CLIMATE.—ITS INFLUENCE.—EDUCATION OF THE BOYARS.—SCHOOLS.—WALLACHIAN
TONGUE.—MODERN GREEK.—NATIONAL DRESS, MUSIC, AND DANCE.—
AMUSEMENTS.—HOLIDAYS.—MANNERS OF SOCIETY.—MARRIAGES.—DIVORCES.—RELIGION
AND SUPERSTITION.—AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH.—ITS INDEPENDENCE OF THE
PATRIARCHAL CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
The proximity of the Black Sea and of Mount Hæmus on one side, and that
of the Carpathian Mountains on the other, render the climate of the
principalities variable, and subject to sudden changes from heat to
cold.
When the wind comes from the north-east, even in the middle of summer,
it cools the atmosphere to such a degree, as to force the inhabitants to
cover themselves with additional clothing. The southerly wind brings
heat and fine weather; but it seldom lasts any length of time.
A great quantity of rain falls during the summer, and in the months of
June and July it is always accompanied by storms of wind and thunder,
which regularly return every day at the same hour towards the evening.
The winter is almost always long and tedious, and the summer heats set
in all at once at the beginning of May, so that the beauties of a
regular spring are little seen or known.
The severest part of the winter begins early in December, and the same
degree of cold, with little variation, lasts until the middle of
February, when a damp and unhealthy temperature succeeds, and continues
until May. The Danube and all the rivers that fall into it from the
principalities generally remain frozen for six weeks, and the ice is
thick enough to bear with perfect safety the heaviest artillery. The
snow lies on the ground the whole of January and February, and
communications with every part of the country are carried on with
sledges.
From the latter part of September to the middle, and frequently to the
end of, November, the days are the finest in the year. But the nights
are excessively cold, and the night air particularly unwholesome.
Travellers who do not take care to guard against its influence by
flannels and thick clothing, are exposed to the danger of various kinds
of fevers, and of the pleurisy.
The irregularity of climate, the damp quality of the soil, and an
abundance of marshy places throughout the principalities, produce a
visible influence over the animals of the various sorts which are common
to them, as well as over the vegetation. The bears, wolves, and foxes,
are of the most timid nature; hardly any danger is to be apprehended
from them, unless they are met in numerous flocks, as is common enough
during the coldest winter nights.
The domestic animals are also remarkable for mildness. The beef, pork,
mutton, poultry, and game, have rather an insipid taste; the vegetables
an inferior flavour, and the flowers little perfume.
Finally, man, the chief work of nature, is here of a dull and heavy
disposition: with weak passions, no strength of mind, and betraying a
natural aversion to a life of industry or of mental exertion. Moral
causes may indeed produce such effects upon the human frame; but here,
those of a physical kind evidently act in unison with them, and with
equal force.
The education of the Boyars is usually confined to the mere knowledge of
reading and writing the language of the country, and the modern Greek.
Some few add to this superficial stock of learning, a few of the
rudiments of the French language, which has been introduced by the
Russian officers among them. Many more understand and speak it without
the least knowledge of its letters or grammar. If any are able to talk
familiarly, though imperfectly, of one or two ancient or celebrated
authors, or make a few bad verses that will rhyme, they assume the title
of literati and poets, and they are looked upon by their astonished
countrymen as endowed with superior genius and abilities. An early
propensity to learning and literature receives but little encouragement;
and, at a more advanced period in life, the allurements of public
employment, the petty intrigues at court, and the absence of every
obstacle to pursuits of gallantry and pleasure, induce even the best
disposed to set aside every other occupation.
Public schools have, since several years, been established both at
Bukorest and Yassi. They are supported at public expense, and attended
by masters for the Wallachian, ancient and modern Greek languages,
writing, and arithmetic. The number of students at each school amounts
at the present moment to about two hundred. They are the sons of
inferior Boyars and tradesmen. The children of the principal Boyars
receive their education at home from private tutors, commonly Greek
priests, who are not natives of the principalities.
The education of the women is not more carefully attended to than that
of the men; sometimes it is inferior, on account of the prevailing
custom of marrying them at a very early age.
