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During my refidence at Pera, I heard of but one circumftance only. A young Venetian ferved in the fhop of an apothecary at Conftantinople, whom a Turkish lady, attended only by her flave, came to confult, and was thewn into another room, leaving the apprentice and the fair Circaffian alone. It is faid, that nothing then paffed between them. In a few days returning with her miftrefs, and the fame opportunity recurring, the opened her heart, propofed elopement, and promifed much treafure. She kept her word, and they difappeared without fubfequent detection. Upon difcovery the punishment of thefe lovers would have been horrible; he would have been impaled alive, and the drowned in a fack. Such a penal code as that of the Turks, has in no period of corruption been adopted by any nation of Christians.

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"The real ftate of female flaves in Turkey has been much misreprefented. I do not allude to it previoufly to their establishment in fome harem, when expofed to fale with practices of their owners equally repugnant to humanity and decency: but when they become private property, they are well clothed, and treated with kindness by their miftreffes. If the hufband prefents his wife with a female flave, fhe becomes her fole property, and he cannot cohabit with her without legal complaint of the wife, excepting with her confent, which prudence generally inclines her to give. No woman of Turkifh birth can be an odalik, or do meftic flave. Illegitimacy is unknown, for every child, born of the wife or concubine, has nearly equal rights. The fuperior privilege of the wife confifts only in the partition of the husband's property on his deceafe, and the difficulty of procuring a divorce without her acquiefcence. Odaliks are difmiffed and refold at pleasure, if they have borne no child. But it frequently happens that they become confidential with their miftreffes, are emancipated, and married to hufbands whom they provide for them. Few young men have more than one wife, but the elder, if opulent, indulge themselves to the extent of the prophet's licence. My fair countrywomen, from so flight a fketch of female economy in this eccentric nation, may form: favourable conclufions refpecting that of our own. They may rest affured, that in no other country are the moral duties and rational liberty fo juftly appreciated, or fo generally rewarded with happinels."

"Infidelity or licentioufnefs in women, is a fubject of the fevereft crimination amongft the Turks, and their punishment of it borders upon grofs barbarity. That branch of police is under the jurifdiction of the bostandji bafli, or captain of the guard, with many inferior officers. When any of thefe miferable girls are apprehended, for the first time they are put to hard labour, and ftrictly confined; but for the fecond they are re-committed, and many at a time tied up in facks, and taken in a boat to the Seragliopoint, where they are thrown into the tide. The Turks excufe this cruelty by pleading the law, and adding that every woman has it in her power to be attached to one man, by kebinn, or contract for a certain term before the kady, which ceremony would exempt them from the cognizance of the police,

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OBSERVATIONS and ANECDOTES, illuftrative of the prefent POLICE, COMMERCE, STATE of SOCIETY, and MANNERS at CONSTANTINOPLE.

[From the fame Work.]

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"The houses of the opulent Turks are large, with the moft convenient part appropriated as the harèm, which is ufually furrounded with a court, be it ever fo fmall, having a fountain in the midft. Thefe apartments are remarkable for their neatnefs, and all the ac

commodation that the climate and architecture will admit: for it is here only that the poffeffor displays any expence in ornament, or furniture. As to the houses in general, they are mere comfortless wooden boxes, cool in fummer, but ill adapted to wet or cold weather, being full of unglazed windows, and without fire-places; in winter fupplied by earthen pans of charcoal, which fuffocate whilst they warm you. The ground floor is a continuation of the street, and the ftaircafe a dirty ladder, frequently in darkness.

"That fuch a ftillness should reign in the crowded streets of a capital, who ever has vifited thofe of Europe, will obferve with fur

prife; there is no noise of carri ages, and even the bufy haunts of men' are scarcely different from the abode of filence.

"Much of the romantic air which pervades the domestic habits of the perfous defcribed in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, particularly in inferior life, will be ob ferved in paffing through the streets. And we recur with additional pleafure to a remembrance of the delight with which we at first perufed them, in finding them authentic portraits of every oriental nation.

"Some years ago no Frank could walk in Conftantinople without the rifque of incurring infult, and the merchants of Pera were ufually protected by a janiffary. At this time no moleftation is to be feared, at least by a perfon who is prudent enough to give the upper hand to a Turk. This favourable change has taken place only fince the conclufion of the war in 1774. Many victories in fucceffion had perfuaded them of their fuperiority over the Chriftians, of whom they have feveral millions of fubjects; till at the time above mentioned prince Repnin, attended by fix hundred foldiers, with their drawn fwords, paraded through the city, when he came to give them that peace, which they had fo humbly begged of the Ruffians. This circumftance has had a wonderful effect in reducing the infolence and ferocity of their national character.

