Art. V. Jireh; a Scene in the Pastoral Life of the Author. 8vo, pp. 156. London, 1836.

"FROM the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step." So said Napoleon. This axiom of life is a canon of criticism, and we leave our readers to apply it according to the mood in which they conclude the perusal of the following passage with which the Author of Jireh introduces his narrative. If they feel in unison with the Writer, they will read and read on with indescribable emotions to the end. If, on the contrary, they are not of a very excitable temperament, and have little taste for a transport, an ecstasy, or a flood of glory, we are afraid that the specimen we have given will not prove very alluring, except to their curiosity, and that, we may venture to say, will be fully gratified.

'I awoke on a bright September morning, as the rays of the horizontal sun entered my chamber, and undrew my eye-lids; their orient glory too conveyed not only light but language, as they broke simultaneously and with irrepressible force upon my soul the never-to-be-forgotten, although unarticulated, strains,

This was no dream; it was Nature labouring, as often she does by splendid phenomena, to incite the grovelling creature man to meditation. It was a transport; an ecstasy; a flood of glory, which the suns of nature and of righteousness, in a confluence of strength and beauty, produced, as by an irruption, in my soul. I started not,—I spoke not; but surrendered my whole spirit, powers, and passions, to a kind of blissful absorption. There was the absence of all bodily and secular disquietude. I dilated, as though unincumbered of frailty, in one expansive thought; and if the resemblance to a wish lingered upon my spirit, it was only that I might add perpetuity to the scene, or steal away to those shining ones, whose " sun shall no more go down." But it was otherwise intended, and I afterwards learned, that this excellent glory was not dispensed to prepare me for the rest of heaven, but for the labours of earth; to constitute a memento for pleasing retrospect in my hours of darkness, which, during a life eventful and complex, have indeed been many.

Long did these sentiments and scenes so vivid, continue to crowd my mind. All truth seemed luminous; and, without the aid of any sportive imagination, appeared to strike, as from an orb of glory, its radiant beams into the waiting expanse.' pp. 1, 2.

VOL. XVI.-N.S.

RR

Art. VI. 4 Residence at Constantinople, during a Period including the Commencement, Progress, and Termination of the Greek and Turkish Revolutions: By the Rev. R. Walsh, LL.D. Author of "A Journey from Constantinople," "Notices of Brazil," &c. &c. Two Volumes 8vo. (Plates). London, 1836.

THE previous works of this very agreeable and singularly well informed Writer*, will have prepared the Public to expect much more from these volumes, than is to be obtained from the slightly constructed Journals of ordinary travellers paying a hasty visit to the shores of the Levant. Dr. Walsh resided for several years at Constantinople in the capacity of Chaplain to the British Embassy; and after an interval of six years, during which he visited the Western Hemisphere, he returned to the Ottoman capital, where he found that material changes had taken place. He had thus opportunities, such as few have enjoyed, of seeing the East under different aspects; its quiescent state before the revolutionary struggle began, the agitation which ensued during its progress, and the alterations which took place when it was 'finally past. The materials of these Volumes have been supplied by the Author's letters to friends at home, written under the fresh impression of the scenes and events described; but those impressions were frequently corrected by subsequent experience; and in the narrative formed out of the substance of the original letters, the reader will find some variations of opinion, the result of seeing the same things under new aspects. This is a rare advantage, which few travellers can enjoy.

At the present moment, Constantinople, the grave of the Byzantine empire, as it seems likely to be of the Califate, and the scene of one of the most singular revolutions that has ever been attempted,—a transition still in progress,-this Asia in Europe, where the magnificent semi-barbarism of the middle age is wrestling with the omnipotent knowledge of the new era,-forms unquestionably the most remarkable and interesting spot upon which our observation can be fixed. 'I longed,' says Dr. Walsh, describing his own feelings on setting out for the Levant, to see 'Hunkiar, the Manslayer, who is still allowed, as a recreation, to 'kill fifty of his subjects a-day peremptorily, and as many more as he can show cause for; who permits his rayas (subjects) of his great bounty, to wear their heads for another year, when they pay the capitation-tax; who suffers the representatives of 'his brother sovereigns to be dragged into his presence only when his slaves have fed, clothed, and washed them till they are fit to

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*For a review of Dr. Walsh's Journey from Constantinople, see Ecl. Rev. 2d Ser. Vol. XXX p. 84. Do. of Dr. Walsh's Notices of Brazil, Ecl. Rev. 3d Ser. Vol. III. p. 546.

be seen; who proscribes, as impious, every book but the Koran ' and inhibits the use of any language but the Turkish; and wh 'puts to death, with unsparing ferocity, every audacious man wh, presumes to enlighten the venerable ignorance of his subjects That such a nation as the subjects of this barbarian power shoul actually exist in Europe in the nineteenth century, is a curious phenomenon.

Nothing, perhaps,' observes our Author, marks the extraordinary nature of the Turkish Government more than that its head is actually called Hun-Kair, or the Man-killer; and the exercise of his prerogative in destroying his subjects is his distinguishing appellative; and such is the profound veneration for the life of him who thus takes the life of others, that, in all the bloody changes that have taken place, and in all the deluges of human blood that have been shed, there is no instance of a private person raised to the Ottoman throne, or the bloodstained line of Turkish dynasty broken. It is from this feeling of veneration that the Sultan has absolute power, in certain cases, over the property as well as the lives of his subjects; and the possessions of all who die without heirs, or in public employments, fall of right to the Sultan. He is the source of all honours, and the concentration of all dignity. No Turk can be heir to an hereditary distinction but himself; and while a purely republican equality exists among the people, the sovereign is the whole body of an aristocracy in his own person. The Sultan, as successor of the Prophet, is head of his Church, and exercises supreme dominion over it; and hence magistrates whose power is delegated by him, have power over the inferior priesthood, as Christian bishops over their diocesan clergy; and as the secular and temporal power are united in the same body, these magistrates may officiate as priests.' Vol. II. pp. 451-3.

