YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DEPOSITED BY THE LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY BDETEMIT ©IF 1TM3E AWOTOE. ENGBAVED BY .T THOMSON FBOM A. PAINTING /¦/ptr //;,;¦/ jV>/f.',/,r/ y,*/t,i/,t ///<'/<l Oavis A RESIDENCE AT CONSTANT I NOPLE, DURING A PERIOD INCLUDING THE COMMENCEMENT, PROGRESS, AND TERMINATION or THE GREEK AND TURKISH REVOLUTIONS : REV. R. WALSH, LL.D. AUTHOR OF " A JOURNEY FROM CONSTANTINOPLE," " NOTICES OF BRAZIL," &C. SECOND EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1838. PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, Dorset Street, Fleet Street. TO THE EIGHT HON. LORD PLUNKET, LORD HIOH CHANCELLOR OF IRELAND, THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TRIBUTE OF ESTEEM AND RESPECT, FOUNDED UPON A LONG AND INTIMATE ACQUAINTANCE WITH HIS HIGH QUALITIES, BY HIS MUCH OBLIGED SERVANT, ROBERT WALSH. a2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page Turkey of greater curiosity and interest than most other Places, why — Embark in the Suite of an Embassy to the. Sublime Porte — Dangerous Passage to the Cambrian Frigate — Alarm for the Safety of our Boat in passing the Needles — Education of young Midshipmen — Amiable Trait of Lady Strangford — Man overboard — Arrival at Gibraltar — General Don — Carteia, ancient Town of Phoenicians — Irish Customs and Opinions — St. Roque — Spanish Characteristics — General O'Don- nel — Magnificent Battery — St. Michael's Cave — Trait of Spanish Heroism — Dangerous state of the Rock — Monkeys — Vultures — Di luvial Remains — Notice of the Fortress . . 1 CHAPTER II. Currents setting into both ends of the Mediterranean — Pillars of Her cules — Fable of Atlas — Contrast between the Atlantic and Mediterra nean—Beautiful Meteoric Phenomenon — Accuracy of Virgil — Malta — Fort Ricasoli — Pirates — Singular Story of Mutineers — St. Elmo — Bar barous Conduct of Turks — Retaliation of Christians — Palace of the Knights — Library — Church of St. John — Cave of St. Paul — Contro versy about the Island he visited — Giant's Tower, at Gozo — Hageira tai gernal — Account of the Fungus Melitensis — Notices of Malta — Fortifications — Capers — Granaries — Pestilential Diseases — Dense Po pulation — Ecclesiastics — Penitents — Cemetery — Circulating Coins 27 CHAPTER III. Singularities of Malta — Magnificence of JEtaa. — Conversation between distant Ships — Anecdote of a Shark — Aspect of Corfu — Why com pared to a Shield — Furnished America with an Argument for Revolu tion — Classical Names restored — Free Constitution — Gardens of Alci- noiis — Judas Iscariot — Jews persecuted — Christianity first introduced — Legend of St. Spiridion — Jovian's Temple — Recent Discovery — Great Age of Trees — Society at Corfu — Turkish Fleet in a Gale — Santa Maura — Zante — Extinct Volcano — Pitchy Wells— Earthquake — Extraordinary Hail-stones — Rupture of a Mountain — Inundation — Awful State of the Island— Sir P. Ross 69 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. page Shores of the Morea— Present State of Cerigo, the Island of Venus and Helen— Modern Treatment of Turtle-doves— Gate of the Arches —Pirates— Carabusa— Cape Malsea— Aspect of the Cyclades— Milo, volcanic Island— Discovery of a new Venus— Beautiful Amphitheatre —Conjecture as to the Time of its erection— Dreary Appearance of the Country— Dress and Manners of the Ladies— Singular Notions of Beauty— Noble Act of Meliote Women— Singular City— Queen Caroline— ^gina and Salamis— Present Employment of their Heroes —Piraeus— First Impressions of a Turk— Ambassador's Entry into Athens— Unostentatious appearance of Lady Strangford — Company at Consul's—" Maid of Athens"— Lord Elgin's Dilapidations unjustly calumniated— Compensation highly acceptable to the Turks — Temple of Theseus — Revolting Employment of Modem Greeks . 105 CHAPTER V. Lantern of Demosthenes — Present occupant — Temple of the Winds — Use to which it is applied — Mean Edifice, but conveys important in formation — Keramikos — Exhumation of ancient tombstones — Mo dern Greek Cemetery — Emblems on Monv™ ejs — Plain of Marathon — Tradition of Pausanias — Interesting £> -^ns — Penthelic Quarries — Mount Hymettus — Attic Bees — Plant dn which they feed — Theatric representation — Departure from Athens — Some early particulars of the insurrection — First Attack on the Town, by whom, and how — Barba rities of the Greeks — Respectable Families fly — Maid of Athens and her Sisters escape to Corfu — Reception there — Greeks receive an unexpected Supply of Arms — Their habitual terror of the Turks — Fate of Pietro Ravalaki — Athenians retire to Salamis on the approach of the Enemy, as in the Persian War — Barbarous Retaliation of the Turks — They again retreat, and leave the Acropolis to its fate — Suf ferings of the Garrison — Surrender — Massacre of Prisoners — By whom perpetrated — Humane Sympathy of the Athenians — Preservation of the Parthenon and Temple of Theseus . . 128 CHAPTER VI. Ports of Athens — Cape Colonua — Falconer's Shipwreck — Kranae of Homer — Cyclades — Classical recollections — Land at Paros — Guide — CONTENTS. Vii Page Veined Marble of Nausa — Statuary remnants at Parechia — Convent of Caloyers — Inns of the Islands — Quarries — Singular Sculpture — Lychnites Marble — Aruudelian Records — Female admitted by the Monks — Singular exclusion — Consul in a Greek Island— Passage to Antiparos — Grotto — Supposition of Tournefort — Strange Inscription of French Ambassador— Comfortless Houses — Mycone — Consul's Wife — Preponderance of Female Population — Ancient prejudice — Levity of Women not immoral — Painting in Chapel — Naxia — Celebration of Games . . ... . 146 CHAPTER VII. Lord Charles Murray — Afflicting state — Exertions for the Greeks — Death and Character — MS. Journal kept by a Naxiote details the Revolution in the Islands — Remains of Russian Fortifications at Paros — Cause of Greek attachment — Views of Russians — Abandon their Allies — Extermination of the Greeks resolved on — How averted — Hopes of Greeks revive — Form Societies for Improvement — Opera tion too slow — Creation of the Hetairia — Application of Scripture and Ancient Prophecies — Rapid and Secret Progress — Standard of Revolt raised on Confines of Russia — Revolution commenced at Naxia by an atrocious act — Raftopolo, Russian Consul — Calumnies against the British Nation and Ambassador — Ionian Subjects active Agents — ¦ Greek Bishop convokes the People — Revolution proclaimed — Turkish Prisoners landed — Cruelty of Greeks — Humanity of Latins — Deadly animosity between the Churches — Declaration of a Caloyer of Paros — Appearance of Turkish Fleet — Arrival of French Ships of War — Removal of surviving Prisoners — Influence of Demetrius Ypsilantes in the Islands — Regular system adopted — National Flag appointed — Barbarity of Pirates — Formation of National Fleet — Revival of an cient Greek Fire — Terrific effect on Turks — Heroines — Bobelina — Modena Mavroyena — Achievement at MyconG . .172 CHAPTER VIII. Perils of these seas not exaggerated by the Ancients— Dragoman waiting for the Ambassador — Promontory of Sigaeum — Celebrated Marble — Plains of Troy — Place described by Homer — Accidental resemblance of objects impossible — Wild Dogs — Beautiful but desolate shore of the Hellespont — Dardanelles — Enormous Cannon — Impressions on Lord viii CONTENTS. Page Duckworth's Fleet-Strange effects of one Ball-Abydos-Remains of Xerxes's Bridge— Serpents of Laocoon— Lampsacus— Gallipoh— Physician to the Prince— Menage of a Jew-Janissary aud Firman- Wall of Miltiades— Entertainment at a Turkish Village— Alarming commencement — Agreeable conclusion — Magnificent branches of Mount Rhodope-Rodosto-Immense Khans— Plains of Thrace colder than Mountains— Desolation outside the Walls of Constantinople- Inside still more dismal CHAPTER IX. Peninsula of Pera— Galata— British Palace— Garden— Chapel— Popula tion aud Society of Pera— Turkish Cemeteries— Golden Horn— View of Constantinople— Palace Janissaries— Caiques— Fanal— Greek Pa triarchate — Cathedral— Printing-Office— Patriarch— Balata— Jews- Turkish Women— Notions of Female, Propriety— Terms of Reproach —Dogs— How they live— Why esteemed by Turks— Character- Intolerable Nuisance— Sulamanie— Teriake Tcharkisi— De Tott's account of Opium-Eaters— Present State— Lunatic Asylum — Fearful Maniac— Gentle Minstrel— Turkish test of Sanity— Severe Treatment successful — accords with National Character — Santa Sophia — Turkish Crescent — Mosque of Achmet — Number of Minarets — Seven Towers — District of Ypsomothia— Greek Miracle— Armenian Quarter— Triple Church — General View of the Interior of the City — Manners of the People .... . . .229 CHAPTER X. Bosphorus — Why esteemed by Turks — Tophana — Hadgee — Colour of Houses — Fate of a Jew — Fondukli — Beshiktash — Memory of Jason — Sultan's Kiosk — Beautiful Villages — Currents — Beybec — Turkish mystery — Narrow Strait — Passage of Darius — Castles — Present use — Shoals of Fish — Porpoises — Flights of Birds — Striking phenomenon ¦ — Balta Limen — Phonea — Therapia — Record of Medea — Buyukderl —Noble Valley — Enormous Platanus — Delightful Village — Mouth of Euxine — Symplegades — Origin of Fable — Pompey's Pillar — Cya- nean Rock — Basaltic Promontory — Alexandrian Laurel — Decrease of Euxine — Historic Evidence — Cause of it — Volcanic rupture of Bos phorus — Inundations — Awful impressions of place — Remains of Castles — Jouchi Daghi — Amycus killed by Argonauts — Turkish Tradition of CONTENTS. IX Page Usha ben noon — Singular inscription in Mosque — Hunker Iskeli — Paper Manufacture — Sultan Selim's Sister — Kandeli — Stavros — Scutari — Bourgorloo — Immense Cemetery Plain of Pilgrims — Print- ing-Office — Cotton Factory — Tower of Leander . . 268 CHAPTER XI. News of the Greek Insurrection — First Effects in the Capital — Events in the Provinces — Ypsilantes and Suzzo — Greek Proclamation — Turkish Reply — Arming of Turkish Populace — Excesses — Useless Guard — Assassination of a Greek — Executions in Constantinople — Morousi, Dragoman of the Porte — Insults to Franks — Attack on Shipping — Pastoral Address of Greek Patriarch — Anathema against Suzzo, Ypsilantes, and their Adherents — Hatta Sherif of Sultan — Levy of Troops — Singular Assassination of an Armenian— Alarm on Easter Eve — Execution of Patriarch and his Bishops — Wanton Insults to his Body — Miraculous Discovery and Burial — Life and Character — Cause of his Death — St. George's Day — Dismal State of the Capital — Destruction of Greek Churches — Attack on Printing- office — Execution of a. Man in a Frank Dress — Representation of Foreign Ministers — Characters — Baron Strogonoff— Extreme agitation — Retires to Buyukder6 — Sails for Russia — Progress of Insurrection — Great Alarm — Fugitives in British Palace — Greek Artist . 299 CHAPTER XII. News from Patras — Charge against the British Consul — Execution in a Market — Trophies of Lips and Ears — Anecdotes of Sultan — Mus tapha Bairactar — Death of Selim — Elevation of Mahmood— First acts of his reign — Death of his Brother and Females of his Seraglio- Energetic Character — Regard for Morals and Decorum — Ambassa dor's Audience with Grand Vizir— with Sultan— Train of Persons — Ominous Colour— Nice Etiquette — Rude Manners— Babi Humma- youn— Taraphanay— GreatPlatanus— Public Executioners— Running for Pilaff— Divan— Sultan's Gallery— Capitan Pasha— Vizir— Law suit Payment of Troops.— Sultan's Letter — Dinner in Divan — Pe lisses — Entrance to Harem — Reception-room and Throne— Sultan — Audience — Terror of Dragoman— Reason for holding Strangers in the Sultan's presence . • • 334 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. Page Outrages of Yamaks— Ceremony of the Baklava— Cruel Superstition- Case of Danesi— Russian Memorial— Rejected by Sultan— Departure of Baron Strogonoff— Repair of Greek Churches— State of Therapia —Bishop of Derkon— Greek Fugitives seek refuge— Painful position —Escape of Greeks— Discontented Janissaries — Turkish Fleet— Im pressment resisted by Caiquegees — How manned — Proceed to Ga- laxidi— Return, how celebrated— Greek Prizes and Standards— Festi vities at European Palaces — Afflicting state of Greek Families — Helena Mavrocordato — Greek Libraries. . • • 364 CHAPTER XIII. Death of Ali Pasha — Approximation of Turks to Popular Representation — Persian War — Causes of it — Effects at Constantinople — Turkish notions of Plague — Prospect of War with Russia — Island of Scio — Character of its Inhabitants — High state of Prosperity — Establishment of College — Intelligence of Natives — Insurrection atSamos — Landing at Scio — Indisposition of the People to join in it — News of the Event arrives at Constantinople — Turkish Fleet ,'sets sail — How manned — Character of Kara Ali, the Capitan Pasha — Arrives at Scio — Offersan Amnesty — Rejected by the Samiotes, who leave the Island — Turks land — Indiscriminate Massacre — Horrible Atrocities — Example set by Capitan Pasha — Utter Devastation of the Island — Greek Fire-ships — Sudden Destruction of Capitan Pasha and his Ship . . 394 PLATES, &c— VOL. I. Portrait of Author Giant's Tower—Gozo Fungus Rock — Gozo Town of Zante Ancient Sculpture, Paros Altar on Cyanean Rock (woodcut) Plan of the Courts of the Seraglio Insurgent Flags (woodcut) Map of the Bosphorus to face Title-page • 55 . 59 . . 100 • . 153 ) . 233 349 . 386 to face the last page PREFACE. During my first residence in Turkey I was in the habit of detailing to friends at home, at their special request, the various passing events of that very interesting period, and just at the time they occurred. The partiality of my correspondents attached more importance to my communications than they merited — they preserved my letters with a view which I never had in contemplation when they were written, and on my return they requested me to revise and publish them. I did so with such as were connected with an event in which the public were much interested — the advance of the Russians to Constantinople, as I had then just passed over the ground through which they were preparing to march. It was my intention to have followed this with the remainder ; but the want of some materials I had left behind me, and other reasons not neces sary to detail, interfered to prevent me. In the Xll PREFACE. mean time, professional duty led me to other coun tries ; and it was not till after a lapse of some years that I again returned to Constantinople. This delay, however, gave me an opportunity of seeing the East under different aspects ; its quiescent state before the revolutionary struggle began — the agi tation which ensued during its progress — and the alterations which took place when it was finally past. These were opportunities which as far as I know, have not been enjoyed by any other writer. In looking over the mass of information I had collected and written, I found that much of it had been anticipated in the publications of more competent travellers ; much appeared to have be come obsolete, and much had been already pub lished in various ways by myself. In making a selection from what remained, I endeavoured to use what was not liable to those objections, re taining only as much more as was required to pre serve the continuity of events. It was my first intention to publish my letters just as they were written, having only made the ne cessary omissions. This epistolary form, however, was considered objectionable as having fallen into disuse, and I threw them into another, but so that the narrative is a mere transcript of my correspond ence, with some additions. This will account for the PREFACE. Xlll apparent inconsistency of my opinions on men and things. First impressions were frequently corrected by subsequent experience; and I have not hesi tated to acknowledge changes of sentiment,^ as the rapid succession of events developed to me new views, and gave new features to the actors. The Greek revolution and the character of the Sultan appeared to me under very different aspects, in deed, on my first going to the East, and my last departure from it. The circumstances I have detailed are such as I have been eye-witness to myself, or such as I have heard from others who were so ; or, if not, had the best means of information. My informants were either born or had long resided in the country, and who, I have reason to think, could not be deceived themselves, and would not willingly deceive me. Yet I am aware that some facts that I mention may be considered as of doubtful authority. The num ber of janissaries destroyed has been reduced by the Turks themselves to seven or eight hundred. I have stated them as amounting altogether, by death or exile, to twenty thousand. The number of fe males put to death at the accession of the present Sultan has been said not to exceed three or four, and those only who were pregnant ; my account states them as nearly the whole of the former Sul tan's female establishment. My information on these xiv PREFACE. and other subjects was derived from sources which I thought competent authority. The practice of destroying all those who might have a contingent claim to the crown, or preventing their existence, is a usage of extreme antiquity in the East, and remains unchanged to the present day ; it even extends to the male offspring of a Sultan's sister or cousin, if married to a subject. Cantemir says*, Mahomet III. strangled twenty- two of his brothers, whom he had invited to his coronation ; and Knolles adds, that " at once to rid himself of the feare of all competitors (the greatest torment of the mightie), he the same day (as is reported) caused ten of his father's wives and concubines, such as by whom any issue was to be feared, to be all drowned in the sea j.'' That the present Sultan, in the precarious state in which he found himself, should suffer those about him to have recourse to this horrid but precautionary policy of his ancestors, was not improbable ; and I have stated it on the same authority that justified Knolles : — " as is reported." It may be thought, perhaps, that I have dwelt too long on dismal details, and described horrors with too much minuteness and repetition ; but they were set down on the spot, and while the impres- * Book III. chap. 7. t Knolles' Gen. Hist, of the Turks, p. 1056. ^KEFACE. XV sion was recent on my mind, and they form the contents of the letters to my various correspondents, which I have merely transcribed. I have but one word to add on the manner in which the work is executed. It is no affectation in me to say, it was undertaken with reluctance and completed with pain. The time for its appearance, I thought, had passed, and I laboured under severe indisposition, from a constitution broken down, not more by time than by climate in various countries. I was living, too, at a distance from the press and so had a limited control over any errors. I am aware that these things cannot excuse defects to the public, but I owe it to myself to account for them. NARRATIVE OP A RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. CHAPTER I. Turkey of greater curiosity and interest than most other Places, why— Em bark in the Suite of an Embassy to the Sublime Porte — Dangerous Pas sage to the Cambrian Frigate — Alarm for the Safety of our Boat in passing the Needles — Education of young Midshipmen — Amiable Trait of Lady Strangford — Man overboard — Arrival at Gibraltar — General Don — Carteia, ancient Town of Phoenicians — Irish Customs and Opi nions — St. Roque — Spanish Characteristics — General O'Donnel — Magni ficent Battery — St. Michael's Cave — Trait of Spanish Heroism — Danger ous state of the Rock — Monkeys — Vultures — Diluvial Remains — Notico of the Fortress. You think that, as I am going to a foreign country, my lot is enviable in being cast, in the East, where not only sacred lore hallows the remains of remote antiquity, but classic recollections endear each object, and give to distant regions all that exquisite interest which we feel in revisiting the scenes of our youth, and the companions of our school-boy days. This is very true ; but I confess I feel a still greater interest from another and very opposite cause. " The Turk," that bitter and stubborn enemy to every thing which we hold sacred or learned, is, to me, a more remark able object of contemplation than either Jew or Greek, be cause so much more remote in his usages, feelings, and modes of thinking, from any thing we have been accustomed to contemplate. I longed to see Hunker the Manslayer, NARRATIVE OF A who is still allowed, as a recreation, to kill fifty of his sub jects a day peremptorily, and as many men as he can show cause for; who permits his rajas, of his great bounty, to wear their heads for another year when they pay the capi tation tax; who suffers the representatives of his brother sovereigns to be dragged into his presence only when his slaves have fed, clothed, and washed them till they are fit to be seen ; who proscribes, as impious, every book but the Koran, and inhibits the use of any language but the Turkish ; and who puts to death, with unsparing ferocity, every audacious man who presumes to enlighten the vene rable ignorance of his subjects. That such a people actually existed in Europe at the present day we always thought one of the most curious and scarcely credible facts of modern history ; and to contemplate closely their extraordi nary character, without any apprehension for my own head, was a privilege I often longed to enjoy. This, by the kind ness of Fortune, has been now conferred upon me ; and you, my friend, shall have the full benefit of my observations. On the 9th of November, 1820, I embarked on board the Cambrian frigate, Captain Hamilton, in the suite of his Excellency Lord Strangford, as chaplain to the British embassy then proceeding to the Ottoman Porte. The vessel lay at a considerable distance from the shore, and it blew a very heavy gale from the N.E. We had Lady Strangford, Mrs. Hamilton, and her sister, with the female attendants, in the barge, and encountered a rough and really a dangerous passage to the ship. A boat, filled with people from the Isle of Wight, swamped not far from us, and every soul perished, but of this we were not apprized till long after. In about an hour we were under weigh, and passing the Needles, where it was necessary to put the pilot on shore as soon as we had cleared the shoals. For this puF- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 3 pose a boat was manned, and the command given to Lord G. Powlett, a young midshipman. The ship lay to for his return, but after waiting a considerable time longer than usual, we began to be alarmed. The sea ran very high, and it was the first expedition, I believe, where this young lad, who was very gentle and diffident, had any rough duty to perform. Lanterns were hoisted in the shrouds, and blue lights burnt on the bowsprit, without effect. It was then found necessary to fire minute-guns as his direction, but the boat did not appear, and it was the general opinion she had gone down. At length, after several hours of intense anxiety, our lost people came alongside, having had a perilous struggle in the dark against wind and tide, and in a sea where a larger vessel could hardly live. This was the first circumstance that struck me in the life of a young sea-officer of the British navy. The lad, edu cated in all the tenderness of maternal care, had now, for the first time, perhaps, been from his mother's side, and his turn of duty was a hazardous service, which his mother would have shuddered to contemplate. It is in such a school, where the smallest attention is not paid to age or rank, that all acquire that skill and hardihood which have raised the naval character of the country to its present eminence. There were on board twenty young gentlemen of the first families as midshipmen, whom the fame of our embassy had attracted, and the greater number of them were even younger than Powlett. This gave occasion to Lady Strang ford to exercise one of those amiable traits of character which distinguished her. When we had fairly entered the Atlantic, the sea became blue, and this colour was the signal for salt beef and hard biscuit for the ship's company. On this occasion one of the lads incidentally mentioned that he longed to be on shore to get a bit of soft bread, so she b 9, 4 NARRATIVE OF A invited him and others, in succession, to breakfast with her, and treated the poor boys till we arrived at Gibraltar with this luxury, which was baked on board every day for the ambassador's table. The ship's equipment was new and stiff; the bulkheads set up in our cabins were so little pliable, that when she laboured they creaked incessantly with a noise so loud and harsh, that we could not hear one another speak at dinner ; but this was a trifling inconvenience compared with what occurred above decks. The rigging was so rigid, that it was always unmanageable, and accidents were continually happening to the men, who were jammed and bruised among the unyielding cordage. Sometimes more serious disasters occurred. One evening as we approached the Straits, the moon shone out from a sky glittering with stars, her light occasionally interrupted by a dense cloud driven across her surface, and again appearing more brilliant, and revealing the eminences of the distant coast as we ra pidly passed it. While contemplating this scene with Lord and Lady Strangford, and endeavouring to make out the headlands of St. Vincent's and Trafalgar, rendered interest ing to us by such splendid recollections, a hat was dashed upon the deck where we sat, and a sudden sound accompa nied it, as if something had struck the boat which hung in the davits on the larboard side : presently an alarm was given that a man was overboard. The whole crew were in stantly in motion. The vessel was going before the wind at the rate of ten knots, but she was stopped and put about in almost as short a time as a mail-coach. The two boats in the davits were lowered into the water with their crews, the one headed by a lieutenant, and the other by the gunner; and before the captain could come on deck from below, they had rowed to some distance from the ship in search of the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 5 man. It was now found that his name was William Orr, a native of Edinburgh. He was captain of the mizen-top, had got jammed in the yard-arm, and in endeavouring to extricate himself, had fallen over the futtock-shrouds, and was seen by a midshipman to strike against the boat in his descent, when his hat was dashed upon deck, and his body into the water. As it was almost certain that the poor man was killed by the concussion before he reached the sea, and consequently that he had immediately sunk, a longer search was considered as fruitless, so the captain hailed the boats to return, and in about half an hour all were again on board and on duty, and the ship was pursuing her course. He was an active young man, well disposed and well liked, but was considered as doomed to this fate. Three weeks before he had a narrow escape from the fall of a beam, and was but a few days from the sur geon's hands. This circumstance was duly noticed on board, and accorded with the impressions of fatalism so common among sailors. All I conversed with said, that the first accident was sent as a warning of the fate that awaited him. A short time after, a similar circum stance occurred, but with a more favourable result. While writing in my cabin, I heard a great noise on deck, with a sound of more than usual confusion. My servant hastily opened the door, and informed me that a man iwas over board. I ran up, and saw him swimming on a plank at some distance astern, and the boat pulling towards him. He too had got entangled in the stiff cordage, and had fallen from the bowsprit shrouds : the ship went di rectly over him, and as he rose behind, a messmate had thrown him a spar, which he caught ; he was a good swim mer, and had left the spar when he saw the boat approach ing, and swam to meet it. He happened to be one of its b NARRATIVE OF A crew, so when he was taken on board he resumed his seat and his Oar as if nothing had happened. When alongside^ sonie one asked him from the deck how he got on 1 " Why," said he, turning a quid, " I had a pleasant swim, but — I have lost a shoe." It is impossible not to admire the energy and humanity* as well as the skill and sagacity, displayed on these occasions^ The life of a common sailor, when so many seem to be care lessly sacrificed in action, would not appeal to be at any time ah object of much attention on board a ship ; and among sd many, and at such an hour as when the first accident hap pened, I supposed that a dozen might have fallen overboard and not be missed or cared for ; but in this human hive, where men swarnled like bees, the fate and person of the individual were instantly known, and the energies of the whole crew were as speedily and eagerly exerted for a com mon sailor as if he were an admiral. In the second in stance, the man was overboard, the great machine stopped, the plank thrown out, the boat let down and manned, the sailor received on board and at his duty, and the vessel again on her way, in less than fifteen minutes ! As it blew all this time a stiff gale, and the frigate was going nearly before the wind, the motion was so unsteady that all the landsmen on board were extremely sick. This exceedingly painful sensation, the cause of which physi cians now say is not in the stomach, but in the head, is one of the opprobria medicorum for which they have dis covered nothing to prevent or even alleviate. Shakspeare, who was " out o' nights" on his deer-stealing excursion^ and knew what bad weather was, calls " the seasons' dif ference" "the penalty of Adam." If he ever were at sea, he would assuredly have called sea-sickness " the penalty of Noah," which, like that of Adam, was entailed on all his posterity. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 7 On the 15th we arrived at Gibraltar, after a rapid pas sage of six days, during which our average rate of going was ten knots, or 240 miles a day. In endeavouring to enter the Straits we fell into a state which all vessels de plore ; we were caught in the strong current which always sets in from the Atlantic, and instead of gaining the har- boUr^ Were carried past it, and whirled by the eddy to the back of the Rock. In this solitary and helpless state we remained, overhung by the stupendous precipice of the old mountain, projecting its weather-beaten front over us, all rugged and tattered, as if it had been a butt for the artil lery of both earth and heaven since the Creation. We were for some time apprehensive we should be obliged to pursue our course without landing on this celebrated spot ; but at length an easterly breeze sprung up, increasing in strength, till it enabled us slowly to stem the current, and retrace our steps round Europa Point into the harbour. Nothing could equal the effect of the sudden transition from one place to the other. We left an awful solitude, where there were no more signs of human existence than if we had been Under the cliffs of Spitzbergen, and a lovely prospect suddenly opened upon us, full of life and animation. There Were lying in the bay, besides a crowd of merchant ships, among which we anchored, the Glasgow frigate, and Favourite slobp-of-War. Before us were the sloping culti vated face of the hill, the town near the water, and behind it trees, gardens, and villas. As it was too late to go on shore that night, we got our band of music on deck, and kept up an animated sound, in which the whole ship's company seemed to sympathize. As soon as our arrival was announced to the Lieutenant- Governor, General Sir G. Dort, he received his Majesty's representative with all the honours a veteran disciplinarian 8 NARRATIVE OF A thought his due. We landed under a discharge of artillery, flags flying, yards manned, and all the " pride, pomp, and circumstance," which in such a place, and at such a time, were very impressive to me. On the beach, which was lined with military, were carriages ready for our reception, and we proceeded in great pomp to the convent or governor's palace, while all the grave Spaniards ran to their doors to gaze on us, like Londoners at a Lord Mayor's show. The General was a corpulent man, approaching to eighty, who had been in the British army since the year 1770. Among the various vicissitudes of his mihtary life was one which made him at a former period a subject of universal interest. During the expedition to the Helder, in the year 1799, he went with a flag of truce to the enemy's camp; but Bmne, the French commander, pretended to suspect his motives, and arrested him as a spy. About the same time Napper Tandy, the Irish patriot, who had escaped from home and entered the French service, was arrested at Hamburgh ; and it was supposed the arrest of General Don was intended merely as a protection to Tandy, and the fate which awaited one would be visited on the other. As it was generally considered that the latter would be exe cuted as a traitor by the EngUsh Government, the friends of the former trembled for his safety. They were both, however, in the end liberated, but not till General Don had been twice led out to public execution. A near relative of mine told me he was present when he was exposed to this peril ; I now saw him in the elevated rank of governor of this important place, and the vicissitudes of human life forcibly struck me. The venerable General found I had been chaplain to the 36th Regiment, of which he was colonel, and he was so good as to treat me with great kindness ; he accompanied RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 9 me over the Rock, pointed out the various objects of notice with great affability, and seemed totally divested of any thing like distance or reserve. Among the curiosities to which he directed my attention were the remains of Carteia, a town about six miles from Gibraltar, which he supposed was built by the Phoenicians. -The next morning I found an aide-de-camp's horse ready for me, and I sat out with a friend and countryman who happened to be quartered in the garrison. The rock was probably once an island, but is now connected to An dalusia by a narrow isthmus of sand, washed on one side by the Bay, and on the other by the Mediterranean. Along this, which is called the Neutral Ground, our road lay. Here we encountered a guard of Spanish soldiers, who were very rigid in examining our passports. They were cadaverous, lean, sallow, and very shabbily dressed ; looking exceedingly dejected. Their uniform was blue, faced with dirty yellow ; and they were miserable specimens, indeed, of the Spanish military. As we advanced along the sea-shore, however, we met others of a very different cha racter : they wore leather caps, and long gaiters of the same colour and materials, tied from the knee to the ankle with a number of strings that fell down like fringe ; round their bodies, hanging loosely from one shoulder, was a large variegated woollen sash, like a Highlander's plaid ; and in their hands they carried long guns. They were uncommonly fine-looking men, with a rude, fierce, and martial air, very strongly contrasted with the subdued and melancholy aspect of those we had just left. They belonged to a police called Guarda Costa, whose duty it was to prevent smuggling. They go out in the evening, and, wrapping themselves in their variegated blankets, they lie down in the sand with their muskets beside them, prepared for a long and unerring shot 10 NARRATIVE OF A at any suspicious object. To account for their fobust and vigorous character so different from the weak and sickly as pect of the regulars, we were informed they were hardy moun taineers, from the Sierra de la Ronda, who had all been smugglers themselves, and were induced to descend to the sea-coast to detect and punish their former associates. Not' withstanding their capabilities, their fidelity is as suspi cious as their utility is doubtful : they seem to be no impedi* ment to the immense quantity of English goods which are annually landed at Gibraltar* Here they are purchased by Spanish or other dealers, of whom the seller asks no questions : they soon disappear from the town, and are se cretly conveyed through various channels not only to every part of Spain, but across the Atlantic, to the Spanish color nies of the New World ; and if the barren rock was of no other value to England, I was informed it was of vast im portance in this point of view as an inlet to our manufactures. After riding about two hours along the sea-shore, we came to some extensive remains, which seemed the ruins of an ancient city, whose existence, till lately, few appear to be aware of. It was situated at the bottom of the bay of Gibraltar, on a river now called the Guadarunque, and at the extremity of a fertile vale, through which the river Winds its course. The ground chosen sloped down to the mouth of the river, which formed the haven and commer cial part, while the upper was occupied by the Acropolis; At the extremity of the highest point are still to be seen very extensive foundations of a wall, following the brow of the hill in an irregular circle towards the sea, and includ ing an area of two or three miles. Outside it are evident marks of a fosse : at some distance within the wall are the remains of the amphitheatre, of which one-third of the cir cumference stiU stands, formed by eighteen abutments of RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 1J masonry ; they are built of sandstone, cemented with mortar into a concrete mass, harder than the storie j withinside the ground sinks so as to give the spectator an elevation j the segment of the circle is onC hundred yards in extents At a short distance from this are what are said to be remains of mosaic pavement, and near it a cistern of exceUent water, with two circular reservoirs of sandstone, aiid the remnant of a sculptured animal, having his tail twined between his legs and round his back. On the whole, there seemed abundant evidence of the existence of a large town in this place, as well from the ruins of masonry, as from the scat tered fragments of other remains which are found over the whole area between the foundations of the waU and the river; for the ploughed ground is entirely encumbered with pieces of the mortar and cemented stones of what had been WaUs and houses. The only towns in comparatively modern times known to have been built in this bay are Gibraltar and Algesiras, both erected by the Moors. It must, therefore, have been one Of the ancient cities of whose site geographers have left such vague accounts. But the fact which ascertains the name of this beyond a doubt is, the discovery of a Variety of Coins and medals among the ruins. In the pos session Of a Mr. Kent is a series of twelve medals, besides sundry coins, which the governor was so good as to procure for my inspection. The legends on the former are generaUy in an unknown character, imperfect and corroded by time, but supposed to be Phoenician. Many of the latter are of a later period, and therefore in better preservations I copied two of them. On one was the legend CART, arid on ano* thei1, K A R T E I A, at full length ; and both bore the im press of a dolphin, the emblematic figure found on the coins of Gadir or Cadiz, which havei legends in distinct Phoenician 12 NARRATIVE OF A characters. Such a town is mentioned by Strabo, Livy, ai Mela, as existing in or near this place, and is supposed I them to have been the Tartessus of Homer ; if so, it mu have been of extreme antiquity. It was probably the fir city ever erected by a civUized people outside the Medite ranean, when the Phoenician Hercules rent asunder tl mountains, and opened for his enterprising companions passage into the Atlantic. My companion was very fond of Irish lore, and had r doubt of the Phoenician origin of the Irish people. H therefore, was assiduous in pointing out to me many circun stances about this town as confirming his opinion. We m< several of the peasantry : the men rode always two on horse, or mule, with the face of one close to the back of th other ; the women sat on the off side, with the left leg t the neck of the beast. The head-dress of the females cor sisted of a scarf, or shawl, drawn over their caps, and tie behind in a knot, the corners of which feU between thei shoulders — aU which peculiarities are still to be seen amon the peasantry about the Milesian or Phoenician town c Galway at this day. They have, also, many opinions i: common which have their origin antecedent even to the tim of the Romans. They imagine, for instance, that a sic] man's life depends on the state of the tide, and that he neve dies unless when it begins to ebb. This notion, which i mentioned by Aristotle and referred to by Pliny, is commoi in the west of Ireland, and entertained even by many phy sicians there. These usages and opinions, he asserted were proofs of the identity of the two people, not to say an' thing of the nondescript animal at the cistern, whose tai twines round his legs exactly like that of the extraordinar; beast to be seen in the front of Cormac's very ancien chapel on the rock of Cashel. I have no doubt if you RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 13 worthy friend General VaUancey was still alive, he would make out a very respectable theory from these data. From Carteia we proceeded to a second town, of more modern structure and less doubtful origin. When the Spaniards lost Gibraltar, in 1704, they built another city on the summit of the nearest hill, to which they conveyed the archives, which are still kept in the name of their former town, as if they had never left it ; though, to give them greater security for the future, they put them under the protection of their patron St. Roque, and called their new residence after his name. The town consists of several streets, ascending the hill on all sides, and terminating in a large square on the summit. The houses are perfectly in the style of what you conceive to be Spanish* We stopped to breakfast at an inn which formed a quadrangle inclosing a court -yard, and were conducted into an apartment, off the gallery, floored with red tiles, and without ceiling. This, to us, comfortless appearance is very common in the best houses : they say it materially cools the air, and is an im portant advantage in a climate where the thermometer stood at 80° in the shade in the latter end of November* Our breakfast consisted of two small cups of chocolate, without milk, which in thickness and bitterness exactly resembled stewed soot flavoured with garlic. We had bread made, as they informed us, of chestnut-meal, baked in the shape and size of crabs, the claws serving as handles to take them up by, pork steaks, floating in oil and garnished with green lemons, a flask of country wine exactly resembling what we make from currants, and a jug of cold water ; for this we paid 1 cob 4 reals, or about 5s. 8d. In this little town seemed to be combined all that I had before conceived of Spanish manners. The most conspi cuous and numerous shops were those of the barber-sur- 14 NARRATIVE OF A geons. At one side of the door was the figure of a leg or an arm bound up, and bleeding into a vessel, labelled San? grado, with the name of the operator ; on the other was a brass basin, with a flat rim, deficient on one side for the chin to fit in. This is kept very bright, and strongly resembles a helmet ; so that, in fact, every barber's shop reminds you that you are in the country of Gil Bias and Don Quixote. On several seats before their doors were hidalgos, wrapped up in long black cloaks, with their heads between their knees, dozing out the day in the sun, under the shelter of their broad-brimmed hats, which pro jected round them like the eaves of a pent-house. The win dows and doors of the houses were secured with strong iron bars, and lattice-work without glass ; and, as we passed along, we saw several ladies peeping through, carefully con cealing their faces, but always betrayed by the fire of their dark eyes, which actually gleamed on us and startled us, as my companion said, like a sunbeam reflected from a piece of looking-glass. Round the area, on the summit of the hill, were wooden galleries, and every preparation for the exhibition of a bull-fight. With this display of ancient usages were connected others, however, which strongly marked more modern times. Most of the houses of refresh* ment were labeUed with revolutionary inscriptions. A large patch of plaster extended along the front ; this was white washed, and formed a conspicuous tablet: on it was written, in large black characters, Caf. del Revolution or Caf. del Nation ; but. not a single inscription having the name of the king, or any aUusion to him, was to be seen. Within were groups of persons carousing, and the political excitement seemed to have altogether altered their grave and taciturn habits. The General commanding this district was Don Joseph RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 15 O'Donnel. By order of the king he had met and defeated a detachment of Quiroga's troops from Cadiz, but it was an unfortunate victory for him. Ferdinand immediately after aceepted the Constitution, and O'Donnel was put under an arrest and sent a prisoner to St. Roque for having obeyed his orders. Finding he was in the town, we resolved to pay him a visit : we met a sentinel at his door, not as a mark of respect, but of suspicion. We were received by the Sefiora, a lady of Malaga, of a distinguished family, who had brought him a large fortune. She had dark eyes, a deep olive complexion, and her manners were very pleasing and amiable. When she understood we were Irish gentle men, who came to pay our respects to the General, she was greatly affected; a feeling of her husband's altered circumstances seemed to rush upon her mind, and she burst into tears. The General himself was greatly gratified by our visit : he was a middle-sized man, about fifty, with black hair, decayed teeth, a careworn countenance, and not a dignified person. He wore a large cocked-hat, in which he had, but too late, placed the national cockade, black caat, and pantaloons, over which latter he had drawn top? boots ; and his only distinction of General was an en> broidered sash, which he wore round his waist under his coat. He addressed me with aU the cordial famiUarity of an old acquaintance, and in a very broad accent. It was remarkable that, though he had never been in Ireland, he spoke English with a strong national tone, which he said he caught from some of the Irish brigades to whom he taught Spanish. Among the works which he had obtained from the English library at Gibraltar, was Lady Morgan's " O'Donnel," with which he was highly delighted, He said that the priest there mentioned was his grand uncle, and he bore testimony to the accuracy of the family details. 16 NARRATIVE OF A It was his intention, he said, during the leisure his confir ment afforded him, to translate the work into Spanis which he was assured would become highly popular. V parted with mutual feelings of good-wUl. The General w one of four brothers, all of whom served in the Spani army with great distinction, and attained high command the eldest was the Conde d'Abisbal, who was also in di grace with the Constitutional Government, and under arre at Malaga. Their father was one of those gentlemen wl had emigrated from Ireland to seek that honourable di tinction in Spain which was then denied him in the nulita; service at home. All his sons were born in Spain, and hi never been in their father's land. The next day he w; permitted to visit the ambassador at Gibraltar, when I ii troduced him, at his request, to Lady Strangford, wit whose kind and affable manners he was highly dehghtec Such a meeting, he said, was a cordial to his carewor spirits, and would recall to his mind, if he was ever incline to forget it, the country of his ancestors. On our return to Gibraltar we found that the governo had prepared a magnificent display for the ambassadoi The north face of the rock, which overlooks the sand; isthmus, presents a very steep and nearly perpendicula front to its very base, rising to the height of 1300 feel This only approach by land was fortified by very stronj works on the point next the bay, where was the passag mto the town, round an angle of the precipice ; but sinci the siege in 1782 it was determined to render the whol. isthmus impassable, by fortifying the whole face of the per pendicular rock. On this surface there had been but oik battery, called Willis's, which had done great execution oi the Spanish lines. As it was formed on the only horizonta spot, and there was no more space to erect a platform out- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 17 side, it was resolved to excavate and make batteries on the inside. For this purpose, long galleries were hollowed out, forming chambers at intervals, in which embrasures were opened through the crust left on the surface, eight or ten feet in thickness, and between these chambers were maga zines supplied with ammunition. The lower gaUery was entered a little above the town, and the upper issued out at the opposite side on the summit, so that the vast perpen dicular surface of solid rock, 1300 feet high and 3500 wide, was converted into a mighty bastion, through every part of which cannon were pointed. In order to exhibit the effects of this extraordinary fortress, the goyernor ordered all the guns to be loaded and discharged for our amusement, a compliment which had been paid once before to Lord Ex- mouth on his return from Algiers, and never, I believe, on any other occasion. We found the whole town assembled on the neutral ground to witness this sight : on a signal given, the firing commenced; the explosion was awfuUy loud, reverberated through the hoUow chambers of the rock, and the spectacle was magnificent ; the surface from the base to the summit, and from sea to sea, was one blaze of fire. It is to be doubted, however, if the utility compensates for the enormous expense. The explosion shakes the whole mountain in such a way, that many of the chambers are rent and cracked, and the smoke is so dense, and the noise so loud and deafening as to be intolerable for any length of time to the gunners. An artilleryman who accom panied me through the galleries, assured me he would rather stand in the most exposed situation, than pass a few minutes under such painful shelter, which so affected his head as almost to make him mad. It appears by in scriptions on the sides of the galleries, that they were exca vated in 1789. c 18 NARRATIVE OF A Though you exact from me an account of every thing I see and hear, you will not keep me to the letter of my pro mise. To me the first impressions of this celebrated old rock were deeply interesting, but to you who have read so many accounts of it, details must be irksome; a brief sketch, therefore, will content you. It has been compared to a lion in repose, and certainly its distant profile bears some resemblance to it, the head projecting into the Mediterra nean, the back to the Atlantic, and the taU the sandy isthmus. I ascended to the summit, and examined in my way some curious objects. The first was St. Michael's Cave, from whence it was supposed the ancients gave its name to the mountain. The form of the excavation has some re semblance to the cavity of a pitcher, as, I suppose, all cavi ties have, and so it was called Calpe* by the Greeks. It is full of stalactites and stalagmites, which generate in their formation a quantity of carbonic acid gas, which falls into the lower depths of the cave, and renders it dangerous to approach, so that its extremity has not been explored. This has given rise to the absurd story, that it extends to the opposite coast, and that the Moors kept up a subterraneous communication between the fortresses of Gibraltar and Ceuta. But what has rendered it really interesting is, that it was the scene of a most romantic and heroic achieve ment. After the capture of the place by the English, some Spaniards made a sacred vow to recover it or perish in the attempt. Accordingly five hundred men, having first so lemnly received the sacrament at Algesiras, landed at Europa Point, where the fortifications did not at that time extend, and from thence silently clambering up the rock, lodged themselves before morning in St. Michael's Cave. Here • KaA.B-)|. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 19 they remained all day, and, when it was dark, descended into the town, which they easily took possession of by sur prise, from an unguarded point where an attack was sup posed impossible ; and the English were astonished next morning to find the town in quiet possession of the Spa niards. It does not appear that they had taken any pre caution to procure co-operation, so they remained insulated in their conquest, solitary masters of Gibraltar. The garri son, however, which consisted of three thousand men, having recovered from their surprise, and ascertained the ineflicient force opposed to them, attacked them the next day. They made a desperate resistance, and refused to surrender while a man remained alive, and they all died on the spot. Among the Greeks this action would have been recorded and classed with the devotion of Thermopylae. From the cave I pursued my way up the mountain. Nothing marks so strongly the road-making propensity of the English as the passages through the rocks. The sides of the steep were all intersected by broad excellent roads, which led to nothing, and frequently stopped short at the edge of a precipice. As the military here have nothing to do, they are employed in this useless way, rather than remain idle. At intervals are caves, like hermit's cells, furnished within with benches and stone cushions, labelled with the names, as I supposed, of the hermits who inhabited them ; but they were, I was told, the Colonels of the regi ments who formed them. At length I gained the summit, and sat astride on the back of the lion. It was a ridge as narrow as the roof of a house, and was the most dizzy and nervous seat I ever occupied. One leg hung over the Me diterranean, and the other over what might be called the Atlantic, and each side seemed a perpendicular precipice which overhung the sea. Below me was a thunder- c2 20 NARRATIVE OF A splintered -watch-tower which had been shattered with light ning the first night it was occupied by a sentinel, and all around lay fragments of the rock loosely piled on each other, which seemed to have been rent and scattered by a similar cause. If the foundation was at all stirred, and a single rock gave way, the whole would descend in a tre mendous shower, and completely overwhelm the town below. To guard against the impending destruction, it is considered expedient to examine carefully the rock every year, and to unite the most projecting and dangerous parts with iron cramps; but this seems a perilous pre caution, as the conducting power of the metal is more likely to increase the danger and accelerate the catastrophe. Among those inaccessible and tottering fragments reside the monkeys, which are only found in this spot in Europe. Their principal food is the palmetto *, which grows in great abundance among the interstices of the stones, and within a few yards of the summit. The animals are com pletely insulated here, and cannot escape if they were so inclined. They sometimes descend to the gardens of the town, and are seen, though rarely, by the inhabitants. One old monkey in particular pays a visit to the South Barracks, where he is called the Town-Major. He takes his seat on Charles Vth's wall, where he chatters, and seems to be issuing his orders. If the inhabitants were disposed to catch or kill those creatures, the race would soon become extinct : but they entertain for them a high respect, and the different governors issue strict orders for their preserva tion. As I was now in the very heart of their abode, I expected to catch a glimpse at least of some of them, but I saw no trace of them but the remains of their food ; plants * Chamserops humilis. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 21 of the palmetto were everywhere lying about, with roots bitten off, which I was assured was done by these monkeys. Another circumstance indicated their existence here. They frequently detach and roll down fragments of the rocks they live among, either in search of food, or in mischievous sport. I met afterwards a party of midshipmen from the Cam brian, who narrowly escaped a large stone, which rolled down from above, and bounded over their heads into the sea. They attributed it entirely to the malice of the mon keys, and talked of climbing up and avenging the insult. Associated with these animals are vultures, which seem to be the only other living things which dispute with them their solitary abode. During the period of their annual migrations from Africa to Europe, they are first seen in vast flights to wheel and hover round the summit of the rock in various circles, and at length to light upon it, covering it in long lines, like swallows on the ridge of a house, im pelled by the same instinct, and bearing about the same proportion to the respective places on which they perch. It is a sublime object to contemplate these huge and " raven ous fowl" using this vast rugged perch as a resting-place on their way to Europe, and, like the vultures from the ridges of Imaus, " come flying, lured with scent of living car cases." I had heard that very singular organic remains were seen on the summit of this mountain, and in a state more perfect and indubitable than any antediluvian remnants found elsewhere. Among these I discovered the circular perforations left by the piddock*; and in one of them I found a perfect shell, not imbedded in crust, or incorporated with the substance of the rock, but loosely lodged in the * Pholas dactylus. 22 NARRATIVE OF A cavity it had made, and capable of being detached in sepa rate valves ; and I was informed by a gentleman who hae collected a museum from the rock, in which he had severa such specimens, that it was not uncommon. That a marim shell should be thus found nearly two thousand feet abovi its native element, as complete as when the animal wai alive, and apparently in the act of performing what is knowi to be a curious operation in its natural history, is perhaps one of the most striking proofs on record that the sea hae once submerged the mountain. In a deep fissure lowei down were other organic remains, but evidently of a ver) recent date. An agglomerated mass was formed of ferru ginous, calcareous matter, which had attained considerable induration. It was very heterogeneous, consisting of shells spar, and bones, all in a perfectly organized state, particu larly the bones, which were not at all changed in shape ol substance, but susceptible of being scraped with a knife or the surface, though the mass that united them together was as hard as marble. They were supposed to be washed down by the violent rains, and left in the fissures with water, where, by the deposit of calcareous matter, thej were firmly united by a brief process, which is seen going on every day at the Dripping Well at Knaresborotigh, and similar places in England. In the specimens I found, the bones were principally those of fowl, and were probably the remains of parties of pleasure, who had brought theii dinner to some of the magnificent views on the summit 01 the rock, from whence they were carried down by the tor rents, and received into the first open fissure. This, yov. will say, is not a very remote, nor a very dignified causs for a curious natural object; but I am satisfied manj such might be with truth assigned for effects which have puzzled philosophers. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 23 The summit of the rock is often assailed by violent showers of hail, but snow is never seen or known to rest on it. This is the more remarkable, as you see yourself surrounded by snowy mountains on every side, and apparently on the same level. Towards the east, those of Malaga were quite white; and to the south, the sides of Atlas were covered with snow as far as the eye could reach to an almost interminable distance. This is a phenomenon which people do not expect to see in Africa. It does not appear that a town was ever bunt on the ancient Calpe. Strabo describes one as forty-five stadia, or five miles, from the mountain, which probably was Karteia. The first ever erected was by the Moors under Tarik, who passed over from the opposite coast, and gave the mountain its modern name *. The fortress he erected is still standing. The walls and turrets are seen out-topping the adjoining buildings on the side of the hill, and are pierced in all di rections with balls which, I was informed, came from the Spanish flotilla in 1782. There is stiUlegible on it an Arabic inscription, with the date of 712. In 1461, it was retaken by the Spaniards, with whom it remained till 1704, when it was captured by the English in a manner so easy and un expected by both nations, that there is hardly a parallel to be found in history. Sir G. Rooke was returning from an unsuccessful attempt on Barcelona, and thought it necessary to do something to satisfy the English people. He stopped in the Straits of Gibraltar to reconnoitre the fortress, and to this end he sent a boat's crew, headed by an officer named Jumper. He rowed quietly under one of the bat teries, and finding no opposition from the people, who " Gibel (a mountain) ul Tarik, which, dropping the last syllable, leaves nearly the present name. 24 NARRATIVE OF A expected no attack, he climbed up an embrasure under one of the guns, followed by some of the sailors, and jumping into the bastion, he soon drove out the astonished Spaniards, and remained master of the place. This bastion still exists on the south side, and is called Jumper's Battery, by an odd coincidence between the name of the man and his achievement. The immense efforts made by the Spaniards to re gain it form a strong contrast to the manner in which it was lost, as does its importance now in the eyes of the English, to the trifling value they at first set upon it. At the close of the American war the eyes of all Europe were directed to it. The preparations by sea and land were so extraordinary as to exhaust all their then known mecha nical powers, and exceed even that of the famous Armada- Vessels covered with tense raw hides, from which cannon- balls bounded as harmless as peas from a drum-head, could approach to the muzzles of our guns, and if by chance any ball or combustible entered, a system of tubes, like the veins and arteries of an animal, ramified through the whole machine, along which water circulated to extinguish, in an instant, any accident from fire. Besides this immense naval armament which fiUed the Bay, the Spanish army covered the shore ; and the courts of France and Spain sat on an elevation, like Xerxes and the Persian court at Sala mis, to witness the certain destruction of their presumptuous handful of enemies. But the genius of one determined veteran blasted this splendid enterprise, and destroyed it in a moment, like the lightning of heaven. His memory is still preserved here in a remarkable manner. A large space was levelled on the rock for a public garden, and in the centre was placed the mainmast of one of the Spanish ships destroyed. Out of this a garrison artist undertook to carve RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 25 a statue of General Elliot, and he has succeeded to admi ration. There he stands, as stiff and upright as when he stood on the Ragged-staff Battery, with his square cocked hat, his hook nose, and his tie-wig ; and that nothing might be wanting to complete the likeness, there is beside him one of the actual furnaces in which he heated the first red-hot ball, which he charged and discharged with his own hand. Since the period of that memorable siege, now half a cen tury, the Spaniards have never made another attempt ; and from the impregnable state in which the fortress is placed, both by sea and land, it would be utterly hopeless in future. Gibraltar, therefore, may now be considered as much a part and parcel of England as Portsmouth; and it has already assumed all the features of an English landscape. Instead of the cactus, the aloe, and the castor-oil tree, which were the only native vegetables that clothed the interstices of the stones with their scanty and exotic vegetation, the trees and shrubs usually planted in England now cover the naked face of the rock with their umbrageous foliage, and neat villas are seen up the side of it, peeping out between them like some of the rural prospects in the Isle of Wight. There is one native, however, which the English are not disposed to exchange for any substitute, and that is the vine. Its rich ness and exuberance here exceeds, perhaps, any part of the world. We had in the middle of November various kinds of the most delicious grapes fresh gathered, one nearly as large as a walnut, of a fleshy consistence, and most delicious flavour, and of these kinds they reckon three hundred and forty varieties found on this apparently barren rock. By a return which the Governor was so good as to get for me, the population of the town, including the garrison, con sisted of sixteen thousand five hundred and forty-four per sons, which presented in the streets a great and curious 26 NARRATIVE OF A variety of costume to a stranger's eye. The Spaniard, in his long black cloak, with one corner thrown over his left shoulder, and the edge held up so as, with his broad brimmed hat, to conceal his face. The Moor or Algerine, with his turban and flowing beneesh, and ample scarlet trousers, bound at the ancles, and hanging over his slippers. The Spanish Jew like the Moor, but close shaven over the forehead, his head covered with a tight and scanty black scull-cap, and his feet with European shoes. The Barbary Jew wears a long beard and trousers, but has a coat of coarse cloth, made like a sailor's long jacket, hanging down to his feet ; and, of all the various people, has the most mean and beggarly aspect. The Spanish women of the better sort dress in black, with their hair close combed under a dark veil that covers their head, but not their face ; their feet, which they are fond of displaying, are remarkably small, scarcely covered with light-coloured shoes, having long quarters. Women of inferior rank wear a scarlet stuff or cloth cloak, bound with black velvet, slashed with cuts, for the arm to come through, and having a large hood which always envelopes the head. Sunday was not distinguished, except by the English, with any mark of sanctity above an ordinary day ; the shops were open as usual, and the several artizans, especiaUy Jews, working at their trades. The only circumstance which more particularly separated it from a week day, was that the wine-houses were crowded and noisy. The police, however, was very well regulated, and at nine o'clock at night every thing was quiet, and the unfortunate women that usually foUow a large garrison no where to be seen. RESIDENCE AT CONST ANTINOPLE. 27 CHAPTER II. entrants setting irito both ends of the Mediterranean— Pillars of Hercules- Fable of Atlas— Contrast between the Atlantic and Mediterranean— Beau tiful Meteoric Phenomenon — Accuracy of Virgil— Malta— Fort Ricasoli— Pirates— Singular Story of Mutineers— St. Elmo— Barbarous Conduct of Turks — Retaliation of Christians — Palace of the Knights— Library — Church of St. John — Cave of St. Paul — Controversy about the Island he visited — Giant's Tower at Gozd — Hageira tai gernal — Accoifht of the Fungus Militensis — Notices of Malta— Fortifications— Capers— Granaries— Pesti lential Diseases — Dense Population — Ecclesiastics — Penitents— Cemetrey — Circulating Coins. On the 21st of November we were on board, and again under weigh, availing ourselves of the current, which, in despite of a Levanter blowing against it, bore us into the Mediterranean. I agree with you, that the theory of this extraordinary current has not yet been satisfactorily ex plained, notwithstanding all that has been said and written about it. The phenomenon had been noticed among the wonders of the ancients *, and I think still continues to be so among the moderns. When we consider that the Strait is generally twenty miles wide, and in some places so deep that the ground could not be reached even in the still water of the Bay with a line of one hundred fathoms ; and that through this inlet, so wide and so deep, a body of water, in creased afterwards by the Nile, Ebro, Po, and other streams, is continually running at the rate of four or five miles an hour ; when you add to this, that a similar body enters into the other end of the Mediterranean, through the Hellespont and Bosphorus, continually rolling down, so rapidly as to * Qua irrumpens oceanus Atlanticus in maria interiova diff'undilur — Pun. 1, iii. E/f /ASTupv Ifirftn-Tov ro clrXavrixav vriXoiyos. — Strabo, lib. 3. 28 NARRATIVE OF A detain ships for a month at the mouth of the Strait, before the) can get a wind sufficiently strong to stem it ; that the waters of this current also are augmented by those of the Danube, Borysthenes, Don, and other rivers in the Euxine ; and thai all this accumulates in the Mediterranean, without ever increasing its volume, or elevating its surface, human inge nuity is altogether baffled in endeavouring to account for it. Halley thought he found a satisfactory cause in evaporation, which he calculates at six thousand nine hundred and four teen tuns a day, taking no account, it should appear, of the winter months, when the rains are very heavy, and the water which falls is equal to that, at least, which is drawn up ; but what you justly observe of the Baltic seems an entire refutation of this theory. The cause assigned by Halley should be general in its effects, and if it influenced the Mediterranean, would also influence every other sea similarly situated. The Baltic, during the summer months, is exposed to a heat greater than the Mediterranean. The sun is incessantly acting on it from sixteen to twenty hours a day, and the thermometer sometimes at 90° ; so that the rivers are lessened in volume, the lakes reduced in surface, the pools dried up, and every indication of the same ab sorption or evaporation having taken place ; yet, as you say, there is no alteration in the current of the Sound, but, whenever it is perceptible, is always seen to set out, and carry the surplus waters of the Baltic into the Atlantic. Dr. Smith insists on an under current ; and a story is told of a ship sinking at. Ceuta and rising again at Tangiers ; but, by what I could learn at. Gibraltar, the fact was con sidered as doubtful, as the theory founded on it was unsatis factory. So that at the last we are reduced to the hypo thesis of the bold man who imagined a passage under the isthmus of Suez, and discharged all the superabundance of RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 29 the Mediterranean into the Red Sea, where all extraordi nary and unimaginable things, it seems, are sent to. Another circumstance which interests you is, to ascertain what could give rise to the extraordinary story of the Pillars of Hercules, the rending asunder of which opened a pas sage for this current, which has continued to flow through them ever since. The ancients formed all their mythologies from the appearance and position of natural objects, for which a warm imagination assigned a preternatural cause. On contemplating the Strait from the Mediterranean, you see two pillar-like promontories standing before you, one the point Ceuta, on the coast of Africa ; and the other, the rock of Gibraltar ; between them rushes the current of the Atlantic, as if some mighty hand had just then rent them asunder, and the waters of the ocean, hitherto stopped by this barrier, were now tumbling in through the sudden rupture. That the ancient Calpe is the present Gibraltar there is no doubt ; but some have attempted to prove that Apes-hill directly opposite to it was the Abyla — but this, I think, is not at all probable. Apes-hill is considerably inland, and not seen from the Mediterranean, where Ceuta, projecting into the sea, forms a promontory exactly similar toGibraltar, seeming just opposite, though, in fact, it is not so. There is another appearance from this place which strongly arrests the attention of the classical traveller, and that is the summit of Mount Atlas. This celebrated chain here bounds the western horizon in such a way as makes it easy to account for the ancient fable. To the Greek and Roman mariners, who never sailed beyond the Strait, or thou edit of following the Phoenicians this way to Britain, but supposed it the termination of the earth, the western extre mity of the concave arch rested on this ridge, like the arch 30 NARRATIVE OF A of a bridge on its abutment, and so the heavens on that side seemed actually supported by it. So late as the time of the Emperor Domitian, the Romans, if we are to believe Juvenal, supposed that the sun set in the Straits of Gibraltar, and was heard hissing as it descended into the sea. Among the distant places to which the hope of gain leads the mariner, he says — " Audiet Herculeo stridentem gurgite solem." Sat. xiv. 280. The next day we were fairly launched on the waters of the Mediterranean, and the morning light presented to us its fair features. Nothing could be a stronger contrast than that which it afforded to the dark and turbulent waves of the Atlantic, which we had just left. Its mild and calm aspect exceeded any thing I had conceived of it. A con stant sunshine — a bland and gentle breeze wafting us kindly along — it seemed as if halcyons were brooding over its surface, and some deity of the deep had stilled the waters, that they might not disturb them. The night presented objects equally lovely in the glittering firmament of new stars, and in the various meteors which shot across the horizon in aU direc tions. One of them was exceedingly beautiful. In the even ing, about eight o'clock, while plying between Sardinia and Sicily, I was on the quarter-deck, watching the rising of some of the new constellations, when suddenly a meteor burst from the sky near the Pleiades, which struck us all with awe and amazement. It, presented the appearance of a dense cone of fire, apparently about two feet long, and about nine inches broad. It proceeded, with the base fore most, with a slow and majestic pace, in a direction oblique to the horizon, illuminating the whole visible hemisphere like a sun, completely obscuring the stars, and rendering RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 31 every object on deck and round the ship distinctly visible. Near the horizon were some dark clouds, in separate strata : it passed behind these, and again reappeared at intervals, tinging their skirts with a bright orange light, and it finally set in the north-west among the mountains of Sardinia. Nothing could exceed the bland, but somewhat awful beauty of this magnificent phenomenon, its light was so lovely, and its progress so slow and dignified. It continued for more than a minute visible, and traversed one-third of the sky. It had nothing of the appearance of that blading meteor that " Fires the length, of Ophiuchus huge, And from his horrid hair shakes pestilence And war." It was rather the mild lustre that formed the halo of some beneficent being, who, shrouded in its radiant light, was travelling to a distant land, on a mission of mercy. Opinions were greatly divided on the nature of this illu mination. Some supposed it to have been ignited matter, projected from ^Etna, but the distance of that mountain, probably two hundred miles, rendered such a supposition highly improbable. It was conjectured, with more likelihood, to be some electric matter, generated in the neighbourhood of the volcano perhaps, and meeting in this place with a cause that developed it ; the explosion, however, was not attended with any sound. It seemed to occupy a place very high in the atmosphere, far above the clouds, and so corresponded with those dracones volantes and grand meteors observed by Brydone and other travellers from the summit of JEtna. Several bright shooting stars were afterwards seen in the night, as Virgil observes, in the same place when the games were celebrating in Sicily — " Coelo ceu saepe refixo Transcummt, crinemque volantia sidera ducant." /Enkid. lib. v. 32 NARRATIVE OF A This beautiful meteor was noticed in places considerably distant on the same night, and exactly at the same hour. It was visible not only in Sicily, but at Naples and other parts of Italy. The imaginations of various narrators as signed to it several accessories, according to their fancies ; some accounts gave it the figure of a fiery dragon ; some said that it exploded in thunder ; and some dissolved it in a shower of snow ; but it wanted none of these absurd exaggerations to make it one of the most beautiful and interesting phenomena that ever was witnessed in the heavens. The distant places, however, in which it was seen at the same time is at once a proof of its large dimen sions and great altitude. The next day the weather, as if this beautiful meteor was really the harbinger of good to man, became altoge ther lovely, and the day following, the 1st of December' it was balmy and delicious, like the temperate days of our finest summer. The boat was hoisted out for bathers ; and as we became stationary, I tried the experiment of the bottle to ascertain the pressure of different depths of sea-water. It was well corked and secured with wire and wax, and let down to the depth of one hundred fathoms ; the result of six experiments was, that when it went down empty, it came up full of sea-water, which the pressure had forced into it through every obstruction, in a high state of ebullition ; when let down full of fresh water, it came up in the same state, the salt water not displacing it. We were now under the shore of Sicily, where Virgil himself was said to have sailed, in order that he might describe the voyage of iEneas with more accuracy. We stood on deck with the Mneid in our hand, and can bear testimony to his fidelity. We passed the shoals of Lily- bfeum; at a distance I saw the low land terminated by RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 66 insular rocks, the vada dura saxis Lihjbe'ia ccecis. It is now of more importance than in the time of iEneas, and recalls' the name of as great a hero. Like the district of Bronte, from which Lord Nelson takes his title, it yields the Marsala wine, or Bronte Madeira, which is in such request all over the Mediterranean. Towards evening, a high promontory appeared on the distant land, with a town on its summit very conspicuous. This was Girgenti, which Virgil represents as giving exactly the same object in the same place — " Arduus inde Agragas ostentat maxima longe Moeuia." ^Ek. lib. 3. Early on the 2d of December we were entering the port of Valetta, and the first objects that presented themselves were the fortress of Ricasoli, with four men hanging in chains on a bastion. At first it was rumoured that they were so executed for breaking the quarantine laws, which at Malta are exercised with the strictest severity; I found afterwards that it was for piracy, under the most atrocious circumstances, which, perhaps, you have never heard of. A man of the name of Delano, an Anglo-American, com manded the William, bound from Liverpool to Smyrna. While taking in his cargo, he lay outside the Helen, bound to the same place, commanded by Captain Cornish, an elderly, respectable man ; and as he had occasion to pass through his ship on his way to his own, they became ac quainted. Delano was a man of very plausible manners, and the other confided to him all his affairs. Delano sailed first, but fell in with the Helen off Cape de Gata, on the coast of Spain, and, having spoken, they again parted com pany, wishing each other a good voyage. During the night, Delano disguised the hull of his ship, by drawing a strip of tanned canvas along his gunwale, mounted a false gun, 34 NARRATIVE OF A called a quaker, and the next morning brought the Helen to, and ordered the captain and his boat, on board. While he was obeying this order, Delano's boat was pushed from the opposite side, and, rowing suddenly out, took possession of the Helen; and when the captain returned, he was seized, and confined, with his crew, in the forecastle. There were three Irish gentlemen, G. Brophy, W. Magennis, and J. Fitzpatrick, passengers, going to Rome to be educated for the priesthood. They, too, were shut up with the cap tain. The pirates placed a sentinel over their prisoners, and then proceeded to open the hatches and plunder the ship, with all the particulars of whose cargo they were already acquainted. It happened that one of the prisoners looked through the bull's-eye, which had been opened for air, and saw on the sail of Delano's ship the maker's name at Liverpool. This he incautiously communicated in the hearing of the sentinel, and it was immediately determined by the pirates to destroy them all. For this purpose they scuttled the Helen in several places, and, after taking out every thing that was valuable, returned to their own ship. The last person who departed was the sentinel. He told his prisoners he was going aft to sleep, and if they continued quiet he would return in an hour and release them. The pirates remained alongside tiU they saw the vessel sinking ; they then made sail from her — they perceived her going down fast — the evening closed, and they saw her no more. They now removed the disguise from their hull,"and pro ceeded to Malta as if nothing had happened. They sold some of the goods which they had brought from Liverpool, on account, of the owners, according to regular invoice ; the plundered goods, consisting principally of bales of cloth, Delano said was the property of a friend in distress, and shipped on his own account the night before his departure, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 35 The William was a frequent trader to the port, and Delano her captain, a well-known and respectable man; so these goods were purchased also without suspicion or inquiry, and the vessel departed with the perfect confidence and good-will of every one in the island. At Smyrna, what remained was disposed of in the same manner, a division quietly made • of the proceeds of the plundered property, and they lay in perfect security in the harbour waiting for a return cargo. But the watchful eye of Providence was over the innocent to preserve them as instruments to punish the guilty. The crew confined on board the Helen having waited a consider able time for the return of the sentinel, and finding every thing still and quiet on board, began to suppose that the pirates had left the vessel ; but having listened attentively to catch any sound, and hearing the water distinctly rush ing into the hold, they found the ship was fast settling to sink, and the awful state in which they were suddenly rushed upon their minds. The hatchways, they knew, had been battened down, but providentially finding an axe below, and desperation giving them additional strength, they burst them open. Having proceeded cautiously on deck, they saw the pirate at some distance. They found that every precaution had been taken to insure their destruction ; the pump-gear destroyed, to prevent their lightening the ship, the rigging cut to prevent their sailing, and the boat stove in to prevent their escaping. The gunwale of the ship was now at the water's edge, and they had not a moment to lose, so hastily wrapping a tarpaulin round the boat, they launched her at the off side, and kept the hull between them and the pirate as long as she remained afloat ; by the time she went down it was dark, and they made their way for Malaga, where they almost miraculously arrived in their crazv boat. D 2 36 NARRATIVE OF A From hence some of them embarked in the Spey frigate, which happened to touch there, and proceeded to Malta, where they landed a few days only after the pirates had left, and having told the story of the piracy, and the Liver pool mark on the sail, suspicion immediately fell upon De lano. Lieutenant Hobson of the Spey was, therefore, sent in a hired vessel, with an armed crew and the sailors of the' Helen, and when they arrived they recognised the William lying in perfect security among the other traders. A boat was procured, in which the armed men, covered with a tar paulin, were rowed alongside, and, jumping suddenly on board, the pirates were seized without resistance, in the moment of their fancied security. They were brought back to Malta, and, after a patient hearing of three days, they were convicted on the clearest evidence, and the captain, mate, cook, and smith were hung in chains on the bastion of Ricasoli, where I saw them. Others were executed and buried ; one only was not taken — he had been on shore buying provisions previous to their departure from Smyrna. It was remarkable that all the persons concerned in this atrocious transaction had been persons of exceUent cha racter, up to the moment when it was perpetrated. Delano had been for eight years well and intimately known, and much respected by his employers. He was led to engage in some smuggling transactions, and was exchequered, by which he lost a large sum of money. From that time he said he determined to remunerate his losses by any means in his power, and he thought the act of piracy " neither a shame nor a sin." As I know you prefer incident to description, I shall mention another circumstance of this Fort, which was told me on the spot, rather than give you a detail of its bastions. An officer obtained leave from the government of Malta to RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 37 raise a regiment for rank, and he enrolled a number of Greeks on the continent with a few Albanians and Italians, and they were placed in garrison at this fort of Ricasoli. In a short time they mutinied, seized upon the fortress, expelled the officers, and kept garrison by themselves. The fortress was attacked in the night by Captain CoUier, of the British navy, taken by assault, and the mutineers punished with military execution. This was attempted to be performed in so hurried and slovenly a manner, that they made their escape in a body from the place of execution with their handcuffs and halters, but were pursued into different parts of the town, where they were shot and stabbed in the most revolting manner, whenever they were overtaken. Six of them, however, escaped, and under the command of a very extraordinary Greek named Anastasius Hieromachos, seized on the powder-magazine, and declared their inten tion of blowing up both it and themselves, if they were not allowed terms. They kept it for seven days, but being then reduced to the last extremity for provisions and water, they caused it to be intimated that, if they were not permitted to pass out before nine in the evening, they would put their threats into execution. The time arrived without the terms, and these desperate men blew up the magazine, with an explosion that shook the whole peninsula. Some time after, when the fort was repaired, and the affair ceased to be talked of, a priest was attacked by a robber on the road to Citta Vecchia. He fled, however, and gave the alarm, and the police having made pursuit, followed him to a cave, where they were astonished to find Hieromachos and his six men, who had been blown up in the fort. They had excavated the soft rock, and at the moment of the explo sion had escaped through the aperture. They seized a scampavia, with the intention of escaping to Sicily, but were pursued by the owner, without his knowing who they were, 38 NARRATIVE OF A and obliged to fly into the country. Here they supported nature for some time, till they were compelled to rob for subsistence, and were discovered. They were led out again to be shot, but Hieromachos again escaped, and it is said was an active agent in the early part of the Greek revolution. I should be curious to know what was his ultimate fate. He must have "borne a life" more " charmed" than that of Macbeth. The next object we passed was the fort of St. Elmo, recalling the memory of the most heroic achievements to be found in the annals of human contention. It is no exaggeration to call the Knights of Malta at that day the bulwarks of Chris tianity. The Ottoman empire was governed by Solyman, the greatest and most enlightened of all the race. He had extended his empire not only in the east and south, in Asia and Africa, but he had penetrated into Hungary, and so occupied the centre of Europe. He had taken from the Venetians the greater part of their possessions, had laid waste the coasts of Italy and Spain, landed his troops in Minorca and various other places, slaying and carrying off the inhabitants as slaves, and had filled aU Europe with desolation and terror. But, above all, he had driven the Knights of St. John from Rhodes, their hitherto impreg nable fortress, and he now determined to annihilate them in Malta, and, having made this island in the centre of the Mediterranean his stepping-stone, to overcome the south of Europe, and extinguish Christianity, as he thought, by deposing the pope, and making a manger of the high altar of St. Peter's to feed his Arabian horses. Meantime, the western church was, as the eastern had been, distracted by mutual dissension, and the most powerful monarch in Europe, but the most detestable bigot, Philip IL, was massacring his industrious Christian subjects in the Low Countries by thousands, because they differed from him RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 39 in some speculative opinions. In such a state of things there was reason to apprehend that the western Christian church would fall before the Turks, as the eastern had done, and Solyman complete what treachery had begun. To this end, a fleet of two hundred sail, bearing an army of fifty thousand men, assisted by all the pirates of Africa, was sent against the devoted island, and there did not seem the remotest chance that it could afford any effectual resistance. In vain had the Knights requested the aid of their Christian brethren ; they received promises and nothing more. The wretched PhiUp thought he was doing God more service by opposing heresy than Mohamedanism, so he continued to extirpate Protestants, and suffered the Turks to extirpate Christianity. The Knights, amounting to seven hundred persons, thus left to their own resources, with a few gaUant auxiliaries, whom zeal in the great cause had attracted, prepared, with about eight thousand men, to oppose this torrent. The siege, as detailed by historians, is the most gaUant and in teresting event to be found in the annals of human transac tions. After incredible acts of intrepidity and devotion, the Turks were obliged to raise the siege, with the wretched and feeble remains of their vast armies, leaving the bodies of the rest weltering on the rocks about the town. The degree of fierce and unsparing carnage with which they mutually fought is unparaUeled. One incident wiU suffice to illustrate it. When the Turks obtained a temporary possession of St. Elmo, they massacred all the Christians they found in the fort, by ripping up their bowels, and hav ing gashed their breasts in the form of a cross, they tied them to planks, and sent them floating across the harbour, thus mangled, but yet alive, to their friends in the battery of St. Angelo, on the other side. This was avenged by an act as bloody. All the Turkish prisoners in the hands of 40 NARRATIVE OF A the Christians were brought to the ramparts, their heads cut off, and rammed into cannon of large calibre, and dis charged against the Turks in the fortress of St. Elmo, and the pious Maltese used to show the impression made by those extraordinary bullets, stained with Mohammedan brains, which they said no rain would wash out. It is deeply to be regretted that such acts should really stain the cause which the knights defended. The Turks who remained prisoners in their hands were treated with the utmost bru tality. It was resolved to build a new town on the pro montory contiguous to this memorable fortress, and call it Valetta, after the name of the gallant grand-master who commanded during the siege. On this the Turks were employed as slaves, and such was the unrelenting severity with which they were treated, that long before the town was finished not one of them was left alive. On the return of the remnant of this ill-fated expedition to Constantinople, the want of success against the Chris tians was attributed by the mufti and imauns to the neglect of the law of Mohamet by the faithful, particularly in their indulgence in the use of wine, which they had learned from the Greeks. To restrain this offence, and concUiate the prophet, Solyman issued a firman, that any man who was convicted of having tasted wine or rakee should have boiling oil poured down his throat, for which cauldrons were kept ready prepared. This law was rigorously en forced till his successor, Selim, repealed it, because he was himself fond of wine, and saw no prospect of takino- Malta by abstaining from it. Having passed St. Elmo, we anchored opposite the town of Valetta. We landed under the usual display, and found carriages to convey us to the palace, where we were to be quartered while we remained. I was delighted to find myself in this magnificent structure of the grand-masters, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 41 where everything about me would remind me of the gallant knights who preserved Christian Europe. The palace is situated on the summit of a ridge, on the only flat surface it afforded, having a small square in front, to which steep streets lead on three sides. After entering a grand qua drangle by a large gateway, we ascended a broad circular stone staircase to the galleries. From hence I was brought up to a square tower, where I was assigned a bed-room of enormous size. It measured twenty yards by fifteen, was flagged with marble, and, like the Spanish houses, without a ceiling; two large recessed windows opened upon the city, and commanded a magnificent view of the for tifications, and the sea that surrounded them. My bed was a small iron couch against the wall, surmounted by a lofty canopy, from whence descended green silk gauze curtains down to the floor, and inclosed the couch, the whole exactly resembling the section of a Turkish bashaw's tent. The aspect of such a large, cold, dreary place to sleep in, in the month of December, in England, would have made my teeth chatter, but here I found it very pleasant ; I even ventilated it. by opening the windows at night. WhUe examining my apartment, I was startled by a sound which suddenly burst on my ear. On looking out, I found it proceeded from a large clock close beside me. The hours were struck like those of St. Dunstan's, but in a more remarkable manner. Five Mohamedan Moors advanced, and, raising their clubs, gave in succession the number of strokes necessary. The knights seemed on all occasions to keep up the memory of their hostility to the infidels, and took this method of being reminded of it every hour in the day. From hence I wandered to the summit of the building, and found a fiat roof, like that of aU the houses in Malta, and flagged as the court-yard. Into this upper court sundry 42 NARRATIVE OF A doors opened from various apartments, and many staircaf conducted, so that it is a common passage, and as greal thoroughfare as the yard below. It is a delightful pi menade to walk those upper areas, and look down ov the balustrades, either into the courts of the palace, the streets adjoining. It presents the busy crowds beh under a new and interesting point of view. From hence descended into the great gallery, which runs over tl arcade, and entirely surrounds the palace. This is a nob! spacious, and lofty avenue ; the ceiling decorated with tl arms, and the walls with the portraits of the knights, ar the respective battles in which they were concerned. A this is the great avenue of communication, when I wante to find any one who was lost in the trackless wilderness i the palace, I walked here as in the Strand in London, an I was sure to meet him. From this doors opened into gran suites of apartments, as magnificent, perhaps, as any in tl world. The largest is the reception room, where the Ens lish governor now, and the grand- master formerly receive visiters of state. A curious circumstance marks this apart ment. A meridian line runs obliquely across the flooi formed of blocks of marble. On these are represented th signs of the zodiac. An aperture above admits the sun beams, which fall at mid-day on this fine, so that a circula spectrum, presenting a perfect image of the sun is see every day in the sign of the zodiac, which correspond with his actual situation in the sky, and as the line is gra duated, it points out not only the month in the year, bu the day of the month, with unerring accuracy, and wa the calendar to which I always resorted when I wanted h find it. I thought this beautiful aud simple contrivanc was unique in this palace, but I afterwards found a simila one at Rome. In the area before St. Peter's Church, thi great obelisk forms a gnomon, the point of whose shadov RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 43 falls successively on the signs of the zodiac delineated on the pavement, and marks the different months in a similar, though by no means so beautiful a manner. I made my way through large folding doors, and found myself in a noble library attached to the palace. This was collected originally by the knights, and proved that, not withstanding the illiterate character of their order, and their deplorable ignorance and barbarism at the time of the Crusades, they had latterly become addicted tam Mi- nervce quam Marti. Every member had a private collec tion of his own, which at his death was added to the gene ral stock. The library, however, had been augmented by Sir Hildebrand Oakes, not a Maltese, but an English knight. He greatly enlarged it, and it now contains more than thirty thousand volumes. The librarian, the Abbi Bellanti, I found very intelligent, and speaking English with great correctness. Among the books of the knights, he showed me one exceedingly curious. It con tains an account of the priory of the knights of St. John, and of all the commendaries in England, according to the current value in the year 1338, which, as appears by the date, was that in which the book was written. The fol lowing is a fac-simile of the writing : — 44 NARRATIVE OK A If this was valuable on no other account, it would be so from the antiquity of the MS., which, if genuine and original, it appears is five hundred years old. They have collected here some remains of the early state of the island, and of the different people who possessed it. The most ancient were the Phseacians, who are recorded to have been a race of giants ; but as this class of persons was never remarkable for intellectual endowments, it is not ex traordinary that they should have left no literary records behind them. They were succeeded by the Phoenicians, who were of a different stamp, and yet what few remains these enterprising and intelligent people, including their descendants the Carthaginians, have left to posterity ? even their language, I believe, is a mere matter of conjecture. In this library, the librarian showed me the remains of two candelabra, which had been dug up some time before in the island. On the base of one is a Greek inscription as follows : — ¦ AiONYZIOS KAI ZAPAniliNO! SAPAniXlNOS TYPIOI HPAKAEI APXHPEYEI. On the other are the following occult characters, supposed to be Phoenician : — "/£ °, Jn 7 The inscription has been thus translated : — Abdassar and Assaremon, sons of Assaremon, son of Abdassar, have made this vow to our Lord Melerat the tutelary divinity of Tyre;— may he bless them in their un certain route. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 45 Now, as I pretend to no judgment in the matter in ques tion, I send it to you for the inspection of your Gaelic Society. Some ingenious member, perhaps, may decipher it. otherwise, and add it to the passage in Plautus as a further confirmation of your Phoenician origin. The Greeks dispos sessed the Phoenicians, about the year 736 before Christ, and called the island MeUta, from its abounding in honey. Having held it for two hundred years, the Carthaginians took possession of it, and restored the language, till Regulus dispossessed them also, two hundred and forty-two years before Christ. To which of these eras the inscription be longs you must decide. The last is not much more than two thousand years ago. The present vernacular language of Malta is said to be derived from this origin. It is unin telligible out of the island. Mr. Somerville, a gentleman who has resided many years at Gozo, where it is most un adulterated, and whom I met on a subsequent visit, has made a collection of several thousand words, which he has reduced to the form of a dictionary, and the Bible Society have published parts of the Scripture in it for the use of the natives. He tells me it has more affinity to Arabic than to any known language at the present day. From the library I proceeded to the church of St. John the Baptist. As he was the patron of the knights, they lavished all their magnificence on this edifice. The flooring is mosaic of the richest marbles, forming the escutcheons and crests of the different knights ; the roof, supported on pilasters of verde antique, is decorated with the history of St. John. There are eight recesses between the pilasters, which are chapels dedicated to the different tongues or na tions which composed the order ; the English formed one, till the Reformation excluded them as heretics. The tombs of the several grand-masters who distinguished themselves 46 NARRATIVE OF A against the Turks, are noble specimens of sculpture, though not all according with the character of a Christian church. On one of them are the figures of two Mohamedans, a white and a black, chained at the base of the monument. The sculpture is admirable, and greatly admired ; but the representation of one fellow-creature writhing in chains at the feet of another, is a revolting perversion of the precepts of the gospel, and a desecration of an edifice consecrated to Christian worship ; though it may not be out of keeping with the ruthless religion of the times, and the principles of an institution, whose members, as foUowers of Christ, took a solemn oath never to be at peace with the followers of Mohamet. Two precious possessions have rendered this church still more memorable. One was the grand screen, or chancel, of silver, which ran round the high altar, and was esteemed the richest in the world. This was the peculiar object of French cupidity, and they intended to coin it immediately into francs en passant for the army in Egypt, but instead of the glittering prize they found nothing but a mean rad- ing painted brown ; and as they knew not exactly where the silver was to be found, they ransacked the church in vain in search of it. When they surrendered the island to the English, the lost railing again appeared in the church. The good fathers of St. John, apprised, as they say, by their patron, of the intentions of the French, and not having time to remove the railing, were warned in a dream to lay on it a thick coat of paint. This they did, and effectuaUy de ceived their sacrilegious invaders, who, however, compen sated themselves in another way, by converting other valu ables of the church into money, as I was informed, to the amount of eighteen millions of francs. I was curious to see this screen, thus miraculously preserved, and they showed RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 47 me the railing round the high altar. It had a very dingy and tarnished appearance, though the paint had been removed ; and instead of being of solid silver, was hollow, and sounded as if the metal was not thicker than a six pence. The other valuable possessions said to be in this church were the actual head of St. John, and the hand with which he baptized our Saviour. The first was shown to me, but it proved to be only of marble, though an excellent fac simile, and very like a head of solid flesh recently cut off. The hand had disappeared, and they gave me the following account of it. lt had been in the possession of the Turks, but on the gallant defence of the Isle of Rhodes, the Turkish commander presented it to d'Arbusson, the grand-master of the knights, as the highest token of his esteem for his valour. It was brought away by He Adam, when the island finally surrendered, and deposited in the church of St. John, when the knights took possession of Malta, where it was regarded for two centuries as the most efficient and infallible hand that ever worked a miracle. When the island fell under the dominion of the French, whose faith in such things had run into the opposite extremes, the relic met with little respect from them, so Hompesch, the last grand-master, was permitted to take it away with him at his own particular request ; but in what favoured spot he has deposited it, my informant could not say. From the church of St. John it was a natural transition to the cave of St. Paul ; so, with a friend, I took a calise aud proceeded thither. This is a carriage of very ancient form, and peculiar to Malta. It stands upon two high wheels without springs, and is drawn by a mule between two shafts. The driver never mounts, but holding the reins he runs beside it, and, with extraordinary speed and 48 NARRATIVE OF A perseverance, he keeps up with the mule at whatever rate you choose to go. Having passed through St. Florian, and out of the last barrier of those stupendous fortifications which I thought would never terminate, we entered on the open country, if that might so be called which had little appearance of a country about it. As far as the eye could reach, it seemed a collection of stones, sometimes scattered about, sometimes piled up in heaps, and exactly resembled what it has been not inaptly compared to, a large stone cutter's yard. The island is formed of a light-coloured rock, scantily covered in a few places with a soil created principally by its decomposition. This rock is easily hewn into blocks, like Portland stone, which are formed into walls and buttresses, to support a small quantity of mould, which the rains would otherwise carry away, and they were the only objects that presented themselves to the view. Not a trace of vegetation was anywhere to be seen, except a soli tary kharoob tree*, struggling for life on the earthless waUs. This is the tree called St. John's bread, which St. Isidore, and some of the early fathers of the church, affirm to have been the locust and wild honey on which he fed in the wilder ness ; but whether the Maltese cultivated it in honour of the saint, I could not learn. It produces a large pod full of saccharine matter, like dark brown suo-ar, which is sold in lhe streets, and used by the common people as food. It is one of the extraordinary circumstances of this singular island, that, notwithstanding its apparent sterility, it sup ports more people than any surface of the same dimensions on the face of the globe ; and the space of ground which maintains three men in Norway, and one hundred and fifty- * Ceratonia Siliqua. The words of St. Isidore are, "A, ixf.hs is I*«»»« Ipuptra, ho &k iUh, 2,; rms «W*i iipaiu;, iXx' uxg't/iov'; fiiraiZv " (»«». *. t. i., S. Isid. Pelus.Ep. 132. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 49 two in England, in Malta gives existence to eleven hundred and three. I found on a subsequent visit, at a different season of the year, that this Stony Arabia was converted into an Arabia Felix, and was covered with the most ex uberant vegetation. Among the crops which filled it was the sulla,* which, with its abundant foliage and rich red spike of blossom, gave to the whole country the transitory appearance of a beautiful flower-garden. We saw the pro cess going on by which this metamorphosis was effected. Peasants were breaking down the softer part of the stones, which were left to the air to pulverise, and thus acquired the highest powers of vegetation. Almost every'field in the island was so formed. We passed through the gardens of San Antonio, which were thus elaborated by the hand of in dustry, about six miles from Malta, for the recreation of the Grand-masters. The orange-trees, even at this season, were loaded with the rich red fruit so famous out of the island, and which, they say, was originally produced here by en grafting them upon the stock of a pomegranate. The Cave of St. Paul is at Citta Vecchia, the former capital of the island. We first entered a church which was built over it. We found the priests chanting a service. My companion informed me they were always so found by every visiter ; that they take care to be apprised of the approach of strangers, and impress them with an idea that the service is never discontinued. One of them obligingly procured the keys and a torch, and we descended through the nave of the church by a flight of steps into the grotto. It is an excavation about nineteen feet high and fifty in cir cumference, in a soft white limestone rock, more friable than chalk. It is perfectly dry below, but you can hardly enter it without bringing up the marks on your clothes. In the * Hedysarum onobrachys, E 50 NARRATIVE OF A centre stands the statue of the Apostle on a pedestal. Every one takes away a fragment of the rock, and we did so too, at the request of our attendant, who informed me it was the practice since the Apostle was there. I expressed my sur prise that the whole rock had not been carried away, and no cave left behind; he assured me it never had nor ever could alter the size or shape of the grotto, and he pointed to an inscription on the wall to confirm what he said. It stated that St. Paul having suffered shipwreck on the island, had been hospitably received in that grotto ; and it con cluded in these words : " Ne bene merentissime unquam merentis memoria decrescat excisis inde lapidibus nec ipsa decrescit." Whatever be the cause, it is certain that the effect is just as the inscription states it. A belief that the stone was indued with miraculous medical virtues, induced people to carry away large quantities of it during the sway of the Knights. When Brydone visited the cave in 1770, it was in the highest celebrity; not only every house in the island had a medical chest of it, but large boxes were sent to different countries in Europe, and even to the East Indies ; but since the place has been possessed by the incredulous English, its virtues and con sumption have greatly decreased. It possesses, I was in formed, some of the properties of magnesia, and is stiU given as a purgative and sudorific to children in eruptive and febrile complaints. The miraculous power of not de creasing is still permitted to the rock, and I leave you to account for it. You will say, I suppose, with other sceptics, that the calcareous process of formation is still going on in the stone, Uke that of the stalagmite, but in a different way, and that the re-formation supplies the abstracted parts. But some people carry their scepticism yet farther, and will not believe that St. Paul was ever in this island. In 1730, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 51 a Padre Georgi, an ecclesiastic of Melida, in the Adriatic, first started doubts on the subject, and published a Latin dissertation with the following title : " D. Paulus, apostolus in mari quod nunc Venetus dicitur naufragus, et Melitse Dalmatiensis insulse post naufragium hospes." The ob ject of the worthy man was to deprive the Mediterranean island of the honour and profit, and annex them to his own, by proving that the first was not, and that the second was, the real island. He was followed, notwithstanding, by Jacob Bryant, who, in 1767, published " Observations on the Euroclydon," in which he coincides in opinion with the Padre Georgi; and about the same time an ingenious Frenchman, without any communication with Bryant, or knowledge of his work, wrote an essay, adopting the same opinion. These gave rise to an host of controversialists, till it has become a vexata qucestio, equal to that of Hannibal's marching to Rome after the battle of Cannae. All these I had read the day before in the palace library ; and as you would wish to be spared the trouble of searching after them, even if you were so inclined, I will sum up the argu ments in few. The present MeUda, on the coast of Dalmatia, was called Melita in the time of the Evangelists. What was denominated Adria, though sometimes including a part of the Ionian sea, never extended to the sea near Malta. The wind Eu roclydon, or S. E., was not the Euroaquilo, or N.E., for it drove Acrotalus and Josephus, sailing, like St. Paul, from Judaea, up into the Adriatic. The name of barbarians, given twice to the inhabitants, which embarrassed Bochart and others, could not be applied to the inhabitants of Malta, for it was described by Diodorus and Cicero as having commercial harbours, linen manufactures, ivory ornaments, " antiqua opera et summa arte perfecta," and E 2 52 NARRATIVE OF A other marks of high polish and civilization, which could not belong to the obscure island called Melita by the Evan gelist. There is no syrtis or quicksand near Malta, though there is a very dangerous one at the south-east end of Me lida. There are no venomous reptiles at Malta at the pre sent day, but they abound in Melida, which has a moist soil and humid climate, favourable not only for the production and support of those reptiles, but also for the " fever and dysentery," of which the father of Publius was Ul ; to say nothing of " the present, rain and cold," which are little known in Malta, but the very temperature of Melida. FuU of these arguments, as a man is when he meets with anything paradoxical, and against received opinions, I was urging them to our conductors, particularly the last, which, as a physical property of the soil, I said was one of the unchangeable qualities of nature, and must be the same now as it was two thousand years ago ; when, having found out that I was from Ireland, with which the Maltese eccle siastics are well acquainted, from having met fellow-stu dents from it in the colleges on the Continent, he asked me, if there were any serpents in Ireland ? I answered, no; and he asked me, why ? When I hesitated to answer him, because, indeed, I could not tell, he repUed for me, that as St. Paul had banished them from Malta, so St. Patrick had from Ireland ; and that their absence, so far from being an objection, was the strongest proof that he had been there to perform the miracle ; and he triumphantly concluded, in the language in which we had been convers ing, " Non decet Hibernum talia disputare." Notwithstanding this reproof, I confess I am disposed to be sceptical on the subject. The most important circumstance to decide the question is, the nature of the wind before whicli the vessel drove, and in whatever direction it blew must RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 53 have been carried. Eygo* implied the wind, and the affix xXvouv, merely the violence with which it raged. When I afterwards visited Athens, I inspected the Temple of the Winds, which is an octagon edifice, having a face directed to the four cardinal points and the intermediate ones. Kvpos was between aimXiaiTnt, the east, and vo-ror, the south, and must therefore have been the south-east, a wind which, as a skilful navigator afterwards informed me, could never have brought a ship driving before it from the west end of Crete or Candia, to Malta, but would have sent it directly into the Gulf of Venice. One of the controver sialists affirms, that it could not be this wind, because the Evangelist says it rose against the south, which was blowing just before; but he took his opinion from the translation, and not from the original; it has xar'avrris, which cannot imply against the wind, but the ship whose course was not in that direction. Another objection is, that they proceeded to Syracuse, which must have been altogether out of their way from Melida ; but the next verse serves to explain it. From thence, irepisKQovTss, which we translate " fetching a compass," signifies returning by the way they came, or as the French say, sur ses pas, which is supposed to be the meaning of Homer, when he says that Achilles dragged Hector's body round the walls of Troy.* But what sig nifies, my friend, where these things happened, if we benefit by the instruction they convey ? The people supposed St. Paul was a murderer, because the viper fastened on his hand, which teaches us that we ought not to judge of men from mere appearances, St. Paul was visited by ship wreck, not because of the trangressions of his past life, but that it might be the means of instructing a barbarous people, * The word *«/, some commentators say, does not mean entirely round the walls, but backwards and forwards before a particular part. 54 NARRATIVE OF A and propagating the truths of the Gospel : this teaches us that God has other ends in view than those which appear to our obscure vision, and that his present judgments are not always proportioned to our past offences. What does it matter whether these and similar moral and religious truths, written for our instruction, are conveyed to us from an island in the Mediterranean or in the Gulf of Venice ? To my apprehension, it is not of the slightest import to either of us, whether you believe the one or I believe the other. That I might overlook nothing, however, which supports the claim of the Maltese, I visited a church near the grotto built over the house where St. Paul cured the father of Publius of a fever, and which is therefore dedicated to St. Publius. From hence we saw the bay where it was affirmed he landed, which we also visited. It was distant about four miles, and had nothing to distinguish it from any other bay. Another object of my curiosity was the Giant's Tower, on the island of Gozo, which I visited on a subsequent occasion. We passed the strait, which divides it from Malta, in about two hours, and found ourselves in the island of Calypso. A tradition exists that the Phoenicians, when they were in possession of Malta and its dependencies, met Ulysses sailing between Scylla and Charybdis, and brought him to Ogygia, where, in a grotto, he met Calypso. The grotto is now called MeUeha, and the island, by an easy cor ruption, Gozo. The surface has the same denuded appear ance as Malta, but is somewhat more fertile. Near the centre stands the town of Rabatta, and not far from it, on an eminence, the object of our search. The Pheeacians, who were the first reported inhabitants, were a race of giants, and a large heap of rocks, pUed upon each other with a regularity more than accidental, formed a mass which had been always attributed to those rude but powerful archi- %4 : RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 55 tects. It was not, however, till the year in which I first visited the island that any attempt had been made to inves tigate it. Lieutenant-Governor Beyer was then in Gozo, and he commenced an excavation into this heap of stones. He was followed, by Colonel Otto and Mr. Somerville, who procured for the purpose a number of convicts, and they proceeded with such assiduity, that the whole interior was cleared- out to the wall which enclosed it and the flags which paved it; and like the removal of the ashes from Pompeii, revealed edifices of equal regularity, but of much more singular structure and much more remote antiquity. The rude and irregular heap of rocks, which rose like a natural mountain on the outside, was found to be a vast wall, which enclosedwithin.it two. buildings. The huge stones of which it wasbuilt were laid lengthways and crossways, like the wallers and stretcher's of a modern mason. They were imposed, however, without any; cement to keep them together. They appeared to:have projected one over another, till they formed -a dome, or: hemispherical canopy, supported on the principle of an arch, but the apex had long fallen in, and left the area fiUed with the ruins. The interior exposed, when this rubbish was cleared away, two temples, of similar structure, separated by a very thick waU, through which there was no communication; The shape of each was an ellipse, ; divided into five semicircles, in all of which were what appeared to be altars; but they differed from each other in the finish and preservation of the different parts — that on the left hand was the most perfect. The door at the entrance was formed of broad upright blocks of stone, which were weU worked arid squared at the angles. They were ten feet high and five deep, leaving a passage of six feet between. This passage was floored with broad regular flags, and led up to the further extremity of the edifice. The doorway was entered by a step, and on passing into 56 NARRATIVE OF A the interior two semicircular tribunes stood at each side of the flagged way. That on the right was well preserved : it was separated from the common passage by a parapet of sculptured stone, of which a volute, somewhat resembling that on an Ionic capital, was still very perfect. On the interior side was what had been an altar. It consisted of four square upright stones, surmounted by others laid hori zontally, flat, regularly cut, and squared ; behind were niches, in one of which stood a small pillar, in the form of a cone, about three feet high and one in diameter. On the side opposite was a corresponding semicircular recess, simi lar in its parts, but not so well preserved, and encircled with square blocks of stone lying about it. Having passed these, another door presented itself, like that at the first entrance, and ascended also by a step. In the uprights, which formed the doorway, were two circular perforations, capable of admitting a large cord, and which seemed a sub stitute for rings to fasten a victim about to be sacrificed. Close beside it was a large stone, with a shaUow cavity about nine feet in circumference, which was found full of ashes, apparently the remains of the burnt-offerings of the victims. Three semicircular compartments formed this in terior, which seemed the sanctuary, in one of which was a very perfect altar. In a recess formed on the side was a great quantity of minute bones, exactly like those of mice, in high preservation, which seemed to be laid up with great care, as if the animals to which they belonged had been of peculiar consideration. On the other side of the great par tition wall was an edifice, similar to this in all its parts, but much more dilapidated. What seemed to mark the extreme antiquity of these temples, beside, their shape, was the rude ness and simplicity of their structure. There was no trace of mortar or any cement in uniting the large blocks together, or of iron, or any other metal, for cramps or bolts; and RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE, 57 though the artists had some notion of sculpture, they seemed to have none at all of the ordinary science of architecture, and their edifice remained together principally from the pressure of the ponderous materials of which it was com posed. My friend the Abbe Ballanti wrote a long and learned dissertation on this temple, which he was so good as to give me a copy of; but it throws very little light on either its uses or its builders. Two circumstances only afford a glimmer for conjecture, the pillar and the mice bones. The first, rising in the form of a cone, jcovoeiSos- xicov, was the emblem of the sun, who, it appears from Homer, was called 2/ulivSeus-, because, as Eustathius observes, he destroyed mice ; and in the city of Chrysa was a temple dedicated to this Apollo Smintheus, and under the statue of the god a mouse was represented as a symbol *. Before we left Gozo we visited the celebrated Hagira tai Gernal, or Fungus Rock, of which so many accounts have been given. It appears that, from a period so early that no memory can ascertain it, a fungus was produced, indigenous to the soil of a particular rock, and endowed with peculiar virtues, which were highly prized on the island. In the year 1674 Boccone visited Malta, and published a treatise on this fungus, when its properties became more generally known, and its fame expanded beyond the limits of the island. He communicated the particulars in a letter ad dressed to Sir J. Hoskins, Bart., London. After him Mi- chaelis describes it, in a work printed at Florence in 1728, and called it cynomorion, from its resemblance to a part of a dog. Linnaeus, in his " Amcenitates Academicae," adopted the name of Michaelis, enumerating many particu lars of the plant, and gave it the trivial name of coccineum, * Enstath. in lib. i. II, fol. p. 73. 