"Fires are fo frequent that few months pafs without them, and they are generally fo furious, that

whole

whole districts are laid in afhes. Houses are fo foon re-erected, that the former appearance of the streets is fpeedily restored, and little alteration is ever made in their form. Notice of a fire at Conftantinople, or at Galata, is given by beating a great drum from two high towers; the night watch then patrole the ftreets, ftriking the pavement with their staves fhod with iron, and crying out 'Yangen var'-'There is a fire,' naming the place. The fultan is then fummoned three times, and when the conflagration has lafted one hour he is forced to attend in perfon, and to bring mules with him laden with piaftres, which he diftributes with his own hands to the firemen, who are very inactive before his arrival. These are armed against accidents in the fame manner as they are in London, and are equally expert and adventurous. Fires are extinguifhed, by pulling down the adjoining houses, for the engines are very fmall, and borne on the fhoulders of two

men.

"The perfect refignation with which a good mufulman fees his houfe confumed by the flames, and himself reduced from affluence to poverty, has been often and justly remarked by others; he exclaims 'Allah Karim'—' God is merci'ful,' without apparent emotion, and has affured himfelf that the fame providence which hath made him poor and abject, can once more reftore him to wealth if it be his fate. For the women, they have not the praife of fuch philofophy. They affemble in a groupe near the fultan, and unmercifully load him with the bitterest revilings, particularifing his own crimes, and the errors of his government, and charging him with the cause of their prefent calamity.

At fuch rencounters ro crowned head need envy fultan Selim his fituation. As this is the only privileged time of conveying the voice of the people to his ears, and as women in Turkey fay any thing with impunity, it is prefumed that many of the fires are not accidental.

"As a grand fpectacle, detaching the idea of commiferation of the calamity from the present view, if a volcanic eruption be excepted, none can exceed a great fire at Conftantinople. The houfes being conftructed with wood, and frequently communicating with ma gazines filled with combustible materials, a vaft column of flame, of the moft luminous glow, rifes from the centre, which lighting up the mofques, and contiguous cyprefs groves, produces an effect of fuperior magnificence. In other cities, where the buildings are 'of ftone, the flames are feen partially, or are overpowered by smoke.

"The merchandife and trade of Conftantinople are carried on principally in the khans, bazars, and bezeftèn, according to the custom of the Eaft, each of which requires a fummary description.

"The khans are fpacious ftructures, with quadrangles erected by the munificence of the fultans, or fome of the royal family, for the public benefit. They are entirely furrounded by a cloister and colonnade, into which numerous cells open, generally repeated for three ftories; are built with ftone, and fire proof. Here the merchants from every part of the empire, who travel with caravans, are received with accommodations for themfelves and their valuable traffic.

"In the bazars are affembled dealers of each nation under the Turkish government, who have

fmall

fmall fhops in front, and a room behind, for their wares. Thefe are very extensive cloifters of ftone, lofty, and lighted by domes; are admirably adapted to the climate, and in fummer are extremely cool. One called the Mifr Chartflè, or Egyptian market, is fet apart for the merchandife of Cairo, chiefly minerals and drugs, and is a great curiofity for the naturalist.

"Other quarters are occupied by the working jewellers, where raw jewels may be advantageoufly purchased; and by the bookfellers, who have each his affortment of Turkish, Arabic, and Perfian MSS. of which they do not always know the value, but demand a confiderable price. The oriental scholar may here find MSS. equally beautiful and rare, as, fince the civil commotions in Perfia, the most elegant books, taken in plunder, have been fent to Conftantinople for fale, to avoid detection.

The ftaple articles of importation from England are cloth and block tin, as the confumption of both is very great. English watches, prepared for the Levant market, are more in demand than thofe of other Frank nations, and are one of the first articles of luxury that a Turk purchases or changes if he has mo ney to fpare.

"The national character is here admirably difcriminated, and to in veftigate it with fuccefs no place offers fuch opportunity as thefe markets.

"A ftranger will wonder to fee fo many of their fhops left open, without a mafter or guard; but pil fering is not a Turkish vice.

