My last letter has shewn you, that the conceptions of genius, though they may want the aid of the Press to bring them in full and perfect disclosure to the world, will yet burst through their bounds, and find some means of communication with mankind; for though the art of Printing be unknown in Turkey, the emanations of superior intellect and fancy find their way to the general ear through the medium of public declamation in coffee-houses. This letter will serve to shew you that malversation in office, public delinquency, and all those crimes of the great, which with us are cognizable by no tribunal but that of the public press, are not altogether so exempt from the lash and exposure of the satirist in Turkey, as the want of that great palladium of Freedom would dispose us to believe; and that, incredible as it may appear, the magistrates are held up to ridicule in public exhibition, satirised with all the extravagant vulgarity of coarse humour and unpolished wit, and exposed with all the bitter exaggerations of envenomed genius.
The French gentleman whom I mentioned to you in my last,as having procured me that pleasant repast at the coffee-house, called on me a morning or two after that, and reminded me how highly I seemed to be entertained; said, there were often to be seen, by walking about and going into public places, a variety of things, which, however worthless and unentertaining in themselves, might, from the novelty of their appearance, and their unlikeliness to any thing seen in Europe, serve either to divert by their oddity, or promote the conception of new ideas in the mind: he therefore recommended it to me, with all the zeal of a person who took an interest in my happiness, to keep on my legs and in the streets while I remained at Aleppo.
You will conclude that I readily complied, and we sallied out directly in quest of adventure. We proceeded, therefore, to one of the beforementioned coffee-houses, where, as my friend observed to me, though there were no people of great rank, there was generally something to afford contemplation or amusement; and where, if nothing else occurred, the motley appearance of the company was sufficient to excite a variety of whimsical emotions, and suggest numberless ludicrous images to the imagination of an English or French man. As there was no orator at work declaiming, I had time to indulge myself with a more accurate view than I had before taken of the group that surrounded us: and surely never was ponderous gravity more ludicrously, or in more various forms depicted by any caricaturist in the world.—Here it was tobe seen, in all its shadings, from the self-important nod of serious cogitation, down to the soporific aspect of stolid stupidity. Not a muscle was moved in way of mirth, not a face disgraced with a smile, and I could not help thinking all the time, that if every nation of the earth was to take some animal for its insignia, as the British assume the lion, and the Prussian the eagle, the Turks might be divided in their choice between the appropriate claims of the owl and the ass.
Soon after we entered, a band of what they called music, struck up a concert. And here again the notion of the owl and the ass struck me with increased force, as peculiarly presiding over their music: for no other combination of sounds that I know on earth, but the screeching of the one, and the braying of the other, could form any thing to resemble this concert, with which the auditory seemed vastly pleased, though I was obliged to betake myself to flight, in order to get relief from the torture it gave me. The Turks, however, as I retreated, honoured me with a few remarks, which as I did not understand, I could not precisely feel; my friend however told me, they were to the effect that we were Frangi Dumus (Frank Hog), and had no more ear than that filthy animal for music.
Come, said my friend, don’t be discouraged!—But the music—the music! interrupted I.—Well then, said he, the music, or rather the sounds were execrable to be sure; they have at least served to establish this certainty, that there is nothing, however discordant ordetestable, which habit will not reconcile us to. Doubt not, said he, that the best piece of Handel or Correlli, performed by the best band in Rome, would appear as ridiculous to them, as their concert did to us.
We visited many coffee-houses in the course of that day, in every one of which we found something to divert or disgust us; at length as we entered one, my friendly guide turning to me with satisfaction in his countenance, said “Here is something about to go forward that will please you better than the concert of music.” What is it, said I? A drama, returned he; a drama, to you most certainly of a new and extraordinary kind; and I do assure you that so zealous am I to procure you entertainment, I would rather than a couple of loui’s you could understand what is going forward: your hearty mirth and laughter, added he, are sufficient to put one in spirits. He then directed my attention to a fellow who was busily employed in erecting a stage, which he accomplished in a time incredibly short. The light of the sun was completely excluded, and a puppet shew commenced, which gave great delight to all the audience, and, ignorant as I was of the language, pleased me very much.
I was astonished when informed that one man only spoke for all the personages of the drama, for so artfully did he change his tone of voice, that I could have sworn there had been as many people to speak, as there were characters in the piece. The images were not actually puppets, commonly so called, but shadows done in the mannerof Astley’sOmbres Chinoises. They were, however, far inferior to his in execution and management, though the dialogue and incident evidently appeared, even to me, to be executed with a degree of thevis comicafar superior to any I ever saw in a thing of the kind in Europe; indeed so perfect was the whole, that though I knew not a word of the language, I comprehended clearly the plan of the piece, and many of the strokes of humour contained in the dialogues.—The plan was obviously taken from a story which I have read in some of the Eastern tales, I believe the Arabian Nights Entertainments, and it is founded on the law of the country, that a man may repudiate his wife twice, and take her back again; but in the event of a third divorce, cannot retake her to his marriage-bed, unless she be previously married and divorced by another man. To obviate which, husbands who repent having divorced their wives a third time, employ a man to marry them, and restore her back again; and he who does this office is called aHullah.—In the piece before us, however, the Lady and the Hullah like each other so well, that they agree not to separate; the husband brings them both before the Cadi to enforce a separation; and the scene before the Cadi was as ludicrous, and as keen a satire upon those magistrates as can well be conceived, though of the low kind.
