held an Impious Aping of Providence. And the only way you have of
telling the Time is by the Fellows up in the Minarets calling 'em to
Prayers. Some of the rich Agas have Watches, bought or stolen out of
Europe; but they are usually spoilt by the Women of the Harem playing
with 'em. The Dey's principal Wife, Zoraide Khanum, is said to have
boiled a large Gold Chronometer, made by Silvain of Paris, with Cream
and Sweet Almonds. Yet does a remnant of their Ancestors' old skill in
Arithmetic and Algebra linger among 'em; for whereas not One in Twenty
Thousand can do an Equation (and Captain Blokes taught me, and I have
since forgotten How), yet the Merchants are frequently very dexterous in
Reckoning by Memory, and have also a singular method of Numeration, by
putting their hands into each other's Sleeves, and touching one another
with this or that Finger, or a particular joint, each standing for a
determined Sum or Number. Thus, without ere moving their lips,--and your
Mussulman has a wholesome horror of squandering Words,--they conclude
Bargains of the Greatest Value.
None of the Women think themselves completely Adorned till they have
tinged the Lashes and the edges of their Eyelids with the powder of
Lead-Ore. This they do by dipping a Bodkin of the thickness of a Quill
into the Powder, and dragging it under the Eyelids. This gives their
Eyes a Sooty colour, but is thought to add a Wonderful Grace to their
Complexions. And was not this that which Jezebel did in the Ancient
Time?[C] The Old Custom of plighting their Troth by drinking out of
each other's Hand is the only Ceremony used by the Algerines at their
Marriages. The Bridegroom may put away his Wife whenever he pleases,
upon the forfeiture of the Dowry he has settled upon her; but he cannot
afterwards take her again until she has been Re-married and Divorced
from another Man. After all, the Wives are only held as a better class
of Servants, that when their Toil is over become Toys. The greater part
of the Moorish Women would be esteemed Beauties even in England, and as
Children they have the finest Complexions in the World; but at Thirty
they become Wrinkled Old Women. For a Girl is often a Mother at Eleven,
and a Grandmother at Twenty-two; and their Lives being generally as long
as Europeans, these Matrons often live to see Children of many
Generations. They are desperately Superstitious, and hang the Figure of
an Open Hand round the Necks of their Children; and never an Algerine
Pirate goes out of Port without such a Hand painted on the Stern, as a
counter Charm to an Evil Eye. Truly there are some Christian Folks not
much less foolish in their Superstitions; and Rich and Poor among the
Neapolitans carry a forked bit of Coral about with them, to conjure away
this same Evil Eye, which they call _Gettatura_.
They have a kind of Monks called Marabutts, who are supposed to lead an
Austere Life, and pass their lives in counting a Chaplet of Ninety-nine
Beads; but who are, in truth, Impudent Beggars, Thieves, and
Profligates. And this is pretty well the Character of the whole body of
Algerines, from the Dey in his Palace to his Father who sells Sheep's
Trotters. There are a few Grave People, in no constant Employ (that it
is to say, they have made their fortunes by Murder and Piracy, and are
now Retired), who spend the day, either in conversing with one another
at the Barber's Shops, or at the Bazaars and Coffee-houses. But the
greater part of the Moorish and Turkish Youth are the wildest of
Gallants and Roysterers, and waste their time in the most unseemly
Fandangoes.
_Item._--These Marabutts are no better than the Mountebanks I have seen
at the Carnival of Venice or at Southwark Fair. One Seedy Mustapha tells
me that a neighbouring Marabutt had a solid Iron Bar, which, upon
command, would give the same Report and do as much Mischief as a Piece
of Cannon. At Seteef, too, there was one famous for Vomiting Fire; but
the Renegado Baupwitz, who had seen him, assured me 'twas all a trick;
that his Mouth did certainly seem to be all in a Blaze, while he
counterfeited Violent Agony; but that on close inspection it appeared
that the Flames and Smoke with which he was surrounded arose from Tow
and Sulphur, which he had contrived to kindle under his Hyke. The most
commendable thing I can find in the Algerine Character is the great
respect they pay to their Dead. They don't cram 'em into stifling little
Graveyards in the midst of crowded towns, as we do, to our injury and
shame; but have large Burial-grounds, at a good distance from their
towns and villages. Each Family has a particular Part, walled in like a
garden, where the Bones of their Ancestors have remained undisturbed for
many generations. The Graves are all distinct and separate, and the
space between as planted with Beautiful Flowers, bordered round with
Stone, or paved over with Tiles. The Graves of the Great People are
likewise distinguished by Square Rooms with Cupolas built over them,
which, being kept constantly clean, whitewashed, and beautified,
nevertheless continue like the hypocrites, and are but Sepulchres full
within of nothing but Dead Men's Bones.
