1792. dom of his country, the best reward of a life A.D. devoted to her service. A more remarkable individual still, and one whose name must ever engross a melancholy interest in the annals of Greece, was the unfortunate Rhiga, whose energies were about this period enthusiastically directed to the freedom and enlightenment of his countrymen. He was born at Vlestiné, in Thessaly, about the year 1753, and was early distinguished by the readiness of his talents and the shrewdness of his judgment. Like the generality of the better orders of his countrymen, he embarked in trade, and settled at Bucharest; but his attention was devoted rather to literature than commerce; he was appointed a professor of ancient Greek in one of the schools of that city, and finally obtained an official situation under the Hospodar, Michael Souzo. Thus enabled to pursue his studies with undivided attention, he became in a short time one of the most accomplished citizens of Greece; besides a familiar acquaintance with the Roman classics and those of Germany and Italy, he wrote with the same facility in French or Greek, and was equally celebrated as a poet and musician. His only original works were two treatises on Natural Philosophy and Military Tactics; but he was likewise the translator of the "Ecole des A.D. 1795. 66 amants delicats," of " Marmontel's Shepherdess of the Alps," and "Barthelemi's Anacharsis ;" of the latter a few volumes only have been published, but the former is considered by his countrymen as one of the most elegant productions in Romaic. The comparative geography of Greece was his favourite study, and a map which he constructed at Vienna, containing the ancient and modern names, is still referred to as one of the most accurate authorities on that interesting subject. But the fame of Rhiga arose from his patriotism rather than his learning; he seemed from boyhood to have but one inspiring object, the freedom and restoration of his country; and to this every energy of his soul, and every conception of his enthusiastic and active imagination, were unceasingly directed. He had early conceived the project of uniting the Greeks into one powerful and secret confederacy for the overthrow of their Turkish masters; but it was only when his talents had raised him high in the estimation of his countrymen, that he found an opportunity of executing his long-cherished design. His associates at Bucharest were the first to whom he confided his plans; they listened to him with an ardour equal to his own, and the nucleus of an association was thus formed by Rhiga, which was shortly to drive tyranny from 1795. Greece. It was quickly joined by all the A.D. leading men of the nation, and its members, in the course of a few years, included the principal bishops, proestoi, merchants, and capitani of the Greeks; nay, so singularly successful were the exertions of its founder, that he had even leagued some influential Turks in his interest; and Passwan Oglou, the Vizir of Widin, who subsequently rebelled against the Porte, was known to have been a member of the celebrated Heteria.* The first step thus taken, Rhiga removed, in 1796, to Vienna, as affording a more ample field for his exertions than the confined capital of Wallachia; and here he composed those inspiring lyrics,† the circulation of which was productive of an excitement amongst the Greeks almost inconceivable. Their words, pure and poetical, were * 'Erapia, the name conferred, par excellence, on the association of Rhiga. Of these the most popular is his imitation of the Marseillese song, Δεῦτε παῖδες τῶν Ἑλλήνων, of which a beautiful but imperfect translation has been given by Lord Byron. Another still more spirited and exciting is his Kleftic Ode, commencing with Ὡς πότε, παλληκάρια, νὰ ζοῦμεν 'ς τὰ στενὰ, a copy of which, together with an admirable translation, will be found in Pouqueville's Regénération, &c. (v. ii. p. 388.) and in the second volume of M. Fauriel's Chants de la Grèce, (p. 20.) A collection of the Lyrics of Rhiga was privately printed at Yassi, in 1814. 1797. A.D. adapted to the sweetest and most popular airs; and their sentiments, referring solely to the woes and degradation of Greece, were caught up with rapture by every indignant sufferer. They were circulated with amazing rapidity throughout every district in which the language was spoken,* and sung on all occasions, at the evening dance or the saintly festival, till every bosom was burning with their strains and "men grew heroes at the sound." The "On n'entendait dans toute la Grèce que les hymnes de Riga: tous les jeunes gens les répétaient dans leurs sociétés, dans leurs festins; l'hiver au coin de leur feu, l'été sous l'ombre des oliviers et des platanes." (Rizo, Cours, &c. p. 48.) Even the Turks, he adds, though ignorant of the meaning of the words, were so charmed with the melody of the airs of Rhiga, as to order them to be played on all occasions by their Greek musicians. + Considered purely in a poetical point of view the songs of Rhiga are not possessed of striking merit; but it is the impetuosity of their style, the fire of their sentiments, their indignant tone, their "thoughts that breathe and words that burn," that endeared them to the Greeks, and produced this unparalleled excitement. By far the most finished and powerful of his lyrics is the Ode to which I have referred in a previous note; its opening is extremely bold and spirited. Ὡς πότε, παλληκάρια, νὰ ζοῦμεν 'ς τὰ στενὰ, Μονάχοι, σὰν ληοντάρια, 'ς ταῖς ῥάχαις 'ς τὰ βουνά; Νὰ φεύγωμεν τὸν κόσμον γιὰ τὴν πικρὴν σκλαβιά ; 1797. merchants of Vienna espoused with alacrity the A.D. cause of the Heteria, but, unfortunately, the Ν ̓ ἀφίνωμεν ἀδέλφια, πατρίδα καὶ γονεῖς, Τοὺς φίλους, τὰ παιδιά μας κ' ὅλους τοὺς συγγενεῖς ; Παρὰ σαράντα χρόνων σκλαβιὰ καὶ φυλακή. In a strain less elevated he then proceeds to call his countrymen to arms, to form a league for the overthrow of their oppressors, and to swear eternal hostility to the Turks; the oath which he suggests may be regarded as a poetical version of that proposed to the Heterists. “Ω βασιλου του κόσμου, ὀρκίζομαι εἰς σὲ, Σ τὴν γνώμην τῶν τυράννων νὰ μὴν ἐλθῶ ποτέ· The poem then proceeds with an eloquent appeal to each Ν' ανάψωμεν μιὰν φλόγα εἰς ὅλην τὴν Τουρκιάν, "Let the cross," he concludes, "shine far over mountain |