The piece was introduced with a grand nuptial procession, in which the master displayed the powers of his voice by uttering a variety of the most opposite tones in the whole gamut of thehuman voice; sometimes speaking, sometimes squeaking like a hurt child, sometimes huzzaing as a man, a woman, or a child; sometimes neighing like a horse, and sometimes interspersing it with other such sounds as commonly occur in crowds, in such a manner as astonished me: while the concomitant action of the images, grotesque beyond measure, kept up the laugh; horses kicking and throwing their riders, asses biting those near them, and kicking those behind them, who retire limping in the most ridiculous manner; while their great standing character in all pieces;Kara-ghuse(the same as our Punch), raised a general roar of obstreperous mirth even from the Turks, with his whimsical action, of which I must say that, though nonsensical, though indecent, and sometimes even disgusting, it was on the whole the most finished composition of low ribaldry and fun that I ever beheld.
When they come before the Cadi, he is seated in his divan of justice; but as soon as the complaint is opened and answered, he rises and comes forward between the contending parties: here he turns to one and demands in a terrific tone what he has to say, while the other puts cash in his hand behind, and in proportion as the cash is counted in, increases the terror of his voice; he then pockets the money, and again turns to the other, and demands what he has to offer, while in like manner he receives the bribes from his adversary and puts it in an opposite pocket: this alternate application lasts till the purses of both are exhausted, when, giving a great groan, he retires onone side to reckon the money of each from a pocket he has on either side, one called plaintiff, and the other defendant; when balancing them, he finds plaintiff better by one asper (or three-halfpence) than defendant, and pronounces his judgment accordingly. The defendant appeals to the Bashaw; they go before him:Kara-ghuse(Punch) however, takes the defendant aside, and in a dialogue, which my friend assured me was pointed, witty, and bitterly satirical, developes to him the whole system of magistratical injustice, advises him to bribe the Bashaw, and, declaring his zeal for all young people fond of amorous enjoyment (which he is at some pains to enlarge upon to the excess of indelicacy), offers him the aid of his purse. The advice is followed; the bribe is accepted; the Cadi’s decree is reversed, and himself disgraced, and the mob at once hustle him and bear the Hullah home to his bride with clamours of joy. Here again the master shewed his extraordinary powers, giving not only, as before, distinct and opposite tones of voice, but huddling a number of different sounds with such skill and rapidity together, that it was scarcely possible to resist the persuasion that they were the issue of a large and tumultuous crowd of men and animals. With this extravagantmelangethe curtain dropped, and the performance ended.
Returning home we conversed together on the subject of the piece, which I confess I could not get out of my head for some time. My friend explained to me, as well as he could recollect, a great part of the dialogue, and assured me, that the freedom of speech of MonsieurKara-ghusehad from time to time created a great deal of uneasiness, not only to private offending individuals, but to the magistracy itself—that no offender, however intrenched behind power, or enshrined in rank, could escape him—that Bashaws, Cadi’s, nay the Janissaries themselves, were often made the sport of his fury; that he was not more restrained in the effusions of obscenity which he uttered, than in his satire; that he was always well received and applauded, even venerated (as we venerate the liberty of the press) as a bold teller of truth, who with little mischief does a great deal of good, and often rouses the lethargic public mind to a sense of public dangers and injuries. He added, that in some cases the Magistrate had been obliged to interfere; and the Bashaw himself was seriously called upon at times to stop the licentious tongue of this champion of Freedom,Kara-ghuse.
“Well then,” said I, “it appears upon the whole that MonsieurKara-ghuseis a very great blackguard, but a very witty, and a very honest one.”
“You have just hit it,” said he; and if Master Kara-ghuse was to take such liberties in France, Spain, Portugal, or Germany, all his wit and honesty would not save him from punishment. In England you do not want him; every man there is aKara-ghuse, and every newspaper a puppet-shew.
“And yet,” returned I, “we complain sadly of want of liberty!”
“That is natural,” returned my sagacious Frenchman, “perfectlynatural. Liberty is like money; the more we have of it, the more covetous we grow.”
“Very true, Monsieur,” said I, pleased with his compliment to our happy Constitution, and to clinch his observation, gave a Latin quotation, which when a child I got out of Lilly’s Grammar,“Crescit amor nummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit;”and then changing nummus for libertas,“Crescit amor libertatis, quantum ipsa libertas crescit.”
