Procession of the Sultan to the Mosque--A Dinner
party--Therapia--Visiters there--Lady Hester seeks permission
to reside in France--Turbulence of the Janissaries--Pera--Visit
to Hafez Aly--Captain Pasha--Mahometan patients attended
by the Author--Princess Morousi--Disagreeable climate of
Constantinople--Return of Lord Sligo to Malta.
We were busied, during the first days, in making ourselves somewhat
like the beings among whom we were come. Tailors, hatters, and such
persons, are not wanting at Constantinople. We let our mustachios grow,
bought ourselves horses, and went through the ceremony of paying and
receiving visits. I was fortunate in procuring for myself a Persian
horse, which, I was told, had brought Mr. Morier from Persia: it was
very handsome, and proved capable of enduring great fatigue.
The first person generally resorted to, on arriving in a strange city,
is the banker. I was commissioned to call on Lady Hester’s; and I found
in Mr. Alexander a man of rare merit. He was dragoman of the Prussian
mission, as well as a merchant, and to him I was subsequently indebted
for whatever information I needed on any point. His conversation
abounded in anecdotes, which were highly useful and instructive to a
traveller.
The house in which Lady Hester lived was too small, and in a narrow
street (as indeed are all the streets in Pera but the two main ones);
she therefore hastened to get into the country, after having seen the
sights that are usually shown to strangers. By means of a firmán, we
entered four of the principal mosques. I forbear giving descriptions of
them, as they are to be found at length in several works.
In Constantinople all that one sees is odd and strange, but it is
difficult to make another person understand in what that strangeness
consists. The mere act of walking in the streets has something in it
incompatible with recreation. There are no carriages or vehicles of any
kind, and consequently the streets are so silent that people’s voices
are heard as in a room. All the shops are entirely open to the air; you
are therefore subjected to the gaze of the shopkeepers; so that the
effect is similar to what is felt in walking through a hall, with a row
of servants on each side.
All persons of the same trade here have their shops in the same place.
Thus, there will be a row of tailors, a row of furriers, and a row
of shoemakers; and such a street is called the tailors’ bazar, the
furriers’ bazar, the shoemakers’ bazar. But, if the commodities are of
a precious nature, or susceptible of injury when exposed to the air or
wet, as jewelry, drugs, and the like, then the street is covered in,
the shops are fitted up in a somewhat more ornamented manner, and the
place is called bezestan.
There was no audience of an English ambassador while we were at
Constantinople, so that I had not an opportunity of seeing his
highness, the Sultan, excepting on Fridays, when it was his custom to
perform his public devotions at a mosque. The sight was magnificent and
striking, but it is impossible to convey an adequate impression of it
in a description: and I can only give the reader a general idea of it.
The origin of it, as we were told, was this--that subsequent to some
insurrection among the janissaries, in the reign of one of the early
Sultans, a sort of charter of rights was obtained from their monarch;
one of which was, that, instead of keeping himself shut up in his
seraglio, as his predecessors had done, he should show himself once a
week to his faithful subjects; since which time it has become a custom
for him to go publicly to mosque every Friday, which is the Moslem’s
sabbath.
On these occasions, when the Sultan issues from the harým, the
janissary-aga holds his stirrup whilst he mounts his horse, and
(as I was informed) draws on his legs a pair of new yellow boots,
a ceremony always repeated. To secure a good view, I had taken a
convenient situation in a street through which the Sultan was to pass;
and, presently, the procession approached in the following order.
First came some dozens of water-carriers, who bore skins of water
across their backs, with which they laid the dust as they advanced.
On the right and left of the street was a double file of janissaries.
Bostangis, with knotted whips, kept the crowd from pressing on the
procession. Next to the water-carriers came a group of nondescript
persons; grooms to hold horses, servants to unrobe their effendis
or masters, and other hangers-on or attendants of great men. After
these, upon a finely caparisoned horse, surrounded by a dozen valets
on foot, followed a fierce-looking Turk, with a black beard; and I
and my companion exclaimed, “Here comes the Sultan:”--it was only his
coffee-bearer. We made the like remark at a second, and a third; but
they were his stool, sword, and pipe-bearers, who, with the emblems of
office in their hands, passed in succession.
