have been insufferable. But the the party returned to their respecmanuers of the Turks, in every tive homes. stage of the business, was friendly and kind. They have a greater regard for the English than for any other nation, both for those in the distinguished employments, and for the mercantile part of them: ever since the affair of Egypt, they talk of Nelson, Sir Sidney, their old acquaintance, whom they will tell you they have seen, and General Stewart, with delight and enthusiasm. They highly respect the mercantile world, and say the word of an Englishman is as good as any other man's writing, who is not a mussuk "The moon shone bright, and shed a charming lustre over the mountains crowned with the gloomy cypress: the most death-like stillness reigned over the canal, interrupted only by the fall of the oar, which beat in agreeable cadence to the breast, which had been agitated with the dance, or with some softer emotion, for the scene of the evening afforded a rich display of beauty. man. "The dinner at Tarapea consisted of all that taste could display, or the appetite desire; the rarities of the season were washed down in libations of the choicest wines; the party was elegant, but not gay. We were deprived by her indisposition of the presence of the amiable and beautiful ambassadress: the sickness of his beloved consort threw a gloom over his excellency, who, notwithstanding, strove to appear cheerful: in the evening, however, we found her adorning the drawingroom, where were also the ambassadors of the other missions and their ladies, with most of the ladies and gentlemen attached to them, who had been invited to pay their court on this occasion. According to the eastern custom, coffee and sweetmeats were served up, and the ball commenced by those who chose to dance leading their partners to the hall, where a band of music was playing Rooms were prepared for those who chose to play at cards. During the evening ices and lemonade were handed round; the dance continued with much vivacity until some hours after midnight, when The contrast was striking between the elegant simplicity of the English dress, and the gaudy shew of the Grecian. Her excellency was attired in a plain, but costly suit; the other ladies were decked out in rich furred gowns of silver, gold, or rich silk stuffs, and all the family diamonds were displayed on this occasion, stuck on without either art or elegance. "The ambassador appeared in the evening in the Windsor uniform; his dress in the morning was rich embroidery. The gentleman of the other missions wore the uniform of their respective courts. "Constantinople, 1805. "The Turkish character has been frequently delineated, and is actually but little known. The Tarks are represented as brutal, barbarous, and ferocious; in some respects I must confess they are so, but these bad qualities arise from two causes: first, their religion, which absurdly makes them regard all those who are not mussulmen, as infidels; next, their having constantly under their eye the subtle Jew, and the perfidious Greek, both of whom, from their knavery, they are led to despise and hate; the few Franks whom they see ex clusive clusive of them, they regard with the same contempt. Now that the Europeans begin to be better known, they speak of our heroes with rapture, and of our merchants as men of faith. "But excepting this haughtiness of carriage, of which they can seldom divest themselves, the Turks are generous, humane, (which their law teaches them to be,) and very charitable they in general do what good they can during their life, and many of them, at their death, leave large sums for benevolent purposes. "Now that learning begins to be diffused throughout the empire, it is to be hoped that many of their faults will be buried with their ig norance. "The slaves in Turkey are healthy and good-looking; slavery in this country, so much dreaded by the nations around, is nothing to what they themselves inflict. The Turks will not believe that in other countries, slaves are driven out like cattle to work beneath a scorching sun, and that on their return they are fed with a rotten herring the bare idea of this would shock them; they are strict, and at times even punish their slaves with death, when they merit it, but they seldom or never inflict pain when it is avoidable; and, it is to be hoped, that they will never take example by our enlightened Britons in the western world. "To the brute creation they pay what may be called a foolish attention, and carry it even to the extreme of absurdity of this the innumerable quantity of dogs in their streets furnishes a striking example: each of these dogs belongs to one particular person, but they are fed by all, and they seem to know that the Turks are their friends, for they bark at, and molest every body else. Cats are also great favourites with the Turks. Their horses, asses, and oxen, all look better than those in any other country. They are likewise partial to birds, and have a great veneration for some particular kinds of them, which they treat with great tenderness. "The manners of the orientals are