“’Tis very well, Monsieur,” said he; “and to carry on your allusion, may we not say, that they who do not know when they have enough, are as dangerously wrong in the one case, as those who say we have too much, are in the other? The English complaining of the want of liberty, reminds me of the coffee-house orator’s story of Cassem, who, wallowing in wealth, lost it all in the wild pursuit of more.—I hope however that they never will, like him, lose their stock in vain endeavours to increase it.”
While I was, in the manner I have already mentioned, endeavouring to pass away the time as cheerfully as possible, till a caravan was formed, or Company’s dispatches were coming over land, of which I might avail myself; I found my situation in thehouse of Mr. ——- growing extremely critical. That gentleman, of whose good sense, and truly excellent disposition, I had too manifold proofs to call them in question, had, though fallen into the vale of years, married his Lady at a very tender age. She was then young, beautiful, full of sensibility, and gifted with such natural endowments both of mind and person, accompanied with all those accomplishments which helped to dress them to advantage, that she might well be acquitted of vanity, even though fancy suggested to her she was fit to grace and confer happiness on a younger bed; while reflection on the obvious disparity of the match (which the cool temper of satiety possibly suggested to him) might perhaps have alarmed his mind to circumstances of probable danger, that, before wedlock, were all hid behind the deceptive veil of passion. Whether these were the private sentiments that influenced both or either of them, I cannot presume to determine, though I think it probable: for I was not long in the house till I plainly perceived they were on a very bad footing with each other, and in short that disagreement was become habitual to them. At first, that is to say, for a few days after my becoming an inmate of their house, decency enforced concealment, and the ebullitions of peevishness were stifled by the dictates of prudence: but the animosities of the connubial state are those which of all others are the most impatient under controul; and as time, by producing familiarity, relaxed restraint, the pent-up passions began to force their way, and open bikering, took place in my presence.
It is but barely doing justice to myself to say, that I felt the most poignant concern at seeing a couple, each so perfectly amiable in all other respects, blasting the hours that should be given to harmony and love, in jarring, reproach, and recrimination; and I would have given all I was worth that I had never had occasion to esteem them so much, or that I could give them that peace which seemed to have flown them for ever. Fain would I cast a veil over the whole transaction; fain would I bury it, even from myself, in oblivion: but it has been made by my enemies the subject of triumphant slander; and to do justice to myself, and disclaim the extent of guilt which they would impute to me, I am reluctantly obliged to avow the share I had, and declare how the matter really stood. I must speak the truth, and hope you will not conceive that I designedly lean too heavily upon any one, to ease myself of my share of the load.
Whatever domestic uneasiness may subsist between a married pair, the man, if prudent, will endeavour to conceal it; and the woman, if truly virtuous, will take care to do so: should great disparity of age (as in the present instance) be the case, the Lady is more particularly bound to conceal any uneasiness, lest it should be attributed to that cause which people are in such cases too prone to suspect, dislike to her husband; and before young men, above all, she should be most exemplary, as she must well know that their natural vanity, combined with the leading idea of her aversion and infidelity to her husband, suggest ideas to them from whence their warm imaginationsdraw inferences of a nature too pleasing to be parted with, and too probable not to be put in practice, or at least attempted. Here then a woman at once lays herself fairly open to the assaults of illicit love. I think it will not be denied, that the woman who promulgates the disagreements between her and her husband, particularly if she suffers a young man to be privy to it, is either extremely ignorant, or intentionally vicious, or both.
That the Lady I allude to may in some respect be acquitted of this imputation, I must tell you, that she was only eighteen years of age; her tender, inexperienced mind had not yet arrived to that maturity which gives sound judgment; and though of good natural talents, highly cultivated (for she spoke fluently English, French, Italian, Arabic, Persian, and the Greek and Turkish languages), she yet was simple, innocent, uninformed in the ways of the world, and incapable of reasoning from causes up to consequences. But unfortunately that simplicity is attended with as much mischief, though not guilt, as the wilful misconduct of the more experienced; it has the same baleful effects with the hearers, inspires the same confidence, emboldens with the same hopes, and leads to the same pernicious practices.
I have already mentioned, and will now remind you, that I was then young. Perhaps it was owing to a congeniality pointed out by our age, perhaps to a compassionate politeness amounting to tenderness, which I always disclosed on those unhappy occasions, joinedperhaps to the ardent look of youth kindled by the imaginations to which this imprudent conduct insensibly gave birth, that the Lady thought proper to take the very hazardous step of making a confidant of a young man and a soldier—and revealing to me the whole tale of her grievances, with a pathetic eloquence, that would have made an impression upon a much less susceptible heart than mine. I declare it most solemnly, that though this extraordinary mark of confidence and esteem communicated to my heart strong sensations of unjustifiable pleasure; I so far got the better of myself at first, as to receive the whole with the same appearance of tranquillity, as if I had been only a confidential female friend. I pitied, it is true;—I expressed my pity;—I advised, not treacherously but faithfully;—I said such things as occurred to me to be most likely to assuage and extinguish the flame of discord, and lead to an amicable adjustment; and I parted for that time with her to go to a self-approving pillow, where, while my fancy was inflamed and tickled by the flattering mark of regard shewn me by so all-accomplished a person, I had the soothing delightful consciousness of having, as far as I was able, done my duty, and escaped the corroding reflection of having violated the rights of hospitality.