Neither sex is regularly instructed in religion, and it is by the mere
intercourse of life that they derive their notions of it, and by the
examples of their elders that their principles in it are regulated.
These circumstances, naturally arising from the discouragement given by
the government to every improvement in civilisation, keep the state of
society very backward, and are productive of the most pernicious
influence over its moral character.
The Boyars, indeed, although so little susceptible of great virtues,
cannot be taxed with a determined propensity to vice. Established
prejudices, which the general state of ignorance has rooted in the two
nations, and a universal system of moral corruption, render them,
however, familiar with it.
Money is their only stimulus; and the means they generally employ to
obtain it are not the efforts of industry, nor are they modified by any
scruples of conscience. Habit has made them spoliators; and in a country
where actions of an ignominious nature are even encouraged, and those of
rapacity looked upon as mere proofs of dexterity and cunning, corruption
of principles cannot fail to become universal.
The prodigality of the Boyars is equal to their avidity; ostentation
governs them in one manner, and avarice in another. They are careless of
their private affairs, and, with the exception of a few more prudent
than the generality, they leave them in the greatest disorder. Averse to
the trouble of conducting their pecuniary concerns, they entrust them to
the hands of stewards, who take good care to enrich themselves at their
expense, and to their great detriment. Many have more debts than the
value of their whole property is sufficient to pay; but their personal
credit is not injured by them, neither do they experience one moment’s
anxiety for such a state of ruin.
The quality of nobility protects them from the pursuits of the creditor;
and the hope of obtaining lucrative employments, by the revenues of
which they may be able to mend their affairs, sets their minds at ease,
and induces them to continue in extravagance. Some bring forward their
ruin as a pretext for soliciting frequent employment, and when the
creditors have so often applied to the prince as to oblige him to
interfere, they represent that the payment of their debts depends upon
his placing them in office. The office is finally obtained, and the
debts remain unpaid. When a sequester is laid upon their property, they
contrive to prove that it came to them by marriage; and as the law
respects dowries, they save it from public sale.
The Wallachian or Moldavian language is composed of a corrupt mixture of
foreign words, materially altered from their original orthography and
pronunciation. Its groundwork is Latin and Slavonic. For many centuries
it had no letters, and the Slavonic characters were used in public
instruments and epitaphs. The Boyars, whose public career rendered the
knowledge of a few letters most necessary, knew merely enough to sign
their names. The Bible was only known by reputation. In 1735,
Constantine Mavrocordato,who had undertaken the task of replacing
barbarism by civilisation in both principalities, made a grammar for the
jargon that was spoken, in characters which he drew from the Slavonic
and the Greek. He caused several copies of the Old and New Testament in
the new language to be distributed, and he ordered the Gospel to be
regularly read in the churches. He encouraged the inhabitants to study
their language according to the rules of his grammar, and in a few years
the knowledge of reading and writing became general among the higher
orders.[41]
The modern Greek, introduced by the Hospodars, is the language of the
court, but it is perfectly understood by the Boyars, with whom it has
become a native tongue. It is spoken in Wallachia with much greater
purity than in any other country where it is in use. In many parts of
Greece, different dialects have been adopted, some of which have but
little affinity with the Hellenic, whilst in others the greater part of
the words have been so disfigured as to render their origin difficult to
trace. The Greek spoken in Wallachia differs but little from the
Hellenic. The Moldavians are less in the habit of making use of it; and
the study of French and other foreign languages is more general among
them.
The national dress of the Boyars does not differ from that which belongs
to the higher classes of Turks, with the only exception of the turban,
to which they substitute a kind of cap of an extraordinary size called
_calpack_, made of grey Astracan fur, in the shape of a pear. It is
hollow, and the largest part of it is about three feet in circumference,
with a proportionable height. It is altogether a very ugly and
ridiculous head-dress, and not at all adapted to the beauty and
magnificence of the rest of the costume.
The ladies dress entirely in the European style; but they combine the
fashions with oriental richness and profusion of ornament. Their
persons, in general, have not much beauty; but this deficiency is made
up by a great share of natural grace and pleasant humour, and by a
peculiar neatness of shape.