soft and seducing: the Turkish salute is elegant and expressive; they lay their right hand on the heart, raise it to the lips, and then to the forehead, meaning to say that the heart, the lips, and the head, or the seat of knowledge, are at your devotion. "The mode of prayer among the Turks is solemn and devout, and, as I have mentioned before, without the least tincture of pharisaical pride in it, although their devotions are frequently performed in the open air, and in the midst of a multitude. They pray with their faces toward Mecca, as Daniel did of old with his toward Jerusalem. The first part is said standing, with the hands lifted up; they then kneel, kiss the ground, and touch it several times with their foreheads; afterwards they sit on their knees, and pray and chaunt; previous to this they wash their feet, hands, and face. “Distinction of rank seems, in a great measure, unknown among them, excepting that attached to those who are officers of state; and the utmost submission and respect are paid to those who have the s6, niority in age, not only by their family, but by the people in generak [An elder brother is considered as a superior, and lias, on all ocsions, the preference: When 1. was last at Smyrna, as I was taking a walk, I met the Musalim going out to meet his brother, who was coming to pay a visit to that part of the country. The Musalim was much the greater man of the two; he was possessed of influence and riches; his brother was a man of rather a low station in life, and came with only one armed servant as a guide, but he was several years older. The Musalim had a guard of twelve horsemen; when he came near his brother he dismounted from his horse, as did also the whole of his guards; he approached with respect, and kissed his brother's hand, who then made him re-mount, and they rode side by side to town. It is generally said, that if the father is dead, the younger brother serves the elder at table, but this I do not believe; where I had an opportunity of observing, slaves were the attendants. "The Turks have many vices, and some are vindictive and brutal; but bad men are to be found in every country; they, are, however, fast emerging from that state of darkness which has been the nursery of ́their errors. It is not to be wondered at, that people surrounded by slaves, and those artful wretches, the Jews and Greeks, which is the case with the Turks, should be haughty and supercilious; this is universal in every country under similar circumstances. But will any one say that the Turks are worse than many of our countrymen who have spent a few years in the West Indies, with this difference, that the Turks have always the same abject conduct before their eyes, whereas, our countrymen have been in general educated in a religion, of which humanity and humility are the leading principles: under a government ere oppression is punishable: and in a society, where the brutal manners which they acquire abroad, are abhorred and despised. The Turk passes his leisure hours in his haram, enjoying soft music, the elegant dance, and all the sweets of love. The West Indian spends his leisure hours in drunkenness, and in the gratification of the most beastly sensuality; his heart, which was once tender, becomes obdurate and cruel: the mind, once cultivated and raised to the admiration of God and his works, becomes callous, and returns to a state worse than that of nature; his God is neglected, and his fellowcreatures despised; he becomes des picable himself, and thinks that all men are so likewise. "From a point of religion, the women in Turkey have their faces covered; no man, but their husband or master, if they are slaves, is allowed to see them; indeed their whole figure is concealed, being enveloped in a loose cloak called a ferragee, which sweeps the ground; the head is clothed with three pieces of muslin, one comes over the eyes and down to the point of the nose; the second covers the chin and ears, and hangs down over the neck; and the third is thrown loosely over the head, pinned at the chin, and falls over the shoulders; the limbs and feet are shrouded in long trowsers, to which are sewed a sort of boots of yellow leather, and on the feet they wear slippers, or rather sandals, as they consist only of a sole, and an upper part just sufficient to hold the toes. "The Turkish fair are said to be very amorous; before their tyrants, however, they set a strict watch over their conduct, but I have more than once seer. a beautiful Circassian shew her face when none but a Christian was near; and were not the laws put in execution so rigidly in Turkey, they would find many admirers among the Franks; but on the detection of any amour with an infidel, the woman is tied in a sack and thrown into the sea, and her lover is beheaded. "When a Turkish lady is pretty, she endeavours, by every art, to heighten her beauty; they paint the cheeks, the eye-lashes, and eyebrows; they have fine teeth, as they eat nothing which can injure them, and they keep them clean by chewing mastic. If we may judge of them by the men, they must be very handsome; these are