It happened one fine Autumnal Afternoon, that, my Services as
Cymbal-Player not being required until the Dey's Supper after Evening
Prayers, I was wandering for mere Amusement in some of the
least-frequented Streets of the City; which are here, for the sake of
Shade, mere narrow Lanes, without any Pavement but Dust, and without a
Door or Window from twenty yards to twenty yards. In fact they are but
Passages between almost dead walls; the Houses themselves generally
standing in the midst of the Gardens. Now I quitted the Street of
Baba-zoun by the Street of the Shroffs, or Money-changers, designing to
reach the Gate of the River; but the Streets are all so much alike that
I lost my Way, and went blundering on from one Lane into another, till I
almost despaired of finding my Road back again. I should be too late for
the Dey's Supper, thought I; and although Jack Dangerous was never given
to Trembling, I began to feel very uncomfortable concerning the Notice
that Mahomet Bassa, who was never known to have Pity on any Human Being,
Man, Woman, or Child, might take of my Absence. For these accursed
Algerines are most cruel in their Punishments. Trials are very swift,
and Sentence is always executed within half an hour afterwards. Small
Offences are punished with the Bastinado, or the Rhinoceros Whip. For
Clipping or Debasing the Public Coin the old Egyptian punishment of
cutting off the Hands is inflicted, although the Dey, in one of his
Furies, has been known to have the Base Money melted and poured down the
Coiner's Throat. If a Jew or a Christian is guilty of Murder, he is
Burnt alive without the gates of the City; but for the same Crime the
Moors and Arabs are either Impaled, hung up by the Neck over the
Battlements of the City, or thrown upon Hooks fixed upon the Walls,
below, where they sometimes hang in Dreadful Torments for Thirty and
Forty hours together before they Expire. The Turks, however, out of
respect for their Characters, are sent to the Aga's house, where they
are either Bastinadoed or Strangled; and when the Women offend, they are
not exposed to the populace, but are sent to a private House of
Correction; or, if the Crime be Capital, they are sewn up in a Sack,
carried out to Sea, and Drowned. And for especial Criminals is reserved
the Extraordinary Barbarous punishment of Sawing Asunder; for which
purpose they prepare two Boards, of the same length and breadth as the
Unfortunate Person, and, having tied him betwixt them, begin sawing at
the Head, and so proceed till he is divided into Halves. 'Tis said that
Kardinash, a person who was not long since Ambassador at the Court of
England, suffered in this wise merely for maintaining, in the face of
the Dey, that the King of Great Britain had only One Wife.
All these Grim Probabilities did I revolve in my mind, as the Sun went
on sinking, and I could meet nothing but a few Rapscallion Boys that,
when I strove to stammer out a few words of Arabic to ask my Way,
laughed and jeered in their Impudent manner, and flung handfuls of Dust
at me. Just as I was losing all Patience, and determined to Knock at the
first door I came to, and make my state known at all hazards, there came
upon me at the corner of a street the Figure of a Woman, Muffled up, as
'tis their fashion, in her Hyke and Burnouse, so that I could only see
her Eyes, which were smeared over with the usual Black Stuff, but which
seemed to have somewhat of a Yellowish Cast. I started, as if she were a
Ghost just risen from the ground; but indeed she had only just stepped
out from a little Garden-door, that now stood Ajar. From the folds of
her White Burnouse now came out a plump Hand, very Glossy, but very
Black. She first laid her Finger on that part of her Hyke where her
Mouth might be, to command me to silence; then touched me on the Arm;
then pointed to a Latticed Window high up in the wall, to give me to
understand that some one had been Watching me from there; and then
beckoned me to Follow her. I was wofully perplexed, and, thought I, "The
Dey will have no Cymbals to his Supper to-night, that's certain." Still,
it is never to be said that J. D. ever shirked an adventure that
promised aught of Love or Peril; and had it been into the jaws of a
Lion, I must have followed the Negro Emissary. After all, I reasoned, I
was a proper-looking Fellow, although no longer in my First Youth, and
my hair beginning to whiten somewhat; but Love levels ranks, as my Lord
Grizzle has it in Tom Thumb; and I was, perhaps, not the first Frank
Slave who was favoured by a beauteous Moorish Lady. A Moorish Beauty!
