CHAPTER XVII.
Imperial Invitation—Disagreeable Adventure—Executed Criminal—Efficacy of Wayside Executions—Tardy Conversions—Mistaken Humanity—Summary Mode of Execution—The Palace of Asmè Sultane—Entrance of the Harem—Costume of the Slaves—Nazip Hanoum—Ceremonious Reception—The Adopted Daughter—Costume of the Ladies of the Seraï—Beauty of the Slaves—Extraordinary Arrangement—Rejected Addresses—The Imperial Lover—Sacredness of Adoption in Turkey—Romantic Correspondence—Ladies of the Household—The Mother of the Slaves—Peroussè Hanoum—Crowded Audience—The Imperial Odalique—Music of the Harem—The New Pet—The Kislar-Agha—The “Light of the Harem”—The Poetical Sultan—Indisposition of the Sultana—The Palace Gardens—The Imperial Apartments—The Dancing Girl—Reluctant Departure—Ballad by Peroussè Hanoum.
Having received an invitation to wait upon Asmè Sultane, the elder sister of the Sultan, at her summer palace, I started from Pera early one morning accompanied by a friend, to obey the Imperial summons.
The weather was beautiful; the great Cemetery was crowded with loungers, and the road leading to “The Sweet Waters” thronged with horsemen. The spring flowers were bursting, and the young leaves trembling in the fresh breeze; and, as we passed on, amid sunshine and salutations, I forgot the purpose of my errand in the enjoyment of the glad scene around me.
But, unhappily for the continuance of these joyous feelings, the authorities had just secured a band of Sclavonian housebreakers, and, having bestowed upon them a very summary species of civil drum-head court-martial, had hung a dozen of them the previous day in the outskirts of the city. Of this uncomfortable fact we were entirely ignorant; and the shock may consequently be conceived when, on descending a steep pitch into the narrow street of Ortakeuÿ, the arabadjhe suddenly exclaimed—“A man hanged! A man hanged! Hide your eyes, ladies.” But it was too late. As the carriage turned the corner of the road I had caught sight of the suspended criminal, and I continued to gaze upon him, fascinated by the horror of the spectacle. This was only the second time that I had looked upon death, and it was now before me in so revolting a shape that I felt as though my life-blood were curdling about my heart!
We had come upon the victim in so instantaneous a manner that the sleeve of my dress almost touched his arm, as he hung from the projecting spout of a house immediately beside our path. He was a tall, powerful man, bare-headed, and clad in a white jacket and trowsers, fastened about his waist with a scarlet shawl. But what made the exhibition tenfold more horrible was the fact that the rope had slipped during his dying struggles, and that his head was bent forcibly backward. I shall never forget it; and I verily believe that I should have remained without the power of turning away my eyes had not my companion aroused me forcibly from my lethargy; when, yielding to the heart-sickness which crept over me, I fortunately fainted, and thus escaped all further suffering from the disgusting spectacle.
I am not prepared to deny that these wayside executions may be very efficacious in preventing the spread of crime; it is a subject on which I am not competent to offer an opinion; but I am enabled from my own painful experience to decide upon their extreme inconvenience, to use no stronger term, to those who do not require so frightful a warning. To encounter death in a shape of violence upon the very path of the living, and in the midst of men busied in their daily avocations—to know that the narrow space in which the victim is suspended, surrounded by objects of barter, has been let out on hire for this horrible purpose—that a bargain has been made between the government and the shopkeeper for the use of the doorway leading into his dwelling—there is altogether something so revolting in the whole system that I cannot think of it without a shudder; and thus was every avenue into Pera closed for three days against those to whom such sights were painful; for the same ghastly object presented itself at each village leading from the city: while the body of the ringleader of the band, decapitated, and deprived of its right hand, was exposed in one of the public squares.
