1 
 
 LI E> RARY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 U N I VERSITY 
 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 «'«cjNi3'98 
 
 
 
 UI 
 
 c3-ra 
 
 JANOb 98 
 
 
 JAN 
 
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 QAVLORO 
 
 
 ;:viC8iT*to': 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S> 
 
ANASTASIUS, 
 
 OR, 
 
 MEMOIRS or A GREEK; 
 
 WRITTEN AT THE CLOSE OF 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Ui-ii 
 
 •%, 
 
 'f/ 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 '«^, 
 
 ' >•>-' ■* 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 
 
 1820. 
 

 
 
 •)? i cv 
 
 Mf 
 

 TO you, my Louisa ; to you, the sole 
 partner of all my joys and sorrows; to 
 you whose fair form but enshrines a mind 
 far fairer, I inscribe no^ these pages. Com- 
 posed of materials collected ere I knew 
 you, ere I was inspired by your virtues 
 or could portray your perfections, they 
 are not worthy of bearing your name : — 
 they w^ere not even intended to divulge 
 that of the writer, had his secret been pre- 
 served as inviolate as he wished. Should 
 they, thus avowed, continue to meet with 
 an indulgent reception, I may then feel 
 encouraged at some future period to pub- 
 lish, with the sanction of your beloved 
 name, that which, suggested by the con- 
 templation of your excellence, and written 
 
 L// 
 
VI 
 
 under the guidance of your unerring taste, 
 is in truth your own work. 
 
 To the public at large I can only plead, 
 for sending forth into the world this un- 
 pruned performance, the desire of impart- 
 ing a few perhaps unimportant notices, — 
 but the result of personal observation, — 
 with respect to the ever interesting regions, 
 once adorned by the Greeks and now 
 defaced by the Turks. I shall therefore 
 observe that the historical and statistical 
 parts are (as far as my knowledge ex- 
 tends) strictly correct, and that the ficti- 
 tious superstructure is as conformable as 
 I could make it to the manners of the 
 nations whom it was my aim to describe ; 
 and as the form of biographical memoirs 
 was adopted solely with the view of afford- 
 ing greater facility for the introduction of 
 minute and characteristic details, I trust 
 
Vll 
 
 that I shall not be considered as identifying 
 myself with all the opinions which the 
 peculiar nature of the work has obliged 
 me to bestow upon my hero. 
 
 THOs- HOPE, 
 
 Duchess- Street J 
 April 25. 
 
 S'?)'^ 
 

 
 4-, 
 
 ANASTASIUS, 
 
 OR 
 
 MEMOIRS OF A GREEK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MY family came originally from Epirus: my 
 father settled at Chios. His parentage was neither 
 exalted nor yet low. In his own opinion he could 
 boast of purer blood than any of the Palseologi, the 
 Cantacusenes, and the Comneni of the present day. 
 " These mongrel descendants," he used to observe, 
 '' of Greeks, Venetians, and Genoese, had only 
 picked up the fine names of former ages when the 
 real owners dropped off: he wore his own;" and 
 signor Sotiri saw no reason why he should not, 
 when he went forth into public, toss his head, swing 
 his jubbee^ like a pendulum from side to side, and 
 shuffle along in his papooshes, with all tlie airs of 
 quality. 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
^2 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 This worthy man combined in his single person 
 the various characters of diplomatist, husbandman, 
 merchant, manufacturer, and master of a privateer. 
 To be more explicit — he was drogueman- to the 
 French consul at Chios; in town he kept a silk- 
 loom at work ; in the country he had a plantation 
 of agrumi j ^ he exported his stuffs and fruits to the 
 principal sea-ports in the Archipelago, and, in the 
 first Russian war, he employed all his spare money 
 in fitting out a small vessel to cruise against the 
 enemy, — for so he chose to consider the Russians, 
 in spite of ail their amicable professions towards the 
 Greeks. As a loyal subject of the Porte, and an 
 old servant of the French government, he felt no 
 sort of wish to be delivered from the yoke of the 
 Turks; and he looked upon those barbarians of 
 the north, who cared no more for the patriarch of 
 Constantinople than for the pope of Rome, as little 
 better than rank heretics, not worthy of being 
 treated even like his silk-worms, which he got 
 every year carefully exorcised before their spinning 
 time. I however remember, when a child, some 
 buzz in the family about my father's partner in 
 tlie privateer — an Ispariote reis * — having one day 
 made a mistake, in capturing under the rocks of 
 Jura a rich Turkish vessel, which he went and sold 
 to the Russians themselves, then stationed at Paros. 
 Signor Sotiri shook his head at this intelligence as 
 if he did not approve of the transaction, and ob- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 3 
 
 served, " the less that was said about it, the better."' 
 — I suppose therefore it was out of sheer humanity 
 that he preferred receiving his share of the prize 
 money, to the sterile and barbarous satisfaction of 
 hanging his associate. 
 
 Much improved in his circumstances by this im- 
 toward accident, my father would now willingly 
 have given up his interpretership. Besides ren- 
 dering him more or less dependent, it was uncom- 
 fortable in as far as, being very deaf, he never heard 
 what it was his business to repeat. But my mother 
 liked the title of droguemaness. She had never 
 heard of the necessity of a drogueman reporting 
 speeches as he received them ; and she reminded her 
 husband how essential the protection of the French 
 mission might be to some of his Greek speculations. 
 
 My mother was a native of Naxos, and esteemed 
 a great heiress in her country. She possessed an 
 estate of three hundred piastres a year, clear, ma- 
 naged by a relation of her own, Marco Politi — very 
 wealthy himself, primate of all the Greek villages 
 of the island, and a very great rogue. 
 
 My brothers and sisters, — and there came, one 
 by one, just three of each, — all contrived to take 
 precedence of me at their birth, and consequently 
 throughout the whole of their subsequent lives. 
 The punctilio of the thing I should not have minded ; 
 but, among my countrymen, a foolish family pride 
 exhausts people's fortunes in their lifetime in por- 
 
 B 2 
 
4 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 tioning their daughters: the elder sons ran away 
 with what remained, and poor Anastasius brought 
 up the rear with but an indifferent prospect. My 
 kind parents, however, determined to make up for 
 leaving me destitute at their death, by spoiling me 
 as much as possible during their lives. 
 
 My eldest sister (I begin, as is proper, with the 
 ladies) married a physician of the country, gra- 
 duated at Padua. Robust as a hamal,^ and never 
 till her marriage having known a moment's illness, 
 Epiphania seemed to bid defiance to her husband''s 
 utmost skill in medicine. But she was not proof 
 against her own imaginations. Signor Sozimo ex- 
 pressed such constant anxiety about his " dear 
 wife"'s'" precious health, and gave her so much viper 
 broth to keep up her strength, that she soon began 
 to fancy herself in a bad way, and died at last of 
 the mere apprehension of not living. 
 
 My sister Roxana, who would have been a 
 beauty, but for a scar which she chose to call a 
 dimple, at an early age fell desperately in love with 
 a Turk ; and, spite of all the remonstrances of her 
 friends, bestowed her hand upon this unbeliever. 
 Nor was it until the very last of her offended rela- 
 tions had been prevailed upon to grant her an un- 
 limited pardon, that she became conscious of the 
 heinousness of her crime, and began to feel an un- 
 conquerable desire to re-enter the pale of our holy 
 communion. This she at length effected, by never 
 
ANASTASIUS. 5 
 
 • 
 ceasing to bewail her apostacy, till her husband* in 
 
 disgust, allowed her a divorce. Immediately she 
 flew back at once into the arms of the church and 
 into those of a young Greek, who, an effective in- 
 strument in her reformation, obUterated every trace 
 of her first unhallowed wedlock by a more ca- 
 nonical union. He truly laboured for the church ; 
 for he was by trade an agio-graphis, or painter of 
 Saints ; and connoisseurs esteemed him the Apelles 
 of our district, in that hne. His spouse sat for all 
 his Virgins, and, accordingly as she behaved well 
 or ill, he used to paint them handsome or ugly ; a 
 practice which kept her very much upon her good 
 behaviour. She was conceited about her looks, and 
 wasted as much paint upon her cheeks as her hus- 
 band did upon his canvas ; a circumstance, how- 
 ever, which produced a striking resemblance between 
 the copies and the original. 
 
 As to my youngest sister, she deemed a two 
 years obedience, well or ill performed, to a single 
 lord and master, quite trial enough for a woman in 
 this nether world. Her husband dying, she took 
 the habit of a caloyera,^ in a nunnery near the de- 
 lightful district of the Lentiscs. There, the interest 
 of her portion, together with the produce of her 
 handiwork, enabled her to set up, according to 
 the practice of our religious communities, an inde- 
 pendent establishment, and to entertain her friends 
 
6 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 of both sexes in a manner at once comfortable and 
 decorous. 
 
 What shall I say of my brothers ? The eldest 
 was a loose and dissipated youth. To cure him of 
 his extravagance, my father had him nailed to the 
 desk of the strictest merchant in Smyrna. The 
 consequence was that, instead of the clerk staying 
 at home, desk, contents, and all, followed him out 
 of doors, till, in a notorious tavern, the well tem- 
 pered Brescia blade of a Zantiote captain put an 
 end to his prowess, and saved him the mortification 
 of being returned on our hands as a hopeless 
 profligate. Of all the family I felt the most grieved 
 for his loss. He had a dark complexion and a fine 
 commanding figure. I looked upon Theodore with 
 a certain veneration, as the prop of the house j and 
 had purposed some day to take him for my model. 
 
 The dove is not more distinguished from the 
 game-cock, than differed from the noisy blustering 
 Theodore the sly, demure Eustathius, destined to 
 succeed my father in his place of drogueman. A 
 sleek, smooth-spoken, sanctified lad, with a round 
 face and a red and white complexion, Eustathius, 
 beside that little treasure his own dear self, which 
 he always kept with the utmost care, valued but 
 one other thing in this world — namely, money. Of 
 this article his good fortune, or rather, his unabating 
 perseverance, enabled him at last to wed a pro- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 7 
 
 diglous heap; encumbered, however, with a wary 
 widow its mistress, who, after four distinct refusals, 
 finally condescended to accept my brother as her 
 slave, under the name of her husband. But the 
 chains worn by this admirer of solid worth were of 
 gold ; and all he wanted was the pleasure of con- 
 templating their refulgence. 
 
 Constantine, my third brother, managed the farm. 
 This hopeful youth, only a few years older than 
 myself, used to hate me with singular asperity. 
 I never could understand the cause of this aversion. 
 He was crooked indeed, and I, unfortunately, 
 walked straight. If this however could be called 
 an offence, so many others shared it with me, that 
 he must have hated nearly the whole human race : 
 — perhaps he did. It is true, I much aggravated 
 my crime by one day observing, on his talking 
 slightingly of the advantages of a handsome person, 
 that " they were what no one affected to despise, 
 who could make good his claim to them;'' — I 
 thought he would have stabbed me. 
 
 After all the rest of the brood had taken wing, I 
 remained alone at home, to solace my parents. Too 
 fond of their favourite to damp my youthful spirits 
 by fitting me for a profession, they kindly put off 
 from day to day every species of instruction — pro- 
 bably, till I should beg for it ; which my discretion 
 forbade. Unfortunately nature chose not, in the 
 mean time, to be equally dilatory with my parents; 
 
8 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 and from an angel of an infant, I became by 
 degrees a great lubberly boy, without any other 
 accomplishment but that of flogging my top with 
 the left hand, while with the right I despatched my 
 sign of the cross — for in some things I understood 
 the value of time. My parents, as may be supposed, 
 were great sticklers for punctuality in every sort of 
 devout practice; mass-going, confession, lent ob- 
 servance, &c. Of moral duties — less tangible in 
 their nature — they had, poor souls ! but a vague 
 and confused notion ; and the criminality of actions, 
 in reference to one's neighbour, they taught me 
 chiefly to estimate according to the greater or smaller 
 risk connected with them of incurring the bastinado 
 from the Turks. As to manual correction at the 
 hands of my own father, it seemed so desirable a 
 circumstance, from the ample amends my mother 
 never failed to make her " poor, dear, ill-used boy," 
 that my only regret on the subject arose from being 
 able to obtain it so seldom. 
 
 These good people having contented themselves 
 for a reasonable number of years with wistfully con- 
 templating — the drogueman my active make and 
 well set limbs, and the drougemaness my dark eyes, 
 ruddy cheeks, and raven locks — they at last began 
 to ponder how they might turn these gifts to the 
 best advantage. Both agreed that something should 
 be done, but neither knew exactly what; and the 
 one never proposed a profession, which the other 
 
ANASTASIUS. 9 
 
 did not immediately object to, — till an old relation 
 stepped in between, and recommended the church, 
 as a never-failing resource to those who can think 
 of no other. My cousin had set the example by 
 making his own son a little caloyer at twelve. Pro- 
 hibited by the Turks from the trade of a soldier, 
 and by my parents from that of a sailor, I myself 
 saw nothing better, and agreed to the proposal. It 
 now became necessary to give me a smattering of 
 learning, and I was put under the tuition of a 
 teacher of the Hellenic language, who assumed the 
 title of logiotatos, and only averred himself inferior 
 to Demosthenes, out of sheer modesty. My idle- 
 ness got the better of my preceptor's learning and 
 diligence. All the gold that flowed from the hps of 
 his favourite St. Chrysostom could not, to my taste, 
 gild the bitter pill of his own tiresome comments ; 
 and even Homer, much as I liked fighting out of 
 doors, found but an indifferent welcome in the study. 
 The truth is, I had a dislike to reading in the ab- 
 stract : — but when away from my books, I affected 
 a great admiration for Achilles ; called him, in re- 
 ference to Epirus the land of my ancestors, " my 
 countryman,"'' and regretted that 1 was not born two 
 thousand years ago, for no other purpose but to be 
 his Patroclus. In my fits of heroism, I swore to 
 treat the Turks as he had done the Trojans, and for 
 a time dreamt of nothing but putting to the sword 
 the whole Seraglio — dwarfs, eunuchs, and all. These 
 
10 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 breams my parents highly admired, but advised me 
 not to disclose in common. " Just rancour," they 
 said, " gathers strength by being repressed." — Upon 
 this principle they cringed to the ground to every 
 Moslemin '^ they met. 
 
 The inclinations of the little future papas ^ for 
 the church militant, began meantime to appear more 
 prominently. I had collected a troop of ragamuffins 
 of my own age, of whom I got myself dubbed cap- 
 tain; and, having purloined from my uncle, the 
 painter, one of his most smirking Madonnas for a 
 banner, took the field under the auspices of the 
 Panagia,^ and set about robbing orchards, and lay- 
 ing under contribution the villagers, with all the 
 devotion imaginable. So great was the terror which 
 our crusades inspired, that the sufferers durst not 
 even complain, except in a body. Whenever as 
 chief of the band I became the marked object of 
 animadversion, I kept out of the way till my father 
 had paid the damage, and had moreover sued my 
 pardon for his backwardness in doing so. Once 
 indeed when, tired of my pranks, he swore I would 
 be his ruin, I suggested to him an effectual mode of 
 quieting his fears, by granting me an unlimited leave 
 of absence ; and pledged myself not to return till 
 doomsday. This was too much for a doting parent. 
 Sooner than part with his Anastasius, Dimitri Sotiri 
 would have bribed the peasants beforehand to suffer 
 all my future depredations. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 1 1 
 
 Thus early disposed, and trained, to the business 
 of tithing, my father felt a little surprised when, on 
 the eve of taking orders, I begged to be excused. 
 For the first time in his life, signor Sotiri insisted 
 on implicit obedience ; but that first time came too 
 late. I made it the last, by swearing that if he 
 forced me to take the mitre, ^^ I would hide it 
 under a turban. He yielded, and contented himself 
 with quietly asking what I finally meant to do. — 
 " Nothing," was the answer of my heart : but the 
 profession of doing nothing requires ample means. 
 I therefore pretended a wish to learn trade. My 
 father assented, and forthwith wrote to a Smyrna 
 merchant of his acquaintance to receive me into 
 his counting-house. 
 
 Meantime I found an employment for my leisure 
 hours which put an end to all childish pastimes. 
 Signor Sotiri, though, as before mentioned, a little 
 hard of hearing, wanted not fluency of speech. His 
 oratory had chiefly been exerted to render his patron 
 dumb. He constantly represented to him how ab- 
 solutely the dignity of his station forbade his having 
 the least conversation with the natives ; and how in- 
 cumbent upon him it was, though born and bred in 
 the Levant, to appear not to understand a single 
 word of its idioms. By this device he kept all 
 the speechifying to himself; and in truth, with the 
 Turks in office, at all times more prone than strict 
 politeness permits to compliment the representatives 
 
12 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 of Christian powers with the titles of " infidel, 
 yaoor," and Christian dog;"" and at this particular 
 juncture more than usually out of humour, in con- 
 sequence of the Russian war,^^ this was often the 
 only way to save the consular pride from some little 
 rubs, otherwise unavoidable in the necessary inter- 
 course with the local government. Hence Mr. de 
 
 M not only never stirred from home without 
 
 his interpreter by his side, but had him constantly 
 at his elbow within doors, and made him the sole 
 channel of his official transactions : a circumstance 
 which my father perfectly knew how to turn to the 
 best advantage. 
 
 I too, in my capacity as the drogueman's chief 
 assistant and messenger, was in daily attendance at 
 the consular mansion ; which proved useful to me 
 in one respect, as it gave me an opportunity of 
 learning the French language, — and that with the 
 greater fluency, from the circumstance of no one 
 offering expressly to teach me. The old consul 
 had, between his dignity with the Greeks and his 
 punctilio with the Turks, but little society, and I 
 therefore soon became by the sprightliness of my 
 
 repartees a very great favourite. Mr. de M 
 
 not only encouraged me to take a part in con- 
 versation, but would even condescend to laugh 
 most heartily both at my witticisms and my prac- 
 tical jokes, whenever neither himself, nor his ser- 
 vants, nor his relations, nor his friends, nor his 
 
ANASTASIUS. 13 
 
 proteges, were made to smart from their keenness 
 or involved in their consequences. 
 
 Mr. de M had an only daughter, the blue- 
 eyed Helena, the child of his old age. Deprived of 
 the watchful care of a mother, this lovely girl was 
 allowed in her father's house an unrestrained lati- 
 tude, and availed herself of her privilege with all 
 the freedom of unsuspecting innocence. The con- 
 sul, without being fond of music, loved the sound 
 of an instrument. Helena had been taught the 
 harpsichord, but, full of life and spirits, she hated 
 the mechanical drudgery of running over the cold 
 clumsy keys of a huge cumbrous fixture, to which 
 the performer, she thought, looked like a mere ap- 
 pendage. Our light portable lyre, which the arms 
 encircle so gracefully and the fingers seem scarcely 
 to touch, she would learn to play upon most readily, 
 — could she but find a proper master ! " Who 
 more so,*" thought I, " than the son of the father's 
 interpreter.'''* — and forthwith offered my services. 
 Though but a moderate performer, I had the ad- 
 vantage of always being at hand, and, without 
 being positively either accepted or refused, was 
 soon employed. 
 
 Parents ! who do not particularly wish your 
 daughters to fall in love with their teachers, be 
 cautious of admitting under your roof any music 
 masters, except such as are positive antidotes to 
 that passion. Where harmony alone is to rule the 
 
J 4 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 sense, can souls remain unattuned to each other ? 
 The boy's hand, hi guiding the taper fingers of his 
 pupil, will sometimes make them stray from her 
 chords to his heart, and mistake for the vibrations 
 of the one the pulsations of the other. The very 
 lips of the fair one, accustomed to re-echo the sounds 
 of her teacher's voice, will by degrees respond to 
 his feelings; and he who has so many means of 
 disclosing his passion, and of insinuating a reci- 
 procal warmth, without any imputation of forward- 
 ness or violation of respect, will be more anxious 
 to interpret the sounds he utters, than to disavow 
 their sense. 
 
 For my part, I almost immediately felt my heart 
 on fire, and soon Helena too caught the consuming 
 flame. Nothing could tear us away from each other. 
 The duets, begun in the heat of the day within 
 doors, were repeated in the cool of the evening on 
 the stone seat before the house. Sighs interrupted 
 the songs; and when the advancing night forced 
 Helena to retire, her blue eyes looked like drooping 
 violets steeped in dew. 
 
 The consul had destined his little favourite, as 
 soon as arrived at a suitable age, to a rich young 
 Smyrniote, nephew to his correspondent. He 
 dreamt not of the possibility of her falling in love 
 with a Greek boy, habited in the dress of the coun- 
 try, and the son of his interpreter. It was rather a 
 gratification to him, on seeing us so much togetlier, 
 
ANASTASIUS. 15 
 
 to think that in her soHtude his darhng child should 
 have found the harmless pastime of our concerts. 
 
 My father saw deeper into the business. Had 
 he conceived it likely to end in a marriage, and that 
 marriage likely to bring his family any accession of 
 weight or of fortune, he would, I make no doubt, 
 have become as blind as he was deaf; but this he by 
 no means thought probable. The old consul was a 
 good deal distressed ; his salary must cease with his 
 life, and he had nothing to leave his daughter at 
 his death but his consular pride ; — " and with that 
 portion,"" observed my father, " she might indeed 
 become a gem of the first water in the hands of a 
 rich Smyrna merchant, who would set her in gold ; 
 but round our bare necks she could only prove a 
 millstone." He therefore warned me against carry- 
 ing the intimacy too far. 
 
 His caution came too late. The less experience 
 my pupil at first brought to her lessons, the more 
 rapid was the progress she made under my tuition, 
 Love''s fullest harmony was struck, almost ere she 
 suspected it whispered in our sighs. Indeed, so 
 much was she still in the first spring of her in- 
 nocence, that she scarce seemed aware that in due 
 time blossoms turned to fruits, till taught by ex- 
 perience. On this discovery the timid girl at first 
 sobbed incessantly; but, by degrees, persuading 
 herself that our attachment, when divulged, must 
 
16 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 end in our permanent union, she recovered a kind 
 of composure, and resolved to let the disclosure 
 take its course — neither hastening nor yet trying 
 to avert it; and rather rejoicing than dismayed 
 that the slim Perote^" dress, which belonged to 
 her father's dignity, must betray the secret of his 
 villa sooner than the ample involutions of silk and 
 cotton, of which our own more wary females so 
 well know the advantages. 
 
 I by no means sympathised in this calmness, or 
 agreed in these wishes. What the too confiding 
 Helena looked upon as the harbour in which her 
 inquietudes must end, my father had taught me to 
 consider as the quicksand on which all my hopes 
 must perish. I therefore tried to impress Helena 
 with my utter inability to support her as my wife, 
 and with the expedience of such a timely confession 
 on her part, as should enable the consul to save 
 her honour without my inadequate assistance. 
 
 To the fair one flushed with love, the least 
 proffer of prudential considerations is an insult. 
 Exasperated at my discreet suggestions, Helena 
 treated me with haughtiness — with contempt. — 
 '' When she could bring herself to stoop to my 
 lowness, did I fear any sacrifice that raised me to 
 her level ?''"' 
 
 Feelings so proud as mine could ill brook this 
 i- taunting speed i. To be told that I was to con- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 17 
 
 sider as an honour beyond my deserts, the pemiyless 
 hand of one whose heart had attested too warmly 
 my merits, — was this to be endured? All the 
 blood of Achilles rose within me ; I ran to the quay, 
 and there let it rage in unison with the foaming 
 breakers. 
 
 As long as the Smyrna scheme had remained in 
 suspense, I saw an opening through which to escape ; 
 but my father had just received an unquahfied re- 
 fusal in that quarter. The merchant to whom he 
 applied in my behalf, being acquainted with my 
 brother's adventures, felt little anxious for another 
 scion of the same hopeful stock. 
 
 This disappointment had soured my father's tem- 
 per, and disposed him to visit on me the sins of 
 my brother. Having begun my education at the 
 wrong end, by permitting me every species of lati- 
 tude when he might easily have curbed my licentious 
 disposition, he now gave it the finishing touch with 
 equal sagacity, by trying, after my unbridled habits 
 had become confirmed, to restrain me even in 
 what I considered as reasonable freedom, I now 
 was thwarted in every wish, deprived of every in- 
 dulgence, — and all this, apparently, for no other 
 fault, except that from a chubby prattling child > 
 to be hushed with toys and sweetmeats, I had not 
 prevented myself from growing into a slouching, 
 thoughtful youth, who too often demanded a supply 
 of solid cash. 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
 / 
 
18 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 My mother, too, was to me an altered woman. 
 The moment I no longer submitted to be fondled 
 like a baby, she transferred her affections — against 
 all rule and precedent — from the former darling of 
 her heart to the one among us,, who had neither the 
 claims of the youngest, nor of the eldest, — to Con- 
 Rtantine. His hump had evidently operated the re- 
 volution in his favour ; but whether, by making my 
 mother wish to console him for this defect, or, by 
 causing her to consider him as endowed with an 
 additional perfection, I never could determine. Cer- 
 tain it is, that she used to gaze on his back as she 
 before had done on my face, until her admiration 
 sometimes put his own modesty to the blush. 
 
 Not habituated early enough to filial submission, 
 I no sooner felt the weight of parental authority, 
 than I began to question its justice, and, able to 
 deduce its rights only from the voluntary concession 
 of the child, while its feebleness forces it to barter 
 obedience for food, I considered its continuance 
 beyond that period as an usurpation. Long, there- 
 fore, had I been meditating to seize some opportunity 
 of eluding the parental yoke, even before I got 
 entangled in the snares of love. The wound which 
 my mistress inflicted on my pride added new incen- 
 tives to my desire of liberty, and, after her morti 
 fying speech, the only wish of my mind was to 
 abandon father, mother, mistress, friends, relations, 
 and home for ever. Indeed, no way in which I 
 
ANASTASIUS. 19 
 
 might sever myself from Helena seemed to me unfair, 
 when I considered the stamp of humiliating selfish- 
 ness which she had chosen to imprint upon my con- 
 stancy. 
 
 My brain thus in a ferment, I entered the first 
 tavern I found open, and, though by no means 
 addicted to intemperance, drank off draught after 
 draught of our strongest wine, till the houses in 
 the street seemed familiarly to nod to the ships in 
 the harbour. 
 
 Among these latter was a Venetian brig, ready 
 for its departure. While I sat pondering over my 
 grievances, the evening breeze sprung up, and the 
 song of the sailors on board marked the heaving of 
 the anchor. I accepted it as the summons for putting 
 my design into execution. Running out of the 
 house, I was soon rowed to the vessel, and reached 
 it just as the sails were unfurling. I offered my ser- 
 vices to the captain. He had lost half his crew in 
 his last Egyptian caravan ;^^ but still would only 
 receive me as a simple cabin boy. The office seemed 
 little suited to the son of a drogueman, whose gar- 
 ment alone, I thought, should sweep the deck ; but 
 it was not a time to bargain, and I submitted. I 
 crept into the hold among the ballast, until we 
 should be out of reach of pursuit, and, when informed 
 of my safety, jumped aloft, and ran to the stern to 
 see what way we had made. 
 
 The moon was just rising in all her splendor, and 
 
 c 2 
 
20 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 a bar of silvery light shot along the spangled waves. 
 The gradually increasing breeze carried us rapidly 
 out of the straits of Chios. The different objects 
 on the shore — mountains, valleys, villages, and 
 steeples — seemed in swift succession first advancing 
 to meet us, then halting an instant alongside our 
 vessel as if to greet us on our passage, and lastly 
 again gliding off with equal speed — till, launched 
 into the open main, we saw the whole line of coast 
 gradually dissolve in distant darkness. 
 
 Various and opposite were the feelings which, as 
 I stood contemplating the luminous track we left in 
 the rippling wave, agitated my bosom : but, whatever 
 direction I tried to give to my thoughts, they 
 always reverted to Helena. In vain I sought to 
 banish from my guilt- struck fancy her upbraiding 
 image. As if in mockery of my endeavours, it 
 seemed to assume a tangible shape. I persuaded 
 myself that I actually saw the pale form of my mis- 
 tress, half rising from the boisterous billows, follow, 
 with piteous moans, the fleeting vessel, and call back 
 her Anastasius to her outstretched arms. I wished 
 I could have stayed the mighty mass, — could have 
 converted the swiftly moving keel, which hurried 
 away my person and my fate, into a solid motion- 
 less rock — in order to enable the dear phantom to 
 join me, or, at least, in order to have a few instants 
 more to reflect on my conduct, and to retract my 
 errors, ere the opportunity should pass by for ever. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 21 
 
 In vain ! I felt as if an uncontrollable force kept 
 impelling me on, — and at .last, " it is useless," 1 ex- 
 claimed, " to contend ! I must yield to my destiny : 
 I must perform the things set down for me — be they 
 good, or be they evil !" 
 
 As the dawn began to dispel the dark visions of 
 the night; as the sun rose in all his glory to pervade 
 the blue expanse of the heavens, and the returning 
 day showed Chios like a faint cloud, floating on the 
 utmost verge of the waters, my thoughts assumed 
 a brighter hue, my heart felt the weight which hung 
 upon it lightened, and the idea that I now was 
 going to explore those distant realms after which 
 I had yearned so long, filled me with expectation 
 and delight. 
 
 Yet even this new joy was mixed with a terror of 
 its own. At no period of my life had I yet out- 
 stepped the narrow pale of my native island, or 
 obtained so much as a peep at the nearest objects, 
 beyond the straits by which it was bounded. A 
 passage to the neighbouring islets seemed to me a 
 long voyage. Smyrna had been, in my imagination, 
 the utmost limit of the habitable globe ; and as to 
 Europe, I deemed it to lie somewhere not far from 
 the antipodes. The unbounded prospect of the 
 whole wide world bursting all at once upon me, 
 struck my young heart with awe ; and the sight of 
 nothing around me but strangers, utterly unknown, 
 and indifferent to my fate, was sad and appalling. 
 
9J2 ANASTASIUS.. 
 
 Soon, however, 1 Avas recalled I'rom these vague 
 and indistinct reflections, by feelings more definite 
 and more immediately connected with my present 
 situation. I had scarce closed my eyes, when thd 
 captain, unwilling that I should have unpleasant 
 dreams, or any dreams at all, reminded me, with a 
 familiar tap on the shoulder, that it was time to 
 begin earning my passage ; and handed me over to 
 his crew to instruct me in my task. Mine were no 
 longer indulgent teachers, and, from being the little 
 tyrant of my father's domestics, I now found myself 
 the slave of every common sailor. While my com^ 
 panions — my masters, I should say — sat down to 
 their meals, I had to fast, and when they slept, I 
 must watch. Their scanty leavings were my food, 
 and it was only now and then that I could snatch 
 from my constant toil a few moments of hurried and 
 broken rest. Whatever awkwardness 1 showed was 
 followed by immediate blows; nay, it became a 
 standing joke of the unfeeling wretches to call me 
 to different places at once, that I might in some 
 incur the punishment of unavoidable delay. My 
 appeals to the mercy or the justice of my comrades 
 were treated with equal derision. 
 
 As I found it useless to complain, I stifled my 
 feelings, and only kept watching an opportunity 
 for escape or revenge. This made me particularly 
 observant of all the manoeuvres of the captain ; 
 ijome of which seemed sufficiently strange. At 
 
ANASTASIUS. 23 
 
 times, for instance, when not a cloud was to be 
 seen in the sky, he would pretend to expect foul 
 weather, and run for shelter under some lonely 
 cliff, where he seemed more intent upon looking out 
 for something on the water than in the air; and 
 though he affected vast displeasure at the unceas- 
 ing drunkenness of his crew, one could almost have 
 sworn that he put flasks of brandy purposely in 
 their way. 
 
 One evening, in a profound calm, and while all 
 the sailors, drunk as fishes, Were capering round a 
 tall pole crowned with myrtle, a boat full of May- 
 note ^^ pirates, concealed behind the frowning rocks 
 of Antiparos, stole unperceived under our stern, 
 and climbed up by the poop into the cabin. The 
 master, who just before had gone below on some 
 errand, and had been seized in the midst of his 
 business with a most unaccountable fit of sleeping, 
 was soon laid hold of and gagged. All the stand 
 of arms, neatly arranged round the room, were 
 next secured; and the pirates, now rushing up 
 stairs, easily mastered the few among the sailors 
 
 who were still able to stand upon their legs, after 
 
 which they had nothing to do but to bind, hands 
 and feet, the remainder, lying about the deck in a 
 state of perfect insensibility. 
 
 Amid the general intoxication, I had been kept 
 sober by my grief, and happened to stand near the 
 cabin door, just when, at the window opposite, ap- 
 
24 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 peared the ugly features of the foremost of the 
 Maynotes, ready to sUp in. My figure caught his 
 vigilant eye as he advanced his head, when, draw- 
 ing it back, he put his finger on his mouth, and 
 frowned most formidable threats, should I disobey 
 the sign. To this I felt not in the least incKned. 
 I might indeed, by giving the alarm immediately, 
 have saved the crew from the captain's treachery ; 
 but all had used me ill alike. I therefore answered 
 the command by a gesture of ready compliance, 
 and let things take their course. 
 
 In the beginning of the fray the pirates affected 
 to treat the captain very outrageously; but this 
 appearance of enmity soon subsided, and by degrees 
 they sat down amicably together, like old friends 
 who understand each other's ways. Having so 
 handsomely performed my neutral part in the busi- 
 ness, I now was thinking to approach and put in 
 my claim, if not for poundage at least for hush- 
 money, — when a new incident most provokingly 
 blew up the well-concerted scheme. 
 
 It happened that just at this juncture, the famous 
 Hassan Capi tan-pasha ^^ was in the act of delivering 
 the Morea from its Arnaoot^'^ oppressors. One of 
 his caravellas, ^^ stationed before Nauplia, by chance 
 espied our doings, and immediately gave us chase. 
 She soon obliged us to bring to; but, instead of 
 liberating the vessel, treated her as a lawful prize. 
 It is true that while the Turks tied the pirate* 
 
ANASTASIUS. 25 
 
 back to back, they only had the real owners of the 
 ship pinioned singly. The captain shared the fate 
 of his crew. Thus was poetical justice dealt out to 
 all, except myself; and thus was I, hapless Greek, 
 compelled, in the space of four days, to bear the 
 yoke of four different nations — French, Venetians, 
 May notes, and Turks. Whether I gained by 
 the last change, or only fell from Chary bdis upon 
 Scylla, must remain untold till I have premised a 
 short account of the celebrated expedition which I 
 was so unexpectedly made to witness. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In the first war between the Russians and the 
 Turks, the most natural proceeding for Russia 
 would have been to attack Turkey from its southern 
 frontier, where the two countries joined: — the 
 most surprising was, to send an armament from its 
 northern extremity, whence the whole circumference 
 of Europe must be sailed round ere Turks and 
 Muscovites could meet. This latter, therefore, was 
 the measure preferred ; and the Russian fleet had 
 passed, in its progress, a whole winter at Leghorn, 
 ere its commanders were determined in what part 
 of Turkey to strike the first blow. The Greeks 
 themselves decided the question for the avengers 
 they expected. A few turbulent Codgea-bashees ^ 
 of the Morea, fearing the lash of their Turkish go- 
 vernor, sent to the Russian commanders a forged 
 plan of insurrection, as one already organised, and, 
 on the return of the deputation, employed the 
 promise of Russian assistance thus fraudulently 
 obtained, to produce the commotion which they 
 had described as already on the point of breaking 
 out. Their labour was assisted by the Turks them- 
 selves. Suspecting a plot against their tyranny, 
 
ANASTASIUS. 2? 
 
 these pusillaiiimout> oppressors acted like men who, 
 from the very fear of a precipice, plunge headlong 
 down the steep. In their panic they massacred a 
 whole troop of Zaccuniote peasants, peaceably re- 
 turning from a fair at Patras, whom they mistook 
 for an army of rebels marching to attack them. 
 The cry of revenge now resounded from all quar- 
 ters ; and when therefore in the spring of 1770 the 
 Russian fleet cast anchor in the bay of Vitulo, 
 its commanders were received with open arms by 
 the bishops of Lacedemon ^ and of Christianopolis, 
 followed by Greeks of all descriptions, eager to 
 enlist under the Russian banners. Fair as seemed 
 this beginning, the understanding between the two 
 nations was short-lived. The Greeks expected the 
 Russians alone to accomplish the whole task of 
 their deliverance. The Russians had laid their 
 account with a powerful co-operation on the part 
 of the Greeks. Each alike disappointed, threw 
 on the other the whole blame of every failure. 
 Their squabbles gave large troops of Arnaoots time 
 to pour from every neighbouring point of Roumili 
 into the peninsula ; and the Russian commanders, 
 seeing all chance of success vanish in that unpro- 
 mising quarter, sailed higher up the Archipelago, 
 — leaving the Moreotes to their fate, and carrying 
 away no other fruits of the momentary contact of 
 Greeks and Russians, but an increase of rancour 
 between the two nations,— too nearly allied in 
 
2f ANASTASIUS. 
 
 faith, not to feel to each other the most cordial 
 aversion. 
 
 The ferocious mountaineers of Albania, who 
 under the name of Arnaoots form a chief part of 
 the forces of the Othoman empire, and of the body- 
 guard of its various Pashas, present in their rugged 
 and yet colourless countenances the greatest pos- 
 sible contrast to the regular features and rich com- 
 plexions of the Greeks. In the faith of the two 
 nations the difference is less marked. Wavering 
 for the most part between Christ and Mohammed, 
 the worship of the Arnaoots is generally determined 
 by the master whom they serve ; and many a bus- 
 kined hero^ who came on the spur of pay and 
 plunder to assist the Moreote Moslemen against the 
 Christians, himself professed the Christian faith. 
 The total number of these savages was computed at 
 about twenty thousand ; and when their work was 
 achieved, they demanded their wages. The money 
 was wanting, or at least the pay was withheld. 
 This furnished them with a plausible pretence for 
 disbanding on the spot, and paying themselves by 
 pillaging the country. Some, after laying waste 
 the villages, drove the inhabitants before them like 
 herds of cattle through the derwens or defiles that 
 guard the entrance of their peninsula, and thus 
 regained, with their new slaves, their native moun- 
 tains. Others remained stationary in the Morea: 
 by installing themselves in the houses and lands of 
 
ANASTASIUS. 29 
 
 the Greek peasantry, deprived the soil of its hus- 
 bandmen, and the Turks of their subjects ; and at 
 last, finding no more rayahs* to oppress, turned 
 tlieir violence against the Moslemen themselves, and 
 treated like the vanquished foe those whom they 
 had come to defend. 
 
 Nine following years had seen eleven different 
 governors arrive, one after the other, with the most 
 peremptory instructions to exterminate the banditti, 
 and again depart without succeeding; some for 
 want of sufficient force to repress their outrages; 
 others, it is said, for want of sufficient resolution to 
 resist their bribes. At last the Porte sent Hassan. 
 
 By birth a Persian, by the fate of war a Turkish 
 slave, by choice received among the recruits yearly 
 raised at Smyrna for the Barbary powers, and by 
 his own merit advanced to the rank of Port-admiral 
 of Algiers, Hassan-bey became in a short time at 
 variance with the Dey. Justice was so entirely on 
 his side, that prudence urged his immediate flight. 
 After many wanderings, he found a patron at Con- 
 stantinople in the famous Raghib, Grand Visier^ 
 under two successive Sultans, and who yet has 
 been permitted to die in his bed. In the memo- 
 rable battle which the Russians, after abandoning 
 the Morea, gave the Turks in the straits of 
 Chios, he commanded the admiral-ship ot the 
 Turks, which was attacked by that of the Rus- 
 sians, while the commanders of both the fleets, 
 
30 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Khassim and Orlow, kept with equal prudence aloof 
 from the fight. Prevented by his instructions from 
 unmooring, Hassan towed his ship on its anchors, 
 boarded the Russian vessel, and, only when both 
 hulks blown up together mingled their wrecks in 
 the sky, sought his safety in the sea, and swam 
 ashore. The Sultan, seeing his navy annihilated 
 and his person threatened in his Seragho by a fleet 
 from the Baltic, now named Hassan his Capitan- 
 pasha, — and was saved. 
 
 At the peace, this commander exerted himself to 
 form a new navy, and to introduce among the 
 Turks as much of European tactics as their preju- 
 dices could bear. He had not very soon an op- 
 portunity to try the effect of his improvements 
 against a foreign enemy ; but, in an empire so ex- 
 tensive as that founded by Othman, when age has 
 enfeebled its head, some distant extremity will 
 always refuse obedience, and call for compulsory 
 measures. Hassan constantly found in some quarter 
 disturbances to quell. In 1776, he made the 
 Arab Daher — usurper of the sovereignty of Acre — 
 atone with his life for the league he had formed 
 with the Egyptian rebel Aly. The year following 
 he punished Daher's sons for continuing the re- 
 belhon of their father; and finally, in 1779, he 
 received the Sultan's orders to expel from the 
 Morea the refractory Arnaoots. Already was his 
 army encamped in the plains of Argos, when one 
 
ANASTASIUS. 31 
 
 of the caravellas of his fleet stationed before 
 Nauplia conveyed our mixed party to that port, 
 where with my companions I was — unceremoniously 
 enough — stowed away for the night under a strong 
 guard in a crazy barn ; wondering what was to be 
 our fate the next morning. 
 
 The place of our confinement had long been the 
 undisturbed domain of swarms of musquitoes, who, 
 ignorant of our unwillingness to trespass on their 
 premises, seemed determined to resist the encroach- 
 ment to the utmost. The constant buzzing^ and 
 stings of these troublesome insects would alone 
 have sufficed to deprive us of all chance of repose, 
 even had we not been so closely paired, through 
 means of good stout ropes, each with a companion 
 by no means of his choice ; whence the blows which 
 €ach intended for his winged enemies, in general 
 only fell upon his pinioned associate. Excuses in- 
 deed followed the undesigned offence, but were of 
 little use in composing us to sleep. My other, but 
 not my better half, in this forced union, seemed to 
 be the person most endowed with philosophic re- 
 signation of our whole party. On my throwing 
 out a few hints respecting the inconvenience of our 
 bedchamber, he assured me that I was fastidious : — 
 he had often seen worse apartments, and without 
 the comfort of so much good company. This ex- 
 cited my curiosity ; and, observing that it was im- 
 possible to think of sleeping, I entreated my patient 
 
S2 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 friend to favour me with the description of some of 
 those habitations, compared with which our present 
 abode was such a fairy palace. 
 
 " And so you wish," he cried, " to know my 
 adventures ? — Well ! and why not ? You are young, 
 and seem of a promising disposition. My example 
 and my precepts cannot fail to benefit your inex- 
 perience, and I will therefore this once do violence 
 to my natural modesty, in order to gratify your 
 wish for instruction. What in fact is the use of 
 great achievements, but to tell them ? Only let me 
 entreat that your feehng heart may not be too deeply 
 touched by the distressing tale of my ill-rewarded 
 virtues. 
 
 " My early years," continued the person with 
 whom I was any thing but in tete-a-tete, " offer 
 nothing remarkable. They were spent in the in- 
 glorious occupation of cultivating my paternal soil. 
 I thought it rather hard upon me that, whether I 
 sowed my field or let it lie fallow, and whether it 
 was I that reaped its produce or the locusts, the 
 waywode ^ should equally exact the same enormous 
 yearly tithe, should look upon the destruction of 
 my crops by hail and tempests as the mere effects 
 of my own malice, and should seize upon my in- 
 struments of husbandry, in order to make me more 
 industrious. I thought it harder still that, on hear- 
 ing how the conflagration of my hovel had consumed 
 all my haratsh tickets'^ for ten years back, he should 
 
ANASTASIUS. 3^1 
 
 demand the whole sum, already paid, over again ; 
 and I thought it hard beyond all bearing when, 
 having gone abroad to scrape together the money 
 exacted by my tyrant, I found, on coming home 
 again, my little patrimony confiscated to his profit, 
 as a punishment for abandoning that to which 
 I returned. In my rage I flung myself on the 
 ground, with my teeth gnawed the earth, that I 
 might at le^st carry away some morsel of my pa- 
 ternal inheritance, and swore to make every Mo- 
 hammedan I could lay hands on, however innocent, 
 pay for the murderous waywode. 
 
 " This oath brought me good fortune. I suc- 
 ceeded in sacrificing several victims to my just 
 resentment ; and, as I chose by preference such as, 
 being in good circumstances, had most to lose, I 
 always made a point of retaining what I found about 
 them, lest other Mussulmen should profit by my 
 performance. 
 
 " Steadfast attention to this particular gave my 
 task a double interest. The only individual whom I 
 admitted to share with me, was the magistrate of the 
 district ; except, of course, where he himself hap- 
 pened to be the person stopped. Justice was much 
 the gainer by this proceeding. Instead of the usual 
 process of hanging a single wretch, the cadee^ 
 generally fined the whole community, for not being 
 able to produce the offender. 
 
 '' I had a distant cousin at Zante, — the flower of 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the family, and so much admired by all ranks for 
 his bravery, that people used to contend for his 
 assistance in settling their affairs of honour. The 
 nobleness of his sentiments equalled his courage. 
 He only killed, as it were, to oblige his friends; 
 and so nice were his feelings, where his character was 
 concerned, that on being paid one day beforehand 
 by a certain nobleman, to chastise another sprig of 
 nobility, and, on mature deliberation, thinking the 
 reward too ample for the service, he despatched his 
 man outright, and so quieted his scruples — to the 
 great delight and surprise of his employer. But 
 these too disinterested sentiments at last obliging 
 him to quit Zante, where merit excites envy, he came 
 and joined me at Patras. From that period we 
 only went out in search of adventures together, like 
 Theseus and Pirithous, Orestes and Pylades, and 
 all the other worthies of old, whom my cousin had 
 at his fingers' ends ; — and astonishing was the num- 
 ber of monsters of which we rid the world, not only 
 above ground but under : for one night, in a cellar, 
 we killed half a dozen Arnaoots, lying dead drunk 
 on the spoils of our country; and that, without 
 any body the next day being the wiser, or thinking 
 but that the scoundrels had done the deed them- 
 selves, in a frolic. Never did we take a fellow's 
 booty, whom we did not also rid of a hfe thus become 
 worthless to him. To do otherwise would have been 
 tempting Providence, and was against my oatli. My 
 
ANASTASIUS. :i5 
 
 conscience being thus kept clear of premeditated sin, 
 and my mind regularly unburthened, by confession^ 
 of unintentional offences, I continued to prosper, 
 until justice, entirely disregarding gratitude, chose 
 maliciously to turn against me. In disgust I joined 
 some Dulcignotes, who, with the help of Algerine co- 
 lours, avoided some awkwardness in taking christian 
 vessels. I myself had now begun to consider religious 
 prejudices as unworthy of a liberal mind, and to view 
 all men as equal before God. What right had I 
 to indulge in partialities founded upon my oAvn 
 fallible judgment ? — On this principle I no longer 
 made a difference between Turks and Christians, 
 and most conscientiously treated both alike. Still, 
 such is the force of habit, that I own I always felt 
 a particular zest in stripping an heretic. To this 
 moment my mouth waters at the thoughts of the 
 broad-bottomed Hollander, full of the richest spice 
 and dainties, which I once helped to unload. Its 
 crew had not — the reprobate wretches! — a single 
 image of a saint on board; and accordingly they 
 only went, with the wind right astern, at the rate of 
 two knots an hour; but the idols of their heart 
 seemed to be their short black tobacco-pipes. Even 
 when chucked into the sea, they still kept puffing 
 on, as long as their blubber-cheeks remained above 
 water. Their cargo set me up for a while, until 
 fresh misfortunes led back the way to my old trade. 
 The greatest piece of ill luck I reckon to have been 
 my partnership with our present captain. Had I 
 
36 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 foreseen the bungler he would prove, I should have 
 carried my wits to a better market. But no matter ! 
 — The most laudable intentions are sometimes de- 
 feated ; and a little rub disconcerts not Panayoti/' 
 Highly edified with the incidents of this worthy 
 man's history, and still more with his candid and 
 unassuming manner of relating them, I almost re- 
 gretted that the dawn should so soon, through the 
 chinks of the wall, break in upon his artless and 
 unvarnished tale, to announce a speedy change of 
 scene. In fact, a few moments after, the doors of 
 our saloon were thrown open, and our party called 
 out to be formed into marching order. The se- 
 parate pairs, all strung together on a good thick 
 mediate rope, into a single body of small width but 
 handsome length, were thus made to add to the 
 beauty of distinctness of parts, that of unity of 
 whole; and, all set in motion by the simple me- 
 chanism of a kick, bestowed in the rear of the 
 foremost pair, immediately advanced, guided by a 
 few spahees before, while others followed behind. 
 Argos was the place of our destination, and in less 
 than four hours our column reached Hassan's camp. 
 Not only all the troops of the province had flocked 
 round the commander's standard, but several Greeks 
 even had obtained permission to join the Turks 
 against those very Arnaoots whom, some years 
 before, the Turks had called in to save them from 
 the Greeks. 
 
 I had never seen an encampment, and the novel 
 
ANASTASIUS. .•?? 
 
 and striking sight absorbed all my faculties in 
 astonishment and awe. There seemed to me to be 
 forces sufficient to subdue the whole world ; and I 
 knew not which most to admire, the endless clusters 
 of tents, the enormous piles of armour, and the rows 
 of threatening cannon, which I met at every step, 
 or the troops of well mounted spahees,^ who, like 
 dazzling meteors, darted by us on every side, amid 
 clouds of stifling dust. The very dirt with which 
 the nearer horsemen bespattered our humble troop 
 was, as I thought, imposing ; and every thing upon 
 which I cast my eyes gave me a feeling of 
 nothingness, which made me shrink within my- 
 self like a snail in its cell. I envied not only 
 those who were destined to share in all the glory 
 and success of the expedition, but even the meanest 
 follower of the camp, as a being of a superior order 
 to myself; and, when suddenly there arose a loud 
 flourish of trumpets, which, ending in a concert of 
 cymbals and other warlike instruments, re-echoed 
 in long peals from all the surrounding mountains, 
 the clang shook every nerve in my body, thrilled 
 me to the very soul, and infused in all my veins a 
 species of martial ardour so resistless, that it made 
 me struggle with my fetters, and try to tear them 
 asunder. Proud as I was by nature, I would have 
 knelt to whoever had offered to liberate my limbs, 
 and to arm my hands with a sword or a battle axe. 
 The tumult of my senses had not yet subsided, 
 
.'>8 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 when, leaving the camp on our right, we were 
 ushered into the open court of a small habitation, in 
 the town of Argos, there to undergo an interrogatory 
 from Hassan's drogueman. Fixtures as were wc 
 under the azure canopy of the heavens, the sundials 
 on our faces had time to shift their shadows from 
 right to left before the gentleman came. At last he 
 arrived. 
 
 How widely things often differ in reality, that bear 
 the same names ! In the drogueman of the Capitan- 
 pasha, I had figured to myself a personage nearly 
 of the same stamp with the consular interpreter at 
 Chios, who had the honour of being my father. I 
 might as well have compared a wren to an eagle. 
 The individual of the Tergiumanic genus before 
 whom I now stood, came with the state of a little 
 prince, and seemed surrounded by a miniature court 
 of his own. When he spoke, his attendants only 
 answered in a whisper ; at his slightest commands 
 they flew as if the fate of the empire were at stake, 
 and when he smiled at a joke of his own, they all 
 shook with laughter. As his movements were 
 abrupt and rather eccentric, it was amusing to see 
 them scamper after him, trying to keep close to his 
 heels, and not to be thrown out of their ranks by 
 his sudden vagaries. 
 
 From what cause it so happened I know not, 
 but the moment this great man addressed our cap- 
 tain, who stood first and foremost of our troo|), hi? 
 
ANASTASIUS. S9 
 
 eye fell upon me, though one of the very last in 
 the many-jointed column; and from that time for- 
 ward he never more changed the object of his 
 attention. For the space of half a second or so, in- 
 deed, he might glance at the intervening individuals 
 whom he successively interrogated ; but, uniformly, 
 after addressing two or three words to them, his 
 eyes again began to wander, to seek something 
 further off, and, when they had found me, they 
 fixed themselves with their former steadfastness 
 upon my humble person. My business was to have 
 looked respectfully away from so exalted a person- 
 age, or to have modestly dropped my eyelids, as if 
 I durst not encounter his sublime aspect. But this 
 I attempted in vain. As if under a fascination, I 
 scarce could keep myself from gazing on him with 
 the same steadiness with which he perseveringly 
 eyed me. I felt as if my future fate was to depend 
 upon his nod. 
 
 At last came my turn to speak. Questioned 
 respecting my birth, parentage, country, cause of 
 absence from home, and other topics, I told my 
 little tale with tolerable ease as well as veracity; 
 and my candour particularly shone in my strictures 
 on the captain, who had not perhaps yet had so 
 impartial and so observant a biographer. My re- 
 cital amused its noble auditor, and when finished : 
 *' You little Greek rascal," exclaimed the drogue- 
 man, " you will corrupt all these worthy Roman 
 
40 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 catholics, if I leave you among them ; so Til keep 
 you here, and let them go home, to swing on 
 St. Mark's after their own fashion.'' With this 
 compliment my companions were dismissed. They 
 slunk away, muttering some curses, which under 
 the drogueman's mighty wing I could afford to 
 disregard. 
 
 Mavroyeni belonged to the most distinguished 
 family in the island of Paros. He had from a child 
 felt a spirit too expansive tamely to brook the re- 
 straint of his confined birthplace. The restlessness 
 of his temper was increased by the predictions cf a 
 priest of Sant-Irene, — one who foretold so much, 
 that it was impossible but something now and then 
 must fall out as he predicted. Fixing his eyes on 
 the little taooshan : ^^ " Young man," cried he, as 
 if inspired, " brilliant will be thy career ; but may 
 thy end be happy !" The first part of this twofold 
 oracle gave an additional stimulus to the youth's 
 ambition, the latter a new motive to his parents 
 for checking its sallies : but, like other predictions, 
 the one in question at last worked its own accom- 
 plishment. When Hassan Capitan-pasha made the 
 harbour of Drio the summer station of his squadron, 
 in its yearly cruise through the Archipelago, young 
 Mavroyeni threw himself so frequently in his way, 
 so anxiously implored his accepting an entertainment 
 from his father, and so successfully paid his court 
 during the feast, as to obtain from the Pasha 
 
ANASTASIUS. 41 
 
 the promise of his protection at Constantinople. 
 Upon this he immediately went forth, plunged 
 headlong into all the intrigues of the Fanar, " and, 
 through his own dexterity, and the patronage of the 
 High-admiral, in less than three years supplanted 
 Argiropoli, the old and long respected drogueman 
 of the navy. He soon contrived to give his new 
 situation an importance which it never yet had 
 known. Former droguemen were nothing more 
 than interpreters and spokesmen, even to the most 
 imbecile and stupid of commanders. To the most 
 energetic and quicksighted of Pashas whom the 
 Turkish navy had yet obeyed, Mavroyeni became 
 an adviser and a friend. The lion at whose roar 
 Moslemen trembled, showed with the subtle Greek 
 the meekness of a lamb ; and even when, informed 
 of his interpreter's unlawful transactions, Hassan for 
 a moment felt his anger rise, and swore he would 
 cut oft' the head that thus mocked his commands, 
 Mavroyeni's appearance was sufficient to turn his 
 master's wrath into complacency, and to draw down 
 new favours on that head just devoted to irrevocable 
 destruction. Every outrage of Mavroyeni's on the 
 laws and the habits of the Turks, only seemed 
 to increase his influence with his patron ; and the 
 Greeks, still as prone as of old to ascribe each 
 strange effect to some supernatural cause, ceased 
 wondering at the drogueman's sway, only to won- 
 der at the drugs of which he composed his philtre. 
 
4g ANASTASIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Received among the suite of the important 
 Tergiuman aforesaid, ^ I was soon made to ex- 
 change my miserable tarred jacket of the sailor, for 
 an ample beneesh- of finest broadcloth, the first 
 mark of my promotion ; but I could not help re- 
 gretting the loss of my " raven" locks, indifferently 
 replaced, in the owner's opinion, by the short black 
 lamb's wool of a clumsy calpack^. I swore I would 
 some day, cost what might, doff my uncouth head- 
 dress for one of those smart turbans of gilt brocade, 
 worn with such a saucy air over one ear by the 
 Pasha"'s Tshawooshes, '^ — gentlemen who were seen 
 every where, lounging about as if they had nothing 
 to do but to display their handsome legs, their vests 
 stiff with gold lace, and their impudent bullying 
 
 I had confidently expected that my first appren- 
 ticeship in my new service would have been to the 
 use of the carbine and the sabre. Great, therefore, 
 was my mortification when instead of learning to 
 shoot an enemy, or to cut down a rebel, I had to 
 practise carrying a coffee-pot, or presenting a to- 
 bacco-pipe : and once, when a young fellow attend- 
 ant displayed his wit in jokes on my awkwardness, 
 
ANASTASIUS. 4.1 
 
 my wrath waxed so high, that I thrust the lighted 
 pipe head foremost into his grinning mouth, and 
 made his pert tongue smart for its petulance. An 
 oldish mild looking man, a privileged domestic, 
 who, having served his time out, now earned his 
 salary as a sort of pedagogue to the new comers, 
 witnessed the act, and took me aside. 
 
