The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-22 00:00:00

A VISIT TO A HAREM IN TUNIS.

"Tie rich carpets on which I trod, the drowsy at-
mosphere laden with the finest perfumes of Arabia, and
the countless figures, clad in gay, fantastic garments,
NA surrounded me, all strengthened the illusion aft- 1
eas present in an actual scene from the thousand and
one nights. LH:eh took me by the baud and led me up to
the handsome divan, which was raised two steps, and
furnished with sk.ft cushions covered with yellow da-
mask. Then st e made me a sign to sit down beside her,
which of course I did, though by no means with the
same eme as herself, since the very low divan was made
to be sat on with crossed and beec'el legs. Whilst my
eyes were gradually accustoming themselves to the dark-
ness of the spacious room, I bent them upon my neigh-
bour, the queen of this sumptuous harem. Lillah is a
well-preserved woman ol five-and-thirty, or from that to
forty. Threa of her grown-up daughters were present
and conversed with the other ladies of our party, as well
as they could, by means cf signs. We had for inter-
preter Mlle. d'H.'s cousin, a lad about ten pars old,
who was still privileged, by virtue of his tender ye ars, to
enter the jealous doers of the harem; not only, how-
ever, did he often refuse to interpret to the ladies all the
questions which our curiosity suggested, but ho was so
fondled and petted by them that he was ell hut useless
to UF.

"But to return to the harem queen. Her figure may,
perhaps, have been handsome, but it is now spoiled by
excessive corpulence, which, however, according to the
Moorish canons of beauty, only serves to heighten her
charms. Her dress was very simple. Her upper gar-
ment was only a loose, shapeless kind of caftan, of bright
rose-coloured levantine silk, fastened at the thre at by a
splendid diamond clasp, and reaching only to the knees.
Under it she wore a jacket thickly embroidered with
gold; her richly brocaded trowsers were fastened from
the knees to the ankles like leggings. Her bare feet
were fattened out of all symmetry. Several female
slaves waited behind her with various kinds of slippers.
"All the two hundred women in the harem, with the
exception of the negresses, were dressed in bright.cc-
lours d silks, and Lillah was only distinguised from the
rest by her incomparably beautiful jewels, and by the
universal deference shown towards her. Anything finer
than Lillah's diamonds and other jewels I never saw.
On her right thumb she wore a splendid ring, with the
Bey's cypher in diamonds, and on the third and fJurth
fingers of both hands she had rings, one pair of which
was set with emeralds, and each of the others with five
or six diarnans-monstres. Oa her right arm she wore
three rows of fine pearls, each of which was as large as
the tip of my little finger. I was not a little astonished
to see several rows of the commonest glass beads in such
costly company.
'Her head-dress was very simple, apart from the im-
mense value of the je vels attached to it. All the Moor-
ish women I Lad hitherto seen vote their hair combed
smooth backwards, in the fashion we call a la chincise;
but Lillah's hair, the incipient greyness of which had
been changed to brown by artificial means, hung down
her cheeks in bands as bread as a finger, and was cut off
below. The hair of the back of her head was tied up
in a a bite silk lecrc`def, two long ends of which, worked
with gold, hung down her back, whilst the other two
stood upright on the crows of her head like horns. All
the other women had head-dresses of the same curious
form; and Lillah moreover wore pendent from the hack
of her head a great lot of amulets of every shape and
size. Not to weary the reader with de tails c f the costly
things I saw, I will only mention that a ring with a
solitaire, worn by one of Lillah's daughters, has been
valued in Paris at a hundred and twenty thousand
francs."
"Lillah's nails and hands were dye 3 with henna, like
those of all Moorish women, and her eyelids and eye-
brows were tinged with a black powder. I gave her to
understand, through our young interpreter, that I wished
to know how the colouring was effected, whereupon
she sent one of her women to fetch the little amaratus
containing the indispensable materials. Finding that I
was to be made acquainted with the cosmetic, not only
by sight but by personal trial, I asked why I, of all our
party, was especially chosen for that honour. Her an-
swer was, " You are not yet married, I am sure, but if
I paint your eyes you will very soon get a handsome
husband." To this I could only reply that I was mar-
ried, but that nevertheless the honour of having my Nee
painted by so fair a princess was most welcome to me
ur.dcr cny circumstances. I now submitted to the beau-
tif)iug procus, but perhens I d;d not tit for it as coolly
as I should have done, fur when Lil'ah had finished, her
daughters expressed the strongest disapprobation of her
performance. So much the worse was it for me.
"Incidit in Seyllam qui vult vitare Charybdin."
" Scarcely had I begun to congratulate myself on
having escaped from Lillah, who had twenty times been
near putting out my eye with her sharp pencil, ero I fell
into the hands of her daeighter, a he, without more ado,
fell to tubbing my face all over with her handkerchief,
which she moistened with her spitt,e. The powder used
for darkening the eyelashes is black lead. It is kept in
a little fl .ak of horn, or even of precious metal, to which
is fitted a wooden pencil, that alt !r being blackened with
the powder, is drawn along between the lids. Some
dexterity is necessary to perform this operation success-
fully, and without causing pain. The practice was
known to the Greeks and Romans. Pencil, and powder,
just like those wed in the present day, have been found
in the tombs of Egyptian women in the catacombs of
Sahara.
"Among the objects that greatly struck me in this
abode of luxury I must mention the ladies' pocket hand-
kerchief's. What will the reader think when I say that
a hand like loaded with some forty thousand
pounds' worth at least of jewels, coquetted with a dark
cotton handkerchief, such as might be worn by a labour-
rig man in England?"

