We shall now briefly describe the internal economy of the institution. A large, lofty room, being the principal one in the house, is set apart for the washing and drying of clothes. We saw several women engaged in this work, superintended by the matron, amongst whom the greatest decorum and order were observable. We took occasion to interrogate the matron on the conduct that she had no trouble with them on that point, that of the people who came to wash, and she assured us they were uniformly civil in their behaviour towards herself and to one another, and that all of them expressed themselves grateful for the privileges afforded them. In this room there is a large steam boiler, used for the purpose of heating the water; not by boiling it in the ordinary way, but by pouring steam into wooden tubs filled with cold water, until it becomes which lay in having the tubs fixed in the masonry heated. We saw only one objection to this method, surrounding and supporting the boiler, by which the washers were exposed to the fierce heat both of the boiler and of the fire underneath. Washing clothes in warm water, under ordinary circumstances, is sufficiently hot work; but the process carried on as we have described it, especially on a day so sultry as that on which our visit was made, must have been painfully, if ingeniously inventive as he is philanthropic, may be not intolerably, oppressive. Probably Mr Bowie, as able to think of some mode of obviating this inconvenience: the only wonder is, that it was not foreseen in the first instance.

veniences and annoyance to which thousands of poor more extensive and pretending scale than that at East people dwelling in the crowded and narrow streets Smithfield. and lanes of the eastern part of the metropolis were subjected, before the existence of these baths, and to which many more thousands are yet exposed in other parts of it, and in most of the large towns in the kingdom, by being obliged to wash, dry, and iron their clothes in the one sole room in which a large family are so commonly cabined, cribbed, confined,' and where they have to cook their meals, eat and sleep, dress and undress, and perform all the minor offices of life, we can then understand and appreciate the invaluable boon which such an institution confers upon those who are able to avail themselves of its privileges. But the institution does not stop here. The kind-hearted and sagacious man who presides over it has sought to adapt its advantages to every conceivable phase and form of filth and wretchedness in which the human form and lineaments are so often found debased. Hundreds of persons and many of them very young persons too-of both sexes, are so utterly destitute and unfortunate as to possess no single article of clothing besides those which they have on their backs, and those are often scanty, and of necessity far from clean. How could the society aid those persons in washing their clothes, when their whole stock of habiliments was imperatively required to cover their nakedness? This obstacle has been surmounted. To individuals of this class, who wish to wash their clothes, the society furnishes a change of clothing, to be used by them whilst they are so engaged, and also materials and an apartment for mending them afterwards. Before leaving the house, they may likewise have a warm or cold bath; and all this accommodation is offered without any charge whatever. Nor is this all, Limited as have been the means at the disposal of the society, it has extended its services beyond the walls of the building, and attempted even more radically to promote universal cleanliness and health among the poor in the vicinity, by providing whitewash, and lending pails and brushes to persons desirous of purifying their humble dwellings; and the boon so offered has been eagerly accepted by great numbers in the neighbourhood.

With the view of economising fuel, this boiler is used not only for heating the water in the wash-tubs, but also that in the baths placed in adjacent apartments; and, what is more remarkable, it is likewise washed, through the medium of an ingenious process made available for the drying of the clothes when which we shall describe, and which was suggested by Mr Bowie. A chamber, about the size, and having the appearance, of a large cupboard, is placed at the distance of a few yards from the boiler, with which it is made to communicate by a pipe of about eight inches in turned by hand, a column of heated air is sent into the diameter, through which, by means of a revolving fan drying chamber through the floor, which is of iron, and perforated with holes. The clothes intended to be dried are suspended from horizontal poles placed within the With respect to the baths, there were only two at drying chamber; and by the agency of the heated air the commencement of the experiment; and, in conse- ascending through the perforated floor, they are effecquence, six persons were obliged to use the same water tually dried in the short interval of a quarter of an successively—a regulation obviously objectionable, and hour. This novel contrivance not only dries the clothes which must have been unpleasant to the bathers. By the peculiar smell that generally clings to long-worn rapidly, but likewise ventilates and frees them from the addition of two other baths, in the course of time garments; and thus, it is believed, all noxious, morbific, two or three persons at the utmost had to use the and contagious matters that may lurk in the habilisame water; and now, since the erection of two other ments are effectively decomposed, destroyed, or dissibaths, making six in the whole, each individual bath-pated. The ironing and mending of the clothes are ing has a fresh supply of pure warm water. The bather is also supplied with a piece of soap and a clean towel. The arrangements of the baths, though they are destitute of everything like ornament, and in some respects somewhat rudely constructed, are unexceptionable as respects privacy and decorum. The writer himself took a warm bath on the premises. and had soap and a clean towel allowed him, for all which accommodation he was expected to pay only a penny. The bath was certainly not so neatly or commodiously constructed, nor contained in so comfortable an apartment, as the second-class baths at the public baths and wash-houses in George Street, Marylebone, near Euston Square; but it ought to be taken into account, in instituting the comparison, that the charge for a warm bath at the latter place is fourpence, and that the establishment is a self-supporting one, and conducted on a much

