and military authority, but, by a convenient mixture of powers, likewise act as farmers general of the revenue of their respective provinces. A pacha of the first class is termed a Pacha of three tails, and has a right to punish capitally any subordinate functionary. The Sangiak Beys are the governors of districts under the pachas, and invested like them with both civil and military functions. The Divan, or cabinet council, was formerly composed of six pachas of the first character for experience; but it is now limited to the Mufti, the Grand Vizier, and the Kioga Bey. The Ulema are a numerous, and rather a respectable body, whose functions consist in expounding the Koran, and in applying its injunctions to the circumstances of the times. They thus combine the character of clergy and lawyers, having at their head the Grand Mufti, whose decrees are considered by the public as the voice of inspiration, though they necessarily possess sufficient pliability to accommodate themselves to the will of the court: and in return for this complacency the Sultan allows that every law which he promulgates, and all his declarations of war, must receive the sanction of the Grand Mufti. The Imans, or priests, are altogether inferior to, and distinct from, the Ulema, their duty being merely to perform public worship in the mosques.-The religion of the Turks is that of Mahomet, of the sect of Omar. The rule of their faith is the Koran, an incongruous mixture of sound and absurd doctrines, of grave and of trifling precepts. Their fasts are frequent and rigorous; the principal one, called the Ramadan, lasts for 28 days, and the merit of observing it consists in abstaining from food whilst the sun remains above the horizon. Their ablutions are very frequent, being not only prompted by the warmth of the climate, but enjoined as necessary by their creed, after a variety of occupations. The mosques, or churches, of the Mahometans are generally of a square figure, built with stone, and covered with gilded lead; they have mostly six minarets or towers, from the tops of which the people are called to prayer by the priests. No woman dares enter these consecrated edifices. The imperial mosques of Constantinople, Adrianople, and Broussa, have colleges, which are resorted to by young men intended for the professions of law and theology, from all the provinces of the empire, after they have quitted the common schools: here they are instructed in the law of Mahomet, in religious, civil, and criminal jurisprudence, and made in some measure acquainted with the subtle commentaries on the Koran. Their teachers are ignorant of the very rudiments of science, but assume the office of bestowing certain honorary degrees upon their pupils. Literature and the arts, whether useful or ornamental, are uncultivated and despised: the models of ancient Greece are wholly lost in this uninquisitive and semibarbarous race; in fact, statuary and painting are forbidden by their faith as unlawful imitations of the works of God. There are, likewise, in the Turkish provinces many Christians of the Greek Church, as well as of other sects, besides a great number of Jews, all of whom enjoy a legal toleration by paying an exorbitant tribute.

41. The metropolis of the Ottoman Empire is Constantinople, or Estamboul as it is called by the Turks; it is the residence of the Grand Seignor, and the seat of the supreme authorities, as well as of the Greek Patriarch, and Armenian and Roman Catholic Archbishops. It is situated on a peninsula, or promontory, composed of seven hills, rising from the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus in the shape of an amphitheatre, and forming an irregular triangle, the circuit of which is about 13 miles. On the Western, or land, side of this triangle stands the ancient wall of the emperor Theodosius, about five miles in length, and still bearing the marks of the breach effected in it by the Turks in 1453. It has suffered chiefly from the effects of time; its ivy-mantled towers, its great height, and crumbling appearance, give it the likeness of a succession of ruinous castles: it had formerly eighteen gates, but there are now only seven. There are likewise walls along the two other sides of the city, towards the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus, or Channel of Constantinople, as this latter is now generally called, though the Turks distinguish it by the name of Bogaz: these walls are from 14 to 20 feet in height, and flanked at intervals with towers. The name of The Porte, or The Sublime Porte, by which the Turkish Power is distinguished, is said to be derived from one of the gates of the palace towards the Propontis, called the Porta Aurea, which is a heavy mass like a bastion, erected by Mahomet the 2d, shortly after his capture of the city: others, however, suppose it to be so called from the custom which obtained amongst the ancient Asiatics of going to the gates of their princes to attend them. The greater part of the suburbs are entirely open, so that Constantinople could make but little resistance to a land force: towards the sea, however, it is defended by the strong current which sets through the Bosporus from the Euxine to the Propontis with such violence, as to be

