The surprise which the splendour of these inferior officers of the palace excites is increased, when the Captain Pasha, the Reis Effendi, the Kakhya Bey, and the Grand Vizir, pass by, muffled in pelisses worth £200 each, wearing in their girdles hangers or daggers studded with diamonds, and mounted on horses almost sinking under the weight of gold housings. Our ideas were confused by the magnificence which we saw displayed. And now, on a sudden, the crowd, which had been noisy and making their remarks on the scene before them, was hushed. A solemn and really an awful silence prevailed, whilst only low whispers were heard that the commander of the faithful was near. Every Turk immediately folded his long robe over his breast, crossed his hands before him, dropped his head on his bosom, and, in a tone of voice just audible, prayed Allah and Mahomet to preserve the perpetuity of the royal race. Our object was curiosity, and we looked eagerly for the Sultan, but could hardly obtain a glimpse of him. His person, too sacred to be gazed on, was almost hidden by the lofty plumes of feathers of the attendants who surrounded him, each of whom wore a vest of glittering stuff representing resplendent armour, and on his head a crested helmet. Fancy must assist the reader in imagining the gorgeous housings, studded with rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones, on a ground of gold, that covered the Sultan’s horse, which was a milk-white stallion.
He passed, and lo! an ugly blackamore, the minister of his pleasures, entitled the Kislar Aga, followed him. His deformity rendered him hideous, yet was he rivalled in it by fifty other black eunuchs, and as many white ones, who filled up his train. These were succeeded by a dwarf. Three hundred chokhadars, or pages, closed the procession, all clad in white, and all extremely beautiful in person. There were several men appointed, according to custom, to throw money to the mob; and several others whose duty it was to beat them unmercifully if they thronged too riotously to pick it up; so that, between the sixpences and the blows, which seemed to be dealt out in about equal shares, there was much diversion for a bystander.
The procession arrived at the mosque. Prayers were said. But within those sacred walls, on such an occasion, no infidel dared cast even a glance, and we retired to our homes delighted with what we had seen, but mortified by our exclusion from the termination of the ceremony.
It was on one of these occasions that Lady Hester rode on horseback on a side-saddle to witness the procession. There is probably no other example of a European female having ridden through the streets of Constantinople in this manner on that day; and it may be reckoned as a proof of her courage that she did so, and of her conduct that she did so without insult.
The Mahometans are the most temperate men on earth: they are practical philosophers, unostentatiously sober in the use of everything. I dined, on two several occasions, with a Turk, named Azýz Effendy. The restrictions which their religion imposes on them make their meals so simple as to be not very grateful to a European stomach. The time was about one in the day, which is their first meal. Our party consisted of the chief clerks of the Admiralty; as Azýz Effendy, being physician to the Captain Pasha, or Lord High Admiral, had invited me to the arsenal. A table, not so large as an English claw tea-table, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ebony, was covered with an embroidered satin cloth, round which, facing the place where each guest was to sit, were laid, not knives and forks, and plates, but mahogany spoons tipped with coral. A basin and ewer having been carried round by a black slave, each person washed his hands, and then took his place. A napkin was put over his knees, and another, much finer and embroidered, was thrown over his shoulders. I doubled my knees under me like a tailor, in imitation of the rest. Immediately, a single dish was placed in the middle of us, which, being of rice, was eaten with our spoons, each person scooping it up from the side next to him; and, after four or five mouthfuls, the dish was lifted off to be replaced by another. This was a stew, and, as fingers were to be used here, each person, helping himself with his right hand, had time for about five mouthfuls more, when other dishes were served up in succession, which, according as they were more or less liquid or solid, were eaten by means of the fingers or the spoon, always, however, to be spirited away immediately after the first relish. The cookery I liked very much. During the repast, those who wanted it called for water, which was the only beverage, and was handed in a cut glass mug; this being almost the only article of glass used among them. The last dish was a preparation of rice called pilau, which always concludes a Turkish dinner. Every body then rose from table; the hand-washing was again performed, and coffee and pipes were handed round.
This description may serve for a general idea of the dinners of both the rich and poor; for I dined with a son of the celebrated Ibrahim Bey, one of the first people in the empire, and I saw no great difference, excepting in the number of dishes, and in several sweet things, as entremets and hors-d’œuvres, which stood constantly on the table, and of which, every now and then, a morsel or a spoonful was taken. A supper, in every respect similar, takes place about sunset.
Those Turks, who are not very rigid in the observance of the laws of Mahomet, and who wish to drink wine or spirits, do it I believe secretly, or go to the French coffee-houses at Pera, where their intemperance is not observed: but I entirely differ from many travellers, who tell us that the major part of the Turks drink fermented liquors. I aver that no people in the world adhere more rigidly to the injunctions of their religion in that and other respects. Those who take forbidden drinks are generally soldiers, Tartars and persons of the lowest class. The effects of spirituous liquors on the Turks are remarkable. Naturally sedate, composed, and amicable, they become, when intoxicated, downright madmen; and the inhabitants of Pera, who are accustomed to see them in this state, know so well the danger of getting in their way at such a moment, that they avoid them as they would a mad bull.
A house was hired for six months at five hundred piasters per month, in the village of Therapia, on the Bosphorus, ten miles from Constantinople. Lady Hester had scarcely removed thither, when she was attacked with a severe indisposition, which confined her to her bed.
The house was at the bottom of a small creek, which formed a harbour to the village; it was three stories high. The ceilings and walls were painted in fresco ornaments on a white ground, and there were little jets d’eau in some of the rooms. Each story consisted of a grand saloon, with four rooms opening into it, most of which had broad sofas fixed to the walls all round, with furniture either of flowered velveteen or of printed cotton. The highest story in the house is the story of honour:—a custom remaining from the time when the Genoese possessed this quarter of Constantinople.
Lady Hester writes from this place to a friend thus:—