Not an opportunity however afterwards offered, that the same unhappy point was not the subject of discussion, and unfortunately those opportunities but too frequently occurred; till at length we began to feel that they were the sweetest minutes of our lives, andwere sought for with industrious avidity by both of us. No human resolution was sufficient to withstand such an unlucky concurrence of circumstances: from lamenting the grievances, we wished to remove them, from wishing we proceeded to consider the means, and when we had got that length, the flight was not far to the extreme end—the execution of it. My passions hurried me before them, my expressions grew gradually more and more unguarded, our conversation became more interesting and warm; and though I felt and struggled to be guided by the strict principles of honour, and formed a thousand resolutions not to transgress the laws of hospitality, by injuring the man who had treated me with such kindness, the struggle became too severe for me—the desire of pleasing a lovely woman, who had reposed such unbounded confidence in me, and who seemed to expect and require of me to alleviate her misery, at length bore down all the oppositions suggested by reason and principle, and I agreed to become the instrument of her removal from this unhappy situation. We fell—but not intirely. There is one length to which no earthly consideration—no allurement however dazzling could tempt me—it is now the most cordial consolation to my mind; I never suffered myself to think of trespassing on the decorum of his house, nor did we in any single instance carry our intercourse to a direct violation of his bed. Though the transports of youthful passion hurried us into conversations and reflections on the subject of her determination to be separated from her husband, yet that passion was of too delicatea kind to sink into the brutal sordid indulgence of dishonourable stolen embraces. She wished for that separation, rather as a subterfuge from incessant diurnal misery, than as a prelude to any vicious or illicit enjoyment; and we looked with pleasure to the event, but we looked no further.
It is thus that, in the down-hill path of vice, we are hurried on step by step, fondly imagining that each successive object, which bounds our sight, will stop our headlong career; while alas! every step we advance gives additional rapidity to our descent: like the centripetal force of a projectile, our pace increases with uniformly accelerated motion—till disdaining all controul, and breaking down every impediment that reason, morality, or honour throw in the way to rescue us or retard our ruin, we precipitate unexpectedly into the last gulph of vice and infamy.
Fortunately, however, an accident intervened in the present case, which arrested our progress down this hideous descent, and reserved us both I hope to conviction of our folly, and repentance of our error. And I have the consolation to reflect, that out of such a host of dangers and temptations as I was beset with, I have escaped without the actual perpetration of a deed, which would, had it happened, in all probability have embittered my life.
While we hugged ourselves in the security and secrecy of expressing our genuine sentiments, her husband discovered our wishes, and all at once took the necessary measures for preventing them. Sothat, overwhelmed with grief and shame, I directly formed the resolution to leave Aleppo, and proceed in the best manner I could on my destination.
Thus you see, my dear Frederick, was your father, by failing to resist the first impressions of an unlawful and dishonourable passion, insensibly led to the very brink of a precipice, the bare remembrance of which now makes him shudder with horror. The story, by means unnecessary for me to mention, took wind. The folly of some, the malice of others, and the unaccountable propensity to falsehood of more, trumpeted it about with many exaggerations to my injury, and I was held up as the deliberate seducer of innocence: but the whole transaction is exactly as I have stated it; and the disagreements previous to my arrival at Aleppo, which, in telling the story, they purposely left out, were of such public notoriety, that every European, even the Consul himself, was fully acquainted with them. This is the consequence of a deviation from the strict rule of right. Treasure it up in your mind, my child, never to be forgotten; and let it operate as a caution to you, how you entangle yourself in the snares of women: recollect that my escape was singularly fortunate, and the mere effect of accident; and flatter not yourself, that because accident served in one case, it will in another. Providence has, for the wisest of purposes, implanted in our nature a fondness for the fair sex; and so long as it is used prudently and virtuously, it constitutes the first happiness of life; but if on the contrary, it stimulates us toexcess, impels to injure our fellow-creature, or break in upon the repose of a family; it is our reproach, our shame, our curse, and very frequently our utter and irremediable ruin; add to this, that there is in the general character of women, a capriciousness, a levity, and a vanity, under the influence of which they sport with men, only to display their power, and evince the force of their charms, which makes the cultivation of their good graces in any way hazardous. To adopt the idea of an old epigram—“There is no living with them, nor without them.”
