The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1840-11-27


! penetrating, the expression of grandeur mingle'
with superb scorn, more majestic and yet NOR
searching at every time raised my eye. Ineve
saw the countenance of man at once so lofty, s,
handsome gazed like one spelled by tasman
] was at length aroused by roar from without
'Your troops are impatient, Aga, said the VI
zier; but they will be early enough for all tina
they have on their hands tonight You will com.
mand them till midnight shall command then
Tomorrow
'You'' was the only word that could utter,
but it comprised a world of meaning.
- was the answer. Solilnan Aga, by this
time Tomorrow, you will be general without a
soldier; but you will leave the Sultan without one
and the Sultan will leave the empire without one.
Now open your eyes, and look for yourself
As he caught up the large fold of his cloak from
the ground saw human head, which seemed to
have just been decapitated. He took it up in his
hand, and looking at its pale and stlened physog-
nomy with cold smile, said
This was once on the shoulders of Sultan
Othman might have worn it till his dying day, but
he was an oath-breaker, and therefore deserved to
die; he was tyrant, and therefore doubly deserv-
ed to die; he swore the massacre of the Janizares,
and therefore he died by the hand of his vizier.-
His head, or the empire,-I stabbed him and sa-
we'd the throne of the Ottomans.' While he spoke,
he threw open easement in the wall, and flung
the head high into the air. As it assembled, it grew
suddenly and intensely luminous, until its SUPER
natural lusre made all objects beneath wildly visi-
ble ! saw the battalions of my Janzaries under
arms in the square, with more than the distinct
ness of MONDAY. As the phenomenon rose, the
whole extent of Constantinople opened on my sight
every roof, and mosque, and minaret, every turret
and tree shone with spiritual splendor. | broke
out into involuntary exclamation.
Aga said my awful associate, 'you may well
eyclaim at this spectacle. The earth holds no
thing nobler. But all things must have an end.
Look again. The light of this singular luminary
had now risen till it filled the whole horizon. The
change below was startling. The stately batal-
, u
standards and broken muskcis scattered over heaps
Of black embers, were all that met the eye. But
on the edge Of the horizon other banners were
floating, ard vast multudes of troops seemed rap
idly advancing towards the capital. North and
South, immense fleets, with various foreign flags
were crowding the Dardanelles and the Golden
Horn; but where were the fleets and armies of the
Osmanl! saw from the Danube to the Medit-
erranean, but saw none. felt pang, as if an
arrow were in my heart.
'All is fated,' said the spirit of the great vizer.
| Man is but dust on the wheel Of destiny. As it
turns, he must turn. lie who attempts to resist,
is only the first to be crushed the wheel still rolls
on. The january will perish, and the Sultan who
smites him will be slave from that hour. The
Osman will suffer the soldiery who raised the en-
pre to be flung into the grave, and the Osmani
will follow them. All shall be done, and speedily
Now 90 forth, put yourself at the head Of the last
army of the empire, and show it worthy Of the
name.
Shall we not have vengeance'' cried.
| Yes; and complete vengcance-vast, sweeping,
enduring vengeance. DO you think have return
ed to this contemplate world merely to astonsh an
aga Of Janizaries in mosque have come, to
tell your Sultan that he is madman, and the ma
ton that they are fools the soveregns of Europe,
that they are sharpening their swords only to cut
their own throats; and Europe, Africa and Asia,
that they are pulling down the Ottoman only to
massacre each other over his grave. We shall
have fine times, and you
waited to hear my share of the future
'Ay if you were frantic enough, you might
choose your own crown; and if you were laihess
enough, you might promise your subjects constu-
tons and cheat them; but you are too wise and too
honest, either to seek the crown or play the knave
with the constitution. You shall therefore have
the happiness, to live obscure, and die in quiet
to know the world enough 10 despise it, and to live
in cottage on the sunny side Of the Balkan, tend
tails and their rabbe and when you are tired of
living, 20 to your ancestors, without piastcr a
pang'
A sudden flourish of uumpe,s and shouts remind
ed me that was still in the world. ] listened for
moment, and then turned to ask final counsel
Of my stately monitor. But, TO my wonder, he
was nowhere TO be SEEN Scarcely less TO my
wonder, found myself still, kneelng on the car
pet, with my forehead touching the ground, as if |
had but just made the prostration. ! saw all my
agas with their foreheads bowed like my own. ]
started on my feet, and asked them how long we
had been there. But moment was the univer-
sal answer Was it then possible that could have
seen, conversed with so long, and held such strange
communications with n being of another state Of
existence-and all this in the interval between
touching the ground with my forehead and lifting it
up again How shall tell What is time -
an enigma. What is space "a problem. What
is spirit i-pn imagination. If all around us is
cloud, why should we be blamed for seeing Moth
ing but the clouds
rushed from the mosque. The time had been
so short, that the troops were unconscious of my