The surprise which the splendour of these inferior officers of the
palace excites is increased, when the Captain Pasha, the Reis Effendi,
the Kakhya Bey, and the Grand Vizir, pass by, muffled in pelisses
worth £200 each, wearing in their girdles hangers or daggers studded
with diamonds, and mounted on horses almost sinking under the weight
of gold housings. Our ideas were confused by the magnificence which we
saw displayed. And now, on a sudden, the crowd, which had been noisy
and making their remarks on the scene before them, was hushed. A
solemn and really an awful silence prevailed, whilst only low whispers
were heard that the commander of the faithful was near. Every Turk
immediately folded his long robe over his breast, crossed his hands
before him, dropped his head on his bosom, and, in a tone of voice
just audible, prayed Allah and Mahomet to preserve the perpetuity of
the royal race. Our object was curiosity, and we looked eagerly for
the Sultan, but could hardly obtain a glimpse of him. His person,
too sacred to be gazed on, was almost hidden by the lofty plumes of
feathers of the attendants who surrounded him, each of whom wore a
vest of glittering stuff representing resplendent armour, and on his
head a crested helmet. Fancy must assist the reader in imagining the
gorgeous housings, studded with rubies, emeralds, and other precious
stones, on a ground of gold, that covered the Sultan’s horse, which was
a milk-white stallion.
He passed, and lo! an ugly blackamore, the minister of his pleasures,
entitled the Kislar Aga, followed him. His deformity rendered him
hideous, yet was he rivalled in it by fifty other black eunuchs, and
as many white ones, who filled up his train. These were succeeded by
a dwarf. Three hundred chokhadars, or pages, closed the procession,
all clad in white, and all extremely beautiful in person. There were
several men appointed, according to custom, to throw money to the mob;
and several others whose duty it was to beat them unmercifully if they
thronged too riotously to pick it up; so that, between the sixpences
and the blows, which seemed to be dealt out in about equal shares,
there was much diversion for a bystander.
The procession arrived at the mosque. Prayers were said. But within
those sacred walls, on such an occasion, no infidel dared cast even a
glance, and we retired to our homes delighted with what we had seen,
but mortified by our exclusion from the termination of the ceremony.
It was on one of these occasions that Lady Hester rode on horseback on
a side-saddle to witness the procession. There is probably no other
example of a European female having ridden through the streets of
Constantinople in this manner on that day; and it may be reckoned as a
proof of her courage that she did so, and of her conduct that she did
so without insult.
The Mahometans are the most temperate men on earth: they are practical
philosophers, unostentatiously sober in the use of everything. I
dined, on two several occasions, with a Turk, named Azýz Effendy. The
restrictions which their religion imposes on them make their meals so
simple as to be not very grateful to a European stomach. The time was
about one in the day, which is their first meal. Our party consisted
of the chief clerks of the Admiralty; as Azýz Effendy, being physician
to the Captain Pasha, or Lord High Admiral, had invited me to the
arsenal. A table, not so large as an English claw tea-table, inlaid
with mother-of-pearl and ebony, was covered with an embroidered satin
cloth, round which, facing the place where each guest was to sit, were
laid, not knives and forks, and plates, but mahogany spoons tipped
with coral. A basin and ewer having been carried round by a black
slave, each person washed his hands, and then took his place. A napkin
was put over his knees, and another, much finer and embroidered, was
thrown over his shoulders. I doubled my knees under me like a tailor,
in imitation of the rest. Immediately, a single dish was placed in the
middle of us, which, being of rice, was eaten with our spoons, each
person scooping it up from the side next to him; and, after four or
five mouthfuls, the dish was lifted off to be replaced by another.