One of the gang saved himself by becoming at one and the same time a True Believer and King’s Evidence; the only individual of the association who would consent to accept life on such terms. The remainder, kept in ignorance, according to the Turkish custom, of the precise moment of their execution, were allowed to frequent the taverns and coffee-houses accompanied by a guard, during several hours, and to drink and converse freely with those whom they happened to meet there; when suddenly their career of intemperance was checked; they were halted in front of the house which had been fixed upon for their reception, the fatal noose affixed, a basket placed beneath their feet to be subsequently drawn away, and in another instant they were launched into Eternity, while the accents of revelry were yet upon their lips! As the Turks do not admit the efficacy of a tardy and terror-wrung repentance, they consider this mode of execution to be the most humane which they can adopt; and, as the criminal is flattered to the last with the hope of pardon, he thus escapes much of the premature suffering attendant upon a violent death.
In about an hour after we had escaped from the frightful spectacle I have described, we arrived at the gate of the Palace—an extensive and handsome edifice on the border of the Bosphorus; where a guard of soldiers and a throng of servants were to be traversed ere we could reach the staircase leading to the ante-room in which we waited, while our presence was announced to the princess. As Her Highness was in the bath when we entered, we were detained a considerable time in this apartment, surrounded by the officers of the household, and the principal negroes of the harem; a delay at which I rather rejoiced, as I had not altogether recovered from the effects of my morning’s adventure.
At length we were requested to move forward, and, attended by half a dozen individuals of the Imperial suite, we traversed several apartments neatly matted, but quite destitute of furniture; until at the extremity of a long gallery, lighted on either side by twelve spacious windows, commanding the channel on the one hand, and the palace gardens on the other, we reached the lofty doors of the harem, which were flung back at the first signal of our attendants, and as instantly closed again when we had crossed the threshold.
A train of female slaves, dressed in the most gaudy furniture chintzes, received us as we entered, and led us across a lordly hall lined with white marble, and supported by numerous pillars of the same material; through whose open doors we had a delicious view of the extensive gardens, with their fantastic flower-beds, stately fountains, and gleaming terraces. Nazip Hanoum, the adopted daughter of the Princess, met us in the centre of the hall, and welcomed us most gracefully; after which, taking a hand of each, she conducted us to her own apartment, a charming room overlooking the water, and entered from a gallery that surrounded the principal saloon. Having relieved us of our veils, and seated us on the cushions beside her, she clapped her hands, and about a score of slaves entered with coffee and sweetmeats.
The coup d’œil was beautiful, as the fair girls, not one of whom could have been more than twenty years of age, and who were all exceedingly lovely, prepared to hand the refreshments. The princess had given orders that we should be received with all possible ceremony: and the display was consequently most beautiful. One slave held a weighty vase, suspended from three silver chains, in which stood the coffee; another bore a large gold salver, covered with cups and holders of costly enamel, whence depended a dazzling drapery of gold tissue wrought with pearls, and richly fringed: a third carried a gilded tray bearing vases of cut crystal containing a variety of exquisite sweetmeats, confined beneath golden covers enriched with gems; a fourth held the salver on which stood a range of glass goblets of beautiful form and workmanship, filled with water—all, in fine, were laden with some object of cost and luxury; and their attitudes were so graceful, their faces so lovely, and their costume so striking, that I regretted their departure, when, after we had partaken of the rose-scented jelly and perfumed mocha, they slowly withdrew.
Nazip Hanoum, the favourite of Asmè Sultane, was purchased by Her Imperial Highness when she was only a few months old, together with her mother, who died while she was yet an infant. Her influence over the mind of her illustrious protectress is unlimited, and, had she been really born “beneath the purple,” she could not have commanded greater liberty or consideration than she now enjoys. Her features are very regular, and even handsome; but her beauty is destroyed by the immense number of freckles that cover her face and bosom. Her eyes are a deep rich blue, with long dark lashes, and her hair is of a fine golden auburn; but the great charm of Nazip Hanoum exists in her extreme gracefulness; she has not a movement which is not elegant; and her playful vivacity and great natural shrewdness render her a delightful companion. Her voice is low, and sweet; and her ringing laughter the very echo of joyousness.
