The Sun.
London, England, 1821-06-23 00:00:00

t'OREIGN LITERATURE.

[No. XXVII.]
LETTERS on the BOSPHORUS ; or, NARRATIVE of a
JOURNEY in DIFFERENT PARTS of the EAST
during the years 1816 and 1819, Bvo. Paris, 1821. -
Since Lady MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE no
writer has had such good opportunities of ob-
serving those Oriental manners, the description
of which alWays excites our curiosity, as the fair
author of this work.• These Letters make us
-better acquainted "with Constantinople and its
environs than . all the numerous accounts which
have recently been published. The sex of the
author, her rank, and the privileges annexed to it;
her intimate relations with thh Ministers of the
Christian poWers. accredited •at Constantinople,
and the easy access which this intimacy obtained
for her to places rarely seen by strangers, all
unite to give a peculiar interest to this collection.

Existing circumstances also render its appearance
at the present moment very desirable. The con-
test in which the Turkish empire is now engaged
itivolves no less than its very existence in Eu-
rope. If the Ottomans are compelled to strike
their tents, and re-cross the Bosphorus, modern
Constantinople would disappear for ever. What
constitutes this capital an unique in the universe,
is that Asia and Europe there meet, have inha-
bited kit in common for centuries, without having
been able to blend or lose their distinctive marks.
This contrast, and the peculiar physiognomy re-
sulting from it, would vanish that instant the vic-
torious Cross should reign alone at Constanti-
nople. If'this event is so near at hand as
some people imagine, we must congratulate
Mine. de * * * * on having arrived there in time
to draw a last sketch, spirited. and novel, of a
state of things on the point of passing away.—
Her remarks are the more interesting, because
they ate the result of her own observations : she
does not describe from hearsay, like most travel-
lers ; an actress in almost all her recitals, her
observations are impressions ; she communicates
them as she received them ; and, thanks to the
happy talent of expressing her ideas in an agree-
able manner, and with elegance and clearness,
we are struck with the character of truth which
marks every page of this book. Does she de-
scribe a ceremony, a marriage, a visit to the baths,
the mosques, or the harem ? She was present.
Is it an excursion by water to visit some remark-
able establishment ? She was one of the party,
in company with well-informed men and great
personages. Every door is open for her admis-
sion, every information is furnished her and en-
riches her notes.

It must, however, be remarked, .that recollec-
tions of France ate introduced in all her descrip-
tions ; but who can find fault with a French Lady
for this prepossession ? And how can we be
surprized that a person habitually living at
Paris, should draw her terms of comparison
from objects which were daily. before her
eyes ? Thus when Madame de * * * *
speaks of the beautiful plain of Buyukdere,
where the Ambassadors of. the Foreign Courts
pass the summer, it is the Wood of Boulogne of
Constantinople ; the quay of this same Buyuk-
dere is the Bozdevart of Ghent; the buildings
adjoining this • point of the Seraglio, so much
praised for its admirable prOspect, remind her
of the architecture of the Pavilions of Flora
and Marsan. -Does she allude to the delightful
fountains which ornament the environs of Con-
stantinople, and of the river of sweet Waters, on
the banks of which the Grand Seignior some-
times reposes ? they are the canal and the waters
of Versailles. It is France, always France; that
is present in her thoughts.
, After having sailed from Toulon in the Spring
of 18-16, the author and, her companions landed
on the coast of Asia, in the month of June; and
with a Homer in their hands they set out on a
poetic pilgrimage to the plain of Troy. There, it
must be confessed, the imagination has every thing
to do. •A miserable Turkish hamlet now occu-
pies the spot where formerly stood Ilium : the
famous Scamander, which, even in the time of
Homer, might be passed by means of a tree thrown
across. from bank to bank, is now a torrent of such
magnitude that you may walk through it without
wetting your feet; and it is only by calling to
your aid the power of illusion, that you can dis-
cover the tomb of Hector in a heap of fragments
of marble presenting the shape of a cone on the
summit of a tolerably steep mountain. • This
plain, which you reach by the village of Yeny-
lieny, has a canal runnins, through it, the work
of the famous Hassan Pacha.

