Frasers of Philorth > Volume 1

THE FRASERS OF PH1LORTH, LORDS SALTOUN. 233
in-chief; for as the surprise had been undertaken at the request of the
Sicilian authorities, it was clear that the Ladrones had some better friends
in that body than we had."
In a letter of the 18th March 1807, addressed to his mother, Lord Saltoun
gives an amusing account of a tour through a considerable part of the island,
in which he mentions the ruins of the temple of Jupiter Olympus, near
Girgenti, — the ancient Agrigentum, — as very magnificent. He says : — " The
columns were of a gigantic size, and the fluting of them large enough to
contain a man. From what remains, the enormous size of the pillars is clearly
to be perceived; two capitals, which are the only remains of them, are
broken into four pieces, and in the small part of the pillar, still attached to
one of them, Montgomery, who is rather a thin man, could get into the flute
with all ease. What an immense block of stone it must have been to allow
such cutting away from it, and afterwards to support a capital of such size,
one quarter of which only, lying on the ground, hid six of us behind it, so as
not to be perceived by a person on the other side."
He also relates a curious story or tradition respecting a peculiarity in
the great church at Girgenti : — " There is also another singular circumstance,
which is, that a person getting up above the altar, can hear anything said at
the other end of the church, even in a whisper. This is said to have been
discovered in the following manner : — A carpenter was up there one day
mending the figure of a dragon, and saw his wife come into the church to
confess. He was surprised at so plainly hearing the priest speak to her, and
therefore listened, and heard the whole of her confession. On returning
home he gave her wholesome correction for what he had overheard, and made
a regular practice of mending the dragon whenever any rich person went to
confess, by which means he got together a good deal of money."
After remaining about ten months in the island, the brigade of Guards
returned home, and in the above-mentioned letter, to an old brother officer,
Lord Saltoun says: " We left Sicily in the autumn of 1807, forming part of a
force of 10,000 men, with Sir John Moore. Our first instructions were to
take Ceuta, but they thought it too strong. We were then (in the event
of the King of Portugal submitting to the French) to have gone to the
Brazils, and taken that ; but as the King of Portugal abandoned his
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