Her costume was an odd admixture of the European and the Oriental. She wore trowsers of pale blue cotton flowered with yellow; and an antery of light green striped with white, and edged with a fringe of pink floss silk; while her jacket, which was the production of a Parisian dress-maker, was of dove-coloured satin, thickly wadded, and furnished with a deep cape, and a pair of immense sleeves, fastened at the wrists with diamond studs. But the most striking feature of the costume in the Imperial Palaces is the head-dress. Nothing can be imagined more hideous! A painted handkerchief is bound tightly round the brow, and secured by jewelled bodkins: the back hair is crèpé until it becomes one huge dishevelled mass, when it is traversed across the top of the head by a corner of the handkerchief: a number of slender plaits of false hair hang down the back, frequently differing very materially from the colour of the natural tresses: the front locks are cut square across the forehead, and left a couple of inches longer at the sides, where they lie quite flat, and are stuck full of roses, or gems; or overhung by the deep fringe of the handkerchief, wrought to resemble a wreath of flowers. Some few among the ladies of the Imperial Seraïs fasten immense bunches of artificial ringlets under their yashmacs when they drive out, but they are as yet sufficiently uncommon to be remarkable. To this head-dress, such as I have described it, Nazip Hanoum had added, in common with the other females of the household, a star and crescent of sticking-plaister between her eyebrows, which were stained a deep black, and destroyed the natural softness of her expression. But her hands and arms were lovely! White, and round, and soft, as though they had been moulded in wax; and her slight elastic figure looked as if it had been modelled by the Graces.
Asmè Sultane is celebrated throughout the capital for the beauty of her slaves; and his Sublime Highness has thrice demanded Nazip Hanoum, but has been thrice refused; an occurrence so unprecedented in the East, that he has finished by persuading himself that he is actually attached to the lively girl who has dared to play the part of a modern Roxalana, and to defy his power.
His first rejection was treated by the Sultan as the wayward whim of a spoiled beauty, and he even condescended to expostulate with Nazip Hanoum; but his advice had no more effect upon her than his preference; and for the first time in his life, the “Brother of the Sun” and “Emperor of the Earth” found himself slighted by a mere girl.
The evil was, however, without remedy, for, as the adopted daughter of an Imperial Princess, the liberty of the young Hanoum was sacred; and his Sublime Highness was fain to content himself with the anticipation of future success; but, when a second solicitation brought with it only a second repulse, despite all the costly gifts and lover-like courtesies of the preceding twelve months, the enraged Sultan took up the affair in another tone, and accused the Princess of having instigated her favourite to this unheard-of rebellion against his sacred will.
The Sultana defended herself with all the energy of innocence, and even consented to further his suit by her counsels and persuasion, but no success followed her efforts. Nazip Hanoum preferred the partial liberty of the harem of her protectress, and the comparative independence of her present position, to the gilded captivity of the Imperial Seraglio, and the fleeting favour of its lord; and she consequently continued firm.
The Sultan, enraged beyond endurance at this unexpected perseverance, left the palace in displeasure, and even refused to see his sister, whom he still persisted in believing to be the principal cause of his defeat. But monarchs are mere men where blighted feeling or wounded vanity make themselves felt: and Mahmoud, when he retreated to his gilded saloons at Beglierbey, shared the fate of his kind. He became convinced that he really loved Nazip Hanoum, and that her possession was necessary to his happiness; and, determined not to be thwarted a third time, he continued deaf to the earnest and humble prayers of the Princess that he would restore to her the light of his favour, and the glory of his presence; and actually refused during three long weeks to be accessible to her entreaties; when, feeling convinced that this display of his sublime wrath must have produced a powerful effect on the refractory beauty, he once more bent his course to the palace of the Princess.
A rich gift to Nazip Hanoum announced her pardon; and when she had played and sung, seated on a cushion at his feet, and he had witnessed the graceful movements of the dancing girls, and partaken of the perfumed sherbet of his Imperial Sister, he led the young beauty into the gardens of the palace, where she was compelled to listen for the third time to his thriftless suit. But, alas! for the lordly lover—the reflections of the past year had only strengthened her resolution, and she continued as unmoved by his protestations as she had been by his displeasure; and thus, Mahmoud returned once more to his Seraglio as unsuccessful as ever.
Such is the sacredness of adoption among the Turks.
