against the Authority of the Porte, or rather of the Bashaw of the
Province, who had been laying on the Taxes with somewhat too heavy a
hand, broke out in Broussa. The infuriate Populace burnt the House of
the Bashaw about his ears, plundered the Bazaar, and were proceeding to
further extremities, when, a puff of my old Martial Spirit reviving
within me, I collected a trusted band of Porters and Camel-drivers,
rallied the Turkish Troops, who were flying in all directions, reformed
them, scattered the Insurgent Mobile, and did (I promise you) speedy
execution on some Scores of them. The Insurrection was very speedily
subdued, and all Broussa was filled with the praises of my Valour and
Discretion. The Bashaw was a poor Good-natured kind of Creature, Brave
enough, but so Fat that when he mounted on Horseback they were obliged
to put one of the Pillows of his Divan on the pummel of his saddle to
keep his Stomach steady. An end, however, was put to the discomfort he
suffered through Corpulence, by the arrival, three weeks after the
suppression of the Insurrection, of a Tartar Courier, who brought with
him a Bowstring and a Firman from the Grand Seignor. By means of the
Bowstring, the Fat Bashaw was then and there strangled,--for they do
things in a very off-hand manner in Turkey,--and when the Firman was
opened by his Vizier it was found to contain, not his own nomination to
the Bashawlik, which he fondly expected, but the appointment of the
Merchant Gholab Hassan, that is to say, JOHN DANGEROUS, that is to say,
your Humble Servant, to the vacant Post, and commanding my immediate
attendance at the Porte to receive investiture with the Three
Horse-tails of Office.
I was at once saluted as Gholab Bashaw, and the next day set forth
amidst great Acclamations, and in sumptuous state, for Constantinople.
Arrived there, I was handsomely lodged in a Palace close to the Old
Seraglio, and admitted to no less than three solemn Audiences with the
Commander of the Faithful, the Caliph Al Islam, the Padishaw of Roum,
the Great Turk himself.
I could not help smiling at myself, now arrayed in all the pomp and
glory of an Exalted Functionary, and in the true Turkish fashion. 'Tis a
custom (through Ignorance of those parts) with the Limners of Europe to
portray all Osmanlis with long Beards; and, for truth, as a Merchant at
Broussa, I had a great grizzled one of most Goatish appearance; but
among the Bashaws and all those engaged in the Military Service of the
Grand Seignor, or holding Employments in the Seraglio, they wear only a
fierce and martial pair of Whiskers. The most distinguishing sign of a
true Mussulman is, after all, his Sarik or Turban, made in two parts,
namely, a Bonnet, and the Linen that is wrapped round it. The former a
kind of Cap, red or green, without Brims, and quilted with Cotton. About
this they roll several folds of Linen Cloth; and it is a particular art
to know how to give a Turban a good air; it being a trade with 'em, as
the Selling of Hats is with us. The Emirs, who boast of being descended
from the race of Mahomet, wear a turban all green; but that of the
common Turks is red, with a white border, so distinguishing 'em from the
Christians. Next I wore great long Breeches of a 'broidered stuff, and a
Shirt of fine soft calico, with wide Sleeves, but no Wristbands or
Collar; and over this a Cassock or Vest of fine English Cloth, reaching
to the ankles, and buttoned with buttons of gold, about the bigness of a
peppercorn. This was tied with a broad Sash or Girdle, which went
thrice round the waist, with the ends hanging down before, and two
handsome Tassels. Over all this another Garment, richly laced, and lined
with Furs of the Martin or the Badger. In my Girdle a Dagger, about the
size of a case-knife, the handle curiously wrought, and adorned with
Precious Stones. And as the Turkish tailors make no pockets to their
vestments, Purse, Handkerchief, Tobacco-box, and things of that nature
must needs be put into the Bosom, or thrust under the Girdle. Instead of
Shoes, a pair of Slippers of yellow leather; which, whenever you enter a
Mosque or the presence of a Superior, you must put off on the threshold.
This custom makes the soles of a Turk's feet always ready for the
application of the Talack or Bastinado, from which argument neither high
nor low are exempt.
