MY DEAR FRIEND,

Athens still contains near ten thousand inhabitants, and has lately been enclosed by a wall, to defend it from the irruptions of the Albanians, who are ever ripe for a revolt, and have several times plundered the town. The neighbourhood abounds with olive trees, and the French have established a small factory for the culture of them. The ancient citadel is always kept in a state of defence; and, being situated on the flat surface of an unassailable rock, it is only to be subdued by famine, or a bombardment. But what most renders it an object of curiosity, is, its containing the superb Temple of Minerva, the most celebrated work of the illustrious Pericles. But, alas! of this magnificent pile, only enough is left to give us a faint idea of its former grandeur, and to make us lament the unhappy fate of so sublime an edifice. The columns which supported the south side, and part of the front, are still standing, with some elegant metopes, which represent the exploits of the different heroes of Athens, and the battle of the Amazons: but these are every year falling down, from a violent shock the remains of the temple received, about a century ago, from the Venetians, who, in bombarding the citadel, blew up a powder magazine within it.

From these ruins of fallen greatness, it is a pleasant relief to turn our eyes to the Temple of Theseus, which, being converted into a Greek church, is still perfect. Here the sympathetic soul enjoys the generous glow of admiration, in contemplating a monument of gratitude to a departed hero, and the satisfaction of seeing, that the ravages of more than two thousand years have not been able to affect the work of a grateful people in honor of a patriotic Prince: so may we hope, that, to the last day, it will remain a living proof of the generosity of the one, and of the merit of the other.

Theseus was the great grandson of Cecrops, and, like him, corrected the wandering manner in which his people lived, and formed them into civil societies; whence he is justly called the second founder of Athens.

In the preceding narration, I took no notice of the exploits of this Prince, because they are stories we have been accustomed to hear from our cradles, and, although founded on truth, are generally classed among those of the fabulous kind. For the same reason, I passed over the death of his successor, Mnestheus, at the siege of Troy, as well the expedition for the Golden Fleece, and the other events in which Athens was concerned previous to the invasion of the Persians.

The temple is an elegant edifice, supported by a beautiful colonnade, on a similar plan to the largest at Pestum. It was erected in the administration of Cimon, who, having discovered the bones of Theseus in the island of Shyros, where he was killed by a fall from a precipice, restored them to his native city. The metopes on the front, and part of the sides, are ornamented with basso relievo, representing the battle of the Centaurs. These, you may recollect, were nothing more than the cavalry of Thessaly, where the men were so perfect in the management of their horses, that, when mounted, they were supposed to be part of the same animal.

The east gateway, which was also erected to Theseus, remains tolerably perfect. It was repaired by Adrian, who added an inscription, importing that Athens was now become his city; and, indeed, by his liberality, he in some measure made amends for the depredations the Romans committed upon her ornaments, and earned the title of one of her founders. It was this Emperor who raised that superb pile the Pantheon, dedicated to all the Gods; which, by its grandeur, elegance and beauty, justly merited that exalted title. Out of an hundred and twenty columns, each eighteen feet in circumference, only nine are standing. They are of the finest marble, with very rich Corinthian capitals. Those of Theseus and Minerva are Doric.

The monument vulgarly called the Lanthorn of Demosthenes, being inhabited by a French Monk, and the octagonal Temple of the Winds, by a Turkish Dervise, are still entire. The former is light and elegant; the latter has nothing but its antiquity to recommend it; for the figures which represent the different winds, are so indifferently executed, that, were not their names inscribed below them, it would be impossible to know their qualities.

Some triumphal columns, and other monuments, are still left in tolerable preservation, besides a considerable part of the Theatre of Bacchus, and many other fragments and ruins, which I am less particular in describing, because we have taken exact plans of all of them.

The channel of the Ilyssus, whose banks were formerly so famous, is dry, even at this rainy season; and I have several times walked in its bed, as well as in the olive groves where Plato delivered his lectures. I have also been as far as the plains of Marathon, to pay my oblations at the shrine of Miltiades--an interesting scene to a Soldier, and of which my military friends may expect an exact description.