As your happiness, my dear boy, is the first object of my life, my efforts shall be turned to the guiding of your greener years from any premature impressions; and when reason and matured age fit you for the cultivation and enjoyment of female society, be it mine to direct your steps away from that class, who think rank a sufficient sanction for vice, who stare in all the bronze of aristocratic assurance, under a load of obloquy, beneath which the poorest peasant’s wife would sink; who think that wealth and rank confer a right to commit excesses that would degrade the meanest of the canaille; and felicitate themselves with the reflection, that, under the protection of family or an infamous husband, they may indulge in enormities, for which the lowest of their sex are beating hemp in Bridewell.
The discovery to which I alluded in my last letter, surprised and grieved me very much; and indeed it astonished me the more, from the manner in which it was communicated.
One day I received a polite message from the British Consul, saying, he wished to speak to me as soon as possible, upon a business of great consequence. I thought at first, that it might be some plan for my proceeding on my journey—perhaps Company’s dispatches that had arrived to go over land; and at intervals, something like apprehensions of the true motive of his sending for me flew across my mind. I however went to him, when, after some little introductory conversation, he told me, that my host Mr. ——- had been with him that morning, laying before him a complaint of a most extraordinary and serious nature, of which, as it immediately concerned me, he thought himself bound to inform me, in order that I might either contradict so gross a calumny if it were untrue, or find means to avoid the obviously necessary result if founded in fact.
He then proceeded to relate to me, that Mr. ——- had informed him of a conspiracy having been meditated against his peace and honour, between his wife and the English gentleman whom he hadentertained in his house; that their plan was nothing less than an elopement, and that he did not know how soon it might be carried into execution, if not timely prevented; and finally, that he had demanded the assistance of the Consul and his interest with the Turkish magistrate to prevent it, by granting him an armed force for the protection of his house.
I was much surprised to find that conversations so very guarded as ours were discovered, and more so that the aggrieved person did not think proper to speak to myself, and charge me in person with the offence; never reflecting the while, that all my ideas were military, and his merely commercial: I was also much at a loss to conjecture how he came to make the discovery—but this I found afterwards he owed to a female servant, who had been improvidently intrusted by her mistress with the secret.
Finding, however, that by whatever means he became acquainted with the affair, it was a certain fact that he was apprised of it, I directly acknowledged the whole truth with the utmost candour to the Consul; told him the affair step by step as it arose, assuring him (which I really thought to be the case) that pity for the Lady’s deplorable situation made me listen to such a measure; and that unlawful passion had so little to do with it, that in all our private conferences we had never transgressed the limits of purity; and that her person was, at least respecting me, and I firmly believed all mankind, spotless and inviolate. I added, that great allowances were to be made fora young creature barely eighteen years of age, consigned by the wickedness of avaricious parents to the embraces of a man of sixty-five; who, amiable and worthy though he was, in social intercourse with the world (which I knew him to be), was yet in the most indispensable point of connubial felicity so utterly defective, as necessarily to create disgust and abhorrence in a youthful mind. I remarked to him, that, in the forming of laws, it as plainly appeared on their face, who made them amongst the English, as it does on the face of the Gentoo laws, that they were made by the Bramins: for, as by the latter the penalty of a few puns[2]of couries (not value ashilling)shilling)is annexed to the perpetration of a crime, for which those of another class lose their lives; so, among us, it appears that our laws are made by the aged, the decrepid, the sensual, and the rich. Else it could never happen that there were in the same code, laws to punish marriage between the young and vigorous, and enable the brutality of a parent to take its full scope, and consign, as in the present instance, youth, beauty, health, and every personal attraction, to the arms of age, infirmity, and impotence. And I concluded by saying, that all parties aiding in such an unnatural confederacy should be punished.
2. Couries, a kind of small shells used in India, as a circulating medium in place of coin, in value much below the smallest copper coin—a Pun is a certain number of them.
2. Couries, a kind of small shells used in India, as a circulating medium in place of coin, in value much below the smallest copper coin—a Pun is a certain number of them.
The Consul fairly acknowledged there was too much truth in what I had said; but remarked withal, that it was rather a hazardousexperiment, and he was sure it would be an endless one, to correct all the abuses to which the fallibility of man, and his incompetency to form any thing perfect, necessarily left society and their laws liable—that the law was written, and it was the duty of every individual to obey it—and that in cases of adultery, the offence could be justified on no solid grounds whatever, for, independent of the feelings of the husband, which perhaps were more poignant in old age than youth, the injury to his family was not to be got over, in probably giving to him an heir no way a-kin to him. “It would be right I think,” said he, “to stop such disproportionate matches; yet, once made, they should be as religiously observed inviolate as those of love, among which we almost as frequently, as in those of compulsion, see instances of infidelity. If you doubt this,” said he, “read the records of Doctors’ Commons.”