 " Listen, young man," said he, " whether you 
 like it or not. For my own part, I have always 
 had too much indolence, not to make it my study 
 throughout life rather to secure ease than to labour 
 for distinction. It has therefore been my rule to 
 avoid cherishing in my patron any outrageous ad- 
 miration of my capacity, which would have increased 
 my dependence while it lasted, and exposed me to 
 persecution on wearing out: — but you, I see, are of 
 a different mettle : I therefore may point out to you 
 the surest way to that more perilous height, short 
 of which your ambition I doubt will not rest 
 satisfied. When you have compassed it, you may 
 remember old Demo, if you please. 
 
 " Know first that all masters, even the least 
 lovable, like to be loved. All wish to be served 
 from affection rather than duty. It flatters their 
 pride, and it gratifies their selfishness. They expect 
 from this personal motive a greater devotion to their 
 interest, and a more unlimited obedience to their 
 commands. A master looks upon mere fidehty in 
 his servant as his due, — as a thing scarce worth his 
 
44 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 thanks : but attachment he considers as a compli- 
 ment to his merit, and, if at all generous, he will 
 reward it with liberality. Mavroyeni is more open 
 than any body to this species of flattery. Spare it 
 not therefore. If he speak to you kindly, let your 
 face brighten up. If he talk to you of his own 
 affairs, though it should only be to dispel the tedium 
 of conveying all day long other men''s thoughts, 
 listen with the greatest eagerness. A single yawn, 
 and you are undone ! Yet let not curiosity appear 
 your motive, but the delight only of being ho- 
 noured with his confidence. The more you appear 
 grateful for the least kindness, the oftener you 
 will receive important favours. Our ostentatious 
 drogueman will feel a pleasure in raising your 
 astonishment. His vanity knows no bounds. Give 
 it scope therefore. When he comes home choking 
 with its suppressed ebullitions, be their ready and 
 patient receptacle: — do more; discreetly help him 
 on in venting his conceit; provide him with a cue; 
 hint what you heard certain people, not knowing 
 you to be so near, say of his capacity, his merit, 
 and his influence. He wishes to persuade the 
 world that he completely rules the Pasha. Tell 
 him not flatly he does, but assume it as a thing 
 of general notoriety. Be neither too candid in 
 your remarks, nor too fulsome in your flattery. 
 Too palpable deviations from fact might appear 
 a satire on your master's understanding. Should 
 
ANASTASIUS. 45 
 
 some disappointment evidently ruffle his temper, 
 appear not to conceive the possibility of liis vanity 
 having received a mortification. Preserve the exact 
 medium between too cold a respect, and too pre- 
 sumptuous a forwardness. However much Ma- 
 vroyeni may caress you in private, never seem 
 quite at ease with him in public. A master still 
 likes to remain master, or at least, to appear so to 
 others. Should you get into some scrape, wait not 
 to confess your imprudence, until concealment be- 
 comes impossible; nor try to excuse the offence. 
 Rather than that you should, by so doing, appear 
 to make light of your guilt, exaggerate your self- 
 upbraidings, and throw yourself entirely upon the 
 drogueman''s mercy. On all occasions take care 
 how you appear cleverer than your lord, even in 
 the splitting of a pen : or if you cannot avoid ex- 
 celling him in some trifle, give his ov/n tuition all 
 the credit of your proficiency. Many things he will 
 dislike, only because they come not from himself. 
 Vindicate not your innocence when unjustly re- 
 buked: rather submit for the moment; and trust 
 that, though Mavroyeni never will expressly ac- 
 knowledge his error, he will in due time pay you 
 for your forbearance."" 
 
 As it was not "a s'lngW yawn with which I 
 answered this long speech, good old Demo vouch- 
 safed to spare me its sequel ; but, though I thanked 
 
46 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 not my adviser, I took care in due time to profit by 
 his advice. 
 
 Mavroyeni's situation subjected him to a species 
 of persecution which almost balanced the pleasure — 
 great as it was — of beholding the proudest Agas of 
 the country daily cringe at his levee, perhaps more 
 lowly thaq at that of the Pasha himself. It was the 
 annoyance of being visited by all his own relations 
 and kindred, from every island of the Archipelago, 
 far or near, large or small. He had not, in the re- 
 motest corner of the Levant, a cousin in the fiftieth 
 degree, known or unknown, whom the fame of his 
 favour drew not out of his den to Argos, for the 
 purpose of sharing in the good things which it was 
 supposed the drogueman had nothing to do but 
 to give for the asking; and relationships, before 
 dormant or wholly obliterated, were now brought 
 to light, and supported by oral and written proof, so 
 as sometimes absolutely to confound even his not 
 easily shaken sturdiness. — Nor could these anxious 
 kinsfolks and friends be made to comprehend why 
 the particular time when Mavroyeni went forth 
 into public, or was surrounded by his whole court, 
 should not be the very best for bustling up to 
 their cousin, and roaring out their claims, or re- 
 minding him of their former intimacies. All day 
 long they beset the drogueman's door when he was 
 at home, or lay in ambush for him when he went 
 
ANASTASIUS. 47 
 
 out; and so great became at last the persecu- 
 tion, that at every new disembarking of passengers 
 at Nauplia, he used to be seized with a fit of the 
 ague. 
 
 There is a danger in doing things too well. What 
 was at first volunteered as an extraordinary feat, is 
 soon assigned as an every day task. I once hap- 
 pened to dismiss one of these troublesome visitors 
 too dexterously ; and from that time it became my 
 regular office. The appointment, it is true, could 
 not have been in better hands. Without troubling 
 the drogueman for particular instructions, or an- 
 noying him with awkward messages, painful to the 
 delicacy of a man who would rather have been 
 thought only allied to Jove, I knew at once when 
 a new face presented itself at the door, by its 
 cut and dimensions, whether it could conveniently 
 be suffered to pass the threshold, or not; and on 
 finding it either too long or too wide, or too red or 
 too shining, or otherwise inadmissible or question- 
 able, I resolutely defended the pass committed to my 
 care, was as formidably repulsive as Cerberus him- 
 self, and minded not even a little scuffle in the jause : 
 sure of never being taxed by my master for disre- 
 spect to his blood. Hence it happened that once 
 or twice, on the drogueman''s expressing a fear that 
 certain of these visitors might call, I had the plea- 
 sure to inform him that they had called, and would 
 call no more ; after which, whenever a stranojer was 
 
48 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 announced, the answer, " let Anastasius go to him,'* 
 was quite sufficient to explain the reception he was 
 to meet with, and the way in which his importuni- 
 ties w^ere to be treated. 
 
 By thus anticipating my master''s sentiments, I rose 
 to such a degree of favour that often, after having 
 in public caused Turks of the highest rank to stare 
 at his haughtiness, he would in private put his hum- 
 ble cafedjee^ in no fear but from his excess of fa 
 miliarity ; for frequently it left me almost unable to 
 bear in mind the old preceptor's caution, and to re- 
 frain from overstepping my station. One evening, 
 after other conversation, " Anastasius," said the 
 drogueman, " I told the Pasha to-day what a 
 graceless stripling I had picked up. He will see 
 you to-morrow." 
 
 A person so terrible as this Pasha, and who so 
 filled the world with the mere sound of his name, 
 must, I thought, equal Homer's heroes in size. I 
 estimated his stature at the least at eight feet ; and 
 accordingly, when ushered into his presence, kept 
 looking up at the ceiling till I nearly fell over a little 
 man squatted on the floor, whom I only recognised 
 by the commotion which my heedlessness excited, 
 as the formidable Hassan. I know not whether the 
 Pasha felt nettled at the abruptness of my approach 
 or had been discomposed before ; but when, ready to 
 sink into the ground with dismay, I stepped back to 
 repair my blunder and kiss the hem of his garment. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 49 
 
 he no more heeded me than the dust of his feet which 
 I respectfully hrought to my forehead. Mavroyeni 
 soon perceived that the moment was inauspicious, 
 and made me a sign to withdraw. I immediately 
 slunk away, • 
 
 There is a something in my nature which revolts 
 at every act of humiliation performed towards a 
 fellow creature. Nothing but the extreme kindness 
 of Mavroyeni could reconcile me to my servile situa- 
 tion ; and his indulgence had made me expect equal 
 caresses from Hassan himself: " I only stoop," 
 thought I, when appearing before him, " to rise the 
 higher." But when I found myself left in the dust 
 in which I had been cringing, without gaining any 
 thing by my submission but a contemptuous look, 
 how deep in my heart sunk the mortification ! Scarce 
 could I contain myself while hurrying out of the 
 room. On the very threshold I burst into a riood 
 of tears. 
 
 Fresh constraint, however, soon again became ne- 
 cessary. My fellow attendants, to whom I had been 
 boasting of my summons, were all waiting in a row, 
 to know the result of my visit. Lest its luckless 
 termination should make them too happy, I had to 
 convert my sobs into smiles, at the inexpressible 
 graciousness of my reception. 
 
 The principal tribe of the rebellious Arnaoots, 
 the Beckiarees, established to the number of about 
 ten thousand in the very capital of the Morea, kept 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 its governor, Mehemet Fasha, as some supposed a 
 willing prisoner. Hassan, ere he engaged in actual 
 hostilities, once more offered them, on condition of 
 immediately quitting the country, an unqualified 
 pardon; but the hardened banditti, whether con- 
 fiding in their numbers or in other less apparent 
 means of averting the blow, rejected all compromise, 
 intrenched themselves under the walls of the cit}^, 
 and bade defiance to the Pasha\s forces. 
 
 Probably they expected to awe him by this show 
 of resolution. They were deceived. On the tenth 
 of June, about noon, Hassan set out with four 
 thousand picked men for Tripolizza, and continued 
 on the march the whole night. Mavroyeni followed 
 the Pasha, and I followed Mavroyeni. In my ca- 
 pacity of Greek, and still more of cafedjee, I had 
 not the least hope of personally contending with the 
 foe, and all my solace was the chance of a sly thrust 
 at some run-away. But my master, desirous to let 
 me have my share of all the good things that offered, 
 after whispering something in the Pasha's ear, sud- 
 denly turned round to me : "• Anastasius," he cried, 
 " I have obtained his highnesses permission for you 
 to shoulder a musket, and to join in the fight, like 
 an Osmanlee."^ 
 
 The favour, no doubt, was inestimable ; but its 
 suddenness somewhat confounded me. 1 felt, how- 
 ever, that I must seem delighted, and though with 
 something of a flutter about my heart, endeavoured 
 
ANASTASIUS. 51 
 
 to look all joy in tlie face. In order to confirm my 
 assurance of unutterable satisfaction, I kept sing- 
 ing all the way, — though now and then, perhaps, a 
 little out of tune. But let it be recollected what I 
 was : — a Greek, in whose unlicensed hands a musket 
 had been deemed, until that moment, a sacrilege, 
 and who had only learnt by stealth to take aim at 
 a sparrow. 
 
 I shall therefore not attempt to deny that when 
 the early dawn showed in front of our column, be- 
 tween ourselves and Tripolizza, at the distance of 
 only a few hundred yards the whole Albanese en- 
 campment, my stout heart began to beat ; and that 
 when, the next moment, I heard Hassan give orders 
 for the charge, breath seemed for a moment to forsake 
 my frame. Shame, however, supplied the place of 
 bravery. The danger which I could not avoid I de- 
 termined not to think of; and, following the example 
 of the more experienced warriors around me, I swal- 
 lowed in a hurried manner several copious draughts 
 of a certain nameless liquor, which, on particular oc- 
 casions, the High-admiral wisely allowed himself to 
 distribute among his followers ; whereupon, whether 
 it be that the inspiring potation did its duty, or that 
 courage is infectious like cowardice, my heart, the 
 very moment before almost sunk to my heels, re- 
 bounded with such energy, that in its ebullitions 
 of bravery, I could scarce refrain from breaking 
 from the ranks, and engaging some hero of the 
 
 E 2 
 
52 ANASTASTUS. 
 
 adverse party in single combat, even before tlie line 
 was formed ;— and when the trumpet sounded the 
 charge, when the onset began, and the whole body 
 of cavalry at once rushed forward, causing the earth 
 to shake under the horses' hoofs, such grew my de- 
 lirium, that I scarce saw, heard, or felt ; much less 
 had senses to think. 
 
 Mavroyeni had taken care to confide his cafedjee, 
 excellently mounted, to a trusty spahee, whose side 
 he enjoined me not to quit. But at that moment 
 not heaven itself could have prevented my giving 
 the reins to my warlike spirit. The cloud of smoke 
 which arose soon baffling the vigilance of my guar- 
 dian, I gave him the slip, and spurring my steed 
 with all my might, at once plunged into the thickest 
 of the fray. There, finding the loading of my 
 pistols too tedious a process, I began hacking and 
 hewing with my yatagan ; ^ — consoling myself for 
 any mistake I might make in the objects of my ire, 
 with the thought that my blows never could fall 
 amiss, where all alike were enemies to Christianity, 
 and oppressors of the Greeks. If upon this prin- 
 ciple I hit one or two of our own men, too much 
 engaged to heed whence came the compliment, I 
 made amends by cutting down as grim an Ar- 
 naoot as ever wore red whiskers, in the very act of 
 measuring one of our spahees for a back-handed 
 blow ; and by this feat, so happily timed, and more 
 happily observed, gained prodigious credit. It 
 
ANASTASIUS. 55 
 
 elated me to such a degree, that, thinking myself 
 quite invulnerable, I was going next to rush head- 
 long amidst the only little knot of Lalleotes which 
 still maintained its ground, — when my guardian, 
 again catching a glimpse of my person, stopped my 
 mad career, grasped me by the arm, and, spite 
 of my despair at not seeing the end of an affair 
 in which I had taken such an active part, began 
 dragging me away : but the rout of the Arnaoots 
 becoming decisive just at that very moment, he 
 listened to the intreaties of those who had witnessed 
 my behaviour, and again let me go. I darted for- 
 ward like an arrow from the bow, and gave chase 
 to the now dispersing foe. 
 
 Foremost in the attack, I was soon foremost in 
 the pursuit. Among the Albanians flying before 
 us like chaff before the wind two particularly 
 caught my eye, while apart from the rest they 
 sought concealment behind a small patch of furzes. 
 Steadfastly watching their progress, and tracing 
 their route by the motion of the bushes, I left the 
 rest of the troop, to follow this promising scent. 
 Fortunately my fugitives, instead of turning short 
 upon me to punish my imprudence, in their panic 
 only pushed forward, until the hindmost getting 
 entangled among the briars, presented his side to 
 the contents of my carbine, and bit the dust ; while 
 the other only ran the faster for his comrade's 
 groans. 
 
54 "ANASTASIUS. 
 
 My great ambition had been to take a prisoner, 
 — to possess a slave. I therefore left the disabled 
 man, as secure, to his own meditations, and with 
 my biggest voice called to his companion to sur- 
 render. Luckily he did not even look round at 
 the stripling who addressed him; but presently, 
 leaping down a little eminence, disappeared in a 
 thicket, where I thought it prudent to give up the 
 hazardous chase. 
 
 I now returned to the fellow whom I had left 
 writhing on the ground, apparently at the last 
 gasp ; and when sufficiently near, lest there should 
 still lurk about him some latent spark of life, 
 which might only wait to spend itself in a last home 
 thrust, swiftly sprung forward, and, for fear of 
 foul play, put an extinguisher upon it, ere I ven- 
 tured to take any other liberties with his person. 
 This done, I deliberately proceeded to the work of 
 spohation. With a hand all trembling with joy, I 
 first took the silver mounted pistols, and glittering 
 poniard, and costly yatagan; I next collected the 
 massy knobs of the jacket, and clasps of the 
 buskins, and still more valuable sequins lying 
 perdue in the folds of the sash ; and lastly, feel- 
 ing my appetite for plunder increase in proportion 
 as it was gratified, thought it such a pity to leave 
 any part of so showy an attire a prey to cor- 
 ruption, that I undressed the dead man com- 
 pletely. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 55 
 
 When however the business which engaged all 
 my attention was entirely achieved, and that human 
 body, of which, in the eagerness for its spoil, I had 
 only thus far noticed the separate limbs one by 
 one, as I stripped them, all at once struck my sight 
 in its full dimensions, as it lay naked before me ; — 
 when I contemplated that fine athletic frame, but a 
 moment before full of life and vigor unto its fingers' 
 ends, now rendered an insensible corpse by the 
 random shot of a raw youth whom in close combat 
 its little finger might have crushed, I could not 
 help feeling, mixed with my exultation, a sort of 
 shame, as if for a cowardly advantage obtained over 
 a superior being ; and, in order to make a kind of 
 atonement to the shade of an Epirote — of a kinsman 
 — I exclaimed with outstretched hands, " Cursed 
 be the paltry dust which turns the warrior's arm 
 into a mere engine, and striking from afar an in- 
 visible blow, carries death no one knows whence to 
 no one knows whom; levels the strong with the 
 weak, the brave with the dastardly ; and, enabling 
 the feeblest hand to wield its fatal lightning, makes 
 the conqueror slay without anger, and the conquered 
 die without glory !" 
 
 On the very point of departing after this sort 
 of expiatory effusion, with my heavy but valuable 
 trophy huddled on my back, the thought struck me 
 that I might incur a suspicion of sporting plumes 
 not my own, imless I brought my vouchers. With 
 
56 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 that view I began detaching from my Arnaoofs 
 shaggy skull both the ears, as pledges for the re- 
 mainder of the head, when I should be at leisure 
 to fetch it; but considering how many gleaners 
 stalked the harvest field, and that if I lost my own 
 head, none other might be found to make me 
 amends, I determined to take at once all I meant 
 to keep. The work was a tough one, and the ope- 
 rator at best still a bungler, but I succeeded at 
 last; — and now, in an ecstacy of dehght, though 
 almost afraid to look at my bundle, I returned to 
 our party — for ever cured, by an almost instanta- 
 neous transition to temerity, of every sentiment of 
 fear. Indeed such remained for some time the fer- 
 ment of my spirits, that, while I carried my load 
 on one arm, I kept brandishing my sword with the 
 other, still eager to lay about me, and to cut down 
 whomsoever I met. 
 
 My master, — already informed of my prowess, 
 and on the look-out for my return, — seeing me 
 arrive thus fierce and turbulent, immediately cried 
 out : " Bravo, Anastasius ! At your first outset, 
 you are become a complete hero. — But," added 
 he, laughing, " since the fight is over, and the 
 enemy routed, suppose you put up your sword, and 
 wash your face !" 
 
 The advice was seasonable. I had in the heat 
 of the engagement received, I know not how, a cut 
 across the jaw, of which the scar remains to this 
 
ANASTASIUS. 57 
 
 day, \and shows a shining white ridge across my 
 strong black beard. 
 
 The head^ which, in imitation of my companions, 
 I laid before the Pasha, he only treated as a foot- 
 ball ; — an usage which made me feel vexed for its 
 dignity and my own : but when the whole harvest 
 was got in, he ordered the produce to be built into 
 the base of a handsome pyramid. The remaining 
 Arnaoots of the peninsula, cut off at the dervens, 
 afterwards supplied its top, and thus afforded the 
 inhabitants of Tripolizza a most agreeable vista, 
 which they enjoy to this day. One of our men_, 
 indeed, attempted to keep back from the common 
 store a skull of his own collecting, meaning to turn 
 it into a drinking cup for private use : but the Pasha 
 severely censured an idea " so disgraceful,'' he ob- 
 served, '' to a civilized nation like the Turks ;*" and 
 was near making its author, in punishment of his 
 offence, contribute to the building materials from 
 his own stock. As for myself, when I came to 
 offer my mite I found that same Hassan, before so 
 supercilious, all condescension. Bravery was with 
 him the first of virtues : some said the only one ! — 
 Mine he paid in ready money, with a handful of 
 sequins ; adding : " you are a lad of spirit ; and if 
 you will but become a true believer, you may rely 
 upon me for promotion." 
 
 At this flattering offer, my heart rose to my lips. 
 At once I would have answered : " Moslemin, or 
 
58 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 heathen, or whatever your highness pleases !"" — but 
 a look from my master stopped my complying 
 speech. I read in it a positive prohibition, and 
 durst not disobey. Prostrating myself on the 
 ground, I begged the Pasha would command his 
 servant any thing but to renounce his precious 
 faith. This behaviour had the good luck not to 
 displease the Visier, and much to gratify the in- 
 terpreter. It entirely gained me the heart of a 
 nephew of Mavroyeni, his uncle's agent, named 
 Stephan ; — a man who was said to keep his ac- 
 counts between this world and the next much more 
 even than his older relation. Indeed, so little had 
 the drogueman the reputation of being tenacious on 
 the score of religion, that I could not refrain from 
 asking him, the first instant we were alone together : 
 " why he should thus have stood in the way of his 
 servant's fortune ?" 
 
 " You fool," was his answer, " I only stood in 
 the way of your ruin. Had you accepted the High- 
 admiral's proposal, you would immediately have 
 received some inferior appointment, and in that you 
 would have been left to waste the remainder of your 
 life. Your first promotion would have been your 
 last. Despised by the Turks and shunned by the 
 Greeks, you would have found support nowhere ; 
 and must henceforth have lived not only degraded, 
 but, what is worse, forgotten. Has it never struck 
 you," added he in a whisper, and as if afraid of 
 
ANASTASIUS. 59 
 
 being overheard, " that if much were to be gained 
 by a Christian turning Moslcmin, there are others 
 besides yourself sufficiently reasonable not to stick 
 at the difference between Kyrie eleison, and Allah, 
 Illah, Allah?" 9 
 
 This observation set all reply at defiance. I laid 
 by my sword, and resumed my coffee-tray. 
 
 The interior of the Morea being liberated from the 
 Albanians, Hassan determined to spend the remain- 
 der of the season in clearing its seas of the Maynotes. 
 A strong detachment was sent with instructions to 
 force the passes of mount Taygetus, the abode of 
 those miscreants ; and our encampment was in the 
 mean time removed from the plain of Argos to that 
 of Nauplia. Precisely the small slip of this other- 
 wise delightful valley which is closest to the city, 
 and extends under the tremendous rock of the 
 Palamida, had, by the sea water constantly oozing 
 in, been rendered a swamp, vying for noxious 
 exhalations with the opposite morass of Lerna. 
 Hassan, while waiting the issue of the expedition 
 to Mayno, resolved, without knowing much of the 
 garden of the Hesperides, to make this pestilential 
 nook its fac-simile, — and, by way of restoring to their 
 pristine innocence and purity the somewhat dete- 
 riorated minds of his Arnaoot prisoners, had them 
 conveyed on shore every morning, chained two and 
 two, to forward this rural design. Hands that 
 never yet had wielded any thing but weapons of war 
 
60 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 and destruction, were now reluctantly seen to grasp 
 instruments of peace and husbandry, and to exchange 
 the sword and the carbine for the rake and the 
 spade; and men only accustomed to cut and clip 
 human limbs, gnashed their teeth with rage, at 
 being compelled to prune orange-trees, and to tie 
 up carnations. 
 
 Like other distinguished personages, Hassan had 
 his enemies in the capital. They represented his 
 attempt on the impregnable fastnesses of May no as 
 a mad scheme ; they ceased not to inveigh against 
 his extortions : but the crime they dwelt upon with 
 peculiar eloquence and pathos, was his atrocity in 
 employing Mohammedan captives to lay out his 
 vile shrubberies ; and one morning that Hassan, in 
 the midst of his works, was inhaling in copious 
 streams the incense of his courtiers vying in com- 
 pliments on his taste, came a fulminating hatti- 
 sherif from the Porte, to enjoin the immediate libe- 
 ration of all his prisoners, and the return of his 
 squadron to Constantinople. 
 
 Vain would be the attempt to paint the Pasha's 
 rage. Striking his forehead with the imperial 
 mandate, he swore he would obey its commands — 
 would deliver his prisoners from their bondage : but 
 only in death ! and ordered them to be marshalled 
 for immediate execution. The signal was given; 
 and at each waving of his hand fell a head. Every 
 beholder looked aghast, but none durst breathe 
 
ANASTASIUS. 6'1 
 
 even a syllable of intercession for the victims. 
 Fifteen heads already lay gasping amidst the par- 
 terres which their wearers had planted ; and seemed 
 only a prelude to the fall of as many hundreds : 
 when Mavroyeni at last stepped forward, and, 
 throwing himself at his master's feet, begged he 
 would have mercy, not on the culprits, who deserved 
 their fate, but on his own innocent lilies and jes- 
 mines, which had done nothing to deserve being 
 deluged in blood, instead of moistened only by the 
 dews from heaven. 
 
 Perhaps the Pasha himself had already begun to 
 reflect, not on the cruelty of his conduct, but on its 
 consequences; — perhaps he was not sorry for an 
 excuse to desist from his rash vow. His jocularity, 
 between each new act of the disgusting spectacle, 
 might only in reality be intended to slacken the 
 progress of the slaughter. The flowers were pitied, 
 the massacre stopped, the garden abandoned, and 
 the not yet pollarded Arnaoots conveyed to the passes 
 out of the Morea, there to be turned loose upon the 
 remainder of the Turkish empire. 
 
 By the sacrifice of a few of the purses which he 
 had collected, Hassan still obtained leave only to 
 resign the command of the Morea to Hadgee 
 Ibrahim, his own kehaya:^^ a man who, in turns 
 pilgrim at Mecca, chief of banditti in Roumili, ^^ 
 slave-merchant on the Black Sea, and soldier at the 
 Dardanelles, was by no means the Pasha's unapt 
 
62 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 representative; but who nevertheless was only al- 
 lowed to succeed him with the subordinate rank of 
 Moohassil, ^" — the exhausted state of the Peninsula 
 disabling it from supporting, in a governor, the bur- 
 thensome weight of the three tails. 
 
 The news of the entire failure of the Maynote 
 expedition became the signal for our departure. In 
 my impatience to behold the capital T had been 
 counting the days and hours till we should sail, and 
 had been frightened by many a report of our winter- 
 ing at Nauplia. Inexpressible therefore was my joy 
 wheuj on the fifteenth of November 1779, 1 actually 
 saw the anchors heaving, and the sails unfurled. 
 
 Behold me now at sea a second time, not like the 
 first on board a paltry trading vessel, only sur- 
 rounded by tarred sailors, and myself toiling like 
 a galley slave, but in a superb three-decker — a posi- 
 tive moving city on the w aves ; basking in the sun- 
 shine of a visier of the first class ; viewing, which- 
 ever way I turned my eyes, glittering officers and 
 guards; and having nothing myself to do but to 
 w^onder at all I saw. This I did abundantly. Not 
 a hole or corner of the vessel was left unexplored ; 
 and, though exceedingly wroth oil board the Vene- 
 tian at being obliged to bear a part in working the 
 ship, which I then thought an intolerable drudgery, 
 I here, on the contrary, from being very much dis- 
 couraged by the sailors in my attempts to assist 
 them, found no pleasure so great; and was con- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 63 
 
 stantly lending a hand in setting the sails, bracing 
 the yards, and imitating like a monkey all I saw 
 others do. Frequently, when my master sent for 
 me to my birth below. I was up in the main top ; 
 and I seldom came down from this favourite station, 
 except to listen open-mouthed on the carriage of a 
 gun to the glowing descriptions of the wonders and 
 delights of the capital — the city by pre-eminence, — 
 which some one or other of my companions was con- 
 stantly praising. It seemed to me, though the wind 
 continued unabatingly fair, that we never were to 
 reach this earthly paradise. 
 
 On one occasion indeed the current of my thoughts, 
 thus far uninterruptedly directed toward Stambool, ^^ 
 experienced a sudden stop, a total reflux. The in- 
 tellectual tide, till then only flowing in one direc- 
 tion, at once ebbed, and set the contrary Avay. It 
 was when we came in sight of my native land, of 
 my beloved Chios. While rapidly sailing before the 
 wind along its verdant shores, a pang shot to my 
 heart, — an indescribable yearning seized upon my 
 soul. At the back of that ridge of purple crags 
 which I could almost touch with my hand, lived my 
 aged parents; lived, sighed — ^perhaps, sighed no 
 longer — my injured Helena, the first loved of my 
 heart ! Were not the rocky screen betwixt, I might 
 actually at that instant behold their now melancholy 
 homes, and in less than an hour I might restore the 
 mourning tenants to their wonted serenity. I might 
 
64, ANASTASIUS. 
 
 receive and bestow the embraces of love and of duty ; 
 I might again possess the united blessings of those 
 whom I had so cruelly abandoned ; I might tell 
 them, " Anastasius has fought, Anastasius has van- 
 quished, Anastasius returns to you. He returns to 
 deposit at your adored feet, and to sacrifice to your 
 love and your pardon, the laurels he has gathered, 
 and the praise and promises he has gained." " Now 
 is," thought I — " but soon irretrievably to vanish — 
 the moment in which to recover kindred, country, 
 peace of mind, and connubial happiness. If again 
 cast away, they must be lost for ever !"" 
 
 Frantic at this thought, I hastily left the deck, 
 and hurried to the drogueman, to entreat that I 
 might be put ashore, and allowed to return among 
 my friends. 
 
 On what trifling circumstances depends the fate 
 of our lives ! Had I felt less anxious, I should 
 have succeeded : I should have reached my master's 
 presence, have preferred my petition, have obtained 
 my suit, have been reinstated in my filial privileges, 
 and probably at this time have been the happy 
 father of a numerous progeny, with the soothing 
 prospect of a tranquil and respected old age. 
 
 A nail-head made the difference ! — A nail-head 
 causes me, by remote consequences, at the distance 
 of many years, to die in a strange land a premature 
 and painful death, unowned by a friend, unwept by 
 a child ! This unfortunate iron (on which may lie all 
 
ANASTASIU9. 6r> 
 
 my sins) not being sufficiently clenched, protruded 
 most unwarrantably from the steps of the cabin* 
 Several times alread}^ it had caught my flowing 
 dress ; and each time condemned to decapitation, it 
 had only been reprieved from sheer thoughtlessness. 
 In the eagerness of the moment, I hooked it with 
 my shaksheer,^^ as I ran down stairs, and, losing my 
 balance, fell, and struck my skull against the floor 
 of the cabin. 
 
 Senseless from the shock, I only recovered to find 
 myself lying on the deck, with my head in the lap 
 of one of the Pasha's tshawooshes. The first thing 
 upon which my eyes opened was the officer's vest, — 
 one of those gorgeous specimens of embroidery, 
 which I had so greedily coveted, and had so fully de- 
 termined some day to obtain : the first thing I heard 
 was a condescending message of inquiry from the 
 Pasha himself! So much glare dazzled my senses; 
 so great an honour overpowered my weak brain. For 
 some time, indeed, I scarce could remember what 
 had occupied my thoughts prior to my accident. 
 All in my mind was confusion and darkness ; and 
 when I again began with some clearness to retrace 
 my ideas, the contact was too immediate Avith one 
 species of object near my heart, not to feel the at- 
 traction of other more distant treasures, weak in com- 
 parison. It now seemed to me a womanly act to cast 
 away all the fruit of the perils I had past, of the 
 reputation I had gained, and of the favour I had 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 earned ; — to exchange the fame and greatness that 
 awaited me, for obscurity and oblivion ; to prefer to 
 the destinies of the eagle, soaring from region to re- 
 gion, those of the worm, content to die in the same 
 clod of clay in which he was born, and perhaps 
 crushed to death before his time, by the more bold 
 and aspiring. I knew I should be laughed at by all 
 on board, only for hinting such a whim ; and, on fur- 
 ther reflection, I even felt it a filial duty to seek at 
 Constantinople that rank, which might be so power- 
 ful a protection to my parents on their little island. 
 Still, however, some inward doubt remained. As 
 soon as I was able to move, I rose, and ran to the 
 side of the ship, to see what way she had been 
 making since my accident, and whether there still 
 was time to execute my design. Chios had already 
 dwindled away into a scarce visible speck. The 
 magnet ceased to act; my lately excited feelings 
 subsided, and my no longer distracted mind gra- 
 dually resumed its former hopes, its vanities, and 
 its ambition. Its current again, as before, only 
 flowed whither our prow was tending. Stambool 
 again became, as before, its polar star ; — and if some 
 natural regrets still arose in my mind at intervals, 
 the new and bustling scene which ensued, during 
 the few days we lay at anchor before Mitylene and 
 Tenedos, completely dispelled them. These days 
 appeared to me so many ages, only from their de- 
 laying our arrival in the capital. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 6? 
 
 At last we entered the boghaz ! ^^ Stunned by 
 the incessant thundering of the almost uninterrupted 
 succession of batteries, which line the whole of its 
 shore, I felt not the less as if sharing all the honours 
 of their salutes, and could scarce repress my joy and 
 exultation. In a few hours I was to behold that 
 celebrated city, whose origin lay hid in the obscurity 
 of ages, whose ancient greatness had often been the 
 theme of my infant wonder, and whose humiliation 
 under the Othoman yoke I had, in concert with my 
 didaskalos ^^ of Chios, frequently lamented with tears ; 
 but which — even in its present degraded state, and 
 groaning under the despotism of the Turks — had 
 from a child been the final object of all my views 
 and wishes. 
 
 A most favourable wind continued to swell our 
 sails. Our mighty keel shot rapidly through the 
 waves of the Propontis, foaming before our prow. 
 Every instant the vessel seemed to advance with ac- 
 celerated speed ; as if — become animated — it felt the 
 near approach to its place of rest ; and at last Con- 
 stantinople rose, in all its grandeur, before us. 
 
 With eyes riveted on the expanding splendours I 
 watched, as they rose out of the bosom of the sur- 
 rounding waters, the pointed minarets, the swelling 
 cupolas, and the innumerable habitations, either 
 stretching along the jagged shore, and reflecting 
 their image in the mirror of the deep, or creeping 
 up the crested mountain, and tracing their outhne 
 
 f2 
 
68 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 on the expanse of the sky. At first agglomerated 
 in a single confused mass, the lesser parts of this im- 
 mense whole seemed, as we advanced, by degrees to 
 unfold, to disengage themselves from each other, 
 and to grow into various groups, divided by wide 
 chasms and deep indentures, — until at last the clus- 
 ters, thus far still distantly connected, became trans- 
 formed, as if by magic, into three distinct cities,^'^ 
 each individually of prodigious extent, and each se- 
 parated from the other two by a wide arm of that sea 
 whose silver tide encompassed their base, and made 
 its vast circuit rest half on Europe, and half on Asia. 
 Entranced by the magnificent spectacle, I felt as if 
 all the faculties of my soul were insufficient fully 
 to embrace its glories : I hardly retained power to 
 breathe ; and almost apprehended that in doing so, 
 I might dispel the gorgeous vision, and find its 
 whole vast fabric only a delusive dream I 
 
ANASTASIUS. 69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 It was with difficulty that I could collect my scat- 
 tered senses, when the time came to step down into 
 the nut-shell, all azure and gold, which waited to 
 convey the drogueman's suite to the Fanar, where, 
 with the other principal Greeks, Mavroyeni had his 
 residence. Each stroke of the oar, after we had 
 pushed off from the ship, made our light caick^ glide 
 by some new palace, more splendid than those which 
 preceded it ; and every fresh edifice I beheld, grander 
 in its appearance than the former, was immediately 
 set down in my mind as my master's habitation. I 
 began to feel uneasy when I perceived that we had 
 passed the handsomest district, and were advancing 
 towards a less showy quarter. My pangs increased 
 as we were made to step ashore on a mean-looking 
 quay, and to turn into a narrow dirty lane ; and I 
 attained the acme of my dismay, when, arrived op- 
 posite a house of a dark and dingy hue, apparently 
 crumbling to pieces with age and neglect,- I was 
 told that there lived the lord Mavroyeni. At 
 first I tried to persuade myself that my companions 
 were joking ; but, too soon assured they only spoke 
 
70 ANAS'TASIUS. 
 
 the truth, I entered with a fainting heart. A new 
 surprise awaited me within. That mean fir-wood 
 case of such forbidding exterior, contained rooms 
 furnished in all the splendour of eastern magni- 
 ficence. Persian carpets covered the floors, Genoa 
 velvets clothed the walls, and gilt trellis work over- 
 cast the lofty ceilings. Clouds of rich perfumes rose 
 on all sides from silver censers ; and soon I found 
 that this dismal outside appearance was an homage 
 paid by the cunning of the Greek gentry to the 
 fanaticism of the Turkish mob, impatient of wliat- 
 ever may, in Christians, savour of luxury and osten- 
 tation. The persons of the Fanariote grandees were 
 of a piece with their habitations. Within doors, 
 sinking under the weight of rich furs, costly shawls, 
 jewels, and trinkets, they went forth into the streets 
 wrapped in coarse, and dingy, and often thread-bare 
 clothing. 
 
 My arrival in the capital was almost immediately 
 followed by an advancement from my private situa- 
 tion, to a more public office. Whether the drogue- 
 man of the Capitan-pasha thought it unbecoming a 
 sprig of his own body — a drogueman's son — to ap- 
 pear in the capacity of a domestic, or whether he 
 conceived that a taooshan like himself, unconnected 
 with his rivals in office, and entirely dependent on 
 his nod, was, in point of trust-worthiness, the next 
 thing to a mamluke;^ or whether, finally, he con- 
 sidered my acquirements and my capabilities, as 
 
ANASTASIUS. 71 
 
 above being confined within the compass of a coffee- 
 tray or the extent of a Persian pipe, he had scarce 
 had time to look about him, ere he conferred upon 
 me the employment — or rather the dignity— of re- 
 lieving him in some of the lesser details of his busi- 
 ness. These chiefly consisted in attending every day 
 at the arsenal, there to introduce to the High-ad- 
 miral the persons and to interpret the petitions, of 
 Greeks and of foreigners ; — for in the style of the 
 Turkish diplomacy, a Christian ambassador de- 
 manding an audience was introduced as a suppli- 
 cant preferring a suit. 
 
 While, to perform the duties of his office, Mavro- 
 yeni himself held his usual station in the Capitan- 
 pasha's own apartment, I was installed in a small 
 adjoining room, where I had to hear, to understand 
 if I could, or, whether I understood or not, to set 
 down and to condense into the shortest possible 
 written abstract, the long stories of petitioners and 
 the endless dialogues of disputants ; a duty, which 
 I always performed the better in proportion as I 
 understood the business brought before me the less. 
 It was here I learnt that art of generalising my ideas, 
 so esteemed, as I am told, among Frank ^ philoso- 
 phers. 
 
 Undoubtedly, had the choice been laid before me, 
 I should have preferred the truncheon to the pen. 
 But the drogueman had not the former in his gift; 
 and the tedium of the latter was materially relieved 
 
72 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 by certain circumstances attached to its exercise. 
 For it soon became notorious that nothing assisted 
 me so much in giving weight to a case, as a few 
 sequins sUpped from sheer absence of mind between 
 the pages of the report ; and in this respect the dif- 
 ference between my master and myself only con- 
 sisted in his receiving purses,^ where I received 
 single pieces. 
 
 Still, to one who loved money only as the means 
 of pleasure, my confinement could not but be irk- 
 some; and the moment Mavroyeni disappeared I 
 too used to break up my levees, and to saunter 
 about. Whenever my master was employed by the 
 Pasha in some long-winded expedition, I proceeded 
 either to spend the money already earned in the 
 Tchartchees and Bezesteens,^ or to procure new 
 customers for my own shop, by boasting in the cof- 
 fee-houses and taverns of my influence in higher 
 quarters. Was Mavroyeni, on the contrary, only 
 expected to make a short absence, I contented my- 
 self with taking a turn round the precincts of the 
 arsenal. 
 
 In one of these rambles I remember being shown 
 two highly esteemed productions ofthe pictorial art, 
 presented by the drogueman to the Pasha. They 
 were representations of two of Hassan's most me- 
 morable achievements ; the surprisal of the Russians 
 at Lemnos, and the bombardment of Daher at Acre. 
 In these chef-d'oeuvres all was depicted with the 
 
ANASTASIUS. 73 
 
 utmost faithfulness — the vessels, the batteries, the 
 guns, the very balls whizzing through the air, and 
 the shells falling on the buildings. One feature 
 alone was omitted in compliment to Turkish preju- 
 dices; a mere trifle, no doubt, in the eyes of the 
 painter — the combatants themselves ! — but this very 
 circumstance — as I told the Turkish officer my 
 cicerone — so far from lessening its value, was, in 
 my opinion, the most judicious thing I had ever be- 
 held. The great point in works of art, my language- 
 master at Chios had assured me, was only to bring 
 forward the leading objects, the essential supporters 
 of the action ; and to discard all insignificant and 
 superfluous accessories. Now, what was it that in 
 engagements by land or by w^ater did all the exe- 
 cution ? The men ? — By no means ! They only 
 stood aloof. It was the shells, the bullets, the grape- 
 shot. These therefore filled the whole foreground 
 more properly. 
 
 So much did the acuteness of this remark de- 
 light the officer, that in his rapture, he clapped 
 his broad whiskers on my face, and swore I was the 
 only sensible Greek he ever had met with. It was 
 evident that he knew not a countryman of mine, 
 whom I found one morning in excessive wrath with 
 a Perote artist — a Frank, — for having painted him 
 a Madonna with such force of light and shade, as 
 absolutely to stand out from the canvas. He swore 
 
74 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 it was a scandalous production ; — almost as bad as 
 an image ! and the poor artist could not even ob- 
 tain praise for his talent, much less, payment for his 
 labour. 
 
 I had been several weeks at Constantinople with- 
 out yet seeing my patron's lady. Not that, like 
 Turkish wives, she was kept secluded in a harem, '^ 
 but, on the contrary, because, in order to enjoy 
 greater freedom, she preferred spending her autumn 
 at a villa on the Bosphorus. One afternoon M avro- 
 yeni took me to Therapiah^ in his cai'ck, and I was 
 there presented to the domina. She happened to 
 be sunning her plump charms on the quay. Nothing 
 could exceed the stateliness of her appearance ; and 
 had she not been somewhat broader than she was 
 long, her carriage would have been very dignified. 
 Half a dozen surrounding attendants had no other 
 employment but to support her august person; 
 much too important to support itself on ordinary 
 occasions. One walked on before with a peacock- 
 tail fan, to keep the flies from her glossy face ; and 
 another behind, to shake the dust off her still more 
 lustrous gown. 
 
 An untoward accident was fated to happen, just 
 as every thing seemed disposed to strike a new comer 
 with all possible awe and admiration. At the furthest 
 CMitlet of the channel, in the very middle of its sil- 
 very expanse, and on the verge of the horizon, was 
 
ANASTASIUS. 75 
 
 descried a dark speck that looked endowed with 
 motion. Rapidly the opaque body advanced, skim- 
 ming the fleecy surface of the waters; and, as it 
 approached, it increased in size and consequence. 
 Its wide extending fins dipped into the waves like 
 the pinions of the swallow, while its sharp ^nd pro- 
 minent beak cut its way through the^Wllows like 
 the shark or the sword-fish. All eyes were riveted 
 upon the threatening monster, and presently no one 
 but myself any longer remained in ignorance of its 
 nature. It stood confessed, — O horror! — not ex- 
 actly a dragon come to devour our princess on the 
 sea-shore, like another Andromeda, in order to give 
 me an opportunity of signalizing my gallantry as her 
 Perseus ; but something full as savage, and much 
 more inglorious: the Bostandjee-bashee^ in his po- 
 lice boat, coming to nibble at the trains of the 
 Greek princesses, which exceeded the standard 
 of the Turkish sumptuary laws. At this terrific 
 sight, the arms of the six suivantes all dropped with 
 one accord by their sides, and with them dropped 
 to the ground their mistress''s train. The snow-white 
 ermine swept the dust of the road ; while its wearer — 
 who just before had appeared scarce aWe to move 
 without assistance — suddenly recovered the entire 
 use of her short legs, and waddled away by herself 
 as nimbly as any duck pursued by a t.ite, until the 
 friendly screen of a wall enabled h(3r to stop, to 
 face about, and to take breath after the immense 
 exertion. 
 
76 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 As soon as the terrified party had safely reached 
 the house, the fault of the precipitate retreat was laid 
 on an impending shower. I had the imprudence — 
 fool that I was — to run and search for a cloud. The 
 only one I could find was that gathering on the lady's 
 own brow; and my officiousness got me a look in 
 that quarter, which boded more storms than ever 
 lashed the Bosphorus in March. 
 
 What could the company do, in the uncertain 
 state of the sky, but collect round the tandoor ?^^ — 
 that safe refuge against the winter'^s rigours, that 
 eastern nondescript, which in the angle of the 
 mitred sofa holds a middle character between the 
 table and the bed, and underneath whose gaudy co- 
 verlet all the legs of the snug party coverge round 
 a pot of lighted charcoal, there to stew for the even- 
 ing. Like the rest, I crept under the bed-clothes. 
 
 This was my first admission to a gossiping party 
 of quality; and I must in justice to its members 
 confess that it yielded not to those of inferior rank. 
 In the course of an hour or two I heard a very rea- 
 sonable quantity of scandal. There was no recent 
 occurrence in church or state, army or navy, boards 
 or bed-chambers, the Bab-humayoon,^i q^ ^\^q l^^ck 
 stairs, but was properly collected, combined, com- 
 pared, dissected, analyzed, and circulated. I now 
 for the first time learnt, to my infinite satisfaction, 
 both the precise offence of the last Vizier beheaded, 
 and the precise length of the last feridjee ^" curtailed. 
 I was informed in the same breath, how the great 
 
ANASTASIUS. 77 
 
 Morosi managed his principality, and how the Httle 
 Manolacki conducted his courtship ; how the Patri- 
 arch had quarrelled with the Archons, ^^ and how the 
 Spatar^* had beaten his wife; how the mortgages of 
 the church were redeeming, and how the slipper- 
 money^^ of the Sultanas was engaged: and I so 
 confidently heard it asserted by a gentleman on my 
 right, that the conference between a certain Embas- 
 sador and the Reis-effendee^^ would produce a new 
 war ; and by a lady on my left, that the meeting 
 between a certain archimandrite and his ghostly 
 daughter would produce a new christening, that I 
 no longer doubted that the fumes of the brazier over 
 which we sat, must have all the oracular virtues 
 which issued from the cave of Delphi. On going to 
 bed I expected from them very surprising effects, 
 but to my disappointment I experienced none other 
 than a dream, in which I beheld the Sultan pounding 
 the Grand Mufti in a mortar, ^'^ and the pope of 
 Rome standing by, crying bravo ! — "Bravo," echoed 
 I with all my might, — when my own voice waking 
 me just in good time, I got up to return with my 
 master to the capital. 
 
 " Well, Anastasius," said the drogueman to me, 
 as we were cleaving the waves of the Bosphorus, 
 *' how do you like our Constantinople life ?"" 
 
 " Very much ;" was the answer evidently expected, 
 but which I did not give, — feehng little edified with 
 lYiy visit to Therapiah, where I had had my share 
 
7» ANASTASIUS. 
 
 of the second-hand insolence, which the Fanariotes 
 take very quietly from the Turks, only to put it off 
 less quietly among the taooshans* " Not at all ;"" 
 was therefore the short reply I made. 
 
 The drogueman stared. I felt I had been too 
 laconic. '' Were the rest of the Greeks I see here," 
 added I, '' at all like your highness, the place 
 would indeed be a paradise; but this capital seems to 
 change the nature of whatever it harbours ; and my 
 countrymen, so gay, so light-hearted at Chios, seem 
 at the Fanar at once dull and important. Besides, 
 the diiference made between Christians and Moham- 
 medans here is too great, too mortifying. The few 
 Moslemen of Chios mingle with its rayahs on a foot- 
 ing of equality. They almost reckon it a favour to 
 be admitted to their junketings. But here, the very 
 noblest of the Greeks — your highness alone ex- 
 cepted — are daily exposed to the insults of the 
 meanest Turk. Were it not for my principles, I 
 would rather be a Turkish porter than a Greek 
 prince.'^ 
 
 Mavroyeni looked thoughtful. After a little 
 pause, " You mistake, Anastasius,'* replied he, " in 
 thinking the Greek of Constantinople different from 
 the Greek of Chios. Our nation is every where the 
 same. The same at Petersburg as at Cairo ; the 
 same now that it was twenty centuries ago." 
 
 I stared in my turn. 
 
 ^' What I say," continued my master, " is per- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 79 
 
 fectly true. The complexion of the modern Greek 
 may receive a different cast from different surround- 
 ing objects : the core still is the same as in the days 
 of Pericles. Credulity, versatility, and thirst of 
 distinctions from the earliest periods formed, still 
 form, and ever will continue to form, the basis of the 
 Greek character; and the dissimilarity in the ex- 
 ternal appearance of the nation arises, not from any 
 radical change in its temper and disposition, but only 
 from the incidental variation in the means through 
 which the same propensities are to be gratified. The 
 ancient Greeks worshipped an hundred gods, the 
 modern Greeks adore as many saints. The ancient 
 Greeks believed in oracles and prodigies, in incanta- 
 tions and spells ; the modern Greeks have faith in 
 relics and miracles, in amulets and divinations. The 
 ancient Greeks brought rich offerings and gifts to 
 the shrines of their deities, for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing success in war and pre-eminence in peace ; the 
 modern Greeks hang up dirty rags round the sanc- 
 tuaries of their saints, to shake off an ague or to 
 propitiate a mistress. The former were stanch pa- 
 triots at home, and subtle courtiers in Persia ; the 
 latter defy the Turks in Mayno, and fawn upon 
 them at the Fanar. Besides, was not every com- 
 monwealth of ancient Greece as much a prey to 
 cabals and factions as every community of modern 
 Greece ? Does not every modern Greek preserve 
 the same desire for supremacy, the same readiness 
 
so ANASTASIUS. 
 
 to undermine by every means fair or foul his com-* 
 petitors, which was displayed by his ancestors ? Do 
 not the Turks of the present day resemble the Ro- 
 mans of past ages in their respect for the ingenuity, 
 and, at the same time, in their contempt for the 
 character of their Greek subjects ? And does the 
 Greek of the Fanar show the least inferiority to the 
 Greek of the Piraeus in quickness of perception, in 
 fluency of tongue, and in fondness for quibbles, for 
 disputation, and for sophistry? — Believe me, the 
 very difference between the Greeks of time past and 
 of the present day, arises only from their thorough 
 resemblance ; from that equal pliability of temper, 
 and of faculties in both, which has ever made them 
 receive with equal readiness the impression of every 
 mould and the impulse of every agent. When 
 patriotism, public spirit, and pre-eminence in arts, 
 science, literature, and warfare, were the road to 
 distinction, the Greeks shone the first of patriots, of 
 heroes, of painters, of poets, and of philosophers. 
 Now that craft and subtlety, adulation and intrigue 
 are the only paths to greatness, these same Greeks 
 are — what you see them !'"* 
 
 To me it mattered little, whether the modern 
 Greeks resembled the ancient or not, as long as I 
 was not reckoned on a footing with my neighbours 
 the Fanariotes. I therefore paid Mavroyeni a com- 
 pliment on his oratory, and let the subject drop; 
 still muttering to myself, " Stambool was a detest- 
 able place !" 
 
^NASTASrUS. M 
 
 It remained not always so. The Fanariotes — 
 whose defect is not want of quicksightedness — soon 
 perceived that I was a great favourite with the fa- 
 'vourite of the favourite par excellence : and as no 
 ramifications of this genus, however minute, were to 
 be neglected, I began to enjoy my due share of adu- 
 lation and of consequence. Those who before were 
 deaf when I spoke to them, now addressed me the 
 first; and the identical joke which formerly left the 
 muscles of every face unmoved, now had the power 
 to set a whole table in a roar. With my situation 
 my manners underwent a total change. The rude 
 exterior of the islander had been exchanged among 
 the caleondjees^^ of the Capitan-pasha, for a swag- 
 gering braggadocio air. The martial strut was now 
 laid aside for the smooth simpering smile of the 
 courtier. Instead of spluttering out my unpolished 
 sentences by half dozens in a breath, as if I had 
 more words crammed in my throat than could issue 
 one by one from my mouth, I now practised with a 
 nonchalant air to drop only now and then a significant 
 monosyllable, so profound in its meaning that no- 
 body could get at it ; — and as to the mother tongue, 
 the Romaic ^9 idiom, it was no longer to be used, 
 except interlarded with such scraps of French, Ita- 
 lian, and Turkish, as to render it almost unintelli- 
 gible to the vulgar auditor. Athwart my borrowed 
 languor and effeminacy, however, the native vigour 
 and raciness of the soil would break forth occa- 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 sionally with such energetic bursts, as both asto- 
 nished and delighted the Fanariote fair. To them 
 my rough-cast homage presented an acceptable con- 
 trast to the mawkish tenderness of their every-day 
 admirers. My freedom passed for naivete, my 
 neglect of forms evinced a flattering devotedness, 
 and my rustic exterior promised affections more 
 robust and lasting than could be expected from the 
 sickly natives of a large capital. Flattered by the 
 men, and smiled upon by the women, I now said to 
 myself — " Stambool is a charming place !"" 
 
 So great, indeed, became in it my vogue, that, 
 had my fastidiousness been less, I might have adapted 
 my courtships, as our great men suit their pelisses, 
 to the different seasons of the year : for, while autumn 
 still continued to pour forth her golden treasures, a 
 grocer's fair spouse — herself the image of ripeness 
 and of plenty — offered to feed my good-will with figs 
 and raisins, to pay in comfits for the sweets of my 
 converse, and to support the ardour of my affections 
 with rosoglio and spice : when winter began to chill 
 the blood, the sleek helpmate of a furrier would fain 
 have dispelled my freezing coldness even at the ex- 
 pense of all her husband's rarest ermines ; and, when 
 returning spring enamelled every field with fresh 
 flowers, I beheld at my feet a whole bevy of beau- 
 ties, fresh as the violet and the daisy, and, to own the 
 truth, not much more exalted in the scale of human 
 flowerets : — but comfits were only lures for boys ; er- 
 
ANASTASIUS. Ht^ 
 
 mine had no charms, except as the garb of royalty ; 
 and beauty itself lost its attractions in my eyes, when 
 destitute of rank and fashion. 
 
 The first lady possessed of these latter attributes 
 whom I found disposed to cast an eye of compassion 
 on my sufferings, was of the devout order, and the 
 very domina who had excited the oracular ingenuity 
 of one of the party, on my first visit to Therapiah. 
 The worthy archimandrite, to whom were entrusted 
 her spiritual concerns, had, on the application of her 
 husband, been exiled by the Patriarch to the holy 
 mountain,*^ in order to pursue his spiritual medi- 
 tations with less interruption. The lady, now finding 
 that even the long beard of a priest was unable to 
 screen her reputation, resolved to try whether the 
 beardless face of a boy would protect it. 
 
 A first success, obtained in a distinguished quar- 
 ter from real preference, leads to others granted by 
 vanity. But with my fashion increased my fas- 
 tidiousness. All could not catch that laid snares for 
 me ; nor could all keep that caught me. My favour 
 was precarious, and — a little tyrant in love — I treated 
 the tender passion quite in the Turkish style. 
 
 Still I continued undistinguished, nay, unheeded, 
 by the proud Theophania. Not even by accident 
 could the looks of this lofty lady descend to my level. 
 She appeared unconscious that a being so insignifi- 
 cant as myself existed, filled its portion of space, and 
 breathed the same air with her noble lungs. If she 
 
U ANASTASIUS. 
 
 wished to move from one part of the room to an- 
 other, and I happened to stand in her way, her 
 hand would mechanically push me aside, without 
 the participation of her mind, like a chair or a table ; 
 while her averted eye was directed to some more 
 distant point of space. In vain might I lay myself 
 out for her approbation, — I could not even obtain 
 her satire. The very ridicule of Theophania would 
 have been too much notice for one so low as me. 
 It was positive condescension in her, one day when 
 in an humbler quarter I showed myself insatiate of 
 adulation, to turn round to me and with some im- 
 patience to say, " it is the privilege of the great, sir, 
 to receive praise : the insignificant should be at the 
 trouble of praising themselves !"" — So violent indeed 
 was her temper, and so sarcastic her conversation 
 with individuals of every rank and degree, that even 
 the most distinguished among the Fanariotes only 
 approached her with fear and trembling, and, as 
 soon as the indispensable rites of politeness had been 
 performed, hastened away, ere, like the drones in a 
 hive, they felt the sting of this intractable queen bee. 
 The shafts of Cupid she had usually turned aside 
 by her petulance ; but the few times they happened 
 to draw blood, she had loved as others hate. 
 
 Undismayed by these difficulties, I swore she 
 ■should be at the feet of the taooshan whom she 
 vouchsafed not to suffer at her own, and thencefor- 
 ward bent the whole force of my genius toward at- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 85 
 
 tracting her attention, and exciting her interest. 
 When therefore she, who at first had feared to dis- 
 grace her pretty pouting Hps with the mere sound 
 of my name, began to abuse my person and my 
 character Avith most loquacious virulence, I consi- 
 dered my triumph as secure. " Theophania," cried 
 I, — though not yet loud enough to be heard by her- 
 self — " you only pursue me with contemptuous 
 looks, to feast your eye on my person ; and you only 
 load me with opprobrious epithets, to fix your mind 
 on my image !" 
 