I have already mentioned that the Palace of Ortakeuÿ fronts the Bosphorus, from which it is only separated by a broad path or terrace of marble, extending along a considerable portion of the channel, and only broken at intervals by the projection of the different palaces and dwellings that are built against the edge of the stream. While we were conversing with Nazip Hanoum, my attention was attracted by a peculiar signal rising from this terrace, and evidently intended for the ear of some fair inhabitant of the Seraï. As no answer was returned, the shrill wild sound was repeated, when Nazip Hanoum rose quietly from her cushions, and throwing back a small door which opened in the midst of the lattice-work of one of the windows, demanded, in a tone of pretty peevishness, why she was thus persecuted, when she had announced her resolution not to receive another letter. The reply to this appeal, brief as it was, was conclusive, for, shrugging her shoulders with a coquettish gesture of impatience, she flung from the casement a painted handkerchief secured by a silken cord attached to the window-frame, and after the delay of a moment, drew it back, and took a letter from amid its folds, which, having read with a blush and a smile, she thrust into the shawl that was bound about her waist, with all the composure of a person to whom such an occurrence was no novelty.
We shortly afterwards proceeded to wait upon all the principal ladies of the household, who occupied apartments opening from the same gallery as that of Nazip Hanoum. The first whom we visited was the mother of the slaves, a serious, stately woman, of about fifty years of age, dressed in an antery and trowsers of black cashmere, very silent, and even sad-looking, whom we quitted as soon as we had satisfied her curiosity; for the atmosphere of her stateliness did not appear congenial to our light-hearted conductress.
We were next introduced to Peroussè Hanoum, the private secretary of the Princess, who had been a favourite Odalique of Sultan Selim; a woman remarkable for her talents both natural and acquired; and a celebrated poet. She was seated upon her sofa, surrounded by papers; lying confusedly in heaps, or tied up in squares of clear muslin; and engaged in writing on the lid of a chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl. She was still handsome, with delicate features, and fine eyes, but disfigured by the dye with which she had made her eyebrows meet across her nose. Had I been able to converse with her, without the interposition of a third person, I am sure that I should have been delighted, for she was all energy and enthusiasm. Her room was crowded with Turkish and Greek women, squatted on cushions all over the floor; and close beside her, with her pale cheek resting upon her knees, sat one of the ladies of the Imperial Seraglio, who having suffered severely from a protracted indisposition, had asked and obtained permission to spend a few weeks in the harem of the Princess, by whom she had been brought up. She was a lovely girl of eighteen or nineteen, very richly dressed, but evidently broken-hearted. Whenever she was addressed, the tears rushed into her large dark eyes, and every reply appeared to be an effort. The gilded Palace of her Imperial Master had evidently been a mere prison to her; and you read a tale of blighted hope and spirit-sickness upon every line of her pallid face.
While we were in the apartment of the secretary, Nazip Hanoum, at the request of the fair and faded visitor, sent a slave for her zebec, and played and sang with considerable sweetness and execution: after which the gifted Peroussè Hanoum read one of her poems, which elicited such rapturous applause, that I asked and obtained a transcript of it, and having caused it to be translated into French by one of the Professors of the Military College, I have since rendered it into English verse for the gratification of my readers.
We spent a considerable time in the apartment of Peroussè Hanoum; and after having paid a number of less interesting visits, we finally entered the principal room of the Harem. Here we found a sweet girl of about thirteen years of age, lying upon a pile of cushions, having sprained her ancle a day or two previously, while dancing before the Sultan. She was amusing herself by nursing a very fine infant, a recent purchase of the Princess, who had bought both it and its mother, at the earnest request of the latter; who, having lost three husbands in the space of eighteen months, and being left entirely destitute, had profited by the well-known partiality of her Imperial Highness for children, to become an inmate of the Palace. The little girl was the pet and plaything, not only of Asmè Sultane, but of the whole harem; and was handed from one to the other, and caressed by all; while the mother did nothing but eat, sleep, and say her prayers; which latter ceremony she performed with most edifying ostentation.
What a bevy of fair girls occupied that apartment! What eyes, and lips, and teeth, were grouped together, as they sat clustered like bees upon their cushions, with their delicate fingers clasped together, and almost making their idleness look graceful! Here and there one lay fast asleep, with her cheek pillowed upon her hand, and a smile upon her lips, as though her last waking glance had been at the silver mounted mirror which lay beside her, and her last thought one of triumph at her young beauty.