carried on in adjoining apartments.

The institution is open from eight in the morning till eight at night. During part of the day-namely, from eight until four o'clock-women are exclusively admitted to wash their clothes and bathe; and on the women retiring, from four until eight in the evening men are admitted to these privileges.

The reader by this time will be curious to know to what extent the class of people for whom those baths and wash-houses were more especially intended have availed themselves of the advantages which they offer. On the first proposition of the institution,' we are informed in the first Report of the committee, many the trial, thinking the very poor so sunk in wretchedbenevolent-minded individuals doubted the utility of ness, that they would not consider their appearance and personal comfort worth the trouble of improvement, and their filthy state more consonant with their circumstances.' These were, men, we imagine, of the 'It

phorus, on his way to a mosque on the Asiatic side, it being Friday, the Moslem Sabbath. The officers of state accompanied the sultan in their brilliant caïques. It was a gorgeous and animating spectacle; and the thunder of the salutes from the ships of war, gaily decked out with their ensigns and streamers, seemed to bid us welcome to the waters of the Bosphorus, and to the full enjoyment of the view of the imperial city, then before us in all its glory or rather, I should say, to a view of three cities in one-Constantinople and the Seraglio Point on our right; Pera on our left; with Scutari on the Asiatic side; palaces, mosques, and their minarets; cypress-trees, towers, and shipping; sky, water, and sunshine-all blending and harmonising together!

In due time we left our steamer, and transferring ourselves and baggage to the light caïques of the Turkish boatmen, we landed, and walked over a pavement that must be seen and felt to be imagined, up the apparently interminable ascent of Pera, and along its principal street, to the Hotel Belle Vue, where we established ourselves, much to our satisfaction.

But some ludicrous realities are very apt to intrude upon the most charming illusions. As we were sitting in all the pride and freshness of an arrival in an Oriental city, enjoying the brilliancy of the evening, and the grandeur of the view of Constantinople and the Bosphorus, expecting every sound, as well as every sight, to be equally new, our ears were suddenly regaled with the popular air of Jenny Jones, most sonorously performed on the key-bugle, with an ad libitum accompaniment of loud voices, and the national adjuration, which Lord Byron calls the English Shibboleth, so plainly pronounced, as to satisfy us of what nation the musician and his companions were. In strong contrast to this, very shortly afterwards we heard the new and solemn sounds of the muezzin, calling the city to prayer.

Saturday 14.-Spent the greater part of the day in rambling about the hot, steep, and cruelly ill-paved streets of Pera and Galata. The whole town, now that the weather is dry, is very tolerably clean-thanks mainly to the dogs, hawks, and vultures, who are the scavengers of the place. The heat is very great; yet throughout the day there is an agreeable air from the Bosphorus. We were rowed out in the evening in caïques, and walked home after we were set on shore, making a little round by the cemetery of Pera.