 If at last — which love and discretion forbid my 
 ever boasting ! — the prize rewarded my pains, yet 
 troublesome was its tenure. The Euxine passes not 
 more quickly from tranquillity to storms, than from 
 serenity to passion changed my tempestuous and 
 variable mistress. One moment, infatuated to per- 
 fect forgetfulness of her pride and station, she would 
 clasp my knees in ecstacy, and, humbling herself 
 unto my very feet, glory in her debasement; the 
 next, choking with rage, she would suddenly start 
 up again, rail at her degradation, wonder what she 
 saw in me to admire, and charge me, on my life, to 
 disclose by what spell I had compelled her affections ; 
 but again, after having heaped upon me every direst 
 execration which her fertile fancy could suggest, her 
 passion would take another turn, and, bursting into 
 a flood of tears, she would conjure me by all that 
 was most sacred, if I could not return her love, at 
 
86 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 least to pity her agony, and assist in breaking the 
 charm I had wrought, by rendering myself pur- 
 posedly as hateful as possible. 
 
 What more could I do than I did ? The only 
 thing she ever saw me coax were my own little 
 budding mustachios, whose education and growth 
 I watched over with the tenderness of an anxious 
 parent: the only thing she ever heard me praise, 
 were the qualities to which she had the least pre- 
 tension ; self-command, endurance, meekness. The 
 preferences I felt in other quarters I freely owned ; 
 and the consolations I found, when she banished me 
 her presence, I regularly enumerated. In my vul- 
 gar exultation (for vulgar it was) I treated with the 
 familiarity of a clown, one who had been used to the 
 deference of a queen ; and to all such as had for- 
 merly suffered from Theophania's insolence, I boasted 
 of being their avenger. Yet, in spite of my conduct 
 her love lessened not ; it only became more conspi- 
 cuous ; it afforded a sneering public a richer treat ; 
 and at mass every eye in the church seemed con- 
 stantly vibrating between the grated gallery above, 
 where Theophania sat with the other women, and 
 the part of the nave below where, by her express 
 desire, I took my station, in order that she might 
 see me during her devout prayers. 
 
 Let man make his confidential friend of no woman, 
 except such an one as he cannot possibly make his 
 mistress; — namely, his mother, his sister, or his 
 
ANASTASIUS. Sf 
 
 aunt. If she happen not to stand with him in any 
 of these forbidden degrees, be she ever so old, or 
 ugly, or infirm, she will end by feeling disappointed ; 
 and will accuse her unsuspecting friend of both too 
 much and too little reserve. 
 
 A quiet demure looking woman — one of those per- 
 sons with whom one feels as much at ease the first 
 time of seeing them as with an old acquaintance — 
 once or twice so good-naturedly cautioned me against 
 the consequences, when on the point of imprudently 
 courting public censure, that I determined pro- 
 fessedly to open to her my whole heart and circum- 
 stances. Why not ? " She herself had renounced 
 all love engagements. They gave more trouble 
 than they were worth ; and she infinitely preferred 
 to the feverish enjoyments of passion the calm 
 pleasures of friendship — that is, of stable male 
 friendship, which one could depend upon. A ten- 
 derer intercourse she only contemplated in others, 
 at a distance, by way of amusement, and in order 
 to study human nature in its different varieties and 
 shades. As to female friendship, she held it in the 
 contempt it deserved." The looks of this good lady 
 had informed me that she perfectly knew all my 
 doings. Giving her my confidence, therefore, was 
 only binding her to discretion ; and at first I saw 
 every reason to congratulate myself upon this de- 
 termination. The tone of my new friend with me 
 was that of a mother with her son ; overflowing only 
 
88s ANASTASIUS. 
 
 \vith parental tenderness. Her whole mind seemed 
 only bent upon keeping an unexperienced youth out 
 of difficulties. But I soon found that from her 
 appeals to my prudence, the company present was 
 always excepted. Incensed at this discovery, I spoke 
 in anger and was answered with asperity. We 
 parted, no more to meet in friendship ; — but I con- 
 tinued not the less to live in the remembrance of this 
 excellent person. 
 
 Theophania*s husband held one of the highest 
 offices at the court of Moldavia. He was wont to 
 date his days of repose from those of my attentions 
 to his wife. He could have raised a statue to my 
 merits from sheer gratitude, were statues ever raised 
 in modern times from such an antiquated motive. 
 All he prayed for was the permission to keep his 
 eyes shut ; — and this was precisely the only favour 
 which my little friend would not grant him. Quali- 
 fied for the task she undertook by my former con- 
 fidence, she kindly forced upon him such irrefragable 
 proofs of hi^: wife's imprudence, as permitted him no 
 longer to be blind to her conduct. 
 
 I was so accustomed always to be the last in my 
 appointments with Theophania, that one day in the 
 verdant valley of Kiad-hane,"^ the favourite haunt 
 of the Cupids of Constantinople, I felt rather net- 
 -tled at finding myself, though much after my time, 
 the first at the place of rendezvous. Still I waited, 
 and waited on ; until impatience began to fan my 
 
ANASTASIUS. 89 
 
 languid flame, and Theopl]ania"'s star began to mount. 
 Alas ! while I was trying to cool my ardour by con- 
 templating the gurgling brook, in which the weeping 
 willow was lightly dipping its delicate spray, as 
 if striving to steal a last parting caress from the 
 stream that fled its embrace, little did I imagine 
 that the proud Theophania was jogging along in a 
 rumbling kotshi — screaming until she was able to 
 scream no longer — to the borders of the Black sea ; 
 thence to be conveyed in an open boat — much too 
 sick with the motion even to scold — to the port of 
 Galatsch, where a stout mule waited to carry her, 
 bumping in a wicker basket, to the presence of her 
 loving husband ! He gave her a tender embrace, 
 assured her she had a decided vocation for the 
 monastic life, and accordingly whisked her off the 
 next morning to the most secluded convent in the 
 province of Valachia ; where, I understand, she has 
 continued ever since, fasting, praying, and scolding, 
 by turns. As soon as I heard of her adventure, I 
 failed not to thank my little friend for the great 
 service she had unintentionally rendered me. 
 
 My own day of retribution from the hands of my 
 master was approaching. Neither my affair with 
 Theophania, nor even, I believe, my daily neglect 
 of my official duties, was the cause of my disgrace. 
 It was the cloud, the fatal cloud, which I could not 
 see when the Bostandjee-bashee passed by Thera- 
 
90 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 piah, but which nothing could dispel from madame*s 
 angered mind, except my dismission. Her hus- 
 band would have preferred to have kept me ; but, 
 among the tongues he commanded, that of his loving 
 helpmate had never in the family been numbered. 
 He neither could stop it, nor yet had acquired the 
 facility of listening to its explosions, as to the softer 
 murmur of a mill. He therefore might rule in 
 great affairs abroad, but always ended by obeying 
 in little matters at home : content to save his credit 
 by pretending to do from choice what he did from 
 necessity. 
 
 One evening, after playing truant the whole day, 
 I went up to submit to the accustomed lecture. 
 Instead of blustering as usual, Mavroyeni asked 
 in the most placid tone imaginable the cause of my 
 long absence. I now gave myself up for lost beyond 
 redemption. It was precisely the tone which the 
 drogueman was wont to assume, when, fully re- 
 solved to have no further dealings with the person 
 who had offended him, he deemed reproach an use- 
 less waste of breath. Still I made out a little story, 
 to which Mavroyeni listened very patiently, — after 
 which, without further reply, but pointing to the 
 door, he desired me to walk out, and never to walk 
 in again. 
 
 I knew him too well to have the least hope of his 
 recalling a sentence uttered in this manner. My 
 
ANASTASIUS. 
 
 only remaining solicitude, therefore, was to 
 dignified retreat. After a profound bow — of de- 
 fiance rather than of respect, — I strutted away, car- 
 rying my head so high, that I knocked it against the 
 soffit of the door. 
 
 But in spite of my seeming indifference, I felt 
 injured, if not degraded ; for, in surveying my con- 
 duct, I only took into account the last drop that 
 rose above the brim; the rest was hid within the 
 vessel. 
 
 I need not observe that what to me appeared the 
 height of injustice, was deemed by the remainder 
 of the family only a tardy act of bare equity. Such 
 as it was, however, it caused great jubilation, and 
 in the twinkling of an eye, the whole Fanar was 
 informed of the secretary''s disgrace : — only it was 
 ascribed to my having, with a pistol in one hand, 
 and a sword in the other, made such proposals to 
 madame la droguemane, as she could not possibly 
 listen to — from her husband's clerk. 
 
 Eaves-dropping never was among my fancies. 
 Nor was I fond enough of puzzles, to put together 
 broken sentences, which in general may be made ta 
 bear any signification ; but one's own name is a great 
 stumbling-block in the way of one's discretion : and 
 when, crossing a dark passage as I went out of the 
 house, I heard mine pronounced with great vehe- 
 mence, the sound acted like a talisman. It riveted 
 me to the spot. I stopped to hear my panegyric. 
 
92 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 All I could coUect, however, was only that most 
 abundantly hated, while in the fresh zeal of my 
 service I chose to perform more than was set down 
 for me, and to do better than others, I had since 
 retrieved my character in the family by mending my 
 ways, and neglecting my business. On that ac- 
 count I now carried away a certain portion of good 
 will. The party present regretted my fall ; but the 
 chief orator consoled himself by thinking me such 
 a daring and dexterous fellow, that, happen what 
 might, I was always sure to come down upon my 
 legs. 
 
 ^' Amen !" cried I, walking out ; " I accept the 
 welcome omen !*" 
 
ANASTASIirS, 9'i 
 
 CHx\PTER V. 
 
 As the night was already far advanced, I went, 
 till the next morning, to one of those temples of 
 hospitality ever opened to the stranger who sues 
 for admission with a silver tongue. It was sheer 
 churlishness in me, no doubt, to defer for so many 
 hours affording my numerous friends the often 
 wished-for opportunity of testifying the sincerity of 
 their regard. As soon, however, as the sun had 
 risen high enough to shine upon its testimonials, I 
 determined no longer to delay their happiness. I 
 even resolved, in order that no one should com- 
 plain of being omitted, to begin my visits methodi- 
 cally at one end of the Fanar, and not to leave off* 
 till I had reached the other. In the course of this 
 experimental round I found the warmth of my 
 well-wishers precisely in an inverse ratio to their 
 means. The higher classes made it a matter of 
 conscience, not to receive a servant discarded by his 
 master. Those of a lower degree expressed their 
 willingness to continue my friends as long as I had 
 a piastre left ; only reserving to themselves the pri- 
 vilege of dropping me, the moment their poor as- 
 
94 ANASTASIUS, 
 
 sistance became of real consequence. Nothing how- 
 ever stopped me in my circuit, until I had knocked 
 at the last door in the district ; — for I still bore in 
 mind the last words I had heard under my master's 
 roof, and wished to preserve an authentic record of 
 my obligations to each of my friends. When no 
 one remained to apply to I cast up the sum total, 
 and finding it a cipher, wished them all at the 
 devil, and crossed over to Galata.^ 
 
 I here got, for my money, a new set of cronies : 
 —jolly souls, who, not possessing a para- of their 
 own in the world, never inquired what others were 
 worth, but lived from hand to mouth, banished care, 
 and set melancholy at defiance. They initiated 
 me into a lower and more riotous species of intem- 
 perance than the decorum of my former situation 
 had permitted. Every day we met in some of the 
 taverns of the neighbourhood, where my new friends 
 contributed their share of the entertainment in sal- 
 lies at the expense of my old ones — and I, in ready 
 cash. It was quite consoling, to hear how they 
 pitied the drogueman, for losing such a treasure as 
 myself; how they laughed at my wit even before I 
 spoke, and how they drank every instant to my 
 health, and the success of my schemes. No day 
 passed without a party of pleasure being proposed, 
 for the sole purpose of keeping up my spirits : and, 
 lest I should not be aware how entirely they all 
 joined in it for my sake, no one ever ventured to 
 
ANASTASIUS. 95 
 
 inquire the cost. Indeed, so far from presuming to 
 offend my delicacy by requesting to share in the 
 expense, they thought it a proper compliment to my 
 liberality to borrow from me whatever money they 
 wanted. Not for the world would they give another 
 the preference ! 
 
 As soon as my finances were exhausted, my com- 
 panions of course disappeared ; not, however — to do 
 them justice — from choice, but from sheer necessity, 
 and because, having been entirely supported by me, 
 they now had to shift for themselves. When my 
 embarrassment became known, one person only came 
 forward to relieve me, and that a female too, and 
 one who had not much reason to be pleased with my 
 proceedings — the little grocer's wife, whose figs and 
 raisins I had disdained. Hearing an exaggerated 
 account of my distress, and thinking me absolutely 
 starving, she trundled away with all her pristine 
 affection still next her heart, and a large pot of 
 marmalade under each arm. These, and all else 
 her shop contained, she pressed me to dispose of. 
 Too proud to owe to charity what I could not earn 
 by love, I pointed to my dress, which had cost a 
 great deal, and was still, in its ruins, worth a few 
 sequins, and begged she would not urge me. " I 
 will not receive," cried I, " where I can make no 
 return ; but when you thought I wanted bread, you 
 brought me conserve of roses ; and if any fresh ones 
 
96 ANASTASIUS; 
 
 ever strew my path, the deed shall be found re- 
 corded hi the very kernel of my heart !" 
 
 Without leaving the poor little woman time to 
 answer so flowery a speech, I ran off to the only one 
 of my dispersed associates whom I knew where to 
 find. I wanted his advice, and felt sure that he 
 would not refuse what even those who will give 
 nothing else often bestow with such readiness. 
 , An ascent of about fifty steps brought me to his 
 exalted abode. Its tenant might truly be said to look 
 down upon the world. To him it was a jovirney to 
 descend to the level of his fellow-citizens ; and he 
 therefore conformed but little to their hours. Just 
 at mid-day signor Vasili was awaking from his 
 night's repose. On entering his aerial apartment I 
 still found him sprawling on his couch, — stretching 
 one arm, putting one leg to the ground, rubbing 
 his eyes, and giving such a yawn that I thought he 
 would have swallowed at least half Constantinople, 
 spread out like a map before him. At my un- 
 looked-for visit he stared, shook himself as if to be 
 certain he was not dreaming, and disposed his ears 
 in silence to listen to my story. 
 
 " I came," — I said, — " to ask how people lived,^ 
 who had not any ostensible means of subsistence ?'"* 
 This feat Vasili had performed so long, that it never 
 struck him it could puzzle any body. He therefore 
 still continued some time staring at me in utter silence 
 
ANASTASIUS. 97 
 
 as before, in order to collect his thoughts. At last, 
 jumping up in such a fury as almost to startle me, 
 he seized hold of my arm, and led me to the window. 
 The prospect from it extended over the immense 
 city of Stambool unto its utmost boundaries, and 
 showed the inside like a prodigious ant's nest, where, 
 far below the eye, myriads of little insects were be- 
 stirring themselves, crossing and jostling each other 
 in every possible direction. I praised the view, said 
 it was undoubtedly delightful to the eye, but still I 
 could not see how it was to feed an empty stomach. 
 " It may teach how to fill it with something else 
 though," cried my friend Vasih, — now for the first 
 time breaking his portentous silence. " Of the thou- 
 sands you behold in those streets, on those quays, 
 in those boats, on the land, and on the water, scarce 
 one half knew this morning how to get a meal at 
 noon, and a place of rest at night ; yet I will en- 
 gage that every blockhead of them by this time has 
 broken his fast, and will find a hole to sleej) in ! 
 Why therefore should you fail, but from possessing 
 too superior abilities? Only scare not away your 
 invention by your fears, and — depend upon it — 
 some means of hvelihood will present themselves! 
 However, what leisure I can give to help such mea- 
 sures forward, I shall willingly bestow." 
 
 So saying, Vasili thrust his hand in his pocket, 
 and hauled forth a heap of the smallest coin of the 
 realm. This treasure ho poiu'ed on the sofa, and 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 divided into three equal parts. Then, laying his 
 finger on eacli in succession, " the first," said he, 
 " we shall drink together this morning, in order to 
 whet our invention ; the next I reserve fi^r my own 
 wants to-morrow ; the third is yours, until you find 
 it particularly convenient to repay me. Your brain 
 will by that means have an entire holiday, befiare 
 you need call upon your wits for your livelihood ; 
 and^ when you are thus upon a par with myself, the 
 deuce is in it if you cannot do as well !' 
 
 I thanked my generous friend; but, just as we 
 saUied forth to fulfil the first article of this partition 
 treaty, he cast his e)^e upon my attire. It was no 
 longer the flowing robe of the Fanar" — the anteree 
 of state : I had exchanged that for the more dash- 
 ing short dress of my last intimates. A rich em- 
 broidery covered the seams, and a costly velvet 
 formed the ground- work. " I am thinking," said 
 Vasilij " that your present wardrobe ill suits your 
 purpose. Who can fancy a purse, stiff with gold 
 outside, to be empty within ? Supposing, therefore, 
 that on this occasion we give business precedence 
 over pleasure, and, reversing the dreams of the 
 alchymists, change gold into baser substances. We 
 may afterwards adjourn to a tavern, to drink suc- 
 cess to your metamorphosis. The showiest cater- 
 pillar, vou know, must become a chrysalis ere it can 
 soar a bivtterfly." 
 
 1 could have dispensed with the chrysalis state : 
 
ANASTASIUS. m 
 
 for, though poor, I still hked to look well ; but [ 
 yielded to my friend's arguments, and hied with him 
 to Sultan-Bayezid * to change the outward man. 
 While we were looking for something suitable to 
 our purpose, in stepped a worthy Israelite, who 
 came like ourselves, not to sell, but to buy. A still 
 decent beneesh — but of a dusky hue — hidden under 
 a heap of gaudier dresses, seemed to catch his fancy ; 
 which the salesman no sooner perceived than all the 
 powers of his oratory were summoned to extol the 
 article in question. He had better have been modest 
 about its merits. The jew — both by nature and by 
 cultivation an adept in the business — now put upon 
 his mettle, at once began to pour forth such a tor- 
 rent of profound observations on the art of old 
 clothes dealing, that the seller was glad at last to 
 give him the cloak for nothing, ere he let all the by- 
 standers into every deepest mystery of the trade. 
 
 In truth, it was diamond cutting diamond. The 
 Hebrew had himself professed, in the elegant quar- 
 ter of Hash-keui,^ the noble trade of old clothes- 
 man, till bankruptcy forced him to quit his district 
 and his business. Having early in life served an 
 Esculapius of his own nation, with whom he learnt 
 a few terms of medicine, he now resolved to turn 
 physician himself The thing was easy enough at 
 Constantinople, where a man need only stalk about 
 in a furred cap'' and a dark-coloured gown, fol- 
 lowed by an attendant wltli a small squaio chest, 
 
 11 2 
 
100 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 to have all the men hold out their wrists, and all 
 the women put out their tongues to him — in con- 
 sultation. 
 
 The cap had already been provided. The heneesh 
 was immediately put on, and the very attendant 
 chosen i7i petto. For, to the hawk's eye of my Is- 
 raelite, my anxious look at once bespoke me the 
 very thing he wanted. Calling me aside, he made 
 the proposal without much ceremony. I was osten- 
 sibly to be his servant, but, in reality, his partner. 
 Even that clause, however, could not sweeten the 
 nauseous draught. I felt so indignant at being pro- 
 posed to for an apothecary's apprentice, that, with- 
 out making any answer, I went and imparted the 
 impertinent offer to my friend Vasili. But in that 
 quarter I found little sympathy. " See," said he, 
 laughing, " how fortune throws herself in your way. 
 I wish you joy of your good luck." This speech 1 
 was willing to take as a joke, but I found it to be 
 • serious ; and, more incensed than before, " Sooner," 
 I cried, " if all other trades fail, w^ould I, in one of 
 those coarse and dingy Lahse^ jackets there, work 
 for my bread in the fields ! The earth cannot de- 
 grade its children, and no one requires a character 
 to plou(Th the ground."'' *' True," replied Vasih : 
 " but one may require a constitution, though ; and 
 who in their senses, pray, would take such a spindle- 
 shanked follow as you are just now, with a face as 
 pale as a turnip already, and an eye round wliich 
 
ANASTASIU8. lOl 
 
 ** rake" is written in most legible black letters, to 
 dig his garden for him ? Ere you had half done, 
 he would expect to have your own grave to dig ! 
 For my part, I would try what requires neither 
 stock, nor capital, nor labour, nor even science, as I 
 take it, nor any thing but the impudence of which 
 you possess a sufficient stock ; were it only for the 
 fun, and to see what no one but a physician ever 
 sees: — for, more potent even than gold, medicine 
 will open to you the deepest recesses of the harem ; 
 and who can tell but, like our friend Lorenzo,^' you 
 may feel Sultanas' pulses." 
 
 This was setting the masquerade in its most tempt- 
 ing light. It tickled my fancy ; and I struck the 
 bargain with the jew. He was to carry his own 
 Galen, in the shape of the best half of an old missal, 
 stolen from a capuchin ; I undertook the medicine 
 chest, with all its pills of starch, and all its powders 
 of pipe-clay. The only thing I insisted upon as a 
 sine qua non in the treaty, was not to appear in my 
 new character in any of the streets I had before 
 frequented ; and to this ultimatum the jew readily 
 enough agreed. Matters thus settled between us, 
 I somewhat dolefully exchanged my gaudy apparel 
 for a dress in unison with that of my principal, and, 
 after vainly begging in gratitude for my friend Va- 
 sili's advice, to have the honour of making upon him 
 my first experiment in my new profession, walked 
 away with my j^rotesque patron. 
 
lOi^ ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Immediately we began stalking through all the 
 lanes and by-streets of the capital ; I, with a pace 
 exactly regulated by that of my master, who walked 
 before me, and both of us turning our heads con- 
 stantly from right to left and from left to right, like 
 weathercocks, to watch every call from a door or 
 signal from a window ; but full as much on the alert 
 to avoid old faces as to court the notice of new ones. 
 Now and then, when we had time for idle chat, I 
 used to advise Yacoob,— that was my principal's 
 name, — to provide himself with a proper license for 
 killing the Grand Signor s subjects, in the shape of 
 a diploma from the Hekim-bashee. -' Ke denied not 
 the expediency of the measure, but he always found 
 some pretence for delaying the performance. At 
 first his poverty prevented the purchase ; afterwards, 
 the pressure of business, and so long did we go on, 
 without any inconvenience from the neglect of the 
 said formality, that at last v/e began to think we 
 never should feel the want of it, and totally forgot 
 there was such a person as the Hekim-bashee. 
 
 Ours was an off-hand method of practice. As all 
 cases were pretty much alike in reference to our 
 skill, a single feel of the pulse generally decided the 
 most difficult treatments. Our patients — chiefly of 
 the industrious class— could not afford long illnesses, 
 and these we certainly prevented. What most an- 
 noyed us was the headstrong obstinacy of some in- 
 dividuals, who sometimes insisted that tliev still felt 
 
ANASTA81US. lOJJ 
 
 disordered, wlieii we positively assured llieiu they 
 were cured. Had diey been killed instead, they 
 would not have complained ' Still more disagreeable 
 incidents occasionally occurred. Called in one day 
 to a woman in convulsions, Yacoob, I know not why, 
 prescribed a remedy which the Turks regard as an 
 insult. In her rage the woman flew at him, and bit 
 off half his ear. It was all [ could do to save the 
 other half. Another day (a Mohammedan festival), 
 a set of merry-making Osmanlees insisted on Ya- 
 €Oob*'s putting on an European dress, which they 
 carried about on a pole, that they might kick him 
 through the streets as a Frank; and though he 
 actually refused a fee for gratifying their whim, he 
 nevertheless was made to go through the whole 
 ceremony. 
 
 I remember a quieter, but more impressive scene. 
 One evening, as we were returning from the Blac- 
 quernes,^^' an old woman threw herself in our way, 
 and taking hold of my master's garment, dragged 
 him almost by main force after her into a mean- 
 looking habitation just by, where lay on a couch, 
 apparently at the last gasp, a man of foreign features. 
 " I have brought a physician," said the female to the 
 patient, " who, perhaps, may relieve you." " Why 
 will you'' — answered he faintly — " still persist to 
 feed idle hopes ! I have lived an outcast : suffer me 
 at least to die in piece ; nor distiu'b my last mo- 
 
104 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 meuts by vain illLisions. My soul pants to rejoin 
 the supreme Spirit ; arrest not its iiight : it would 
 only be delaying my eternal bliss!" 
 
 As the stranger spoke these words — which struck 
 even Yacoob sufficiently to make him suspend his 
 professional grimace — the last beams of the setting 
 sun darted across the casement of the window upon 
 his pale, yet swarthy features. Thus visited, he 
 seemed for a moment to revive. " I have always," said 
 he, '' considered my fate as connected with the great 
 luminary that rules the creation. I have always 
 paid it due worship, and firmly believed I could not 
 breathe my last whilst its rays shone upon me. 
 Carry me therefore out, that I may take my last farcr 
 well of the heavenly ruler of my earthly destinies V 
 
 We all rushed forward to obey the mandate : but 
 the stairs being too narrow, the woman only opened 
 the window, and placed the dying man before it, so 
 as to enjoy the full view of the glorious orb, just in 
 the act of dropping beneath the horizon. He re- 
 mained a few moments in silent adoration; and 
 mechanically we all joined him in fixing our eyes on 
 tlie object of his worship. It set in all its splendor ; 
 and when its golden disk had entirely disappeared, 
 we looked round at the Parsee. He too had sunk 
 into everlasting rest. 
 
 Our easy successes amongst the lower orders made 
 vis by degrees aspire to higher patients. We took 
 
ANASTASIUS. 105 
 
 to attending the poor gratis, in order to appear qua- 
 lified to try the constitutions of the rich ; and, by 
 appearing to have respectable customers, we got 
 them. A Beglier-bey ^^ of Roumili — the great-grand- 
 son of a Sultan, on the mother's side (for, on the 
 father's, such filiations are stifled in the birth), was 
 passing through Constantinople. Oneof his Arme- 
 nian grooms chose to thank Yacoob for having been 
 relieved by nature from a troublesome quins}^, and 
 recommended him to his master''s kehaya. The 
 kehaya also — in spite of Yacoob's attendance — got 
 the better of his rheumatism, and praised us to the 
 head eunuch. The head eunuch, left by us as we 
 found him, spoke of us in high terms to his master ; 
 and the Visier, on being seized vv^ith an indigestion 
 for which he had laboured very hard, himself con- 
 descended to send for us. He however determined 
 to have two strings to his bow, and to consult the 
 stars as well as the faculty : so that my master found 
 himself pitted against a moonedjim,^" who recom- 
 mended an emetic, while Yacoob insisted on a con- 
 trary remedy. The Visier, determined to be right, 
 slily took both, thinking thus to make the opposite 
 opinions meet. The medicines certainly did ; and 
 by their conflict, kept us for a while in as violent a 
 perspiration as the Pasha himself. As however the 
 disorder only proceeded from too free an indulgence 
 of a good appetite, the double remedy, though a 
 little violent, in the end proved beneficial ; and alter 
 
10() ANASTASIUS. 
 
 suffering a few sympathetic pangs, we ultimatelv 
 reaped both reputation and profit from our treat- 
 ment of this three-tailed patient. 
 
 Thus we were enabled to quit our itinerant mode 
 of life, and to set up near the Backtche-capoossee ^^ 
 a shop of decent appearance, furnished with jars and 
 phials of all sorts and sizes. These we inscribed 
 with the names of the most costly medicines, while 
 the inside bore witness to their rarity. Instead of 
 going in pursuit of patients, we now waited till they 
 came or sent. In the course of his practice my 
 principal had discovered that, if some ailments will 
 only obey a face furrowed with age, youth and 
 freshness best dispel certain others ; and these he 
 left to my sole management. 
 
 Our Visier (he was ours, body and soul) had his 
 two regular wives — fixtures in the capital. But to 
 his home establishment he added a lighter travelling 
 equipage of half a dozen slaves, Circassians and 
 others. Among this latter troop, the stag-eyed 
 Fathme shone like the full moon among the stars. 
 Besides her patron of eighty or thereabouts, this 
 fair one boasted two other equally strenuous ad- 
 mirers ; the black eunuch who guarded the harem, 
 and the old governess who kept its contents in 
 order. These two personages vised to devote half 
 their time to the cares of their own persons, and the 
 other half to watching that of their rival. Both 
 having intrusted us with their health, each look an 
 
ANASTASIUS. J07 
 
 opportunity ol'Jiinting how agreeable I might make 
 myself, by putting that of tlie other beyond the 
 reach of contingencies. It was a glorious hint ! 
 Without going the whole length of the modest re- 
 quest, I might contrive to keep signor Suleiman and 
 signora Zelidah confined to their beds, while I made 
 my inquiries after the health of their prisoners ; but 
 unlooked for incidents marred this bright scheme. 
 
 Disappointed at Yacoob's not being able to restore 
 him at fourscore Lo the vigour of forty, the Visier had, 
 unknown to his jew doctor, called in a new ally; — 
 the very person whose lynx-eye Yacoob dreaded 
 more than the spectacles of all the imperial moon- 
 edjims put together, namely, the chief physician of 
 the Seraglio. Just as my master was coming in tri- 
 umphantly one morning to his patron, with a phial 
 of soap-suds and cinnamon which he swore would 
 renovate the last defunct Mufti him.self, he unex- 
 pectedly beheld the crabbed visage of the crusty 
 Triestene the very first thing on the threshold. Poor 
 Yacoob looked as if he had seen the Medusa in per- 
 son ! He however had presence of mind enough left 
 to dash his phial to pieces, and then to be in despair 
 at the accident. It afforded him an opportunity of 
 making an immediate retreat, under the pretence of 
 running home to repair the grievous loss ; but with 
 the full determination never more to go near the 
 Pasha's door. This availed him little. The old devil 
 of a Triestene — wlio at his exit had sent after liim 
 
108 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the ugliest grin I ever beheld, — satisfied that wc 
 practised unlawfully, denounced our doings to the 
 president of the killing college. The Visier, — the 
 more incensed at being duped, from the pleasure 
 he promised himself in bringing together two such 
 luminaries of the profession, — threw in his weight 
 against us, and the consequence was our being sen- 
 tenced to an exemplary punishment. As we sat 
 brooding over the misfortune of the Pasha's proving 
 less a fool than we thought, a posse of police myr- 
 midons invaded our shop, and summoned us to 
 prison. These gentlemen, however, as usual, began 
 their official functions by emptying all our phials and 
 gallipots into their capacious stomachs. This pro- 
 ceeding, and its natural consequences, caused us a 
 short respite. 
 
 While our first guardians were engaged, a new 
 set was to be sent for : but these conveyed us with- 
 out further delay to the place of our confinement. 
 The very hour which I had destined for consoling 
 the fair Fathme in her prison saw me ushered into 
 that of the Bagnio, i* 
 
AXASTASIUS. lOf) 
 
 CHAPTER Vr. 
 
 The vast and high enclosure of the Bagnio, si- 
 tuated contiguously to the arsenal and the docks,- 
 contains a little world of its own, but a world of 
 wailing. One part is tenanted by the prisoners 
 made on board the enemy's ships, who, with an iron 
 ring round their legs, await in this dismal repository 
 their transference on board the Turkish fleet. This 
 part may only be called a sort of purgatory. The 
 other is hell in perfection. It is the larger division, 
 filled with the natural subjects of the Grand Signor 
 whom their real or supposed misdemeanors have 
 brought to this abode of unavailing tears. Here are 
 confined alike the ragged beggar urged by famine 
 to steal a loaf, and the rich banker instigated by 
 avarice to deny a deposit ; the bandit who uses open 
 violence, and the baker who employs false weights ; 
 the land robber and the pirate of the seas, the as- 
 sassin and the cheat. Here, as in the infernal re- 
 gions, are mingled natives of every country — Turks, 
 Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and Gipsies ; and are 
 confounded individuals of every creed — the Moham- 
 medan, the Christian, the Hebrew, and the Heathen, 
 
no ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Here the proud and the humble, the opulent and 
 the necessitous, are reduced to the direst of equah- 
 ties, the equality of torture. But I err : for should 
 some hapless victim — perhaps guilty of no other 
 crime but that of having excited the Sultan's cu- 
 pidity — still wear on his first entrance the livery of 
 better days, his more decent appearance will only 
 expose him to harsher treatment. Loaded with the 
 heaviest fetters, linked to the most loathsome of 
 malefactors, he is compelled to purchase every alle- 
 viation of his burthen, every mitigation of his pain, 
 at the most exorbitant price; until the total ex- 
 haustion of his slender store has acquired him the 
 privilege of being at least on a level with the lowest 
 of his fellow sufferers, and spared additional torments, 
 no lono^er lucrative to their inflicters. 
 
 Every day a capital fertile in crimes pours new 
 offenders into this dread receptacle; and its high 
 walls and deep recesses resound every instant with 
 imprecations and curses, uttered in all the various 
 idioms of the Othoman empire. Deep moans and 
 dismal yells leave not its frightful echoes a moment's 
 repose. From morning till night and from night 
 till morning, the ear is stunned with the clang of 
 chains, which the galley-slaves wear while confined 
 in their cells, and which they still drag about when 
 toilino' at their tasks. Linked too'ether two and two 
 for hfe, should they sink under their sufferings, they 
 still continue unsovcrcd after death ; and the man 
 
ANASTASIUS. in 
 
 doomed to live on, dmgs after liim the corpse of liis 
 dead companion. In no direction can the eye escape 
 the spectacle of atrocious punishments and of in- 
 describable agonies. Here perhaps 3 ou see a wretch 
 whose stiffened limbs refuse their office, stop sud- 
 denly short in the midst of his labour, and, as if 
 already impassible, defy the stripes that lay open his 
 flesh, and wait in total immobility the last merciful 
 blow that is to end his misery ; while, there, you 
 view his companion foaming with rage and madness, 
 turn against his own person his desperate hands, 
 tear his clotted hair, rend his bleeding bosom, and 
 strike his skull until it burst against the wall of his 
 dungeon. 
 
 Along unpunished pirate, a liberated galley-sLive, 
 Achmet-re'is by name, was the fiend of hell who by 
 his ingenuity in contriving new tortures, and his in- 
 fernal delight in beholding new sufferings, had de- 
 served to become the chief inspector of this place, 
 and the chief minister of its terrors. His joys were 
 great, but they were not yet complete. Onl}^ per- 
 mitted thus far to exercise his craft on mortals, he 
 was still obliged to calculate what degree of agony 
 the human frame could bear, and to proportion his- 
 inflictions to man's powers of suffering, lest, by 
 despatching his victims too soon, he should defeat 
 his own aim. He was not yet received amono- his 
 brother daemons, in the blissful abodes where tor- 
 
112 ANASTASIUS, 
 
 ments do not kill, and where pangs may be Increased 
 in an infinite ratio. 
 
 Of this truth the very hour of my arrival had af- 
 forded him a sorely lamented proof! An Armenian 
 cashier, suspected of withholding from the Sultan — 
 sole heir to all his officers— the deposit of a deceased 
 Pasha, had just been delivered over into Achmet's 
 liands ; and many were the days of bliss to which 
 the executioner looked forward in the diligent per- 
 formance of his office. On the very first applica- 
 tion of the rack, out of sheer malice, the SerafF 
 expired ! 
 
 , Two days later the whole of Achmet's prospects 
 of sublunary happiness were near coming to a close. 
 Some wretches, driven by his cruelty to a state of 
 madness, had sworn his destruction. Their hands, 
 tied behind their backs, could be of no use to them 
 in effecting their purpose : — they determined to crush 
 him with their bodies. All at the same instant fell 
 with their whole weight upon the executioner, or 
 upon their own companions already heaped upon the 
 monster, in hopes of burying his corpse under a 
 living tumulus. But Achmet's good star prevailed. 
 Ere yet his suffocation was completed soldiers re- 
 scued the miscreant. He recovered, to wreak on his 
 disappointed enemies his fiercest vengeance. Their 
 punishment was dreadful ! Sanguinary but not cruel, 
 proiie to shed blood in anger, yet shuddering at tor- 
 
ANASTASIUS, iiti 
 
 ture, I was horror-struck at the scene, and the yells 
 of the victims still ring in my ears. 
 
 Characters meet at large in the world, which may 
 almost count as sure their meeting again, some time 
 or other, within the narrow precincts of the Bagnio. 
 Of this species was the captain of the May note 
 pirates, who took our Venetian cutter. He now 
 occupied his winter quarters among the galley- 
 slaves. Though I had had but little time on our 
 first interview to cultivate his acquaintance, I could 
 not help remembering that from the moment his 
 tall commanding figure rose above the side of our 
 vessel, and stepped on board, my stars had assumed 
 a milder aspect, and my situation had been improved. 
 Each, therefore, was glad of the rencontre ; each ex- 
 pressed his sincere pleasure at meeting the other; 
 each politely hoped the other might be destined to 
 make a long sojourn in the place. 
 
 There are men so gifted, that in whatever situa- 
 tion fate may place them, they still inspire a certain 
 awe and respect, and, though fallen through dint of 
 adverse circumstances into the most abject condition, 
 still retain over all around them an innate supe- 
 riority. Of this sort was Mackari. He had been one 
 of the chieftains of that small tribe of mountaineers, 
 pent up in the peninsula of Mayno, who like greater 
 nations claim dominion over the seas that gird their 
 native rocks. Mackari, therefore, had only con- 
 sidered himself as acting conformably to his natural 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 right, in capturing the vessels that trespassed on 
 his domain without purchasing his permission ; and 
 in his conduct he discerned neither injustice nor 
 treachery. Hence his lofty soul still preserved all 
 its dignity amid his fallen fortunes. Patient under 
 every insult, unruffled by the direst torture, he was 
 never heard to utter a sigh, to offer a remonstrance, 
 or to beg a mitigation of the agonies inflicted on 
 him. Even when his keepers, unable to wrest from 
 his scornful lip the smallest acknowledgment of 
 their ingenuity in torturing, began to doubt their 
 own powers, and — irritated, at his very forbearance 
 — resolved to conquer by a last and highest outrage 
 his immoveable firmness ; when widi weights and 
 pullies they forced down to the ground that coun- 
 tenance, which, serene in the midst of suffering, 
 seemed only fit to face the heavens; when they 
 compelled him, whose mental independence defied 
 all their means of coercion, constantly to behold the 
 fetters that contracted his body, they only succeeded 
 to depress his earthly frame ; they were not able to 
 lower his unbending spirit. Still calm, still serene 
 as before, he only smiled at the fresh chains with 
 Avhich he was loaded ; and at each new fetter added 
 to his former shackles, his mind only seemed to 
 take a loftier flight. 
 
 Yet, impassible as he appeared to his own woes, 
 was he most feelingly alive to those of his com- 
 panions. Of every new hardship with which thcv 
 
ANASTASIUS. 11.5 
 
 were threatened, he uniformly stood forward to 
 court the preference ; and while his fortitude awed 
 into silence the useless complaints of his troop, his 
 self-devotion still relieved its real misery. One day, 
 when a ferocious soldier was going to fell with liis 
 club the comrade of Mackari's fetters, whom his 
 manacled hands could not save from the blow, he 
 opposed to the frightful weapon all he could com- 
 mand, his arm ; which, broken by the stroke, fell 
 by his side a wreck. 
 
 Thus did the Maynote captain's former crew still 
 view in their chief, though loaded with irons like 
 themselves, not only the master to whom they con- 
 tinued to pay all the obedience they could show, but 
 the protector on whom they depended for all the 
 comfort they could receive. His very keepers were 
 unable in his sight to shake off the awe felt by all 
 who approached him. They confessed by their fears 
 their nothingness in his presence : they scarce could 
 derive a sufficient sense of security from all the fet- 
 ters which they had heaped upon their victim. In 
 vain would he himself with a bitter and disdainful 
 smile point to his forlorn state, and ask what they 
 apprehended from one on whom they might trample 
 with impunity ? The mere sound of his voice seemed 
 to belie his words. It was the roar of a lion, dreaded 
 even through the bars of his cage. And when his 
 shackles were loosened in order that his daily la- 
 bours might begin ; when Mackari was enabled to 
 
116 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 raise for a moment his long depressed head ; wl\cn 
 his majestic brow soared above the humbler height 
 of his tallest companions, — he looked like the cedar 
 of Lebanon, which, though scathed b}^ the hghtning 
 from heaven, still overtops all the trees of the forest; 
 and the wretches to whose care he was committed 
 used immediately to recede to a fearful distance. 
 
 Unendowed with any of the forbearance of the 
 Maynote chief, I had scarcely been an hour in the 
 Bagnio before I began to measure with my eye the 
 height of its walls, to consider the strength of its 
 gates, and to count the number of its guards. A good- 
 natured fellow-sufferer, who guessed my thoughts, 
 called me aside. " Take care what you do,'' whis- 
 pered he ; " there is danger even in looking at these 
 walls. The mere suspicion of a plan to escape from 
 this place meets with the severest punishment ; the 
 execution is impossible. Should you have suc- 
 ceeded so far as to clear every impediment, every 
 barrier, every centinel ; should you have reached 
 the very heart of the city ; should you in its seem- 
 ingly impenetrable vortex think yourself most secure 
 from any search, you have yet achieved nothing; 
 you have not advanced a single step toward your 
 liberation. Tvlany inmates of the Bagnio, possessing 
 families in the city, enjoy unrestrained egress on the 
 express condition of bringing back the missing, or 
 of taking their place. The most active and watch- 
 i\il of the spies they employ are stationed precisely 
 
ANASTASIUS. 117 
 
 wherever the security from discovery seems the 
 greatest ; and tlie sufferings of those wliose attempts 
 at evasion have been baffled by their vigilance are 
 so cruelly aggravated, that a man must have lost all 
 hope of any other deliverance on this side the grave, 
 ere he attempt so desperate a mode of regaining his 
 freedom." 
 
 Not such was my case. As soon as, recovering 
 from my first dismay, I had begun to cast my eye 
 around, it had been arrested by a neat little spire 
 with a handsome gilded top, peeping over the battle- 
 ments of the western enclosure, and which somehow 
 struck me as an old acquaintance. No wonder that 
 it should ! It crowned that very pavilion of the 
 arsenal where the drogueman held his office ; A\'here 
 sat Mavroyeni ; where I myself had performed with 
 applause my first part on the stage of the capital. 
 An immediate gleam of hope beamed from its golden 
 ball, and glanced on my mind. " How !"' thought 
 I, " Mavroyeni, my old master, shall spend all his 
 mornings within a stone's throw of the place in which 
 pines his Anastasius; shall only be impeded by 
 the thickness of a wall from seeing his hapless fa- 
 vourite ; shall almost in the midst of his business 
 hear the moans of his suffering servant, and, if ap- 
 plied to, can he refuse to relieve me ? — Impossible ! 
 He needs only know where I am, and what miseries 
 I experience, to restore me, not perhaps to his pris- 
 tine favour, but to the common privilege of living, 
 or at least of dying, where I choose." 
 
118 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 My only doubt was whether I should demean 
 myself so far as to implore his intercession. This 
 scruple, however, one of my satellites soon helped 
 me to get over by an opportune application of his 
 switch — only to keep his hand in practice — ^just as 
 I sat down in deep deliberation. Accordingly I ad- 
 jured the first fellow-prisoner who was liberated, by 
 all that he held sacred, to acquaint the drogueman 
 with my confinement, and to lay before him my peti- 
 tion. I must confess that there was nothing the 
 good-natured creature did not promise in his joy to 
 do for me ; but there I rather imagine his generosity 
 stopped. Though he had sworn that the sun should 
 not set before he spoke in my behalf, the sun set and 
 rose, and set and rose again, and nothing more was 
 heard of the fate of my request. I hereupon re- 
 peated it to another person allowed to leave the 
 Bagnio, and after hiiti to a third, and to a fourth ; 
 but always with the same result. All professed 
 ecjual readiness to serve me, but all were either alike 
 forgetful of their promise or unsuccessful in their 
 application ; for no notice was taken of me by Mavro- 
 yeni. In vain I lingered day after day in feverish 
 expectation : in vain I questioned every new face 
 that appeared. No one knew any thing of my busi- 
 ness ; no one had heard my name mentioned. At 
 last I became convinced that the drogueman was 
 determined to leave me to my fate, and resolved 
 to give up all fuithcr hopes of being freed, at least 
 by the luind oi' man. I say " by the Iiand of man ;'' 
 
ANASTASIUS. 119 
 
 — lor a higher power was beginning to manifest its 
 awful presence, wliich held out a prospect of speedy 
 release, not only to me, but to the whole Bagnio. 
 This was the plague. 
 
 The scourge had been expected for some time. 
 By several of the prisoners had the frightful hag, its 
 harbinger, been distinctly seen hovering with her 
 bat's wings over our drear abode, and with her 
 hooked talons numbering one by one her intended 
 but still unsuspecting victims. In the silence of the 
 night she had been heard leisurely calling them by 
 tlieir names, knocking at their several doors, and 
 marking with livid spots the damp walls of their 
 cells. 1 
 
 Nothing but the visitation of this destructive 
 monster seemed wanting to complete the horrors 
 which surrounded me: — for if even, when only 
 stalking forth among men free to fly from its ap- 
 proach and to shrink from its contact, the gaunt 
 spectre mows down whole nations like the ripe corn 
 in the field, it may be imagined what havoc ensues 
 when it is permitted to burst foi th from the inmost 
 bowels of hell, in the midst of wretches close-wedged 
 in their dungeons or linked together at their tasks, 
 whom it must trample down to the last, ere it can 
 find a vent in space. It is there that — with a focus 
 of infection ready formed, a train of miasma read}^ 
 laid on every side — though this prime minister of 
 death strike at random, it never misses its aim, and 
 
lao ANASTASIUS. 
 
 its progress outstrips the quickness of lightning or 
 of thought. It is there that even those who thus 
 far retain full possession of health, already calculate 
 the hours they still may live ; that those who to-day 
 drag to their last abode their lifeless companions, 
 to-morrow are laid beside them ; and that those 
 who are dying, make themselves pillows of the 
 bodies not yet cold of those already dead. It is 
 there that we may behold the grim destroyer in 
 one place awaited in gloomy silence, in another 
 encountered with fell imprecations, here implored 
 with anxious cries, there welcomed with eager 
 thanks, and now perhaps received with convulsive 
 laughter and mockery, by such as, trying to drink 
 away its terrors, totter on the brink of the grave 
 from drunkenness as well as from disease. 
 
 The before busy beehive of the Bagnio, there- 
 fore, soon became a dreadful solitude. Its spacious 
 inclosures, so lately teeming with tenants of every 
 description, now began to present a void still more 
 frightful than its former fulness. Universal silence 
 pervaded those endless galleries, but a few days 
 before re-echoing with the confused din of thousands 
 of prisoners, fighting for an inch of ground on which 
 to lay their aching heads ; and nothing any longer 
 appeared that wore a human shape, except here and 
 there some livid skeleton, which, as if again cast up 
 by the grave, slowly crept along the clammy walls. 
 When however the dire disease had devoured all 
 
ANASTASIUS. 121 
 
 that could offer food to its voracity, it gradually fell 
 like the flame which has consumed its fuel ; and at 
 last became extinct. What few miserable remains 
 of the former population of the Bagnio had escaped 
 its fury, were again restored to the regular sufferings 
 of the place, suspended during the utmost height of 
 the desolation. 
 
 I was among these scanty relics. I who, indif- 
 ferent to life, had never stooped to avoid the shafts 
 of death, even w^hen they flew thickest around me, 
 had more than once laid my finger on the livid wound 
 they inflicted, had probed it as it festered, I yet 
 remained unhurt: for sometimes the plague is a 
 magnanimous enemy, and, while it seldom spares 
 the pusillanimous victim, whose blood running cold 
 ere it is tainted, lacks the energy necessary to repel 
 the infection when at hand, it will pass him by who 
 dares its utmost fury, and advances undaunted to 
 meet its raised dart. 
 
 Not that my old master Yacoob can be quoted as 
 another instance in point. He too escaped indeed : 
 but it was from any thing but excess of courage. 
 Probably the plague thought his former campaigns 
 in her cause as an old clothesman, should not be for- 
 gotten in his later acts of hostility as a physician. 
 Little trusting, however, to the generosity of his old 
 ally, who might consider the obligation fully repaid 
 by the ample stock of goods she had occasionally pro- 
 cured him, his mind had, during the progress of the 
 
122 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 xiisease, brought forth nothing but plans of evasion. 
 Each later device indeed miscarried, as all the for- 
 mer contrivances had done before it; but this was 
 only to give birth to some plan still later and more 
 preposterous. One day, astride on the lofty summit 
 of the outer wall which surrounds the prison, he 
 had nearly given his enfeebled guardians the slip, 
 by softly letting himself down upon a heap of rub- 
 bish thrown up outside as if on purpose to break 
 his fall, when, most unluckily espied, he was hauled 
 down to receive a hundred lashes on the soles of his 
 feet, for the nimble use he had made of them. 
 This castigation, if inflicted, must have ended his 
 troubles. Fortunately he had laboured before under 
 a suspicion of madness ; and so violent a paroxysm 
 of raving now suddenly seized him, that some of 
 the by-standers began to think an hospital fitter for 
 his residence than a prison. The sacredness of 
 insanity saved his skin. The keepers durst not exe- 
 cute the sentence passed upon liim; and Achmet, 
 to whom a treat in his own way was since the 
 ravages of the plague become quite a rarity, walked 
 off sorely disappointed, and devoutly praying God 
 to deliver the Bagnio from all such madmen ! 
 
 YacooVs contrivances to be released from his con- 
 finement did not end here. He had got by heart 
 all the prayers of the Mohammedans, and secretly 
 made himself perfect in all the accompanying ges- 
 tures. One morning, after he had attracted the eye 
 
ANASTASIUS. 123 
 
 of a Turkish visitor of some distinction, he suddenly 
 fell -on his face, crying: " he saw the prophet, and 
 was not only bidden by him to embrace Islamism,^ 
 but actually instructed how to perform its rites ;" — 
 of which indeed he forthwith acquitted himself with 
 great dexterity. The bait took with the stranger ; 
 but the farce was laughed at by the familiars of 
 the place, who told Yacoob he might go to the 
 mosque if he chose, but reminded him that there 
 was one in the Bagnio. This damped his religious 
 ardour, and the vision sneaked off, as visions do. 
 Still did he from time to time repeat his grimaces ; 
 and he was always observed to invoke Allah most 
 lustily when a stranger came in sight. It was cu- 
 rious to see the holy violence with which on these 
 occasions he went through his namaz,^ until large 
 drops of perspiration trickled down his greasy face. 
 No disappointments had power- to stop these pious 
 but unavailing exercises. 
 
 He and I herded little together. The ordinary 
 companion of my toil was a young Greek, nearly of 
 my own age, but, from his less elevated stature, his 
 rounder features, and his more delicate complexion, 
 seemingly three or four years younger. His dress, 
 though at the time rather the worse for wear, pre- 
 served an appearance of something beyond mere 
 neatness, or even costliness : it had a sort of studied, 
 and what would be called in Christendom theatrical 
 elegance. His gait and manners corresponded. 
 
124 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 They too wore, not an air of quality, but a species 
 of recherche carried beyond natural grace. This 
 artificial exterior, this refinement of appearance, 
 were the more remarkable from the simpHcity of 
 mind, the singleness of heart, on which they seemed 
 superstructed. The varnish penetrated not beyond 
 the surface. Yet there it adhered pertinaciously, 
 and amidst sentiments of the sincerest piety, Ana- 
 gnosti never fell upon his knees to say his prayers, 
 without an au', and never rose from his devotions, 
 without a grace. He himself, when aware of these 
 superfluous ornaments, blushed, and would have 
 given all he possessed to shake them off: but they 
 clung to him in his own despite. Sometimes I 
 used to rally him on a semblance of affectation so 
 little suited to our abode, and so discordant with 
 his real character. " Is it my fault?" cried he 
 one day. " If the plant has so long been trained 
 to formal symmetry, can the^ utmost neglect itself 
 immediately recal its primitive ease and wildness ? 
 The subject, as you may have observed, is one 
 which I think of reluctantly, and hitherto have 
 avoided with care: but your good nature assures 
 me of your pity. Hear my story, and judge." 
 
ANASTASIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " My father," continued Anagnosti, " was proesti ^ 
 of Stavro : Phonea gave birth to my revered mo- 
 ther ^' 
 
 " No doubt," cried I, interrupting him, " all the 
 world knows those two important places ; but fancy 
 me very ignorant, and tell me where they lie ?" 
 
 " Near Corinth," answered the youth, somewhat 
 surprised, and resumed his tale. 
 
 " The inhabitants of Phonea," — said he, — ''justly 
 boast of their proficiency in the mysteries of divina- 
 tion. This art formed my mother"'s principal por- 
 tion. Unfortunately her skill made her foresee 
 every calamity, but it found a cure for none ; and 
 she spent her life in bewailing her sorrowful endow- 
 ments. Those of my father were of a different cast. 
 They consisted not so much in doubling present 
 evils by the fear of future mischiefs, as in making 
 the best of the ills under which we unavoidably 
 laboured. When therefore one evening a troop of 
 Arnaoots — in order to pay themselves for the un- 
 welcome protection they had afforded us against 
 the Russians — plundered our house, made fire-wood 
 of our olive-trees, and turned out our cattle into 
 
126 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 our vineyards, my much respected father observed 
 how fortunate was this misfortune, as we possessed 
 at Salonica a rich relation who would do better for 
 us than we could do for ourselves — unless, as my 
 mother added with a shake of the head, he should 
 be dead or ruined. 
 
 " This kinsman we determined to seek out. Leav- 
 ing our patrimony at the mercy of the waywode, 
 as an acknowledgment for his trouble in selling 
 us to the robbers, we bade adieu to our native land 
 — which never had looked more lovely than it did 
 at that moment — and set out upon our journey. 
 My father trusted for our travelling expenses to 
 the charity with which he was sure Providence 
 would inspire every mortal we met, while my mo- 
 ther trembled lest we should only meet banditti. 
 If any thing could move the hardest heart, it cer- 
 tainly was our procession. Imagine, first, a man 
 already in years, loaded with the scanty wrecks of 
 his property; next, a woman, pale, emaciated and 
 borne down by illness, with a baby at the breast, 
 and leading another by the hand, hardly able to fol- 
 low ; while myself, between two little girls, one of 
 ten and one of twelve, in a most tattered condition, 
 brought up the rear. We did not beg, for we knew 
 not the way; but we looked wretchedness itself: 
 and sometimes we found relief, and to those that 
 bestowed it, we gave in return all we had to give, 
 • — our blessing. As however we advanced on tlie 
 
ANASTASIUS. 127 
 
 journey, we began to need less assistance. This 
 ray mother had said would happen, and she her- 
 self was the one that accomphshed her prediction. 
 Sinking under her grief she turned out of the path, 
 sat down upon a stone, and urged us to proceed — 
 for she could go no further. I threw my arms 
 round her neck, tried to cheer her, and sobbed. 
 * O my Anagnosti;"' said she, as she pressed my 
 little fingers within her clammy hand, and fixed 
 on my countenance her anxious boding look, — * O 
 my curly-headed boy ! remember your poor mother's 
 last words: let others fear their foes; you, my 
 sweet innocent, beware only of your friends !' Then, 
 in convulsive agony, she clasped me to her breast, 
 laid down her head, and died. 
 
 " Much as my mother's weakness had retarded 
 our progress, her decease was the only event in which 
 my father could not at first see any advantage. Long 
 he wept for his loss, and at last, assisted by us all, 
 he dug a grave by the road-side. In it was buried 
 my poor mother, — all but this lock of hair, which 
 shall only return to dust with her child. 
 
 " Just as we again set forward from the dismal 
 spot, the baby, which had long been pining, expired 
 for want of sustenance. We would not divide in 
 death what in life had thus far still been as one; 
 and turning back, deposited the child in the lap of 
 its parent : — they sleep together ! 
 
 '' My father now observed, ' it was better for my 
 
128 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 mother to be dead than to suffer; and my little 
 brother was provided for.' Still he never ceased 
 to weep until we arrived at Volo. A lady of that 
 place, who had lost an only child, took such a fancy 
 to my rosy face that she begged to have it. Her 
 nauseous kisses had stamped it hers already ! After 
 my mother's, could I bear them? My father too 
 was but indifferently inclined to part with his Ana- 
 gnosti — the only one of his children who in all his 
 looks and sayings reminded him of his Zoe : but he 
 was poor, he thought that his loss would be my ad- 
 vantage, and he only proceeded on with the other 
 three. I staid, to cry and to be kissed. 
 
 " At Salonica my father found that his affluent 
 relation had died a bankrupt, as my mother had 
 foretold. ' This,' he observed, * must make him re- 
 turn to the labours of the field, which after all were 
 the healthiest.' Alas! in the damp deleterious 
 country to whose climate he was unaccustomed, 
 they carried him off. It was what my mother knew 
 would happen. In a quarrel between my father and 
 his waywode, she had heard the spiteful wretch wish 
 his worthier neighbour a seven year's ague." The 
 disease only took seven months to bring him to the 
 grave ; and this he thought a great mercy. While 
 ill too, he remembered that one day in the fields, on 
 suddenly turning round, he had seen his fellow- 
 labourers, jealous of a stranger, stamp on his sha- 
 dow. How could he after that be expected to live ? 
 
ANASTA8IUS. 129 
 
 At die last gasp, his eye lit up at the thoughts of 
 rejoining his Zoe !— and his poor Anagnosti, he was 
 sure, would not long stay behind. Charitable per- 
 sons took in the other little orphans : I sent them 
 ±he few pence I had collected : but alas, my little 
 hoard was lost by the way ! 
 
