Some of the principal modern buildings are the Hellenic Academy, the University, Library, Royal Palace, Parliament Building, various church buildings, hotels, and business houses.  The University, founded in 1837, is rather plain in style, but is ornamented on the front after the manner of the ancients, with a number of paintings, representing Oratory, Mathematics, Geology, History, Philosophy, and other lines of study.  At one end is a picture of Paul, at the other end, a representation of Prometheus.  The museum is small and by no means as good as those to be seen in larger and wealthier countries.  The Academy, finished in 1885, is near the University, and, although smaller than its neighbor, is more beautiful.  On the opposite side of the University a fine new Library was being finished, and in the same street there is a new Roman Catholic church.  I also saw two Greek Catholic church houses, but they did not seem to be so lavishly decorated within as the Roman church, but their high ceilings were both beautifully ornamented with small stars on a blue background.  I entered a cemetery near one of these churches and enjoyed looking at the beautiful monuments and vaults.  It is a common thing to find a representation of the deceased on the monument.  Some of these are full-length statues, others are carvings representing only the head.  Lanterns, some of them lighted, are to be seen on many of the tombs.  There are some fine specimens of the sculptor’s art to be seen here, and the place will soon be even more beautiful, for a great deal of work was being done.  In fact, the whole city of Athens seemed to be prosperous, from the amount of building that was being done.

The Parliament Building is not at all grand.  The Royal Palace is larger and considerably finer.  At the head of a stairway is a good picture of Prometheus tortured by an eagle.  The visitor is shown the war room, a large hall with war scenes painted on the walls and old flags standing in the corners.  The throne room and reception room are both open to visitors, as is also the ball room, which seemed to be more elaborately ornamented than the throne room.  There is a little park of orange and other trees before the palace, also a small fountain with a marble basin.  The highest point about the city is the Lycabettus, a steep rock rising nine hundred and nineteen feet above the level of the sea, and crowned with a church building.  From its summit a splendid view of the city, the mountains, and the ocean may be obtained.

I spent five days in this city, the date of whose founding does not seem to be known.  Pericles was one of the great men in the earlier history of the old city.  He made a sacred enclosure of the Acropolis and placed there the masterpieces of Greece and other countries.  The city is said to have had a population of three hundred thousand in his day, two-thirds of them being slaves.  The names of Socrates, Demosthenes, and Lycurgus also belong to