One of the objects which made the deepest
impression on the author of these Letters, after
her arrival at Constantinople, was the' liberty
and. pomp with which the ceremonies of the Ca-
tholic faith are celebrated. You would scarcely
fancy yourself among infidels. The author de-
' scribes in an affecting manner the ceremony of
the Fete Dieu, which took place in a vast clois-
ter dedicated to St. Benedict, and surrounded
by houses in the occupation of private families.
The windows, decorated with Cachenire.shawls,
the inagnificence 'of the priests' ornaments, the
cheerful looks of the children forming the choir,,
who wore garlands
.of flowers, and followed the
most distinguished personages of the. French le-
gation, the music frOm ships statipned. before
Constantinople,- all added .to the pomp of this
grand festival, it which,the 'most' singirla'r of all .

objects was the appearance of the banner of Ma-
hornet floating before the Cross, it being custo-
mary for the Janissaries to march. at the head of
the procession, in order to maintain order.
The plague and fire are the two enemies of
Constantinople. You suffer from the first of
these two scourges before you are afflicted with it;
for whatever may be the disorder which attacks
you, the Turks fancy it must be the plague? and
by way of precaution begin to remove from you.
This dread is the cause of the most odious insensi-
bility. As for the victims of this frightful malady,
they are left to die debarred of all those consola-
tions which are so delightful in our last moments
the tender mother cannot receive the last sigh of
the child of her affections : the public, officers
come and force the wretched sufferer to4art -from.,
ail his family.; he is transported-attean' hospital
where he is separated from the living until he
ceases to form one of them. This fatal disorder
is so easily communicated, that a young French-
man took the infection from a bunch of flowers
sent to him by a beautiful Jewess. Can we
entertain any idea of danger from those. we love ?
This unfortunate young man 'could not foresee
that his fate was involved in the calix of a rose.
According to the latest researches, says our fair
Author, it is thought that the plague, -like the
itch, is produced by insects a hundred, times
more diminutive than the handworm ; but what-
ever the conjectures of men of science may be
respecting the nature of the disorder, they have
never yet been able to discover any means of
cure, or of preserving us from its contagion.
44 The setting fire to Constantinople," says a
modern traveller, " is the right of petition of the
Turks." At all events it is certain that'fires are
almost always threats or vengeance. They become
more frequent in times of discontent. When the
Janissaries wish for an increase of pay they threaten
to set fire to the town. During the Author's resi-
dence at Constantinople, a fire broke out in one
of the most populous quarters of the city ;- the
Grand Seignor repaired to the spot, according to
custom, but the Janissaries refused to work at
the pumps. The Sultan having ordered the most
refractory to be thrown into the flames, this des-
potic order was carried into execution, and was
attended with the best effects : the remainder
worked at the pumps, and the fire was extinguish-
ed, but not before it had consumed 400 houses.
After having perused these Letters, which
contain many- iyteresting details, respecting the
domestic life of the inhabitants of Constantinople,
we ask ourselves what are their pleasures, their
diversions ? The answer is, they have none.—
The rich Turk smokes, seated hi a kiosk, or he
smokes in -his caique and dreams of the soft sounds
of the oars. The greatest recreation of the wo-
men is bathing. The remainder of their time is
passed squatted down, rather than seated, on a
sofa, and their delight consists in jumping from it
with agility.
Must we consider as pleasures the public fetes
which the Sultan gives to his subjects, or rather
to himself ? They are called beneche. It is to
be remarked that all the fetes of the Turks take
place in the morning, which custom deprives
them, in our opinion, of one of their greatest
charms, for the imagination revels in the expec-
tation of an entertainment which is to close
the day. The beneclzc consists of different
exercises which are performed in presence
of the Sultan, and in which it sometimes
happens his Sublimity takes a part. The
most common is the qicrid on foot and on
horseback, in which the most skilful in throwing
a stick, carries off the prize. In this part of the
work we shall find an interesting anecdote.
During one of these fetes, the fair author had a
moment's conversation with a Turkish lady, and