THE OLD JUDGE ; or, Life in a Colony. By
the Author of " Sam Slick, the Cloclanaker." New

Edition.
On its first appearance we noticed at length the
peculiarities of this delightful volume. We are glad
to meet with it in a new edition and a more condensed
form, in which we doubt not it will find a cordial
welcome among the numerous friends and admirers
of the censorious, but, withal, good-humoured," Clock-
maker." The manners and customs of communities,
and the peculiarities of individual character, are
touched off by Sam Slick with a smartness and
nicety which give at once an actuality to the sketch
and a charm to the description.

MEMORIALS OF WESTMINSTER. By
the Rev. Mackenzie E. C. Walcott, M.A.
The curate of St. Margaret's, Westminster, has here
presented us with a very comprehensive and care-
fully compiled history, or series of memorials, of the
city of 'Westminster, Saint Peter's College, the parish
churches, palaces, streets, and worthies. To its au-
thor the composition cf this work has evidently been
a labour of love, and its perusal will afford pleasure
to all whose tastes lead them to sympathise with, or
whose habits of thought enable them to appreciate,
the peculiar spirit in which it is penned,
and the peculiar subject to which
sit
r reWal-
lates.
" The streets constantly traversed,
say M
cott in his preface, " and the registers constantly re-
ferred to, by the clergyman of a large metropolitan
parish, in the course of his daily avocations, sugges
in themselves subjects of great and p
terest, affording ermanent in-
t
at the same time a pleasant source
of relaxation in an inquiry into the histories con-
nected with them. In the case of a parish like that
attached to the Church of St. Margaret, which owes
its foundation to King Edward the Confessor, the
records which it possesses, all that it contains and has
embraced within its ample circuit—the kingly palaces,
the ancient college, the courts of law, the royal parks,
the sites in a city instinct with rich memories of
eight centuries and dwelling-places of worthies me-
morable in Church and State—afford "ample scope and
verge enough" for the most enterprising pen, patient
research, and the keen spirit which describes the
past.
" High towers, fair temp'ea goodly theatres,
Strong walls, rich porches, princely palaces,
Large streets, brave houses, sacred sepulchres,
Sure gates, sweet gardens, stately galleries,
Wrought with fair pillars and fine imageries."
SPENSF.R.
Such were the attractions of the theme which fasci-
nated the attention of Mr. Walcott., and originated
the splendid volume now before us. To render the
work worthy of the theme has evidently been the
aim of author, artist, publisher, and printer. It is
adorned with nine pictorial illustrations, re-
presenting Sc. I,Alargarei's Church, Westminster,
in the olden time, Whitehall and its
St. Margaret's, from Henry t 1.2 eventih;strLairnteepeof
great window of St. Margaret's sa—::urcn _Gaatesl,
4.1)11 e Gate-
Westminster School, New Palace-yare,
house and the Church of St. John the Evarge....
The initial letters of every chapter are drawn from I
letters in Cardinal Mazsrin's Bible, which, together
with its beautiful typography and the peculiat atare
of its contents, give the aork a venerable and un-
common appearance. /‘,rainy of the copious lists cf
dates, &e. herein contained will not prove intereroaing
to every render, but those who may be inclined to
and interesting
`ass over such species of information will pause with
pleat:we at many an amusing anecdote
record connected with the worthies and walls of
Westminster.

Ma. SMITH O'BRIEN IN AUSTIIALIA.—The Nation
states that " Smith O'Brien is held in close and solitary con-
finement by the English authorities—forbidden all inter-
course with his fellow-exiles—attended by turnkeys under
strict orders not to exchange a Lyliable with hilm.-and
vbited 131 hid Paver