Why, this might be, after all, a Princess, a Sultana, a Turkish Khanum!
It turned out, however, far differently from what I had expected.
Following the Slave, we quitted the street and passed through a Porch,
or Gateway, which the Negress carefully locked after her. We now entered
upon a Court, with Benches on either side, and paved very handsomely
with Marble, covered in the middle with a rich Turkey Mat, and sheltered
from the heat of the weather by a kind of Veil, expanded by Ropes from
one side of the Parapet-wall, or Lattice of the Flat Roof, to the other.
So into a little Cloister running round this Court, and up a little
winding stone Staircase into another Cloister or Upper Gallery. Then at
a Door all covered with rich Filigree-work in Gold and Colours did the
Negress knock; and by and by a soft silvery Voice, of which the sound,
somehow, made me start and tremble much more than that of the Old
Knight of Malta had done, said a few words in Arabic, and we went in.
I found myself in a large square Apartment, with curious latticed
Windows, through which the Evening Sunlight came, in the prettiest of
patterns, and fell, like so many spangles disposed by an artful
Embroiderer, upon the rich Carpet. A great Divan, or stuffed Bench of
Crimson Damask, ran all round the room, with many soft pillows and
shawls upon it; and on this Divan, upon the side opposite the door, sat
an Eastern Lady, amazingly Dressed. She had laid aside her Hyke, which
was of white silk gorgeously striped with gold and crimson Bars, and all
dotted with Bullion Tassels, and sat in a tight-fitting jacket of Red
Velvet, open in front, where you could see the Bosom of her Snowy Smock
all blazing with Emeralds and Rubies. I had never seen so many of the
latter kind of Jewels since the days of my Grandmother, in her Cabinet
of Relics. Round her Waist was swathed a great Cashmerian Shawl, very
rich and noble, and with a heavy Fringe; and from among the folds peeped
out a little Poniard with a jewelled Hilt, and a knife with a Gold and
Mother-of-pearl Haft to cut her Victuals. She wore loose Trowsers, or
Drawers, of a very fine spun silk, covered with a raised pattern in gold
thread, that, as is the custom of the Moorish Women, were fastened at
the Knee, and then fell in quite a torrent of Drapery down to her
Ankles, nearly covering her pretty Feet. A sweet Fashion, and very
Modest. As to the Feet themselves,--the smallest, sure, that mortal
woman ever had,--I could, rapid as was my survey, see that she wore no
Hose; but her tiny Toes were thrust into Slippers or Papowshes of blue
velvet, all heightened and enriched with Gold Orris and Seed Pearls. On
her head was a dainty little cap, of the Fez Pattern, but of velvet
instead of cloth, jewelled; and from it hung a monstrous Tassel of Gold,
which reached half-way down the Back. As for her Hair, it hung very
nearly down to the ground, being all collected into one Lock, and bound
and plaited with Ribbons; and being thus adorned, were tied close
together above the Lock, the several corners of a Kerchief, made of thin
flexible plates of Gold, cut through, and engraved in imitation of Lace.
In one hand she held a great Fan, of Peacock's Feathers, with a Mirror
in the midst; and a handle of Gold, Emeralds, and Agate, that would have
driven a Duke's-Place Jew crazy to look at; and in the other,--well, you
know that Oriental Fashions are different from ours, and that the Paynim
nations have the strangest of Manners and Customs,--I declare that in
the other Hand--the dexter one--the Lady held the Tube of a
Tobacco-pipe, the which she was smoking with great Deliberation and
apparent Relish. But 'twas a very different Pipe to what we are in the
habit of seeing in England--having a Bowl of fine Red Clay encrusted
with Gems, a long straight tube of Cherry-wood, and a Mouthpiece of
Amber studded with Precious Stones. This Pipe they call a Chibook, and
they smoke it much as we do our common Clay things; but there's another,
which they call a Nargilly, like the Hubble-bubble smoked by the proud
Planters in the Dutch East Indies. With the Nargilly, the Smoke passes
first through Rose-water, to purify it; and after passing through many
snake-like coils of silk and wire tubing, the Smoker gulps it down
bodily; so that it goes into his Lungs, and must make them as sooty as a
foul Chimney. Many of the Turks are so handy at this nasty trick, that
they can make the Smoke they have swallowed come out of their ears,
eyes, and nostrils; but I envy them not such Mountebankery, and when I
smoke my Pipe, am content to Blow a Cloud in a moderate and Christian
manner.