The Wallachian music has some resemblance with that of the modern
Greeks, although more regular in time, and altogether more harmonious.
Its style has hardly any variety, and all the tunes are uniformly played
in minor keys. Some would produce good effect if played with proper
delicacy and expression. The instruments mostly used are the common
violin, the Pan-pipe, and a kind of guitar or lute peculiar to the
country. The bands are composed of these three kinds of instruments, all
of which play the leading part without variation of accompaniment; they
are only introduced on occasions of mirth or festivity. The Boyars,
being no admirers of music, never make a study of it, and their gypsy
slaves are the only persons who profess it. Their women, however, are
partial to the German style of it, and several of them perform on the
pianoforte; but want of perseverance keeps them from reaching to any
degree of perfection, and want of emulation from persevering.
The dance, formerly common to all the classes of the natives, and which,
at present, is the only one known to the lower orders, is of a singular
style. Fifteen or twenty persons of both sexes take each other by the
hands, and, forming a large circle, they turn round and round again, at
a very slow pace; the men bending their knees now and then, as if to
mark the time of music, and casting a languishing look on each side,
when holding the hands of women. This kind of dance has some years since
been thrown out of fashion in the first circles of society, and English
country-dances, waltzing, and the Polish mazurka have been introduced.
Most of the ladies dance them well, but the men very indifferently,
their dress being a great obstacle to perfection in the accomplishment.
In the daily occupations and pastimes of the Boyars, little variety
takes place. Those who hold no place under government, spend their
leisure in absolute idleness, or in visiting each other to kill time. In
Wallachia, the management of their estates and other private concerns,
which do not relate to public appointment, does not occupy much of their
attention, and sometimes the finest of their lands are left in total
neglect, or in the hands of mercenary agents, who enrich themselves with
their spoils. They hardly ever visit their country possessions, which
some let out for several years, for much less than their real value,
when they find customers who are willing to pay the whole amount of rent
in advance. They build fine country-houses which they intend never to
inhabit, and which, in a few years, fall into ruin. The most delightful
spots in their beautiful country have no power to attract them, neither
is it at all customary with them to quit the town residence at any
season of the year.
The Boyars in Moldavia, like those in Wallachia, are the great
land-proprietors; but they bestow much more of their attention and time
to the improvement of their estates, which they make their principal
source of riches. The revenues of some of the most opulent, from landed
property, amount to two or three hundred thousand piasters, and their
appointment to public employment is generally unsolicited.
During the winter, the chief amusements of the Boyars at Bukorest
consist in attending public clubs, established on the plan of the
_redoutes_ at Vienna. Masked balls are given in them three or four times
a week, which attract great numbers of people. There are, however, clubs
adapted to the different ranks; the principal of them, to which the
court and first Boyars subscribe, is distinguished by the appellation of
_Club-noble_; it is very numerously attended towards the end of the
Carnival, and although its title indicates a perfect selection of
society, it does not the less allow entrance to people of all
descriptions under masks. The most genteel do not dance here, unless
they are masked; but they play at the pharao-table, and at other games,
of which the place offers a variety.
Private balls are also given sometimes, but no other kind of regular
evening parties are customary. Formalities of invitation, however, are
never expected; and the tables of the Boyars, and their houses, are at
all times open to their friends and acquaintance.
The summer evenings are generally spent at a place called _Hellesteo_.
It is a lake situated about a mile’s distance out of town, on the
borders of which, the company walk or sit two or three hours. Near the
most frequented part is a coffee-house, where ices and other
refreshments are to be had. On Sundays, the number of carriages coming
to this place, amounts sometimes to six or seven hundred; and the
multitude of fashionables, as well as the great display of dress and
jewels of the ladies, certainly render it a gay and pretty scene. The
walks are not shaded by trees, and the only advantage they offer, is an
extensive view round the country.
