MISS PARDOE ' S CITY OF Tilt SULTAN.

ACCOMPANIED by her father, the fair author of these volumes started • for the East towards the close of 1835, with the intention

of visiting Turkey, Greece, and Egypt—and, as we surmise, with

the purpose of making a book. A little observation in Constanti- nople, however, convinced her that a short residence would not suffice to acquire a knowledge of the people; not only from the

obstacles interposed by 0:actual language and Oriental habits, but from the " shyness " with which the natives make the acquaintance

of strangers, especially of Europeans,—smarting under the memory of the "absurd and even cruel misrepresentations" they have ex- perienced from passing tourists,—but this last idea is perhaps a refinement of Miss PARDOE'S.

'u%itIi this COM' ict loll, the present tourist devoted the whole of

her time to Constantinople. In the course of her sojourn, she saw all the enduring shows—such as mosques, churches, antiquities, and landscapes, and all the more fleeting sights—as the public

processions of the Turks, the high mass of the Greeks, and the marriage ceremonials of both races. She "assisted- at the parties of the European diplomatists, mixed familiarly with the higher

Greeks of the Einar, and got introduced into the harems of several Turkish families, with which she soon became on friendly visiting terms. And it is to these two last advantages that her volumes

are indebted for the chief novelty of matter they possess. The works of nature and the structures of art remain pretty much as they were at the downfal of the Greek empire; and these have been viewed, described, and commented upon, till it is the fault of the world if as much is not known about them as about one's native place. The characteristics of the Turks,—their resignation, springing from fatalism; their equality and absence of social pride; their profound devotion, and submission to the will of God ; their cruelty towards men, their mercy towards animals, and other singular contrasts or anomalies,—were more thoroughly perceived and more happily described by BUSBEQUI us, three hundred years ago, than they have been since, often and often as the attempt has been made. The outward changes that have been introduced by the present Sultan Maumoun, (for it is idle to suppose that the will of a ruler can change the inward character of a nation,) have also been the theme of many a tourist's description. But, except in the brief and comprehensive pages of Lady Malty WORTLEY MONTAGUE, the harem has been an unknown ground ; whilst the domestic life of the respectable Turks and Greeks is nearly if not quite a new subject, and for the best picture of which we must turn to the City of the Sultan. And this picture, it must be confessed, shows them in a very amiable light. Miss PARDOE describes the Oriental women as distinguished by a simple politeness, a kindly feeling, and a good- natured consideration towards their dependents, which, if a true account, must be perfectly delightful. Unsophisticated in their ideas we suspect they must be ; childish in mind Miss PARDOR admits them to be, though amongst the Greeks education is ad- vancing; and, although the majority are very idle, yet this besetting sits of Oriental harems is giving way to the onward march out of doors. The Turk himself, too, appears to be more of a "family man" than one would have supposed, and to exhibit in his pene- tralia a kind of patriarchal affection which is very amiable ; albeit it shows itself rather in a graciousness of manner, as he smokes his hookah, than in words, the art of conversation being in its infancy in the East. Here is an example of their fondness for their children. At the same time, however beautiful such conduct seems in itself, it cannot fail of being pernicious in its results, by the self-will and expected indulgence it must foster.

Nothing can be more beautiful than the tenderness of a Turkish father : be hails every demonstration of dawning intellect, every proof of iufant affection, with a delight that must be witnessed to be thoroughly understood ; he antics- hates every want, he gratifies every wish, he sacrifices his own personal com- fort to insure that of his child ; and I cannot better illustrate this fact than by mentioning a circumstance which fa nudes my own observation. The Reiss Eff.mdi, or Minister for Foreign Affairs, bad a grandchild whose indisposition caused him the most lively uneasiness : it 5555 in vain that his English physician assured him of the total absence of danger ; his every thought, his every anxiety, were with this darling boy : in the midst of the most ',messing public business he would start up and hasten to the chamber of the little patient, to assure himself that every thing was going on favourably ; he would leave his is iends, in an Lour of relaxation, to sit beside the sick-bed of the child ; and at length, when a strict and rigid system of diet IA as pre- scribed, which was to be of a fortnight's duration, he actually submitted himself, and compelled all his establishment to submit, to the same monotonous and scanty fare, lest the boy should accidentally bee or otherwise. become conscious of the presence of any mote enticing food,.for which he might lone, and thus increase his malady.

