CHAPTER XIV.
Procession of Betrothal—Preliminary Ceremonies—The Mantle of Mahomet—The Palace of the Seraskier Pasha—The Palace Square—Picturesque Groups—An Interior—Turkish Children—Oriental Curiosity—Costume of the Turkish Children—Military Music—The Procession—Hurried Departure of the Crowd—The Seraskier’s Tower—The Fire Guard—Candidates for the Imperial Bride—Imperial Expedient—Saïd Pasha—Policy of the Seraskier—An Audience—The Biter Bitten—Ingenious Ruse—Sublime Economy—Brilliant Traffic—The Danger of Delay—The Marriage Gifts—An Interesting Interview.
A few days after my visit to the harem of Scodra Pasha, my father and myself started at nine o’clock in the morning to Constantinople, to be present at the procession consequent on the betrothal of the Princess Mihirmàh, the Sultan’s second daughter; a lovely girl of nineteen, about to be bestowed on Mohammed Saïd Pasha, who had been summoned from his Pashalik, at the Dardanelles, to receive at the hand of his Imperial Master this most honouring of all gifts.
But, before describing the procession, it may not perhaps be amiss to record some of the less public ceremonies of the betrothal, for which I am indebted to an eye-witness.
The day fixed upon for its celebration was the 7th of April; and, at the hour which the Court Astrologer had decided to be the most auspicious for the assembling together of the individuals necessary to its completion, who had received their notes of invitation two days previously from the Kislar-Aghasi (Chief of the Eunuchs), they met in the private apartment of the Imperial Treasurer, near the chamber that contains the holy Mantle of Mahomet—the same sacred locality that witnessed the betrothal of the elder Princess. Here the whole company entered at the moment which had also been previously pointed out by the Astrologer as fortunate, and remained for some time in religious silence, in presence of the inestimable relic; after which each member of the distinguished circle seated himself upon the carpet that had been prepared for him.
The Grand Vizier, Mohammed Ronouf Pasha, took the upper place upon the sofa, having near him the Chèïk-Islam, (or High Priest) Mekki Zadè Moustafa Assim Effendi, who officiated on the august occasion. On the right sat the chief of the Eunuchs of the Imperial Seraglio, who acted as the proxy of the Princess; and whose witnesses were the Commissioner of the Imperial Treasury, and Osman Agha, one of the principal Eunuchs.—On the left was placed the adopted father and representative of Mohammed Saïd Pasha, the Seraskier—having for his witnesses, Halil Rifat Pasha, the Sultan’s son-in-law, Akhmet Fevzi Pasha, Military Counsellor of the Palace, and Mohammed Saïd Pertew Effendi, Minister of the Interior, and Counsellor of State, with four others. Among the Chèïks and the men of letters who were admitted to this august assembly, to mingle their prayers with those of the Chèïk-Islam, were Elhadj Yousouf Effendi, Chief of the Chèïks, and preacher at the great mosque of St. Sophia; and Elhadj Abdoullah Effendi, first chaplain of the mosque of Eyoub, and preacher at the mosque of Sultan Akhmet.
They were no sooner seated than the officers attached to the service of this chamber, which bears the name of Khirkaï-Chériff, presented to each person perfumes and rose-water according to the Eastern custom; and, when they withdrew, the doors were closed, and the ceremony commenced with a prayer by the Chèïk-Islam, for the divine blessing on the union they were then assembled to celebrate; after which he put the customary questions to the proxies of the two contracting parties.
As soon as the act of betrothal was terminated, the doors were again thrown open, and the two Chèïks pronounced a prayer suited to the occasion. At the close of the prayer, the distinguished party quitted the Khirkaï-Chériff, and passed into a neighbouring apartment, where they partook of the refreshments provided for them, and were waited upon by the keeper of the Privy Purse, who presented to them the rich gifts with which his Sublime Highness was pleased to honour them. They then left the palace.
