The Fanariotes.
The Times, 1824-12-02T00:00:00

The f'ollowing Is an extratct from an article in the London iMaga. zite of the present month, on the Fanariotes or Greeks of Fanar, a suburb of Constantinople, who enjoyed the few offices which, under the policy of the Turks, they were enabled to hold. The whole ar- ticle is curIous:_ " The manner and behaviour of an Hospodar are sufficiently ca- rious. His dignity is of a very di.ferent kind from that which usually distinguishes other great men when they condescend to be seen by their interiors. XV'len he appeare in public nr in his palace, it lie walks, he lets his head hang down upon his breast, and half shuts his eyes; he feigns deahness, and pretends not to be able to hear when any qucstion is put to him which he does not choose to answer. Hle never looks on one side, but keeps a constant direct stare, rolling a chaplet continually betveen his fingers, while with the other hand he chinks some newly-struck gold coin, called roubles, which he keeps in his pocket fbr that purpose. If he speaks, it is with a very soft gentle voice, and in a sing-song tone-a kind of recitative. This is the kind of dignity into which an intriguing and hypocritical Fanariote invariable sinks, either as the natural conse- quence of his former habits atnd his present elevation, or because it is understood to accord witb the Fanariote notions of wvhat is princely or Hospodariatish. " Nothiig can equal the tender attentions of the Bayards, and especially the Bayards from the FanrLr. The latter approach the person of the Hospodar with most remarkable eagerness ; two of them seize his arms and raise him fromn the grount, so that in walk- ing he scarcely reatches the floor with the point ot' his toes, wvhile two or three other'lords take up the tail of his robe, and thus, with all the air of a wretched paralytic, lie passes into his apartments, followed by a train ot domestics. When he is put down there, he throws away his chapletw aode putting his money in his pocket, he snatches his pipe with some agility. l,t tbat instant a loud stentorian voice is heard In the hall, wlion the Prince is seated: this is the cry of the Sclmouche, one of his grooms, for coffee, and the coffee-bearer, the momcnt he has sung out Cafe! Cqflzi-Bachi ! the coff'e-bearer of his llospodariat Highness appears with a little cup richly set with diaimioads, wbhich is immediately presented. If he wishes to take a meal, the same ceremotiies take place. At mid-day, a Schiaofche cries ou: at sort of speech to the -steward, the butler, and the cup. bearer, and finishes witil these words-' And all of you, gentlemen, attached to the service of the table of' his Highness, prepare Your. selves.' Scarcely is the Prince seated at table, when 30or40 nseen musicians strike up witlh tlheir violins and nan-pipes of 14 reeds known in tlhiscountry by thenameof miskals These musicians are the people known in this country by the name of Gipsiee, and in Frairce of Bohemians. Immense numbers of' them inhabit Mlolda. via and Walachia, some leading a settled life, and some, as else. where, wandlering from place to place. They are said to be very ad. inirable musicians, and capable of executing the richest compositions of Europe with rare precisiomi, though they play entirely by ear. and do not know a single note. " The Prince never asks for any thing at table, all is prepared for him, his bread even is cut into little morsels, and every thlinv bein offered to him, he refuses that which he dislikes. T'le wine is held in small glass decanters, and the cup-bearer, who is always one of his nearest relations, keeps standing behind him, constantly holding out to him a glass half filled with it. W'hen the meeal is finished, a Sc/eoumche utters the cry for coffee. It is by that time one o'clock and a Sc&Iaonteke shouts out of a wiindow to inform the city that his Highness has dined, and is goitig to take his coffee, and the instant after is going to take his repose. From that moment all is buried in the deepest silence, a universal calm spreads itself over the palace, where business of every kind is suspended. " It must not be supposed that this intervai, ot abotit three hours, is spent entirely by the Prince in sleep. He employs it, according as he unterstands it, for the hajpiness of his subjects. These are his three hours of meditation, of freedom, and leisare, atil is eften the time when he is most actively employed. At four o'clock the noise of the innusierable clocks of Bucharest, whichl amnount to about two hundred, and also that of the holy plates, announ,ce that the Prince isi not to be supposed any longer asleep. The holy plates are certain pieces of copperstispended by two cords, which the priests, before the introduction of bells, used to strike with mallets, for the purpose of convoking the faithful. The usage ia still preserved by ne Moldavians, who call the sacred plates Symandra, the name they bore at Constantinople, when they were applied to the same use. " The dress of the Hospodar does not diffcr from that of a noble Turk at Constantinople, except in the head-dress. Inp lace of the turban, lie wears a cylindrical cap in imitation of the Kb an of the Crmimea, composed of yellow cloth, and covered round the lower part writh sable. The Prince and the Bs ards are alike distinguislhed from their inferiors by the length of their bearls ; but no subject, Bayarl or not. is permitted to line his slippers with red-this is a privilege whiC2 thte HQspodar reserves to hinself. " A Bayard is easily discerned from a common inhabitant of the principality by the enormitv of his kalpak. This head.dress is com- posed of tthe skins of sevefi or eight black lambs, skinned for that purpose when very young. It is of the forim of a balloon, and is surmounted at the summit by a red banderoll, which marks the class to which the l3syard belongs. The con of the Prince likewise wears a kalpak, but with this diff'erence, that his banderoll is white instead of redl. The ordinary circumference of these kalpaks, but only in tie princi3alities, is five feet to five feet and a half. Since the grandeur of the Bayard is invariably measured by the magnitude ot'his kalpak, it mray readily be supposed that It is difficult to set limits to their size. l'heir dimtensions are often so enormous, that a Bayard, if he be a very g;reat man2 is unable to admit a friend to sit by the side of him in hils earriage.-' THE FANARIOTES.