An incident which occurred soon after the accession of the present
Sultan, shows that, in some respects, at least, he is not indisposed
to follow up the strong traditions of his race. At the beginning
of his reign, the Ulema was resolved, if possible, to prevent the
new Sultan from carrying on those reforms which had ever been so
distasteful to the Turks, grating at once against their religious
associations and their pride of race, and which recent events
had certainly proved not to be productive of those good results
anticipated by Sultan Mamoud. To attain this object, the Muftis
adopted the expedient of working on the religious fears of the
youthful prince. One day as he was praying, according to his custom,
at his father's tomb, he heard a voice from beneath reiterating, in a
stifled tone, the words, "I burn." The next time that he prayed there
the same words assailed his ears. "I burn" was repeated again and
again, and no word beside. He applied to the chief of the Imams to
know what this prodigy might mean; and was informed in reply, that
his father, though a great man, had also been, unfortunately, a great
reformer, and that as such it was too much to be feared that he had
a terrible penance to undergo in the other world. The Sultan sent for
his brother-in-law to pray at the same place, and afterward several
others of his household; and on each occasion the same portentous
words were heard. One day he announced his intention of going in state
to his father's tomb, and was attended thither by a splendid retinue,
including the chief doctors of the Mahometan law. Again, during his
devotions, were heard the words, "I burn," and all except the Sultan
trembled. Rising from his prayer-carpet, he called in his guards, and
commanded them to dig up the pavement and remove the tomb. It was in
vain that the Muftis interposed, reprobating so great a profanation,
and uttering warnings as to its consequences. The Sultan persisted,
the foundations of the tomb were laid bare, and in a cavity skillfully
left among them was found--not a burning Sultan, but a Dervise. The
young monarch regarded him for a time fixedly and in silence, and then
said, without any further remark or the slightest expression of anger,
"You burn?--We must cool you in the Bosphorus." In a few minutes more
the dervise was in a bag, and the bag immediately after was in the
Bosphorus.--_De Vere's Sketches_.
* * * * *
[FROM HOUSEHOLD WORDS.]