of considerable inconvenience to the harbour itself. This harbour, one of the finest in the whole world, both for security and convenience, is (as has been already stated) on the Northern side of the city; from the curve it describes, and from the rich cargoes that were once wafted thither, it obtained at an early period the name of the Golden Horn, which it retains at the present day: it is of sufficient depth for the largest vessels, and is said to be capable of containing 1,200 sail of the line. Indeed, the whole situation of Constantinople displays all the advantages of a city built on chosen ground, uniting, as it were, the two most flourishing quarters of the globe: the seven eminences on which it is erected rise above each other in beautiful succession, and are crowned in the back ground by the verdant summits of the Little Balkan. But whatever may be the exterior beauty of the city, the interior is very different; the streets being in general narrow, gloomy, and filthy: the houses are mostly low, and built of wood, and from the slightness of their structure, as well as from the habitual improvidence of the Turks, conflagrations are of frequent occurrence. The Seraglio, or palace, with its gardens, occupies one of the seven hills upon which Byzantium formerly stood. It consists of a vast assemblage of buildings inhabited by the Sultan and his court, and by the officers of government; the part occupied by the women is called the Harem. The castle of The Seven Towers was repaired and enlarged by Mahomet the 2d., who appropriated it as a place of safety for his treasure, and as a state prison; three of the seven towers were thrown down by an earthquake in 1768; those which remain are vast octagons, with conical roofs, resembling windmills. There are in Constantinople nearly 500 mosques: the principle ones are to be met with in the squares and public places, being generally surrounded with cypress trees, and provided with fountains. The oldest and most interesting of them all is that of St. Sophia, which was originally erected by Constantine the Great, but being destroyed during a sedition, was built with greater sumptuousness and elegance by the emperor Justinian. Its form is quadrangular, the length from East to West being 270 feet, and its breadth from North to South 240 feet; it has a cupola which rests on pillars of marble, and four minarets which were added by the Turkish emperor Selim 2d. the pavement is entirely of marble, worked in different ornamental compartments. All the interior of the dome is lined with Mosaic, disposed into figures and ornamental work; but there is a degree of bad taste in several of its interior decorations, and a want of order in the piles and buttresses around it. The building appears to the greatest advantage when illuminated for a Turkish festival; at other times it is very gloomy, owing to the great want of light. The number of Christian churches in Constantinople is about 23; they have externally the appearance of private houses, no spires or bells being permitted but in the mosques; this want, however, is compensated in some by the elegance of their interior. One of the finest is the patriarchal church of the Greeks, in which are the remains of St. Euthymia, and the empress Theodora. There are still many ancient monuments existing in different parts of Constantinople, for the Turks are in general too indolent and too indifferent to make much change in them. But it cannot be expected that a city, which for nearly four centuries has been in the hands of an ignorant and bigoted nation, possessing no ideas of architecture, comfort, or even of cleanliness, should have been able to preserve very many of its edifices from the destroying grasp of such a barbarian horde. The suburb of Galuta stands opposite to the Seraglio, on the Northern side of the harbour; it is built on a declivity, and is inhabited only by merchants and seafaring people. On the heights above it is Pera, built of wood and burnt bricks, and principally occupied by individuals in the suites of ambassadors to the Porte from the various European Powers. On an adjacent hill stands the suburb of St. Demetri, chiefly inhabited by Greeks. Scutari, too, is frequently reckoned a suburb of the great city, but very improperly so, for it is not only separated from it by the Bosporus, but actually stands in another quarter of the globe, and is, as it always has been, a distinct town of itself. The population of Constantinople is a point of much dispute; it is estimated, however, on pretty fair grounds at 598,000 souls: of these, about 300,000 are followers of Mahomet, being either Turks or Tartars; 200,000 are Greeks; 30,000, Jews; and the remainder, Franks (i. e. civilized Europeans). 42. About 120 miles to the N. W. of Constantinople is Adrianople, or Edrench as it is called by the Turks; it stands on the banks of the R. Maritza, in the centre of the province of Rumilia, and is looked upon as the second city in European Turkey. The Turks obtained possession of it nearly 100 years before they