It does not appear whether Miss PARDOR Las left her heart be- hind her, but it is easy to sec that she has returned impressed with a high notion of the Turkish character. After describing their frequent adoptions, she thus panegyrizes their filial aflection and philosophy— An equally beautiful feature in the character of the Turks, is their reverence and respect for the author of their lwing. Their wives advise and rep:inland unheeded ; their words are bog. —nothing ; but their mother is an oracle: she is consulted, confided in, listened to with respect and deference, honoured to her latest hour, and remembered with affection and regret beyond the grave. " My wives die, and I can replace them,' says the Osmanli ; " my children perish, and others may be born to me; but who shall restore to me the mother

who has passed away, and who is seen no mote? " • • •

The philosophy and kindly feeling of the Turk is carried even beyond the grave. He looks upon death calmly and without repugnance: he does not con- nect it with ideas of gloom and horror, as we are too prone to do in Europe: he spreads his burial-places in the sunniest spots, on the crests of the laughing hills, where the9 are bathed in the light of the blue sky ; beside the crowded thoroughfares of the city, where the dead are, as it were, once more mingled with the living; in the green nooks that stretch down to the Bosphorus, where- in more selfish spirits would have erected a villa or have planted a vineyard. He identifies himself with the generation which has passed away ; he is ready to yield his place to that which is to succeed his own.

Of the present Sultan, we supposed enough had been written to make us familiar with him; but Miss PARDOE has looked at him with a lady's eye, and the result of observation and inquiry makes him out an old beau.

Sultan Mahmoud is not a handsome man, and yet it is difficult to define wherefore ; for his features are good and strongly marked, and his eye bright and piercing. His jet black hair, seen in heavy curls beneath the fiz, which, like most of his subjects, he wears drawn down low upon his forehead, and bis bushy and well-trimmed beard, add considerably to the dignity of his appearance, as well as giving to him a look of much greater youth than be can actually boast ; but this is a merely artificial advantage, being the effect of one of those skilful dyes an common in the East.

As in Japan, the popular belief is firm that the king never dies, so in Turkey the sovereign is never permitted to imagine that he can grow old ; and thus every officer of the household stains his hair and beard, and uses all the means with which art or invention can supply him, in order that no intrusive symp- tom of age or decay may shock the nerves and awaken the regrets of his lord and contemporary : the faded beauties of the Seraglio are removed from his right, the past is seldom adverted to, and the future is considered as his sure aud undoubted helitage.

Never did monarch lend himself to the delicious cheat more lovingly than Sultan Mahmoud ; who, with all his energy of character, is the victim (for in his case I can apply no other term) of the most consummate personal vanity.

We are accustomed in England to think of George the Fourth as the ne plus ultra of exquisitism—the Prince of pctit-maitres ; but what will honest John

Bull say to a Turkish Emperor, an Imperial Mussultnan, who paints white and red, and who considers himself sufficiently repaid for all the care and anxiety of a costly toilette by the admiration and flattery of the ladies of the Seraglio?

And yet such is the case; the immolator of the Janissaries, the reformer of a mighty empire, the sovereign of the gravest people upon earth, is a very " thing of shreds and patches "—a consumer of cosmetics, an idolater of gauds and toys, the sacrificing high priest at the altar of self-adornment !

A TURKISH LOVE TALE.

In the course of the evening, the Ilayuk Hanouni was summoned to her hus- band ; and then the timid wile of her son joined us at the tandour, and related to us the little history of her life ; which, although by no means remarkable in Turkey, is se characteristic, and will, moreover, appear so extraordinary to European readers, that I shall give it, as nearly as my memory will serve me, in her own words.

" I am but nineteen," she said, "a Circassian by birth, and was brought by my parents to Constantinople, amt sold, at the age of nine years, to a friend of Fatnia Ilanouni's. I was very happy, for she was kind to me; and I thought to pass my life in her harem ; but about a year ago I accompanied her thither on a visit to the wife of Mustafa Ellimili, at a moment when her son was beside ben I was one of four; and I do not yet understand why nor how I attracted his attention as I stood beside my companions; lint a few days afterwards may mistress called me to her, and asked me if I had remarked the young Ismael Bey when we had visited his mother. I told her that I had seen him ; and she then informed me that the Ilanoum desired to purchase me, in obedience to his wish ; and demanded of me if I was willing to accede to the arrange. meat. 01coune I consented ; and the Bey, having considered me as agreeable when I had withdrawn my am:haute, as he had anticipated, be purchased me for ten thousand piastres, MA 1 became an inmate of the hareni of Mate& Eflimdi. I am still happy," she added plaintively, " very happy, for I am sure he loves me ; but I nevertheless hope to be more so ; for ere long I shall be a mother, and should my child prove to be a boy, from his odalique 1 may perhaps become his wife."

