"Certainly."
"Are they pretty?"
Each father expatiated on the superior beauty of his own child; and the papa added that his was angelic,—"Καλὴ καλὴ." "Then," continued Madame, "I am desired to say, the Prince is very much obliged to you for your visit, and requests that you will immediately send the prettiest maiden of the whole to bear him company on board." Perfectly thunderstruck at this extraordinary address, the papa and his brethren looked first at each other, then at Madame and the Prince; and, making a hurried bow to the German Pasha, they jostled one another down the ladder, and into their boat, with a rapidity that amused as well as surprised us all; for, at the time, we were unacquainted with the nature of this audacious reply. They probably took him for a vardoulacha, or vampire, and thought to themselves, "If this Prince is such a curiosity, what must little Otho be!"
Well, of course his Royal Highness demanded the meaning of their abrupt and sudden flight, and wished to know what Madame had said to scare the holy fathers thus? "Was the reply complimentary? if so, it had produced a most extraordinary effect: they could not be pleased, that was evident."
"Oh yes," answered she, with a satirical smile; "I said you were delighted to see them, and that, knowing they had plenty of handsome daughters, you desired them to send the prettiest on board to bear your Highness company."
His Highness looked somewhat foolish: he did not know what to say; and appeared little less chagrined himself, than the Greek papas of the Isle of Marmora. We afterwards understood that the Prince had made some reductions in her bill while he occupied her house at Smyrna; and, by way of retaliation, she thus insolently attempted to injure his character among her countrymen; and, I have no doubt, completely succeeded, as far as the Greeks of this island are concerned.
PLEASANT DORMITORY. Monday, 24th.—Myself and four companions in misery have passed a horrible night in a cabin worse than the Black Hole of Calcutta. The offensive odour from the chicken-coop, which stands just at the side of the only aperture where fresh air can find an entrance; the heat of the confined chamber; the myriads of insects, that devoured my body with ravenous appetite, after having endured a fortnight's starvation; kept me in such a fever, that I vowed never to enter the cabin again. EXTRAORDINARY TRANSFORMATION.When I looked out, my fellow-passengers burst into a laugh; and Barrow, taking an observation, as my phiz came to the meridian above them, exclaimed, "Who has been painting your face? it is as yellow as a canary-bird!" "Nonsense!" I exclaimed; and, jumping upon deck, I seized my glass, and saw myself indeed as yellow as our good King's face on a sovereign. Not my face only, but, by all that's startling! hands, arms, legs, body, were in the same condition, as though I had been plunged into a curry-pot. I beheld myself with jaundiced eyes! It was wholly inexplicable; for I had not suffered a moment's illness, since I arrived in Stamboul; neither have I felt any symptoms of approaching disease; yet, in one night, my skin has been gilded over like a counterfeit sovereign,—
"Suffering a yellow change Into something rich and strange."
Nevertheless, I am afraid, unlike the false coinage, the gilt will not very easily rub off. On my first appearance, I observed the French doctor, who seemed to possess a hawk's eye for business, vanish from the quarter deck, and descend hastily below; in a few minutes he reappeared, bearing in his hand an ample supply of his rob; but I declined his services, as a medical officer from Corfu undertook to give me the necessary advice. We had also an English physician, and the Prince's body-surgeon.
BRITISH FLEET. At the Dardanelles we learned the very interesting news that the English fleet had arrived in Basiké Bay; and in swinging round "old Sigæum," we beheld the Admiral's ship at anchor, and several other large vessels sailing towards the harbour. At mid-day we were alongside the Britannia; and a boat came off from her, to ask intelligence from Constantinople. As I was anxious to renew my acquaintance with Sir Pulteney Malcolm, and as many of the passengers wished to see the ship, the boat took as many as could get into her, and in a few minutes we stood on the deck of the largest of those majestic floating castles which, I trust, are destined, ere long, to teach the Russian that all "Old England's wooden walls" have not got the dry rot in them. It is some years since I had the pleasure of seeing the Admiral before; and though the march of time has imprinted on his noble figure a few slight traces of its progress, yet he appears to be as active, enterprising, and determined as ever. He accompanied us over the ship; and was very anxious that we should inspect his improved kitchen, cattle-pen, and newly invented gun-screws for elevating the breech of the cannon. After a hearty luncheon, during which I forgot all my jaundice, we took leave, and on entering the Captain's gig the Francesco hoisted the British colours, and saluted. The compliment was immediately returned, and the thunder of the cannon re-echoed from Tenedos, and spread itself over the Plain of Troy, with a report loud enough to rouse Achilles, Ajax, and Hector, from their graves,—