At the distance of a mile from the _Hellesteo_, is situated a beautiful
little grove called _Banessa_, to which a part of the company frequently
drive. It is the property of a Boyar of the name of Vakaresko, and forms
a kind of park to his country-house, situated behind it. This gentleman
is not only good enough to keep it open to the public, but even makes
every possible improvement for their accommodation, at his own expense.
Both he and his lady do the honours of it to their friends, in the most
obliging manner.
All the company return to town from these places at the same time; the
line of calèches, endless to the sight, raise clouds of dust, to the no
small derangement of the ladies’ toilets. Some spend the remainder of
the evening in riding up and down the principal streets, and others
assemble at different houses to play at cards.
In winter, the afternoon rides are confined to the streets of the town,
where the number and splendour of sledges is equal to that of the
calèches in the fine season.
Last year a company of German actors came to Bukorest, and after some
performances, were encouraged to establish a regular theatre. They gave
German operas, and comedies translated into Wallachian, and the first
two or three months they attracted crowds from all the classes, who,
without exception, seemed to have taken a true liking to the new sort of
amusement; but latterly the charm of novelty had begun to wear off, and
the Boyars of the first order, with some of the principal foreign
residents, seemed to be the only persons disposed to support the
continuance of the establishment, more with the view of making it a
place of general union of the society, than from the attractions of the
stage.
The days of Christmas, new-year, the prince’s anniversary, Easter, and
some others, are chiefly devoted to etiquette visits at court. From nine
o’clock in the morning to one in the afternoon, the prince and princess,
seated at the corner of a very long sopha, and covered with jewels and
the most costly apparel, receive the homage of all those who are
entitled to the honour of kissing their hands, an honour which the
foreign consuls, their wives, and officers attached to their suite,
alone, think proper to dispense with. No other persons residing in the
country can be received at court on gala days without going through that
formality. The wives of Boyars are allowed to sit in the presence of the
prince and princess; they take seat according to the rank or office of
their husbands, who without exception are obliged to stand at a
respectful distance. On similar occasions, the crowd at court is
immense; the whole of the outer apartments are filled with persons of
every description, and the audience-chamber is not less so by the number
of visitors. On new-year’s-day it is customary to make presents of money
to the servants attending the court; they have no other pecuniary
allowance for their services; and the bustle and confusion occasioned by
the avidity of this crowd of harpies is as difficult to be described as
it is inconsistent with the dignity of a court who expects and ordains
universal homage to its chiefs.
About two hundred and ten days of the year are holidays, and they are
strictly observed by the inhabitants, as far, at least, as relates to
the exclusion of all kinds of work. The public offices, although they
have so great a portion of the year to remain inactive, are allowed,
besides, a fortnight’s vacation at Easter and during the hottest days of
summer. In these useless and pernicious days of idleness, whilst the
Boyars’ chief occupation consists in seeking the means of killing time
out of their homes, the lowest classes spend it with their earnings at
the brandy-shops, where prostitutes are kept for the purpose of
attracting a greater number of customers, and of propagating with vice
the most horrible of all the diseases with which human nature is
afflicted.
The number of this disgraceful class of females is so great at Bukorest,
that the late Aga, or police director, suggested to the prince the plan
of levying a capitation tax on each, whereby he would create a new
revenue of some hundred thousand piasters. This plan, contrary to
expectation, was not put into effect, though it was not likely to meet
with obstacles.
The manners of society among the Wallachian Boyars are not remarkable
for refinement. The general topics of social conversation are of the
most trivial nature, and subjects of an indecent kind frequently take
the place of more becoming discourse; they are seldom discouraged by
scruples of any ladies present.
In the habitual state of inaction, brought on by a natural aversion to
every serious occupation which does not immediately relate to personal
interest, both sexes, enjoying the most extensive freedom of intercourse
with each other, are easily led to clandestine connexion; the
matrimonial faith has become merely nominal.
Various other customs contribute to the domestic disorders prevailing in
a great number of private families. Parents never marry their daughters,
to whatever class they may belong, without allowing them dowries beyond
the proportion of their own means, and to the great detriment of their
male children, who, finding themselves unprovided for, look upon
marriage as the means of securing a fortune, and consequently regard it
as a mere matter of pecuniary speculation. Feelings of affection or
sentiments of esteem are therefore out of the question in the pursuit of
matrimonial engagements, and money remains the only object in view.