took Constantinople, and made it the seat of their empire till the latter city fell into their hands. Its situation is very pleasant and fertile, but the climate is unhealthy; the Maritza, which is navigable to its mouth at Enos in the Agean Sca, materially promotes both inland and foreign trade. The city is about eight miles in circuit, and contains a palace, several splendid mosques, a spacious exchange, and many other public buildings; it still continues a favourite place of retreat with the Sultans, for different reasons; at one time for pleasure, at another to avoid the plague, and sometimes to withdraw from a political storm in the metropolis. To the N. E. of Adrianople, on the shores of the Euxine Sea, are the ports of Bourgas and Sizeboli; and above them, on the Northern side of the Hamus or Balkan, is Varna, another important sea-port, which was taken by the Russians, in 1828; the last-mentioned town contains about 16,000 inhabitants. Schoumla is situated in the Eastern part of Bulgaria, about forty miles to the W. of Varna, and rather farther from Silistria, on the banks of the Danube; it has a strong castle, or rather a set of castles, commanding the defile in which it is built, and which is formed by a spur of the Hamus, about midway between the main ridge and the R. Danube. Owing to its great strength, both natural and artificial, it is generally used by the Turks for the assemblage of troops, or for their winter-quarters, during their wars with any power attacking them from the North: it contains about 20,000 inhabitants. But the metropolis of Bulgaria is Sophia, or Triaditza, as it is also called, situated near the Western extremity of the province, at the foot of Mt. Balkan, and on a branch of the R. Isker, which (as has been stated) is a tributary of the Danube. It is one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the Ottoman Empire, but is without walls, and, like all other Turkish towns, exceedingly filthy: it is one of the greatest thoroughfares in Turkey, as it lies on the direct road from Hungary to Constantinople. Bukarest, the capital of Walachia, and the residence of the Hospodar, or prince, stands nearly in the centre of the province, on the R. Dombovitza, which joins the Argis, and so enters the Northern bank of the Danube: it is about seven miles in circumference, and is partly fortified. The houses are for the most part wretched clay huts, yet there are several stately edifices of stone to be met with; the common pavement of the streets is composed of wooden logs. The inhabitants are Walachians, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews; there are very few Turks to be met with in it. The prevailing religion is that of the Greek church, but both Lutherans and Roman Catholics enjoy free toleration. Here also are various classical schools, and a respectable Greek college. The town was taken, in 1769, by the Russians, who held it for five years, and by the Austrians, in 1789; but the latter power restored it at the peace of Sistow: it is likewise remarkable for a treaty of peace which was concluded here, in 1812, between the Russians and the Sublime Porte. The famous city of Belgrade is situated in the Northern part of Servia, and on the frontiers of Hungary, at the confluence of the Danube and Sare: its importance as a fortress, and as the key of Hungary, has made it an object of fierce contention between the Austrians and Turks. It is enclosed with high walls, strong towers, and a triple ditch, and is otherwise very strongly fortified. The bulk of the population consists of Turks, there being very few Greek families in it; there are likewise some Servians, Rascians, Gypsies, and Jers. This important fortress was taken by Solyman, the Turkish emperor, in 1522, retaken by the Imperialists in 1688, but lost again two years afterwards. It remained in the hands of the Turks till 1717, when it capitulated to Prince Eugene, and was secured to the emperor by the peace of Passarowitz; but the Austrians were compelled to surrender it to the Turks in 1739: they, however, retook it fifty years afterwards, but were compelled to restore it at the peace of 1791. Since that period it has become the most important place on the frontiers of the two countries, and the great staple for their commerce. 43. The province of Albania, which extends along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas from the borders of Dalmatia to Greece, is inhabited by a brave but ignorant people, who have often signalized themselves in war; they are called Arnauts by the Turks, and are characterized by their hardihood and great bodily strength, by their activity and courage, and by their simple mode of life: the majority of them profess themselves disciples of the Greek church. Albania was the country of the famous prince George Castriot, generally known by the name of Scanderbeg, who, with a small army, opposed for many years all the power of the Turks, and beat them in twentytwo battles. At his death, he left his country to the Venetians; but they were unable to maintain the inland part of it, which was accordingly soon reduced by Mahomet the 2d, and his successors finally made themselves masters of the whole province