As soon as they had departed, the Sultana-Mother sent by the Bach-Agha (Eunuch and Major Domo) the nuptial offering of the bride to the bridegroom, who was awaiting it at the palace of the Seraskier, and superintending at the same time the arrangement of his own marriage present, which was to be conveyed with great pomp to the Seraï. The procession was to start from the palace of the Seraskier (the bridegroom’s adopted father) at half-past ten o’clock, and we accordingly hired a window overlooking the line of march; whence we could see the train issue from the palace court, cross the extensive space in front of it, and finally lose itself in a narrow street leading to the Imperial residence.
The esplanade on which we looked down was crowded with horsemen, footmen, and carriages. Groups of women were squatted immediately in the rear of the soldiers, who lined the space along which the procession was to move; others occupied a raised platform erected by some speculative Moslem, whereon a place could be secured for the modest remuneration of a piastre, (two-pence halfpenny.) Rows of arabas, like beds of scarlet poppies, were ranged behind the pedestrians; while, further from the scene of action, parties were scattered over the whole square in the most picturesque confusion. Here a train of Serudjhis walked the horses that they had brought for hire; there a knot of Jews chattered and gesticulated; while their women huddled themselves up in the coarse cotton scarfs which concealed their head-dresses. On one side the snowy turbans and dark robes of half a dozen Ulemas formed a striking contrast to the green shawls bound about the brows of a group of Hadjïs, and their ample pelisses of crimson or maroon, lined and overlaid with fur. Here it was a party of soldiers—there a band of Bulgarians, dressed in jackets of sheepskin, with the wool turned inwards, round caps of black lambskin, and leather leggings. Then moved by a score of Armenians, with their tall calpacs and crimson slippers—jostled, as they passed slowly along, by a set of Franks, crushing and squeezing, as though they were resolved to carry their point, coute qui coute.
On a little hillock near the window that we occupied, a couple of Turks had spread their carpet, and were quietly smoking their chibouks, attended by their negro pipe-bearers; while here and there a gigantic umbrella of white cotton overshadowed a round stand covered with sherbet and mohalibè, around which were clustered a throng of noisy Greeks, each with eyes as black as the shawl that he wore about his scarlet fèz.
Nor was the scene within the room less characteristic than that without; the remaining windows had been hired by four grave-looking elderly Turks, who had brought with them half a dozen pretty little girls, of eight or ten years of age; who were sitting, doubled up at one corner of the sofa, with all the early taught awe and deference for the lordly sex which is the leading sentiment of the harem.
Our entrance, however, aroused them into something like action; for while our dragoman explained who and what we were, whence we came, and whither we were bound:—questions which are asked by the grave and bearded Moslem, as unceremoniously as by any one of our Trans-Atlantic brethren, and without the slightest suspicion on his own part that he is guilty of any impertinence—I made an easy acquaintance with the pretty children, by permitting them to handle the flowers in my bonnet, to touch my shawl, and to run their little plump fingers over my waist-ribbon. And when the grandee of the party who occupied the upper end of the sofa, whereon, moreover, his attendants had spread a carpet of crimson shag, fringed with gold, as though the ignoble chintz were not worthy the honour of receiving him, had taken the chibouk from his own mouth, and sent it by his pipe-bearer to my father—a mark of high consideration rather flattering than fastidious—and my father had, in his turn, despatched the dragoman, to spread before the children a feast of mohalibè, frosted over with powdered sugar, we were all the best friends in the world.
One of the little girls—a calm, self-centered, true Turkish child, with all the premature languishment and indolence so peculiar to the women of the country, with black, sleepy eyes, and lips like rose-buds—was clad in a jacket of purple velvet, lined with ermine, and laced with gold; her antery of pale pink muslin was tucked up within the cachemire shawl that she wore about her waist; and her large trowsers of green chintz fell in ample plaits over the little naked feet, which, when she rose from the sofa, were scarcely covered at the extremities by the yellow slippers that lay beside her.