DIPLOMACY AND DIPLOMATISTS AT CONSTANTINOPLE.

At the Austrian palace there were balls every Sunday throughout the Car- nival, where mustachios and diplomatic buttons were rife. The never-ending cotillon, the rapid manlike, the quadrille, and waltz, were equally popular ; and I have danced the first with a Greek, the SIVOIld with a Russian, the third with a Frenchman, and the fourth with a German, during the course of the evening.

The Baron de Strirmer, the Austrian Minister, is about fifty years of age, partially bald, and remarkably grave-looking when not excited ; but his address is peculiarly agreeable, and his smile like lightning.

Madame la Baroune is a good specimen of the present school of Parisian breeding : her pride is blent with plaa fulness, and her courtesy is as glacious as II is graceful. Although taut suit pea precieusc, she is perfectly free from pedantry, and is a delightful conversationist. She has memories of Napoleon at St. Helena, where she resided for several years; anecdotes, patron/es and political—those well-worded and softly-articulated compliments which seat you upon velvet ; and, above all, that air of genuine laissez alter insouciance which no %moan save a Parisian ever thoroughly acquires. I am indebted to the ele- gant hospitality of this lady for many of the most pleasant hours that I spent an the Frank circle at Perm

M. de Boutenieff, the Russian Minister, has a face which, for the first five minutes, baffles you by its contradictory expression: there is a character of benevolence and gentleness about the forehead and eyes, that attracts, while the subtle curve of the lip repulses by its east of craft and caution; his conver:a- tion is ea=y, courtly, and pleasing ; and his unremitted good-humour and affa- bility render him universally popular in society. Madame de Boutenieff, who is his second wife, is young, graceful, and lively, an indefatigable dancer, and a fascinating hostels; and, moreover, the niece of Nesselrode.

The soirees dansantes at the Russian palace terminated with a masked ball, which worthily wound up the Carnival, and was sustained with great spirit. The fair hostess herself, with two ladies attached to the Legation, and the wife I. of the French Chancellor, personated angels, who were led into the ballroom by a parti carte of devils, embodied by four of the Russian Secretaries. Sonic of our politicians will assuredly smile at the conceit, nor cant forbear to admit the propriety of the fancy ; for truly, when I consider the number of attacht's to the Russian Legation, as compared with that of the other powers at this court, I am inclined to allow that " their name is legion." Even in a ball-room the Russian supremacy is palpably evident ; their num- ber, their political power, theit never-ceasing efforts at popularity, cannot be forgotten for a moment. There is diplomacy in every action, in every look, in every tone, and withal a self-gratulatory, quiet species of at-home.ness every- where and with everybody, which shows you at once that they are quite at ease, at least for the present. Exquisite, in the most wide acceptation of the term, in their costume, af- fectedly refined and aristocratic in their manners, acharnes pour la dame; "passant in moitie de leur temps d rien faire, et l'autre fairs des riens," the attaches of M. de BoOtenieff, upwards of thirty in number, are sa busily employed in turning heads and winning hearts, as though the great stake which they came here to play were but the secondary object of their mission.

Count Fainigsmark, the Prussian Minister, is a high-bred and accomplished gentleman ; distinguished by that calm and graceful tenue that sits so well On men of rank, and which is the most becoming attribute alike of mental and of social aristocracy. The Sardinian Chargé d'Affaires, General Montiglio, is of very retiring habits, and mixes little in general society; but he is a person of considerable acquirements, and an indefatigable sportsman. His domestic history is a little romance, and may serve to account in a great measure for his love of retire.. meat, and the hermit-like seclusion of his wife. Having made a mariage d'in. clination, which was considered by the Sardinian Court to be incompatible with his rank and position in society, he was sent into honourable exile to Smyrna, as Chargé d'Affaires, whence he was a short time since removed to Constanti- nople; where as I before remarked, be is rarely met with amid the Perote crowd that fill; the ambassadorial ball-rooms.

We suspect the extracts we have taken will not convey a very fair notion of Miss PARDOE'S work ; for as her excellence is more in manner than in matter, she requires greater space than we can afford her to admit of a full development of her peculiar merits. Nor need the general reader be deterred from perusing the volumes, because we do not consider that the author has given us any new information on the more palpable points of Turkey. To him, much of her matter will very likely be new ; and if not, her graceful and animated style of description makes the old agreeable.