Not the slightest effort had been made to level the piece of land thus converted into a temporary theatre, and which was stony and uneven to a degree that must have disconcerted any individuals less philosophical than those who were to exhibit their histrionic and terpsichorean talents before the Ottoman Emperor and his August Court. In fact, the whole of the scenic preparations were conducted in so primitive a manner that you saw at once no deceit was intended, and that, if you suffered yourself to be led away by the incidents of the drama, you would not be deluded thereto by any effort of the actors.
The first arrival upon the scene was that of four ragged personages, apparently intended to represent the street porters who ply for hire about the quays and markets; and these interesting individuals sustained a long and animated conversation, setting forth the dull condition of the Queen of Cities, in which neither feast nor festival had been held since the Baïram. Their lamentations at length attracted the attention of a fifth loiterer of the same class, who, joining the group, gave a new tone to the subject by announcing the approaching marriage of the High and Peerless Princess Mihirmàh—the daughter of His Sublime Highness Mahmoud the Powerful, the Emperor of the East, and Conqueror of the World!
The intelligence was received with enthusiasm, and the new comer was encouraged to proceed with his narration; in which he accordingly set forth not only the beauties and virtues of the Imperial Bride, and the high and endearing qualities of her affianced husband, but also gave a catalogue raisonné of all the sports and ceremonies which were to be observed on the happy occasion of her nuptials; and it is only fair to believe that he did so with some address, as a murmur of admiration ran through the crowd who were devouring his discourse.
After asserting that the whole universe had been taxed to produce novelties worthy of the illustrious event, he proposed to exhibit to his companions an ingenious machine that had been imported from Europe, and which was to be exhibited by a friend of his own. Hereupon, a sort of buffoon was introduced, attended by two men, who fixed a swing with a lattice seat between two slight wooden frames, which they were obliged to support during the remainder of the scene.
One by one, the respectable worthies whom I have attempted to describe were seated in the swing, and rocked gently backwards and forwards by the proprietor of the show; and during this time an old Jew, with a long white beard and tattered garments, followed by a deformed and hideous dwarf, joined himself to the party, but at a sufficient distance to indicate that he was conscious of his unworthiness to intrude upon their notice.
A mischievous whim suddenly prompted the hilarious Mussulmauns to make the quailing dwarf a party in their pastime, and they accordingly placed him in the swing, and amused themselves for a time with his abortive attempts to escape; but, wearying of the jest, they agreed to replace him by his master; and, despite the prayers and terror of the hoary Jew, they compelled him to occupy the crazy seat, which, failing beneath his weight, precipitated him to the ground, where, falling upon his head, he remained apparently lifeless.
At this period of the performance, half a score of the members of the orchestra left their places, and walked demurely out of the ring, in order to swell the crowd which shortly afterwards advanced to raise the body of the murdered man, and convey him away to burial.
Nothing can be conceived more disgusting than the scene that followed; all the actors being actually Jews, selected from the very dregs of the people, and compelled to exhibit the degradation of their social state for the amusement of their task-masters. A wretched bier, borne by four men, was brought forward, on which the supposed corpse was flung with a haste and indecency betokening strong alarm; and it was about to disappear with its loathsome freight, when its passage was obstructed by a party of police, who, occupying the centre of the path along which it was passing, and remaining erect on its approach, were supposed to awaken in the bosoms of the bearers one of the strongest superstitions of the Jews of Turkey; who, when they are carrying a body to the grave that is met by a Christian or a Mahommedan who refuses to bend down and pass under the bier, consider the corpse so contaminated by the contact as to be without the pale of salvation; and, setting down the body under this impression on the spot where the encounter has taken place, they abandon it to the tender mercies of the local authorities.
This wretched and revolting superstition was enacted by the degraded wretches who were hired on the present occasion to expose the abjectness of their people, with all the painful exactness which could delude the spectator into the belief that he beheld a scene of actual and unpremeditated horror. A distracted wife tore off her turban, and plucked out handfuls of her dishevelled hair; the body was rolled over into the dust: a scuffle ensued between the Jewish rabble and the armed kavasses, in which a few blows were given that appeared to fall more heavily than was altogether necessary to the effect of the scene; and the Jew, recovering from his trance amid the shouting and yelling of the combatants, was borne off in triumph by his tribe, with a wild chorus that terminated the first act of the drama!
At intervals, the disgust which this hateful exhibition tended to excite in my bosom was relieved by the arrival of some tardy Pasha, attended by a train of domestics; who, entering the arena by the passage to which I have already alluded as opening from the shoreward side of the enclosure, guided his richly caparisoned steed, whose housings were bright with gems and embroidery, through the motley throng of actors; while his diamond star glittered in the sunshine, and his gold-wrought sword-belt and jewelled weapon-hilt flashed back the light that glanced upon them.