58 NARRATIVE OF A from its bright red colour. Honet, a Frenchman, visited the island, and published a " Voyage Pittoresque," in 1787, and is minute in his account of this plant; and Zerapha, a native botanist, in his " Flora Melitensis The saurus," describes it. They all represent it as a species of fungus, growing on an insulated rock at Gozo, and found nowhere else, endued with extraordinary medical properties, universally used by the natives, and so highly prized in foreign countries, that the Grand Masters, after reserving as much of the precious vegetable as the morbid state of the island required, sent the surplus to the different crowned heads of Europe for the use of their subjects, as the most salutary and valuable gift they could bestow. Induced by these reports, which greatly excited our cu riosity, we resolved to visit the rock, and examine this extra ordinary plant in situ. The Knights had guarded the place with strict vigilance; and the English Government succeeding to the rights of this precious mushroom, adopted the same precautions. A guard, or custode, who has a salary, watched the rock, and it was necessary for a stranger to obtain per mission to visit it. This we procured, and availed ourselves of it. The rock lies on the side of Gozo farthest, from Malta, so it was necessary to traverse the whole island. When we arrived at the extremity, we saw before us an insulated pre cipice, detached from the shore, presenting very steep and inaccessible sides, in some places impending considerably over the sea, so that the base seemed less than the summit. It stands on the verge of a noble circular basin, formed by surrounding cliffs, into which the sea enters by two wide chasms at each side of the rock — the whole presenting the aspect of the crater of a volcano extinguished by the waters rushing in through the ruptures made by these chasms. As it seemed altogether impossible to climb its sides from the sea RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 59 below, it is rendered accessible by a very curious expedient. Two strong parallel cables are stretched across from the opposite promontory to a projection about three -fourths up the FOckyio which they are made fast. Between them is slung a kind of box, capable of containing one person in a contracted sitting position. On the' sides of the box were four pulleys,' which ran on the cables, and at each end was fastened "a very long cord, by which the machine was pulled backwards and forwards as might be required. When I arrived oh the summit of the cliff, from whence this strange apparatus was launched, it looked to me a very formidable thing to trust myself to sb small and fragile a machine, to cross a gulf of some hundred yards in breadth, with the sea boiling at what appeared the depth of Dover Cliff below me. A Maltese peasant, however, entered the box, and launching himself on the cables, he speedily drew himself across, and then taking his' station" on the cliff, "and holding one cord in his hand, the flying car was drawn back by the other, and I entered it. When I found myself detached from the land, and suspended at such an immeasurable height, as it appeared to me, above the boiling surge, I felt sensations of alarm that were at once sublime and awful ; but I had not much time to analyze them, for I was shot across with the lightness and velocity of a bird, and found myself in a moment perched on the stupendous cliff at the other side with my companion : thence we climbed the remainder of the precipice by the aid of rude steps which the rock pre sented. The summit was an irregular plain, with an area of about half an acre in circumference, covered with a slight surface of mould, in' which several marine ¦ plants were growing, particularly the cheiranthus incanus, in great luxuriance and beauty. My guide, after some search, 60 NARRATIVE OF A pointed out to me several plants of the fungus, protruding themselves just above the soil ; they were of a dark fer ruginous red, and exactly resembled knobs of rusty iron driven into the ground. As they were not sufficiently ripe to gather, they were carefully covered up in a mysterious manner by the guide, and we proceeded in our search till we found some in sufficient forwardness. Beside them grew a large plant of the atriplex genus, and on pulling it up we found the fungus growing as a parasite on the fibres of its roots, and the rudiments of several young ones form ing. Having had permission to take up a few specimens, I prepared to do so, to the great horror of the man, who seemed to think it a kind of sacrilege committed by unhal lowed hands ; but, finding me positive, he acquiesced, and then carefully covered up the roots of the remainder, and we returned. This curious fungus is not cryptogamic, as all the rest of its tribe, but is placed by Linnaeus among the phaeno- gamous plants, in the class moncecia, and the order mo- nandria. It is of a cylindric form, about four inches long, and two in circumference ; the lower part covered with imbricated scales, the upper with minute flowers, having each one stamen ; the substance is a fleshy pulp. It is an annual, first appearing above the ground in April, and flowering in May ; when ripe it is the colour of carmine, if fresh, but it dries into a ferruginous brown. When im- mersed in ardent spirits, it tinges them bright red. When used in medicine, it is exhibited as a powder, prepared by first toasting and then pulverising the plant; half a drachm of which is a dose for an adult. It is sometimes used also in the form of a tincture, when it resembles in taste and colour, as well as quality, tincture of kino. With respect to its medical virtues, it has nearly lost all its repu- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 61 tation. The coming of the English seems to have destroyed many of the speciosa miracula for which the island had been famous, and their baneful influence has bereaved this celebrated and mysterious plant of its virtues. In con formity to ancient usage, it is still grown and gathered, and a certain portion of the harvest sent to the hospitals of the island; but no crowned heads in Europe ever think of now sending a special messenger for their reserved share. It is never used out of the island, and but one physician in it ever gives it to his patients. Dr. Muscat, a native prac titioner, still thinks it possesses some valuable astringent qualities ; and informed me, that he exhibits it with success in uterine hemorrhage, when all other medicines have failed, and that it has a peculiar and specific action on the uterus itself; but in haemoptosis, dysentery, and other fluxes, on which it formerly used to act like a charm, it totally fails. But the circumstance which must always render it a great botanical curiosity is its singular habitat, and the circum scribed limits of its vegetation. It is said, in botanical works, to be found in other places ; but I have been informed, and have reason to think, that the genuine plant exists nowhere but on the summit of the Hageira, and is limited to a sphere of a few yards in circumference. The stone of which this insular rock is composed is calcareous, and of a peculiar quality. It is so porous that it greedily imbibes moisture, particularly the acid of sea-water, so that a single drop falling on a block of the stone is diffused through it like water through a lump of sugar, and in a given time it breaks down and dissolves in the same manner. From this quality the islands of Malta and Gozo are daily diminishing, and roads or beaten tracks are found terminating abruptly on the edge of some precipice, and one of them I saw on the coast, not far from the Hageira. The same process, no 62 NARRATIVE OF A doubt, insulated the rock, and, as it is every day going on, will finally destroy it. Already the summit overhangs the base, which the acid of the sea-water is continually dissolv ing and undermining. At no distant period the whole will probably be precipitated, and bury in the deep its myste rious fungus, which will then become an extinct plant, there being nowhere else to be found a specimen of that curious vegetable, which for several centuries had excited the interest and admiration of all Europe. The town of Valetta is exceedingly well built: the ground everywhere affords most excellent, stone for the purpose, which is easily wrought, like Portland stone, when first taken out of the quarry, and then hardens on being exposed to the air. The Maltese are excellent architects, and per form all the operations of building by their eye, in a man ner as accurate and perfect as with the best instruments. The front of every house in Valetta is of hewn stone, gene rally ornamented with sculpture, so that the private houses resemble palaces. But it is the stupendous fortresses that excite the highest admiration : they are nine in number, viz., Valetta, St. Elmo, Recasoli, St. Florian, Bormula, St. Manule, Vittoria, and St. Angelo. These are all formed out of the solid rock, projecting into the different harbours, and covering one another in such a way as to render the place the most impregnable fortress that perhaps ever was in the world; and induced Bonaparte, an exceUent judge, to tell the French, on leaving them there behind him, that " they had nothing to do but to turn the key and keep within." To man them properly requires a garrison of 30,000 men, and an ordnance of 1000 pieces of cannon. The French had but 7000, yet they kept the place for two years, and only surrendered it for want of provisions. On my first visit, the irksome sameness of these vast walls RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 63 was relieved by a very beautiful vegetation. The caper- shrub had taken root in the interstices of the stones, and hung down over the faces of the bastions in very elegant wreaths and festoons, the dark flexible branches covered with their rich ruddy blossoms. On a subsequent visit, I proceeded to the bastions to contemplate what had struck me before as no less curious than beautiful ; but I could not find a single plant. It seems, that an apprehension was entertained that the growth of the roots would dislocate the masonry, so they had been all torn out ; and no Irishman will again entangle himself in a duel, by caUing them anchovies. It struck me that the castor-oil tree, which clothed the rock of Gibraltar, and the caper-tree, which covered the fortifications of Malta, might have been turned by us to some profitable account ; but I could not learn that any use had been made of either. The island yields to the inhabitants the means of sub sistence for only six months ; the rest is supplied from Sicily, which Government take an excellent way to pre serve, in order to guard against a deficiency. In passing through an open space in Valetta, I was struck with the appearance of several circular stones, cemented to the rock with mortar round the edge, which seemed to stop some apertures below. Presently, a guard of soldiers came, and with some ceremony raised one of the stones, which dis played beneath a large excavation filled with corn, which they proceeded to draw up for distribution. Every day are to be seen those subterranean harvests issuing, not from the soil but below it ; and I found, on inquiry, that the whole rock on which I stood was so excavated into different chambers, where a quantity of corn, sufficient to supply all the inhabitants for three years, is kept perfectly dry and sweet. The bottom of the pits is lined with wood and 64 NARRATIVE OF A straw ; and it is supposed that grain will continue sound in them for an indefinite period. One of them had been for gotten, and on being opened, the corn was found exceedingly good, though it had continued enclosed for one hundred years. When any epidemic rages, and intercourse is cut off be tween the country and the town, the peasantry are sup plied from this granary by means of spouts or shoots. These are placed in an inclined position, projecting over a bastion ; the peasants assemble in the fosse below, and the quantity of corn necessary for their supply is shot down to them. Many of these shoots were yet remaining. Notwithstanding the natural salubrity of the island, it is often visited by pestilential diseases, which make horrid ravages among its exuberant population. About eight years before my first visit, 20,000 people had perished by the plague. This occasions at all times a strict quarantine, which is established on an island behind Valetta, and is the most rigidly observed and the best regulated perhaps of any in the world. Notwithstanding this, during my last visit, the small-pox committed great ravages ; and its malignity was such as to defy all the supposed protection which guards against it. It was brought by a Greek boy from the Morea, in the Asia, ship-of-war. He was sent to the laza retto, where he died in ten days. He had given some clothes to be washed at a casal or village in the neighbour- hood, where the disorder burst out suddenly, and rapidly spread over the island. Dr. Davy informed me, that, from March to December, 7296 persons were attacked by it, and of these 2407 had been vaccinated ; but there was no certainty of their having had the regular disease; 301 had the genuine cow-pock, and 91 had the small-pox before : 1051 of those attacked RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 65 died, of whom 110 had been vaccinated, 25 had had the genuine cow-pock, and 9 had had the small-pox, before. The circumstance which most strikes a stranger in Malta is the dense population, and next, the crowd of beggars. Though the people are exceedingly industrious, and have ela borated the sterile rock of the island to an incredible degree of fertility, stUl the supply is by no means equal to the de mand, and every second person seems to subsist by begging. The intelligent natives with whom I conversed lamented the extinction of the Knights as a great calamity. These men, holding large possessions in different countries in Europe, drew all their revenues from home to expend them in this place in various ways, improving the island, and ameliorating the condition of the people. The noble aque duct which conveys water from Citta Vecchia to Valetta was built at the sole expense of one of those rich and pa triotic Knights. Since their extinction, not only no revenue comes from abroad, but a large sum is raised in the island for expenditures from which the Maltese derive no benefit : much of it goes in salaries, to support what they consider useless offices ; and even, as they say, men are sent from England to have offices in the island created for them. The better classes are very intelligent, and seem to have much facility in learning languages ; most of those with whom I conversed spoke English and French well, besides Italian, which is the general medium of conversation, and the oriental dialect of the peasantry. This capability seems a general faculty. Many of the common people of Valetta speak English, and it would seem not a difficult thing to make it universal. The dress of the men, of the lowest class, consists of a light jacket and pantaloons of blue cotton, with a coloured hand kerchief tied round their heads ; they generally go bare- 66 NARRATIVE OF A foot. The women are more particular; the humblest female wears her faldetta, that is, a cloak like a black silk petticoat, tied about the waist, and then turned over the head. It half conceals the face, and gives to the wearer, however poor, a neat, and at the same time a genteel and modest air. Both male and female of this class are gentle, inoffensive, and well-conducted. In no place, perhaps, is the influence of the Catholic reli gion more powerful ; and the number of their clergy seems to bear a large proportion to the population. They are dis tinguished, as in other Catholic countries, by the dresses of their different orders ; but, the most usual habiliment is a close cassock of blue stuff, and a small sharp-cocked hat. As this dress is worn by all candidates for the priesthood, and sometimes by very young boys, half the people you meet in the streets seem to be ecclesiastics, or intended for such. During Passion-week, all the incidents of our Sa viour's death were represented by statues and processions, with great pomp; and among the personages was St. Ve ronica, holding the handkerchief on which was left the im pression of Christ's face; with others no less apocryphal. The display was closed by a ceremony more revolting than impressive. A number of persons were led along as peni tents ; they were dressed in white sheets bound with cords, manacled and fettered with heavy chains. As they walked groaning along, the chains were dragged after them, and sounded very loud over the flags of the church, reminding one of so many felons clanking their fetters over the pave ment of a prison. They were known, in fact, to be rude, robust fellows, hired for the purpose, who return to the wine-houses to spend their earnings, and make amends for their penance. When the procession was over, the crowd about them seemed greatly amused by their affected sighs RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 67 and groans. It is our policy not only not to offend the vulgar ceremonies of any people among whom we may be cast, but even to comply with them and join in their ob servance, To this liberal and conciliating spirit there can be no objection, provided the things be indifferent in them selves, and not repugnant to the sense of religious duty entertained by any individual. But to compel any person to join in ceremonies, which are not only revolting to his feelings but to his conscience, seems an ultra-liberality, and directly opposed to that tolerant spirit of which we wish to exhibit and impress an example. Yet this has been done. We visited a convent at St. Floriana, and were introduced to very extraordinary company. One of the apartments has a long, vaulted, white-washed room, and close to the wall, at each side, were arranged the brotherhood, in their vestments, bending forward and waiting, as I supposed, to receive us. When we approached and saluted them, we found they were all dead men. In the wall was a number of shallow niches or recesses. When a brother dies, he is dressed in the robes of his order, and deposited in a stand ing position in one of them. The soil and air of the place are perfectly dry, and sometimes the moisture is so dissi pated, that the corpse remains but little changed. The worthy monk who attended me was a sallow man, with a parchment-looking countenance, attenuated by age and abstinence. He pointed out to me one of his brothers, in a niche, recently deceased, for whom he had a great regard. On contemplating the two countenances I thought I could discern but little difference between the living and the dead. Others, however, were greatly decayed, and mere skeletons. My conductor informed me it was a favourite promenade with some of the brotherhood, who here held visionary communion with departed friends, and in ima- f2 68 NARRATIVE OF A gination discoursed with them of " death and judgment." It is impossible that such solemn topics can be discussed in a more awful manner, or in more appropriate company. Of the lay ecclesiastics there is but one existing on the island, the last surviving relic of his celebrated order. I met him in a large company, with which he is fond of mix ing. He is a little aged man, with the manners of the old French school, and not at all like one of the warriors who repelled the Turks. But though the Knights are no more, you meet everywhere their representatives ; almost the only silver coin in circulation are scudis, coined by the several Grand Masters, and bearing their " image and superscrip tion." I received twenty of them in change at one time, and eight or nine were the coinage of different Masters. Their copper is base and scarce. There is, however, one copper piece of the Knights sometimes met with, in better preservation, and it is rather a curious one. When Valette had begun to build his new city, after the expulsion of the Turks, he found his works suspended for want of funds to pay the workmen. He therefore coined bits of copper, of various sizes, to which he gave the value of silver ; and in order to obtain for them greater credit in circulation, he impressed on them the head of their patron, John the Baptist, in a charger, with the legend, Non ces sed fides; intimating that the metal was not brass, if they had faith to believe it silver. This transubstantiation was received with implicit confidence, and the legend was adopted, with other devices, by future Grand Masters, when they wanted money. They continued in circulation till the island passed into the hands of unbelievers ; those that remain are taken at the value only of English half pence and farthings, which are now the general copper coin of the island. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 69 CHAPTER III. Singularities of Malta — Magnificence otMtna. — Conversation between distant Ships — Anecdote of a Shark — Aspect of Corfu — Why compared to a Shield — Furnished America with an Argument for Eevolution — Classical Names restored — Free Constitution — Gardens of Alcinoiis — Judas Iscariot — Jews persecuted — Christianity first introduced — Legend of St. Spiridion — Jovian 's Temple — Recent Discovery — Great Age of Trees — Society at Corfu — Turkish Fleet in a Gale — Santa Maura — Zante — Extinct Volcano — Pitchy Wells — Earthquake — Extraordinary Hail-stones — Rupture of a Mountain — Inundation — Awful State of the Island — Sir P. Ross. On the 8th of December we again weighed and left this artificial island, which you would suppose was raised from its foundation in the bottom of the sea by human labour ; where nothing on the surface bears traces of the hand of nature, but everything of the hand of art ; where the har bours are excavations in the solid stone, and the country a uniform flat, slightly covered with earth, brought, in baskets and shaken on the bare rock ; where not a blade of grass is to be seen, but in its place an irksome sameness of whitish clay, separated into small compartments by walls of loose stone seven or eight feet thick, having here and there a starved goat or ass shut up in them as if they were in a parish pound; where the water is saved in the pits out of which the people dig the foundations of their houses ; where their food is raised under the ground, and their corn is not seen on the surface of cultivated fields, but issues from subterranean cavities in sterile rocks; and where 120,000 people contrive to live on a space of land which supplies subsistence only to 326 persons in some countries of Europe who live in the usual way on the natural produce of their soil. 70 NARRATIVE OF A The next morning we were coasting along the eastern shore of Sicily, and soon saw the celebrated city of Syracuse, and before it lying the island of Ortygia, and its fountain Arethusa : — we were now crossing the subterranean river Peneus, who, as you know, fell in love with the Fountain Nymph, pursued her under the sea, and overtook her in Ortygia, where they mingle their waters to this day lovingly together. I do not envy Peneus his happiness, for it appears, as I afterwards found, that the nymph is now one of the most negligent and dirty drabs among the whole sisterhood. The next morning I was awoke very early by my man, to let me know that the officer of the watch had sent him to inform me that JEtna was in sight, if I wished to look at it. You may be sure I did, and went on deck before sunrise. I cannot describe to you the mag nificent object the mountain presented at the distance of forty miles. It seemed to rise so much higher into the air than any land I had ever seen, that I thought it must be an optical delusion. As it became illuminated with the rays of the rising sun, it began to display its mighty contour, with an outline as distinct as if I was only a mile from it ; and its three regions were very traceable. The lower was clothed with wood, and spots which appeared like scattered viUages. The next was the Regio Deserta, striping the middle of the mountain like a black belt. Above all was the vast summit of snow, dazzling white, and strongly reflecting the glitter ing sunbeams. The whole was crowned with a conical brown cap, without snow, from which there issued occasion ally wreaths of white smoke, curling round the point of the cone in the most graceful and beautiful manner. This was the great crater ; but, either in consequence of the heat no snow would lie on it, or it was covered by a recent eruption of ashes. The astonishing distinctness with which every RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 71 part of this mighty mountain was seen at our present distance made me a convert to Brydone's assertion, of which 1 had been rather incredulous. He affirms that it could be clearly discerned at Malta, distant 200 Italian miles ; and that during some eruptions the island was illuminated by its light. Though I was not so fortunate as to see these things myself from the same place, I yet now think them very possible. We here fell in with the Spey frigate, which had left Malta the day before, and was bound to the same place ; so we kept company together. She was distant from us about eight miles, and we wished to speak with her ; and how do you think we managed ? A locker in the stern was opened, and twenty or thirty flags were poured out on the quarter deck, rolled up like balls : one of these was hoisted on the mast-head, where it immediately expanded. A midshipman took his station on the poop with a telescope, and a gun was fired. I also took a telescope, and saw that another flag was hoisted on board the Spey. This was the signal of intelli gence, and a familiar conversation by means of flags com menced, and was carried on for half an hour with as much ease and certainty as if the ships were close alongside. One of the questions asked by us was, " Will you give up your advantage of the wind, bring-to, and dine with us ? " The answer was, " We are too fortunate to give up our advantage ; thank you though for your invitation." I inquired after wards from the officers of the Spey, and I found the conver sation was taken down by them verbatim as it had been by us. When you consider that all this is effected by stripes of red, blue, and white serge, and that at such a distance that I could not distinctly see the other ship without a tele scope, we may not despair that the inhabitants of passing planets may yet converse. We were now followed by a shoal of fish, striped Uke 72 NARRATIVE OF A zebras. These are supposed to attend on the shark as jackals on the lion, and are therefore called his pilots ; and it is the only fish the shark never eats, unless he has reason to be angry with him. As the sailors knew I was curious about all such sights, whenever anything of the kind oc curred, I was called by some of them to look at it. On this occasion our gunner, an intelligent man, sent for me, and assured me that he had let down an iron hook with a bait for a shark, which followed the other fish, who appeared to be leading him. The shark took the bait and hook, and it was hoped he would be drawn on deck, but he escaped by tearing his jaw; he seemed to shake his head, and turning about immediately, snapped up his pilot fish, who had kept such a bad look-out, and went off in high dudgeon. We now approached the island of Corfu, passing between it and the small island of Paxo, and we saw the memorable and unfortunate town of Parga, in a valley of the mountains of Albania, just before us. You know the history of these Parganotes, which has made such a noise in England. The sites of four Christian towns were pointed out to us among tbe mountains along the coast, which had preserved their independence against Ali Pasha, in whose territories they stood. By force or fraud he got possession of three of them and massacred the inhabitants. Parga alone held out till he obliged them to give up their town, when they all assem bled together, man, woman, and child, collected the bones of their ancestors, and passed over to Corfu; and when Ali and his Turks entered it, they found a solitude of houses without anything remaining, not even a dog. The town presented to us a most interesting spectacle, surrounded by majestic mountains, which seemed formed by nature to be the very asylum of liberty and independence ; while the emigration of the inhabitants to a neighbouring island, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 73 abandoning their homes to preserve these invaluable bless ings, reminded us forcibly of the best times of Greece, when the Athenians passed over to Salamis rather than submit to the Turks of their day ; and Mardonius, like another Ali Pasha, found nothing but empty houses. This was the first time I had seen anything connected with my classical recollections of the Greeks ; and I felt, I confess, a glow of satisfaction that this Christian community had not degene rated from the best qualities of their Pagan ancestors. We now sailed up between Corfu and the coast of Albania, with Virgil still in our hands, and found that 3000 years had not altered the face of nature, which presented the same aspect as it did to Ulysses and ^Eneas. The centre of the island is occupied by lofty mountains, which Virgil calls aerice arces, and Homer 'ipeac oxiosvra. He afterwards compares it to a shield lying on the surface of the water, an expression which has puzzled commentators so as to suggest another reading;* but it evidently applies to the Umbo or Boss, which rises in the centre like a hiU. It was the mountain of St. Salvador, the ancient Ithome, 3500 feet high. This boss was now shadowed in mist. It was impossible to imagine a stronger contrast than between the island we had left and that at which we now arrived. The former pre sented the aspect of a dull, monotonous flat, where every thing was formal and artificial : the latter was a magnificent sport of nature, where everything was wild and romantic — hills broken into deep valleys and ravines, clothed with olive trees and wild shrubs, with fantastic-looking Grecian hamlets scattered over and hanging on the sides of almost inaccessible precipices. * By a very forced amendmeut sg™» is substituted for gmv, as if the aspect of the island resembled a fig-tree ! But a fig-tree, they say, implied shadowy, and so was an epithet of the island ! An actual view of a thing suggests a true reading better than the most learned commentator. 74 NARRATIVE OF A As there was no extensive palace here, as at Malta, to accommodate the embassy, we were located on shore where we could find accommodations, dining occasionally at the palace with Sir Thomas Maitland, and so enjoying as much as was agreeable of the company of this clever, but very eccentric man. The island of Corfu has in aU ages been celebrated, even before the Trojan war ; but without ascending higher than the times of Homer, it was by him called Phaeacia, and famed for the polish of its inhabitants and the elegant hos pitality of its king Alcinoiis, who so kindly received Ulysses after his shipwreck. It was next colonized by the Corin thians, and became the cause of the Peloponnesian war, which destroyed Athens, and furnished the Americans with a justification of their revolution. " Every colony," said the Corcyrean Deputies at Athens, " whilst used in a proper manner, payeth honour and regard to its mother state ; but when treated with injury and violence, it becomes an alien. They are not sent out to be the slaves, but to continue the equals of those who remain behind."* It next fell into the power of the Romans, and on the dissolution of the Empire put itself under the protection of the Venetians, who made it the bulwark of Christendom against the Turk, who be sieged it under the celebrated Barbarossa, without effect. On the fall of Venice it came into the hands of the French as a dependency, and in 1798 was taken under the joint protection of the Russians and Turks, and a constitution was actually drawn up for it and the other Ionian Islands, and the name of the Septinsular Republic assigned to them. These framers of free constitutions, however, handed over their protegees to Napoleon, a greater despot than even themselves, in 1807; and in 1814 they were finally ceded to * Thucydides, lib. i. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 75 the English, and the Convention at Vienna confirmed the cession. The English actually realized what the Turks and Russians promised. A constitution was given to them — ac cepted and solemnly ratified on January 28, 1818, and pub lished in two volumes, in Greek and Italian. It consists of a legislative body, of forty members, eleven of whom are inte grant, and twenty-nine elected in certain proportions out of the different islands every five years by and from a body of men in each island, called awxXnros ; and from the bosom of the legislative body are taken six, who are to form a fiov\n, senate, or separate chamber. These legislative assemblies meet in March, and continue their sittings for three months ; but they may be called together at any time, and continue, in cases of emergency, to sit as long as may be necessary. When assembled, the body is called " the Parliament of the United States of the Ionian Islands," and it is convoked and dissolved by the Lord High Commissioner and Sove reign Protector. The project of a law may originate either with the Senate or Legislative Assembly, and must have the sanction of both, with that of the Lord High Commissioner, for its final adoption. The religion of the state, which under the Venetians was Catholic, is now that of the ortho dox Greek Church, though all others are tolerated and pro tected, and the stipend paid to the Catholic clergy still continued till the present incumbents die. The established language is the Greek ; and the article further states, " that it is of the utmost importance that this national language should become as soon as possible that in which all the acts of government and the judicial proceedings should be trans acted ; and in fine, that it should be recognized as the only tongue used in any official writings." Accustomed as I had been to consider the Greek as a language long since dead, I felt a strong sensatkm of pleasure mixed with surprise to see it, as it appeared to me, suddenly 76 NARRATIVE OF A called to life. The streets were all labelled with the charac ters of Homer and Herodotus : the placards affixed to the wall were called x^vy^artx., and expressed, with little varia tion, in the language of Demosthenes. The money in com mon circulation was neither Venetian nor Turkish; those modern barbarisms had disappeared, and a new coinage was substituted called an o/3oXor, with the legend Kgaror lovixov round it; and a newspaper was put into my hand, which was headed by a circle of emblematic figures designating the islands which composed the Septinsular Republic by their ancient names and emblems. Thus, Cerigo was called KT0HPA, with Venus in her conch floating on the surface of the sea — Zante ZAKTN0O2, with Apollo sitting on a rock — Santa Maura LETKA2, with Bellerophon mounted on Pegasus, (which some of us, by-the-by, supposed to be St. George and the Dragon) — and so on of the rest. What ever may be the actual value of such things to the people, I assure you it was no small gratification to a Philhellene to see those modern Greeks, after the obscurity and oppres sion of centuries, thus emerging into the dignity of their ancient state, and restored to their language, emblems, and free constitution by the British Government. With these impressions on my mind, my first, curiosity was to gratify my classical recollections, and I inquired for the gardens of Alcinoiis, whose existence some sceptics have deemed fabulous. I was therefore accompanied by a Greek gentleman, who undertook by local facts to remove any in credulity I felt on the former existence of those gardens. A large bay penetrates into almost the centre of the island, distant about three miles from the present harbour and town. This bay dilates itself into an expansive lake, sur rounded by rich level shores, having behind an inclosure of lofty mountains. The very first glance at this place would convince you it had been a garden from time immemo- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 77 rial. The sheltered situation, the exuberant fertility of the soil, the singular beauty of the distant landscape, and the greater part of it at present under horticulture, bear strong local evidences of its ancient appropriation. In some parts of this spot, now uncultivated, but " where once the garden smiled, And still where many a garden flower grows wild," my companion pointed out to me in a state of nature many of the most beautiful plants which we cultivate in our par terres. What would you think of finding large full anemones of the richest colours, irises of all hues, blue and red lupins, evergreen roses in full blow, and an infinite variety of others blooming among rocks and thickets in the open air on the 20th of December? It at once strikes a man with any particle of imagination that these must be the remains of the " smiling beds of ranged flowers."* Not far off a ro mantic fountain burst suddenly into light from under the canopy of a rock, and meandered along with a broad and limpid stream, as if it was that one of the two fountains mentioned by Homer which watered the garden. It is now called Kressido, a corruption of the former name Xpvatppoov. The tradition of the island is, that it was the fountain at which Nasicaa, the king's daughter, was washing her clothes when Ulysses appeared before her. At some distance, in front of the harbour, is the rock into which the ship of Ulysses was changed, on her return to Phaeacia. It had a strong resemblance from where I stood to a galley arrested on her entrance into the harbour, and fixed to the spot, as Homer says, ' Rooted down an everlasting rock."f That nothing might be wanting to give interest to those • Kotf/aa'ATteu rr^crnrzi Wruruvh yuvoonrai. Odyss. lib. vii. 1, 128, f A«5ir 'Ihxi xxi iffi^um Witfx. Odyss. lib. xiii. 1. 163. 78 NARRATIVE OF A Homeric details, a complete series of medals have been dug up in the island, and are now in the possession of Dr. Gengadi, which he was so good as to show me. On the earliest are impressed a representation of those famous gardens of Alcinoiis, which emblem was preserved on the coins of Epidamnus, and other colonies of the island on the continent, as imperishable evidences of the poet's accuracy. To come down to details of comparatively more modern times, my companion pointed out to me on my return the site of a house in which Judas Iscariot had lived. How they traced him to Corfu I could not learn, but they keep up the memory of the fact, by particularly exhibiting him in Passion-week, with all the circum stances of his treachery. This would be a harmless su perstition did it not lead to the most serious consequences. There is a number of Jews in the island, who have been persecuted with more bitterness and hostility by the Chris tians here than in any other part of the world. They inhabit three or four streets, where they are distinguished, as elsewhere, by their habits and manners. They were en couraged by the Venetians, in consequence of their industry and wealth, of which this clever commercial people knew how to avail themselves ; but when they were transplanted to Corfu the Greeks could not conceal their hatred. When Delia Valle visited the island in 1614, there was an unfor tunate Jew, who was said to be a lineal descendant of Judas> and to be living in his house ; he of course was an object of peculiar insult. The man publicly denied his ancestor and his family residence, and Della Valle says, with great naivete, " deve haver ragione."* During Passion-week, in particular, the Christians entered the Jews' quarter with * Viaggio,"p. 62. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 79 bludgeons, assaulting and hauling up and down every Jew they could meet. Several laws were made to restrain the fanatic violence, both by the Venetians and French, and some enactments of Napoleon rendered them secure and in dependent. This was humanely followed up by the English, who went so far as to employ a Jew in some inferior depart ment of the Commissariat. But this last act excited to the highest pitch the jealousy and rancour of the Greeks. On a day in Lent, a body of peasants, armed with staves and bludgeons, entered the Jews' quarter at a time when the poor people thought themselves in perfect security, and committed such outrages on them and their families, that it was necessary to send an armed force to disperse them. Several wealthy Jews immediately left the island with their property ; but as an effectual and rigid police was now esta blished, it was hoped they would return. Christianity was first introduced in the reign of Caligula, by two saints, held in high reverence in the Greek calendar, Jason and Spiridion. They were seized on by the authori ties, nailed up in a box with some serpents, and cast into the sea. The sea with reverence deposited the precious box on the shore, and on opening it the snakes were found con verted into stone, and the bodies pure and untouched. They were burned by the peasants, according to the usage of the times, but the body of Spiridion would not consume, and it is preserved to this day in a glass case in his church, where I saw it. It is on his festival in December exhibited for eight days to the public, who pay for looking at and kissing it. The custody of it is retained by particular families, who affirm they are lineally descended from the peasants who found it on the shore, and it yields them a certain revenue of 12,000 dollars per annum. There is another account of this Spiridion, which is less 80 NARRATIVE OF A suspicious. He was the son of a peasant of this island, and was afterwards appointed Bishop of Cyprus, in the reign of Constantine the Great. He was called to assist at the Council of Nicaea, where he strenuously opposed the Arian heresy. This is matter of history. But the account further adds, that his body lay uncorrupted at Constantinople for 1000 years, till that city was taken by the Turks. It was then laid with that of the pious Theodora on each side the back of a mule, one balancing the other ; but to the eyes of the infidel Turks the precious burden appeared only proven der, so they let it quietly pass : — " And each did after swear and say, There only passed a wain of hay." Whether this legend of St. Spiridion suggested to the author of " The Lay" the above lines, he has not mentioned. But a much more interesting monument of the early in troduction of Christianity exists in the actual temple built by Jovian when he revived the religion of Christ, which his predecessor Julian had attempted to extinguish. This really interesting and genuine relic stands in a valley at a short distance from the town. It exhibits a facade, consist ing of a cornice and entablature, supported by two Corin thian fluted pillars, between which is a high arched door way, and over it a tablet, having the following inscription in good and legible preservation : — niCTINCXWNBACI/^IANCMCONMeNeWIMCYNePIQON COIMAKAPYWIVieAONTONAiePONeKTICANHONWfHNlUNTeMEMHKAl B WMOYCCzMWIAsAC XEPOCAIOYTIAANHClOBIANOCeANONANAKTI I, Jovian, having powerful faith as the auxiliary of my attempts, have built this sacred temple to the blessed Ruler on high ! — overturning the heathen altars and shrines of the Greeks, I present this offering to thee, oh King ! with an unworthy hand. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 81 The modern Greeks of the island have neither taste nor feeling to restore this venerable edifice to its sacred use. It is now, I believe, a cow-house, or store for some agricultural purpose ; and while splendid temples are erected to legen dary saints, this Christian church is neglected and defiled because it is dedicated only to God. I suggested to a member of the Government, since the Greeks made no use of it, to convert it into a Protestant chapel. What an inte resting thing it would be, my friend, to hear the pure and apostolic service of our liturgy performed in this ancient temple, hallowed by such early associations, where the doc trines and discipline restored at the Reformation had been those alone which formerly were used in it ; while every other in the island is debased by the superstitions of the Greek or Latin church, and commemorate only " eremites and friars, white, black, and grey, with all their trumpery." With the exception of this Christian, and comparatively modern, temple, there are very few architectural remains of the ancient state of this celebrated island. A discovery, however, was soon after made that proved it to have other fine edifices besides the doubtful palace of Alcinoiis. On a rising ground near the present city, which is covered over in several places with fragments of pottery mixed with the soil, is a spring, which had supplied the shipping with water; but it became dry, and an engineer was employed to ascertain the cause by digging to its source. In the pro gress of the work they discovered a Doric column, in its proper site, and this led to further investigation, till by degrees the whole plan of a Doric temple was uncovered. The columns on the land side were still in their regular order ; five were standing on the south side and two on the north, but in an imperfect state. On the side next the sea they were all destroyed, for as the cliff that had supported G 82 NARRATIVE OF A them had been removed, they fell into the water. No in scription to ascertain its date had been discovered, but from some peculiarity of the intercolumniation which corre sponded with that of the temples at Delos and Cnidos, it was supposed to be about the era of Philip of Macedon, just subsequent to the Peloponnesian war, when Corcyra was in its highest political importance. The island of Corfu is thirty-five miles long and fifteen broad, and is separated from the continent of Albania by a channel not more than two miles wide in some places. The first objects that presented themselves to us were white cUffs like those of Dover ; hence the promontory which appeared was called Levkimo, from Xsvxos, the upsilon being pro nounced as v. It is called by the Italians Bianco. The most conspicuous point in approaching the town is the Acropolis, at the base of which the town is buut. We ascended to it through the fortress, aud from the summit commanded a most extensive and romantic view round the island, and across the mountains of Albania as far as Souli and Yanina. Ali Pasha was holding the one against the Turks, and had just driven the inhabitants from the other, who were received and quartered in Corfu, and filled the square below in their Albanian costume ; and the Turkish fleet, sent to relieve Ali, were sailing in the channel between the island and the main. All these associations gave much interest to the scene, by presenting to us a group of objects which then engaged the attention of all Europe. The general aspect of the country is rocky and denuded, but occasionally the face of nature is embellished with ex tensive groves of dark green. These are the " lofty trees"* of different fruits, which Homer mentions, and are still to be found here, particularly the " blooming olives,"f which RESIDENCE At CONSTANTINOPLE. 83 are spread almost over the island, and seem of so exceed ingly ancient a date as to almost induce us to think they Were the individual trees growing on the island when Ulysses visited it; and if we are to believe the extra ordinary stories of the longevity of trees by some modern botanists, the fact would be almost credible. They affirm that the duration of trees is limited only by disease or acci dent, and that no limits can be assigned to the existence of those which escape them. Picani asserts, that an olive tree was growing at Pescia, near Genoa, which from certain data was calculated to be seven centuries old *. Chateau briand goes farther, and says, Volivier est immortel ; and he proves that those which are now growing on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, must have been there in the time of the Greek Empire f . But a Mons. Candolle goes yet farther; he calculates that a lime tree, near Friburg, was 1230 years old; and the platanus on the Bosphorus, three times as aged as common calculation makes it, that is 2160 years J ! Surely, if any credit can be attached to such cal culations, the olive tree may yet exist from which Noah's dove plucked the branch, and to which those of Phaeacia must be comparative infants. But, in fact, these olive trees have immense trunks, knotted and gnarled in a very re markable manner, twisted, and perforated with large cavi ties, so as to appear quite effete from extreme old age. I was informed that an old entail tenure existed, by which they could not be cut down, and that they were many cen turies old, far beyond any tradition of their plantation ; yet they were as vigorous and productive as ever. The branches were broken and strewed all about, as if torn by a violent storm. This appearance proceeded from the manner in which * CEcon. Olear., lib. ii. p. 79. f Itin. Jerusal., vol. ii. p. 260. | Phycol. Voget., vol. ii. p. 988. e2 84 NARRATIVE OF A the olive was gathered ; the trees are beaten with long poles, and the branches as well as the fruit are frequently dashed to the ground. This I mention because you recollect it is in direct opposition to the opinion of the ancients. Pliny says, the most ancient law of the olive-gatherers was not to beat the tree, which injures it and destroys the fruit of the next year*. The modern Greeks dissent from this, and affirm that the more the tree is beaten the better it thrives ; and certainly these veterans, that have been thus flogged for cen turies, are some proof that they are right in their discipline. They yield at this day 800,000 jars of oil every year, and are the staple of the island ; and the export gives employ ment constantly to 3000 sailors. The wine, however, is thin and bad, and principally supplied from Zante for the table of the better classes. Among the fossil productions of the country are coal and salt : the Venetians discovered a vein of the former, in repairing some fortifications, but it was never worked ; and there are three pits of the latter in differ ent places, from whence Italy is in a great measure supplied. The society of Corfu is agreeable, for which the natives are said to be indebted to the Venetians. The Greeks, either from Turkish oppression or oriental usage, were much indisposed to mixed society ; but the Italians intro duced casinos and other clubs, which bore the stamp of Catharine's first efforts to humanise the Russians. Women were originally excluded, and when they were admitted, men were prohibited from smoking in their company. Among other introductions was a taste for music : that of the unmixed Greeks of this day is the most barbarous and dissonant that ever tortured the ear, as I afterwards found ; but the first night I slept on shore I was awoke by the * Perticis discutiunt cum injuria arborum sequentisque anni damno, quippe ohvantibus lex antiquissima fuit, Oleam ne verberato nec adversos percute rainos. — Hist, Nat., 1. xv. t. 3. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 85 sweetest serenade that ever was heard. Some minstrels had collected in the piazza, and were saluting a lady in the neighbourhood ; and if ever a heart could be touched by " concord of sweet sounds," I thought hers must. Few persons in good society are without a title ; that of count was profusely conferred by the Venetians, as a reward to any man who had rendered a service, however trifling, to their state. That of doctor also was very common : in the neighbouring island of Cephalonia it is the usage to make every second son of any opulent family a doctor, who proceeds to some Italian college, and returns with his de gree, which entitles him to practise exclusively among the peasants of his family estate. Many retain the title with out, the practice, and proceed to the other islands. During the short time I remained in Corfu, I reckoned three counts and four doctors among my limited acquaintances ; two of these latter were very intelligent. Dr. Gengadi had made an extensive collection of the coins of the island, of which he seemed to have a very accurate knowledge ; and Dr. Pieri had explored the plants of the country, and published a large volume on the botany of Corfu, of which he was so good as to give me a copy. The ladies were very amiable and agreeable, indeed so much so, that the English of rank were beginning to pay them the highest mark of their esteem and respect, by selecting them as their wives. Sir Frederick Hankey had married one, and Sir Frederick Adam another, whom I had the honour to know. The latter was as beautiful as she was amiable : I never felt before how natural elegance could give a grace to the most ordinary things, and the least susceptible of it. She told me she had just begun to learn our language, which she was very anxious to acquire. When I complimented her, of course, on her progress, she replied, in very im- 86 NARRATIVE OF A perfect sentences, but with an inimitable nciioete, which seemed to divest the expressions of all incorrectness. The day before our departure, the Count or Baron Theotoki, I think the President of the Senate, gave us a grand ball, at which the whole beau monde of Corfu, Greek, Catholic, and English, were present. I had here an op portunity of witnessing how mutual intercourse rubs off asperities, and wears down the particles which compose the mass of society into similar shapes. Every person pre sent seemed to dress and act nearly alike, and were only distinguished by their language, and even in that they were fast assimilating. On the 24th of December, we again embarked, and left the romantic hills of Corfu behind us. The wind, which had hitherto so favoured us, now blew with great violence directly against us; we beat up and down, between the island and the coast of Albania, among the Turkish fleet which was blockading Ali Pasha in Yanina, and we ex pected, every moment, their awkward ships would run foul of us, in a strong gale and a narrow passage. On the southern extremity of a promontory, we were close in with one of their vessels, which was just wrecked there ; she was lying on her side, and looked awfully dismal, her masts and timbers dashing about on the surge, and her dark ribs appearing against the white rocks like a decaying skeleton in a vast charnel-house. Though sore beset ourselves, we lay-to, and fired a gun as a signal that we would lend any assistance in our power ; but, after waiting for some time, and no answer being returned, we concluded that the un fortunate crew were all drowned ; so we passed on, with a kind of mysterious foreboding of something sad awaiting ourselves. From hence we stood over to the coast, of Greece, and were soon in close contact with many of the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 87 interesting scenes of that country. As we passed Santa Maura, we saw the promontory of Leucate, from whence the unfortunate Sappho precipitated herself. It resembled the face of your Bilberry Rock, where it looks down upon Mount Misery ; and the more particularly so, as poor Sap pho, when she stood upon it, had just such a prospect before her. Between this and Cephalonia, we perceived on the horizon the rugged Ithaka, rendered still more interesting to us as we passed, since it was then intended to be the site of a new university, which was to render the modern Greeks as wise as the sage Ulysses. We coasted along Cepha lonia, the largest island of our septinsular republic, and on the 27th arrived at Zante. The island of Zante is by far the most beautiful and fer tile of the Ionian islands. It retains to this day the epithet of " woody," bestowed upon it by the ancients from the earliest time* ; presenting to the approaching stranger a rich scenery of leafy verdure, very different from the bleak and rugged sterility which marks all the other islands, both in the Ionian and iEgean seas; and hence it is justly called by the Italians, Zante verdeggiante Fiore di Levante, It lies 47° lat. and 38° long., opposite the ancient town of Elis in Peloponnesus. Its circumference, according to Strabo, is one hundred and sixty stadia ; but modern measurement makes it about fourteen miles long, and eight broad. Its climate is exceedingly mild and balmy ; flowers are in bloom all the year, and trees twice bear ripe fruit — in April and November: but the productions for which this island is most remarkable are currants and peaches; the first — * It was, called Skmtrtn by Homer, and Nemorosa by Virgil. 88 NARRATIVE OF A though called currants because they originally came from Corinth, of which their present, name is a corruption — are sent all over Europe principally from this island ; and the latter are so large as to weigh ten or twelve ounces. It had been occupied like Corfu at various times by various people — Greeks, Romans, Turks, Venetians, Russians, French, and finally, in 1809, by the English ; and it now forms one of the seven islands of the Ionian Republic. Notwithstanding its having been possessed for so long a period by the polished Greeks and Romans, and lying be tween them both, few objects of art have ever been dis covered, and still fewer remain at the present day; but among its natural curiosities there still exists one that has been noted from the earliest times : this is the pitch-well. In a valley near the sea is a vast, depression, shallow and circular, resembling the crater of an extinct volcano. Scat tered through this are various wells, from the bottoms of which there is a continued ebullition of petroleum — a sub stance exactly resembling vegetable pitch, and used for aU the same purposes. So early as the time of Herodotus this was employed and sought after as at the present day. " I saw," says he, " with my own eyes, pitch emerge from a lake of water in Zacynthus, of which there are many in the island. They collect the pitch by means of a branch of myrtle tied to the end of a lance. It forms a fragrant bitu men, more precious than Persian pitch*." A circumstance, connected with the natural history of the island, has given to these wells a singular interest. Tra dition says that the site which they occupy had been a vol cano ; but the sea, having burst through one of the sides, had extinguished the fire. Before that period this and the * Herod, in Melpomene. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 89 neighbouring islands had been free from convulsions, the elastic gases, generated by the inflammable matter, having escaped through the aperture of the crater as through a safety-tube ; but since that time they have been pent up under the superincumbent mass till, acquiring an expansive power which became irresistible, they forced their way through every obstruction, rending open for themselves various spira- cula, or breathing apertures, and in their potent progress .shaking the islands to their very centre. Of these passages the pitch wells were the permanent indications; the pe troleum and other inflammable substances were formations of the volcanic matter still existing in the interior, and their communication with it was ascertained by the singular fact, that every shock of an earthquake was preceded by the more violent ebullitions of those wells, which always indicated to the inhabitants, like natural barometers, the rise and fall of those dangerous gases, and warned them of the approach of the earthquake. This was the case, the inhabitants say, in the violent concussion which shook the island in 1514, which was so terrible that it split the mountain at the back of the town, on which the fortress was built, from top to bottom. Since that time there have been, besides minor shocks, seven great earthquakes, and at such intervals as to form something like regular periodical events ; so that the Zantiotes affirm that they expect the return of a violent earthquake about every forty or fifty years*, which period it takes for the explosive gases to accumulate. * The recorded periods of violent earthquakes in Zante are as follow : — 1514, 1593, 1664, 1710, 1742, 1767, 1791, 1809. Paolo Mercati, a Zantiote writer, suggests, that among other investigations of the phenomena of earth quakes, the bubbles of pitch, and the sulphureous smell, which issue from these pits should be particularly watched — al momento dei terremoti piu forti che tante volte fecero palpitare questa populatione. — Saggio Storico Statistico della Isola de Zante. — p. 21, 90 NARRATIVE OF A My first object of curiosity was to visit and examine those wells. I set out the next day on horseback with some friends, and we proceeded across the promontory of Scopo along the sea-shore at the other side. The aspect of the country was very beautiful. Olive groves and currant vineyards clothed the smiling valleys. White as phodel, now in full blossom, though the depth of winter, covered all the hills, and made a very rich and flowery scene. We were attracted by a large and glittering mass, which shone resplendent at a great distance. We found it to consist of agglomerated fragments of selenite, or sulphate of lime, formed into very brilliant crystallizations, having a rich metallic lustre. This fossil abounds in the island. As we approached the site of the wells we were par ticularly struck with the aspect of the surrounding scenery. The valley inland was the segment of a circle, surrounded on three sides by abrupt and rugged ridges of hills ; on the fourth, the remainder of the circle could be traced by rocks rising above the water, as if the sea had, at some period, burst in and destroyed the continuity, leaving, at intervals, the larger and stronger masses, and carrying away those which had made less resistance. Within this circle the ground was nearly level, consisting of a marshy soil, abound ing in aquatic and palustric plants, but appearing to be stained and dark, as if from some mineral exhalations or impregnated waters. In this marsh were several weUs or pits, of which we examined one. It was about nine feet in dia meter, and surrounded by a dwarf wall. The water was two feet below the edge, and one foot deep ; the surface covered with a scum, which reflected various iridescent colours, of which the blue and green were very vivid. A dark, black substance was continually forcing its way from the bottom, and boiling up in large globules, which, as they ascended, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 91 enlarged, till near the surface, and then burst, liberating a quantity of gas, which the peasantry informed us was highly inflammable; but we had not the means of trying. Some times the globules were transparent, and assumed a singular brilliancy, rising to the top and bursting, while a coating of dark, bituminous matter, in which they were invested, was thrown off. This dark substance was the petroleum, or rock-pitch, which, being specifically heavier than the water, remained below, covering the sides and part of the bottom. The brilliant globules disengaged from it were pure naphtha, or rock-oil, which formed a light oleaginous stratum above, reflecting various beautiful colours. The intervening water was sweet and fit for use, but strongly impregnated with a taste like tar-water, and it is prescribed in various dyspeptic complaints. They had discontinued the practice of Hero dotus. The myrtle was laid aside, and the pitch collected, with large spoons, into a pit adjoining the well, and thence thrown into barrels. The best time for gathering it is sum mer, when it is exuded in the greatest quantities ; and they annually fill about one hundred barrels, which is used for smearing the bottoms of ships and similar purposes. A cir cumstance which marks the extensive ramifications of those wells, and that their source is not confined within what remains of the present crater, is, that on the surface of the sea, at some distance, the same substances are found within a circumscribed space, as if they had issued from a similar well at the bottom of the sea, or had a communication with those on the land, by subterraneous passages.* The ground on which we stood did not appear firm; but, when we stamped on it, the whole surface seemed to shake and * This circumstance was also noticed by Herodotus, who says that the sub stance flows through subterraneous passages, and is seen to emerge from the sea, not far from the shore. — Herod, in Melpomene, 92 NARRATIVE OF A tremble for a considerable distance. What we particularly watched was the rising ebullitions. Every stranger who comes to Zante expects to feel the shock of an earthquake, of some degree, before he leaves it, particularly if it be near the periodic time ; and he consults frequently those wells to ascertain the approach of it. The ebullition now was very considerable, but we departed with a feeling that we should not experience any thing of the kind during our sojourn, On our return we dined at the hospitable mansion of the Governor, Sir Patrick Ross. As the palace was very small, the gentlemen in the suite of the embassy were lodged in different houses, and I and another were located in the Pa lazzo di Forcardi, belonging to a Zantiote nobleman, who was attending his duty in Corfu, as a member of the legis lative body of the Ionian Republic, leaving his large house vacant for our accommodation. The town of Zante is exten sive and populous, containing about 16,000 inhabitants and 4,000 houses, generally large edifices, built by the Vene tians, of hewn stone, with dense massive walls. That in which we were placed was of considerable size, consisting of a court-yard, through which was the approach, by a broad flight of marble steps, to a gallery which opened into a long and spacious apartment, or saloon, running the whole length of the building, and terminating, at the other end, in a bal cony which opened on the parade. At one side, doors led to several rooms occupied by the numerous domestics ; on the other, to a drawing-room and two bed-chambers, assigned to our accommodation. The whole was on a grand scale — the walls of great thickness, the lofts ceiled and stuc coed with deep mouldings and ponderous cornices, and a variety of large grotesque figures in alto-relievo, sus pended, as it were, by their backs from the ceiling. We dressed and went to dinner ; and in the evening found a RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 93 large party assembled in the saloon to meet the ambassadors We had music and singing. We amused the company with our observations on the wells, and laughed at the various speculations they afforded of an approaching earthquake ; and, having thus enjoyed a most festive and delightful even ing, we parted at midnight, and returned to our quarters. It was a bright, star-light night of uncommon brilliancy — the air calm, the atmosphere clear, the sky serene ; every thing harmonized with the festivity we had just left; our minds were in unison with the feeling; the very heavens seemed to smile on our gaiety ; and we laughed, as we had often done in the course of the evening, at the thoughts of an earthquake. When the servant led me to my room he left a large brass lamp, lighting on a ponderous carved table, on the opposite side to that on which I slept. My bed, as is usual in this island, was without a canopy, and open above. As soon as I got into it, I lay for some time gazing on the ceiling, with many pleasing ideas of persons and things floating on my mind ; even the grotesque figures above were a source of amusement to me ; and I remember falling into a delightful sleep while I was yet making out fancied resent blances to many persons I was acquainted with. The next sensation I recollect was one indescribably tremendous. The lamp was still burning, but the whole room was in motion. The figures on the ceiling seemed to be animated, and were changing places : presently they were detached from above, and, with large fragments of the cornice, fell upon me, and about the room. An indefinable, melancholy, humming sound seemed to issue from the earth, and run along the outside of the house, with a sense of vibration that communicated an intolerable nervous feeling ; and I expe rienced a fluctuating motion, which threw me from side to 94 Narrative of a side as if I were still on board the frigate, and overtaken by a storm. The house now seemed rent asunder with a vio lent crash. A large portion of the wall fell in, spUt into splinters the oak table, extinguished the lamp, and left me in total darkness ; while, at the same instant, the thick walls opened about me, and the blue sky, with a bright star, be came, for a moment, visible through one of the chasms. I now threw off the bed-clothes and attempted to escape from the tottering house ; but the ruins of the wall and ceding had so choked up the passage that I could not open the door ; aud I again ran back to my bed, and instinctively pulled over my face the thick coverlid, to protect it from the falling fragments. Up to this period I had not the most distant conception of the cause of this commotion. The whole had passed in a few seconds, yet such was the effect of each circumstance, that they left on my mind as distinct an impression as if the succession of my ideas had been slow and regular. StiU I could assign no reason for it, but that the house was going to fall, till an incident occurred which caused the truth at once to flash on my mind. There stood, in the square oppo site the Palazzo, a tall, slender steeple of a Greek church, containing a ring of bells, which I had remarked in the day; these now began to jangle with a wild, unearthly sound, as if some powerful hand had seized the edifice below, and was ringing the bells by shaking the steeple. Then it was that I had the first distinct conception of my situation. I found that the earthquake we had talked so lightly of was actually come; I felt that I was in the midst of one of those awful visitations which destroys thousands in a moment— where the superintending hand of God seems for a season to withdraw itself, and the frame of the earth is suffered to tumble into ruins by its own convulsions. O God ! RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 95 I cannot describe my sensations when I thus saw and felt around me the wreck of nature, and that with a deep and firm conviction on my rnind, that to me that moment was the end of the world. I had before looked death in the face in many ways, and had reason more than once to fami liarize me to his appearance ; but this was nothing like the ordinary thoughts or apprehensions of dying in the common Way : the sensations were as different as an earthquake and a fever. But this horrible convulsion ceased in a moment, as sud denly as it began, and a dead and solemn silence ensued. This was soon broken by the sound of lamentation, which came from below ; and I afterwards found it proceeded from the inhabitants of an adjoining house, which had been sha ken down, and had crushed to death some, and half buried others who Were trying to escape, in the ruins. Presently I saw a light through the crevice of the door of my chamber, and heard the sound of voices outside. It proceeded from the servants, who came to look for me among the ruins. As they could not enter by the usual door-way, which was choked up, they proceeded round to another; but, when they saw the room filled with the wrecks of the wall and ceiling, some of which were lying on the bed, one of them said, " Sacramento ! eccolo schiaccato. (There he is, crushed to death !") and proceeded to remove the rubbish, and lift the bed-clothes. I was lying unhurt, buried in thought; but the dust caused me to sneeze, and relieved the appre hensions of the good people. I immediately rose and dressed myself, and proceeded with them about the Palazzo, to see the damage it had sus tained. The massive outside walls were all separated from each other and from the partition walls, and left chasms between, through which the light appeared, Providen- 96 NARRATIVE OF A tially, the room in which I slept had the bed against a par tition, and nothing fell on me but pieces of the ceiling and cornice ; had it been on the other side, next the main wall, I could not have escaped, for it was entirely covered with masses of masonry, which had smashed and buried under them every thing on which they fell. I had repined that I had not been able to escape by the door when I attempted it, but to this circumstance also I now found I was indebted, under Providence, for my preservation. A wing of the house had fallen into the court-yard, through which I had intended to make my way ; and, no doubt, had I done so at the moment I tried, would have buried me under it. It was now past four in the morning, and we proceeded, with intense anxiety, to the Government-house, to see if any of our friends, whom we had left so well and cheerful a few hours before, had escaped. The weather had totally changed. The sky seemed to partake in the convulsions of the earth : it blew a storm, driving the dark clouds along with vast ra pidity. The streets were crowded with persons, hurrying in different directions, but all in profound silence, as if under some awful impression, and rushing into the churches, which were everywhere lighted up, and full of people. The priests were in their vestments singing solemn dirges, and the con gregations on their faces, prostrated in the profoundest reve rence. We found our friends all assembled, with Lord and Lady Strangford, in the dining-hall of the palace. To this room they had run in their night-dresses, as to a place of more security, being a ground-floor detached from the rest of the edifice, and having no building over it. Here we sat till it was light, telling our several escapes ; and then I went out into the town, to see the state in which it was left. Nearly the whole of the 4,000 houses of which it consisted RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 97 were split open in different places, and many from the foun dation to the roof. About forty were lying prostrate, and obstructing the passage of the streets. The front walls of many were separated from the sides, and hanging over the way, seeming ready to fall every minute upon the passenger. This tendency of the walls to fall out saved many lives ; but there was another circumstance to which their safety was attributed by the Zantiotes themselves. The night had been the vigil of their great patron-saint, Dionysius, and almost the whole population were watching in the streets or churches, and so out of their houses, when the shock came on. The churches were of immense strength, and, though all shaken and shattered, none of them fell ; which the pious people universally attributed to the interference of the saint whose rites they were celebrating. Not more than thirty dead bodies were found in the ruins. It appears, by the concurrent testimony of several, that the whole duration of the earth's motion was not longer than fifty seconds, or a minute ; yet, if the time were marked by the passing sensa tions of different people, that brief space appeared to be hours. The elements of the earthquake seemed to have mingled themselves with the heavens. The very face of nature was changed from its mild and calm aspect to that of a perfect storm ; and it was in vain we attempted to hold communi cation with the frigate, which we ardently wished to get on board of. Nothing could be more comfortless than our situa tion : the inclemency of the weather would not suffer us to remain abroad, and the tottering state of the houses did not invite us in, particularly as every hour some slight shock in formed us that the convulsion was not over, and was likely to prostrate what remained of the shaken city. There was now formed a solemn procession to St. Dionysius, which I joined, with the Governor and some of his officers, as is usual in H 98 NARRATIVE OF A the Ionian Islands on the festivals of the natives. But we were interrupted by a phenomenon more extraordinary and as awful as that of the night before. Just as we set out, the sky became as dark as pitch, the storm increased to a hur ricane, and we perceived the sea close to the shore boiling as if in a cauldron. Suddenly a shower of ice burst on us from the skies, and fell with such violence as to prostrate several persons whom it struck ! The fall of these congealed masses was generally broken by the roofs of houses, whence they rebounded, shattering the tiles, and roUing along the streets like cannon-balls ! The procession crowded into the church, as a protection against these terrific " stones," which were certainly similar to the awful hail of the Scriptures. While engaged in solemn prayer, another violent shock of an earthquake shook the church in the midst of the storm. I never saw the effect of awe and fear more strongly depicted. The whole congregation remained as stUl as death, but burst into a silent flood of irrepressible tears. With all these impressions on my mind, I was called on by the Governor and the Ambassador to read a thanksgiving service at the palace for our escape. I had no time to pre pare, as I could wish, for such a solemn occasion, but there was no need to seek for appropriate words. During the prayers another storm came on, and another shock of an earthquake nearly caused the book to fall from my hand, seeming to rend the house asunder. My congregation, like those of the procession, were deeply affected. It was the voice of God himself that seemed to address them. Immediately after I was called on to visit a sick man, whom I had formerly known. His family, hearing I was on the island, had sent for me, and requested my attend ance, as they supposed him past recovery. In aU my profes sional duties I never witnessed so awful a scene. The man RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 99 was dying, and he was surrounded by his famuy, in the deepest affliction. The house had been shattered by the earthquake just before, and it was expected that every fresh shock, of which there were every moment some indications, would prostrate it. The storm of wind, thunder and light ning, was raging without ; the portentous hail-stones were battering the roof and dashing in the windows ; the awful tremor of the earth, with the dismal and ominous sound that accompanied it, seemed like some warning voice that issued from a grave; and in this appalling commotion of the elements, the soul of our brother was about to leave its mortal tenement ! In a few minutes afterwards he died. I had met the day before at the palace some of the officers of the 36th regiment, to which I had been formerly chap lain, and I promised to dine this day with my old messmates. Colonel Cross now called on me, and I went with him to see their mess-room. It had been a Venetian palace, built of hewn stone, ornamented with a pediment and portico, and finished in the most massive manner. It now seemed, as it were, upturned from its foundation ; the marble steps of the grand staircase stood all ou their ends ; the stone floors were broken up, as if by some implements, and all the parts of the edifice were inverted, intimating that the shock had come from below, and had acted perpendicularly upwards. Had the earthquake postponed but a few hours, till we had assembled at dinner, what a sudden destruction would have fallen upon us all ! At the time it happened there was no one in the building. As the menage of the palace, and of almost every other house, was in confusion, we went to dine with a gentleman at another part of the town, which had not suffered so severely. The hail was now succeeded by thunder and de luges of rain, and when we were returning at night we h2 100 NARRATIVE OF A found all the streets inundated. In wading across one of them, my legs were impeded by something from which I could not extricate them. A light was brought from a neighbouring house, and it was with horror I found myself entangled with a corpse, several of which were floating through the streets. I next day learned the cause of this new catastrophe. The town of Zante is built at the base of a hill, and rises up the sides. The summit of the hill pre sents the appearance of a ridge, which slopes gradually down to the right ; but nearly over the middle of the town it seems broken into a chasm, from whence it descends to the left, very abrupt and irregular. It at once strikes an observer that the two hills on which the town stands were originally one, but were cleft in twain, like Eildon-hill, by some con vulsion; and this was the fact. In the great earthquake mentioned before, the hill was riven in two, and part of the ancient city, with the inhabitants, buried in the chasm. From the vast quantities of rain which fell the day before, the water had accumulated in this rent. A strong mound of masonry had been made across, which served as a bridge to pass from one side of the ravine to the other; but this had been so shattered by the earthquake, that it could no longer support the weight of water that pressed against it. Below was a suburb of the town, which had also suffered from the shock, on which the water, bursting from its con finement, violently rushed. The houses all gave way, and the wretched inhabitants, who had retired to rest, anxious and harassed with the events of the night before, were now swept out of their beds by the inundation. They were soon suffocated, and, with no covering but their night-dresses, were carried through the lower part of the town, and found next morning on the beach in different states of nakedness. It was one of these unfortunate people in his shirt that I felt 102 NARRATIVE OF A If anything could alleviate this awful calamity to the sufferers, it was the conduct of the governor, Sir Patrick Ross, and his excellent family. In the midst of their public and private distress, they not only never relaxed in their kindness and attention to their guests, and in their cheerful endeavours to alleviate the sense of evil, but their zeal and active humanity seemed to provide everything necessary for the poor sufferers. I never witnessed benevolence, under such trying circumstances, so enduringly and effectually exerted ; and I am happy to add my poor testimony to that of general report, which speaks so highly and justly of this excellent family all over the islands. It is such charac ters abroad that endear the name of England to its de pendencies, too often rendered odious by the harsh and revolting conduct of some of the governors we send them. On the 30th, as soon as ever the storm at all abated, and a boat could live on the tremendous surge, we hastily put off, and with some difficulty got on board the frigate. The ambassador, instead of departing with the usual accom paniments of noisy honours, left the island silently and without pomp ; deeming, very properly, that any such dis play would be altogether inconsistent with the melancholy events which had occurred. There never were, perhaps, greater horrors effected by the agency of nature than those of one short day in the island of Zante. We witnessed during that period the most tremendous phenomena of earth, air, and water: we found it smiling in its beauty, with everything that presented itself of a gay and lovely aspect ; in a moment all was changed — the ground was rent open, a large city shattered to fragments, and the bodies of the inhabitants, crushed into every misshapen appearance, lying dead and weltering among its ruins ; de luges of water burst open the sides of mountains, and swept RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 103 away whole streets, with all their inhabitants naked from their beds, into the sea, which boiled with a preternatural heaving like an immense cauldron ; and, above all, the sky poured down large stones of ice, of a fearful magnitude, smashing whatever they struck, and bruising and wound ing the terrified people, who were afraid to seek the shelter of their tottering houses, which a continued succession of shocks threatened to prostrate, and to bury them in the ruins. I wrote you an account of all this on the spot, while the melancholy events were yet going on in the midst of the dis mal scene, and while the impression was recent in my mind ; and now taking a retrospect of them when the memory of them is beginning to fade, and other scenes and events have been mixed up with them, I do not think I could have exag gerated. It was a thing of the kind to make the deepest impression and excite the strongest interest. I never could conceive before the possibility that any but a painful emotion could arise from a strong sensation, when excited by hor rible objects — yet so it is with my recollection of these events; I would not willingly encounter them again, yet, you will hardly credit me when I say, I had rather even again hazard the perils, than not have witnessed them. If you account for this on some of Rochefoucault's selfish maxims, I cannot help it ; I am willing to attribute it to the gratification of an in'ordinate curiosity, which is stronger in me sometimes than fear, and absorbs in my mind every other consideration. The wind continued contrary, and blew with such violence all the next day, that, though we lay at anchor, we were com pelled, as a measure of precaution, to lower our yards on deck and strike our topmast ; we also prepared another anchor and cable, expecting every moment to part those we had 104 NARRATIVE OF A already out, and run on shore, as if Fate had decreed that we should not quit this portentous shore. Another night closed in with a view of the ruined city before us from which we had just escaped, and a prospect that, before morning, the ship and all her crew would be driven into it ; — and thus closed the year 1820. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 105 CHAPTER IV. Shores of the Morea. — Present State of Cerigo, the Island of Venus aud Helen. — Modern Treatment of Turtle-doves. — Gate of the Arches. — Pirates. — Carabusa. — Cape Malaea. — Aspect of the Cyclades. — Milo volcanic Island. — Discovery of a new Venus. — Beautiful Amphitheatre. Conjecture as to the Time of its erection. — Dreary Appearance of the Country.— Dress and Manners of the Ladies. — Singular Notions of Beauty. — Noble Act of Meliote Women. — Singular City. — Queen Caroline. — yEgina and Salamis — Present Employment of their Heroes.— Piraeus. — First Impres sions of a Turk. — Ambassador's Entry into Athens. — Unostentatious ap pearance of Lady Strangford. — Company at Consul's. — " Maid of Athens." — Lord Elgin's Dilapidations unjustly calumniated. — Compensation highly acceptable to the Turks. — Temple of Theseus. — Revolting Employment of Modern Greeks. The new year commenced with brighter auspices : the sea had gone down, a clear north-east wind summoned us to weigh anchor, and we left the portentous shore as eagerly as iEneas did that of the Cyclops, though we did not, like him, actually cut our cable. We were soon abreast of Pylos, the country of Nestor, and were shortly after close in with the Strophades, looking out for harpies; but the race has become extinct, at least among birds. The next day we were under Cape Matapan, the southern extremity of the Morea, and saw the situation of the Tcenarice fauces, where Orpheus descended in search of his Eurydice. I longed to land and explore the spot, but I suppose I should have found this tremendous entrance into Hell not much more awful than St. Patrick's purgatory, which we visited in Lough Dearg, a place to the full as much celebrated by the superstition of modern, as the other of ancient times. Close 106 NARRATIVE OF A to this promontory is Cerigo, the last of the Ionian Islands, the ancient Cythera. You have no doubt a magnificent conception of this birth-place of Helen, and favourite resi dence of the Goddess of Love. You have seen one of the Orkney islands at the northern extremity of Scotland, and so you wiU spare me a description of this the most dreary, sterile, and desolate-looking little spot on the surface of the ocean. I am so pleased with the quaint description of Spon and Wheler, who visited it a century ago, that I wUl quote it for you. " The greatest part of it is a most barren rock, and can brag of no plenty, neither corn, wine, nor oil ; which undoubtedly made Venus change her country for Cyprus, and Helen so wiUing to be stolen and carried to the pleasant plains of the continent." It is about seven teen nnles long and twelve broad, and contains 4000 inhabitants, among whom is a garrison of fifty English soldiers. These sons of Mars are sadly disappointed in this island of Venus, where they find no remains of her except flocks of turtle-doves, which they not only kill with out mercy, but salt in casks and send to their friends. Think how the shade of Anacreon would shudder if he was conscious of this treatment of his favourite bird — " his nimble messenger of love." The fact is, they are birds of passage, and, in their periodical transit, light in immense quantities on this southern extremity of Europe, when they become the common food of the inhabitants, both fresh and pickled. We now entered the gate of the Arches. This is the passage between Cerigo and Candia, the great communica tion between the Mediterranean and the Archipelago. It has been at all times the terror of unprotected merchant- ships. The Mainotes at one side, and the Candiotes at the other, are all pirates, and swarm in this passage, where RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 107 they are always lying in wait for unarmed vessels. It was here that the gallant ship which now bore us was afterwards destined to be lost. The pirates had made the little island of Carabusa, which we saw from hence on the distant horizon off the east of Candia, the depot of their plunder and the harbour of their misticos and scampa vias. The nuisance became so intolerable that the Cambrian was sent to disperse and punish these robbers, and destroy their stronghold. This was effectually accomplished, but in re turning through a narrow passage she herself struck upon a reef of rocks and went down. From hence we stood across to Cape St. Angelo, for merly the promontory of Malaea, one of the three great southern projections of Peloponnesus. From its situa tion, running so far into the water, and the boundary, as it were, between the Mediterranean and the iEgean, the surges of both seas break on it at each side ; and it has been noted from the earliest times for its tur bulent waves, which run on it, following one another in long succession, like the swell on the Race of Portland, and hence Horace calls them, with great propriety, undcc sequaces. It seems to have been for this reason an object of much alarm to the timid navigator, and this gave origin to the proverb, Si ad Malceam defiexeris, obliviscere qum sunt domi. When we approached it towards evening the wind beo-an to blow fresh, and the undce sequaces came on so thick and tumultuously, that our vessel laboured very much, and the modern landsmen on board became as sick of it as the ancient. I can answer for one, who im mediately took to his bed. The next morning we found ourselves among the Cy clades. These islands are so called because they are col lected together in a circle or cluster, and to distinguish 108 NARRATIVE OF A them from others that are more widely scattered over the JEgea.n. They exactly resemble the Hebrides, both in their distant aspect and when you approach them. They display a rugged barren surface, without a single tree or anything green: I almost doubted if there was a blade of natural grass in all the Archipelago. The mountains are covered with deciduous prickly shrubs, one or two feet high, not green like our furze, nor purple like our heath, but of an irksome grey, like naked rock ; and the valleys, which produce corn in its season, are at other times, and particularly at this season, a wet mass of lime and sand, of the colour and consistence of mortar, in which I sunk up to my ankles at every step. This is not covered with a spontaneous growth of green vegetation, like our fallows when suffered to lie idle, but it remains a sterile surface, as bare as a turn pike-road in winter, except where but rarely a long strag gling weed stretches out of it, and some large bulbous root swells above the ground. In fact it is hardly possible to conceive a stronger contrast than between the Grecian islands of the Ionian and iEgean seas. Those on the west, generally speaking, are of a lovely romantic aspect, covered with vineyards and olive groves, and exhibit a fertile and refreshing verdure. Those on the east are rugged, without being romantic, having a dismal but not a retiring aspect, and look so dreary and barren as to excite wonder how they could ever attract inhabitants, or if they did, how they could ever support them. Yet there is not one of these barren rocks that did not swarm with people, and every step presents you with evidence, that they had attained to the highest state of civilized Ufe. The first of these islands which we touched at was Milo. It lies not far from the entrance into this insular wilderness, and ships generally take from it a pilot to direct their way RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 109 through it. Though usually visited from this motive, it is seldom so from any other. Its name is less celebrated in the historic or classic annals of Greece ; few tourists have been induced to land on it, and still fewer to describe it. Close beside it is a little rugged spot called Anti-Milo. Anti was a term by which the Greeks distinguished a small island which accompanied a larger one, like a satel lite attendant on its principal planet. This was nothing but a shapeless rock. The aspect of Milo itself was singularly rugged and barren. Its broken faces were stained and dis coloured with different shades of red ochre, some of them rent and shattered, presenting sharp serrated edges. Con spicuously above the rest shot up the rock on which the Acropolis was built. On the very summit of a very steep and circumscribed cylindrical pillar of stone were houses in the air, overhanging the rocks below, and to which there seemed to us no possible access on any side, except by ropes let down from above. The entrance into the bay is very narrow, and not more than a mile across. The water as we advanced became a dark blue, and indicated a great depth : it suddenly dilated into a magnificent circular basin, enclosed in a wall of steep rocks, and forcibly striking you with the idea of an extinct volcano : in fact it has all the aspect of the island of Amsterdam or St. Paul ; a circular ridge, in some places so narrow that the seas almost meet, while puffs of smoke were issuing from the rocky cavities, indicating the existence of a still unextinguished fire ; and though I could not learn that the inhabitants boiled their fish in the hot water that issued from them, as in the former island, yet an egg buried in the adjoining sand was cooked in a short time, and the air was so very warm in some of them as to afford powerful vapour baths, impreg nated with sulphur, alum and other minerals, supposed to 110 NARRATIVE OF A be the certain indications of volcanic fire. It was impos sible to sail over the dark blue expanse of this basin, where the water was so deep that' the ground could not be reached with a line of 140 fathoms, without a strange sensation that there was a time when the element in which you moved was not water but fire. A short time before our visit a circumstance had occurred, which rendered this hitherto despised place of considerable interest to the antiquarian. A peasant was digging in his field, and discovered under the mould some masses of marble, which seemed to extend a considerable way. This circumstance was made known to Baron HaUer, I think, then at Athens. He came to the island, and at a venture purchased the fee-simple of the ground from the proprietor, and began to excavate. In a short time he laid open a beautiful amphitheatre of the purest Parian marble, in the* highest state of preservation ; and among other monuments he unearthed two statues, standing in a niche, so beautiful and natural, that the Greeks he employed ran away in terror, supposing them to be living objects, and something supernatural. The Baron unfortunately died while pro secuting his researches, but the more perfect of his statues came into the possession of the Marquis de la Riviere, then the French Ambassador at Constantinople, who pre sented it to the King of France, by whom it was placed in the Louvre at Paris. It was at first supposed that it repre sented one of the Muses, but the French chose to desig nate it otherwise, and named it Venus Victrix, implying thereby, I suppose, that their statue exceUed in beauty her famous Italian namesake. It was in much the same state of mutilation when discovered, wanting the right arm and a part of the left. It was, however, more modest, being clothed in drapery from the waist downwards. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. Ill As no savans had visited the island since the death of HaUer, and much yet remained to be explored, we were in great hopes we should make some further important dis coveries. To this end His ExceUency had ordered on board the frigate spades and other implements for making a search. The general impression was, that the two statues discovered were really two of the Muses, and we had good reason to expect that we should find the other seven. The theatre is situated on one of the promontories that form the mouth of the harbour, and we proceeded thither in boats, a part of the crew, armed with picks and shovels, having accompanied us as pioneers. I was really astonished at the beauty of those remains, which, from having been covered up for so many centuries and now first exposed to the air, are as pure and fresh as they were left by the chisel of the artist. They consist of eight rows of circular seats, rising one behind the other, with a large area in the centre. The seats are ornamented with semi circular mouldings in front, and hollowed behind, that the feet of the spectators who sat in the rear might have room. Among the scattered fragments were the circular pediment of a doorcase, and sculptured ornaments of vine and ivy leaves, executed with great taste and beauty. The theatre stands on the side of a hill, overlooking a valley, which, though the site of the ancient town, is now wild and solitary. This beautiful work, therefore, the highest proof of a numerous people and polished life, is the more striking in such a place, where there is no other indication of human existence near it. It has all the appearance of an edifice that never was completely finished. The benches are of pure white marble, not having the smallest marks of erosion or attrition, and look as if they had never been sat on. The angular mouldings are as recent and sharp as if the chisel 112 NARRATIVE OF A had just struck them : in fact it looked as fresh as if the workmen had only just gone away to their dinner, and you were to expect them every moment to return and put the last hand to their work. In this respect I believe it differs from all other remains of Roman or Grecian antiquity hitherto dis covered. The hand of time is visible on them all, and not only the union of their parts, but the very durable parts themselves, are mouldering away under the consuming power of antiquity ; but this alone has suddenly emerged fresh and beautiful, and looks to an observer like the work of yesterday, though I should suppose that at least 2000 years have elapsed since its erection. The island of Melos was very flourishing at the period of the Peloponnesian war, and was able to furnish a large male population capable of bearing amis. The Athenians wished to engage them, along with the other islands, in their contest with the Spartans, but they refused ; and as no neutrality was ever aUowed to their own citizens or others, they sent an army to punish them, which was repulsed ; a second ex pedition was more successful, when the Athenians, with their usual barbarity, put to death aU the young men capable of bearing arms, and made slaves of the women and children. It was this atrocious deed of barbarity and injustice, that caused Diagoras to become an atheist, because he doubted the existence of a superintending Providence that would suffer it, and the Athenians punished him for the conse quence of their own acts. Having thus nearly extirpated the original inhabitants, they sent over an additional force and kept the island for themselves. As a colony of the Lacedaemonians, the Meliotes took no interest in theatres ; but their conquerors were the most theatrical people in existence, and, like the French, were attended by -com panies of comedians. Is it too much to suppose that RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 113 they were the builders of this theatre when other evidence is wanting on the subject? The first object of ancient architecture usually discovered is the amphitheatre, be cause it was the most conspicuous and the most used of any public edifice ; but the memory of this had so completely perished, that Lord Sandwich, who visited the island a century ago, states that there existed no trace of antiquity but some remains of a wall and fragments of a granite pillar. Having stayed for some time, watching the progress of the excavation, and expecting every moment that some sailor's shovel would strike against the head of Thalia or Mel pomene, 1 left them to their work, and proceeded to visit the more modern places. The face of the country was most melancholy, sterile and desolate : the soil was lime stone, in a state of solution, which formed hillocks covered with tragacanth and other thorny shrubs. The ground was arable in small patches, and these were divided into very narrow and irregular compartments, forming crooked beds of vegetation, eight or nine feet, wide and three or four yards long, rising up the sides of the hills and sup ported with mounds of loose stones, with here and there a solitarv fig or olive straggling through them. The lime stone was everywhere soft like dissolved chalk, so that I sunk over my ankle at every step. In some places it was eaten into holes and caverns, filled with muddy water, which was generally that which the inhabitants used, the springs being impregnated with sulphur and other mineral inoredients. It certainly presented a most dismal specimen of a Grecian landscape, and a most comfortless abode for any people at any period. The town above, which we had seen perched on the summit of the pillar-like rock, was called Castro, and I I 114 NARRATIVE OF A prepared to climb up to it. The entrance was by a large gateway. The first aspect was that of edifices like pigeon- houses, the door of one generaUy opening on the roof of another. The streets, or rather ladders, leading through them, were so narrow that two persons could hardly pass with out squeezing, and resembled steps of broken stairs, in many places very dirty and slippery. The roofs of the houses were flat, composed of layers of prickly shrubs, covered with a coating of cement, forming platforms for the inhabi tants of the houses above to walk out or sit on. In some places there was no front wall, but the abode was a kind of excavation in the face of the rock, and the inhabitants lived as under a shed. The interior was generally whitewashed, fresh and dry. The women were all at home, engaged in different opera tions of manufacturing cotton, either spinning or weaving at smaU looms. Their dress almost universally was white, and their own manufacture ; a large bandage of it was wrapped round their heads, and came under the chin, so as to envelope the whole face ; this was covered by another, which bound it, and fell behind in broad lapels. Their coat and petticoat, or rather drawers, were of the same materials ; the latter scarcely covered their knees. Their stockings hung loose about their legs, and their feet were thrust into slip-shod sandal shoes. The whole dress was generally clean, but singularly careless and slovenly. As the greater part of their time is spent in knitting stockings, so their great pleasure is in wearing them — some of their beUes on gala days envelope their feet in all they possess, till, as the French Consul ssured me, they put on ten or twelve pair, drawn one over the other, and their legs appear as thick as their bodies. The to xaXov, or idea of beauty, as Voltaire justly remarks, is very varied, and RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 115 this custom of the Miliotes may be classed with black teeth and blue cheeks. Lord Sandwich also says, they consider thick legs a beauty, and for that reason make them appear as clumsy as possible. From whatever motive the practice was adopted, it was universal. Their manners were perfectly free and easy. They invited me in with such perseverance, that I was obUged to visit every house in my way. They all spoke at once, asking me various questions, without waiting for an answer, and examined me very freely, either turning me about or walking round me. I confess to you, my friend, these first impressions of the descendants of the beauties of ancient Greece, whose mothers had graced the theatre I had just left, were not very favourable either to their persons or manners. I looked in vain for the models of those statuary representations which they have handed down to us : they were as much like them as your Indian squaws, and were I to judge from what I now saw, I would say their sculptors modelled only from imagination, and had as much con tributed to the character of Grcecia mendax, as their poets and historians. Yet it is but justice to detafl what Plutarch has said to the credit of these ladies. Their husbands were sus pected by the Lacedaemonians of holding correspondence with their Helots, with a view of seizing on Sparta and destroying the constitution of the state. They, there fore, arrested them all, and cast them into prison under a strong guard. Their wives came in a body to the prison, and by much entreaty obtained permission to visit them. When they gained access every woman persuaded her husband to change clothes, and the whole of the pri soners went out without suspicion in a mass as the others had entered, leaving their affectionate wives to abide the i2 1 16 NARRATIVE OF A fierce resentment of the Spartans. From this peril they were afterwards rescued, but Plutarch justly enumerates the achievement among " the virtues of women," and cer tainly such an heroic sacrifice to affection was one, which has conferred immortal honour on some amiable individuals in modern times, of our own and other countries. I at length made my way to the summit of this sin gular town, and entered the house of Michel, the prin cipal pilot, of the island. Here I was received in a neat room, hung round with the pictures of Lord Nelson, Sir Sydney Smith, and others of our naval officers. I could not account for this partiality to our nation, till I was informed, to my no small surprise, that the Queen of England had passed a day in this room, and sat on the very seat I then occupied. She had been three days in the island of Milo. The people spoke of her with great good-will, and wondered how any king could find fault with her. They were particularly charmed with her affa bility. She made no distinction of persons, but sat down to dinner with the pilot and his family, and seemed as happy, they said, as if in her own palace — poor lady, I imagine she was much happier! Michel had been sent for to England on her trial. On the loftiest spot, and just above the pilot's house, was a small Greek church, in which service was performed for the inhabitants. Here I saw the priest perched upon the highest point of this rocky pillar like another Simon Stylites, and. like him, I was informed he never descended into the plain below, but from a different cause ; he ima gined the air was so unhealthy there that he would imme diately die if he breathed it, and I learned from him the cause of building a town in such a place. The usual one in the Levant, is to be secure from any sudden landing of RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 117 the numerous pirates that swarm here ; but the people of Milo had another reason. The former modern town, built by the Genoese, stood at the bottom of the bay, about two miles inland, on a plain overflowed by a salt marsh. A century ago it contained 10,000 houses and 30,000 inha bitants, sent out 190 vessels of different sizes, and was one of the commercial wonders effected by that enterprising people on a barren island. It was, however, suddenly afflicted with a malaria of so pestilential a character, that in the course of a short, time the greater number of the inhabitants died, and those that remained hastened out of a place so mortal ; and thinking to choose another as dis similar to the former as possible, they climbed to the summit of this rock, and there established themselves. I afterwards visited the old town, and found it accorded with this report. It consisted only of eighteen or twenty decayed houses, inhabited by a few Albanian shepherds, who looked exceedingly pallid and sickly. The whole number of persons now on the island does not amount to 2000. After a fruitless search of four days for the lost Muses, and afraid of displacing and dilapidating the fair edifice, like Lord Elgin, without having his acquisitions to justify us, we proceeded on our voyage, and found ourselves one lovely morning entering the ancient Sinus Saronicus. In a little time we were abreast of the island of ^Egina, now called Engia with slight alteration, which gives its modern name to the gulf. It was with no small feeling of respect and surprise that I viewed this insignificant circumscribed spot, not because it was the birth-place of iEacus, one of the judges of Hell, but because it was once so powerful, and brought so many ships to the common cause of Greece against the Persians, that Herodotus says 1 18 NARRATIVE OF A the first honour of the battle of Salamis was due to the ^Eginetans, and the next to the Athenians. Now, my friend, if you were to contemplate the rocky speck that raised and supported the number of ships assigned to it, and was a principal agent in destroying the naval power of the greatest and most extensive state at that time in the world, you would be greatly inclined to doubt the historian who told you a thing so apparently incredible. The island is about thirteen miles across, and is noted at present for nothing but its vast abundance of partridges, which is so great, that the poor inhabitants are obliged carefuUy to crush their eggs, to prevent the total destruction of their corn. In a short time we passed Salamis, now called Colouri, which resembled the former in size and sterility, and even exceeded it in its classical recoUections, for the particulars of which I beg to refer you to the competent authorities, merely remarking, en passant, that, it is at present famous for its manufacture of soap, and the heroes of former times are now taUow-chandlers. The Piraeus at length opened on us with all its interesting concomitants. The Acropolis rose magnificently in the background projected on the horizon, with such dis tinctness, that we could discern in the clear atmo sphere all its edifices, though at ten miles distance. The intervening country was a level plain, covered with olives, out of which the Acropolis seemed to rise. This appearance of the approach to Athens is singular, and unlike any other city. It gave an additional interest to the scene, and filled the imagination with temples, amphi theatres, and all the splendid achievements of ancient art, and rendered us exceedingly impatient to land and explore them. The entrance into the harbour was between two abut- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 119 ments of stone, and seemed narrow and dangerous, but in reality very safe, having a considerable depth of water close by the shore. The scenery. inside more accorded with an English landscape, than any we had yet contemplated since we left it. The ground sloped in a gentle acclivity, covered with a green sward, to the water's edge, resembling our rich pasture land ; various groups of black cattle were grazing on it, and some of them were standing at the edge or in the water, as they are seen on the shores of EngUsh lakes ; houses appeared among scattered trees, on green promontories, and both their sites and their style of building harmonized with the other English features : no remains of antiquity were seen to destroy the delusion. The cele brated statue of Leona*, which for so many centuries had, as some say, commemorated the conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogiton, and given its modern name of Porto Leone to the harbour, had been for some time removed to Venice, and nothing remained of the temples and other edifices of the Piraeus but a few heaps of rubbish. This celebrated port, which was the last great improvement of the Athenians, and which Pliny says was capable of contain ing 1000 ships, is now probably as large as ever it was; yet it could not conveniently hold, as the officers of our ship informed me, thirty English frigates, and the Cambrian was probably the largest that ever entered it. We had scarcely anchored, when the French Consul came on board, accompanied by a Janissary. As this was the first Turk I had seen, he was an object of much interest. He had all the air and appearance of what I had supposed to be the character of his tribe. He was plump and cor pulent, with rather a comely face, but a remarkably thick * Another statue, erected to Lsena or Laeena, was at the entrance to the Acropolis. It was a lioness without a tongue. 