Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/120

Rh signal for renewed and long continued cheering. Hardly had they ceased, when all else was drowned in the thundering of the saluting cannon.

The Piræus is surrounded by hills, the slopes of which are thickly studded with the tents of the French; indeed they appear to be everywhere. They have a guard at the entrance of the harbor, and several outposts in the town. I thank God that, notwithstanding many obstacles in various ways, He has given me the power to keep near to Jesus; indeed, I feel more than ever the comfort of religion. Pray for me, dearest mother, that I may be keep faithful unto the end. This is indeed a poor world without Christ. God bless you, dearest, best of mothers, and may you be 'filled with the Holy Ghost.'"

" — Being on guard to-day, I take the opportunity of writing to you, as here I have both a table and chair, and my tent can boast of neither. The heat is excessive, the thermometer being 100° in the shade. You have no idea what lassitude and disinclination for exertion creep over one; but I fight against it as well as I can. I have not yet seen Athens by day; but on the 13th, I started about sunset with a young brother officer, to have a moonlight view of the Acropolis. After a dusty walk of six miles we reached the famous city. We walked about the streets for upwards of an hour, and met several Greek soldiers armed with firelock and sword, some of whom looked rather savagely at us. Not knowing our way up to the ruins of the Acropolis, we should have had some difficulty in finding it, when luckily we met a Greek to whom we had given a free passage from Malta, and who spoke English tolerably well. He showed us the way up the moun-