You undress leisurely on a sofa, in a cool, airy part of the building, and a blue cotton cloth is wrapped round your middle, so as to form a sort of petticoat. You are next conducted into a room, the atmosphere of which is very hot, without being close or stifling. Water, hot and cold, is supplied from marble fountains, and runs in channels along the stone floor. Here you remain until the perspiration runs off the skin in large drops. If you can support it, you are conducted from hence into an apartment still hotter, and shortly an attendant arrives, who throws a bowl or two of water over you from the marble fountain, and then proceeds to lather you from head to foot with soft soap, at the same time gently rubbing and kneading the joints and muscles. After this you are again rinsed thoroughly with water, and are reconducted to your sofa, where you are carefully wiped and dried, and kneaded as before, and are left covered up, with a cloth, turbanfashion, wrapped round your head. Here you remain half an hour or more in a delicious tranquil reverie, to enjoy a pipe if you choose it, and inhale the fresh air of the apartment, and drink iced lemonade or sherbet. This may sound as if it were a dangerous proceeding; but it is the received custom so to do, and I suppose it allays beneficially the ferment raised in the circulation in the hot bath. The process throughout is agreeable, and leaves no subsequent lassitude, but rather confers a sensation of power to resist the heat of the climate.

After dinner we walked to the cemetery of Pera, and enjoyed a most lovely view of the Bosphorus. On one side was the setting sun, and in the opposite quarter of the sky a dark storm of rain, that cast a deep purple blush over the water, throwing a large ship of war, as she lay at anchor, out into bold relief. The picture was completed by the fine dusky hills of the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, with the faint outline of Olympus in the distance.

August 16.-Visited Scutari, the city on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. Scutari is a large and ancient town, though considered as a sort of suburb to Constantinople. The principal street is wider than any we have yet seen in Constantinople or Pera, and the mosques and public fountains are beautiful. The cemetery is held in great veneration by the Turks. It is very extensive, and is adorned with vast groves of large and antique cypresses.

In the course of our walk we bought some excellent sweetmeats at a confectioner's shop, and seeing a pretty little girl of about seven years' old standing by, I offered her some; but she looked at me very gravely, as if I had affronted her, and ran away more than half-frightened. There were also for sale in the streets quantities of the most delicious grapes, of which we bought a large basketful; but it was evident that we were not looked upon in the light of eligible customers. It is generally observed that the inhabitants of Scutari do not take much pains to conceal their dislike of the Franks; very probably because it is less to their interest so to do.

August 15.-In the morning we crossed over the Golden Horn to Constantinople, to visit the slave-market. The slaves that are here exposed for sale are chiefly black females, who are bought by the Turkish ladies for household servants. They are said to be generally well treated; nor is the word slavery to be understood here in its ordinary vulgar sense of utter degradation and unmitigated suffering. We noticed a few white women and a few black boys to be disposed of. We walked round the market under a covered way, and saw, through lattices, a great many slaves in rooms set apart for their reception. Some were already equipped The current of the Bosphorus is always strong, and in the Turkish dress, and seemed to have the liberty when we returned, the wind had freshened considerably. allowed them of walking in and out of the apartment. This afforded us an opportunity of seeing the admirable They did not appear at all downcast, but were smiling, manner in which the Turkish boatmen manage their and seemed to have their joke amongst themselves as caïques. They make use of sculls very much overwell as others. There were, however, some wretched-handed, and when there are two or more scullers, they looking, black, meagre objects, leaning against the walls, half asleep in the sun, or squatting on the ground, ridding one another of vermin. They had nothing on but the coarsest possible drapery of sackcloth thrown over them, and yet they contrived to wear it not ungracefully. From thence we walked by the mosques of Sultan Ahmed and of St Sophia, and visited the obelisks and brazen column in the Atmeidan. These are the remains of ornaments set up by the Romans, in what was formerly the Circus, probably in the space between the two Meta, called the Spina. The Atmeidan is now used for various exercises, chiefly military. We returned home to Pera, and I took a Turkish bath, which I found extremely agreeable.

pull powerfully and well together. The caïques are most elegantly formed, very light, and have their sides rather high out of the water. The sitters recline in the bottom, in order that the weight may be kept as low as possible. It is quite surprising how, in windy weather, they ride over the swell of the Bosphorus; and when it is calm, with what ease and rapidity they glide along. The Golden Horn, in particular, is throughout the day enlivened with hundreds of them, of all descriptions, in motion in every direction; from the caïque of the poor boatman, whose fare across is half a piastre, to the private caïque of the rich Turk, decked out with goldenfringed scarlet or blue draperies, and the rowers in their full-sleeved shirts and Greek caps, with the pasha him

106

self, with his chibouk, majestically reclining in the

stern.