_Item._--The Women here very richly dressed, but sad Gossips, and a
Lazy, Lolloping kind of creatures; which they must needs be, poor souls,
seeing that they have no sort of Education, and are kept mostly in
seclusion, talking of scandal, sucking of sugar-plums, showing their
brave apparel to each other, and thrumming upon the Mandolin. A
galloping, dreary, dull place indeed is a Turkish Harem. As to the
qualities of the mind, the Turkish Women want neither Wit, Good Sense,
nor Tenderness; but the constraint that is put upon 'em, and the jealous
eye with which they are guarded, makes 'em go a great way in a little
time, and make an ill use of the Liberty which is sometimes granted
them. The old women-slaves of the Armenian and Jew Merchants, who are
the confidantes of the Turkish women, enter their apartments at all
hours, under the pretence of bringing them Jewels, and often favour
their amours with brisk young fellows. The usual hour for intrigue is
the hour of morning and evening Prayers, when the Husbands are away at
the Mosques. In case of Discovery the Turks are masters of the Lives of
their Wives; and if they have been convicted in form, they are sewn up
in Sacks, and thrown into the Sea. And even if a Guilty Woman's life is
spared, she is condemned to marry her Gallant, who is sentenced to die,
or must turn Mahometan, supposing him to be a Christian. The least
punishment for a man who has broken the Seventh Commandment is to ride
through the streets upon an Ass, with his face towards the Tail, to
receive a certain number of Blows upon the Soles of his Feet, and to pay
a Fine in proportion to his Estate.
But though a duly invested Bashaw of Three Tails, I was not fated to
remain long in that Capacity. For once, however, my Destiny, in
subjecting me to Change, played me a kind instead of a spiteful Turn.
Going to visit the French Ambassador, who was then in high favour at the
Porte, I found there, living under the protection of his Family, a Lady,
who was no other than my dear Wife Lilias, and with her a Daughter,
called after her own name, who was now twelve years of age. Her History,
as she related it to me, was brief, but amazing. Both her Father and the
Cardinal died about two years after her return from Captivity; but she
found a new guardian in my old friend Captain Night, or Don Ercolo
Sparafucile di San Lorenzo, the Knight of Malta, who had retired from
that Island to end his days in France. She was enabled to cheer the
declining years of that Gallant Gentleman, who had preserved a lively
remembrance of his old _Protege_, Jack Dangerous; and when he died, he
left her the whole of his large fortune. All these years she had
remained in a dreadful state of uncertainty, till, through the kind
offices of the French Minister of Police, she was made acquainted with
the last dying avowal of a Pirate Renegado, named Sparkenhoe, who had
expired at the Galleys of Marseille, and stated that, in the year 1759,
he had conveyed a refugee Christian Slave from Algiers to
Constantinople, where he had been sold to a Merchant of Damascus. In the
almost desperate hope of discovering some Tidings of me, my Wife and
Child had journeyed to the Porte, where they were most kindly received
at the French Embassy. They had given up almost every prospect of
meeting me again, when I made my sudden appearance in the strange Guise
of a Turkish Bashaw.
Under ordinary Circumstances, it might have gone hard with me; for the
Turks reckon it as an unpardonable crime for a Christian to assume the
Mussulman Garb, and conform outwardly to that religion, without having
gone through the Proper Rites. However, as I have said, the French
Ambassador was just then in high favour with the Porte. He made interest
with the Captain Bashaw, the Kislar Aga, and the Grand Vizier himself.
The services I had rendered to the Great Turk by suppressing the
Insurrection at Broussa were taken into consideration; and it was at
length agreed, that if I would convey myself away privately, and take my
Wife with me, no more should be said about the matter. It was given out
at Broussa that I had been appointed to another and more distant
Government; and he who had been Vizier to the unlucky Fat Man got his
much-coveted Preferment, and, I have no doubt, was very happy in it,
till the inevitable Tartar came, and he was Bowstrung, like his
predecessor. So Gholab Bashaw resigned the Three Horse-tails that during
so brief a period had waved at his Flagstaff, and became once more plain
JOHN DANGEROUS. The Sublime Porte, however, confiscated all my Property
at Broussa, including my Wives--I mean, my Women Servants.