Another, perhaps a year younger, had her jacket of crimson merino doubled with sable, and her little Symrniote fèz worked with seed pearls; her antery was yellow, her trowsers blue, and her chemisette of pale amber-coloured gauze. Nothing can be more outré than the costume of a little Turkish maiden; the long hair hanging in a score of minute braids, each confined at the extremity with a small knot of ribbon; the tight sleeves, open from the elbow, falling below the hip, and edged with elaborately wrought silk fringe; the round, white, dimpled feet, peeping out beneath the full trowsers; and the heavy jacket folding back from the ivory shoulders and snowy throat.
There is no distinction of dress between the child of two years old and the woman of twenty; the same jewels, the same fashion, the same material, compose the one and the other; they differ only in quantity; the diamonds, except upon great occasions, are lavished on the children; and in fringe, and embroidery, and ribbon, they only yield to their elders, because there is not sufficient space upon their little persons to enable their parents to equalize the consumption between them.
At length, the distant sounds of military music came to us from the Palace court, and forth issued the Sultan’s Band, playing his Grand March; this was succeeded by a regiment of the line, moving in double files: then rode forward about a score of staff officers, including several generals of brigade, and colonels of the Imperial Guard, surrounded by servants on foot; these were succeeded by two open carriages and four, empty—and after these came the presents of the bridegroom to the Imperial Family. First walked a hundred men of the Seraskier’s establishment; about a score of whom bore upon their heads cages of wire, covered with coloured gauze, ornamented with flowing ribbons, and filled with sweetmeats of the most costly description, piled in porcelain dishes; the frosted sugar glittering in the light like jewels. Those were succeeded by others charged with silk stuffs of the most rare qualities, produced by the Indian looms—Cachemires of Tibet and Lahor—and other magnificent gifts, destined for the Sultan Mother.
The offerings to the bride followed. They consisted of two toilette services of massive silver, containing the most delicious perfumes of the East; a silver dinner service, arranged on a plateau of the same metal; several silver salvers covered with precious stones, and ornaments of gold and silver, and others heaped with gold coins: the whole covered with cages of silver net-work. Each of these bearers was attended by a page.
Then followed four more, having on their heads trays of shawls, folded in coloured muslin—and next came a dozen men, charged with all the articles necessary for the bath, under transparent coverings. One carried the pattens of ebony, inlaid with stars of mother-of-pearl, and clasped over the foot with a band of brilliants; another, the head-kerchief of silver tissue, embroidered with wreaths of silken flowers; the third, a pile of silk napkins, fringed with gold; the fourth, a wrapping-cloth of flowered satin; the fifth, a capacious basin of burnished gold; the sixth, a comb of ivory, enriched with diamonds; the seventh, a pair of slippers, wrought with emeralds and seed pearl; the eighth, a chemisette of pale pink gauze, edged round the bosom with silver fringe; the ninth, a cut crystal box clasped with gold, containing scented soaps; the tenth, an ebony essence case, studded with rubies; the eleventh, a hand-mirror in a gold frame, surrounded by a garland of jewels; and the twelfth, a sofa covering of crimson velvet, flowered and fringed with gold.
Four eunuchs in brown and gold followed the presents; and were succeeded by an escort of sergeants of the line; after which appeared the Seraskier Pasha, surrounded by a brilliant staff, and preceding a second regiment of infantry, with the bright barrels of their fire-locks flashing in the sunshine, and attended by their band. These terminated the procession. But an interesting feature of the show still remained, when the led horses of the palace guests, each held by a groom, came prancing through the wide gateway, as if vain of their glittering housings and embroidered reins; the groups which had been scattered over the square were all in motion; the crimson-covered arabas began to move from their station; the sherbet-venders vaunted their merchandize, with voluble eagerness, to the passers-by—the Turks resigned their chibouks to their pipe-bearers, and rose from their carpets, which were instantly rolled up, and carried away by their domestics—the Bulgarians inflated their bag-pipes, and obstructed the path of the foot-passengers, with their heavy and awkward dance, which must have been modelled upon that of the bear—and, ere I had wearied of contemplating the scene, nine-tenths of the crowd that had so lately thronged the wide space beneath me had passed away.