When a girl has reached the age of thirteen or fourteen, her parents
become anxious to procure a husband for her. They do not wait for
proposals, but make the first offers, sometimes to three or four men at
a time, stating with them the amount and nature of the dowry they are
disposed to give. They enter into a regular negotiation when a greater
amount is required, and finally settle with him who remains satisfied
with the most reasonable terms. The inclinations of their daughter are
never consulted on the occasion, and too great a disparity of age, or
other personal defects on the part of the future husband, never appear
to them objectionable. The girl is sometimes perfectly unacquainted with
the man of her parents’ choice; and, at her tender age, unable to form
any judgment on the state of matrimony, she submits to their will with
indifference. Not long after the nuptials, she is left perfect mistress
of her actions, her domestic affairs are entirely put into the hands of
the servants, and she never interferes with them. Neglected by her
husband, and at full liberty to dispose of her time as she thinks
proper, she forms connexions of intimacy with women more experienced in
the world than herself. The attractions of pleasure and society become
too strong to be resisted, and the example of others, with the numerous
temptations that surround her, prove, sooner or later, fatal to her
virtue. To the harmony which may have subsisted between her and her
husband, succeeds disgust; quarrels soon follow, and blows sometimes are
not spared on her. Her condition becomes at last intolerable, she quits
her husband’s house, sues for a divorce, and generally obtains it,
however frivolous the plea in the true sense of the law. Her fortune is
given back to her, and enables her to live single, or to attract another
husband, if she feels again an inclination to matrimony. She is now
allowed her own choice of one; but, once accustomed to the agreeable
paths of diversity, she seldom remains more faithful to the second than
she had been to the first.
The church of Wallachia and Moldavia is the only one professing the
Greek religion that authorises divorce; or more properly speaking, the
only one that abuses the power of pronouncing it, the authority being
granted to the patriarch of Constantinople on occasions of the most
particular nature, and indeed never made use of.
In the principalities, the sentence of divorce is pronounced so
frequently, the motives alleged are sometimes so frivolous, that it
never affects the reputation of a woman, so as to degrade her in her
ordinary rank of society; nor does it in the least become a scruple to
the delicacy of the men, whatever may have been the nature of its
motive.
There are but few families at Bukorest who have long continued in an
uninterrupted state of domestic harmony, and fewer still who can point
out some relation who has not gone through a divorce.
Sometime back, a Wallachian lady of quality, who had brought but a small
fortune to her husband, became desirous of fixing her residence in one
of the principal streets of the town, and she pressed him to lay aside
his accustomed system of economy, to sell his estate, the revenue of
which gave them the principal means of support, and to build a fine
house in that street. The husband, more reasonable than herself,
positively refused to listen to her extravagant proposal; and the lady,
incensed at his upbraiding her for it, quitted his house, and shortly
after sued for divorce, which she obtained. This lady, who has since
remained single, professed great piety, and is still considered as a
very pious woman.
Not long after, a young Boyar, contrary to custom, fell in love with a
very beautiful young woman, of the same rank and age. The parents of
both agreed on their union, and the nuptials were celebrated by public
festivities. This couple was looked upon as the only one in the country
whom a strong and mutual attachment had united. At the end of the first
year the husband was suddenly attacked by a pulmonary complaint, and
induced by the physicians’ advice to separate himself for some time from
his wife, and go to Vienna in order to consult the best medical men.
After eighteen months’ absence, finding himself perfectly recovered, he
hastened back to Bukorest impatient to see his wife, to whom he had not
ceased to write, but whose letters had latterly become much less
frequent. On his arrival he found the most unexpected changes in his
family affairs. His wife had gone to her parents, refused to see him,
and had already consented to marry another! Her father, who was the
chief instigator of her sudden resolution, had negotiated the second
marriage, because it suited his own interests.
The legitimate husband claimed his spouse through every possible
channel; but he was not listened to, and government declined
interfering.