in general well made, they have fine limbs, and justly proportioned bodies; they have good faces, which are hidden beneath their dark beards and whiskers, and they have fine full eyes. "The easy dress of the Turks must be very conducive to health, they have nothing tight about them; their clothes hang from the shoulder, or are fastened round the middle with a girdle or shawl; their shirts, which are made of a sort of crape, have neither collar nor wristband; they wear nothing round the neck; and as their trowsers, which are remarkably loose, are sewed to their yellow leather boots, or stockings, they have no bandage round the knee. "The only absurdity in the Turkish dress, is the turban, which is truly inconvenient, in whatever shape it is used; it is argued, however, from their submitting to wear this incumbrance for such a length of time, that the climate makes it necessary to keep the head warm. I may affirm, without exaggeration, that some of these turbans are as heavy as half an English hundred weight. "There are frequent instances of longevity in Turkey; an hundred, or even one hundred and ten years, is no uncommon age. The people live sparingly, and commit no excess, either in eating or drinking. Women with child are held in very great respect by the Turks. From the fineness of the climate they frequently dine in the open air; and if by chance a female passes by whilst they are eating, she is immediately invited to partake with them; in case of her refusal, lest she should be with child, and her offspring endangered by her longing for something which she may have seen at the table, a slave is immediately dispatched to follow her, and a portion of every dish is set apart, and sent after her, of which she is humbly intreated to accept." cannot pretend to give you a full account of it; but from the information I received at the Dardanelles, I had no great cause of regret, as I had passed neither town or fortification worthy of notice. At the Dardanelles I was courteously invited by the Venetian consul, Signior Cheali, to take up my abode at his house during my stay, an offer which I accepted in preference to that of our own consul, Signior Taragano, a Jew, who was, however, also very courteous. Having, indeed, several letters of recommendation, all the consuls strove to make my stay as agreeable as possible, and to shew me every attention in their power. Signior Cheali is a Venetian of about seventy-five years of age he and my friend Doctor Lorenzo left Italy together, and although he has lived upwards of forty years at a distance from his native land, he still retains all the manners of a Venetian. The inhabitants of the Dardanelles are chiefly Jews and Greeks, very few Turks, and still fewer Europeans. "The day after my arrival, early in the morning I embarked on board of a Turkish boat called a bider, with five pair of oars, and rowed down as far as the lowest castle of the Dardanelles, a distance of about eight miles, where I landed immediately under the Tumulus of Achilles, when I took horses to cross the plain to the ruins of Alexandria Troas. The Tumulus of Achilles stands on an eminence, and the view from it is extensive. I stopped a few minutes on its summit, where a Turk, according to his last injunctions, has been interred. A Greek whom I took along with me as interpreter and cicerone, informed me that the tumulus had been opened by a Frenchman, but that after digging to a considerable depth, he had found nothing to reward his labour. "From thence we rode for some hours over a fine plain, having much the appearance of a gentleman's park, being beautifully diversified by groups of tall trees, and the ground in general well cultivated. The peasants though few in number, were busily employed in weeding and hoeing the cotton plant, which appeared to be the principal article of culture. About the middle of the plain we passed a chifflick of the late Hassan Pacha, high admiral of the Turkish fleet, who has here built a fine chiosk of stone, which has the appearance of a small fortification. Near the sea, immediately opposite to Tenedos, is to be seen a large tumulus, but my cicerone was ignorant of its title, and assured me indeed that it had none. At mid-day the guide insisted upon halting a short time to refresh our horses, which we did at a small village called Jecklu: with difficulty the Greek procured a few eggs, which we dressed for our dinners. The inhabitants, old and young, on seeing a Frank, ran to collect what medals they had, and which 1 purchased for a trifle: few valuable ones are now found, being chiefly Roman, and not of first rate workmanship. After our repast in the cool of the evening, our route lay near the margin of the sea, through a well wooded country, where yearly some ship loads of valonea or acorns, are collected from a. species of dwarf oak which abounds. We passed many vine yards close to the sea side, which are cultivated by the inhabitants of Tenedos, many of whom come over in the spring and erect temporary, dwellings for that purpose. wine of Tenedos may thus with much more propriety be called Troy The |