I Went Into A Large Fine-Looking Coffee-House To Look For Night Quarters.

I was conducted to a room in which half of the window-panes were broken. The attendant said this was of no consequence, it was only necessary to close the shutters.

In other respects the room looked very well but I had scarcely laid down on the bed when certain animals compelled me to take to flight. I laid down upon the sofa, which was no better. Lastly, I tried an easy chair, in which I passed the night, not in the most agreeable position.

I had already been told in AEgina of the great dirtiness and number of vermin prevalent in the Piraean inns, and had been warned against passing a night there; but what was to be done? for we could not venture to leave the town without permission of the police.

22nd October. The distance of the harbour of the Piraeus from Athens is thirteen stadia, or six English miles. The road leads through olive-plantations and between barren hills. The Acropolis remains continually in sight; the town of Athens does not appear till afterwards. I had intended to remain eight days in Athens, in order to see all the monuments and remarkable places of the town and environs leisurely; but I had scarcely got out of the carriage when I heard the news of the breaking out of the Vienna revolution of October.

I had heard of the Paris revolution of the 24th February while in Bombay; that of March in Germany, at Baghdad; and the other political disturbances while at Tebris, Tiflis, and other places. No news had astonished me so much in my whole life as that from Vienna.

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