The sentence of divorce was pronounced by the metropolitan; and,
although the husband’s refusal to sign the act rendered it perfectly
illegal, the second marriage took place; the ceremony was performed by
the archbishop in person, and public rejoicings were made on the
occasion.
The circumstances of this adventure were the more remarkable, as the
second husband had been married before, and divorced his wife after six
weeks’ cohabitation, when he saw the possibility of obtaining this
lady’s hand.
Another lady of the first rank separated her daughter from her husband,
with whom she had lived six years, and caused a sentence of divorce to
be pronounced. She gave for reason, that her daughter’s constitution
suffered considerably by frequent pregnancy. The husband, who was by no
means inclined to the separation, and who knew his wife to enjoy the
best health, made remonstrances to no effect: and he was condemned by
government to give back the dowry, and to pay damages to a considerable
amount, for having spent a part of it, although he proved to have
employed the deficient sum for the use of his wife and family.
These three instances of the degraded state of morals in these countries
are selected from numerous others that occur daily. They are such as to
excite astonishment, and appear almost incredible; yet they created no
other sensation at the time than other common news of the day, deserving
but little notice.
It is customary in Wallachia for parents to interfere in their married
children’s family concerns, and to exercise nearly the same authority
over them after marriage as before. They are often seen as busy in
intriguing to bring on a separation, as they had been active in seeking
husbands or wives for them.
The absurdities of superstition, which form so great a part of the
fundamental principles of the present Greek faith, have gained equal
strength in Wallachia and in Moldavia: even the most precise doctrines
of the Christian religion are there corrupted by the misconceptions or
selfish views of low-bred and ignorant priests, a set of men, indeed,
who have here made themselves a manifest disgrace to the sanctity of the
Christian name.
A celebrated writer has said that ‘Climate has some influence over men;
government a hundred times more, and religion still more.’[42] This
observation is particularly applicable to these countries, and its truth
illustrated by their present condition. Either of the two last-mentioned
causes, separately, would have acted with force upon the morals of their
inhabitants. Intimately connected as they are, the evils that result are
most deplorable.
The mode of instructing the Wallachians and Moldavians in the precepts
of religion, is not, however, calculated to animate them with excessive
zeal and to propagate fanaticism. They are merely taught to plunge
headlong into all the ridicules of superstition, the inseparable
attendant of ignorance; and it is probably owing to the total absence of
fanaticism that the priesthood exercise a less powerful influence here,
than they do in other Greek countries. All the ecclesiastical
dignitaries being of obscure origin, and mostly of the lowest
extraction, they are personally despised by the Boyars. Their spiritual
power is alone respected.
The rites ordained by the established church are the same as those of
the patriarchal church. Persons who have not received baptism in it, are
not considered as Christians, nor even honoured with the name of such.
Frequency of confession and communion, and the punctual observance of a
vast number of fast-days, during the year, are prescribed with severity.
They have become the most essential points of faith, and the people
believe with confidence that an exact adherence to them is sufficient to
expiate the heaviest crimes, particularly after the confessor’s
absolution, which, in most cases, is to be obtained by the means of a
good fee.
Attending divine service at a very early hour on Sundays and other
holidays, and three or four times a day during the week of the Passion,
is also required and observed; the signs of devotion performed in it,
consist in making crosses and prostrations before the images, kissing
them, and lighting a candle to some favourite saint. The Gospel, when
read, is heard with indifference and inattention. Preaching is not
customary.
The laws of the church strictly forbid matrimony between persons who are
in any degree related to each other: they even go so far as to prevent
marriage between people whose parents may have stood godfathers to
either in baptism. The severity of the matrimonial laws is still greater
with respect to the difference of religion, when one of the parties
belongs to the Greek church. A transgression would be followed by a
sentence of divorce, and punished by excommunication, if the marriage,
already concluded, were persisted in. The dread of this last evil is so
great to all the natives, that every sacrifice is made in preference of
being exposed to it.
The patriarch of Constantinople, although acknowledged as chief of the
religion, has no controul over the church of the two principalities and
exercises but little influence over its chief dignitaries.