the men are calm, taciturn, and
apathetic. A Turk considers it shameful to look
at a lady passing him. He never suffers the
name of a wife to pass his lips, and would
consider it an insult if you asked after her
health. Yet he is a polygamist, and has
children by his slaves.

The Ottoman is compassionate and cruel.
He will leave a legacy to a horse, and
support an army of beggars; but he would
roast a Christian with great zest, and
bastinadoes his slaves without a qualm. He is
at once splendid and mean. Ostentatious in
servants, horses, pipe-sticks, and houses; but
his servants are ill-dressed, his horses are
worthless, his houses are kept in such bad
repair that the rain often comes into his
drawing-room, and pigeons build in the hall
of audience of his sultans. He always
reminds strangers of the Hungarian noblemen,
who have but one spur. Nothing about him
is complete. A saddle of cloth of gold will
be girt about his steed with an old rope;
and, while the mouthpiece of his pipe may be
worth five hundred pounds, the bowl is not
worth a halfpenny. He is a democrat, though
he lives under a government nominally despotic.
He is a democrat because he can hardly
understand any real difference of ranks in a
country where a whim of the prince has
often made a minister of a coffee-boy or a
water-carrier. Most governments are
supposed to examine affairs with some view to
their settlement; at the Porte they are
usually investigated with a view of avoiding
it. In other countries promotion is slow,
and business is managed comparatively
quickly. In Turkey business is conducted
slowly, and promotion granted quickly.
Elsewhere, thanks are usually returned for
a present: in Turkey it is customary to
thank the receiver. A guest invited to
dinner is also thanked for coming.

In Turkey superiors salute inferiors:
elsewhere the reverse is the fashion. In
Europe we uncover our heads as a mark
of respect; in Turkey people take off their
shoes to show deference. A Turk is brief
of speech, and seldom exaggerates; but
he is amused by interminable stories, and the
most improbable freaks of imagination. He
suffers evils without complaint; because he
says they are written on the book of fate,
and he considers them as part of the scheme
of Divine Providence. He has a great
contempt for ancestry, and concedes to the
descendant of Mahomet no other advantage
in life than a green turban. He has even a
stinging proverb always ready for those who
claim merit on account of their forefathers;
and tells them that they are like the dogs
who prowl about tombs and live upon old
bones. I wonder how a gentleman of their
opinions would get on at a fashionable evening
party in Mammoth Street West (number
1 A), Brobdingnag Square?

A real Turk cares little for politics; most
of the persons mixed up in public affairs
in his country being Greeks or of Greek
descent. He is brave and sensitive; but he
never dreams of a duel, nor have the French
been able to inoculate him with their
entertaining ideas on this subject. I can recall no
single instance of a Turk who has
committed suicide. He will tell you, indeed,
that the hour of his death is written, and that
he can neither hasten nor retard it. Persons
who are fond of theories usually recoil with
instinctive prudence from all practical tests;
and it never occurs to a theoretical Turk
to try the soundness of his doctrine with
a razor or a pocket-pistol. The conduct of
the Turks in this respect may be therefore
held up as a model for polite imitation. The
police of Constantinople have much more to
do with the Christians of Pera and Galata
than with the Mussulmen of the whole
adjoining city. Murder or robbery is rare in
the Turkish quarter; elsewhere it is of daily
occurrence. Indeed, the Turks are a great
deal better than the institutions under which
they have hitherto lived; and they are
accustomed to say, with no less truth than
good-humour, " We like our government best
when it neglects us most."

I once asked a Turkish gentleman with
whom I had the good fortune to be on terms
of great intimacy, whether he did not admit
that Mohammedanism was in itself opposed
to what the Western Franks are pleased to
call progress? His reply was just and
spirited. He referred me at once to the
splendid story of the Spanish Arabs, and
enlarged with much dignity and good sense
on the notorious fact that they were for some
centuries perhaps the most learned and
enlightened people in the world. The
Egyptians and Syrians also, he added, not to
mention the Persians, had at several periods
of their history made notable advancement
in science; but their government had been
unfavourable, and they had necessarily
retrograded. A Turk can hardly speak long
without saying something quaint and
sententious; so that I was not surprised when
my friend, looking demurely at me,
concluded thus: " Since, also, the Christians
are often avaricious, selfish, intemperate, and
unjust—qualities which, I am informed, are
much condemned by your Sacred Writings—
do you not think it possible that a Mohammedan
of our age might take example from
them, and break through those precepts of
the Koran which have been misinterpreted
to counsel us an eternity of ignorance?"

I bowed my head at the ingenious reproof,
and sought refuge in the cloud of smoke
which our pipes charitably emitted.