The sunshine was lying warm and bright on the dome of Sultan Bajazet’s mosque, with its portals of indented gothic; and its spiral minarets, with their galleries of rich tracery-work; dominated in their turn by the Tower of the Seraskier, which shoots up tall and white from an angle of the palace court, like the giant guardian of the locality; and whose summit (to which we afterwards ascended) commands a series of the most magnificent views that the world can produce.
On one side, the City of Constantinople is spread out beneath you like a map; and you look down upon its thousand domes, and its five thousand minarets—upon its khans, and its charshees, its palaces and its prisons. Move a few paces forward, only to the next window, and the Sea of Marmora, with its peopled coasts, its rocky islets, and its glittering waves, carries your thoughts homeward to the “golden west.” From one point you look on Mount Olympus, with its crown of snow; from another, on the sunny Bosphorus, laden with life, and laughing in the day-beam. Turn to the left, and the Golden Horn, from whence the riches of the world are poured forth over the East, lies at your feet. On—on—ere your eyes ache with gazing, and your mind with wonder, and repose your vision on the dark and arid rocks which enclose “The Valley of the Sweet Waters,” the most fairy-like glen that ever was hemmed in by a belt of mountains. And when you at length descend the three hundred and thirty steps of the dizzy Tower of the Seraskier, inscribe upon your tablets the faint record of an hour, during which, if you have sensibility or imagination, a love of the beautiful, or an appreciation of the sublime, you must have lived through an age of feeling and of fancy; with the busy, breathing city at your feet—the sweet, still valley beside you—and the wide sea, the unfathomable, the mysterious sea, bounding your vision.
What a pigmy is man amid such a scene as this!
I must not omit to mention that the Seraskier’s Tower, called, by the Turks, Yanguen Kiosk, or Fire Tower, is the watch-house of the fire-guard. Six individuals are constantly on the look-out during the day and night, who relieve each other every hour; and, during the night-watch, the guard constantly makes his round in a pair of spring pattens, which, being made of wood, and soled with iron, keep up a continual noise that prevents his giving way to drowsiness, and thus neglecting his duty.
There were seven equally eligible candidates for the hand of the Princess Mihirmàh; and consequently more than seven times seven intrigues set on foot, when it was finally announced that the Sultan, her father, had resolved on bestowing her in marriage on some fortunate noble of his Empire. The Sublime Porte was all in commotion—the seven Eligibles all in agitation—every palace and harem on the qui vive—bribes flew about, on yellow wings, like the bright butterflies that herald spring—and the Sultan himself, weary of conflicting counsels and opposing interests, wavering and undecided; while many persons agreed in believing that the Imperial choice would ultimately fall on the handsome and wealthy Mustapha Pasha of Adrianople; and the rather as it was rumoured that the Princess had seen and admired him.
But Sultan Mahmoud, after a youth of terror and a manhood of blood, had become too good a tactician to risk offending many by ennobling one; and he consequently adopted an expedient which had assuredly never been contemplated by those about his person. He caused the names of the seven candidates to be inscribed on as many separate shreds of parchment; and on the following Friday, when he visited the mosque, he cast them all in a mass beneath his prayer-carpet, where they remained during the service; at whose close, he put up a prayer to Allah and the Prophet to aid him in the hour of trial, by enabling him to withdraw the name of the individual whose alliance would prove the most beneficial, alike to his Empire, and to his daughter. Whether the prayer was heard and answered, I know not; but the Sublime fingers closed over the parchment which was inscribed with the cypher of Saïd Pasha of the Dardanelles.
