Coroutchesmé was established by Morousi, under the auspices of Selim, in 1804, according to Leake; but Rizo says in 1799. (Researches, p. 230. Lit. Grec. p. 74.)

1792.

the war of 1790, they warmly espoused the cause of Russia, and dedicated to Potemkin a geography of Greece, which they composed in conjunction.* On the peace of Yassi, they retired to their native mountains, where for many years they were successfully employed in the instruction of their countrymen; and, continuing their literary labours, they rendered into modern Greek the Metaphysics and Ethics of Soave, and the Logic of Condillac.+ Constandas was subsequently the author of a Romaic version of Millot's History, a portion of which appeared at Vienna in 1806; and Philipides, besides translations of the astronomy of La Lande, the chemistry of Fourcroix, and the physics of Brisson, wrote a history of the Moldavian, Wallachian, and Bessarabian tribes, for which he was presented by the Emperor Alexander with a diamond ring. He still survives at Vienna, worn down with infirmities, but enjoying the high satisfaction of looking back on a long series of successful exertions in the cause of knowledge and patriotism; and with his colleague, Constandas, is about to receive, in the accomplished free

*It was published at Vienna, in 1791.

+ The former by Constandas, the latter by Philipides. He was assisted in its composition by a physician named Carras.