 . " My own good fortune lasted not. The old lady 
 at Volo who had promised to adopt me, changed her 
 fondness into aversion when she found how dearly 
 I loved to play in puddles, and how little I liked to 
 be kissed. She scolded me for being a boy ; and 
 sighed to think what a tidy little girl she might have 
 had in my place, who never for an instant would 
 have quitted her side. The first of these faults I 
 acknowledged, and observed that she might have 
 been aware of it before; and as for the other 
 grievance, I told her ' if I could not always stay by 
 her side, I could do the next best thing, which was 
 never to go near her again.' She made no reply, 
 and I ran away. 
 
 *' As I had always promised the Holy Virgin 
 faithfully to divide with her whatever I might earn, 
 I made no doubt that she would direct me well in 
 my search for a livelihood. I cannot think she did ; 
 though it might be for my good. She made me en- 
 gage on board a Hydriote^ laden with corn for the 
 Black sea. A single family formed the crew, frorn 
 'the captain down to the lowest cabin-boy. Eut to 
 that family poor Anagnosti belonged not; and when 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
1.10 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 all the rest of the sailors used in a calm to dance on 
 the deck, 1 alone was left out to listen to their mirth 
 in the hold. Alas, I have since had dancing enough ! 
 At the time, however, I thought the hardship so great, 
 that on my knees I begged the captain to let me too 
 have my share of dancing, and to flog me afterwards 
 as much as he pleased. Had he granted my petition, 
 I might not have had leisure to discover, as I did, 
 how ill a sailor's task suited my abilities, or agreed 
 with my duty to the Panagia. I therefore resolved 
 to abandon my amphibious life. The moment we 
 touched at Constantinople I took to my heels, not 
 doubting to find an easy subsistence in a place where, 
 as I had heard, the streets were paved with silver, 
 and the houses roofed with gold. For two long days I 
 waded knee-deep in mire — sleeping at night among 
 the cinders of the pubhc baths, and waking in the 
 morning without a morsel of bread to break my fast. 
 So great became my hunger, that, at a sudden turn 
 which brought me opposite a cook-shop near the 
 Tophana,* the sight of a plate of kiebabs^ hot from 
 the oven almost bereft me of my senses. Not daring 
 to approach, I involuntarily fell on my knees, and 
 half worshipped the dear hissing cutlets at a respect- 
 ful distance. An ill-looking fellow saw the action, 
 and guessing the motive, told me, ' if I was hungry, 
 to come along with him : — I should not want for 
 bread, as he was a baker.' He wanted a shop-boy ; 
 and hard as it might seem for the son of proesti of 
 
ANASTASIUS. 151 
 
 Stavro to sell rolls at Constantinople, my stomach 
 audibly groaned the words : ' necessity had no law !' 
 
 " My apprenticeship was short. The very second 
 day of my ministry, after a flying visit from a Turk, 
 my master came up to me, and said ' he liked me so 
 well that he had determined immediately to give me 
 a share in the business ; and 1 had nothing to do — 
 whoever might call — but to say that the concern was 
 my own/ On this ni}^ principal ran out, leaving me 
 in astonishment at my speedy promotion. 
 
 " A person did call, and I did say that the con- 
 cern was my own : but as that person was the Stam- 
 bool Effendee,^ who had set apart that day for 
 weighing the weights and for measuring the mea- 
 sures of the different tradesmen, the deficiency he 
 found in ours made him — though very condescend- 
 ing and familiar at first — end by ordering that I 
 should be dealt by as I dealt by my loaves ; namely, 
 baked in my own oven. In this consisted the chief 
 advantage I was to derive from the partnership. 
 
 '' My cries of ' aman' "^ at this intemperate sen- 
 tence, brought out the whole neighbourhood. It 
 well knew my master's character, vouched for mine 
 without knowing it, and through dint of strenuous 
 intercession moved the Effendee to such excess of 
 lenity, as, in regard for my innocence, only to order 
 me three dozen strokes on the soles of my feet. 
 
 " The change, undoubtedly, was to my advantage: 
 yet did I feel so angry that I swore rather to go 
 
 K 2 
 
132 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 T^ithout bread all the days of my life, than ever again 
 to trust to a baker. Lame as I was I tried to hob- 
 ble away. An odd-looking man, Avho had been 
 eyeing me all along from head to foot, asked me 
 whether I loved dancing. The question seemed in- 
 sulting; but, lest I should commit myself, I neither 
 answered yes nor no. ' You have been ill-used' — 
 added he — ' My compassionate heart moves me to 
 take you home, there to cure your bruises.' I fan- 
 cied not the man's countenance, but my feet told me 
 not to mind his face, and I saw the less of it as he 
 took me on his back. While riding along I con- 
 ceived very sinister forebodings ; but when set down 
 where we stopped I smiled at my fears. Nothing 
 could look less terrific than the place of my destina- 
 tion. Around the walls hung suspended by elegant 
 cords and tassels, lutes, cymbals, guitars, and other 
 musical instruments, beautifully inlaid with mother 
 of pearl. The richest dresses were airing at the 
 windows, and if the habitation resembled any one 
 thing more than another, it was a temple of mirth. 
 In fact, when, restored by wholesome applications 
 both outward and inward, I asked what return I 
 could make for so much hospitality ? the answer was, 
 ' to dance.' 
 
 " I immediately began capering. But this was 
 not the thing meant. My host — a Greek of Scyra — 
 had in his youth been a dancer by profession. Age 
 Jiaving stiffened his joints, he now gained his liveli- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 183 
 
 hood by giving suppleness to younger limbs. He 
 had a number of boys whom he trained to perform 
 ballets in the conacks or palaces of the great. His 
 eye had been caught by my nimbleness when about 
 to be put into the oven, and he roused my ambition 
 by pledging himself to make me a first-rate dancer. 
 
 " The greatest natural genius still requires culti- 
 vation. For a while I toiled beyond all belief. But 
 as I never attempted a difficult step without ad- 
 dressing the Panagia, I succeeded at last. I may 
 say without vanity that I acquired the perfection of 
 the art. The exactness of my poise, the precision 
 of my movements, the apparent ease with which I 
 performed the most difficult steps, were pronounced 
 positively sublime. From the ends of my fingers to 
 the tip of my toes, all was expression. The best 
 connoisseurs declared that in me alone they had 
 found the poetry of the heel ; and my very shadow 
 was lighter than other people's shadows. But I do 
 not wish to praise myself I 
 
 " That I became celebrated, I need not tell. Every 
 other dancer was voted execrable. Wlienever I ap- 
 peared, I was stunned with applause before I moved 
 a step; and the spectators were entranced at my 
 performance of what in others would have been 
 hissed : for it was not always that I exerted my best 
 abilities. With indifferent judges I would scarcely 
 stir ; and even with the best I sometimes had my 
 bad days, when all the coaxing in the world could 
 
134 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 not draw out my powers. I once felt so ill in reality, 
 that another dancer was sent out in my clothes, who, 
 accomphshing with evident effort what I performed 
 with ease, made the blockheads declare that I never 
 yet had danced so well as I did that evening. 
 
 " My emoluments kept pace with my celebrity. 
 At each pause in my exhibitions my forehead used 
 to be studded with gold coins,^ and at the conclu- 
 sion of the performance, heaps of sequins showered 
 from all sides into my spangled cap. Who then 
 could have fancied me otherwise than happy ? But 
 it is one thing to divert others, and it is another to 
 taste of joy one's self! The constant fatigue, the 
 sense of dependence, the fear of not succeeding, the 
 liability to the humours of a capricious audience, 
 the danger of losing the attraction of novelty, the 
 chance of being eclipsed by some abler competitor, 
 are alone dreadful drawbacks on a profession like 
 mine. Yet with me they were minor evils. Keener 
 sufferings peculiar to myself assailed me, and that 
 in general by preference just when my situation 
 seemed most enviable: for it was almost always 
 in the intoxication and flurry of spirits produced by 
 the exertions I made, by the bravos I excited, and 
 by the crowds of people, the glare of lights, and the 
 din of instruments I moved among, that the image 
 of my deceased mother, as she appeared in her last 
 moments, would rise with most distinctness to my 
 heated fancy. And often have I between the several 
 
ANASTASIUS. 135 
 
 acts of the entertainment, retired to some lonely 
 corner to weep at liberty, while the whole assembly 
 seemed in ecstacies of pleasure. It is true that if 
 dancing produced melancholy, melancholy more than 
 once in its turn produced dancing. Sometimes, in 
 the sort of phrensy brought on by the clang of a 
 full band, I have started up, and, like the Mewlewi 
 derwishes,9 have reeled round a room full of people, 
 until, completely exhausted, I fell senseless on the 
 floor. 
 
 " To add to the discomforts of my situation, I was 
 not even allowed to retain the hard-earned fruits of 
 my labour. Of the gold which I gained by the sweat 
 of my brow not a para remained my own, except 
 what in the evening, when I crossed the cemetery of 
 Galata, I had the address to slip into a hollow tree 
 or to drop behind a mouldering tombstone, where 
 the crows often were the first to find my little store. 
 The moment I got home from our nightly exhibition 
 I was regularly searched, and every farthing found 
 about me went into my master's pocket, as his pay 
 for my board, lodging, and maintenance. Enraged 
 at his illiberality I one evening threw my gilt jacket 
 in his face, saying, I wished to keep nothing that 
 was his, but would go and exercise my talent, naked 
 as I stood, on my own account. Hereupon the vam- 
 pire — the odious blood-sucker — ^brought against me 
 such a bill for bestowing that talent of which he said 
 I wanted to rob him, as must have left me all my 
 
136 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 life a mere drudge — a puppet moving at his nod, — ' 
 had I not determined to settle the account in my 
 own way. 
 
 " In fact, now clearly discerning the whole drift 
 of the hospitality which the Scyrote had so kindly 
 afforded me, I henceforth watched my opportunity 
 to slip away from the ballet-master at Galata, as I 
 had done from the lady at Volo, the Hydriote cap- 
 tain, and the fraudulent baker. This was not an 
 easy matter. Our manager was vigilance personi- 
 fied, and never allowed me to go out of his sight. 
 An accident befriended me. One of my companions 
 had long cherished the greatest envy of my supe* 
 riority. In a pas-de-deuoc which we performed to- 
 gether as a lover and his mistress, he kicked my 
 shins ; I boxed his ears ; he retorted by breaking on 
 my head the guitar with which he was serenading me, 
 and scratching my face in such a manner that the 
 next time the troop went out, I was left at home as 
 unfit to be seen. Whatever might ail my head, my 
 heels were in good order ; I took to them as usual, 
 and never stopped till I had reached the quarter 
 most remote from where the Scyrote lived. 
 
 *' Here I might dance on my own account as 
 much as I pleased, but found nobody to dance to 
 except the lowest rabble. In retiring out of my 
 master's latitude I had outstepped my own vantage- 
 ground. From exhibiting in palaces to assemblies 
 of the great, amid showers of gold, 1 was reduced to 
 
ANASTASIUS. 137 
 
 toil in taverns for the amusement of ruffians, who 
 thought a few paras a very liberal reward, after 
 perhaps mortifying my pride into the bargain, by 
 invidious comparisons with some arrant posture- 
 maker. Obliged to lower the tone of my performance 
 to the standard of my new patrons, I lost all that 
 finish and delicacy of movement for which my 
 dancing had been celebrated, and dwindled into little 
 better than a tumbler. 
 
 " Nor was this all. One night, after drudging to 
 amuse a set of brutes, I met with such ill treatment 
 from the Bacchantes their companions, as to make 
 me expect with my poor lyre the end of Orpheus. 
 Thank God ! the Panagia — knowing how observant 
 I always had been of her festivals — protected me 
 even against her own sex, and my poor life was 
 saved, little worth as it was. This signal escape led 
 me to serious reflections. 
 
 " I had always been punctual in my prayers, both 
 before dancing and after ; and had as yet committed 
 no very heinous sin, save once on a fast-day eating 
 some nice yaoort,^^ which a Turk gave me after a 
 long performance ; but I did not know what worse 
 might happen in my daily intercourse with infidels; 
 and I determined to avoid the danger by quitting a 
 profession, which, if distinguished, is also dangerous, 
 and full of hazard to one's faith and morals. 
 
 " Alas ! it was too late to execute my good in- 
 .tentions! My special admirers, brought in contact 
 
UB ANASTASIUS. 
 
 at a tavern with the professed supporters of a rival 
 dancer, the two factions came to a pitched battle, in 
 which a hfe or two were lost, while I — the innocent 
 cause of the disturbance — was taken up by the patrole, 
 and thrown into this place of wretchedness ; more 
 than ever convinced of the truth of all my honoured 
 mother's predictions : — for what were the old lady 
 of Volo, who washed her hands of me when I would 
 kiss her no longer ; the Hydriote captain, who would 
 not let me dance with my messmates, after giving 
 me shelter on board his ship ; the baker who first 
 fed, and next slily destined me to a snug corner in 
 his oven ; the Scyrote, who cured, who entertained, 
 and afterwards robbed me of all my lawful gains ; 
 and the caleondjees, who went about my zealous 
 champions, in order to get me almost torn to pieces 
 limb by limb, and locked up in the Bagnio — but so 
 many persons, at first all professing themselves my 
 stanch and trusty friends ! and such is the horror 
 with which that word now inspires me, that, were I 
 to hear the Panagia herself say she was my friend, 
 great as hitherto has been the holy lady's goodness, 
 I should expect her to end by playing me some 
 scurvy trick !" 
 
 Here ended my companion's tale — the faithful 
 picture of his mind, in which moral rectitude and 
 affection were strangely combined with conceit, cre- 
 duhty and bigotry. In the wide range of social 
 intercourse this odd mixture might not perhaps 
 
ANASTASIUS. 139 
 
 have taken much hold on my harder compound; 
 nor should I greatly have coveted an intimacy with 
 the character of a stage-dancer grafted on a pea- 
 sant; but in the narrow precincts of the Bagnio 
 fastidiousness wears out, and constant propinquity 
 produced different sentiments ; and the more, as 
 athwart Anagnosti''s apparent facility of temper and 
 tenderness of heart there broke forth a sort of de- 
 termined sturdiness on certain points, which all the 
 laxity of his education and companions had never 
 removed, and which, inclined as one might be to 
 smile at his studied exterior, induced a sort of 
 respect for the stuff within. Insensibly, therefore, 
 an attachment grew between us, which, though it 
 daily increased, gave my companion no alarm, until 
 one day I remarked how great an alleviation our 
 misery had derived from our friendship. At this 
 unguarded speecn Anagnosti turned pale. " Friend- 
 ship !" repeated he ; " Say not so ! It will again 
 bring me ill fortune. Like the rest of my friends, 
 you will ultimately be my bane."" 
 
 " Words," answered I, laughing, " cannot alter 
 the nature of things. We certainly at this moment 
 are friends, and warm ones too : for I believe each 
 would willingly lay down his life for the other; 
 and even if the dangers of friendship should now 
 make us resolve to become bitter enemies, it would 
 already be too late: — already would the present 
 
140 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 evil fail to insure redemption from the future one ! — 
 The mischief is done; the spell is upon you." 
 
 " Then," said Anagnosti, after ruminating a little, 
 " if we cannot be less than friends, let us be more ! 
 Let us become brothers ; let religion sanctify our in- 
 timacy, so as to divest it oPits dangers ;" — and upon 
 this he proposed to me the solemn ceremony,^^ which, 
 in our church, unites two friends of either sex in the 
 face of the altar by solemn vows, gives them the 
 endearing appellation of brothers or sisters, and im- 
 poses upon them the sacred obligation to stand by 
 each other in life and in death. 
 
 Anagnosti, though he certainly had in his dif- 
 ferent avocations run away full as often as he had 
 stood his ground, and had derived from his last 
 mode of life a certain outward tinge of effeminacy, 
 yet in reality was as brave as affectionate. He 
 had more than once resisted his guardians most 
 manfully in their unjust behests ; he had even de- 
 fended his new friend at the risk of his life : — for, 
 one day that, disabled by illness, I lay at the mercy 
 of every aggressor, he had wrested from a fellow 
 slave the dagger levelled at my breast for the sake 
 of the worn-out capote on my back ; and from 
 his disposition there was every reason to expect 
 that the fruits and the burthens of our alliance 
 would ever be equally shared. The first day there- 
 fore that we could obtain the permission, we went 
 
ANASTASIUS. Ul 
 
 to a priest in the Bagnio, and desired the holy man, 
 after the short service which our straitened means 
 permitted, to accompHsh the indissoluble union. At 
 first the venerable papas treated the request as a 
 jest. " The practice," he said, " was quite obso- 
 lete, except among the most barbarous clans of the 
 remotest provinces. Epirotes, and other savages 
 who like them lived in eternal strife, might indeed 
 still retain such old customs,^- but the people at 
 Constantinople were sufficiently employed in minding 
 their own concerns, without gratuitously engaging 
 to risk their lives for others." This remonstrance 
 producing no effect, the priest warned us more ear- 
 nestly to consider the consequences, before we irre- 
 vocably bound ourselves by so serious an engage- 
 ment. Still we insisted, and he at last complied. 
 He enveloped us in the sacred veil, symbol of the 
 holy ties we contracted ; and made us swear on our 
 knees, in the face of Heaven, to share together like 
 brothers, while we breathed, both good and adverse 
 fortune. 
 
 The solemn vow pronounced, and Heaven fer- 
 vently implored to bless it, we again rose. I shook 
 Anagnosti by the hand, and could not refrain from 
 saying, " though now brothers, still friends as 
 before." 
 
 He involuntarily shuddered. All his fears re- 
 curred; and on casting off the sacred zone, we 
 found on it a fresh stain of blood. How it came 
 
143 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 there neither of us could guess. Both searched for 
 the cause : none could be discovered ; and we at 
 last forgot the evil omen. 
 
 The very period which saw our intimacy indis- 
 solubly riveted, was fated to be that of our separa- 
 tion. Whether at the time of my imprisonment 
 the length of my detention had been fixed ; or whe- 
 ther (as I afterwards suspected) Mavroyeni, while 
 apparently rejecting my application, in reality had 
 procured my deliverance, — one morning, when I 
 least expected my freedom, I was bidden to quit 
 the Bagnio. I say "bidden;" for, thinking the 
 thing optional, I at first, in conformity with my sa- 
 cred engagement, refused to accept the boon offered, 
 unless shared by my friend. But I now found my- 
 self as little allowed to stay in, as I had before been 
 to stay out of the Bagnio, at my pleasure. I must 
 resume my liberty whether I chose or not, and was 
 very near being driven by force out of prison, — a 
 somewhat unusual circumstance ! Anagnosti tried 
 to sweeten the bitterness of my release, by ob- 
 serving that it might be rendered instrumental in 
 procuring his own. " Remember," said he, " that 
 in losing you, I lose all. O Anastasius, O my. — 
 friend I remember," 
 
 Here his sobs interrupted his speech, and the 
 guards, tired of our tedious leave-taking, tore us 
 asunder. After proceeding on a few yards, I turned 
 round to cast one more last look after my com- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 14y> 
 
 panion : but already the gates had been shut be- 
 hind me ; and I went forth — shaking off indeed 
 the dust of my prison, and with all Constantinople 
 open before me, — but without a single particle of 
 that rapturous joy of heart, which I always fancied 
 must crown the hour of my liberation. 
 
144 ANASTASIUSV 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 To enjoy liberty one must live, and to live one 
 must eat, and I had not a para in the world to pur- 
 chase me a meal. In this embarrassing situation I 
 thought of my old patron. If he really had pro- 
 cured my freedom, it was proper to thank him ; if 
 not, it still was wise to do so. In the first case, he 
 might be induced by my sense of past kindness to 
 seek still greater claims to my future gratitude, — 
 since benefactors often resemble gamblers, who 
 double their stakes rather than lose the benefit of a 
 first throw ; and in the latter case, the thanks I gave 
 for imaginary services would make the drogueman 
 wish to deserve them by real obligations. Gratitude 
 I had often found most productive when it preceded 
 the benefit. Besides, I had my friend Anagnosti to 
 intercede for ; and I was desirous to strike the iron 
 while it was hot. 
 
 Most willingly would I have smartened myself 
 up a little for the visit. Not only a tattered ap- 
 pearance smooths the way but indifferently athwart 
 the out-post of pampered domestics, who guard 
 the approaclies of the great man's citadel ; it often 
 
ANASTASIUS. 145 
 
 makes the master himself ashamed of his petitioner. 
 The rich are ever ready to accuse the poor of want- 
 ing proper respect, when they offend the fastidious 
 eye of pride by the display of their wretchedness. 
 The utmost I could do, however, was to arrange 
 my rags gracefully ; and — repeating to myself, as I 
 strutted along, that a man's innate dignity of mien 
 and manners were a sufficient passport even to the 
 presence of a king — I boldly went to the Fanar, 
 and with the least possible tremor knocked at Ma- 
 vroyeni's door. 
 
 It certainly opened at my summons, but not to let 
 me enter. The porter who answered, holding it 
 cautiously ajar, contrived to fill the whole aperture 
 with his own person, until he had most leisurely 
 surveyed mine. While thus examined, I recognised 
 in my surveyor an old acquaintance. So it seems 
 he did in me ; for when I asked to see his master, 
 he banged the door in my face, without a syllable of 
 reply. It was just what I myself had done a dozen 
 times, when with Mavroyeni at Argos. The un- 
 couthness of the janitor's reception, therefore, I 
 thought, must originate higher. Servants behaved 
 not thus, unless they felt their conduct sanctioned 
 by their masters : for dependants know the antipa- 
 thies of their patrons by instinct. " Hie thee hence, 
 therefore, Anastasius,'' exclaimed I ; *' thou hast 
 no longer any business near tliis threshold :" and 
 hereupon I walked away. 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 At that instant the same door burst open again, 
 and almost flew off its hinges. I looked back. It 
 was to let out Mavroyeni himself. Convinced that 
 an attempt to accost him would only expose me to 
 fresh mortifications, I now felt as solicitous to avoid 
 his eye as I had been before to be admitted to his 
 presence. Hastily drawing back my head, I passed 
 on, or rather, ran away, as if it had been an igno- 
 miny even to be seen near the drogueman's abode. 
 
 Heated with my race, I rushed into the first cof- 
 fee-house on my way, and observing a large bowl of 
 hoshab^ most invitingly set out on the counter, 
 greedily lifted it to my lips, and gulped down the 
 icy beverage. I had no earthly means of payment ; 
 but heaven came to my assistance. Exhausted with 
 inanition, I felt too weak to resist the sudden chill : 
 it struck me to the heart. I reeled backwards, and 
 fell senseless on the floor. 
 
 How long the fit lasted I am unable to tell. All 
 I know is, that when my senses returned I found 
 myself in a smart jog trot, bumping at the back of a 
 hamal, and travelling in this inconvenient posture at 
 the rate of a league an hour, up one dirty lane and 
 down another ; — but whither, was beyond my power 
 to guess. 
 
 I therefore made free to ask the question, and 
 was but little pleased with the information obtained. 
 Convicted in the shop by my sudden seizure of a 
 confirmed plague, the master had only felt desirous 
 
ANASTASIUS. 147 
 
 to get rid as soon as possible of so unwelcome a 
 customer, and had called in the yiorter aforesaidj to 
 convey me to the hospital. Thither I was speeding 
 as fast as another man's legs could carry my per- 
 son : for even during the above account my bearer 
 slackened not his pace, but kept jogging on as 
 lustily as before. 
 
 I took the liberty of representing that there was a 
 mistake in the case. However weak and exhausted, 
 I was totally free from any infectious disorder. 
 " Nothing more likely," answered the hamal ; *' but 
 he was paid for the job, and must earn his fare ;" 
 and upon this he only grasped me somewhat tighter 
 than he had done before, for fear that being less ill 
 than he had imagined, I might contrive more easily 
 to give him the slip. In vain I insisted upon being 
 let loose, and excused from going where, if I brought 
 not the plague, I was sure to find it. My expostu- 
 lations were of no avail ; and I therefore tried to 
 hberate myself by pummelling my vehicle with all 
 my might : — but the feeble impression of my mi- 
 nerved fist on the tough hide of my obstinate beast, 
 instead of making him throw me off, only served to 
 quicken his pace. 
 
 I now resorted to the last means of salvation in 
 my power, fixed my claws in the brawny throat of 
 the miscreant, and squeezed him almost to suffoca- 
 tion. Finding his load became too troublesome, he 
 at last let me slip down from his back to the ground, 
 
 • l2 
 
148 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 swore I was the most refractory piece of goods he 
 ever had carried, and left me, in order to seek else- 
 where an easier fare. 
 
 One street appeared to me as good as another to 
 die in : — and my present sensations foreboded no- 
 thing else. I crawled to a stepping-stone near the 
 place where I had been deposited, and on that pillow 
 resigned myself to my fate. 
 
 So near in fact seemed my exit, that a novelist 
 writing my history would have availed himself of 
 the circumstance happily to terminate his first vo- 
 lume, and to leave me irretrievably for dead in the 
 opinion of his reader, until my unexpected resur- 
 rection at the beginning of volume the second. 
 Writing in the first person, I cannot keep my friends 
 in this state of agreeable suspense, or conceal from 
 them one single moment that I lived on : but it was 
 for some time in such wretchedness, as would not 
 even leave the most fastidious critic any pretence to 
 find fault with the proceeding. One man passed by 
 me, and another, and another, and several stopped 
 and looked ; but, when their curiosity was satisfied, 
 all went on again, only shrugging up their shoul- 
 ders. No one of my own sex offered me the least 
 assistance. At last came two females. For several 
 minutes ere they reached my resting-place, their in- 
 cessant loquacity had warned me of their approach ; 
 but I was too ill to look up, and had closed my eyes. 
 " Bless me," said the one, " I see something alive 
 
ANASTASIUS. Up 
 
 there !" '^ Bless me,'' said the other, " and so do 
 I !" " A man !" cried the first. " A liandsome 
 youth 1 declare !" cried the second. '' Unwell," 
 rejoined the httle one : " Dying, I fear," resumed 
 the tall one. " How like Anastasius !" exclaimed 
 the former. " Himself, as I live !''' replied the 
 latter. " Then, indeed," continued the other, in a 
 sagacious whisper, " I am very much afraid, neigh- 
 bour, that he is not dying, but only dead drunk.'' — 
 Enviable effects of a good name ! 
 
 My character was now to me a matter of life 
 and death. " No," said I, therefore — making an 
 effort to speak, but in a scarce audible voice ; — " it 
 is not drunkenness that oppresses me : it is suffering 
 — it is starvation."" 
 
 At this speech, the women both scream out in 
 astonishment ; both talk at the same time. They 
 want to know the how, the when, the where. '' Tor- 
 ment me not with questions," cried I ; '' but if you 
 have any humanity, get me conveyed to St. Deme- 
 trius.- Pay the five piastres required for my admis- 
 sion; and expect not to be repaid in this world." 
 Saying this, I again fainted away. 
 
 The first perception which followed this second 
 fit, was that of an entirely new change of objects. 
 The women had succeeded in their humane en- 
 deavours, and I was lying under a filthy coverlet, 
 on a filthy pallet, in the filthy hospital in question, 
 next to a dead man, whose pulse the would-be 
 
150 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 physician of the place was just in the act of feehng, 
 — assuring some by-standers that it was perfectly 
 quiet, and no longer showed any symptom of 
 fever. 
 
 I shall not finish the picture of the disgusting 
 abode, where nevertheless I had been introduced 
 only out of sheer humanity. Suffice it to say that 
 under its truly hospitable roof every nuisance found 
 a home, medicine alone excepted. A scanty charity 
 was the chief support of the institution, and an un- 
 wieldy governor the chief object supported. Yet, 
 after a fair contest between my constitution and my 
 pleurisy, in which neither side received the least as- 
 sistance from doubtful prescriptions, the former got 
 the better. The father of nine helpless orphans 
 expired by my side, and I recovered. 
 
 It was during my convalescence that I most forci- 
 bly felt all the wretchedness of my receptacle: it 
 was during my convalescence, also, that I most fully 
 owned my unworthiness of a better. " But," cried 
 I, tossing about on my hard couch, " the deadliest 
 poisons compose the most salutiferous medicines, and 
 the direst calamities produce the best resolves. It 
 will be my own fault if I rise not from this bed of 
 sickness and suffering, both wiser and worthier !"' 
 Thus I spoke while my pulse still beat low, and my 
 passions were still weak. 
 
 At last came the day which I fancied would never 
 come — that of my release from the hospital. It 
 
ANASTASIUS. 151 
 
 dawned about a month after I had entered tlie dis- 
 mal place. 1 salhed forth at mid-day ; and inde- 
 scribable was the rapture with which I first again 
 breathed a pure air, and beheld the whole expanse 
 of an azure sky. 
 
 Still was I as much as ever at a loss how to sub- 
 sist. Absorbed in this weighty consideration I 
 slowly walked down the hill of St. Demetrius, when 
 1 fancied I discerned at a distance a caravan of tra- 
 vellers, who, with a slow and steady pace were ad- 
 vancing towards Pera, the residence of the Franks 
 at Constantinople. I mechanically quickened my 
 steps, in order to survey the procession more closely. 
 
 First in the order of march came a clumsy calash, 
 stowed as full as it could hold of wondering tra- 
 vellers ; next came a heavy araba,^ loaded with as 
 many trunks, portmanteaus, parcels, and packages, 
 as it could well carry ; and lastly led up the rear a 
 grim-looking Tartar,^ keeping order among half a 
 dozen Frank servants of every description, jogging 
 heavily along on their worn-out jades. At this sight 
 the droguemanic blood began to speak within me. 
 " These are strangers, Anastasius,"" it whispered : 
 " be thou their interpreter, and thy livelihood is se- 
 cured." I obeyed the inward voice as an inspiration 
 from heaven, and, after smartening myself up a 
 little, approached the first carriage. 
 
 '* Welcome to Pera, excellencies !" said I, with a 
 profound bow, to the party within. At these words 
 up started two gaunt figures in nightcaps, with 
 
152 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 spectacles on their noses, and German pipes in their 
 mouths — whose respective corners still kept mecha- 
 nically puffing whifFs of smoke at each other. The 
 first action which followed was to lay their hands on 
 the blunderbusses hung round the carriage; but, 
 seeing me alone, on foot, and to all appearance not 
 very formidable, they seemed after some consultation 
 to think they might venture not to fire, and only 
 kept staring at me in profound silence. I therefore 
 repeated my salute in a more articulate manner, and 
 again said, *' welcome, excellencies, to Pera, where 
 you are most anxiously expected. As you will pro- 
 bably want a skilful interpreter, give me leave to re- 
 commend a most unexceptionable person — I mean 
 myself. Respectable references, I know, are indis- 
 pensable in a place where every one is on the watch 
 to impose upon the unwary traveller; but such 1 
 think I can name. As to what character they may 
 give me; tliaty'' — added I with a modest bow, — 
 " that it would ill become your humble servant him- 
 self to enlarge upon." 
 
 At so Christian-like a speech, uttered in the very 
 heart of Turkey, the travellers grinned from ear to 
 ear with delight. It produced another short con- 
 sultation ; after which the two chiefs cried out in 
 chorus: " Qui chai pesom;^' and bade me mount 
 by their side. This enabled me, after a little com- 
 pliment on Germany their birthplace, and on their 
 proficiency in the French idiom, immediately to enter 
 upon the duties of my office — for which 1 thought 
 
ANASTASIUS. 153 
 
 myself sufficiently qualified, by the squibs which I 
 had heard the drogueman of the Porte, Morosi, let 
 off, in company with my patron, at the diplomatic 
 corps of Pera. 
 
 " This edifice/' said I, pointing to the first build- 
 ing of note in the suburb which we met in our way, 
 " is the palace of the Ich-oglans — the Sultan's pages. 
 It is the most fruitful seminary of favourites, of Pa- 
 shas, and of Sultanas' husbands.^ In that direction 
 lives that most respectable of characters the Imperial 
 internuncio*^ — the baron Herbert; who, with all 
 the shrewdness of a thorough-paced minister, com- 
 bines all the playful simplicity of a child. Further 
 on dwells the French embassador Monsieur de Choi- 
 seul-Gouflier — a very great man in little things; 
 and opposite him lives his antagonist in taste, po- 
 litics and country, the English envoy sir Robert 
 Ainslie — of whom the w^orld maintains exactly the 
 reverse. Quite at the bottom of the street, likewise 
 facing each other, live the envoys of Russia and of 
 Sweden.*^ The former I feel bound to respect, what- 
 ever be his merit; the latter really possesses much. 
 He is an Armenian, who writes in French a history 
 of Turkey. He has lately made with his bookseller 
 an exchange profitable to both, — he having given 
 his manuscript, and the other his daughter : that is 
 to say, the Armenian a single voluminous work, 
 and the Frenchman a brief epitome of his whole 
 shop. Wedged in between the palaces of Spain and 
 
154 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Portugal is that of the Dutch embassador, whose 
 name, Vandendiddem-totgelder,^ is almost too long 
 for these short autumn days; and whose head is 
 thought to be almost as long as his name : inasmuch 
 as he regularly receives, twice a week, the Leyden 
 gazette ; which renders him beyond all controversy 
 the best informed of the whole Christian Corps Di- 
 plomatique, with regard to Turkish politics. You 
 see, gentlemen, the representatives of all the poten- 
 tates of Christendom, from Petersburgh to Lisbon, 
 and from Stockholm to Naples, are here penned 
 up together in this single narrow street, where they 
 have the advantage of living as far as possible from 
 the Turks among whom they come to reside, and 
 of watching all day long the motions of their own 
 colleagues, from their most distant journies to the 
 sublime Porte, to their most ordinary visits to the 
 recesses of their gardens." 
 
 These little specimens of my savoir-dire seemed 
 to please my German friends. They immediately 
 noted them down in their huge memorandum books, 
 which, no more than their short pipes, were ever 
 left an instant unemployed. Scarce had the party 
 stepped into the inn which I was allowed to recom- 
 mend, when they engaged me for the whole fortnight 
 which they meant to devote to the survey of the 
 Turkish capital. 
 
 My travellers were of the true inquisitive sort. 
 Every body used toJly at their approach ; a circum- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 155 
 
 stance highly favourable to my interest. Under the 
 notion of always applying for information at the 
 fountain-head, they would stop the surliest Turk 
 they met, to ask why Moslemen locked up their 
 women. One day they begged the Imperial minis- 
 ter, at his own table, to tell them confidentially 
 whether Austria was to be trusted. They were very 
 solicitous to know from the Russian envoy the num- 
 ber of Catherine''s lovers ; and they pressed hard for 
 an audience of the Kislar Aga,9 only to inquire 
 whence came the best black eunuchs. Had they 
 been in company with the Grand Mufti, they cer- 
 tainly would have asked his honest opinion of the 
 mission of Mohammed ; and they would scarce have 
 neglected the opportunity, had it offered, of in- 
 quiring of the Sultan himself, whether he was legiti- 
 mate heir to the Califate, as he asserted. In conse- 
 quence of this straight-forward system I was every 
 moment obliged to interfere, and to pledge myself 
 for the guiltless intentions of our travellers. The 
 statistics of the empire, its government, politics, 
 finances, &c. they indeed troubled themselves little 
 about. All such things they thought might be learnt 
 much more compendiously at home from the Leipsic 
 gazetteer ; but the botany and mineralogy of the 
 country were what they studied both with body and 
 soul. Every day we brought home from our excur- 
 sions such heaps of what the ignorant chose to call 
 hay and stones, that the wags whom wc met on oiu* 
 
156 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 way used to ask whether these were for food and 
 lodging ; while the more fanatical among the Turks 
 swore we carried away patterns of the country, in 
 order to sell it to the infidels; and one party, by 
 way of giving us enough of what we wanted, was 
 near stoning us to death. Hereupon, to elude 
 observation, my cunning travellers determined to 
 drfess after the country fashion : but this only made 
 bad worse; for they wore their new garb so awk- 
 wardly, that the natives began to think they put 
 it on in mockery, and were frequently near stripping 
 them to the skin ; independent of which, whenever 
 they went out, they got so entangled in their shak- 
 sheers and trowsers, their shawls and their papooshes, 
 that our progress might be traced by the mere relics 
 of their habihments which strewed the road. Sole 
 manager both of the home and foreign department, 
 I however tried to give all possible respectability to 
 their appearance, and never would suffer their dig- 
 nity to be committed by paltry savings; at the 
 same time, that, to show them how careful I was of 
 their money, I took care sometimes to detain them 
 an hour or two in driving a close bargain about a 
 few paras, — especially when I saw them in a hurry. 
 Accordingly, if they had any fault to find with me, 
 it was for my over-scrupulous economy. That 
 failing alone excepted they thought me a treasure ; 
 and so I certainly found them. 
 
 The fortnight of their intended stay having elapsed, 
 
ANASTASIUS. 157 
 
 they were all impatience to depart. Out of pure 
 regard for science I contrived to prolong their so- 
 journ another fortnight, by various little delays, 
 which with a little industry I brought about in the 
 most natural way imaginable, but which I joined 
 them in lamenting exceedingly : and when at last 
 they set off — which I saw with very sincere regret — 
 I was left by them in possession of a most flattering 
 written testimonial of my zeal and fidelity. As to 
 their behaviour to me, its liberality might be suf- 
 ficiently inferred from the change in my appearance. 
 This first experiment gave me a taste for the ter- 
 giumanic hfe. It also increased my means of suc- 
 cess in that department. Till I took up my re- 
 sidence at Pera, I had little intercourse with that odd 
 race of people yclept Franks, except through the 
 stray specimens that now and then crossed the har- 
 bour, on a visit of curiosity or business to Constan- 
 tinople. I now got acquainted with their ways, 
 while they became familiarised with my person. 
 This gradually procured me the advantage of seeing 
 and serving, in my new capacity, samples of almost 
 every nation of Europe. Thus I formed a sort of 
 polyglot collection of certificates of my own ability 
 and merits, which I filed very neatly on a red tape 
 according the order of their dates, and to a sight of 
 which I treated every new comer whom I thought 
 worthy of that distinction. 
 
 Once, however, the lofty manner and the impe- 
 
138 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 rious tone of an English traveller, newly arrived, 
 completely deceived me. From his fastidiousness I 
 made no doubt I was addressing some great My- 
 lordo : it was a button-maker to whom I had the 
 honour of bowing. He came red hot from a place 
 called Birmingham, to show the Turks samples of 
 his manufacture. Unfortunately Turks wear no 
 buttons, at least such as he dealt in ; at which dis- 
 covery he felt exceedingly wroth. My ill fated back 
 was destined to feel the first brunt of his ill hu- 
 mour. After spending nearly two hours in spelling 
 every word of every one of my certificates — '' this 
 then," said he in a scarce intelligible idiom, which 
 he fancied to be French, " is the evidence of your 
 deserts?" " It is," answered I, with an inclination 
 of the head. " And I am to make it the rule of my 
 behaviour.^" " If your excellency be pleased to 
 liave that goodness," replied I, smirking most agree- 
 ably. " Very well," resumed the traitor, never 
 moving a muscle of his insipid countenance, " My 
 excellency will have that goodness." And up he 
 gets, gravely walks — without uttering another syl- 
 lable — to the door, turns the key in the lock, takes 
 a little bit of a pistol scarce five inches long — also 
 from Birmingham, I suppose — out of his pocket, 
 snatches up a cudgel as thick as my wrist, and turn- 
 ing short upon me, who stood wondering in what 
 this strange prelude was to end, holds the pistol to 
 my throat, and lays the cane across my back. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 159 
 
 This operation performed to his satisfaction : 
 "It was No. 5," coolly said the miscreant, " whose 
 contents I thought it right to comply with first ; as 
 being written by one of my countrymen, and be- 
 cause I make it a rule, in every species of business, 
 to get the worst part over first. Had you under- 
 stood our language — as an interpreter by profession 
 ought — you might have known the certificate in 
 question to be a solemn adjuration to all the writer's 
 countrymen, to treat you as I have had the pleasure 
 of doing ; and all that remains for you to perform 
 is to give me a regular receipt, such as I may have 
 to show." 
 
 The pistol was still tickling my throat, I, jam- 
 med up against the wall, and the button-maker six 
 feet high, and as strong as a horse. All therefore I 
 could do in the way of heroism would have been to 
 have let him blow out my brains at once; — after 
 which, adieu my turn, at least here below ! I there- 
 fore signed, had the satisfaction of seeing the receipt 
 neatly folded up and deposited in a little red mo- 
 rocco pocket-book with silver clasps, was offered 
 a sequin for the exercise I had afforded, took the 
 money, and, leaving the button-maker to write 
 home what mean rascals the Greeks were, departed 
 fully impressed witli the usefulness of learning lan- 
 guages. 
 
 Almost every evening the man of buttons used to 
 walk from Pera, where he had his lodoincvs, to a 
 
%60 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 merchant's at Galata, from whence he frequently 
 returned home pretty late at night, without any 
 escort, — trusting to his small pocket instrument, 
 and to his own colossal stature, for his safety. A 
 dexterous thrust, at an unexpected turn, might 
 easily have sent him to the shades below ; but this 
 would not have sufficed to assuage my thirst for 
 just revenge. I wished to inflict a shame more 
 deep, more lasting than my own, and which, like 
 Prometheus's vulture, should keep gnawing the 
 traitor's heart while he lived. His great ambition 
 at Constantinople was to boast the good graces of 
 some Turkish female — young or old, fair or ugly, 
 no matter! On this laudable wish I founded my 
 scheme. 
 
 Muffled up in the feridjee which conceals the 
 figure of the Mohammedan fair, and the veil which 
 covers their faces, I went and seated myself im- 
 mediately after dusk, on one of the tombstones of 
 the extensive cemetery of Galata, where my traveller 
 had to pass. 
 
 He soon arrived, and, as I expected, stopped to 
 survey the lonely fair one, whose appearance seemed 
 to invite a comforter. The bait took. My friend, 
 on his nearer approach, aware that his pantomime 
 was more inteUigible than his idiom, had recourse 
 to the universal language : he held up a sequin, — 
 and on the strength of this gift becomes more en- 
 terprising. Profane hands arc laid on my veil. I 
 
ANASTASIUS. l6l 
 
 resist: — but by way of compromise for keeping 
 concealed my features, I show my necklace, my 
 bracelets, my girdle. In an infantine manner I slip 
 the manacles from my own wrists over those of my 
 amorous shepherd, and, before his suspicions are 
 aroused, have the satisfaction to see him fast bound 
 in chains, not only of au-y love, but of good solid 
 brass ; and with a soft lisp wish him joy of being at 
 once handcuffed and pinioned. It was now I showed 
 my face, and drew out my handjar. ^^ Perceiving 
 an inclination to remonstrate, " No noise," cried I, 
 *' or you die ; but return me the receipt." Unable 
 to stir, my prisoner in a surly tone bade me take it 
 myself. I did so, and thanked him ; " but/' added 
 I, " as we have not here — as with you — all the con- 
 veniences for writing, accept the acknowledgment 
 of the poor and illiterate :" saying which, I drew the 
 holy mark of the cross after the Greek form, neatly 
 but indelibly, with the button-maker's own sequin, 
 on his clumsy forehead ; poured into the wound 
 some of the gunpowder out of his pouch ; and, 
 apologizing for the poorness of the entertainment, 
 bade him good night, and walked off. 
 
 A troop of caleondjees of my acquaintance, reel- 
 ing home from a tavern, happened to come up just 
 as I retired, and took all that I had left. The next 
 morning the man of buttons departed from Con- 
 stantinople without sound of trumpet, before sun 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 rise ; and never since has been heard of in the Turk- 
 ish dominions. 
 
 This httle frolic, at the expense of the English 
 speculator, recommended me to a French chevalier, 
 come to Stambool on a visit to his kinsman the 
 embassador. The lively young gentleman swore 
 he wanted no other certificate of my character 
 than my prowess. His object in undertaking the 
 long journey to Turkey seemed to be to play 
 on the guitar, and to compose French love songs. 
 Twice a week a messenger of the embassy was 
 despatched to Paris, with M. de Vial's effusions, in 
 order that his friends at home might see how he 
 employed his time abroad. Par contre, he had de- 
 termined, as soon as he returned to France and 
 found himself at leisure, to write a detailed account 
 of Turkey — rather however as it ought to be, than 
 as it was. For M. de Vial disapproved of the 
 Othoman system iri toto : and hence he deemed it 
 sheer loss of time to visit the curiosities of its capital. 
 The only thing he could have liked — had he not 
 been too busy learning the romeika — was an affaire 
 de coeur with the favourite Sultana ; and for a long 
 while he continued exceedingly anxious to give the 
 ladies of the imperial harem a fete on the Black 
 sea ; but that project failing, from their sending no 
 answers to his notes, he wondered who could bear 
 the dowdies of Constantinople, that had seen the 
 
ANASTASIUS. 163 
 
 Trois Sultanes of Marmontel at the Paris opera. 
 In truth M. de Vial had no patience with the bar- 
 barians. Their language was a gibberish, oit Von 
 n'entendait rien ; and they had so httle savoir vivrCy 
 that they let their heads be chopped off like cabbage 
 tops. Desirous however of treating them to a sight 
 of the last Paris fashions, he decked out his nether 
 man in pea-green coloured cloth, and got himself 
 chastised by a hot-headed emir,^^ for thus profaning 
 the forbidden colour — almost too sacred with tlie 
 Turks for the head itself. In his turn M. de Vial 
 sent the cousin of Mohammed a challenge, with 
 which the emir lit his pipe. At last, after a whole 
 day uselessly employed in ogling the Sultana mother 
 through a huge telescope, from the tower of Galata, 
 the chevalier felt seized with a desperate fit of ennui, 
 laid in a reasonable stock of embroidered handker- 
 chiefs, to throw to the Paris belles after a Turkish 
 fashion which the Turks know nothing of, and de- 
 termined to bid adieu to Pera. My services and 
 talents he transferred, ere he went, to a flaxen-headed 
 Swedish baron, whose ruddy face had inflamed the 
 susceptible heart of the droguemaness of the Vene- 
 tian mission, and who was so highly favoured by his 
 doting mistress, that every night she allowed him 
 to pay her whole loss at tresette. This lady was an 
 uncommon proficient in writing. Proud of an ac- 
 complishment which so few of her colleagues pos- 
 sessed, she used every morning to fire at her lover 
 
 M 2 
 
164> ANASTASIUS. 
 
 a little billet-doux of three or four pages. These 
 refreshing epistles I came to call for as regularly as 
 for the water from the well, the moment the hus- 
 band was supposed to have gone forth to the Reis- 
 efFendee, with the scarce shorter memorials of the 
 Serenissima Republica — at that period any thing 
 but serene. This same husband, though only four 
 feet high, presumed to be jealous ; and the corre- 
 spondence, therefore, was to be kept from his know- 
 ledge — a circumstance which rendered my office of 
 Mercury an employment of some trust. 
 
 I acted accordingly. Tired of being postman 
 without pay, I one day hinted to the lady that I 
 should expect some species of acknowledgment for 
 
 my trouble. Madame D i was one of those fair 
 
 ones for whom Cupid must tip his dart with gold, 
 or they recoiled unfelt. She resented my freedom, 
 called me a low-born fellow, and forbade me her 
 presence. The tide of amorous billets now ceased 
 to flow for want of a channel. Nothing but my 
 forgiveness of the insult could make it resume its 
 course. On the part of the lady, accordingly, ad- 
 vances were soon made towards a reconciliation, 
 and on mine, every spark of resentment was magna- 
 nimously extinguished until further occasion. I saw 
 myself formally reinstated in my daily office. 
 
 The Hyperborean lover — not quite so brisk a 
 correspondent as his mistress — used to answer about 
 one letter in three or four. This, however, in the 
 
ANASTASIUS. l65 
 
 course of a few weeks began to form a very respectable 
 amatory collection. The pink-edged, perfumed epis- 
 tles — regularly endorsed — were all deposited by the 
 delighted droguemaness in a little mother-of-pearl 
 casket, which she kept for the benefit of her heirs 
 by the side of her reliquary. From one of those 
 strange incidents which will happen in the course 
 of things, this casket^ though most carefully locked 
 up, fell into my hands ; but no contrivance of mine 
 could conjure the key out of the lady's unfathomable 
 pocket. She used to sleep with the huge receptacle 
 under her pillow, in order to obtain pleasant dreams. 
 It mattered little : I had no sort of curiosity to peruse 
 the correspondence. I contented myself with carefully 
 wrapping up the box, sealing the cover, and begging 
 the signor drogueman — that is to say, the signora's 
 husband — to keep the parcel in trust for me, as most 
 valuable property, and such as could not be com- 
 mitted to fitter hands. The rod thus kept suspended 
 over his faithless spouse, the reward of my discretion 
 past and future was demanded with becoming hu- 
 mility; and, to do Madame D i justice, when 
 
 she found that noother way of extricating herself was 
 left, she showed every readiness to listen to the voice 
 of reason. 
 
 By some accident, however, the baron got wind 
 of these transactions, and, so far from feeling flattered 
 as he ought to have been, with the anxiety which 
 his mistress evinced to recover his letters, had 
 
166 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the ingi-atitude to cavil about the mode, and left the 
 fan- one to find what consolation she could in the 
 re-perusal of his correspondence. Jupiter"'s retreat 
 became the signal for that of Mercury. I wanted 
 nothing more of the commonwealth of Venice, and, 
 with a mock farewell, left the droguemaness punished 
 alike in her pride and her avarice. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 1(57 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 No sooner had my various little trades rendered 
 me a person of some substance, than I began to 
 think of purchasing a berath:^ — I mean one of 
 those patents of exemption from the rigour of 
 Turkish despotism, which the Sultan originally 
 granted to foreign ministers, in behalf only of such 
 rayahs as they had occasion to engage in their im- 
 mediate service, but which these excellent economists 
 now readily sell to whatever other subjects of the 
 Grand Signor are disposed to pay the current price 
 of the article. To a youth like me it was highly 
 desirable to possess a paper, through whose magic 
 power a native might in the very capital of his na- 
 tural sovereign outstep the limits of his jurisdiction, 
 brave his authority, put himself on the footing of a 
 stranger, and, from being heretofore an Armenian or 
 a Greek, at once find himself transformed into a 
 reputed Italian, or German, or Frenchman, wear 
 the gaudiest colours in competition with the Turks 
 themselves, and strut about the streets in that sum- 
 mum honum, a pair of yellow papooshes. 
 
 The thing had been put into my head by an 
 
l^S ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Italian missionary of the Propaganda, who, consider- 
 ing me as a sort of stray from the Greeks, had de- 
 termined to stow me safely within the pale of the 
 Romans. On first perceiving his drift I gave his 
 pious exertions small encouragement ; observing 
 that early habits, as well of belief as of action, 
 could only be rooted out later in life, either by the 
 most irresistible arguments, or the most palpable 
 interest to adopt different tenets. To this remark 
 the missionary only replied that he had a very ge- 
 neral acquaintance at Pera, and, consequently, pos- 
 sessed many opportunities of recommending a well- 
 disposed youth to travellers. The observation was 
 in point. Impressed with its full weight I began 
 to indulge padre Ambrogio, whenever I happened 
 to be out of place, with a little conference on the 
 disputed articles; and for every Greek variation 
 from the Latin creed which I yielded up, he used to 
 find me a new situation. Unfortunately the dis- 
 cussion of the Greek liturgy ran so parallel with that 
 of the signora D — ^i's correspondence, and the inter- 
 views with the friar were so interwoven with those 
 with the lady, that I sometimes confounded the two 
 subjects, and more than once, in a fit of absence, let 
 padre Ambrogio into the mysteries of my negotiation, 
 instead of learning from him those of his faith. 
 The ghostly conferences, however, only ceased en- 
 tirely when the friar very nefariously disappointed 
 me, in favour of another neophyte, of an excellent 
 
ANASTASIUS. 169 
 
 employment for which I had sacrificed the whole 
 procession according to the Greeks. Hearing of 
 this flagrant act of bad faith, I called upon him in a 
 very great passion ; told him I again disbelieved all 
 that he had enticed me to believe; and, leaving him 
 exceedingly dismayed at my unexpected rebellion, 
 went to dispel the confusion in my head by a walk 
 on the road to Dolma-backtche. 
 
 The snow which had lain several days on the 
 ground having entirely disappeared, I met a good 
 many people taking the air ; but who all looked, I 
 thought, as if like me they had been bewildered by 
 some friar or derwish. At last came a Turkish 
 woman of rank, accompanied by a long train of 
 females. The pavement being narrow, I stood up 
 against the wall to let her pass. As she brushed 
 by me, her hand, gently pressing against the back of 
 mine, gave me reason to think that I had not been 
 unnoticed. A gay adventure seldom found me slow 
 to engage in it, be what it might the peril of the 
 enterprise. I therefore let the lively group trot on 
 a few yards, and then turned back hastily myself, 
 in the manner of a person who recollects having left 
 something behind. Thus, without casting right or 
 left a single glance which might savour of design, I 
 gave the lady an opportunity of minutely scruti- 
 nising my appearance, should she be disposed to 
 cultivate my merits. That done, I crossed over to 
 
170 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the other side, and stole away into a by-lane, for 
 fear of rousing the suspicions of her suite. 
 
 The next day, however, I failed not at the same 
 hour to take a walk in the same street, and again 
 did the same the next day, and the next; in the 
 full expectation, each time, of meeting with some 
 faithful Iris, commissioned to give me the verbal 
 assurance of my good fortune. 
 
 During a whole week, my punctuality continued 
 without the least abatement. As sure as the clock 
 struck one I used to sally forth, and display my 
 handsomely attired person before every woman, 
 young or old, fair or ugly, who bore the least ap- 
 pearance of coming on my business. Vain and 
 fruitless diligence ! The busier females passed on 
 without noticing my disconsolate figure at all ; the 
 less diligent baggages, who remarked my airs and 
 graces, only answered them with laughing. Some, 
 who had become familiar with my forlorn perambu- 
 lations, ironically pitied me for the cruelty of my 
 mistress. It was worse when two or three goules^ 
 that haunted the same street, seriously undertook 
 to console me under my disappointment, and put 
 me in the greatest fright, lest, by their unconcealed 
 advances in the broad glare of day, they should 
 drive away any messenger of love that might be on 
 the wing. 
 
 At last I lost all patience, and was going in good 
 
ANASTASIUS. 171 
 
 earnest to execute the resolution fifty times solemnly 
 taken, and as often again broken, of giving up the 
 vain pursuit, when, just as for the last time I paced 
 down the oft-trodden pavement, looking anxiously 
 round on all sides to see what good tidings might 
 still be in the wind, I perceived a Jewess — seemingly 
 equally on the alert with myself — who eyed me 
 with a promising air. I coughed once or twice; 
 and this signal inducing the old dame to approach, 
 we opened a parley. My answers tallying with her 
 private tokens, she soon became confidential. 
 
 " You must know," said she, " I am a trades- 
 woman, one who goes about to ladies' houses to pro- 
 vide them with " 
 
 " What signifies, my dear," — cried I, interrupt- 
 ing her — '* what you are, and what you provide 
 your customers with ? That speaks for itself. Only 
 tell me who the lady is, who graciously condescends 
 to make me the object of your embassy." 
 
 " The lady, answered the Jewess, " is the young 
 wife of an old Turkish effendee of very high rank. 
 Her own birth and fortune made her parents stipu- 
 late that her spouse should have no other wife 
 but herself. — Nor has he ; but while he adheres 
 to the letter of the agreement, he violates its spirit. 
 —In short, he totally neglects his handsome help- 
 mate. This the fair Esme properly resents — 
 and " 
 
 " And in mc," — cried I, interrupting my in- 
 
17^ ANASTASIUS, 
 
 former, — " she shall find the avenger she deserves. 
 Let us forthwith go !" 
 
 " Gently, gently,*" now whispered the old beldam. 
 '* It is not thus that matters of this sort are con- 
 ducted. If the lady, by whom I have the honour of 
 being employed, were one of your ordinary women 
 on whom the wind blows as freely as on the weeds 
 of the desert, all would be easy enough. Females 
 who go out at all hours to the bath, and to the 
 market-place, and to the bezesteen, or to visit their 
 friends, do whatever they please. But cadin Esme 
 is none of those, I'll warrant you. This exalted fair 
 one has in her own apartment baths of marble and 
 gold ; twenty slaves are always ready at her nod to 
 execute whatever whim may cross her fancy; the 
 richest goods of every country are brought from 
 every quarter to be spread out before her at her 
 toilet; her own chamber opens on gardens whose 
 roses make those of Sheeraz look pale. In short — 
 poor thing ! — she can find nothing to want abroad ; 
 and when she does go out, it seems rather for the 
 sole purpose of seeing how superior is all that she 
 leaves at home. Then she generally only travels 
 about in a close carriage. Her visits are confined to 
 two or three of her near relations ; and she so seldom 
 finds an excuse for stirring out on foot, that the day 
 you met her was the first time these six months she 
 had stepped across her own threshold. Even when 
 she indulges in a little excursion of the sort, she 
 
ANASTASIUS. 17s 
 
 only moves, as you see, accompanied by a swarm of 
 servants, or rather, of spies." 
 