August 17.-We went shares with another party of English in the expense of a firman, by virtue of which we gained admittance to the mosques and to the Seraglio Palace the sultan being now resident at one of his summer palaces on the shores of the Bosphorus. I can scarcely pretend to estimate the number of square acres comprehended within the seraglio walls. I have heard its circuit estimated at three miles; but I believe this to be exceedingly vague. From without, you are agreeably bewildered by the domes and minarets, and the whole style of the architecture mingling so beautifully with the noble and ancient cypress trees; but when you are within the courts, or inside the apartments, you are occupied chiefly by the general idea of great spaciousness, rather than by any particular attractions offered to your view within; and you are not sorry to seize the first opportunity that presents itself of looking out of one of the windows upon the lovely prospects of the Bosphorus, commanded in almost every direction.

In many of the rooms there was a profusion of really handsome gilding; but the Turkish customs do not admit of the European style of furniture; and from the nakedness of the apartments, I thought it very likely that many such articles as rich carpets and ottomans are removed from palace to palace with the court. In one immense room we saw a very small table in bad French taste, and a few of the common French artificial bouquets under glass shades; but the arrangements of the bath-rooms, with their fountains and pavements of marble, were quite delicious. The few attendants that we saw about the palace were in their ugly, ill-made, European dresses-so generally adopted now by the Turks-and looked dirty and altogether ill-conditioned. The pleasure-gardens are not extensive, but are beautiful, and well-watered, and contain many plants growing in the open air which in England are seen only in hothouses. Works of art, pictures, and statues, are not to be met with in the Seraglio Palace; but perhaps it is a relief now and then to visit a palace that does not possess them. It is the witnessing the beauty of the general effect produced by the whole, aided by blue water, sky, and sunshine, that repays you for the exertions of the day. We were then indulged with a sight of the interior of the great mosque of St Sophia, of that mosque also called the Little St Sophia, and of the mosques of Sultan Ahmed and of Sultan Solyman. On entering these sacred edifices, we were compelled to take off our shoes, and put on thin slippers, or walk barefoot. We were agreeably surprised at the magnificent dimensions of these mosques, and their fine general barbaric effect. They tell you that the interior diameter of the dome of St Sophia is fifteen feet wider than that of the dome of St Paul's. It is one mass of gilt mosaic-work, and its exterior is surmounted by an enormous gilt crescent, the dimensions of which I have heard very variously stated; there are also some wondrous legends afloat respecting the distance at which it may be seen when the sun shines on it. St Sophia is the largest of the mosques we saw; but the others I have mentioned are perhaps as well worth seeing, from their unmixed style of Oriental architecture. Innumerable silver lamps and ostrichs' eggs are suspended from the domes of them all. No detailed description of these wonderful edifices could be kept within any reasonable length of description. It was just at the hour of noon when we entered St Sophia; and at that moment the voice of the muezzin, himself unseen, rang with thrilling power through the entire building, and the whole of the Mussulmen present prostrated themselves to the earth. I never witnessed a more striking spectacle.

In the mosque of Sultan Ahmed we saw a kind of reading school for young lads, who were being educated, as they told us, as imaums, or priests. They were reading, I believe, the Koran out loud, in concert with their teacher, in a noisy, chanting, and apparently irre

verent tone. When they concluded, all that were present rose up, excepting one, a strange-looking figure, who persisted in remaining with his book open before him, which they at length took away from him; and he then got up, and stalked away with the self-important gestures of insanity. He was described to us as being a wandering dervish, and reputed mad, which greatly enhanced his sanctity. Before we quitted the mosque, we saw a Frenchman, who was admitted to the mosques in company with us, inadvertently spit upon the pavement. We immediately called his attention to what he had done; for had the Turks observed it, we might probably all have got into trouble. I mention this circumstance, because there will be occasion to allude incidentally to it again.