Its chief town is Janina, or Joannina as it is also written, situated in the Southern part of the province, on the Western shores of a cognominal lake, and not far from the site of the old oracle of Dodona. It is about five miles in circumference, and is surrounded by a wall; it possesses two tolerably respectable academies, and the inhabitants are represented as more polished and better educated than in almost any other Greek town; they consist chiefly of Greeks and Albanians, with a few Turks and Jews. Janina was founded in the 15th century, and in the beginning of the 19th it became famous as the capital of the late monster Ali Pacha, a chief who exercised unlimited power, and brought under his dominion not only the province, which had been originally committed to his charge, but the whole of Albania, and a considerable part of Thessaly. By extortion and rapine he contrived to secure himself an ample revenue, and to defend himself from the vengeance of the Porte by a powerful standing army; but he fell a victim at last to his own perfidy and cruelty. About 30 miles to the S. W. of Janina, and about 10 from the Ionian Sea, lies the district of Souli, the country of the brave Souliotes, who defended themselves for nearly 20 years against the invasions of Ali Pacha. They were a tribe of Greeks, about 10,000 in number, who maintained themselves for some time in the form of an independent republic: their country contained about 18 villages, and was almost surrounded by inaccessible mountains. It was not till the year 1803 that Ali Pacha succeeded in depriving them of their liberty, when many of those who escaped from his barbarity, took service in Russia and France: their country is at present, like all the rest of Albania, subject to the Porte. Farther S. is Arta, situated on the left bank of a river of the same name, which runs into the Gulf of Arta; it is the residence of several European consuls, and its inhabitants, about 6,000 in number, carry on a considerable trade. Valona, or Avlona as it is also called, stands on a gulf of the same name, about the centre of Albania, and opposite the South Eastern extremity of Italy; the narrow channel between the two countries is called the Strait of Otranto, from an Italian town of that name, and forms the Southern termination of the Gulf of Venice. Valona has an indifferent port; but its situation renders it an important place, and adds materially to its commerce. Next to Constantinople, Salonica is by far the most important place in point of commerce; it is conveniently and delightfully situated at the head of the Gulf of Salonica, on the declivity of a hill, and the approach to it from the sea is very imposing. The domes and minarets of mosques, together with other buildings, environed with cypresses, give it an air of splendour; but, like other Turkish towns, its interior by no means corresponds with its external magnificence. It is surrounded by a lofty stone wall about five miles in circumference, which ascends in a triangular form from the sea, and is surmounted by a fortress with seven towers. The population is about one half Turks, the remainder being Greeks, Jews, and Franks (i. e. English, French, Dutch, and Italian, all of whom have consuls here). In the year 1313 it was ceded by the Greek emperor to the Venetians, who were dispossessed of it shortly afterwards by the Turks under Amurath the First.