 " You only add fuel to my flame,'^ cried I. 
 " The more difficult the enterprise, the nobler the 
 victory P' — and immediately we fell to discussing 
 the ways and means. A hundred different schemes 
 were alternately proposed and rejected. At last a 
 contrivance was hit upon, only liable to half a dozen 
 radical objections. Still it was the best, and there- 
 fore adopted. A friend of the Jewess's, equipped 
 as a woman of rank, was to spend the day on a visit 
 to the lady Esme, whose husband could not, during 
 that period, intrude upon the privacy of his wife's 
 apartment. Esme would thus obtain an opportunity 
 of slipping out in the attire' of a slave, of stopping 
 at the Jewess's own abode, there to put on Greek 
 habiliments, and of thence going to meet me at 
 some selected house in Galata. After the interview, 
 she would have nothing to do but to resume her 
 Turkish dress, in order to release by her return her 
 pretended visitor. The plan required some pre- 
 paration, and the day after the next was fixed upon 
 for its execution. 
 
 Matters being thus all apparently settled: — " One 
 word more,"" added the Jewess. " You are aware 
 that we embark upon an adventure of life and 
 death. In this nether world the joys of paradise 
 can only be sipped with the secrecy of the grave. 
 The least indiscretion brings ruin to us all." 
 
174 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 I begged my instructress to make herself easy on 
 that score ; — " and," added I in my turn, " there 
 is one circumstance which the lady may not be 
 sorry to learn ; namely, that in me she Mdll find a 
 youth not only of the greatest discretion, but of the 
 most respectable birth and connexions." 
 
 I thought the peal of laughter never would have 
 ended, into which the old hag broke out at this 
 intimation. " And pray," cried she, " do you 
 imagine the fair Esme is in love with you for your 
 musty ancestors, or means to show you off to her 
 acquaintances? For my part, I mistook you for 
 little better than a porter. If you be a prince, so 
 much the worse ! It will require consideration." — 
 Here the beldam hobbled off. 
 
 " Can I have marred my hopes by my vanity ?" 
 thought I, after the woman was gone. But though 
 this idea gave me a little uneasiness, it prevented 
 me not from bestowing the utmost pains, on the 
 day appointed, in adorning my person, ere I went 
 to a place conveniently situated for watching the 
 entrance of the party into the house agreed upon. 
 
 Here minute after minute rolled on, without my 
 perceiving the least symptom of the looked-for 
 couple. But what I very clearly discerned instead, 
 were loud titterings behind a latticed window, which 
 presently left no doubt in my mind that the whole 
 interview was a mere waggery of some of the females 
 who had found me out, and were determined to have' 
 
ANASTASIUS. 175 
 
 a laugh at my expense. The very description of 
 the lady*s grandeur now made that matter palpable 
 by its exaggeration ; and I lield myself assured that 
 the greatest real danger I liad to apprehend was 
 that of becoming the laughing-stock of the whole 
 district. In this conviction I cursed my credulity, 
 and set my wits to work, in order to devise how I 
 might turn the joke against its authors, — when a 
 faint murmur made me look round, and behold two 
 females, carefully muffled up, glide into the place of 
 our appointment. 
 
 '' Shall I follow or not?" was now my only 
 thought, — " and take my chance of whatever good 
 or evil may offer ?" 
 
 The Jewess suffered not my suspense to last. 
 Coming out again : — " what are you waiting for?*" 
 whispered she impatiently in my ear ; and, without 
 staying for my answer, took me by the hand and 
 led me up stairs, where, having bidden me not to 
 be frightened, she left me, and ran down again to 
 keep watch while I remained. 
 
 By some strange perverseness of human nature, 
 the Jewess's seemingly superfluous caution had the 
 contrary effect from that which was intended ; and, 
 combined with Esme's apparent backwardness to 
 throw off her feridjee, made me fancy I had been 
 entrapped with a perfect monster. Full of this 
 idea, I cursed the Israelite for leaving me thus 
 committed, would have given the world to have 
 
J 76' ANASTASIUS. 
 
 seen her return, even with the account of some most 
 urgent danger, and stood riveted near the door hke 
 a statue, — until my expectant fair one, losing all 
 patience, tore off her envelopes more in anger than 
 in love, and convinced me of my error in doubting 
 her attractions. 
 
 As her wrath did not continue inexorable, I trust 
 I may pass over the remaining details of this inter- 
 view, without any great violation of my duty as a 
 biographer : — they presented strong features of re- 
 semblance with many others of the same description ; 
 and in truth, though the rare beauties of my mis- 
 tress — her soft black eyes, her coral lips, and her 
 carriage more graceful than the movements of the 
 sailing swan, — might have obtained at other times 
 a more elaborate encomium, thoughts of a sedater 
 hue occupy my mind at present. 
 
 Irksome as I had thought the departure of the 
 Jewess, I thought her return still a thousand times 
 more barbarous, when, ere we had time to think of 
 her existence, she reappeared, and with relentless 
 cruelty summoned us to separate. 
 
 It seemed as if we had only just met ; and it also 
 seemed as if we never were to meet again. For the 
 expedient resorted to could not be repeated; and 
 our faculties were too much bewildered to think of 
 any other. Like people just awaking from a rap- 
 turous dream, or rather just shaking off a deep 
 intoxication, we reeled about, lost in a maze of 
 
ANASTASIUS. 177 
 
 confused feelings, and able to reflect neither on the 
 past, the present, nor the future. The vain attempt 
 to think was soon given up, and we settled to com- 
 municate through the channel of the Israelite, when 
 our minds should be sobered by separation. At 
 the moment of parting, however, and when casting 
 on each other the last farewell glance : — " what can 
 I do," cried the grateful Esme, '' to repay my more 
 than preserver, my sovereign, and my god ; what 
 gifts worth acceptance can I bestow ? Take this, 
 and this, and this: it is nothing to what I owe 
 for the felicity conferred ; it is all I can give in re- 
 turn ;■" and so saying, she tore off her richest jewels, 
 and heaped upon me — in spite of my resistance — 
 strings of pearls, clasps of rubies, and girdles of 
 diamonds. 
 
 " And do you then imagine," cried I, '' that one, 
 honoured by your smiles, can expect or can want a 
 recompense of this sort ?" 
 
 " What signifies," replied the fair one, " what 
 you expected or what you want! — You wanted 
 not the poor recluse Esme, when you vouchsafed 
 to come to me. I have my burthen of gratitude to 
 lessen. For my sake, I must give, and for mine 
 you must receive." 
 
 Still I refused. But a cloud began to gather on 
 the brow thus far serene : gleams of ominous light- 
 ning flashed from those eyes that before glowed 
 only with unmixed tenderness. " I sec it," cried 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 ANTASTASIUS. 
 
 Esme. '' You love me not. You tear to take an 
 earnest. You intend not to return to my arms!" 
 — and upon this she tore her jetty locks. The 
 Jewess now stepped forward. " For God's sake," 
 said she, '' pocket all, as I do. It may cost us our 
 lives thus to stand upon ceremony." I therefore 
 yielded, took the proffered gifts, for this magnani- 
 mous act received a last rapturous glance, and tore 
 myself away. 
 
 Scarce deigning to lower my looks to the earth, 
 scarce feeling the ground that bore my feet, gliding 
 along on invisible pinions rather than v/alking, I 
 proceeded at random, intoxicated with my good 
 fortune. In my own mind I soared at that moment 
 above all the monarch s of the globe. Constan- 
 tinople seemed too small to contain my exultation, 
 and, oppressed within its walls by the excess of 
 my happiness, I went forth at the gates, and poured 
 out into the country the ebullitions of my joy, and 
 the ferment of my spirits. 
 
 Three good hours of uninterrupted exercise were 
 requisite to allay them ; after which I went home 
 through the street which had been the scene of my 
 forlorn perambulations, for the purpose of showing 
 its familiars the difference in my air ! 
 
 Here however let me for an instant interrupt the 
 thread of my subject, in order to observe that, 
 though my courtships have thus far occupied a 
 great portion of my narrative, it is not the history 
 of my loves, but that of my life, which I wish to 
 
ANASTASIUS. 179 
 
 record. Instead therefore of detailing the scheme 
 through means of which was eff'ected our next 
 meeting, and the many others which followed, I. 
 shall only in general state that each interview seemed 
 to increase the fondness of my mistress. Every cir- 
 cumstance of my situation which gradually unfolded 
 itself to her knowledge, only gave me new attrac- 
 tions in lier eyes. Above all she delighted in that 
 inferiority of my condition to her own, which en- 
 abled me to become indebted for ease, affluence, 
 and whatever else appeared desirable, to her sole 
 affection. Hers was the mighty bliss of giving me 
 all I possessed ; of making me all I was. 
 
 Out of compliment to her taste, I bestowed upon 
 my person the utmost attention. The berath which 
 before I had coveted I now failed not to purchase, and 
 the gold which I accepted for the sake of peace, I 
 laid out in such a way as to make the liberalities of 
 the donor yield her eyes at least an ample return. 
 Every time I appeared anew in her presence, it was 
 with some fresh improvement in my ostensible per- 
 son. Now and then, indeed, too plentiful supplies 
 proved hostile to my prudence ; but if an opulence to 
 which I had not been accustomed often got me into 
 scrapes, it always got me out again ; nor left me, like 
 modern friends, in the difficulties into which it had 
 lured me. In one of my midnight orgies — for in- 
 stance, — being summoned by the patrole before the 
 waywode, " I was actually on my way to his wor- 
 
180 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 ship," I forthwith exclaimed, " in order to discharge 
 an old debt. Pray, gentlemen, have the goodness to 
 take charge of these few sequins : but only pay them 
 at your own convenience ;'' — and immediately my 
 freedom was restored to me with a hundred bows 
 and scrapes. In another frolicsome mood, making so 
 great a noise on the canal that the Bostanjee-bashee 
 had me handcuffed in spite of my berath — on the 
 plea that it was too dark to read it: — " I have 
 heard,'' I cried, " that a fine carbuncle will throw 
 out as much light as a lamp. Vouchsafe, mighty 
 sir, to try the experiment w^ith this ring f ' — and all 
 at once the officer saw so clearly I was a berathlee, 
 as to grant me the entire range of the Bosphorus. 
 
 These occasional frolics were necessary to keep 
 up my spirits under the depression which they 
 began to experience. For my intrigue cast upon 
 my free agency a constraint which I had never felt 
 before. I, who until that period knew not what it 
 was to abstain or to conceal ; who even with the 
 haughtiest of the archondessas of the Fanar used 
 to assert my liberty, and to mock the fair one's rage, 
 now felt anxious, with the prisoner of a harem, to 
 dissemble the least act of inconstancy, however un- 
 premeditated. Nor let it be supposed that this con- 
 duct proceeded from any fear of stopping the current 
 of the lady's bounty. It is true that where I gave 
 my love, and would have given my utmost largess, 
 had the means been mine, I scrupled not, with the 
 
ANASTASIUS. 181 
 
 afFectloiis, to receive the gifts of my wealthy mis- 
 tress: but all the gold of Peru could not have pur- 
 chased my person, had not my heart fully ratified 
 the bargain ; and Esme owed to her situation — not 
 to my selfishness — a consideration which never yet 
 had accompanied my preferences. The archon's 
 wife, a free agent like myself, like me had been 
 mistress of her choice, and where 1 sinned against 
 her, had possessed all the means to retaliate. It 
 was not so with Esme. She was a helpless captive, 
 who could not punish my offences by following my 
 example. What with the one seemed a justifiable 
 proceeding, with the other became wanton cruelty. 
 
 And most acutely would the fair Mohammedan 
 have felt any unnecessary wound inflicted by my 
 hand : most alive was her susceptible mind to all 
 the fellest pangs of jealousy. " When first I loved 
 you," she said, " you had never beheld me, you 
 knew not whether 1 was fair or hideous, you could 
 not harbour the least spark of reciprocal affection ; 
 you might, without the smallest sacrifice on your 
 part, for ever have kept out of my sight, and left 
 my hopeless flame, unfed, to die away. This in- 
 deed — had not your heart been free, and able to 
 return all the v/armth of my feelings — honour, 
 justice, and humanity required. You acted other- 
 wise : ere yet you felt a spark of reciprocal tender- 
 ness, you threw yourself purposely in my way ; 
 you sedulously nourished my passion, and you have 
 
182 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 carried my madness to that pitch where it must 
 find yours commensurate, or end in my perdition. 
 You now are bound to sustain the affection which 
 you have gratuitously raised: you are pledged to 
 save me from despair. If, after having fanned my 
 love into a resistless blaze, you should think of for- 
 saking me, I die ; but the blow by which I fall — 
 that same blow shall kill us both/' 
 
 The same blow did not kill both ! For when 
 long impunity had made me so daring as to invade 
 the effendee's own roof; wlien suspicions arose in 
 the husband's mind which he resolved to verify; 
 when on he rushed to his harem ; when right and 
 left flew the women's slippers, placed as a spell at 
 its threshold ; when open burst the door of the 
 sanctuary, and jealousy carried its search into the 
 inmost recesses of the gynecaeum ; when what be- 
 came of the hapless Esme, heaven, the effendee, 
 and the Black sea alone can tell, — not a hair of my 
 head received the smallest injury. That very im- 
 petuosity of my enemy which seemed to doom me 
 to certain and immediate destruction, proved the 
 means of my preservation. In the very act of 
 making my escape, the door which turned back 
 upon its hinges turned back upon my person, and 
 concealed the intruder behind its friendly screen, 
 till the effendee and his troop had passed b}^ I 
 then slipped away, unperceived by any creature 
 within. Some slaves, however, who kept watch on 
 
ANASTASIUS. \\ lVr>/.r 
 
 the outside, seeing me run and ine vidc^iik<^jy:^^ 'V J 
 fusion, set up a liue and cry. Finding the3r^gi^ 
 me chase, I darted into a mosque, whose open gatt -^^ ^ 
 seemed to invite my entrance. All I wanted was 
 to throw my pursuers off the scent. A few old 
 Moslemen were in the djamee- mumbhng tlieir 
 evening prayers ; and while the mob outside howled 
 after the adulterer, the congregation within began 
 to scream at the yaoor. Thus placed between two 
 fires, all hopes of escape forsook me. I felt as if I 
 must — but for some special miracle — soon be torn 
 to pieces ! 
 
 One human measure only remained to save my 
 life. I drew my dagger, threw my cloak over my 
 face, leaned my back against the mihrab, ' and cried, 
 " I am a Moslemin !" 
 
 If there existed not even any positive evidence 
 of guilt having found its way at all into the ef- 
 fendee's harem, still less did there exist any direct 
 proof of my being the offender. All that could be 
 alleged against me was merely circumstantial. So 
 far from being found in the wife's faithless arms, I 
 had not even been caught under the injured hus- 
 band's roof. At most I had displayed my activity 
 somewhat near the dwelling disturbed ; but, though 
 this might be reason enough to massacre an infidel, 
 a follower of the true faith — however recent his 
 conversion — demanded greater respect. 
 
 From the moment therefore in which I invoked 
 
184 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the name of the Prophet, every breath of accusation 
 was hushed, every hand became suspended. A 
 magic power seemed to arrest the daggers on my 
 very breast. A fanatical mob instantly took under 
 its protection the new, the fervent proselyte. 
 
 But this proselyte I had bound myself to be. I 
 had proclaimed myself one of the faithful ; and on 
 the spot, in the very mosque, I went through the 
 various forms which mark the reclaimed infidel, 
 and announce his admission into the bosom of 
 Islamism. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 185 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Historians often err in attributing to a single 
 great cause the effect of many minute circumstances 
 combined. My sagacious biographer, for instance, 
 would not fail to place my abjuration of the Chris- 
 tian faith entirely and solely to the account of my 
 intrigue with a Turkish fair one, and the desperate 
 alternative between life and death which ensued. 
 Nothing would be more erroneous. The seemingly 
 bold measure had long been preparing in petto; 
 and the unexpected dilemma to which I was reduced 
 may only be said to have fixed the period for its 
 execution. 
 
 There had arrived at Pera a foreigner whom I 
 shall call Eugenius. His ostensible object was to 
 acquire the ancient lore of the East, in return for 
 which he most liberally dealt out the new creed of 
 the West. I cannot better describe him than as 
 the antipode to father Ambrogio. For as the one 
 was a missionary of a society for the propagation 
 of belief, so was the other an emissary of a sect for 
 the diffusion of disbelief He meditated indeed 
 a pilgrimage to the holy land, but with the view 
 
18(1 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 to prove more scientifically the fatuity of all things 
 holy. Reason, philosophy and universal toleration 
 were the only objects of his reverence ; and some of 
 his tenets which I picked up by the way had in 
 them a something plausible to my mind, and, if not 
 true, seemed to my inexperience beii trovati. He 
 conceived that there might exist offences between 
 man and man, such as adultery, murder, &c. of a 
 blacker dye than the imperfect performance of certain 
 devout practices — eating pork steaks in Lent in- 
 cluded ; and, above all, he thought that whatever 
 number of crimes a man might, on using his utmost 
 diligence, crowd in the short span of this life, they 
 still might possibly be atoned for in the next by 
 only five hundred thousand million of centuries (he 
 would not abate a single second) of the most ex- 
 cruciating torture; though this period was abso- 
 lutely nothing compared with eternity. As to his 
 other tenets, they were too heinous to mention. 
 
 Ere father Ambrogio was aware that Eugenius 
 broached such abominable doctrines, he had intro- 
 duced me to him in the quality of drogueman, or 
 rather of cicerone; and the tone in which I was 
 received might have made the father suspect that 
 all was not right. But the father's range of in- 
 tellectual vision extended not further than his own 
 nose,^ and that nose was a snub one. 
 
 " It was you quibbling, sophistical Greeks,'' 
 cried Eugenius laugliing, " who, proud, at the 
 
AXASTASIUS. 1S7 
 
 commencciTient of the Christian cm of your recentlv 
 imported gnosticism, perverted by its mystic doc- 
 trine the simple tenets of Christianity. It was 
 you who, ever preferring the improbable and 
 the marvellous to the natural and the probable, 
 have contended for taking in a literal, and there- 
 fore in an absurd sense, a thousand expressions 
 which in the phraseology of the East were only 
 meant as figurative and symboHcal ; and it was 
 you who have set the baneful example of admit- 
 ting, in religious matters, the most extraordinary 
 deviations from the course of nature and from 
 human experience, on such partial and question- 
 able evidence, as, in the ordinary affairs of man, 
 and in a modern court of justice, would not be 
 received on the most common and probable occur- 
 rence," 
 
 Father Ambrogio, who conceived that every re- 
 flection upon the Greeks must be in favour of the 
 Romans, was delighted with this speech, and, as he 
 went away, earnestly recommended to me to treasure 
 up in my memory all the sagacious sayings of the 
 wise man whom I had the happiness to serve. 
 
 But it was not long before he changed his mind. 
 The very next day, when I called on Eugenius, I 
 found padre Ambrogio in most angry discussion 
 with him about the doctrine of Divine clemency, 
 which the friar could not abide., Eugenius at last 
 was obliged to say in his laughing way, that since 
 
188 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the father appeared so incurably anxious for endless 
 punishment, all he could do for him was to pray 
 that, by a single exception in his favovu', he at least 
 might be damned to all eternity. Father Ambrogio, 
 who never laughed, and who hated Eugenius the 
 more for always laughing, upon this speech left the 
 room : but the next time he met me alone, he very 
 seriously cautioned me against one who, he was 
 sure, must be a devil incarnate. 
 
 " If so," thought I, " he preaches against his 
 own trade; and his principal is little obliged to 
 him for making his dominion a mere leasehold, 
 instead of a perpetuity." Meanwhile I resolved 
 not to be too sure, and, when Eugenius took off 
 his clothes, watched whether I could perceive the 
 cloven foot* Nothing appearing at all like it, and 
 his disposition seeming gentle, obliging and humane, 
 I began to be fond of his company, — until, from 
 liking the man, I unfortunately by degrees came 
 not to dislike some parts of the doctrine of which 
 he was the apostle. 
 
 Eugenius differed in one respect from his brethren 
 of the new school. While they wished to subvert 
 all former systems i7i toto, ere they began to re- 
 edify according to their new plan, he, on the con- 
 trary, only contended for the appeal to reason on 
 points of internal faith, and urged, in external 
 practices, the propriety of conforming to the esta- 
 bhshed worship; — and this, not from selfish but 
 
ANASTASIUS. 1 89 
 
 philanthropic motives; " for,"" said he, " while the 
 vulgar retain a peculiar belief, they will close their 
 eyes and hearts against whatever practical good 
 those wish to do them who join not in their creed ; 
 and should they, in imitation of their betters, give 
 up some of their idle tenets, — unable immediately, 
 like those they imitate, to replace the checks of 
 superstition by the powers of reason — they will 
 only from bad lapse into worse, let loose the reins 
 to their passions, and exchange errors for crimes." 
 
 Now, in conformity to this doctrine of my mas- 
 ter's, what could be clearer than that it behoved 
 me, where the koran was become the supreme law, 
 — as a quiet orderly citizen, zealous in support of 
 the establishment — with all possible speed to be- 
 come a Mohammedan? Should there happen to 
 be any personal advantage connected with this 
 public duty; should my conforming to it open 
 the door to places and preferments from which I 
 otherwise must remain shut out; should it raise 
 me from the rank of the vanquished to that of 
 the victors, and enable me, instead of being treated 
 with contempt by the Turkish beggar, to elbow the 
 Greek prince, was that my fault ? or could it be a 
 motive to abstain from what was right, that it was 
 also profitable ? 
 
 The arguments appeared to me so conclusive, 
 that I had only been watching for an opportunity 
 
190 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 to throw ofF the contemptuous appellation of Naza- 
 rene, and to become associated to the great aristo- 
 cracy of Islamism, some time before the fair Esme 
 lent the peculiar grace of her accent to its Allah 
 Illah Allah ; and though, for the credit of my sin- 
 cerity, I could wish my conversion not exactly to 
 have taken place at the particular moment at which 
 the light of truth happened to shine upon me, yet, 
 all things considered, I thought it wiser not to 
 quibble about punctilios, than to be sewed in a 
 sack, and served up for breakfast to some Turkisli 
 shark. 
 
 Thus it was that the doctrine of pure reason 
 ended in making me a Mohammedan : — but with a 
 pang I quitted for the strange sound of Selim my 
 old and beloved name of Anastasius, given me by 
 my father, and so often and so sweetly repeated 
 by my Helena. 
 
 I was scarce a Mohammedan skin deep, when I 
 again met padre Ambrogio, whom since my affair 
 with Esme I had entirely lost sight of, and wlio 
 knew not my apostasy. 
 
 " Son," said he in a placid tone, " we are all at 
 times prone to passion. I myself, meek as you now 
 see me, have had my unguarded moments : but it 
 is impossible that you should not wish to achieve 
 the glorious work so well begun. Suppose there- 
 fore we resume our spiritual exercises. You arc 
 
ANx\STASIUS. 191 
 
 already so far advanced in the right road, that we 
 cannot fail ultimately to make you an exemplary 
 Roman catholic." 
 
 " Father," answered I, " what may ultimately 
 happen, it is not in man to foresee: mean time, 
 since we met last, another trifling impediment has 
 arisen to my embracing the Latin creed. I am 
 become a Moslemin." 
 
 At this unlooked-for obstacle, father Ambrogio 
 started back full three yards. " Holy virgin !" ex~ 
 claimed he, " how could you make such a mistake?" 
 
 Not caring to assign the true cause ; " I wanted," 
 said I, "to secure in the next world a little harem 
 of black-eyed girls." 
 
 At this speech father Ambrogio fetched a deep 
 sigh; and began to muse, looking alternately at 
 his habit and at mine. — " Well !" said he, after a 
 pause ; " at least you no longer are a Greek, and 
 that is something;" and hereupon he departed, 
 — wondering, I suppose, where, in his paradise, 
 Mohammed meant to dispose of the angels whose 
 eyes were blue. 
 
 I never was very ambitious of learning, but my 
 new godfather, a formal Turkish grey-beard, 
 could not brook my total ignorance of my new 
 religion. " You are not here among Scheyis,"^ 
 said he, " who under the name of Mohammedans 
 live the lives of yaoors, drink wine as freely as 
 we swallow opium, and make as little scruple of 
 
192 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 having in their possession paintings of pretty faces,^ 
 as if at the day of judgment they were not to find 
 souls for all those bodies of their own creating. 
 You are — Allah be praised! — among strict and 
 orthodox Sunnees ; and, however an old believer 
 may have had time to forget his creed, a young 
 neophyte should have it at his fingers' ends." 
 
 So I had to learn my catechism afresh. Great 
 indeed was my inclination to expostulate: — but all 
 I could obtain was to be provided with a teacher 
 who, for my twenty paras a lesson, should put me 
 in the way of passing over the bridge Secrath * as 
 speedily as possible. And this I was promised. 
 
 Nothing therefore could exceed my surprise, 
 when in walked the gravest of the whole grave 
 body of doctors of law — the very pink and quint- 
 essence of true believers ; one who would not miss 
 saying his namaz regularly four times a day, three 
 hundred and sixty days in the year,^ for all the 
 treasures of the Devas : ^ who, to obtain the epithet 
 of hafeez,^ had learnt his whole koran by heart 
 unto the last stop ; and who, not satisfied with 
 praying to God like other people, had linked him- 
 self to a set of dancing derwishes, for the sole 
 purpose of addressing the Deity with more effect 
 in a sugar-loaf .cap, and spinning round the room 
 like a top: — a personage who, in a devout fit, would 
 plump down upon his knees in the midst of tlic 
 most crowded street, without turning his licad 
 
AXASTASIUS. log 
 
 round before he liad finislied the last reekatli" of 
 his orison, if all Constantinople were trembling in 
 an earthquake; who, considering all amusements 
 as equally heinous, made no difference between a 
 game of chess or mangala and illicit attentions to 
 one's own great-grandmother, and once, in his de- 
 vout fury, with his enormous chaplet positively 
 demolished Karagheuz^ in the midst of all his drol- 
 lery : a personage who, at the end of the Rama- 
 dan, ^^ looked like a walking spectre, and the very 
 last time of this fast absolutely doubled its length, 
 only for having snuffed up with pleasure, before the 
 hours of abstinence were over, the fumes of a kiebab 
 on its passage out of a cook-shop : a personage who 
 had an absolute horror of all representations of the 
 human figure — those of Saint Mark on the Vene- 
 tian sequin only excepted : a personage, in fine, who 
 already was surnamed in his own district the wely 
 or saint ; and whom all his neighbours were dying 
 to see dead, only that they might hang their rags 
 round his grave, and so get cured of the ague. 
 
 When this reverend moollah^^ first made his 
 appearance, his face was still bedewed with tears of 
 sympathy, occasioned by a most heart-rending scene 
 of domestic woe, which his charitable hand had just 
 assuaged. In an adjoining street he bad found, 
 stretched out on the bare pavement, a whole mi- 
 serable family — father, mother, brothers, sisters, to- 
 gether with at least a dozen children of tender age 
 
 VOL. I. o 
 
194 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 — ^in a state of complete starvation. The very de- 
 scription of such a piteous sight harrowed up my 
 soul. Lest however the holy man should incur a 
 suspicion of having been betrayed into a weakness so 
 reprehensible as that of pity for the human species 
 — for which he felt all the contempt it deserved, and 
 which he never presumed to solace under any of 
 the visitations inflicted by Providence, — I should 
 add that the wretched objects of his present com- 
 passion were of that less reprobated sort, the canine 
 species ! They belonged to those troops of un- 
 owned dogs which the Turks of Constantinople 
 allow to live in their streets on the public bounty, 
 in order to have the pleasure of seeing them bark 
 at the Christians whom their Frank dress betrays. 
 To these, and other beings of the irrational genus, 
 were confined the benefactions of my tutor ; but, if 
 his own species had few obligations to acknow- 
 ledge from him, he was recorded as having pur- 
 chased the hberty of three hundred and fifty canary 
 birds in cages, granted pensions to the baker and 
 butcher for the maintenance of fifty cats, and left at 
 least a dozen dogs, whom he found on the pave, 
 handsomely provided for in his will. 
 
 No sooner was my venerable instructor com- 
 fortably seated on his heels in the angle of my sofa, 
 than, looking around him with an air of complacency, 
 as if he liked my lodgings, he told me to my in- 
 finite satisfaction, that, provided he only took his 
 
ANASTASIUS. I95 
 
 station there for two hours every day, he pledged 
 himself before the end of the first year to instruct 
 me thoroughly in all the diversities of the four 
 orthodox rituals — the Hanefy, Schafey, Hanbaly, 
 and Maleky ; together with all that belonged to the 
 ninety-nine epithets of the Deity, represented by 
 the ninety-nine beads of the chaplet. In the space 
 of another twelvemonth he ventured to hope that 
 he might go over with me the principal difference 
 between the two hundred and eighty most canoni- 
 cal mufessirs or commentators on the Koran, as 
 well as examine the two hundred and thirty-five 
 articles of the creed, concerning which theologians 
 disagree ; and in the third year of our course, he 
 promised to enable me completely to refute all the 
 objections which tlie Alewys and other dissenters 
 make to the Sunnee creed ; and to give me a ge- 
 neral idea of the tenets of the seventy-two leading 
 heretical sects, from that of Ata-hakem-Mookanna, 
 or the one-eyed prophet with the golden mask, to 
 Khand-Hassan, the fanatic who eat pork and drank 
 wine in the public market-place like any Christian : 
 so as, through dint of so much diligence, on the 
 fourth and last year to have nothing to do but to 
 go over the whole again, and imprint it indelibly on 
 my memory. By way of a little foretaste of the 
 method of disputation in which he promised to in- 
 struct me, he took up one of the controverted points ; 
 first raised his own objections against it ; and then 
 
 o 2 
 
196 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 —as he had an indubitable right to do with his un- 
 disputed property— again completely overset them 
 by the irresistible force of his arguments ; after 
 which — ^having entirely silenced his adversary, he 
 rose, equally proud of the acuteness of his own rhe- 
 toric, and charmed with the sagacity with which I 
 had hstened. 
 
 The truth is I had fallen asleep ; for which reason, 
 when I suddenly awoke on the din of his argu- 
 mentation ceasing, I shook my head with a profound 
 air, and by way of showing how much in earnest I 
 meant to be, with a very wise look said I could not 
 give my unqualified assent until I heard both sides 
 of the question. Thus far I had heard neither. 
 
 This determination rather surprised my doctor, 
 who seemed to have relied on my faculty of implicit 
 credence. '' Hear both sides of the question !" ex- 
 claimed he in utter astonishment. " Why, that is 
 just the way never to come to a conclusion, and to 
 remain in suspense all the days of one''s life ! Wise 
 men first adopt an opinion, and then learn to defend 
 it. For my part I make it a rule never to hear but 
 one side; and so do all who wish to settle their 
 belief." 
 
 The thing had never occurred to me before ; but 
 I thought it had in it a something plausible, which 
 at any rate made me resolve not to lengthen the four 
 years'* course by idle doubts. Accordingly in the 
 three first lessons I agreed to every thing the doc- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 197 
 
 tor said or meant to say, even before he opened his 
 mouth, and only wondered how things so simple, 
 for instance, as the Prophet's ascent to the third 
 heaven on the horse Borak, with a peacock's tail 
 and a woman's face (I mean the horse), could be 
 called in question. Unfortunately, when in the fourth 
 lesson the moollah asserted that Islamism was de- 
 stined ultimately to pervade the whole globe, a 
 preposterous longing seized me to show my learn- 
 ing. I asked how that could be, when, as Eugenius 
 had asserted, an uninterrupted day of several months 
 put the fast of the Ramadan wholly out of the ques- 
 tion near the poles ? This difficulty, which the doc- 
 tor could not solve, of course put him into a great 
 rage. He reddened, rubbed his forehead, repeated 
 my query, and at last told me in a violent perspira- 
 tion, that if I mixed travellers' tales with theology, 
 he must give up my instruction. 
 
 I was too happy to take him at his word; in- 
 stantly paid what I owed for the lessons received ; 
 and begged henceforth to remain in contented ig- 
 norance. Lest however I should appear petulant 
 to my godfather, I went and desired him to find me 
 a moollah that was reasonable. 
 
 " A moollah that is reasonable !" exclaimed an 
 old gentleman present, who happened to belong to 
 the order himself. " Why, young man, that is a 
 most unreasonable request. The Koran itself de- 
 clares the ink of the learned to be equal in value 
 
198 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 to the blood of martyrs ; and where will a single 
 drop be shed in disputation, if all agree to be rea- 
 sonable ? But come," added he, laughing, " I will 
 undertake, without a fee, to teach you in one word 
 all that is necessary to appear a thorough bred 
 Moslemin ; and if you doubt my receipt, you may 
 even get a fethwa of the Mufty, if you please, to 
 confirm its efficacy. Whenever you meet with an 
 infidel, abuse him with all your might, and no one 
 will doubt you are yourself a stanch believer." I 
 promised to follow the advice. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Stern winter had breathed his last ; his churUsh 
 progeny had fled. The waves were no longer lashed 
 by storms, nor was the earth fettered by frost. 
 Constantinople hailed the day, revered alike by 
 Greeks and Turks, when St. George opens in state 
 the gaudy portals of the spring. The north wind had 
 ceased to howl through Stamboofs thin habitations. 
 Mild zephyr reigned alone ; and as his fragrant 
 breath went forth in gentle sighs, the white winding- 
 sheet of snow shrunk on the swelling mountain, while 
 a soft and verdant carpet of young herbage spread 
 along the hollow valley. The taller trees of the 
 forest might still slumber awhile : the lesser shrubs 
 and plants of the garden were all waking, to resume 
 their summer robes of rich and varied dye. Blush- 
 ing blossoms crowned their heads, and every tran- 
 sient gale was loaded with their fragrance. Over 
 fields enamelled with the crimson anemone fluttered 
 millions of azure butterflies, just broke forth from 
 their shells with the flowers on which they fed, and 
 hardly able yet to unfurl their wings in air : while 
 
200 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 on every bough was heard some feathered songster, 
 hailing the new season of joy and of love. The 
 very steeds of the imperial stables, liberated that 
 day from their dark winter stalls, measured with 
 mad dehght the verdant meads of Kiadhane, while 
 their joyful neighing re-echoed from the hills 
 around. Under each dazzling portico reflected 
 in the Bosphorus were seen groups of Ich-oglans 
 and pages, sporting their new spring suits, like 
 gilded beetles, in the sun. All eyes seemed riveted 
 on the Othoman fleet, which in gay and gallant 
 trim issued forth from the harbour, and, with 
 every snowy sail swelling in the breeze, majes- 
 tically advanced towards Marmora's wider basin, 
 there to commence its yearly cruise through the 
 mazy Archipelago. Of the immense population of 
 Constantinople a part was skimming, in barges 
 glittering like gold-fish, the scarce ruffled surface of 
 the channel, while the remainder gaily sauntered on 
 the fringed terraces that overhang its mirror, and 
 in the woody vales that branch out from its banks. 
 On all sides resounded the tuneful lyre and the 
 noisy cymbal, animating the steps of the joyous 
 dancers. Nature and art, the human race and 
 the brute creation, seemed alike to enjoy in every 
 form of diversified festivity, the epoch when recom- 
 mence the hopes, the labours, and the delights of 
 summer. 
 
 I too was one of the mirthful throng. In com- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 201 
 
 pany with a few Osmanlees, not the most rigid of 
 their race, 1 had been indulging in the orgies of 
 the day outside the gate of Sehvria. Somewhat 
 flushed with the juice of the berry which Bacchus 
 first planted in my country, wc were returning to- 
 ward the Top capoossee/ when close beside us 
 came prancing an exceeding bad horseman mounted 
 on a worse steed. At Constantinople it often occurs 
 that an old menial, whose rambles never extended 
 beyond the village of St. Stephens, and whose foot 
 never pressed a stirrup, is rewarded for his domestic 
 services by a military fief or zeeameth," at ten or 
 twenty days journey from the capital. He then 
 first learns to ride in the plains outside the gate of 
 Andrinople, — in order that he may know how to 
 cling to his saddle, when constrained to present him- 
 self before his distant vassals. Of this description 
 seemed to be the equestrian whose pleasure it was 
 to annoy us. Proud of his newly acquired horse- 
 manship, he was incessantly in our way, now trot- 
 ting, now prancing, now galloping at full speed ; so 
 as to keep us involved in a constant cloud of dust, 
 with the additional advantage of expecting every 
 instant a nearer participation in his horse's kicks 
 and curvetings. Whether we went slow or fast, 
 or turned to the right or the left to avoid him, 
 still he haunted us like our shadow; or, if for a 
 moment he seemed to have taken his leave, it 
 was only to raise a fallacious hope, and to return 
 
202 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 to the charge, hke the forest fly, when least ex- 
 pected. Vexatious as was the fellow's behaviour, 
 my either less irritable or more sober companions 
 agreed not to notice it. They would have nothing 
 to do, they said, with a saucy green-head, only 
 amenable before his own officers, and sure to be 
 supported — be his behaviour what it might — by all 
 his comrades. Less patient, or less awed by the Pro- 
 phet's kindred, I swore I would grapple with the 
 emir, and soil with the crimson of his own blood, 
 the green rag round his thick skull, upon which 
 he presumed with such insolence, — when, guessing 
 my intentions, he buried his sharp stirrups^ in 
 his lank and harassed steed, and scampered away : 
 but not before he had succeeded in what seemed 
 throughout to be the sole aim of all his labour; 
 namely, in bespattering me from head to foot 
 with all the mud of almost the only puddle which 
 the sun's daily increasing power had left in the 
 road. 
 
 Who that — in the full pride of an entire new suit, 
 of which the colour has long been pondered over, 
 the stuff chosen after infinite consideration, the 
 making only entrusted to the most skilful artists, 
 the fitting tried in all its various stages, and the 
 final possession obtained only at the very period 
 destined for its display — is fated to see the work of 
 so much thought and labour irretrievably spoilt 
 in its first bloom, and ere yet the world has been 
 
ANASTASIUS. oqs 
 
 dazzled by its splendor ; — who, I say, that is -fated 
 to undergo such a trial, ever preserved his temper 
 unruffled, and was blessed with feelings sufficiently 
 torpid to abstain from falling out even with blind 
 undesigning chance ? 
 
 Then fancy my impatient spirit submitted to this 
 trial, and that by the vmprovoked malice of a fellow 
 mortal ! But a few moments before, alas ! the vest 
 of purple broad cloth, the velvet jacket of emerald 
 green, the scarlet bernoos* lined with sky-blue satin, 
 and the ample trowsers of a blushing lilac, still 
 shone through the mazy net-work of gold cast over 
 every seam, in the full perfection of their primitive 
 purity. After parading their beauties all day long, 
 like a peacock, in the country, I was only going 
 homewards to display them all the evening, to still 
 greater advantage, in the most brilliant coffee-houses^ 
 in the town, when all my honours fell blasted in the 
 bud, and — through the insolence of a paltry serving- 
 man — every item of my gay attire was made to 
 drip A\ath a black offensive mud ; so that I looked 
 like a once gaudy tulip, whose erect splendor has 
 been crushed by some ass's heedless hoof. Such 
 was my indignation at the insult, and still more at 
 the escape of the culprit, that I felt a positive want 
 of some luckless wight, on whom to vent my un- 
 governable ra<2;e. 
 
 At that inauspicious moment, who should sud- 
 denly start up, as from the very bowels of the earth, 
 
^04 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 but Anagnosti, whom I had left a prisoner in the 
 Bagnio ! 
 
 On quitting that hideous place, I was fully de- 
 termined not to let an hour elapse without applying 
 for my friend's liberation, nor to rest until 1 had 
 procured it. For that purpose chiefly I had gone 
 to Mavroyeni. The reader may remember how I 
 was received at his door. The fainting fit which 
 followed this ineffectual visit, the illness in the hos- 
 pital, and the indigence I had to encounter on first 
 being thrown anew upon the world, were circum- 
 stances which combined to prevent for several weeks 
 all furtherance of my design. When my condition 
 improved, other impediments arose. I then thought 
 it advisable to wait till 1 had earned a character, had 
 acquired friends among the Franks, and had pur- 
 chased the berath which might give greater in- 
 dependence to my movements in behalf of a rayah. 
 These desiderata came in due time, but with them 
 also unfortunately came the infatuation of my 
 Turkish amour, during which I was obliged, for 
 my mistress's sake, carefully to avoid attracting the 
 public attention ; and this affair only ended in that 
 apostacy which made me, bold as I was, dread the 
 reproachful sight of Anagnosti, — of him whose faith 
 neither fear, nor interest, nor even pleasure had 
 had power to shake. Yet I had not abandoned my 
 purpose ; and had determined, the very day after St. 
 George, to undertake the seemingly arduous work 
 
ANASTASIUS. 20.:; 
 
 of my friend's release, when he thus unexpectedly 
 crossed my way. 
 
 The very presence of Anagnosti — of Anagnosti 
 so long neglected in his forlorn situation, and of 
 Anagnosti freed at last from his fetters without my 
 assistance — was in itself a severe rebuke. Con- 
 victed by my friend's enlargement of a culpable 
 neglect, T almost regretted his liberation as pre- 
 mature. I felt it as an event expressly brought 
 about to shame me. Though in reality the poor 
 youth only came from celebrating — somewhat more 
 devoutly no doubt — the same festival ^ with myself, 
 he seemed only to rush thus full upon me, while 
 yet ignorant of his liberty and unprepared for his 
 appearance, in order to take me by surprise, and to 
 enjoy my confusion. 
 
 And this idea, mortifying in itself, became doubly 
 galling at a moment when, had even my conscience 
 proclaimed me Anagnosti's sole deliverer, I still 
 would have wished to be spared all expression of his 
 gratitude. Thrown among Osmanlees proud of 
 their untainted blood, I had but just asserted a 
 perfect equality with my lofty companions. I had 
 sworn indeed that I was not one of those Candiote 
 Turks ^ who, though three parts Greek, are yet 
 regarded as among the highest mettled of the Sul- 
 tan's Mohammedan subjects : but I had sworn to 
 this truth in a jesting tone ; had in consequence been 
 
206 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 disbelieved as I wished, and had thus found means to 
 combine with pretensions to strict veracity, the be- 
 nefit of a he : I had even, in conformity with the 
 moollah's advice, most vehemently abused the whole 
 race of Christian dogs; and, in the midst of my 
 success and my exultation, I now stood most un- 
 expectedly confronted with the only person who 
 must, by his familiar address, not only overturn the 
 whole fabric of my raising, but proclaim me a mere 
 renegado, — a downright outcast from the very 
 Bagnio ! 
 
 A circumstance so provoking — so subversive of all 
 my views and wishes — was sufficient to give Ana- 
 gnostijin my already ruffled mind, the character of an 
 enemy rather than a friend. The instant I perceived 
 him, shame set my cheek on fire; I tried to avoid 
 his irksome notice : — but already I had caught his 
 watchful eye. 
 
 In this situation I felt that a mere retreating- 
 movement would only invite a more eager advance ; 
 and conceived that nothing but a coolness so marked 
 on my part as to chill on that of Anagnosti every 
 demonstration of warmth, and perhaps even to make 
 him scorn in his contempt of me all signs of recog- 
 nition, could save me from his fearful familiarity. 
 Upon this principle, instead of either darting forward 
 to meet his embrace, or shrinking from his approach, 
 I stopped suddenly short, stood entirely motionless, 
 
ANASTASIUS. 207 
 
 and, with all the dignity of the turban, merely put 
 out my hand, to receive the homage of his respect- 
 ful lip.— 
 
 His first glance, alighting only on my features, 
 had made him rush forward to press me to his bosom. 
 His second look, falling on my dress and com- 
 panions, again arrested his progress, and seemed to 
 rivet his feet to the ground. Hence, judging him 
 sufficiently awed by my mere appearance, I now 
 ventured to utter some condescending expressions : 
 but my words he heeded not. Keeping his haggard 
 eyes fixed on my person, he asked me whether a spell 
 fascinated his senses, or whether in reality I was 
 become .... a Moslemin, he would have said ; but 
 the hateful appellation he had not power to utter. 
 Not caring for the completion of the sentence — " be 
 Selim what he may," I hastily cried, " proceeid thou, 
 without fear." 
 
 The pious ceremonies of the morning had even 
 carried beyond its usual exalted pitch my friend's 
 rehgious enthusiasm. At this mortifying speech, 
 resentment of my neglect, indignation at my apo- 
 stacy, wounded pride, and disappointed affection 
 took possession of his soul. 
 
 " Fear !" exclaimed he, — repeating my last words 
 with an hysteric laugh ; while his eye darted light- 
 ning, and his lip curled up in scorn ; — " Fear suits 
 only the deserter of his country and his God !" 
 
 So proud a taunt completed the rising ferment of 
 
50S ANASTASTUS. 
 
 my blood. Enraged at the invective ; Btill more en- 
 raged at its coming from a rayah, from a man of 
 mean appearance, and in the presence of sneering 
 Osmanlees, I mechanically thrust my hand in my 
 girdle, and drew out my handjar. It was an un- 
 meaning and half involuntary action : I had no fatal 
 purpose ; I intended not — no ! upon the solemn word 
 of one again prostrate before the cross — I intended 
 not to hurt a hair of my friend's sacred head. A 
 flourish, to dazzle the Osmanlee eyes which were 
 watching all my motions, was all I had in view. 
 Frantic, Anagnosti rushed forward and fell, — fell 
 upon the too diligently sharpened weapon ! Feeling 
 that its point had entered, he with one hand pressed 
 it home to his heart, while with the other he struck 
 me convulsively away. The dagger— slipping through 
 my palsied fingers — remained, as he intended, deep 
 buried in his side ! 
 
 Leisurely he drew it out, and with a sort of com- 
 placency viewed his blood as it trickled from the 
 blade: but presently, his eyes filling with tears, 
 — tears not flowing for his present sufferings, but 
 from the remembrance of things gone by — " O my 
 mother, my mother," he exclaimed, " thy dying 
 words prove true ! My friends alone have been my 
 perdition ; and the small crimson speck found on the 
 bands of our brotherhood is grown into the stream 
 that now gushes from my heart! — but at least, 
 Anastasius," — added he, with a look which pierced 
 
ANASTASIUS. 209 
 
 my very soul, — " I liave prevented him who made a 
 vow to defend me to his last dying breath, from being 
 himself the destroyer of my wretched life. When 
 released from the bagnio through the kindness 
 of strangers, I wondered what event caused the 
 neglect of my friend, — wondered why Anastasius 
 alone had abandoned his Anagnosti. Alas ! I knew 
 not that thou hadst forsaken thy God ! — May he 
 pardon thee as I do. Life to me has long been 
 bitterness ; death is a welcome guest : I rejoin those 
 that love me, — and in a better place. Already, me- 
 thinks, watching my flight, they stretch out their arms 
 from heaven to their dying Anagnosti. Thou, — 
 if there be in thy breast one spark of pity left for him 
 thou once namedst thy brother ; for him to whom a 
 
 holy tie, a sacred vow Ah ! suffer not the 
 
 starving hounds in the street See a little 
 
 hallowed earth thrown over my wretched corpse."' 
 
 These words were his last: he staggered; his 
 body fell lifeless across the highway — and his spot- 
 less soul flew to heaven. 
 
 In the day of battle, so mighty are the prepara- 
 tions for hurling death at thousands ; by so many are 
 the shafts of the grim destroyer expected, launched, 
 and felt ; so rapidly are the slain often followed by 
 their slayers, and the mourned by their mourners, 
 that the harvest of the grave, however dire and 
 sudden, scarce finds leisure to be noticed; and no 
 longer appals an imagination already dizzy witli ex- 
 
 VOL. I. p 
 
210 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 citement, or stunned with repeated blows: — but, 
 when, in the hour of mirth and revelry, a single 
 living frame of exquisite perfection is, by some un- 
 foreseen shaft of fate, suddenly snatched away from 
 the gay scene, and in the full exercise of all its 
 energies transformed to a lump of insensible clay ; 
 when we behold it stretched out, equally unconscious 
 of insult and of pity, in the kindred dus^ — how 
 drear, how awful is the sudden change ! 
 
 Then add that this frame thus transformed was 
 that of my friend — of my brother; — and that my 
 own thrice cursed dagger had wrought the deadly 
 change ! 
 
 Oppressed at this spectacle beyond the power of 
 a human pen to describe, I long continued fixed in 
 intent amazement on the spot; I long continued 
 gazing on my friend's lifeless form ; and at last — late 
 at night, and after every curious bystander had in- 
 sensibly dropped off — returned, exhausted with an- 
 guish, into the city, by the same gate through which 
 in the morning I had sought the country, brimful 
 of thoughtless mirth. 
 
 Sad indeed was now my soul ! I felt the hand of 
 the Almighty growing heavy upon me. I felt the 
 long series of chastisements beginning which awaited 
 my apostacy. Precisely where the religion of my 
 fathers had imposed upon me the most sacred ties, 
 where by my change I had most grievously sinned 
 against its high behests, and where the punishment 
 
ANASTASIUS. i>ll 
 
 of my infidelity must give my heart the deepest 
 wound, there the first blow had been struck ! It was 
 because I had abandoned my God that I had been 
 doomed to lose my friend — the friend to whom I had 
 been sworn in his holy name ! — and doomed to lose 
 that friend by my own baleful hand ! And so great 
 became, from the bitter taste of its first fruits, the 
 sense of my guilt, that, could I only have avoided the 
 dismal fate of an utter outcast, forced for ever to fly 
 from home and country, I should willingly have for- 
 feited all else which I possessed, even now to abjure 
 my new errors and to return to my forsaken faith. 
 Nor did any fear of the consequences which awaited 
 my rashness mix itself with the feelings called forth 
 by my misfortune. Had I even been most unques- 
 tionably guilty of the premeditated murder of an 
 infidel, my life, as a Moslemin, could run no risk 
 from the award of the Turkish law. But the nume- 
 rous circle which had witnessed the scene united in 
 asserting my entire innocence of the deed which I 
 bewailed; and, when on the morning ensuing I 
 presented myself of my own accord at the nearest 
 mekkieme" to take my trial, the cadee, after ex- 
 changing a few words with his naib," dismissed me 
 fully acquitted. 
 
 Not so my own conscience ! Loud and ceaseless 
 were its upbraidings. " Thy dagger," it cried, " has 
 been lifted on thy friend ; it has killed thy brother ; 
 it has struck him to the heart, whom it ouffht to Iiave 
 
 p2 
 
on ANASTASIUS. 
 
 defended while thy hand could grasp its hilt ; its ac- 
 cursed edge has cut through the holiest of engage- 
 ments, and doomed to destruction the sincerest piety 
 and the tenderest affection. To the last day of thy life, 
 the wound inflicted by thee on Anagnosti shall con- 
 tinue to fester in thine own distracted bosom : it shall 
 remain fresh and green when his mouldering remains 
 have fallen into dust ; it shall follow thee beyond the 
 grave; it shall make thee dread to meet thy friend 
 even in the regions of eternal bliss, — if it should not 
 eternally close against thee their inexorable doors/' 
 To hush the relentless monitor, to honour my ill 
 fated friend's remains and to appease his shade, 
 I did all that I now could do. I not only had his 
 body carried to the grave in splendid procession, 
 masses performed for his unspotted soul, the boiled 
 wheat 9 handed round among the congregation, the 
 purest marble sought for a gorgeous tombstone ; I 
 myself — clothed as I was in Mohammed's hateful 
 livery^^— followed at a distance the dismal pomp, with 
 my garments soiled, my feet bare, and my head 
 strewed with ashes. From an obscure aisle in the 
 church I beheld the solemn service ; saw on the field 
 of death the pale stiff corpse lowered into its nar- 
 row cell, and hoping to exhaust sorrow's bitter cup, 
 at night, when all mankind hushed its griefs, went 
 back to my friend's final resting-place, lay down 
 upon his silent grave, and watered with my tears the 
 fresh raised hollow mound. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 2\S 
 
 In vain ! Nor my tears nor my sorrows could 
 avail. No offerings nor penance could purchase 
 mc repose. Wherever I went, the beginning of 
 our friendship and its issue still alike rose in view ; 
 the fatal spot of blood still danced before my 
 steps, and the reeking dagger hovered before my 
 aching eyes. In the silent darkness of the night I 
 saw the pale phantom of my friend stalk round my 
 watchful couch, covered with gore and dust ; and 
 even during the unavailing riots of the day, I still 
 beheld the spectre rise over the festive board, glare 
 on me with piteous look, and hand me whatever I 
 attempted to reach. But whatever it presented 
 seemed blasted by its touch. To my wine it gave 
 the taste of. blood, and to my bread the rank flavour 
 of death ! 
 
 I who before had set at nought even the sober 
 creed of the sage, now sought comfort in the silly 
 superstitions of the vulgar. I made offerings to the 
 inexorable Fates. I supplicated the awful Moirai ^'^ 
 to withhold from me their scourges. Thinking by 
 swift motion to fly from the vision which every 
 where pursued my steps, I bestrode the swiftest 
 coursers, and roamed the country over. I flew 
 across hill and dale, both early in the morning and 
 late at night — now descending headlong the steep 
 banks of the Pro]3ontis, now rushing along the 
 rugged shores of the Euxine. 
 
 Among my acquaintance was a rich Armenian. 
 
214 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 The fondness for handsome horses, prevalent among 
 his nation, in him was a perfect passion; but a 
 passion which the jealous laws of the Turks only 
 suflPered a rayah to indulge in secret. He might 
 keep, at an immense cost, the most magnificent 
 coursers that came from his own country : bestride 
 them he durst not — except in their stalls. To ride 
 and to enjoy them he was obliged to hire some 
 mean Mohammedan; and, as the noble animals 
 often wanted exercise, he was glad to assist me in 
 flying from my sorrows, by giving me the unre- 
 strained use of his costly stud. 
 
 Thus enjoying the command of the fleetest horses 
 and the most active grooms, I took care that neither 
 should want exercise. I devoted my whole time to 
 drawing the bow, and flinging the djereed.^^ No- 
 where was I seen, but at the Ocmeidan and in the 
 Hippodrome;^" where I endeavovu'ed to raise my 
 oppressed spirits, by sending them on the wing after 
 a barbed arrow or a staff that cleft the air. In order 
 to concentrate on one point all my faculties and 
 feelings, I used to set myself a task. I resolved to 
 hit a particular mark at an assigned distance, and I 
 left not the spot until I had performed the feat. 
 This practice gave me a dexterity in warlike exer- 
 cises, of which at a later period I reaped the benefit. 
 At the time of its acquirement, the swiftest motion 
 of my body was not sufficient to aftbrd my mind 
 repose. The instant I vaulted into my saddle, the 
 
ANASTASIUS. 215 
 
 •Taunt spectre of death leaped up behind nie. I 
 might walk or I might gallop, saunter along or fly 
 at full speed; yet would the avenging spirit alike 
 goad my galled heart, and with his iron gripe wring 
 my breast to suffocation. If for an instant I breathed 
 more freely — if sometimes I conceived a transient 
 hope that my gloom was wearing out, it soon 
 proved a mere delusion ; and even in Beotia's 
 swamps, and where autumn seres the leaf, the sun's 
 enfeebled rays find not greater difficulty to pierce 
 the chilhng mist, than did the least glimpse of hila- 
 rity to penetrate the shroud of anguish which sur- 
 rounded my heart. 
 
 As a last and desperate resource, I tried to drive 
 away my frightful visions by gayer dreams, the 
 children of drowsy opium. I found my way to 
 the great mart of that deleterious drug, the The- 
 riakee tchartchee. ^^ There, in elegant coffee-houses, 
 adorned with trellised awnings, the dose of delusion 
 is measured out to each customer according to his 
 wishes. But, lest its visitors should forget to what 
 place they are hying, directly facing its painted porti- 
 coes stands the great receptacle of mental imbecility, 
 erected by Sultan Suleiman for the use of his capital. 
 
 In this tchartchee might be seen any day a nu- 
 merous collection of those whom private sorrows 
 have driven to a public exhibition of insanity. 
 There each reeling idiot might take his neighbour by 
 the hand, and say : " brother, and what ailed thee, 
 
216 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 to seek so dire a cure?" There did I with the rest 
 of its famiUars now take my habitual station in my 
 sohtary niche, hke an insensible motionless idol, 
 sitting with sightless eyeballs staring on vacuity. 
 
 One day, as I lay in less entire absence than usual 
 under the purple vines of the porch, admiring the 
 gold-tipped domes of the majestic Sulimanye, the 
 appearance of an old man with a snow-white beard, 
 reclining on the couch beside me, caught my atten- 
 tion. H alf plunged in stupor, he every now and then 
 burst out into a wild laugh, occasioned by the gro- 
 tesque phantasms which the ample dose of madjoon^^ 
 he had just swallowed was sending up to his brain. 
 I sat contemplating him with mixed curiosity and 
 dismay, when, as if for a moment roused from his 
 torpor, he took me by the hand, and fixing on my 
 countenance his dim vacant eyes, said in an im- 
 pressive tone : " Young man, thy days are yet few ; 
 take the advice of one who, alas ! has counted many. 
 Lose no time ; hie thee hence, nor cast behind one 
 lingering look : but if thou hast not the strength, 
 why tarry even here ? Thy journey is but half 
 achieved. At once go on to that large mansion be- 
 fore thee. It is thy ultimate destination ; and by thus 
 beginning where thou must end at last, thou mayest 
 at least save both thy time and thy money." 
 