I then hurried back to Pera to see the mewlewli, or dancing dervishes. They met in a place of worship of their own, with a kind of circus in the midst, with a Their chief knelt on his carpet very smooth floor. I counted fourteen dervishes prostrate round the circle. opposite the entrance, and was engaged audibly in prayer, to which the rest from time to time made responses. The chief had on a sky-blue robe, and a thick felt cap of a light-brown colour, in the shape of a truncated cone, bound round with a green scarf. The rest wore the high cap without any decoration, and long robes of dark hues. When the chief made an end of his prayer, a dervish in the gallery began a very loud chant, whilst the whole company, headed by the chief, paraded twice or thrice round the room, with their arms crossed upon their breasts, the inferior brethren making profound obeisances as they passed the carpet on which their chief had been seated. Then commenced a low, wild, melancholy strain, without any definite melody, but still not unpleasing, performed on a flageolet and flute. This continued for about ten minutes. The dervishes then once more prostrated themselves with their faces to the earth. A small drum then sounded; upon which the dervishes rose up, and let fall their outward robes, appearing in short white jackets, and long white coarse petticoats, that trailed on the floor. Their feet were bare. The music then struck up again, accompanied by a loud noisy chant, and every dervish, except the chief, and one other, who acted some intermediate part, began a slow, solemn, rotatory movement or dance, with their arms held out horizontally, their revolutions throwing out the white petticoat into a conical shape, with its hem or border steadily floating a few inches above the floor. This continued without intermission for a quarter of an hour. The dervishes then ceased their revolutions, and recommenced the obeisances, and after that once more resumed the rotatory dance for a quarter of an hour, accompanied by the music and the song in the gallery as before. The ceremony closed with a dying fall in the music, pleasingly managed; and before the last two or three devotees had ceased to turn round, the friction of the bare feet upon the floor, now that the music was low and still, was distinctly heard. There was something almost touching in the quiet and composed demeanour of the chief and his followers. The entire absence of any appearance of fatigue or giddiness on the part of the performers in this extraordinary ceremony is really quite surprising.

August 18.-Went up the Bosphorus in caïques to Therapia. In the afternoon we crossed the Bosphorus at Therapia, and ascended the hill called the Giant's Mountain, from the summit of which the view is really superb. You look in one direction to the Black Sea, and in the opposite direction, down the windings of the Bosphorus, to the Sea of Marmora, with Mount Olympus in the distance. We remained that night at Therapia.

August 19.-Walked and rode about Therapia and its neighbourhood. The scenery is exceedingly beautiful at every turn. Remained another night at Therapia.

August 20.-Returned from Therapia, by water, to Pera. The wind blowing rather fresh, there was more sea on than was agreeable in a caïque. On our way we

stopped at the Sweet Waters, a delightful place of public resort on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. Here we saw a great many arabas, or carriages of the country, profusely gilt, filled with women and children, and drawn by oxen or horses with richly - ornamented harness. We caught glimpses of some very pretty faces among the women, who, for the benefit, no doubt, of breathing the air more freely, had loosened the asmacks of white muslin which usually envelop their necks and faces. There was, however, a guard stationed about the spot, to prevent anything like intrusion. The children were extremely pretty, with dark eyes and hair, and were handsomely dressed in their own native costume, which is peculiarly picturesque, and becoming to childhood. The ladies had coffee and sweetmeats with them in their arabas, with which they were served by their attendant black female slaves. Besides these, there were many family groups enjoying themselves under the trees, seated upon their bright coloured carpets, round the borders of which their yellow slippers were ranged in order. There were also present several Turks of rank, mounted on beautifully caparisoned Arabians, with boys on ponies; asses for hire, with scarlet hous ings; conjurers, venders of fruit, lemonade, sherbet, water, and sweetmeats. To complete the picture, the shore was lined with the caïques of the company, assembled from various parts of the shores of the Bosphorus, with their gaily-dressed rowers lying on their

oars.

PASQUIN.