"He fhould be informed previs oufly, that no article of commerce has a ftated price; bargains muft be made, and the bafeft impofition is counted fair gain. The Turk

is fixed to his fhop-board with his legs under him for many hours, and never relaxes into civility with his Frank cuftomer, but from the hopes of advantage. One may venture to give him two thirds of his demand; but to thofe of other nations not more than half. The Greek, more piiant and prevaricat ing, praifes his commodity beyond measure, and has generally to congratulate himfelf upon having out. witted the most cautious dealer. The Armenian, heavy and placid, is roufed to animation only by the fight of money, which he cannot with ftand. As for the Jew, every where a Jew, he is more frequent ly employed as a broker, a business which that people have had address enough to engrofs; and fome acquit themfelves with honefty and credit. Thofe of the lower fort are walking auctioneers, who tramp over the bazars, and carry the goods with them, vociferating the price laft offered. Each of thefe nations, which conftiute the vaft population of Conftantinople, has a different mode of covering the head, a circumftance foon learned, and which renders the groupes of figures, fufficiently amuting, as it breaks the famenefs of their other drefs. The Armenians, Jews, and the mechanical Greeks, ufually wear blue, which the Turks confider as a difhonourable colour, and Have their flippers of a dirty red leather.

"The common trades are difpofed, all of one kind in fingle ftreets. Shoe-makers, furriers, and pipe-makers, with many others, occupy each their diftinct diftrict, and are feldom found dispersed, as in, our cities.

"A room of very confiderable dimenfions, is called the bezefter, or public exchange, where are col

lected

lected fecond-hand goods, which

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are hawked about by the auctioneers. In another part are the farraffs, or money-changers, Armenians and Jews.

"I regret my incompetency to defcribe the various mechanic arts, which are practised in the Eaft, and particularly by the Turks, fo different from our own; and leave it to fome future vifitant, well qualified to give the hiftory of their manufactures, and the divers modes by which the fame effect is produced, and the fame utenfils are made.

"The neceffaries of life are well managed, and the fhops of cooks, confectioners, and fruiterers, are excellently stored, and ferved with neatnefs. For the greater part of the year, sherbets with ice are cried about, the streets, at a very cheap rate. The bakers exercife a lucrative, but a dangerous trade, if they are not proof against temptation to fraud. Their weights are examined at uncertain times, and a common punishment on detection is nailing their ear to the door-poft. Upon complaint made to the late vifir Mehmet Melek against a notorious cheat, he ordered him to be inftantly hanged. The mafter escaped, but the fervant, a poor Greck, perfectly innocent, was executed. It was remarked to a Turk, that this injuftice was foreign to the character for clemency, which Melèk bore, when he farcaftically replied, The vifir had not yet breakfast

ed.'

"The coffee-houses, which abound, are fitted up in an airy Chinefe tafte, and curiously painted. Within, they are divided into partitions or ftages without feats, for the Turks fit as the taylors in England. The resort of all ranks to them is univerfal and conftant; and

fome during the greater part of the day, which paffes there, confume thirty or forty pipes, and as many cups of coffee, hoiling hot, thick, and without fugar.

"Befide thefe, near the Ofmanie, are teriaki-lanà, where (afioni) opium is fold; and taken in gradation from ten to a hundred grains in a day. Intoxication with this noxious drug is certainly lefs prevalent than we have been informed; and he who is entirely addicted to it, is confidered with as much pity or disgust as an inveterate fot is with us. The preparation of opium is made with feveral rich fyrups, and infpiffated juices, to ren der it palatable and lefs intoxicat ing, and refembles elder rob. It is either taken with a spoon, or hardened into fmall lozenges, ftamped with the words 'Mah allah,' literally the work of God.'

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"The Turks take opium as an intoxicant, or occafionally under an idea of its invigorating quality, when unufual fatigue is to be endured. The Tartar couriers, who travel with attonishing expedition, generally furnish themfelves with

Math allah.’ A leading caufe of its difufe is, that the prejudices refpecting wine are daily relaxing, which accounts for the fcarcely cre dible quantity and univerfality mentioned by old writers being unac cordant with modern practice.

"The adminiftration of justice in Conftantinople is notoriously corrupt. It is placed folely in the hands of the oulemah, or ecclesiastical body, who are confirmed in their rapacity by being fecured from the interpofition of the body politic, as they receive no falary from the ftate. In these two causes originates a fyftem of enormous peculation and bribery, fo that for the poor there is no redrefs. Turk-.

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