Saïd Pasha is a handsome man of three or four and thirty, with an expression of benevolence and amiability strikingly in his favour. He commenced his career at Court as Page to the Sultan, where he lost the favour of his master by refusing to obey a command which would have rendered him for a time the companion of grooms and serving-men; an instance of self-respect and self-appreciation so rare in Turkey, that it excited quite as much astonishment as indignation. Dismissed from the Court in disgrace, the young adventurer became a member of the sect of the Mevlavies, or Turning Dervishes; but, after the expiration of a year, he was recalled by the Sultan, and received a post in the army. Subsequently to this period, his rise to the Pashalik was rapid, as is generally the case in the East; and, on the last page of existence which he has turned, the characters may indeed be said to have been traced in gold.
After this hasty sketch of his history, it is scarcely necessary for me to add that Saïd Pasha left the Dardanelles a poor man; nor to remind my readers that a titled Lackland was no meet match for a Sultan’s daughter. The evil cried aloud for remedy, and the cure came as speedily as its necessity had arisen.
The Seraskier had adopted Halil Pasha as his son, on the occasion of his marriage with the Princess Salihè, two years ago; and had been to him a most munificent father; in the present difficulty he again stepped forward, and the portionless Saïd Pasha beheld himself at once a rich man.
Upon the Seraskier it then devolved, in his double capacity of High Minister and Parent, to introduce the fortunate bridegroom to his Imperial father-in-law; and the recollection of all that the wily old courtier had done for the object of his first adoption, produced very different feelings in the breasts of the two individuals, more immediately interested in the financial arrangements of the marriage.
“I present to your Sublime Highness,” said the minister, “the son-in-law whom Allah has destined to the high honour of becoming the husband of your Imperial daughter—Saïd Pasha, my adopted son—and I do so with the greater delight that I know him to be as brave in the field, as he is wise in the cabinet—as mild in temper, as he is courageous in spirit—learned, gentle, submissive, and enthusiastic, in his attachment to your Sublime Highness (May your end be glorious!) He has every virtue under heaven, and but one defect.”
“And what may that be?” inquired the Sultan, arching his dark eyebrows in astonishment. “It must be weighty indeed if it can counteract the effect of so bright a list of qualities.”
“Alas! your Sublime Highness—” replied the Seraskier, “Saïd Pasha is poor!”
The point was pathetic enough; and the politic minister, who would gladly have secured the honour of being the adopted father of the Sultan’s second son-in-law, without paying quite so high a price for it as he had done on the marriage of his first, flattered himself that a recollection of the enormous outlay which he had made on that occasion would exonerate him from a similar expence on the present. But the Sultan had doubtlessly learnt that the diamond can be cut only with its own dust; and he acted upon that principle, as he blandly answered, if not in the words, at least in the feeling, of our immortal bard:—
’Tis true, ’tis pity, and pity ’tis, ’tis true;
“But, while he has the wealthy and munificent Seraskier of the Sublime Empire for his adopted father, he must remain unconscious of the fact.”
The Minister did all that have remained for him to do—he tried to look flattered and gratified—he even returned thanks for the gracious words which taught him to understand all that was expected of him: and he left the Presence to withdraw, from his strong box, ducats to the amount of two millions of piastres, which were bought up by the Frank Merchants at Galata.
But the best part of the jest was yet to come. On the marriage of one of the Imperial Family, every Pasha of the Empire is expected to present an offering proportioned to his means; and, as these generally consist of jewels, the Chamberlain acquaints each individual, on learning the amount of his purposed present, with the most acceptable shape in which he can make it; and by these means prevents the chance of a too frequent repetition of the same gift.
When the Princess Salihè became the wife of Halil Pasha, the amount of her diamonds thus obtained was very considerable; and, as she is a person of too morose and selfish a character to take pleasure in showing herself to the people as the sisters of the Sultan are in the habit of doing; and, moreover, too haughty to seek to dazzle even in the harem, his Sublime Highness, who is an admirable tactician, bethought himself of a most brilliant plan for making a little money in a quiet way out of these anti-engaging qualities.