44. The island of Candia, or Crete, called also Kirid by the Turks, continued under the dominion of the Emperors of the East until the year 823, when it was overrun by the Arabs: it was recovered, however, in 960. The Genoese ceded it to Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, who in 1204 sold it to the Venetians. It remained in their possession till the middle of the 17th century, when the Turks made themselves masters of it after a disastrous war of 20 years; the whole island was secured to them by the peace of 1699, with the exception of the fortresses Suda and Spinalonga, which were likewise delivered up to them at the beginning of the following century: since this period Candia has continued in the almost undisturbed possession of the Ottoman Porte. It is divided by the Turks into the three pachalics of Candia, Retimo, and Canea, the two last being subject in a manner to the first, the governor of which resides at Candia: the whole island contains nearly 300,000 inhabitants, of whom about 150,000 are Greeks, the remainder being chiefly Turks. Candia, the capital of the island, stands about the centre of its Northern shore; it is defended by walls, trenches, and outworks, which enabled it to stand a siege of 24 years by the Turks, who took it in 1669; it is of a semicircular figure, and nearly four miles in circumference. It was a flourishing little city when in the hands of the Venetians; but, owing to the insecurity of property under the despotic sway of the Crescent, it is now a very wretched and inferior town: its harbour, which was once capable of containing

many large vessels, has been so neglected, that it is now nearly choked up with sand. Retimo, or Rhetzmo as it is also called, is the capital of the central province of the island, and lies likewise on its Northern coast, about 35 miles to the W. of the city of Candia. Beyond this, in the same direction, is Canea, the capital of the Western province, and the second town in the island; it is a neat little place, the buildings being nearly all Venetian, and is the residence of the consuls-general of Great Britain and France.

CHAPTER XVI.

GRÆCIA.

1. The name of Hellas, which was applied to the country now known as Greece, designated originally but a small district of Thessaly, whose inhabitants were called Hellenes, and, though in this term the whole of the Greeks were latterly comprised, it was at first employed to distinguish one of the clans then dwelling in the country, and not as a collective name for the whole people: these are called by Homer Achæi, Argivi, Danai, and in one instance Panhellenes'. The Romans obtained the name of Græcia, by which they knew the country we are describing, from the Græci, an inconsiderable tribe in Epirus, with whom, owing to their proximity, they were first acquainted, and this before the general name of Hellenes had been adopted. But when in a much later age, they had completed the conquest of the whole country, by the reduction of the states which constituted the Achæan league, and by the destruction of Corinth, B. c. 146, they borrowed the name of the last nation that opposed their ambition, to denote their new province; and in all their official proceedings, Greece was thenceforward termed Achaia, although the recollection of its former names was still preserved by the orator and poet.

2. But little is known about the earliest inhabitants of the country; they are presumed to have been descendants of Japhet, and to have quitted the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris for the shores of the Egean Sea. Their great ancestors appear to have been Javan, the son of Japhet, and two of his sons, or rather two families descended from them, viz. Elishali and Dodanim: we have already seen that the Kittim, another of Javan's families, probably settled in Macedonia and gave name to that country. Javan himself is thought to have dwelled on the Western shores of Asia Minor, in that part of the country, which in after ages was called Ionia, a name plainly derived from that of Javan2: to the N. of his own settle

1 Εγχείη δ' ἐκέκαστο Πανέλληνας καὶ ̓Αχαιούς.

Il. B. 530.

2 This derivation seems to be strengthened by the circumstance of the Ionians, or "Iovec as they are commonly styled, being also called 'Iάoveç; thus, Homer: ̓Αλλὰ σὺ Δήλῳ, Φοῖβε, μάλιστ ̓ ἐπιτέρπεαι ήτορ, Ενθα τοι ἑλκεχίτωνες Ἰάονες ἠγερέθονται Αὐτοῖς σὺν παίδεσσι καὶ αἰδοίης αλόχοισιν. Οἱ δέ σε πυγμαχίῃ τε καὶ ὀρχησμῷ καὶ ἀοιδῇ Μνησάμενοι τέρπουσιν ὅταν στήσωνται ἀγῶνα. Φαίη κ' αθανάτους καὶ ἀγήρως ἔμμεναι αἰεὶ, Οἳ τότ' ἐπαντιάσει ̓, ὅτ ̓ Ἰάονες αθρόοι εἶεν.

Hymn. in Apoll. 146.