We first visited the Turkish camp, and then proceeded to that of the Cossacks. A guard of the latter, wild fierce-looking marauders, led the way; then followed the Prince and his staff; and the procession was closed by a troop of Turkish lancers, very odd-looking soldiers, and our party of pedestrians, who managed, by making short cuts, to get before the main body of reviewers. The tents were all whitened, and put in the best possible order for the occasion; and it must be allowed they looked very pretty and comfortable, being surrounded by tall green branches, which were stuck into the ground; so that, in walking between them, we seemed to be moving through a grove of shady trees. Each regiment was drawn out, with its arms piled, and the soldiers were dressed in grey great-coats, though it was the hottest day I ever remember to have experienced during my stay at Constantinople.
As the royal cortège passed along the line, the soldiers doffed their caps, and when it arrived at the centre of each regiment, the fugle-man gave a signal, and they raised a loud shout, followed by a short expressive ejaculation, in their native language, which means, "God save the Emperor!" But the most striking and novel portion of the whole was, when the regiments, after being reviewed, successively poured forth one of those beautiful solemn chants, which I heard once before, from the quarter-deck of the Actæon. GIANT'S MOUNTAINIn the present instance, the whole army did not commence singing together, but each regiment caught up the strain as the preceding one dropped it, so that the music lasted for a considerable period; and never did the elaborate productions of the most celebrated composers, sound to me half so beautiful as these sacred simple melodies, when chanted by a thousand united voices, and spreading heavenly music over the whole mountain. I shall not readily forget the effect produced on my feelings by this harmonious "concord of sweet sounds;" and at that moment how highly poetical did the rich descriptive imagery of Shakspeare appear, where he makes one of his characters exclaim:—
"That strain again;—it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south, That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing, and giving odour!"
After following the Prince to the top of the Giant's Mountain, we allowed him to descend without our train, and remained to enjoy the wide extended prospect.
Behind the mosque situated on this eminence, is an oblong narrow garden, full of rose trees and jasmine, which vulgar tradition points out as the grave of the giant who gives name to the mountain, and who figures in the Pagan annals as a hero of extraordinary size and valour. Among the Christians, he is said to have been a vast and ferocious giant; while the Mussulmans will have him to be a holy dervish. In each tradition he was a monster, that sat on the top of the mountain, and dangled his feet in the waters of Buyukdere to cool himself. According to the poets, every one who passed the Bosphorus was compelled to engage him in single combat, until he fell, at last, by the hand of Pollux. The Christian version of the story, that describes him as the stirrer up of whirlpools, and the devourer of the sailors who attempted to pass the channel without paying tribute, is equally wild and fabulous. The Mussulman account, which makes him a dervish that lived to a vast age, and whose favour it was the object of every one of the Faithful to gain, is the least improbable of the whole.
DISTANT PROSPECT. Near the mosque stands a pretty little kiosk, belonging to the Sultan, shaded by some amazingly fine plane trees. Constantinople is not seen from this spot, but the view extends along the whole channel, and the isles in the Sea of Marmora are just visible; while beyond them, towering into the skies, and of the most dazzling whiteness, appears Mount Olympus, the habitation of the gods. The prospect on the European side is tame and unpicturesque, consisting almost entirely of a succession of flat uncultivated downs, with nothing to break the dull monotony of the scene, except here and there, where the tall slender minaret of a mosque, or a single tree, rises against the horizon, and resembles the mast of some solitary vessel ploughing its course through the boundless waste of waters.
We descended by a different route, through part of the ground marked out for a new camp, the necessity for which it is difficult to comprehend, unless more troops are expected. We got into the Sultan's Valley, and lounged under the trees till dinner-time, when we passed over to Terapia.
GRAND FÊTE. Most of the Turkish ministers were present at the grand fête and dinner given by the Austrian embassy, at which the Seraskier got "plenissimus Bacchi," and, I believe, proved rather uproarious; at least he became terribly amorous, and attentive to the ladies. Had he been able, and dared, he would have waltzed and danced with them all. I did not go, for a good reason,—I was not asked. One had, after all, the satisfaction of the "fox and the grapes." It was a poor affair! There could, in reality, be no great pleasure in seeing an assembly of old grey-bearded Turks getting drunk on porter and Champagne, and making fools of themselves, however much gratification it might afford the sapient heir to the throne of Bavaria, and his attendant crowd of Germans and Neapolitans.
THE PRINCE AND THE SULTAN. Monday, 17th.—This morning the Russians began to embark their tumbrils and heavy baggage, so that they seem to be absolutely going in earnest. I went down to Pera to learn the result of the negotiations for delaying the steam-boat,boat, and found most of the passengers in a state of fury. Some among them had resigned their passage, and resolved to travel home by land; others were storming, because it was now proposed to put off the boat's starting till Saturday, Prince Butera having been offered an audience on Friday. It seems that when the Sultan refused the Austrian application, Orloff went and COMMANDED him to receive his Royal Highness, "UNDER PAIN OF INCURRING THE DISPLEASURE OF HIS IMPERIAL MASTER THE Emperor OF ALL THE Russias, THE Emperor OF THE East!" And how did Mahmoud act? Why, he consented; ay, consented, not only to receive with open arms this man, who is the brother of a king set over a portion of his empire, which has been wrested by force and treachery from his sublime grasp, and once the brightest jewel of his diadem, but also to present him with a snuff-box set in diamonds, with his own portrait on the lid! This is the first instance in which the great imperial monkey has made use of the sublime cat's paw!
PRINCE BUTERA. Though the delay in the starting of the boat was openly resisted by all the English, as well as by the supercargoes, the Prince's governors continued running from one passenger to the other, canvassing for votes. The almost universal reply to this unreasonable application was, "that it appeared extraordinary a prince royal, who, together with his suite, had treated the passengers during the whole voyage with supercilious contempt, and thwarted them whenever they wished the slightest change in the route, should now condescend to solicit those same individuals to delay the boat a week, and inconvenience themselves, to further an object in which the Prince alone was at all interested."