With my Wife and Child I now returned to Europe, full of Years, and, I
hope, notwithstanding some Ups and Downs, full of Honours too. We were
in no hurry, however, to return to England; for I had wandered about
Foreign Parts so long in Discredit, and Danger, and Distress, that I
thought myself well entitled to see the world a little in Freedom and
Independence, and with a Handsome competence at my Back. Therefore, as
the Chevalier Captain John Dangerous,--I have dropped my Knightly rank
of late years,--and furnished with all necessary passports and
safe-conducts, we made our way across the Black Sea to Odessa, a mean
kind of place, but rising in the way of trade; and after a most affable
reception by the Russian Governor of that place, journeyed at our ease
through the Tauric Chersonese, now wrested from the Tartar Khans of
Simpheropol, and belonging to the Muscovites. Next, in a handsome
wheeled carriage-and-four, we made for the great City of Moscow,--the
old Capital of the Great Dukes of Russia,--where we abode two whole
years, and went among the very best people in the place; although I had
an ugly Equivoque with a young gentleman of Quality that was an officer
of Dragoons, and who, I declare, stole a diamond-mounted Snuff-box of
mine off my wife's Harpsichord, putting the same (the Snuff-box, I mean)
into the pocket of his pantaloons. Him I was compelled to expel from my
house, the Toe of my Boot aiding; and meeting him subsequently at a
Coffee-house, and he not seeming sufficiently impressed with the
turpitude of his Offence, but the rather inclined to regard it as a
venial Prank or Whimsey, I did Batoon him within an inch of his life,
and until there were more wheals on his Body than bars of silver-braid
on his Jacket. This led to a serious misunderstanding between Justice
and myself. I was not Imprisoned, but was summoned no less than
fifty-seven times before a kind of Judge they call an Assessor, who
addressed a number of interrogatories to me, which, at a moderate
computation, reached, in the course of five weeks, three thousand seven
hundred and nine questions. This might have gone on till Doomsday, but
for the kind offices of a Muscovite friend, who hinted to me that if I
discreetly slipped a Bank-bill for five hundred roubles into the hand of
the Examining Judge, I should hear no more of the affair. This I did,
and was soon after honourably acquitted; after which I gave the young
Spark whom I had batooned his revenge, by allowing him to duff me out of
a few score pieces at the game of Lansquenet. By and by, being tired of
Moscow, we removed to the stately northern Capital, Petersburg, where I
had a handsome mansion on the Fontanka Canal, and was on more than one
occasion admitted to an audience with the Empress of Russia, the mighty
Czarina Catherine; a fine, bold, strapping woman, with a great taste for
Politics, Diamonds, the Fine Arts, and affairs of Gallantry. The First
time I made my obeisance to her Majesty (which was at her summer
residence of Peterhoff, on the River Neva), she deigned, smiling
affably, to say to me:--
"_Ah, ah! vous etes le Sabreur anglais qui avez rosse mes gens, la-bas,
a Moscou. Je voudrais que vous en fissiez autant pour mes faquins de
Chevalier-Gardes a Petersbourg._"
I was given to understand in very high quarters that I had only to ask,
to receive a lucrative and honourable Appointment in the service of the
Czarina,--either as a General by Land, or as an Admiral at Sea; but I
was sick of fighting, and of working too; so at last, in disgust, I gave
up my House, and taking shipping with my family at Cronstadt, retired to
Hamburg, whence, after a brief sojourn, I travelled to France.
My sainted Wife, with whom, after our reunion, I lived most happily,
died in Paris, in the year 1773; and then, feeling my Days drawing to a
close, and desiring to lay my Bones in my own Country, I returned to
England, after an absence of more than Thirty Years. Finding that the
old Mansion that had belonged to my Grandmother was for sale by Public
Auction, I purchased the Freehold, repaired and beautified it, and came
to reside in it, occupying my long and happy leisure by the composition
of these Memoirs. And if any one of my Readers experiences one-hundredth
part the pleasure in Reading these Pages (and that I dare scarcely hope)
that I have experienced in Writing them, John Dangerous will indeed be
amply repaid.
THE END OF THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN
DANGEROUS.
NOTE EXCULPATORY.
IT may be as well to state, for the benefit of sticklers for matters of
fact, that, in the episode relating to Arabella Greenville, the manner
of death ascribed to Lord Francis Villiers is, as Dr. Colenso would say,
"un-historical." The young nobleman in question was slain in battle; and
the description of his execution at Hampton Court is one of the few
instances of the Romancer's licence I have allowed myself in these
volumes.
G. A. S.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Spelling being fluid in Captain Dangerous' life, spellings such as
"Quean" (which shows up twice) were retained.
Page 16, "Item" was italicised to match the rest of the usage of this
word in this text. (_Item:_ I engaged)
Page 84, "Bood" changed to "Blood" (stain of Blood)
Page 127, repeated word "the" deleted. Original read: (with the the
floor of the)
Page 239, "they" changed to "the" (the Dey began to look)
Page 269, the "d" in the word "and" was printed upside down originally.
(a matured and)
Page 279, "Coglololies" changed to "Coglolies" to fit rest of usage
(guard of Coglolies)
Varied hyphenation in this book includes: a-piece and apiece, Gunshot
and Gun-shot; maingears and main-gears; Night-cap and Nightcap; Red-hot
and Redhot.