This was a stew, and, as fingers were to be used here, each person,
helping himself with his right hand, had time for about five mouthfuls
more, when other dishes were served up in succession, which, according
as they were more or less liquid or solid, were eaten by means of the
fingers or the spoon, always, however, to be spirited away immediately
after the first relish. The cookery I liked very much. During the
repast, those who wanted it called for water, which was the only
beverage, and was handed in a cut glass mug; this being almost the only
article of glass used among them. The last dish was a preparation of
rice called pilau, which always concludes a Turkish dinner. Every body
then rose from table; the hand-washing was again performed, and coffee
and pipes were handed round.
This description may serve for a general idea of the dinners of both
the rich and poor; for I dined with a son of the celebrated Ibrahim
Bey, one of the first people in the empire, and I saw no great
difference, excepting in the number of dishes, and in several sweet
things, as _entremets_ and _hors-d’œuvres_, which stood constantly on
the table, and of which, every now and then, a morsel or a spoonful was
taken. A supper, in every respect similar, takes place about sunset.
Those Turks, who are not very rigid in the observance of the laws
of Mahomet, and who wish to drink wine or spirits, do it I believe
secretly, or go to the French coffee-houses at Pera, where their
intemperance is not observed: but I entirely differ from many
travellers, who tell us that the major part of the Turks drink
fermented liquors. I aver that no people in the world adhere more
rigidly to the injunctions of their religion in that and other
respects. Those who take forbidden drinks are generally soldiers,
Tartars and persons of the lowest class. The effects of spirituous
liquors on the Turks are remarkable. Naturally sedate, composed, and
amicable, they become, when intoxicated, downright madmen; and the
inhabitants of Pera, who are accustomed to see them in this state,
know so well the danger of getting in their way at such a moment, that
they avoid them as they would a mad bull.
A house was hired for six months at five hundred piasters per
month, in the village of Therapia, on the Bosphorus, ten miles from
Constantinople. Lady Hester had scarcely removed thither, when she was
attacked with a severe indisposition, which confined her to her bed.
The house was at the bottom of a small creek, which formed a harbour
to the village; it was three stories high. The ceilings and walls
were painted in fresco ornaments on a white ground, and there were
little jets d’eau in some of the rooms. Each story consisted of a
grand saloon, with four rooms opening into it, most of which had broad
sofas fixed to the walls all round, with furniture either of flowered
velveteen or of printed cotton. The highest story in the house is the
story of honour:--a custom remaining from the time when the Genoese
possessed this quarter of Constantinople.
Lady Hester writes from this place to a friend thus:--
_Lady Hester Stanhope to ----._
Therapia, upon the Bosphorus,
December 21, 1810.
My dear ----,
Since the fire at Pera good houses are so scarce that I have
taken up my abode at this place, where I have a fine view of
the coast of Asia, and mouth of the Black Sea. Lord S---- and
B---- are about to set off upon a tour; the latter returns here
in a few weeks, but my lord means to take his passage to Malta
by the first opportunity, and to return to us in the early
spring. I flatter myself that you will take my word for his
having the best of hearts, and being a most friendly creature,
till you can judge yourself of his good qualities. B---- desires
to be most kindly remembered to you.
Canning[13] has behaved to me in the civilest, kindest manner
possible, but has never once mentioned his cousin’s name.
Our circle at Therapia was often enlivened by visitors, who came
to dinner from Constantinople. Mr. Stratford Canning, at that time
his Majesty’s Minister to the Sublime Porte, was not unfrequent in
his visits. Among our most distinguished travellers, were Mr. Gally
Knight, Mr. Henry Pearce, Mr. Fazakerly, and Mr. Taylor, who had
recently traversed Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. Mr. Pearce, being the
particular friend of Mr. B., afterwards joined Lady Hester’s party, and
accompanied us to Egypt and Syria. Lord Plymouth, whom we had seen at
Athens, was at this time at Constantinople, and did me the honour of
presenting me with a handsome Damascus sabre, in a silver scabbard, in
consequence of some professional assistance which I had rendered him.