A few were yet settling their cashemere girdles, and arranging their unwieldy head-dresses for the day, after their return from the bath; while one laughing maiden, who appeared to possess the talent in an extraordinary degree, was cutting court-plaister into various fantastic shapes, and dispensing them to her numerous applicants, by whom they were immediately affixed to their carefully-tinted eyebrows. The Kislar-Agha, meanwhile, walked in and out of the apartment, rolling the whites of his large eyes, and pouting his thick lips in silence, totally unmoved by the mirth and laughter going on in every direction; and scarcely replying to the questions and comments of those who were courageous enough to address him.
But, although there were many prettier women than herself in the party, Nazip Hanoum was the “Light of the Harem!” All gave way before her; her graceful playfulness, her joyous laughter, her innocent caprices, were alike received with smiles and approbation; and she appeared to be a general favourite, and to justify by her amiability the measureless affection of her Imperial patroness. We were shortly joined by Peroussè Hanoum, who accompanied one of the slaves on the zebec, while she sang, or rather recited, one of her own compositions; after which the fair favourite played the theorbo, and, while another of the party beat the tambourine, half a dozen voices pealed out the ballads of the Sultan, who is also a poet, and who frequently enjoys the happiness of listening to his own productions, from the lips of the fair household of his Imperial Sister.
The part taken in this concert by Nazip Hanoum and the Secretary was intended as a high compliment to their Frank visitors; for the Turkish ladies hold it as a degradation to exhibit a talent which is made an object of speculation and profit by hired performers.
Her Imperial Highness having left the bath with a violent and painful headache, we were requested to make a tour of the gardens, while she lay down to endeavour to obtain some relief: and accordingly, conducted by Nazip Hanoum, and followed by a dozen of her companions, we sallied forth by a door opening from the hall upon a stately terrace of white marble; and I laughed most heartily when, on emerging from the palace, the sprightly favourite shouted to the gardeners who were at work on all sides, “Do not look—we are coming out;” and, as a matter of course, every one of them turned towards her to utter their assurance of obedience, while away ran the laughing girl to gather the gayest flowers of the parterre, as an offering to the Frank ladies.
One fountain which we passed struck me as being peculiarly elegant; the stream, falling from an artificial eminence, filled successively eleven basins of white marble, gradually increasing in size, until the last formed a noble sheet of water immediately under the palace windows. The terraces were shaded by stately trees; and a gaily gilded kiosk, superbly painted in fresco, throughout the whole of its interior, occupied the highest point of the grounds.
Having completed our survey of the gardens, and the Princess being still invisible, we proceeded, under the same guidance, to visit the state apartments, which were situated immediately over the harem.
The grand saloon, built above the marble hall, was the very embodiment of Eastern splendour. Its magnificently-painted dome was supported by forty porphyry pillars with gilt capitals; its walls were lined with plate glass; its doors veiled by silken draperies; its floor covered with Persian carpets; and the lattices which veiled the entrance to the women’s apartments richly carved and gilt. At either extremity of the saloon, whose form was a fine oval, a noble flight of marble steps led downwards to the harem; and along the glittering balustrade were scattered groups of slaves, awaiting the summons of their Imperial Mistress, and clad in the gaudiest colours.
The morning-room of the Sultana was flooded with sunshine, and opened upon the terrace: the carpet, covering the floor, the cushions which were piled beneath the windows and the hangings of the walls, were all of the purest white, ornamented with wreaths of roses; while the roof, on which the Orientals universally display most elaborate taste, was of a deep purple colour, ribbed and studded with golden stars.
The reception-room was in a different style: sombre, magnificent, and almost cloistral in its decorations; heavy with gilding, and gloomy with cornices; while the sleeping chamber, hung with crimson and blue satin, and scattered over with perfumes and objects of taste, had an air of comfort and inhabitation almost English.