120 NARRATIVE OF A neck, resembling that of a bull. He carried on his head an enormous white turban, composed of many yards of muslin rolled together, forming with his huge scuU a mass, that seemed to require his robust neck to support it. He wore a short vest, with the sleeves turned up with fur, display ing his brawny arms, and a sash with a pair of highly- ornamented pistols thrust in at each side, the handle of his yatigan sticking up between, and ready for immediate use. In fact there was something so coarse and robust in his person, and so sneering, vulgar and cruel in his look, that he seemed the very fellow who would beat, plunder and abuse a poor Greek peasant in the very wantonness of authority. Shortly after a procession was seen moving down to the shore, consisting of a group of foot and horse, and five Turks embarked and came on board. The principal was a young man, with a very hooked nose ; he had on a turban of dark blue velvet bound round with green silk folds, a very bright scarlet cloak, and yellow slippers. He wore in his girdle a hanjar, with a large bright gold handle, and whenever his cloak covered it, he always cast it aside to display it. His companions were clothed in flowing pelisses »of different bright colours, and the whole group formed a dazzling display of oriental costume. They were the young Bey, just married to the daughter of the Vayvode of Athens, who came, attended by his offi cers, to visit the Ambassador. We went on shore with them, and found several horses on the beach, richly caparisoned. On these the Ambassador, in full dress, and his suite, were mounted. The procession was joined by an irregular group of Albanians, and in this way we set out to the celebrated city. We passed between the i^dx^tx. teix»j, or long walls of Themistocles, which stiU can be traced from the Piraeus to RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 121 Athens, and when we entered into the broader part of the space they enclose, some Turk or Tartar darted forward at full speed, and was followed by another ; a mock combat ensued, and after various evolutions of attack and defence they returned and were succeeded by others, evincing a curious and dramatic display of oriental manoeuvres for the entertainment of the Elchi Bey, as they called his Excel lency. As we approached Athens, a great crowd was coUected of Turks and Greeks. The cannon thundered from the Acropolis, which had a magnificent effect from the plain below; the venerable pile, with all its temples, were enveloped, and seen, after every discharge, gradually emerging from an atmosphere of flame and smoke. In the rear of this barbaric display of rude magnificence came Lady Strangford. The only carriage which Athens could produce for her accommodation, was a common basket- work cart of the country ; and in this humble vehicle she sat, with her maids and her children, without pomp or splendour, but exhibiting, even in the eyes of the eastern multitude, a more interesting object than the whole display. The groups, particularly of Turkish women, seemed greatly struck by the appearance of the wife of the Ambassador so humble and unostentatious ; they pointed her out to each other as she passed, then laid their hands on their breasts, and bowed down to her with great respect, mingled at the same time with looks full of pleasure and benevolence. The Ambassador's family were lodged at the house of the English Consul, a Greek, and his suite betook themselves wherever they could find accommodation. We returned to dine at the Consul's, where we found some company. One of them, a magnificent -looking Turk, with a turban and long beard, asked me to take wine with him. I was astonished at this deviation from the law of the Prophet in a Mohamedan, 122 NARRATIVE OF A and still more that one of so duU and ignorant a race should speak a foreign language so well. The Turk, however, proved to be a respectable English gentleman, a Mr. FuUer, who had adopted the costume as a convenient habit in prosecuting his travels in oriental countries, an account of which he has since published. Next me sat an elderly gentleman, in a European dress, exceedingly talkative and communicative. He conversed in French, and seemed weU pleased to give me every information, of which he was full. He was Lusieri, the artist employed by Lord Elgin, and had aided him in his acquisitions. His habits of life had all the eccentricities of genius, and his death shortly after was of a similar character. He lived by himself, and aUowed no one to sleep in his house. The old woman who attended him, having one morning knocked in vain to obtain an entrance, clambered up to a window of the room where he used to sit, and, looking in, saw him lying beside the table on which his frugal supper stood untouched. It was sup posed he was suddenly attacked with apoplexy, and having excluded aU attendance, he died alone and unattended amid his unfinished pictures. Among the company assembled in the evening was the celebrated " Maid of Athens," to whom Lord Byron ad- . dressed his poem, which has rendered the poor lady no temporal service, though it has insured her immortality. Her name is Theresa Makri. She is one of three sisters, who are very amiable and respectable in their conduct, though reduced by the death of their father to support themselves by letting lodgings. She was once very lovely I was informed by those who knew her, and realized aU the descriptive part of the poem ; but time and, I suppose, disappointed hopes preyed upon her, and though still very elegant in her person, and gentle and lady-like in RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 123 her manners, she has lost aU pretensions to beauty, and has a countenance singularly marked by hopeless sadness. The next day a young Athenian called on me, to con duct me through the beauties of Athens. His name was Pietro Ravalaki. He was Cancellier to the Consul, and was specially appointed to be my conductor, as he was actually engaged in writing a history of his native city. He was an intelligent young man, amiable and gentle, and had all that amenity of manner for which his ancestors were so celebrated. Though very mild, and apparently timid, he was intrepid, and on subjects where his country was concerned his ardour would sometimes rise to enthu siasm. The city contains about 1500 houses, of which 1000 are inhabited by Greeks. We first traversed these, and perhaps you would wish to have a general idea of their appearance, though it is not easy to describe a town where you see neither streets nor houses. Conceive, then, a mud wall, or one not much better or stronger than that of a parish pound, enclosing an area of about two miles in circum ference; conceive this area to be filled and intersected with long, crooked, narrow, dirty lanes, not half so wide or so clean as those of the worst fishing-town in England ; conceive these dark and winding passages, enclosed by high mouldering walls, in which there are gates like prison- doors, hammered with nail-heads, opening in the middle, and always fastened by an iron chain, passed across through two large rings on the outside, as if the master, like a gaoler, had taken care to lock up all the prisoners when he went abroad; conceive every thing silent and lifeless in these lanes, except at long intervals a savage dog uttering a dismal howl, a solitary Turk loosening or fastening a chain to let himself in or out, or a woman cautiously 124 NARRATIVE OF A peeping through a crevice beside the gate; and this will give you a general impression of the present city of Minerva. It is not to be imagined what a contrast exists between its actual state and what you expect to find it. Modern Rome, so sadly degenerated from its former appearance, yet still bears marks and evidences of its pristine grandeur; but Athens is a miserable mass of hovels, among which you scarcely can discern a trace of its ancient glory; the few fragments of it that remain are to be sought outside the city, and for these I refer you to the details of more competent travellers. After disentangling ourselves from the intricacies of this most mean and filthy town, we clambered up to the Acro polis, which looked down upon it. The first object that struck me, was a specimen of the depredations of Lord Elgin. Beside the Parthenon is a small temple, supposed to be that of Erechtheus, the front of which was originally sup ported by six noble Caryatides ; three had disappeared, but three yet remained ; the most perfect of these his Lord ship removed to the British Museum, and unhappily sup plied its place with a rude pillar of brick. If he wished to exhibit his dilapidations in the strongest point of view, he could not have taken a more effectual method than by this mean and unsightly substitute; even my mild com panion could not contain the bitterness of his gall at the aspect it presented ; and Lord Guilford, it is said, was so shocked at its deformity, that he proposed to convert the brick into something like the other supporters. On ad vancing, however, a little farther, I became entirely recon ciled to his Lordship, and I hope you will be so too. You will recollect that the Parthenon was first destroyed by the Persians, and though it. was afterwards rebuilt, by Pericles, still it is an edifice which was repaired 2300 years RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 125 ago. You will recollect that to the erosions of time are to be added the convulsions of nature and the shocks of acci dent ; situated on a rock and in a fortress, it has been shattered by earthquakes, beat down by the shells of the Venetians when they besieged the Acropolis in 1686, and blown up by the bursting of a Turkish magazine. After suffering such things, you may conceive that it could not have been in a very perfect state ; in fact it. was, and is, little more than a heap of ruins, which all travellers agree are every day crumbling to pieces. When Lord Sandwich visited the place in 1739, he found several broken statues lying about ; some of the pillars, which it appears by his diagram were then standing, are now pro strate, and what remained of its sculpture was so fast decaying, that it. was probable in a few years it would all have disap peared among a barbarous people. At this critical moment Lord Elgin came, rescued from destruction what remnants the hand of time and accident yet. had spared, and placed them in the safe custody of the British Museum, where they will now continue everlasting memorials, protected from further violence or decay. It appears to me, therefore, that posterity is much indebted to the care of this calumniated man, whom every one thought he had a right to abuse ; even my friend Pietro Ravalaki could not contain himself. It was amusing to hear him, as we clambered over the heaps of rubbish, which are every day tumbling from the tottering walls, that storm, earthquake and war had been prostrating for centuries, with his head on one shoulder and his hands and fingers extended, whining out in Attic French, " Ah! le barbare, que Milor Hell-again .'" Immediately after he seized me by the arm, and dragged me out from among the walls. It appeared that the Turks were going to fire a salute, and the worthy Athenian was actually afraid that 126 NARRATIVE OF A the whole of his mouldering temple would tumble over our heads by the new explosion. But whatever opinion may be entertained by others, the Turks at least, are well pleased by the exchange they made, and expressed themselves to me highly gratified by what he has left at Athens as a compensation for " the stones" which the firman permitted him to take away. The Turks, like all idle people, are anxious about the lapse of time, in proportion to the little use they make of it ; every man therefore that has a watch is continually looking at. it, and asking his Frank neighbour what o'clock it is by his time-keeper, in order that he may regulate his own by it ; Lord Elgin, therefore, to the astonishment and delight of the Turks, erected in the only open space near the market-place, on the face of a square tower, a town clock, and commemorated the act by the foUowing inscrip tion : THOM. COMES DE ELGIN ATHENIEN. HOROL. D.D. s.p.q.a. erex. a.d. mdcccxiv. This was the first public clock, I believe, ever erected in the Turkish empire, and I know of no other now, except one at Shumla, subsequently set up. You cannot appreciate the value of this gift to the people, unless you passed by, as I did, while it was striking ; the attraction of St. Dunstan's giants was nothing to it. Just opposite was a Turkish coffee-house, on the benches of which was always a collection of Turks half asleep. When the clock began to strike, they were roused from their lethargy, and every man pulled out his clumsy watch to regulate it. It was set according to Turkish time, and saved them a world of puzzhng calculation, which was always necessary when they consulted a Frank. When they saw me looking at them, they never failed to nod to me with looks of great pleasure and approbation. From the Parthenon my companion conducted me to RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 127 the Temple of Theseus, which is in a much better state of preservation. It is built in a low situation and near no fortress, and therefore has escaped all the accidents which have dilapidated the other. It is singularly perfect, and really recalls all the ideas of the former state of the city; but it displayed a sad spectacle of the degraded condition of the descendants of those who built it. On the marble steps, and just under the beautiful colonnade, were some Greeks, the most dirty and squalid I had yet seen. They were preparing the intestines of some animals to make catgut, and striking them on the flags, and against the columns, to separate the fibres of flesh from them ; beside them, defiling the fair marble, was a heap of putrid entrails, to undergo the same process ; and the persons of the men, and the ornaments of the temple covered with greasy offals, and exhaling a foul odour, were the most revolting objects I think I had ever witnessed. Over them, but at a little distance, two lordly Turks were strutting about, occasionaUy approaching and directing their operations; they were showily dressed in scarlet pelisses, which flowed with dignity round their portly persons, and formed the strongest pos sible contrast to the squalid and miserable-looking figures over whom they were exercising an imperious control. The Turks looked down on their slaves as we passed, with signifi cant glances of ineffable contempt, drawing back their heads at the same time to evince their disgust at the loathsome occupation, while the Greeks bent forward with subdued humility, and seemed quite reconciled to it. Such was the state of the Athenians in their own city, and such was the use to which their most perfect and beautiful temple was applied. 128 NARRATIVE OF A CHAPTER V. Lantern of Demosthenes. — Present occupant. — Temple of the Winds. — Use to which it is applied. — Mean edifice, but conveys important information. — Keramikos. — Exhumation of ancient tomb-stones. — Modern Greek Ceme tery. — Emblems on Monuments. — Plain of Marathon. — Tradition of Pau- sanias. — Interesting remains. — Penthelic Quarries. — Mount Hymettus. — Attic Bees. — Plant on which they feed. — Theatric representation. — Depar ture from Athens. — Some early particulars of the insurrection. — First attack on the town, by whom, and how. — Barbarities of the Greeks. — Respectable families fly. — Maid of Athens and her sisters escape to Corfu. — Reception there. — Greeks receive an unexpected supply of arms. — Their habitual terror of the Turks. — Fate of Pietro Ravalaki. — Athenians retire to Salamis on the approach of the enemy, as in the Persian war. — Barbarous retalia tion of the Turks ; they again retreat, and leave the Acropolis to its fate. — Sufferings of the garrison. — Surrender. — Massacre of prisoners. — By whom perpetrated. — Humane sympathy of the Athenians. — Preservation of the Parthenon and Temple of Theseus. Among the objects of curiosity which particularly inte rested me from description, were the Lantern of Demo sthenes and the Temple of the Winds, and we now went to visit them. We were kindly received in the first by the Padre Paolo, an Italian ecclesiastic, who has a small chapel adjoining it, for a congregation of about forty Catholic residents in Athens. The Lantern stood at one angle of his own apartment, and formed his little library. It does not appear that Demosthenes ever used it for this purpose. It was called ^avagi, from its form resembling a lantern, and in fact is not very much larger. It is a small circular tower, of pure white marble, surmounted by a dome, supported by six channelled Corinthian columns. On the summit is a receptacle, said to have been for a lamp, but it is, more probably, the base of some fallen statue. It is encircled by a frieze, adorned with minute figures, *";.;,."»'• RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 129 very beautifully sculptured in relief; and it appears, from the words akamantis enika in the inscription, still legible, that it was erected to some man of this name who was conqueror in the games. We found its occupant a very amiable and intelligent old man, and full of local anecdote. He was the Padre Paolo, a friar of the Franciscan order, and the pastor of a small congregation of eighteen or twenty residents of the Latin church. He had a chapel and dormitory attached to the edifice, and had converted the temple into a library, and composed his orations there, if Demosthenes did not. When Lord Byron was at Athens, he paid him an almost daUy visit, and took pleasure in passing his time in the lantern, looking over such books as the Padre had collected there. When he was departing, he requested some little gift which' he said he would keep as a memorial of him and his library. The Padre bade him take from among- his few moveables what he liked best. CT Lord Byron fixed upon a smaU crucifix, which the good Padre presented to him with great pleasure ; and as they often talked of Greece and its then hopeless prospects, he said, on giving it to him, he hoped that the cross would be a pledge between them, that his Lordship, if ever an opportunity occurred, would assist in liberating his fellow- Christians from the yoke of the infidels. This cross Lord Byron prized as a keepsake of an amiable old man. A friend informed me, he afterwards displayed it at Misso- longhi, and mentioned the circumstances under which he had received it. From hence we proceeded to the Temple of the Winds, which we found also occupied by ecclesiastics, but of a very different description. It is the temple where the Dervishes perform their religious dances, and we saw these extraor dinary priests twirling about at their devotions, as if every K 130 NARRATIVE OF A gale of the temple was issuing forth at the same time, and blowing them round in a whirlwind. Of those persons I shall have occasion to speak again. My attention was now occupied by the edifice. Though buUt, in the best days of Grecian architecture, according to Vitruvius, it is a very plain and inelegant structure. It consists of an octagon tower, having eight faces directed to the four cardinal and four intermediate points of the compass ; and it is so far valuable, that it puts an end to all controversy as to the Greek names of the winds, by pointing out at this day their several directions, and also the character of the wea ther they brought with them. On each face is a very clumsy figure, holding in its arms an emblem of its effects. bopeas, or the North, is a fierce, bluff-looking person, gathering up a garment floating about him, as if to clothe men when he blows, and protect them from the cold. kakias, or the North-East, is pouring olives from a vase, as he generally blew when that harvest was ripe : from the etymology of his name, xaxds, the ancients thought, like the moderns, that the wind that comes from the north-east " Is good for neither man nor beast." ze*tpo2, the West, is a youth, gliding gently along and scattering flowers, ai*, the South-West, is crowned with a garland of flowers ; and so on of the rest. But that which interested me most was, etpos, the South-East, as it at once gave the direction of the wind before which St. Paul was driven, and, as far as that is evidence, seemed to decide the controversy. I was here found by a Janissary in search of me : he came with a message from his Excellency to join him, so I followed the Turk. He led me to the KepxiMxof, or ancient burial-place of the city. Ksgau-ixos- implies the same as Tuileries in French, a place where they originally RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 131 made tiles and pottery,* and the Athenians, like the Jews, converted " a potter's field" into a cemetery. This is the etymology of Paulmier, though Pausanias derives it from King Ceramus. The French author adds, with some truth, " Les Grecs par vanite ennoblissoient les moindres choses, en leur donnant une origine illustre." It is here that fre quent excavations are made in search of monumental antiquities, and I found his Excellency, with Lusieri and eight or ten workmen, in the act of disinterring an Athenian tombstone. It was a marble slab, about five feet high and three broad, resembling in shape and size the head-stones of our churchyards. The summit was crowned with a scallop-shell, admirably sculptured, beneath which was the following very perfect inscription. API2T0MAXH$EiAirror axapnanijis Below the inscription were three roses, and under them a tablet, containing two figures in basso relievo, representing a female in a languid attitude, sitting on an armed seat, and a male figure bending over her and holding her by the hand, probably the husband or father taking his last leave of his dying wife or daughter. The execution was not of a very high character, and probably the work of an infe rior artist, but the design was simple and the subject very affecting, evincing a taste and feeling to which our similar tomb-stones have not the least pretensions. The Spartans were prohibited by the laws of Lycurgus from erecting •noXvytav^ov r«(pov, a talkative tomb-stone, and were not per mitted even to sculpture the name of the person ; but the Athenians were of a different character, and carried their ostentatious and expensive erections to such an extreme, k2 132 NARRATIVE OF A that Demetrius Plialereus had a law enacted, that no tomb should consist of more than one slab, and that not "exceed ing three cubits, or about five feet in height*. It is probable that this monumental stone was erected after that law was passed, and in conformity to it. His Lordship had it con veyed to Constantinople, and set up under the shade of an ancient and venerable tree in the palace-garden. From the Keramicos, my way lay through a burying- ground attached to a Greek church, and I contemplated the tombs in the hope of discovering some similitude to those of their ancestors. They were generally of marble, resembling that which we had disinterred in shape and size, with some attempts at rude sculpture. The inscrip tion was exactly the same as our own, commencing with EvQccos xeirai, " Here lieth," &c, but they were generally marked with the implements of a trade, to intimate the profession of the deceased ; some had a scissors, to imply that he had been a tailor, others an inkstand, to notify a scribe. This, it appears, was the usage of their ancestors, and is as old as the days of Homer. On one stone was the oar of a boat. Elphenor requests Ulysses to place an oar on his tombf . On another was a square and compass. That of Archimedes, you will recollect, had a sphere and cylinder. Having seen every thing interesting that remained in the city and its vicinity, my companion invited me to make a tour of Attica, so we set out on horseback, accompanied by another gentleman. We crossed the romantic mountains covered with myrtle, and arbutus, now full of ripe fruit, which we ate in abundance, and found as mellow and well- flavoured as strawberries. We descended to the sea-coast on the other side, where the plain of Marathon lay before * Cicero de Legibus, lib. ii, f Odyss. xi. 7ft. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 133 us. We lodged at the hut of a shepherd, and slept on the floor among the goats, with our feet to the fire, and covered over with the thick and shaggy capotes of the herdsmen, which, I am sorry to say, did not add to our repose : they swarmed with all manner of creeping things, in such a way, that I was compelled to get from under them and walk about till morning. This is a nuisance so general, that travellers in this country feel it more than any other annoy ance. Pausanias mentions an extraordinary fact of this place. People heard in his time " every night the neighing of steeds and the shouts of the combatants : those who ac cidentally listened to them were suffered to pass uninjured, but those who went thither' for the express purpose, were maltreated by the offended manes of the slain*." I was one of the latter : I listened attentively, but could hear no sounds, nor was I injured by the demons for my curiosity, unless the swarms of insects were their agents. It seems the peasants had some superstition of noises being heard, but could refer them to no cause : possibly this tradition of Pausanias still existed. There is no place noticed in ancient history which possesses so many local marks to ascertain its identity as the plain of Marathon. It is a level tract, between the mountains and the sea, about one mile in breadth and seven or eight in length. At the northern extremity is seen distinctly the island of Eubcea, from whence the Persians crossed over, and on the southern the marsh in which they were entangled and defeated. Opening into the plain is the defile from which the Athenians issued, and across it are still the remains of the low waU they raised, to prevent their being attacked in the rear by the Persian cavalry. In the midst of the plain was the roitpos, or mound raised * Pausan. Attic, lib. i. c, xxxii. 134 NARRATIVE OF A over the slain Greeks, called at this day, by a slight corrup tion, tepe; but the avriKai, or pillars, mentioned by Pau sanias, which stood upon it, with the names of the dead inscribed according to their tribes, have disappeared. While contemplating those most interesting and undoubted evidences of the truth of history from the summit of the tomb, our companion was seized with an uncontrollable enthusiasm, and, with an energy and eagerness altogether different from his usual quiet and diffident manner, he made an oration over his fallen countrymen, as if it was an event of yesterday, at which he himself had been pre sent. As we walked over the plain afterwards, he surprised me by sentiments which I thought it impossible he could entertain. He said that the time was near at hand, when his countrymen would no longer crouch under the do minion of the Turks, no more than his ancestors under that of the Persians, and their object was to establish a free constitution, similar to that of the Ionian islands, and, if possible, under the' protection of England. At this time the most distant rumour of such an event, had not transpired ; I supposed what he said was the chimera of a heated imagination, excited by the place in which we stood, and I little thought that a few weeks would realize it. We returned by the Penthelic mountains, and visited the quarries which furnished marble for the edifices of Athens. They are difficult of access, on the summit, of a rugged mountain, and the grooves on which the machines ran which conveyed the blocks down from the quarries are still to be traced on the sides of the ravines. From hence we crossed a part of Mount Hymettus, which is still as famous for its honey as in days of yore. The bees feed on a species of saturcia,* with which the mountain is still * Satuieia Capitata. Thymuin Capit. Dioscoridis. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 135 covered, and yields that aromatic juice which the insect concocts into a singularly fragrant honey. We breakfasted on it every morning, and were of opinion that the bees were the only beings which had not degenerated in this country. After rambling some days over Attica we re turned to the capital, and found every thing prepared for our embarkation. As a farewell to the Athenians, we treated them to a long intermitted, but once favourite amusement, a theatrical representation. The deck of the Cambrian was fitted up, so as to form a very neat theatre, and the parts of a play were filled by some of the officers with great spirit. I forget what it was, but I wished it had been one of Sopho cles or Euripides, as more appropriate to the place. The Greeks, however, seemed to enjoy it as much as if it was the production of their own tragedians. We had taken up at Malta the Indian jugglers, who were so much admired in England; they were going to Constantinople, to try their fortune before the Sultan and his harem. Their feats of dexterity on the deck of the Cambrian now formed an amusing addition to our entertainment. We had not long left Athens when the Greek insurrection burst out there, and perhaps you would wish to hear some of its local details, which I afterwards learned from eye witnesses who were present at it. The population consisted of 11,000 Greeks and 2000 Turks, of which latter 500 were well-armed soldiers. The town occupies a semicircular space, directly under the Acropolis, which rises in a steep precipice above it, and entirely commands it. A wall encloses the town, running from the face of the precipice till it again meets it : this is furnished with gates, which the Turks carefully closed every night, and in some places with ramparts and loop-holes for musketry, but is so inefficient 136 NARRATIVE OF A as a defence, that I more than once climbed over it, when I wished to make a short cut. When the rumour of the insurrection in the country began to spread, the Turks collected all the valuables they possessed in the town below, and removed them, with their women and children, into the Acropolis. Many of the Greeks of the city had retired to the islands in the Gulf of Engia; they feared that the Turks of the garrison would take vengeance on them, ac cording to their usual policy, for the offences of their coun trymen, though they had not joined in them. By this mi gration more people were crowded on the islands than they could support ; the greater number were obliged to return, and as they were afraid to enter the city, they concealed themselves in the olive groves with which it is surrounded. Here they were joined by scattered fugitives from other places ; so they called a tumultuary council, and came to a resolution to attack the Turks in Athens. The Greeks had long been disarmed, and were not suffered, under any pretext, to keep a weapon : while every Turk you met, whether military or not, carried a brace of pistols and a yatigan stuck in his girdle, the Greek had but a short chibouk or a- brass inkstand. An English gentleman had left with the Padre Paolo, in the Lantern of Demosthenes, a fowling-piece, which he lent to a Greek to shoot game on Mount Hymettus ; it was instantly seized by the Turks, and the Greek punished for having it in his possession. It thus happened that the only arms they carried to attack the city were sticks cut from the olive-trees, and some implements of husbandry by those who could procure them. They collected for the enterprise about 3000 men, and at four in the morning on the 5th of May, 1821, made an attack ou the walls, which they endeavoured to break RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 137 through, but a few of the more enterprising were raised on the backs of their companions, and having leaped down at the other side, were joined by some of the townsmen and rushed to the nearest gate. The Turks, finding their enemies had got inside, immediately withdrew from their different defences, and retired to the Acropolis, having lost ten or twelve men, whom the Greeks had knocked down and dispatched. The gates were now opened, and the insurgents rushed in and took possession of the town. The first use they made of their victory was stained with cruelty. They found in the Turkish houses some unfor tunate negro women-slaves, whom their masters had left behind in their haste, or did not think worth encumbering themselves with : these were instantly sacrificed by the Greeks, whose rage was fiercely kindled against every thing that had appertained to their enemies, Among these was a poor harmless fool, whom I recollect to have seen about the Bazaar, and a woman with a child at her breast : they, with others, were left to welter in the streets, no one thought of removing or burying them ; the infant lived for a day on the body of its dead mother, till the dogs, which swarm there, as in all Turkish towns, tore them both to pieces with the rest of the bodies. From these horrid scenes every one whose circumstances permitted them escaped. The Eng lish Consul and his family proceeded to one of the islands, and the Maid of Athens, with her two sisters and respect able mother, placed themselves under English protection at Corfu. Here they were received and treated with the respect due to their blameless character and interesting story. A subscription was entered into and delicately con ducted, for the relief of their pecuniary embarrassments, and the governor and all classes vied in paying them atten tion. Soothed by these acts of kindness, they recovered 138 NARRATIVE OF A the cheerful gaiety of their native character, which misfor tune seemed to have subdued. They frequented assemblies, introduced the Romaic dance, with several Attic games of amusement, and became the lions of all public and pri vate entertainments. The Greeks were now furnished with a sudden and unexpected supply of weapons. A Dutch vessel was pro ceeding to the Black Sea with a cargo of arms, for the use of the Turks of Trebisond, and at this critical period entered the harbour of the Piraeus for water and other necessaries. She immediately disposed of the arms in tended for the Turks to the insurgent Greeks. They had no money to purchase them, but the Dutch were glad to establish a valuable barter, and they took in return silk and cotton, and every man pressed forward to exchange aU the property he had for arms and ammunition. Nothing could more strongly mark the habitual feeling of inferiority which possessed the minds of the Greeks than the terror which seized them at every rumour of the approach of the Turks, even when provided with equal arms. It had always been the practice of mothers to still their refractory children by telling them a Turk was coming, and this early impression seems to have grown up with' them to the age of manhood. An incident occurred at this time which strongly exemplified it : — 3000 men were well armed, and had their enemies shut up in the fortress, round which they formed a blockade, but at a considerable distance. Between them and the gates was a field of green corn, and a few of the negro slaves of the garrison were sent out, under the protection of the guns, to cut it down as fodder for some cattle they had shut up in the citadel. As soon as ever the negroes appeared at the gate, a rumour was spread that the Turks were about to make a sortie, when instantly RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 139 the besiegers, terrified at this sound, were running off and dispersing in all directions. The Padre Paolo was passing by at the moment, and, seeing the cause, he immediately called to the fugitives and reproached them for their cow ardice. He represented to them that they were now equally armed, and much more numerous than their enemies. It was with difficulty he could persuade them to trust to the evidence of their own senses, that they were not a host of armed Turks, but a few defenceless blacks ; and at length the panic-struck crowd, with anxious looks, were induced to resume their former position. From hence they fired on the negroes, and, after wounding many of them, compelled them to return to the Acropolis. The commander of the division thanked the Padre for his interference, and assured him it was the first time he ever saw them brought back, when they were once seized with terror. Among the first who supplied himself with arms, was my friend and guide, Pietro Ravalaki. He disposed of his possessions, which I believe were not many, for a sabre and pistols, and offering himself to the commander of the insurgents, he was appointed his aide-de-camp. In this capacity he rendered service by his superior intelligence and his capability of reading and writing, which but few of his brother officers had attained to. He entirely changed his apparent character ; he laid aside his natural diffidence and timidity, and became daring and intrepid even to rash ness. He headed a body of insurgents in an attempt to surprise the Acropolis, but, in scaling the rocks he was struck by a Turkish ball and precipitated into the town below, where he was taken up much bruised and severely wounded in the side. After languishing for some time, without surgical assistance, he was conveyed to the island of Zea, where the state of his wound became hopeless, and 140 NAURAT1VE OF A he died in great distress, supporting, however, to the last an enthusiastic spirit, and regretting only that he was not permitted to live to see the entire liberation of his country. He had assumed the name of Miltiades, whose deeds and character it was his highest ambition to emulate. The Turks on one occasion displayed an instance of more ingenuity than they usually get credit for. There stood at the entrance of the Acropolis a coffee-house, with a guard-room attached. Here a small body of Turks were posted to watch the approach to the citadel ; the Greeks taking advantage of a dark night attacked this out-post and easily surprised it. Some of the guards were killed on the spot, some escaped into the gate of the Acropolis, but the greater part missed their way, and found themselves under an inaccessible part of the rock. They could not climb up to their friends above, nor escape from their enemies below, who surrounded them at a distance beyond the range of the guns of the fortress, and intended to starve them to death. From this dilemma they were extricated by an ingenious expedient. A bed was fastened to a cable and let down from the fortress ; in the cradle thus formed, they placed themselves, and were drawn up one after another in safety. The Greeks, seeing their victims thus escape through the air, commenced a distant fire upon them in their ascent ; but the bed which formed the cradle protected them, and the balls which struck them harmlessly rebounded. The Greeks now erected a battery on the hiU of Philo- paphus, and mounted on it three guns, with which they were supplied by a Hydriote brig. From this they bom barded the Acropolis, which returned the fire, so that a continued discharge was kept up on both sides, but without. effect. At length, after keeping possession of the town for two mouths, they were compelled to retire before a body RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 141 of Turkish cavalry, commanded by Omer Vriones, who ap proached to the relief of the Acropolis. The whole of the population withdrew, with all the effects they could collect, to the Piraeus, and embarked in boats provided for them; and the Turks, like the Persians, found an empty city. They immediately pursued the fugitives as far as the tomb of Themistocles, from whence they saw the whole population of Athens passing over to Salamis, as in days of yore. On their return to the city they com pleted the work of destruction which the Greeks had begun. A number of poor children had lost their mothers in the confusion and crowd, and had wandered back to the city in search of them. These were found by the Turks, crying and straying about the deserted streets, and they sacrificed every one of them. They then set fire to the town, so that, with the exception of the houses of the foreign consuls, not one was left standing. However revolting such things are at the present day in western Europe, where humanity has tempered even the usages of war, we should recollect that in those countries it has been always so, and the Greeks, even at the most polished period of their history, perpetrated the greatest cruelties both on each other and on strangers, and always expected and suffered a similar retaliation. After a short period the Turks were compelled to retire and leave the Acropolis to its own resources. The Greeks again returned to the ruins of their city, and commenced the siege of the fortress with some regularity. They were aided now by German and French officers and other soldiers of fortune, whom the report of the revolution had attracted from different parts of Europe, and formed a regular besieging army of 4000 men. They got posses sion of the first gate, and made a lodgment under the 142 NARRATIVE OF A second, and out of the range of the cannon of the fortress, and ran a mine under a bastion which would leave a large and practicable breach in the strongest part of the fortress. Meantime the Turks were reduced to the last extremity ; their supply of water was scanty, and the little that remained was most putrid and unwholesome ; close beside them was an ancient well, afterwards discovered, which would have afforded them an abundant supply, but they never had the sagacity to find it. Their store of pro visions was entirely exhausted, and they endeavoured to support nature on the grass, weeds and vegetable matter which they pulled from the old walls about them. Their physical strength was so reduced, that they ceased to return the fire of the besiegers, and quietly suffered the Greeks to rebuild and inhabit part of the town below. In this state of enduring and silent resistance they obstinately continued, and it was supposed they would so remain till they aU sunk under it, and that they would be found dead on their posts ; at length, however, they were persuaded by the European Consuls to accede to terms of a capitulation, which would be guaranteed by them. They came forth, to the number of about 1000 persons, so wan and attenuated that they resembled spectres, and were placed in a separate part of the town under a guard of Greeks while ships were preparing to convey them to Smyrna. The Greeks had been at this time reinforced by crowds of desperate fellows of all nations, and among them were about 500 from the Ionian Islands, who affected to form an independent corps, and to come merely to assist their countrymen in establishing the freedom of their common nation. They were fellows of the worst and most uncontrollable character, and every thing was to be appre hended from them. Before the ships could arrive they RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 143 became impatient, and expressed, by their scowling looks and muttered curses, as they prowled like wolves round their emaciated prisoners, their bloody purpose. At length they could no longer be restrained, but, bursting suddenly through the feeble guard which protected the Turks, they rushed in among them, and before any effectual resistance could be afforded, they massacred in cold blood 600 persons. It is generally admitted that no blame in this atrocious act can attach to the people of Athens, who were well aware what an injury such a violation of faith, as well as humanity, would do to their cause. It is known that their sympathy was strongly excited by the aspect of their patient prisoners when they saw their feeble and emaciated state, and they passed the whole night in bringing them pitchers of water to allay the raging thirst with which they were tormented from such a long privation of wholesome drink. About 400 were safely conveyed to Smyrna, but it is remarkable that some of them, particularly women, preferred staying behind, and again occupying the houses in which they were born, which they were permitted to rebuild. Such was the fate of this celebrated city, and the conduct of its inhabitants, on the first explosion Of a revolution whicli is destined to restore to it some of its ancient consideration. There is no probability that the people were at all aware of the great event that was about to take place, and it is certain that they had not made the smallest preparation for it. The revolutionary views of the Hetairia were confined to a very few, and many were members of the society who had no idea beyond its avowed and ostensible objects. A general wish and undefined expectation of such a thing had possessed all the Greeks, and a determination to avail themselves of the first opportunity that presented itself; but since the at- 144 NARRATIVE OF A tempt excited by the Russians, to which they were basely sacrificed, their views were turned to England, and many of them hoped that some event would place the whole of Greece under its protection, in a state simUar to that of the Ionian Islands. The wild project of Ypsilantes was as unlooked for as it was hopeless, and its unfortunate issue was such only as could have taken place ; but it was as a spark thrown upon combustible materials, and the extensive blaze it produced was as unexpected as it was sudden. With respect to the remaining monuments of art in the city, it was generally supposed their doom was fixed, and that none of them would escape the convulsion. Within the walls of the Parthenon the Turks had erected a mosque, and within the Temple of Theseus the Greeks a Christian church, in the precincts of which some traveUers had been buried, particularly Mr. Tweddell, who died at Athens. There was every reason to apprehend that the violence and bigotry of the contending parties directed against the places of worship of their opponents would infallibly cause the destruction of the edifices in which they were re spectively situated; but this was not the case. Lord Strangford, whose judgment and feeling in every thing that relates to the fine arts are well known, exerted his influence at the Porte on this critical occasion, and procured a firman, directed to the Turkish commanders, that they should permit no violence to be offered to these temples, but care fully preserve them from injury. It is to the credit of , the Turks that they have strictly complied with these orders, and to the Greeks that they have followed their example : these venerable remains have been preserved, though the combatants have had alternate possession of them ; and it is not too much to say, that as 1he arts have been in debted to one of our Ambassadors at Constantinople for RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 145 the preservation of part of them at home, so they have to another for what remains of them abroad. The Turks did indeed enter the Greek church, but they only opened the graves of the buried travellers, particularly that of Tweddell, in search of some treasure, of which they had heard a rumour, and supposed it was buried there; but they left the rest of the church and temple untouched. The only ancient edifice, I believe, which sustained any injury, was the Lantern of Demosthenes. The Catholic chapel, built against it, took fire in the conflagration, and part, of the external sculpture of this beautiful little edifice was de stroyed. 146 NARRATIVE OF A CHAPTER VI. Ports of Athens. — Cape Colonna. — Falconer's Shipwreck. — Kranae of Ho mer. — Cyclades. — Classical recollections. — Land at Paros. — Guide. — Veined Marble of Nausa. — Statuary remnants at Parechia. — Convent of Caloyers. — Inns of the Islands. — Quarries. — Singular Sculpture. — Lych- nites Marble. — Arundelian Records. — Female admitted by the Monks- Singular exclusion. — Consul in a Greek Island. — Passage to Antiparos. — Grotto. — Supposition of Tournefort. — Strange Inscription of French Ambas sador. — Comfortless Houses. — Mycene. — Consul's Wife. — Preponderance of Female Population. — Ancient prejudice. — Levity of Women not immoral. — Painting in Chapel. — Naxia. — Celebration of Games. On the 17th of January we left the harbour of the Piraeus, and having little wind we worked slowly along the coast, passing in succession the Phalerean port, and the Muny- chia, which marked the gradual progress of the Athenian navy from small beginnings, till it was able to destroy the greatest naval power at that time in the world. The Mu- nychia is a little circular basin, seemingly not larger than one of the Liverpool docks. We now passed Cape Sunium, with all its classical recollections on our mind, where iEgeus watched the return of his son , and Plato taught his disciples ; but what conferred on it its greatest interest, were the seventeen white marble pillars of its temple which stiU stand, and form a distinct object all over the Archipelago. It is now called, for that reason, Cape Colonna ; and was the scene of Falconer's " Shipwreck." To hold in your hand a local description, and gaze upon the place as you read it, gives it an indescribable interest ; so at least we now thought. We had just left behind us the island of St. George, past which RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 147 the ship was driven with such velocity, the crew viewing with agonised mind the refuge they could not avaU themselves of. " And now Athene's mountain they descry, And o'er the surge Colonna frowns on high ; The rugged beach in awful form appears, Decisive goal of all their hopes and fears. Swift from their minds elapsed all dangers past, As dumb with terror they behold this last." Indeed, nothing could describe with more graphic pre cision the dreaded position of Cape Colonna from this place ; it stretched across their course, barring all further progress, and presented to the driving ship inevitable de struction. At the extremity of Cape Colonna, and rising over it, was the island of Macronisi, the Kranae of Homer, where Paris stopped with Helen in their way from Sparta to Troy, and to which he afterwards alludes with such a vivid recollection, as induced Spondanus to call him " Mollis, effceminatus et spurcus ille adulter." From hence a chain of islands stretches to a consider able distance south, leaving openings between them for vessels proceeding to the east. It was our intention to pass through the first of these openings, called the Bocca Silotta, but the wind changed to the north-east, and blew such a gale, with thick and hazy weather, that we got en tangled in the inextricable cluster of the Cyclades, with a ship almost as large as some of the islands by which we were on all sides surrounded. We, therefore, bore away for Paros, and were so fortunate as to enter the harbour of Nausa before the night set in. Over against us lay the island of Naxos : it was here that Theseus so crueUy aban doned the woman who had saved his life, and left her father's house to accompany him. He was so agitated and confused at his own base conduct, that, he forgot to change the colour of his sails, and so he occasioned the death of his l2 148 NARRATIVE OF A father also. No author has assigned this as the cause, but I am willing, for the honour of human nature, to suppose that this celebrated hero had so much feeling. That night the mist dispersed and the stars shone out very brilliantly — the most conspicuous was Ariadne's crown, which was suspended glittering directly over the island, as if to mark the spot where she was forsaken by a perjured man and rescued by a god. Close beside us lay the island of Delos, very distinctly seen with one of the islands to which Apollo tied it, but not the other. The cause assigned for the god fixing it to a particular place is rather singular. He always had to search for it, the poets say, and he wished to avoid the trouble.* This, for so clear and far-seeing a deity, was certainly a strange reason ; nor do the islands he selected to fasten it to, seem very judicious. f Mycone is separated from it only by a narrow channel, and lies sufficiently conve nient, but Gyaros, now called Jouro, is at a considerable distance, with Scyros interposed, and just calculated for mooring the other end of Delos. Why the poets did not select the nearer and more convenient island, it is not easy to conceive, when, in all other cases, their mythologies were founded on the natural position of objects and places. The historians, however, are more accurate than the poets. While contemplating the mountain of Mycone, a fire suddenly burst out on the side of a hiU, and spread over it. This is a usual occurrence among the islands at the present day.' When a spot which they wish to convert into a vineyard or pasture is overgrown with timber or shrubs, they proceed, in a summary way, to set it on fire; the * Et assiduam pelago non quaerere Delon. — Theb. lib. i. 834. f Quam pius Arcitenens oras et littora circum Errantem, Mycone celsa Gyaroque revinxit. — jEn. lib. iii. 73. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 149 flame soon expands on every side, and beautiful thickets and groves of myrtle, arbutus and pine, become, by this improvident mode of agriculture, a black and scorched waste, leaving nothing to be seen, for some time, but burnt stumps. This process formerly was fatal to one of the greatest heroes of antiquity. Miltiades was sent, after the battle of Marathon, with a fleet of ships, to chastise the islands which had sided with the Persians, and particularly Paros. While he besieged the town, a fire burst out. on Mycone, which the Athenians supposed to be the approach of the Persian fleet, so they precipitately abandoned the island and returned home, and Miltiades was punished for his supposed treachery. As we now lay in the same place, and saw a similar fire suddenly blazing from the same spot, as described by the historians, the coincidence was particu larly striking. I am afraid, my friend, I tire you with the repetition of these classical details, but school and college recollections come upon a man with irrepressible interest, when he actually finds himself on the very spot where the events are said to have happened. Even the cold and passionless moralist, Johnson, could not repress this feel ing of enthusiasm in himself, nor pardon the want of it in others, when he stood upon ground hallowed by such remi niscences. My first object of curiosity on landing was to visit the quarries. On the beach I met the Vice-consul, who pro cured for me what he called a guide. He was a Corfuote, and as wild and ill-looking a fellow as ever committed an assassination, or said Stand! to a true man. He was tall and bony, more than six feet high, with a thin visage, sharp red nose, and black mustachios ; his hair floated out behind from under his conical cap. He had a ragged fustian jacket and trowsers, very foul stockings, and old sandals of raw hide, 150 NARRATIVE OF A bound over his feet with cords. He carried over his shoulder a large stick shod with iron, Uke a pike ; and he stepped on before me with the erect and determined air of a man who seemed to feel his superiority over another, whom he had entirely in his power, among wild mountains. I desired one of the lieutenants to look at him before we parted, and if I did not return at night to require me at his hands. In fact, I afterwards learned that he was one of our septinsular subjects, who, finding his residence at Corfu not very safe, had absconded, and become one of that numerous class which spread the insurrection through the Greek islands, and contributed to stain it with a very dishonest and sanguinary character. The quarries lie about six miles from the harbour of Nausa. We passed through the little town of that name, which stands at one extremity of the bay. It consists of one hundred and fifty houses, surrounded by a waU and entered by arched gates. The streets are very narrow, and the doors of the houses are high up, approached bv a flight of stone stairs or wooden ladders on the outside ; in some places they are supported, and the streets crossed by large arches. It is of modern date, built, Uke most others, by the Genoese or Venetians. It stands upon a rock of white marble veined with blue, which gives it a characteristic feature. The whole surface of the island seems composed of a stratum of marble reposing on a base of granite — the latter, like the rude frame of a picture, appearing every where round the sea-coast, and the former displaying itself within it, in variously coloured tints. It here presents a singular and beautiful appearance ; it is not oxydized or encrusted with any carbonated matter to dim its lustre, but the whole exposure in some places looks fresh and bright like the surface of one of our fine chimney-pieces. AU the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 151 walls of the houses and enclosures are built with it, and in one place it is hollowed out into a basin in the solid rock, beautifully veined, filled with limpid water. The whole appearance at once strikes you, that you are in the cele brated Island of Marble. From hence we proceeded to the town of Parechia, the modern name for Paros, the ancient capital of the island. This old town exists as it did in the time of Miltiades and the Persian war, but under a somewhat different modifica tion. As you enter it, the walls on each side are formed of the mutilated legs and arms of statues, stuck in endways, like the waste of cows' horns, which you may see forming hedges about tan-yards in England. Mouldings of sculp ture adorn the doors of hovels, and marble pillars support pig-sties. I assure you there is little exaggeration in this; it was the town where Phidias and Praxiteles were born, and after an interval of more than 2000 years, it still seems to retain marks of their handiwork. The new town looks as if it were built out of the old, but with little regard to the location of the materials. In passing along, I stumbled over some obstruction in the miserable pavement, I turned about to see the stone that tripped me, as a man usually does, and I perceived it sculptured. I picked it out, and found it to be the broken stem of a candelabrum of the whitest and purest marble, as sharp and fresh as when it was sculptured. I brought it away under my arm, and keep it as a proof that other towns besides your Kilkenny were paved with marble. All that was worth the trouble has been picked out by former travellers, and what remains are fragments too much defaced to be of any value. In about two hours we traversed the mountains, and arrived at the celebrated Marpesice Cautes. I first pro ceeded to a convent of Caloyers, or Greek monks, one of 152 NARRATIVE OF A which is to be seen crowning every eminence in the Cyclades. These are large square edifices, built exceedingly strong, and forming a quadrangle, which encloses a large area, in which there is a church. The door is usually a small aper ture in the thick wall, about three feet high, which you must stoop to enter, and the windows above are slits or loop holes, like the embrasures of a castle; in fact, they are fortresses, to which the people retire on any sudden incur sion of pirates or other foes, and indicate a dismal state of insecurity. They are the only inns to which a passenger can retire for sleep or refreshment, and nothing can be more chill and comfortless than the accommodation they afford. Unlike the festive board and warm hospitality which travellers find in similar establishments in the Latin Church, these exhibit a melancholy picture of the state of social life. The traveller who wishes for accommodation stands before the door, and waits till he is seen by some one within, who cautiously comes forth to address him. He is then invited to no refectory, mixes with no intelligent and cheerful hosts, and partakes of no comfortable fare : he is led by a man with a long beard, and a loose blue cotton gown, into a damp, solitary cell, where he is served by himself with a platter of tasteless curds, a few burnt figs, a piece of hard brown bread, and a mug of sour wine. If it be winter, he has no fire to temper the intense cold, and his only remedy is a pipe of tobacco, to correct the chill humidity of the air, which he is obliged to do by filling his cell with smoke. His bed is a coverlet of quilted cotton, which has imbibed moisture like a sponge, and which makes him shiver with a cold and clammy feel when he wraps it about him. In all my travelling, when I have suffered many privations, my recollection of the entertainment of these Greek convents is the most disagreeable. I did hope, however, that in their 3 «. ??« < S' RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 153 libraries some book or MS. might be found which would compensate for the defect of entertainment, and I seldom failed to inquire for the /3iCX(oQ»»coi ; but I never met a Caloyer who understood the word, or indeed had ever heard of it before. " In about three hundred, con verits of this kind,- scatteredover the' Greek islands, I have been informed there is not to be found a room in, which a collection of books is deposited, except in Patmos, where there are a few mould-; ing in decay, because the monks are not able to- read them; or indeed anything but, their missals,. which is the utmost, extent of a Greek Caloyer 's (learning. On being, apprised, of my wish ?to visit the quarries, a caloyer procured lights, and led, me to, the back of the con1, vent, where they are t situated. The, first we visited was a large excavation, with a semicircular roof, • like a natural cavern. It had been ¦ pushed; but a short" way into the mountain ; the surface of the rock had assumed a ferruginous hue, like that of most of the buildings at Athens. One circumstance, however, particularly distinguished this, quarry. On the face of the rock, at the left hand side, as you enter, was a very ancient sculpture,m three compartments, about four feet long and three feet high — the upper representing Silenus", a very corpulent man^ with a large belly, and beside him a figure with a bull's head, with sundry others-; but what renders it of singular interest is, that it existed in the time of, Pliny,., who mentions it as ,a prodigy found within the rock when it was split open.* It is still, in good preservation. Beneath it is a very perfect inscription, which does not appear to have existed in the time of Pliny, ,. i, AAAMA2 0APT2H2 NTM*AI2 . by which, it should seem that Adamas, a Thracian, dedi- * Sed in Pariorum (scil. lapidicinis) mirabile proditur, gleba lapidis unicis cuneis dividentium soluta, imaginem Sileni intus extitisse. Lib. xxxvi. cap. 5. 154 NARRATIVE OF A cated it after its discovery to the Nymphs. Such miracu lous sculpture, fabricated by preternatural hands, in the interiors of rocks, were not uncommon among the ancients. Cicero* mentions, that the head of a Paniscus, or little Pan, was found in a cleft rock in Chios ; and the venerable Origen f states, that in his time the effigies of phocae and fishes were discovered at Syracuse, and laurel leaves deeply bedded in a rock at Paros. These last, which are now found every day, were certainly no miracles, though the evidences of a very stupendous one. From hence we proceeded to the second excavation, still nearer to the convent. As this penetrated to a considerable distance into the bowels of the rock, it was necessary to kindle a fire, and light our lamps ; and quantities of a dry, prickly shrub, J the only fuel the island affords, was col lected and set in a blaze. We each took one in our hand, and the flame threw abundance of light through the cavern. I cannot tell you the feelings of respect and interest I felt when I thus found myself in the womb which conceived and brought forth the Venuses, the Apollos, the Herculeses, and all the magnificent statues which still astonish the world ; and I thought I saw the embryos of others yet unborn, still lying in every block. As the Turks inhibit the working of the quarries as unlawful, lest they should produce images and bodily representations, as heretofore, and so they should be accessory to idolatry, they have remained quite undis turbed in modern times ; and, in fact, they seem to be pretty much in the state in which Phidias and Praxiteles left them. The entrance formed an irregular arch, supported by a pillar, suffered to remain during the excavation. Inside, * De Divinat., lib. i. I Poterium spinosum. f Lib. T&ff fiXe^atpHflEvav. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 155 the arch formed the quadrant of a circle, twenty yards high, one side being perpendicular, and this form it ob served to the depth of 150 yards, which it penetrated into the mountain. On one side the rock was worked in a very clean and regular manner, the marks of the tools being distinctly traceable ; the other was not so, but blocks of marble were in many places piled up to the roof, like a wall. Towards the extremity, the passage turned at an angle, and the arch became low, and here commenced the distinct evidence of the antiquity of the working. The surface of the walls and arch was covered with a dark coating of lamp-black, effected by the oil of the lamps, which were constantly burning at this distance from the mouth, where it was impossible to work without such light, and this pro cured for the precious marble of this quarry the name of Avyyms.* The surface of the arched roof was partly covered over with a thick incrustation of calcareous matter, deposited by the water which dripped through it, but it was not difficult to remove it : and when we broke open a por tion of this dingy crust, the whiteness of the marble im prisoned within, burst upon us with a dazzling splendour, rivalling the Glycerae nitor splendentis. The marble of these quarries was used for all their cele brated works, by the ancients, from the earliest times — the Labyrinth of Egypt, the porticos of Athens, and other edifices. They did not, however, much use it in statuary, its very splendid appearance rendering it less fit for the purpose. This arises from distinct granulations, which give the fracture quite a glittering aspect, accompanied with a dazzling whiteness, that in the glare of light in which we saw it could hardly be looked upon. But the circumstance * Quem lapidem coepere lychnilem appellare, quoniam ad lucetnam in cuni- culis caederetur. Plin. lib. xxxvi. cap. 5. 156 NARRATIVE OF A which has given it more celebrity in England is, that on slabs taken from this quarry the chronicles of Greece were engraved in capital letters, containing every memorable epocha, from the year 1582 a. c, to the year 264 a. c, when they were sculptured. They were obtained at Smyrna, from this island by M. de Peiresc, a French man, and purchased from him by the Earl of Arundel, by whom they were presented to the University of Oxford, where they are now known as the Arundelian Marbles. On my return to the monastery, the Caloyers were sitting at their meal, consisting of cheese, bread, olives, figs, and tasteless curds, with sweet red wine, and they invited me to partake of them. I was surprised, on taking my seat, to find myself opposite a very comely young woman, with dark eyes, and a laughing, cheerful countenance. The impression I always had of these convents was, that no woman was ever admitted ; and so rigid is the exclusion, that in some of them even the females of every animal are strictly interdicted, and the Caloyers feel infinite incon venience, as they are deprived of the principal food of such establishments, milk and eggs, because cows and hens are prohibited inmates. This you may think an absurdity too extravagant for any rational beings to entertain, but I assure you it is the fact, particularly in the convents of Mount Athos. It is not so, however, in Paros ; and whatever Gre gory, the Byzantine historian, may affirm*, here were the " wanton eyes and the seductive blandishment" at the table of the refectory. The Caloyer who attended me, informed the rest that I had made a sketch of the sculpture in the cavern, and they * h ywafixcJe eXeas ixn QuvatiXia, xa) axoXtxff-rev ofifiex xx) ^Xiouffa xoftfianxit. N. Greg. Hist. Byz., lib. xiv. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 157 wished to see it; it was rude and hasty, and I am no artist, but it struck them as a good likeness, and they immediately laid some paper before me, and requested me to draw the picture of this lady. I was sorry I could not do justice to so fair an object, and they were greatly disappointed be cause I refused to undertake it. I could not learn in what relation she stood to the Caloyers, but I supposed it must have been some aUowable one, as she sat publicly at the table, without any sense of scandal or necessity of conceal ment ; celibacy, however, is the strict rule of their order. I was informed that the whole of a fertile valley, over looked by the hill on which the convent was built, belonged, as it usually does elsewhere, to the community, and that it produced abundance of all the necessaries, and indeed luxuries of life, and I met various mules ascending the hill with produce ; among other things, slaughtered sheep and goats, which were suspended from their sides in such abundance, that they resembled a moving shambles ; yet neither here, nor in other places, did they offer me any meat, though it appeared at the time they had no scruple in using it themselves. When going away, I presented two dollars to the Hegoomenos, which I thought more than was ex pected ; but he was exceedingly discontented, and some of the brothers followed me out, persecuting me for more with the most persevering mendicity. When I arrived safe at Nausa, I gave my guide half a doUar, with a feeling of obligation to him that I had escaped in the mountains safe from his hands. He looked at both sides of it, and then at me, without saying a word. At length, stooping down, he took off his fragment of a tattered sandal, and waved it silently backwards and for wards before my eyes. The mute eloquence of his art and manners had so much of Irish drollery, that I could not 158 NARRATIVE OF A resist the appeal, and he extracted the remainder of the dollar. The next object of curiosity was the Grotto of Antiparos, which all travellers visit who find themselves among the Cyclades ; we, therefore, formed a large party, as every one was anxious to see so celebrated a place, and bespoke the night before twelve horses for our accommodation. The next morning was wet and windy, and our horses did not arrive, but our impatience would brook no delay, so we set off on foot by day-light, in the midst of the storm. We had to cross the island to Parechia, and thence embark for Antiparos. In about three hours we arrived at the town, and repaired to the house of the Consul. As the Consul is considered the representative of the nation who employs him, like an ambassador, and his residence a kind of palace, you would like to have a description of both as they appear in the Cyclades. The house was ascended by a steep, narrow flight of stone stairs, running up the wall to the first story. The steps were composed of blocks of coarse granite and fine marble, as they happened to come to the workman's hand, and beside the door were two marble columns, one of them inverted and standing on its capital. Over the windows were also blocks of finely sculptured stone, but also stuck in the wall without any regard to position. The room in which we were received was whitewashed, with a ceiling of split cane, formed into a kind of basket-work. Round the room were various pictures of Saints of the Greek Church, particularly females, in very gaudy dresses, and hung up as high as the ceiling. They were interspersed with small mirrors, which were placed at such an angle as to reflect the objects below, but they were so dirty and dingy as to reflect nothing. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 159 The great man himself wore a long robe of silk, lined and bordered with fur, under which was a shawl sash round his waist, and thence descended a petticoat of flow ered chintz, from under which just appeared the peaked toes of his dark-red slippers. His head was close shaven, except a small tuft of hair left on the crown, which was covered with a small red cap, called a Fez, about the shape and size of a saucer. The ladies of his family were comely, but swarthy, with dark eyes, and noses rather turned up, and not at all resembling those of their progenitors. Their dress, too, was very unlike, their waists remarkably long, and their hair not gathered on the top, but hanging down behind in long tresses, from a large uncomely head-dress of gauze and tinsel, dilated to a considerable breadth; in fact, they did not bear the most distant resemblance to the statuary models of their ancestors, no more than the ladies of Milo. After taking some refreshment, we held a council of war whether we should proceed. It was now two o'clock ; we had an arm of the sea to cross, then seven or eight miles to walk ; moreover, it was raining very violently, and blow ing a storm, yet such was the account we had heard of this wonderful grotto, that we resolved to proceed. We, there fore, embarked in two boats that had been provided by the Consul, and as a matter of etiquette, it was deemed expe dient that he should accompany us. We filled the boats so that their gunwales were nearly on a level with the water, and the poor man stood hesitating on the sand in great trepidation. We became impatient, however, to de part, so he was lifted up suddenly by two English sailors who accompanied us, and deposited in the bottom of one of the boats ; and there he sat, a most rueful figure, in his silk robes, washed over by every spray of the sea, which he 160 NARRATIVE OF A continually absorbed with a large sponge, and squeezed over the side, or the boat would soon have filled. We had not got far from land, when the Greek sailors became greatly frightened, and seemed to have lost their heads altogether. They dropped their oars, to disengage their hands, then, beating their breasts, they exclaimed — Ai' afjixqriets, oY aprnpTtas, " For our sins, for our sins," and recommended themselves to the protection of the Panaya, as their only hope of safety. Providentially, our party were almost all British seamen, so we managed to weather the storm, and landed safe on the Island of Antiparos. The whole population of the island, attracted, as it appeared, by our perilous passage, had collected on the beach, and among the rest, a crowd of females, through whom we found it difficult to squeeze our way. They stunned us with questions, laughed immoderately at answers they did not understand, and seemed more divested of diffidence and modesty than the females at the point of Portsmouth. I had often occasion to remark before, the exceeding forwardness of the Greek females with strangers. In Athens it was somewhat checked by the severe example of the Turkish women ; but in the islands, where they have no such restraint, the natural levity of their dispo sition breaks out, and their inordinate curiosity, as of old, never ceases. Here we procured the ropes, lad ders, and torches necessary to explore the cavern, after much confusion, shouting, and scolding, and set off again in the rain, accompanied by a whole train of the inha bitants. After a walk of more than two hours, we came within view of the cavern, and here we gave three cheers, as weU to express our satisfaction at being within sight of port, as to coUect our stragglers, who had missed their way, and RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 16T Were scattered in all directions over the mountains. The entrance extends from forty to fifty yards in breadth, and about twenty in height. Immediately within it is a small recess, which I looked into. There I perceived a shrine, and a picture of the Panaya, which as many Greeks as the place would hold were all at once kissing. The descent into the cavern is considered by them so perilous, that they never undertake it without first putting themselves in this manner under her protection. We now lighted our torches, by means of some dry prickly shrubs deposited within the cavern, and began our descent. This was a steep inclined plane, rendered so slippery by constant friction, that it was necessary to have something to hold by. Accordingly a stout cable was stretched from the top to the bottom, by which we all swung down in safety. Our descent was rather a curious and animating: scene. We formed an extended line of 80 or 100 yards along the rope, glaring with wax tapers, which every man held in hand, reflected from a thousand sparry incrustations, which every where glittered about us, and we were all at once shouting and laughing, and the cavern reverberated the sounds in hollow echoes of various tones from its deepest recesses. It never occurred to us, in the moment of excitement, that if the cord, with such a strain on it, should give way, we should all be precipitated into the profound and dark chasm which bounded one side of the descent. It had never yet been fathomed, and we were hanging in perilous suspense over the edge of it ; we all, however, arrived at the grand saloon in safety. I will not here repeat the description of many of my predecessors, to which I can add nothing new. I must not, however, pass over some of their observations. The Grotto is nothinor more than a common calcareous cavern on a 162 NARRATIVE OF A large scale, with a variety of stalactites and stalagmites pendant from the roof, or sweUing from the floor. To these imagination has given various shapes, and they are called by fanciful names of the things they resemble ; but in point of magnificence and singularity of structure, the stalactite pillars of the Grotto of Antiparos are no more to be compared to the basaltic columns of the palace of Fingal, at Staffa, than the Greek chapel at the entrance is to the church of St. Paul's. Such caves as this occur in every country, and the pompous descriptions of it are quite absurd ; but it is impossible to exaggerate the account of Staffa or the Giant's Causeway, because they are not fan ciful resemblances, but the hand of nature has given them more than the beauty and regularity of the works of art. Tournefort, with all the liveliness of his nation, and a pre dilection for the science of which he was so fond, has given to the stems and protuberances of these deposits of lime the forms of various vegetables. He describes des grappes, which hung in pendant clusters from the roof; des choux fleuris, which he calls the most beautiful plants that ever were seen in the world. These grapes and cauliflowers remind you of a ridiculous anecdote. Some persons were cleaning out a cistern in the Castle of Dublin, and they found a nondescript thing, which excited curiosity. It was, therefore, submitted to our friends Dr. Blake and Dr. Wade, as two of the most learned and sagacious men of science ; the dentist decided it to be a tooth, and the botanist insisted it was a cucumber. But the most important circumstance Tournefort thought was, that he had by this means discovered the greatest secret of nature in physiology, the vegetation of stones*. It * Une des grandes ventes qu'il y ait dans la physique, savoir, la v£g£ta- tion des pierres. — Tournef. Lev. vol. i., let. 5. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 163 is unnecessary to say, that chemistry, since his time, has accounted for his grand secret in a very different manner, by the process which forms calcareous deposits from the drip of any limestone rock. Another thing which rendered the place very interesting to me was the inscription to be seen at the bottom. In the year 1672, M. de Nointel was proceeding as French Ambassador to Constantinople. He descended into this cavern on Christmas Day. He was not a botanist, and he, therefore, saw no grapes or cauliflowers, but he was an en thusiast, and he found out organs and altars ; and it struck him that this cathedral of nature was providentially offered him to observe the festival : he, therefore, dressed up one of his imaginary altars, and with all his suite, and a congre gation of 500 persons, celebrated mass in it at midnight ; and that his pious act should not be lost to posterity, he actually caused to be engraved on the base of the altar the following very extraordinary memorial : — HIC IPSE ADFVIT CHRISTVS DIE NATALIS EIVS MEDIA NOCTE CELEBRATA ANNO MDCLXXII. I searched everywhere for this inscrip'tion, but could not find it. The object shown to me as the altar was so covered with the names of those who had since visited the place, and so mutilated by those who prized a fragment of it, that any writing of so long ago was entirely defaced, and I was not sorry that this monument of superstition, according to the views of our Church, was destroyed, and the folly of sub sequent travellers had thus obUterated that of M. Nointel. The ancient Greeks, who celebrated every shallow cavity in their country by something preternatural, do not appear to have noticed this. Some, however, infer that it was known to them. At the entrance is an inscription consisting of various names, and among the rest, antihatep. Now a m2 164 NARRATIVE OF A person so called is mentioned by Diodorus as one of the conspirators who imagined the death of Alexander the Great, and who, having failed in their attempt, tradition says, fled to this cave for safety aud concealment. This, however, is but a slight foundation to build on, and seems refuted by the fact, that neither Strabo, Pausanias, nor even Pliny, who mention so many particulars of the neighbouring caverns of Paros, has noticed this. It is more probable, therefore, that the names at the entrance are those of peo ple who visited the grotto, which, in fact, are everywhere scribbled on the rocks below. The first person, I believe, who made it known to the world was an Italian traveller of the name of Magni, in the sixteenth century, and from that time it has been visited by most persons who passed through the Greek Islands of the Archipelago. If we suppose, be cause the inquiring and intelligent Greeks did not describe it, as they did so many of inferior interest, that, therefore, it did not exist in their time, there would be a large exca vation formed by the hand of nature, and filled with very curious and beautiful objects by her operation, within a known and definite period ; and as the process by which it was effected is now well understood, and seen in progress every day, there is no reason to doubt the probability of the fact. When we emerged from the cavern it was pitchy dark, and the wind and rain continued with as much violence as if they had but just, commenced. We had a dreary march back again, stumbling in the dark down precipices, and wading through mountain-torrents, and about midnight we all straggled into the town of Antiparos, exhausted with cold and fatigue. It was impossible to cross the arm of the sea at that hour, as it blew a hurricane, so we were obliged to seek refuge in any house that would afford us shelter for the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 165 night, and we got into one of the largest, and, as we were in formed, the best ; and here we had experience of the very comfortless state in which the better class of these islanders live. The weather was intensely cold, the mountains were covered with snow, and the rain and sleet descended in a deluge, yet there was no fuel to be had, nor any place to burn it in; the only substitutes were a few wet prickly shrubs, in a small earthen pan, in a corner of the room, at which we could hardly light a pipe. The roof was flat and full of cracks, and the rain came through it like a sieve, wetting us as much as if we had no shelter, and putting out the miserable spark of fire we were trying to light. The floor was a puddle ; and as if to mock our discomfort, the walls were hung with gaudy pictures, and tawdry chintz sofas, called divans, ran round the room, inviting us to sit and rest our weary limbs, but saturated with wet. They sent us up a supper, which consisted of cold curds and sour wine, and this we partook of, standing nearly up to our ancles in mud. I and a few others were so fortunate as to succeed in getting into something like beds, in dry corners in another house, but the majority of our party passed the night wet and weary as they stood. Nothing perhaps marks the thoughtless and improvi dent character of these islanders more than what we experienced. All their winters are equally severe, yet they take no precaution to guard against them, as if, like the grasshopper, they thought it would always be summer. They have pigs, and yet never make bacon as a store of animal food, and to relish their fried eggs ; they have cows, and make no olher preparation of their milk than insipid curds. There is not a fire-place to sit at, or a roof that will keep out the rain, I believe, among all the Cyclades; and three months in the year are sometimes passed, we 166 NARRATIVE OF A were informed, in the cold, wet, and comfortless state in which we passed this dismal night. Our party suffered in various degrees from our excursion, but none seriously ex cept one. He was a tall, athletic young man, a model of health and strength. He was one of those who remained all night chilled in his wet clothes, and laughed at it in the morning. Some time after, I saw him a miserable and emaciated spectacle, and he attributed his broken consti tution to the hardships he endured on that occasion. lt now appeared that the violent wind caUed Euroaquilo had set in, which always lasts for three weeks, so we made up our minds to remain so long wind-bound, and in the meantime to visit all the islands within our reach. The next we visited was Mycone. We landed on a wild, sandy beach, and taking Francesco, our pilot, for a guide, pro ceeded up the shore to a valley which crossed the island. The texture of the rocks was a coarse breccia, like those of MUo, but the soil was much more fertile; fig-trees were numerous, and they were preserved with some care. A walk of two hours brought us to the principal town. It is considered one of the best insular cities of the Archipelago, and contains 1000 houses, and about 5000 inhabitants. There was a considerable attempt at ornament ; the fronts were decorated with open zigzag patterns, with more fancy than taste, intended, as we were informed, to ventilate the apartments in the heat of summer, though there seemed no precaution to guard against the cold of winter. We proceeded to the house of the Consul. He was absent at Tino, but his Cancellier received us with due respect. His wife was an exceedingly lovely young woman, and had more of the characteristics of a Grecian beauty than any we had yet seen. She was not yet sixteen, and had a young family. She did the honours of her house RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 167 in a manner peculiarly pleasing. She first handed round, with great grace, covered with blushes, but at the same time with the most perfect and unembarrassed ease, a silver salver, containing glasses and liqueurs, with another of can died orange and a spoon, of which we all took a spoonful, and washed it down with a glass of water. The gentlemen were then provided with pipes and coffee, after which a collation was served up, consisting of eggs, curds, honey, sausages; bread, figs, and wine. By this time the rumour was spread that the Ambassador and his lady were in the house, and when we went out, the whole population seemed coUected about the door. The great majority of the persons we saw were women. This, we found, did not arise from the superior curiosity of the sex, for the fondness for the ti raivov is the general characteristic of both male and female ; but from some cause, which they could not account for, the women were, and always had been on the island, much more numerous than men, and the registers generally exhibited a proportion of four to one. We inquired after another peculiarity which in former times distinguished the Myco- neotes ; they were said by Pliny* and others to be born bald, and this was so notorious, as to establish the thing into a proverb. I inquired from an intelligent man among the crowd, who spoke French, whether it was the fact, but he repeUed the charge with great indignation ; and when he mentioned it to the crowd, they all took off their caps, and exhibited a bush of hair floating in the breeze as long and thick as any other of the xapaxai/aiouiivTzs Aypuoi. Notwithstanding the general comeUness of the females, some of the older exhibited figures singularly grotesque. Their petticoats, of white cotton, reached no lower than their knees, and displayed, with great ostentation, em- * Quippe Myconii carentes eo (capillo) gignuntur. Hist. Nat.xi. 37. 168 NARRATIVE OF A broidered garters tying up red or yellow stockings, w;ith some bright-coloured slippers. The upper part of their dress was without any form, and their bodies seemed a shape less bundle of white rags. As we walked along, the women and girls pressed forward, and with the greatest good humour and familiarity took hold of our arms. We had with us a good-looking midshipman, who was the peculiar object of their attention ; two of the fairest linked his arms, and never ceased laughing and talking to him, though neither comprehended a word the other said. In this manner we were escorted by the whole population to our boats. They would willingly have accompanied us on board, but that not being practicable, they were with great difficulty prevailed on to return, but they threatened us with a visit the next day. This exceeding freedom of manners among the females is so repugnant to the usages and feelings of Oriental nations, that it was one reason perhaps why the Turks could never amalgamate with the Greeks. The Myconeotes pay an annual tribute of fifty purses, containing each 500 piastres, to the Porte, and there are resident three or four Turks on the island to collect it. They stood at a little distance observing the scene, of what they supposed shameless profligacy, and apparently expressing by their looks the greatest contempt and dis gust : yet these manners do not really indicate any want of principle in the women, who are, in other respects, correct in their conduct, as those who mistake their levity have often found by experience. In the present instance, it was only an excess of their hilarity which our presence excited, and the overflowing gaiety of a light-hearted people. It should appea r, however, that their clergy find it neces sary to take very extraordinary pains to impress upon all classes the baneful effects of incontinence. The walls of RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 169 their chapels are sometimes covered with paintings in dis temper, representing the punishment of it in the next world. I entered by accident into a small country church, in My cone, which lay in our walk. The walls were plainly white washed, and on them were traced, in gaudy colours, various men and women in the hands of demons, who inflicted on them a very extraordinary discipline : one was a naked man, with a devil riding on his back, goading him forward with a tripronged fork, while another was driving a plough share through his body. Another was a naked lady, with her hair dressed in a very showy style ; round her legs were twined two serpents, who, by their venomous bite, seemed at once to provoke and punish her. To intimate the nature of the offence, the first was labelled s~i? xo'h'ii/ivpi.im 7; o-ttccis. — Anabas. lib. ii. p. 145. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 223 at its extremity, and stopped at a Turkish village at the source of the river. The villages scattered about these mountains are inhabited by Turks, Greeks, or Armenians : if by the former, a traveller is never admitted into a house, but. must, lie in the stable with his horse, at a place called a Khan. This is generally a very large edifice, like one of the great cow-houses in England, filled with cattle of all kinds. At one end is a little enclosure, separated by a low partition, just sufficiently high to prevent the cattle from walking over him, but. in other respects a continuation of the stable. That in which I now found myself, had the luxury of a bit of ragged straw mat, just large enough for me to sit on, and I found myself lodged with about fifty buffaloes and camels. A traveller gets nothing to eat but what he brings with him, and my stock of provisions con sisted of a grain of coffee in a paper in one waistcoat pocket, and a little zacchari, or brown sugar, in the other. Hasan had a bag of tobacco. I had eaten nothing from the first light in the morning, and I was as hungry as tired, after a long day's ride ; but there I sat solitary, between three mud walls, on a bit of dirty straw mat, with the more fortunate cattle crunching their provender about me. Oc casionally a camel or a buffalo would put his neck across the partition, and having looked at me with considerable surprise and curiosity, would then begin to move his jaws just close to my face, as if to mock my hunger. Mean time Hasan sat cross-legged before me, smoking his pipe with the most imperturbable gravity, quite reconciled to the state of inanity in which we were doomed to pass the night. I several times gave him an imploring look, and put my finger in my mouth closing my teeth on it, that even a Turk might comprehend what I wanted. Hasan slowly moved his head, and said " Yoke," the first word I had 224 NARRATIVE OF A heard him utter. I hoped that yoke might have something to say to eggs, but I was mistaken, — yoke, I found, was Turkish for "nothing." I now made myself about a thim bleful of coffee, in a little tin measure which I found among some embers, in an earthen pot in a corner, and stretching myself out for the night, I took Hasan's pipe and smoked myself into a doze. I know not how long I remained in this state, but when I opened my eyes, I found, by the light of a lamp stuck in the wall, the place crowded with Turks, sitting round me cross- legged, three or four deep, all smoking and silently gazing on me, waiting apparently until I should awake. I asked for Hasan, whom I could not see, and one of them, rather a truculent looking man, drew his hand across his throat, and with a solemn countenance motioned to me to hold my peace. " Here then," said I to myself, " I am about to suffer the penalty of travelling with a false firman ; my janissary has been punished in the summary way of a Turk, and I must submit to whatever they please to do to myself, — the Elchi Bey can't protect a British subject in this remote place." While engaged in these pleasant reflections, a joint- stool was brought in and set before me, and a large metal tray laid on it, with a number of broad horn spoons like shovels. I had some vague notions of barbarian nations feeding people before they kill them, and here was my last meal. The first course was a basin, the size of a cauldron, of pease porridge, which was soon despatched by the company ; the next was a seasoned substance, like macaroni ; and the last was a bowl of an acidulated liquor, the most grateful I ever tasted. During the whole of the entertainment, not a sound was uttered, nor was I ever asked to eat. But a man in a green turban, to mark his being a descendant RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 225 of Mahomet, and who seemed the master of the feast, had his eye on me. When he saw me relaxing with my spoon, he said not a word, but he nudged the man next him with his elbow, and he his neighbour, till it came round to me, and in this way I was pressed to eat more. A large bunch of grapes was fished up from the bottom of the last bowl, and held for a moment by the Turk in the green turban ; it was then passed on to me, without any one helping himself, and laid on the tray before me, and it seemed a part of the ceremonial of the entertainment. When every thing was removed, I was presented with a cup of coffee and a pipe ; but having declined them, one of the company laid the side of his head on his hand, intimating that I should go to sleep ; I drew my cloak over me as I was bid ; and when I awoke in the morning I found the company still sitting round me, smoking as before I fell asleep. The horses were now brought to the door, and my hosts de parted as silently as they entered, without asking remu neration or seeming to expect even thanks. I afterwards found that my friendly Turks were the voivode and prin cipal men of the village, who, being informed that I was a stranger and a Frank with a firman, had given me an entertainment, ; and the man who drew his hand across his throat had intimated that Hasan had gone to get himself shaved and dressed for dinner. There was something sin gular in their taciturn hospitality; but the kindness of a Turk is divested of all pretension ; it is rude but cordial whenever it is offered. Our way from hence lay across one of the ridges of Mount. Rhodope, over which we had to climb from the village be low. We ascended through the most splendid and majes tic scenery in Europe. We sometimes passed along the edges of stupendous precipices, overhanging deep and shadowy Q 226 NARRATIVE OF A valleys filled with noble forest-trees, among which were concealed the sources of some of the largest rivers in Thrace. Sometimes we wound our way through groves of arbutus, myrtle, and various fragrant shrubs, which, as we brushed them with our feet, filled the air with their aromatic odour ; and sometimes, emerging on the naked summit of the ridge, we waded through acres of snow, presenting in many places, where a part had fallen away, sections of eighteen or twenty feet deep. Conceive I was now in the region where Orpheus lamented his Eurydice, " amid Rhodope's snows," and it was no violent effort of imagination to hear the visionary tones of his lyre, iu every passing breeze that swept the mountain. At length we began to descend, and in four days arrived at the coast of the sea of Marmora, from whence the view of the snowy ridges I had passed looked very sublime and awful. Hasan had led me, it seems, far out of the usual route, and through a region very seldom visited. We now proceeded to Rodosto. This is a very large town, containing above ten thousand houses, and a mixed population of sixty thousand Greeks, Turks, Armenians, and Jews. There is also a respectable portion of them Franks, originally from Hungary and Germany. When the Turks were compelled to evacuate Buda, they carried off with them several respectable inhabitants from that and other towns, who were settled at Rodosto, and having brought with them their usages and improvements, gave to the town a more European character than other oriental cities display. The khans for travellers here are of a most enormous size, some of them apparently as large as West minster Hall, and resembling it in appearance; an open edifice with a high roof, supported on naked walls, un broken by any object. Some of them contain two or three RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 227 hundred horses or camels, which appear like mice ranged round the floor below. There are no mangers against the walls, but a dwarf parapet runs along, enclosing a narrow trough, which is filled with chopped straw as provender. I was not obliged to take tip my abode in one of them, but was received into the house of a friendly Catholic priest, who also acted as agent to the British Consul. After stopping with my host a day, to recover the fatigues of the mountains, I set out for Constantinople, and continued my way nearly along the sea-coast through a level country. Here commenced the extensive plain, which runs to the base of the Balcan and the Black Sea, resembling the Steppes of Tartary, and like them studded over with tepe or mounds, like the tumuli, supposed to be the tombs of Homer's heroes on the opposite coast of Asia, and probably erected at the same period and for the same purpose ; they were so thickly studded in some places, that I reckoned nine at one time visible in the hori zon, and as I advanced fresh ones continually rose to the view, up to the walls of the capital. I had here a specimen of a Thracian winter, and which was actually colder than I had felt it on the summit of the mountains. A storm came on from the N. E. attended with an intense chill and a deluge of snow. The roads, or rather paths, were quite obliterated and we lost our way. I had experienced discomfort and hardship before, but no thing equal to this. Indeed the sensation of cold that comes over a traveller in these regions is sometimes more intolerable than the severest extreme felt in more northern latitudes. The acuteness of it might have been increased by the very comfortless accommodations. I tried various ways of counteracting it by ardent spirits both hot and cold, but nothing relieved the painful consciousness of it so much q 2 228 NARRATIVE OF A as a pipe of tobacco, and a cup of coffee, which I now for tunately procured at every hovel we passed. As I ap proached the capital there was no cheering appearance of a dense population, no increase of houses, or villages, to intimate the vicinity of a large city. For the last ten miles we did not pass a house nor meet a man ; and we sud denly found ourselves under the walls, before I was aware that I was approaching the town. We passed through the Silyvria gate, and the desolation within was worse, because less expected, than that without. As our horses' hoofs clat tered over the rugged pavement, the noise was startling, so desolate and silent were the streets. The only other sound we heard was that of some savage dog, who had buried himself in a hole under the foundation of the house, and, putting up his head, howled dismally at us as we passed. We at length arrived at the harbour, which it was necessary for me to cross to our palace, which rose on my view at the other side. Impatient to get over, I entered the first boat I saw, and was setting off to row my self, when two Turks armed with pistols entered the boat. They quietly laid their hands on the back of mine, to inti mate to me to be still : then setting me in the bottom of the boat they rowed me across, and brought me up to the palace. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 229 CHAPTER IX. Peninsula of Pera. — Galata.— British Palace. — Garden.— Chapel. — Popula tion aud Society of Pera. — Turkish Cemeteries. — Golden Horn. — View of Constantinople. — Palace Janissaries. — Caiques. — Fanal. — Greek Patri archate. — Cathedral. — Printing Office. — Patri arch. — Balata. — Jews. — Turkish Women. — Notions of Female Propriety. — Terms of Reproach. — Dogs. — How they live. — Why esteemed by Turks. — Character. — Intole rable Nuisance. — Sulamanie. — Teriake Tcharkisi. — De Tott's account of Opium Eaters. — Present State. — Lunatic Asylum Fearful Maniac. — Gentle Minstrel. — Turkish test of Sanity. — Severe Treatment successful — accords with National Character. — Santa Sophia. — Turkish Crescent. — Mosque of Achmet. — Number of Minarets. — Seven Towers. — District of Ypsomotia. — Greek Miracle. — Armenian Quarter. — Triple Church. — Ge neral View of the Interior of the City. — Manners of the People. The British palace is situated, not at Constantinople, but at Pera, a district separated from it by an arm of the sea. It was called Pera by the Greeks of the lower empire, because it was ¦nszpa., " on the other side." It is a peninsula formed by the Bosphorus and the harbour, which wash its base, from whence it rises to a high ridge. Along the spine or summit of this ridge runs the great leading avenue, called, by way of eminence, "the PeraStreet." From this descend at each side sundry very steep and narrow lanes, formed in many places into shallow steps, impracticable for any kind of car riage, but frequently passed by horses, which learn to walk up and down as cautiously as if they were traversing a flight of stone stairs, and every day by crowds of hummals or porters, who labour up them with heavy burdens landed from the ships or boats below. These steep and narrow- avenues, which resemble the " wynds" in Edinburgh, lead to Tophana, Tersanha, Galata, and other important and 230 NARRATIVE OF A populous districts, either on the waters of the Bosphorus or the harbour. At one extremity of the peninsula, which may be called its isthmus, is the valley of Dolma Bactch6, which sepa rates it in some measure from the country. It was through this that Mahomet II. is supposed to have drawn his ships into the harbour at the other side, when he besieged Con stantinople. It was afterwards called Dolma Bactche, or the " Gourd Garden," because it was a fertile valley, in which the Turks, when masters of the place, cultivated that vegetable, of which they are very fond. Immediately above it are the great burying- grounds, where Mahomedans and Christians, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, and Franks of all nations and of all opinions sleep in their respective ceme teries, and at length repose together in peace. The Jews alone seem still to retain here, even in death, their distinct and exclusive character : their burying- ground is removed from all the rest at a considerable distance. At the other extremity is Galata, a name for which some give the undignified etymology of yoika., " milk," because it had been the milk-market of the lower empire. A town was subsequently built on it by the Genoese, who, at the time of the crusades, had established themselves for the convenience of commerce at this maritime point, between the Bosphorus and the harbour. A dispute arising be tween them and their rivals the Venetians, their houses were prostrated, and themselves obliged to fly for refuge to the city, where they implored the protection of the Emperor Cantacuzene, who permitted them to surround their houses by a wall, with a trench, for their future protection. This still remains nearly perfect, with its turrets and battle ments, running from sea to sea ; and though it is but a continuation of Pera, whose streets run up to the walls, the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 231 gates are carefully closed every night by the Turks, as they were by the Genoese. From the burying- grounds to Ga lata is a continued avenue of houses, running, with little deviation, from a right line ; and as the view from its ele vated situation is very beautiful and extensive, commanding the Bosphorus on one side, and the Golden Horn, or har bour, on the other, all the Franks of opulence have here their town residence, and the European ambassadors their palaces. It is therefore adorned with more extensive and goodly mansions than are to be found, perhaps, in any other part, of the Turkish empire. But of all the edifices which distinguish it, the British palace is the most conspicuous and delightful, and the cir cumstances connected with it have most endeared it. to the minds of Englishmen. The first residence of our embassy at Pera was a small building, which had been a private house, near the Galata Serai ; but when we had rendered such essential service to the Turks, by expelling the French from Egypt, they evinced their gratitude in a remarkable manner, by providing a princely residence for the represen tative of his Britannic Majesty in the Turkish capital. There was, on the most elevated part of the ridge, an open space, with a number of small wooden houses scattered over it. These the Turks cleared away, surrounded the area with a substantial wall, and while Lord Elgin was ambassador, laid the foundation of a large palace in the centre, and when the wall was raised a few yards of solid stone, made a gift of the place to the English, to finish it on the plan in which it was begun. The Levant Company gave ten thousand pounds, and the British Government the remainder, to complete it in a style of correspondent magni- ; ficence. But the circumstance which rendered it particu- ; larly interesting was the delicate compliment paid by the 232 NARRATIVE OF A Turks to British feelings and opinions. When it was finished, they sent, on the day it was opened for the recep tion of the embassy, a number of their slaves, who were emancipated on the spot, and given to understand that they owed their freedom to English philanthropy ; and it was particularly affecting to see many of these poor people, who had been thirty years in chains, bending in gratitude to their benefactors. Never, perhaps, was a higher compli ment paid by one nation to the sentiments of another, or the opening of an edifice hallowed by a more impressive ceremony. . The palace stands nearly in the centre of a demesne, including a lawn and garden of about four acres, enclosed from the streets by a high and substantial wall. It is an oblong quadrangular building of three stories, surmounted on the roof by a lofty kiosk, or square cupola, which com mands a most extensive view of the Bosphorus, Sea of Mar mora, Constantinople, and the surrounding country. It also gave light to a large hall below, which occupied the centre of the building, and round which the apartments were situated. One of them is the grand hall, or recep tion-room. At the end stands the throne, as the represen tative of majesty, which no one occupied, till the arrival of the unfortunate Queen Caroline, who, in her Oriental wan derings, had visited Constantinople. During her short sojourn she visited the room every day, and, as an old domestic informed me, was frequently seen weeping, with her head resting on her hands, sitting on the steps of this throne. The floor was formed of different woods, inlaid in mosaic, and had been lighted up when occasion required by an oblong" frame of bell-lamps suspended from the ceiling. The first large dinner-party given here after our arrival, displayed a curious characteristic of the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 233 country. We had scarcely sat down, when a flight of bats hovered over the table, their sooty wings and foul odour strongly reminding us of the harpies, on a similar occasion, though they were somewhat less rapacious. On examina tion, it was found that the bats had established them selves in the lamps. The hall had been disused for some time before, and these animals, which abound here, had taken possession of it — almost every bell contained a progeny. Among the ornaments which the Ambassador had brought with him were some splendid lustres of cut glass for this apartment : the frame, with all its inhabitants, was next day removed, and the lustres suspended, which, with other decorations, now rendered this saloon one of the finest in the Turkish empire. But the garden and lawn were the objects of my pe culiar attraction. Lady Listen, the wife of our venerable predecessor, had attended to it with particular care. She had brought exotics from all parts of the world, and the prolific woods about the Black Sea were searched for the most ornamental shrubs and trees, to form walks and plan tations. Among these were some that had grown to such an extraordinary size and beauty, that they were described with admiration by foreign botanists. One was a tur pentine tree, measuring twelve feet round the base, and overshadowing a circuit of fifty yards with its singular foliage, covered with ruddy tubercles, and exhaling a strong aromatic odour*. Another was the lovely silk rosef, so much prized by the Turks. This beautiful shrub had grown into a large tree, the stem being two feet in cir cumference. Such, then, was our pleasant retreat in the v Pistacia terebinthus, noticed by Sestini. f Acacia Gul-ibrasim. 234 NARRATIVE OF A midst of a dense and crowded city, with whose inhabitants in general we could have no intercourse. In this garden stood our chapel. It was a small octagon temple, which my congregation just filled. It consisted of the Ambassador and his suite, with about forty other per sons, English merchants and their families, with occasional visitants. A bell stood at the palace gate, to announce the approach of visiters to the Ambassador, whose, rank was declared by the number of strokes given. The Turks hold bells in religious service as an abomination ; so no sects were allowed to use them for their place of worship. The Mahomedans call their congregations together by a human voice, sounding from the top of a minaret, and the Chris tians make use of other expedients ; the Greeks announce the hour of prayer by rattling a mallet on a board. It occurred to me, however, that the same bell which rang at our gate for the honour of man, might be also allowed to do so for the service of God, and his ExceUency, to whom I mentioned the idea, thought so too. He accordingly applied for permission to have it tolled on Sunday, to an nounce our time of service, and it was granted ; so that our congregation, I believe, was the first that was per mitted in Turkey to assemble by tolling a bell. The sound of a bell on Sunday, and divine service, are so associated together in our minds in England, that even this little pri vilege in a foreign country is felt as a grateful favour. It was pleasant on the Sabbath morning to see collected by this well-known invitation the scattered remnant of a little flock, assembling among the trees of the garden, meeting, perhaps, for the first time since the preceding Sabbath, and thus separating from the Jews and Gentiles, among whom the avocations of life had dispersed them for six days, to devote the seventh to the worship of their own God. It RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 235 recalled the times when Christianity was in its infancy, and the professors of the faith, few and far between, came together only on the first day for mutual prayer and exhortation. The whole number of those who professed the Protestant faith in Pera and Constantinople amounted to about fifty individuals ; for besides the family of the Ambassador and the British merchants, the French Huguenots assembled in our chapel for a second service, which I performed in their own language. The other Frank nations had their respective places of worship in other parts of Pera, con sisting of about six thousand persons, under the protection of their respective embassies. The remainder of the popu lation of the peninsula were Turks, Jews, Greeks, and Ar menians, who inhabited the narrow streets and lanes lead ing to the water, and engaged in the commercial bustle of the port, amounting altogether to little short of two hun dred thousand people. A very friendly intercourse is kept up among the Frank inhabitants. Each embassy selects a particular day in the week when the palace is thrown open, and the Ambassador, as they technically say, receives. On these occasions there is a re-union of all the respectable people of the different western tongues, who amuse themselves with dancing, music, and cards, after the European fashion. Here the general language spoken is not French, as in most other places, but Italian ; this being the language introduced by the Genoese, and stiU used by all their descendants, who form the basis of the Frank population of Pera. At these meetings no oriental dress is ever seen. The Turks and Jews, from their repulsive and retired habits, neither go abroad nor receive company at home ; and the Greeks and Armenians imitate them. It was natural to suppose that they would seek the society of their Christian brethren, and 236 NARRATIVE OF A we had frequently opportunities of seeing that the Greeks at least were very eager to do so, when they were free from restraint ; but here the hand of vigilant oppression seemed to weigh heavy on them, and they shrunk from social Eu ropean intercourse, like their jealous masters. The view of Constantinople and the space between from the British palace is very fine. Immediately outside the walls is a Turkish cemetery of great extent, broken into various surfaces, and sloping down to the water's edge. Whenever a Turk of respectability dies, the first pious office of his son is, to plant a cypress at the head of his father's grave. Whether the Turks have adopted this practice, like many others, from their Greek predecessors, who esteemed it a funereal tree, or whether it is, as they say, be cause its evergreen foliage is an emblem of immortality, I do not know, but certainly it gives their cemeteries a noble and solemn character, to which ours have no preten sions ; and the strong aroma of the resin diffuses a whole some odour through the air, and divests it of all that heavy and baneful taint, which must otherwise load the atmos phere of so immense a charnel-house. Some of these trees have attained a gigantic size, shooting up perpen dicularly into the air, to such a height as justifies the beauty of the poet's expression, aeries cupressus, and the similitude by which he illustrates the enormous stature of the Cyclops. In fact, there is no tree which so strongly resembles the human figure, or could give a better idea of its supernatural size. Among these are mixed the hori zontal species, stretching out their vast arms lateraUy, and strongly contrasted with the lofty and aspiring character of the former, yet giving to this aromatic and evergreen forest a beautiful variety of shape and aspect. This great space is intersected with broad avenues in every direction, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 237 through which there is a continually moving current of people. Immediately below is the Golden Horn or harbour, form ing a noble lake, whose glassy surface is covered with thou sands of light caiques. It is impossible to conceive more picturesque or elegant vessels than these : they project to a considerable elongation both at the stem and stern, and, gracefully curving up, seem to touch the water only at a point. The exceeding levity of the materials of which they are constructed, not much thicker than those of an Indian canoe, the little resistance they meet from the small space of coin,act with the surface of the water, and the great dexterity of the caiquegees, who manage their broad elastic beechen oars with wonderful effect, give to these boats a great rapi dity, and they glide along through each other with the speed and flexibility of a flight of swallows. They seldom bear more than one or two passengers, who are generally clad in snowy turbans, tall calpacs, and flowing beniches of scarlet, or other vivid colours, so that this ever moving scene is a perpetual change of elegant forms and brilliant hues. On the other side of this living lake rises the city of Con stantinople. It displays a mountain of houses extending both ways, as far as the eye can reach ; the seven hills forming an undulating line along the horizon, crowned with imperial mosques. These edifices, twelve in number, are extraordinary structures ; they consist of large square build ings, swelling in the centre into vast hemispherical domes and crowned at the angles with four slender lofty minarets. Their magnitude is so comparatively great, and they cover such a space of ground, that they are altogether dispropor- tionedto everything about them, and the contrast gives them an apparent size, almost as great as the hills on which they stand. The valleys between are crossed by the venerable 238 NARRATIVE OF A arches of the aqueduct of Valens, which conveys the waters from the mountains of the Black Sea to the several cisterns still in use. The humidity oozing through the masonry nourishes the roots of various plants, which trailing down form festoons with their long tendrils, and clothe the romantic arcades with a luxuriant drapery. In almost every house is an area planted with jujube, Judas tree, and other fruit, or flowering shrubs peculiar to the climate, so that the vast mass of buildings covering the sides of the hills is interspersed and chequered with the vivid dies of varied leaves, fruits, and flowers in their season. The whole of this view, as I gazed on it from the palace windows, was singularly lovely, and I never contemplated one which seemed more to invite a visit. Attached to each of the palaces are ten or twelve janis saries, who are always found sitting at the gate, to attend the behests of his Excellency, or any of his suite who may require their services. Whenever we went out we took one of these as a guide and guard. I wished to visit Constan tinople, so I availed myself of the first party made for this purpose ; one was immediately appointed to go with us. I had heard that the Turks, either from pride or stupidity, never learned a European language, and notwithstanding the constant intercourse of the janissaries with the inmates of the palaces to which they were attached, none of them were ever known to acquire a word of what they heard continually spoken. Our janissary on this occasion was called bairactar, a kind of standard-bearer, and of a certain rank in his corps. He was gaily dressed in a snow-white turban, and bright scarlet pelisse, so we treated him somewhat like an officer, as he expected. I had not supposed, from what I had heard, that he could speak English, and was surprised when he called to me, while I was yet at a distance, " How RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 239 do you do ?" and before I could reply, he answered himself, " Belly bell, I tank you — yes." This I afterwards found was the utmost extent of his knowledge ; he was very proud of it, and used it on all occasions. A janissary is particularly pompous when he accompanies a Frank. He treats him not as if he were his attendant, but his patron and protector. He walks before him with an air of conse quence, having his showy pistols and yatagan stuck out of his belt, and a baton in his hand with which he clears a passage for him through a crowd, and in the discharge of this duty he is very impartial, for he pushes aside Turks as well as Christians. Our party consisted of ladies and gentlemen. We took a eaique with two boatmen, who pulled four oars. These were not in rullocks like ours, but attached by a leather thong to a single pin and kept constantly oiled : they moved silently and without friction, in a way that our boats. might take for their model. At the bottom of the caique was spread a carpet ; on this we were all to sit with our legs gathered up as we might, but it required some dex terity to get there. The elegant boat, though large, was so light as to bear no pressure on its gunwale, and the small deck with which it was covered at stem and stern was so ele vated above the water, and the part in contact with it below had so little hold on it, that the slightest pressure on any point but the centre would infallibly upset the boat. It was therefore with some difficulty and hazard that we were all deposited safely in the bottom, where we sat as ballast. It would seem impossible that such machines, without either keel or rudder, could bear the pressure of a sail ; yet they do, and sometimes in very rough weather, when they have a sufficient weight of passengers on board. Every one, however, must lie as motionless as a stone on the 240 NARRATIVE OF A windward side, except when it is necessary to shift the sail ; the boat is then trimmed by the people cautiously moving from one side to the other. When we arrived at the opposite shore, I motioned to our janissary to pay the caiquegee : he immediately said very consequentially, " How do you do?" pulled out his bag of paras from his bosom and paid for the boat ; then stepping out, he added, " Belly bell, I tank you, — yes !" and strutted on before us. We landed at that part of the city called the Fanal or Greek quarter. It is so called from tpxva.