Lady Hester always showed a strong partiality for the French nation,
and it was long a favourite scheme with her to endeavour to obtain
permission from the Emperor Napoleon to reside in France, thinking
that the climate in the southern parts would be more beneficial to her
than any other: an opinion in which I entirely agreed. Party spirit
was at this time carried to a height unknown in former wars, so that
individuals of belligerent nations were strictly forbidden to hold any
intercourse. This prohibition, however, held good only with those who
were immediately under the eye of the ambassadors and ministers: for,
as well at Athens as at Brusa, we made no sort of difficulty, and found
none, in visiting French families. But Lady Hester was a long time at
Constantinople before she could contrive to communicate with M. de
Maubourg, chargé d’affaires of France, who, however, no sooner learned
what she desired from his court, than he offered to endeavour to obtain
passports for her.
On the 21st December, the Marquis of Sligo and Mr. B. set off on their
excursion to Smyrna: they bought fourteen horses for the journey.
We were constantly hearing of tumults among the janissaries, who seemed
to be a very turbulent set of men. They feared that measures were
planning for their suppression, and subsequent events have proved that
their apprehensions were well founded.
The original institution of the janissaries was a species of militia,
by which an army might always be collected in an emergency without
being kept on foot. In the metropolis, however, a certain number of
regiments were maintained as a body-guard to the Sultan, and as a means
of awing the population into obedience to the acts of an arbitrary
government. In time, these very instruments of tyranny, finding out
their own importance, began themselves to exercise authority over
their nominal masters; and the annals of the empire present numerous
instances of their dethroning sultans, and putting them to death. The
last act of this kind was that in which, beholding with jealousy the
attempt made by Sultan Selim to new organize the army, they cut in
pieces the troops disciplined after the European manner, together with
the vizir, Mustapha Biractar, who favoured the change. Since that time
the tumult had never completely subsided; and occasional quarrels were
constantly taking place between the innovators and the janissaries.
It is most likely that, if the Turkish government had been at peace
with the neighbouring powers, these turbulent and disaffected bands
would soon have been reduced to order: but, unfortunately for Turkey,
in addition to the Russian war, she was at this epoch torn in pieces
by rebels, who were infesting, in one shape or another, almost all
the provinces of the empire. Bagdad and Egypt, extensive but distant
pashaliks, were both disturbed by intestine commotions, in which the
public treasury was always the loser. The Wahabys, a sect of fanatics,
had possessed themselves of the holy sepulchre of Mahomet, and were
gaining ground on the Turks every day. Not thirty miles from the
metropolis a petty war was waging between two provincial governors.
The State, convulsed within, and threatened by formidable enemies from
without, might be said to be in a tottering condition.
The janissaries, therefore, knowing that the government was too weak
to control them, became every day more seditious. We were often told
that tumults had taken place in Constantinople; but as Pera, where the
Franks reside, is separated by the harbour from Constantinople proper,
which is not often visited by the Franks, we were never eye-witnesses
of them.
There was abundance of wild fowl on the Bosphorus during the cold
weather; and I used sometimes to cross into Asia in a wherry to
shoot. On two different occasions, I brought home two pelicans. They
swam towards the boat, and suffered the gun to be levelled at them
without showing the least symptom of alarm. Those who are desirous
of shooting on the canal, or indeed anywhere in the neighbourhood of
Constantinople, must obtain a teskery, or permission to that effect.
I was stopped more than once by the keepers, who resorted to various
stratagems to get money. One keeper, when I showed him my license,
told me it was very true I had a teskery; but that an order had come
down that no guns were to be fired on the canal, because two of the
Sultan’s ladies were lying-in--at a distance of eight or ten miles! A
piaster, however, would always set matters right, and cause me to be
left undisturbed.
Pera was very gay during the winter. There were many dinner parties,
evening parties constantly, and not unfrequently balls. In these
meetings, the only thing that reminded me of being in Turkey was the
presence of the several dragomans, interpreters of the different
missions, who, from the necessity they are under of being as much at
the Porte as with their ambassadors, are habited in a Turkish dress
peculiar to that office. The Turks rarely, if ever, mix with the
Franks: for they would not thank them for the most splendid banquet,
if smoking were not allowed: and they dislike, worse than the French,
the tiresomeness of sitting long at table. Besides, the use of
wine effectually banishes a respectable Moslem from the repasts of
Europeans, who, on their side, are too strongly attached to it to give
it up for the sake of a Turkish guest.