WHAT is a pasquinade?—A squib, a satire, a lampoon, a scurrility. Why is it so called?-Because such mauvaises plaisanteries were affixed, by their anonymous authors, to the statue of Pasquin at Rome. For what reason?-For this reason:

There was once a tailor in the Eternal City, whose heart was filled with bitterness as he reflected on the unmerited jibes to which his profession was exposed as if by a general conspiracy of mankind. Maestro Pasquino, for so was he called, could not, for the life of him, imagine what people could find ridiculous in a calling which concerned itself with the grand distinction between the human race and the inferior animals. The world is mad,' cried he at last; 'stark, staring mad!' and as he came to this natural conclusion, he set himself to trace the symptoms of folly around him with an enthusiasm which soon amounted to a passion. It was meat and drink to him to see a fool; and soon the echoes of the jests with which he seasoned this repast extended beyond the shopboard, and were heard in the neighbouring piazza Navona. All Rome at last crowded to the tailor's studio, which took the place of the apothecaries' shops in the provincial towns of Italy, and became a kind of public Exchange for those who would hear or communicate the news of the day.

poon to a political libel, was given out as one of the pasquinate, or sayings of Maestro Pasquino.

At length the thread of Pasquin's life was severed by the shears of destiny; and then the pontifical government, rejoicing in the fall of its great enemy, cried havoc, and let slip the dogs of the police. Jibing was no joke now. Every man was held responsible for his own jest, and made to laugh for it on the wrong side of his mouth. Humour was buried in the grave of Pasquin-but not for long; for it arose again, as we shall presently see, with his monument. Opposite the tailor's shop-door the kennel was hardly fordable in wet weather, and a large irregular oblong block of stone had been laid down across it to serve as a permanent bridge. This block, as happens frequently in Italy, was of marble; and as it lay prone upon the street, half imbedded in the earth, it bore a kind of uncouth resemblance to a human back. The analogy was first detected by the urchins of the neighbourhood, who took a fierce pride in trampling upon the effigy of one of the giants of their race; but after the death of Pasquin, a superstitious awe mingled with their triumph, and when the shades of evening had fallen, they were observed to look upon it with suspicion, and occasionally even to cross over, and, like the Levite, pass on the other side.

At length, in the progress of some improvements that were making in the street, this block of marble was raised out of the kennel, and, to the surprise and joy of the Roman antiquaries, discovered to be a splendid torso. Its place of sepulture was near the piazza Navona, the site of the ancient amphitheatre, where the Emperor Alexander Severus celebrated the Agonalia; and the grand puzzlement was to decide whether it was the remains of a statue of a fighting gladiator-of a Hercules-of an Ajax-or finally, even of a Patroclus carrying a Menelaus, since another torso was found at no great distance, which might originally have been in union with it. Whatever it represented, however, it was esteemed a fine monument of ancient art, and its reputation with connoisseurs continued to increase rather than diminish, till, in the course of another century, it was placed by a critic of some authority above the best remains of antiquity, even the Laocoon and the Belvidere Apollo. We are told, it is true, that a German antiquary took this decision in such bad part, that he was about to box the ears of the panegyrist, whom he believed to be laughing at him; but we shall find that it was the fate of the statue throughout to cause such misunderstandings.

When the kennel-bridge of Maestro Pasquino was discovered to be an antique torso, it was placed upon a pedestal against the Pamphili palace, on the other side But this news, it will be felt, took its colouring from of the way; but no change of position could sever its the mind of Maestro Pasquino. Everything was con- connection with the defunct tailor. The discomfited verted into materials for mirth or malice. Great lords urchins, looking up in wonder and veneration, gave were no more spared than if they had been so many their great enemy his name; and while the antiquatailors; prelates and cardinals were unfrocked without ries were arguing and scolding about its origin, the ceremony; and even the pope himself set up as a target people decided that it was the statue neither of Herfor the shafts of ridicule. And what recourse could be cules, nor Ajax, nor Patroclus, but of Maestro Pashad, since all was traced to the shopboard of Pasquin? quino. Nay, when the Pamphili palace gave way in It mattered not who the speakers really were, since 1791 before the construction of that of Orsini, the latter Pasquin and his decimal fractions of humanity were the relinquished its own name, like an obsequious heir, and ostensible authors. It was a part of the jest to clothe was known thenceforward as the Pasquin palace. This, it in vulgar language, and no one, however much ag- however, is not to be wondered at, since, at the moment grieved, could think of condescending to take vengeance when the mutilated statue was exalted on its pedestal, for anything so low. The tongue, at length, was recog- it was consecrated by the genius of the tailor, that nised in Rome as at once a safer and sharper weapon before had seemed buried with him. It spoke with his than the dagger; and everything, from a personal lam- | voice-even with the Doric vulgarities of his tongue;