I agreed to the justice of what he said, at the same time assured him, that my intentions went no farther than wishing the Lady to be rescued from her thraldom, which I told him was dreadful.—“I am sure,” said the Consul, “that Mr. Campbell thinks so, because I am convinced he would not otherwise say so. But may not,” said he, smiling, “may not Mr. C. have deceived himself? these are things in which the passions are strangely apt to hoodwink the understanding. However,” continued he, breaking off pleasantly, “I must give you all the comfort that truth will allow me to do: I am sure that the poor Lady is condemned to great wretchedness;partly from my own observation, partly from public report, and partly from her own mouth: for you must know she has several times complained to me of her husband’s peevishness and tyranny; and even besought me to use my influence and authority to relieve her from her misery. Mr. ————,” continued he, “is a man whom on all other accounts I esteem, and value highly. In this instance he has erred, and I cannot pity him, even though he suffers all the torments of jealousy: and as there are laws for punishing with death premature intercourse with the sex, I cannot see, any more than you, why the sacrificing youth to extreme old age should not be equally punished, for I am sure it is equally unnatural, and still more injurious to a State. These are my sentiments,” continued he; “but let not this declaration induce you to think that I the less disapprove of your intermeddling. You have allowed me the privilege of a friend, and I will not suffer it to be made an empty one. You were more culpable than many young men would be; first, because you are married, and should, upon the common principle of doing as you would be done by, have refrained; and next, because you were enjoying the sweets of hospitality in his house, and should have dashed from his lips, rather than held to them, the deepest cup of bitterness.”
“But, my dear sir,” said I, “I do not attempt to justify—I only endeavour to mitigate the matter, and you will recollect that the very circumstance which in one point of view aggravates, in anotheralleviates the fault: the living in his house afforded those interviews, and exposed me to those temptations under which I was near sinking—I should never have sought them: but he must be more or less than man, that could have resisted them; and though I have a high sense of Mr. Consul’s strict honour and virtue, as well as prudence, he must excuse me, though I doubt whether he could himself have resisted so long and so effectually as I did. I am sure there are many who will censure, that could not.”
The Consul smiled, and, turning the discourse from its direct line, observed, that it was absolutely necessary I should desist, else he would be obliged to use his influence and power to protect Mr. ——-.
In answer to this, I gave him my honour in the first place, that I would proceed no farther in the business; and that, on the contrary, I was determined to set out upon my journey to India directly, if means could be contrived for my conveyance; adding, that I should consider it as a great favour, in addition to those I had already received at his hands, if he would contrive some means to set me forward in my route.
To this he answered, that as the making up of a caravan would be extravagantly expensive, he knew no means that were not attended with certain hardship and eventual danger; but finding me determined at almost any danger or hazard to set off, he proposed to send for a man who knew every resource in that way, and when he came would talk farther on the business; and in the mean time, recommendedgreat circumspection to me while I continued at Mr. ————’s house, to which I very solemnly pledged my word.
Being now constrained by every consideration, as well of prudence and decency as of inclination, to leave Aleppo immediately: I determined that no common impediments should stop me, and waited with impatience the arrival of the person on whom the Consul rested his hopes of dispatching me.
He came in the evening, and after a conference with the Consul, he introduced him to me, and acquainted me that he was a Tartar, and one of the vast number of that description who are employed by the Turkish State in carrying dispatches from Court to the various Viceroys and Bashaws, and interchangably between them again; that they were men on whose fidelity the utmost reliance could be had; and that this man, who had an excellent character, had agreed to take me to Bagdad, provided I would submit to the disguise of a Tartar.
The agreement between us I entirely submitted to the discretion of the Consul, who had the goodness to settle it thus:—The Tartar was to deliver me safe at Bagdad; to supply me and my servant, who acted as interpreter, with an ample sufficiency of provisions and horses on the road; to exchange my horse for me as often as I pleased, and to go at such rate, whether faster or slower, as I thought proper: for this he was to receive one hundred pounds; and I further promised, as an encouragement to him, that if he acted to my satisfaction,I would, on our arrival at Bagdad, add a douceur of twenty pounds.
The next day he came, and I had a distinct view of this my new fellow traveller and supposed master, for in several places I was to pass for his slave. He was one of those strikingcharacterfigures that a painter would like to take a sketch of—and methought Tartar was written legibly in every lineament of his countenance and person.—He was tall, muscular and bony—his figure bespoke great hardihood, strength and activity—nor could the trowsers which he wore conceal the Herculean texture of his limbs—his shoulders were expanded to an enormous breadth—he was unincumbered with flesh, or indeed rather extremely lean—his forehead, though partly concealed beneath his turban, was very high—his nose large, hooked, sharp, and prominent—a pair of small, fierce, black, penetrating eyes, barely separated by the nose, and a formidable pair of mustachios, which he carefully sleeked with pomatum into a point resembling an awl-blade, and which moved like the whiskers of a purring cat, with every word he spoke, gave a whimsical ferocity to the countenance, beyond the reach of description, and rendered him altogether as discouraging a confidential friend, as ever a Christian trusted his life to since Mahomet first set up the trade of a prophet. He surveyed me with great attention—opened his mouth two or three times like a gasping pike, as if to speak—stroaked his whiskers as often—and at last pronounced that he would undertake to conduct me; adding, inallusion to my black hair and dark complexion, that I looked more like a native, than any Frank he had ever seen. He ordered me to cut my hair quite short, to provide myself with a Tartar dress and cap, in the fashion of his own; and saying he would call on me in proper time, departed.