On one occasion, Lady Hester invited the brother-in-law of the Captain
Pasha and another person of distinction to dinner. Although entirely
unaccustomed to the use of knives and forks, to sitting in chairs,
to remaining more than half an hour at table, and to solid food like
joints dressed in the English manner, they complied with the hospitable
intentions of their hostess with so much courtesy that everything
seemed to give them pleasure. They tasted of different wines, and each
drank three or four glasses.
Lady Hester alludes to this visit in a letter to one of her
correspondents, as follows:--
I have made my own way with the Turks, and I have contrived
to get upon so intimate a footing, that the Pasha’s brother,
brother-in-law, and captain of the fleet, dined with us,
accompanied by the confidential physician. This may not sound
like a compliment; but see the Captain Pasha’s brother sitting
under a tree in a public walk:--he neither notices Greek,
Armenian, or Frank women of any kind, but looks at them all
as if they were sheep in a field: and they dare not come near
him, as his attendants form a circle which they never pass, but
stand and look at him for an hour together. I must likewise
tell you that ---- has been much shocked at my having gone on
board the fleet in men’s clothes; a pair of overalls, a military
great-coat, and cocked hat, is so much less decent a dress than
that of a real fine lady in her shift and gown, and half naked
besides! The Captain Pasha said I was welcome to go, but that I
must change my dress, and I certainly thought it worth while. I
closely examined everything, and as I understand a little about
a ship, it was not quite a useless visit.
When the answer arrives from Paris, I will communicate to you
the nature of it; and, at all events, as soon as it comes, and
Mr. Liston is arrived, we shall leave this place. I find he is a
sensible, liberal man. By the by, though I have made it a rule
never to repeat any conversation with Monsieur de M.,[14] I will
tell you in confidence one thing I said to him. He seldom talks
politics, but one day asked questions about L. Bonaparte, ‘How
was he, how would he be treated in England, how considered,’
&c., &c., &c. I answered, I knew not, but were I a public man I
should have put him at once and kept him in close confinement.
If he was his brother’s spy, he deserved it; if a traitor to his
country, the same; for it is neither to the honour or interest
of a great nation to encourage either the one or the other.
These are my true feelings, and I am not ashamed to confess them
to any one; and I fancy, although I can do justice to the French
as a nation full of talent and resource, no one can better
_faire valoir_ their own country.
The long-promised bridle accompanies this letter. I fear you
will not like it much, but it is of the newest fashion. There
are two sorts of bridles here, such as I send, of various
descriptions and colours, and those made for very great men of
solid silver, weighing some of them twelve or fifteen pounds,
which their own stallions can just bear the weight of during
some grand procession. In the hand, these bridles are the most
magnificent things you can imagine, but they are so confused
with chains and ornaments that they bury a horse’s head, and
have little effect. I have sent a red one to my brother, but I
thought that a dark one would more become your white horse. All
those with tassels are made with a little silk mixed with silver
or gold twist: it looks pretty for a day, but the heat of the
horse spoils it directly, and it cannot be cleaned! This bridle
must be cleaned with lemon-juice.
Hafiz Aly was at this time Captain Pasha. Lady Hester became acquainted
with him through me, and I was honoured with his notice in consequence
of a cure performed on the Danish minister, Baron H., which had gained
me much celebrity at Pera and Constantinople, so that I found myself
on a sudden called to an extensive practice in my profession. He sent
his physician, Azýz Effendy, to me one day, begging I would go and see
him at the arsenal, a handsome edifice overlooking the harbour in the
Galata quarter. A boat came about ten in the morning of the next day to
Therapia to fetch me; and, on arriving at the arsenal, I was conducted
to Azýz Effendy, who showed me the buildings, and, as it appeared he
had been commanded to do, endeavoured to amuse me during the day. I
breakfasted with him and several other Turkish gentlemen, and at sunset
dined, after which a slave came to say the Pasha would receive us.