But the most elegant suite of rooms was that appropriated to the Sultan. A saloon whose thirty windows were hung with purple velvet fringed with gold; whose sofa cushions were formed of glittering tissue; and whose walls were rich with plate-glass and gilding; whose floor was crowded with objects of vertù, and whose every table was scattered over with gems, opened into the Imperial sleeping-room, whose European bed, hung with flowered muslin, and decorated with knots of coloured ribbon, contrasted cheerfully with the heavy magnificence of the saloon and its elaborate draperies; while the mangal of wrought silver, richly gilt, and the collection of jewelled toys which filled the two recesses at the end of the apartment, brought back the imagination to the gorgeous East.
Incense-burners of gold, studded with precious stones; ring-trays wreathed with rubies; a miniature of the Sultan himself in a frame thickly set with diamonds, and resting upon a cushion of white satin; a toilette of fillagreed silver; a chocolate cup of enamel studded with pearls: and a gilt salver, covered with watches of all sizes and shapes, were part of the tempting array. But I was more delighted by a Koràn, and a manuscript collection of prayers, written by the Sultan, and splendidly illuminated. Both were bound in gold, with the Imperial cipher wrought upon each corner in brilliants, while a border was formed round the outer edges of the volumes, of passages from the holy writings, indifferent coloured jewels.
The private withdrawing-room was not remarkable in any respect, if, indeed, I except the circumstance of its sofa and curtains being trimmed with fluted gauze ribbon, which, to an European eye, produced a most extraordinary effect. But, upon the whole, I saw less inconsistency and bad taste exhibited in the arrangements of the numerous apartments that I traversed, than I had prepared myself to expect.
While we were making our tour of the palace, orders had been given by the Princess that the dancing girls should prepare themselves to exhibit their skill for our amusement; but, unfortunately, in the excess of her graciousness, she had resolved on treating us with a view of their new dresses and their new dances, both intended to be European; and assuredly such costumes were never before imagined. I will give the description of one—it will suffice to afford an idea of the whole. A dress of blue muslin, elaborately ornamented with bows of pink and scarlet ribbon, was drawn round the throat with a cord of green silk, which hung down the back and terminated in two heavy tassels; the petticoat was long and scanty, and was trimmed with two narrow flounces, edged with white satin; black leather shoes of the coarsest description, gloveless hands, a sash of pink and silver that swept the floor; a necklace of pearl; and a head-dress at least a yard across, where a mass of false hair was smothered in flowers enough to decorate a supper table, and carefully selected of all the colours of the rainbow, completed the costume; and I need not expatiate on its effect. But the admiration which it excited in the harem was immense; and the really beautiful girl who was the fortunate wearer of the motley garb appeared to consider herself raised above mortality, as she listened to the comments of the throng by whom she was surrounded.
The male dresses were in perfect keeping with that which I have endeavoured to describe; and the whole had found such favour in the eyes of the Sultana, that she only tolerated the Turkish costume on ordinary occasions.
As the day was waning to a close, and the distance to Pera was considerable, I was reluctantly obliged to decline the honour of dining in the palace, and awaiting until evening the appearance of the Princess, whose continued indisposition still confined her to her apartment; and accordingly, despite the remonstrances of our kind and courteous entertainers, I took my leave of the fair favourite and her talented friend; bearing with me an invitation from Her Imperial Highness to repeat my visit at no distant period, when she might be able to receive and converse with me; and I then returned to Pera with an aching head and dazzled eyes.
I subjoin the little ballad of Peroussè Hanoum, which I have rendered almost literally into English verse. I could have wished that it had been somewhat more Oriental in its character, but its quaintness is at least sufficiently characteristic.
BALLAD.
My love for thee hath ta’en away my rest;
By day and night I think of thee alone;
I muse upon the curls which veil thy breast,
And sigh to know that thou art not mine own.
My love for thee is madness! All esteem
My passion folly who do look on me;
The arrows of thine eyes have drank the stream
Of my fond heart; and I must part from thee.
My love for thee is deep; and I of late
Can look upon none other—Thou art cold,
And ’tis the working of my hapless fate
That I no more thy gracious smiles behold.
Leyla! be mine, and learn my spirit-wrong;
I’ll tell thee all my grief—the tale is long.