He accordingly paid a visit to his daughter; and after she had enjoyed the high honour of kissing his foot, and he had graciously signified to her his Imperial permission that she should seat herself upon the cushions piled on the floor near him; he condescendingly explained to her the utter uselessness of jewels which she never wore, and suggested the expediency of her disposing of them, and adding the interest of the sum that they would produce to her present income.
The Princess listened in respectful silence; and then ventured to doubt whether a purchaser could be found for the diamonds of a Sultan’s daughter. This difficulty was, however, instantly overcome, by an offer, on the part of his Sublime Highness, to become himself that purchaser. And the consent of the Princess having been obtained, and the price to be paid decided on, the principal remained in the Imperial Treasury, whence the interest was to be drawn; and the jewels, thus, in point of fact, obtained for a per centage on their value, were carried off in triumph by the court jewellers, to be reset for the younger Princess!
Nor was this all—for, when the Pashas declared the amount of their offerings, the money was paid on the instant, and these very diamonds given in exchange, fashioned into such forms as best suited the taste and convenience of their new owner.
Thus were things situated when the baffled Seraskier withdrew from the Imperial Presence, to drag his beloved ducats from their snug resting-place in his strong box, and to scatter them among the money-changing Franks. Many of the Pashas had not yet come forward with their gifts, and he had still breathing time for a shrewd stroke. It is the fashion at the Sublime Court for each noble to announce the amount of the present which he purposes to make; and the declaration generally exceeds the actual value of the offering by fifty or a thousand piastres. The Seraskier accordingly collected these declarations, and having so done, he addressed a courtly circular to the tardy (in this case too tardy!) Pashas, informing them that his Sublime Highness Mahmoud “The Powerful,” the Light of the World, and Brother of the Sun, had so overwhelmed his intended son-in-law, Mohammed Saïd Pasha, with the brightness of his munificence, that he had rained diamonds upon him, and overstrown his path with precious stones; and, such being the case, he, the Seraskier, acting as his adopted father and counsellor, had suggested to him the expediency of proposing to those Pashas who had not yet honoured him with their gifts, to make them in the current coin of the Empire, rather than in diamonds which could not, under the circumstances, avail him any thing.
The suggestion was a command; the wily Seraskier held the list of names and offerings; and each Pasha was under the necessity of coming forward, and paying to the treasurer of the Seraskier the actual sum in money which he had specified!
Nothing sharpens the wits of a Turk like self-interest.
The procession, from which I have digressed, passed through the street called Divan-Yoli, terminating at the mosque of St. Sophia, near the Imperial Palace. When it arrived at Ortakapou, or The Middle Door, the whole of the officers alighted, and formed an avenue to the entrance of the harem, whence the marriage gifts were conveyed into the Seraï, where the Seraskier, acting for the bridegroom, craved and obtained an interview with the Kislar-Agha, who was proxy for the Princess. This hideous negro has the thickest lips, the flattest nose, the smallest eyes, and the most unwieldy person of all the eunuchs of the empire. Imagination cannot paint his ugliness! And before this revolting caricature of humanity, the haughty Minister, in whose hands are life and death, bent his stubborn knee in supplication. Scarcely had he crossed the threshold of the magnificent apartment in which the Kislar-Agha awaited him, ere he prostrated himself to the earth, as he besought the monstrous representative of youth and beauty to have mercy upon the slave who kissed the dust before the Light of the Creation, the Glory of the Moon,[3] the Empress of his thoughts—upon which the unwieldy negro averted his face, cast down his eyes, and assumed the prude; but, after a vast deal of coquetting, the lover-like vehemence of the gray-headed Seraskier met with its reward—a sable hand was extended towards him, which he embraced with transport—the presents were condescendingly accepted; the sweetmeats by the Kislar-Agha himself: and the more costly offerings by the principal eunuchs of the palace, in the names of their Imperial Mistresses, to whom they were immediately conveyed.
And thus terminated the first act of the sublime comedy!