I have kept you so long describing this Eastern Lady's Dress, that you
must be growing impatient to know whether her Face matched in
handsomeness with her Apparel; but there was the Deuce of it; for while
I stood before her, staring and Wondering over her splendid Habiliments,
I could catch ne'er a glimpse of her Countenance, which was entirely
concealed from view by the Veil they call a _Formah_, which is made of
a very fine gauzy stuff, but painted in body-colour in a pattern so as
to make it Opaque, and so artfully disposed as to hide the Face without
shading any of the splendour of the Dress. And though I could not make
out so much as the tip of the Lady's Nose, I had a queer sensation that
she was looking at _me_, nay, even that her eyes were twinkling in a
merry manner under her Veil. And so I remained Dumbfoundered, quite
uncertain as to the kind of Adventure that had befallen me. Had some
Moorish or Turkish Dame designed only to Divert herself at the expense
of a poor Christian Slave? or was the Veiled Lady only some artful
Adventuress of the Jewish, Armenian, or Cophtic Nation, of whom there
were many here, affecting great magnificence in their Habits and Living?
Full Ten Minutes had the Lady so gazed upon me, I staring stupidly at
her, and the Negress continuing to enjoin me to silence by putting her
finger to her Lips. Then clapping her little hands together (I mean
that the Lady did, for the Black Woman's were sad Paws), in tumbles from
a little door at the side of the Divan a Negro Urchin about eight years
of age, very richly clad, who at her command brings Pipes and Coffee;
and, signs being made to me, I sat down on a couple of Pillows on the
Ground, smoked a Chibook, emptied a Cup, not much bigger than an
egg-shell, of Coffee,--very Bitter and Nauseous here, for they give you
the Dregs as well as the Liquor,--all the while staring at the Lady as
though my Eyeballs would have started out of my Head. And by this time
the Sun had quite gone down, and as there is but little Twilight in
these parts, the Shade of Evening fell like a great black Pall over the
Room; so the little Black Urchin came tumbling in again with a couple of
Lamps, which he set down before the Divan. These cast a very soft and
rosy Light, passing through folds of Pink Silk; and as soon as my eyes
grew accustomed to 'em, I could see that the Lady had raised her Veil,
that she was looking upon me with a pair of Dark, Roguish, Twinkling
Orbs, and that I was sitting in the presence of my kind Protectress,
Lilias.
"What think you of this for an Opera Habit, goodman Cerberus?" cried
she. "Is this not much better than the Ballet of Orpheus? And, goodness!
what strange Accoutrement have you, too, got into?"
When my first ecstasies of Joy and Amazement were over, I explained to
my Dear Patroness the Reasons (none of my own choosing) for appearing in
such a Garb as I then wore; telling her how I had been Galley-Slave, and
was now Cymbal Player, to the Unbelieving Dey of Algiers; and with great
Humility did I ask after her Honoured Parent, and seek to know by what
uncommon Accident she, the erst Ballet Dancer in the King's Opera-House
at Paris, had come to be the tenant of this Outlandish House, and
arrayed in this Heathen Habit. She answered me with that Candour and
Simplicity which I ever found characteristic of her. Old Mr. Lovell was
still alive, and in Paris; and this is how his Daughter had become
separated from him. A very brilliant Engagement, as First Dancer,
indeed, had been offered to her at the King's Theatre at Palermo; and,
after long unsuccessful importunities addressed to the Gentlemen of the
French King's Chamber to cancel her Engagement, these instances, owing
to the untiring influence of Cardinal de ----, had succeeded, and she
was allowed to depart. Full willingly would she have taken her Papa with
her as a Travelling Companion; but the Old Gentleman was now very
Infirm, and averse from Moving; and so Lilias was placed under the
Guardianship of an old Spanish Lady, the Senora Satisfacion de Mismar,
who was the Palermo Manager's Aunt, made his engagements for him abroad,
and played the Duenna or Singing Old Woman in his Comedies and Operas at
home. Nothing could be properer than this arrangement, Donna Satisfacion
being a Personage of exceeding Discretion and Propriety of Behaviour; so
the two, with half a dozen more little Dancing-girls that had been
hired to fill inferior places, started for Bordeaux, whence they
designed to take shipping for Palermo. But by ill luck there was no
Packet or Merchant Vessel bound for Sicily to be taken up for a long
time; and so they were fain to travel to Toulon, avoiding Marseilles,
where the Plague then was very bad, and thence by way of Nizza to Genoa,
where they found a Brig bound for Messina, which they thought would
serve their turn. And, in truth, the poor souls found it but too well
served; for the Brig was captured off Bastia in Corsica by one of these
diabolical Barbary Rovers, all on board made Slaves, and carried, not
into Algiers, but into Sallee. There, after much suffering, poor Donna
Satisfacion de Mismar died of a Distemper of the country, and poor
Lilias was left without any other Protector than her own Virtue and a
kind Providence.