Thus equipped, we set out, not without great pain and regret on my part; pain at leaving a most beautiful young woman, whom I pitied and esteemed, subject to the resentment of a husband, at once jealous from nature, peevish from habit, and enraged from her open and unequivocal demonstrations of hatred; and regret at having been betrayed by situation into such a very serious dilemma.
After my departure from Aleppo, this affair was represented in a variety of unfavourable lights to the different new comers from England; and as a story is that commodity which of all others honest people do not love to steal any thing from, in its passage through their hands, it found its way in various forms (none of them however tending to soften it) to many of my friends and connections, those from whom of all others I wished to conceal it. Labouring under such calumnies, it cannot be considered as a violation of decorum, or unnecessary infraction upon delicacy, if I state the truth, in order, though I cannot acquit myself of censurable conduct, at least not silently to submit to unlimited calumny, and charges of crimes which I hope I have too much honour and integrity to commit.
I must add, that previous to my departure the Consul did everything that it was possible for him to do, conducive to my safety and accommodation on the road, which as we were obliged to go to the city of Diarbeker, a great length out of our way, he observed would be long, dreary, fatiguing, and hazardous; he procured me from others, and gave me himself, a number of letters, and at parting desired me to comfort myself with the reflection, that when I arrived at my journey’s end, I should have to boast, that I went to India by a route never travelled by any European before.
As I became familiarised to my Tartar guide, I found his character disclose much better traits than his first appearance bespoke, and I began insensibly to think him a very entertaining fellow: perceiving that I was very low spirited and thoughtful, he exhibited manifest marks of compassion; and taking it into his head that I was actually removed for ever from my friends and my family, he spoke in a style of regret and feeling, that did great honour to his heart: and to say the truth, he did every thing in his power to alleviate my feelings, conversing with me, either by means of the interpreter, or in brokenlingua franca; supplying all my wants cheerfully and abundantly; changing horses with me as often as I pleased, and going slow or galloping forward just as best suited my inclination or humour.
The first object he seemed to have in view on our journey, was to impress me with a notion of his consequence and authority, as a messenger belonging to the Sultan. As all those men are employed by the first magistrates in the country, and are, as it were, the links of communication between them, they think themselves of great importance in the State; while the great men whose business they are employed in, make them feel the weight of authority, and treat them with the greatest contempt: hence they become habitually servile to their superiors, and by natural consequence insolent and overbearing to their inferiors, or those who being in their power they conceive to be so. As carriers of dispatches, their power and authority wherever they go is in some points undisputed; and they can compel a supply of provisions, horses, and attendants, where-ever it suits their occasions; nor dare any man resist their right to take the horse from under him to proceed on the Emperor’s business, be the owner’s occasion ever so pressing.
My feelings, which I can tell you were altogether of the most unpleasant kind, served as a stimulus to my mind, and increased my anxiety to get forward; I therefore pushed on as fast as the horses, which were in general excellent, could carry me: and as we halted at a number of stages to get fresh horses and provisions, my Tartarguide had frequent opportunities of indulging his self-importance, and displaying his great authority and power. As soon as he stopped at a caravansera, he immediately called lustily about him in the name of the Sultan, demanding with an imperious and menacing tone of voice, fresh horses, victuals, &c., on the instant. The terror of this great man operated like magic; nothing could exceed the activity of the men, the briskness of the women, and the terror of the children; for the caravanseras are continually attended by numbers of the very lowest classes of the people; but no quickness of preparation, no effort or industry could satisfy my gentleman; he would shew me his power in a still more striking point of view, and fall belabouring them with his whip, and kicking them with all his might. I must confess I was much hurt at this extravagant abuse of upstart power, and was two or three times on the point of interfering; but fortunately, recollected that it would neither be in character, nor have any good effect, and that if I presumed to speak, my guide would be obliged in my defence to give me a flogging in order to prevent suspicion.
This inconsiderate tyranny and cruelty, I had afterwards reason to believe, was by no means a part of his natural disposition; but vanity, to which so many among us in Europe fall victims, urged him to excesses, which I dare say his heart privately condemned.
It was on the fifth or sixth day (I cannot precisely say which) after our leaving Aleppo, that we got to the city of Diarbeker, the capital of the province of that name, having passed over an extent ofcountry of between three and four hundred miles, most of it blessed with the greatest fertility, producing, in the few cultivated parts, grain, fruits of various kinds, and silk in great variety and abundance, and abounding with as rich pastures as I ever beheld, covered with numerous herds and flocks. The air was charmingly temperate in the day-time, but, to my feeling, extremely cold at night.