I was led by Azýz Effendy to the entrance of the saloon in which he
was sitting, and, it being winter, a curtain was drawn aside, and
Azýz Effendy, without speaking, made a sign to me and my interpreter
to enter. The pasha was seated at the farther end of the room: we
approached him, and he desired me to sit down by him on the sofa,
whilst the interpreter and his own doctor, at a sign made to them,
placed themselves on the floor with their knees doubled under them,
and their garments so smoothed that neither their hands nor their feet
could be seen; for both are studiously hidden by the people of the East
when respect is intended to be shown. Ten or twelve chokhadars, or
servants, stood before him with their arms folded; his brother-in-law,
a young man of interesting appearance, sat on the sofa with his face
turned towards him, and his legs and clothes arranged with the same
precision as those of the doctor: and, at the distance of three or four
yards, stood his little son upon the sofa, with his arms folded in the
same respectful attitude as those of the servants. Every time that the
brother-in-law replied to anything which the Pasha had said to him, he
carried his hand to his mouth and forehead, and made a low inclination
of his head, so as almost to touch the sofa with it. When the pasha did
not speak, no one attempted to say a word, and the greatest silence
prevailed.
Coffee was served to me, and the pipe presented, after which the pasha
made a sign with his hand, and the servants left the room. Several
questions were then asked me about my country, about anatomy, and about
the opening of dead bodies, as practised in Europe, for the purpose
of investigating the seat and nature of diseases. In conversation, in
the course of the morning, I had inquired of the pasha’s physician
where malefactors’ heads were cut off, and had said, that as I supposed
such executions were frequent, I should be obliged to him if he would
apprize me of one that I might be present. It seemed that all this and
all my observations in the day had been reported to the pasha, for,
among other questions, he asked me what made me think executions were
frequent at the Arsenal. I told him plainly that we had an idea in
England that cutting off heads was very common in the East, and that
little account was taken of human life where the power of disposing of
it was delegated to so many pashas and beys, whose will was law. He
asked me how many executions took place in London during the year,
and when I said they might amount to forty or fifty, he smiled, and
assured me we were not less bloody than he and the Grand Vizir both
together, and perhaps more so. He then explained his own case to me,
which was connected with a plethoric habit arising from a sedentary
mode of living, and, on my taking leave, he presented me with a crimson
Cashmere shawl. I saw him afterwards frequently, both there and at his
house at Buyukdery, a village on the Bosphorus, where he resided in
order to be near the fleet, which lay at the mouth of the Black Sea.
He had married a woman from the Sultan’s harým, whose influence had
procured him the situation he held. She was consumptive, and I was
called in to attend her. I found her lying in a bed, placed on the
floor in the middle of the room, without curtains, tester, or any
furniture but the coverlet and the sheets. She was addressed in
the tenderest manner by the pasha, who desired me to bestow all my
attention on her case. As we entered the harým, a slave had preceded
us, who cried out “_Testûr, testûr_,” (which means by your leave),
upon which all the female slaves disappeared, excepting two who were
in attendance on the lady. I saw nothing in the behaviour of the pasha
that marked any undue assumption of superiority over the female sex; on
the contrary, it was all kindness. Azýz Effendy, who was with us, stood
in the same attitude of respect as before the pasha, and when speaking
to the lady, or spoken to by her, preserved the same demeanour. I
prescribed for her, and she grew for a while better, as it sometimes
happens in such cases. I was desirous that she should be removed, when
the weather would permit, to a pavilion on the banks of the canal,
that she might breathe the air more freely than she could in the warm
apartments of Buyukdery: this was done.
One day I had seen her, and signified that I should repeat my visit
the next day, as she was much worse. The next day I went about noon,
and, on entering the house, I found no appearance of the lady, or of
her sick chamber, or of anything as it had been the day before. In
fact, she had died in the night; was immediately washed, laid out,
and buried; and, as the Mahometans make little outward show of grief,
and never put on mourning garments that I could observe, no one could
tell that a funeral had taken place, nor did the pasha, whom I saw,
say anything more than that she was gone, and that it became us to be
resigned to the decrees of the Almighty.