 The old man here fell back into his apathy, but 
 I was roused effectually. I resolved to renounce the 
 slow poison of who,^c havoc my neighbour [)re^entcd 
 
ANASTASIUS. 217 
 
 so wof ul a specimen ; and, in order not to preserve 
 even a memento of the sin I abjured, presented him, 
 as a reward for his advice, with the httle golden re- 
 ceptacle of the pernicious drug which I used to make 
 my solace. He took the bauble without appearing 
 sensible of the gift, while I, running into the middle 
 of the square, pronounced with outstretched hands,^^ 
 against the execrable market where insanity was sold 
 by the ounce, a solemn malediction. 
 
 The curse, I believe, took effect. Certain it is 
 that with me seemed to depart for ever the pro- 
 sperity of the Theriakee tchartchee. From the day 
 I turned my back upon its fatal abodes, the use of 
 wine and spirits may be said in Constantinople to 
 have superseded that of opium. Every succeeding 
 year has seen the trade of madjoon decline faster, 
 and the customers of those that sell it diminish more 
 rapidly. The old worshippers of the poppy juice 
 have dropped off like the leaves in autumn, and no 
 young devotees have sprung up in their stead. The 
 preparation has not even preserved its adherents 
 among those men of the law, formerly anxious to 
 combine, through means of a drug that may be 
 taken unperceived, the pleasures of intoxication 
 with the honours of sobriety. 
 
218 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 By degrees my purse, exhausted in the daily pur- 
 chase of ready-made mirth, had — by the ill-wearing 
 of that commodity — begun to partake of the depres- 
 sion of my spirits; and on this occasion I found 
 pecuniary embarrassments an excellent remedy for 
 a settled melancholy. When a man knows not 
 how to support life, he has little leisure for feeding 
 sorrow. To replenish, however, my empty coffers, 
 I commenced upon a novel pursuit, which, if it 
 completed the waste of present resources, made me 
 amends by the brilliancy it cast over my future 
 prospects. 
 
 This I shall explain. 
 
 My melancholy, my retirement, and my endea- 
 vours to find relief from my sorrow in superstitious 
 practices, had brought me in contact witli a per- 
 sonage who long since had exchanged the society 
 of man for habitual converse with spirits, and who, 
 disclaiming all further intercourse with the inhabit- 
 ants of the earth, employed himself solely in culti- 
 vating an extensive acquaintance in the different 
 regions of the heavens. The only easy and famiHar 
 chit-chat in which my friend Derwish might be said 
 
ANASTASIUS. 219 
 
 to indulge, was with the stars. His accurate in- 
 formation respecting the various occurrences in the 
 firmament, it is true, gave him so superior an insight 
 into the affairs of this globe itself, that he could not 
 help feeling mortified as well as surprised, at seeing 
 both in potentates and private individuals so unac- 
 countable a backwardness to profit by his wisdom : 
 for he was as fond of giving advice as those who 
 have not the stars to back their opinion; — and 
 indeed, who more capable than Derwish of directing 
 every concern of man ? He understood the com- 
 position of cabalistic sentences capable of baffling 
 the subtlest witchcraft, and disarming the most 
 determined evil eye : he could tell to a second the 
 precise period for every critical measure, from the 
 giving a battle, to the taking a dose of rhubarb ; 
 and in casting nativities and predicting seasons, the 
 Venice calendar itself must yield to the all compre- 
 hending Derwish. It is well known what innumera- 
 ble little devils float in air, always on the watch, 
 when people inadvertently yawn, to whip into their 
 mouths and slip down their throats, when they 
 make sad intestine commotion in their stomachs. 
 These he possessed the art of expelhng with rare 
 success, and, soon preparing to soar far beyond 
 his former flights, he was at the eve, when I made 
 his acquaintance, of a discovery which promised 
 mines of wealth to whoever might choose to join 
 him in its pursuit. It consisted in ascertaining by 
 
220 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 4:he itching of one's fingers what heaps of gold lay 
 buried under those ancient piles which — like the 
 arches of Backtchekeui,^ the ruins in Greece, and 
 the pyramids of Egypt — are mistaken by the igno- 
 rant for aqueducts, and temples, and mausolea, but 
 by the wise are known to be the secret treasuries of 
 the Constantines, the Suleimans, and the Pharaohs 
 of old. The exact situation of the deposits known ; 
 what so easy as to pull down the buildings over 
 them ! 
 
 Ere, however, this measure could be quite accom- 
 pUshed, other resources, less splendid no doubt, but 
 more acceptable, and in which Eblis" had no hand, 
 lent me their seasonable aid. 
 
 One day when walking through Galata with a 
 brother in distress ; ''See," said I to my companion, 
 " all those bales of costly goods tossed about on the 
 quay like common ware ! For whom think you 
 they are landing ? Why, for some old churl, to be 
 sure, immured in his dingy counting-house, and 
 who perhaps will never behold with his own eyes 
 either their contents, or even their final produce. 
 Fortune reserves all her favours for those who only 
 know their amount by a cipher more or less in their 
 ledger. Young fellows like us, who would pro- 
 claim her bounty by sound of trumpet, and sow its 
 golden fruits far and wide in the world, the churlish 
 prude leaves to starve.*" 
 
 ^' Fortune, gentlemen," observed the caravo- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 221 
 
 keiri^ of the ship, who had overheard my speech, 
 " cannot, if she be a lady, disHke her votaries more 
 than other females do, for being young : but perhaps, 
 like other ladies, to be won, she must be courted." 
 
 I now recognised in the captain one of our 
 islanders : he knew me before. "You, sir," added 
 he, " might have had the goddess in question on 
 your own terms, as much as any body. Who 
 so petted as you were by your worthy deceased 
 mother ?" 
 
 " What ! my mother dead ?" exclaimed I, both 
 shocked and surprised. 
 
 " To be sure," rejoined the reis ; " and had she 
 known where to find you, ere that accident hap- 
 pened, who doubts that she would have left her 
 wealth to you rather than to that cross-grained 
 minx — pardon my boldness — your elder sister ?" 
 
 " All left to my eldest sister .?" cried I, drying up 
 the tears that had began to flow profusely. " Ah, 
 if I too had but scolded her all the day long ! — That 
 at least is a proceeding which shows attention, and, 
 it seems, meets with adequate thanks. Or rather" 
 — added I, on thinking of her ruinous lenity with 
 regard to my youthful aberrations — " if she had 
 but scolded me, when I deserved reproof! But 
 she is gone to a better place than her son must 
 hope to see her in: Peace be to my own soul, as it 
 is sure to be to hers !" 
 
 " It would not much perhaps disturb its repose,''* 
 
222 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 observed my companion, " to make a little inroad 
 on that of your sister, and try, in your quality as 
 Moslemin, which went furthest, your mother's par- 
 tiality or that of the law."" 
 
 Next to her mother and her husband, Roxana 
 (now the eldest female of the family) had always 
 made poor me the favourite object of her ill humour. 
 I owed her a longer score of petty spites, than I 
 had hoped ever to pay off. It would have been a 
 pleasure to me to hustle her out of the inheritance, 
 had it even been for a stranger. Finding therefore 
 that the accumulated produce of my mother's estate 
 at Naxia was in the hands of a merchant in Con- 
 stantinople, and in ready cash, I went to claim it. 
 My sole regret on my way was my not having pro- 
 vided sacks and porters sufficient to carry away the 
 whole treasure at once. 
 
 There was little occasion for such a hurry. At 
 first my mother's fortune seemed little easier to 
 get at than the wealth of the Pharaohs, which my 
 friend Derwish meant slily to pocket, by displacing 
 the pyramids. In order to obtain the much-valued 
 memorial, I found legal forms to go through, certifi- 
 cates to sign, petitions to present, securities to give, 
 and accounts to settle, which only allowed me at 
 the end of several weeks to pocket my money, or 
 rather the half of my money which had not been 
 melted away in the interval, in law expenses, mer- 
 chants' commissions, presents distributed among men 
 
ANASTASIUS. 223 
 
 ill power, and fees paid to men in office. Even 
 that half, however, my necessities rendered a most 
 welcome supply. 
 
 To the landed property at Naxia I could only 
 enforce my right by personal appearance; and a 
 little voyage round the Archipelago seemed to pro- 
 mise a pleasing as well as profitable change of scene. 
 Accordingly I bargained for my passage in a Greek 
 vessel bound for Ragusa, but which was intended to 
 touch at Chios. I should thus once more behold, 
 under the protection of the turban, my home and 
 friends: and, having gratified that wish, an open 
 boat could easily convey me, whenever I pleased, 
 from my father's birthplace to my mother's native 
 shore. 
 
 With all these arrangements settled in my mind, 
 I sent my baggage on board ; meaning myself to go 
 by land as far as Gallipoli, where the sacoleva* was 
 to ballast. Already, with one foot in the stirrup, 
 was I taking my last leave of all my acquaintance, 
 collected in a merry circle around me, when from a 
 distance resounded a loud cry of — " Stop him, stop 
 him !" Accordingly I was going to set off as fast as 
 possible — cursing the fellow who had girt my saddle 
 ill, and now detained me to rectify his awkwardness 
 — when, ere I could get away, who should burst 
 through the opening crowd and seize my bridle like 
 one frantic, but the stargazer Derwish ! 
 
 " Can you," said he in an angry whisper — 
 almost biting off my ear, — " can you think of going 
 
224 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 after a paltry rabbit warren, wlien placed by my 
 skill on the very threshold of all the treasures of 
 the universe ?" 
 
 " Friend," answered I, " accuse the stars; they 
 have been so dilatory in performing their promises, 
 that I disclaim all further engagement with their 
 highnesses." 
 
 " Foolish impatience of youth !" resumed Der- 
 wish. " But if hope cannot stop you, at least listen 
 to fear. For your sake I have spent the whole 
 night on my roof, watching your perplexing planet. 
 It looks all spleen and malice. Therefore at any 
 rate go not till Saturday. Besides, who in his 
 senses sets out upon a journey on any other day of 
 the week ?" 
 
 " Every day is auspicious," replied I, laughing, 
 " to those who go after their money." 
 
 " Hark !" exclaimed the persevering stargazer, 
 " there is the muezzeem^ of Sultan Achmet, just 
 calling to prayers. Before you go, say your namaz." 
 — "I have said it three times over," replied I. — 
 " And the bag of garlic against witchcraft ?" — 
 " There it dangles from my horse's throat." — " And 
 the amulets against the evil eye ?" — " Head, stomach, 
 arms, all are stiff with them." " I see," observed my 
 friend, deeply sighing, " you have done every thing 
 for yourself: now do something for me, whom you 
 desert with all my excavations on my hands. It will 
 not cost less than fifty thousand piastres only to 
 undermine the aqueduct, and I have not five paras 
 
ANASTASIUS. 225 
 
 in the world ! Give me at least in advance a couple 
 of sequins." 
 
 Derwish had now completely worn out my pa- 
 tience. In order to get rid of him — " This good 
 gentleman," cried I to the bystanders, " only wants 
 to deprive the capital of every drop of water. Pray 
 assist him in this good work, as I have not time to 
 stop." Derwish at these words grew frightened ; he 
 let go my reins, and slunk away. I rode off, rested 
 during the heat of the day at a village on the road, 
 and in the evening arrived at Gallipoli. 
 
 The captain having already taken in his ballast, 
 we set sail immediately. At the Dardanelles the 
 vessel was detained several hours by private jobs of 
 the crew, of which the custom-house officers un- 
 consciously bore the blame. Just as we got under 
 sail again, an Israehte, who had heroically deter- 
 mined to go by water whither he could not get by 
 land, begged admittance. He pleaded poverty so 
 piteously that no other conditions were attached to 
 the granting of the favour he sued for, save the 
 diversion v/hich he might afford. Another jew, 
 seeing his countryman so readily taken in, begged 
 hard for the same boon ; but the sailors, thinking 
 they had provided sufficient pastime for the voyage, 
 now became obdurate, and, when the supplicant at- 
 tempted to creep up the sides of the vessel, stoutly 
 beat him off. In this ungracious operation no one 
 was more active than his brother jew, who, concealed 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
;2^6 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 behind the sailors, gave him with his stick the last 
 decisive rap over the knuckles, which put an end to 
 his attempts. I could not help noticing this want 
 of charity in one who had experienced ours so re- 
 cently : but on imparting to Mordecai my feelings 
 on that subject, I found that he was acting from 
 the very impulse of that virtue in which I thought 
 him deficient. The other jew, he informed us, was 
 an arrant rogue, and, if admitted, no one could tell 
 what mischief he might do. 
 
 We now thought ourselves secure from further 
 intrusion, when a light wherry, skimming the waters 
 like a swallow, shot alongside of us, and flung upon 
 our deck, without even a show of waiting for our 
 permission, a smart caleondjee, whose high behest 
 was to be conveyed to Tenedos. The captain 
 immediately bowed submission. 
 
 In this new passenger I soon recognised a person- 
 age with whom I had made acquaintance on board the 
 Turkish fleet, during the expedition to the Morea. 
 Never had we met since the failure of the attempt on 
 May no. The consequential marine therefore felt 
 great pleasure in boasting of the more successful cruise 
 against the same nest of pirates, undertaken the 
 ensuing year. The delight with which he described 
 how the Moohassil of the Morea forced the little 
 peninsula by land, and the Capitan-pasha blockaded 
 it by sea ; and how the inhabitants, driven by the 
 one out of their strong holds, fell with their boats 
 
ANASTASIUS. ;227 
 
 into the clutches of the other, could only be exceeded 
 by the rapture with which he painted the males all 
 hanged, and the women and children all drowned, 
 in order to reconcile them to the Turkish yoke. — 
 " You," he concluded, " who are going to take pos- 
 session of your estates, mean henceforth, I suppose, 
 to lead a sober country life, and have done with all 
 such frolics. May you prosper ! For my part, I 
 hate innocent amusements, and want a little vice to 
 season my pleasures !" — Tenedos now being near, 
 my friend called for the boat, and got himself rowed 
 ashore ; while I wished him at parting a great deal 
 of pleasure, v. ith all manner of vice. 
 
 The current had faithfully escorted our vessel out 
 of the straits ; but — having seen us fairly launched 
 in the open sea, it now made a deep obeisance, and 
 bade us farewell; leaving our further conveyance 
 to the care of the winds. These apparently had 
 business elsewhere : at least, they attended not our 
 summons ; and for several days we were left to con- 
 front a dead calm. 
 
 Should any one be so fortunate as to have had 
 no acquaintance before with the monster ennui, the 
 most favourable situation without doubt for wit- 
 nessing all its powers, is, when on board a small 
 boat in a sea almost boundless, one lies for hours 
 watching a cloudless sky for a breeze which stays 
 away, and a waveless sea for a ripple which chooses 
 not to come. In this situation, while all else is 
 
 q2 
 
228 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 entirely at a stand, time itself seems to roll on so 
 heavily, that, though every hour of one'*s short life 
 runs wholly to waste, one still wishes that waste to 
 be more rapid, I who could only exist in a bustle 
 and thrive in a whirlwind, found myself so com- 
 pletely weighed down by this obstinate stillness of 
 every surrounding element, as absolutely to gasp 
 for breath ; to persuade myself that even a sense of 
 pain would be a welcome relief from so horrible a 
 tedium, and at last to cry out in an evil moment, 
 " O for an end to this misery, even by the worst 
 storm which the heavens have in store !" 
 
 Just such a storm happened to be within hearing. 
 It took me at my word. Scarce had I uttered 
 the wish, than it hastened with all possible alacrity 
 to attend the invitation. A white fleece arose 
 in the distant sky ; a dark streak shot across 
 the furthest wave ; a breeze was felt. This breeze 
 became a gale, and this gale grew to a hurricane. 
 Angry clouds, gathering on all sides, began to travel 
 in every opposite direction. They met, they crossed, 
 and stopped each other as if to parley, until the 
 whole heavenly vault became a continuous mass of 
 darkness. It would have been difficult to decide 
 which howled the most dismally, the frightened 
 sailors, in the act of lowering the yards, closing the 
 hatchways, and clearing the deck, or the frightful 
 blast, while mocking their petty endeavours, and 
 tearing and tumbling every thing about our ears. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 229 
 
 It kept lashing the roaring waves, until they alter- 
 nately hove us up to the sky, or almost left us 
 aground at the bottom of the sea. 
 
 When the tempest became so furious that a crew 
 ten times more numerous than ours would have found 
 ample employment, each sailor wisely left off his 
 work, to fall upon his knees, and say his prayers. 
 Had saint Spiridion, the protector-general of ships 
 in distress, been ears all over, he scarce could have 
 heard or have heeded half the vows addressed to him 
 on this occasion. But the more we prayed the more 
 the blast increased, until our ship must inevitably 
 have sunk, had not the sailors at last most pro- 
 videntially hit upon an infallible expedient for ap- 
 peasing the tempest. 
 
 The jew — content with making sport for us most 
 handsomely on deck during the whole of the fine 
 weather — had, at the very first lowering of the sky, 
 taken care to dive into the hold. Entirely forgotten 
 for a while, he happened just to be remembered at 
 this critical period. All now plainly saw the whole 
 cause of the hurricane, — but with it also the remedy. 
 The Hebrew must be sacrificed to appease the angry 
 waves. 
 
 From his very hiding-place the wretch heard his 
 doom. He strove to creep between the stones of 
 the ballast: but had he nestled, like a toad, in 
 their heart, he could not have escaped. He was 
 dragged upon the deck, to be tossed into the sea. 
 When indeed absolutely held over the brink of 
 
230 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 eternity, he begged to ransom his life for that article 
 of which he had pretended to be entirely destitute 
 — for money ; and offered, first, one piastre, then 
 two, then five, then five and twenty ! The sum was 
 tempting : — but existence was at stake with the 
 sailors themselves, and gold had lost its power. 
 They let the Hebrew drop. 
 
 Meanwhile I had fancied that the st(3rm began 
 to slacken, — wherefore, catching the sinking wretch 
 by his coat; " Hark ye, palikaria,"^ said I to the 
 crew, " the question is not what the cheating 
 scoundrel may deserve ; it is only what further 
 evils we may suffer by bringing him to punishment. 
 Now, if the mere sight of his uncouth figure is 
 sufficient to frighten the sea into these fits, what 
 will she do when his whole ugly carcass — skin and 
 all— is crammed down her throat ? Worse — depend 
 upon it, than when, on a similar occasion, she threw 
 up near Sant Irene, amidst fire and flames, a raging 
 volcano ! Let us therefore appease the ruffled ele- 
 ments by only quietly squeezing the miscreant's soul 
 — doubtless composed of good sequins — out of his 
 dirty body. In my quality as Moslemin, I fear I 
 must encumber myself with half the load." 
 
 The wind having slackened by this time, the 
 proposal was approved of by the majority : the 
 few that looked askance at me were frowned into 
 silence; and the jew, tossed back into the vessel, 
 was submitted to our search. 
 
 His vest, trovvscrs, and shirt — attacked first — 
 
ANASTASIUS. 231 
 
 yielded nothing. His enornaous leather belt, there- 
 fore, became the next object of our scrutiny: — 
 and for fear of losing aught of the wealth its weight 
 bespoke, we spread a small ihram^ on the deck, ere 
 ive began its dissection. 
 
 Scarce was its paunch opened, by the most deli- 
 cate punctuife which the point of my sabre could 
 inflict, than out rushed with resistless impetuosity 
 such a stream of clattering coin, as lasted full five 
 minutes ere it was quite exhausted : — but the 
 highest pieces were paras, and the whole amount 
 of the heap scarce a piastre ! 
 
 The sailors turned pale with disappointment: 
 nor was I myself greatly pleased. " Son of Satan 
 and of the witch of Endor,"" exclaimed I with 
 furious gesture, " do you wish me to treat your own 
 body like your belt, and to seek for your treasure in 
 your bowels ?" Mordecai was not put to the trouble 
 of answering ; for, on my clawing his head to give it a 
 shake, his caul remained in my hands — a positive 
 musket-proof helmet of conglomerate sequins! I 
 now had my cue, and it struck me that, where the 
 head was so well furnished, the heels might also 
 be worth investigating. — Like the dirty caul, the 
 clumsy buskins offered a solid stratum of gold ! 
 
 As soon as stripped of his pelf, the jew begged 
 to be killed outright : — he was worth nothing now ! 
 We thought otherwise. Another vessel hailing us 
 
232 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 at that moment for some water,' we sent two casks : 
 —in one of them was Mordecai. 
 
 The gale, which had not entirely fallen, soon 
 carried us full sail into the straits of Chios, and 
 the distant sound of bells, so long unheard, again 
 struck my ears. Though now become a Moham- 
 medan, it affected me with inexpressible rapture. 
 The impression of approaching home, however, as 
 it strengthened became sadder. From what I still 
 hoped to find under the paternal roof, I turned my 
 thoughts to what I was to find no more. My 
 mother had not been the wisest of mothers : as a 
 son I owed her not unlimited gratitude. Instead 
 of skimming off the dross of my disposition, she had, 
 by injudicious treatment, only added new alloy to its 
 ore, and then cast the compound away, as utterly 
 worthless : yet she had been my mother ; and how- 
 ever lightly all the later ties of choice or of chance 
 were wont to sit upon my mind — however often I 
 may wantonly have broken the social bands of 
 friendship and of love — the primary claims of nature 
 and of instinct seemed, spite of my own reasoning, 
 still to maintain their roots firm in my heart. 
 
 Absorbed in my musing, I found myself oppo- 
 site the town of Chios, ere I fancied it in sight. 
 A boat from the Island soon took me ashore. 
 When setting foot on the beach, I threw myself 
 on my knees, with lx)th hands gathered up the 
 
ANASTASIUS. 233 
 
 loved dust of my native land, and, bringing it with 
 ecstacy to my lips ; " Ah, my own parental soil !"" 
 cried I in a wild rapture ; " defiled as thou art by 
 the tread of rank barbarians, and by the yoke of 
 ruthless Tartars, still do I bear thee devout worship; 
 still does thy arid surface more entrance my longing 
 eyes than all the gilded domes of Eyoob, and all 
 the gaudy gardens of Sultanieh !" ^ 
 
 As, advancing with hurried steps, I beheld in 
 quick succession the various spots endeared by the 
 incidents of my early years, the agitation of my 
 mind still increased. Here was the corner of the 
 quay where, with other boys of my age, I used to 
 watch the ships unloading. There, at the turn of 
 the street, stood the house in which on St. John's 
 eve we played at Kleidon rysika.9 ^ little further 
 on I passed by the abode of our ancient paramana, ^^ 
 whose nursery tales I still could listen to with plea- 
 sure. Right over the way my eye fell on the fatal 
 window whence, at Easter, a whole load of broken 
 pots and pans — the wrecks of a twelvemonth — 
 fell on my devoted head. ^^ Ere I had quite done 
 looking — with some still remaining fright — at its 
 threatening aperture, I stumbled over the steps of the 
 cross old papadia's^- hovel, whose flesh-pot I filled 
 one day with glue, in revenge for her complaints of 
 my prior frolics. I was still inwardly laughing at 
 the remembrance of her fruitless attempts to unclose 
 her t^^thlcss gums, after tajsting her broth, when I 
 
^34 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 grazed the stone seat of a house where .... but at 
 present pass we on ! Suffice it to say that out of 
 the open entrance of this forlorn mansion there 
 seemed to rush a chiUing blast, which, hastily as I 
 darted by, changed the warm moisture on my fore- 
 head into a cold clammy dev/ ! 
 
 In this w^ay did an uninterrupted chain of recol- 
 lections carry me on from the water-side to my 
 paternal threshold. There all seemed solitude and 
 desolation. The only acquaintance remaining — the 
 only being that gave me welcome, was Xeno the 
 old dog, procured when a puppy from the consul, 
 and reared by myself. Many a time he had 
 stood sentinel during my meetings with the donor'*s 
 daughter ; and when I fled from my home, I had 
 been obliged to tie him to a post on the quay, lest 
 he should follow me to the ship, and betray me by 
 his fidelity. He still seemed to remember his old 
 master, looked up in my face as if to say, " what 
 had he done to be thus deserted ;'' and, wagging his 
 tail, licked my hand. His joyous yelping brought 
 down an unknown female of uncourteous appearance, 
 who asked my business. Having told her its nature, 
 «he desired me to go to the garden in the Campo, 
 where the signor drogueman at present resided. 
 
 The objects I met in my way to the country were 
 no less interesting than those which I had passed in 
 the town. But in the one as in the other, I per- 
 ceived a change which quite confounded all my 
 
ANASTASIUS. 235 
 
 calculations. Every thing still stood in the same 
 place, and still preserved the same shape as before ; 
 but the dimensions of every object appeared totally 
 altered. What I thought I had left huge, gigantic, 
 vast as the tower of Babel, now to my infinite 
 surprise seemed paltry, diminutive, reduced to the 
 size of a child's plaything. Houses, gardens, hills 
 and dales, all looked as if, since my childhood, they 
 had shrunk to half their primitive size. A few- 
 steps brought me to the end of what I thought 
 covered acres; and what formerly I fancied reared 
 its head in the sky, now hardly rose out of the 
 ground. I had left my home, impressed with the 
 magnitude of every object : to the first images im- 
 printed in my memory, I had assimilated all the 
 vaster scenes which I had since beheld ; and only 
 now I first perceived the difference, and from the 
 comparison, thought what I saw even smaller than 
 it was. 
 
 My long strides soon brought me abreast with a 
 httle man, advanced in years, who was hobbling on 
 before me. The few additional wrinkles that fur- 
 rowed his face could not prevent my recognising in 
 him the signor Polizoi, an old friend of the family ; 
 while to his failing eyesight, my change from boy to 
 man left me an entire stranger. As I must in that 
 capacity have the more to learn, he seemed to increase 
 in the same proportion the natural communicative- 
 ness of his disposition. At my request he went re- 
 
236 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 gularly over all the members of the paternal house, 
 until he came to a certain graceless youth named 
 Anastasius, who — he informed me in a sort of con- 
 fidential whisper — was the saddest reprobate that 
 ever had disgraced Chios ; insomuch that even he, 
 Polizo'i — a primate as he was — never felt safe from 
 his pranks, while yet only a mere boy ; and if he 
 met him now, would, he verily believed, die with 
 positive terror ! 
 
 Far be from me all suspicion of an intent to com- 
 mit murder, in acquainting the old gentleman that 
 this dreaded reprobate actually stood before him. 
 Thunderstruck at the intelligence, he stared at me 
 some time in silent horror ; then suddenly wheeled 
 about, and scampered away. My calling to him 
 to quiet his apprehensions, till I grew hoarse, could 
 neither bring him back, nor stop his progress. 
 Some block of stone I fancy was more persuasive ; 
 for I heard a loud tumble, and would have gone 
 to his assistance, when the sight of our door drove 
 all other thoughts away. 
 
 I paused a few seconds on the threshold. Signor 
 Polizo'f s speech had taught me to expect little kind- 
 ness ; " and might it not," thought I, " be prefer- 
 able to fancy what was best, than to be certain of the 
 worst ?'' But that worst — filial piety suggested — " I 
 might make the best by my change of deportment !" 
 I therefore entered. 
 
 As I i^sccnded the steps, and, near the trellis of 
 
ANASTASIUS. "237 
 
 the landing, caught my father's voice, grown tremu- 
 lous with age, my heart began to throb. He was 
 conversing with his friends, and the ceaseless grind- 
 ing of the water- wheeP' in the yard prevented his 
 hearing my approach. Unprepared, he saw me 
 stand before him. Perceiving his surprise at the 
 appearance of one in the Moslemin dress walking 
 in thus familiarly : " Sir/' said I, " you see your 
 son." At these words my father started : — yet he 
 seemed moved, and made a sort of gesture to bid me 
 welcome ; but again suddenly checking himself, as 
 he caught my brother Constantine's eye eagerly 
 scanning his countenance: " the sons I know,"" 
 observed he drily, " when they greet me, begin by 
 kissing my hands: I know none other. Perhaps 
 you are only come to wrest from them their remain- 
 ing property, and to leave me, in my old age, to beg 
 my bread." 
 
 I was going to make the only fit reply in my 
 power ; — to throw myself on the ground; to kiss, not 
 my father's hands, but his feet ; to beg his blessing, 
 and to renounce his property : when my ungracious 
 brother stepped in between the purpose and the 
 deed, to mar all my good intent. " I made no 
 doubt," said he in a brutal tone, " that after dis- 
 gracing your family by your conduct, you would 
 also wish to brave it by your presence ; but truly you 
 should avoid the air of Christian houses. It can do 
 you no good, and to us your breath is pestilence." 
 
238 ANASTASIU8. 
 
 At any other time such a speech would instantly 
 have been resented. But I felt this the decisive 
 moment of my life. I stood at the turn between 
 good and evil. I determined to repress my rising 
 wrath, though I should choke in the attempt. 
 
 " Sir," said I to my father, — looking earnestly in 
 his face, while the tears ran down my cheek, " is it 
 your pleasure that I should be treated thus ?" 
 
 This unexpected appeal to his feelings seemed 
 for a moment to stagger my not yet impenetrable 
 parent. But whether it was that he felt awed by 
 my brother, who ruled him with a rod of iron, or 
 that his own heart had entu'ely ceased to plead for 
 Anastasius ; " Stanco," said he coldl}', " is in the 
 right. You ought ere this to have perceived that 
 your company is not acceptable. We can have no- 
 thing to interchange with each other. Go, therefore, 
 and disturb us no longer." 
 
 At these harsh words my heart swelled till it was 
 ready to burst. Lest my enemies should have the 
 pleasure of beholding me unmanned, I turned away, 
 and leaned over the stone parapet. Had Constan- 
 tine not been by, I should have made another at- 
 tempt to soothe my less inexorable father. Jn the 
 presence of this unnatural relation I knew it must 
 be fruitless. Yet I lingered on. 1 could not bring 
 ^myself to depart. I still hoped to be called back. 
 Alas! I only staid to hear my brother propose, 
 in an audible whisper, to have me turned out. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 239 
 
 Turned out of my father's bouse ! It was too 
 much. I rushed away ! 
 
 Sacred walls of the parental mansion, I call you to 
 witness ! By your moaning echoes denounce me a 
 wretch to all future ages : be the name of Anasta- 
 sius in my native land the name of guilt, and among 
 foreign nations a title of disgrace, if I entei'ed not 
 your sacred threshold with feelings of love, of peace, 
 and of submission ! They were rejected : they were 
 spurned. Let those thank themselves for other 
 sentiments, who strove to obtain them ! 
 
 In three strides I cleared — I do not know how — 
 the fourteen steps of the stone flight at w^hose top I 
 had lingered; and got out at the gate. Then, 
 turning round to the unkind habitation, I stopped, 
 once more to contemplate — but for the last time — 
 its well remembered features, whose former smiles 
 now were changed into everlasting frowns ! " Dear 
 abode," exclaimed I, " where first I received the 
 boon of life, too soon become irksome, adieu for 
 ever ! Anastasius shall no more approach thy loved 
 shade ! If he do, may it prove to his perjured soul 
 the shade of death !" This said, I hurried away, as 
 if pursued by all the fiends of hell; and in less 
 than half an hour again reached the town. 
 
 Ah ! how often does it happen in life, that the 
 most blissful moments of our return to a long left 
 home are those only that just precede the instant 
 of our arrival ; those during which the imagination 
 
240 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 still is allowed to paint in its own unblended colours 
 the promised sweets of our reception ! How often, 
 after this glowing picture of the phantasy, does the 
 reality which follows appear cold and dreary ! How 
 often do even those who grieved to see us depart, 
 grieve more to see us return ; and how often do we 
 ourselves encounter nothing but sorrow, on again 
 beholding the once happy, joyous, promoters of 
 our own hilarity, now mournful, disappointed, and 
 themselves needing what consolation we may bring ! 
 
ANAS'JASIL'S. tin 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The visit to my father was not the only fearful 
 duty I had to perform. Another and more ap- 
 palling task remained to be achieved. Of this, 
 however, the nature was such as no longer to leave 
 room either for hope or fear. I knew the worst, 
 and grievously did that worst oppress my heart. 
 Helena, my first lov^e — Helena v/as no more ! At 
 Constantinople, in the heyday of my devotion to 
 the fair Esme, I had heard her mournful fate. The 
 moment my flight from Chios was known, she made 
 a full confession. To avoid unavailing exposure, 
 the consul sent her for change of air to Samos. 
 There she was attended by one of those nuns of 
 St. Ursula who, in our islands, double the merit 
 of their chastity by disclaiming the defence of a 
 convent. Wretched from the first, Helena, as 
 the hour of maternal anguish approached, became 
 every day more impressed with the idea that she 
 should not survive it. In this persuasion she wrote 
 me a letter, which she confided to the nun ; and 
 soon became the unhappy mother of a lifeless child. 
 In conformity with her foreboding fears, or ratlier, 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
212 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 perhaps, in consequence of her apprehensions, she 
 only survived the birth of her babe a few hours. 
 The nun had made a solemn promise not to part 
 with her trust except into my own hands. She 
 however sent me word at Constantinople that it 
 only waited my return to my deserted home. Hear- 
 ing that she now lived on my own island, and only 
 a short distance from the town, I went to claim 
 the melancholy bequest. I found sister Agnes 
 at home, and alone. The people with whom she 
 boarded were gone to a neighbouring fair. 
 
 The nun had heard me described as a fair com- 
 plexioned Greek boy, with a smooth skin and 
 flowing locks. No wonder therefore that in the 
 swarthy rough-cheeked Moslemin, with forehead 
 bare and shaded lip, she should not recognise the 
 original of her fancied portrait. The first sight of 
 my fierce figure, standing unannounced before the 
 lonely maiden, made her start with evident surprise ; 
 but Avhen I showed her a note from Anastasius — 
 whose band-writing, treasured up by her friend, 
 had met her eye before — she became more com- 
 posed, and gave me the history of Helena^s suffer- 
 ings. Touched with a sense of shame for the ruin 
 heaped by my lawlessness upon this innocent girl, I 
 had determined, while I remained in the presence of 
 her friend, not to deposit my assumed character, but 
 to hear the tale of woe to the end with pretended un- 
 conceiTi. Soon however unbidden tears would start, 
 
ANASTASIUS. ^4^^ 
 
 and began to flow so fast, that, for fear of betraying 
 my feelings I hid my face in my cloak. Even that 
 could not conceal from the quick-sighted nun the 
 anguish which throbbed beneath the gaudy mantle. 
 " I wonder not, sir," said she, " to see you moved. 
 In truth the story is touching, and calculated to 
 aifect even the stout heart of an Osmanlee. But, 
 to behold such deep emotion in a stranger ! while 
 the author of so much woe, while Anastasius 
 himself "*' 
 
 Here all control over my tongue forsook me. 
 *' I am that Anastasius,'"* cried I: " could you a 
 moment doubt it ?" 
 
 The nun appeared confounded. Shuddering 
 with horror at finding herself thus unconsciously in 
 the actual presence of him whom she looked upon as 
 her friend's murderer — as little less than a devil in- 
 carnate, a complete fiend — she darted at me the 
 gesture of anathema, and to the dread sign added 
 such dire imprecations, that I could not help 
 mechanically uncovering my breast, and wetting 
 it with the moisture of my lips, ^ to avert the evil 
 influence. This action, however, did not prevent 
 a torrent of more explicit abuse from following 
 the first vague explosion of anger; and a full 
 quarter of an hour did sister Agnes rant, and rave, 
 and curse, ere I could find an opportunity of claim- 
 ing the letter I had been promised. With a hand 
 still trembling with rage she at last took it out of a 
 
^44 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 small casket, and bade me read — with compunction 
 if I could — the last words of my lovely and mur- 
 dered mistress. 
 
 They were these : 
 
 " I neither reproach you w^ith my ruin, which 
 was my own fault, nor with your want of love, 
 which was not yours. It depends not on ourselves 
 to love ; but it does to be merciful, and you were 
 inhuman : you deliberately pierced that heart in 
 which you were worshipped ; and of this deed I 
 die. On a foreign shore I soon shall breathe my 
 last, and my wretched father, who expected in me 
 the comfort of his old age, shall see me no more. 
 Thanks be to God ! The author of my unfortunate 
 existence shall not have to blush at the sight of his 
 daughter; nor shall I, wont to look up with the 
 confidence of innocence, have to avert my eyes with 
 shame from a parent. For the unfortunate off- 
 spring — I dare not say of our love — which perhaps 
 may survive me, I must not claim a father's care. 
 You have trod under foot the duties which you owed 
 her who in the eyes of heaven was your wife, and 
 had committed no offence except loving you too 
 ardently. My child will be abandoned to the hands 
 of strangers; M'ill live in contempt, and die in 
 misery. But should heaven ever bestow upon you 
 the pledges of a less ill requited affection, fear, ah 
 fear lest my infanfs wrongs be visited upon them ! 
 Yet, if the last words of a wretch, who is afraid her 
 
ANASTASIUS. 24.5 
 
 love will only cease with her hfe, can find entrance 
 into your too impenetrable heart, ah, Anastasius ! 
 ah, my Anastasius ! repent of your sins, run not 
 from crime to crime, and revenge not my woes so 
 severely on yourself, as to render it impossible that 
 we should ever meet asrain !"" 
 
 The time that had intervened between the writing 
 and the perusal of this letter might already be 
 counted by years. The fair writer had ceased, not 
 only to exist, but to be the subject of the public 
 talL The guilty boy to whom it was addressed, 
 revolving years had made a man. The event of 
 which he was the worthless hero had been forgotten 
 even in the district where it took place, for more re- 
 cent adventures ; and the very ink of the admonition 
 had already become pale. Still did my heart feel 
 every sentence of the appeal as if yet in all the 
 freshness of its first inditing. It forgot the lapse of 
 time, and became filled at once with sadness as 
 sincere and profound as if Helena's last despairing 
 sighs still were breathing on my ear. Keeping the 
 sacred characters pressed to my lips, I struck my 
 heaving bosom, and flung myself on the floor. 
 *' Here," cried I, " let me lie, and commune undis- 
 turbed with my wretched soul; here let me shed 
 tears of blood for her whom I first learnt to prize, 
 when through my fault I had lost her for ever !'' 
 
 Had sister Agnes known the omnipotence of 
 mercy; had my penitent, my humble suit been 
 
246 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 unconditionally granted, who knows what richer 
 fruits my first contrition might by degrees have 
 borne ? None such were in store for the destroyer 
 of Helena! The nun, the fatal nun, more im- 
 pelled by vanity than by friendship, more anxious 
 to see my sex humbled than her own exalted, was 
 not satisfied with my writhing under the reproaches 
 of my own conscience, unless I also smarted from 
 the sting of her viper tongue. So keenly did she 
 sharpen its dart, so many little punctures did she 
 one by one inflict, so much venom did she pour into 
 each fresh wound, that resentment at last left not 
 room for regret, and instead of slowly rising with 
 resolves of amendment, I hastily started up with 
 schemes of revenge. A mean ungenerous triumph 
 over one already prostrate, I swore should meet with 
 an adequate punishment. 
 
 How this was inflicted; how sister Agnes, who 
 had witnessed the last and direst effects of my un- 
 worthiness, — whose curses still pursued me fresh and 
 green, though time had already long faded the less 
 wrathful farewell of her friend, — was made to blush 
 herself; but to blush at my contemptuous for- 
 bearance, let the humbled nun herself explain. All 
 I wanted was, after the haughty dame had sneer- 
 ingly exclaimed, " You of all men !" to be able in 
 my turn to retort in the same tone, " And you of 
 all women !" 
 
 Notwithstanding the ill success of my visit to my 
 
AN AST ASl us. 247 
 
 father, I had not yet given up all hopes of being re- 
 stored to his favour. Knowing the uselessness of any 
 attempt at a conciliatory interview, with my brother 
 as the mediator, I penned a letter replete with 
 every possible offer of submission and sacrifice con- 
 sistent with my safety as a follower of Islam, and 
 sent the supplicating words to their destination by 
 a common friend. Independent of the force of pa- 
 ternal feelings in the head of the family, I de- 
 pended upon the suggestions of policy in the younger 
 branches. Hatred prevailed over prudence, and I 
 received no answer. After lingering several days 
 in fruitless expectation, I at last prepared to leave 
 Chios. / 
 
 Ever since the sight of home had revived ancient 
 recollections, and with them the remorse for ancient 
 misdeeds, I had panted for a journey to Samos, 
 there to perform on the lonely grave of my Helena 
 the sad rites of contrition and of penance. On the 
 morning of my own birthday I proceeded to the not 
 far distant island, whose privileged earth held the 
 sacred deposit ; landed on its rocky shore early in 
 the afternoon, and, ere the evening cast its lengthened 
 shadows around, reached the hallowed spot, sole 
 object of my visit. 
 
 The sun's departing rays were just gliding from 
 the moss-grown tomb. I approached it with awe ; 
 strewed upon it the wild flowers which had grown 
 in its shade, bedewed its silent stones with tears of 
 
248 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 grief and remorse, and over the ill-fated treasure 
 underneath, poured out my heart's bitter anguish 
 in alternate groans and prayers. The whole night 
 Helena's gravestone was my pillow ; and early the 
 next morning, ere yet the orb of day rose out of the 
 sparkling wave — making my dagger my pen — I 
 traced on the dusky slab as on a recording roll, my 
 Christian, my Grecian, my old name Anastasius ; 
 filled in the deep sunk characters with the hot stream 
 drawn from my bosom ; and exclaiming : " with 
 the purple of my own blood I sign the marriage con- 
 tract : - I make thee mine in death, and mine in life 
 hereafter !"* for the last time imprinted my quivering 
 lips on the cold marble, and rushed away from death's 
 receptacle, which I had made my nuptial couch. 
 
 By this expiatory visit I felt my heart somewhat 
 relieved. I thought my Helena might, from the 
 higher regions where she dwelt, have viewed if not 
 in forgiveness, at least in pity, my tardy atonement ; 
 and with a lightness of soul to which I long had 
 been a stranger, I proceeded to Paros, and there 
 spent a day or two with some of my old kinsmen. 
 Dull stupid islanders as they were, they entertained 
 me not the less kindly for being out of favour at 
 Stambooi, and when 1 went on to Naxia, actually 
 expressed a wish that I might visit them again ! 
 
 At Naxos reigned supreme, under the wide 
 spreading wing of Hassan-pasha's all-powerful pro- 
 tection, my maternal cousin Marco Politi, heir to 
 
ANASTASIUS. 219 
 
 all the favour enjoyed at the arsenal, before him, by 
 the papas his uncle, and sole epitrope^ of the Greek 
 villages that cover the island. From every one of 
 these individually might this wily and ambitious 
 personage be said to wage an incessant warfare 
 against the Latin inhabitants of the city ; and if 
 the Grimaldis, the Giustinianis and the Barozzis of 
 yore once caused Marco's forefathers to groan under 
 the weight of the Venetian yoke, amply did Marco 
 now make the miserable relics of these proud families 
 pay for the sins of their slumbering ancestors. He 
 kept them absolutely shut up in their citadel and 
 towers. Fearful of letting down their draw-bridges 
 to take a stroll in the itields, they envied their own 
 flocks of pigeons the liberty of their roamings, and 
 seemed perched up in their lofty habitations, for no 
 other purpose than to have a better bird's eye view 
 of their adversary, leisurely w^alking forth to skim 
 the fatness of the land, and going his rounds among 
 the peasantry, to reap the country's choicest fruits, 
 and to levy his titlie on its fine wines, its fragrant oils, 
 and its rich honey, — while they had often nothing 
 else to befTuile miawinff hunger, but the treat offered 
 their eyes in the mouldering insignia of their an- 
 cestors, clumsily carved over their gloomy gates. 
 Such was their dread of Marco's hostility and power, 
 that, whenever he made a trip to Constantinople, 
 the whole nobility of Naxos took to their beds, in 
 expectation of some new avaniah.* 
 
250 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Of his own villages Marco was the idol. Like 
 other idols indeed he M-as not to be worshipped 
 empty-handed. But he hated the Latins so cordially, 
 that it was universally allowed he must feel an un- 
 bounded love for his Greek countrymen. The more, 
 therefore, in his management of the haratsch and the 
 other contributions to the Turks, he squeezed out 
 their inmost substance, the more he was thanked 
 for his disinterestedness and public spirit. If Marco 
 had any private foibles, they were, like those of 
 other great men, deemed more than atoned for by 
 his public virtues. This was his own opinion also ; 
 and it even appeared, as he observed, to be that of 
 the higher powers themselves; from the frequent 
 signal interpositions of Providence in his favour, 
 and the almost miraculous manner in which his 
 greatest enemies had been disabled from putting 
 their wicked purposes against him in execution, by 
 almost always disappearing — nobody knew how or 
 where — ^just at the juncture when he seemed ex- 
 posed to the greatest danger, or involved in the 
 most inextricable difficulties. 
 
 It w^as from a kinsman thus mighty and thus 
 fortunate that, within his own dominions, I, a poor 
 unprotected stranger, had to claim an estate, which 
 he called my mother's indeed, but which, for up- 
 wards of five and twenty years, he had taken care to 
 nurse as his own. My first point for consideration 
 therefore on landing was, whether I should at once 
 
ANASTASIUS. 251 
 
 offer to liim my unwelcome visage, or first keep my- 
 self in abeyance until I had tried my ground. It 
 was not exactly the dictates of reason which decided 
 my conduct. During the conflict in my mind, I 
 filled, by way of assisting my judgment, a cup of 
 that delicious muscadel in which, I ^vas credibly 
 assured, Theseus had on that very spot pledged the 
 too tender Ariadne : but just when in contact with 
 my lips, the still untasted glass slipped through my 
 fingers, as the hero did through those of the nymph. 
 " I accept the favourable omen !" cried I, (to my 
 Frank readers it might not appear such) — and re- 
 solved to dare my antagonist at once. " Let me seem 
 to fear no one," was my maxim, " and some may 
 fear me !" 
 
 Upon this I immediately set out for the village 
 of Trimalia, where the primate resided. He was 
 employed with his men in the fields. The day 
 being sultry, I threw off my cloak in a corner of the 
 house, and went out with a servant in search of his 
 master. We found Marco on a little knoll under 
 an old olive tree, in the midst of his farmers, finish- 
 ing his midday meal. He appeared to be eating 
 with uncommon relish a crust of black barley bread, 
 and enlarging with great earnestness on its peculiar 
 excellence and flavour, when my salutation inter- 
 rupted the eulogy. 
 
 My tone was civil but decided. " I told his pri- 
 mateship that, in conformity to the established cus- 
 
252 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 torn of informing near relations of especial calamities, 
 I had thought it my duty to acquaint him with the 
 misfortune which had befallen me of turning Mo- 
 hammedan ; and added how very much I regretted 
 my being obliged, out of respect for my new re- 
 ligion, to claim my mother's estate, till then en- 
 trusted to his management. This circumstance he 
 regretted as sincerely as myself; and the more, 
 when I hinted how absolutely my particular situa- 
 tion prohibited my disregarding the partiality of the 
 Moslemin law to its new proselytes ; and expatiated 
 upon the powerful support I was promised by the 
 Turkish ministers in the task of maintaining my 
 privilege — and which, to say the truth, I a little 
 exaggerated. At the conclusion of my speech, how- 
 ever, I assured my cousin that I did not think my 
 obligations to my new creed so very strict, but 
 that I might consider myself warranted in some 
 degree to proportion my facility in passing old and 
 intricate accounts, to the alacrity I found in giving 
 up the trust. 
 
 Much against my expectation, my relation ex- 
 pressed entire readiness to conform to circumstances. 
 No exception was taken to any part of my state- 
 ment. Nay, my avowed determination to disregard 
 all opposition seemed rather to increase Marco's 
 apparent cordiality and frankness. He even pressed 
 me so earnestly to take up my abode with hini, 
 during my stay at Naxos, that I found some dif- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 2r>'J 
 
 ficulty in handsomely declining the ofter. But my 
 obstinacy was equal to his solicitation, and after fix- 
 ing the time the next day when I was to return and 
 enter upon business, I at last took my leave, and 
 bent my steps toward the town. 
 
 Scarce had I measured three hundred yards, 
 when I remembered the cloak which I had left 
 behind. Heturning back to the house the sliortest 
 way across the fields, my path led me by the side 
 of a thick lentiscus hedge, M'hich surrounded the 
 garden. To this my cousin had by this time re- 
 tired with his confidential agent, for the purpose of 
 more private conversation. As I approached, I 
 could not help hearing my own name uttered with 
 such emphasis, that I was tempted to stop, and in- 
 dulge for a few minutes in the contemplation of the 
 beautiful shrubs which formed the inclosure. Mean- 
 time ]\Iarco was proceeding with his conversation. 
 " Cannot you understand," said he to his confidant 
 (in rather a louder tone than became so wary a 
 personage), " that if I had attempted at once to 
 oppose his claim, he would immediately have re- 
 sorted to the most effective means for enforcing his 
 demands; and the world would infallibly have 
 joined him in condemning my proceedings : whereas, 
 by admitting his title in the gross, I begin by lulling 
 asleep his suspicions, gain credit with others for 
 fair dealing, and then, by every quibble about the 
 items, and everv delay in the forms of law, defeat 
 
^54 ANASTA8IUS. 
 
 his purpose in detail, and tire out his very heart, 
 before he gets from me a single inch of his estate ?" 
 This plan of the campaign seemed so well worth a 
 cloak, however handsome, that I left mine for the 
 present unclaimed, and wheeling about, went straight 
 to the town. 
 
 But I had my cue for the interview of the next 
 day. When therefore I found in the course of its 
 proceedings, that the more Marco explained, the 
 less I understood, and that certainly I was much 
 less master of the subject at the conclusion of the 
 sitting than I thought myself at the opening, I 
 rather abruptly broke off the conference, and rising, 
 said in the smoothest tone I was master of: " Hark 
 ye, cousin ; I make no doubt that you have brought 
 forward every quibble concerning the items, and 
 equally mean to use every delay in the forms of law, 
 which belong to so able a diplomatist: but this I 
 would have you remember, that when, thanks to 
 its unraveller, a business is become so thoroughly 
 entangled as to defy the keenest intellect, I know 
 but of one way to cut the knot asunder ; and that,'* 
 added I, pointing to my 3^atagan, " is with a good 
 Damascus blade; — and so fare ye well." 
 
 Marco was fonder of cliplom.acy than of fighting. 
 He knew his cousin to be a desperate fellow, and 
 he began to think his agent a traitor. In this 
 double apprehension he delivered over the whole 
 concern into my hands ; including every deed. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 255 
 
 agreement, bill and receipt, accumulated upon the 
 estate since the last clearance of the deluge. " What 
 a thing it is," thought I, " to show a little mettle !" 
 But I soon found that by mine I had got more 
 than enough. Many of the transactions relative to 
 the property, in the way Marco had managed them, 
 were to me inexplicable enigmas, and this the 
 scoundrel knew. The moment I w^as proclaimed 
 sole possessor of the estate, and sole respondent for 
 every claim relating to it, there came upon me a 
 host of creditors of every description, from the 
 bishop who had witnessed my mother's will to the 
 Moiro-logistri^ who had wept at her funeral, all of 
 whom I verily believe Marco had kept back on pur- 
 pose for the occasion. With this posse constantly at 
 my heels I did not know which way to turn myself. 
 My cousin Marco meanwhile was all at once become 
 so very discreet as to decline interfering even in 
 the smallest trifle, or offering his opinion on the 
 simplest question, until he had the satisfaction of 
 seeing me fairly worn out with business and with 
 perplexity. He then ventured to suggest that the 
 science of accounts did not seem to be the acquire- 
 ment most congenial to my disposition, and proposed 
 — but with the sole view of relieving me — to take 
 over the estate entirely, for a round sum of money. 
 Convinced, by this time, that every fresh step I took 
 in the management would only lead to fresh con- 
 fusion, I was become vastly more tractable, and so, 
 
2.5() AXASTA81US. 
 
 after a little demur, agreed to have the property 
 valued. This was done by arbitrator?, all so very 
 liberal in their concessions on my part, that the 
 estate was estimated at about half its real worth. 
 But this half was tendered in ready cash ; and taking 
 into consideration what most men who drive close 
 bargains seem entirely to overlook, — the waste of 
 time, temper, and breath, in standing out for more 
 than is willingly conceded, — ^I accepted the sum 
 offered, signed the proper receipts, put my capital 
 into my bag, and took leave of Marco to return to 
 the town. 
 
 Whether or not I might think the money too 
 little to take, Marco evidently still thought it too 
 much to part with. Most kindly he had stationed 
 two of his trustiest m3^rmidons in a narrow lane only 
 just outside his gate, in order to rid me of the bur- 
 then as soon as possible. At my going he so ear- 
 nestly recommended the utmost caution, and so pa- 
 thetically lamented the unsafeness of the path, that 
 it struck me he must have good authority for his 
 surmises, and considered I could not show my sense 
 of his solicitude more effectually, than by avoiding 
 altogether the road to which he gave so ill a 
 character. Accordingly I waited not even till I 
 was out of my cousin's premises, but, as soon as out 
 of his sight, jumped nimbly over a hedge, and soon 
 got entirely clear of his outpost. I might never 
 have more than surmised the favour intended for me. 
 
AXASTASIUS. 5.5? 
 
 h^d I not learnt all the particulars of the scheme 
 the very next day from his own deputy. This 
 worthy person, having been drubbed by his master 
 for not stopping me, came to demand a compliment 
 for the civility of his forbearance. " Then you 
 really saw me pass by?" said I to him. " Yes.'' 
 " And intentionally permitted my escape ?" " No 
 doubt." " Nor let me go home unmolested, only 
 because you could not help it ?" " No indeed." 
 '* If so," exclaimed I, " heaven forbid I should 
 encourage disobedience in servants I You were sent 
 by 3^our principal to rob me, and 3^ou ought to have 
 done as you were bidden. Here is all the compli- 
 ment I can in conscience make." Upon which I 
 gave the fellow a second drubbing, and desired him 
 to inform his master of my proceeding : but this he 
 neglected. 
 
 From that day forward, however, I thought it 
 prudent not to take long walks by myself in the 
 country; nor to put the obedience of my cousin 
 Marco's servants a second time to the test. I re- 
 mained chiefly among the Latin inhabitants of the 
 castle, until a conveyance should offer for some 
 other place, which only seldom occurs in an island 
 destitute of harbour, and rarely visited by ships. 
 But my time hung far from heavy upon my hands. 
 I was treated among the Catholics, in my quality 
 of Moslemin, with very great deference. The 
 chancellor held my stirrup ; the fiscal lit my pipe ; 
 
 VOL. I. s 
 
258 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 and die archbishop — an entertaining old capuchin 
 — used, when 1 went out, to mumble prayers in his 
 chapel for my safe return. I paid these civilities in 
 Constantinople news. What I brought not I made ; 
 but this only rendered it the more novel and ac- 
 ceptable. All I regretted was occasioning a schism 
 between church and state. I had spread the report 
 of a secret correspondence between the Grand Signor 
 and the Pope on an intended conversion of the for- 
 mer to the Catholic faith ; and upon this the chan- 
 cellor and the archbishop quarrelled who shouW 
 sign the address of congratulation. Before the 
 question was decided, a khirlangitsch^ of the Ad- 
 miralty, which had spent the summer in a fruitless 
 chase of the Maltese corsairs, cast anchor at St. 
 Mary's in the neighbouring island of Paros, and 
 induced me to take my departure. Just on setting 
 out, however, a perhaps too fastidious scruple arose 
 in my mind. I did not like to go without making 
 my cousin Marco some acknowledgment for his 
 last mark of attention, however unsuccessful it had 
 been. Five or six honest lads were come from the 
 khirlangitsch to fetch me away in their boat. With 
 a handful of Marco's own piastres I made it worth 
 their while to convey to the primate my leave taking 
 in the most cordial manner. But as my cousin had 
 taught me by his example how necessary it is for 
 the master's eye to watch delicate commissions, I 
 superintended tlie business myself. From the high 
 
ANASTASIUS. 259 
 
 bank of the lane which led to Marco's fields, I had 
 the satisfaction not only of seeing my relation 
 soundly bastinadoed, but of condoling with him as 
 pathetically as he had done with me, on the unsafe- 
 ness of the path. This performed, ere he had time 
 to get up and to crawl home I bid him adieu, scam- 
 pered away with my associates to the boat which lay 
 waiting under a cliff only a few hundred yards off, 
 and was rowed to Parecchia. From that port I got 
 in a few hours, across the mountains, to St. Mary's, 
 and on board the khirlangitsch. 
 
 s2 
 
260 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The cutter which touched at Paros so conve- 
 niently, was on its way to receive the annual con- 
 tribution of part of the circumjacent islands, and 
 was to finish its cruise at Rhodes. This destination 
 perfectly suited my purpose. In want of occupa- 
 tion, and without any precise aim, Rhodes promised 
 a scene of interest to which I hastened with pleasure. 
 