......

In many of these features of the Ottoman despotism, there will be recognised a very close resemblance to the theory of the royal power and prerogative in the English constitution; and in the days of the Eighth Henry, the practice was not very far behind the theory. We may remark too, that hereditary distinction, considered as a grant from the Crown, will appear from the above account to be in fact a much more important concession in itself than it is generally considered; for, while it seems opposed only to a republican equality, it is not less a restriction upon the prerogative. In the Ottoman Sultan, the political doctrine of Divine right is illustrated to perfection, and the alliance of Church and State is as complete as our Tory divines could desire. Now it is not to be denied, that "the powers that be are ordained of God;" or that the Man-slayer is as legitimate a power as any Christian sovereign. Nevertheless one may be allowed to suppose that, albeit Government is in itself a Divine appointment, the Turkish form of Government is not of Divine authority, and though suf

fered to exist during so many centuries, it is far from being any more than the tyranny of Nero or Domitian, conformable to the will of the Supreme Ruler. A reform of such a political system might seem, however, to be hopeless; and one could have looked only to see the decrepid despotism, when its energies were fairly exhausted, crumble to dust. But, surprising to tell, Sultan Mahmoud has taken upon himself the task of achieving political re-. forms, which none of his subjects could have ventured to attempt, or been able to accomplish;-radical reforms, compared to which, all our reform-bills and the boldest innovations dreamed of by our most ultra-liberals are but trifles. He has undertaken to revolutionize the manners and the mind of an entire nation; and since the days of Peter the Great, no monarch has ever succeeded in producing, by the beneficent exertion of despotic power, so extraordinary a change in the aspect of society.

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When Dr. Walsh left Constantinople for the first time, in 1825, it was immersed in darkness and ferocity. On his return, he found it 'the abode of an improving population.' Three important events had taken place in the interval. The Russians had crossed the Balcan, and threatened the Ottoman capital, but, withheld from advancing by reasons unexplained, had suddenly retraced their steps. The Janissaries had been extirpated. The Levant Company had been extinguished. To which we may add, as a circumstance not less material than the last, an American envoy had been received by the Porte, and added to the diplomatists at Pera. Nor were these the only changes. The first thing that struck the Author on landing at Tophana, on his second visit, was the absence of those packs of dogs which used to form the sacred nuisance of the suburbs, and which were 'the great engines of annoyance when a Mussulman wished to ' attack a Giaour' (unbeliever). The expulsion of these hateful animals, he learned, was one of the Sultan's first reformations, but one which even he would not have dared attempt, before he had removed the great barrier to improvement, the Janissaries.' An immense number were destroyed by poison; and when the Turks began to murmur at the cruel destruction of their favourite scavengers, the order was given, to transport the survivors, with their whelps, across the Bosphorus to Scutari. Now that the dogs had disappeared, by a metamorphosis altogether incredible in Turkey, pigs had begun to supply their place.' During the whole of his former sojourn in Turkey, Dr. Walsh says, he never saw one of these proscribed animals. Now, the first sound he heard, on visiting Therapia, was the grunting of one; and on the high grounds above the town, he met a whole herd of swine. He further found that pork was as publicly sold as mutton.

'The Turks, having conquered their first repugnance to the sight of this unclean animal, soon began to relax in their taste. When it was exposed for sale, many purchased it for food, without affecting to know or mark the difference between it and mutton; and in this the upper classes set the example. At an entertainment given at the French palace, several Turks of rank were present, and a friend of mine saw two of them very busy regaling themselves with some ham. Supposing they did not know, in that disguised form, the animal to which it belonged, he made it a scruple of conscience to tell them that they were eating the flesh of an unclean animal. They only replied, with great good humour, that it was a pity such good food should ever be thought unclean or prohibited; and they went on eating till they were satisfied. You may think this a trifle scarcely worth noticing among the revolutionary events of Turkey; but, if you consider it as casting down one of the great barriers which prejudice, and that prejudice a religious one, had set up to prevent the Mahomedan from amalgamating with the Christian people of Europe, it is of much importance. But the most marked change in their domestic usages was, their beginning to drink wine.' Vol. II. p. 272.

The Sultan has himself adopted the use of wine at his table, as one of the European customs to which he has made so close approximation; and is particularly fond of champagne. His ministers follow his example; and the practice is becoming general. Among other not less remarkable changes which attracted Dr. Walsh's notice, he mentions the parading of the soldiers, dressed in uniform, while regimental bands were playing European tunes remarkably well. The adoption of the English instead of the Turkish saddle, is another bold imperial innovation. Regardless of suffering and personal risk, the Sultan set the example of learning to ride upon a horse without any saddle; and he has not only made himself, by dauntless perseverance, an admirable European horseman, but has inspired his Oriental subjects with a strong desire to imitate him. But the most extraordinary innovation on Turkish ignorance and prejudice was the establishment of an Ottoman Gazette!

'On the 13th of October, 1831, a prospectus of the intended newspaper was issued, printed both in French and in Turkish. It stated, "that it was the sincere desire of the Sultan to assure the public tranquillity, and deliver his people from those suspicions and vain fears which false reports and idle speculations always engender; that ignorance was the cause of distrust and opposition, for men were ever disposed to set themselves against that of whose cause or object they were not informed, and ready to attribute measures to motives entirely different from those which actuated the Government." After this extraordinary and most unexpected concession to public opinion, it goes on to state, that a conference had been held to take the matter into consideration, and that it was determined that the people should be henceforth informed, in a prompt and efficient manner, of all cir