Yet notwithstanding the extreme fertility of this country, the bad administration of government, conspiring with the indolence of the inhabitants, leaves it unpopulous and uncultivated. Diarbeker, proper, called also Mesopotamia, from its lying between the two famous rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and by Moses calledPadan Aram, that is to say—“The fruitful Syria;” abounds with corn, wine, oil, fruits, and all the necessaries of life. It is supposed to be the seat of the Earthly Paradise, and all Geographers agree that it was there the descendants of Noah first settled after the flood.
Insignificant as those circumstances may appear to mere calculators of profit and loss, it cannot be denied that they have a powerful and pleasing effect on the refined imagination. To be treading that ground where Abraham trod; where Nahor the father of Rebecca lived; and where Laban, to whom Jacob fled to avoid his brother Esau’s resentment, and whom he served fourteen years for the love he bore to Rachel, was to me a circumstance productive of delightful sensations. How finely has that Giant of the Pen, Johnson, justified those sensations in his Tour to the Highlands of Scotland andWestern Islands;—describing his emotions on visiting the famous Island of Iona, or Colombkill, he says—“We were now treading that illustrious Island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion, would be impossible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses—whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me, and from my friends, be such frigid philosophy, as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue!—that man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the Plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.”
The city of Diarbeker itself is situated in a delightful plain on the banks of the river Tigris, and nearly at its head; it is one of the richest, most trading, strong, and populous cities in Asiatic Turkey; and is adorned with many piazzas and market places in the Turkish style, and a large magnificent Mosque, formerly a Christian church; for Christianity flourished over this country so late as the sixth century. There is even now a sect, whose Patriarch still resides here: and they shew on the road near the town, a chapelwhere the holy man Job is said to be buried. This city is supplied amply with water by a canal cut from the Tigris, and has many caravanseras on both sides of the river.
Few countries in the world exceed that about this city for natural richness and beauty:—the bread and wine are excellent—the fruit beyond conception delicious—and my friend the Tartar took care, under pretence of supercilioushauteur, to tear in pieces a couple of fowls, and hand to me now a leg, now a wing, till I made the most delicious repast I ever remember to have eat in my life.
It is computed that there are resident in this city no less than twenty thousand Christian inhabitants, some of whom are of the Church of Rome;—and perhaps it is owing to that mixture, that the fair sex have more freedom, and the men more politeness and affability, than those of any other city in the empire:—the chief business there, is making that fine leather commonly called Turkey leather.
Figure to yourself, my dearFrederick, my Tartar guide, who was an admirable actor, sitting at a caravansera in state at his dinner, devouring excellent fowls, choice pillaws, and delicious fruit, in as great pomp as a Bashaw; and in order to keep up the semblance of authority over me, to favour my disguise, handing to me, who sat at humble distance, a part of his provisions.—You may form to yourself an idea of the scene; but all the efforts of imagination must fall short of the manner, the figure, the words, the looks, and theactions of the Tartar; sometimes affecting contemptuous pity, sometimes supercilious arrogance; sometimes brutal sternness, and sometimes the gentle blandishments of conscious superiority; and all in such a masterly style of performance, that I doubt whether Garrick himself, with all his powers of countenance, could outdo him. Critical though my situation was, and much as I was harassed with the corrosions of mental pain, the extravagant action and ludicrous pomposity of this man frequently overbore my prudence, and compelled me to laugh incontinently and loudly;—on all such occasions he would put his hands a-kimbo, draw up his eye-brows to his turban, screw down the corners of his mouth in the most rueful manner, and give a loud whew! with his eyes fixed in a stare at me, till entirely overcome with laughter, and ready to sink under it, I clapped my face between my hands, and, as well as I could, bowed in token of sorrow and submission; when threatening me vehemently, and at the same time uttering a lamentable expression of doubt that he was afraid he had had an idiot imposed on him, he would bustle about, direct the horses to be got ready, and order me to get on horseback, with many denunciations of severe treatment, and a thousand flourishes of his whip over my head.
As I have rode along musing upon the contemptible stratagems to which I was reduced, in order to get through this country, for no other reason but because I was a Christian, I could not help reflecting with sorrow on the melancholy effects of superstition, andregretting that that place, which in the times of primitive simplicity was called the Terrestrial Paradise; that place whereGodfirst planted Man after the Flood; where the god-like Abraham and the holy Job breathed the pure air of piety and simplicity; that place which from all those circumstances ought to be considered above all others as the universal inheritance of mankind, should now be cut off from all but a horde of senseless bigots, barbarous fanatics, and inflexible tyrants. And I could not help considering with melancholy concern, the blindness and infatuation of men, who, less earnest to accommodate themselves than injure others, shut out their fellow-creatures from that which they themselves will not use, and, while they suffer millions of the richest acres in the universe to be untilled, and spend their sweetness in the desert air, with wicked jealousy, and envy more than diabolical, begrudge to others the little spot on which they stand, and chase them as they would a ravening tiger from their country.