%, a lantern which was placed over the gate of entrance, and is still there. It was the quarter assigned to the surviving Greeks when the Turks took possession of the town, and they wished to have them shut up in one district, under their surveillance. It is surrounded by a battlement and wall like Galata, and consists of a number of very narrow, dirty streets or lanes, bounded by the harbour at one side, and a considerable eminence at the other. We entered by a gate having over it various batons, ensigns, and devices of the orta of janissaries who guarded it. Close beside us was the patriarchate and the cathedral, which we visited. It was approached by a gate which opened into a large area, in which stood the church. When Mahomet took possession of the city, he divided the places of worship which he found existing, between the Mahomedans and Christians, and the edifice we saw was that which to the Greeks now repre sented Santa Sophia. Next to the latter, the temple of the Holy Apostles was the most celebrated and beautiful in Constantinople. It had been erected by Constantine the Great in the eleventh year of his reign ; he intended it as a place of burial for all the future emperors, and Helena his own mother was the first interred there. The original edifice, growing old and falling into decay, was pulled down RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 241 by Justinian, who then re-built it after the model of Santa Sophia, with a dome in the centre : this also was standino- when the city was taken by the Turks. When the Sultan allocated the other to Mahometan worship, he assigned this to Gennadios the patriarch, as his Christian temple. The present edifice is low and but little dignified, and is of much more modern erection. It has, however, all the parts of the ancient Greek church. These were the vesti bule *, the nave f , and the sanctuary j. In the first is the baptismal font §, and beside it the recesses for penitents before they were deemed worthy to go farther. The en trance from hence into the nave is by three doors, the centre or largest, called the beautiful or royal gate ||. On each side the nave are ranged the seats, forming very shal low recesses, with benches so narrow that those who sit seem to stand. These are entirely occupied by men, the women being separated, as in the days of the Empire, in the galleries, and concealed by lattice work. Near the middle is the Qqovos, or seat of the patriarch ; the present, one is inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and is said to be that from which Chrysostom delivered those eloquent discourses which obtained for him the name of golden mouth. At the extremity is the sanctuary, separated from the nave by a screen : the exterior of this is profusely covered with gilded sculpture and gaudy paintings, the interior presents a face of coarse and ragged boards, covered with dirt and cobwebs. In this patriarchal church there is little to be seen : the only relic which pretends to anything very an cient or sacred is a portion of the pillar to which Christ was bound when he was scourged. This is enclosed in an * «•{««»{ called also »£{tf tuously between his thighs. The executioners then hastily passed on, leaving both to be torn by the dogs who were gathering round. Among the victims thus beheaded and exposed on this day were two Greek gentlemen, of the names of Mano and, I think, Angerli. They were much respected and esteemed by the Franks, as well for their love of lite rature and science, as for their courtesy and amiable charac ter. They were both seized, without any previous notice, in their houses, when they had no anticipation of their fate, but the general apprehension which all Greeks laboured under. They were led or dragged to the first cross street, and with out explanation or further inquiry were there executed. One of them was well acquainted with the Turk who brought him along, and who spoke to him in a friendly, encouraging manner. He asked him was he tired, and if so, he could stop. The unfortunate man thanked him, and was begin-* ning to take breath, when his friend the Turk gave the signal to the executioner, who decapitated him like the rest. The next day the whole diplomatic corps were inte- x2 308 NARRATIVE OF A rested by the execution of a man with whom, in his public capacity, they all were intimate. The situation of drago man, or interpreter to the Porte, in its communications with foreign ministers, was held by Constantine Morousi. He was of one of the most eminent families among the Greek princes of the Fanal — had numbered several illustrious persons among his progenitors, and was himself distin guished by many accomplishments. I had met and con versed with him a few days before at a Frank party, a cir cumstance of social intercourse not usual with the Greeks. While riding along the Bosphorus, a letter was put into his hand by a stranger, who disappeared. He found it was from Ypsilantes, calling on him, as one of the most distinguished and influential of his nation, to support the patriotic cause. From a feeling of apprehension, perhaps, as well as from a sense of duty, he showed this letter at the Porte. He was then desired to translate it into Turkish, for the information of the ministers, who understood no other language. This he faithfully did ; but, by the ad vice of two of them, he omitted a passage which implicated persons whom they wished should escape suspicion. The Sultan, to whom the translation was sent, brought it to a Greek gardener, then working in the grounds of the Se raglio, who understood Turkish ; and while he held Mo- rousi's version in his hand, bade him read and translate the original. He discovered the omitted passage, and in stantly ordered the execution of the dragoman. There is a wooden edifice on the shores of the Sea of Marmora, just under the wall of the Seraglio garden, called the Yale Kiosk. It is distinguished by Turkish characteristics. When a minister is dismissed he retires here to abide his fate. He is often seen by the passing boats, waiting with quiet submission till the garden gate shall open, and a RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 309 chouash inform him whether he is to be strangled or only simply deposed. This the Sultan entered, and sat down. Morousi, unconscious of danger or offence, was waiting to have a conference with the Austrian Minister, when he was accosted by a chouash, who desired him to follow him. He did so ; and he led him to the fatal kiosk, when he was put to death under the eye of the Sultan. In cases like this, the Porte never tries, and seldom condescends to account for the death of a subject ; but this was deemed so satis factory a conviction and just a punishment, that the cause as I have stated was suffered to transpire as an example for European powers. His wife and children were placed under the surveillance of the Patriarch, who was held responsible for their safe custody : they escaped, however, to Odessa; and this was one of the alleged causes of the melancholy catastrophe which followed. The irritation of the Turks was now raised to the highest pitch of exasperation. The public and brutal execution of ten of the principal Greeks of the Fanal, with various others of inferior note, seemed to whet the appetite for blood among the Turkish populace, as simi lar scenes did that of the populace of Paris. Hitherto they had made a decided difference between Christian Franks and Rayas, and a hat in the street was, in general, a protection to the wearer ; but now the distinction began to be confounded, and they treated every Christian with indis criminate outrage. They first began at Pera by insulting them, spitting in their face, and pushing 'them from the wall. Every Frank carries a stick to protect him against the assaults of dogs : the Turks snatched them from the bearers, under pretext of searching for sword-canes, and then striking the owner, drove him on before them. A young man, a respectable master of languages, with whom 310 NARRATIVE OF A I was reading Italian, came to me one morning in great ter ror, his face and clothes covered with spittle, and severely hurt by his own stick, with which they had beat him almost to the palace gate. From such acts they proceeded to more personal violence, which threatened a serious out break of the Franks. The Reis Effendi, on 29th of March, had addressed a note to the foreign ministers, in which he informed them that the Porte had been obliged to avaU itself of the right granted by treaties, of searching all fo reign vessels passing the Straits to the Black or White Sea, as they called the iEgean, in consequence of the escape of several of its offending subjects on board them. Excited by this suspicion, the armed populace began now to direct their balls against all the European ships riding in the harbour. Every day attacks were made on them, which riddled their planks, and frequently wounded any sailors who appeared on deck. In this way two Austrians Were killed, and several of different nations wounded. There were lying in the harbour four English vessels, which were assailed in this manner, and their hulls and masts pierced with balls. The mate of one of them told me, that some of the sailors had been on board king's ships, and were not likely to suffer themselves to be fired at with impunity. It was every hour expected that some shot would be returned, and that it would be the signal for a general rising of the Turks, and a massacre and plunder of aU Christians at Pera without distinction. Effective measures were now taken against, the insurgents, and every thing was done by the Turkish government to discountenance their cause. Baron Strogonoff, the Russian Ambassador, in order to obviate the effects of Ypsilantes' proclamation, published a circular, signed by the most con siderable merchants, captains of ships, and others of the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 311 Russian nation, cautioning every Russian subject in the Turkish territory to beware how they were seduced from their allegiance by the Greek rebels. The Greeks them selves were cautionedin a still more solemn manner by the head of their own church. The Sultan had an interview of five hours with the Patriarch, and between them they com posed an address to the Greek nation, which was printed at the patriarchal press on a very large sheet of paper, and appeared the next Sunday in all the churches, signed by the Patriarch and twenty-one of his bishops. It says, " Gratitude to our benefactors is the first of virtues — and ingratitude is severely condemned by the Holy Scriptures, and declared unpardonable by Jesus Christ ; Judas the ungrateful traitor offers a terrible example of it ; but it is most strongly evinced by those who rise against their com mon protector and lawful sovereign, and against Christ, who has said there is no rule or power but comes from God : it was against this principle that Michael Suzzo and Alexander Ypsilantes, son of a fugitive, had sinned with an audacity beyond example, and had sent emissaries to se duce others, and conduct them to the abyss of perdition ; many had been so tempted to join an unlawful hetairia> and thought themselves bound by their oath to continue members : but an oath to commit a sin was itself a sin, and not binding — like that of Herod, who, that he might not break a wicked obligation, committed a great wickedness by the death of John the Baptist *." In fine, a sentence of excommunication and anathema was denounced against Ypsilantes, Suzzo, and all their adherents. With these denunciations of the insurgents, the Sultan issued others against his own inactive subjects. His former "Opeius pi *1 ^> 5 ^ 5 t RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 349 went on we had leave to proceed. We followed him at an humble distance up a steep street. The way led along the side of a battlemented wall, which had been the boundary of Old Byzantium, cutting off the apex of the triangle from the rest of the peninsula. All within was now the Sultan's residence, which exactly occupied the site of the ancient city. At the top of the street was the Babi Hummayoun, or Sublime Porte, the first entrance to the Seraglio. Here was a characteristic sight. The piles of human faces which I had seen a short time before were all trampled to the level of the ground. A few of the largest, however, seemed as if reserved for this occasion. On each side of the gate were niches in the wall, and in one of these some boys were amusing themselves. I had the curiosity to look, as usual, for some trait of national manners, which is seen even in the sports of children, and I found it. They had got half a dozen of these mutilated heads, which they were balancing on their toes, and knocking one off with an other. They were absorbed in their game, and no one took any notice of them. Having entered the gate, we found ourselves in a large, oblong, irregular area, like Smithfield, with mean houses on each side. One of them was the Ta- raphannay, or Royal Mint, which I wished to see. I stood a moment at the door, when an Armenian superintendent, who sat upon a cushion in a corner close beside, got up, and taking me kindly by the hand as he would a child, he led me through the establishment, which did not differ much from a similar one in Europe, except that the work men sat cross-legged oh the ground" at their several presses. We stopped at every press where there was a change of die ; and my conductor, with great urbanity, first pointed out to me the process, and presented me with a specimen 350 NARRATIVE OF A of every coin. There were about thirty men employed, ex ceedingly busy making up piasters for an exhibition which was afterwards presented to us. Beside the mint is a platanus, which rivals that at Buyukdere, aud whose age is less problematical. The Turks plant a tree of this kind to commemorate a birth, as they do a cypress to record a death in their famUy. Ma homet II., when his son Bajazet was born, foUowed this usage, and tradition says that this tree in the first court of the Seraglio was the one he planted on that occasion. It is blasted at the top, and greatly decayed in the branches, but the trunk yet remains alive. I measured it a few feet from the ground, and I found its circumference fifty feet. If this be Mahomet's tree, planted after the taking of Con stantinople, it must now be about three hundred and sixty years old, a much more probable period than that assigned for the duration of others. It has all the appearance of extreme old age, and that it had attained the utmost limits of vegetable life. We advanced through the first court among a crowd of people to the second gate, where we dismounted and left our horses. Having passed this we found ourselves in a kind of chamber, called Kapi-arasi, because it lies between two gates, which form the entrance to it from each court. Here the implements of punishment are hung up : on one side is the apartment of the chief executioner ; and in effect two public functionaries of that class were pointed out to me among the company we found waiting to receive us. If the Legate be only a Charge, d' Affaires, he is kept standing here ; but as his Excellency was Ambassador Extraordinary, we were not left in the common passage, but brought into a cell like a turnkey's lodge, at one side of the gate, where we were again treated with coffee and pipes. Having been RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 351 kept here about half an hour, we were told to advance, and proceeded up the second court of the Seraglio. This is nearly as large, and of the same shape as the first, but is distin guished by rows of trees, and is therefore called the Gar den. On one side are ranges of kitchens ; on the other is the Divan, with its appendages, and at the upper end is the grand entrance to the Harem. As it is the ridiculous and ostentatious policy of this people to display all the most imposing details of govern ment to foreign ministers, that they may be impressed with the power and resources of the Porte, they generally fix an audience on a day when the janissaries or other troops receive their pay. This was the day for the janissaries, and they were all assembled in the court for that purpose, exhibiting a motley group of boys and old men, without any settled uniform except the large, greasy, very awkward felt hat, or bonnet, which I described before. It is so ungainly that it is continually falling off. The colonels are also distin guished by most extraordinary helmets, which are so tall and top-heavy, that they are sometimes obliged to keep them on their heads with both hands : indeed, every covering for the head among the Turks seems remarkably ill-adapted to convenience. The turban in its best state is unmanage able, and some resemble woolsacks, constantly balanced on the head like milk-pails, The first thing displayed was the ceremony of running for pilaff. Porringers of rice and milk were laid down in different parts of the court, and at the signal the janissaries started for them ; whoever seized them first kept them, so sometimes they scrambled, and daubed, and smeared each other with great gravity. Through the confusion of this childish absurdity we were marshalled into the Divan. This celebrated place, where all the affairs of state are transacted, as in our cabinets, is 352 NARRATIVE OF A called a Divan, from the cushion-seats which run in conti nuity all round it. It consists of two apartments, formed by domes, and separated by a partition richly carved and gilt, which is only breast-high. The apartment on the left is the place where the great officers of state hold their discussions ; that on the right, which communicates with it by a door, is appointed for inferior officers, and is like a guard-room, but finer. There is no great appearance of mysterious secresy here, as the door of entrance opens di rectly on a piazza, which forms part of the common court yard of the Seraglio, and on the left hand is also a door which leads into a coffee-house, which appears to be open to every person. In the middle, and opposite the door of entrance, sat the Grand Vizir, dressed in robes of white satin, with a conical turban of snow-white muslin, marked with a broad band of gold. Immediately over his head was a semicircular little gallery, about the size of half a hogshead, projecting from the wall, formed of very close gilded bars, through which a person inside might hear and see, but could not himself be seen. Here the Sultan some times places himself while the Divan is sitting, or on other occasions ; and it gave to this enclosure of despotism the appearance of the Ear of Dionysius. I looked up with a furtive glance more than once, and at length caught the gleam of an eye through the small aperture in the lattice work, which no doubt was that of the Sultan. On the right hand of the Vizir sat, at an humble dis tance, the Capitan Pasha, dressed in green satin robes, with a turban similar to that of the Vizir. The Vizir was an old and feeble man, with dark eyes, and a mild, but stupid countenance. The Pasha was much the same, but not so gentle-looking — the one was commander of the armies, and the other of the fleets of the Turkish empire, and RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 353 both looked but little qualified for their offices at this critical moment. The Pasha's name is Delhi Abdalla. Delhi means mad, and was given to him from his extraordinary manners. He had been a boatman on the Bosphorus, and attracted the notice of the Sultan, while rowing in his barge on an aquatic excursion, by a certain rude humour, and a habit of shouting when he speaks, and swearing strange oaths, to which he is much addicted. For these qualities, though so illiterate that he knows not how to write, he was raised to command the fleet, and to the personal favour of his master. On the other hand of the Vizir sat two judges of the empire, one for Roumelia, the European, and the other for Natolia, the Asiatic portion of the empire. They were dressed in dingy green robes, and were very emaciated and feeble, particularly one of them, who, I think, was the most imbecile-looking man I ever saw. On the adjoining side sat two officers of the treasury, dressed in red robes. These six men were remarkably old ; and the first impression they made was that of surprise how they could have possibly kept on their heads in such a place for so many years ! The Ambassador and his suite were all crammed into a kind of recess at one side of the room, and no more notice taken of them than of any crowd of people in a public court ; and yet a mark of distinction was shown which, it is said, never was permitted to any ambassador before. Sometimes when a minister is tired standing here, a joint-stool h brought for him alone to sit down and rest himself. This was not done on the present occasion, so he sat down on the divan, and by special favour was not made to rise up again. I assure you this fact was one of public notice, as an ex traordinary occurrence in Turkish courtesy, and a mark of singular and distinguished favour to the British Ambas- 2 A 354 NARRATIVE OF A sador; for the rest, nos turba fuimus, we were the mob, and we dared not sit if we were fainting. It is on this occasion that the Turks delight to show what they think will strike Europeans, and to do it as if it were an ordinary thing, and at which they did not know we were present. The first display was a law-suit before the Vizir. A number of persons entered in different-coloured robes, holding in their hands papers like lawyers' briefs. These ranged themselves on each side the Vizir, so as to make a lane from the door to his seat. One of them stated some thing from his paper, which was answered by one of the other party. The Vizir made his decree, and the law-suit was decided in fifteen minutes. Another of the same kind followed, which lasted about as long, and neither of the judges, though just beside, seemed to be concerned or con sulted on the occasion. It was certainly a very simple and very summary process, and I wish it was adopted in other places. After this followed the payment of the troops. Men began to bring in leathern purses of money, and pile them on the floor, till they made two large heaps four feet high, and ten long, exactly the shape and size of clamps made over potatoes buried for winter, and two smaller ones ; each purse contained four hundred and sixty piastres, and the heaps altogether six millions and a half, or about two hun dred thousand pounds, in thirty thousand purses, for six months pay for all the janissaries in Constantinople. When the piles were finished, which took more than an hour, the Vizir sent a sealed paper, wrapped in muslin, by a mes senger to the Sultan, stating that the money was there, and desiring to know what was his pleasure to do with it. This letter also contained, I was informed by way of postscript, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 355 that some infidel ambassador had come there, and was waiting to know his commands. It is part of that absurd assumption of superiority which these people arrogate, to pretend ignorance or indifference on these occasions. Though this audience had been carefully arranged beforehand, and was the subject of public notoriety, every thing in our re ception seemed to indicate that the Grand Vizir and his master knew nothing about, us, and we were treated as casual visiters, brought there by curiosity, which the courtesy of the Turks allowed us to gratify, by looking on at what was going forward. In sealing this letter with red wax he used no candle, or any other process that I could see, to dissolve it, so as to make it susceptible of an impression, though he impressed a seal on it. After about another hour's tedious delay, the return of the messenger was announced by the attendants striking an iron-shod pole against the pavement, as they advanced to the Divan. The Vizir immediately rose, and pro ceeded to the door to meet the sacred packet, which was as large as a volume of maps, and enveloped in a muslin case. Having received it, he retired to his place ; he applied it first to his forehead, then to his lips, and then opened it with great form. The seals, which were appended by red tape, and seemed of red wax, he care fully took off, kissed, and put in his bosom. Having an nounced the contents, several persons came in and took the bags by tens, laying them in heaps at the door, and from thence they were distributed by the colonels of dif ferent regiments, who formed a lane at, the entrance with their high caps. When each of these received the last bag due to him, he wiped up the dust with the sleeve of his robe, and, bending on one knee towards the Divan, as the sacred throne of the Omnipotent Sultan, he humbly applied 2a2 356 NARRATIVE OF A the dusty robe to his forehead. The bags were then laid separately on the flags in front of the Divan. At a con siderable distance stood a large detachment from each regi ment, with one leg before the other, waiting for " one, two, three, and away," like boys playing prison-bars ; the word was given, when they all rushed forward to seize the purses as they did the pilaff, tumbling one over another in great confusion, and equally amused. Whoever could catch a purse in this way was entitled to a few paras in his pay more than his comrades. After this most tedious and childish ceremony had lasted three hours, we were at length given to understand, as you have often heard it said, that after being fed, clothed, and washed, and made fit to be seen, we should be admitted into the presence of his Sub limity. In fact, such an intimation was conveyed, though not precisely in the words usuaUy reported, and we went through the ceremony accordingly. When the order was given for food to be brought, we were all crowded together, Vizir, Ambassador, secretaries, dragomans, merchants, and janissaries, in the Divan, and with some difficulty four attendants made their way with four tripod stands, which they set in different parts of the room. On them were placed four large round metal trays, like circular tea-trays, but not japanned. One of these was placed before the Vizir, who invited the Ambassador to eat; another before the Capitan Pasha, who invited the principal secretary and the Prussian Envoy. At one side was placed the third, before the Bostangee Bashi, I think, who invited the Oriental secretary, with some members of the Levant Company ; at the other a fourth was placed before the Chouash Bashi, who invited the chaplain of the embassy, with the other officers. The Chouash Bashi is the head of the corps of couriers, and the Bostangee Bashi is the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 357 head of the corps of gardeners, both officers of high rank in the SeragUo. Round these tables we all stood, two or three deep, and helped ourselves by thrusting our hands over the shoulders of those before us, and scrambling on the table for what we could feel. It was my misfortune to be in front, next the Chouash Bashi, and I received the dripping of all the sauces that passed over me on my lustre gown. Our entertainment consisted of eleven large dishes, served up in succession, and those at all the tables were the same : First, a cauldron of pease-soup ; second, broiled fish ; third, a kind of mutton-haricot ; fourth, sweet-balls ; fifth, roast fowl ; sixth, large sweet pudding covered with paste ; se venth, mutton roasted to rags; eighth, boiled fowl, almost raw ; ninth, forced-meat in a mass ; tenth, stewed apples, floating in sauce, with cups of youart, or sour milk, placed round the dish ; eleventh, pilaff of rice, with which all entertainments end in Turkey, and a large bowl of sherbet, extremely mawkish, to wash it down. To eat all this we had large wooden spoons, the bowls of which were circular, and almost the size of a saucer. What we could not eat with a spoon we tore with our fingers. When a man wanted a bit of fowl, he took it up by the leg, and holding it out, his neighbour took the other leg or wing, and so tugged it asunder. In every dish which came on the table the Chouash Bashi thought it necessary to make the first hole with his dirty hands. His example was followed by every one of the crowd within reach of the table; and you may conceive how inviting an entertainment must be where roast and boiled, sweet and sour, hard and soft, were all clawed together by fifty dirty hands, without knife, fork, cloth, or napkin. At the Ambassador's table some little distinction was made. Spoons were laid which were supposed to be 358 NARRATIVE OF A horn. They were, however, of jasper, and said to be part of the costly table-service of the Greek emperors, preserved since the taking of Constantinople. The tray also was silver, of the same era, but so tarnished that it was not easy to distinguish the metal. After this scramble the Ambas sador alone was washed : a vase with a long spout was brought to him, out of which water was poured on his hands, and then we all proceeded to a large tree, at the entrance of the harem. Under the tree our names were called, and a second set of pelisses were here distributed to us. Bits of paper stuck on them marked for whom they were intended. Mine was labelled Doshervatch, the nearest approximation a Turk could make to my name. There were present, besides the members of the embassy and Levant Com pany, several English gentlemen on their travels. Those who had seen the Sultan before lent their pelisses to those who had not, as no person could be admitted to the presence without one. In this way eighteen of us were dressed up, and waited under the tree for orders. By-and- by the approach of the Vizir was announced, proceeding from the Divan to the presence, with the Capitan Pasha, Reis Effendi, and other officers; a lane of attendants was made for them across the garden, and in their way they passed close by us, but took no more notice of us than if we were jugglers dressed up and waiting to exhibit before their master. In about half an hour it was notified that we should come forward, and we advanced to the gate of the Seraglio, or rather the Harem. This gate was decorated with the most gorgeous display of Turkish sculpture : — it was covered by a large semicir cular projecting canopy, supported on piUars richly carved, gilt and embossed, in a style of architecture perfectly Orien- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 359 tai ; round the entrance were several officers in their richest dresses — some in stuffs shot with gold, which, as they moved, were quite dazzling ; but those which struck us most were the unfortunate eunuchs. Some of these creatures were boys, or young men from sixteen to twenty. They were tall, bloated, and disproportioned ; their countenances were of a sickly, sallow hue, with a delicate, hectic-looking flush, and an expression of extreme anguish and anxiety, as if they suffered pain, and laboured under a deep sense of de gradation. One old man was wrinkled and pallid, his face perfectly smooth, and resembling that of an aged woman except only that it had an expression very strange and unnatural. They were all dressed in green satin robes. Among them were many blacks, who did not look so dis figured as the whites, probably because the change of their features was not so conspicuous. While I stood gazing on these things in a kind of absorp tion of mind, I was roused by being suddenly seized by the collar by two men, one at each side of me. I now saw that each of the party was caught in the same manner ; and in this way we were hurried, or rather dragged, down a broad descending passage, between rows of guards, to the interior of the harem. Here we found ourselves in a narrow, gloomy court-yard, and suddenly turning to the right, we entered a dark, dismal little chamber, lighted Only by one grated window, which opened into the yard. At first I could not clearly discern objects ; but in a little time my eyes were accommodated to the dim light. Our party filled one-half of the apartment, the other was occupied by a large throne, exactly resembling in size and shape an old-fashioned four- post bed without curtains. This was covered with some thing very like a gay-coloured cotton-quilt, but it was a rich stuff, embroidered with dull gold and pearls. On the 360 NARRATIVE OF A side of this, with his feet hanging down, sat the Sultan, ex actly in the attitude of a man getting out of bed in the morning. I mention this, because the Turks on state-occa sions always sit with their legs hanging, but on others cross- legged. Next to him, standing stiff, with his back to the wall, was the Vizir, and next to him the Capitan Pasha ; they both were motionless as statues, with their eyes riveted on the ground. Our party formed a kind of irregular se micircle across the room, and half round the bed ; in our front stood the Ambassador with his Dragoman, and that of the Porte. The Sultan appeared a tall, ill-made, mean-looking man, about forty. His countenance is as dark as mahogany ; his beard very full, and as black and glossy as jet — it is said he uses artificial means to colour it. He is remarkable for the smallness of his hands and the length of his body ; the latter being that of a man exceeding six feet in stature, though his is not more than five feet seven or eight inches. He looks always to most advantage sitting or riding, and in fact he is seldom seen by strangers in any other position. His dress was a dark, dingy red robe, and we thought there appeared nothing brilliant about him. He never turned his head, which he kept straightforward as immovable as if it was fixed in a vice ; but his eye was continually rolling, and the white of it, something like the colour of white glass, gleaming now and then under his mahogany fore head, as he glanced sideways at us, gave him, I thought, a most demon-like expression, according well with the cruel character I had heard of the man, the melancholy state of the country, and the gloomy cell in which he received us. The speech of the Ambassador, expressing a desire on the part of his Britannic Majesty to continue the ties of amity and good will between the two powers, was translated RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 361 to the Sultan by his trembling dragoman ; and after a short pause he replied, in a low, but firm, haughty tone, addressing himself apparently to the Vizir, who repeated the speech very badly and hesitatingly to the dragoman, who stammered it out in French to the Ambassador. This un fortunate dragoman's name was Stavrak Oglou, not a Greek of the Fanal, but a native of Caramania. He was a tall, cadaverous-looking person, and could not conceal the extraordinary impression of terror under which he la boured. He stood next me, and trembled so exceedingly as quite to shake me as well as himself, and his nerves were so agitated that he could scarcely see to read the paper he held, which was blotted with large drops of per spiration dropping from his forehead, and more than once nearly fell from his hand. The man had some reason : his predecessor had just been executed, and he had no hope he should escape the same fate. In a very short time he was deposed and banished to Natolia, and a few days after his arrival was found assassinated at his own door. Our interview did not take up ten minutes, and the mo ment the last word was out of his mouth, we were all, with out the slightest previous notice, dragged suddenly back by our conductors, whose gripe never left our necks a moment. In stumbling backwards, I trod on the tail of my gown, and was well nigh prostrating myself without intend ing it. The purpose of this rudeness was, to prevent our turning our backs on the Sultan, as we retired from his presence. When we reached the door of the chamber, however, we were twirled about, hurried up the passage with the same precipitation as we were hurried down, and when arrived at the outside flung off by our conductors, like things by whose touch they felt contaminated. The origin of this practice is a subject of controversy. The French 362 NARRATIVE OF A writers assert that an attempt was made on«the life of Amu. rath II. at an audience, by a Croat, in revenge for the death of Mark, the Despot of Servia ; and ever since aU persons admitted are held fast by the arms while they remain in the presence ; and this is the account also of Busbequius, who was himself so treated*. Others deny this origin, and say that it is merely a token of respect shown by a great man, that you are supported in his presence by his attend ants. You will form your own conclusion ; it is certain no possible disrespect was intended at our interview ; but, on the contrary, it was meant to show us every mark of atten tion and good will, and it was evinced by many little circum stances. The persons who conducted us were men of rank, and dressed in pelisses of honour ; yet those who had hold of me and others griped us sometimes very hard, and when we were able to speak, each of us might truly say in the words of Hamlet, " I pray thee take thy fingers from my throat." The janissaries were disposed to be very insolent, thrusting their sticks between the legs of the gentlemen fo throw them down, and showing other marks of contempt and ill will. This was far, however, from being generally the case ; on the contrary, the name " Ingilesi" seemed to procure for us attention and good wUl. We now proceeded to the second gate, where we were obliged to wait till the Vizir and the Pashas passed out ; and iu the meantime the janissaries were dispersing in groups, every man with a bag of money on his shoulder. At length we were liberated, and, mounting our horses, we arrived at Pera at four o'clock, after thirteen hours' fagging, * Singuli ut ingressi sumus, ad eum a cubiculariis ejus deducti sumus, brachia nostra tenentibus. Ita enim fert consuetudo ab eo tempore quo Croata quidam, in vindictam domini sui interfecti Marci Despotae Servise, petito colloquio Amuratem occidit. — Busbeq., Epist. i. p. 98. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 363 during a part of which we were perspiring under a burning sun in fur pelisses. We all dined, including his Excel lency, with the Consul-General, when the events of the day afforded us much amusement. I have given you a faithful detail of this interview, even to prolixity, because, though it has been often described by others, it was so novel and curious to myself, and you wish me to omit nothing that strikes me as characteristic of the country. It is one of the many existing proofs which I have mentioned of the stubborn immutability of the people, who have now been for four centuries in Europe, and in constant and immediate contact with its usages, and they have not yet adopted one of them to ameliorate their own. It is not impossible, however, that this, in all its details, will be the last upon record of such an introduction of the repre sentative of one great sovereign to another. Already has European light begun to dawn even on Turkey, and the march of mind to make inroads on the venerable igno rance of this people ; the future audiences, therefore, will be more assimilated to those of European nations. Not withstanding the coarseness, barbarism, brutality, and con temptuous assumption which this displayed, there were many little concessions which marked a degree of favour to the British embassy not generally shown on similar occasions, and which were afterwards talked of as matters of enviable distinction. In fact, it was a kind of epocha that intimated returning tranquillity to the capital. As we passed, the windows and doors were crowded with specta tors, and all looked upon the peaceable procession as a relief from those incessant scenes of blood and horror that just before had filled the streets. 364 NARRATIVE OF A CHAPTER XII. Outrages of Yamalcs. — Ceremony of the Baklava. — Cruel Superstition. — • Case of Danesi. — Russian Memorial. — Rejected by Sultan. — Departure of Baron Strogonoff. — Repair of Greek Churches. — State of Therapia. — Bishop of Derkon,— Greek Fugitives seek refuge. — Painful position. — Escape of Greeks. — Discontented Janissaries. — Turkish Fleet. — Impress ment resisted by Caiquegees. — How manned. — Proceed to Galaxidi. — Return how celebrated. — Greek Prizes and Standards. — Festivities at Eu ropean Palaces. — Afflicting state of Greek Families. — Helena Mavrocor- dato. — Greek Libraries. The calm that followed the audience was of short, duration. Great excesses were daily committed in the vicinity of Con stantinople. In the troubles which took place on the at tempt of Selim to establish the nizam geddite, a body of irregular Asiatic soldiers were placed in garrison at the fortresses near the Black Sea. They were called Yamaks, or Patches, a term of contempt applied to them, as super numeraries brought to cover the rents made in the corps of janissaries. They were still in garrison there, and noted for their licentiousness and irregularities. They now issued forth, and, after various robberies and other outrages in the neighbourhood, carried their insolence to such a degree as to demand from the Greek families a certain number of their daughters, to be delivered up for the use of the garrison. To restrain these, it was resolved to form an encampment in the valley of Buyukdere, and a Bin- bashi pitched his tents in the large tree, and extended his protection, such as it was, to the neighbourhood. Meantime the Ramazan, or great feast of the Turks, RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 365 commenced in June, and the usual superstition and fana ticism called into action at this season of Turkish devotion were increased by the circumstances of the times, and began to display themselves in various forms. Dervishes and others appeared, who pretended to supernatural gifts, and two of them were apprehended as sorcerers who were practising witchcraft on the people. Astrologers, however, are not considered in that class : the Monejin Bashi, or chief, is one of the four great officers of the Seraglio ; and their pre dictions at this time were unfortunately held in as high esteem as those of the ancient prophets. There is a cere mony which annually takes place in the middle of this month. The ladies of the Seraglio make up certain con fections with honey and other ingredients, which are dis tributed among the janissaries on a particular day, which is called the Baklava, from the name of the pastry. As this is an important ceremony, connecting the janissaries with the Seraglio, the astrologers are always consulted. They cast horoscopes, and the Monejin Bashi pronounced that some evil would befall, or some crime be committed by the people on the day intended. It happened that it fell on a Friday, which, as the Turkish sabbath, they said should not be profaned by such a circumstance, so the ceremony was deferred till the day following. But in order to avert the evil which had been predicted, and to establish the reputation of the soothsayers, all the Greek bishops who had been apprehended on Easter Sunday, and kept in confine ment, were ordered to be brought forth and hanged. They were accordingly executed with two others, and a number of Greeks, not ecclesiastics, who had been reserved for this dis play of detestable superstition ; and thus, it was said, the evil was averted from the faithful, on whom it would otherwise fall. 366 NARRATIVE OF A Among the subjects which had excited angry feel ings between the Turks and Russians, was the case of an individual extensively connected with various Euro pean houses. His name was Emanuel Danesi, a Greek merchant of Pera. In his commercial transactions he was called on to pay a bill of exchange for three hundred thou sand piastres, drawn upon him by the Hospodar of Wal lachia, recently appointed by the Porte. He wrote to his correspondent at Bucharest, who informed him in the usual way that no effects had been assigned to indemnify or secure him ; and he therefore refused to honour the bill. It hap pened that Danesi was banker also to the Russian embassy, and it was suspected by the Turks that the refusal was dic tated by the Ambassador, in order to annoy and embarrass themselves, and indirectly aid the insurgents. He was im mediately arrested on a charge of corresponding with the rebels of the provinces, and it was supposed his execution would immediately follow. From the intimate connexion, however, which subsisted between the Russian embassy and Danesi, the Ambassador thought he had a right to inter fere in his fate, and he did so in the strongest manner to the Turkish Ministers ; but his applications were not attended to. He then determined to appeal to the Sultan himself. The manner of doing this is characteristic of Turkish usages. No access is allowed to the person of the sove reign in the Seraglio, except at a public audience ; but he proceeds every Friday to some mosque, which is duly no tified to the public; and all who have petitions or other things, which they wish to bring under the eye of the mo narch himself, avail themselves of this opportunity. I have frequently witnessed these presentations. A man stands on a step, or any projection he finds in the street through which RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 367 the Sultan is to pass, and raising the paper, which is gene rally of a large size, over his head, he holds it there with both hands in a horizontal position. When it catches the Sultan's eye as he passes on horseback, he nods to an attendant chouash, who takes the paper, puts it into a bag, and the procession passes on. The Sultan, it is said, never omits to read such papers as he takes. Of this opportunity the Russian Ambassador availed him self. An officer of the Legation was despatched with a me morial to present to the Sultan on his return from the mosque. It is not usual to utter a word on these occasions, the person who holds the petition standing silent and mo tionless as a statue ; but the Sultan, either apprised of, or suspecting the object of the memorial, after glancing at it, was passing on without giving the usual sign. The Rus sian then called aloud " Behold a memorial from the Elchi Bey of his Majesty of Russia to the Sublime Sultan Mahmood !" No notice, however, was taken of him, till he uttered the words three times, with increasing elevation of voice. The Sultan then cast on him a scowl, such as he assumes when some deep enmity crosses his mind, and giving the usual nod, the paper was received and deposited in the bag. As the fate of this man was one of the hinges on which the question of peace or war might be said to turn in the present state of things, it was a subject of unusual interest and anxiety at Pera. The suspense was not of Ion a- duration — the memorial was instantly read by the Sultan, and a positive refusal returned on the same day it was pre sented. The next morning I was passing through the palace hall, and found two ladies standing at the foot of the stairs, as if inquiring for some one. No servant at the moment was 368 NARRATIVE OF A in waiting, and wishing to render any courtesy, as I saw they were Greeks and strangers, I inquired if I could be of service. One of them was exceedingly beautiful, with a look of anxiety and sadness about her that was quite affecting. Her companion informed me it was Madame Danesi, the wife of the unfortunate man whose fate had been just pronounced, and who, it was expected, would be this day decapitated. She came to request an interview with Lady Strangford. I need not tell you that it was readily accorded. Her Ladyship was ever accessible, and her kind heart open to distress. I had the pleasure to see the ladies return with a somewhat less dejected countenance, as if a ray of hope had illumined the dark shade that co vered it. Contrary to universal expectation, Danesi was not executed. The prompt and earnest interference of the English Ambassador had induced the Porte to commute the punishment of death into that of banishment. An ami able family was saved from deep affliction, and another pretext was thus removed for Russian hostility. Baron Strogonoff, however, still remained at Buyukder6. He had sent a note to the Porte, stating the only terms on which his government would continue the ties of amity and peace with that of the Turks. That the Greek churches which had been destroyed or plundered should be immedi ately restored to the condition in which they were before their dilapidation : to this they were entitled by the treaties of Kuchuk Kinardgi and Bucharest, which stipulated, that " the Christian religion should not be exposed to the slightest oppression, nor the churches injured, and that no obstacles should be opposed to their construction or repairs, nor the officiating clergyman in any of them outraged * ;" * Treaty of Kinardgi, 2d Article. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 369 that a distinction should be made between the Greeks actu ally in hostilities and those who were not so, and all should be received into favour and forgiveness who submitted. within a given time. If these terms were not complied with, the note stated that the Turkish government placed itself in hostility with the whole Christian world — the resistance of the Greeks would be legalized — and Russia, in union with all Christendom, would be bound to afford them an asylum and protection. The Turks at first refused to give any answer to this reasonable but menacing demand, which they were allowed only eight days to consider. At the ex piration of this time the Russian waited two days more, to allow for the tardy progress of Oriental decision ; but then, finding no answer likely to arrive, he signified to the Reis Effendi, or Minister for Foreign Affairs, that his mission was terminated, and demanded his passports. They were quietly and gravely delivered, along with an answer to his note, which the Baron would not then receive ; but on the last day of July, though the wind and current still conti nued to oppose him, he caused himself to be towed, but not without great difficulty, against both out of the canal, and proceeded with all his suite to Odessa. The answer of the Turks was, however, sent after him to St. Petersburgh. It stated, in a very long note, that no Greek was punished except, those that were known to be guilty ; that the churches were destroyed by a mere rabble, whom the Porte could not control ; that it was indiscreet in the Envoy to say that the measures were hostile to the Christian religion, and to the nations of the Messiah; that the provinces would be evacuated when the insurrection there was entirely suppressed ; and that the Porte expected that Suzzo and all the fugitives who had escaped from jus tice into Russia should be delivered up. In a communica- 2b 370 NARRATIVE OF A tion, however, afterwards sent to the English Ambassador, concessions were made which would not be acknowledged to the Russians — that the churches formerly standing, and which were damaged or destroyed by the populace, should be repaired or rebuilt, as far as the laws of the country allowed, and the free exercise of the Christian reli gion still tolerated as usual, to which the Porte had never expressed any disinclination. A general amnesty was also published for all the Greeks who would return to their alle giance, and a firman was addressed to that effect to the new patriarch and bishops, to be read in all the churches ; and the Vizirs, Vayvodes, Molhas, and other functionaries in Europe and Asia were warned they should incur the Sultan's highest displeasure, if any violence was offered to a Raya who had not actuaUy taken part in the revolt. On an examination into the state of the churches, it was re ported that there were seventy-four in the city, the villages of the Bosphorus, and the Princes Islands, of which sixty had remained uninjured. It was further stated, that the Patriarch had not, in fact, been executed, for that he had been on the very morning deposed from his dignity, and so was no longer head of the Greek church when he was put to death. I accepted at this time an invitation from my friend, the Rev. Mr. Leeves, the agent of the Bible Society in the East, who had retired to Therapia, on the Bosphorus, to escape the scenes of horror and carnage daily presented in the city. In passing up the Bosphorus, the lovely prospect was every where deformed by the most revolting objects. The shores seemed deserted, and the living scene which I had before witnessed was changed into scenes of death. On different promontories were men hanging from almost everything to which a cord could be tied, some against walls, and some RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 371 on the branches of trees. The current was obstructed with floating bodies, over many of which screaming gulls were hovering in flocks, and on others they were perched and feeding. Levies of troops had just gone by in caiques, to proceed by the Black Sea to the Danube, and they had dis charged their topheks as they passed at every house that the colour indicated did not belong to a Turk. The win dows were shattered, and the boards pierced with balls ; in fact, every one they came opposite to was a target a which they all discharged their pieces, killing and wound ing the inhabitants who did not conceal themselves. Bo dies of soldiers were erecting bastions of wicker-work on every promontory, filled with stone and sand. Occa sionally they turned about to shoot or hang a Greek, and then returned to the work intended to protect them from the Russians. The state of Therapia was particularly dismal amid the general desolation. Most of the respectable inhabitants had been already executed, many were under arrest, and every day some of them brought out to the same fate. The few that remained knew they were proscribed, and were in hourly apprehension of being arrested. Irregular bodies of armed men had been prowling about on the high grounds, shooting in mere wantonness at every person they saw work ing in the gardens below them. At length they entered the town, with the declared intention of razing it to the ground and burning the chapel, as they had done two others in the vicinity. They were met, however, by the regular troops, who were ordered to resent this outrage, and every thing was preparing for a sanguinary conflict between the parties. By the timely application, however, of money, coUected among the few inhabitants that remained, the banditti were induced to retire for the present, and leave } 2b2 372 NARRATIVE OF A the people to the ordinary mercies of the regular autho rities, which I soon had an opportunity of witnessing. The first object presented to me on landing at Therapia was the venerable bishop of Derkon hanging against the wall of his own church. Derkon is a town on the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Bosphorus, and Therapia is in his diocese. It was, I believe, his general residence, from the salubrity of its situation, and the respectable and agree able society of Greeks who inhabited it. As I ascended the street that led up to my friend's house, no living thing was to be seen, but two or three bodies were scattered by the wayside, which had been wantonly shot during the day. The town had been inhabited almost entirely by Greeks ; and the gay, cheerful, festive habits of the people, enlivened by music and dancing, formed a striking contrast with the dull and repulsive aspect of the other villages in lhe neigh bourhood. It was now, however, assimilated to the rest ; its inhabitants generally dead or fled, its kiosks torn down, dilapidated, or abandoned. Patroles of Turks occasionally appeared walking up and down the solitary streets, and entering the deserted houses in search of Greeks, whom they were directed to apprehend wherever they could find them. The evening after my arrival we proposed to walk to the hill over the town, though exposed to hazard from the wanton brutality of scattered Turks, discharging their pistols at every object that presented itself. We were just leaving the house when two young Greek ladies entered. One was singularly dignified in her manners and appear ance, and seemed not disturbed from her ordinary self- possession ; the other, though more comely, was altogether overcome by terror and dismay. They informed us they were the daughter and wife of two Greek gentlemen whom the Turks weredn search of, and whose discovery would be RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 373 attended with certain death ; and they entreated an asylum in this, the only house that could afford them protection. It was impossible to conceive a state of embarrassment more painful than that in which we now found ourselves. The severest measures weie denounced and pursued against those who had harboured fugitive Greeks. Besides the immediate danger to which it would personally and imme diately expose my friend and his wife, unprotected as they were in this remote and now lawless place, the circumstance of my being connected with the English embassy, and abetting the escape of denounced rebels, might compro mise it in a serious manner with the Turks, in their present state of excitement. On the other hand, to refuse the asylum would be turning out to certain death persons who might be, and probably were, entirely innocent. In this dflemma we resolved upon a middle expedient, — to go out, and make no inquiry on our return, and so know nothing of any persons who might be concealed in the house. Having made this determination, we were just leaving the hall when two men rushed in from the street. One was a venerable gentleman, with a long grey bread, the father of one of the young ladies ; the other was a large and comely man, the husband of the other. It was im possible to conceive a scene more deeply interesting than that which now presented itself. The wife, in an agony of grief, prostrated herself at our feet, her long hair scattered in the dust, and her face pressed to the ground in all the dejection of Oriental abasement. The daughter stood erect, and, with a countenance in which the whole energy of mind and feeling seemed concentrated, demanded, with the air and eloquence of an Aspasia, the rites of hospitality and protec tion for her venerable father in his utmost need, which, as 374 NARRATIVE OF A Englishmen, she said, we could not refuse him. Before us stood two men, bound to them by the strongest and most endearing ties of nature and society, whose lives, with those of probably all their kindred, depended on the breath of our mouths — a moment's determination would consign them to immediate life or death. I looked out at the door — the Turks were coming up the street, after having just searched the house from which the fugitives had escaped. There was not a moment to lose — the hall door was closed and bolted, and we determined to abide the hazard. As we supposed that their pursuers would immediately attempt to follow them, we hurried off the men to the most secret part of the house, and concealed them in the best man ner we could. Mr. Leeves was determined, if the Turks demanded entrance, to stand upon his right as an English man, and refuse it as long as he could, though, in the pre sent state of things, there was little hope that any right would be respected. The Turks, however, did not now demand it — they stood for a short time looking at the house, with pistols in their hands, and passed on to search others. We then took counsel how We should dispose of our unfortunate guests. Behind the house, separated by a high wall, was the demesne of Ypsilantes, now that of the French palace. This communicated with the Bosphorus and the hills over it : so it was resolved to disguise them as Franks, put them over the wall at midnight, and let them make their way to the sea-coast, where they hoped to meet one of the many vessels employed in the clandestine con veyance of Greeks to Russia. We now prepared to disguise the men as well as circum - stances would permit. We first cut off their beards and shaved them. As they meant to assume the character of sailors, we thought it would be well to give their fair faces RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 375 a sunburnt look, but we had nothing at hand to do it. At length we thought of snuff; and here a trait of that hilarity and thoughtless gaiety which distinguishes the Greek cha racter occurred. In rubbing the snuff on the face of the old man it set him sneezing violently ; the grimace he made was so odd, and the use of the snuff so out of the way, that they were all seized with uncontrollable fits of laughter, and in a moment seemed to forget entirely the state of anxious peril in which they were. They were soon, however, recalled to it in a most painful manner. It was now midnight ; the room we were in opened on a platform, which communicated with a tiled roof in the rear of the house. We were alarmed at the sound of feet walk ing on the tiles; and, on looking through the glass door, perceived the figure of a man approaching. I ran to the front window, and there saw a body of Turks at the hall- door. It was now all over — the house was surrounded — disguise or concealment was in vain — and the unfortunate fugitives sat petrified and motionless with terror. The man put his face to the glass to ascertain that the Greeks were there, when suddenly the mother started from the abject terror in which she lay, uttered a cry of joy, and clapping her hands, ran to the door and opened it. She had recognized the face as that of her son. He was a fine, comely lad, about fifteen, disguised in a Turkish dress. When the family dis persed he had concealed himself in a place of safety ; but feehng the utmost anxiety about the fate of his parents, he had come forth to find and assist them. He suspected where they had taken refuge. He had procured a ladder, and, at the most imminent personal risk, had taken a circuit, dragging it after him, till he reached the high wall of the French palace, which he climbed, and so found those he was in search of. By the assistance of this noble-spirited, 376 NARRATIVE OF A intelligent lad we managed everything. We adapted our clothes to fit the men, tied cravats about their necks, and put hats on their heads. Mrs. Leeves made up a sack with a supply of provisions, that they might not be under the necessity of seeking food at a house, and we replenished their- purses with some piastres. In the insecurity of property, the Greeks generally vest it in valuable portable ornaments, which they may always carry about their persons; and the ladies had jewels and gold chains, which could not be available by the men with out great danger, but which they wished to leave with us — of course we declined such a deposit. When everything was prepared, their young guide led them to the ladder ; as they descended at the other side they made the usual Greek salutation, first applying their hands to their lips and then their forehead. They disappeared behind the wall, and we never saw them again. We continued several days in no small anxiety about their fate, but learned at length that they had made their way in disguise to the sea- coast ; they were there taken on board a Russian vessel, and were conveyed in safety to Odessa, where their family soon after joined them. We afterwards found that the people we had preserved were highly respectable. The young lady, whose unshaken dignity we had admired, was the descendant of a Greek princess, and herself entitled to that appellation; and both the gentlemen were high in rank and station among their countrymen. What con nexion they had with the revolution, or whether any, we could not learn ; but when we reflected on the event, and considered that so many excellent persons had thus escaped a miserable death or intolerable suffering, and were now living in health and enjoyment, we felt it as one of the purest pleasures reflection could impart. As the Turks had RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 377 exhibited beards as trophies of death, we preserved them as evidence of life. We divided those of the men we had disguised, and still retain them as memorials. The next morning I returned to Pera. In making my way to the caique that was to convey me, the Turks I passed threw on me many a suspicious scowl, but offered no personal violence. Indeed, their moderation and forbearance in their state of excitement were as remarkable as they were unex pected. They knew the Greeks they were in search of had taken refuge in Mr. Leeves's house, but they never attempted to follow them there. They walked up and down before the door, watching the moment they should come forth to seize them, but they did not. presume to violate the sanctity of his house by entering it, or in any way molesting the family, though they were certain they had the victims concealed within. For this, perhaps, he was indebted to the care of Lord Strangford. He represented to the Porte, that ,an English subject was residing at Therapia, exposed to the peril of the times, and orders were given to the Bin Bashi, or colonel of the troops in the district, to take him under his particular protection. When he was afterwards leaving the town, the colonel applied to him for a bacshish, or pre sent, in return for his care. He purchased from a German storekeeper in Galata a gaudy umbrella of scarlet cotton, and sent it to the colonel, who was highly delighted with the gift, and was fond of displaying it over his head. Among the embarrassments under which the Turkish government at this time laboured was the conduct of the janissaries. This corps, which had resisted, with such fear ful and successful violence, every attempt to innovate on their venerable ignorance, availed itself of every circum stance which occurred to display their discontent, and make it subservient to their owrn interests. They were generally 378 NARRATIVE OF A themselves the shopkeepers of Constantinople, or connected with them, and when their occupation was interrupted, and their usual profits failed, by the general suspension of busi ness which took place, they left their shops and assembled as usual at the Etmeidan, to dictate to the Sultan and ex tort concessions. They now demanded the dismissal of the ministry, and that eighteen heads should be sent to them of persons they named. Among the expedients taken to pacify them was an increase in the value of the money in which they had been paid. All the rhubius, a small gold coin current at one hundred and ten paras, were raised to one hundred and twenty, so that the people who had them were obliged to give them in at the old rate, and take them back from the janissaries at the additional value imposed on them. By these and similar expedients they were in duced to disperse for the present ; and the government so far succeeded that, instead of eighteen of their own heads being sent to the Etmeidan, three of the most refractory of the janissary officers were sent to the Porte, from thence they were consigned to the Towers of Oblivion on the Bos phorus, and never heard of more. The Greeks had now a formidable naval armament from the islands of Hydra, Spezzia, and Ipsara, and the Turks prepared to meet and annihilate it. The Turkish men-of- war are, perhaps, the finest and largest in the world. They are built by skilful Europeans, from the enlightened parts of Europe, whom they invite to the dock-yards in the Golden Horn, which are, perhaps, the best supplied in Europe. Noble timber for ship-building is found in pro fusion in the forests on the shores of the Black Sea, within twenty miles of the capital; hemp for cord and canvass is imported readily from the neighbouring Russian ports ; and metal for ordnance is abundant. Should a supply of RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 379 these materials be suspended from abroad, they possess the means at home. Rosin, pitch, and tar, are obtained from Negropont ; hemp from Samsoon ; and gunpowder is manufactured at Gallipoli and Salonichi. Of all these ad vantages the Turks have availed themselves with a sagacity quite extraordinary in such a people. I visited the arsenal and dock-yards at Pieri Pasha, the cannon-foundry and the depot at Tophana, and I think them more extensive, and apparently as well supplied and conducted, as those at Ports mouth or Woolwich; nor are they to be exceeded, I suppose, by any country in Europe. The former extends from Galata, along the harbour, for a mile and a half, having a grand range of stores and work-houses, constructed of solid ma sonry, with rope-walks, and an hospital. There are five hundred labourers, with as many slaves, who have been condemned for various crimes, who are chained together. With this are connected noble dry docks, one of them three hundred and forty feet long, constructed by a French engi neer. They launch and rig ships not inferior to their means of building and equipment. In order to preserve them with the greater care, they only cruise in summer, and on their return in autumn they lie drawn up in the Bosphorus and harbour, exhibiting a noble appearance, superior, I think to any fleet I have ever seen. The Turks themselves are no sailors ; but their deficiency Was supplied by the activity and intelligence of the Greeks whose skill and enterprise in their merchant-ships, were highly and justly appreciated by their masters, and the Greek sailors on board were always the main dependence of the crew. The great commercial islands of Hydra and Spezzia always supplied a certain number. They were now, however, not to be confided in : many were executed on suspicion, many were arrested and sent to the prison of 380 NARRATIVE OF A the Bagnio, where they were chained as slaves ; many had contrived to desert, and escaped in various directions to join the ships of their countrymen, and the few that remained were not employed in navigating the vessels. It had been usual on such emergencies to enter coffee-houses and take every man they could find, without knowing or caring whether he had ever been on board a ship, as the Turks had no commerce to resort to, or merchant-ships to furnish them with sailors for their fleet. On this occasion, how ever, the Capitan Pasha proposed that all the boatmen on the Bosphorus should be engaged for the purpose. He had been one, and he supposed they could navigate a ship, though not one of them, no more than himself, had ever sailed in one. An effort was made, therefore, to induce them to embark, but, to a man, they positively refused. Kecourse was then had to a compulsory process, similar to our pressing ; but the boatmen form a numerous and power ful body, and showed such a determination to resist, that it was deemed prudent to give up the attempt. Notwith standing the unmitigated despotism and unsparing ferocity of the government, they dared not exasperate this fierce democracy, particularly as they were so useful a body, whose removal would have suspended all intercourse in the most necessary concerns of life, between Constantinople, Pera, Scutari, and the shores of the Bosphorus, to which caiques were the only mode of conveyance. The contrast between England and Turkey in this respect struck me very forcibly: in the freest government on earth a large and powerful class of men are liable to be torn from their families and employment on the slightest exigency, without the smallest regard to their civil rights ; in the most des potic, the government, in its utmost need, dare not compel one of them against his inclination. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 381 The Turks, however, availed themselves of another and more skilful and efficient class. About the shipping of Pera and Galata there is always a number of Genoese, Maltese, Ragusan, and other European seamen unemployed, and ready to enter any service. The keepers of the coffee houses which they frequented proceeded to the Porte, and offered their services. Some entered voluntarily, and many were entrapped in a state of intoxication. They were all, however, engaged to man the fleet, and supply the place of the Greeks. The Turks in general were not pleased to depend for defence, under present circumstances, on any Christian people ; but they had no alternative. Another accession of Mahomedan force was made, which reconciled them to a few Christian auxiliaries. The Egyptian and Algerine fleets were ordered to meet the Turkish, and unite with them in the Archipelago. Before the fleet sailed from Constantinople, it hauled out of the harbour, and the whole were drawn up in the Bosphorus. I took a caique and rowed through it. I was astonished at the magnificence and equipment of these vast floating cities. One was called the Mahmood, after the Sultan, and was supposed to be the largest in the world. She was pierced for one hundred and forty, and had on board one hundred and thirty brass guns, carrying, I was told, one hundred pound balls on her lower decks; the rest, about twenty-five in number, were ships of the line and frigates. They presented a grand sight, rising out of the water, both in length and breadth, with an appearance more imposing, I thought, than English vessels of the same rate. The brightness of the guns — the freshness of the cordage and canvass — the gaiety and rich ness of the painting — all gave an impression of naval archi - ted ure brought to the highest state of perfection. On the bows of each was the lion, highly carved and naturally 382 NARRATIVE OF A coloured, presenting this emblem of the Turkish empire in his most formidable attitude. They carried a complement, on an average, of one thousand four hundred men each, and they seemed capable of opening a cannonade that would almost blow a Greek island out. of the water. The caiquegee Abdalla had been removed as altogether in efficient to conduct such a fleet; and Kara Ali, or Black Ali, had been appointed Capitan Pasha. The fleet sailed from the Bosphorus on the 14th of August, through crowds of people who lined the shore, with all the pride, pomp and circumstance that could produce an imposing effect ; and when I considered that this noble fleet was to be rein forced by two others, and the naval power of Egypt and Africa was to join, I thought it impossible that any Uttle flotilla the Greeks could collect could give it opposition for a single day. The Capitan Pasha sailed first for Samos. When the Greeks heard he was at sea, they drew out their flotilla, consisting of one hundred sail, most of them mere craft, and the largest not carrying more than thirty small guns. They followed the Turks everywhere, hovering about them like a cloud ; ready to take advantage, from their lightness and dexterity, of any circumstance, and keeping their ene mies in a continued state of alarm. They left Samos with out attempting anything, and proceeded to the Morea ; and having victualled some of the garrisons on the coast, sailed for Patras, and thence up the Gulf of Lepanto, till they arrived at Galaxidi. This is a small port in the district of the ancient L°cri, in the Bay of Cirrha. There were lying in the harbour a fleet of about fifty small ships, brigs, and sloops belonging to the inhabitants, who were indus trious and commercial. These small ships the inhabitants had converted, like most of the other maritime towns, into RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 383 vessels of war, and undertook to blockade the fortress of Lepanto, just in their neighbourhood, which they did with considerable effect, considering their very feeble means. The inhabitants of this little place knew they w7ere devoted to destruction when the Turkish fleet approached; they therefore drew off their fleet from before the fortress, threw up some batteries on a small island at the entrance of the bay, and moored their ships in a judicious position ; then sending off their wives and children to Salone, which was in their rear, and in the possession of their countrymen, they embarked on board their flotilla, and prepared to de fend it to the last. The Turks commenced a bombardment, which was an swered by the Greeks with great vivacity. It lasted for nine hours, till night put an end to it. The next morning it was renewed. A circumstance gave it considerable in terest. The Greek army under Demetrius Ypsilantes had marched abreast of the Turkish fleet on the coast of the Morea, prepared to repel any attempt at landing for the purpose of plunder. They now halted opposite the ships, which they could distinctly see and hear at the other side of the narrow strait, but they had no means of getting across to the assistance of their friends. The report of the guns formed a striking contrast. That of the Turks was like thunder echoing along the shores ; the return of the Greeks succeeded, sharp and feeble, like the report of pistols, strongly indicating the extraordinary disparity of the means of resistance. Towards evening the firing ceased. The great body of the Greeks, finding opposition with their shattered craft no longer practicable, left the vessels and town, and returned to their families. Some, however, still remained, and, with a fruitless enthusiasm, determined never to abandon their ships. They were captured after an 384 NARRATIVE OF A expiring struggle — the Algerines landed and plundered the town, and the Capitan Pasha, having taken possession of the ships and their intrepid crews, again set sail. When the sanguine Greeks of the capital heard that the Turks had ventured up the narrow Gulf of Lepanto, with the Greek fleet pursuing them, they looked forward to a result similar to that which occurred when their ancestors, as they said, destroyed the immense ships of the Persians, which had entered the Gulf of Engia, on the opposite side of the isthmus ; and had they been followed up, it is not impossible that the result might have been similar. But the same dissension which had nearly frustrated the com bined Greek fleet at that time, did so effectually on the pre sent occasion. The Hydriots could not hazard the total loss of their ships, in which many persons had shares, so the fleet dispersed and retired to the several islands. Meantime the Capitan Pasha returned to the Darda nelles; to lay up his fleet for the winter, but determined to display his triumph in the most imposing manner at Con stantinople. His victory and his approach were announced ; and as I had seen him depart, I determined to see him return. On the 24th of November I proceeded down to Tophana, the large area of which I found crowded with people, and presenting all the appearance of a jubilee. Re freshments were everywhere laid out to be sold ; little shows were exhibited, and magnificent Arabian horses, splendidly caparisoned, were walked up and down by grooms, waiting the landing of the Capitan Pasha and his officers, to convey them in state to the Porte. All eyes were directed to the point of the Seraglio, round which the ships of the fleet would first be seen to sail. Presently the leading vessel appeared turning the point ; the crews of the captured shipB were reserved for this exhibition : they RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 385 were seen on deck with cords about their necks, and were then dropped from different parts of the rigging, so that every vessel as it approached was distinguished by a num ber of men struggling in the agonies of death from the bowsprits and yard-arms. The next day the ships proceeded up the harbour to the arsenal amid a general explosion of cannon, which actu ally shook the three towns of Constantinople, Pera, and Scutari ; and two three-deckers, with the imperial flag flying, cast anchor just opposite my windows, with the bodies hang ing round them, and flights of gulls screaming and hovering over them. This horrid exhibition remained for some days, and as the putrid bodies were dropped, the gulls lighted on them ; and they so continued, floating among the boats and shipping for near a month, till the slow current carried them by degrees out of the harbour. The Greek prizes had been brought in tow after the Turks, with their flags half hauled down, and those of their captors flying over them. Compared with their opponents, they did not seem larger than the boats of the fleet. They were laid up at the arsenal, and I took a caique to view them. There were twenty sloops, of about thirty tons, and very small brigs, the largest not exceeding one hundred tons. Their guns were generally swivels mounted on the bows, and a few had small iron carronades on the deck, much honey combed, and without carriages. The bows of some were stove in by the enormous shot of the Turkish guns, while their little balls could not penetrate an inch into the planks of their enemies. Their sails and cordage were much de cayed, though every one of them had a large new flag flying, with some national device, generally an inverted cres cent, surmounted with a cross. Some had an anchor beside these emblems, and others an eagle tearing the crescent to 2 c 386 NARRATIVE OF A pieces; and on several was the inscription of the Spartan Mother. It was with this diminutive and feeble force that the Greeks had determined to resist the tremendous power opposed to them, and the immense contrast which I had seen enabled me to estimate their boldness and gallantry. I detail to you in succession the different impressions left upon my mind by these people. The first were mixed with strong prejudices, formed by much that I had seen and heard. As my acquaintance with them extended, these were modified by respect, and established into a strong sensation of interest for their fate, and admiration of their qualities. In December occurred the birth-day of the Prophet, as wrell as that of our Saviour, and it is held in similar esteem RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 387 by his disciples, and celebrated with festivity. But the Sultan did not return to the Seraglio on the occasion as usual. He had been warned by the Monejin Bashi, that the stars had foretold some calamity to him if he entered the city till after that day. It was celebrated, however, with great pomp ; and in order again to avert any threatened misfor tune to his person, the weight of the prediction was caused to fall on three Greek priests, who were executed, and he did not return himself till the end of December. Meanwhile, notwithstanding the scenes of blood which we every day witnessed by the executions of prisoners from the provinces and others, in the streets, the different Euro pean embassies opened their palaces for company, and the winter was passed with a gaiety and social intercourse among the Franks as it would be in the most tranquil times at Paris, London, or Vienna. Plays were exhibited at the French palace, concerts at the Austrian, and dancing at the EngUsh. To give you an idea of our usages, I will describe one day " at home," which exhibited a mixture of Eastern and Western people, and a variety of costume very unusual, which I had never seen before. In the day there were assembled at dinner the diplomatic bodies and their suites, with the dragomans and their families, arrayed in ealpacs, and long furred robes, speaking themselves ten different languages, and their wives Greek and Italian, In the evenino- the halls and whole suite of rooms were crowded, either with actors or spectators. I counted the different nations assembled, distinguishable either by their counte nances or their dresses, their beards, whiskers, mustachios, smooth chins, long hair, shaven crowns, tufted heads, cal pacs, turbans, fezzes, long robes, and short coats, and I reckoned as follows, either attached to the different missions, merchants, travellers, or natives, viz., Swedes, Norwegians, 2c2 388 NARRATIVE OF A Danes, Dutch, Germans, Russians, Prussians, Austrians, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, Swiss, Genoese, Italians, Neapolitans, Ionians, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Turks, Persians, Chaldeans, Smyrneotes, Syrians, with English, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish. It seemed, indeed, as if people felt a sense of security in the English palace, and in times of peril and dismay flocked to it as to an asylum, where they forgot for a moment the dismal scenes that encom passed them. To add to this real variety of dress and character, several groups represented in masquerade particular classes in their own country. A sultana took her place on the throne, surrounded by her slaves, who presented her in succession with ornaments and confectionary, and then danced and sung for her amusement, displaying a real representation of the inside of a harem, by persons who had themselves borne a part in its ceremonies. After this a company of Greeks, not yet involved in the calamities of their country, danced the Romaic, which consisted of a group, in which one led with a handkerchief and the persons changed places in suc cession, with a very dull and tiresome movement. Then hands were taken by the whole company, and a cordon of an endless variety of knots was thus formed, which extended to an immense length, and continued to move, without breaking, through all the apartments. But the charac ters which excited most curiosity were the representation of two quakers, caricaturing, of course, the respectable people they personated. One of that body, I imagine, had not been seen at Constantinople since the year 1661, when an enthusiast set out from Dublin to convert the Grand Turk, and his zeal was requited by the Earl of Winchelsea, our Ambassador, who ordered him to be bastinadoed on the spot, because he refused to take off his hat. They now RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 389 caused considerable interest, and many persons applied to me to know what class or country they belonged to, and I rather surprised them by the assurance that they formed one of the most estimable and respectable portions of the English nation. On such days I had often in the morning visited some unfortunate Greek family, reduced from the highest rank and affluence to the lowest state of humiliation and poverty, where the males had all been swept away, and the females were struggling, unprotected, through scenes of the greatest horror and affliction. In passing through Constantinople with a friend, I was struck with the sound of a piano-forte. I did not imagine that the walls of the city contained within them such an instrument; and on inquiring I found that part of the obscure house from whence it proceeded, was occupied by one of the most distinguished families among the aristocracy of the Fanal. It was that of the Princess Smaragda Morousi, who was married to the Hatman Alex ander Mavrocordato, an intelligent and enlightened man, fond of literary retirement, and devoting his whole time to the instruction of his numerous family. He was living at Therapia when the Greek insurrection began, and without any more evidence that he was concerned in it than his being a Greek, his house was seized, his property confiscated, him self carried off to Asia Minor, where it was supposed he was or would be strangled, and his wife and daughters left in utter destitution, in the midst of a guard of ruffian soldiers. Her uncle and her two brothers had been already put to death, and she hourly expected that of her husband and sons. The soldiers were part of the guard in the Valley of Buyukdere, aud their commander, Ibrahim, Pasha of Nico- media, was a large man, with a comely, but coarse coun- 390 NARRATIVE OF A tenance, and a person of the most unrestrained sensuality. Helena, the second daughter of the Princess, was very beau tiful and highly accomplished, about fifteen. On her he fixed his eyes, and was continually prowling about the house like an hyeena. He made several attempts to get her into his power, but, the child clung to her mother's side, and without brute force, which he was afraid to use, he never could separate them. When Helena saw his face continu ally glaring in at the window, and associated with him the murder and desolation of all she loved, she was seized with irrepressible horror, and could not bear the sight. She dis appeared and was no where to be found. She was at length observed in a cistern, where she had fled to conceal herself, and have the means of immediately putting a period to her life, if the object of her horror should discover her. He was removed to another command, and the family allowed to live in the Fanal. It was an indulgence to escape from the brutal soldiery, but none to reside here. All the Greeks who survived the first massacre were sent to this and to other places as prisons, where they might be always under the eye of the Turks, and found whenever it was resolved to execute them. I felt a deep interest in her family, and frequently visited them at their lodgings in mean and obscure apartments. It was Helena who played the piano; she was anxious to acquire European accomplish ments, and succeeded to her wish. Among the music was one strain she was particularly fond of without knowing its name. I informed her the words were, " Hope told a flat tering tale, that joy would soon return." She accepted the omen with enthusiasm, a joy in sadness that was quite affect ing, and she never ceased playing it with the most pathetic effect. But though the cause of her illness was removed, the effects RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 391 were fatal. Her constitution had received so violent a shock through her sensibility, that she soon sunk under it. When times became more tranquil, her family was suffered to remove to St. Demetri, a healthy village on a hill opposite Pera, for the benefit of the air. I was so anxious for her fate that I established a communication by telegraph with her sister, by which I was every morning apprised of the state of her health, and it amused her to keep up the dis tant conversation. One morning the preconcerted signal was not returned — I conjectured the fatal cause — Helena was dead. I had received from the Prayer-book Society a case of copies of our Liturgy, translated into several lan guages, and among the rest into Greek. I gave her one in her native tongue, and she became passionately attached to it. Her fine understanding at once perceived the superi ority of our service to the frivolous superstitions of her own. While confined to her bed she was continually read ing the book, and when she died, it was found under her pillow, open at the funeral service. It was not the circumstances of her family alone that ex cited my interest for this girl — their former rank and distinc tion, and the utter ruin and desolation to which the state of the country had reduced them ; but her own personal claims were of a high order. She realized to me what I had con ceived of an ancient Greek statue, animated and endued with all the fine qualities of its contemporary females. Her figure, dress, and mind seemed formed on such a model. The books she was fondest of were the ancient Greek poets and historians. She frequently read for me Homer in the origi nal, but the modern pronunciation was very different indeed from that which we teach in our seminaries. She assisted my friend Mr. Leeves in his translation of the Scripture into modern Greek for the benefit of her country, and 392 NARRATIVE OF A showed a capacity, feeling, and interest in every thing that was good and praiseworthy. 1 dwell on her character the more from a wish to con vince you that the Greeks of the Fanal are not the worthless and deteriorated people you have supposed, on the misrepre sentation of some who write from ignorance or prejudice. The individual is only a representative of a numerous class who are just as estimable. The cultivation of their minds generally may be judged from this fact. In passing along the Pera street one day, I saw the pavement covered with odd volumes of the best editions of the classics, and works in the modern languages. On inquiring where they came from, I learned that part of the property which the Turks had seized and appropriated in the Greek houses was large collections of books, which the learned Thebans into whose hands they fell sold to the Jews by bulk or weight, and they had so exposed them for sale. It was after wards found that the books might be turned to better profit than by selling odd volumes by weight ; so the government took up the affair, but not knowing much better than the others what to do with the books, they sent to the Patriarch, to let him know that he must remit to the Porte fifty thou sand piastres, and take the whole to reimburse himself as weU as he could. They were, therefore, taken and placed in a khan, where they filled several large rooms, and some Greeks were appointed to class and catalogue them. When this was done, the Franks of every nation were invited to inspect and purchase them, and I went over to the Fanal with many others for the purpose. The collection consisted of about fifteen thousand volumes, in ancient and modern Greek, French, and Italian, on all subjects, and some of them the best editions. About as many more had been destroyed, or sold by the Turks to the Jews. I purchased RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 393 several which had belonged to distinguished names in the Fanal, and I prize them because they contained the auto graphs of Morousi, Ypsilantes, Mavrocordato, and others. It will lead you, however, to estimate the cultivation of mind of the class in whose houses such evidence of extensive literary knowledge was discovered. 394 NARRATIVE OF A CHAPTER XIII. Death of Ali Pasha — Approximation of Turks to Popular Representation — Persian War — Causes of it — Effects at Constantinople — Turkish notions of Plague — Prospect of War with Russia — Island of Scio — Character of its Inhabitants — High state of Prosperity — Establishment of College — In telligence of Natives — Insurrection at Samos — Landing at Scio — Indispo sition of the People to join in it — News of the Event arrives at Constanti nople — Turkish Fleet sets sail — How manned — Character of Kara Ali, the Capitan Pasha — Arrives at Scio — Offers an Amnesty — Rejected by the Samiotes, who leave the Island — Turks land — Indiscriminate Massacre — Horrible Atrocities — Example set by Capitan Pasha — Utter Devastation of the Island — Greek Fire-ships — Sudden Destruction of Capitan Pasha and his Ship. The commencement of the year 1822 was distinguished by the death of Ali Pasha. His head was sent up to Con stantinople, and the Tartar who bore it along the road was everywhere stopped by the people, who wished to view the seat of wisdom of that formidable man, who for so many years had excited the attention of Europe. On the 14th of February it arrived, and was exposed in a dish on a pillar in the first court of the Seraglio, where I, among others, witnessed this display of Oriental usage. But the circumstance which counterbalanced this good news was the general apprehension of the certainty of a war with Russia, and that another formidable enemy would be added to the embarrassments of the Porte. In this emer gency a very extraordinary innovation was made in the con stitution of the state, and something like an approximation to a popular government. At a grand sitting of the Divan summons were issued to the Mutevelis, or paymasters of the RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 395 different ortas of janissaries, to be present as representatives of these corps, and as they included a large body of the citizens of Constantinople, they were in some measure the representatives of the people. On this occasion another display of concession to popular feeling took place. The Esnaffs, or corporations, were also invited to attend, and they were informed that it would be probable the country would soon be involved in a war with Russia, and it was proposed to repel force by force. It was unnecessary for them to send up addresses in reply, with offers of " their lives and fortunes," for they knew they were already at the Sultan's disposal. The communication was conveyed through these directors to the companies they represented, and a general feeling of an immediate war with Russia was everywhere diffused. To meet this emergency, notifications were made in the mosques, that every man should prepare his arms, and again the city was thrown into a state of as fearful anarchy as before. That nothing might be wanting to add to the embarrass ments of the Turks at this time, the Persians commenced hostilities, and invaded the eastern territories with four armies. One was commanded by Ali Mirza, the eldest son of the Shah, who suddenly entered Armenia, at the head of a large body of forces, without notice or the know ledge, it is said, of his father. In the critical state of affairs between the Turks and Russians, it was a movement universally attributed to the latter, as another means of annoyance and embarrassment. The Turks prepared for resistance — war was formally proclaimed ; and an order was dispatched to all the pashalics in Asia to make a levy of the whole population to repel the unjust aggression. In the meantime a messenger was dispatched from Constan- 396 NARRATIVE OF A tinople by the British Ambassador, to ascertain the real cause of hostilities, in order that it might be removed. It was found that various reasons of well-grounded com plaint existed. The Turkish Pasha of Erzeroum had fre quently attacked and plundered the Persian pilgrims and merchants. Several females of high rank, who had gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca, were similarly treated. But the cause which interested me most was, that of some Persian students, who had been sent to England for their education. They returned home by Constantinople, and were furnished with passports by the Sultan himself, that they should be allowed to proceed to Tabriz with their books, instruments, medicines, and other appendages of their European studies without being molested or searched, or any duty exacted from them as a ta« on knowledge or learning. Yet, not withstanding, they were searched and plundered by the barbarous Turkish authorities, and exactions levied on their books and instruments. Repeated complaints were made of these and similar outrages, but the Persians ob tained no redress from the Porte, so they resolved to take the matter into their own hands. They were joined by some rebel Koords, and attacking the Turks between Tabriz and Erzeroum, completely defeated them, with the loss of all their baggage. They prepared to march on Bagdat, and we hourly expected to hear that the Ottoman empire, now sore beset on all sides, would lose that large and im portant barrier of their eastern frontier, and the Persians would co-operate with the Russians and Greeks in its total dismemberment. They were saved, however, by an auxili ary as unexpected as it was powerful. The Asiatic cholera had set out from the East, and had travelled so far on its way to Europe. It suddenly appeared with the most ma- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 397 lignant symptoms, and several Europeans fell victims to it. All military operations were suspended, and the Persians retired before this formidable opponent. Among the evils that surrounded the Franks at Constan tinople, the apprehension of this distant one was not the least alarming. The rumour of ils ravages and certain progress was everywhere talked of, and its undefined and mysterious symptoms, as they were reported, gave it some thing of an awful character. It was generally supposed that Constantinople was the direction it was taking, and the constant influx of people from Asia to the capital could not fail to convey it. But while we all talked of this distant malady, one equally terrible burst out at home. In conformity with established usage, all the Persians found in Constantinople were seized and cast into prison. Here, from the crowds confined together, a miasma was ge nerated, which burst out in the form of plague. From the malignity of its symptoms, and the various exciting causes which exist to propagate a contagious complaint, it was ex pected to spread abroad and become very dreadful, but the Turks declared it would not. It is a remark founded on ex perience, that war and pestilence, to any extent, never co exist in the capital. This is supposed to proceed from the circumstance, that the great mass of the poorer populace, among whom the plague usually makes its greatest ravages, is drawn off to supply the armies, and the fomes of the disease is thus removed. The Turks, however, account for it in a much more pious way. They say that Alia never afflicts his faithful people with more than one cala mity at a time, and pestilence never begins till war ceases. It is certain that this was the first symptom of plague which had appeared since the Greek war commenced, and it soon disappeared. 398 NARRATIVE OF A As the general impression on the minds of all the people here was, that there would be an immediate war with Russia, and that, in such a case, there would be no continu ing here for Franks, particularly English, the mercantile people began to contract their speculations, and call in their debts. Indeed, the inducements to remain were not very powerful to any who could depart. All the excesses com mitted before were re-enacted by the armed populace, and the unfortunate Rayas appeared as if exterminated. A great part of the profits of Turkish tradesmen was derived from the dealings of the Rayas ; this was altogether sus pended, and the Turks quietly brought the keys of their shops to Kiaya Bey, and deposited them in his office. They said there was no use in keeping an open shop any longer, as no one was left to purchase. When we had supposed that the excesses committed in the first ebullition of rage had entirely ceased, and the crisis of excitement in the capital had passed, a new scene of horror presented itself, more afflicting than any which had occurred. The island of Scio, the ancient Xior, is one of the finest in the Archipelago ; it is one hundred and thirty miles in cir cumference, and contained within it all the elements of beauty and prosperity. We passed by it on our way, and saw it peaceful, smiling, and lovely. It has been in all ages celebrated and visited ; but it was particularly noted for the pleasing manners of its people, and the excellence of its wine, which at one period, with that of Falernum, divided the taste of the world. The pure climate of the island, and the natural disposition of the inhabitants, combined to form that gaiety and vivacity of character, which gave rise to the proverb, that it would be easier to find a green horse than a grave Sciot*; and Parthenius, a Neapolitan poet, represents * Evgu-xiiV pxov "iirifoi vrgturnm n XicZra. fgovipov. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 399 them as gaining the affection of strangers by their pleasing manners, kind services and agreeable wine *. In more modern times it was esteemed as the only place which had escaped the debasing influence of Turkish op pression. The soil was not " sterile and neglected, and the inhabitants poor and profligate," according to the re proach of modern Greece. It had been early granted by the Turkish Sultans to some Sultana who stood in a certain degree of relationship to the reigning monarch, as a source of revenue, with power to regulate its interior concerns. These females were generally of amiable and upright dispo sitions, and the Sciotes prospered greatly under their gentle sway. The land was elaborated to the highest degree of cultivation by the skill and industry of its peasantry, so that it supplied the greater part of the fruits and vegetables consumed at Constantinople, and every house had a Sciote, as the only person capable of managing a garden. The people were distinguished among all the Greeks for their higher tone of moral and mental improvements ; the mer chants were by far the most rich and well-informed of the Levant, and the women were equally eminent for their beauty, accomplishments, and propriety of manners. They are represented by all who visited the island as ex ceedingly interesting, gentle, cheerful, and innocent ; de voted to domestic duties, yet endearing themselves to strangers by their kind and affectionate hospitality. In the days of Plutarch they were so distinguished for the correct ness and purity of their lives, that he says there had not been a case of adultery on the island for seven hundred yearsf, a reputation which they still maintained. They * Nec non et placidi mores et arnica vinum vis Docta animos capere officio. f De Vita Mulierura. 400 NARRATIVE OF A were famous for their manufactures of silk, and I send you some of their beautiful purses, as a memorial of the taste and elegance of those amiable, but now most unfortunate beings. Besides the city, the island contained sixty-six villages. Of the latter, twenty-three were engaged in the cultivation of mastic. This is a gum which exudes from a species of the pistacia *, and is used by all the Oriental ladies, who constantly chew it, as giving an odoriferous fra grance to the breath, and preserving the teeth and gums. The population, lately returned by the Greek archbishop, was seventy thousand, some of them members of the Latin church. Of these, fifteen resided in the city, thirty in the mastic villages, and twenty-five in the remainder; besides these there were about two thousand Turks and one thou sand Jews. Other calculations make the inhabitants more numerous, exceeding one hundred thousand. Though the governor was a Turk, called a Muzzelim, the people them selves elected four Ytpovres, or Seniors, to conduct their affairs, one of them being of the Latin church, as represen tative of the people of that persuasion. The governor sel dom interfered in their proceedings — they exercised a legis lative and judicial authority — raised and regulated the tri bute ; and were so respected, that a muzzelim who dis pleased them was immediately recaUed on any complaint. Among the recent proofs of the high state of improve ment and prosperity this island attained to, is a college established and opened some years ago, to complete which one of its merchants contributed a hundred thousand crowns. This was supplied with professors in all the lan guages and sciences, and the youth of Greece were sent to it for education from the most distant places. It contained six hundred students, and a library of six thousand volumes, * Pistacia Lvutiscus. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 401 with a printing office, from whence new books were daily issuing, particularly editions of the ancient classics. In fact, this lovely island was the beacon which was lighting the degenerate descendants of Aristides and Epaminondas in the way of their ancestors, and was accordingly looked up to as the hope of modern Greece. When the insurrec tion burst out, they took no part in it : devoted to the arts of peace, and beUeving that the time, though approaching, was not yet arrived for their liberation, they continued un disturbed in the quiet progress of improvement. Knowing their indisposition to engage in revolutionary scenes, a very feeble Turkish garrison on the island was considered quite sufficient. It was their usage, that one of every mercantile house should reside on the island, while another conducted busi ness at some European city. That of Rhalle had esta blishments in Vienna and London, and others in other places. They alternated the residence, so that there was a succession of intelligent men continually returning to the island, and bringing with them the lights and improve ments of the country from whence they came. Quite dis engaged from business, they devoted their whole attention to the improvement of themselves and the younger branches of their families, and in cultivating their land or their gar dens. Hence it was that the society of Scio was exceedingly pleasing to strangers, particularly to the English. Every one who went with letters was hospitably received into the house of an educated family, the master of which, having no mercantile pursuits to engross his time, directed all his attention to his guest ; and no one ever visited the island in this way but spoke highly of the pleasure they received from improved and cultivated minds and kind and hospi table hearts. There resided at Constantinople at this time 2d 402 NARRATIVE OF A a number of Sciote merchants, who formed by far the most respectable part of the trading community of their country men. When the Greek squadron first sailed the year before, they visited Scio, among the other islands of the Archipe lago, with a view to engage it in the general cause. An Ipsariot sailor landed, and went through the villages distri buting the revolutionary proclamation ; but he found the inhabitants quite reluctant to expose their present security and prosperity to the hazard of what they supposed to be an impracticable attempt; they begged of their countryman to depart, and the emissary returned without effecting his pur pose. In order to guard against any further attempt, the principal inhabitants raised contributions among themselves, for the purpose of procuring a larger Turkish force than that on the island, and sufficient to protect them against a simi lar indiscretion of their own countrymen. The Turks ac cordingly sent them a Pasha as governor, and four thou sand men to reinforce the garrison; and the Sciotes, to show their entire dependence on them, agreed that a certain number of themselves should be sent to the fortress as hos tages — the Archbishop Plato and the four gerontes volun tarily, entered it. On the pretext of sending them to visit their families, ten more were demanded ; these also entered, though the others were not suffered to depart. More were added under various pretexts, till at length the Turks held seventy-four heads of the principal families of the island in custody, as guarantees for the good behaviour of the rest. The contiguous island of Samos had taken an early and decided part in the insurrection, and had everywhere exter minated the Turks. They established a regular revolu tionary government, elected a senate and enrolled an army. They were of an enterprising, military character, and many RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 403 of them had served in the Russian armies, where they had im proved themselves in the art of. war, and in feelings of hatred and contempt for the Turks. A corps of three thousand such men was regularly organised, and they not only formed an effectual protection to the island, but they planned expedi tions to the continent, and kept the Turks there in continual alarm. They carried off various kinds of plunder, with the Mahomedans to whom it belonged as slaves, and liberated many Christians ; and the island became an asylum for all who could escape from the neighbouring coast. Among these was an enterprising man, who had lived for some time at Smyrna, where he kept, I think, an apothe cary's shop, or drug bazaar ; but being of an ardent tem perament, he returned to Samos when the insurrection broke out, to take a leading part in it. His name was Logotheti, a common family one among the modern Greeks, to which he added the ancient one of Lycurgus, as many had adopted in a similar manner those of their respected ancestors. He was joined by a Sciote, named Antoniaki Boorna, who had been in the French army, but had abandoned it, as every other Greek had all foreign services, to hasten home and assist their own countrymen. He had been in the Morea, and proposed to Demetrius Ypsilantes a plan for stimulat ing the languid zeal of his countrymen, and exciting the important island of Scio in the general cause ; but Ypsi lantes was well aware of their indisposition, and, indeed, in capacity for such an undertaking. The ardent Sciote, how ever, returned home, collected some of his fellow-islanders at Samos, and proposed to Logotheti to make an attempt on Scio. They set out with a body of five hundred Sami- otes and a hundred and fifty Sciotes, and landed in a bay at a short distance from the capital. Among the peasantry were some who were discontented at the contributions they 2d 2 404 NARRATIVE OF A were ealled on to pay for the additional Turkish force, and they joined them on landing. The scattered Turks imme diately fled before them in all directions, many were killed, and the rest escaped into the fortress. They established a provisional government of ephori on the island,, collected cannon and reinforcements from Ipsara and other places ; and as a regular Greek government was now estabUshed at Argos, they dispatched messengers thither for a sufficient reinforcement to keep possession of their conquest. They then directed the means they had against the fortress. In these events the respectable inhabitants took no part ; they considered it a desperate enterprise of a few adventurers, who were even already beginning to quarrel among them selves, and they not only discountenanced it in the strongest manner, but many of them took refuge in the fortress with the Turks, and many more hastened to leave the island. The news of these events arrived at Constantinople in the latter end of March, and seemed to paralyze the capital. It was the most decided proof they yet had of the extent of the insurrection and power of the insurgents, and it was an event they least expected. They at once prepared aU their energies to suppress it. The Turkish squadron was at this time lying in the harbour, just opposite my windows, prepa ratory to being drawn out into the Bosphorus to proceed on its summer cruise. It was got ready before the usual time, with a promptitude quite astonishing in the motions of the Turks. They wanted men, but they soon found them. It was given out, that the island was to be surren dered to the adventurers who chose to engage in the expedition ; the riches and timid character of the men, and the beauty of the women, were equally notorious, and the prospect of plunder and slaves, with little risk, attracted multitudes. The caiquegees, or boatmen, who before re- RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 405 fused, now came in crowds. Every ruffian who could com mand a knife or a pistol offered himself in the cause ; and the fleet thus manned sailed in a few days. The Capitan Pasha Was not the eccentric, good-natured Delhi Abdalla, whom I have described to you before, but his successor, Kara Ali, a person of unsparing ferocity, and exactly fitted for the enterprise. As he returned to port from his last ex pedition with struggUng Greeks hanging to his rigging, so he now left it with a similar exhibition. Some of his officers, whose zeal in the cause did not keep pace with his own, incurred his displeasure. He immediately caused them to be hung up ; and the last sight of his ships displayed them struggling in the air. When he arrived opposite the island he cast anchor at Tchesme, and here he took in a reinforcement of assassins. All the desperadoes on the coast were invited to join in the expedition. Every fellow that came on board with a weapon of death was received as welcome, and others were called on to follow in scampa vias, misticoes, or whatever convey ance they could find ; and in this way about ten thousand Asiatic ruffians were added to those of Europe, among whom were many hummals, or porters, from the quays at Smyrna. From hence he stood across to the devoted island, and en tered the harbour on the 11th of April, with seven sail of the line and six frigates and corvettes. His first act was one of apparent moderation. He sent on shore a flag, with directions to the insurgents to lay down their arms, and submit to mercy in eight hours ; and to give greater influ ence to his proposals, he made a semblance of admitting the consular agents of the European powers on the island to become mediators. They promised to the Greeks pardon and protection in the name of the Sultan. A number of persons at once accepted of the terms ; they were re- 406 NARRATIVE OF A ceived and placed apart in the convent of St. Minas. The Samiotes, however, held out, killed the Turkish officer who proposed terms, and continued to fire on the fortress. They retired to some distance, and, with the Sciotes who had joined them, made still a show of opposition. A de tachment of three thousand men were sent against them, who soon dispersed them. They retired to the opposite side of the island, where they found a conveyance to cross the narrow passage, and took refuge in Ipsara. All oppo sition had ceased with their departure ; and there was hardly a single person left in Scio who had a weapon of defence in his hand. Many of the inhabitants, who had fled from danger, met the Turkish fleet entering the harbour, came back with it as with friends and protectors, and in perfect security returned to their houses. It was now that the meditated destruction burst upon the devoted island. Nine thousand fellows of the description I have mentioned were landed from the fleet, and as many more joined them from the opposite shore — the rumour had gone abroad of the prey held out to them — they hastened to the coast, and were seen swarming across the channel that divides the island from Asia, and every mistico poured forth a banditti of robbers and murderers. The town of Scio is entirely open and unprotected, and the inhabitants, feehng confidence in the retreat of the Samiotes and the presence of the Turks, had commenced their ordinary business, when this horde rushed upon them. They filled the streets, stabbing and shooting every person they met, without dis tinction of age or sex, and then burst into the houses. Here also they killed every one they found, and then began to plunder. The town contained about six thousand houses, and the greater number of them decorated in a costly man ner, evincing the taste and opulence of the possessors. RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 407 There was not one of them spared. When all the visible valuables had been seized, they proceeded to search for what they supposed was concealed. Walls were torn down, and foundations upturned, so that the whole was literally left a mass of ruins — heaps of disjointed stones, with dead bodies crushed under them. Meanwhile other parties had spread themselves over the villages in the country, which were similarly ruined. All who were met were immediately massacred, — all who could escape from immediate destruction fled to the hUls. Here they were sometimes followed by bands of murderers, to seize whatever property they might have carried away on their persons. Rather than fall into the hands of their pursuers they rushed to the edges of precipices, and threw themselves down, so that the base of many a rock was a charnel-house strewed with crushed bodies. Scio is an island of gardens ; in every one is a weU, or cistern, forming a reservoir of water to be used in the heat of summer. In the appalling terror of the scenes around them, mothers ran with their daughters to these places, and on the first en trance of a Turk in the garden threw their children in, and then followed them; so that many of these reservoirs were found choked up with bodies. When every thing valuable was plundered or destroyed, the marauders began to make slaves of those who were left alive, and every blood stained ruffian was seen returning to embark for his own abode with a troop of women and children as slaves, loaded with their own property as plunder. In several places the affrighted inhabitants had taker refuge in Convents and other asylums, hoping, if they escapee the first burst of cruelty, that they might be allowed to sur vive. But no indulgence seemed to satiate the thirst fo; blood and pillage. A crowd of females and children hae 408 NARRATIVE OF A fled for refuge to the convent of Neamoni. They pursued them thither, and burst open the doors ; — they first mur dered the monks whom they met in the cells and passages, and then seized on the sacred utensils, which they collected in a heap, and they divided it, with the women and child ren who had sought refuge here, among them. A story was current at Constantinople, of their conduct at this mo nastery, that exceeds belief. They generaUy reserved all females to sell as slaves, and as their value was enhanced by their purity, the avarice of the captors often subdued their sensual passions. But here the latter was predomi nant — many of them gratified it on the spot, and then stabbed their victims, alleging that they could not now sell them, or their own children might become slaves. Similar scenes were acted in other convents, where they burnt out the eyes of some of the priests, and put others to death. In one place in the country they had shut up above seven hundred persons, and prepared to divide them as usual, but not being able to agree about the proportions, one of them proposed that, to avoid dissension, the best way was to put them all fo death. The proposition was just such as was agreeable to men whose highest enjoyment was shedding human blood ; — they were all massacred on the spot, every man killing his share. To these murders the Pasha himself set an official ex ample. The islanders who had surrendered on the first offer of pardon, and were shut up for security in the con vent of St. Minas, were now brought out in parties and shot. Several hundred gardeners who had been seized on to discover any treasure which they knew to be concealed, and were supposed to be accessory in burying, were first forced to confess all they knew, and then shut up in the fortress with the hostages. There were besides on board RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 409 the admiral's ship a number of respectable persons, who had been apprehended on suspicion, or who had fled thi ther for protection. On the Sth of May he ordered thirty- five of them to be hanged on different parts of the rigging. This was a signal for a similar execution in the fortress : the hostages, including the archbishop, were brought out and hanged just opposite on the walls, in regular lines ; and that no one in his hands should be suffered to escape with life, the gardeners were strangled in the court-yard. When every thing was exhausted by which cupidity could be satiated or cruelty gratified, and not till then, did the pillage and carnage cease. The most valuable part of the plunder, and beautiful and respectable of the women, were brought on board the fleet, to gratify the officers, and were conveyed thither under a triumphant discharge of artillery. Some of the rest were divided among the regular soldiers, but the greater part was carried off by the marau ders who had joined the expedition. Of the whole of the rich edifices and neat houses that formed the city and the villages, to the amount of twenty thousand, not one was un injured — the greater number was totally destroyed. Of the whole population, exceeding seventy thousand as some, and one hundred thousand as others calculate it, in the middle of April, not more than nine hundred existed on the island in the beginning of July ; the rest were murdered or made slaves, with the exception of a comparative few, who had escaped to Ipsara and the neighbouring islands. Twenty thousand, it was supposed, of all ages and both sexes, were left weltering in their blood on the island, and thirty thou sand were carried off and sold in different places in Asia, Africa, and Europe. The Greeks had made some ineffectual attempts on the Turkish fleet, which were now discontinued ; and on the VOL. I. 2 E 410 NARRATIVE OF A 18th of June the latter was lying between Tchesme and Scio, in perfect security. It was the Ramazan, and the evenings were passed with even more gaiety and enjoyment than usual at such a time on board the admiral's ship, revelling in the midst of the indulgence which the destruc tion of the island afforded. She was gaily lighted up, and decorated with the variety of flags which are displayed at that season, and all on board had given themselves up to enjoyment. Several captains of other ships had been in vited, and drums, and cymbals, and all kinds of Turkish music announced their festivity. Two small brigs were now seen weathering the northern point of the island, and bearing down channel. One of them seemed a bad sailer, and was left behind; but the other pursued her course, with a view of proceeding on her way through the Turkish fleet. Full of joy and hilarity, it is probable little notice would have been taken of one of the many small ships passing up and down the canal of Scio ; but this bore the Austrian flag, and, that being seen, no further attention was paid to her. It was a remarkable fact, that the Capi tan Pasha had been port-admiral at Constantinople, and, as part of his duty, rigidly enforced the orders for search ing every ship, to ascertain if the cargo corresponded with the invoice, and the Franks were subject to many annoy ing vexations, by tbe strict observance of it; but by some fatality he never thought of exercising it on the present occasion. The brig ran alongside — the crew talked with the Turks on deck, and while some engaged their attention by complaining of treatment they had received from the Greek cruisers, others had lashed the shrouds of the brig to the chains of the man-of-war. The first suspicion the Turks entertained was seeing the Greek crew, consisting of twelve men, get into a boat and push off. They had hardly done RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 41 so, when the vessel they left burst into a blaze, which imme diately communicated with the ship of the Capitan Pashs Efforts were vainly made to stop the rapid progress of th fire ; it communicated in a very short time to the ma gazin and the vessel blew up. The Capitan Pasha attempted 1 escape in a boat to another ship, but as he descended th side, part of a blazing mast was precipitated on his head- he was dashed, crushed and bloody, into the boat, where h immediately after expired. The fire-ship had been conducted by the celebrated Ca naris, who immediately joined his consort, Pepenos, am then proceeded against other Turkish men-of-war. The; attached the remaining fire-ship to the vessel of the Capital Bey, on board of whom much of the plundered treasure wa accumulated. She was partly consumed, but the fire wa extinguished ; six others were entangled by the burninj ships in the confusion, and greatly injured. The whole o the large and small craft lying off Scio, and filled wit] slaves and plunder, cut their cables and ran foul of eacl other in the greatest dismay ; and it was generally sup posed that, if the Greek fleet had been at hand to avai themselves of the confusion, the Turkish squadron wouli have been destroyed, and the greater part of the Sciote and their property recaptured. On board the Capitan Pasha's ship were two thousand fiv hundred persons, of whom two thousand perished ; amon| them were the principal officers of other ships, and eight o ten of the best pilots in the Archipelago. It would be deep! to be regretted that many of these were captives, particu larly females, some distinguished for their rank and some fo; their personal beauty ; but the sudden and awful judgmen that fell upon their brutal oppressors only snatched then from a life of intolerable misery and degradation. Beside: 412 NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE, &C the plunder accumulated, the military chest, with all the money to pay the troops, was on board ; the ship had also been fitted up in a splendid style. The Capitan Pasha was a man as vain and luxurious as he was cruel and avaricious. He had a splendid service of plate and other costly furni ture on board, with which he proposed to entertain all offi cers of such European ships of war as he should meet on his victorious return to the Dardanelles. Many of these details were communicated to me by a friend who was proceeding in a Maltese vessel to Constan tinople, and was detained in the canal of Scio by the Turks on the memorable night. He was not far from the Capi tan Pasha's ship when it blew up. The next morning the sea was covered with fragments of wrecks and burnt timber, to which men were clinging. One of them was Ibrahim Pasha, an officer of rank belonging to the admiral's ship, whom he picked up and sent on board a Turkish man-of- war. The Turks themselves were greatly struck by this sud den and awful visitation. A principal Imaun of the Great Mosque at Smyrna ascended the pulpit on the Friday after the event, and called the attention of the people to it. After describing, with more than Turkish eloquence, the massacre and horrors of Scio, he said the burning of the Pasha's ship was effected by no mortal hand — it was a bolt of lightning hurled by the hand of Allah himself against the guilty perpetrator of these atrocities. END OF VOL. I. London: Printed by W. Clowes and Sons. Stamford Street. Fold out