 As my former connexions with the arsenal gave 
 me a certain predilection for whatever belonged to 
 the navy, I speedily formed an acquaintance with 
 one of the tchawooshes of the Capitan-pasha, who 
 like myself was only a passenger. Aly was his 
 name, and Crete his countr3% This latter circum- 
 stance added much, in my eyes, to the merit of his 
 society. The Turks of Candia, by their constant 
 intermarriages with Greek women to whom they 
 permit every latitude of worship, become divested 
 of much of their Mohammedan asperity, and Aly, 
 himself half a Greek, was not entitled to any great 
 prejudice against me for being only half a Turk» 
 In the refinements of his toilet, however, Aly tcha- 
 woosh might be considered as a finished Osmanlee. 
 Nothing could exceed the exquisite taste of his 
 
ANASTASl us. 261 
 
 apparel. His turban attracted the eye less even by 
 its costliness of texture than by its elegance of 
 form. A band of green and gold tissue, diagonally 
 crossing the forehead, was made with studious ease 
 completely to conceal one ear, and as completely 
 to display the other. From its fringed extremity 
 always hung suspended like a tassel, a rose or a 
 carnation, which, while it kept caressing the wearer's 
 broad and muscular throat, sent up its fragrance to 
 his disdainful nostril. An hour every day was the 
 shortest time allotted to the culture of his adored 
 mustachios, and to the various rites which these 
 idols of his vain-glorious heart demanded, — such as 
 changing their hue from a bright flaxen to a jetty 
 black, perfuming them with rose and amber, smooth- 
 ing their straggling hairs, and giving their taper 
 ends a smart and graceful curve. Another hour 
 was spent in refreshing the scarlet dye of his lips, 
 and tinting the dark shade of his eyelids, as well 
 as in practising the most fascinating smile and the 
 archest leer which the Ter^hana^ could display. 
 His dress of the finest broad-cloth and velvet, made 
 after the most dashing Barbary cut, was covered 
 all over with gold embroidery, so thickly embossed 
 as to appear almost massive. His chest, uncovered 
 down to the girdle, and his arms bared up to the 
 shoulder, displayed all the bright polish of his skin. 
 His capote was draped so as with infinite grace to 
 break the too formal symmetry of his costume. 
 
262 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 In short, his handjar with its gilt handle, his watch 
 with its concealed miniature, his tobacco pouch of 
 knitted gold, his pipe mounted in opaque amber, 
 and his pistols witli diamond-cut hilt, were all in 
 the style of the most consummate petit maitre ; 
 and if, spite of all his pains, my friend Aly was 
 not without exception the handsomest man in the 
 Othoman empire, none could deny his being one 
 of the best dressed. His air and manner harmo- 
 nized with his attire. A confident look, an insolent 
 and sneering tone, and an indolent yet swaggering 
 gait, bespoke him to be, what indeed it was his 
 utmost ambition to appear, a thorough rake. Noisy, 
 drunken, quarrelsome, and expert alike in the exer- 
 cise of the bow (the weapon of his country), and 
 in that of the handjar, he possessed every one of 
 the accomplishments of those heroes chiefly met 
 with on the quays of Constantinople and the other 
 principal seaports in the Othoman empire, whom a 
 modest woman avoids, and to whom a respectable 
 man always gives way. 
 
 Intimacies are soon contracted at sea; and Aly 
 was too vain to keep up much reserve. He soon 
 favoured me with an account of some of his adven- 
 tures ! " My dear fellow," said he one day, " I would 
 have you know that from my earliest infancy I 
 always had the most decided taste for idleness ; and 
 this ruling passion of my heart has never ceased 
 increasing. The only agreeable occupation I could 
 
ANASTASIUS. Q6:i 
 
 ever devise Avas doing nothing. Whatever hires 
 were held out to me by fortune lost all their charms 
 to my eye, the moment their pursuit required the 
 least exertion. Not for an empire would I give up 
 my dear laziness. At the same time, next to doing 
 nothing, my chief delight always consisted in spend- 
 ing a great deal of money. Unfortunately I was 
 not one of the privileged few who can afford to in- 
 dulge both these tastes at once. My luck, how- 
 ever, made me succeed in some little commissions 
 for the governor of the Canea, which gained me his 
 good will : and his good will in its turn gained me 
 an employment, in which I was enabled to enjoy 
 my two chief conditions of earthly happiness, if not 
 together, at least alternately. It was that of tcha- 
 woosh or messenger of the Capitan-pasha. You 
 know the jolly lives these gentry lead; you also 
 know the scanty wages they receive : and you more- 
 over know the splendid figure they are expected to 
 make. I have always suspected our grandees, so pro- 
 fuse in their presents to other people's servants, and 
 so niggardly in their salaries to their own followers, 
 of having struck a secret agreement with each other, 
 by which each was to support his neighbour's re- 
 tinue instead of his own. It is but justice to us to 
 say, that we do all in our power to give effect to 
 this contract; for you cannot but remember how, 
 at the Terzhana, we lie in wait for every hapless 
 stranger whose evil stars inflict upon him business 
 
264 ANASTASIU8. 
 
 with our Pasha; what fees we exact for every 
 audience he craves, and for every favour he receives. 
 The utmost produce, however, of the fines levied 
 in the capital, would but indifferently defray the 
 expenses of our apparel, board, &c. were it not for 
 the chance of being each in our turn intrusted with 
 some lucrative commission in the provinces. 
 
 " For my part, I never, till I saw my wishes 
 fulfilled, ceased praying Allah both morning and 
 evening, that he might be pleased to whisper in the 
 Pasha's ear a word in my favour, and make him 
 employ his faithful servant Aly as his representative 
 in some lucrative negotiation. The occasion on 
 which my prayers were granted was this. Certain 
 Speciote- adventurers had waylaid a Greek vessel 
 bound for Ancona, and not yet knowing — poor 
 souls — the difference twixt good and evil, had in 
 the innocence of their hearts sold both cargo and 
 ship in their own native place, among their own 
 fellow-citizens, all more or less engaged in the same 
 primitive sort of profession with themselves. On an 
 application from the owners of the vessel, I was sent 
 to Specia to recover the property, and to bring to 
 justice the culprits. We gentlemen of the short 
 dress carry little ballast, and when we have a prize 
 in view, know the value of time. I no sooner had 
 received my instructions than I hoisted my pennant, 
 and set sail. Not that my journey was quite as 
 expeditious as my departure was prompt. Ships at 
 
ANASTASIUS. 2(>5 
 
 sea sail not always as tlie crow flies. Besides, one 
 has often to seek a conveyance, as chance may offer 
 it. In addition to which, I thouglit it would be 
 showing a proper respect for the grand Admiral 
 my patron, to represent his person in some of the 
 smaller islands on my way. This cost him nothing, 
 nor me either. Every where I found board and 
 lodging gratis. I was made welcome to all the 
 necessaries of life, — among the foremost of which I 
 reckoned its superfluities, — and, at my departure, 
 never failed to receive a small present for the honour 
 conferred on the place; for which I always took 
 care, in return, to promise my protection. 
 
 *' By my deliberate mode of proceeding, I gave 
 the fame of my approach time to precede me to 
 Specia: for I did not wish to take any unfair 
 advantage of its inhabitants, by coming in upon 
 them unawares, and before they had had sufficient 
 leisure to prepare for my reception. The island is 
 so small, and its population so scanty, that, but 
 for some little management of this sort, I could not 
 have avoided stumbling upon the poor wretches 
 whom I was sent in quest of, at the very first step ; 
 and this, considering how essential it was to them 
 to avoid my sight, would have been most unhand- 
 some. Such was the confidence which I inspired 
 by the humanity of this proceeding, that the plun- 
 derers of the merchantman did not even seek con- 
 cealment on the news of my actual arrival, but 
 
^m ANASTASIUS. 
 
 treated me with an openness of behaviour quite 
 equal to my own. To have taken advantage of 
 such frankness of conduct I must have been callous 
 to all liberal feelings. As the rogues assured me 
 therefore upon their honour, that they had already 
 ate and drank three-fourths of the produce of their 
 prize, I only exacted restitution of the fourth which 
 remained. Not wishing, however, to mortify my 
 employers by restoring to them so small a portion 
 of their property, I put it into my own pocket. 
 My conciliatory spirit gained me universal esteem; 
 and the inhabitants — all more or less liable to the 
 same errors — showered upon me from all quarters 
 presents of all descriptions ; sheep, kids, fowls, and 
 other live, as well as dead stock. Just as I was 
 considering to what market I should carry my per- 
 quisites, this vessel hove in sight. I thought the op- 
 portunity a good one for disposing of my provision 
 and my person; and thence it happens that you 
 find me going onward to Rhodes, instead of re- 
 turning back to Constantinople." 
 
 " And do you not fear," said I, " that the grand 
 Admiral may some day discover your exploits?"" 
 " No," replied the Candiote. '' He lays his account 
 with them beforehand. He knows he cannot fur- 
 nish his hall with forty or fifty strapping fellows 
 stiff with gold lace, and ready to break their necks 
 at his nod, for nothing but a miserable dish of 
 pilaff; and like a man of sense, he suffers his Greek 
 
ANASTASIUS. 2()7 
 
 subjects to maintain i'ellows, by whom they think it 
 an honour to be soundly cudgelled.'' 
 
 A young sailor boy of the district of Sphachia '— 
 whose inhabitants consider themselves as the only 
 descendants of the ancient Cretans, and are shep- 
 herds in their mountains half the year, and pirates 
 at sea the other half — stood by, listening to Aly's 
 narrative. " You Sphachiote scoundrels," added the 
 tchawoosch, turning sharply upon him, " may thank 
 your stars that your Sultana is fond of your cream 
 cheeses. Many a well deserved avaniah does her favour 
 save you from — you and your blessed malkiane,* 
 The last gentle correction you had, I think, was in 
 the Russian war, when the expedition from the 
 Canea left not a soul alive in any of your villages." 
 
 *' Found none to kill, you mean ;" answered the 
 boy. " Our men were on board the Russian vessels, 
 and our women and children in the mountains with 
 their flocks. This you knew, or you durst not 
 have come."' 
 
 Aly began to knit his brow, — and the more, as 
 he saw me entertained. Wishing however to pre- 
 vent a quarrel: " who,""* cried I laughing, " ever 
 wants a broken head, that can get plunder without 
 a scratch on his little finger ? For my part 1 always 
 prefer marauding when the owner is from home; 
 were it only to save the goods from being knocked 
 about." 
 
 In this sort of conversation passed away our time, 
 
268 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 until we came in sight of the island of Scyra. 
 ** What have we here?" cried I. "A town like a 
 sugar-loaf, built on the model of a Derwish's cap ; 
 with the church at the top, by way of a tuft ! It 
 must be strange enough to step from one's garret 
 into one's neighbour's cellar ! — Though I should be 
 afraid that a walk, begun on two legs, here might 
 end on all fours." 
 
 " This happens the oftener," observed Aly, ** as 
 the inhabitants are by disposition stately, and fond 
 of strutting about in long robes, in which the un- 
 evenness of their ground often makes them get 
 entangled. Surely you must know that Scyra is 
 the great nursery of men and maid servants of Pera. 
 Two sacolevas, loaded only with this article, go to 
 the capital regularly every year; and no Scyrote 
 returns home till he can live on his island in comfort. 
 This comfort consists in milking their goats and 
 grinding their barley in all the cast-off finery of 
 their former masters and mistresses, with feathered 
 heads, and furred tails. When they meet, they 
 treat each other with the forms and ceremonious 
 language of people of quality. The first time I 
 visited the island, I witnessed a salutation in the 
 street between two ladies whom I took for princesses. 
 It begun very well, but it ended with one being 
 rolled in the mire by a jackass, and the other riding 
 away upon a pig, which had got entangled among 
 the folds of her trailing drapery.'' 
 
AXASTASIUS. 269 
 
 The captain of our kliirlangitsch had to receive 
 tlie contribution of the little islet of Serpho. On 
 going ashore for that purpose, he proceeded straight 
 to the hospice of an old capuchin. A sort of at- 
 traction subsisted between these two gray-beards. 
 Frora the heaviness of then* intellects, I suppose it 
 was only that of gravitation ; for it ended in mere 
 bodily juxtaposition, and scarce ever was a word or 
 idea interchanged. Still did its constancy give their 
 mutual regard quite a romantic air. Nowhere but 
 in the friar's dingy cell would the Bey receive in 
 state the salutation and the tribute money of the 
 Greek primates, whose troop presently made its 
 appearance. All its members had their hands 
 crossed on their stomachs, and their features com- 
 posed into as demure a form as possible. The whole 
 Greek community of the island, men, women, and 
 children, formed the long train of the procession. 
 
 No sooner was it arrived within hearing of the 
 Captain, than the coryphaeus of the party stopped 
 short, hemmed, coughed, and commenced his ha- 
 rangue. With singular aptitude of simile he com- 
 pared the whiskered Bey to an angel of light, and 
 with equal consistency he besought him not to 
 diffuse darkness over the land, by exacting a con- 
 tribution which its inhabitants could not pay. . The 
 pleas for exemption consisted in a catalogue of 
 calamities, of which pirates, floods, short crops^ 
 earthquakes and conflagrations were the least ! 
 
 •* All that, gentlemen," answered the Bey in his 
 
gJO ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Barbaresque idiom, fetching a sentimental sigh, 
 " no doubt very true and very miserable ; but, sun 
 set, you no put tribute here," — and he pointed to 
 his pouch — " me put bastinado there," added he, 
 pointing to their backs. 
 
 At these appalling words, the whole troop, epi- 
 trope and commoners, joined in a full chorus of 
 lamentations. When they could squeeze out no 
 more tears, they beat their breasts, and uttered the 
 most piteous groans. Finding all this of no avail, 
 and the Bey as obdurate as ever, they at last retired, 
 hanffino' their heads, and like men led out for 
 execution. 
 
 The sun was still above the horizon when the 
 troop returned, witli faces as dolorous as before. 
 They only brought half the sum required ; affirm- 
 ing with greater oaths tlian ever, that if they were 
 to be pounded in a mortal', they could not produce 
 another aspre. 
 
 ^' Me believe , that," said the Bey, '' and me 
 therefore sorry me obliged to perform my promise. 
 Me however begin with signor epitrope, in due 
 respect for his rank. Him me not dare give less 
 than fifty strokes. Tip with his lordship's heels!" 
 added he, turning to one of his attendants, *' and 
 begin." 
 
 All now cried out for mercy, and swore that, if 
 but allowed five minutes more, they woidd try to 
 bring the complement, were thev to wrest it from 
 the bowels of the earth. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 271 
 
 The Bey assented, and the troop again retired ; 
 but it was only to make a full stop at the first turn 
 of the road, and there to lug out from under their 
 cloaks the entire sum demanded, neatly tied up in 
 bags. With this reserve they returned, and delivered 
 it. The Bey made the proper apologies to the epi- 
 trope, and the party was dismissed. 
 
 They now in a close phalanx walked slowly home, 
 with the most dejected and miserable look ; but 
 they had not gone a hundred yards, when they met 
 some friends returning from a wedding, preceded 
 by music. Both parties stopped, a parley ensued, 
 and presently the whole of the procession, the epi- 
 trope the foremost, spread out their arms, and began 
 dancing the romeika ! Attracted by the sound of 
 the instruments, the Bey went to the window, and 
 beholding the merry scene ; '' Mirar papas," said 
 he to the friar in lingua franca ; *' mi parler bono, 
 canaglia senza fede piandgir ; ma mi bastonar, mi 
 far pagar, subito ballar et cantar»" 
 
 Not quite so gay were my friend Aly's accom- 
 paniments, when our ship lay rocking on the waves 
 to the music of the roaring winds. On those occa- 
 sions there was any thing but grace in his move- 
 ments or melody in his utterance. He had not 
 even a pretension to heroism at sea. The slightest 
 ruffling of its surface made him as quiet as a lamb. 
 To his noisy insolent tone immediately succeeded 
 the most piteous; and subdued look and manner. 
 
272 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Aware himself how altered a man he became in 
 rough weather, he used, at the first breeze, to slink 
 away like the moulting peacock, and conceal him- 
 self in some hole or corner, where he lay speechless 
 while the motion lasted : — nor until the sea resumed 
 its tranquillity did Aly re-appear on the deck. 
 How fflad he was to see Rhodes need not be told. 
 He almost plumped into the waves in his impatience 
 to step into the boat. But even ashore, he still 
 awhile wore a languid look, which made all the 
 acquaintance he met ask him ironically, " with 
 what fair one of the islands he had left in pledge 
 his spirits?'' 
 
 M}' reader has already classed me among those 
 vulgar beings, who take a greater interest in the 
 living occurrences of the passing day, than in the 
 dead letter of remote ages. As a Greek, I ever 
 found but little motive for exultation in any researcli 
 which led me to compare the present with the past. 
 Still, I had learnt — v.^here, I cannot tell — that Rhodes 
 belonged not to the Turks from the days of the 
 deluge ; that it had once obeyed a Christian order 
 of knighthood, of noble blood, high spirit, enthu- 
 siastic devotion, and undaunted bravery; that a 
 handful of these valiant warriors had defended it an 
 entire twelvemonth against the whole force of the 
 Othoman empire ; and that the Moslemen at last 
 only found an entrance to the citadel over the bodies 
 of its brave defenders, fallen, to the last man, in the 
 lono- contested breach. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 275 
 
 The outside of the ancient fortress — once the 
 chief theatre of these brilliant and bloody achieve- 
 ments — might be seen from every part of the quay, 
 towering high above the modern city. Its wide 
 ramparts, its lofty bulwarks, its crested batteries of 
 a black and rugged stone, deprived as they now 
 were of the once thundering engines of fire and 
 destruction, looked like the silenced crater of an 
 extinct volcano, still frowning upon the fertile plain 
 below, though its devastating powers are no longer 
 feared. 
 
 " Let us go," said I to Aly, " and examine this 
 object of so much strife, which Osmanlees knew how 
 to wrest from the hands of the infidels, but know 
 not how to preserve from the injuries of time.***" 
 " Let us go," echoed Aly, who expected some op- 
 portunity to play the tchawoosh : and accordingly 
 we went. 
 
 Though now thrown open to all, the formidable 
 enclosure still seems guarded by an invisible power. 
 Few ever enter its precincts; and, on passing its 
 massy gates, I felt struck with inexpressible awe. 
 
 Monuments that already have been so long 
 in a state of progressive decay, as less to retain 
 the regular forms of art than they resume the 
 ruder semblance of nature; as to offer less of a 
 mode of existence gone by than of a new one 
 commencing ; less of lapse into death than of re- 
 turn to a different shape of life ; less of dissolution 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 than of regeneration : as again on all sides to let in 
 through their crumbling walls the broad glare of 
 day ; again every where to show their mouldering 
 joints clothed in fresh vegetation, and again, at 
 every step, to display their mazy precincts tenanted 
 by the buzzing insect, and the blithe chirping 
 bird, — such monuments have their gloom irradiated 
 by at least an equal portion of gaiety ; and resemble 
 the human frame so entirely returned to its original 
 dust, as to preserve no trace of its former linea- 
 ments, and only to break forth afresh from its 
 kindred clay, in the shape of plants and flowers 
 
 more luxuriant and more gaudy. 
 
 But edifices, whose abandonment by man has 
 been so recent that they still bear about them all 
 the marks of death and mourning, still preserve 
 undiminished their funereal darkness, still remain 
 the uninvaded property of solitude and silence ; that 
 their outlines scarce are indented by the sharp tooth 
 of time, or their surface varied by the softer impres- 
 sions of the weatherstain ; that their precincts off'er 
 not yet the smallest transition from entire unmixed 
 death and dereliction, to a new modification of life 
 and a new order of inhabitants ; that they say in 
 distinct terms to the beholder : "It was but yes- 
 terday we still resounded with the din of business, 
 and the song of joy," — such edifices preserve their 
 sadness unaltered ; they chill the sense, oppress the 
 heart, and make the blood run cold: for they 
 
ANASTASIUS. 275 
 
 resemble the human body just abandoned by the 
 vivifying soul ; j ust stiffened into an insensible and 
 ghastly corpse; just displaying the first awful signs 
 of fast approaching corruption. 
 
 And of such mansions was composed the scene 
 before me. The broad square, the stately palace, 
 the solemn chapel, once re-echoing with the clang 
 of arms, the bustle of trade, the boastings of youth, 
 and the peal of devotion, looked as if the blood 
 scarce was clotted which had stained their massy 
 walls, and the sounds still must vibrate in air, 
 which had circulated through their lofty passages ; 
 — as if one still might discern at a distance the dying 
 voices of their departing tenants : though the death- 
 hke stillness of the nearer objects was only broken 
 by the plaintive murmur of the pensive turtle dove, 
 nestling in the jagged battlements, or the measured 
 bounds of some stone, slowly severed from them 
 by the hand of time, and dropping with hollow din 
 through the yawning vaults. 
 
 Contemplating the great names, the sadly event- 
 ful dates and the proud armorial bearings, still 
 shining in marble of resplendent whiteness on the 
 black honey-combed walls, like the few memorable 
 persons and periods that still continue to soar 
 in light among the general obscurity of times long 
 past: thinking on the noble ancestry, the high 
 blood, the martial character, and the monastic life 
 of the illustrious youth — the flower of Europe — 
 
 t2 
 
o^Cy ANASTASIUS. 
 
 whose abodes, whose history^ and whose habits 
 these monuments so clearly marked, I experienced 
 a new and hitherto unfelt emotion. I envied the 
 heroes who, after a life of religion, of warfare, 
 and of glory, slaughtered in the very breach they 
 defended, now slept in peace and renown, leaving 
 after them names ever young and ever flourish- 
 ing in the hearts of grateful Europe. I wished 
 that I too had been among these noble few ; that I 
 too had sprinkled these edifices with my heart's 
 fullest tide ; that I too had fallen in these ramparts, 
 and had filled these yawning chasms with my body. 
 In the enthusiasm of the moment I wished that I 
 too might now be nothing more than a spirit ; but 
 a spirit entitled to haunt this august spot as the 
 scene of my past achievements, and to say to other 
 inferior and wondering ghosts : " Here I lived, here 
 I died, here I immortalized my name !" 
 
 Disposed, by the comparisons which these ideas 
 suggested, to repine at my own country, condition 
 and parentage, I sat down on the prostrate trunk of 
 a pillar ; and there lamented the hard lot of man, 
 who, so far from being able to adapt his circum- 
 stances to his faculties, is often, with a spirit equal 
 to the highest station, left to linger in the lowest. In 
 my despondency my eye caught a piece of broken 
 marble, gorgeously emblazoned with chivalresque 
 insignia: — but, if the side which lay uppermost dis- 
 played the plumed crest of a Gothic knight, the re- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 277 
 
 verse still bore the remains of an Hellenic inscription. 
 It was a work and a record of the ancient Greeks, 
 and had no doubt been brought from the opposite 
 shore, where the ruins of Cnidus furnished the 
 knights of Rhodes with an ample quarry for the 
 monuments of their feudal vanity. At this sight, my 
 own national pride returned in all its force. " And 
 does it then belong to me," cried I, — the dormant 
 energies of my mind all again aroused and starting 
 up — " to envy the borrowed greatness of Goths 
 and barbarians, only able in their fullest pomp 
 to adorn themselves with the cast-off feathers of my 
 own ancestors ! Am I not a Greek ? And what 
 Grecian blood, even where remotest from the source 
 and running in the smallest rills, is not nobler than 
 the base stream that flows through the veins of these 
 children of the West, whose proudest boast it is to 
 trace their names to the obscurity of ignorance and 
 the night of barbarism ; whose oldest houses only 
 date as of yesterday, and whose highest achieve- 
 ments are the exploits of savages !" 
 
 My friend Aly was not a person to sympathize 
 with my feelings on this occasion. From his very 
 first entrance into this dark abode, his mind had mis- 
 given him. Turning as pale as if again at sea, and in 
 a storm, he cried out: "What can you mean to 
 do among these ugly ruins ? The place is too dreary 
 even for an appointment with a Goule.*" All the 
 time during which I stood considering the various 
 
278 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 objects that successively attracted my attention, he 
 had continued most impatient to return ; and when, 
 after my first round, he saw me sit down composedly 
 on the old broken pillar, there to follow up at leisure 
 the train of my reflections, he fell into complete 
 despair. " What can this confounded son of a 
 Greek jabberer be muttering to himself, as if pos- 
 sessed," — I overheard him say, — '' and that in a 
 place where people should keep calling to each other 
 with all their might, in order to frighten away evil 
 spirits ?" and after various surmises, it seemed he at 
 last settled it in his mind, that I was brewing some 
 incantation, and going to treat him to a dance of 
 spectres. At this idea his teeth began to chatter ; 
 he looked round for a way by which he might 
 escape ; but, after several trials, all equally abortive, 
 he at last convinced himself as well as me, that he 
 had not the courage to retrace his steps alone. 
 
 The only thing left for him to do, therefore, was 
 to exert his utmost arts of persuasion, and prevail 
 upon me to bear him company. Ere his fear had 
 risen to its highest pitch, he had ventured for a mo- 
 ment to quit my side. He now became so pressing 
 to show me what he had seen on that occasion, and 
 was pleased to call the prettiest prospect imaginable, 
 that at last I consented to follow him, merely to 
 get rid of his importunities ; but fully expecting to 
 be shown some dunghill, or burying-ground, or other 
 object equally extraordinary and agreeable. My 
 
ANASTASIUS. 279 
 
 surprise therefore was great, when, from a projecting 
 bastion, I really beheld a most delightful view of the 
 city's gay and busy suburbs, stretching with their 
 gardens full of orange and date trees, along the 
 winding beach. 
 
 " There now !" cried Aly in a coaxing tone, on 
 perceiving the bait to take, " who in his senses would 
 stay another moment among these black and fright- 
 ful dungeons — in which all the company I could 
 start consisted of as sociable a party of vipers and of 
 scorpions as one would wish to join, — that had the 
 faculty to go and investigate all the innumerable 
 species of delight contained in that knot of little snow- 
 white fairy dwellings down below ?" and hereupon 
 he began to enumerate on his fingers such a won- 
 drous hst of all the good things of this world, which 
 might probably be found in the aforesaid habitations, 
 that my own mouth, by degrees, watered at the 
 catalogue; and, to Aly's inexpressible satisfaction, 
 I at last took him under my arm, and left the castle 
 to explore the beach. 
 
 My curiosity was soon satisfied, but my newly 
 acquired taste for travelHng only received fresh ex- 
 citement. From our conversation by the way, Aly 
 had given me a longing desire to visit Egypt, to 
 which country I had now performed more than half 
 the distance from Constantinople; and the com- 
 mander of the khirlangitsch had raised that desire to 
 the highest pitch, by his description of the advance- 
 
280 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 merit which I might hope for in the land of the 
 Maralukes. " Egypt," he observed, " always was 
 the cradle of revolutions and the patrimony of 
 strangers ; always welcomed the wanderers who had 
 no predilection for any particular soil, or attachment 
 to any particular home. — At present more than 
 ever," he added, " it holds out irresistible attractions 
 to the bold adventurer, who seeks his fortune in strife 
 and confusion. To external appearances, indeed, 
 the country slumbers in the profoundest peace. No 
 one would guess, on a superficial glance, that the 
 least convulsion threatened to disturb its tranquillity. 
 The utmost wish of the two parties who divide the 
 supreme sway seems thus far confined to measuring 
 each other's strength, and watching each other's 
 movements with the eye. But this apparent serenity 
 is only the calm which precedes the storm. The 
 various elements, all preparing soon to fall asunder 
 and to assume new combinations, are ready at a 
 moment's warning to burst out into open strife, — 
 uncertain when the trump of war may sound as the 
 signal for battle. Meanwhile each party most eagerly 
 seeks to increase the number of its adherents by 
 every new sword's-man of tried enterprise and cou- 
 rage, disposed to embrace its cause. Under these 
 circumstances a youth who like you, — Greek by 
 birth, and Mohammedan from choice — is already 
 beforehand half a Mamluke, and, handsome, vigor- 
 ous and warlike, still adds to his skill in martial 
 
ANASTASIUS. 281 
 
 exercises the more uncommon qualification of ex- 
 pertness in languages and readiness at his pen, — 
 wields the hollow reed as ably as the heavy spear, 
 and can execute a delicate commission as dexterously 
 as a dangerous mandate, — is a treasure for which 
 all must contend. He need only show himself on 
 the spot, to ensure opposite factions vying which 
 shall by the most brilliant offer enlist him in their 
 foremost ranks." 
 
 At this tempting picture, I sighed. The Bey 
 guessed my thoughts. " I see,"''' said he, " what 
 you want, and I can supply it. Suleiman, one of 
 the most distinguished among the present rulers of 
 Egypt, is my particular friend. The number of his 
 Mamlukes has been extremely reduced by the late 
 destructive plague. He seeks every means by which 
 to recruit his house. For tliis purpose, his kehaya 
 at Constantinople, knowing the number of ports 
 and islands I would have to visit, gave me an express 
 commission to engage for his patron whatever youth 
 of promise I might find. I have watched you 
 during the voyage. You are resolute, sensible, and, 
 as I deem, not likely to demur at trifles; and, if you 
 like the scheme, I will give you the recommendations 
 to my old friend which these qualities deserve." 
 
 I bowed, expressed my delight at the com- 
 mander's good opinion, and accepted his offer. Elate 
 at the idea of not only soon seeing fruitful Egypt, 
 but perhaps myself some day shining in its annals, 
 
282 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 I immediately sought a vessel in which to take my 
 passage ; and embarked the same day. 
 
 As the coast of Rhodes receded from my view, my 
 heart beat high with eagerness and with hope. It 
 seemed to me as if thus far I had only been trifling 
 away my existence in contemptible pursuits, and in 
 a contracted sphere. I was now, for the first time, 
 going to take a flight worthy the strength of my 
 pinions. — Wide views, noble prospects, vast plans of 
 fortune and of fame, all at once, as if by the drawing 
 of a curtain, expanded to my enraptured view ! 
 
ANASTASIUS. 28,3 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The sacoleva which carried Anastasius and his 
 fortunes was first to touch at Castel-rosso, there 
 to take in fire-wood for Alexandria. The captain 
 seemed to have no acquaintance whatever with the 
 coast for which we were bound ; nor could any of 
 his crew boast less ignorance ; but they all agreed 
 that Providence was great ; and in order to set the 
 greatness of Providence in its fullest light, they 
 always kept as close as possible to a shore set 
 round with hidden reefs, and teeming with avowed 
 pirates. 
 
 On the second day of our departure Castel-rosso 
 came in sight. We were just going to double the 
 most advanced promontory of the island, and to cast 
 anchor for the night behind its projecting cliffs, when 
 on our last tack there suddenly appeared ahead of 
 us, close in with the shore, a long dark object of sus- 
 picious form, though the dusk prevented our dis- 
 cerning its precise nature. It lay on the water 
 as still as a rock, but it bore all the appearance 
 of being filled with life. At this sight our cara- 
 vokieri grew as pale as a ghost; and all the crew 
 
384 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 showed equal signs of courage. " A bad way this,'*'' 
 cried I, " to meet danger ! Tlie pirates cannot see 
 more of us than we do of them : let us at least try 
 what a show of resolution may effect." And hereupon 
 I got our whole artillery brought upon deck, and 
 prepared for a warm engagement. The moment we 
 thought ourselves within musket shot of the enemy 
 I gave the signal for firing. " If the compliment 
 produce nothing else," thought I, " it will at least 
 make the scoundrels turn out, and show their 
 strength." Off went our first volley, and after it 
 every eye — expecting immediately to see the hostile 
 boat in the utmost bustle. So far, however, from 
 changing her position, she deigned not even to return 
 our salute. Half surprised and half piqued, we 
 repeat our fire : but our second volley is not more 
 noticed than the first. Still more amazed, we gave 
 a third broadside. Even this makes no impression. 
 But with the seeming shyness of the enemy our own 
 bravery rises. We now approach near enough to be 
 within speaking distance, and a fourth time discharge 
 every gun and swivel into the hostile deck. In short, 
 we continue incessantly firing, without experiencing 
 the smallest retaliation, till, by degrees, this very 
 impassibihty of the enemy causes an alarm of a new 
 species : — for we now fancied ourselves under the in- 
 fluence of some spell ; we supposed that we beheld 
 nothing but an unsubstantial vision : we became 
 convinced that we were fighting only with the 
 
ANASTASIUS. 285 
 
 phantom of a ship; which presently would cither 
 explode or vanish away — either blow us up in the 
 air, or draw us after it into the fathomless abyss. 
 As however neither happened, and the vessel seemed 
 equally little inclined to rise or to sink, we at last 
 agreed that the very few men which she contained 
 must all have been killed by our very first broadside. 
 We therefore suspended all further hostilities during 
 the remainder of the night, purposing as soon as 
 the dawn appeared to remove the dead bodies, and 
 to divide the spoil. 
 
 The dawn at last did appear, and as soon as it was 
 sufficiently advanced to light up the scene, showed 
 to our straining eyes, in the object of the whole 
 night's strenuous fighting, a small rock in the sea, 
 which from the peculiarity of its shape actually bears 
 the name of the Galley. We regretted all the ball 
 and powder wasted, and agreed not to boast of our 
 intrepidity : but our modesty was, in spite of our 
 caution, put to the blush. The whole island of 
 Castel-rosso had been alarmed by the incessant 
 firing ; every part of the shore was lined with spec- 
 tators ; and the moment we landed, they all crowded 
 round our party, and with loud cheers wished us 
 joy for having silenced the enemy. 
 
 Having laden our wood, we pursued our voyage. 
 It seemed an eternity in duration. Our crew knew 
 no other mode of sailing than right before the wind ; 
 and the least cloud that arose made them put into 
 
286' ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the first inlet they could reach, wholly heedless of 
 the risk of splitting upon a. rock, or running aground 
 upon a shoal. Coasting from one headland to 
 another, we slowly crept round every cape or pro- 
 montory on our way; and there scarce exists a 
 single creek, I believe, in or outside the Satalian bay, 
 which w^e did not successively visit. When the wind 
 increased to what was called a fortuna, the sailors 
 could only think of praying and lighting tapers 
 before the Panagla ; and as soon as fair weather re- 
 turned, they could only dance and play upon the 
 guitar ; nor ever thought of repairing the damage 
 done to the ship, until reminded of it by a fresh storm. 
 Still was the first part of our journey, compared 
 with the latter, the flight of the swallow contrasted 
 with the creeping of the tortoise. In the latitude of 
 Damiat, fate seemed to have fixed us to the spot for 
 life ; and we thought ourselves doomed never to pass 
 the eastern outlet of the Nile, even with the assist- 
 ance of some more experienced sailors whom we there 
 got on board. Every inch the feeble breeze enabled 
 us to advance, the strong current as regularly drove 
 us back; so that on our starboard tack we invariably 
 lost all we had gained on the larboard. Day after 
 day at sunrise we had the satisfaction to find ourselves 
 just in the same place from whence we had parted at 
 sunset the evening before. The fatal mouth of the 
 stream seemed to breathe a fascination which no 
 earthly power could overcome ! 
 
ANASTASIUS. ^287 
 
 An aerial one at last flew to our assistance. It arose 
 on the fifth day of our vain attempts, in the shape 
 of a sciroc sufficiently strong to cope with the current. 
 Backed by the burning blast, we doubled the point 
 of the Delta in the very teeth of the perverse tide, 
 and thus approached the goal. Even before we could 
 discern the sandy shore on which it stands, we beheld 
 the town of Alexandria, crowned with minarets and 
 encircled with date trees. 
 
 In its quality of Grecian property, our vessel cast 
 anchor in the new harbour ; the old being reserved 
 for stanch Musselmen keels. Hell itself, as the 
 bourn of a long sea voyage, would have appeared 
 to me a very habitable place; Alexandria seemed 
 heaven. In its melancholy mounds of barren sand 
 I could only see pleasing swells, and in its dismal 
 ruins a picturesque ruggedness. Its inhabitants, 
 ready to assume any hue or form at will, were a sort 
 of human camehons : but camelions may afford en- 
 tertainment by their constant changes. To me the 
 contrast between the hveliness of the Alexandrians 
 and the solemn stupidity of the Turks seemed quite 
 enchanting. As I went to secure my night's lodging 
 at an okkal, ^ I was every instant arrested by their 
 wit and repartee. " How pleasant it must be to 
 reside here !*" said I to myself. " Gay people are 
 always so good-natured !" 
 
 The words had scarcely dropped from my lips, 
 when I heard at some distance a loud and increasing 
 
i2S8 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 clamour, which I supposed to be that of some re- 
 joicing or festival. Presently appeared an immense 
 crowd of people of every age and description — men, 
 women, and children — rending the air with their 
 shouts. In the midst of the motley assemblage 
 advanced in a separate cluster a chosen band, trailing 
 after them in procession, with louder bowlings than 
 the rest, the city weights and scales. 
 
 " What means this ceremony ?" said I, accosting 
 one of the actors in this novel scene : " for what 
 purpose are these instruments travelling?'"' — " For 
 the purpose of gibbeting the chief of the customs, a 
 Syriac Christian, on the very instrument of his mal- 
 practices ;" hastily answered the fellow, impatient 
 at the detention. 
 
 " And has the law weighed, and found him 
 wanting ?" — " How could it help doing so," w^as the 
 reply, " when we all demanded his punishment ? 
 We insisted on the shar-allah, — the justice of God ; 
 and the cadee himself thought us too many not to 
 be in the right. So we are going to execute the 
 sentence." 
 
 Having now carried his courtesy to the utmost 
 stretch, the man bade me adieu, for fear of further 
 questions, and ran after his companions, who already 
 were out of sight. For my part, I contented my- 
 self with inwardly praying to Allah that I might. 
 be preserved from his justice; and particularly at 
 Alexandria. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 289 
 
 My apartment at the okkal being secured for the 
 night, I went to a native of the place who followed the 
 various trades of ship agent, interpreter, and pilot, in 
 order to obtain from him a conveyance to Raschid.^ 
 In his youth, the bustling personage had served on 
 board Marseillese, Venetian, and Leghorn traders. 
 He spoke with equal fluency the Turkish, the Ara- 
 bic, the Greek, the Proven^alj and the lingua 
 Franca. On entering his small abode, where he sat 
 with open door in readiness to receive strangers, I 
 found him gravely discussing with a Franciscan 
 monk, over a bottle of rakie,^ the relative merits of 
 islamism and of popery. 
 
 *' Hark ye, father," said he, speaking with such a 
 volubility of tongue and violence of gesture, that at 
 first I thought him in a tremendous passion, " I do 
 not mean to pass myself off for the most squeamish 
 of Moslemen. In my long intercourse with infidels 
 (begging your pardon) I have been obliged occa* 
 sionally to relax a little from the rigour of our 
 practices; sometimes, when time ran short, to 
 mumble half a prayer instead of a whole one ; and 
 where water was scarce, to perform my ablutions to 
 the wrist only instead of to the elbows ; nor did I 
 always remember, when a good joint of meat was 
 smoking on the table, and I sharp set in consequence 
 of a long fast, to inquire before I fell to, whether 
 the beast had been stabbed with a knife or knocked 
 down with a hatchet. But, thank God ! I have never 
 
 VOL. I, u 
 
290 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 been a rank heathen — a kafr. I never, hke you, 
 behaved in scores of Gods, nor worshipped idols of 
 wood and brass." 
 
 " Merciful Father," cried the friar — setting down 
 the rakie, already in contact with his lips : — " nor I 
 neither, nor any of us! How can you say such 
 things?" 
 
 " How can I ?" answered the Alexandrian, " but 
 from having witnessed them with my own eyes ! 
 Who among you, I beg, thinks of celebrating a 
 festival, building a mosque, addressing a prayer, 
 vowing a present, imparting a wish, or expressing 
 a want to any but St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis 
 of Assisi, St. John, St. James, St. Peter, St. Paul, 
 St. Agnes, St. Catherine, St. Cecilia, or any other 
 of the saints and saintesses, whose interference quite 
 leaves Providence a cipher, and whose number ex- 
 ceeds that of days set apart to worship them ? In 
 whose name but in that of these officious go-betweens 
 are your oxen, and your sheep, and your poultry, 
 and your very pigs blessed by the priest at the 
 church door ? In whose honour but theirs do you 
 suspend over your altars silver tokens of broken 
 heads and hearts, of children born, and grown 
 people mended ? Can your cook so much as bake 
 his meat, but by favour of St. Laurence.? — delighted, 
 it seems, to be reminded of his own broiling on a 
 gridiron ! And as to worshipping wooden images, — 
 have I not seen whole shoals of Nazarenes leave the 
 
ANASTA8IUS. 291 
 
 nicest, whitest little flaxen-headed madonnas which 
 your toy-shops could produce, at home quite neg- 
 lected, to travel barefoot perhaps five hundred 
 leagues to some old mouldering figure, as ugly as a 
 scarecrow, and as black as a negro ; which strange 
 fancy you will allow could only arise from some pe- 
 culiar virtue assigned to the latter image, — since, 
 how should they otherwise try to extract it, by rub- 
 bing their noddle against its greasy pate ?" 
 
 " As to that, child," replied the friar — taking a 
 fresh sip of his rakie, and pursing up his mouth like 
 one who is going to give an unanswerable answer, 
 — '' it is only on the score of superior resemblance 
 to the saint, that certain images are preferred. All 
 the world knows that the holy Virgin sat for her 
 picture to St. Luke : and we may suppose she wishes 
 to distinguish the originals by some pecuUar mark 
 of her divine favour." 
 
 " Well !" exclaimed the Alexandrian, in astonish- 
 ment ; " if this same virgin had been offered to me 
 as a wife !" — ^but again checking himself: " and 
 pray,'* added he, " your other saints, have they 
 also each had his painter ?" 
 
 " No doubt," replied the Franciscan. "All great 
 personages with us sit for their portraits. I myself 
 have sat, both as a Cupid and a friar." 
 
 The factor now got up, and fetching a little 
 parcel which he gave to the padre : " there," said 
 
 u 2 
 
292 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 he, " are the St. Domingo beans you wanted. They 
 are the very best I could find in the market. You 
 may safely send them to your friends in Christen- 
 dom, and be sure that, when well roasted, like 
 St. Laurence aforesaid, they will drink them for 
 pure Mokha, and admire how superior they are in 
 flavour to the vile West India coffee." Upon this, 
 he slapped the father on the back, dismissed him, 
 and asked my business. I had made signs to him 
 before not to break off the discussion, wliich I 
 thought rather diverting. 
 
 On stating my intention to go to Raschid, he 
 agreed for my passage on board one of the country 
 djerms.^ It was to sail early the next morning ; and 
 at the appointed time, I went to secure my birth. 
 
 The boat seemed chiefly loaded with live stock ; 
 and by far the noisiest article of that description 
 was a lot of female slaves, selected from among a 
 ship load lately brought for sale to Alexandria. A 
 sharp grego^maestro, which kept blowing in our 
 teeth all day long, and at dusk forced us to anchor 
 before Bekier, enabled me to form some estimate of 
 the value of this cargo. In the small place where 
 we were all huddled pell mell, the rolling pro- 
 duced by the storm afforded me every oppor- 
 tunity I could wish for of forming an acquaint- 
 ance with such of the ladies as looked most sociable ; 
 nor did our innocent chit chat suffer any interrup- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 293 
 
 tion from the watchfulness of their keeper, who, 
 horribly sea-sick, lay speechless in the hold, and 
 never opened his mouth for any purpose at all cal- 
 culated to interrupt our conversation. His charge, 
 inured to the sea by the voyage of the Euxine and 
 the Mediterranean, only laughed at his distress, and, 
 in defiance of winds and waves, chattered away like 
 magpies. A Tcherkassian damsel, whose large black 
 eyes seemed quite determined not to suffer from the 
 concealment of her other charms, chiefly attracted 
 my attention. She rewarded my notice with her 
 utmost confidence, and gave me the rude sketch of 
 her rough adventures. 
 
 " One evening," said she, " when I was in bed, 
 and pretended to be asleep, my parents began to 
 talk, as usual, about the trouble I gave them. My 
 mother wished me far away. My father observed 
 nothing was so easy as to fulfil that wish. A Turkish 
 merchant, who used every two or three years to 
 come and collect slaves in our country, had arrived 
 that very day ; and assuredly it was fairer that 
 those who had had all the expense, should have the 
 profit of me, rather than the neighbouring Tartars, 
 who were every day carrying off some of our girls 
 to sell to the Turks. My mother — somewhat fond 
 of contradiction — now changed her tone, and would 
 not hear of parting with her only daughter. But 
 my father, telling her she was always perverse, 
 offered her an alternative between what she liked 
 
294 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 better than keeping, and what she disliked \yorse than 
 losing me, — a cask of brandy or a sound cudgelling. 
 She took the spirits and gave up her child. The 
 next day I was carried to the merchant. After a 
 great deal of haggling, he bought, or rather accepted 
 me in exchange for arms, apparel, and sweet meats. 
 I was stowed on board a small vessel, with a number 
 of other slaves picked up in various parts. Most 
 of them had been sold by their landlords in payment 
 of rent. The ship proved so leaky that we never 
 expected to reach Stambool. By a miracle, however, 
 we got there ; — at least, so I was told : for I never 
 saw any thing of the place, except the large ugly 
 khan in which we were housed. Our owner had 
 us taught here the various accomplishments requi- 
 site for a ready sale — the Mohammedan religion, 
 music, and dancing. Every day customers of all 
 descriptions used to come and cheapen some among 
 us. The price set on me was what few could afford : 
 but my time meanwhile passed comfortably. I had 
 plenty to eat, heaps of fine clothes, and a looking- 
 glass to myself. I should have been quite happy 
 but for the dread of being bought for the Grand 
 Signor, who, they say, has so many wives, that he 
 does not know what to do with them, and, though 
 as old as Methusalem, yet must have a new one 
 every Christmas. Think of being laid on the shelf 
 at the death of this old spindle-shanks, as useless 
 lumber, in an ancient seraglio with tremendously 
 
ANASTASIUS. 295 
 
 high walls — there to remain for life neither single 
 nor married ! This fate I escaped. The kehaya 
 of Yousoof-13ey of Cairo bought me for his master, 
 with some of my companions. We were imme- 
 diately shipped off in a very comfortable vessel; 
 hardly ever had a whipping during the whole 
 voyage ; and here we are, on the eve, thank God ! 
 of reaching our final destination. To me it promises 
 a paradise. I wish I could say as much in favour 
 of my companions. But, poor things ! they were 
 only, as it were, thrown into the bargain; and I 
 fear will remain all their lives mere drudges." 
 
 This last piece of intelligence, though conveyed 
 in a very low whisper, did not escape the quick ears 
 of the damsels for whom Hamida expressed such 
 unacceptable compassion. I thought it would have 
 occasioned an immediate engagement. With one 
 accord the whole party rose up from their mattresses, 
 and, gathering round the frightened Hamida, abused 
 her for telling such falsehoods — she ! a low-bred 
 Tcherkassian, without faith, fat, or manners — of 
 Georgians like them, who at home used every day 
 to go to mass, and had as much victuals as ever 
 they wished to eat ! But Hamida's own mettle rose 
 at the base insinuation, and facing her assailants 
 boldly ; " It signifies much truly," replied she in 
 an ironical tone, " from what country we come, 
 when none of us will ever see it again ; and whether 
 we had much or little of our religion, when we all 
 
i>96 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 have renounced it alike ! And as to our fat — which 
 is the most material point — that must be seen to be 
 judged of."*** 
 
 '• Then, let it," replied all the others in chorus ; 
 *' and trust to us for seeing nothing !" and imme- 
 diately they all fell upon poor Hamida, forcibly tore 
 open her feridjee, and displayed her bosom. It 
 might not answer the utmost amplitude of Asiatic 
 ideas, but I confess, though I looked hard, I per- 
 ceived no deficiency. 
 
 Even before this exhibition, the keeper of the 
 ladies had cast sundry savage glances our way. He 
 now contrived, sick as he was, to crawl unperceived 
 among the busy group, and only announced his 
 presence by unexpectedly laying about him with 
 such energy as not only to separate the combatants, 
 but to send them slinking away to the furthest cor- 
 ner of the hold. He then lay down before them, 
 and thus formed an effectual mediator for the pre- 
 vention of further disputes. 
 
 No one remained on the field of battle except the 
 spectators : namely, myself, and a single female as 
 different from our Circassian as night is from day : 
 an Abyssinian negro woman. Manumitted by her 
 last master, the dusky nymph had nobody to whom 
 she was accountable for her conversation but her- 
 self, feared not the interruptions of a keeper's lash, 
 and seemed determined to avail herself to the full 
 of her advantages. She began by informing me. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 297 
 
 most prolixly, of all her concerns, past, present, and 
 future. At first, she told me, her stars had looked 
 but coolly upon her. She had been carried to 
 Constantinople in winter, had suffered much from 
 chilblains, and had been married to a black eunuch. 
 But the husband died, the chilblains healed, the 
 summer came, and lovers began, like bees, to buzz 
 about the black rose. " Still," continued she, " as 
 I now was rich, I resolved again to quit the cold 
 climate of Constantinople, and gradually to re-ap- 
 proach the milder temperature of Sennaar. Per- 
 haps, thought I, in my way, at Alexandria, I may 
 chance to find among the Mawgarbees^ some proper 
 husband for my money, to make me amends for 
 my former empty honours. Nothing, however, 
 worthy the acceptance of the widow of Ibrahim- 
 Aga offered ; and I am now moving onward to 
 Cairo, where, wholly independent of your insipid 
 whites, I am quite sure of suitably matching my own 
 colour, — unless," added she, with a significant glance, 
 *' something very tempting should offer by the way.*" 
 That this something actually had offered, and 
 that every objection to the insipidity of whites had 
 been overcome, I soon felt convinced of by the lady's 
 oeillades. Certain of her own approval, she did not 
 in the least seem to trouble herself about any possible 
 objection on my part ; and her advances presently 
 became so marked, that I owed the greatest ob- 
 ligation to the timely interposition of the Boghaz. 
 
29^ ANASTASIUS. 
 
 This formidable sand-bank, which muzzles the 
 mouth of the Nile, was announced at a most critical 
 moment. Immediately every other passion yielded 
 to terror. The Circassians screamed, the Turks 
 fainted, and the negress turned as pale as she was 
 able. Even after the peril was surmounted, all 
 thoughts of taking tlie citadel by storm seemed laid 
 aside ; and the siege dwindled into a mere blockade, 
 which lasted till we got to Raschid. 
 
 The abrupt transition from the yellow aridity of 
 Alexandria to the verdant freshness of Rosetta, 
 rising on the margin of a beautiful river, and em- 
 bosomed in orange, in sycamore, and date trees, 
 might give a foretaste of Elysium. I spent a 
 whole day in a jesmine arbour, eating bananas, and 
 drinking the juice of the sugar-cane; and, after 
 having thus truly tasted the sweets of Raschid, 
 re-embarked on board a maash,^ destined to sail up 
 the river, and to land us at Cairo. It resembled 
 Noah's ark ; was filled with beasts of every descrip- 
 tion, and surrounded by an universal flood. As 
 far as the eye could reach, the waters of the Nile 
 suffered nothing to rise above their surface but the 
 walls of the towns and villages, looking on their 
 artificial platforms, as if floating in trays on the 
 liquid plain. Among the strange animals which 
 our barge conveyed across this immense plash, 
 shone conspicuovis from the bright yellow of his 
 flossy skin, a short bloated biped, who, on a head 
 
ANASTASIUS. 299 
 
 scarce peeping over his shoulders, wore, perfectly 
 poised, a huge flat turban, which gave the tout- 
 ensemhle the complete proportions of a toadstool ; 
 and truly, in the eyes of the other natives, this 
 natural production seemed to be very much held in 
 equal estimation with a fungus. An Osmanlee of 
 Cairo — a man of unusual information for his country, 
 and of open pleasant manners — seeing the wonder 
 with which I contemplated this figure, whispered 
 me : " Coobd is the name these people bear, and 
 they trace their descent from the ancient Egyptians ; 
 but they have changed the object of their worship 
 from cats and onions to gold ; and the only hierogl}^- 
 phics they preserve are those in their scrutoires, which 
 secure to them the exclusive knowledge of the size, 
 produce, and boundaries of all the cultivable tracts 
 of the country. Nor is this, in their hands, a mere 
 speculative and barren science. It ensures them the 
 stewardship of all the property of their Moham- 
 medan masters. More conversant in arms than in 
 arithmetic, we cannot dispense with this vermin, 
 though it lives upon our best substance ; and every 
 Moslemin of any rank or wealth, from the Schaich- 
 el-belled'^ who farms the whole territorial contribu- 
 tion of Egypt, to the smallest Aga of a village, or 
 subtenant of the Schaich-el-belled, has his Coobtic 
 steward or writer, whose accounts he understands just 
 as much as the Coobd understands the language of 
 his own prayers. He only knows that he is cheated, 
 and has no way to help himself." 
 
300 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 Night, meantime, had begun to cast its veil even 
 over the nearest objects, when, on a sudden turn of 
 the river, we all at once beheld at a distance before 
 us a most splendid spectacle. The left bank of the 
 Nile seemed for a considerable space in an entire 
 blaze, and the luminous streak which edged the 
 winding shore, producing by its reflexion a parallel 
 line of light in the mirror of the stream, made the 
 whole resemble a riband edged with fire. It glit- 
 tered more brilliantly from the surrounding dark- 
 ness. The spot which it skirted resounded with the 
 incessant clang of cymbals, of kettle-drums, and other 
 musical instruments; and, as we approached near 
 enough to discern in the fairy spectacle the effects 
 of a most extensive illumination, the shouts and 
 song of innumerable voices met the ear. The place 
 thus distinguished was Mektoobes, famous in all 
 seasons for its gaiety, and at this particular period 
 engaged in the festival of its patron Schaich, which 
 drew together the population of all the surrounding 
 districts. For almost a mile the quay was lined 
 with barges, so closely wedged that one might walk 
 from deck to deck ; while the interior of the town 
 was rendered as light as day by thousands of lamps ; 
 some winding in lofty spirals to the summit of the 
 minarets, others thrown in long festoons from pin- 
 nacle to pinnacle, others again expanding in wreaths, 
 in sheaves, and other fanciful forms. As we drew 
 nearer the eye was not more dazzled by the glare 
 of light, than the ear was stunned by the din of 
 
ANASTASIUS. 301 
 
 instruments. At every corner of a street a different 
 band of musicians played a different tune, in hopes 
 of drowning all the others in its noise; and in 
 every open space some different troop of singers, 
 dancers, tumblers, sorcerers, or fortune-tellers ex- 
 hibited their different sorts of feats, with a view 
 to eclipse all the rest. Here a string of awahs^ 
 strained their windpipes in tremulous quavers, until 
 they grew as hoarse as the frogs in the neighbouring 
 ditches; and there a knot of ghazie^ distorted their 
 limbs into as uncouth postures as if they had been 
 frogs themselves; and while one portion of our 
 passengers stood watching the tricks of a juggler, 
 whose troop of performers consisted in a basket full 
 of serpents, another portion sat gaping at the feats 
 of a rival mountebank, whose chef d'ceuvre was 
 turning water into blood, and earth into vermin. 
 I speak not of the female charmers who preferred 
 for the exhibition of their fascinations the darker 
 places, where they excelled in emptying of its last 
 para the closest drawn purse. Of these Syrens, our 
 poor Coobd might give the best accoilnt. He had 
 been missing almost from the moment we went 
 ashore ; and no one could guess what witchery had 
 conjured him away, until we all got back to our 
 barge. It was there he first re-appeared among us ; 
 and the first thing he did was to untie his pouch, 
 in order to ascertain the damage it had sustained. 
 A sequin was the utmost he rated it at ; and that 
 was just twice as much as, by his own account, the 
 
SOS ANASTASIUS. 
 
 thrifty personage ever had spent on similar aberra- 
 tions. What was his horror when he found that, 
 by an art exactly contrary to that of the alchymists, 
 the ladies whose leger-de-main tricks he had been 
 too curiously investigating, had converted all his 
 gold into base metal. His purse indeed, externally, 
 preserved its full size and weight; but alas, the 
 contents had experienced a sad transmutation ! His 
 gold was all turned into brass ! 
 
 At any other period, the adventures of Mektoobes 
 and the misfortunes of the Coobd would have fur- 
 nished materials for conversation till we reached 
 Cairo : but at this moment the mind of no Egyptian 
 born was sufficiently disengaged for such idle talk. 
 A topic of higher, more universal, and more vital 
 interest engaged every thought, and dwelt on every 
 lip ; absorbed the whole mind of man, woman, and 
 child ; and was sure, whatever other subject most 
 foreign from it might accidentally be started, ulti- 
 mately, by imperceptible steps, to regain full posses- 
 sion of every receptacle of thought or words ! 
 
 This was the rise of the Nile, — the phenomenon 
 on whose measure and degree depended, throughout 
 Egypt, the serious difference between plenty and 
 famine; and whose increase, perceptible inch by 
 inch, and sometimes rapid, sometimes slow, some- 
 times wholly at a stand, kept, while it lasted, every 
 eye on the stretch, and every mind in a fever. 
 
 In vain, as a stranger not yet embued with the 
 spirit of the universal subject, I now and then tried 
 
ANASTASIUS. 303 
 
 to turn the conversation into another channel. The 
 shmy ducts that carried the muddy v/aves of the 
 Nile to the furthest hmits of the country, were the 
 only channels which my hearers could contemplate. 
 When I talked of Hassan's expedition to the Morea, 
 a person on my right observed it must have happened 
 the year when the river only rose fifteen cubits; 
 when I hoped to engage the attention of the com- 
 pany by describing the splendours of the Sultan's 
 court, a man on my left asked whose office it was to 
 bring him the daily intelligence of the Nile's in- 
 crease; and when I extolled the beauty of our 
 islands, some one, who till that instant had never 
 opened his lips, sighed to think they had no rivers 
 to rise like the Nile. I now despaired of any other 
 general conversation, and, in order to hear the last 
 of the ruHng topic, took my Osmanlee friend aside, 
 supplicated as a favour that he would first say all 
 that his imagination could suggest concerning the 
 Nile and all its branches, and would then vouchsafe 
 to give me a little sketch of the politics of Egypt. 
 This he readily undertook, and as his information 
 on that subject may render more intelligible my 
 own subsequent adventures in that country, I shall 
 here transfer it to the reader — in substance more 
 than in form — and with such additions and emenda- 
 tions as I subsequently derived from my own ob- 
 servation. 
 