'Twas a terrible condition to be left in: Young, Fair, Friendless, and a
Slave among these Moorish Barbarians. By Heaven's Mercy, however, the
dear Girl came to no Harm. 'Tis the custom, before the Christian
Women-captives are exposed for sale in the public Slave-Market, where
they are Handled and put through their paces as though they were so many
Cattle, for a Private Inspection of 'em to be made by the rich Persons
of the place, who come and take Pipes and Coffee with the Merchant,
glance over his Stock in a respectful Manner, and often strike a Bargain
there and then. The Girls for sale are apparelled in a sumptuous manner,
bathed, perfumed, and trinketed out for their Private View; and their
Captors seek to render 'em docile by giving 'em plenty of Sweetmeats. As
if the intolerable pangs of Slavery were to be allayed by Lollipops! It
chanced that among the visitors to the Merchant's House was one Hamet
Abdoollah, a very Learned Man, a Physician by Trade, and equally trusted
by the Bey of Tunis, the Dey of Algiers, and him who reigned at Tripoli;
but who would not devote himself to the service of any of these
Potentates, but, loving an independent life, served all with equal
fidelity, sometimes even travelling so far as the Capital of Morocco,
where he was in high favour with the Savage who calls himself Emperor of
that country, which would be as piratical as the Barbary States, only it
has less Seaboard. The father of this Physician had been quite as
learned a Man as he, and by the name of Muley Abdoollah had travelled
much in Western Europe, where by his Skill and Erudition he had gained
so much consideration among the Polite as to be elected a Correspondent
Member of the Royal Society of England and the Paris Academy of
Sciences. His son was one of the wisest and justest and most merciful of
his Species, as you will presently have cause to admit. He was struck at
once by the Beauty, Intelligence, and Goodness of Lilias, and his humane
heart recoiled at the thought of what her fate might have been among a
people given up to Cruelty and Lust. He forthwith bought her of the
Merchant at a fair price; for although that crafty and rapacious
Slave-Dealer would have made him pay Through the Nose for his Treasure,
knowing the Physician to be a man of great Wealth, he forbore in very
shame from his extortion; for Hamet Abdoollah had but just saved his
little son out of a Fever, after he had been given up by all the
Ignorant Leeches of Sallee.
So Lilias became the Bond-servant, but only so in name, to this Wise and
Good Man. As her dearest wish was now to rejoin her Father, he undertook
to send her back to France, and with that view did remove with his
precious charge to Algiers, only exacting from her a promise that while
she remained under his protection she would wear the Moorish Habit and
pass as his Wife, so as to avoid Insult when she walked abroad. But of
any thoughts of Love and Intrigue the Good Man was entirely free. He was
wrapped up in the study of the Healing Art, and troubled his head much
more about Drugs, Cataplasms, and Electuaries, than about the Bow and
Arrows of Dan Cupid. Though why the God of Love should have been
christened Daniel, it puzzles me to comprehend. This accounts for the
manner in which I had found my dear Protectress caparisoned in every
respect as a Moorish Dame. She told me that this was by no means the
first time she had seen me, and that my being Cymbal-Player in the Dey's
Musicians was very well known to her, and that her kind Guardian was on
the point of petitioning the Dey to release me from Servitude, when by
accident she espied me from the Window, and could not resist the
temptation of having me called in.
But, in her sweet regard for what was due to Modesty and Decorum, she
would have no Parley with me save in the presence of the Black
slave,--'tis true that she did not understand a word of English--and
directly she had come to an end of her Narrative, she sent the Tumbling
Urchin to inquire whether the Physician had come home, the part of the
House she occupied being quite separate and distinct from his. The
smutty little Imp comes back bringing word that Hamet would wait upon
her presently; and anon, after discreetly tapping at the door, he came
in, a grave, Reverend Man, in a flowing Robe of Sad-coloured Taffety,
and with a long White Beard and Green Turban; for he had made the Mecca
Pilgrimage, and yet abstained from assuming the title of Hadji, to which
he was entitled. He spoke very good French, and even a little English
(learned from his Papa); and when I was made known to him, asked for
news of Dr. Mead and Sir Hans Sloane, although I could tell him but
little of that worthy and deceased Gentleman.