Not long afterwards, Azýz Effendy requested me to accompany him to
the pasha, who wished to see me about a white slave or concubine whom
he had bought since the death of his wife. He was still at Buyukdery,
and I was ushered into his presence, nobody being with him but Azýz
Effendy. He told me that a _seryr_, or concubine, whom he had
taken to his bed, was pregnant, and, as her beauty was considerable,
he was fearful that child-bearing would destroy the symmetry of her
person; he wished me, therefore, he added, to administer something to
cause abortion. I was not surprised at such a proposal from him; for,
in my conversation with medical men at Constantinople, I had learned,
to my astonishment, that the Mahometans make no scruple of resorting to
a variety of methods for attaining that end; and, without listening to
what the pasha had further to say, I told him plainly that, by the laws
of my country, I should be considered a criminal, if I were, in any
shape whatever, consenting to such a deed. He said no more about it,
and the subject was never introduced before me again.
Of my other patients, I will enumerate those only whose rank may
entitle them to notice. The Princess Morousi, wife of the ex-Hospodar
of Wallachia, was one. Her husband had been driven from his
principality by the Russians. She was a woman of a highly amiable
character, and the misfortunes which her family has since met with may
serve to show at once how great was their power, and perhaps their
guilt. Her palace was at Kurugesmy, a village on the European side of
the Bosphorus. When I paid her a visit, everything was done with a view
to inspire me with a notion of her greatness. Vanity is the failing of
the Greeks. It was usual for me to be conducted up a flight of steps
to the first or second floor, between two ranks of servants, then led
through a suite of apartments, and, when arrived at the door of the
room where she was sitting, a page would draw aside a crimson curtain,
and there I found the Princess, seated on a crimson sofa edged with
gold. On a cushion on the floor, but at a distance of some yards,
(for here respect is measured by the distance at which inferiors keep
from the great) sat the physician; and, if her sons were in the room,
although young men with their beards grown, they stood before her.
Behind her would be her young daughter on the sofa. Sweetmeats, coffee,
and the pipe were first handed to me; and then her doctor, a Greek,
explained her case in Latin, in which language I always found the Greek
physicians exceedingly ready, although their Latinity was not
classical.
On these occasions, the little princess would plant herself at the
door, and, as I was taking leave, would give me an embroidered scarf,
an antique ring, or some such present, with a little speech of her own
in French, calculated, by its amiability, to render the present more
acceptable.
The princess had a daughter, lively, and of great wit, who was married
to the Prince Mavrocordato. This prince was affected with spitting of
blood; and I went to his villa, on the Prinkipi islands, to see him,
and remained there two days. These islands, which are close to the
mouth of the Bosphorus, in the sea of Marmora, are inhabited entirely
by Greeks; and their archons here live in great pomp, unrestrained by
the presence of the Turks.
Lady Hester, who always suffered more from variable weather than from
periods of steady heat, rain, or drought, was grievously disappointed
in the climate of Constantinople: for we had experienced, during the
winter, a degree of cold equal to what is sometimes felt in Paris, and
had been subject to vicissitudes quite as marked as those in England.
The months of December and January were mild as our spring, and we
naturally supposed that, these over, the winter was past; but it proved
far otherwise. On the 28th of February there was a fall of snow a foot
deep, which was again succeeded by some days more genial and mild than
can ever be seen in England. March was a series of snowstorms and
tempests, exceeding almost what I had ever witnessed elsewhere. Such
weather, in a country where there are no fireplaces, and the houses
are hardly weather-proof, made Lady Hester feel much regret at having
quitted Athens, where we might have sat, as we were told, with our
windows open all through the year.
At the end of this month, Lord Sligo, who, with Mr. B., had returned
from Smyrna, was obliged to depart for Malta, for the purpose of being
invested with the Order of St. Patrick, sent out to him by the king.
It was with much regret that Lady Hester saw Lord Sligo depart: she
always spoke of the qualities of his heart with commendation, and her
friendship for him ever continued unaltered.