304 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 '' Egypt,"" said (or said not) my Osmanlee, " after 
 its conquest by Omar, first obeyed a race of Arab 
 sovereigns called Kaliphs. To these succeeded, on 
 its occupation by Selah-el-din, a race of Tartar 
 princes denominated Sultans. 
 
 It was the early practice prevailing in every 
 country under Tartar government, to leave the cul- 
 tivation of the ground to the free-born peasant^ 
 and to employ the prisoner taken in war, and the 
 purchased slave, in domestic and personal services 
 alone. When however in their southward progress 
 the Tartar swarms came in contact with black and 
 woolly-haired nations, they varied the destination of 
 the new slaves they made according to their colour. 
 The more pliant and pacific negro, foreign in habits as 
 in looks from his purchaser, was under the name of 
 Abdor domestic servant confined to household ofiices, 
 and was never kept for defence. Admitted to the 
 highest posts in the household, he could attain no 
 advancement in the state. The more warlike white 
 slave on the contrary, not unfrequently the neigh- 
 bour nay the relation of his master in the country 
 whence both derived their origin, and considered 
 
% 
 
 ANASTASIUS. \\ ^ 3057p 
 
 as more able to wield a patron's authority, aS&^fliore" 
 fit to represent his person, was, under the name^af 
 Mamluke, trained up to arms as well as to attendance?*^ 
 While in his master's house, he served him not only 
 as his domestic but as his military guard and de- 
 fender, and when manumitted, he became entitled 
 to aspire to the highest dignities in the army and the 
 state. The custom of raising military slaves or 
 Mamlukes to eminent employments has prevailed 
 wherever throughout Europe, Asia, or Africa, a 
 Tartar dynasty has arisen. Indeed, slaves of this 
 description were employed by Tartar sovereigns as 
 their generals and their ministers in preference to 
 free-men, whether of the conquered or even of the 
 conquering race. Torn up by the root from their 
 native soil, strangers to that into which they were 
 transplanted, unconnected with the body at large 
 either of the vanquished or of the vanquishers, de- 
 riving their existence, their support, their greatness 
 from their master alone, raised by his will, and at 
 his nod again reduced to their original nothingness, 
 they appeared of all descriptions of men the least 
 formidable to a despotic ruler. In their hands the 
 power which an absolute monarch is obliged to de- 
 legate in all its fulness to each of his ministers down 
 to the last and least, seemed most exempt from the 
 danger of being turned against its author. 
 
 No device, however, has yet been discovered by 
 which a single hand can long continue to hold un- 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
 <<>. 
 
sod ANASTASIUS. 
 
 divided an absolute sway over an extensive country . 
 He who must singly withstand the pressure of many, 
 is doomed at last to fall. Thus it fared with Selah- 
 el-din's successors. The Mamlukes intrusted by 
 thera with the command of provinces, amended their 
 original insulation by their subsequent leagues. 
 They set aside their legitimate sovereign, and esta- 
 blished a military government in a republican 
 form. Each of the fourteen provinces of Egypt 
 was governed by its own Bey. These lesser chiefs 
 used to assemble in council under a president called 
 Schaich- el-belled, or chief of the country. In this 
 Divan were enacted by plurality of votes the decrees 
 for the common welfare of all, and each Bey pre- 
 sided in his own department over their due exe- 
 cution. 
 
 From its first origin and throughout all its later 
 vicissitudes, this republic of Beys has been per- 
 petuated by means unexampled to the same extent 
 in any other country, — namely, by an uninterrupted 
 importation of strange slaves, transformed by degrees 
 into rulers of Egypt. Not that, as foreigners have 
 sometimes imagined, the constitution of the Egyp- 
 tian commonwealth prohibited by any positive law 
 natives, freemen, and the actual progeny of prior 
 rulers from participating in the government of the 
 country : not that any express ordination ever re- 
 served the succession to power and the exercise of 
 authority exclusively to strangers and to slaves. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 307 
 
 Throughout every period of the domhiation of the 
 Beys, instances have existed of individuals who were 
 neither slaves nor strangers, but free-born Moham- 
 medan Turks, nay sons of Mamlukes and of Beys, 
 being allowed to attain the highest employments in 
 the state. Three generations of Beys shone in the 
 family of Beloofi : at this moment, Ibrahim, our 
 Schaich-el -belled, boasts of the great destinies that 
 await his son Marzook ; and at some future day 
 you yourself, who as far as I know were never 
 bought nor sold, may, unless prevented by prior 
 claims, become one of our Beys. 
 
 But a concurrence of circumstances has nearly 
 effected what no law ever expressly decreed. Ac- 
 cording to our customs the prolific period of youth 
 is spent by the Mamluke under his patron's roof in 
 forced singleness, and in the society of none but his 
 fellow soldiers. His constitution, more liable to the 
 enervating tendency of the climate in proportion as 
 it derives from its more bracing native atmosphere a 
 greater natural fulness and succulence, is weakened, 
 perhaps his very imagination receives a fatal bias, 
 ere manumission allows him to quit his master's 
 house, and to enjoy the comforts of the connubial 
 state. No sooner indeed is he gifted with freedom 
 than he seeks a wife, were it only to acquire in the 
 sacredness of the harem a security for his person, 
 and a sanctuary for his property : but even on this 
 occasion his pride and his prejudice lead liini to 
 
 X 2 
 
508 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 spurn from his embrace tlie woman of the country, 
 whose seasoned constitution might counteract the 
 effects of his debilitated system, and suffer him 
 to form an alhance only with some female slave of 
 his own nation, on whom the climate of Egypt 
 exerts the same enervating influence. Seldom does 
 any progeny arise from these too well assorted 
 marriages; or, if blessed with offspring, and such as 
 attains maturity, it is in general too degenerate in 
 body and too imbecile in mind, to hold, and to 
 defend the parental authority against a host of 
 sturdier competitors : and for want of a sufficiency 
 of natural heirs to succeed to their possessions and 
 their power, the rulers of Egypt have throughout 
 every period of their history been obliged to seek 
 in fresh slaves imported from their own native 
 realms, the heirs to their wealth, and the successors 
 to their dominion. 
 
 Among these creatures of servitude and devotees 
 to ambition, the Abases, the Tcherkassians, and 
 the youths of Odeshe and of Gurgistan^ are in 
 general the most esteemed, as being the nearest in 
 blood to their patrons, and the most eminent in 
 corporal endowments and warlike accomplishments. 
 Renegadoes themselves, their masters make it a 
 rule, more in compliance with custom than out of 
 respect for religion, to raise no servant to any em- 
 ployment who is not by birth or from choice a 
 Mohammedan. But this condition fulfilled, what- 
 
ANASTASIUS. 30.0 
 
 ever native of any country north of Egypt is willing 
 to owe his whole existence and advancement to his 
 patron, may aspire to all the advantages which an 
 Egyptian grandee can bestow. The Bey connects 
 with the artificial relationship between master and 
 slave all the reciprocal duties, nay attaches to it 
 all the reciprocal appellations, that belong to the 
 natural ties of which he lives bereft : he calls his 
 Mamlukes his children, and hears them call him 
 their father. According to the measure of their at- 
 tachment, their deserts, or their favour in his eyes, 
 he promotes them successively, while yet in bondage, 
 to all the honourable offices in his own household, 
 from that of simple body guard, to that of hasnadar 
 or treasurer; and, when manumitted, to all the 
 dignities in the state at his disposal, from that 
 of single Aga, to that of Kiashef,- and Bey, and 
 Schaich-el-belled. During his lifetime he marries 
 them to whatever female relations of his own he can 
 discover, and at his death he leaves them heirs to his 
 wealth and his offices. So much are these adoptive 
 children considered as the natural heirs to all their 
 patron's property, that his very wives, and sisters, 
 and daughters devolve to them, according to the 
 date of their creation and the eminence of their 
 rank ; and the greater the number of such creatures, 
 devoted to his service, defending his person, devour- 
 ing his property, and raised by his patronage to 
 wealth and to dignities a man in power possesses, 
 
310 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 the more the lustre reflected from these satellites 
 that move around him, swells his own pride, in- 
 creases his own importance, and extends his own 
 sway. It is by the vast circumference of its base 
 that we estimate the height of the mountain. 
 
 Such is in Egypt the inertness of the native, and 
 such the insulation of the country, encompassed on 
 all sides by seas or by deserts, that the domination 
 of the Beys, though only continued by slaves, by 
 renegadoes, and by strangers — by men forswearing 
 every tie of country, of blood, of sex, and of reli- 
 gion, and presenting every form of anarchy, civil 
 war, and murder by steel and by poison — yet sub- 
 sisted near two centuries, without being wrested 
 from the feeble hands that held it, either by an in- 
 digenous subject, or by a foreign invader. 
 
 At last, however, the sway of the Mamlukes 
 seemed destined to decline. In the year 9^3 of 
 the hegyra, Selim, Sultan of the Turks, invaded 
 Egypt, conquered the land of the Beys, hung their 
 chief, and degraded their body : the former rulers 
 of the country were reduced to the rank of collectors 
 of its revenue. Attached to different provinces, 
 they and their kiashefs became the farmers of 
 the territorial contribution; while their chief, the 
 Schaich-el-belled, was alone fixed at Cairo under 
 the watchful eye of the Sultan's own Visier. 
 
 As an intermediate power between the Mamlukes 
 and the Pasha, Uic conqueror created a provincial 
 
ANASTASIUS. .311 
 
 militia. It was destined to support the financial 
 operations of the Beys, and to restrain the political 
 influence of the Visier. It is true that these troops 
 swore submission to severe regulations. Confined 
 in the citadels of Cairo and of Djirdge, they were 
 to exercise no trade, lest they should lose their 
 martial spirit, and to possess no land, lest they 
 should acquire a local interest. Great privileges, 
 however, made amends for these restrictions ; since, 
 in order to render his military force independent of 
 his representative, the Sultan allowed its odgiaklees, 
 or chiefs, to enact in their own private councils the 
 laws necessary for the welfare of their corps. 
 
 No human power, however, can be so nicely 
 poised, but that a little excess in some quarter will 
 by degrees determine all further weight to flow to 
 the same side ; until the balance be at last wholly 
 destroyed. Stationary in the country, and com- 
 manding a formidable force, the chiefs of the militia 
 soon began to resist indiscriminately every order of 
 a Pasha liable to constant removals, and the bearer 
 of unsupported mandates : they ended by compelling 
 him to sanction in the name of the sovereign the 
 statutes decreed in their own. A prisoner in the 
 castle, while suffered to remain at Cairo, he no 
 sooner gave the least offence, than he was dismissed 
 without delay. 
 
 The Beys were held in still more open and 
 degrading subjection : for the Schaich-el-belled was 
 
312 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 made, on days of ceremony, to hold the stirrup to 
 the Aga of the jenissaries. Even the subjects of 
 the Porte at large experienced at the hands of this 
 lawless soldiery the direst oppression. They could 
 only escape its rapacity by inlisting in its corps- 
 but in proportion as the candidate for this honour 
 was wealthier, and thus exposed to greater ex- 
 tortions, he obtained less easily the immunity which 
 he more urgently wanted. One half of his fortune 
 was generally the price of his security during his 
 life, and at his death the other half devolved to the 
 regiment in which he was enrolled; nor, if a rich 
 individual had by some means succeeded to elude 
 while he lived the burthensome boon, could his 
 good fortune while he had breath, on his demise 
 avail his heirs. In default of a real engagement a 
 forged contract was soon produced, and promptly 
 acted upon. 
 
 Thus did the militia of Egypt, in spite of the 
 Sultan's edict, soon absorb all its personal property : 
 nor was it long, ere, by a still more glaring infrac- 
 tion of their rules, the odgiaklees became possessors 
 of most of the land : — but if their power at first thus 
 gained them inordinate wealth, that wealth again, 
 by a just retribution, served to undermine their 
 power ; and just as the Nile, after rising till it over- 
 flows the country " 
 
 At this ominous simile I took fright, put my 
 finger on the narrator's lips, and earnestly entreated 
 
ANASTASIUS. :n3 
 
 that he would tell his tale in a straight-forward 
 manner, without tropes or figures — especially about 
 the Nile. 
 
 He smiled, and thus proceeded : — By becoming 
 landed proprietors, the members of the militia had 
 rendered themselves accountable in one sense to 
 those very Beys who were amenable before them in 
 another: but there remained no longer an equal 
 security for the discharge of the mutual obliga- 
 tion. While by the enrolment in their corps of 
 every peaceful citizen disposed to pay the admission 
 fee required, and the discarding of every able sol- 
 dier himself requiring a stipend, the militia was 
 become at once enfeebled at the heart and un- 
 wieldy at its extremities, the Beys seemed to have 
 regained all the strength which their antagonists had 
 lost: for the Mamluke tribe — that indestructible 
 plague of Egypt, that weed always alive, and at 
 every new subversion of a more artificial system 
 again springing up in all its former luxuriance — 
 had, by constant fresh supplies, meanwhile recovered 
 all its vigour. 
 
 Thus the different departments of the state, in- 
 tended by Selim to check each other's pressure, 
 became totally confounded ; or rather, their offices 
 were exchanged, their interests reversed, and the 
 supremacy made to flow back into its pristine chan- 
 nels. While the militia insensibly spread over the 
 surface of the land, to attend to its culture, the 
 
314 ANASTASIUS, 
 
 Beys again flocked to Cairo, to resume their cabals : 
 while the odgiaklees had erst given to their crea- 
 tures the employments of the Beys, the Beys now 
 gave to their freed-men the rank of odgiaklees : the 
 public revenue, before squandered by the soldiery, 
 now became wasted by the Mamlukes; and what 
 power remained in the hands of the Sultan's forces, 
 was no longer employed to resist but to protect the 
 Sultan's enemies. The spider was left to weave its 
 web in silence over those gilded vaults, which had 
 once re-echoed with the fierce debates of com- 
 manders; and the Pasha, who formerly had only 
 feared the power of the militia, now only trembled 
 at the name of the Beys. 
 
 Scarce however had this revolution been perfected, 
 when the daring Aly, Bey and Schaich-el-belled, 
 succeeded in wresting its fruits out of the hands of 
 its authors. Renouncing his allegiance to the Porte, 
 and contracting an alliance with the Russians, he 
 awed into silence his colleagues, and reserved every 
 office for his own adoptive children. He sent his 
 son Ismail to sack Damascus, and his son Hassan 
 to pillage Djedda; while he kept his eldest son 
 Mohammed at home, to bear as he could the whole 
 weight of his favours : and great it was ; — for he 
 honoured him with the hand of his sister, sent for 
 purposely from Georgia ; he heaped upon him such 
 riches as to cause him to be surnamed Aboo-dahab, 
 or the father of gold ; and he endowed him with 
 
ANASTASIUS. ;ji5 
 
 sufficient power to create his own dependants Beys : 
 insomuch that at last Aboo-dahab, disabled by his 
 patron from rising any higher, except by stepping 
 on his patron's neck, slew him, in order that his 
 work might be completed. 
 
 Nor was Aboo-dahab disappointed in this pur- 
 pose. Named Schaich-el-belled by his own Beys, 
 and chosen Pasha by the grateful Porte, he offered 
 the first example in Egypt, as he did the last, of all 
 the grandeur which the country can bestow, and 
 all the authority which the Sultan can give, united 
 in the same person : — but his joy was short ! In- 
 toxicated unto madness by these too copious draughts 
 of successful ambition, his blood began to ferment ; 
 his fluids turned to poison; a raging fever struck 
 his brain ; and in the midst of Acre, winch he had 
 taken by storm, and delivered up to pillage, one 
 day saw him resplendent with glory, and the next 
 a livid corpse. 
 
 No sooner had Aboo-dahab breathed his last, than 
 his Mamlukes hastened back to Cairo to divide his 
 spoil. Ibrahim, the eldest Bey of his creation, 
 obtained with the place of Schaich-el-belled the 
 widow of Aly. Mourad, the second in rank of the 
 Beys named by Mohammed, married his patron's 
 own relict. The other Beys of Mohammed's recent 
 house, Osman, Mustapha, Suleiman, and the two 
 Ayoobs, took, according to their rank and seniority, 
 what else remained to be divided. 
 
316 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 The younger children of Mohammed's ill requited 
 patron, Ismail and Hassan, who shared not in their 
 eldest brother's ingratitude, had, on Aly's death, 
 fled to upper Egypt. There they remained quiet 
 during the short period of Aboo-dahab's reign; 
 but gained strength by an alliance with two great 
 Arab Schaichs ; those of Esneh and of Negaddi. 
 Thus reinforced, they determined not to suffer 
 Mohammed's children to supersede the remaining 
 sons of Aly himself, and marched directly to Cairo. 
 Ibrahim, Mourad, and their party, had not yet 
 had leisure to prepare for the attack. With all 
 their followers they passed through the citadel, 
 situated on the utmost verge of the mount Mok- 
 hadem ; gained the defiles of that range of mountains 
 which extends along the right bank of the Nile into 
 upper Egypt, and there took that station, which 
 their antagonist had just quitted to occupy their 
 own at Cairo. 
 
 Ismail, received in the capital with acclamation, 
 and immediately installed as Schaich-el-belled by a 
 Pasha, prompt to confer the title on whosoever held 
 the place, lost no time in clearing his residence of 
 all lurking leaven of sedition. Two old Beys yet 
 breathed, owned by no party still in being, but 
 supposed secretly to favour that of Ibrahim. They 
 had, nevertheless, when Ismail entered Cairo, re- 
 mained in the capital, — either prevented from quit- 
 ting it by their infirmities, or relying for protection 
 
ANASTASIUS. 317 
 
 on their age. They were friends, and saw each 
 other famiharly. But when Sogeir came to pay his 
 court, Ismail exacted, in proof of his loyalty, the 
 head of Abderahman; and Sogeir bowed submis- 
 sion. In the midst of the customary reminiscences 
 which formed the conversation of men who had 
 outlived all their contemporaries, Sogeir dropped 
 his chaplet: Abderahman stooped to pick it up; 
 and Sogeir plunged his dagger into his colleague's 
 side. His feeble hand, however, could not give a 
 home tlirust, and Abderahman, intended to be laid 
 prostrate for ever, rose from the blow, and struggled 
 with his adversary. The surrounding Mamlukes 
 viewed unmoved two men, seemingly united during 
 half a century in the closest bonds of friendship, 
 contend which should first bereave the other by 
 violence of the few remaining sparks of a life almost 
 extinct, — should first draw from the other''s heart 
 the few remaining drops of an almost stagnant tide, 
 and should first thrust the other into that grave, on 
 whose brink both were tottering. This feat Sogeir 
 achieved. He then crawled back to the Schaich 
 with the head demanded ; but, exhausted with the 
 fight, fell dead in the act of presenting the prize. 
 
 Ibrahim and Mourad remained not much longer 
 in upper Egypt than Ismail and Hassan had done 
 before them. With the assistance of the Arab 
 Schaichs of Farshoot and of Dendera, they de- 
 scended from Djirdge, and demanded re-admittance 
 
318 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 in Cairo. Ismail consented, in hopes of more 
 efFectuallj ending the struggle by treachery. With 
 the concurrence of Ezedlee the Pasha, his antago- 
 nists were to be murdered in the citadel, in full 
 Divan. Hassan, however, dissatisfied with the small 
 share of power ceded him by Ismail, thought he 
 now had the means for ever to secure the gratitude 
 of the adverse party. He warned its leaders of 
 the plot ; and the same night Ibrahim and Mourad 
 with all their adherents again evacuated Cairo. As 
 soon as they had passed the gates, they proclaimed 
 all reconciliation with Ismail henceforth at an end, 
 and went back to their old post at Djirdge. Here 
 they fortified themselves, and determined to reduce 
 the capital by famine. All provisions which de- 
 scended the Nile were intercepted, and Ismail at 
 last found himself obliged by the impending scarcity 
 to collect his few troops, to march southward, and 
 to give his rivals battle. It was Hassan who gave 
 them the victory, by going over to their side in the 
 midst of the combat. Ismail immediately fled back 
 to Cairo. 
 
 The Schaich-el-belled's popularity in the capital 
 had been annihilated by his exactions. Closely 
 pursued, he felt his situation desperate. In haste 
 he loaded his camels with his treasure, abandoned 
 his honours, and crossed the desert as a fugitive. 
 At Gaze he embarked for Stambool, to seek assist- 
 ance from the Porte. 
 
ANASTASIUS. Sig 
 
 As Ismail went out at one gate of the city, 
 Ibrahim and Mourad rushed in at the other. Con- 
 tent to resume their former station, they impeded 
 not their enemy's convenient flight. After rein- 
 stating themselves in all their offices, they strength- 
 ened their party and rewarded their adherents, by 
 making a considerable promotion of Beys and of 
 Kiashefs. 
 
 Hassan himself gained the least by his defection. 
 This Be}^, surnamed Djeddawee from the sacking 
 of that city, was among those unfortunate indi- 
 viduals who with the greatest physical bravery, 
 entirely want moral resolution and steadiness; by 
 their waverings and changes forfeit the confidence 
 of all parties, and to every faction alike appear 
 more desirable in the character of avowed enemies, 
 than in that of seeming friends. Whatever sacrifices 
 he might make to the cause he espoused, they were 
 uniformly attributed to interested motives; truth 
 from his lips was received as falsehood ; and gene- 
 rosity in his behaviour could only be viewed as 
 cunning. The bare circumstance of his asserting 
 a fact caused it to be discredited, and his being the 
 author of a scheme sufficed for its rejection. Thus 
 situated, he always found the thanks of his associates 
 short of his pretensions, failed not soon to accuse 
 his colleagues of black ingratitude, and scarce had 
 joined a party, when he afresh meditated a change. 
 His most ordinary converse necessarily degenerated 
 
320 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 into a tissue of dissimulation and fraud which pro- 
 duced no illusion ; and his life became a series of 
 intrigues and of cabals which brought him no benefit. 
 Tired of his complaints and fearing his fickleness, 
 the sons of Mohammed resolved to stop his re- 
 proaches by cutting short his career. The Saturday 
 exercises in the place of Roumaili were fixed upon 
 to execute the purpose. 
 
 The exercise of the djereed was over. One of 
 Mourad's Mamlukes enters the lists for the game of 
 the jar.^ He advances in the circle, takes aim, 
 fires, and misses. A second darts forward, and 
 equally fails. A third now tries in his turn : his 
 ball goes wider still than the former from the pre- 
 tended mark; but it strikes the real one, — for it 
 grazes the turban of Djeddawee. Every bystander 
 loudly laments the accident. The Bey alone saw 
 the intent : he saw his death-warrant signed. Im- 
 mediately he calls round him his Mamlukes, and 
 from their close pressed circle raises the cry of war 
 and the sword of defiance. His suite all draw their 
 sabres: so do Mohammed's children. The games 
 cease ; the fight commences : the few remaining ad- 
 herents of Ismail join the banners of Hassan. 
 
 Three entire days did every street of Cairo in 
 turns become the field of battle. Three entire 
 days did every stone of the capital in turns stream 
 with blood. At last Hassan felt his strength give 
 way, and saw his supporters fall off one by one. 
 
ANASTASIUS. 321 
 
 On the point of being overwhelmed by his enemy's 
 superior force, he gathers together a small troop 
 which he still could rely upon, and breaks through 
 the very midst of his assailants. With a speed 
 which nothing could slacken, he gains the vast 
 suburb of Boolak, on the Nile, and there seeks 
 shelter in the house of an old friend, of the Schaich 
 Damanhoori. The sanctity even of that distant 
 asylum is disregarded, and the approach invested, 
 a few minutes after its gates had received the noble 
 fugitive. 
 
 For a while however, intrenching himself behind 
 the inclosure of his fortress, Hassan gallantly stands 
 the siege, from every window and battlement of the 
 edifice pours down upon Mourad's satellites every 
 species of murderous implement, and makes many 
 a foe atone with his life for the relentless pursuit. 
 But after more than an hour's strenuous defence, 
 he beholds from the top of the building the door 
 burst open, and the entire hostile torrent rush in at 
 once. He now resolves to quit the hopeless contest, 
 and to save himself by flight. Mounting on the 
 terrace of the mansion no longer secure, he thence 
 clambers on the roof of a neighbouring house. 
 From that, passes on to the next, and in this man- 
 ner vaults from terrace to terrace, * and climbs from 
 roof to roof — sometimes scaling almost inaccessible 
 heights, at others leaping down awful precipices, 
 and at others again clearing frightful chasms — till 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
322 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 at last he gains the furthermost of the habitations 
 that form a connected cluster. Here he finds his 
 aerial progress stopped; and from the summit of 
 this final promontory again is compelled to descend 
 to the regions below, and to return to the level of his 
 pursuers. From the terrace he lets himself down 
 into the attics ; from these into a lower floor : gains 
 the top of the stairs, runs down an hundred steps, 
 reaches the hall, and opens the entrance door. In 
 the very porch stood sentinel a hostile Mamluke of 
 gigantic stature, waiting his arrival to intercept his 
 passage: him he fells with his sabre at a single 
 blow, and mounting the Mamluke's own steed, he 
 rides back at full speed to Cairo. But at every 
 turn his antagonists were watching. They soon 
 espy his escape: and in a moment he heard the 
 whole troop again close at his heels. Danger seemed 
 to lend him wings. He reaches Cairo the first, — 
 though scarce by the distance of a pistol shot. 
 Clearing the crowded entrance of the city, and 
 pushing up the main street, he rushes, as soon as 
 opportunity favours, into the midst of the most 
 populous and busy district; runs up one narrow 
 lane, and down another. As he enters a new divi- 
 sion, he causes its gates to be shut behind him, 
 in order to delay the progress of his pursuers. 
 Meeting a string of camels carrying water, he rends 
 open the skins with his dagger, to increase the 
 slippery smoothness of the pavement. Coming up 
 
ANASTASIUS. 323 
 
 with a file of arabas, conveying a wedding, he tilts 
 over the waggons to bar the passage. No throng 
 of human beings, however great, stops his career. 
 His yatagan cuts its way through the thickest 
 cluster of passengers. Overthrowing some, trampling 
 others under foot, he still advances unslackened in 
 his speed. Every where warning shouts announce 
 his approach ; every where screams of terror pre- 
 cede his rapid steps. At sight of him the horror- 
 struck mob flies in every direction like chaff before 
 the hurricane; and his wide circuit frequently 
 bringing him back to the same places in which he 
 had appeared before — but each time more pale, 
 and ghastly, and covered with blood than before — 
 he at last begins to be viewed as his own ghost, 
 still continuing the flight of the body. It was a 
 stupendous thing to behold a vast capital, succes- 
 sively filled throughout each of its numerous quar- 
 ters, from one end to the other, with ever increasing 
 terror and dismay, by the appearance of a single 
 man, — and that man himself a fugitive, only darting 
 by like a meteor ; just heard, just seen, and then 
 again disappearing. 
 
 Hassan's strength now begins to fail him. His 
 horse is ready to drop. His pursuers, — who for a 
 while had lost his track, — guided by the clamour 
 of the mob at his appearance, again recover tlie 
 scent They gain ground upon him so fast, that 
 
324 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 nothing seems capable any longer of saving him 
 from becoming their victim. 
 
 He now bethinks himself of one last desperate 
 expedient. The house of his most inveterate enemy, 
 — of Ibrahim, the Schaich-el-belled — had just risen 
 in sight. He springs from his exhausted steed, no 
 longer able to move, and, summoning all his remain- 
 ing strength, runs to this perilous abode, and gains 
 with difficulty its frowning portal. Entering the re- 
 luctant gates, he forces his way athwart the bevy of 
 astonished pages, who in vain try to stop the in- 
 truder ; and makes straight for the holy of holies, 
 for the women's apartment. Pushing away right and 
 left the eunuchs, the slaves, and the guards, stationed 
 to defend the entrance of the gynecaeum, he bursts 
 open the prohibited door, advances through the la- 
 byrinth of narrow passages, and at last, after many 
 wanderings, reaches the very centre of the sanctuary. 
 
 Here, totally exhausted, and faint with fatigue 
 and loss of blood from many a wound inflicted by 
 a distant carbine, Djiddawee at last stops, lays 
 down on the rich carpet his ensanguined sword, and 
 viewing before him that mightiest of her sex, the 
 sister of Aly, the widow of Mohammed, and the 
 wife of Ibrahim — risen from her seat in mute asto- 
 nishment, — he throws himself prostrate at her feet, 
 clasps the hem of her embroidered garment, and 
 implores her all-powerful protection. 
 
ANASTASIUS. S25 
 
 What could Ash-liar do ? when a son of her bro- 
 ther, and a brother of her first husband, humbled 
 to the dust, implored her to save his life ! 
 
 She swore to protect him, while he remained in 
 her sight; and in her presence none durst lift his 
 hand against the supplicant. Even Ibrahim her 
 husband consented to respect his hated existence, 
 until he again should go forth from the shadow of 
 his roof. 
 
 But Mourad appears ! Furious from his nu- 
 merous disappointments and Hassan'*s hair-breadth 
 escapes, he demands possession of his victim, or 
 threatens to abandon his party. The Schaich-el- 
 belled wavers, and at last consents to cast a stain 
 upon his character, in order to satisfy his colleague. 
 In defiance of the laws of hospitality he insists on 
 Hassan's quitting his habitation, content to receive 
 a safeguard to the frontiers of Egypt. The Bey 
 was not in a condition to decline the specious offer. 
 Accompanied by a numerous escort, he takes leave 
 and departs. But what is his new dismay, when 
 he learns on the road that his destination is the 
 very town in Arabia, once the scene of his devasta- 
 tions ! To turn him adrift among the injured 
 populace of Djedda was to devote him to a death 
 more cruel than the fate from which he had fled. 
 On the least resistance, however, to the mandate of 
 his enemies, he was to be killed on the spot. He 
 
3^6 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 therefore feigned acquiescence, and suffered himself 
 quietly to be conveyed to Suez, and there to be 
 embarked for the harbour of Meccah. At sea he 
 might by surprise have slain a few of his con- 
 ductors, but in so rash an attempt he must soon 
 have been overpowered by the rest. He devised a 
 better plan. In the darkness of the night he fell 
 upon the rei's himself, the moment sleep closed his 
 eyelids ; and with his arm round the pilofs throat 
 and his pistol to his heart, he forced him to steer 
 for the African coast, and for the port of Cosseir. 
 There, under favour of a mob whom the cry of a 
 son of Aly soon collected round the boat, ready for 
 his defence, he disembarked, by forced marches 
 gained Akmim, and from that place plunged 
 into the desert. In a few days he reached the 
 tents of his former Arab allies. Under their wing 
 he took shelter : the fame of his wonderful escape 
 spread in all directions :— at last it reached Cairo, 
 and the wreck of his party, remaining in that 
 capital, insensibly withdrew, and joined, high up 
 the Nile, its imperishable leader. 
 
 Ismail, on his arrival at Constantinople, had 
 found the Porte too deeply engaged in war with 
 Austria, to involve itself in fresh hostilities with 
 Egypt. Tired of consuming his time in fruitless 
 expectation, and his wealth in unproductive bribes, 
 he at last reimbarked, landed at Derne^, and through 
 
ANASTASIUS. 327 
 
 the oasis of Sewa, rejoined Hassan near the Cata- 
 racts. Either chief had gained too Uttle by deserting 
 the other, not to meet his former rival with willing 
 heart halfway. Common disappointment for this 
 time riveted the union of the Beys. They agreed 
 to consign to oblivion the past, and for the future 
 never more to abandon each other. 
 
 Thus far, — added my Osmanlee, — the engage- 
 ment has remained inviolate. Three years and 
 more the sturdy veterans have continued to live 
 together in undisturbed possession of Es-souan, 
 the furthest place in the Said, on this side the falls. 
 Too weak to molest the chiefs at Cairo, and too 
 near the confines of Nubia to fear their molestation, 
 they are watched, but are left quiet. All the land 
 on either side the river, their small district ex- 
 cepted, obeys Ibrahim and Mourad. These chiefs 
 reign uncontrolled at Cairo, and heavy is the yoke 
 which they impose upon the provinces. But it 
 bears alike on every one, and therefore appears less 
 galling than the partial miseries of a civil war. 
 People pray for an oppression which prevents their 
 being torn limb from limb, in the strife of contend- 
 ing parties. 
 
 Here ended the long narration of my Caireen 
 friend, — and high time it was. Already rose in sight 
 the vast pyramids to the right, and the castle of Cairo 
 on our left. Each passenger began to collect his 
 
328 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 parcels : and scarce half an hour more elapsed, ere 
 we cast anchor at Boolak, and stepped ashore. Our 
 little party broke up, and every one of its members 
 went his different way. My new friend and myself 
 walked on together to Cairo. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Note 
 
 1. p. 1. Jubbee: flowing gown, generally worn in 
 
 the Levant by men of sedentary habits 
 and professions. 
 
 2. p. 2. Drogueman : official interpreter employed 
 
 by Franks in their conferences with the 
 Mohammedans, 
 
 3. p. 2. Agrumi : Italian denomination used in the 
 
 Levant for every species of fruit of the 
 orange and lemon kind. 
 
 4. p. 2. An Ipsariote reis : or master of a merchant 
 
 vessel from the island of Ipsara. 
 
 5. p. 4-. Hamal : the Turkish for a porter. 
 
 6. p. 5. Caloyera : a nun, as Caloyer means a friar. 
 
 7. p. 10. Moslemin : a true believer; title assumed 
 
 by the Mohammedans. 
 
 8. p. 10. Papas : Greek priest. 
 
 9. p. 10. Panagia: the All-holy! the Virgin. 
 
 10. p. 11. The Mitre: the cap of the Greek priest- 
 hood. 
 
 '1- p. 12. Yaoor: infidel; word of abuse frequently 
 used by the Turks in reference to Chris- 
 tians. 
 
330 NOTES. 
 
 Note 
 
 12. p. 12. T/ie Russian tvar : namely, that which 
 
 ended in 1774, by the peace of Kain- 
 ardjee. 
 
 13. p. 16. The slim Perote dress: that worn by the 
 
 Greek women of Pera, and of the conti- 
 nental provinces ; wholly different from 
 that of the islands. 
 
 14. p. 19. Caravan : word applied in the Levant to 
 
 voyages of merchant ships, as well as to 
 land journeys of merchants and goods. 
 
 15. p. 23. Maynote: native of the Peninsula of 
 
 Mayno, whose inhabitants are almost all 
 pirates. 
 
 16. p. 24. Capitan-pasha : Commander in chief of 
 
 the Turkish navy. 
 
 17. p. 24. Arnaoot: Turkish name given to the Al- 
 
 banians who profess the Mohammedan 
 reUgion; and form the body guard of 
 many of the Turkish Pashas. 
 
 18. p. 24. CaraveUas : frigates. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1 . p. 26. Codgea-bashees : chiefs of the Greek com- 
 
 munities, accountable to the Turkish 
 governors for the contribution imposed 
 upon their districts. 
 
 2. p. 27. Lacedemon and Christianopolis : two Greek 
 
 bishoprics in the Morea, thus denomi- 
 nated. 
 
NOTES. 331 
 
 Note 
 
 3. p. 28. Buskined hero : the Albanians wear buskins 
 
 or rather greaves of cloth or velvet, 
 often richly embroidered and adorned 
 with silver clasps. 
 
 4. p. 29. Rayas : subjects of the Porte, not Mo- 
 
 hammedan, who pay the capitation tax ; 
 such as Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and 
 Gipsies. 
 
 5. p. 29. Grand Visier. All Pashas, before whom 
 
 are carried the three horse-tails, have 
 the title of Visier : but the head of that 
 distinguished body, the lieutenant of the 
 Grand Signer, who represents him in his 
 councils, and commands his armies, is 
 called by the Turks Vezir Azem, by the 
 Franks Grand Visier. 
 
 6. p. 32. Wayxwde: Turkish farmer of the revenue 
 
 of a district. 
 
 7. p. 32. Haratsh-tickets : vouchers for the payment 
 
 of the haratch or poll-tax, due by all 
 rayahs. 
 
 8. p. 33. Cadee : Turkish judge. 
 
 9. p. 37. Spakees: Turkish holders of military fiefs, 
 
 which oblige them to join the army, 
 mounted at their own expense. 
 
 10. p. 40. Taooshan : hare -, epithet given to the 
 
 Greek islanders. 
 
 11. p. 41. Fanar : district of Constantinople, where 
 
 chiefly reside the Greeks of the higher 
 class. 
 
332 NOTES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Note 
 
 1. p. 42. Tergiuman : the Turkish for Drogueraan. 
 
 2. p. 42. Beneesh: cloth vestment worn over the 
 
 jubbee on occasions of ceremony. 
 
 3. p. 42. Calpack : cap worn by r ayahs. 
 
 4. p. 42. Tshavoooshes : ushers and messengers of 
 
 men in office. 
 
 5. p. 48. Cqfedjee : the servant who in Greek and 
 
 Turkish houses hands round the coffee. 
 
 6. p. 50. Osmanlee : follower of Osman or Othman, 
 
 the founder of the Turkish or Othoman 
 empire : — epithet which sounds as agree- 
 able to its bearers, as the name of Turks 
 is offensive to them. 
 
 7. p. 52. Yatagan : Turkish sabre, worn in the belt 
 
 or sash. 
 
 8. p. 56. The heady Sfc. It is customary among the 
 
 Turks after a battle to give a reward for 
 every head of an enemy that is brought 
 to the commander. 
 
 9. p. 59. The difference betvceen Kyrie-eleison and 
 
 Allah Illah Allah : Greek and Moham- 
 medan forms of prayer or invocation. 
 
 10. p. 61. Kehaya : official agent of a pubHc per- 
 
 sonage in Turkey. 
 
 11. p. 61. Roumili: the Greeks of the lower Empire 
 
 affected to call themselves Romans, their 
 language the Romaic, and their country 
 
NOTES. 33S 
 
 Note 
 
 Romania, which the Turks have changed 
 into Roumili. 
 
 12. p. 61. Moohassil: a governor of a province, in- 
 
 ferior in rank and power to a Pasha. 
 
 13. p. 63. Stambool: the Turkish corruption of the 
 
 Greek eI^ Tr,v ntoKiv, pronounced by them 
 ees teen bolin ; and used to denote their 
 going to the city xar s<^oyjiV» 
 
 14. p. 65. Shoksheer : ample breeches made of cloth. 
 
 15. p. 66, The Boghaz : generic Turkish name for 
 
 straits; here applied to those of the 
 Dardanelles. 
 
 16. p. 67. Didaskalos : a teacher. 
 
 17. p. 68. Three distinct Cities : namely Constan- 
 
 tinople, Galata, and Scutari. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1 . p. 69. Caick : light and elegant wherry, plying 
 
 about the quays of Constantinople. 
 
 2. p. 69. A house of a dark and dingy hue, apparently 
 
 crumbling to pieces with age and neglect. 
 The former circumstance being in con- 
 sequence of the sumptuary laws imposed 
 by the Turks upon the Greeks ; the latter 
 in consequence of the Greeks often af- 
 fecting poverty in order to avoid being 
 heavily taxed by their tyrants. 
 
 3. p. 70. A Mamluke : name given among Moham- 
 
 medans to such white slaves as are de- 
 
334 NOTES. 
 
 Note 
 
 stined to be gradually promoted to of- 
 fices of importance within doors and 
 without. 
 
 4. p. 71. Frank philosophers : all Europeans not ray- 
 
 ahs, and therefore considered as strangers 
 in Turkey, are called Franks or Franguee, 
 their country Franguestan, and the cor- 
 rupt idiom composed of their various 
 languages current along the Mohamme- 
 dan shores of the Mediterranean, lingua 
 Franca. 
 
 5. p. 72. Purses: denomination for a sum of five 
 
 hundred piastres. 
 
 6. p. 72. Tchartchees and Bezesteens : places in Turk- 
 
 ish cities, distinct from the habitations of 
 the merchants, in which they keep and 
 sell their wares. 
 
 7. p. 74. Harem : the Turkish name for the apart- 
 
 ment of the women : Seraglio or Serai 
 meaning palace in general. 
 
 8. p. 74. Therapiah : one of the villages on the Bos- 
 
 phorus which the Greeks of quality make 
 their country residences. 
 
 9. p. 75. The Bostandjee Bashee : officer who acts as 
 
 ranger of the Sultan's demesne, and su- 
 perintends the police of the waters about 
 Constantinople. 
 
 10. p. 76. Tandoor : a square table placed in the 
 
 angle of the sofa, with a brazier under- 
 neath and a rich counterpane over it, 
 
NOTES. 335 
 
 Note 
 
 under which, in Greek houses, in cold 
 weather, the company creep close to 
 each other. 
 
 11. p. 76. Bab-Humayoon : the imperial gate or prin- 
 
 cipal entrance of the Sultan's palace at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 12. p. 76. Feridjee : cloth capote worn out of doors 
 
 by the Greek and Turkish women of 
 Constantinople. 
 
 13. p. 76. Archons : denominations assumed by the 
 
 principal Greeks. 
 
 14. p. 77. Spatar: sword-bearer j one of the principal 
 
 officers at the courts of the Hospodars of 
 Moldavia and Valachia, which are formed 
 on the model of the ancient Greek court 
 of Constantinople. 
 
 15. p. 77. Slipper money of the Sultanas: in Turkish 
 
 Peshmalik ; equivalent to our pin-money. 
 
 16. p. 77. Re'is Effendee : the Turkish secretary of 
 
 state for foreign affairs. 
 
 17. p. 77. Pounding the grand Mufti in a mortar: 
 
 according to the ancient mode of capital 
 punishment inflicted on the heads of the 
 law, whose blood it was deemed irre- 
 verend to shed. 
 
 18. p. 81. Caleondjees : marines, from caleon, a 
 
 galley. 
 
 19. p. 81. Romaic: the modern Greek: as Hellenic 
 
 means the ancient Greek. 
 
 20. p. 83. The Holy Mountain : mount Athos ; that 
 
SS6 XOTKS. 
 
 Note 
 
 beautiful promontory now infected by 
 twenty-two Greek convents. 
 
 21. p. 88. Kiad-hane: public walk near Constan- 
 tinople, called by the Franks Les Eaux 
 donees. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1. p. 94. Galata: suburb divided from Constan- 
 
 tinople by the harbour ; and occupying 
 the base of the hill of which Pera crowns 
 the summit. 
 
 2. p. 94. Para : a small Turkish coin. 
 
 3. p. 98. The anteree : part of the long dress of men 
 
 of sedentary professions. 
 
 4. p. 99. Sultan-Bayezid : one of the Imperial 
 
 mosques at Constantinople, near which 
 is held the market of second hand ap- 
 parel. 
 
 5. p. 99. Hash-keui : suburb of Constantinople, 
 
 where the jews live. 
 
 6. p. 99. Furred cap : which the droguemen wear 
 
 when in Jiocchi, and the physicians ha- 
 bitually. 
 
 7. p. 100. Lahse jaclcet : the Lahses or inhabitants 
 
 of the northern shores of Asia Minor are 
 chiefly employed at Constantinople in 
 garden work. 
 
 8. p. 101. Lorenzo: Nucciolo ; a Raguseen ; phy- 
 
 sician to the Seraglio, and only very 
 
NOTES. 337 
 
 Note 
 
 lately (as I find from Mr. Turner's 
 account) beheaded, in his eightieth year, 
 by order of his chief patient, Abd-ool- 
 Hameed. 
 9. p. 102. Hekini'bashee : chief of the college of phy- 
 sicians. 
 
 10. p. 103. Blacquernes : a remote district of Con- 
 
 stantinople. 
 
 11. p. 105. A Beglier-bey : or Bey of Beys; title given 
 
 to the Pashas of Roumili and of Anadoly. 
 
 12. p. 105. Moonedjim: astrologer. 
 
 13. p. 106. Backtche-capoossee : the garden gate; one 
 
 of the gates of Constantinople. 
 
 14. p. 108. Bagnio: the vast enclosure near the arse- 
 
 nal, which serves as a prison to the 
 Christian captives, and the Turkish and 
 Rayah criminals, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1. p. 119. This description of the plague is con- 
 
 formable to the modern Greek personi- 
 fication of that disease. 
 
 2. p. 123. Islamism: the true belief, according to the 
 
 Mohammedan doctrine. 
 
 3. p. 123. Namaz : the chief prayer of the Moham- 
 
 medans. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1. p. 125. Proesti: the Greek primate of a district. 
 
 2. p. 128. A seven years ague: the liberal wish of 
 
 VOL. I. Z 
 
338 NOTE^. 
 
 Note 
 
 an eneni}^ in a country replete with mal 
 aria. 
 
 3. p. 129. Hydriote : from the island of Hydra; 
 
 chiefly inhabited by sailors and ship- 
 owners, who, at the beginning of the 
 revolution, when France was shut out 
 from ttie Baltic, supplied her m ith corn 
 from the Archipelago. 
 
 4. p. 130. Tophana : the cannon foundery, which 
 
 gives its name to a handsome quay near 
 Galata. 
 
 5. p. 130. Kiebabs : mutton steaks, sold in the cook- 
 
 shops at Constantinople. 
 
 6. p. 131. Stambool effendee : inspector of the police 
 
 of the capital. 
 
 7. p. 131. My cries of '■^ amayi T of mercy or pardon. 
 
 8. p. 13'!'. My forehead used to be studded voith gold 
 
 coins : Turkish mode of rewarding public 
 dancers and singers. 
 
 9. p. 135. The Meivleivi Dertoishes : sort of Turkish 
 
 friars, whose devout exercises consist in 
 twirling round like tops. 
 
 10. p. 137. Yaoort : a sort of Turkish cream cheese. 
 
 11. p. 140. The solemn ceremony: still in use in Al- 
 
 bania and along the eastern shore of the 
 Adriatic. 
 
 12. p. 141. Epirotes might retain such old customs: 
 
 under the denominations of probratimi 
 for the men, and prosestrimi for the 
 women. 
 
NOTES. 339 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Note 
 
 1. p. 14:6, Hoshab : a beverage made of fruit of va- 
 
 rious sorts. 
 
 2. p. 149. St. Demetrius : remote suburb of Constan- 
 
 tinople, where the Greeks have an hos- 
 pital. 
 
 3. p. 151. Jraba: Turkish waggon. 
 
 4. p. 151. Tartar: the Mohammedan messengers 
 
 in the service of the Porte are called 
 Tartars, or more properly Tatars, as the 
 gate porters in France used to be called 
 Swisses, from their original extraction. 
 6. p. 153. Sultana's husbands: the Sultan's sisters 
 and daughters — whom consequently he 
 cannot espouse — are alone called Sul- 
 tanas : his wives or concubines never 
 assume that title, appropriated exclu- 
 sively to the Imperial blood. 
 
 6. p. 153. Internuncio : title given to the Austrian 
 
 minister at Constantinople, in order to 
 avoid conflicts of etiquette. Baron Her- 
 bert Rathkeal was equally venerated by 
 Turks and by Christians. 
 
 7. p. 153. Envoy of Sweden : Mouradgea d'Ohson ; 
 
 an Armenian by birth, originally dro- 
 gueman to the Swedish mission ; and 
 author of a celebrated work on the Otho- 
 man Empire. 
 
 8. p. 154. Anastasius sometimes spells Frank names 
 
 very incorrectly. On inquiry I find that 
 
340 NOTES. 
 
 Note 
 
 of the gentleman in question to be Van- 
 den Dedem tot Gelder. 
 9. p. 155. Kislar Aga : chief of the black eunuchs : 
 a personage possessed of vast power and 
 patronage ; being entrusted with the ad- 
 ministration of all the religious founda- 
 tions of the Turkish Empire, of which 
 the revenues are immense. 
 
 10. p. 161. Handjar: Turkish poniard. 
 
 11. p. 163. Emir: or Shereef: names given to the 
 
 descendants of Mohammed's daughter, 
 who in every city of the empire have 
 their own distinct tribunals, and the ex- 
 clusive privilege of wearing turbans of 
 the sacred colour : namely, green. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1. p. 167. Berath : Foreign ministers being often 
 
 obliged to employ rayahs as their do- 
 mestics, originally obtained for them 
 patents of exemption from the jurisdic- 
 tion of the Porte, which they now find 
 it more profitable to sell. 
 
 2. p. 183. Djamee : name given to the mosques 
 
 founded by Sultans. 
 
 3. p. 183. The Mihrab : or altar. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1. p. 186. Extended not farther than his nose. — II ne 
 voyoit pas plus loin que son nez. 
 
NOTES. 341 
 
 Note 
 
 2. p. 191. Scheyis : the two principal sects among 
 
 the Mohammedans are the Sunnees and 
 the Scheyis; and as the difference be.a 
 tween them is small, so is the hatred 
 proportionably intense. The Turks are 
 all Sunnees, the Persians all Scheyis: 
 the former are more fanatical, and the 
 latter more superstitious. 
 
 3. p. 192. Pretty Jaces : the Persians admit repre- 
 
 sentations of human figures in their 
 books of poetry, which the Turks hold 
 in abhorrence. 
 
 4. p. 192. The bridge Seerath : over which the souls 
 
 of the elect glide into heaven ; while those 
 of the damned tumble from it into hell. 
 
 5. p. 192. Three hundred and sixty days in the year: 
 
 the Mohammedan months are lunar. 
 
 6. p. 192. Devas : the Mohammedan spirits that 
 
 guard subterraneous treasures. 
 
 7. p. 192. Hafeez : holy, but in a less degree than 
 
 the Wely or saiiTt. 
 
 8. p. 193. Reekath : a division of the Mohammedan 
 
 prayer. 
 
 9. p. 193. Karagheuz: black-eyes ; the principal per- 
 
 sonage in a Turkish puppetshow re- 
 sembling the Ombres Chinoises. 
 10. p. 193. Bamadan : or Ramazan: the month dur- 
 ing which the Mohammedans fast all 
 day, and feast all night. While the sun 
 
342 NOTES. 
 
 Note 
 
 remains above the horizon they dare not 
 even refresh themselves with a drop of 
 water or a whifF of tobacco. 
 
 11. p. 193. Moollah : generic name for the doctors 
 of law, who according to the Moliam- 
 medan system are doctors of divinity ; 
 inasmuch as the Mohammedan law is 
 entirely founded on the Koran. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1. p. 201. Top Capoossee : cannon gate: one of the 
 
 gates of Constantinople. 
 
 2. p. 201. Z^eame^/i; denomination of the military fiefs 
 
 which ought to supply the regular ca- 
 valry of the Othoman empire, but by a 
 frequent abuse pass into the hands of 
 women or children, who find substitutes. 
 
 3. p. 202. Sharp stirrups : which with the Turks per- 
 
 form the office of spurs. 
 A', p. 203. Bernoos ; cloak worn by the Barbaresques, 
 by naval characters, and by those who 
 adopt the short dress. 
 
 5. p. 205. The same festival : outside the Top ca- 
 
 poossee there is a holy well much re- 
 sorted to by the Greeks on the day of 
 St. George's festival. 
 
 6. p. 205. Candiote Turks: reckoned peculiarly brave 
 
 and dashing, though often intermarrying 
 
NOTES. 3^3 
 
 Note 
 
 with Greek women, whom they suffer to 
 retain their rehgion. 
 
 7. J). 21 1. Mekkleme : Turkish hall of justice. 
 
 8. p. 211. Na'ib : the cadee's clerk. 
 
 9. p. 212. The boiled voheat : or colyva, distributed 
 
 by the Greeks at burials. 
 
 10. p. 213. Moirai: The Fates, who in some of the 
 
 Greek islands are still worshipped with 
 superstitious rites. 
 
 11. p. 214. Djereed: a staff, which the Turks make 
 
 it one of their favourite sports to fling 
 at each other with prodigious force on 
 horseback. 
 
 12. p. 214'. Oc'Meidan and Hippodrome : the first the 
 
 place of arrow s ; the latter, still called 
 by the Turks At-Meidan, or the place 
 of horses. 
 
 13. p. 215. Theriakee Tchartchee : place where the 
 
 lovers of opium used to resort. On one 
 side of it rises the superb mosque built 
 by Suleiman the 3d; and in front stands 
 the hospital for insane persons. 
 
 \^. p. 216. Madjoon : Turkish name for opium. 
 
 15. p. 217. With outstretched hands : the Greeks still 
 utter their imprecations with outstretched 
 hands and fingers. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1. p. 220. The arches of Backtche Keui : magnificent 
 aqueduct near the village of that name, 
 
344 NOTES. 
 
 Note 
 
 built under the Greek emperors, in the 
 pointed style, and which still supplies 
 Constantinople abundantly with water. 
 
 2. p. 220. Eblis : his satanic majesty. 
 
 3. p. 221. CaravoJceiri: master of a merchant vessel. 
 
 4. p. 223. Sacoleva : small merchant ship. 
 
 5. p. 224. Muezzeem : person who among the Turks 
 
 cries the hour of prayer from the top of 
 the minarets. Sultan Achmet is a mag- 
 nificent mosque at Constantinople, built 
 by that sovereign, and the only one 
 which has six minarets. 
 
 6. p. 230. Paliharia : my brave fellows ! 
 
 7. p. 231. Ihram: a small floor carpet, used chiefly 
 
 by the Turks for prayers. 
 
 8. p. 233. Eyooh and Sultanieh : the former a beau- 
 
 tiful suburb, the latter a delightful val- 
 ley near Constantinople. 
 
 9. p. 233. Kleidon Rysika : the game of drawing lots 
 
 by means of keys. 
 
 10. p. 233. Paramana : nurse. 
 
 11. p. 233. It is the custom among the Greek Is- 
 
 landers to preserve the broken vessels 
 of a twelvemonth, in order to throw them 
 away in a single heap at Christmas. 
 
 12. p. 233. Papadia: the wife of a papas, or priest. 
 
 13. p. 237. The ceaseless grinding of the ivater-ivheel : 
 
 used in the gardens of Chios to irrigate 
 the numerous plantations of orange- 
 trees. 
 
NOTES. 345 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Note 
 
 1 . p. 243. With the moisture of my lips : a super- 
 
 stitious process supposed to avert the 
 influence of the evil eye or other ominous 
 circumstances. 
 
 2. p. 248. With the purple of my oivn blood I sign, Sfc. : 
 
 alluding, I suppose, to the custom of 
 the Greek emperors of signing their 
 name with purple. 
 
 3. p. 249. Epitrope : primate of a Greek community. 
 
 4. p. 249. Avaniah : name given to a contribution 
 
 imposed by Turks on rayahs, on some 
 unfounded pretence. 
 
 5. p. 255. Moiro logistri : the hired female who in 
 
 some of the Greek islands still follows a 
 funeral, singing the praises, and bewail- 
 ing the loss of the deceased. 
 
 6. p. 258. Kirlangitsch : properly a swallow ; a Turk- 
 
 ish sloop of war. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1. p. 261. Terzhana: the admiralty. 
 
 2. p. 264. Speciote : from the island of Specia. 
 
 3. p. 267. Sphachia : district on the coast of Crete, 
 
 forming the dower of one of the Sultanas, 
 and whose inhabitants combine the pas- 
 toral and piratical life. 
 
 VOL. I, A A 
 
346 NOTES. 
 
 Note 
 4. p. 267. Malkiane : fief of the nature of an apa- 
 nage. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1. p. 287. OhTcal: name for an inn or caravan-serai', 
 
 in Egypt. 
 
 2. p. 289. Raschid: Rosetta. 
 
 3. p. 289. Rakie : an ardent spirit. 
 
 4. p. 292, Djerms : small country vessels. 
 
 5. p. 297. The Mawgarbees : men from Garbieh, or 
 
 the West; name given to the Barba- 
 resques. 
 
 6. p. 298. Maash : covered passage boats that sail 
 
 up and down the Nile. 
 
 7. p. 299. Schaich-el-belled : chief of the country, or 
 
 rather land ; title given alike to the chief 
 of the whole body of Beys of Egypt and 
 to the chief among the notables of a 
 small district. 
 
 8. p. 301. Avoalis : plural for Alme; public female 
 
 singers. 
 
 9. p. 301. Ghazie : female public dancer. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1, p. 308. Gurgistan, Georgia. 
 
 5. p. 309. Kiashef: an officer commanding part of 
 a province under a Bey ; though, like the 
 title of Bey, that of Kiashef is often 
 merely honorary. 
 
NOTES. 347 
 
 Note 
 
 ti. \). 'i2(». The jar : an earthen vessel, which, in one 
 of their martial sports, the Mamlukes 
 try to hit. 
 
 4. p. 321. Frotn terrace to terrace: the houses at 
 Cairo are all flat-roofed ; and each pecu- 
 liar district of the city is separated from 
 the neighbouring ones, by its particular 
 gate, which is kept shut at night. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 rKINTtD BY THOMAS DAVISON, VVHITKIKIAUS.